Chapter 12 Chapter 10: Du Bo and Zuo Ru who died unjustly

In the next few years, the Western Zhou Dynasty lived in peace, and the tribes in the four directions were also peaceful. And the horrible concubine incident, the ghost incident of a man and a woman, as well as the curse of the mulberry bow and the quiver of straw, seem to have faded away with the passage of time, and gradually became silent. It was the forty-third year of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty. Over the past few years, King Xuan of Zhou has not become weak or absent-minded due to aging. On the contrary, his spirit is still very strong, and he is still full of energy when he manages state affairs.

However, maybe the problem is that he has too much energy, unlike ordinary old people. Although the few court strange incidents in the past few years have all disappeared, the jiao concubine no longer changes and causes troubles after returning to her human form, and she spends her days peacefully in the harem. And the ghosts of the man and the woman never appeared again, and even the footsteps of the corridor in the palace disappeared long ago. The most worrying, perhaps, is the nursery rhyme "I hate the arc, and I almost perish in the state of Zhou". Also, the strange dream that I had in the Taimiao a few years ago, in which the two ghosts of a man and a woman took God Lord Zhou away, also appeared in King Xuan's mind from time to time.

Although the doctor Zuo Ru had already found out the woman who sold the mulberry wooden bow, and had already executed the woman and abandoned the market, the old king of Zhou still seemed to have a lump in his heart, and he was always worried that the dynasty would still fall because of something. hand. On this day, King Xuan of Zhou summoned Father Boyang, the grand historian, and talked to him about the strange dream he had a few years ago. In the dream, the god master of the seven kings of the Zhou clan was tied up by a white-clothed woman, left the Taimiao, and headed east. "How do you interpret such a dream?" King Xuan of Zhou asked, "What does it mean for the luck of our Zhou clan?"

Taishi Boyang's father was a cautious man who said little. He listened to King Xuan's question, thought for a long time, and then said slowly: "I dare not speak." "But it doesn't matter!" King Xuan said impatiently, "You are called here only because you want to speak up!" "I think that the white-clothed woman in my king's dream corresponds to the hexagram of a woman wronging the country. She tied up the gods of the seven previous kings, which means that even if there are great changes in my Zhou Dynasty, the suzerain still has cigarettes. elsewhere."

"Oh?" King Xuan of Zhou couldn't help being refreshed when he heard that the cigarettes were kept burning during the sacrifice, "Then...has the nursery rhyme 'I'm tired of the scorpion, I'm about to perish in the state of Zhou' already resolved?" "According to my subordinates, the evil elephant is still there, and the threat to our court is still there." "Didn't I already execute the woman from the mountain?" King Zhou Xuan frowned and said, "Isn't that enough?" "I'm disgusted with the scorpion, and I should respond to other things. According to my subordinates, executing one or two village women will not resolve the evil..."

The conversation with Father Taishi Boyang made King Xuan of Zhou even more uneasy. In the early morning of the next day, he remembered the woman who had caused the doctor Du Bo to search for the mulberry bow and the quiver of the grass a few years ago, but there was no news for a long time. , It was brought up in the morning. "Du Bo!" King Xuan of Zhou said sharply, "I remember I ordered you a few years ago, asking you to find the demon girl who hated the scorpion. Why didn't you report it for a long time?" That doctor, Du Bo, was an official from a military background. He had grown up in stature, with a straightforward and rough personality, and he was even more forthright when he spoke.

"Since the woman from the mountains who sold the mulberry bow was put to death, I thought that the nursery rhyme had been fulfilled and the evil spirits had been eliminated, so I stopped going to disturb the people." King Zhou Xuan was furious when he heard the words, and said loudly: "Disturbing the people? Then you mean that my order disturbed the common people, don't you? If you neglect the king's orders like this, you are clearly violating your duties. If I kill you today, I will You have not been wronged!" That Du Bo was originally a soldier, with a strong and upright personality. Hearing King Xuan's words, he thought he was going to die, so he couldn't help but said loudly: "Whether it's disturbing the people or not, the world can see clearly. The sage has something to say, kill an innocent person." Ominous. That nursery rhyme was originally a rumor in the market. It’s a pity that I was ignorant of the civil and military affairs of the dynasty. I regarded it as a fairy tale, and my king even killed the innocent mountain lady because of it. I don’t want to do anything more, just don’t want to hurt the innocent again man of!"

King Xuan of Zhou was trembling with anger at being robbed by him. Some of the officials wanted to intercede for Du Bo. After hearing these words, everyone turned pale with fright, and of course no one dared to intercede for him again. Sure enough, when the old Zhou king regained his breath, he roared loudly: "Kill it! Kill it! Push this bold thief out to me and kill him!" "Clank, clang!!" There were several sounds of gold and iron rubbing against each other, and several guards rushed out from the side of the main hall, and they were about to come over to hold Du Bo up.

But Du Bo is a very stubborn person. When he saw the guards coming over, he yelled, "I don't need you! I will go by myself!" Watching the guards push Du Bo out of the hall, King Xuan of Zhou sat on the throne, panting with anger. Not long after, the guards came back holding Du Bo's head, and put it bloody on the hall. At this time, someone stepped out of the ranks of the ministers and said loudly: "Although Du Bo's words are very rude, his crimes will not lead to death!" All the ministers looked at each other in blank dismay, and turned their heads one after another, and saw that the man was Du Bo's close friend—the next doctor Zuo Ru.

King Zhou Xuan smiled angrily, and said solemnly: "Zuo Ru, you are Du Bo's friend, do you want me to behead you today?" That Zuo Confucian didn't change his face, he walked forward and held Du Bo's head in his arms, making Du Bo's blood stain his whole body red. "Du Bo's crime is not to ignore the king's order," his voice was clear and clear, and it was spread far away in the hall, "Du Bo's crime is to tell the world, let the world think that my king is only a personal grudge, A selfish person who easily puts the pillar of the country to death."

When King Zhou Xuan heard the words, his mind was moved, but he still said angrily: "Zuo Ru! Are you really not afraid of death? As long as I give an order, your head will fall to the ground. Do you want to talk more nonsense here?" Zuo Ru held Du Bo's head and smiled slightly. "Zuo Ru should also die to thank my king. When my king killed Zhongliang recklessly, Zuo Ru and all the officials came out to dissuade him, and let the people of the world curse my king in the future. This is one of the capital crimes; when a friend dies, Zuo Ru Not to be born alone, this is the second capital crime;" He looked at King Xuan of Zhou, with a tragic smile on his face, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, "That day, we killed innocent people by mistake, and let the women of the mountain people die unexpectedly, this is the third capital crime..." With a sound of "gudong", Du Bo's head fell from Zuo Ru's arms, and Zuo Ru's eyes were wide open, blood flowed from the eye sockets, his right hand hung down, and a sharp knife was actually deeply inserted into his heart. Among the officials, there was a bold one who immediately went to sniff him, only to find that he had no breath. This fierce doctor actually killed himself immediately after the death of his friend, thanking his friend for his blessing! In a state of astonishment, King Xuan of Zhou also sat on the throne in a daze, feeling rather regretful in his heart. But, of course, it was too late. In the empty hall, no one dared to make a sound at this time. The skylight outside the hall penetrated from the long corridor. In the hazy white light, Zuo Ru's body was still standing upright, with his eyes wide open, as if he was still alive. , full of resentment. The deaths of the doctor Du Bo and the next doctor Zuo Ru became a topic of discussion in Gaojing. Some people said that the two of them committed suicide, and some secretly felt that Du Bo's death was too unfair. Deep down in his heart, King Xuan of Zhou actually regretted the deaths of the two, but due to the premise that the king's order cannot be violated, this kind of thinking can only be kept in his heart.King Xuan was old, and after keeping this worry in his heart for a long time, he became a little dazed, and he couldn't concentrate on governing the state affairs so much. At this time, the old King Zhou's health also began to feel a little sick. He talked upside down and forgot about big and small things. In the autumn of that year, King Xuan of Zhou felt that his physical condition was better, and it was the hunting season in the high and refreshing autumn. . The autumn hunting of the king of a country is a huge project. After King Xuan's order is issued, the relevant officials are of course very busy and dare not neglect in the slightest. On this day, a team of ceremony officials in charge of autumn hunting was doing the final survey on the hunting ground on the outskirts of Haojing, but they suddenly heard people from the back team exclaiming loudly. beast. That strange beast looked like a tiger but not a tiger, like a leopard but not a leopard. It leaped between the hunting grounds, its movements were very flexible, and it was also very ferocious.Of course, among the group of ritual palaces that came to survey the site, there were many master hunters. After a few rounds of yelling, relying on the large number of people and horses, they formed a siege, intending to encircle the strange beast. However, the movement of the strange beast was exceptionally flexible. Although it was surrounded by it, it didn't panic at all. Some of the ceremony officials shot at it, but it avoided them one by one, and some of the arrows were caught by it. He stopped, bit it into two pieces and spit it out on the ground. The ceremonial officer in charge was named Gong Shubao. Seeing that the alien beast had been surrounded, he couldn't help but feel a little itch. He took out his bow and arrows, and ordered the surrounding ceremonial palaces to get out of the way. With his legs clamped, he rushed straight to the alien beast. and go. That strange beast seemed to be very spiritual. Although Gongshubao was coming fiercely at this moment, but because of his charge, a gap appeared in the entire encirclement. It sank its head, roared, and rushed towards Gongshubao straight ahead. Moreover, its movements became higher and higher with its steps, and the target turned out to be the throat of the uncle leopard! This charge came so fast, Uncle Leopard panicked for a moment, and shot out a feathered arrow with a "swish", but was dodged by the strange beast sideways, but the attack on his throat was not hindered... … The ceremony officers on the side had already exclaimed at this time, seeing that it was the catastrophe of disembowelling... Even Gongshubao himself had closed his eyes and waited to die, but he regretted ignoring the ferocity and swiftness of this strange beast in his heart. At that moment of lightning and flint, with a sound of "chi", the strange beast suddenly screamed miserably, and blocked the momentum of Uncle Leopard's attack, as if being hit by some giant object, it abruptly jumped out of the air. fell to the ground. After the strange beast landed on the ground, it rolled a few times on the ground, as if it had suffered great trauma. Naturally, it didn't dare to fight, so it limped into the forest with its tail between its legs. But Gong Shubao narrowly escaped from death, sitting on the horse in a daze, holding a bow and arrow, thinking of the thrill just now, but his body trembled disobediently. The etiquette officers and hunters were also stunned, turning their heads slowly in unison, but their eyes were focused on the same place. Just now, everyone heard the astonishing sound of breaking through the sky. Everyone is an expert at hunting, and they also know that the weapon that knocked down the strange beast at the nick of time should be a weapon like a slingshot. Everyone looked at the direction of the person who fired the bullet in unison, but saw a short boy. The place where the boy was located was about thirty steps away from Gongshu Bao. The marbles fired at such a distance could make such an astonishing sound of piercing through the air, which showed that the boy's physical strength must be astonishing. At this moment, Gong Shubao, the official in charge of ceremonies, was in shock, and when he turned his head and saw the young man, he nodded secretly, and rode his horse over. "Young man!" he yelled, with an admiring expression on his face, "Good skill, what's your name?" The young man was dressed in a hunter's attire, his face was still childish, and his body was not particularly strong, but he was amazingly powerful when he drew the bow. "My name is Yangtongye," the boy said calmly, "Sir." Uncle Leopard smiled. "You just saved my life! Do you often hunt in this area? Where are you from?" "I live in Baocheng now, and I usually make a living by hunting. Today, because I was greedy to hunt a few wild deer, I traveled a little far, so I came here." Gongshubao looked him up and down approvingly for a while, then nodded. "You are a good talent! If you want to serve the imperial court in the future, remember to come to my Uncle Bao," he said with a loud smile, "but it won't work in the next few days, my king will hold an autumn hunting here, so you are here for a few days Don't stay in this area, so as not to get yourself into trouble, you know?" "understood." With a sound of "pa", Gong Shubao slapped the horse's back, turned around and walked away.Yang Tongye saw a blur in front of his eyes, something was coming towards him, he stretched out his hand to catch it, but it was Gong Shubao who threw the silver-handled riding whip over. "This is a thank you gift for you. Thank you for saving my life. You can come to me with this token in the future." His voice came from afar, "Remember, don't stay in this area for a few days." At this moment, all the ceremony officials shouted loudly, the voices of people and the sound of horseshoes rose and fell one after another, and the crowd of horses and horses just sped away like this, and disappeared behind the mountain after a while. The boy Yang Tongye was already fourteen years old at this time, when he and Si Da went to Baocheng with the baby girl in their arms, they settled down there.Later, in Baocheng, the young man met several hunters who had met outside the city of Haojing, and followed them to hunt for a living. After a few years, he also became a good hunter. On this day, as he himself said, After chasing some prey a little farther, it broke into King Zhou Xuan's hunting ground. Although Baocheng is some distance away from Haojing, merchants who come and go will still talk about the city of Haojing from time to time. The young man heard about the mistaken killing of Du Bo and Zuo Ru by King Xuan of Zhou, and he also knew that it was related to Sida's wife back then. Being killed has something to do with it. "However, it's better not to provoke this kind of royal and noble affairs?" Yang Tongye thought to himself.Therefore, even though Uncle Bao had invited him earlier, Yang Tongye didn't have a good impression of the majestic Haojing City. He carefully looked at the horsewhip given by Uncle Baobao. The silver handle was quite finely carved. He raised his hand and waved it around, and the horsewhip made a crisp sound of "cracking" in the air. Anyway, it was considered a useful thing, so the young man put his horsewhip around his waist, turned around and burrowed into the grass, concentrating on hunting. Strange to say, after such a toss, Yangtongye has never found any large prey for most of the day, and only saw a few hares and pheasants sporadically.Because it was difficult to hunt in such a far place, he didn't want to go back to Baocheng so soon, so he wandered aimlessly in the mountains and forests. Walking to a valley and turning a corner, the eyes are suddenly bright. I saw a clear sky in front of me, along the mountain, there is a gurgling river in the flat place, the water is rippling, and the reeds on the sandbar on the river are swaying in the wind, which makes people feel peaceful after seeing it. This picturesque scenery is no stranger to Yang Tongye, because it was here that he found the little baby girl Baosi. After moving to Baocheng, Si Da didn't read any books anyway, so he used local materials, and named the baby girl "Baosi" after taking one word from Baocheng and his own name. A few years have passed, and the little baby girl has grown rapidly, and is now a four or five-year-old girl. Thinking of Baosi's lovely red face, Yang Tongye couldn't help feeling warm in his heart, suddenly missed her very much, wanted to return to Baocheng quickly, and kiss her cheeks as red as apples. Walking to the river, seeing that he was also covered in sweat, Yang Tongye bent down and washed his face. In the sound of splashing water, suddenly, as if there was something strange around him, he became alert and stopped washing his face. Not far behind him on the right, at this moment, two people came. Two strange-looking people, a man and a woman. The man looked quite majestic, very tall, with a kind light in his eyes. The woman was dressed in fluttering white, and her appearance was quite beautiful. The man looked at Yang Tongye, was stunned for a while, but his eyes widened abruptly, and he said in a low voice, "Look! Yao Sheng!" He patted the woman on the shoulder, with a surprised expression on his face: "Look at that little brother, have you seen it?" The woman named "Yao Sheng" nodded, but her expression was not as surprised as he was. "It should be a primordial spirit like 'Houji', right? But he is still young, and it seems that he hasn't developed it yet." Yang Tongye tilted his head and looked at the two of them in surprise, although he could hear the content of their conversation quite clearly, he still didn't understand the meaning of these words. What is "Yuan Shen"? Can these two people see their ancestor god "Hou Ji"? Seeing his puzzled expression, the man smiled gently, waved his hand, and beckoned him to come over. "Little brother, don't be afraid, we are not bad people," he smiled kindly, looking quite hearty, "My name is Di Menghun, and this is my wife Yao Sheng." Hearing his name, Yang Tongye couldn't help opening his mouth, and said in a low voice, "Are you Di Menghun?" Back then, when the storyteller's grandfather was still only fifteen or sixteen years old, he once met a strange man named Di Menghun in Xiaoshen's valley. In the narration of the storyteller grandfather, Di Menghun's name was mentioned more than once. He himself said that when he traveled around, he tried to find the legend related to this name, but he never found it. Unexpectedly, it was Yang Tongye himself who met Di Menghun himself in such a situation. Di Menghun listened carefully to Yang Tongye's narration with a solemn expression on his face, and he let out a long breath when he reached a paragraph in his narration. "What your story-telling grandpa saw was indeed done by me," Di Menghun said, "At that time, my wife and I learned that there was such a legend about the 'God of Flute', and we realized that this God of Flute might be related to us. I knew it was related to an evil god, so I went to that valley to fight him to the death." As he spoke, his face couldn't help showing a fascinated expression: "At that time! We..." Speaking of this, he suddenly stopped talking, just stared at the back of the young Yang Tongye in a daze. The young man was listening intently to his narration of the battle with God Xiao, but he saw Di Menghun looking behind him in a daze as if in a daze. After a long time, Di Menghun took a deep breath. "Let's not talk about these past events, boy," his face turned solemn, "I have something to ask you." Yang Tongye nodded, agreeing to answer his question. Di Menghun turned around and exchanged glances with Yao Sheng, Yao Sheng smiled slightly, motioning him to continue asking. "Did you know that you have special abilities different from ordinary people?" Di Menghun asked. Yang Tongye hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Know." "But you don't have a deep understanding of this ability, and you don't even use it often, do you?" "yes." In fact, Yang Tongye doesn't have a good impression of his unique plant control ability, and even hates it.When he was a child, he had witnessed his father being burned to death because of such a strange ability, and since then, he has developed a mentality of rejection of his own strange ability. Di Menghun listened to him briefly describe what happened to his father back then, with a look of sympathy and pity on his face. "The ability of you and your father is the result of some strange events in ancient times, and what happened to your father is actually a tragedy caused by the ignorance of the villagers. This ability may be one of the reasons, but it is not It means that having this ability will definitely cause harm, on the contrary, if it is used properly, it can also help you achieve great things." "This ability..." Yang Tongye wondered, "How did it appear?" Di Menghun looked at him, pondered for a while before shaking his head apologetically. "The reason for this is actually quite complicated. You probably won't understand it at such a young age, and it's hard for me to explain it to you," he said, "However, we generally call this peculiar ability It is the 'Yuan Shen'." "Yuan Shen?" Yang Tongye asked curiously, "Why is it called 'Yuan Shen'?" "In the human body, there are actually many different geniuses and abilities. As long as you have the appropriate key, you can move them out and use them for us." He said with a smile: "And this 'primordial spirit' is the many wizards in you. A kind of supernatural power, some people's soul is weak and can't show it, some people's soul is strong, like you, you can do many things that ordinary people can't do." "Just like my father?" Yang Tongye lost his voice: "Could it be that he can make the crops on the field dance, and that's what 'Yuan Shen' does?" "That's right." Di Menghun nodded affirmatively: "It's just because you father and son can't see your own soul, that's why you neglected your great ability." As he was talking, suddenly his eyes flashed: "Young man!" Yang Tongye was startled, and quickly responded: "Yes." "As far as I can see, your primordial spirit is extremely powerful. If you can make good use of it, it must be a very powerful force. I think you are kind-hearted, so you shouldn't use this ability to bully the weak..." His voice Turned into a firm, "Therefore, I would like to give you some pointers so that you can use your primordial ability. I wonder if you would like to?" The personality of the young man Yang Tongye is the same as that of the old storyteller. He is very interested in unknown things. Even though he had a bad memory when he was young, he couldn't help being curious about his plant ability. . So he nodded. "Yes," the boy said generously, "Please teach me." However, it was Yao Sheng, a woman in white, who really taught him to induce this ability. Over the long years in the past, Yao Sheng had a very deep understanding of the execution of many spells.She used to take Sangyang Wuhuan to explore the ground with the "earth and wood escape method" in the era of Fengshenbang, and she also learned a lot of various escape methods from the earth-walking strange man Fear Liusun hundreds of years ago. Therefore, she has a much deeper understanding of how to control this energy than Di Menghun. However, now it is much easier to teach Yang Tongye how to control the "primordial spirit" than to learn the art, because the academic method is to let a beginner accumulate bit by bit from scratch, but like a sheep A person with such qualifications as Tongino can achieve considerable achievements with a little guidance. Sure enough, under her guidance, after Yang Tongye learned the control methods of concentration, understanding, retraction, etc., he could already see his soul "Houji". For the first time, Yang Tongye saw the green transparent figure behind him under the silent mountain scenery, and couldn't help taking a long breath. "Your primordial spirit 'Houji' has a very strong ability to control plants." Finally, Di Menghun said to Yang Tongye earnestly: "Every 'primordial spirit' is a vast and unknowable deep world. What the two of you can do for you today is nothing more than this, as for what kind of cultivation you and your 'Hou Ji' will have in the future, you can only rely on your own speculation and hard work..." Another implication of this passage is that it is time to say goodbye to the two of them. Getting along with Di Menghun and Yao Sheng was only a short afternoon, and although it was only such a short period of time, Yang Tongye had already developed a feeling for them like relatives and parents. Seeing the boy's dazed expression, Di Menghun patted him on the shoulder and smiled gently. "There will be fate in the future, and we will definitely meet again. I hope that when we meet next time, your abilities will have greatly improved." Then, Di Menghun and Yao Sheng left quietly. However, perhaps out of good intentions, or because he did not want to involve the young man in the fierce battle between gods and man, Di Menghun did not tell the young man a very important key. Back then in the Xiaoshen Valley, the old man who told the story once saw the majestic and heroic posture of Di Meng's soul god with a horizontal sword. Moreover, before he slashed furiously with the sword, he once shouted a person's name. Nam Doo! Nandou, the god in white! But Di Menghun didn't tell Yang Tongye Nandou about it. It also didn't explain why when he attacked "Xiao Shen" angrily, he shouted "Nandou"! Just because of the negligence of this small link, soon after, the young Yang Tongye almost lost his life. (After the first part, please continue to read the second part "A Smile in the City")