Zhang Sui and Lao Lu rode horses and walked slowly towards Kunzhou City.
The road leading to the city is wide and flat, with tall and lush trees on both sides of the road. The setting sun shines through the branches and leaves onto the road, turning it into mottled light spots of various shapes.
Zhang Sui rode on his horse and looked at the surrounding scenery. The scenery here was very different from that on the earth. The sun was two times larger than the earth's, and the trees grew much taller. Those on the earth would have taken dozens or hundreds of years to grow.
A huge tree can grow in this world in just a few years.
There is no such thing as indiscriminate deforestation in this world. Because they grow too fast, every few years the government will organize manpower to clear and cut down the plants that threaten the roads. This is also a rule left over from the time of Li Zhi thousands of years ago. Li Zhi
There is a saying: "If you want to get rich, build roads first!"
Facts have also proved that this sentence is indeed reasonable. Officials in charge of the past dynasties have also regarded this sentence as a guideline. One of the most important points in the evaluation of officials is road construction. With the artifact of cement, road construction has become easier now.
It has become an easy task. Just lay the foundation and pour cement, and a road will be formed quickly.
Zhang Sui looked at the old man riding a horse leisurely on the old road, and saw him humming an unknown tune, whipping the whip in his hand from time to time, making a crisp sound. Zhang Sui didn't pay attention at first, thinking that he was
After driving the horses, I realized something was wrong, and after observing carefully, I discovered that every time Lao Lu cracked his riding whip, he would knock down a mosquito without fail.
Zhang Sui couldn't help but praise: "Lao Lu, what a great effort!"
Lao Lu smiled and said: "What kind of skill? It's just a matter of familiarity. Just practice more when you have nothing to do. Second Master, don't look at these little things that look harmless. In fact, most of the mosquitoes that can survive in late autumn are
They are ferocious and venomous, and if you are bitten by one of these little things, you will feel uncomfortable for several days."
Zhang Sui was very curious about Lao Lu's past and asked: "Lao Lu, I haven't had a good chat with you for such a long time. Tell me your story and open my eyes."
Lao Lu smiled and said: "What's my story? I joined the army when I was young and stayed in the army for more than thirty years. Later, my leg became lame, so I left the army and came back to take care of myself. The clan leader took care of me and asked me to lead the young master.
Ma, just hang out and support yourself in old age."
From Lao Lu's words, Zhang Sui learned that Lao Lu was actually the third son of a small steward of a farm in the Zhang family. When he was young, he was quite brave and aggressive. He participated in a fight with a neighboring village to grab water. As a result, he was too brave and was seriously injured.
Several people.
Later, the matter got serious, and the government investigated him and wanted to accuse him. Fortunately, the Zhang family was still very upright and spent a lot of money to calm it down. However, Lao Lu couldn't stay in his hometown any longer, so it was the Zhang family who helped to establish connections and send him away.
After going to the military camp, the matter was completely settled.
He originally planned to stay for a few years and then come back, but he caught up with a rebellion in the southwest. Lao Lu made some meritorious deeds on the battlefield, and was promoted to a junior captain because of his merits, so he stayed in the army.
Thirty years later, he finally left the army due to injury and returned to his family.
Zhang Sui heard what he said was simple, but he could also feel the difficulty of being in the army. As soon as he mentioned the battle with the southwestern barbarians, Lao Lu seemed to be a different person, with an excited expression and involuntarily straightened his back.
Lao Lu had a look of reminiscence on his face and said to Zhang Sui: "Young master, you don't know, those barbarians are all covered in color as if they were greased. In the southwest jungle, you can't even notice them even if you walk past them.
Many of their brothers were bullied and directly lost their lives."
As he spoke, he lifted up his robe, and saw a ferocious scar extending from the right neck to the left chest, a foot long. Looking at the wound, one could tell that it was extremely dangerous at that time. Lao Lu sighed: "If a brother hadn't fought to the death to hit the barbarian,
Come on, I'm probably buried in the jungle too."
Lao Lu said this with a sinister smile on his face: "Our commander is still very powerful. He asked the logistics brothers to prepare a large amount of black oil and burned it all the way to the barbarian's stronghold. The burning made the barbarians cry for father and mother. If it weren't for the difficulty in obtaining black oil,
, the quantity is really limited, it is estimated that our boss will burn down the entire black forest in the southwest, leaving those barbarians with no place to hide."
Zhang Sui had read about this period of history in a book. In the 218th year of the Yan Dynasty, thirty-six villages in the black forest area of Jiannan Road in the southwest inexplicably burst out of the black forest and ravaged Jiannan Road along the way.
In the Twelve Prefectures, the current emperor of the Yan Dynasty was furious after hearing the news. He sent a general named Dong Qian to integrate all the soldiers and horses in Jiannan Road. It took three years to kill thirty-six villages.
Thirty-four of them were destroyed, and nearly two million barbarians were left alone. It was really killing corpses all over the field, and blood flowed into rivers. The remaining barbarians hid in the depths of the black forest, and never dared to show their heads again.
Although the rebellion was put down, the reason for the barbarian rebellion was not found in the end. In the end, it could only be explained that the barbarians lost their minds and went crazy...
Lao Lu sighed: "Although the rebellion was finally eliminated, our losses were not small. Those barbarians seemed to be possessed by evil spirits. They were simply not afraid of death. If we hadn't used fire attacks to open the way, they wouldn't have died.
How many brothers."
"Possessed?" Zhang Sui asked doubtfully.
Lao Lu nodded and said: "Yes, those barbarians have been dealing with us Han people for nearly a hundred years, and they still have some friendship, but they suddenly came out of the jungle, did not communicate, were unreasonable, and killed everyone they saw. At the beginning, we still had
They sent envoys to communicate with their leader, but the leader was beheaded without even seeing them. Later, he sent several waves of people with the same result."
"Were there no prisoners to ask about the reason for the rebellion?" Zhang Sui asked doubtfully.
"How could we not capture the prisoners?" Lao Lu said with a bitter smile: "It's useless. Their eyes were as red as rabbits, their expressions were crazy, and they were chanting some names crazily. In the end, they either bit their tongues and died, or struggled too hard and gave themselves up.
Strangling to death."
When Zhang Sui thought about that situation, he felt like he was possessed by an evil spirit.
Lao Lu looked around and whispered: "Later, the brothers who understood the barbarian language said that the names the barbarians chanted were the gods they worshiped. They were all weird things, and none of them looked like humans!"
Zhang Sui was moved in his heart and asked: "Did you encounter anything strange when you were fighting those barbarians?"
"Something strange?" Lao Lu tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "That's not true."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lao Lu suddenly said: "It's not that there is nothing, there is something very strange."
Zhang Sui quickly asked: "What is it?"
Lao Lu said: "I remember that our commander led us to attack a large village. The young and old in the village all jumped into a blood pool and committed suicide when the village was about to be destroyed. After the village was captured, there was basically no blood inside.
Living person, I will probably never forget that scene in my life."
"Blood pool?" Zhang Sui said.
"Yes, there was a pool full of blood, and I don't know how many people died in it. There was also a statue of the insect god worshiped by their village soaked in it, which made people feel numb. Later, our commander had people fill up the blood pool.
, burned the statue. The strange thing is that the statue, which was obviously carved from wood, was burned with black oil for a long time and was not burned, and was finally thrown into the sinkhole behind the village."
Zhang Sui heard this and remained silent, lost in thought.
Seeing that Zhang Sui did not continue to ask, Lao Lu calmed down and rode silently, occasionally shooting down poisonous insects with the tip of his whip.
Birds and insects chirped from the jungles on both sides of the road, and the sun gradually set in the west. Lao Lu looked at the sky, whipped the horses lightly with a whip, and accelerated his return to the city.
Zhang Sui thought for a while and suddenly asked: "Lao Lu, do you think there are ghosts and gods in this world?"
Lao Lu was stunned for a moment and replied: "I really don't know about this. Anyway, I have never seen anyone like this in my entire life." After saying that, he laughed.
Zhang Sui asked again: "Then do you believe in ghosts and gods?"
"Believe it, why don't you believe it!" Lao Lu said: "Although I have never seen it, I have worshiped a lot of gods. In the military, we also have to worship gods."
"Worship God? Who do you worship?" Zhang Sui asked.
Lao Lu said: "The soldiers must worship the military god Li Zhi, who is also the meritorious emperor."
Zhang Suiqi said: "Pay homage to the founding emperor of the previous dynasty??"
Lao Lu said: "Yes, this is the god that all our soldiers worship. It has nothing to do with whether he is the emperor or the emperor of which dynasty he is. Even when the court offers sacrifices every year, the meritorious emperor is ranked first. That is
A saint who has blessed the ages.”
Zhang Sui really didn't know these things. His understanding of the world was still based on some historical books. It was more than a thousand years ago. He didn't expect that Li Zhi would be so highly regarded by the public.
Zhang Suidao: "What is the use of worshiping the emperor?"
Lao Lu said with a smile: "Please have peace of mind. You know, the God of War has fought in all his life, and has never been victorious or invincible. He has never even heard of being injured. I hope he can protect us soldiers."
Well."
"Moreover," Lao Lu said with a low voice and a sly chuckle: "The book says that he is over eighty years old, but his body is still like that of a young man, and he can still control many women every day. There is no harm in worshiping him more!"
Zhang Sui looked at Lao Lu with a speechless face. This Lao Lu was really old and his heart never grew old.
Seeing that Zhang Sui couldn't find any other clues, he could only wave his hand and said to Lao Lu: "Then please pay more respects to me, old man. Maybe the old man, the god of war, will show up and bless you with spring."
Lao Lu just laughed and said: "Then I would like to borrow the good advice from you, Lao Lu, I still want to find a wife to continue the family lineage. Haha!"
Zhang Sui was speechless for a moment and asked the old road to speed up, so as not to be in trouble again when the city gate was closed and unable to enter the city.
The old road was called "yes" again and again, waving the horsewhip, the speed increased sharply, and headed towards Kunzhou City in the afterglow of the setting sun.
After running for about half an hour, the horses began to slow down, especially the old variegated horse riding on the old road. Steam was coming from its nostrils, and it looked very tired.
At this time, they were still about five or six miles away from Kunzhou City. Zhang Sui and Lao Lu simply slowed down their horses and let the two horses slow down. Anyway, they were not far from the Kunzhou City Gate and could make it in time to close the city gate.
Just when Zhang Sui was about to ask Lao Lu for advice on the body-building techniques used in the army, especially breathing techniques, there was a faint sound of shouting coming from a place near the jungle in the distance, as if someone was fighting there.
The two looked at each other, urged their horses together, and ran in that direction.