Zhao Xu was a young, handsome and elegant king. His Zhao State was a powerful country among the six states. The two small states around it had to rely on Zhao State for survival. As a king in troubled times, Zhao Xu naturally had ambitions, which was to unify the six states and wipe out those grassland tribes.
Originally, he was planning to form an alliance with the Yin Kingdom. Although the Yin Kingdom was not strong in military strength, it was a prosperous merchant nation. Merchant caravans from the Yin Kingdom could be seen everywhere in the six kingdoms. If Zhao could form an alliance with the Yin Kingdom, it would have a strong alliance and sufficient support for food, fodder and weapons. However, he did not expect that the Yin Kingdom would eventually choose the Wutu tribe, a rising grassland tribe. This made the young King Zhao very angry.
While he gave up the State of Yin, he quickly chose his next target - the State of Jin.
Jin was once a powerful country, but after many ups and downs, it is no longer as powerful as before. Recently, it has had friction with Lu and lost two battles. If Zhao can take advantage of this opportunity to form an alliance with Jin, the two countries can unite and conquer Lu first. The King of Zhao is confident, so he has temporarily put Yin behind him and focused on planning his own grand ambitions - at least that's what he thought before his inner personality awakened.
But now the most important thing in Zhao Xu's mind is no longer the vast mountains and rivers and the envoys from the State of Jin who are right in front of him, but the unknown situation of the Yin Princess Yin Ruxu.
Without Yin Ruxu and the heroine, the fate of the world no longer stands behind him. How can he unify the six kingdoms? He can't even keep the Kingdom of Zhao! As long as he has Yin Ruxu, why should he be afraid of not getting what he wants
"What do you think, King Zhao?" The envoy of Jin State suppressed his dissatisfaction and conveyed King Jin's words. However, he thought in his heart that King Zhao's lukewarm attitude might mean that he was unwilling to provide too much help to Jin State. He had to go back and discuss the matter of marriage with the king.
Although Zhao Xu wanted to find out what was going on with Yin Ruxu right away, he also had to deal with the current situation, so he talked with the envoy of Jin State and agreed on a marriage between the two countries. Anyway, he had many women in his harem, and he didn't need a position as a Jin princess. He should first build a good relationship with Jin State and increase his strength, so that he could destroy the grassland tribe and take the people back.
After leaving the Zhao palace, the Jin envoy felt that the King of Zhao's performance at the palace banquet was intriguing. He was enthusiastic at first, but suddenly became colder later. Thinking about it carefully, he remembered that the King of Zhao began to change after he said that they would work together to deal with the State of Lu. He was shocked and thought, could it be that the King of Zhao does not want to attack the State of Lu
He thought about it over and over again and started to think too much. He quickly sent someone back to the country to deliver a letter and inform the king of the whole thing.
The King of Jin saw that the other party was so insincere that he could not trust him. He would marry his daughter to the King of Zhao for nothing and she would not be able to help him at all. He became suspicious, but in the end he still did not dare to offend the King of Zhao. He continued the marriage, but changed the person. Anyway, he had many daughters, so if he changed someone who was not so favored, the same thing would happen, and the standard would have to be reduced.
As soon as the Jin State made the move, Zhao Xu discovered it. In his memory, in those plots, the Jin State also married a princess, the second female lead, but now it was replaced, how could he not investigate the matter.
"How annoying!" Zhao Xu was furious in the palace. How dare the mere State of Jin treat him so lightly? If he couldn't handle the fate of the world, how could he not handle the State of Jin
But when he sat down and thought carefully, he found that he really couldn't deal with Jin State now. Zhao State didn't border the grassland. If he wanted to raise troops to attack the Wutu tribe, he could only go through Jin State, and he couldn't turn against them for the time being.
It was really frustrating. He had felt this frustrating countless times since his luck was lost.
Knowing well the little tricks that Jin was doing behind the scenes, he still had to show satisfaction to reassure the other party when facing the princess they sent him.
While Zhao Xu was "enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens" and plotting to attack the Wutu tribe, Yin Ruxu was living a very comfortable and peaceful life in Wutu.
The chieftain Wotu had nothing to do most of the time, because this season was the best season on the grassland. All tribes, big and small, lived well and were busy raising livestock and feeding children. No one came to cause trouble. Moreover, in the war last winter, Wotu led the Wutu tribe to annex three tribes in one fell swoop, so no one dared to mess with them at this time.
So, before the princess-wife came, the clan leader would ride his horse around every day. Now that the princess-wife came, he takes his wife with him to wander around.
As Yin Ruxu was a princess of Yin State, her travels had to be grand. First of all, the palace maids and attendants had to follow her, and a carriage had to be built to carry her. A noble lady seldom walked on her own, and she had to bring guards with her. All these things made Wo Tu feel overwhelmed. Without waiting for them to get ready, Wo Tu directly lifted the princess-in-law onto the horse, and the two of them rode away without a trace.
The palace maids from Yin Kingdom chased after Wo Tu out of breath, but they couldn't catch up with him. They looked at each other and could only return to the tribe anxiously to wait. The maids who served Yin Ruxu personally were especially worried. Wu Rizhu Amu comforted them, saying, "The chief will play all day and come back in the evening. Why worry? There is no one on this grassland who is more powerful than our chief. The princess will be fine."
The maids: "What? You're going to go out and play for another day before coming back!"
Seeing their exaggerated expressions, Wu Rizhu Amu laughed: "Yes, if we run far away, the tribe leader may not come back at night. Find a place to stay outside for two days."
The palace maids were even more shocked. "What? There is nothing outside. How can they live here? And they didn't bring any food..."
Wu Rizhu Amu waved his big hand and said, "There are many things to eat on the grassland. The chief will not let the princess starve."
The palace maids had never seen such uncivilized behavior before and felt like the sky was falling.
Wu Rizhu Amu looked at them and shook her head, "You guys should get used to it sooner. Our clan leader is used to being wild and can't be controlled."
After being abducted without a word, Yin Ruxu felt a long-lost joy after a brief surprise. She had been accustomed to having people follow her wherever she went since she was a child. Suddenly, there was no one following her, only her and Wo Tu. The world was vast and it seemed like they could go anywhere.
… Is this 'freedom'
She smiled immediately and stretched out her hand to feel the wind blowing towards her.
Wo Tu also laughed and asked her loudly: "Are you happy? Then let's go faster!" As soon as he finished speaking, the black horse under his crotch neighed loudly, as if responding. The wind was strong, and even sitting in Wo Tu's arms, it was bumpy because of the horse's rapid running. Yin Ruxu was a little scared at first, but soon got used to it. She seemed to have opened up a new world, and her cheeks flushed with excitement.
"I... I also want to learn how to ride a horse." She looked up at Wotu and said. If a person rides a horse, running in a field like this, aimlessly, just facing the sun, wouldn't that feel wonderful
Wo Tu: "Okay, I will teach you how to ride a horse, and I will choose a good horse for you... No, I will take you to the grassland to harness wild horses. The king horse of the wild horses runs fast!" He didn't think there was anything wrong in letting the delicate princess ride a king wild horse, and he had already started thinking about where there were herds of wild horses.
He said he wanted to teach Yin Ruxu how to ride a horse, and without waiting for any other time, he took Yin Ruxu for a run after a while, then stopped, got off the horse, and led Yin Ruxu to start learning.
"Come, put your feet here... Your shoes are not good. When we go back, ask Mom to make you a pair of small leather boots so that you can step on the stirrups." He held Yin Ruxu's feet with his big hands and stuffed them into the stirrups. He asked her to sit down, held the reins, and taught her how to make the horse walk slowly.
They walked and ran for a while, and finally came to the Magra Mountain mentioned by Wotu. This mountain is not high, at least not as high as the continuous snow-capped mountains. The mountain is covered with green grass, and from a distance it looks like a green velvet carpet, with a moving white on the sloping slope.
"Look, that's a flock of sheep." Wo Tu said, singing a few lines of the grassland tune.
Yin Ruxu found it interesting and asked him, "What does this mean?"
Wotu gestured to her the white clouds in the sky and said, "This is about the sheep on earth. They are like the white clouds in the sky. The wind blows the clouds away, and the shepherds on earth chase the clouds."
He sang it again, and led the horse to the foot of the mountain, where there was a stream with gurgling water and colorful stones in the clear water.
The horse waded straight across the stream and he let it go at the foot of the hill.
Yin Ruxu watched the black horse run off to eat grass by itself and asked him, "Will the horse run away if you don't hold it tightly?"
"No, I'll blow a whistle, and it will come back when it hears it." Wo Tu demonstrated it to her, putting two fingers to his mouth and blowing a loud whistle. The horse, which had not yet gone far, raised its head and blew a breath at them.
"Do you want to learn? I'll teach you." Wo Tu asked her to imitate him.
Yin Ruxu looked at his hand, pinched two slender fingers, and tried to put them to his mouth to blew, but no sound came out. Wo Tu covered his waist and laughed loudly, and looking at Yin Ruxu, he laughed even harder and harder, and his eyes were almost laughing out.
Yin Ruxu finally felt something was wrong, and she touched her head, and found that her hair, which had been done up by the maids in the morning, was loose because of her crazy riding. She probably looked quite funny now.
Seeing Wo Tu so happy, she reached out and combed her hair, sat by the stream, took off the troublesome bun facing the water, and let her hair down.
Wo Tu squatted beside her, propped up his chin and looked at her. When her long, smooth hair fell down, he smelled a fragrance. He couldn't help but lean over to smell it. Yin Ruxu ignored him and braided her long hair into a long braid. After she finished braiding the braid, a bunch of flowers suddenly appeared in front of her. They were the blue and yellow wild flowers growing around. Although ordinary, they looked pretty when they were piled together in clusters.
"Here, tie it on your head." Wo Tu put the flowers he had picked into her arms. Yin Ruxu selected two and put them in her braids, then tied them with a hairband.
"So beautiful!" Wo Tu praised her, took her hand and lifted her up, running up the hillside. "I'll take you to see the flowers, there are a lot of them in the valley over there!"
Yin Ruxu ran for a while and was out of breath. She really hadn't walked very far. Wo Tu realized that she couldn't run anymore, so he raised his hand and picked her up, holding her like a child, and ran up the hill with her. Yin Ruxu held his shoulders tightly, thinking that Wo Tu didn't look like the son of the wolf god. He was like that horse, running so fast.
"Look." Wo Tu stood at the top of the hill and shook the princess in his arms, asking her to look at the valley below. There were blue and yellow wildflowers all over the hills, like a brocade pattern, something Yin Ruxu had never seen before.
She was mesmerized by the sight, and suddenly remembered a sentence that someone had said: "The real flowers bloom in the mountains and fields."[Note]
The author has something to say: [Note] “The real flowers bloom in the mountains and fields.” This sentence is from the movie “House of Flying Daggers”, I like it very much.