Yuan Yu, the general of Dongchang, took the two of them around Dongchang City, visited Dongchang Lake, the ancient city of Liaocheng in the center of the lake, and the Dongchang Tower in the ancient city; Then, he went up to the west wall of Dongchang and explained the battle of Dongchang to Ye Laixiang. Shen Ruoyu only listened worriedly on the side, and did not make a sound. Then, Yuan Yu took the two back to his residence, ordered his soldiers to prepare dinner, and burned a large bucket of hot water for night incense to bathe.

Only the two people left in the room, Dongchang Shou General and Dongchang Hou. Yuan Yu asked:

"Where does the general want to go next?"

Shen Ruoyu replied: "Taishan; Then go to Gangnam, by the sea. Then go inland along the river. ”

Yuan Yu smiled. "The general is at ease. Don't plan to go back to the king of soldiers? ”

Shen Ruoyu looked at him depressedly: "Yuan Dudu, I just came from Jinan, and Lord Tie has already tried his best to give me a patriotic education. Don't push me anymore. ”

Yuan Yu said with a smile: "If Master Hou really has the heart to return to the army, I would like to persuade you to think about it again." ”

Shen Ruoxiao's heart moved slightly, and he waited quietly for the following.

Yuan Yu said: "Does Master Hou know that the Yan army and the Wei State Bus fought at the foot of Qimei Mountain and were defeated by the Duke of Wei?" ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "What I heard is that there are mutual winners and losers. The next day, the imperial army was defeated and left. ”

Yuan Yu said: "This is the official newspaper of Beiping, right?" The official report of the imperial court was that our army had won a great victory. As for the next day, it was not that the army was defeated and left, but that there was no fighting at all, and our army withdrew. ”

Shen Ruoyu frowned: "Withdrawn?" Why? ”

Yuan Yu said: "The Son of Heaven issued three urgent orders in a row, ordering the Duke of Wei to withdraw his troops overnight. The grandfather had no choice but to give up the fighter and withdraw his troops. ”

Shen Ruoyu was very confused: "Why did the Son of Heaven order the withdrawal of the army?" ”

Yuan Yu said: "Because Cao Guogong kept saying around the Son of Heaven that Wei Guogong was about to turn against his sister and join forces with King Yan. ”

"What?" Shen Ruoyu couldn't believe it, and only felt a sinking in his heart, "Is this true?" ”

Yuan Yu smiled. "Since the defeat of Hou Ye's army in the river and the Yan camp, the general has repeatedly written to the Son of Heaven to ask for more support from the army and horses, grain and grass, but the court has never been reinforced, and the grain and grass have not been followed, all because Cao Guogong was jealous of the general's previous merits, so he obstructed it in the court. When Hou Ye was there before, the Son of Heaven favored Hou Ye very much, relied on Hou Ye for everything, and obeyed his words. But the general is just a military minister to the Son of Heaven, and he does not trust and rely on him so much. plus Cao Guogong stirred up next to him; After all, Cao Guogong is the cousin of the Son of Heaven, and he is in Beijing, so does the Son of Heaven not listen to Cao Guogong's reasoning? ”

Shen Ruoyu sighed.

"I knew that; The imperial court made a big fanfare about that kind of life condensation treasure, and this alone was enough to slack the morale of the army. The previous Jingtian system and official system have given King Yan a pretext to raise troops. Now he listened to Cao Guogong's slander, which made the army even more chilled. It's no wonder that this battle was lost today. Even if I return to the battlefield, how can I be able to prevent Cao Guogong's slanderous arrow. ”

Yuan Yu said: "Therefore, Master Hou's choice to retire is wise. I don't have that blessing, so I can only continue to stick to the land of Dongchang, after all, the Son of Heaven is still sitting on the dragon chair. Once King Yan entered the Jingshi and ascended to the Great Treasure, the whole world was his, and Dongchang was naturally no exception. ”

Shen Ruoxiao smiled faintly. "Yuan Dudu's decision is also very wise. The governor can know that the Yan army attacked Zhangde, delayed the attack for three days, and then withdrew, what is the reason? ”

Yuan Yu shook his head.

Shen Ruoyu said: "I only heard about it in Beiping. King Yan sent someone to recruit Zhao Qing, the general of Zhangde, and Zhao Qing replied: "Your Highness will go to the capital on the day, but you will summon the ministers with two fingers, and the ministers will not dare to come." I don't dare to do it now. The king of Yan thought that he would slow down the attack, and then withdrew his army. ”

Yuan Yu smiled. It seems that the hero sees something in the same way. However, why didn't Hou Ye continue to stay by King Yan's side, after King Yan ascended the throne, he could continue to achieve great things and leave a name in history, why did he choose to hide for the rest of his life? ”

Shen Ruoyu smiled bitterly. "In the eyes of King Yan, I am a traitor. I will descend to the court first, and now I will descend to him, and he will not believe in me again in any way. I don't continue to help anyone kill people. King Yan has set the country, the world is peaceful, I am a martial artist, what can I do, it is better to be incognito, travel the mountains and rivers, and go happily by myself. ”

Yuan Yu said with a smile: "It is not difficult for Master Hou to want to visit the mountains and rivers, but it is not easy to be incognito. As soon as you arrived at the city gates, you were recognized by my soldiers. Wherever you go, it's Dongchanghou. ”

Shen Ruoyu said annoyedly: "I didn't want to alarm the general. This is indeed a big problem. When I left Beiping, it wasn't because King Yan gave me a holiday allowance to let me come out chic; I was kicked out by the people of Peiping. King Yan hasn't had time to fix me yet; Once he is in power, he will inevitably search for me all over the country. 'Under the whole world, it is not the king's land', where should I hide to be safe? ”

Yuan Yu said: "Go to the west; Xishu, Yunnan, the scenery is beautiful, the folk customs are simple, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "That's the only way." So now take advantage of this last bit of space and go to Gangnam and the beach first. There will be no more chances in the future. ”

Shen Ruoliao and Ye Laixiang said goodbye to Yuan Yu the next day, left Dongchang, and came to Mount Tai.

They stayed at the foot of Mount Tai for one night, and the morning began to climb the mountain. For Shen Ruoliao, this is the first time to climb the Five Mountains, not to mention Mount Tai, the honor of the Five Mountains, not to mention the night incense. In order to climb the mountain, she deliberately changed into pants and changed out of a long skirt. They set off from the Dai Temple, followed the emperor's Feng Zen royal road, and walked towards the mountain. Two people all the way to watch the scenery, see the ghostly mountain rocks, see the ancient pines in a thousand postures, see the spectacular flowing springs and waterfalls, more often used in the endless monuments along the way, carefully read every text handed down by the past dynasties, through the stone valley was smoothed by the water on the carving, so slowly go up, walk through the Zhongtianmen, slow eighteen plates, ascending to the immortal fang, and finally use both hands and feet, gecko like climbing the tight eighteen plates of the wall of the steep Tianmen ladder, and finally climbed the South Tianmen together.

The two of them walked through the heavenly street, burned incense and made a wish in the Bixia Temple, and after seeing the cliff stone carvings of the Tang Dynasty, they sat down on the edge of the cliff to rest.

Shen Ruoyu looked at the endless sea of clouds in the mountains at his feet, and said: "Xiang'er, do you know who the emperors who came to Mount Tai to seal Zen? ”

Nightshade shook her head.

Shen Ruo said: "Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian, Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty." Emperor Qin and Han Wu, Guangwu, and Tang Taizong, their exploits are needless to say. Wu Zetian inherited the martyrdom of Taizong, laid the foundation for the rule of Tang Xuanzong, and was the only empress in the history of Qing. And Xuanzong has the rule of Kaiyuan, so he naturally has this qualification. Only Song Zhenzong did not have great merits, sealed Zen Mount Tai, pretended to be the god of heaven, deceived himself, and ridiculed future generations. Since then, there has been no emperor who has enshrined Mount Tai. ”

Ye Laixiang asked, "What about Emperor Taizu Gao, is he qualified enough?" ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "Don't say anything about Song Zhenzong; Compared to the emperor who was enshrined in Zen before, he is still not qualified. ”

"What about King Yan? If he becomes emperor. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "It depends on how he becomes the emperor." I've done so much, isn't that what I'm doing. ”

Nightshade looked at him, hesitated, turned her head, continued to look at the sea of clouds, and fell into silence.

They stayed overnight in a small hotel in Nantianmen. On a summer night in May, it was as cold as winter on Mount Tai. Both of them were in thin summer clothes, so they had to huddle in the thick quilt all night and sleep in each other's arms. In the early morning of the next day, the two of them wrapped themselves in a thick quilt and ran to the top of the Jade Emperor, waiting for the sunrise.

Six years ago, he also watched the sunrise on the eastern peak of Yexiao Mountain every morning with the wooden swing. He once took advantage of the excitement to swing the sword, on the mountain rock at the top of the peak carved "the bow must be for the shooting of nine days, borrowing the autumn wind to change the world" sentence, was seen by the patriarch, so the east peak was named the sun peak.

The sunrise of Mount Tai and the sunrise on the peak of the sun are definitely not the same level. The mountains of Yeyao Mountain are continuous, and the snow is covered all year round; The sun rises from the mountains, the dawn is in the front, and the sunrise is in the back. Above Mount Tai, as far as the eye can see, there is an endless plain. The sun rose from the flat ground, Shen Ruoyu watched the inky black night sky change color, looked at the white of the fish belly that appeared in the sky, watched the white turn into a five-colored light, and watched the five-colored light spread rapidly, and the morning glow was reflected in the sky for half a day. He had never seen such a big sun, he had never seen a flat sun. So red, so bright, as if redder than the sun, as if brighter than the middle of the day. pierced the night, tore the night sky, and in an instant, everything in the sky and earth was shining, and he didn't dare to look at it directly. The cold wind was bitter, and the strength of the wind did not shake him, but the light of the ten thousand swords of the sunrise pierced him to take a step back, and he watched in horror as the huge light source quickly steamed up on the horizon. He had never felt so weak inside.

But what about the lone star? Before sunrise, when it was pitch black; When the white belly of the fish in the east rises at the junction of heaven and earth, the bright and dazzling, lonely, morning star above. In the night sky, he is so dazzling, giving people direction, giving people hope, giving people faith. At this moment, the light has overcome the darkness, and where has he gone? Is it always like this: the rising of the sun dooms him to fall; The light of dawn is only his demise.

As few as the morning star—is that already doomed him to the same trajectory, the same end?

The bow must be shot for nine days, borrowing the autumn wind to change the world.

"Shoot the Sun Peak, Shoot the Sun Peak...... How shallow, how arrogant, how young I am......"

Nightshade was also deeply shocked by the sight of the sunrise over Mount Tai. She heard Shen Ruoyu talking to herself, but she didn't speak.

Shen Ruoyu suddenly saw a cliff, a deep valley, suddenly cracked in front of his eyes. The snow was falling, there was no end to the road everywhere, and the whiteness of death was scattered from heaven to earth. The sun will rise; The dawn is coming. The darkness at this time is pure darkness. Heaven and earth, in life, in the soul. Everything is so painful, so oppressive suffocation, so desperate. He seemed to be waiting for the sunrise, waiting for tens of thousands of years; He felt like he was fighting for his last breath, exerting his last bit of strength, calling for the dawn; It's too dark, it's too cold, it's too painful. It's going to be bright, it's going to be bright! As long as you survive tonight, as long as you survive tonight!!

Where is Daystar? The morning star has fallen; Tonight is not over......

"Ruo Liao?" Nightshade grabbed his arm and clung to his body, trying to suppress his trembling. "What's wrong with you?"

He was trembling; Fearful, cold, painful shivers. It was as if he had gone out of his body, as if he was not here, but somewhere else, a hopeless, gloomy, dark, and hopeless place. Another world.

"Ruoxiao, what do you remember?" She pulled him to sit down, hugged him tightly in her arms, and kissed him incessantly, asking anxiously.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the earth grew brighter and brighter. The warmth became warm and the light hit the two of them. Shen Ruoyu slowly stopped trembling, raised his head, and looked at the rapidly changing colorful sky and floating clouds. Under the feet of the land of China, a radiant light, Vientiane renewed, vibrant.

The sun fell heavily on his eyelashes, shiny and warm. He blinked in surprise, shaking off the itch.

Nightshade was still looking at him, full of worry and anticipation.

Shen Ruoyu took a deep breath and held her hand, which was extremely solid and calm.

"Xiang'er, I see the end."

“…… End? ”

"You know, everybody can see their end," he said, "and I'm going to die at dawn." ”

"......" Nightshade looked at him in amazement, her mind completely blank.

Shen Ruoyu said: "I saw it, I heard it, and I really felt everything, all of it was real, not an illusion." I believe that is. My life will end at a dawn in the future. ”

Nightshade listened in horror, her mouth open, but she couldn't say a word.

Shen Ruoyu stood up, facing the sky and the earth in the east, stretched out his arms vigorously, and indulged in a deep breath of the cool and refreshing vitality on the top of Mount Tai. Then he lowered his arms and watched the sunrise calmly and steadfastly.

"After dawn is sunrise," he said with a smile, squeezing her hand.