The sun is scorching, and the quicksand is like fire.

The vast desert is boundless, and a mountain range is surrounded by a sea of sand, like a lonely boat on the sea; It is precisely because of the sands that the eastward expansion of the quicksand has a barrier, and the desert to the east of the mountains is slightly less desolate, with occasional yellowing shrubs lingering in the scorching waves of the sand.

The northward army is marching in this hot and suffocating sea of sand, for the secrecy of their whereabouts, they dare not get too close to the edge of the desert, if they are discovered by the Liao, the plan to attack Shangjing will be declared bankrupt, the Liaons will retreat along the official road must be fast, and will soon weave a big net waiting for Su Jin's army to moth the net.

This is already the third day, three days to travel less than 200 miles, the men and horses are seriously tired, the water consumption is also very fast, not only people have to drink water, cattle and horses have to drink water, the water wheel with the army has been half empty, and according to the forecast, there are at least seven or eight days to go.

Su Jin had to issue a water ban order, and the soldiers handed over all their water bladders and gave the animals water three times a day, while the soldiers could only drink water once, and only one small cup; Everyone understands that without water, there is no guarantee of a secret destination, and of course it is possible to travel out of the desert, but that would be tantamount to self-defeat.

Su Jin rode on the horse in a drowsy manner, put the sweat towel on the helmet to shield some shade, and was a little anxious in his heart, as the army moved forward, no one spoke on the left and right, only the dull sound of horses stepping on the hot sand, and the creaking sound of wheels rubbing against the hub.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the rear, someone shouted loudly and scolded loudly, Su Jin frowned, Wang Chao quickly turned the horse's head to see what happened, Su Jin also followed him towards the noise of the eagle, the scene in front of him was quite weird, a group of soldiers lay on the ground and sucked with their heads and faces against the ground, the ground was wet, like water flowing into the sand and penetrating down.

Beside an overturned wooden barrel, with a large hole in it and stained with grit, a general with a whip in his hand was whipping a soldier who was rolling on the ground and wailing.

"What's the matter?" Dynasty shouted.

Seeing that it was the dynasty, the general hurriedly put down his whip and stepped forward to salute, and scolded in his mouth: "Report to General Wang, this guy secretly drank the water from the water truck, and after being discovered, he knocked over the wooden barrel and spilled all the bucket water." ”

Wang Chao said: "What kind of water did you drink before the water distribution time?" also knocked over the bucket, this is a blatant disobedience to the order of the marshal, eating the leopard's gall, isn't it? ”

The soldier on the ground shouted, "I am so thirsty that I can't pee, and I don't dare to eat dry food, and when I eat it, I will stick it in my throat......"

Wang Chao took a step forward, picked up the whip on the ground and whipped it headlessly: "Are you thirsty? Everybody is an iron man? Do you know what the consequences of disobeying the commander's orders are? Water is so precious, you will knock over the barrel, and Lao Tzu will kill you. With that, the whip went down without a head, and the soldier who whipped it rolled all over the ground.

Su Jin parted the crowd and said, "General Wang, stop." ”

Seeing Su Jin's arrival, Wang Chao put down his whip and spat at the mouth, and stepped forward and said, "Dashuai, this guy ......"

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "I heard it all." Then he walked slowly to the soldier, crouched down and reached out to brush away the grit from the bloody dirt on his face, and asked, "What's your name?" ”

The soldier's body trembled, he didn't dare to look at Su Jin, and said tremblingly: "Villain Wu Xiaoba." ”

Su Jindao: "How many years have you been a soldier?" ”

Wu Xiaoba said: "It's been three years. ”

Su Jin said: "Listening to the accent, it looks like a Weizhou person." ”

Wu Xiaoba nodded and said: "The little one is from Weizhou, and he admires the prestige of the Northwest Army and the marshal. ”

Su Jin was silent for a while, then turned his head to the general in charge of the waterwheel and said, "Bring water." ”

The general was stunned and said, "The handsome ......"

"Bring water." Su Jin shouted.

The general hurriedly poured a large bowl of water and brought it over, Su Jin handed it to the soldier and said, "Drink it." ”

Wu Xiaoba didn't dare to take the letter, Su Jin stuffed the bowl into his hand, Wu Xiaoba looked at the rippling clear water and couldn't resist the temptation, poured it down, and sighed with satisfaction.

Su Jin said: "Do you still want to drink?" ”

Wu Xiaoba said: "It is to give the villain a bucket, and the villain can also drink it." ”

Su Jin smiled and said, "Bring a bucket." ”

Wu Xiaoba was stunned and said: "Da Shuai, the little one is joking, how dare you drink a bucket?" ”

Su Jin shouted: "Are you kidding? Do you take all the words of the army as a joke? My water ban order is for the sake of the army, not only you, but also I, Su Jin, can only drink a small glass of water a day, you disobeyed the military order to drink secretly, not to mention, but also knocked over the bucket, this bucket of water can at least guarantee ten people to drink; Emotionally, I sympathize with you, I understand you, the vast desert, thirsty, want to drink water is human nature; But this is in the army, and it is the Northwest Army, which is a brave army trained by my Su Jin; You are a native of Weizhou, when I heard people say that the Xia people attacked the deeds of Weizhou, there were only 40,000 soldiers and horses defending the city, and the enemy army was 120,000. Has there ever been a man who disobeyed a military order? You have lost the face of the Weizhou father. ”

The soldier hid his face in silence, ashamed.

Su Jin said: "The military order is like a mountain, if you are thirsty, I can give you water to drink, it is no problem to drink as much as you want, but if you disobey my military order, you must accept the punishment." ”

Wu Xiaoba exclaimed: "The handsome man spares his life, the villain doesn't dare anymore, and the villain is allowed to kill more Liao people for his crimes......"

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Killing the enemy is done by others, don't worry, I will give you a generous mercy to your family, and you will donate your life on the battlefield." ”

Wu Xiaobawu shouted arrogantly: "Da Shuai spare your life, Da Shuai ......"

As soon as Su Jin waved his hand, Wang Chao grabbed the soldier's arm and reprimanded: "Like a man, dare to act, what's the use of begging for mercy." ”

Wu Xiaobawu cried and struggled to himself, and was dragged all the way to the back of the sand dunes by the dynasty, only to hear a loud scream, and the dynasty turned out from behind the sand dunes and inserted the blood-dripping waist knife into the sheath.

"Bury him, set up a monument for him, and put a bowl of water in front of the grave." Su Jin commanded in a hoarse voice, turned his head and got on his horse, and galloped away.

The soldiers around were silent, and someone whispered in the middle of the night: "The marshal seems to be in tears." ”

"Yes, I saw it too."

"Dashuai, this is unbearable, anyway, it's the first time I've seen Dashuai kill people by military law."

"Brother, there is no way to do it, otherwise, how can we get to Huaizhou smoothly? The military order is like a mountain, and whoever resists the military order will also end up in this way. ”

“……”

……

After seven hellish days, the desert came to an end, and only the tail of the charcoal mountain on the left was left, and on the distant horizon, a touch of green appeared in front of him like a fairyland.

"Dashuai, there is a grassland in front, and there is a big lake twenty miles ahead, let's come out, and fifty miles ahead is the boundary of Huaizhou."

Su Jin suppressed his excitement and shouted in a deep voice: "Tell the brothers the news, and rush to the river to camp before dark." ”

The news spread quickly in the camp, and the soldiers, who had become inhuman, wept with joy, for the past seven days they had survived from hell, and on the fifth day they had almost run out of water, and only a little water was left for the livestock, and thousands of brothers had fallen along the way, and everyone was so thirsty that they had to drink their own urine and the urine of the animals, and everyone had chapped lips, and their faces were full of dust, and their eyes were red.

But in their eyes, Su Jin will always sit on a horse with a straight waist, like an iron Buddha, although he didn't drink a sip of water like everyone else, but he didn't even say a word of resentment, and it was because of this that everyone gritted their teeth and insisted, and finally now the bitterness is over.

Entering the meadow, the speed of the army increased markedly, and the soldiers pulled the grass leaves on the ground and stuffed them into their mouths as they walked, and their mouths were full of green grass juice like animals, but they looked at each other and grinned, but their faces were not frowning at the bitter taste, and they were full of joy from hell to heaven.

A beautiful jade lake appeared in front of them, and the soldiers jumped into the lake with cheers, drinking the lake water like cows and horses, enjoying the clarity of the lake to the fullest, and washing away the nightmarish pain and fatigue of the days.

Su Jin is also like everyone, throwing the stirrup and flying into the lake, enjoying this heavenly moment, at this moment, life has become so simple, what fame, fortune and power disputes, are not as real as this Wang Bishui to come, soaking in the clear lake water, looking up at the stars in the sky, Su Jin irrepressibly thought of his wife and children at home.

The war is coming, but Su Jin wants to end it all quickly, return home, and reunite with his wife and children, which is what he desires most in his heart.