On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, whether it is a high-ranking official, a rich family or a poor family, it will begin to be a New Year's standard. , clean the yard, clean all kinds of utensils, dismantle and wash the bedding curtains, dust and dirt cobwebs, and dredge open channels and culbits. Then it is to prepare the New Year's goods, and the rich people are naturally chicken, duck and fish, silk and satin, tea, wine and oil sauce, and snacks and fruits.

Even people who don't have money will cut two catties of pork belly that they are usually reluctant to eat, buy a little white noodles, cut a cabbage, and happily make a dumpling.

This winter, the wind and snow in Juchong Pass are exceptionally heavy, the mountains are full of wilderness, and all that can be seen is a dazzling white. Even the big trees, the mounds, and the eaves behind the house are a world of snow. The green tiles, gray walls, and wooden gates with red paint and mottled traces of arrows were also frozen and crystal clear.

Juchong Pass is majestic and majestic, and it is also a very important city checkpoint, which completely separates the rich land of the Central Plains from the vast grassland, so it has always been a fortress place for soldiers to fight.

Despite approaching the border, the North City Gate was still crowded with people, and there was a long queue waiting to enter the gate. Among them were the common people, merchants, and slaves. There are ordinary looking people from the Central Plains, and there are also Khitan people with burly figures, disheveled hair, and nose rings and earrings, in short, dragons and snakes are mixed and chaotic. The only thing they have in common is that they are all heavily dressed, with their necks shrunk and cuffs cuffed, swearing in their mouths, and stomping their feet back and forth impatiently.

It's freezing on this day, and no one wants to stay in this hellish place where they can almost freeze their nose for long. It's a pity that there is a wooden fence at the gate of the north city, and a team of soldiers is carefully checking the passers-by. So the team moves at a turtle speed.

A little further away from the city gate, there is a grass hut and a thick felt cloth on the outside to shelter from the wind and snow. In the shed, there is a man dressed in a leader's costume who is holding a teapot and drinking it with his legs crossed. There was a thriving brazier at his feet. There are also some melon seeds, peanuts, oranges and other foods to eat.

His sharp, greedy eyes swept through the crowd. Especially when he saw those richly dressed businessmen, or women with delicate faces and slender figures, he would always stare at them fiercely.

It's a pity that the weather is so bad today, and the beautiful girls who have a little appearance seem to have discussed it. All gone. He was shocked by either the coarse-clad man with a scruffy beard or the cowering villagers in the neighborhood, which made him feel a little depressed.

He was flanked by a young soldier with pudding on his uniform. Also vigilantly staring at the slow-moving crowd, he frowned, and whispered in the ear of the little leader: "Head, there seem to be a lot of Khitans these days. ”

The little boss grinned with yellow teeth. I slipped another sip of tea. "Yes! I haven't seen snow like this in years. This winter, there is snow in the grasslands except for snow. The sheep that the herders relied on for their survival, the horses had no life without fodder, and I heard that many nomadic tribes in the steppe had been swallowed up by some large tribes. Therefore, many Khitan herdsmen who escaped wanted to enter our Juchong Pass to seek a glimmer of life. ”

The young soldier asked with some concern: "Head, you said that if those Khitans are hungry and red-eyed, will they have the idea of beating our Juchong Pass?" ”

The little leader rolled his eyes and said, "They dare!" Since twenty years ago, the first emperor himself led a large army to the north to conquer the grassland desert. After defeating those Khitans! All the major tribes of the Khitans, including the Khitan royal family, were all greatly damaged. At least seven out of ten tents were empty. The pastures of those years also grew exceptionally lush. Just because there are countless white bones of Khitans buried underneath.

Later, there was the heroic and warlike General Liu Yunbao guarding our important checkpoints, and he always took the initiative to attack, and he drove all those Khitans to the depths of the grassland, and he didn't even dare to show his head. It's been five full years now, and there is no major war at the border pass, at most, every winter, when the green and yellow are not received, those hungry and red-eyed Khitans are like thieves, harassing those villages outside the pass that have no military force stationed. And he has always run away after grabbing, and he doesn't dare to meet the soldiers and horses of our court at all. You say, do they dare to fight our idea of the Giant Surge Pass? ”

Hearing him say this, the young soldier couldn't help but straighten his waist and said triumphantly: "That's! We have 10,000 soldiers in Juchong Pass! The soldiers are strong and strong, and they don't dare to touch our tiger whiskers. ”

The little leader no longer had the heart to mess with the young soldiers, and his eyes were fixed on one of the Khitans' prey. He stretched out his hand and pointed forward, and said to the young soldier, "Go and call that Khitan man." ”

The Khitan he pointed out looked to be in his thirties, with a full beard and very luxurious clothing. He wore a black felt hat with pearls on his head, a furry black fur coat on his body, a scimitar studded with large stones around his waist, and a gold ring on ten fingers that could dazzle a man's eyes.

Behind him was a long team of horses, each carrying a large bag of goods on their backs. There were also more than a dozen Khitan men who were poorly dressed and ordinary, but equally burly and powerful, and followed them to take care of the horses.

When the young soldier got the order, he immediately ran quickly to the richly dressed Khitan and asked arrogantly, "Hey, what's your name?" ”

A gleam flashed in the Khitan's eyes, and then he quickly lowered his eyes. He touched his chest with his left hand, bent down slightly, and said respectfully: "Below, Jeruthere." ”

The young soldier frowned and muttered, "What a wild donkey, this name is really ugly." He raised his voice, pointed to the grass hut on the side, and said unceremoniously: "Okay, wild donkey Tielie, our captain wants to see you, you go over." ”

Jelotherel grinned his white teeth and smiled strangely, like a cunning and treacherous steppe wolf. He pointed to his nose and said in unusually fluent Chinese: "Master Jun, are you sure that your captain wants to see me?" ”

The young soldier said impatiently, "Am I still talking nonsense?" Don't waste time, be careful of off our captain and arrest you all as if you were a small worker. ”

"Who do you say is the fine work" Yelu Tilie didn't say anything, but these Khitan men he brought stopped doing it. One by one, they glared at the young soldier with fierce and vicious expressions.

"What do you want to do, do you want to make trouble?" The young soldier pressed the saber at his waist in one hand and shouted in a loud voice. The crowd immediately erupted. Immediately, the other soldiers paid attention, and began to gather vigilantly in this direction.

Yelu Tilie's face tightened, and he immediately made gestures to suppress the commotion on his side, and then accompanied him to say to the young soldier: "They are all rough people, they don't know how to speak, and please don't blame the military master." As he spoke, he took two gold rings from his fingers. Quietly slipped into the soldier's hand.

The young soldier was overjoyed, and hurriedly accepted the two large gold rings, and then waved his hand to the other soldiers who had already gathered around. shouted loudly: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, it's all gone!" Seeing that he had spoken, the soldiers gradually dispersed.

And he took Jeroderith with him to the hut and met the little leader. The little leader was not in a hurry to speak to Jeroderi. Instead, he spread his palms to the young soldier. Rolling his eyes, he said, "Bring it!" ”

The young soldier's face froze, and he took one of the rings from his bosom and put it in his palm. The little boss weighed the weight of the ring, put it to his mouth and bit it hard, after making sure that it was real gold. He smiled with satisfaction and took the ring into his arms. Yeluteri watched his every move with a smile on his face, but his eyes showed more and more ridicule and coldness.

The little leader put away the ring and sent the young soldier away. Only then did he look Yelu Tilie up and down, and said with a smile: "Your kid is quite generous!" Say. What kind of goods are you carrying in that caravan, and are there any contraband? ”

Jertheel grinned. showed a mouthful of white teeth, and said in fluent Chinese: "Master Jun, I am an honest trader, and I dare not transport any contraband." There were some animal skins, tiger bones, deer antler velvets, medicinal herbs and the like. I want to go to Kannai to change a batch of salt, iron pot and cotton cloth. ”

Before Yelu Tilie could finish speaking, the little leader sneered and said, "Okay, you kid is good, it seems that you can make a lot of money on this trip." But according to the rules, all your baggage must be opened and checked by my subordinates. ”

"Open them all?" Yelutti looked embarrassed, and said: "Master Jun, it's not that I don't want to cooperate, but I still have a lot of goods, if I open them all and check them one by one, it will take at least half an hour, that's not a blind delay!" As he spoke, he took off all the gold rings on his hand, at least five or six, all of which were placed in front of the little leader, and then said with a smiling face: "Master Jun, see if you can make it convenient, let us go." ”

The little leader's greedy gaze swept over the pile of gold rings, then fixed on the luxurious scimitar at his waist. It was also strange that the scimitar was too conspicuous, and the ruby inlaid on the scabbard was at least the size of a pebble, and there was a strange pattern made of gold, which was particularly dazzling against the white snow.

The little boss stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, and said cheekily: "Forget it, I see that you are also honest in business." You leave this scimitar behind, and you can go in with your goods and men. ”

Jelotherel stared at the little boss with a gloomy gaze. Suddenly, he laughed and said, "Master Jun is really good eyesight, this scimitar is a token left by my family, and it is extremely precious." Even if a thousand taels of gold were placed in front of me, I was reluctant to sell it. ”

The little boss who said what Yelutelie said became more and more greedy in his heart, and he said impatiently: "What are you talking about, leave things behind, you take your people and go quickly!" ”

Yelu Tilie slowly untied the scimitar in his waist, and said with a mysterious face: "There is no problem for the military master to want this scimitar, but this scimitar is a treasure handed down from the clan, and it naturally has its peculiarities. Why don't you let me show it to the military master."

"What's so magical about a knife?" The little leader listened to his words and became more and more interested. He craned his neck, his greedy gaze fixed on the scimitar, but he didn't see the strange sneer on the corner of Jerodiel's mouth.

Yelu Tilie grabbed the handle of the knife, slowly pulled out the blade that was overflowing with cold light and extremely sharp, and said: "Master Jun, please see, the strange thing about this scimitar is that as long as it is unsheathed, it will definitely see blood." ”

The blood was still in his mouth and not completely spit out, and the scimitar had been completely unsheathed and turned into a death scythe that harvested life, and when he heard a "click", the little leader's great head had already soared into the sky, and the blood spurting out of his neck splattered Yelutelie's body. After half a sound, the corpse, which had no head and only a body, convulsed, and fell unwillingly.

"Ahh Killed"

After a moment of silence, chaos ensued at the North Gate. The panicked people began to run and flee in all directions, intending to get away from the butcher's knives hanging over their heads and ready to reap their lives.

More than a dozen Khitans brought by Yelu Tilie drew out their weapons hidden under the belly of the horse, like jackals that broke into the flock of sheep, and killed people when they saw them, and countless corpses soon fell on the ground.

Because there was no fighting for a long time, there was only a small detachment of soldiers guarding the north city gate, and there were only about 20 people in Minzhuang. The leader was killed by Jeruthereh, and the rest of the ordinary soldiers could not command anyone. They could not organize effective resistance, and soon they were defeated, and the North City Gate was occupied by the Khitans in an instant.

Yelutelie's face was covered with hot blood, and he held a scimitar overflowing with cold light, and howled in Khitan language: "Sons, we are fed up with the miserable days of being driven around like dogs without food, without women. We are the best fighters. We want to fight, we want to plunder. In this giant chong pass, there are a large number of grains, treasures, and Han women with fine skin and tender meat waiting for you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the Khitans howled excitedly, holding their weapons.

Instead, he fell silent, and he looked into the distance, until he saw a myriad of small black dots suddenly appear on a snow-white horizon in the distance, and the black dots grew larger and larger, and the sound of horses' hooves gradually became clearer, and finally it was like a storm, coming from far to near towards the Great Surge Pass. The vast and silent earth seemed to tremble and mourn with it.

When the people saw it in the distance, they couldn't help but kneel on the ground in despair, and cried out sadly: "Heaven! The fierce god is here again, and the border can no longer be peaceful! ”

On the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, the dough is steamed, and the appliqués are appliquéd. This day is also the most recent good day for the Qin Tianjian to be elected, and it is the wedding day of Prince Rui. Zhu Yi was locked up in Cining Palace for seven days, and was not kicked out of the palace until the wedding day, after being dressed up and wearing a ridiculous red flower on his chest.

Fortunately, even if he is not there, everything about the wedding is going on in an orderly manner. The road from Prince Rui's Mansion to Taifu's Mansion was almost flooded with red, and it was not festive to be lit up everywhere.

Zhu Yi was wearing a groom's dress, riding a high-headed horse, and walked in front with a sluggish face. Behind him, in addition to the sedan chair and the noisy team beating gongs and drums, there was also a group of guards who were also dressed in red and green with happy faces, called kissing, and were actually overseers.

On both sides of the road, there were many people watching the excitement, and there were countless carriages with their family emblems removed, and most of them were young ladies from various provinces. They covered their faces with their hats and looked at Prince Rui with a mournful gaze (of course, the red light was the rouge that the Queen Mother forcibly put on him). It's like he didn't go to marry a daughter-in-law, but prepared to go to the execution ground. After all, there are not many golden bachelors in Chang'an City, and there is one less if you marry one!

Zhu Yi walked forward with difficulty like a marionette, his mind was still very chaotic, and he wanted to run away. But the surroundings were so surrounded that there was no room for him to escape.

Just then, a fast horse came to his face. The knight on the horse was dressed in a blue coarse cotton military uniform, his face was full of wind and frost, and he shouted all the way: "Urgent report at the border pass, quickly dodge!" Border emergency, quickly dodge! ”

Passers-by scattered when they heard this, for fear of blocking the way of this border soldier! Prince Rui's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked around: "There has been no war at the border for a long time, what happened to him running all the way like this?" ”

Someone laughed and said: "Lord, the affairs of the border pass are naturally worried about the lords of the imperial court, as well as the emperor." Your task today is to make this wedding a good one. ”

Zhu Yi said stupidly: "Just ask, as for looking at it so tightly?" This king is getting married today, not going to the execution ground. ”

One of the guards saw that his face was angry, so he had to come up with a mourning policy, and said: "Before leaving the palace today, the emperor gave a death order, if there is any chaos in your wedding today, the emperor will ask us to go and see him." Lord Wang, please feel sorry for us! (To be continued......)