Datang New Order

The old man murmured for a moment, then said: "It takes at least one day to walk from here to Yuguan. There are so many women, children, old and young, it may take longer. I am afraid that I will be a burden to the general. When I meet Khitan people on the road, It is even more difficult to get away. Moreover, Khitan people have always been short-tempered, and after a while, most of them will leave this place, and the old men will be able to return to the village."

Li Chengzhong understands that the old people are the most difficult to leave their homeland, and some stubborn old people would rather die at home than leave their homes.Moreover, in the whole world in this era, the Han people have the strongest nostalgia for the land. It is more difficult for them to abandon the land than to let them abandon their lives.He continued to persuade with some reluctance: "Many people have fled to Pingzhou. As long as there are young men in the family who join the army, they can get good land at the foot of Mount Jieshi..."

Another old man surnamed Cheng stepped forward and interjected, "General, I don't know where Jieshi Mountain is, but the fields under White Wolf Mountain have been cultivated since their ancestors, so I really can't bear it. The neighbors who fled into the customs, as long as the Khitan retreat, they will all come back..."

Li Cheng said angrily: "But what if the Khitan people don't retreat? How can you hide here for the rest of your life? If they go into the mountains one day, where else can you escape?"

When Li Chengzhong was taken to the back mountain by the old men, he was speechless, because these people told Li Chengzhong with their actions that even if the Khitan people did not retreat, they could still hide in the White Wolf Mountain for a lifetime.In the depression of the back mountain, here and there, the fleeing people have plowed out irregular fields. These fields follow the streams in the mountain, layered on the hillside, and many of them have sprouted green shoots!

According to the old men, because of the abundant geothermal heat in Bailang Mountain, the land will not be cold even in winter. If you cultivate here, you can harvest two seasons a year!If it weren't for the inconvenient access because of the location on the mountain, everyone would have been farming here long ago.When fleeing this time, many village households carried seeds with them, and they had planted the seeds for the first time a month ago. As long as everyone survives until spring, the first crop of grain can be harvested.Although the first harvest will not be too much due to the first plowing, it is enough for these people to survive. After one or two more seasons of plowing, these plowed lands will become good fields, and everyone will no longer have to worry about food.

Looking at the steaming hot springs in the back mountain, Li Chengzhong was speechless. He took a closer look and found that the smell of sulfur in the steam from those hot springs was not strong, and the cultivated land was far away from the springs. It is far from being affected by it, but it is in the warm geothermal range. It is estimated that even if it snows heavily, the snow will definitely melt quickly, and instead become water that nourishes the land.For the advanced use of geothermal resources, apart from being deeply admired, he can only ridicule to himself: "Who said that those who travel through time must have advanced knowledge? The abilities of the ancients are far beyond the imagination of future generations."

In the eyes of the old men, what Li Chengzhong saw was the joy and longing after labor. His nose was a little sore, and he couldn't help blinking.

Li Chengzhong stayed in the military camp for a day, and he ordered the soldiers of Liangdu to do everything within his power, including cleaning up the cave dwellings excavated on the mountain wall again, building several new hearths in the corners, and The stables were rearranged, and some wood was cut down to surround them into pens. He planned to get some sheep for the people in the stockade to feed after returning to Pingzhou.In the end, he ordered to leave all the two carts of grain for the people to spend the winter.

Do all this well, it's already night.Li Chengzhong's soldiers are basically from outside the pass, and they naturally have a family relationship with the people who fled to the mountains, and some of them, like Liu Jinhou, are young people from the three villages, so they quickly integrated into each other. .To be honest, there is nothing good to eat for dinner, that is, porridge, hot noodles, some dried meat in the car and wild vegetables dug by the people in the mountains, but these things have made these people eat comfortably up.Sitting by the bonfire, Li Chengzhong looked at the people around the stove. They looked very happy, with smiles on their cheeks, and even singing in some places. The words "military and civilian Yushui family" came to Li Chengzhong's mind again, and he couldn't help laughing a little at his own thoughts. …,

Feng Dao sat beside Li Chengzhong, and suddenly asked, "Is Li Yuheng not taking them away?"

Li Chengzhong nodded: "They don't want to leave, so naturally they can't force them."

Feng Dao asked: "Isn't Li Yuhang afraid that they will be taken away by the Khitans? Then he will become the Khitans' slave Dingkou, which in turn will strengthen the Khitans."

Li Chengzhong was silent, and sighed: "Forcing them to leave their homeland... I really can't do it."

Feng Dao didn't bother with this issue any more, he smiled: "Dao has traveled to so many places, Li Yuheng can be regarded as the most unique one."

"Huh?" Li Chengzhong didn't understand.

Feng Dao explained: "Dao has never met anyone who asks his soldiers to help the people with work, let alone send out military rations..."

Li Chengzhong scratched his head: "I will explain the military rations to the envoy when I go back. I will take responsibility for the punishment. As for helping the common people, shouldn't it?"

Feng Dao looked at the cheering crowd around him, and said, "It's fine if you don't forcibly extract strong men from these people to join the army. There is no one to help with the work. These are the recruits. They were all ordinary people outside the customs two months ago. ...If it weren't for this, Li Yuheng might not be able to force him. These soldiers are very simple..."

Li Chengzhong agreed with this. The soldiers under him did not have the habits of those veterans of the Lu Long Army, and they did not have any resistance to helping the people with their work.On the contrary, those military officers who followed Li Chengzhong to withdraw from Weizhou slightly disagreed with this.Jiang Miao was better. Although Zhang Xingzhong didn't say anything, he just looked aside after Li Chengzhong gave the order. He even frowned slightly when Li Chengzhong went up to help with the work himself.Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing, and Jiao Chengqiao found an excuse to investigate the enemy's situation and hid outside the village. As for Zhou Kuaido, although he was also helping with the work under Li Chengzhong's supervision, he kept muttering and venting his heart dissatisfaction.

Li Chengzhong felt that Feng Dao was a person who could talk to each other. Although he was a Confucian scholar, he was not a corrupt Confucian, so he explained the benefits of helping the common people with their work one by one.Mostly it is nothing more than the fact that soldiers come from the common people. Helping the common people is equivalent to helping oneself. With the support of the common people, you can gain as many benefits as you fight. It was high-sounding, and it felt like explaining the truth to Feng Dao. In the end, he himself felt that it was very dogmatic and boring, but Feng Dao listened with relish.

While the two were talking, the three elders that Li Chengzhong had seen during the day came over together.

Because of Liu Jinhou's relationship, the old man with the surname Liu was the first to speak: "Toutou, I have an unfeeling request for you, I don't know if I should say it properly." This time he understood Li Chengzhong's official position, and changed his title. .

Li Chengzhong hurriedly pulled the three old men to sit down, and said: "Old man, if you need anything, just tell me, as long as I can do it, I will try my best!"

Old man Liu and the other two old men looked at each other, and said: "Dutou is a good official who loves the people, the old men can see it..."

Li Chengzhong smiled: "What's the matter with the old man, tell me."

Old man Liu paused, and finally summoned up his courage: "Dutou, Jin Hou's younger generation told the old men that Dutou is a good official who cares about the people, so the old men want to ask Dutou to stay here more. Life, to be honest, although everyone is unwilling to leave, the life of the past two months is really a bit scary... Oh, I am really sorry, I have come to rescue XX, if XX doesn't leave, it's fine, but instead I want everyone to stay and take care of..."

Li Chengzhong stared blankly at old man Liu, feeling guilty for a while.Maybe it's because of being a soldier in the army. In his view, being a soldier is to protect the people. This is a natural obligation and an unshirkable responsibility that soldiers should fulfill. But in the eyes of these ordinary people, let them fulfill this responsibility. This kind of duty and responsibility has become an unfeeling request that he can't let go of, which really makes him feel sincerely guilty. …,

Seeing that Li Chengzhong didn't speak, the old man panicked, and hurriedly said: "If Dutou is in trouble, let's leave it at that, and pretend that the old men have never said anything about it. It's just that there are some young people here, so I don't know if Dutou can help teach me for a few days , so that they can also use knives and guns. There are some craftsmen in Lao Cheng's village, so they don't have to worry about knives and guns. They can cut wood and make some... Lao Guo's clan also has some good hunters. Hunting bows and hunting forks, please be able to give pointers, the Khitans have come, so they can protect themselves..." Old man Liu felt that he seemed to be going too far, the more he spoke, the lower his voice became, the more he spoke, the less confident he was. No more talking, just looking at Li Chengzhong nervously with the old men Guo and Cheng next to him.

Li Chengzhong took a deep breath, stood up and walked back and forth a few steps, and then said: "Old man, please allow me to think about it, okay?" The three old men got up quickly and took their leave.

As far as Li Chengzhong is concerned, he thinks that he should stay. In addition to the pleas of the old men, the sense of mission of the soldier also makes him unable to refuse.This is one of the biggest differences between modern soldiers and ancient or even modern soldiers.In ancient times, more reasons for joining the army were to serve as soldiers and eat food. Some of the outstanding ones were to get promoted and make a fortune. In addition to these two things, when the modern army faced the ancient army, it could almost be described as a one-sided massacre; while the modern soldier emphasized the soldier's sense of mission. They knew why they fought and who they fought for, although they only watched This seemingly simple change can make them have a stronger will to fight, a firmer determination to sacrifice, and a more flexible fighting style when facing modern armies.Compared with ancient and modern armies, modern armies can endure a greater casualty rate, and sometimes this casualty endurance is almost 100%!An army fighting with such will can almost ignore the huge gap in equipment under certain conditions and win the final victory.

However, Li Chengzhong also knew that if he agreed rashly, there would be difficulties.First of all, are the brothers under your command willing?Choose to set up camp in this kind of mountain to resist the attack of the Khitans. Will these brothers continue to follow?The second is the issue of food. There are only two carts of food in front of us, which can at most last ten days for the soldiers in the two capitals, not to mention that there are so many people who need to be cared for.It is true that arable land has been opened up in the back mountains, but it will take at least three months to harvest those grains.Then, even if they stayed, with the help of these two brothers, could they withstand the encirclement and suppression of the Khitan people?In the end, can Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji agree to stay?

Looking at the piles of bonfires and the laughing and laughing people and soldiers in the military camp in front of him, he fell into deep thought.