The old pawn said that the place where the tobacco leaves were picked was twenty miles in the Guannei, Zhang Mingyue did not smoke a lot, and he didn't know how the big smoke was good and bad, but since the old pawn wanted to smoke, it didn't matter if he ran for a trip, at least these days to get along, and also found that the old man was not unreasonable as he imagined, and the letter in his arms was still there, he felt a warm current in his heart, so many months, the old man and the ranger and the old fox in Bianjing City did not have any letters, and he did not send letters to Bianjing, but he felt a little missed these days, but he never expected that the first person to send a letter to himself was the woman in Emei Mountain, why did he feel as if many years had passed since he left the Northern Wei Dynasty for less than half a year.

Zhang Mingyue's crotch horse is a good horse selected from the stable, it only comes and goes for an hour, and after half an hour, it arrives at the place where the old man said that he picked tobacco leaves, but here is clearly a barren grassland, where does the tobacco come from?

Could it be that this old man has deceived himself for a day?

Zhang Mingyue was resentful, and said in her heart that this old man was talking about the destiny of heaven all day long, and said that he didn't know when he would follow the soldiers who died in battle, and now it seems that he really has a problem with his brain, he has only heard that there are strange people in this world, and he has never heard that someone can calculate when he will die.

Zhang Mingyue turned over and got on her horse and galloped towards the camp, coming for half an hour and going for half an hour, but only when she arrived at the town in the pass, she could faintly see the fire on the hill outside the pass.

The young man was stunned on the spot.

But after half a breath, the young man rode his horse and whipped the horse with all the strength he had not used for more than ten years, and his thin shirt with his bare chest hunted in the wind.

Finally, when it came to the camp where he had lived for several months, the bonfire was still there, and the barbecue was fragrant, but the old man who would sit on the mountain and watch the sunset at dusk every day was missing.

Zhang Mingyue was hysterical and heartbreaking, and finally pulled out the old soldier who had been guarding the border for more than 40 years who had slept peacefully with a smile on his face from among the hundreds of bloody corpses.

The young man opened his mouth wide in tears, but he couldn't cry at all.

"A horse thief came only a quarter of an hour after you left, and the old man is really like what he said, even if he is old, he still has the strength to carry a knife and fight again, but he walks decently. ”

The battalion commander, scarred and bloodstained, came quietly with a knife.

"Born to be a soldier, even if you die, you should die in this land, and you can die well, nagging about the destiny of heaven all day long, and now you finally know the destiny of heaven, but it has come to the end of your life. ”

The young man couldn't listen to what his usual rival said, so he just hugged the corpse of the old soldier and burst into tears, he muttered.

"You said that you old man knew that he was going to die, why did you have to lie to me and say that I wanted to pick tobacco for you, do you think that I, Zhang Mingyue, am the kind of person who is greedy for life and afraid of death? ”

"You said you are homeless, I can ask someone to send you back to Bianjing, there, there is a hateful and cute old man who is exactly the same as you and sometimes stubborn, I always feel that you can talk, although the old man I said is much more powerful than you, but the old man is very down-to-earth, he will definitely not mind you drinking his wine, you don't need to give him a big cigarette, he doesn't smoke. ”

"When I was alive, I didn't touch the girl in Bianjing, and when you returned to Bianjing, I have a down-and-out ranger friend, that kid likes to go to the Rouge Building the most, I told you, the old man, the girl in the Rouge Building is really smart, and you have never seen such a good girl in your life. ”

"Even if you die in Bianjing one day, you don't have to worry about no one burying you, after all, Lao Tzu has eaten your food for a few months, and finally owes you a favor, our Xue Zijun has never eaten food in vain, this is what you said, I can't break the rules of your old man, isn't it." ”

"Okay now, you're going to fucking go like this, I always feel uncomfortable in my heart for the kindness I owe you, you know that I don't like to owe others the most, I owe two people in this life, how can I repay your kindness?"

Ignoring the corpses in the camp, he didn't let other living soldiers clean up the corpses of the old soldiers, so he hugged the old soldier Shinto who was sleeping peacefully for the night.

Until his voice was hoarse, and there were no more tears to shed.

The burial ceremony is very simple, even this old soldier who has been guarding the border for more than 40 years does not enjoy a higher level of treatment, and I don't know whether it is the rain or the heavens also pity this lonely old pawn, and it rarely rains in the afternoon Tiger Wolf Pass.

The young man knelt before the only grave where there was a tombstone that was not considered a grave, and what it said was a tombstone was but in fact it was nothing more than a plank.

His clothes were soaked, and his hair was dripping with rain.

"I can't just let the old man leave without even a name, but it seems that I don't know the old man's name all along. ”

"The soldier buried here didn't leave a name, so why did he leave a name?"

General Xue Pingchuan stood with the young man in the wind and rain, and the 200 soldiers who survived all stood in the wind and rain.

"At least he's been cooking for so many of us for so many years. ”

The young man said quietly.

The general, who had never left the names of his soldiers at this mass grave, said softly.

"The old soldier Xu Weiguan was born in the Spring and Autumn Period and died in peace. ”

After biting his finger and carving the bloody words on the tombstone that the rain could not wash, the young man staggered to his feet.

"Is there a knife?"

He said to the battalion commander who had survived.

"All the time. ”

For the first time in the world, the battalion commander was so complicated.

"Lend me a knife and come back to pay you back. ”

"You should know that you're going alone to die. ”

"But you said that since you came to this border, there is no reason to return alive. ”

The young man took the battalion commander's hand, and the famous knife that originally belonged to him was shattered.

"I always feel that I owe something to the old man, and it is really unreasonable to let him go alone like this, I know that he did not kill a single person last night, and I don't let the brothers under the spring laugh at him, so I am going to cut off a few heads for him to take on the road, as you said, I can also have a little confidence to go to the palace of Hades to see the Lord of Hades. ”

Regardless of the border soldiers who were lucky enough to survive in the wind and rain and die at some point, the young man turned on his horse, carried a knife in his hand, and brought the pipe left by the old soldier before leaving.

The wind rose on the frontier, and the thinly clothed young man rode away, but the rain fell even more.

"Just let him go alone?"

"A person is good, a person is unrestrained, you don't have to worry about the knife and the gang, you can kill as much as you want. ”

The border guards did not know how this young man, who had only been on the border for less than half a year, had the courage to enter the Gobi alone, and broke into the tiger's den in Longtan alone, but they only knew that when the young man came back, he was covered with bruises, and there were eight heads hanging on horseback.

Lao Xu, now you are finally not so lonely.

As a national pillar, Xue Pingchuan, a national pillar who has always ignored the trivial matters in the camp, personally carried the young man into his camp tent, and they wanted to take the knife in the young man's hand but found that they couldn't take it off, because his flesh and blood had been completely connected with the handle of the knife, and after that battle, Zhang Mingyue slept for three days.

There is no young man who runs long distances every day and goes to the waterfall to practice knives, and there is no old soldier Xu Weiguan who is responsible for the food in the camp and likes to sit on the mountain and watch the Gobi at sunset, only one more young man who also likes to sit on the top of the mountain at sunset and watch the north of the Saibei and fall in love with smoking a big cigarette.

Saibei's days are not fast, whether they are slow or not, it is a cold winter in a blink of an eye, and Saibei has also had the first heavy snow since the beginning of winter, and the border is silvery white for thousands of miles, and unconsciously Zhang Mingyue feels that he has now become a veteran of this military camp, and it is clear that it has only been half a year, and he is sixteen years old.

Despite the cold, the thinly dressed young man, as always, sat on the hay pile and learned the appearance of an old pawn, smashing a few puffs of smoke, and coughing twice from time to time.

The soldiers in the barracks come and go, the veterans keep leaving, and the new recruits keep joining, but there are always only 400 people, which is 100 fewer than the original, even if the general does not say it, Zhang Mingyue also knows that there should be only 80,000 left of the 100,000 border garrison troops, and I wonder where in the world can the horse thieves inflict such heavy losses on the army? The enemy who comes to attack is becoming more and more difficult, and there is even no shortage of martial arts masters.

The snow is falling, the north is lonely, the old people in the town in the Guannai have died a few more, and how many soldiers have died in the camp, Zhang Mingyue remembers clearly, this is also one of the few things left in the daily day in addition to killing the enemy and practicing knives, but there is an old cook in the room, but he can no longer make the taste of the old soldier Xu Wei when he was in the prison, and he sent a letter back, and I don't know if he sent it back to the Northern Wei Dynasty.

In the past two days, Xue Zijun has been quite sensational, because in the near future, Emperor Chu Zhongyan heard that he would send envoys to greet these soldiers who had been guarding the border for decades, and would bring many girls to perform songs and dances in a song and dance troupe.

Zhang Mingyue is not as expectant as other soldiers, these trivial matters are not much different from him, the winter in Saibei is very cold, if it is not for the wind and rain experienced for a few months on the border, ordinary people will definitely not be able to withstand this cold, even if it is like an old man, he may not be able to withstand it.

Zhang Mingyue took the cigarette pouch and pinned the pipe left by the old soldier to his waist like a decent one before clapping his hands and sliding down from the haystack.

Most of the recruits in the battalion are accustomed to this strange boy, and they have heard about the great achievements of this teenager a few months ago, one person stepped on a cottage, and returned with eight heads hanging on the horse, and returned for three days and three nights.

Although he is a teenager, no one dares to underestimate him.

Zhang Mingyue entered the camp, the bonfire in the past is now not lit under the heavy snow, most of the soldiers entered the camp early to warm themselves with charcoal, not because the body is not as good as the previous batch of veterans, but the winter in Tiger Wolf Pass is really cold, even if sometimes he goes out to pee, he is a little worried that it will freeze that thing, he does not go to the camp, because he is used to the haystack.

"If you want, I can order the soldiers to fence the haystack, which may be a little warmer. ”

The battalion commander poked his head out, and there were bursts of laughter in the camp tent, and he didn't need to look at it to know that this group of soldiers was drinking to keep warm, and the battalion commander in front of him had just shaved his beard with the old sword Holy Name Knife, and he looked much younger than usual.

"No, I think the haystack is very good, if you have the leisure to dismantle the camp tent and repair the rest, the recruits will be a little warmer, so that when there is an enemy attack, at least your hands and feet will not be cold and you can't lift the knife." ”

The battalion commander smiled dumbly at these seemingly well-intentioned and seemingly disdainful words, and he didn't know when the young man who always went against him began to become so quiet, thinking about it, it was probably a few months ago when the old man died that the young man in front of him became like this.

"Actually, you don't have to blame yourself so much, Lao Xu's death has nothing to do with you. ”

"Is this a comfort to me? If so, then I will thank you in advance for your kindness, there is nothing I will go down the mountain first, the pig in Grandpa Wang's house in the town can't be killed, I have to help." ”

The battalion commander smiled dumbly.

"You're really busy with this knife right now, and you've got all the work done. ”

"It's good to have pigs to kill when there are no enemies to kill, otherwise the knife will rust. ”

"There's something you might be interested in. ”

"Is it from Bianjing?"

Zhang Mingyue wondered.

"That's right, except for this matter, I guess you won't be interested in anything else, I got the news, I heard that this time the princess brought someone here. ”

"Oh, got it. ”

Just coldly left a sentence, the young man turned around and left, which surprised the battalion commander, about the origin of this young man, he probably heard some from the general, only knew that this young man was a friend of the princess, not from Xichu, and also knew that he had two friends who came to Xichu together, as for the rest, he didn't ask the general and didn't say, even if he asked the general, he wouldn't necessarily say.

Gazing at the thin back of the young man leaving in the ice and snow of this tiger and wolf pass, the battalion commander frowned.

Could it be that he has been traumatized by war?

Zhang Mingyue left only a quarter of an hour or so, it was already dark, and it was dark early in the winter in Saibei, and once it was night, he couldn't see his five fingers, only the tent had a faint light.

The battalion commander poked his head out and prepared to go back to the camp tent, but his face changed instantly at this faint glance.

Zhang Mingyue had only left the camp for a mile or two when he heard the camp sound of a rapid horn that had never sounded before, and at the same time, the beacon towers twenty or even forty miles away were lit at the same time, and the blazing fire burned in the night.

"Enemy attack. ”

A loud scream woke up countless sleeping people.

Looking at it again, there is a silvery white ice and snow in the north of the Saibei, and there are black armor all over the sky.