Nightfall Chapter 2: Blue as waist (top)

Volume Two, Winter Lake, Chapter Two, The Blue Waist (Part I)

Chapter Two

Overnight in the camp, the wind does not move. The red tongues of flames from the pyre can gently shake the waist. Dozens of the Tang frontiers are scattered around or fall asleep or stand guard, only Ning Que and Na The lieutenant sat by the fire.

Daily, the school lieutenant spoke to Ning Que and claimed Mr. Thirteen. He didn't seem to know his true identity. However, beside the red and warm fire, his title had already changed in a soft voice. : "Master Ning, do you really want to go to Dongsheng Village tomorrow? It might be trouble if you are too close to the Yan people."

Ning Que fiddled with the sweet potatoes in the fire with a branch. Hearing these words, he raised his head and looked at him. He couldn't help but shook his head. He looked at the surrounding elites who hadn't paid attention to him, and said, "At the border After staying for more than a month, I didn’t get any trouble at all. In my opinion, this is the real trouble."

He looked at the school captain’s seemingly dull and honest face, and sighed, "Speaking of our luck, isn’t it too bad? You are the dark guard in Tuyang City, but if you die, you will be Send out to follow me, so I want to ask about the situation in Tuyang City and I don’t know who to ask."

The school lieutenant smiled bitterly and said: "When I learned that I was personally protecting adults, my subordinates felt helpless."

"Could the General's Mansion know the identity of your dark guard, and I am embarrassed to do to you, so he just drove you out of Tuyang City and walked around with me... Or maybe they even discovered my identity? "

The captain shook his head and said: "My lord, please rest assured that the identity of your subordinates should not have been revealed. As for you, I don't think you are a military division or an inner front battalion. I can't guess that a person like you is actually your majesty's dark guard. ."

Ning Que pulled out two roasted sweet potatoes from the fire, and gave one to the captain. He used his fingertips to slowly tear open the skin of the other sweet potato, lowered his head and began to eat the hot steam. Blanching the pulp, he said vaguely: "As long as I don't find it, I don't want to have people staring at everything in secret."

The school lieutenant picked up the cooked sweet potato that rolled to his feet and looked at Ning Que's face illuminated by the fire, not knowing what to say.

For Mr. Thirteen next to him, he has mixed feelings. The other soldiers may not know the identity of Ning Que, but he is a dark guard. Of course, he knows that Ning Que is a direct disciple of the Master. Why does such a distinguished figure come to the frontier? What makes him even more puzzled is that why bother to do such a troublesome thing?

Notice that this is a wasteland with lonely people, this is a battlefield where the long grass hides the bones, if you really offend General Xiahou, the general will not care if you are a student on the second floor of the college, and kill you deep into the grassland. Throw it around, who knows how you died? Even the master can't say anything.

There was a faint sound in the distance, and the cavalry in charge of the night police task stood up and walked out. The school lieutenant glanced at that place, changed his name for safety, and whispered: "Mr. Thirteen, what are you going to check this time? Only when you have a target subordinate, you can make arrangements."

"I came to the border fortress this time not to investigate things, but to take a look on behalf of your majesty."

Ning Que threw most of the gnawed sweet potatoes into the fire, wiped off the scum sticking on his face with his cuffs, and said: "It's just that according to the current situation, there is nothing to see."

"Your status is special. The General Mansion is worried that something will happen to you and does not want you. Of course, I hope you are as far away as possible. If you want to see someone in the General Mansion, don’t go to Tuyang City. After all, there is no way to see it."

The school lieutenant hesitated for a moment, and he directly talked about Tuyang City. He knew very well that a big man like Mr. Thirteen had received his majesty’s secret order to come to the frontier. The so-called patrol on behalf of the emperor, of course, can only be eligible for this kind of treatment, but he still did not Dare to say the name of General Xiahou directly.

The students of the academy left from Chang'an City to the Yanbei Frontier Fortress. On the way, they passed through Tuyang City. At that time, the General Mansion was responsible for receiving General Xiahou’s deputy, so Ning Que had not seen General Xiahou himself.

At this time, I heard the three characters Tuyang City, thinking of the violent general in Tuyang City. After a moment of silence, he smiled and said, "I will always go later."

……

……

On the second day, Ning Que and the dozens of Tang Jun elites who protected him once again set off, following the simple frontier defense line in the northern border of Yan State to the east. Just after noon, they arrived at the West Front Line that Tang Jun was in charge of. At the east end of the mountain, looking over the dry willows, I clearly saw a green mountain and the yellow soil city not far from the mountain.

More than ten military officers are waiting for their arrival outside Dongsheng Village. General Dongshengzhai didn’t know who the thirteen was. He just guessed from the documents of Tuyang City General’s Mansion and the excited expressions of the subordinate officers. He should be a great figure from Chang’an City, and he should have something similar to the academy. relationship.

Ning Que looked at the officers outside the walled city and smiled. He jumped off the **** horse and said a few words with the general. Then he walked to the right and smiled in front of someone. He said: "Are you used to staying here?"

The officer in front of him is a young girl, dressed in an arrow suit, covered with dust from the wasteland. She looked at Ning Que and said with a smile: "Although it's not as comfortable as you, but still used to it."

Ning Que said with a smile: "If you are not used to it, you have to get used to it. I told you before that the real battlefield is different from what you guys imagined in Chang'an."

Then he noticed that Linchuan Wang Ying was also standing among the officers. The fifteen-year-old boy was blown away by the wind and sand from the frontier fortress, and his posture seemed to be quite straight.

He looked at the college students who had been on the front line for less than a month, but their temperament and spirit had changed a lot from those in Chang'an. He praised and said: "It seems that everyone is still very used to life here, so I can rest assured."

General Dongshengzhai followed him. He was a little displeased when he saw that he didn't pay much attention to himself, thinking that even if you are a big man from Chang'an City, you are now in the military camp.

However, when he heard this conversation, he immediately understood that Mr. Thirteen was really a big man who was not easy to provoke—anyone who dared to speak to the daughter of General Yunhui or daring to make a statement to the college students was The real big shot.

The future training goal of college students is to become court officials, and they will not have any relationship with the military system. However, Datang builds the country by military force, and front-line practice is an essential part of the training plan.

Dongshengzhai is located at the east end of the Tang Army’s defense line, very close to a certain tribe of Wangting in the Left Account, and very close to the young masters from the Yan*** team and the Central Plains countries. It can be said that it is under double pressure. It is the most difficult place in the aid Yan army.

For thousands of years, the academy’s practice principle is that wherever the most difficult, students should go, so this yellow earth city stationed with three thousand soldiers has the most academy students. In addition to the rangers, there are ten A college student.

On the journey from Chang'an to the Yanbei Frontier Fortress, Ning Que got along with the college students day and night. They were very familiar with each other, and the students who participated in the practice were all students of Tang origin. The conflicting emotions of the past have long disappeared. When the two parties met again, it was natural to be enthusiastic and lively.

After a real life and death on the battlefield, young people will mature quickly. It is precisely because of maturity that their enthusiasm for Ning Que will inevitably be mixed with some sense of admiration and distance. After all, Ning Que Que is a student on the second floor of the academy, and their status has been greatly separated.

By the turquoise lake, Situ Yilan took out his handkerchief to wet, wiped the dust off his forehead, looked back at the silent Ning Que and asked, "Not used to being hugged by the front and back?"

Ning Que walked to the lakeside, looked at the shadow of Wannian Chen Mu at the bottom of the lake, and said with a smile: "Being hugged and respected is the goal of people like us. You have been a general in Chang'an since childhood. Growing up in the mansion, the Detachment of Women’s forces are all over the place, how can I understand the mentality of the people at the bottom of us."

Situ Yilan stood up, handed him the handkerchief, and said: "But I saw you smile rather reluctantly."

Ning Que wiped his face and said, "In the past, these classmates ignored me, but they were better off during the journey, but now they speak so respectfully to me. The contrast is too big and I can't adapt."

"So you want to come to the lake with me alone?"

"Yes."

"The army is the most class-conscious place. The military order is like a mountain. As long as it is a superior, no matter whether the military order issued by him is reasonable or not, whether you think it is to die or not, you must ride forward on a horse."

Situ Yilan looked at him and said: "Leaving the academy and coming to the front line, participating in several battles, and being beaten several times by the generals, they naturally understand that the world still depends on strength to speak."

"Speaking of combat and strength."

Ning Que looked at her with a smile and said, "When I first met you, I thought you were just a wicked woman who had a long history with her family. I have never seen the legendary maiden army, and I don’t think it’s so remarkable. . I didn’t expect that you would actively choose to come to Dongsheng Village, and you did so beautifully here."

After all, it was a young Toshihiko selected from the counties of Datang. Once he met the strict rules and brutal fighting of the barracks, the college students who participated in the practical training soon began to show their abilities, although they were only low-level officers. , But in the part that I am responsible for, I have done vividly.

Situ Yilan was born in a family of generals, dared to serve, and performed very well. He has been in Dongshengzhai for more than a month, and has led the wandering horse into the wasteland to reconnaissance six times, including two encounters with the king's wandering horse, beheading more than ten, military merit He has already reported to Tuyang City, waiting to be commended and promoted immediately.

"The King Court of the Left Account did not have the guts to start a full-scale battle. The rangers were not elite kings at all, but the cavalry of the small tribe themselves. They only wrote this for the sake of their military merits."

Situ Yilan was brave and heroic, without the slightest arrogance, and said: "Killing some small tribal cavalry is nothing. I really want to face the king's cavalry. I dare not say victory. I can only fight for more kills. "

Ning Que rubbed his stiff wrist. After leaving Weicheng for nearly two years, his blade has not been stained with the blood of a prairie cavalry for two years. At this time, listening to Situ's calm and **** words, he can't help but miss the horses, comb the lake, hold the knife and chop wood. Time of **** battle.

"Actually, I have always been curious about what kind of person you are."

Situ Yilan turned around by the lake, raised her eyebrows slowly, looked at Ning Que’s face with great interest, and said: "Father once read your military archives, but only told me Some probabilities, I refused to tell me too many details. I was so anxious to ask me, and only said that if there is a chance to fight with you in the future, everything is up to you. I rarely see my father evaluate people so highly , What have you done in Weicheng?"

"It is indeed a bit proud to be evaluated by General Yunhu in this way."

Ning Que's gaze crossed her shoulders and fell on the blue lake, thinking of the years in Weicheng, and after a moment of silence, he said: "When I was in Weicheng, I mainly did one thing."

"What's the matter?"

"Kill the horse thief."

"I heard that the horse thieves in the wasteland are the most fierce, and even the cavalry of the Golden Tent King Court is unwilling to provoke them."

"It’s not that exaggerated. But the composition of horse thief is very complicated. There are real horse thief, and there are refugees who have no food. I have seen the refugees from Yanbei at Subbi Lake. I don’t know how far away. How did they get over the Minshan Mountain. And you must have never imagined that the most powerful horse thief I have ever encountered was actually the cavalry of the Golden Tent King Court disguised."

"The cavalry of the Golden Tent King Court? Did you win or they win?"

"I said that I only kill horse thieves. If they win, how can I kill?"

Ning Que looked at her and said, "I think the reason why General Yunhu said that to you was probably because I knew I had a good skill in killing people in the wasteland. Actually, this is not unusual."

Situ Yilan looked at him and said: "Killing so many horse thieves and not dead, you are very powerful."

Ning Que said: "I don't deny this. It is said that practitioners in the world are the strongest, but for those practitioners I have met, if you put them on the wasteland, you only have to meet a horse thief from a hundred people team. , They will never survive."

"But you still want to be a practitioner."

"Because I can kill, if I become a practitioner, I can become a practitioner who can kill."

After Ning Que paused for a while, he smiled and said: "I have always had an idea, don't go outside and talk nonsense."

Situ Yilan was very interested, and said: "I promise not to leak the secret, just say it."

Ning Que walked to the lakeside, looked at the invisible water of the blue lake, and said, "The practitioners do have enough personal strength, but in my opinion, these practitioners in the world don’t know how. Murder."

After thinking about it for a long time, Situ Yilan frowned and asked: "Killing...isn't it killing?"

Ning Que looked at her and asked several questions in a row: "How to kill with the least effort? How to kill the enemy when the strength is far less than the enemy? How to use the environmental wind or even the sun to kill? How to kill people from serious injuries? To squeeze out the last strength to kill under the circumstances? How to kill without being killed?"

Situ Yilan shook his head, thinking that when he encountered a prairie cavalry in the wasteland, he would shoot with bows and arrows, and cut with simple swords. There are so many sayings.

"If killing is such a complicated thing, can you teach me?"

"There is no way to teach this kind of thing. If you kill more people, it will naturally happen. Therefore, the frontier fortress barracks are the most suitable place to practice killing techniques, and practitioners rarely practice in the barracks."

Ning Que said: "Fortunately or unfortunately, I have lived in the military village of Weicheng for many years. I think this is where General Yunhu thinks I am not bad, and it is also a place that you cannot understand for the time being." /

Situ Yilan looked at him and asked curiously: "You are the first disciple of the second-story academy to come to the frontier fortress to practice. Could it be that your purpose is to practice in the military camp?"

"If I have a chance, I would certainly use the skills of a practitioner to try on the battlefield."

Ning Que stepped up again, walked eastward along the thin round white stones by the lake, and said to himself, "But now it seems that neither Tuyang City nor the court will give me this kind of opportunity." /

Situ Yilan looked at his back and shook his head.

Ning Que quietly looked at the faint blue lake, looked at the trees and white clouds in the reflection of the water in the distance, and looked at the depths of the wasteland that was invisible to the naked eye.

I don’t know if there are any cultivators on the battlefield. He is really interested in this idea, but it is not this idea that really makes his hands itchy, but something very simple.

I was in the wasteland, smelling the smell of horse dung in the wind, and the burning smell of the slightly charred grass. He felt that every part of his body and the three long swords behind him The excitement shivered slightly, it was difficult to restrain the desire to ride the horse into the depths of the grassland, and chop down one enemy after another with a knife.

It's a pity that the blue lake in front of me is not Subbi Lake.

I don’t know what the name of the lake around Dongshengzhai is among the prairie barbarians. It looks like a waist and extends from here to the depths of the wilderness in the extreme north, with no end in sight. Because the lake is too deep, it glows with a blue luster, like a sapphire that has been melted and condensed into silk.

"This is a salty lake, the lake is not drinkable, so I didn't camp here."

Situ Yilan looked at him quietly looking at the lake, raised his arm to the forest beside the lake, and said: "When the barbarians invaded the south in the past, they came out of the forest. Suddenly. But these days, no prairie people have dared to approach here."

Ning Que looked at the faintly visible forest in the mist, and asked, "Can we pass now?"

"Crossed the mountain forest and arrived at the eastern front of the Yan army. In order to avoid trouble, we didn't go too much. Of course, they didn't come too much. The two sides had a tacit understanding to ignore there."

"Have you seen those people?"

"Who?"

"The young masters from all over the world who came because of the edict of the Xiling Temple, the White Tower of Jiange and so on."

Situ Yilan shook his head and said: "I haven't seen it. But after the last encounter with the Ranger, Dongshengzhai sent troops to expel the tribe, and finally encountered the guardian cavalry of Xiling Temple."

Listening to the four-character guardian cavalry, Ning Que turned around and asked, "What about then?"

Situ Yilan was still a little angry thinking about the scene of the day, and said with a sneer: "Obviously it is our Dongshengzhai battle, and we have basically wiped out the enemy. As a result, the temple cavalry who have been watching coldly finally rushed up." /

"They want to grab credit?"

"Well, many of the first levels were cut off by them. Wang Ying quarreled with them, but didn't win the fight."

Ning Que said: "I thought Wang Ying had matured a lot on the battlefield, but I didn't expect to be so childish."

Situ Yilan said angrily: "Don't you think it should be noisy?"

"Of course it shouldn't be noisy. What can be the result of a quarrel? When we used to collect firewood in Subbi Lake, if we encountered people from the Seven Walls who came to grab military merit, we never quarreled with them."

Ning Que looked at the calm lake, shook his head and said, "We'll take a knife and cut it directly."