Chapter 3 third quarter

Autumn soldiers on the battlefield. On the boundless yellow sand, there are tens of thousands of troops lined up, each team has a clear banner and strict discipline.Under the scorching sun, everyone was sweating profusely, but they were still standing there in heavy armor waiting for inspection. Today is Major General Ding Ning's first call of duty after taking over. A group of people walked slowly in front of the team.In the center is a major general in white robes, followed by Fang Tianyu and Hong Jiang, two deputy governors.The person in the middle hangs a long sword at his waist, and the name of the sword is Yitian.He is Ding Ning.

After beating the drum three times, he boarded the high platform to watch the formation exercise. I saw the commander on one side waving the small tricolor flag, and the teams flowed like snakes.The phalanx quickly evolved into a large formation, with different flags in the formation, and soldiers from each side had their own duties. They cooperated with each other but were independent, moving around in an orderly manner.The time continued until the evening. Ding Ning waved his hand and ordered: "Every team withdraws troops and prepares to sacrifice!" The three animals were carried to the front of the temple. Ding Ning cut the pig's throat with a knife and poured blood on the ground.Behind him, the army shouted loudly.

It was dark, and there was joy in the barracks.Whole cattle and sheep were roasted on the fires. Some soldiers played the Hu Jia and Qiang flutes, and some fought in the open space.The new commander-in-chief took office today, and it was rare for everyone to have a happy night. Ding Ning held the long sword in his hand, sat on the tiger leather chair in the Chinese military tent, and drank with several deputy commanders using his helmet as a cup.He had already drank dozens of cups, his complexion remained unchanged, and he was talking and laughing happily.The commanders were secretly startled: Don't look at this gentleman from the capital who is gentle and gentle, but he is not at all vague when drinking, so each of them felt a little more admiration in his heart.

After drinking for three rounds, Ding Ning drew his sword and said loudly: "Drinking must not be a joy to enjoy, I am willing to dance the sword for you." Before he finished speaking, he had already floated out of the tent and leaped onto the five-foot-high flag bucket.Seeing that the Commander-in-Chief's Qinggong is so superb, everyone was speechless, they all surrounded him and looked up at the top of the pole.With his sword in his hand, Ding Ning screamed at Yue Chang, suddenly feeling full of pride, and said loudly: "Drumming!" The drums sounded, and the sword light flashed.Ding Ning danced his sword on the top of the flagpole and performed a set of Huifeng swordsmanship. The people below only felt the silver light sprinkled on the ground, enveloping the major general layer by layer, and everyone applauded.

Ding Ning paused his sword force, another set of "Assassin Qin swordsmanship".This set of swordsmanship was inspired by Jing Ke's feat of assassinating the Qin Dynasty. The sword moves wide open and closed, tragic and desolate, which is very suitable for the atmosphere of the battlefield at the moment. As if he could see that he was dancing this way, the drums in the audience paused, and then they came down slowly one by one, dignified and decisive. What was played on the drum was actually the ancient song "Order of the General"! The sword and the clap are in harmony, Ding Ning is full of spirits, and the sword is like a dragon swimming.

At the end of the song, the sergeant under the stage saw a white light flash like lightning, and with a sound of "shua", the white shadow and sword light on the stage swept down, like a shooting star across the sky, and fell steadily back to the front of the banquet. He picked up a glass of wine without changing his face, and nodded slightly to the surroundings.Everyone sighed in admiration, and all doubts about this frail young man were swept away in their hearts. They all fell on the ground and shouted: "The general is brave, and his reputation is shocking the border!"

Ding Ning smiled lightly and continued to drink with the generals.When he was half drunk, he suddenly remembered something, and turned to Fang Tianyu, the deputy commander, "Who was the drummer just now?" Fang Tianyu shook his head: "I don't know." He sent a soldier and ordered: "Go and ask, who played the drum just now?" The soldier walked down, and the generals continued to drink. Ding Ning patted Hong Jiang's shoulder, a little drunk, and said, "I'm young and have little knowledge, and I'm new to Beyond the Great Wall, so I hope you can give me some advice!"

Hong Jiang was already drunk, and he said with his tongue out, "Ding...Young General Ding, don't worry, I, Hong Jiang...have been with Old General Ding for more than 20 years. This life... belongs to Ding's family." Fang Tianyu also laughed and said: "They are all guarding the border for the imperial court, so it is natural to focus on helping the major general!" All the generals also echoed. At this time, the soldier came up again and replied, "General Qi, the person who beat the drum just now was Di Qing." Fang Tianyu seemed shocked when he heard the name.Hong Jiang stammered with his tongue out, "This kid...isn't dead yet? What a strange thing!"

Ding Ning wondered, "Di Qing? Who is he?" "This man..." Fang Tianyu seemed a little hesitant, "He's a handyman who sleeps in a stable, nothing special." Hong Jiang snorted: "This kid has been in the army for several years, so he should have been promoted long ago. If it wasn't for Commander Yu, heh heh... That old man kept picking on him... I heard that this kid offended the people in the capital. An official. The day before Lao Yutou returned to Beijing, he deliberately found a fault and beat him to death dozens of sticks... I haven't seen this kid for a few days, so I thought he died in the stable .”

Ding Ning was puzzled, and was about to ask, Fang Tianyu had already helped Hong Jiang, and said with a smile: "Look at Commander Hong getting so drunk! Major General, my subordinates are too drunk, so I have to leave first!" He seemed to stop Hong Jiang from continuing. Ding Ning didn't say anything anymore, he just got up and saw him off. It's four o'clock, and the carnival sergeant has fallen asleep.Only the lights in the stables were on. In the quiet and bone-chilling night outside the pass, only the soldiers stationed on the border were playing the Hujia and Qiangdi to the moon.Yanran has no plan to return without reining in, and recruits all night to look back at his hometown.When will the hostilities be calmed down, disarmed and returned home?

"Are you also homesick?" Under the flickering cold lamp in the stable, a girl in white sat in the straw and asked a groom next to her.There is also a touch of nostalgia between her brows. Di Qing sighed and stopped talking. "What is your hometown like? Can you tell me about it?" Xuehong asked. "My hometown is very poor, so poor that you can't imagine." He said in a flat and bitter voice, "My family has an old mother, a married sister, a cow, and two and a half acres of land—this is already in the whole village. Not the worst." Xuehong was startled: "Then... what do you rely on for food?" "Meal? Except for New Year's Eve, what you eat every meal of the year is rough wild vegetables." Di Qing smiled, his voice was not happy or angry, "Princess Weiyang, you may not have imagined that your breakfast is enough to be a poor man." half a year's ration." Xuehong lowered his head: "You...you look down on me, think I don't understand anything?" Di Qing sighed: "You really shouldn't have done such a stupid thing, leaving the county mansion to come here - you don't have to do this, I really can't bear it." He got up, and flipped the lantern: "I'm just a nameless Xia Li, washing horses and doing miscellaneous work for others, and you... you are a nobleman among the nobles." His voice has become thousands of miles away, just like his heart. Xuehong lowered her head and said in a low voice: "But... I like you..." Her voice was as thin as a mosquito.As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she herself was frightened——she, she actually said such "shameless" words? ! But Di Qing still said calmly: "It's useless, I already have a wife in the country, I told you." Xuehong's face had turned pale, and he said in a trembling voice: "I know...but I can't control it anymore! I only know that being with you is a happy day, and the future...I don't want to think about it. " "But I have to think clearly!" Di Qing turned around, her eyes calm and calm, "There is no result, Princess Weiyang." Xuehong's face had turned pale, and his body began to tremble slowly. "I can be your concubine." Her voice was trembling almost out of control, but she still said this!No one knew what kind of torment she was enduring in her heart at this moment—shame, the teaching she received from childhood told her what a shameful thing she had done! Di Qing also seemed to be stunned.After a long time, he said calmly: "I really can't afford it. A poor family doesn't need three wives and four concubines. Princess Weiyang, I advise you to go back to the capital and stop messing around." Xuehong's face was as white as paper.Her expression was very strange, with shame, humiliation, and determination that never returned—she got up, walked out tremblingly, as if nothing had happened, and said softly: "I'll come back tomorrow night." She still said this sentence calmly and calmly, no matter how much shame, she decided to endure it. Ever since she violated her agreement with her father and escaped from the golden cage privately, she has been determined to abandon all the moral bottom lines of the past. "You don't need to come here again! Don't come here again, okay!" Di Qing finally couldn't help but whispered, and lost the calm and restraint he had always maintained. He whispered annoyedly, "Go back to your world, don't come Excuse me, okay? We are not the same way!" Xuehong had already bit his lip and blood came out.In a daze, she seemed to hear a cracking sound. Was the heart of "Xuehong" ruined?Since this is the case, then she... is also going to die. "Okay, I won't come again." She said in a low voice, looked at Di Qing in a daze, and turned around quietly. Di Qing was taken aback.The look of despair and helplessness in her eyes was shocking—could, could she be serious?In a short moment, he clearly felt the trace of shaking in his heart.At that time, as long as she said one more word, he might not be able to hold himself anymore. However, she didn't say another word of pity, just smiled bleakly, and walked towards the door with empty steps. Suddenly, Bai Letian's poem sounded in her ears—— I also know that you can't live in your house, so you have nowhere to go when you go out. Are there no parents in the high hall?There are also relatives and friends full of hometown. I can't even get through the news when I come lately, and I can't return to my sorrow and shame today. A day of favor for the king, a hundred years of life for the concubine... The poems she read in the early years actually hurt her heart every word. Heart as dead ashes.Maybe, she really shouldn't have come, she shouldn't have broken her promise and left home thousands of miles to follow him.One day's favor for the king, and a hundred years of concubine's life.But she can't even get a day of tenderness!But she has already given everything, even life, dignity, family affection... This cannot go on like this. She reached out to pull the door, her fingertips trembling slightly. Di Qing moved his left hand, and then pressed his left hand with his right hand.Xuehong took a deep breath and opened the door.The snowflakes outside the door blew onto her face in a gust of wind.It's a cold world outside. But she didn't go out.Because there is already a person standing at the door. Ding Ning. The snowflakes on his shoulders are already thick, presumably he has been standing here for a long time. Xuehong leaned against the door weakly, she felt that she had no strength in her body, but her heart was so numb that she didn't feel any shame. "Princess Weiyang, maybe I should call you An'er Guli or Xuehong?" Ding Ning said word by word, his eyes were very complicated, "I heard that you have been seriously ill in recent years, so you can't get out of the court to get married—who knows But here." There was no expression on his face.No one knew what his words meant. Xuehong looked at this man who was her husband, and suddenly felt sour in his heart, and asked inexplicably, "Do I look like Bingmei?" Ding Ning was stunned, and after a long time, he shook his head: "It's actually not like it." She nodded in relief, and sighed softly: "My father and the others forced you to leave, I really feel—" She couldn't continue, and suddenly raised her head and smiled at Ding Ning.That smile was like a dream, like Sumei blooming in the ice and snow.Ding Ning couldn't help being dumbfounded again. Xuehong looked at Di Qing, then at Ding Ning, and suddenly said softly: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry to you two... goodbye." She covered her face with her hands and ran out into the vast snowfield.Ding Ning was startled, she was already ten zhang away.Her long black hair drew a beautiful arc in the wind.The wind and snow blew into the stable, and the lights flickered and went out. In the darkness, neither Di Qing nor Ding Ning spoke. "You were the one who played the drums last night?" "good." After these two brief questions, there was no more sound in the stable. The next day, Ding Ning went to the huge white stone house outside the city.The wind chime under the eaves is still ringing lonely in the wind, but the person under the wind chime has disappeared. Ding Ning opened the door and entered the house, everything in the house remained the same.The poem on the wall is still there: "Accidentally leave fingers on the mud, how can Hongfei count things?" Where is Hongfei now?Suddenly, there was a faint sense of loss in his heart, which went deep into the marrow of his bones.He suddenly realized that his loss came from her sudden distance. This month, the dancing Anarguli disappeared in the city.