Suddenly, the face of Aiko Yanagihara came to the mind of Emperor Meiji.

Since giving birth to a child, although she has been promoted from a power servant to a female queen like his new favorite Fujiwara Shoko, he rarely goes to her.

And she seems to be estranged from herself, intentionally or unintentionally.

Although he now has Fujiwara Shoko, recalling the time with Aiko Yanagihara still brings him a sweet and warm feeling.

Shoko's melodious piano sound made Aiko's shadow gradually disappear.

Shoko sang.

Emperor Meiji was happy to listen to the piano first, and now he has begun to enjoy listening to her sing.

There is no stage style at all, nor the big and rough voices pretended by the singers, on the contrary, her singing voice is always very high, very soft, weak, and crying.

She often plays slow, hazy romances, either she made up herself or remembered in her head. When she groped for the accompaniment of the partials on the tuned strings, whenever a note did not sound accurate to her ears, she always adjusted it at once, and was never in a hurry because of these dissonant chords, strange and always sad chords.

Usually when she was playing music, Emperor Meiji was writing on the balcony in front of the beautiful natural scenery. He writes on the floor, sitting on a mat and leaning on a small Japanese table carved with grasshoppers. His ink is from the Qianguo, and the ink tank is the same as that used by the aristocratic scribes of the Qianguo, carved from jade, and the edges are carved with small and delicate toads and small goldfish. He wrote his own memoirs, in the sound of her piano.

His memoirs...... It's just a little bit of absurdity, a meticulous record of the colours, shapes, smells, and sounds of the fish.

Yes, in his monotonous life, there is a whole novel with a complex plot that emerges, as if a series of stories are about to take shape in his world: a story full of wars, intrigues, difficult changes, and bloody killings...... There may even be fratricidal tragedy in this, if it were in another country. Yet they happened in Japan, and thanks to the effect of this place that weakened, shrunk, and made everything ridiculous, the result was that everything was covered up.

Shoko's singing became high-pitched, like a cuckoo crying blood, which made Emperor Meiji somehow suddenly think of the thousands of soldiers of the Sixth Brigade who were still lost in Korea.

How are they doing now?

While skiing through the bush, Shinichiro Takezoe suddenly felt an indescribable uneasiness, which became more and more intense, almost insurmountable, and uncomfortable.

It's really inexplicable, why does this feeling come out at this time, and how can it not be shaken off? Now it seemed that at last everything had come along relatively smoothly: they had crossed the road, and the enemy did not seem to have noticed them, and after a long and arduous night's march they were now approaching their destination. Although they have encountered many obstacles, the end is about to be decided, and they can do something now. Of course, their forces had been scattered, some of them were lost in the rush out of the valley, two men disappeared in the night, and four were left on the other side of the road, so that only two people remained. Of course, two people are not as good as ten, but his current inexplicable and inescapable despair is not necessarily caused by this.

The grove was already in sight, and the closer Takezoe got to it, the more uneasy he became. He was too anxious to stop and straighten the bandage on his thigh—the wound seemed to be bleeding again. In fact, he had long tried to forget the pain, and he was used to it this night. Now he didn't look much in either way—but slid desperately toward the grove, as if he were going to get the greatest reward of his life, but perhaps the greatest calamity. Ito Ikunosuke tried to follow closely behind, he was covered in sweat, and he couldn't bother to rub the sleeve of his camouflage coat anymore. The two of them panted and slid quickly up the edge of the bushes. It was dawn, the wind was cold, and the cloudy sky hung low over the gray, desolate, misty earth.

After climbing the hill, Takezoe Shinichiro looked down through the bare branches of the alder bush. Ahead is a small valley with bushes that stretch like tongues to the bottom. From the bushes he had managed to recognize the poplar grove, now all that was left was the bare trunks and frozen branches, their shadows alone in the snow. I'm afraid I can't even hide the birds inside, let alone people. However, on the small hill on the other side of the valley, the small coniferous forest surrounded by sparse fences by the Qianguo people is still the same and lush.

Under the cover of the bushes, Shinichiro Takezoe stood and rested for a minute or two, and when asked, in order to get rid of the anxiety that had been pestering him, he tried to comfort himself that everything would be dealt with. Of course, he himself couldn't fully believe this, but he still felt that something was pressing on his heart, and his mood that had been restless last night had been disturbed again. Ikunosuke Ito didn't ask anything, obviously he could understand the situation without asking, he was waiting to move on. But Takezoe Shinichiro's gaze never left the edge of the distant taiga, as if he wanted to see a name for himself there. It was at least a kilometre away, and there was hardly anything to be seen in the snow except for the sparse pine trees and a few wooden stakes used as fences. But this is understandable: the Qianguo people may have camouflaged their military station supply grounds. You know, they're going to do camouflage -- they can put up all sorts of nets, plant green trees, and cover them with snow. There was only one thing that was strange: where was the avenue they had found last time? The road led down the hillside to the grove, but now it was covered with snow, and there was no shadow of the road.

"Probably buried by the wind and snow at night, right?" He thought to himself, but even if it is buried by the wind and snow, it should leave a trace. But maybe they paved another way, and it was not visible from here, but he didn't need to find it now, and it was unlikely that he would walk it later. Now the hope is to find a passage into the grove so that you can pass through it without knowing it in the night. It is obviously impossible to do so from the open side of the field, and it should be found from the south.

"Ito-kun, go! But tap ......"

They dodged the frozen branches of the trees with their hats on their hats and slid down the bushes, trying to get around the open field. Shinichiro Takezoe kept his alert high, his whole body was tense, and he had never been so nervous all night last night, although he was so busy. Fortunately, there was silence around him, and he was now at ease, and how many times he had thought about how best to get through the fence - this was probably the most important and most difficult part of his escape.

As long as you pass through the station and are not detected by the enemy, this escape is equivalent to the completion of the mission.

They followed the low forest through the valley, right next to the woods, and passed through the open area of the field. There was no one in the vicinity, and there was no one on the road. Now they have walked very slowly, cautiously. He sometimes stopped to listen intently: in the wild forest in winter, except for the cold wind, all around is silent. At one point, the wind carried the distant neighing of horses into the valley, but Shinichiro Takezoe could hear it coming from the main road. In the distance, the grove was silent, lifeless, and surprisingly quiet.

Half an hour later, a ravine suddenly appeared in their path, a curvy barren land, with snow on both sides of the slopes, and the head could be seen at a glance.

He looked back at Ikunosuke, his flushed face half obscured by his drooping homemade hood, his poles desperately propped on, his skis still sunk deep in the soft snow. Shinichiro Takezoe knew that he was almost at his destination, and his heart became more and more nervous. He barely restrained himself, silently motioning Ito Ikunosuke to wait, while he himself made a detour through the ravine, sliding until he reached a large field of densely branched hazel trees.

The fence stakes, which had had their branches cut off and bark removed, were already very close. The stakes, which are at least one person tall, stand out against the backdrop of pine saplings covered in snow-green. But strangely, nothing was seen inside the stake. Despite his wide-eyed and intently looking, he couldn't find anything at all.

This situation gave him a premonition that the situation was not good, and he felt uneasy. So he waved his hand at Ikunosuke Ito, telling him to "sit still and sit still". Ikunosuke Ito understood what he meant and sat down on his skis; And after a moment of hesitation, he slipped out of the bushes.

I'm afraid it's irrational for him to do this, he shouldn't have taken such a risk himself, but Shinichiro Takezoe couldn't restrain himself anymore. The sense of foreboding had now completely dominated him, and his throat seemed to be choked with something, and he was so embarrassed that he swallowed the sullen breath, kept his eyes fixed on the edge of the forest, which was not far away, and ran straight forward.

He was now only about three hundred meters from the edge of the woods, and he had noticed that the barbed wire was missing from the stake a few steps after he had walked. The barbed wire fence that used to surround the outside of the base has now been removed. This made him very uneasy, even frightened. Now he was not wary of anything, nor worried about being easily spotted in the open field, but he rushed to a few pine saplings at the edge of the grove in a few arrows, and froze, and the scene before him made him happy.

The station is gone.

There was no one or anything in this pine forest on the hill - there was no snow under the feet that had been flat and untrodden by no one, and only a row of white wooden stakes along the edge of the trees reminded one of the fact that it had once been a military station, and nothing else was left. The barbed wire fence on the stakes was cleanly dismantled, and it seemed that it had been transported to a more needed place.

Shinichiro Takezoe was confused at first, and then overwhelmed with joy. He stood for a moment on the clean, fresh snow after a night of heavy snowfall, and then slid a little in the opposite direction, which had once been the entrance and exit of the vehicle. But it was also empty, except that in the snow of the dense little pine forest there were a few hollowed-out bunker pits, and beside the stakes at the edge of the woods there was a pile of snow-covered poles, presumably used as pallets, and nothing else. The avenue in the open (its disappearance had strangely struck him), had been buried in the snow, like a white ribbon, empty—there was no car aisle on it for a long time.

Takezoe Shinichiro suddenly felt weak and leaned his shoulder on the trunk of a rough pine tree; I was overjoyed to see this empty, desolate grove that no one was interested in anymore.

The station has changed places. It was obvious, but he just couldn't believe it. He was in turmoil, but his mind was always willing to believe this conclusion, always willing to believe that it was true, that it was an absurd but useful misunderstanding, and that with a little thought, things would become clear. He felt that this was the only way.

After a moment of respite under the pine tree, he still preferred to believe that this was not an ecstasy at all, it was a real reality.

There will be no interceptors, and there will be no pursuers.

He reluctantly moved his shoulders away from the trunk of the tree, stood firm on his skis, and pushed his poles to the ground with both hands. The skis slid forward on the rustling snow and stopped. He didn't know where to go, and for the first time he felt that he didn't need to go anywhere, so he stood leaning on his ski poles. A magpie was jumping up and down on the branches of a nearby pine tree, chirping angrily at him, and a small flapped its wings above his head and flew up and disappeared into the forest with a "squeak". Shinichiro Takezoe didn't notice anything, his weak muscles seemed to stiffen. He didn't want to do anything, he looked at the empty grove and felt that he had no strength at all, and it seemed that he could no longer support it.

He spent a lot of time like this, but the grove was still empty and useless.

Shinichiro Takezoe looked back and saw that Ito Ikunosuke was sitting patiently on the other side of the ravine, where he had told him to stay. He beckoned to him, meaning "Come here." ”

As Ikunosuke Ito slid along his ruts, Shinichiro Takezoe unfastened his skis and stepped into the snow. You probably don't have to worry about being scared here, there are no people in the empty pine forest. He sat down on a low, snow-covered stump and stretched out his injured leg. It's time to decide what to do next.

Ikunosuke Ito slid quietly along his rut and silently stopped across from him. He looked at the empty grove in confusion, occasionally casting him a questioning look. Finally he guessed a few points.

"How...... Are they gone? ”

"yes, it's great that we're finally out there."

Shinichiro Takezoe grabbed a handful of snow, put it in his mouth and chewed it, then spit it out. Because I didn't sleep all night, I always had an unpleasant metallic smell in my mouth. Somehow, I felt a little nauseous. It even seems to be chilling. However, the chills seem to be caused by overwork and blood loss.

"Do you have a bandage?" He asked. Ikunosuke Ito took off his gloves and reached for his trouser pocket. Then he got up from the stump.

"Here, help!" He said and unbuttoned his pants. He believes that there is little need to hide his injuries now.

"What, you're hurt? Takeso-kun? ”

"When I first rushed out of the valley, I was hit by a stray bullet, but fortunately it was a bruise...... Hell, it's bleeding ......"

No wonder Ito Ikunosuke was startled when he saw it—his white shirt and cotton pants were soaked with blood. A stream of dark brown pus and blood came out of the small, slender wound and rushed down the outside of the thigh to the knee.

"Come on, haunt it. Wrap tightly. ”

"If only there was a doctor."

"What kind of doctor do you need, you're a doctor!"

Ikunosuke Ito squatted down and expertly wrapped Takezoe into Ichiro's calf with a bandage and tied an unsightly knot firmly.

"Don't let the bandages fall off."

"Okay, I'll be able to deal with it for a while."

Shinichiro Takezoe tossed his old bloodstained bandage on the snow, lifted his pants, and tied the dirty camouflage pants belt, and Ito's help him tie his skis.

"Can you still walk? Takeso-kun? Ikunosuke Ito asked with concern.

"No problem, I can go back to Japan all the time." Shinichiro Takezoe smiled confidently.

"I didn't think we would finally escape."

"Yes! It can be seen that there is a providence in the dark! The Qianguo people didn't even fortify here, so we don't have to worry about it now. ”

"It's a pity that everyone ......"

Thinking of the remnants of the Sixth Brigade still trapped in the valley, Ito Ikunosuke couldn't help but feel sad.

After a series of heavy snowfalls, Shinichiro Takezoe realized that this was a good opportunity to escape the valley and proposed to make skis and escape by skiing. He expected that his solution would be approved by everyone, but he did not expect that not many people were interested in the plan at all.

The reason is simple: most of the officers and men of the 6th Brigade do not know how to ski, including squadron leader Yuno Kitai and many officers.

Not everyone has as many hobbies as Minister Shinichiro Takezoe.

Kitai resolutely rejected Takezoe's plan, claiming that it was a death, believing that even if they were able to leave the valley, the "eagle dogs" (a contemptuous name given by the Japanese army to those officers and soldiers with special skills) would find them, track them down, and kill them along the way.

Despite this, there were those who agreed with Takezoe's idea, and in the end, a total of 52 people, including Shinichiro Takezoe and Ikunosuke Ito, decided to break through on skis.

After many days of preparation, they split up on their homemade skis.

Indeed, as Kitai Yuno said (he was not actually alarmist there), after climbing over the sides of the valley with the help of heavy snow, they encountered the patrol of the Qianjun, and everyone immediately dispersed, skiing desperately on skis, and finally escaped the pursuit of the Qianjun.

Thinking that if everyone could take their advice, they might all escape, Takezoe Shinichiro couldn't help but sigh secretly. (To be continued.) )