"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Horizon
Chapter 132 Tianshui
As soon as he came in, Zhou Cang saw us and was surprised at first. Then he saw me standing out from the crowd.
"Brother?" He came closer, frowned in the moonlight and looked at me carefully, and finally he suddenly became excited: "It's really you, brother!"
Zhou Cang seemed to have really grown up and looked a little older than me.
He is simple and diligent by nature. He has been patrolling the pass every day, even if it takes a hundred days. He has been in charge of all kinds of military rations and fodder every day. He has not missed anything during this period of time. This is almost incredible to me. The Xiliang people have tried every possible way to figure out the plan, but all attempts to come from the north have failed. The reason is that our honest and down-to-earth Zhou Cang is keeping a close eye on him. There was a period of time in the past when the scouts were investigating the situation in Sichuan, and he lived in the pass. Sometimes, he didn't go home for several days. But as long as the situation was peaceful, he would always come back after explaining the handover, because someone was waiting for him at home. The Xiliang people sneaked through the pass several times, but they ran into Zhou Cang who was closing the pass, and he was commanded to fight back. Recently, the Xiliang people have not bothered Zhou Cang again. But Zhou Cang still went to look after Shushan Pass every day, just like before. It's just that now it's the turn of a Houchang to be on night duty, so he comes back to reunite with his family and rest.
The hundreds of Xiliang people I sent here were arranged by Zhou Cang to live in a village in the valley west of Hanzhong. They were asked to grow some oats and raise some livestock. We gave them some aid and raised them and watched them. The original villagers there died at the hands of Dong Zhuo. Zhou Cang had already sent many soldiers to graze cattle and sheep on the mountain, and he also monitored their movements. This group was quite honest and nothing happened. But after the fire that day, the Xiliang people in the village went to the city to buy and sell things. They didn't know how to reveal their identities and were almost beaten to death by the grieving and angry people. So they didn't leave the village for more than ten days. Now they are directly bartering with the army grazing on the mountain. I don't know if Guo Xu, the Xiliang devil, has any tricks up his sleeve, but I now believe that they can't do anything under Zhou Cang's hands.
After hearing the above, I felt relieved to discuss the main business with him first. As soon as we finished the discussion, we all became interested in this strange thing in the yard. Zhou Cang was a little embarrassed, but he still told us everything honestly. That night, we talked in a hall with no lights on, just like a group of thieves. But none of us blamed or complained. Because there was really a story that was beyond everyone's expectations and made people sigh.
Things usually start with some very ordinary and trivial daily life, and this one is no exception. Zhou Cang accepted and settled people from Sichuan every day, and he was always fair and impartial, taking good care of the people. Even if the people from Xichuan came out, even if some people would scold me, and maybe some people would hate me to death and ask me where I was to seek revenge on me, but no one would blame this diligent, amiable, and always honest young general. So, among them, there was a sister from a big family in Sichuan, who inadvertently fell in love with our simple and unpretentious boy. She would secretly follow behind him every day, just to see him, and if she couldn't see him, she would miss him and think about him. She made clothes for him according to the height of his height compared to the gate, and made shoes for him according to the size of his shoe prints. She worked on sewing for him day and night, and when the work was finished that day, she was ashamed to send it off, so she asked the maid to send it to the camp.
Zhou Cang was an honest boy who had never had any scheming thoughts. When he saw the new clothes being delivered, he changed them even though he didn't know why. When he found that they fit him perfectly, he asked who sent them. If he hadn't thought of asking, it would have been unknown when the couple would have been brought together. Zhou Cang had never seen a girl before, and he really fell in love with her at first sight. So, the marriage was quickly arranged, and after the matchmaker's arrangement was completed, they waited until the beginning of June to get married.
If this is true, this marriage is pure and perfect. Unfortunately, the heavens do not always fulfill people's wishes.
That night, a fire suddenly broke out, and Zhou Cang was in the city. He arranged for the soldiers to put out the fire, and then rushed into his wife's house to save people. Although the fire was extinguished, the people were saved. But the woman's face was burned, her eyes were blinded, her voice was choked, and she had an uncontrollable fear of fire.
Zhou Cang never knew the meaning of the words hypocrisy, meanness, and unfaithfulness. At the beginning of June, he married her without any hesitation. Now he still felt guilty for not saving her earlier. They lived like this, and this is the reason and basis for all the scenes we see now.
My good brother and I hugged each other, said goodbye, and then said casually: "Take care of yourself. I will come to see you and your sister-in-law when I come back."
Influenced by me, everyone went up to hug Zhou Cang, even though no one knew him.
When she came back, Zhou Mi was still sighing: when she rescued the people, her heart might have died; Zhou Cang saved her people and also revived her heart. Zhou Cang is a remarkable man.
The next day we set off on our journey, and there was no conversation along the way. Although I hadn't slept for two days and two nights, I still couldn't sleep almost all night that night; I guess the brothers were the same.
If this matter was put in front of me, would I have the courage and sincerity to do it? I began to ask myself that night, but I didn’t know. I should do it, at least according to the moral code in my heart, but would I really be so resolute? Would I hesitate? After all, it is a lifelong matter. Can I be so steadfast until I grow old
Finally, after answering all my questions, I believe that I can do it. So, I can smile with pride and clear away all the haze in my heart.
The only consequence was that I fell asleep on the horse, and when the horse stopped suddenly, I was thrown into the grass, which scared my brothers. But when they found me, they described me as "with my mouth open, a happy expression on my face, and snoring."
Tianshui was in front of us two days later, and I walked boldly on the road. Because I grew a beard, rode a short horse, wore ordinary armor, and looked relaxed, it was difficult for these soldiers to compare me with the Ping An Fengyun Hou who wore black armor, rode a tall horse, had a smooth face, was majestic, and was full of vigor. Therefore, Po Liu Han Lie Ya came forward all the way until we entered the city.
In fact, it is not that after entering the city, we no longer need to break the six Han Lie Ya, but after entering the city, we no longer pay attention to how to solve this problem. Because the situation in the city stunned everyone, we should have let the other brothers in earlier - they were left in the valley more than ten miles outside the city - to prevent the news from leaking out due to the large number of people. But now it seems that it is better to let them in. I am afraid that the scenery inside can only be seen here. This is still Tianshui, I tried to convince myself, and tried hard to search the ruins of last spring in my mind, and compared them with the current scene one by one. Finally, I need to make a conceptual transformation. This is no longer the Tianshui of the past.
"This is Tianshui!" I think this summary of mine is not very bad, but very, very bad.
The scene here is very different from any other Han city, because there are many huge and tall buildings made of huge stones, and people wearing strange clothes and strange looks are walking around us, as if we are an isolated island in this floating city. The hawking along the street, the howling of various livestock walking back and forth, and some flirting on the street make us feel like we are dreaming. However, according to the last mentioned content, this dream seems to be a bit erotic.
I really wanted to hit Nan again to see his reaction to confirm whether I was dreaming. But his brother-in-law did it first, and then smiled at his aggrieved brother-in-law, "Are we dreaming?"
I really wanted to pull my brother to repent with him, because we always bully Nan like this. But we really have no ill intentions, we just feel that Nan has become a little different from himself recently. As long as there is no war or topic for him to talk nonsense, he will be silent and seem to be noble. Naturally, in our eyes, it is a better way to poke him and punch him from time to time to rescue him from the edge of loss and restore himself. But I still put my energy back to this street. After all, I am also very interested in various things here.
These stone buildings are very strange. I can't describe them with the words in my mind. I have never seen a house of this style in my life. The ancestors of their place must have lived in such houses. From what I can see, these buildings have no yards and are just attached to the street. I approached the door of one of them, which seemed to be a hall. There was also the sound of water inside. I touched these pillars. They were a little rough, but there was no denying that they were indeed made of stone.
I wondered if they had planned this after passing the Great Wall. I even looked around to see if there was a missing piece on the western hill. I never thought of a house without bamboo and wood paint (China would definitely use paint during the Chunqiu and Warring States period, mainly tung oil, author's note), but this one, and all the tall buildings I saw at a glance, were like this.
I rubbed my face hard, feeling as if in a dream.
A moment later, I saw Deng. Compared with a year ago, he was a little fatter. His belly was growing. According to this trend, in theory, he would be taller when lying down than when standing in ten years. If it weren't for that familiar, resolute and enthusiastic face, I wouldn't have recognized this fat brother. But it seemed that he recognized me from the crowd as soon as he saw us. He was really enthusiastic, not just his face, but to a degree that few of us could bear. And his clothes were also a little difficult for the brothers, especially me, to bear. Relatively speaking, we were already wearing less. Compared with us, he should have almost nothing on, or better than being naked. I think it can be called just naked. While he continued to maintain these enthusiastic movements, I asked these questions about the building in a more tactful way.
"Oh, my lovely friend, dearest brother, first of all, I have to thank you for allowing our entire family to live here. Since we regard this place as our home, of course it must look like home. These are the buildings of our hometown far away in the west. Do you remember what the city looked like at that time? Can you tell that this is still the Tianshui of a year ago?" He put one hand on my shoulder and happily used the other hand to show me the scenery of the city one by one.
I looked at it, looked back, and shook my head.
"Most of your houses are made of wood. They are easy to build, beautiful, and fast to build!" He gave me a thumbs up, but immediately curled his lips: "It's just too dangerous. Once a fire breaks out, if there is a favorable wind, everything will be burned down in an instant. If you are a little far from the water source, you won't be able to save people in time. You should remember that the city was burned down at that time. When we arrived, there was almost nothing here, it was all black and burned down. But look at our houses, they are all made of stone and lime, and they are not afraid of any fire." I was wondering if there are many kinds of fire. Suddenly, I thought with some evil fun that it was true: as he said, stone is indeed not afraid of fire, and even anger in the heart can't do anything to it, even jealousy, or even lust can't do anything to it. I couldn't help laughing as I thought about it, and Deng ignored me thinking about it and continued, "But the disadvantage of our house is that it is built slowly, too slowly. One thing that can be used is that when rebuilding, people from Xiliang who had fled returned home one after another. There were people coming for four or five months, and when they all came back, the houses were basically like this now - these houses were built. It seems that the poorer families just made mud, called a few acquaintances, made some wood and some straw, and sealed people in within a few days. The rich families pulled more than a dozen carts of things, plus dozens of craftsmen, and in a month, the outer walls of the courtyard and the houses and gardens inside the courtyard were in good shape. As a result, you see, except for these big stone houses of ours, the rest of the space is almost full, which is amazing. And now, except for the public bathrooms and public toilets? Everything else is not sealed." Note 1
"Public bathing rooms and public toilets? (Westerners were ahead of us in this regard, author's note. China only had public bathrooms more than a thousand years ago, and they were very popular during the Song Dynasty. The first public toilet, author continued to add)" These are two things I have never heard of. I can understand what these things do. However, I can't figure out why they are necessary. I remember that I didn't go out to find such a place for these two things. In fact, can't I just solve it at home? Especially going to the toilet. It is the simplest in the countryside. You can just find a piece of field. The old farmer may thank you for your "generous relief and empty purse", and "nine points of the mountain, one point of the contribution", so it is possible that he must treat you to a sip of water and a sweet potato to make up for the loss of your body. However, if you are very angry during that period, and all kinds of miasma and poison are released and poured out, so that the new seedlings are damaged, it can only be said that the heavens are not in line with people's wishes, and the heavens are jealous of the talented seedlings, so that both heaven and man are angry, and it is even possible that the person will pick up a hoe to pick your life. Thinking of this, in fact, a lump suddenly popped up in my heart. This lump was that my sister's peach flower was "drowned" on the spot because of my frequent "goodwill charity". Now because of this matter, I suddenly thought of it, not for anything else, but just want to use a few disgusting words as annotations, perhaps it can be: Alas, I regret it, God, will you punish me with a lifetime of peach flower disaster? Come soon, how happy! Add some righteous expressions, almost perfect, perfect sanctimoniousness.
After calming down and thinking back on this matter, if this sentence is true to Dengtu Zi, it is really a bit ironic to me.
"Yes!" He answered me directly and took it for granted, pulling me back: "The book we left behind said that this is a must for a city. We just followed the instructions in that book."
"I'm very interested in going to the public bathing room." Po Liu Han Lieya suddenly became very serious. Everyone was stunned for a moment, and suddenly laughed together.
However, half an hour later, when we were all in the public bathing room, someone expressed great dissatisfaction, which can be seen from his words: "It turns out that you can't see what women do here."
"Yes." Someone still answered very directly and took it for granted.
"Brother-in-law, let me tell you what you think." One of the good children expressed his dissatisfaction with his brother-in-law's words.
"Then I will frame you." He was very relaxed and frankly threatened his brother-in-law: "I bet Wan'er believes me."
"Well, I wanted to gamble with you." The child lowered his head helplessly, "Unfortunately, I will definitely be the loser."
Although I was a little uncomfortable at first with a large group of people facing each other naked, I got used to it later. After all, I went down the Han River and Baihe River naked with my brothers more than once or twice. Moreover, I felt so comfortable in the water that I wanted to sleep again. After all, I didn’t get enough rest along the way. Suddenly, it seemed like I had a dream. I dreamed that Brother Ziyu said to me: "Well, you guys, I'm in jail, but I didn't expect you to be happy here." I was shocked and woke up. I got up and took a few deep breaths. I felt much more energetic and said something to let everyone come back from the enjoyment: "While there is no one here, let's do the business quickly. Jiang Wei is still in jail."
"Have you sent any spies?" Deng asked directly about the important matter.
"No, since the disturbance at the beginning of this year, all the checkpoints and cities have been investigating very closely. It was discovered that our spies are always hanging around the prisons and government offices, which makes people wary. I will send some to Henan Yin, but I will ask my acquaintances about the prisons and government offices. They are high-ranking officials, so they should be fine."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Then who knows the location and terrain of the houses in Luoyang?" Deng asked very thoroughly. His concern was different from mine, but I supported his principle: only after passing the most critical and difficult part can we discuss the feasibility of the whole thing.
"Then I have to come. I'm probably the only one who has been here..."
"I've been there too. Three years ago, I went to Luoyang to seek medical treatment, but there was no hope for me, so I forced myself to take a good look around Luoyang. You know, I thought I would die if I went back, so I might as well take a good look around. I even remember the locations of the two prison cells." Song expressed a different opinion, and made everyone's eyes cast on the only skinny man in the audience. He didn't seem to judge everyone's gazes, but continued, "But I don't know where Lord Jiang Wei's prison is. It is said that there are at least three prison cells in Luoyang, one for Luoyang Yin, one for Silifu Yamen, and one for Huangmen. The one is in Nangong City, but you know I can't enter the palace city. So I don't know where the one in the palace city is, but Brother Zirui may not have anything to do with that kind of place."
"Mr. Song, you seem to be too well prepared." From the tone of his voice, it seemed as if Song knew that we were going to jailbreak three years ago.
"No, I really know where the prison is in the palace." I felt a little depressed, thinking about the time I was imprisoned in prison.
"Brother, you've got everything ready." Silly kids always say silly things. As soon as he said these two words, he was immediately attacked by his brother-in-law. The child let out a strange cry and fell into the water.
But we were only considering a general situation, and we were all quite united in our opinion on this. So we settled all the matters roughly, and the day passed.
Of course, this is just a high-sounding description. If Ziyu knew everything we did that day, he would definitely scold us for being lazy and vulgar. However, it is still a but. This is just an if. This matter will be discussed later, so I won't mention it now.
The Quedeng people always work fast, so we set out two days later, leaving only Jiang Jiong, who I brought to my presence that year, to take care of various local affairs. Quedeng only brought more than 30 of his bravest and most decisive men and women from the tribe, and it was Beihai's idea to bring female warriors. He sometimes thought that women were easier to get things done, but I felt that this person had bad intentions.
There were a total of 162 of us, and this was the number we finally determined. At first, someone kept counting and only counted 161, and finally found that this person had not counted himself. This was not the most amazing one. There was one who counted for a long time and actually counted 84. We had to be very surprised. What power made this child count so horribly? So we carefully asked him to count again and read it out loud. We listened carefully and understood. The original count record is as follows. Xie Zhi was the main recorder, and Song Yudong was the penman: "One, two, three, four, five, six..." It must be admitted that he showed an excellent foundation in numbers in the first 20, all correct, and there was no mistake in the order, but it seems that the foundation of the latter needs to be supplemented.
"Twenty-one, twenty-seven, twenty-four, thirty-one, ..." In the end, we thought that according to his counting method, if we gave him a team of ten thousand people and he could bring back one hundred, we would be satisfied.
From then on, this person was asked by his brother-in-law not to call him brother-in-law casually, and even if he did, he had to quickly clarify that he and his sister were not biological siblings.
The real upper reaches of Luoshui River are not Shanghe, but a stream in the valley next to Chencang. We don’t know where the upper reaches are. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to pay attention to this matter. Because it takes another day to go down to Shanghe, and we don’t have that much time to waste. From Shanghe, we can’t go to Luoyang by water. Last time, we hurried to land as soon as we got out of the mountains. This time, it was the same. The reason was the same both times: our boats and rafts were not warships. The soldiers on the rafts had no shelter. If they were attacked, they only needed to fire a volley of bows and crossbows. We didn’t even have to fight and would suffer heavy losses. Considering this, we could only act at night, which would take at least two days. However, even this was quite inconvenient for us, and we were not taken care of by God.
I figured it out. When we set out last time, it was winter and the water was high. Later, we learned that the so-called Luoshui River flows out of Shanghe only because the Luoshui River can be navigated from Shanghe, but only in autumn and winter when the river is not frozen. So when we first arrived at Shanghe, my brothers from the north saw the huge water of Luoshui River and were a little timid, "Brother, are you really going this way?"
I was also hesitant. The water was really too strong. It was not as calm and slow as the last time I saw it. If we rashly sailed like this, we might all be buried in the water. This was not bravery, but stupidity.
I didn't dare to trouble my father's men, for fear of bringing trouble to them, so I looked at the river in great pain and remained silent for a long while.
"We'll take the mountain road instead of the waterway." I said firmly, "We'll go along the river, through the mountains and ridges. Now let's go buy more horses and more dry food. Don't cause trouble, don't provoke others. Find some people who can talk, and go shopping separately."
Think about the advantages and disadvantages of this way of walking. The advantage is that we can at least walk during the day, and it is convenient to hide and rest in the mountains and forests; the disadvantage is that our journey may be delayed for a few days.
Life in the mountains is better than I imagined. There are wild paths in the mountains, which makes me happy. There are herds of deer in the wild, which makes Beihai, Deng and his people happy.
At night, we gathered together to discuss the situation in Luoyang. On a sheepskin, the streets, government offices, courtyards and neighborhoods of Luoyang gradually appeared. With the continuous description and supplement of Song Yudong and me, the whole picture was gradually completed. Then, in my mind, I began to draw all the situations of Luoyang into a city in my mind.
Luoyang is backed by Mangshan Mountain and connected to Luoshui River in the south. There is a dock ferry two miles south of the city, where many people and goods come and go. There is a market in the southwest and another market in the east of the city. There is only one market at the west of the city wall, called Jinshi. Among these three places, the market in the southwest seemed to have been abandoned when I went there in the first year of Chuping, but it was a time of chaos, so it is not advisable to speculate whether it exists or not; the other markets are crowded with people, and merchants from all over the country come and go. One mile southeast of the city is the former Imperial College, where Biyong was located. It was almost abandoned after the chaos. There is a lieutenant of the Imperial College and 500 soldiers; there are Shanglin and Hongchi in the east of the city, Guangcheng and Pingle in the west, all of which are gardens opened by the previous emperor. They all have garden commanders and 100 armored men under them, all of whom can help us accomplish our goals. Luoyang City is nine miles north and south and six miles east and west. There are four avenues in the city for traffic. There are three gates in the east and west. From north to south, the east city is: Shangdongmen, Zhongdongmen, Haomen (also called Hemáomen); from north to south, the west city is: Shangximen, Yongmen, Guangyangmen; the four gates in the south are: Kaiyangmen, Pingchengmen (also called Pingmen), Yuanmen (also called Yuanmen), Jinmen; the two gates in the north are: Gumen, Daxiamen (Xiamen), a total of twelve gates. Except for Pingchengmen, all the gates are guarded by the gate lieutenants. Only Pingchengmen is considered as the palace gate, and Sima is specially appointed to supervise it, probably because it goes directly to the palace gate from the north. Pingchengmen goes all the way north, and there are official residences on both sides of the road. Five hundred steps to the east of the road is the Sikong Mansion, which is connected to the Situ Mansion and the Taiwei Mansion. The rest are mostly the residences of high officials and nobles until the Tongtuo Street in front of the Nangong City. The so-called Tongtuo Street is the Imperial Street. It is called "Tongtuo" because there is a bronze camel standing in front of the Nancheng Gate. The bronze camel is more than nine feet high and is said to be a gift from the barbarians of the Western Regions Protectorate. The Nangong City was originally the imperial city of our Han Dynasty. Later, the emperor moved the imperial city to the North Palace. The Nangong began to decline. Now it is the location of various government offices. There are four gates in the east, west, south and north. There is the Huangmen Temple inside, which is the place where we were imprisoned. It is suspected that it is also the place where Ziyu was imprisoned. Between the Nangong and Beigong is the road that goes directly from the Shangxi Gate to the Shangdong Gate. The east is where the nobles live, and the west is where the common people live. The westernmost part of the city from the Shangxi Gate to the Yong Gate is the gold market.
This was the first night in the mountains. Deng had many ideas in mind, and in principle, he agreed with Beihai and Nan, that is, after our disturbance, the court should consider moving the capital. They all seemed to be starting from the principle of destroying life.
The next day we marched again, thinking on the way, and discussing various details of the city at night. Then other parts of the city gradually appeared in my mind. We laughed a lot that night, and also had some quarrels, so naturally the picture in my mind became more lively.
To the north of the Upper West Gate is the Zhulong Garden. No need to think too much, it is not a good place for us to live in peace. Southeast is mostly civilian neighborhoods. From the Garden Gate to the Imperial Street, and from the Imperial Street to the South Palace Gate, there is a highway. The road along the way is 15 meters wide. There are two earth walls in the middle of the road. Only the emperor's ceremonial carriage passes through the middle. Even the prince cannot walk casually. Especially if we go to the South Palace to rescue people and take this road, it will be very bad if we are blocked by people from front and back. There is another Kaiyang Street from Kaiyang Gate to the north until the Imperial Street. It passes by the back door of the Three Dukes' Mansion. Maybe we can do something about it. The North Palace is a little bit bigger than the South Palace. My adoptive parents are inside. Obviously, it is not appropriate for me to meet them this time. Interestingly, the North Palace has only three gates, east, south and north. The North Gate of the North Palace is very close to the Daxia Gate. Outside the Daxia Gate is Mangshan. To the east of the North Palace facing the Valley Gate is the Hyogo and Taicang. One is where the best armored soldiers in the world are stored, and the other is the largest granary in the world. Someone even set fire to Taicang, which caused a big mess, and I scolded him immediately. Taicang burned down, although my adoptive parents must have food, but what about Luoyang and the surrounding people? After all, it is the end of summer, not the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it is a time of shortage. Some people still want to argue that those grain merchants have it. I scolded: Once Taicang catches fire, it would be strange if those big merchants don’t hoard it, and they don’t care about the hunger of the people. This is absolutely not allowed. If you mention it again, we will have nothing to do even if we are brothers. Only then did I put down his bad idea. My brother is actually good in other aspects, but he is a little unkind in giving advice. I still remember that he proposed to me to slaughter all the captives from Xiliang. Frankly, I am a little worried about my brother.
The second night passed like this. We had some disagreements and had not yet made up our minds. Before going to bed, I ran through the city in my mind, thinking of all the worst possibilities, and concluded that if that really happened, we would have to die with Ziyu, and we would have to be prepared to die again after we got up. So I thought about all the best possibilities again, and this time I thought it would be best for us to go back home and wait for the amnesty. Of course, the real thing is never the best or the worst, so we can only prepare to enter the city, prepare to do things, prepare to retreat, and even prepare to die.
I went to relieve myself at night and bumped into my brother and his brother-in-law's weapon packs. My boots were unholstered, but in the red light of the campfire I saw the weapons they carried: a broadsword and a spear. I sighed, thinking that they hadn't thought about death yet, but I had died many times in my mind. Maybe I really deserved to die. If there was no me in this world, there wouldn't be so many things. Suddenly, a whole set of plans came to my mind, and I suddenly felt a little regretful. If I had thought about it earlier, I would have done it this way.
On the third day, the scene before us did not change much. None of us had time to appreciate it. Most of us were thinking about various ideas on horseback. The only difference from yesterday was that we changed new horses and left the old ones here. These horses may still be used, or they may not be used, but no one cares about the loss of these horses now. On the way, I approached Po Liu Han Lie Ya and asked him a question about some details of the plan I thought of last night. He gave me a positive answer, and I stopped immediately and told him that I had something to tell everyone in the evening.
That evening we found a very hidden path next to the camping place, just as we were resting. When everyone was making a fire and cooking, I was a little interested and walked along the path with my brothers who were also young and a little reckless to see where this path covered in dense thatch led to.
This is what the so-called winding path leads to. The more this happens, the more interesting it makes us feel about not knowing where to go. The road keeps turning, the trees are dense and lush, the sky is gradually dimming, but the road still stretches to no end. Just when we are getting impatient and ready to go back, just waiting for any of us to express this intention and turn back collectively, the front of us suddenly opens up and reveals a piece of open space in the mountains and forests. The only sound we can hear is the sound of a spring flowing in the wind, and in front of us, there is a pool of dark blue water in the mountains. It is sunset, outside the blue sky and white clouds, in the green mountains, the breeze ripples the dark pool, who can still remember the unbearable heat of this summer. It is quiet around, and there is no one. We all look at it like this, no one speaks, only the amazement of that moment. But I have been thinking that one day, I can build a thatched cottage with Yinling here and live there, without asking so many troubles, and without worrying about this and that. Suddenly I thought of Guo Pei, and I felt a surge of guilt in my heart. I finally realized the pain of the relationship between men and women, which is far from being able to be boasted about with happiness. It seemed that when I thought of my wife, I always forgot her, but what was even more painful was that I would soon remember her; and what made me even more painful was that I could hardly forgive myself for forgetting her, but I forgot every time.
Nan was still sharp-eyed. Last time he found the spirit tablet of Zhang Pingzi, and this time he found something again. Just when we decided to go back, he was still staring blankly at a place. We only found out when we told him to leave. He seemed to be trying to identify something there. It was not until we pulled him away that he suddenly said, "It's too dark. Brother, take a look, is that a thatched hut?"
It was a thatched cottage, a very simple cottage. A tattered straw mat was used as the door, and naturally there was no door lock or anything like that. However, two things could be seen. First, these uninvited guests were obviously very polite. They saw that there was no one inside through the window hole, took a quick look inside, and then left. Second, there was really nothing decent inside. In addition to the fact that the people in the mountains really had a very hard life, it was also certain that even if there was no lock, no thief would be interested in such a house. All the things added together were not enough to buy a pair of straw sandals from any Luoyang merchant, and they had to walk such a long way. It would be a big loss for the thieves to carry such tattered things.
Since the owner didn't come back, we didn't have any interest in provoking others, so we looked at the beautiful scenery around us and went back. I don't know how the owner of this place makes a living. But we didn't search too much, and didn't find any fields or anything. This time, we didn't have time to care about and intervene in anything here. We hope that no one will know what we do during this period of time. From this point of view, it is actually wrong for us to come here along this path. I was still hoping that this mountain man would never find us; even if he found us, this person would not have any contact with the outside world.
But my hope was soon proven to be completely dashed. It was not him who discovered us, but we who discovered him. When we were still talking about the scenery on the trail, a soldier suddenly ran over from the front and said with a hint of joy: "Finally I see you gentlemen."
This person was led by E Huan. E Huan usually didn't talk much, but this time when he saw the soldiers he led, he spoke: "What's wrong? What happened?"
"We caught a man who was secretly watching us from the side of our camp. Old Zhao asked us to keep an eye on him and let me report to you all. I didn't expect that just when I was about to leave, the man seemed to have discovered something and was about to run away. Old Zhao asked us to catch him. Let me report to you all as soon as possible."
"Then let's go back and take a look?" I casually called my brothers back and looked at the weakest among us first: "Song, you'll have to work harder."
"It's okay." Song looked at E Huan thoughtfully, wondering what he was thinking.
I think I thought the same thing as him, so I immediately turned to E Huan: "E Huan, your subordinate Lao Zhao is good, he can do things well."
"Yeah, Uncle Zhao is pretty good." He nodded and laughed, "He is pretty good."
"Old Zhao used to be a soldier in Jiangdong. After returning home from the army, he couldn't make a living after a few years, so he joined our army again. He has always been a soldier. He is a good person and honest, but too honest. After so many years, he still has some skills. During this time in Jiangnan, I noticed that everyone still trusts Old Zhao. He can basically be regarded as a cautious old soldier." After E Huan's overly simple description, Song decided to add.
"What's his name?" I decided to do something for this nice old soldier, so I first needed to know who I was doing it for.
"We don't know." Beihai didn't speak for a long time, and seemed to be feeling a little anxious, so at this insignificant time, he decided to drag his brother-in-law along to have some fun.
"It seems to be the name of Tǐngtu, what is his name?" After looking at the two people who were pounding the rice, Song decided to look at E Huan, but soon he realized from his confused face that he would not get any help, so he decided to think for himself. Suddenly he laughed: "It seems to be Zhao Deli. Listening to the name, he sounds like a country vendor."
"Well, go back and give him a captain and let him lead a battalion and see." I nodded. In fact, I often thought that I felt that Jingzhou was lacking this kind of people. Except for Brother Chen, the whole Jingzhou was simply a young army, full of drive and vitality, but I always felt a little floating and unsteady. Looking at this group of classmates including myself, I always felt that Jingzhou was a little empty.
"He is leading a battalion now?" E Huan suddenly said curiously.
"What rank did he have?"
"not yet."
"Nonsense! Although the country has been in chaos in recent years and the newly introduced provincial governor system has made the official ranks even more chaotic, it doesn't mean that you can lead troops without any knowledge. If someone finds out, we will be in trouble. Remember to remind me when you go back, and I will help him find a vacancy for a military officer and let him fill it. Uh, what kind of official are you?"
"Captain of the Wuling City Gate." He could still remember it. I myself did not know my most recent official position in Jingzhou. Usually there is no necessary connection between our official positions and what I do. For example, Zheng Sao was the Minister of the Imperial Household or the Chief Clerk, and both had the responsibility of recording and compiling government orders. But I obviously could not imagine what a document drafted and issued entirely by Zheng Sao would look like.
"Oh, do you know what your job is?" His job was far from what he did, and far more interesting. Song was already laughing, and the others didn't seem to understand yet.
"I don't know." He was also an honest child and could only scratch his head.
"Have you been to Wuling?"
“I think I have been there.”
I had to shake my head, realizing that my friend was still confused about official ranks: "The captain of each city gate is in charge of the traffic at all the city gates, maintaining public order and preventing thieves and bandits."
"You seem to care about things thousands of miles away." I joked with my brother, and we all laughed easily. No one took the arrested person to heart.
However, just as we did not expect this person and our meeting, this time, we were wrong again.
Note 1: This is the difference between the types of buildings in ancient China and Europe for a long time. Usually, for many projects with the same earthwork volume, China only needs one percent of the time of Western Europe. There are problems with labor, and another is the problem of stone and wood as building materials. But the advantages and disadvantages are just in the above words, otherwise the Afang Palace and Changle Weiyang Palace can also be preserved to this day. The author regretfully noted that fortunately our ancestors left us the Great Wall as a memorial, otherwise we can only read books and dig graves to prove that we do have that glorious history. In addition, do you know how long the Great Wall of all ages is added together: more than 50,000 kilometers (the earth's equator is about 40,000 kilometers long), all the bricks and stones build a standard wall of 0 cm thick and .5 meters high, this wall can circle the earth's equator for more than ten times. But there is another thing that may be a little gloomy: the distribution of these Great Walls, in addition to China, there are also Russia and Mongolia, the reason is self-evident. As a Chinese, the author is very proud and a little uncomfortable to note.