Peach and plum spring breeze and a glass of wine

"Squeak..."

Yang Ge pushed open the door of his house, and Xiao Huang couldn't wait to rush in, running back and forth around the house excitedly with his airplane ears.

Seeing its lively appearance, Yang Ge smiled knowingly, turned sideways and made an "invite" gesture to Zhao Miao behind him: "Please come in!"

Zhao Miao gave him a big smile, raised her leg and stepped across the dark threshold, walking into the bright sunshine of the courtyard.

Yang Ge followed her into the yard and gently closed the door.

Zhao Miao stood in the middle of the courtyard, as if it was his first time on Chaimen Street, curiously looking around at this small courtyard that was not very spacious but felt warm everywhere.

She has actually been here, more than once.

But this time, she wasn't here as a guest.

But go home...

"Sit down for a while first."

Yang Ge put Zhao Miao's small bundle in the back room and walked out of the house wearing an apron: "I'll make a fire to cook after I've packed up."

Zhao Miao smiled and stepped forward and pulled off the apron from his waist, pushing him under the grape trellis: "We are already at home, how can you still work... Sit and drink tea, I'll do it!"

Yang Ge was pushed away by her, and a strange yet familiar feeling came to his heart. He smacked his lips and tasted it. It seemed a little bitter, but also a little sweet.

He suddenly smiled and said: "Let's clean it up together."

Zhao Miao raised her little face to look at him, smiled and nodded, saying "Okay".

Yang Ge took the apron, shook it, put it around her waist, and tied it carefully.

Zhao Miao turned around, took his arm and slowly rolled up his sleeves.

However, one went to the kitchen, and the other picked up a broom and swept the courtyard.

"Second brother, the water tank is dry!"

"I'm going to fight..."

After a while, a faint smoke drifted into the yard.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk."

There was a slight knock on the door.

Xiao Huang, who was having fun in the yard, raised his head and looked at the door. Suddenly he rushed behind the door wagging his big tail and "woof, woof, woof", stood up and dug hard at the door bolt with his paws.

"Second brother, we have a guest!"

Zhao Miao stuck her head out from the kitchen room and shouted towards the back room.

"Coming..."

Yang Ge wiped his hands and walked out of the back room. When he saw Xiao Huang behind the door, wagging his tail vigorously and scratching at the door, he smiled knowingly.

He quickly stepped forward and opened the door.

"Squeak."

The courtyard door opened, and Liu Mang and his wife stood outside the door holding Xiao Guangzong in their arms.

Xiao Guangzong raised his little hand as if knocking on the door. When he saw Yang Ge, he stretched out his hands towards him with a smile: "Second uncle!"

"Why!"

Yang Ge laughed and reached out to take Xiao Guangzong from Liu Mang's arms. He unscrupulously rubbed Xiao Guangzong's face with his stubble, causing Xiao Guangzong to push his big face hard: "Second uncle is bad!"

"Hahaha……"

Yang Ge laughed and turned sideways: "Brother, sister-in-law, come in quickly."

Liu Mang complained in a low voice: "You said you didn't go home for a meal when you came back, and we had to come to find you in person..."

Mrs. Liu Deng interrupted his ramblings with a slap, and said with a suppressed smile: "Don't listen to your brother's nonsense. He was very happy when he heard that you were back."

Yang Ge chuckled.

Zhao Miao from the stove house heard their voices, wiped his hands and came out of the stove house, smiling and saying hello: "Brother, sister-in-law."

When Xiao Guangzong saw her, he stretched out his hands to him as if seeing a savior: "Sister-in-law!"

Yang Ge bent down and put him on the ground, and the little thing rushed into Zhao Miao's arms.

When Mrs. Liu and Deng saw this, she smiled and said loudly: "From now on, I can't call you sister-in-law. You have to call me Erniang."

Xiao Guangzong didn't know if he had been taught by the two of them before coming here. When he heard his mother's words, he immediately changed his words and said: "Second mother!"

"Eh!"

Zhao Miao smiled happily and bent down to pick up Xiao Guangzong and walked to the back room: "Come on, Er Niang will get you some delicious food!"

Liu Dengshi: "Goose goose..."

Liu Mang: "Hahaha..."

Yang Ge slapped Liu Mang and said with an angry smile: "We haven't gotten married yet, so don't make such ridiculous jokes."

Liu Mang glanced at him: "Ren Miaomiao didn't say anything, and you still served it?"

Mrs. Liu Deng glared and said ferociously: "Yes, you kid, don't pretend to be confused and bully Miaomiao because you understand, we won't agree!"

Liu Mang's husband sang and his wife followed him: "Yes, I won't agree!"

Yang Ge rolled his eyes: "Did I mean that?"

Liu Mang: "Then what do you mean?"

Liu Dengshi: "You're not interesting!"

As the couple talked, they suddenly started laughing.

Yang Ge also laughed...

In the yard next door, Xie Yunzhi, who had a few flowers on his temples, was sitting in the shadows against the wall, holding his chin in one hand and quietly listening to the laughter next door, with a slight smile on his lips.

"very nice."

She whispered softly.

…

Two days later, Datong, Shanxi.

Yang Ge was dressed in a pure blue outfit, standing on the majestic ancient city wall of Datong with a Lengyue knife on his waist. Looking up at the rolling Qianliguan Mountain outside the pass, a huge doubt gradually rose in his heart: 'This kind of terrain is like this. , can the Tatar army enter? ’

"Second Master?"

A loud shout of surprise came from afar. Yang Ge turned his head and took a closer look in response, and saw Liu Tang, who was wearing armor and led a group of embroidered guard captains, jumping off their horses and rushing over here quickly.

He glanced around... Hey, they are all the Xiuyiwei brothers who made the eastward journey.

"Really the second master?"

"Second Master!"

"Second Master..."

Seeing Yang Ge, all the embroidered guards also shouted in surprise.

Yang Ge greeted him with a smile: "Long time no see, you guys!"

Liu Tang and others came up to him with a big smile, clasping their fists and saying, "Second Master, you're fine when you come!"

Yang Ge lightly punched him on the chest: "Where do you get all these gifts... Aren't you in Liaodong? Why are you here?"

Liu Tang looked around and said with a smile: "We are embroidered guards, not generals of the border army. Naturally, if there is a war in that compartment, we will go to that compartment. I just heard the people below said that you are here. , we still don’t believe it, we didn’t expect it was really you... How could you come to Datong?”

Yang Ge smiled lightly and said, "You'll be able to hold on when you're full!"

Liu Tang laughed boldly and said: "Then you came at the wrong time. If we had good wine and meat to entertain you earlier, now we can only entertain you with Tatar swords!"

Yang Ge laughed and scolded: "A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory!"

"Hahaha……"

A group of embroidered guards laughed in unison.

"Stop talking nonsense now, someone, come find me two rooms and get me some food!"

Yang Ge waved and said, "I also invited helpers."

"I'm going, I'm going..."

A burly military captain in embroidered clothes walked quickly through the crowd with his hands raised.

"Stay somewhere cool. This is Datong, and I am the boss of the place. How can you entertain the second master?"

Another beard-faced guard captain in embroidered clothes grabbed the man, stepped out of the crowd, raised his fist towards Yang Ge and said: "Second Master, don't listen to Lao Liu's nonsense. You can come anytime." Wine and meat!”

"Fuck you, Lao Zhang, you are not loyal!"

"That's not what you said when we came here..."

It's like this when old friends get together. They agreed not to talk nonsense, but before saying a few serious words, they started talking nonsense again.

Yang Ge had nothing to do with these weather-beaten hob meat and could only join in the nonsense.

After a while, Yang Ge pointed to the outside of the pass and asked: "Old Liu, is the information you got accurate? With this terrain, can the Tatars attack in?"

He just looked at it. The Datong City Wall is connected to the Great Wall. It is twelve or thirteen meters high and six or seven meters wide. Moreover, the mountains outside the pass are rolling and the terrain is steep. If the army approaches the Datong City Wall, it will be forced into a line by the mountains. You have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but it's all useless if you can't line them up.

"The information is definitely inaccurate!"

When it came down to business, Liu Tang stopped talking nonsense and shook his head sternly: "Second Master, the Tatars are not straightforward. They will show off as many troops as they have. They say it is 200,000, but secretly there are 400,000 and 500,000. Everything is possible.”

"You have never fought in a border war. You may not know very well. A border war is not as good as a siege war. A siege war is fatal. Both the enemy and ourselves have to fight against the city gates and walls."

"Border defense warfare is a living thing. If the enemy cannot open one pass, he can divide his troops to attack other passes at any time. In the nine military towns of the 8,000-mile Great Wall, the enemy only needs to break through one, and our army can react. Before, they marched in, burned, killed and looted.”

"What we can only confirm now is that the Tatars have no less than 200,000 troops and are heading towards Datong. We can only hold Datong first and explore the Tatars' base while fighting."

Yang Ge pondered for a moment and said softly: "Can you show me the map of the border pass?"

"What can't you do..."

Liu Tang turned around: "Old Qin, go and get the border defense map I'm about to bring to the Second Master!"

"Why!"

A captain in embroidered clothes responded, turned around and walked quickly towards the horses behind.

After a while, a brocade border defense map was unfolded in front of Yang Ge.

Liu Tang pointed at the map with one hand and explained to Yang Ge: "Second Master, please take a look. I, the Wei Dynasty, have established nine military strongholds based on the Great Wall at the border, which are commonly known as the 'Nine Borders'."

"The nine borders start from the Yalu River in the east and reach Jiayuguan in the west, followed by Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town, Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, Shaanxi Town, and Gansu Town."

"This is the town of Datong. Datong is located in the middle of the nine sides. The terrain is dangerous and easy to defend and difficult to attack. But once you pass Datong, there is a flat plain to the north. If Datong is lost, the land of Yanyun will immediately fall into the Tatar pasture. The land of horses…”

Yang Ge followed his explanation and carefully read the troop allocation on the border defense map: 80,000 troops stationed in Xuanfu Town, 75,000 troops stationed in Datong Town, and 50,000 troops stationed in Shanxi Town. The three towns formed a horn with Datong as the center. Armed.

He stretched out his hand and pointed to the location of Datong on the map: "Are there always so many soldiers and horses in these three towns, or have a group of soldiers and horses been mobilized from other border towns for reinforcements?"

Liu Tang nodded: "There have always been so many. We haven't yet figured out the reality of the Tatars, so we don't dare to mobilize troops randomly. Moreover, these three towns have already prepared 200,000 troops. If the Tatars really only have 200,000 troops going south, they will It depends on determination that the door to Datong Town cannot be opened.”

Following his explanation, Yang Ge stared at the border defense map for a moment and finally got a rough idea.

The important towns in Jiubian were built on the basis of the Great Wall, and the Great Wall was built along the ridges between high mountains and ridges. Outside the Great Wall, there are mostly undulating mountains.

In other words, to move from one border town to another outside the Great Wall, you need to go over mountains and ridges and go around a long way to get there.

But when moving troops from one border town to another on the Great Wall, you can march all the way along the Great Wall... Although the Great Wall is not the shortest straight road, it also requires climbing up hills, but compared to following the mountain Going in circles, the Great Wall is already a highway.

In this way, the convenience of the Great Wall can offset the powerful mobility advantage of the Tatar war horses to a certain extent, and the Wei army can calmly fight a positional battle that remains unchanged in response to ever-changing changes.

Of course, the premise is that the gap in military strength between the two sides cannot be too large!

This requires the Wei Dynasty to accurately determine where the main force of the Tatars is. Otherwise, the 200,000 Tatar army stormed Datong Town and attracted the defenders from surrounding important towns to come to support. As a result, a group of Tatars emerged over there. The main force of the Tatars took advantage of the situation and attacked from inside and outside the Great Wall... Wouldn't that be the end of it?

"In other words, if no one cooperates internally and externally..."

Yang Ge stared at the border defense map and asked thoughtfully: "Is the focus of the Tatars' attack this time probably not in Datong?"

"Hard to say."

Liu Tang replied calmly: "The art of war is to use what is imaginary to be real and what is real to imaginary. The key depends on how many soldiers and horses the Tatars have mobilized this time and how much wealth they have left at home to support them in this war. "

"But this... is exactly the reason why I am waiting here!"

Yang Ge smiled and patted his shoulder gently, indicating to him to put the border defense map away: "You guys did a great job, you're awesome!"

Liu Tang laughed and said, "It's all because of your good teaching!"

Yang Ge smiled and shook his head: "I never taught you this..."

Liu Tang: "By the way, Second Master, you are going north this time..."

He gave Yang Ge a questioning look.

Yang Ge smiled and said: "You are busy with your business, and I am busy with mine. When I need your cooperation, I will speak up."

Liu Tang understood, smiled and held his arm: "Okay, let's not talk about business now, let's go for a walk and have a drink..."

Yang Ge followed him for two steps, then suddenly stopped and turned to look to the southwest.

Seeing this, everyone raised their heads and looked to the southwest, but saw nothing.

Yang Ge patted Liu Tang on the shoulder: "The help I invited has arrived. You go and drink first. I will come later... Well, let Lao Zhang prepare an extra room."

"Yes, Second Master.

A group of guards in embroidered clothes responded in unison, got on their horses and headed down the city wall.

After a while, two sword lights fell from the sky and landed on the ancient city wall, revealing two towering figures, one green and one white, with long swords on their backs and long sleeves fluttering.

The man in white robe is naturally Zhang Xuansu, the old master of Longhu Mountain.

As for the man in green robe... he was eight feet tall, thin, with gray beard and hair, and his eyes were indifferent. There was obviously no aura around him, but when Yang Ge looked over, there was a slight tingling sensation in his pupils.

He immediately guessed the identity of the visitor and couldn't help but feel a little shocked.

He remembered clearly that when Lao Zhangtou introduced this person, he called him senior!

Lao Zhangtou has become an old carrot head, but his senior still has some black hair. If you just look at his appearance, he seems to be in his forties or fifties.

"Boy Yang, come here quickly..."

Zhang Xuansu waved to Yang Ge from a distance.

Yang Ge raised his leg, jumped more than ten feet in one step, and appeared in front of the two of them.

Zhang Xuansu pointed at Yang Ge and introduced to the man in green robe beside him: "This boy is the world-famous 'Zhongshenjun' Yang Erlang, my friend who has never forgotten it."

Finally, he pointed to the man in green robe beside him and said to Yang Ge: "Boy Yang, this is the ninth generation head of Huashan that I mentioned to you before, Senior Jiang!"

The two looked at each other.

Yang Ge took the initiative to clasp his fists and solemnly said: "Junior Yang Erlang, I have heard the name of my senior for a long time."

He had heard the name of Jiang Pingjiang from Lao Zhangtou a long time ago, but this time he went to the grassland to find the old monster to fight for his life. Even Zhang Xuansu, whom he had known for several years, he only asked him to be his wife. He was raiding the formation, so how could he have the nerve to ask this old man Jiang, whom he had never met before, to come and help him?

It is a person's ability to become a land immortal. He cannot kidnap others morally just because they have the ability, right?

Facing his greeting, Jiang Ping just nodded lightly: "Old Jiang Ping."

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

Yang Ge looked at Zhang Xuansu doubtfully: ‘Does he have a problem with me? ’

Henry Zhang actually said directly: "Senior Jiang's cold temperament is not aimed at you."

Yang Ge was relieved and said with a peaceful smile: "Senior Jiang is a swordsman, so it's normal for him to be colder."

With the help of this senior Jiang, this battle is certain!