The other two youths on the cart were named Li Yu and Li Shan. At only eleven or twelve, their families were naturally better off than Li Yan's to be able to afford an apprenticeship. Their village had only twelve or thirteen households, so the three boys knew each other well. As the scenery along the road constantly changed, the boys' true nature emerged. Their initial gloom was gradually replaced by a sense of novelty brought on by the passing landscape. The two began to chat, and as the scenery continued to shift, Li Yu and Li Shan grew more and more excited. Their spirits, like the increasingly warm sunlight in the sky, began to burn brightly as they started to dream about the future, talking loudly and animatedly.
Li Yan, however, remained mostly silent, only occasionally responding or agreeing with their topics of conversation. His mind was in turmoil, a thousand thoughts rushing through his head. One moment he was thinking about the future, the next about his family back home. Finally, he made a silent resolution. 'On this trip, I must work hard and earn more money. When I return to the village, I'll build two large courtyard houses. One for Third Brother, so he can marry a wife; the other for myself and my parents, so they can live a comfortable life. During the New Year and other festivals, I'll bring all three of my sisters back for a family reunion, and we'll never be separated again.'
This was a clear display of his youthful mindset. He only thought about his third brother getting married, while he himself would live alone with his parents, not considering that he too would need to start his own family. For the moment, his mind remained a chaotic jumble of thoughts.
Along the way, Li Guoxin found an opportune moment to speak quietly with Li Yan. He told him that after enlisting, he should perform well and try to gain the favor of his superiors in the ranks. This might lead to a better assignment within the barracks. He also mentioned that the Aegis Guard might have to participate in defending the city, though he framed it as only a possibility, something that would basically never happen. He was trying to warn Li Yan while being careful not to say too much and frighten him.
This interruption pulled Li Yan from his daze, and he sobered up considerably, nodding quietly in understanding. This put Li Guoxin's mind at ease.
After explaining these precautions to Li Yan, Li Guoxin raised his voice slightly and continued, "Li Yan, if you join the Aegis Guard, you probably won't have a chance to visit home for the first few years, unless you perform a great military service. But for a new recruit, the chances of that are very slim. If you have any items or letters to send back, you can leave them with Li Yu or Li Shan. People from the village come to the city often. You can have them stop by each time they come and pick up any letters to take back to your parents. Also, although there are others from our village working or apprenticing in the city, we probably won't have time to show you the way today. But we can go to Li Yu and Li Shan's places first. Their arrangements will be settled quickly once we pay the master and sign the contract. Yours will likely take longer to finalize."
Hearing this, Li Yan said, "Uncle Guoxin, when people from the village come, couldn't they just stop by my place? The barracks should be easy to find, right?"
"You child, why are you so naive? But I can't blame you. Do you think those garrison barracks are places ordinary people can just go? If you show up unannounced, you'll inevitably be questioned. It would be terrible if you were mistaken for an enemy spy and thrown in jail."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Li Yan said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"However, after you've been in the army for a few years, or if you become a high-ranking officer, we'll be able to come and find you openly. But at that time, you'd better still recognize your Uncle Guoxin," Li Guoxin teased.
Before Li Yan could answer, Li Yu chimed in, "Uncle Guoxin, when I've learned to cook, every time you come, I'll make you the most delicious food for free. It'll be the most fragrant!"
Li Shan also rushed to say, "Uncle Guoxin, then I'll forge the best sickles, hoes, and also knives and spears for hunting for your family, no, for every family in the whole village."
"Haha, good, good! From now on, our Li Family Village will depend on your generation. With you all, when we're old, we can just warm a pot of wine, eat wild game, and watch the sunrise and sunset over the Great Green Mountains, living a life of leisure!" Li Guoxin laughed heartily.
With the topic opened up, the cart suddenly became lively. Li Yan also chimed in with a few words from time to time, joining in their hopeful discussion.
The county town was south of Li Family Village. After leaving the foot of the Great Green Mountains, the cart traveled south. Li Family Village was actually located near the main peak of the Great Green Mountains, but the mountain range itself stretched endlessly both north and south.
At noon, they found a shady spot by the road and stopped the cart. Li Guoxin took out some food and called for them to rest and eat. Li Yan and the others also took out their dry rations from their bundles, spreading them on the ground and eating together. Although it was just coarse grain, salted vegetables, and a little cured meat from home, they chatted happily as they ate.
Finally, around three in the afternoon, they arrived outside the county town. From a distance, a city sat in the middle of a large, open plain. The city walls on the east and west sides were built against the mountains. As the cart drew closer, they could see that the city gate and walls were over thirty zhang (TN: A unit of length, roughly 3.33 meters) high. Looking up at the walls, they could make out the shadowy figures of what must have been patrolling soldiers. A large, golden banner with the character "Imperial" written on it billowed in the wind. Three large characters were carved above the city gate: "Green Mountain Pass."
The three youths on the cart had stopped talking. They stared, mouths agape, at the towering city gate. Unlike the adults in their village, they had never been here before. Having grown up in the village and never ventured far, how could they have ever seen such a magnificent and imposing structure? The sight filled their hearts with endless wonder.
There were not many people entering or leaving the city gate at this time, perhaps because it was already late afternoon. Li Guoxin gently pulled on the reins, slowing the cart, and turned back to the three boys. "The county town is built connected to the mountains on the east and west, with gates only on the north and south. The inspection at this north gate is much more relaxed. But the south gate connects to the State of Meng, and the checks there are extremely strict. The south gate is also generally only open for about three shichen (TN: A period of two hours) during the day. Although there's a buffer zone of about ten li after leaving the south gate before you reach the border of the State of Meng, for cavalry, that distance is covered in an instant. Fortunately, Green Mountain Pass is connected to high mountains on the east and west, forcing any enemy attack to come from the south. This makes the city much easier to defend. The mountain slopes on the east and west are steep and the ridges are narrow, not allowing many men or horses to ascend at the same time. Even if someone managed to get up, attacking down the mountain would be a problem. They would likely be discovered before they even got down and be shot down by the city-defending crossbows."
Following his words, Li Yan and the others looked up at the towering city walls. The walls were too high, and they were at the north gate, so from this angle, they could only vaguely see a row of black objects pointing towards the sky, aimed at the mountain peaks on either side.
Li Yan thought to himself, 'Uncle Guoxin said the inspection at the north gate is relaxed, probably because most people coming from this direction are from our own country. That row of black things on the wall must be the crossbows. Seeing how steep and precipitous these mountain ridges are, it's true that not many people could be on them at once. I certainly couldn't climb a mountain like that. In the village, probably only two or three people like Uncle Guoxin could make it up, and it would be incredibly difficult for them. If one were to miss a step on that mountain, they would probably just roll down and become a pile of mush. Even if someone managed to climb the mountain and attack the city walls from the top, any large movement would surely cause the sound of sliding gravel, which the soldiers guarding the walls below would hear in advance. A single volley of crossbow bolts would turn the people above into pincushions. It truly is a place of natural strategic advantage.'
Li Yu and Li Shan had also recovered from their shock and heard Li Guoxin's words. Li Yu asked, "Uncle Guoxin, if the city walls are so strong and guarded by soldiers, then the people from the State of Meng must not be able to break in, right?"
Li Guoxin's expression hardened. "That's hard to say. I've heard that the thieving soldiers of the State of Meng have attacked several times in recent years. One time, the enemy soldiers had already breached the city walls. Fortunately, Marshal Hong personally went up to the walls and fought a bloody battle to repel them. Later, I heard from people in the city that blood flowed from the walls all over the ground inside the city. The streets were filled with blood and gore, and the bodies piled up like mountains on the walls and outside the city. Although most of them were enemy attackers, a small portion were our own dynasty's people."
Hearing this, Li Yu and Li Shan's faces turned pale. They thought to themselves that being an apprentice here would mean living in constant fear. They looked worriedly at Li Yan, thinking, 'Isn't Brother Yan going to have to go up there and fight? Isn't that even more dangerous?'
Realizing he had said the wrong thing, Li Guoxin immediately stopped and laughed it off. "This is all just hearsay. It probably isn't true, otherwise the city wouldn't be so prosperous now."
In fact, he knew better. Due to the frequent wars on the various borders, the imperial court had long since issued a decree forbidding local populations in border regions from migrating, in order to display the people's patriotism and willingness to treat every inch of land as their home, living and working in peace despite external threats. Li Guoxin didn't know the situation on other borders, but here at Green Mountain Pass, they had indeed managed to hold back the enemy, ensuring the current peace of the villages and towns behind the city.