[Cehua] The wind and rain are like dark

He couldn't quite remember which morning and evening it was.It didn't seem long, but it seemed that many days had passed.Only the hot, summer light streamed in and out from the window lattices.The door was still guarded like an iron barrel, and He Xiaoxiao was helpless.For a long time, he could only sit in his room and draw those paintings by himself.New paper is no longer available, and ink and paint are limited.The guards still brought him food on time every day, but the portions varied from time to time, and gradually there were no more food such as rice and noodles, only some indiscernible things—this was nothing, nothing.He Xiaoxiao knew in his heart that since the soldiers in the battalion had long been digging rats for food, what was so strange about such a situation?He remained silent, no longer trying to fight for anything.Zhou Shousong's words have been made very clear, no matter what happens, he will not be let out.He knew he didn't give up.Perhaps the younger brothers and sisters are still alive, as long as they are still alive, there is still hope.Maybe one day I will finally be able to go out.

The sun's light moved from one side of the window lattice to the other, and turned further west.He couldn't remember what day it was.In the endless distress, besides painting, he could only write letters.In fact, at this point, no matter drawing or writing, they have lost their original meaning.Back then, as a painter, he was recruited into the military camp. He originally wanted to appease the people by painting the appearance of the Tang army stabilizing the world at the request of the imperial court. At that time, he was only thinking about the heroic appearance of Tiance, but he never knew what was behind this heroic appearance. situation.The deaths behind those military exploits are neither heroic nor beautiful, only the cruel truth with endless rotten and dark breath, ready to move behind the gorgeous words of praise.Once I understand this point in my heart, the pen in my hand seems to weigh more than a thousand catties, and I can no longer draw those beautiful scenes with high spirits.The scroll was carefully drawn by him little by little, and the fallen soldiers on the tower stood against the Tiance flag still fluttering high, making it particularly eye-catching.He still couldn't draw the part of the city. Today's He Xiaoxiao is no longer the He Xiaoxiao of the past, and he draws only based on his own imagination.He has never seen the current situation in the city, and his mind is also blank and empty, and he can't draw anything.

Li Jin reined in his horse by the river, and then jumped off to let the sweaty Tayan Wuzhao rest.Shen Jun is still like this, not to mention the horses of other brothers.Li Jin ordered them to loosen the reins and let the horses graze around.Now that the war is raging, the people are fleeing from the war, and the crops have failed for a few seasons, but it is cheaper for these wild wormwood to grow so lush and lush, swinging with the wind.In the wilderness in the early morning, there was a large hazy mist floating around, and it was white everywhere, and the road ahead could not be seen clearly.

Li Jin walked towards the crowd along the dilapidated official road with one foot and one shallow foot.Chen Minghua and Xu Shengbin held the map and stood together with several others, as if they were thinking about where to go next.The army of wolf teeth is pressing down on the border, and the cities everywhere are afraid of losing their defense, the gates of the cities are closed tightly, and there are not even people in the post stations on the road, so they can only find their way by themselves.He successfully broke through the siege before, until he reached the next city, nothing that Li Jin was worried about happened.The few cities they were counting on were still safe and sound, but since they knocked on the gate of the first city, despair deeper than the failure to break out began to invade them wave after wave—no city would send troops to rescue them .It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't.In the past ten days or so, they have moved around several cities, and the defenders in the city are only a few thousand, which can barely protect themselves. If the Spike Army attacks, they don't know if they can hold it.

Li Jin knew very well that when he came out of the city, the situation in the city was almost at a critical juncture, so at first he refused to give up immediately, for fear of delaying time by going further, but after several negotiations, no one was willing to send troops to rescue, and the time was still the same. It is a delay of the past day by day.These days he couldn't sleep at night, thinking of the situation in the city, thinking of the great trust he had placed on him - and even thinking of what he promised He Xiaoxiao.There was no other way, they could only move around a few cities and head further and further south.There is one last hope left in the front, and that is Pei Zhilin, the imperial historian, leading people to guard the city ahead.This is a big city with many soldiers and generals, as well as food and grass. If Pei Zhilin is willing to send troops, they will be saved.

But more than ten days have passed, and the food in the city may have been exhausted long ago, even if they were digging for mice, they might not be able to catch anything.Li Jin didn't dare to think about this anymore, once he got on his horse with a spear in his hand, he would be a soldier, just a soldier of Tiance Mansion, all love for sons and daughters, and all thoughts that would shake the spirit of the army, must be completely forgotten and thought about. Can't even think about it.The agreement with He Xiaoxiao can only be kept in the bottom of my heart.He is not afraid of anything else, he has sorry to too many people, he is only afraid of being sorry to He Xiaoxiao again.But at the moment, he knew that even if it was such a thought, he couldn't have it.

"Don't look, it's this way." Li Jin took off the water bag and took a sip, calling for several people to sit down and rest.Logically speaking, they don't have time to rest calmly like this, but today's rush is too much, if they don't even have a little time to catch their breath, they probably won't be able to hold on any longer.

Xu Shengbin rolled up the drawings silently.This is a young man of few words, but his mind is very clever.When Li Jin was still a small corps leader, he followed Li Jin. Over the past few years, his temperament has always been so calm.Everyone stopped talking too much, rested in silence, and prepared to go on their way in a while.Anyway, this is not the territory of the Spike Army, but it can be relatively relaxed.It's just that everyone is worrying about the same thing, their minds are on fire, and it's impossible to take a good rest.Xu Shengbin was silent for a long time, then suddenly said: "Captain, I have something I've always wanted to ask. What if Pei Zhilin doesn't lend us soldiers?"

Li Jin put down the water bag raised to his mouth, and glanced at Xu Shengbin.The other party was looking at him seriously, he didn't know what to say, he was about to lower his head, but his eyes swept over the other soldiers.He suddenly saw dozens of pairs of eyes, shining on his face full of war smoke and dust, all staring at him.There was anxiety, longing, doubt in those eyes.Li Jin suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, for a short time, he felt as if he had seen such a scene somewhere.That's right, it was the day when the house was confiscated, and the imperial guards from both the northern and southern yamen were there, and his eyes glided over his former colleagues—contemptuous, sympathetic, and curious eyes—they were also so different, and they also died like this. Staring at himself is the same way to make himself speechless.

Li Jin opened his mouth.What if Pei Zhilin didn't borrow troops?I don't know, I don't know.He also wanted to simply answer like this, but his throat was so dry that he couldn't utter a single word.

A shrill bird cry interrupted them.Everyone looked towards the sky subconsciously. At this time, the sky was about to brighten, and the hazy fog on the wilderness had begun to disperse in all directions. A group of swan geese flew from nowhere, passing by the blue sky above their heads. .The cry disperses in the wilderness in the early morning, making it particularly desolate.All the soldiers did not speak, but raised their heads silently, watching the group of wild geese gradually fly to the distant sky, and then disappeared in the depths of the further clouds.Li Jin stared blankly at the group of swan geese, and suddenly remembered the poems he learned when he was a child, going to and from school with Qin Peiyang.In the memory, it seems to be the voice of the young Qin Peiyang, chanting something aloud.

The swan geese are flying, and their feathers are respected.The son Yu Zheng worked hard in the wild.Yuan and Jinren, mourning for the widows and widows.Swan geese are flying and gather in Zhongze.The son of Yu Yuan, he made all kinds of blocks.Although you are tired, you should settle down.Swan geese are flying, whining and crying.The philosopher Wei Wei said that I am tired.Weibi fool, call me arrogant!

What I learned when I was young, I still remember it so clearly.Now the flames of war are raging, and everyone is a wild goose, and they go to conquer together.This battle seems to have been fought for a long time, and it seems that it will take a long, long time to finish.It seems that it is a kind of luck to be able to become the howling swan goose. I am afraid that after the war is over, it will end up being just a handful of dry bones in the wilderness, covered with wild weeds.

He thought of He Xiaoxiao's face, but he shook his head hard-heartedly and dismissed the image immediately.Li Jin stood up, raised his gun and turned to lead the horse.The wind blew the old crest feathers on his head, and they couldn't move them. His combat boots stepped on the lush grass, making a lonely rustling sound.

"If Pei Zhilin doesn't borrow troops, I will break through and return to the city. I would rather die than give up." After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned his head and looked around the crowd, "Brother, are you willing to follow?"

The night gradually climbed up the window lattice, He Xiaoxiao felt dizzy, and the surrounding heat was unbearably hot.He put down his paintbrush for a change, took another piece of paper, and was about to write when he suddenly heard a sound of discussion outside the door. It seemed that some passing soldiers chatted with the guard at the door, the voice was not loud, But they all clearly carried a rare fear.These people are elite strategists who have experienced many battles. On the battlefield, any kind of bloody killing is not something they can't bear. The tone at this time is really disturbing. .

He Xiaoxiao opened the door from the inside, and the guarding soldier was talking to someone, but when he turned around, he immediately stretched out his hand to stop him.

"I won't go out," He Xiaoxiao said in a low voice, "General Zhou's words are military orders, and I will not disobey them. I just want to ask, what are you talking about?"

"This..." Several people fell silent for a while.After a while, someone said: "Mr. He, it's the people from the government..." He pointed to the other side of the camp, "Because of something happening there, I sent people into the city, but they haven't arrived in the city yet. , I was scared back alive..."

"What...how?" He Xiaoxiao could hear his own voice, which seemed to be trembling involuntarily.

"Everywhere...there is a plague, there are too many dead people, and they can't go out of the city to bury...the food has long since run out, and if the living can't be controlled, how can the dead be managed...corpses are piled up everywhere, those who died of starvation or died of disease Yes, I can't tell the difference. I heard that there are people who are so hungry that they sneak out in the middle of the night with knives to cut up the flesh of dead bodies...it's everywhere. ..."

"I heard that there are plague ghosts in the city..."

"what?"

"...the plague ghost has come out! I heard people who went to the city over there said that many people have seen it before. It is a group of children, wearing winter clothes, singing while running..." The voice of the discussion was low because of the fear of the unknown. Go on, "Tell someone who saw this dirty thing, and that family will die!"

"...too...too wicked, what the hell..."

"You don't know? Isn't there a leap in August this year? Didn't my family say it when I was a child? Leap seven is not leap eight, leap—"

"Don't talk nonsense!" He Xiaoxiao interrupted suddenly, shouting, "What plague ghost! The epidemic is just... just... the abnormal season, the plague hurts people, the spring responds to the warmth and the opposite of the severe cold, and the summer responds to the heat Anti-Daliang, there is a epidemic, what’s so strange?! Besides, what’s so strange to see children on the street?! It’s just someone’s children playing outside! It’s all rumors, don’t scare yourself!”

After being called out by him, several people looked at each other in blank dismay, and everyone fell silent for a while.But He Xiaoxiao could see that out of respect for him, or out of fear, they deceived themselves into believing what he just said—at this moment, who else would wear winter clothes in the streets and alleys? Playing, singing and dancing?What's more, he saw it with his own eyes, and he still can't explain what it is.

"There's also just now... the one you mentioned just now who changed her daughter to eat... In this case... Yuan Ye... the dead child... I can't bear to be myself..." He Xiaoxiao was trembling all over, and his voice was trembling even more I can't even convince myself.Even though he had already guessed that this might be the case before asking the question, he still felt unacceptable to his ears, "They..."

"No, it's not..." The soldier who spoke shook his head repeatedly, "It's not a dead child, it's alive... Human flesh that died from the epidemic can't be eaten, so we have to eat alive... A living girl doll, I heard that there are still, still, and women...all, all, all..." He paused several times while speaking, originally this tone sounded very funny, but now no one can laugh.Everyone was silent, and a terrible silence spread among the few people. Everyone lowered their heads. Obviously in this extremely hot weather, a deep chill involuntarily climbed up their backs. I don't know who was trembling, trying to speak, but couldn't open his mouth after making several breath sounds.

He Xiaoxiao silently cast his eyes towards the direction of the city, where he could not see any fire, and the camp was completely silent.Since An Sijie suffered a big loss last time, he no longer attacked the city, but surrounded the entire city with an army of fangs. , It is bound to trap them to death until they are self-defeating.He Xiaoxiao withdrew his gaze, and looked around at the soldiers with pale faces.Under the night and the faint moonlight, these young people's cheeks were sunken, and their eyes were deeply gouged due to hunger and exhaustion, but He Xiaoxiao saw that besides fear, there was something that could not be covered up in the depths of their eyes. , The determination to guard the city to death.

Li do.Now all hope lies in Li Jin and the strategist soldiers he brought out of the city.

He Xiaoxiao glanced at them again, then retreated silently, the door was closed heavily under his hand, with a slight sound.The moment the door was closed, he heard someone finally speak.

"... General Zhou... General Zhou, what did they say?"

"What else can General Zhou say? There is nothing..."

He walked to the painting table and reached out to touch the pen that he had just put down.He clearly saw that his fingertips were trembling, and he couldn't stop shaking. He gritted his teeth and suppressed it for a long time, finally healed up a little, and barely picked up the pen.The nib dipped randomly in the inkstone a few times, and the ink splashed on the edge of the paper, and countless ink dots were instantly blurred, and even He Xiaoxiao's trembling fingers also leaked a piece of ink.

"I don't know how many days the food is in the camp. Hundreds of soldiers have nothing to eat, and they have been sticking to it with a single thought. I also heard that people in the city died of epidemics and starvation, and they slept on each other; people exhumed corpses to eat, and changed their daughters to cook. Although the generals were terrified at the beginning, when they survived and died, there was no way to continue them, and they only followed them. I am trapped here, and I don’t know whether my brothers and sisters in the city are still alive or not, and I don’t know how long this body can survive. And the old days with you, so that you can forget the horror here and steal a dream. The survival of the city depends on you, and I hope you will live up to what you entrusted and return it as soon as possible."

The pen fell into the inkstone, making a crisp sound, and the ink splashed everywhere.He Xiaoxiao covered his face with his hands.At this moment, he knew that he could only write such useless letters that could never be sent.