Twilight.

The sun is all over the mountains.

The half-withered autumn grass looks like gold in the sunset, gold everywhere; The official road made of stone slabs stretched forward, like strings of white jade in a pile of gold.

The wind is blowing, the birds are chirping, and the autumn insects are whispering, blending into a sound that is more beautiful than music, it is as wonderful as a lover's whisper in the ear.

The mountains are filled with the fragrance of flowers, grass, and wind. Even the sunset seems to be dyed with fragrance, fragrant like the soft hair of a lover's sideburns.

"The world is so fragrant, so wonderful!"

In this romantic atmosphere like poetry, suddenly a more and more immature praise came.

"Ahh Phew, where did you learn this bullshit, it makes me sick to hear! Before the praise fell, a person immediately blew up, raised his voice and shouted!

"Oops! Shao Dongjia..."The voice that was still sighing just now was obviously taken aback, and his tone was somewhat blamed, but the latter words became embarrassed again, and he continued to speak.

"This is when Lord Zhongcheng and Nanshi were talking in Yongqiu City, I overheard it, hehe..."

"Yo drink, you broken boy, this is spying on the military? Aren't you afraid that I will instigate you to report you, ask someone to arrest you, and then hang you up and beat you? ”

One hastened to explain, and the other did not relent.

"Oh, they said it in the city, it just happened to be my turn to stand guard, I thought it was very good and very knowledgeable, so I secretly wrote it down, and if I could survive in the future, I would teach it to my baby!"

"What do you think, look at this formation, and you still want to go back alive? Do you still want to teach your baby to study? Tut-tut, if you dream of marrying a daughter-in-law and want to be beautiful, Nanshi may not be able to survive, let alone the two of us ......"

"yes...... There are so many thieves......"

The two voices of conversation stopped at this point, leaving only the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled with autumn grass. And on the golden ground covered with autumn grass were scattered corpses, with stumps and severed arms all over the ground, and the flesh and blood were blurred all over the field. The corpses all looked frightened and did not blink to death, they were wearing uniform standard armor, but their appearances were different, most of them were barbarians with obvious appearance characteristics, and only a few dozen were ordinary Han people. These soldiers, who had turned into dead spirits, died in a miserable state, and an incomplete corpse lay three or five steps apart. Most of the dead men were split in two, with the left half of their bodies on one side and the right half of their bodies thrown on the other. Some of the people were still holding their hands on the hilt of the knife, and before the knife was unsheathed, it was split into two pieces diagonally by the attacker from shoulder to waist, and the internal organs flowed to the ground, and the armor on the body was like paper paste under the thunderous bombardment of the attacker, and the cut surface was smooth. Some people's blades are out of the sheath, and even carry out a parry counterattack, but the effect is very little, the death is not avoidable, the blocking knife is even broken, in comparison, the knife is not so miserable, at least the body is complete, but the wound on the neck is still shocking. The autumn meadow of the abbot for several miles was covered with fallen sergeants, and the blackened blood was sprinkled on the golden ground, like bewitching flowers, beautiful and enchanting.

On the contrary, not far away, on the official road that was polished as white jade, there was a row of corpses of sergeants in bright armor neatly placed. Next to the corpse was a group of sergeants wearing the same armor combat boots and carrying horizontal knives at their waists, these people sat on the ground, in groups of three or five, looking at those comrades-in-arms lying on the official road, without sorrow or joy, and in a few words. The old sergeant smoked his pipe, chirp, chirp, and the green smoke was vigorously pumped into his lungs along the stem, and then exhaled a thick white smoke from his mouth and nose. The fully burned tobacco exudes a unique fragrance that fills the air, burrows into everyone's nostrils, and dilutes the thick smell of blood mixed with the autumn fragrance of flowers and plants.

The two fifteen or sixteen-year-old young sergeants who were arguing just now, with slightly lower bodies and thicker bodies, were called by another dark-skinned young sergeant to be the young owner, and the young owner was also silent at this time, and the interest of the swarthy young man just now had turned into the depth of gazing at the remnant sun. In this way, the two boys, like the others, stopped talking, leaned against the tree, bent their legs, and watched the sun together and hid little by little into the mountains.

Finally out of sight......

"Alright, send the brothers on their way!"

A tall middle-aged lieutenant stood up and shouted, and everyone quickly stood up after hearing the order, lined up in several columns in an orderly manner, and followed the officer towards his comrades on the official road. Coming to his comrades lying on the official road, the lieutenant untied the burlap bag in his arms, took out two white candles, a small handful of incense sticks, a dozen talismans, and some dried melons and fruits, lit the incense candles with a fire fold, inserted them in the soil, picked up the talismans again, lit them one by one, and read in his mouth:

"The edict of the Taishang, the lonely soul of Chaoru, the ghost of everything, the four lives are gracious. The headless one is super, the headless one rises, the gun is killed, and the diving rope is suspended. Bright death and secret death, unjust death, creditors and wronged families, begging for their lives. Kneeling in front of the stage, the gossip shines, stands out, and transcends others. For men and women, they bear their own responsibilities, rich and poor, and you recruit yourself. Rescue and other people, rush to overbirth, rescue and other people, rush to overbirth. Get out of the sea of suffering and be reincarnated as an adult ......"

The other sergeants behind him stared at the burning incense candles, their eyes sharp, their cheeks sinking deeper into their thin faces because of their clenched gums.

The middle-aged officer finally burned the yellow paper talisman, took a deep breath, and shouted:

"Kneeling ......"

The dozens of sergeants behind him listened to the order, and they were in unison, kneeling on their legs and straightening their waists. There were no whimpering in the silent air, only the sound of teeth clenching and fists clenching, and the autumn wind did not dare to blow.

After a long time, the lieutenant plucked the wine bag from his waist, poured it in front of the dried fruit that had been arranged, and shouted:

"Send ......"

The sergeant behind him threw his head heavily on the ground with his fists on the ground, and a group of people kowtowed three times, then lowered their heads and never raised them again.

After another long time, the captain shouted:

"...... Start"

The sergeant behind him slowly raised his head when he heard this, and then his eyes looked at the comrades lying in front of him, with tears in his eyes, and stood up.

The two of them came to the side of a corpse in a group, put away the Mo knife next to the corpse, took off the armor and helmet, sorted out the clothes inside, wiped the military boots on the feet, and after cleaning up, stuffed a copper coin in each person's mouth, covered their faces with a white cloth, carefully carried it to the firewood that had been piled up early, poured fire oil, lit the firewood, and coldly watched the flames swallow the bodies of their comrades...

Person-determined.

It was pitch black.

A team of dozens of people drove two ox carts, pulled armor blades, set up the front and rear formations, and silently walked towards the giant city not far away. Most of them carried a cloth bag on their backs, and the cloth bag contained the ashes of their comrades.

The officer led several people to hang at the back of the group, the knives were unsheathed, the arrows were wound, and the three of them formed a small team back to back, each team was more than ten feet apart, and moved forward quickly.

It was late at night, and the autumn insects were no longer squirming, only the rustling of military boots across the tips of the grass.

The swarthy boy and his young boss formed a battle circle with another veteran in his forties, distributed in the right rear of the team. Shao Dongjia held a horizontal knife in his right hand, the blade was attached to the outside of his left chest, the blade of the knife never left the midline of his body, his head was slightly lowered, he bent over and lunged forward like a wolf, and his eyes were staring at the dark ink night like an eagle falcon. Although he moved quickly, his heart was as calm as water, and his whole body flowed with circles of air currents that could not be seen by ordinary people, rippling in all directions.

The veteran is also a general action, but the drawing of the knife has been replaced by the holding of the crossbow. The left hand holds the crossbow arm, the right finger is buckled on the hanging knife, the arrows on the crossbow arm swing synchronously in the arrow groove with the swing of the body, the veteran's left eye is slightly closed, the right eye is facing the mountain, and the amazing elasticity on the bowstring is ready to charge a blow at any time.

The swarthy boy is holding a shield in his left hand, hiding his right hand in front of his chest, holding a stone that is as sharp as an arrow in his hand, his lips are closed, his ears are forward, and he is catching the sounds coming from his surroundings at any time.

The three of them were back to back, constantly rotating forward rapidly, and in the dark ink under their feet, they encountered foreign objects such as stones, wooden branches, and gently crossed over as if they had seen them, and pushed forward quickly and closely.

Suddenly, a deep crow chirped in the silence of the night.

The whole team of people instantly shot several feet away like arrows, everyone immediately half-squatted down, their hands stopped, slowly pulled out the saber on their bodies, and the cattle quickly hugged the cow's neck and patted gently, and their mouths were attached to the cow's ears and they were panting regularly, calming the cattle moving forward, and the whole team melted into the night like the air was still in a dozen breaths. The tall lieutenant moved quickly and silently to the first ox cart, and at this moment a man was crouching on the side of the wheel, and the lieutenant reached out and patted the man on the back, two times and two times heavier. The man received the inquiry code from his boss, adjusted his breathing, and even made a crow-like chirping sound from his mouth.

After a few breaths, two short wild boar snorts were heard in the distance, and the man next to the lieutenant adjusted his breathing again, and the sound came from his throat, making a long deer chirp. Soon, the cooing of owls could be heard in the distance, and the man in the group echoed the first crow chirp. The lieutenant patted the man on the back again, the first time it was heavy, and the second time it was urgent and light. The man adjusted his breathing and shouted:

"Impermanence"

The person on the other side replied: "Spring, summer, autumn and winter"

The man asked, "Which mountain has the most immortals?"

The person on the other side replied: "Fight the tiger tonight!" ”

The man turned to the officer and said, "Head, it's my third senior brother who came to answer them." When the lieutenant heard this, he stood up and whispered to the surroundings:

"The person who answered has arrived, and the order is to go down and move forward quickly!"

Hearing the captain's order, the people in the team returned to their original positions one after another, and quickly moved forward with their knives and cattle carts. The lieutenant returned to the back of the group, escorting the team with three squads. After advancing so quickly for several miles, the person who answered heard the sound, gave a whistle, and answered here:

"Third Senior Brother?"

The third senior brother jumped out of hiding with a short blade in his hand, and quickly came to his junior brother's side.

"Sixth, is it going well?"

"It's going well, the barbarian didn't come, we are in the back."

"That's good......"

Between the words, the sound of ox carts pressing over the leaves could be faintly heard. At this time, the burly lieutenant had already come to the front of the line, and the third senior brother who answered also called out the leading officer in their group, and the officer asked:

"Lao Guo, is it done?"

The burly lieutenant greeted him: "It's okay, one is down!" ”

"That's good, Lord Zhongcheng is still waiting for you and your brothers."

As he spoke, the two teams of men and horses had merged into one, without any pause, and hurried towards the defending city in front.

After a while, the light from the torches on the west gate could be faintly seen.

When they arrived at the bottom of the city, the scouts had already reported, and the sergeants defending the city saw that they were all familiar faces, lowered the drawbridge, opened the city gates, and welcomed the team into the city. When the three-person team in charge of the escort also entered the urn city, the soldiers in the city quickly pulled up the drawbridge, closed the city gate, and were on full alert.

On the head of the city gate under the light of the fire, the knife is engraved with two big characters:

"Suiyang"

When the hard pine gate fork that was several inches thick and wrapped in iron pages, and stepped on the concave and convex axle bluestone pavement that had been pressed out of the city gate hole for a long time, all the people in the whole team breathed a sigh of relief, and the highly tense nerves and the body that was holding its breath in silence were really relaxed at this moment, and everyone couldn't help but move their joints to adapt to the sudden sour feeling, and everyone was silently chanting in their hearts, "This trip to the ghost gate is a trip!" "Although this kind of action is almost ten days before it is their turn, it stands to reason that they are already familiar with the road, and the old horse knows the way, but after all, it is a life-threatening errand, they are just cleaning the battlefield, and they are not fighting with those barbarians head-on, they have died like this, think about the brothers in the assault battalion led by the Southern Division, that is really ten deaths!

When all the men and horses had passed through the urn city and entered the main city school field, the burly captain said to all the sergeants:

"All the sergeants obey the order, those who carry the bones go to the memory office to deliver, those who carry the knife go to the Modao battalion, and the rest of the chariots and horses and military assets go to the baggage place to deliver, and the scouts belong to the headquarters of the station, there must be no mistakes!"

The sergeants should assemble:

"No"!

When everyone had gone their own way, the swarthy boy and his young owner followed the other scouts to their residence. The torches on the city wall swayed in the wind, and the guards patrolling the city head also walked back and forth in an orderly manner, and the swarthy boy and the young owner began to unbuckle their leather armor while walking back, took off their helmets, and talked in a slightly relaxed whisper:

"Did you kid get any good stuff today?"

"No, those barbarians didn't die any rich people today, they were all poor goods of thieves and thieves, and they didn't get anything good inside and out?"

"Yo? It's really fake, you kid is a Pixiu, everything is in your arms, and this time the thief is empty? Why don't I believe it? Honestly, is there any? I don't have to worry about your three melons and two dates, and I don't want to recruit the young owner! ”

The swarthy boy was a little anxious, and he held his throat as he spoke, pulling it into his arms.

"Really, those thieves are getting more and more ghosts now, I just fished some mutton jerky, supported my belly, and hid some, do you want it?"

Looking at such an embarrassed and nervous companion, this so-called young owner waved his hand.

"Don't dig me, I don't want it, I also seized some things to fill my stomach when I was cleaning at noon, and now the armament is in storage, and I put it in my arms!"

"Shaodong, you are now like Lord Zhongcheng, you have learned to use those cultured words, and I will use them in the future, you will be extravagant when you listen to it!"

The swarthy young man has a black heart and knows how to pat on the back.

"Hammer, that's called hard gas! You fancy Lord Cheng and Master Lei Xian, that's called extravagance, and I will be like Lord Zhongcheng in the future, and be a big man! ”

"I don't want to be Lord Zhongcheng, I want to be like Nanshi in the future, and be the most powerful general!"

Listening to the proud words of his companion, Shao Dongjia squinted at the follower next to him who had known him for more than ten years, dark and stocky, with a wooden face, his face was not pleasing at all, and he wanted to be the majestic and world-famous general.

"Hmph, you're ridiculous to me, just like you, you still want to be like Nanshi, Nanshi is the best in the world, you have this temperament, it's okay to learn Xu Taishou to be a rich man!"

"Xu Taishou is good, but people are too picky, and it is easy to say that he is such a big rich man."

Hearing the words of the black boy, the young owner habitually went up.

"Picking? Can you be a rich man without picking the door? Haven't you heard that? The poorer the more generous, and the richer the richer the more they are to die! ”

This obviously bullshit truth can be used to fool this poor black boy, which is naturally more than enough, don't you see that this stupid boy was stunned by himself.

"Then why don't you pick the young owner, your family's industry is so big, I don't see how much you pick?"

"Alas, you don't understand it, what about money, you have to be able to spend it to earn it, and the more you spend, the more you earn!"

This time the black boy was completely convinced, and sure enough, there was a mess in the clouds.

"Young owner, if you are still smart, I won't spend money, let alone make money."

"Don't be a sycophant, it's not smart to be your kid's young owner!"

The two of them just talked about the lack of water, and walked towards their barracks while taking off their armor and hats. Between the words, the two had already returned to their residences, washed casually in the courtyard, opened the door, closed the door, and did not turn on the lamp, so they climbed onto the kang in the dark, and after a while, they were already snoring like thunder.

The burly lieutenant here has walked to the inner city alone, after the city gate, a row of double-storey pavilions stands in the middle, surrounded by personal soldiers with torches to patrol, the burly lieutenant put his steps heavy, made a knocking stampede, the patrolling soldiers heard the sound, quickly stepped forward to see who was coming, and after seeing clearly, he put down the horizontal knife that had been unsheathed in his hand, and bowed and said:

"General Guo!"

The burly lieutenant replied and asked:

"Lord Zhongcheng, do you want to rest?"

The pro-soldier hurriedly replied:

"Lord Zhongcheng has an order, saying that he is waiting for you in the study!"

The burly lieutenant nodded when he heard this, and walked towards the attic. The easternmost hall on the first floor of the attic was as usual, the lights were bright, and there was a faint sound of verbal conversation, and the burly captain walked quickly to the door of the hall, dressed up in armor, and held the hilt of the sword at his waist, and then said inside:

"Lord Zhongcheng, the last general will come to restore his life."

The people in the door heard the sound, someone came to open the door quickly, opened the door, the candlelight of the room was reflected in the burly captain's bright eyes, the person who came looked at the captain's resolute face, stepped forward, and raised his hand to put his arm around the captain:

"Yuan Zhen is back, come in."

The burly lieutenant followed the man into the main hall. The main hall is very spacious, the back wall is a row of bookshelves several zhang long, the bookshelves are full of all kinds of books, there are silk books bound with gold thread, there are ordinary blue paper books, and some bamboo slips, densely packed, spotless. In front of the bookshelf is a two-zhang long desk, on which there are only ordinary utensils such as pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. On the wall opposite the window hung a huge map, surrounded by two pairs of dish-shaped lamps on the east and west sides of the map, and on either side of the lamps were several lamp-hanging chairs, on which sat several generals in armor, looking at the map and talking. The man invited the burly general into the house, comforted him to sit down, and while taking a cup and pouring water, he asked:

"Will Yuan Zhen's trip go well?"

The burly lieutenant hurriedly stood up and replied:

"Lord Qi Zhongcheng, the barbarian thief was cowardly, and did not send military horses to come, we collected the fallen sergeants, captured some of the enemy's armaments and baggage, and after packing up, according to General Lei's instructions, we gave the brothers a charm, and took them all back. By now, they should have returned to their respective departments, and there were basically no mistakes. ”

"Okay, General Guo has worked hard, drink a glass of water and rest early!"

The man complimented as he handed a glass of water in both hands. The burly lieutenant took the teacup handed by the man and drank the water from the cup.

"The last will retire!"

The man smiled and patted the burly lieutenant on the shoulder, and without saying a word, he took a step forward and sent the burly lieutenant outside the temple gate, watching him go away. At this time, the rest of the people in the hall were still talking, and the bright light from the torches in the hands of the patrolling soldiers outside the hall shone on this person's body. The metal of the iron armor and helmet shone in the firelight, and the sword hanging from his waist was like that of his master, thin but straight, and his eyes sunken in his sockets were as bright as a fire burning in the thorn bushes.

Lord Zhongcheng looked at the night sky for a while, took a deep breath, raised his legs and stepped into the main hall, and closed the door.

The faint light in the hall was faint but tenacious in this deathly silent night, and occasionally there would be a crackling spark beating, and the light of that moment seemed to burn the entire hall and burst the entire sky.