Chapter 1083.1: Start to Finish (I) - Part 1

Yellow Dragon Prefecture, in a place called Blue Tile Town.

The town was named after the blue tiles on the roofs of every household. Apart from those blue tiles, it seemed there was nothing else worth mentioning.

Autumn had already arrived, and the stream running through Blue Tile Town was getting shallower and shallower. It had originally been flowing smoothly, but by now it had turned into puddles of various sizes.

But this made the children of the town quite happy. It was the perfect time to feel around for fish and catch crabs. As long as they had enough patience and spent the whole afternoon at it, they were sure to catch a small bucketful. Once they brought them home and had their mothers coat them in flour and fry them, the little fish and crabs were absolutely delicious.

The trouble was that whenever a plate of little fish, shrimp, and crabs was prepared, it would often get their fathers in the mood for drinking. Once their fathers started drinking, there wouldn't be much left for the children to eat.

But there was no time to worry about that now. The children were only concerned with carrying their little buckets and catching fish and shrimp.

Against this lively scene, the young man sitting on the stone bridge with a wooden saber hanging at his waist seemed completely out of place. He was only a little older than those children. In fact, just a few years ago, he had been the naughtiest one among them. Yet somehow, over the past two years, the little fellow had barely grown at all, while seeming to have become burdened with worries and increasingly withdrawn.

The boy's parents had not failed to worry about their son, but apart from his tendency to space out, he seemed perfectly normal in every other respect. Over time, they simply let him be.

The children in the stream beneath the bridge had noticed the boy long ago. But they had already called out to him to join them more than once, only for him to ignore them, so by now they were used to it. After looking up at him, they quickly lowered their heads again and continued searching diligently for traces of fish and shrimp.

The boy with the saber shook his head and was just about to get up and leave when a figure suddenly appeared beside him. A young man plopped himself down and draped an arm over the boy's shoulders.

The boy raised an eyebrow and called out, “Elder Brother Xi.”

The young man's name was Wang Xi. He was also a native of Blue Tile Town and the boy's neighbor, a few years older than him. When the boy was little, Wang Xi would take him running all over the town. During those days, the two of them had caused no end of trouble for their neighbors.

The two had a very close relationship.

Wang Xi had a foxtail grass stem between his teeth. He glanced down below and teased with a smile, “What, born without a taste for little fish?”

The boy with the saber scratched his head, not quite knowing how to answer.

Wang Xi smiled and said, “What you'll do when you grow up, that's something to worry about after you've grown up. Aren't you still a child now? You've stopped eating the little fish you like, and you don't even fly the kites you want to fly anymore. Won't you regret it someday?”

The boy looked up, somewhat bewildered. He knew that Elder Brother Xi's father was a teacher at the school over there, so ever since childhood, Elder Brother Xi had understood more principles than he did. That was why he didn't know how to respond.

But Wang Xi did not seem intent on continuing to probe these questions. Instead, he smiled and said, “I've enlisted in the army. The prefectural government has already sent the official documents. I'm leaving tomorrow.”

Hearing this, the boy with the saber immediately perked up, his eyes shining. “Elder Brother Xi, you're amazing!”

The boy's dream was to enlist in the army and go north to kill demons. He had been preparing for this every day. It was just that the laws of Great Liang were extremely strict, and until he came of age, there was simply no way for him to enlist.

But before Wang Xi could say anything, the boy with the sword seemed to think of something. He frowned and asked, “What about Elder Sister Jia Cao?”

At those three words, the foxtail grass between Wang Xi's teeth trembled.

The Elder Sister Jia Cao the boy was referring to was the daughter of the proprietress of the tavern over there in town. She was also the girl Wang Xi liked. A couple of years ago, the two of them would often sneak over to the street corner to secretly watch her.

At that time, Wang Xi would always say that once he grew up, he would have his father go to her family to make a formal marriage proposal and marry her.

Tutor Wang, the teacher at the school, had a very high standing in the town, and there were very few families unwilling to marry their daughters into his household.

So back then, the boy had thought that Elder Brother Xi and Elder Sister Jia Cao would definitely end up together.

Wang Xi looked into the distance, a complicated mixture of emotions in his eyes. In the end, he merely sighed. “Some things simply can't be done in a way that makes everyone satisfied. Sometimes you can't even make yourself satisfied.”

The boy didn't really understand such complicated words. After thinking for a long while, he hesitantly said, “Then why don't you just not enlist?”

“Elder Sister Jia Cao, she…”

“Xiao Du, would you give up enlisting because of some other matter?”

The boy called Xiao Du had only gotten that far before Wang Xi's question left him speechless.

Wang Xi glanced at the wooden saber hanging from Xiao Du's waist and said, “Someday, you'll have a girl you like too. When that time comes, how will you choose?”

Before Xiao Du could answer, Wang Xi shook his head on his own. “Actually, there's no point asking you these things right now.”

It was difficult for anyone to truly understand another person's feelings, let alone a boy who was still young and had yet to understand what sorrow even tasted like.

Xiao Du rubbed his head, not knowing how to answer. After thinking for a while, he asked, “Elder Brother Xi, why do you want to go north?”

Wang Xi looked at him and was silent for a moment before shaking his head. “Actually, I can't go north yet. I have to go to the prefectural government first. From what I've heard, they usually train you for several years. For now, I'm only a government soldier.”

The military of the Great Liang Dynasty could broadly be divided into two types. One was the frontier army in the north, while the other was the government soldiers stationed in the various prefectures and provinces. For example, the Imperial Guards in the Divine Capital were stronger in combat, but in reality, they were also considered government soldiers.

Government soldiers and the frontier army had always been different. Government soldiers were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and their commanding generals had to follow the Ministry of War's orders. The frontier army, on the other hand, was under the control of the General's Office, and the Ministry of War had no authority over them.

When there was no war within the country's borders, government soldiers simply trained every day. Once they met the required standards, some of them would be sent to reinforce the frontier army in the north.

They were selected based on merit.

As for how many would be sent, that depended entirely on how many positions were vacant in the frontier army.

______