[Shadow Guardian] The Wind Rises from the Wild West

Yun stared dumbfounded at the big and small bowls on the table.This was far from the Huber's lunch he had imagined—there were no delicate dishes at all, and no millet rice soup, and the bowls were filled with chopped vegetables and indistinct messy things.

There was a steaming cauldron at the door. When the guards entered, they picked up a large bowl and scooped up noodles from the cauldron.The customs of Xiyan Kingdom are different from those of the Central Plains. They seldom eat rice cooked with millet and rice, and often eat cakes and noodles made of wheat grain.

Although Yun has eaten noodles, he rarely sees such a way of eating.He silently imitated the others, got a bowl of noodles for himself, and followed everyone to the table—it turned out that those big bowls and small bowls contained noodles, sauces, oil soups and the like.The guards piled up vegetables on the surface, poured oil soup on it, took out a large spoonful of stewed meat from the large pot beside the table, covered the surface, and walked out with their hands in their hands.

A group of guards just squatted under the corridor, eating noodles wheezing.While eating, he was also reminiscing about the man's performance just now.

"What are you looking at?" Poured a large spoonful of meat into the boy's bowl, Hong Han said: "Eat more meat, what you eat will make you feel better." Uncle Xi Yan even ate with the guards.

Yun thought he meant to heal his wounds, but Hong Han muttered, "Too thin, sick."

The two of them also walked out of the house and squatted down on the porch to cool down.Honghan squats with his feet spread apart, but Yun is really not used to squatting, and still kneels in a well-behaved manner.

"I'm most annoyed by the red tape. When I first returned to Yancheng, I was forced to eat at the banquet every day. I didn't feel happy eating anything. It's still comfortable to eat in Xijiang! Running around on horseback all day, can I have a meal?" Squatting down somewhere and eating a bowl of noodles is great, who would be bothered to eat a table." Hong Han snorted while eating noodles, dressed in fancy attire, with a handsome side face, and this heroic way of eating had a strange contrast.

"Eat more. We Xiyan can't do anything else, but we can eat noodles in a variety of ways. Today is covered noodles, and in the future there will be oily noodles, belt noodles, whistle noodles, gangbang noodles, pulled noodles..."

Hong Han looked at the boy while eating.Yun was holding the bowl, and his right hand was inconvenient, so he ate with chopsticks in his left hand, but he ate without making a sound, very gentle.My own people are really good-looking no matter what.In a trance, Honghan felt a feeling of wandering outside for many years, and once he got the warmth of his family, he felt like an old married couple living together.

Yun was very embarrassed by him, and talked about it from left to right. "Since there is a shortage of money everywhere, the food should be simple."

Hong Han laughed, feeling that his wife was very virtuous. "Money is not saved, it is earned!"

When the guards heard this, they came over.Chattering started to discuss.

"That man's embankment will cost a lot of money to repair!"

"And it's not a one-time deal, it costs a lot of money every year, and it takes decades to repair it!"

While chewing the meat, Hong Han said, "We have negotiated a big deal in the grasslands outside the customs, we must take it all by ourselves, and we can make a lot of money in just one item of salt and iron."

Uncle Thirteen said worriedly: "However, we produce salt here in the well field, which is the fief of the Yin family, so it's not easy to clean up."

A bearded guard put the bowl away. "What's the matter, let's pick up our old business and rob him!"

A group of people applauded immediately.

The others retorted: "It's impossible, we've already done well!"

"You're the only one who's good, it's Zhaoan!"

The crowd laughed.

Hong Han drank up the soup, put the bowl on the ground, and wiped his mouth. "Things have to be done one by one. We have manpower and time, so we don't have to worry about not being able to do it!"

In this way, Xi Yanbo began to formally govern the country.

He is young, vigorous, loves to eat noodles, has a rough temper, and hates red tape, but no one can say that he is not a lord—a lord who works hard to rule.

He issued a notice to recruit talents, not only to hire people from Xiyan, but also to those from the Central Plains and even the Western Regions who came to defect to him - as long as you are really talented.

He sent envoys to defend the country, expressing his willingness to trade and merchants, and to import luxury goods such as silk jewelry.After that, he transported these to the grasslands of northern Xinjiang to trade with the barbarians.

He sent envoys to contact Chu State to buy medicinal materials, tea, etc., and then transported them to the grasslands of northern Xinjiang to trade with the barbarians.So their horses, cattle, sheep, gold and silver increased little by little.

But this is not enough, far from enough.

Although Xiyan is a feudal state, its interior is always in disarray.Local forces are controlled by nobles from all over the country, because of the enfeoffment in the early years, they are deeply rooted.The production of the land belongs to the local lord, and only a small amount of tribute needs to be paid to the lord every year.Hong Han has long been very dissatisfied with this.He needs the salt from the well fields, the cloth from Jinli, the access to the Qu Gorge, and his orders everywhere.He has always been straightforward in his methods, sending people to collect them, with a tough attitude.

Outside of Yancheng, lords from all over the world gradually felt threatened—they felt threatened before, but now they have been touched by tangible interests!

On a breezy autumn day, a small and humble nobleman was deprived of his fief and his whole family went into exile.This nobleman's fief is only the size of a palm, and he can basically only be regarded as a manor owner, but this incident sent an ominous signal.

No one stood up for this little nobleman, but the lords from all over the world communicated more frequently in private.

Half a month later, Doctor Qingping invited Uncle Xi Yan to go hunting in autumn.

He is one of the best aristocrats in the Western Wilderness, and he has always been obedient to Xi Yanbo's new policies.This time he invited Bojun to go to Qingping Mountain, which is his fiefdom, with dense forests and rich wild animals, it is an excellent hunting place.

Autumn hunting is a tradition in Xiyan. Hunting activities will be held before winter, and it is also a gathering of the king and lords from all over the country.Honghan was too busy to do it at first, so he flatly refused.After thinking about it, he felt that something was wrong, so he recalled the guard who sent the order.

Even with his toes, he could guess that these nobles would move—Of course Honghan knew that the relationship between the two sides was tense now.He decided to go.He likes to make quick decisions when doing things. Instead of procrastinating and dealing with them slowly, it is better to make it clear and make a big fight.

I would rather take what is right than what is right.

On the day of Qiushou, Hong Han only brought dozens of guards to Qingping Mountain.And those nobles brought a lot of private soldiers, led Huang Qingcang, each with their own ghosts, and drove to the hunting ground mightily.

It was supposed to be a season of high and refreshing autumn, but the weather turned out to be unfavorable. As soon as the team arrived at the hunting ground, it started to rain.The mountain road is muddy and difficult to walk, and it is not easy to hunt.So the horses had to be penned up, the dogs had to be tied up, the eagles had to be caged up, and the people had nothing to do but huddle in their tents.

Honghan was not boring at all, he leisurely led the guards around the nearby towns and towns in low clothes, which could be considered as a survey of the people's sentiments.Because of Qiushou, the originally deserted town at the foot of the mountain suddenly became more lively, and the villagers simply set up noodle stalls on the side of the road.

From a distance, Yun saw the man in black kneeling and eating noodles alone under the simple tarpaulin.

He gently pulled Hong Han's sleeve, and said: "Master, I saw a person and wanted to talk to him. You go first, and I will follow."

Hong Han followed his gaze and saw the thin man in black.He suddenly thought of the dark guard who had come the previous day. "Who? The enemy?"

Yun shook his head. "It's an old friend." He thought for a while and added: "An old friend of Qishan."

Only then did Honghan realize that the man's attire was very similar to Yun's before, but he was still worried, leaving Jingqujiang and Jikan behind.

Yun walked a few steps, then turned back, and said a little embarrassedly: "Well... do you have any money? I want to treat him to dinner."

Hong Han smiled, and touched his body generously, wanting to show off, but found that he had no money on him.I had no choice but to reach out to Uncle Thirteen, got a few pieces of silver, and handed them all to Yun. "Go ahead and eat something good!"

The rain in late autumn will not be very heavy, but it is continuous, with fallen leaves falling on the ground, which has a desolate taste.The hot air of the noodle soup wafts into this bleakness, bringing a mundane atmosphere of fireworks.

Yun bowed his head and walked into the rain-shielding tarpaulin, instead of sitting opposite the man, he knelt on the mat next to the man, facing the rain scene outside the shed together.

The man in black looked to be in his early twenties, with a thin body and a calm complexion. He had the feeling that no matter where he walked, he was on the edge and would not be noticed.He sipped the soup silently, and there were only a few vegetable leaves in the soup besides the noodles.

Yun said: "The noodles in clear soup have no taste, and the more famous ones in the western region are the topped noodles and beef stewed noodles."He turned to the opposite stall owner and said, "Two bowls of Gai Dian Noodles."After thinking about it, he added: "Put more meat and soup." The boss readily agreed and went to work.

The man in black finally turned his head and looked seriously at the young man in the green hunting suit in front of him. "You've grown up, Yun."

Yun smiled, leaned forward and said, "Thank you for taking care of me back then."

This person is not someone else, but the sect master after he entered the shadow sect, his name is Bai.At that time, he was suffering from the cold poison of the Bingxi Pill, and it was a miracle that he survived until Qishan Mountain. He relied on the sect master to infuse him with blazing inner breath every day to survive.His martial arts are all belonged to the master of the sect, and Yingmen never called him master or senior brother. To him, Bai was actually his master.

Later, Yingmen received an edict from the emperor, and Bai left Qishan for Tiandu.That day was also a rainy autumn, Yun watched Bai Li's back on the desolate mountain road covered with fallen leaves.He swore to himself that he would never be the shadow of the royal family.

Bai looked at Yun for a while, and nodded: "It seems that you are doing well. You never smiled on the mountain before, and I thought you were born like this."

"Well," because there was nothing funny about it then. "Hong Han is a good man."

Bai said, "I can tell."

Both of them are not good at talking, although they haven't seen each other for a few years, they miss each other very much, but when they really meet, they feel that they have nothing to say.It seems that just confirming that it is safe is enough.

During the long days after going down the mountain, Yun wanted to ask his senior many times how to adapt to being a shadow guard, whether there would be embarrassing times, and there were many last resorts.But none of that matters now.

While waiting for the boss to come down, the two silently watched the autumn wind and autumn rain outside the shed.There is a tree on the opposite side, the leaves are all yellow, and the raindrops make a slight rustling sound on the leaves, and many yellow leaves fall from the tree, seemingly endlessly, covering the muddy path golden.

Yun suddenly said: "I don't want to go back to Tiandu."

Bai was not surprised, "Let's not talk about this topic, it's raining outside, and it's uncomfortable to fight in rainy days."

Yun smiled again, he really loves to laugh now. "Yeah, I hate rain too."