The volcanic army is located on the bank of the Yellow River. The territory is full of gullies and the terrain is broken. There are almost no flat land except the river valley area. It belongs to more than 3,000 households and more than 10,000 people, which is smaller than Yongcheng, where Du Zhongxiao was the prefect of the county. On the north side of the Yellow River is the newly established Ningbian Prefecture of the Khitan.

This is the forefront of the Khitan, but the terrain is rugged and is not conducive to the operation of the army. There are not many garrisons. There are one command of the imperial cavalry under the Horse Army Division and three commands of the infantry in the Fang Army, with less than two thousand troops. But for a small place with 3,000 households, it is not easy to raise these two thousand troops, let alone a large number of rural soldiers.

Du Zhongxiao left Bingzhou, went up the Fen River, and turned northwest to the Kelan Army. Once he left the valleys around Taiyuan, he entered the mountains and was hard to see the plains again. After the mountains, he was filled with loess, continuous hills, and ravines, and often he did not see people for a day.

This is the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, with broken terrain. If you don’t follow the ancient road where you set up a station, you will get lost if you don’t walk far.

After walking straight for more than a month, I entered the Yellow River Valley through the continuous mountains, and the population suddenly became dense.

Shisanlang, who was walking in front, returned from the horse and excitedly crossed his hands to Du Zhongxiao and said, "Officials, there is the volcanic army ahead of us. Let's take a break here and they come to pay their respects."

Du Zhongxiao breathed a sigh of relief and ordered the team to stop and bow to Tian Dutou, who was in Baode Army beside him: "Thank you, thank you, let's take a break here and have a glass of wine. If there is no urgent task, I will follow me into the city and linger for a few days."

Tian Du crossed his hands: "Zhijun was kind and he was grateful. The subordinates must go back and pay the military order, so they dare not delay it."

Du Zhongxiao was not easy to keep, so he saw a big tree by the river ahead, so he got off the horse with Tian Dutou.

The Baode Army was adjacent to the Volcanic Army to the south of the Volcanic Army. Du Zhongxiao entered the river valley and first arrived in the Baode Army. According to the customary officials, the passing state army would send troops and officials to welcome and see them off. The terrain here is complex, and it is adjacent to the Khitan, and there are many troops. The Baode Army sent Tian Dutou to take a Duxiang Army to send Du Zhongxiao. Now that he has entered the Volcanic Army, Tian Dutou has completed his mission and has to go back to the Baode Army.

Not long after waiting under the tree, I saw a group of people running in front of me, hundreds of people, with great momentum. More than a hundred steps away, those people saw Du Zhongxiao's flag and dismounted one after another, and more than a dozen people walked quickly towards here.

Soon after, when we got closer, we greeted Du Zhongxiao one after another.

This is the main official of the Volcano Army, Cheng Wenli, the director of the army, Pan Zhen, the military inspector Sun Dan, and several commanders and the village leader.

The Volcanic Army is a small place with uneven officials. Compared with Yongcheng, there are only a few more military generals.

After everyone finished singing the promise, they came to pick up the wine. The subordinate officials toasted him. Du Zhongxiao toasted Tian Dutou with a glass of wine and said goodbye.

After a brief revision, Du Zhongxiao and his men got on the horse, surrounded by officials of the volcanic army, headed north along the east bank of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River winds and turns in the territory of the volcanic army and rushes out of a valley. Most of the villages under their jurisdiction are distributed in the Yellow River Valley. Along the way, Du Zhongxiao saw soldiers and horses standing at every village entrance at the entrance, saluting from afar, saying to Cheng Wenli beside him: "Prison, why do every village here have soldiers and horses? I see that their military appearance is strict and is comparable to ordinary villagers."

Cheng Wenli said: "When I came to Zhijun, this is the extreme border, close to the Khitan, and there are many soldiers and horses in the territory. In terms of the number of households, almost one household supports one army, which is not comparable to other places. In addition to the forbidden army, most of the households in the territory are rural soldiers, such as villages and villages. The people here are tough, not comparable to those in the mainland, and the soldiers in the country are brave and good at fighting, so this is the case."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and understood that the people who saw the village entrance were all rural soldiers. According to Cheng Wenli, almost all the people here are soldiers, which are different from the places he had been there before. In addition to the Han people, there are many foreign households here, but they have lived with the Han people for many years and have long been in the Chinese world and cannot be divided. Regardless of the Han people, the people in the border areas have experienced wars for hundreds of years, and the people are extremely martial.

After traveling for about twenty miles, I saw a dirt city beside the Yellow River, lying in gray, not eye-catching. There are no households outside the city, which is very different from the situation in the mainland. If it is in the mainland, most of the city gates will form grass markets, and many places are more prosperous than in the county. The reason is simple. People have to pay taxes when going to the city to do business, while the city gate area is a gray area. The city gate here is so deserted, which is a unique style of the border area.

There were already fast horses in front of the city. When Du Zhongxiao and his party were still several miles away from the city, they heard the sound of drums and thunder, and hundreds of soldiers came out of the city and lined up along the city gate. Although there were only a few hundred people, the army was rigorous and quite powerful.

Wu Wenzuo, the commander of the imperial guards behind, urged him to step forward and whisper to Du Zhongxiao: "The new officer of the army will take office, and the men in the city will go out to welcome him. As the rules, we should give you wine, food, clothing, and we hope that the army will be successful!"

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment, looking at Wu Wenzuo with his hands crossed, looking at him firmly, obviously he would not give up until he achieved his goal. Is this an example Du Zhongxiao didn't know what it was, and turned to look at Cheng Wenli beside him.

Cheng Wenli looked a little embarrassed and said, "It's hard for the border areas, and the soldiers patrolled the mountains and often ran around. In the past, when the army took office, there were many people who were rewarded with clothes. This is a good policy, I hope the army will not mind."

After seeing Cheng Wenli's expression, Du Zhongxiao knew it. In the past, most of the literati troops of the Volcano Army were military generals. Out of the habit of winning people's hearts, someone should be rewarded as soon as they arrive, but it is definitely not a convention. Wu Wenzuo did this because he was a civil servant, so he pulled out the army, scared him first, and then cheated on some benefits. Only accepting money in his eyes was a stubborn disease of this era.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao said: "The Volcanic Army Imperial Hall is nearly 2,000, so where can there be so much money in the city? This matter is a bit difficult to deal with."

Wu Wenzuo said loudly: "Our imperial guards are all horse soldiers. When fighting first, how can the Xiang army be compared! Even if the Zhi army rewards the imperial guards, the Xiang army doesn't have to pay attention to it. Those splashing talents are useless and can only chew the horse valley, so why bother them?"

As soon as he finished speaking, two people shouted loudly behind him: "The imperial guards are humans, aren't the wing army?"

While talking, he urged him to come forward, and he was very tempted to draw his sword whenever he had a disagreement.

Du Zhongxiao watched coldly, talking about the commander of the two Xiang army. It is very likely that their subordinates were stationed in the city. There were many forts under the Volcanic Army, and each of them was stationed in the army. The imperial guards were still relatively concentrated, so the Xiang army was very scattered.

Seeing that the three of them were getting closer, Du Zhongxiao coughed and said loudly: "Since it is a routine, I will do it naturally. There is no hurry to do this. After I enter the city, I will check the treasury and set a reward. How about it? Since I am serving as a soldier in one place, why should I divide the imperial guards into the wings?"

Wu Wenzuo sneered: "How can we not distinguish? When the border is in chaos, we went forward to fight and kill our imperial guards. The benefits are exchanged for life!"

Du Zhongxiao's face was flat and said, "There are common rules in this matter, and it is useless to fight. You will continue to let me go and then set the reward standards when I enter the city. The military troops that go out of the city will be strictly restricted by the chief officials and will not cause trouble. Who dares to make noise for no reason, disrupt military discipline, and behead them! - Enter the city!"
Chapter completed!