This winter rain came and went on for several days, and at noon on the third day, there was a goose feather snow in the sky, and the sky and the earth suddenly became white. In the ice and snow, the reckless mountains are like ice dragons covered with jade, standing majestically in the wind and snow. The village was as quiet as a ruined fort that had been abandoned for many years, with only the occasional bark or two, which brought a touch of life to this deathly silent military village. The snow on the four streets that run from north to south and east to west in the stockade has long since fallen to the ankles, and there is no sign of human activity at all. A scrawny black cat poked its head out of the courtyard wall of a courtyard, its two eyes with pupils in a line flashing with a strange light, and looked around cautiously, like a black ghost, running across the crossroads, and disappearing behind the opposite earthen wall in an instant. The dry riverbed of the Mazhi River outside the village has long been covered with snow, like a large white snake, winding southward, gradually disappearing behind the mountains. The big drum peak in the east and the big drum peak in the west of Luofeng Ridge is like two giants wrapped in silver, solemnly and majestically looking at the military village at the foot of the mountain.

At dusk, a few vague figures suddenly appeared in the border barracks on the north side of Xiazhai. These people stepped on a few deep and shallow footprints on the battlefield of the barracks, climbed the wall with the help of the horse roads in the camp, and moved with difficulty in the wind and snow along the dilapidated sidewalks. The black lacquered iron helmets on the heads of these four people were wrapped in old sheepskin, which were buckled crookedly and diagonally on the top of their heads, and their ears were drooping to keep them warm. They were wrapped in the same dirty and tattered cotton robes, spears tucked under their armpits, and their hands were folded, and they moved towards the Beizhai Gate. If anyone had noticed them at this time, he would have been able to conclude at once that it was a border sentry changing the guard.

There is a city gate tower that has been in disrepair and half collapsed for a long time on the gate of Beizhai, it has already been tilted and the building is leaking on all sides, the two wooden doors can not be closed anyway, it may be that people are now forced to resist it with something from the inside, but it is to take care of the head and the tail, the lower end of the door crack is vacant and a big crack is empty, and a gust of wind is wrapped in snowflakes and whistling from coming out into the gatehouse. One of the people walked to the entrance of the gate and stood down, and a man came up from behind, his shoulder and head lightly against the rickety door panel, and then he slammed into it, and the two sentries who were squatting at the door to avoid the wind immediately fell and gnawed on the mud.

A sentry scolded his mother uncleanly, got up, clenched his fists and was about to hit someone, but he was bluffed by the little wolf-like eyes at the door, and his breath was suddenly suffocated, and he almost stopped breathing and heartbeat in an instant; Looking at the past again, there was actually his own sentry commander and two sentry among the four people at the door who were dressed exactly the same as ordinary soldiers, and the nameless anger in his heart immediately turned into uneasiness, trembling and standing in the ground at a loss, and for a while he even forgot to defend himself and beg for mercy One by one, he was lazy on duty, and according to the military order, he was to draw ten leather whips, and then flail for three days......

Zhao Shishi looked at him casually, then moved his gaze to the other sentry, and only turned his gaze to the side after carefully examining the situation in the gatehouse.

Shang Cheng didn't pay attention to the matter of the two sentinels. He wrapped the spear in the form of Jin Xi in one hand, covered his right eye with a handkerchief in the other, and squinted his left eye at the white land. He seemed to be searching for something, and he seemed to be waiting for something anxiously. Nothing can be seen on the snow-covered earth except white. The north wind roared with the broken jade, and the winter snow raged in the cold wind. Suddenly, a gust of thief wind suddenly rose, wrapped in clouds of flying snow swirling and rushing towards the face, and then smashed several people standing at the head of the wall.

Shang Cheng stared at the north for a long time, turned around with tense lips, and didn't say anything to Jin Xiqian, who looked grim, and walked into the gatehouse.

Only then did he realize that there were still two sentries in the gatehouse.

He asked, "Can these two people rest assured?" ”

Shang Cheng had been in Xiazhai for three days, because he had to deal with a very difficult matter temporarily, so he lived in the barracks, and several border soldiers who knew the origin of his identity were also warned separately, warning them not to spread the news that the battalion captain Xima Zhizhai was "fake" to command Shang Cheng to take up his post, so the two sentries did not know him. The two sentinels had no idea what he was talking about now. But they could hear that what Shang Cheng said was not a good thing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jin Xi glanced at the two sentries who were trembling in the ground, bowed down and replied, "Neither." ”

Shang Cheng nodded, stood on the steps and shook the snow on his head and body, and entered the gatehouse. Zhao Shishi came over and said to the two sentinels, "Surrender the weapons and nameplates." Seeing that the faces of the two of them were so frightened that their faces turned white and their lips were blue, and one of the soldiers was so paralyzed that he couldn't stand on his feet, he couldn't help frowning and said, "I don't want to cut off your heads, what are you afraid of?" It's just that you've been scared like this for a few days, and you have the courage to come to eat food and become a soldier? He gestured to a spot in the corner. Go there and squat, quietly don't make a sound, who dares to say a word, just wait for the next life to start again. ”

Shang Cheng didn't care about Gu Zhao Shishi to teach the two sentinels, sat down on a few cases in the gatehouse where the patent leather had fallen off and was dark and couldn't see the original color, took out a clean handkerchief in his hand again, pressed it on his right eye socket and massaged it gently, and said after a long time: "Lao Jin, you patted your chest and guaranteed the ticket, saying that with your private message, the Guan family will definitely send a confidential confidant to deal with this matter, and it has only been two days since you spoke, why hasn't there been any movement?" As he spoke, he removed his handkerchief, half of his face had a disdainful sneer, and a pair of dark eyes stared at Jin Xi's face. His eyes flashed with a deep glow, like two black flames dancing in a cold pool of stagnant water, and like two ghost fires swirling and dancing in the dark night. In the piercing Sen Leng gaze, Jin Xi lowered his hands on his thighs and bowed lower, swallowing his saliva with difficulty and whispering, "Don't worry, my lord." The Guan family is a Xuntian household, and they know the depth of the matter, and they will never dare to mess around. The You family and the Guan family are generations of in-laws, and they can not listen to the words of others, but the words of the Guan family cannot be ignored and dare not be disobeyed. Relax and relax, at most tomorrow, there will be news. ”

Shang Cheng was noncommittal, but just moved his gaze to the open doorway, looking at the flowers that were sent into the gatehouse by the wind from time to time.

Jin Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and as soon as his waist straightened up, he heard Shang Cheng snort in his nose, and immediately pressed down the waist he had just raised.

"The Kwan family's Xuntian was bought, right? Do they know or not, what does Xunda mean? ”

Jin Xi didn't dare to speak, buried his head lower, and his chin almost dug into the neckline of the cotton robe. Qian Laosan, who was standing next to him, didn't dare to take a breath, for fear that he would accidentally pant unevenly, which alarmed the commander of Ma Zhixizhai, the captain of the "fake post" border military camp in front of him. Even if Shang Cheng didn't say a word to him along the way, standing in the gatehouse at the moment, he still felt cold all over his body, the cold wind was blowing, and the cold was cold on his back......

"You two, do you know what Xuntian means?"

He asked lightly in his voice, and spoke softly like three or four friends sitting around the fireplace to talk eloquently, but the two of them were breathing heavily at the same time, and they both gritted their teeth and stood upright, not daring to move a little.

"Many people think that with Xuntian, there will be a chance to shine on the lintel, and they can wait for the promotion of the examination and be promoted, which is to buy a talisman for future generations to reduce crime and eliminate disasters. But how many people remember that in addition to glory, Xuntian is actually a responsibility, an obligation, and a commitment? He looked coldly at the two border officers. And the two of you, what are you eating food for? Isn't it just to ensure the safety of one party and create a happy land? What about you? How do you do that? I didn't dare to fight bandits, but I only dared to grab food supplies with my brothers...... More than ten years of military rations, did they all eat the dogs? The more he spoke, the more stern he became, and the lower the two officers became.

Three days ago, Sun Zhongshan mentioned the "Winter Advance", saying that it was the common local supply of the border army and the villages, and the imperial court gave the border fathers and elders tax reduction, tax reduction, and forced labor, and supplemental food, clothing, money and food. But when it came to "Winter Progress", the two officers who went straight down to the village were hesitant, and he felt that there was a mystery in it. After some questioning, Jin Xiqian couldn't prevaricate, so he had to admit that the winter progress of Mazhizhai is actually only one percent of previous years, which is basically close to existing in name only. They said that there was a nest of bandits entrenched in the mountains 30 miles west of Mazhixia Village, and this nest of bandits was fierce and strong, not only forcing the surrounding villages to be filial piety and greeting, but also causing the Mazhi border army to suffer several losses. As a result, Ma Zhizhai covered up the bandits in Chuandao, reported several dead and wounded border soldiers as dead and missing, and the former commander had to apply for transfer; And the bandits also intercepted half of the "winter progress" that Mazhi Bian Village deserved. It is precisely because there is no hope for the winter season, so several military villages can only rely on the food and salary supply completely on the Beizheng Border Army Command Division, Shang Cheng proposed that the grain and straw should be used in the village first, in fact, the other outposts and the large and small military villages in Xima Zhichuan are forced to serve as soldiers one by one on the desperate road, if they are not full of food, they may mutin on the spot......

Hearing that Xiazhai had reached a tacit agreement with the bandits, and the bandits did not rob and commit crimes in Xima Zhichuan, the border army turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it. But he soon realized that scolding could not solve the problem, so he interrogated the situation of the bandits in detail, and learned about the situation of several large households in Chuandao, and immediately drew up a plan to pull Sun Zhongshan's sentry from Zhongzhai one by one, and mix into the team of villagers who sent "winter entry" to the bandits, and then broke out in the bandits' den, and cooperated with his own people who were ambushed outside, and tried to pull out this tumor in one fell swoop. In order to atone for his crimes, Jin Xi also came up with the idea that he was very familiar with the Xuntian Guan clan in this land, and he could enlist the help of the Guan clan, and then explain to the You family that it should make the plan smoother......

But until now, the Guan family has not replied, and Sun Zhongshan went to Zhongzhai to transfer troops, but there was no news as soon as he went......

The more Shang Cheng thought about it, the more anxious he became, so he simply stood up, turned around twice in front of several cases, stopped and looked at Jin Xi and Qian Laosan coldly, seeing that both of them were covered with sweat, biting his cheeks and pondering for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "This is all the same old tone, you don't have to defend yourself." What kind of crime it is to collude with bandits, you must know better than I do. Whether there is a sin or not, and how much sin there is, depends on what you do. ”

Although Shang Cheng had said this several times, Jin Xi and Qian Laosan still secretly sighed, praised Shang Cheng for his magnanimity and elegance in unison, and repeatedly promised that they would definitely use the bandits' heads and blood to wash themselves.

Shang Cheng waved his hand and said: "It's useless to say, the key is what you do, whether it's a blessing or a curse, I don't count if I say it, it's up to you to fight for it." "In fact, even if these two officers don't do it, he can't do anything about them for the time being. Only Sun Zhongshan, an "outsider", is not clear about the bandits, and the rest of the forts and outposts are more or less implicated...... Alas, he can't arrest all his subordinates as soon as the new official arrives, right? Since you don't catch others, then you won't catch the money duo either, give them a chance to reform themselves.

Zhao Shishi walked in from outside and said, "My lord, Sun Whistle is back......"