The next day's sun was shining, and the sun hung unobstructed in the cloudless sky, making this winter seem to be no longer so cold.

In front of Mingzhou City, when Wada Shou and his brothers stopped outside the city gate, they froze.

I heard the original crew on the ship say that this place is called Mingzhou City, which is a small city in the Tang Kingdom, but the "magnificent" city wall in front of you does not look like a small city. Mamoru Wada assured that he had never seen such a tall building in his life, and even the mansions of his country's nobles were not as tall as this huge wall.

The countless piles of stone slabs made it difficult to imagine the way in which it was built, and the sword could hardly leave any trace on it, and standing in front of this wall, one could only seem to sigh at one's own insignificance.

"Goo. A man next to Mamoru Wada swallowed, lowered his head, and leaned into Mamoru Wada's ear and said.

"Big brother, are we really going to grab here?"

"Ahh Wada Mamoru looked at the city wall and subconsciously responded, with an obvious tremor in his voice. But then, he should have come back to his senses, tightened his expression, and said in a deep voice

"Of course, isn't this what we're here for, to change our fate!"

Saying this, Wada Mamoru tightened his grip on his knife and took a step forward, his eyes becoming resolute, and he waved his big hand.

"Are you willing to just go back to Wamoto and continue to live that life that is not even as good as a dog? If you are unwilling, take a gamble with me, let fate see our determination, and use the sword in our hands to open a path!"

"Oh!!" the people behind Wada Mori seemed to be excited, clenching their fists.

"Big brother, I'm relieved if you say that!"

"A few days ago, I thought you had lost your ambition!"

"That's it! Grab enough of a boatload of gold and return to Heben!"

A crowd of people shouted outside the city gates.

Under the gate of Mingzhou City, a young soldier guarding the city leaned against the wall with his weapon, probably heard something, turned his eyes sideways in confusion, looked at a group of noisy strangers standing on the official road, raised his eyebrows in puzzlement, and asked his colleagues beside him.

"Hey, what are those people doing?"

The middle-aged soldier on the same job also glanced sideways, and then withdrew his gaze nonchalantly and said.

"Who knows, looking at their appearance, they probably came from beggars, and when the time comes, just give them some money and send them away. ”

"Possibly. Hey, but don't say it, in fact, these beggars are quite pitiful, if there is a choice, who would want to be displaced like this. You see, they feel like they're hungry and delirious. ”

The young soldier who had asked the question at the beginning said again, and he looked at the group of people on the road who suddenly began to cry and laugh and hugged each other, with a slightly pitiful look on his face.

"Do you pity them?" the middle-aged soldier pursed his lips disdainfully.

"Then who pities us, we all have to be on duty here for the New Year, we can't go back to our homes, and we can't sleep in our beds. It's not to earn those few taels of silver, there is anyone in this world who is easy, they are all poor, and no one can pity anyone. ”

"That's right······ The young soldier stopped talking.

At this moment, he suddenly saw the group of people walking towards the city gate, probably planning to enter the city.

In order not to be interrogated by the soldiers guarding the city gates, Wada Mamoru and the others hid their swords in their clothes. and leaned over his body, making a hungry and cold appearance, intending to cross the city gate.

But because of the proximity to Xiaonian and the remoteness of the city, there are not many people who have entered and left Mingzhou City recently, and they are the only ones who are ready to enter the city now.

So they were stopped by the soldiers without surprise.

"Hey, stop, what about you, what are you going to do when you go into the city?"

The middle-aged soldier frowned and stopped a group of people from Wada Shou, but he didn't mean anything else, just a routine inquiry.

But Wada Shou immediately became nervous, he only learned Tang dialect for a few days, and in the sentence that the soldier said, he only understood the words "enter the city".

So he didn't know what the soldier meant, so he immediately nodded again and again and said, "Go into the city, go into the city, I, let's go into the city." ”

"It's okay to go into town, but you have to explain why. The young soldier next to him interjected, his tone was kind compared to that of the middle-aged soldier, and there was no sense of impatience.

They've done this kind of routine asking many times, but they're just casually asking anyway, so they don't care much about it.

Mingzhou City is just a remote small city, there are no escaped prisoners, and it is not a border pass with a grim situation, and the investigation of the city gate is naturally not so strict.

"We, we're going into town. It's a pity that Mamoru Wada will only repeat this sentence.

This made the young soldiers and middle-aged soldiers stunned for a moment, could it be that these things in front of them were really a bunch of fools?

At this time, the middle-aged soldier suddenly noticed that he seemed to be holding something in his arms, so he frowned and stepped forward to ask.

"What's in your arms, take it out and see. ”

But he had just taken a step forward before he was swept away by the smell of Hetian Shou and the others.

No one knows how long it has been since they have taken a bath, and it is estimated that even they themselves can't remember.

They sailed on the sea for countless days and nights, and then slept on the shore for many days, and the smell of their bodies had already changed from quantitative to qualitative, and it could be said that it was difficult for people and animals to enter within two steps.

"Fuck you, what does this smell like? The middle-aged soldier pinched his nose, retched, and immediately waved his hand at Wada Shou and the others.

"Go in, go in, don't stay here. ”

As if they understood the meaning of the middle-aged soldier, Wada Mamoru and the others breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and prepared to enter the city.

"Wait a minute. But then the younger soldier stopped them.

The footsteps of Wada Mamoru and the others stopped at the same time, and they held the knife in their arms, seeing that they were stopped again and again, they were ready to do it.

"Let's go into town. Wada Mamoru said in a stiff tone, and slowly turned around, with some faint light in his eyes.

"Into the city, I know, no more talk. The young soldier sighed, took out a tael of silver from his bosom, and threw it to Wada Mamoru and said.

"Go and buy something to eat yourselves, and don't starve to death in our city. ”

With that, the soldier waved his hand, presumably to tell them to leave quickly.

These two pieces of silver are not too much for a soldier, but they are not too little, and they can be regarded as half a month's salary for him. (Again, because it's an alternate worldview, don't compare it with real antiquity.) ）

But for Mamoru Wada and the people around him, it was something they had never touched in their lives.

Wada Mamoru knew about silver, after all, he had been a low-class samurai in the past, so he had seen this kind of currency that could only be circulated among nobles.

But he never touched such a thing, because among the people of his country, copper money is the main money in circulation, which is divided into large copper judgments and small copper judgments. Silver, on the other hand, is something that most ordinary people can't think of.

Similarly, the people around Wada Mamoru were also stunned, looking at the silver, their eyes with either fiery or incredible looks.

It was a favor that Mamoru Wada understood, a favor that had been given to him in his most difficult time, a favor that he should have repaid with the loyalty of a samurai.

Unfortunately, he is no longer a samurai.

His throat seemed to be pinched and he couldn't make a sound, and Wada stood distracted by the city gate for a long time.

Suddenly, he fell to his knees, clutched the silver in his hand, threw himself on the ground, and cried out with a loud voice in the words of his own country.

"Tian Shou and I swear here, we will repay this kindness to my benefactor in the future!

The soldier was startled by his roar, and when he looked at him again, he saw that he was already kneeling there, weeping bitterly.

This is the last insistence of Mamoru Wada, insisting on his last dignity as a samurai.

He will repay the favor, he swears with his sword.