The fifth year of Kaiping, July 12th.

The almanac says: The grass dies.

There is an official road to the southeast of Hucheng, which was built in the winter of the second year of Renxuan, that is, fourteen years ago. In the autumn of that year, in order to recapture Hucheng, the Western Wu court sent a total of 220,000 troops to attack the city.

While sitting in Tucheng, they eventually abandoned tens of thousands of corpses and retreated in despair.

This official road was built after Liang Jun's victory. It started from the south gate of Hucheng in the west and ended in Shanyang County, Dongqing Prefecture in the east. It was connected with the official road in Lingzhou. Since then, a steady stream of ordnance, food and grass passed through this official road.

Sent to Tiger City, day after day, year after year, the city was built into the strongest city in the world, and then the Western Wu court gave up the idea of ​​a follow-up attack.

From Shanyang County to Hucheng, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, there are nine military villages scattered along the official road. This is the most important defense system in Daliang to restrict the Western Wu cavalry.

As long as these nine military strongholds are not lost, Xiwu will not be able to directly attack Dongqing Mansion and Guangping Mansion in Lingzhou, because it cannot protect the grain road and will face harassment from Daliang sharp soldiers in the military stronghold at any time.

The southwestmost military village is called Daokou Village. It is stationed with an army of 2,500 people and is affiliated with the Guangping Guards of the Guping Camp. The main general is Cao Hu.

Daokou Village was built on flat ground. This was a helpless move because the terrain on the Gaoyang Plain is very flat. Even if it has slight ups and downs, it still looks like a flat river. Although there are mountains of varying heights, they are very rare.

A tiger city built on a military mountain would not be that important.

Since there was no choice in terms of terrain, the Daliang court had no choice but to think of ways to build the city with bricks, stones, sand and earth. It was extremely strong despite being attacked by fire and thrown stones. The city wall was six feet high, which was taller than the city wall in Linqing County.

It is tall, with only two city gates in the east and south. In addition, the city wall is equipped with horse-faced turrets. Outside the two city gates, there is an urn city, which can be called a military city specially built to defend against enemies.

There are thirty-seven similar military cities on the border of Lingzhou.

After the completion of this defense system, Wang Pingzhang once said: "From now on, if the Western Wu cavalry dares to invade the country, they will never come back."

Qi Huaijing was from Shanyang County, Dongqing Prefecture. His family was poor, his parents were both farmers, and he could not read a single Chinese character. The reason why he had such an elegant-sounding name was because the year he was born, Qi’s father went hunting in the mountains to save lives.

The next scholar. His mother was about to give birth at that time. After giving birth to him, the scholar gave him this name.

It's a pity that Qi's family is too poor to afford a husband or send him to a private school, so there is no hope of taking the imperial examination. Fortunately, he has been stronger and stronger than other children since he was a child.

He fiddled with the wooden stick a few times and saw that it looked good. When he was fifteen years old, Qi's father gritted his teeth and sent him to the Lingzhou Guard of the Xiang Army.

After joining the army, Qi Huaijing finally had enough to eat, and his body grew like the wind. In two years, he grew into an eight-foot tall man.

By chance three years ago, he was spotted by a young commander of Guping Camp, who transferred him from the Xiang Army to the Border Army and stayed with him as a personal soldier.

Qi Huaijing still remembered the scene that day. The young general was handsome and his armor was stained with blood. He had just returned from killing the Xiwu people at the border. The generals in the army were very excited, but Qi Huaijing was very depressed because he was facing

He was stunned when he saw the enemy. Although he didn't show any particular shame, everyone knew it was because he was afraid.

The general did not punish him, but drove him to Daokou Village to become an ordinary soldier.

At first, Cao Hu thought he was a confidant of the young general and came here to experience the situation, so he was very polite to him.

Soon Cao Hu learned the truth of the matter and never paid attention to Qi Huaijing from then on.

Time flies so fast, two years go by.

Qi Huaijing is still an ordinary infantry member of the Third Capital and Fifth Post of the Fourth Army of Guangping Guards.

His life in the army was not easy, because as everyone knew, the sentry officers were also lukewarm towards him, and would often give him the hardest and most tiring jobs. For example, in the middle of winter, he was asked to work with him.

The citizens repaired the city wall together, or stood guard on the city wall under the blazing sunshine during the hottest time of the year like today.

Qi Huaijing never resisted. Perhaps he had already accepted his fate and felt that this was his life.

An ordinary farm boy with no connections, no background, and very little courage, how could he have any future?

Even if he was favored by the young general, it was just a flash in the pan, and his true identity was soon exposed.

The noon sun made people feel dizzy, but Qi Huaijing persisted with perseverance. He was the only one standing stupidly on this section of the city wall, while his companions had already retreated to the shade under the city tower. The man had a good relationship with the sentry officer and was not worried at all.

It will lead to punishment. But Qi Huaijing can't do that. If he dares to leave his position, he will definitely face the most severe military punishment.

However, Qi Huaijing has no complaints. This is his fate, so what else is there to complain about?

"Huaijing."

A tired voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man walking towards him carrying a kettle.

This man's name is Dong Da. In Qi Huaijing's opinion, he is a weirdo because he is still an infantryman even though he is forty years old. The sentry officer seems to be a little afraid of him and never arranges work for him. Anyway, he just pretends that there is no such person in the team.

people.

"Uncle Dong." Qi Huaijing tugged at the corners of his dry mouth, revealing an ugly smile.

Dong Da glanced at the soldiers in the shade in the distance and didn't say much. He just handed over the kettle and said, "Drink some water."

"Thank you, Uncle Dong." Qi Huaijing said sincerely, opened the lid of the kettle, raised his head and drank most of the pot of water.

"Slow down, why are you in a hurry?" Dong Da said calmly, and after he finished drinking, he said, "I'll leave the kettle here with you, and return it to me in the evening."

Qi Huaijing nodded.

Dong Da looked at his calm expression and slightly confused eyes, and suddenly asked: "Are you homesick?"

Qi Huaijing hesitated and said, "I don't want to."

Dong Da showed a hint of curiosity: "Why don't you want to?"

Qi Huaijing was silent for a moment and then said: "My father said that if you can't become an official, you should never go back in your life."

Dong Da then asked: "Then do you want to be an official?"

This time Qi Huaijing quickly shook her head and said, "I don't want to."

Dong Dad looked at him intently, as if he found this silly boy who was always dull to be very interesting, so he simply sat next to him, not caring about the bluestone floor that was very hot due to the sun, patting his side and saying: "Sit."

Qi Huaijing looked around.

Dong Da shook his head and said: "Don't be afraid, I am here, no one dares to punish you."

Qi Huaijing then carefully sat down against the wall.

"You don't want to go home, and you don't want to be an official, so what exactly do you want to do?"

"Uncle Dong, actually I miss my mother very much, but my father said that, I don't dare to miss home. You know my past, I went to the battlefield with that general, I really don't dare to kill and I don't want to kill, I don't

I understand why we have to fight, so I think this is good now."

"I don't understand why there is a war."

Dong Da repeated this sentence and smiled softly: "This sentence is very good, but there are always many reasons forcing you to do it. For example, if people from Xiwu come over now, can you run away?

At that time, did you stick your head out to be chopped off by others, or did you just dig a hole and bury yourself?"

Qi Huai remained silent.

Dong Da patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Actually, killing people is no different from killing chickens. Once you kill more, you will no longer resist cutting off other people's heads."

Qi Huaijing looked at him half-understanding, but suddenly she saw Dong Da's face became serious and signaled him not to speak.

The sun was blazing in the sky and there was no cloud in the sky.
Chapter completed!