He's a border city veteran.

He has not made great contributions, has not been a big official, and has not been seriously injured on the battlefield, and has been in the army for thirty-one years, and finally because of his military age, he finally did not leave the army as a big soldier, he had no heirs, and no close relatives, and finally sold the military registration he had inherited for generations to the youngest son of a wealthy family in the city, in exchange for a sum of money enough to support his old age.

He bought a comfortable courtyard in the south of the city, there are seven large and small houses in the courtyard, he lived alone in fact a little deserted, so he recruited a few old servants and maids, adopted a few orphans, these orphans are of different ages, at the beginning a little stumbling, from time to time there were some quarrels and disputes, but finally this family has some popularity, like a place for individuals to live.

He thinks he is a mediocre person, and some of the people of his age have become commanders, some have abandoned the army and joined politics, and they are thriving, but most of them actually died on the battlefield, so he himself is still very satisfied, after all, there is more than enough to be less than the top, although he has no talent, but at least he survived on the battlefield.

Since living in the south of the city, his daily life has become simple and monotonous, getting up before dawn every day, tending to the flowers and plants planted by himself in the courtyard, waking up the sleepy children, and letting them line up and stand in the courtyard to endorse - He hired a gentleman for a few children, is an old talent who has fallen off the list, he has always been very envious of those who can speak well, although in the army over the years, he has also learned to read, but after all, he is not a real reader, can not understand those elegant poems and songs, but since he has adopted a few children, then he will be a Confucian dream pinned on them.

When the morning came, the drums of lifting the curfew sounded, and the inner door opened, he went out to wander freely, although he had lived in this border city for decades, he had actually spent most of his time in the military camp north of the city, and had never visited this small and small city, but now that he had kung fu, he began to walk around his house little by little, measuring the old city he had guarded.

The days are slow, he occasionally thinks of the past time, the first few years of enlistment, it happened to be the time when the empire continued to use troops, their batch of unlucky eggs only trained in a hurry for two months, and then they were pulled onto the battlefield, he still clearly remembered the panic when facing a living enemy for the first time, if it wasn't for the commander of the same team who found out, handed a knife from the side, and hacked that enemy to death, he would have become a wisp of grievance on the old Huai slope.

He was very grateful to the chief, but he didn't live long, he was killed by a stray arrow in the second battle, and that was the first time he saw what the real ten thousand arrows looked like, and the dense rain of black arrows rose into the sky, and then fell sharply, with a piercing scream, which made everyone shudder, although there were shield soldiers in front of them, but there were too many flying arrows, and the big soldiers who stood behind them shrank their bodies tightly, hoping that they would not be too unlucky and be targeted by a stray arrow that did not have long eyes.

But there are always people who suddenly fall from their side.

The charge was so short and long that he couldn't remember the specifics, he just remembered that he was rushing with the men next to him, running to the point where his chest ached, but until he had routed the enemy, his sword was not bloody.

The first killing was two months later, although during this time he also participated in several large and small battles, and briefly fought with the enemy, but he was never able to kill an enemy with his own hands, until that night attack on the enemy's camp, the main general roared and led the army to break through the enemy's defenses, he also seemed to be infected, and followed the new chief into one of the enemy's tents, seven or eight people cut in it, and he clearly remembered the enemy soldier who died under his own sword.

He looked younger than him, and when he was slashed by his knife, his eyes widened, as if he was confused, and he didn't seem to believe that he was about to die, and then his pupils dilated, and his body twitched violently, like a fish struggling.

He thought he would never forget it.

In the next thirty years, he fought a lot of battles, he was not a brave man, nor was he a person who was eager to make meritorious contributions, born as a prince and died as a ghost, he was afraid of death, he was also afraid of killing, he only thought about living in the army, just stealing his life, maybe God took pity on him, or maybe he was born fair, God took away his talent, but gave him good luck, in dozens of battles, large and small, he was almost unscathed, only once was shot in the calf by a stray arrow, but did not hurt the bone, and returned to the barracks after two months of rest, leaving only a scar the size of a thumb on his leg。

Since the Empire signed an alliance with the steppe people ten years ago, his life has become easier, except for daily training and patrols, there is nothing to do, which also makes him more and more lazy, and there is a lot of fat on his body, but fortunately, it is now a time of peace, and the examination school in the army is much more relaxed, which is not a big problem.

It feels good to be a rich man, he still has a lot of silver in his hand, so he plans to pick a time to go to the capital to see, after so many years of fighting, he also wants to know what the imperial city that so many people have desperately protected is like, if he is lucky, he also wants to see His Majesty, who claims to be the Emperor Shenwu, is really as heroic as the legend.

On this day, he was wandering the streets, it was not long before the Chinese New Year, and the passage procedures had been issued, and he planned to leave for the capital after the year, so he needed to buy some travel items, just as he walked into a shop selling boots, a desolate and vast drum suddenly sounded.

He and the shopkeeper were stunned on the spot, looking at each other.

But after only a moment's blankness, he dropped his boots and ran away.

He knew the sound of the drum all too well, he had listened to it for decades, and he felt disgusted at it.

The sound of the drums was very rapid, and it came from all directions, which showed that the soldiers on all four walls had beaten the war drums, and he ran to a street that led to the city gate, and found that the gate to the north of the city was falling, and a fire was burning on the wall, and the smoke that reached into the sky obscured the sky.

His hands were trembling.

The body too.

But he still ran towards the southern city, his speed was much slower than when he was younger, his chest was still burning with pain, the pedestrians in the street were as flustered as he was, he could hear the cries of children and the angry rebuke of adults, and he could see that shops were closing, and soldiers were coming out to maintain order in the streets.

A lot of people are anxiously asking what the hell is going on.

But isn't that obvious?