My years as a soldier

From Chang'an to Tongguan, take the official road, the journey is not too far.Hu Jiuzhang reckoned that at the slowest and slowest time, he could arrive there in seven days.However, what he didn't expect was that this short seven-day journey made him walk out of the illusion that the world had changed.

For the first day's journey alone, the speed of the two of them was much slower than that of ordinary travelers.If it is said that Hu Jiuzhang's leg hurts, it is understandable to walk slower.But it was not Hu Jiuzhang who slowed down the speed.

"Old Hu, don't your feet hurt?"

Probably after walking a distance of three or four miles, Li Muyun suddenly spoke.

"Feet hurt? No."

When Hu Jiuzhang heard this, he was taken aback.

He alone carried all the luggage of the two of them, including the knife, which together weighed fifty or sixty catties, while Li Muyun didn't carry anything on his back, and he had only just been on the road, why did he ask this?

When Hu Jiuzhang was stunned, Li Muyun's face obviously became more ashamed, as if he was very sorry.

"Old Hu... Well, my feet hurt."

Hu Jiuzhang hurriedly took Li Muyun to sit down on the boulder by the side of the road. Li Muyun took off his shoes, revealing his tender white soles. Seeing the red and swollen blisters on his soles, Hu Jiuzhang didn't know whether to marvel or sympathize up.

When he touched Li Muyun's feet, he felt that other people's feet were more delicate than his own. On the contrary, it was the calluses of his hand. When he touched it, it seemed to touch the soft flesh of a woman, which made Hu Jiuzhang's heart skip a beat, and his face All follow hot.

"Cough...uh...why do you get blisters after walking for a while? Are your shoes uncomfortable?"

"I didn't feel it when I was on the road, but for some reason after walking for a while, my feet started to hurt."

Li Muyun was also puzzled.And Hu Jiuzhang picked up a pair of shoes he put on the ground and looked inside and out. The satin lining and the outside were embroidered with a small pine and cypress with very thin green silk thread.Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help pursing his lips.

If these shoes are not comfortable, how about the ordinary shoes that will wear out your feet?

"Maybe... your skin is too delicate. Just walk more." He couldn't think of any more explanations.

"But the blister on this foot hurts so much, is there nothing you can do?"

"Yes!" When it comes to this, Hu Jiuzhang is an expert.He casually pulled out the dagger from his waist, causing Li Muyun to shrink back in fright.

"What is this for?"

"Help you pick out the blisters." Hu Jiuzhang said, took out a handkerchief from his skirt, and wiped it on the tip of the knife.

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt."

"It doesn't hurt?"

"Anyway, it's much more comfortable than grinding through a blister."

Seeing Li Muyun's expression, Hu Jiuzhang couldn't help but put a smile on his face, as if coaxing a child.But Li Muyun swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva. Seeing Hu Jiuzhang approaching his feet with a knife, Li Muyun frowned again. Extremely nervous, he simply closed his eyes.

After a while, Li Muyun only felt a big hand pat the top of his head. That hand was full of calluses, but it gently rubbed the top of his head twice very gently.

Li Muyun then opened his eyes, and saw Hu Jiuzhang half-kneeling in front of him with a loving smile on his face.

"It's done, how's it going, doesn't it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt if it doesn't hurt, but..."

Li Muyun still subconsciously looked down at the soles of his feet.The blisters that had been kept shiny just now had shriveled up.There was no trace of a knife cut on the feet.It turned out that Hu Jiuzhang just poked a small hole in those blisters with the tip of a knife.His movement of cutting the knife was very neat, before Li Muyun could feel the pain, he had already opened the blisters.

Hu Jiuzhang is still very satisfied with his skill of picking blisters with his hands. After all, even a little scar on such tender feet, in Hu Jiuzhang's view, is a waste of money.But for some reason, Li Muyun lowered his head to look at his feet, and when he raised his head to look at him again, he frowned again.

"What, what's wrong?"

"What are you laughing at..."

He muttered something in a low voice, and suddenly grabbed Hu Jiuzhang's hand that was rubbing the top of his hair, pulled that arm down, and turned his head away again.

"Isn't it just blisters? You don't have to coax me like a child."

Although there was some unwillingness in his voice, the fair face that turned away was already flushed at this time.

Afterwards, Hu Jiuzhang cut his own handkerchief and used it as a bandage for Li Muyun. He didn't set off again until he wrapped Li Muyun's feet carefully.

At night, the two fell asleep under the stars.Although the winter night was cold, but one side was roasting the bonfire, and at the same time listening to Hu Jiuzhang talking about what he had seen and heard during the journey, this night was actually very peaceful.

Early the next morning, when we were on the road again, the air could not help but feel a bit more bleak.

It was the first lunar month, and there were few travelers on the road, but what Hu Jiuzhang didn't expect was that most of the fields on both sides of the road were deserted.It's only a day's journey away from Chang'an. Logically, the fields in this kind of place are the focus of scrambling for aristocratic families. Seeing that the fields here are barren, Hu Jiuzhang only feels a chill down his spine.

civil strife.

Before he set off, he was still only expressing these two words, without any real feeling. It was not until here that he really began to feel that the Tang Dynasty was in chaos. into decline.

However, the barren fields are just the beginning of the turmoil.Soon, refugees in twos and threes began to appear on the way the two were heading east, and as they got closer to Tongguan, the refugees also gradually merged into a flood from the previous scattered teams.

At first Li Muyun was still wearing the clothes he brought out from the palace, but as more and more hungry people came face to face, the two dared not be careless. Li Muyun changed into Hu Jiuzhang's plain clothes, and Hu Jiuzhang wore his military uniform all the time. I couldn't sleep anymore, for fear that there would be desperate refugees who would come and rob me at night.

"Old Hu, do we have enough rations?" Li Muyun lowered his voice, the two of them avoided the large group of refugees going west, but they couldn't stop looking at the hungry people with their families.

"Barely enough for us to eat."

Hu Jiuzhang's voice was wary.

"Xiaobai, this place is no better than Chang'an. It's not a place where you can buy food with money. We don't have any extra rations to distribute to these people. Even if we do, it's impossible to feed them all."

"But it's pitiful to see them rushing like this." Li Muyun couldn't help sighing.

Suddenly, a baby's hissing and crying came from the refugee crowd. Li Muyun couldn't help turning his head away. He couldn't watch this scene for a moment.

"As long as there is a famine, who is not like this."

Hu Jiuzhang seemed much calmer.

"There was a famine in Chengzhou back then, and the government didn't take care of it. When the disaster was imminent, we had to flee the famine separately. After my father left home that year, there has been no news. He said at the time that he was going to Luoyang, but now Luoyang has fallen. We Even if Dad didn't die back then, I'm afraid he won't be able to save his life now. I only hope that he died to protect Datang, at least that way, he still deserves to die..."

"Eh……"

Li Muyun sighed lightly, and didn't speak again for a long time.

At night, the two lit a bonfire beside a bush away from the crowd.Even if he was resting, Hu Jiuzhang didn't dare to completely unload his luggage. He often rested his right hand on the handle of the knife, and he had to put up 12 points of energy when eating, even if someone looked at them more, He must wink in return.

"Old Hu...you haven't slept well for a few days? We are already so careful, you should take a rest anyway."

"Hey, it's okay! If you're tired, go to sleep first." Hu Jiuzhang shook his hands, and raised his volume specially to cheer himself up. "I'm used to doing these things, and I'll go to the place after walking for two or three days." It's time to take a rest."

"But... are you physically able to take it?"

Across the bonfire, Li Muyun couldn't stop looking at Hu Jiuzhang's face.Lao Hu's face was originally bleak because of the wind and sun all year round.But fortunately, he has a decent life, not to mention how handsome he is, but standing in the crowd can always impress others.In the past, it was Hu Jiuzhang's pair of eagle eyes that were the most agile, and wherever his eyes went, there was always a bit of sassy taste.

But at this time, Hu Jiuzhang seemed to have grown old suddenly within a few days.Under the firelight, the dents under his eye sockets became more and more vivid, and the unmodified face was also covered with dust. When he raised his hand, there was a gray mark. Against the firelight, it looked like wrinkles.

His eyes couldn't be opened anymore, but every time those eyes were about to close, he would suddenly frown again, until he pressed the word "Chuan" between his brows, and then quietly opened his eyes again, not caring I yawned and looked around warily.

Li Muyun had never seen Hu Jiuzhang like this.If he was the one who watched the night every night, I'm afraid his tattered body would not be able to hold it on the first night, let alone rushing on the road during the day with the fifty or sixty catties of luggage on his back.Even hard-working people can't bear it under such high-intensity consumption.

"It's okay! It's only been a few days, and I can still hold on. These people... If you don't be careful, it will definitely not work. You can't imagine what these people will do for a bite of food. "

"What can you do?"

In order to ease Li Muyun's emotions, Hu Jiuzhang forced a smile on his face, but the more Li Muyun looked at him and smiled, the more uncomfortable he felt.

"I see that they are all skinny, and they are dragging their families. You can sleep for a while, and I will watch over them. If I get sleepy, you can take over. Isn't it okay?"

"Eh, you don't understand."

Facing Li Muyun's worried expression, Hu Jiuzhang just shook his hand.

"Now they don't dare to come over to grab things because I have a knife on me. Once I fall asleep, the group of people may rush up. If it's just grabbing things, that's okay. I'm afraid they will hurt you, your body Weak, just fell ill again a few days ago, I see that your complexion is not very good all the way down, this is finally coming to Tongguan, I don't want to make any mistakes."

When Hu Jiuzhang said this, Li Muyun's face flushed slightly. He felt that his cheeks were burning hot, so he couldn't help avoiding Hu Jiuzhang's gaze, and only lowered his eyes to look into the bonfire in front of him.

"It's not as serious as you said... Aren't these people all ordinary people? Robbing people's things is already a violation of Tang law, how can they hurt people?"

"Hehe...you don't know this...the more famine is, the less valuable human life is..."

Hu Jiuzhang sighed softly, he was really tired, he leaned on the bushes behind him, his eyes were about to close again.

Li Muyun looked at him and pursed his lips.

"Old Hu, sleep for a while when you're tired, it's good to sleep for a while."

"It's all right..."

Hu Jiuzhang raised his hand and rubbed his eyes, but he was still tired, and suddenly there was a sound in the bushes behind him.Hu Jiuzhang frowned all of a sudden.Although he was still leaning against the corner of the bush, his right hand was already holding the horizontal knife at his waist without anyone noticing.

The strange noise in the bushes was getting closer and closer, and in an instant, two black figures jumped up from behind him, and at the other end of the bonfire, Li Muyun also let out an exclamation. Hu Jiuzhang clearly saw that Li Muyun suddenly appeared behind him. When he came alone, that person grabbed Li Muyun's throat from behind, as if his slender neck could be broken in just a moment.

The author says:

A new volume has begun!Compared with the previous two volumes, this volume may be a bit cruel, and the length of the story will be much longer than the previous two volumes.Thanks to the readers who have been reading here, your reading and comments are the biggest motivation for me to persevere.

A lot of new readers have come over the past few days, a warm welcome to all of you! (Applause hard!) Let me talk about the update rule of this article again. Generally, it is updated three times a week, on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays.If you enter V later, more will be added. (But I am still considering joining V, if I join V, I will let everyone know in advance.)

If you have a small theater or a special episode that you want to watch, you can also tell me in the comment area!

Of course, criticism and correction are always welcome.Love you guys!Boo! (づ￣3￣)づ╭?～