It's July in the blink of an eye, and the Midyear Festival is approaching.

The Midyear Festival is a Taoist saying, which is often called the Ghost Festival and the seventh half of the month. This festival has been spread in the Central Plains for a long time, and in the Song Dynasty, because of the prosperity of Taoism, it gradually received attention and flourished widely. At this time, each family will invite the tablet and portrait of the ancestors, set up incense shrines to burn clothes, sacrifice the dead and put river lanterns, and rich families will also do pujas or water and land dojos.

Now Xishan and the government are in a "honeymoon period", in order to consolidate the relationship between the two, Taiyuan prefect Zhang Xiaochun carefully arranged people to come to Xishan in advance to do more than half a month of water and land dojo to pay tribute to Wang Yu and Guanshan and the martyrs of the first battle in Taiyuan, especially the Qingyun Fort who was martyred in the fire before.

Therefore, Qingyun Castle was very lively for a while. During the day, there is a continuous puja ashram, and at night the river lights illuminate all the streams, and the paper ashes and fireworks are burned all day long.

Chu Tianya was also invited to return to Taiyuan City to participate in the dojo festival held there, which caused quite a stir. After all, he is a native of Taiyuan, and now he has become the "general" who leads the 100,000 green forests, and the people of Taiyuan are not only surprised, but also inexplicably excited - after decades, our Dragon City has finally produced a big man!

Compared with Chu Tianya's busyness of dealing with all kinds of entertainment, Meng De has been very silent recently, living in a simple place and talking to people and not participating in any group activities, except for taking care of some of his official duties, most of the time he hides alone at home.

Only Chu Tianya knew how sad Meng De, an iron-clad man, was on the special day of the Midyear Festival.

One evening, after one evening, Chu Tianya took a break and came to Meng De's house alone with two pots of wine.

The gate was closed, and there were a few minions guarding the door. Seeing that it was the lord who came, they were about to report and invite Meng De to greet them, Chu Tianya stopped them, and walked in with only two pots of wine.

In the Nirvana fire of Qingyun Castle, all the martyrs were buried in a sea of fire. In addition, it has been a long time since the day of collection of the corpse, and it has long been impossible to distinguish the ownership of the corpse. So all the remains had to be buried in one place.

Meng De built a separate mound for his deceased wife in the backyard of his house, and he would go to the grave every day at dusk, not offering incense wax or burning paper money, but "chatting" with him, and sometimes drunk and drunk on the grave for a night, like a husband and wife sleeping together. In the past year, Meng De has never been involved with any woman.

Not many people know about it.

No one would have imagined that such a bold and scaled iron man, but he was a very gentle lover in his heart.

Chu Tianya came to the backyard of Meng De's house with ease, where a circle of walls was built, and the green shade was like a forest, and it was dotted with a few flowers. The decoration is simple and warm, all created by Meng De himself. In the center of the courtyard there is a small wooden house with only a table, a chair and a wardrobe. There is a hole in the secret door in the wardrobe, and go down more than ten stairs to the tomb of Meng De's deceased wife.

There was a light in the cave, and it seemed that Mende was indeed here. Chu Tianya walked down step by step and heard an echo from inside.

"Xiaomin, come, I salute you for my husband......" Meng De's voice was a little big tongue, obviously a little drunk.

In the silent cave, there was the sound of Mengde's "gurgling" drinking, then the wine bowl on the table, and then the sound of pouring wine.

"Come, I'll respect you again."

Chu Tianya shook his head and sighed, and was just about to move forward, when he suddenly heard a voice, which almost made his hairs stand upside down-

"Seventh brother, you can't drink anymore!"

How can there be a woman's voice? …… The seventh sister-in-law blew up the corpse?!!

Chu Tianya was stunned on the spot!

"Yes, yes! Let's drink again! Meng De was obviously drunk, and he smirked.

Then there was the sound of "plopping", presumably falling. The woman inside exclaimed eagerly, "Seventh brother! ”

Chu Tianya's scalp was numb, he took a sharp breath and strode forward, pushing open the wooden door of the clothed mound.

Two people were stunned on the spot.

Chu Tianya looked at the woman in front of him in a daze, wearing the usual clothes of Meng De's deceased wife before her death, even the hairstyle and headdress were the same, and her face and body shape were somewhat similar. Meng De was already drunk and turned over and lay down in front of a small sitting table, and the woman was about to help him, and the two of them were in a half-hugging posture.

The light in the cave is not very bright, and when he glanced at it, Chu Tianya really thought that it was the seventh sister-in-law who blew up the corpse, and felt that a bucket of ice water had been poured down on the back of the spine, and it was so cold that his heart was cold. But immediately, the "female ghost" shouted in surprise than him - "Brother Chu"!

Chu Tianya was suddenly stunned and saw the person in front of him clearly, it was actually Xiao Ai!

"Xiao Ai, why are you here? ......" Chu Tianya's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked her up and down in a daze, "I really didn't pay attention, your dress is really a little similar to the deceased seventh sister-in-law!" ”

"I ...... I ......" Xiao Ai's face was red to the base of her neck, and she was squeaky and speechless.

Chu Tianya breathed a sigh of relief and smiled gracefully, stepped forward to help Meng De up, patted his face, but there was no reaction, it seemed that he was really drunk. So he said: "It's humid here, first carry Brother Qi to the room with me to rest." ”

"Hmm......" Xiao Ai responded timidly, like a child who has done something wrong waiting to be punished by an adult.

Chu Tianya already understood seven or eight points in his heart, and he didn't say anything, so he carried Meng De back to his bedroom first, and then arranged for the little minions to boil hot water and make sobering soup.

Taking advantage of a while, Xiao Ai has changed his outfit and "changed" back to himself.

"Why do you want to change it? You look good like that. Chu Tianya said with a smile.

"Brother Chu, don't laugh at me." Xiao Ai is like a thief who has caught all the stolen goods, and he has long been ashamed of himself.

Chu Tianya couldn't help laughing, "You two ......"

"The two of us have nothing! We're all clear! Xiao Ai hurriedly shouted.

"Haha, I didn't say anything, why should you be nervous?" Chu Tianya smiled, "Besides, even if there is 'something', it is normal, what is there to be nervous about?" ”

"Really, really, there is no ......" Xiao Ai lowered his head.

Chu Tianya nodded with a smile, "Tell me, do you like him?" ”

Xiao Ai's whole body was so shocked that he flicked, he didn't dare to look at Chu Tianya with his head down, and he nodded reluctantly after being stunned for a long time.

"That's easy, I'll match you." Chu Tianya said with a smile.

"No, never!" Xiao Ai was shocked on the spot, and eagerly grabbed Chu Tianya's sleeve and shouted, "Brother Chu, don't do this, let alone sue him!" ”

"Huh? ......" Now it was Chu Tianya's turn to be stunned, "Why?" ”

"Because ......" Xiao Ai frowned and couldn't say a reason, biting her lip and hesitating for a long time, and finally just shook her head, "In short, no!" ”

"Okay." Chu Tianya smiled, "It seems that there is a hidden secret, I have to figure it out first." Don't look at me so anxiously, don't worry, I won't tell him - you go back first, I'll be here with him. ”

Xiao Ai was relieved, reluctantly looked at the sleeping Meng De a few times, and quietly left.

Later, the minions poured Meng De sobering soup and took a bath, and it was late at night for two hours before he woke up.

At this time, Chu Tianya was sitting at the table in his room, lighting a lamp and reading a copy of "Kaiyuan Guangji". As soon as Meng De turned over, he smiled and said, "Awake? ”

Meng De finally came back to his senses and said in surprise: "Brother, why are you?" ”

"If it's not me, who should it be?" Chu Tianya smiled jokingly, stepped forward, and handed him a bowl of tea.

Meng De was stunned at first, then smiled, got up and took the tea bowl and drank it all, "What about Xiao Ai?" ”

"In the middle of the night, do you still want a big girl to accompany you here?" Chu Tianya said with a smile.

"Haha!" Meng De also smiled, "It's good to go back, this girl!" - Don't talk about her, brother, I just have something important to tell you. ”

"Oh?" Chu Tianya saw that he deliberately diverted the topic, so he followed him, and said, "What's the matter?" ”

Meng De immediately got out of bed and sat down with Chu Tianya in a full of energy, and said, "A few days ago, Jiao Wentong found me and told me about it. Invite me to initiate both with him, let Ma Kuo be the matchmaker, ask Zhang Xiaochun to marry, and let you and Lord Xiao get married on a certain date. ”

"I don't know about this?" Chu Tianya couldn't help frowning.

"Jiao Wentong means to surprise you. The wedding date was chosen in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Meng De said, "I feel that Jiao Wentong seems to have ulterior motives, so I have to discuss it with you in advance." ”

Chu Tianya pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that Jiao Wentong is still dissatisfied with me, he lacks a sense of security, and wants to consolidate our relationship with the old department of Qixingzhai through this marriage. ”

"Jiao Wentong also mentioned a matter, he said, if you marry the lord of Xiao County, you can justifiably recruit many Liao remnants who are exiled in Hedong and Hebei, expand our strength, and especially help strengthen the cavalry." "He is the chief of the cavalry in command of the Howling Cavalry, which seems reasonable and feasible at first glance. But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that Jiao Wentong wants to develop his own strength with Lord Xiao and wants to fight against you. ”

Chu Tianya's brows tightened, and after contemplation, he slowly shook his head, "That's not it." However, this is a warning sign of danger. No matter who it is, I will not allow him to pull any mountains or divide them in the West Mountain. At the same time, we can't be suspicious, let alone point knives and guns at our own people. In the final analysis, it is still my lack of prestige and credit for the moment to intimidate and convince everyone. ”

"I've got a place to think of." Meng De said, "After all, people like Jiao Wentong have been crisscrossing the green forests of Hedong for more than ten years, and no one can match them except Guanshan. Although you have made a name for yourself and made a name for yourself in the past year or so, you are still shallow and not qualified compared to him. Unless you can reach a height that he can't reach and do something big that will make him swoon, he will probably be truly convinced of you. There are also those people from the other eight mountains in Taihang, who came to Xishan this time, and in the final analysis, they all came to Jiao Wentong. If we fail to completely subdue the hearts of these people, we will bring disaster in the long run. ”

Chu Tianya stood up and slowly paced in contemplation, and said: "Qingyun Castle has just been rebuilt and is still in the run-in period, so I will not act rashly. However, there is not much time left for us to run in. When the first heavy snow falls this winter, the Golden Soldiers will inevitably come again. At that point, a major war is no longer inevitable. ”

"Brother, are you trying to use this battle to build up your prestige?" Meng Dedao.

Chu Tianya nodded, "The current Xishan is like a huge piece of stubborn iron, although the amount is sufficient, it is uneven, and the quality is not high. If we want to truly knead these 100,000 people into a refined whole, we must undergo the baptism and test of war, remove the essence and refine it, and refine it into steel. ”

"If we don't say that we are brothers, we also think of one thing." Meng De said a little excitedly, "The current Xishan seems to be strong and strong on the surface, but the real combat strength may not be as optimistic as it seems on the surface." We Song people have such a stubborn disease, and once we are happy, we like to fight with each other; Once there is an invasion of foreign enemies, they will abandon their previous suspicions and hug together. This is really in response to your words, brother, what we lack in Xishan now is the baptism of war! ”

"So we have to be prepared." Chu Tianya nodded and smiled, "The Jurchens are ambitious, bloodthirsty and brutal, and they will definitely not give up with us." Once they invade again, it will be a life-and-death contest. And this time we don't have any conspiracy to use, and we have to rely more on frontal battles to settle grievances, which is a test of life and death for us. Their army is not a wine bag and a rice bag, and whether or not they can survive this catastrophe is up to us. ”

"It's mid-July now, and there are about four months left...... Meng De breathed a sigh of relief, gritted his teeth, and said, "I have invited Jiao Wentong, Ma Kuo and others to step up training the troops day and night, and if you can get one more point, you will have one more point!" ”

"Good!"

"Then your marriage to Lord Xiao? ……”

Chu Tianya smiled indifferently, "This question has also been asked by Bai Xu, and I replied that it will be put on hold for the time being." ”

"Then will Lord Xiao and Jiao Wentong be unhappy in their hearts? Especially Lord Xiao, she is a female streamer after all, with thin skin and a high heart. ”

Chu Tianya still smiled indifferently, "This matter must be resolved in a private way, and it must not be allowed to affect the overall harmony of Xishan." I'll go and tell Lord Xiao - only if she comes forward to persuade Jiao Wentong to retire, this matter will be considered complete! ”

"No matter what kind of woman she is, she can't stand being rejected for marriage, let alone His Royal Highness the fierce temperament Lord Xiao?" Meng De smiled a little maliciously, "I see what you say!" ”

"I can say death to Tong Guan and Yelu Yu when they see such a big hero, and I can also say defeat with 100,000 soldiers in the Jin Kingdom, and I am afraid that I will not be convinced by a girl?"

Chu Tianya laughed heartlessly and talked a lot in his mouth, but he was worried in his heart: Damn, how can I tell her this?! …… It is no wonder that the Celestial Empire in the 21st century clearly stipulates that a man can only get married at the age of 22, and it is enough to be a soldier at the age of 16. It turns out that it is much more difficult to deal with a wife than to deal with thousands of troops!!