No matter how hot the weather is, it is still easy to find coolness in the mountains north of Chang'an City. The forest is very dense, and you can occasionally find mountain spring water, but you can't even see a single animal in this big mountain. Some people said that the spiritual energy in the mountain had long since disappeared, so all the animals ran away. Some people say that because the construction of Chang'an City changed the dragon's veins, so the mountain looks lush and green, but it has died long ago.
You can say anything, but it is an indisputable fact that there are no animals in this mountain.
But the plants here are very prosperous, and there are many towering trees that can only be embraced by three people. Therefore, it is obviously unreasonable to say that this place is a dead mountain.
This is a very strange phenomenon. Even more than one emperor of the Sui Dynasty sent people to investigate, but they couldn't find the reason why there were no animals. However, this mountain did not turn into a barren big mountain in the near future, as many people vowed to predict. grave bag. Of course, another legend derived from it will be self-defeating.
There have been many versions of rumors, but the most palpitating one is definitely the legend about the death of the Sui Dynasty on the day when the mountain became bald. Of course, this kind of legend must be inseparable from someone who is thought to be an expert in the world. Some people say that he is an old man with a white beard and a fairy spirit. Some people say that she is a fairy in fluttering white clothes, with icy muscles and fine bones. Some people also said that this was said by a Toutuo of the Buddhist sect, with a vicious face.
No matter who said it, the words are still the same.
The general idea is that when this mountain turns into a big bare tomb one day, then the country of the Sui Dynasty will come to an end. But this is contrary to the prophecy that Chang'an will not fall for half a month. Compared with it, the people of the Sui Dynasty are naturally more willing to believe the latter. As long as this mountain is still there, Chang'an City will be there.
The silence in the mountain was broken by the sound of footsteps stepping on fallen leaves. Four people, three men and one woman, appeared in this mountain that had not been seen all year round. There is no road in the mountains, and the feeling of stepping on the thick fallen leaves is like walking on a thick blanket. It was very comfortable, but the faces of the four people walking through the woods were all solemn.
The sound of footsteps came one after another, walking in such a quiet and deep forest had the illusion of walking through the underworld.
Walking in the front was a scholar-like man in a commoner robe and robe, whose exact age could not be discerned. The remaining three people kept a distance of more than ten meters away from him and walked in a file for three months, stepping on the footprints of their predecessors with every step. It seems that the four people walked all the way, but only one person's footprints were left behind.
The commoner scholar walking in the front suddenly frowned, and then accelerated his pace a little. The people behind immediately sped up to keep up. The second person walking was a village girl in a blue floral dress with a basket in her hand. Behind him was an old man in a royal blue robe, and he glanced at the young woman in front of him from time to time with complicated eyes.
At the end was a man who looked very young. Dressed in brocade clothes and a jade belt, it is obvious that her status is not low. He has a very handsome face, with thin eyebrows and big eyes. The lower jaw is slightly pointed compared to other people, but it looks very pleasing to the eye. The mouth is small and the lips are very red. Such a handsome young man in Jinyi seemed a bit out of tune walking with the other three.
The first one is a commoner scholar, the second one is a village girl, the third one looks like a rich man, and the last one is a young man, no matter how he is with the three of them, he seems a bit out of harmony.
The commoner scholar walking in the front was Zhuo Buyi, but he quickened his pace after gesturing. The people in the back no longer followed his footprints, but spread out in a fan shape and surrounded him. If you look carefully, you will find that even though they are walking on the soft fallen leaves, they have not left a trace. Those fallen leaves that have rotted have not changed a bit after being stepped on by their feet.
It seems that there is still only one person's footprint.
What appeared in front of the four of them was a clearing with a pile of extinguished charcoal next to a rock. Zhuo Buyi squatted down to feel the temperature of the charcoal, then shook his head and said, "I've been away for at least half a day."
"I'm curious."
Young Master Jinyi who was walking at the end frowned slightly and said, "Why didn't they choose the route to escape as soon as possible, why did they have to enter this mountain? There is no doubt that escaping here will more or less leave traces."
The old man in royal blue robes was Li Nan, he seemed to respect the young man in brocade, he leaned forward slightly while speaking and replied: "Perhaps, they didn't plan to run away in a hurry."
Zhuo Buyi nodded and said: "If they leave in a hurry, it means that they don't know about the imperial court's plan to launch an attack on the northwest, but if they deliberately delay like now, they should have already found out. In other words... At least there was a third person who took another route and brought the news back, and the person who entered the mountain was just delaying time for him."
"It doesn't have to be a person. Taoist Heju chased westward and found no trace. If it is a person, he can't hide his natural eyes."
Difficult to say.
"wrong."
The proprietress in a blue floral sarong knelt down by the rock and took a closer look, then picked up some soil and smelled it: "There are not two people here, although there are two people left along the way. There are no traces, but I'm sure that there should be three people who fled this way."
"If you say yes, it must be."
Difficult to say.
For some reason, there was always something different in the way he looked at the proprietress.
The proprietress didn't seem to like him at all, she got up and went to Zhuo Buyi's side and said: "There is a person whose footsteps are vain, either left behind by the seriously injured young monk, or there is another person with ordinary martial arts who can't even practice with them. Together."
"Who will it be?"
Young Master Jin Yi asked.
"You'll know when you find them."
The proprietress didn't seem to have a good impression of this young man in brocade clothes, she answered coldly and moved forward again. The complexion of the young man in brocade clothes changed slightly, but he resisted the attack. Li Nan approached him and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, she once traveled westward with Prince Zhong."
Hearing these words, the expression of Young Master Jin Yi, who was called His Highness by Li Nan, changed slightly. When he looked at the proprietress again, there was respect in his eyes.
At this moment, Zhuo Buyi's expression suddenly changed: "There are people coming from behind, they are moving very fast!"
…
…
Fang Jie's life in the first few days at the Martial Arts Academy was unremarkable. Every morning, he would listen to the lectures on the art of war by the professors of the Martial Arts Academy, read and write, and in the afternoon, Qiu Yu would take him to the waterfall to suffer torture. Of course, he would occasionally be called away by Dean Zhou to conduct research on his body in a secret room.
Because Fang Jie was rarely around other students, rumors began to circulate in the Yanwu Academy that he was arrogant. And behind arrogance, people often add three more words.
Arrogant waste.
In the eyes of other students, although Fang Jie's current strength is not impressive. But he can't practice, and sooner or later he will be slowly surpassed by other students who can practice. Practice is endless, and no matter how good a person's physical fitness is, it is only a fixed body. So at first the students' admiration for Fang Xie gradually turned into contempt.
Most people think that Fang Jie is very strong now. But in less than three years, Yu Xiao, Pei Chuxing, Xie Fuyao and others who were probably stronger than him might be able to throw him a few blocks away.
Fang Jie took such remarks as a gust of wind and ignored them at all. His daily contacts are still those few friends, Zhang Kuang, Mo Shudao, Xie Fuyao. Occasionally, he would have a drink with Yu Xiao Pei Chuxing and the two of them, but of course he would never take the initiative to treat them.
On the sixth day after entering the Yanwu Academy, the morning class was taught by professor Mo Wanwu on how to use scouts. When marching and fighting, scouts are indispensable. The scouts are often the best soldiers carefully selected in the army. They are responsible for scouting the enemy's terrain and road conditions for the army, and even assassinating the enemy's commander.
Both Fang Jie and Zhang Kuang were scouts, so when Mo Wanwu said that today he was going to talk about how to equip and arrange scouts, the two of them couldn't help but look at each other, with a tacit understanding.
"An excellent scout sometimes plays a role even more than the general of an army. The commander is the brain of the army, and the general is the two arms of the army. Where the mind thinks, the arms go. And the scout, It is the eyes of the commander. The success of a scout can lead to the victory of the army. By the same token, the failure of a scout may affect the judgment of the commander and lead to the failure of the entire war."
"professor!"
When Mo Wanwu talked about this, a student raised his hand and said in a frivolous tone: "Aren't you exaggerating? If scouts are really so important, why is the highest level of the scout team just a captain? From the sixth rank, this is also Is it too low?"
"May I have your name?"
Mo Wanwu asked.
"Chuzhou Liu Shuang."
The student stood up and cupped his fists and said, "My father is Liu An, the governor of Chuzhou County."
"I didn't ask who your father is."
Mo Wanwu replied in a flat tone, then walked slowly to Liu Shuang and asked, "Do you think what I said before was a bit exaggerated?"
"Students just think that scouts are important, but it seems too much for Mr. to describe them as the eyes of a marshal. As a commander, he knows astronomy, geography, discerns right and wrong, and has a broad vision. Judgment based on the news from the scouts? As far as I know, Li Xiao, the great general during Emperor Taizong's reign, once fell into the siege of the Southern Army when he pacified the south of the Yangtze River. The scouts don't seem to have anything to do with it?"
"Are you from Chuzhou?"
"yes!"
"Chuzhou is also in the south of the Yangtze River... Li Xiao is from the north."
Mo Wanwu said something lightly.
"What do you mean by this, sir?"
Liu Shuang blushed and couldn't help asking slightly angrily.
Mo Wanwu smiled and said: "It's nothing, I just happened to remember that Li Xiao is from the north, what's wrong? Also... Let me ask you, Li Xiao is indeed brilliant with 3,000,000. Into the Southern Army's ambush? Do you know that after the three thousand most elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty waited for the reinforcements to arrive and break through the siege, there were only twenty-six left? Even if Li Xiao defeated the enemy, all the soldiers in this battle would be defeated. People say that he fought well, but just because he didn't detect the enemy's situation in advance and lost three thousand elites, I looked down on him. Three thousand elites from the Sui Dynasty were exchanged for tens of thousands of remnants of the Southern Army, is it worth it?"
"Sir, you mean you are stronger than General Li?"
Liu Shuang asked angrily.
Mo Wanwu ignored him, but continued: "It was precisely because of this battle that Li Xiao wrote to the court to plead guilty. His Majesty Taizong thought of his great achievements and did not punish him, but Li Xiao did not dare to take scouts seriously after that. In order to prevent further When such a tragedy happened, he invited many experts from the Ouchi guards to train the soldiers, and formed the first pure scout team in the Sui Dynasty. Before that, the general and the coach randomly assigned a team to investigate the military situation. Do. These things... do you know?"
In the last sentence, he was asking Liu Shuang.
"All I know is that sir is disrespectful to General Li!"
Mo Wanwu snorted coldly and said: "Respect is respect? Don't say that Li Xiao is not a god, even if he is, can't he be blamed by future generations? I dare not say that he is better than Li Xiao, but I say he is wrong. It’s wrong. And if you think I’m wrong, then you don’t have to listen but you are not allowed to refute.”
"Why can Mr. Li blame General Li for his fault, but we can't blame Mr. Li for his fault?"
Liu Shuang asked angrily.
"Because Li Xiao is dead, if I say he is wrong, he will not crawl out of the ground and beat me up because he is unhappy. But I am still alive, if you question what I said, I can beat you at any time if I am unhappy Your mother won't recognize it. Got it?"
"I... don't accept it!"
Liu Shuang said: "How can the professor of Yanwu Academy be so unreasonable?"
"Because this is the Academy of Martial Arts, everything the professor says is right."
Mo Wanwu said: "I know that many of you think what he said is right, and that what I said is wrong. Well then, all of you who think Liu Shuang is right will form a team with him tomorrow. I will take the rest The students are another team, of course, the number of people I lead is only one-fifth of yours. How useful are the scouts, try it."
Fang Jie pursed his lips and smiled, realizing that he really liked the style of Yanwu Academy.