In the peaceful and prosperous era, there was no war in Western Chu, and there were trivial matters in the frontier, and the trivial matter was that 100,000 troops were stationed on the border to prevent border bandits from entering Chu.

Zhang Mingyue came out of her clothes, not wrapped around her belt, and only exposed most of her chest. Chu knife in his left hand, out of the haystack, he saw the war horse like a torrent, the sound of killing shook the sky, these people are really just bandits?

When can bandits be so disciplined?

The general and the battalion commander went out together, and the sound of horses' hooves a mile away, there were at least two or three hundred people, and the old man came out with a knife, but was stopped behind by the young man.

"When people are old and have limited mobility, these things are left to us. ”

For the young man's words that are clearly sarcastic and revealing concern, the old man disagreed, a pair of hands that have been holding a kitchen knife for many years hold the Chu knife at this time, it is quite a bit of a feeling, no matter how you look at it, it should be an old pawn waiting for the destiny of heaven, not at all like the one-armed little old man.

"I'm not here at your age, there's nothing to be afraid of, if you want to be afraid, I'm afraid that you can't pull a few more horse thieves on your back before you die. ”

"Horse thieves? Do you really think these guys in front of you are like horse thieves? Have you ever seen such a well-trained horse thief? I felt something was wrong when I killed so many stragglers before, and I didn't think these guys were just a rabble. ”

The young man clenched the Chu knife, and his muscles were exposed.

"It doesn't matter if it's a horse thief or a rabble, since you come to this side of Xinjiang, even if the immortals come to commit it, it will end the same, there is no one in my Xue Zi's army who is greedy for life and afraid of death, even if it is an old pawn, you don't have to protect Lao Liu like this, you were born as a soldier, only by dying in this wild land can it be regarded as going home, we should all be like this." ”

Xue Pingchuan really did not give Zhang Mingyue any special care as he said before entering the border pass, and this was almost the second contact between the two since entering the border pass, and only this second contact clearly felt the murderous aura of the man who was the pillar of the Western Chu State in front of him.

The silver spear shone in the folds under the cold moon.

"There is only death in battle, not death of old age. ”

After the general finished speaking, he turned over and jumped on his horse, with the silver spear in front and his people behind, rushing towards the two or three hundred well-trained horse thieves.

The battalion commander stepped on the war horse with a famous knife in his hand, and the black horse that was pressed as usual neighed.

"You two are waiting here, and no one of you is allowed to enter the customs. ”

The lords of the first army who should have been in command are all so pioneering, although Zhang Mingyue is not willing to sit on the mountain here and watch the tiger fight, but the sentence that one person should not be allowed to enter the customs is smashed into the chest like a thousand sledgehammers.

Behind the closed door of the town is just a group of old and weak women and children, if these strong horses and thieves rush to the town, it will be a catastrophe.

For the first time, the young man, who had always worked against the battalion commander and left a bold statement, replied so cautiously.

"Zhang Mingyue is here, and he is locked up. ”

Two horses that can be called the strongest war horses of the Xue Zi Army shot out like arrows off the string, and in a blink of an eye, they scattered the torrent, only to see the silver spear go first, and after piercing through five or six horse thieves, the general followed closely behind and began to kill mercilessly, as for the battalion commander who snatched Zhang Mingyue's famous knife, although he was not as agile as Xue Pingchuan, but he had a strong aura under every knife, although he could not enter with any weapon with his bare chest, saying that he could not let a horse enter the rear of Zhang Mingyue and the old pawn, but where could there be a reason for one person to survive under the two masters? However, forty or fifty two or three hundred horse thieves all fell, and three or five of them fled with their hearts and galls, but they were nailed to the ground by a silver spear in the general's hand like an eye, and few of them were intact after a great battle.

The young man let go of his hand, and at some point there was already a lot of sweat on the Chu knife.

"Very disappointed?" said the battalion commander, returning from his war horse with a playful expression.

"It's a fake not to be disappointed, I also want to try how powerful these thieves are, and I hope next time you won't leave me in the back and sit and watch you fight in front. ”

Zhang Mingyue returned the Chu knife, the moonlight was bright, and the sound of killing twenty miles away was still continuing, and I didn't know that there would be a few familiar faces buried in the loess in today's battle.

"When you play, I just hope you don't get scared. ”

Following the battalion commander, the general's body was obviously white, and the war horse whose mane had turned red at this time slowly returned.

"You see that, too?"

Xue Pingchuan asked the battalion commander.

"It's so obvious that if you can't see it, it must be fake, in the past, we guarded the frontier and exterminated the bandits, and now the bandits are not just bandits, I'm afraid the next wave will be stronger than the wave, although the general has 100,000 soldiers and horses, but he can't help but consume so much, he should send a messenger to ask the emperor for help." ”

The battalion commander did not shy away from the fact that these military planes were known to young people who had only entered the border for less than a month, and Zhang Mingyue even felt as if he had said this specifically to him.

I saw that General Xue Pingchuan was worried for the second time after losing to the old man.

"It's not that I don't want to ask for troops, just because the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty is tight now, the lion of the Western Regions is eyeing the tiger, a few months ago Princess Zhaoyang was ordered to go to the Northern Wei Dynasty to negotiate this matter, talking about borrowing troops, my Western Chu Emperor His Majesty twenty years ago for the people of Western Chu, reduced taxes and reduced military expenditures, so that although the people have benefited, but the army has shrunk from 400,000 to 200,000 now, the border is divided into 100,000, presumably the next 100,000 will be ordered to go to the Northern Wei Dynasty, at this time, most of the retired soldiers in the past are already in the age of the sixtieth year, even if they can be put together, the combat effectiveness is greatly reduced, and they have to come out to die, but it is far from making ends meet, and this courage, Xue Pingchuan has to carry it even if he dies, even if I fight at the border to the last person, I can't let a barbarian enter the customs. ”

"In that case, it looks like we're going to have to die on this frontier. ”

The battalion commander shook his head and smiled.

"If that's the case, wouldn't Lao Tzu's mother-in-law and children get pensions cheaper than other men?"

"What, do you miss your wife? If so, I can approve you to go back to your hometown. ”

"Not really. ”

This man, who weighs two hundred pounds and is jealous on weekdays, makes Zhang Mingyue disgusted, laughs heartily.

"It's said that Gentle Township, Hero Mound, I don't want to go back to my hometown and come to the border again when I can't lift the soft knife, when the time comes, won't this kid surnamed Zhang really want my life? ”

The battalion commander who was least like the battalion commander and the national pillar who was the least like the national pillar laughed and left, but there was no movement after half an hour and twenty miles away, and when they came back, five hundred soldiers carried about twenty or thirty corpses on their backs, only to see the living soldiers talking and laughing and still placing the dead soldiers in front of the fire, the bonfire seemed to be burning out, and some people added firewood, and continued to roast meat and chat and laugh without caring about the blood stains on their bodies, and patted the bodies of those dead soldiers from time to time.

Occasionally, stumps and broken arms will be carefully sewn on by living soldiers with sewing needles, to Zhang Mingyue's surprise, this group of reckless men can actually do the work of sewing clothes, which is done by women, some people have internal organs flowing all over the ground and will be stuffed in, and some people have no head, so they find their heads and sew them on, and none of the dozens of corpses is missing.

"You fucking kid always complains that you haven't been home for a long time, and now that you're finally getting your wish, someone will take you home tomorrow. ”

"The third child, look at you like a bird, alive and dead, this is cheap for your mother-in-law who ran away with other men in your hometown, ten taels of silver, and I can't spend it for several years. ”

"If you want me to say that the place where you slashed just now is not right, where is there someone who uses a knife to cut other people's legs, how to fight, how to come here, you just cut the heads of those dogs, and it will be easy to cut off a few more heads, and when the time comes, the gods will block and kill the gods and Buddhas. ”

......

Zhang Mingyue didn't go close to these soldiers who had just experienced the battle of life and death, and talked and laughed again, but just sat quietly from a distance and watched.

Life on the frontier has always been like this, most of the soldiers are from poor families, they have not studied for a few years, and they can't say those impassioned farewell speeches, and some are just some vulgar but sincere laughter and scolding.

It is a bit too high-sounding to say that he died for the country, but it was just for those few taels of silver, or for the sake of these brothers who were born and died together.

The night after the great battle, the whole camp remained sleepless until the bonfires burned out in the morning.

Sending you a thousand miles must be goodbye in the end. Why don't you send troops for thousands of miles, and you must say goodbye in the end?

These soldiers died in battle without a coffin to be buried, and if anyone in the family was still alive, the ashes were burned and sent back to their hometown, and if not, they were buried there.

Zhang Mingyue didn't close her eyes all night, even the old man who only knew how to boil water and cook on weekdays stayed up all night sleepy.

"People say that Huajia knows the destiny of heaven, and I have lived to be sixty-one years old and still don't know where the destiny is. ”

The old man didn't know when he came quietly to at least the old man's side.

"A long time ago, when I was the same age as you, I went to the battlefield for the first time, and I was not afraid of your jokes, and I was almost scared to pee my pants. ”

The old man seemed to be talking to himself, and it seemed to be speaking to the young man.

"At that time, that group of horse thieves was really inhumane, burning, killing and looting were all evil, teenage girls did not let go, I was born as a peasant, I didn't have such good skills as you, I don't know what martial arts are, I only know that fighting is just a simple truth, you stand, the enemy lies down, but at that time I didn't even have the courage to lift a knife when I faced the enemy for the first time. ”

"There was a veteran lying in a pool of blood, still breathing, and he looked at me with burning eyes, and I knew he meant to go home, but I knew I couldn't take him home. ”

The old man sighed lightly, his eyes were lonely and gloomy.

"Because I can't find his legs, how can I go home without my legs, and then later, I really became a member of the defense army here, and I have seen too many lives and deaths, people come and go, the old brothers of the past are almost gone, and I also have a hunch that I seem to be leaving. ”

"There are new people in the country, and after we are gone, this pass will be handed over to you young generation, there is a sentence I want you to remember, people can die, I tiger and wolf pass must not let an enemy into the pass. ”

I can't listen to the big truth of the old man, he Zhang Mingyue used to be nothing more than a swordsman who walked the rivers and lakes with a knife, and he only came to this pass by chance, he is not a Chu person, and he has no responsibility and obligation to protect this territory.

If you have to do something, it's just for this group of soldiers who seem to be annoying but are actually cute, at least, this group of people should be respected.

In an instant, Zhang Mingyue seemed to have figured out many things.

He stood up, propped up his body, which had been sitting all night, and walked to the high platform where he was preparing crockpots for the ashes of the soldiers who died last night.

"Why don't you let me help too? ”

The young man, who had never smiled since he came, pursed his lips and smiled, revealing two shallow dimples.

"Boy, are you okay? It's a technical job to prepare a coffin for our old brothers, you fucking better continue to go to your waterfall to practice knives, and kill our battalion commander as soon as possible, and you can do it when the time comes, these brothers will definitely not say a word. ”

The soldier with the blood on his face had dried up laughed and cursed.

"No hurry, no hurry. ”

The young man looked at the rough man who was not far away and was preparing a list of soldiers to be killed in battle.

"Anyway, we have to walk together sooner or later, let this guy be stunned for two days, Lao Tzu is only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he has lived longer than him. ”

"Haha, bring seeds, Lao Tzu likes a kid like you, okay, then you can help, but you have to be careful, we old brothers didn't look like a person when they were alive, and they had to look decent when they died, otherwise they wouldn't accept it when they went to the Hades Palace, and then they would bother us brothers, Lao Tzu didn't have that patience." ”

You have to be decent when you're dead.

Somehow, the young man's heart was sour, and he scolded with tears in his eyes.

"I'm not fucking like those mothers-in-law in Bianjing, who don't have such good craftsmanship and dress up with flowers. ”

The young man had a faint word that he did not say.

I don't even have a good corpse, what do you want me to do to be presentable?

......

The days slipped quietly through the fingers, and every few days there would be soldiers catching up with the footsteps of the deceased soldiers and leaving in a hurry, some people couldn't even name them.

The general did not have such a good heart to clean up the corpses of the barbarians, most of them were exposed to the wilderness and devoured by wild dogs, if it were not for the low temperature in the north of the Central Plains, I am afraid that no one would be able to stay at all, the stench was overwhelming, but the soldiers who died in their own battles would be properly settled, and if they were homeless, the soldiers' pensions would also be buried deep in the loess with them.

The general said that these silver can be taken to Huangquan Road to honor Lord Yan, and in the next life, he will vote for a good family, don't be the most pitiful soldier in the world, whether there is Huangquan Road in this world Zhang Mingyue does not know, only knows that the veterans who first came to the border pass have become fewer and fewer, but the battalion commander who killed a thousand knives has not died, every time he tortures the newcomers who come, the old soldier's food seems to be not tired of eating, General Xue Pingchuan rarely shows up on weekdays as always, but there are more and more white bones piled up outside the pass.

There are many soldiers who do not have a hometown, so the general buried their ashes deep in the pass, he said that these brothers died for the border pass all their lives when they were born, and even if they die, we should see how these junior soldiers of the Tiger and Wolf Pass resist the strong enemy outside the pass.

The contest between Zhang Mingyue and the battalion commander continued, and even the living veteran felt unhappy when he didn't see the two of them intriguing for a day, and over time this became a well-known thing in the battalion, but the old soldier became more and more worried day by day, and every evening he would smoke a big cigarette pouch and look at the pass, choking on the smoke, but he seemed to never get tired of smoking.

"Zhang Mingyue, there is your letter. ”

The battalion commander, as always, stood coldly in front of the young man, who was already getting stronger and stronger, and took out a letter that changed hands I don't know how many times, and the envelope was added several times.

"Shouldn't I say thank you?"

The young man took the letter in his hand, and it was not salty or indifferent.

"That's not necessary, yesterday you insisted on a set of knives at the waterfall, and after reading the letter, I went to change the way I played, and I wanted you to practice knives underwater. ”

The battalion commander sneered.

"You just don't want to live?"

"I really don't like what kind of virtue you have, how can you be brought by the general himself, I just want to see whether you are pus or straw. ”

The soldiers laughed, but the young man was still not salty.

"After sending the letter, you still don't get out, do you want me to say that your wife can't do anything in front of so many people?"

But seeing that this born person was tall and big, even the battalion commander who called the general a brother gritted his teeth.

"Good boy, unless you don't take your wife, I must bring you a hat. ”

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to live a little longer than Wang Ba. ”

The young man turned and walked away.

The battalion commander looked at the lonely figure as always, and his expression was complicated.

Zhang Mingyue took the letter and still returned to the haystack that she had never been able to move out of.

The handwriting is beautiful, I'm afraid it wasn't written by the old fox.

Sure enough, it was the woman under the moon who had been haunted by her dreams countless times.

"Letter from home?"

The old pawn came quietly, but a big bag of cigarettes seemed to have been emptied, so he had to bite the empty pipe and smash it.

"It's not a family, it's just an old man. ”

"It's not bad to have an old man, at least I can still think about it a little, I don't have anything, except this pipe that I took from the old battalion commander before. ”

The old pawn looked a little lonely today, so Zhang Mingyue collected the letters.

"You're afraid you're addicted to cigarettes again, you wait, I'll go down the mountain and ask Old Man Yang for a bag of tobacco leaves, which is your daily cooking extra money." ”

"Not really. I can't smoke much. ”

The red sun was hanging low in the sky, and the cold wind of the border plug was blowing in the Tiger Wolf Pass, blowing up the gray hair of the old soldier who had been guarding the border pass for more than 40 years, in fact, the old soldier was not very big, but it was just a little older than the border soldiers.

Young people have complicated feelings, how can they feel that they are old?

"Could it be that you, old man, are you going to quit smoking?"

"It doesn't seem wrong for you to say that. ”

The red sun finally set, and the Tiger Wolf Pass gradually darkened, and the old man seemed to remember something and suddenly said again.

"Speaking of tobacco, I do know that there is a place where the tobacco leaves are very good, if you don't mind, you can help me pick them, and when I dry them, it will be another year's pastime. ”

"I'm not going to go too far. ”

"It won't be too far, twenty miles from the gate, and it won't take an hour for your red horse to come and go. ”

“......”

"Just look at the fact that I've made you so many delicious things in the past few months, can I promise me, an old man? I'm too old to walk that far. ”

"Okay, then you wait. ”

The young man put on his shirt and stepped on the red horse.

"Lao Tzu has given you a lot of face, only this time, not as an example. ”

The young man hurriedly went to the gate with the red horse under his crotch, stirring up dust all over the sky.

The veteran soldier who watched him leave put the pipe he had taken from the previous battalion commander into a hole in the haystack.

I never know what the destiny is, and the destiny will eventually come.