Because it was not yet time to disperse, and there was official business to deal with at hand, Shang Chengcheng invited Huo Shiqi to rest first, and then they talked slowly when it was time for dinner. He said to Huo Shiqi: "Uncle, since you are here, you will stay in disgrace, and I will accompany you around again." Although West Mazhi is not as prosperous as Yixian and Huojiabao, there are many places worth seeing. In the upper reaches of the West River in the north, there is also a section of the Yan Great Wall left during the Warring States period, and the tablet outside the Tunbing Fort is very interesting. ”

Huo Shiqi is a person from the yamen and knows the rules of official business, not to mention that Shang Cheng is still in charge of the military now, and he has to avoid military affairs, so he just nodded in understanding, and followed the orderly soldiers to Shang Cheng's small courtyard to live first.

The orderly soldier was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old small border soldier, his face was still childish, and it was only a few steps from the yamen to Shang Cheng's residence. The little guy is also called Stone, and there is a big one named You Ke, the old temple in the south gathers the children of the far branch of the You family; A few years ago, my father helped a caravan to the north to sell grain for horses, but as soon as he went, he was not heard from, and his mother also remarried, so he became an orphan, relying on the care of the clan to survive a day of hunger. When Shang Cheng passed by the old temple, he heard about him, so he brought him to Zhongzhai, set up a name on the military register, and became a border soldier when he changed into a military uniform. Serving Shang Cheng is still a recent thing.

Huo Shiqi asked with some curiosity: "What happened recently?" How so? ”

Xiao Shi carried Huo Shiqi's simple luggage in front of the way, and when he asked, he turned around and explained: "Our sentry changed guards to Shangzhai some time ago, and the adults said that Shangzhai was hard, and I was too young to survive my bones, so he didn't let me go." ”

Huo Shiqi listened to his words with a slight complaint, and asked again: "Do you want to go?" What's good there? ”

Xiaoshi said: "I can't say it's good, it should be similar to here, it's all three times a day." Maybe it's more bitter, Shangzhai has to take turns to guard the beacon tower, and one guard is sixty days. He gritted his teeth and thought for a moment, then said, "I don't want to leave our outpost, they are all veterans who have come over like him, and it is very exciting to listen to them tell the story of beating the dogs in the past......

Huo Shiqi smiled and quipped as he walked, "If you want to hear the story of killing the Turquoise dog, you adults can tell it to you." ”

Xiao Shi smiled and didn't speak, pushed open the door and let him into the hall to sit, put away his luggage, and said to him, "My lord, let you sleep in his room." As he spoke, he took a fire sickle and velvet and lit a fire under the eaves of the house, and then came in with half a basin of charcoal that had been peeled and burned half red, and put it at Huo Shiqi's feet. We adults have eye problems and can't get smoke and fire, so we don't usually burn braziers and ondols in this house. You sit down first, and I'll clean it up. He went into the back room and folded the futon on the kang and put it away, took a few new bedding and mats and bunks, and then put a few chopsticks and red charcoal to ignite the kang, came out and rubbed the ashes on his hands and said to Huo Shiqi, "If you still lack anything, tell me." If you feel that the mattress is thin, there is still a wolf skin mattress in the kang head box......" Seeing Huo Shiqi shaking his head to express satisfaction, he said, "Then you sit down first, and I will go to the room to get hot water for you to wash your face." ”

Huo Shiqi wiped his hand on his face, his fingers were covered with oily sweat, and he asked, "Can you get some hot water to bathe?" Seeing the confusion on Xiaoshi's face, he stretched out his hand and pointed to his hair that he felt fluffy and said, "Take a bath one by one, and, wash your hair ......."

…… Huo Shiqi asked Xiaoshi to help wash his hair, jumped into the big wooden barrel and took a hot bath, and when he turned back to the hall, he had already changed into the clean clothes he had brought from head to toe. Because he had just taken a shower, he was sweating and hot, and he did not tie the button of his long coat, but casually covered his chest, tied a black cloth around his waist, and kicked out of the hall with the old round-toed thick cotton shoes commonly known as "gas lackeys".

He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice the small stone that was arranging tea and snacks around the square table in the hall.

He came to West Malaysia to discuss something with Shang Cheng.

At Sun Zhongshan's wedding banquet a year later, the fourth child of his uncle's family fell in love with Xing'er, who lived in Shangcheng's house, so he begged him to intervene and talk about the matchmaker. It was also at Sun Zhongshan's wedding banquet that one of Yue'er's own brothers also liked Xing'er, and after asking Yue'er in private, he officially sued the matchmaker to propose marriage. This was originally a very simple matter, Xing'er was an orphan girl with no father and mother, and her parents were unwilling to come forward to make up their minds for her, and she had the final say on who to marry or not. But who would have thought that Xing'er said that she was the servant girl of the merchant, whether she married or not, she didn't care, she had to nod her head; Even if Yue'er speaks, she doesn't count. Huo Shiqi's uncle was anxious to get married to the merchant, and walked towards his door all day long, so he had to go to Shang Cheng to say a word. His uncle also made a wish to him, as long as the matter is done, not only does he not want him to pay back the twenty yuan and fifty stone valleys he borrowed a year ago, but also congratulates him on Xie Yi, who gave him ten taels of silver......

Alas, he borrowed the money and grain to fill the old accounts of the yamen. A few years ago, the county government inspected the account books of various departments and houses, and among the dozens of money and grain he handled, it was found that there was a big mistake in the money that had been swallowed up by the military department in 115 years, and the sum of money and grain before and after added up to more than 100 yuan and 70 stone grains, and the piles and clues left in the altered account books and files were all pointed to him. The yamen remembered that he was an old man in the county government, and he also cherished his hard-won fame, so the yamen did not file a case for inspection, but they also warned him again and again that if he did not return the "borrowed" money and grain within the time limit, he would inevitably have to suffer a lawsuit, and then he would not only spit out the embezzled money and grain, but also be taken captive and confiscated of his family property, and he would also eat prison food. He knew that someone was making trouble, but when it came to the end, there was nothing he could do except "return" the money and food that God knows where it went. He shook off all the money in his family, and borrowed a large amount of money from his sixth brother and uncle, so that he was finally freed from the biggest crisis in his life.

In fact, he doesn't even have the heart to do these things now. But he couldn't help but make a run for his uncle. For his family, which was shaken in the wind and rain, ten taels of silver was a great fortune.

But what can you do with the ten taels of silver? His anxieties and sorrows are still uncontrollable.

He was anxious about his fame. In last year's county school year exam, his poems pressed the wrong rhyme, the strategy was off topic, and his grades were also ranked at the bottom of the list. He still hasn't dared to mention it to anyone. Twenty years of hard study, twenty township and provincial exams, but in the end ended up like this...... Whenever he thought about it, he was so anxious that he could not even sleep, and often stared at him alone with red eyes until dawn. This has become his biggest heart disease. He didn't even dare to go to his study now, the books he copied and bought were too eye-catching.

In addition to his fame, he is still worried about his eldest daughter. Since the eldest girl married her son-in-law, the two of them have never broken their regret for their eldest daughter and their remorse for this family affair, especially after the person in the eldest girl's photo soared into the sky and a gray mansion suddenly appeared in the town, their remorse and regret became more and more intense. However, they still have an excuse to comfort each other: Gu Shaomiao is the Gu family's house, the Gu family is a family of poets and books, and their daughter will not suffer in her husband's family; After three years of filial piety, maybe she can have a good result. He and his wife actually had a thought in their hearts...... But they never mentioned it, even when they slept together at night with the lights out and talked privately, they never mentioned it...... But their only hope was dashed a year ago. An acquaintance who had returned from Beppu in another state quietly told him and his wife that the eldest girl's life at her mother-in-law's house was almost like a year, and the brother of Gu Shaomiao coveted the property and land left by her husband, and encouraged his mother-in-law to spread rumors about her "kefu" everywhere; Gu Shaomiao's children were also very disgusted with their father's family affair, and they didn't respect her as a young stepmother. Until a year ago, the eldest girl had never stepped into the door of the Gu family. This actually means that the Gu family does not admit this family affair at all, nor does it admit that she is Gu Shaomiao's wife and the Gu family's daughter-in-law.

The wife cried for three days. He also didn't close his eyes for three days and three nights, and he didn't eat or drink for three days and three nights.

There is no greater humiliation than this, and their eldest girl was treated by the Gu family as Gu Shaomiao's concubine. It's a concubine who isn't even an outer room. They wouldn't even let her in. He married off his daughter with a blind eye, and finally ended up like this......

And he had to bury all this in his heart, with shame and sorrow, as well as palpitations and anxiety, and came to Ximazhi for a mere ten taels of silver.

How ridiculous is all this, and how pathetic is he, Huo Shiqi......

He shuffled his heavy footsteps outside the hall.

At this time, it is the time of sunset, and half a round of red sun is still left on the mountain beam in the west, and the sunset reflects the undulating mountains as red as blood. The glow of the sun overflowed the hill and climbed across the river road, projected on the wall, and the two flags erected on the city gate tower and the gate tower were as clear as silhouettes in the red glow like fire. A border army sentry on the wall stood solemnly with a spear, and half of his back was faintly in the thick of red. In the military village, the earthen walls, the brick buildings, the red flags, the thatched-roofed treetops, and the barracks are all covered with a layer of magnificent light and shadow. The two twilight cries of the returning birds broke through the sky and stirred in the dark blue sky dotted with a few stars, rising and falling, adding a bit of vividness to the magnificent picture in front of you......

Huo Shiqi was originally full of worries, but when he saw such a scene, he was stunned for a while. He stood under the eaves and stared for a long time at the half of the remnant sun, which was as red as blood. Months of troubles and sorrows passed quietly in this trance as if they were still. The thousands of depressions and thousands of disturbances blocked in the heart, with a leisurely sigh, are all like yesterday's yellow flowers. I don't know why, a sense of ambition and pride that has been extinguished in his heart for many years is once again rising in his chest at this moment.

The crisp and short sound of a brass bell struck him from his stupor. Immediately, I heard the "dong dong" drum beat, which was a long sound at first, and gradually the drum beat became more and more urgent, and finally it became an inseparable piece.

Golden Drum Gathering! This word flashed through his mind! Seven years ago, when he was staying in the town, he once met a golden drum gathering general, that time it was to break the border of the Tsko, besieged the town for twenty-nine days, he went up to the city wall as a temporary levy, and also fought with the Turquoise dog once! Could it be that now it's the Turbulent Dogs again? He suddenly felt a burst of remorse, why did he forget to bring his long sword? Fame does not have to be seen in the examination room, and merit does not have to be established in the yamen; Leaning on the long sword and crying blood, it is also the work of the big husband who stands up to the sky!

He was about to go out to see what was going on, but the little stone had already stopped him: "You can't go out of this yard!" As soon as the drum sounded, the barracks were already under martial law! No one is allowed to move around without permission, except for officers! Otherwise, military law is ruthless! He was also afraid that Huo Shiqi would not understand what was going on with military law, and he was afraid that Huo Shiqi would break into the barracks with his own identity, so he hurriedly added another sentence, "If the adults and six relatives don't recognize it, if they violate the military law, the king of heaven will be beheaded!" ”

Huo Shiqi knew that what Xiao Shi said was the truth. He hadn't seen Shang Cheng governing the army with his own eyes, but when he heard Fan Quan and Ji Zheng talking, and seeing what they looked like when they mentioned Shang Cheng, he could guess that even if they were talking about Shang Cheng behind their backs, the expressions of the two of them were very respectful and admiring.

He smiled at the little stone and said, "Then I'll listen to you and don't go." I went to the house and sat down and read a book. ”

But he sat in the room for a long time with the book in his hand, and he didn't read any of the words on the book. His mind was full of thoughts. For a while, he was standing on the head of the city in armor and helmet to fight with the Tuqi people, and at another time, he was standing under the triumphant flag in a cyan robe, and then he saw a group of officials and officials of the Yamen of Yixian County saluting him, and then in the blink of an eye, he saw Shang Cheng coming by himself with an excited and excited face......

Shang Cheng is indeed back. He bowed down first to give a junior salute, apologized to Huo Shiqi, and waited for Huo Shiqi to wave his hand and say, "Don't be so polite", he sat down on the side chair next to him. He sat down and hurriedly beckoned Xiao Shi to hurry up to the room to serve food, then turned his face and said to Huo Shiqi apologetically: "The command of the Beizheng Border Army sent a military order from the Border Military Mansion to transfer the two outposts of the West Ma Zhibian Army to Ru Dazhai; Arrive within 10 days. I have already ordered Zhongshan Starry Night to go to Shangzhai to transfer his sentry down, and Bao Kan will also go with him to assist in directing the transfer. The garrison here is also going to be like it, and the stone has been sent by me to Xiazhai to coordinate the dispatch and change of defense, and this meal can only be eaten by me with you. You see, I was supposed to accompany you to have a good time in West Malaysia, but I met this thing......" He said sorry words in his mouth, but the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were full of joy, and his face was even more hideous and terrifying under the swaying light of the oil lamp. Finally got the battle!

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Interviews with the authors of three overhead military works:

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