Under the blue, white and white clouds, the grassland is boundless.

Xin Er and others went all the way south, passing by the official pasture, and saw cattle and sheep in the distance, and herds of horses galloping, and the scene was magnificent.

The lord of the ranch got the news, and hurried to offer buttermilk and wine, and the people did not dismount, but drank some of it, and went on on their way.

The further south you go, the closer the Qilian Mountains become.

The mountains are high and continuous, accompanied by galloping mounts, as if rushing towards them, and looking up, the sky is vast.

Far away mountains and near the land, the wilderness is vast.

It is early summer, the grass flowers are long, seven or eight feet high, three or four feet high thrush grass stretch in the wind, the needle grass is as thin as its name, like fluffy green silk; The Baogai grass blooms pink and purple flowers, and when the breeze blows, countless small fluffy balls are flying, which are dandelion flowers and fruits.

When the river is small, like a jade belt, meandering and flowing, occasionally encountering scattered lakes and springs, pure and bright.

Koji likes to run deep in the grass, some of which are higher than the horse's body, and he gallops through them, only above his chest is exposed.

Xin Er shouted him out again and again, not to mention that he was the grandson of Koji Shuo, but as a new official who had just taken office, in case the horse stumbled, tripped over stones and depressions hidden in the grass, and broke his leg and fractured, he couldn't explain to Linghu Feng.

A team of hundreds of horses galloped with great momentum, breaking the silence of the grassland, and frightened hares and marmots rushed one by one.

From the moment he entered the grassland, the koji ball was held with a bow in his hand.

He had no interest in these little things, and looked around, and saw that there were more than 100 yellow sheep a few miles away on the left.

The group of yellow sheep heard the commotion, stopped grazing, and turned their heads to look around.

Koji Qiu was overjoyed, hurried back to the team, and urged his subordinates one after another: "Hurry, hurry!" Divide the way and surround the herd! As he spoke, he instructed the general and assigned the task, "Lao Bing, you take the cavalry to intercept it from the east." Called out the two bearded generals, "Lao Qu and Xiao Qu, one of you goes south and the other goes west, cutting off their escape route!" "Remember, go around far away, don't alarm them in advance!" ”

The three men who were ordered to answer loudly, each with four or five horsemen, galloped away from the brigade, like three sharp arrows, first in three directions, and when they were all in place, they then went to the middle bag with a shout.

The yellow sheep were frightened and wanted to flee, but they surrounded them and had no way but to jump to the north.

Xin Er looked at the koji ball and watched its movements.

Seeing that he was not in a hurry, he put the bow on the saddle, took two arrows in his hand, squinted his eyes, and waited patiently for the group of yellow sheep to come, seeing that they were less than a hundred steps away, and then smiled and said to Xin Er: "Governor, come together?" ”

Xin Er has been practicing archery for months, and his conscious archery skills are not bad, and what he shoots on weekdays is mostly fixed arrow targets, and there are few opportunities to go hunting. ”

The two led several servants and rode forward.

Running in front of the yellow sheep, the koji ball did not move immediately, but turned the horse's head and galloped back and forth in front of the sheep.

Xin Er didn't understand what it meant, he had already drawn the bow, and the arrow had to be sent on the string, the arrow was like a meteor, and he hit a yellow sheep.

Among the dozens of sheep, one arrow was shot very accurately.

Koji Qiu praised: "The Governor shoots the gods!" ”

Xin Er smiled slightly, slightly complacent, and replied modestly: "It's nothing, it's just a fluke." Seeing that the koji ball was still just galloping back and forth, refusing to draw the bow, he felt strange and asked, "Why don't the guards shoot yet?" ”

"Not then."

Xin Er became more and more puzzled, the three teams outflanking the sheep were already approaching the prey, and they were about to rush into the sheep pile, why wasn't it time yet?

"Lao Bing", "Lao Qu", "Xiao Qu" and the servants and horsemen of Koji Qiu are all old subordinates who have been with him for a long time, and they know his habits, and they do not feel strange like Xin Er.

For a time, the horses neighed and the sheep fled, and the people and the sheep mixed up, making a mess.

Koji Qiu took the bow and arrow, smiled at Gu Xiner, and said: "The male sheep next to the old horse is the fattest, and the sheep is beautiful, which can be used as a slingshot, and I will take it for the governor." ”

The sheep was supposed to be the head sheep, and was closely pursued by "Lao Bing", and his mount was almost next to the sheep.

Xin Er was shocked: "Protect ......." ”

He wanted to say, "Aren't the guards afraid of shooting Captain Bing or his mount?" as soon as he said a word, the koji ball bowstring was pulled apart, and it was already shot.

Xin Er was anxious to find the place where the arrow went, and it hit the neck of the yellow sheep.

The yellow sheep ran a few paces and fell crookedly.

Lao Bing Ma Zhi, bent down and grabbed its horns, dragged the grass on, and scratched the blood.

In front of the chaotic herd of horses and sheep riding left and right, the arrows are not in vain, and the yellow sheep should be killed. More than a dozen big sheep were shot and killed one after another, and the other side stopped. From beginning to end, not a single arrow missed, and not a single arrow accidentally hit more than 20 people and riders mixed with the flock.

Xin Er's talent was smug and stunned, and exclaimed: "Amazing!" The Protector is a sharpshooter! ”

Koji Qiu is not proud of his archery, but he is not pretending to be humble, put away his bow and arrows, and said with a smile: "A little skill, don't laugh at the governor." ”

"Oh, I thought I could shoot, and compared with you, I know what a frog at the bottom of a well is."

"The Jun family has passed down the scriptures from generation to generation, and my family will be the door, and Jun and I are different. Jun's archery skills are already excellent. As for me,......。 He jokingly said, "Chasing the enemy is my family business, I have been practicing since I was a child, if I can't learn it again, how can I be embarrassed to wear a 'koji' on my 'ball'?" ”

Xin Er was already surprised that he was free and easy, and after hearing this, he rejoiced in his handsomeness, stretched out his thumb, and praised sincerely: "The Marquis of Koji has a grandson Rujun, why can't the family be glorious?" ”

Seeing that the koji ball was no longer shot, Lao Bing and the others galloped out of the flock, each took a bow and arrow, and shot the rest to death, and the rest fled.

That night, everyone lit a bonfire and ate a meal of yellow mutton.

Xin Er has no shelf, and Koji Qiu has grown up in the army since he was a child, and he mingles with the generals and soldiers under his subordinates.

After eating the mutton, he sat cross-legged on the grass by the fire, hung himself in the pouch on the belt, took out five almond-shaped dice, threw a few of them, looked at the captain surnamed Bing, and asked with a smile: "Old Bing, do you still have money?" ”

This captain surnamed Bing, with a single name, has a single name, and his family has been a general in the Koji army for several generations. Koji Qiu kept calling him "Lao Bing", he was actually not very old, he was the same age as Koji Qiu, and Koji Qiu grew up together since childhood, and the two were very familiar with each other.

Hearing Kojiqiu's words, Bing Bo hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, went to the side of the mount, touched the blanket for a long time, came back and spread out his palm, revealing four or five silver and five baht, and said: "General, on the way here, I lost nine out of ten bets, and I lost all the money I bringed, and there are only a few silver coins left." If the general doesn't think I'm short of money, I'll bet all my brains on it, and I'll have a good time! ”

Kojiqiu called his soldiers to take his own money bag, and poured all the coins inside to the ground, half of which was five baht of silver, and a few were five baht of gold.

He allocated six or seven gold and five baht, and said with a smile: "I'll give you a chance to turn the book." He shouted to the rest area of the subordinates and soldiers in the distance, "Kaibo, Kaibo, who is coming?" Lao Tzu's bag of money, who can win is counted as capable! ”

Three or four gambling officials came running, and more than a dozen soldiers also approached.

Koji Qiu asked Xin Er, "Do you want to play?" ”

Xin Er has no interest in gambling money, but out of the idea of making friends with koji ball, this gambling must be participated, and said with a smile: "I didn't bring any money." He unsheathed his sword and asked, "Is it okay to make a bet with this sword?" ”

Xin Er's sword is not amazing, the scabbard is simple, and there is no decoration on the hilt.

Bing Bo glanced at it, pouted and said, "Governor, officials can't deceive people, it's not appropriate for you to take a wooden strip as a note, right?" ”

The words of "wooden strips" are said to be weak and beautiful in this dynasty, and the merry scholars are weak and can't help the wind, but they have long abandoned the simple and martial style of the previous generation, although "the swordsman, the gentleman is armed", the officials still carry more swords when they travel, but the sword they carry is not a real sword, but a wooden substitute, just a pretend.

Xin Er drew his sword out of the sheath, cut the grass horizontally, the thin and soft grass stalks were broken, returned to the sheath and held it upside down, handed it to Bing Bo, and said with a smile: "My sword is not a wooden sword, it is a hundred refining and forging edges, and it is genuine." The captain doesn't believe me, you can check it"

Bing Bo scratched his head and laughed, where would he pick up the sword? Said: "Faith, faith! ”

Koji Qiu said in his heart: "Strange! The children of the Governor clan are completely different from those extravagant and self-conscious people. When I invited him to play, I was polite, thinking that he would not participate, but he didn't mind playing with the soldiers. "I looked at Xin Er differently, and I felt close.

The koji ball throws the dice to Bing Bo and asks him to roll first.

Bing Bo caught the dice, but refused to throw them, and said with a smile: "General, you are a good gambler, I bet with you, the dice have not been rolled, the victory and defeat have been divided, and there is no fun." Bo opera, Bo opera, Bo man, fight also, there has to be a you to come and go, it is interesting. ”

Koji Qiu asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"I'll ask you to have a Bo with the Governor, I don't know if it's okay?"

Koji Qiu didn't expect him to make such a play, and scolded with a smile: "You dog thing, you really know how to calculate, and you know how to take advantage of it." How can your little money match the Governor's sword? ”

Xin Er was quite happy and smiled: "It's okay, it's okay." The captain is willing to gamble with me, and I will accompany me. ”

Bing Bo held the five dice, kneaded them for a long time, and threw them onto the wooden board on the grass, holding his breath and watching the five dice turn.

The flames rose and fell, and the dice were sometimes clear and sometimes gloomy.

Nearly 20 onlookers, sitting or standing, leaned in and paid attention.

The dice stopped one after another, and a total of two colors, three black, and two pheasant.

This is called "pheasant picking".

The dice of Wumu Bo Opera are different from later generations, first of all, the shape is two pointed ends, the waist is a round shuttle, and there are only two sides; Secondly, the front and back sides are not distinguished by numbers, each wood is black on one side and white on the other, among which there are two black book calves on one side and a book pheasant on the white side.

The results of the throwing are divided into expensive and miscellaneous picking.

Guicai has four, five sides are black called Lu Cai, is the best, followed by the one thrown by Bing Bo, three black and two white, called "pheasant".

The crowd cheered.

Koji Qiu smiled: "If you change your opponent, your kid's luck will be different." "The heart said, "The Governor has a sharp sword, and he can't get it without ten gold." I first met the governor, and I didn't want to be tired of him gambling and losing the sword. I'm going to give him a shot. ”

He began to play Wumu when he was two or three years old, as Bing Bo said, he was highly skilled, and he could throw Lu Cai with his eyes closed, and he grabbed the dice at the moment, and said, "No, it's rare that your kid has good luck, I see that I am happy to hunt, so I have to bet with you on this hand!" ”

said to Xin Er, "Governor, this is to bring me, and then to bring you." ”

Others gamble to win, Xin Er saved the meaning of making friends with koji balls, but at this time he just wants to lose, where are you willing to let him come? said with a smile: "The guards are happy to see the hunt, and I am also eager to fight." This one, I can't let it go! Seeing that Koji Qiu hesitated and didn't give him dice, he said with a joke, "What?" Could it be that the Protectors know that I will lose, or are they worried that I can't afford to lose? ”

Koji Ball laughed and gave him the dice.

Xin Er threw it casually.

Bing Bo's eyes widened nervously, and his gaze was instantaneous, but when he saw the five dice, two black ones came out first, and then a white one came out, that is, a pheasant. Two black and one white, which is very close to the three black and two white of Bingbo.

All the spectators, including the koji balls, held their breath and stared at the last two dice that were still spinning.

Xin Er was also concentrated, and thought to himself: "You won't be the same as him, right?" ”

The two dice slowly set and stopped on the board.

As you can see, both of them are pheasants.

Two black and three white, the black face is the calf, which is called "calf picking", which is also Guicai, but it is not as good as Lu and Pheasant, and the four Guicai are only better than the "white cai" of the five sons who are white.

Xin Er breathed a sigh of relief quietly and said with a smile: "It's a pity that I couldn't turn a pheasant to pick it out." "Hand the sword over.

Bing Bo couldn't wait to hold it, took out half of the sword body, admired it in the light of the fire, and said happily: "What a good sword!" ”

Xin Er smiled freely, sat on the ground silently, and did not look distressed by the loss of his sword.

Koji Qiu didn't feel like it, he didn't say anything, only called the rest of the people to gamble.

Stayed in the wilderness for one night.

The next day, everyone followed, and in the afternoon, they arrived at the place where Zhang Jingwei and others were stationed.

Seven or eight tents are scattered among the grass, not far from the river.

Two bearded women were washing clothes by the river, and a scholar in Confucian clothes stood nearby.

Koji Qiu was suddenly surprised, and said in his heart: "How can there be a Confucian here?" ”