New moon in mid-day.

The lively night market in Taiping Town began to disperse.

Craftsmen singing and juggling sounded the drums and gongs.

The small vendors who run the food also push their own eating guys, shaking their heads and humming a little tune to go home.

Zhang Chu and Ji Ba sat on the platform outside the helm of the Taiping Society, leaning on the railing, overlooking Taiping Town at night.

The night breeze blows away the aroma of wine.

The subordinates of Zhang's Mansion came up the mountain with food boxes for the third time, removed the leftovers that were still warm on the table, and replaced them with steaming dishes.

Ji Ba drank a lot of wine, and his momentum was also very high when he was first served, and he had the fearless spirit of "Lao Tzu can't beat you, overturn you".

Then reality taught him another hard lesson and told him that there was no thanks.

"Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang, listen to us. ”

He propped his head on one hand and tried to keep himself awake, but the whole person sat in the chair and swayed as if the sky and the earth were spinning.

"Listen, you say. ”

Zhang Chu leaned his chin on the railing, and said softly without looking back.

Taiping Town, which is brightly lit under the night sky, has the vivid fireworks of the market, and also has the meaning of tranquility like a paradise, just like the water town in the south of the Yangtze River in his memory.

I can't get enough of it.

"Listen to us, you, you must go back to the front army with us!"

Ji Ba shook his head and said sentence by sentence: "We are here this time, but we have made a military order for more than 20,000 brothers in the former army, and we must ask you to go back." ”

"You know, we are rough people, if we want to go into battle to kill the enemy, if we want to break the formation, it's all a trivial matter!"

"But if we want to take the brothers of the former army out and bring them back, we can't do it!"

"If someone else comes, we can't believe it!"

"No one can believe it!"

"Except for our own brothers, who is still taking the lives of our big-headed soldiers?"

"You can do it!"

"You are the general of our former army!"

"We can trust you!"

"The brethren can trust you!"

"This Northern Expedition, let's point to you...... Don't die, we don't even recognize the former army. “

Zhang Chu glanced back at him, then turned his head without saying a word, and looked back at Taiping Town below.

It's just that Taiping Town, which can't get enough of it, suddenly can't attract his attention.

Can I?

How did I not know that I could do it?

I still owe so many graves, how can I do it?

"Northern Expedition. ”

He recited these two words in his heart, his thoughts drifting in the night sky.

In one thought, I crossed hundreds of miles and returned to AllHeaven!

......

"Master Chu. ”

"Master Chu. “

"Master Chu. ”

Zhang Chu opened his eyes and eagerly glanced left and right.

No one.

There are no ghosts either.

The eager gaze, dimming little by little, closed again.

I don't know how long later, he opened his eyes again, gently removed the soft wattle on his chest, got up lightly, and walked out of the bedroom in a moon-white undershirt.

He strolled through the corridor and into the living room.

The oil lamp is on.

The long wooden box on the other side of the hall was illuminated with dust.

Zhang Chu took off the wooden box with both hands and opened it gently.

Jingyun lay quietly in the box, the sharkskin scabbard under the dim oil lamp, more and more deep and quiet.

He stared at the clouds.

The clouds seemed to be staring at him as well.

He vaguely heard a voice, I don't know if it was in his ear or in his heart, and asked softly: Are you ready?

Zhang Chu didn't answer.

Can't answer.

After a long silence, he finally reached out and picked up the shocking cloud steadily.

......

Early morning.

Zhiqiu, who got up early for a walk, had not yet reached the living room, and saw his man sitting in the hall from a distance, holding a cloud towel with a slow wiping knife, and his footsteps suddenly stagnated.

He like, he hasn't touched that knife in over a year, right?

Zhang Chu noticed that someone was standing outside the living room and didn't move, and as soon as he raised his eyes, he saw Zhiqiu who was stunned outside the door.

His hand holding the cloud towel suddenly stiffened, and then he returned the knife into the sheath as if nothing had happened, and sent the stunning cloud back into the box and sealed it.

"Why did you wake up so early today?"

He greeted him and gently hugged Zhiqiu.

Zhiqiu rested his chin on his shoulder and whispered, "Master, do you have something on your mind?"

Zhang Chu stroked her back and laughed softly: "What can I worry about, I just can't sleep, I want to come out and pour a glass of water to drink, and when I saw that the box of Jingyun was dusty, I remembered that I hadn't maintained it for a long time, so I took it out and wiped it." “

He's explaining.

Zhiqiu has a plan in mind.

She said softly, "um", and said lightly: "Master, if you have anything you want to do, just do it, you don't have to worry about the family, the family has no worries about food and clothing, and the concubine and two sisters take care of you, there will be no changes." ”

Zhang Chu gently tapped her forehead, "You still have a big belly, where can I put my heart down?"

I know the snickering at the end of the autumn, but there is always a touch of melancholy in my eyes.

......

Zhang Chu personally sent Ji out of town.

Ji Ba led the horse, and he wanted to speak and stopped, and he had to sigh for a long time.

Zhang Chuquan didn't see it.

It wasn't until he left the town and sent him on the horse that Zhang Chu said, "Lao Ji, we're brothers, right?"

Ji Ba replied without hesitation: "Of course, the brother who has died!"

"Since you are a brother, you should understand me. ”

Zhang Chu pointed to the town wall of Taiping Town standing behind him, and then pointed to the surrounding people who entered and exited Taiping Town, "You still have so many adults and generals in charge, and I am the only one in charge of them." “

Ji Ba smoothed his fingers, looked around, gritted his teeth and said, "This thing is not authentic, it will make it difficult for you to do!"

"Let's go!"

He snatched the reins of the war horse from Zhang Chu's hand, shouted, and led more than a dozen personal soldiers all the way away.

After Zhang Chu watched him disappear at the end of the mountain road, he turned around and walked back slowly.

Before he entered the city, the mule, like a ghost, did not know from which crowd, leaned behind him with his head bowed, and whispered as he followed him into the town.

"Master Chu, don't fall for this thief, Huo Hongye has been planning the Northern Expedition for more than a day or two, he came to invite you out of the mountain, he must have been instructed by Huo Hongye...... You don't owe him anything to the Zhenbei Army and him Huo Hongye, the Jiaogu Pill that the Zhenbei Army gives you every month is all bought by us with the silver of the white flowers. ”

When the mule talks about things, he has always only narrated what happened, and the twists and turns are determined by Zhang Chu himself.

This time, he was rarely mixed with personal feelings.

There are some things that can't be passed......

No matter how long it has been.

Zhang Chu let out an undeniable soft "um".

He believed what the mule said, Ji Ba came, and there was Huo Hongye's push behind it.

He also believed that what Ji Ba said after he was drunk yesterday was the sincere words of the heart.

Huo Hongye...... Too anxious.

Zhang Chu didn't know whether Huo Hongye was in a hurry to prove himself, or eager to make up for the wrongs suffered by his Huo family.

He only knew that Huo Hongye had taken too big a step this time......

The Zhenbei Army is no longer the Zhenbei Army it used to be.

Today's Zhenbei Army is the Zhenbei Army that even an honest general like Ji Ba no longer dares to believe wholeheartedly.

It's sure to hit the eggs again.

Zhang Chu walked through the streets without saying a word, and walked straight into the Taiping Hall of the Society.

The mule did not worry about him, and followed him into the main hall.

"Check, the life of Liang Chongxiao of 'Iron Lock Hengjiang'!"

"Check, Xuanbei Prefecture Fire Line Strange Things Ranking Distribution!"

"Track, the progress of the Northern Expedition of the Zhenbei Army, real-time returns!"

The mule heard that his tone was different, and he didn't dare to persuade him again, so he waved his hand and said, "Yes, Master Chu." ”

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