174 A Lifetime through Nine Goblets of Wine (1/2)
”The fifth goblet of wine!”
Tie Zheng’s fierce eyes roamed over the gathered men. ”To all the Yutang brothers who were wounded and handicapped on the battlefield!”
”Their bodies may be handicapped, but their spirits are not! If there were to be a war, they would still drape their armor! These brothers, each one of them, are amazing! Each and every one of them is a hero!”
”Brothers! I, Tie Zheng, toast all of you! Cheers!”
”Marshal…” All the veterans, sitting in their homes, were overcome with tears; regardless of the handicap they bore, whether they could consume alcohol or not, if they should even drink – all of them held a bowl of the Blood of the Hero, emptying its contents in tearfully.
They immediately felt the valiant passion throbbing in their hearts with intense emotions.
”The sixth goblet of wine!” Tie Zheng continued loudly, ”To the Nine Supremes Lords!”
Tie Zheng emptied his goblet, as did all the other militants.
At this, the foreign generals had a brief moment of surprise; Yun Yang, who was standing backstage, felt his heart flip in his chest as well.
”The seventh goblet of wine!” Tie Zheng said aloud, ”To the world’s heroes! To the enemy troops from all sides! To all the militants who are still fighting in this world!”
Han Sanhe and the others stepped up, the notable generals standing side by side as they accepted the toast with somber expressions.
”With the toast of this wine, we shall fall into war without grudges, we shall win the war with pride. We are brothers as militants, we bear spines of steel! We smile even as we perish on the battlefield, not caring if we return wrapped in horsehide! We drink, toasting each other today and greeting each other with swords and sabers tomorrow; this is the life of militants of the world, shouldered by you and me!”
Han Sanhe’s voice was full of emotions that were reflected in his intonations, his voice spread afar.
The northern wind blew at the flags, the fluttering sounds rose loudly into the sky.
The crowd was silently solemn for a long time.
Generals of all the nations, soldiers of all the countries, everyone raised their goblets at the same time.
Emptying the wine with a gulp, unshed tears glimmered in the eyes of the gathered crowd.
Someone had begun to chant in a low voice earlier. Those following the chant increased in number until it ultimately became all four hundred thousand men chanting aloud simultaneously.
Everyone was spirited but their expressions were serious.
”We fall in the war without grudges, we win the war with pride. We are brothers as militants, we bear spines of steel! We smile even as we perish on the battlefield, not caring if we return wrapped in horsehide! We drink, toasting each other today and greeting each other with swords and sabers tomorrow; this is the life of militants of the world, shouldered by you and me!”
Their voices chorused like thunder that rolled forward in the air onto the earth.
”The eighth goblet of wine!” Tie Zheng hollered, ”To all the military brothers that have fallen on the battlefield! This wine shares the pride and honor, banishes the grudges and resentments! We will gather as brothers or fight again as enemies in the next lifetime with this goblet of wine!”
Pang!
The site burned with emotions.
Countless people were shouting, ”We will gather as brothers again in the next lifetime! We will fight again as enemies in the next lifetime!”
Each one of them shouted with all their might, their eyes were rimmed red.
Han Sanhe and the other notable generals gulped down the wine with tilted heads and red-rimmed eyes as well, feeling the burn of alcohol gushing through their blood; they were equally burning with passion.
This was the wine of militants!
This was but the wine of militants!
They had drunk enough wine in the better half of their lives yet this was the only time they felt that this wine had reached the depths of their hearts!
Whether alive of dead, wounded or handicapped… as long as they were in the military, as long as they had gone to the battlefield… it did not matter if they were still here or not – all the brothers of the military shared this wine!
”Blood of the Hero1” Han Sanhe took a pot of wine over and stared at it for a long time before exclaiming, ”A good wine!”
Pouring himself a bowl, he shut his eyes as two drops of tears glided from the corners of his eyes; he gulped the liquid down. ”It is a good wine indeed…”
”In the future, Blood of the Hero shall be the exclusive supply of Dongxuan’s troops!” Han Sanhe decided. ”No matter what these bunch of bastards think, the wine used in my troops in the future shall only be Blood of the Hero!”
”This is the only wine that the militants of the world should be drinking!”
”Militants, whether living and dead, victorious or defeated, share this bowl of wine.”
”We share the blood of the hero, the blood of the hero courses through us all; it is only right that we drink the Blood of the Hero together!”
The other old generals were also reveling in the aftertaste of the wine.
These people held high positions in society; they were people of influence and power. They had had already consumed more exquisite wine than they could even remember throughout their lives. Although Blood of the Hero today was not exactly common grade, it was not terribly rare or exquisite either.
Still, everyone sang high praises for this wine, reveling in the aftertaste.
It was because those who had drunk this wine shared the same sentiment – that it would be meaningless to drink any other wine that was not Blood of the Hero with their military brothers in the future.