Chapter 567: Little Soldier Mu Qiu

Mu Qiu was running for his life, and he could no longer tell east from west. His five companions were all dead. He was the only one who was lucky. Although he was shot by an arrow, he was not injured. The horse under his crotch was also very good, carrying him all the way and running away. When it was completely dark, the sound of the horse's hooves behind him was no longer heard. He confirmed that he had indeed escaped the pursuers.

He jumped off the warhorse that was so tired that he was foaming at the mouth. He was sore and weak that he collapsed under the starry sky, gasping for breath. The thrilling scene in the daytime appeared before his eyes again.

They were a group of six people, one of the teams sent by the First Army to draw a map this time, but they went too far. Mu Qiu estimated that they had at least penetrated nearly 200 miles.

Facts have proved that this was an extremely wrong choice. Mu Qiu pulled his hair in pain. He killed his companions.

Mu Qiu is a son of a craftsman from Langya County. In Langya County, they have been craftsmen for generations and can never get rid of it. Since he was sensible, his life has been to learn the family craftsmanship with his father, then become one of the many craftsmen, and then marry a woman who is also from a craftsman, have children, and repeat his father's life process.

Such a life has no expectations and no hope. But he has no choice.

The turning point appeared when he was desperate. As Ye Jing'er's dowry, they were sent to General Gao Yuan of Zhengdong. For the craftsmen who have no personal freedom, they have long been accustomed to such sending and receiving. It's nothing more than changing a place and changing a master. It's just that this time they went too far, from the pleasant climate of Langya County to the bitter cold north.

The craftsmen were unwilling in their hearts, but they had no choice. The result of resistance is likely to be the destruction of the family and the death of life. No one thought that it was this transfer that changed the fate of tens of thousands of craftsmen.

Soon after arriving at their destination, they received a shocking and unbelievable news. To be precise, it was not news, but an announcement. General Gao Yuan of the Eastern Expedition cancelled their household registration as artisans, and from then on, they would become free people.

Freedom is something that artisans have longed for for generations, but when it comes too suddenly, it is still unbelievable.

But then a series of actions by the Eastern Expedition Government made them feel that freedom had indeed come.

The Eastern Expedition Government built houses for each of their families. The land was allocated and livestock was distributed. Although the artisans still had to form teams to work, on the first day of work. The person in charge of the workshop clearly informed them of the amount of compensation they would receive every day. If they did not want to work anymore, they had to notify the workshop one month in advance. In short, they were free to come and go.

In the Eastern Expedition Government,

there was no coercion. Only voluntary.

One after another, the shocking things that made people dizzy came to an end. The land allocated to them would be exempted from taxes for three years. The land was allocated to them for free, but the houses and livestock had to be paid for. The money had to be repaid to Zhengdong Mansion within three years. In Mu Qiu's opinion, the price of these things was too cheap. You know, in Langya County, a cow could be purchased for at least five taels of silver, but in Jishi City, they only had to pay one tael of silver. And the price they had to pay for the house allocated to them was almost free in Mu Qiu's opinion, and they might not even be able to buy the materials.

Jishi City was full of opportunities to make money. Working in a workshop had the highest price. The skilled craftsmen, especially blacksmiths, carpenters, and stonemasons, could pay off their debts within a year with the remuneration they received. If they didn't have any special skills, they could work on the construction site in the city, and the remuneration they received was not cheap.

If they were more flexible and could do some small business, the income would be even more considerable.

Tens of thousands of artisans from Langya County suddenly forgot their hometowns and regarded Jishi City as their home. Generations of suffering have made these artisans burst out with great enthusiasm. They work hard and make money. Anyone who can move in the family has taken action.

Men go to workshops, women go to farmland, and even the elderly and children can knock small stones. This does not require any skills. Just hold a small hammer and knock the stones one by one. The income in a day is enough for a person's daily living expenses.

These artisans paid off all their debts in less than a year. Now, every penny they earn belongs to them.

All artisans see hope.

Compared with the elders in the family who are full of enthusiasm for making money, Mu Qiu has his own ideas. When he came to Jishi City, he had just turned 18 years old and was the hard labor force in the family. After he became free, the first thing he did was not to go to the workshop with his father to work, but to run to the conscription office in Jishi City to sign up for the army.

Almost everyone in Mu Qiu's family is a carpenter. They have been looking for wood, swinging axes, and pulling saws all year round, making Mu Qiu look very strong and powerful, especially his two thick arms, which made the officers in the conscription office's eyes light up. Without any discussion, Mu Qiu became a member of the Eastern Expedition Army.

He signed up without telling his family, but when he returned home in a brand new military uniform and with the first month's salary in advance, his family was surprised but did not object. Because the salary of the soldiers of the Eastern Expedition Army was really high, higher than his father's monthly salary. Only his mother shed tears silently. For his mother, being a soldier meant going to the battlefield, and going to the battlefield meant the possibility of losing her life.

Mu Qiu didn't think of these, he saw the might of those officers, and he also wanted to be such an officer.

"I will become an officer, I will make you proud of me, I will bring honor to my family and become the first officer in the Mu family for generations." Mu Qiu proudly made a bold statement to his parents.

Once in the military camp, you can no longer go home at will. It's good to go home once a month. For Mu Qiu, life in the military camp is extremely fun. Even in the new recruit camp, he enjoys boring queue exercises every day.

He devoted himself to his new career with great enthusiasm.

Because of his excellent performance, he became the captain of a ten-man team after leaving the recruit camp, and his salary increased.

Going home once a month, the salary he brought back would make his father very happy, but his mother would look at him with melancholy eyes every time she saw him, and every time he left home, she would cry. Although he knew that his mother loved him and was worried about him, Mu Qiu was still very unhappy. He went home once every two months.

The war came, and the cruel battle to defend Jishi City began. The recruits who had been trained for half a year stepped onto the battlefield for the first time and raised their swords and guns. Mu Qiu killed someone for the first time.

This battle made Mu Qiu see the cruelty of war. Human life was like grass. The ten brothers under his command fell beside him in less than three days, but Mu Qiu survived unscathed because of his physical fitness and strength beyond ordinary people.

From the first time he killed someone, to the end, he killed the enemy without feeling like he was chopping wood at home. Mu Qiu completely transformed from a recruit into a qualified veteran.

He was no longer as excited as when he first went to the battlefield, but learned to take every opportunity to rest and recover his strength. He could lie in a pool of blood and fall asleep in the short interval between battles, and he could also jump up at the moment when the enemy launched an attack, full of energy. He learned to sit on the corpses of the enemies, look at the remains of his comrades, and swallow food without feeling sick.

A war made Mu Qiu truly grow up.

The battle of Jishi City ended with a great victory for the Eastern Expedition Army. The surviving Mu Qiu became a sergeant and was incorporated into the First Army of the Northern Field Army. After following Xu Yuan to the Hetao Plain, because of his outstanding qualities After being spotted by Xu Yuan, he was transferred to Xu Yuan's personal guard camp.

Although he changed from a sergeant commanding 50 men to a 10-man squad again, Mu Qiu knew that this was the starting point for his rise. When he left the personal guard camp again, he would become a real officer. This kind of opportunity is not available to everyone.

This time, as a scout crossing the river, Mu Qiu volunteered to take Ying with five brothers and move forward to draw a map of the north bank. In the first few days, they didn't see anyone except birds and beasts, but as they went deeper, they began to see the tents of the Donghu people.

Small groups of Donghu people began to appear in their In the field of vision, his companions had suggested returning, but Mu Qiu wanted to make greater contributions. Under his insistence, the six people split up and hid during the day and went out at night until yesterday, when they were discovered by the Donghu people.

After a fierce battle, all five companions who were traveling with him died, and only he escaped alone, but now, he was lost.

After lying on the ground for an unknown period of time, Mu Qiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. The warhorse had eaten enough grass and walked to his side, constantly nudging his body with its mouth. Mu Qiu forced himself to stand up, took out a handful of beans from the bag next to the saddle, fed the warhorse, and took out a hard bun from the bag on the other side and ate it with skin. He drank a little of the water in the bag and regained some strength.

Now he had to find a way to get back to the camp. He looked up at the sky, but there was not even a star. It was pitch black and he couldn't tell the way. He gritted his teeth, led the warhorse, chose a direction at random, and walked forward.

It is better to take action than to stand here and wait passively. This was a rule that the instructor told him when he was in the recruit team.

Go forward. Mu Qiu led the warhorse and stumbled forward in the darkness. Horsepower needs to be cherished. It can give him the greatest help when he escapes. (To be continued. .)