1111 Toasting the Cloud and Wine Flag (Today's title is fun)
Xia Zhaoyi listened to their words and turned to look northwest.
The great river rolls in from the sky. Although it is not as turbulent as the Cangjiang River and Huimen River, it is easy to drown the entire Hengxiang.
There are many hills on the north bank of Dianqingjiang River, but they have not been visited for a long time. On the contrary, there are countless roads and roads extending in all directions.
If the other party takes a long way down from the north, they will have no way of predicting where the other party will appear in advance.
Zhan Ning and Guan Chi were still discussing when Xia Zhaoyi suddenly said: "Guan Chi, take five people to the north to check the terrain, and the rest will follow me."
"Yes!" Guan Chi responded.
After walking upstream along the river bank for about fifteen miles, I saw at least ten villages built near the water, all in the south.
On the northern shore, there are already high mountains ahead, and there is no way forward.
Within these fifteen miles, including the first bridge they saw, there were only five bridges across the river, one of which was a cable bridge.
There are even fewer ferries, only two.
Xia Zhaoyi stopped at a big bend.
The other party may not really be like Wen Lang, but whenever there is a possibility, we have to guard against it.
The sky is getting dark, the setting sun is covering the sparkling river, fishing boats are singing late in the distance, and someone is singing loudly.
Xia Zhaoyi looked at them, paused suddenly, raised his eyes with feeling, and looked towards the mountains to the north.
A black tiger with yellow skin and black stripes stood majestically on the top of the mountain, staring at them.
"It's a tiger!" Zhan Ning exclaimed in surprise.
A group of soldiers immediately went on alert.
"It's far away." Xia Zhaoyi said.
"The tiger is extremely fast. Second Miss, please stay back."
"I am a general. There is no reason for a general to retreat." Xia Zhaoyi said.
After saying this, she withdrew her gaze and no longer paid attention to the tiger. The moment she turned away, she seemed to see something and raised her head again.
The tiger was standing on a cliff, and about two feet below the cliff there was a long and narrow path hanging on the wall.
The path follows the zigzag mountain wall in a zigzag shape. The wild grass on it is so green that it would be difficult to see it at a glance unless the river breeze blows by.
Such wall-mounted paths are not uncommon, but the direction of this one is extremely strange.
Two feet above, there is a wide road where the tiger stands, so why cut one out below?
as well as……
Xia Zhaoyi's clear and bright eyes traced the path along the path, and a sense of familiarity became more and more obvious. Suddenly, her eyes froze, and she immediately took a few steps forward, looking up at the mountain wall.
"Zhan Ning," Xia Zhaoyi said, "Look over there, are there any flowers?"
Everyone looked around.
"There are flowers," Zhan Ning said, "This is... peony root under the moon?"
Xia Zhaoyi chuckled: "It seems that many people know this flower."
Zhan Ning was not very happy: "Second Miss, I am also well-informed."
"Pfft," Xia Zhaoyi looked at him, "Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to say you were ignorant."
"It's okay," Zhan Ning said with a face-changing smile, "It doesn't matter if the second lady says I'm ignorant, I can do anything you say!"
Xia Zhaoyi smiled and looked back at the flowers on the cliff.
This area belongs to the Taoan Mountains. Taoan Mountains and the Yuntian Mountains in the north are both dominated by ancestral jade. The Yuntian Mountains have the world-famous Yuntian Mountain Official Road, and the interior of the Taoan Mountains is an ancient forest area with almost no human habitation.
On the map given by Master, the Taoan Mountains and Forests area covers an area of nearly one million acres, which is extremely vast, far-reaching and mysterious.
Going deeper, Master has almost no markings.
The world is huge, and not all places have been visited by Master, but Master is a meticulous person, and will consult a large number of relevant books and visit famous experts who like to travel. There is a blank space in the depths of Tao'an Mountain, and it can be seen that there is not even a word of record in the literature.
However, that is deep, and there are still many villages on the outskirts of Tao'an Mountain.
The tiger has been staring at them from above. Judging from its size and limbs, it is a very strong adult tiger and its "food" is quite good.
Xia Zhaoyi glanced at it before looking away, and said to his subordinates: "Let's go back and cross the bridge. Let's go to Hengxiang."
The long bridge crossing the shore is about two feet wide, with only wooden railings on both sides, and many places are still broken.
The wind in the river is getting stronger and stronger in the evening, and the water flow is strong. After coming down from the bridge, there is only a faint layer of skylight, a bright moon hangs in the sky, and the stars are also extremely bright.
The horse ran for about half a cup of tea, and finally saw the lights of Hengxiang City.
Going further, we encountered several villages on the road, and occasionally saw a few small tea shops and taverns on the roadside. The lanterns hung in front of their doors provided light for pedestrians coming and going.
"There are so many people." Zhan Ning said.
The soldiers sent by Shen Lie to meet them said: "This is the northwest direction of Hengxiang. Hengxiang has not been peaceful these days, so many people must have fled."
"Is there still a road ahead, can we start running?" Zhan Ning asked.
The soldier looked a little embarrassed: "I don't know that, I've never been here..."
"You haven't been here before?" Zhan Ning asked in surprise, "Don't lead us astray."
"No, no, this road was told to me by our general this morning," the soldier said hurriedly. "This is the road our general has walked personally. He and General Jian Jun led their troops to take this road today."
Xia Zhaoyi suddenly said: "You seemed to have mentioned before that General Shen Lie and Xia Junnan entered the city yesterday?"
"right."
"When did General Xia Junnan return?"
"last night."
"Where's Shen Lie?"
"Our general came back this morning."
"After he came back, he immediately led his troops and divided them into two groups with General Xia Junnan?"
"Yes," the soldier nodded, "this morning, I followed Xia Junnan and General Xia Chuan all the way, crossing the pass directly from the east of Hengxiang, heading to Lianfeng Academy. There is another way, our general and General Jian Jun, go around this The road goes to Qufu."
Xia Zhaoyi looked at the village road ahead, then looked back at the way they came.
It takes a lot of time to make a long circle from Gushan to Hengxiang, and Shen Lie has to do it again and again.
"He didn't go back this morning," Xia Zhaoyi said. "He probably went back in the early morning."
"It must be very early." The soldier said.
Xia Zhaoyi said "Yeah" and said no more.
More and more people were coming from the direction of Hengxiang. This path was only wide enough for eight people to stand on, so they had to slow down their horses.
When he reached a fork, Zhan Ning suddenly whispered: "Yeah!"
Xia Zhaoyi followed his gaze and saw a slow-moving wine transport team.
The soldiers sent by Shen Lie to meet them said happily: "No, no, no, I will drink a lot of wine when we go to Hengxiang."
"No, no, we don't drink easily," Zhan Ning said, "It's the wine flag."
"Wine flag?" The soldier looked at the wine flag of the wine transport team.
These wine flags are usually not displayed much. The flags of past dynasties are linked to status, and there are regulations according to the level of status.
This wine flag is a little worn, reflecting the lights of several teahouses nearby, and the three characters "Jingyun Tower" are flying in the river wind.
"Jingyun Tower." Xia Zhaoyi read.
No wonder Zhan Ning is like this, because the army led by General Ouyang Jun is called Jingyun Army.
A few years ago, when Li Qian's edifice collapsed in Yong'an, Ouyang Jun ordered 6,000 troops to enter the capital, and 3,000 Xia troops were among the Jingyun troops.
They were a group of twenty people, all riding horses and wearing armor. As they walked along, they had already attracted the attention of others.
The oncoming motorcade saw them staring at them, and their pace couldn't help but slow down.
There are five carts in total, with wine jars on them ranging from large to small. The largest one can even be called a wine jar.
The porter pushing the cart was panting from exhaustion and walked very slowly.
The people walking on both sides of the cart were afraid to look at Xia Zhaoyi and the others as they got closer, and looked away to the side.
"Hey!" Zhan Ning suddenly called them.
The nine men on both sides of the cart all broke into a cold sweat in an instant.
The leader, Er Tousan, was stunned for a moment, calmed down, and stepped forward.
"Master Jun, what's the matter?" Erduosan squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying.
"How do you sell this wine?" Zhan Ning asked.
"Hey!" Liang Dechang shouted in a low voice, "You are not allowed to drink during the march, and you violated military regulations in front of the second lady."
"I just want to buy a pot to take with me without drinking," Zhan Ning replied, "Second Miss, I won't drink it now. I'll drink it slowly over time. Is that okay?"
"Okay." Xia Zhaoyi said.
"This wine is not for sale," Er Tousan stammered, "This wine was ordered by others and we are delivering it. If the guests want to drink, come to the city, our Jingyun Tower is very good. I’m asking! After the guest enters the city, if you want to drink as much as you want, our shopkeeper will give you as much as you want!"
"Since someone has ordered it, if you really want to drink it, you can go to the city and drink it." Xia Zhaoyi said.
"Yes, yes, yes," Er Tousan said hurriedly, "You can get a big bowl of wine when you enter the city! There is nothing else like this in Jingyun Tower. We have a lot of wine and a lot of meat. We drink from a big bowl and eat a lot of meat!"
"Okay," Zhan Ning said, "then let's go."
Er Tousan breathed a long sigh of relief and looked at his companions behind him: "Let's go, if we don't hurry up, we'll be delayed!"
The convoy moved forward slowly.
The porters pushing the carts had a hard time walking. As they passed by, many porters raised their heads and looked at Xia Zhaoyi.
In order to facilitate the march, Xia Zhaoyi dressed neatly and concisely, elegantly and neatly. From a distance, it was difficult to tell the difference between male and female, but her voice was really soft and sweet. When she got closer, her appearance was clear, she was beautiful, with white teeth and bright eyes. She was indeed a woman.
One of the people and horses on the two sides faced west and the other faced east. When they passed each other, Xia Zhaoyi glanced at the word "Jingyun" on the wine flag.
The three thousand Xia family troops who initially followed Ouyang Jun to the capital now only have more than 1,300 people left, with nearly half of them killed or injured over the years.
What would have happened if she had met them in the capital at that time?
Are other soldiers of the Jingyun Army replacing these deaths, or are the battles that have already taken place avoided due to different numbers of people?
No way of knowing.
Xia Zhaoyi suddenly felt a bit lonely and self-deprecating. She was a person who rarely turned the tables and assumed that the outcome was decided because it was meaningless.
The pinna of his ears moved at this moment. Xia Zhaoyi turned his head to look at a cart and reined in his horse at the same time.
Noticing the movement here, Er Tousan, who had been tense all the time, turned around.
When he saw the girl at the head looking at a cart, he was so frightened that his heart almost stopped.
