The New Year has just arrived, and Yumen Pass near the Western Desert is still shrouded in thick snow.
While other places have begun to warm up, the climate here at Yumenguan is still extremely cold and shows no signs of warming up.
Although there is a faint afternoon sun, there is not much warmth contained in it.
The khaki city wall is covered with white snow, like scars.
The streets in the city were quite lively with pedestrians coming and going.
Most of the golden earthen houses are decorated with lights, yellow and red intertwined, making them sparkling, as if they are welcoming the prosperity of the New Year and looking forward to a bright future in the New Year.
In the slightly humble city lord's mansion, Wu Modi was lying boredly on a deck chair on the balcony, stretching his bulging belly to let it fully receive the caress of the sun.
It has to be said that Wu Modi enjoys this leisurely activity of sunbathing in the afternoon. This is also a new way to waste time that he just discovered this morning.
I have to say that this method is indeed a good one. Lying quietly like this, he fell asleep soon. Even if the crowd below the street was bustling and noisy, he could still fall asleep peacefully.
No, today he was lying here as usual after lunch.
Looking up at the sky, there is not a single cloud in the clear blue sky. Only the faint outline of the sun looks a bit monotonous. Even if you want to look for something, you can't find it. You can only listen to the slightly noisy bustle and gradually fall asleep. past.
Feeling a little tired, I closed my eyes, relaxed my body, and then my consciousness gradually sank into sleep.
I fell asleep immediately...
Fell asleep...
"grown ups!"
A shout pulled Wu Modi out of his drowsiness and made him wake up instantly.
"Who! Who is calling me!"
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Wu Modi didn't seem to have recovered yet. He lay on the chair for a long time and couldn't get up.
Of course, his big belly also has to bear some responsibility to a certain extent.
"It's me!" Deputy General Su Xuan hurriedly stepped forward and helped Wu Modi up from the chair, looking at him with a smile on his face.
"It's you boy! What do you want from me? If there is no intrusion from the Western Desert Kingdom's army or an imperial edict from the Emperor of the People to report, I will punish you with the death penalty for disturbing my nap! "Wu Modi snorted twice and said with an unhappy look on his face.
With a smile on his face, Su Xuan said flatteringly, "Your Excellency has always been courteous to the corporal. He treats us subordinates as if he were his own family and is very caring. In addition, the New Year has just passed, how could you do such a thing? !”
Wu Modi shook his head, as if he wanted to shake off the energy he had just woken up from, and then licked his dry lips. Su Xuan immediately understood and ran to pour a glass of water.
Wu Modi raised his head and said, "How long has it been? It's not even dinner time yet! If you wake me up so early, if you don't give me a reasonable explanation, then your salary for this month will be lost." Stop wanting it!"
Su Xuan held the tea and said with a smile, "Haha, since you have said so, my salary this month should be regarded as a red envelope for you! I wish you a new year, good luck and fortune in the new year!"
Upon hearing Su Xuan's words, Wu Modi was startled. He stared at Su Xuan in disbelief for a long time, and cautiously probed his forehead with his hand. After confirming, he said, " You don’t have a fever either? Then why are you so confused? Could it be that someone has taken away your body? Or is it that someone has controlled your ten cheap wives in a brothel and made you obey his orders? If you now If you are being watched and it is difficult to speak, then raise your left hand above your head, raise your middle finger, kick your right leg, and shout that I am the most handsome man in Yumen Pass!"
Seeing Su Xuan's face darken and staring at him with an expression that looked like a fool, Wu Modi finally stopped his careless demeanor, coughed twice, took the water from Su Xuan's hand, took a sip and said , "Okay, what on earth do you want to see me for?"
Su Xuan pulled Wu Modi into the house and whispered, "There is a lot of fun at Yumen Pass today! Aren't you worried that you have nothing to do? I will take you to watch the fun!"
"Huh? Lively? This Yumen Pass is too busy to even bother to poop when a bird flies by. How can there be any excitement? I wonder if you have been bribed by someone to trick me into a trap. . Tell me honestly, is that true? How much did they give you? If you give me half, I will pretend that I don’t know what to do and cooperate with your actions!" Wu Modi said with a smile, showing a face full of scheming and determination.
Su Xuan looked at Wu Modi helplessly. The two looked at each other for a long time. Finally, Su Xuan couldn't help but said, "Fifty taels!"
"No, one hundred taels!"
"Sixty taels!"
"Eighty-eight taels! That's the number, for good luck!"
"Seventy taels, do you want love?"
"Eighty taels! It can't be any less. The number they gave you is definitely more than that!"
"Sixty-nine taels!"
"No! Why are you bargaining for a lower price? How can you not play by the rules!"
"Sixty-eight, sixty-seven, sixty-six..."
"Seventy taels, just seventy taels!" Wu Modi said hurriedly.
Su Xuan laughed, "Then it's settled! Your Excellency is really indifferent to fame and wealth, and regards money as dirt!"
Wu Modi snorted coldly and said with a serious face, "Okay, stop flattering me. If you have the time to flatter me, why not do more practical things for the people of Yumen Pass and bring more benefits to the construction of Yumen Pass?" A promotion, so...your salary this month also belongs to me. This is what you said before!"
Su Xuan rolled his eyes at Wu Modi and did not argue. Instead, he said, "Okay, okay, I know that among the Jiuzhou Prefecture Mu, you are the poorest. Just think of me as doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, and I will give you this little money." ”
When Wu Modi heard this, he was overjoyed at first, then frowned and said, "Why are you so generous this time? I remember the killer of the Jianghu organization whom I caught last time. The organization behind him spent one hundred taels of gold to redeem him. Man, it turns out that you kidnapped a total of ninety taels and only gave me ten taels!"
"Then it's not like you didn't do anything. I caught the person and I went to do the subsequent negotiations. You just stay at home peacefully. At most, you just become a mascot. Okay, okay, I'm too lazy. If I tell you more, I’ll ask you if you want to go. If you don’t go, I’ll put this business off.”
"you you……"
Wu Modi was glared at by Su Xuan. He originally wanted to say something cruel to shock him and show his majesty as his boss.
But looking at Su Xuan's unafraid look, he seemed to be ready to give up the responsibility and not let Wu Modi do it if they disagreed.
Wu Modi couldn't help but have a headache. He had no choice but to act as a state shepherd. He was really a coward.
Despite his appearance of great fame and position as a state shepherd, in fact his power as a state shepherd is at most equal to that of a city lord.
And it’s still a poor, half-dead city.
A Yumen Pass houses ten thousand people and fifty thousand soldiers.
There is no one to ask for, and money is scarce.
Just guarding the West Desert Kingdom every day, waiting for the West Desert to come over, and then immediately calling for reinforcements.
However, judging from the current situation in the West Desert, it is impossible to make any movement in the short term.
Ever since that time when Zhou Ruoxiao led his men to the Western Desert and killed them severely, the Western Desert Kingdom has become a lot more honest. At that time, the Western Desert King not only took the initiative to surrender to the Jiang Dynasty, but also made an agreement for ten years. There will never be a single attack on the Zhou Dynasty.
However, this approach of the Western Desert Kingdom caused dissatisfaction among some noble ministers.
After they heard about the death of Emperor Jiang, they began to advocate taking advantage of the situation, harassing the turbulent Jiang Dynasty, and retaking the land they had previously occupied.
However, the king of the Western Desert Kingdom quickly suppressed these voices and insisted on peaceful coexistence with the Jiang Dynasty.
After hearing the news that Emperor Zhou had ascended the throne, he personally led the people to hold a celebration ceremony to recognize Zhou Ruoxiao's status as the emperor of the human race.
His move made the radicals among the people even more dissatisfied with him.
The conflict between the radicals and the king finally broke out some time ago.
When the news that Emperor Zhou was scheduled to launch an expedition on the first day of February had just spread, the radical faction headed by the general participated in the memorial and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to attack Yumen Pass.
Not surprisingly, the old king once again rejected this suggestion.
So the general was so angry that he took his troops and countless nobles who supported him to rebel against the Western Desert Kingdom and support his own troops.
So the West Desert Kingdom was completely divided. , the old king's side was called the old dynasty, and the general's side was called the new dynasty.
At the beginning, the overall strength of the old king and the general was evenly matched, but after several battles between the two sides, the general gradually gained the upper hand and had a faint tendency to overwhelm the old king.
The general even made bold claims that as long as the old dynasty is destroyed, the flag of the new dynasty will be planted in every corner of Kyushu.
…………
It was because he knew the current complicated situation in West Desert that Wu Modi felt that at least for a long time, West Desert would not be able to free up his hands to cause chaos in Yumen Pass.
The panicked Wu Modi was idle in Yumen Pass. Apart from sleeping every day, he could only bicker and fight with Su Xuan to relieve his boredom.
"So, what deal did you agree to this time? What are you going to ask me to do?" Wu Modi yawned and asked.
Su Xuan smiled and said, "You don't have to do anything this time, just go watch the excitement with me!"
"Is it so easy? You don't want to sell me out, do you?" Wu Modi looked at Su Xuan with some suspicion and said.
Su Xuan didn't explain much and dragged Wu Modi downstairs.
