With the passage of time, the personnel of the company are also constantly decreasing, and those who repair cars, drive cars, teach teams, hygienists, and so on have all gone to find ways to study, and the border defense company, which is already small in number, has become even more deserted as soon as various things come out.

The patrol mission has also been reduced from two squads at the beginning to one squad now.

Xiang Xiaotian raised his head and squinted at the sun and cursed: "Today's weather looks really scary, nasty summer!" ”

Although it was only May, the arrival of summer still seemed so sudden, as soon as the wind and snow receded, the sun was scorching, and today's No. 42 patrol mission will also be carried out under such conditions.

The leader of the fourth squad is still Li Jun, behind the palace is the deputy squad leader Wu Ying, and the leader of the horse is a non-commissioned officer named Duan Jin who has just been transferred at the end of the year.

Xiang Xiaotian opened his mouth and said to the non-commissioned officer: "Hey, squad leader Duan! Speaking of summer, can we ride horses? ”

Duan Jin replied: "You can ride at any time if you want, but it's only for you to have a good time, didn't the squad leader say before, other companies have horseback marches, but our patrol route is a little poor, and we may have to lead it away just a few steps up." ”

Xiang Xiaotian felt a sense of loss in his heart: "Oh, that's a pity, it's so boring to face a group of people all day long, sometimes I want to communicate with it and exchange feelings!" ”

It was Wu Ying, who was walking last, who spoke: "What do you have to communicate with it, be careful that Squad Leader Kong cuts you!" ”

Xiang Xiaotian stuck out his tongue, he knew that Squad Leader Kong was referring to the non-commissioned officer who fed the horses, and with the understanding of his comrades in the company, Xiang Xiaotian knew that these horses were the lifeblood of Squad Leader Kong, even more important than the lifeline.

"It's all money, how much do I earn in a month!" Whenever I talk about this kind of topic, I can think of Squad Leader Kong's expression, just like Zhao Benshan said Cui Yongyuan: laughing is like crying.

The scorching sun increased the consumption of water in the body, which caused Xiang Xiaotian, who was on patrol under such conditions for the first time, to drink the water in the kettle two hours after going out.

In this way, I relied on the water that my brothers in the same class had even come out little by little until the evening, and the weather at night was very contrasting and the biting wind was blowing, so the march was not pleasant.

And when he was about to arrive at the sentinel point, through the faint light in the room, Xiang Xiaotian vaguely saw that there was a bicycle of the most old-fashioned 28 bars parked at the door, and he felt strange in his heart:

"In this kind of hellish place, there are still people riding bicycles up, what are they doing?"

However, the thirst obviously overshadowed the curiosity of the bicycle, and as soon as he entered the door and threw down his equipment, he drank the water in the tank with a scoop and didn't know how long it would last.

It was already nearly ten o'clock in the evening, which meant that after a simple rest under normal circumstances, the return journey would begin at twelve o'clock.

When he was drinking water from Xiaotian heartlessly, he heard a low cry from the room and the comforting voice of Li Jun's squad leader.

The others also felt strange, and entered the door in turn to see what was going on, Xiang Xiaotian just wanted to put his head in and take a look, but he hit a person who was going out, rubbed his head and just wanted to complain, and looked up to see that this person was carrying three thick crutches on his shoulders!

"I'll go, sixth-rank non-commissioned officer!"

After speaking, he immediately set up a standard military salute: "Good squad leader!" ”

Because he knows that the sixth-level non-commissioned officers are counted according to the administrative level, they are all at the regiment commander level, and there will not be a few in the entire corps-level military region, which is definitely a rarity.

"Okay, I'm also a soldier, what salute me!" The sixth-level non-commissioned officer's face was obviously not good-looking, which made Xiang Xiaotian even more strange about what was going on inside!

The sixth-level non-commissioned officer asked, "Hey! Little brother, do you have any cigarettes, I've just finished smoking! ”

"Report to the old squad leader, I don't smoke!" Xiang Xiaotian is still very restrained.

The old squad leader said impatiently: "What is the old report, forget it and sit with me!" ”

Xiang Xiaotian Lizheng: "Yes!" ”

Outside the door, just like Xiang Xiaotian and Lin Jie usually hid in the corner to watch the stars, but the person next to him was replaced by a soldier who was not a few years younger than his father.

No one spoke for a long, long time.

Xiang Xiaotian took the lead in breaking this situation: "May I ask the old squad leader, who is crying inside, is it Xiao Deng's squad leader?" ”

The old squad leader, who was looking up at the sky, was asked by this and came back to his senses: "En? Oh yes! ”

Xiang Xiaotian asked, "What's wrong?" ”

The old squad leader lowered his head and replied: "My father passed away, and I accidentally fell from the seventh floor while working on the construction site in the city!" ”

"Ahh Xiang Xiaotian was very surprised when he heard this!

Then there was a long silence.

After a long time, Xiang Xiaotian suddenly turned his head to the old squad leader and smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know how to express my emotions very well, but I believe that Xiao Deng's squad leader must be fine." I believe him, because he's a qualified soldier, about my age, and he's in his fourth year of military age! In the two years I have been in this place, I have never descended the mountain once, and I can still complete the task excellently! So I believe that this pain will not defeat him! ”

The old squad leader turned his head, and the two looked at each other for a moment.

The old squad leader lowered his head and shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "Yes, no one has knocked him down in this deserted Gobi, what is this little pain, he will resist, although Xiao Deng usually doesn't talk much, but at this age, he can take on such a difficult task, and he hasn't made any requests to the organization, and this alone is already many times stronger than us!" ”

"That old squad leader, I wonder what you do, you can be a soldier in the army for so many years, you won't be a peerless master who can't be born, I heard that a position at your level can't be done by anyone but you." Xiang Xiaotian didn't want to continue to talk about that heavy topic, with his character, he didn't like to stay on sadness in everything, so he asked his curiosity directly.

"Master fart, you've read too many martial arts novels! I'm a messenger, this year is already the twenty-fourth year, and it's also my last year in the army, and I'm going home at the end of the year, because this kind of thing to Xiang Xiao Deng will happen to me one day, my whole life has been dedicated to the army, and I really don't know how to solve these problems at my current age! The old squad leader first laughed and scolded, and then looked up again thoughtfully.

Xiang Xiaotian was puzzled: "Send a letter?" That's just a random person! I can't use you, within the scope of my cognition, people of your level belong to the national treasure level in the army! ”

The old squad leader turned his head and glanced at the little private, and said with a smile: "I have been here since the formation of our border defense company, and you were not born at that time!" Basically all the urgent letters at the outpost were sent by me, seeing that the bicycle was not, I had been riding for more than ten years, people said that I was a postman in military uniform, and many places where motor vehicles could not get on, they sent me to a nearby place, and I rode while pushing, so that it could be faster, and this ride was more than 20 years! After saying that, he bowed his head and fell silent.

Before Xiang Xiaotian could reply, the old squad leader continued to say gloomily: "It's been more than 20 years, and the soldiers of the iron-clad battalion are actually not like I want to take off this military uniform, but the speed of the army's progress is no worse than that of society, and old guys like me will be eliminated sooner or later. ”

"No, actually..."Xiang Xiaotian just opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the old squad leader raising his hand.

"Needless to say, let me sit down by myself!" After the old squad leader finished speaking, he looked up at the sky.

Xiang Xiaotian got up and walked towards the sentinel point, and looked at the table below, it was already more than twelve o'clock, and it was beyond the scheduled departure time, and I don't know if the things inside have been resolved?

The moment before entering the door, Xiang Xiaotian held on to the door frame, looked back at the lonely back of the person who looked up at the sky not far away, and felt a sadness in his heart for more than 20 years.

This taste can only be experienced when it really happens to yourself! Thinking of this, Xiang Xiaotian bowed his head and sighed, and then started to walk towards the courtyard.

The official departure was at two o'clock, and during this time period, Xiao Deng's squad leader boiled a pot of boiling water and filled everyone's kettle.

Unlike usual, it was now a two-person military salute to see their marching team.

Under the red flag, two veterans sent deep blessings to the marching team.

Under the moonlight, the team with the mission of soldiers took every step of their own way.