Wei Dayong was thinking about this when he suddenly heard a familiar sound of footsteps approaching from the corner gate, approaching from far away.

Without turning around to look, he immediately guessed that the person coming was his junior brother, and of course his best friend - Zhen Yuan.

as expected.

From far away, Zhenyuan couldn't wait to shout: "Senior brother! It's so hard for me to find you! Guess what I brought you?"

Only then did Wei Dayong follow the sound and saw Zhenyuan, empty-handed, running towards him with long strides, wind and fire.

Since there is nothing in the hand, the object that can only be placed in the sleeves or arms will not be too big or too heavy.

Zhenyong joked and said with a smile: "Since you are determined to become an abbot, you should be calm and calm, speak and behave appropriately. Who do you think an abbot is, who can be so fussy?"

Speaking of which, Zhenyuan has an obsession. He firmly believes that sooner or later, he will eventually be welcomed by the public and become the abbot of the temple.

However, he only mentioned this matter to Wei Dayong, and no outsiders knew about it.

When the two talked in private, Wei Dayong often teased him about this matter, but Zhenyuan didn't take it seriously. Instead, he vowed that "where there is a will, there is a way."

"What the heck, so what? I'm only sixteen years old, and I don't waste my youth without being arrogant. By the time I become the abbot, I will probably be sixty years old. By then, I will be more stable."

While Zhenyuan answered, he quickened his pace and was in front of Wei Dayong in a blink of an eye.

Wei Dayong stretched his hand forward and asked: "What is it? Take a look!"

He didn't show off even though he was really far away. He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to his senior brother as if he was offering a treasure: "Look, this is your elder brother's letter! It was brought up the mountain by a pilgrim with the help of him."

Wei Dayong went to the mountains and entered the temple when he was young, while Wei Dazhuang had been working at home until he joined the army a few years ago.

In Wei Dayong's impression, since he became a monk, the total number of times the two brothers met did not exceed one hand.

But as the saying goes, a brother's heart is connected to his heart, and even his broken bones are connected to his tendons.

The two brothers don't have many opportunities to meet each other, but they have a good relationship with each other and exchange several letters every year.

These letters are sent and received from the post office in the town at the foot of the mountain through lay people or pilgrims.

When he saw that it was a letter from his eldest brother, Wei Dayong was overjoyed. He immediately opened the envelope, held the letter in his hand, and read it carefully word for word.

Zhenyuan knew that Wei Dayong's brother, Wei Dazhuang, was a company commander in a certain unit of the national army. He heard that he was stationed in the Shanxi Province and had more than a hundred people under his command, who could be considered a senior officer.

He asked from the side: "Senior brother, what interesting things did your brother tell you in the letter?"

Wei Dayong did not answer, his brows furrowed slightly.

The content of this letter is very different from the previous letters from my eldest brother, and it has nothing to do with the word "interesting" in Zhenyuan's mouth.

In his usual letters, Wei Dazhuang rarely mentioned anything about the army. He would first greet his family, then ask about some personal issues, and finally ask him to send a message to his parents to report that they were safe, and so on.

However, this letter only mentions state affairs, not domestic affairs.

The letter said that since the "July 7th Incident" last year, the Japanese soldiers have been coming in force, and the soldiers have been divided into groups and have occupied large areas of China's beautiful rivers and mountains.

Relying on their strong troops and sophisticated weapons, the Japanese gained great advantages in several major battles. Shanghai fell and Nanjing fell.

Then the letter mentioned that his unit had received the order and had already gone to the front line, and was about to start a head-on battle with the Japanese.

He also said that this battle would definitely lead to a narrow escape from death, and he himself was determined to die.

However, the little Japs go too far to bully others. Even if we, the seven-foot-tall Chinese men and descendants of Yan and Huang, die in battle, we still have to drag a few Japs soldiers to our backs.

Finally, Wei Dazhuang wrote in the letter: "At this difficult time for the country, it is the duty of a soldier to fight bravely against the enemy and defend the country. The only two elders in the family who are worried about me are my brothers. This trip for my brother is very likely to happen."

Once you leave and never come back, I may not be able to fulfill my filial piety at the knees of my parents in the future. If something happens that I cannot bear to say, I hope that my brother can fulfill his filial piety on behalf of his brother, return home and come down the mountain, and take good care of his parents. I have said this, each of you will cherish it."

Reading through the entire text, the impassioned sentiments in the letter are vividly visible on the page.

The words made Wei Dayong's blood boil.

Because he had not seen it with his own eyes, he had no intuitive feeling for the Japanese's ferocity and cruelty.

However, Wei Dayong could read from the lines of his eldest brother's words that his eldest brother had a strong hatred for the Japanese from the bottom of his heart.

After reading this letter from his eldest brother, the vigorous Wei Dayong didn't think about the content of the letter about caring for his parents at all. Instead, he was ignited by his eldest brother's impassioned text, which ignited his fighting spirit.

He wished he could spread his wings and fly to his eldest brother's side, so that the two brothers could fight side by side and beat the little devil until he cried like father and mother.

It's a pity that the eldest brother's letter did not mention the unit he was in or the specific location of the transfer.

The world is so big that Wei Dayong has no way of knowing where to find his eldest brother.

After reading that letter, for several nights, Wei Dayong dreamed of his elder brother fighting bloody battles with the Japanese soldiers and finally dying for the country.

What was left to him was the back of his majestic body standing tall on the battlefield.

After he woke up from the dream, he couldn't help but sigh...

Wei Dayong originally planned to ask for leave from his master, go to Zhongmou, help his parents harvest the wheat, and escort them back to the countryside of Dengfeng, letting the two elders stay in their hometown for a while to see how the situation goes before making a decision.

However, at this time of year, there are still about ten days before the summer harvest, and the temple's triennial martial arts competition will be held the next day, so Wei Dayong postponed his trip.

In his heart, he really didn't want to miss this martial arts competition.

Speaking of the Four Courts Tournament, it has its own origins.

Kongming Temple is divided into four courtyards: "East, West, North and South". Each courtyard has a master with strong martial arts to teach martial arts.

Each of these masters has his own disciples, numbering between forty and fifty.

All the monks in the four courtyards combined totaled nearly two hundred people.

Every three years, Kongming Temple will hold a competition between the four temples at the end of summer.

Only the new generation of monks who are over fifteen years old and under thirty are eligible to participate.

This year happens to be the year to hold a martial arts tournament again.

At this time, each house will select one person from among the qualified monks of the house to compete with opponents from other houses to determine the ranking order of the four houses in the east, west, south, and west within the next three years.

.

At the same time, the winning party will get the right to use the Thousand Buddha Hall for three years, and can practice martial arts there during normal times, while the losing houses can only practice martial arts in their respective training grounds.

The older generation of monks are all dying.

In these martial arts competitions, all monks of the "true" generation have shone brightly on the field.

Zhenyong has just turned 17, so since he entered the temple, he has not been eligible to participate in the meeting. This year is his first time to participate.

There is no doubt that Wei Dayong has defeated all the brothers in the academy in the previous preliminary competition and obtained the qualification to represent the West Academy in the martial arts competition.

It is said that the East Branch, which ranked first in the last tournament, will send 23-year-old Vacuum, a master who has topped the list in the previous two tournaments.

As for the South Court and the North Court, Zhenming and Zhenxin will fight respectively.

During this period, Master specially conducted intensive training for Wei Dayong, and also asked Zhenyuan to accompany Wei Dayong to practice more, in order to maintain Wei Dayong in a better competitive state.

Zhenyuan's martial arts skills are naturally lower than Wei Dayong's, but he is stocky, has rough skin and thick flesh that can withstand beatings, and he is a very good human punching bag.

After reading the letter, Wei Dayong felt that he was holding back an anger with nowhere to vent. He said to Zhenyuan: "You came just in time, come and fight with me!"

Zhenyuan was shocked: Didn’t I come to my door to be beaten?
Chapter completed!