Wang Xiaolie stood in front of the tent, watching the snowflakes slowly falling down and falling on the ground. The surrounding mountains, the river next to it, and the vast land behind have all turned white.
This year's snow came neither early nor late. It fell in early November. From the looks of it, the coming year will be a good one.
Linru Town is located between two mountains, on the road from Luoyang to Ruzhou. It has been more than a month since Wang Xiaolie came here with all his troops. Fifty miles away at the foot of Minggao Mountain, Zhai Jin led his army to confront Yang Jin across the Yihe River. The two armies fought almost every day, and the battle was extremely fierce.
Zhai Jin did not let Wang Xiaolie go to help. Wang Xiaolie is in Linru, and he is happy to sit back and watch the success or failure. Occasionally Yang Jin's cavalry came around, but they were driven away by Wang Xiaolie. Everything in Ruzhou will be peaceful and this area will become a pure land.
Xie Linong walked out of the tent and went to Wang Xiaolie to sing a promise. Said: "Zhizhou, just now a few brothers said that it is rare to have a good snow, so why not drink two glasses of wine and enjoy the snow scene. There is nothing to do these days, everyone is too busy."
Wang Xiaoxing said: "Okay. I sent some sheep today. Let's kill one and drink it."
After saying that, the soldiers brought a table out and placed it in the open space in front of the tent. Light a few pots of charcoal fire nearby and set up a few seats.
People in this era are different from those in later generations. They like to enjoy the scenery, flowers and beautiful things in the world. Every early spring, people in major cities like to go for an outing. And when it snows in winter, people all over the city enjoy the snow.
In one thousand years, China has changed a lot. Wang Xiaolie was not used to outing and enjoying the snow.
After the mutton was roasted, Wang Xiaolie, Shao Ling, Xie Linong, Cao Zhiyan, Yu Huan and Niu Gao sat around the table. The soldier opened the wine jar and filled the bowls in front of everyone with wine.
Wang Xiaolie raised his bowl and said: "We have been stationed in Linru Town for more than a month, and we are a little overwhelmed. It snows so well today, so we will slaughter a sheep here, prepare some wine, and enjoy the snow together! Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty There is a poem, it is snowing in the evening, how can I have a drink? We don’t have that kind of literary talent, so we can only drink two glasses, enjoy the snow scene, and return home happily!"
Everyone made the promise together. Pick up the wine bowl and drink it all in one gulp.
Among them, Niu Gao is the most addicted to alcohol. Wang Xiaolie was not allowed to drink alcohol while performing official duties, and he was very greedy these days. After finishing a bowl of wine, Niu Gao took the wine jar and poured it for himself. After drinking three bowls in a row, I wiped my mouth with satisfaction.
Looking at Niu Gao, Wang Xiaolie smiled and shook his head. The current alcohol content is too low, but you can actually make it yourself. For ordinary people, high alcohol content has no appeal. But for an alcoholic, it's a real drink. The biggest benefit of high-strength wine is actually cost reduction. Compared with current rice wine, wine made from sorghum and other grains is undoubtedly much cheaper.
But when he came to this world, everything was complicated, and Wang Xiaolie was always busy trying to survive. Nowadays, there are many things that are far more important than wine making, and I never have time. In fact, not only wine making, there are many things that are very useful in this era.
After drinking a few bowls of wine, Shao Ling said: "I didn't expect that Yang Jin would be so difficult to fight! Taiwei Zhai was so powerful that he actually faced off against this hornless bull for more than a month. There was nothing he could do against him. The battle continued like this. , I don’t know when it will be.”
Cao Zhizhi said: "The news from Minggao Mountain is that Lieutenant Zhai is still mobilizing troops. In the past few months, his troops have been as far as Shangzhou, which is a bit far away. When Yang Jin's army came, he only relied on Luoyang's troops and horses are somewhat lacking."
Yu Huan said: "Since there are not enough soldiers and horses, why not let us go?"
Wang Xiaolie turned his head and looked at the gradually whitening mountains beside him, without saying a word. Why not let yourself go? It's hard to say this clearly. In fact, both Zhai Jin and Wang Xiaolie are now warlords. Everyone has his own territory and his own thoughts. Who wants other people's troops to enter their territory unless it is absolutely necessary? Moreover, Minggao Mountain is not far from Fengniu Village, Zhai Jin’s base camp.
Yang Jin can attack Luoyang, but Wang Xiao has gone hunting. Who can guarantee that he won't have the same thoughts? Lu Qing, who was guarding the imperial mausoleum, had already left Luoyang City and entered the imperial mausoleum. Yue Fei and others arrived near Gong County to guard the Yellow River ferry. Now Luoyang is only garrisoned by Zhai Jin.
In fact, what is more important is that Zongze has passed away, and Du Chong, who took over, is not trusted by everyone, and the prestige of the court has been greatly reduced in the north. Would another person have such a big impact? Of course there is. After Zongze passed away, many things changed unconsciously.
Niu Gao said: "I heard people say that Yang Jin has many cavalry troops, while Captain Zhai has many infantry troops. It is certainly not easy to fight cavalry with infantry."
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "To be honest, Yang Jin is so strong, which is beyond my expectation. At that time in Kaifeng Mansion, Yang Jin was just one of the commanders under Zong Liubei, and I didn't hear that he had fought any big battles. . I didn’t expect that the battle with Captain Zhai would be evenly matched.”
Niu Gao said: "It's not surprising. Yang Jin was originally a subordinate of Wang Taiwei, and he was more experienced in the army. He fought in many places, and he had quite a lot of capital. There are many cavalry in the army, which is not something ordinary armies can do. Zhizhou is special How many cavalry do we have for those who cherish horses and value cavalry?”
Wang Xiaolie smiled bitterly.
Yes, I treat the cavalry like a treasure. As long as it is a war horse, it is registered and has a dedicated person to raise it. The cavalry who can wear armor eat different meals every day than others, and they are not much worse than themselves. How many cavalry have you accumulated? He said that he currently has 3,000 troops, but the real cavalry is less than 300. I didn't expect Yang Jin to have two thousand cavalry, which was really scary.
Now that I think about it, it's because I don't pay too much attention to these people. I always feel that if their names don’t exist in history, they must be minor characters. I didn’t expect that these small characters could make big waves.
At this time, Hebei and Hedong were considered as one part of the war zone. Because it was north of the Yellow River, the Jin Dynasty thought it could manage it and treated it specially. There are also rebels there, but they are small and extremely difficult. Jingdong and Lianghuai are one part, and all the heroes rise together. However, it is relatively close to Zhao Gou and is the main attack direction of the Jin army, so the future is very slim. Jingxinnan North Road is a part that the Jin army did not pay much attention to after snatching it. Shaanxi Road is a part, plus Chuanxia 4th Road in the south, where heavy troops are stationed.
The biggest force on Beijing's south-west and north roads is Zhai Jin. In addition to Luoyang, Mengzhou in the north and Shangzhou in the west all obeyed his orders. Even the Hedong Road Rebels further north also followed his banner. Yang Jin and Zhai Jin are at loggerheads, and their strength can be imagined.
Wang Xiaolie himself felt that if Yang Jin did not attack Luoyang and instead went south to attack him, he would be in great difficulty. He may not necessarily lose, but defeating Yang Jin is not an easy task.
Thinking of this, Wang Xiaolie felt a little sad. I originally thought that if I could fight with over a thousand soldiers and have a stable territory, I could be considered a powerful force. Now it seems that it is not enough. Facing a large group of insurgent soldiers like Yang Jin, he was still a little weak.
If you think about it carefully, these armies are vulnerable to the Jin army, but when facing the Song Dynasty army, this is not necessarily the case. There are many reasons, such as the Jin army has many war horses and is famous. But what is very important is that these people are afraid of the Jin army, but not the Song people. There is a huge difference between being afraid and not being afraid.
That's the way it is. In times of chaos, there are people who are like rats when fighting externally and like tigers when fighting internally. Not only during the Song Dynasty, but also when the world was rising and falling, there was never a shortage of such people.
All Wang Xiaolie can do now is guard the main road in Linru Town. At the same time, more detective horses were sent to report the battle situation in Minggao Mountain at any time. If there is any disturbance there, be prepared in advance.
On Minggao Mountain, Cui Qing shrank his neck. He said in a low voice: "Sister-in-law, why is it snowing!"
Yuan Le on the side said: "It's the winter months, it's time to snow. Don't complain, just look at the bottom of the mountain!"
Cui Qing sighed, steeled himself, and looked at the banks of the Yi River down the mountain. The Weijin Army on the other side was organizing its formation and wanted to cross the river.
Yuan Le said: "We have been fighting for more than a month, but Lieutenant Zhai has not been able to cross the river. Looking at it today, more troops are coming."
Cui Qingdao: "It's strange. Yang Jin has walked a hundred or two hundred miles since he got here. Why is there no shortage of food?"
Yuan Le said: "How come there is no shortage of food? Didn't you see that he has collected all the food and grass within dozens of miles around and come here? If Zhizhou hadn't led troops to guard Linru Town, we in Ruzhou would not have been spared."
"That's right. The reason why Yang Jin came here is because he wanted to get food from Ruzhou. It's just that Zhizhou was tightly guarded, so he didn't have a chance. Poor people around him, I'm afraid this winter will be difficult."
After saying that, Cui Qing shrank his neck again, feeling even colder.
"Look, Lieutenant Zhai has crossed the river! Lieutenant Zhai is leading the way, his momentum is really amazing!"
After listening to Yuan Le's words, Cui Qing hurriedly stretched his neck and looked down the mountain. I saw Zhai Jin riding a horse, wading across the river, leading the way. On the opposite side, Yang Jin's army released arrows, which came like rain.
