The words say:

Everyone has frustration, what year is the ambition? The water is gone, and the temples are snowy and frosty. endured the hardships and hatreds, squeezed out the ambitions, and asked the sky: The great appointment will fall, and the old decay has been ashamed.

Sighing at the early age and chasing meritorious deeds is empty talk. Rampant in the desert, 100,000 soldiers and horses dreamed of joy. Yesterday waited for the day, today worked hard to make a living, and tomorrow cut the dust. The world is a lie, and I am ashamed to speak arrogantly.

- "Water Tune Song Head".

The old man rode a horse, went out of the west village of the village, went down the mountain, walked out of only two miles, and only came to the foot of the mountain, and heard someone in the jungle beside the road behind him shouting his name:

"Liu Shiqi!"

When the old man turned around, he saw a man walking out of the forest.

But when I saw this person, he was dressed in the same way as the people here, but he was carrying a big sword diagonally behind his shoulder. The old man saw that he was dressed as a local, and he looked familiar, but his accent was different, and a picture flashed in his mind at that time:

Overhead is a line of cloudy sky, below is a long and long mountain gorge, in the canyon, there are corpses everywhere, this is the corpse of the Shanbei people.

At the north end of the corpse group was a small group of soldiers, all wearing helmets and armor, and carrying swords on their waists. This small group of soldiers is cleaning up the battlefield after the war. Suddenly, one of the soldiers in the squad screamed, ran to the old man again, and stood upright with a "snap":

"Report to Bai Chang, I found a Shanbei man who is not dead!"

When the old man hurried to look, he saw a pale face with blood loss, it was a young man, about the same age as himself. When the man saw the old man, there was a look of despair in his eyes.

At that time, the old man didn't know what he was thinking, and said, "Give him a good time!"

The soldiers around him immediately pulled out their waist knives and were about to cut them, when the Shanbei people suddenly struggled and jumped up, hugged the old man's thighs and cried:

"I know that you are the leader of this hundred-man team, and you have the right to decide my life and death, please let me go!

"Liu Baichang, let's not listen to his nonsense, we can kill him directly!"

The young Shanbei said: "No, you can't kill me! I have ......."

The old man stopped his subordinates and said, "Listen to him first!"

The young Shanbei said: "Our hundred-man team was ordered to go out to find out about the situation on your side of Qingshui City. I don't want to be ambushed by you and wiped out!

Now I am the only one left who can breathe, and I am the only one who can transmit the very powerful information of your Qingshui City back, if you kill me and no one sends the information back, our superiors will send a large team of men and horses to attack Qingshui City according to the predetermined plan.

Although it is very likely that it will be defeated, and we Shanbei people will inevitably die more, but you Qingshui City will inevitably die a lot of people.

What's more, like you, I was born into a family, so I was conscripted into the battalion and sent to the battlefield! I beg you to have mercy on me, I am also a man with a father and a mother!"

The soldiers around him all looked at the old man, waiting for his decision. The old man turned around and shouted to the other, "Lao Li, come here!"

The person called "Lao Li" stopped cleaning the battlefield and burying the corpse, and hurriedly ran over a few steps, "Lao Liu, what's the matter?"

As soon as the old man said what was in front of him just now, Lao Li said: "Lao Liu, I see, this matter, it's okay to let it go." It is also okay to leave one of them for interrogation, and to deter them;

Second, he is also reasonable, although we have different tribes, we are all from the family. Sometimes, we do fight for our clans, and that's right, but more often than not, we're just fighting for the private interests of the city lords!"

When the old man heard this, he sighed, and did not squeak for a while.

Seeing that Lao Li didn't squeak, Lao Li said again: "Lao Liu, you are Bai Chang, I am just your deputy, the final decision is up to you, and I firmly support your decision!"

The old man smiled and said, "Lao Li, why did you talk to me about the official face?" I accept your suggestion!"

Lao Li smiled: "Okay, Lao Liu, then let's interrogate him carefully and then release him." ”

So after some interrogation, the old man decided to let the man go.

The man was about to leave after thanking him for his kindness, and Lao Li shouted majestically: "Ma Ge Xiuyuan, you can listen to me! Our boss is called Liu Shiqi, and my name is Li Benzhong! But with our brothers leading the scouts, don't expect to come here secretly!"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan, a native of Shanbei, said: "Liu Baichang, Li Baichang, after the villain Ma Ge Xiuyuan goes back, if he does something that violates today's oath, he will not die well, there is such an arrow!"

With that, Ma Ge Xiuyuan took out an arrow, broke it in two, abandoned it to the ground, and then turned around, limping all the way, crookedly and wounded.

——The old man suddenly remembered at this time, and then saw that the person's appearance had not changed much from back then, and couldn't help but respond to the man: "Are you Ma Ge Xiuyuan?"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "It's the villain!"

The old man scolded: "Ma Ge Xiuyuan, what are you doing here in our Clear Water City?

"Where, where!" Ma Ge Xiuyuan hurriedly explained: "The villain is here, there are really two things to tell!"

"What two things?"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "I originally came for one thing, but after meeting you, it became two things. ”

The old man said quietly: "Don't be long-winded, what are the two things?"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan clenched his fists and said sincerely: "When the villain came, I thought that you should have been promoted to a high position a long time ago, at least you have to be a commander!"

However, after I inquired left and right, and figured out your situation, I never expected that you would still be a member of the household! This is really a humiliation of the heroes and the burial of heroes! The villain is holding grievances for you!"

The old man reprimanded: "What are you talking about? We Shannan people are outstanding people, talented people everywhere, and we are all people who are more capable than me Liu Shiqi in Qingshui City.

So many of their talents and handsome people have not been mixed up to get ahead, why should I fly Huang Tengda? It's normal that I can't fly Huang Tengda, what kind of humiliation and heroism do you bury heroes? I think you have ulterior motives, right?!"

When Ma Ge Xiuyuan heard this, he smiled and hugged his fists and said: "What you said is really righteous and awe-inspiring, but I really have no malicious intent! You see, I am the same age as you, and now ten years have passed, but I am as young as ever, and you recognize me at a glance;

But you are so old that you do not match your real age, and I have tried my best to find out that you live in this Niushan Village, but I have secretly observed you for a long time before I recognize you......;

The old man reprimanded: "Shut up! It turns out that you have been sneaking into our Qingshui City for many days! You hurry back to your mountain! Otherwise, I could have let you go back then, and now I can still capture you!"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "Don't be angry, I'm here, although I came here secretly, but I really have no malicious intent! I originally wanted to help you make military merits again and be promoted to the next rank!"

"You, why?"

Then Mag Xiuyuan said something:

It turned out that after he was let go by the old man, he fled back with his wounds, reporting that Shannan Qingshui City was inviolable, and his 100-person scout team was actually ambushed by the Shannan 100-person team, and the whole army was wiped out, and he returned with injuries.

After the boss heard this, while reporting, he also talked about meritorious deeds, and promoted Ma Ge Xiuyuan to be a small military commander, not wanting Ma Ge Xiuyuan to be a small military commander, but after Ma Ge Xiuyuan's catastrophe, he was promoted again and again, successively as a chief, a chief, and then promoted to the position of commander.

And because Mag Xiuyuan was alive from the death of that day, fortunately after surviving, he was quite war-weary, peace-willed, and changed his boss, and even after the official became the commander, it was difficult to be promoted.

At present, Ma Ge Xiuyuan is ordered by his new boss to come over as a spy.

When Ma Ge Xiuyuan said this, he said to the old man: "You let me go that day, and I have today, and this favor must be repaid!"

The reason why I want to find you is to discuss with you how to go back and fool my boss so that he will not dare to send troops across the gorge to attack you. It's just that I never expected that you would quit the camp now and still be a householder!"

After listening to Ma Ge Xiuyuan's words, the old man wanted to reprimand the other party for being a spy, but after thinking about it, Ma Ge Xiuyuan actually told himself all the plans of the Shanbei people, and he really didn't want to fight, and he really had a peace-loving heart.

So the old man smiled bitterly and said: "After I released you back then, I didn't want to report the situation at the beginning, my boss praised me for doing the right thing; in the blink of an eye, someone accused me of being black, saying that I was good at making claims and secretly releasing prisoners, so that I was only recorded as a sixth-level camp merit, and I was not promoted to the fifth level, so I couldn't get rid of the household registration; when I reached the age limit, I quit the camp and returned to my hometown to continue to be a hunter." ”

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "Speaking of which, you and I are both small people, and we don't have the ability to decide major events in the world, so naturally we can't control the general trend of the world."

However, we don't have to be left or right, we just do our best to make the general trend of the world as much as possible to be influenced by us to a certain extent!"

Speaking of this, Ma Ge Xiuyuan smiled: "There is no impermeable wall, after all, it will take ten years before the real fight can start, so, as the leader of the scouts, I specially arranged for my subordinates to release a little wind to attract the attention of this side - after I went back, I only said 'Shannan people cannot attack, and the defense is very strict'."

The old man sighed: "I'm not afraid of thieves stealing, I'm afraid of thieves worrying -- isn't that what you say? You Shanbei people are really patient, and you can really put a long line to catch big fish! Ten years later, you will come to invade, but ten years ago today, you have already begun to send spies!"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan smiled: "Their gang of noble lords, they are all materials for doing big things, and they know the way of 'foresight'! However, don't worry, they asked me to come here to be the chief scout, I am a person who resolutely pursues peace, how can I really ventilate for them?"

However, then again, you have also sent spies to the north of our mountain. ”

The old man smiled and said, "How do you know that our Qingshui City has sent spies to your side?"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "I guessed. However, fighting back and forth, it is all our children who lick the blood with their knives and work the battlefield, but their noble lords are enjoying peace and happiness and wealth! Every time I think of this in my heart, it is unbalanced!"

When the old man heard this, he sighed, and said: "The real peace-loving people in the world are precisely those of us who are the children of the family, we go to the battlefield to fight, just to keep our peaceful life, as for the noble lords, they only have interests in their eyes, no lives-

Alas, how to say it, in a word, if a foreign enemy invades, as long as the empire needs it, although I am old, I am not afraid to go to the battlefield again; if the empire fights internally and grabs territory, I will not participate in the battle under any circumstances. ”

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "You're right! However, when I came, there were rumors on our side that your Black Stone Empire was going to invade us—speaking of which, I came to Qingshui City to inquire about this information. ”

The old man smiled and said, "Which head is this? 1,800 miles of Black Dragon Gorge, that's a desperate situation! Unless our nobles and lords of the Blackstone Empire have their brains in water, they will make such a joke with the lives of the children of their families!"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan arched his hand: "What you said is exactly what our children are saying, but how much water is in the heads of the nobles is not something we can imagine! If it wasn't for the water in their heads, how could I have come here and become a prisoner in your hands back then?"

Speaking of this, Ma Ge Xiuyuan said again: "Now that we are in the principality of the four towns, the old handsome Duke Baimao suggested to the lord of the country that he has dispatched 5,000 men and horses from the Duchy Shenji Battalion to strengthen the blockade of the mouth of the Black Dragon Gorge;

The old man said: "It's understandable to guard against the other party, but it's not right to intend to invade." ”

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "Yes." Our lord is young, and he is full of spirit, and he wants to make a big difference, so even if he doesn't send me, he will send someone else here! Fortunately, he sent me, haha. ”

The old man said, "Then what are your plans next?"

"I don't have any plans, they want me to stay in hiding for a long time, in my case, it's just to find a place to sleep, and when the time comes, take those few subordinates and quietly retreat, just say that you Shannan people don't plan to invade Shanbei. ”

The old man said, "It's very good, why don't you wait here first, and when I go into the city and sell the skins, and get the medicine for my son, I will take you to our house to live for a while, and that's it!"

Ma Ge Xiuyuan said: "That's fine!"

So the two parted, Ma Ge Xiuyuan hid in the jungle again, and the old man took his son into the city.