The night was getting deeper, the north wind was still howling, and the snow was falling.

Chu Tianya and He Bo stood side by side under the eaves of the back hall, watching Xiao Linglong practicing pile walking. Ada and Anu each held a shovel to clear the snow from the courtyard, and there were already several piles of tired piles under the wall. Xiao Ai was busy boiling water in the kitchen for everyone to wash up later, and took out the burned charcoal and put it in the brazier to keep warm.

A lantern hung under the eaves porch and on the bare osmanthus branches, swaying in the cold wind.

Xiao Linglong was only wearing a thin spring and autumn clothes and hat, engrossed in practicing her body and footwork, and her sideburns were cold stained.

"Wrong, retrain three times." Hobo's voice became mechanical and cold.

Xiao Linglong gritted her teeth and had to go through the complicated steps again.

Chu Tianya watched her walk on the slippery and shaking stake, his brows furrowed slightly.

"This woman's perseverance is not comparable to leisure." He Bo suddenly whispered, "To be honest, among the few apprentices I have taught, her qualifications are not the worst nor the best. However, she is the one who is most willing to endure hardships and has the most perseverance. ”

Chu Tianya nodded and asked, "Uncle He, you said earlier that you only accepted three apprentices in total, namely Tong Guan, Jiao Wentong and Xue Yu. But why did the king call you a teacher when he came to see you? I remember he also said that there are many officers and generals in the Great Song Army, all of whom are from your disciples, what does this mean? ”

"From my disciple, but not necessarily my apprentice." He Bo smiled hesitantly and said, "It's not a big secret, the old man will tell you." When the old man was in Tokyo, he served as an instructor at the Tokyo Imperial Boxing Gym and the Bow Horse Children's Office, which is often called a teacher. The Imperial Boxing Gym and the Bow Horse Disciples were subordinate to the Privy Council and were designed to train military attachés for the Great Song Dynasty. Because Wang Yucai said that many generals in the Great Song Dynasty came out of my disciples. ”

Chu Tianya couldn't help but be stunned, and said in surprise: "Remember that Zhang Tong also held this position?" ”

"That's right." He Bo nodded, "Lao Zhangtou plus me, there is another person, who is the three old Aushijiao of the Imperial Boxing Gym back then. It can be said that now more than half of the generals in the Great Song Dynasty can be regarded as our protégés. But only three of them have officially come into my discipleship. Needless to say, Tong Guan stepped on two boats and worshipped me and Zhang Tong as teachers at the same time. At the beginning, Jiao Wentong, who was also from a military family, and Xue Yu went to Tokyo to learn martial arts together, and I fell in love with him very much, so I accepted them as apprentices. In addition to the ordinary bows, horses, fists and feet and art of war courses, Jiao Wentong is keen on archery, and Xue Yu specializes in swordsmanship, which can be regarded as having a skill. In fact, what I taught the two of them was the archery and knife routines in Guanzhong Red Fist. Tong Guan mainly practiced boxing and horizontal practice of foreign kung fu, which is also a series of red boxing. ”

"No wonder when I punched Tong Guan a few times, he recognized it at a glance." Chu Tianya said, "Guanzhong Red Boxing, I only heard its name and thought it was just a boxing method, but I didn't expect it to be a self-contained system, and there was no shortage of knives, guns, arrows and sticks." If you can specialize in one of them, you can also become a master for a while like Jiao Wentong and Xue Yu. Uncle He, you are proficient in everything, do you still have opponents in the world? ”

"Hey, they're blue." He Bo smiled, "If the apprentice he taught is not as good as me, then what should I teach him to do?" In fact, of the three instructors at the beginning, I had the worst reputation and the lowest achievement. The other two can be called a generation of grandmasters. I was the only one who acted perversely without formality, and finally followed Fang La's rebellion and became a thief. ”

Chu Tianya said with a smile: "It proves that the old man has a personality and does not follow the usual path." ”

"Hey, hey!" He Bo was also amused, and said with a smile, "Life is very short. The old man has always been sexual, happy, and vengeful. Of course, there are both advantages and disadvantages to this. But there is one thing that the old man is sure of, and that is that no matter what I have done, I will never regret it! Because, it was all my own choice, and no one forced me. ”

Chu Tianya nodded silently, and said in his heart that if he could really "never regret it", his life would be worth it.

At this moment, someone outside the courtyard called for the door, and Uncle He went to answer. It turned out that the rice oil shop in the city sent people to deliver a whole car of rice, salt, vegetable oil and other things. Uncle He went to greet these people, but Chu Tianya didn't join in the fun, and said in his heart that Uncle He was really old-fashioned, so he had to call someone to send it in the middle of the night. I heard that he recently hired someone to dig a new cellar, and it is estimated that it is full of grain again.

Xiao Linglong was still practicing meticulously, Chu Tianya glanced at Uncle He and went to the cellar, then took a hot towel and stepped forward. Just as she was about to speak, Xiao Linglong was distracted, and she fell down with an unsteady scream under her feet.

Chu Tianya hurriedly stretched out his arm to catch her and hugged her.

In a hurry, a palm actually covered her chest.

"Wow! ――Quite informative!! "Marvel!

Without waiting for Xiao Linglong to settle down, she hurriedly twisted around and broke out of Chu Tianya's arms, her face flushed.

"Take a break, give you a towel to wipe your sweat." Chu Tianya's nonchalant way.

Xiao Linglong naturally didn't take the initiative to mention it, but she didn't dare to look at Chu Tianya in shame, so she took the towel and wiped the sweat on her face with a "hmm".

Ada hurriedly brought a thick coat and put it on her, and then invited her to the fire in the house to warm up and rest. Xiao Ai had just boiled the water, so he made a few bowls of ginger soup and a pot of fragrant tea to ward off the cold with everyone.

Chu Tianya glanced at Xiao Linglong a few times, her face was still red, and she grabbed the placket on her chest from time to time and wrapped herself tightly.

He couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart, what's wrong with the heroine, it's not a little girl? …… Anyway, she is really hidden, that feeling, it's home!

"There will probably be chaos in the city tonight, won't you go to the military patrol shop?" In order to break the embarrassment, Xiao Linglong finally found a topic.

"Not yet." Chu Tianya replied, "Now that the city gates have been closed, only the north gate is set aside for the Shengjie army to enter the city one after another; It is estimated that the news will not officially spread until dawn. ”

Xiao Linglong subconsciously tugged at the placket of her clothes again, as if she was worried that Chu Tianya's eyes would see through, and covered her chest tightly.

Chu Tianya couldn't hold back and snickered.

Xiao Linglong's face suddenly turned red to the base of her neck, and her apricot eyes glared angrily: "Don't laugh!" ”

"I didn't laugh! - Hehehe! ”

"I really want to kill you with a knife!" Xiao Linglong gritted her teeth and scolded angrily.

Xiao Ai, who was coming in with a plate of caramel candy, screamed in fright, and the plate in his hand fell to the ground and shattered!

"Look at you, it's all scared of Xiao Ai." Chu Tianya couldn't squeak.

Xiao Linglong couldn't cry or laugh, and hurriedly went to help Xiao Ai clean up the broken plates. Xiao Ai hurriedly refused to let Xiao Linglong help, saying that this was a rough job done by his subordinates, how could the county lord get his hands dirty?

"I'm not a county lord anymore. Xiao Ai, don't call me that in the future. Xiao Linglong picked up the broken tiles on the ground one by one and said, "From today on, we are just friends who share weal and pain. ”

"Yes, yes, we are all friends and family." Chu Tianya laughed at the gag.

"It's none of your business!" Xiao Linglong said with resentment.

Xiao Ai blinked his big eyes, looked at Chu Tianya and then at Xiao Linglong, with a confused expression.

At this moment, another guest came to the house. However, it was the former Taiyuan catcher Liu Daoscar who brought a few military patrols and carried four large boxes.

Chu Tianya stepped forward and said in surprise, "Old Liu, what did you carry?" ”

"It was He Bo's other family, and he asked the villain to send it quietly after nightfall." Liu Daoscar hurriedly closed the gate of the courtyard, and sent someone to carry four large boxes to the hall and opened them to take a look, three of them were filled with special wheat biscuit grains, cured meat, dried meat and other items made by the army, and only one box contained medicine for knife and gun wounds, spirits for washing wounds, and medicines for various epidemics and diseases that were always available in the army.

"These are all military assets, where did you steal them?" Chu Tianya couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Hey, hey! The Taibao now has a lot of power, and it's not too much, not too much. Liu Daoscar smiled affectionately and said, "Uncle He has an order, how dare the villain snub?" At the moment, some were transferred from the military patrol materials. When the Taibao is young, it will be enough to get some things to fill the vacancy, not tight, not tight. ”

Chu Tianya shook his head and smiled, and said in his heart that Uncle He was really careful and fast-handed. He had experienced a similar siege in Jiangnanla, and of course he knew what was going to happen next, so he made these preparations in advance. One of them, a wheat cake or a piece of jerky, it is estimated that after half a year, it will be related to a human life......

At this time, Uncle He, who had just settled the truckload of grain, came back, entered the hall and took a look, and turned his face on the spot, "Liu Scar, why are you so ineffective?" Only four boxes of things, for a bird? ”

"Huh? …… If it's less, the villain will go and get some more. Liu Daoscar hurriedly made amends.

Liu Dao Scar naturally didn't know Uncle He's true identity, just because the tide was rising, and now Chu Tianya was his top boss, how dare he snub the old servant of Chu Tianya's family.

Chu Tianya smiled bitterly, this is a blatant abuse of power for personal gain!

He Bo waved his hand impatiently, "Go!" At night, hurry up and get another seven or eight hundred catties of pickled venison and mutton jerky! ”

"Yes, the villain will go right away!" Liu Daoscar dared to slack off, and left in a hurry.

Chu Tianya just smiled and didn't say much. He called Ada and Anu and helped him to bring all these things to the cellar.

Xiao Linglong suddenly said, "I thought you would stop them from doing this. ”

"Why stop it?" Chu Tianya looked at her sideways and said indifferently.

"Haven't you always been righteous and awe-inspiring, and you are most unaccustomed to some corrupt officials and corrupt officials?" Xiao Linglong smiled a little sarcastically, "Why did you do this kind of thing yourself?" ”

"If you can't live, you can't talk about justice." Chu Tianya smiled indifferently at the corner of his mouth, "Actually, it doesn't matter whether justice is evil or evil, and I never flaunt that I am a loyal and righteous person." Everything I do is to stay alive, that's all. ”

"That's a big truth." Xiao Linglong laughed, "Actually, you are very poisonous and bad, you can see from the fact that you framed Yelu Yu and killed Tong Guan!" ”

Chu Tianya suddenly laughed with joy, and almost stepped forward to hold Xiao Linglong's hand and said gratefully, "Comrade, you finally tell the truth!" ”

"What are you laughing at?" Xiao Linglong was puzzled.

"Oh, you don't understand." Chu Tianya smiled and said in his heart, "You finally didn't send me a good person card, what a fortunate thing! -- Men are not bad and women are not loved, this is simply an unbreakable truth that has been subverted for thousands of years!

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of nervous and hurried carriages and horses on the street outside the courtyard, and there were also hurried shouts echoed by people back and forth, probably saying, "Hurry up, hurry up!" It's not so easy to get out of town at dawn! ”

Chu Tianya and Xiao Linglong walked to the door curiously to take a look, only to see a row of carriages and horses rushing towards the south gate. There were about thirty or fifty people who went forward and back.

"Look at this pomp, it should be a rich man or a high-ranking official in the city." Chu Tianya frowned slightly and said, "It seems that the news has already leaked, and someone has bought off the generals guarding the city to flee overnight in advance." ”

"As soon as the morning dawns, I'm afraid there will be more people to escape." Xiao Linglong said, "There are more than one million people under the rule of Taiyuan Mansion, and I don't know how many will be left in the end. Seeing that they took a lot of things, you don't come forward to take care of it? ”

"Most of the people who will flee are rich and high-ranking officials who are greedy for life and afraid of death, and most of them will take away gold and silver treasures that cannot be eaten or drunk. These people and things are useless, let them go! Chu Tianya smiled indifferently, "I still agree with this proposition of the prefect Zhang Xiaochun - those who want to leave are not stayed, and those who are willing to stay are welcome." I'm also curious to see how many people will eventually stay and live with their homeland! ”