Chapter 2 Out of the Plug (Three Ups)

Out of Jixian County to the north, the official road gradually became dilapidated. There were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the side of the road, and in the grass on either side, colorful pheasants and frightened hares ran out, and every now and then, people in the caravan chased after them with bows and arrows. It's just that everyone's archery skills are really not good, and after chasing half the mountain, the hare and pheasant have already run away without a trace, so they have to rush back to the team empty-handed.

When camping in Miyun County, Sun Jiu had another dispute with Zhang San, Du Scarqi and others. The shouting continued for a little in the middle of the night, and did not subside until the ugliness subsided. When they left the next day, there were four more big men with meaty faces in the team.

Then Zhang Sange, the deputy leader of the caravan, announced to everyone that these four people were swordsmen hired for the caravan, and they were responsible for escorting everyone to the Xi tribe at the source of the Wulie water. And the price that everyone needs to pay is twenty dollars per person, and there is no limit to good meat and white money. As soon as he finished speaking, someone jumped up, saying that the swordsman was too expensive to hire, and that when he walked this road in the spring, the same team of fifty or sixty people, each of whom could hire a superb hand who could wield a knife with both hands, only paid sixteen dollars each.

"The double-knife Liu and his brothers you are talking about are folded in Blackstone Ridge, what happened at the beginning of this month. More than 60 of the more than 60 traders who hired him were arrested, and each of them had one ear cut off as a token for his companions to take back and raise ransom for their families! Du, who had always been stingy, suddenly changed his temper and threatened with the scar on his face trembling.

When everyone heard this, the back of their necks exploded, so they had to take out twenty copper coins and hand them over to Third Brother Zhang for safekeeping. The rules on the road, when you set off, you will say the price, and when you arrive at the place, you will pay. If the caravan suffers losses due to bandits on the way, all losses must be deducted from the swordsman's pay. If the caravan had not suffered losses, even if all the swordsmen had been killed, the leader of the caravan would have to deliver the copper coins to the swordsmen's families, even if the swordsman's family lived thousands of miles away.

After Yanle, the official road disappeared completely. The road beneath his feet became a path that the traders had trodden on, so thick and thin that it could not even accommodate two horses in parallel. The surrounding mountains also became steeper, and the huge rocks were almost crowded on the side of the road. On the other side of the road, there is often a valley with no bottom in sight, green, yellow, red, gold, and all kinds of leaves obscuring people's vision, so that you can't find out what is hidden below, only the sound of gurgling water and the whimper of the mountain wind blowing through the branches.

Mountains, one after the other, endlessly. People and livestock are slowly starting to go numb, unable to tell if they are going uphill or downhill. Let's say it's downhill, even a big animal like a blue and white mule has to straighten its neck and move forward in small steps. It's uphill, but the towering mountains around you tell you that your position is descending a little bit.

People became nervous and stopped talking, and even the stupid sandgrouse (Note 1) ran by with its fat butt shaking at its feet, and no one had the heart to chase it anymore. Sun Jiu, Zhang San, Wang Mazi and other old rivers and lakes all stared, and their rough big hands refused to leave the handle of the knife for a moment. The four swordsmen who were working hard to eat were divided into two groups, three of them walking at the front of the caravan, and one of the largest skeletons carrying a large knife with a wide door plate at the end of the caravan.

In the entire team, only Xu Dayan and Li Xu were calm. Neither of them had ever been out of the jam, so they didn't know how dangerous the road really was. I just feel stimulated and excited. Of all the roads he has walked in his life, this is the most exciting. In addition to being excited, Li Xu also noticed that the trees on the mountain were different from those in his hometown. Most of the trees in my hometown have broad leaves, but at this time of autumn, they turn yellow little by little, and then fall like snow. The trees in the mountains are mostly thin coniferous pines, followed by cypresses, and poplars, willows, dates, and wild apricot trees can only be seen at the foot of the mountain or in the valleys. So the color of the mountain is changing all the time, yellowing at the bottom, reddening halfway up the mountainside, then turning green and black, and when the black is so thick that it can't be thicker, it suddenly becomes lighter and becomes grayish-blue. It was the inherent color of the rock, so high that there were no trees anymore, only huge stones, standing in the wind, reading the vicissitudes of the past and the present.

"Look, the Great Wall!" Xu Dayan suddenly shouted from behind, so frightened that Li Xu almost didn't get off the horse. Turning his head sideways, he followed the other party's finger and looked into the distance, only to see an earthy yellow, stretching for thousands of miles, lying across the mountain range on the left. The mountains stretch endlessly, the dragon, also stretches, the ninety thousand miles of wind blows the dragon's body twists and turns, the dragon's head is still proudly raised, under the pure blue sky, the top of the mountains.

"It was the Great Wall built by General Meng and his troops, bordering the sea in the east and Qilian in the west, more than 10,000 miles. From the Qin and Han dynasties to the present, it has stood for more than a thousand years! Xu Dayan pointed to the Great Wall and praised in a low voice. In the face of this most magnificent project in history, he put away his pride and did not say anything more about what he could have done better. The words are full of admiration from the heart.

"But his temple has long been cut off from incense!" Li Xu said with emotion. Captain Bu, General Luo, King Wei, and the builder of the Great Wall, along the way, he saw and heard too many heroic deeds. Each one is more vivid than the book describes. But the heroes' situation doesn't seem to be good. On the one hand, General Luo defended the imperial court, and on the other hand, he had to guard against impeachment within the imperial court. His Royal Highness King Wei died violently in the second year after sweeping through the Turkic tribes, and it is said that he killed too many people and encountered ghosts. But according to Xu Dayan, King Wei is the most beloved half-brother raised by the emperor. When the first emperor was alive, he once had the intention of passing on the throne to his brothers. And the general Meng who built the Great Wall seems to have suffered even more miserably, and the history books record the ending of his life in four words, death, and annihilation.

"With such a Great Wall, where does he still need incense in the world?" Xu looked at the enemy tower in the distance, his face full of admiration. If there is anything that can be called immortal deeds, the Great Wall in front of you is one of them. For more than 1,000 years, countless tribes on the grassland have changed, and each tribe must first face this artificial barrier before going south.

"Hurry up, cross the Great Wall from the Baoqiu water, and we'll be out of the jam!" Sun Jiu's shout came from the front from afar, interrupting the discussion of the two brothers.

The vendors agreed one after another, and like a long snake, they slowly increased their speed. With such a treacherous mountain road, it can end early and be cheaper. Many places are dangerous, and if a bandit suddenly pokes his head out, everyone can only obediently raise their hands and surrender.

Reality is always at odds with people's deception, and the exit Sun Jiu said is in the northeast of Yanle. After a thousand years of vicissitudes, Baoqiu Water did not know when it changed its direction, turning from north to south, and making two sections of an unknown pass of the Great Wall. After the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, there was no time to rebuild the fortress, nor did it garrison here. Therefore, this gap in the city became an ideal choice for the caravans to escape from the official government.

In fact, it is not far from the straight-line distance of Yanle. Out of this gap, the Great Sui who really left. Out of this gap, it is equivalent to really entering Yanshan.

Yanshan is thousands of miles.

The mountain is higher, and the road is narrower and steeper. The man had to jump off the back of the animal and pull hard in front of him with the reins. When it encounters a sudden steep slope, the animal becomes the owner and needs to be moved forward with its shoulders on its buttocks.

In just one day, the thick-soled shoes that Li Xu had just changed into when he left home were worn out. The toes were blistered with blood and poked out from the front of the shoe. The heel also opened its mouth, and with each step, there was a heart-piercing pain in front of and behind the foot at the same time. I don't know how many layers of cocoons on my shoulders have risen, and when I hold the buttocks of the animals, I am completely unconscious. The thighs and chests were covered with sweat, glued together with the dust in the wind, sticking to the skin, and occasionally moving them, emitting a sour smell that could make flies faint.

Xu Dayan's condition looked slightly better than his, the expensive robe had long been hung into a robe by the branches, and the delicate short brown that he wore close to his body was also hung everywhere, and when the wind blew, it revealed the fair, but dirty skin inside. A pair of special fast boots for mountain climbing, and the shoes on Li Xu's feet are also difficult brothers, see "garlic cloves" in the front, and eggplant eggs in the back.

Li Xu knew that he was no different from Wang Mazi and the others at this time, just as dirty and haggard. Thinking about this kind of life will accompany me for a long time, I shudder. Thinking about how my father has lived like this for so many years, but he has never screamed bitterly in front of himself and his mother, deep down I have realized what it means to be a father's love.

"I've got to make money!" Li Xu pushed the mount's ass hard and swore secretly. Such days must end as soon as possible, for the sake of their own future, and for the sake of their parents.

"If the heavens want to descend on the people, they must first suffer their minds, work their bodies, starve their bodies, do what they can't, and gain what they can't!" Before mounting, Xu Dayan muttered that he hung the reins on his shoulders and pulled forward desperately. Tired like this, he doesn't regret his choice at all. Before leaving home, his father originally told him that the Xu family could use the method of bribing the government to let him evade military service, and even buy homeless people to pretend to be him to join the army. However, he refused. Or rather, he wanted to take the opportunity to look outside. It is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books, and only by seeing them can we connect what we have learned with the outside world.

In this way, there is an opportunity to revitalize the whole family. And left his name in the vast history, such as Yang Shuang, the king of Wei, such as the general Meng Tian, and Luo Yi, the general of the tiger ben.

The young man slowly moved forward, forward, and walked through the mountains with his feet.

Alcoholic's note: New book, please support a lot.