Just as Cui Shi expected, Li Qishen did not stop along the way and traveled for nearly twenty days, arriving in Fengzhou in the early morning of April 15th.
Fengzhou has many deserts and grasslands, which are different from the scenery of Chang'an City. It is high and vast. When he saw people in the distance, Li Qishen pulled the reins lightly and drove the horse slowly over. At this time, the grassland had not grown to its best, far from the scene in "Chi Le Song", but the grass leaves stretched leisurely in the wind. From Li Qishen's position, cattle and sheep were dotted on the grassland in groups of three or two, which actually seemed a bit leisurely.
He took a breath. Unlike the incense lingering in Chang'an City, this breath had a slight fishy smell, mixed with the smell of soil, grass, cattle and sheep, but he didn't hate it. Instead, he felt a subtle sense of pleasure, as if he was born to gallop on the grassland.
"Your Highness, the one ahead should be Prince Ning." Li Qishen felt quite comfortable, but the entourage that came with him was from Li Taoqi's side, so he couldn't stand this. "You'd better go earlier, so as not to lose etiquette. You've been traveling all the way, so you'd better rest quickly."
Li Qishen reined in his horse, tilted his head slightly, and glanced at the follower.
He had no expression, and that look was neither salty nor cold, but it made his followers startled, and their hands holding the reins froze for a moment: "... I spoke out of turn."
"That's fine." Li Qishen grabbed the reins tightly. "Then hurry up. We're tired from the journey. It's time to rest."
He was the first to urge his horse forward, and the few followers behind him quickly followed. They were not far away from King Ning, and after riding their horses for a few steps, they arrived in front of the group. There were not many people here, and King Ning's side had less than ten people in total, and there was even a child of about ten years old among them.
This is interesting. Li Qishen pulled the reins and said, "Greetings, Prince Ning."
"Prince of Yanyang." Li Rongjin returned the greeting. Unlike Li Qishen's beautiful face, his features were sharp and tough, which matched the thousands of miles of grassland under the horse's hooves. He looked like a broad-minded boy from the grassland, and his voice was loud. He felt like a prince, a general, and a herdsman leader.
"Let's talk about the welcoming wine later. Let me introduce our prince first." Li Rongjin called Li Qishen like this, but it was not contemptuous, but more like a teasing. He moved the reins and let the horse walk to the side of a general wearing light armor. "This is the deputy general, Gao Chang, Gao Shanyan."
"Greetings, General Gao." Li Qishen followed suit and saluted.
"Greetings, Prince." Gao Chang looked at the young man for a while, and suddenly a smile appeared on his cold face, and he returned the greeting.
With a good start, the rest was much easier. Li Rongjin rode his horse and took Li Qishen to greet each person. Li Qishen was careful. Including Li Rongjin, there were eight people in total. Three of them wore light armor and served in the Tiande Army; two wore round-collared robes and seemed to be civilians; one wore local clothes and was the leader of the local herdsmen. He had material connections with the Tiande Army. Li Qishen read the name "Agudamu" twice before he could pronounce it smoothly.
Finally, there was the child, dressed in a Hu costume and with a ponytail tied up properly. When he looked up at Li Qishen, his eyes were full of curiosity.
Li Qishen smiled and deliberately asked, "Which young general is this?"
"What general? Does she have that ability? She is my daughter, and she has the title of Princess Zhaolin. Just call her by her full name." Li Rongjin smiled and spoke to his daughter gently, "Jia Luo, greet my brother."
"Okay." Li Shutan raised his hand and saluted like a man, "Shutan greets you, brother!"
Li Qishen returned the greeting and gave his name: "Li Qishen."
"Don't tell her your real name. This young lady is rude and will really call you by your name." Li Rongjin scolded with a smile, and then asked Li Shutan, "Is Miaoxin well? Can she see the guests?"
Li Shutan shook his head: "Not well. Miaoxin can't get out, so I can't ride a horse."
Li Rongjin sighed.
"Miao Xin?" Li Qishen asked, "Your concubine?"
"What do you mean by 'your daughter'? I don't understand. Speak in plain language." Li Rongjin glared at Li Qishen. "But she is no different from my daughter. I raise her here. She is my niece. Her father and mother passed away early, so I just give her food to eat."
Li Rongjin was obviously a little lonely when he said this. Since it was a family matter, Li Qishen cleverly changed the question: "What's next?"
"What else? A welcoming drink." Li Rongjin turned around and called out, "Good words!"
Gao Chang responded and immediately went to Agudamu to get two wine bags, giving one to Li Rongjin and Li Qishen respectively.
Li Qishen thought he would find a cup: "Hmm?"
"Can you drink?" Li Rongjin asked.
Li Qishen hesitated for a moment and shook his head: "Not really."
"Then learn it as soon as possible. Young men on the grassland will suffer if they don't know how to drink!" Agudamu laughed loudly, "This is the wine brewed at home, with milk added, drink it!"
"Agudam is a stingy guy. His wife brews good wine, but she usually doesn't give him a drop." Li Rongjin opened the seal of the wine bag and took a deep breath of the rich aroma of the wine. "I'll drink it first!"
He completely ignored Li Qishen, bit the sip, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp. At the end, he threw the wine naan back to Agudamu, wiped his mouth with an unsatisfied look, and asked, "How are you?"
"Thank you." At this point, Li Qishen had no choice but to drink it. He opened the seal and leaned in to take a sniff.
The wines in Chang'an were very particular. Apart from the strong wine imported from the West in the Huji Wine Shop, other wines were filtered repeatedly and put in fancy bottles. They tasted bland and often had a rice taste. But this wine was different. As soon as I smelled it, I felt my body getting hot, as if I had inhaled a knife.
"It looks like strong liquor." Li Qishen said with admiration, "I can't drink much, I'm afraid I'll fall off the horse, so I'll give you a token of my appreciation."
He practiced what he said, and took a sip just for the sake of courtesy. He endured the burning sensation in his throat and sealed the bottle as it was, but did not return it to Agudamu. "Lend me this wine bag for now. I will return it to you when I can finish it like King Ning."
Agudamu laughed again, as if he had heard something funny: "Here is a wine bag for you! The wine will turn sour once it leaves the jar. Why don't you come to my house? I'll ask my family to bring out the wine so you can practice your drinking capacity!"
"So you are just being stingy with me!" Li Rongjin half laughed and half annoyed, "Every time I come to your house, you give me plenty of beef and mutton, but why don't you bring out the wine for me to chew on!"
"I can't help it. This young man is good-looking. I have two daughters at home, Alia and Uyahan. Whoever stays with him, I will make a profit." Agudamu said, "What use are you, an old man? You are drunk and you need me to find someone to carry you back to the city!"
Li Rongjin flicked his whip, made a "Pah" sound, and rode his horse to step on Agudamu. Agudamu was born to ride on a horse, so how could he be kicked? He kicked the horse's belly and turned around to run away.
The two horses just ran away on their own, faster and faster, and Li Rongjin didn't even bother to look back. Li Qishen was convinced, turned his horse's head, and walked a few steps towards Gaochang: "General Gao?"
"Please forgive me, Prince Ning is just like that. Besides, we are on the grassland, so there are many things that are not in accordance with etiquette." Gao Chang said, "I am willing to lead the way for you, Prince."
"please."
Gao Chang didn't say anything. He pulled the reins, changed the direction of the horse, and started towards the place where Li Rongjin and Agudamu were racing.
Li Qishen hurriedly caught up with him. After he had ridden his horse for a few steps, a voice suddenly came from beside him: "Brother, brother! Are you from Chang'an?"
Li Qishen thought to himself that it was a good thing the horse wasn't running very fast, otherwise he would have been caught in the wind if he spoke. He said, "Hmm?"
"Then can you tell me about Chang'an City? I've never been there." Li Shutan became excited. "Isn't Chang'an City very, very big? There are a lot of people in it. I heard that there are foreigners there!"
Li Qishen turned his head and glanced at the girl: "Okay, then I'll tell you."
Li Shutan became even more excited and threw out a long list of questions.
Li Qishen answered incoherently, but he just had the ability to fool people and make his stories sound vivid and lifelike, making Li Shutan scream and laugh, as if he had really seen the prosperous scenery of Chang'an City.
Gao Chang, who was leading the way, looked back and said nothing, but a smile appeared on his face.
The smile was dull, but Li Qishen caught it keenly. The next moment, he also smiled, brightly and clearly, with the sunshine of the entire grassland in his pupils.
Fengzhou grassland, Tiande Army.
Li Chengjin threw him to this place and casually gave him the title of a prince, as if he had been expelled from Chang'an City to find peace for himself. He would not care whether he lived or died afterwards.
But Li Chengjin would probably never think of this, and even if he did, it would be too late. What Li Qishen wanted was to leave Chang'an City, the farther the better, and get closer to the army, the better.
The fire buried in his heart burned again, and this grassland was his fuel. Li Qishen took a deep breath, whipped his horse whip, and ran towards the newly brewed wine, freshly roasted beef and mutton, and the people coming and going, facing the rising sun and strong wind.
**
The next day was the day she had agreed to meet with Xie Wangzhi. She had mentioned this to the court lady before, so Xie Wangzhi was not in a hurry to get up. She slept a little longer and got up at about half past the hour of Mao. She had just gotten up and hadn't finished washing up when she heard a sharp female voice.
"What bad luck!" Xue Geshu, who got up first, shouted outside, "Where did this dead cat come from? Get rid of it!"
Hearing Xue Geshu's voice, Xie Wangzhi was so shocked that he spat out the salt water he had used to rinse his mouth. Without even wiping his face, he hurriedly ran out the door and asked, "What's wrong with the cat?!"
Sure enough, it was Xie Wangzhi's cat. Xue Geshu smiled, crossed his arms, and raised his chin slightly: "I think this cat is half dead, it's unlucky, and I hate cats, get rid of it quickly."
Xie Wangzhi glanced at the wooden basin. Meiqiu didn't understand human language, but he could sense Xue Geshu's hostility. However, one of his front legs was tied tightly with cotton cloth, and it was difficult to lift it up. He couldn't jump up to scratch him, so he could only lie in the basin, patting the edge of the basin with his tail.
It looked quite energetic. Xie Wangzhi breathed a sigh of relief. She and Xie Yunzhi had agreed to leave today. She didn't want to quarrel with Xue Geshu before leaving, so she said as gently as possible: "It's injured. I'm afraid it can't survive outside. Let's leave it outside. It won't hurt anyone. I'll take it away later."
"Get rid of it now."
Xie Yunzhi hadn't come yet, so Xie Wangzhi couldn't just go to Menxia Province with a cat in his pocket to look for him: "I'll be there in a while..."
Without waiting for her to finish, Xue Geshu took half a step forward and kicked over the wooden basin.
The author has something to say: Why is the tool man named Xue? Because of the cat abuser Schrödinger (. (I don’t mean to say that Schrödinger is bad.
I will deal with the tool man tomorrow (.) I haven't been very diligent in double play recently (twist (hello
And the coal ball was really bitten by the hound. You may not believe it, but it was the hound that started it first_(:3)∠)_Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angels who cast [mines]: Don't do your job properly, Let's fight, and 1 bottle of Wangzai milk;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
26 bottles of Tang Shao°; 2 bottles of Gan Lu;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!