From the time of Zhongping to the present, the people I know have died one by one, and fellow villagers have died in a foreign land. What have they gained besides the scars on their bodies?
How many days of full meal?
Life is a day?
Every time Li Laosi thinks of these things, he feels panicked. He doesn't know if he is wrong, the world is wrong, or something is wrong, but he just instinctively feels that this shouldn't be the case.
This big man shouldn't be like this.
But he couldn't say what the big man should do, and he could only turn into a long sigh in the end.
A few days ago, many soldiers who went to Yique to dig the grave were killed and injured. It is said that they were cursed by the tomb owner...
But it is obvious that Man Chong didn't believe in any curse and still wanted to send someone to continue digging.
Li Laosi is on the list. If he doesn't escape now, it means he has no chance to escape again.
Live and die.
It seems that in the current world, the interval is not so obvious.
It’s not that Li Laosi has not tried hard to live...
But his efforts did not get any good results.
When Li Laosi was suppressing the Yellow Turban in Julu in the fifth year of Zhongping, the arrow wound in Li Laosi in his left arm would have caused him to be discharged from the army due to injuries. But when he dragged the injured arm to find the military judge, the military judge's bamboo ruler slapped him on the forehead, "A refugee, is also worthy of being resigned from the army? Duh! Don't come and make noise!"
He still remembers a battle in the first year of Taixing in the Han Dynasty, which was a rainy night.
When he rushed out of the siege with a lieutenant general of the Xiahou clan who was caught in the arrow on his back, the blood-faced child grabbed his clothes and promised, "As long as he can return to Xu County, I will definitely guarantee you to be the governor!"
However, at the military celebration banquet after the Taimiao offering, Cao Cao knelt on the steps and received the "reward" promised to him...
Two burlap pieces.
And the side general who once swears to his clan is offering new armor to his clan leader.
He also remembered the clerk in the army saying with a smile, "Can you understand the words? Why do you read so seriously?"
Li Laosi looked at the little official's words written on the wooden tablet, but he didn't know what he was writing. He just knew the merits of those ink dots, which were him and the achievements of those illiterate soldiers like him.
But the head he won was either unqualified here or something went wrong there.
Just like when he was not in the army, when he paid the food tax, there were also various problems...
The children of Yingchuan who are literate can be promoted to the team with only three heads.
But the playboy obviously couldn't even pull the weakest Badou bow.
He also wanted to recognize words, at least he could know how many achievements he had made. However, when he finally found some wooden slips and bamboo slips, thinking that he had heard the children of the gentry say "there is no difference" in the county, and he was holding the dug slate he picked up to ask the Secretary of the Camp to interpret, the scholar from Yingchuan covered his nose with a sweat towel, "Far away from something! Are the pickled men worthy of hearing the words of the saint?"
His heart was cold, just like the first month of the third year of Taixing, which was also cold and cold.
On the coldest day of the first month of that year, Li Laosi's fellow villager Zhao Dayan was hung on a grain truck. This man who could pull out two stone bows was hung up just because he secretly caught a handful of soybean meal for feeding horses, and he was interrupted.
Seriously reiterated the importance of food in front of the army. The Xun family's children who were not allowed to steal were roasted venison in the tent and laughed, "If the little thief doesn't fight, he won't have a memory."
However, for some reason, the military rations distributed later were not only old, but also had a lot of sand and gravel, which could not be washed clean no matter how hard it was. Li Laosi felt that it was like the bone slag of Zhao Dayan.
What disappointed Li Laosi the most was the previous siege in Tongguan.
Three hundred dead soldiers were forced to carry a ladder and rushed towards the city wall of Tongguan, including Li Laosi.
As he was about to set off, Li Laosi saw the Cao Army Military Academy, who was supervising the battle, clicking on the list...
Afterwards, Li Laosi learned that all people without clans were among the pioneers.
When ordinary soldiers like Li Laosi were blown away by artillery fire in front of the Tongguan formation, the Cao army military academy with "Qiao County Cao Family", "Yingchuan Zhong Family", or other surnames embroidered on the corners of the clothes, they were safe and sound behind the formation, and they could even point fingers to indicate that Li Laosi and others were not brave enough, strong enough, and hard enough.
On the night when he decided to escape, Li Laosi saw his reflection by the Luoshui River.
The tattoo of the word "Soldier" on the forehead is blurred, and the wrinkles on the face seem to be an old man in his seventies or eighties.
How old is he?
Forty or fifty?
Li Laosi forgot, he just vaguely remembered that the old man who was rolling in the fields and climbing trees to dig bird nests had never returned to his hometown since he was taken away with shackles.
He missed his hometown so much that he still couldn't resist the idea of going home and followed.
What if it was just a false alarm?
He didn't want to continue fighting anymore. He just wanted to return to the small village in his hometown to see if his sister, who was forced to remarry the military commander as a concubine, was still alive, and touch if the Tao Wu, who was hidden by him on the beam of the ancestral house and his mother's surname was still there...
Over the years, he has been like a pounded cattle and horse, pulling a broken car called "Big Han" and struggling in the mud of time. The nobles in the car are constantly changing. They use jade-clad whips to try to maintain the dignity of the dynasty, whipping Li Laosi and others forward desperately, dipping their blood to depict the peeling red railings on the canopy car of the big man...
However, when the sound of the copper bell rang in the dark, Li Laosi knew something was wrong!
He suddenly realized why this section of Water Gate had not been repaired for so long!
This is actually a trap!
Must escape from here!
Li Laosi suddenly pulled off the cowhide rope tied with the broken copper lord. It was stolen from the shaft of the baggage truck half a month ago. After soaking tung oil, this thing was very tough.
He didn't care about the spilling of food hidden in Tongjue, but he just tried hard to throw Tongjue towards the stone pillars above the canal, trying to climb up and escape from danger, but forgot that the pillars had not been repaired at all. Even if they had been repaired, the bonding water mixed with gray matter but not much glutinous rice was not enough to bear his weight.
The stone pillar that should have stood still was pulled loose and shaken by him, and then fell down the canal and almost hit his head.
『Escape back!』
If you fail to climb the canal, you can only walk back.
Unfortunately it's too late.
Man Chong slowly stretched out his hand and then slashed downwards.
The friction sound of armor pieces is as subtle as a cricket flapping its wings, but it brings out a cold murderous intent.
Some Cao army soldiers suddenly appeared above the canal, either going down at Li Laosi and others with swords and guns, shooting arrows and crossbows, or throwing down the fishing nets directly, and arresting and killing Li Laosi and others like prey.
"Leave two or three living mouths."
Man Chong glanced and gave indifferent instructions. It was not that Man Chong was kind, but that he hoped that among these people, there would be spies of the cavalry. In this way, he would have more opportunities...
The unarmed Li Laosi and the others were unable to resist at all and had no way to escape. Soon they were killed and caught.
Man Chong waved behind him, and two men with snake-patterned masks on their faces walked out of the shadow. The armor on their bodies also had snake-patterned patterns, and the snake head climbed on his shoulders, as if he would jump up and bite people the next moment.
This is a sergeant who is specially used for torture. When these two people approached, the smell of blood on their bodies was even heavier than the blood flowing out of the canal.
"Who are you ordering to come? Let me tell you truthfully to avoid the pain of flesh and blood." The sergeant walked to Li Laosi, grabbed Li Laosi's head, and pushed away the messy hair covering Li Laosi's forehead. His voice was as dull as if he was asking what to eat today.
"The mark is old..." An older sage official stretched out his hand and rubbed the tattoo on Li Laosi's forehead twice. "Remember it, it's been ten to fifteen years..."
The younger sergeant nodded, took out paper and pen, and recorded it.
Li Laosi was stabbed in the leg and was bleeding, but when the sergeant rubbed his forehead, Li Laosi still felt a fear coming, as if a poisonous snake crawled over his forehead, cold and wet.
Li Laosi raised his head hard and looked at the leading officer.
Perhaps it was physical pain or mental stimulation. Li Laosi's brain, which was a bit slow in his usual daily life, quickly rotating, overlapping the one-eyed elderly official in front of him with a person in his memory...
"You, you! I remember you!" Li Laosi suddenly called out, "Guandu, Guandu! We are together! Scoop porridge in the same pot...ah!! It hurts, it hurts..."
The one-eyed elderly sect slowly stood up and took the paper and pen from the young sect. "According to the rules, since he recognizes me, you will be the judge."
The older corps' voice was dull and unchanged.
The young sergeant lowered his head slightly, then took a cloth bag from the side and threw it on the ground, making a dull sound.
"This bronze lord...is it yours?"
The young sergeant asked, and then began to slowly pry Li Laosi's fingernails with the fragments of the bronze lord.
This is one of the techniques of torture. Exercising the person with his own artifact can best defeat his mind.
『Ahhhhh…』
Even though he was tightly bound, the severe pain still made Li Laosi twitch, twist, and scream like a dehydrated fish.
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The hand of a young soldier who was responsible for lighting the torch was suddenly trembling. He recognized the tortured Li Laosi. When he went to war, it was Li Laosi who taught him how to gait his leggings. He still remembered that when Li Laosi lowered his head, his gray hair and warm and rough hands were exposed, helping him tie his leggings and backpacks, and teaching him how to live in the military...
At that moment, Li Laosi was like his uncle.
But now...
When the young soldier used red arrows to shoot Li Laosi's eyelids, the young soldier subconsciously turned his head and his hands trembled.
"Do you know him?" I don't know when the elderly official arrived at the young soldier holding a torch, and his voice was like a poisonous snake spitting a letter.
"No! No, no!" The young soldier shouted quickly and denied in panic.
The older sergeant stared at the young soldiers with one eye, "What are your hands shaking?"
The young soldier took a breath and pinched the torch with his hands tightly, "No, I won't shake anymore, I won't shake anymore..."
The one-eyed sergeant was still staring at the young soldier. After a while, he moved away, "You'd better not know him."
Pain filled the screams, accompanied by the darkness before dawn, soaked in the sticky mist, as if trying to get into the gaps in the armor of the surrounding soldiers.
Man Chong stood on a high place, looking down at all this like a god, and it was like a shepherd watching cattle and sheep. He did not order the officials torture to avoid other soldiers, and he was even taking advantage of this opportunity to observe the expressions and actions of other soldiers.
This is also normal. After all, no butcher is killing cattle and sheep, and when dismembering cattle and mutton, he will think of avoiding the sight of cattle and sheep, and even feel that killing cattle and sheep in front of cattle and sheep can better demonstrate the authority to complete control over cattle and sheep.
If you let your life be born, you will be born. If you let your life be killed, you will die.
As for what cattle and sheep think, it doesn't matter.
The torture continued from night to dawn. When a ray of dawn was shining in the sky, the officials came forward to report to Man Chong. These people were just deserters, not spies from the cavalry army. Each person's origin and the team they originally belonged to had been recorded and presented to Man Chong.
Man Chong took the torture record, checked it carefully, then went down the steps, reviewed it one by one, and finally walked to Li Laosi.
Li Laosi had the last breath left, and he received "special" care.
Not only were the nails on the fingers and toes gone, but the bones were broken one after another. One eyeball was burned by a soldering iron, and blood flowed all over the face.
"Since you are an old soldier, you should know that the military law is strict, how can you allow you to blaspheme?" Man Chong waved his hand, "Before the camp, he stood up and showed it to the public! To warn future generations!"
"It shouldn't... like this..."
Li Laosi's last sigh mixed with blood foam and sprayed on the tip of his pet boots.
A small piece of copper-Jue fragment slid from the broken bones of his palm.
The inscription "Yongshou" on the fragment happened to face the rising sun in the east, like a prophecy that had been late for a hundred years.
Man Chong looked around.
The soldiers around them all lowered their heads and did not dare to look at Man Chong.
It is like a group of cattle and sheep. Although it has horns on its head, it is still used to burying the horns in the soil and sticking its butts to face the butcher. Perhaps as long as you can't see the butcher, then the butcher can't see himself.
To be honest, Man Chong was a little disappointed. He hoped that there were some spies from the Cavalry, even if there was one, so that he might be able to use this spy to send some wrong messages to the Cavalry Army and let the Cavalry Army fall into the trap...
Unfortunately, no.
Man Chong took regret and led the guard away.
The one-eyed silenced to clean up the torture instruments and re-packed them into the cloth bag. He suddenly saw the fragments of the copper ear beside Li Laosi's corpse, and picked them up and stuffed them into the skin filled with similar objects.
The skin is full of bulging, including half of the jade pendant engraved with the "Yingchuan Guo Family" and a broken finger tied to the wooden sign of the "Pei Guo Li Family".
These will become teaching aids to reiterate the law next time, reminding the recruits what "laws" are.
The sun rose again and the edge of the canal returned to calm. Only the remaining blood and broken bones seemed to indicate something, but they would soon be buried under the mud. Even if the dirty blood surface in the canal could ripples, the blurred face reflected in the reflection could no longer tell whether it was the perpetrator or the next torture.
...
...
Jizhou, Qinghe.
It was chilly in the spring, Cui Yan, the head of the Cui family, stood in front of the library inside his village, holding a volume of "Cui Zongzhi Picture Records" in his hand. The blue veins on the back of his hand were exposed and trembled slightly.
He looked at the century-old cypress in the courtyard.
The cypress leaves rustled in the wind, and after the severe winter, they ushered in a new tender green.
This cypress tree is said to have existed when Cui's family established a ancestral hall in Qinghe. When Cui Yan was young, he climbed this tree and was punished by his elders.
In the hearts of Cui's elders, this lesson of cypress may represent a sign of the honor, disgrace, rise and fall of Cui's family.
"Old trees... should also sprout..."
Cui Yan looked at the tender green on the branches of the cypress tree and murmured to himself.
From a certain perspective, under Cao Cao's political group, he had reached the end of his career. Although he was the governor of the state, what could he do? The governor of the state Muzhou in the early years was really powerful. He had money, food, and some had soldiers. He would serve the king if he said he would serve the king if he said he would rebel against Dong. But what about now?
He was a state governor, but he was going to escape all the way and almost died at the hands of ordinary prisoners!
If the former state governor, the state governor, was full of gold content, then the current state governor, the state governor, was like a gold-plated bronze ware. Although it also had some weight, its value was different from heaven and earth.
If Cui Yan wants to go further, even if the emperor allows it, Cao Cao will not, otherwise he would not have fallen to the point he is today...
"The head of the family! The head of the family! If this move is done, how can it be restored?!" The elder Cui was under the eaves, trembling, and his hair was covered with bright hair fluttering in the wind. "The Cui in the Qinghe River has experienced the hardships of dozens of generations before he has the foundation of today. The head of the family... should think twice and act!"
Cui Yan closed his eyes and sighed.
After a while, Cui Yan did not look back, but asked slowly, "Is this what the third uncle thought about, or is it rumored by others?"
"Uh?" The third uncle of the Cui family was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Why do you need rumors about this? Everyone in the clan is talking about it."
Cui Yan raised his head and looked at the cypress tree in front of him again. "Everyone saw that Cui's foundation was deep, and it was still so cypress, solid and majestic, not afraid of the cold. However, who could know that the war was on fire and it would be destroyed."
"Cao Mengde marched into Jizhou and robbed the place. Although the troops were temporarily suspended, they had not reached Qinghe..." Cui Yan turned his head and said to the old man, "However, if Cao's army attacked..."
The worry on Cui Yan's face gradually became ruthless. "How do you eliminate the disaster?"