When the decision was finally made, I felt a sense of pleasure. The hopes and fears, dreams and anxiety that had been held in my heart for a long time disappeared at the moment of the battle. What I left was unyielding fighting spirit and incomparable courage. - Gao Chong's handwritten book.

******************

In October of the autumn of the second year of Xingping, it was a liquor.

"You guy has a talent, and you can go through five rounds under my Han Dang sword. You can die without regrets!" When the severe pain at the knife attacked, I vaguely saw a hint of surprise flashing in the eyes of the arrogant enemy general.

"Han Dang--." I rolled with all my strength and dodged the enemy's war horses trampled in the air.

The dizziness caused by excessive blood loss was so fatal that my body fell heavily into a pit. After a severe pain, I lost all my consciousness.

...

The broken flag was inserted obliquely on the blood-soaked ground, and accompanied by it were the corpses of soldiers lying in a row. In the fields, except for a few shrill crows chirping, only the sound of the strong wind blowing from Jiangbei was left to hunt the flag.

I struggled to stand up and leaned on the skull for more than half of my body's weight. The solidified wound under the left rib was torn apart by this pull. The blood dyed the broken cowhide armor red. Fortunately, with the protection of this layer of armor, the enemy's sword did not penetrate deep into my chest.

Apart from me, there are probably no one else on the cemetery after the war. The brothers who were sleeping with me a day ago are now "slept" not far from me. They either lie down, lean, lean, or lean, and their posture is so peaceful. It is really difficult for us, the lowly commoners to sleep in this troubled times. Death may be the best relief.

Last evening, Yuan Shu's army, who had been confronting us for nearly a year, suddenly exerted its force and crossed the Yangtze River chasm in the night. The enemy's offensive was so fierce that it almost broke out in a flash. General Zhang Ying, who led our camp, came out of the camp to fight. After only a few rounds, he was killed by the enemy generals who were facing each other. And those who left us soldiers who were not too late to escape had to face death except for surrender.

I heard that the enemy's commander was Sun Bofu, the butcher who had caught Lujiang in three days, and the gang of powerful generals under his father Sun Jian who had conquered Dong Zhuo. Compared with these veterans who had experienced a long battle formation, we are no rivals at all.

The 10,000 soldiers guarding Danglikou only passed two hours, and 3,000 people died, 4,000 people surrendered, and the rest were all dispersed. For only more than three hundred years, the children of Jiangdong were no longer the frivolous young man who dared to follow Xiang Yu to raise the banner of righteousness to resist the violent Qin Dynasty.

The firelight in the distance was getting closer and closer, mixed with shouts and scoldings. I knew that the enemy was cleaning up the battlefield and detaining the surrendered prisoners in one place. It won't take long before the enemy would search for me.

"Cough--!" I pulled off a corner of my battle robe, tried my best to suppress the pain, and pricked the bleeding wound tightly.

The scepter about 800 years old in my hand was so heavy that I had the idea of ​​abandoning it for the first time. I still remember the time I picked it up on the field of the new recruits' exercises, and then rode a horse flat to pick it up and sprinted. The excitement and ecstasy suddenly surged in my heart. For a person of a humble background like me, the best way to change my destiny is to pick up weapons, use your own lives to go to the battlefield to bet, to bet, and to kill and poke.

I looked at the sky with my head down, and the sky was also speechless.

I looked down at the ground, and the ground was covered in chaos after the defeat.

...

My relatives were displaced at a young age, and my childhood study in a clan school had already blurred and disappeared. With a sudden change in my family, my identity also fell from a poor family to a slave who lived in a wealthy family.

In order to survive, I gave up almost everything, including freedom, identity, and dignity.

This is the price of a teenager growing up in troubled times.

Half a year ago, I was just one of the many great wealthy families in Moling. Because of the "recruitment order" that was different from the past by the new Yangzhou governor Liu Yao, I changed my destiny. The general meaning of this order is that a slave who lost his identity like me, as long as I sign up to join the troops guarding Hengjiang and Dangli, I can restore the identity of a civilian and exempt all the crimes I committed before. If I gain enough military merit in the battle, I can also be promoted.

For me, who is a domestic slave, the battlefield is terrible, but the freedom and dignity are even more touching. In just one month, thousands of domestic slaves signed up. At the same time, compared with those infantrymen without armor, it is my luck to be a cavalryman, because I have not yet stepped on the back of a horse except for riding a buffalo when I was grazing in childhood.

I remember that on the military field, the new recruits who claimed to be strong and strong in front of me all fell to their noses and their faces. The confidence when they left the line was even more embarrassing. The horse that trained us to ride was very violent and could not help but raise its front hooves to demonstrate to us.

On the viewing platform, silk umbrellas blocked the scorching sun. Zhang Ying, Fan Neng, Yu Mi, Xu Shao and other civil and military generals were listed on the left and right. In the middle was a middle-aged man with a tall crown and a cotton satin court robes. I knew that was the nephew of the Han Taiwei Liu Chong, the new general of Yangzhou Mu Zhenwu.

The cheers on the field gradually weakened. For us, the children of Jiangnan who were accustomed to driving ships and carrying boats, horses were just luxury toys for the nobles who moved from the north.

"Let me try!" Facing many new recruits who fell, I felt the expectation and ridicule of my companions around me. In the public eye, I fell from the back of the furious war horse again and again, climbed up, jumped up, rolled over, stomped my belly, and ran. Finally, when I was almost about to give up, the war horse under me began to calm down. It lowered its high head and took me back to the field of exercise with a submissive trot.

There were thunderous applause and cheers around. I didn't bother to rub the butt that was sore, and stepped on my sore legs, and responded to Junhou with confidence. At this moment, thousands of eyes were staring at me, with admiration, envy, jealousy, and contempt in my eyes. No matter what kind of eyes were, this feeling that could be noticed by thousands of people was so wonderful.

This day was the most glorious day in my life.

From this story, there are rumors in the army that Xu Shao, who was on the viewing platform, was surprised when he saw my face that day, so he advised Liu Yao privately: "This child is tough and extraordinary. If he is always here, he will be of great use."

Liu Yao said seriously: "I am open-minded and speak without any restraint. I met Cao Gong Meng De before, and gave me a gift from him as a capable minister in governing the world and a traitor in troubled times. Now, when I meet this young man, I am given a word from a superior person. I wonder what Meng De will feel like?"

After hearing this, Xu Shao also had a cold sweat on his face. If the words just now really reached Cao Cao's ears, with Cao Cao's current status, it would be impossible to get along with him in just a few words.

If this passage is true, then these extremely private answers between Liu Yao and Xu Shao were unlikely to be spread to the army, but if someone was deliberately spreading it, it would be impossible. The person who first spread this matter was not someone else, but a personal soldier from General Zhang Ying's mansion.

Under Liu Yao's tent, Zhang Ying and Xu Shao were the leaders of civil officials and military generals respectively, but their relationship was very irresistible. This time, they left Hengjiang and were aware of it. Xu Shao advised Chen Heng, who had always been dissatisfied with Zhang Ying, to be the general of commanding the army in front of the generals. How could Zhang Ying swallow this?

When the soldiers who were good to me on weekdays heard this, they rushed to tell me and congratulated me. No matter what, it is always a glorious thing to be attracted by the famous scholar Xu Shao, who is a good person in the world.

I smiled distractedly and replied humbly: "It is enough to not beat or scold me. How can I spy on the affairs of the superiors?"

For me, the scenery of the military field is just a prelude to the battlefield. After all, it is just a temporary pleasure and cannot be taken seriously. Although I have got rid of my identity as a slave, I still have to prove myself on the battlefield. I have to use my ability and courage to be promoted, rather than relying on Xu Shao's words.

But now, my first battle ended in failure.

I was unwilling to give up, but I could do nothing.

I moved step by step and groped to the north bank of the river. In fact, walking east is the nearest road to Qu'a, but if I go east, I'm very likely to encounter the main force of Sun Ce's army, just like the torrent of the eastward, while the west and south are vast mountains and dense forests with few people. It is the paradise of Shanyue Zongko. Even if I can escape by chance, I will not be able to go out with my severe damage to my body.

Although there is a vast Yangtze River flowing northward, if you can find a ship, you can smoothly avoid the enemy's patrol. Apart from surrendering, this is my only way to live now.

It would be great if I could find a boat. I was thinking and searching deep into the river. The ships that had lost the cable bondage would drift along the water. There were more than a hundred naval ships stationed in Danglikou. I should be able to find a warship that had not been captured by Sun Ce's army.

Along the way, I kept meeting the defeated soldiers who had the same ideas as me. Some of them did not choose to surrender because they missed their wives and children at home, and some were deserters who had disbanded early in the morning. Gradually, our group gathered together more than a dozen people.

"Look, what is that?" a soldier walking in his head shouted.

I looked up and saw a bucket ship lying quietly in the river bank covered by reeds. The broken cable and one end were soaked in the water. The soldiers were all ecstatic. The ship was as important as the horses in the north. With it, we will definitely return to Qu'a safely.

The water was rushing, accompanied by the rhythmic paddling sound, which was a familiar sound since I was a child. The night of tearing and pulling out almost exhausted all my energy. Now I can no longer hold on and fall asleep in the cabin.

I don’t know how long I slept at this sleep. In the end, I was awakened by the shouts around me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that our boat was surrounded by five or six fishing boats, and four or five shirtless men were watching with weapons on each fishing boat.

"I met the thief in Jiang!" My heart sank.

Before I could report it, I heard a shout like thunder: "You incompetent soldiers have not surrendered early, do you still want your Grandpa Zhou to take action?"

"Zhou Tai!" the companion next to him screamed.

I held my lips and reached out to grab the short halberd next to the scepter. If I would fight on the boat later, I would have no place to use my skills. Zhou Tai, whose courtesy name was Youping, was a native of Xia Cai, Jiujiang. He was brave and brave, and was the most famous leader among the thieves in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In the spring of the first year of Xingping, Zhou Tai was trapped by Yuan Shu's general Lei Bo in Chaohu. At that time, Lei Bo's army had a thousand soldiers, and Tai had only a hundred men under him. Everyone thought it was helpless. However, Tai was excited and shouted loudly, threw himself into the rushing formation, and died when he blocked it. When he was in a state of no one, Lei Bo's army ran apart. After the battle, Zhou Tai broke his armor and observed it. He was injured by twelve people. Therefore, people saw it and were called "tiger courage".

We were attracted to him, and our luck was really "good".

"Bang, bang--." The enemy is numerous and we are few, the army has no fighting spirit, and the opponent is Zhou Tai, who is famous for his strength. The defeated soldiers who have long been frightened, put down their weapons. In a moment, among us, except for me, I also held a short halberd, everyone else gave up resisting.

"Boy seeks death!" Suddenly, Zhou Tai cursed angrily, his eyes widened, his tiger beards opened, and he leaped towards our boat. The soldiers on the boat were intimidated by Zhou Tai's momentum. Although there were many people, no one dared to block Zhou Tai's way and let him strode towards me.

"Don't throw the short halberd!" the soldiers beside him reminded.

I ignored his words, just stared at Zhou Tai with both eyes, and protected his chest tightly to guard against his possible attacks. I asked me to put down my weapons and listen to others' failures. From the moment I joined the army, I vowed to control my own destiny. Even if I encounter great difficulties, I will never retreat.

"Zhou Tai, I'm not afraid of you." I shouted.

At worst, I can only die, I secretly cheer myself up.
Chapter completed!