In the early winter afternoon, in the cold wind, a team of men and horses marched the dusty dirt road.

The sky was gray. Pushed by the north wind, the gray-brown clouds slowly spread over the top of the mountain, rolling and rolling towards the south. The old pine looked from this mountain to that mountain, and the slopes were full of withered yellow scenery, and the miscellaneous trees that had lost their leaves supported the bare branches, and they were listless in the white sun. Occasionally, there would be a few dots of dying green, like a child's graffiti, dazzlingly dotted among the ruins of the mountains. The earth has passed the frost, and in the cracks of the frozen and cracked soil, there are dead grass and leaves that have lost their vitality everywhere. Suddenly, a cold winter wind swept along the river, and the dry grass and dead leaves all over the ground were like butterflies with broken wings, swept by the wind, and flew with spinning on the ground, rising suddenly and falling slowly......

Shang Cheng buried his head on the horse and turned sideways to avoid the limelight, and it was not until the thief wind passed that he put down his hand covering his right eye, pulled out a brocade handkerchief from the tightly tied cuffs, and wiped away the tears in his eye sockets. Because of the severe injury on his right cheek, half of his face was torn off by the scar of the grave, and the eyelid of his right eye turned out badly, so he was left with tears in the wind.

He closed his right eye and half-squinted his left, and turned around on his horse to look at the group. The eleven soldiers scattered in front and behind the procession, all wrapped in new cotton robes, rode silently on their horses. There were also more than thirty military horses carrying sacks in the procession, all of whom tied their reins to the saddle bridge in front of them, bowed their heads and followed the meek steps.

He carefully turned the Jinpa over his father, tucked it back into his sleeve, and raised his gaze to look at a lone pine tree on a mountain beam in the distance. Against the backdrop of the gray sky, the old pine became more and more deep and arrogant, standing on the beam and quietly watching the people on the road below the mountain. Not far away, at the foot of the dark mountain, there are a dozen or so small villages, all of which are low houses and low courtyards, and the male and female farmers who are idle in winter stand on the steps behind the wall and look at them as if they are looking at some rare thing; The snot baby wrapped in patches and black cloth torn jackets also leaned on the gap between the legs of adults to watch the excitement.

He withdrew his gaze and saw Sun Zhongshan waiting for him on the side of the road with the reins of his horse.

Sun Zhongshan gave a military salute on his horse and said, "My lord, seeing that the weather may rain at any time, please show me, do you want the brothers to hurry up a few steps and get to the village early?" ”

Before Shang Cheng could speak, he felt a slight chill on his forehead, and subconsciously reached out to touch it, only to feel a little chill diffuse on his fingers, and then his forehead and cheeks were three or four points cold, and when he looked up, the sky was getting darker and darker. From the village, the dolls screamed in tender voices: "It's snowing! It's snowing! ”

"It's important to protect the food! Cover all the food packets with a tarpaulin! Shang Cheng didn't bother to talk to Sun Zhongshan, and immediately ordered. He received forty military horses from Yanzhou, and when he passed through Beizheng, he received one hundred and fifty bags of military rations, all of which were old wheat, and he was most afraid of water. As soon as he gave the order, the team immediately stopped, and more than a dozen soldiers, including himself, turned over and dismounted, and each pulled the oilcloth in his pocket to cover the grain bag first. But there were too many packers, and the tarpaulin was not enough at all, so if they took care of this horse, they couldn't take care of that horse, and the soldiers waited for Shang Cheng's order until they saw Shang Cheng take a change of clothes from his package and cover them on the sack, so they hurriedly did the same.

By the time Shang Cheng had covered the three horses' packs, the winter rain and snow had fallen flutteringly, and in an instant, there were already two blurry wet stains on his shoulders. He wiped a handful of rainwater on his face, rubbed his right eye socket and said to Sun Zhongshan: "You go to the village immediately and ask them to bring oilcloths." Be quick! ”

Sun Zhongshan agreed, and then raised his whip to urge the horse to move troops in the village.

Shang Cheng turned around and shouted to the soldiers who were still busy in the drizzle: "Everyone work hard, pack up and hurry on the road, and you can rest early when you get to the village early." While shouting, he went over to help a border soldier tie up the packer, and a few undershirts and two straight plackets were folded, barely protecting the food bag. Pull the hemp rope tightly and tie a slipknot and stand up straight, and saw a thin border soldier take off the robe on his body and cover the pigeon, but he was so cold that his face was blue and his nose was long, but his eyes were a little red, and he pulled the robe from the horse, and he couldn't help but wrap the soldier, and scolded angrily, "You don't want to die?" Put on! Stretching out his hand and touching his forehead, he felt that it was hot, glared at the little soldier, and shouted in a loud voice, "Sun Whistle has already gone to Xiazhai to move the rescue soldiers, let's hurry up a few steps, and we can catch them halfway." Sun Whistle will definitely inform Xia Zhai to boil hot water and cook hot rice for us! ”……

After cleaning up for a while, Shang Cheng put on the horsewhip and pointed to the north and said "go", and the team meandered north along the winding road. Who knew that the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and it was less than three miles out of the house, and everyone was half-wet with rain and snow, and when the wind blew, everyone had blue faces and white lips and two rows of teeth clicking. Shang Cheng also regretted it now, he had known that this was the case, he should have ordered to take refuge in that village at that time, and it would not be too late to wait for the people from the village to come before hitting the road. But there is nothing in this world, but there is no regret medicine, and now he can only order a temporary rest under a lonely cliff on the side of the road that is barely sheltered from the wind and rain; He also asked the stones and Baokan to find dead branches and leaves, and first lit a fire for emergency. Before the white smoke of the fire could burst into flames, a group of people rushed out like a whirlwind in the rain and mist.

After more than ten paces, the group had already rolled their saddles and dismounted, snatched the stuff from their horses, and ran over. Only then did Shang Cheng see clearly that the leader of this group of people was Sun Zhongshan who was wearing a beige oilcloth raincoat.

Sun Zhongshan helped Shang Cheng change into a clean robe and put on a raincoat, and at the same time introduced Shang Cheng to the two officers who stood respectfully. I heard that Shang Cheng, who came to Xizhai as a commander and battalion captain, personally escorted grain, grass and horses in the rain, and the sentry chief and second sentry of the lower village came to greet him.

Although Shang Cheng changed his clothes, the cold in his body had not subsided for a while, and his body was still very cold. He rubbed his hands together and waved his hand at the two saluting officers, and his mouth giggled and spoke: "Don't be like that...... So numb, annoying. Hurry up and let the brethren change their clothes, they are all cold...... It's too cold. At a glance, I caught a glimpse of an officer with a water hyacinth tied to his waist, stretched his stiff fingers to his mouth, and asked in a trembling voice, "Is your gourd water or wine?" ”

The sentry commander surnamed Jin untied the gourd as if he had just woken up from a dream, opened the lid of the gourd and handed it over: "My lord, it's wine." ”

Shang Cheng took a big sip without saying a word, and a slightly sour smell of wine suddenly diffused in his mouth, and after two more sips, he felt that a small fire was burning between his chest and abdomen, and the warmth of baking was radiated from the side of the fire all the way to his body, so he handed the gourd to the stone, and said to Jin Whistle with a smile: "I am not a wine ......"

Jin Whistle knew that he had said the wrong thing, and he was remorseful, for fear that he would leave a bad impression on the new official, and at this time, listening to the joke in his words, he immediately threw away half of his original worries, and said with a smile: "My lord, see you laugh." My old Jin is a rough man, he can't speak, if he says something wrong, don't take it to heart. But you can't stay here for long. As soon as the rain and snow in the winter moon of Beizheng falls, it will not end, and if you stay any longer, you are afraid that the snow will get heavier and heavier. Besides, there is no shelter from the wind and rain here, and it is not a place to speak, so you still have to go back to the village as soon as possible. Don't worry, my lord, I'll leave it to me and Lao Cai here, and I can't drop a single wheat. Your Excellency, Sun Whistle, and the brothers went to the stockade first. The village is already preparing hot water for wine and food, just wait for the adults and brothers, take a hot bath to pull out the cold on their bodies, and then eat and drink well, and then hug a mother-in-law and roll on the kang, one by one, I guarantee that the adults will be fierce immediately. ”

"It's well arranged." Shang Cheng nodded, and a smile appeared on half of his face. "I can't change this dry clothes, the cold is still in the body, I want to take a hot bath to get rid of the cold and dampness......"

The second whistle surnamed Qian heard Shang Cheng's tone and thought that he had agreed, so he said to Jin Whistle: "It doesn't take a few people to catch dozens of horses, and this place is close to the village, so it's a matter of half an hour...... In this way, I will stay here to deal with it, and you will accompany the Lord and Sun Whistle to go back first. As he spoke, he quietly gave a look and motioned for Jin Whistle's turn to say a few words for him.

Shang Cheng glanced at Qian Er's whistle, pursed his lips and smiled: "It's enough to leave one soldier here, both of you go back with me." Go with my soldiers first. Is there a doctor in the village? Seeing that the two sentinels nodded together, he said, "Call the doctor when you go back, I have a soldier who is sick," he pointed to the little soldier who had taken off his cotton robe and covered the pigeon just now. The little soldier was wrapping his newly changed robes tightly, holding a wine gourd in his hand, holding his elbows and squatting in the innermost part of the cliff corner, shivering vigorously. "I'm afraid I'm catching a cold on the road and having a fever...... A bit of a sign of cold fever. Do you have water with you? ”

Qian Ershao immediately untied his gourd.

"Is it boiling water?"

Qian Ershao nodded a little embarrassedly.

Shang Cheng couldn't help but look at him strangely. It's cold and winter, why does this Qian Ershao actually carry a gourd of water? Even if you want to please yourself, you don't have to be so meticulous, you even bring wine and water. He couldn't help but open the lid and smell it, there was no smell of wine, so he asked Sun Zhongshan to send it to the little soldier.

Jin Whistle smiled and explained to his deputy: "Tell the adults that you can't drink alcohol with old money, and if you dip it a little, it will be red from the root of your ears to the tip of your buttocks." ”

Although Jin Whistle's words were vulgar, they were also funny, Shang Cheng saw that Qian Ershao's face was already red to the root of his ears when he didn't drink, and he couldn't help but smile and said, "It's rare to be a soldier who doesn't drink." He turned his eyes to Jin Whistle and asked, "Then you should be able to drink old gold, right?" ”

Jin Whistle grinned and said, "Drink casually for three catties and five catties." Touching his head and smiling, he asked, "Adults are tall and big, so they are also good at drinking, right?" ”

Shang Cheng instigated the corners of his mouth and said with a smile: "I'm drunk after three cups." You will definitely get drunk if you drink three cups one by one, and you will be fine if you drink three catties......"

The two sentry commanders first laughed in unison, and then laughed, and quietly exchanged glances while laughing, it seemed that the new battalion captain was a good person to deal with.