"Brother, do you know where your hometown is? When I was a child, I heard my wife mention it. Her hometown is in Nankang, a land by the sea, it seems to be called Donou, or what, the years are too long, and I can't remember clearly. Later, she followed my maternal grandfather and moved to Beiyan to do some small business to make ends meet, so she took root in Beiyan Le'an Pavilion......"

The man who was speaking in a hoarse voice was an old stonemason who had just escaped from the fire. At this time, the more than 1,000 'lucky people' scattered outside the East Gate of the East Customs were all paralyzed on the bank of the moat as if they had been pulled out of their bones. No one shouted loudly, and no one got up and fled; These people are lying flat on the ground, or leaning against something, but their chests are constantly pulling the 'bellows' up and down.

And the old stonemason was now gossiping to an old man who was lying on the ground with his face down, and even if the other party did not answer, the old stonemason, who was enjoying the rest of his life, continued to say nonchalantly:

"It is said that in the territory of Dongou City, there is a very delicious melon, and the locals call it cold melon. My wife said that it looked like a winter melon, with a green skin, but the melon pulp was red; When you bite into it, your mouth is full of sweet juice, which quenches your thirst. According to my wife, in the local Dongou area, this kind of cold melon will be stored in the well, and when you want to eat it, you will pull it out of the well and take it home. Cut it in the middle of the knife, and the crisp sound is very good...... I'm fifty-two this year, and I don't know if I can eat cold melon once in my life, and I don't know what that melon tastes like......"

The old stonemason, who had escaped death, leaned against the fire-scorched city wall of the East Customs, muttering to himself while crying. He was originally an ordinary stonemason who lived in Le'an Pavilion, helping the rich carve jewelry and jade on weekdays, and helping the poor repair the courtyard walls of houses. But since the death of the old marquis Guo Xing, he was forcibly conscripted into the army by the local yamen and sent to the front line of the East Customs, doing some errands to repair the city defense every day. Although the work is a bit hard, it can finally be exchanged for the male in the family no longer to be 'caught'. With his old age, he can replace the young son in the family, and this deal is quite passable.

But tonight, I don't know which lord in the army angered the god lord called the 'spirit of fire', and actually lowered this 'divine fire' that could not be extinguished all over the city, and burned the entire 200,000 people in the Donghai Customs to ashes. There are only more than 1,000 people left, and they still rely on Lord Liang, a rare 'good official', to escape with their lives.

The old stonemason, who had already died once, had nothing on his mind at this time. The only thing I want is whether I can taste the cold and sweet cold melon that my old mother said in my lifetime.

Just when the old stonemason was leaning against the 'warm' city wall of Donghaiguan and envying the blessings of the people of Dongou, a little fire was lit on the official road in the east.

At this time, the sky was still ink-colored, and there was already a faint tendency to brighten, according to his experience, calculating the current season, plus the time of the year, judging together, it should be between the alternation of ugliness and yin. He stood up against the wall, looked around blankly, and found that along the banks of the moat, there were more than a thousand lucky ones lying horizontally, but none of them noticed the light of the fire in the east. It seems that more than 1,000 people are still immersed in the tragedy of the East Customs, and they can't wake up for a while...... The old stonemason looked at the scene in front of him, and only felt that these more than 1,000 people were not much different from the 'coke' in the city.

The old stonemason ignored his two sore and limp thighs, picked up a piece of stick from the side of the road and used it as a crutch, and stumbled along the shore to look at everyone.

Finally, by the moat, he saw two soldiers leaning together, snoozing with their eyes closed.

"Two military masters, two military masters! Wake up, there's a light in the east, and it looks like someone is coming......"

The overworked old stonemason could no longer bend down, so he could only gently flick the two armored Pingbei soldiers twice with the wooden stick in his hand.

These two were the first to climb out of the city gate and meet the transfer of the others. The older ones were the first to wake up, and he used all his strength to open half of his eyelids, and when he saw that the person who moved him was an old man, he asked vaguely, "What?" Say ...... again" and closed his eyes again.

"It seems that someone is coming from the east......

The Pingbei Army, who was reluctant to talk, heard the stonemason's words, but did not react, still closed his eyes tightly, but the corners of his mouth curled up a slight arc:

"Come on, come on, you always look back at these people, all of them are tired all night without eating or drinking, who still has the strength to stand up to meet the enemy? Besides, we don't even have a decent guy in our hands except for this tattered clothes on our bodies, how can we fight with the enemy? Won't you use that stick in your old hand to meet the enemy? ”

When the old stonemason heard this, he was both puzzled and angry. He didn't know what happened to these people, obviously just now they were still working together and withstanding the heavenly fire that the gods themselves descended, and they escaped from the human purgatory behind him; But after everyone escaped, why did they become so lazy?

The old stonemason angrily struck the ground twice with the crutch in his hand, making two crisp sounds:

"I said Master Jun, the little old man didn't mean to let you come forward to fight the enemy! But if you look at the direction of the fire, it is clearly aimed at the East Customs! Lord Liang fought hard to give us a way to live, how could it be so bad? While those people are still far away, we might as well make plans early and find a place to hide first; According to Xiao Lao'er, when they finish what they want to do, they will definitely leave, and we will ...... then."

"Old man, what you said is also right...... The old Pingbei army couldn't stand the persuasion of the old stonemason, so he reluctantly opened his eyes, stretched out a finger and drew a circle around, and then pointed back at the tip of his nose:

"Among our people, there are both captains and school officers, even if there is a battalion leader, it is not a strange thing! Our brothers, that is, ordinary big-headed soldiers, just listen to and drink on weekdays, and they can't be other people's masters at all! So it's useless for you to keep telling me about it...... And did you see that? Is there one of so many people who is still willing to move? It's up to our grandfather, who can be moved? You, look for it over there, find an official with bright armor and talk about it. ”

After saying this, the old man closed his eyes, and no matter how much the old stonemason chattered, he stopped speaking. And the old stonemason also sighed when he saw that he had nothing to do with himself, and planned to find another general who could call the shots. But I didn't think that I pulled my neck and shouted a few times, except for a few people who turned over, no one paid attention to him; One of the people next to him may have been woken up from a sweet dream, and threw a handful of sand at him.

This handful of sand was sprinkled into the eyes of the old stonemason, and he gave up all other thoughts, turned around, and walked tremblingly back to the old man who was lying on the ground, listening to him for a long time, and used his crutches to pry his body vigorously:

"Wake up, brother, the Youbei barbarians are here, the blessing of our Lord Tuoliang, it's so easy to get a life, but you can't do it here...... Dude...... Dude ......"

The old stonemason turned the 'old brother' over with all his strength, only to find that the gray-haired old man was staring at him with a pair of blood-red eyes, and looked at him in a daze. At this moment, the old stonemason didn't need to sniff to understand that his 'old brother' might have died a long time ago......

Lao Shi sighed with tears in his eyes, knelt on the ground with great effort, closed the old brother's eyes, and then walked tremblingly over the 'lucky ones' lying on the ground with crutches, and walked slowly towards the mountains and forests in the north of the city......

At the same time as the old stonemason stepped on the mountain road, Yan Chongwu, who had a bandage around his waist, finally rushed to the front of the East Customs with five thousand murderous Youbei elite horsemen under his command.

Yan Chongwu and his soldiers smelled a thick smoke from afar. But now that it's early summer, there's plenty of moisture, and it's not easy to grow wildfires. At first, he thought that a fire had started in a village near the official road, and if there was no emergency military situation, he might have gone over to help put out the fire.

But as the distance between the East Customs and the Customs, the smoky smell that came from nowhere became stronger. While riding on horseback, Yan Chongwu thought of many possibilities......

But when he saw with his own eyes the Donghai Customs, which was as bright as day under the reflection of the raging fire, a storm suddenly rose in his heart: he had long known that Shen Gui had other plans, and he had received Shen Gui's vague explanation beforehand; But I never dreamed that the real meaning behind Shen Gui's sentence 'the real winner and loser is actually in the East Customs' would be like this!

He looked at the Donghaiguan, which had become a sea of fire in the distance, stretched out a hand and pulled the reins to the left, and the five thousand cavalry behind him collectively turned left when they saw this, ran away from a circle, and stopped moving.

Immediately, without Yan Chongwu's orders, a small team of scouts rode forward, rushed to the front of the East Customs and looked around, and then ran back to Yan Chongwu with a somewhat embarrassed expression:

"Yan Shuai...... There was a group of Beiyan people lying in front of the East Customs, but their faces and bodies were blackened by the fire, and they couldn't see what they were all about...... However, judging from the style of clothes, some of them are the Pingbei Army, some are the Governor's Army from all over Beiyan, and some are wearing the clothes of ordinary people......"

Yan Chongwu thought about it carefully, then jumped off his horse, pulled out the steel knife hanging behind the saddle, and waved his left hand towards the cavalry of the Flying Bear Army behind him:

"Get out of the waste that the war horses ran to death, take the guy style, and go to interrogate these Northern Yan people with the handsome man...... Oh yes, can you Sentinels still work? If you can, let me send the cordon twenty miles to the southwest! ”

Let's not mention the East Customs, just talk about the old stonemason who left early.

He went through a lot of hardships along the way, and finally returned to his hometown of Le'an Pavilion. With his exquisite craftsmanship, he still lived a very prosperous life in his later years. It was not until he was seventy-three years old that the old stonemason left the world in his sleep.

For the old stonemason, this life was quite smooth. The only regret before his death was that he couldn't taste the 'cold melon' in his mother's mouth in his lifetime......