Li Bochen luckily adjusted his breathing until late at night, and finally felt that the spiritual energy in his body was somewhat smoother, so he wrapped himself in a big cloak and fell asleep. When I woke up, I felt refreshed and saw the sun rising high, casting down thousands of rays of light, and my mood couldn't help but be lifted.
Thinking about what happened yesterday, I felt much more at peace.
He sat wrapped in his clothes for a while and thought to himself that he should take a good look and think about this journey to the old land of Li Kingdom. The Linxi Lord in Li Ding's mouth was a wise and heroic ruler. If he really managed the territory under his jurisdiction in an orderly manner and allowed people to live and work in peace and contentment, there would be no need to regard him as an enemy.
I am not a person who is ambitious or greedy for power. If people are miserable because of their own selfish desires, what is the difference between them and the gangsters they usually hate?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but laugh twice - I really think I can rule the world, right? It’s so interesting how people’s hearts change!
Now that he understood everything, he stood up and led the horse to the river to drink water. He took off his clothes and took a quick bath. Then he went ashore and ate all the remaining dry biscuits, drank all the water in the water bladder, fed the white horse a few handfuls of beans, and then set out on the road.
When we were about one mile away from the entrance of Fenghua Valley, we gradually saw pedestrians. But most of them are leaving the valley, and few are entering the valley. He heard those people talking, most of them had Li Guo accents, and their expressions were very sluggish, maybe they were fleeing.
When I saw the outpost at the mouth of the valley from a distance, I found that there were many soldiers there.
Six war horses were tied to stakes on both sides of the outpost, and a dozen armored sergeants were resting in a roadside shed. There was a wooden notice on one side of the road, with several notices posted on it. Li Bochen came closer and saw his own portrait at a glance. He had seen it elsewhere and knew that his crime was desertion and rebellion.
He dismounted and led the horse to the sentry post. In addition to a dozen sergeants resting, there were two soldiers guarding the door to check the customs clearance documents. Li Bochen waited for the person in front of him to be asked a few questions and let him go, then he stepped forward and handed over his ultimatum.
His thing was half true and half false - it was indeed issued by the government, but he bought it with money in a county town.
The soldier guarding the gate took the document and looked at it. He felt that there was nothing unusual, so he glanced at his face, opened his mouth and asked, "What are you going to do over there?"
Li Boxen knew that this was a routine inquiry, so he said in a Li Guo accent: "Visiting relatives, and then bringing the family over."
Xiao Bing nodded and reached out to hand the document back to him. At this time, he accidentally glanced at the Mugao, and then his expression changed. He couldn't help but look at Li Bochen and the article on the Mugao. Then, the hand became stiff.
Li Bochen was not in a hurry to receive the document, but just stared at his face and said in a deep voice: "Master, is there something wrong?"
The soldier's face slowly turned pale, his eyes flickered, and he glanced at the dozen soldiers in the shed on the roadside. Those people were gathering around a fire to drink and chat, but they didn't pay much attention to what was going on here.
He didn't seem to know what to say for a moment, so he just said: "You..."
Li Bochen saw that there was only a layer of down on his lips and his body was very thin. Covered by military uniform, he looked like a skinny clothes rack. Now he seems to have recognized himself, and he is so frightened that he seems to cry. He then thought to himself that this man had good eyesight - even though he had grown a beard, he still couldn't escape his eyes.
He also glanced at the wooden notice and smiled: "Master, do you think I look like that person? It is said that that person would dare to kill even your king and grandson, for fear that he is a desperate murderer."
At this time, several soldiers in the shed looked over. One of them made a gesture to get up and said, "Xiao Liu, what's wrong?"
Xiaobing seemed to be startled by the man's voice. His hand trembled and he thrust the document into Li Bochen's hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay!"
The man glanced a few more times and sat down again.
Li Bochen put the document into his arms and smiled: "Thank you, Master."
Xiao Bing panicked and didn't look at him, and whispered: "Let's go!"
Li Bochen took a step forward, then stopped and said, "Master Jun, have you seen two people passing by here a few days ago? One of them is about fifty, tall and tall, and looks like this."
He raised his hand and took out a wooden plaque with Ye Lu's face engraved on it from his arms, and handed it to Xiao Bing to see.
Xiao Bing only glanced at it and said hurriedly: "Yes, yes, I passed here four days ago... you should leave quickly!"
Seeing that Li Bochen still had no intention of taking a step, he lowered his voice and said in a crying tone: "The other one is about the same age, but has a white beard...really, let's go!"
Li Bochen smiled and said, "Thank you very much."
Then he got on his horse and galloped into the valley. After walking forward for a while, I couldn't help but look back and sighed in my heart. The soldier looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. He had good eyesight and recognized himself. But he must have known that his "former commander of the infinite army" was not someone to be trifled with. Since he could kill Mr. Wang and Sun, he would not care about killing at the pass, so he didn't want to cause trouble.
Judging from his military uniform, he must be from the Zhenjun Army, or perhaps a new recruit. In order to catch him as a traitor, various places have obviously strengthened their security, and the dozen or so veterans in the shed should also be newly recruited. But these people don't seem to have much fighting ability. I'm afraid they are all old and weak people who were hunted down.
Have the elite soldiers among the soldiers been transferred to the north?
Over the past month, he also wanted to find out how the war was going in the north, but ordinary people seemed to have no idea. Many people even thought that good news was coming from the north. Although the Sui Kingdom is large, I don't know how long it can last. If the monster army really moves south, I don't know what will happen to the people.
He sighed again and spurred his horse to gallop.
Less than an hour later, we left the valley, but it was early spring, so we didn't see the flaming maple leaves on the mountain. Instead, we found a clear spring and filled the water bag.
After coming out of the valley, I saw a flat river and knew that it should be the boundary of Li Kingdom. Li Bochen stopped his horse, took a breath and looked ahead. It was still morning, and the vast plain in front of us should be filled with fields, but no one was seen working, and there were even weeds lying in the fields.
He thought that the fields outside Zhangcheng were covered with straw, but this place seemed a bit desolate. The old land of Li State experienced the war more than ten years ago, and now its vitality has been severely damaged.
In fact, it was not just the Li Kingdom that was seriously injured - Beiyuan was taken away by the Demon Kingdom when they attacked Li more than ten years ago.
In the past, you would have to pass through a checkpoint of Li State, but now that it is co-governed by five countries, there are fewer such troubles.
He cradled the horse's belly and moved forward slowly, thinking to himself, is this my hometown? If he were really Beichen, the people here would be considered his "subjects". I didn't feel anything heavy before I stepped into the old land of Li Kingdom, but now I feel it's heavy on my shoulders.
At noon, we saw a city gate looming in front of us. According to his previous experience, it was still very far away, so he decided to rest for the time being. At this time, I saw an old man walking from the forest nearby, leading a child.
Li Bochen dismounted and said hello, "Old man, I want to ask you something."
The old man had a loose bun on his head and wore black cloth. He originally wanted to avoid his horse, but he stopped after hearing his greeting, looked him up and down, and said, "What do you want to ask, sir?"
Li Boxen said: "Do you know where there are leaf cakes around here?"
The old man was stunned and said with a smile: "Is the official asking about 'suye cake'?"
Li Bochen thought about it and realized that was right - the word "Su" had the pronunciation of "tree" in the Sui Dynasty, so that's how it was called. He nodded hurriedly and said: "Yes."
The old man said: "I have eaten it a few years ago, but not many people have made it these years, but it is not unusual - if the officials want to try it, they can be found in Sanguan City ahead."
Li Boxen said: "Thank you very much, father-in-law."
He cupped his hands and wanted to lead the horse to the roadside to ask it to eat some fodder. But the old man said again: "Officials, it's difficult to travel these days, so you should be careful. The officials and servants in Sanguan City are very fierce. They are no longer what they were more than ten years ago."
This man is quite warm-hearted. How could Li Boxen not know that there was danger lurking ahead? But I can’t help but go. Then he smiled again: "Thank you very much."
The old man slowly stepped forward, took the child and left again.
After they walked out for a while and then went down a small road, Li Bochen's heart moved slightly——
I'm just a passerby, why do I suddenly remind myself that "the road is not easy to walk on"? From here to Sanguan City ahead, it is obviously a smooth road, is there something behind that?
Who is he?
He immediately turned his face, but the old man and the young man had disappeared into the forest beside the path and disappeared. Li Bochen remembered that the old man was carrying a rattan basket with a small shovel in the basket, and it looked like he was going to dig wild vegetables in the field.
He thought again, am I too worried?
