diseased bone

The wilderness is silent, the wolf smoke is scattered over the city gate with the strong wind, and in the distance are the shadowy mountains and the red sunset, the world is desolate.

In February of the third year of Gengtong, it was early spring.

Zongzhou Dayin, the western boundary of the dynasty, Wu Shaoguan.

I heard that the first buds of the early spring have already sprouted in the east, but the extreme west is still freezing, and the white light reflected by the frost and snow can be seen in the dark night.Two soldiers were holding iron guns with shattered red tassels, standing in front of a dilapidated house on the city wall, shivering and breathing, trying to create a little bit of warmth for themselves.

After the sunset, the dance in Shaoguan was silent, only the strong wind was raging, tearing the dilapidated flags and making a loud noise.

I don't know when it started, in the silence of the wind, there was suddenly a whimpering music sound, it was the sound of the flute.The sound of the flute flowed slowly and gradually became audible. Du Laowu, who had just been transferred, yawned and looked at Feng Xiao who was opposite him curiously: "It is said that you have been with the general for a long time, but what is this?" Noisy?"

Feng Xiao is the youngest soldier in the entire Zhanlu army. He is only fourteen this year, but he is very clever. The general's guards come and go, but he is the only one who is always here: "Haven't heard of it? It seems that you I haven't come out after dinner—have you been fooling around with them?"

Du Laowu scratched his head in embarrassment, and said: "How can you mess around? The general ruled with leniency and strictness, so we don't dare to be lazy and play tricks, don't we? It's just that there are many people living in the military tent, so it will inevitably be noisy. Can't hear you?" There are also."

"Here, look over there," Feng Xiao pointed out, and Du Laowu saw several pairs of cloudy eyes in the shadow cast by the city wall, "you can't hear it for pleasure, but there are still many people waiting for it every day." , I just hope to hear it."

Du Lao Wu couldn't help listening carefully, but Feng Xiao sighed quietly in the wind: "It's "Half Dead Tong" again..."

Du Laowu had never read any books before, so he couldn't help asking: "What song is this?"

"I didn't know before. I heard it from the adults around the general. It seems to be a song to mourn his dead wife." Feng Xiao scratched his hair and replied, "He prefers this song. There are more than [-] days in January. They are all playing this song, making us all hum it. That group of people—that is, the group squatting under the city wall, after listening to this song, sometimes they still cry there. You will know if you stay for two more days .”

"The adults next to the general? According to you, will the general listen to this person playing the flute?" Du Lao Wu thought for a while, but covered his mouth in surprise, raised his eyebrows and said, "How could he be interested in these things?" Are you interested?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt that his question was a bit funny, and sure enough, Feng Xiao said mockingly: "If you ask such a question, why don't you go to Zhongyang? Do you think that the general who leads the troops to fight should be as rough as us?" Good thing? When our general was 14 years old, he won the first prize in both civil and military subjects. When we traveled around Zhongyang on a royal boat, we played a piece of a jade flute that I don’t know. The flowers thrown by the young lady and daughter-in-law of Zhongyang, oh, what a grand sight!"

He said, with extreme longing in his eyes: "Don't talk about being in Dayin, in Zongzhou, even if you look at the twelve states in the world, our general is still a famous general, if it weren't for..."

Feng Xiao stopped abruptly, and exchanged glances with Du Lao Wu, both of them seemed to understand what the other wanted to say, but in the end they didn't dare to speak, so they could only silently lower their heads, standing where they were and listening carefully to the wind blowing. The sound of the flute came.

After a long while, Du Laowu said: "Then who is this flute player? The general doesn't want to find out?"

Feng Xiaodao: "I have searched for several times, but I am afraid that the flute player will not show up. I can't find it every time, so I have to give up. Now the general is happy and at ease. It is good to be able to hear it, no matter who plays it .”

Du Laowu nodded, and said again: "You just said this song...to commemorate the deceased wife? Who knows that the general was given a national marriage in the past. Although he divorced later, Miss Qi is still alive. What is the general feeling for?"

"You don't understand." Although Feng Xiao was only 14 years old, he seemed to understand the matter clearly, "Before the general married Miss Qi, there must have been something else... If not, how could I play such a song that would break my heart even for someone like me who doesn't understand?"

The two are still talking, but the moon is already hanging high in the night sky, the frontier is windy, the smoke is everywhere, there is no cloud and no stars, there is only a cold moon, shedding some cold light like alms.

The silver moonlight fell on a slender hand, which was extremely beautiful, warm and white, with some scars on the palm, but it didn't affect its beauty at all.

Fingers shuttle between the flute holes of a jade flute, and a "wind" character in seal script can be faintly seen on the gentle body of the jade flute, with a few Tang flowers engraved on the side of the word.After his song ended, everything was quiet, and there seemed to be infinite sadness, slowly filling the night.

Someone beside him said: "My lord... Xiye seems to be going to attack the city today."

Zhou Lanmu put away the flute, looked up at the high Wushaoguan city wall, and said noncommittally, "Then I won't come here anymore."

The person beside him hesitated to speak: "Master, you want to see him, don't you? He has done so many things that have wronged you, so what if he is arrested?"

Zhou Lanmu glanced at him indifferently: "Life and death are fate, all I can do is play a song to impress him. There are so many people in Xiye, and Qi Lang refuses to send the elite Zhanlu army to Wushaoguan. I can only hold on, maybe I will die in battle today, why should I get involved with him?"

The two walked slowly along the shadow under the city gate. The guard lowered his head and said nothing, but saw a shining gold coin falling from Zhou Lanmu's sleeve with sharp eyes.

It is the current currency of the Great Seal, the most common one. This one is already a bit old, with many scratches, and the lettering is almost worn out. He reached out to pick it up, and looked at it curiously: "Mr. ..."

Zhou Lanmu stood still, turned his head and stared at the gold coin with a very strange look for a while, and said after a while, "Throw it away, it will be returned to him."

The guard didn't know why, but obediently dropped the gold coin, and the two drifted away, leaving only one gold coin that no longer shone in the darkness.

Zhou Lanmu wrapped the white fox cloak around his body tightly, and his thoughts suddenly went far away. He remembered that three years ago, Man Tianhong and Bai Canglang sent him to Zhongyang to find Fanghe, but one day he was met by someone from Xiye. It was still an ambush by Indian soldiers, and the three separated.

At that time, his eyes were not well, and he was covered with white gauze, so he couldn't see anything. It was the time when the voodoo poison was at its deepest, and it almost made people go crazy.Man Tianhong hadn't finished his bone surgery yet, and he didn't know what he looked like now. He was in Zhongyang, but he was afraid of being turned away by soldiers and sent to the government to ruin everything, so he smeared a lot of mud on his face and mixed it with Among the beggars.

That is probably the darkest memory, the damp and cold ruined temple where there will be a cold wind blowing in the middle of the night, and you can still hear the squeaking of mice.There was an old beggar who took pity on him for being blind, and would leave him a piece of cold dry food. In order to protect this piece of dry food, he would sometimes be beaten.

He wandered around for four or five days, and finally his eyes could see a little bit clearly, so he wanted to go to some places so that he could be seen by those who were looking for him.

It happened to be winter, and it snowed heavily that day, the tattered cotton wadding on his body was extremely dirty, the snowflakes melted into the soil, and finally became pickled things together.There was only a vague halo in his vision, but after a moment of distraction, he felt himself being pushed and fell heavily to the ground.

It seemed that in front of a certain mansion, or at the gate of Xianmingfang, the air could smell the incense that he was familiar with before, and when he exhaled with a little force, it turned into ice slag.A person squatted down in front of him, and then reached out to help him up. Zhou Lanmu heard the other person's voice like a dream: "Poor."

It turned out to be him.

It's cruel to not know each other.

He opened his mouth, but in the end no words came out.

It would be even more cruel to let him see himself like this.

Seeing that he bowed his head deeply and didn't answer, Chu Shao didn't say much, and a person beside him threw a coin over. Zhou Lanmu felt that he stuffed the coin into his hand, his voice was still cold, and even brought some The harsh taste of rust is completely different from the eagerness I have heard before: "Buy yourself a cotton coat."

——In the days when I was lying on a high-grade jade pillow and dreaming with the golden que and yellow beams in my arms, I never thought that one day you would come to give me alms.

Zhou Lanmu tightly clenched the gold coin, heard Chu Shao stand up, squat down again, and asked one more question: "Have I... seen you?"

never.

Never seen.

The heavy snow fell in Qingcheng 11 years ago, the encounter planned by Chunshen Academy seven years ago, the Jiwang River covered with flowers four years ago, the heart-wrenching sword one year ago, and the tossing and turning emotions day and night.

This is a fake, let alone seen it.

His long hair was hanging down his cheeks in a mess, he shook his head desperately, refused to speak, got up and ran after thinking quickly.Chu Shao sighed helplessly, but didn't care too much, Zhou Lanmu could hear the other party throwing a crisp high ponytail in the air, riding a horse and raising his whip, making a sharp sound of wind, and then "clacking" away.

Flying swallows who come from the south and return to the north, meet by chance, with a sad face.

Zhou Lanmu grabbed the tie of the fox fur, looked back along the city wall, and could no longer see the lost gold coin.

"This is the most kindness you have given me, and I will give it back to you..." The guard heard him muttering to himself in the wind, and there was the sound of a rallying horn in the distance, "Next time we meet, I will not look back."

Whether it is the official history books of later generations or folk gossip storytelling, the three years of Gengtong in Dayin were not peaceful years.

General Chu Shao fought the most tragic victory in his life.

He once led the Zhanlu army, the "immortal army" who swept across the land of Zongzhou and even threatened the kingdoms in the north of Zongzhou. The invasion of the north has repelled enemies more terrible than the devil.

However, in just three years, the Crown Prince died in the turbulent political struggle, and the Immortal Master also lost his original arrogance under the long-term struggle, and was hidden in a corner by people, as if he had easily disappeared into the turbulent history. In the long river.

The Battle of Wushaoguan has also become a battle praised in the history books of later generations. The defending army was only [-], but it miraculously relied on firm perseverance and the advantage of the terrain to severely damage the Xiye army, which was more than twice as large in number, making the Nishino was seriously injured and had to retreat to recuperate.

The corpses on the battlefield even stopped the drains from Wushaoguan. According to the people of Shangcheng, the wine-making capital closest to Wushaoguan, until a month later, the water in the well could still see a faint layer of blood.

As for why no reinforcements were sent, that is another theory.

Zhongyang, the king’s capital of Great India, is also known as the “Heart of the Quartet” because it occupies the center of Zongzhou. The news spread back to the Heart of the Quartet along the Jiwang River, which flows through Wushaoguan and then through Zhongyang, and the whole country mourned. .However, amidst the gloom and gloom, a piece of news came back suddenly, which cheered the people of the country.

That is, in such a terrible battle, Chu Shao, the coach of the Zhanlu Army and the only general in the Great Seal, miraculously survived despite being seriously injured.

It was heard that the two soldiers who were his personal guards used their bodies as shields to protect him tightly after he fell into a coma. After he woke up, he saw only two corpses stabbed by bows and arrows like hedgehogs.

War and history are always the cruelest things in the world.

The description of this tragic battle in the official history of Great India is only a few lines——

"Gengtong usurped power for three years. On the seventh day of February, General Chu Shao and the Xiye Army decided to fight in Wushaoguan. It was a time of turbulent wind and cold moon, with few faces. The general inherited the courage of his father, Tianying, and led the army to fight bravely. Killing, beheading more than a thousand enemies, outnumbered and outnumbered, but although our army was wiped out, Xiye retreated, and the river was also moved by it, and the blood did not stop for thousands of miles.

At that time, there was a song that said: Laughing at the lake, the sea and the sky, weeping and crying, the mountains and rivers move.Who's soul returns?All the world is plain.To describe its scene.

General Meng Jumang was blessed by the god of spring, and he was injured without dying, which is really the great fortune of the country. "

The author has something to say: Flying swallows come from the south and return to Hong from the north.Even meet.Miserably sad.With green temples and beautiful faces, I see the two old men again.After farewell, don't ask me, you can't say anything about infinite things.

The small trough spring wine drips red pearls.Don't hurry.Full Admiralty.Drink the scattered flowers and flowing water, and go east and west.In the future, I don't know where it is, the smoke waves are far away, and the evening clouds are heavy.

——Qin Guan, "Jiangchengzi"