Chapter 26: The Stormy Weather of Yu Guan (5)

  Zhong Si Lang stood in the first row, his eyes fixed on Li Cheng Zhong's mouth. Suddenly, he heard Li Cheng Zhong shout "Go!" and immediately followed behind him towards the gate. The wooden gun was slung over Zhong Si Lang's shoulder, but it felt a bit awkward, as if the barrel was going to fall backwards. He quickly adjusted the gun and stabilized it. Carefully treading on the ground, he drew out a circle with his feet and passed through the gate first. After exiting the gate, the circles split into three rows and turned left. Following Li Cheng Zhong's orders, Zhong Si Lang carried his gun and stepped onto the outermost circle in the first row, then stood still at the first point on the left.

  Outside the city gate of Yu Guan, there are three rows of such dots, with thirty dots in each row. The soldiers of the Jia Du army stepped on one dot each and waited for Li Chengzhong's order. Suddenly, Li Chengzhong shouted loudly: "Turn around!" All the soldiers of the Jia Du army turned around collectively, facing outside the city gate, with the city gate behind them open and burning after being set on fire.

  Li Chengzhong shouted again: "Present arms!" The first two rows of sixty men raised the guns on their shoulders and then held them forward. The first row was holding the gun horizontally, while the second row's gun head was slightly higher, resting obliquely on the shoulders of the first row. The third row consisted of thirty people, including two teams of shield-bearing soldiers and one team of archers, with the two teams of shield-bearing soldiers on either side and the team of archers in between. As Li Chengzhong gave the order to "present arms", the shield-bearing soldiers raised their shields to chest level, holding their swords horizontally above their heads with their right hands, while the archers strung their bows.

  Li Chengzhong took a look, corrected several incorrect postures, and shouted "Kill!" The three rows of armored soldiers also shouted "Kill!" and took a step forward. Li Chengzhong shouted three times, and the entire phalanx also shouted "Kill" as they advanced three steps. Li Chengzhong nodded, shouting "Turn around!" The entire phalanx immediately turned back, returning to their respective circular marks, and under Li Chengzhong's leadership, they stepped back into the gate one row at a time.

  It took Li Chengzhong a whole day to form the initial array of Jia Du, just with this simple action. This rough array made Li Chengzhong very dissatisfied. Firstly, when exiting and entering, the front and rear intervals of the team's march were not even, sometimes loose, sometimes dense. Secondly, when marching, everyone was not divided into left and right, and their footsteps looked very chaotic. Finally, what made Li Chengzhong most worried was that once they left the circular marks on the ground, the entire Jia Du team would immediately disperse. Especially for those last three steps that seemed to be majestic, Li Chengzhong specially drew three lines with stones in front of the circular mark, and only then did the brothers of Jia Du barely achieve a preliminary alignment. Without these three lines, Li Chengzhong really didn't dare to imagine what the situation would be like.

  Li Chengzhong knew that the enemy he faced was the Khitan people who were about to establish the Liao Dynasty. Although he was not clear about the specific years and events, he knew that his opponents would rule the entire northern region of China for nearly two hundred years from now on. Throughout the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods, the iron cavalry of the Liao Dynasty would dominate this region, looking down on the Central Plains with a condescending attitude. They had set up the puppet emperor Shi Jingtang, controlled the sixteen states of Youyan, swept across the Central Plains, trampling the invincible army of the Song Dynasty under their feet, and even reached Bianliang at one point. They were the eternal pain in the hearts of the great Song rulers, scholars, and literati who had brought Chinese culture to its peak, a nightmare that all Song people gnashed their teeth but could not help.

  This nation is in the midst of a historic rise, they are about to establish their country, conquer the grasslands, and rule over Hebei and Liaodong. Their military might will sweep across all of East Asia! Such an opponent makes Li Chengzhong's heart flutter with anxiety whenever he thinks about it. Maybe there's still ten years, twenty years? Or even thirty years? Li Chengzhong silently comforted himself, at least for now there is no Great Liao nation, no Great Liao Iron Cavalry, let's just focus on defending the Yu Pass first.

  At dusk, Wang Dalang returned. He was sent by Li Chengzhong to investigate outside the pass and observe the situation nearby.

  "Ten miles from the pass, there is a Khitan camp." Wang Dalang took a sip of water handed over by Li Chengzhong and told him what he saw.

  Li Chengzhong was a bit nervous and asked in a hurry: "What scale? How many people?"

  "After counting, there were twenty-three leather bags in total. The number of people was unclear, probably around thirty or forty."

  "Who knows the military system of the Khitan people? What is the number of twenty-three skin accounts? How is the combat effectiveness? Which tribe does this Khitan team belong to?" Li Chengzhong asked, scanning his eyes around the various partners.

  Among them, Meng Xuzheng and Jiao Chengqiao grew up in Guanwai as Youji, with some understanding of the situation of various Hu tribes outside the pass. Meng Xuzheng said: "One tent of Khitan people is one regular soldier, and one regular soldier usually brings one or two auxiliary soldiers. Calculating this way, there should be twenty-three regular soldiers, and twenty-three to forty-six auxiliary soldiers. The tents of the Khitan people are very small, and at most, one tent can hold only one or two people."

  Jiao also said: "In the past, the Khitan people had never been to Yu Pass. At most, they were nomadic near Yingzhou, and that area was a pasture for the Pin Department and Wuwei Department a few years ago."

  Li Chengzhong pondered for a moment, and it seemed that there were less than 100 enemies outside the Yu Pass, among whom more than 20 were elite regular soldiers. The Khitan army was not large, but he didn't know if there was a larger military camp to the north of this one. He immediately ordered Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao to go and scout again early the next day, and must penetrate within 20 miles of the Khitan army's northern flank.

  Just then, an alarm came from the city tower. Li Chengzhong was startled and hastily led the crowd of partners to quickly go up the stairs, lie on the wall and look outwards. He saw three riders slowly approaching in the distance, one in front and two behind. After a short while, the three riders arrived at the foot of the pass and carefully looked up at the city gate.

  Li Chengzhong turned back and asked Meng Xuxing: "Did you hit it?"

  Meng Xu Xing shook his head: "It's a bit far, just out of range. Even if I hit it, there won't be much force behind it."

  Li Chengzhong turned his head and ordered Wang Dalang: "Get ready immediately, assemble in the school field!" Wang Dalang responded quickly and went away. The school field was just inside the gate, Li Chengzhong was taking precautions early.

  Jiao Chengqiao muttered to himself on the side, "It would be great if these three rabbits charged in, we can catch them and ask questions."

  Li Chengzhong looked at the newly erected "Zhou" flag on the city gate and shook his head: "The great flag of our Pingzhou army is right here, if it's just these three people, they will definitely not come in, what I'm afraid of is that there are large numbers of Khitan troops charging the city behind them."

  The gate of Yu Guan has not been repaired yet, if the Khitan people attack the city, they will definitely not climb up like ants, but will directly rush to the gate. Therefore, there is no need for many people to guard the gate, and most of the brothers have come to the training ground inside the gate to assemble, standing on their designated spots as during daytime training. Only two people were left on the city wall to keep watch. Li Chengzhong sent most of his company commanders down from the city wall to lead troops, leaving only Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao, who are skilled in archery, by his side.

  The two sides stood facing each other, staring at each other. The three Khitan cavalrymen led their horses a few steps forward again, and Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao had already quietly taken off their bows and arrows, waiting for the three men to move closer before shooting.

  Three Khitan cavalrymen stopped advancing and stood still, occasionally whispering to each other. Li Chengzhong sometimes stared at the three men's movements, sometimes looked behind them, his palms already wet with sweat.

  After a while, the three people finally turned their horses around and galloped away from the city gate. Watching the backs of the three men, Li Cheng's eyebrows were tightly furrowed.

  Li Chengzhong descended the pass wall and arrived at the school field. Seeing dozens of new recruits lined up in front of him, he couldn't help but burst into anger. These soldiers had heard that a Khitan person had come from outside the pass, and more than half of them were trembling with fear, their faces pale and lips dry as they continuously swallowed their saliva. Looking at this situation, if there weren't several senior military officers to maintain order, they would have turned around and run away long ago.

  He was somewhat annoyed and said loudly, "I know you were all refugees from outside the pass before. You were all frightened by the Khitan people. When you hear that the Khitan people are coming, I estimate that many of you want to turn around and run away, running as far away from here as possible. But think carefully, where can you escape to? If you flee from Yu Pass, the Khitan people will occupy Yu Pass. If you flee to Pingzhou City, the Khitan people will attack Pingzhou City. If you flee to Youzhou, Youzhou will become a pasture for the Khitan people! Before you are afraid, think about your current identity! You are the garrison troops of Pingzhou, and your current responsibility is to defend Pingzhou. Your future responsibility is to restore your homeland outside the pass! If even you are afraid and want to run away, what will happen to your parents and relatives? Think carefully, be a man and stand up straight!"

  After finishing, Li Chengzhong returned to the top of the pass in a rage, silently gazing out at the darkening wilderness outside the pass. Wang Dalang followed him up and comforted him, saying: "General, they were all new recruits from outside the pass who were frightened by being killed, and can't be compared with our elite troops during the southern expedition."

  Li Chengzhong nodded and sighed. The aftermath of the southern expedition had gradually emerged, and now it seemed that the loss at that time was not just tens of thousands of soldiers, but the entire elite and morale of the Lulong Army. Apart from the heavy losses of the old soldiers who had experienced many battles, even the Yan Zhao strong men and wandering warriors who could hold knives and go to battle were almost all lost, leaving only some cowards behind.

  When Li Chengzhong's anger dissipated, when he went down to the school field, all the soldiers were still waiting in line. Li Chengzhong smiled awkwardly and waved his hand: "Dismissed!" Only then did everyone slowly disperse with caution. It seems that the training for the past two days has yielded some results, and everyone has initially developed the habit of following orders, at least no one took action without hearing "dismissed". Let's take it slow, Li Chengzhong comforted himself.

  Before the sky completely darkened, Feng Dao and Jiang Miao escorted the team of civilians from Minfu Camp to Yu Guan. Li Chengzhong now had his heart set on these civilians from Minfu Camp; since soldiers were not available for battle, it was better to gather more manpower, fill up the scene, and intimidate the Khitan people as well.

  "What does Fēng Zhòng want with these fifty civilians? These people are all refugees from outside the pass, and it's not necessary to pay them; just give them enough food. But is it suitable for Fēng Zhòng to recruit new soldiers on his own?" Li Chengzhong subtly reminded him. Without a military order from the army commander, Li Chengzhong privately recruiting new soldiers was a serious breach of military law and would be strongly disapproved by his superiors.

  Li Chengzhong sighed and told the story of what had happened during the day, saying: "Three Khitan people scared my ninety men, now I am also helpless, just hoping to pull over and make a good show, adding more manpower is always good. Besides, I don't want to recruit them, they just need to stand on the city wall at that time."

  Feng Dao nodded: "Doesn't Ah Rong need to urge the civilians to block the gate? Building a gate is not feasible in such a short time, but filling it with stones can be done."

  "How long will it take?"

  Feng Dao calculated: "It will take at least seven or eight days to rush the gate, and if we only use stone blocks to block the door, it will be faster, taking only three days. When I came, I saw that there is a rocky beach two miles away, where we can pull over stones, mainly because grinding the stones takes up too much time..."

  Li Chengzhong shook his head and said: "It's too late, today the Khitan people have already come to test our strength, I reckon that in a day or two we will be at war."

  Feng Dao nodded: "Very well, I'll have someone else deliver the order. Hmm, it would be best if they worked through the night to produce some military equipment."

  Li Chengzhong hastily said: "Then I'll have to trouble Ke Dao younger brother. The military equipment can be simpler, just make some wooden guns."

  Feng Dao agreed and immediately summoned the civilians to hastily manufacture wooden spears. Before long, the sound of chopping wood echoed from the mountain slope inside the pass.