The people of the Song Dynasty who were rescued by Yang Peng's envoys are now placed outside the north gate of Dagou. Fortunately, Yang Peng captured more than 3,000 pack horses, 130,000 taels of silver, and more than 60,000 shi of grain in Yeyi Hongguang's camp. Especially these 60,000 shi of food are very important. With this food, Yang Peng can save these 40,000 refugees in this extraordinary season.
Mao Xin is one of the refugees. He was originally an ordinary farmer from Pujia Village, Liangguli, Lanhe County. He had two elderly parents and a younger sister at home. The family has three mud houses and cultivates 23 acres of dry land. Although Mao Xin has never been married, he is still a well-to-do family. But in this era of war and chaos, the lives of ordinary people are never so easy. Half a month ago, the Khitan army came. Mao Xin heard that the Khitan people were ferocious, so he quickly drove his livestock and hid in Liangguli with his parents and sister. There is a wall outside Liangguli, and there are fifty archers inside. Mao Xin hopes that these archers can defend Liangguli.
However, when the Khitan army came, Mao Xin realized that things were not that simple. More than a hundred Khitan soldiers armed with bows and arrows shot all the archers on the Liangguli city wall to death and ran away. The Tatars used a ram to break open the gate, and arrested all the more than 3,000 people in Liangguli who were hiding from the disaster, saying that they would be taken to Liaodong to be slaves.
Mao Xin's family of four fell into the hands of Khitan soldiers. Along the way, the Khitan soldiers hurried to the south to capture more slaves. They walked very fast and kept whipping the people who were slow to move away. Mao Xin's old parents were almost fifty years old. Their legs and feet were inconvenient and they walked slowly, so they were beaten by Khitan soldiers with whips. The Tatars only let the people drink gruel once a day. The people were malnourished. How could the old man recover after being injured? The two old men had high fever and died one after another.
Even worse is Mao Xin's sister. Mao Xin's sister is fifteen years old this year. She is the same age as a flower. She is a beautiful girl that young men from all over the country send people to marry her. But as soon as he fell into the hands of the Khitan soldiers, his innocence was taken away by the Khitan soldiers. Later, he was killed by Khitan soldiers - when Mao Xin went to collect his sister's body, he heard someone say that it was his sister who was unwilling to cooperate when she was insulted, which angered the Khitan soldiers and killed her.
In the blink of an eye, Mao Xin's warm family disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Mao Xin became a loner. That night, under the supervision of two Khitan soldiers, Mao Xin and several men in the village dug a hole near the camp and buried his sister. Mao Xin cried loudly in front of his sister's grave and secretly vowed to avenge his sister, even if he bites a Khitan soldier to death with his teeth.
However, heaven has eyes and did not let Mao Xin's sacrifice be in vain. After the Khitan soldiers entered the territory of Dagou, they encountered the Song Dynasty official army who dared to fight - the defenders of Dagou defeated the Khitan soldiers. After the Khitan soldiers were defeated in Dagou, they fled north. After ten miles, the Khitan soldiers stopped again and all headed south to fight against the officers and soldiers in Dagou. There was another big battle, and the officers and soldiers of Dagou killed all the Khitan soldiers! The Khitan soldiers who were still alive rushed to the camp to snatch the horses, and ran away without even daring to look back.
In this way, the people were saved. The Dagou officers and soldiers who rescued the people treated the people very well and never offended them. These days it is said that officers and soldiers are like bandits, and even more vicious than bandits. It is hard to find officers and soldiers who do not bully the people. Many officers and soldiers wanted to kill the refugees when they saw them, and handed over the heads of the refugees falsely as the heads of Khitan soldiers.
The officers and soldiers of Dagou not only did not bully and kill the people, but also saved them. These officers and soldiers placed the people under the city wall in the north of the city, led the people to cut down trees, and allowed the people to dig earthen nests under the city wall to live temporarily. The government and army organized people to dig wells and build public toilets outside the city. They also selected some young and strong people from the people and asked them to cook porridge for other people. Thick porridge is served once in the morning and once in the evening, and each person has a large bowl. The porridge is so thick that even if you stick a chopstick on it, it won't fall down.
Although I can't eat 100% full, I won't get sick from hunger if I don't do any physical work in Fanjiazhuang. Sometimes, the chief officer and deputy commander of Dagou would come out and distribute porridge to the people in person. Mao Xin looked at it and saw that he was a fairy-like figure. Only a hero like the Lord of Tianjing New City is worthy of this fairy-like lady. When Yang Tong heard those refugees calling her the City Lord's wife, she felt so beautiful and excited.
Mao Xin asked around and finally found out that the lord of Tianjing New City was named Yang Peng. On this day, the city lord Yang Peng finally came to see the refugees in the north of Dagou City. The Lord of the City was very young, wearing a bright red imperial robe and a dozen followers, and walked grandly to the refugee's nest. The refugees in the tuwozi knew that their savior was coming, so they all ran out of the tuwozi and stood outside to look around. The city lord inspected the refugees' houses one by one to see if the refugees had been exposed to wind and rain and whether they were malnourished.
Seeing how kind their savior was, many people cried on the spot. Several old people who were famous among the refugees walked out from the crowd, walked up to the Lord of the City, and knelt down tremblingly. "Thank you Ming Gong for annihilating the Tatars with thunderous means, and for saving us and other people with your compassion. Your kindness will never be forgotten by the common people!" Seeing the old people kneeling down, the entire refugee group felt the same and knelt down together. Tens of thousands of people were kneeling in front of the nest, kowtowing to the city lord who saved his life. Only the head could be seen in the dark area. Seeing that scene, Mao Xin was in awe. How capable and upright an official must be to be so loved by the people?
The Lord of the City helped the elders who were leading the way and said with a smile: "It is my duty as a military attaché of the Song Dynasty to help the people, so there is no need to pay such a courtesy!" The Lord of the City looked around at the people and said loudly: "Everyone, get up quickly, get up quickly. !” The old man walked up to the city lord with a bowl of well water and said: “The people have nothing to offer and have nothing to repay the city lord. This is the well water dug by the saved people in the north of the city and given to the city lord. Moisten your throat, my lord."
The Lord of the City drank the well water without saying a word. When the old people saw the city lord drink the well water and wanted to kneel down again, the city lord stopped them and pulled them up. The Lord City Lord said goodbye to the old people and walked to each of the earthen huts to inspect them. When the city lord walked in front of Mao Xin, Mao Xin finally couldn't help it and knelt on the ground with a thud.
Yang Peng came up to help Mao Xin and said with a smile: "Young man, what are you doing?" Mao Xin, however, lay on the ground and refused to get up, and said loudly: "Sir, my parents and sister were killed by the Khitans! Your Majesty Let me join your army. I don’t want military pay. As long as I can fight the Khitan soldiers and save a few suffering people, I will be happy for the rest of my life!"
On October 20th of the first year of Xianping, the Khitan troops withdrew from the Song Dynasty and Cangzhou lifted the martial law. On October 24th of the first year of Xianping, Cangzhou City paraded through the streets to praise the soldiers who had won the victory in Tianjing New City. Tianjing New City is only sixty miles away from Cangzhou City and is connected together. Once the new city of Tianjing is captured, the Northern Recruitment Envoy will be able to reach Cangzhou City in one day. Therefore, the people of Cangzhou all know that the great victory at Dagou has ensured the safety of Cangzhou City. The people of Cangzhou were very happy to defend their troops, so Xu Nan arranged this parade to praise them.
Parading the streets were the Tianjing New City Tiger Regiment and other troops from Cangzhou. Of course, the leader was the Huben Regiment, which had "made the greatest contribution". Duan Zhixian led a thousand soldiers from the Selected Front Regiment to represent the Huben Regiment and walked at the front. A thousand veterans of the Selection Corps lined up in twenty fifty-man squares, entered the city from Anximen, walked through the county government office from Xicheng Heng Street, then walked to Dongcheng Heng Street, paraded in front of the people to praise their achievements, and finally walked from Walk out of Cangzhou City through the east gate of the town.
People who flocked to Hengjie Street to watch the warriors parade crowded the road. Both sides of Hengdae Street and the streets and alleys bordering Hengdae Street were full of people. The common people crowded around, just wanting to take a closer look at what the warrior who defeated the Khitan soldiers looked like. I heard that the soldiers from Tianjing New City can fight two Khitan soldiers one by one. I wonder how tough these soldiers are?
Under the watchful eyes of the villagers and elders on both sides of the road, the soldiers of the Selection Corps were extremely proud. They did not carry guns at this time, but each carried a short sword. They straightened their chests one by one, put their right hands on the scabbards, and stood in a straight line and marched forward with their heads held high.
That neat pace queue attracted waves of admiration from the people nearby! "The soldiers in Tianjing New City are so mighty!" "What a neat formation, fifty people walking as if they were one person!" "No wonder they can defeat the Khitan soldiers, they are all heroes who are one in a hundred!"
Many people brought out their home-brewed rice wine and poured glass after glass for the soldiers of the Selection Corps to drink. The soldiers of the Selection Corps were sipping the rice wine handed to them while walking in line. After drinking, they stuffed the wine bowls into the people next to them, and the people helped the soldiers pass the wine bowls back. There were also rich families who thanked the officers and soldiers for defeating the Khitan soldiers and for helping them save their heads and property. They took out fine cakes and gave them to the soldiers of the Selection Corps. The soldiers ate them as they walked.
Behind the vanguard selection group, there were scattered soldiers and horses from other roads in Cangzhou. These soldiers and horses were just here to make up for the numbers, and they moved sparsely and disorganized, which made the people onlookers murmur in their hearts - can these weak soldiers defeat the Khitan soldiers? They are probably all responsible for waving the flag and shouting on the battlefield, right? Although these officers and soldiers did not fare well, they were actually the "heroes" of this battle - these soldiers all shared the merits of this battle, and when publicizing to the outside world, they all said that they were heroes who had fought in battle. These soldiers are afraid that others will say that they are getting something for nothing, so they will never tell the truth that they did not go into battle.
The common people murmured in their hearts, and were not so enthusiastic about the scattered soldiers and horses. They just stood there and watched the soldiers walk past. Occasionally, one or two civilians would offer drinks, which would make these soldiers smile happily.
Duan Zhixian was wearing the flying fish suit and jade belt given by the emperor, riding a Wusun BMW, and walked proudly at the front of the entire team - yesterday, the flying fish suit and jade belt given by the city lord were delivered to Dagou on a fast horse. The city lord passed down a message and praised Duan Zhixian for his great contribution in killing Ye Qi Hongguang, calling Duan Zhixian a great contributor to Tianjing New City.
It is a great honor to be praised by the city lord and given the royal guard flying fish uniform and jade belt. The flying fish suit is embroidered with a "flying fish" with teeth and claws. Most of the body of the flying fish resembles a big python, with horns, but the tail is a fish tail. This flying fish suit, which resembles a python suit and is paired with a jade belt, is very majestic in shape. Duan Zhixian became the focus of the audience.
Where Duan Zhixian rode, the people cheered loudly, all happy to have such a majestic military attache in Cangzhou. There was Zhang Luo in front of Duan Zhixian, who was a servant in the county government office. Every time Duan Zhixian walked, a servant from the county government would take out firecrackers and set them off. The crackling sound of firecrackers made the atmosphere of the entire parade even more lively.
The further forward you go, the more people are watching. People stood on both sides of the road carrying rice wine and well water, and the road was blocked. There are also people climbing on the roofs on both sides of the road to watch, wondering if they will damage the tile roofs of the houses. Seeing that there was no way ahead, the people from the governor's office took strings of firecrackers and threw them forward to scare away the people blocking the road, and then they found the way forward.
Walking to the door of the county government office, Xu Nan led a dozen civil servants from Cangzhou to stand at the door of the government office in person. Duan Zhixian glanced over and saw Lu Hualin was there. His precious brother Lu Huarong stood behind the official, looking towards Duan Zhixian. Seeing the flying fish suit on Duan Zhixian, Lu Huarong turned pale and seemed to be very afraid - this flying fish suit represented the appreciation of the city lord of Tianjing New City. How far will Duan Zhixian be in his career in the future? Will he bear his own grudge?
Even Lu Hualin had some regrets - he shouldn't have favored his younger brother at that time, he should have beaten Lu Huarong dozens of times to relieve Duan Zhixian's anger. Now this Zhixian is rising through the ranks, rising to six levels in a row in a year. I really don’t know when he will be promoted to the end! I don't know if he still remembers Lu Huarong's breath.
Xu Nan saw Duan Zhixian, looked at Duan Zhixian with his beard, and nodded. He poured a glass of Erguotou wine from a glass to Duan Zhixian who was riding on the horse, and handed it to Duan Zhixian. Duan Zhixian quickly jumped off his horse, drank the wine in one gulp, and shouted "Good wine."
Xu Nan looked at the well-organized selection team behind Duan Zhixian, nodded and said: "As expected, they are all good sons of our Song Dynasty! No wonder they can defeat the Khitan." Xu Nan poured another glass of wine for Li Zhi, and poured a glass for himself Then he passed the wine jar to the back and asked more than a dozen civil servants to fill up the wine glasses. Then he raised the wine glass and said: "I will lead the Cangzhou civil servants to toast the leader!"
Duan Zhixian drank all the sweet wine and said, "I would like to thank the governor! Thank you all!" Xu Nan led the civil servants to drink all the shochu in one gulp. After drinking two glasses of soju, Duan Zhixian continued to ride forward. Other parading generals also arrived at the county government office one after another. Xu Nan stopped pouring wine for these military generals who took credit for their service. The servants came up to pour the wine. Xu Nan dipped the wine glass with his mouth and it was regarded as a toast.
Duan Zhixian went all the way east and led a thousand soldiers of the Selective Regiment to ride to the vicinity of Jingbianfang in the east of the city. He saw that the original neighbors had already lined up on both sides of the road, leaving only a small road for the Selective Regiment to pass through.
"Duan Zhixian is here! Look! Look! Duan Zhixian is here!" "Brother Duan is returning in triumph. It is said that he has killed more than 1,500 enemies!" "Ah! Why is Brother Duan wearing a dragon robe? Only the emperor can wear it. Dragon robe?" "You idiot, look clearly, that is a python robe, for the officials to wear!" "No, that is not a python robe, that is the flying fish suit given by the Lord of the City. Although it looks like a python, it is not a python. also!"
Duan Zhixian was riding on his horse, walking through the intersection of Jingbianfang, and heard the neighbors calling him affectionately. "Brother Duan! Brother Duan! Do you still remember me? I am Zhao San, who sold you oil!" "Brother Duan! I am Chen Deyu! I even took you to buy alkaline noodles!" "Duan Zhixian ! Duan Zhixian! I am Mrs. Lin! You have grown so fast now! Do you still remember me, Mrs. Lin? "
Duan Zhixian could not answer the calls of the neighbors one by one. He only rode on his horse and bowed to the neighbors in vain, and said loudly: "If Duan Zhixian can be promoted this time, he will go back to Jingbianfang to set up a flowing banquet and invite all the neighbors to gather." Let’s get together.” Upon hearing this, the crowd in Jingbianfang suddenly burst into applause. This time the Khitan army entered the pass and plundered, it came to an end.
This time the Khitan army entered the pass and poisoned the area 100 miles away from Cangzhou. Below Cangzhou, the Khitan army captured two large cities in the prefecture and county. Except for the battle of Tianjing New City, the Khitan army won all three battles. The Khitan army captured 50,000 people and animals and returned to Youzhou. Soldiers and horses from various towns in the Song Dynasty followed the Khitan army and did not dare to fight. When Ye Guang Deguang left the customs, he had people chop wood and write the four words "Officials are free of charge" and "Ride in beautiful clothes and return triumphantly with music" to humiliate the Song army. . Pan Hu, the Minister of War, and Liang Dong, the Minister of War, knew that they had the responsibility of guarding the country and guarding the country, so they took rhubarb every day in the army, and by this time they were already dying.
Cangzhou in the Song Dynasty was in a mess, with ruins everywhere after being looted, burned and killed by the Khitan army, causing heavy losses. Of course, in this gloom, there is still the bright spot of Tianjing New City's victory. In one battle, 11,600 people were beheaded, shocking the world.
After the victory of Tianjing New City spread to various places, there was a chorus of praise from all directions. Especially Xu Nan, who was originally politically strong and belonged to the Qing Dynasty, but now he made great achievements and was praised by the gentry all over the world as a capable minister who knew the enemy and his troops, and a commander who was good at recruiting and fighting. The officials were also very optimistic about Xu Nan, so they summoned Xu Nan to the Beijing platform to answer questions and gave him royal meals.
However, Xu Nan's answer on the platform was correct, which disappointed the housekeeper. His level of talking about military affairs was really not that of a governor.
On November 22, Ye Qian Hongguang's body and the heads of more than 11,600 Khitan soldiers were sent to the capital. The officials ordered the Khitan soldiers' heads to be built as a Jingguan in front of the imperial city. A large tree was erected to hang Ye Qi Hongguang's body for the people of Bianjing to watch.
The people in the capital were very excited when they learned about the victory of Tianjing New City. Since the Battle of Youzhou, the Song army has been defeated in consecutive battles outside the pass, relying only on the Cangzhou and Jinyang defense lines to hold up the face of the Song Empire. The Liao Kingdom, or Khitan army, broke through the border several times, plundered and plundered as if entering an uninhabited country, and killed countless people in the Song Dynasty. When had the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty ever had such a proud victory?
This battle was heart-stirring and demonstrated the national prestige of the Song Dynasty! At this time, I heard that the heads of more than 10,000 Khitan soldiers were piled up in front of the imperial city to build a palace, as well as the corpses of Khitan nobles. The people rushed to see it. For a time, the streets in the capital were deserted. The road in front of the imperial city was packed. The common people grabbed stones and squeezed in front of the imperial city, throwing stones at the heads of the Khitan soldiers.
"Damn Khitan dogs, watch me stone you to death!" "Haha! If you dare to plunder the people of our Song Dynasty, all of them will lose their lives!" "The Khitan soldiers will suffer heavy losses now, and they dare to enter our Song Dynasty at will. Robbery?" "Look at the body of the Khitan noble, what a burly body!"
"Our Song Dynasty actually has such powerful officers and soldiers who can kill so many Khitan heads!" Emperor Zhenzong stood on the Chengtian Gate, looking at the Beijing and the people in the distance, silent. Yesterday, news came from Kuai Ma that the Minister of War and Liang Tingdong had been taking rhubarb for a month for fear of being held accountable by the emperor, and both of them were already dying.
Emperor Zhenzong was speechless towards these two people. These two people are both talented people who know how to fight. They didn't want to commit suicide in fear of crime. Originally, after the great victory in Cangzhou came, Emperor Zhenzong would not kill these two people because the merits and demerits should be balanced. He would not even take away their positions. He was only prepared to demote their official positions by one level as punishment. Unexpectedly, these two people did not believe that the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty could achieve a great victory, so they ate the rhubarb early. Although there is good news now, the lives of the two people are beyond repair.
However, although the two civil servants were half dead, they still wrote memorials to the officials to congratulate the victory. The question is, after the death of the two men, who will take over the vacant post of Minister of War? Originally, during this great victory in Cangzhou, Emperor Zhenzong was very optimistic about Xu Nan, the minister of the Ministry of War of Cangzhou Governor, and hoped that Xu Nan would be able to take on the responsibility of the Ministry of War. But yesterday, the platform gave the correct answer. Xu Nan made empty remarks about military affairs and talked long and empty talk about morality, which greatly disappointed the officials.
Whenever he couldn't explain why, Xu Nan started to talk about the sharp crossbows and the powerful volleys of muskets, asking Emperor Zhenzong to strengthen the management of the Arms Bureau, which made Emperor Zhenzong not know what he meant. Only when officials asked about Cangzhou's grain and water transportation, Xu Nan answered fluently and brilliantly. From this, the officials learned that Governor Xu Nan did not know how to fight with soldiers, but he was a talented person in managing money and food.
However, Xu Nan's performance made Zhao Heng confused. Xu Nan didn't know how to fight, so how did the great victory in Dagou come about? With such a great victory, all the soldiers and horses in Cangzhou must be superior. Otherwise, how could they capture and behead 11,600 Tatars? Since the governor is not knowledgeable in military affairs, he must have brave generals who are good at conquering and fighting. However, among the generals in Cangzhou, I have never heard of anyone doing anything unusual before.
Zhao Heng suddenly remembered the name Yang Peng. This has happened twice, and every time the name of this small official appears in the memorial, it will be a heart-stirring victory. Then there was the current great victory in Tianjing New City, where more than 11,600 heads were captured and Ye Qi Hongguang was killed. Every time, this Yang Peng can take the rank of general among thousands of armies and make his first contribution!
Is this just a coincidence? Or is it that this Yang Peng has extraordinary merit? Contributed a lot to the victory? Zhao Heng looked at the corpse of Ye Qi Hongguang hanging in the air in front of the imperial city, and saw the people in the capital throwing stones and spitting at Ye Qi Hong Guang's body - the people of the Song Dynasty had accumulated too much hatred for the Khitan over the years. Hatred and fear were gone. Now that we had the bodies of the Khitan nobles, we could vent our hatred and reduce some of the fear of the Khitan soldiers.
Otherwise, if this fear continues to accumulate, the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty will become less and less afraid to fight, and more and more officials and people will surrender to the Khitan. After watching it for a while, Zhao Heng praised and said: "This Yeqi Hongguang is really a burly Khitan, and the general who killed him is very skilled!" Wang Jin said: "The officials are wise! This Yeqi Hongguang is dozens of people. This is the highest leader of the Khitan that I have killed in the Song Dynasty in the past year!" Zhao Heng turned around and said to Wang Jin next to him: "Tomorrow I will lead a hundred officials to pay tribute to the Ancestral Temple, and tell the ancestors of the great victory of this formation to kill Ye Qi Hongguang. ."
Wang Jin cupped his hands and said: "Official sage!" "The officers and soldiers have made great contributions, so they must be rewarded! Otherwise, the officers and soldiers will be discouraged from killing the enemy and serving the country!" Zhao Heng pondered for a moment, and then said: "I will increase the reward for this attack. Yang Peng, the lord of Tianjing New City in Hongguang, has a suit of armor and five hundred taels of platinum. I hope he will make new achievements in the future!"
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.
