My years as a soldier

Although Hu Jiuzhang's legs and feet are not very flexible, he picked and picked in the small courtyard, and in the blink of an eye, he set up a new pile of bonfires in the small temple.As soon as the bonfire in the temple was lit, under the warm yellow light, the dilapidated small temple was unexpectedly dyed with a layer of warm color.

Li Muyun was carried out by Hu Jiuzhang. In order to prevent him from catching a cold, Hu Jiuzhang even wrapped him in a quilt, making him look like a silkworm baby.Li Muyun originally wanted to take advantage of Cao Yi's time when he was moving the bedding in the temple to talk to Hu Jiuzhang, but when he saw Hu Jiuzhang's worried face under the dim light, he closed his eyes by mistake .

At that moment, he felt that as long as Lao Hu was around, nothing else mattered.

He rested his head on Hu Jiuzhang's chest, and he could hear the powerful heartbeat in that chest just by calming down a little.I have to say, the feeling of being cared and taken care of by someone like this is really good.

Cao Yi made the bedding, and Hu Jiuzhang also carried the man into the small temple.He carefully placed Li Muyun on the mattress, and helped him tuck the corners of the quilt.

Hu Jiuzhang couldn't stop looking at Li Muyun's pale face.He frowned slightly, and his hands seemed restless. He picked up his package and flipped through it several times before he took out a small pottery bowl, poured water and put it on the campfire to roast.

"Brother Cao...Have Brother Ling eaten? Let me feed him something."

Hu Jiuzhang spoke very earnestly, but Cao Yi's appearance seemed a little abnormal in comparison.It stands to reason that he is the "brother", but he sat across from him, his eyes couldn't tell whether it was vigilance or nervousness, he just straightened his body, with one hand on the handle of the knife, looking completely threatening, but And there is no such tension as to draw a knife at all.

"You are enthusiastic..." Cao Yi sighed softly.

"To tell you the truth, brother Cao, I also have a younger brother, but he has a hard life and died early."

As Hu Jiuzhang said, he took out another cake from his luggage.Seeing that Cao Yi didn't intend to get up at all, he unhurriedly broke the cake into small pieces, warmed it up on the campfire, and brought it to Li Muyun's mouth.

"Little brother, wake up."

Hu Jiuzhang lifted Li Muyun up with one hand and let him lean on him.And because she was worried that he would catch a cold from the wind, she kept pulling the quilt for him.He didn't know if the so-called "wind chill" Cao Yi said was true, but he could tell that Li Muyun's complexion was not good.

Hu Jiuzhang called out several times, and Li Muyun slowly opened his eyes. The two looked at each other, and Li Muyun's pale face was actually a little rosy.

"Little brother, come, eat cake."

Hu Jiuzhang brought the hot cake to Li Muyun's mouth again, Li Muyun's eyes were all on Hu Jiuzhang's face, he didn't make a sound, but the rosiness on his face seemed to be more and more obvious, and while eating the cake like this, the corners of his mouth seemed to be slightly raised .

Cao Yi sat across from the two of them and stared closely, his eyes fell on Li Muyun's face for a while, and then moved to Hu Jiuzhang's body for a while.For a moment, a silent balance was formed in the room of the three of them, and the flickering firelight revealed a bit of warmth.

"You also like to take care of people like this in the army?" Cao Yiduan sat down, but he still let out a long sigh, his back was bent, and his hand was taken off the handle of the knife. He only looked at the bonfire in front of him, as if lost in memory As if, only indescribable vicissitudes of life flashed in his eyes.

"In the army?" Hu Jiuzhang turned his eyes away from Li Muyun, and looked sideways at Cao Yi, "In the army...how should I say? Everyone takes care of each other, and I'm not much better than others."

"That's right..." Cao Yi sighed lightly, "It's better to be in the army."

"Since Brother Cao thinks it's good to be in the army, why don't you stay in Anxi? I ​​think Brother Cao looks like he's been in the army for a long time, right?" Hu Jiuzhang brought another water bowl, fed Li Muyun a few sips of water, and turned around to look at him. With Cao Yi.

"I was a soldier in the 23rd year of the old calendar, and Tianbao retired in 11 years, and I have been a soldier for 17 years in total."

Cao Yi said quietly.

"17 years!"

Even Hu Jiuzhang, an old military household, was surprised by this number.In his impression, an ordinary soldier who can fight for ten years and finally be promoted to a brigade commander or a lieutenant can already achieve fame and retreat to the back. However, the one-eyed man in front of him has fought in northern Xinjiang for 17 years!

"Brother Cao must have been a not-so-little official when he was in the army, right?"

Hu Jiuzhang really had to focus all his attention on Cao Yi.He thought that Li Muyun must have been threatened and kidnapped here by Cao Yi, but he was still not sure who Cao Yi was.

"Hehe... I used to be a soldier, but I was kicked down later, so I'm still a soldier." Cao Yi smiled wryly.

Hearing this, Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help turning his head to look at Li Muyun.He speculated that Cao Yi might have made enemies with the dignitaries in Chang'an City because of the appointment and dismissal of official positions.Unexpectedly, Li Muyun behind him also had a curious look in his eyes, so Hu Jiuzhang had no choice but to turn back.

"Don't judge heroes by success or failure. It's better than anything else if you can come back from the battlefield safely."

Hu Jiuzhang said with a smile on his face. He originally wanted to tell Cao Yi to relax, but before he finished speaking, Cao Yi's face suddenly became gloomy.Those brows were furrowed even tighter, like a questioning one, and the only one eye left was ruthlessly gouged out on Hu Jiuzhang's face.

Seeing Cao Yi's expression made Hu Jiuzhang's heart tremble suddenly, and after he realized it, cold sweat had already slipped from his forehead.

Hu Jiuzhang coughed slightly in embarrassment, but he didn't know which sentence he said wrong, which caused Cao Yi to react like this.I wanted to explain again, but I didn't know what to say.

All of a sudden, the joyous flames among the three of them suddenly became dangerous.Hu Jiuzhang secretly clenched his fists.He slightly moved towards Li Muyun's direction, until he was sure that he could protect Li Muyun's distance in the first place.But Cao Yi's dignified expression remained unchanged, and Hu Jiuzhang couldn't stop touching Li Muyun's quilt——

"Eh……"

Suddenly, Cao Yi's sigh broke the suffocating silence amidst the firelight.

"You're right." Cao Yi said indifferently, a trace of deep sorrow appeared on his face at some point.

"But sometimes, it's better to die than to survive."

Cao Yi also spoke with a strong northwest accent, and Hu Jiuzhang let out a long sigh.It turns out that this big brother is competing with himself...

He let out a long breath, and even his tense body relaxed.

"Brother Cao, I think you are too nervous? Let the past be the past. People always look forward when they live."

Hu Jiuzhang carefully opened it.At this point, he can roughly guess what is the knot in Cao Yi's heart that has no way to solve it.This man probably had experienced fierce battles in northern Xinjiang, and lost many comrades in that battle.Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to say something like "It's better to be dead than alive".

"Hehe...you don't understand." Cao Yi smiled lightly and waved his hands, "Five years ago, I could still say that my Anxi Iron Army has swept the Northwest countries for decades without a single defeat. But now, what I said Terrible. In the tenth year of Tianbao, General Gao Xianzhi led the Anxi Army with more than [-] people on an expedition to Dashi. In April of that year, the Tang Army set out from Anxi, crossed the Congling Mountains, crossed the desert, and penetrated into the enemy's territory for more than [-] miles, until they reached the Talas River in Shiguo. Come on, guess what?"

Cao Yi suddenly leaned forward. Although he was asking a question, he didn't give Hu Jiuzhang a chance to respond.

"Our army of more than 20 people met Dashi's 200 army in Talas City. At that time, I was the captain of the Ninth Regiment, and I had more than [-] brothers. On the banks of the Taros River, we fought five battles in succession. Day, for five full days, there were more than [-] members of the Ninth Regiment, and I was the only one left to go back alive."

Cao Yi finished his words one by one, every word seemed to be squeezed out between his teeth, Hu Jiuzhang broke out in cold sweat, and felt that there were more than two hundred souls of the Anxi army demanding his life .

"Do you think I deserve to live?"

Cao Yi hoarse.There was clearly a cluster of flames shining with warm yellow light between the two of them, but Hu Jiuzhang only felt a chill rushing towards his face, and he shrank his neck unconsciously, only feeling that his mouth was thirsty and unbearable.

"This... Now that I have survived, what should I do..."

Cao Yi laughed dryly when he heard his words.

"Heh... I'm the captain, and I should be the first to die! Because if it wasn't for me, ordering them to persist by the Talas River for five days, at least half of them would have returned alive!"

Cao Yi's voice was not loud, but to Hu Jiuzhang's ears, it sounded like an angry howl.He swallowed dryly, pondered for a while, and then spoke in a low voice.

"Brother Cao, to tell you the truth, General Gao went on an expedition to Dashi. When I was in Beiting, I heard people say that the Tang army was less than 10,000, and against the Dashi army [-]+, the reason why the Tang army did not retreat in that battle It is because General Gao wants to use this battle to curb the forces of Dashi going south. If you hadn't gone deep alone, maybe we would have another strong enemy in northern Xinjiang and make trouble at our door. Even if the Tang army loses in that battle, it will lose It's not ugly. The brothers in the Anxi Army are all good, if it were me, I would never regret dying on such a battlefield!"

Hu Jiuzhang's words were sonorous and forceful, but Li Muyun beside him suddenly coughed lightly, and his face seemed to be unwell.

"That's why I said that it would be best for me to die in Talas. One regiment, three people in 280, two of the 280 died, and the remaining one was the captain. You said, if it was you, look What do you think when a captain like me returns to Anxi?"

"This... life and death on the battlefield, who can say for sure."

"No one can say for sure, but the dog officer from the Ministry of War can be sure. My 280 two brothers, 280 two pieces of name tags, take it to the Ministry of War and hand it in, and it can be exchanged for 560 four taels of pension silver. The dog officer sent by the Ministry of War Because of this, I fled in battle and lost my military position. At that time, I thought, my life depended on those 280 brothers, who took their lives one by one at the hands of big cannibals, even if it was for them , I can’t die either! I have to live well and support the banner of the Ninth Regiment instead of them, but who would have thought that I wouldn’t even be able to keep their pension money..."

When Cao Yi said this, his voice trembled slightly. Although he had a smile on his face, the smile was so tragic that it was unbearable to look at.

"But if I die in Anxi, I will be too useless." Cao Yi continued harshly, "In Tianbao's 11th year, I retired from the Ninth Regiment due to injuries. I also only found out three years ago. The dog officer of the Ministry of War, relying on Yang Guozhong's influence, actually sat all the way to the position of Minister of the Ministry of War, and had a very good time in Chang'an City. As for my 280 brothers, their corpses...are still in the Taros River on the side!"

Hu Jiuzhang looked at Cao Yi across the bonfire, but Cao Yi's blood-red one eye seemed to be shining brighter than real fire.Hu Jiuzhang was speechless.He couldn't take it, and didn't even want to think about it.

"Hehe..." Cao Yi laughed to himself, "So... I also have to visit Chang'an. I have to take a look at the scenery of Chang'an City for my 280 brothers."

The author says:

Big Food: Arabian Empire;

Onion Ridge: Pamir Plateau;

Shicheng: an ancient country in Central Asia, located in present-day Uzbekistan;

The Battle of Talas: The battle that resulted from the encounter between the army of Tang Anxi Dufu, the Muslims of the Arab Empire, and the coalition forces of Central Asian countries in Talas.The battlefield was north of Congling (now the Pamirs), and the specific location has not yet been fully determined.Talas City is named after the Talas River, about 18 kilometers west of Taraz City in Kazakhstan.

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Although this article refers a lot to historical prototypes, in the final analysis it is just a story fabricated by the author. Many details cannot be matched with real history. Please be merciful to the masters of textual research!

In addition, I wish everyone a healthy Dragon Boat Festival, this is the first festival after coming to Changpei, and readers are welcome to give us advice!