[Qin] Qin Shi

Back home from the market, when passing by the main hall, Bai Shu heard the quarrel in the room.

"Brother?" After being pulled back a bit, the one who rushed to the front turned back to look at his elder brother in bewilderment.On the contrary, Xi, who also heard the content of the quarrel in the room, let go of Bai Shu's hand, and took the initiative to hold Le.

He pulled the dazed younger brother behind him and bowed slightly to Bai Shu: "Since brother cares, go ask." He smiled happily, "I'll just send Le back home."

Bai Shu's hand that was frozen in mid-air shook in the void, and slipped it back into his pocket: "I'm sorry," waved his left hand in the air, and greeted Le who was pulled behind by Xi, "I'll make an apology to you tomorrow." Apologize, only this time, okay, Le?"

"Don't!" Le, who was still young, puffed up his mouth, showing all his unhappiness on the surface, "It's agreed that brother will sleep with me today, brother, you don't mean anything, you are going to be caught by the bad guys Let's go!"

Le's words were already very offensive. Hearing Le's rudeness to Bai Shu, Xi pulled him hard as soon as he finished speaking: "Why are you talking to your brother!"

Xi's tone was not very friendly, which made Le's expression even more aggrieved.But the child who was spoiled never had the idea of ​​"not daring to do it". He quickly pulled out of his fear, raised his head and glared at Xi, and then tried his best to break away from his own brother's hand: "I don't want to be with you suddenly Together with the strange guy who came out."

He ignored his wrist that was red from trying to break free: "Who are you? You popped out out of nowhere and said you are my second brother. Le has no second brother, only eldest brother!" He said, trotting behind Bai Shu , took the initiative to hold Bai Shu's wrist with the hand that had been freed from Xi before.

Its intimacy and trust are obvious.

Xi is not very sad, in fact, the expression on his face is just more and more 'disapproval' and disgust: "You have caused enough trouble for brother, I shouldn't..."

"Xi!" Seeing that Xi was about to scold Le, Bai Shu hurriedly interrupted him, "Le is still young." He put one hand on the top of Le's head, and after dissuading Xi, he squatted down again. Looking at Le, "Xi is your biological elder brother, and it means to you what you mean to Sanya, so you can't talk like that in the future."

"Three ya is not very important." Le muttered in a low voice, "She has a mother, why do you still want to grab my elder brother?" "Grab Big Brother" is an equal sign.

"Happy?" Bai Shu smiled helplessly, "At a time like this, how did I teach you before?"

The little boy looked at his favorite elder brother, reluctantly: "Then how will you compensate me?" He didn't let go of the little paw that was holding Bai Shu's wrist, trying to bargain, "Let's talk first, the only elder brother I admit is you One, this guy who popped out of nowhere, just give him Sanya, but you can't!"

Bai Shu couldn't laugh or cry: "Didn't you always want to go to Handan?" Looking at the little guy who was squatting behind him, who happened to be at eye level with him, "Hi yes He’s from Handan, brother punished him to tell you how Handan looks like today?”

"Hey? You're lying!" Le's attention shifted to Xi's body, "Why does this kind of guy who doesn't have big brother you come from Handan? Wait, why doesn't he live in Yanbei? ?” Le has long forgotten the days when they first came to Yanbei, in his memory he was born and raised in Yanbei.

Bai Shu stood up with a smile, and handed over to Xi the joy of temporarily forgetting the previous unhappiness because of curiosity: "Although they are still young, children also have their own ideas. If you insist, he will only make you more happy." Hate you."

He was talking about Xi taking the initiative to pull Le away before, but after understanding what Bai Shu said, Xi curled his lips indifferently: "Does it matter?" He was also unhappy, but compared to Le, Xi still maintained Despite the superficial peace, "Anyway, what he said is quite right. Compared with my brother, he is not very important."

"Hi!" Bai Shu frowned, "You can't talk nonsense."

In this regard, Xi made a gesture of 'shut up', and led Le, who was looking at him curiously, away from the main courtyard.

And Bai Shu patted the wrinkled clothes, and felt that it was really troublesome to raise children - so it was enough to raise these two.

[What do you call raising? 】The system let out a chirping sound,【It's true that the herding of sheep is true. 】

Regarding the system's joke, Bai Shu snorted, turned and walked towards the main courtyard: "So, the child is really troublesome." He listened attentively, and even though he was so far away, he could still hear the sound of arguing not far away from the room.

It has been more than two months since Lian Po left Yanbei, and Handan's order to transfer Yanbei's new general has not yet arrived. Seeing that Yanbei has no leader and winter is coming, the hearts of the people in the whole northern region are becoming more and more anxious.

This kind of atmosphere has also affected the generals who are stationed. Almost every day can hear the voices of the high-ranking officials gathered in the mansion arguing endlessly. From trivial matters to major matters such as food and garrison, they can all become the focus of their quarrels. .

And the most recent place where they are arguing is the coming winter.

No wonder Bai Shu thought so before hearing the topic of their dispute.

"...Compared with the entire Yanbei, those villages are insignificant!" The middle-aged man who spoke had reddened eyes, "If hundreds of people can be sacrificed in exchange for the peace of the entire Yanbei, why not? !"

Bai Shu's back was pressed against the stone wall, and the coolness of winter pierced his back and penetrated directly into his heart.

"Are you crazy?" Some people agreed, but naturally there were also those who opposed it. "If others find out about your decision, even if you are not a sinner through the ages, you will become the object of ridicule in the next hundred years."

"Then what else can we do?" The voice of the man who first expressed this thought was choked up, "There is no food, there is not enough armor, and even the generals from Handan have not been sent - there is no order to send troops, any of us Actions are all wrong and can be called rebellion.”

Such a difficult situation silenced a group of big men.

"Is it true that we can't raise any food and grass? Damn it!" The voice finally gnashed his teeth, "Those profiteers, bastards, and greedy thugs still want to make money at this time! It would be great if General Li Mu was still around." , even if it is General Lian Po, considering the face of veterans like them, he will definitely not offer such a high price!"

"We have soldiers in our hands," said the same young voice, "Can't we just grab them?"

"That's all in Handan, who has a head and a reputation, and knows a lot of powerful guys, grab it hard?" He answered with bitterness in his voice, "Now Yanbei is operating entirely on their support. It's okay to lose one or two, but if they Not coming, or cheating, Yanbei is an isolated island, and everyone can't live a good life."

Speaking of this, the man became even more depressed: "Now they don't want to lend a helping hand. It's because Yanbei has no leader. Is there a famous and prestigious general who can be a guarantee? General Lianpo's departure, they originally The food and grass that gave us favors in the past few years have also been found without favors, and it is no wonder that they are unwilling to help because of the addition of old and new."

"Then you can just watch those villages fall into the hands of the barbarians? Sacrifice the few for the sake of the many? I don't have much education, but I know that Li never did this!"

In the room separated by a wall, there was a brief silence.

Until an old general sighed: "Based on previous years' experience, as long as the tribes on the grassland collect enough things to survive the winter, they will not continue to go south. When the general left, only the apprentice named Shu was left behind—— He’s only that young, so don’t tell him about such a decision.”

Only this has not been questioned.

Bai Shu's body stuck to the wall slowly slid to the ground, and he raised his hand to cover his eyes.

what--

How did things turn out like this——

"Then, it's time to vote." After the new silence, an unknown person made such a suggestion, "I agree to stop defending a few marginal villages in the pass this year, and only guard the main town, please raise your hand."

Bai Shu's keen hearing caught the sound of shirts and soldiers rubbing against each other in the room.

He seemed to be covering his ears with his hands, but for some reason, his hands were as heavy as a thousand pieces of gold, making it difficult to move.

"Then, those who disagree, please raise your hand."

There may never be more than one person who has the same thought: "Really, is there no room for redemption?"

It was an old man who spoke: "Nowadays, it is very difficult to supply the needs of the soldiers at the border. There are less than [-] soldiers. How can we fight? Even if we fight, the group of barbarians are running so fast. Where are they going? Where will they go?" Where to go, we have no idea - where are we going to guard?"

In the case of insufficient troops, if there is defense, there must be abandonment.

But no one wants to be the one who is given up, and no one wants to choose to give up.

"Even if we decide to protect the town with the village - which village will be abandoned?"

The topic went back to the very beginning and the cruelest place - no one is willing to give an answer, and no one can give an answer, because no matter what the answer is, it must be wrong.

Squatting on the ground close to the wall, the left hand that originally covered his eyes slowly lowered, revealing his right eye.

"The northernmost village will definitely become their primary target."

The eyelashes fluttered slightly, and the light brown eyes were exposed to the air under the slowly raised lids.

"Larger villages will definitely become their targets."

The world of one eye is narrower than that of two eyes.

"The northernmost village with a large population seems to be 'South Village', right?"

In the left eye that was covered by his subordinates, there was darkness, but compared to the bright and bright world in the right eye, the darkness at this time was more reassuring - covering one eye, I suddenly felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

Now that Yanbei is short of soldiers, food, and leaders, if they go head-to-head with the fat and strong Xiongnu on the grassland and anger those barbarians, it will be unfortunate that besides Yanbei, there will be people from the south.

"What if they continue going south?"

【Host? 】The system made a timid voice, 【Are you okay? 】

"Then try it before they arrive in the town, let them think that we are just slow to react, not because we are afraid of them. According to the experience of previous years, they plundered to let their tribe survive this winter, and they didn't want to Fight us - for more people..."

In the darkness where no one could see, his palm gradually became moist: "I want to go home."

The author has something to say: After many years, he said that he chose Zhao Guoxi among Zhao Guohe's brothers, and chose the elder brother.

Many years later, Le, who felt that Xi was nothing, did not leave with Bai Shu, but stayed in Yanbei to support his widowed sister-in-law and Xi's children.

Many years later, Bai Shu personally raised a cub again.

Therefore, things are impermanent.