It's not good to be a courtier

The northern border has a vast territory. Liu Yun and Yao Ying followed the Youwei camp. After eating the soil for three days, they finally arrived at Caiyun. territory.The colorful clouds have changed from the prosperity of the past, and the city is full of white flags.

Gu Kunyu has been guarding Liu Rong from a distance, Liu Rong took a sip and said: "Measuring a gentleman's belly with the heart of a villain." Seeing Yao Ying sitting opposite him with a cold face and silent, it was a bit boring.

Youweiying is Gu Kunyu's subordinates. In terms of rank, Yao Ying and Liu Rong are one level lower than Gu Kunyu, but Liu Rong is also a major general in the east, so he can overwhelm Gu Kunyu. Murong Qi did not leave the northern border in a hurry, but stayed in the post house.

Liu Rong handed over the border crossing procedures to Long Yun. At that time, Murong Qi was standing in the room of the post house with his hands behind his back, looking out of the window at the yellow plums with a few flower buds in a daze.Liu Rong hesitated for a while and decided not to go in. Just as he walked to the corridor, he saw the eunuch who had been serving Murong Qi standing at the bottom of the steps with his arms folded, "His Royal Highness invites General Liu."

Liu Rong followed the inner eunuch to the backyard. Murong Qi was sitting in the gazebo, holding a piece of folded paper in his hand. He slowly rubbed the edge of the paper, listening to Liu Rong stand still and greet him. Never looked up.

After a while, Murong Qi slowly put down the paper in his hands, and said calmly, "He has just succeeded Bei Jing, and urgently needs a victory to consolidate his position and appease Bei Jing's anger."

Liu Rong smiled and asked: "Your Highness is very considerate of General Feng. Why don't His Highness tell you how much you have contributed to this conspiracy, is it enough for him to treat you endlessly?"

Murong Qi's face remained motionless, no expression could be seen, he clasped his hands in front of his chest, and he didn't move at all when he heard Liu Rong's sharp question.

Liu Rong looked at him motionless, a little bored, squeezed the paper and said: "If you know him well, you should know that he is definitely not such an opportunistic person. If he wants to prove anything, he will definitely rely on himself."

Murong Qi pursed his lips, and Liu Rong said again: "In that situation, he was able to suppress everyone's opposition and let you go, not because he was so rational, nor how much he valued you, but because he didn't want to do it for you. Adding more trouble to the northern border. The death of a general is enough trouble, but not another prince, do you think so?"

Murong Qi raised his eyes to look at Liu Rong, just looked at Liu Rong calmly, without any extra expression.But the atmosphere in the pavilion suddenly fell silent, Liu Rong couldn't help but stand on end, he thought of his father's evaluation of Murong Qi, the prayer is the most like the late emperor.The late emperor, Yan Taizu Murong Yan, is an existence that must never be mentioned.

Liu Rong walked for a long time, but Murong Qi still sat firmly in the pavilion. After a long time, he raised his right index finger slightly, and suddenly there were three men in black kneeling in front of him. If you find the messenger, kill him on the spot." He took out a white jade spoon from his sleeve, "Give this to Lian Zhu, he knows how to do it."

When the people in black were all gone, a young man in red turned around from outside the pavilion. The man clasped a dark fan on his right hand, and his slanted phoenix eyes looked seven-pointed without smiling. Now they are just like crescent moons After a while, it made people feel like eating honey, sweet from the mouth to the bottom of the heart, he said with a little regret: "Your Highness has not accumulated much in the northern border, and now for General Feng, are you planning to come back again? I'm afraid after this battle , Your Highness has no chance of meddling in the northern border, which was originally the best place to start."

Murong Qi looked down at the white plain clothes in the sleeves, didn't care about his words, slowly raised his eyes, and asked calmly: "Have you found it?"

"The most dangerous place is the safest place. Your Highness should have guessed it." The young man in red put his white hands on the railing and looked at the clusters of red flowers outside the pavilion, and said quietly: "Your Highness means this Is it? In order to give Feng Jiangjun a clean northern border..."

Murong Qi raised his eyes to look at the clear blue sky in the north, but didn't make a sound.

Liu Rong watched Murong Qi's motorcade leave Caiyun, and Caiyun closed the town.Murong Qi's departure seems to have taken away the last ray of sunshine in the north, and the north has entered the longest rainy season of the year.Liu Rong hid in the cave with trembling lips. He shouldn't have separated from Yao Ying. Fortunately, the rain curtain covering the sky from south to west made him almost lost his way. He hid in the cave and covered the entrance of the cave with haystacks. Go up, start the fire, take off the armor filled with water, untie the underwear and hang it on the rack, take out the oiled paper in his arms, and prepare to eat something.Suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps at the door, and the footsteps stopped suddenly when they reached the entrance of the cave. The dry grass trembled and collapsed, exposing the entrance of the cave.

Liu Rong hid sideways at the entrance of the cave. The people at the entrance of the cave were on guard. Liu Rong only avoided for a moment before being forced out by the long sword. The man was dressed in black with silver patterns embroidered on his clothes, his face was covered with silver armor, and he had sharp eyes. He was completely naked, with a frightening aura, if there hadn't been blood dripping from his shoulder, maybe Liu Rong would have been stunned for a while longer.

Before the man in black had time to say anything, he kicked out the bonfire, turned around and covered Liu Rong's mouth, and when the sound of chaotic footsteps outside disappeared, he slipped to the ground in a daze due to excessive blood loss.

Liu Rong took the half-dry underwear and put it on his body, lit the bonfire, turned around and looked at the man in black lying on the ground, he heard his voice was weak, his eyes were half-closed, his whole face was terribly pale, obviously exhausted.The wound on the shoulder was still bleeding, and after a while a small puddle formed on the ground.

Liu Rong sighed, squatted down, and said seriously: "I'll show you the wound, if you agree, just blink your eyes, if you don't agree, forget it, everyone is very busy."

The man in black didn't make a sound, his eyes were still half closed, and his breathing gradually weakened.Liu Rong felt for his pulse with his hand, the internal injury was fine, but judging by the speed of the blood flow, the external injury might not be very good.Thinking about it this way, one of his subordinates directly tore off the shoulder of the man in black. The wound was hideous, as if he had been wounded by some sharp weapon, and a piece of it was blurred. This kind of jagged wound, Liu Rong I remember seeing it on Murong Qi, so I said to myself: "Why did you mess with them?"

The man in black was lying quietly, Liu Rong barely wiped his wound with his wet clothes, then sprinkled the wound medicine he brought with him on his wound, threw away the empty bottle, and said, "That's just a little medicine. I've done my best, and it's up to you whether you live or not." After speaking, he walked to the side, picked up a chicken leg and prepared to eat it, thought for a while, sat next to the man with the dinner in his hand, took a bite himself, and tore off a piece of chicken. A small piece of chicken and a steamed bun were put into the man's mouth, and the man's first reaction was to vomit.

Liu Rong said: "It's up to you whether you eat or not. In your situation, if you don't eat, there is basically no possibility of going back to your life." As he spoke, he moved closer, "I'm not very curious, but I just want to know a little bit. Whose dark guard are you?"

The man in black swallowed his throat and swallowed the steamed buns and chicken with difficulty, without saying a word.One of the two was sitting and the other was lying down, one was looking for something to say, and the other was silent all the time.

When Liu Rong woke up the next day, he did not see the man in black. There was a dark red spot where he lay, which was the mark of dried blood.Liu Rong tidied up, and when he got out of the cave, he found that even the horse was gone. He stroked his forehead and sighed, "This is really a big loss. My horse is a purebred Hu Qi."

When Liu Rong finally rushed back to the Beiwei camp, and all the hardships during the period were indescribable, the Beiwei camp was ready to attack Qilian Mountain, and used the whole Guchuan clan to pay homage to the general of the first town on the [-]th and [-]th.

This was proposed by Yao Ying at the first centralized meeting of the Sixteenth Battalion, and was seconded by all the generals. Although it was an obvious provocation, Feng Yan absolutely could not refuse.This was his first battle as the Great General of Zhen Guo. If he could not triumph, his prestige in the northern border would plummet.Gu Chuan has experienced three generations in the northern border, and has never had such a sharp conflict with the generals of the town.No matter who borrowed Gu Chuan's hand, he couldn't let it go.

Qilian Mountain is so big, where is Guchuan's stronghold? Feng Yan stands on the slope, looking up at the tall Qilian Mountain in the heavy rain.The morale, the weather and the terrain of Qilian Mountain in the northern border are all disadvantages at this time. Yao Ying may have just made the proposal on the spur of the moment, but losing the battle is unbearable.

Before leaving, he ordered the Zuowei camp to find Feng Zhang's whereabouts, and asked Ye Weiting and General Xue to assist in handling military affairs.Feng Zhang has been guarding the North Gate. On the day of the change of defense, he should have returned to the North Guard Camp with Feng Yong, but Feng Yong was attacked, and he was also missing, which reveals all kinds of weirdness.

"General, the sentinel reported that they found traces of entry and exit at the left mountain pass of Qilian Mountain." A person in the rain reported, the rain was too loud, accompanied by rumbling thunder, Feng Yan nodded and asked, "Did you find any people entering and exiting?"

The humane said: "I didn't find any crowds, only traces, and the traces were messy and unrecognizable."

"Continue to explore!" Feng Yan raised his hand and said, he was dressed in military uniform, and the iron armor was shining, covered with a layer of water vapor.

It was already the third day, and the joint camp waited and watched for three days. The newly succeeded General Zhen Guo kept sending people to explore the mountain, but he still did not send troops to attack.Feng Yan has always been marginalized in the northern border, and most of the officers and soldiers don't know much about him and his style. The morale of the army gradually disintegrated in this strange silence.

After viewing the terrain, Feng Yan returned to the camp. Once he arrived at the big tent, Yao Ying and several young generals entered the camp and asked to be the vanguard, hoping to win this crucial victory for Feng Yan. Everyone was vying to explain their views and style of play. Feng Yan clasped his gloved hands on the sand table, looked at the terrain and mountains in the sand table seriously, and remained silent.

"General, please give an order, the general is willing to lead the vanguard to make a contribution to the general," Yao Ying said anxiously. For three days, Feng Yan has not moved except for exploring the mountains, and the older generation of generals are silent. , In fact, it is a wait-and-see gesture.The younger generation of generals is eager to stand out, scrambling to be the first, lest someone else take the lead.

Feng Yan glanced at Yao Ying, then glanced at the eagerly awaited generals in the tent, and said in a deep voice: "Gu Chuan is good at ingenious weapons, and the generals of the towns and states in the past are quite jealous. If he marches rashly, it will not only be futile, but also lose money." It’s serious, everyone, please stay calm.”

At this time, Feng Yan already had a vague conclusion about Gu Chuan in his mind, but he still needed to reconfirm what he thought in his mind.If it was what he thought, where would it be?

It rained heavily at night, the night was dark, and the mountain road was quiet. Suddenly, horses galloped past. The two teams met on the road and ran in different directions. One of the teams stopped suddenly. It was Liu who was rushing to Qilian Mountain. Xing, there seemed to be a familiar figure in the group of people who passed him just now, he frowned and thought for a while, then turned his horse's head and followed.

On the evening of the fourth day, all the sentries and messengers who had gone to explore the Qilian Mountains returned. Feng Yan clasped his hands and stood on the sand table. All the information about Gu Chuan was gathered together, which also confirmed his initial guess about Gu Chuan.

It was night, and the Bow and Arrow Battalion and the Cavalry Battalion of the Northern Guards Division entered the mountain in two teams. The torches were connected into long fire dragons, and the road was winding around the mountain. Feng Yan stood on a prominent hill, quietly watching the torches in a trance.

The sentinel reported: "General, there is movement outside Qilian Mountain."

"Continue to explore," Feng Yan replied, looking towards the foot of the mountain, where it was so dark that nothing could be seen.

The torch went deeper and deeper, and Feng Yan knew that there was no trace of the Guchuan people in the depths of Qilian Mountains. The real Guchuan people had already mixed with the Han people. This illusion was created only to lure the Guchuan people living outside and make them think that the Beiweiying fell into their trap.

Gu Chuan is good at hidden weapons. Qilian Mountains are full of killing weapons. Thanks to Murong Qi who pretended to be in ambush last time and confiscated most of Gu Chuan's weapons, he also developed a solution.In the past four days, the Xinbing and Sentinels have been assigned to clear mines in the forest, and most of the Guchuan hidden weapons in Qilian Mountains have been found out.

After another hour, the letter soldiers and the sentinels came to report respectively. The Guchuan tribe had gathered in the middle of Qilian Mountains. Feng Yan raised his hand and said, "Extinguish the fire!"

The long dragon made up of torches in the mountain was extinguished suddenly, and the whole Qilian Mountain fell into an eerie silence.The footsteps gradually approached, Feng Yan put his hands on the long sword, focused his eyes on the dark void, and when the footsteps were close enough, he raised his hand and said: "Light it up!"

The entire mountainside was illuminated brightly by torches, and hundreds of men dressed as servants of the Central Plains gathered in one place, each holding a silver gun in his hand. Said: "Feng Jiangjun has the wind of being a father, no wonder the Lord of the Northern Territory will fall into your hands."

Feng Yan stared at the hundreds of men, as if he didn't hear what he said, and said quietly: "Gu Chuan has lived peacefully with Dayan since three generations, why is it my father, why is it now?"

"We don't want to endure this kind of hiding anymore. We don't hesitate to die for our lives," the man in charge laughed at himself. "Since God's will is on the general's side, what can we do? We're just winners and losers."

Feng Yan clasped his hands, and his sharp eyes swept over everyone present, "I heard from my father that Gu Chuan is a matriarchal tribe, and I will not kill unknown people."

The man's face changed, and he said sharply: "If you want to kill, then kill, why bother talking."

Feng Yan said lightly: "Hand over the leader, and I can let you go. Otherwise, today is the day when Gu Chuan wiped out the clan!"

The man's face sank like water, he only hesitated for a moment and said: "It's absolutely impossible, we will resist to the death."

Feng Yan's calm face did not show any change, as if he had expected such an answer, he said coldly: "What is there to defend such a person who provokes disputes between the two clans for his own selfishness," he said slowly Raise your hand, "Bring it up."

There was a gap in the layered human wall behind him, and two soldiers dragged a shivering old man into the field. The old man was [-] years old, curled up, and when he saw those young people, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, but he dared not speak. , Trying to pretend not to know each other.

A young woman wanted to break through the wall of people. The woman had an outstanding appearance, her broken hair fell on her cheeks, her eyes full of coquettish eyes stared at Feng Yan and said: "General, you must have caught the wrong person. My mother and I are just Ordinary peasant women under the Qilian Mountains don't know the Guchuan tribe..."

Feng Yan turned a deaf ear to the woman's cries, and stared closely at the leading man. After a while, he walked slowly to the arena and squatted beside the old woman, and asked softly, "Ma'am, do you know this young man? "

The old woman was crying, shaking her head desperately, covering her face and crying: "The old woman...don't know..."

Feng Yan raised his eyes, regretfully said: "Ah Yao, your mother said she didn't know you..."

The young man clenched his fist tightly, and stabbed out the silver spear in his hand. Feng Yan dodged sideways, and the long sword was suddenly unsheathed. no pardon"

The man's silver spear was castrated suddenly, Feng Yan took a step back, took a deep breath, and put the long sword back into its sheath.At this moment, a feathered arrow roared into the arena, shot through the eyes of the old woman, pierced her head, Feng Yan suddenly turned his head, that direction was not where the archer was.

"Mother!" The young man yelled sadly, and said to hate with red eyes: "Feng Yan, I, Gu Chuan, would rather die than surrender! Come with me, kill all the thieves, and take back my homeland."

Feng Yan stood in front of the imperial guard camp, and the imperial guards drew their swords to guard Feng Yan. Feng Yan quietly looked at the field, those Guchuan people were stimulated by the death of the old woman indiscriminately, and cut everyone they saw.who is it?Feng Yan looked in that direction, a possibility flashed in his mind, but he immediately denied it.

"Feng Yan, I curse you not to die well, not to end well." The woman's face was pale, her eyes were filled with the madness of dying struggle, and she shouted hysterically: "Slaughtering women and children, what kind of hero are you?"

Feng Yan looked at her quietly, and said lightly: "When my father was helpless to fight back, you cut him to death. What kind of kindness are you talking about on the battlefield!" After speaking, he waved his hand suddenly, "No one will be left !” There was a wailing in the audience, Feng Yan slowly walked in front of the woman, “When you became the sharp swords in the hands of others, you forgot to leave an indestructible shield for yourself.”

The woman's eyes were full of fierceness, she gritted her teeth and said, "Does the general know whose sword we are and whose throat we want to cut?" With a flash of sharpness, Feng Yan retreated instinctively, and a silver blade fell from her She shot from the sleeve, and the guard cut off the dagger with a sword. She said with the last madness: "Do you think this is the end? Gu Chuan will never die, we will be your nightmare day and night, and make you immortal peaceful."

Feng Yan looked at her coldly, and the imperial guard suddenly said in shock: "General, look!" Feng Yan looked over, at the foot of Qilian Mountain, scattered villages were submerged in the fire, and the flames were soaring into the sky, the woman screamed terribly. Shouting: "No, no..." I don't know when, the rain weakened, and only the drizzle remained. Feng Yan looked at the soaring fires in the distance that reflected the dark night sky red, with a blank expression on his face.

Yao Ying and the other generals got off their horses and cupped their hands one after another, saying, "The great general's plan!" Only Feng Yan knew that the fire had nothing to do with him, whether it was to kill people or stop the trouble forever?A look of bewilderment never before appeared on Feng Yan's face.

The author has something to say:

In troubled times, heavy codes are used. Although it is wrong to slaughter women and children, I will explain why later.