Late Tang

(In the past two days, the wires and cables at home were dug up by a nearby construction site, so I couldn’t access it, and I couldn’t update it in time, sorry!)

One early morning at the end of April, when Lin Jiawen got up to rinse his mouth, his wife, Yao Shi, was sitting in front of the spinning wheel, buzzing and turning the handle, and a white tassel the size of wild rice stem had already formed on the spindle. Lin's mother has also woken up early, spinning the spinning wheel under the jujube tree in the courtyard where she lives alone.After rinsing his mouth with snow salt produced in Dengzhou, he sat on the reclining chair in front of the millstone that his dead father liked to sit on, took a cup of extremely strong tea, and drank his morning tea leisurely and complacently.

After drinking two sips of tea, Lin Jiawen picked up the long tobacco rod of the brass smoking pot on one side of the stone table and knocked it on the cloth sole a few times. .This brass pipe was exchanged by him in the north for two little black puppies from the family bitch.Since the Qin army occupied Dingzhou, Jiumen Village in Jiumen County, a small village on the border between the two states, has suddenly become the front line of both sides.Jiumen Village is on the north bank of the Filteruo River, further north, the Zishui River that never dries up in all seasons separates Dingzhen and the two prefectures.

At the beginning, Lin Jiawen, like many villagers, was full of fear of the Qin army on the other side of the Zi River.But the family business was hard to give up, and in the end he stayed.Gradually, he discovered that the Qin Army in Wuji County, Dingzhou, on the other side of the river, was not a group of brutal bandits as the officers and soldiers of the Chengde Army had claimed.On the contrary, after receiving the careful contact of the brave, they also discovered that these Qin troops were still bringing them great convenience and benefits.

For example, there is a grass market on the north bank of the Zi River, where many merchants from the Qin Dynasty sell various goods from the east, and then take away various local products from them.Even when the year was bad, the Qin merchants on the other side actually gave them loans to borrow food.Lin Jiawen is a resident of Jiumen Village who has lived here for generations. Counting up, their Lin family's background is even greater.

According to the genealogy of the Lin family, the Lin family of Nine Gates is a descendant of Bigan in the Shang Dynasty. The descendant of Bigan, a young master at the end of the Shang Dynasty, is the founder of their village. He is also a descendant of Lin Fang, one of the 72 disciples of Confucius.Jiumen Village has a history of thousands of years. Even during the Anshi Rebellion, it was a famous ancient battlefield. Marshal Li Guangbi of the Tang Dynasty once fought against the rebel general Shi Siming at Jiumen Village.

After a long time, Lin Jiawen, like other villagers, no longer fears the Qin army and Qin merchants on the north bank.Instead, they often put some melons and fruits harvested in the field, pears and dates picked from trees, even cloth spun by women, and shoe soles, etc., in a bag after dark and carried to the north bank, and then exchanged for some high-quality and cheap ones. Cheap stuff back.Smoking grass is what Lin Jiawen learned in the grass market.After compensating for the taste once, I couldn't let go of it. In the end, I exchanged two puppies for a long tobacco pipe made of brass pipe, and exchanged two home-raised sheep for a bag of tobacco.Now Lin Jiawen's biggest hobby every day is to have time to smoke a bag of cigarettes.

Lin Jiawen is just in his early thirties this year, and his father passed away two years ago, less than fifty when he died.He was forcibly conscripted into the army by the German army, but he never returned. Like most men in this era, he died in a foreign land and his bones were never returned.Lin Jiawen inherited the family business, and the family owns more than a hundred mu of land. Although more and more taxes have been levied in recent years, they still manage to make ends meet.Especially after the Qin army was stationed in the north, life here is getting better and better.Now, every night, he would go to his mother's room to sit in her room before she went to bed and when she got up early in the morning.

The buzzing and creaking sounds of the two spinning wheels connected with each other, overlapped each other, one after another, together with the chirping of birds on the trees in the courtyard in the early morning, filled every corner of Linjialiao with a calm and peaceful atmosphere.Lin Jiawen was immersed in this ancient melodious yet fresh and joyful music, his muscles and bones stretched.

Zhao San, the only long-term worker in the family, took out the family sickle, fetched a basin of water, and carefully sharpened it on the whetstone in front of the door until the sickle was sharp and sharp.Then he pulled out the pair of bay red horses from the livestock pen on one side.Since ancient times, Zhending has been the birthplace of war horses in the north, and Hebei war horses are excellent war horses in the Central Plains.The Lin family has more than 100 mu of land, and they also raise two horses to cultivate it.Pulled out two bay red horses from the pen and tied them to the horse-tethering stone, Zhao San strode into the courtyard and asked loudly about Xia Harvest.

Jiawen came out, smiled and said to the dark-skinned Zhao Sand, "You have some tea first!"

Zhao San is an old man of the Lin family. His grandfather worked in the Lin family, and then his father, and then he, worked in the Lin family for generations. Even his son is working in the Lin family now.Zhao San has been diligent for generations, and the Lin family values ​​him very much.In the past few years, when Qin Fan gradually expanded to the south, more and more farmer servants fled to the north to vote for Queen Qin. Jiawen, who took over the Lin family after his father died, made a big decision. He returned the slave contract to Zhao San, and from then on, Zhao San's family changed from slaves of the Lin family to hired long-term workers.This action made Zhao San's family feel grateful to the Lin family. Since then, they have no other thoughts and are dedicated to doing things for the Lin family.

Zhao San stood respectfully in the courtyard and said that he would not drink, but still asked about the arrangement of Xia Harvest.

Jiawen said: "The rice is growing well this year. Let it grow for a few more days and harvest it in another five days. We can't harvest it with just a few of us. I've made up my mind. I will go to Zhenzhou to invite a few rice farmers to come and harvest it." "Jiumen Village is located between the Liotuo River, Zi River, and Baidao River. The river never dries up in four seasons. It is an extremely rare irrigated plain.Wuji County on the north bank of Zishui started planting the extremely high-yielding red Champa rice last year, with a yield of four stones per mu. He went to see it in person.After reading it, he was very moved. The price of rice is higher than that of wheat, not to mention that the output is still high now. The only requirement is to have water.The most important thing in Jiumen Village is water. This year, he specially bought rice seeds from Wuji County, and his family's more than 100 mu of land has been planted with rice.Now, the rice is golden and ready to be harvested immediately. According to Zhao San, a seasoned farmer, the Lin family can harvest at least [-] shi of rice this year from more than [-] mu of rice.

This situation made both Jiawen and Zhao San very happy. After the harvest, they took all the Champa rice to Wuji and sold it to Qin merchants, and then exchanged for more wheat, and handed over part of it to the commander-in-chief of Defan town. Save the next few years, so you don't have to worry about food in the next few years.

After a few sips of tea, Jiawen, Zhao San, and Zhao San's son Xiaoyong walked across the village road with a hoe on their shoulders, left the village, and walked down the river beach.

The field has changed its appearance. It was green a few days ago, but in a blink of an eye, the green has turned into pieces of golden yellow, dazzling like yellow copper coins, and there is a harvest of Shen Xun under the river beach.There is clear river water flowing in the ditches, and frogs jump across the rice fields from time to time.

The ground was still wet, so Jiawen began to dig ditches for the rice fields with Zhao San and his son according to the method learned in Wuji.Planting rice is not like planting wheat. Rice needs water, but after the rice matures, the water must be drained and the field needs to be dried, which is the last procedure before the rice is harvested.As soon as the hoe went down, pieces of fertile soil were dug up with water, and the heavy ears of rice kept shaking.

Zhao San picked an ear of rice and carefully counted the number of grains on it. The ear of rice was very pleasingly long, and there were more grains on it.After counting, he directly stuffed the ears of rice into his mouth, chewed out the rice fragrance that filled his mouth, and burst into tears with excitement, "It's a pity that the master couldn't see this day. With such rice seeds and this paddy field, the Lin family's Life will become more and more prosperous in the future..."

Lin Jiawen also nodded, yes, looking at the heavy ears of rice, I was really happy.

On the north bank of Zishui, Wuji County, Dingzhou.

A puff of smoke rose high under the bright sun, and a large army was coming.

The frontier guards stationed in Dingzhou were at the forefront, and not far behind, there was a larger number of troops following them. They were the militiamen called this time.

Nie Lieji was riding that black war horse, wearing the navy blue plate armor he had received the honor on, ignoring the scorching sun at this moment, although he was covered in sweat, but his heart was excited.Behind him is Zhao Tai.Behind the two of them were a total of [-] people from Baima Town.

Among them are 500 people from the standing militia battalion of Baima Township, and 100 people who volunteered to come to the reserve militia.If it weren't for the upper limit of the number, Nie Lieji could even bring tens of thousands of militiamen.In Nie Lieji Village alone, more than 50 militiamen and young adults who were not militiamen signed up this time. In the end, 3000 militiamen were approved to join the army in the village. It happened to be a militia team, and the old village head served as the militia leader.Nie Lieji is the mayor of Baima Town, so he is also the "leader" of the [-] people in Baima Town this time, and Zhao Tai is his deputy.

3000 people went south from Yizhou all the way, wearing stars and wearing moons, riding their own war horses, wearing their own weapons, chariots and horses, all of them were high-spirited.

"Mayor, in front of you is the Zihe River, across the Zihe River is Zhenzhou, on the north bank of the Filteruo River is Jiumen, and to the west is Zhenzhou Zhending City where Chengde's commander-in-chief's mansion is located."

Nie Lieji looked at the south where the sky was high and cloudy. Under the white clouds, there were patches of golden yellow.This year, rice is basically planted on the border of the town. At this time, the rice is ripening one after another, and it is golden. Compared with the wheat field, it is more golden and splendid.

He knew very well that Zhenzhou was really determined, that was the target of the field army, and their mission this time was to harvest rice.

"Rest where you are and wait for orders. Everyone hurry up to eat and prepare your scythes. As soon as the army sends an order that you can cross the river, you will do it immediately." Nie Lieji shouted, and emphatically stated, "Everyone is here From time to time, they put out all their strength to cut more wheat. However, there is a sentence to declare that only the wheat is allowed to be cut, and they are not allowed to enter the village, and they are not allowed to rob the bank. To deal with it according to military law is to behead your head as a public display, do you understand?"

Many militiamen had never actually been on the battlefield, so Nie Lieji was extremely concerned about their discipline.The purpose of robbing food is to seize Hebei, but it must not engage in burning, killing and looting. This place will still belong to Qin Fan in the future.

When the sun was in the middle, Lin Jiawen, Zhao San and his son had already dug a long ditch in the rice field, and water from a large piece of rice field had flowed into the ditch, exposing the moist soil under the rice seedlings.

After wiping off his sweat, Jia Wen said to Zhao Sand, "Third brother, it's getting late, let's go back to eat first."

Zhao San was still digging the ditch, "Da Lang, let's go back first, the two of us will finish digging this ditch."

At this moment, there was a sudden thunder in the sky.

Lin Jiawen looked at the clear sky in a strange way, "Why is there thunder?"

Xiaoyong's eyes were sharp, but he pointed to the north and shouted in surprise: "Dalang, Aye, it's not thunder, it's soldiers... Do you think?"

The two of them followed his fingers to look over there, and they saw countless smoke and dust rising from the dirt road among the golden rice fields in the north, and a troop of soldiers and horses was rushing towards them. Lin Jiawen, who is a descendant of one of the 72 disciples of Confucius, who cultivated and studied the heirloom, was extremely surprised to see flags fluttering in the smoke and dust.On the flag, flags with the characters of Qin Jun, Zhou, Liu, and Wang fluttered, "This is Qin Jun!"

He was extremely shocked. This was not only the Qin army, but also not an ordinary Qin army. At least he had never seen these banners in Wuji County.Suddenly, he understood that Qin Jun finally called.

Zhenzhou, Zhending City, Yacheng Shuaifu Festival Hall.

Wang Jingyin, deputy envoy of Chengde Jiedu, was discussing matters with his brother Chengde Jiedu's marching Sima and Boye army envoy Wang Jingyi.

"The summer harvest is about to begin. This year's harvest is good, and it is a bumper year. After this batch of summer grain is put into storage, it can be eaten until next year's summer harvest." Wang Jingbin laughed.

Wang Jingyin also nodded with a smile. There is food at home, so don't panic.

"Brother, the spies sent to the north sent back news, it seems that the Qin army has moved again."

"It's probably a lot of bluffing. These damned guys are always gathering troops and horses, making us extremely passive. This year's spring plowing has been delayed a lot. If it wasn't for a good year, we would be in big trouble."

"What should we do now? The summer harvest is coming soon, and we need a lot of manpower. In the past few years, a large number of people have fled to Qin Fan, and we have very little labor. If the army is assembled, especially if the recruits and civilian husbands are not sent back , I’m afraid it will delay the summer harvest. If the time is delayed, when it rains, this good food will be spoiled in the fields.”

Speaking of this, Wang Jingyin also had some headaches.In the past six months of this year, Qin Fan has assembled four times, and this is the fifth time.Every time they were passive, the soldiers and horses assembled, but the opponent was silent again.Qin Jun has a strong foundation, they can mess around like this every day, but Chengde right now doesn't have the confidence.Although Chengde also has an elite standing army, more soldiers and horses cannot be completely separated from production.Especially in the past few years when a large number of farm slaves and those unruly people have been fleeing to the Qin Dynasty, the new army they recruited still had to take a holiday to return to the farm during the busy farming season.

Now is the time for the summer harvest, but the Qin army is gathering again at this time.

"Put back the conscripted peasants and craftsmen first, and let the local states and counties arrange to harvest the grain uniformly. After the grain is harvested, leave rations for the common people, and all the rest will be purchased by the government and put into warehouses." After thinking for a while, Wang Jingyin said, This is a compromise solution. The soldiers dare not put it back for the time being, but the food has to be collected.

"Let's see first. If the Qin army is just bluffing, when they calm down, we will send some soldiers to collect food. If the Qin army is really coming this time, we don't have to panic when we have soldiers. Just call the folks." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps outside the door.

The chief guard gasped and reported loudly, "Deputy Marshal, it's not good, Qin Jun, Qin Jun..."

"What happened to Qin Jun?" Wang Jingyin had a bad feeling. .

"Qin Jun is coming!" The chief guard shouted loudly, with panic on his face.

"Don't panic, tell me slowly, where did the Qin army come from, how many soldiers and horses there are, how many soldiers and horses are there, and who is the general in command?"

"Back to Deputy Commander, Qin Jun, Qin Jun came from all directions. From the northernmost Taihang Feihu Mountain in Zhenzhou to Shenzhou and Yizhou, a large number of Qin troops suddenly came from all directions. Even the Weibo border , also appeared a large number of Qin troops. It is reported that Li Jing sent two generals to lead the army, Zhou Dewei as the capital to attack our Chengde, and Guo Chongtao as the deputy capital to attack Wei Bo. They attacked across the board, with at least 20 soldiers and horses More than ten thousand!"

More than 20 million?

All-out attack?

Wang Jingyin and Wang Jingbin's faces turned pale all of a sudden, and it was entirely possible to mobilize 20 people with the strength of Qin Fan.Moreover, due to the feints of the Qin army in the past few times, Chengde did not pay too much attention to the movement of the Qin army this time. The result was that they only reacted when the Qin army had really killed them.

Front-line military intelligence began to return continuously.

By the next day, brothers Wang Jingyin finally figured out the current situation.

The Qin army really came to attack, and it really attacked in an all-round way. From Yiding in the north to Moyinghejian, then Cangjingde in the east, and then to the Yellow River in the south, there were Qin troops attacking everywhere.

The infantry, cavalry, and navy troops of the Qin army were mobilized in large numbers.Weibo and Chengde are basically surrounded now, and the border has been breached long ago.

And the number is far more than 20.To be precise, at this time, on the border of the eight states of Chengde, Weibo, and Weibo, the Qin army dispatched a total of 30 soldiers from the north and the south, and there were also [-] frontier and city defense troops fighting in coordination.In addition, the Qin army actually brought a full [-] militiamen with the army.

Almost immediately, Chengde and Wei Bo's fortresses on the border were completely breached, and thousands of people were killed and captured.

"Assemble the soldiers and horses immediately, and call back the peasants and craftsmen!" Wang Jingyin said coldly.

Orders were passed down one after another, and Chengde Town began to mobilize fully as if it was facing an enemy.

But at night, there was still worse news.

The Qin army's attack was unexpected. They did not go deep quickly, but separated the soldiers and horses. The main force of the soldiers directly attacked the state cities of each state, while the border guards and city defense troops surrounded and divided the military strongholds in each county. There are as many as 30 civilian husbands, wielding sickles, grabbing the freshly ripened grains in their fields, and then transporting them back to Qin territory continuously.

Those Qin army's field troops, border guards, and city defense troops rushed to the cities, but they were not in a hurry to attack the cities. They just divided them into soldiers and horses in the German cities with a fierce momentum and superior forces.

Facing the aggressive Qin army, Cheng De's army didn't dare to go out of the city at all, but hid behind the city wall in horror, at a loss, and sent back to the commander-in-chief's mansion in Yacheng from all over the place. (To be continued.)