Lin Yuanqing was injured and was arranged to be in charge of food delivery and other wounded in the city, and every day he could see a lot of soldiers being carried back, dead and wounded, which made his mood more and more heavy, and the morale and number of the army were declining day by day, even General Chen personally put on the battle, and the army of only 20,000 people forcibly blocked the 100,000 Liang army outside the city gate for nearly half a month.

On this day, Lin Yuanqing went to deliver food to General Chen, and when he walked to the door of General Chen's room, he suddenly heard the sound of a "snapping" cup breaking, and General Chen's roar came from inside the house: "When will the reinforcements from the imperial court arrive? You said that you have arrived at the border of Guzhou two days ago, and it is less than a day's journey from here, and it has been two days! Why is there no one yet? If there is any accident, I Chen Yi will die to thank the emperor, will he Wang Sheng?!"

"General Chen is angry, General Wang has indeed arrived in Dolphin Prefecture two days ago, and sent me to give General Chen an order, I hope that General You must defend Qinghua City, I believe that you will be able to see General Wang's men and horses soon. ”

"Okay, then I'll wait for him for another day, who is the man in my Qinghua City afraid of? ”

"Yes!"

Lin Yuanqing saw a herald walking out, and he immediately entered the house with food: "General Chen, it's time to eat."

"Well, you put it on the table and go out. ”

"Yes. ”

After Lin Yuanqing exited the house, he didn't leave immediately, walked to the window of the study and listened quietly to the conversation inside.

"Wang Sheng, this bastard! A few years ago, I went to the capital to report on work, and I didn't give him any gifts, and I refuted him in the court, but I didn't expect this person to have such a small belly, and he actually holds a grudge until now, alas!" There was a heavy sound of slapping the table in the room.

"General, this is a normal thing, otherwise I wouldn't have sent someone to observe on the way here from Dolphin a few days ago, Wang Sheng has indeed arrived in Dolphin Prefecture, but he didn't move, but he sent a herald to say that he would be there soon, what does this mean, I guess the general knows it in his heart, otherwise why would you deliberately be so excited just now?"

"Alas, he just wants to wait and see the situation of the war, and wait until we can't hold on anymore and then come to the rescue, sell me a favor, and take all the credit, maybe he will visit the emperor again one day, killing three birds with one stone, this person's scheming is not deep. ”

"General, at present, most of our men and horses are injured, and most of them are wounded, although we can hold out for a few more days, but the number of casualties every day is increasing, and if this continues, I am afraid that those disabled soldiers will have to fight again. ”

"What Mr. is worried about is that this war is sudden, twenty percent of the people in the army are temporarily conscripted, they all have their own families and jobs, they could have lived a good life, but many can never return home, I feel very guilty about them in my heart, wait for this matter, Mr. Hardship will give the families of those soldiers who died in the war more pensions. After General Chen finished speaking, he took out a silver ticket from his arms and handed it to Zhu Qiansi beside him.

"General, what is this?"

"This is all my belongings, including the silver reward for the war, the family's property, a total of 50,000 taels, I heard Mr. said that Wang Sheng camped in Dolphin Prefecture when I knew that there would be this result, now I need to stick to the city, but also bother Mr. to go to Dolphin Prefecture, invite Wang Sheng over, this silver ticket will be regarded as a reparation for his sins, and I hope he will raise his noble hand to save the people of Qinghua City in dire straits. ”

"General... ”

Chen Yi waved his hand and interrupted Zhu Qiansi's words: "Sir, there is no need to say much, although I, Chen Yi, am not a chivalrous person, but I am loyal to the king, and as the guard of Qinghua City, I must ensure the safety of the people in the city. ”

"Yes!" After Mr. Zhu was silent for a while with the silver ticket, he bowed to General Chen and turned to leave.

Lin Yuanqing listened to these silently, but he didn't notice that he was clenching his fists tightly, and his nails were deeply buttoned into his flesh.

Within a day, Wang Sheng arrived with his troops, and the strength in the city increased greatly, General Chen Yi seemed to take a breath of relief, and attacked the defense, sending troops to contain the main force of the Liang army head-on, and secretly used a trick to sneak attack the enemy's grain and grass storehouse, cut off the other party's grain and grass supply, and constantly harass the enemy army.

Next, the army rested, the reward should be rewarded, the punishment should be punished, Lin Yuanqing stayed in his dormitory anxiously and waited to be taken away, and the cowardly was punished, but what he was waiting for was a reward of ten taels of silver and a pension of fifty taels of Zhao Youcai.

Hong Er came in expressionlessly, threw the money on Lin Yuanqing's bed, handed Zhao Youcai's pension to him and said, "This is your eldest brother's pension, I heard that he only has one daughter, you can take it back and give it to her personally." ”

Hong Er saw that Lin Yuanqing lowered his head and didn't answer, stuffed the money into his hand and turned his head to leave, and stopped when he walked to the door and said: "You are not suitable for being a soldier, nor are you suitable for martial arts, go home after the New Year, you were originally a temporary enlistment, and after you go back, find a good job to live, there is no place for you in this Jianghu." After saying that, he walked out, Lin Yuanqing lowered his head without saying a word, looked at the three words "Zhao Youcai" written on the money bag, and his eyes gradually blurred.

The Chinese New Year is approaching, and the battle is won, most of the soldiers are allowed to go home for the New Year, but Lin Yuanqing doesn't want to go back at all, not so much that he doesn't want to, but that he is afraid, he is afraid that after seeing Tao Tao, he will tell her that he will never see her father again, Lao Zhang has also come to him several times, every time he hides, he is afraid that he will not be able to cry when facing Lao Zhang, so he can only write that the trustee brings it to Lao Zhang and tells him that he is safe.

On the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, Lin Yuanqing returned to the dormitory after patrolling the city wall, and suddenly found Hong Er sitting on his bed, during which he had also been avoiding Hong Er, and every time he saw him, he would remember his sentence: "Useless waste!", and every time he thought about it, he felt uncomfortable.

Hong Er looked at him at this time and said, "What's the matter, everyone is gone, but you haven't gone home for the New Year?"

Lin Yuanqing was a little at a loss for a while, and hurriedly replied, "No... No, I don't really want to go back. ”

Hong Er smiled and stretched out his hand to beckon him to come over, Lin Yuanqing slowly walked over and sat opposite Hong Er, Hong Er stretched out his hand and took out a large paper bag from his side and spread it between the two of them, which contained some cooked food and wine.

Lin Yuanqing looked at Hong Er and asked cautiously, "Brother Hong, aren't you going home for the New Year?"

Hong Er poured wine for the two of them and said: "I am a Bashu person, when I was a child, there was a famine in my hometown, and my family was starved to death, and later I was taken in by the Tang Sect, and the master and brother are my relatives, and you know what happened later, how can I still have the face to go back." After speaking, he drank the wine and asked, "What about you?" I heard that there is a grandfather in your family, isn't your grandfather worried about you when you come out to be a soldier?"

Lin Yuanqing sighed and said, "I ran out secretly, and Brother Zhao was also pulled over by me, but now that it's like this, I don't have the face to go back to see them." After speaking, he raised his glass and drank it all.

Hong Er stared at him and said, "Tell me why you came to be a soldier, shouldn't it be just to get ahead or learn martial arts to be a hero, right?"

Lin Yuanqing's face gradually turned pale after hearing this, and he gritted his teeth and said word by word: "For revenge!"

"For revenge?

Lin Yuanqing exhaled a few deep breaths, took down a piece of jade pendant hanging around his neck and rubbed it, and said slowly: "When I was a child, Nanwang Zhao Qi made a rebellion, and he also hit Qinghua City, the guard at that time was not General Chen, and he ran away before the battle began, and the city was in chaos, and a group of thieves broke into my house and killed my parents, I ran out and met Grandpa Zhang, who took me in, and from that day on, I thought about learning martial arts to take revenge! ”

Hong Er quietly listened and took out a few letters from his arms, handed them to him, and said: "This is what your grandfather entrusted me to you, he came to see you several times, you avoided him, and had no choice but to find me, I told him about you, he also told me about you, he knew your thoughts, and he was also worried about you, and he also asked me to bring you these foods, go back tomorrow to see his old man." After speaking, he took a sip of wine and continued: "Being a soldier is not a joke, if you want to continue to stay, you can go to the room to do chores, and then come back when the wound on your hand is completely healed, if you want to learn martial arts, you can come to me secretly at night after finishing your work every day, and I will teach you." ”

Lin Yuanqing looked at Hong Er with wide eyes in surprise and said, "Brother Hong, are you willing to keep me?"

Hong Er raised his head and took a sip of wine, squinted at him and said, "It's nothing, although you kid is reckless and impulsive, but your talent is quite high, you are a good seedling, and I also need some soldiers who can fight." ”

Lin Yuanqing still wanted to say something, Hong Eryi waved his hand and said: "Don't talk nonsense! Tomorrow you go home to spend the New Year with your grandfather, and report back to the army in three days. After speaking, he ripped off a roast chicken thigh, walked out while gnawing, and said without looking back: "Also, change your crying problem, like a girl." With that, he walked out.

Lin Yuanqing looked down at the letter in his hand, stretched out his hand and vigorously wiped the tears that were about to fall.

Before dawn the next day, Lin Yuanqing packed up his bags and walked home, and when he walked to the door of the bun shop, he stopped, looked up at the small shop, and sat on the steps, recalling that when he was helpless, he was found by his grandfather here and took him in.

"Yuan Qing!" He turned his head to look and found that Lao Zhang didn't know when he was standing next to him, Lao Zhang hurriedly ran over, grabbed his arm, and looked him up and down.

Lin Yuanqing looked at the emaciated old Zhang, his heart was sour, and he said, "Grandpa... ”

Lao Zhang hugged him: "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, silly boy, why don't you tell grandpa?! ”

Lin Yuanqing thought of Zhao Youcai at this time, his eyes turned red, and he choked up and said, "Grandpa, Brother Zhao... As he spoke, he burst into tears.

"Alas, why is their Zhao family so miserable, his daughter-in-law left when he gave birth to Tao Tao, it's not been a few years, and the wealth is gone, Tao Tao's child is miserable, alas~" Lao Zhang wiped his tears and said, "I don't dare to tell Tao Tao about her father, don't talk about it yet, the child is still young, I'm afraid she will be sad and sad, forget it, let's go back first, and accompany Tao Tao for the New Year." After speaking, he pulled Lin Yuanqing and walked back.

"Brother Yuanqing, you're back!" As soon as the two entered the door, Tao Tao ran over, happily holding Lin Yuanqing's hand and bouncing, and kept looking behind them, "Grandpa Zhang said that you and my father have gone far away, and it will take a long time to come back, what about my father? ”

"Uh... Your father still has some things, let me go home for the New Year first, he will have to wait for a while to come back," Lin Yuanqing said unnaturally.

Tao Tao pouted and said unhappily: "Hmph, stinky dad, talking doesn't count, every time he promises to buy me candy, he always forgets, if he doesn't buy it for me when he comes back this time, I will ignore him." ”

Lao Zhang smiled and took out a paper bag from his arms and gave it to Tao Tao and said: "Tao Tao, this is the sugar that your father asked Brother Yuanqing to bring you, he has not forgotten that Tao Tao loves sugar the most." ”

Tao Tao jumped up happily after taking the candy and said, "Thank you, Brother Yuanqing, I know that my father is the best." With that, he ran back into the house.

Lin Yuanqing stood there dumbfounded, Lao Zhang patted him on the shoulder and pulled him into the house.

Tao Tao ran happily all over the house with the bag of candy all night, one for Lao Zhang, one for Lin Yuanqing, he wanted to eat, picked it up and looked at it for a long time and then put it back, and he still muttered in his mouth: "These should be left for Daddy to come back and eat with him." ”

Lao Zhang just kept sighing and shaking his head next to him, while Lin Yuanqing kept drinking, his eyes slowly became firm, as if he had made up his mind, everyone had their own concerns.

Three days passed quickly, Lao Zhang sent Lin Yuanqing to the door of the barracks, took his hand, looked at the scars on his hands, and said to him meaningfully: "Yuanqing, I shouldn't have said this, but I'm really worried about you, grandpa knows what you think in your heart, but people, the most important thing is to live, as long as people are alive, there is hope for everything, grandpa doesn't want to see anything happen to you, Tao Tao, you can rest assured, grandpa will take care of her, and go to worship more when you have time in the future." ”

"Don't worry, grandpa, I know, I'll go back to see you and Tao Tao when I have the chance. After Lin Yuanqing finished speaking, he turned around and slowly walked into the barracks.

Lao Zhang stood in place and looked at him fixedly, until he couldn't see his back.