Chapter 6 Traveling south to Xiaoxiang, encountering savage wolves on the road
A few dozen miles south of Luoshui is Aoshan.
This place is only separated by a river from the capital city of Luoyang.
The depths of the clouds are unknown. The hills in the clouds and mist are clearly out of reach, but they give people the illusion of being close at hand. The water mist in the air is so dense that it almost wets the clothes of pedestrians. Although pedestrians in the mountains
, Yu Gui is the only one at this moment.
This trip was very dangerous, so he set off quietly early in the morning and went on the road alone, for fear of letting a few children know. From early morning to now, he has been galloping all the way, and in less than two hours he has arrived at Aoshan, dozens of miles away. Even if he is a child at this moment
We found that we were not there, so we should have nowhere to look for ourselves.
Finally he could breathe a sigh of relief and take a rest. Yu Gui got off his horse and wiped his forehead which was wet with mist.
"Ta-ta...ta-ta..." Yu Gui was stunned. He seemed to hear... the sound of horse hooves!
Yu Gui really hoped that he heard it wrong, but the voice was really real. It was passing through the clouds and mist, getting closer and closer to him. Along with the sound of approaching horse hooves, there was a long call: "
Master...Father...".
Yu Gui didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he could only turn around and look at the mist that was surged by the impact of the horses and kept approaching him. After a while, the two horses were approaching.
The two children got off their horses and ran to Yu Gui's side. Cao Xi shouted: "Master, you are running so fast. Ah Xuan and I can hardly catch up."
"How did you two know that I was in Aoshan?" Yu Gui was very curious. These two guys just guessed that they were going south, but they were able to chase them all the way to Aoshan. You must know that there is more than one way to go south.
Xia Houxuan smiled slyly: "I saw the letter my father sent to the master from Jingzhou. If the master wants to go to Jiangling to find Grandpa Yu Jin, he must go south. As for how we know that the master is here, then we have to ask,
Master's horse, why is it pulling fresh dung all the way..."
Yu Gui was completely speechless.
"Don't worry, Master!" Cao Xi shouted: "We have made it clear to the family. We just said that we were traveling with Master. Hui'er is a girl, so we didn't let her come with us. Everyone in the family can trust Master.
…”
Before the child could finish speaking, Yu Gui looked directly at the child and said: "Then you must know that this wandering is not really a wandering!" Yu Gui thought to himself that it would not be a bad thing to let the children experience it.
.Everything, just be careful.
The two children didn't take it seriously. With their master here, what were they afraid of?
The sun gradually melted away the clouds and mist, the road underfoot began to become clear, and the dust stirred up by the horses' hooves gradually disappeared in the distance behind them.
Xinye County.
Yu Gui took his two children and walked south for hundreds of miles along the banks of the Jishui River [Note 1], and finally arrived at this small county. Yu Gui understood that after passing Xinye, it was the boundary of Jingzhou. [Note 1: Jishui,
One of the oldest rivers in China originates from Dengfeng County, Henan Province.】
Although the sun is still on the side, it is really burning like a scorching sun, but the green grass on the roadside is standing tenaciously and is still full of vitality.
Yu Gui led the horse and walked slowly. The horse followed behind its owner, snoring in the heat, dragging and dragging as if unwilling to take another step. The two children were still riding on the horse and refused to get off, but their speed seemed
Not as good as Yu Gui who walked.
Finally we arrived in front of a tea shop.
Yu Gui tied up the horse and wiped the sweat from his forehead, but the two children seemed to be different people in an instant, and rushed into the tea shop with a cheer.
Although the shop was small, its business was booming. Yu Gui chose a relatively spacious seat and called both children over.
Yu Gui raised his head and drank another cup of tea. He was usually the most particular about drinking tea, but now he drank one cup after another like white water. The two children had already drank enough, and now they started to eat.
, they are accustomed to seeing delicacies, but now they have long forgotten the identity of their young marquis and young general. They are just like two hungry little beggars, munching on the most common snacks in Central Plains shops.
Even after two days of traveling, even a person would feel tired. Yu Gui drank another pot before he felt that he was not so thirsty anymore. Only then did he notice that the two tea guests sitting by the door, with their
It's such a big baggage, it looks like it needs to be moved.
"Alas, these days, just a few months after the war, the war is going to be chaotic again!"
"This old man," Yu Gui put down the pottery cup in his hand, with a solemn look on his face: "You just said, where is the war going to happen again?"
Cao Xi and Xia Houxuan also looked up at the old man curiously, but they did not stop chewing. The snacks in this shop were really delicious.
"Young man, you don't know yet!" The old man was surprised when he heard Yu Gui asked: "I heard that Liu Bei, the Lord of Shu, has led his troops to Jingzhou. At this time, he is probably almost past the Three Gorges
I heard that they brought more than 200,000 people with them!"
Yu Gui's heart sank and his brows furrowed. He came to Jingzhou originally to look for his father Yu Jin. It was already very inconvenient to bring two children who were not familiar with the world. But at this time, there were many complications. If something happened...
"Young man," the old man said, interrupting Yu Gui's thoughts: "After this meal, hurry up and head north. You can go as far as you can, and you still have your children with you."
Yu Gui heard the old man's accent, and it was true that he was a Jing citizen. Bringing his family here at this time is enough to prove that Liu Bei's eastward march is not a rumor. However... there are more than 200,000 people. Although Yizhou in the middle of Shu has a prosperous country and a prosperous people,
However, a few years ago, Liu Bei entered Sichuan and merged with Liu Zhang. The population of Yizhou has been reduced. In addition, the Hanzhong area still needs to guard against our Wei State, so he expected that Liu Bei's eastward march will not exceed 100,000 troops.
People [Note 2]. If this is the case, then Soochow may be able to resist for a while. [Note 2: "Three Kingdoms·Shu Shu 2·Biography of the First Lord": "In the early days, the First Lord was angry with Sun Quan for attacking Guan Yu, and he marched eastward.
In the seventh month of autumn, he commanded all his troops to attack Wu." According to Professor Li Dongfang, Liu Bei's army in the battle of Yiling will not exceed 100,000.]
He looked at the two children, asking them to go back now? I'm afraid it would be harder than climbing to the sky, and there was no one to escort them. For now, he could only rush to Jiangling at a faster speed. It was best...must,
We must arrive before the war between Wu and Shu begins.
Yu Gui raised his head and drank the last sip of tea, threw a few five-baht coins on the table, called for the check, then picked up the two children and walked out.
When Xixuan and the others saw Yu Gui galloping on his horse without looking back, they did not dare to delay and followed closely behind their master. In less than two hours, the three of them entered a forest, and the surrounding area suddenly became cooler.
Yu Gui knew that the Han River ferry was not far away. After settling down at a nearby place where horses were temporarily sent, he took his two children and walked to the ferry.
After waiting for a long time, I finally saw a small boat sailing quickly from the other side of the river. Not long after, it reached the shore.
Xia Houxuan immediately noticed the strange appearance of the boatman. The tawny beard and the dark and thin face looked a bit strange.
Yu Gui glanced at the boatman's strange costume inadvertently and asked with a smile: "Shipman, is the other side of the river the road to Xiangyang?"
The boatman nodded and did not answer. Cao Xi didn't pay much attention to the boatman's appearance. After all, in the Jingxiang area, where Han and barbarians were in transition, there were all kinds of people, he thought.
After Yu Gui took the two children on the boat, he stood at the bow of the boat not far from the boatman. Cao Xi had never experienced this feeling of being in a small boat and crossing the river. At this moment, he was standing at the stern of the boat, looking at the water flow.
The cheers continued. Xia Houxuan kept frowning and staring at this strange old man. Although the old man was thin, his arms were extremely strong. The boat passed the center of the river at an extremely fast speed and sailed quickly.
Shocked!
Before Yu Gui could stop him, a cold light was already pointed at the boatman's throat!
"Xuan'er!" Although Yu Gui stopped shouting, he did not move.
"Who are you?" Xia Houxuan's eyes were like a torch. Although he was not tall, he was full of momentum. He aimed his long sword at the boatman's throat. The distance was just right. It did not hurt anyone and was enough to protect himself. The boatman did not panic at all.
Almost in an instant, there was only a strange laugh, and before anyone could react, the boatman disappeared into the waves. Only Cao Xi, who was extremely shocked, Yu Gui, who was calm as usual, and Yu Gui, who was still looking at the water, were left.
Xia Houxuan.
"Master" Cao Xi looked puzzled: "What happened just now?"
"You have to ask your cousin!" Yu Gui slowly rocked the oar. In fact, he also understood that something was wrong with the boatman, but he wanted to see what Xixuan's two children thought, so he deliberately pretended to be unhappy at this moment.
.
"It's very simple." Xia Houxuan seemed to be confident, and he said slowly: "That boatman is not a real boatman, and he is not of my race!"
"Oh?" Yu Gui smiled slightly: "You might as well talk about it and listen to it."
"First of all, his appearance and behavior are very different from ordinary boatmen." Xia Houxuan continued: "Not only that, we already learned at the teahouse that Liu Bei had sent troops to the Three Gorges, and most of the people had fled to avoid the disaster.
North, or eastward. What kind of business can a boatman do if he stays alone on the Han River?"
Cao Xi nodded thoughtfully. Yu Gui smiled and asked, "Just because of this, you can't rob other people's ships."
"One more thing." Xia Houxuan narrowed his eyes slightly: "It is also the most important point, his clothes."
"I found that he was wearing ivory ornaments on his neck and wrists. In the whole world, only Yizhou Nanzhong and Yangzhou Jiaozhi [Note 3] have such precious ivory. An ordinary boatman, if he has ivory
Why do you need to work in the river to make ornaments?" [Note 3: Jiaozhi is part of today's Vietnam. From the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms, it was Jiaozhi County in China.]
Yu Gui nodded in agreement. He was slightly surprised by Xia Houxuan's acumen, but at the same time he became more worried. That person was indeed not from the Central Plains, and of course, he did not look like the Wuling barbarians from Jingnan.
