Three thousand miles in exile

Song Fenglin stayed at Liu's house for one night, and went down to the Wuyuan County Yamen early the next morning to deal with the backlog. Lu Shusheng, Cao Ming, and Liu Cheng knew that Song Fenglin was back and waited at the Yamen early in the morning.

Lu Shusheng is now in charge of the affairs of the two counties. The person sent by Liu's family last time went halfway due to bad temper and regretted leaving.

Luckily, Liu Tonghe had already been prepared to tell the truth when he arrived in Northern Xinjiang, otherwise the secrets of Northern Xinjiang would be leaked and it would be a big deal.

After this incident, Liu Xueyuan sent a letter to suspend sending people to Qi Yunshan, and the county magistrate of Shanyin County was still vacant. He hoped that Wen Qingshan could go to high school this time, and if he could, the magistrate of Shanyin County would stay for him.

"Mr. Song, this is Xia Tian's account book, and I have checked and entered it." Liu Cheng presented the caravan's account book to Song Fenglin, and said again. "The autumn harvest will be coming soon. The rice fields are growing well this year, and the harvest should not be bad."

Song Fenglin flipped through the account book.

Since two years ago, Song Fenglin had asked Liu Chenglu to buy hundreds of acres of fertile land within the six counties of Cenzhou. If it weren't for the huge expense of raising soldiers, Song Fenglin could have bought more.

"Maybe it's related to the climate. The rice we grow on Qiyun Mountain is very sticky and very popular. I have already contacted three grain companies in the south who are willing to contract all our fine grains."

Speaking of this, Liu Cheng's face was full of joy. "After the refined grains are exchanged for silver, I will go to Hanzhong to buy wheat. This year, the price of wheat in Hanzhong has dropped, so I can exchange one-third more wheat than last year."

Now that the barracks under Liu Zhan's command is growing day by day, it is the time when there is a shortage of money everywhere. Without the support of Liu Ji Commercial Bank, the development of the barracks would never have been so smooth.

Song Fenglin nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you for your hard work. This is all to help the Cenzhou camp under Liu Zhan's command. Liu Zhan will remember all the efforts of your family."

"This is what I should do." Liu Chengcheng panicked.

Now Liu Ji Commercial Bank has begun to take shape. On weekdays, Song Fenglin is in command behind the scenes, and Liu Cheng is in charge of running it.

Liuji Commercial Company not only contracted the right to purchase wild animals and mountain treasures in the six counties of Cenzhou, but also opened several commercial routes from north to south, not counting reselling food, but selling fur, yam herbs, wild boar bacon and other mountain products every year. A handsome income.

Last year, Song Fenglin proposed to Liu Zhan to give Liu Cheng [-]% of the caravan shares. This year, Liu Cheng worked harder and doubled his income compared with last year.

Due to the continuous purchase of mountain treasures by Liuji Commercial Company throughout the year, the people on Qiyun Mountain began to raise small animals such as rabbits and minks in captivity, and some people also tried to grow medicinal materials. This is a very good phenomenon.

Since Liu Zhan took control of the six counties in Cenzhou, the first thing Song Fenglin did when he took over the power was to suppress the inflated grain prices on Qiyun Mountain.

Nowadays, the people on Qiyun Mountain can eat enough as long as they are not lazy, and some hardworking people raise rabbits and other things in captivity and sell their furs to live happily.

Because Liu Zhan's subordinates expanded to 2 people this year, Song Fenglin had to withdraw money from his private treasury to buy food.

These silvers were obtained from Baoshan last time. After refining, Liu Cheng had already asked Liu Cheng to deposit them in three silver houses in batches.

Song Fenglin quickly made a decision. "After the autumn harvest, if you want to buy another [-] mu of paddy fields, you can visit the villages near Cenzhou."

Liu Cheng responded respectfully, thought for a while and said: "Do we need to add some other livelihoods?"

Song Fenglin had also considered this issue. After all, the money from Baoshan was still on the shelf, but considering that the military needs of the barracks should come first, he decided not to use the money rashly.

"Nowadays there are wars in northern Xinjiang every year, so don't waste too much money, let's wait until the days are more peaceful." Song Fenglin said.

After discussing the next arrangement with Liu Cheng, Song Fenglin had time to see Cao Ming.

Cao Ming was training in the county barracks. Hearing that Song Fenglin was free, he hurried over, and as soon as he entered the study, he said loudly: "Mr. Want to go see it?"

The progress of the project was one month ahead of schedule, Song Fenglin was overjoyed, and immediately set off with Cao Ming into Wild Pine Ridge.

The entrance of Ye Song Ridge is close to Huashi Village, and it enters the forest area through a paddy field.

The plank road winds among the rocks, and Song Fenglin runs ahead on horseback. It used to take a day to enter the hinterland of Wild Pine Ridge, but now it only takes one hour on horseback, and three hours on foot is enough.

Since the passage of the plank road, the progress of land reclamation in the hinterland of Ye Songling has been much faster. Song Fenglin only came back after a month's absence, and it was already a different scene.

Cao Ming led the way, explaining as he walked.

"After you left, I thought that there was a shortage of manpower everywhere, so I decided to go up the mountain and invited the elders of the village to help build the plank road. Now that the life is better, they don't have to work. Anyway, they are idle. I take care of them every day. gone."

Today, several villages near Tiancang Village are rich. Like Zhou Ziming, Wei Chenggui, a well-known impoverished household in the past, they all live in tile-roofed houses and have servants to take care of the farming.

There is also a son from another family who followed Liu Cheng to run a business and was promoted as a small steward because of his lack of thoughtfulness. Everyone has become rich in the past two or three years. They were still good at work earlier, and it is said that they are obliged to help.

That day Song Fenglin and Cao Ming stayed in Ye Songling for the night, and planned to go to the field to survey the land to be opened up the next day.

As a result, soldiers rushed to report early the next morning. "My lord!!! Yan Bing has gone up the mountain!!"

In the Zhoushukou Canyon in the north of Qiyun Mountain, heavily armed Yan soldiers continuously entered the boundary of Qiyun Mountain. From the observatory at the highest point of Tongtian Peak, you can see the light of swords and armor.

The alarm beacon set by Liu Zhan played a big role at this time.

Tongtianguan immediately ignited the beacon smoke, and the second beacon tower in Tianmang Village quickly lit up the beacon smoke. A total of four beacon towers spread the news of the enemy's attack down the mountain as quickly as possible.

Hu Xuling, the head of thousands of households stationed at Tongtianguan and the city defense patrol, is the son of Hu Baihu in Tianmang Village. After entering Yunzhong Academy to study, he got close to Liu Zhan and became one of the first sixteen teenagers to follow Liu Zhan.

Hu Xuling is not tall and has been ridiculed as a dwarf in front of the giants of Cao Zhuang, but he has learned from Song Fenglin the perfect shooting technique, and he has a calm personality and a simple mind, so he is valued by Liu Zhan and stays at Tongtianguan to guard the house.

The news of the Yan army going up the mountain was sent back to Tongtian Pass from the front-line post, and Hu Xuling immediately strictly implemented the countermeasures left by Liu Zhan.

One immediately lit the beacon tower and at the same time sent people down the mountain to notify the nearest villages to Tongtian Pass;

Soon the first wave of Yan soldiers arrived in front of Tongtian Pass.

I saw those Yan soldiers rushing towards Tongtian Pass with their ladders, throwing ropes and large tree stumps cut down from local materials. It was obvious that they came prepared and determined to take Tongtian Pass.

Hu Xuling held the longbow and boarded the city gate, and he raised his hand. "Archers ready!"

The place where Tongtianguan is located is the only entrance to Qiyun Mountain in the mountain range bordering Yan State on the north of Qiyun Mountain.

Because the Niuji Peak on the east side of Qiyun Mountain, which borders Yan State, is full of cliffs, Liu Zhan had expected that when the war was protracted, the Yan army would find another way to attack Tongtian Pass.

Tongtian Peak is full of strange stones, and Tongtian Pass is built on top of the strange stones, condescendingly choking the throat of Qiyun Mountain. Yan Bing went up the mountain to face a stone fortress that was reinforced and raised three times.

When Yan Bing went up the mountain, Hu Xuling had already ordered his soldiers to burn molten iron to water the city gate to death, and then moved huge stones to top the gate. Yan Bing could only climb the gate tower that was several feet high if they wanted to attack the city.

Today there is no wind on Qiyun Mountain, and the smoke is straight and high.

The villagers from all villages who received the news immediately gathered together, and everyone rushed to the front of Liu's house as soon as possible.

At this time, Liu Xueyuan had ordered a hundred soldiers stationed in Tiancang Village to immediately go up the mountain to support them.

"I also organize young and strong people to go up the mountain to help, I can't just sit here and wait for death!" Cao Zhuang's father, Cao Tie, sounded like a bell, and he was going to support him with a long knife in his hand.

Soon many people responded, Yan Bing had already hit the door of the house, how could the good life of the villagers be ruined by Yan Bing, and the crowd was furious for a while.

"Wait a minute, everyone." Song Yijun stopped everyone in time.

"Tongtianguan is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are 500 standing defenders, plus 100 people who have already gone up the mountain to help, 600 people will be able to defend for a while. I believe that the main force of the county barracks is already on the way. If everyone flocks up the mountain It's going to be out of order."

The war has only just started, Tongtian Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Yan soldiers will not be able to attack for a while, this time is enough time for the Shanxia County Barracks to come to support.

Song Yijun analyzed the pros and cons to the villagers, and finally appeased everyone.

At this time Liu Xueyuan also remembered what Liu Zhan had explained earlier. "My son once left a coping strategy. If the beacon smoke is not extinguished, it proves that the Tongtian Pass cannot be broken. If the beacon smoke suddenly breaks, let me wait and take my family down the mountain immediately."

Now that the smoke of the wolf is not extinguished in the distance, it proves that the Tongtian Pass is temporarily safe.

"Let's go back first and ask the family members to pack up the soft money and other things. If something happens, the family members will go down the mountain immediately, and we, the young and strong, will stay and fight against the enemy." Liu Xueyuan made up his mind.

The villagers agreed one after another, and immediately turned and went home to make arrangements.

In Liu's courtyard, Mrs. Zhao is holding Liu Mingcong with his left hand and Liu Youning with his right hand, and the women and children of each house are nervously looking at the distant smoke.

The old lady wanted to come out but was dissuaded by everyone, and Li Xiaolian's daughter-in-law was with her in the house.

In addition, the butler Liu Zhong took the servants to pack up the things and put all the things into the carriage first, so that if he wanted to go down the mountain, he could start immediately.

"How come at this time, your stomach can't stand running around on the road, but what to do." The old lady's eyes were full of deep worry.

Li Xiaolian's daughter-in-law Xiao Liu's stomach is seven months old, which is the time when her body is heavy.

She held her breath and comforted the old lady instead. "I believe that the soldiers under my brother will be able to defend Tongtian Pass. My brother is a guerrilla general, and his soldiers will be invincible."

At this moment, the sound of armor and horseshoes came from a distance.

I saw Song Fenglin and Cao Ming in uniform rushing to Tongtian Pass with [-] soldiers non-stop. They were passing by Tiancang Village and in front of Liu's house. Song Fenglin led the team to Tongtian Pass without stopping.

Seeing that the reinforcements had already gone up the mountain, everyone was half relieved.

At this time, Hu Xuling was leading the defenders to fight fiercely, and the small area in front of the gate of Tongtianguan was already full of corpses, and Yan soldiers were still going up the mountain in a steady stream, which was determined to take down Tongtianguan.

Gradually, Hu Xuling also felt unprecedented pressure.

But he couldn't take half a step back. Hu Xuling insisted on implementing Liu Zhan's strategy, and kept adding arrows to the city tower. Alleviate disadvantages.

At the same time, in the Yan army camp, Yan army general Yelu Longji was stationed outside Zhou Shukou to supervise the battle.

According to the news sent back by the spies, there are only 500 permanent garrison troops at Tongtianguan. Yelu Longji thought that it would take two or three hours at most, but not only did he make no progress, his soldiers even failed to climb the city wall.

"A bunch of trash!" Yelu Longji yelled while sitting on the head of the middle account. "Pass me the order to attack with fire!"

When Song Fenglin arrived, rockets were flying over Tongtian Pass, and Cao Ming immediately signaled to stop advancing.

The rocket fell on the stone building in Tongtian Pass and went out quickly.

Except for the three big pine trees in the school grounds, Tongtianguan is full of stone buildings. Occasionally, rockets landed on the pine trees and ignited a little fire, which was quickly extinguished by the soldiers with water.

Pools were built at the four corners of the Tongtianguan, the southeast, the north, and the west. Even if a fire did break out, it would not cause a devastating blow.

As soon as the rain of arrows stopped, Cao Ming immediately led the soldiers into the pass and climbed up to the wall to replenish the source of troops.

"Carry all the wounded soldiers down! Old Ma, you take a team to move the stones. There are not enough stones on the city wall!" Cao Ming immediately took over the power of supervising the battle as soon as he joined Hu Xuling.

Song Fenglin followed Cao Ming to the gate tower, and saw Yan soldiers coming in a steady stream, and soon a new round of offensive started again.

Yan Bing carrying the ladder began to climb the city wall stepping on the corpses of his predecessors.

The city wall of Tongtianguan was remodeled by Liu Zhan. There are dense shooting holes on the top of the city wall. These shooting holes are about the size of a palm. There are long knives pierced out of the shooting holes one by one. Pushing the enemy again is like dumpling. go down.

Tongtianguan is a dangerous pass that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In such a long time, the Yan soldiers suffered at least 2000 casualties.

The number of casualties is already the sum of the defenders of Tongtian Pass. Even so, the Yan army still did not slow down the offensive, and Yan soldiers continued to go up the mountain to replenish the battlefield.

Cao Ming has sent people to Cenzhou and the nearby Dingbian County of Zhangtai County to report the news.

It would take four or five days at the earliest for the reinforcements from the Cenzhou Battalion to arrive, and the reinforcements from Zhangtai County and Dingbian County would arrive sooner. During this period of time, the [-] soldiers from Wuyuan County could only stick to Tongtian Pass.

Song Fenglin quickly made a decision. "Quickly go to the Yamen and inform the magistrate of Lu County to organize the young and strong servants to go up the mountain, and all the arrows and luggage are taken to support Tongtian Pass."

At this time, the sky was getting dark, and the shouts of killing on Tongtian Peak were still heard endlessly. More and more Yan soldiers climbed up the city wall. Cao Ming and Hu Xuling led the soldiers to kill the enemy bravely on the city wall.

"Bring the wounded soldiers to the barracks and don't crowd them in the school yard!" Song Fenglin's face was calm and there was no trace of panic. He directed the soldiers to take their positions in an orderly manner.

"The soldiers of the second echelon go up to replace the people on the city wall and come down to rest. Don't fight hard if this battle lasts!"

The city wall of Tongtianguan was narrow and it was impossible to go to many people at once, so Song Fenglin divided the soldiers into three echelons to go up in rotation.

"Report! The number of wounded soldiers exceeds [-]! The number of casualties exceeds [-]!"

"Report! The arrows are exhausted!"

"Report! The stones are exhausted!"

As night fell and time passed, the battle at Tongtian Pass became more and more tragic in the second half of the night.

Holding the long sword, Song Fenglin turned his head and walked towards the city gate without hesitation. "The rest of the people follow me to kill the city wall!"

No one knows that Mr. Song is not only excellent in archery but also in swordsmanship.

Song Fenglin didn't learn Sanda or boxing from Liu Zhan just because he thought these alternative martial arts were too rough. Since Liu Zhan gave him this saber, he picked up swordsmanship again and practiced every day.

But seeing the sharp long sword stabbed directly at Yan Bing's throat, when he drew out the long sword, bright red blood splashed on Song Fenglin's cold and handsome face.

He also has determination.

He will defend Tongtian Pass for Liu Zhan!

At night, Lu Shusheng arrived with the yamen servant Qing Zhuang, and the accompanying team also included Qing Zhuang from Shiliba Village near Tiancang Village.

At the same time, Lu Shusheng brought up all the remaining luggage from the warehouse. Lu Shusheng presided over the distribution of arrows to the archers. Hearing that there were no stones, he immediately arranged for the villagers to carry the stones.

The archers got their arrows, and Song Fenglin turned his head to signal all the archers to fire at once. The two waves of arrow rain finally suppressed the momentum of Yan Bing.

"Report to General Zuo! The vanguard army is completely wiped out!"

"What!" Yelu Longji smashed the gold cup in his hand. "It's just a mountain pass, and 5000 people can't take it down?"

The scout who reported the message had a troubled expression on his face. "Let me tell General Zuo that the mountain pass is several feet high and it is very dangerous standing on top of a strange rock. In the middle of the night, reinforcements from the Chu army arrived. This is why we..."

Yelu Longji paced back and forth.

The right general was not effective in attacking Yangguan. He earned the task of attacking Tongtianguan in order to claim credit in front of the prince. He thought that he could easily take it by sending a few thousand soldiers to a mountain city pass. How could he fill in 5000 people and still remain motionless? .

At this moment, Yelu Longji knew that riding a tiger would be difficult.

Not long ago, the Yan army attacked Yangguan and lost tens of thousands of people. In addition, the number of Yan troops used every year is less than half of that in its heyday.

But if he can't take it down, he will lose the trust of the prince. Now that King Yan is seriously ill, the prince will succeed as the new king in a short time.

Yelu Longji hesitated.

At dawn, Yan's soldiers retreated sparsely out of range. After a day and night of fierce fighting, Tongtian Pass finally had room to breathe.

"Hurry up and make some broth and rice porridge for everyone!"

"Use a donkey cart to bring the seriously injured soldiers to Tiancang Village for treatment! The slightly injured should be bandaged in situ!"

"Whoever wants to go into battle to kill the enemy can go to the warehouse to get weapons! Older ones, don't force yourself, go and help carry the wounded soldiers!"

Lu Shusheng was as busy as a spinning top. He took several students from Yunzhong Academy who volunteered to come to the front line to arrange various chores.

When Lu Shusheng turned his head and saw Song Fenglin coming down from the city wall covered in blood, he was stunned. He was horrified but had no time to think about it.

"Song, Mr. Song!" Lu Shusheng hurriedly pulled Song Fenglin over to sit on the chair and stuffed him with a bowl of hot soup.

Song Fenglin changed hands and gave the broth to Cao Ming who was following him.

"I have them all, I'll get them here, and you sit down." Lu Shusheng fastened the hem of his official robe to his waist for three steps and then ran to serve them soup in two steps.

Hu Xuling sat next to Cao Ming and drank a few sips of hot soup before he calmed down, he panted heavily.

"I probably went to check it out. There are about a thousand soldiers who can still go to battle to kill the enemy. There are hundreds of people seriously injured and hundreds of people who died. There are still some who are not serious. Let them go at the last juncture. .”

"It's possible." Song Fenglin nodded.

Thinking of the bloody battle on the city wall just now, Song Fenglin took the lead several times, Cao Ming admired and worried at the same time. "Mr. Song, don't join the next wave, if there is a mistake..."

Song Fenglin raised his hand to signal him to stop talking. "In times of crisis, we should advance and retreat together."

For a moment, both Cao Ming and Hu Xuling's eyes were moved.

"You must hold on to it no matter what." Song Fenglin looked at the cloudy night sky. "Behind is the home that everyone has painstakingly managed."

Cao Ming and Hu Xuling's eyes were full of austerity.

"Mr. Song, don't worry, the people of Yan want to enter the pass unless they step on my dead body!" Both of them were determined.

In the twilight of the morning, Yelu Longji finally made a decision to add another six thousand troops!

When the news of Yan Bing going up the mountain came, everyone immediately moved.

Song Fenglin changed his strategy. "All the soldiers in front of the formation are replaced with guns, in groups of three, two with guns and one with shields, and the enemy soldiers go to the city and shoot down!"

They don't need to fight Yan Bing to the death. At this moment, holding Tongtian Pass and waiting for the arrival of reinforcements is the primary goal.

Yan soldiers gathered outside Tongtian Pass one after another, and the number of them was several times that of the Tongtian Pass defenders.

Song Fenglin clenched the sword in his hand.

The author has something to say: The national scholar is unparalleled, Mr. Song!