The lingering spring rain, falling unhurriedly, like smoke and mist, like flying light sand, on the cypress, willow and all the green leaves that had just changed into green clothes, draped in a light layer of mist.

The spring rain contains vitality, hidden vitality, will wake up the sleeping earth in winter one by one, from the field just emerging seedlings, the branches of those just emerging a little green shoots, and those in the early spring of those small flowers, happily swaying in the mist and rain, the pond on the side of the road because of the spring rain and ripples, the spring rain is too fine and gentle, for fear that their raindrops are too big and shatter the tranquility of the pond.

Jiang Shangyan was dressed in civilian clothes, only led his horse, and walked on the country road misty in the spring rain. The rain didn't look heavy, but his body was already soaking wet.

The heavy snow last winter and this spring, even those insects hidden deep in the soil were almost frozen to death, Yang Chun was three years old, and the spring rain came as scheduled, although the crops in the field were just emerging, but it can already be seen that this year is definitely a good harvest year.

This made Egami very happy.

There was a big tree in front of her, and Egami decided to go there to take shelter from the rain. Although the spring rain is good, people can't be drenched for a long time.

The place under the canopy near the roots of the tree is still dry, but the outside is already soaked, Jiang Shangyan let go of the reins of the horse, and sat cross-legged under the tree, the horse is a long-trained war horse, and he is not worried that it will run away on its own. Releasing the reins, the horse lowered its head and nibbled on a layer of green sprouts that had just emerged from the ground. Jiang Shangyan looked up at a village not far away, it was almost noon, and every household began to smoke one after another. This is what Egami likes to see the most.

In the Ming Dynasty, this kind of scene was just a commonplace thing that he would simply turn a blind to, but when he returned to Chu and arrived at Jinghu, in the midst of wars again and again, he saw too many deserted places, and saw too many dilapidated villages because of the war, and the smoke became an unimaginable happiness.

All the efforts of myself and my comrades are worth it. Through the rain curtain, Jiang Shangyan looked at the quiet village in the distance, and a strong sense of satisfaction emerged in his heart, those days of lying on the ice and eating snow, braving the wind and rain, and the hard work of fighting the enemy desperately, when he saw all this, had disappeared.

He suddenly understood why Dashuai would rather go to the capital to meet in a certain death than break out into a civil war because he was alone.

After being driven away by Cheng Wuben, Jiang Shangyan asked his cronies to return to the army first, while he himself wandered around aimlessly.

He didn't know what he wanted to do, he just felt very distraught.

He watched it all silently. It was only when footsteps sounded in his ears that he came back to his senses and turned his head to look at a big man on the trail with a hoe and a basket on his back.

The man was missing an arm.

It is rare to see such a strong man in Jinghu County, unless he is crippled, this is a man who has retired from the army due to injuries, Jiang Shangyan stood up and nodded at him with a smile.

"Also a soldier?" The man looked at Jiang Shangyan, and then looked at the horse that was gnawing on the turf on the side, it was a war horse, which was very different from the usual horses, pack horses, the man had been a soldier, so he could naturally recognize it at a glance.

"Exactly!" Jiang Shangyan said with a smile.

"Then why is it that you are not on the front line here?" The man asked, puzzled.

"When I came back from visiting my family, I happened to pass by here, and my clothes were soaked, so I rested here!" Jiang Shangyan explained that he didn't want this man to think that he was a deserter.

"Originally, you were still an officer!" The man was a little surprised and said that in the army, only officers of a certain level can enjoy family leave, and small soldiers cannot have family leave.

"Captain!" Jiang Shangyan didn't want to scare the person in front of him. A lieutenant can already lead thousands of people, and some can even lead thousands of people.

Even the captain widened his eyes, put down the hoe on his shoulder, and bent down to salute Jiang Shangyan.

Jiang Shangyan also returned the salute solemnly, not for anything else, just for that broken arm.

"Where did my brother lose this arm?" Jiang Shangyan asked.

Hearing Jiang Shangyan's words, the gloomy look on the man's face flashed slightly, but he disappeared into invisibility in an instant, revealing a proud look instead. Maozhen Defensive Battle! In that battle, we withstood the onslaught of the Qi people, 3,000 brothers, and only more than 100 people came back in the end. I was lucky to have lost only one arm."

Maozhen Defensive Battle! Jiang Shangyan's expression was slightly awe-inspiring, that was the most critical battle for Cheng Shuai to withdraw to Jinghu and establish the Jinghu defense line, at that time, Jinghu was far from the stable multi-layer defense line that followed, Maozhen was located in the key rush, if it was lost, whether the Jinghu defense line could be established or not was still two words. That battle was personally commanded by Jiang Tao.

"It turned out to be General Jiang Tao's subordinates! Disrespectful!" He bowed again.

"Yes, it was General Jiang Tao who led us, it's a pity, what a general, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have been able to hold Maozhen, but unfortunately he finally didn't know it." The man showed a look of regret on his face: "Does the captain recognize General Jiang Tao?"

Of course I recognize it, not only do I recognize it, but I also fought side by side many times at the beginning.

Jiang Shangyan nodded, "I also fought under the command of General Jiang Tao before, but we separated later."

"Then we really have fate!" The man laughed happily, "Captain, my house is in front, if the captain doesn't dislike it, go to my house to bake clothes, and have a light meal by the way!"

Jiang Shangyan thought about it and nodded. Okay, then bother my brother."

"They are all sons and daughters in the army, so there are so many politeness." The man laughed, "Captain, this is an outsider, since I retired, I haven't seen a living brother in the army, but I have seen a lot of ashes." As he spoke, the man's tone lowered again.

"We have just won a big battle, the Qi people have been completely expelled from Jinghu County, and good days are coming." Jiang Shangyan led the horse, followed behind the man, and said.

"yes, that's good news, we've heard about it. But if you want to talk about a good life, it's not like." The man smiled, but his laughter was full of bitterness.

How do you say that? The enemy has been driven away, and life will naturally be better." Jiang Shangyan asked a little strangely: "I see that the crops in the field are growing very well, and this year must be a bumper harvest year."

"A good harvest is certain, but we people can't keep much. Let's hope this year's harvest will leave a full stomach of food." The man shook his head and said helplessly. But our family is lucky because I came back alive."

He nodded to the star-studded houses in the village, and said, "Captain, in the whole village, I am the only man under the age of fifty and over the age of sixteen, and the rest will either serve in the army or have already fallen asleep."

Jiang Shangyan stopped in shock, the scale of this village is not small, there are dozens of families, but only the man in front of him is a strong man, and he is also a disabled person. Is the situation so bad?

"What about these crops?"

"It's all women, and there are old people doing it, and I'm a cripple, and I want to help, but sometimes I can't do it, so I can only do what I can." The man stood outside a dirt house, "Captain, this is my home."

The man leaned his hoe against the corner of the wall and shouted, "Nizi, you're here, put more rice, cook more porridge, it's my brother in the army!"

With the man's shout, a woman with a small doll on her back appeared in the doorway, wearing a dress with patches on her back, her face was full of wind and frost, and she reached out to take the basket on the man's back, and the hands were full of frostbite wounds that had not yet fully healed. looked at Jiang Shangyan, who was leading the tall horse, with some surprise, and agreed softly.

Leaving the horse in the yard, as the man walked into the house, the man's home was almost the same as the four walls of the house, there was no decent furniture in sight, there was a piece of the roof that was blocked with thatched rows after it was broken, a table, four benches, a teapot with a spout half missing on the table, and a black pottery bowl with the same edge missing.

Pulling over a bench, the man wiped it vigorously with the sleeve on the one-arm, and said to Jiang Shangyan: "Captain, please sit, I haven't asked the captain yet."

"My surname is Jiang, Jiang Shangyan!" Egami Yandao.

"My surname is Wei, Wei Li!" The man smiled, went to the house for a while, found a piece of clothes that looked quite good, and handed it to Jiang Shangyan: "Captain Jiang took off the wet clothes on his body, and I will go to the kitchen to dry them for you, my clothes are a little torn, but Nizi washes them very clean."

If it is a soldier who retired a little later, he will definitely be familiar with the name Jiang Shangyan, but the one in front of him was injured and went home after Cheng Shuai returned to Jinghu County in the first battle, and at that time, Jiang Shangyan was still in Daming as the general of the Baoqing battalion!

Of course, Jiang Shangyan didn't have that hypocrisy, so she took off her wet clothes and changed into Wei Li's clothes, while Wei Li took those wet clothes and walked into the kitchen on the side.

Jiang Shangyan stood at the gate, looked at the quiet village, and asked, "Brother Wei, the village is really quiet, why can't you even hear the barking of dogs?"

Wei Li's answer came from the kitchen: "Captain Jiang, people can't eat enough, and the things that come here are fed to the dogs!" In the past, not all the dogs in the village ended up in people's stomachs! There are still pigs in the village, and they only eat grass or something anyway, but they are easy to feed, but there is no food to feed them, and they have lost a little weight. But even so, I don't want to eat it, it's going to be taxed. Even if there are chickens or something, no one in the village is willing to eat them, and they will take them to the tax."

Jiang Shangyan couldn't help but be dumbfounded, the cavalry under his command had always had good food, every ten days and a half months, he could always eat a meal of meat, and now it seemed that what he ate was raised by these villagers like Wei Li.

He suddenly felt a little ashamed.