In the next year, Meng Zhong was twelve years old.

At the beginning of spring in February, he sent his mother Ge Shi back to the countryside and helped her take care of the dust in the house.

And the elder brother Momber has rushed to the battlefield in the autumn two years ago, a full year and five months have passed.

Compared with two years ago, Meng Zhong at this time has grown much taller, almost as tall as Ge's, and he is gradually getting stronger, thanks to his frequent physical exercise.

Meng Zhong's physical exercise began when he was eight years old, when Sima Mengqing taught the younger members of the clan how to exercise their bodies, and the other Montessori children were lazy, only three days of fishing and two days of drying nets to exercise, but Meng Zhong has always persevered, the only exception is that he tried to become a disciple of Zhuangzi in the three months.

After that, Meng Zhong resumed his training, especially after his brother Meng Bo served in the war, Meng Zhong became more strict with his training, because he had deeply realized that the Song State was not a country that could be peaceful for a long time, even if the country was not attacked by other countries for the time being, Song Wang Yan's ambition to try to dominate the Central Plains would also prompt the Song State to launch a foreign war.

Although Meng Zhong had become a disciple of Zhuangzi, it was still difficult to guarantee whether he would be forced to serve on the battlefield and participate in the war.

In order to survive, in order to protect his cherished relatives, Meng Zhong did not dare to relax his requirements for himself.

It's not that Zhuangzi doesn't know about his disciples' daily hard work in training their bodies and exercising martial arts, but he doesn't know how to persuade them - for a child who can say "I only have one pair of hands to protect my cherished relatives" at the age of ten, even if he is Zhuangzi, he can't dispel the fear and anxiety in his disciple's heart about the future.

Zhuangzi had only hope that the war of the Song Kingdom would not affect his disciples, especially Meng Zhong.

After all, Meng Zhong was the disciple he hoped to inherit the mantle of Taoism, although he had not yet admitted that Meng Zhong was his disciple.

Unfortunately, it backfired, and around March, the front line of the battlefield came back with bad news: the Song army had lost the battle at Tengcheng, and the Song army suffered heavy losses as a result.

When Meng Hu ran to Zhuangziju with a panicked and nervous face and told Meng Zhong the news, Meng Zhong was stunned.

You must know that in the letter written to him by his brother Meng Bo last year, Teng's army was not the opponent of Song from the beginning, and was defeated by the Song army, and by around September last year, Teng had only one city left, that is, its capital Tengcheng.

However, in this case, Teng Guo actually reversed the victory and defeat?

"How so?" Meng Zhong asked in shock.

Meng Hu shook his head and said: "I don't know what the specifics are, I learned from my grandfather, Teng Hu, the monarch of Teng State, deceived us with tricks, pretended to surrender, but took advantage of the celebration of our Song State army to attack our army at night. At this, he licked his lips and cautiously added, "It is said that ...... Many people have died in our country. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong chuckled in his heart, and he didn't know what to say.

He was suddenly worried about his brother Momber, who was in the army.

"Wait for me in a moment, and I will tell my master about this, and then I will go back to the country with you."

"Hmm."

After a while, Meng Zhong asked Zhuangzi's permission and rode the little donkey Ash Ash back to the countryside with Meng Hu.

Since the news of the defeat of the Song army had not yet spread to the entire township, even Ge did not know about it, and was very surprised to see his youngest son Meng Zhong return home, because it had only been two days since Meng Zhong returned home to visit her.

In order to avoid a false alarm, Meng Zhong did not dare to tell his mother the actual situation.

But unfortunately, the paper could not keep the fire, two days later in the morning, when Meng Zhong was chopping wood in the courtyard, Meng Hu ran to the courtyard with a sweaty face, and said with a worried face: "Ah Zhong, Ah Zhong, Brother Meng Bo, he ......."

Hearing this, Meng Zhong chuckled in his heart, immediately put down the axe in his hand, almost walked in front of Meng Hu, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with my brother?" ”

Meng Hu saw Meng Zhong show this expression for the first time, his lips squirmed, and he said in a slurred voice: "Just now, another carriage carrying the corpses of the clansmen back to the township, I saw Brother Meng Bo's ...... Corpse...... Corpse. ”

It was as if a thunderclap resounded in Meng Zhong's ears, making him stunned.

You must know that the brothers' father Meng Qu passed away very early, the eldest brother is like a father, and the elder brother Meng Bo takes care of him like his father, but whenever there is anything good, Meng Bo first honors his mother, then gives it to his younger brother, and as for himself, he is always last - this is why Meng Zhong respects his brother from the bottom of his heart, although he jokes with his brother from time to time.

However, such a respectable brother was gone forever because of this war.

『……』

Meng Zhong clenched his fists tightly, and the look flashing in his eyes made even Meng Hu feel a little strange and afraid: "Ah Zhong, Ah Zhong, are you okay?" ”

Meng Zhong silently glanced at Meng Hu, shook his head slightly, and then glanced back at the direction of the main house, he didn't know how to tell the bad news to his mother Ge Shi, who was still looking forward to the return of his eldest son.

At this moment, the neighbor's aunt suddenly ran to Meng Zhong's house, and after taking a look at Meng Zhong and Meng Hu, she didn't care about taking care of them as kindly as usual, so she walked into the main house in a few steps.

During this period, Meng Zhong heard the aunt say to his mother Ge Shi in the house: "Ge Shi, it's not good, something happened to your family's Meng Bo, and our son saw Meng Bo ......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong said badly, and hurriedly rushed to the house, and sure enough, he saw his mother's face was bloodless, and her body was staggering.

After a while, Ge Shi relieved herself, and she said to Meng Zhong anxiously: "Zhong'er, hurry up and help Wei Niang, Wei Niang wants to go and see your brother and him...... He ...... "At this point, her eyes were already red, and there was a faint layer of sparkle in her eyes.

Meng Zhong didn't dare to disobey, so he and Meng Hu helped Ge to the east of the township, and sure enough, they saw a large group of people surrounding there.

Among them, one of them saw Ge Shi, and deliberately lowered his voice and said to the people around him: "Let one go, let one go, Meng Bo's mother Ge Shi is here." ”

Hearing this, the crowd moved out of the way and looked at Ge Shi with complicated eyes such as sympathy and regret, so that Ge Shi, Meng Zhong, and Meng Hu were finally able to squeeze into the crowd and see the lifeless Meng Bo lying on the carriage.

In an instant, Ge's face turned pale, and there was no blood at all, and when she saw the cold corpse of her eldest son, she only felt that her eyes were dark.

"Mother? Mother? ”

Meng Zhong hurriedly greeted.

"Mother...... It's okay. ”

Ge Shi, who came back to his senses, shook his head, stared at the corpse of his eldest son Meng Bo from a distance, and did not dare to step forward.

At this moment, her whole body was trembling.

"Ge's."

At this time, Meng Hu's own uncle Meng Zhi walked over with the support of a clansman, looked at Ge Shi and said with a face full of shame: "I can't live with you, I can't live with Uncle...... Abel is to save me, so he ......"

"Uncle?"

Meng Hu looked at Meng Zhi in disbelief.

On the side, Meng Zhong also looked at Meng Zhi carefully, and he found that Meng Zhi's face was bloodless, and he even needed the help of others to walk, which was obviously caused by serious injuries.

After a closer look, Meng Zhong really found that there was faint blood oozing from Meng Zhi's chest, abdomen, thighs, and arms.

So he asked Meng Zhi, "Uncle Meng Zhi, what is going on?" I received a letter from my brother last year, isn't my Song Kingdom a big advantage? ”

"It's Fujitora." Meng Zhi sighed and explained: "He pretended to accept the persuasion of the military Sima to surrender, but secretly organized the dead soldiers, when our army was celebrating the end of the war, Teng Hu personally led 300 dead soldiers, attacked our camp at night, and directly took the commander's tent, causing the whole army to be in chaos...... At that time, I met the monarch of Teng State, Teng Hu, this person is gifted with divine power, brave and unstoppable, I tried to stop him, but was seriously injured, in order to save me, Abel he took the initiative to meet Fuji Hu, so ...... Then he was killed by the Fuji Tiger......"

Speaking of this, he looked at Ge Shi guiltily and lowered his head: "Ah Bo Ta, they all died because of me, no matter whether Ge Shi wants to beat or scold, or even take my life, I have no complaints." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong secretly looked at his mother, but saw that his mother pursed her lips and forcibly held back the tears in her eyes.

After a long time, Ge Shi let out a long breath, barely squeezed out a little smile and said: "Meng Zhi, you are serious, Bo'er, he is willing to sacrifice himself to save you, presumably because he admires you, this is the decision made by that child, how can I, a mother, go against his will and blame you?" If you want to blame, you can only blame that child for not having this blessing......" She sucked a little, forced a smile and continued: "There is no such blessing." ”

Meng Zhi opened his mouth, but he didn't know whether to thank Ge Shi for his forgiveness, and finally, he took out a piece of cloth from his arms and stuffed it into Meng Zhong's hand: "This is ...... Your brother. ”

Looking at the back of Meng Zhi leaving, and then looking at the scenes of the aunts and sisters-in-law in the surrounding clan howling and crying, Meng Zhong took a deep breath and spread out the cloth that Meng Zhi handed him.

Sure enough, on this piece of cloth is also a family letter written by his brother Momber:

"On the 19th of September, the state of Teng finally surrendered, and they hoped that we would not attack the city again, and two days later, they would be led by the monarch Fuji Hu, and Kaesong surrendered, and the military Sima was very happy, and ordered the siege to be stopped, and rewarded the three armies. This war is finally coming to an end, although I am very sorry for those who died in this battle, whether it is the Song people or the Teng people, but finally this battle is coming to an end. Although Uncle Meng Qing and Uncle Meng Zhi reprimanded us, the clansmen couldn't help but cheer. …… I will write about this today, Meng Heng and a few other clan brothers will definitely drag me to drink and celebrate. Mother, and Ah Zhong, the war is coming to an end, and we can finally go home."

『……』

After reading the last letter from his brother Meng Bo, Meng Zhong let out a long sigh.

『Teng Hu ......』

Clutching the cloth, he remembered the name firmly.