My years as a soldier

The terrain of Tongguan is dangerous, with a large river in the north and a mountainside in the south. It has been the key point of the counties in the pass since ancient times.During the reign of Empress Wu, the imperial court set up Tongjin County in Tongguan to strengthen its control over Tongguan.

The Tang army stationed in Tongguan is now stationed in Tongjin County, which is surrounded by mountains and rivers.Most of the people in the army are farmers recruited temporarily from the local area. These people have no actual combat experience, and they are more powerful than swinging a knife when wielding a hoe.It is conceivable that such an army, no matter how clever the general's command is, in terms of strength, it is still inferior to the northeast frontier soldiers under An Lushan who have been fighting for many years.

Fortunately, at the end of last year, when the two generals Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi went to Tongguan, they also brought out a small temporary army from the capital.Although this troop was improvised, the members who made up this troop were not peasants who enjoyed peace and tranquility on weekdays, but frontier soldiers scattered all over Chang'an.

These frontier soldiers who stayed in Chang'an for various reasons joined the temporary troops formed by two Northwest generals under the urgent mobilization of the court. As the number of Tongguan garrisons increased day by day, they became the mainstay of the Tongguan garrison.One by one, they were promoted several ranks in succession according to their original ranks. The soldiers became captains, and the captains became brigade commanders. In this huge army of ten thousand people, they took on the important task of training recruits.

Now that the veteran Ge Shuhan is stationed in Tongguan, the number of troops stationed in the pass is close to 20.Compared with the Northwest generals who have always advocated elite soldiers and strong generals, this size is already a huge number. If there are 20 Northwest frontier soldiers, it will not be difficult to destroy a country in the Western Regions.

It's just... More than 20 of the 19 Tang troops today are farmers.How to make the 20 troops exert their due strength is still a huge problem.

As soon as Hu and Li entered the boundary of Tongjin County, they were stopped by the guards patrolling the road.

"You two! Sneaky, what are you doing!"

From a distance, the two of them saw a man in gray cloth shorts running towards them speaking Dongdu mandarin, his appearance seemed to be unfriendly.But this is also within the expectations of the two.

This road was chosen by Li Muyun. He didn't want to take the main road because the people who were interrogated on the main road were all civil servants from the two capitals. When he saw his exquisite biography from Chang'an Shengyefang, he couldn't hide his identity. .

But no matter which way you go, if you want to enter Tongguan, you must have an identity.Li Muyun had already put on Hu Jiuzhang's commoner clothes. Even though he was far more refined than Hu Jiuzhang, a lot of dust had accumulated on his body at this time.If you don't look at his overly handsome face, this outfit will definitely make him disappear into the crowd in a blink of an eye, and he won't be able to stand out even if he wants to.

Seeing that the big brother was about to rush forward, Hu Jiuzhang quickly walked a few steps to get in front of Li Muyun, put his hands together and gave a salute to the man, with a smile on his face again.

"Brother, the two of us came from the west to join the army. I heard that soldiers are still being recruited here?"

This rhetoric was also discussed by the two earlier.At this time, the Tongguan garrison could only take him in under the name of joining the army. Besides, Hu Jiuzhang was dressed in the Northwest Army uniform. If he wanted to join the army, he would definitely not be rejected.

Although the person facing him didn't recognize Hu Jiuzhang's military uniform, he recognized Tang Jun's horizontal knife.Hearing the words in Hu Jiuzhang's mouth again, his expression changed instantly.

"Master Jun is going to come to our place to serve? Of course you are welcome! But you still have to go through the biography. I wonder if I can read it?"

"It's natural."

With a smile, Hu Jiuzhang took out his passbook from his jacket and handed it to the man.

Beiting Dufu Mansion, children and old people are not deceived.The man stared at these big characters and read them several times. When he looked up again, he was already holding Hu Jiuzhang's biography in both hands, and handed it back to him respectfully.

"I've read it, Lord Jun. Keep it up. I'll report to General Lu for you right now. General Lu Sheng is in charge of recruiting soldiers here. If he knows that there are frontier soldiers like you coming to join him, he will certainly I'm happy. If you pass the level of General Lu again, you will be promoted to brigade commander, or even captain, it is very possible!"

"Hehe...it's so easy to get promoted now?"

Hu Jiuzhang said with a smile, he casually put away the inspection biography, and saw the man's gaze on Li Muyun's face again.

"Master Jun, this is..."

"Oh, he's my friend, we came here together. But he's a scholar, I wonder if there's anything he can use here?"

"Hey, those who come with you, Mr. Jun, can always find a place to go!"

That man was bold, he casually checked Li Muyun's biography, he was sure he didn't come from the east, so he assuredly led the two of them to the barracks near the pass.

With an army of 20, it is a very technical job to order them to be stationed in a small county town in an orderly manner.Li Muyun originally thought that the small town in front of the blocking rebel army must be full of turmoil and chaos.But I never thought that there is no chaos in Tongjin County, but everyone is performing their duties in an orderly manner.

The few buildings in the county are occupied by civil servants and logistics helpers. There are messengers, messengers, and civil servants running to and fro on the street.The garrisons all camped in the pass, separated from the logistics troops.

While sighing, Li Muyun also had a good feeling for the veteran who had never met before.

It is worthy of being the core figure in the Northwest Army.It's only been a month in a hurry, and he managed to manage the rear so well, but the army under him must be more orderly than the rear.

When they arrived at the barracks, Li Muyun was isolated outside the house alone.But he didn't care, after all, the idea of ​​concealing his identity was exactly what he thought.Seeing that Hu Jiuzhang was so welcomed by the Tongguan garrison now, he was too happy to be happy.

On the other hand, Hu Jiuzhang entered the back room, but only saw a big man in gray clothes in light armor inside the room.

"Where's General Lu?" The guide opened his mouth and asked.

"I was called by General Zhao to close the meeting."

The people in the room talked casually, and kept looking at Hu Jiuzhang.The light armor on this person is the same as that of Hu Jiuzhang, only the color of the bunt under the light armor is different.Hu Jiuzhang's body is black and white, but this person is dressed in gray cloth with white.

This man had a square face, round and fleshy cheeks, but a pair of holes under his thick eyebrows.His appearance was a little funny, but coupled with the stern expression that carried some scrutiny, it didn't make people think it was funny, on the contrary, he didn't dare to laugh in front of him.

The man was instantly recognizable as a veteran.He carried a chilling aura that only a murderer could have, which Hu Jiuzhang could tell from the very first glance.

"Yo, brother from the Northwest Army, new here?"

He said this to Hu Jiuzhang.

I don't know if Hu Jiuzhang himself is too sensitive, or that person really did it deliberately, Hu Jiuzhang always feels that this person in front of him looks at him with a slightly provocative look, not like a brother in the same army, but like an opponent.

"Yes, the newcomer, Beiting Army."

Hu Jiuzhang is not stage frightened.He felt that he was better than the soldiers here, regardless of his background or qualifications. Moreover, now that the country is in crisis, if comparisons and runs are prevalent in the army, how can we fight?The opponents are all well-trained frontier soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, and they are all traitors.People can even betray the country, and their determination to fight must be stronger than that of the defenders in the pass.

"Oh……"

Seeing that Hu Jiuzhang's face remained unchanged, the square-faced man did not bother anymore. He just looked away and looked at the topographic map of Tongguan outlined in ink on the wall, fascinated.

"If you want to see General Lu, you just wait here, but I don't know when he will come back."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the patrolling soldiers around Hu Jiuzhang.

"Old Guo, you don't need to waste time here, go back to patrol quickly. If you see something suspicious, stop it immediately. Marshal Ge Shu has repeatedly told you that the calmer the other side is, the more we can't relax here. Our food and grass It is sufficient and occupies the favorable terrain of Tongguan. The rebels are different. They traveled long distances and fought all the way from Youzhou to come here. We can afford it, but they can't. So the calmer the front line, the more wary the rear must be Get information from their spies. Especially the strangers who appear in the city, you can’t let go of any of them.”

The man spoke frustratingly, and when he mentioned the word "spy", he glanced sideways at Hu Jiuzhang. He didn't know whether he was speaking to Hu Jiuzhang or the big brother beside him.

Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help pursing his lips. Although his face was calm, he felt more and more in his heart that this man was deliberately targeting him.

"Well."

The patrolling elder brother nodded obediently, and said goodbye before leaving.

Seeing this, Hu Jiuzhang was even more surprised.When the two armies are at war, who doesn't know to beware of spies.How come this square-faced man is still a character, and all nonsense is so popular?

Once the elder brother who led the way left, the atmosphere in the house became even more weird.It was the first time for Hu Jiuzhang to encounter such a person who likes to fight with him as soon as they meet.He didn't even know the other person's name, and he didn't know why this person didn't like him. He just said the first sentence, and it didn't feel right.

"You came here from the northwest?"

The man said casually, but his eyes sized up Hu Jiuzhang intentionally or unintentionally.

"He came from Chang'an." Hu Jiuzhang didn't intend to lie about it.

"Oh... How many years have you been a soldier in Beiting?"

Hearing him ask this, Hu Jiuzhang felt a little bit offended.He thought to himself, brother, what is your name, who is your identity, why do you start questioning people?Furthermore, the kind of people Hu Jiuzhang hates the most are people who are eccentric in the army and exclude their colleagues. If he meets such a person, then he will definitely not associate with them.

"In a few years, I see that Xiongtai is also a veteran. I don't know where he is from. What is his official position?"

Instead, Hu Jiuzhang squinted his eyes and opened his mouth.

He couldn't like this face when he saw it, but fortunately, with the 20 defenders in Tongguan, the probability of being assigned to a regiment with this person was extremely small, so he didn't mind chatting a few words at this time.

"Hehe, I was born in Longyou, and I have served under General Geshu for several years. I am not a high-ranking official, but just a brigade commander."

It would have been better for Hu Jiuzhang not to ask, but this question made him even more bored.

Alas, if it's just a few chats here, it's fine, don't want to be assigned to this gentleman in the future.

Hu Jiuzhang kept muttering in his heart.Suddenly there was a series of footsteps behind him.Hu Jiuzhang turned around quickly, and saw a heroic young general in silver-gray armor walking quickly from outside the courtyard, followed by someone. Hu Jiuzhang took a closer look, and it was the elder brother who had helped him guide the way earlier.

"Gan Ruoshan! Go back and form a team!"

The young general Yinjia yelled into the room, and then his eyes fell on Hu Jiuzhang's face.

"Are you a soldier from Beiting?"

"Yes." Hu Jiuzhang hurriedly saluted the young general with his hands together.This is probably the General Lu that Big Brother mentioned earlier.It's just that he didn't expect that the general in charge of recruiting soldiers in the army would be so young.

"How many years have you fought?"

"Five years."

"what is it call?"

"Hu Jiuzhang."

"Okay. Gan Ruoshan, haven't you been complaining to me that it's too hard for you to lead a brigade of recruits by yourself? It's all right now. I'll assign this Hu Jiuzhang under your command. Take him to Wenzhou quickly. Go record your name with the official."

General Lu said, with a slightly teasing smile on his face, "Gan Ruoshan, you have to be careful, the opportunity to make meritorious deeds has come, be careful that this little brother is promoted faster than you!"

The young general's voice was brisk, but Hu Jiuzhang and the square-faced brigade commander had already looked at each other in dismay.

Obviously, the expressions of these two people are not very good-looking.