From the royal capital to Panlong City, thousands of miles away, Zuo Lie led a hundred cavalry, and he had been running desperately for a day and a night. The bitter mountain wind, cold, damp, sharp, and penetrating, turned the bare skin of the cavalry into a stiff cloth, and the snow particles slammed against it and rattled.

The post road is a snake, the mountains and fields are dark, the rain and snow are dense, overlapping, boundless, just like the mission that the king of Shang added to Zuo Lie, which makes people inescapable.

Zuo Lie would never forget that he himself was from Panlong City. He fought with the merchant army in the east and west for 18 years, every day he talked about the horse stepping on thousands of rivers and mountains, conquering infinite rivers and mountains, after countless fierce battles, he finally stepped into the sky, from a small centurion miraculously transformed into a protector general, he performed well in this position, so that the empire's territory advanced to the north by nearly half, the population increased by nearly one-third, and became the empire's greatest hero, a commanding general, until he was torn off the horse by endless pain and became a superfluous person in the war. He was forced to lie on the bed to recuperate, leaning on the windowsill and watching his soldiers drive into the distance, and it was not long before he began to feel strange to himself now, afraid of this strangeness, or rather lonely as he had never felt before, and feared for it, he was not good at living such days, and he was helpless about it. By the time he controlled his emotions with the willpower inherent in a warrior, he had clearly realized that he had to bravely face the loneliness of retreating after success, and began to learn to adapt to this life without swords.

Dying on the battlefield, or dying in a dream about the battlefield with a disability on his back, is the fate of every veteran.

Silence gives birth to quietness, and silence produces wisdom. At this time, he suddenly repented, it turned out that what he couldn't let go of in this world and what he shouldn't let go of was not the city passes, fame and fortune, but the lakeside square city - Panlong City, which was the ** in Panlong City, and the son who laughed in swaddling clothes when he joined the army.

Zuo Lie had used his dragon knife to create countless partings of life and death, and in the past eighteen years, he has not been tormented in such pain and longing for a single day.

He remembered that when he left home eighteen years ago, his wife Wan'er took his hand and cried and said, "Come back quickly!" There was a blur in his eyes.

He wanted to tell her: "He really wants to be with her and her son for the rest of his life." But he was frightened, because he was a wreck.

The night was long, the mountains were empty, the whips whistled in the night sky, and the horses' hooves flew and splashed countless pieces of ice.

Zuo Lie ordered the cavalry to immediately hedge their heads during the day, avoid the main road, cross the mountains and mountains, and wrap the horse's hooves in cloth at night, ride the main road, and gallop on horseback. In the evening of the third day, the wind and snow were settled, and a small piece of blue sky appeared overhead, which seemed to be within reach, and the slanting sun chased the cloud shadow in the hills, meadows, and rivers to swim. Everyone saw a towering city on the horizon in the distance, with flags on the city, cars and horses shuttling under the city, and people flowing. This is the destination of everyone's trip - Panlong City.

It was getting late, and the troops were already sleepy and tired of horses, so Zuo Lie ordered the cavalry to avoid the official road and camp on a grassy slope backed by mountains and forests to rest, and wait until tomorrow to enter the city to welcome Zujia back to the north.

Zuo Lie ate dry food in the tent, drank some water, reclined on the saddle without removing his armor and rested for a while, got up and walked outside the tent, and found a slightly flat mountain rock on the grassy slope and sat down. The square city in the distance is reflected in the blue waves, slowly lowering the city gate, and the pedestrians by the moat gradually disperse. Under the afterglow of the blood sun, there is a bay of winding green water outside the east of the city two miles, in winter, the embankment is thin and sparse, the water is clear and the boat is small, this is the Tangrenhai Lake where the Shangtang hung the hook in those years. There is a mountain forest standing on the shore of the lake, and there are many courtyards built around the mountain, which is the courtyard mountain that Zuo Lie often dreams of. The palm lamp time of the courtyard mountain is slightly later than that in the city, and the outline of the courtyard under the forest can be vaguely seen through the afterglow, with white walls and black tiles, eaves and arches, rising straight from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, the height is staggered, and there is a snake path in the middle, walking with the mountain, looming. The red lanterns lit one after another, accompanied by a few wisps of straight smoke, added a bit of joy and peace.

This time he led the troops to raid Panlong City, Zuo Lie unexpectedly got the king's order, and he was ready to fight a bloody battle and fight a few vicious battles, but he didn't expect to encounter any obstacles along the way, so he thought that he let the troops stay overnight and successfully avoided the ambush of the rebels, but he was still careful and vigilant in his heart. He got up and walked around the camp, and when he saw that everyone was very tired, holding their weapons, leaning on each other in twos and threes, they were sleeping soundly, snoring like thunder, and when they met a few patrolmen, they deliberately gave a few words. After the settlement and inspection, back to his tent, the day has all darkened, raised his head to see the sky I don't know when a few dark clouds floated down the mountain, the eyes suddenly darkened, remembering the first few Yingjia army inexplicably missing, the heart suddenly became very vigilant, busy in the camp and added a few more mobile posts, around the camp to add a few more patrols, but also in the forest behind the camp to install a few secret sentinels, then turned into the tent to lie down.

In the middle of the night, he heard someone calling his name in the haze, sat up, and saw a graceful woman walking in outside the door, her face was like a spring breeze, and she said complainingly: "Why have you come back after walking for so long?" The tone of her voice was very familiar, and when she got closer, she saw that it was Wan'er, the wife of her childhood sweetheart. I couldn't help but feel sad and burst into tears, while holding her hand and letting her sit beside her, saying, "It's hard for you, Wan'er!" Na Wan'er held his face and looked at it for a while, then stroked his stump arm for a while, her nose was sore, and said, "How did you become like this?" He sobbed on his shoulder, and after a while he raised his head and said, "Wait a minute, I'll call Yan'er in." After saying that, he got up and went out. Zuo Lie waited and waited, and after a long time, he didn't see Wan'er come back, so he wanted to stand up and go outside the door to look for it, but he couldn't open his legs, as if he was tied by a rope, and he struggled all over his body in a hurry, but he rolled down, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he opened his eyes to see that the tent door was blown open by the wind, and a beam of moonlight shone in on the shadow of the tree, swaying, like a human figure, and he woke up to realize that he was in a dream just now.

Disturbed by this dream, Zuo Lie completely lost his sleepiness, got up from the ground and sat down, looking at the courtyard mountain in the distance outside the tent door and was stunned, thinking of his wife and children who had not been seen for more than ten years, his heart was like a cat's claw, his mouth was dry, he stood up and drank a few sips of water, and the more he looked at his wife and children's faces like a mirror, he simply dressed neatly and went to the outside of the tent to inspect it. When the patrolmen saw him limping, they all cheered up and strengthened their vigilance.

Seeing that there was nothing to do in the camp, Zuo Lie only needed to wait until tomorrow morning to enter the city to pick up Zu Jia, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, stepped in front of his tent, untied the reins of the horse under the old pine, took the reins out of the camp, came to the foot of the hillside, jumped on horseback, and walked slowly to the courtyard mountain a few miles away. Eighteen years of longing can be released today, and who can still be patient.

A round of jade plate in the sky is as big as a hat, the quiet mountain path, the mountain stones soaked in snow water, the shining moonlight is sprinkled on it, the faint blue light rises, the horse's hooves pass by, the snow on the trees rustles down, light as smoke, floating like flocculent...... The mountain road that has been walked countless times, the familiar grass and trees make Zuo Lie's heart pound! Walking to the foot of the courtyard mountain, the moonlight became more crystal clear, like mercury flowing on those white walls and black tiles, and I don't know from which yard came a few dog barks.

As the saying goes, it's more timid to be close to home. When Zuo Lie left home, he was young, dignified, dignified, and superb martial arts, everyone envied, Zu Geng's mother, that is, the current queen mother, was selected as Zu Geng's personal guard, the scenery is the same, I didn't expect the army to be busy, the war was gathered, and I had no time to return to my hometown for 18 years, and now I am back, but because Shaohua is no longer there, my body is crippled, and my appearance is ugly, I dare not meet my fellow villagers, for fear that this honor will frighten my wife and children, so I don't dare to go home rashly during the day, I just want to hide in the dark at night and take a sneak peek**Ai'er, Relieve the feelings of longing that have been pent up in your heart for many years.

With such a complicated feeling, Zuo Lie took advantage of the night to come to the bottom of the courtyard mountain, got off the horse, tied the horse under the bamboo forest, and walked home alone.

The courtyard mountain is the farmer's residence outside the city of Panlong, because the horses in the city have nowhere to graze, the grass and trees here are abundant, and close to the lake shore, it is convenient to drink horses, the soldiers in the city will split the wood here as a fence, and enclose a lot of horse farms, so as to put the horses in Dongshan. After a long time, the soldiers who often came to herd the horses leveled the open space in front of the mountain a little, made it a paddock for horse races, and built countless courtyards along the mountain for people to rest. Decades later, those retired veteran sergeants used this place as their homeyard, where they married and had children, cultivated the land, and made Yuanzishan a livable place. Because the neighbors are all from the military, they like to dance knives and guns, and drive horses, so they have developed a custom of practicing martial arts in this mountain township, forming a tradition that has been passed down for nearly a hundred years. In the past hundred years, countless heroes have galloped across the battlefield and dominated the Quartet, so that Panlong City has become a holy place for martial artists with many masters, in addition to the important town of weapon manufacturing. Because this place is heavy on martial arts, and close to the lake and mountain, it is called Wuhu, and in the first year of Wuding, because of the name of the king, it was renamed the courtyard mountain.

When Zuo Lie was born, it coincided with the alternation of autumn and winter, and the grass and trees withered. Zuo Lie's father saw the mountain people burning the mountain, the flames soared into the sky, and half the sky was red, so he named him Lie, and taught him fist and foot kung fu when he was a child, riding a horse and archery, hoping that he would practice a good martial arts and get ahead. At the age of twenty-five, Zuo Lie tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart Wan'er and gave birth to a tiger-headed son the following year. On the day of his son's 100 days, Shang King Wu Ding and his favorite concubine Hao inspected Panlong City and drove to Yuanzi Mountain to watch the Hushi competition. Zuo Lie appeared on the stage with a dragon knife, picking, stabbing, splitting, cutting, and digging...... calmly made dozens of masters fall off the horse. Wu Ding recruited Zuo Lie into the forbidden army and made him a good personal guard. After the death of the woman, Zuo Lie entered the cavalry regiment as a captain, and made great contributions to the empire's crusade to the east and west, until his left arm was cut off in a battle, and he could no longer wield the dragon sword, and remained in the army due to disability.

Originally, I hoped to be a master with a good martial arts, but I didn't expect that it would be because of this that I ended up with mutilated hands and feet, full of pain, and I didn't dare to return to my home.

The courtyard of Zuo Lie's house is the third house to the west on the east side of the mountainside, and you can overlook the entire Tangrenhai Lake by pushing the window, and you can see the lake and mountains. There are more than ten peach, plum and apricot trees planted in the yard of his house, and when it comes to the Mid-Autumn Festival, the courtyard is full of peach red and apricot yellow, and the mountain fruits are fragrant. Sitting under the tree, holding Jiao'er in your arms, eating a few sweet fruits, and drinking two glasses of preserved fruit wine made by his wife, it is very comfortable. However, it is the middle of winter, so it is natural that such a scene cannot be seen. Zuo Lie doesn't know what Wan'er is doing at home? I'd love to see what that fat boy looks like now.

Zuo Lie walked on the stone steps expectantly, being careful not to kick the stones under his feet, so as not to wake up the neighbors. He walked in the winding path for a while, and finally saw the door of his own courtyard, so he slowed down and tiptoed close to the door, at that time, the moon was in the middle of the sky, the clear light was shining, and the things in front of him could be seen clearly, only to see that the moss on the steps in front of the door was mottled, and the snow was full, and most of the original red paint of the two courtyard doors was peeled off to the ground, and one door had fallen to the ground, and the other was also broken three or two holes and half hidden.

Zuo Lie was shocked, and stepped into the courtyard, and saw that the trees were bleak, the grass was lying on the ground, and most of the stables under the east wall had collapsed, and a few rotten wooden purlins were lying on the ruined broken wall, and there were a few pieces of snow on the broken wall that emitted a lonely and dazzling white light in the moonlight. The water tank in front of the hall was filled with black snow water, and when I touched the edge of the tank with my hand, it was full of sticky moss, apparently uninhabited for a long time.

Turning his head and seeing that the door of the hall was empty, he walked up and stretched out his hand to push it open, but he didn't expect that the door had been hollowed out by insects, and the door creaked, and fell to the ground with a bang, stirring up the dust that was so high that it hit Zuo Lie's face and fascinated his eyes. Lie opened his eyes again, and the scene in front of him became more and more unbearable, the tables, chairs and benches were all destroyed, and they were staggered.

He went around to the kitchen, looked up and saw a hole in the roof, revealing the stars and the moon, and looked down to see that in the light and shadow of the moon, the dishes, cups and tiles on the roof were scattered and shattered, the pot on the stove was full of broken bricks and ash falling from the wall, and there was not half a grain of grain in the rice jar.

I wanted to come back to see their mother and son, and secretly send some money, food, and things, but I didn't expect that the courtyard was dilapidated, full of desolation, and there was no trace of people. Zuo Lie didn't know what had happened to his family, and his chest was like a boulder. He leaned on the wall and turned his head to the door of the wing, and caught a glimpse that the wooden bed against the wall had collapsed to the ground, and the wooden horse he had made for his son when he was leaving had also fallen to the ground.

With tears in his eyes, he staggered to the wooden horse, sat down on the ground with a puff, stretched out his right hand, helped the wooden horse up, looked at it in a daze for a long time, and then held it in his arms again, and raised his broken arm and rubbed it inch by inch.

He made it for his son before leaving, using the best wood in the mountains. In order not to sting his son's immature little hands, he did not use a nail on it, but used a hammer to cut holes to make it joint, and polished it with fine sand to make it smooth and shiny, and carefully touched it with his own palm no less than ten times, so that he was sure that there was not a single wooden thorn before he applied the best paint and put it in the shade to dry.

He remembered that the evening before he left, he carried his son to it and sat down, and he opened his fleshy little mouth and laughed like a silver bell, and the sound seemed to come from heaven, and it was so innocent that it was heart-wrenching.

That night, Wan'er hugged him tightly from behind, pressed her soft chest and tearful face against his back, and said repeatedly, "You want to come back!" You're coming back! ……”

At that time, Zuo Lie, who was determined to follow Wu Ding to Northern Xinjiang to make contributions, was as strong as a stone, but he couldn't help but burst into tears, and said emotionally: "I will definitely come back, don't worry, even if I die, I will die in your arms!" ”

Wan'er put her finger to his lips.

Zuo Lie understood that Wan didn't want to listen to him say death. She wanted him to come back alive.

Early the next morning, Zuo Lie jumped on horseback, and galloped out of the courtyard mountain with Hua Jie, the next door brother who was recruited into Wu Ding's tent at the same time......

More than ten years have passed, and Hua Jie, who went to the north with him, has disappeared, and only he is still holding the prestige of Yuanzi Mountain alone......

Zuo Lie hugged the wooden horse in a trance for several hours, and the sky outside the window shone into the building, and the sky was about to dawn.

He suddenly remembered the mission of this trip, so he carefully wiped the dust off the wooden horse with his sleeve, gently placed it in the corner of the wall, and struggled to his feet. He felt a little weak under his feet, so he slowed down his steps and dragged one leg forward on the ground.

He came out of the hall and stood in the courtyard against the morning breeze to calm down a little, and saw that there were mottled yellow and white things on the edge of the water tank, which seemed to be the excrement of birds.

He picked up a handful of dead grass from the ground, wiped the water tank up and down, and leaned over the water tank to see that his face was red and swollen, and his expression was haggard, and his stubble and hair had turned white overnight, and his eyes were black, and he almost fell to the ground.

He closed his eyes, and it took a while to open his eyes, and he reached out to remove a few yellow leaves floating on the water, and put his chapped lips on the surface of the water and sucked a mouth, and felt a cold and stinging pain between his teeth, and his abdomen was like a knife, and then a burst of bitterness surged up the tip of his tongue and into his nose, but strangely he didn't feel so uncomfortable, he raised his head and smacked his tongue, and felt a little sweet and cool, and his spirit improved a lot. Leaned over the water again, stretched out his palm to brush the water to his face, and the bone-piercing cold suddenly spread all over his body, making him completely sober.

A cloud of mist and an icy chill rose from the depths of his mind.

What's going on at home?

Where did Wan'er's mother and son go?

Are they still alive?

Zuo Lie ran out of the courtyard and searched in front of and behind the house, hoping to find some clues, such as graves, discarded rags, or something, but found nothing.

He returned to the courtyard, wiped the beads of sweat oozing from his forehead with the sleeve on his broken arm, and thought that he could return to his hometown after completing the king's order this time, and return to this house to spend his old age in peace, but when he encountered such a thing, he thought again, no matter where his wife and children go, he will eventually return to his roots, and besides, this house is the property left by his ancestors, and it cannot be wasted, so he will clean it now, and he will be able to come back again in a few months.

He found a bamboo broom that was still usable under the east wall, so he took it in his hand and thoroughly swept the inside and outside of the house, piled up the broken tiles and bricks in the corner, and cleaned them out next time he came back, and took out a silk painting that had been treasured for more than ten years from his arms and pasted it on the wall of the east wing. This painting was painted on a silk silk by a famous painter in Panlong City when he left Yuanzi Mountain eighteen years ago, and the beautiful woman on the painting was his childhood sweetheart wife Wan'er.

He put the painting upright on the wall, and found that although the painting was old and gray, his wife's face still looked lifelike, bright and moving, and added to his longing for his wife and children.

After tidying up inside and outside the house, Zuo Lie felt a little more comfortable in his heart, and when he saw that the sky was much brighter again, he was ready to return to the barracks. Turning around, he saw a piece of rope on the ground, bent down to pick it up, climbed two steps, walked to the door of the hall, lifted up the half of the door that had fallen to the ground and placed it firmly in the door frame, pulled the other half of the door and merged it together, passed the rope through the knockers on both sides, buckled and fastened it, and tried to push it with his hands, and saw that it was indeed firm, so he turned around and came to the outside of the courtyard, and closed the courtyard door in the same way, and also tried to push, and felt that it was quite safe, so he was relieved to follow the stone path under the courtyard wall and go down the mountain.

After this night, the horse had slept and eaten enough under the bamboo forest. Zuo Lie untied the reins, jumped on horseback, and ran towards the barracks several miles away.

Where did Wan'er and her son go? Lie kept searching for answers in his heart. If you go to visit your relatives, you should only have a few days to make the courtyard so barren, and besides, everything in the house has been broken, as if it has been looted by soldiers and bandits. In other words, if they were killed, there should be bones left in the courtyard, but he did not find them in the courtyard. He hoped that the mother and son had gone somewhere else to hide, at least they were still alive. So where are they hiding?

……

The sound of hooves sounded crisply on the road under the forest. The thick frost and fog in front of the horse's head came layer by layer, like a cloud of doubt that was difficult to let go, and there was no end in sight......