Since Fang Cannon left Ruliang and slept with the army, his whole person has lost a lot of weight. However, his thinness is not the yellow face and thin muscles, but the kind of mental fitness after exercise and sharpening, and the original white and clean face also has a trace of wind and frost, and the corners of his eyes and eyebrows have faded softly, and he is even more extraordinary.

For more than ten days, he experienced things that he had never felt in his life. In the past, no matter how tired he was, he just cleaned the table, served the dishes, was busy, but there was no sense of oppression, now the march is non-stop, sitting on horseback all day, the wind blows and can not rest a little, the food he eats is dry and hard dry food and clear rice soup, vegetables or anything don't think, the northwest desert Gobi is the majority, there is no grass, and there is no food at all.

Fang Cannon took a bite of dry food, turned his back to the direction of the wind, he still remembered that Ruan Mianmian always told him that if he ate into the wind, his internal organs would be cold, and Ruan Mianmian's figure in his mind overlapped with the endless Gobi in front of him, and the cold wind was blowing, pulling his thoughts from the early spring of the capital back to the cold winter in the northwest.

Tomorrow it was time to go to the frontier barracks, Fang Cannon wiped the dust on his face, got up and mounted with the large army, adjusted his mood, and rushed towards the depths of the Gobi Desert that stretched into the sky.

Fang Cannon rode behind the team, and in front of him was Ru Liang, a forty-year-old lieutenant surnamed Cao, at this time he took the reins, slowed down, and broke away from the large army in front of him to Fang Cannon's side and marched in line.

"Cannon, how is it in the team, are you still used to it?" Vice General Cao turned his wrist, stuffed a cloth bag into him, shook his head and motioned him to keep quiet, and said in a low voice: "The freshly baked scones over there in the cooking class, with mutton, try them while no one is around." ”

Fang Cannon did not shirk, he knew that it was better to be straightforward and obedient than to follow etiquette in the army, these soldiers had not read much, but they were simple, if they were treated as brothers, then they would quickly communicate with themselves, but it was much more comfortable than the capital Lil.

Wiping the scones that were still warm in his arms, his nose smelled a hint of fragrant mutton, and Fang Cannon said heartily: "Thank you Vice General Cao, just treat me as an ordinary subordinate in the future, your command team is already complicated, and you have to think about me because of the love of the British king, the cannon is really ashamed." ”

When Vice General Cao first took over Fang Cannon, he only thought that he was a rich boy from a family who came to mix up a name, who knew that Fang Cannon was more willing to work hard than a veteran in doing things, and he was doing the tiring work of chopping wood and building tents, and he was honest and honest, and he was polite to all the soldiers, as if he was really only a soldier to be a soldier, and he couldn't help but look down on him.

Moreover, behind Fang Cannon, it was recommended by King Ying himself, and his promotion in the future would be much smoother, in fact, as long as he wanted to, it was possible for him to give up his position as a deputy immediately. But Vice General Cao himself is not a utilitarian person, this Fang Cannon must have a great future, and he even thinks that Fang Cannon must cultivate him well when he is under his hands, and he will not fail such a good seedling.

"Cannon, what are you talking about, you are willing to humbly start as a small soldier, and you are so diligent, you will definitely do something in the future, and look at it!" After saying this, General Cao patted him on the shoulder with his thick palm, and then beat his horse back to the front line, and the horse's hooves kicked and kicked up a puff of dust.

As soon as Vice General Cao left, a recruit came up from behind, and said with a smile: "Cannon, Vice General Cao is really good to you, what good things did you give you just now, let me take a look?" ”

Although this recruit named Liu Hu joined the army in Ruliang on the same day as Fang Dacang, he also chose to go to the frontier to garrison, but he was really not young, he looked like he was thirty miles away, there was a scar under his nose to the corner of his mouth, and his complexion was dark, which at first glance felt a little terrifying.

"It's just right, I also thought that I couldn't finish it alone, so I might as well give you half of it." Fang Dacang was as good as a stream, took out the scone in his arms, broke half of it, handed it to Liu Hu, and took the remaining half with a cloth bag and ate it one bite at a time.

Liu Hu is the first friend Fang Cannon met when he came to the army, although those veterans are also easy-going and amiable, but they are not familiar with each other, or two novices are more likely to have a feeling of sympathy when they study together.

In the blink of an eye, the cannons set up tents around them, and lit bonfires, and the soldiers all sat together with their familiar comrades-in-arms and ate the tender mutton roasted by the freshly caught wild goats, and the fragrance could be smelled even outside the camp.

Fang Dacang picked up the branches and skewered the meat rack and roasted it on the fire, Vice General Cao also sat on the side, stabbing a knife on the meat from time to time to try to get a little cooked, Liu Hu was adding firewood on the side, and the three of them chatted about the new things on the Gobi Desert around a small fire.

"Cannon, I see that you are white and pure, and you don't look like the son of an ordinary family, why do you want to join the army?" Liu Hu was very arrogant, he didn't know the origin of Fang Cannon, and Vice General Cao didn't respond on the side.

"Which young man doesn't have a dream of being a general in his heart, I want to come out of the mix, get ahead and marry the woman I like." When Fang Cannon mentioned Ruan Mianmian, his face turned red, and the fire was reflected in his eyes, and he really looked a little ambitious.

"So that's the case, I don't have any ambitions, I just can't get along in the village, come out to find something to eat, if you're lucky enough to be promoted to a petty official, it's naturally good, if you really start a war and die on the battlefield one day, you won't regret it." Liu Hu laughed happily, couldn't wait to pick up a knife and cut off a piece of lamb with burnt skin and threw it into his mouth, exhaling and exclaiming: "Although this place is a little desolate, there is such good meat to eat, and it is not in vain that we have to go through the hardships." ”

Fang Cannon just smiled, and when he looked sideways, he saw that someone was carrying something, and he walked to him from another campfire.

Before the man sat down, he chattered: "Cannon, guess what, I got a good thing, and Vice General Cao is also there, but we have divided this thing, but don't let others know." ”

The person who came was a veteran who had been in the army for many years, everyone called him Datou, he had to be fifty years old this year, and his face was full of traces of wind and frost, but I heard that he had a bad style, he often drank and had fun in the barracks, and occasionally went to some fireworks places during holidays, so he was still a low-level soldier after so many years, but he didn't care about it.

"Big brother, what good things did you get again?" Vice General Cao is not the boss of the big head, and others are easy-going and don't care about these trivial things, so everyone will not hide anything in front of him, but want to share it with him.

"Look, the first-class daughter Hong, a war criminal's private hiding, was searched by me, and he didn't dare to say anything, it's better for us to enjoy it, don't make the gold bottle empty to the moon! Ha ha! The big head turned sideways and looked at the vicinity that no one noticed him, so he lowered his head and took out a few small bottles from his bulging arms, the porcelain bottles were tightly stuffed with wooden stoppers, and only when he got close could he smell a wisp of clear wine, it seems that this is not only daughter red, the quality is also very good, Fang Cannon has been working in Yipinxiang for a long time, and he is also quite experienced in wine tasting.

"! What do you have in your stomach, you can still hold back a poem, and you are not afraid of tarnishing other people's poems! Vice General Cao stretched out his leg and kicked him on the back of the waist, moved his body over and grabbed a small bottle, opened the cork and sniffed it, revealing an intoxicated look: "It's really yours, such a good wine is not common in the barracks, you have to search your body before entering the barracks tomorrow, if you don't drink it today, you will hand it in tomorrow." “

The big head smiled, handed a small porcelain bottle to Fang Dacang and Liu Hu, and groped in his arms for a long time, took out a small teacup with a missing mouth, poured a glass of wine, and didn't say anything, and drank it himself in front of the moon.

Fang Dacang's eyes flashed slightly, he used to drink with Mu Ruqing and Uncle Hua, and later drank with Ruan Mianmian and often drank with them, but it was all delicate feelings, and now behind him was the desert, with the blue sky and the extraordinarily bright full moon on his head, and the warm bonfire in front of him and the fragrant mutton had a sense of pride, which was different from the past.

Without thinking much about it, Fang Dacang also uncorked the bottle and sniffed it, raised his head to the seemingly blurred eyes of the big head, hooked the corners of his mouth, raised his head and took a sip, as if he was impressed by the mellow aroma of this wine, squinted his eyes and sighed long: "It's really the taste of my hometown!" ”

Vice General Cao also echoed, and several people praised Datou for doing a good job, and then everyone talked and laughed, and the hearty laughter spread far and wide with the light of the bonfire.

In the middle of the moon, when everyone was tired after the party, Fang Dacang, Deputy General Cao and Liu Hu shared a tent to sleep, the bonfire outside continued to burn to prevent wild wolves or other wild beasts from sneaking attack, and several soldiers took turns to keep vigil.

Fang Cannon looked like he had drunk too much, he was staggering when he walked, he helped Deputy General Cao's hand into the tent, and then fell asleep, not asking anything, Deputy General Cao also lay down with his clothes, with his back to Fang Cannon and Liu Hu, and after a while, he began to snore.

The night was the quietest, and the surroundings were empty, so even the sound of the friction of the clothes of Suosuo was particularly clear, Liu Hu opened his eyes, looked at Fang Cannon's sleeping face, and half-opened his mouth as if he had some sweet dream, he listened intently for a while, and the expected sound of tiles knocked outside the tent, the sound was very small, but it was extremely easy to distinguish.

So Liu Hu got up quietly and tiptoed out of the tent, not forgetting to look back to confirm that Vice General Cao and Fang Cannon were indeed sleeping soundly and were not awakened by his movements.