Chapter 1: Mountain Village

During the treatment, he became lame.

Li Wei, who was half-kneeling and supporting his mother in the house, looked at Li Yan with regret and said, "Old Five, Third Brother"

"Third Brother, you don't have to say anything. The family will need you to take care of it in the future." Li Yan smiled at his third brother and interrupted, "Maybe I can become a general in the future, and then I will take you all to enjoy happiness."

Li Wei looked at him, sighed after a while, and then looked at his mother who was patted on the back by the fourth sister and was still sobbing, and said comfortingly, "Then maybe the fifth brother can bring honor to the Li family in the future."

In fact, Li Wei and Li Yan heard from their father and the villagers who went to the city to sell wild animal meat or fur, or went to the city to buy daily household items. They are a border town, and to the south is Mengguo. The probability of border war is still very high. Wars have broken out from time to time in recent years. Therefore, they have often recruited soldiers here in recent years. In the past, recruiting soldiers required each village to write a guarantee letter to prove their age, identity, and past experience at home. Now, as long as the village chief sends them, they can join the army. This is also because the current emperor of the dynasty rules the world with culture and virtue. The court is more civilized than military, which leads to the surrounding countries being ready to move and wars breaking out from time to time. In recent years, there have been wars not only in this direction, but also in other borders. Therefore, the dispatch of the central dynasty garrison cannot meet the needs of the local defense forces, and the local garrison can only recruit soldiers on the spot to supplement the source of soldiers.

Some local people know that the probability of joining the army is high, so the enthusiasm for joining the army is not very high. The local defense forces cannot force conscription due to the current emperor's law of ruling the world with culture and virtue. Therefore, in recent years, as long as they join the army, they can get a sum of money to give to the family of the soldiers. In fact, it is a settlement fee to stimulate the enthusiasm for joining the army. Once this law is introduced, it can also cause many farmers to send their children to join the army. Of course, these are basically poor families, but wealthy businessmen will not do it.

However, these situations were not known to the women in the village. In this world where men are superior to women, men rarely tell their mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law about these situations. However, these things can be used as topics for gossip in the village and in the fields, especially in their mountain village more than 200 miles away from the county town. There are only twelve or thirteen families in the village, and there is not even one soldier in the army for many years. However, the brothers Li Wei and Li Yan can hear them when they are working in the fields or following the team into the mountains.

Then, the house fell silent again. After a long time, the old man Li knocked his pipe on the doorstep several times and said, "Then I will go to find the village chief, you can rest." After that, he walked towards the village under the moonlight in the dark night, and his figure disappeared in the early autumn moonlight after a while.

The moonlight scattered on the pit from several wooden window panes with torn paper holes, and several torn quilts with cotton exposed were covered on the two of them. Li Wei and Li Yan lay back to back.

"Old Five, stay calm when you encounter things in the army. Be patient when you can. Don't force yourself to stand out."

"Yes."

After a while of silence, "If, there is a war, if no one sees, don't rush to the front and fall behind."

"Yes."

After another period of silence, "Don't worry about home. With your military allowance, I will take good care of my parents at home. You can buy yourself more meat with your monthly salary."

"Yes. Third brother, do more work in the fields. My parents are old."

"Okay, as long as I am here, my parents will not be hungry."

"", continue to be silent and occasionally talk.

The moonlight is like water, and the night is cool.

In the middle of the night, there was a slight sound from the door of the main room. The two brothers stopped talking. Then the low, inaudible conversation of the father and mother sounded in the side room. Soon after, the low sobbing of the fourth sister and mother came. It seems that the fourth sister has been with her mother.

Li Yan still had his back to his third brother, staring blankly at the wall in the dark. Under the dim moonlight, the cracks on the wall sounded like the voices of his family members and past events, spreading from his head to his heart.