laughing soul

"Master Jiang! Something is wrong! General Han came to the army to report that the south of the Yangtze River has fallen! The southern barbarians are going north!"

Ever since Qiu Sheng went north to fight Li Rong and pushed all the government affairs to Jiang Chen, the old man took care of things for him dutifully, almost lived in the palace all day long, and even didn't bother to go back to the prime minister's mansion.Like the little bastard said, even if he returned to the prime minister's mansion, he would be alone with no one to accompany him, so it's better to go back twice less, and take care of this old bone that starts to creak when he moves.

The sudden bad news made Uncle Jiang's dream of retirement in the palace come to naught, and there was not even a piece of dregs left.

"Jiangnan fell?" Jiang Chen almost broke a table of kung fu teacups for viewing, "It's just that more than 1 elite soldiers have been transferred, how could they lose so quickly!"

The person who reported was Xiao Yue, the servant of the Ministry of War, and the general submitted the report: "Here is the military report, please have a look at it, sir."

The South Camp's specially made sand coupon army newspaper was heavy in his hand. Jiang Chen held the cold iron sandpaper and felt that his heart had been dropped. When he opened it, the words "North Camp's defense is weak, and the southern border is lost" instantly Seeing his eyes, he opened his mouth to say something, but his throat was so dry that he had to take a cup of cold tea and pour it in.

"Master Jiang, the Vice General of the Southern Day Camp asked to see him outside the hall of Zizhong." Jiang Chen nodded at Li Ci, and Yu Zizhong outside the door entered the hall and knelt on one knee: "The last general apologizes."

He didn't have time to change into his iron-sand fur, and he went up to the hall full of blood. At first glance, there were five or six spots of blood on almost every part of his body, even on his face.Facing such a dignified appearance, Jiang Chen's anger was drowned out by the dripping blood, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Why didn't General Han come?"

Yu Zizhong: "General Han was seriously injured and comatose, unable to go to the palace, and is resting in the Imperial Forest Army barracks."

With such a bloody forest body, he said that others were seriously injured. Jiang Chen frowned, unwilling to hear the more tragic scene, and turned his head to Li Ci and said, "Go to the Royal Hospital to invite Lin Ting, no matter what, keep Han." General."

Li Ci was taken aback for a moment: "Master Jiang, the imperial hospital is dedicated to serving the royal family..."

"Your Majesty won't care about these trivial matters. General Han is gone, so let's wait for the cities in the southern border to fall one by one." Jiang Chen interrupted him, raising his hand to signal him to move, seeing Li Ci leave the palace gate before continuing, "Give me a seat...General Yu, Nan Daying was only transferred to 1 people, why did it suffer such a defeat?"

Before Yu Zizhong sat down on the hot stool, he pushed the wooden chair and stood up angrily: "1 people? Master Jiang is joking, right?"

Jiang Chen turned coldly: "Never."

The expression on Yu Zizhong's face became complicated and difficult to distinguish for a moment: "The dispatch order says in black and white that thirty thousand... thirty thousand troops will be dispatched, Mr. Jiang! If it is ten thousand, how can the soldiers of the South Camp be unable to resist?...This In just a few days, a hundred thousand troops were heaped up alive into a wall of flesh and blood! The last general... the last general... Although he was guilty of defeat, he was at the end of his battle and had to be defeated. No matter how powerful the southern barbarians are, let's fight Half way down the coastline, a group of Western soldiers suddenly appeared out of thin air. They were cowardly, and the cannons fired, and we had no power to fight back. General Han was unwilling to let down His Majesty's expectations, and he wanted to use his flesh and blood to block the opening of the cannonballs. Already!"

Jiang Chen stood in the big hall with the stove on, suddenly felt a gust of cold wind creeping into his spine along the corner of his clothes, and his whole body shivered inexplicably.

Beili, Nanman, Xiyang, and traitors are indeed troubled times.

I don't know how that fledgling little emperor will respond... Jiang Chen looked at the heavy snow outside the hall speechlessly, and sighed.

The late emperor's expectations and sustenance, I am afraid that he will live up to it...

On November [-]th, a great victory in Northwest Weizhou.

On November [-], it snowed heavily, Jiangnan fell, and the Western Army marched into the hinterland of the Central Plains.

On the [-]st day of the twelfth lunar month, [-] imperial forest troops and local troops from the southern states and counties sent troops to fight against the Nanman.

In just three days, Qiu Sheng was exhausted after a series of vigorous battles. He lay on the bed tossing and turning, but he didn't feel sleepy. After tossing for a while, he finally turned over and jumped off the bed.

There is a good brocade quilt to warm the bed in the palace, but Qiusheng slept early and got used to the hard slate bed in the mountains. After sleeping on the brocade bed for a few days, she suffered from backaches and backaches. The slate is still in Huadu, and it will be difficult to get it for a while, so I can only get a hardwood bed to make do with it.

Especially at times like this, he misses the days when he used to wander around the rivers and lakes without any worries. There was no family, country, and enemy army.

This poor emperor is really enough... Qiu Sheng criticized himself for giving up on himself for a short time, and was about to turn over and go to bed for a sleep, but smelled the familiar fragrance of bitter herbs, and immediately adjusted his clothes and sat down by the bed.

The smell became more and more intense, spreading the medicinal fragrance all over the room, but it didn't make people think it was offensive. There was a light knock on the door frame, almost overwhelming, and Qiu Sheng suffocated.

"Are you up? Just right, drink the medicine."

Chu Yu came in with a medicine bowl, and a plate of candied dates in his other hand.This person made him different kinds of sweets every day to dilute the bitterness in his mouth after drinking the medicine. Qiu Sheng realized in distress that his own taste had been taken away day after day. His golden mouth is gone.

"I gave the prescription to Mr. Liu... It is said that his medical skills are better than mine, so I should have asked him to dispense the medicine for you." Chu Yu leaned against the pillar of the house, it was not yet dawn, the room was not lit, and Qiu Sheng couldn't see clearly his expression.

"I borrowed a lot of ancient books from the library of the Royal Hospital, and I will return them within three years. Mr. Dong was hiding in the buns in the grave and was not found by Beili. I have already handed over the remaining shells to him. What happened on the battlefield, I . . . "

"wait."

I just drank the medicinal soup, my mouth was bitter, but I lost my mind to eat candied dates.Qiu Sheng frowned and stared at his indistinct silhouette hidden in the shadows, and said in a deep voice, "Do you want to go?"

"Well, I stayed in the palace and caused a lot of trouble for many adults... Now that wars are raging frequently, I am not a member of the army, and I don't want to be tainted with murder, so it might not be a good destination to retire like this ?”

Retreat to the mountains and rivers?Qiu Sheng squeezed out a sneer: "Where are you going? Wugu Village? Tianyuan Temple? Cuiwei Pavilion? What shameful things have to be hidden?"

Chu Yu suddenly tightened his fingers and said nothing.

The serious injury in his chest made him out of breath after a few words, and he had to pause for a while before continuing: "You are very capable of knowing the world, don't you think I won't check it? You raised a dog A little red bird with yellow hair on its head, an ugly man with strange behaviors often appears in the house... The bird flies too fast and is too agile, and has never been caught... Do you want to know why I know? "

Chu Yu seemed to be dumb, so he could only nod numbly.

Qiu Sheng wobbled a few times and stood up, walked closer and said in a low voice: "There are spies in the court, suspected to be some spiritual little thing tipping off the news, Jiang Chen is intensively investigating... Are you the one who betrayed me?" He said , reached out to light up the small oil lamp on the table, saw the pale and chapped lips of the other party clearly, uncontrollably softened, turned around and poured him a cup of tea: "moisturize your mouth."

One thing lowers one thing, the appearance of the person in front of him is used to hit him with cruelty and cruelty, his small appearance catches the eye, even if he is expressionless and dumbfounded, the anger of the thunder billowing is subdued, and he can't wait to hold it in his heart It hurts a lot.

Chu Yu obediently drank it, and replied lightly, "I don't."

Qiu Sheng opened his mouth, but finally closed it tightly.

He originally wanted to ask questions that he couldn't figure out, but Chu Yu's current state can be said to be out of his mind. If he was pushed too fast, he might jump directly to the madman and bloodthirsty. He didn't want to Blood splattered five steps, not even a whole body left.

After deliberating for a long time, he decided to retreat: "Yes, I believe it. You can leave as you please, but you must tell me where to go, otherwise I won't be able to find you in the future. How can I be a bachelor for the rest of my life?"

Half of Chu Yu's face seemed to be slightly red under the light, just when Qiu Sheng thought he would ignore this problem, the pavilion master finally said: "Tianyuan Temple, I have something to ask the head of the temple, Master Jingran .”

This tone should not be from Tianyuan Temple.Qiu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief silently, but luckily he wasn't a great monk who was practicing with hair.It's not that it doesn't matter if the sleeve is broken, and after several years of entanglement, I don't believe that the sleeve is made of iron.

"After I've been busy for a while, I'll take the time to see you...Western navy is also involved here, I really didn't expect it..."

Chu Yu has never read the military newspaper, but he has the ability to understand the content clearly: "Do you fight hard?"

"It can't be fought," Qiu Sheng shook his head, "Western naval forces are not something that Da Viet's navy can handle. They are real weapons that can go to the battlefield to charge forward. Facing it, it’s nothing more than hitting a stone with an egg. The war is a waste of time and money, and the battle with Beili has almost poured all the power of the whole country. If it is fought again at this time, the people may not be able to bear it. The treasury is not a bottomless pit. The dead body... first move slowly, and if you can negotiate a peace, you should negotiate a peace first. The Ministry of War should find a good player in training sailors, put it away for two years, and fight again when you are sure."

"There are no sailors in the Ministry of War," Chu Yu said. "Da Viet's navy is not only low in combat effectiveness, but also has low morale. There are a lot of lazy rich kids among them, and the military style is not right."

Qiu Sheng had never dealt with the Dayue Navy, so he asked doubtfully, "A kid from a rich family?"

"The children of high-ranking officials want to take the imperial salary as an official position, but they don't want to bother to study the Four Books and Five Classics. There is no way to take advantage of the loopholes in the literary test. The Northwest Army and the South Camp are notoriously difficult to enter. Only the Navy is there. It doesn’t matter who actually sent troops—Da Viet hasn’t had a single naval battle in 400 years. You can ask Dong Qi to check the accounts of the Dai Viet Navy’s income and expenditure, and how much of the 2 taels of silver allocated each year is really used for the blade.”

Qiu Sheng turned pale with shock, and said after a while: "Didn't the first emperor know? He didn't govern?"

"I don't know about this," Chu Yu said with a tired look on his face, "The emperors of all dynasties seem to be tacitly aware of this, but they seem to cover it up on purpose, and no one has taken any action to control it... It's still early, you Take a break, I'm going first."

Qiu Sheng heard the meaning behind his words, the reason for his death must be that this navy holds the lifeline of the royal family, or something, a secret that no one knows.

As soon as he was in a daze, Chu Yu had already walked to the door quickly, strode forward and grabbed the corner of the other party's clothes and pulled him back.Chu Yu was caught off guard, turned around and had no time to put away the black mist spreading from his eyes, and showed Qiu Sheng completely black eyes.

The whites of the eyes were swallowed up by the black ink, and the peach blossom eyes were like two big holes, giving off a ghostly and demonic aura.

Qiu Sheng was startled, but he didn't let go of his hand.

"Ah Joo?"

"Uh..." He took a deep breath, shattered the desks beside him with his palm, whispered for a moment, and raised an old kerosene lamp from nowhere, with no oil and no fire. , suddenly lit up out of thin air.

The black mist faded in an instant, Chu Yu stretched out his hand to hold Qiu Sheng's hand on the robe, and barely warmed his hand with the other's heat, the lips that had just been moistened by tea split again, faintly oozing blood .

I can't be seen anymore... Just before the blood flowed out, I tightened my lips and licked it clean: "Is there anything else?"

"What's the matter with me?" He hid the dark blood hard to find, but the color of the lips was too pale, and every trace of color stained on it seemed particularly shocking. Qiu Sheng wanted to ask clearly, but couldn't bear to pierce the lips The fake shell carefully decorated by human beings had no choice but to look away, "What's going on with you?"

Chu Yu slightly suppressed the severe pain, shook off Qiu Sheng's hand on his arm, looked at him silently for a moment, then lifted his legs and left.

Qiu Sheng felt that his last bit of patience had been exhausted. Regardless of the severe dizziness, he pulled out the Chengying Sword and pointed it at Chu Yu's thin back, almost murderous in his words: "Let's leave a bunch of problems behind." Miscellaneous diseases, so you have to pat your ass and leave? What's your reason?"

Even at this time when his body is extremely weak, it would be easy for Chu Yu to kill Qiu Sheng if he thought about it, but he finally turned around calmly, with his fingers closed to block the tip of the sword, his voice was cold "You don't have to worry too much about my affairs. It's just a chance encounter. If I bother you this time, I will disappear from you from now on, and you will meet a lunatic. Don't forget about it in the future." gone."

Qiu Sheng couldn't support the sword at all, and after being hit, he even lost the strength to lift the sword.He wanted to say something more, but he saw Chu Yu reached into his arms and grabbed a medicine bag, and he just sprinkled it lightly, and he didn't know anything.

Cui Weige's drug didn't even give him any time to react, he only inhaled a little powder, and slept for two days and two nights.

Chu Yu stretched out his arms to catch Qiusheng Jingui's head the moment it hit the ground, hugged him in his arms, carefully placed it on the bed, turned around and was about to leave, when he saw a mouthful of untouched candied dates on the wooden table. It was because I felt sorry for the things I had painstakingly made, pinched one and put it in my mouth, cleaned up the pieces that were broken into dregs, and then let the sweetness slip into my throat.

Neither sweet nor bitter, tasteless.

Qiu Sheng couldn't see it, so he no longer restrained the desire of the black shadow to run rampant to find the exit, and Ren Chuquan slid out along the corner of his clothes to condense into an inky black figure.

"Are you going to Tianyuan Temple?"

Chu Yu didn't bother to pay attention to him, and went out of the palace on his own. Anyway, the thing couldn't leave him for more than an hour—unless he wanted to get away and voluntarily turned into droplets and exited this reincarnation.

While riding the snow for thousands of miles across the river, he unconsciously thought about the little emperor named Qiu Sheng in the past few days.

Perhaps it was the love and hatred that imprisoned the world of mortals in Kunlun Mountains, or perhaps the soul taken away by Chu Quan made him incomplete... He no longer seeks for ordinary human emotions, probably because he is afraid of ignoring others in the world. The good old days.A blood feud a hundred years ago had devoured his soul and hard work for years, and finally bit that flesh and blood body into a heartless, empty hole.This empty heart has lost the qualification to put the one he loves in it forever, so he can only hide from everyone timidly, counting his lonely days in the corner alone and calmly.

It wasn't until this heart, which had been hollowed out long ago, showed its natural cruelty and ruthlessness to him nakedly, that he suddenly understood that this body was subject to the most vicious curse of its former master, and it was born to be bad. dead.

Suffering is extremely lonely, even if everyone in the world knows it well, in the end they have to bear it silently.For thousands of years, Cui Wei and the Chu family have stood alone, lonely and indifferent, with no one to love, no one to pity, no one to treat each other sincerely.

Chu Yu stopped far away at the gate of Tianyuan Temple, and did not intend to enter the gate immediately.The pain that had been raging all the way gradually subsided, and when he saw a Buddha statue standing in front of the temple, he came to a complete rest. Chu Yu took out the kerosene lamp and held it in his hand.

Ever since Chu Quan clinging to his body and massacring Tianyuan Temple many years ago, Jing Ran and his eminent monks have set up layers of invisible soul-stealing nets around the temple. The living soul will be wiped out as soon as it is touched, and the black smoke is to save life. You can only keep your eyes open.

It should be his duty to stay away from the world of sentient beings. If that person is willing to forgive him for this, if that person is obsessed with unforgettable memories, it is a life and a calamity, and he will spend the few days in his life. repay.

"The evil karma created in the past, the beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance, were born from the body, speech and mind. Now I repent in front of the Buddha. When the evil comes, the troubles come. When the righteous comes, the troubles are eliminated. Both the evil and the right are eliminated, and there is nothing left. In all past and present lives, a pure heart is Yes." Jing Ran is still the same, holding a string of ancient Buddha beads in circles in his hand. Over the years, his white beard and wrinkles are still the same, and it seems that he is determined to bring a kind-hearted appearance In the tomb, "Chu Gongzi came here on a snowy night in the middle of winter, drink a cup of hot tea first to keep warm."

"What tea?"

The old monk smiled, shook his head and said, "Emei is as white as a gleam of snow, and the white buds and jade chips are floating thousands of miles away."

Chu Yu nodded, but just twirled the cup back and forth to play, and didn't take a sip until the tea was completely cold.

Seeing that the tea was no longer steaming, Jing Ran gently took the cup from Chu Yu's fingers, replaced it with a hot cup and handed it to him again, and said with a smile: "The poor monk wanted to use this tea to warm your stomach and intestines, but you don't know what to do." I am more willing to use it to warm my hands, the son is elegant, but it seems poor and vulgar."

Chu Yu was stunned for a moment, and said softly: "Tea is something you eat, how can you warm your hands and say it elegantly? If I am like this, I will waste good tea."

"What is elegance and what is vulgarity? Tea is tea, who is going to dictate how it grows and how it is boiled? This tea is in the hands of the son, and even if the son uses it to wash clothes and water flowers, it can be regarded as something valuable." Value. Each thing has its own owner, the way of nature has its own way, and in life, I just want to be open and happy, even if it is waste, it is also open and aboveboard." Jing Ran took a mouthful of white buds, put it between her lips and teeth, and kept smacking, full of With a contented and joyful face, "Good tea, good tea!"

Chu Yu chuckled lightly: "You are really different."

Jing Ran finished the small cup of tea leisurely, and said with a smile: "Contentment is always a pleasure, who would find yourself unhappy."

Chu Yu lowered his brows and eyes with a smile, and waited for both hands to be warmed before raising his head: "Master."

Jing Ran smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Let's go to the soul? This needs another pot of good tea, talk slowly."