"Gone." Pu Guoyi tightened the scale armor that was draped in the outermost layer and said gently. This scale armor was made for him by his fellow villagers when he was in the martial arts, and it has been fighting with Pu Guoyi for more than ten years.

Due to years of oxidation, the color of the scale armor is dull, but this shows a sense of heaviness. A pair of soft wattles from top to bottom, gently caressing the nail piece, occasionally stagnate a little in the depression notch. Pu Guoyi turned his head to look at his wife, who was checking whether the armor was put on for himself, and saw that she was stunned by the armor on her back, and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"......" Pu Liushi paused, and stroked a place with his slender fingers, "When the concubine saw a few openings here, her heart was very chaotic ......"

Pu Guoyi felt sad for a while, and knew what his wife wanted to express, but the war was imminent, and he didn't want to fall into the love of his children, so he said hardly: "The sword has no eyes, and it is inevitable that he will go to the battlefield." After saying that, he did not forget to say, "But you have never seen those people who have broken their hands and feet, and even their bodies have been separated, how fortunate I am compared to them!" ”

"But ......" Pu Liushi was speechless when he heard this, and the tears that were already rolling in his eyes fell at this time.

Pu Guoyi's heart is the softest, and his tough mentality has given this rush to the ground, he sighed, turned his majestic body, and brought up his armor with a chaotic sound: "Alas, don't cry, it's not the first time I've gone out, don't be so sad and sad." ”

He didn't say anything about it, this said, Pu Liu's tears rolled down like beans, she picked up the handkerchief and kept wiping it, but the tears were wiped more and more, until a dry handkerchief was soaked: "This, this concubine's body, self, natural ......" She sobbed, and the intermittent words were difficult to sentence.

Pu Guoyi followed her gaze, on the bed, in swaddling clothes, a baby was sleeping soundly. At this time, Pu Guoyi couldn't hold back any longer, his tenderness rose, and two big hands hugged his delicate wife into his arms like a fan: "I'm not here, Huan'er will work hard for you to take care of it." ”

Pu Liu's body is not only much worse than her husband, but also nearly ten years younger, whenever Pu Guoyi, who is closely leaning on Kong Wu Kuiwei, she will have a full sense of security from the bottom of her heart. It's just that such a sense of security has been shaken in recent times.

As if sensing his wife's thoughts, Pu Guoyi's throat twitched, and finally whispered on his wife's sideburns: "If I have three long and two short, you can simply clean up, go back to your parents' house, and leave as soon as possible." After speaking, I listened to my wife's "uh-huh" twice, and then said, "I have entrusted the old man to arrange for you to go out of the city." Old Fu, that is, Emperor Fu Meng, the one who often comes to the house to drink, is my fellow villager, and he will do his best to take care of you. ”

His wife's worries are also Pu Guoyi's worries. The top boss, Sichuan General Soldier Hou Liangzhu, coveted Pu Liu's salivation is almost a well-known scandal, Pu Guoyi was born not long ago, so he naturally would not tolerate his beloved wife and children falling into the hands of others because of his own errands. But the military order is like a mountain, Hou Liangzhu sent him to the city to garrison, if he abandons private affairs for public purposes, the situation may be even more unfavorable.

"You promise to come back safely." Wiping her tears for a long time, Pu Liu's eyes were red and swollen like peaches, she choked and tightened Pu Guoyi's thick waist, it seemed that Pu Guoyi would never let go if she didn't agree.

Pu Guoyi was speechless for a long time, and it was not until the gongs and trumpets sounded one after another outside that he had to raise his hand to his forehead and said seriously: "I promise you, and I promise Huan'er." I'm going to be fine, and you're going to be fine. Today is over, and we are still the same as before. When he said this, his heart was like a knife, for he himself did not know what would happen today. A man who can't even decide his own fate, but here he is ashamed to make promises to his wife and children, he is both ashamed and heartbroken.

As soon as the words fell, a voice came from outside the house: "Pu is guarded, there is an order from the peak, and you must go to the city to rectify before two o'clock." "Listen to the voice, it's the soldiers under him who can't wait.

"Be careful." Pu Liu sniffled, spread his hand, and took two steps back. Pu Guoyi noticed that her shoulders were trembling slightly.

"Wait for me." Pu Guoyi wanted to smile, but his face was so stiff that he couldn't move, and then there were two more urgings outside the house, he took one last look at the swaddling clothes on the bed, and was ruthless, picked up the waist knife on the square table, pushed the door and stepped out.

The sunlight outside the house is shining down, creating a stark contrast to the drowsy interior. Pu Guoyi closed the door, walked out of the courtyard, squinted at more than ten soldiers, and said, "Everyone has arrived?" ”

The soldiers nodded and said, "Everyone is at the north gate, just waiting for you." ”

Pu Guoyi waved his hand, and the soldiers followed him, talking as they went: "What about Hou Shuairen?" ”

"Hou Shuai has just led the soldiers out of the north city gate. I heard that the Northern Thief has passed the Chaotian Pass. ”

Pu Guoyi nodded, silent, at the previous military meeting, Hou Liangzhu had set a strategy to deal with the enemy, that is, to confront the northbound rogues outside the city. The importance of defending the city lies in guarding the wilderness, and the wilderness cannot be defended, and the second is guarding Guoxia. In layman's terms, it is to fight under the city and fight against the enemy.

After investigation, Hou Liangzhu knew that the total number of rogues who attacked the city was not much more than that of his side. Since the army is in the middle of the two, it is very stupid to defend the city to the death. Fighting behind the city, on the one hand, can prevent the enemy army from contacting the city walls and gates at the first time, and on the other hand, it can also allow the officers and soldiers who go out to fight without worries and fight with all their might. Hou Liangzhu was very confident in his own strength, and his original intention of collecting all the troops in Guangyuan was to fight for the city. Previously, in order to accommodate the soldiers and horses from all walks of life, a camp had been set up in the open space outside the north gate of Guangyuan. At present, the officers and soldiers are relying on them as positions.

In the distance, the sound of the horn continued, and as far as the eye could see, there were soldiers of various departments who were busy coming and going. Pu Guoyi walked with a heavy heart, and unexpectedly a person came up to him, and patted him on the shoulder: "Old Pu, it's a coincidence!" ”

Pu Guoyi looked at the person, it was his friend Fu Mengdi who he mentioned to his wife. Emperor Fu Mengdi is the general manager of Chaotian Pass garrison, and he was ordered by Hou Liangzhu to withdraw from the pass not long ago.

"Where are you going?" Thinking of entrusting his wife and children to Emperor Fu Mengdi, Pu Guoyi asked with great concern.

Fu Mengdi smiled bitterly, flicked the round helmet on his head, and made a "clanging" sound: "I thought I could patrol the city and touch the fish, but who knew that the guests from the north really didn't give face." No, I just received a military order, saying that I found a group of thieves coming along the Jiameng water, and I was temporarily transferred to Fanghe. "Jiameng water from Shaanxi Gongchang Prefecture Jiezhou, in Guangyuan into the Jialing River, the so-called "river defense", in fact, to guard the Jialing River on the west side of Guangyuan, where there are one or two trestle bridges to cross the river.

"Only you?" Pu Guoyi knew that there were only two or three hundred people under Emperor Fu Meng, and if there were so many people to defend the river, I was afraid that it would be more than lucky.

"No, there are also Lao Huang and Lao Yi." Fu Mengdi said. One of these two people is called Huang Shijun and the other is called Yi Qian, both of them are miscellaneous troops in northern Sichuan, and they add Fu Meng's imperial department, and there are barely eight or nine hundred.

Pu Guoyi was slightly relieved and said, "Old man, this battle is over, remember to come to my house to eat and drink." ”

Fu Mengdi smiled: "That's nature. The two didn't say anything more, it was like going shopping and passing by. On the surface, they were relaxed, but in fact, under the huge pressure before the war, both of them were extremely depressed. The sound of the trumpet, the flags, seemed to him to be extremely anxious and palpitating. It's just that they are all veterans, and they all know how to control their emotions.

After taking two steps, Pu Guoyi paused and turned to look at Emperor Fu Meng, who was gradually moving away. At this moment, he suddenly had an impulse to shout, to stop this best friend who had known him for many years, to look at his face again, and to shake his hand. He knew that with this parting, the two were afraid that they would never have the opportunity to drink together again.

However, reason still controlled his almost gushing emotions, and the soldiers on the left and right looked at him differently, and couldn't help asking: "Lord Garrison, but do you have something to say to Mr. Fu Qian?" ”

Pu Guoyi's heart sank, and he shook his head and said, "No, let's go quickly, I'm afraid of delaying the fighter if it's late." ”

The crowd walked around a few streets, and closed their doors from house to house along the road, as if no one was there. But the crying of children from time to time still shows that there are still people hiding in the seemingly empty houses. When a child cries, it is often followed by a fierce and rapid reprimand from the adults. Pu Guoyi listened to the child's cry of being scolded and threatened, and thought of his young child, his nose was sour.

After two more steps, in front of a house, there was an old man trembling and turning out a worn-out claw in the pile of rubble. During the martial law season in the city, people are not allowed to go out on the streets without permission, even if they step out of the house, it is a felony. Seeing this, several soldiers were about to go up and reprimand the expulsion, but were stopped by Pu Guoyi.

He took three steps and two steps up, helped the weak old man pull out the claws stuck in the cracks, and said kindly: "Old man, the street is not very peaceful, it is better to enter the house." ”

The old man saw a group of soldiers rushing over, and he complained bitterly, but when he saw that it was Pu Guoyi, he was relieved. Pu Guoyi is a garrison officer, forbearance in matters and humility. It's a good road to see unevenness, and during the period when Guangyuan was stationed in various departments, he encountered tyrannical soldiers and ruffians to support the people in the city. And he is bold and willing to fight for righteousness and money, so he has a good reputation in both the army and the people. Like this old man, his three sons were all killed in battle in the Pu Guoyi Army, so Pu Guoyi took special care of him, and almost every month he took out part of his salary to help him who was lonely and helpless.

"There is no firewood at home......," said the old man's expression, "I saw that there was still some short wood on this claw, and I wanted to burn it." ”

In the city to prepare for war, most of the firewood in the people's homes was requisitioned by the government as a military fund a few days ago. The old man, who was already poor, starved for two days because of the lack of firewood, and finally could not bear it anymore, and risked his life to come out in search of something to burn.

Pu Guoyi beckoned the soldiers to take some dry food and handed it to the old man, and persuaded: "Old man, you take these and eat them first." After this paragraph, I will come to visit you again. ”

The old man nodded again and again, and the corners of his wrinkled eyes seemed to be a little moist. He kept repeating "good, good, good" in his mouth, and only when he got to the back did he say something: "Pu Shoubei, you are a hero, with you going, you will definitely be able to kill those thieves who cut a thousand knives!" "The goods in the family were ruthlessly requisitioned, and the three sons were killed in battle, and the old man did not blame the official officer at all, on the contrary, he hated the rogue.

"Good ......" Pu Guoyi opened his mouth and replied blankly, but he felt that these words were like sharp knives, piercing his heart one by one. He suddenly wanted to say something apologetic, but the words came to his lips and slipped back to himself.

Seeing the old man enter the house, Pu Guoyi dragged his heavy steps to the entrance of the vegetable market. This is the center of Guangyuan County, extending in all directions. From here, turn north and go straight to the north gate.

There was a line of soldiers standing at the entrance of the market, and a few shirtless, carrying large wooden barrels to flush water on the ground. Pu Guoyi found that the ground seemed to have killed pigs and seemed to be red, and blood and water mixed with sewage flowed wantonly.

However, at the moment, where are there fat pigs to kill in Guangyuan, Pu Guoyi knows that he must have just killed someone here.

"The deceased Zhang Zhong and Peng Dadao. Guilt, loss of the teacher's defeat. In the face of Pu Guoyi's inquiry, he replied lightly, and at the same time pointed to the two packages placed on the board not far away, "Their heads are there, and they will be taken to Hou Shuai for inspection later, and they will be treated with lime, and then sent to Chengdu for reporting." ”

Zhang Zhong and Peng Dadao are both lieutenant generals of Hou Liangzhu's army, and I heard that two days ago, he led the two of them to fight against the thieves in the east, but they defeated the thieves' horse army several times. Hou Liangzhu was angry that the two of them were useless, and recalled and killed them, first, to show that the military law was ruthless, and second, he did not have the intention of killing chickens and monkeys before the war and deterring the whole army.

Not far from where the head was, there was a cart parked, covered with thatch, and if you didn't look at it, you knew that under the thatch, there must be the headless corpses of Zhang Zhong and Peng Dadao. Although Pu Guoyi has no friendship with them, he can be on an errand under Hou Liangzhu, and when he is facing great pressure, he can't help but feel a sense of sympathy for the dead rabbit and the dog.

"Let's go." Pu Guoyi stopped at the entrance of the vegetable market for a while, listened to the gongs and drums in the north, and the horn sounded, beckoning the soldiers of Shang Ziqi to leave.

Passing through a deep alley, the sight suddenly opened up, and the north city wall of Guangyuan built of blue bricks was impressive.

Pu Guoyi took a deep breath, calmed his mood, and walked forward with his head held high. There, rows and rows of officers and soldiers descended from the city, densely covering all the open spaces. More than ten flags of various colors fluttering in the wind at the head of the city almost obscured half of the sky, making the majestic Guangyuan City Tower look more solemn and simple.