When are people happiest?
I’m full!
The two young men were looking around in the cool breeze. Their armors were loose, their knives were lying on the ground, and their boots were taken off. They were dressed as if they were subject to military law. Anyway, the mountains are high here and the emperor is far away. They can feel comfortable for a while. Mr. Zhang Zhongcheng is capable of everything. Well, there is one thing. He is too strict. He ordered everyone to be on guard at all times, and he practiced it personally. From the first month of the first month when he was guarding the city, to now it is more than seven months, and he has never taken off his armor for more than 200 days. Then It weighs more than thirty kilograms and can be hung on the body for more than two hundred days. Winter is better, but in these hot days, wearing even a single piece of clothing is too much, but Zhang Zhongcheng insists on wearing thick armor and never leaves his body. This kind of perseverance and determination is really not something that ordinary people can endure. These little pawns, every time they see Zhang Zhongcheng, they always feel a kind of reverence, as if this man has boundless magic power, infecting the people around him, allowing everyone to maintain fighting spirit and hope despite being in a desperate situation.
Of course, Zhang Zhongcheng is not that ordinary person.
Ever since the rebels rebelled against the imperial court the year before last, the world that had been peaceful and prosperous for decades suddenly erupted in war. The common people, while their wives and children were still sleeping on the hot bed, were poured a basin of cold water on them. The fathers and grandfathers of the young master's family were all familiar with war. There is no impression, let alone the officers and soldiers who have been living and sleeping for decades. The word "official" has two mouths. It was born in this relatively clear era. The fat head and big ears on the top stutter, and the mouth on the bottom can also fish out some leftovers. Just these little inconspicuous leftovers, but It is enough to make a family like Shaodong's family have more than enough year after year, and be prosperous and healthy. Even for tenants like the dark-skinned boy, who pay tribute every year for the lease, the leftovers are quite considerable. God is also merciful. There have been no major disasters in the past few decades. From top to bottom, most of the land is peaceful and prosperous. . The common people of Li who don’t understand the imperial court enjoy daily life in their spare time. Occasionally they will say something like “This emperor is not bad!”
But under such a grand scene, some people were so full that they wanted to rebel. The banner they raised seemed to be "Qing Jun Side". Not many people understood what "Qing Jun Side" meant, and they were all thinking what does this have to do with me? But when the knife was placed on the neck, everyone understood that this matter seemed to have something to do with me.
The two teenagers were just confused enough to join the army. One day they would follow this general, tomorrow they would rush with that general, and the day after tomorrow they might join the so-called rebels. Anyway, they were running around in a daze. Fortunately, the two of them had practiced martial arts with their boxing and kicking masters since childhood. Their bodies were strong and their legs and feet were quite flexible. Whenever there was a fight, they would hide far behind, either waving flags and shouting, or pretending to be dead and running away, following those veterans. I haven't learned anything else, but I have solidly practiced survival skills on the battlefield.
Until they met the banner in life, that man was as dazzling as a god, melting the confusion of the two teenagers and carving a deep imprint on their bones. This peerless man has a resounding name:
"Nan Jiyun".
I still remember that year, the two of them didn't know which camp they were in at the time. Anyway, they were hanging out in a team of more than a hundred people. By chance, they went out that day and met this man on the road. As a result, the whole team went up to The leading general, as small as the backup cook, was just stunned and silenced by the four people on the opposite side. The iron-tower-like general was riding on a horse, looking down from a high position. The three guards behind him were also strong men and horses, but more than a hundred people were in uniform. , all eyes were attracted to the leader, and that inexplicable sense of oppression was like looking up at the sky.
The sky is so high, the sky is so far away, and the same sky is so scary. The thunder in the sky can instantly kill more than a hundred of them to pieces, and the man in front of them is the sky at this moment. He didn't take action, or even made a sound, but more than a hundred people knew in their hearts that what this man was holding was thunder. Once he let go, it would be a powerful force. More than a hundred people in his hand were like the scorched earth under the thunder. Tender.
Without any hesitation or resistance, more than a hundred people quickly organized their equipment and formed a formation under the gaze of the opponent. They lost their original battle flags and followed the opponent. They just became the opponent's without any reason. tribesmen. Then they followed the general named Nan Jiyun to a county called Yongqiu and became a Tang soldier guarding Yongqiu.
Their team fought many battles in Yongqiu City, but because of their young age, the general only asked them to be responsible for logistics and had no chance to fight on the city wall. Later, they came to Suiyang City, where there were more battles. Although they did not fight the enemy head-on to the death, they had seen life and death in flesh and blood, and they were no longer the lonely ghosts drifting in the wind.
The war in the whole world is getting fiercer and fiercer, countless people have lost their lives, countless generals are still fighting, and countless generals have also surrendered to the enemy.
It is said that there were 120,000 enemy soldiers attacking Suiyang City, and the defenders of Suiyang City were less than 10,000 when they were at their peak. Therefore, Zhang Zhongcheng was not an ordinary person. He used these thousands of people to hold back seven enemy soldiers. Months of crazy biting, still persisting to this day. The armor that he never took off was his faith, the spark that illuminated the darkness.
The two young men who were enjoying the shade under the big tree ate a piece of mutton jerky. The young master also took out a similar oilcloth package from his arms and took out two pieces of mutton jerky. After simmering and eating, one person ate two pieces of mutton jerky. It was obvious that he was no longer so hungry. The two of them moved to the root of the tree and leaned against the trunk with their eyes closed to relax.
"Do you think we should go get him tonight?"
The young master suddenly said this in a confused manner. The dark-skinned boy was a little confused and was about to ask. Suddenly he figured it out. He quickly stood up and said nervously:
"You're crazy. That's not okay. Today has gone a bit too far. You still want to break into their house at night. No, absolutely not!"
"Oh, don't worry, just listen to what I tell you. When no one is around at night, let's sneak in and find their rice warehouse. Hey, if they really hide a lot of rice secretly, come back and report it to the superiors. If you copy it, it will not only relieve your anger, but also save you from emergencies."
The swarthy young man shook his head like a rattle, waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, absolutely no..."
"Why are you so cowardly..."
The young master was a little annoyed by the dark boy's timidity. He had been planning this in his mind since just now. After weighing it for a long time, he felt that it was still feasible. He fully thought that if he told his companions, they would hit it off instantly. Who would have thought that this guy would be so coward today? What a great opportunity. Don't know how to cherish.
"Do you think we are the only ones who know that these people have private food hidden in their homes? How can Zhang Zhongcheng and Xu Prefecture know this? They just have no way to get it. They can't rob it like the officers and soldiers who robbed your home. We He is an officer, not a thief in armor!"
The swarthy boy was really angry. He felt that his companion's idea was very dangerous. If he didn't stop it in time, he would make a big mistake sooner or later.
"So I said we should go find out what's going on tonight first, get the specific location and real evidence, and then come back and report it to the higher-ups, so that they can send people to search, and then both the stolen goods and the stolen goods will be recovered. Wouldn't it be safe?"
"Okay, even if we sneak in and find the place, it proves that they have indeed hidden a lot of food..." At this point, the swarthy boy paused, looked at the young host's family with a serious look, and asked word by word :
"But can we two come back?"
"Why don't you reply..."
The young master was about to refute why he couldn't come back, but suddenly his neck seemed to be stuck. He was thinking about this question. He knew that the black man opposite him was a thoughtful person, and many things were more far-term than what he thought. If the other party could ask such a question, he must It makes sense.
The swarthy boy didn't show off, and immediately started to explain.
"Do you still remember the servants who came with Song Xuchi today?"
The young master thought for a moment and replied:
"Why don't you remember, there are seven people in Lian and Song Xuchi, three of them look like servants, and three of them are Lian Jiazi. Although those three seem to have a solid foundation, they don't look like masters who are too difficult to deal with. You should be able to do it alone. It shouldn't take much effort to put away the two of them, and I shouldn't have to put too much effort into picking up the other one. They are all worth the weight of the third grade. As for the idiot Song Xuchi, he looks like he has practiced a lot, but I guess the fourth grade is too heavy and not worth it. carry."
"Yes, you have also seen that among the few people from the Song family, there are three practitioners. Although it is not a problem, it is still a bit troublesome. What is even more scary is that we don't know if there is anyone more powerful in the Song Xuchi family. Master? It is extremely common for such a big family to spend money to worship boxers from several sects."
After hearing this, the young master's family was a little nervous, but still a little unwilling. The swarthy boy ignored him and continued to analyze the stakes.
"The current situation in Suiyang City is like this. Before the thieves came, Governor Xu had long called on every household to save food and rice to increase defense. The Song family has such deep qualifications, they must have sects to worship them, and there are probably more than one or two. Although these sects will not bring out first-grade experts to mix in, the third- and fourth-grade ones will not be stingy. After all, the other party is a wealthy family, and face must be taken into consideration. The most valuable thing in Suiyang City nowadays is not gold and silver, but It's rice grain. We know this, and others must know it too. So, how many grades of hard-working people can we encounter when we break into the rice warehouse tonight? If my estimate is correct, there must be a second-grade master in charge of the Song family house. And it shouldn’t be just one or two!”
"Hey...it can't be so lucky..."
Although the young master is still a little unconvinced, he actually agrees with Hei Tantou's analysis.
"I think we should be on the safe side and report this news to the superiors. As for how to choose and let the adults make the decision, we little characters should not worry about it. It's annoying to eat pickles and worry about the emperor getting fish bones. It’s not a joke.”
"It's your grandma, you are making fun of me!"
The young master saw this rotten mess and stood up to chase the black man who was not a good thing. Before the swarthy boy could finish saying this, he had already run far away with a grin on his face.
The two of them were just chasing each other, laughing and scolding each other at this moment as if they were truly fifteen or sixteen years old, without so much maturity, intrigues, intrigues, and ghostly tricks. What was spreading was the real smile and true heart.
The two of them quarreled for a while. The sun was too hot and they didn't eat properly. After running for a while, they hurriedly returned to the shade of the tree, lay down on the ground, and pushed each other.
After a while, the two of them became confused, and when they listened carefully, they had already dozed off.
The dark-skinned boy had another dream. He dreamed of the mother and son today. The appearance of the skinny mother and the thick boy was very clear, but the girl could not dream about their appearance. She could only vaguely remember the appearance. She was dressed in patchwork gray clothes, and her face also had eyebrows and eyes, but Meng couldn't make out the precise facial features, only an outline. Maybe that's why the girl didn't raise her head much.
The young master also had a dream. He dreamed of those white flour pancakes from Song Xuchi’s family. He kept eating them, one in each hand, and couldn’t finish them. The more he ate, the more delicious they became, and the more fragrant they became, the hungrier he became. The hungrier you are, the more you eat.
The two of them slept for more than an hour. Looking at the sky, it was already midnight, and the sun began to set to the west. The two of them woke up for a while, both recalling the dream they had just had. The dark-skinned boy was confused, and the young master was confused. It's a rumbling stomach.
The two people saw that it was getting late, so they helped each other, put on their armor again, hung up their swords and bows, put their helmets in their hands, and walked towards the city. They took their time and walked back to the city according to the calculated time. Weizi Temple.
At this moment, two or three young sergeants who were accompanying them had returned to Weizi Temple. They were chatting with each other about what they had learned along the way. When they saw the young master and the dark-skinned boy approaching, they quickly gathered around them. Some people could not help but ask:
"How is it? How many rich young men have been recruited? Have you been bitten by dogs? Looking at the expressions of the two of you, it doesn't look like you are in great embarrassment? Could it be that those wallflowers who are skinned and cramped have changed their gender? ?”
Ever since they found out that these two unlucky guys from the Shaodong family had gone to Nancheng, these people who were traveling together had been thinking about what would happen to them today. The rich people in Nancheng were harsh and mean to these plague gods who came to their door. Not friendly. But looking at the two people who rushed back, their expressions were normal, neither sad nor happy. Either they were pretending to be indifferent due to great anger, or it was really an ordinary trip, and the rich people were not embarrassed. The teenagers accompanying them naturally didn't mean to see their jokes, but just hoped to use their slightly teasing tone to resolve the possible humiliation the two of them might encounter.
"There's nothing to say. It's not like we don't know the virtues of those things. Some don't open the door, some open the door but don't let them in, and some open the door and it's shameless. They know that we are recruiting soldiers, so everyone is the same. They tried to find ways to cry for poverty, some of them spoke harshly, and roundaboutly called us low, saying that we should risk our lives to protect them when we were born. There were also some idiots who offered eight hundred dollars, and one thousand dollars, all in the same tone. Just prepare a little money and express your feelings. Damn, you bastards, all of them are as fat as pigs. We have been busy for several hours, but those sons don’t even give us a drink of water."
The young master said these words as if he was an endorsement, not mentioning the beating of the Song family in the alley. The swarthy boy also had a tacit understanding, pretending to be deaf and dumb, looking stupid. The companions listened to this unoriginal narration and felt relieved. They politely greeted the ancestors of those wallflower misers for several generations, and then asked each other about their experiences.
The two teenagers also listened to other people's narratives. After a round of listening, as expected, the North City recruited the most people. Like the South City, the North City was full of poor families. In prosperous times, God provides food, officials are not so greedy, and there is still plenty of rented land. Although the family has little food and water, they still have every meal. However, in this year's war, the landlord's family still has the savings from previous years. The tenants were having a hard time. They were originally tearing things down to make up for the rest. Now the harvest was gone, and the family didn't have much balance. They had to sell off their belongings to barely make ends meet. Then they had nothing to sell, so they wanted to borrow money. The kind-hearted landlord Even saving a life is more of a blessing than I can do to help myself. Later, even the mice and sparrows were all caught. I heard that someone caught a mouse and someone paid four hundred yuan to buy it, but that person hasn't sold it yet. You know, in previous years, four hundred dollars could buy half an acre of land, but now it couldn't even be bought for a mouse. People began to dig mouse holes, peel off tree bark, pluck leaves, and dig grass roots. The worst thing is that there is nothing to eat, so I eat Guanyin soil. Guanyin soil is a kind of clay mineral. Doctors sometimes prescribe some of it in prescriptions. It can be used in conjunction with medicine to cure some diseases. A small amount can still be eaten. Some people were so hungry that they ate some and managed to survive for a few days, but many more people ate too much and ended up with indigestion, bloating, unable to poop out, and suffocated to death. Although most people are not that hungry yet, if they continue like this, their food will become stale.
Lord Zhongcheng is well aware of the suffering of the people, but it is difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice, so she can only bleed in her heart, hoping that the court will have reinforcements, and then attack from inside and outside to kill those rebels. The people in the city are having a hard time, and those who defend the city are even more difficult. Hundreds of thousands of troops are watching from outside, and there are fewer and fewer guards around him. Outsiders have always admired his resourcefulness, and he always has good strategies to retreat from the enemy, but there are a few people who know his own difficulties. The building is about to collapse, and he himself is poor and wants to change. If there are enough people and horses, and abundant food and grass, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Yin Ziqi's troops outside the city, even Shi Siming's entire army, why should I, Zhang Xun, be afraid?
Although his ambition is still there, he only hates the unscrupulous army under his command.
The city still has to be defended, and the people who defend the city still have to come from the city, so even if the people recruited today will die tomorrow, they still have to be recruited. Human lives are not worth it, but human lives are also worth it. It is so difficult yet so simple to exchange today's life for tomorrow's life.
People who can't survive are very happy to join the army. If they join the army, they will have military rations. Even if they die immediately, their families can still eat the food they exchanged for their lives, so there are always many people patrolling the city. The attackers lost hundreds of lives before they could figure out the approximate number of people participating in the defense of the city. When the next time they gathered the army, it seemed that there were more people attacking them at the top of the city, and the rebels could only go to waste again. He sacrificed more lives, and the cycle started over and over again. After a few months, he had killed tens of thousands of people, and Zhang still had thousands of people guarding the city. This kind of almost witchcraft tactics makes the enemy very frightened. They are not afraid of the opponent's gods, but afraid of the opponent's ghosts.
Zhang Xun didn't know that the real reason behind his natural conscription method was able to intimidate the opponent was the flesh-and-blood people who were willing to die, those who were willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for the responsibility and love of their parents, wives and children at home. So I kept talking without hesitation.
Almost all the strong pillars in the city were dead, followed by the somewhat elderly ancestors. After the ancestors were beaten, the grandchildren came up. Zhang Xun's eyes were red. Apart from gritting his teeth, all he could do was rack his brains and think of ways to keep these people alive as much as possible.
All those who went out to recruit soldiers have returned. According to the report, a total of 217 people were recruited today. Those people are preparing at home today and will gather in the barracks on their own tomorrow morning.
The middle-aged officer collected the roster, assembled his team, and led the group of young sergeants toward the barracks with their heads held high.
The sun was already setting in the west, and the figures of this group of people were moving away with the sun on their backs.
The teenagers are still very excited because they can go back soon and have food when they go back.
They are really, really hungry!
