It's almost dawn, and the streets and alleys of Beiyang City are completely white.
Li Lin urged his horse forward and watched as his soldiers opened the city gate. After leaving the city, after walking for three to five miles, he saw the small shop where he stayed before entering the city. He ordered his soldiers to pick up his luggage.
The horse is waiting in front of the door.
"O-O-O-O"
The crow of chickens came from far away.
The moonlight was like water, flowing over the Banqiao and the small river in the distance, and fell on Li Lin, and on the thatched signboard of a small shop not far away.
The lights were on in the small shop, and the wooden door creaked as it was pushed. Someone came out, packed the luggage and the carriage, and the early travelers were getting ready to go on their way.
In twos and threes, there were more and more people. They left the shop and missed Li Lin. They stepped onto the wooden bridge and disappeared into the moonlight in the distance with the creaking sound of the wooden bridge.
"Erdan, let's go home after this trip. Last year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moonlight in our village was so bright."
"I really miss my son and his mother. I don't know if the money brought back by someone is enough. When I ate moon cakes last year, my father's illness improved a lot."
"I heard that Beizheng was in chaos during the war. God bless us and let us deliver the goods safely this time. I'll give you three more sticks of incense when we get back."
The two guests driving the packhorse talked to each other about their longing for home.
With his thoughts far away, Li Lin also fell into deep thought. It had been three years since he went to Xuanfu to join the army at the age of eighteen. Although there were always letters from home during the period, he had not returned home for three years.
My father and mother should be in good health. Is the eldest sister's life in her husband's family going well? The younger sister should be getting married, right? My cousin will also call me brother, right?
The Li family has only one son in his generation. If he cannot become famous, a hundred years after his father's death, the Li family may be torn to pieces by those families who have had grudges.
Mom, when I make a name for myself, dad will allow me to go home.
Li Lin thought to himself, and couldn't help but touch the small bag on his waist, which contained a carving knife. It was a gift from his mother. Whenever he missed his hometown, he would always take it out and look at it.
The tentacles came up empty.
Li Lin was startled and felt a chill on his back. I lost my knife!
I tried hard to search in my mind. The last time I saw the carving knife was in the General's Mansion. Before the General declared martial law, he asked himself whether he had put away the knife at that time.
"Captain, you can leave."
The soldiers have finished packing and saluting and are ready to set off.
Li Lin decided to go back to the general to have a look. This was a way to express his longing for his relatives, and he thought the general would not blame him.
"You two urge your horses to move slowly. I will go back and see the general, and I will catch up with you."
After speaking, without waiting for the two people to answer, he turned his horse's head and returned to Beiyang.
Li Qing hadn't slept yet. Knowing that Li Lin had left and come back, he couldn't help but frown. The matter at Dongtang Camp was urgent. Li Lin was not someone who couldn't distinguish between priorities. He must have something important to do when he came back.
"Lost the carving knife?"
Li Qing frowned and looked at Li Lin with evil eyes. Just because of this, you want to delay military affairs.
The moonlight passed through the tree trunks, casting mottled shadows on the ground, and fell on Li Lin in front of him, making Li Qing's anger dissipate instantly.
"The thing that can make you, Li Lin, come back flying under the stars and wearing the moon, is definitely not an ordinary carving knife. When I looked at it in the study, I didn't find anything special about that knife."
"He Wu, go and search with Lieutenant Li in the study to see if you can find the carving knife."
Li Lin saluted Li Qing: "General Mingjian, the last general has not been home for three years. The carving knife was a parting gift from my mother."
Li Qing nodded, told the two of them to go, and turned back to sleep.
He Wu led Li Lin into the study, lit the palace lantern, yawned, and spoke impatiently.
"Master Li, look quickly to see if you have your carving knife."
The palm-long knife lay quietly on the discussion table. Li Lin walked over in two steps and picked up the knife.
Great, found it!
"Huh?"
Li Lin looked at the carvings on the table and fell into deep thought.
The sound of chickens echoes in the Maodian moon, and the traces of human beings are frosty in Banqiao!
The scene was exactly the same as what I saw outside the Maodian just now, which made me feel like I was back in the same situation just now.
In the morning, we set out to conquer the Duo, and we are sad to see our hometown!
Tears suddenly moistened his eyes, and Li Lin suddenly felt the urge to cry. Just listening to the two horse riders lamenting about being far away from home and missing their relatives, Li Lin's heart was filled with sadness.
Now, these four poems are unfolding before my eyes one by one.
The mountain road with falling oak leaves and the post wall with bright orange leaves
Thinking of Du Ling's dream, the geese fill the pond
Silently writing down these two sentences, Li Lin lowered his head slightly to prevent He Wu from seeing the tears in his eyes, and lowered his hoarse voice.
"He'll be able to help you more. Lin has found the carving knife and is leaving now."
He Wu's face showed a hint of joy, it was great, he could go back and catch up on his sleep.
Li Lin left the county captain's house and recited it silently again before urging his horse to move forward. This kind of poetry is the real poetry. What are those melodious sounds of the Southern Tang Dynasty?
Only I, a man from the Han Dynasty, can write such touching words.
After leaving the city, we passed by Banqiao again. The bridge was already covered with hoarfrost. The footprints and hoof marks of the packhorses were sparse and conspicuous among the hoarfrost.
At the foot of Eagle Mountain, next to the inn, two soldiers were pacing back and forth uneasily. On the walls of the inn that were covered with yellow sand, a few white flowers bloomed brightly.
On the mountain road, the oak leaf trees were blown by the mountain wind, and some of the oak leaves fell, hitting the mountain people who were going up the mountain to seek a living.
Li Lin finally couldn't help the sadness in his heart, and tears flowed down his face, instantly making his clothes wet.
This is a true poet!
Every sentence is a description of scenery, and every sentence is a description of love, radiating all the longing for me that I have been stuck in for three years with nowhere to vent.
"Captain, are you okay?"
Li Shanzi, a soldier, asked cautiously. He was the soldier Li Lin brought from home. He couldn't help but worry about Li Lin's condition.
Li Lin wiped away the tears on his face.
“What a poem!”
"I'm fine. Let's go. When I come back, I will definitely ask the general who wrote this poem."
Three horses galloped and disappeared on the road leading to Xuanfu.
…
In the patrol camp, Su Lu's head almost exploded.
"I want to bet, and you don't need to worry about it."
"It's useless for you to care. If you lose, you lose."
"It's good to have a mother-in-law gone. A wife is like a piece of clothing. If she's gone, she's gone."
"I'm not as good as a pig or a dog. Do you want to take care of the pigs and dogs?"
Zhao San was like a stone, despite being beaten and scolded by Fatty Su Ping and Zhao, he had no intention of repenting. Zhao San's wife stopped crying, but she didn't speak either. She just lowered her head and sat there, as motionless as a wooden person.
"Second brother, what do you say we should do?"
Li Kun spoke.
Fatty Zhao and Su Ping also raised their heads. Now everyone's wealth comes from their second brother. It is the second brother who has the final say on Zhao San's affairs.
Su Lu pinched his forehead and looked at Zhao San on the ground, with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"If you feel sorry for us, just tell us the matter. There is no need to harm yourself or your wife. These things will disappear if you do not harm yourselves."
Zhao San and his wife raised their heads almost at the same time and looked at Su Lu. Their faces were pale, and they looked at everything on the ground, with almost no trace of blood on their faces.
Su Lu stood up and pointed at Fatty Zhao and Su Ping next to him.
"They just came off the battlefield, and the blood on their bodies is still wet. It's not you two who made the mistake. Just say it. Why waste yourselves."
"Second brother, I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for everyone."
Zhao San fell to the ground and burst into tears. The depression he had felt for many days disappeared with Su Lu's words. He had been suffering and miserable these days, but he didn't know that his second brother already knew about it.
After crying for a while, Zhao San wiped away his tears, his voice hoarse.
"Fifteen days ago, I met my Xiaohua in the alley in the east of the city. She pulled me into the alley and told me that our village was destroyed by the Thule people because of the third cousin of her natal brother's wife's second aunt.
My brother had a grudge against Li Dakan from our village, so he instigated the Thule people to destroy our village."
"Jiang Changfu?"
Li Kun said numbly. He and Li Dakan were from the same clan. Knowing that Li Dakan had an enemy who was a general, he immediately thought of this name.
Su Lu frowned, as if he had seen this name before.