Chapter 33 General Jian Yang

Flying birds do not know the Great Wall. A flock of migratory birds migrating south lost their way over Dayanling. They wailed in the north wind all night until morning. Messenger, announce that a storm of nostalgia is about to sweep Dayanling. General Jianyang went to sleep wearing the Kowloon Golden Helmet awarded by the king every night. In the morning, the Golden Helmet suppressed the sound of the migrant workers' building chants and woke the General up on time. This morning was different. He heard the sound of the grassland echoing in the Golden Helmet , It is the sound of wind, cattle and sheep, and the long-lost melody of the grassland long tune.When General Jian Yang woke up, he found himself crying in his sleep, and then he saw the bird, which died beside his pillow.

The guard brought a basin of water to serve the wash. What puzzled him was the general's abnormal behavior. The general held the dead bird in his arms, sitting in the dark like a frightened child.The guard washed the general's face, but when he encountered difficulty in washing his hands, the general held the dead bird and refused to let go.The general said the water was lukewarm.The guard said, it's getting cold, General, you have used warm water for many days.The general said, throw away the warm water, and use cold water to save the birds, go to the mountain spring and fetch a basin of cold water!

The guard was ordered to get water from the spring. He didn't know why the hard-hearted general felt pity for a bird, so he hesitated to go. The general saw the doubt in the guard's heart, and asked the guard if he remembered that he came from the northern grassland and if he remembered the sentence he said In other words, on the day when the Great Wall is completed, distinguished guests will come on horseback on the grassland to offer congratulatory hada to him.The guard muttered, General, the city is still being built today, and no one came from the grassland on horseback!The general glared at the guard and said, how many times have I told you, you idiot just can’t remember, people on the grassland, birds are the messengers of good news!This gray-billed bird has the smell of grassland and my felt bag. If you don’t believe me, come and smell it, the bird also has the smell of ghee!

General Jianyang came to the Qizhang Terrace, and he put the dead bird in the copper basin with his own hands. The guard put the copper basin on the battlement wall, but was stopped by the general, who asked him to carry the copper basin to let the morning sun shine. Looking at the spring water in the copper basin, he said that if the bird flew from the grassland, the bird would come back to life when the sun warmed the cold water.Looking at the mountains outside the Great Wall from Qizhang Terrace, the general had a rare fragile expression on his old face. He said, the Great Wall should be completed, and this bird will definitely be resurrected on the completion day. It will lead me back to the grassland. Time to go home, see my parents, see my wife, and four kids!

The guard stood in the wind with a copper basin in his hand. He wanted to tell the general that even if the dead bird came back to life, the Dayanling Great Wall and the Crescent Pass Great Wall were still separated by hundreds of miles, separated by a desolate desert, and the completion of the two sections of the Great Wall was still far away. All the desire to return home is to fish for the moon in the water, General, maybe you will die of old age in Dayanling.But he didn't dare to say that the general has been homesick and moody recently. He fantasizes that the Dayanling Great Wall will be closed and completed overnight.At first, the guards used various expressions to explain the truth to him. The Great Wall was not built in a day. Every time, the general roared and was slapped several times. I mean, it's almost finished, almost.

General Jianyang stroked the golden Kowloon helmet on his head, looked up at the construction site under the stands, and said to the guards, can the construction be completed today? The guard avoided his eager gaze, looked at the little bird in the water, and said, hurry up, tomorrow if it doesn't work today, general, the project is almost finished. The bird waited in the water to be reborn, and an unexpectedly sad morning came.As the sun rose, General Jian Yang found that Dayanling's sorrow was also pouring out.The high-pitched and loud trumpets in the past fell silent this morning, the porters’ baskets groaned lonely on the mountain road, the sounds of the masons’ trowels and stonemasons’ chiseling sounded so dull, General Jian Yang was restless when he heard it, From the sound of labor, he could not feel the joy before the completion of the Great Wall.When he came to the observation tower, he saw people building the city surging up and down the mountain, the brick kilns were ablaze, and people carrying earth and rocks were all over the mountain ridges, and stonemasons were waving hammers and chisels on the stone quarry in the distance. For the first time, the general found fatigue and sadness from their working figures. He took off the golden Kowloon helmet on his head and listened more carefully. He looked at the brick kiln, and the crying sound wafted in the light of the kiln fire. He turned to the quarry, and the crying sound echoed softly in the stone bushes.The general was restless on the Qizhang platform. He said to the guards, why can't I hear the chant of building the city today?It looked like someone was crying somewhere, and kept crying.The guard said, General, there is such a strong wind, it is the wind that blows away the sound of the chant, and the cry you hear is also the wind. None of the craftsmen in Dayanling dare to cry, the one who dares to cry must be the wind.

The general rang the bronze bell on the beacon tower in doubt, and the supervisors all came up tremblingly, and when they came up, there was a neat congratulatory sound, it's almost, it's almost finished!The general said, don't shout fortification chant anymore, hurry up!He asked if many people died on the construction site yesterday, and everyone dared not respond blindly. The reed mat official who shrank behind was pushed to the front. The reed mat official was in charge of all reed mat affairs in Dayanling. Knowing the number of dead people, the reed mat official was a little confused to figure out the general's intention, and said, five reed mats were taken out yesterday, and only five people died in total!Seeing the general's pale face, he talked a lot. During the plague, many people died a while ago. Seventy to eighty people died a day, and there were not enough reed mats. Those who died during the day were covered with reeds, but those who died at night had no reeds.The general waved his hand to keep him from talking, and turned to question the grain and grass officer in charge of meals. The craftsmen must not be full to eat, so the chant of building the city can no longer be shouted. Did you deduct the grain from the stove again and carry the wheat to the kiln? Whoring?The food and grass officer turned pale with fright, and waved his hands again and again, swearing that he only made the mistake of taking the official food to go whoring. Bowl, dry rice can hold two big bowls.The general sneered and roared, since he ate so much, why can't he shout anymore?They all work like dumb people. When will the Dayanling Great Wall be completed?

At this time, all the officials realized that the seemingly rough general was so sensitive to the sound of labor. They expressed their opinions one after another, and they wanted to let Dayanling's city building chant be shouted again, and the brick-burning officials ensured that all the brickworkers shouted "Bricks Out" when the bricks were produced. "Ballad", the porter promised that his porters would sing "Mountain Ballad" when carrying bricks and stones up the mountain. The quarryman said that the stonemasons in charge of him did fine work and it was not suitable for singing, but he promised to let the stonemasons in their hands sing. The chisels and hammers beat out the most joyous rhythms.

A catcher named Shangguan Qing stood in the corner with his hands down. He thought that the general's anger had nothing to do with him. He only wanted to catch the escaped craftsmen, but he couldn't control the craftsmen's throat. He was about to retreat secretly from Qizhangtai. Where are you going without him?Dayanling is dead today, and you can't get rid of it!The general pulled Shangguan Qing to the battlement wall and told him that someone was crying in the wind. Shangguan Qing said he heard the wind and could not hear anyone crying. The general asked him to stand on the battlement wall to listen. Shangguan Qing dared not disobey. He was supported to stand on the battlement wall, but he still shook his head and said, General, the wind is too strong, and you hear the sound of flying sand as the cries of adults.The general swung his Kowloon golden helmet and knocked him off the wall. You have pig ears yourself. How dare you believe my ears?The general said angrily, "The king remembers General Jian Yang coming from the grassland, you idiots don't remember, I can hear the sound of the enemy drawing the bow outside the tent, the footsteps of wolves ten miles away, and the sound of horseshoes fifty miles away, I could hear the sound of the storm hundreds of miles away. I said someone was crying in Dayanling, so someone must be crying!Who is crying, you go find him for me!

Shangguan Qing did not expect that he would accept such a difficult mission on Qizhangtai. He has always been a hunter. On this unlucky morning, he had to hunt down an unfounded voice.