September 30th.

On the last day of autumn, the weather was still clear.

After eating the morning food, the morning fog gradually dissipated, and the red sun was already hanging over the ridge, radiating a bright light but not warm.

Chen Xu and Wang Wu, Wang Qi, and the four horses were all packed and bundled neatly.

"Mother, I'm leaving, take care of my little sister at home!" Chen Xu got on the horse and sat down, wearing two thickened fine linen clothes, a gray-white woolen scarf around his neck, and a pair of burlap gloves on his hands, which looked weird and heroic.

"Brother, come back early, the mountains in the circle are almost unable to find food! You also said that the Winter Clothes Festival made delicious sausages and blood for me......" Xing'er reluctantly advised.

Chen Xu's old face was a little red, and the matter of killing pigs was delayed again and again, and it seemed that he could only wait until he came back from Wancheng after the Winter Clothes Festival, so he had to say: "Don't worry, my brother will come back in two days at most, and I will give you the braised pig's tail and pig ears when the time comes!" ”

"I don't want to eat the tail and ears, I want to eat sweet and sour pork ribs and braised meat!" Apricot said unhappily.

All right! Chen Xu felt that he still hadn't figured out the family's hobbies and tastes, and the two dishes that Xing'er said were the ones he hated the most, but it seemed that most people liked to eat them except for himself.

"Little sister, take care, brother is gone!" Chen Xu pulled the reins of the horse and clamped his legs, and the well-trained horse turned around obediently, Wang Wu and Wang Qi carried a big sword at their waists, followed behind with a long bow on their backs, and several horses went away in an instant.

Jiangbei Pavilion's invitation could have been refused by Chen Xu, who did not have the slightest good impression of a group of officials in Nanyang.

But Yu Wuya has been going to Wancheng for several days but there is no news back, he is very worried about the gentle water, and he doesn't know whether Wang Qingsleeve has heard about Zhao Zhe, this knot needs to be untied as soon as possible, otherwise if he continues to drag on, maybe he will be stabbed to death by Wang Qingsleeve silently one day, and he will not be able to find a place to cry when he becomes a ghost.

……

The whole Xianyang has been very lively recently, because it is close to the Winter Clothes Festival, and the city has gradually had a trace of the liveliness of the festival in later generations, and every household has begun to prepare items to worship their ancestors, and it is also to welcome the arrival of the winter solstice and the New Year.

The origin of the winter clothes festival is very early, it is said that it has appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, every first day of October, the son of Zhou and the subject country have to hold a grand sacrifice activity, called the wax sacrifice, with the prey as a sacrifice, the son of heaven sacrifices the sun, moon and stars on the altar of the sun, the moon and the stars of the gods, in the door of the five generations of ancestors, at the same time comfort the peasants, promulgate a new work and rest system, remind the people to add clothes, so it is also called the clothing festival.

As the emperor of Great Qin, according to Qin law, tomorrow is the New Year, and it is necessary to worship the ancestors and welcome the new year, so the topic of the recent court meeting is various sacrificial arrangements, and all agricultural and commercial government affairs have also been suspended.

But whether it is a royal sacrifice or a folk sacrifice, everything has basically become a rule, farmers can increase or decrease the sacrificial items to the ancestors according to this year's harvest, and the royal family is more and more grand year by year, after the conquest of Qi last year, the world is unified, which is an unprecedented feat, so of course the sacrificial activities can not be reduced, and they need to be more colorful.

However, today's Qin Shi Huang's mind does not seem to be on such an important sacrificial arrangement, because the sacrifice of the officials of the Taifu Mansion ended in just an hour, Qin Shi Huang changed into a thickened brocade dress after returning to the palace, and then sat down on the warm couch and thought for a long time, and then raised his hand and said: "Xuan Taiyi Xu Fu!" ”

"Huh~" A palace man outside the door hurried away, and soon came with a middle-aged man wearing a gray linen dress and a black jade crown, it was Xu Fu who left Xiaohe Village half a month ago.

"Xu Fu has seen Your Majesty!" After Xu Fu entered the hall, he bowed to Qin Shi Huang, who was sitting on the warm couch.

"Imperial Physician Xu, don't be polite, please talk on the warm couch, I Xuan you are here to ask how the general's condition is?" Qin Shi Huang waved his sleeves and pointed to a cushion on the warm couch and said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xu Fu saluted again before kneeling on the cushion, as if he felt a little unaccustomed, and his body twisted slightly a few times before sitting down.

"Imperial Doctor Xu is not good at kneeling and sitting?" Qin Shi Huang said with a smile.

"Your Majesty has a nuanced insight, the minister does not like to kneel and sit, kneeling for too long will lead to poor flow of qi and blood in the body, the blood and qi sink and the legs and feet are numb, and you will be dizzy and dizzy when you get up suddenly, if you don't pay attention, you will get the disease of wind disease, the light one is half of the body, the heavy is paralyzed, the sickest person will die suddenly on the spot, the older the older these symptoms will be, the more obvious these symptoms are, so the minister is generally sitting high, Fu suggests that Your Majesty needs to sit high in the future!" Xu Fu replied calmly.

Qin Shi Huang nodded slightly and said: "Imperial Doctor Xu is right, every time I get up after going to the court, I will have numbness in my legs and feet and dizziness, I have always thought that I am sick, it turned out to be caused by kneeling for too long and poor qi and blood, it seems that the kneeling system above the court needs to be changed, half a month ago, when the Gao Taifu scattered the court, he fell to the ground, fortunately, the imperial doctor woke up in time, I don't want other elderly ministers to follow in his footsteps!" Come on, change high chairs with me and Imperial Doctor Xu~"

"Oh~" The answer of the palace people sounded outside the door, and soon two tall chairs were moved and placed in front of the warm couch.

"Your Majesty, Great Benevolence!" Xu Fu patted his ass and then stood up.

"Imperial Doctor Xu, let's talk about the general's condition!" After re-seating, Qin Shi Huang returned to the main topic.

"The general is a recurrence of the old wound, the internal organs are damaged, and the age is old, the work of the non-ten-day can be restored, in recent days, the minister's visits have not improved, but they have not seen its deterioration, but the minister has already consulted with the Taiyi Ling, the Taiyi Cheng and many Tai Doctors, and prescribed a few doses of conditioning prescriptions, only need to take them on time every day, regular diagnosis and treatment, plus there is a warm bed to assist the flow of qi and blood, I think I will definitely recover and wake up!" Xu Fu slowly explained Wang Qian's situation roughly.

"The general is the mainstay of my Great Qin, I wanted to give him the position of captain, but he refused three times, and has been idle at home to retire, the last time I asked him to go to Qinghe Town to find a disciple of the immortal family, I didn't expect to let him contract a serious illness, it is my fault!" Although Qin Shi Huang's face was calm, there was sadness in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, don't blame yourself, everyone is born, old, sick and dead, who can guess the blessings and misfortunes? The general has been brave all his life, although he is over sixty years old, he can still kill tigers and wolves, and he is even more heroic, so he will definitely be favored by God and will definitely wake up, Your Majesty does not need to worry too much! Xu Fu hurriedly said.

"Everyone has birth, old age, sickness and ......death," Qin Shi Huang muttered this sentence several times, and then looked at Xu Fu directly, "Imperial Doctor Xu, I often read some ancient legends, "Erya" and "Classic of Mountains and Seas" are recorded, there is the West Queen Mother Country in the Western Wilderness, and the West Queen Mother lives on the Kunlun Sacred Mountain, holding the immortal elixir. The ancient Yellow Emperor Shun Emperor has received the white jade presented by the Queen Mother of the West, and Emperor Yao also went to Kunlun Mountain to visit the Queen Mother of the West to obtain the elixir of immortality, and Hou Yi has also received the elixir of immortality given by the Queen Mother of the West. ”

Xu Fu was stunned for a long time before he arched his hand with a wry smile on his face and said: "Your Majesty, Fu Fei is the person who asked, Erya and Shanhai Jingchen have also read it, many places recorded above are ambiguous, rootless and completely unconvincing, this Western Queen Mother Country only says that it is in the Western Wilderness, but no one can know where the Western Wilderness is?" Moreover, the Classic of Mountains and Seas once said: The Queen Mother of the West is like a human, with a leopard tail and tiger teeth, a good howl, and a hoopoe with fluffy hair. Even if there is an immortal medicine on Kunlun Mountain, but the land of quicksand in the west is thousands of miles away, and it is not something that mortals can reach, how can we get it? What's more, the words of the gods are pitiful and vain, Your Majesty must not be gullible! ”

Qin Shi Huang was silent for a long time and then sighed slightly: "Imperial Doctor Xu, you are originally from Langya County and have been living by the sea, have you ever heard of the legend of the overseas sacred mountain?" ”

Xu Fu's heart trembled slightly, and then he quickly shook his head: "Haven't you heard of it?" ”

"You really haven't heard of it?" Qin Shi Huang's tone was slightly stiff.

"Your Majesty, the minister doesn't dare to lie!" Xu Fu was worried in his heart, but remembering Chen Xu's repeated admonition before leaving, he still secretly gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"And you look at this?" Qin Shi Huang casually picked up a roll of bamboo slips placed on the warm couch and handed it to Xu Fu, Xu Fu did not dare to slack off, and quickly took it and opened it, and after a while, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"This is a few of your Qi Di monks jointly dedicated to me a few days ago, and I have also arranged for someone to inquire, these people are local well-known people, and what they said does not mean compassion, I think it is not a false statement, these are the three sacred mountains in the Classic of Mountains and Seas has also been recorded, the East Meridian of the Sea said: Penglai Mountain is in the sea. "Liezi Tangwen" also recorded: there are five mountains in the east of the Bohai Sea, one is called Daiyu, the second is called Yuanqiao, the third is called Fangju, the fourth is called Yingzhou, and the fifth is called Penglai, and its mountain height rotates around 30,000 li, and its top is 9,000 li. Seventy thousand miles away from each other in the mountains, I thought I was a neighbor. Its appearance on the stage is all gold and jade, and the birds and beasts on it are pure. The trees of the pearls are all clustered, the flowers are all tasteful, and the food is immortal. The people who live there are all immortal saint seeds......"

Qin Shi Huang seemed to have a particularly deep memory of this period, so he also remembered it very clearly, and after slowly speaking, he looked at Xu Fu indifferently, "You just said that you are familiar with the Book of Mountains and Seas, but you also said that you don't know that there are sacred mountains overseas, do you really think that I can deceive it?" ”

Xu Fu also came back to his senses at this time, and after reading the bamboo slips in a hurry, he put his hands on the case and said, "The minister does not dare to deceive Your Majesty!" Whether it is the Book of Mountains and Seas or the words of Liezi, can not be sure also, the origin of the Book of Mountains and Seas is indisputable, who wrote it does not know, China has gone through the Xia Shang Dynasty for a thousand years and to the Great Qin, has never verified the origin of the Book of Mountains and Seas, and the content of the record is absurd, the geography of the mountains and rivers are not clear, and the birds and beasts written are even more absurd and uninhibited. Therefore, countless people speculate that the Book of Mountains and Seas is a compilation of classics such as Mu Tianzi's biography, Zhuang, Lie, and Lisao during the Warring States Period, and is by no means an ancient book, as for the five sacred mountains mentioned by Liezi in the Tang Wen, it is even more nonsense, as we all know, Liezi is a famous Taoist scholar, and the seeker is novel and grand, and the theory is noble, and he is accustomed to taking heaven and earth as the object of discussion. The people in the extreme north who are only nine inches tall, as well as the Kunpeng in the sea and the heavenly pool, are all inexplicable things, such as the imagination can not make people believe that it exists, so the minister just heard His Majesty talk about the sacred mountain, naturally he has never heard of it, but the minister grew up by the sea since he was a child, and he also likes to sail out to sea, the sea and the island are everywhere, large and small like a giant tortoise swimming in the dragon floating and hidden in the waves, all of them are barren and have never been set foot on, how have you ever heard of a fairy saint, although the minister of this book does not know, But I have heard of it before, and it is indeed a famous person in Qidi, but I have never heard them say that Penglai, Abbot, and Yingzhou are sacred mountains and fairy islands! ”

"You mean they're cheating on me?" Qin Shi Huang's face was slightly angry.

"The minister doesn't dare to say anything!" Xu Fu hurriedly shook his head.

"You can step aside for the time being, don't be careless in treating the general, and don't spread today's affairs!"

"Yes!" Xu Fu bowed and exited the hall, and then wiped the cold sweat on his forehead with his sleeve, feeling a chill in his back at this time.

"Whether the three sacred mountains are true or false, there are many gods and immortals in the world, only Liezi has the name of immortals, and now Liezi's disciples protect Chen Xu, is this Chen Xu really a disciple of the immortal family, if not, why are there so many whimsical ideas, where does the White Snake come from......"

In the room, Qin Shi Huang sat alone on a high chair, his face was cloudy and uncertain, and then he opened a book of the White Snake Biography, and turned to the chapter of Bai Suzhen Stealing Immortal Grass again to study it carefully, except for the sound of turning the book, the room was extremely silent.