Jiaohua

Chapter 865 The Army Is Coming (Part [-])
Xia Zhaoyi seldom returns to Beijing, and when she returns to Beijing, she mostly stays in the mansion and the city, so she had very little contact with Xia's army before going to Beiyuan.

Rarely, when her father took her to play, they followed behind, but each time there were not many people.

Dagan has strict rules of etiquette, princes and dukes, and accompanying soldiers should not exceed five hundred.

And my father didn't like extravagance, so every time the troops who followed out of Beijing, apart from the personal guards, the number of Xia's army didn't even amount to twenty.

But the last journey of life was accompanied by the soldiers of the Xia family army.

In the year of Dinghai, she went all the way from Liling to Beize, and saw her second brother and the remnants of the Xia family who were out of ammunition and food in Shengliuyuan.

In order to cover for the second brother to leave as soon as possible, they accompanied her to attract all the attention of the Beiyuan army, were arrested together, acted together, and finally, were tortured and died together.

During those more than ten days of being together day and night, Xia Zhaoyi experienced a comrade-in-arms friendship that he had never had before outside the battlefield. It was life and death, blood and tears, absolute trust and entrustment, and the sincerity and simplicity of sincerity.

Now, Xia Zhaoyi looked at them both strangely and familiarly.

These soldiers who had been on the battlefield for a long time were also looking at her.

From the hillside, at a distance of forty feet, neither far nor near, it is impossible to see clearly.

But Xia Zhaoyi seemed to be able to feel the sincerity and enthusiasm in their eyes.

They didn't know that the second elder brother was still alive. In their eyes, she was the last orphan of Duke Ding's mansion.

Song Qingtang said: "When your father and brother died, the old general Ouyang Anfeng was ordered to take over as the commander of the Northern Army. These Xia's troops followed General Ouyang. Later, the old general died in battle, and something happened to the Xia family. I was afraid that Li Ju would wipe out the roots. General Ouyang Jun hid them. When the accident happened in the capital, General Ouyang brought them back. He wanted to protect you, but he happened to miss you. General Ouyang is cautious. Over the years, he doesn't trust others or me, and has been secretly I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find it. Until I received a secret report a few months ago, saying that you lived in seclusion in Bajianghu, and the letter last month was the news that you appeared from Xinfu.”

Seeing the girl's gradually flushed eyes, Song Qingtang's heart tightened: "Ali..."

Xia Zhaoyi tried not to cry, and said calmly, "How many people are here?"

"One thousand and three hundred and sixty people," Song Qingtang frowned slightly, "It was originally three thousand. They have never rested in the past few years. They have been fighting year after year, and more than half of them have been killed or injured."

Xia Zhaoyi looked to the side, but couldn't hold back this time, tears fell from her eyes.

Song Qingtang raised his hand to wipe away her tears, but when he saw his fingers were stained with sand in the wind and dust, he hung back again.

"General Ouyang said that he has several Zhuangzi in Gaizhou. If you don't know how to accept these soldiers and horses, you can..."

"It's okay." Xia Zhaoyi wiped away his tears and looked back into his eyes, "I can make them all have nothing to worry about."

"Well...Ali, I didn't tell you about this in the letter, because I was in a hurry. General Ouyang Jun didn't believe anyone before, so he found me just now."

"After all, there are too many traitors," Xia Zhaoyi's voice softened, "I can understand General Ouyang."

Saying that, Xia Zhaoyi smiled: "Let's clean up the dust, but there are too few inns here, and I'm afraid there are not many to eat."

"We brought our own dry food, and we can last for two days."

The dry rations brought back from the north can last for such a long time, and they are probably harder than rocks right now.

Xia Zhaoyi laughed and cried, nodded: "Okay."

"Come on, Ali," Song Qingtang smiled, "come with me to see them first."

"Ah."

The wind at Wanshan Pass is very strong, it has been blowing for thousands of years, and it blows from the far north.In the bleak autumn and winter, those weathered sand and stones are not obstructed by lush vegetation, just like barren fields formed by the drying up of the sea.

Xia Zhaoyi followed Song Qingtang down the long slope. Following them, the soldiers dismounted from their horses and stood upright, orderly and disciplined. All eyes were fixed on the girl's eyebrows.

The closer she got, the clearer she could see. The girl didn't cry anymore, but her eyes were still red with tears, and her pupils were bright and bright, like the light of the sun occasionally shining on the river after the shadow of a cloud.

"Second Miss!" The soldiers shouted in unison, "I have met Second Miss!"

The first few veterans took the lead in marching and knelt down, and the soldiers behind them knelt down in unison.

The people next to them didn't know which army it was, they also knelt down in a hurry, not daring to raise their heads.

"Don't!" Xia Zhaoyi hurried over, "Don't kneel! My teacher doesn't allow it!"

Song Qingtang went forward with her, helping the veterans for her.

They were all about forty years old, tall and strong, their armor was stained with dust, and their lips and beards were stained with frost. They looked at the girl with red eyes, and suddenly one of them couldn't hold back and wept bitterly.

Xia Zhaoyi was surprised to find that he recognized him: "You, you are Xia Xingming, Uncle Xia."

The veteran choked up and looked at her in disbelief: "Second Miss, have you seen me?"

"Eldest sister mentioned you," Xia Zhaoyi said, "You once accompanied elder sister and my father to the Jiangya racecourse in Tangzhou, which is the racecourse of Zhuge's family. Eldest sister, she..." Xia Zhaoyi She had no choice but to lie, "After she returned to Liling, she once drew a picture of a horse race. It was so lifelike, and Uncle Xia was in it."

"Missy, she, she actually drew me..." The veteran was overjoyed, but when he thought of the voice and appearance of the eldest daughter of Duke Ding's mansion, he felt great sadness and pain. The tough and fierce soldiers on the battlefield cried tears Hengliu, "Miss, Grand Duke..."

When he cried, the soldiers beside him were all infected, and many of them turned their heads to wipe away their tears.

"Uncle Xia, don't cry." Xia Zhaoyi also had tears in his eyes.

"Well, don't cry!" A veteran next to him raised his hand to wipe away his tears, "We are happy to see the Duke's daughter! Why are we crying!"

"I couldn't hold back," Xia Xingming cried. "Back then, the eldest lady didn't kneel down for us. The eldest lady said that her master didn't like to be humbled. She didn't want anyone to kneel. Anyone can kneel. Don't kneel down to her. The second lady just now As soon as I say it, I will, I will..."

Xia Zhaoyi smiled, looked at the veteran just now, raised his hands and clasped his fists, and before he could ask any questions, the veteran said first: "Second Miss, I also have the surname of Duke, my name is Xia Junnan!"

As soon as he read the name, he laughed embarrassedly: "This, this name is a bit ridiculous..."

Xia Zhaoyi chuckled lightly.

"It sounds good when you're young, but it's embarrassing when you get older." He continued with a blushing face.

"Father told you," Xia Zhaoyi said with a smile, "Your younger father is seven years old. After your grandfather rescued you, you followed him for a while. You got this name yourself because..."

"Don't, don't, don't!" Xia Junnan hurriedly said, "Second Miss, don't mention this again, I want face, face!"

The others laughed.

Several people joked and asked Xia Zhaoyi to tell the reason. Xia Zhaoyi smiled, but didn't mention it, and asked the next person.

Li Man waited in the inn for a long time, but he felt uneasy when Xia Zhaoyi came back.

But Fang Genghou is here, and it's not easy for Li Man to go out.

After waiting for a while, Li Man asked Su Heng to go outside to see how the situation was.

But Su Heng couldn't even get out the door of the teahouse, because the people with knives outside were still yelling and cursing.

What Xia Zhaoyi stopped was the gangsters who were chasing to the northwest, but the people from the east gradually came back and started looting money.

Several inns have already suffered disasters. The shopkeeper and the staff of this teahouse are packing up things behind the counter. They are very skillful in their movements and are preparing to escape through the back door until the storm is over.

Suddenly someone shouted outside: "Army is coming! Army!"

"Army?" Su Yumei heard it first, and turned her head to look at the people in the tea shed.

The shopkeeper and the buddy had a meal: "What's right?"

"The army is coming," Su Yumei said, "People outside shouted."

There was an uproar in the teahouse.

"No wonder I heard a lot of people yelling something in unison just now. I thought I heard it wrong. It turned out to be the army!"

"Why didn't I hear it?"

"No, what kind of army is it that fought here?"

"Yes, whose soldiers and horses could it be? Could it be the people from Beiyuan!!"

"This! How is this possible?"

The shopkeeper and the clerk looked pale: "This, this is not bad!"

Immediately more diligent to pack things.

As soon as the atmosphere was infected, other people in the inn were also ready to flee.

Li Man frowned, staring blankly at the door of the teahouse: "My master hasn't come back yet!"

Su Yumei opened a crack in the door.

Many people have already come running, shouting "the army is coming" while running.

This time the sound was much clearer, and everyone in the teahouse could hear it clearly.

The people who came back screamed in fright when they saw the blood all over the ground, but they didn't care about the gangsters who still had knives in their hands, and ran around them.

A few gangsters didn't know the situation, so they rushed up to stop them and asked them. During the struggle, another person was cut.

As more and more people came back, the gangsters also panicked, and hurriedly called the people who had entered the house to rob, and ran away together.

At this moment, several fine horses came galloping.

(End of this chapter)