The wilderness earth city received the enemy in the dark, and Ran Linde made a mistake in judging the plan, causing the Zhao army to be coerced before and after. In the west, there were iron cavalry in the big tent of Tu Duci, and the retreat in the east was broken by the enemy taking advantage of the gap, and the war horses were transferred away by themselves, and 600 Zhao soldiers were trapped in the lonely city, and they had actually fallen into death...... In self-pity, he had already made up his mind to protect Princess Changsha from breaking through the siege no matter what, how did he know that the enemy in the east would retreat with one blow, and he would never stop around, and he was thinking about the enemy's strength attempt in disbelief, when he heard someone outside the city wall shouting: "Is it Chen Zhuguo in the city?" ”

Ran Linde is a veteran military officer, and he has done everything about sneak attacks, robbing camps, and setting up ambushes, although he was surprised when he heard the shouts in the dark, he was still able to stabilize his mind, and when he saw Chen Pu's body about to rise up, he immediately pressed her shoulder and said, "Silence!" Although his voice was low, it exuded an unquestionable resoluteness, and Chen Pu hesitated for a moment and hid it back, squinting his eyes and clenching the handle of the knife in his hand tighter.

I heard the people outside pause and shout, "...... I'm a blind businessman! ”

As soon as this person reported his nickname, coupled with the Shangjing accent with a Yanshan accent, although Ran Linde still had a grim face and gloomy eyes, he didn't say a word, but he actually believed it in his heart. But things came too suddenly, this blind man suddenly appeared and the way was too weird, the grassland desert wilderness enemy rode and weaved dense forests, the military plane changed rapidly, and the people's hearts were scattered...... While thinking about it, the people outside were shouting again: "Is it Chen Zhuguo inside?" I'm Shang Cheng! Business blind! ”

Chen Pu was also a little undecided, looked at Ran Linde in the dark, lowered his voice and asked, "What now?" ”

Ran Linde gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "Chen Zhuguo is here!" Captain Shang, you show up and let us take a look! ”

As soon as he said this, he heard a loud commotion in the darkness outside the city, and a few curses were mixed between the deliberately lowered cheers: "it! You almost chopped off my arm just now! "Suffered! I was stabbed in the face! In the chaos, someone outside the city wall spoke: "General, let the brothers inside not move their knives, our captain is here." There were a few cracks, as if someone was making a scythe, followed by the sound of a torch lit by a tinkling horn, and a man holding a torch in one hand and a shoulder height in the other, turned to the gap and stood. The night breeze swept the tongue of fire and swayed, and the flickering light and shadow reflected on the man's iron-cast face, which was also bright and dark......

Ran Linde couldn't tell what it was like in his heart, he slowly stood up from behind the broken wall with a knife, stared straight at Shang Cheng for a long time, and then squeezed out a sentence from his mouth: "Damn!" You're not dead! ”

Shang Cheng held the torch and smiled, and said, "I almost died just now...... and handed the torch to Bao Kan, who followed behind, and stepped into the city. He saw that Chen Pu was still ignorant and confused, and knew that the general of the Zhuguo State had not yet recovered his calm from the surprise and joy, and knew that she was actually not familiar with military affairs, so he didn't wait for her to return the salute, and asked for instructions, "The west is also our people, we must send a signal quickly and don't let them misunderstand", with a wave of his hand, Qian Laosan, who had just entered the city, stepped a few steps and ran to the gap in the west city wall, raised the torch in his hand and shook it left and right a few times.

After a while, the torches of the grain team in the west began to move again, slowly marching to the underground of Tuchengtai, and without Shang Cheng's orders, Sun Zhongshan and Zhao Shishi, a small officer familiar with Chen Pu, led the soldiers to send large bags of beef jerky milk cakes over and distributed them to Zhao Bing in the city.

Until his hands were stuffed with fragrant dry hard wheat cakes and black jerky, Chen Pu was still stupid as if he was dreaming. Since crossing the Alegu River, she never thought that she would still meet these Zhao soldiers who voluntarily stayed behind and broke off, and she never had the luxury of expecting that she would be alive to see these warriors who were willing to die again. She had even figured out that she would meet them below, and at that time she would sincerely say to them, "Thank you!" She even burst into tears because of the scene that came to her mind. Sometimes, after a day of desperate fighting and fleeing, she is wrapped in a dirty felt blanket, and she will also recall these people who know that they will die but have no way back, Shang Blind, Sun Zhongshan, Qian Laosan, Zhao Shishi...... She silently read their names in her heart, desperately remembering their voices and faces. But she could no longer recall their exact appearance, only the terrible scar on the face of the blind man, Sun Zhongshan's calm eyes, the gold medal paid by Qian Laosan, and Bao Kan's playful jokes...... Occasionally, they would flash in her dreams, their arms and limbs covered in blood, but they still had nonchalant smiles on their faces, as if they didn't see her, talking and laughing and frolicking. She couldn't hear what they were saying. She couldn't get them to notice her either. Even if she was yelling and jumping at them, they wouldn't give her a second glance......

A hot mass suddenly appeared in her hand, calling her to her eyes.

"General, you eat this, this is hot." Liao Pheasant handed her a piece of hot cake.

This is a wheat cake that has just been dug out of the fire, with a little ash and soil, and the roasted brown and crisp black wheat husk exudes a quiet grain aroma and rich milk aroma, which is refreshing with the breath. She broke a small piece and put it in her mouth, and instead of munching on it immediately, she gently bit it with her teeth, letting the long-lost taste of barley slowly spread on the tip of her tongue, letting it swirl between her lips and tongue, until the cake melted into a ball, and she swallowed it reluctantly. Her stomach immediately let out a few complaints—it hadn't been in contact with such a thing for a long time, and it was a little uncomfortable for a while.

She broke another small piece and chewed it while listening quietly to a few officers.

After half a month, Shang Cheng's face became even thinner, and the scar was like a snake crawling on his cheekbones. He took a stick, picked up a piece of firewood rolled out of the fire, pushed it back again, and said with a smile: "...... General Wang thinks highly of me, where do I have such a ability, I just separate the two sentinels and take turns to harass them. That's what I can do, and I can barely hold them back and keep them from going fast. In fact, the Turks are also afraid that if you set up an ambush in front of you, we will outflank them in the back, and they will not be defeated again? After a few troubles, they were also anxious, and more than 1,000 soldiers took up a position to rush us, and we were defeated. ”

Although he said it simply, the people around him who knew the soldiers and knew the soldiers all knew that this so-called "harassment" did not know how many times during this period was to risk death and rush to kill, and if the enemy was not beaten and feared, how could more than 100 people delay the enemy ten times as long for two or three hours? Following this idea, thinking of the desperate struggle on the banks of the Alegu River that day, the Great Zhao warriors in the shadow of swords and swords followed one after another, and all those who knew the story at that time were silent.

Chen Pu held the cake in his hand, was silent for a long time and asked, "Then, what happened later?" ”

"We didn't have many men left, and two or three hundred enemies were biting at the back of our buttocks, so we had to scurry around on the right bank of the Alergu River until it was dark. After nightfall, he was lucky, ran into a small group of enemies, and grabbed some grain and horses, and as soon as he had a total of them, he headed south. When they arrived at Shuangmatan, the military village had been occupied by the Turgites, so they continued to retreat south. When I arrived at Liangjingdu, I didn't know that you hadn't retreated yet...... "Actually, Shang Cheng had already told this story just now, but Chen Pu was in a trance, so he didn't hear it." At the moment, he saw Chen Zhuguo looking at him with sparkling eyes, so he had to briefly explain what had happened. "We only inquired about you after the Liang army crossed the river; I also learned that Admiral Li did not cross the river, and went directly to the southwest. We crossed the river again and returned to the right bank, and went up against the valley of the Alle, and inquired about you along the way, and gathered some of our troops. We think that the south and the west are the enemy's territory, and if nothing happens to you, it will be either east or north; However, if you go east, first, you can get close to Moganzhai, and second, you may be able to meet the reinforcements sent by Mogan on the way, so you will also go east. Walked all the way, fought all the way, and contained the soldiers, and when they arrived, there were already seven or eight hundred people. However, the day before yesterday, when he stormed the enemy's stockade, he suffered a heavy loss, killing and wounding three or four hundred brothers, so he had no choice but to retreat first and find a new way. No, I just robbed an enemy's big grain team, and I'm going to take advantage of their unpreparedness and go over overnight to get him another guy. ”

Chen Pu looked back at the glittering grain team under the platform outside the city, frowned and asked, "Just pass like this?" Are you not afraid of suspicion from the Turks? ”

Shang Cheng nodded and said very firmly: "Basically, I don't doubt it, at most I just ask a few words." He stroked the scars on his face that were a little hot and itchy from the fire, smiled and said, "We have observed their camps, and the grain team has not checked them strictly, so they are basically allowed to leave after asking two words. Besides, their food teams all lit torches to rush to the night, and the passing rangers generally did not even ask, and at most they perfunctorily checked when they collided head-on......"

Ran Linde praised his head: "It can show that it can't, that's the truth." ”

Chen Pu pondered Ran Linde's words, and asked again for a long time: "What if they also interrogate you?" ”

Several officers gathered around the fire to eat cakes and nibble on jerky were a little surprised. The suspicious soldiers that Shang Cheng sent to the west just now, aren't there people who can speak the language of Tuduci?

Shang Chengping looked at Chen Pu and said calmly: "Don't hide it from the general, we now have more than a dozen Hachagan in our team, and this way is almost relying on them to lead the way, so we haven't lost our way, and we haven't been found by the enemy." Ran Linde explained to Chen Pu in a whisper next to him: "Hachagen is a Tuqi dialect, which means 'a person born in the soil', and some people say that it means 'the most despicable person on the grassland'. He turned to Shang Cheng and asked, "Why did Captain Shang bring these people with him?" ”

Chen Pu also asked, "Is it a slave?" ”

The questions of the two people came up almost at the same time, and Shang Cheng didn't know who to answer for a while. Depending on the situation, this team is commanded by Ran Linde, and he should return to Ran Linde's words first; But General Zhuguo's status, honor, or position, can be ranked in the entire camp...... He took out a piece of Mian Pa from his bosom, which had long been filthy and blackened, and while rubbing his sore eyes, he said without looking at anyone: "Hachagan is not a slave, and their status is not comparable to that of a slave. They are the things that grow out of the dirt, the meanest things in the steppe. His voice fell heavily on the "thing". "In the eyes of the Turks and other steppe people, Hachagen is not even a 'person', just a 'thing', something that anyone can decide their life and death......" He gazed at the fire with a blank face, and continued silently, "We met these khachagans on the day we crossed Alegu from the old place. When the outpost came back and reported that a troop of soldiers was killing people in front, we thought that our own people were surrounded by the enemy, so we hurried to rescue them, and we rescued them. I asked them if they wanted to avenge their loved ones and if they wanted to see their enemies die, and they said yes, so I gave them weapons. They are now the same as us, and they are also Da Zhao's soldiers. ”

Several officers quietly glanced at each other, but they did not say a word. Even Chen Pu knows very well what kind of people can eat food and become soldiers. The imperial court for people outside the Zhao land naturalization and settlement, there are detailed provisions in the law, Zhao people as soldiers, there is also a detailed household registration and military registration system, Shang Cheng's current practice, in fact, has violated the national law and military law, those few grassland people with no roots, maybe they have become Zhao people become guards, but he has to accept severe punishment for this, one by one is not demoted, or cut down......

Shang Cheng certainly knew what the reason for them not to speak was. He raised his head, stared at the stars in the sky with his lips pursed, a pair of dark eyes flashed with brilliance behind his eyelids, shook his head for a long time, and said, "I know that I have violated national law and military law by doing this. I already feel that my errand with the troops has been given to Captain Sun, and now he is just an ordinary border soldier......" Speaking of this, he smiled and said to Wen Mu, who was sitting on the side, "You won't ignore me just because I'm a big-headed soldier now, right?" ”

Wen Mu smiled bitterly and grinned, "...... How could it be. ”

Shang Cheng dug out a cake from the fire, slapped the ashes off the cake with a loud sigh in his mouth, tore half of it and handed it to Ran Linde, and said with a smile: "General Ran, today we have the fate of dividing the cake, and when we return to Yanshan, remember to fish me out of the border army, and let me follow you for a few days to live a comfortable life." ”

Ran Linde is a person who has risen and fallen, five years in prison, several deaths and several lives, seeing through the human feelings and understanding the world, although he only worked as a counselor in the Yanshan camp for a few months after getting rid of the crime, but the people who come and go are all big people, and those who go in and out of the viewing are confidential letters and documents, and the people who watch the fire on the other side have already seen the mystery, took the cake and smiled, and did not answer Shang Cheng's words, and asked bluntly: "Captain Shang, what should we do next?" ”

"What else can I do? Eat, drink, and rest," Shang Cheng said happily, "We'll set off in half an hour." ”