Chapter 39: White Wolf Mountain Water Interval (6)

  The old man hesitated for a moment, then said: "From here to Yu Guan, it will take at least one day, and with so many women, children, and elderly people, it may take even longer. I'm also afraid of adding trouble to the general's journey. If we encounter Khitan people on the road, it will be even more difficult to escape. Moreover, the Khitan people have never been patient, after a while, most of them will leave this place, and the old men can return to the village."

  Li Chengzhong somewhat understood, the old man was the most reluctant to leave his hometown, and some stubborn old men would rather die at home than leave their hometown. Moreover, in this era of the whole world, it is the Han people who have the strongest attachment to the land, making it harder for them to abandon their land than to give up their lives. He continued to persuade with some reluctance: "Many common people have escaped to Pingzhou, as long as there are strong men from the family in the army, they can get good fields under the Yishan Mountain..."

  Another old man with the surname Cheng stepped forward and interjected, "General, I'm not sure where Mount Bi Shi is, but as for the fields at the foot of White Wolf Mountain, we've been cultivating them since our ancestors' time. We really can't bear to give them up... Those neighbors who fled into the pass will surely return once the Khitans retreat..."

  "But what if the Khitan people don't retreat? Can you hide here for a lifetime? If they enter the mountains one day, where can you escape to?"

  When Li Chengzhong was taken to the back mountain by the old men, he was speechless, because these people told Li Chengzhong through their actions that even if the Khitan people did not retreat, they could hide in the White Wolf Mountain for a lifetime. In the valley of the back mountain, here and there, the fleeing people had already plowed out irregular fields, which were layered on the mountain slope along the stream in the mountain, many of which had already sprouted green shoots!

  According to the old men, in Bai Lang Mountain, due to its abundant geothermal resources, even in winter, the land will not be cold. If cultivated here, two seasons can be harvested in a year! If it weren't for the remote location and inconvenient transportation, everyone would have cultivated this land long ago. During this escape, many villagers brought seeds with them and had already conducted the first sowing a month ago. As long as everyone endures until spring, the first batch of grain will be harvested. Although the first harvest won't be much due to the initial cultivation, it's enough for these people to survive. After cultivating for another one or two seasons, this land will become fertile fields, and everyone won't have to worry about food anymore.

  Looking at the hot springs emitting steam in the mountains behind, Li Chengzhong was speechless. He carefully observed that the sulfur smell from the hot springs was not strong, and the farmland was relatively far away from the spring eyes, which would not be affected by it. However, they were within the warm geothermal range, so even if it snowed heavily, the snow would definitely melt quickly and become nourishing water for the land. Faced with this advanced use of geothermal resources, he could only secretly sigh in admiration: "Who says that people who travel through time must have knowledge ahead of others? The abilities of the ancients far exceed the imagination of later generations."

  In the eyes of the old men, Li Chengzhong saw the joy and longing after labor, his nose was a bit sour, and he couldn't help but blink.

  Li Chengzhong stayed in the military camp for a day, and ordered his two thousand soldiers to do everything they could, including re-sweeping the caves excavated on the mountain wall, building several new stoves in the corners, rearranging the horse stable, cutting down some trees to enclose them as pens, and preparing to bring some sheep back to Pingzhou to let the people in the camp raise. Finally, he ordered that both carts of grain be left behind for the people to get through the winter.

  Having done all this, it was already late. The soldiers under Li Chengzhong were basically from outside the pass, and they naturally had a sense of kinship with these refugees who fled to the mountains. Among them, there were several people like Liu Jinhou who came from the same village as Sanhu Village, so they quickly blended in together. To be honest, there was nothing good to eat for dinner, just porridge, hot pancakes, and some dried meat on the car, as well as wild vegetables dug up by the villagers in the mountains. But with these things, the villagers were already eating very comfortably. Li Chengzhong sat by the bonfire, looking at the villagers around the stove, they looked very happy, their faces full of smiles, and some places even sang songs. The seven words "army and people are like fish and water" floated in Li Chengzhong's mind again, and he couldn't help but smile wryly at his own thoughts.

  Feng Dao sat beside Li Chengzhong and suddenly asked: "Li Yu, aren't you really taking them away?"

  Li Chengzhong nodded: "They are unwilling to leave, and naturally cannot be forced."

  Feng Dao asked: "Isn't Li Yu afraid that they will be captured by the Khitan people? In the end, they will become slaves of the Khitan people and increase their strength."

  Li Chengzhong remained silent for a moment, then sighed: "Force them to leave their hometown... I really can't do it."

  Feng Dao didn't dwell on this issue anymore. He smiled and said, "Having traveled to so many places, Li Yudai is one of the most unique ones."

  "Huh?" Li Chengzhong didn't understand.

  Feng Dao explained: "The way has never encountered a situation where the soldiers under his command help the common people with their work, let alone send out military rations..."

  Li Chengzhong scratched his head: "As for the military rations, I'll go back and explain to the army commander. If there's any blame, I'll take it on myself. As for helping the common people with their work, shouldn't we?"

  Feng Dao looked around at the lively crowd and said, "It's already good that we don't have to forcefully recruit strong men from among these people to join the army. Where can you find help with work? It's just these new recruits, who were ordinary civilians outside the pass two months ago... If it weren't for this, Li Yu might not be able to drive them either. These soldiers are very simple-minded..."

  Li Chengzhong agreed with this, and the soldiers under him had not been infected with the bad habits of those old Lu Long army veterans. They had no resistance to helping the people do their work. On the other hand, some military officers who followed Li Chengzhong back from Wei State had some slight objections. Jiang Miao was a bit better off, but Zhang Xingchong didn't say anything, and after Li Chengzhong gave the order, he just stood aside with his arms crossed, looking on idly. When Li Chengzhong personally went to help with the work, he even slightly furrowed his brow. Wang Dalang and Meng Xuxing, as well as Jiao Chengqiao, used the excuse of scouting out the enemy's situation to slip away from the camp, while Zhou Kangdao, although helping with the work under Li Chengzhong's supervision, kept muttering to himself in discontent.

  Li Chengzhong thought that Feng Dao was a trustworthy person, although he was a Confucian scholar, but not a pedantic one. So he explained the benefits of helping the common people with their work one by one. In short, it was nothing more than the fact that soldiers come from the common people, and helping them is equivalent to helping oneself. With the support of the common people, battles can be won with many advantages. These principles were what he had learned when he was a soldier in the army before crossing over. Although they seemed grandiose, there was a feeling of lecturing Feng Dao on great truths. By the time he finished speaking, he himself felt that it was too formulaic and dull, but Feng Dao listened with relish.

  As they were talking, the three old men Li Chengzhong met during the day came over together.

  Due to Liu Jinhou's relationship, the first person to speak up was still the old man with the surname Liu: "Director, we have come this time with an unpleasant request, I don't know if it should be said." This time he had figured out Li Chengzhong's official position and changed his form of address accordingly.

  Li Chengzhong hastily pulled over three old men and sat down, saying: "Old gentlemen, whatever you need just say it, as long as I can do it, I will definitely try my best!"

  Liu old head and the other two old heads exchanged a glance, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Governor Du is an official who loves and protects the people, we old men have seen it with our own eyes..."

  Li Chengzhong smiled: "Old man, what's going on? Spit it out."

  Liu old head paused, finally gathering the courage: "Doudou, Jin Hou's young man told the old men that Doudou is a good official who puts the people at heart, so the old men want to ask Doudou to stay here for a few more days. To be honest, although everyone doesn't want to leave, these two months have been spent with some anxiety... Ah, it's really not worth it, Doudou came to rescue us, and we didn't leave, but instead wanted Doudou to stay and take care of us..."

  Li Chengzhong stared blankly at Old Liu, feeling a pang of guilt in his heart. Perhaps it was because he had been a soldier in the army, but in his mind, being a soldier meant protecting the people, which was a duty and responsibility that soldiers were born to fulfill and could not shirk. But in the eyes of these ordinary people, letting them fulfill this duty and responsibility had become an unreasonable request that made him feel deeply guilty.

  Seeing Li Chengzhong not speaking, the old man was a bit flustered and hastily said: "If it's difficult for you, then let's just forget about this matter and pretend we never mentioned it. However, there are some young and strong men here, I don't know if you can help teach them for a few days, so they can also wield knives and guns. In Old Cheng's village, there are some craftsmen who can take care of the knife and gun business, so you don't have to worry about it... Old Guo's clan has some skilled hunters who brought hunting bows and spears, please instruct them as well, so when the Khitans come, we'll have some self-defense capabilities..." Liu old man felt that he had perhaps gone too far, his voice getting lower and lower, his confidence dwindling, until he stopped speaking altogether, only exchanging anxious glances with Guo old man and Cheng old man beside him.

  Li Chengzhong took a deep breath, stood up and paced back and forth several times before saying: "Old man, please let me think about it, okay?" The three old men hastily got up and retreated with a bow.

  In Li Chengzhong's mind, he thought he should stay behind. Apart from the old men's pleas, the sense of mission as a soldier also made him unable to decline. This is one of the biggest differences between modern soldiers and ancient or even modern soldiers. In ancient times, joining the army was mainly for food and clothing, some excellent ones were for promotion and wealth, of course, there were also those who defended their homes and country, but that was rare; Modern soldiers have discipline training and honor cultivation, with these two things, when facing ancient armies, they can almost be described as a one-sided slaughter. Modern soldiers emphasize the sense of mission even more, they know why they are fighting, for whom they are fighting, although it seems like a very simple change, but it allows them to have a stronger combat will, firmer sacrifice determination, and more flexible combat methods when facing modern armies. Modern armies can tolerate higher casualty rates compared to ancient and modern armies, sometimes this endurance is almost 100%! With such determination, the army can almost ignore the huge gap in equipment under certain conditions and achieve final victory.

  However, Li Chengzhong also knew that if he agreed rashly, there would be difficulties. Firstly, would his brothers under him be willing? Choosing to set up camp in this vast mountain and confront the Khitan's attack, would these brothers continue to follow him? Secondly, there was the problem of food supply, with only two carts of grain on hand, barely enough for 10 days' worth of supplies for the soldiers, not to mention the many civilians who needed protection. Although land had been opened up in the rear mountain, the harvest of those crops would require at least three months. Then, even if he stayed behind, could he rely on his two brothers under him to withstand the Khitan's siege? Finally, would Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zijie agree to stay behind with him?

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