There is a water pavilion on the shore of Dajing Lake, and the lotus flowers waiting to bloom on the shore of the lake are gently swaying in the breeze. The rain will not stop, dripping on the lotus leaves to form water droplets, and the rhythm of the sound coming from the Langfang will not be broken, like jade beads falling on a porcelain plate.

There are three people in the water pavilion, on the left is a young lady in pink with a delicate face and a graceful figure, playing the "Sunset Drum", and on the right is a tall man with a cold expression and a long sword in his arms, this person is standing next to a wooden stake like an ice sculpture.

Dressed in a black brocade robe and a jade belt around his waist, Li Jiade sat lazily on the cushion carpet, propped his elbows on the wooden table and held his cheeks with his hands, staring at the hazy center of the lake, letting the wisps of pipa sound pour into his ears.

Drinks and melons and fruits were placed on the wooden tables, as if waiting for their owners to arrive.

After a while, the fog cleared a little, and a row of bamboo rafts appeared in the lake, and on the bamboo raft a man wearing a hat came to support the raft. The bamboo raft was so rapid that it soon approached the waterside of the lake, and only then did it become clear that it was a thin old man dressed in a tinned cloth suit standing on the bamboo raft.

The crown prince Li Jiade waved his hand to signal the pink-clothed lady to retreat, and the man next to him did not leave, but pressed the hilt of the sword with the thumb of his right hand.

Suddenly, the old man chopped the artemisia into the water and pushed it hard, and the artemisia was pressed out of a large arc, and the old man had already shot at the water pavilion with this elastic volley.

The tall man frowned, took out his sword and strode out to block the prince behind him, and then the man stabbed at the oncoming old man.

"Don't trespass into private mansions!" He let out a loud shout.

Seeing that a sword as fast as a meteor was about to stab him, the thin old man's figure suddenly pulled a few feet high and stepped on the tip of the tall man's sword, his body was as light as a feather, and he took a few steps in the long sword, and then borrowed his strength, and a heel bucket turned into the water pavilion, and knelt on one knee on the mat blanket.

"Listen to the wind, Shangguan Qiutong meets His Royal Highness the Prince!" The thin old man clasped his fists in both hands.

A flash of sword light was like a white rainbow slashing down from a height, and it suddenly stopped an inch outside the back of Shangguan Qiutong's neck, and a strand of white hair slipped from the old man's shoulder.

Shangguan Qiutong didn't dodge or dodge, but bowed his head respectfully and half-knelt on the ground and waited for His Royal Highness the Prince's fate.

"Mr. Shangguan, Shangguan Landlord, you are so courageous!" Li Jiade lifted the flask and poured the glass full of wine, "Could it be that the old gentleman thinks that the sword of this palace is not happy, and he will cut your neck?" ”

"The old man doesn't dare," Shangguan Qiutong still clenched his fists tightly and stared at the ground, "His Highness's protective sword is naturally extremely fast, but His Highness doesn't want the old head yet." ”

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Li Jiade clapped his hands and said, "The lord of Shangguan Mansion is not only outstanding in martial arts, but also has good guessing skills, come, please take a seat." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Only then did the emaciated old man in the cloth robe stand up and sit cross-legged opposite Li Jiade.

"There is something to talk about in this palace, you go down first." Li Jiade ordered the sword-wielding man.

"Yes! Your Highness. The tall man turned and left.

"How is this guardian of this palace?" The prince pushed a glass of wine on the wooden table in front of Shangguan Qiutong and asked with a smile.

"The sword is decisive and relaxed."

"Huh? I would like to hear the details - the lord of Shangguan Building, please! He raised his glass in motion.

Shangguan Qiutong took a sip of the wine in the cup and put the wine glass back on the wooden case. "The reason why he said that he was decisive with his sword was that when he saw the old man appear on the bamboo raft, he had the heart to draw his sword to protect the master, otherwise his sword would never be so fast when the old man swept into the water pavilion; said that he was relaxed, the first sword he stabbed at the old decay was the lower abdomen, which showed that he intended to control the enemy rather than take people's lives, and the second sword he slashed at the back of the old decay's neck was murderous, but when he saw the old decay kneeling and His Royal Highness's expression was still calm, he instantly withdrew the sword and killing intent, as if it had never appeared. This man himself is a sword, and the point of the sword must be the person His Majesty wants to kill. ”

"Such an evaluation is quite pertinent," Li Jiade thought, "and the people who are sent to the dinner are naturally not idle people, but they are just ...... Even if he slashes it down, I'm afraid he won't be able to kill you, the old fox, right? ”

The handsome prince, who was dressed in a black brocade robe, nodded slightly.

"Has the adventurer's investigation been clear?" Li Jiade asked.

"At present, he has no background except for being an important member of the Tai'an Gang, and this person behaves perversely, taking the Moon Shadow Clan boy to beg everywhere, and he has to take care of injustices, and there is no other adventurer who slashes everywhere and takes it as his responsibility to improve his own strength, the strange thing is that although he is so casual in martial arts, he is outstanding, and he does not hide that the old and decrepit people have also suffered losses at his hands."

"Or else? Do you think my father will give his jade pendant to a casual person? Li Jiade asked himself: "Just to save him in Hulu Gorge?" He, Li Qishang, is not a fool, naturally he has seen others - no, we should not have something that we can't see. ”

"Could it be that the gang behind him is valued?" Shangguan Qiutong asked tentatively, "The current Tai'an Gang is very famous in the southwestern territory of Jinguo, and their gang has already 100,000 people, it is hard to imagine that this small gang that was unknown before will rise so quickly. ”

"Naturally, there will be this factor, otherwise my father would not have taken the leader of the Tai'an Gang to tour the south together, but this is not all the reason why they can win the favor of their father, you must know that the whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister, his Tai'an Gang is a bunch of rabble after all, and it can't withstand the trampling of my Dajin Iron Horse. So what is the reason......" Li Jiade tapped the wooden case with his knuckles, and fell into deep thought.

Listening to the wind building, Shangguan Qiutong, the owner of the building, was sitting in a precarious position, sipping the wine in the cup from time to time and waiting for the prince.

"If possible, that adventurer still has to be wooed as much as possible, what we lack most now is talent." Li Jiade thought for a moment and then continued.

"Back to His Highness, someone has already dealt with him. is also an adventurer, he will get along with them in their way, establish friendship in all kinds of big and small things, and then we will pull him to our side by all kinds of accidents, you must know that some people can be bought through money and power, and some people can only be bought through feelings. ”

"That's a great thing you said!" The prince raised his glass and invited Shangguan Qiutong to drink together, and after the two sides put down the wine glass, he said: "Buy people with things and scatter people, and buy people with hearts to detain people for a lifetime." It's just to buy instead of paying, don't let people see your heart. ”

"Your Highness, rest assured!" The old man smiled and said, "My people! He doesn't know who I am, his heart is for handover, it's just for old decay to be used as a trade. ”

"Hmmm! This is a great accompaniment! Li Jiade casually plucked a grape and threw it into his mouth, chewing as he spoke.

******

The mountain is high and the wind is blowing, Emperor Jinhui stands on the racetrack of the city wall of Ailao Pass and looks into the distance, and the wind blows the dragon robe whirring. Behind the king of Jinguo stood a row of generals, and as the only reckless gang leader who was not born as a soldier and had not made an inch of military exploits, Da Mo Guyanzhi was also among them, and he was also the only player in Huaxia who could climb the wall of Ailaoguan so far.

Emperor Li Qishang of Jinhui pressed his hands on the dark masonry, in front of him a vast expanse, in the sky the high ground is wide, behind the long grass hidden countless sharp blades aimed at the city wall of the mourning pass, in the west of the Luo Khanate is the entire steppe, the nomads on the grassland have always been brave and good at fighting, this old city wall is scarred, I don't know how many arrows with strong bows and crossbows have been withwed.

"The enemy's heart is not dead, no matter how tall the city wall is, it is not impregnable, hasn't it been broken by the barbarians on this grassland in 3088? I think that the Heng Dynasty, which was extremely strong at the beginning, also fell into a situation where the country was ruined and the family was ruined. The middle-aged man thought and looked back slightly to the west, "There is a war-torn city named Xiliang, which is the burial place of General Guo Zhengming. If the Heng Dynasty was really as powerful in history, how could General Guo succumb to his own home instead of killing the enemy heroically in this city tower? ”

"Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall!" The emperor sighed slightly, "It's not easy for generals, stationed at the border to defend against the barbarian invasion, throwing their heads and spilling blood, and their parents, wives and children can't see each other every year after thousands of miles, sometimes think about it, is it worth it?" ”

"Your Majesty!" All the generals, including the desert lonely smoke, knelt straight together.

"Bow to the country and die, and then this is a matter within the part of the ministers, if you can't go into battle to kill the enemy and defend your home and country, what kind of soldier should you be?" An old general, who was already full of white hair, wearing a phoenix wings and a scarf, and wearing a gold-lacquered mountain armor, clenched his fists and said in a deep voice.

Emperor Jinhui motioned for them to stand up and walk west on the trowel with a group of generals, and within a few steps of the arrow battlements on the city pass stood a soldier with a strong face with a spear in his hand, and many of these soldiers were around the age of a weak crown.

"Cheng Shuai's word 'soldier' is used well!" The middle-aged man took his hands behind, "No matter how highly meritorious a general is, he is still a soldier first, the important weapon of the soldier country, the way of survival, must be strong and unfavorable; Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival, must not be overlooked. Generals, I will do a good job in the first half of the sentence, how about you do a good job in the second half of the sentence? ”

The accompanying generals did not kneel this time, but just clasped their hands into fists and bowed their heads and said yes.

The second half of the NPC Emperor's sentence is from "The Art of War", which says: War is the top priority of a country, and it is related to the life and death of the army and the people, and the survival of the country, which cannot be observed, analyzed, and studied carefully and carefully. And the first half of the sentence is probably that the emperor wants to treat the generals and soldiers well, so that they can become the most tenacious force and can serve the country wholeheartedly.

Emperor Jinhui's later words gave him an explanation.

"It is not worth it to be stationed at the border pass and shed blood in my opinion," Li Qishang, Emperor Jinhui, continued to pick up on the previous words and said: "When you look back at the north one day, you will find that this land where we were born and raised is already full of happiness, the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and your parents can enjoy their old age in peace; His wife can teach his children to run the house; It is worth it if your children can grow up safely; But one day when you look back at the north, you will see devastated bandits running rampant, oppressing the people as officials. Their relatives must guard against thieves day and night; That emperor Lao Tzu still sits on the dragon chair and sings every night, so why does such a country still guard it? ”

"Your Majesty! Don't dare to think so! All the generals knelt down in unison.

"Alright! Hurry up. The middle-aged man smiled slightly and quipped: "I just said a reason, I didn't say what the generals would do, if you continue like this, I'm afraid that this city wall will not be stabbed by the barbarian swords and guns, but will be broken to the generals' knees." ”

These generals, who have not read too many books, laughed.

"How old are you, young man? How many years have you been in the army? Emperor Jinhui stopped and looked at a sturdy young man next to him and asked.

"Back to the emperor, the little one has been in the army for three years since he was eighteen this year."

"Have you ever been home and visited your parents?" Emperor Jinhui asked again.

"Back to Your Majesty, no."

The emperor patted the young man lightly on the shoulder, and then did not speak, but walked forward slowly.

"Fifteen from the army, eighty years to return. Daofeng villagers: Who is there in the family? Looking at it from afar, it is the Jun family, and the pine and cypress mounds are tired. The rabbit enters from the dog's sinus, and the pheasant flies from the beam. The atrium is born in the valley, and Inoue is born in the valley. Chung Gu holds for cooking, and picks sunflower for soup. The soup is cooked for a while, I don't know who Yi'a is! When I went out to look east, tears stained my clothes. ”

He just read out the poem slowly, and this poem had already brought tears to the eyes of some of the generals accompanying him. To be honest, who doesn't miss their hometown and loved ones?

"I promise you generals," Emperor Jinhui Li Qishang suddenly stood still, turned to look at the generals behind him, and said loudly, "We must make this poem just a poem, and it will not become a pain in your hearts." For this reason, I came to the south, to this majestic city, just to do one thing, to see the vast land in front of us? The middle-aged man raised his hand and pointed, "I want to take the initiative to recover this great mountain and river, and let the grassland barbarians become the people of Liangshun, so that the soldiers will no longer be forced to garrison this place, endure the scorching sun and snow of this city, and return home triumphantly as soon as possible!" ”

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" The voices of dozens of generals shook the sky.

"We only need to do two things, I sit in the capital and work hard to govern a peaceful world, so that the families of the generals can live happily, you can kill the enemy bravely without being wronged in the front, and one day the generals will return triumphantly, can our monarchs and ministers do it again? We can do it with our high-fives! This time the Emperor's voice was even louder.

All the generals, including the soldiers standing guard on the castle tower, hammered their chests with their right hands fiercely, and shouted loudly.

"Da Jin Erlang is iron-clad! Throw your head and spill your blood for the protection of your family and country, and you will not regret it in this life! ”

Suddenly a trumpet sounded above the tower, and the soldiers in the distance made a deafening oath, which hovered in the sky for a long time. Emperor Jinhui stretched out his right hand and struck the generals one by one, and when he swore with the reckless desert lonely smoke straight high-five, his narrow eyes were full of perseverance.

At this moment, as a gamer, Desert Lonely Yan Zhi deeply felt that the NPC emperor in the game was also so flesh and blood.

******

The rewards from escort missions are naturally quite a lot for ordinary players, and NPC merchants reward a lot of money; The bandits unleashed a lot of gear, which was enough to make Blade and his classmates smile.

"Guys, this piece of equipment is terrible," Blade took out a light green leather armor and lifted it in the air, "Thorn leather armor, Defense 78-132; Attack 52-38; The equipment that the bandit leader burst out, this dress is gold equipment! Assassins, archers, and swordsmen can all wear it, but don't be greedy for any of you, this dress has to belong to my master, without his old man and Brother An Ran, we would not have been able to complete the task at all. ”

"A must!" Another person said, "Let's take out all the equipment, Brother An Ran and Brother Fan Yuntian pick first, and then we will throw the dice to get the equipment by luck, okay?" ”

All agreed, looking at their appearance An Ran recalled the scene when he shared equipment with the desert lonely smoke in the hooligan gathering place, maybe for the vast majority of players, it is the happiest thing in the world to be able to share the equipment that they have worked so hard to get! It's like chirping after placing a copy in World of Warcraft; It's like a farmer looking at his golden rice field.

"You can just divide these equipment yourself," An Ran waved his hand and smiled, "Fan Yuntian and I are wage earners, so we have no need for these equipment; Second, students are also in urgent need of these equipment to improve their strength. ”

"Just give us some money," Fan Yuntian immediately took over, "After all, you can't work in vain." ”

"Are you short of money?" An Ran glared at his servant fiercely.

"Lao Tzu is short of money and has no lack of heart." The NPC kid shook his pointed ears, the meaning is very clear, your surname is An, and you just lack heart.

"This is as it should be," Dao Dachuan put the equipment he picked up on the ground one by one and said, "Next, we will roughly estimate the price, and then give Brother An Ran and Master a remuneration, how do you think of this cost to be shared equally by the people who got the equipment?" ”

Everybody said yes.

"Brother An Ran, Master, what do you think?" Dao Okawa smiled flatteringly.

"Put your gear away! Let's be polite here, but let others red-eyed" Staring at an alley, An Ran said loudly: "Since my friend is here, you don't have to hide, just come and get the equipment on the ground." ”

His voice startled everyone around him, and an assassin in black leather armor appeared on the other side of the alley, and then several people in their fifties or so came out.

"Don't get me wrong, friend!" A long-haired man at the head of the head hugged his fists and smiled: "We are from Zotye Studio, just now I saw that the brothers got so much equipment and I became observant, if you have equipment that you don't need, can you sell it to you?" Rest assured、Price! Nature is fair. ”

There were five people who came, and the level was not low, and they walked smoothly and steadily, and their expressions were calm, not like robbers, but An Ran knew that there must be more people hiding in that deep alley.

They walked to a position that was still a foot away from An Ran, and stood still, clenching their fists again.

"My name is Qiankun, these are all brothers in our studio, don't worry about it, we really don't have any malice."

This kind of person An Ran has seen too much, on the surface he is bright and polite, and once you let down your vigilance, he will give you a knife. The handsome young man stopped the blade from coming forward to say hello, and he stared at the long-haired man without speaking.

"Hello! My name is Assassin," Fan Yuntian suddenly appeared silently next to the long-haired man and stretched out his right hand to him, "Irritating Assassin Guest." ”

The long-haired man was startled, but quickly stabilized his mind and smiled and stretched out his right hand.

"Brother is very skilled!" He admired.

"It's not as good as that idiot," Fan Yuntian squinted at his master and said with a smile: "Look at so many of you, brother, I'm actually very panicked." ”

"Brother in your sleeves," An Ran hugged his fists and said: "A few of us have worked hard to get some tattered equipment, and one of us will forget the promise that wealth cannot be exposed." If you still see this pile of rags, if you want to buy it from us, we can go to the safe area of the city to trade, and your brothers in the alleys don't need to stand guard for us. ”

Although An Ran's words were polite, they couldn't be clearer, that is, to let these ill-intentioned people leave immediately.

"Good! Brother, I have a Qibao Zhai on Shuijing Street on the east side of Jian'an, you have equipment to sell or want to come to buy something, welcome to come, and I will leave here. ”

The long-haired man smiled awkwardly and left with his own people.

"They want to explode their equipment?" The young lady Sunset Fox said suspiciously: "This is the city!" Here they dare too? ”

"I think if it wasn't for Brother An Ran who discovered them first, Fan Yuntian suddenly appeared in front of that person and scared him, and his words couldn't be right." The years were quiet, and he analyzed with his hands around his chest.

"Cut! Do you dare to have my master and Brother An Ran in these little miscellaneous hairs? The knife of the nerve strip Okawa scoffed.

"You're big!" Fan Yuntian learned his master's moves, and suddenly gave Dao Dachuan's head a shock, "You can't show your wealth, you know?" Just like you, one by one, you don't know who did it when you were killed one day, look at your performance in the wild boar forest! Ouch! Where do you guys look like a team - Brother Enron, what's the name of a buzzword in your world? The NPC kid turned to his master and asked.

"I can't take it." An Ran prompted.

"Oh! That is, pig teammates, can't be moved. Fan Yuntian said in an old-fashioned manner.

"Who do you say is a pig?" The young lady Sunset was not convinced.

"I said I could do it, right?" Fan Yuntian stared at the girl's long legs lightly, "Little sister, your legs are very beautiful, but they are a little worse than my sister Yanluo." ”

"You ......" The tall girl choked on the NPC kid.

"Who's Smokefall?" The other girl asked timidly.

"My boss lady," Fan Yuntian said bluntly, and then looked at the sky cautiously, "Lao Tzu also has a boss lady, that is a peerless beauty, she is a fairy in the sky, if you like me, Brother An Ran, you can only be a little boss lady." ”

Everyone looked at this girl whose real name was Qu Shiya and began to coax, and one boy even whistled, and the years were so uncomfortable that his cheeks were crimson.

"What do you say?" She whispered back to her best friend.

Then I saw An Ran smash Fan Yuntian's head with his knuckles as soon as he shook his hand.

The NPC kid reacted very quickly, as if he had expected to be knocked on the head by his master, and disappeared one by one. So there was such a strange scene on the street, one An Ran figure had not disappeared, and the next An Ran appeared in the alley of the street; An Ran in the alley has not disappeared, and there is another An Ran under the stilted teahouse on the left, and Fan Yuntian who is sneaking is also running fast but crashing headlong into his master.

"You're running!" An Ran grabbed the NPC kid's collar with one hand, and with the other hand, it rained heavily on him. "Still running? Still not running? Are you ...... Still not running? He threatened viciously.

"I was wrong! Brother An Ran, don't knock," Fan Yuntian covered his head, and tears rolled in his eyes with grievances on his face, "Lao Tzu is not helping you pick up girls!" He was in a hurry to come up with a modern phrase.

Everyone laughed, and the blade covered their stomachs with laughter, only An Ran stared coldly at the top of the stilted teahouse.

"Can you really leave now? Dude in his sleeve. He said.

The crowd in the teahouse was shocked by An Ran's extremely fast body and perception ability, and many people were stunned for a long time before leaving.

Then An Ran watched them finish dividing the equipment, and the blade handed over a large amount of game currency, and the young man just smiled and symbolically collected a little. It's not right to take a penny, it will make others feel that they owe you a big favor, and they will take it to heart for a long time and not be able to disperse it. An Ran rejected the idea of the blade classmate asking them to go out of the city to practice together on the grounds that there was something, and the girl named Shi Jinghao glanced at the handsome young man meaningfully, but she didn't see a boy secretly looking at her. It was the boy's sad glance that made An Ran dispel the idea of continuing to mess with this group of students.

There are many scenery on the road of life, a few people are worried about a few people's thoughts, and some people just see a meeting in the water at a glance, and there may occasionally be ripples in their hearts, but they may not be able to rise every time.