The big ship arrived at the wharf of Changsha County, and at the invitation of Zhang Jing, the son of Changsha County Shouzhangdu, Zhou Ming and his party made a short stop in Changsha. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The arrival of Mr. Zihua caused a sensation in the whole city of Changsha, and there were countless visitors who asked to see him for a while, in order to avoid being disturbed, Zhou Ming and others lived in the county guard's mansion, Changsha County Shou Zhangdu, and even put down his official duties, feasted and drank day and night, and asked Mr. Zihua for poetry, and the hospitality was extremely courteous.

In Changsha City, in order to participate in these banquets where Mr. Zihua can be seen, the upper-class celebrities in the city are desperately competing for a seat, and for a while, even in Changsha County, it has triggered a dispute over the ranking of celebrities, and whether or not they are qualified to participate in these banquets has become the only criterion for judging whether they are "celebrities and celebrities".

Seeing that the dispute was intensifying, on March 7, the twenty-fifth year of Tiansheng, according to Zhou Ming's suggestion, the county Shouzhang personally called people to arrange for celebrities from all walks of life in Changsha, as well as literati and scholars from surrounding counties and counties, to gather in the White Crane Tower and hold a literati grand meeting.

The White Crane Tower, is a local famous building, there are nine floors and ten zhang high, this building is surrounded by a wooden platform, can accommodate thousands of people to gather here, and because the White Crane Tower is adjacent to the Orange River, it will be, also called "Orange Island Meeting".

The "Orange Island Meeting", all the celebrities and gentlemen, unanimously elected Mr. Zihua, for the opening of this meeting to make a preface, Zhou Ming put pen to thought, after a while, splashed ink, wrote a "White Crane Tower Preface", after the beginning of the meeting, in the middle of the article and wrote an article, six poems, all are excellent works, attracting participants to copy and praise.

……

After the end of the Orange Island Meeting, on the 11th, Zhou Ming and others set off again and headed west to Shuzhou.

However, there was an episode here, when everyone passed through Jingzhou, although Zhou Ming repeatedly admonished, three orders and five repetitions, the clan soldier Tian Dayong, or because of thirst, did not wait for the boiling water to boil, he drank a sip of raw water in the river, three days later, he began to have fever and diarrhea, gibberish, all kinds of treatment methods are ineffective, ten days later, he died of intestinal infection and unable to eat.

A year has passed since the trip, and the traveling team, which has gone through countless dangers and traveled 20,000 miles, has been reduced for the first time because of a mouthful of raw water.

For the first time, the atmosphere in the team was very oppressive and heavy.

Zhou Ming was also quite uncomfortable in his heart, he and these clan soldiers were nominally a master-servant relationship, but after more than a year of getting along inseparably, between them, they were already friends, brothers, and relatives.

And the clan soldier Tian Dayong is the youngest and most lively among the eight clan soldiers, sometimes he is neither big nor small, and he does not understand the rules, and often provokes criticism from other clan soldiers, but now, seeing the corpse that is gradually burning to ashes in the flames, it can be seen from everyone's expressions that they are extremely sad and reluctant.

After the body was cremated, the ashes were packed in clay pots, and Zhou Ming also called the locals to set up a mound in the cremation ground, and then found a stone stele maker to carve a tombstone.

The eulogy on the tombstone is the "Mourning for the Great Bravery" written by him himself, with more than 1,500 words throughout, describing the loyal servant, in his life, those moments and flashes worthy of being remembered by others, after reading this eulogy, no matter who it is, the deceased who died young and early in the tomb is full of emotion and deeply mourned.

The seven clan soldiers knelt down in front of the tombstone, shedding tears on their clothes.

"Dayong, it's worth your death! With this eulogy written by the young master for you, you will never be forgotten again in your life!"

"Dayong, do you know? I really hope that the person who dies is me, not you, your death is enviable, and even the Wenqu stars in the sky have written articles to mourn for you. ”

"The young master often told me that a person, no matter how ordinary and ordinary he is, there are many shining points on his body, I don't know what shining points I have, but if one day, I also die, I hope someone can write down my shining points and tell others that there is such a person...... I would be very grateful to him. ”

"Rest in peace, Dayong, your family, someone will help you take care of it, in the next life, vote for a good fetus, even if you can't cast a good fetus, I hope you can still meet a good person like the young master......"

The words of the seven clan soldiers, Chu Jingling, who was listening to them, had tears in his eyes and sobbed from time to time.

……

The departure of the clan soldier Tian Dayong, for a long time, everyone rarely had a smile on their faces, until everyone walked out of Hongzhou, into the rugged and winding, cliff stacks, ropeway difficult Shuzhou mountains, in the face of this dangerous and life-threatening journey, everyone had to cheer up, support each other, carefully, turtle in this difficult mountain road.

The mountain road of more than 300 miles took 25 days, and there were dozens of moments in the middle that almost separated life and death.

For example, on the side of the vertical cliff, on the path that can only accommodate one foot, the stone on the edge suddenly collapses a piece, and someone almost falls off the cliff with an unbalanced balance; for example, on the ropeway and plank road that have not been repaired all the year round, the planks under the feet suddenly break (Li Dazui stepped on countless planks); for example, some unhuman-triggered accidents, such as the weathered and collapsed gravel on the top of the mountain, falling from a height of 100 meters, no one can predict whether these high-speed rocks will fall on themselves?

"Oh, it's dangerous! The difficulty of Shu Road is difficult to go to the blue sky!

Silkworms and fish, why is the founding of the country at a loss? It is 48,000 years old, and it is not populated with merchants. Xidang Taibai has a bird road, which can cross the top of the heavenly pillar. The earth collapsed and the mountain destroyed the strong man to death, and then the ladder stone stacks were hooked together. There is a high standard of six dragons returning to the sun, and there is a return to the river with a wave and a reversal. The flight of the yellow crane is not yet passable, and the ape wants to spend his sorrow and climb. The green mud is a panpan, and a hundred steps and nine folds linger on the rocks. Refer to the well and breathe on your back, and sit with your hands and sigh!

Ask you when will you still travel to the west? But when I saw the ancient trees of the Sad Bird, the male and the female flew around the forest. I also heard Zigui crying the night moon, and I was sad about the empty mountain. The difficulty of the Shu Road is difficult to go to the blue sky, so that people listen to this withered face, and even the peak goes to the sky without a foot......

The difficulty of Shu Road is difficult to go to the blue sky, and look west sideways!"

After walking out of Shu Road and entering a hilly area, Zhou Ming, who breathed a sigh of relief, immediately wrote a "Shu Road Difficulty" according to the article made by Li Bai in his mind, and basically did not make any modifications, because he found that the Shu Road scene described by Li Bai was almost exactly the same as the Shu Road he had walked these days, with very little exaggeration, and he dared to swear: This steep Shu Road, more than 99% of people, only dare to walk once in their lives, and will not go a second time, including himself.

The Shu road is difficult to travel, and the interior of Shuzhou in the basin topography is suitable for the climate, spring all year round, fertile water and soil, and highly developed economy, and it has the reputation of "the land of abundance".

It is precisely because of the geographical location, a large population, abundant land, a lot of resources, and surrounded by steep mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, for thousands of years, Shuzhou has been the first place for careerists, during the successive dynastic changes, there is a "the world is not chaotic Shu first chaos, the world has been governed after Shu rule" law, Shuzhou, although it is a rather closed state in the west, to a certain extent, but it is a barometer that reflects the state of a dynasty's national fortunes.

Entering the counties of Shuzhou, Zhou Ming was quite surprised that his reputation as Mr. Zihua was also very big here.

Part of the reason is that after the establishment of Zihua Bookstore, the influence of "Zihua Anthology", and a considerable part of the reason is that the comic "The Biography of Li Bai, the Sword Immortal of Shushan", which he painted, was introduced to Shuzhou, which caused a national sensation, because this comic, set the background, is in Shuzhou, even if some of the humanistic customs presented in the comics have a large deviation from the reality, but the sense of substitution of Shuzhou readers is the strongest among all readers who have read this comic.

Out of their fanatical love for this comic, they love the house and the black, and they also admire the author of the comic.

Therefore, Zhou Ming and others, who passed through the counties of Shuzhou, were warmly welcomed, and because the government here was greatly educated, the economy was developed, the literacy rate of the common people was very high, and there were few illiterate people in the middle class.

And the Shu people are hospitable, the Shu merchants are generous, Zhou Ming and others, in Shuzhou, have encountered some of the most unimaginable experiences since they traveled the world.

They want to travel, and the carriage and coachman at the door are ready, and they can get on the carriage and go.

They wanted to stay in the hotel, and the innkeeper had already prepared a first-class room and hot water for them, and someone had already paid for them.

They are going to eat, all the good wine and good food are served, all the restaurants, all for free, because there are already people to help pay the bills.

Even, there are more than a dozen pot-bellied, wealthy Shu businessmen, saddle before and after the horse, lead the horse to the stirrup, follow and serve, and every time, in the process of Zhou Ming lifting the pen to practice calligraphy, the piece of paper he gave will attract a burst of crazy robbery, a complete poem, was shouted ten thousand yuan high price, but no one will sell.

As for a complete painting and an authentic essay of more than 1,000 words, these wealthy businessmen are even more scrambling to the extent that the dog's brain is broken, and they shout a jaw-dropping high price.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Ming sighed: "I haven't died yet, my worth has soared to such an extent, if I die, in another thousand years, I don't know how much these ink treasures will appreciate? ”

In addition to wealthy merchants, Zhou Ming dealt with the most officials and county guards of various counties in Shu, famous families, and county families, and the most accommodations were naturally the homes of these nobles.

In these noble homes, only one day as a guest, Zhou Ming understood why people said that the Shu people were hospitable, because here, there was a tradition of giving the beautiful maid pet Ji to the guest to sleep, and these beautiful maid pet Ji must also know all kinds of tricks, and you must make the guest happy, otherwise the hospitality will be inconsiderate, and the guest will be displeased, and will be punished heavily.

Therefore, in the bedroom, in the face of the delicate crying of the two beautiful maids, and kneeling and begging, Zhou Ming, who couldn't bear it, could only "laugh" at this hospitality.

The more places I walked, the more "kindness" I laughed at, and naturally more and more.

Even, in Yizhang County, the daughter of the local county guard Pang, Pang Caier, she admired Mr. Zihua's appearance and talent, and even replaced the maid who matched the bed, recommended a pillow seat, and appeared in Zhou Ming's bedroom.

"Miss Cai'er, you are still innocent, you can't do such a thing to ruin your reputation?" After recognizing her, Zhou Ming was taken aback.

A soft fragrant lip came over, and the graceful girl, breathing rapidly, untied his wide clothes and said: "To be able to hand over this innocent body to Mr. is a slave who is looking forward to it but not a blessing." ”

So, for a time, the phoenix was upside down, the red was turned over the waves, and the spring night was once.

……

After this day, Chu Jingling, who finally couldn't stand all kinds of absurdity, expressed her dissatisfaction, and she told Zhou Ming not to stay in Shuzhou for such a long time, it was better to leave as soon as possible...... Zhou Ming, who understood what she meant, nodded, and immediately asked someone to pack his bags, and early the next morning, he set off, and everyone rushed straight to Liangzhou.