There is almost no grass growing on the huge Huangsha Mountain from a distance. There are some scattered dead trees on it, but there are many small black wooden houses built in a mess. From a distance, there is an inexplicable grandeur.
Song You watched as he walked.
There don't seem to be many people still inside the door. Many houses along the way are empty. Some are locked, and some are just fastened with wooden bolts. It seems that they have not been opened for a long time, and the wooden bolts are wet. After the rain and moisture, it swelled and was strangled with an obvious beam mark.
Walk all the way up the mountain.
You can see people working hard to practice martial arts, either dancing with spears like tigers, or working hard to hone their strength, or using other methods to train their bodies, or gathering together to fight against each other.
Sometimes there are elders from the master's sect who are teaching, and when they encounter someone who is cynical, they will make a fuss about the juniors and make them fight.
Not only were the Taoists interested, but even the calico cat would often stop and turn around to stare at these people as they walked by. It wasn't until she noticed that the Taoist was walking far away or the Taoist called her that she would turn around and follow him with small steps.
After all, it is a cat. Sometimes it is so engrossed that it realizes that the Taoist who came over has already gone out of sight, so it can only look around in panic.
Fortunately, there are swallows in the sky leading her.
"I don't know what to call you?"
"My surname is also Liu, and I am the third eldest child in my family. Everyone calls me Liu San."
"It's polite to visit Song Dynasty." The Taoist said as he walked, "I see that many houses on the roadside are empty. I don't know why?"
"Let's go north."
“There must have been thousands of people here in its heyday, right?”
"Then how can I tell you?"
"It's presumptuous."
The Taoist smiled and didn't care, and continued to look left and right.
When we walked halfway up the mountain, we actually saw a group of young people sitting around in an open space. An elderly man with a broken arm held a bamboo chair and told them things to pay attention to in battle. Mentioning the achievements of the generals who walked out of the Spear Gate in front of the Saibei people's formation was mixed with praise for General Chen, the current number one general in Dayan.
The Taoist couldn't help but stop and listen for a while.
People in the south say that Changqianmen has a close relationship with the Zhenbei Army, especially General Chen. It is not only a training camp for generals in the army, but also a reserve regiment of General Chen's personal soldiers. Now it seems to be true.
At this moment, the calico cat ran from behind. It was originally chasing him, but it just got rid of the attraction of the martial arts competition behind and ran here. It was infected by the Taoist's eyes again and turned its head to see. Seeing what my Taoist priest was looking at, I ran past him without realizing it, and bumped into the Taoist's calf.
Song You sensed it and looked down at her.
The calico cat also raised its head and looked at him.
The Taoist smiled again and continued walking.
Following the warrior named Liu San, he was asked several times one after another, mostly out of curiosity, and finally arrived at the back mountain.
There are finally a few larger houses here.
"I'll report it."
"good."
The Taoist actually had General Chen's handwriting and a letter written by the military adviser, which allowed him to travel throughout the north without any hindrance, and he was always a welcome guest wherever he went. However, he just dropped by to bring a message. He didn't need to ask for directions, nor did he need any rest or supplies, so he didn't show it, so he just stood quietly outside the door with a cat and a horse, waiting.
The houses on the mountain seemed messy, but in fact the rules were strict. Liu San followed the rules of Jianghu and Changqianmen in the north. He went to the registration hall and talked about the matter. After several rounds of notifications, he met Hall Master Liu.
As the name suggests, Liu Beard has a long beard.
It's just that his legs and feet are injured and he walks with a limp.
Judging from his age, he is probably sixty or seventy.
Hearing that the Taoist had picked up the letter sent from Liaoxin Pass, Liu Huzi immediately came out and met the Taoist.
The Taoist took out the mailbox and gave it to him.
Just like Chen Han from Lingbo County, Liu Huzi was immediately stunned when he saw the mailbox. However, he was a martial artist after all. After taking it and opening it, he didn't cry like Chen Han, but the old man also He couldn't help but tremble a little, then sighed and shook his head.
"Is this letter for you?"
"It was sent by my apprentice stationed at Liaoxin Pass. Thank you very much, sir!"
Liu Huzi turned to Song You and put away his sadness: "I heard before that Liaoxin Pass was lost and no one of the defenders survived. I already knew that my apprentice was probably dead, and I only regretted that I had not received a letter. I didn’t expect that it wasn’t that he didn’t send it to me, but that it didn’t arrive...
“Fortunately, it was picked up by Mr.
"Maybe this is fate."
"I have picked up a lot of letters like this. Some of them were sent to your sect, so I gave them all to my Majesty."
Song You said, turned around and took out all the mailboxes from his horse and gave them to Liu Huzi.
Liu Huzi took them all with both hands and handed them to the disciples around him.
He was surprised when he took a few at first, but then more and more came, and there were more than twenty. Even though he was old, he couldn't help but be stunned.
After reacting, he quickly gave Song Xing a big gift.
"No need to be polite, it's just a matter of passing by." Song You said to him, "Since the letter has been delivered, I will not stay for a long time, so I said goodbye and left."
"How does this work?"
Liu Huzi immediately looked at him with wide eyes: "The war has been going on for three months. Letters from home are worth ten thousand yuan. Sir, you have come all the way to send back so many letters. It is such a kindness. If you just leave like this, let other Jianghu sects know about it." I thought it was because my Changqian sect didn’t know the rules and etiquette, especially those sects in the south.
"No matter what, sir, you have to stay!
"Now most of the people in charge of the sect have gone to the north, and there are only a few of us old guys left who can't carry guns. I will make the decision on behalf of the sect master and several other hall masters and elders to entertain you sir for a few days!"
"..."
Song You thought for a while and then said: "This is just a matter of convenience. Since the hall master's hospitality is difficult to refuse, I will stay and ask for lunch."
…
Swallows landed on the branches halfway up the mountain.
The group of young people were still sitting cross-legged on the ground. The ground was covered with reddish-brown and yellowish sand and gravel. Each of the young people held a simple spear and stared at the old man on the bamboo chair in front of him.
The old man had already finished talking about the battle formations, the fighting generals, the great victory in the north and the end of the war, including which of his sect members had achieved military exploits and how many enemies they had killed. I was not good at martial arts at the time and did not follow General Chen with my fellow seniors. Otherwise, wouldn't it be possible that I would be the one to choose the general in front of the battle?
Even if you die, you should leave a mark in the storyteller's mouth.
If he wins, wouldn't it mean that his name would be mentioned by storytellers in any teahouse in the country?
I'm afraid it will take a thousand years to talk about it.
But after all, they are a group of young people. After listening to the elders of the master's sect, apart from their passionate fantasies about themselves, what they are most interested in is the gods in the story.
Immediately, a young man asked: "What kind of god is that descended from the earth? Is he so powerful?"
The old man immediately raised his eyebrows:
"Then who knows?"
"How do gods fight?"
"I didn't see it at the scene, so how can I know it clearly? I haven't heard about it from the letter sent by your uncle!" The old man said, "It's not that you are not living up to your expectations. If you can live up to your expectations, maybe you can be on the city wall. I saw it with my own eyes, but it turns out that you are incompetent, so you have to wait for those who are capable to come back and listen to what they have to say."
The old man clasped his armpits and said thoughtfully: "It's probably thunder or something, or it's inviting soldiers and generals from heaven to come down to earth..."
"The gods are so powerful, why don't they drive away all the Saibei people?"
"That's a god. How can he help us fight?"
"You can get rid of demons, why not?"
"Do you think that only our Dayan has gods? Saibei is not much smaller than our Dayan, so there are no gods?" The old man looked at the group of young people below, "If you were born in the south, you would listen more in teahouses. From these stories, we can also understand that it is almost a rule that gods and demons do not interfere in mortal affairs. Otherwise, how would we have the peaceful days we have now? The demons and ghosts in Saibei have broken the rules this time, and it is only the gods here who take action. Get rid of demons. In the stories you heard, there were gods and demons who helped mortals fight the war. You helped me and you helped me. It’s not that you haven’t heard about it, but in those days, have you ever heard about how the common people were living?"
"..."
Everyone just raised their heads and stared at him.
"Haha, haven't you heard of it?" The old man immediately raised his head with satisfaction. As he got older, this was a rare moment for him to shine. "When gods fight, mortals are like the grass on the roadside. Let's fight. You can still struggle to live without gods and demons, but if things get chaotic and become the same as the storyteller said in those days, what does your head have to do with you?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
"What does the immortal look like?"
"Then who knows? I only heard in the letter that he looked like a Taoist and led a horse and a cat."
"oh……"
Everyone's eyes widened when they heard this, and they were fascinated.
"Oh! Why is there a bird in the tree?"
"Don't move, I'll beat him down!"
"Can't you beat it? It seems to be a swallow."
"Where are the swallows coming from now?"
"I'm afraid it looks like a swallow."
"Give you a bird's leg."
"Shh..."
The swallow stood on the branch, watching them warily.
At this moment, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Mr. Sanhua in the distance having finished their meal and taking their horses down the mountain. He immediately spread his wings, jumped down, and kicked off the branch with his legs.
"Puff puff..."
"Hey! Run away!"
"It's your fault!"
"It's your fault!"
"It's your fault for talking too much!"
"You have a loud voice!"
"It would be great if Senior Brother Luo was here. Senior Brother Luo's skill with hidden weapons is really..."
Everyone was making a fuss, but they didn't have much regret.
That bird has a little bit of meat, but it's just for fun.
But that bird flies really like a swallow.
Everyone followed it and swept across the huge Huangsha Mountain filled with wooden houses. They saw a young Taoist walking slowly down the mountain, followed by a maroon horse, a calico cat, and the lame Third Hall Master. He also followed behind with a wooden stick and a big bamboo tube, I don't know what it contained.
A group of young people couldn't help but be stunned.
(End of chapter)
