"Sure enough, he's a madman! He also wanted to pretend to be a loyal soldier, but when he heard it, he said, he doesn't remember!"

"Yes, if you still want to deceive people, I know that I am not a good person!"

"You see, people say they don't know, they don't remember, you don't want to pretend to be General Lin's people!

"Are you really General Lin's man?

The gossip of questioning was like a huge net, and the faces of these people could not be seen clearly, as if they were wearing masks of indifference, only their mouths were making noises one by one, and they drowned him with their heads and faces.

He opened his mouth, only to feel that his throat was frighteningly dry.

Not daring to look back at him, the young man bowed his head uncomfortably and quietly retreated behind the crowd.

"You said that the people of the loyal army died to save the general's children, if you are really his cronies, then why didn't you die?"

"yes, why aren't you dead? don't bother us anymore, get out of our village!"

"Get out!"

"Get out!"

He couldn't listen to the scolding in the back anymore, and there was only that sentence in his head.

Everyone is dead, why aren't you dead?

The question stabbed him in the heart like a poisoned dagger.

The general's face, the bearded face, the face of each of his brothers, kept appearing before his eyes, and no one spoke, just looked at him quietly, as if in silent condemnation.

He almost ran away.

Why didn't he die?

He couldn't answer the question.

Standing outside the village, he bent over his knees and panted like a fish thrown ashore to death.

The face that kept coming to mind finally stopped at the general, who looked at him, his eyes that were as bright as torches in the past, dimmed a little, and looked at him compassionately and tenderly.

He suddenly straightened up and ran towards the general's mound.

I really want to see his great general again.

○

I don't know how long I ran, the sunset on the horizon became the lonely moon outside the plug, and the solitary moon fell and became the sun rising in the east. He kept running on only two legs, his body was already exhausted, and he repeated the running movements numbly, his clothes were soaked with sweat and dried by the morning breeze, he swallowed his saliva, which was full of the smell of blood, and touched the saber on his waist, which gave him some strength.

He finally knelt down in front of the general's grave.

It was a small abandoned village, which had been burned by wildfires and was somewhat ruined, and the houses had collapsed, leaving only ruins and ruins, and faint traces of human activity.

According to rumors, this small village is the place where Lin Jingzhi died in battle, so he chose to build a solemn general's tomb here for him, and the inscription has also written the name of the god of war who protects the country in the morning moon.

The grave was full of flowers and fruits, and I don't know which village the villagers came to burn the paper money, and the unburned paper money was scattered on the ground, so that his eyes fell into a little white.

But it's just an empty tomb.

Mrs. Forgetfulness was killed and poisoned here, and among the soldiers who came to the village with her at that time, there was also his good brother Ah Fei, and several brothers who came with her died here, and they took a step before they could say goodbye

, and then the bearded man's party, the general, and the lady, all died, but he didn't even know where their bones were, the world was so big, life was thinner than paper, but he couldn't even help his brothers recover the bones.

Maybe at this time, he is lying in a yellow sand in the northwest desert, quietly rotting into ashes.

Come to think of it, the general doesn't want to return to this sad place, but there is a mound of his clothes here.

He lay down at the grave and began to weep.

All kinds of emotions are mixed together, bitter and astringent.

All the good times of his past were vivid in his mind, and all his good times were far away from him, and the cries of his back dissipated in the desolate air.

The memory of the dead came to an abrupt end, but the living are still mired in the quagmire.

Obviously, since I was a child, I told myself that no matter how difficult and painful it is, I must live well, but now I feel that I should die.

Obviously the one who survived by luck among all of them, but it was more painful than dying.

It's all his fault.

He probably won't be able to be a person like a general in his life, and he can't even help the general correct the cause of death.

One wrong step, one wrong step, and he was defeated.

Since he did something wrong, he willingly accepted the punishment.

He wiped his tears and refreshed himself, and kowtowed three times to the general's mound reverently, his head slamming on the ground, and the tears that had not yet been wiped out from the corners of his eyes fell into the dirt.

"General, bearded, Mrs. Forgetful Sorrow and brothers, I'm sorry, after so many years, I always think that I have grown up, and I am no longer the little ghost who loves to cry and waits for others to redeem me, but now I realize that I am still so inferior, I can't do anything!

"The bearded man is right, a man should keep his promises. I did something wrong, I deserve a penalty!"

"General, please punish me!"

After he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, touched the scabbard on his waist, and drew out the saber that he had never left for many years, it was the one that the general handed him at that time, and after a few years, he did not leave his body for a moment, and loved it as if it were his life, this knife was still snow-white and shiny, and the blade was like dust.

He drew his saber and pointed the tip of the knife in his eyes, his face was as usual, and he even looked a little calm.

Just like that, he gouged out one of his own eyes.

It is rumored that there is a judge of the Yin Law Division in the Huangquan Prefecture, who holds the life and death book in his left hand and the soul hooking pen in his right hand, and specializes in adding life to the good, letting the evil return to the yin, and sentencing the reincarnation of people. But this god, with a white silk two fingers wide on his eyes, was born unable to see, but he never missed a single good or evil matter.

In the folk story of the Northwest, if you have been wronged and have nowhere to appeal, as long as you sacrifice one of your eyes, you can convey the prayer in your heart to the judge, and the judge can wear this eye into the eye socket, you can understand the ins and outs of the matter through this eyeball, and use the soul hook pen in your hand to judge justice.

Even if it is a legend, he is willing to believe that even if he becomes a deserter, he will be punished for it, and he is willing.

The tip of the knife quickly cut through the skin, and suddenly there was only a piece of blood red left in his right eye, and his heart ached.

He screamed and wailed, his knees began to tremble, his body trembled with pain, but a dull comfort rose from the bottom of his heart.

It's all his fault, he's useless, he deserves to be punished.

He only hopes that the eyes of heaven will be clear, the heavens will listen, and the general will be given justice.

Without the generals, who will lead them to protect the world?

○

He has just turned twenty-three this year, and he has experienced life and death countless times, and there are countless souls under the knife, thinking that he has grown up, but only now can he see himself clearly, and he can see people's hearts clearly. Maybe I have seen it clearly before, but there is one person who taught him to believe.

And now, at the cost of his life, he can see more thoroughly.

These people, who had been blessed and helped by the general, chose to stand on the opposite side of the general, firmly believing that the general died of martyrdom, in addition to the fear of causing death, and they did not want to believe it.

In the eyes of the people of the world, the general is a hero, he should die in a heroic way, he can die heroically, he can save people and save the people's lives, he can be captured by the enemy to defend the righteousness and commit suicide, but he should never be killed by the design of the superior, this is not the ending that a hero should have.

All of them thought so in their hearts, paralyzed their eyes, no longer believed in any other way of death, refused to accept the truth of his persuasion, regarded him as an anomaly, as a madman.

Lunatic?

That's better than a numbing marionette.

I can think of the reason, I can understand their thoughts, but I can't accept it.

Obviously, the general came to the northwest to protect them, fought bloody battles, and protected the territory, how could they be so indifferent and make people's hearts chill?

If the general taught him to do good, then these people forced him to do evil.

It's all because of his fault, he became a deserter, he punished himself, and these people also became deserters, and they deserved to be punished.

If these cowardly and selfish people don't want to, then he will do it for him.

○

He began to take revenge.

How can these indifferent people, who refuse to even stand up and petition, be worthy of the kindness of the general?

Blind in one eye, he looked like a madman, and he lived alone with his long saber, and became a terrible robber in the desert, and like a raven that brought death, he was the ominous doom of the desert.

He robbed the people of their food and money, smashed their villages, drove their lowly cattle and had fun, and did not kill people directly, but watched them run into the desert and die because they were afraid, and told these people in the most extreme way that there will be no more great general who will come down from heaven to protect you like the god of salvation, and there will never be more.

You've lost the general.

However, it was clear that he himself knew that what he was doing now was a deed that had lost his conscience, and there was an endless stream of people kneeling outside his door through the desert, applying to join him, willing to be driven by him, even if they turned their faces and attacked the people of the same village.

Looking at the faces of these people, the obsession in his heart became heavier and heavier.

After staying in the barracks for a long time, many habits cannot be broken, and he manages these people exceptionally

Strict, his order is the only criterion, he even began to take the growing bandits to harass the garrison of Wucheng that has been "cleaned", disrupting the work of the garrison, sometimes robbing the army of food and grass, changing the lord's garrison internal and external troubles, no longer the previous heroic, often harassed, deeply suffered, miserable. The revenge was successful, wasn't it?

He couldn't be happier.

In the past, he went and begged them to join the petition, and no matter how many people he asked, none of them were willing to stand by his side, but now he was clearly doing evil, but these people took the initiative to come to him and kneel humbly before him.

Even have fun in it.

He couldn't help but smile wryly and asked in his heart.

General, is this the person you want to protect?

Is there half of this world worth protecting?

○

He's caught up in a punitive revenge, probably really crazy.

I don't know if I was punishing these ungrateful and timid people or punishing myself at that time.

It seemed crazy and tyrannical, but he knew very well in the bottom of his heart that what right he had to demand from these defenseless people? They were also afraid of death, escaping from reality, seeking good fortune and avoiding evil, just like he was at that time.

How many times he woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't help but wonder, why can't he dream of the general?

I thought that I would dream of the general carrying a sword and asking him why the iron-clad man had become a deserter.

However, his great general refused to entrust him with even a dream.

It's because ...... Is he a deserter?

So disgusted with him?

He covered his hollow eyes and lowered his head and smiled bitterly.

I really want to go back to the days when I rode horses in the wilderness of the northwest.

At that time, the stars in the night sky were bright, the cold wind was harsh, the smiles of the brothers were real, and his great general was still there.

He is what people call a raven that brings bad luck.

He was a deserter.

(End of chapter)