Through the years of Liang Zhu

The eldest brother left, I still remember that day when I held his hand and refused to let it go, the soldiers of the Qingqi Battalion outside the tent knelt on the ground, and the sound of crying and choking spread throughout Luoyang City, and the grief was overwhelmed. People can't breathe.

When the guards on the top of the city reported that the army coming from not far from Luoyang City was flying the banner with the word "Huan", my heart was full of shock besides infinite grief .The army of the Northern Expedition actually marched to Luoyang City, and Luoyang was saved!

Luoyang City was saved!Brother, get up and take a look!I cried silently in my heart.He suddenly remembered that a few days ago he stood on the top of the city with his body propped up and looked into the distance, and what he was looking forward to every day was the army of the Northern Expedition.

The crisis in Luoyang was resolved, and Huan Wen came in person. I knew that I should go out to meet him on behalf of my elder brother, but I couldn’t help it. The exhaustion and grief of the past few days had already broken my will. Walking on the steps of the tower, it was The dizziness hit me one after another, and I couldn't hold it any longer, and finally fainted in front of the tower.

It was three days later when I woke up again. What I didn't expect was that the person I saw when I opened my eyes would be Ma Cai.

When I saw him again, I felt an indescribable feeling in my heart. His complexion was obviously very pale. When he saw me waking up, he cried out of excitement, but when I saw him, he was not as I imagined. Happy.I stared blankly at him, and suddenly remembered the helpless, helpless, and even hopeless nights in Luoyang City, how much I hoped that the horse would stay by my side. Every time after the city tour, I stood by my elder brother's bed and watched. When watching his physical condition getting worse day by day, he would secretly find a corner and cry to himself:

Look, brother Cai, without you by my side, I can't even keep my elder brother.

"I'm sorry, Ah Yun, I'm late." Ma Cai's starry eyes were full of tears and tenderness.When he stepped forward to hug me, I just came back to my senses, and the tears flowed down my face again unknowingly. Although we hadn't seen each other again, I couldn't laugh. I thought maybe I should beat him up.

Thinking of how he abandoned me that day, I couldn't help but feel a little angry. I wiped away my tears and refused to look at him. I stubbornly pushed him away and wanted to get out of bed, but he hugged me tightly, his voice choked: "Ayun! I'm sorry, just cry, it's fine if you cry."

"Bastard! Bastard, why did you come here, big brother... big brother is gone, do you know, big brother...he can never come back..." I wanted to hit him, but I hugged him and cried, Hugged tightly, burst into tears, heartbroken!

The grievances in my stomach seemed to have found an outlet for release, and I couldn't suppress it anymore.

I don't know how long I cried while holding him. I was so tired that my voice was hoarse and I couldn't speak. Ma Tong brought some rice porridge. Although I was already hungry and weak, I didn't have any appetite and couldn't eat. .But Ma didn’t let me go, and insisted on letting me eat something first, but I couldn’t get him, so I could barely drink a bowl of rice soup, and then he carefully helped me put on my shoes and clothes, and helped me out of the big tent.

The entire General's Mansion seems to be still immersed in a painful atmosphere. The huge mansion is full of white snow that hurts people's eyes. The white silk in the front yard and backyard is flying, rustling, piercing me. My eardrums ached.In fact, the time for the army to pay tribute to General Zhenglu was already over when I was in a coma. I heard that on the day of the funeral, all the soldiers and civilians in Luoyang City came out to see each other off. He went back to preside over the Northern Expedition again.

The eldest brother and the soldiers who died defending the city were buried together on a hill in the east of Luoyang City. It was a quiet place, surrounded by small bridges and flowing water, and bamboo forests.I knelt in front of the tomb, unwilling to get up for a long time. I remember that my elder brother often said that a man who fought on the battlefield could only return the shrouded body of horse leather, but now when he was dying, he wrote a sentence: Loyal bones are buried everywhere in the green hills, why bother to return the shrouded body of horse leather.Could it be that he knew that if he was buried in a foreign country, I would blame myself to the death, so he wrote down these comforting words when he was dying.

"Ayun, stop blaming yourself. Eldest brother, he definitely doesn't want to see you like this. Eldest brother has been a soldier all his life, and it is no regret that he can be buried here with his brothers who were born and died." Ma didn't know when He walked to my side again, "General Huan said that this time Luoyang City was saved, the eldest brother contributed a lot. This unfortunate death is really a loss to our Jin Dynasty. He will definitely report the truth to the imperial court and posthumously reward him."

In fact, I also know the truth that life and death are nothing but life and death.I heard from Xue Ping that my elder brother had already figured it out. The reason why the Yan army stopped attacking the city in those few days must be because our army encountered a surprise attack from the rear.The elder brother was seriously injured, and he struggled for many days because of his belief that Huan Wen's army came. Now that the army has arrived, Luoyang City and the Qingqi Battalion have been saved, so he can finally relax.

In fact, when I think about it carefully, to be honest, my relationship with Wang Xuanzhi is not very deep, but last year he was our teacher in the academy for a few months, but he gave me the best feeling. Warm and selfless, I have long regarded him as the most respected and beloved elder brother in my heart.When he left, I was so sad, I don't know how Wang Xizhi and the others will feel in Kuaiji.

"General Huan's original plan was to set off from Yanzhou with 6 infantry and cavalry, and go to the capital of the Yan army in the Northern Expedition. After many difficulties and dangers, he arrived in Jinxiang. However, due to the drought, the Bian River was cut off, and water transportation was difficult. Just now, General Huan took advantage of the order to send people to dig into the [-]-mile gap in Juye, and personally led [-] cavalry to rescue Luoyang City." Ma Cai helped me up, looked at the tombstone of my elder brother, and said with a frown, "So Huan The general intends to change the plan this time and march towards Yandu in two routes, one from Luoyang to the east along the Yellow River Route [-], and the other from Jinxiang to the west along the Wenshui, Qingshui, and Yellow River waterways. Army, take Yecheng!"

The more Ma Cai talked, the more excited he became, his eyes were staring at the clear sky in the distance, as if he couldn't wait to make contributions and fight on the battlefield!Seeing him like this, I couldn't help being shocked, "So, if the Northern Expeditionary Army hadn't been hindered by drought and water transportation and went all the way up Hebei, then General Huan would have given up on the road to Luoyang! Did he think about it from the beginning? You want to give up Luoyang!"

"A Yun!" Ma Cai couldn't help being startled when he saw me say that, and seeing me staring at him, he quickly turned his head away and stopped talking.I saw him acquiescing, but he started to feel cold, "Since General Huan didn't intend to go to Luoyang from the beginning, why did he order Big Brother to defend Luoyang City!"

"Of course not, Ah Yun, don't think about it. Didn't General Huan send troops here in the end? What happened to the eldest brother was an accident. There is no way you don't sacrifice yourself in a war." At this moment, Ma Cai was startled suddenly, then shook his head and went on. Said, "It's just that the Qingqi battalion has no generals after the elder brother left. General Huan knows that all the soldiers in the Qingqi battalion are rare elites, and also knows their relationship with elder brother, so General Huan decided that in the future... Qingqi The battalion will be handed over to you to take over."

"Me?!" After hearing what he said, I couldn't help being shocked, Huan Wen actually asked me to lead the army!

"That's right! The Qingqi battalion is originally the Wang family's army. It is a great achievement for you to be able to defend Luoyang City. This is what General Huan asked me to give you." Ma Cai took out his eldest brother's third-rank General Zhenglu's seal from his bosom, Solemnly handed it over to me, and said solemnly, "Although the crisis in Luoyang City has been resolved, the Xuchang and Chenjun areas around Luoyang in Henan Province are still in the hands of the Yan army. You can't stay in Luoyang for a long time, so...General Huan asked you to take over the position of eldest brother and take over the military power! From now on, you will lead an army of [-] with me, and attack the Yan army in the east and north!"

"...!" I took the military seal with some trembling. My mood at this moment can be described as ups and downs. I never thought that I would get the military power under such circumstances and take over the military power of my elder brother. But if I were allowed to choose, I would Naturally, I still hope that the eldest brother is okay.The breeze blew past, making the bamboo forest behind the tombstone rustle, and my heart could no longer be calm.

Tightly holding the big seal in his hand, he made up his mind secretly: Brother, don't worry, I will hand over the Qingqi battalion to me in the future, let me walk this road for you in the future, and Dajin Chao will guard it for you.

"Brother, don't worry, I will guard Ah Yun well in the future and will never let go. Ah Yun, since you have escaped from Xie's marriage, why not run away for the rest of your life, and escape to the Lord Youjun and don't stop me from going to Kuaiji to propose marriage So far." Ma Cai smiled and passed my hand, said to the tombstone, then turned his head to look at me smiling like a spring breeze, which made me feel dazed for a moment, his smile was as heart-warming as the big brother warm.

After Ma Cai himself explained, the reason why he was appreciated by Huan Wen was that years ago, when Eldest Brother met Xie An and Huan Wen in Jiankang, the capital city, Huan Wen inadvertently knew that Elder Brother had taught at Nishan Academy. When talking about the matter, the eldest brother told Huan Wen Ma Cai's views on the current situation and his future ideals, and Huan Wen was overjoyed immediately after hearing it.When he made up his mind to go to the Northern Expedition, he specially found time to summon Ma Cai. After some discussion, Ma Cai wanted to expand the territory and to defend his family and country. After Ma Cai returned home from the academy, he was named a fourth-rank guerrilla general by the emperor and followed Huan Wen around.

Although he explained it in this way, I still have some doubts. Huan Wen is now the chief minister, one of the three princes, in charge of the country's military and military affairs, and the highest military officer in the country. Even taller than the emperor, how could he value a little prefect's son so much?Thinking about it later, it became clear that nowadays most of the gentry children in the Southern Dynasties are blindly thinking about pleasure and spiritual freedom, and there are very few students who want to fight in the battlefield, restore the Shenzhou, and leave their names as ideal students in history. Ma Cai's idea undoubtedly coincided with Huan Wen's ideal, not to mention he was strongly recommended by Wang Xuanzhi, how could he not be appreciated and reused.

When I think of my eldest brother again, I am stunned again. In fact, he does not know how much effort he has put in to help us!The elder brother is a hero, there is no doubt about it, I think not only me, but also the people of Luoyang City, even the soldiers and civilians of the Great Jin Dynasty will always remember him and miss him forever.

"Ma Cai!" Looking at the proud green bamboo behind the tombstone in front of me again, I felt inexplicably relieved, and I turned my head and yelled at the person beside me with a chuckle.

"What?" Ma Cai was taken aback when he saw me smiling at him.

"I'm a third-rank general conquering captives, and you are a fourth-rank guerrilla general, um..."

"How?" Ma Cai couldn't help raising his eyebrows when he saw my tone suddenly turn.

"Do you want to call 'Sir' first?"

"..."