"Say it so strongly, as if I were dead......" Zhou Leaky was about to speak generously, when a laugh suddenly came to his ears, mixed with two coughs. Zhou Leaking's expression became extremely exciting in an instant, ecstatic, shocked, surprised, and difficult to control, looking at Zhou Xiaoquan.

Zhou Xiaoquan clutched his chest, blood kept overflowing from the corners of his mouth, he struggled to get up, but he couldn't exert himself. Zhou Leaky hurriedly ran over and picked him up from the ground, "Xiaoquan, my son, are you awake?" That's great! Fuck, you're not dead! ”

Zhou Xiaoquan wanted to cry and laugh, but in the end he could only make two "ho-ho" sounds from his throat and spit out a mouthful of blood.

Zhou Leaky Feng bandaged Zhou Xiaoquan's wound and carried him to the steps in front of the castle. The two sat side by side, and Zhou Leaky took the old cigarette gun in his hand again, lit it, smashed it twice, and spit out a cloud of choking smoke.

A fire broke out at the bottom of the mountain, and the curtain of fire swept the mountain.

"Team Zheng, it's on fire, the barbarians are setting fire to the mountain!" ’

Several sergeants ran up and shouted in front of Zhou Leak.

Zhou Leaky Feng spit out a smoke ring, glanced at them, and said lightly: "I saw it." ”

"That'...... So what do we do? ”

Zhou Leaky looked at the several poured ditch sergeants in front of him, each of them was wounded, and his clothes and armor were incomplete, Zhou Leaky Feng didn't say much, waved his hand, "Carry the brothers who died in battle into the fort." By the way, let's set up a monument for yourself, too. ”

Zhou Xiaoquan struggled to sit up, "The black bull is outside the mountain gate, I'll go and pick him up!" "But he didn't have the strength to do it.

Seeing this, a sergeant about the same age as Zhou Xiaoquan shouted, "Little brother, I'll go!" ”

The fire gradually surrounded, and the soldiers in the fort of the inverted ditch had no way out, and the fire beasts would eventually devour them, as well as the fort where they had lived for many years.

The last few soldiers of the Fort of the Poured Water Ditch, after burying their dead comrades, went to the steps at the entrance of the fort together. Ah Cheng and another wounded man were among them, and they were all silent, in the last moments of their lives.

Behind the fort is a cliff, and in the distance is an endless hilly grassland, as well as the bright galaxy that seems to be touched.

In the middle of this cage, the sergeants of the pouring ditch, with horizontal knives in their hands, faced the fire with their backs to the remnants of the fort.

Zhou Loufeng knew that he was dying, and he also knew that everyone was dying, even if there was no firewood, grass and trees in front of the fort, but in the fire, they would inevitably be injured, once the fire was extinguished, and the Khitan barbarians rushed up again, they would have no room to fight back. At this time, Zhou Loufeng's mood was complicated, but these complexities were intertwined, and turned into an extremely simple thought, he glanced at Zhou Xiaoquan beside him, and thought to himself, until this time, you still don't want to say a few more words to your father.

In fact, in the bottom of Zhou Loufeng's heart, there has always been a question, when his first two sons died on the battlefield, he didn't want Zhou Xiaoquan to enlist in the army, but the final result was that Zhou Xiaoquan insisted on coming to the fort, and it was when his two brothers died.

"Probably because of his hatred for Khitan, Xiao Quan wants to avenge his two elder brothers." Zhou Loufeng always thought like this before.

The heat of the fire was so hot that it was uncomfortable, and it felt like it was about to be cooked, which was undoubtedly uncomfortable, and no one wanted to be grilled.

"We're all dying, aren't we?" Zhou Xiaoquan suddenly asked Zhou Leaky in a low voice, and smiled self-deprecatingly, as if he was not afraid of death. If you are not afraid of death, is it because you have no nostalgia for life?

Zhou Loufeng looked at his son, he wanted to say something, he wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything. He felt very guilty, today, his third son still has to die on the battlefield, he, as a father, is not competent. He felt that he was very useless, that he could not protect his son's father, and that it was somewhat useless from any point of view.

Zhou Xiaoquan's voice was very weak, his expression was a little sad, and he said, "Dad, I'm useless, right?" ”

"How so?" Zhou Loufeng immediately denied it, he was a little anxious, "You are the best sergeant in the fort, who doesn't admire you and call you a little brother?" ”

Zhou Xiaoquan in the firelight raised his head, the vast sea of stars fell in his eyes, the Milky Way is a sad and sad belt, he is at this end, looking up at that end. After being silent for a long time, Zhou Xiaoquan said in a trance: "Dad, do you know that I hate you?" ”

Zhou Loufeng was silent, "Of course I know." ”

Zhou Xiaoquan smiled, "Then do you know why after the death of the eldest brother, the second brother still follows you in the army?" ”

Zhou Loufeng didn't know how to answer, the answer to this question seems to be very simple, in this world of cholera, in this smoke-free border, dead people are as common as eating, wars are as frequent as rain, everyone lives a precarious life, although the border army is not a small risk, but it can eat a bowl of full rice. But for Zhou Loufeng, because he joined the army, in the case of his eldest son dying in battle, his two younger sons, who don't need to join the army at all, can get a lot of good land, and it is not too much of a problem to be full.

"After the death of the eldest brother, the second brother told me and my mother, you worked hard in the army, licked the blood with a knife, exchanged a few acres of thin fields for this family, so that we could have food, he has always admired you, but you are not young, and your legs and feet are not as sharp as young people, he is afraid, afraid that one day, you will die on the battlefield, so he wants to join the army, to follow you, to protect you, not to let you get hurt, not to let you horse leather shroud......" Zhou Xiaoquan said intermittently, his eyes were full of a certain affectionate color, In the sea of stars above his head, which seemed to be within reach, he seemed to see the face of the person who said this to him at that time, "When the eldest brother leaves, tell me and the second brother, and the father will hand it over to him, let us rest assured and take good care of the old lady...... Later, it was you who took him on patrol, and then he died in battle, and you survived. He died, but he didn't complain, because he did what he wanted to do, and he protected you and our family. ”

Zhou Loufeng's wrinkled face flowed out two hot tears, he remembered the encounter that day, maybe it was the same as Zhou Xiaoquan's encounter with the Khitan rangers today, that day, when he was besieged by the Khitan barbarians, it was his eldest son who blocked the saber from behind for him. When he turned around, his eldest son had no head.

Zhou Xiaoquan continued in a hoarse voice: "After the death of the eldest brother, the second brother said, there can't be no one by your side, it's time for him to take the place of the eldest brother, let me take good care of the old lady, he and you will be safe, let me believe in him." Of course I believe him, the second brother's skills are the best among our three brothers, and he will definitely be able to protect you. Zhou Xiaoquan smiled dismally, "But no matter how good your skills are, what's the use, in the face of thousands of troops, how many barbarian heads can be cut off?" ”

Zhou Loufeng was already teary-eyed.

Zhou Xiaoquan's words have not been finished yet, just like a story that has not yet ended, a story that has not reached the end always has to continue to develop. Zhou Xiaoquan continued to tell, his voice was very weak, because he didn't have much strength left, for a long time, he had been guarding this fort and rarely spoke, and he suddenly said so many words today, he felt a little unaccustomed, "Later, the second brother also died." When the old lady heard the news of her second brother's death, she fell seriously ill and almost died. From that time, I hate you, why, my two brothers died because of you, they are so respectable, and have such a warm pillow, especially when the second brother left home, he had already said that he was a little lady in the next village, and that little lady was so cute and liked the second brother so much...... It's you, Zhou Loufeng, it's you who ruined the eldest brother and the second brother, I hate you so much! ”

"But the old lady said, you can't have no one around you, the old lady said, you are getting older day by day, and you need someone to take care of you day by day, let me join the army. I didn't want to, so my mother dragged a broom and chased after me, I cried and shouted, saying that you also need someone to take care of you, but the old lady said that you are the pillar of this family. The old lady also said that it is natural for a son to inherit his father's business. So I was forced to come to this fort that I hated, to spend time with you, to guard this frontier land, and to patrol the border day after day. ”

Zhou Xiaoquan coughed a few times, he said too much, his weak body couldn't bear it, but he still had to say it, because there were some things that he didn't say now, and he really didn't have a chance.

He breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "I hate you, and this hatred has never diminished. Until...... To this day, I took Ah Cheng Ali to patrol the border, when we encountered the Khitan rangers, when I wanted to return safely with them, but I could only watch Ah Cheng being shot into a hedgehog, watching Ah Cheng cut open his chest, but I couldn't do anything, I was finally able to understand, back then, what kind of mood you had. Dad, the eldest brother and the second brother died in battle one after another, the saddest person, the most painful person, is still you. So I think I should be like them, protect you, let you survive the next battle, and live until you go back to reunite with your mother. ”

His tears rolled down from his eyes, "But it's a pity, I'm the most useless of the three brothers, they all did it, they all protected you, but I can't." I can only watch as the fire burns the mountain, and I see that you are about to die in the fire, but there is nothing I can do. I'm a useless person, even if I go down to Huangquan, I don't have the face to see the eldest brother and the second brother, I don't have the face to ......"

He muttered, repeating over and over again, his eyes glazed and lost his soul.

Zhou Loufeng hugged Zhou Xiaoquan, the old tears made him unrecognizable, and his desolate cry was grief-stricken, "Son, my son......"

After all, the fire burned the mountain gate and the fort, and the fire beast with a hideous face in the night wind roared uncontrollably, and the dust and black smoke that flew in the sky destroyed the most precious existence in the world.

In the middle of the sea of fire, the fort, which had been eroded by time and had endured decades of rain and wind on the top of the mountain, finally sank in the rolling waves. And the soldiers of the border army sitting in front of the fort are like expressionless statues, silent, gradually swallowed up.