The Taoist held his bamboo stick and walked from west to east.
The bay-red horse carried the luggage and followed silently.
The little girl next to him also held a bamboo stick, which was much thinner than the one in the Taoist's hand.
The little girl held up a bamboo stick and trotted forward. There was a thin straw rope tied to the bamboo stick, and a small piece of white cloth tied to the straw rope, about the size of a cat's paw. As she ran, the wind blew
The white piece of cloth on the rope blew up, shaking and spinning, as if it was not a piece of cloth but a butterfly.
The butterflies on the grassland were stupid, as if they really thought they were butterflies, so they followed the white cloth and quickly formed a long row behind the white cloth.
The little girl ran with a stick, causing pieces of cloth to fly.
Followed by a long series of butterflies, arranged neatly.
When she has run far away, she will circle around the grassland, run back, then go around behind the Taoist and the bay red horse, and continue forward.
As if tireless.
"Taoist, look!"
"Um."
"More and more!"
"sharp."
"..."
Not only was she tireless, but she also seemed unable to smile. All she could see was that her eyes were extremely bright, full of novelty, and her voice was crisper.
Holding the bamboo stick like this, he ran back and forth.
The Taoist glanced at her from time to time.
The picture seems very beautiful.
Others would never imagine that this is the border between Dayan and Saibei Grassland, which are often contested today. Both parties often travel frequently on this grassland, spying on each other, and sometimes encountering each other is unavoidable.
A fight.
After a long time, the little girl seemed to be tired from running, so she slowed down her steps and waved her bamboo stick around her body to ensure that the cloth pieces flew so that the butterflies continued to follow.
But I saw her quickly reaching out and grabbing it.
"brush!"
Catch a small butterfly easily.
Before the Taoist could look away, he saw her put her hand to her mouth.
"..."
Only then did the Taoist look away and look into the distance.
"Well?"
Just as Sanhua Empress was about to reach out and choose another lucky little butterfly as her self-service snack, she stopped and turned her head to look into the distance.
There is the faint sound of horse hooves behind the hill.
Not long after, several figures appeared on the hilltop in the distance.
They are all big men from the prairie. Their clothing styles are very different from Dayan's. They have no armor and only carry scimitars and bows and arrows. They go into battle lightly. I also saw two people and one horse here.
They looked at each other and headed this way.
"thorough!"
A few shouts.
Song You only took one look and knew that they were the waiting knights from Saibei. They had the same configuration as Dayan, and they were in a group of ten.
As expected, before the group of waiting riders approached, there was a shout.
It's an incomprehensible language.
Perhaps they saw that Song You was handsome, wearing Taoist robes, carrying no weapons, and bringing a little girl with him. They did not seem to be a threat, and they did not immediately show strong hostility and murderous intent. However, according to Song You's walking on the border these days,
Judging from his experience, most of the opponents will not let him go easily. Even if they don't kill him on the spot, they will take him back or let him go with them.
So the Taoist turned his head to face them, unhurriedly, and waited for them to come closer before saying calmly:
"Everyone, please come back."
"Xilulu..."
The horses under Saibei Hou's saddle suddenly raised their heads and neighed, stopped one after another, and refused to listen to the people on the horses no matter how hard they beat them. Then they all turned around and ran back and forth.
The cavalrymen were so frightened and angry that they bent their horses' necks, and the horses under them did not stop.
In the end, this group of people came from a distant hilltop and disappeared again.
"That's awesome, Taoist priest~"
Empress Sanhua's voice was soft and thin, but she imitated the tone of Wu Nuxia from Changjing, holding up her bamboo stick and turning her head to stare at the Taoist.
"Want to learn?"
"Will our horses listen to me after learning how to do it?"
"Now that Sanhua Empress is talking to it, won't it listen to Sanhua Empress?"
"Sometimes I listen, sometimes I don't."
"Then it is just like Sanhua Empress, it has its own ideas."
"What if I learn this spell?"
"Sanhua Empress cannot use magic to make her friends obey."
"Then I won't learn anymore."
The little girl then retracted her gaze and continued to look at the piece of white cloth attached to her little bamboo stick. However, it was only then that she realized that she had been looking too seriously at the group of people just now and forgot to move the bamboo stick. The butterfly that had been tricked came over
After discovering that the butterflies tied to the bamboo stick were dead, they all flew away.
"..."
The little girl was not discouraged and continued running with her bamboo stick.
The Taoist also took steps and continued walking eastward.
There seems to be a military fortress of Dayan here called Zhaoye City.
It's quite famous.
When Song You was in Yidu, he heard its name from the storyteller. It was one of the five towns in the north of Dayan Town, and it was also the farthest military town in the north from Changjing. There were quite a few legends that attracted Dayan.
The literati and common people talked about it. However, the storyteller did not know its specific location. He only knew that it was in the north. However, he heard about its general location after arriving at the Doda Grassland.
However, the grassland is so large that Song You had neither a map nor a guide, so it seemed not easy to find it.
It's possible that we missed it because we were separated by a hill.
Slowly passed from afternoon to night.
The sky is full of stars and the sea is as vast as a grassland.
Sanhua Empress still went to collect firewood and lit a bonfire in the mountains.
The Taoist boiled a pot of water, took out the beef jerky, and added the hare caught by Empress Sanhua to make tonight's dinner.
It's just that the long night doesn't stop.
I don't know which party was wandering on the grassland at night. Maybe they saw a fire here, so they came quietly to investigate. Before they got close, they were spotted by the alert calico cat. When they saw the fire, they were spotted by the vigilant calico cat.
The person sitting there was a Taoist priest, so he sent one person over on horseback, and the rest held bows and crossbows to keep vigil at night.
"who?"
What came from the darkness was a familiar language.
One person and one rider, they approached slowly, facing the starry sky, and gradually walked into the light of the fire from the dark night.
He is a strong man with a spear and a bow and arrow.
The Taoist still sat facing the fire, holding a piece of air-dried beef in his right hand and a bowl of boiling water in his left hand. He turned to look at the visitor.
After they understood the language, the Taoist did not use magic to invite them back, but said: "My surname is Song, and I am a native of Lingquan County, Yizhou. I traveled down the mountain and traveled to the north. Please don't embarrass me, the captain."
"..."
The cavalryman approached and took a closer look. His eyes swept over the Taoist, the calico cat next to the fire, and the bay-red horse lying nearby.
"Mr. Song You Song?"
"Um?"
Song You turned to look at him: "The captain also knows, do you?"
"Nature knows!"
The cavalryman immediately turned around and shouted behind him:
"It's Mr. Song!"
Then he got off his horse and gave Song You a fist: "The young man's surname is Feng. He is a ranger of the 9th Regiment of the Zhenbei Army. On the orders of General Chen, if he encounters a man with a calico cat while patrolling the grassland,
, Taoist Priest Song Mingyou, named Song Mingyou, informed Mr. that there were demons in the Saibei army to help, and asked Mr. to go to Yuanzhi City to help."
"Yuanzhi Castle?"
"yes!"
"Where is Yuanji City?"
"Six hundred miles east from here."
"so far……"
"Sir, we are stationed at Zhaoye City. We received military orders from Yuanji City, so we looked for you while on patrol."
"How did General Chen know that I would be here?"
"I don't know about this little one."
"..."
Song You thought for a while and almost understood.
It should be the news coming from Caotou Pass in the south. General Chen knew that he had passed Heyuan and Caotou Pass, and he also knew that there was a grand meeting on the Duda Grassland in front of him. He guessed that he would definitely go and pass the grassland meeting.
The location continues to the north, which is here.
It's a good plan.
At this time, the others also put away their crossbows and swords and came over.
In addition to the previous knight surnamed Feng, there are nine horses in total. There are people sitting on eight horses with injuries on their bodies. It seems that they have fought with people. There is also a horse being led by another person with a person on the horse.
There was a tied corpse in light armor with several heads hanging on it. Most of these people were carrying spears and crossbows.
Everyone got off their horses and clasped their fists at Song You.
Song You also returned the greetings one by one and asked: "Are you injured?"
"While patrolling today, I encountered a group of Saibei cavalrymen and had a fight with them." The cavalryman surnamed Feng said, his gestures were quite quack-like, "I suffered some minor injuries and a brother died. It's a pity.
No one was caught alive, so I brought back my brother’s body.”
"Do you look like you are from the Spear Gate?"
"Sir, do you also know about my spear gate?"
"Like thunder piercing the ears."
"A few are."
"I am……"
"Me too……"
"Zhao Guanyi of the Changqianmen! You're polite!"
"The Spear Gate is open on Monday..."
Several cavalrymen with long spears spoke out one after another.
The north is in chaos, and heroes emerge from troubled times.
Since Song Xing traveled to Hezhou and Yanzhou, he has seen many people from the Changqianmen and many soldiers, most of whom are elites in the army.
When I was in the south before, I heard that Changjing Yunhemen, Yizhou Xishan Sect and Yue Changqiangmen were listed by the storyteller as the three major sects in Jianghu. Because Yunhemen is located in Changjing and is related to the nobles in the DPRK, it also occupied
The absolute advantage in propaganda is despised by Jianghu people, but it is also respected by storytellers as the number one sect in Jianghu. The Xishan sect has a good reputation in Jianghu, and all its disciples are superb in martial arts. People in Jianghu often ask for it when they see it.
Pick one with a big finger. The long gun door will have to be lined up in the back.
Now it seems that there may be something untrue.
Amidst the troubled times, and with the support of General Chen, when it comes to power now, I am afraid that the Yunhe Sect and the Xishan Sect, even if they add up the other major forces in the world, are far inferior to the Changqiang Sect.
"I just heard that you are from Zhaoye City?"
"That's right."
"Has Zhaoye City been recaptured?"
"It was recaptured the year before last."
"I heard that the people who occupied Teruye City in the past were demons?"
"Sir, you don't know something..."
You Qi named Feng said to him.
Zhaoye City was Dayan's farthest military town in the northern part of the Great Wall.
Why is it called Zhaoye City?
This vast grassland, where Dayan's troops are stationed, is just like this night, and the eyes and ears are dark. However, this city that illuminates the night is like a lamp in the night, going deep into the night and illuminating the surroundings.
The last time the Saibei people invaded the south in a large scale, Zhaoyecheng's army defended for several years under the front of the Saibei people. The Saibei people had even crossed the northern border, crossed the entire Yanzhou, and galloped all the way to the north of Hezhou.
Under Fengguan, the entire Heyuan was massacred, but the northernmost Zhaoye City was still not lost. However, they had already lost contact with Changjing, and Changjing thought they had fallen.
Until the news spread back to the capital, the government and the public were shocked.
It is said that the imperial court was suing for peace at that time. After hearing the news, Emperor Wu decided to continue the war. It was also said that many heroes in the world were inspired by him and became angry and joined the army.
However, Zhaoye City was still lost later.
Some say it was the work of demons.
Some people say that the northern generals at that time were unable to rush to the rescue, and Zhaoye City ran out of food and grass, so it fell. The generals were afraid of being held accountable, so they blamed it on demons.
All the officials and civilians, literati and military men in the world are interested in talking about what happened in Night City.