At this critical time, even during the Chinese New Year, Jinzhou City is not very lively. After walking around the city, Luan Qingshan and others felt it was boring and returned to the inn outside the city. Drinking wine and eating meat, waiting for the third year of the Lunar New Year to pass.
On the third day of the first lunar month of the second year of Shaoxing, Luan Qingshan went to the inn to meet with Peng Yuanwai. Yuan Peng sent a man to take them to the south of the city to see it.
After leaving Jinzhou, we headed south along the Fenhe River. In the evening, we arrived at a place where mountains and rivers meet.
The man said: "This is the main route from the north to Quwo. There was originally a stronghold here called Leopard Tail Village, which guarded the place. The gold thieves invaded from the south, and the officers and soldiers in the stronghold fled without knowing where to go. There was a Sun Liulang from a nearby village. , gathered the villagers, defended the village, and fought against the gold thieves. They were unable to support themselves, and finally the mountain stronghold was attacked by the gold thieves. In order to vent their anger, the gold thieves killed all the people in several nearby villages, leaving no one old or young alive, and the place became a white land. .”
Luan Qingshan looked at it and said: "The flat land at the foot of the mountain is vast, and the Fen River can be used for irrigation. It is really a geomantic treasure. Where is the village on the mountain?"
The man said: "The village is still three miles away from here. It's getting late today, let's see tomorrow."
Luan Qingshan took the others and set up tents in the leeward area and settled down.
The cold wind howled at night, and even though there was a quilt covering the outside, it was still as cold as iron. Luan Qingshan couldn't sleep, so he put on his clothes and walked out of the tent. The sentry sat huddled behind a nearby boulder and dozed. Seeing Luan Qingshan coming out, he quickly cheered up.
There is no moon in the sky, but stars are dotted, shining on the earth. The Fen River next to it has frozen, shining whitely under the starlight.
Luan Qingshan walked under the stars, feeling an indescribable feeling in his heart.
This time, there were seven or eight groups of more than 120 people who came to Jinzhou with Luan Qingshan. At present, he is being arranged by Peng Yuanwai in various places, waiting for Luan Qingshan to decide on a place to join him. This is not the guerrilla force of Dengzhou Army behind enemy lines. They are incomparable to Jiang Min of the Holy Mountain. This is just to disrupt the rule of the Jin people and provide a place for intelligence personnel whose identities are exposed. The personnel are really a mixed bag.
Luan Qingshan originally thought that he was an abnormal person who couldn't stand the rules of Wang Xiao's hunting army and would rather come to a place like Hedong. Who would have thought that among the more than a hundred people who came here, I would be the most normal one. Among the people who came, there were people who were born to kill and set fire, there were people who were cunning and cruel, there were people who had no brains and only thought about their own pleasure, there were all kinds of people. Compared with Luan Qingshan, many people are scum.
Wang Xiaolie's occupation of Xiangyang was too smooth and he encountered no major resistance. When power develops, it becomes even more unfavorable. In most cases, when Dengzhou's army arrived, the defenders would surrender after hearing the news. Most of these armies were merged into Wang Xiao's hunting army.
Who made up the army of the Song Dynasty? Of course it is wrong to say that thieves are equipped with armies. The auxiliary army refers to the prison camps organized into each city and belongs to the Xiang army establishment. The treatment of the Imperial Guards of the Song Dynasty was good, and the salary was not low. It was not that easy to do it. However, since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu followed the custom of the Five Dynasties and sheltered tyrannical and lawless people in the army. The army is the minions of the imperial court. What kind of good people can the minions be? Moreover, the atmosphere in the military is dominated by commanding officers, class law is implemented, and oppression is imposed at all levels. Living in such an environment, it is not easy to be a normal and good person.
All the troops collected by Wang Xiaolie were dispersed and organized into new military camps for retraining. It was quickly discovered that this was not enough. Many people came out of the new barracks and did not change their old habits. After being incorporated into the army, they persisted in their bad habits, making it difficult for officers to manage them. For the veterans of the Forbidden Army, a new army was formed after the new barracks came out, and they were trained for another year. Only after all qualified people are dispersed and then integrated into the various armies can these people be digested.
Luan Qingshan estimated that only 60% of the original Forbidden Army had actually been incorporated into Wang Xiao's hunting army. The remaining 40% either had their military status, were allocated land, and became farmers. Or be like yourself, escape from the army, and then do anything. But most of them are robbers.
In the past year or two, Wang Xiaolie began to expand his territory. Officials were also sent to places that had not been left alone before, such as Yingchang Prefecture, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou. These bandits have no room for development and have no choice but to find another way out. Some of them defected to Liu Yu, some fled to Lianghuai, and some of them worked for Wang Xiaolie like himself.
It is not an easy task to take such a group of people to build a stronghold behind enemy lines. If you want to convince them, you can't do it without some real ability.
Early the next morning, everyone had breakfast and followed the men sent by Officer Peng to the Leopard Tail Village in the nearby mountains.
Most of the walls have collapsed, and there are ruins everywhere, which shows the brutality of the war at that time. Entering the village, you can see corpses that have turned into bones from time to time, and the cold wind blowing from above is frightening. Several wild animals were lying in the grass, their eyes glowing faintly when they saw people coming.
After walking around the village, everything was desolate, except for the gentle whistling of the north wind.
The man said: "Ever since the gold thieves broke into the stronghold and massacred the surrounding villages, few people have come here. If you want to settle here, you have to take care of it."
Luan Qingshan said: "It's nothing to clean up. We have enough manpower. It's just that there are so many bones here and no one has buried them. It's really sad. These are all heroes from the nearby villages. When the country was in danger, they took up swords and guns to fight the enemy and protect the country. In the end, their bodies were exposed Wilderness. For a country, how to face them? Well, let’s stay in this Leopard Tail Village and do something good. Let these bones be buried in peace.”
The man said: "This is the best. You can buy some supplies in the past two days and live at the foot of the mountain first. There will be no human habitation for ten or twenty miles around, so you are not afraid of being discovered. The nearest Taiping County is still thirty miles away. If you want to buy Goods can go there. It is under the rule of Jiangzhou and is not as restrictive as Jinzhou."
Luan Qingshan agreed one by one. Seeing that there was nothing else in the village, we went down the mountain together.
The man said: "If you decide to live here, go back and answer the question. In a few days, the heroes around will gather to listen to the general's orders."
Luan Qingshan said: "Exceptor Peng——"
The man said: "The general was sent by Mr. Wang, and Mr. Peng will not interfere too much. Unless there is an urgent matter, the general can make his own decision."
Luan Qingshan thought for a while and then said: "It's not easy to establish a foothold in a strange place. When I came here, I didn't bring much gold and silver with me. And I saw that Xiangyang Huizi was not used in Jinzhou. I wonder if Yuan Peng can move. Some money to use?"
The man said: "I will report this matter to Yuan Peng. However, Yuan Peng is in Jinzhou and he has to spend money everywhere. I'm afraid it won't be easy to get it out."
Luan Qingshan said: "Since it's inconvenient to move, then forget it. We have many good men here, will we be short of money?"
