Carefully placing the body of a Shang Shui soldier on a pile of firewood, Ran Teng, a thousand-man general of the Shang Shui army, stared at the still young-looking corpse of a soldier in front of him and sighed secretly.
This soldier is a recruit of his thousand-man team, and he is only fifteen years old.
What are we... exactly doing?
Ran Teng sat down next to the pile of corpses, his eyes slightly dull as he looked at a strong grass soaked in blood and water on the ground in front of him. A strong grass had its stem broken by someone's trampling, but still tried to straighten its back.
This thousand-man general couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Last year, when Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, led his army to attack Wei, he participated in that battle as one of the Chu troops, not only for the ambition of Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, to expand territory and retaliate against Wei, but also In order to receive the meager military pay to support the whole family.
But in any case, at that time, as a Chu man, he was in the Chu army and fought against the Chu people's enemy Wei.
After that, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, was defeated, and Ji Run, the king of Wei, forced them to surrender, and made various generous promises to bring them from Chu to Wei and settle them in Shangshui County.
Ran Teng respected King Su of Wei very much, because although the latter was a Wei person, he gave them, the Chu people, generous treatment, so that they, the Chu people, and their families could settle down in Shangshui County. He settled down and lived peacefully, and his life was even better than when he was in Chu State. It was much better.
Out of gratitude, Ran Teng chose without hesitation to continue to be a soldier, a soldier of the merchant navy belonging to Wei State, and under the order of the subsequent King Su, he became the same as the other 20,000 merchant navy soldiers. , traveled thousands of miles to the unfamiliar land of Sanchuan.
It has to be said that if they had not surrendered to the Wei State, if they had not joined the Shangshui Army, soldiers like Ran Teng who were born in the Chu State would probably never have set foot in the land of Sanchuan. This land is really difficult to leave the Chu State. A distant land, let alone a series of frictions and fights with the Yi, Jie, and Yi tribes in the land of Sanchuan.
At first, out of gratitude to King Su of Wei State, Ran Teng didn't think too much about it, but at this moment, when these familiar compatriots around him suffered heavy casualties due to the war, he couldn't help but feel a little confused.
What exactly are we fighting for?
In other words, who are you fighting for?
For the State of Wei? Or for the sake of King Su of the State of Wei?
He is obviously from Chu, but he wants to fight for the state of Wei? Fight for the man whom the people of Wei call King Su?
Although he was very grateful to Zhao Hongrun in his heart, Ran Teng could not help but have such doubts.
In the final analysis, it is simply that he has not yet developed a sense of belonging to the Wei State.
Anling, Zhaoling, Suiyang, and the surrounding cities and counties of Shangshui were hostile to the Chu people of Yanling, Changping, Shangshui, etc., which made the more than 400,000 Chu people who surrendered to Wei have such thoughts from time to time. :The people of Wei do not welcome us, we are just outsiders staying in Wei.
Because of this idea, Ran Teng was somewhat unable to accept the huge losses suffered by his Shang Shui Army in this war that reflected Wei's will.
In the end, Ran Teng came up with an answer that was more or less acceptable to him: Their Shang Shui Army was not fighting for the State of Wei or the people of Wei, but only for the King Su of the State of Wei, who gave them a greater advantage. Su Wang Jirun’s living environment.
But the problem is that Su Wang Ji Run is the Su Wang of Wei and the prince of the Wei people.
What does he... think of our Shang Shui Army?
Ran Teng thought secretly.
It has to be said that if there were even one corpse from Wei among the mountains of corpses in front of him, Ran Teng would not have such negative thoughts.
But the fact is that those who died here were all Chu people or members of the Sheang and Sheang tribes in Luocheng, and not a single Wei person.
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun has a high prestige among the Shang Shui Army. If it were anyone else, these Shang Shui Army would have already shown obvious dissatisfaction.
"call……"
Shaking his head and throwing away those random thoughts, Ran Teng stood up and prepared to continue carrying the corpses.
But just when he stood up, two Shang Shui soldiers ran past him.
Seeing this, Ran Teng frowned and scolded: "What are you going to do? Do you want to be lazy?"
"Ran Teng, a thousand generals..." The two Shang Shui soldiers stopped and turned around, looking a little frightened.
However, due to fear, one of them still mustered up the courage to explain: "Yes... Xiang Li Qianren will ask us to suspend the affairs in hand."
"Xiang Li?" Ran Teng was stunned, frowned and said: "Nonsense! Xiang Li's thousands of people will ask you not to carry the corpse anymore?"
"No, no." Another soldier quickly explained: "It's King Su. King Su is playing a piece of music on a blade of grass over there. Xiang Li, a thousand-man general, asked us all to come and listen. It is said to be an order from Xu Jiong, a three-thousand-man general.
.”
Xu Jiong was a general with three thousand men, and Ran Teng was a general with a thousand men. Although the two were not in a direct superior-subordinate relationship, there was still a gap of two ranks in military positions, which made Ran Teng's complexion pale.
But what surprised him even more was the first half of the soldier's sentence.
King Su? Playing music with blades of grass?
Looking at the backs of the two soldiers running away, Ran Teng hesitated for a moment and then walked quickly towards that side.
He was very curious as to why His Highness King Su appeared on the west city wall at this time and for what purpose he played that tune.
After walking about two hundred feet quickly, Ran Teng was stunned because he saw hundreds of Shang Shui soldiers gathered in the distance.
What was incredible was that these people were very quiet, so that Ran Teng could actually hear the intermittent, faint sound of the grass flute.
"Hey, let's go."
Ran Teng used his burly body to force his way into the crowd.
Immediately, the Shang Shui sergeant in front who was quietly listening to the sound of the grass flute turned around angrily, and his lips moved slightly, probably because he wanted to curse, but when he saw that the person behind him was Ran Teng, a thousand-man general, he immediately shrank subconsciously
He shrunk his head and forced his way to the side, leaving a space for Ran Teng.
It's no wonder, after all, a thousand-man general is already a very high-level general in the army.
"Hmm." Ran Teng nodded towards the soldier, and then continued to squeeze forward. After a lot of effort, and received displeased or even angry stares from many Shangshui soldiers, Ran Teng finally squeezed in.
The center of the crowd.
He was surprised to see that in the center of the crowd, His Highness Su Wang Ji Run, whom he respected and was grateful from the bottom of his heart, was standing among the Shang Shui soldiers. Beside him, there were people sitting quietly listening to the sound of the grass flute.
Shang Shui sergeant.
It was so dense that Ran Teng even suspected that His Highness Prince Su could not even turn around.
King Su... actually trusts our army so much?
Ran Teng couldn't help but be a little surprised.
You must know that in his eyes, the Shangshui soldier closest to Zhao Hongrun can catch King Su in front of him with just an outstretched arm. If there is anyone with evil intentions among them, Lord Zongwei next to King Su will definitely not be able to react.
Come.
"You guy, what are you doing there?" A dissatisfied complaint came from beside me.
Ran Teng frowned and turned his head, only to realize that the opponent was actually a very brave soldier of his thousand-man team, Yang Wu.
"Ah, Ran Teng, a thousand-man general..." At this time, Yang Wu also reacted, and quickly squeezed towards his companions Li Hui and Le Bao, leaving a place for Ran Teng. He smiled flatteringly and whispered: "Thousand-man general
, you sit here, you sit here.”
"..." Ran Teng secretly rolled his eyes. Fortunately, he was used to the soldiers' arrogant behavior on the way in, so he didn't bother to pay attention to this guy and sat down unceremoniously.
"What is Prince Su doing?" Ran Teng asked in a low voice.
"I don't know." Yang Wu shrugged and replied in a low voice: "We were carrying the corpses at that time, and King Su came. He didn't say anything, he just picked a blade of grass and played a tune..."
Before he finished speaking, an unpleasant low voice came from the front left: "Shut up, over there!"
Yangwu took advantage of the fact that Ran Teng, a general with a thousand men, was beside him. He glanced at the other party as if he were pretending to be a tiger, but suddenly found that the man in front of him on the left was actually Chen Xie, a general with two thousand men in the army. He quickly lowered his head again.
Chen Xie was one level higher than Ran Teng in military rank, so Ran Teng naturally couldn't say much, so he once again turned his attention to King Su not far away, and quietly listened to the grass flute music.
The music is soft and long, but one can clearly feel an inexplicable sadness. What the music depicts seems to be a separation that is so far away that it is difficult to see each other again.
This resonated strongly with the Shangshui soldiers and the people of the Sheang and Sheang tribes present.
No, Ran Teng saw with his own eyes that some of the Sheang people sitting among the Shangshui soldiers had tears in their eyes, and some raised their hands to wipe away their tears. It was hard to imagine that the other men were also men eight feet tall.
However, Ran Teng felt that he could understand them, because while listening to the sad music, he could not help but think of his wife and children who were far away in Shangshui County at the moment, and their hope that he would return safe and sound.
At the same time, I also thought of the soldiers who had died in Luocheng and the sadness of their families after learning the bad news.
Is that kind of sadness just like what is described in that song?
His Royal Highness King Su...it turns out that he was commemorating those soldiers who died in battle.
Ran Teng said secretly.
It must be said that he arrived a little late. Before he could sit down for long, Zhao Hongrun had already played the last note and moved the grass flute away from his mouth.
The song ends.
In response to this, the nearby Shangshui soldiers and the people of the Sheang and Sheang tribes were a little reluctant to give up. They all looked at King Su with expectant eyes, hoping that they could listen to the beautiful sadness again and make them feel sad.
A very resonant song.
But what made them feel a little regretful was that King Su lowered the hand holding the grass flute and said something to them, something that surprised and surprised them.
"I know that most of you present are at a loss at this moment, confused as to why you are fighting, and why those who sacrificed their lives..."