Two days passed in a blink of an eye. Early in the morning, Chu Qing brought Fu San, Chang Xian, Nangong Ping and others to the Xiguan City Wall.
Today is the day when three thousand cavalrymen from the Ma Gong camp come out to attack the Huamu Department.
Ma Rujing didn't come, he needed to stay in Dongguan.
Although Huamubu is relatively close to the city gate, it still takes more than half a day to travel by horse. If we set off before noon, it will be night when we arrive at Huamubu, and we will attack Huamubu at night.
Zhang Chengxiao, the commander of the Ma Gong camp, personally led the team, and the three thousand cavalrymen had already been assembled.
The cavalrymen did not drink any Zhuangxing wine, and there was no wine to drink, and no meat to eat. There was no need for any big shot hiding in the city gate to get up early and come to the general stage to cheer them on.
Everything is as usual.
There are about 3,000 people in the Huamu Department, and 1,000 are young and strong. Although the rest are all old, weak, women and children, Liang Rong have all grown up on horses since they were young. They are good at riding and shooting. Even a young boy can shoot as long as he has a bow in his hand. It will accurately shoot through a person's head within twenty steps.
The cavalrymen all know that if three thousand people leave the border, it is impossible for all three thousand people to come back. The one who cannot come back is probably themselves.
But everyone was "normal", waiting for the drums to sound as usual.
It is their bounden duty to go to the battlefield. To die in battle can only be said to be bad luck. To die on the battlefield is their destination. Since they wear armor, carry a long knife, and guard the border for the country, shrouding their bodies in horse leather is their only destination. However, It's just time.
After Chu Qing arrived with his people, he felt a little heavy.
He saw three thousand cavalrymen, leading their horses to brag and spank under the city gate.
On the faces of these elites, one can only see an expression that should not be seen, relaxed, yes, relaxed, as if they are not going to fight for their lives with Liangrong on the grassland, but going for an outing.
Chu Qing didn't like this, he didn't like such soldiers.
It is because they go to death calmly and do not care about life and death that many bastards call them Shacai, those who do not take life and death seriously.
Soldiers, do you really not take life and death seriously?
No, if you take off your armor, if you disarm and return to the fields and become common people, even if you give them money, they will not die. They will even be afraid and hide.
But they are wearing armor and carrying long swords. They call themselves frontier troops. They guard the border for the country. Even if they don't pay a penny, they will go to die with their expressions as normal and relaxed!
Chu Qing did not dare to stay on the faces of these soldiers for a second longer. He was afraid that he would accidentally remember someone's face. In a few hours, this familiar face would never be seen again.
Nangong Ping asked the soldiers and learned that Zhang Chengxiao was at the "Heroes Tomb" next to the general platform.
The so-called Heroes' Tomb is a large cemetery where border soldiers who died in battle are buried.
If a frontier army died in battle outside the pass, it would be difficult to bring the body back. Even if it was brought back, it would have to be transported inside the pass and delivered to the hands of relatives.
But many of the border soldiers were lonely. When they died, they died. No one collected their bodies, so they could only be buried under the yellow sand. At least, the bodies were still in the pass.
The graves are next to each other. Some graves have tombstones, and some have no names.
Many of the corpses brought back were mutilated, and many had unrecognizable faces. They were nameless, nameless during their lifetimes, and nameless after their deaths. The nameless monument only had four words: Tomb of the Border Army.
Tombs and tombs are different. Graves are for common people, while tombs are for scholar-bureaucrats.
But at the border, although they are simple graves, the bones brought back by the border soldiers who died in battle must be called tombs, even if they do not have the specifications of a tomb.
There are six camps and three city gates. Each city gate has a hero's tomb. Next to the hero's tomb, there is a low room with only one bed and no bookcase. If the expedition is to be carried out on the second day, the general or deputy general will have to Sleep in a small room for a night, and let the heroic spirits who died in the battle bless the army with victory and return safely.
While explaining this tradition, Jun Wu led Chu Qing and others to the Tomb of Heroes.
The left side of the general platform is empty, and the right side is the Tomb of Heroes, full of tombstones.
If you point to the generals, point to the living warriors, and also point to the heroes who died in battle, life or death, they are all frontier soldiers. Life, fighting outside the border, death, protecting the robe under the yellow sand.
Changxian, the youngest, turned pale and grabbed Chu Qing's sleeve.
"In the Tomb of Heroes, there are so many corpses of soldiers from all sides living in low buildings for one night. Aren't the generals afraid?"
Chu Qing frowned and looked at Changxian, his voice a little cold.
"They died to protect us when they were alive, and they will still harm us after they die!"
Changxian quickly let go of Chu Qing's sleeves, stood up straight, bent down and saluted Chu Qing.
"The students know their mistakes and dare not say such rude words again."
Zhang Chengxiao, who had already changed his armor, walked over from a distance. Behind him were dense graves and tombstones.
He still has the same unflattering face and a philistine look. Zhang Chengxiao is still the same Zhang Chengxiao.
But Chu Qing bent down and saluted: "General Zhang, you will surely triumph."
Zhang Chengxiao laughed loudly: "Thank you Chu Jianzheng."
The two are not friends, and they even dislike each other. At least Chu Qing has always disliked Zhang Chengxiao.
But no matter how much Chu Qing dislikes the general transferred from Nanguan, he must respect him. Respecting the border troops also respects himself.
As the commander of the Ma Gong Battalion, Zhang Chengxiao did not need to go out in person. In fact, the commanders of the major battalions were mostly guerrilla generals. At this level, it was understandable to let the deputy generals lead the troops, or even the generals below.
But in fact, Zhang Chengxiao had never done anything like this. This was true in Nanguan and also in the border army. Whenever he left the customs, he would definitely lead the team himself.
This is what Chu Qing just heard from Tian Hailong.
Just like a few days ago, he knew clearly that the second prince of the prairie, Algenda, had planned to send five hundred border troops to die, but he still had to lead them out of the border in person.
Tian Hailong said that these are the generals of the border army. No matter where they come from, whether it is Nanguan, they are all transferred to the government, or even transferred from the Ministry of War.
In other large camps, if it is a local battle or a small-scale battle, General Lang will lead the team. When General Lang dies, the deputy general will step in. When the deputy general dies, the chief general will step in.
But in the frontier army, the main general goes up first, the main general dies in the battle, the deputy general goes up, the deputy general dies in the battle, the general Lang goes up, the general Lang also dies in the battle, the command continues to pass down, to the small flag, to the ordinary soldiers, until Fight to the last man.
This is the border army built by Feng Luo himself. The higher the grade, the greater the chance of death, because only in this way will the troops below accompany the generals to fight for their lives and die. No one is nobler than anyone else, and no one is more noble than anyone else. , they are not inferior to anyone else, at the border and in the border army, everyone is the same.
Chu Qing and Zhang Chengxiao looked at each other. Neither of them knew what to say to each other.
Coincidentally, both of them had already changed their views on the person standing in front of them.
Chu Qing admired border generals like Zhang Chengxiao.
Zhang Chengxiao also knew that Chu Qing was sincere in changing the border and the border army.
But the two of them were not familiar with each other and had no common topics. They still looked at each other with displeasure.
"Thank you, thank you to all the border troops." Chu Qing bowed his hands again and left with the others, heading for the city wall.
When he came to the Tomb of Heroes and met Zhang Chengxiao, Chu Qing only said two sentences, just for the sake of saying these two sentences. The next step was to send off and wait.
