…
Yongzhou City is the gateway from the south of the Central Plains to Bashu. The permanent population in the city is about 400,000.
Bashu in this world also has the reputation of a land of abundance, with rich products and beautiful scenery, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Even when chaos breaks out in the Central Plains, the impact on Bashu is still minimal.
The same is true for Yongzhou City, which occupies a unique geographical advantage. In trade with the southern states, the people in the city live a relatively prosperous life.
However, the long-term peace has made the attitude of the war in various parts of Bashu very optimistic. Needless to say, the people naturally have such thoughts. Even the army officers and soldiers have such thoughts, even the defenders in Yongzhou City.
Hukou Pass, only thirty miles away from Yongzhou, is the only barrier to Yongzhou City. Since the terrain of the pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the entire pass defenders only have a mere two thousand recruits who have not been baptized by any fire of war.
On August 14, as usual, the garrison at the pass began their day's work at three o'clock in the morning.
The job of the garrison is very simple. The first thing you do when you get up is not to practice military formations, but to go straight to work.
The defenders' breakfast usually consists of millet porridge with vegetables and dumplings, plus some pickles as condiments. Although it cannot compare with the Central Army, it is pretty good.
The defenders of Shu were the only officers and soldiers who could still have enough to eat when chaos arose in the northern part of the Central Plains.
Of course, chili peppers are not yet available in various parts of the Central Plains, and those who want to eat spicy food have yet to be slowly developed.
After breakfast, the garrison soldiers began to guard their designated posts at the pass under the command of their respective superiors.
However, they seemed to be distracted, even talking and laughing among themselves while leaning on the crenel, without the slightest awareness of keeping the soil.
It's no wonder that these defenders were like this. After all, there had been no major wars in Shu for many years. Some of them were just Bohe people plundering the northwest area of Bashu. As for the south, it was even more peaceful.
Because Bashu surrendered to the Han Dynasty for such a short period of time, the local defenders had no sense of crisis at all, and they did not expect that a sudden war was about to start at the pass.
"Ah...ha..."
A veteran who had been at the gate for two years leaned against the crenel with his spear in his arms and yawned repeatedly. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and complained: "I'm sleepy. I really want to go back and take a nap."
A recruit next to him heard this and laughed and said, "What the hell, Lao Zhang, did you gamble again last night?"
Lao Zhang smiled and said: "To bet money, I ran around all night last night and didn't sleep well. Hey, stop gossiping. Do you have any tobacco on you? Let me have a few sips to refresh myself. When I get back and get my military pay, I’ll pay you back twice as much.”
"Look at what you said, do you still have a few puffs of cigarettes left? Take it!" The recruit generously took off the bag containing shredded tobacco from his waist and threw it into Lao Zhang's hand.
Lao Zhang took the tobacco bag, then took out a pipe, fiddled with it for a while, put it in his mouth, then took out the huozhuzi and took off the pipe, blew on the huozhuizhu several times, and when the head of the huozhuo started to emit sparks, Then he put the pipe back to his mouth, lit it, and took a long puff.
Immediately, Lao Zhang rolled his eyes, and after holding it in for a long time, he blew out a long smoke ring. The look on his face was as ecstatic as he wanted to be.
The pipe was made by Liu Ce when he was bored, and it soon became popular among the military. Compared with the long pipe, this pipe was much easier to carry.
In addition, Lieutenant General Liu Cejun was away fighting in the north and south all year round. Smoking was the best way to relieve stress and promote communication among colleagues. Therefore, almost every member of the Han army's front-line troops must carry a bag of shredded tobacco with them when they go on an expedition.
"It's great!" Lao Zhang sat on the city wall with satisfaction, leaning against the crenel and smoking his pipe casually. He casually said to the recruits, "I will be on vacation in two days. When I return to Yongzhou City, I will invite you to have a drink at Fushou Tower."
The new soldier also sat down next to the city wall and said to Lao Zhang: "No need to be so polite. By the way, I heard that the imperial court is currently at war with the Hunu in the north. Do you think we can win?"
After hearing this, Lao Zhang was silent for a long time, shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, but I know that the barbarians are barbaric and cruel. I was lucky enough to see those barbarians on the plateau once when I passed by a manor on the way to Yuzhou.
I was so scared that I almost peed. I just hid in a well all day and night without uttering a sound. I waited until dark and there was no movement outside before I dared to come out. My dear, the whole village was dead.
Both men and women, old and young, were hung at the entrance of the village. These beasts were simply inhuman. Many women's corpses were naked and their flesh and blood were mutilated by torture. Even children a few months old were not spared and were picked to death with spears.
Alas, when I saw that scene, I was so frightened that I crawled out of the village. Don't laugh at me. If you were in that situation, your performance might not be as good as mine. "
The recruit rolled down his Adam's apple and muttered to himself: "It seems that the big man is in trouble this time. I heard that the number of Mengluo people outside the Great Wall is several times greater than that of the Bohe people. The former Zhou Dynasty was beaten by the Mengluo people in many battles. It’s such a mess, I’m sure the big man will make the same mistake again.”
Lao Zhang didn't want to think about it, but said: "That's not necessarily the case. Last year, the Bohe people were almost completely wiped out by the Han army in Longyou. The leader of the army in Longyou was Xu Wenjing, the Minister of War at the time.
Even though that guy looked like a weak scholar, he was definitely a ruthless person. He killed as many as 800,000 barbarians, if not a million.
With a ruthless man like him here, the Munro people may not be able to conquer the Central Plains. In short, these have nothing to do with us. Why do we think so much? Isn't it good like this? "
The recruit nodded: "That's right. Whether we can win or not, it doesn't matter to us. We just need to guard this three-thirds of an acre. By the way, let me tell you, will the Chu army come to attack our Shu land? This pot Guan Guan is the first to bear the brunt.”
Lao Zhang snickered twice when he heard this, pointed at the new soldiers and said: "You can imagine why the Chu army came to attack Shu, but don't you know that the road to Shu is difficult?
Besides, Chu State is surrounded by prosperous counties in the south of the Yangtze River. Why do people choose to go far away and attack Shu? think too much,
If I were Huang Fu, an old thief, I would have conquered all the areas south of the Yangtze River first, and I would never have to make trouble with Shu. "
The recruit smiled sheepishly: "That's right. Why do they want to attack Shu? Even if they really want to attack, they should occupy all the places south of the Yangtze River before attacking."
After saying that, the recruit clapped his hands, stretched his arms, stood up with his spear and looked back outside the pass.
"Huh?" Unexpectedly, the recruit was startled at this glance. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked carefully. He couldn't help being shocked. "No, there is something wrong! Report it to General Ning quickly!"
Hearing this, Lao Zhang snickered, knocked the tobacco residue in his pipe, and replied nonchalantly: "Don't make a fuss, okay? Last time you saw a few deers and yelled, scaring everyone at a loss. This time You won’t see anything again, right?”
After speaking, he stood up and looked outside the pass.
"This is……"
Unexpectedly, what appeared in front of Lao Zhang's eyes was a blanket of flags covering the sun on the horizon ahead, slowly approaching Hukou Pass.
"Hurry... sound the horn... sound the horn to defend against the enemy... inform General Ning!"
