"That day, Young Master Zhang put a knife in front of each of us, two kilograms of fried noodles, let us choose it ourselves!" At the 60-year-old birthday party, Lu Dechuan, the chief general of the Yuezhi of the Tang Dynasty and the General of the Left Wu Guard, held a glass of wine and whispered memories to the old brothers around him.

The old brothers all had white hair, but their eyes were red like children, and each of them had a proud smile on their faces. They were all those who chose to leave with Zhang Qian that day, whether they were passionate at the time or their hearts were trembling.

After decades of bloody storms, the brothers who made the same choice as them in the frozen city that day were still less than 30% of the original ones, but they will never regret it!

Although forty years have passed, every one of them remembers the scene at that time.

After executing the evil Zhuangtou and the clan chief, the "high-ranking official" who was as young as them but had become a secretary and a young prison, stood next to the body of Tuqi Shi Zhuangtou, and ordered the brothers to take out some food rations and thousands of horizontal knives and put them in front of the "slaves" who were forced to gather together.

"Tuqi Shizhuangtou gives each of your family two taels of grain every day, and I will give each of you two taels of grain at a time, and give it enough for ten days at a time. Those who are willing to continue to be slaves for Tuqi Shi, you can choose fried noodles with oil and eat them according to the original amount, enough to eat them until Soge comes back." Zhang Qian's voice was not high, but like a needle, it pierced into the hearts of Lu Dechuan and others.

If there is a choice, who would like to be slaves?! Being locked in the frozen city is worse than death every day because they were abandoned by the Tang Dynasty, not their own choice!

After Zhou Yiti was defeated, he fled to Yutian and threw them and their family to Soge! But Soge was a demon king who killed people without blinking. He immediately killed the Broken Leaf Man and flowed into a river of blood.

Lu Dechuan's father was a scholar. In addition to him, he also had a younger brother and a younger sister. However, his family gathered all their property together, and was only worth two hangs by Soge's minions. Two hangs of money were only enough for one person to continue to live. Then, Lu Dechuan was locked into the inner room by his father. When he cried and smashed the door open, he was the only living person left in the family.

Wang Debao was his neighbor, and his family was spared because he had a huge rice shop at home. However, in the first month of the frozen city, his businessman's father was killed by the elder's tribe Ding because he worked too slowly. His mother and sister soon died of illness in the field due to hunger and cold.

Tarhu is a child of Loulan and Han people, and does not meet the entry standards of Soge...

Gai Ze was his mother, Tuqi Shi, and his father was a Han businessman. His family property was not enough to make up six lunarities...

...

In the first three months of the frozen city, Lu Dechuan and others were looking forward to the Tang Dynasty's King's Army to fight back and save them from the sea of ​​suffering. However, the King's Army led by Zhou Yiti retreated from Yutian to Boxian. The King's Army in Shule City was five hundred miles southwest of the frozen city. However, the General Manager of Jinshan Road did not send a soldier to the north!

After waiting for a month, some people died while waiting, and some people were desperate.

When they had become walking corpses, the "King Master" suddenly came and broke the cage of frozen city! The King's Master had only 3,000 people, but he tried to take them with more than 6,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people to leave!

Once they are caught up by the Tuqishi soldiers, the king's army will definitely run away, just like last time, and throw them to Soge again! This time, they can't even get two hangs of money!

That day, many people's eyes were on food, and Lu Dechuan was no exception. He had been hungry for half a year. Even if he chose the Hengdao, he had no strength to use it. It would be better to have another full meal before he died. He had made up his mind that he would not eat only two bowls of porridge every day as before. As long as he got the food, he would eat a full meal immediately, and then go to the wilderness and die by himself.

In this way, he will not be abandoned by the Tang Dynasty once again, nor will he be regarded as a slave by the Tuqi Shiren. In this way, he will at least be a full-fledged ghost and may be born in Chang'an or Luoyang in his next life!

However, Zhang Shaojian's next words instantly ignited the last passion in his heart. Lu Dechuan remembers every word that he will never forget in his life!

"If you don't want to be slaves, just pick up the knife. I won't take you with you. I will take you to Thunder Ye City and get your own things back!" Zhang Qian's voice was still not high at that time. But like Mars, it jumped into the hearts of many people.

Some Mars went out after a roll, but some Mars turned into a raging fire. Lu Dechuan remembered that the Midian Young Master Wang Debao was the first to jump up and run towards Hengdao. Immediately followed by Simi, Nodan, Tarhu and him, and then, more people walked over one after another.

After Zhang Qian said that, he returned to the Central Army, deliberately not watching, or had no time to see, how many "slaves" would choose to use horizontal knife instead of fried noodles! However, Lu Dechuan clearly saw that at least two thousand people had made the same choice as him.

On the first day they picked up the knife, they were gathered and woven into eight groups. Everyone had a full meal for a day.

The day after they picked up the knife, they set out with Zhang Qian to attack Shuye. From then on, no one turned around.

There are nearly 400 miles from Frozen City to Saiye, and there are two cities, He Lie and Ye Zhi, in the middle. Lu Dechuan believed that he would die under one of the cities, so his calves were trembling. However, he hoped that his living companions could persist in killing the city of Saiye and tell him that his parents, brothers, sisters, he came back with the king's master, and he came to pay their blood debts for them. This way of death would make him feel a hundred times more at ease than if he had eaten a meal and then went to commit suicide!

However, Zhang Shaojian did not take them and walked around Atami.

After leaving the frozen city, more than 1,500 tall horses with barbed iron palms on their hooves were caught in Ate. Behind each horse, a huge wooden board was dragged, and under the board were two hardwood strips wrapped in iron.

The commander of the team where Lu Dechuan was located called this object a sled. When the war horses began to accelerate steadily on the ice, the veterans sent to be the commander and jumped up with everyone. Then, Lu Dechuan was surprised to find that Atami could cross in winter!

Strictly speaking, it is a slanted penetration!

More than 6,000 brothers and their baggage were riding on sleds, and more than 5,000 war horses followed behind the sled with empty saddles. The army set off from the frozen city and stopped twenty miles. That night, they arrived on the other side of the Ate Sea. Along the way, the horses pulling the sled ate eggs, cooked beans and cheese, while Lu Dechuan and others, like the veterans, ate fried noodles with snow and oil.

Rows of crossbow arrows shot over, "picking" the samurai warrior Shi from the saddle like picking wild fruits. There were not many crossbow bows in the Tang army, but the firing rate was extremely fast. Lu Dechuan saw with his own eyes that after a row of Tang army fired the crossbow arrows, he immediately squatted down and pulled the crossbow string with the shake handle again. The second row of Tang army crossbowmen standing behind them aimed at the target in front and pulled the mechanism.

The second row of Tang army crossbowmen squatted quickly, and then the third row. When the third row of crossbowmen was fired, the first row of crossbowmen just finished loading and fired a second wave of howling crossbow arrows.

When the three-wheeled crossbow arrows were fired, within fifty steps of the Tang army, there was no living thunderbolt man. The catapult cart in the hands of the Tang army was also reloaded. Several veterans in the team's uniforms pulled the mechanism, raised the arm of the catapult cart quickly, and threw the iron lump that ignited the twister and more than 80 steps away.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...

The iron lumps fell into the Tukhashi team with Mars, and then another string of muffled thunder exploded. More than 20 war horses, together with their owners on their backs, were swallowed up by black smoke. More war horses fled in scattering and scattering, and dropped the Tukhashi warrior on their backs, trampling them to pieces and break their bones.

Under the violent attack, the formation of the Tukkishi warriors completely collapsed. The living people, whether they were riding on horseback or falling to the ground, turned around and ran towards the city gate as long as they could move.

Fire meteors and explosions are not powers that can be understood by the samurai warriors. In their subconscious, the power that cannot be understood belongs to ghosts and gods. They will not be afraid of fighting against the Tang army that has come from afar in the ice and snow. However, they cannot raise any courage to provoke ghosts and gods.

What's more, fire meteors and explosions are not something they can withstand with the courage. Even if they can force themselves to face the broken corpses of their companions, their war horses cannot resist the sound of the collapse of the sky and the earth. The samurai Shi, who lost the cooperation of the war horses, had at least half of their ability. The crossbow arrows in the hands of the Tang army were as fast as hail.

The narrow city gate could not accommodate so many people and squeeze in at the same time. Soon, the city gate was blocked by the Tuqi Shiren himself. The Tuqi Shiye Guardian, who was responsible for guarding the nest for Soge, immediately ordered the city gate to be closed after escaping back to the city. However, the confidants who were ordered to close the door were cut directly into the city gate by angry warriors.

The weather was so cold that it almost dripped into ice. Just now, the samurai warriors did not bring any dry food. If they could not withdraw to the city, even if they did not die under the sword of the Tang army and escaped into the wilderness, they would have to be frozen to death or starved to death.

When people are desperate, their behavior will become unreasonable. Only by closing the city gate can the city wall resist the attack of the Tang army. The east gate of Shuye City is too late to close.

Ye Hudan, who was angry and embarrassed, was worried that the Tang army would catch the fighter plane and decisively ordered the archers to shoot arrows at the city gate. After several consecutive rounds of arrow rain, no one in the city gate hole finally fought against him. However, the piles of corpses completely cut off the possibility of closing the city gate in time.

The Tang army outside the city would no longer give Kiln time to clear the corpse. After discovering that the samurai warriors collapsed, Zhang Qian immediately adjusted his tactics and ordered two thousand brothers to protect more than ten fire dragon chariots and catapults to advance towards the city gate. In the enemy building above the city gate, there were archers who immediately fired arrows to stop them. However, the front panel of the samurai carriage raised high in the carriage made the bow and arrow fruitless!

"Bang" "Bang" The crossbow placed on the horse's face was also launched in a hurry. The huge crossbow arrows roared in. Although they did not hit any target, they put huge pressure on the Tang army behind the Fire Dragon Car and the catapult car.

Zhang Qian immediately waved the command flag on a command car. Then, the sound of war drums sounded from the Tang army's rear team, overshadowing all the noise on the battlefield. He rode out with a flag-recognizing the command, conveying the latest military orders to the ears of the two captains. Guo Jing and Ren Qi each led a team of crossbow arrows and bows and arrows, quickly approaching the face of the horse. More than 20 unicycles unfolded the carriage boards and formed two moving shield walls in front of them.

The thunder cavalry on the top of the city were condescending, and they shot arrows desperately. The arrowheads hit the iron-clad carriage board, making a jingle. However, the Tang army crossbowmen just followed the wheelbarrow and did not fight back.

"Bang--" A crossbow came into the air, and drove a huge hole in front of the attacking team on the left with iron armor. A gap appeared in the shield wall, two wheelbarrows fell to the ground, and the thunder riders at the top of the city took the opportunity to take the opportunity to rain.

Lu Dechuan saw that a Tang army crossbow fell into an arrow and blood flowed all over the ground. There was more than one corpse lying beside the broken wheelbarrow. His heart suddenly jumped to his throat, his hands and feet were cold, and his breathing was almost stagnant. He thought that the crossbowmen behind the shield car would scatter and retreat. However, the next moment, the remaining wheelbarrows came together again, closed the shield wall and continued to move forward. The Tang army crossbowmen also continued to move forward, stepping on the blood of his companions, and braved the crazy rain of arrows.

"Bang--" Another huge crossbow arrow roared and a white smoke broke out next to the shield wall on the right. Lu Dechuan instinctively turned his head to the right side of the battlefield. He found that the crossbow arrow did not hit the target, but someone in the Tang army's crossbow hands on the right side of the battlefield were also hit by the feather arrow shot from the head of the city, and his arms and thighs showed a dazzling red color.

Tang Jun's armor was very strong, but in order to ensure the flexibility of archery movements, there was no armor covering their arms and thighs! The observation made Lu Dechuan feel a little painful. He found that he actually cared about the safety of the veterans, although he and the veterans had not had time to get to know each other.

He felt faintly that he had become one of the crossbowmen, excited by their excitement and fearful of their fear. The enemy was condescending and constantly firing crossbows and bows. The veterans continued to move forward in the rain of arrows, without making any sound in their mouths, but their steps were firm and steady.

Finally, two teams of crossbowmen came under the city wall. The leader raised his arms high and then waved them down. Dozens of bright crossbow arrows swept over the horse's face diagonally, and the samurai Shi, who was busy loading the crossbow, instantly rolled over more than a dozen. (Note: Horseface, the defense facility of the ancient city wall. The platform raised forward can prevent shooting dead corners and place defense weapons.)

The archers shot on their backs, and the feathered arrows first soared into the air, and then fell to the top of the horse's face like hail. More thunder warriors were shot to death beside the crossbow, and blood flowed into a river. On the city wall next to the horse's face, the thundered arrows were like crazy and greeted the Tang army. Most of the feathered arrows were blocked by the shield wall and the iron vest on the Tang army. A small number of them made contributions, but they could not slow down the Tang army's offensive at all.

The Tang army, who had solved the threat of bed crossbow, quickly changed directions, and used the hanging crossbow and horn bow to "give greetings" to the archers on the top of the city. Both sides went back and forth, without giving in. And taking advantage of this opportunity, the two teams of Tang army quickly pushed four simple catapult cars within thirty steps from the city wall.

"Swoosh swish swish swish swish-" Four iron lumps dragged Mars and landed on the top of the broad horse's face. The explosion sounded again, thick smoke rolled, and the powerful crossbows split into pieces. The archers on the top of the city were furious and immediately greeted the catapult cart. The feather arrows hit Tang Jun's body and helmet near the catapult cart, jingling.

The Tang army's crossbowmen once again retaliated against the city and suppressed the bows and arrows of the Turks. The Tang army's fire dragon chariot finally arrived near the city gate, aimed at the Turks who were pushing out the corpse, and spewed out several bright yellow flames.

The city gate hole was quickly filled with flames. The Turks inside screamed and rolled in the flames. The burnt smell of their bodies spread far away along the cold wind.

At the gate of the city, no one can travel with him. On the command car, Zhang Qian waved the flag and ordered the entire army to attack. More feather arrows were shot at the enemy, suppressing the archers at the top of the city. The catapult cart adjusted the direction and threw iron lumps one by one, and after the marching.

Explosions rose one after another, and the thunder cavalry on the top of the city were blown away by the bomb. The feather arrows shot at the Tang army suddenly became sparse. The flames at the gate of the city were blown away by the cold wind, revealing the steaming door hole.

The war drums resounded through the world again. Luo Huaizu instigated his mount and rushed into the city first at the risk of being scalded by heat.

More than a hundred cavalrymen wearing iron vests followed him in one after another. Then, one hundred infantrymen covered in iron armor were shouting and killing sounds shook the sky. Lu Dechuan could not see the battle situation in the city, but was still so nervous that he could not exhale. Soon, his eyes began to turn black, his body became weak, and his temples and back were sweating profusely.

A powerful hand suddenly supported his shoulder. Immediately afterwards, the voice of the gang leader Zhang San also rang in his ears. "Everyone has it, follow the coach's flag and prepare to enter the city!"

"Dongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdong, dongdongdongdongdongdongdong..." The sound of war drums rolled between the world, making people's blood boil.

Lu Dechuan opened his eyes and saw a scarlet flag slowly pushing towards the Thunderbolt City Gate. Zhang Changshi had jumped out of the command car at some point, riding a tall horse, following the coaching flag.

The veterans of the Tang army in front of the flag rushed into the city gate like a torrent. On the city wall, there were also figures of the Datang Jianer flashing, driving the Tuqi Shi Warrior Shi to hide and hide in Tibet like a sheep. Some Dachang Jianer Shi knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, but was pulled aside by the Dachang Jianer with his feet. After the Dachang Jianer surrendered, he picked up his weapons and tried to attack him. The Dachang Jianer who followed him swept the top of the city with one knife.

The recruit Lu Dechuan was the last group to enter the city, and then followed the team and pushed from the east gate to the west gate. Along the way, he did not play any role except to help lift the wounded twice. The horizontal knife in his hand was not stained with a drop of blood, and the shiny blade was spotless from beginning to end.

His enemy who destroyed his family died under the sword of a Tang Dynasty athlete. Elder Tuqi Shi, who had exploited him for more than half a year, was led by the Tang army to the open space at the entrance of the yamen like a sheep. After public trial, he was beheaded and displayed. His old house was returned to him again. The apricot trees in the yard did not know the owner's mood, shaking the branches in the cold wind, as if welcoming his return.

Lu Dechuan cut off his hair, divided it into four strands, and buried it under the apricot tree, representing his father, mother, younger brother and younger sister respectively.

He carved their names on the trunk, then locked the yard door and went to the military camp to report.

In that battle, Lu Dechuan did not kill an enemy with his own hands. But as Zhang Qian expected, he regained his own things, including the dignity of being a human being.

There is a secret that he did not tell anyone. But many people know clearly in their hearts.

He was actually born in spring. However, he regarded the day he picked up the sword as his birthday.

That day, for him and many of his companions, they were reborn from the ashes!
Chapter completed!