Time passed abruptly to the sound of children's playfulness, and the unpredictable future crashed towards the people, like a strange old man who was uncertain, listening to the wails of the crowd crushed by the torrent and laughing strangely.

When Li Wei was sixteen years old, there were less than two months before Mingzhu's eleventh birthday. There was no curfew that night, and almost all the ladies of the family wore veils and went out of the house to breathe. There are lanterns hanging all over the street, the customs of the Great Wei, and on this day unmarried men and women can borrow lanterns to complain to each other. Street vendors greet passers-by enthusiastically, and they wish everyone stopped to buy lanterns from him. Mingzhu took a bite of the sugar gourd in her hand, the sweet and sour taste entered her mouth, the little girl's eyes narrowed, and the eyebrows and eyes were crooked under the reflection of various lanterns. He coughed and calmed down, pretending to be calm and walked towards Mingzhu, the cough caught Mingzhu's attention, and the little girl raised her hand and waved at him. When he got closer, Mingzhu just swallowed the last hawthorn fruit, her lips were covered with a layer of sugar, and she grinned at him, a little white tooth a little dazzling.

Li Wei was a little nervous, his hands behind his back, and a beautiful lotus lantern in his hand. He was still thinking about what to start with to send the lantern out, when he suddenly heard an exclamation: "Be careful!"

When Li Wei came back to his senses, there was a three-year-old doll in his arms, and the little guy seemed to be frightened, and only after a while did he cry out. A woman rushed over with a frightened face and hugged the doll and cried, expressing her gratitude to Li Wei while crying. Li Wei waved his hand and said that it was okay, frowning and looking at the lanterns on the side of the road that were trampled by the galloping horse just now, and a sense of foreboding surged in his heart.

The horse's four hooves were wrapped in iron armor, and his mane was dyed red with cinnabar, and he was a messenger from Huangya Pass in Jizhou. The messenger rode from the north gate all the way to the palace, and the sound of horses' hooves clattered the joy of Tanabata.

Huangsongyu is a canyon, the mouth is small and the belly is big, the cliffs on both sides are like moats, straight up and straight down like an axe and a knife to cut the general, the Great Wei built a pass at the entrance of Huangsongyu, the city wall that is five zhang high and eight zhang wide is enough to look like a fortress from afar. Outside Huangsongyu is the territory of the barbarians, who are not like the Great Wei people who farm and raise silkworms. The size of the barbarians is about one and a half as large as that of the Great Wei, and they are brave and ruthless, living in pursuit of water and grass, and raising cattle and sheep. In previous years, no matter whether it was winter or spring, no matter how the barbarians moved, summer and autumn were their most peaceful seasons, and every summer and autumn season, the border guards would also have a rare time to relax.

However, this year's drought outside the Guanhai has caused even the largest Haizi on the grassland to dry up badly, and you can almost see the silt at the bottom of the middle of the Haizi when you stand on the shore. Lack of water and grass, unbearable heat, barbarian cattle and sheep died in pieces, the largest tribe of the barbarians, Maodun tribe Wuri, thought about it and felt that it was not possible to go on like this, so he found several other major tribes to sum up, and it didn't take long for several Shan Yu's opinions to reach an agreement, and the decision was made to break into the country of Dawei.

A few Shan Yu originally had the attitude of trying it out, and planned to try a dozen, after all, the barbarians wanted to tear a piece of Da Wei's flesh every year, but every time they were beaten and fled. However, this time, it was Xu that the guards of the Great Wei were slack, or the barbarians had the idea of fighting with their backs, and the barbarians did not take much effort to defeat Huangsongyu, and the barbarian cavalry rampaged all the way, until the Huangya Pass in Jizhou could not stop.

When the messenger brought the news to the emperor's desk, the emperor was having a banquet in the palace. The battle report with dark red blood stains was placed in front of the emperor, and the emperor flipped the table in a fit of rage. The ministers below knelt on their knees in fright, secretly praying that they would not be angered. Feng Yu, who was sitting under the emperor's head, raised his wine glass and drank it all, his eyes narrowed, he licked the corners of his lips, and laughed evilly.

Feng Yu looked at the emperor hesitantly looking at him, and the curvature of the corners of his mouth became bigger and bigger. It is true that the reputation of Great Wei's prosperity spread throughout Kyushu, but under the fame, the real situation is a little ridiculous. When the emperor was still a prince, the veteran who had led the army to expand the territory was already twilight, and the suspicion of the previous emperor made the old generals dare not really let their children and grandchildren join the army to temper, and I don't know how many good seedlings were killed alive. Now several times up and down the government and the opposition, there is only one King Yu who can really lead the troops to the battle. The emperor can understand this situation, Feng Yu also understands, he looked at the emperor hesitated for a long time, and finally wrote an edict to him, the appearance of the back molars clenched, and there was some sadness for no reason. The emperor has been sitting on the throne for ten years, and the world has been in charge for ten years, and the little brotherhood in the early years has long been wiped out in these ten years, leaving only the suspicion that grows like a wild breeding of water and grass, and the wisps of it have grown into the emperor's heart.

The edict of conscription was quickly pasted to the big cities and towns of Great Wei as if it had grown wings, and the proportion of conscription was quite humane, one out of six. Even so, most of the eldest girls and little daughters-in-law still have red eyes when they send the pillars of the family away. The edict of conscription clearly states that this is not the kind of big-headed soldier sent to the barracks to guard the safe and secure city gates, but to fight the barbarians. This time, I don't know how many people will turn into white bones and guard the border passes, and how many people will become people who can never go back to their spring boudoir dreams.

Sixteen-year-old Li Bing was a young man recruited in the edict. Almost all of the families in the neighborhood paid silver to pay for military service, and for those large families, no amount of money was as important as life. However, Mrs. Li held Li Chi, who had just been born for three months, with her left hand, and handed him the luggage she had packed for Li Chi overnight with her right hand.

Li Wei walked lonely to the barracks in the south of the city with his burden on his back, where the newly recruited soldiers from Luoyang City were all gathered, and they were about to go out for a casual training. There were four people living in a camp tent, and Li Bing was lucky, except for him in the camp tent he was assigned, the remaining three people were all veterans who had been on the battlefield. In fact, there are more or less one or two veterans in each tent, but there are few veterans after all, and the tent of three veterans and one newcomer is really rare in the Chengnan barracks. After all, if these recruits don't have an experienced egg, they will be sent to the barbarian to cut grass when they go to the battlefield, and there is an old man who carries it, although it may also be grass, but a few grasses together can break a knife.

Li Wei stayed in the barracks for half a month, and the date of the expedition set in the edict was tomorrow, on this day he couldn't sleep over and over again, and suddenly three short and one long crickets suddenly sounded outside the tent, which was the code he had with Mingzhu before, and when the two of them went to Daoxianglou to steal wine together, they relied on this code to hide from the shopkeeper many times.

Li Wei followed the sound to find him, and the little girl squatted behind a pile of grass and smiled at him, revealing a neat row of little white teeth. The barracks are heavy, and women are not allowed to enter or leave, Li Wei frowned, this little girl is really bold, she dares to break through. Before he could speak, the little girl mysteriously took out a cloth bag, and after the left and right three layers were opened, a peace charm lay quietly in the cloth bag. The triangular rune paper was painted with ghostly spells, and the edges of the rune paper glowed blue in the moonlight. Li Wei was stunned, Mingzhu was a little anxious to see that he didn't move, and directly stuffed the peace charm into Li Jiong's arms. She blinked playfully, and said that the people in the city said that the old monk of the Zangmei Temple in the north of the city was spiritual, and the shelf was so big, and what did he say sincerely, and burning half of his beard was not obedient to send the talisman to open the light. Li Wei pursed his lips and smiled, touched the peace charm on his chest that she stuffed into her arms, and it seemed that a warm current slowly flowed out of the charm and flowed into his heart.

He watched Mingzhu's small figure flexibly turn out of the barracks, touched his chin and calculated Mingzhu's age, and made up his mind to let his father and mother go to Ming's house to propose marriage when he came back, no, no, he had to go in person, his father and mother were too unreliable, in case he told the little girl to others, who would he talk to.

The night was as cold as water, and the camp tent was full of snoring one after another, Li Wei touched his chest and slept very sweetly.