lying down

Hedong Road and Bingzhou camp, the Chinese army's big tent.

Xu Shiji stood in front of the tent wall, staring at the long silver sheathed sword hanging obliquely in a daze.

He doesn't use this sword much now, but it travels with him everywhere, never leaving his body.Because this sword has a different meaning: this sword was given by the current emperor Li Shimin after he personally led three thousand tigers to defeat ten thousand enemy troops in the early years to commemorate his resourcefulness and bravery in that battle.

He reached out to take off the sword, and held it on the hilt with one hand, an all-too-familiar feeling flooded into his palm.It was as if the sword was calling to its master, who was so hungry and thirsty after not drinking blood for many years.

With a sound of "cang clang", the sword was unsheathed, and a cold light came out with the sword, which was refreshing.He flicked the middle finger of his right hand, and a "buzz" sound resounded through the tent, like a stream rushing, with a clanging sound.

He pressed his two fingers on the blade again, and the dragon chant dissipated immediately.The two fingers followed the cloud patterns on the sword body down to the tip of the sword, an indescribable golden iron pleasure spread to the belly of the finger, which aroused his pride, and he picked up the sword fiercely, and the sword went with him. Cold light filled the room.The sword spits out letters like a white snake, hisses and breaks through the wind, and it also shuttles around like a dragon, walking around. Sometimes it is as light as a swallow, and the sword rises; sometimes it is like lightning, and the fallen leaves collapse.It's really a silver light from the middle of the courtyard, thousands of miles have swallowed the blood of the Huns.

"Woo—" Xu Shiji put his sword back and smiled faintly.The sword is a good sword, but when I dance, I always lack the smoothness of the past.I think it's because my spiritual altar is not empty, and I have some worries in my heart.

Thinking of the two things that were on his mind, he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy.

Since the past few months, the emperor has secretly hinted at his plans for this year, during which he asked himself to prepare more, stock up on food and train troops, and there was not much food left due to the locust disaster, but he never slacked off on this military training.But to this day, there is still no movement of the emperor, and it is inevitable that I feel a little anxious.As the governor of Bingzhou, I know the suffering of border disasters very well.The Turkic entrenched in the north is like a giant python, coming and going, often leading troops in to harass it.It was called "Dacaogu" to destroy it. Relying on its horses and troops, this Turkic often bypassed the heavy border guards and tore up the defensive line.

Thinking of this, anger welled up in his heart, he threw the sword in his hand upside down, and slanted it into the short guy not far in front of him.If the border troubles could be resolved earlier, tens of thousands of people in Bingzhou could jump out of the fire and water sooner.

He strolled to the short bench, ignored the trembling long sword, picked up the teapot and poured it with his head up. When a pot of iced tea entered his stomach, his anger had already subsided by seven points.He pushed the teapot on the low table, and the copy of the camp map full of red and black markings attracted his eyes again.This is another thing on his mind - Ouyang Yu's special independent brigade.

Today is the second day since this mysterious brigade disappeared, and the [-] elite soldiers he threw out still found nothing.This news was announced long ago out of his fear of being misunderstood by everyone in the army. Not only him, but even the generals in the entire battalion, and even the soldiers, old and young, were always discussing it. .The sensation caused by this incident was no less than a war with Turks.

"Where did they go!" This question Xu Shiji had asked himself thousands of times in his heart. It is simply amazing that such an experimental force, which is still in the early stages of formation, has shown such powerful anti-reconnaissance capabilities and military accomplishments. .

In that special brigade, Ge Ye and Liu Yuxuan were the people I was most familiar with. It was absolutely impossible for them to demonize such precise and miraculous actions. Only the boy Ouyang who flashed like a meteor could do it With this kind of courage and brains, the rest of the people are just playing the side drum.

You know, the main force of this brigade is the Death Squadron, which is famous for its fearlessness. Their courage is the most in the whole army. Near the middle reaches, not even as good as elite scout rangers.How did Ouyang Yu train these dozens of people to develop such abilities in just a few days?It really puzzled him.

If war with the Turks is going to start this year, what kind of effect will it have if this army is put on the battlefield?Judging from their performance in the past two days, it must be a blockbuster.If they can be given more time to practice, I am afraid that what Ouyang once shouted to the soldiers in front of the barracks that night-"We are the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty!".I made an appointment with Ouyang to search for a day and stopped, but I regretted it unconsciously.This is not a broken promise or distrust, it is purely a competition between myself and that kid, I want to see where their limits are, and I want to carry out the most thorough verification of the expectations in my heart.On the one hand, I don't want them to be discovered, but on the other hand, I can't help but want to find them early to prove that my military career over the years is not an empty name.In the past two days, he has been restless and restless amidst such contradictory thoughts.

According to my experience in the military for many years, if the special brigade led by that boy Ouyang can really survive the search of 3000 people, it will definitely cause a sensation in the entire Datang military high-level.Thinking of this, he couldn't help but want to tell the emperor the news, and let him have a look at this new type of army that is elusive.

After taking two steps in place, he pondered over the words for a while, then dipped his pen into the ink and wrote the notes.One is to ask about the war, and the other is to report the details of the special brigade.

He had just written a few lines, when the curtain was lifted, and a messenger soldier hurried in, holding a letter with a vermilion seal in both hands.

As soon as the soldier entered the big tent, he raised his eyes and saw the silver long sword slanted on the short table, he was so surprised that he forgot to sing and salute.

Xu Shiji smiled inwardly, thinking to himself that he forgot to deal with this "anger", stretched out his hand to take the sword back into its sheath, and pretended to cough.

The soldier suddenly came to his senses, took another two steps forward and cupped his hands and said, "Meet the governor, there is a private letter from Mr. Xuanlingfang, Minister of the Ministry of War, please read it."

A letter from Mr. Fang?Xu Shiji was taken aback for a moment, he never thought that Fang Xuanling would send him a private message.Immediately changed his mind, could it be that the imperial court has made a decision?In a hurry, he got up and went around the short guy and grabbed the letter from the soldier's hand. He didn't even bother to examine it, so he tore the envelope, opened it, and quickly browsed through it.After reading the letter, his eyes gradually narrowed and the corners of his mouth turned up.

He waved the soldiers back, pondered over the contents of the letter, and began to consider the candidates for elite soldiers specially ordered by the emperor and Fang Xuanling...

The setting sun will fall, the snow will stop and the wind will stop.A few small beasts rushed out before the sunset, looking for some food in this rare good weather to store up for the winter.

Before the little beasts arrived, a brigade of nearly a hundred soldiers had just rushed past. The footprints in the snow and the broken branches of dry grass and winter irrigation proved how anxious the soldiers who had just passed were.

The little beasts didn't dare to go out just now, but now it has become a paradise for themselves to forage, and they no longer have any fear when they spread their legs.

Suddenly a heavy panting sounded beside the little beast, and I saw a human head protruding from a mountainside not far from the messy footprints, his eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth were completely stained by white snow, just like the white snow just now. The bath is average.

The man let out a long gasp, and quickly turned his head to look around. When there was no other movement, he imitated a partridge and called a few times, turned over and stood up from the knee-thick snow.After a while, dozens of heads poked out from the snow, and they looked just like him.

"I almost didn't suffocate me. Fortunately, I can still breathe in the snow, or it would have killed me!" Goro got up and beat the snow all over his body, complaining naggingly.

The first person to poke his head out of the snow was Ouyang, the brigade commander of the special brigade. He looked at this big brother and smiled: "If you don't want to, you can also try the feeling of running wildly in the snow. You won't die of exhaustion!"

"Hey, I said eighth brother, do you speak like that? All the brothers in our brigade haven't eaten for nearly [-] hours, how can we still have the energy to toss here? Hurry up, put everyone's food first. Let’s wait until the Wu Zang Temple is full!” Goro touched his empty stomach, and the previous excitement had already disappeared.

Everyone around him grinned when they heard that, but that smile always lacked some strength. From that night to now, it can be said that all physical strength has been exhausted. It is really not easy to avoid the pursuing soldiers thing.

Ouyang wiped the cold snow on his face with both hands, turned to Qin Feng and asked, "Seventh brother, is the cave you mentioned earlier nearby? Seeing that it's getting dark, let's find a place to eat and rest."

Hearing this, Qin Feng jumped onto a short tree in a few steps, looked around for a moment and jumped back: "It's less than a mile away, I'll lead the way!"

Ouyang turned his head again and looked down the mountain along the messy footprints, confirming that the group of soldiers searching for him had disappeared.After gesturing to the crowd, they immediately started in silence, and ran towards the cave following the footsteps of the soldiers who had just passed by.

In a hurry, Qin Feng stopped, stood on a small slope overgrown with withered grass, took a closer look, then turned his head and nodded in confirmation.Ouyang took a closer look, but he didn't find the entrance of the cave. After looking carefully for a while, he found that the entrance of the cave was covered by weeds that reached his waist. The entrance of the cave was four feet high and two feet wide, and one had to bend over to get in. .

Pushing away some weeds and removing the snow, he looked at the dark hole and asked Qin Feng: "Seventh brother, have you visited this cave? I'm afraid there are some beasts and poisonous insects in it, don't harm us." life."

Qin Feng shook his head and said quickly: "There is no time. At that time, I was going around with the soldiers in the camp. I just stopped and took a look. But I can feel the wind gushing out from the hole. There is no smell, no smell, and the smell is not rotten. There is another exit, not like the hibernation place of beasts, try it if you don’t believe me.”

When Ouyang heard this, he didn't want Qin Feng to be so careful, and could think of so many things based on the smell of the wind coming out of the cave.He leaned forward again, and after a few breaths, there was indeed a hint of dark wind gushing out, and there was really no fishy smell.He thought in his heart that it was hard to make any more choices at this time. First, it was getting dark, and second, most of the brothers behind him were exhausted, so it would be even more difficult for them to make a fuss.

He beckoned to Qilang, and when Qilang trotted over, he hurriedly asked: "Second brother, just take a look, according to your experience, is this hole safe?"

I saw Qilang squatting down to remove all the snow at the entrance of the cave. He dug up two inches of ice-hard soil with a knife, crushed a piece with his fingers, looked at it, and smelled it.Then he pulled out the barrier knife and put it into the hole, knocked on the scabbard about ten times, a metallic clanging sound echoed in the hole, but there was no other sound.

He got up and took a look at the terrain here, then turned his head and replied: "This should be a natural cave. It seems that there are no ferocious beasts, so it should be safe. It's just that there will be no poisonous insects like snakes."

Ouyang stared at Qilang's every movement, and secretly sighed in his heart that this expert is an expert, and the saying "there is a specialization in art" is not foolish.Just look at a few simple movements of Shichiro, and then think about it carefully, you will know the great effect of those movements.Since there are no beasts, you might as well go in and have a look.He made up his mind, turned around and looked at the crowd and said: "There is no unparalleled road!"