son-in-law

Chapter 725 Chapter [-]
In the second year of Jingping in the Wu Dynasty, in the early morning of June [-], there was a brief chaos in the valley of the Xiaocang River.

At this time, the sun has not yet risen, the night is slightly cool, and soon after the warm yellow lights are lit up one by one, the voices of discussions hummed in the camps in the valley.This is the time when the soldiers of Xiao Canghe accept their daily tasks.Soon after the humming subsided, groups of soldiers assembled in the surrounding clearings and began their daily running training along the road in the river valley.After that, it was the crowing of the rooster that heralded the dawn.

Zuo Duanyou also got up.The elderly are old and used to getting up early every day, even if they come to a new place, they will not change.Putting on his clothes, he went outside and punched. In his mind, he was still thinking about the conversation with Ning Yi last night. The mountain wind was blowing, and it was quite cool.On the mountain road not far from the leeward, running soldiers shouted their horns and formed a long line to pass there, crossing the mountain without seeing the beginning and the end.

This is a very good soldier, with murderous intent and rules. Zuo Duanyou has also seen it in the past two days.

After that, Qin Shaoqian in military uniform came over to greet him and have breakfast.After breakfast, the old man was thinking about things in his room.Xiaocang River is located in a remote location, and the hillsides on both sides are not vibrant green. Under the sunlight, it is only a yellow and green area, but it looks calm. The occasional training slogan outside the house can make people calm down.

The Jin Dynasty rose and the Wu Dynasty declined. Since Bianliang was conquered by the Jurchen, the north of the Yellow River has existed in name only.For Xiao Canghe, this world is a cage, with Jin people in the north, Xixia in the west, and Wu Dynasty in the south.But for the Zuo family, why not?This is a change of dynasty. The Zuo family has a bigger stall. The Jurchen is stabilizing the domestic situation and has not really taken over the north of the Yellow River. It may take a little longer, but what should happen, it will happen one day.

As Ning Liheng said, one day, the Jin people will go south, and the Zuo family will face a choice. This is not an alarmist, but an inevitable situation.As for Zuo Duanyou, he didn't like the imperial court, and he was a little frustrated with the world, but there was one thing that didn't need to be considered - he would never consider surrendering to the Jinren.

In order to defend against the Liao people from the south, Wang Qisong's whole family died. Qin Siyuan, in order to revitalize the Wu Dynasty, eventually lost his reputation and died at the hands of villains.The three friends have different beliefs and have long since broken, but that is only the difference in art. In the way of a gentleman and the way of Confucianism, some things will not change. On this way, the three have never had any differences.

The old house in Jinju is also quiet, but since last year, the life of the old man has lost its peace.Of course he could die generously, but the children of the Zuo family couldn't live without a way, and he didn't like to be a Jurchen either.Living in the courtyard of the old house, he was anxious every day.And facing such a thing, for him, it's really... a little too old.

When he came to Xiaocanghe, he had the intention of letting go of a line, but now that the conversation has collapsed, in this strange place, watching strange things and listening to strange slogans, for him, it is more quiet. .In his spare time, he would even suddenly think of Qin Siyuan's choice back then. When faced with many things, the one surnamed Qin was the most sober and rational.

There was a long white cloud outside the window. It was a good morning that had just begun. He wanted to leave the matter of Ning Liheng behind, and a manager of the Zuo family who accompanied him walked quickly outside the house.

"Master, there seems to be movement."

"Huh? What?"

"Come out and see, the army in the valley is moving."

Zuo Duanyou picked up his cane and walked out of the house.

In order to show respect for the old man, the house arranged for him is also located on the upper part of the mountain, which can overlook the whole valley from the side.It wasn't long before the sun had risen, the temperature was pleasant, the sky was full of white clouds, and the scene in the valley was full of vigor and vitality, but when you looked closely, everything seemed a little different.

The settlement in the river valley is centered on a small square and extends all around. At this time, houses are still being built, and every day, a large number of wheelbarrows and soldiers carrying supplies pass through the streets, bringing Both the inside and outside of the settlement area are full of liveliness, and in the further river beaches, open spaces, hillsides, etc., the figures of soldiers training are active, and there is no less vitality.

However, looking down at this time, the entire settlement seems to have been diluted. Except for the few teams maintaining order, the rest are only ordinary residents who are active in the valley, and some playful children.And spread from the settlement to the surrounding area, all the river beaches, open spaces, and the river beaches on the other side of the river are soldiers training at this time.

Zuo Duanyou compared the impressions of the previous two days: "They all participated in training today?"

"I've already inquired about it. The Army in the Valley uses three days as a training session, and the rest work in turns, which has lasted for more than half a year."

The mountain wind was blowing pleasantly, and the old man frowned and clenched the cane in his hand...

**************
Time gradually reached noon, and there was a surprisingly quiet atmosphere in the cafeteria of Xiao Canghe.

The soldiers who came and went seemed a little silent, but this silence did not feel the slightest downturn.At the dining table, some people communicated in a low voice with the people around them, people ate and swallowed in big mouthfuls, and some people deliberately grinded their teeth, looked around, and had strange expressions on their faces.Many of the other people have generally weird expressions.

Occasionally, a loud and loud voice suddenly made a voice: "It must be a fight—" He looked at the eyes of the people around him, and "hum" twice, with a proud expression.The squad leader at the dining table not far away shouted, "Don't talk nonsense!"

Some people also picked up chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat: "The meat is bigger than usual." The person across the table laughed "hehe" and ate a big mouthful.

There was no too loud discussion, because the question that made everyone puzzled and interested at this time was blocked in the morning-the sudden change of schedule and work seemed to startle everyone, so much When the platoons were assembled, there was a moment of chattering and chattering, which made all the senior officers lose their temper almost invariably, and caused them to run a lot more.Without daring to talk about it on a large scale, the whole scene became what it is now.

Hou Wu came over with the food and sat down on the seat next to Mao Yishan. Mao Yishan leaned over with interest: "Brother Fifth, have you seen Brother Qu?"

Hou Wu nodded.

"What did Big Brother Qu say?"

There was a smile on the corner of Hou Wu's mouth: "He wants to come out."

"Ah, Big Brother Qu is still injured..."

"Hey." Hou Wu lowered his voice, "He said just now that the time has come. He can't miss this important event."

"Brother Qu really said that? What else did he say?"

"I didn't get it right, but he mentioned something..." Hou Wu lowered his voice a little bit, but at this time, everyone at the table was sneaking their heads down and eavesdropping," he said. ...the Northwest should have already started harvesting wheat..."

A soldier on the opposite side pointed his head and reminded: "The wheat is not ripe yet. In two days..."

"Xixia people occupy the place, of course it's early..."

Before the other person could finish speaking, Xu Lingming, the battalion commander of their battalion, came over: "What are you talking about sneakily! I didn't run enough in the morning!"

Xu Lingming is a good person on weekdays, but everyone is not very afraid of him. A young soldier stood up: "Report to the battalion commander! You can run another ten miles!"

Another stood up: "Report to the boss, we have finished eating, and we are going to train!"

"We also finished eating." Several people around and Mao Yishan also stood up.They were indeed finished.

"What training! Just finished eating, washed the dishes for me and went back to rest!"

The guy who said he was going to train was stunned: "Uh... yes! Let's go to rest."

The group of people at the dining table left quickly. They couldn't talk here. They could always talk when they went to the dormitory.Hou Wu, who was just delayed because of delivering meals to Qu Qing, watched the table suddenly empty, and twitched the corners of his mouth: "Wait for me, you bastards!" Then he quickly buried himself in the rice.

***************
Leaving this mountainous area, northwest, the wheat harvest has indeed begun.

The Xixia army forced the people in the occupied land, and since a few days ago, the curtain of harvest has already begun.The folk customs of the northwest are fierce, and when these large tracts of wheat are harvested and taken away, and only limited rations are obtained, some resistance begins to appear one after another.

Near Yanzhou, an entire village was massacred due to resistance.Outside the Qingjian City, various rumors of the appearance of the old man gradually spread. In the villages outside the city, some people began to burn the cornfields that belonged to them at night. From this, it was the slaughter and revenge of the Xixia soldiers.The bandits began to appear more actively. Some bandits in the mountains tried to grab food from the Xixia people. However, the Xixia people responded fiercely. In just a few days, many cottages were found by Xixia Buba, and they were broken and massacred.

In the Huanzhou area, Chong Lie led the last thousands of clan armies to try to attack, and also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to gather more followers.However, on the banks of the Huanjiang River, they encountered the main force of the Xixia people's Iron Harriers, and they were defeated again.

Spotted blood and large swaths of golden yellow are blooming on this land with the harvest of the Xixia people.

****************
The training of the army continued until the dark night again engulfed the gorgeous sunset.A fire lit up in the Xiaocang River, and in the small square in the center of the settlement, the news that the Xixia people had begun to harvest grain had already spread.

As the night approached, various discussions were spreading around the barracks in this settlement. The faces of the soldiers who had been training for a day were still full of excitement. Someone ran to ask Luo Ye if he wanted to kill him. However, at this moment, regarding the whole matter, the upper echelons of the army are still keeping their mouths shut, and everyone's calculations are nothing more than private obscenities.

The entire Xiaocanghe camp seemed to be boiled in a simmering fire at this time.

In the depths of the night, the feeling of tension and excitement has not stopped.Halfway up the mountain, Ning Yi walked out of the small courtyard, looking down at a field of lights from a distance, just like every day before.

On the side of the mountain, there was a figure moving slowly. In the darkness, he slowly and silently escaped, and after a while, he crossed the mountain top.

The figure walked along the rugged mountain road, and then cautiously descended the slope, the moonlight was like water, and suddenly, he stopped in such a light.

Footsteps swept past with the sound of the wind.In front of the field of vision, there is also a figure walking slowly, the edge of the spear is showing.

"Li Lao Liu, where are you going?"

The face of the young man appeared in the moonlight.The figure named Li Laoliu slowly straightened up and pulled out the two knives on his side: "Zhu Biao... and Yuwen Feidu."

After saying this, he went straight up!In front, the shadow of the gun roared up, like a prairie fire, swallowing up towards him——

In the darkness farther away, a young man named Yuwen Feidu appeared, drawing a bow and an arrow...

"Today, don't leave..."

****************
On June [-], a heavy rain fell. The black rain cloud seemed to cover the sky. The rain washed over everything recklessly, with lightning and thunder.This made it impossible to continue the training in Xiaocang Hanoi. All the soldiers were suffocated in the room for a whole day. In the evening, the rainstorm finally stopped. The sun has not yet set, and the sky is clear and translucent, like new .On June [-]th, the training continued again.

In the evening of this day, in the small courtyard halfway up the mountain, Su Tan'er came back and ate a rare extra bowl of rice - her work was coming to an end.Little Ningxi, with a bandage on her head, was complaining about not being able to attend classes for the past two days, and she didn't know if Min Chuyi had been studying hard.

After having dinner in the fading heat, Ning Yi went out to enjoy the shade. After a while, Jin Er also came over and told him about the little girl named Min Chuyi who came to class today—perhaps because she accompanied Ning Ning Xi was injured when Xi went out to play. The parents of the girl from the Min family beat her, and she may have been slapped on the face.

Talking about trivial matters like this, and talking about the training in the valley and some rumors in the past two days, Jin'er recalled the problem of Ning Yi a month ago, and raised a few words.Ning Yi looked at the valley below and slowly opened his mouth with a smile.

"What does Xiao Canghe look like? The old man in the Zuo family said that it looks like a dangerous egg on a cliff. You say it's like a bag, like this and that, of course there's nothing wrong with it. That question just suddenly came to my mind, where Xingzhi was. To, I, do you think... eh?"

As the words were being said, Tan'er also walked over. At this time, Ning Yi was sitting on a tree stump with grass beside it. Su Tan'er smiled and asked, "What did you say?" down.

Ning Yi repeated the question he asked Jin'er at the beginning, Tan'er looked at the valley below, folded his hands on his knees, put his chin on his knees, and replied softly, "Like a knife."

Yeah, it's like a knife...

Ning Yi nodded.

……

In the river valley, the battalion commander Pang Luan was walking on the street, frowning and telling the young people around him to go away. He was about to be annoyed to death. In the past few days, he has been questioned and asked many times, and now someone is coming. Ask, are you going out to fight some big family?

"Da Da Da, even if you want to fight, it's not as worthless as you said! Think big for me—"

He revealed a little bit of the mystery.What I remembered in my mind was the meeting that night three days ago.

……

"...Since the fall of last year, we came to this part of Xiaocang River. The original plan was to be able to rely on Qingmu Village, give full play to the surrounding geographical advantages, and open up a commercial road and even a commercial network to connect all parties to solve the problem. The current difficulties. At that time, there was no major action in Xixia, and the Western Army was not dead. We think this goal is very difficult, but there is still something to do..."

"...But since December, when the news of Master Chong's death came, we have completely rejected this plan..."

"...After Xixia came over, the Northwest was in great chaos. In the foreseeable future, the Jin people will gradually swallow the north of the Yellow River, and we will definitely be isolated. In this situation, it has been confirmed that it is impossible to open up trade routes. So we can only choose another path. If this path is directly stated, it will only cause people to think about it for a day or two. It will only lead to the disintegration of the entire Xiaocanghe army and the complete collapse of the existing foundation. To this end, we are doing After the decision was made, we did...all the work so far..."

"...for nearly a year, the core of all Xiao Canghe's work is to bring up the initiative of the soldiers in the valley, to make them feel the pressure, and at the same time, to make them think that this pressure does not necessarily need to be solved by them. A lot of Division of labor and cooperation to improve their mutual recognition, convey external information, let them understand what reality is, and let them feel everything they need to feel. By this day, they have developed a sense of identity with themselves, and they can identify with the people around them. Companions, if they can identify with this group, they will no longer be afraid of this pressure, because they all know that this is what they must overcome next..."

"And, they can get past..."

……

After nearly a year of polishing, Xiao Canghe now has a knife.

It is extremely hard and rough, and due to the huge internal problems, once it encounters any chaos, it may be broken.Any society is a complex whole, but because this society is too single, the problems and defects encountered are too single, and it has gone to extremes.

What supports this valley is the belief that has been worked out over the past year, but this is the only belief.This makes it surprisingly fragile and can be broken when it is broken, but this belief is also paranoid and fearless, and it has almost reached the peak of its reach.

It is like a high-carbon steel knife full of flaws, and if you swing it hard, it may break.

But the question is, who will be able to catch this all-out sword next...

On June [-] of the second year of Jingping, chaos was continuing in the northwest of the outside world. Among the mountains, there was a group of people who were using the small valley as an imaginary enemy, eyeing tigers and Qingmu Village in the north. The never-ending Jinbing threat.In this valley, the rallying trumpet sounded—

Lightning roamed, piercing thunderclouds, and rainstorms were gathering under the northwest sky.No one knows what kind of thunderstorm will come.

On this day, the black flag stretched and jumped out of the Xiaocang River. The army of more than [-] people turned westward, saved the mountains without the slightest hesitation, and rushed directly to the Xixia defense line!

(End of this chapter)