The howling north wind swept the yellow sand and rushed towards the south, but the arrogant roar helplessly stopped on the branches and leaves of the rows of poplars, just like Hu Meng's iron horse, the deafening iron hooves seemed to be able to trample all obstacles under their feet, but they were always stubbornly rejected by the strong walls of Dayan, and it was difficult to enter an inch.

Xiema Town is the first town in the west of Caiguan, and it is also the only way for Hu Meng to go south to Kou and plunder Dingzhou, on the left is the vast and thousands of miles of no man's land - Tanagan Desert, which is the territory of the god of death, and no living soul can come out alive after breaking in; On the left is the Qihang Mountains where the apes can't climb and the birds fly sadly, and the town of Shema is at the junction of these two Jedi, holding the throat, it and the golden town on the golden road are each other's horns, supporting each other, like the two tiger teeth of the Yan Kingdom in the northwest, guarding the northwest border, deterring Hu Meng and Mo Lan.

The town of Shema was originally just an ordinary oasis on the edge of the Tanakan Desert, where merchants mostly replenished water sources and materials, and gradually there were hawkers stationed here to provide convenience for merchants to make profits.

When Emperor Yan Jing, in order to consolidate the defense of Humeng and prepare for the Northern Expedition to Humeng, the imperial court focused on the development of the northwest frontier military during this period, among which Xiema Town became the top priority of development and construction at that time because of its advantages, and it turned out that in the subsequent war against Humeng, Xiema Town did play a pivotal role in ensuring the logistics of the army and resisting the Humeng iron cavalry, during the decades of Emperor Jing's reign, Xiema Town was attacked by the Humeng army several times because of its special military role, which were in the fifth year of Emperor Jing, According to the records of the Yan calendar, the three major battles, the total number of troops invested by both sides was as high as one million, and the number of dead and wounded recorded in the history of Yan was 400,000 Yan army and 600,000 Humeng, perhaps the historian who recorded these data made some optimizations under the instruction of the authorities, but it does not prevent us from seeing the tragedy of the three wars, and one thing is for sure, Xiema Town has always been tightly held in the hands of the Yan army and has never been lost.

The city wall of Xiema Town has been renovated and strengthened for so many years, and even thickened and heightened, and now the city wall of Xiema Town is three zhang high, and the wall can be paralleled by three carriages, which can be described as a thick wall and deep city, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Because of the devastation of the war, the town of Xiema was once reduced to a dead city, until the last years of Emperor Jing drove Hu Meng to the Broken Sky Stream, the town of Xie Ma gradually regained its former prosperity, and to the third year of the emperor, Hu Meng took advantage of the domestic turmoil in Yan to make a comeback, although he could not capture the town of Xiema, but constantly harassed the surrounding area, so that there were not many permanent merchants and farmers in the town, but more of them were some traveling merchants and passers-by, as long as the war was together, they quickly withdrew with their belongings, so now the town of Xiema can be said to be a complete military fortress.

The troops stationed in Shema Town belonged to the Sixth Army of the Empire, and because of the perennial battles against the powerful Humeng Iron Cavalry, it was ahead of the other five major legions in terms of combat quality and equipment, and even comparable to the elite Central Army, which was known as the elite of the Empire.

The Sixth Army Marshal's Mansion is located in the Imperial Pass, which is accessible to the external commanders, and can quickly receive and deliver intelligence and military orders with the surrounding garrisons, echoing Yanjing internally, and defending the national capital, which can be described as a unique place. The current commander Yan Hu is the Liang King of the Great Yan royal family, the son of the famous Yan general Yan Tuotuo, the father of Yan Wuji, stationed in Xiema Town is an independent battalion under the command of the Sixth Army Corps, composed of two thousand formations, the battalion commander Qiu Xin is a battle-hardened veteran, following Yan Hu to fight for more than ten years, fighting bravely and strategically, not alarmed, from an ordinary soldier with no background through the battle to the commander of the fourth battalion, deeply appreciated by Yan Hu, which is why he was sent to garrison Xiema Town, a military stronghold.

The early spring sun did not bring much spring to this small town, the cold north wind still blows like a knife to make people's faces ache, although the Central Plains has returned to the earth in spring, but in this northwest side of the city, the cold winter is still tightly wrapped here with her extremely icy arms, even if the constantly cracking ice wall indicates that it is the season when she has to leave, but her stubbornness also makes this place the coldest time of the year.

Riding slowly in the distance, the horse's nose sprayed with white mist, occasionally making a snort, making people feel that the knight on the horse is walking around the horse to watch the scenery, and the guards at the gate of the city are still dutifully checking every citizen who enters the city, so boring work sometimes makes them laugh, and they are unaware of the knight who comes leisurely in the distance.

Today, during the day, the city gate was guarded by Du Duzhong and his city guard team, this is a veteran who crawled out of the pile of dead, because he was cut in the ribs by Hu Meng's scimitar in a battle and can no longer receive high-intensity physical training, let alone participate in the war with the army, the military department originally wanted to give him a bereavement pension, so that he could retire from the army and return home, but the commander of the legion, Yan Hu, learned from nowhere that this person's hometown is in a small village on the outskirts of this Shema City, and it has become a ruin because of Hu Meng's raids, His wife, children, and family also died under Hu Meng's iron cavalry, and in view of his many years of military experience and rich combat experience, Yan Hu personally authorized him to stay in the army and arranged for the captain of the city guard to do easy errands.

Today's temperature is colder than in the past, Du Duzhong wrapped in a cotton coat received from the baggage camp, his right hand pressed his right rib tightly, the pain carved the traces of the years on his face more distinctly, this is the sequelae left after the recovery of the injury, whenever it rains or the air is too humid, the pain at the wound will attack, and many times the pain makes this willed old soldier have the urge to bite his tongue and kill himself.

A childish soldier holding a bowl of boiling water with just the right temperature cautiously walked up to Du Qianzhong and called softly: "Uncle Du, take a sip of hot boiling water to warm up." ”

"Eh" Du Qianzhong exhaled softly, as if he was afraid that he would be dragged to his right rib by too much force, and slowly raised his trembling left hand to pick up the bowl in Xiao Bing's hand.

Seeing that the pain tortured such an iron-clad man like this, the faint mist had blurred his vision at some point, and his anxious little face was full of concern, and he reached out to hold the trembling left hand and said, "Uncle Du, I'll just drink it with you, be careful not to choke." ”

Du Duzhong put down his left hand, tightened his right rib with his right hand, opened his mouth to catch the bowl handed over, drank a few sips and said: "Don't worry about the second egg, Uncle Du is an old problem, it will be better when the weather warms up, besides, you haven't married yet, Uncle Du, my errand hasn't been completed yet, Uncle Du, I have to find you a daughter-in-law who is like a flower, don't you?" Ha ha... Hiss...! The laughter touched the old wounds, making Du Qianzhong breathe in the cold air.

The little soldier who was called the second egg was named Liu Beigui, and he was just a sixteen-year-old immature boy, and Du Qianzhong was a neighbor of the same township, after Hu Mengnan's invasion and retreat, Du Duanzhong chased all the way to his own village with the army, although he was psychologically prepared on the way to come, but the small village full of corpses still almost made him crazy, the six-year-old Erdan was found under the stove of his house, although it was a few days without dripping water, dying, but after all, there was still a breath of air, and he was the only survivor in the village.

Since then, Du Duzhong has taken Erdan with him and regarded it as his own, and in a sentence he often said, "Let Erdan marry a daughter-in-law who is like a flower and jade, and spread branches and leaves for our Liujia Village." ”

Erdan wiped the corners of his eyes, put the bowl in his hand aside, and looked up just in time to see a rider walking leisurely in the distance, thinking that it was an ordinary merchant, but after a few breaths, he immediately denied this judgment, because the seemingly leisurely knight had fallen heavily from his horse and lay motionless on the ground.

Du Qianzhong obviously also noticed the abnormality, and with difficulty holding his halberd cane, he beckoned several city gate guards to go and check it out.

This is a seriously injured person, or a scarred corpse is more accurate, and the body that still has residual warmth proves that he has just swallowed his last breath, the original mighty armor has been torn apart by criss-crossing knife wounds, and the blood stains all over his body have soaked his body, Du Qianzhong examined the body of this person who may be called a martyr with a solemn face.

"He died of blood loss, and I'm afraid it's ...... to see how he's injured" Du Duanzhong didn't continue, because as a border soldier here, everyone present knew that the knife wound on the corpse was caused by the crescent scimitar unique to Hu Meng's iron cavalry, which meant that Hu Meng was going to make a comeback after a few years of silence.

Du Duanzhong didn't care about the pain in his body, leaned over the corpse that was about to stiffen and searched quickly, and finally found a blood-stained letter on his chest, signed by Wei Xinghui, Du Duanzhong remembered that this person, like himself, was a small colonel, and once drank together, and led a team of more than ten brothers to be on duty, but his post was the city gate, and his was a poplar sentry post hundreds of miles away, which was a sentry set up in the outermost part of Xiema Town, and the staff on duty had to be changed once a month on average. It takes a day and a night for the messengers to come and go.

If the Huyang Gang is attacked, this person comes to report the news as quickly as possible, then it will also be a night, thinking of this Du Duzhong can't help but gasp: "Fifty miles ......"

Regardless of thinking about anything else, Du Duzhong immediately handed over the letter to Erdan, and said hurriedly: "Quickly hand over this letter to Qiu Yingshuai, and don't delay for a moment." ”

Seeing that Erdan was ordered to leave, Du Duzhong came to his senses and looked down at the stiff corpse on the ground, squatted down again and closed the eyes that were already sloppy, and sighed lightly: "Go with peace of mind, brother, your task has been completed, go all the way!" ”

"Lao Du, this brother is also a hero, and he has a good home, so let him be buried as soon as possible." The veteran on the side couldn't help but persuade.

In fact, he also has a layer of meaning, and everyone present knows it, but no one has made it clear, that is, this person has at least left a whole corpse, and someone will collect the corpse for him after death, such a fate is already many times better than the vast majority of border soldiers.

"Brother, a few helpers, carry this brother to see Qiu Yingshuai."