There is a saying that "people are not good for a thousand days, and flowers are not red for a hundred days."
In the 22nd year of the reign of Emperor Zhao Jianyuan, the prosperous and irreversible fate of the Cao family seemed to have come to an end.
In the first month, Beidou Wenqu died in Yongzhou City, and in the summer of the same year, the Yellow River estuary burst again.
The news of the Northern Emperor's serious illness spread like wildfire. The crown prince was incompetent, and Cao Ning, the son of a prostitute, was very ambitious, unwilling to obey the edict, and he held troops in front of the two armies.
The Southern Dynasty, which had been dormant for more than 20 years, was also turned upside down.
Emperor Jianyuan suddenly sacrificed his ancestors in the Taimiao in the late spring, vowing to regain the lost land and unify the north and the south. After that, he changed his past warmth and revealed his full-fledged fangs.
On the third day of the fourth lunar month, Taishi Fanzheng and his thirteen members and important officials were raided and investigated without warning. Three days later, the eldest son of the emperor, Kang Wang, committed the murder due to lax control and slavery. Acting as a doorman, storing knives and axe in the storehouse, letting go of the birth without the ceremonies, even if there is no conspiracy, how can there be no arrogance” and other crimes, he was slapped with blood by the censor, and Emperor Jianyuan was furious and ordered to deprive Kang of the throne and imprison him in the mansion. , wait for the hair to fall.
That night, his mother, concubine Fan, committed suicide behind the palace wall.
In an instant, the wind direction in Jinling, the southern capital, changed.
And the emperor who was oppressed by the powerful officials in the court for more than 20 years was particularly dissatisfied. The six ministers and nine ministers went from ten to twenty-three within half a month. Countless faces that were not visible in the past were rising steadily. At the end of the month, the imperial students petitioned In front of the imperial palace, Emperor Jianyuan was indifferent and ignored it. The next day, he took down eight people in charge and implicated several ministers in the court on the charge of "bewitching the crowd".
Some actions can be described as "exploring his arms, seizing his power, like lightning and thunder".
Full face up and down, the crows were silent.
Emperor Jianyuan insisted on sending troops to the northern expedition, and the matter was a foregone conclusion.
In September of the same year, the fire of war boiled all the way from the middle of Shu, like pouring boiling water, and flooded most of the rivers and mountains out of control.
It is strange to say that when Cao Ning raided the Forty-eight Villages, the people in Shu were like a catastrophe and fled one after another, for fear that one would be involved in the war if they were not careful.
When the fight really broke out later and people panicked, it was like a small town at the foot of Hengshan that had been neglected, adapting to the new world as quickly as possible.
It is precisely in Taiping that there is a way of living in peacetime, and there is a way of living in times of war in times of war. There are many rogue methods in the city and the countryside. It seems natural, those people are like the weeds under the cliffs and rocks, although they are not called it. It's lush, but it's still alive anyway.
The battle on the north-south front was suddenly tense, and only Cao Ning could contain it. The battle had already started. At this time, he could not be moved no matter what, so he could only watch Cao Ning grow bigger in the army. The Northern Prince seemed to be holding a vicious dog to fight a pack of wolves in his hand. He didn't let go, he didn't let go, he had no other way, so he tried his best to order people to collect all kinds of magic medicines from the people, and only asked Cao Zhongkun not to let go of his life at this juncture.
Beidou Lu Yaoguang and Gu Tianxuan accompanied the army, and the remaining two, Shen Tianshu and Tong Kaiyang, were ordered by the Eastern Palace of the Northern Dynasty to move non-stop between the houses of the major rivers and lakes.
Some people from small families sought shelter everywhere, and there were those who were desperately ill and went to the doctor, but they didn't even have a face, and even the big devil was willing to defect.
This "big devil" deserves a little more detail.
Today's Central Plains martial arts are the most evil, and they are not those old yellow calendars of the living and the dead.
In the 22nd year of Jianyuan, Ding Kui died outside Yongzhou City, and Mu Xiaoqiao and Feng Feihua disappeared from the scene. It is living, the mountain of living and dead has come to an end.
And a man who wears an iron mask all the year round has become famous.
This person never revealed his real name and surname, and others didn't know that he was a teacher, but he seemed to have popped out of the cracks of the stone out of nowhere, and suddenly appeared and killed the Quartet.
He claimed to be "the real person of Qinghui", so his martial arts skills were extremely high and his methods were vicious.
The Iron Masked Demon likes to be curious, and as soon as he was born, he first took care of Ding Kui, the master of Xuanwu who did many evils, and then captured the mountain of living and dead.
Before this news had time to let the haters from all over the world touch the palms of the haters like enemies, everyone found that the Iron Masked Demon was better than the previous four, and his ability to make waves is completely "the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves".
Gradually, people stopped mentioning the Four Sages who were in a bloody turmoil in those days.
In the blink of an eye, it was another three years.
In the 25th year of Jianyuan, the Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed.
For some reason, Jinan Prefecture has had so much rain this year. The heavy rain has been falling day and night for a day and a night, and the ground is soaked with cold rain. The remaining summer heat is finally unsustainable. leaves fell in a thick layer.
Although Jinan Prefecture belongs to the boundary of the Northern Dynasty, it is still peaceful now.
Over the years, those who have had the brains to work, came up with the idea of making a fortune in the country, and many daring people who knew a little about the tactics of the rivers and lakes started to trade from the south to the north, selling everything, food, cloth, knives, guns and ironware... and even Private salt and medicinal materials, as long as there is no incident on the road, some ordinary items can often be sold for sky-high prices after walking around like this, and the profits are high enough to make people take risks.
In order to avoid the war, these traders usually travel along the east coast, and most of them pass through Jinan, where a market gradually emerged as the times require.
When going out, it is nothing more than dealing with people like "Chechuandianjiao", so all the big merchants who have made a fortune have some connections with the Xingjiao Gang. There is a "Hongyun Inn" in Jinan Prefecture, which was originally under the Xingjiao Gang. A hacker black shop, unexpectedly, the guests who came to stay in the past few years are all the distinguished guests with "bat orders". I can't think of a cheater anymore. Over time, it was forcibly whitewashed, and it became a place for serious business, and a small building was expanded.
In the evening of this day, a very handsome horse came in the rain, stopped at the door with a neigh, flicked its mane, and shook off a string of water droplets, and it barked twice triumphantly.
The shop assistant has a lot of eyesight, and hurriedly picked up the bamboo umbrella and went out to say hello: "Guests can't live in the hotel? There are still vacancies!"
The man on the horse was wearing a bamboo hat and holding a long knife in his hand.
Only then did the shop assistant realize that the person who came was actually a young woman, most of her face was hidden under the hat, only a slightly sharp chin was exposed. Showing a beautiful earlobe, just a silhouette, you know that she is not ugly.
The shop assistant looked at her secretly while leading the horse. Seeing that she was carrying a knife, he was not afraid, and greeted cheerfully, "The heroine has a hard time traveling, but can you bring a bat order? If you have our bat order, food and lodging will be 30% cheaper. ."
The female guest had a meal. She didn't expect the walking gang here to be so weird, and she actually started a business with great fanfare. She couldn't help but tilt her head and asked, "What?"
When she tilted her head, the shop assistant could see her face clearly, and said, "You're so handsome," and the smile on her face became three-pointed.
Force a bunch of big hooligans to obey.
The female guest smiled and raised her hand, a red shadow flashed in her palm, revealing a five-bat print made of agate.
"Five bats!" The shop boy was taken aback, and immediately knew that the person who came here must have a deep connection with the Xingjiao Gang, so he hurriedly bent his waist down and said, "Please come in, please! If you have something to do at any time, what do you want to eat? You can also order it at will, if we don’t have it at home, we can ask the younger ones to go to the street and buy it for you.”
The female guest, however, waved her hand and said, "Don't bother like that", then walked in the door, found a small corner by the door and sat down, facing the door, as if to wait for someone.
The Hongyun Inn was quite lively, the lobby was almost full, and a few joggers were about to practice their flying scuds.
The female customer casually ordered a bowl of hot noodle soup. She was obviously hungry. When the noodle was served, she immersed herself in the steaming white steam. There are many merchants here, and the smell of copper is so great that they can turn back to Aduwu in a few words, and each boast about their own income. I don’t know if it’s true or not.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man with a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks at the adjacent table said, "I don't know if you have heard of it. A while ago, I had an old friend who was a cloth dealer. I came across 'that' while walking on the business road."
As he spoke, he gestured with his eyes.
Someone whispered: "Iron Masked Demon?"
The female guest who was drinking soup paused, turned her head to look over, and interjected, "What... Isn't the Iron Masked Demon in the Mountain of Living Dead? Why did it come to the east?"
The sharp-faced man saw that it was a beautiful girl who asked the question, so he talked more, and deliberately showed off his knowledge, and said, "Girl, think about it, the devil has raised so many thugs, but he doesn't give birth, so what are you going to eat? The living are dead. The mountain has long been inaccessible, and there is no place to fight for robbery. For many years since the war, the land and water routes have been blocked. Now I've come here again... Well, this person also knows the reason why wool can't be stabbed at one end."
Someone next to him hurriedly asked, "Stop talking nonsense, then what?"
"The iron-masked demon intercepts them along the way, and will take 70% of the 'tolls' from everyone's head." The pointed-faced man said, as soon as he said this, everyone in the seat gasped. "My friend was timid and cherished his life. When he saw something bad, he admitted that he was unlucky. They were not embarrassed. They let go after ordering the number. There were also those who refused to admit and bargain. There was no one left, and they were all killed by the man in the iron mask. The ghosts and bugs sucked into human dryness."
Someone slapped the table in righteous indignation and said, "It's too much of a deception!"
There was silence in the seat for a while. These people traveled from south to north, like a knife and meat. When they mentioned the mountains of gold and silver, they all looked like they were incomparably rich and powerful, but at this time, they seemed to have changed their bodies and became weak and helpless people, worrying all day long. own future.
After a while, someone said: "I heard people say that the devil is not invincible. Back then in Yongzhou, he once defeated Nan Dao's men."
The female guest in the corner was drinking soup, but when she heard the words, she immediately took a sip. She added a handful of spicy soup to the soup, which made her eyes turn red. She hurriedly touched the tea. She, she glanced around, quietly put the long knife on the side under the table and hung it on her waist by the side of the wall. The handle of the knife touched a purse on her waist. She thought about it and carefully He unbuttoned the purse and tucked it into his arms.
At this moment, someone in the audience sighed in a low voice: "But where are these great heroes now? You talk about this world, and the demon-destroyer stays behind closed doors and doesn't show up for a few years. , on the contrary, demons and monsters are rampant everywhere, lest others not know his reputation... A few years ago, there were rumors that Huo Lantao, the owner of the Huo Fortress, was the culprit who killed his brother. I think it's not as good as when his old man was alive. Anyway, the big guy has a backbone, and now it's good, you say that Huo Baozhu is a hypocrite, a real villain, and those who are not hypocritical, but also do justice to the big guy."
The female guest in the corner was slightly startled when she heard these words, the spoon in her hand was hanging over the bowl, and she didn't move for a while.
Suddenly, the door of Fortune Inn opened again, and a tall man walked in.
This person did not bring any rain gear, and he was soaked with rainwater, his face was pale, and the corners of his eyes were slightly bruised. This man has a good-looking appearance, but his expression is quite nervous. When he entered the door, he stood at the door and glanced at the guests in the entire lobby of the inn with hostility. Then he tightened his shoulders and walked in with his heavy sword. Many The cowardly thought he was here to seek revenge, and the one who had spoken in a low voice also followed, but who knew that when he entered the door, he accidentally tripped over the threshold of the inn, staggered his steps, almost fell, and a big hand He leaned against the wall and took a long breath.
Looking at it this way, it doesn't look like he is seeking revenge, but rather like being hunted down.
The shop assistant hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and greeted, "Guest officer..."
The man stretched out his hand towards him, something flashed across his hand, and those who were far away could not see clearly, but the shop assistant changed his face and said respectfully, "I'm sorry, please come in."
The man waved his hand, handed over a broken silver and a wine jug, and said, "No, I'm still on the road, please add a jug of wine for me, and pack dry food and meat to eat on the road, and I'll go."
The shop assistant didn't dare to persuade him any more, so he responded and took the wine jug, but he didn't take the silver tael, and ran to the back kitchen in a hurry.
The drenched man took a deep breath and straightened his waist reluctantly, as if he wanted to find a place to rest for a while, but when he looked around, all the merchants were hesitant, and they all looked away, refusing to look at him, but again. He glanced at him privately.
The man was quite tired of seeing it, and after a while, he saw an empty stool in the corner of the door, which was the table for the solo female guest.
He hesitated for a moment, then walked over and said in a low voice, "Girl, can I sit for a while and rest my feet?"
The girl didn't say anything, just made a gesture of ease.
The man's knees seemed to have suddenly lost strength, he slumped down and sat down, the chair squeaked and screeched, and he leaned against the wall next to him. I don't know if I fell asleep or fainted.