Chapter 1: The Great Thief (Part I)

On the third day after leaving the shore of Crescent Lake, a southerly wind blew on the tip of the grass.

This is not a good sign, autumn is the season of northwest winds, and the warm south wind blows through the Great Wall, often bringing disaster to the grasslands. Li Xu and Hei Feng both cheered up and rushed south with their best efforts. But God obviously didn't want to miss the opportunity to play tricks on the pair of prey, and soon released dark clouds that blocked the entire sky.

It was dark, as if it was about to fall off the top of your head. On the vast grassland, the scenery becomes the same. Without the guidance of daylight, Li Xu could no longer be sure that he was walking the way home. Every few dozen steps, he had to jump off his horse, and according to hearsay, he relied on the occasional small tree or a stone to determine the direction of the Central Plains. Sometimes he couldn't find anything on the ground, so he had to walk against the wind, praying that the wind was still the same as before the clouds rose, and that nothing had changed.

In the middle of the night, he lit a fire in a depression. The glow of the fire and the smell of cooked meat soon attracted several groups of predators. Pairs of blue-green eyes rolled around the fire, like countless lonely souls who had lost their homes wandering with lanterns. Black Wind tensed his limbs alertly, ready to smash his incoming foe with his hooves. Li Xu gathered away anything around that could be lit to keep the fire alive. He regretted that he didn't steal Ganluo out, and when Ganluo was there, no wild wolf dared to come within ten feet.

"Maybe it's some kind of holy thing!" Li Xu said to himself. No one listened to him in the middle of the night, only the black wind snorted uneasily. "I'm an unlucky guy, though, so I'm dragging you down!" Li Xu smiled and threw a few pieces of dried animal dung into the fire, maybe it was wild donkey dung, maybe it was wild deer dung, anyway, this thing can be lit, as long as the fire is not extinguished, the wolves will not have the courage to attack.

When it was almost dawn, he couldn't support it anymore and fell asleep in the cold wind. In his sleep, he saw Tao Kuo detaching silk again, and lived a happy life of riding a horse and a horizontal sword, galloping in the wilderness. Then, a group of red cloaks rushed over and snatched Tao Kuo's silk, he drew his knife desperately, but found that there was nothing in his hand.

"Detachment!" Tao Kuo took silk to hug him, and tears fell into the rain. Li Xu stretched out his hand to wipe Tao Kuo's cheeks, but there was a coldness between his palms.

He opened his eyes suddenly, and saw a few bright colors in the sky. Hundreds of crystal-clear snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, sending the embers from the grass into a cloud of green smoke. The wolves have dispersed, and Black Wind is looking for something to eat not far away. Under the low clouds, a few lines of geese quacked and flapped their wings and flew south.

Li Xu jumped up quickly, it was snowing, and he had to find a place to stay before the snow fell. Hei Feng heard the master's voice, stopped breakfast, and trotted towards Li Xu. A man and a horse galloped at high speed along the shadows left by the wild geese, leaving a trail of mud on the grass wet by the first snow.

Not long after riding the horse, a tribe came into view. It was the former camp of the Suotou Xi people, and now belongs to the Susibu tribe, where most of the Susi's public livestock are kept nearby, and there are special samurai and herdsmen responsible for breeding. The black wind hissed with excitement and sped towards the front of the camp. Li Xu grabbed the reins tightly and forcibly pulled the black wind away from the direction.

"Sigh!" Black Wind vacated his front legs and loudly protested to his master. The clouds are so dark that the snow will only get heavier and heavier. Braving such a heavy snow to force the way, both men and horses can freeze halfway through! The wild wolf who is in a hurry to accumulate winter fat does not matter who has backbone and who is not dignified, as long as you don't have the strength to resist, it will rush up and bite your throat as fast as possible.

"Black Wind, let's go!" Li Xu ordered loudly and forcibly turned the horse's head. He saw the samurai of the Susa tribe in the camp come out, and the hiss of the black wind alarmed them, and the samurai strictly went out to fulfill their duties.

"Sigh!" Hei Feng let out another sad hiss, and was forced by Li Xu to run south. The warriors who rushed out in a hurry saw Li Xu's back in the wind and snow, and they were stunned one by one.

"It's Attached, my eyes don't flower, why did he get here?" Someone shouted.

"With such a heavy snowfall, he still continues to hurry!"

"He would rather freeze to death than touch every grass and tree in our tribe!" The samurai, who knew the details, sighed and shook his head. The elders have gone too far, and it's no wonder that the Attached-Lady refuses to even put in the tent to roast the fire. But how far can he go on such a cold day? The samurai looked at the blue-black clouds and muttered prayers.

"Immortal Heaven, please bless the Attached Adult!"

"Changshengtian, please make the snow heavier! Bigger! Several Xi slaves with leather cords on their ankles prayed in low voices. There will not be a second tribe within a radius of hundreds of miles, the lone wolf who ruined the Suotou Xi Division, may the Immortal Heaven give him the most severe punishment.

The snow melted as it fell, and the ground was covered with mud. The mud was soon frozen into ice slag again, and the porridge was mixed with the falling snowflakes. A few old elm trees that had not had time to drop their leaves were covered with ice cubes and shrank in the wind. Finally, a branch could not bear such a heavy load, and it snapped into two pieces with a clatter.

Ice cubes, branches entangled with each other and rolled in the wind, and the snow that had gradually accumulated was brought up and wrapped into a large ice mass. The ice mass grew bigger and bigger, and it made a heavy mark in the snow. Finally, in front of a slope, the ice masses stopped rolling and were frozen on the ground. The snowflakes raised by the wind swirled around the ice and gradually piled up into towers, piled up into mounds, piled up so that they were inseparable from the slope ahead.

A pair of big feet stepped on it and fell into it with a "plop". The "white-haired" black wind hissed desolately, struggled to retreat, and slowly dragged the master out of the snow pit with the reins. Li Xu stood up straight with difficulty, and just wanted to give Hei Feng a grateful smile, his feet slipped and he fell into the snow pit again. He took a few steps forward, grabbed a handful of dead grass, and slowly gathered his body. Squatted, stood up, and hugged Black Wind's neck. Turn your face to the south and stumble forward.

"There are two small mounds ahead, and there is a shelter from the wind in between!" Li Xu lay on the ear of the war horse and whispered to cheer the other party. I don't know if the black wind understands it, it raises its neck with difficulty, accompanies its master, and moves forward one foot deep and one shallow.

There should be two small mounds ahead, and a tent can be placed in the birch forest in the middle. Li Xu kept cheering himself up in his heart. The cold wind had frozen him to the point where he was numb, and when Xu Dayan talked about the nearby terrain last winter, he specifically mentioned this birch forest. In the event that the allied forces fail to attack the Xiren camp, or encounter a snowstorm, the birch forest sandwiched between the two mounds is the best place to camp.

Turning over one mound and rolling over another, the birch forest that Xu Dayan said never appeared. The wind blows on the body and no longer feels cold, but the snow melts on the face and brings a trace of warmth. "Brother Feng, I'm dragging you down!" Li Xu knew that his path had come to an end, and said apologetically to the black wind. Black Wind struggled to lower his neck, struggling to warm his face with his tongue. That was the last thing Black Wind could do, its whole body was soaked in snow, and the only thing that remained warm was its tongue.

"Don't make trouble, Tao Kuo desilk, don't make trouble!" Li Xu shouted in a daze and rolled down the snow slope. Is this in Crescent Lake, Tao Kuo kept pouring cold water on himself. What about Ganro, how Ganro jumped into the wind. What does it taste like, is it a roasted hare?

"Sigh!" The black wind roared loudly, knelt down on his front legs, and desperately pushed Li Xu down the hillside with his head. After a few strokes, it couldn't hold it anymore, and the bean-sized tears fell down the snow in the eyes.

Suddenly, a burnt smell blew into Li Xu's nose. His spirits suddenly lifted, and he struggled to open his eyes in the wind and snow. He saw Black Wind's desperate eyes, and saw the snowstorm. Then he saw a puff of smoke rising high in front of him to his left, and the wind blew snowflakes down the pillar of smoke, but it could not swallow the dark of hope.

"Someone's camped there!" Li Xu shouted hoarsely, and the black wind let out a long and terrible hiss. The men and horses gathered the last of their strength and rolled down the hill one after another, snowballing towards the place where the smoke had risen.

It is a birch forest, and the bark of this tree unique to northern China is as white as snow. Between the layers of snow and trees, a tent made of cowhide stands tall. Outside the tent, a huge fire spewed clouds and mist, and the red tongue of fire rolled, licking all the wind and snow that approached the tent into hot steam.

By the fire, a young man stood with a lance. The burly figure and the sly smiling face together with the birch forest have become the warmest scenery in the world.

"How are you?" Li Xu blurted out, and heard the same question in his ears at the same time. He stumbled over and bumped into the other party. The man thumped him hard, knocking all his senses back into his body little by little.

"Why are you walking so slowly?" Xu Dayan asked while dragging Li Xu into the leather tent.

"How did you get here?" Li Xu rubbed his almost frozen face and ears vigorously and asked loudly. Hei Feng, who felt that he had been snubbed, snorted several times in succession, expressing his dissatisfaction with the unrighteous master. Then he slammed into the other horses in front of the tent and circled around the fire.

"Aslan sent someone to tell me with a fast horse, and I then took the straight road to chase you. I encountered a snowstorm this morning, and I didn't bother to enter the village of the people again, so I set up a tent here! I thought I wouldn't be able to catch up with you this time, but I didn't expect you to go after me for so many days. After closing the tent door, Xu Dayan described the reason for his appearance in the most concise language.

"When you get to the Central Plains, I'll invite you to drink!" Li Xu said while picking up his wet clothes near the charcoal basin. He felt a sour nose, but he couldn't find a better word to express his gratitude. It has only been six days since he left Su Sibu, Xu Dayan suddenly heard the news, and he rushed from the bank of the Xinkai River to this place in such a short period of time, and he must have been sleepless on the way. He and Su Si did not have a stalemate, there was no need to cross the camp gate and suffer from the cold in the birch forest......

"Let's talk about it when we get back to the Central Plains! You idiot, you shouldn't leave Ganro to them if you want to leave! Xu Dayan took out a set of mink fur from his package and threw it to Li Xu. If you don't take a few horses with you when you go out, it's not this way to die if you want to die? ”

"Ah Yun and Zhang Ji, they are still in the Su Si Department!" Li Xu said curtly. He knew that this reason could not deceive Xu Dayan, and a few beads of sweat unconsciously appeared on his forehead.

"You're crazy! I'm afraid that people may not admit it! Alas, people say that the beauty of the country is one of them, you are good, the country does not, and the beauty is also given to others! Xu Dayan shook his head helplessly and let out a long sigh. He knew that his good friend's personality was so broad, and because of this, he cared very much about this kind and upright friend, and when he heard the news of his departure, he immediately chased after him regardless of the consequences.

"It doesn't matter if you admit it, you don't care, anyway, everything I want to do is done according to my heart, and I don't feel guilty when I think about it in the future!" Li Xu struggled to stand up, as if explaining to Xu Dayan, and as if comforting himself.

Aunt Qing's cool and thin temperament may not be worth the coppersmith master to search for half of the grassland for her. But the coppersmith master still found her through great hardships, and waited for her for half his life without regrets. Among them, I am afraid it is more for their own commitments than for juvenile feelings. On this day of rolling in the wind and snow, Li Xu understood a lot of things. Especially at the moment of life and death, he found that he had no hatred for Tao Kuotuosi and Su Sibu, and thought more about the good times they had together in the past six months.

"Human bones, slag and wolf dung never know what guilt is!" Xu Maogong's big eyes rolled and sneered disdainfully. "Don't stand stupidly and punch around the charcoal basin twice. lest you catch the cold, I have to take care of you! ”

"Do you take care of people?" Li Xu smiled and sneered. Xu Dayan's clothes were a little tight on him, and it was extremely uncomfortable to reach out and kick his legs. But for six days in a row, it was the most relaxing moment he felt.

The flames in the charcoal basin suddenly pulsed, illuminating the two sincere ground holes. Xu smiled and punched Li Xu on the shoulder. Li Xu turned sideways to remove most of the force on his fist, but he had no strength to fight back. Xu raised his palms with big eyes and slapped every part of Li Xu's body, until the skin and flesh on Li Xu's neck were still red, and then he gasped and put away his palms.

"You left the army, who did you hand over those warriors from the Su Si Department to?" Li Xu asked while moving his muscles around the fire. Fortunately, the black smoke appeared in the dozens, and after half an hour of freezing, it is estimated that Hua Tuo will be crippled when he is alive.

"Whoever you love takes whom, anyway, the place where Lao Tzu should practice his hands has been refined, and I can't find a reason to get out!" Xu Dayan smiled and cursed a foul word, as if he didn't care about the result after he left.

"Actually, the elders still value you very much!" Li Xu felt a little sorry for his good friend. For the sake of his own affairs, there is no need to involve Xu Dayan. The conscription in the Central Plains may not have ended, and if Xu Dayan goes back with him, I am afraid that it will go against the original intention of the Xu family to send him away.

"It's not enough to stay in the tribe, and sooner or later you will be killed by these guys!" Xu Dayan shook his head and said indignantly. Li Xu's experience made his good impression of Su Sibu disappear. Of course, there is an element of brotherly righteousness, but more importantly, the elders are so short-sighted that they are cold-sighted.

"Not enough?" Li Xu didn't understand Xu Dayan's words. Except for this marriage with the Turks, the Sil patriarch almost obeyed Xu Dayan's words. In the eyes of the people, Xu Xian, whose wisdom is as deep as a crescent moon lake, is a hundred times more important than him, a guy who pretends to be a ghost with a little wolf. If it weren't for the sake of wooing, the Ciel family would not have been scheming to marry Eru to him.

"That's right, do you think that the matter between you and Tao Kuo is as simple as the marriage of two families?" Xu Dayan threw a piece of dry bark into the charcoal basin, still a little dissatisfied in his questioning.

"But this guy is too treacherous, he promised his daughter to Ah Silan first, forcing the Patriarch of Xi'er to follow his wishes!" Li Xu sat down next to Xu Dayan and analyzed in a low voice. He didn't want to hold a grudge against Su Sibu, and he didn't want his friends to have a grudge against Su Sibu because of this matter.

"I don't blame them for being cold, if this matter is placed in the Central Plains, you will also be sacrificed, it is even better to be in the Su Si Department, at least the people have gathered the elders to discuss it, and try to give you some compensation!" Xu smiled and shook his head again and again. He was telling the truth, and he himself had long understood the faces of those big families in the Central Plains.

Li Xu nodded, he had also thought of this. A tribe in the grassland and a big family in the Central Plains are similar to each other to some extent. They never hesitate to sacrifice anyone for the benefit of their tribe or family.

"I'm angry that they are stupid, so stupid that they can't see other people's serial schemes, and they think they have taken advantage of them when they are calculated!" Xu looked up at Li Xu with big eyes, and saw that his good friend's eyes were rounder than his own.

In Li Xu's heart, he was already vaguely aware that all the actions of Su Sibu were related to Ashina Choyu. But he didn't think it was as deep as Xu Dayan. At first glance, when he heard the word serial scheme, his head thumped, and all his thoughts began to become clear.

"Ashina Choyu proposed to Ah Lan by getting drunk, which was the first step. Those stupid elders didn't see through it, and they missed one move, so they had to go on the wrong step! Xu Dayan grabbed a piece of charcoal and drew five or six circles on the ground in succession.

"Aslan's son has a marriage contract with the Ashina family, and the Xi'er family must have a deeper relationship with the Ashina family, so Tao Kuotuosi and Eru must have one of them to marry on behalf of the Su Si Department!" Li Xu felt pain in his heart, and continued the topic of Xu Dayan with a wry smile.

This is the second link of the serial plan, and I can't help but ask Sil not to take it.

"If this is still simple, at least Su Sibu has not lost anything, and has earned a strong reinforcement!" Xu shook his head and sighed. "But the marriage of Aslan's son and Qiyu's daughter will be fifteen years later, and no one can say what will happen in these fifteen years. Therefore, from the very beginning, Qi Yu didn't pay anything at all, and with a verbal promise, he let the elders fall into his trap! ”

"Verbal promises?" Li Xu's eyes became more and more round. In his heart, he was no longer afraid to think of Ashina Qiyu as very treacherous, but he never expected that this person's treacherous degree far exceeded his imagination.

"Su Sibu was able to release all the strength that had been accumulated for so long in half a year, and you and Gan Luo contributed a lot! You shot down Ashina Choyu's eagle again, and in his heart, you are already the future pillar of Su Sibu! I have to get rid of it as soon as possible, so that the Su Si Department will not really grow to the point where it is difficult to control! Xu's laughter grew colder and colder, and the wind whistling outside the tent stopped.

"The lingering appearance of you and Tao Kuo can be disgusted by the blind. The first time Ashina Choyu met the people was the two of you, so there's no reason not to know about your relationship. As soon as he left, a Turkic envoy came to propose his marriage, and it was clear that the envoy was personally appointed by him! So, the beginning of the serial plan is aimed at you. The elders don't know the scheme, and they still follow the will of others to do black hands on you! ”

Li Xu's mouth opened widely, he complained in his heart about the ruthlessness of the elders and the coldness of Aunt Qing, but he didn't expect that Ashina Qiyu would target himself from the moment he entered the tribe. When you are in danger and are unaware, it is no wonder that you can't think of anything when you encounter a problem.

"Forcing you away or killing you, the power of the holy wolf is greatly reduced. The Su Si tribe has broken its trust in you, and the other tribes of the Xia tribe may not be suspicious. The alliance built on Ganro collapsed in an instant, and even if the Sil patriarch could obtain the obscurantist crown with the support of the Turks, would he, a swan with a lasso, still be able to fly? It's not how the Turks lead, he flutters his wings in which way! Xu shook his head with big eyes, and his words of analysis were already filled with admiration.

This is a very vicious serial scheme, and if the elders inform him of the Ashina family's marriage proposal at the beginning, he may not be able to find a solution. But the elders didn't trust any outsiders, lest he and Li Xu join forces to disrupt the "great opportunity" of the Su Si Ministry, so they didn't let him, a "sage Xu whose wisdom is deeper than the Crescent Lake", participate in the decision-making at all. When he heard about Li Xu's departure, every link of the plan had already been put around Su Sibu's neck.

"Such a tribe is not worth my effort! Even if you don't leave, I'll leave on my own! Xu clapped his hands and made a final summary. He was somewhat unwilling, if it was a face-to-face move between Qi Yu and himself, Su Sibu might not have lost so badly.

"At least he didn't calculate, you will give up Su Sibu and leave with me!" Li Xu sighed and said helplessly. Just knew a little strategy, he encountered the opponent of Qiyu, and he was not wronged at all in this battle. Now that I think about it, I'm afraid that even admitting defeat in the fight is a step within the plan of Qiyu. The funny thing is that he was proud of winning the wine fight and recovering the momentum of the tribe.

"He didn't expect that you would leave the silver wolf to Tao Kuo and leave alone!" Xu sighed softly. This is the only one that has been omitted in Ashina Choyu's serial plan. He counted the darkness and greed of human nature, but he missed the fact that Li Xu was from the Central Plains and did not have wolf blood on his body. He exhausted the ruthlessness and snobbery of human nature, but he didn't expect that Li Xu could give up everything he had for Tao Kuo.

"Master, I'm sorry!" Looking at the snow flying outside the tent, Ah Yun, the female shopkeeper of a warehouse, had tears in her eyes. The scene where Li Xu stretched out his hand to pull himself on the horse slowly appeared in the snow and mist. On that day, the boy's heart was so warm.