treacherous world

"Zhe is clever, do you think it's unfair? Go all the way to find that fat man!"

On the official road leading to Tubo in Chengdu, Ziying rode on a horse and complained to Zheying, "It's winter, let's go to the guy who has done nothing but failed!"

Zhe Ying was looking at the geographical map, and nodded, "That big cake is too useless, at least he is a general, and he disappeared halfway after leading so many people, it is shameless."

"Guess who did it? Western Xia or Liao Kingdom? Dali shouldn't be there, right?" Ziying rubbed her chin and speculated.

Zhe Ying shrugged slightly, "Li Yuanhao and the wild donkey are both suspects, but it seems that the conditions are not mature, and I always feel that this matter is a bit unreasonable."

"Hey, have you ever thought about..." Ziying leaned over, "Could it be one of us?"

Zhe Ying slightly raised his eyebrows, "You mean the people in the court or the people from the rivers and lakes?"

"People in the Jianghu should not be able to get along with Da, and the news should not be so well-informed, Zhaoli..." Ziying sneered, turned her face away and stopped talking.

Zhe Ying also frowned, everyone knew that even though Zhao Pu became the prince of Xiaoyao, he was not doing his job properly all day long, but the military power was still in his hands.Moreover, fighting depends on skill, and most of the soldiers in the army are obedient to Zhao Pu's orders, and almost all capable generals also admire Zhao Pu.In addition, after all, he is a pro-three-pointer, Zhao Zhen also trusts Zhao Pu very much, and now the weather is going well, which makes some ambitious generals unable to climb up.The Great Song Dynasty originally valued literature over martial arts, and Zhao Pu was an exception. The other generals had a hard time, and it was possible to blame Zhao Pu or hate him because of jealousy.

Speaking of suspicion, Ziying and the others had a few suspects, but it was difficult for them to say without any real evidence.

And walking behind them were Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang spent so much time dismantling the coffin and putting it in the coffin that day, he was almost dying of sleepiness, riding on Bai Yunfan's back, nodding his head the whole time.Zhan Zhao found it interesting to see him sleepy, so he sat Zao Duoduo and continued nodding while watching him.

Going to the northwest of Chengdu Mansion, you will enter the territory of Tubo. There is only one commercial road between the two ends. Tubo and Han people live in this area, and most of them are buying and selling goods.Many residents of Chengdu Prefecture also come here to sell clothes and food, and even more open restaurants.

There are mountains on both sides of this area, and the wind is usually strong and the weather is bad, so the people nearby call it the Valley of the Big Wind.

Zhan Zhao and the others came out of Chengdu Mansion, and when they arrived near the Dafeng Valley, it was almost nightfall.

It was the first time for Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to leave the customs and enter the Western Regions on the Tubo side, so they asked Ziying and Zheying, who were more familiar with the geography, if there was anything special about this area.

"It's just that there are many foreigners, and they basically live together. There is Tubo at the end of the long corridor. If someone really catches Dabin, it is likely to be here. How many people can do things? If you kidnap him, go directly to which firewood house Once stuffed, it’s really hard to find.”

At night, it became cold again, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang wore thick cloaks, rode across the boundary markers and walked into the windy valley.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were wearing white fur cloaks. Zi Ying, who was walking in front, looked back and frowned. The two were already good-looking, and they were dressed in white, which was particularly pleasing to the eye.Turning around, he reached out to touch the black fur cloak on his body again, wrinkled his nose and asked Zhe Ying, "Zhe is smart, you see how tasteless the prince is, he takes black for everything, even the fur cloak is black, Dress like a bear."

"Bears are always black, how about white bears?" Zhe Ying patted Zi Ying, "Zhan Zhao's set is made of fox fur. You also know that the prince has rules, you are not allowed to touch foxes."

Ziying frowned, "It's still white and looks good, but the rabbit fur of Xiaosi looks good."

"How small is the fourth son, how many rabbits do you need to cover him?" Zhe Ying teased, and seeing Zi Ying's face turned ugly, he hurriedly said, "Okay, if we really meet a white bear next time, I will go with him." It will fight three hundred times and make a cloak for you."

Ziying was quite satisfied with what she heard, and thought for a while, "Why don't we make two black and white ones? One for you and one for me!"

Zhe Ying looked at him with admiration, "You just say you want the skin of the scissors."

……

At this time, Zhao Pu's brigade was marching on the official road to the northwest from Chengdu Mansion.Scissors, who was lying in the carriage as a cushion for the fourth son, shivered unconsciously. The fourth son was pillowed in its soft back fur, hugging the paw of the stone, covered with a quilt and a small rabbit fur shawl .

Gongsun yawned, tucked the quilt for the fourth son who was sleeping soundly, and looked out of the car.At this time, it was snowing heavily outside, and the camp where Zhao's army was stationed was approaching.Gongsun once went to Heifeng City, the headquarters of the Zhao family army. The fortresses are generally well built, but Gongsun doesn't like it. People there regard Zhao Pu as a god, as if he alone can keep the world.

Gongsun was looking at the scenery on the side of the road in a daze, when Zhao Pu's face suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. He was riding on Hei Xiao's back, bending down to face him in the car window with a playful smile.Hei Xiao felt that Zhao Pu's sitting posture was uncomfortable, so he kicked his hooves twice and shook his mane——Zhao Pu, be honest with your mother!

Zhao Pu originally wanted to come closer to kiss Gongsun, but he didn't expect that Hei Xiao's movement caused him to hit the car window on the bed, rubbing his nose and reining in the reins, "You bastard!"

Hei Xiao turned his head and stared at him, while kicking his back hoof, kicking up a cloud of snow—want to fight? !

Gongsun looked at Zhao Pu, who was staring at Hei Xiao, and sighed, he really didn't have the majesty of a coach, he clearly just wanted to be a carefree wanderer, but he was forced to be the King of Shura to keep the world peaceful.

Zhao Pu didn't see the pain in Gongsun's eyes, but Ouyang and others could see it clearly behind.

Ouyang twitched the corner of his mouth, and the wild boy was also hurt, it's really terrible.

Zhao Pu and Hei Xiao quarreled twice, Hei Xiao threw off his four hooves and ran, and the black robe flew forward in a rampage. The soldiers looked at Zhao Pu's "heroic posture" on horseback with their chests outstretched, and Zhao Pu used his heels Kick Hei Xiao's ass.It made the crazy horse go mad in the snow with anger.

Gongsun watched Zhao Pu run farther and farther. Luanxue lost his eyes and felt that he could not see his face clearly. He was inexplicably entangled in his heart. This trip to the west always had a very ominous premonition.

Distraughtly lowering the curtain, Gongsun turned his head and sighed for the one hundred and first time, and felt that the fourth son moved to his side and put his arms around his waist.

"Are you awake?" Gongsun bowed his head.

"Daddy, you've been sighing." The fourth son climbed up a little bit, and reached out to rub Gongsun's frowning brows, "Don't frown, Jiujiu is most afraid of your frowning."

Gongsun picked him up and patted him, "Daddy is a little worried."

"What are you worried about?"

"Worried about Zhao Pu."

The fourth son was startled, "What's wrong with Jiujiu? Is he sick or is someone trying to kill him?"

Gongsun was surprised, "How do you know that someone wants to harm Zhao Pu?"

"Hmm..." Xiao Si touched his chin and pointed to the outside, "Look, Xiao Liangzi has been following Jiujiu since he left the Chengdu Mansion, keeping a close eye on him, Xiao Liangzi seems to be more serious than ever Nervous!" Jealous. Gongsun poked his chubby arm and subconsciously looked out the window.

After being reminded by the fourth son, he realized that before he left the Chengdu mansion, Xiao Liangzi didn't seem to look at the fourth son very much, but followed Zhao Pu closely. He thought it was Zhao Pu's request, so that he could learn Marching and fighting and the like.Zhao Pu thought that what he wanted from the fourth son was to eat, drink and have fun, and what he wanted from Xiao Liang was to let him study hard, but he loved both children equally, and he didn't seem to want Xiao Liang to be an official. He has the ability to protect himself and his fourth son in the future.

Gongsun looked carefully and smiled. Xiao Liang frowned slightly and stared at Zhao Pu, as if someone was going to bully his father, so he asked the fourth son, "Little Liang, is something different from the past?"

"Probably what Little Belly said." The fourth son said afterward.

Gongsun was taken aback, "What did Grand Master Pang say?"

"Before we left the Chengdu mansion, weren't we in Xiaotu and Xiaobaozi's carriage?" The fourth son raised his face and told Gongsun, "Xiaotu and they said that this time is probably not good, and they also said something inside fighting or something."

"Infighting?" Gongsun frowned.

The fourth son stretched out his hand to hold it down, "My little belly said, I want Xiao Liangzi to watch Jiujiu closely, so Xiao Liangzi became very nervous."

Gongsun's heart skipped a beat, sure enough, Grand Master Pang and Master Bao also noticed something was wrong.Just as he was thinking, the carriage stopped suddenly, and Gongsun leaned forward, hugged the fourth son and fell out. Fortunately, there was a soft stone in front of him as a pad for the flesh.

"What's going on?" Gongsun poked his head out to look out, and saw that Zhao Pu had dismounted from the black owl, and was standing by the side of the carriage staring at the shaft. It turned out that the shaft of the carriage broke suddenly, and the reins of the horses pulling the carriage also came loose.

Gongsun glanced at it, Zhao Pu turned his head and smiled and said to him, "It's all right, maybe the car has been broken because it hasn't been used for a long time."

Gongsun returned to the chariot, bowing his head—a broken shaft is very unlucky, especially for horses and chariots that are marching and fighting.He repeated a few words over and over in his mind—broken, scattered...

"Daddy." The fourth son suddenly touched the back of Gongsun's hand, "Don't worry, Miaomiao and Baibai will definitely help Jiujiu."

……

After Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang entered the Dafeng Valley, they were taken aback by the sight in front of them.

At first, I thought that Dafenggudi was a desolate place as its name suggests, but when I entered, the brightly lit streets and pedestrians all over the street seemed a bit like a Kaifeng night market, except that there were not so many foreigners in Kaifeng.

"Shall I have something to eat first?" Ziying pointed to a restaurant in front that looked more luxurious.

"Is there anything delicious in Tubo?" Zhan Zhao still maintains a good mood, the world is big, except for rats, he eats the most.

"Oh, wait." Seeing that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were about to enter the restaurant, Ziying hurriedly stopped her, "Let me say hello first, the restaurants and restaurants in the Western Regions are different from those in the Central Plains."

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't understand, "How different?"

"There are people from all walks of life here, and we still have things to do, so try to keep a low profile." Zhe Ying bought four big bamboo hats from a street vendor nearby, and no one wore them.

In order to keep out the cold, the restaurant hung two curtains as thick as quilts at the door.

It sounded quite quiet outside, but as soon as the curtain was lifted... a gust of hot air came out accompanied by a strong smell of alcohol, and of course, there was also a noise that could almost blow over the roof.

Zhan Zhao subconsciously turned his head to look at Bai Yutang beside him. Under the big bamboo hat, Bai Yutang had a helpless expression on his face.

Four people walked in wearing bamboo hats swaggeringly, but did not cause any commotion or attention, because about half of the people here were wearing bamboo hats.

Went in and found an inconspicuous corner to sit down, Zhe Ying told the two, "There are everyone here, because it doesn't belong to the Song Dynasty, nor does it belong to Tubo, Xixia, etc. Madman, you will be out of trouble here. Most of the people in this area are like wild animals that have escaped from their cages, very arrogant and manic.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang traveled the rivers and lakes, and it was rare to see such a scene. They thought it was quite interesting, and ordered food with the waiter after sitting down.

As soon as Zhan Zhao opened his mouth, he wanted to eat sweet and sour fish. The clerk was stunned for a long time, and then he laughed and said, "Guest officer, are you from the south of the Yangtze River? Where can I get fish from this place for you to eat, or I'll just roast a whole lamb, or else Just eat a bowl of beef noodles, haha."

Zhe Ying and Zi Ying gloated at the embarrassed Zhan Zhao, and Zhe Ying said to the boss, "I want half a roast lamb, four bowls of beef noodles, a jar of knives, and twenty steamed buns and four bags of dried beef jerky. Four jugs, two full of wine and two full of water."

"Okay." The buddy asked Zhe Ying, "Are you going to leave the customs? Are you going west or north?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang knew that going west was towards Tubo.

Zhe Ying and Zi Ying didn't answer directly, they just asked, "Is the west peaceful recently?"

The guy looked around and raised his eyebrows, "How can it be peaceful."

Zhan Zhao was curious, "What happened?"

"The Ninth Prince Zhao Pu suddenly appeared in the Chengdu Mansion, bringing with him an army of over a hundred thousand." The man shook his head, "Oh, the people here are all terrified. I hope they are going to the west or north."

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, "What are the people here afraid of? Didn't Zhao Pu come to Sichuan to fight corruption?"

"Hey!" The buddy waved his hand, "Who knows if he will come here on a whim to arrest people? We don't know how many surrendered generals and deserters back then, who didn't have a few lives in lawsuits? It's not like Bao Zheng Bao Qingtian also came here Is it wrong? You can’t touch the sand in your eyes, and the people here have finally been at peace for a while, and they are afraid that there will be war again.” The man complained and left.

Zhan Zhao asked Ziying and Zhe Ying, "People here seem to be quite alert, how can we find clues to Dabin?"

"The most important thing is to know who made the move first." Ziying put the teacup on the table, "There are mainly several types of people here, one is businessmen who often live here, most of these people are more peaceful, not It will cause trouble, and they are not very brave, so they should not do it. The second type is bandits. The bandits here are different from the bandits in the pass, because most of the bandits here are horse bandits who rob the convoys of merchants in the Western Regions. Well, this place is used to sell stolen goods and live here on weekdays. These people may kidnap Dabin, but they will definitely ask for a ransom. The third type of people are some homeless rogues."

"Like those escaped criminals?" Bai Yutang asked, "Desperados?"

"That's right, many of these people were wronged, or made a big mistake on the spur of the moment. They were probably officials or military commanders before, and they didn't want to be thieves. If they want to rob, they also do something to rob the rich and help the poor, so..."

"This group of people is likely to do it." Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, "Da Bing is a completely bad official even if he is a foreign race."

"The fourth type of people." Zhe Ying continued, "Foreigners."

"Are they all businessmen?" Bai Yutang looked at those who were the loudest, most of them were from foreign races, but he didn't know which ones belonged to which race. Everyone seemed to be similar, with curly hair and animal skins.

"I know this." Zhan Zhao told Bai Yutang while drinking hot tea from a cup, "Usually those with two moustaches are Liao people, those with darker hair and wearing Buddhist beads are Tubo people, Xixia..." He said , Zhan Zhao lightly flicked Bai Yutang's earlobe, "I usually wear big earrings, the kind with several rings strung together."

Bai Yutang instinctively backed away, and the cat touched his ear again.

Zhan Zhao smirked, and Bai Yutang's ears turned red. At this time, the waiter also brought up the food, and also brought a large stack of chili noodles as a gift.

Ziying grabbed the chili noodles and sprinkled a handful in her own bowl, and sprinkled two handfuls in Zheying's bowl.Zhe Ying looked at him helplessly, and Zi Ying bumped his arm into him, looking quite willful, "Eat."

Zhe Ying took a bite, sticking out her tongue so hot that Zi Ying smiled happily.

Zhan Zhao sprinkled some chili noodles in the bowl, tasted it, and gave Bai Yutang a handful, "This chili is very powerful!"

Bai Yutang looked at the red pepper noodles in the bowl, and thought to himself, isn't it...the pepper in Sichuan.

"Brother Zhan is right, the characteristics are basically correct." Zheying said, tearing off the roasted mutton for Ziying to eat, "Foreigners usually come to do business, unless it is arranged by someone to pretend to be a merchant." Kidnapping Dabin here and stirring up trouble."

Bai Yutang frowned, "That's not easy. If they try to take Dahe away from here, they'll be dead or alive."

"Fortunately, that guy Dabin has a big target and is easy to be discovered." Ziying smiled, "There is no impenetrable wall in the world. In such a place, no one can do anything without knowing it."

"Then is there a fifth type of person?" Zhan Zhao was a little surprised that the food in this backcountry was delicious, and his mood improved, and he asked.

When Ziying and Zheying heard this, they fell silent and looked at each other.

"What's the problem?" Seeing that the smiles on the faces of the two had faded, Bai Yutang wondered if there was something hidden.

"If there is a fifth...that would be the most troublesome." Zhe Ying looked at the two of them.

"Who is that?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw their sudden stern expressions, and their hearts arose.

"My own."

"Ah?" Zhan Zhao was taken aback, "One of our own?"

Zhe Ying looked around, and said in a low voice, "Do you know how many people in the court want to sit in the seat of the prince? Not to mention the supreme position of commander-in-chief of the three armies, any position with some real power in the Zhao family army is I don't know how many people are robbing them. We have been soldiers for a long time, and we have seen a lot. There are often things like jealousy and hatred. The prince has fought for so long, and most of the stumbling blocks are set by his own people. But it is The prince is heartless and because it is not easy for his nephew to be the emperor, he just doesn't care about those people."

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Could it be that this incident was deliberately obstructed by someone in the court to deal with Zhao Pu?"

Bai Yutang sneered, "It's impossible to defend against. As the old saying goes, heroes usually die at the hands of their own people, especially those who are invincible."