Now in the same boat, Linghu Feng but under the order, Xin Er will never refuse.

The king is in danger, can he risk Ling Hufeng's body as bait? He replied angrily: "Please give your orders, and the ministers will obey the orders." ”

Linghu Feng said: "The royal capital is strong, the two cities are horns of each other, and there are camps in the east and west gardens outside, and it is not easy to attack. I thought it would be best if I could get an internal response. Do you know Guo Yi? ”

Guyin originally had only one city, so the fox clan called it the queen and expanded it into the scale of four cities, plus the palace city located in the southern district of the old city, called the "five cities". The name of the five cities is to imitate the specifications of the layout of the national capital and the palace city of the previous dynasties.

The old city is in the northernmost part, so it is also called the north city; Miyagi was built at the earliest, and there were no later three castles at that time, so it was also called Nanjo because it was located in the southern district of the old castle.

With the increasing number of immigrants and scholars who came here from Kanto and Guanzhong to avoid chaos, the northern city was not enough to accommodate it, so a new city was built on the Gobi Desert, which was not suitable for cultivation in the south of the palace, called Zhongcheng, for the residents and homeless people to live; At the same time, a four-hour palace and many official offices were built in the city, which were used as a place for the court and officials to manage and listen to affairs. The palace castle that was built earlier was only used as a dormitory for the royal family.

Before and after the construction of the middle city, the east and west sides of the two gardens that were originally the Hu people's animal husbandry area were also slightly repaired and rebuilt into cities, which were called East and West Garden Cities, mainly for the families and relatives of the royal capital and the army, and there were also a lot of Liuyi, Hu of the Western Regions, Hu Nu who cultivated land and grazed for the Tang nobles, and the displaced people who came later lived here.

The "two cities" mentioned by Linghu Feng refer to the northern city, the middle city and the palace city contained in the northern city, among the five cities, these three cities are the residence of the royal family, the office of the king of Dingxi and the officials, and it is also the place where the Guyin soil and the Yushi clan live, so it is the most solid.

The East and West Eryuan City is only surrounded by simple walls, and houses and tents coexist in it, pastures and woodlands, which are only a settlement, and there is not much ability to defend it, but the Yinghu and Hu Yi who live in Eryuan City are a force that cannot be underestimated.

Xin Er picked out the name of "Guo Yi" from his memory.

"奣", sound urn, three sounds, is an extremely rare word, all those who take this word as the name, most of them are believers of a religion that is spread in Longdi nowadays. In this religion, their followers call themselves "Mazda", and the Tang people call them "Hu Tian", or "Zoroastrian".

Xin Er was not familiar with these different religious names, but with Guo Yi's name, he found some content about the belief and sacrifice of this religion from his memory, but he was no stranger to it, and he said in his heart: "Isn't this Zoroastrianism?" ”

Longzhou is the only place for the inland and the Western Regions to communicate, there are a lot of Hu merchants in the Western Regions, they not only brought the culture, art and other things of the Western Regions, but also brought their religions, among which the greatest influence on Longzhou is Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism was not as prosperous as Buddhism, but it was also embraced by many Tang people, and Guo Yi was one of their leaders.

Xin Er replied: "Is the Lord talking about that Hu Tiansabao?" Xiao Chen has never dealt with him, but he has met twice. ”

Sabao is the name of the Zoroastrian political and religious leader. Guo Yi is the leader of the Guyin Zoroastrian Sect, not too big or too small, a celebrity, although Xin Er has no relationship with him, he knows his appearance.

Linghu Feng said: "Not bad. Although this person is chattering, but a hand of illusion, quite demagoguery, the dog cub's guards, several close ministers believe in him, the royal capital's forbidden army, the gate of the city also has his believers, I saw this at the beginning, so I reluctantly perfunctory with him, to be used. In order to be able to play a miracle effect, my connection with him has always been very secretive, the dog cub will not know, I also asked Song Zhen and Koji Qiang two thieves, he was not killed by the dog cub, now is the time to use him! You go to the royal capital, see him, and write my letter with him, and set a time and manner for the next contact with him, and then you will return. ”

Xin Er took the last letter and said in his heart: "It turns out that Linghu Feng still has this hand!" "This guy is really able to keep secrets, unexpectedly.

As long as Cao Fei and Fu Qiao can negotiate all the foreign aids, and combine them with the Hu cavalry on the side of Zhu Yeze, plus Guo Yi's strange army, although the royal city is strong, it is not difficult to break. Cao Fei and Fu Qiao, who had not yet left, thought of this, Cao Fei became more and more motivated, and Fu Qiao was also a little depressed.

In Zuo's worried gaze, Xin Er, Cao Fei and Fu Qiao said goodbye to the account, made their own preparations, and left the camp in the snow that day.

Fu Qiao went to the east and Cao Fei went west, the three of them took different roads, and Xin Er went south alone.

He wore a fur coat inside, a cotton robe on the outside, a pointed felt hat of the Hu people, a scarf to cover his face, did not ride a horse, rode a camel, and led another camel to carry a small tent and other things for the night, braved the wind and cold, stepped on the snow and sand, and finally walked out of the desert after four days.

The snow also stopped. He deposited his camels in a small oasis nearby, and the small tents and other things were easy to attract attention, so he also temporarily saved them, bought a horse, and continued south along the valley.

The royal capital of Guyin, as the name suggests, is on the south bank of the valley.

He passed through two pastoral areas one after another, and not far ahead, the scenery changed greatly, spreading along the river to both sides, not only was there no desert, but the Gobi Desert was also rare, and there was more and more fine fertile soil.

Looking at it from afar, there are both tributaries of the valley water, as well as other rivers, crisscrossing and flowing on this land, mixed with springs, grasslands, forests and trees can be seen everywhere, where there is the desolation of the desert area, and the Jiangnan outside the plug is clearly distinguished.

On the way to escape before, Xin Er was injured and was in the car most of the time, making it inconvenient to observe the environment. "The difference between the desert and the fertile soil is only one line.

He walked some distance along the river again, and the large areas of grassland used for grazing were gone, mainly the cultivated fields. In the early winter season, there are no crops in the field, the slender ridges mean, the melting snow seeps into the surface, the land is moist, frozen but not stiff by the wind, and occasionally the residue of wheat stalks that have not been pulled clean, showing sharp stubble, standing stubbornly in the wind.

On the way, I met some Hu Mu and Tang Nong, Xin Er had a towel to hide his face, and he was not afraid that they would watch curiously, and asked the two of them, knowing that Guyin was still more than thirty miles away from here. It was getting late, and he couldn't get to the ground today, so he muttered for a while and decided to find a place to stay first.

Since the end of the Western Tang Dynasty, Longdi is still stable, there are not many big wars, there is still a relatively complete township system outside the city, although the pavilion responsible for public security is not as much as before, but there are still there, if you walk at night, if you are seen by the people of the pavilion, it will inevitably be a little troublesome.

There was a faint touch of earth yellow in front of him, and Xin Er urged the horse to go closer, and saw that it was a village.

The village is not large, and there is a fence outside, and the yellow soil is the color of the wall, and a ditch several feet wide is dug around the wall.

Although there are few big wars in Longdi, but Tang and Yi live together, there is no lack of two sides fighting, each other's captivity phenomenon, especially in winter and spring, it is a time when battles are common, there are often lack of food, lack of clothing of the Liuyi herdsmen in groups to attack Tang villages, rob grain and clothing, in order to survive the cold winter; In addition, there are outlaw thieves who will also ransack the villagers. The pavilion in the township can only catch the thief, and in the face of these two types of robbers is helpless, so they can only close the door and lock the pavilion, as unheard, so, in order to protect themselves, the village not only builds walls, but also sets up fences.

In Xin'er's memory, the locals called such villages "docks", in fact, compared to Guanzhong, especially the rural dock forts in the eastern and northern Wei countries, these in Longdi can only be regarded as "dock fort prototypes" at most, far less than the real dock forts' ability to defend the war.

Xin Er stopped at the edge of the field outside the village, thinking in his heart, thinking: "If I rashly go to the outside of the village to knock on the door, there is no paperwork, I can't tell my identity, they may not stay with me; Moreover, I don't know if the wanted document of the king of Dingxi has been sent to the village, if it does, and there is a portrait of us painted on it, and the book has physiognomy characteristics, will I not throw myself into the net? ”

In such cold weather, I am afraid that I will be frozen when I stay outside, and it is not advisable to walk at night, and I dare not do anything rashly when staying overnight.

For a while, Xin Er hesitated, looked around, and suddenly saw a low hill a few miles away, and said in his heart: "I'll go there and have a look, if I can find a hollow under the hill to shelter from the wind, I will spend the night casually." "Pat the horse and go.

The hill was bare, full of gravel, not even a tree, and after searching for a while, there was no place to stay. Xin Er was helpless, and said in his heart: "Before it is night, I will go forward to search." In order to avoid the pavilion, he did not take the avenue, but chose the path to wind, about seven or eight miles, and suddenly saw a thatched house on the edge of the dirt slope, and his heart was overjoyed, and he thought: "I don't want to find an abandoned house of the villagers here!" ”

There are only farmland, streams, and small patches of sparse forest near this thatched hut, and there are no people, so I think the villagers of some village on the left must have used it as a temporary lodging when the farming season was busy. Before he reached the edge of the house, the door of the hut opened, and an old man came out.

The two looked at each other, and they were both stunned.

The old man was in his fifties, black and thin, his face was covered with furrow-like wrinkles, and he wore only a thin coat, with dust on the hakama, and a tattered hakama, a pair of straw sandals, and a clay pot with rotten corners.

Xin Er dismounted, took off his face towel, and said, "Old man, hello." ”

The old man looked him up and down and asked, "Who is the honorable driver?" ”

Xin Er said in his heart: "Isn't the accent like that of a local, out-of-state homeless person?" He made up a name casually and said: "I came from the capital, went to Longdong to run errands, and stayed overnight." He looked at the hut and asked, "Does the old man live here?" ”

The old man said, "Yes." ”

"Why don't you live in the village and live alone in the wilderness?"

"It's a long story." The old man looked Xin Er up and down and said, "There is a dock wall a few miles away over there, and you can go there to stay." ”

Xin Er should be, led the horse away, heard a sound of water, turned his head to see that it was the old man who splashed the water in the clay pot, and the old man immediately returned to the house. The night had come, and since he had not found a suitable place to stay, relying on his youth and vigor, he simply stopped looking for it, so he tied his horse under a few trees near the left, and lay down with his clothes, and the north wind was cold, and he couldn't sleep after tossing and turning.

Hearing the sound of rustling, he got up and saw a pair of green eyes not far away in the deep night, not knowing whether it was a fox or a wolf, and shouted twice and drove it away. He said to himself: "There are foxes and wolves in the wild, and it seems that I can't sleep this night." Okay, stay up all night, go to Dongyuan City early tomorrow, hope to find Guo Yi smoothly, and wait until you return to the oasis, get back the camel, the small tent, and then sleep well. ”

Like other religions, Zoroastrianism also had temples, and the Zoroastrian temple in Guyin was not built in the Old City and the Middle City, but in Dongyuan City, because the inhabitants of Dongyuan City were more conducive to the development of their sect.

There were many Hu people living in Dongyuan City, and the Zoroastrians were brought by the Sogdians, and the establishment of temples here could be directly supported. In addition, the main residents of Dongyuan City are the camp households, that is, the relatives of the soldiers who are registered as soldiers, among the various household registrations at present, the military registration is one of the most bitter, one person is naturalized, involving hundreds of generations, children and grandchildren have to be called to be soldiers, the young ones are seven or eight years old to enlist in the army, the old sixty or seventy are still in the army, not to mention, and even the residence and marriage of relatives can not be autonomous, their wives and daughters must accept semi-military management, live with the army, children can usually only marry the scholar's family, and the soldier's wife must remarry after the death of the soldier, and can only marry the scholar's family, all kinds of suffering, It is unspeakable, and it is therefore easier to accept the proselytization of religions such as Zoroastrianism.

It is precisely because the Zoroastrian temple is in Dongyuan City, where the city defense is relaxed, so Linghu Feng dared to send Xin Er to find Guo Yi, if it is built in the old city or the middle city, I am afraid that Xin Er has not entered the city, and it will be taken down by the guards.

"When I get to the outside of Dongyuan City tomorrow, I will wait and see one or two first, look for an opportunity to blend into the city, remember the approximate location of the Hu Tian Temple in my impression, touch the left near, wait for Guo Yi, and look for an opportunity to act." Xin Er touched the cold straight knife ring, and thought, "Linghu Feng is defeated now, whether this Guo Yi will think about it is a little uncertain." When I met him, I had to be careful, and if something was wrong, I took him hostage and forced him to escort me out of the city and escape. This method of capturing the enemy as a hostage cannot be said to have been learned from Linghu Feng, but the success of Linghu Feng's rectification of the red slaves and Xin Er's personal participation at that time gave him a lot of hands-on experience and the confidence to use this method alone.

Just as he was thinking about the attitude and conversation words that should be adopted when he met Guo Yi, another sound of rustling came, followed by two coughs, it was the old man who came over.

Xin Er let go of the handle of the knife and asked, "Old man, why are you here?" The old man said, "On a cold day, people freeze to death." Come and sleep in the house with me. When Xin Er led the horse to follow, he walked a few steps and said, "Are you a rebel wanted by the king?" ”

Xin Er was taken aback.

Without waiting for him to answer, the old man sighed and said, "You don't dare to go to the dock wall to stay, I think so." Alas, it is Fuping Gong who is plotting usurpation, what does it have to do with you? A few days ago, I went to the royal capital to sell salaries, and there were forty or fifty poles on both sides of the city gate, all of which were hung with human heads, young and old, and I didn't dare to look closely, I heard that they were all just killed and newly killed. ”

He shook his head and sighed, and said, "You are dressed very well, and the horse is not bad, you are the son of your family, right?" I haven't suffered before, but after that, you know that it's not easy to live. As the old saying goes. 'Don't be too greedy to eat', alas, the untouchables of Qianshou, there is no backer, don't say that you want rice, you can't even eat. ”

He babbled to the hut. Xin Er set up the horse and followed him into the house.

There was no light in the house, and it was dark, but fortunately, Xin Er came in from the wild, and he could barely see the environment in the house.

This is the real home.

The material of the house wall is the yellow mud of the grass, the grass is unkempt and exposed, in the narrow space, there is nothing, not even the mat, the mildew and moisture are very heavy, the ground is rugged, only a few piles of hay are spread in the corner of the wall, and there are clay pots and two other wooden bowls that Xin Er has seen by the door, and there is nothing else. I was probably afraid that I would accidentally burn down the hut, and it was freezing cold, and I didn't even build a fire.

Xin Er felt that the temperature in the house was not much different from that of the wilderness, and the ice cave was similar.

There was a slight noise in the corner, and a man peeked out of the haystack, unable to see clearly because of the lack of candles. The old man said, "This is my granddaughter. He said to her, "Sleep." He hugged a pile of grass, put it in the corner of the wall on the other side, and said to Xin Er, "You sleep here." ”

Sleepless nights.

The sound of the cold wind and the coughing of the old man from time to time filled Xin Er's mind.

Whether in his previous life or in the memory of this life, he had never seen such a poor living situation.