Outer chapter: The Inheritance of the Three Armies

Everyone avoided talking about it, and if it weren't for the accident, I almost missed the core secret of the Xia General's Mansion.

Three days ago, there was bad news that a group of pirates attacked Ningyuan County, and even more unfortunately, a fleet belonging to Shazhou was anchored here, and a total of nearly 2,000 sailors and merchants from Shazhou were taken away with their ships and goods. Since the fleet is quite large, almost all the sandbank merchants have shares in it, so they are all worried. Today, the good news came that the pirates' lair had been attacked by an army of about 500 men, who scuttled two pirate ships that were moored right next to the harbor waterway, and then rushed to the island to kill the remaining pirates with longbows and scimitars. Hang their bodies on the mast of the harbor. After rescuing the trapped Xia people, these people disappeared.

All the merchants in Shazhou couldn't suppress the ecstasy in their hearts, and from the mysterious whispers on their faces, I heard a legendary army - the Chengying Army.

In the corps establishment announced by the General's Palace, there is indeed the name of the Chengying Army, but it is said that the army only has an empty number, and in the territory of the Xia Kingdom, you can't see the military camp of the Chengying Army, and in the military history of the official Xiu, you can't find the battle of the Chengying Army. However, the people of Xia are accustomed to believing in their hearts that all military operations to safeguard the interests of Xia outside the country have the participation of the Chengying Army. In this sense, the Chengying Army was the army that fought most frequently in the Xia Kingdom.

According to the legend, the Shadow Army will always fight alone, perhaps because it is a nearly abandoned army, they never give up a single robe on the battlefield. Any attempt to capture a member of the Shadow Army or detain their bodies will be met with the harshest reprisals. There are some battles with heads and tails in the records of various countries, and only the corpses of the fighting side are left on the battlefield, and they are often the masterpieces of the Chengying Army, but no evidence can be found.

Neither the Great General's Mansion nor the Great Prime Minister's Mansion have publicly acknowledged the existence of the power of the Chengying Army, and perhaps everything about the Chengying Army will forever be sealed in the deepest secret room of the General's Mansion. Only occasionally there will be some unfamiliar soldiers walking around the General's Mansion. These people have ordinary faces and indifferent expressions, and from their faces, you can read the most desolate emotion and the hardest will in the world, and even the arrogant military captains will consciously avoid the side at this time and cast a respectful gaze at them.

According to legend, the banner of the Seiying Army is a large blue flag, and a white sword shadow appears in the setting sun.

According to legend, somewhere in the Xia Kingdom, there is an extremely deep lake that is said to be the closest to the netherworld in China, called Moonlight Lake, it is a majestic snow-capped mountain in the northwest, a vast desert in the east, there are no fish in the lake, and there are often mirages around, 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, the secrets of Da Shi, Khitan, and the Great Song Dynasty lie here, there are hundreds of white vials, which are covered with mud and moss, if you gently brush these things away, you will find that they are the best bone china fired from the ashes of the best Dawan horse, and the exquisite text on the bottle records the name of the owner and the secret that only belongs to the netherworld, in addition to the name, place of origin, and position of the owner of the ashes, the bottom of the bottle is engraved with four words: Chengying Paoze.

——Zhao Xingde's account

The Tiger Wing Dragon's Tooth of the Upper Three Armies

Tiger Wing Army

The long-term drought is in the rain, the hometown meets the old acquaintance, the cave room spends the candle night, the champion and the first time. The so-called four happy events in life, for the young talents of the Great Song Dynasty, I am afraid that the most fancy is Jinshi and the first, someone once said, even if it is not a miracle to recover Yanyun, it is not as good as the infinite scenery of the champion and the first horse royal street, the fact is also true. For the young people of Great Xia, there is one thing that is just as beautiful, and that is to join the Tiger Wing Army.

Because of serving as the honor guard of the imperial court, the children of the Tiger Wing Army are all majestic, handsome, decent, outstanding in martial arts, and more than three generations of family backgrounds, every year in Shangyuan, the Tiger Wing Army parades the honor guard on the street, and there will be countless Huaichun girls who throw flowers at the feet of the children of the Tiger Wing Army. There are countless Western Regions Hu who rushed to Shazhou with their daughters to choose a son-in-law, if they fell in love with the child of the Tiger Wing Army, they would inquire about this person's family history, and then buy a matchmaker to come to the door to propose marriage.

But if you think they're a bunch of model soldiers or toy soldiers, you're wrong. No Xia people would doubt the determination of the Tiger Wing Army to fulfill their loyalty with their lives, once a group of horse thieves and remnants of the army tried to attack a general, they totaled as many as five or six hundred people, carrying various weapons including poisonous crossbows, but a hundred Tiger Wing Army guards supported the horse thieves under the strong attack for two hours, until the reinforcements arrived, it was a battle, the Tiger Wing Army killed seventy-seven people, the rest were all wounded, but killed more than two hundred horse thieves.

Maybe the scholars of the Song Dynasty are not very familiar with the Tiger Wing Army, but if you talk about the Proton Army or the front of the palace, everyone will understand. The duty of the Tiger Wing Army is to guard the high-ranking officials of the Great Xia Imperial Court, according to the Xia law, the noble prince above the Shangqing level Meng Tiger Wing Military Material Officer. Therefore, in a country like the Xia State full of martial spirit, the Tiger Wing Army was full of real nobles, and at the beginning of its establishment, there were three princes of the vassal states who served in the army, and the general was Li Lang, the queen of the Tang Dynasty. Joining the Tiger Wings means that a vast and useful network of relationships is open to you. Lord Liang Qiu, who was born as a commoner and eventually became a pastor of Xunzhou, once said: "My achievements are entirely based on my own struggle, but I must thank my legion, the Tiger Wing Army." ”

The minimum service period of the Tiger Wing Army is six years, which is one year longer than that of the ordinary regiment, and because of the need to assume the duties of guards and honor guards, the Tiger Wing Army has the most neat military appearance, the strictest military discipline, and the most arduous training in the Great Xia Army. The long service career is enough for young talents to form lifelong friendships, and the duties of the guards make it easy for young talents to be recommended by senior officials, and it is not difficult to find a good future after retirement.

From distant Samarkand to Chang'an, the Tiger Wing Army Robe Ze is all over the political and business circles of Great Xia, they have been trained in various knowledge and social etiquette in the army, have seen the world, and have accumulated their own network, making the Tiger Wing Army Robe Ze more advantageous than other young talents. I don't know whether it was due to the intention or unintentional intention of the first protector of Great Xia, from the desolate Gobi steppe to the crowded metropolis, the network of personal relationships of the Tiger Wing Army Robe Ze is tightly connecting the vast desert and the four borders of the Xia Kingdom closer than ever before.

The banner of the Tiger Wing Army is a colorful tiger with ribs and wings, and for young talents who want to get ahead, entering the Tiger Wing Army is a real tiger with wings and a bright future.

Dragon's Tooth Army

Witnessing the infinite scenery of the Tiger Wing Army's honor guard patrolling the streets, I sincerely complimented the Tiger Wing Army Commander who protected me, the Tiger Wing Army was really the first elite army of the Xia Kingdom. Unexpectedly, the young man who looked very arrogant actually waved his hand again and again, saying that the Dragon Tooth Army was the elite of the real elite. I noticed that his eyes were clearly full of infinite yearning. But whether it is a sergeant or a civilian, when it comes to the Dragon Tooth Army, it will be regarded as the first legion of the Xia Kingdom.

In a way, the Dragon's Tooth Army is the real forbidden army. This is not only because the station of the Dragon Tooth Army is connected to the Great General's Mansion and the Great Prime Minister's Mansion, but also because some people suspect that the captains of the Dragon Tooth Army are actually the same officers as the staff officers of the Great General's Mansion, but also because the Dragon Tooth Army is the only army that does not need to be voted by the Council of Protectors of each state, as long as the General and the Protector Gong jointly sign it, they can get the battle order printed with the seal of the Xia State.

As the saying goes, there is no first in literature, no second in martial arts, and the reason why it is regarded as the first elite is that the prestige of the Dragon Tooth Army is completely out. The territory of the Xia Kingdom is vast, and the legion is divided into towns and four directions, and it has a great reputation in various places, such as the Flower Hat Army under the Anxi Protectorate has the merit of expanding the land and shaking the Western Regions. However, it is said that on the training ground of the Flower Hat Army, there is a line of big characters: "Strive to defeat the Dragon Tooth Army again", I don't know which captain deliberately drew a big red circle on the word.

The Dragon's Tooth Army has participated in almost all the wars since the Xia Kingdom, and has performed good feats in each war. In the war, the dragon's teeth are mainly used as two kinds of tasks, one is to be used as a firefighting team, they will be thrown into the most dangerous battlefield at the most urgent time, and in the most isolated situation, they will be responsible for stabilizing the battlefield situation or even counterattacking, and the other is used as the final reserve at the critical moment of a large-scale battle, playing a decisive role. Every time, even when its own casualty rate reached 80%, the Dragontooth Army never disappointed the General's Mansion.

In peacetime, the Dragontooth Army holds monthly parade exercises with other legions, for a total of 12 exercises throughout the year. Since these participating legions were distributed across the vast border of the Xia Kingdom, the Dragon's Tooth Army was always in a state of march or battle. As the saying goes, a strong dragon is difficult to suppress the head snake, and all legions in the Xia Kingdom are proud of defeating the Dragon's Tooth Army in the exercise, and the training ground of the legion that has not defeated the Dragon's Tooth Army will write the slogan "Defeat the Dragon's Tooth" on the training ground, and the Legion that has defeated the Dragon's Tooth Army will write the slogan "Strive to defeat the Dragon's Tooth again", but so far, the Dragon's Tooth Army has maintained an absolute advantage over the exercise results of all the legions in Great Xia. Fierce as the Flower Hat Army, the White Feather Army, etc., also failed to change the slogan of "Strive to defeat the Dragon's Tooth again" to "Strive to defeat the Dragon's Tooth for the third time".

To achieve such an elite level, the soldiers of the Dragon's Tooth Army must have their own special features. In fact, the Dragon's Tooth Army only recruits soldiers who have served in other legions for five years. As long as the average Xia soldier fails to become an officer, he will choose to retire after five years of service, and they will be arranged to all corners of the Xia country as the backbone of the country. However, the service period of the soldiers of the Dragon Tooth Army is almost lifelong, generally from 28 to 45 years old, and then they will bring a generous retirement pension to live in all corners of Great Xia.

It should be noted that during the journey to the Xia Kingdom, I never came into contact with any soldiers of the Dragon's Tooth Army, and this is not a restriction specifically for foreigners, but stems from the fact that it is the first military rule of the Dragon's Tooth Army, and the honor of the Dragon's Tooth Army is a whole, and the only way to prevent it from being desecrated is to prohibit individuals from using the honor of the Legion. No soldier of the Dragon's Tooth Army is allowed to disclose that he served in the Dragon's Tooth Army, and his service record is always hung in other armies in public information until the person's death, and his experience in the Dragon's Tooth Army will be announced in his eulogy, but it is only that he has served in the Dragon's Tooth Army from a certain year to a certain year, and there is no position, specific experience, or meritorious service. But that's enough. A man from the Xia Kingdom, perhaps a cook on the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains, a farmer in a deserted village, a merchant who has traveled on the Silk Road for many years, or a general of the Guanzhong Workshop, when he dies, once his service in the Dragon Tooth Army is revealed, this person will immediately become a legend in the entire region. Even if a man is ordinary in the eyes of his neighbors on weekdays, people will carefully recall his every move, find the temperament of heroism, and educate their own men in this way. During my stay in Shazhou, which coincided with the death of a respected general, I was invited to attend his funeral, and the eulogy read by the prime minister mentioned that the general had served in the Dragon's Tooth Army between the ages of 30 and 40, and I noticed that the corners of the mouth of the Tiger Wing Army Commander next to me twitched visibly. When I returned, I asked him why he was like this, and he told me that five of the seven generals who had died since the Xia Kingdom had served in the Dragon's Tooth Army.

The banner of the Dragon's Tooth Army is a giant dragon with its bloody mouth open and two white fangs showing, as if it is about to choose a person to eat. There is a proverb in Xia that life should be like a tiger's wings, and death should be like a dragon's teeth.