My years as a soldier

On the third day of the first lunar month, in the early morning, Cao Yi sat in front of the door of the dilapidated wooden house where he lived, and took a whetstone to sharpen his horizontal knife one by one.On the floor of the room behind him, there were piles of things found from Li Muyun's body, a large rattan box that was stuffed to the brim, and two sabers, one long and one short.

Compared with the horizontal knife in Cao Yi's hand, Hu Jiuzhang's knife looks much newer.On the handle of Cao Yi's knife, several layers of linen strips were wrapped back and forth to repair the handle that had been worn out and could no longer be held, and blunt wounds could be seen faintly on the iron blade of the knife.Originally, a knife with such a wound should have been replaced long ago, but looking at Cao Yi's meticulous appearance when sharpening the knife, it may be too early to say that this knife will be replaced.

When Cao Yi was sharpening his knife, he was extremely focused. It was obviously winter, but he was only wearing unlined clothing.But the thin clothes did not seem to have any effect on Cao Yi.Beads of sweat could still be seen slipping from his forehead. Obviously, sharpening a knife also takes energy, but there are probably very few people who can concentrate to his level.

"Brother Cao!"

A cry drew Cao Yi out of his absolute concentration.He put the whetstone aside first, then raised his eyes to look in the direction of the sound.

"What's the matter?" Cao Yi said casually.

The person who came was a thin, round-faced young man. He looked young, but he was the one who stayed by Cao Yi's side the longest.

This man's name is Ding Xiaozhan. In winter, he wears several layers of clothes, but he still looks abnormally thin, as if only the skeleton remains of his body.But even so, Ding Xiaozhan's eyes shone brightly from time to time, especially when he looked at Cao Yi, the light was extraordinarily bright.

The group of people around Cao Yi were originally ordinary residents of Guiyifang, but in a place like Guiyifang, honesty and duty meant poverty and exclusion.Here, all capable residents have joined gangs, and hang out with some prominent black bosses on the street, and like Ding Xiaozhan and Fan San, they have no skills themselves, and no one is willing to take them in.

And Ding Xiaozhan is another person on this street who has a particularly miserable life.There was a famine in Chang'an two years ago, and the lives of the people on their street were even more miserable.Ding Xiaozhan's parents and brothers were all starved to death in that famine, and the stench could be smelled several streets away.

Ding Xiaozhan was a little bit lucky. When he was dying, he met Cao Yi who had just settled down in Guiyifang.Cao Yi's half-cake saved his life, and since then, Ding Xiaozhan has become Cao Yi's follower who can't be driven away.When no one believed Cao Yi, Ding Xiaozhan stood up to speak for Cao Yi, and when the villagers coveted the money that Cao Yi had robbed, Ding Xiaozhan tried his best to protect those things for Cao Yi, but he did not Take every cent.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Ding Xiaozhan is Cao Yi's most trusted person here.It's just that when the two looked at each other, Ding Xiaozhan's eyes were bright, but Cao Yi looked at him, but his face didn't change much, as if he was looking at a tree, a piece of snow, or a cluster of flowers.

Dante Xiaozhan didn't care.

"Brother Cao, all the people who were sent out to inquire about the news have returned, and they said they didn't see anything suspicious."

"Oh, tell them to keep staring, and they are not allowed to leave without my order." Cao Yi even spoke in a calm tone, without a trace of superfluous emotion in it.

"Ah?" Ding Xiaozhan's thin and sunken face was full of doubts, and his brows were knotted several times.

"Brother Cao, it's already the second day. It stands to reason that if someone came to chase, our people should have discovered it long ago. If there is no movement until now, it should be true."

"Hehe, you know again?" Cao Yi's seemingly stagnant face suddenly showed a smile, "The things that kid uses can only be used by people in the imperial city. If my guess is correct , his surname should be Li. When dealing with a person surnamed Li in Chang'an City, you must be more careful. If no one chases you, that's good. But once someone chases you, I'm afraid this is Guiyifang, you have to follow It's all over."

Cao Yi's voice was not loud, but Ding Xiaozhan couldn't help shivering across from him.

"Surnamed Li? Brother Cao, don't scare me."

"I didn't scare you. Be safe in everything. You people are ordinary people. It's not easy to live in Guiyifang. If you want to last long, the only way is to be careful."

"I understand, Brother Cao, but this year's festival... everyone is waiting for a reward. I'm definitely not in a hurry for my own share! But I'm afraid... everyone will get dirty and make trouble because of it. "

"They dare!" Cao Yi couldn't help raising his voice, "Everything is in my room, as long as no one has tried it, no one can touch that pile of things."

"I absolutely agree with Brother Cao! But..."

As soon as the word "but" was uttered, Ding Xiaozhan became wilted.

"But Brother Cao, don't you need money yourself? Throughout the year...you didn't buy any new clothes...and your knife, it's broken like this...No, it just so happened that we got a horizontal knife this time, I think It’s no different from the one you used, Brother Cao. Why didn’t Brother Cao just change the knife?”

"What do you know!"

Ding Xiaozhan pleaded, but Cao Yi waved his hand disapprovingly, "Even if I die, this knife will still be my Cao Yi's knife, it cannot be changed!"

"Why can't I change it..." Ding Xiaozhan muttered in a low voice, with disappointment in his eyes.

"Hey, come on! You go and tell them, everyone is on guard! I don't want any of you to have any accidents after Chinese New Year."

Indeed, in order to beware of possible pursuers behind Li Muyun, Cao Yi sent people to wander around the periphery of Guiyifang as early as the first night of robbing Li Muyun.If the people who came to chase Li Muyun were his own warriors, or bad people from the Marquis of Wu, the people who often walked in the square would definitely be able to recognize these faces at a glance.

"Yes, I understand."

Although Ding Xiaozhan was a little disappointed, he never failed to follow Cao Yi's orders seriously.But he should have agreed, but if he wanted to ask, he still had to ask.

"Brother Cao, every time you capture someone, why do you have to judge the quality of the other party first? Although robbing the rich and helping the poor is a chivalrous thing, there are always some people who lie and cover up. For us, as long as those hostages are willing to pay Save your life, isn’t it all right? I don’t know about others, but I, Ding Xiaozhan, am just a commoner, and I don’t have the ambition to be a hero. After all, robbery is more like a business to me. They spend money to buy Peace, there is nothing unreasonable, right?"

"You have been with me for so long and still don't understand?"

Cao Yi frowned when he heard this.

"On the first day I met you, I said, I don't kill Tang people, but I don't see any Tang people bullying my own people. There are many villains in the whole Tang Dynasty, but the villains in Chang'an City are different from those in other places, especially those who live in the Tang Dynasty. Those rich people in the north of Chang’an. People in other places do evil, they just do evil, but that group of people do evil, but they are doing evil to Datang. They are like maggots born in the backbone of Datang, you and I have no right to Their lives, but their deeds, there must always be an explanation!"

"Uh...so..." Ding Xiaozhan still didn't understand what he meant, "Brother Cao, when you interrogate people, how do you judge whether they are good or bad? You never let others intervene, but everyone is actually very curious Yes, I'm curious too."

"I said you kid..." Cao Yi narrowed his eyes suddenly, and even his blind eye with a scar on the other side also narrowed, "You shouldn't inquire about things, you should know, I I told you already."

"Cheng Chengcheng, Brother Cao, don't be angry!"

Ding Xiaozhan shook his hands at Cao Yi again and again, his bones were about to be shaken apart.

"You didn't sleep much last night, did you? I'll watch over here for you, Brother Cao, go in and sleep for a while."

Ding Xiaozhan had a smile on his face.I saw Cao Yi sighed lightly, his face showing some tiredness.

"Forget it. I'll go in and sleep for two hours. After two hours, you must wake me up."

After Cao Yi finished speaking, he put away the horizontal knife in front of him and hung it back on his waist, and walked into the house with heavy steps.When the door of Cao Yi's room was closed, Ding Xiaozhan sat on the position where Cao Yi sharpened his knife, with his hand on the tip of his chin, and looked cheerfully into the yard with a satisfied look on his face.

-

After hearing what Fan San said, Chen Fan's jaw almost dropped in shock.

Su Wang's son was hijacked by bandits in Guiyifang, he suffered a serious illness last night, and he might die soon——Chen Fan thought about these words several times in his heart, and cold sweat already overflowed his forehead.He had just sent Hu Jiuzhang away on the front foot, and something happened to Prince Su's son on the back foot.And it's still on his chassis in Chang'an County. He has to do his best to deal with it, both public and private.

Chen Fan dismissed Fan San with a few words, but in fact, as soon as Fan San went out, Chen Fan followed him quietly all the way.There were far more bad people stationed inside and outside Jiahuifang than Guiyifang. Chen Fan saw the direction Fan San was leaving, and walked into the bad people's sanctuary by the roadside.

"Little Ba, Lu Liang! There's a square-faced little man who just walked over here. You guys should keep an eye on him to see where he goes and who he sees, but don't let him notice it."

As Chen Fan said, he had already rushed into the treatment facility, and before he could recover from his composure, the two bad guys on duty were picked out by him like an eagle catching a chick.

"That's the man, have you seen it? Go!"

Watching the two subordinates follow Fan San one after another with dazed faces, Chen Fanchang let out a sigh of relief.Although the world is chaotic, he doesn't want to cause troubles related to the royal family in his job.

-

When Li Muyun asked Fan San to report the letter, he probably didn't expect that Hu Jiuzhang had already left by then.And what about Hu Jiuzhang at this time?He was still on his way to King Su's Mansion in Shengyefang.

By the time Hu Jiuzhang was rebuffed by the servants of King Su's Mansion, and when he staggered towards Yanping Gate on the west side of Chang'an County, it was already a quarter of an hour.Just after the warmest and warmest period in the afternoon, Hu Jiuzhang wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, and with the support of a wooden stick, he stopped and walked along the road.

Although the bones in his legs had already healed, the leg bones that had been shattered once again clamored for a strike after walking for a while.Although several layers of bandages had been wrapped around his calves to protect against the cold, Hu Jiuzhang's head was already sweating uncontrollably due to the pain in his legs before he walked out of Chang'an City.

When Hu Jiuzhang finally reached the area of ​​Yanping Gate, he already felt tormented even to take a step.As a last resort, taking advantage of the last half hour before the gate of Chang'an City was closed, Hu Jiuzhang found a step with no snow on the side of the street and sat down to rest.

Amidst the crowds, Hu Jiuzhang suddenly saw a one-eyed man with a horizontal knife hanging on his waist, walking out of the alley with a vigilant expression.As soon as that person appeared, Hu Jiuzhang's eyes couldn't help being drawn to him.Seeing the vigilant expression of the one-eyed man, Hu Jiuzhang seemed to be brought back to the border battlefield far away in northern Xinjiang for a moment.

He knew that that man must be a soldier too, but his expression at this moment was not like that of an ordinary citizen in Chang'an City, but rather like a wartime soldier who was always on guard against the Turkic sneak attack.