At the end of May of the fifth year of Tai'an, the imperial court received a report that King Xi'ou had passed away and was succeeded by the third prince Ouyang Zhenyu.

It is said that the king of Xinxiou has just passed the year of his establishment, and he is in the prime of life. The emperor was most worried that this hairy boy would be the king, fearing that he would be ambitious, peep into the Central Plains, and try to swallow it in vain. Fortunately, Gao Wei patrolled the border and did not find any trouble, and reported that everything was peaceful.

However, Shao An questioned Gao Wei's optimistic statement, and he said to the emperor: "As the ministers can see, there is nothing to do at the border now, probably because the king of Xi'ou has newly ascended the throne, and he is still dealing with internal affairs, and he has no time to separate." But please ask the emperor to still be fully prepared in case of accidents. ”

"What is the temperament of King Xiou, it is not known for the time being. How can you be sure that it will be belligerent? ”

"According to the tradition of Xiou, the strongest person will succeed to the throne. The three princes' internal foundations and henchmen are all inferior to the above two elder brothers, and it is impossible for him to ascend the throne. However, the king of Xiou died suddenly, and the new king launched a coup d'état to seize the throne with lightning speed, which shows the poison of his methods and the greatness of his ambition. Such people will not be satisfied with the barren land of the northwest. ”

"More than that." The emperor said suddenly, with an inexplicable look of inquiry in his eyes, as if he wanted to look at Shao An'an, "An'er, you must have made this conjecture because of other things?" ”

When the emperor talks about state affairs, he calls him "Prime Minister", on weekdays, he calls him "Shao An", and only when he talks about private affairs, he calls him "An'er".

Shao An knew that he couldn't be fooled, and admitted frankly: "When the minister was in the northwest, he saw the king of Xiou. ”

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Nineteen years of Yongkang, winter. On the northwest border, Li Hongyi took a small group of people out to survey the terrain.

Halfway through, he heard a soldier report that there was a situation ahead. Li Hongyi clamped the horse's belly and drove the horse quickly, when he saw a few soldiers in front of him gathered together, pointing and discussing something.

"This man is dead, isn't he?"

"There's a lot of blood, I'm afraid I'm ......"

"I should have fallen from the mountain, I was young, but it's a pity."

"If you don't go to scout, what are you doing here?" Li Hongyi carried a horsewhip and made the appearance that he was going to whip someone.

The group of people turned their heads and saw that it was Li Hongyi who came, and they collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Who didn't know that Li Hongyi was a knife-mouthed tofu heart, and he would be whipped at most if he committed it, so he laughed and said: "Captain Li, the brothers are not lazy, someone is going to die." ”

"Who's going to die? What's wrong? Li Hongyi asked as he tied the horsewhip around his waist, pushed through the crowd, and saw a man lying on the ground, his eyes tightly closed, his brows furrowed, and he seemed to be in great pain.

Li Hongyi looked around at everyone present and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Xiao Liu was the first to find out." Someone pointed to a steep bald mountain next to it, "I guess it rolled down from the mountain." ”

Li Hongyi stepped forward, looked at this person's face, and continued to ask, "Who is this person?" ”

Everyone shook their heads, "I don't know." It looks like it's a common person here. ”

"Is it your own people who don't hurry up to save it?" When Li Hongyi saw that these people were standing by and watching, he was immediately annoyed.

"I can't save it, you see this blood spilling all over the ground, I guess it's ......"

"How can you do it if you don't try?" Li Hongyi instructed, "Xiao Liu, come to the camp and tell my brother to come quickly, and the rest of the people will disperse quickly and continue to reconnoitre." ”

When An'er rushed over with the medicine box, Li Hongyi was the only one left there to guard the wounded. Seeing him coming, Li Hongyi hurriedly beckoned, "Come on, here." ”

An'er trotted over, looked over, and saw a large amount of blood gushing out of the man's wounds, and the clothes on his body were soaked with blood, I don't know how long he was unconscious.

Li Hongyi asked with concern: "Is there any salvation?" ”

An'er squatted down and probed his snort, and touched his pulse again, "It's not dead, but the fall is more serious, look at his leg, I'm afraid it's broken." ”

At this time, An'er had just become a military doctor, and he had not yet learned to connect bones, so he could only bandage him simply, "I'll help him stop the bleeding first, is this person a nearby villager?" Let his family come over and carry him to the hospital. ”

"I don't know who it is."

An'er was puzzled, turned the man's face, and looked carefully. He noticed that the man had sword eyebrows and starry eyes, a handsome expression, a little black beard on the side of his chin and cheeks, and looked like he was about twenty years old. Then he rummaged through the man's clothes, and was suddenly attracted by his shoes.

Li Hongyi saw that his eyes were staring at a certain place in a daze, and he also followed his gaze and saw that the man's shoes were not like the cloth shoes of the people of the Central Plains, but leather boots.

"Could it be...... Xiou people, right? An'er immediately checked his hand, and saw that there was a layer of calluses on the tiger's mouth, and this kind of calluse was also on Li Hongyi's hand, which was caused by pulling the bow and shooting arrows all year round.

"It's not that coincidental." Li Hongyi scratched his head, approached An'er's side, and checked with him.

After An'er checked the man, he checked the surrounding terrain again, pointed to a mountain and asked, "Did he fall from that mountain?" ”

"Yes. What, is there a problem? ”

An'er looked at his brother with a pale face, "This mountain is Nanshan." Daddy Wu took us there. ”

Li Hongyi, who has always been a road idiot, looked left and right at the bottom of the mountain for a long time, and then suddenly remembered that the two of them and Zhang San explored the road that time, and they went up the mountain from the back of this mountain, and then found the legendary "Huangquan Road".

An'er suddenly stretched out her hand to pull out the saber on her brother's waist. Li Hongyi grabbed his younger brother's hand violently and said in surprise: "What are you doing?" ”

"This man can't stay, kill him." An'er looked at her brother and said firmly.

"What if it's a villager?"

"It is better to kill by mistake than to misplace." An Er said, "He probably knows Huangquan Road." This road can lead directly to the enemy camp and to us. ”

"Maybe he doesn't know about Huangquan Road?" Li Hongyi reprimanded, "Even if you want to kill an enemy, you must decide to die on the battlefield, instead of taking advantage of the danger of others and acting as a villain." ”

An'er's face turned pale for an instant, and she slowly let go of the handle of the knife. Li Hongyi was annoyed that his words were serious, so he took a step back and said, "It's better to take him back to the barracks and keep him under strict supervision." Wait for him to wake up and ask for his identity before making a decision. ”

Li Hongyi took the man back to the barracks and settled him in the wounded barracks under his brother's jurisdiction. In this way, An'er can not only take care of his injuries, but also closely monitor his behavior.

The man was unconscious for a long time, and it took four or five days before he woke up. Li Hongyi gently asked him what his name was, how old he was, and what he was doing. The man replied one by one, saying that his name was Zheng Yu, he was in his twenties, he was a villager in the nearby mountains, and he made a living by hunting.

Since he is a hunter, he must be able to shoot arrows, so the calluses on the tiger's mouth can also be explained.

Li Hongyi then asked, "Zheng Yu, how did you fall off the mountain?" ”

"It's not uncommon for us mountain people to hunt and accidentally fall and get injured."

An'er glanced at her brother and asked him: "Such a steep mountain, I'm afraid I will lose my life if I fall down." If you don't hunt in the plains, how can you go up the mountain? ”

Zheng Yu rolled his eyes, "Isn't there a war in the plains, who dares to go there to hunt?" ”

Li Hongyi felt that the explanation made sense, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry to disturb your people's lives." ”

An'er still didn't believe it, and said abruptly: "Your official words are quite standard. However, we have been in the Northwest for a while and can understand the local dialect. ”

Zheng Yu's smile froze almost invisibly, then relaxed his muscles and began to talk in dialect, "I have read books for a few days and learned official dialect. The northwest dialect is very earthy, and I am afraid that the military masters will not understand it. ”

An'er listened to what he said in dialect, so she changed the topic, "I've read books, can I be literate, right?" ”

"I'll write a few."

"Will the Xiou script do?"

Zheng Yu shook his head neatly, "No." ”

An'er sighed, "It's a pity, I wanted to find the locals to recognize the word Xi'ou, but it seems that I didn't have a chance." You've broken your leg, so let's stay here to recuperate. ”

Zheng Yu thanked him repeatedly, An'er gave Hong Yi a look, and the two went out together.

Li Hongyi returned to the residence with An'er, frowned, and said, "There are no flaws at all, what do you think?" ”

An'er shook her head, "I didn't find anything suspicious." ”

"Do you need to report to King An?"

"If there is no real evidence, how can I report it?" An'er said helplessly, "Maybe I'm suspicious again, observe for a few more days, and let it go if it's okay." ”

Li Hongyi believes that with An'er's cleverness, he may be able to detect something. Besides, the non-military secret office of the wounded barracks, even the enemy, could not find out any news.

A few days later, An'er didn't ask why, so she had to ask her brother to release Zheng Yu. Li Hongyi was suspicious of the other party for many days, felt guilty, and offered to send him home to apologize. Zheng Yu refused twice, but Hongyi insisted, he couldn't resist it, so he could only agree.

Li Hongyi carefully supported him, and asked as he walked, "Where is your home?" ”

"I live at the foot of Nanshan, it's a little far, I'm sorry for you." Zheng Yu replied calmly, without hiding his residence.

"No trouble, no trouble." Li Hongyi helped Zheng Yu to get on the horse, and went to Nanshan with a few small soldiers. It was found that the foot of Nanshan Mountain was sparsely populated, with only a few households.

Li Hongyi helped Zheng Yu into the house, looked around quietly, and saw that his home was poor, but there were all kinds of daily necessities inside, and he looked like a permanent resident. Even the half-eaten buns in the bowl on the table, and the unwashed clothes piled up in the corner of the room, were arranged in a way that was unquestionable and flawless.

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After hearing this story, the emperor asked, "Can you be sure that the person you saw back then is the current King of Xi'ou?" ”

"Later, the minister and his brother went to Nanshan again, but the man had disappeared." Shao An said, "At that time, I thought that he was just an enemy general, but now that I think about it, I am afraid that he is the king of Xiou." ”

"You've fought him, what do you think of this person?"

Shao An pondered for a moment before saying: "His courage can be seen that he dares to climb the steep peak to explore the way. After being caught, he did not panic, but his courage was visible. During the interrogation, the answers were fluent, which shows the meticulousness of his mind and the depth of his scheming. And there are jackal ambitions, and the emperor must guard against it. ”

The emperor frowned, "Why didn't you say it back then?" ”

"A minister is not sure of his identity. Second, it was snowing so hard that even if they found a way, they couldn't climb it. After three winters, our army camped northward, just avoiding this place. ”

The emperor's breath was heavy, and he walked back and forth in the study with his hands on his shoulders, carrying the wind between his steps, blowing the sound of his robes brushing the ground.

Shao An stood beside him, watching the emperor stride around the room, thinking about how to deal with it.

The emperor suddenly stopped, turned to Shao An and said, "The most important question now is, does King Xi'ou know about that path?" ”

"The minister can't judge."

"The prime minister continued to prepare grain and grass, and ordered Zhongshu Province to issue an edict to recall Gao Wei." The emperor returned to his usual calm, "Once the war starts, we must prevent the Turks on the northern front from taking advantage of the chaos to send troops, and the matter involves diplomacy, so the prime minister will discuss with the Ministry of Rites." ”

A series of orders came down, but it was orderly and thoughtful. Shao Anxin said sincerely: "The minister obeys the order." ”