This was the third time she was in my arms, but the first time she passed out in my arms, and to this day I don’t know what injuries she suffered. The second time, in order to save them, I held all four of them in my arms and pushed them out together. Today, I actually hugged her with all her emotions, and I was a little stunned.
She just buried her head in my arms. I could feel her trembling in my chest, but I didn't know if it was because of the cold or because she was crying. I opened my cloak and wrapped her in it again. But after putting the cloak on her body, I didn't know where to put my hands. I gestured up and down, not knowing what to do.
"Silly boy, is this your first time hugging a girl?" She suddenly burst into laughter, which made me involuntarily put my arms around her and embrace her slender waist.
"How do you feel?" She asked me softly, a little shyly.
I bit her ear and told her what I was thinking, and she was so embarrassed that she punched me in the mouth a few times. I let her speak, which made her even more embarrassed and angry. I lowered my face to her cheek, and her face was very hot, hotter and fuller than mine. At least she had some opinions about my cheekbones being too hard.
"Do you still hate me?" I suddenly remembered her words. I didn't expect that this sentence would make the smile on her face freeze, but she didn't let go of her hands on my waist.
"Xin'er has never hated you, only Yi'er hates you. But Yi'er likes you too, but Xin'er truly loves you." The girl looked at me with some alienation.
"Although Yi'er and I are not very familiar with each other, I respect her in my heart and like her now because she is the sister of the first woman I truly like in my life. But I would like to ask, is Xin'er willing to marry me?" Intentionally or unintentionally, I also entered into her dual identity.
"But you are already engaged. Although Xin'er is weak in her heart, her self-esteem will not allow her to share a husband with someone else. In that respect, Xin'er is very selfish." The girl lowered her head and did not wait for me to speak. She continued: "Yier might agree, but since Yi'er already knows Xin'er's feelings, how can she snatch Xin'er's lover. So, in the end, Xin'er will leave the mortal world forever on the day Zirui gets married, and Yi'er will look for her own happiness after Xin'er is born."
I don't know music, but I know that she and I are true soulmates. Unfortunately, we can only be soulmates. After she finished speaking, I knew that everything was irreversible, unchangeable, and undefeatable. So I didn't try to persuade them anymore, because I knew it was useless. Even if it was useful, I would never let Xin'er and Yi'er go against their own wishes and obey me.
I also understand that, precisely because I am Xie Zhi, I must marry my first wife. No matter her character, literary talent, or beauty, I will bring a perfect end to the agreement my father made with others. Although I don't know who he is yet, if I stay out of it, I will definitely think that this father is too confused to casually use his children's marriage to make a contract. But when I was brought into this, I became a staunch defender of morality, and I even felt that I was righteous for this.
So, I was happy for Xin'er and Yi'er, even though that happiness was just a false and grandiose form of pretending to be great. Although, my heart ached as if the spear had pierced my chest instead of anywhere else. But I was still "happy", which showed that I was indeed a big asshole.
"Will you marry several women in the future? Lord Ping An Feng Yun Hou? Yi Er wants to ask you on behalf of Xin Er."
"No, at any time I only want to have a woman as my wife."
I also think that my idea is very strange to many people, especially in today's world. There is one man and three women in the world, and many parents of girls are worried about their daughters' marriage. My classmates in Xiangyang often talked and laughed about this matter. One day at noon, I talked about this matter in the academy during my free time. "Born in this world, you can't enjoy the happiness of all the people." I remember that I was also a joking and smiling bad guy at the scene. But my sister who brought me lunch that day heard it. At that time, my sister didn't do anything, but just talked to me in the evening. I remember that my sister's tone was very peaceful at that time: "In general, when it comes to emotional matters, everyone has their own thoughts; moreover, one's thoughts should not be used for multiple purposes, otherwise everything will be done carelessly. Although people say that it is a blessing to have many women together, I don't think it is entirely true. It may be okay for the women to get along well with each other, but if your thoughts are divided into several parts, it is inevitable to be disrespectful to each woman; if they are not harmonious, and the women have their own thoughts, even if they don't say it, how can they be willing to be without their husbands for many days, and there will be a gap between them. After a long time, the family will be in disharmony, and you will be the one who suffers. Marriage is a major event that depends on a lifetime, so how can you fall into so many disputes? It is better to choose the one you love most, hold your child's hand, and live with him until the end of your life." That night, I thought about it over and over again, and I had a dream after falling asleep: my sister married into a family as a concubine and was bullied by the evil wife all day long. I was angry, so I went to teach the evil wife a lesson. Unexpectedly, the wife was not good at fighting, and I beat her to death with three punches and two kicks. The government chased me, and the yamen runners were really energetic. I ran so fast, but they caught up with me until I woke up the next day. Although it was just a dream, I have had the idea of marrying only one wife since then. In addition, there were often cases in Xiangyang where a family took a concubine and ended up in a mess, which made me more determined to stick to this idea. Later, when my classmates mentioned that matter again, I proposed my new idea. At first, I was laughed at by everyone, but after I brought out that reason, everyone was quite impressed.
I repeated what my sister and I had said to her in my arms, and she immediately said solemnly, "When I was in Changsha, I often heard about your sister, Princess Yinling, from Po Liuhan and others. I was deeply impressed at that time. Later, I often saw your sister by your side on the road. I asked myself, I never thought that there could be such a hero among women. Compared with her, I feel a little ashamed. I didn't expect that she could have such insights on this. I really want to have a good talk with Sister Yinling, but I don't know that I will never have this opportunity in the future."
"Why not? You can see it if you come with me to Xiangyang. My sister also once lamented that your literary talent is extraordinary, but she was afraid that you were alone and sad because of the affairs in Yizhou, so she never sought you out to have a long talk."
"Yier needs to take care of daddy. Daddy is not well and may not be able to travel far."
"Then..." I almost said that, but luckily I stopped myself. I couldn't wait until your father passed away to say that, so I had to say: "Just let my sister come here with me."
After that, she just quietly nestled in my arms, her face on my chest, and I didn't say anything, just hugged her, didn't want to think about anything, and enjoyed this first lover's embrace. During this time, I suddenly thought, if I marry her, I wonder if it can be considered as having two minds at the same time, and whether Xin'er and Yi'er will have a rift because of me.
At the same time, on the official road at the southern foot of Jingshan Mountain, Princess Yinling was leading a convoy towards Yiling. It was already late at night, and the convoy was taking a break.
"Sister Yinling, at our current speed, we can reach Chen Liang's camp by sunrise tomorrow." Three people dressed as officers rode their horses to Yinling's white felt carriage. Two of them seemed to be female generals, and the remaining one went to the carriage window to report.
"Be alert and don't let the escort cavalry disperse. The three of you will be divided into three teams to guard the front, rear, and middle of the convoy respectively. Zishi will lead the front team, Yuhai will lead the rear team, and Yuer will stay in the center to protect me. This matter is of great importance. Although it is transported within Jingzhou, the governor still sent 3,000 cavalry to guard it. This shows that we must not make any mistakes. We must be more careful when driving at night. If there is an ambush by bandits, it must be to attack Yuer's center from the waist. At this time, Yuer's army will hold on. Zishi and Yuhai will only leave some people to guard and lead others to attack the left and right wings of the enemy army, so that the bandits can be defeated. If there are other variables, I will give orders before the battle."
"Sister Yinling, how about I serve in the central army?" Zishi was always worried about his wife.
"Zi Shi, what if the enemy does not attack us from the center, but intercepts us from the front to challenge us? Therefore, the front team must be a general who is good at charging and killing. You have shown great power in Hanzhong, so you are in the front team. Yu Hai is steady and careful, but he is not familiar with the road conditions, so he is in the rear team. Only Yu'er is left to lead the central army. Don't worry, I am in the middle and will protect your wife. If there is nothing else, we will set off after a short rest. Send more fast horses to the front team to scout ahead. This road will go all the way to Yiling, and there will be no counties or cities in the middle. Be careful. Go and prepare."
"My dear, it's nothing. Don't run away. Take care of your central army first and don't worry about the front army."
"Sister!" The girl's shy and coquettish voice made Yinling laugh.
"Be good, go!" The girl in the car also coaxed Yu'er away with a sweet voice.
After everyone left, the girl in the white fur cape in the car breathed a sigh of relief, "You are so happy, I really envy you. Hey, I hope Zirui will get married soon, and I, your sister, can put this worry aside. But I don't know who dares to marry me."
In fact, the girl was very beautiful and charming, with a kind of warm light in her eyes. The wisdom and spirituality she showed in her smiles and frowns were something that few men in the world could surpass. Perhaps it was for this reason that even Yin Ling herself no longer had this confidence.
"Who should marry such a beautiful girl?" Yin Ling felt that she had come up with a very clever idea, but she didn't know who could understand the meaning behind it.
Yinling is very confident, so she is not confident that anyone would dare to marry a woman who may be better than herself in many aspects. I wonder how many men in this world have such a heart and are not afraid of other people's gossip. Maybe Zirui is one of them, but that is her silly brother. She also knows that he will marry a younger sister to her one day in the future. Then maybe she will lose this brother forever.
"Zi Rui is getting older, but he is still like a child in some ways. It may be that I didn't teach him well. For example, I told him not to be jealous of others, not to compare, to be open-minded, and not to be scheming. As a result, Zi Rui never asked for food and clothes, just to eat enough; his clothes were often messy; he was honest to admit that others were more talented and capable than him, but sometimes he seemed to lack ambition; when he had some, he would always eat and play with those bad guys; he was never willing to use his brain, and would never seriously think of a solution unless it was absolutely necessary. As a result, it seems that I usually neglected to teach, and my brother is always like that, too casual, careless, and messy. This time he asked the master to help him take the banner of his commander in Hanzhong. If I am not mistaken, I am afraid that he is going to... I don't know if he can do this. It would be good if he could do it, but it would be too much of an insult to Zirui." Yin Ling said to herself. This time she was worried about her brother, so she asked to go to Yiling to see if there was anything she could take care of.
The convoy started to set off. Yinling adjusted her cloak slightly and yawned.
"It seems that I won't be able to sleep tonight. Zirui, it's all your fault." Yinling is very sleepy, which Zirui thinks is her only shortcoming. Although Yinling also thinks that she is shortcoming in other aspects, Zirui always brags about her sister to be extremely perfect. This is a kind of happiness and joy for her sister, but it also creates a lot of pressure, and sometimes it restricts her behavior.
"Zi Rui was much more honest than Kong Ming when he was young, and he was silly. I don't know who gave him the name Zi Rui, it doesn't fit the character, maybe Zi Yu would be more appropriate. The name could be changed to Xie Dai, or Xie Sha. Unlike Kong Ming, this bad guy, he has so many bad ideas." Yin Ling thought of another family member and laughed uncontrollably: "Kong Ming is fatter than before, and Master's wife and Yunmei are too pampering to him, we must let Zi Rui come back to take good care of him."
"Zirui has grown so fast in the past few years. After he turned thirteen, he had to make new clothes every few months. I still remember when I was eleven or twelve to seventeen or eighteen, I felt like there was a ten-year age difference between Zirui and I. At that time, Zirui was fine. He just looked up at me and smiled foolishly. It was Zishe who led Zirui astray, but if it weren't for Zishe, I don't know how stupid Zirui would have been. Fortunately, at least now Zirui is just a little bit nonsensical when he talks, but I am very satisfied with other aspects. He always thinks of others, and I feel that his actions are more upright than I had imagined. But he is too straightforward, too simple, a simple fool. He must not be so credulous of others. Maybe he can do that among his classmates in Jingzhou, but he must be careful with outsiders. I don't know if he can change for the better in the future." Yinling sighed. When Zirui was not around, she developed the habit of talking to herself, as if her brother was by her side.
As she thought about it, Yinling dozed off. Everything seemed to be pampering this lucky girl in the car. The car drove smoothly all the way, and even the potholes on the road never appeared under the tracks of the car.
Yin Ling suddenly shuddered, and then immediately woke up. Seeing that the curtains beside the car were not blown up, she was sure that no one was attacking her, and thought to herself: Could it be that Zi Rui is talking about me
I did think of my sister. At that time, I was thinking whether I had to separate from Huang Yi. After all, she would not be my wife, and I could not destroy her innocence. But how could I bear to separate from her? Once separated, there might not be another chance in this life. I couldn't bear either of these two dilemmas, but I had to choose one. So, naturally, I thought of my sister.
“If you can’t make a decision, put everything aside, don’t think about anything else, go back to the beginning, follow your heart in personal matters, and put morality first in public affairs.” I remember a lot of my sister’s words. She said this to me when I was very young. The first time I used it was when the teacher was in class. At that time, I decided to sleep instead of continuing to bother Ziyuan. As a result, I was hit on the head with a ruler by the teacher while I was having a good dream.
But when I calmed down completely, I could clearly hear the sound of the green tiles on the roof rustling.
"What's wrong?" She actually noticed my change immediately, looked at me and asked softly.
I quickly stopped her questioning, released my arms around her, picked up my spear, and walked gently in the direction of the tile sound. Perhaps he noticed the movement below, and the tile sound suddenly stopped. I also stopped immediately and watched what happened. A moment later, a man jumped into the yard from the corner of the corridor. Under the white light cast by the moon, I could only see that this man was wearing a black suit, even his head was covered. The sound of his landing was very light, at least I felt that if I fell like this, it would be almost like thunder. I don't know why he came in like this. So, I decided to watch from the side before making any plans, and at the same time hide the spear blade behind me.
He looked around to see the situation. I was afraid that he would see Huang Yi, but I soon stopped worrying because I found that she was right behind me. And because I always wear black clothes, I am basically a ghost in the dark corridor at night. This is how my sister described it to me.
When I saw him about to enter the house, I decided to move first. I took two big steps forward and swung the handle of my long spear at him. I had no intention of killing him, but I was afraid that if he went in and did something bad to the old man, things would be out of control.
At least if he came in like this, I wouldn't make any mistakes if I knocked him out. This was my first time encountering a thief, and I was actually a little excited. This blow might be a bit heavy, and I don't think he would die, but he would inevitably be knocked unconscious by me.
That guy was really good, he actually sensed the wind behind him, and suddenly bent down, avoiding my spear. I thought to myself that it was not good, fortunately I didn't use my full strength at that time, otherwise I would lose control and fall to the ground, which would be a disgrace.
The guy immediately pulled out a two-foot-long scimitar from the sheath at his waist, turned around and saw me, which seemed to scare him. But he immediately grabbed the edge of the corridor floor with one hand and held the scimitar at his side with the other hand. He squatted on the ground with his legs deep, like a cat leaping into the abyss, as if he could jump up and hit me at any time.
This looked very imposing, but I wasn't nervous. My spear was much longer than his, and if we kept the distance, he would have no chance of winning. I stepped back a few steps and immediately thrust the spear, but he was very agile, and he dodged the spear blade by leaping sideways, and slid up along the handle of my spear, directly attacking my hands.
The first time I used the spear, it was indeed not as easy as the Tianlang. I didn't expect that my advantage would become a huge disadvantage once the opponent bullied me. Thinking of this, I discarded the long spear without hesitation. I didn't expect that once the long spear was gone, I would naturally find something to do. It seems that I may be more suitable to be a thief, or I have a better future in this area. I just need to treat those money bags as mice.
Without weapons, I was able to gain an absolute advantage. First, he probably didn't expect me to throw away the weapon so easily. Second, I was much stronger than him. When I grabbed his wrist, I immediately felt like I was just watching the fun, as if I wasn't fighting anyone.
He tried to pull his knife-holding hand out of my hand, but it was obviously impossible to shake it. In the end, he decided to let go of the knife and switch hands. Of course, the other hand was immediately grabbed by me. I even had time to take the knife from his hand and throw it away, and then hold his wrist tightly. In fact, when I grabbed his wrist and exerted a little force, I knew from his pained voice that this man was just a child.
So, I had no intention to hurt him, but now I have no reason to do so. After feeling his strength, I feel more confident that I can easily deal with this guy. I also need to teach him that adults should not steal things from other people's homes when they are doing serious things. Of course, it is not necessary to enter the house like this at ordinary times, but this kid should not have seen us.
But the fact proves that when dealing with children, you must be careful and never judge them by ordinary people's logic. This kid actually bit me hard like Zhou Cang. In fact, I should have thought of it earlier. I have suffered a loss once, but I still fell into the trap.
I had thrown the machete away long ago, but even if he still held it, I believe he no longer had the confidence and desire to continue the fight. He had already decided to run away, and while I was still covering the teeth marks on my hand, he had already rushed out a foot from my side.
How could he escape? Although I didn't grab him, my body had already swept back. I took one step and turned around. My experience in chasing mice taught me that I could catch up with the protruding wrinkles of his clothes in three steps. The child ran to the door and saw that there was no way to escape, so he jumped up immediately. I didn't expect that this kid was really capable. He could grab the eaves in one go and then pull himself up.
Having just returned from Mufu Mountain, I knew how well I could jump, so I jumped up immediately, and just as he was about to turn over, I grabbed his collar with one hand and his belt with the other, and easily lifted him down from the house.
The only regret was that when he was pulled down, a tile fell off his foot. When the tile fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, a loud noise suddenly sounded outside the door.
I was holding the thief in the air with both hands, so I turned around and asked Huang Yi to open the door. At this time, Huang Tian was also awakened and ran out hurriedly.
As soon as the door was opened, a very imposing young man's voice sounded, "Did you see a thief sneaking in?"
As soon as he finished speaking, as if to prove his point, a bag of something fell from the thief's body. From the sound of the bag falling to the ground, it was known that it must be gold or silver.
"Bold..."
I held the thief in one hand and waved my other hand to let him speak. The man was polite and indeed spoke.
"How dare you steal from the Marquis of Jiange Mansion, you evil thief?"
But he didn't say much. What was even more strange was that he went back to discuss with the people behind him. None of them were elderly. Although they were dressed neatly, they seemed to be wet behind the scenes.
The young man turned around again and asked, "Are you the accomplices of this thief?"
"Hey, man, if I were his accomplice, I would still catch him like this and let you see this bag of gold and silver." This made them speechless, and after they said this, I began to suspect that there was something wrong. They caught the thief too late, and it was silent at the beginning. They didn't first verify the identity of the thief, nor did they check whether the bag of gold and silver was stolen. Instead, they asked us if we were our accomplices.
"You came out to catch thieves in this situation without even a torch. Under this porch, you can only see each other's outlines, but you are so sure." Huang Yi finished the most important part for me.
"Second sister, they must have used the breaking of tiles as a signal to cause trouble, and their target is probably you."
"Huang Yi, is it really you? Are you okay? That's great, we thought you had that. Later we heard that they seemed to have seen you, and it turned out to be you." These excited words immediately revealed all the details of the young man who was leading the conversation.
"Yi, who are these people?" As the "brother-in-law", I need to step in and take care of these mischievous teenagers.
"Liu Ye, the young master of the Marquis of Jiange, and his gang of cronies, Chen Bin and Wu Gao. The one in your hand should be Ji Houzi. The tall and thin guy at the back should be Wang Lei. It must be him who came up with this idea: let this guy bring these things in, and then they catch the thief. They didn't catch the thief, but they found the stolen goods, so we can't get away with it. Then he went against everyone's opinion and said it was definitely not us. Right? Marquis of Jiange." Huang Xin reported the names of these mischievous teenagers without any change in tone, but the last title made me laugh, but the kids didn't make any rebuttal.
I suddenly understood. These kids followed us after they found Huang Yi, and then they came up with such a bad idea to pretend to be a hero to meet a beautiful woman. Unexpectedly, Huang Yi and I were still in the courtyard, which ruined his plan. However, their plan was indeed too childish, and there were many omissions in the middle. At least it seemed suspicious that these kids came to catch thieves, especially for such a big event as the theft of Jiange Marquis Mansion. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that these kids were too stupid, and I suddenly lost my malice towards them.
"Yier," I changed the name on purpose because I felt like she took advantage of me the last time I called her that. "Should I get rid of these bastards or take them back to show them to the Marquis of Jiange?"
"Who are you? You are so arrogant." Before Huang Yi could speak, the leading teenager spoke first. He was obviously being ignored in front of his beloved girl. He was a little angry and immediately got ready to fight. But when they saw me holding a person in my hand, they obviously re-evaluated me. They whispered to each other and hesitated, not knowing what to do.
"Your father is of the same rank as me, so when we meet, we must show respect to each other."
"Just you?" I also understand that as a person with no rhetoric, no matter how strong I am, my age is a reason for suspicion.
"So what? Take me to see your father, and you'll know who I am." I thought he was not stupid. My Jingzhou accent and my frank advice were enough to make him realize that I was not a liar, or at least not like a liar. Moreover, I expected that he would not dare to disturb his father's sleep in the middle of the night.
"What is your relationship with Huang Yi?" I think this is what he is most nervous about.
"He is my sworn brother. He is the general of Jingzhou. His soldiers are at the posthouse. He is here to visit my father and is staying here tonight." Huang Yi's mind was still clear. Her words not only stunned the teenagers, but also made them feel relieved. In fact, we also have problems here. The most obvious one is why our clothes are still so neat at this time, and Huang Yi's face must still have tears. It's just that without the firelight, everything was covered up.
I also think these kids are quite interesting. I feel like they are just like us yesterday. Only a few years ago, I was not much better than these kids. Since there is no bad intention, it is obvious that Liu Ye is still interested in Huang Yi, so he let the monkey go. These kids just want to find an excuse to meet Huang Yi. Since he has not reached the point of bullying, then these kids are still good.
"Let's go." I said to them. Although Liu Ye was very unwilling, he had no choice but to leave in a huff. He looked back many times along the way. He must have hated me very much, thinking that it was me who was blocking him from getting close to his beloved.
"This guy likes you very much."
"It's none of your business to worry about Aunt Yi's affairs." She had a good memory and had not forgotten this. However, she could not tell whether the tone sounded like a complaint or sadness.
"That child, I will definitely not like it." This sentence showed Huang Tian's age. Huang Xin smiled and kneaded her brother's head with her hand, scolded him a few times, but still nodded to agree with his opinion. Then, she felt tired and turned around and left without leaving me a word.
"Zigui, Zigui, for you, this is really the place where your sister returns." This was my last words in the early morning of that day. Then I watched Yier leave, with a sense of melancholy in my heart and frost on my face.
The next morning, I woke up from a helpless dream. I didn't see the person I wanted to see. When asked what I wanted to do, I had to thank Mr. Chu for his hospitality. The kind-looking old man still had a leisurely smile, waved his hand, and said slowly, "Don't worry." While washing up, Huang Tian told me that my soldiers were waiting outside.
"How long have we been waiting?" I felt a little nervous.
"I don't know. I just saw it through the crack in the door." I don't know why he was so worried. He was probably reminded by what happened last night and was worried about those bad guys.
"With your father, I'm leaving first." Thinking that since this group was completely intent on targeting Huang Yi, his family would not suffer any loss as long as Huang Yi was around.
"Do you want to be with your sister?"
I pretended to be worried and went out, as if I didn't hear what he said; in fact, I was worried about something, and when I heard his words, I felt it was difficult to answer, so I went out straight away with my spear in my hand.
At that time, it was just daybreak, and some people were walking on the street. The people in the city looked at us with a strange look in their eyes. I smelled the smell of the wind blowing from the south, which smelled quite like rice soup. They told me that they were making porridge. When they came out, they saw the people who were getting the porridge. They had been living on this for more than a month. I heard that it was run by a rather strict general. All the rice and cloth shops had closed down a month or two ago. Now I don’t know when this mess will end. If it goes on any longer, I will have to leave my hometown with the others.
I suddenly thought of their other mistake yesterday. At this point, what use would all those gold, silver and jewels be? It would be more practical to let him carry a bag of rice, but that would certainly look ridiculous.
I didn't eat anything that morning because I really had no appetite.
"Did you bring anything?"
"Yes, Fengyun Hou, what are we going to do next?"
"I'm going to see General Yan Yan outside the city. I'm in a bad mood, don't bother me." I guessed they would ask me this and that, so I just added a sentence at the end to avoid trouble.
However, this was even worse. A group of people were following me, which made me very unhappy. I quickly stopped their whispering, but their gossip made me pay attention to one sentence: "Did someone come to the posthouse to ask me this morning?"
"Yes, we were washing up when someone asked us which general we were following. After we told him our names, he asked us where we were and wanted to see him. We couldn't tell him where you were, so we were resting and didn't want to disturb him. The man didn't seem to be an official of Yizhou, and he didn't leave any message or a visiting card. Since you didn't meet those Yizhou leaders, they didn't seem to know you were coming."
"No need to meet them. What do the people who are coming look like?"
"He's young, tall and thin, not as tall as you."
"Of course, as tall as our Tianlang Hou and so thin, it must be a bamboo pole."
There was nothing I could do, these guys were always so happy, and soon they talked about the uses of bamboo sticks, from beating their wives to being beaten by their wives, and the laughter never stopped. Although I was worried, I still laughed with them.
But before leaving the city, I reined in my horse, turned around and said to the men who had stopped with me with a cold face: "Put your face in a good light, stop being so cheerful, we have business to do, stop laughing."
The group of people looked at each other, and their faces turned cold at the same time, which made me angry again, "Don't act like someone's dead, just be serious and don't laugh."
After going out and asking the sentry at the gate, I found out the location of General Yan Yan's camp.
The camp was not far from the city, where there were less than 8,000 soldiers and civilians living. In fact, when we were fighting, many civilians also fought with us with weapons. These were the strange soldiers mentioned in our official reports. They were very disciplined in their advance and retreat, but their battle clothes were very formal. We didn't fight them many times on land, because of the special terrain. When we met on a narrow road, we usually got into a hard fight and wasted our time, which led to both sides retreating in the end. The roadside was full of thorns, rocks, and insects; even if we wanted to set up an ambush, it would be easy to be discovered by the scouts of both sides. In the end, the two sides were deadlocked on this narrow road. On the water, they tried to go downstream, but they were hit by those fast fish and returned in a mess. When we went up, because the Xiling Gorge was too narrow, the other side lined up the warships on the river and used iron chains to intercept them. In addition, the arrows rained down from the shore, so we returned empty-handed and suffered heavy losses.
When we arrived at the military camp, someone stopped us. After we reported our identities, they asked us to wait outside while someone went in to report.
"Yan Yan is not arrogant. They negotiated peace with us, but we came here like this, so they became arrogant." The soldiers were talking a lot and had some opinions, but I stopped them.
To be honest, I also felt that this was very unfair to me. He had gained face, but he brought down my dignity. But I still had to explain to them: "This is military discipline, and it is also a kind of dignity. We must respect it, otherwise there will be big trouble."
But they worked very quickly. Not long after, someone came back and told us to go in, but we had to dismount.
There were civilians living in this camp. Although their houses were simple, they were still neat and tidy. It seemed that this was also the result of Yan Yan's good governance. Many civilians were paying attention to me, and there were even many children. It was a thing with snot hanging from its nose, slightly taller than Kong Ming, lying on the mat, covered by a quilt made of some rags. He was looking up at me, a giant, and walking past him. I even paused for two steps for him, squatted down and smiled at him, but he still looked at me blankly. Not far away, his mother was preparing breakfast by the fire there. The smell of rice soup filled the air along the way. From some nearby open pots, it was just a pot of muddy water. The food problem was very big. Since there were cooking fires everywhere, this area was quite warm. It was estimated that the food and winter clothes sent from all over Jingzhou to Yiling would soon arrive. I didn't know who the teacher would send to discuss the resettlement of so many people.
While I was worrying, I felt some movement among the children behind me. I turned around and saw several of them lowering their heads and whispering to each other, their eyes occasionally glancing towards somewhere in front of them on the left.
"What's wrong?" I felt that there must be something strange around, so I looked in that general direction. I think I soon found the answer. A young woman was breastfeeding her child facing us. She felt someone approaching, glanced at us, and immediately turned her back. I immediately coughed to tell them to pay attention to their image. The guys behind me were about my age and should be unmarried. Many people were discussing how to go to the front to have a look. Of course, no one dared to leave my side without my order. I took a look at the young woman and had an idea. Then I took off my cloak and turned around with an expression on my face that I couldn't even understand: "Send it to the woman. It's cold, so the child won't catch a cold. What are you hesitating about now? Hurry up!"
The people are suffering from many disasters! A cloak can only warm one person, but a word from the emperor can benefit or harm many people. It seems that only by controlling the power can I have a greater influence on the world. I must admit that at this time I suddenly had some desire for power, otherwise, I would be of no benefit to the people of the world.
In front of a relatively formal tent, I saw a middle-aged general standing in the middle, more than eight feet tall. He must have been working hard for several months, his face was thin, and his forehead was already wrinkled. His thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes reminded me of Guan Erge. His cheekbones were still a little prominent, and his thick beard was three or four inches long. I think it has not been trimmed for a long time, so it is a little messy, with some white lines in the middle. In the cast iron chain armor and black cloak, my first impression was not the bravery or wisdom of this general, but his hard work and fatigue.
"General Yan Yan, I, the Marquis of Ping An Fengyun, Xie Zhi, have come to visit you uninvited. Please do not blame me. General Yan Yan, I am sorry for the trouble that Zigui has caused you during this period of time."
"You are too polite, Lord Ping'an Fengyun. I am wearing armor and cannot come out to greet you and salute you in person. Please forgive me." He bowed and saluted, and a group of young officers behind him also bowed and saluted.
This sentence was very polite, but it didn't have any other meaning, which made me feel a little lost.
I didn't know what would happen next, but I knew that since I had made up my mind to come here, I had to do it. But from talking to him, I couldn't guess what kind of scene I would face in the future. I explained everything to him, and I also left a letter for the teacher. On the way to Zigui, I made it clear that if anything happened to me, I asked Brother Chen to pass this letter to the teacher on my behalf.
So without any hesitation, he bowed to Yan Yan and said, "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Marquis Ping An Feng Yun, please speak!"
At 9 o'clock that day, holding my flag in my hand, I walked to a raised earthen slope in the camp with a very nervous mood. There were three fires burning side by side in front of the slope as a signal for assembly.
I thought I had it all figured out, and I was relaxed when I came here, thinking it was nothing. But now I am not sure if this is the right thing to do, thinking that maybe someone will think I am naive, or someone will think I have a problem.
But now, I have no choice but to do this. But this requires courage, which is why I keep encouraging myself on the high slope. More and more people gather around me, but now they don't understand what is going on.
In fact, for a while, even I was completely blank. I even felt panicked and didn't know what I was here for.
More than once I thought about how we were going to place them and just give up what I was planning to do and pretend that I had never had this idea.
I should be ashamed of myself, after staying there for a moment, I had nothing. I could clearly hear the somewhat impatient urging of the soldiers and civilians in front of me.
I leaned the flagpole against the ground and tried to muster up the courage to speak.
"Soldiers and people of Yizhou." This was the first sentence I squeezed out.
"You have a loud voice. You are so tall, your voice must be like a woman's." A soldier teased with a Yizhou accent, causing a burst of laughter and making me a little flustered.
"I am a big man... Ping... An..." To be honest, I had rehearsed this scene many times in my mind. But I don't know why at this moment, I couldn't say anything, and when I did, I stuttered.
"You haven't learned how to talk to your mother yet, have you? Hey, kid, go back and hide in your mother's arms and learn to speak well before coming out. What the hell are you doing?" There was even more laughter from the slope, and someone was even imitating my stuttering.
Yan Yan rushed forward and shouted angrily, "I ordered you to come here and listen to what the general has to say. This is my military order. Have you forgotten it?"
"Ge... him, what a piece of shit... General Yan, we would never dare to disobey your military order. But everyone is saying that it was the people of Jingzhou who let that son of a bitch Dong Zhuo into Bashan. Why is he showing off here? We might as well kill him and let's fight the people of Jingzhou." As soon as these words came out, there was a chorus of agreement from behind.
It was at this moment that I calmed down and my heart didn't beat as hard as it did at the beginning.
"General Yan, please go down!" I said to Yan Yan calmly, "Thank you, General Yan."
Then, I used my voice to suppress the voices in front of me, but I was speaking to the people behind me: "No matter what happens down there, you are not allowed to come up. If anything happens to me, it's my own fault, and I can't blame anyone else. Just pass on the letter for me."
After that, I turned around and faced the dense crowd in front of me. Slowly but firmly, I said everything I wanted.
"I am Xie Zhi, Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun of the Han Dynasty." At the same time, I tore open the flag and raised my hand, allowing the line of large characters to appear in front of everyone.
"That elder brother is right. It was the people of Jingzhou who released Dong Zhuo. Yes, it was the people of Jingzhou who released him, but do you know who came up with this strategy to let Dong Zhuo into Yizhou and block him in Yizhou?"
There was complete silence, everyone was waiting for the answer. I think many people probably already had an idea in their minds.
"That person is me, the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun of the Han Dynasty. Not only that, I also commanded the entire battle to trick Dong Zhuo into entering Sichuan." As I thought, the crowd below began to become restless, all kinds of discussions became louder, and the cursing became louder and louder.
A soldier in the nearby row asked the people nearby to be quiet, and then the surroundings became quiet, except for some noise in the back.
"Hey boy, you don't look very old, but from what you say, I feel that you have good character. Don't let someone, like your governor, drag you here! We people in Yizhou are not easily deceived, nor are we the kind of people who don't understand reason. If someone kills you, it would be like wrongly accusing an outsider. We will be ridiculed by the world." Everyone was talking again, and the voices changed again. Most of them asked me to go down and not to say any more words.
"Please do not wrongly accuse my teacher! Everyone, please listen to me, apart from my mentor, Lord Wei, the governor of Jingzhou, I, the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun, have the highest official position and the highest salary. When Lord Wei retires, I will take over the duties of the governor. Who in Jingzhou can tell me what to do and ask me to take over for someone else?" However, this sentence does have some problems, because once this sentence is uttered, there must be only one person who can command me, and that is Teacher Wei. But at that time, I was afraid that the more I explained, the worse it would be, so I planned to explain it later.
It became much quieter downstairs. Although many people were still whispering and talking to each other, they were all waiting for my next words.
"You are indeed quite lucky, with such good fortune that people envy you. You just turned 18 a few days ago, but you have already become a marquis in the first month of this year." Although they already knew that I was very young, some people here still expressed surprise.
"In February of this year, Dong Zhuo led his army to attack Jingzhou. At that time, Master was out inspecting various places in southern Jingzhou, and I was acting as governor of the state."
"You all know that Dong Zhuo's army is almost entirely composed of cavalry, 300,000 strong, all of whom are brave and fierce; most of our army is infantry, most of whom were recruited that year, with incomplete weapons, armor and training, and the entire Jingzhou has no more than 260,000 to 270,000 soldiers. Jingzhou has no strategic locations to defend, and Dong Zhuo will arrive in a few days. The situation is extremely dangerous, and when I was overwhelmed, I thought of using the terrain of Yizhou to trap Dong Zhuo. Unfortunately, I didn't think it through at the time, and I didn't expect that after Dong Zhuo entered Yizhou, he would bring such a great catastrophe to Yizhou. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered by the thief Dong, and millions of Yizhou people were displaced. Most of the Yizhou elders who have fled here are afraid that most of them have hatred with Dong Zhuo for killing their wives and fathers. But things have come to this point, and this is indeed my fault. In this regard, Xie Zhi dare not make excuses or evade." These words were finally somewhat inconsistent with the actual situation, but I could only say this at the time.
"Now I come here among you all to apologize to all the elders of Yizhou." After saying that, I turned around.
"How do you lead the soldiers on the battlefield?" I asked Yan Yan this question.
"Wherever the flag points, no one dares not to advance; wherever the flag leads, no one dares not to follow."
"I am too ashamed to face you now, but I will punish you and attack Dong later. I will break my flag first to ask for forgiveness from you elders." After he finished speaking, he crossed the flag pole and broke it in half with both hands. Immediately afterwards, he tore the flag into rags and threw all the broken pieces into the fire.
Then, I knelt on the ground with my right leg, supported myself with my right hand, untied the knot on the armor with my left hand, took off the armor on my upper body, and exposed my right arm.
"If you cannot be forgiven, then I will be wise here. Please pay back the hatred of hundreds of thousands of elders."
On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Zhongping, near noon, I ruthlessly humiliated myself in front of hundreds of thousands of people. But when my right arm was exposed, I felt so happy for the first time in these months.