The sky was blue, birds were singing, and the biting cold wind was mixed with a warm feeling.
It was a bit like when they first lived in the dilapidated temple. The only quilt was given to the eldest brother who had a broken leg, while the others could only lie on piles of straw, their bellies feeling cold, but their backs feeling warm.
Zheng Ruqian wiped away his tears. He was sure he was dead. People love to reminisce about the past before they die.
When his fingers touched something icy cold, he was startled and sat up abruptly from the ground.
The two men talking by the fire turned around. One was a thin, dark-skinned soldier with a blank expression, and the other was a sleazy man with a white cloth around his neck.
"Boss, boss, you're finally awake!" The lewd man rushed over, wailing. "Boss, you scared me to death! The knife didn't kill me, but you almost scared me to death."
Oh, it's Wang Xiaosong. It looks really awkward without a neck.
Zheng Ruqian struggled to break free from him, his gaze falling on the thin, dark-skinned soldier. He said sincerely, "Thank you for saving us, brother. If it weren't for you, neither of us would have escaped today."
Wang Xiaosong's crying stopped abruptly, and he almost fainted. "Boss, don't you recognize her?"
"Him?" Zheng Ruqian was puzzled. "How would I know him? You do?"
"It's her, it's her..." Wang Xiaosong was anxious, but he accidentally aggravated the wound on the back of his neck, and gasped in pain.
Seeing that the master and servant were talking at cross purposes, the dark-skinned, thin soldier finally couldn't stand it anymore. He stepped forward and gave a cold bow, "Greetings, Second Young Master."
His name is Second Young Master.
He is Fang Heng's man.
Zheng Ruqian, who was usually so serious in public, finally couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat, and a fleeting moisture crossed his large eyes beneath his thick eyebrows. "Are you Jiang Ji? Jiang Yi? Or Jiang Ba?"
The thin, dark-skinned soldier pursed his lips. "I am Jiang Wu."
Fang Heng initially hired eight servants, six of whom were willing to join the army, while two stayed behind to protect his siblings.
Jiang Wu was the only girl, and also the most resilient, the first to volunteer to join the army.
Zheng Ruqian wondered at the time how a girl could join the army, how she could fight, and how she could live among men.
Now he understood. Jiang Wulian deliberately lowered her voice, and apart from being excessively short and thin, she had absolutely no girlish air about her.
"The second young master has just woken up. He should eat something to replenish his strength." Jiang Wu pulled a charred little bird from the fire.
No wonder I heard birds chirping earlier; it was just a dying struggle.
Zheng Ruqian took it shakily, tearing off a piece of bird feather with a bitter face. "Why are you the only one here? Where's the third brother? Where are the others?"
“I was patrolling the area when I saw you two being chased by the Tartars.” Jiang Wu’s tone was cold and emotionless. “He’s dead now. We have to go to the village ahead to rescue him.”
Having just escaped the tiger's den, one must now return.
Thinking of those ruthless Tartars, Zheng Ruqian and Wang Xiaosong trembled and turned deathly pale.
"Don't be afraid, Second Young Master, I'm here." Jiang Wu stood up and pulled out a bloodstained longsword from behind his back. "Let's go, we can't waste any more time."
The longer it is delayed, the more people will die.
The master and servant resigned themselves to their fate, boarded the carriage, and sped towards the village.
On the way, Zheng Ruqian belatedly realized, "If I'm not dead, what happened to me just now?"
"How dare you ask, boss?" Wang Xiaosong's eyes were full of disdain. "You were just scared unconscious."
Zheng Ruqian, "..."
I should have known better than to bring it up.
The three rushed to the village entrance, but the woman whose long hair had been dragged away was gone. Further in, the Tartars riding horses and carrying knives were also gone, replaced by blood everywhere, severed heads, and pairs of unwilling eyes.
The elderly, children, men, and women.
Some of them were still eating, some were chatting with smiles, some were sewing new cotton-padded coats, and some were telling their children not to get cold.
In the blink of an eye, corpses littered the fields, and blood filled the sky.
Zheng Ruqian and Wang Xiaosong supported each other and followed behind Jiang Wu.
This girl, who exuded coldness from the inside out, now had red eyes. When she saw people who died with their eyes wide open, she reached out and touched their eyelids. When she saw women who were barely clothed, she covered them with her clothes.
When she saw the infant's body in its swaddling clothes, her tears finally froze into a ball. Her long sword was plunged into the ground. She lifted her robe and knelt on one knee, choking back sobs, "I swear I will not return until the Tartars are destroyed."
Some hatred doesn't develop overnight, and some feuds can't be resolved by killing one or two people.
The Great Yu and the Tartars had been at odds for decades, with victories and crushing defeats. They were mutually wary of each other, but neither could swallow the other's existence.
"Since the border region is so devastated, why do the people still live here and can't move further in?" Wang Xiaosong asked, puzzled.
Jiang Wu wiped away his tears, picked up his knife and stood up. "Because the enemy's heart is greedy. Wherever you retreat, they will invade."
Even if we retreat to Anshui County, it will only turn Anshui County into a new frontier.
It was the sacrifices of these frontier soldiers and civilians that brought peace and tranquility to the interior and brought prosperity and joy to Fengjing.
Zheng Ruqian suddenly felt that the piles of corpses on the ground weren't so scary anymore.
They are also someone else's family. They were born and raised on this land, and because they couldn't bear to leave this land, they eventually died on this land.
The Tartars are hateful, but the Tartars are respectable.
“These corpses…” Zheng Ruqian steadied his unsteady steps, “do they need to be buried?”
He originally wanted to offer to help dig the pit, but Jiang Wu shook his head.
“An army will come to clean up the mess. Our Great Yu Dynasty’s soldiers and civilians never leave their bodies exposed in the wilderness.” Jiang Wu sighed and turned around. “Let’s retreat. There are no survivors here.”
As the group left the village again, a disheveled woman suddenly rushed out at the village entrance, knelt down, and cried, "Benefactor, benefactor!"
Zheng Ruqian looked closely and realized that it was the young girl who had been dragged by the hair by the Tartars. Because of the appearance of the wronged master and servant, the Tartars let go of her and she crawled into the woodpile, thus saving her life.
"Without my two benefactors, I would have died. Thank you so much, thank you so much!" the girl cried loudly.
Zheng Ruqian and Wang Xiaosong exchanged a glance, their feelings indescribable.
They had rushed in recklessly and almost lost their lives. They were initially filled with regret and fear, but seeing that their unintentional act had saved a life, they were filled with pride and no regrets.
In that instant, Zheng Ruqian seemed to understand his third brother's choice.
He was so proud of protecting one life; how many lives must Fang Laosan have saved during his two years of guarding the border?
It's true what they say, speak of the devil and he appears.
Jiang Wu had just helped the girl up when he suddenly looked up to the north and exclaimed in delight, "Young Master... the Captain is here!"
The northern Xinjiang region is cold, and the areas without sunlight are covered with snow, so there is no overwhelming dust when you run through it.
But the clumps of snow falling from the branches and the tremors of the ground beneath his feet clearly proved that his most valiant and extraordinary third brother was leading his men at breakneck speed.
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