The other two young men in the carriage were named Li Yu and Li Shan. They were only eleven or twelve years old. They could become apprentices because their families were naturally better off than Li Yan's.
There were only twelve or thirteen households in their village, so the three teenagers were quite familiar with each other. As the roadside scenery continued to change, the boys' personalities became apparent.
The slowly depressed mood was replaced by the freshness brought by the different scenery flashing by on the roadside, and Li Yu and Li Shan began to talk.
As the scene on the roadside kept changing, the two of them became gradually excited, and their mood slowly became hotter like the increasingly warm sunshine in the sky. They began to look forward to the future and started talking loudly.
Li Yan basically remained silent, only occasionally responding or agreeing with some of their topics.
His mind was in a mess, with all kinds of thoughts coming to his mind. He considered the future, then his family, and finally made up his mind secretly.
"After this time, I must work hard and earn more money. When I return to the village, I will build two large courtyards, one for my third brother so that he can marry a wife.
The other place is for me to live with my parents and let them live a good life;
During the Chinese New Year and other holidays, I will also bring my three sisters back home so that our family can be together and never be separated again."
This was a manifestation of the young man's mentality. He only considered his third brother getting married, but he lived alone with his two elders, without considering that if that happened he would also have to start a family on his own.
For a moment, all kinds of thoughts flooded into his mind.
On the way, Li Guoxin found an opportunity to whisper to Li Yan, telling him that he should behave well after joining the army and strive to win the favor of the leaders in the army, so that he might be assigned to a better barracks.
Moreover, the Guards may also be involved in the mission of defending the city, so we must not take it lightly.
Of course, he only said that there might be a possibility, and added that it basically wouldn't happen. This was while he was considering giving a reminder, he was also afraid that if he said it too seriously, he would scare Li Yan.
Li Yan was interrupted by Li Guoxin and woke up a lot from his confusion. He nodded in a low voice, which made Li Guoxin feel a little relieved.
After explaining these precautions to Li Yan, Li Guoxin raised his voice a little and continued.
"Li Yan, if you had joined the Imperial Guards, you probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit your family in the first few years, unless you had made military achievements.
But it is estimated that the chances of making meritorious service right after joining the army are very small. If there are things or letters that need to be taken back home, you can put these items with Li Yu or Li Shan.
People often come to the village, and every time you ask them to come, you can go and take a look. If there are letters or something, ask the villagers to take them back and give them to your parents.
In addition, although there are other people in the village working or as apprentices in the city, I probably won’t have time to take you to find your way there today. But you can go to see where Li Yu and Li Shan are going first.
Their business was done very quickly after they paid the fees to the host and signed the contract. Yours should take longer to be finalized."
Li Yan said after hearing this.
"Uncle Guo Xin, if there are people coming from the village, why don't we just ask them to come down from my place? The barracks should be easy to find."
"You kid, how can you think so simply? But... I can't blame you for that. After all, you don't have much experience.
How can ordinary people go to those garrison camps? If you go there and get interrogated, it would be the least of your worries. But if you are taken as an enemy spy and thrown into jail, that would be unfortunate."
"Oh, I really didn't know that."
After hearing this, Li Yan scratched his head and said embarrassedly.
"However, when you have been in the army for a few years, or become a high-ranking official, we can go to find you openly. But by then, you must know your uncle Guo Xin!"
Li Guoxin said jokingly.
Without waiting for Li Yan to answer, Li Yu spoke up.
"Uncle Guo Xin, when I learn cooking skills, I will cook the best food for you every time you come, for free. It will definitely be the most fragrant and satisfying."
Li Shan also rushed to speak.
"Uncle Guoxin, I will give your family... and every family in the village the best sickles, hoes, knives, and guns for hunting."
"Haha, good, good! From now on, our Lijia Village will depend on your generation. With you, when we get old, we can have a bottle of wine, eat game, watch the sunrise and sunset on the Daqing Mountain, and live a carefree life."
Li Guoxin laughed loudly.
After the topic was started, the carriage suddenly became lively. Li Yan also said a few words from time to time, participating in it with anticipation.
The county town is to the south of Lijia Village. Turning out from the foot of Daqing Mountain, the carriage headed south.
Lijia Village is located near a main peak of Daqing Mountain, while its sub-mountains stretch continuously to the south and north with no end in sight.
At noon, they found a shady place on the roadside and stopped the carriage. Li Guoxin took out some food and asked them to rest and eat. Li Yan and the others also took out dry food from their packages, spread it on the ground and ate together. Although it was just coarse grains, pickles and a little pickled beast meat brought from home, they ate and talked happily.
Finally, around 3 p.m., they arrived outside the county town. From afar, they saw a town located in a large open area, with the city walls built against the mountains on the east and west sides.
The carriage was getting closer and closer. Looking closer, we saw that the city gate and the city wall were more than thirty feet high. Looking up at the city wall, we saw shadowy black figures walking on it. They must be soldiers patrolling the city.
A large golden flag was erected high on the top of the city wall, with the word "Huang" inscribed on it, fluttering in the wind. The three big characters "Qingshan Ai" on the city gate were very eye-catching.
Li Yan and the other two in the car also stopped talking at this time, opened their mouths wide, and stared blankly at the towering city gate. They had never been here like the adults in the village.
I grew up in a village and the farthest place I had ever been was just the outskirts of the village. I had never seen such a majestic city wall. The first time I saw such a sight, I was naturally amazed.
There were not many people entering and leaving the city gate at this time, probably because it was already afternoon.
Li Guoxin lightly pulled the reins to slow down the carriage, then turned back to give instructions to Li Yan and the other three.
"This city is built along the mountains from east to west, with only two gates, the north and south. The inspection at the north gate is much more relaxed, but the inspection at the south gate, which is connected to the Meng Kingdom, is extremely strict.
Moreover, the South Gate is usually only open for about three hours during the day. Although it is not the enemy country after passing through the South Gate, it is still necessary to go south for about dozens of miles of buffer zone to reach the border of Meng State, but for the cavalry, these can be reached in almost a moment.
Fortunately, the east and west sides of Qingshan Pass are connected to high mountains, so the enemy has only one feasible attack direction: the south. This makes the county town easier to defend and more difficult to attack.
The mountains on the east and west sides of the city are steep and the ridges are narrow, so it is impossible for several people and horses to go up at the same time.
Even if someone could get up there, attacking from the mountain would be a problem. They would probably be discovered before they even get down and shot dead by the city guards’ crossbows.”
Li Yan and the others looked towards the towering city wall as instructed.
However, the city wall was too high, and they were at the foot of the north wall. From this angle, they could only vaguely see a row of black objects on the east and west sides, looking up to the sky and pointing to the mountains on both sides, like ferocious beasts with bared fangs.
Li Yan pondered to himself.
"Uncle Guo Xin said that the inspection at the North City Gate is lax. This is probably because most of the people coming here are from our country.
The rows of black objects on the city wall should be crossbow arrows. Seeing how vertical and steep the ridge is, it is impossible for several people to walk on it at the same time.
I can't climb up this kind of ridge. I guess there are only two or three people in the village like Uncle Guo Xin who can climb up. It must be very difficult.
It is extremely difficult to walk on that mountain. If you step on empty air, you will probably roll down and turn into meat paste.
Even if someone could climb up the mountain and attack from the top to the top of the city walls, as long as there is a slight movement, the sound of gravel sliding down would surely be known in advance by the soldiers on the city walls below.
Then, we only need to shoot a row of crossbow arrows at them, and the people there will be shot into hedgehogs. It is truly a dangerous place."
Li Yu and Li Shan also came back to their senses from their shock at this time. After hearing Li Guoxin's words, Li Yu asked.
"Uncle Guo Xin, the city walls are so solid and guarded by soldiers, I think the people of Meng Kingdom will not be able to break in, right?"
Li Guoxin said with a serious expression.
“That’s hard to say. I heard that the Meng Kingdom’s bandits have invaded several times in the past few years. During one of those times, the enemy soldiers even reached the southern city wall.
Fortunately, Marshal Hong personally went up to the city and led his troops in a bloody battle, and finally defeated the enemy. Later, I heard from the people in the city that the blood flowed along the city wall into the city and was all over the ground.
The streets were covered in blood and flesh, and corpses piled up like mountains on the city walls and outside the south city. Although most of them were from the enemy attacking the city, there were also a small number of people from our dynasty."
When Li Yu and Li Shan heard this, they turned pale with fright, thinking that being an apprentice here in the future would be a life of fear, and they looked at Li Yan with even more worry.
I was thinking that Brother Yan was also going to fight, wouldn’t that be even more dangerous
Li Guoxin felt something was wrong when he got to this point, so he immediately stopped the topic and laughed.
"These are just some rumors I heard. They shouldn't be true. Otherwise, this county wouldn't be so prosperous now."
In fact, as the village chief, he knew it best. Due to the frequent wars in various border areas, the dynasty had already issued decrees that local people were not allowed to migrate easily in the border areas.
To show the people's patriotism, every inch of land is their home, and no matter how strong the enemies are from the outside world, they can live and work in peace.
Li Guoxin didn't know the situation in other border areas, but he had received a spy letter from the government demanding that no villagers should migrate, otherwise they would be punished severely.
Fortunately, Qingshan Pass has been able to block many enemy invasions, ensuring the peace in the villages and towns behind Qingshan Pass, which makes the people seem to be living in peace and prosperity.