So, Qin Beiyang came.

In the camp tent outside Wusongkou, in the prisoner of war camp full of wounded soldiers, on a black and smelly marching bed, lay a foreigner in his forties - tall and thin, with bandages on his head, a little maroon hair burned off, dark green eyes, which had been blown into a dull state, and cracks on the two thick lenses.

Dr. Karl Holstein.

He glanced at the scabbard behind Qin Beiyang's back, struggled to get up, and said a Chinese word: "What is this?" ”

"The saber my dad left behind." Qin Beiyang untied the knife and put it in front of the doctor, "Do you know Qin Customs?" ”

The doctor lifted the lenses on the bridge of his nose and examined his face carefully, quickly regaining his senses: "I am the chief counsel of the arsenal, your father is the chief mechanic, and we are partners to work with. Can I look at your neck? ”

Qin Beiyang was slightly stunned, what kind of road is this foreigner? He still took off his military coat, revealing the birthmark on the back of his neck, two red antler shapes.

"Sure enough, it's Qin's son!"

"Is my dad still alive?"

The doctor pinched his temple: "Let me recall...... Before the fall of the fortress, your father and the ten-horned seven-headed tomb beast were transported to the warship at Wusongkou, and now they should be on the sea. ”

"Ten corners and seven heads?" Qin Beiyang imagined a prehistoric monster-like picture, "Who took my father away?" And who sent you and the Tomb Beasts? ”

"Xiao Xu."

"Who is Xiao Xu?"

"Great warlord, he sent us to command two tomb beasts, and they went south on a warship to help defend the Wusong fortress."

Qin Beiyang couldn't figure out the name of the Beiyang warlord: "But the golden toad I saw is no longer the original tomb beast, it has completely changed!" ”

"It was your father and I who modified the Grave Beast, powered by a diesel engine, and a Gatling gun."

"No, you can't! Tomb Beasts can only be used to protect the tomb owner, not to kill people on the battlefield! Is my dad old and confused? ”

"He has his own reasons." Holstein pointed to the saber in Qin Beiyang's hand, "Qin, this knife is a gift that your father prepared for you, so that you can defend yourself in this troubled world." ”

"No wonder, as soon as he saw me on the battlefield, he took the initiative to drop this knife." Qin Beiyang held the last ring of the handle of the knife, as if his father's body temperature was still remaining, "This is a ring-headed Tang-style horizontal knife, how could my father have this knife?" ”

The Doctor's energy slowly recovered, and in stammering Chinese, he recounted his adventures two months ago—the Beiyang government sent him and Qin Customs to dig graves and find the underground tomb beasts. They found a Tang Dynasty tomb near Taihang Mountain in Zhili Province and excavated many important cultural relics, including the ten-horned seven-headed town tomb beast.

"What kind of tomb owner can have such a powerful tomb beast?"

"An Lushan."

"You actually dug up An Lushan's tomb?"

The doctor touched his face full of stubble and said, "Lao Qin got this Tang Dynasty treasure knife in that big tomb." ”

"It turned out to be a Tang knife for An Lushan's burial!"

Qin Beiyang pulled out the ring-headed long knife from the scabbard, the cold light flashed, the knife surface was like a mirror, revealing the texture of the cloud dragon, and it was bound to be soaked in the soul and essence of the ancients. I don't know how many people's heads have been cut off by this Tang knife in the Anshi Rebellion? Which famous generals have you killed?

In the afternoon of this day, the remains of the tomb beast of Jin Toad Town were also sent to Wusong Fortress.

Dr. Holstein examined the grave beast closely, and the damage was so bad, like a man who had all his bones broken and his internal organs shattered. The doctor is distressed to see it, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to repair it again.

Qin Beiyang thought to himself - Yuan Shikai and An Lushan are both a generation of heroes, and their tomb beasts are naturally powerful. But after all, the golden toad was created by the Qin family and his son. An Lushan's ten corners and seven heads are real bloodthirsty monsters, just like his tragic destruction of the Central Plains. The Grave Beast's performance on the battlefield has proven that it loves to kill, and its mutilated limbs are littered everywhere it goes.

This time, the ten horns and seven heads escaped, and it will be a great disaster in the future. Where are the ten horns and seven heads?

In the field hospital of Wusong Fortress, Dr. Karl Holstein is obsessed with his grave beast pet.

For the sake of the doctor's previous work with his father, Qin Beiyang chatted with him quite well, and even spoke a few words of German, and what he learned before the age of nine was remembered in his mind.

Sitting on the broken toad leg of the tomb beast in Golden Toad Town, fiddling with the flying knife golden scissors that had lost their elasticity, Dr. Holstein lit a cigarette and stared into Qin Beiyang's eyes: "How do you know that German is my mother tongue?" ”

"Isn't Karl Holstein a standard German name?"

“JA.” He said yes in German, but shook his head, "But I'm not German, I was born in German-speaking Switzerland and have lived in many countries around the world." I often wonder which country I am from. I've lived in China for ten years, and sometimes, I even feel like I'm Chinese! ”

These words made Qin Beiyang feel a certain sense of intimacy, so he asked him in German: "Doctor, can you explain the tomb beast from a scientific point of view?" ”

"The science I believe in is the science of magic, alchemists, and steam engines, and is not included in the mainstream European scientific community. Because of this, I was deeply fascinated by the Tomb Beast. The doctor snuffed out the cigarette butt, touched the toad eyes of the Golden Toad Town Tomb Beast, and said, "I believe that in the body of the Town Tomb Beast, there is a hidden power that can change the world. ”

Hearing this, Qin Beiyang felt that the blood flow in his body had accelerated.

Walking out of the fortress, the soldiers cleaned the battlefield and carried the remains of the war dead. The weather is cold, and the dripping winter rain washes away the blood and slowly dissolves the human tissue.

Jiu Se crouched at Qin Beiyang's feet, and when he saw countless souls, he cried and flew into the sky......

News came from Tianjin, the thirteen provincial overseers held a meeting, Zhiwan shook hands and made peace, and Shanghai returned to Zhejiang overseers. Wang Shizhen's success failed. The more than 10,000 soldiers who buried their bones in Wusongkou died meaninglessly, which was definitely lighter than a feather.

In the early morning of the army's return to the north, the military band played the national anthem of the Republic of China. The "Dragon of the North Seas" ordered twelve cannons to be fired into the sky to pay tribute to the souls of the dead. Qi Yuanshan rode a white horse to take the lead, majestically obeying the prime minister and army chief. In the middle of the line was a cart containing the Golden Toad Tomb Beast, on which Dr. Holstein sat dejectedly.

Qin Beiyang walked at the end of the line, carrying the Tang knife given by his father on his back, escorting the convoy full of dying and wounded soldiers. Jiuse kept looking back at Shanghai......

A pair of glass-colored eyes were staring at him and him from behind.

There are countless soldiers' cemeteries buried in the field, and four men and women stand side by side: Ouyang Anna, A You, Ye Kenan, and Haneda Taishu, bidding farewell to Qin Beiyang, Qi Yuanshan, and Jiuse.

Anna had eyes of the same color as Nine-Colored, and occasionally she and the young beast looked at each other, and they couldn't tell each other.

The winter wind, carrying snowflakes like reeds, blew off the girl's tears, ticking and soaking the jade ring on her left hand.

Ayusse gave her a handkerchief. Seventeen-year-old Ouyang Anna had nothing to rely on in the wind, so she could only hug the fourteen-year-old girl and cry with her head in her arms......

Ye Kenan touched the leather sheath in the sleeve of the long shirt, which hid the murder weapon of the Tianjin German Concession extermination case eight years ago, and the comet that struck the moon with luodian inlaid on the ivory handle.

Another kilometer away, by the Yangtze River, the endless withered yellow reeds covered the faces of the three men.

They are all young. The first has a centipede-like scar on the right side of his face, the second has a wounded arm and is bandaged, and the third wears a ghost mask.

Each had a dagger with an ivory handle hidden in their sleeve.

The three assassins also watched Qin Beiyang and Jiu Se go away. Last night, they drove the Haneda steamship company, secretly landed on the coast of Chuansha, and rode horses for dozens of miles overnight to cross the Huangpu River to Wusongkou.

There was a fourth person in the reeds, an old man in his fifties, with two thick black beards on his mouth, and his eyes were like eagles looking at the army going north.

The old Assassin said to the young Assassin with a scar on the right side of his face, "Ah Hai, is there any news?" ”

"Ah You said that the coffin of the little prince of the Tang Dynasty was in Beijing."

Beijing! Beijing!

……

(Ask for a commuter pass!) ）