From the Bohai Sea to the south, the road is flat and unobstructed, with only a few hills on the side occasionally.
It is late autumn and the weather is quite cold. Along the way, we have indeed seen newly harvested farmland. It seems that the north has not suffered from floods this year, but we in Jingzhou and Yangzhou will be in trouble in the next one or two years, no matter what. However, I feel that there are some problems with He Jin, that is, it seems that he does not trust his so-called confidants very much. Maybe this is a loophole we can exploit. I have left a message to Huangfu Song, but I don’t know if we can exploit a loophole here with Yuan Shao.
Passing by several counties, the county kings had long disappeared. After asking the reason, most of them were due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there was no more fiefdom. Although there are not many counties in Jingzhou, if the population of all the counties is added together, there are also hundreds of thousands. The tax collection of so many households is also a huge income. I admit that I started to have bad ideas about them.
Yuan Shao was quite polite. On my second day in Qingzhou, his receptionist came. I remembered that I seemed to have a higher title than him, and I had a unique sense of pride and comparison. However, the Yuan family was indeed very powerful, because there were people in the Yuan family who were among the three highest officials for four generations. In addition, I passed through his territory this time, so it was better to keep a low profile; but I seemed to have a grudge with the Yuan family. I thought of Yuan Shu, who I hated very much. I wondered if Yuan Benchu would cause trouble for me, or if there were other bad things waiting for me.
I planned to go southwest, passing through Yanzhou and Yuzhou. Although the eunuch party was not a good bunch, I didn't seem to have any grudge against them. Moreover, I thought of going to Runan in Yuzhou. I remembered the expedition against the Qiang in Runan and remembered what the old man had told me. I wanted to see if I could discover some secrets of my life there.
Now I don't know if He Jin has sent secret orders to his confidants along the way to find a chance to get rid of me. However, if he wants to get rid of me, he certainly can't do it himself. He should find some bandits, robbers, or mountain robbers, and He Jin's people should be "helpless" and unable to protect me. In short, I can't give my teacher an excuse. In fact, giving this excuse is useless. The teacher will be sad and grieved for me, but he will never raise an army for me. The teacher doesn't have such a rebellious thought in his bones.
But besides being worried, I also felt proud and happy. Since they wanted to get rid of me, they knew how important I was. He Jin must have felt that my existence was a threat.
But now, life is still the most important thing, but the safer way is to travel in a big way, take the official road, avoid mountain roads and dangerous paths.
Therefore, whenever we arrived at a place, we would show off our weapons in a big way. The Tianlang and my big flag would become the topic of conversation wherever we passed. And the elite soldiers and generals behind me were also extraordinary, with the Qiankun double-sided axe and six-foot longbow of Po Liu Han Lie Ya, the eight-foot black iron gallbladder of Yan Rou, and the three-pronged heavenly iron fork of Husa Lie Nan Guo. And the big flag embroidered with earth thorns, although we actually didn't have such a group of people, all of this made the local people who passed by talk about it.
In the wine shop, I let my brothers talk and laugh loudly, and sing wantonly. I think there are few teams as strange as ours. Although Tu Jinglie refused to join the army, he was still very helpful and helped us make noise. He also talked about business with the wine shop owner from time to time, which made the man stunned. Soon he was full of admiration. He certainly didn't expect that this Wuhuan man had such a good business sense, and his Chinese was more authentic than his. Po Liu Han Lieya is definitely a language genius. When he talked to others, some locals sighed again, saying that you haven't been back to the plain for a long time. Now the plain is not as good as before. Because, if you don't look at him, you won't feel that the one who speaks the Qingzhou Yan dialect is your brother. I think I like these foreigners. I remembered the conversation between the teacher and the famous scholar at that time. The teacher's discussion at that time was so exquisite that it was really amazing. Maybe it was from then on that I didn't have such a psychological resistance to the barbarians. Just like the teacher, aren't the most evil people in the history books all our Han people? When there are many people, there will be saints, sages and villains. Why do we only see Zhou Gong, Zichan and others, but not Guo Zong, Zhao Gao and others? Others cannot invade us, but as long as they invade us, we must fight them. We must have the courage to raise our swords and fight against the gods in heaven. This is backbone, which must be possessed, otherwise we will lose the backbone of the world; but why can't we stand in the perspective of others and imagine their situation, and don't bully the weak, otherwise there will always be a time when we are bullied back. This is tolerance, which is our bearing. Without it, we cannot call ourselves a country of etiquette and the Celestial Empire.
In fact, as early as the time of Yan and Huang, our Chinese nation began to intermarry among different ethnic groups. Dongyi and Jiuyi are already a geographical term, and it will be the same in the future. Ever since the Southern Xiongnu surrendered, many years of marriage alliances have been carried out to appease them. I am afraid that the Han Liu bloodline of Huhanye Chanyu's clan has become more and more dominant. I am afraid that one day, the descendants of Huhanye Chanyu may rule the Central Plains as relatives of the Han royal family.
It seems that the current Chanyu of Southern Xiongnu is called Yufuluo, and he was appointed General of the Left Xiongnu. I can't remember exactly, but it seems that his son has adopted the surname Liu, and he is now fourteen years old.
Intermarriage among different ethnic groups may be a better way to ease the conflicts among different ethnic groups. I was still thinking about it, and suddenly I thought of the Deng tribe. If one day, we are all like his people, without hierarchy or ethnic superiority, that may be a good result. Because I can't think of any other way.
When I looked up, I knew something was going to happen. Everyone was silent. Nan pointed his fork at a table in the corner. Following the direction of the fork, I saw a table of very conspicuous people. One of them had a delicate and fair complexion, like a scholar, while the other three were a bit too big and strong. All four of them were dressed like traveling merchants, but they had no bags, only two or three long bundles. There was only one carriage outside besides our horses, and no driver. Moreover, on the table for four people, the three strong men had wine vessels in front of them, but the delicate scholar had nothing in front of him. This would be strange if it didn't arouse suspicion. But we kept making a fuss and didn't notice these anomalies. Instead, Nan, who we had neglected, noticed them.
"Hey brother, don't get involved in some things, otherwise you will get into trouble." One of the big men with his back to us suddenly said coldly: "You look like outsiders, we won't pursue it, don't disturb us drinking."
Nan didn't put down his fork. "That boy is not with you. Why are you pointing knives at him? Let him go."
I quickly leaned over and saw a sharp knife under the table pointing at the young man. It seems that people are useful. If we were singing so wildly and didn't pay attention to the people at the table, and we were short, no one would be able to see the things under the table, which would cause trouble.
Long Xing immediately slammed the table and stood up, holding up his bow. There was an immediate chaos in the tavern. The big men were also very alert. While they were following the crowd out of the tavern, they pulled a few nearby drinkers to act as shields and waved them in front of them. For the first time, Long Xing did not shoot an arrow. Instead, he threw away his longbow, put down his axe, drew the sword at his waist, and motioned for everyone to fight.
I was still wondering if this was related to Yuan Shao, and if it was a trap, when all this happened. The other party proposed a condition: one-on-one, if we win, they keep the people, and if we lose, they take the people away. Long Xing agreed immediately, and he seemed too impatient, but since he agreed, we had no choice but to help him first. It seemed that he was very confident in his martial arts.
By this point, I felt that it was time for me to go up, and there was no point in thinking about that kind of thing now because there was no way to prove it was or was not.
"Long Xing, let me do it." I pulled Long Xing who was about to go up. After coming back from Lelang, I felt that I had improved a lot. Long Xing had never fought with anyone bare-handed, at least I had never seen it, because I saw the other party coming out with his sleeves rolled up, and I knew it was probably going to be a physical fight. I had wrestled with Guan and Zhang for at least more than ten days, and my waist hurt a little when I thought about it.
Since I took the initiative to fight, they immediately stepped aside, and the "heart" kept telling me. The other side also said: "Wei Huang, heart."
This man named Wei Huang is about my age, and the other two are older, and seem to be the elders of the boy in front of me. In comparison, the boy in front of me is more robust, which may be the reason why he came out. I didn't look at the kidnapped boy. I knew the duel had already begun and I couldn't be distracted.
Since you don't have a weapon, I guess we're going to fight. I'm so angry about being beaten by Guan Erge that I don't know where to vent. If I don't beat you to a pulp today, I'm not called Xie Zhi.
I think I was thinking too much about other things, or I was distracted. The strong man quickly approached me, grabbed my shoulders, and when he hit me, he tripped under his feet. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't think too much. I grabbed his waist at once, because I was really a little slow to react as his legs came up, so I decided to hold him before I fell, at least I had to find someone to take the fall. My clumsy long legs were still hooked by someone, but at this time I also hugged him around the waist and twisted his body hard. I don't think he expected me to cling to him like this, because I fell to the ground with him in a very unpresentable image. Fortunately, at least I remembered that I was taller than him and my arms were longer than his. But I think it's really a big deal for me to cling to someone and fall to the ground like this, but fortunately, I am on par with him in this round, at least it seems so. However, it seems that I met someone who can throw today, and I underestimated him.
I quickly stood up from the ground and stepped back, quietly watching him who also stepped back and stood up immediately.
The field was very quiet. An old mandarin suddenly wailed from behind him and flew straight up to the sky. I was moved, thinking about something, and looked at his side and back blankly. The young man also felt something was strange and looked back to see if there was anything unusual. I immediately leaned forward. It seemed that my long legs were still an advantage. I took two big steps and approached him. My hands were faster than my feet. I immediately locked his shoulders and tripped. The young man was obviously caught off guard and was knocked down by me.
"It doesn't count if you cheat." Wei Huang stood up and protested angrily, but he was helpless. The people behind me started cheering, and the two behind him also took off the knives on those people, including the weak scholar, and let them go.
"Okay, let's do it again." Although I won, I felt that this was an unfair victory and I didn't feel happy. I planned to do it again. I think I have the same stupidity as Duke Xiang of Song, but I don't want to end up like him.
"Really." The young man certainly didn't believe his ears.
"I, Xie Zhi, the Marquis of Han Ping An Feng Yun, have come to do what I want to do." I'm not sure if what I said is true, I don't know if I have ever failed to do it, but at least this time, I must be so righteous and open-minded that I can believe it completely. But in fact, I don't know, at least I can't remember it.
"I know you are Xie Zhi, but so what if you are Xie Zhi?" The person behind him answered me without giving me any face.
But I don't care, I'll just start. I walked towards him, I think few people would fight like this. This made him feel a little guilty, and he took two steps back.
I kept my heart calm and continued to walk forward. I could even feel his heartbeat. He suddenly attacked, but this time he moved much slower. I grabbed his right hand with my left hand and moved my whole body very lightly to his front. He tried to support my waist with his hand to break through, but he pressed on my legs. I still threw him out heavily.
He stood up and seemed to be uninjured. He bowed like an adult and said, "Friend, I lost." Then he left.
"Brother, why did you let them go? These bandits will be trouble if they stay." Nan exclaimed, holding up his fork.
"Brother, you don't want to take them in, do you?" Long Xing was also a little confused.
"You guys go." I made up my mind.
"Goodbye, see you later." They also bowed, without thanking each other or getting angry, and said goodbye politely like ordinary friends.
I once thought about recruiting them, maybe because I saw that they were not ordinary people, but first of all, I didn't know what was going on. But when they used other guests as shields, I gave up the idea. Hijacking others may not prove how bad they are, but using other people's bodies to protect themselves and dragging innocent people into the incident, I can't accept myself to associate with such people, and I think my brothers can't either.
I think I am sick. I want to recruit everyone I know, but I have not been able to recruit some real geniuses.
Only then did I cast my eyes on the handsome young man. Nan felt that he was about the same age as himself, so he approached him and asked about his life. Recently, except for Yan Rou, none of us talked much to him. It seems that this guy is too suffocated. He looked up and down to see if there were any injuries, and asked about his life. I think the handsome boy with a greasy face is almost annoyed by him. His brows began to frown. Long Xing was about to stop his brother-in-law, but was stopped by his sister-in-law. His sister-in-law doted on Nan too much. She doesn't care, but I do. I was about to speak, but Yan Rou also pulled me and put her mouth close to my ear, "This is a girl."
I immediately stopped caring and let Nanreqing make a fool of himself. I think we are all too bad. A bunch of people are now waiting with evil taste to see this barbarian make a fool of himself behind Husa Lie Nanguo, a descendant of the Xiongnu.
Although Husarenangu is a Xiongnu and can't read, he is often taught a lesson by his younger brother and sister-in-law. However, he is unwilling to learn those square things. He can only recognize his own name, my title, and the names of several other people. Sometimes he can read some court reports, but the way he reads is to find the characters he knows and then make wild guesses. But he still grew up here among the Han people and was spoiled by Old Man Liu. Fortunately, this child is kind by nature and has not developed into a dandy. His etiquette and clothing do not give the feeling of a Xiongnu. He is just stronger than the average boy of his age. He doesn't seem to have encountered any major setbacks and hardships. I think this should be his first time.
I still don't know the identity of the woman dressed as a man, but I know that she is not an ordinary girl. When the knife was on her, she was not panicked. It is not easy for a man to do this, let alone a girl of her age. I suddenly looked around timidly. My sister was going to teach me that I looked down on women when she heard this. In fact, I think men are braver than women. At least I am not afraid of mice, but my sister is. But then I thought, I am afraid of my sister when I make a mistake, but my sister is not afraid of me when she makes a mistake.
I think the girl's sensitivity and patience have been completely worn out by this clueless fool in front of her, and all that's left is embarrassment and helplessness. I believe that in a short while, she will turn into anger and be about to go crazy.
Nan suddenly stopped talking, and became dejected and became a child again: "Maybe I'm annoying and you don't want to talk to me." He turned and left.
The girl also felt guilty and said quickly: "No, I'm very grateful that you came to save me."
I shook my head. It seems that if it is a disaster sent by heaven, you can still survive, but if it is a disaster brought by oneself, you cannot survive. Nan immediately ran back happily. Soon, we saw the girl's painful expression again, wanting to live but not being able to, and wanting to die but not being able to.
But the result still surprised us: a big backpack. When Nan's hand patted her shoulder, the girl actually used a very beautiful angle to throw the chattering Hun out in an even more beautiful arc. Long Xing was going to applaud, but then he saw the expression on his superior's face and decided to give up this plan that might lead to more severe punishment. I had to take a good look at this girl again.
The girl bowed deeply towards the direction where she fell, and then bowed to us. Thank you for saving her life. But looking at her expression, she didn't seem to think we did the right thing.
"Good skills," Nan jumped up, "I didn't expect you to be so good. If I had known this, I would have come to Qingzhou to see you earlier. I would have someone to play with."
I think the girl was really scared of him and she almost knelt down and begged Nan to spare her, because there was a look of fear on her face.
However, Nan's wordiness may have something to do with us. At first, we teased him about everything, but later we ignored him, and finally Nan became like this. I suddenly felt that I seemed to be lacking in this aspect of educating children.
"My name is Husa Lie Nanguo." Nan read his original name. "What about you?" This time he didn't say anything, he finally felt something.
"Xu Wen." The girl felt relieved and said her name easily: "You are a Xiongnu, right?"
"yes."
"You, a Hun, are really different." Everyone behind us nodded, but Nanyou didn't know how to answer.
"Who are those three people? How did you get robbed by them?" I decided to help Nan out of trouble, because he couldn't speak now, and he also helped me out.
"In the former Jinan County of Qingzhou, there is a place called Dongpingling. There is a mountain with a radius of 100 miles, called Tianshan. There are rampant bandits in the mountains. The three people are the second brother Lu Kuang, the third brother Lu Xiang, and the son Lu Weihuang of Lu Hong, the leader of the bandits. Yuan Shao has a young counselor Tian Feng, who often advises Yuan Shao to send people to eliminate this group of bandits. Yuan Shao is a chivalrous man and wants to use the four people for himself. He does not accept Tian Feng's advice. Brother Tian Yuanhao has a donkey temper and always advises. Finally, the bandits know that they hate Tian Feng and decide to give Brother Yuanhao a taste of pain. They sneak into Brother Yuanhao's old house in Leling and want to kidnap his brother Tian Jian. Unexpectedly, my father and I are living there. Because I am about the same age as his brother, they mistakenly arrested me. But I think it's fun, especially after arriving at the mountain stronghold, I will tell them that I am not, that's fun."
"What a bold girl." I decided to break the window paper, "This is not something you can play with. And how can you prove that you are not Tian Yan? Let those bandits kill you, what will you do?"
"I..." Her face turned red. Nan also knew that she was a girl and took a step back in fear. "Those bandits weren't really bad people, because the leader, Lu Hong, was a teacher before. So, they only robbed property but didn't hurt people. Otherwise, they would have just sent someone to kill Brother Yuan Hao." This girl was obviously a well-educated person, but she didn't talk nonsense. None of us were as unscrupulous as her. "Besides, I've seen Lu Hong before. He has some friendship with my father, so it's okay."
"Then we'll send you to Lu Hong, or to Leling." I joked with her.
"I don't want you to send me off. I can do it alone."
"It may be inconvenient for you, a girl, to walk alone. We will protect you."
"I can do it alone." She seemed very confident in her martial arts. "If you want to protect me, just let that Hun go with me."
"Then won't you still come with us?"
"That's because you always wanted to follow me, not go with me."
This girl is really arrogant, bold and unruly. Could she be another barbarian girl? But when you think about how Emperor Liu Wen has become, it seems that barbarian girls are brave and they are also brave enough to retire to the countryside. But I don't know what type she is.
"Did you notice? Our Nan seems to be in good luck?" Long Xing came closer with a sly look.
I nodded with a smile and looked at the two in front. We gave Xu Wen a horse, and now she was at the front of the team with Nan.
Nan suddenly became more reserved and stopped talking, but the girl talked about everything without any scruples. Yan Rou also leaned over and said, "This girl is very unusual." I could only nod in agreement, saying that this girl seemed to have a family background in learning.
But after walking just two miles, the two children became good friends who could talk about anything. Nan seemed to have found a soulmate and told the girl all our experiences and the stories we told him.
That evening, we entered Leling again with great fanfare, asked the girl to be our guide, and sent her to Tian Feng's old house, and visited the girl's father by the way. I thought it would be very interesting. I thought that if Zishe's children in the future, especially girls, might be like this. Thinking of this, I remembered that my sister-in-law might be pregnant, and I even said it out loud.
"How did you know that?" Long Xing was shocked.
"Really?" I was also shocked.
"It was found after we entered Qingzhou. Our clan doctor discovered it. I thought I'd tell you when we got to Jingzhou." Long Xing was surprised. "How did you know?"
"I guessed. If it hasn't happened yet, then you have some problems." I made up a lie and took the opportunity to hit him. However, I didn't expect that my soliloquy would lead to such words. This is good news, but he pretended too well. I didn't notice anything unusual about him in the past two days. Suddenly I remembered that we were all laughing and laughing these days, so it was really hard to notice anything unusual about him. No wonder his performance was the most realistic. It turned out that he was really pregnant.
I asked Long Xing and his sister-in-law to rest, and told them to settle the others. I took Yan Rou with me and followed Nan and Xu Wen to Tian Feng's house.
This is a big house, but there are not many people there, only a few servants. When they saw Xu Wen, they bowed and asked where Sister Xu had gone, as they didn't see him at noon.
It seems that this girl is too wild, so her family heard that she went out to play and brought a few guests to meet her father, so they stopped asking. The girl asked where her father was, and then took us to the backyard.
This is a simple mansion, with only a lawn and a thatched pavilion in the backyard. Two middle-aged men were playing chess under the pavilion. When we arrived, it seemed that a game had just finished. One of them was joking with the other man, asking why he lost again. The two of them were quite familiar with each other. Suddenly, the middle-aged man who lost looked at us and suddenly said, "Wenwen, where did you go today? You were wearing men's clothes. You girl, why don't you accompany your brother Xuelin to talk about academic matters and run around everywhere?" Although he was scolding, his tone was obviously not that tough. However, it seems that the family of this girl didn't even know that she was kidnapped. It seems that everyone is used to this thing.
For the sake of everyone's health and the elimination of goiters, I cannot record Xu Wen's coquettish words to her father. I only know that the legs of the three of us were softened.
"Haha, that's enough. Go change your clothes and don't disturb me and your uncle Yu from playing chess. I'll teach you a lesson at dinner." I didn't think I'd teach her a lesson at dinner. "Who are these three people?" He pointed at us outside the pavilion.
Xu Wen didn't ask us along the way, but Nan must have told her, because he called out all our names.
"Xie Zhi, Xie Zirui of Jingzhou, was granted the title of Wanhu Hou. It's not like what was rumored." He wouldn't doubt me, would he? The Heavenly Wolf was in my hand, but he turned a blind eye. Moreover, he didn't seem to take officials seriously. I was Wanhu Hou, so even if he suspected that I was fake, he should at least respect me. He seemed to treat me like a child. However, my teacher taught me to be polite to such people, because such people are often the kind of learned hermits.
How can I prove that I am the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun? I don't want to take out my seal. I am not that self-deprecating. It is not my taste to let anyone check my seal.
"According to rumors, I am also called the Man-Gnawing Heavenly Wolf. Is this credible?"
"But Xie Zhi should at least be a Confucian general. He should go to the Yellow Turbans as a guest and obey Huangfu Song. How can you do that if you are like this?" I knew what he meant was that I looked too barbaric.
"Yanzi was less than five feet tall, with a face like a dried orange, yet he became a prime minister. Baili Xi was covered with animal skins, with a hunched back, yet he became a senior official. Now I am a ten-foot-tall man, not even twenty years old, but I have come here in a hurry, without washing myself, and have been away for half a year, with a one-foot-long beard. You use this to infer that I am not a Ping An Fengyun general, isn't that arbitrary?"
"Okay, General, you have nothing to say, right?" Another middle-aged man laughed. He was thin with a beard and had a natural look of a Taoist priest. He spoke with a strong but not exaggerated voice, and seemed to be detached from the world. The one who was making things difficult for me always felt like a grain store owner, just like Uncle Jiang, a sly old man.
"I'm sorry to this young hero," the middle-aged man who looked like a grain merchant stood up and greeted me, but his greeting was that of a peer, which made me feel a little embarrassed. However, I still responded to him with the courtesy of respecting an elder.
"Okay," he said with praise, "We are playing chess, come and play with us if you are interested." I stood up, and this time he was more serious than before, I think my words had a good effect. These hermits and wise men really have some strange tempers.
Of course I would appreciate your advice.
But after I sat down, I felt a little restless. I didn't know what kind of chess this was. I had some knowledge of chess, but what kind of chess was this? The chess pieces were already laid out:
It is ten squares long and nine squares wide. The chess pieces have been arranged with words on them. On my side, the first row from the left is chariot, horse, prime minister, shiì, Xiang, shiì, prime minister, horse, chariot. The third row, on the left and right sides, has a column on each side with two pieces, both are bows. In the column before that, there is a piece every other square, which are pawns. The situation over there is roughly the same as mine, with a slight difference. The first row is soldiers, and the center of the last row is Han.
I vaguely felt that this set of chess was a tactical drill, but what made me completely understand what was going on were the four words in the middle of the two rows of squares between the two sides: The Border between Chu and Han.