long friend

"Commander, the battle report of Yunmen Pass has arrived."

"En." Su Yan took a sip of the tasteless tea to refresh himself, raised his eyes and saw that the messenger hadn't left, and asked suspiciously, "What's the matter?"

The messenger is not tall enough, he looks like a child - Su Yan recognized him, he was as old as himself, he was promoted from the Bingzhou foreign army, he was fast and brave, so Yan Nandu was promoted exceptionally up.

He hesitated for a while, then took out another envelope: "Commander, this one is from Jinling. You said that you won't accept anything except those from Youzhou and Ningwu. This seems to be a personal letter for you..."

Su Yan laughed dumbly: "Come on, put it down, I'll take a look later."

The messenger said "OK", put the letter on the case table, then turned around and left the military tent.

Su Yan knew that the cold winter in the northern region was hard to endure, but this was the first time he experienced it personally.He came to Yanmen Pass at the beginning of spring, and never left for a year. After August, the heavy snow covered the sky, and the Turkic offensive gradually slowed down.Yan Nandu persuaded him to go home and have a look, but Su Yan flatly refused, he was really worried, but that was not the reason.

He is about to become a father, but no one has taught Su Yan how to face all this.

The wind blew up outside the tent again, Su Yan rubbed his hands, and put them over the burning brazier next to him to absorb some warmth.The charcoal was about to burn out, Su Yan yawned, shrinking his neck, trying not to rest early.

His eyes swept across the two envelopes just delivered, Su Yan hesitated for a while, and finally picked up the one from Yunmenguan first.

Shen Chengjun's handwriting came into view, and Su Yan read it ten times at a glance. His brows, which had finally relaxed in the warm tent, frowned again—he liked to frown very much now, and a shallow gully made him look more hostile than last year. Heavy.

Huyantu couldn't attack Yunmen Pass for a long time, so he directly sent people to camp two hundred miles away from the pass, intending to spend the winter outside the Great Wall despite the severe cold.Shen Chengjun guessed that it was because he knew that Liang Jun lived in the south of the Great Wall, he was not used to fighting in winter, and he was not as thick-skinned as the Turkic people, so this winter might be difficult.

Right now, the guards at Yanmen Pass and the Bingzhou foreign troops who are going back one after another are only 5000 people. Fortunately, the Xiaoqi guards have left half of the main force to guard, bluffing all day long to sing empty city plans, and finally managed to scare Huyantu.

Su Yan shook his head, not knowing what the other party was planning, thinking that it would be better to just ask for soldiers.

He was different from Su Zhi, he didn't have the audacity to ask the emperor for anything he lacked.Su Yan is an obedient new coach, even writing a routine memorial has to consider the words for a long time.But he is brave and stubborn on the battlefield, always rushing to the forefront.Xu is this kind of enthusiasm, even the senior generals and lieutenants in the Xiaoqi Guards admire him very much.

After taking over the Tiger Talisman for a while, there was no voice of dissatisfaction in the army, but Su Yan knew that the pressure followed him everywhere, making him sleepless at night.

After scribbling a few sentences as a reply to Shen Chengjun's battle report, Su Yan thought about it and opened another envelope.He didn't read the inscription, thinking it was from the imperial court, but after reading a few lines, he realized——

This is a letter from home.

Su Yan spent more time reading the letter than the battle report, and it was much more detailed. He repeatedly crumbled and chewed the black characters on the two light and thin pieces of paper, and finally extracted a piece of paper that made him feel ashamed. News in his heartbeat.

"Rongniang and Heng'er are safe." Su Yan thought, the corners of his lips curled up unconsciously, "Am I becoming a father?"

Although he knew that such a day would come a few months ago, Su Yan was still quite excited when the news was handed to him in black and white.He read the book from beginning to end again. The letter was written by Mrs. Cao, carefully choosing the words, and finally tactfully mentioned at the end: "If you are not busy during the Chinese New Year, why don't you go home for a meal?"

The little excitement just now was extinguished immediately, Su Yan was in a dilemma, and finally decided not to reply to the letter for the time being.

He wanted to find someone to share with, so regardless of the heavy snow outside, he put on a coat and rushed out.

A group of five soldiers on night watch walked through the various military tents. The camp in Guangwu City was lit with fires everywhere.

"Yannan——!" Su Yan lifted Yannandu's military tent, and was about to tell him about his happy event, when he saw the extra people in the tent, he turned a corner, and his voice changed, "...this is who?"

There was a brazier burning in the tent, Yan Nandu was standing in the middle, but sitting next to him was a man in white, dressed as if he was wearing sackcloth and mourning, with no expression on his face, not even the warmth of the fire could burn his cold body. The casing is average.

Yan Nandu didn't expect him to appear suddenly, and hurriedly stood in front of the young man: "Young Master!"

The gully between Su Yan's eyebrows suddenly deepened, and he said in a deep voice: "When will the army be able to come in and out at will, even if it's your old friend, you have to say hello to me first—get out of the way!"

Yan Nandu didn't let it go, he didn't let it go, he didn't let it go, he stuck himself in place awkwardly, and stood like a human-shaped pillar.Su Yan confronted him, with obvious impatience on his face, and the person behind him came for himself, so he had to protect him, so as not to make everyone unhappy...

He was still struggling with what to do, but the young man in white behind him said, "Sect Leader Yan, don't get in the way, I'm not a spy."

"You are?" Su Yan answered.

The man in white didn't move, he just looked up at Su Yan.His facial features are as delicate as a woman's, but because of his sharp outline and his overly cold demeanor, people simply ignore his overly beautiful appearance for a man.

"My lord, Qi Xuan, the people from Chuzhou came rashly because they were entrusted by Yannan's disciples with a sword book. This must be Su Yan, the coach of Xiaoqiwei? Don't worry too much about the affairs of Jianghu, young master." He said The tone and speed of the speech are very flat, polite and alienated.

Su Yan didn't hear anything wrong from these words, and returned the three-inch sword out of its sheath, and said, "Since it's all a misunderstanding, Yannan, why are you panicking?"

"Because my surname is Qi, the Head of Yan is afraid that Lord Hou will ask more questions." Qi Xuan said unhurriedly.

Confused, Su Yan just wanted to ask what happened to the surname Qi, when he suddenly remembered a person——

When he was very young, he heard his father tell how the Nanliang Xiao family started their business, and two of them were very important.

One is Xu Tiangang, who founded the dark guard against all opinions, and later hid in the rivers and lakes for many years, solving countless threats for Xiao Yongxing both openly and secretly; , made Xiao Yongxing invincible in the separatist regimes of the princes, and then Xiao Yongxing became emperor. Everyone thought that this person would be appointed as prime minister by him, but he suddenly resigned, and then lived in seclusion in Xuancheng, Yuzhang.

Many of Xiao Qiwei's subsequent methods of arranging troops were learned from that man. Yin and Yang, the five elements and eight trigrams were used to the extreme by that man.This person's name and surname gradually faded through years of word of mouth, but Xiaoqiwei mentioned him and often called him... Qi Junshi.

Su Yan thought: "It can't be such a coincidence, can it?"

The brilliant expression on his face was completely seen by Qi Xuan. Qi Xuan stood up and rolled up his sleeves: "Our ancestors set a rule that the Qi family is not allowed to have any further affair with the court. It is not for the court's affairs. , The things have been delivered, so I will take my leave today. However, seeing that the young master seems to be depressed, he must be very troubled. When you are free in the future, you can come to Chuzhou to sit. There are beautiful mountains and rivers, and you will be relieved of all your worries. "

After Qi Xuan finished speaking, he nodded slightly to Yan Nandu, and immediately walked outside the tent, picking up an umbrella leaning against the corner.

As soon as the military tent was opened, the wind and snow immediately drifted in. Su Yan was blinded by the northwest wind, so he stretched out his hand to block it.And when he put down his hand, Qi Xuan was no longer there.

Su Yan ran forward in a few steps, leaving only one footprint outside the military tent, which was soon covered by snow.

He turned his head and saw Yan Nandu was rubbing his hands on the bed without any trace, and said coldly: "Stop, explain clearly."

"I can't explain it clearly, Young Master..." Yan Nandu murmured, thinking hard, trying to get a thread out of the mess, and continued, as if giving up, "This is not something you can manage. I When I left the sect, it was my master who said that a man stands in the sky and the earth, the country will fall, and no one can survive alone. He asked me to go down the mountain and find someone. I have been looking for so long and there is no news. The master passed away, and the disciples in the sect sent him The knife manual - do you understand?"

This seems to be the language of another world, Su Yan nodded half-understood: "Generally understand... This is your own private matter, but if there are old friends coming to the army in the future, at least say hello."

Yan Nandu followed this sentence and thought about something else: "It seems that after some time, there is indeed someone who will come back."

"Come back?" Su Yan asked suspiciously, "Is it someone I don't know?"

Yan Nandu said: "Didn't the commander tell you? His lieutenant, Fang Zhi, was sent to Minzhou to garrison a few years ago. Later, he was noticed by the bandit leader. He logically turned himself into a bandit and broke into the Counting this year or two, the bandits who roamed over there should be wiped out, and of course he will return to the army by then."

The business of coming to Yan Nandu was completely forgotten by him in the process of coming and going.After careful recollection, Su Yan felt that there was indeed such a person, so he nodded and said, "Let's talk about it then."

He didn't expect that the "time" would be delayed for a whole year.

The winter at Yanmenguan is extremely cold, lasting from September to April of the following year, and it is very cold even when it does not snow.Year-round yellow clouds and sandstorms in the northern border are the best way to wear down a young man's energy. Yan Nandu sees that Su Yan is getting more and more used to the life in the border, repeating mechanical and regular things all day long.

City defense, patrolling, visiting civilians... reading military newspapers and analyzing the current situation, he didn't rest until midnight, and the next day when the sun was bright, he got up again.He seems to be a wooden man who does not need to eat or rest. He is not energetic all the time, but he is never tired.

That New Year's Eve, Su Yan didn't go home, he wrote a long letter home and entrusted a messenger to bring it back to Jinling.Yan Nandu didn't know what he wrote, but he only remembered that on the day the letter was delivered, Su Yan sat on the earthen wall for the entire evening.It was very windy that day, and when he returned to the camp, his eyes were red from the wind.

From winter to summer, spring in the north is too short to be noticed.Just a few days after the snow stopped, the sky was filled with yellow sand, and suddenly it began to warm up quickly. Looking at the almanac, it was already June.

It was hot in the afternoon and cold at night, tormenting a group of newly recruited soldiers.

The memorials were delivered on time, but the military pay from Jinling had not arrived.Su Yan wrote notes to urge him several times, and the imperial court wrote back saying that all the military salaries had been sent to Youzhou, blocking all his words.

There were 3000 garrison troops at Yanmen Pass and nearly [-] soldiers at Yunmen Pass. They fought all winter and suffered heavy losses.As spring approached, the Turkic offensive stopped suddenly. Shen Chengjun got a chance to breathe, and hurriedly wrote to Su Yan to report the situation there, and then called his attention. The Turkic might switch their firepower.

This time, Shen Chengjun made a wrong prediction. The two border gates were guarded by heavy soldiers. The Turks did not dare to underestimate Su Yan, let alone regard Shen Chengjun as nothing.

"There must be a change in Jinling. Either something big happened in the court or the dragon chair needs to be replaced." Su Yan bit his pen, "Otherwise, the situation is so serious, why have you repeatedly asked for more troops but failed?"

After all, he is much more mature than the previous two years.

In the year of the crown, Su Yan guarded an isolated city, forgetting all those family affairs.

But Su Yan's prediction was good, there was indeed a change in Jinling City.

The scenery in midsummer in the south of the Yangtze River is just right. When dusk comes, bamboos and insects sing along the Qinhuai River, echoing the red lanterns that are lit one after another, rendering a subtle ambiguity.

In Hua Jieyu's words, there are distinguished guests, and there are two gentlemen sitting in the private room on the second floor. Although they are not wearing gold and jade, the clothes are made of materials that even ordinary wealthy people can't wear. One of them took a leisurely look at a girl , Kissed gently on the side of her neck.The girl who sang the song was uneasy, her voice seemed to be choked, and she lost all her usual mellowness.

"Sixth brother, can you sit still in front of someone who is beautiful in the world?" Reaching out his hand to take the wine poured by the girl in his arms, Xiao Qiyu raised his glass to the person opposite with a half-smile.

Xiao Qichen was unmoved, his face sank like water: "You know I'm not good at this."

Xiao Qiyu raised his eyebrows and said, "But I also heard that there are quite a few young men in the backyard of Hua Jieyu, which one do you like?"

Without even looking at him, Xiao Qichen pushed away the pot of flower carvings and poured himself a cup of tea.

The green tea doesn't match the small white jade wine glass. Xiao Qiyu watched Xiao Qichen drink the tea from the wine glass without changing his face, and said, "I almost forgot, the sixth brother likes things that can't be obtained, and also likes... Standing on the opposite side of the secular world .”

Xiao Qichen said simply: "I'm too lazy to make false claims with you. I wrote all the memorials you asked me to write before, and the emperor also appointed your man as the commander of the foreign army. You have won Wang Zhen, what's not enough?"

Xiao Qiyu said: "I didn't expect you to be so obedient."

"Big brother has a secret in his hands, isn't that what you want?" Xiao Qichen smiled lightly at him, the corners of his eyes curled up innocently and harmlessly, "But the closer I am with you, the more my father will be suspicious." —Brother, don’t play with firecrackers.”

His stern tone made the woman in Xiao Qiyu's arms tremble suddenly, Xiao Qiyu ran along her back to comfort her, and said softly: "Don't be afraid...Qi Chen, you scared her."

Xiao Qichen shook his head helplessly, and said in a serious tone: "The brochure written by Su Yan has been kept with Da Sima for some time, and he won't write it himself if he has nothing to do, so you are just stuck so that your father won't see it, don't be afraid of delay Military situation?"

Xiao Qiyu said: "He wants to increase his troops. Have you forgotten how his father was put under house arrest? I'm afraid the father will be furious when he sees it. I'm doing it for the health of his old man. After the beginning of spring, the father has been coughing, Don't you think he's a little old?"

Xiao Qichen said vigilantly: "Did you do something wrong?"

"I haven't insisted on getting to this point yet," Xiao Qiyu said with a cold expression at this moment, and almost paused every word, "I just want to get his approval, I want him to admit it personally... I just want to be more suitable than Xiao Qiping. He willingly gave me the throne."

"Oh." Xiao Qichen said, "Then work harder."

After he finished speaking, he glanced around the room full of Yingying and Yanyan, and got up to say goodbye.Xiao Qiyu's confidant opened the door for him, and when passing by the one-eyed dragon, Xiao Qichen bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, feeling bloody.

He didn't want to be with these people, and he used extreme methods to keep himself awake every time.

Tianhui was waiting for him downstairs. Tianyou, who was with her, had never been to a brothel, and was blushed by being molested by a few idle girls. Seeing Xiao Qichen coming down, she almost looked forward to a savior: "Your Highness..."

"Let's go." Xiao Qichen stuffed two pieces of silver to the girl who was pestering Tianyou.

When Tianhui walked out of Hua Jieyu, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, but it was not so easy to tell him in a low voice: "Your Highness, I just thanked you for the letter sent by the young master, but the thank you is gone."

Xiao Qichen's footsteps stopped, he blinked, and there was still a wisp of incense in the elegant room just now on the tip of his nose.The things he had repeatedly worried about in his mind came true, he took a deep breath, and said normally: "Got it."

"What did His Royal Highness King Zhao say?" Tianhui asked.

"It's still the same old way. It is estimated that Prime Minister Xie is gone. He will suggest Shang Shuling to take over as Prime Minister, and then justifiably abolish the vain title of Prime Minister Right. I have a good relationship with Shang Shuling. He will definitely let me play. Father will only feel more I... am obsessed with power." Xiao Qichen had no expression on his face, he grabbed his palm, "I hate being threatened by others the most."

Tianhui frowned: "Your Highness means...?"

Xiao Qichen said softly: "He doesn't know what is enough to stop now, so don't blame me for being cruel."