Song You passed by Yuanzhi City again. There were not many defenders in the city now, and he had no intention of entering the city. He just passed by from a distance, turned his head and looked at it for a few times, and then walked towards Liaoxin Pass.
I randomly found a place to spend the night.
But when I woke up, the calico cat was no longer around.
"..."
Song You straightened up and looked around.
The grass not far away was rustling, and the withered grass sometimes fell down and sometimes trembled. I guess it was the noise caused by the cat.
Song You ignored her, poured water on his face, washed himself, and then started to pack his things.
As soon as I put the wool felt and wool blanket into the quilt bag, I heard a movement in the grass behind me. I turned around and saw a calico cat walking out of the lush grass, followed by a small stone figure. It was eye-catching.
It was the cat holding a thin yellow bamboo tube in his mouth. He walked straight over and placed the bamboo tube on the ground at his feet.
"What's this?"
"It's bamboo."
"..."
Song You bent down and picked up the bamboo tube.
The bamboo tube is thin, about the same thickness as the calf of a calico cat. It has a cover on top and is wrapped with a hemp rope. The cat bites the hemp rope and pulls it over.
As soon as he got started, Song You knew it was a mailbox.
People these days like to use bamboo tubes to send letters. When I first left Yizhou, I took letters to Lingbo for my father-in-law who worked at a roadside tea shop, and he packed them in bamboo tubes. Some literati were very particular and would carefully select different varieties of bamboo and combine them with each other.
It is best to use bamboo joints close to the roots and carve exquisite patterns on them to make them look as exquisite as works of art.
The mailbox in my hand is very simple, with almost no decoration, and only the address is carved on the surface with a knife.
"Chensi, Changqianmen, Huangshashan, Wujun County, Yuezhou."
Song You murmured something, then looked at Empress Sanhua: "Where did you pick this up?"
The calico cat didn't speak, but turned its head and looked back.
It was the direction she walked out of the grassland.
"Any more?"
"..."
Mao'er thought for a moment, and it seemed that this question was not easy to answer with eye expressions, so he spoke:
"There are so many!"
"That's it."
Song You held the bamboo tube in his hand: "Please, Miss Sanhua, please take me to see it."
When the cat heard this, he immediately turned around and ran back.
The crude stone figure followed closely behind her.
It's just that the grassland is not flat, and there are often small pits, large and small. It is not difficult for the calico cat and people, but it is a big disaster for the little mountain god she summoned.
Then I saw that the little stone man accidentally stepped into a pit about the size of an egg. He accidentally lost his balance and fell to the ground with a splat. The stone man immediately fell into a pile of rubble.
The calico cat heard the sound and immediately turned back, but only glanced at it before continuing to run forward.
Soon he took Song You to a place in the grassland.
As expected, there were many bamboo tubes scattered on the ground, all of which were thin. The thickest ones were no more than the thickness of a baby's arm. Some were scattered randomly on the ground, and some were half-deep in the mud. Some were still in good condition, and some were already damaged.
If it is opened, if you are lucky, you can still find a piece of paper inside. If you are not lucky, there will be no trace of it.
Song You glanced around, picked up a few of them without any rush and checked them. They all had different addresses engraved on them.
It looks like a letter sent home from the northern frontier army.
After searching around for a while, I found another scattered oil paper bag, which was casually thrown on the grassland and half-sinked in the mud.
But no bones were seen.
"..."
Song You picked them up one by one and looked at them one by one.
Just look at the address carved on the surface of the bamboo tube.
Available in every state and every place.
Some were sent to Yizhou, some to Changjing, and some to Yanzhou. Some were actually sent to the Western Regions. But the most numerous ones were sent to Changqianmen in Huangsha Mountain, Yuezhou.
Miraculously, Song You actually found a familiar address above——
Addressed to Lin Chang of Duda in Yanzhou.
Song You knew that it came from Liaoxin Pass.
Perhaps because the army from the north of Saibei was about to press the border, or because they were preparing for a decisive battle, the defenders at Liaoxin Pass sent another letter home. Perhaps the city was already infected with the disease, so they sent out the last letter home. However, the postman only made it halfway before being stopped by the army from the north of Saibei.
They were intercepted and killed by a small group of troops who were waiting to ride or circle back. After that, the Saibei people took away these things and found that they were just a pile of useless family letters, so they threw them on the roadside.
Thinking about it, it must have been a long time ago...
Liaoxin Pass was lost at the beginning of this year, and now it is late autumn. This pile of letters was sent at the beginning of the year at the latest. In the summer, there were several heavy rains in succession on the grassland, even if this area was not blocked by the North
The demons caused floods to inundate the grassland, causing water to flow into streams, and many bamboo tubes were washed away.
Some were even buried in the soil.
Until today when he was discovered by Empress Sanhua.
Song You turned to Empress Sanhua who was staring at him with doubtful eyes and said: "Empress Sanhua has made great achievements again..."
"What's this?"
"It's a letter."
"Is it valuable?"
"Very precious."
"!"
The calico cat stared at him without blinking.
The Taoist patiently explained to her: "It's just like Sanhua Empress and I haven't seen each other for a long time. At this time, Sanhua Empress wants to tell me something, tell me how Sanhua Empress is doing, and also tell me how Sanhua Empress is doing.
The things that the empress often said to me on weekdays were all told to me, so she wrote them on paper and put them in a bamboo tube. When I saw the letter, I could hear it, but if I couldn't see it, I didn't know anything..."
"!"
The calico cat blinked and his eyes went from thinking to understanding.
Sanhua Empress is used to getting along with Taoist priests. Sanhua Empress has many things to say to Taoist priests every day. She has many questions to ask the Taoist priests, so she has to meet and talk to the Taoist priests. If it is really a long time since she last talked with the Taoist priests.
When a Taoist priest meets and speaks, put the words on paper and ask someone to bring it to the Taoist. It must be very precious and must not be lost.
"Now what?"
"Since we met, we are destined." Song You said, "It's time to find them for those people."
"Are we going to deliver again?"
"That's too far."
"What should we do?"
"It doesn't matter. The imperial court has a special post office for delivering letters to sergeants, officials and candidates. We can deliver them to the nearest military town."
"Liaoxin Pass!"
"Miss Sanhua is so smart."
"Miss Sanhua, let's go find her now!"
The calico cat turned its head, took a bamboo tube in its mouth, dragged it out of the mud, and put it aside.
The Taoist smiled and started looking.
Although this kind of military mailbox is simple in shape, it actually has good functions. In addition to having a cover and hemp rope to ensure privacy, the bamboo tube also has a certain degree of waterproofing. However, the bamboo tube itself is hollow, and it is likely to be scattered when scattered on the ground and washed away by heavy rain.
They are everywhere, not to mention blocked by weeds similar in color to the bamboo tubes, making it difficult to find.
Fortunately, the Taoist and the cat were not short of time.
So I searched around with the oil paper bag as the center, and found more than a hundred complete bamboo tubes as far as ten feet away. I found more than a hundred complete bamboo tubes and put them all back next to the horse.
Empress Sanhua was very active in this process.
It's not that her moral character is very noble, nor is it because of any great principles, it's just that when the Taoist said that, she always felt that this thing was very remarkable. She always felt that if one was missed, the missing one would be a three-corner.
The Flower Empress told the Taoist priest.
That must not be missed.
It wasn't until she couldn't find it after searching for a long time, and the Taoist told her that she didn't need to look anymore, that she reluctantly went back and guarded the Taoist and the bamboo tube.
Song You thought for a moment and read it again.
This time, I picked out all those with long guns. Since I had to go there anyway, I went to deliver them in person, which was faster and safer. I stuffed the rest into the quilt bag in various ways, and then continued my journey.
It should be only twenty or thirty miles away from Liaoxin Pass. It usually takes more than an hour to walk. However, it took half a day to find the bamboo tube, and it was already dusk when we arrived at Liaoxin Pass.
There are only a few thousand generals guarding Liaoxin Pass now, and most of Dayan's troops are currently outside the northern border.
Song You brought General Chen's handwriting. The guard took a look and knew that Song You was the Taoist they had heard of who killed countless demons in Yuanzhi City and went out with the army to kill demons.
Just like Master Fuyang, who killed demons and gods in the lower realms in Taizu's army, he naturally treated him with respect.
Although he had known what happened to Liaoxin Pass before, Song You still asked Zheng Linyou about the cavalry team under the general's command. He only heard that no one survived at Liaoxin Pass and that all the defenders' deaths had been reported home.
Sighed.
He immediately left most of the letters home and asked him to hand them over to the post office for further delivery. He stayed overnight and replenished some dry food supplies before continuing out of the city.
But this time we went west, back.
A few days later, we entered the Doda Grassland again, and met the rovers from Zhaoye City again, but they were not the same team as before.
Walking into the famous Zhaoye City, I didn’t think there was anything strange about it. It was just a loess military town full of scars. At this moment, the defensive battle had been won. Like Liaoxin Pass, the remaining troops in Zhaoye City were also
Not much. In the eyes of Taoists, it is like an old man sitting on the threshold in the summer evening with his chest and abdomen exposed. He is calm and vicissitudes of life. The wrinkles all over his body even cover the scars, so that it is difficult for an outsider to imagine it for the first time.
He went through some magnificent years when he was young.
Song You stayed in the city for one night before leaving.
But when he was leaving the city, the Taoist suddenly stopped and raised his head to look up at the sky.
The calico cat was puzzled and looked up to the sky.
There is a bird in the sky.
Although it was already late autumn, it was not unusual to see birds in the sky over the grasslands, but this bird was unusual.
This is a swallow...
I don’t know if there are any swallows on the grassland, but this season, the grassland in the north is already very cold, so there should never be any swallows.
I saw this swallow flapping its wings and turning in circles in the sky, sometimes left and now right, up and down, just like when I first saw it in Anqing, but I don't know if his heart is as tangled as before.