On the southwest border of the endless Desolate Moon Continent, the rolling green mountains form an undulating criss-crossing line. The sun is setting in the west, the night is getting darker, and the villages at the foot of the mountains are starting to light up. Dim oil lamps, a few old locust trees at the end of the village, the leaves rustling in the wind, and from time to time, a few barks of dogs are heard far away from the village, which will cause more barks to echo, until slowly Silent.
The oil lamp shone on the cracked earth wall in the house, and a few vague figures were reflected on the wall, diagonally.
"My dear, let's just settle this matter. If you serve as a soldier and eat food, at least you won't starve to death. If you are lucky and get along well, you may still have a future." The old man sitting next to the door and leaning against the door frame has an old face, his skin is rough from years of toil, and his back is a little hunched. He is holding a pipe in his hand, with a yellowed and black pipe hanging under the pipe, sucking on it. , "Pah, pah", but the sound was very loud and crisp in the quiet room.
"But Fifth Brother, he is only fourteen years old, so young..." The old woman sitting on a simple, short chair, her clothes were shabby, and she could not climb up. He said with tears on his less wrinkled face.
The old man said: "There has been a locust plague for two consecutive years. Not to mention our family, more than half of the families in the village have no food. Those who can go to the city to work, those who can travel far away, and those who serve as soldiers. Soldier, Lao San’s leg was injured during work a few years ago and became disabled, so he couldn’t do much when he went out. Lao Wu was said to be only 16 or 77 years old, but it looked hard to believe. Now at least he is a soldier. There is also a subsidy that can be paid out in advance. Later, when he is stable, if he is willing, he can also send some back every month." After saying that, he nodded and smoked cigarette again. The old woman in the room lowered her head and continued to sob.
Outside the door, a figure squatted against the wall, but faced the distance, staring blankly at the outline of the mountains in the distance in the dark night, silent for a while, not knowing what to think. In the silence inside and outside the house, time passed slowly.
After a period of silence, the figure outside the house stood up, turned around and walked into the house. He was a man of about 16 or 17 years old, but he was a little thin, with a dark face and a very ordinary appearance. , wearing old coarse cloth clothes with several holes in them.
He said: "Father, mother, you don't have to worry. Many people in the village have gone out, and now the harvest at home is only enough to barely feed them. Although the village chief leads some people to hunt animals in the mountains occasionally , But after all, you can’t go deep, and you can only occasionally hunt some pheasants and hares, which are not enough. I also want to go out and have a look. I have third brother and fourth sister at home who can take care of you."
The real age of the half-grown boy is only fourteen years old. He has been hunting in the mountains and plowing fields outside the mountains all year round. He grows faster, but due to insufficient nutrition, he is very thin. The boy's name is Li Yan. He is usually taciturn. He has been studying in a private school for six or seven years with an old scholar in the village and a group of children of similar age. Later, after the old scholar passed away, he had less and less time to study, so he went to a private school.He often hunted with the adults in the village outside Daqing Mountain. At first, he just followed him out secretly. But after a long time, his hiding place was exposed. When he came back, he was often beaten and scolded by his parents. But all children in mountain villages were like this. He was not beaten by his parents. I grew up surrounded by scolding.
As Li Yan grew older, he also began to follow the hunting team into the mountains. Gradually, he became familiar with the habits of some wild animals, and gradually participated in the adults' hunting. Because he ran and jumped in the mountains and streams all year round, My body has grown taller and stronger, but the locust plague in the past two years has greatly reduced the main grain harvest. My family can only eat half a meal at a time. I am no longer as strong as before, and my body has become thinner.
Li Yan has five brothers and sisters. The eldest sister and the second sister were married away when he was ten and twelve years old respectively. The fourth sister Li Xiaozhu also found a good husband's family. However, due to the locust plague in the past two years, the husband's family itself He is not from a wealthy family, so he cannot raise the dowry to marry her. However, they promised to collect the dowry as soon as possible, so it should be possible within one or two years. A few years ago, the third brother Li Wei accidentally injured his ankle on a plow tool while going to the fields. Due to the lack of money at home, his treatment was delayed and he became lame.
Li Wei, who was half-kneeling in the room and supporting his mother, looked at Li Yan with regret and said, "Lao Wu, third brother..."
"Third brother , You don’t need to say anything, the family will need more care from you in the future." Li Yan smiled softly at the third brother and interrupted, "Maybe I can become a general or something in the future, and then I will take you all to enjoy the blessings."
Li Wei looked at him and sighed softly after a while, then looked at his mother who was still sobbing softly while being patted on the back by her fourth sister, and said comfortingly, "Then the Li family can Only Lao Wu can bring glory to our ancestors."
In fact, Li Wei and Li Yan had heard from their father and other villagers in the village who went to the city to sell wild animal meat or furs, or to buy daily household necessities in the city, that they were from the frontier. To the south of the town is the Mongolian country, and the chance of border war is still very high, and wars have broken out from time to time in recent years. Therefore, they have often recruited soldiers here over the years. In the past, recruitment required each village to write a letter of guarantee, proving age, identity, history at home, etc. Now you can join the army as long as you are sent by the village chief. This is also because the emperor of the current dynasty rules the world with culture and ethics. The victory of culture in the court has led to the decline of military power in the court, which has caused surrounding countries to be ready to take action, and military chaos has broken out from time to time. In recent years, there have been more than 100 wars. There is war in this direction, and wars are breaking out on the border in other directions. Therefore, the garrison dispatched by the Central Dynasty cannot meet the needs of the local defense forces. The local garrison can only recruit troops on the spot to supplement the supply of troops.
This chapter is not finished yet, click on the next page to continue reading.
Some local people know that there is a higher chance of joining the army and participating in the war, so the enthusiasm for joining the army is not very high. However, the local defense army is hampered by the current emperor's laws and regulations that govern the world with culture and morality. Conscription cannot be forced, so in recent years, as long as you join the army, you can get a sum of money to give to your family members, which is actually a settlement allowance, in order to stimulate the enthusiasm for joining the army. Once this law comes out, it will also cause many farmers to send money to the army.Of course, most of these are from poor families, but wealthy businessmen do not.
But these situations are not something that women in the village can know. In this world where men are superior to women, men rarely tell their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law about these situations. It was a topic of conversation at that time, especially in their mountain village, which is more than 200 miles away from the county seat. There are only twelve or three families in the village, and not one of them has enlisted in the army for many years, but brothers Li Wei and Li Yan can work in the fields. Or you can hear it when you follow the team into the mountains.
Then, the room fell silent again. After a long time, Old Man Li knocked his pipe on the threshold a few times and said, "Then I'll go find the village chief. You can rest." After that, under the moonlight of the dark night He walked down to the village, and after a while the figure disappeared in the early autumn moonlight.
The moonlight was scattered on the pit from several wooden window panes with torn paper holes. Several tattered quilts with exposed cotton covered the two of them. Li Wei and Li Yan were lying back to back. .
"Lao Wu, when you encounter trouble in the army, you should be calm, endure what you can tolerate, and don't push forward."
"Yeah."
After a period of silence, "If, if there is a war, if no one sees it, don't rush ahead and fall a few steps behind."
"Hmm".
After another period of silence, he said, "Don't worry about your family. With your allowance for joining the army, I will take good care of your parents at home. You can buy more meat for yourself with your monthly salary." eat".
"Well... Third brother, you can work more in the fields. My parents are getting older."
"Okay, as long as I am here, my parents will never be hungry."
"...", the silence and occasional words continued.
The moonlight is like water and the night is cool.
In the middle of the night, there was a soft knock on the main room door. The two brothers stopped talking. Then, the low and inaudible voices of their father and mother were heard in the side room. Soon after, the fourth sister’s voice was heard. He's mother was sobbing softly. It seemed that the fourth sister had been accompanying her mother.
Li Yan still turned his back to his third brother, staring blankly at the wall in the dark night. Under the hazy moonlight, the cracks on the wall looked like the voices of relatives at home. The past events spread from head to heart.