Zhuoni spent a whole autumn because of the stationing of the cruising department, the people hoarded grain and wine, took advantage of the late autumn cattle and sheep to grow the last layer of fat, slaughtered the cattle and sheep in the autumn wind, and dried them into dried meat for the winter to treat their own five internal organs temple.

After winter, it is not a big deal for the people of Zhuoni, but for the nomadic Qiang people, it is the hardest time of the year.

Liangzhou is not a rainy Jiangnan, where the north wind is howling in the endless desert, thousands of miles of yellow sand and thousands of miles of snow.

As long as there is a snowfall, it will be followed by a big snow day, and the snowflakes are as big as a seat, which is a portrayal of the heavy snow in Liangzhou.

After three or four such heavy snowfalls, the snow is not knees, the grassland is sparsely populated, the snow is difficult to eliminate, the horse's hooves slip and can't stand, the Qiang people are mainly nomadic herders, the snow covers the grassland, and the cattle and sheep can't even eat the autumn grass that is quickly frozen at the beginning of winter.

If there is no grass, it has become a big problem for cattle and sheep to survive the winter, and the Qiang people naturally set their sights on the city.

The border towns were also at the most tense moment at this time, they had dealt with the Qiang people for so many years, and they knew that the Qiang people were going to attack at this time.

Even Zhuoni did not dare to slack off in the slightest with the stationing of the guerrilla department, and the people spontaneously carried out war reserves, for fear that the harvest of the Qiang people in the past year would be ruined.

The soldiers of the Cruiser Department were relatively relaxed, they had dealt with the most elite and fierce Qiang iron cavalry, so naturally they looked down on these Qiang tribes who grabbed grain, and General Ma just ordered the whole army to strengthen its vigilance, and there was no follow-up, and he didn't even add one or two dark sentry night posts.

Wuwei after a storm, Changyou Pavilion.

At this time, the tavern named Changyou is at its busiest time of the year.

This small restaurant sells Liangzhou homemade wine three seasons a year, which is unremarkable, but in winter, the wine is still sold, but it is not the protagonist.

After the snow fell, whether it was Wuwei or the surrounding towns, there were people who rushed to Changyou Tavern with horses, not to drink the home-brewed wine of the sparse pine Pingqi, but to ask for a delicious meal.

This food is dog meat, but I don't know who the restaurant heard mention "Dog meat rolls three times, and the gods can't stand steadily." "The shopkeeper, who didn't have any ink in his stomach, had to be elegant and give him the name of fairy meat.

It is precisely because of this name that the villagers in the countryside have found out and praised it.

It turned out that the surname Gaomen scoffed, thinking that it was just a dish that the village man rarely went to the tavern several times a year to order, and later saw that the people who had eaten it were full of praise, which attracted a Wuwei son brother who couldn't hold on to taste a copy, amazed again and again, and wrote a poem for this, but the poem was written without literary brilliance and was not prevalent.

Asking this boy to eat this meat with his friends, it suddenly made the Changyou Pavilion famous, and then it became this scene, after the snow fell, as long as the top names of the Gaomen surnames rushed to the Changyou Tavern to taste the deliciousness.

The villagers also sighed with joy, there is no such blessing.

This fairy meat is strange compared to other families in the ingredients of the tavern owner, I heard that this is a family secret recipe.

The owner of this tavern is named Liu Changyou, he is sixty-one years old this year, but people still look capable, it is rumored that Liu Changyou was born in the Orion family when he was a teenager, and later enlisted in the army as a martial arts soldier.

After guarding the city gate for twenty years, he retreated, relying on his savings for many years to open this Changyou Tavern, selling some food, because the price is fair, there are also some repeat customers, plus the military background, some soldiers are also willing to talk to him, and the business is over.

After a few years, Liu Changyou, who was in his forties, made a joke about fairy meat, but he didn't expect to make his business boom, and he purchased his own small courtyard within two years, and his pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses were born in the new house.

With this family business, Liu Changyou is very satisfied, and his life is delicious.

Twenty years later, their children have grown up, and the house has expanded by I don't know how much, but the tavern has not changed at all, how big it was and how big it is now, the tables and chairs have been polished for decades, and the corners of the tables have been rounded.

His own son complained to him many times that it was time to expand the storefront, to change the place and build a few floors, and not to collect money every day. Every time the old man heard his son complain about his neck, he said: "If you want to be in charge, you have to wait for me to die!" ”

The choked son rolled his eyes but was helpless.

The old man is not able to work in old age, his eyes are spent, and his ears are back, but fortunately, he has already taught his children the secret recipe of the family, and the tavern is run by his own children, and he is also happy to look at it, and his greatest pleasure now is to wipe the table in the store, and when someone comes to praise him, he will laugh and say that he is very satisfied with eating and drinking.

His children are also angry, and they have perfectly inherited the craftsmanship of their old man, his daughter runs the tavern, and his son has opened a restaurant in the east of the city to make a lot of money, but the old man has never been to his son's restaurant, he is willing to stay in the tavern when he has nothing to do a day, wipe the table, and look at the tavern for decades There is a sense of intimacy.

After three rounds of drinking, the diners in the tavern began to chat, and the wine shop was originally the source of all kinds of gossip.

At this time, there were two men and two women sitting at the south table in the tavern, but they looked like they were in their early twenties, but there were a lot of embroidered bags and rings on their bodies.

One of the sons seems to have joined the army, and is boasting about his experience to the same table, what one step kills, two days a small battle, three days a big battle, and what he said that he cut off the head of the Qiang people with his own hands, etc., listening to the woman at the same table Qiushui listened to him without blinking, and the other son brother obviously belonged to the pampered master, seeing that the beauty he brought out was almost about to throw himself into the arms of this unashamed gentleman, his heart was depressed, and he naturally had a sour taste when he spoke, and when he heard how many Qiang people he had killed, Immediately said in a weird manner: "Li Xueqing, don't blow it, others don't know your details and can still be bluffed by you, I heard that you offended the son of your predecessor Assassin Shi, and you didn't even dare to go out of your house when you were blocked by others, and in the end you really couldn't stand it, so your father spent a lot of money and threw it into the army, but he was just a pawn who escorted grain and grass, what ten steps to kill a person, I'm afraid you haven't even seen the corpse of the Qiang people, what kind of atmosphere is blowing here?" ”

Li Xueqing was not annoyed by being exposed in person, but said with a smile: "What's the matter, don't you want to be so serious, you Tian Cheng haven't said anything big, although I am a grain and grass person, but it is also the famous Mobei Army!" You said that I haven't seen the corpses of the Qiang people, so you are wrong, you think you can sit back and relax by holding on to the grain and grass? Let me tell you, as long as the Qiang people can't please them head-on, they will immediately burn grain and grass in a roundabout way, and I can come back alive to see you Tian Cheng, which is considered to be the ancestor of Yin Virtue, and I also killed four or five Qiang people, how can I be afraid at that time, if you are afraid, you have to die, and the Qiang people will not be merciful to you. ”

"It's nothing for me to kill these Qiang people in the army, but now I'm back and have nightmares every day at night, all I see are bloody stumps and broken arms, hideous faces, and after such a long time, I finally recovered, and you don't allow me to talk big."

Tian Cheng was speechless and had to drink with his head shut down and ignore him.

But Li Xueqing's words aroused the curiosity of the other tables, and they all coaxed him to tell him about the strange things on the battlefield.

He was also happy to be flattered, drank a bowl of wine with a big grin, and began to talk about it from the beginning of his own army, one by one without reservation.

It took an hour to finish his career as a soldier.

The drinkers listened with embarrassment.

Someone asked: "The Qiang people have been in rebellion since ancient times, but now it is more rampant than ever, although the government has not seen any effect in the encirclement and suppression, this Liangzhou boundary is now hearing that the Qiang color has changed, brother, you can tell me whether this government is really encircled and suppressed." ”

Li Xueqing replied with a smile: "Brother, this is pure nonsense, although the government is useless, it is not a big deal, if the government is really as you said, and the Qiang people are complicit, then the Qiang people are not allowed to enter our Wuwei City, and we still have the kung fu to idle on the wine table?" ”

"I retired from the army is only a month or two, I also know some news, after the Dunhuang victory and the great victory of the underworld, the Qiang people will not act rashly for a while and a half, the Qiang people have been divided into a whole autumn, but now it is winter, the Qiang people are almost about to loot and prepare for the winter, I heard that the Liangzhou Thorn History will be stationed in the five parts of the Moze camp in the Qianghu haunted territory, and there is no intention to prepare for war, and the first person of the Dunhuang victory, General Ma Haoma, is stationed in Zhuoni to contain the Qiang people in the southwest and the Hule Department, Lushan Department to take care of each other, The southwest is almost impregnable, and the northernmost part is garrisoned by the northern part of the desert, and the Qiang people do not dare to run long distances, so I am afraid that the Qiang people will be sad this winter. ”

Someone argued: "How can the Qiang people give up, in the first two wars, the Qiang people lost so many men and horses, can they not hold grudges?" Maybe you're grinding your teeth in the dark at this time. ”

Li Xueqing glanced at the middle-aged villager who accosted him in surprise and said: "What the brother said is not unreasonable, it depends on who has the better chess strength on both sides, but this has nothing to do with us ordinary people!" ”

The drinkers burst out laughing.

Incompatible with the atmosphere of the tavern is the northernmost table, one person and one table, there is wine and food on the table, the dish is not moved, the wine is empty and several pots have been added, and there is a simple knife on the side of the leg, no one dares to approach the cold, but he also falls at ease, he listens to the wine while drinking.

And so it was until it was getting dark, and he threw down a handful of broken silver, and then walked out of the tavern with a knife, and stepped on a large horse and went away.

The drinkers were still talking and laughing, and they didn't notice the strange person who occupied the table to leave, only the old man smiled and watched him leave.

The wind and snow are temporarily resting, Zhuoni is difficult to get out of the sun, the snow melts a little under the sun, and it looks more mellow and white, the mountains are full of water, the white expanse, it is empty, it is the scene of thousands of mountains and birds, and thousands of paths are extinguished.

Ma Hao recently became interested in the snow scene for some reason, the first thing every day is to catch two people halfway to freeze together, the beautiful name is to enjoy the snow, and sometimes he even chirps crookedly to make up two sour poems, and the three brothers of Gan Yi have become the most caught by him, the three brothers are now made big by General Ma, not only ran to the mountain where the bird does not in the early morning to enjoy the snow, but also had to pinch his nose and praise the good poetry, this day is really aggrieved, so the three of them simply hid, and waited for General Ma to go out again, And the others also followed suit and avoided General Ma.

In this way, Ma Hao was not embarrassed to stand alone on the top of the mountain, but he didn't think so, and he still appreciated it.

Not long after the winter, Zhuoni, a small frontier city, was white inside and out, most of the people nearby have the tradition of renovating their houses in the winter leisure season, one is looking forward to a good omen in the coming year, and the other is to strengthen the house to resist the raging wind and snow in the northwest, and the cruising department as a local garrison is also doing things for the local people, repairing the houses, reinforcing the warehouse, these are naturally nothing, the people of Zhuoni are also accustomed to living with these garrisons, happy and harmonious.

According to the report of the Assassin's Office, most of the Qiang people are in the northern region and have no trouble, so Ma Hao can enjoy the snow boringly. At dawn on this day, Zhuo Ni ushered in a person who accompanied his general to enjoy the snow - Shen Tishan.

This general of the Hule Department is the same as Yang Yan, and he is an old acquaintance with Ma Hao.

Although the three of them are chest and back to each other on the battlefield and cooperate tacitly, but in private, Shen Tishan and General Ma have a better relationship, and Yang Yan is naturally not very foeful with rough people like Ma Hao.

This Shen Tishan has a tall figure, a bronze complexion, and a beard, just like an ancient evil.

He joined the army for the children of a good family, a knife and a gun to fight to a general, of course he is not a good person, to line up the most hated people of the Qiang people to this person in the top three, he is not only ruthless to the enemy but also to himself, Ma Hao has seen this person ride a big horse, charge into battle with a horse lance, his eyes are blood-red and kill people when he sees them, causing his own soldiers to dare not approach him.

Once lost his horse on the battlefield, Shen Tishan was surrounded by the enemy's three layers of three layers of regiments, and when the soldiers desperately killed the rescue, they found that this person was standing on a lance, the horse lance had already been soaked into dark black, emitting a black light, and Shen Tishan was also covered with knife wounds, and his body was full of feather arrows, and the enemy army besieging him was not left, all became the flesh under his feet.

Afterwards, it is said that it was the ancestral treasure armor that saved him, and the terrible trauma did not kill him.

Later, he became the general of the Hule Department and entered the list of the five powerful captains in Liangzhou.

Since he became a general, the Qiang people secretly ranked his name in the must-kill list, although he was a must-kill person, but the Qiang people did not dare to easily provoke this person, and they knew that this person was a ruthless person with one enemy and one hundred.

So at this moment of tranquility, Shen Tishan left his army and came to Zhuoni to have a small gathering with Ma Hao.

Ma Hao watched Shen Tishan turn over and dismount with a big grin, handed over the reins to the little guy, walked towards Ma Hao by himself, and said with a smile: "General Ma has been doing well recently." ”

Ma Hao looked at Shen Tishan, who was dressed in military uniform, and scolded with a smile: "I won't worry about you, you said that you came to drink with me, what do you mean by wearing this broken copper and iron, what, you want to arrest me and cut off my head." ”

Shen Tishan patted his armor and said, "Isn't this for my own life." ”

Ma Hao was angry with him, and said: "When did you Shen Tishan spare your life, you went to the battlefield like a mad dog, who was arrested and who was killed, and I didn't see you take a step back when you were shot into a hedgehog, what kind of medicine did you take today?" ”

Shen Tishan's black face turned red and whispered: "I don't know what's wrong with me, I used to be not afraid of heaven and earth, even the tiger's den dared to dig out the tiger, but now I am looking forward and backward, and I can't say what the reason is." ”

Ma Hao said angrily: "I see, it is the position of the general of this ministry that is harmed, and your kid is in love with being an official, so naturally he will not be as stupid as when he was a nobody." ”

As soon as Shen Tishan heard this, he immediately argued: "I don't like to hear what you say, am I a person who loves to be an official?" At the beginning, you also knew that it was Lord Thorn Shi who forced me to sit in this position, didn't you also help Lord Thorn Shi persuade me, do you think I want to be promoted like Yang Yan? Ma Hao's expression softened and said, "Okay, okay, I said the wrong thing, it's my fault, then you can tell me what you're afraid of now?" ”

Shen Tishan pondered for a moment and said, "What am I afraid of? I'm afraid of death, it doesn't matter if I die, I don't have any family drag, it's good to bury where to die, but I'm afraid of being poked in the backbone by the brothers who go first, to tell you the truth, I often see my suffering brothers in my sleep, all the faces are very sad, what I am worried about, what are the suffering, they look at me so sadly without saying a word, look at it and turn away when they have seen enough, they turn their heads and leave, I just watch them crippled and leave. ”

"When I woke up, my heart was congested, and my head was empty. My poor brother gave his life to the battlefield, and the orphans and widows left behind could not be ignored, their widows were my parents, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, I was afraid that as soon as I died, they would be ignored, as soon as I thought of them, I was afraid of death, I was afraid that I would not be able to take care of them, and I would have no face to see people after I died, anyway, I think I am cowardly now, but I can only go on like this......" Shen Tishan did not finish speaking, his eyes were red and he choked up.

Ma Hao sighed and said, "Who isn't, isn't it careless." ”

Ma Hao wiped the corners of his eyes, pulled up Shen Tishan, who was squatting on the ground and choking, and said boldly: "Okay, okay, wipe away your tears and don't let the brothers under the spring laugh, you came to me to drink, I don't want to see you crying here." ”

He dragged Shen Tishan and walked to the house, shouting to let the waiter prepare wine and food as he walked, and then asked Lao Chen to come over and make some scallion oil noodles, eating, drinking and having fun.

After the sunset, the tired birds return to the forest.

Shen Tishan and Ma Hao, who had a small gathering for a day, ended the banquet and drink, both prepared horses, the army could not be without generals for a day, Shen Tishan did not dare to slack off for a few days, and returned to the army naturally while the sky was still bright, and Ma Hao led the horse to send him out of the city.

With two horsemen at the head and twenty followers behind them, a puff of smoke and dust rose from the street and galloped out of the city.

Ma Hao sent Shen Tishan all the way to Yinmachuan, ten miles outside Zhuoni City, and after cherishing his farewell, Shen Tishan took his entourage to the dust.

Ma Hao rode and watched them go away until they became small spots, and then turned his horse back to the city.

This is going and suffering, and returning is going to be gone.

Shen Tishan is still a general, and he is still a burden-bearing person, but he doesn't know when he will meet again.