In early winter, it is not wise to go west to plug up.

The more Dachen's post station goes west, the fewer and more dilapidated it becomes, and he can't meet the post house for several days.

The group could only eat air-dried beef in cold water, and after a few days, Cheng Ye's cheeks were sore and swollen because he chewed food too hard.

Sitting on horseback, enduring the burning pain of the friction between the two strands under the saddle, he lost even the interest in speaking.

And Ah Xiao had already crouched on the back of the horse a few days ago with a bitter face.

On the 16th day of the winter month, the mission stayed at Shapu Station.

There were only two old and dim-eyed post guards in the post station, and when they saw that they were the envoys from the capital, they diligently cleaned the post house to welcome the envoys to stay.

The two and a half centenarians sang and amused, causing everyone in the mission to laugh from time to time, but they also silently relieved a little of the fatigue of the journey.

"Why don't you quickly take out the delicious food that you have hidden and entertain these officials."

One of the old postmen pushed the other man's leg with his knee.

The other person hurriedly responded and said to Lin Shifan:

"We old guys, I haven't seen a big official like Lord Lin sooner or later."

Shi Fan smiled slightly, "The old man actually knows me?" ”

The old postman also smiled: "Don't look at the old waste now, we were also a veteran back then, can we not know Lin Dashuai, who is the best at fighting?" ”

This statement made Lin Shifan, Fei Wenli and others all laugh, and some people in the mission whispered yes.

Two old post men dug under a locust tree in the courtyard for a long time, and several clay pots were exposed under the shade of frozen soil.

Although the dust was very rough, when I carried it into the house and took the mud seal, it smelled of wine.

Shi Fan ordered the wine to be distributed to everyone, except for the dozens of soldiers who were in charge of guarding the second day, the rest drank a few glasses. Cheng Ye also ate half of the mouth, only to feel that the throat was clear and sweet, which was much better than Kyoto wine.

After a tiring journey for several days, and the strength of alcohol was divergent, when the sky was just dark, there was a sound of snoring in the simple post house.

Cheng Ye listened to Ah Xiao's roaring snort on the side couch, but his mind was clear.

When I got out of the house and pushed the window to look down, I found that it was a rare sunny moonlit night, and the soft glow reflected the stables of the haystacked grass hut next to the post house, and several guards who were on vigil were chatting with two post guards who were busy dismounting the horses, as if they were chatting very happily.

"Tuk tuk tuk", a very light knock sounded, and the sleeping Ah Xiao suddenly straightened up and jumped down.

"It's finally here!"

The corners of Cheng Ye's mouth bent, patted Ah Xiao's shoulder and let him go to sleep, and he picked up a cloak and opened the door to go out.

Li Chong's face outside the door was pale by the moonlight, but the corners of his lips pursed a decisive arc, "Second Master Wei, Lord Lin, please come over the room for a while." ”

Cheng Ye nodded, and the two of them quickly went upstairs to the post house where Shifan lived.

When he arrived at the door, Li Chong picked up the wine bottle on the ground and jumped on the fence in front of the door to sit down.

Cheng Ye knew that he was watching the wind outside the door, and his heart was even more chilled.

Pushing the door in, I saw Lin Shifan and Fei Wenli sitting at the square table in the room, discussing something in a low voice.

Seeing Shi Fan beckoning to him, Cheng Ye obediently moved a small square stool and sat down with Shi Fan.

"Li Chong just reported the news, the post guard here is not in a hurry to deliver the news like the ones I have seen before, the two of them have never been out of the post gate so far, our people have patrolled, and not even a fly has flown out."

Fei Wenli is still kind and humble, and talking about secret whistles is no different from talking about poetry and writing with colleagues on weekdays.

Cheng Ye was impressed in his heart, if he wanted to say that he was still a protégé of Mrs. Wen who wanted to take out his hand, he was really able to write and martial arts, and he could immediately surrender to a battle-hardened person like his uncle and mix together.

"Being in the far west, being able to recognize me among more than a thousand people must not be an idle person."

He only came to the western frontier with the old general Zhang Huai when he was young, and the rest of Thailand was stationed in the southwest army for half of the time, and occasionally ordered to go back to Kyoto to live, and the old post man on the western border could recognize him at a glance, which is a strange thing.

Seeing that Cheng Ye was about to speak and stopped, Lin Shifan turned to him and said:

"You can also see that there is something strange in this Shapu Station, if you don't fly books and send messages anymore, you must be going to start making some moves."

"Why don't Li Chong and I set off now, and take a small team of guards to investigate along the official road first."

If the other party makes a move, it will be after the departure of the mission tomorrow. If you explore the way now, you may find some clues.

The courtyard is full of gloomy moonlight, the dead branches of the old trees cover a sparse and mottled shadow, and a person stands under the tree, looking at a round of cold moon that gradually rises to the middle of the sky.

Cheng Ye and Li Chong glanced at each other and pulled the corners of their mouths: "Lord Bookkeeper is so interested, such a cool night, the journey is hard, and he hasn't stopped?" ”

"Isn't the little adult also asleep? Is this going out? ”

Fu Zhi turned his face to Cheng Ye, his expression was excited, as if he was not interested in everything.

The title of "little adult" was extremely disrespectful, and his demeanor and actions were so disrespectful, Cheng Ye smiled and stopped Li Chong, who was about to step forward.

"In this way, Cheng Ye will not pass first."

The two of them went out in a grand manner, and then went to the stable to untie the horses, and Li Chong picked out more than ten guards, rushed out of the official road and headed west.

More than a dozen people changed their clothes at the fork in the road, dressed up as horse team vendors, set off from the path next to the official road, and continued to gallop westward under the moonlight.

The journey was surprisingly calm, occasionally passing through a few villages, startling sporadic dog barking and human voices, but it was a prosperous home scene.

"Two months ago, the sand and stone fort to which this place belongs was reported to be plagued by bandits, about 1,000 people, looting the villages under the mountain."

Cheng Ye saw that the village was calm, and suddenly thought of an old incident, and his heart was puzzled.

"I don't know, under the command of General Guo Xiaoyi, I am training every day, and I am looking forward to having an errand to practice my hands.

As a soldier of the army, fame can only be taken immediately.

Li Chong's Yulinwei had no merit in the Pingli Clan's rebellion, and some of them were even implicated, and the rest of the people were not in a hurry to show their loyalty to the emperor in order to be promoted to an official position.

As a result, before the emperor's approval, the county guard Sha Qilie's plea came, saying that the 1,000 people were members of the local guard station, patrolling the mountains to clear the caravan that smuggled and sold horses to Tuxilu without permission, and had some misunderstandings with the local villagers.

Cheng Ye looked at the dark and dreary mountain shadow under the clear light, the wind was not strong, and the sound of the dead branches blowing through the mountains was like the sorrow of tens of thousands of dead souls, and his back was cold for no reason.

Until the middle of the moon, the sky behind him gradually turned white, and the dry grass and dried leaves covered with a layer of hoarfrost on the road could be seen clearly, and the group did not harvest.

There were faint voices in a thatched house not far away, and Cheng Ye's heart moved, so he ordered the guards who followed him to go forward and wait to meet the mission at the agreed place, while he and Li Chong tied their horses and walked away.

"This big brother, we are a passing caravan, and we don't have much water in our skins, can we go to the courtyard and scoop some well water to drink?"

Across the low wall of stones, Li Chong untied the leather bag hanging from his waist and shook it at the man who was busy in the woodpile in the yard.