The sun shyly climbed to the foot of the bed like moonlight, and the crescent moon used its last breath to whitewash the thousands of miles of traffic under Luoyang City, wake up the pear blossoms outside the window, and wake up the silent migratory birds.

The melodious birdsong is like the sound of the piano, the young man gradually opened his sleepy eyes, how many sunrises and moonsets he has seen, in this era of war and gunpowder, such an early morning is such a luxury.

The young man straightened up slightly, unwilling to wake up his younger brother who was sleeping beside him. Gently pushed open the wooden window, and the increasingly noisy cicadas chirped, slowly sending the warm breeze of the summer solstice, wiped away the tiredness in his eyes.

What a day. I can't wait to make my way to being a great ranger every day.

As usual, he crept off the bed, stepped on his mother's brushed boots, and slammed them on.

The boy pushed open the door and was greeted by the familiar smell of rice, and he walked into the kitchen to see the rice still steaming. Today, my mother woke up earlier than she did.

"Mother, why did you wake up so early today?" asked the young man, sitting at the table, gobbling up his meal, as he looked at his mother in the corner.

Mother raised her head, she was more than 30 years old, but she was still as beautiful as a flower. Kneeling by the stove, like pear blossoms with rain, scattered black hair, hazy with water-cut eyes, just like a young girl with pink delicacy.

"Today is your father's death day. ”

With a bang, the chopsticks fell to the ground.

The boy's hands were stuck in front of his chest, his face losing expression, and he let food pile up in his bulging mouth, nightmarish memories pouring into his brain like iron filings on a magnet.

It turns out that a year has passed. It turned out that it had only been a year.

"Could it be that my mother wants to go to Hanzhong to sweep my father's grave?"

Mother nodded slowly.

"Mother, the road in the Qinling Mountains is rugged and difficult to walk. In addition, the situation in Hanzhong is like a reef and a dangerous shoal, and the two sides of Shu and Wei have been facing each other in Dingjun Mountain for more than 100 days, and they are already tense. ”

"I have made up my mind, even if there are thousands of horses!"

Mother clasped the door and stood up. With his hands clasped in front of his chest, he stared into the distance.

"Mother, I'll go too. The boy also stood up, and he heard his mother's gurgling gaze, and his gaze flowed down her feet, reaching the dim flickering lights in the grass of the Sword Pavilion.

"Ouyang Xiao, you are not allowed to go along. Mother turned around and said in a grim voice.

"A year ago, the invincible prime minister of Shu was overturned, stubborn and self-serving, ignoring the advice of the military advisor, carelessly losing Jingzhou, defeating Maicheng, regretting not being at the beginning, but it was too late. Stepping on the corpse of his comrade-in-arms, the prime minister returned to Hanzhong, and visited his father that night, wanting to write a book to depreciate himself as a concubine, and make his father the prime minister. Father, as the Taishou of Hanzhong County, was one of the most outstanding rangers in Shu Han......"

The boy stared at his mother's back, sighed, and continued: "And my father excused himself in every possible way, he was a good man who did not want to kill a robin, and did not want to watch the prime minister fall. The prime minister looked at the grass three times, but his father did not agree, and he was always comforting and encouraging the prime minister, so he was despised and spurned by the clansmen who chased fame and fortune. ”

"Ouyang Xiao, how did you know this?" asked the mother in surprise, but did not look back.

The boy did not respond, but still kept his head down, buried his gaze in the deepest atrium, and continued.

"There is a lieutenant general in the imperial court, who has a ghost in his heart, and he heard that Dongwu has seized Jingzhou and Shu has suffered heavy losses. He also learned that the prime minister wanted to recommend his father to take his place, so he visited the prime minister one after another, and insulted him with vicious language. Later, he forged a recital, succeeded to the throne, and was worried about leaking the news, slandering his father as the one who wanted to usurp power and seize the throne, and the king of Hanzhong listened to the rumors and ordered the ...... to be killed overnight."

As the young man spoke, his mother's eyes were filled with tears, but he did not stop, and continued: "The army was under the eaves, several assassins sneaked in late at night, and my father was defenseless, in order to protect us, he was poisoned with arrows, and died in exile in the Qinling Mountains......"

"Enough, no more. Mother Lan Jiang finally couldn't suppress the pain in her heart, and she couldn't cry anymore, tears rained down, wetting her long black dress and shoes. A whole year has passed, and she has never stopped thinking about her husband for a moment.

The cicadas outside the window became more and more noisy, and the birds stopped disturbing and listened quietly, unable to distinguish whether it was the catharsis of knowledge or the choking of the mother, and finally it was like a torrential rain smashing into the silent earth, under this cloudless sun.

Lan Jiang held the stove with both hands, choked and almost convulsed, his eyes closed, but he seemed to see everything. The remnants of the green smoke in the stove spread wantonly on the empty grass house, which was the flowing clouds of the past. The fire that has not yet become ashes is the memory of the past beating, pulling her closer to the dark and windy night of a year ago.

Jingzhou is located on the north bank of the Jingjiang River, the upper town of Bashu, the lower according to the meeting of the rivers and lakes, the Yangtze River moat, convenient transportation, rich products. Several degrees of spring and autumn, the enemy tower of the urn city is as stable as a rock, several degrees of wind and rain, the war house fort is immovable, the defense system is complete, it has always been easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is a place where soldiers must fight since ancient times.

For Shu, which has the least territory among the three kingdoms, Jingzhou's loss is really worse. is already thriving, but in the blink of an eye, it is all depressed, and the whole country is discouraged. However, what made them feel even more desperate was the irresistible time.

Sima Jie, the once invincible prime minister, was no match for the wind and rain after all. Talking about the madness of the youth, riding alone for thousands of miles, just for a glass of warm wine, passing five levels and cutting six generals, just for a lifetime of glory. Going to the meeting with a single knife spread thousands of miles away, flooding the Seventh Army, and smashing into the sky with pride.

"Being conquered by habit becomes the rule. The lies that are unified become the truth. ”

This is Sima Jie's most common saying. This prime minister, who has turned decay into a miracle countless times, was pulled off the altar in Jingzhou in the first battle, and paid a price that can never be repaid for his arrogance.

Extremely poor, made great achievements, born and died, loyal for thousands of catastrophes, people sang praises to you, believe in you, and deify you. But once you make some mistakes, no one will generously send nostalgia, your past kindness will not be forgotten, but your collapse cannot be stopped after all, this is the true human nature.

There are mistakes you just can't make. Women can be careless, but men can't.

Such a thought, like a cold-blooded poisonous snake, wrapped around Sima Jie's throat all day long, the tighter and tighter it is, the tighter and tighter it is. was finally forced to commit suicide by the ill-intentioned Zhongchang servant.

That night, everything was quiet, and the light rain outside the window, extinguishing the noisy cicadas, knocked on the eaves, as if telling something, and as if waiting for something.

Lan Jiang lay on his side on the edge of the couch, humming nursery rhymes for his son who refused to fall asleep by the flickering candlelight. Ouyang Xiao next to him was already sleeping sweetly.

His father, Ouyang Xu, was fighting outside the court at this time, sometimes writing hard and writing with pen and ink, and sometimes wandering in front of the court with a heavy heart.

After learning about Jingzhou, Ouyang Xu completely changed as a person, and the smile that had long inhabited his face in the past disappeared. The family lives under the same roof, but it seems to be separated by a long river that cannot be crossed. The family is here, and Ouyang Xu is over there.

For several days he had been writing to the princes. Lan Jiang knew that if she wasn't in confinement, Ouyang Xu would have been far away from her hometown and went to the battlefield, and she didn't want to be a disaster to restrict her husband from going out to save the country, but fortunately, after today, their second son, Ouyang He, would already be full moon. If he didn't guess wrong, what Ouyang Xu was writing at this time was his recital for tomorrow's expedition.

Accompanied by a heavenly ballad, Ouyang Xu extinguished the lights outside the court and approached the warm bed. Watching his son fall asleep with a smile on his face, he finally smiled.

He stroked his son's forehead like a willow leaf caressing the surface of a lake, and then walked to the edge of the bed tiredly and lay down gently beside Lan Jiang.

The drizzle outside the window gradually stopped, and the breeze in my arms was a little tired, and it blew absent-mindedly and stopped.

After a long time, there was a crackling in the grass, and several black shadows jumped up from it in an instant. At last stood up a masked man, watching everything in the cold moonlight.

Ouyang Xu, who hadn't slept for a few days, obviously didn't notice it until the six assassins pulled out their sharp knives.

6 sharp knives slashed at Ouyang Xu together, Ouyang Xu had no defense, and his weapon was not by his side.

"Goodbye!"

The assassins shouted in unison, but the blade was caught by Ouyang Xu, who suddenly got up, with one palm.

I saw Ouyang Xu's palm bubbling with golden light, and the word "gold" was dazzling. The blade slashed into the palm of his hand, but he was not hurt at all.

"Could it be ......" The Assassins shuddered in fright.

"My golden chivalry can change the hardness of your weapons at will, and your blades are now no different from the reeds by the river. With that, Ouyang Xu squeezed it hard, and the sharp knives in the hands of the assassins instantly shattered, and then three punches and two kicks, knocking out the six assassins.

"Run! there must be other assassins!" Ouyang Xu shouted.

Ouyang Xiao, who was woken up, was still in the dark, and Lan Jiang had already come to his senses, holding his second son in one arm, hurriedly packing his bags and tying a dead knot. Then he glanced at the bamboo slips on the table, which were written by Ouyang Xu a few hours ago, probably the recital of the Northern Expedition, Lan Jiang ran over, reopened his bags, rolled up the bamboo slips and put them in.

When he turned around again, Ouyang Xu was already holding the trident in his hand and putting on the long-lost ranger cloak.