Ling Cang and Chenxi walked side by side on the streets, after deciding to go to Ling Cang's birthplace together, the two set off from Luoyang, all the way through the mountains and rivers, visiting the people, walking and stopping, but they were not in a hurry, today they came to a small town, which is close to the border, and not far in front of the Tiger Prison.

There are many pedestrians on the street, although it lacks the atmosphere and prosperity of the eastern capital, but it gives people a rare quiet and peaceful border town, which has a unique flavor.

"It's not far ahead of you to be in the Tiger Prison, I really didn't expect that place to be your birthplace"

"Well, in fact, I have been living in Luoyang when I was very young, after the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the eastern capital of Luoyang was lost, and my father moved into the Tiger Prison with our family, but it didn't take long for my father to have a premonition that a catastrophe was coming, in order not to implicate me, he expelled me from the house, these are all I learned from the master, so, if I want to uncover everything that happened in the past, I must go to the Tiger Prison Pass"

Ling Cang's eyes were gloomy when he spoke, and there was sadness in his eyes, the closer he got to this place in the past few days, the more silent he became, Chenxi didn't say anything, she even saw that twice this big boy who always showed a smile burst into tears, and sat on the roof of the pavilion for a whole night, Chenxi has been staying by his side to accompany him, although after many years, the past has changed, and the years can seal everything, but it can't erase the memory of a person's heart, so many years have passed, Ling Cang still can't forget the rainy night when his always kind father kicked him out of the house, because he always has a smiling face, because he never loses his temper, so people think that he is a happy person, he should be a happy person, as everyone knows, every person who loves to laugh in their hearts, there is an unknown sad past, the Buddha said, "All living beings are suffering, Ling Cang and Chenxi are just members of the miserable people in the world."

"Well...... you can accompany me to eat something, people have been with you for so long, you can't invite me to a good meal" Chenxi pouted and looked at Ling Cang, in fact, she was not hungry, she just wanted to divert his attention in this way, instead of always drowning in her sad past

Sure enough, looking at Chenxi's pouting and pretending to be coquettish, Ling Cang couldn't help but smile, there was a little more clarity in his sad eyes, "Let's go, let's go, feed you to your heart's content, wait for you to eat fat, and see who dares to marry you when the time comes" Ling Cang quipped, provoked Chenxi to laugh for a while, and made a grimace at him, looking at Chenxi's appearance, Ling Cang was amused and laughed again

The two talked and laughed like this along the way, and when others looked at them, they thought they were a martial arts couple who traveled the world.

The two walked straight into a restaurant, a 60-year-old man was in front of the counter with an abacus, it seems that it should be the shopkeeper here, the two little two sprinkled water and dusted in the store, except for the three people, there was no customer in the store, and the two couldn't help but be moved and surprised

When the shopkeeper saw someone coming, he stopped what he was doing, smiled and said to the two, "The two knights must have traveled to us."

Chenxi nodded and said, "Exactly, the two of us have been here for a day, and we wanted to come here to eat after a day's journey, but after coming in, we didn't see a guest, the shopkeeper, why is this?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Woman, this is a custom that has been passed down in this area for many years, in the middle of the three days, from one quarter to three o'clock, you can't eat during this time, if you want to eat, you need to wait until three o'clock to eat."

At three o'clock, Ling Cang looked up and saw that the sun hanging in the middle was slightly tilting westward, it was just past noon, and there were still five full hours before the third quarter of Hai, not to mention that Chenxi said that she was hungry, even he himself couldn't wait for the hour to eat, so he asked without giving up

"Shopkeeper, I don't know where I can get some food in this town."

The shopkeeper smiled and shook his head, "Shaoxia, don't say it's this town, in the past three days, in the territory of the Tiger Prison Pass, whether it is the General Soldier's Mansion or the people's homes, there is no food, these three days are the big days for our entire Tiger Prison Pass."

"Oh, I didn't think there was such a custom in the Tiger Prison Pass, I have never heard of it, dare to ask the shopkeeper, I don't know what this custom can say" Chenxi asked suspiciously

After listening to Chenxi's question, the shopkeeper hesitated for a long time, sighed and said, "This is to pay tribute to the patron saint of our Tiger Prison."

"Oh, the patron saint of the Tiger Prison," the two of them asked in unison, apparently interested in the matter

Seeing the two of them looking at him, the shopkeeper paused and continued, "Tiger Prison Pass is the border of our dynasty, and it has been harassed by the Xirong barbarians for many years, and wars are frequent, and the people living here can be said to be struggling to make a living."

At this time, the old man couldn't help but sigh again, his eyes were miserable, and he could see that he was once a poor man who had been devastated by war

"Later, the imperial court sent a general to guard the Tiger Pass, when the general saw that the people of the Tiger Pass were displaced and the wild geese were mourning, the general was furious, and swore in front of the Tiger Pass that he must drive away Xirong and return the people of the Tiger Pass to a peaceful place."

The old man spoke fiercely and clenched his fists into the air

"The general can be described as a god soldier, in just a few years, he has repeatedly defeated the Xirong army, the enemy army killed was frightened, did not dare to attack, in a battle, the general personally put on armor and went into battle, and even beheaded dozens of generals in Xirong, and the Xirong army that was killed could not be formed, so that the barbarian rolled back to his hometown directly, and did not dare to invade for many years"

Ling Cang and Chenxi listened fascinated, "What about later?"

After the general drove away Xirong and did not return to the court, but continued to guard the Tiger Prison Pass, to keep one side of the peace, after Xirong was driven away, the people of the Tiger Prison Pass who were in war all the year round were still very poor, the streets and mountain roads were full of hunger, and the general could not bear the suffering of the people, so he ordered the opening of the warehouse to release the grain, and the military grain was distributed to the people

Dawn couldn't stop sighing, "He is really a loyal and righteous person"

The shopkeeper didn't care about Chenxi's words, but said to himself, as if he had fallen into some kind of memory: "In those years, the general rectified the rule of officials, prospered the fertile land, punished corrupt officials, and eliminated thieves.

At this point, the old man's words turned sharply, and his body twitched, as if he had fallen into some kind of sad memory

"But who knows, one night, suddenly the war horses neighed in the city, and the fire flashed, and the people thought that the thieves had invaded the city, and they stayed at home one by one and did not dare to go out, but who knows, after a while, the order sounded, and it was the trumpet that made the people of the whole city gather, so everyone got up and went out, and came to the west wall, but who knows, but who knows......"

The corners of the old man's mouth twitched, his eyes were full of tears, and he choked up and said, "Who knew that when everyone came, they saw the general's ......, and the general was bloody and let him hang on the tower of the city, and on the city wall stood a team of officers and soldiers wearing gold armor, headed by a eunuch, the people saw the appearance of the general, and wailed for a while, kneeling on the ground and crying bitterly, the eunuch told the people that the general colluded with the enemy army and plotted to rebel, and also said that the general embezzled the imperial grain, and his crime should be punished."

The two of them were also emotionally moved when they listened to the old man's narration, and Ling Cang asked with red eyes, "Then do you believe the words of the eunuch?"

The old man said fiercely, "That's just a fart, the general was framed by that traitor"

Immediately, his eyes were red, "Before the general came, the officers and soldiers were afraid of the enemy like tigers, and the people were struggling to make a living, but after the general came, he drove away Xirong and returned the people to a peace, the previous officials only knew how to embezzle money, where would they care about the life and death of the people, but the general was willing to distribute the military food to the people, in order to repair houses and buy land for the people, the general did not hesitate to sell his property, his home can be said to be a family with four walls, how can there be such a thief in the world, how can there be such a corrupt official in the world, the sky has no eyes"

The old man burst into tears, looked up to the sky and howled, and then looked at the two guys in the store, who were also red-eyed at the moment, bowing his head and constantly wiping his tears

Ling Cang was moved when he heard this, and he was still silent in this story, Chenxi's eyes were red, and he wiped the corners of his eyes from time to time, and both of them were deeply moved by the story of this general

Ling Cang was silent for a long time before he asked, "Shopkeeper, what is the name of this general?"

The old man wiped his red eyes and said, "The general is the king of Zhenxi, and he is unharmed."

After a while, the two of them eased up and walked out of the hotel with their farewell to the shopkeeper

Walking on the street, perhaps just after listening to such a tragic story, both of them were a little sad, and no one spoke for a while

After a while, Ling Cang said, "Chenxi, aren't you hungry, or ......?"

Chenxi shook his head lightly, and said with red eyes, "I admire him very much, I want to pay tribute to him in a local way, I think the general has a spirit in the sky, and his heroic spirit will definitely bless the peace of the Tiger Prison Pass."

Ling Cang hummed softly, and stopped talking, the two continued to walk forward, and found that many pedestrians on the road were rushing out of the city with incense paper and candles in their hands, Ling Cang was puzzled, so he stopped an old man and asked, "Uncle, everyone is rushing out of the city, what are you going to do?"

The old man glanced at the two of them and said patiently, "These days are the sacrifice days for our patron saint to win the general's return to the west, and everyone in the city is going to the ancestral hall outside the town to worship the general."

"Oh, is there an ancestral hall outside the city, where is it?" Ling Cang hurriedly asked

"Well, when the general died tragically, after the traitors left, we collected his bones, and the people in the tiger prison and the town next to it spontaneously built an ancestral hall for the general to worship" The old man's expression was a little sad when he said this, and it can be seen that the people have very deep feelings for the general.

Ling Cang turned his head to look at Chenxi and proposed, "It's nothing anyway, why don't we go and worship the general's ancestral hall."

"Hmm" Chenxi nodded slightly, and after buying some incense, the two followed the flow of people towards the ancestral hall outside the city.