In the second year of Jingping of the Wu Dynasty, in the early morning of June 13, there was a brief chaos in the valley of the Xiaocang River.

The sun had not yet risen, the night was cool, and soon after the warm yellow lights were lit up, the sound of discussion buzzed through the camps in the valley. This is the time for the soldiers of Xiaocanghe to accept each day's tasks. Soon after the humming subsided, groups of soldiers assembled in the surrounding clearing and began their daily running training along the road of the river valley. After that, there is the sound of the rooster that heralds the dawn.

Yu Zuo is already up. The old man is old and accustomed to getting up early every day, and even when he comes to a new place, he will not change. Put on his clothes and came to the house to punch outside, in his mind, he was still thinking about the conversation with Ning Yi last night, the mountain wind blew, and it was quite cool. On the mountain road not far downwind, the running soldiers shouted trumpets and lined up in a long line to pass through the mountains, without seeing the head or tail.

This is a very good soldier, there is murder and rules, and in the past two days, Zuo Duanyou has also seen it.

After that, Qin Shaoqian, who was dressed in military uniform, came over to say goodbye and have breakfast. After breakfast, the old man was thinking about things in his room. Xiaocang River is located in the middle of nowhere, and the slopes on both sides are not vibrant green, under the sunlight, it is only a yellow and green, but it seems calm, and the occasional training slogan outside the house can make people quiet.

The Jin State rose and the Wu Dynasty declined, and since Bianliang was broken by the Jurchens, the north of the Yellow River has existed in name only. This piece of the world is a cage for Xiaocanghe, there are Jin people in the north, Western Xia in the west, and Wu Dynasty in the south. But for the Zuo family, why not? This is a change of dynasty. The Zuo family's stall is larger, the Jurchen is stabilizing the domestic situation, and has not really taken over the north of the Yellow River, so it may take a little longer, but what should happen will inevitably happen one day.

As Ning Liheng said. One day, the Jin people will go south, and the Zuo family will face a choice, which is not alarmist, but an inevitable situation. And Zuo Duanyou, he doesn't like the court, and he has long been a little disheartened about this world, but there is one point. Actually, there is no need to think about it - he would never consider surrendering to the Jin.

In order to resist the Liao people who went south, Wang Qisong died of the whole family, and Qin Siyuan was in order to revitalize the Wu Dynasty, but he was finally ruined and died at the hands of villains. The three friends have some different beliefs and have long since broken up, but that is only the difference between the arts, the way of the gentleman and the road of Confucianism. Some things don't change, on this avenue. The three of them never had a disagreement.

The old house in Jinju is also quiet, but since last year, the life of the old man has lost its peace. Of course, he can die generously, but the children of the Zuo family can't live without a way. And he doesn't like to be a Jurchen, these children really voted for the Jin country, and they were servile. Living in the courtyard of the old mansion, every day, he has anxiety in his heart. And facing such a thing. For him, really...... It's a bit too old.

When he came to Xiaocanghe, he certainly had the intention of putting down a line, but now that the conversation has collapsed, in this strange place, watching strange things and listening to strange slogans, for him, it will be more quiet. In his spare time, he even suddenly remembered Qin Siyuan's choice back then, and when facing many things, the one surnamed Qin was the most sober and rational.

The white clouds outside the window were long, a good morning, it had just begun, and he wanted to leave Ning Liheng's matter behind, and a Zuo family manager who came with him walked briskly outside the house.

"Lord's house, there seems to be movement."

"Huh? What the? ”

"Come out and see, the army in the valley is moving."

The left end of the pestle picked up the cane and walked out of the house.

As a sign of respect for the old man, he was given a house located in the upper part of the mountain, with a view of the entire valley from the side. The sun had only risen for a short time, the temperature was pleasant, the white clouds were drifting in the sky, and the scene in the valley seemed alive and vibrant, but when you looked closely, everything seemed a little different.

The settlement area in the river valley is centered on a small square, stretching out in all directions, and by this time, houses are still being built, and a large number of wheelbarrows and soldiers carrying supplies walk through the streets every day, filling the inside and outside of the settlement area lively, and in the farther river beaches, open spaces, hillsides, etc., the figure of soldier training is active, and there is no less vitality.

However, looking down at this time, the entire settlement seemed to be diluted, except for a few teams to maintain order, the rest were only ordinary residents in the valley, and some children playing around. And from the settlement area to the surrounding area, all the river beaches, open spaces, and the banks on the other side of the river are all soldiers training at this time.

Yu Zuo Duan compared his impressions of the previous two days: "They all participated in training today? ”

"I've inquired about it, the army in the valley has been training for three days, and the rest of the work has lasted for more than half a year." The steward whispered back, "But today...... This case is stopped. ”

The mountain breeze blew pleasantly, and the old man frowned and clenched the crutches in his hand......

**************

The time gradually reached noon, and there was a surprisingly quiet atmosphere in the canteen of Xiaocanghe.

The soldiers who came and went seemed a little silent, but this silence did not have the slightest feeling of depression. At the dinner table, some people whispered to the people around them, people ate and swallowed in large gulps, and some people deliberately grinded their teeth and looked around, with a strange look on their faces. Many of the others also looked strange.

Occasionally, a loud and noisy voice suddenly came out: "It must be a hit-" looked at the eyes of the people around him, and "hummed" twice, looking proud. The squad leader at the dining table not far away whispered: "Don't talk nonsense! ”

Some people picked up chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat: "The meat is bigger than usual." The person across the table smiled and ate heavily.

There was no loud talk, for the question which at this time puzzled and interested all was given a gag order in the morning--the sudden change of schedule seemed to startle everyone, so that when the squads and platoons were assembled, there was a moment of conversation with each other, which caused all the high-ranking officers to lose their temper almost unanimously, and made them run a lot more. In the case of not daring to talk about it on a large scale, the whole scene has become what it is now.

Hou Wu came over with food. Sitting down on the seat next to Mao Yishan, Mao Yishan leaned over with interest: "Fifth brother, have you gone to see Brother Qu?" ”

Hou Wu nodded.

"What did Brother Qu say?"

There was a smile on the corner of Hou Wu's mouth: "He wants to come out." ”

"Ah, Brother Qu is still injured......"

"Hey." Hou Wu lowered his voice, "He just said that the time has come." He couldn't afford to miss such a big event. ”

"Brother Qu really said that? What else did he say? ”

He didn't say it thoroughly, but he mentioned it......" Hou Wu lowered his voice a little, but at this time, the entire people at the table were sneakily bowing their heads and eavesdropping," he said...... The northwest should have already started harvesting wheat......"

A soldier on the other side poked his head out and reminded, "The wheat is not ripe yet." Two more days......"

"The Tangut people occupy the place, of course, they have to ...... early"

Before the other person finished speaking, Pang Liuan, the commander of their battalion, came over: "What are you talking about!" I didn't run enough in the morning! ”

Pang Liu'an is a good person on weekdays. The crowd was not very afraid of him, and a young soldier stood up: "Report to the battalion commander!" You can run another ten miles! ”

Another person stood up: "Report to the boss, we have finished eating, and we are going to train!" ”

"We're done eating, too." Several people around him, along with Mao Yishan, also stood up. They did run out.

"What a training! Just finished eating, washed the dishes for me and went back to rest! ”

The guy who said he was going to train was stunned: "Uh...... Be! Let's go rest. ”

The group of people at the table left quickly, they couldn't talk here, they could always talk when they ran to the dormitory. Hou Wu, who had just been delayed by delivering food to Qu Qing, looked at the table suddenly empty, and pulled the corners of his mouth: "Wait for me, you bastards!" "Then quickly bury your head in the rice.

***************

Get out of the mountains. In the northwest, the wheat harvest has indeed begun.

The Western Xia army forced the people of the fallen lands. Since the beginning of the previous days, the curtain of the harvest has begun. When the people of the northwest were fierce, and when the wheat was really harvested and taken away, and only a limited ration was obtained, some revolts began to appear one after another.

Near Yanzhou. An entire village was slaughtered for the revolt. Outside the Qingjian City, various rumors of the apparition of the old man gradually spread, and in the villages outside the city, some people took advantage of the night to start burning the wheat fields that originally belonged to them, which came from this. It was again the massacre revenge of the Western Xia soldiers. The bandits began to appear more actively, and some bandits in the mountains tried to grab food from the Tanguts, but the counterattacks of the Tanguts were also fierce, and in just a few days, many cottages were found by the Tangut Buba, breached, and slaughtered.

In the area around Huanzhou, Chong Yan led the last thousands of family armies to try to attack, and also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to gather more followers. However, on the bank of the Huanjiang River, he encountered the main force of the Iron Harrier of the Tangut people, and was defeated and retreated again.

Speckled blood, large patches of golden, are blooming on this land with the harvest of the Tangut people.

****************

The army's training continued until the night engulfed the glorious sunset. A fire lit up in the Xiaocang River, and in the small square in the center of the settlement, the news that the Xixia people from the outside world had begun to collect grain had spread.

With the arrival of night, all kinds of rumors were spreading everywhere in the barracks of this settlement, and the faces of the soldiers who had trained for a day were still irrepressible excited, and some people ran to ask Luo Ye if he wanted to kill him, but at this moment, for the whole matter, the upper echelons of the army still adopted a silent attitude, and everyone's calculations were just private obscenity.

The entire Xiaocanghe camp was rarely boiled in a simmer at this time.

In the depths of the night, the tension and excitement did not stop. Halfway up the mountainside, Ning Yi walked out of the small courtyard, overlooking a field of lights from afar, as he had done every day before.

On the side of the foothills, a figure moved slowly, and he slowly and silently fled in the darkness, and soon after, he crossed the top of the mountain.

The figure walked along the rugged mountain path, then cautiously descended the hill, and the moon was like water, and suddenly he stopped in the light.

There were footsteps passing in the distance with the sound of the wind. In front of the field of vision, a figure was also walking slowly, and the edge of the spear was emerging.

"Li Lao Liu, where are you going?"

The face of a young man appeared in the moonlight. The figure named Li Laoliu slowly straightened up and pulled out the two knives on his side: "Zhu Biao...... There is also Yuwen Feidu. ”

That's all he said. He's on the sword! Ahead, the shadow of the spear roared up, like a fire in the prairie fire, devouring him.

In the darkness farther away, a young man named Yuwen Feidu appeared, wielding a bow and arrows......

"Today. Don't go......"

****************

On the 14th of June, a heavy rain fell, and the black rain clouds seemed to cover the sky, and the rain washed everything wantonly, lightning and thunder. As a result, the training could not continue in Xiaocang River, and all the soldiers were depressed in their rooms for the whole day, until in the evening, when the torrential rain finally stopped, the sun had not yet set, and the sky was clear and clear. It's like new. It wasn't until June 15 that the training continued again.

In the evening of that day, in the small courtyard halfway up the mountainside, Su Tan'er came back and had a rare extra bowl of rice - her work was coming to an end. Xiao Ningxi, who was wrapped in a bandage on her head, was complaining about not being able to attend classes for the past two days, and she didn't know if Min Chuyi had studied hard.

After having dinner in the fading summer heat, Ning Yi went out to enjoy the cool and had a while. Jin'er also came over and told him about the little girl named Min Chuyi who came to class today-maybe it was because she accompanied Ning Xi out to play, which caused Ning Xi's injury. The parents of the Min girl beat her and may have slapped her in the face.

Talking about trivial matters like this, and talking about the training and some rumors in the valley in the past two days, Jin'er recalled Ning Yi's question a month ago and raised a few words. Ning Yi looked at the valley below and slowly smiled and opened his mouth.

"What does Xiaocanghe look like? The old man of the Zuo family said. It's like a dangerous egg on a cliff, and you say it's like a bag, like this and that, of course, there's nothing wrong with that. That question just came to mind suddenly, and it came to me. I think...... Well? ”

As he was talking, Tan'er also walked over from the side, at this time Ning Yi was sitting on a tree stump, there was grass next to it, Su Tan'er asked with a smile: "What do you say?" He sat down on the grass beside him.

Ning Yi repeated the question he had asked Jin'er at the beginning, Tan'er looked at the valley below, clasped his hands on his knees, put his chin on his knees, and replied softly: "Like a knife." ”

yes, it's like a knife......

Ning Yi nodded.

……

In the river valley, the battalion commander Pang Liu'an walked on the street, frowning and letting a few young people around him go away, he was almost annoyed to death, he was asked many times in the past few days, and now someone is asking if he wants to go out to fight some big family.

"Fight, even if you want to fight, it's not so useless as you say! Let me think bigger—"

He revealed a little bit of mystery. I was reminded of the meeting that night three days ago.

……

“…… Since last autumn, we came to this part of Xiaocanghe, and the original plan was to be able to attach to Qingmu Village, give full play to the surrounding geographical advantages, open a commercial road and even a business network connecting all parties, and solve the current difficulties. At that time, there was no major move in Western Xia, and the Western Army Division Dao was not dead, so we thought that this goal was very difficult, but there was still ...... to be done."

“…… But since December, when the news of the death of the Seed Master Dao came, we completely rejected this plan......"

“…… After the Western Xia came, the northwest was in turmoil, and in the foreseeable future, the Jin people would gradually swallow the north of the Yellow River, and we would definitely be isolated, and in this situation, it was confirmed that it was impossible to open trade routes. So we have to choose another path. If this road is directly said and people think about it for a day or two, it will only lead to the discouragement of the entire Xiaocanghe army and the complete collapse of the existing foundation. To do this, after making a decision, we carried out ...... All the work so far ......"

“…… In the past nearly a year, the core of all Xiao Canghe's work has been to bring up the subjective initiative of the soldiers in the valley, make them feel the pressure, and at the same time, make them think that this pressure does not necessarily need to be solved by them. A lot of division of labor and cooperation, improve their sense of identity with each other, convey external information, let them understand what reality is, let them feel everything that needs to be felt. By this day, they have developed a sense of identity with themselves, they can identify with their peers, they can identify with this collective, they will no longer be afraid of this pressure, because they all know that this is what they have to cross next......"

"And, they can cross the ......"

……

After nearly a year of polishing, Xiao Canghe's eyes are a knife.

It's hard and rough to the extreme, and because of the huge problems that exist inside, it can be broken in the event of any chaos. Any society is a complex whole, but this society, because it is too simple, the problems and defects encountered are too simple, and it has gone to the extreme.

What supports this valley is the belief that has been boiled out in this year, but it is the only faith. This makes it staggeringly fragile and breaks at the snap, but it's also paranoid and fearless, almost reaching a cult peak.

It's like a high-carbon steel knife full of flaws inside, and it can shatter with a single swing.

But the question is, who will be able to catch this all-out stab next......

On June 16 of the second year of Jingping, in the northwest of the outside world, chaos is continuing, among the mountains, there is a group of people who are taking the small valley as an imaginary enemy, eyeing the tiger, and the north of the Qingmu Village, the atmosphere is the same solemn, beware of the threat of the golden soldiers. In this valley, the sound of the assembly horn sounded.

Lightning swam away, piercing the thunderclouds, and under the northwest sky, torrential rain was gathering. No one knows what kind of thunderstorm is coming.

On this day, the black flag stretched, jumped out of the Xiaocang River, and the army of more than 9,000 people turned westward, rushed out of the mountains without the slightest hesitation, and rushed directly to the Xixia defense line! (To be continued.) )