Looking at the mountains and rivers

Just after Maoshi, before dawn, a group of chariots and horses left Panmenguan, crossed Cangyuyuan, and headed towards the Kulun River.To the west of the Kulun River is the territory of the Yanyu people. In the past two years, the two countries have been fighting continuously, and the trade route has been cut off.There are only occasional herdsmen in this border land to graze, and there are no people at all on weekdays.

When the carriages and horses reached the south bank of the Kulun River, the wheels gradually slowed down.Tang An stood on the shaft of the car and looked around, only to see the silence around him, the dark gray sky roughly reflected the rudimentary shape of the grassland, but there was no one in sight.

Will that person really come?He couldn't help muttering in his heart, but he didn't dare to say too much, he just ordered his followers to stop their cars and horses and wait here.

The clouds in the sky were thick purple at first, then turned red, and were soon coated with a layer of gold by the rising sun.Tang An squinted his eyes to look at the rising sun on the grassland, and saw the golden light shoot out from the clouds, like a sword, a spear, a sword, and a halberd.

The curtain of the car behind him was lifted gently, Yang Yan's eyes were deep, looking straight at the direction of the horizon, silent.Tang An turned his head, and he clearly saw the color of Yunxia reflected in Yang Yan's eyes, and those blind eyes were extremely clear and quiet.

A burst of chaotic hoofbeats suddenly broke the silence, and a group of Yanyu troops suddenly appeared, approaching and surrounded them.

The attendants of Prince Mu's Mansion were a little pale, and hurriedly stood up to protect the car behind them. They had lived in the capital city of Jian'an for a long time, and had never faced these foreigners who were called barbarians.I saw these Yanyu warriors were sturdy and burly, wearing heavy iron armor, fur hats on their heads, thick and messy braids hanging from their temples, and suddenly looked like savages.

King Mu in the car calmly waved his hands and moved away from the left and right sides. He raised his head and whispered in the direction of the horse's neighing: "Tuoba, you are here."

The young warrior leading the other party laughed loudly: "Yexi, don't come here without any harm." After speaking, he got off his horse and walked towards the driver.

Tang An looked at this tall Yanyu warrior with some horror, feeling extremely uneasy, and wanted to block his way to prevent him from getting close to his master, but there were hands behind him gently pushing him aside.It was Yang Yan who got out of the carriage by himself and walked over to the foreigner, only to hear him order in a low voice: "Stay back."

Although Tang An was unwilling, he had no choice but to retreat a hundred steps back with his followers.And the person called "Tuoba" also stretched out his arms, and the team of Yanyu troops behind him immediately retreated in line, and only Yang Yan and the Yanyu warrior were left in the middle of the grass.

"You've grown up, I can hardly recognize you." Ashina laughed lowly, stepped forward and took Yang Yan's hand, "I rushed here from the tooth tent as soon as I received your letter, fortunately there was no delay .”

Yang Yan smiled slightly, and held his hand back: "I thought, maybe you won't come."

"Why?"

"Last year when the two countries fought, you pretended to be defeated and sent out of Panmenguan. Although this matter is secret, you will inevitably be suspected of it when you go back. So I think my letter may embarrass you. After all, at this time, you should not What does it have to do with the people of Dazhao?"

Ji Lian smiled indifferently: "Don't worry, Father Khan was really unhappy when he was defeated in the previous battle, and he even took his anger out on me, but now he has dealt with it. Now I am a valuable prince in the tooth tent, and I can come and go freely , you don’t have to let them know when you meet anyone.”

Yang Yan shook his head and smiled: "You still like to be brave. I have heard about what kind of person Yantu Khan is. He will let you go so easily? Not to mention your brothers who are like wolves and tigers. I'm afraid everyone wants to take this opportunity to chew you up and swallow you up." He sighed, and said in a low voice, "Tuoba, the years you have been back to Yanyu have not been happy, have you?"

Ji Lian was startled, and he snorted softly, "You're still talking about me, don't tell me you've been living happily all these years?" He pulled Yang Yan to sit on the grass, just like they did when they were young, "A few years ago , I heard that Old Mu Wang died, and Yang Dai took charge of the palace. I thought at the time, maybe we will never see each other again. With his temperament, he probably wanted to get rid of you. But I didn't expect that you were not He killed him, but replaced him, replaced Yang Jue, and became King Mu. Yexi, I don't know what you have experienced in these years, but I guess, your life is no better than mine. "

Yang Yan lowered his eyes, and said in a very low voice: "You guessed it right, I almost couldn't survive a few times, if it wasn't for Wei Changxuan..."

"It's your companion, Wujisur?" Jilian raised his eyebrows, and said with interest, "He's rather interesting, he doesn't look much like those timid Central Plains people."

"Wei Changxuan...isn't like anyone," Yang Yan shook his head in a daze, "There is only one Wei Changxuan in this world, and there will be no one else like him."

Ji Lian listened to his tone, slightly surprised: "It seems that he is not just a simple companion to you, otherwise why would you even entrust that dagger to him for safekeeping."

Yang Yan was silent and did not speak.

Ji Lian didn't ask any further questions, just raised his head and looked behind him: "Did you bring him with you this time? I still want to thank him in person, and help me get rid of Ashinanur's serious trouble."

"Thank him?" Yang Yan was slightly amused, "He was the general who defeated your Yanyu army, shouldn't you hate him?"

Ji Lian laughed loudly: "It is true that he defeated the Yan Yu army, but those are all Ashinanur's people, don't forget that Ashinanur is supporting my ninth brother, if we two Individuals vying for the position of Khan, those soldiers are the ones who want to chop me on the head with a knife, and they lose, shouldn't I be happy?"

As he spoke, he patted Yang Yan's shoulder again: "Yexi, I know that you Dazhao people like to uphold benevolence and righteousness, abide by etiquette and law, cultivate fields and sericulture, and value even a little bit of land. But we Yanyu People are different, we live by water and grass, and regard the strong as the king. When we are weak, we may only have a few cattle and sheep and a small pasture, but when we are strong, we will plant Yanyu wolf flags in every corner of the world, so that everyone Come and surrender. So to me, as long as I can become strong, it doesn't matter what I lose, not the warriors who are not loyal to me, not my brothers, even my father..." He said this , the smile froze a little, and soon he smiled casually, "Father's thoughts are actually the same as mine. After all, he can become a Khan because he cut off his father's head with his own hands."

Yang Yan just kept silent when he heard such startling words.

"By the way, why did you ask me to meet this time?"

"There is something very difficult. I've thought about it, and maybe I need you to help me deal with it." Yang Yan said, gesturing behind him.

Soon a black carriage was driven towards it. The surroundings of the carriage were chained like a cage.Jilian asked suspiciously, "Who is inside?"

"A person that you and I hate very much." Yang Yan whispered.

Jilian immediately reacted, very surprised: "Don't tell me you haven't killed him yet?"

Yang Yan shook his head: "If I let him die too quickly, I won't be reconciled. But even if I torture him slowly, I won't feel better. It will be a curse for this person to stay in Dazhao, so I think, let him die Send it to you, you can kill him, or give him a hard time, in short, don't let me see him again."

Jilian raised his eyebrows: "Is that why you trust me?"

"I believe in your means, and I believe in your hatred for him even more," Yang Yan patted him on the shoulder, "After all, Grandma has been with you longer than me. sad."

Ji Lian's face changed slightly, and he thought of that beautiful and gentle woman again, of her warm embrace and the song she hummed in a low voice.He nodded heavily: "I see."

"Since you are willing to agree, that would be great," Yang Yan stood up and said in a low voice, "I've been out for a long time, it's time to go back."

He straightened his clothes and smiled self-deprecatingly: "In our current identities, such a meeting seems too ostentatious."

Ji Lian also stood up with him, and said in a low voice, "Is there any chance to see you again in the future?"

Yang Yan paused for a while, nodded and said, "See you again."

Ji Lian asked again: "Will we meet again as friends?"

Yang Yan was silent for another moment before slowly saying, "Even if we don't meet as friends, we don't necessarily meet as enemies."

"Oh?"

"Although Yanyu and Dazhao are enemy countries now, maybe in the future, I will be able to use the enemy country. Ashina thorns," Yang Yan called him for the first time, "At that time, please help I can help."

Ji Lian looked at him seriously: "His Royal Highness Mu Wang, you should know that our Yan Yu will not be dispatched for nothing." He paused, "Still, you have to use that token to let my father Khan honor his promise. promise."

Yang Yan shook his head: "You underestimate me. That token was left to me by my father. His original intention was for me to use it to protect myself, but in fact I don't need it. The way I want to go can only rely on I myself will never use Yantu Khan's honorable promise."

"Besides," Yang Yan sneered, "I'm not even sure if Yantu Khan ever thought about fulfilling his promise."

Jilian seemed a little surprised: "Yexi, maybe I never really knew you."

"It's not important," Yang Yan shook his head. "You just need to know that if I need you on my way, I will reach out to you and offer you a condition that you will never refuse. As I said, we are no longer friends, nor are we Not an enemy, but perhaps, an ally."

"Allies?" Ji Lian was a little amused, "Your companion and I have formed a blood alliance before, do we want to form an alliance with you again?"

Yang Yan also smiled: "I never thought about it, but it would be too dangerous to be your enemy."

Jilian stretched out his hand and shook hands with him for the last time. He stared closely at Yang Yan's eyes: "No, Yexi, an enemy like you is the real danger."

Tuoba Mansion in Liangzhou, Hexi.

In front of the mansion gate with thunder drums on both sides, East Hu soldiers in leather armor were patrolling back and forth.

Since Tuoba Xin was poisoned last year, he has been unable to recover from his illness. Because Patriarch Tuoba occupies the supreme position in the hearts of Donghu people, the eight big families called "Eight Nobles of Donghu" have sent people to Liang Zhou came to wait for the news of the change of the head of the family.The troops in Bagui's hands were also stationed near Liangzhou. There were soldiers and horses from various families inside and outside the city. Because the successors supported by each family were different, soon there was a tit-for-tat posture.

However, the old patriarch Tuobaxin never died, and even beheaded the rebellious branch family when he was sick. Bagui was in awe of the old patriarch and was shocked. In the end, no one dared to act rashly again. Liangzhou The city barely maintained a peaceful situation.

But everyone knew that this seemingly peaceful situation could not be maintained for long, Tuobaxin had not handed down the decree of Patriarch for a long time, once he passed away, the position of Patriarch would inevitably lead to competition for the position of Patriarch.At that time, the situation of the entire Donghu and even Dazhao will be in jeopardy.

Under such circumstances, whether it was the guards of Donghu or Ducheng Jian'an, they all had their eyes fixed on this Tuoba mansion, but at this time the mansion was surprisingly quiet.

Lorraine walked slowly through the corridor with a heavy medicine bowl in his hand. The medicine bowl was filled with the bitter smell of ginseng soup, which made people frown.She cooked this pot of medicinal soup herself since early in the morning. Since her child was full moon two months ago, she moved to Tuoba mansion and devoted herself to taking care of the seriously ill old man.

In fact, there are many servants in the mansion, and it is not her turn to do it, but she insists on doing so.She felt a little guilty in her heart, after all, the person who poisoned Lord Tuoba was her own elder brother.When she found out about this, she was more annoyed than anyone else. She just felt that she had seen all the evil done by her family all these years, and she and herself were ashamed.Fortunately, others knew that this Aunt Luolan was completely different from those in her family, even the chief steward of the Tuoba Mansion dared to entrust her with taking care of Duke Tuoba.

Luo Lan remembered that when he was very young, Tuoba Xin was already a name resounding throughout the Northwest. Everyone knew that this young master of Donghu was brave and good at fighting, and his hero was peerless.But in a blink of an eye, he was very old and could only spend the rest of his life on the sick bed.In the past two months, she saw the old man getting weaker and weaker, and she couldn't help but panic.A few days ago, she secretly heard from the imperial physicians from the two capitals that Duke Tuoba might not survive this month.The decoction has lost its effect on him, and now he can only use the best old ginseng to make a decoction to hang his life.

Holding the medicinal soup, she walked to the majestic bedroom, raised her hand, and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"it's me."

Soon, the door was opened from the inside, and there was a sharp-eyed young man guarding Tuoba Gong's bedroom, his hand was always on his waist, as if he was ready to draw his sword at any time.After seeing Lorraine, he relaxed slightly: "Aunt Lorraine."

"How is Duke Tuoba today? Are you feeling better?" Luo Lan asked in a low voice.

The young man shook his head dejectedly: "I haven't eaten since morning, and I haven't talked much. When I saw me, I asked, 'Is he here?'. I think he is already confused."

"Don't talk nonsense," Luo Lan reprimanded softly, "Mr. Tuoba is just waiting for someone."

"Wait for who?"

Lorraine hesitated before answering, but a servant shouted from outside: "His Royal Highness King Mu's car has arrived!"