The people in the city have worked together and have given everything, but to this day, they are still mourning in every household, and every family is in vain.

He stood on the city wall and commanded the defense of the city, watching the sergeants fall one by one, but he couldn't save any of them, and if it wasn't for Zhang Dingya's timely arrival, there was also the elite of the security army, and he commanded properly, just relying on the two thousand weak cavalry in Tanzhou, there was no way to force back Jiaozhi, and Yongzhou City would be broken.

Although Jiaozhi has retreated now, the atmosphere in the city is mourning more than anything else.

Walking on the street, there are crying and mourning everywhere, every household criticizes filial piety, and when I enter the wounded and sick camp, I see all the disabled soldiers, and whether they are in the army or in the yamen, they are not talking about which place there is an epidemic, or which place is causing trouble.

Gu Yanzhang suddenly found that he had indeed been in this tense and depressed state for a long time, and he couldn't get out.

Ji Qingling didn't answer for a long time when he heard him, but the expression on his face sank again, as if the whole person was trapped in layers of spider silk, and he couldn't struggle no matter how hard he struggled.

She asked again, "Fifth brother, what did you think before going to bed yesterday?" ”

Gu Yanzhang thought for a while and said calmly: "I thought about you first, what I think you are doing, whether you are fat or thin, whether you have eaten well." ”

He paused, and then said: "After thinking about it for a while, I thought that Pennsylvania had suffered an epidemic, there was nothing in the city, even the houses were burned clean, there were not a few errand boys left in the yamen, and there was no one to collect the ownerless corpses in the city, so they were placed outside." ”

Ji Qingling didn't interject, just raised his head and listened carefully.

Gu Yanzhang continued: "I sent you some taro last time, do you like it?" It is said that it is the Lipu taro of Guizhou......"

Ji Qingling nodded and said, "It's delicious." ”

Gu Yanzhang replied: "I met a hawker outside the city gate that day, bought a lot of persimmons in his place, asked a lot of questions, he sold taro to me, and told me that Wu Yi - that is, the governor of Yongzhou, forcibly closed the border field, and also closed the field of Guangyuan Prefecture, stationed troops in many places, and trained sailors......"

"I asked him a lot of things, and I also bought a Guangnan Tuyi at his house - what can be put has been sent to you by someone, and what can't be put has been distributed to the next person......"

"At the time, I thought it was just an accident...... I only went back to the wounded camp, but I saw him again, and I broke a leg, and half of my face was rotten—my leg was cut off by a thief, but my face was hit by an arrow. ”

"He had a high fever, he didn't see me, but I recognized him, he didn't speak at the time, and when I visited the wounded camp yesterday, I realized that he was gone......."

"He has old people and children in his family, and because of this war...... I was thinking about that family last night, and I thought that if I could be more useful, maybe Yongzhou would not be like this......"

Gu Yanzhang spoke scatteredly, and his tone was also light, but his expression was depressed, and as he spoke, the whole person fell silent again.

Ji Qingling heard him speak, and couldn't help but think of the past.

Ji's father didn't go to the battlefield many times, and the first time he was his deputy, the strength and combat power of the two sides in that battle were not far apart, and the fight was very tragic.

Later, Ji Qingling's eldest brother went to Sichuan and Shu to be an official, and there were rebellious people in Huzhou, killing dozens of officials in the local state government, looting warehouses and granaries, and beating more than ten surrounding counties and townships, becoming a prairie fire.

The eldest brother was ordered to lead his troops to pacify, but he was met with fierce resistance, and in the end, it took several months to quell the chaos, killing thousands of officers and soldiers, and killing more than 10,000 people.

When the city was broken, the leader of the troubles thought that he knew that he had no chance to live, so he took advantage of the middle of the night to set a fire, burning and injuring countless people.

Although Ji Qingling was not very old at that time, he clearly remembered the way his father and mother treated this matter when the news came.

Ji's father took a very rare leave, spent a whole day at home, wrote a long letter, and sent it over quickly.

And Ji's mother then sent her daughter-in-law a lot of new fabrics, exquisite jewelry, and a lot of gadgets, and specially sent the best chef in the family, and there are a lot of fresh things in the capital.

Ji Qingling still remembers that her father specially instructed her at that time, telling her to be free, "write a few letters to the eldest brother." ”

She didn't know why, but obediently wrote a letter every few days, and the letter was full of little girls' whispers, willow trees drawing, pomegranates blooming; The puppy raised in the house next door is not ashamed, often defecating in the open, and often comes to play with the clean dog in his house; Dad changed himself to a doctor, the medicine he prescribed was bitter, he drank the medicine, and his mother also let him eat sugar.

Ji Qingling was young and didn't care about anything, she forgot about it, and later when her eldest brother returned to Beijing after her term of office, she accidentally found a wooden box in the other party's study, which was full of letters sent by the family for a while.

Curious, after she obtained her consent, she opened the letter written by her father to her eldest brother and read-

Among them, taking the body as an example, it is all enlightening words, and it is bluntly said that as long as the official has a righteous heart, does the right thing for the people, and only asks for a person to do his best, he is worthy of his heart, and he does not need to be too self-critical.

It was at this time that Ji Qingling learned from the letter that after Ji's father went into battle for the first time, he was unwilling to eat meat for half a year, and could barely sleep for one or two hours a day - in addition to the tragic situation on the battlefield, he also felt that he had made improper decisions and could not win the enemy as soon as possible and end the war.

This idea sounds ridiculous to others, but it has bothered Ji's father for several months, and although Ji's brother is led by his father, there are few detours, and it took a long time for Ziyun to come out of it.

Ji Qingling only knew a few words of comfort at that time, but now that she saw Gu Yanzhang, she immediately remembered it.

Although I haven't seen what the state of my father and brother was at that time, I think that the fifth brother at this time should be half a catty?

She raised her head and said softly, "Fifth brother, do you think if someone else is in your position, can you do better?" ”

Gu Yanzhang hesitated, shook his head and said: "I'm just transferring with the army, and I'm already doing my best, if Fan Dashen comes over, with his ability, he should be a point or two better than me—that's all." ”

However, he paused, and said: "If it is normal, it is not an exaggeration to only judge things by official duties, but this time it is different...... In Yongzhou's situation, if it were me...... I could have done better......"

Ji Qingling didn't know what to say for a while.

She knew that the fifth brother had gotten into the horns of the bull, whether it was to say "look forward to everything", or "it's useless to think about this, it's better to do something else", in fact, it didn't work.

Sometimes people's thoughts are not completely controllable by themselves, as if liking is liking, being happy is happy, being sad is sad, just like the waterfall that comes down from the top of the mountain.