As the sun rises in the east, geese sing.
General Li Zhanfeng led 100,000 troops, pointing his spear at Beidi.
Li Changtian and Wei Ji had been fighting bloody battles the night before, but this morning they each lead their troops, without sleep or rest.
Li Changtian rode his war horse and looked up at the sky.
The lonely smoke in the desert is straight, and the lonely bird is whining.
Li Changtian suddenly rode his horse and wanted to run to the front of the army formation.
Wei Ji hurriedly stopped him: "Hey, Li Changtian, where are you going? The enemy is in front of you, and you will be punished if you walk around casually!"
Li Changtian said, "In the night attack last night, the enemies were almost all veterans, and there were no elite troops at all. I think there is something wrong here. I will go to General Li."
Wei Ji grabbed Li Changtian, "Don't go, General Li has already found out."
"What?" Li Changtian was taken aback.
Wei Ji said: "These days, we stick to the border and fight passively. Beidi deliberately lured us to attack them at night and let us face them head-on. In the battle, the terrain is flat, and neither side can have an ambush, so the next step is to fight for the strength of both sides!"
"I also agree to fight this battle, you can't always shrink back!"
Wei Ji looked at Li Changtian with a bow and arrow in hand, and smiled frivolously.
With the flames of war, the family and the country behind them, they are furious and fierce!
"Hey! Boy, listen to me."
Wei Ji said that he faced the sky and his armor was like golden scales.
"As long as I, Wei, stay in this world for a day, I will never let Beidi's cavalry trample on the Central Plains!"
-
That was Wei Ji's last sentence to Li Changtian.
-
The battle flags are flying, and the sound of horns fills the sky.
One will succeed and all will die.
With an order, the jaw-dropping sound of fighting resounded through the sky.
No one knows how long the war lasted.
In the end, everyone only knows how to kill, kill, kill.
Scarlet blood seeped into the ground, smoke and flames rose everywhere, and the nostrils were filled with the smell of burnt paste.
The remnant knife with a curly blade lay on the red-stained sand, showing the last unwillingness of a soldier.
On the battlefield, Li Changtian lay covered in blood among the remains of severed limbs. He wanted to stand up, but his limbs were numb and numb, and he couldn't exert any strength at all.
His ears were filled with screams and howls.
Li Changtian remembered just now, a hundred meters away from him, he watched Wei Ji's right arm being cut off by Beidi people.
The pain distorted Wei Ji's face, but at this moment, he was still able to grit his teeth, raised the knife with his left hand, and slashed fiercely on the neck of the Beidi man.
When Li Changtian ran over to support Wei Ji.
Wei was speechless.
He looked towards Shuofang City, towards the Central Plains, towards the territory he swore to defend to the death.
From the beginning to the end, he refused to close his eyes.
-
No matter how cruel the battlefield is, there will eventually be a moment of calm.
In that battle, the Central Plains lost 60,000 troops to Beidi.
Wei Ji once said to Li Changtian.
"Can't retreat, can't retreat!"
But they eventually withdrew.
He retreated back to Shuofang City in a miserable and embarrassing appearance, and watched the frontier be stepped into by Beidi cavalry.
As the coach, Li Zhanfeng himself was seriously injured and fell into a coma.
At such a critical moment, Qin Jueming dragged his sick body, struggled to get up from the sick bed, and led less than 40,000 remnants of the defeated generals, and stood firm in Shuofang City.
When the news of the defeat spread back to the capital, the whole country was shocked, the court was in turmoil, everyone from the officials to the people was terrified, and they always felt that the Beidi people would rush into the Central Plains tomorrow and start killing, wounding and looting.
The emperor grew old overnight, and the next day he stood in the court hall to appease the people of the country, and ordered to send troops to Shuofang with a firm gaze.
But no one knows how long Shuofang can last.
On the fifth day after the defeat, Bei Di cut off the captive's head and threw it into the city with a catapult he had snatched, in order to make Shuofang's generals completely defeated. , Not a single one was left alive.
Qin Jueming stayed up all night, and on the second day, he ordered all the people in Shuofang City to leave the city and retreat to the Central Plains in order to protect their innocent lives.
But this move is to tell the soldiers.
Shuofang City may not be able to defend.
Not long after, there were rumors that someone had betrayed Beidi in the city.
Rumors spread everywhere, and the precarious Shuofang is already in turmoil.
-
After that battle, Li Changtian survived.
Although he was injured, but fortunately he was not missing any arms or legs, and he was luckier than most people.
On the day when the troops retreated to Shuofang City, Li Changtian, who had always observed discipline, secretly left the main army, dug out the altar of wine buried by Wei Ji, and brought it back to Shuofang City.
Wei just left.
Together with 60,000 soldiers, he stayed in the border of Shuofang with his body shrouded in horse leather and all his glory.
So far, no one has called Li Changtian an apprentice and patiently taught him how to ride a horse and shoot an arrow.
It's not that Li Changtian has never experienced life and death.
On the contrary, he has experienced too much life and death.
But no matter how many times, Li Changtian felt heartbroken and heartbroken.
In pain, Li Changtian originally wanted to drink the jar of wine that Wei Ji left behind.
But he touched the Bingdi lotus jade pendant on his neck, and hid the wine without touching it.
On the seventh day after the defeat, Li Zhanfeng, who had walked through the gate of hell, woke up.
Qin Jueming immediately summoned Li Zhanfeng, Chang Sun Bai, and Li Changtian to discuss the next countermeasures.
In the camp, after the defeat, Li Zhanfeng was still the irritable warrior with the scarred face.
But his eyes were obviously full of self-blame and guilt.
Qin Jueming did not mention the defeat of the army.
At this time, mentioning defeat is not only meaningless, but also hurts momentum.
Qin Jueming is well aware of this.
"The capital sent reinforcements to deliver food and grass, and they will arrive at Shuofang in seven days." Qin Jueming informed the three generals.
"Which general leads the army?" Chang Sun Bai asked.
Qin Jueming shook his head: "I don't know yet."
"Before the reinforcements arrive, we must defend Shuofang, cough cough cough." Qin Jueming said while coughing, "You should lead your own troops and be careful to prevent mutiny and rebellion. Cough cough cough, guards on the city wall We must also strengthen, Beidi is now in power, and will definitely take advantage of the victory to pursue, cough cough cough..."
After speaking a few words, Qin Jueming coughed up blood.
"General Qin!" Changsun Bai asked in panic with an anxious expression on his face, "Are you alright?"
Changsun Bai has followed Qin Jueming since he became a soldier, and respects him very much. Seeing Qin Jueming, who has been a hero for a lifetime, become seriously ill like this, Changsun Bai feels more uncomfortable than anyone else.
But Qin Jueming couldn't be defeated. Once he collapsed, Shuofang would really be over.
Qin Jueming waved his hand: "Let's stop here today, Chang Tian, please stay here for a while."
Li Zhanfeng and Changsun Bai bowed their fists and bid farewell.
Only Qin Jueming and Li Changtian were left in the barracks.
Qin Jueming gathered his clothes and sat down while coughing.
Li Changtian showed concern: "Master Qin, you..."
Qin Jueming waved his hand, he took a deep breath, stopped coughing, and said: "I'm sick, I thought I could last seven or eight years, who knows... Changtian, I keep you because of important things to discuss with you... ”
Before he finished speaking, Qin Jueming suddenly fell silent.
His eyes fell on the residual candle on the table, seeing that drop of wax twisted and horribly.
Qin Jueming hesitated for a while, then continued: "Chang Tian, now Shuofang is in danger, the two generals other than you have different temperaments, once Shuofang is destroyed, the Central Plains will really be at a critical juncture of life and death, I..."
As he talked, his voice gradually became weaker, and he stopped talking.
Li Changtian had never seen Qin Jueming like this.
In Li Changtian's impression, Qin Jueming carried mountains and rivers on his shoulders and was a general. Even if he was sick, his eyes were still determined and his aura was domineering. No one could compare with him.
This is also the reason why they have less than 40,000 remnants now, and Qin Jueming is still able to hold Shuofang City firmly, preventing Beidi people from taking a step forward.
But when he was talking to Li Changtian just now, Qin Jueming was very helpless.
There was even some guilt in his tone.
This really confused Li Changtian.
Li Changtian said: "Lord Qin, if there is anything I can help with, just ask!"
Qin Jueming raised his head, glanced at Li Changtian, but said, "Forget it, go and rest."
Although Li Changtian had doubts, he still obeyed the order and stood up to leave.
When there was no one in the camp, Qin Jueming suddenly collapsed. He bent over and coughed violently, his throat was fishy, and the corners of his mouth were bleeding.
He was like a candle in the wind, dying.
Qin Jueming forced himself up, moved to the side of the bed, and took out a scroll from under the pillow.
It was the portrait of Yan Ziqing sitting on the teacher's chair, holding a medical book.
Qin Jueming unfolded the scroll and gently stroked the person on the painting with his hands. In a daze, he seemed to see Yan Ziqing hitting his head with a medical book when he was young.
Knock and talk.
"Early to bed and early to rise, clean and refresh the mind, invigorate the spleen and replenish qi, nourish the stomach and nourish yin, and live a long life, a hundred years old."
"Ziqing." Qin Jueming looked at the portrait and smiled helplessly, "I can't seem to hold on anymore."
"This magnificent Central Plains, the people of Kyushu, this country, how should we protect it..."
-
During the days of waiting for reinforcements and defending Shuofang, Beidi repeatedly attacked the city, exhausting the soldiers, and almost broke the city gate several times.
Last night, Beidi attacked again at night, and Changsun Bai and Li Zhanfeng led the troops to defend the city.
The battle was fierce, with heavy frost and cold, and scarlet blood dripping slowly from the city wall.
The people of Beidi fought more and more bravely, but the soldiers in Shuofang City were all exhausted and collapsed, and there was a faint tendency to be defeated.
At the critical moment, Qin Jueming, dressed in black iron armor and holding a long sword, boarded the gate of the city. Facing the cold wind, he personally led the soldiers to fight fiercely with the Beidi people.
At the beginning of the rising sun, the day comes, the red flag is broken, and the broken halberd is buried in the earth.
With Qin Jueming's encouragement, Shuofang City was once again defended.
But everyone is thinking.
next time
Will Shuofang be able to hold on next time
How many times can Qin Jueming fight with this sick body
On the same day, Qin Jueming once again called Li Changtian into the camp alone.
The first thing he said to Li Changtian was.
"Chang Tian, I have no other choice."
"I never thought I'd get to this point."
That day, Qin Jueming and Li Changtian talked a lot.
Every time he said a sentence, he coughed and looked extremely painful.
But Qin Jueming finally finished speaking after gritting his teeth.
Finally, he looked up at Li Changtian and said.
"You can refuse, and you don't need to feel the burden of it. If you don't want to, turn your head and leave the camp without saying anything. Just pretend that I have never talked to you about this matter."
Li Changtian moved his body.
He was so dazed that he staggered.
His fingertips trembled slightly, and he stretched out his hand to hold the Bing Tilian Jade Plaque on his chest.
The edges of the jade plaque were a little sharp, which caused Li Changtian's palms to ache, and it also brought him back to his senses a little.
Li Changtian suddenly remembered that in his previous life, when he was maintaining peace in the field, he had met a local child in a foreign country.
The child was only seven or eight years old, curled up in the wreckage of the building after the shelling, covered in dust and mud.
Li Changtian went over to protect him, trying to take him to a safe zone.
Probably because Li Changtian was carrying a gun, he screamed in fear.
Li Changtian managed to comfort him, and asked him in a foreign language, "Where's your family?"
said the child.
"They're all dead."
He asked Li Changtian again.
"What did i do wrong?"
A child of seven or eight years old asked Li Changtian what he did wrong.
Li Changtian couldn't answer.
He thought of his own country, where seven or eight-year-old children should be in the first grade, sitting in the classroom, shaking their heads and chanting 'Family affairs, state affairs, world affairs, and everything concerned'.
Li Changtian at that time suddenly wanted to go back very much.
Go back to the place where you have to compete with the stall owner for a dime or two when buying vegetables in the vegetable market.
Li Changtian knows how rare and precious peace and ease are, and he also knows that it is worth making him risk his life.
Li Changtian recovered from his memory, took a deep breath, and said firmly to Qin Jueming, "I will do this."
Qin Jueming was taken aback for a moment, then with tears in his eyes, he saluted Li Changtian.
Li Changtian hurried forward and helped Qin Jueming up: "Master Qin, I should be the one to salute you."
Qin Jueming shook his head, actually choked up.
After Li Changtian left the tent, Qin Jueming took out the portrait of Yan Ziqing, unfolded it and looked at it fondly, then his hands trembled...
Burn that painting.
The smoke is smoky and choking.
After Qin Jueming finished burning the painting, a soldier suddenly came to report.
"Lord Qin, the leading troops escorting food and grass have arrived at Shuofang first! The generals are also among them!"
"What?" Qin Jueming hurriedly got up to greet him, "It's actually a few days sooner than I thought."
When he left the camp, he asked the soldier, "Who is the general?"
"Back to Master Qin, it is the Shaoqing of Dali Temple of the Ministry of Punishment, Yan Shu, Master Yan!"