It was already May, and the order to go out was spreading all over Henan.

In a certain village in Lijiafang, Liang County, Qu Wangwu of the Fubing Department took out a rusty broadsword and sharpened it by the well.

The broadsword is very long, has a thick back, and is overall heavy.

According to Wang Wu's family background, he could not afford such a weapon with exquisite materials. In fact, it was a trophy distributed by his master and given to him.

Of course, this is the only weapon, there are no others.

The old father made him a wooden shield, not too big but not too small, just enough to cover his chest. It had a protective effect and increased his chances of survival on the battlefield.

Wang Wu kept grinding, raised his hand to wipe his sweat, sprinkled some water on the whetstone, and continued grinding.

The sound of messy footsteps could be heard on the road outside.

The county has recruited a thousand men, and everyone is crying and mourning. They have been passing by on the road outside the door for the past two days, and they don't know where to gather.

"Wang Wu, it's time to go!" When the knife was finished sharpening, Li Si passed by with his horse and shouted loudly.

Wang Wu looked up and said, "You are going to a funeral, are you in such a hurry?"

Li Si didn't worry, he laughed and said: "I'm not going, I'm here to give you a horse."

He knew that Wang Wu was going on an expedition with his family leader and was not in a good mood, so he didn't mind.

Before leaving, he fed the horse well and tried not to cause trouble to Wang Wu.

Wang Wu put down the knife and looked around again.

What a beautiful homestead!

He and his father personally selected adobe bricks and built the house piece by piece.

After several years of wind and rain erosion, it is generally still strong.

He couldn't help but walked over, stroking the rough exterior wall with his hand.

On the sunny wall, wild bees were buzzing, going in and out of their holes, busy with their little homes.

Under the corner, several impatiens swayed in the wind, blooming with gorgeous stamens.

He walked around the earthen house. The bamboo forest behind the house was quiet and distant.

The few missing bamboo shoots have grown taller and taller, and the rudiments of bamboo have grown, just like his growing children.

Every autumn and winter, he would accompany his father to cut down bamboo, prepare materials, and make bamboo utensils in the coming spring and summer to supplement the family income. This year he was unable to do this.

He came to the right side of the earth house again.

The nearly dry river ditch is full of weeds. The child is herding sheep on the bank. From time to time he jumps into the ditch and catches one or two finger-length fish among the water plants, and then screams loudly.

Wang Wu looked at it quietly for a while, with a smile on his face.

More than ten mulberry trees were planted on the east side of the river ditch.

This was transplanted last spring. It has been more than a year and has already grown taller than a human.

This year I have already picked mulberry leaves once, turned them into food for spring silkworms, and then turned into clothes for people.

Wang Wu was wearing linen clothes, and the silk was obviously not for them. The woman was weaving day and night, her eyes were dazzled, and the results had to be exchanged for money at the market - the money to buy the cow was still a little short, and this time the teacher came back

, if there is a reward, that is almost enough, right?

He stepped on dead branches and leaves, crossed the road, and came to the field ridge.

The father walked over from a distance carrying a hoe.

"This year's crop seedlings are not good, and I am worried to death." My father, with his head full of white hair, sighed.

"It'll be fine if you can make do with it." Wang Wu said.

"That's right." The father breathed out.

Neither of them mentioned the expedition, as if they were deliberately avoiding the topic.

An old man and a young man stood side by side on the field ridge, looking into the distance.

The sky is high and the clouds are clear, and the wild geese are flying north.

There are thousands of hectares of fertile farmland as far as the eye can see.

This is his home.

His children were born and raised here.

"Wow--" A loud cry came from the yard.

Wang Wu turned around and looked.

The wife hurried out of the woodshed, picked up the crying baby, lifted up the hem of her clothes, and started feeding the baby.

Wang Wu lowered his head.

"Leave!" a shout came from not far away.

Wang Wu looked up and saw the head of the family, Zhang San, and Li Si standing on the road, waving to him.

Li Si bundled up the armor, heavy sword, spear, bow, dagger, arrow pot and other equipment and placed them on the horse's back.

Zhang San carried a large bag of grain and walked towards the courtyard of his house. After putting it down, he trotted to the courtyard of the main house, picked up some dried meat, cheese, and salted vegetables, and placed them in Wang Wu's courtyard.

.

"Hey!" Wang Wu responded. He just took two steps and turned to look at his father.

His father was looking at him deeply. After a long time, he sighed: "There are still your brothers and sisters at home. Go ahead. The more you fear death, the faster you will die."

Wang Wu nodded, returned to the courtyard, and took out a wooden shield and a broadsword.

The wife had just finished feeding the child, and when her husband came back, she quickly put the child down, wiped her tears, and hurried to the kitchen.

A small table made of bamboo was filled with wild vegetable porridge.

Without even looking at these, she carefully took out two pieces of Hu Pancakes, wrapped them carefully, then stuffed the dried meat from the host into them, and handed them to Wang Wu's hands.

"Take care of the family." Wang Wu held it in for a long time, only said this sentence, turned around and left.

On the road at the door, soldiers began to pass by again.

This time they were not outsiders, but local troops from Lijiafang's hometown.

Two hundred soldiers from the government, each with a subordinate, led the horses, pack horses or donkeys and mules, and meandered.

At first, the atmosphere was a bit dull, and the sadness of separation stuck in my heart, which made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

But after walking a few miles, the atmosphere slowly relaxed.

The soldiers were talking and laughing loudly, as if they didn't take it seriously to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield. Their words were all about how they killed the thieves heroically, although after each expedition, some soldiers could not come back.

Looking down from the sky, although there are only a few hundred people, there is an aura of its own.

And further away are the Shiqiao defense, Yongxing defense, Yingqiao defense, Yushan defense, Princess defense...

Groups of soldiers gathered together, with horseshoes in formation and swords and guns heavily guarded.

They headed east, crossed the Ying River, passed through Xiangcheng, entered Yingchuan, and then headed towards Chenliu and Puyang.

****

In Chenjun in May, it rains continuously.

Six thousand sergeants from the Silver Spear Right Battalion gathered one after another to Yangxia and conducted the last drill.

After the drill, Warlord Jin Zheng gave an order, and everyone lined up neatly and came to the river.

One pair of armors were removed and sent into the cabin.

The spears were removed one by one, tied up, and stuffed into the boat.

Everyone is unstringing the bow, the bow tip is inserted into the waist, and the bow string is tied to the quiver.

There was another sound of unsheathing and re-sheathing, and the ring-shou knife was carefully inspected. If it was damaged, there was a last chance to replace it.

Several ships have already departed early.

The cabin was filled with arrows, bundle after bundle, either made locally in Chen County or collected from powerful families.

Boat after boat was filled with wooden rafts, hooks and spears, long-handled axes, earthen pots, cauldrons, horse spoons, iron picks, shovels, ropes, candles, whetstones, wound medicine and other odds and ends.

.

The operations and military supplies of the Silver Spear Right Battalion were all transported by ship to reduce the burden of marching.

Sidecars and baggage trains travel on land and can also carry an additional portion of grain and beans.

Six thousand sergeants also went north along the Suiyang Canal. After arriving at Junyi, they separated from the fleet, turned northeast, and headed to Puyang Wenshijin, then crossed the Yellow River and arrived at Fangtou Nancheng.

When Yuan Chong arrived at the school grounds, what he saw was the scene of an expedition.

Six thousand people shouted "kill" in unison, and then took to the road in a menacing manner.

They recruit soldiers professionally and work hard to eat food. They can march and fight even if it is windy, rainy, or snowy. They don’t have to worry about their family’s livelihood. Guangchengze’s farmland now provides pensions to more than 10,000 people every year, and they receive 24 hu of grain per year, saving money.

If you eat a little and cultivate a few fields, you can almost make a living.
To be continued...