Chapter 7 The fifth chapter: A man and a woman fall in love at first sight and go deep into the Northland in disguise

The young master found that the Meng Mansion was far from being as rich and noble as he had imagined. Fusu was moved by the civilian life of the family mansion; and the ordinary woman adopted by the Meng Mansion made the young master fall in love at first sight... From the southern kingdom to the northern border, from the general to the commoner, Meng Tian kept his name incognito, As a civilian merchant traveler, he mysteriously went deep into the desert grassland... His real identity is a scout to inquire about the enemy's situation.As a result, he and another man of insight became close friends.

Fusu always remembered the matter of visiting Mrs. Meng in the Meng Mansion on behalf of his father.He chose a sunny day and left the palace in a gorgeous carriage.When the car arrived at the Meng Mansion, Fusu felt that the Meng Mansion not only looked ordinary in appearance, but also had narrow courtyards, crowded palaces and houses, dilapidated and short, and moss was growing everywhere in the cracks of the walls. One swipe of paint.In Fusu's imagination, the Meng Mansion shouldn't be so shabby, the Meng family served the Qin Dynasty for several generations, and the officials were of the highest rank, so it should have been a garden mansion, a palace building long ago.

"His Royal Highness has arrived—" a servant of the Meng Mansion shouted.Fusu, who was in daydream, saw Meng Yi walking towards him, approached him and bowed to the ground, and gave a big salute: "Yi, I respectfully welcome Your Highness, Your Highness. I hope you will forgive me for being far away." Fusu raised Meng Yi with both hands, and said repeatedly : "Why is there such a big gift, get up quickly." Meng Yi dodged to the side, and stretched out his hand to signal: "My lord, please!" "Please!" The two walked into the gate of Meng Mansion.

There is nothing special about Meng Mansion. Compared with other tall and grand gate towers, the gate tower of Meng Mansion is small and dilapidated, and the courtyard is not as spacious and beautiful as other houses.Fusu suspects that this is not the Meng Mansion, there is no garden inside, the main house is filled with doors in the front yard, and there are several side rooms on the left and right.There are still wing rooms behind the wing rooms, which are used as kitchens, storerooms and places for servants to live.Behind it are the stables, the garage, and a flat training ground. "The mansion has been in disrepair for a long time, and the young master laughed at me. Please go to the hall to talk."

"Brother Meng, you don't need to be polite, mother Meng is okay?" Meng Yixuan hesitated, and said: "My mother has been in poor health, I'm afraid it will make the young master unlucky..." "What are you talking about, take me in quickly." Fusu insisted on meeting Mengmu in person.When the two came to the inner hall, the furnishings in the room were simple, and it looked like they had lived a frugal life for many years and didn't want to change.Compared with their identities, this life is too outrageous... Mother Meng sat on the high hall scroll mat, and behind her stood a dignified and beautiful woman.Hearing the introduction of his son Meng Yi: "Mother, the emperor appointed the eldest son to visit you." A young and handsome son walked into Meng's mother's sight, while the beautiful woman behind her lowered her head shyly, not daring to lift it up.Mother Meng first bowed in the direction of Xianyang Palace excitedly, and then got up to salute Fusu: "Thank you my emperor for not giving up! Thank you Your Highness for not giving up!" Fusu took a few steps forward to help him: "Mrs. If it is inconvenient, Fusu is a junior, so there is no need to perform this great gift."

The entourage filed in and neatly arranged some valuable gifts and precious medicinal materials.But there are twenty bolts of high-quality fabrics of various colors, thirty pieces of bronze vessels, two hundred yi of gold, ten pieces of purple lamb leather tubes, five pieces of fox fur, two pieces of golden needle silk cloaks, pearls, emeralds, agates, Heshibi, etc. There are five utensils each, and ten cans of royal wine.Of course, there are other small items, all available.Mother Meng looked at these and said excitedly: "Young master, I am a foolish old man who is about to go to the earth. Mr. He Lao made a note and came to visit the door in person! Please sit down quickly." Fusu casually glanced at the old lady behind her Girl, I was surprised that there is such a beautiful person in the world.Hearing Mrs. Meng's words, she came to her senses and said, "Fusu was young, so I didn't think about it so far. It was Father who specially ordered me to come and visit you." Mother Meng couldn't sit still when she heard that, excitedly Lie down on the ground and kowtow towards the Xianyang Palace again: "Long live, I am here to give you a courtesy. This is a blessing I have cultivated for several generations!" Fusu stepped forward to help, and said warmly: "It is so inconvenient for the old lady, why bother?" !"

"Mother." Seeing the old lady like this, the woman was afraid of getting tired, so she also stepped forward to help, not wanting to meet Fusu's eyes.The woman quickly dodged away, her face was already blushing.Speaking of this woman, she is indeed dignified and beautiful, different from those heavily made-up maids in the Qin Palace.It's hard to tell if it's a southerner or a northern girl. She is not pretentious or artificial, and there is a rare, wild reserve and stubbornness in her tenderness.It was these that moved the young master Fusu's heart. Meng's mother looked at Meng Yi reproachfully, implying a kind of hope and anxiety, and said: "Meng Tian is really a child, I have never seen a person who has no rules like him. A few years ago, when he was old and didn't know it, he almost After dissipating all the family wealth, he knelt down and begged me to allow him to ask the emperor to go to the border, saying that the Great Qin Kingdom must win the northern border first, and then wait for the opportunity to deal with the Huns." Meng Yi hurried forward and held his mother's hands: " Mother, what are you talking about, my brother's wealth is not distributed to irrelevant people, but to the soldiers who followed his father or even his grandfather through life and death, and my brother can't bear to see them living without a place to live."

Only then did Fusu understand: "Oh! Let me tell you, for several generations of generals in the Meng Mansion, it is not enough for them to live in such a house and live such a life just by being rewarded by the imperial court. It turns out that you are still helping those retired veterans for the country. A loyal minister! After I go back, I must tell my father and let the court..." "Master, you must not." Meng Yi hurriedly dissuaded: "Zhou Ji retired veterans, this is the tradition of the Meng family, and it is not worth mentioning at all. It is all my fault. If Brother Ming turns around, he will definitely blame me. You must keep it for the Meng family. Secret. The property is all belongings outside the body, enough for temporary use, why bother to be so greedy? There are few people in Mengfu, and the expenses are small, and our life is quite good. My elder brother and family are all in Shangjun, and I have never asked for help from my family. I want something. On the contrary, during the holidays, my sister-in-law always sends us some souvenirs."

"So it's like this..." Fu Su cried out in surprise. The more Fusu looked at the girl in front of her, the more she liked her more and more. She had never heard of such a beautiful daughter in their family. "Old madam, Ling'ai is...why never heard of it..." Seeing the young master mentioning her, the woman stood up shyly and retreated into the room but could not come out.Meng's mother also saw the unusual gazes of the two people, and she understood in her heart: "Young Master, I don't know. My daughter is named Lan Yuan, and she is the foster daughter adopted by the old man. It was more than ten years ago, when the Meng Tian brothers went to school, they were snowing on the road. She was rescued from the field. Looking at the one who is now, the two elder brothers teach her to read, read, play the piano, and draw whenever they have time..." Fusu was astonished as if listening to a scripture: "Oh! So it is like this..."

Mother Meng deliberately wanted to show off Lan Yuan raised by her own daughter in front of the son, and said: "Yuaner, come quickly and refill the tea for the son." Lan Yuan came obediently, refilled Fusu's tea, and bowed slightly : "Sir, please use it slowly." Then she came to sit beside the old lady, dignified, beautiful and quiet. Fusu asked with great interest: "May I ask where Miss Lan Yuan is from?" Meng Yi hurriedly said: "Master, sister Lan Yuan's parents probably died back then, and she was just a weak woman. My brother and I brought her back I never left the mansion again." Fusu suddenly felt pity, and said with emotion: "This is a blessing in disguise, which is rare and rare! Miss Lanyuan is really lucky. The name is also good, so it can be seen that the girl's biological parents must be... ..." Lan Yuan was much more relaxed, raised her head slightly, and said with cherry lips: "Master, I don't know, the name of the little girl is still given by the elder brother, and the little girl still doesn't know who the biological parents are." Fu Su suddenly had a whim, Question: "Is there no news about General Meng at home?"

"Others have big hearts, and we don't matter in his heart..." This caused the old man to feel unhappy again.Fusu saw Mother Meng's complicated inner feelings, and said: "Old lady, don't be angry, the general traveled all over the world, there must be a touching heart from him to be loyal to the royal family. Although I don't know him well, I believe that he is a man of accomplishment. Otherwise, how can the father always miss him!" Mother Meng was surprised: "My lord, do you mean that the emperor is also constantly talking about him?" Fusu nodded in agreement. Meng Yi interjected from the side: "I remembered something. Lan Yuan, do you remember the last time my sister-in-law returned to Beijing to visit her mother and said that she received a letter from home?" Lan Yuan said: "Yes, there is such a thing, right now It was a letter from my elder brother. My sister-in-law also said that my elder brother said in the letter that he knew that he had no face to write to his mother to greet him, and he only said that he would go home as soon as possible and go to his mother to plead guilty!" Fusu couldn't help but said pleasantly: "This way It seems that the general is coming back soon." Fusu didn't want to delay, got up and said goodbye: "The old lady is in good health, so I can go back and report to the emperor. The old lady is healthy, so I can help Su go." Meng's mother hurriedly got up : "The young master is thinking about the country and sharing the worries of the emperor. He is a very busy person. How dare the old man delay the young master. Yi'er, Lan'er, help the mother to send the young master off." Fusu said in a panic: "Old lady, you don't have to do this..." Meng Mansion Up and down still send son Fusu out of the house. Mother Meng said again: "Young master, let's go. The second child, I will send you off for my mother." Fusu embraced and saluted: "Old lady, please go back." And deliberately loudly said: "Miss Lanyuan, come to my house when you are free. Let's play." Lan Yuan was so panicked that he couldn't return the courtesy: "What is Lan Yuan's status, Lan Yuan must not have the kindness of my son..." Fu Su took advantage of the situation to help Lan Yuan, looked at each other, and instantly conveyed thousands of feelings: "Million! Don't talk nonsense, I'll wait for you." After finishing speaking, he boarded the carriage, the wheels rattled, and drove into the busy streets of Kyoto. Lan Yuan's face was blushing, and she stepped forward to help Meng's mother back home.Mother Meng sighed softly: "Lan'er, he must have taken a fancy to you." "Mother..." Lan Yuan felt as if she had knocked over a five-flavored bottle, feeling everything. In May, the grasslands began to turn green on a large scale, and the warm spring breeze made people ecstatic.Outside the Hetao, the desert is full of smoke, and the sky and the earth are turbid as far as the eye can see.Not long after the sun rose, a caravan of camels appeared on the grasslands of the Gobi desert on the east side of the river, and the landscape suddenly became a red silhouette.The caravan walked down the high Mount Ai along the river from the plateau platform. At the foot of the mountain is the endless spring water of Pinghu Lake. The vast water surface is sparkling with golden waves under the fiery red sky.Between the lake and the lake is a wide and flat wilderness wetland. Some refugees who came early and the tribe of King Xitixiutu who just arrived a few years ago live in harmony with each other. They live together on this vast plain and cultivate some crops. In addition, they live by fishing and hunting.It's a really nice place, and every newcomer falls in love with it at first sight. The caravan meandered north along the mountain and wild trails.The direction they walked was the place where the tribes of King Xitixiutu of the Huns were frequently active, on the verge of the east foot of the Beimang River (Yellow River).In the field of vision, the cowhide tents of the Huns are clustered in the east and gathered in the west, and cattle, sheep and livestock are scattered in the big rivers and rivers.A few Hun teenagers are galloping on their horses, giggling and playing on horseback, shuttling back and forth among the cattle and sheep.Their mothers kept complaining and reprimanding, but the teenagers would not listen, but still acted recklessly, so startled that the girls hugged their heads and avoided them, not daring to look at them. In the oblique stab, an older boy came to the caravan like flying, and then slowed down the reins.Then, several other teenagers followed, looking curiously at these uninvited guests who came to the grassland from Longxi. The man in the caravan wearing a bamboo hat carefully looked at these young Huns, and found that they were only about ten years old, some even younger, but they were already very skilled in riding strong horses.The older boy asked the man pulling the camel: "Do you have a knight's saber?" Most people in the caravan did not understand the Huns.The man pulling the camel spread his hands gracefully, shook his head and said, "I'm very sorry, it's a scarce commodity, and I'm afraid all countries will ban it." The Hun boy glanced at the camel caravan in great disappointment, and left like flying away. The middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat said: "Bronze and iron wares are the main commodities that our Great Qin Kingdom restricts foreign trade. Huh! These little things, I want to be a knight at a young age." A well-dressed and handsome man next to him The young man seems to understand the Huns better: "The knight enjoys the highest status of the Huns, and is highly respected by his tribe. His authority cannot be violated. The Great Qin practiced Zhou rituals, the old and the young were orderly, respecting the old and loving the young; but they were upside down I believe that those who are not afraid of the strong are fundamental and must obey it. It is a matter of course for young people who advocate force to eat first and occupy first, which determines all affairs in the tribe.” Such an explanation is enviable, showing his knowledge and insights extraordinary. The man wearing the hat couldn't help feeling fond of the young man, and at the same time guessed his identity.The other party is also guessing the identity of the man wearing the hat and his followers.Sure enough, the entourage of the man wearing the bamboo hat asked, "Do the Huns have their own country? Where is their royal city?" "They have a country." The man continued: "Their ancestor was the last Xia Lord of the Xia Dynasty more than two thousand years ago, called Lugui. After Lugui was destroyed by Tang, he lost the great rivers and mountains of the Central Plains. However, his three sons led the rest of the tribe to sneak into the northern grasslands and began a long nomadic career. This is the ancestor of the Huns. The Huns have a very strong national consciousness and do not violate the wishes of their ancestors. In order to strengthen the ethnic group, brothers died in battle, brothers Wives and sisters-in-law; father's death, except for the biological mother, sons, wives, fathers and concubines are regarded as normal, which is called "receiving and adopting marriage". Li Wang and other lower-ranking officers, such as the left and right big households, brought gifts and gathered in the court of Shanyu Wang to discuss military and state affairs and discuss tribal survival issues." Everyone listened with gusto and didn't want to disturb the young people. At this moment, "Dang lang, dong lang!" came a melodious sound of camel bells.A man suppressed a female voice and sang: In March, you followed the general to attack the country of Zhao, and you married a new daughter of Zhao, so you forgot about the slave family. Bad conscience, bad morals, from now on I will leave my mother and daughter to eat chaff and swallow vegetables and wait for you. Now, the heavens have the eyes to make you lose power, and come back to find the servant... Hearing the rushing water of the river rushing out of the Aishan Gorge, the sound shook the gorge, and then flowed down the mountain range and meandered thousands of miles away, making the Yellow River in the shape of "ji", which was vividly compared to the North River by the local people. python river. The big hounds follow the caravans of business travelers, sometimes having fun, and sometimes hunting and not returning.But after returning, the very vigilant ears and eyes are always searching for all possible sounds and movements habitually.It seems that only it is the only guard of the caravan.There are fifty camels in this caravan, most of which are food, cloth and small daily commodities.The situation of the Xiongnu generally does not restrict the freedom of movement of such business groups.Without the merchant group, the life of the Huns and other ethnic groups is unimaginable, so the merchant group is very popular here, especially those who carry a large amount of food into northern Xinjiang, and are also protected by the Hun army. The man in the bamboo hat was straddling his hunchback. Opposite him was a young man with handsome features who had studied the history of the Xiongnu.The two chatted speculatively, discussing the grievances and hatreds of the Zhao Kingdom, Jin Kingdom and the Huns in the north for many years.Now they are located in Henan, and the Yellow River to the west is sluggish.The Beiyi Mountain facing each other across the river is snow-capped and extremely beautiful.The middle-aged man wearing a hat asked puzzledly: "How did the Huns find such a good place in Henan that is conducive to recuperation? For many years, no one can control how the Huns want to live, but they often succeed in occupying the ideal place to live. , are they really invincible?" "No." The young man talked eloquently: "In fact, as early as after the defeat of Xia Jie and Lu Gui, his son Chunwei succeeded the Xia Lord. He traveled thousands of miles before escaping from the pursuit of death. In the northern rockery thousands of miles away, there is something growing on the blackened mountain at the bottom, and the snow on the peak makes the whole mountain like a huge god with a plain cover. Looking up, it gives people a kind of inner cleanliness It is here that they began to thrive after their defeat. Therefore, even after they moved to the Tianshan Mountains and northern Liaoning several times, they still did not forget that this was the second hometown of the Great Xia subjects.” The man wearing the hat and the young man who can tell historical stories seem to know each other very well, which aroused the curiosity of the followers around him, and took the opportunity to ask: "General, you and him, do you know each other?" The young man looked at him and said, "Meeting by chance, we are not acquaintances." The young attendant was still puzzled, very ignorant, and said, "Then you... Oh! I see." He smiled secretly.The middle-aged man clearly knew that he only knew a little, so he reminded him: "What do you know? Don't ask too many questions, so as not to reveal your identity." "Yes." The young attendant smiled, and found that the handsome young man in front was concentrating on the identity of their master and servant. The two sides looked at each other, nodded politely, and then looked away. A whistle whistled, and the young attendant was very excited. It turned out that a cunning rabbit was startled by the camel team and fled in a hurry.This whistle is all too familiar to the great hound, and only its master can make such an alluring sound.It originally trailed behind the camel caravan very leisurely. At this moment, it seemed to hear the horn of marching, but it still couldn't figure out the master's real intention. However, its first reaction was to immediately deploy all its agile organs to search, and quickly locked on the target. , and then gather enough impact, and drive towards the target like an arrow, the speed is unparalleled.In fact, what the big hound was chasing was a silver fox, and the smell of the silver fox made it very energetic, and a competition started between the fields and hills.The big hound and the silver fox flickered in and out, and then disappeared completely.The enthusiasm aroused by the men in the caravan continued unabated, they howled and cheered for the big hound.When the big hound returned to the camp proudly with the trophy in its mouth, there was a burst of cheers in the caravan.The head of the camel team gave an order: Camp!Everyone stopped. At this time, the twilight is boundless and the setting sun melts into gold; on the other side of the Yellow River, the snow line on the top of the humble mountain also glows with drunken red light;The caravan set up camp on the spot, buried pots for cooking, lit the cooking smoke, and unloaded the goods. The camels began to drink water for half an hour with ease;The Gobi Grassland dedicates a yellow mud hill of several square kilometers. There is no grass on it, it is stretched flat, and the porcelain is smooth, which becomes the reason why caravans must camp here every time they pass by. Huangnigang has a broad terrain and belongs to an open land that is slowing down and bordering the Yellow River in the remaining veins of the Hengshan Plateau.It is higher than Pinghu Lake and the river bed, and it meanders down. The high and low broken banks are bathed in the setting sun, and are slowly connected with a river bay beach. Like the inspiration of the gods, this small land is exquisitely combined.In front of several Huns tents on the right side of the mountain gorge, cattle, sheep and livestock returned to the herd joined hands to sing and play a field pastoral song.When the hosts saw the caravan, it was like seeing a long-lost distinguished guest, and they walked towards the campsite with beams of joy.The shepherd dog behind him has already joined the big hound long ago, playing and running. Under Huangnigang, the Yellow River flows northward, and the water flow is turbulent.In addition to creating a few river ditches in the tidal flats, the rest of the time is still very honest and steady northward, as if passing by in a hurry to travel, and never look back.I don't know when, the Yellow River brandished a big pen, majesticly creating a huge arc with a radius of dozens of miles.After a long time, the Yellow River couldn't bear the pain of carrying the sediment, and it seemed as if the guilt was quietly paid back. The river course with a radius of several tens of miles was reborn and formed a wetland. Everyone vividly named it a beautiful and sad name-Crescent Lake.There is a saying among business groups and guests: the one who is least willing to get up is Xianyang, Kyoto, and the one who is least willing to miss a stay is Crescent Lake.It can be seen that Crescent Lake is comparable to Kyoto. The man wearing the bamboo hat stepped out of the camp, walked into the majestic and desolate afterglow of the setting sun with square steps, bathed in neon clothes, looked at the beautiful scenery in front of him happily, and gave out a burst of admiration.The drunk shadow of the sun slanted to the west, dissipating its last afterglow, swaying and falling down, sticking out its scarlet tongue, first licked the rock to test whether it had returned to the door of the house, and then suddenly walked into the rock, into the earth.At that moment, Beiyi Mountain was like a giant beast, opening its scarlet mouth, devouring the delicacy bestowed by the gods.At this time, the broad river, with its rust-colored waves, rolled away, and night fell. The young scholar also came to see the beauty of the sunset on the Yellow River at some point.He and the middle-aged man looked at each other in unison, both of them smiled, and then moved closer to each other, appearing to be intimate. "This place is really a fairyland on earth!" The middle-aged man had removed his bamboo hat at this moment, feeling deeply. "Look at this Pinghu Lake, this wet and flat wetland, you can walk hundreds of miles like this, it's a pity that it's only used for grazing livestock!" "Who says it's not!" The young man pointed to Beiyi Mountain across the river and said, "King Xitishutu of the Huns lived at the western foot of Beiyi Mountain, and his royal city was built in the northwest of Tengger. He is like the head of the entire Hun Empire." The tentacles spread to the southeast along the thousands of ravines in the Beiyi Mountains, and then crossed the Yellow River, gradually gaining a foothold in Henan. This is the frontmost position of the Xiongnu Empire. It is connected to Montenegro in the south and false in the north. At that time, the Great Chanyu would send a great wizard as an envoy to the northern rockery to pay homage to his ancestor Daxia King Si Lugui. He was buried under the moist grass under the northern rockery for more than two thousand years. Although the kings of the Huns were hard to find There are no traces of tombs, but they have passed down from generation to generation and remembered the northern rockery, and most of them look up to this mountain to worship. The northern rockery is the ancestor Si Lugui." "Oh!" The middle-aged man nodded frequently, and said with emotion: "I didn't expect that the price of Xia Zhu Lugui's loss of the Central Plains would be so high. If he knew it underground, he would regret it for more than a thousand years. However, I think that, It would be great for future generations to settle down here, if we can focus on farming and fishery for generations, what will it be like today.” "Brother is right." The young man waved his hand and pointed to the front: "Look at this fertile field, this long autumn water, the mouth of Aishan Gorge opens up branches and rivers, diverts water from the river, and irrigates the fields in the plains and hills. Everyone envies such a Puliu family. , The ideal homeland where the tribe is based. In fact, the Huns have a history of farming in the Central Plains. Even now, as long as they stop for a while during the migration, the tribe must not forget agriculture, farming and animal husbandry.” The middle-aged man was very excited when he heard it, and encouraged him to continue: "Yes, the idea is very good. The establishment of the Qin State is the time for the rise of a big country, and agriculture must be regarded as the priority of development. The replacement of people is like the sun and the moon. The vegetation, the tempering of the years and the haze of time and space are not only the Xiongnu, but also the ignorance in the Central Plains and even the entire early human history. At this time, Qin opened the door to the ignorant world for a generation and created a barbaric era. No one can stop this trend Turbulent and galloping." The words of the young man are like enlightenment, the grand blueprint that the middle-aged man yearns for has not yet been completed, after the young man's comments and arguments, it is like a sudden enlightenment, and his mood suddenly becomes brighter.The middle-aged man then said bluntly: "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. Young man, if I open a school to teach, the first thing I want to hire is a teacher like you. Those who only know that the sky is taught by you. How impractical are the Confucians."