A cold moon shone on the sand dunes in the sky, and the wind howled. And the last city, with no more than 300 households and no more than 2,000 mouths, is an oasis in the hinterland of the great quicksand. The city is small here, the seventh battalion of Chengying can only camp outside the city, the sergeants have traveled thousands of miles, it is easy to reach the land, this night, a month's fatigue is emanated, after the dead of night, the barracks are snoring everywhere.

Zhou Yuanzhong, the commander of the Chengying Army, was carefully looking at the marching situation along the way written by the three marching Simas. He watched and pondered, until the night was silent, and then he stood up, stretched, and stepped out of the tent. Whenever he camped, he had to patrol the guard twice, a habit he had developed since he was a centurion.

Zhao Xingde heard the sound of footsteps from far and near, and turned to look, but it was Zhou Yuanzhong walking towards him.

"Zhao De." Zhou Yuanzhong recognized this sergeant who had repeatedly surprised at a glance.

"General." Zhao Xingde did not humble or arrogantly salute with a military salute.

"You did a good job in this march and training." Zhou Yuanzhong smiled and asked, "Where did you learn to look at the Heavenly Observatory?" ”

"My friend is a scribe from the Heavenly Machine Academy."

"Hmm," Zhou Yuanzhong nodded, and suddenly asked, "Why didn't you insist on convincing the other Ten Masters when Pu Changze was discussing the road?" ”

Zhao Xingde hesitated for a moment and replied: "I have shallow qualifications, even if I forcibly persuade him, it will only make the ten captains even more disobedient." ”

"So you gave up?" Zhou Yuanzhong's face became solemn, and he said in a deep voice, "The battle is dangerous, and the military affairs are decisive but improper, and they will die." Will you watch them die in the future? ”

"This ......" Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, and Zhou Yuanzhong said slowly: "For generals, there are five virtues, wisdom, faith, benevolence, bravery, and strictness. What you lack now is the word 'brave'. ”

The wind and sand were still howling, Zhao Xingde was speechless, Zhou Yuanzhong patted him on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "If you are right, even if tens of millions of people disagree, you must drag tens of millions of people to the right path." Not only must you be brave in killing enemies, you must be brave in saving people, and you must be brave when you have ideas. After speaking, he turned around and left, leaving Zhao De alone in the local area.

Zhao Xingde looked at Zhou Yuanzhong's back and had mixed feelings in his heart. The wind cried like a ghost, and the iron armor on his body clanked,

In the early morning of the next day, Zhou Yuanzhong arranged for the sergeants of the 7th Battalion of Chengying to elect a centurion. Because the Chengying Battalion usually performs detachment military affairs, in each hundred-man team, except for the sharpshooters, the number of other troops is not limited, and in the future, everyone will have to master almost all the combat skills. In the words of the captain, "Don't count on reinforcements, don't count on friendly troops, and fight whatever you encounter." ”

Zhao Xingde was unexpectedly elected as a centurion, in addition to Wang Tongdeng, Deng Xi, Liu Shangyou, and Ding Dayong. What's even more surprising is that Du Fujiao not only recommended Zhao Xingde as a centurion, but also was willing to be under his command.

The military system of the Xia State, in addition to the generals with real power and real power, also has two special identities: the right general and the general. General Quan refers to a person who independently commands the army to fight, but the troops he leads are less than one army, strictly speaking, General Quan is not a general. A general refers to an officer who does not independently lead the army in battle, but because of his important status, he is regarded as an officer at the level of a general. Usually, the captain of the Dragon's Tooth Army is the general. The Chengying Battalion performs detachment military affairs outside the country, and the captain of the Chengying Army is General Quan, who independently leads the troops to fight.

The general must be appointed by the General's Office, the Protectorate agrees, and the emperor worships the general with a seal. As a result, the captain of the 7th Battalion of Chengying could not be nominated by these fledgling centurions, but an experienced officer appointed by the General's Mansion named Duan Huaixian.

That night, a banquet was held to celebrate the officer's new appointment, and the army led the army to bring musicians to play the breaking music, the singers danced in front, and the bottom caught the pair to toast into a mess. Zhao Xingde and other four centurions first went to pay tribute to the two generals Zhou Yuanzhong and Luo Zongmeng, and then to General Duan Huai Xianquan, and then fought with several centurions who led the army, Wang Tongdeng and Deng Xi were already drunk, and Liu Shangyou and Ding Dayong were also shaky. Zhao Xingde staggered back to his seat, and was dragged by Jian Cheng, Jian Cheng was already drunk and his face was flushed, and he also said to Zhao Xingde with a wine glass: "Lao Zhao, today's wine, five centurions fought with the enemy several times, only you survived, give us Ming Hongdu a long face, come, drink again." ”

Zhao Xingde couldn't shirk it, he could only kill the full cup with him, Jian Cheng passed, several other ten-division commanders came over one after another, the ten-division commander respected, Chen Yongqi, Liu Zheng and other sergeants came up again, Zhao Xingde couldn't shirk them one by one, and finally only felt dizzy, holding the corner of the table and sitting on the ground, stroking his stomach and burping, suddenly a wine glass stretched out to the front, Zhao Xingde looked up, but it was the old ten-division Du blowing the horn.

Du Fujiao's face was also flushed, and he looked more and more like a good man, and said with a big tongue: "Zhao Dutou, that day at the post station, I didn't let you talk much, don't be surprised." Zhao Xingde was drunk, and when he heard it, he was annoyed, pushed him, and said angrily: "Am I such a villain?" ”

Du Blowhorn smiled, stepped forward and said: "Old Du is still a long man at this age, don't say anything, I know that among the five heads, only you know how to respect the old and respect the virtuous." After speaking, he and Zhao Xingde touched the cup, and both of them raised their necks and drank it.

Zhao Xingde only felt that Du Blowhorn's head seemed to have become two, stretched out his hand and waved it in front of him, and said with a big tongue: "Old Du, I don't understand something, and I want you to solve your doubts?" "What, say!" Du slapped the table with a horn and said in a thick voice.

"It seems that most of the recruits in the Chengying Camp are young men, what are you doing with an old man?"

Du Fujiao was also drunk, and he didn't think he was angry, but sighed: "People say that the young man doesn't work hard, and the boss is sad." I began to read at the age of seven, and I drew a bow and arrow at the age of eight. He patted Zhao Xingde on the shoulder and said, "How many people have risen from me, and you are not one behind." ”

Zhao Xingde smiled: "Then you are a lucky general." I haven't said anything about how to return to the Chengying Army to apply. ”

Du Blowhorn sighed: "It's not for my family's second, third, fourth, fifth, not good at literature, not good at martial arts, I can only be a shadow household." There is a lot of speed outside the Chengying camp, and the old man saves more money and sends them to Shishan to receive a share of the land and start a family. After speaking, he squeezed out two old tears, and actually whimpered: "Wen can't do it, and neither can martial arts." But the sweat is no less than others. Because of his old qualifications, he temporarily became the convener of the military council of the centurions on this march, and he thought that he would have the opportunity to be elected as a centurion, but when it came to the election, almost no one obeyed him.

Zhao Xingde was drunk, and when he saw him crying sadly, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Lao Du, if I retire in the future, I will make a big deal." He burped, accentuated his tone, stretched out his hands and gestured, "Big deal!" Du Fujiao's eyes widened as he watched Zhao Xingde draw a big cake in the air, and then listened to him say: "When the time comes, call your family, the eldest and the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth, come and help me do things together!" He said this with great pride, and immediately made Du Chuijiao grateful: "Zhao Dutou, my old life can be regarded as selling it to you!" "The two of you are talking nonsense, and before you know it, they fall asleep together.

On the third day of the next day, the five hundred heroes of the seventh battalion of Chengying came to their senses, and they saw the captain Duan Huaixian smile and said: "Everyone, if you wake up, put on your armor first, and run ten laps around the end of the city, and if you don't wake up, run ten more laps to sober up." Zhao Xingde and the others complained bitterly, and had to put on dozens of catties of iron armor and run around the end of the city, and it didn't take long for many people to vomit out the wine syrup from last night's hangover along with bile.

Duan Huaixian's smiling tiger temperament has been fully demonstrated in the following two months. Because everyone in the Chengying Army may encounter any kind of battle, he requires archers to also know how to fight in close combat, riding horses to kill, Zhao Xingde, who is weak in this regard, has become the target of killing chickens and monkeys, Zhao Xingde is the target of every swordsmanship course, and after being knocked down countless times, he can barely support more than a dozen moves. Then, Duan Huaixian asked him to run around the city wall alone, and said, "Those who are poor in hand-to-hand combat must at least learn to run for their lives." He also said that Zhao Xingde's strength was amazing, but his waist and abdomen strength was insufficient, his lower plate was not very stable, and his arms could not exert his full strength in the fight, so he let him hang upside down on the head of the city to do abdominal and strength. The sergeants all said that because Zhao Xingde was not qualified enough, he suddenly became a centurion, and Captain Duan tossed him so much because he was angry with those who disobeyed him.

In addition to personal skills, the Centurion learns the Centurion and the command of the Centurion, making sure they understand the Centurion's orders. And Zhao Xingde and other centurions also had to learn the command of the ten-man team, the hundred-man team and the whole battalion.

Later, Duan Huaixian found more than 20 prisoners of Rus, Da Shi, and Turks from some source, and asked them to catch and kill. Beside him, he instructed the men of the Shadow Army in hand-to-hand combat, discerning the habits, flaws, and strengths of people of different races in combat. Later, Duan Huaixian personally played the enemy and asked Zhao Xingde and others to fight with him, Zhao Xingde always lost more and won less, Duan Huaixian said that it was because he used too little and was not ruthless.

The three-month training went by in a hurry. Under the supervision of General Zhou Yuanzhong and the torture of Captain Duan Huaixian, the five hundred sergeants of the 7th Battalion of Chengying became more and more hateful, and their friendship between them became deeper and deeper. The final training was another long-distance march, returning to Puchangze against the end of the river, then turning north, crossing the great quicksand along the north-south trade route, marching to Yanqi Town, and then crossing the Tianshan Mountains to Gaochang.

There is an extremely deep lake in Gaochang, which is said to be the closest place to the netherworld in Xia, called Moonlight Lake. It is surrounded by majestic snow-capped mountains to the northwest and vast deserts to the east, and there are no fish in the lake, and there are often mirages around it, but it is full of swamps, and it is impossible for other creatures except seabirds to enter the center of the lake. In the deepest part of the bottom of the lake are the secrets of the Turks, Rus, Great Food, Khitan, and Great Song Dynasty. Hundreds of white vials lay here, all covered in sand and moss.

These porcelain vases, all made from the ashes of the finest Dawan horses, contain the ashes of a strong man. Let them still be able to gallop in the underworld and slay down their enemies. The beautiful text on the bottle records the name, place of origin and position of the deceased. This is where the bones of the Seiying military robes who died in previous battles are buried.

On the shore of this moonlight lake, Zhou Yuanzhong and Duan Huaixian held a military salute for the seventh battalion of Chengying and awarded the military flag of the Chengying Army. This is a large cyan flag with no handwriting, but in the sunset, there will be a white sword shadow appearing.