There is a verdant and lush mountain thirty miles away from Chang'an, which is not very high, and the place of this horse Pingchuan can be regarded as an independent branch, and the scenery is beautiful.

This place has been bought by the Sergeant Gongjin Association and entrusted to the direct management of the General's Mansion. From the Guanlong Avenue next to it, you can see a huge gate standing at the foot of the mountain, dark gray granite with white jade, plus the eaves and beams, it looks solemn and serene.

Walking through the gate is the right road paved with terrazzo bluestone, and the grass on both sides is planted with pines and cypresses, like two rows of sentinels standing there, swaying slightly in the whirring morning breeze, for fear of disturbing the quiet atmosphere here.

Zeng Hua's footsteps were also very light, walking on the righteous path step by step, and his body also appeared with the righteous path from time to time under the shade of the trees and the darkness of the dawn. After walking through a short stretch of the road, I saw a staircase of less than ten steps, leading to a clearing. The two sergeants of the Veterans stood on both sides of the entrance of the stairs with horizontal swords at their waists and spears in their hands, and the black infantry armor on their bodies set off the surrounding environment and looked extremely dignified. They wore the standard gray-black disc inverted helmets of the Beifu Infantry Army, the two ropes of the helmet passed through their ears, tied under their chins, and firmly tied the helmet to their heads, and a white strip of cloth was wrapped under the top of the spear tip helmet in the middle, and the short cloth belt fluttered slowly in the wind.

Seeing Zeng Hua and the others coming, the two sergeants did not move at all, and their eyes were still looking into the distance.

Walking up the steps, a platform paved entirely of terrazzo marble suddenly appeared in front of everyone. The clearing was made of a single block of marble, lying there like a black mirror. Walk on this flat and smooth stone face. All of them didn't dare to exert themselves, only to hold their breath lightly and carefully collect their steps.

Directly in the middle of the platform is a stone wall, carved out of granite. The statue protruding above is clearly visible, a sergeant wearing the armor of the Beifu Infantry is kneeling weakly on the ground, the horizontal knife held upside down in his right hand is stuck in the ground, and the left hand is hidden on the side and only the palm of the hand is on the right wrist.

The sergeant's helmet was thrown aside, revealing a loose bun. The cloth towel that wraps the hair is still hanging from the bun. The other side hangs down on the shoulder. The black armor on his body was also very broken. Several traces of the breach can be clearly seen, revealing the cloth inside. But the most conspicuous thing was the five arrows in front of him, which were stuck in his shoulder, abdomen and chest, and those who had been on the battlefield could see at a glance how deep these arrows were inserted from the length of the exposed arrows, and this sergeant was already at the last moment of his life.

The sergeant struggled to hold the horizontal knife in his hand and looked into the distance as best he could. And in front of this sergeant has fallen a Beifu sergeant. The fallen Beifu sergeant was lying on the ground, his right hand clenching the horizontal sword. The blade stretched far forward, leaving a long trail of blood on its crawling body. Although we couldn't see the face of the sergeant in front of him, we could see that his target was also ahead, beyond the far front of the stone wall relief.

But behind these two sergeants, countless comrades were brandishing steel knives, spears in hand, instigating mounts, and waving flags, and were rushing towards the distance that these two sergeants longed for.

It's obvious. On the stone wall on the right there were only two sergeants kneeling and prostrate. The stone wall on the left is carved with dozens of charging sergeants, and there are thousands of sergeants looming in the background, all piled up in the relatively small space on the left half of the wall. A picture of thousands of troops and horses charging bravely. The scene of the flags pointing forward appeared on the left side of the stone wall.

Intense, cruel, hot-blooded, dignified, all kinds of feelings are intertwined on this stone wall that is only more than ten meters long, making people can't help but have tears in their eyes.

Zeng Hua walked to the front of the stone wall and stopped, bent down deeply and bowed three times, and Wang Meng, Che Yin, Pu and Zhang behind him also bent down and saluted. After the salute, the two sergeants who accompanied him carried a wreath to the front of the stone wall. Zeng Hua gently touched the base of the stone wall, whispered a few words, and then turned to leave, walking around the stone wall.

Leaving the stone wall, walking through more than 60 steps, passing through several rows of dense pine and cypress trees, what appeared in front of everyone was a mausoleum like a terraced field. In the green grass, there are thousands of white tombs arranged in an orderly manner around the mountain to the top of the mountain, and in front of each tomb there is a small marble clearing, on which stands a gray-black stone tombstone, on which is engraved the name of the tomb owner, the date of birth and death, and simple deeds.

Zeng Hua walked a few steps and walked to the front row of tombs. He carefully looked at each of the names on the tombstone, the names on them were so familiar and unfamiliar, after looking at twenty or thirty in a row, Zeng Hua found that the owners of these names were all old subordinates of the Changshui Army, and they all had an impression, but they had forgotten who they were.

In the end, Zeng Hua couldn't hold back his tears, and finally knelt down in front of a tombstone, crying loudly.

Wang Meng and the others behind him hurriedly stepped forward, supported Zeng Hua, and kept comforting: "General, please mourn." ”

Zeng Hua shook his head and said in a choked voice: "In the second year of Yonghe, I was ordered to form the Changshui Army in Frustration, and I interviewed more than 4,000 sergeants one by one, and the scene at that time is still vivid. Those faces still appear in my dreams from time to time, and only 1,242 people have survived since the beginning of the 3,000-strong expedition to the west. And there are also 729 people lying in this Xishan cemetery. ”

"Back then, they swore an oath with me, raised the flag to the west, lived and died together, and fought on the battlefield. More than ten years have passed, and I have accumulated high merit, but all they have obtained is a handful of loess. The most hateful thing is that I was able to call the names of half of the 3,000 soldiers under my command back then, but I can't remember any of them here. In this way, in more than ten years, who will remember these martyrs except their relatives? ”

Wang Meng and others behind him all knew that Zeng Hua was a man of temperament, and he treated his subordinate soldiers as brothers and nephews, otherwise he would not have raised his arms and shouted, and there were countless people who should go to the dead.

Zeng Hua's crying today should have triggered him by the solemn atmosphere here, which made him feel so much.

"General. Taishi Gong once said that people are inherently dead, or heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than Hongmao, and the use of it tends to be different. If these people can follow the general and serve the country's court, they can be regarded as dying, and it is much better than dying in troubled times. Pu Di's words made Zeng Hua slowly calm down.

"When I stood at the foot of Nanshan (Qinling) in Siping County, I saw locusts covering the sky and the sun. See the corpse of Mandao. And the one that was all over the ground

.. Filled with despair, why should I go to all the trouble to > from the West to do this? I kept asking myself, but after I killed the first Zhao sergeant with a knife, I knew in my heart that I had to save my life first. When I fled to Jingxiang with my two brothers and thousands of displaced people, I was heavily promoted by Liu Gong and Huan Gongqi. gradually became a high-ranking official, and I gradually discovered my talents, went to war, dismounted to govern the people, and was sincerely afraid, lest I neglect my duties. ”

Speaking of this, Zeng Hua couldn't help patting the tombstone behind him: "When more and more people follow me, I also know that the greater the power." The greater the responsibility. ”

"With great power comes great responsibility!" Wang Meng muttered. Finally, he nodded solemnly, "General, I finally understand." In the past, I always felt that the general had a unique charm. No matter who you are, as long as you have a relationship, you will be deeply attracted and become a confidant. Now I understand that it is this sense of responsibility and sincerity that has infected many people and served their subordinates. ”

"Mr. Jingluo, don't say me too lofty, I'm just letting everyone understand what they live and why they die? Let them know that they still have a lot of blood! Zeng Hua looked at the purple sky in the east, and said leisurely: "No matter how great the strength of one person is, he can only lift hundreds of catties, but the strength of tens of millions of people gathered together can raze the entire Huashan." ”

"And the most admirable thing about the military master is that he can unite hundreds of millions of people in several states with the power of one person." Che Yin couldn't help but answer at this time.

Zeng Hua looked at Wang Meng, Che Yin, and Pu beside him, and because of his concern for himself, he spoke out to comfort himself, but Zhang, who was not good at words, looked anxious and worried, for fear that he would not be able to think of "hitting the stone tablet" for a while.

Zeng Hua sat in front of the tomb, waved his hand and said, "Don't be too anxious, Zeng just had a momentary seizure." I think I have raised the flag for ten years, and the number of people who have followed me is hundreds of thousands, many of them do not understand what national righteousness is, do not understand what it means to sacrifice their lives for the country, many of them just miss my little kindness, and shed their blood for my words; Some people were inspired by my call to expel Hu Lu, and left their homes and relatives, and traveled from all over the world. If I don't give them honor, don't make a name for them, and let their deeds spread all over the world and be engraved in the history books, how can I stand between heaven and earth? ”

Zeng Hua suddenly thought of something, touched the tombstone in front of him, squinted his eyes and said, "Lin Dayue, I remembered." He was originally a homeless person from Xuchang, Yuzhou, and joined the Changshui Army in Jingxiang. He once served as a Mo swordsman to follow me to conquer Chengdu in Shuzhong, then to Liangzhou and Qinzhou, and later followed me to conquer Guanlong, and was the first to enter Chang'an with the heroic Flying Tiger Battalion. Who knew that Yonghe was in the rebellion in Fuxian County in the eighth year, but he was hit by a bad arrow. Thirty years of fame, dust and earth, eight thousand miles of clouds and moons, there is no vigorous record, it is an arrow shot out of nowhere, and suddenly stops his life. ”

Zeng Hua let out a long sigh and continued to squint his eyes and said, "There are only a few heroes, but more are people like Lin Dayue, who suddenly disappeared among us. But victory is not decided by one or two heroes, but by thousands of Lin Dayue's desperate death, but how many Lin Dayue can we remember? ”

At this moment, the sun leaped majestically out of the purple sky, revealing a huge red fireball. It was dawn, and at the same time as the sun was rising, a melodious vocal music was heard in the distance, solemn and magnificent.

Hearing this, Zeng Hua hurriedly stood up and said in the direction of Chang'an: "It's time for the Holy Prayer!" "Today is the second day of the second month of the second month, the day when the Holy Lord Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven with the dragon, and it is also a very grand and solemn holy service in the Holy Religion.

Zeng Hua was the leader, and everyone fell to their knees almost at the same time, facing north. With the loud and melodious bells from Chang'an, and the faint shouts of high salutes, everyone bowed down reverently facing the north. The rising morning sun cast an endless red light on the backs of the people who were prostrate on the ground, and cast them on the tombstones beside them.

In front of the tombstone of the martyrs, Zeng Hua and others knelt down to the north and recited silently three times, and then stood up. Zeng Hua tightly held the hands of Wang Meng and Che Yin on the left and right, while Wang Meng and Che Yin's hands held the hands of Pu and Zhang respectively, facing the north, quietly looking forward to it.

After a while, with the wind, a burst of vocal music from the drum bowl and piano came from Chang'an, and behind the music came a loud and majestic singing, and Zeng Hua and others couldn't help but sing together: ""The great ancestor, Wuhua Zhaozao." Yan Yan worships Mian, Yue Ehe Hao. Wise and wise, the light is deserted. Build this great cause and stand majestically in the East. The vicissitudes of the world have changed, and the middle has fallen. The more millennium, the more contemptuous of virtue. Heluo is not guarded, and the Central Plains is a ruin. And Yongyan Ji, there are so many unjust souls! Feed the enemy with the people, and the enemy's desire is not enough? Hu clings to the rope, I am a slave. Yiwei is my ancestor, the hero of life. The deer fights, and the district is in peace. How can its seedlings not be martial: a big country, let it be reduced? All the people are united, and the sword is fighting. Thousands of miles rugged, serving the country. Frequent years of hard fighting, ready for adventure. The fierce beard is not exhausted, why do you want to be at home? Defend my China, and shine my China. Work hard and proclaim to the Holy Lord! ”

The tune is very simple, but the ups and downs are very generous, majestic and majestic. The singing voices of Zeng Hua and others were mixed with the voices of hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an singing at the same time, and the sound of the sky not only shook the entire Weizhong Plain centered on Chang'an, but also shook this quiet West Mountain. In the midst of the song, everyone stood in front of the tombstone of the martyr with their heads held high, facing the north, clenched their fists, and shouted the song "Sacrifice of the Holy Lord Yellow Emperor" from their chests with all their might. In this earth-shattering song, everyone's blood suddenly boiled.

And the rising sun reflects the whole body of the people red, as if bathed in heat. And everyone shook hands in the singing, like a phoenix in the flames. The song grew louder and louder, and soon it rushed into the clouds like the sun, and the golden sunlight filled the heavens and the earth.

Long after the singing, everyone was still standing, not yet recovering from the sacrament that had just been served. Hundreds of thousands of saints sang prayer songs at the same time, expressing their faith and pride in their hearts, and these hundreds of thousands of people expressed the same faith. One person's singing voice may be intoxicating, but the same singing voice of hundreds of thousands of people can shock and dright, perhaps this is the power of unity and unity.

When Zeng Hua was still there looking into the distance, Wang Meng stepped forward and said, "General, the military parade is about to begin, and more than 10,000 soldiers are waiting for your review!" ”

Zeng Hua turned his head when he heard the sound, nodded and replied, "Yes, we should go and continue what we have to do." ”