longwaydie

111. 第二章

Chapter 2

112. 在过去，对上校来说，白天或黑夜并无区别。无论是太阳暂时地驱走一切黑暗，还是满天的繁星静静地闪烁，都不会影响他的部队果敢坚毅的品质。光明从来只对他的敌人们影响深远，那些人在白天的时候勇敢地挥着宝剑作战，丝毫不惧怕命定的死亡，而在黑夜，他们则守在自己的营地和城堡里，乏力地卸下沉重的盔甲休息，变得一个个脆弱的肉体，甚至一阵幽怨的笛声都会使他们感到悲凉，而上校则从未体验过类似的感情。

In the past, there was no difference between day and night for the colonel. Whether the sun temporarily drives away all darkness, or the stars in the sky quietly twinkle, it will not affect the quality of his troops. Light has always had a far-reaching influence on his enemies. Those people bravely fight with their swords in the daytime and are not afraid of the fated death at all. At night, they stay in their camps and castles, unload their heavy armor and rest, become fragile bodies one by one, and even a whine of the flute will make them feel sad. The colonel had never experienced such feelings.

113. 其实每一次战斗结束后，他的部队只要稍微的修整就完全可以重新走上战场，不过国王那时候还年轻，沉浸在战争的艺术中，喜欢御驾亲征，带领着他的铁骑，冒着被丛林中的瘴气和蚊虫叮咬的风险在七月的酷暑或者连绵不绝的细雨中行军，在寒冬的风雪和冰霜中艰难地跋涉，有时候甚至带着令敌人恐惧的战象，把大军开到一座座异域的城市下。这些被征服大军的脚步惊得战栗的城市，有许多国王甚至叫不上他们的名字，因为这些陌生拗口的发音听起来总是那么相似。国王愿意按照规矩出战，派出自己的骑兵与敌人在旷野上厮杀，让大地去震动。到了夜晚，国王也给敌人喘息的机会，然后从容不迫地消灭他们。除非陷入不可收拾的僵局，或者由于各样的原因而感到厌烦，国王不轻易命令上校的特种部队出战。不死的军队一旦行动起来，将无人能敌，这扫了国王的兴致，让他觉得自己胜之不武，有一种在游戏中作弊的羞耻感。就是在那些随军行进而不能出战的夜晚里，上校开始对夜晚有了一些机械的感知。

In fact, after every battle, his troops could go back to the battlefield with only a short period of rest. However, the king was still young at that time. He was immersed in the art of war and liked to fight personally. He led his cavalry to march in the heat of July at the risk of being bitten by miasma and mosquitoes in the jungle. They trudged hard in the wind, snow, and frost in the cold winter, and sometimes even drove their troops to foreign cities with war elephants. There were many kings in these cities where their feet of conquering reached. They couldn't even call their names, because the strange sounds were always so similar. The king was willing to fight in accordance with the rules and sent his own cavalry to fight with the enemy in the wilderness to let the earth shake. At night, the king also gave the enemy a chance to breathe and then killed them calmly. The king would not easily order the Colonel's special forces to fight unless he was in an uncontrollable impasse or bored for various reasons. Once the undead army took action, there would be no one that could stop them. This dampened the king's interest and made him feel that he cheated. It was during those nights when the army was marching and didn't fight that the Colonel began to have some mechanical perception of the night.

114. 直到由于身体的不适，或者因为对整个这场战争感到彻底的厌倦，国王才把剩下的战争交给了不死者们。在战争后期的那些日子里，已经没有什么有力的抵抗了，这时候上校闲暇的时间更多起来。每晚部署好行军计划后，他习惯地走出帐篷，在星空下站立，仰望着满天星斗。上校在头脑里绘制出一幅星空图，标出每颗星星的位置，确定他们的坐标，描绘出它们运动的轨迹，或者为它们连上线，按照人们说的那样用星座来给它们分组：这儿一只琴，那儿一只熊，然后把线条和真正的物体相比较。上校很难发现两者有何相似，当然，他并不在意这些，他也不知道自己怎么做到这一切的。他只是为了消磨掉夜里的时光，就像手下的其他人一样。那些战士，有的在静静地观察着帐篷灯下乱哄哄飞舞的小虫，有的在侧耳倾听旷野中各种奇怪的叫声，有的则一副认真的模样读着人类的著作，但只是为了分析句子的语法结构。很多人像上校一样，仔细地观察着客观世界的一切，认真地记录，换算成一些数学运算，然后又把这一切数据统统消抹掉，继续默默地等待着黎明到来时重上战场，与敌人交锋，或者说把胜利这件事完成。因此谈不上什么游戏，只不过为了打发夜里漫长的时光。毕竟，对于不死的人来说，时间是有点嫌多的。

It was not until the king's physical discomfort or his complete weariness of the whole war that the king let the undead continue the wars themselves. In those days of the late stage of the wars, there was no strong resistance, and the Colonel had more leisure time. Every night after he had arranged his marching plan, he used to walk out of the tent, stand under the stars and look up at the stars. The Colonel drew a star map in his mind, marked the position of each star, determined their coordinates, depicted their trajectory, or connected them with lines, grouped them by constellations as people said: here is a piano, there is a bear, and then compared the lines with the real objects. It's hard for the Colonel to find any resemblance between the two. Of course, he didn't care about it. He just wanted to kill his time in the night, just like the rest of his soldiers. Some of the soldiers were quietly watching the insects dancing under the tent lights, some were listening to all kinds of strange calls in the wilderness, and some were reading human novels with a serious appearance, but only for the purpose of analyzing the grammatical structure of sentences. Many soldiers of the undead army, like the Colonel, carefully observed everything in the world, carefully recorded it, converted it into some mathematical operations, then erased all the data, and continued to wait silently for the dawn to return to the battlefield, fight with the enemy, or finish the victory. So there was no game, just to pass the long hours of the night. After all, time is a little too much for the undead.

115. 可是现在，国王不再给他们供给，上校的部队只能依靠太阳能了。夜晚一下子变成了一个艰难的时刻：白天储备的能量必须谨慎地使用，合理地安排，做每一份计划之前都要预留出一些能量。关于这份不动产，上校在最近新颁布的临时补充条例中做出了明确的规定：除非别无选择，不得擅自使用预留能量。虽然太阳每天都会照常升起，但军人的严肃不允许凭任何侥幸心理来行动。只要大地还在夜神的挥杖下，耗尽能量的人就有失去行动能力的可能。不错，太阳会升起来，你还能“活”过来，但是整个部队的行动将受到影响，国王的命令不能尽快并顺利地完成。因此，没有看到曙光之前，谁都得谨慎行事，纪律必须要严守。

But now, the king no longer supplies them, and the Colonel's army can only rely on solar energy. All of a sudden, night becomes a difficult time: the energy stored during the day must be used carefully, arranged reasonably, and reserved before making every plan. The Colonel has made it clear in the newly issued temporary supplementary regulations that the reserved energy shall not be used unless there is no other choice. Although the sun will still rise every day, the seriousness of a soldier doesn't allow him to act by any fluke. As long as the earth is still under the swing of the night God, the undead who have exhausted their energy may lose their ability to move. Yes, the sun will rise, you can "survive", but the operation of the whole army will be affected, the king's order can not be completed as soon as possible. Therefore, before they see the dawn, everyone has to be cautious, and discipline must be strictly observed.

116. 因此，撤掉补给的第一个夜晚，上校没有休息，他认真地检查着军营中的每一处岗位，没有发现不妥的地方。执勤的士兵向他致意，上校平静而严肃地向他们点点头。这时候，其他人都安守在自己的营房中，虽然每个人都储备了足够的能量，但大家尽量不做太耗能的事，有的干脆把自己调整到最低耗能的状态，学着人类的样子休息。就像冷血动物一样，夜晚终于对他们具有了特别的意义。如今，他们战胜了所有的敌人，自己却变得脆弱起来。

Therefore, on the first night when the supplies were withdrawn, the Colonel did not rest. He carefully inspected every post in the barracks and found nothing wrong. The soldiers on duty saluted him, and the Colonel nodded to them calmly and seriously. At this time, other people are in their barracks. Although everyone has enough energy, they try not to do things that consume too much energy. Some simply adjust themselves to the lowest energy consumption state and rest like human beings. Like cold-blooded animals, the night finally has a special meaning for them. Now, they have defeated all the enemies, but they themselves have become vulnerable.