Novoland: Eagle Flag: One
"Finally you can go home." These were her last words.
It was December of the seventh year of Emperor Yincheng's seventh year, and it was snowing in Liguo, a secluded place in the south of East China. She just melted into the thin snow.
"Your Majesty, the first one to take down Tianming Pavilion will be our Lei Qi from Liguo." The young warrior in black armor and black cloak swung his whip and swept across the smoky Shura field in front of him.
The iron-gray sky weighs heavily on people's heads. Riding on a horse seems to be one foot closer to the sky. The rain of arrows dragging the fiery snake poured into the sky and fell in thousands of chaotic arcs, submerging the walls of Akiba City in a sea of flames. The north wind in the morning brought choking smoke far away, mixed with the scorched smell of burning limbs.
At the rear of the big formation of wild goose wings, the archers, the warriors called Junhou, were covered in heavy fire-bronze armor, and their brown eyes contained a cold and hard gaze. Shouting, wailing, the sound of weapons chopping, and the sound of feathers and arrows piercing the wind all merged into the magnificent background of the flesh and blood battlefield. When one of the two sides of the battle reached the end of their battle, the sound of the battlefield dropped, and there was a blank space in the noise in the ear, as barren and distant as the winter wilderness.
Jun Hou silently raised his right hand. The messengers and soldiers carrying the red flag jumped on their horses and ran to both sides along the formation of wild goose wings, blowing the heavy rhinoceros horn on the horseback. The sound of the trumpets spread far and wide on the battlefield in the early morning, layer upon layer, as if echoing in the valley.
The soldiers guarding the city carefully poked their heads out from behind the burning wooden fence and exchanged glances with each other. Li Jun's rocket stopped suddenly, and the strange calm made people feel panic. The Li army's stone cannons had smashed all the towers on the city, but there was not a single intact city brick on the wall that was four horses abreast. Rather than defending the city, they are hiding in a pile of broken stones and bricks. And the soldiers who once guarded the city side by side with them prostrated themselves on the battlements and wooden fences at the top of the city in various postures. The flames on their bodies have not been extinguished. Want to vomit even though they haven't had time to eat for a whole day and night.
"The archers stopped," someone whispered.
"Could it be that Li Ren ran out of arrows?" There was clearly a hint of luck in this voice.
"Get down!" shouted the commander guarding the city, "Be careful of Liren's tricks!"
"I...I saw that the Li army has withdrawn" A young city defender suddenly stood up straight and pointed at the archers who were lining up in the distance, "The Li army has withdrawn! The Li army has withdrawn!"
"Have you left?"
"Liren really withdrew?"
"Could it be that the reinforcements from Beishan Camp are here?"
"Leave the people out!"
In disregard of the law, more and more soldiers straightened up from behind the arrow-avoiding wooden fence and stared at the enemy's camp with wide-eyed eyes. The thick smoke that followed the north wind covered the formation of the Li army's wild goose wings, but the soldiers with good eyes still saw the Li army archers in black pulling out the unfinished arrows stuck in the soil and extinguishing the firewood. The piles retreated in a neat and orderly manner. The large formation of wild goose wings gradually condensed into a defensive fish-scale formation, and the three thousand crossbows of the Lijun Archer Battalion gradually disappeared in the black smoke that had not yet dissipated, leaving only three cavalry standing where they had just formed up.
"Liren...really withdrawn?" Finally, Commander Lian stood up by himself. He stared blankly at the black smoke blown away by the north wind, gradually revealing the desolate wilderness in early winter. Everything in front of him made him unbelievable that his eyes were only one step away from reducing the north gate of Akiba City to ashes, and the Li army retreated quietly.
There is nothing to explain the scene in front of me except miracles.
"God bless me in northern Shanxi!" The commander tremblingly drew his sword and pointed at the sky, "God of the snow sky, God of the snow sky!"
The cheers of the surviving soldiers moved a burly centurion to shout and rushed to the battlements, waving the plain white northern Shanxi banner in the air. Surrounded by traces of blood and smoke, the light blue snow chrysanthemums that symbolize northern Shanxi bloom once again in the sky above Autumn Leaf City.
A flag as dark as night was raised almost at the same time on the position where the Li army shooters had just withdrawn. When the wind of the battlefield pulls the black flag away, a deficit like blood poured out seems to jump out of the black flag and become an unrestrained wild dragon in the world-"Win"!
"Win..." the commander involuntarily pronounced the word.
The warrior with black armor and black cloak among the only three riders left on the battlefield unfurled the big banner, beside him was carrying four red flags. The prince in the middle lifted his weapon from the saddle, and it turned out to be a six-foot-long sword. The only three warriors left in the army raised their eyes and looked at the city of northern Shanxi.
The sound of the wind suddenly tightened. When the stronger wind disperses the black smoke on the battlefield and the smoke from the sky, the gray field is actually a piece of ocher red, and the undulating ocher red is like waves.
"Kill!" Junhou pulled down his armor and suddenly raised his saber.
"Kill!" The whole wilderness responded to Heli's order. As if the floodgate had been opened, the ocher-red running water that had been accumulated for a long time swirled and poured on the battlefield, overflowed every corner of the land, and rushed towards the city gate in northern Shanxi. In this charge that reversed the momentum of the north wind, everyone's voices were swallowed up, only the commander's groan was left...
"Red... tide!"
The noise in the distance is getting closer, and the voices of thousands of shouts gather together. It sounds like the wind in the mountains from a distance, making people mistake it for autumn. A crystal-clear hand inserts the obliquely cut white plums into the bisque vase, and the thin, black straight ones hang beside the plum blossoms, making them whiter and more shocking.
"It sounds like the Li army from the south gate broke the city first. After all, Li Guo's Red Tide is one of the most powerful soldiers in the world."
"Maple..."
"Although I have long had the heart to fight for northern Jin without regret, but I still can't help but tremble when I hear such hellish shouts."
"Maple..."
"Princess, it's time for me to go to the battlefield too." The warrior in blue wearing a sword suddenly half-kneeled from his seat, "Then let's say goodbye."
The woman on the opposite side lowered her head and moved her lips but said nothing.
The young warrior put his hands on his right knee and saluted: "When the country is in trouble, the warriors fulfill their loyalty and responsibility. It is Xiyuefeng's honor to have the opportunity to be loyal to the country. It's a pity that I don't have time to repay the princess' kindness and kindness. Appreciation is a regret in my life. If there is really another life, I hope to have the opportunity to go to Qingye Lake to listen to the princess's flute."
"I am also ready to go to Qingye Lake to play the flute when I say goodbye to Qiuyeshan in the next life."
"Is that so..." Xi Yuefeng's footsteps hesitated by the door, "Then goodbye."
He turned around and closed the door, pressed the knife and walked. The sound of his leisurely footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Only the woman who arranged the flowers was left in the house. She looked down at the spotless figure in the reflection of the basin. The skin that is too fair is like a piece of delicate tissue paper with two green eyebrows waving freehand. Tears slowly flowed across the almost transparent skin and fell into the water basin, and the reflection shattered.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, even though it was farewell to Xi Yuefeng, his footsteps were still graceful and calm, just like when he met his father back then. She first fell in love with the blue-sworded samurai not for his famed beauty and poetic talent but for his gait. Such light and rhythmic footsteps make people feel that everything is under his control. Even if the mountain falls on one side, he will hold it for you.
"Xiyue is a reliable man, so marry Xiyue!" The father said casually while drinking the wine in the bowl that night.
She didn't speak, covered her face with a folding fan and lowered the bamboo curtain beside her. Xi Yuefeng sat down like a mountain, holding the long knife at his waist and looking directly at the candle. Father Hou laughed silently.
"What kind of husband will my daughter like?" Jin Hou once asked her tentatively.
She held a tube of Changfeng Rabbit Brush and tapped the ink on the paper to write Luo Huiyang's "Deep Valley Copy" without answering. The fingertip-sized lowercase letters are beautiful and far away, like geese in the sky. Marquis Jin watched his daughter's strokes stagnate and then her cheeks turned blush.
"Clear water, quiet mountains, flowing clouds, and white cranes?" Marquis Jin picked up the plain note, flicked it, and put it into his sleeve with a wry smile. What about people? It's hard to find him."
"But only such a person is worthy of my daughter." Marquis Jin got up and left.
Princess Qiuluo of the Northern Jin Dynasty was seventeen years old and became famous among the Dukes of the East. Yan Ruobingxue's eyebrows are picturesque, Luo Huiyang's Zhaoyang body is a nine-section flute that blows through the autumn cold, it's easy to sing, ancient style and long tune. The name of Bing Ji in the Snow Country has always shocked the emperor of Tianqi City. Legend has it that the emperor held the princess's calligraphy and lit the lamp to read at night with emotion.
From then on, the young nobles who met the Marquis of Jin in Tianming Pavilion were always looked at with strange eyes by the Marquis of Jin. Among them, some lucky people were given a banquet. It is said that there is always a bamboo curtain hanging on the side during the banquet, and the dark fragrance of the figure behind it makes people imagine.
At the age of eighteen, the seventh noble warrior visited the Marquis of Jin and was called to enjoy the snow in Zhuliguan. She looked at the samurai under the lamp for a long time without saying no. The young warrior's name was Xi Yuefeng.
"It's snowing..." Xi Yuefeng stepped out of the abode of Zhuli Pavilion and looked up at the sky.
The first snow of this winter actually fell in the early morning when Akiba City was destroyed. The curly branches of a white plum tree at the end of the path in the garden are like a few rough ink marks on the drawing paper. Xiyuefeng watched the shouting of killing in the distance of the plum tree gradually disappear, and the surrounding was chilly.
"I was born in reincarnation for sixty years."
At this time, what he thought of was actually this little poem. Sixty years ago, Sima Qiuhuan, a famous general and literary craftsman in northern Shanxi, wrote this death poem looking at the snow falling outside the window. Two years ago, when the Marquis of Jin had a banquet in the small garden of Songtao Hall, he impromptu clapped his hands and sang this lament. The whole audience sighed for a long time, the bamboo curtain behind Marquis Jin raised a frown, and a soft, spring-like glance landed on him.
Sixty years of life are just sixty degrees of snow. The hasty journey of life and death and the loneliness that Xi Yuefeng sighed with since he was a child until the princess under the lamp lightly put his hand on the back of his hand and said: "I wish to be with you for sixty years in a hurry." A long-lasting warmth enveloped In the first snow of that winter, the two of them held hands and looked at the snow-hanging plum trees outside the window.
Thrilled and flashed past him like lightning, he suddenly turned his head, and the scarlet horse stood still at the entrance of the garden. The samurai on horseback held a pair of knives, and the red ink on the tip of the knife fell drop by drop on the snow. Neither of the opposing sides expected this encounter. The two exchanged glances calmly across the vast snow curtain.
The calm was broken in an instant! Xiyuefeng suddenly was so short that human eyes could no longer catch him, and the figure in blue clothes who drew his sword rushed out with the sharp light of the sword. At the same time, the scarlet horses kicked on the ground, and the warriors on the horse roared like thunder, each man riding one by one, and the gust of wind tore through the snow curtain.
The snow on the tops of the white plum trees rustled down, and a few patches of warm red splashed slowly on the snow.
"Are the plum blossoms in Fengyuanzi blooming?"
"Picking plum blossoms and drying them in the sun will be very fragrant with snow water and new tea?"
"The tea has a hint of sweetness."
"That's great..."
Those gentle voices came from all directions and every corner, as if many people were speaking at the same time but it was the voice of one person. Many voices layered together and gradually left the ear, making it impossible to know where the speaker was, only knowing that she was getting farther and farther away.
Xi Yuefeng tried hard to turn his head to look at the white plum plant, and saw that it was actually in full bloom with dazzling red flowers. There is no feeling of pain, only the coolness from his heart slowly engulfing him.
"Death doesn't hurt at all, it's just lonely. Living in this world is already lonely...so don't be afraid" his swordsmanship teacher once said.
At this time, he truly understood the loneliness that tinged with fear. The graceful and fierce sword skills of noble warriors are vulnerable to the blood-stained saber of the enemy. Slashing with a saber has a strong **** smell, like chopping a piece of pig iron, cracking the enemy's muscles and bones.
Is this the real art of killing people? Is dying loneliness really like this? A great trembling seemed to tear his body completely apart. Xi Yuefeng suddenly turned around and shouted at the abode on the other side of the small garden: "Qiu Luo, run away!"
Zhang Bozhu, the commander of Liguo, looked back at his opponent in surprise. He stood quietly in the middle of the courtyard and turned his head to stare at the plum tree as if he had lost his soul. Then he suddenly turned around and stretched out his hand to Xiaoyuan's side, opening his mouth wide to shout something, blood choked out from his mouth.
Zhang Bo didn't hear anything. His knife had cut the enemy's throat cleanly.
The enemy fell in the snow.
The woman's heart trembled suddenly. A few petals of the white plum in the porcelain vase fell on her hand of the same color as the plum blossom. She held the red sheathed dagger on the small table and turned to look at her maid. The young girl leaned against the window with one hand as if she was asleep, and held a small porcelain vase tightly with the other. An earthworm-like bloodstain crawled across the corner of her mouth and dripped onto the plain seat. From the open window, you can see countless rockets rushing towards the magnificent Tianming Pavilion like locusts on fire.
The proud Tianming Pavilion of Snow Country, the royal palace in Autumn Leaf City, the capital of Northern Shanxi, also fell in the rain of arrows like fire locusts from the Li army.
"This heart entrusts Jiangshui to miss you forever; this heart will never move to Shan Asijun" The woman pointed the blade of the dagger at her throat.
"Fall down!"
The burning main beam on the highest floor of Tianming Pavilion crashed down amidst the tide of cheers. This black nanmu, which is more than ten feet long and thick, was once the backbone of Tianming Pavilion supporting this palace city that ruled the northern kingdom. At this time, its huge weight smashed the white wall that was still burning. This high pavilion made of refined wood and white stone turned into ruins in an instant like a paper house. The smoke and dust stirred up by the girder shot up into the sky, and the burning ashes stretched its wings like a huge firebird, trying to fly into the air, but it still fell around.
A rafter fell under Xiong Jun's charcoal-fired horse. Li Hou reined in his horse and glanced coldly at the ruins.
"I would rather die than escape?" Li Hou nodded, "As expected of the monarch of northern Jin."
"If you die, you must see the corpse, otherwise it will be inconvenient for the imperial envoy of the imperial capital to ask you." The black armored warrior accompanying him reminded in a low voice.
"Marquis Qiuxiu of Jin will not abandon the city and flee to die with the country. It is his dignity. Let him die like a king, and let the ruins of Tianming Pavilion be buried."
"Yes!"
"Your Majesty is afraid that you will be incautious if you finish the matter like this?" A thin voice suddenly broke the silence. A wry smile hung on the Confucian-like face of a warrior in black armor, and an imperial envoy riding a white horse with his hands covering his nose had appeared in the distance. Two warriors each wore black and white armor and horses, guarding the imperial envoy on both sides.
"Then what about the envoy's intention?" Li Hou suddenly turned his head with a cold smile on his lips.
"If I can't bring out the body of rebellion and let this envoy bring it back to Tianqi, how can this envoy win the trust of the emperor and the princes of Tianqi City? If he doesn't spread the world with Qiuxi, how can he subdue the rebellious people in the Quartet? Do you really think that Qiuxiu won't cheat?"
Marquis Li pointed at the horsewhip: "Then it's that person over there, that's the corpse of Marquis Qiuxiu of Jin, and the imperial emissary brought it back to Tianqi for a mission."
"How can the king be trusted to speak evil? How could it be Qiuxiu's corpse who died at the gate of the palace?"
The corpse that Marquis Li was referring to was scorched black by the fire and it was difficult to distinguish clearly, but he just pointed at it casually to make him fly into a rage.
"Give the imperial envoy a shovel." Marquis Li smiled coldly, "Since the imperial envoy doesn't believe what Ben Hou said, he might as well dig it out himself. It's just that Ben Hou knows that Qiu Yi's corpse will not It is easier to identify than that one. The one that is passed down to the world is just a dead head that was burned at the gate of the palace or burned to death on the top of the pavilion. In Ying Wuyi's view, there is no difference. There are many heads here, so I can choose a good one. Yes."
"Junhou" came galloping like a whirlwind on a crimson horse. Zhang Bo leaned close to Ying Wuyi's ear, "I caught a woman in the south of the city."
"Woman?"
"Looking at the clothes, I'm afraid she is Qiuxiu's daughter."
"Daughter? Interesting" Li Hou twitched his long brown eyebrows, "Go and see!"
The charcoal fire horse hissed in a low voice, and in an instant it was a point far away from Hou Ying Wuyi's figure. Thousands of soldiers from Li State besieged Tianming Pavilion, and the black armored warrior from Li Jun followed the monarch to Nuo Da. The ruins of Tianming Pavilion suddenly became empty, only one Li Jun was left holding a handful of iron. Shovel stood respectfully under the envoy's horse.
"Ying...Ying Wuyi! You're so defiant!"
"This time, I was able to attack the enemy's unpreparedness and win the autumn leaf city within a month and a half. It was all due to the thunder cavalry of Liguo running like lightning. Today, breaking the city and building the royal family is just a good thing. Please forgive me. As for the Jin Dynasty Let Hou's body be handed over to Bai Yi," the warrior in white armor next to the imperial envoy comforted.
"Ying...Ying Wuyi! Hmph!" The envoy whipped his horse and left with the guards in his anger.
The remaining young warriors in black and white armor stayed in front of the ruins and exchanged glances with each other.
"Li Hou Ying Wuyi is probably the seed of troubled times?" Bai Yi silently looked at the ruins.
"It sounds like you're an old fellow, but Lihou is a newbie." The black-armored warrior curled his lips with an elusive cunning smile, "If I could, I'd imagine him like that."
"Xiyan, you are the seed of troubled times." Bai Yi's eyes flashed and then lowered.