Wei Ni

Chapter 167 Traveling Together
The golden crow falls to the west, and the dusk falls.

The whining evening wind ruffled the water surface of the Huaihe River, rushing to the sea with the autumn spirit that still refused to leave, and also caused the frost to climb up the short grass smoke on both sides.

At the northwest foot of Shoushan Mountain, there is Shijia Piwu.

Hundreds of fires were falling in succession, and fireworks were set off early.

With a ray of warmth, I give the scholars a humble destiny, and promise a spark of hope that is worth it in the world.

Each uncle restrained his soldiers and gathered around the fire in an orderly manner, making jokes and having fun.

A portion of wheat rice with unclean shells, a bowl of salt soup boiled with bones and a slight oily fleck, and a piece of meat less than three fingers wide, this is what their general served as an autumn harvest festival as soon as he returned. By giving the soldiers food and feast.

Just such a small amount of meat is really a bit shabby.

But no soldier disliked it.

On the contrary, they all felt very rich and satisfied.

It is not only because these scholars were lucky to have enough to eat in their early years and never dared to dream of eating meat.

Especially because they were placed in a small family on the north bank of the Huaishui River, Xia Houhui gave each family a piece of meat as big as a palm; among them, those with elderly people in the family would also be given some extra water.

As the breadwinner of the family, as long as the family behind him has meat, he will feel rich even if he eats bran and drinks water, right?
Yes, Xia Houhui just wanted to drink and did not listen to Jiao Yi's suggestion.

It's not that he has long forgotten Chen Ding, who he once fought alongside, nor does he have any sadness in his heart.

But he has become accustomed to the life and death in the military career.

Regardless of whether they are soldiers of Wei or soldiers who are traitors to Wu, as long as they set foot on the land of Huainan, they must be mentally prepared to bury their bones here.

The war between Wei and Wu lasted for decades, and Chen Ding was not the first to die in battle, nor the last.

The dead are gone, the living are like this.

All Xia Houhui can do is to hide the dead in his heart and try to make the still living people live better. No matter how desperate it is, we must allow those who die in the war to still feel the joy of living today.

If there is one day, just one day.

With such thoughts in mind, Xia Houhui, with a smile on his face, walked slowly to each fire, pinched the scholar's arm, clenched his fist and hammered the chest of that scholar, and said a few words to practice martial arts well. The words of encouragement about farming and cultivating crops also caused laughter and laughter to spread from one fire to another.

The cheerful atmosphere was such that even the evening breeze, which had long since become biting, couldn't bear to disturb it by whimpering.

The next day, it was nearly noon.

After watching the three soldiers performing martial arts one by one, Xia Houhui rode his horse to the Cavalry Qu station, not forgetting to buy a few bags of wine in the city's wine shop first.

Because he had already vaguely guessed the reason why Zhang Qidu had a recurrence of his old injury and was in a trance.

Zhang Qidu was from Jizhou and had been garrisoning in Huainan for more than ten years. He had already wanted to resign on the grounds of old age and frailty.

After all, the characteristics and tactics of cavalry place high demands on the physical fitness of the cavalry.

As he reaches his forties, he is already a little out of his depth.

Furthermore, his current official position is that of a partial general. If he leaves his frontline duties and returns to his hometown, the temple will also reward him for his years of hard work. He will find a vacant county general or county lieutenant in Jizhou and confer it on him to encourage other generals to be loyal. Serve the country.

The reason why he hasn't asked to resign yet is because he wants to take more care of his nephew from his old department.

For example, Chen Ding's father was his former subordinate Du Bo. When he was wounded and dying in battle, he asked him to take more care of Chen Ding.

There are also more than fifty retinues who came to Shouchun with him from Sangzi, Jizhou. Although there are less than ten people still alive today, many of those who died early joined the army in Huainan, married wives and had children.

Whether it was out of love for him or his family ties, he had to take care of them for a while, to see that those young men would grow up and see that those children and nephews would have a good future.

Originally, everything went as he wanted.

But more than a month ago, Chen Ding, who had just been promoted to the chief officer of the scout camp less than half a year ago and was also the most promising person among the nephews of Paoze whom he had watched grow up, was ambushed and killed by the thief Wu.

Yes, Zhongfu.

After the thief Wu Sunquan had the Fuling garrison destroyed, the Wancheng Valley swept away, and Sun Bu's false surrender failed, he became furious and personally wrote an edict to scold the two chief officials of Hengjiangpu and Ruxuwu.

He angrily accused them of neglecting their duties and not even showing the most basic vigilance on the front lines.

After seeing this, the general of Ruxuwu went directly to apologize, and then the matter was over; but the chief officer of Hengjiangpu, Ding Feng, couldn't swallow this breath.

"Wei scouts still dare to cross the border and attack. If our Wu elites cannot retreat, they will only make the world laugh!"

This is how he motivates his subordinates.

After stimulating the vigor of his soldiers, he recruited more than a hundred warriors who dared to die and led them personally, sneaking along the Ruxushui River and setting an ambush in the west of Juchao County.

Ruxu Water is the only waterway connecting Chaohu Lake and the river.

Therefore, Wei army scouts patrolled the Ruxushui port every day to warn Jiangdong of possible intruders.

It is precisely because of this that Chen Ding and more than a dozen scouts who were on daily patrol accidentally entered Ding Feng's ambush point and were shot dead on the spot by powerful crossbows. Even their horses were shot to death.

When Governor Zhang heard the news, he felt extremely sad. He has seen too many people close to him die in battle over the years, and he has long been on the verge of being overwhelmed.

Especially after that, Man Chong merged the scout battalion into the Cavalry Song again, and on the grounds that Wei was unable to cross the river to attack and avoid unnecessary losses, he strictly ordered all scouts not to cross ten miles east of Xiaoyaojin.

In other words, Zhang Qidu no longer even had the chance to avenge Chen Ding.

This is the reason why his old injury relapsed and he was in a trance.

Under the grief, indignation and guilt of having to bear the burden of death, the scattered fragments of memory write every stroke of the past, making him fall into the tide forever, and a strong wind will rise in every calm day. Huge waves.

It was his own swamp of life.

Others can't drag him, and he himself can't break free.

Therefore, as an old acquaintance, all Xia Houhui could do was to come over with a few wine bags and accompany him to pour wine into his mouth in silence, so that he could get a short period of peace with his drunkenness. .

The four wine bags were all empty, less than half an hour later.

Qidu Zhang, who was lying on the military couch, snored steadily.

Xia Houhui, smelling of alcohol, also walked out of the military tent with gentle steps. After informing the guards of the guards outside the tent, he greeted Jiang Ban, who was also standing outside, "My lord, please follow me."

Jiang Ban remained silent.

After nodding, he rushed to the stable, took out the two horses, and headed out of the camp together.

If you look carefully, you will also find that he is still half a horse's head behind in accordance with his dignity.

"Is Chen Wengu's family in Huainan?"

The two rode in silence for three or four miles before Xia Houhui broke the silence.

"No."

Shaking his head slightly, Jiang Ban also felt a little sad, "Wen Gu is from Youzhou. After his father died in the war, he was alone in Huainan. Counting the time, the imperial pension should have arrived at his home."

"That's good."

After saying something melancholy, Xia Houhui fell into silence again.

He was thinking about how to comfort Jiang Ban.

Because when he saw Zhang Qidu lying on the bed, he knew why Man Chong and Ji Leliang came to Shouchun. With Man Chong's wisdom and understanding of Sun Quan's character, it was not difficult to guess that the traitor Wu Ying would raise troops this year. commit.

The war is approaching, and the cavalry must be led by a general.

Moreover, Jiang Ban only served as a deputy in the cavalry for half a year, and Man Chong did not dare to entrust him with more than a thousand cavalry.

In this way, Leliang, who had served as the Leopard Cavalry Commander for many years, was naturally the perfect candidate for Man Chong to be the temporary cavalry commander.

Another reason is that it takes more money and food to raise a cavalry than a battalion of infantry.

Therefore, according to military practice, the official position of a person who can serve as a cavalry general must be at least a partial general, but the official position of Jiang Ban is now that of a general.
Perhaps Jiang Ban himself has some understanding.

After walking for several more miles, the dock at Shouchun's feet was already in sight. He broke the silence and said, "General, since Governor Zhang fell ill, General Manchu did not ask me to handle military affairs on his behalf. Instead, he sent a The clerk came to help. Well, the general must have met General Man. Do you know who will come to supervise the cavalry? Or should the general supervise it? "

"I met yesterday."

Xiahou Huile pulled up the reins of his horse and nodded gently towards him, "I am not leading the cavalry, but General Leliang Lezishan, who will rush to Huainan in the near future. Well, his former position was to lead the Leopard Cavalry. ”

Although he had expected it, Jiang Ban still had a flash of disappointment in his eyes.

He's really unlucky.

When he was about to fill the vacancy as chief of the scout camp, Xia Houhui was sent to Huainan; now, as the deputy of the cavalry, he was about to welcome a general who served in the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

"Oh."

He responded lightly and managed a smile.

Seeing this, Xia Houhui couldn't help but said with relief, "My husband is only worried about his lack of talent and ambition, not his lack of official title. With his talents and learning, he can still expect to be crowned a marquis and become a general in the future. There is no need to worry about being the commander of a mere battalion." "

"Haha~ Thanks for the encouragement, General."

Hearing this, Jiang Ban's smile became brighter.

It also made Xia Houhui suddenly realize how perfunctory his words of comfort were.

Jiang Ban was born in a humble family. His father was just a soldier in a county. He had no family background or any merits from his father's generation. After the implementation of the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System, it was difficult to even find a stage to display his talents, let alone be granted the title of Marquis. What a luxury!
Moreover, he was not from Qiao Pei, and he did not share the interests of the Wei family with die-hard loyalty.

Like many others, he joined the army and risked his life in the hope of getting ahead and carving out a future.

Because I had an official position in the army, I gained prestige in the village and had the money to buy acres of land for my family to become a prosperous family. Then I tightened my belt and squeezed out money to train the next generation to learn literature and martial arts, and gradually transformed into a land of farming and studying. family, and finally the descendants will have the foundation to transition into a powerful family, and may even become a noble family!
That's how it is now.

It takes one generation to pioneer and several generations to accumulate, and only then can we usher in the butterfly change.

(End of this chapter)