In the year 308 of the new calendar, the autumn equinox solar term.

The ancient city of Loulan.

This ancient border pass standing in the northernmost part of the Western Xia Kingdom, as a fortress that once resisted the Jin army, after more than 300 years of history, still fulfills the sacred mission of guarding the northern Xinjiang.

Even if it is the autumn equinox, it will always be the first to taste winter compared to other vast regions of Western Xia.

The cold wind whistling along the northern desert will blow to the ancient city of Loulan at this solar term every year, as if to remind that the cold winter is coming.

For the people who live in this vast yellow sand all year round, the autumn equinox means the end of the year. They will no longer rush through the endless Hexi Corridor to Helan Mountain, or further afield to Dongzhou to exchange goods. They will not venture out of the city to hunt those wild beasts and birds that live in groups all year round on the sand walls of the Northern Desert.

Because, this is the most troubled time period for the Jin Guoliukou. Those wandering soldiers and grass bandits who have been exiled by the Jin Kingdom for many years will take advantage of this winter time to abandon their already emaciated war horses, climb over the Great Wall mottled in the yellow sand, and constantly harass and plunder the villages on the outskirts of the ancient city.

Most of them gathered in groups, and after plundering their belongings, they quickly hid in the vast northern desert wilderness.

In fact, the imperial court has never stopped killing this group of stray soldiers, and these soldiers and soldiers who have been guarding here all the year round have more tasks than to fight with them.

But after so many years, this group of people, who at some time looked like a group of outlaws, still breed in this desert.

Speaking of the ancient Great Wall, which stretches for thousands of miles, it can really be called the most magnificent spectacle in the past five hundred years.

In order to resist the southward cavalry of the Jin State, and also to resist the cold wind blowing from the northern desert along the Changbai Mountain, the former dynasty spent huge manpower, financial and material resources to repair a Great Wall of Protectorate from the east to the west of the Yanguan to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

At that time, the people's livelihood was complaining, and the old guy in the court who was praised by the emperor as a Confucian holy hand kept saying that my Great Zhou Dynasty has a vast territory and millions of soldiers, who dares to invade.

As a result, in less than half a year, the war horses of the Jin Kingdom crossed the vast sandy land and approached the city of Loulan.

The war lasted for 30 years, but ended in a dramatic call for peace.

Subsequently, this Great Wall of China rose rapidly on the Northern Desert.

It turns out that even with a huge amount of effort, the benefits are immeasurable.

This makes it possible for more than 300 years to make the Jin soldiers who intend to step south again to attack even if the territory of the Central Plains changes hands.

Of course, this is also partly due to the old woman who is now Fulong in Luoyang Palace.

That year, the originator of martial arts in Landa Temple sat down overnight and entered the Mahayana and realized the supreme true meaning. It can be said that it has opened up a secluded path for martial arts practice.

Therefore, the Son of Heaven created a momentum, and issued fifteen edicts in that year, abolishing famine and paying taxes, serving as military salaries, and vigorously encouraging the people to cultivate martial arts and join the army, and bravely kill the enemy, in order to establish a military industry and serve the dynasty.

Even the Luoyang Pagoda, which was under construction that year, was delayed for three years to be completed.

This series of edicts, naturally, led to the folk customs of the people of Western Xia who admired martial arts and soldiers. In the last edict, the Son of Heaven specially annotated such a passage back then: Those who cultivate martial arts and join the army can be equipped with exclusive long knives, and the Son of Heaven can perform samurai salutes!

The title of Western Xia warrior came into being at that time.

It can be said unabashedly that as long as the people who have been on the battlefield and come back with their lives, they are basically one person who has attained the Tao and ascended to heaven.

But the battlefield is always cruel and unforgiving, and for those who did not enlist in the army through cultivation, but were forcibly captured to serve as strong soldiers, death is the norm, and life is just a fluke.

This principle is understood by those who are still wearing military uniforms and holding official salaries in this relatively stable time.

For the soldiers and soldiers who have been guarding this ancient border city all year round, they also understand.

Lu Li naturally understands this principle better.

In the early morning of the autumn equinox, the dry west wind swept the yellow sand on the ground, and the weak sunlight with a trace of cold air passed through the window railing without any shelter, and shone in together.

Lu Li got up from the bed violently, his dark face was tired, he took a deep breath, tilted his head and looked out, and simply continued to fall asleep.

In the middle of the noise, he seemed to remember something important, and suddenly got up again.

"It's bad, it's bad!" Lu Li muttered with wide eyes, slapped himself twice with his hand, and quickly got up, he was thinking about reaching for the guard armor at the head of the bed, which seemed to be a little tattered. The wooden door in front of the bed, which looked like it was going to fall, was kicked open with a clang.

Lu Li was a spirit, the hand holding the clothes was still in mid-air, and his face was full of anxiety. He squinted his eyes and peeked out, and saw that something was not quite right.

"Hahahaha, let you be lazy, this time I wasn't scared by my master. Hearing the sound, a young man who looked about the same age as Lu Li, but was a little fat, swaggered in, his round face was full of smiles, and the guard armor that was the same as Lu Li's was on him, it seemed a little awkward no matter how he looked at it.

Lu Li stood up from the bed with a carp, but he directly crossed his line of sight, glanced at the wooden door hanging on the beam and swayed, he deliberately sniffed, pointed to the young man in front of him and said, "Lose money! Let me tell you about Li Sansan, my door was fucking kicked by you, you either lose money, or you yourself are free to fix it for me. Otherwise, there is another way to do it. ”

"Stop!" The smiling face of the little fat man called Li Sansan who had just piled up changed instantly, he squinted his small eyes, deliberately showed an arrogant and domineering appearance, and said: "Don't think about beating my sister again, let me tell you, just like you, my sister can't take a fancy to you." Besides, I betrayed my sister to give you a chance that day, but you yourself were so weak that you couldn't even say a word. Alas, alas, this matter ends here, it is simply impossible!" He walked over and waved his hand, and sat down on the head of the bed.

"The fucking sun was so poisonous that day, I stood on the post for most of the day, and I couldn't even spit out a mouthful of spit, do you still want to expect me to break out of a fart!" Lu Li snorted lightly, and quickly put on the relatively small armor suit, he shook his body, picked up the saber at the head of the bed and pinned it to his waist.

This knife was left to Lu Li by Old Man Xu, who had been a guard at the south gate of this city for most of his life, but kicked his legs on the blizzard night of that Chinese New Year's Eve and left! Lu Li always felt that Old Man Xu's life was the best, because in his opinion, it was really a great honor for that bad old man who only drank and bragged in his memory to have such a comfortable death!

However, apart from this saber that didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, this old man who had raised Lu Li for sixteen years really didn't leave him anything anymore.

Stingy, stingy! Every time Lu Li thought of this, he felt that Old Man Xu was really a dime a dime. On that snowy Chinese New Year's Eve, I knelt and pleaded for three whole hours, really just wanting to ask where the Yulu that I had obtained over the years was hiding. But Old Man Xu didn't tell him until he died.

Of course, this knife cannot be matched casually. Therefore, on the eve of that Chinese New Year's Eve, Old Man Xu put on a long armor that Lu Li had never seen him wear, braved the wind and snow, and went to the general's mansion to say something to the general Li Chaonan, the little fat man Li Sansan in front of him.

To be precise, one thing was done. Old man Xu threw all the remaining Yulu in the past ten years in front of Li Chaonan with a small sack, saying that he would use his ten-year Yulu as a transaction, so that Lu Li would continue to do this errand that he had done for most of his life. Listening to the little fat man Li Sansan, that night the old man Xu knelt in front of Li Chaonan, old tears were rampant, saying that he had fought horses all his life and made countless contributions, just such a small request, even the belongings were compensated, if he didn't agree, he would definitely die.

In this way, Lu Li, who had no cultivation skills and waited for death, smoothly took over the mantle of Old Man Xu, and the guard's exclusive saber was naturally handed over to Lu Li's hands.

It was in that year that Lu Li and Li Sansan were included in the guard battalion of the border city, and they also escaped the imperial court recruitment that year. In fact, Li Chaonan can be regarded as well-intentioned, the eldest son died in the war of the Northern Desert in his early years, except for the daughter who will marry out sooner or later, there is only this single seedling left to pass on the lineage for him!

"Okay, okay, next time, next time you have to take me around your general's mansion. Let's bet, if I can say a word to your sister, you can steal some of your father's silver, and let's go to the pastry shop last time to eat him in the dark!" Lu Li straightened his body, closed the last one behind his waist, turned his head, looked at the little fat man and said with a thief on his face: "No, no, my son takes his father's, how can it be regarded as stealing!"

"Come on, it's no problem to take you to eat delicious, but it's impossible to go around my house for at least a long time. Li Sansan said, took out two osmanthus cakes from his pocket like a trick, handed one to Lu Li, and continued while eating: "I'm afraid you forgot the ruins of the royal tomb that appeared out of thin air on the Northern Desert half a month ago. ”

"I haven't forgotten, but that's what it does to me. Lu Li enjoyed eating and replied with squinted eyes.

"The ninth eunuch of Qintian sent someone over last night, the old eunuch surnamed Cao is still in my father's council hall, I heard that he is now sitting in the second chair of the Xuanjian Division, it seems that there is really some treasure in that bullshit royal tomb. I don't know what they were muttering all night there, anyway, but when I got up this morning to pee, I saw that they had sent dozens of people over. Li Sansan put the last pastry into his mouth, licked his fingers, stood up and said: "Didn't Zhao Ye tell us yesterday that the imperial court sent three thousand Yulin guards to strengthen the defense of the city, saying that it was because of the existence of Wang Ling, I am afraid that there will be gold thieves or chaotic parties who will take advantage of the crowd and breed accidents." ”

Lu Li also quickly stood up, he forgot about important things while eating, today he was going to go to the south gate early to greet the three thousand Yulin troops who came from the capital of Luoyang, but Zhao Ye woke up yesterday, and there must be a good show this morning.

"If you want me to say, what bullshit strengthens defense, how much merit has my father made here, when my brother died, the court didn't even make a fart, and the posthumous edict that was postponed for two months was still asked for by my father who went to Luoyang himself. For so many years, how many lives have been wasted by those northern barbarians, has the imperial court added a person here? There is not a single hair, all of them are my father's hands-on soldiers!" Li Sansan became more and more excited, and his face turned red with excitement.

Lu Li hurriedly pulled him, and said in a suppressed voice: "It's okay to be quieter! I don't know where the trouble comes from the mouth! That's all this, just know it, now is not the past, maybe one day your life will be gone, and your father won't be able to save you!"

The two went out together while talking, Lu Li's place of residence was not far from the south gate, in a relatively remote alley on the west side, this room was chosen by Old Man Xu himself, at that time there was a group of businessmen who wanted to pan for gold in Loulan, and they lived for at least a few years, and it was still very lively at that time, but now only Lu Li lives here.

"Hey, don't you feel scared from this alley at night, or I'll help you talk to Zhao Ye and move to Dongcheng, right next to my house." Li Sansan glanced at the somewhat dilapidated houses on both sides, and the momentum just now was gone, and he said softly in a suppressed voice.

"No, this is what the old man left me, except for this knife, there is only this room left. Lu Li suddenly slowed down, lowered his head and glanced at the saber at his waist, a trace of sadness on his face was fleeting.

But just as he raised his head, he saw Li Sansan's eyes bulging, his fingers trembling and pointing to a dark corner, but he couldn't speak.

There, lying a man.