Outside Lingju County, along the upstream water, there is a quiet small village surrounded by mountains. On the banks of the Reverse River, there are golden farmlands. Crops such as corn and corn in the field are swaying slightly in the wind. These crops that have been harvested are the hope and food in the eyes of dozens of families and hundreds of people in this village.

However, as Liu Zhao's army advanced and besieged Jincheng, the small villages around these county towns and other peaceful and peaceful places gradually cast a shadow at this time. The women began to be worried, and the peasants, in addition to their daily work of irrigating the canals, sat at home and sighed, or gathered in twos and threes to talk about the war in the south.

"The day before yesterday, I went to the county town, planning to find a tailor Chen to pull a few feet of cloth and add a few sets of winter clothes to the insider, but guess what? A few miles outside the county town, I saw a group of soldiers pushing carts, and the carts were full of soldiers who had died in the county, and there were dozens of carts! On each car, there are more than a dozen of my county's best boys...... Some of them look like they're still half-grown babies. Missing hands and feet, bloody, coughing, it looks really miserable......" On the earthen platform in the middle of the village, an old man was talking endlessly to the neighbors and villagers around him, recounting what he saw and heard on the way to the county town.

"It is said that a few days ago, a general was killed in the county, and the county government also set up a mourning hall for him, which is located in the martyrs' shrine five miles east of the county seat...... After I went to Tailor Chen to pull the cloth, I went to buy a few pillars of incense, went to the martyrs' shrine, and put incense on the general...... After the mourning hall was built, there was an endless stream of officials and people who went to worship...... Although the old man can't go into battle to fight, he also admires these good sons and daughters in my county, if they didn't fight hard in front, how could I live here in peace...... It's just a pity for those good boys......"

As the old man spoke, he couldn't suppress the emotion in his heart, and sobbed and cried, presumably, what he saw and heard in the county town was indeed too tragic for this old man who was over half a hundred years old. The old man was surrounded by the villagers who were standing or sitting, and when they heard the scene he described, they all looked gloomy.

Just as everyone sighed, a few horsemen galloped outside the village, and seeing that they were getting closer to the village, these horsemen gradually slowed down their horses. At that time, a general, who looked like a general, led several subordinates to gallop slowly to the earthen platform, but he was greeted by a cadre of villagers with gloomy inquiring looks.

Nashi Chang took out a document from his bosom, then strode up to the earthen platform, and then unfolded the document and read it to the many villagers in the village: "The Xiongnu invaded the border, and the heavy troops pressed the border. All township soldiers, from the king's order! Households provide food, and soldiers give out! Work together to fight against the Huns! ”

The villagers gradually gathered around and formed a circle under the earthen platform, and then listened to the sound of the chief reading the paperwork, and their faces gradually became solemn.

"Summer taxes, one stone per mu, soldiers and households, all must go into battle! Households Dingkou, two Ding draw one! As the document was read, the people in the village gathered under the small earthen platform were already in an uproar.

"Silence!" As the chief finished drinking, the people below fell silent again, and then, the chief took a roster handed by the soldier beside him and began to read it.

As the names of the young and strong people were read out one by one, they all stood on the spot with blank faces, and the list was finally read out. On the roster, nearly half of the dingkou in the village has been included, and they are ordered to report to the county garrison within the time limit.

When the reading was finished, the horses mounted and left the village, and then continued to gallop towards the next village. Only one village of men, women, and children was left looking at each other. Many of the women were already weeping with their faces hidden, and their relatives stood beside them, young men who were about to be drafted. is hurriedly comforting these female relatives who are mourning around him. Yet any words of comfort pale at this time.

This war forced their relatives to separate, and from then on, the heavens and the earth may be separated, and the yin and yang may be separated, and it will be difficult to see each other again.

When everyone was mourning, few people noticed that there was an old man with gray hair but a strong gait, who did not say anything, but silently turned around and walked towards his thatched hut. The lonely back of the old man is reflected in the sunset, adding a bit of bleakness and loneliness.

Pushing open the door made of old wooden planks, the house was surrounded by walls, and there was not a trace of anything of little value. The old man sighed, looked at the haystack in the corner where he lived, and then walked to the corner of the house, and took a long time from the gap between the broken wooden cabinet and the wall, before pulling out a dusty ring-headed knife.

The old man stroked the ring-headed knife in his hand with a kind face, like his own child, and he found the cleanest rag in the whole house, and then wiped away the thick dust accumulated on the scabbard and knife ring. Then, the old man's face turned pale, and he drew his sword out of its sheath.

The unsheathed knife did not make a loud and crisp sound as usual. Instead, it scraped the scabbard, making a tooth-aching sound. The old man drew his knife and looked closely, but saw that the knife was already covered with rust.

"Old man, I thought that I would never need you again until I entered the ground, but I didn't expect that now, I will go on the expedition with you again!" The old man touched the layers of rust on the knife, and his mottled face was already full of old tears. After feeling for a long time, the old man still took this old man and walked out of the dilapidated thatched house with heavy steps.

After a quarter of an hour, behind the dilapidated thatched house, there began to be a very regular and rhythmic sound of Huo Huo sharpening knives. The sound of sharpening the knife was occasionally mixed with the faint breath of the old man. As the blade rubbed against the whetstone, the rust that had been worn for years had gradually been removed, and a cold blade began to appear.

"Father! What are you doing? Why are you sharpening knives again? At the end of the path behind the hut, a young girl appeared. She carried a basket containing freshly picked wild vegetables. Seeing that behind the hut, her father was laboriously sharpening the ring-headed knife, and there was a hint of panic and eagerness in the girl's voice. She tightened the basket in her hand, and ran straight to her hut, despite the patched skirt fluttering in the dust.

The old man saw the anxious look on his little daughter's face, and stood up with a slightly nervous expression. Then he pretended to be calm to meet his daughter's footsteps, and said with a forced smile: "Ah Luo, my father saw that this knife was rusting for a long time, so he took it out and sharpened it." I also miss the days when I followed Song Du to protect the east and go to the country in the past. Arlo doesn't have to be nervous. ”

The girl called Ah Luo heard her father's explanation, but she didn't have a hint of relaxation. She ran up and looked at her father, her eyes filled with tears.

"Listening to the old man in the village, now the war is urgent, and today a messenger sent by the envoy came to the village, saying that the war is urgent, and half of the young people in the village will be recruited to join the army, is my father also going to join the army?" Ah Luo looked at the half-sharpened ring head knife in his father's hand, and he had already guessed a few points. The tears in her eyes rolled down in large pieces, and then fell to the ground, and in a blink of an eye, she sank into the loess, and there was no trace.

Looking at the picture of his daughter's silent crying, the old man's heart also swelled with infinite sorrow. He hugged his daughter, still laughing and said, "Ah Luo, don't cry, why is Father willing to leave you to join the army?" Since your mother is gone, it is Ah Luo who takes care of her father every day, and if there is no Ah Luo, Ah Luo will not be used to it. With that, the old man stood up and laughed a few times. The girl Ah Luo, who was still crying, broke into tears and laughed.

"Ah Luo is going to cook, Father will stay for a while." The smiling girl then lifted the basket happily and jumped towards the house.

Looking at the back of his daughter turning around and entering the house, the old man's face was a little solemn and a little sad. He laughed miserably and shook his head, then continued to sit down and began to sharpen the knife in his hand. After nearly half an hour, the old man stood up, and then looked at the knife in his hand with satisfaction, and then strode to a small tree about two inches thick behind the hut, and then raised the knife with all his might, and slashed diagonally at the small tree. With a soft sound, the trunk snapped, and the incision was flat and smooth without a single burr.

The old man looked at the knife with satisfaction, and then put it into its sheath. Quietly walked into the room, passed by the kitchen, looked at his daughter who was still cooking by the stove, sighed softly, then put the sharpened knife next to the wooden cabinet, and turned and walked out of the house.

However, with a stick of incense, the old man had already stomped to the east end of the village and knocked on the door of another family. With the creak of the door opening, a woman with slightly gray hair opened the door.

"It turned out to be Lao Yang, why did you have time to come to the house today?" When some of the elderly women saw the old man, they were very enthusiastic, and hurriedly exchanged a few words of greeting, and then let him into the room. The old man surnamed Yang politely bowed his hand and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, I don't know if Lao Wu is at home?" I came to him today, but I had something to discuss. ”

"Ahem, my old man, it's weird now. In the afternoon, he took a bowl of water, went up to the house and sharpened his knife. I asked him what he was doing sharpening his knife. He replied: 'Look at the rusty knife, why don't you feel uncomfortable, just sharpen it.' Lao Yang, do you think this old man is weird? ’”

Hearing the woman's gossip and homely description, the old man surnamed Yang stood on the spot for a moment, until the woman repeatedly called him a few times, he reacted, and then confessed again and again, saying: "Since Lao Wu is behind the house, I will go to the back of the house to find him, and we will talk later, sister-in-law." ”

Lao Yang walked around the hut with a heavy heart, and when he came to the back of the house, he saw a tall and thin old man, who was struggling to sit on a big rock, and then carefully sharpened the ring knife in his hand. Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, the old man was still full of impatience, and reprimanded without raising his head: "Didn't I say it earlier? I'll just look at the rusty knife and sharpen it, what do you girls know? Don't come again! ”

Lao Yang walked a few more steps, walked to the side of Lao Wu, who was immersed in sharpening his knife, and said, "Old Wu, look up and see who I am?" ”