Wearing a yellow military uniform, carrying a medicine box and a knife and gun, Ning Ji saw the quaint city wall of Zizhou Mansion in front of the army.

In September of the eleventh year of Wu Jianshuo, the year of Zhou Yong's death, Ning Ji went from thirteen to fourteen years old, and gradually became a teenager.

In the past two years, Ning Ji, who had traveled with the army, had seen more things than he had in the past eleven years.

He was born at the time of the first Jurchen journey south, in the autumn of the thirteenth year of Jinghan. In the fourteenth year of Jinghan, Ning Yi rebelled, and when the family went to Xiaocanghe, he was only one year old. At that time, his father had time to name him, killing the king and rebelling, and being jealous of the world, which seemed a little cold, but it was actually a name full of pride.

When I was a child, I grew up in an environment like Xiaocanghe and Qingmu Village, and when I gradually began to remember, the army began to turn to the southwest mountainous area, and because of this, I would rather see it since I was a child, mostly a barren environment, but also a relatively simple environment, parents, brothers, enemies, friends, all kinds of people are quite clear.

As the Huaxia army fought out of Liangshan and entered the Chengdu Plain, after Ning Ji joined the military medical team, the surroundings gradually began to become complicated. He began to see big fields, big cities, towering walls, rows of gardens, people who were poor and extravagant, people who were numb, people who were dying of hunger in small villages...... These things are very different from what you see in the Huaxia Army.

In the days of the activities of the military medical corps, sometimes I feel different gratitude and kindness, but at the same time, there are also various malicious attacks.

Since Ning Yi killed Zhou Zhe for more than ten years, the world's malice towards the Huaxia Army and Ning Yi's family has never been broken. The Huaxia Army's internal rectification and management have been very effective, and some of the conspiracies and assassinations are difficult to reach Ning Yi's family, but with the expansion of the territory in the past two years, the life world of Ning Xi and Ning Ji and others cannot be contracted in the original small circle after all.

In the year when Ning Ji was thirteen years old, he suffered a total of nine conspiracy assassinations, two of which occurred in front of his eyes, in February of the eleventh year, he killed for the first time, and again in July, and now, the young man under the age of fourteen has three lives in his hands.

For Ning Ji, killing the enemy in person did not have much impact on his psychology, but in the past two years, many things he felt in this complicated world still made him a little taciturn.

Since childhood, the materials within the Huaxia Army are not very abundant, mutual assistance and thrift have always been advocated in the Huaxia Army, rather than what they have seen since childhood, it is people who support each other in a difficult environment, and the fathers will share their knowledge and perception of the world with others in the army, and in the face of the enemy, the soldiers in the Huaxia Army are always tenacious and unyielding.

After entering the Chengdu Plain, he found that this world was not like this. The people who lived a rich and prosperous life lived a corrupt life, and it seemed that the learned Confucians opposed the Huaxia Army, and the arguments of the people who were doing it were infuriating, and under them, the peasant households lived a muddy life, and they did not live well, but they all took it for granted, and some of the people who lived a hard life even had a hostile attitude towards the members of the Huaxia Army who went to the countryside to give medicine and medicine.

Why do these people live like this? Ning Ji couldn't think clearly. For a year or two, he took it for granted that the enemy was intent on killing him, and that he occasionally disguised himself as a pitiful person to attack him.

The education of "being as ruthless as a harsh winter" in the Huaxia army is extremely in place, Ning Ji has felt that the enemy must be cunning and violent since he was a child, the first assassin who really mixed up with him was a dwarf, at first glance it looked like a little girl, mixed in the crowd in the countryside to Ning Ji to see a doctor, her other companion in the team was recognized, the dwarf suddenly attacked, the dagger almost stabbed Ning Ji in the neck, trying to grab him as a hostage and flee.

The Assassin underestimated the young man who had been trained by Lu Hongti, Liu Xigua, Chen Fan, Du Kill and others. When the dagger stabbed over, Ning Ji took advantage of the situation to grab the knife, and with a backhand slash, he cut the opponent's throat, blood sprayed his clothes, and he also took two steps back, ready to kill the opponent's companion in the crowd at any time.

He was not confused by these encounters, and the comfort of his parents and brother who hurried over afterwards only made him feel warm, but not necessary. The complicated world outside made him a little confused, but fortunately, something more simple and direct was coming.

In the second half of the eleventh year of Jianshuo, the situation on the Chengdu Plain had become extremely tense, the Wu Dynasty was falling apart, and the great war between the Jurchens and the Huaxia army was about to become a fact. Against this background, the Huaxia Army began to methodically devour and digest the entire Chengdu Plain.

The Huaxia army began to fight out of the Liangshan range in the ninth year of Jianshuo, and was originally scheduled to annex the entire Sichuan Fourth Road, but later due to the southward movement of the Jurchens, the Huaxia army stopped in Zizhou after breaking through Chengdu in order to show its attitude.

Zizhou is located in the northeast of Chengdu 100 kilometers position, was originally the second largest city on the Chengdu Plain, the commercial town, over Zizhou and another 100 kilometers, is the most important pass to control the land of Sichuan and Shu: Jianmen Pass. With the approach of the Jurchens, these places have also become the most critical locations in the future war.

Two years ago, the entry of the Huaxia army into Sichuan scared away a group of local aborigines, and later the war stopped in Zizhou, many local pro-military gentry and Confucianism settled in Zizhou, and after the situation eased slightly, some people began to do business with the Huaxia army, and Zizhou became a transit station between the two forces, and it developed thriving in just one year.

In the second half of this year, the Fifth Army of China began to advance to Zizhou, and the negotiations of all forces began, during which many people naturally came out to resist, criticize, and accuse the Huaxia Army of the truce before the year of the war for show, but under the premise of the Jurchen killing, everyone understood that these things could not be solved by simple verbal protests.

It is also for this reason that although the gentry of the wealthy clans near Zizhou seemed to be making a lot of trouble in July and August, at the end of August, the Huaxia Army still successfully negotiated the unconditional merger of Zizhou and the Huaxia Army, and then the army entered the city and took Zizhou without blood.

On September 11, Ning Ji carried his luggage into the city with the third batch of troops, at this time the fifth army of China had three regiments of about 5,000 people had begun to push in the direction of Jiange, the engineering regiment was stationed in Zizhou on a large scale, strengthening the fortifications around it, and some of the gentry, officials, and ordinary people who originally lived in Zizhou began to evacuate to the rear of the Chengdu Plain.

In such a situation, inside and outside the ancient city of Zizhou, the atmosphere was solemn and tense, people were looking to move south, the streets were crowded and hurried, and because some of the garrison patrols had been taken over by the Chinese soldiers, the whole order was not out of control.

Ning Ji felt kind to this atmosphere, and he followed the army through the city, and temporarily settled in a medical hall near the military camp in the east of the city with the military medical team. The owner of this medical hall was originally a rich man, and he had left, the front and back yards of the medical hall were not small, but now they seemed quiet, Ning Ji put the package in the room, and polished the three knives on his body as usual, long or short, before evening, a young lady officer in a black blue military uniform came to him.

The girl's figure is a head taller than Ning Ji, her short hair only reaches her shoulders, and she has a youth and beauty that is rare in this era, even deviant. Her smile was warm, and she looked at the young man who was squatting in the corner of the yard sharpening his knife, and came straight over: "I'd rather be afraid that you're here, are you tired on the road?" ”

"Sister-in-law." Ning Ji laughed, rinsed the short blade in his palm that was not yet a finger long with well water, and when he stood up, the short blade had disappeared between his sleeves, and said, "I'm not tired at all." ”

"Your eldest brother asked me to take you over for dinner. He is in the household registration office in the north of the city, and there are too many things. ”

The girl who came over was Ning Xi's fiancée Min Chuyi, who is seventeen years old this year.

As Ning Yi's eldest son, Ning Xi has begun to gradually participate in the overall planning work in the past two years. Relatively speaking, Min Chuyi and Ning Ji are the disciples who really got the true transmission of Lu Hongti, Ning Xi is four years older than Ning Ji, but in martial arts, his skills have been faintly equaled by Ning Ji, who is less than fourteen, but Min Chuyi seems to be gentle, but his martial arts are stable above Ning Ji. The two practice martial arts together, and their relationship is like that of a sister and brother, and many times Ning Ji and Min Chuyi have more meetings than with their brothers.

The two of them put their things away and walked through the city all the way to the north. For the sake of stability in the rear, the Huaxia Army stipulated that those who wanted to leave the city and go south must first undergo household registration verification, which made the entire street in front of the government look noisy, and hundreds of Chinese soldiers were in the vicinity to maintain order.

Ning Xi's place of work is in the courtyard of the nearby teahouse, and he has followed Chen Huozi to contact the spy and espionage work within the Huaxia Army for more than a year, and he has blocked several assassinations of Ning Ji by people in the green forest and even the Jurchens. Ning Ji, who is now much shorter than his brother, is a little dissatisfied with this, thinking that he should also be involved in such a thing, but after seeing his brother, the young man who has just transformed from a child is still quite happy and shouted: "Big brother." "I smiled brightly.

The brothers then went in to greet Chen Huozi, Ning Xi reported for leave, changed into civilian clothes and led his younger brother to the most famous Red Mansion in Zizhou to eat snacks. The two brothers sat down in the corner of the hall, Ning Xi may have inherited his father's habits, and was quite curious about the famous food, although Ning Ji was young, his appetite was not heavy, he killed three assassins this year, sometimes although he also felt afraid, but more like his father, he faintly felt that he was invincible in the world, eager for the war afterward, sat down for a while, and began to ask: "Brother, when will the Jurchens arrive?" ”

"The situation in Lizhou is very complicated, after Luo Wen's surrender, Zong Han's army has been pressed to the periphery, and it is still uncertain." Ning Xi whispered, reaching out to the menu, "This crystal cake is the most famous, let's have two bowls?" ”

"Brother, you have the final say." Ning Ji pulled the stool and sat closer, his hands folded on the table, like a serious student, "Brother, when are we going to the Sword Pavilion?" ”

"You can have a little bit of barbecue slices, and I've heard that it's very thin and flavorful, and I've heard it several times." Ning Xi licked her lips.

"Brother, when are we going to the Sword Pavilion?" Ning Ji repeated it.

Ning Xi put down the menu: "You should be a doctor, don't keep thinking about running to the front line." ”

"I can help, I'm already very good at healing."

"First of all, even if you take the Sword Pavilion, Dad doesn't plan to let you go." Ning Xi frowned, then retracted his gaze to the menu, "Second, the matter of the Sword Pavilion is not that simple. ”

"Si Zhongxian refuses to cooperate with us? That's really a man......" Ning Ji said in a tone imitating an adult's tone.

The war is coming, there are often meetings and discussions within the Huaxia Army, although Ning Ji is in the military medical team, but as Ning Yi's son, after all, he can still have access to various sources, and even reliable internal analysis.

Although it is under the jurisdiction of Lizhou, the defenders of Jianmen Pass are composed of 20,000 forbidden troops, and the guard general Si Zhongxian is shrewd and capable, and has a very independent administrative power in the Sword Pavilion. It was originally an important checkpoint to prevent the Chinese army from leaving Sichuan.

However, until now, the Huaxia Army has no intention of forcibly leaving Sichuan, and there has never been a major conflict with the Sword Pavilion. At the beginning of this year, Wanyan Xiyin and others released their intention to persuade them to surrender only to the southwest in the capital, while the Huaxia Army released goodwill on the one hand, and on the other hand, sent representatives to discuss with Si Zhongxian, the guard general of the Sword Pavilion, and the Chen family, the leader of the gentry, about receiving the matter of mutual defense against the Jurchens.

In the past intelligence of the Huaxia Army, Si Zhongxian was quite high, believing that he was loyal to the Wu Dynasty, worried about the country's troubles, and sympathetic to the people, and at critical moments, especially when the Jurchens were rampant, he was worthy of being won over and could think things clearly.

This kind of communication is said to have been quite smooth in the first half of this year, and Ning Ji also got the news that he might confront the Jurchens head-to-head in the Sword Pavilion - the Sword Pavilion is a Xiongguan that cannot be opened by a husband and a man, if it can be like this, it may be the biggest benefit for the Huaxia Army with insufficient troops, but depending on the attitude of the elder brother, this matter has been repeated.

Ning Ji's first reaction was that this Si Zhongxian had a stubborn temperament, and would rather face Yan Zonghan alone than join forces with the Huaxia Army. But after saying this, the elder brother frowned, and his eyes were still looking at the menu: "Let's have a small portion of pig's feet for you to make up." ”

"Si Zhongxian is going to surrender?" Ning Ji's brows furrowed, "Didn't you say that he was a reasonable person?" ”

"The situation is very complicated, it's not that simple, Si Zhongxian's attitude is a little strange now." Ning Xi closed the menu, "I was going to tell you this, don't be in such a hurry." ”

Ning Ji nodded, his gaze was a little gloomy, but he was quiet. He had not been very lively, but he had become quieter and quieter over the past year, and he was clearly thinking about his thoughts at this time. Ning Xi sighed: "Okay, okay, I'll tell you about this first." ”

Ning Ji nodded, Ning Xi poured tea and continued: "In the past two months, the Wu Dynasty has failed, you know." The Jurchens were arrogant, and there were more people who fell to our side. Including Zizhou, I originally thought that it would be okay to fight one or two battles big and small, but later I actually came in without blood, do you think about the truth in the middle? ”

Ning Ji raised his chin: "Only we can fight with the Jurchens in the world, and it is better to take refuge in us than to refuge in the Jurchens." ”

"This is part of it, many of us think so, but second brother, the most fundamental reason is that Zizhou is close to us, if they don't surrender, before the Jurchens come, they will be defeated by us. If they are really in the middle, it is really difficult to say whether they will take refuge in us or the Jurchens. ”

“…… So Si Zhongxian wants to take refuge in the Jurchens? Isn't it just to kill a useless dog emperor! They hate us so much! ”

Ning Ji's eyes widened, and he was furious, Ning Xi shook his head and smiled: "Not only these, the main reason is mentioned in the letter that my father gave me half a month ago." Second brother, when the Wu Dynasty was still there, the people in the court of the Wu Dynasty said that they would drive the tiger and devour the wolf, and said that the land thousands of miles west of Xiangfan would be ceded to the Jurchens, so that the Jurchens could come and beat us, this statement sounded very interesting, but no one really dared to do this, even if someone raised it, their opposition below was very fierce, because it was a very humiliating thing. ”

“…… But today, his face is really lost. Ning Ji listened carefully, Ning Xi paused slightly, and only then did he say this, he said: "Today, the Wu Dynasty is really almost over, there is no face, and they are going to die." At this time, many of them remembered that it seemed really good for us to fight with the Jurchens to lose both sides. ”

Ning Ji stared, opened his mouth, and didn't say anything, he was still young after all, and his comprehension was a little slow, Ning Xi took a breath, and opened the recipe with his hand, his eyes were often around, and he lowered his voice:

"In the past two months, there have been more assassination intentions against you, me, father and mother, which were organized by some of the previous Wu Dynasty families, who knew that the Wu Dynasty was about to die, and they also knew that the Southwest War was about to break out, and they hoped that there would be more undying enmity between us and the Jurchens, such as kidnapping you and me, and throwing them into the Jurchen camp after killing. In this way, when facing the Jurchens, the father will lose his mind. When we went to Zizhou half a month ago, we found out a bunch of guys, and they wanted to do something to Aunt Jin, because Aunt Jin would occasionally go out to conduct performances, and they wanted to arrest Aunt Jin and take her to the Jurchen camp......"

Ning Ji's fingers grabbed the edge of the table, only to hear a click, the lines of the wooden table cracked slightly, and the young man suppressed his voice: "Aunt Jin has no children!" ”

The edges of Ning Xi's eyes also showed a little blood red, but his words were still calm: "These guys are very unhappy now. But the second brother, I told you about this matter, not to make you angry with the table, angry and angry. The most important thing that Daddy warned us about since childhood, you should not forget. ”

"I know." Ning Ji took a breath and slowly let go of the table, "I've calmed down." ”

"Anger is the driving force, but the most important thing is to calmly see the reality clearly, face it objectively, and systematically exert the strength of everyone, so that you can exert your greatest ability and cause the most damage to the enemy, making them the most unhappy and uncomfortable...... In the past few months, the danger outside has been great for us, and Zizhou has only been annexed here, which is more complicated than the south, so cheer up...... As for Si Zhongxian's recurrence, it is likely that it is also because of this reason, but I am not sure now, I heard that I am still thinking of a way ahead. ”

"Hmm." Ning Ji nodded, it was extremely difficult for a teenager who was not yet fourteen years old, but the experience of the military medical team in the past year or so gave him the strength to face reality, he had to watch his seriously injured companions have their legs sawed off, and he had to watch people die painfully with blood, there are many things in this world that surpass manpower and take lives, no matter how great the grief and anger can be done, in many cases, it will make people make wrong choices.

"Twenty days ago, your first sister was also injured and bled for half the night, and it was just recently...... So we need to eat more, the family is like this, and the same is true for the companions, the stronger you are and calmer, the people around you will be less hurt. Do you want us to order all the things we haven't eaten? ”

“…… Brother, don't be kidding, just order what you like. Ning Ji smiled perfunctorily, clenched his fist slightly, and after a while, he finally said, "But why?" None of them can beat the Jurchens, their place is occupied by the Jurchens, and everyone is suffering! Only we can defeat the Jurchens, we are still good to the people around us, the army goes out to help people reclaim the famine, we go out to help people see a doctor, and we don't collect much money...... Why do they still hate us? Are we worse than the Jurchens? Brother, how can such a person live in the world! ”

He slapped his small palm on the table: "I want to kill them all!" They all deserve to die! ”

Ning Xi was silent for a moment, and then handed the menu to his younger brother: "Forget it, let's order first......