June day, child's face. Just now the sky was clear, the sun was shining, a gust of wind came, and in a blink of an eye, the dark clouds were overhead, and the bean-sized raindrops smashed down and fell to the ground, splashing a burst of earthy yellow dust, and after a while, it turned into mud. A group of soldiers walked with some difficulty on the top of a rolling hill.

This is one of the long borders between Taoyuan County and Changning County of Qi State. On patrol is the army of the Ming Wuling Theater stationed in Taoyuan County.

Many years ago, when the relationship between the two countries was quite normal, it was a fertile land, surrounded by green mountains and green water and crops, chickens and dogs barking, cooking smoke, and dense population were the norm here, but now, standing on the top of the hill and looking into the distance, all you can see is the wordless barrenness.

The fields have long been abandoned, and even the ditches that were used for irrigation are now gradually buried, and only faint traces can be seen in the grass and some intermittent ridges.

The original village has long been dilapidated, and after years of wind and rain, it has been reduced to ruins, and some wild dogs and wild cats can occasionally be seen in the middle of it.

You can't see a single tree. The trees that used to be were cut down cleanly, and even if they didn't have time to cut down, they were burned down by fire, which made this large area even more desolate.

Today's Taoyuan County, after several years of operation, has finally recovered a little, but the vast majority of the population is still farming around the county, like this border place, has long been abandoned, first, because of the lack of people, they can't take care of it at all, and second, all the Ming people or all the Qi people know clearly that in the future, there will inevitably be a big war between the Ming and Qi for the hegemony of this continent, and here, it will definitely be one of the battlefields. This cognition has been proved with the collapse of the Qin State under the rolling soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

No one will build their home in this place that is bound to be destroyed again. Even the Taoyuan County Shouben Kuan only focused all his energy on the surrounding areas of the county town and in the direction of Zhaoguan.

"Hurry up, there's a shelter in front of you, go there and take shelter from the rain." The bearded sentry greeting his soldiers, struggling to step through the muddy water, and ran forward.

It rained so hard that even though they had prepared their hats, they were still drenched all over their bodies.

This shed was built during the previous patrols, and the materials used to build the shed came from those abandoned villages not far away. Finally ran into the shed, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, the shed is stocked with some necessary daily necessities, because every day a patrol passes by here, these things are placed here, just in case of emergency.

Soon a fire was lit in the shed, and the soldiers put their soaked clothes on the fire to bake, and although the weather was already warm, they were still prone to illness when they wore soaked clothes all the time.

The bearded whistle sat shirtless under the protruding eaves of the shed outside, looking out into the distance in the rain. Bounded by hills, this side of the mountain is Taoyuan County of the Ming Dynasty, and which side of the mountain is Changning County of Qi State. Walking down this hill, it can be regarded as entering the land of Qi country.

The Qi people are not like the Ming army, even if there is nothing to do, they will also carry out regular patrols on this section, and occasionally they can only see some scouts on horseback, and the two sides often look at each other on the top of the hill and the other under the hill.

Of course, the two sides just look at each other and will not rush into conflict.

"Changzhu turned out to be a good place!" The bearded sentry suddenly sighed with emotion, and said to a soldier sitting next to him who was drinking steaming boiling water.

"I can't see it." The soldier looked back and glanced at the place called Changzhu by the bearded sentry, which was now behind them. But all you can see now is a vast rain, and even if there is no rain, there is nothing but ruin and desolation.

"I'm from here." The bearded whistle is a little sad.

"Ah, Captain Fan, I haven't heard you talk about it before!" The soldier was a little surprised.

Fan Chang tugged at his thick beard and said with a wry smile: "Xiaoliang, do you know how old I am this year?"

"Look, twenty-five, thirty?" The soldier was a little unsure.

Fan Chang laughed: "Fart, Lao Tzu just turned twenty this year."

The soldier's eyes widened as he looked at Fan Chang's hairy face, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Don't lie to you, when the Qi army retreated from Taoyuan County, they kidnapped people who didn't have time to run away, our Changzhu because of its proximity to the border of Qi, is one of the hardest hit areas, when they came, I was only sixteen years old, my father and mother stuffed me into the cellar at home and escaped this catastrophe, but when I climbed out, everything changed, the village was gone, everyone was gone." FAN Changdao.

"They've all been caught over there?" The soldier asked in a whisper.

Fan Chang lowered his head, a trace of pain flashed in his eyes, "The village was burned, the village was full of dead people, most of the dead were old and weak women and children, and none of the young and strong were gone, I found the body of my father and mother in the village, my father was still holding a sickle in his hand, my mother died by my father's side, and the two brothers and sisters-in-law didn't see it, I think they were taken away."

"That's really ......," the soldier looked at him with a look of disapproval.

"Later, when the Ming army came, I went to join the army, but the Ming army recruited at least eighteen years old, and after I touched the wall twice, I lied about my age. I'm old and bearded, but I can fool a lot of people. Xiaoliang, where are you from?"

"I'm from Shayang, and I've just been transferred here this year." The soldier said. Sentry Fan, don't be too sad, we will be able to take revenge sooner or later, one day, we will fight over there, and if they rob us, we will snatch it back tenfold."

"Revenge, of course." Fan Chang clenched his fists tightly and waved them in the air, "When we defeat the Qi people, I will come back and build our village as good as it was at the beginning."

"Definitely, Captain Fan." The soldier nodded vigorously: "You were transferred from Xiangxi, I heard that it was similar to here before, and now it has also built beautiful villages?" In fact, it is easier to make contributions on the Xiangxi side, and the conflict with the Qi people over there is very fierce."

"Xiangxi is different from us here, don't look at the constant conflicts there, but it is not suitable for large-scale operations, only suitable for surprise attacks, every time Qi people come to make trouble, it is only a small-scale army, it can't become a big climate, and there are rich water resources, so where will there be a garrison, but when it is really going to be a big fight, Changzhu is definitely more suitable for a large army to deploy, besides, this is my hometown, so I took the initiative to ask to be transferred here." FAN Changdao.

"That's right." The soldier stood up and said, "Your clothes must have been dried, I'll go get them for you."

Taking the dried clothes from the soldier's hands, Fan Chang put them on his body, wore half of them, his eyes suddenly froze, and he stared intently in the direction of Qi Guo opposite.

"What's the matter, Captain Fan?"

"Looks like someone is coming, and there are quite a few of them." Fan Chang quickly put on his clothes, picked up the armor on the ground and put it on his body, and shouted at the same time: "Everyone, wearing armor, there is a situation, prepare to fight!"

The shed was immediately bustling, and the sound of weapons and armor clashing was endless.

"Speed up!" Fan Chang yelled.

After the half-pillar incense, dozens of soldiers lined up in a neat line behind Fan Chang.

Fan Chang stared at the vast rain curtain.

When he was in Xiangxi, he encountered such a situation many times, the Qi army often crossed the border to raid patrols and villages, and in turn, the Ming army also had this kind of team to rush to Qi to do the same thing.

Such a battle is not large, but it is no less brutal. Since arriving in Changzhu, such a thing has really not been encountered, and it must be different from the area deliberately developed by the Ming Kingdom in Xiangxi, and Changzhu is a barren land.

The rain suddenly became much smaller, and his eyes suddenly became clearer, and Fan Chang finally saw the situation in front of him, it was a group of people who were running away and were being chased by a team of Qi soldiers.

Fan Chang suddenly understood that such things are not uncommon now, most of them were exiled to Taoyuan County or even Wuling in Qi State, and the people of Yiyang tried their best to escape back to their hometown.

There were groups and individual escapes, and when he was in Xiangxi, he encountered this situation many times, and therefore had a confrontation with the pursuing Qi army.

Xiao Liang beside him also understood, watching the fleeing people staggering, but the pursuers behind him were getting closer and closer, and couldn't help but hurriedly say: "Hurry up, hurry up!"

Fan Chang immediately judged the form, judging from the speed of the fleeing people in front, they would definitely not be able to outrun the pursuers behind them, looking at the men and women in the team, as well as those children who were carried and cared, his heart suddenly tingled.

"Check your weapons and get ready to go down the hill to pick them up." He roared.

"Captain Fan, it's Qi over there!" Xiao Liang said.

"What about Qidi?" Fan Chang laughed: "When I was in Changxi, Lao Tzu went there several times, I thought there would be nothing wrong here, but since they crashed on the door, how could they let it go?"

"There are a lot of them!"

"Xiaoliang, you haven't fought before, have you?" Fan Chang smiled: "Recruit egg, follow me today to see blood, there are many people?" The Ming soldiers were never afraid of too many people."

As soon as Fan Chang's voice fell, the Ming soldiers behind him all let out laughter. Obviously, among the soldiers in this team, Xiao Liang is a new recruit, and the others have already begun to prepare weapons at this time. As patrol soldiers, they were quite well equipped, spears, ring-headed knives, and even crossbow arrows.

"Come with me!" Fan Chang roared and took the lead in rushing down from the hills, and dozens of Ming soldiers shouted in unison and followed Fan Chang downward.

In the distance, I suddenly saw the refugees of the Ming soldiers, cheering in unison, and the steps that were originally a little slow, but at this moment they were faster.