Invincible Iron Man 4, Crisis Flag

  Wang An was assigned to a small squad as a soldier, this squad had five people called Wu, Wu was the military organization at that time, Li Li was also assigned to this squad, the leader of this squad was Jiang Cai, originally a house servant of the Wu family, brought by Wu Ge to the battlefield, in these years also made some achievements, mixed up a small official like a sesame seed.

  Wang An began to inspect the Yangguan section of the Great Wall and found that this section was built with rammed earth, extremely solid, winding between mountains and valleys like a general.

  The leaves are already falling outside the Great Wall, and it's getting cold early. The weather is cooling down quickly. Wang An didn't bring any autumn or winter clothes, still wearing his summer attire, and was shivering with cold. He hastily asked Wu Zhang, "When will we receive our military uniforms?" Wu Zhang replied, "They'll be issued soon." Wang An was overjoyed for a moment, but then Jiang Zai added, "However, the military uniform is just a thin layer on the outside, only an outer garment. If you didn't bring warm clothing from home, you'll freeze to death!" Wang An was shocked and asked urgently, "Isn't warm clothing provided by the country?" Jiang Zai smiled and said, "The country does provide it, but the money is embezzled layer by layer - by the prime minister, various officials, small clerks, and level by level by military officers. We're lucky to get a thin outer garment. Look at our troop, five people only have one knife and one bow. With such little equipment, how can we fight against the enemy? That's why every time the Xiongnu invade, the soldiers and civilians of Youyang are killed or wounded." Wang An felt a wave of emotion and thought to himself, "If I become a general, I must strengthen the border defense and make it as strong as a copper wall and an iron fortress." However, thinking about his current situation, he felt discouraged again.

  Wu Ge came to inspect Jiang Cai's troops, and Jiang Cai immediately went out to greet Wu Ge with a mixture of fear and respect. Jiang Cai was also uneasy in his heart, thinking that the Thousand-Man Commander rarely visited their unit, and wondering what had brought him today. Under the lead of several Hundred-Men Commanders and guards, Wu Ge arrived at this unit, causing people from other units to feel envious, saying that Wu's procession was very grand.

  Wu Ge inspected the entire military camp, continuing to ask: "Who is Wang An?" Wang An had no choice but to come out. Wu Ge was suddenly startled by Wang An's ferocious appearance, and Wu Ge said to him: "Your hometown people entrusted me to take care of you. Don't worry, I will take good care of you." The other soldiers were envious, thinking that being taken care of by Commander Qianfu was a guarantee of a bright future for Wang An. Wang An's heart was also filled with confusion, wondering: "Who exactly is it that entrusted Wu Ge to take care of me?"

  Wu Guo continued to say to Wang An, "Come and show me your skills, let me take a look." The thousand-household leader would inspect the soldiers' training every time he went down to review the troops, so Wu Guo said this, and no one else thought it was unusual.

  Jiang brought over the only bow that Wu had, and Wu pulled it open a bit, curling his lip as he said: "Too light, this is the weakest bow in the entire army's arsenal. But we don't expect much from new recruits, so you try pulling it open." Wang An stepped forward, imitating Wu's actions, but the bowstring didn't budge. Wang An looked embarrassed and had to use more force to pull again. This time he used all his strength, but still couldn't pull it open. The onlookers burst out laughing, thinking: "A useless person like this is truly rare."

  Wu Ge revealed a smile and said, "Alright, no problem, practice stabbing a few more times for me to see." Wang An picked up the knife and practiced for over twenty times, immediately panting heavily. Wu Ge burst out laughing, thinking to himself, "Such a useless person is truly rare in a thousand years." Wang An thought to himself, my body was originally weak, and having suffered from illness has also harmed my body, so naturally I am unable to engage in heavy physical labor now.

  "Wu Ge said: 'Not bad, not bad, Jiang Cai is indeed a strong general with no weak soldiers under him. Now I can rest assured.' Jiang Cai's face turned red, thinking that Wu Ge was mocking him. However, seeing Wu Ge laughing so happily, he felt another wave of doubt in his heart, wondering what was going on."

  Wu said: "Now the Huns are active, in order to provide accurate intelligence for the Huns' invasion and prevent major casualties among the border people, we have decided to send you to defend the beacon tower outside the Great Wall. When the enemy invades, light the beacon fire to report to the soldiers and civilians inside the Great Wall. Your responsibility is great, your mission is glorious, I hope you will not disappoint us and establish merit early." Jiang revealed a smile that was uglier than crying and said: "Thank you for trusting us, but we are all new recruits, untrained, afraid of disappointing you." Wu said: "I believe you can complete this task, don't say anything else, pack up and get ready to go."

  Jiang took up the army's weapons, a bow and a knife. Then he had Li Li and Wang An cut down a tree trunk, strip off the bark, and make a wooden stick. The other two old soldiers also picked up their own sticks and followed Wu Zhang on the road, one named Zhang Wan and the other named Du Lu.

  Wu Ge felt unusually good on his way back to the big camp, thinking: "It turns out that Wang An is such a waste, killing him has become very easy. Just send him to the front line, once he encounters the Xiongnu, it's simply a dead end. Sending him outside the pass, killing Wang An would be done without anyone knowing, there won't be any aftermath, and these 300 taels of silver will be earned very safely."

  Hú Yíngyíng is busily preparing her dowry, and in a short time, she has been filled with a happy feeling. Sometimes she also thinks of Wáng ān, but deeply regrets: "How could I have liked such a useless person? But he's probably dead now, although his illness got better, on the battlefield there is no room for error, and he was just a soldier, it's absolutely impossible to come back, I don't need to waste emotions on a dead man".

  Wang An followed Wu Chang to the beacon tower outside the Great Wall, which was 20 miles away from the Great Wall. It was isolated and once the Xiongnu army arrived, they would be unable to escape and it would be difficult to defend the beacon tower. The five of them couldn't help but sigh, thinking: "We are really unlucky." Jiang Zai perked up a bit and said: "Hurry up and unload the things, let's get ready, this place will be our home from now on." But Jiang Zai had another thought that he didn't express out loud: "This place is probably going to be our tomb too."

  Wang An looked around the beacon tower, seeing that it was about nine meters high with a ladder leading up to the top. The people who came were all listless and dispirited, thinking that staying here would be certain death.

  Wang An was looking around the beacon tower, thinking of ways to defend it. Zhang Wan said to Du Lu, "Are we enemies with the chiliarch or something? Why else would we be sent here to die?" Du Lu replied, "I thought that since the chiliarch knew Wang An, our prospects would be better, but now we're being sent here to die. Could it be that Wang An has a grudge against the chiliarch?" Jiang Cai walked over and said, "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and work. Let's discuss how to defend this beacon tower. When the enemy comes, we need to send out information and protect our lives." Zhang Wan and Du Lu exchanged a glance and stopped talking.

  After dinner, Wang An was shivering with cold because he didn't have a quilted jacket. He thought to himself: "It seems that when winter comes, I will freeze to death. It seems that my wish for revenge cannot be fulfilled." The other soldiers also didn't have any extra quilted jackets, and they could only watch Wang An with love but no help. Jiang Zai saw how cold Wang An was and gave him a single-layer garment, hoping it would be of some use. After Wang An accepted it, he felt a surge of emotion in his heart, thinking that this world still had good people.

  Li Li, Jiang Cai and others gathered together. Jiang Cai said: "Since we have come here, let's not complain. There are also beacon towers in front of us, they are more dangerous than us. We want to discuss two issues. One is how to discover the large troops of the Xiongnu and transmit the warning information in time. It's easy to do during the day, but at night when we're on duty, we're extremely tired, it's hard to guarantee that we can discover the Xiongnu troops in time. Another one is how to fortify the beacon tower so that we can survive."

  Zhang Wan said, "Wu Chang, it's easy to handle during the day, but at night we can only take turns keeping watch. However, neither day nor night can we get a good rest. If this goes on for long, we won't be able to bear it. Moreover, when there is no moon, visibility is poor, and it's hard to spot the Xiongnu cavalry. If they sneak past us, we'll be dead meat."

  Others chimed in, "Indeed, if time drags on, people will become extremely fatigued. Even tigers need a nap. What if one day we accidentally fall asleep, and the enemy army sneaks past? We'll be dead for sure." They discussed this back and forth but couldn't come up with a plan.

  Jiang Cai turned to Wang An and asked, "Do you have any ideas?" Jiang Cai had always thought that Wang An was extraordinary. He didn't show any disdain towards Wang An despite his poor performance earlier.

  Zhang Wan and Du Lu said, "What's the point of asking this useless person?" Li Li immediately became enraged and said, "How dare you! Wang An is a scholar, he has many methods. Can you compare to him?"

  Zhang Wan sneered, "A scholar who can't do anything is useless. He came to the wrong place."

  Wang An ignored their disdain and said to Jiang Cai, "I've heard that there's a kind of cowhide quiver. If you use it as a pillow, you can hear the sound of horse hooves from afar. This way, we can discover the enemy's stealthy troops." Jiang Cai was excited and jumped up, saying, "This is great! Reading people is indeed reading people, and there really is a way!" Zhang Wan and Du Lu were full of skepticism and disdainfully said, "I don't know if it's just bragging." Wang An also ignored them.

  Jiang Cai said: "The cowhide outside the pass is easy to get, I still have some savings, tomorrow I will take out money to make an arrow holder for each of us. Mr. Wang, do you have any good way to protect the beacon tower?" Wang An said: "There is only one way to reinforce the defensive works of the beacon tower, and there is no other way." Zhang Wan immediately said: "This is a joke, the project of this beacon tower is huge, it's not something that we few people can complete. Even if you ask for instructions from above, it will probably be useless. Your suggestion is simply nonsense."

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