Chapter 158 Chapter 2 The King of Qinghai

On September 25th, the wind was strong and the snow was like cotton. The inside and outside of the underground palace were covered by heavy snow, and the Qianling Mausoleum exposed on the ground was hung up with pure white lanterns early on. The palace maids and maids walking were all dressed in linen and white clothes. Dust. There were no lamps in the hall, only rows of white candles were quietly burning, emitting pale light and forming deep candle shadows. Above the huge mourning hall, a slender figure sat quietly in the shadows. The lights seemed to be unable to penetrate the darkness beside him, leaving only a hazy circle of light, and he couldn't see his eyebrows clearly. , the cup is half tilted, and the wine is overflowing.

He never liked drinking, but now, he has been in Qianling for three full days. For three days, the Qianling Hall was filled with wine, and the empty altars were piled high, but why was there no trace of drunkenness? Outside the door, the wind was blowing, the snow was flying, the candle shadows in the hall were deep, and it was quiet and silent. He sat alone, but he heard the rumble of war drums at the border, and heard the soldiers holding sabers rushing into the cold wind to fight and chop. Hearing the screams and wailing of the people calling their hometown in the cold wind, the blood flowed up, drowning the majestic city walls of Longyinguan, flooding the Xiaoxiao pastures in Yanbei, and even drowning the last trace of warmth between them.

Yes, he was never drunk, he was sober all the time, soberly saw his sinking and sinking. In a daze, he suddenly remembered the summer night many years ago. In the small house of the Holy Golden Palace, mosquitoes were hovering, and the heat was unbearable.One night, Ah Chu came back very late. In those few days, the nuns in the dining room always liked to order her around, so he stood at the gate of Yingge Yuan, put on his clothes and waited.At night, the moon was so round and bright yellow, and the mosquitoes hovered over his head, but he felt very peaceful in his heart. Tired of waiting, he sat on the threshold, holding a copper branch in his hand, and polished it on the stone. .

Ah Chu has grown up and is about to tie up her hair. He is making a hairpin for her. It was already late when she came back, instead of teaching him why he didn't go to bed early as usual, she mysteriously took out a crystal and beautiful ice bowl from behind and put it in his hand. , a small bowl carved into a basin shape, with intricate glazed patterns engraved on both sides, and crushed ice foam and various fruits and vegetables in the middle, which is cool, like the white snow in winter in Yanbei. He was holding the ice bowl at the time, and vaguely remembered that when his parents were alive, his mother would always carve such ice bowls for them in summer. Can't grab it.But the tighter you hold it, the faster the ice bowl will melt, and soon it will become a puddle of nothingness.

He raised his head and looked at the girl standing opposite him through the ice bowl. At that time, Ah Chu was only ten years old and very short. She raised her head and looked at him with a smile. She wore a small red flower like a palace maid in summer, her face was very thin, but there was a blush, because she was holding the ice bowl all the time, her hands were red from the cold, and she clenched her small fists vigorously. The eyes are so bright, even the full moon in the sky can't compare, instantly penetrated all his sorrows and nostalgia, pierced straight into the bottom of his heart, and dispelled the dark clouds all over the sky.

At that time, Yan Xun swore that he must stand out, treat this girl well all his life, never let others bully her, and let her live like a princess. Every wish, every thought, must be for her. She achieves. Time flies by, and the years are like ruthless hands, easily drowning their memories and vows.He sometimes feels that his life may be that melting ice bowl. His homeland, parents, elder brother, sisters, mentor, comrade-in-arms, and lover are all gradually moving away from him for one reason or another. Hold on, the faster they leave, they will eventually disappear on the ground like that puddle of ice water.

He raised his head, and in front of him were the tombs of his parents and relatives, the tall mourning hall, the majestic mausoleum, covering an area of ​​thousands of hectares, but only a few life relics and clothes were buried inside, and their heads are still in the Great Xia Temple. The guilty minister's palace was put on hold, and the body had already been fed to the wolves in the flames of war in the troubled times. He picked up the wine cup, and the pungent spirits slid down his throat like hot coals. A low-pitched wind blew into the wide hall, and the curtains were swaying gently, like the water sleeves of a woman dancing on the stage. , lingering.Yan Xun's eyesight is still clear, his face is handsome, slightly sad, his cheeks are thin, his eyes seem to have heavy mist, looking carefully, there seems to be several silver threads hidden between his temples, in the faint Under the candlelight, the fluorescent lights flickered, showing a bit of vicissitudes.

In just two years, he was already so tired. His whole life seemed to be walking on a wrong road. Every step had endless forks. Gradually, the people around him went on their own way. But each has its own direction. "Father." In Zhishui's heart, these two words suddenly popped up, like a stone, gently breaking the calm lake surface. "Father, you lied to me." Yan Xun raised his head, looked at the portrait on the altar, his father's face was present, lifelike, he looked at the relative he admired most in childhood, and said quietly: "You say that Yanbei is a paradise on earth, the most free and prosperous place in the world, and you say that everything you do is to create a thousand years of immortal achievements for future generations, but you are wrong, you are wrong Outrageous, you ruined Yanbei, yourself, and the entire Yan clan. During those eight years in Zhenhuang, I survived because I was immersed in my trust and illusions in you, but when When I narrowly escaped death and returned to Yanbei, you don't know how disappointed I was."

Yan Xun was expressionless, the hall was deep and silent, he looked at his father quietly, and said in a deep voice: "There are cliffs on all sides, and there are cold blood and frost everywhere, but father, you still live in a corner and build your own imagination in the cracks. Do you know what a naive idea this is? So the emperor won’t allow you, the world won’t allow you, even your subordinates betrayed you, just because you don’t have such powerful power, you can’t do what even the emperor can’t do matter." "Father, I killed Mr. Wu and Miss Yu just because they were still adhering to your will and became a stumbling block on my way forward. I gave them a chance, but unfortunately they didn't want to cherish it. Because Datong wants to support her as the master, as long as she is still there, Datong will never die. I killed those old generals of yours, just because they are short-sighted, but they still occupy important positions. I killed many people, but I'm getting closer to my dream."

Yan Xun raised his head and drank a glass of strong wine, poured another glass, poured it on the ground with his body flat, and said slowly, "Father, I will never be like you." Yan Xun stood tall, turned around and left, the hem of his clothes swept the fine dust on the hall, every step he took was so firm, vigorous, calm and calm, the candlelight shone on his back, and he stretched so long on the ground Such a long shadow, behind him, is the spiritual seat of the loyalty of Yanbei's past dynasties, including his parents and brothers, his ancestors, and the loyal generals who have made contributions to Yanbei, including Mr. Wu and Miss Yu. , Xiaohe, Fufu, Biancang, Xirui, Adu, and even the Xiuli generals who died for Baobeishuo, Wu Danyu, Fengting...

So many pairs of eyes watched him quietly in the depths of the candlelight, watching him walk out of the hall little by little, and leave the resting place of the dead little by little. His steps were so steady, without any hesitation or regret. The head-on wind was blowing coldly, Yan Xun's eyes were as black as ink, he remembered the night he left Zhenhuang, Achu went back without hesitation to rescue all the officers and soldiers of the Southwest Township envoy who was besieged in the imperial capital, maybe from From that moment on, he had already foreseen the ending of today.They have different ideals and beliefs, which cannot be reconciled, so they will inevitably drift away and take different paths. To achieve any dream, there is a price to pay. And the price he paid was that he was no longer the person in her memory. Feelings of powerlessness gradually spread, but he suppressed everything calmly and fiercely. Ah Chu, the moment you turned around and left, I knew that you were destined not to follow me in this life, you were destined to walk in the light, but I couldn't get away from this mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood for the rest of my life, and I couldn't grow up with you Fly, so I want to break your wings and keep you by my side, and now, I am finally going to fail. "Ah Chu..." The deep voice sounded slowly in the empty hall, like a trace of white air in the cold north wind. The man stood at the door of the hall, the cold moonlight shone on his face, with a strange paleness, he slowly She slowly closed her eyes, her expression was so calm, but the center of her brows was slightly frowned, and there was a mist-like silence. "Ah Chu...are you coming back..." The cold moon was like frost, and the clouds covered half of it lightly. Turning back to the top, it was difficult for a bird to fly. He stood on the top of the mountain, his eyes swept across the entire Yanbei land, and he quietly thought: Maybe, she won't came back. "His Majesty!" Ah Jing pushed away the guard's obstruction, staggered and knelt on the ground, and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, save the girl, the door is sealed by the Dragon Yin heavy snow, Da Xia has been under siege for many days, and the girl is about to be unable to hold on. " Yan Xun didn't speak, he looked at the majestic mountains in front of him, and seemed to have fallen into a long thought. "Your Majesty, the girl has followed you for many years. She has been through life and death, and she is persevering. All of us can see her achievements. Your Majesty, do you really have the heart to kill her? Have you forgotten what you said? " Ah Jing's eyes were red, she kept kowtowing her head, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please, please be merciful, please..." "Ah Jing," Yan Xun asked suddenly, as if he had just discovered his existence at this time, and frowned in doubt: "How should I save her?" Ah Jing was overjoyed when he heard the words, and quickly said: "Open the gate of Longyin City, and send troops out of the city to help..." Before Ah Jing could finish speaking, Yan Xun frowned slightly and said, "Do you think she will come back even if the Dragon Yin Pass is opened?" Ah Jing was taken aback for a moment, and after thinking for a while, she murmured: "Then, then cancel the defense line of the southern border waterway leading to Bian Tang, open the Tang water pass, and let the girl go south." "Going south?" Yan Xun's voice was very calm, and he couldn't hear the slightest wave. He asked softly, "Then she will never come back again?" Ah Jing was stunned and couldn't speak anymore, Yan Xun pulled the corner of his mouth, smiled slightly, and said softly: "Does that mean that I will lose her forever?" It was so cold at night, Ah Jing could feel the chill all over his body, after thinking for a long time, he suddenly jumped up from where he was, turned around and ran, shouting loudly while running: "I'm going to persuade the girl to come back!" Yan Xun didn't stop him, didn't even look at him, he still stood there quietly, dark clouds covered the moon, and it was going to snow again, Achu, she couldn't hold on any longer, silly girl, why didn't she come back?He frowned and thought, like a simple young man, he deluded himself and discarded all political factors, as if they had quarreled and lost their tempers when they were young, and thought angrily, why didn't they come back?It's that cold outside. If life was just meeting for the first time, Ah Chu, would you still choose to be entangled with me?Can you imagine your situation today?How deep is your hatred for me? "Your Majesty," a deep voice sounded behind him, and Cheng Yuan knelt there, still with the usual humility: "Open the waterway pass, and let Lord Chu go south." Yan Xun was slightly taken aback, turned his head, looked at Cheng Yuan and said, "What? Are you here to intercede for her too?" "This subordinate is not pleading for Master Chu." Cheng Yuan said calmly: "This subordinate is pleading for His Majesty." He knocked his head deeply on the ground, and said slowly in a low tone: "Your Majesty, let yourself die." Yan Xun's heart seemed to be stabbed suddenly, and it was painful. "If Master Chu dies at the hands of His Majesty, His Majesty will never be happy in his life. You also said that no matter what dreams you have, you must live first. It's too late." Yan Xun was silent for a long time, the wind blew his clothes, it was so cold, he didn't wear a big fur, standing on a high mountain, like an eagle spreading its wings to fly. "Cheng Yuan, why do you say these things, don't you have a feud with Ah Chu?" "This subordinate has no feud with Master Chu. Before this subordinate offended Master Chu, it was just an unintentional mistake. Later, when he wanted to kill her, he also wanted to protect himself. Now Master Chu can no longer threaten this subordinate, and this subordinate does not want to Watch her die." "The most important thing is," Cheng Yuan raised his head, looked at Yan Xun with piercing eyes, and said in a deep voice, "I don't want Your Majesty's heart to be tied down. In this world, His Majesty is the only one who can make my wish come true." , and only His Majesty can make me truly follow and submit. My loyalty to Your Majesty will never change. Even if Your Majesty is heinous and abandoned by heaven and earth, I am willing to follow His Majesty until the blood turns to ashes. Your Majesty will kill all the people in the world , I will be the first to raise the sword. Your Majesty will fill up the East China Sea with corpses. I will be the first to cut off my own head. I have been wandering for half my life, and I am despised by others because I can’t find something truly worthy of my belief. Now, I have found that His Majesty's hope is my faith, so I don't want His Majesty to live in regret all his life." "Your Majesty, let her go." Yan Xun's thoughts suddenly became so vast. In just a short moment, he remembered all the past of the past ten years, but in the end they all converged into one picture. The young child climbed up from the pool of blood, looking at As a young man, his heart ached slightly at that moment, and then his finger moved slightly, brushing along the child's neck, and the strong wind blew the messy hair on the child's forehead. Unyielding eyes. after all…… He slowly closed his eyes, pulling himself away from that memory word by word, all love was cut off by him, bloody pain. "Order General Qiu to open the waterway in southern Xinjiang and let them go..." "His Majesty!" There was a sudden scream, and the messenger staggered up the stone steps and yelled loudly as he ran, "Frontier Emergency! Frontier Emergency!" Yan Xun and Cheng Yuan turned their heads at the same time, and saw that the summoner was terrified, knelt on the ground with a bang, opened the letter and reported loudly: "Qi Shaoqian, deputy general of Tangshuiguan in Southern Xinjiang, reported: September 16th, Tangshuiguan in Southern Xinjiang Shuiguan was attacked by an unknown enemy, and the enemy's origin was unknown. They suddenly appeared in Yanbei territory, blocked the exchange of news, and captured 13 counties in a row. The commander of Tangshuiguan, General Qiu, was killed. All military rank officials were killed in battle except Wei Chen, and the casualties amounted to more than 30,000. Yesterday afternoon, Tangshuiguan was breached, and we started a street battle with the enemy. This is the last messenger and the last horse of my subordinates. I hope I can rush out Report the news to His Majesty. The minister will stick to his post, and even if he dies in a fierce battle, he will not fall into the prestige of our Yanbei Army. The fifty thousand soldiers at Tangshui Pass have fulfilled His Majesty's entrustment, so here we bow our heads and weep." "What's going on? Tangshuiguan was attacked on September 16th. Why don't we know anything about it?" Cheng Yuan stood up and asked angrily. The messenger replied in fear: "All the officers and soldiers are trapped in the pass. The enemy is coming fiercely and has attacked several surrounding counties at the same time. We have no time to report." "Then officials and people in other counties and counties near the southwest will not be unaware. How could the battle report be delayed to such an extent?" The messenger raised his eyes cautiously, glanced at Yan Xun quietly, and after a long time, he whispered, "The one in the southwest is the Shangshen Plateau, let's not say that there are ten rooms and nine empty places, and they all follow Master Chu. Well, even if the people left behind heard that the enemies outside came to rescue Master Chu, it would be good if they didn’t help to conceal it. No one came to report at all, and the local officials were all captured and tied up by the people. " "What?" Cheng Yuan said angrily, "What are they trying to do? Rebellion? What about the army? What about the soldiers? Are they all dead? Seeing their chiefs being tied up by fools and ignoring them?" "This, this, my subordinates heard that the local army secretly assisted the enemy in attacking Tangshui Pass, and provided detailed inside information and battle reports. Otherwise, Tangshui, a powerful pass, would not be easily breached." "It's simply unreasonable!" "What's going on now?" A low voice suddenly sounded, and Cheng Yuan quickly turned his head away, but Yan Xun said slowly and expressionlessly, "Tangshui Pass has been breached, what's going on now?" The summoner was sweating profusely, knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "When I received the news, I heard that the Bian Tang Navy got the news for some reason, and they were already waiting outside the Tangshui Pass. Once the city gate was opened, They abandoned the boat and went ashore, and now they are heading for Longyin Pass." "Who commands the soldiers?" "Yes, it is Emperor Bian Tang." "How many people are here?" "No less than two hundred thousand." Being so close, Yan Xun could even hear Cheng Yuan gasping in shock, his eyes narrowed slowly, and he regained the majesty of the emperor, as if he was not the one who was looking at the night sky from the top of the mountain before. "Li Ce? Did you come in person?" "Reorganize the army immediately, the first army and the second army are all assembled, follow me to Longyin Pass!" Three hours later, the army quickly assembled at the foot of Huihui Mountain. Huihui was on the edge of Shang Shen, only half a day away from Tangshui Pass, and not far from Longyin Pass. Yan Xun was sitting on a horse, wearing a black fur with the wind Lie Lie Fanfei, Cheng Yuan followed him, and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, are the people from Bian Tang who attacked the pass on September 16?" "no." Yan Xun shook his head, his eyes were deep, and he said in a deep voice: "Biantang is far away from Yanbei, even if Li Ce got the news on the day when Ah Chu and I clashed on the Huoleiyuan, it is impossible to catch up on the sixteenth day. When we arrived at Tangshui, there must have been another group of forces who got the news in time, secretly notified Bian Tang, and took the lead in attacking Tangshui Pass, so as to open the way for Bian Tang behind." Cheng Yuan frowned and said, "Who could it be? Da Xia? Impossible." "Who?" Yan Xun's eyes were cold, and he said slowly, "Who can appear in my Yanbei territory so easily?" Cheng Yuan was startled suddenly, and shouted involuntarily, "Qinghai King?" "King of Qinghai." Yan Xun said these three short words silently between his lips and teeth, and said lightly: "Finally we are going to meet." The morning star suddenly rises, and the sky is bright. "Your Majesty!" A long report came from a distance, and a soldier galloped on his horse and reported loudly, "An unknown enemy army is found ten miles ahead." "how many people?" "The enemy blocked the front road of our army from south to north, winding for ten miles. There are thirteen divisions of infantry, eight divisions of cavalry, seventeen formations of heavy armor, and archers, knives, axes and shields. The hands are unknown, but the estimated number is more than 150,000." For a moment, everyone couldn't help but let out an exclamation. Such a huge strength appeared quietly in Yanbei territory. If they didn't bump into them today, what kind of terrible scene would it cause? Yan Xun didn't have such worries like them, he knew that the other party appeared here just to stop his army, so as to leave a way for Li Ce to retreat.Faintly, he seemed to have guessed the identity of the other party. Although he was unwilling and surprised, he still felt a little bit of pleasure.Well, if he doesn't investigate for a while, he has already calculated that he will reach today's step. If he is an enemy, he should stand up with a sharp sword. He can let his people go, but he can't allow others to come to rescue him! The morning mist was confused, slowly covering the pitch-black soil. In the mist, the majestic army quietly revealed a corner of its head, laying out ferociously, like a black ocean. Yan Xun, dressed in black robes and fur, with quiet eyes, rode forward slowly from the army formation.I saw a slender and handsome figure breaking out of the opponent's army formation. Even though they were so far away, he recognized the other party's identity immediately. In an instant, the eyes of the two collided in midair. Yan Xun smiled lightly, raised his eyebrows, and said in a deep voice, "Long time no see." Nah."