More than 1,000 miles away from the west coast of Xiaohai, there is a valley called Shifan on the nomadic route that runs through Mobei.

The name of this place is taken from the Shiyin tribe from the upper reaches of the Shileqi River in the west and the Fanyin tribe grazing from the lower reaches of the Wangjian River.

Many large and small streams originate from Xianbei Mountain, making the water and grass in the valley abundant, and the stream water flows along the valley into the Wangjian River, and finally flows into the sea in the east. Strictly speaking, Shifan Valley is also sandwiched between the two remaining veins of the Great Xianbei Mountain, where not only the water and grass are abundant, but also the towering residual veins of the Great Xianbei Mountain block the north wind. The north of the desert is bitter cold, this area begins to snow in October every year, sometimes it has not melted in March and April of the following year, every winter, the relatively warm Shifan Valley has become a good place to spend the winter in the north of the desert.

The place where Li Ruobing planned to hide was a small tribe wintering in Shifan Valley.

The herdsmen here have to pay cattle and sheep to the powerful tribal nobles, and also have to deal with the requisition and dispatch of the Liao State, and the life is miserable, poor and destitute, and the slightest disobedience will lead to the disaster of extermination. More than ten years ago, the Xia State defeated Haidu Khan, and the power gradually penetrated into the north of the Xijing Road of the Liao State, and the tribes were even more panicked, some people were worried that the Xia army would march east to conquer the tribes here, and some warriors hoped that the Xia army would drive away the forces of the Liao State, eradicate the tribal nobles, and implement the sergeant system in this area.

In the early morning, a ray of sunlight shone in through a crack in the tent.

Li Ruobing was about to get up, only to feel that the right shoulder was heavy, he opened his eyes and saw Zhu Ying's head resting on his shoulder sleeping heavily, listening to her thin breathing, looking at her slightly open lips, a trace of wetness oozed from the corners of her mouth, and a piece of snow on her chest was exposed outside the felt blanket, and she fell down with her breathing. Li Ruobing couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, but his eyes became more and more gentle, his right shoulder remained motionless, and his left hand carefully pulled the blanket up for her, then retracted and propped it under his cheek, and looked sideways at the sleeping jade man lovingly. Zhu Ying seemed to have a bad dream, her eyebrows frowned slightly, and then her breathing became short, Li Ruobing gently held her hand, and her breathing gradually eased again.

I don't know how long it took for Zhu Ying to wake up from her sleep.

She opened her eyes in a daze, only to see the sun shining brightly, and a smile warmer than the sun. "Qingqing—am I still dreaming?" Zhu Ying muttered, she didn't seem to have woken up yet, so she closed her eyes, hugged Li Ruobing's right arm and wanted to continue to sleep, Li Ruobing couldn't help her, and doted on her watching her curl up in the bed softly.

After a while, Zhu Ying said "Ah-", tore open the cup with both hands, and exclaimed, "I overslept." ”

Li Ruobing looked at her funny, stretched out her hand to help Zhu Ying up, inadvertently wiped off a little crystal water stain from the corner of her mouth, and said with a smile: "Today's journey is not in a hurry, and it will be there soon." Zhu Ying agreed in a low voice, still full of apologies. Li Ruobing looked at her lovingly, and felt a sense of relief in her heart. When the two had just escaped from Shangjing, Zhu Ying slept very lightly at night, and she could wake up with a little noise, she always got up earlier every morning, and often had nightmares when she slept, even when she didn't have nightmares, her body was stiff when she slept, almost motionless, and her breathing was very slight, as if there was no one lying around. During the days when the two of them walked together, Zhu Ying got better and better when she had nightmares, and her personality gradually returned to her former liveliness.

"Oops," Zhu Ying was shy by him, rolled up the felt blanket to cover her face, and said, "After sleeping, you won't wake me up." ”

She turned her back to Li Ruobing and gently straightened her sideburns, and then wiped her face in the mirror before turning around.

"Shifan Valley is less than twenty miles away," Li Ruobing smiled and comforted her, "I'll be there before dark." ”

Zhu Ying nodded, she was very curious about what kind of paradise the shelter she was about to arrive at, however, she didn't ask much, she only helped Li Ruobing put away the tent together, and then tied it tightly into a roll with a sheepskin rope, and tied the wooden stick that supported the tent and put it on the pack horse. In the past few years, Zhu Ying has been poor and hungry, and Zhu Ying is no longer the queen mother who comes to eat, although her hands and feet are not as delicate as before, these jobs can be done as quickly as a village woman. When he was in Beijing, Zhao Ke was not diligent, and he couldn't pull his subordinates to work, and even the rough work usually done by men such as splitting wood and carrying water was undertaken by Zhu Ying. During this period of escape, Li Ruobing had taught her to ride a horse, and the two walked side by side, as if they were on an outing side by side when they were young, and each other's mood became very happy.

"It's almost there...... It's almost there. Li Ruobing whispered, he squinted into the distance, as if looking for something.

"It's so beautiful!" Entering Shifan Valley, Zhu Ying let out a cheer of surprise.

The slopes of the Shifan Valley are colorful, with rows of trees with a canopy ranging from golden to vermilion, with distinct layers of color.

The autumn frost color of the forest and the withered yellow on the grassland set off each other, freehand a beautiful autumn mountain scroll, which makes the viewer dizzy and intoxicated. Looking at Zhu Ying's happy appearance, Li Ruobing just smiled and nodded slightly, not because he was used to seeing such a magnificent scenery, but because Shifan Valley was not a peaceful place, so he was always vigilant. Although this is the end of Liao's power, it is still a world of the jungle.

After escaping from Shangjing, Li Ruobing asked Zhu Ying to change into men's clothes at the beginning, and she and Li Ruobing looked like two herdsmen wandering the grassland from a distance. Every time he was questioned by other tribes or herdsmen, Li Ruobing said that the two of them were looking for a few good horses that had been stolen by horse thieves. In the grassland, stealing horses is a great crime compared to killing people, and others can't tell whether he is a shepherd who lost his horse to find revenge on the horse thief, or a horse thief wandering on the grassland, both of which can be called outlaws, so ordinary shepherds are respectful of them, and the two of them do not drive sheep and cattle around them, and the powerful tribe is not very interested in wandering shepherds who can't squeeze much oil and water.

The two of them can be described as the weakest of the weak on the grassland, and they can only survive if they are cautious at all times.

The reason why Li Ruobing came all the way to Shifan Valley is because this is the place where the forces of Xia and Liao are intertwined, and the Liao army generally does not go deep here, and secondly, because when the Rilian tribe grazing and passing nearby, he got acquainted with a Kansai leather merchant named Mo Qi, and the two talked speculatively, although Mo Qi did not know Li Ruobing's true identity, but seeing that he was used to dealing with the Saiwai tribes, and knew the people of the Central Plains well, he had the idea of soliciting, Li Ruobing agreed at the time, but shirked that his family was still in Beijing to pick up, So the two made an appointment to meet in Shifan Valley. Mozi mainly bought and sold mink skins, especially sable skins in winter, so he would stay near Shifan Valley throughout the winter, and from time to time send people to buy mink and other leather goods from various tribes.

The Mo family caravan is very famous in the Shifan Valley area, and the leaders and nobles of all tribes have to do business with them, and they generally do not offend the Mo family's guys. Li Ruobing hoped that if the road to the south was blocked, he could take a detour to Luoyang with the Mo family caravan through the Xia Kingdom. Li Ruobing heard the Khitan people mention the name of this brother-in-law for three days, and knew that Zhao Xingde was elected by the people of Luoyang as the Shangzhu State, and was named the Marquis of Baoyi in the Xia Kingdom, and Zhao Xingde's family members were also "detained" in Luoyang. Because he didn't know what the situation of his parents and sister was in Luoyang, although Mo Qi was from the Xia Kingdom, Li Ruobing was careful not to reveal his identity to him. After entering Shifan Valley, Li Ruobing searched all the way according to the route he vaguely remembered, and the camp of the Mo family caravan became tighter and tighter, and his mood went up and down a little. Over the years, he has rarely pinned his hopes on the help of others, especially with the most precious person by his side.

Zhu Ying seemed to feel his mood, and changed from excitement to silence, pressing the bridle and following closely behind his horse.

I don't know when the sky was full of dark clouds, the cold wind was biting, the two of them rode their horses slowly in the valley where there were few people, suddenly, there were bursts of rapid dog barking in front, Zhu Ying looked startled, Li Ruobing listened carefully for a while, and said with a happy face: "Yes, the person we are looking for is hunting in front." He reached out and pulled the reins of Zhu Ying's mount to avoid any accidents.

At this time, the howling of the hunting dogs was closer, and the shouts of the hunters were heard in the distance, Li Ruobing became more and more sure that Mo Qi was not far ahead, so he accelerated to urge the horse forward, and it didn't take long to see an open field in the forest, seven or eight hunting dogs surrounded a wild boar, and there were four or five people shouting loudly not far away. The boar snorted and barked, trying to break out of the hounds, however, no matter which direction it charged, the hounds in front would pounce on it and bite its neck, the boar avoided pausing slightly, and the hounds behind caught up and bit its buttocks. The boar's cry became more and more terrible, rushing left and right in the middle of the dogs.

At this time, several hunters also saw Li Ruobing, and one of them greeted loudly: "Brother Mu is really a believer. ”

Li Ruobing's ability to take his family over thousands of miles shows his integrity, which makes Mo Qi think highly of him.

Li Ruobing carefully protected Zhu Ying and replied loudly: "Mo Dongjia, I'm so interested." ”

Mozzie laughed twice, looked at his dogs triumphantly, and frowned again. Between the two groups of people is an open field for hunting wild boars, and the wild boars are crazy and even the tigers have to avoid them, and it is even more impossible for people to meet through the open area until the wild boars are eliminated. Mo Qi muttered two sentences, explained two sentences to the people around him, walked towards the wild boar, seeing that the wild boar was getting closer and closer to him, the wild boar was torn and bitten to the skin and blood, as soon as he saw someone coming up, he immediately turned around, dragged several dogs desperately rushed towards Mo Qi's side, and saw that he was about to crash into the person's body, saying that it was too late, it was fast, Mo Qi did not retreat but advanced, and he could let go of the wild boar's fangs, and the whole person pounced, and the dagger in his hand pierced into the heart of the wild boar, and after he succeeded, he immediately let go of the wild boar that was stumbling in pain, An open field that rolls to the side.