At this moment, at the top of Xiaoyangguan City, there is a post every five steps and a sentry every ten steps, and the border troops from the town's border mansion are on guard duty.
Ni Huzi was sitting in a corner under a crenel at the top of Xiaoyang Pass. There was a small stove in front of him. There was a small iron pot on the stove, and a pot of dog meat was stewing steamingly in the pot.
Ni Huzi stirred the dog meat in the pot with the two small wooden sticks he used as chopsticks. A burst of heat and a strong fragrance hit his face. He couldn't help but his throat rolled up, as if he had swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
A sharp short knife suddenly reached into the pot, and as soon as a piece of dog meat was stuck on the tip of the knife, Ni Huzi suddenly flicked his hand, and two wooden sticks hit the wrist of the knife holder, causing the man to scream in pain and panic. Withdrew his hand.
"Little monkey, why are you in such a hurry?" Ni Huzi stared at the opposite side, but with a smile on his lips, he said: "This meat is still a little short of cooking. If you want to eat it smoothly, you have to be patient. .”
There were four or five people sitting around opposite Ni Huzi. Although they were different in height and appearance, they were all young men, and all of them were wearing armor. Behind them, there were five or six spears.
These people, including Ni Huzi, were all members of the Northwestern Frontier Army under the jurisdiction of the Dayong Imperial Court and under the jurisdiction of the Dafeng Town Border Mansion.
And Ni Huzi is a commander under the general Wei Changxin of the Zhenbianfu. It happens to be his turn to be on duty tonight.
The group of people sitting across from him were his capable brothers.
Now the dozen or so eyes of the four or five people looking at the iron pot were all bulging, and the aroma coming out of the pot made them swallow their saliva. Especially the youngest guy, who looked like a skinny monkey with a short knife in his hand, and the smile on the corner of his mouth was almost dripping all over the floor.
"Let me tell you, boss, I worked hard to get this black dog. You have to let me taste the first bite of meat later."
Thin Monkey raised his equally thin eyebrows and said to Ni Huzi.
Ni Huzi sniffed and chuckled: "You little brat, without my skills, even if you get a dragon, you won't be able to taste the dragon meat. You said the first bite of meat Who should eat it?"
Shouhou's real name is Hou. Because he is thin and has a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, he is naturally nicknamed "Little Monkey" by his colleagues.
When the monkey heard this, he could only sigh helplessly and said helplessly: "When I secretly learn your craft one day, I won't need you, boss, to compete for this first bite of meat."
Ni Huzi blinked his eyes and said with a smile: "It's not a bad tone. It's a pity that you don't have the opportunity to learn it. But if you go to the building in Dafeng City one day and break your little boy's body, I can teach you a lesson." you."
When the others heard this, they immediately laughed unbridled and joked, but the monkey was so ashamed that his face turned red and he was speechless.
Beard Ni lives up to his name. He is not tall but very burly, with a full beard. He has a tough and bold spirit unique to the bitter cold land in the northwest, so that others have almost forgotten his real name, no matter in the Windy City. Still in Xiaoyang Pass, everyone knows that he is Ni Huzi as soon as they see him. And Ni Huzi is nearly forty years old, and has been a soldier in Xiaoyang Pass for almost twenty years. This time is really not short. Over the years, his brothers who have joined the army with him have already made a difference in the army. The worst among them were centurions, but he was still just a commander in charge of ten soldiers. This made many people who didn't know what he was doing couldn't help but shake their heads and smile helplessly when they mentioned him.
It’s not that Ni Huzi doesn’t have the ability to be promoted, but that his character is too straightforward, and he is too emotional, so although he has a good reputation in the military, he is not well received by the superiors, so A small chief has been doing this for almost twenty years. But Ni Huzi is very satisfied because he has always been a simple and simple person.
In Ni Huzi's view, no matter how high the official position is, it is not as simple and enjoyable as drinking and eating meat with his brothers. He never seems to care about his status. His parents died when he was young, and he grew up eating hundreds of meals in Gale City, so he has unique feelings for people who have the same experience and background as him. During his more than 20 years of military career, many people around him have risen to prominence. However, no matter how long they have been away and how high their status is, as soon as they return to Gale City, they will go to Ni Huzi for a drink. It was the most comfortable thing for Ni Huzi.
Ni Hushu has a rough appearance, but his mind is very delicate. He knows how to get along with others. In his opinion, if you get along with too many people, you will have too many eyes, you will not be able to see through them, and you will have more troubles. . So he felt that ten people were just right, and the official position of Chief was also just right.
So people who know him will secretly say that if Ni Huzi could use this kind of thinking in dealing with Shangguan, then he would not be the Ni Huzi he is now.
But Beard Ni is still the same Beard Ni, the enthusiastic, forthright and upright Beard Ni.
He lived a clear, transparent and comfortable life.
Ni Beard stirred the pot again with two wooden sticks, stretched his neck and sniffed, and then nodded.
"about there."
He put the stick in the pot and took out two small paper bags from his arms, which were wrapped with salt and an unknown spice. Ni beard evenly sprinkled the salt and spices into the broth in the iron pot, and a unique aroma immediately spread from the iron pot.
The eyes of those young men seemed to glow with green light, and they looked like salivating greedy men.
Ni Huzi put the paper bag away again, looked at the people in front of him with squinting eyes, and asked with a frown: "Look at the way you are reborn as hungry ghosts, I didn't pay you any money so that you have no food to eat. Or something?"
The monkey swallowed his saliva and said, "Everyone is waiting for this bite of meat from you, but they still have their stomachs."
Ni Huzi shook his head helplessly, but his face was full of smiles.
He picked up a piece of dog meat, put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, and the smile on his face became even wider.
Ni Huzi looked at the people in front of him, suddenly handed the meat to the monkey, and said with a smile: "Eat it, and when you eat it, I will use your strength to make more meat come out, so as not to move it on some little lady's belly a few times in the future. You really have become a monkey."
Several people immediately burst into laughter again. The monkey was about to take the piece of meat, but when he heard this, his face suddenly twitched, and he withdrew his hand angrily.
As we all know, although Monkey is now twenty-two, he is the only boy under Ni Huzi who has not slept with a woman or been slept with by a woman.
In a borderland, this is indeed a pleasure that can be taken out for entertainment at any time. In the tradition of the Northwest Frontier Army, a man who has not lost his virginity and tasted the taste of a woman cannot be considered a real man.
Before Monkey joined the army, he was introverted by nature, a man of few words, and his face was thinner than paper. Now he has been in the army for almost three years, and he has gradually become more cheerful after getting along with these vulgar colleagues around him. However, his thin-skinned problem has never changed at all. He only makes ordinary jokes, but if others mention it When it comes to matters between men and women, he is like a frost beating an eggplant. Especially the fact that he is still a boy seems to be the life gate of a monkey, and he cannot stand to be used as a joke by others.
The northwest has a harsh environment due to bitter cold. The climate here is either extremely cold or hot all year round, resulting in people's livelihood being even more barren and lacking in materials. This situation becomes more serious the further north you go. And border troops like Ni Huzi, who have been under the control of the town and border government on the northwest border for many years, usually spend most of their time on daily training and border patrol and garrison tasks. Everyone can only take two days off in a month secretly. The shabby taverns and brothels in Windy City provide a way to while away the energy, but there is no other diversion. For the frontier soldiers, who are generally young men, life can be described as extremely boring. Therefore, when a large group of able-bodied frontier soldiers get together, the topic of women is often inseparable. At this time, Monkey will naturally become the subject of the topic, which makes Monkey very annoyed and embarrassed.
Monkey was also forced to quietly go to brothels several times with his colleagues, but every time he went there, he would sit quietly in a corner and drink quietly. He never took the initiative to go to those women. The women in the brothel Everyone was very curious about him, so some people took the initiative to strike up a conversation with him, but the monkey was like a stone without enlightenment. No matter how the women tried to seduce and tease him, he remained indifferent, as shy as a young girl.
This surprised his colleagues, who all joked that the monkey didn't look like a normal man.
What makes Monkey even more helpless is that his boss Ni Huzi, whom he has always respected, often entertains him with others, which makes him even more depressed.
Now Beard Ni made a joke to him again, but Monkey couldn't keep it off. He blushed, opened his mouth, and finally plucked up the courage to protest loudly: "Boss, I already have someone I like. , please don’t joke about this in the future.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Everyone stared at the monkey with strange expressions, as if they had heard something extremely surprised.
Ni Huzi also made a surprised noise, and couldn't help but said: "Hey, I didn't realize that you have a sweetheart. Tell me, whose girl is she from?"
The monkey's face became more and more rosy in the lights on the city tower. He hesitated, and then whispered: "She is the daughter of Mr. Liu, the shopkeeper of Liu's Tavern in the eastern suburbs of Dafeng City, Xiaoya."
After he finished speaking, his head lowered.
"It turns out it's that girl." A man with a long face and thick eyebrows next to the monkey suddenly came to his senses. He slapped his thigh and blurted out: "That girl is quite smart, but she seems to be lame in one leg... I said monkey , there are so many pretty girls in the city, why did you fall in love with a cripple?"
He suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he quickly shut up. At the same time, he turned to glance awkwardly at the thin boy next to him, only to find that the latter's head was lowered even lower.
Another man was startled, and immediately patted Monkey on the shoulder, and quickly smoothed things over and said: "Monkey, don't listen to his nonsense. I have seen that girl before. She is very smart and hard-working. She is a good woman who can give birth to children and live a good life."
The long-faced man also said quickly: "Monkey, what I said is all bullshit. Don't take it seriously. I'm just telling you. No wonder you don't go to find a woman with us. You already have a lover."
The monkey could only smile awkwardly.
"It turns out that monkeys are not bad at women." Someone laughed, "His virginity is reserved for his wife."
A burst of laughter suddenly erupted from the corner of the city wall.
The monkey couldn't wait to find a crack in the ground and crawl in immediately.
Ni Huzi had been silent, but then he suddenly said: "It turns out she is a girl from the old Liu family. Although their tavern is very old, the wine is to my taste."
He suddenly calmed down and looked at the people in front of him, and said: "If you want to drink in the future, go to Old Liu's house in the east of the city. His wine is quite good."
"Got it, boss."
Several young men answered with a smile, and one of them hugged Monkey at the same time and said with a smile: "It seems that among our brothers, Monkey wants to be the first to marry a wife."
The monkey opened his mouth and smiled stupidly. At this moment, he suddenly felt very warm in his heart.
"It seems that you have to eat more of this pot of meat today." Ni Huzhu returned to his old and serious appearance, and sneered: "If you really marry a mother-in-law, your body will not be able to withstand the torture. .”
He smiled and handed the piece of meat to the monkey again.
The monkey's face immediately turned red, and even his ears were red. He grabbed the piece of meat dejectedly, snorted in his nostrils, and silently used the knife to cut the hot dog meat in his hands.
He was immediately hit with a stick by Ni Huzi on the wrist.
"You're itchy, do you want to beat me?" Ni Huzi looked at the astonished monkey, suddenly looked up at the end of the tower walkway, and said to the monkey in a low voice: "If that old bear sees you, If you use this knife to cut meat, I'm afraid that if you get slapped down, you will lose your life as a wife!"
Everyone was slightly shocked. The monkey realized it later and hurriedly inserted the short knife back into his waist.
Ni Huzi looked solemn and said in a deep voice: "The ten of you are serving as servants under me. I can ignore the trivial matters on weekdays, but you must remember the military orders issued by General Wei last autumn. Among them, Anyone who privately destroys war horses or weapons will be punished by being dismissed from the military. Although it is a bit harsh, it is an iron law that everyone must abide by. If any of you violate this military law, I will I can’t protect you.”
The monkey's scalp tightened when he heard it, and he whispered: "Boss, I understand."
Ni Huzi paused for a moment, then started to take the meat out of the iron pot, and said: "Go to two people and give the meat to the brothers on guard. Let them be smart and don't let Captain Xiong bump into him."
Immediately, two men took the meat and left. Ni Huzi continued to share the meat with others, and suddenly he sighed slightly, as if he was deeply moved, and said: "I can't remember how many people I have taken care of you. Under me, other people don't care about that much. But one thing you all have to remember is that you should never make mistakes that you shouldn't make. You should also know that Commander Xiong has always disliked us and wants to punish us when he gets the chance, so you should always give me a try. Keep your eyes open and don't let others take advantage of you."
The other three nodded while busy eating meat.
Ni Huzi specially gave the monkey an extra piece of dog meat, his eyes turned gentle, and he said: "In recent years, General Wei has spent a lot of energy on reviving our frontier army and clearing away the serious diseases. But in the northwest It has always been poor, and the imperial court has no time to take care of our frontier army in recent years. In order to strengthen our military armaments, it is said that General Wei has many private contacts with people in the northwest, so our frontier army has only had new war horses and weapons and equipment in the past two years. Food and wages are also abundant. We can't fathom the difficulty and complexity of it. And the knife in your hand is one of those armaments. Although it is only a short knife, it is not easy to come by. "
"General Wei has worked hard to ensure that the brothers in the border army have enough to eat, ride on good horses, and use good knives. So monkey, your knife is for fighting and killing enemies, not for cutting dog meat."
The monkey stopped chewing the dog meat and nodded solemnly.
The two men who went to deliver meat to the soldiers on guard also returned quickly. Ni Huzi and the others divided the meat, and then he picked the smallest piece of meat, put it into his mouth and chewed it carefully.
Being able to eat a piece of well-cooked dog meat in such a cold late night can be said to be an extremely comfortable thing.
"The meat is good, but it lacks a sip of wine."
Ni Huzi suddenly sighed.
The long-faced man immediately smiled and said: "Boss, I hid a bottle of wine last time, do you want to find it for you?"
Ni Huzi glanced at him sideways, shook his head and said: "Forget it, drinking while on duty is not a trivial matter. I don't want to be locked up."
The monkey smiled and said: "Boss, when I take off this month, I will treat you to a nice drink."
Ni Huzi smiled and said nothing.
Everyone was quietly eating dog meat for a late-night snack when someone suddenly asked in a low voice: "Boss, why did you say that General Wei has spent so much energy on rectifying the border troops in the past two years? Is it really to guard against the barbarians outside? ?”
Ni Beard frowned, but before he could speak, he suddenly heard the soldiers watching on the city wall shout loudly: "Boss, there seems to be something going on down there!"
Ni Huzi's heart suddenly jumped for no reason. He swallowed the dog meat in his mouth, then stood up suddenly, grabbed the saber beside him and walked over.
Everyone immediately stood up and followed Ni Huzi towards the city wall.
"Boss, it's right there." The soldier in charge of the lookout pointed at the dark wasteland opposite the tower and said.
Ni Huzi squinted his eyes and looked carefully. At first he didn't notice anything unusual, but within a moment, his eyes and face suddenly changed.
Then everyone was surprised to find that in the darkness about five hundred steps away from Xiaoyang Pass, a dark front line was vaguely drawn out, slowly heading towards Xiaoyang Pass.
That black front slowly came towards Xiaoyang Pass in a very rhythmic manner, exuding a silent and strong oppressive momentum in such a cold night.
But at the forefront of that front, there was a man and a horse walking alone.
The horse was also completely black, but the horse was twice as tall as an ordinary horse. The dark body revealed unparalleled strength and strength. It didn't look like a horse at all, but more like an ancient beast.
As for the person on the horse, although his face couldn't be seen clearly in the night, you could tell from his body shape alone that he was a man, a man with unparalleled power and arrogance.
Suddenly, the man on the horse raised his hand slightly and made a gesture.
Following his movements, the long black line behind him suddenly lit up torches neatly.
In the light of the torch, this black line immediately resembled a long and orderly dragon, reflecting three hundred sturdy knights.
And under these three hundred knights are also tall and strong black horses.
Each of these three hundred knights held a torch in their hands. Under the firelight, there were only two words to describe them: arrogant and primitive.
These three hundred cavalrymen all exuded an extremely strong sense of arrogance, both physically and physically. Perhaps only in that primitive and barbaric land thousands of miles away, after experiencing thousands of years of barbarian bloodline inheritance and the baptism of cruel environments, could these races be born that are full of primitive, violent and barbaric atmosphere.
Their appearance was rough, their hair was braided into strips on top of their heads, and their dark black skin was as rough as if it had been scrubbed by endless wind and sand. Their attire was also very simple, and each of them only wore clothes sewn from animal skins. Perhaps they couldn't be called clothes at all, but were just a symbolic covering. Most of them were still naked with their bulging arms, but they were not affected by the cold at all because they had no idea what the cold felt like.
The equipment of the cavalry is also very simple. Under the old animal skin robes, each person only has a pair of close-fitting iron armor on the vital parts of the upper body and chest, and the weapons in their hands are also various, including giant axes and scimitars, as well as Mace and spear. The only thing they have in common is that each of them has a long bow and a bag of arrows hanging on their horses.
The close-fitting breastplates still had traces of hammer forging in the firelight, and the various weapons were also simple and rough, showing their poor casting skills.
But the longbows and arrows on their horses were particularly conspicuous. The longbows were longer, heavier, and wider than ordinary bows, and the arrows in their animal skin pockets were also longer and thicker. Such bows and arrows are more powerful, have a longer range, and are more lethal.
But it is absolutely impossible for a race like them with crude and inferior forging skills to make such sophisticated bows and arrows.
However, such bows and arrows may be most effective only in the hands of barbaric people like them.
These three hundred silent, poorly equipped cavalry advancing slowly were the very beings that made the entire north tremble and fear—the barbarians!
As for the man in front of the barbarian cavalry line, his unusually strong and tall body exuded a heavy aura like a mountain in the firelight. Different from the three hundred cavalry behind him, this man was wrapped in a pair of black iron armor. Different from the simple armor of others, the armor on his body was particularly conspicuous and sophisticated. Although he was extremely strong and strong, the iron armor could tightly cover his whole body without feeling clumsy or heavy at all, as if the iron armor was completely grown from his body. The perfect combination of human and armor shows exceptionally smooth lines and a beauty full of absolute power.
Moreover, the texture of the armor was deep and dark, and you could tell at a glance that it was forged from the finest refined iron. But such a rare piece of iron armor, even in the Central Plains, there are only a few people with such level of forging skills.
At this moment, the man was sitting on the back of the majestic horse, with his hands folded casually in front of his chest. Although the face under the black iron helmet also exuded a barbaric aura, the outline of his face was different from that of other barbarians. People have different softness, which shows a strange handsome appearance.
He suddenly raised his head slowly, casting his extremely sharp gaze at the city gate in the distance that looked like a dormant beast, and a deep smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Then he suddenly said something in Chinese Mandarin.
"It turns out that the air near the Central Plains is so fresh!"
7017k
