Chapter 4 Entering the City

After hearing this, Li Yan looked at Li Yu and Li Shan and said, "It's nothing. If it's really like what Uncle Guoxin said, the enemy soldiers have been blocked these few times. Even if there are wars in the future, there should be no big battles for the time being. After the previous sieges, the county town was not taken, and there were so many casualties. The enemy soldiers should be afraid of Marshal Hong. They must know that unless the main general is changed, there may be a chance to attack. There may be natural disasters or the city can be broken from the inside. But Marshal Hong and his advisers have thought of this kind of thing. They are all experienced people, so they should not easily have a large army pressing in again." Hearing this, Li Guoxin couldn't help but look at Li Yan in surprise. These things are indeed as Li Yan said. Mengguo has not sent a large army to Qingshan Pass for about a year. There are only occasional harassment attacks by small groups of cavalry. But Li Yan can say these, which shows that this child is mature and not as inconsiderate as some other teenagers. "My little brother, what you said is very true. Our Marshal Hong and the Third Army Division are both powerful and talented people. The bandits of Meng State were unable to attack four or five times, and the Third Army Division took the head of the other side's deputy commander. They have been scared out of their wits. Now our army often sends troops to attack them, and these enemy bandits are complaining bitterly."

At this time, a voice suddenly came from the front. It turned out that they had come to the city gate unknowingly. A dozen soldiers in armor were standing on both sides of the city gate. There was a man standing in the middle of the front. He was wearing a waist knife and armor, but there was a red baby on the top of his helmet. This man was of moderate build, black face and no beard, with a straight nose but a bit of eagle hook. He looked at them with lightning eyes. He stood in the middle of the second row of soldiers, just blocking the entrance of the city gate. I think he should be the leader.

It was this man who spoke just now. At this time, he looked at Li Yan with some surprise in his eyes. After all, Li Yan looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, and he was dressed in coarse cloth, but he was not a rich and noble young man. If he was one of those young men, he would not find it strange. After all, the elders of these families would often talk about these events, and it was not uncommon for them to come out and repeat what they heard. And the people who came to the north gate they were guarding today were generally villagers from the area under their jurisdiction or businessmen in the imperial court. Those young men in the imperial court would not come here to play in recent years. After all, some things were still hard to avoid accidents. Looking at Li Yan's dress, he would not think that the young man from the imperial family came here to play the game of incognito. Such a country boy had such an opinion, which made him feel a little interested, so he

spoke a few words.

Seeing the other party looking at him, Li Yan immediately jumped off the carriage, bowed and said, "Please forgive my nonsense just now." These etiquette matters were taught to them by the old scholar in the village. Let them remember that they must not be barbarians and barbarians, and must practice well. In fact, everyone in the village is familiar with each other, and they are rural farmers, so there are still many vulgar words between each other. But the old scholar is very strict with these young people, which should be the pride of the old scholar.

The leader was just a little curious, and after hearing what Li Yan said, he didn't say much. Then he turned to Li Guoxin and asked, "What are you doing in the city at this time?"

Li Guoxin had already pulled the carriage and came to the leader-like man, and replied respectfully, "Reporting to the military master, I am the village chief of Lijia Village in Daqingshan, this is the road permit", and then took out the road permit that had been prepared and handed it over with both hands, and then said, "This is to bring a few young people to the city to be apprentices and join the army."

The leader-like man took the road permit, looked at it, nodded and said, "It is correct."

When he heard the words "join the army", he smiled and asked, "Are you joining the Guards?"

Li Guoxin quickly replied, "Yes."

The man then asked, "Which of these people are enlisted in the army?"

Li Guoxin pointed at Li Yan and said, "General, only he is enlisted in the army, and the other two are apprentices."

When the man heard this, he turned his head and looked at Li Yan in the direction of Li Guoxin's finger. Seeing that it was him, he said to Li Yan, "Oh, it's you. What you said before is quite insightful. It's appropriate for you to join the army. Our Marshal Hong now values ​​people with strategy and talent. After all, there are more strong soldiers."

After hearing this, Li Yan bowed again and said, "Thank you for your advice, General."

The leader waved his hand and said, "Then you should go quickly. This time, the Guards will only recruit 150 people. This is the second day. This barracks is recruiting very quickly. It is estimated that it will be full today. After all, the Guards are considered a logistics department. They don't see much blood, and they only get a little less than those of us on the front line."

After a pause, he said to Li Yan, "My name is Liu Chengyong, and I am the captain of the third team of the Battle C Battalion. We may have to deal with each other in the future."

After hearing this, Li Yan was very surprised. Are the people in the barracks so easy to talk to? But he didn't dare to ask, so he just said, "Captain Liu, if I am lucky enough to enter the barracks, please let me know if I have any orders."

After hearing this, Liu Chengyong laughed and said, "Very good, very good." Then he returned the pass to Li Guoxin, stepped aside to make way, and waved his hand to let them enter the city.

Li Guoxin took the guide and put it in his arms, thanked him, told Li Yan to get in the car quickly, and drove slowly towards the city gate. However, he was still suspicious of what Captain Liu said just now. He knew that these soldiers were ruthless people who had rolled in blood countless times. Except for seeing the officials, he had never seen them be so polite to people like him. At best, they would just say "oh" and let them go, and then they would be thankful. At worst, they would find a reason to beat them up. If they encountered trouble, they might be locked up for a few days. They would not be able to get out easily without paying some money. However, he was also worried at this time, so he did not think about it anymore and hurriedly drove into the city.

Watching them enter the city, a soldier nearby asked Liu Chengyong curiously, "Liu, why are you so polite to a country boy?"

Liu Chengyong glanced at him and said calmly, "Now in this army, when it comes to fighting, it is Marshal Hong who has the final say. But since the last time, Division Ji rescued Marshal Hong from the enemy's siege, and like a god, he took the head of their deputy marshal in the midst of thousands of troops, now Marshal Hong has the final say on many matters. And Division Ji has started to go to the school in person every time when recruiting soldiers in the past two years. The soldiers who signed up will be tested one by one, especially those who have studied. "Speaking of this, he also looked strange. After all, each time the army was recruited, although the number of applicants was limited, since the conscription had provided advance subsidies to families, there were dozens to hundreds of people each time. But even so, Division Ji tested the physique of each applicant one by one. Although everyone later knew about it, every time I thought about it, it was a lot of work for each person to test their physique, so I still felt a little strange.

At this time, the soldier next to him said, "Yes, yes, I heard that Lord Ji is going to select a suitable candidate to be his successor. Speaking of this, it is really enviable. Lord Ji's martial arts are superb. I guess he is at least a top master in the world. Otherwise, he would not have been able to take the head of the general in the army last time and bring back Marshal Hong and a team of people. If anyone can learn this martial arts, he can go anywhere in the world in this life. Unfortunately, Lord Ji has also tested our barracks one after another, and no one has caught his eye so far. But I heard that at the beginning of last year, Lord Ji selected a person from a small team in the central army camp. A suitable disciple, but not many people know this person. A soldier like him is in an army of hundreds of thousands, and he has no outstanding qualities in daily life. In addition to a few people around him who are familiar with him, he is also known by his direct team leader. Later, he was taken back to the mansion by Master Ji to practice, but it is said that because he had never read books, he might not understand the direction of the meridians. He went wrong when practicing internal skills and died. Some people said that they saw his whole body swollen and black, which was very scary, but this also shows that Master Ji's martial arts is domineering. "Hearing this, some of the other soldiers next to him said that they had heard it, and several people whispered to each other.

Liu Chengyong glanced at the soldiers with dissatisfaction and said, "Shut up, the higher-ups are not allowed to talk about Master Ji outside."

After hearing this, the soldiers quickly shrank their necks and nodded repeatedly in response to "yes, yes, yes", and stopped talking about it.

At this time, another soldier asked curiously, "Captain Liu, why did you care so much about this kid just now? Could he have a chance to become Master Ji's disciple?"

Liu Chengyong smiled a little on his dark face and said, "That's not necessarily true. I just think this kid has some insights, which shows that he is not stupid. From his later conversation, he should have read books, so I just took it as a casual reminder. Opportunity? Maybe it's true. If I meet such a person again in the future, if I feel it is possible, I may still tell him. Okay, continue to be on duty with peace of mind."

After hearing this, these soldiers quickly stood up and took up their duties, but they were all thinking in their hearts that it turned out to be a wide net.