Shanglin Night Snow

After the autumn rain, the sky turned cool.

Walking along the curved corridor, you can see the huge backyard, with gold falling and powder falling, and dead leaves everywhere, so desolate that you can't bear to look closely.Fortunately, after going through several twists and turns, and suddenly turning around, the colorful purples and yellows, golden pistils and flowing clouds that appeared like the sky made people's eyes shine-it turned out to be a corridor of chrysanthemums!

It's just that there are already early arrivals here.

"Gui Cong gradually grows, and Mei Rui is jealous of Xianfang. Once you enter Yaohuayong, you will play music from now on." The frail and slender figure slowly walks through the flowers, seemingly oblivious to the surrounding static and movement.

Shaking his head to indicate that the palace people don't need to be formal, Mu Yun prayed to see the relief on the faces of the people beside him, and smiled secretly.Standing still for a moment, the two of them turned around tacitly, and returned to the same way.

"The imperial doctor said that Concubine Jing's symptoms have eased in the past few days." Mu Yunqi said lightly.

The other crossed his hands: "On behalf of the third uncle, I thank Your Majesty for your compassion." The dry leaves rustled under his feet, which made people feel at a loss.Suddenly he sighed softly: "Concubine Jing is not by nature surly. She was also clever and clever when she was young, and she was knowledgeable in etiquette and books. When she was only nine years old, she went out with her mother. When she was swimming in the lake, she encountered wind and rain, fell into the water and was frightened. She came back and lay ill for several months. After he recovered, his temperament changed, he gradually became less talkative, occasionally moody, although he also invited many famous doctors for diagnosis and treatment, but it didn't work." Xiao Jing said, "My father tried his best to prevent her from entering the palace, but it was a pity that he failed..."

Mu Yunqi also sighed after hearing the words: "God's will is unpredictable, but I will do my best to ensure that she has no worries in this life."

Shao Jingheng thanked him again, but at this moment he suddenly heard that the Huangmen came to report, saying that it was your emissary who asked to see him.

"Huo Lanxian hasn't gone yet?" Shao Jingheng was annoyed when he heard the sound: I have heard that Huo Lanxian came here to ask for the Mobei territory that was said to have been seized by the Qiang Hu.

But Mu Yunqi didn't notice: "What he asked for has not been negotiated so far, so he stayed."

The other's face became more gloomy: "Your Majesty will not take this unreasonable request seriously?"

Mu Yunqi had no choice but to say, "He said what he said is well-founded, and he brought the original territory map..."

"How can you believe a one-sided statement? I can still say that he forged it!" Shao Jingheng was not annoyed, "Your Majesty should know that the heart of the barbarian rich wolf only wants to take it by force! Back then, I was Ping Qiang Hu, and I was eight thousand The remains of soldiers and soldiers in Beimo, not to mention hurting wealth and laboring the people, Beiyou stood on the sidelines and said nothing at that time, but now he wants to take several cities from me without a single soldier on the basis of a map of the territory whose authenticity is unknown. It's too deceiving!"

Mu Yunqi paced slowly along the path, without speaking for a while.

"Why is Your Majesty hesitating?" The man followed closely, "Could it be that he is afraid that he will fail in his demands and send troops to invade? If so, I would like to lead the troops to defend against the enemy and wipe out the barbarians. From then on, there will be no more troubles in the northern border!"

"However, can the danger of barbarians really be completely eliminated?" Mu Yunqi stopped and turned around, changing his previous indifference, and pointed provocative eyes at him.

"You can!" The other person vowed, "It will take time."

"If this is the case, then for thousands of years, why has the frontier troubles never been resolved in all dynasties, even if the Qianwu Dynasty used martial arts to frighten the world, the longest period of not hearing about border troubles for thirty years is the longest in all dynasties?" At a loss, Mu Yunqi sighed, "It's because the barbarians are like gravel in the desert, floating without roots, and coming and going with the wind. Although it's easy to lose their power, they can't be destroyed! Ding Beiyou, not to mention that there are Huihe and Tubo in the west, Xihu and Turks in the north who were driven to the desert by Youguo, and Koryo in the east, let's talk about the remnants of Qianghu and Youguo, how can we drive them out? ? If you can’t, then one day, you will definitely make a comeback!”

The man frowned: "But because of this, His Majesty will have to compromise, and sacrifice the territory that I Daxi's thousands of soldiers bought to others?"

"I don't want anything from him!" Mu Yunqi finally showed his anger: "You also said that it was not easy to put down a weak Qianghu back then, so what about Youguo, which is now several times more powerful? How much people’s wealth, how much people’s labor, how many people’s lives have been hurt?” Walking forward for a few steps, “My heart is, I only want to exchange for Chang’an on the border with the lightest price.”

"However, your majesty should know that the barbarians are cunning and greedy. If today's plan succeeds, it will only fuel their arrogance, and they will demand more in the future. Is your majesty going to be like this, every time with the smallest concessions, little by little to give me a good territory? Ceded completely?"

Mu Yunqi rubbed his forehead with a weary look on his face: "In your eyes, am I so cowardly?"

"I don't mean that," the man shook his head, "I just think that His Majesty is a little arbitrary in this matter, and that the nature of the Yi people is not very clear."

Mu Yunqi turned his back and turned around: "You haven't asked me what I want to do, but you only speculate on me based on your own thoughts, is it also arbitrary?"

The man was startled, and bowed his head: "I hope His Majesty will express it clearly."

"I really want to," leaning on the railing and breaking off a broken old branch from the tree, Mu Yun prayed every single word: "I want to establish a king for you!" After a moment of pause, it seemed that the man Kazhun recovered from his shock, Following Zi, "the Lord Huo Lanyu's illness has worsened recently, and it seems that time is running out, and he has no children under his knees. Huo Lanxuan is the person he values ​​most at the moment."

"Your Majesty's intention is that Huo Lanxian may inherit the great position after his brother, so you should first try to win over him?" Shao Jingheng was not stupid, but he just thought about it, but he didn't dare to have high expectations. The lord is very suspicious, so far he has not established a reserve, and he said that Huo Lanxian has many brothers..."

"That's why I want to push him to make Huo Lanyu make up his mind to establish a reserve!" Mu Yunqi finally expressed his scheming, "Although Huo Lanxian has his brother's trust, he still needs some time to establish a reserve. I After discussing with my subordinates, I thought that although the two cities of Baima and Mulian he asked for were border cities, they were blocked by water, which was not important to me. It is remote and devastated by wars for years. There are very few Han people, and the Hu people do not do farming. Even if I give these two cities to them, I will have no loss. But Huo Lan will return home with great achievements, and he will definitely please Huo Lanyu."

"That's the way it is said, but how will your Majesty and the outside world explain the two cities being handed over?" Shao Jingheng still couldn't agree.

Mu Yun Qilu smiled: "Why did I ever say that I would give these two cities for nothing? Huo Lanxian was called today to tell him that if he wants to take the two cities, he must exchange them with fifty fine-bred Persian horses."

The autumn wind suddenly picked up, and another rain of dead leaves fell one after another.

"Your Majesty really trusts Huo Lanxian so much? What if..." Before Shao Jingheng finished his sentence, he saw a magnificent man striding towards the end of the corridor led by the yellow gate.

You have a guest, Shao Jingheng took his leave first.

Stepping out of Xuande Gate, I saw two familiar figures riding horses side by side on the imperial street ahead, chatting and laughing, it was King Jia and Guo Kai.

"Your Highness, stay!" Huangmen, who came out with Shao Jingheng, shouted and chased after him.

Hearing the sound, King Jia stopped his horse, turned around and wondered, "Why did my cousin come out?"

Shao Jingheng said truthfully: "I have finished talking with the official family, and now the official family is calling His Highness to come in and accompany you to enjoy the flowers."

Huang Men nodded sideways.

"Call me?" King Jia was surprised: "Just now I heard that my cousin was discussing matters with the officials inside, and the envoy later came again. After talking about it for a while, I will accompany him to drive out to visit the East Lake. I guess the officials are busy today, and I said that there is nothing here. I decided to discuss the important matter at another time, which didn't make me feel bad, but why..."

Shao Jingheng smiled: "It was Huo Lanxian who told you that you have entered the palace. At the moment, his person is accompanying you in the back garden to enjoy the chrysanthemums. It is nothing important, so I let you go with me."

After that, King Jia hurriedly bid farewell to Shao Jingheng and Guo Kai and went inside.The remaining two went back together.

"Does General Guo have to be called here too?" After a long time of silence, it was Shao Jingheng who broke the silence first.

"No." Guo Kai managed to squeeze out a smile, "I was summoned by the privy secretary, and when I came out, I just met King Jia by chance."

"Oh." The man said lightly, and then turned the subject, "Just now Jia Wang asked General Guo to take care of that... Qin..."

"Qin Liuzhi!" Guo Kai replied straightforwardly, "This man is a loser, and because of something, he became attached to King Jia, and now he is staying at my house." Even if he didn't say anything, since the man became suspicious, he would send someone to investigate , So Guo Kai thought that it would be better to omit that matter, so he roughly explained the whole story.

"So..." Shao Jingheng's voice was a little cold: "When something like this happened, it was supposed to be a waste of money to eliminate the disaster, so it would be rash to bring it back? Didn't General Guo say anything to persuade him at that time?"

Knowing that his original intention was good, Guo Kai was not displeased, it was rare to make amends, and said: "Since the general has entrusted the task of protecting King Jia, Guo must be conscientious and fulfill his duties, so as not to put King Jia in a disadvantageous situation. Besides, this was really an accident, this Qin Liuzhiwu has already checked carefully, and there is nothing suspicious, the Commander-in-Chief can feel at ease."

The matter has come to this point, Shao Jingheng can't force him to do anything, he can only tell Qin Liuzhi to leave Yunyun once he recovers.

Looking at the back of the other man going away, Guo Kai breathed a sigh of relief, thinking back to his words and deeds just now, arrogant and decisive, and his anxious state was beyond words, he seemed to be troubled by something, which really made people wonder.However, Guo Kai didn't have the heart to figure out why, but he just talked about Qin Liuzhi, and he didn't see him for a few days. If he had time, he should go to the West Courtyard to check on him. Unconsciously, he has returned to Yazhong.

Just after entering the atrium, I heard a rapid barking of dogs, following the sound, I saw a strong black dog stuck in the branch of the old tree in the courtyard.At that moment, some yamen servants heard the sound and went to rescue him, the black dog whimpered and whimpered, seemed infinitely wronged, twisted and limped, and ran to lie down at Guo Kai's feet for comfort.

"Stupid, this is the first time!" Guo Kai raised his foot, seemingly about to kick hard, but in the end he only rubbed against the dog's back a few times, and the dog seemed to be relieved, turning over with its belly up , pulling his trousers ostentatiously.Guo Kai had no choice but to squat down and caress the black dog's belly, his tone seemed to be threatening: "Let me see you stuck in the gap between the trees next time, I will not take it lightly!" He clapped his stomach, "It's all right if you become a genius, but you are not good at learning. You must learn from your master who has nothing to do and disturbs me. If there is a next time, I will definitely stew you with dog meat!" The black dog purred. Make a sound, as if in response.

Needless to say, this is Xifu, the black dog of Xun Miao's family.Because Mrs. He, Guo Kai's old lady, didn't like to feed these cats and dogs at home, so she tied them in the yard at night, and followed Guo Kai to the yamen during the day. Because they had been together for a long time, the dog looked like a bad dog now. Getting close to Guo Kai is far worse than his master.

After teasing the dog for a while, the sun was setting. Guo Kai left the office and returned home with the dog.

When he arrived at the backyard door, the black dog obviously knew that he would have to be chained again if he entered, so he sat down on his buttocks and refused to move.Guo Kai had no choice but to pick it up, but when he raised his eyes, he saw a figure under the tree in the inner room.

"The wind pushes the moon to move the flower shadow, and the light flower flies to the moon to catch the wind." The man under the tree chanted softly, his tall figure dragging the same slender shadow under the moonlight. "I don't have much talent and learning, and I just improvise, so I have to do this. I hope Xun Xingcheng can correct me." The man said, obviously worried.

"It's not easy to get this impromptu, although it's a bit blunt." Xun Miao seemed lazy, "If you want to say the biggest shortcoming of this poem, it is the momentum. The so-called poetry expresses one's will, it must..."

With a sound of "Wang", Guo Kai was startled, and at the same time, the sound of people under the tree stopped.

"General Guo is back?" Looking back at him, the former poet greeted him and bowed respectfully, "Qin has taken the liberty to visit, if there is any disturbance, I hope the general will forgive me." The face under the moonlight looked familiar, but it was pale Peach color, thin lips dyed red, the look is far from what it used to be, it is just the waist and temples, and the elegant demeanor!Especially those long red and phoenix eyes, which make people indulge in longing.

After these days, Qin Liuzhi seems to be recovering very well.

"I came here today, one is to ask Xun Shengcheng for advice on some poems and articles, and the other is to say goodbye to General Guo, and thank you for taking me in these days, Qin is doing well now." , and will move out in two days."

"You want to go?" Guo Kai was startled, the black dog in his arms took the opportunity to escape, and ran to walk around at his master's feet, but the man didn't seem to see him, and he still kowtowed the sunflower seeds leisurely.

Qin Liu bowed straight forward and said, "King Jia is benevolent, the general is even more kind, but my injury is already healed, so I shouldn't bother you."

Guo Kai persuaded himself to stay.

The other pondered for a while: "I was careless back then, it was fine if I didn't know the identities of King Jia and General, but now..."

Guo Kai heard the voice behind his words, and smiled: "Brother Qin, if this move is to avoid suspicion, it is not necessary. One is that King Jia and Guo are not qualified to intervene in the scientific examination. Second, the doctor said, you It will take at least two or three months to recover, and if you move out in such a hurry, if the old injury recurs in the future, does it mean that the outsiders accuse me of treating you harshly?"

"This..." The man was stunned when he heard the words, but fortunately he was transparent. After a while, he turned around and cupped his hands: "What the general said is really good! So, I will bother you for a while, and wait until he recovers." go."

Guo Kai nodded, but heard a soft hum among the continuous clicking sound behind him, pretending not to notice it.

As soon as Qin Liu went straight, Guo Kai was about to go back to the house, but someone behind him stopped him and saw his chin pointing at the black dog wandering around the trees in the courtyard, intending to teach him to take it away.

Guo Kai suppressed his displeasure: "This is your dog. I have been taking care of it for a day. Why can't you take care of it at night?"

Spitting out the melon seeds in his mouth, the man shrugged his shoulders: "Beasts are also snobbish, what can I do if I look down on a poor lord? Besides, Brother Guo has always been kind and generous, so you don't mind taking in an extra dog?"

"You..." Guo Kai was so angry that he was too lazy to talk to him, so he called the black dog back to the house together.

But he taught the man to stop him: "Wait a minute! I still have two matters to discuss with Brother Guo. One, I want to ask the superior to allow me to be a foreigner at a certain time. If it succeeds, I will have to ask Brother Guo to take care of this beast." .”

This is a surprise!Guo Xie forced himself to hide his astonishment: "You want to leave Beijing?"

Seeing him nodding: "It's just that I don't know when and where, and it's not appropriate to agree on the marriage right now, so let go of the request I made to Brother Guo that day, and I will report it tomorrow. As for now..." Touched his chin , "I'm afraid I will have to bother Brother Guo for a while."

Guo Kai was at a loss for a moment, and he just followed his words: "This is natural... since it is uncertain at any time, why bother?"

The man smiled: "I think so too! Although I hesitated that day, Brother Guo's words just enlightened me. You and I are upright, so why bother to worry about trivial things, let's meet each other Troubled? So after today, I will treat Brother Guo as before, I don't know what is going on with Brother Guo?"

The west wind was silent, and the moon was shining like a night sky, lightly reflecting on that smiling face, just like the first time I saw it.

Guo Kai nodded: "This is also what I think in my heart."