At the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, another small country located in the north of Guanzhong, the Northern Han Dynasty.

Baishui City, for the Northern Han border pass small city, Baishui City is also called Baishui Pass, the terrain is dangerous, such as a moat cut between the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan, the two sides of Baishui City are towering mountains and mountains. Baishui Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, known as the most dangerous pass in the world, and has the reputation of "double pun guarding the world" with Yanmen Pass in the east of the big periphery. But in later generations, Baishui Pass was far less famous than Yanmen Pass.

Baishui City is not only a military fortress, but also a city of trade between the Han and Khitans, the city will open a market every Wednesday, Saturday and September every month, and these days the north gate of Baishui City will also be opened, allowing the Khitans to enter the city to trade with the Han people. The Khitan is located in the cold land of the north, with endless primeval jungles and grasslands like the sea at a glance.

Jichou Day, the ninth day of the first month of November, this day happened to be the day of the opening of the ruins, and the weather seemed to be very good, and the warm sun shone on the entire Whitewater City.

Ling Tianyun was lying on a haystack not far from the bazaar, his hands were resting behind his head, his left foot was resting on his right foot, and he was holding an unknown grass in his mouth, looking lazy, and there was a saber within reach.

Ling Tianyun squinted his eyes, feeling the warm sun shining, and seemed to enjoy this moment very much.

Ling Tianyun, seventeen years old this year, is a scout of the border guards of Baishui City, and he also has another identity, the son of Ling Duozhi, the general of Baishui City, the only son.

"Brother Yun, there is no attendance today," Ling Tianyun was enjoying the warm sunshine, and a person came under the haystack.

The man was dressed in an ordinary official uniform, with a sturdy figure and thick eyebrows and big eyes, and the man landed on the haystack with a slight leap and sat beside Ling Tianyun.

This person's name is Guo Jian, and he is a government official of Baishui City, and today is the day of the opening of the market, and the government also needs to send officials to maintain law and order around the market. Although Baishui City is smaller, it is in a special geographical location, so the Northern Han Dynasty set up Baishui Mansion here to govern more than a dozen surrounding counties.

Ling Tianyun didn't answer Guo Jian's words, he spit out the grass roots in his mouth, sat up, and looked at the bazaar not far away, the bazaar was noisy, the animal skins brought by the Khitans, cattle and sheep, and some unknown rare herbs picked from the jungle, some were placed on the stalls and waited for people to buy, and some were directly exchanged with the Han people's ceramics, tea, and silk, but at this time it was a peaceful scene.

"Now that my Han and Khitan are in the period of alliance, how can there be any war," Ling Tianyun sighed, and was silent for a while.

Guo Jian was also silent for a while, although Ling Tianyun was the son of the general guarding the city, he was also close to the officials of Baishui Mansion on weekdays. Maybe he has a heroic temperament, and he basically doesn't have to go to work in normal times, because he is the son of a general, and he doesn't need to train with the army. On weekdays, I am bored and drink with some officials, bragging, and the like.

The Northern Han Dynasty was built by Liu Yu, the younger brother of the former Later Han Emperor Liu Zhiyuan, who said that after the emperor established the Later Han Dynasty, he was afraid of the Later Zhou Emperor Guo Wei, so he sent an envoy to the Khitan to seek assistance. The Khitan Emperor Yelu Ruan sent an envoy to the Northern Han Dynasty, saying that the Zhou State was willing to send 100,000 yuan of money every year. Liu Min sent the prime minister Zheng Heng to give a lot of money, and claimed to be his nephew emperor, calling Yelu Ruan his uncle, and at the same time asking for canonization. Yelu Ruan canonized Liu Min as Emperor Shenwu of the Han Dynasty. Soon after, Yelu Ruan was killed and succeeded by Yelu Jing. Liu Min also sent Wang Dezhong, a privy counselor, to envoy the Khitan and borrow troops from Yelujing. Yelu Jing ordered Xiao Yuju to lead 50,000 soldiers and horses to help Liu Min.

However, Ling Duozhi, the general who defended the city, did not approve of the approach of the Northern Han Emperor Liu Yu, and not only led his troops to defend Baishui City, but not only built various military points, he believed that conspiring with the Khitans was like conspiring with the tiger, and the Khitans had more unpredictable wolf ambitions. During this time, the vigilance of the whole city was not relaxed, but it became stricter, but the number of scouts sent to the north of the north of the city was less.

"Childe, the general is invited" Just as Ling Tianyun and Guo Jian were silent, a soldier walked to the edge of the haystack and saluted Ling Tianyun with his fists.

"The general is in the barracks or in the mansion," Ling Tianyun jumped off the haystack, because Ling Tianyun was also a soldier, so his father's subordinates also called Ling Duozhi the general.

"Hui Gongzi, the general is in the General's Mansion." Armor replied.

Ling Tianyun greeted Guo Jian and followed the soldier to the General's Mansion.

The mansion is located in the south of the city of Baishui City, not very magnificent, a simple courtyard, there are several rows of houses, the front row is the main house, the main house is the hall, the hall is lined with side rooms, the middle row also has two or three rooms, for the kitchen and handymen and maids in the house, the back is a small house with miscellaneous hands, the small house is next to the stable, through the courtyard gate, walk 30 steps to the main house. It is not very good to go from the bazaar to the general, and it takes almost two pillars of incense to walk.

The general was originally the mansion of the Ling family, because of the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the troubled times have appeared, and the ancestor of the Ling family led the Ling family to move here from the Central Plains. By the time of Ling Duozhi's generation, the family had already declined, and the people were not prosperous, leaving only more than three members of Ling Duo's family and an old housekeeper.

As soon as Ling Tianyun entered the house, the old housekeeper Pang Lao greeted him, there were no servants and miscellaneous servants in the house at this time, only a loyal old butler Pang Bo was left. Ling Tianyun's mother had died suddenly when he was four or five years old, so Ling Duozhi also dismissed all the maids in the family, and the courtyard at this time seemed extremely deserted.

"Young master, the master is waiting in the living room."

"Pombo, do you know what happened to my father's recall," Ling Tianyun had great respect for the old butler Pang Lao.

"The old slave doesn't know, seeing the old man's expression seems to be very anxious, the young master should go in quickly." The old butler replied.

Ling Tianyun saw that he couldn't ask anything from the old butler, so he had to walk quickly to the living room.

Ling Duozhi turned his back to the main door of the living room, looking at the spiritual seat of his wife Ling Tianyun's mother placed on the central wall of the living room, standing with his hands in his hands and a solemn expression.

"Father, you're looking for me," Ling Tianyun hurriedly asked Ling Duozhi after entering the door.

Ling Duozhi turned around and looked at his son, his heart was full of relief, he had grown up, at the age of seventeen, he was almost taller than himself, his strong physique, he began to shed his youthful childishness, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, with that resolute face, in appearance, he concentrated all the advantages of himself and his wife.

In Ling Tianyun's eyes, he was both afraid and respectful of his father, looking at Ling Duozhi's frost-white sideburns, Ling Tianyun couldn't help but feel a sour in his heart, his father was only in his forties, he was in the prime of life, but his face was full of vicissitudes, but his sideburns had begun to turn white, and it was also the death of his mother, which hit him very hard. Or maybe it's the current situation that makes my father haggard.

Ling Duozhi was a pure soldier, who followed Liu Zhiyuan, the lord of the Later Han Dynasty, to fight in the south and north in his early years. Later, the Later Han Dynasty was destroyed by Guo Wei of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and followed the current Northern Han Emperor Liu Yu. However, he was very disgusted with Liu Yu's practice of bowing down to the Khitan and calling him a nephew, and after many unsuccessful rumors, he voluntarily transferred back to Baishui Pass and re-guarded this pass.

Ling Duozhi poured a cup of tea and motioned for Ling Tianyun to sit down.