Looking at the mountains and rivers

Jian'an City, alleys.

Outside the gate of General Habayashiwei's mansion, the setting sun was like blood, reflecting dozens of Habayashiwei riding in silver armor. As soon as the people in the mansion walked out, someone immediately led the horse forward and handed over the reins respectfully.

Wei Changxuan took the reins of the horse, paused for a while, then jumped on the horse, and said in a low voice, "Go back to the Yulinwei Camp."

"Yes!" All the soldiers responded in unison, rode their horses and followed him straight into the direction of the setting sun.

The blood-red twilight casts on Wei Changxuan's forehead iron through the cracks of the high and low eaves in the alley, his thick black eyebrows and eyes are smudged with the setting sun's setting sun, showing a faint bleakness.Pei An, a soldier following him, vaguely sensed that the young general was different from usual, so he didn't dare to speak rashly, but followed him silently.After turning a street corner, he heard a horse neighing, and it was the strong wind under Wei Changxuan's crotch that suddenly stopped.Pei An raised his head strangely, and saw Wei Changxuan holding the reins, looking straight ahead, a little surprised: "Major General Yuchi."

It was Yu Chifeng who was waiting on the road. He was wearing a gray fox sleeve with braids on his head, which was the usual attire of Donghu people.Nowadays, unlike before, there are very few Donghu officers walking around in Jian'an City, and many eyes are looking at him when they come and go.

Yu Chifeng didn't care about these gazes, he just nodded to Wei Changxuan: "General Wei."

It was originally a happy event to reunite with an old friend after a long absence, but seeing Yu Chifeng's serious expression, he couldn't help asking, "Why... did you arrive in Jian'an?"

Yu Chifeng looked behind him and didn't speak for a while.

Wei Changxuan was startled, then turned his head and said, "Go back to the camp first, and I will accompany the Major General."

The night is getting darker, and more people come and go in the market. This is the busiest time on weekdays. Along the Yilan Lake to the east, scattered stalls have been set up, selling sweet-scented osmanthus cakes and hu The shouts of sugar-fried chestnuts came and went.

Wei Changxuan dragged Yu Chifeng into a restaurant facing the street. The owner of the restaurant was already very old, but he immediately recognized the Captain of the Habayashi Guards and tremblingly asked the waiter to fetch good wine.

Yu Chifeng sat opposite Wei Changxuan, took a full glass of wine, drank it all in one gulp, raised his sleeve to wipe the corner of his mouth, shook his head and said: "No, this wine is too weak, not as good as our wine .”

Wei Changxuan smiled: "This is Luo Fuchun. The literati in Jian'an love this wine the most. They say it is as jade-like in color and tastes sweet. Unexpectedly, the major general is not used to it."

Yu Chifeng waved his hand: "It's not that you don't know, I'm a rough man in the army. Everyone says that the capital Jian'an is the most prosperous place in the world, but I don't like it. If I didn't accompany my father to Beijing this time, I would He would never come here."

"Why, it turns out that General Yuchi has also arrived in Jian'an?" Wei Changxuan was slightly startled, and quickly lowered his voice, "Could something happen to the frontier?"

Yu Chifeng looked at him and sighed softly: "There is indeed trouble."

"Is it Yunxia Pass?"

Yu Chifeng shook his head: "It's not Anyang, it's Hexi." He paused, "Two months ago, just after the first lunar month, Duke Tuoba had a stroke suddenly, and the Tuoba family and the Donghu clans were in chaos. .”

Wei Changxuan almost knocked over the wine cup in surprise: "How could this happen?"

"Some people say that Duke Tuoba was poisoned." Suddenly speaking of this incident, Yu Chifeng carefully looked around, "This statement came from several other Donghu families. The grandson of former Duke Tuoba succeeded King Mu. Duke Tuoba moved his mind and wanted to hand over the power in his hands to this grandson. However, people in the Tuoba clan refused to watch the foundation of the Donghu people being taken over by the royal Yang family. swallowed, and conspired to poison Duke Tuoba in order to steal the position of Patriarch."

Wei Changxuan didn't expect that the forces on the Donghu side were so treacherous, so he couldn't help asking: "Then how is Duke Tuoba now?"

"When Mr. Tuoba suffered a stroke, he couldn't move at all, and he couldn't speak. Only the old servant who was close to him could understand his meaning from his eyes. Afterwards, Dugu's family, He Ruo's family, and our Yuchi family all sent people to Hexi The mansion is guarded so that no one will take the opportunity to harm Duke Tuoba." Yu Chifeng sighed again, "Originally, after taking care of him for the past two months, the old man can speak vaguely, but I don't know how this matter leaked out. Let Yan Yu know about it."

"Yan Yu?" Wei Changxuan was startled, and immediately said, "Mr. Tuoba has guarded Hexi for decades, so Yan Yu has never dared to act rashly. Now that he is seriously ill, it is time to take advantage of this time to mobilize soldiers!"

"You're absolutely right." Yu Chifeng was obviously in no mood to drink, stood up and said, "When we set off, Yanyu's 20 troops had assembled outside Hexi Panmen Pass."

When Wei Changxuan heard this, cold sweat broke out on his palms. He knew it was inconvenient to talk about such shocking news in the restaurant, so he hurriedly settled the bill, walked out with Yu Chifeng, and then said: "So, General Yuchi Did you come to Beijing this time to report this matter to the emperor? Speaking of which, General Yuchi is the envoy of Anyang Jiedu, shouldn't the Tuoba family send people here for the Hexi matter?"

"Hey, don't mention the Tuoba family. Now that the army is on the border, several families are still arguing over who should succeed the Tuoba family head. Besides, you saw the battle last year. Our Dong Hu Erlang suffered countless casualties, but the court didn't even offer a reward. No, tell me, who doesn't feel chilled?" Yu Chifeng said angrily, "It's only my father, who is still thinking about Dazhao's family and country, and came to Jian'an to ask the emperor to dispatch troops. It's been a few hours and I haven't come back yet."

"For such a big event, the emperor will definitely send the Imperial Army to help," Wei Changxuan said, his brows furrowed again, "It's just that General Chen's old illness has not recovered, so I don't know who will lead the army this time."

Yu Chifeng showed obvious disappointment: "Father also said that although General Chen is a little arrogant, he is very wise and brave. If he is willing to lead troops, he should be able to solve this problem. Why is he sick?"

Wei Changxuan's expression became serious: "I just visited him today, and I thought he would recover after the beginning of spring, but it turned out to be more serious than before." He gradually lowered his voice, "I know, he has a heart disease, Chen Shao Died in battle, their Chen family has been loyal for generations, and they are about to be cut off."

Speaking of Chen Shao's death, Yu Chifeng's face was also not good-looking: "The Yanyu army that besieged Hexi this time was led by the right general Ashinanur under Yanyu Ya's tent. , I am ashamed of it, so this time I want to break the door to avenge my shame."

Seeing Wei Changxuan's expression turned cold, he gritted his teeth and said, "So it was him."

Yu Chifeng looked at him, and suddenly said: "Wei Changxuan, why don't you come and lead the imperial army to go out, so that we can still fight side by side. Those generals in the court are greedy for life and afraid of death, and if things come to an end, they will just lead their troops to flee for their lives. Let the city break down." He held Wei Changxuan's shoulders and said in a low voice, "If the city breaks down, wouldn't Chen Shao's blood be shed in vain?"

In fact, needless to say, Wei Changxuan had already had the idea of ​​going to war in his heart, but his chest seemed to be tightly bound by something all the time, and the restraint made him a little ache.He couldn't stop thinking about Yang Yan's trembling shoulders from crying and his tear-stained eyes. After a while, he said in a low voice, "Let me think about this matter."

Seeing him being so reckless, Yu Chifeng was a little annoyed, but he was inconvenient to get angry. He could see that Wei Changxuan seemed to be in trouble, so he could only sigh heavily: "Well, you can think about it for a few days first, but we don't have enough time. too much."

Wei Changxuan didn't speak any more. He looked at the Yilan Lake with continuous lights and shadows in silence. He saw several clusters of fireworks suddenly bursting up in the sky above the lake. The bazaar is really a scene of prosperity.

"I heard that the capital city is a city that never sleeps, but I didn't expect it to be so." It was the first time Yu Chifeng saw such a lively scene, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"Tonight is the [-]th day, the busiest day of the month. The major commercial houses carry a lot of things for sale, including spices from the Western Regions, rouge from the south of the Yangtze River, and brocades from Bashu." Wei Changxuan pointed out to him one by one. , and pointed to the bustling place in front, "Over there is the viewing shed, where you can watch juggling and burlesque shows, and it's very lively."

This is something that is absolutely not available in the northwest border, Yu Chifeng suddenly became interested, and said: "Go, go and have a look!"

The viewing shed was just randomly set up on the side of the road, and it was rather crude.Now the stage is juggling, with some dancing fire and swallowing swords, and some dancing swords and wrestling.The most conspicuous among them was a young girl, she was seen climbing on a long pole more than three feet high, her posture was as steady as if she was walking on flat ground.Then he even turned several somersaults on the top of the pole the size of a copper coin, and finally leaned over and slid down the pole, as light as a bird, which aroused applause.

Yu Chifeng was amused by the sight, and stretched out his hands to clap his hands, but Wei Changxuan was stunned, not on the stands, but looking behind the crowd.

Now I can see that there are people everywhere in the shed, it is very crowded, and the crying of a child can be heard from behind: "Daddy, I can't see it, Daddy..."

The father was pampered and helpless, stretched out his arms to hug the child, let him sit on the back of his head and neck, and said in a rambling manner: "It's time to go back after a while, your mother will be angry if it's too late."

The child stretched out two fat hands to hold his father's head. He didn't know if he heard the order, but he just looked at the stage with a satisfied expression on his face.

Seeing that Wei Changxuan had been looking at the father and son, Yu Chifeng couldn't help being surprised, and stretched out his hand to pull him: "What are you looking at?"

Wei Changxuan came back to his senses, and smiled wryly: "It's nothing."

When the two of them came out of the lively viewing shed, Wei Chifeng heard Wei Changxuan say in a very low voice: "Just now, I suddenly remembered my father."

"Your father?"

"Well," Wei Changxuan nodded, "When I was young, I didn't like reading. I used to sneak out of the school to watch plays in this kind of auditorium. Once I was caught by my father. I thought he was going to be angry, but in the end he just looked at me and smiled wryly. There were so many people in the shed that day. I was small, and I couldn’t see anything when I was crowded in a crowd of adults. Dad picked me up and sat on his shoulder. At that time, I thought Dad was really tall. Sitting on his shoulders, I could be taller than everyone else, and I could see far...far away..."

His voice gradually became softer, and his eyes became dazed. Yu Chifeng looked at him, but didn't dare to ask where his father was now.Because he looked so sad, not at all like a calm and brave general on the battlefield, just like a lonely and helpless child.

Prince Mu's Mansion, the central hall and supporting hall.

This is the usual place in the mansion to entertain guests. Today, two seats are specially set up for the host and guest. The dishes on the table are all fresh and precious things. The banquet added a bit of elegance.

The chief steward, Fang Ming, hurried out and told the servants: "When the music is over, deliver the wine as soon as possible, don't delay, and then urge the dining room to hurry up and bring up the fresh fish." He had a serious face. , lowered his voice and said, "Today, the prince is entertaining distinguished guests in the mansion. If there is a mistake, we will not be able to eat and walk around."

When Wei Changxuan entered the mansion, he saw his serious appearance teaching others, and couldn't help laughing: "Master Fang, what day is it today, and you are so troublesome?"

Fang Ming turned his head to see him, his expression suddenly changed, he waved away the servants around him, and then walked up to Wei Changxuan, smiling all over his face, "Brother Wei, why are you here suddenly today?"

Wei Changxuan smiled, but there was a complicated look in his eyes: "There is something I want to discuss with the young master."

"This..." Fang Ming took a deep breath as if his teeth were hurting, and quickly smiled again, "Young master is having a banquet today, I'm afraid I won't be able to spare time, Brother Wei, why don't you come back later?"

Wei Changxuan felt a little weird, and couldn't help asking: "My lord, who is inviting guests to the banquet today?"

"This..." Fang Ming's face became more and more embarrassing. He didn't seem to know how to answer, so he rubbed his hands together in embarrassment.

What is burning in the side hall today is not the usual water agarwood, but ambergris, and the purple smoke in the copper censer is reflected on the faces of the host and the guest, both of them are somewhat unpredictable.

After the music stopped for a while, Yang Yanfang on the main seat raised his wine cup and said with a light smile, "Thank you Taiwei, please."

Xie Ao looked down at the wine cup in his hand. It was a shallow cup carved from a side of stone agate. The silk-wrapped pattern on the bottom of the cup was a natural crabapple flower. As the wine swayed, the petals swayed vividly. moving.He whispered: "I heard that this set of silk-wrapped begonia and agate cups is a treasure treasured by King Xianmu. There is no second set of wine utensils like this in the world. His Highness took it out to have a banquet with the lower officials. How can the lower officials suffer?" rise."

Yang Yan smiled: "It's just a drinking utensil. No matter how precious it is, it's only worth a thousand gold. Xie Taiwei, a good minister of the emperor, and a public weapon of the country are more than a thousand gold. Don't say such things again."

Hearing what he said, Xie Xie held up the wine cup respectfully, raised his head and said, "In this case, I will accept it." He drank the wine with his neck up, and laughed again, "I often hear people say that King Mu His Highness has a lonely personality, and he has never been willing to get close to hundreds of officials in the court, he never thought that the first time he invited people to the palace for a banquet, he would choose a lower official, and the lower official was really flattered."

There was a faint smile on the corner of Yang Yan's lips: "It's not that this king is aloof and unwilling to get close to others, it's just that the adults in the court have different aspirations and ways from this king, and only Taiwei Xie is one of my fellow kings. people, so I dare to invite you.”

Xie Ao's hand holding the wine cup trembled slightly: "Oh? I don't know what the same thing as your highness and lower officials?"

Yang Yan smiled softly: "Nature is the way of the country, the way of the world."