In the second year of Jingping of the Wu Dynasty, in the early morning of June 13th, there was a brief chaos in the Xiaocang River valley.

At this time, the sun has not yet risen, and the night is slightly cool. Soon after the warm yellow lights were turned on one by one, the sound of discussion buzzed among the camps in the valley. These were the soldiers of Xiaocanghe

It's time to accept each day's mission. Soon after the buzzing sound subsided, groups of soldiers gathered in the surrounding open space and began their daily running training along the road in the river valley. After that, the rooster's crow heralded dawn.

.

Zuo Duanyou has also gotten up. The old man is old and is used to getting up early every day. Even if he comes to a new place, he will not change. He put on his clothes and went outside for a punch. In his mind, he still

I was thinking about the conversation I had with Ning Yi last night. The mountain breeze was blowing, which was quite cool. On the mountain road not far downwind, running soldiers shouted slogans and formed a long queue from there. They passed through the mountains and disappeared.

First and last.

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

After that, Qin Shaoqian, who was dressed in military uniform, came 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 place, and the hillsides on both sides are not vibrant green. Under the sunlight, it is just a patchwork of yellow and green.

, but seemed calm. The occasional training slogans outside the house could make people calm down.

The rise of the Jin Kingdom and the decline of the Wu Dynasty. Since Bianliang was conquered by the Jurchens, the north of the Yellow River has existed in name only. For Xiaocanghe, this world is a cage. There are Jin people in the north, Xixia in the west, and Wu Dynasty in the south.

, the grain reserves are exhausted, and a way out is hard to find. But for the Zuo family, so is it? This is a change of dynasties, the Zuo family's stall is bigger, the Jurchens are stabilizing the domestic situation, and have not yet truly taken over the north of the Yellow River, so they may have a little longer time

It will take a while. But what should happen will definitely happen one day.

As Ning Liheng said, one day, the Jin people will go south. The Zuo family will face a choice. This is not alarmist, but an inevitable situation. And Zuo Duanyou, he does not like the court, nor does he care about the world.

He was already a little disheartened, but there was one thing he didn't need to consider - he would never consider surrendering to the Jinren.

Wang Qisong lost all his family members to resist the Liao people who marched south, and Qin Siyuan tried to revitalize the Wu Dynasty, but was eventually ruined and died at the hands of a villain. The three friends had different beliefs and had already broken up, but that was just a difference in skills.

Tao, the great road of Confucianism. Some things will never change. On this great road, the three of us will never have any differences.

The old house in Jinzhou is also quiet, but since last year, the old man's life has lost its peace. Although he can die generously, the children of the Zuo family have to have a way out, and he does not like to be a Jurchen.

These children really surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin and were so servile. Living in the courtyard of the old house, he felt anxious every day. But facing such a thing, for him, it was really... a bit...

too old.

When he came to Xiaocang River, he had the intention to put down a line, but now that the relationship had fallen apart, in this strange place, watching strange things and listening to strange slogans, it actually made him feel more at peace.

.In my spare time, I may even suddenly think of Qin Siyuan's choices back then. When faced with many things, the man named Qin was the most sober and rational.

There were white clouds outside the window. It was a very good morning. It had just begun. He wanted to forget about Ning Liheng, but the manager of the Zuo family who was accompanying him walked quickly outside the house.

"Master's house, there seems to be some movement."

"Huh? What?"

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

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

In order to show respect for the old man, the house arranged for him was also located on the upper part of the mountain, overlooking the entire valley from the side. The sun had only risen not long ago, the temperature was pleasant, and white clouds were floating in the sky.

The scene in the valley also seems full of vitality and vitality, but when you look closer, everything looks a little different.

The settlement in the river valley is centered on a small square and extends in all directions. At this time, houses are still being built. Every day, a large number of wheelbarrows and soldiers carrying supplies pass through the streets.

Both the inside and outside of the settlement area were bustling with activity, and further away on the riverbanks, open spaces, hillsides, etc., the figures of soldiers training were active, and there was no less vitality.

However, looking down at this moment, the entire settlement area seemed to be diluted. Except for a few teams maintaining order, the rest were only ordinary residents moving in the valley and some children playing around. From the settlement area to

Spreading around, all the river beaches and open spaces, as well as the river beaches on the other side of the river, are now full of soldiers training.

Zuo Duanyu compared his impressions from the previous two days: "They all participated in training today?"

"I have inquired about it. The army in the valley trains for three days, and the rest work in turns, which has lasted for more than half a year." The manager reported in a low voice, "But today... this practice has stopped."

The mountain breeze blew pleasantly, and the old man frowned and clenched the crutch in his hand...

****************

The time gradually reached noon, and there was a surprisingly quiet atmosphere in the canteen of Xiaocanghe.

The soldiers coming and going seemed a little silent, but there was no sense of depression in this silence. On the dining table, some people were communicating in low voices with the people around them. People were eating and swallowing with big mouthfuls. Some people were grinding their teeth deliberately and looking.

There were strange expressions on the faces around him. Many other people had generally strange expressions.

Occasionally, a loud and noisy voice suddenly uttered: "It must be a fight--" He looked at the eyes of the people around him and said "hum" twice, with a proud expression. The monitor at the dining table not far away shouted: "No.

Nonsense!"

Some people also picked up a piece of meat with their chopsticks and said, "The meat is bigger than usual." The people across the table smiled "hehe" and ate with big mouthfuls.

There was no too loud discussion, because the question that puzzled everyone at this time and was interested in was given a silence order in the morning - the sudden change of schedule and work seemed to shock everyone, so that everyone

When the squad members gathered together, there was a moment of whispering and endless chatting. This almost made all the senior officers lose their temper in unison, and made them run a lot more. In situations where they did not dare to talk on a large scale.

Next, the whole scene became what it is now.

Hou Wu came over with food and sat down on the seat next to Mao Yishan. Mao Yishan leaned towards him with interest: "Fifth brother, have you gone to see brother Qu?"

Hou Wu nodded.

"What did his elder brother say?"

There was a smile on Hou Wu's lips: "He wants to come out."

"Ah, 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 Qi really said that? What else did he say?"

"I didn't say it clearly. But he mentioned something..." Hou Wu lowered his voice a little lower. However, at this time, everyone at the table was sneakily lowering their heads and eavesdropping. "He said

...Wheat harvest should have started in the northwest..."

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

"The Western Xia people occupy the place. Of course they have to be early..."

Before the other person finished speaking, Pang Liu'an, the commander of their battalion, came over and said, "What are you talking about sneakily? I didn't run enough in the morning!"

Pang Liu'an is usually a good person, so everyone is not very afraid of him. A young soldier stood up and said: "Report to the battalion commander! We can run another ten miles!"

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

"We've finished eating too." Several people around him, including Mao Yishan, also stood up. They had indeed finished eating.

"Why are you training? I just finished eating and 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 rest."

The group of people at the dining table left quickly. They couldn't talk here. They could always talk in the dormitory. Hou Wu, who had been delayed just now because he was delivering food to Qu Qing, looked at the dining table that was suddenly empty and twitched his lips:

"Wait for me, you guys are a bunch of bastards!" Then he quickly buried his head in the food.

***************

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

The Xixia army forced the people in the occupied areas to start harvesting a few days ago. The people in the northwest are fierce, and when the wheat is really harvested and taken away in large tracts, all they get is limited rations.

, some resistance began to appear one after another.

Near Yanzhou, an entire village was massacred because of resistance. Outside Qingjian City, various rumors gradually spread that Mr. Zhong appeared. In the villages outside the city, some people took advantage of the darkness and began to burn the wheat fields that originally belonged to them.

As a result, the Xixia soldiers began to massacre and retaliate again. The bandits began to appear more actively. Some mountain bandits tried to snatch food from the Xixia people. However, the Xixia people's counterattack was also fierce. In just a few days, many cottages were destroyed by the Xixia people.

Buba found it, attacked it, and massacred it.

In the Huanzhou area, Zhong Lie led the last thousands of troops to try to attack. He also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to gather more followers. However, they encountered the main force of the Xixia Iron Kites on the bank of the Huanjiang River, and the attack started again.

Defeated and retreated.

Spots of blood and large tracts of golden color are blooming on this land as the Xixia people harvest.

****************

The army's training continued until the dark night came again and swallowed up the gorgeous sunset. Firelight lit up the Xiaocang River, and in the small square in the center of the settlement, the news that the Xixia people had begun to collect grain had spread.

As night came, various discussions spread throughout the barracks in this settlement. The faces of the soldiers who had been training for a day still showed uncontrollable excitement. Some people ran to ask Luo Ye if he wanted to fight out.

However, at this moment, the upper echelons of the military are still keeping a tight-lipped attitude towards the whole matter, and everyone's speculation is that it is nothing more than private lust.

The entire Xiaocanghe camp seemed to be boiling in a slow fire.

As the night progressed, the feeling of tension and excitement had not stopped. Halfway up the mountain, Ning Yi walked out of the small courtyard, overlooking the lights from a distance just like every day in the past.

On the side of the foothills, a figure moved slowly. He escaped slowly and silently in the darkness, and soon after, he climbed over the top of the mountain.

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

There were footsteps passing by from a distance with the sound of wind. In front of the field of vision, there was also a figure slowly walking over, and the sharp edge of the spear was emerging.

"Li Laoliu, where are you going?"

The young man's face 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 stabbed forward! In front of him, the shadow of the gun roared up, like a prairie fire, engulfing him——

In the darkness farther away, a young man named Yuwen Feidu appeared, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow...
To be continued...