Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Banquet

A cold moon hangs quietly over the desert, casting cold light on the earth.The shadow of Qilian Mountain in the distance is as gray and cold as iron lines, the wind is blowing fiercely, and the desert is freezing cold at night, but Dunhuang City is a different scene.Unlike the Central Plains, which still has a curfew, and the important town on the Silk Road, it is extraordinarily prosperous at night.Caravans from all over the place rest here, and spend the goods and money they brought in the restaurant song garden. Looking down from the high city, the darkness enters the tall buildings.The beauty sings and dances upstairs, day and night.

Although such a big event happened during the day, the Lord of Dunhuang acted as if nothing happened. He continued to drink for a long night, singing and singing, hugging left and right.Huo Qinglei was ordered to hunt down the second son, Liancheng, but he hadn't returned yet. The rest of the city's Chinese and military officials, as well as Shu Ye, who was watching the laughing and drinking son from the high seat, all looked hesitant, but they didn't dare to speak. The young master is really a terrifying person. For many years, he has controlled Dunhuang, an important city along the Silk Road, with an iron fist, lived a luxurious life, levied high taxes on merchants, and had a changeable temperament. In private, some generals and merchants complained.However, the young master Shu Ye is also a wise city lord. For ten years, he has mobilized troops and horses, rectified the government and military affairs of Dunhuang, built canals and commercial stations, and led the Shenwu army to repel the provocations of Huihe and Tubo and other countries in the Western Regions, so he established prestige on the Silk Road.

Now that a child with a yellow mouth came back from the imperial capital alone and said that he would replace him, wouldn't that be a joke? It's just that Dunhuang surrendered to Dayin in name after all, the emperor's order has been issued, and the young master Shu Ye refused to accept the order in the school today, and used the Shenwu army to capture his brother. situation? The song "Lanling King" just ended, Huo Qinglei came in and whispered in his ear.It turned out that the second son, Liancheng, had already been captured, but the casualties among the three thousand iron armors were very heavy, dozens of people were killed in battle, and hundreds of people need to recuperate for several days.

"Did you hurt hundreds of people? After all, I was never completely disappointed... But this ability alone is not enough to take Dunhuang away!" Young Master Shu Ye suddenly laughed loudly, tapping the silver plate with his chopsticks, singing loudly. , "The general talked and laughed and bent his bow, and the king of Qin hit the fou in anger. Who in the world will fight against Wu Wu? Show all the heroes tied their hands! In the past, the bandits were all kings and princes. What do you want if you have empty strings and broken feathers?" The singing is intense, like the flow of the Milky Way, without beginning and end.A terrified movement, I don't know that the young master is happy and angry at the moment, and they all hold their cups and remain silent.The young man in white was in a high position, and he sang loudly as if there was no one else around. The beauty in his arms was terrified and didn't know what to do, with a stiff smile on his face.

"Young Master." Only Huo Qinglei was not afraid, and whispered, "Your subordinate has invited Second Young Master to enter the mansion, how should I deal with it?" "Has the one hundred carts of gold beads in the treasury this year been sorted?" Shu Ye, the young master on the seat, stopped and asked suddenly, but bypassed the tricky question, and turned his head to ask the treasurer's courtier with a cold look. .This is an unwritten rule in the Dunhuang mansion every year. Every year when the end of the year is approaching, the city lord has to withdraw three-tenths of the property from the treasury and collect it into his mansion—and no one knows where this huge amount of money goes. where.

The young master Shu Ye was famous in the Western Regions for his luxury and enjoyment. Many merchants and common people speculated that he took the money into his private pockets and used it in the secret gold selling cave in Yingchao.As a result, the folks slandered the Lord of Dunhuang even more. The courtier was already nervous, but now he rolled off his seat and leaned over to answer, "It's already been done!" "Well, put it in the backyard of the mansion as in previous years, and someone will come to pick it up in five days." Young Master Shu Ye ordered, the huge sum of money equivalent to one-third of Dunhuang's annual tax seemed to him to be It doesn't matter.

The treasury official retreated without hesitation, and Huo Qinglei didn't ask where the young master transferred the tax from the treasury privately, but continued to ask in a low voice: "How to deal with the second young master Liancheng?" He emphasized the word "second young master", hoping that the young master read it in his blood For the sake of this, I can forgive this only younger brother. "Shut up in the Yaohua Building, and go with that crazy woman Lu Ji." The young master Shu Ye held the golden cup, but his eyebrows were tightly frowned, and he said every word, "Since he didn't learn anything in the imperial capital, then , I'll teach him myself! I'll teach this idiot myself! I don't believe he's been like this all his life!"

"Young Master?" Huo Qinglei was startled, he didn't understand where the young master's disappointment and anger came from - could it be that the young master wanted the second young master Liancheng to be more ruthless, tougher, and more cunning?Was he expecting his younger brother to take control of Dunhuang from him with his ability after returning from the imperial capital? The young master Shu Ye hugged the beautiful woman, sang and drank on the high seat, unrestrained.However, how many people can understand the true thoughts of the city lord? As the night deepened, the noble man in white on the high seat was quite drunk, but his spirits became higher and higher.Knocking gold cups and porcelain with rhinoceros horn chopsticks, singing loudly, urging dancers to dance to his tunes, their intimacy and dissoluteness are unsightly.

The civil and military officials next to him couldn't sit still anymore, they all stood up and retreated. Young Master Shu Ye didn't even look at it, and ordered them to retreat with a flick of his sleeve. In the middle of the night, among the full house of guests, only Huo Qinglei was left, silently watching the city lord singing and drinking - watching him laugh, dance, and intermittently sing a self-made tune.During the singing and crying, even if he is as honest as him, he still feels a kind of despair and anger that has been accumulated for many years. He suddenly remembered the past that had not been finished during the day - in the end, why didn't the Star Maiden escape from the Great Light Palace with the young master?The young master said that when he was climbing along the cliff and trying to leave the top of Kunlun, the girl opened her silver bow at the foot of the cliff and shot thirteen arrows in a row!The last arrow nailed him to the cliff.

what is this?However, he dared not ask.If you don't say it, no one will dare to ask such a question. "You haven't left yet?" It seemed that he had finally enjoyed himself, the singing in his ears stopped, the young master Shu Ye was drunk, he staggered to help the dancer to the inner room, and suddenly saw Huo Qinglei sitting with his sword in the middle of the mess. "My lord is very drunk, I'm afraid there will be some accidents in the end." Huo Qinglei replied honestly. Young Master Shu Ye laughed loudly, stretched out his hand, and patted his confidant's favorite general on the shoulder: "Okay, okay, you didn't get drawn over by that woman, Lu Ji. You are a man! Otherwise, you should have sharpened your sword, and while you I was so drunk that I chopped off my head with a sword! —— But, do you think I’m really drunk?" The wine-stained nobleman patted Huo Qinglei on the shoulder, and suddenly asked softly, but the look in his eyes was as bright as a ghost , It was terrifying to see.

"In my whole life, I only dare to get drunk in front of one person... Do you know what is a close friend? Because he is the only one who wants to kill me, and I will admit that I die at his hands." Young Master Shu Ye supported him with one hand. The dancer girl compared her neck with one hand, staggered and laughed, "What a good head, I only give it to my bosom friend! ——This is the death of a friend!" The moonlight outside is very good, like quicksilver all over the ground in a trance.Huo Qinglei had an ominous feeling, the young master's words seemed to be looking back on his life. "It's Mo Xiang?" He finally couldn't help it, and continued. Young master Shu Ye's body shook, he stopped, and looked up at the frosty moonlight outside the court, wondering what he was thinking.After a long time, his voice was a little confused, and he murmured: "Mo Xiang? That's just a false name that came from the sword...I don't even know what his real name is, so I just treat him as a brother..." Huo Qinglei didn't speak, just listened quietly, he knew that the young master rarely had such a chance to talk. Young Master Shu Ye raised his head, looked at the cold moon in the sky, and murmured: "It's just such a moonlit night...the entire Kunlun Peak is covered with blood! Even when I ran away with Sha Manhua, I didn't leave him behind. I Tell him the location of the secret path, and want him to escape with us—the result... Hehe, in the middle of the night on the ninth day of September, I didn't wait for Sha Manhua, but I saw countless Central Plains martial arts masters suddenly appearing in Daguangming In the palace! Those people came down from that secret passage!" Huo Qinglei cried out in a low voice - came down from that secret passage?So that means... Young Master Shu Ye's voice gradually lowered, with a bottomless melancholy that had settled down after many years: "I don't know why, those Central Plains martial arts people kill everyone when they see them, but they don't fight me alone—— Later, I found out that Mo Xiang told them not to kill me. He is not some nameless slave, but an undercover agent sent by the Central Plains martial arts to the Mingjiao General Altar! I have been with him for five years, and I have never known his true identity. That Am I even more stupid than Liancheng?" The Central Plains martial arts should still remember that night: the seven sects raided the Kunlun Guangming Peak, the assassins in the Shura field were wiped out, and even the king was seriously injured-and none of the seven masters who went there survived.Young Master Shu Ye recalled the past of the bloody battle, and his tone became bleak: "After that battle, the martial arts in the Central Plains was in a slump, and the Demon Cult was also in a slump. Both sides stopped and cultivated new elites." On such a chaotic killing night, the eighteen-year-old stood blankly on the secret path in the back mountain, his eyes full of despair—he knew that the woman he loved would never return to his hometown with him... Sha Manhua rushed out of the crowd covered in blood and saw him.That look... he can still see it when he closes his eyes.Can't tell.At that moment, he just wanted to die—maybe death would prove that he was not Mo Xiang's accomplice, nor was he an undercover agent sent by the Central Plains? The young master Shu Ye sighed, his eyes slowly turned cold: "I was completely hopeless. Mo Xiang dragged me, who was in a daze, to the secret path on the cliff called the 'ladder to heaven'. I shot thirteen arrows in a row, but I was blocked by Mo Xiang one by one. But the last arrow finally nailed me to the cliff, and even the strand of hair in my arms was shot to pieces and shattered into pieces by the arrow air. Flesh and blood! ——If I hadn’t been wearing a silkworm robe to protect myself, I would have deserved to die.” Having said that, young master Shu Ye raised his hand and pressed on the wound in the middle of his chest, as if there was severe pain there again. "At that time, I saw Mo Xiang slashing the hidden stakes on the ladder with his sword as he climbed up——I was terrified to death: he was going to cut off the only access, and let those Central Plains martial arts The elite also died at the top of Kunlun! He was used by those Central Plains martial arts as a pawn and deadlock, and once he got the chance, he would turn over and ruin all the chess players!" Young Master Shu Ye's voice trembled, and he suddenly stopped talking.Obviously, the situation that day still made him thrilling. Huo Qinglei also changed his expression, but restrained himself from saying a word. Young Master Shu Ye pressed hard on the old wound on his chest, as if the severed black hair was still winding in the blood in his chest, entangled his soul, and made him unable to breathe.After a long time, the dancer was shivering in the cold night, and the son Shu Ye hugged the beauty with a blank expression on his face: "When I woke up again, I saw Mo Xiang carrying me on the Wanren Glacier. Crawling on hands and feet. His hands and face were covered in blood and he was exhausted...he saved me." His brother betrayed him.But when he was seriously injured and dying, he refused to leave him to escape alone.Mo Xiang escaped from the Da Guangming Palace with him on his back, climbed over the snow-capped mountains, and crossed the desert... Several times they were on the verge of extinction, but Mo Xiang still refused to let him go, leaving him the only food he had, no matter how insulting he was He also refused to leave, and when he couldn't find water in the desert, he even cut his wrist and used his own blood to quench his thirst!How many times had he been rescued by Mo Xiang on the way back to the east after a narrow escape?After returning to Dunhuang, because he was worried that he would be poisoned by his stepmother again when he returned home with serious injuries, Mo Xiang hid in secret to protect him, and how many assassinations and conspiracies have he thwarted for him? He once had such a deep desire to die, but it was suspended because of his father's dying entrustment: Liancheng is not yet an adult, the Gao family has guarded Dunhuang for many years, and he cannot ignore it until there is no suitable heir. He also had deep-seated hatred and hatred for Mo Xiang, but he finally collapsed under the other party's persistent protection and redemption. "He said he regarded me as a brother. But he also said that he had to betray me. He is just a chess piece, and everything he owns is in the hands of those chess players." Young Master Shu Ye suddenly lowered his head and laughed, his eyes Suddenly there were tears in his face, "At that time, I hated him so much, but after such a narrow escape, I finally forgave him." "I understand Mo Xiang's difficulties as a pawn - given his status at the time, doing so has done his best to protect me. All these years, I still regard him as a brother." Young Master Shu Ye suddenly turned his head Looking at Huo Qinglei: "So, if one day you 'have to' abandon me, I will certainly forgive you." "Young Master!" Huo Qinglei was startled, and immediately knelt down on one knee, "Your subordinates will never betray you, Young Master!" "You don't need to swear not to betray me...you have to swear not to betray Dunhuang." The young master Shu Ye's eyes woke up again, and he helped the dancer to Yingchao, muttering, "You are not only a retainer of the Gao family, but also a General of Dunhuang—you just need to guard this city, no matter who its owner is.” Huo Qinglei was stunned, feeling more and more ominous about the young master's words.However, the young master Shu Ye had already walked away with the beauty. Along the way, the young master, who was full of alcohol, suddenly sang loudly: "...Success and failure are always in a cup. At that time, someone's daughter, Gu Pan, met again. If you linger in the middle, the painting building weighs tens of thousands. Killing a person in ten steps is generous. In the Qin Palace. Lingling refuses to play, and the flying shadows startle Hong. However, the country is full of sorrows, and the life and death of the confidant are two towering. The treasured sword sings and cries, the fingers dream, and the clouds and rain cover the empty hand. Leaning on the railing without words, low-pitched and rambunctious three times: Ask the hero , Who is the hero?" The lights on the high city are brightly lit, and there are endless singing and dancing.But in the cold wind and sandy sea outside the city, there were also people singing. The bonfire was burning cracklingly, and the tongue of the flames jumped up and down, tremblingly reflecting people's faces.The singing voice was also trembling, and the lead singer was a ten-year-old curly-haired child, dressed in white, who knelt before the fire and sang a Persian song: "Heaven and earth are swaying adversaries, day and night are the portals of time. How many emperors and glory, in a short time And hurried away again—come like running water, pass away like wind.” Behind the child stands the Virgin Samantha wearing a golden-leaf bishop's crown, and she wears a white robe with a dark wide border at the neckline and front.All the followers of the Ming Cult behind them stood in white clothes and crowns, with their arms folded, listening to the boy singing ancient songs in Persian with mournful faces.This young man, Gaya, is a singer, spreading Mingzun's teachings with his singing, and at this moment, he is praying for the dead believers. Looking at the high city with endless lights in the distance, the young singer continued to sing: "People say that Tianyu is a raspberry, and we crawl here to live and die. Mingzun is my loving father, who leads me to the paradise on the other side—come like flowing water. , passing away like the wind. I don’t know where it came from and where it will end!” Sha Manhua quietly listened to the singing of the young Gaya, and suddenly tears fell.She knelt down towards the fire, and all the Ming Cultists followed the saint and sang together: "Come like running water and pass away like the wind. I don't know where I came from and where I ended up!" The passing of life is nothing more than that, right?May Mingzun bless those believers who died, they will all go to the paradise on the other side. "Saint, you will avenge us, won't you?" The young Gaya stepped forward on his knees, kissed Shamanhua's toes, and looked up at the supreme saint expectantly. She looked down at the child blankly, and it made her shudder to gather so much hatred and darkness in those brown eyes.Killed the Dunhuang city lord?She couldn't even answer the words of the believers—when she thought about the person who fought against each other in the city yesterday, she felt a vague pain in her mind, which made her unable to breathe. "Yes, the Star Maiden will definitely smash Dunhuang with one arrow and lead us east to the Central Plains!" It was the elder Miaoshui who answered for her.Gaya happily kissed the feet of the saint, and sang: "Wake up, this city of Dunhuang! The sun dispelled the night, and the night fled from mid-air. The brilliant golden arrow hit the hill in Dunhuang; Holy Maiden of the Arrow, lead us eastward!" All the believers knelt down around the fire, looked at the Star Maiden devoutly, and followed Gaya to recite the psalms. However, she was numb, only feeling that the pain in her head was getting more intense, and she could hardly breathe.Elder Miao Shui has been watching the face of the saint, and seeing her crumbling expression at this moment, he immediately pulled her far away.The old woman's face is concerned and loving - Sha Manhua was only ten years old when she came to Kunlun from Miaojiang Moon Worship Sect, and she took on the responsibility of a master, and has always regarded this little saint as her own daughter. Love beyond compare. Sha Manhua sat slumped on the sand dune, holding his head, and suddenly cried out uncontrollably: "Elder, what's going on in my mind? Those three nails...the three nails nail everything together ! I can't remember..." "It's because I can't remember the past, so I have doubts in my heart, and I dare not do it, is it?" Miao Shui's eyes are sympathetic—how much suffering this child suffered in the incident ten years ago!Now, even if the brain is sealed with golden needles, is it still the same pain?The old woman sighed: "I know, the saint has always been brooding over the matter of sealing her brain with golden needles." "Why did the loving father seal my memory?" Sha Manhua asked blankly. Miao Shui's face was heavy, and she sighed slightly: "It was the saint who begged the loving father to seal your brain with golden needles." "What?" Sha Manhua was startled, and raised his head, "I beg my loving father? What do I want to forget?" "Forget that Gao Shuye betrayed you—forget that you betrayed Mingzun for him—forget how much disaster you brought to the sect because of a single thought." The night in the desert was bitterly cold, Miao Shui's words condensed the chill, the old woman There was also a cold light in the man's eyes, and he told the past straightforwardly, and finally said, "You nailed Shu Ye to the cliff with thirteen arrows in a row, and you couldn't hold the bow for two full years after you came back—you knelt under the jade throne and begged for help. The king sealed your brain with gold needles. The loving father loves you, so he promised you." Sha Manhua raised his head in a daze, his brain seemed to be split open.real?Is this really the case? She only felt that every word Miao Shui said was like a nail, nailed deep in her heart, cracking a hole in some hard wall—she suddenly became irritable, and desperately stretched her hand behind her head, trying to pull it out. Bring out those three golden needles! "Stop!" Miao Shui stopped her with her hand, and shouted, "You mess with the golden needle yourself, when you pull it out, it's time to break your skull!" After a pause, the old woman looked at the pale Star Maiden, and sighed lovingly, seemingly helpless: "Don't be impatient—the king said that if you are not qualified for this task, the Moon Maiden will take over." You. I have sent people to Huihe to inform the Holy Maiden of the Moon, and she will lead people to Dunhuang to support in the near future." "Second Sister..." Hearing that name, the resolute face of the Holy Maiden of the Moon appeared in front of her eyes, and Sha Manhua suddenly became quiet, "She is coming too? Come Huihe." Is the moon maiden Menia, the princess and godmother of Huihe, coming to Dunhuang with the black-clothed killers from the Shura field?