In the second year of Jingping in the Wu Dynasty, in the early morning of June 13, 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's stall is bigger. 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 will happen one day.
As Ning Liheng said, one day, the golden man will go south. Zuojia will face a choice, this is not an alarmist, but an inevitable situation. As for Zuo Duanyou, he doesn't like the imperial court, but the world. He was also a little disheartened, but there was one point, in fact, he would never consider surrendering to the Jin Man without considering it.
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 already broken up, but that is only the difference in art, the way of a gentleman and the way of Confucianism. Some things will not change. On this avenue, 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 can die generously, but the children of the Zuo family cannot live without a path, and he doesn't like being a Jurchen either. These children really voted for Jin Guo. Slavic and humble. Living in the courtyard of the old house, he was anxious every day. And faced with such a thing, in him. Really... a little too old.
When I came to Xiaocanghe, I had the intention of letting go of a line, but now that the conversation has collapsed, I am in this strange place, watching strange things and listening to strange slogans. For him, it was 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. The army in the valley uses three days as a training period, and the rest work in turns for more than half a year." The general manager replied in a low voice, "But today... this case has stopped."
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", looking at the eyes of the people around him, and "humming" 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.
I didn't discuss it too loudly, because the question that made everyone puzzled and interested at this time was blocked in the morning and suddenly changed the schedule, as if everyone was startled, so that each class When the platoon was assembled, there was a moment of chatter and talk, which made all the senior officers lose their temper almost invariably, and made them 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 just said that the time has come, and he can't miss such a big 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 the wheat harvest..."
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, the battalion commander Pang Luan of their battalion came over: "What are you talking about sneakily! I didn't run enough in the morning!"
Pang Liuan 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.
****************
Get out of the mountains. In the 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 Qingjian City, various rumors of the old man appearing gradually spread. In the villages outside the city, some people started to burn the wheat fields that belonged to them at night, and from this came the revenge of the Xixia soldiers' massacre. Bandits began to appear more actively. Some bandits in the mountains tried to grab food from the Xixia people, but the Xixia people's counterattack was also fierce. In just a few days, many cottages were found by Xixia Buba, and they were broken and massacred.
In the Huanzhou area, Zhong Lie led the last thousands of troops to try to attack. I also want to use 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 it towards him
farther in the dark. A young man named Yuwen Feidu showed his figure, drawing a bow and an arrow...
"Today, don't leave..."
****************
On June 14, it rained heavily. The black rain clouds seemed to cover the sky, and 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 torrential rain finally stopped. The sun has not yet set, the sky is clear and translucent, like new. On June 15th, 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 cool and passed a moment. Jin'er also came over and told him that the little girl named Min Chuyi came to class today. Maybe it was because she accompanied Ning Xi out to play, which caused Ning Xi's injury. The parents of the girl from the Min family beat her, her face Possibly also slapped.
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 Xiaocanghe look like? The old man from the Zuo family said that it looks like a dangerous egg on a cliff. You say it looks like a bag. Of course, there is nothing wrong with it like this. The question just suddenly came to my mind. To, me. 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, and Tan'er looked at the valley below. Putting his chin on his knees, he 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 bigger 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 last autumn, we came to this place in Xiaocang River. The original plan was to be able to attach to Qingmu Village, give full play to the surrounding geographical advantages, and open up a commercial road and even a commercial network connecting all parties, so as to solve the problem of the current situation. The difficulty. At that time, there was no major action in Xixia, and the division of 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 Chong Shidao'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 a trade route. Therefore, we can only choose another path. If this path is directly stated, people will consider it for a day or two, and it will only lead to the disintegration of the entire Xiaocanghe army and the complete collapse of the existing foundation. To this end, do the following After the decision, we went through… 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 the pressure does not necessarily need to be solved by them. A lot of division of labor Cooperate to improve their mutual sense of identity, transmit 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 their peers , can identify with this group, they will no longer be afraid of this pressure, because they all know that this is the next thing they must overcome... "
"And, they can go over..."
…
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 snaps off, but the belief is also paranoid and fearless, almost as far as it can go.
It is like a high-carbon steel knife full of flaws, and if you swing it hard, it may break.
But the question is, next, who can catch this full-strength knife...
On June 16 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 9,000 people turned westward, saved the mountains without the slightest hesitation, and rushed directly to the Xixia defense line! (.)