On the night of October 17, the Tatars failed to attack the city, and after two days without any danger, there was still no news from the outside world in the Tumu Fort. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Shen Xi walked out of the command post, first walked around the city, and then went directly out of the city through the tunnel, all the way to the sentry post outside the trench area in the west of the city...... This sentry is five miles away from the civil fort, there is only one sentry in the sentry post, the whole body is buried in the sand, and there is an ordinary thatch on the top of his head, if Shen Xi hadn't looked carefully, he couldn't tell that there was a living person under the soil.

Shen Xi never thought that he would go so far out of the city, he originally wanted to take a closer look at the Tatar military camp, so he made his whole body gray and came over with binoculars.

The two black-faced people looked at each other for a long time, and the soldier realized that it was not the scout who came to inquire about the situation in front of him, but the supreme commander of the city, Shen Xi, the governor of Zhengerpin Yansui.

"Your Excellency!"

The sentry lifted the thatch and tried to get out of the mud, but Shen Xi waved his hand and motioned for him to stay where he was.

Shen Xi said: "Don't come out, it's not easy to ambush, don't expose your whereabouts...... I'm just going to see how it goes, and if it's okay, I'll go back, thank you! ”

The man swallowed his spit, said nothing, and watched Shen Xi come out of the trench, cautiously come to the bottom of the dirt slope where he was, and then crawl to the top of the slope, and then used a long cylindrical thing to check the situation of the Tatar camp in front of him, and after almost a quarter of an hour, Shen Xi came down from the slope and sat down on the ground to rest.

The two men faced each other, and the sentinel was full of emotion in his heart, he was a veteran in his early thirties, because he had more experience and was very shrewd, so he would be sent out to act as the eyes and ears of the civil fort and monitor the movements of the Tatars.

Once there is any change in the Tatars, it will not be long before the city will be informed, which will give the Ming army enough time to react, deploy troops, and make targeted arrangements.

"How's it going, is it hard?" Shen Xi took out the sheepskin water bag and drank it, but saw that the sentry couldn't help but drool, obviously treating this thing as a spirit.

Shen Xi smiled, sent the sheepskin water bag over, the sentry took it in his hand, and took two sips of "Gu Dong" and "Gu Dong", only to realize that it was just clear water, but even if it was water, it was a good thing for him, because he had been buried in the mound outside for a long time, and the lack of water on his body was very serious, and he could not withdraw until the time for the changing of the guard.

"Drink this!" Shen Xi untied another sheepskin bag, but it was spirits, but the wine added up to less than two taels, and the soldier drank a few sips before it was gone.

"Thank you, sir!" The Sentinel was grateful.

Shen Xi took back the two sheepskin water bags and smiled slightly, now even a dignified second-grade civil official like him, only his teeth were white.

Shen Xi had never bathed in water since he entered the Civil Fort, and now the water he drank in the city was melted snow water, which was good if he could quench his thirst, so he didn't dare to talk about anything else at all.

"When is the changing of the guard?" Shen Xi asked again.

"It's going to get dark."

The sentry said helplessly, "At that time, there will be two recruits coming over, and I will be the only one during the day...... Originally, there was a partner, but two days ago the night ...... Dead in battle! ”

"Oh."

Shen Xi nodded and said, "The nearest sentry here is more than two miles, isn't one person afraid?" ”

"My life is almost gone, and I don't have anything to worry about, but fortunately, my family doesn't count on me, I used to be an errand boy in Beijing, and now I can follow the adults to the border, and I have killed six Tartars, which is considered to have won glory for the face of my ancestors. Even if you can't go back alive, earning a few taels of silver for your family is considered filial piety......"

When Shen Xi heard that this person didn't mention his wife and children at all, he knew that such a military man generally did not have a family and a career.

The Beijing battalion soldier is not a glorious profession, many households are reluctant to marry their daughters to military households, the stinky problem of beating wives is only one aspect, the most important thing is that marrying these people has no future at all.

The escape of military households in the Ming Dynasty is very serious, mainly because military families can no longer engage in other occupations except for the imperial examination, and once they encounter a war, they may be buried in the field at any time.

Without a wife and daughter, he can only rely on earning a pension to "fulfill his filial piety", which can be regarded as a manifestation of the rule of filial piety respected in this era.

Shen Xi's nose was a little sour when he heard this, and he asked two more questions, only to know that this person was like most soldiers in the army, a hereditary military household, and the family situation was not very good.

The sentinel is the son inherits the father's business, there is an elder brother above, and there is a younger brother below, but the elder brother and younger brother are more capable than him, the elder brother is in the hometown of Xiucai, and the younger brother is responsible for planting more than ten acres of land, marrying a wife and having children, and he replaces his father to Beijing as an errand boy, and he can not return to his hometown for several years.

Since the thirteenth year of Yongle, the imperial court has stipulated that the guards in various places take turns to go to Beijing every year to practice, and some of the soldiers and horses will stay and become a member of the Beijing camp, presumably this is the case with this sentry.

“…… Before I came to the capital, my family had a matchmaker, I was a widow, I had no children around, I said that I could get married when I went back, it was only one year, who thought that this would be five years! ”

The veteran said it was extremely desolate, and Shen Xi also had a lot of emotion when he heard it.

The two of them sat up the mountain, as if Shen Xi was not the commander of the Chinese army at this time, just an ordinary soldier, and he was a new soldier, gossiping with the veteran.

The sentry said, "My lord, I don't think I can go back this time, and I don't think I'll die here one day...... Others say that this castle is called Tumu Fort, and the Ming Dynasty has lost battles here, I don't know if it's true or not? ”

"Hmm!"

Shen Xi nodded, "That was a few decades ago, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was still kidnapped here. ”

"And then?" The veteran asked impatiently.

Shen Xi thought for a while and said: "Later, the Warat people who captured my Ming Emperor killed the Jingshi, but the Jingshi was not lost that year, and it didn't take long for the Warat people to withdraw their troops......"

Shen Xi talked about the changes in the Civil Fort, and his heart was cold, because he himself was trapped in this damn place, and now there is a great possibility, and he will also sleep under the ruins of the Civil Fort, which is a result that he is very unwilling to see.

After telling the story, Shen Xi looked up at the sky, and estimated that it was almost time to leave, not that he was afraid that the Tatars would come to kidnap people, after the defeat the day before yesterday, the Tatars easily did not dare to get too close to the city, because they were also afraid of encountering ambushes, which were full of traps arranged by the Ming army, and if they encountered mines or gunpowder packs, they would die at every turn.

The Tatars' current strategy was to trap the Tumu fort and it would be unwise to come out and engage the Ming army.

The sentry said, "My lord, if you can return to the capital, I wonder if you can help me bring a message......

"My father was seriously ill when I was four years old, my brother was studying, and the burden was very heavy, and there was a lack of labor in the family, and I could not earn a few silver on weekdays, but here are eight taels of silver, which was a reward you gave before, and there was also a Tatar corpse that I touched after the war...... I want to send it back and make life a little better for my family! ”

As he spoke, the veteran took out a small cloth bag from his arms with his rough big hands, and the eight taels of silver in it were all small silver bills, and some of them had traces of blood on them, which could be said to be real life money.

Shen Xi originally wanted to say viciously, you go back and hand it over to your parents and family.

But in the end, he endured, a veteran is on duty in the most dangerous place, and he may face danger at any time, and the most reassuring thing in his heart is these taels of silver, perhaps he has never seen so much money, when he got it, he didn't want to take this money to get married and have children, but wanted to use this money to honor his parents and let his family live a good life.

"Okay, what's your name, where are you from?" Shen Xi asked.

The sentry replied: "Su Liu, from Dingyuan County, Fengyang Prefecture." ”

Shen Xi smiled and said, "Zhongdu, a good place, when you go back safely, remember to ask me for the silver back, this is a token!" ”

In order to reassure the veteran, Shen Xi casually took out a waist card from his arms, but it was Xie Duo who gave him a pass token in order to facilitate his walk in Guozijian, which had a certain commemorative significance for him, but the actual effect was not great, so he handed it over to the veteran.

When the veteran saw this delicate brand, he was very happy, and stuffed it into his arms like a treasure, and was about to get up to see Shen Xi leave, but Shen Xi just waved his hand to let him continue to hide, and then left the frontline position alone and returned to the city from the trench.