Dali border Yefu Pass, the city gate is wide open, the few light cavalry stationed in the city, choose a rare night march, although not more than a thousand horses, but when the neat war horse iron hooves trampled on the ground, it is still the earth to shake, such as the dense and rapid drum sound, making people's blood boil.

Next to the post road, a military general stopped his horse with a solemn face.

A young lieutenant general with hideous scars on his face arrived quickly, and after slowing down the horse's hooves, he sat side by side with the main general, and asked softly: "General Han, what is the intention of this northward attack? How can there be a large number of horse thieves and rogues in the vast territory north of my Dali Yefu Pass? And even if it appears, it will not be our turn to come out of the cavalry, right?"

The stout chief general's voice was low, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask." ”

The young rider grinned, and really didn't ask any more questions.

The commander of the Yefu Pass cavalry hesitated for a moment, probably because he was also a little uncomfortable, and after thinking about it, he whispered: "Not only our soldiers and horses at Yefu Pass, but all the pass military towns on the southern border have dispatched nearly half of the main field light cavalry, and all of them will be dispatched tonight. ”

The young rider was stunned for a moment, "The four-year round of spring harvesting, summer seedlings, autumn and winter hunting? But the time is not right, we only participated in the spring harvest last year, even if there is a large-scale martial arts exercise of this scale this year, it should be placed in the summer." ”

The main general subconsciously touched the supple mane of the mount under his crotch, and said: "After arriving at the temporary station, the imperial military department will have the next step of the order, so we don't have to think nonsense." ”

————

Red Candle Town to the west more than 200 miles, the river is vast in the upper reaches of the embroidery river, there is a small lonely mountain in the middle of the water, it is called Mantou Mountain by the local people, there is a lonely land temple on the mountain, the incense is endless, it is said that it is extremely effective, ask for a son to get a child, ask for wealth to get wealth, it is famous far and near, it is a place of beauty that literati and saucy people must visit by boat. However, the local people almost never come here to worship and burn incense.

The night of late spring is cold and cold, the river is rolling away, the waves are splashing, it is vaguely visible, there is a three-foot long cyan carp in the river, quickly swim from the shore to the small lonely mountain, the strange thing is that there is a boy in red clothes sitting on the back, but the height of the palm, both hands grasp the two whiskers of the green carp tightly, as if the knight pulls the reins, the little boy rises and falls with the carp and the river, soaking wet, pale, scolding, scolding the heavens and scolding the mother.

The green carp swam to the shore, stopped suddenly, and threw the boy in red clothes directly to the shore, the little guy rolled a series of rolls, gray-faced, and swayed back to the blue carp on the other side of the river, scolding, "The upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked, your master is a sassy woman......

The carp turned around abruptly and stared at the boy in red clothes on the shore, who was so frightened that he was so frightened that he didn't fight with women, and ran quickly towards the land temple.

Before the door of the small temple was closed, the little guy finally climbed over the threshold, turned over and landed, looked up at the funny clay statue with serious paint off, and shouted angrily: "Uncle almost drowned in the river, don't you hurry up and kneel down to receive the order?

Bang.

The boy in Zhu Yi was kicked as a stone and kicked out of the land temple.

There was a man with a short figure who sat on the threshold with his butt and scolded: "You are an incense boy born in this broken temple, and you dare to call yourself uncle to me?"

It's not a family, it's not a door.

The boy in the red robe ran all the way back panting, and sat on the threshold with great difficulty, grinning his teeth and complaining eyes.

The man frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

The little one muttered, "I'm a little hungry." ”

The man raised his arm to make a gesture to fight, and the boy in Zhu Yi hugged his head and shouted: "I just heard the news from the City God's Pavilion in the city, saying that the Imperial Court Rites Department and Qin Tianjian have issued two secret decrees, requiring all the gods and goddesses of the mountains and rivers in the thousands of miles around Red Candle Town to be on standby, not to leave their posts without permission, not to retreat, and must be on call...... Oh, forget you're not human......"

The little guy was slapped into the Land Temple this time.

The man stood up, looked in the direction of Red Candle Town, looked solemn, and did not forget to remind: "I left some food for you in the incense burner, remember to save some food." ”

"You have a bit of a conscience. I really don't know how you got mixed up, the poor guy who has served in the Land Temple for the longest time in a state, and he has a poor relationship with his colleagues, even those shrimp soldiers and crab generals in the embroidered river dare not take you in their eyes, why do you say I am so unlucky, born in your furnace? Alas, I should find a better stove to reincarnate in the next life......" The boy in Zhu Yi kept complaining, but he didn't delay him to climb up to the incense case familiarly, and threw himself into the brass incense burner with seven or eight incense sticks scattered around.

————

On the way back to the pillow station, Cheng Sheng found the child beside him, gritted his teeth all of a sudden, and sighed for a long time, as if he was making a life-and-death decision.

Li Huai finally stopped, plucked up the courage to ask, "Lao Cheng, I have thirty yuan on me, can I go to the previous bookstore to buy a book? How much is the cheapest book there? Can you give me some leftover?"

The man who was called Lao Cheng was a little crying and laughing, and after thinking about it, he replied seriously: "It's difficult." The books in that shop are recognized as unaffordable in our Red Candle Town, and if it weren't for the readers who love to collect rare books, no one would go there to buy books. If you really want to buy books, I know that there are two big bookstores in the east, Confucian classics, Zhuzi anthologies, and Zhiwei novels, and I can help you bargain there. ”

The tenacious child shook his head and said, "No, it has to be a bookstore!"

These are all the surplus food that Li Huai secretly saved, most of which was stolen from his uncle's house, and half was his sister Li Liu's private money.

In the bookstore before, the poor sour guy who wore straw sandals all year round was neither a swollen face and a fat man, but he bought a broken book of nearly ten taels of silver without saying a word, nor did he refuse on the spot, unwilling to spend so much silver for him.

Instead, I asked him if he would read the book.

This surprised Li Huai. Although he said that he would read it at the time, in fact, after buying it, of course he would read it, and just flip through it to pass the time, Li Huai actually didn't have much interest in this "Broken Water Cliff".

But when someone was willing to take out ten taels of silver for himself, Li Huai felt very happy.

Li Huai is not stupid. Whether others are good or bad for him, the child knows it well and knows it clearly.

A pair of straw sandals, a bookbox that has not yet been built, and this "Broken Water Cliff", owes so much to others, so Li Huai feels that if he doesn't do something for Chen Ping'an, he will not be happy, and his heart is panicked.

In fact, Li Huai doesn't like Zhu Lu, and even Lin Shouyi, who shares hardships and hardships, doesn't like it very much, but often bullies his Li Baohua in school, and thinks it's not bad.

Li Huai likes Ah Liang the most.

As for the poor bastard from Mud Bottle Alley, Li Huai was a little afraid of him.

At this time, Yicheng Cheng Sheng looked down at the child with a serious face, thinking that it was worthy of that guy's so-called immortal qualifications, some things were indeed blessed to the soul, he couldn't help laughing, thinking that he just pushed the boat down the river, and could help this child, maybe he would end up a great incense love. Being kind to others, being kind to a thousand ordinary masters, is far better than forming a good relationship with an immortal, which he has seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears, and it is true.

Cheng Sheng walked with the child to the alley between the two streets, where the young shopkeeper was sitting on the threshold looking at them, smiling as if he was waiting for them to arrive.

At this moment, at the other end of the alley, a rickety old man with a lantern walked in, and Li Huai and the two walked in the opposite direction.

The young boy got up slowly and waved his hand to Cheng Sheng, "Today, the bookstore is closed, and I will bring this child here to buy books when I go back." ”

Cheng Sheng pulled Li Huai without saying a word, turned around and left.

The elegant young boy, after making sure that the two of them left the alley, he no longer saw the calm and leisurely before, he was a little respectful and cramped, and he hugged his fists and said softly: "Chong Jiang Li Jin, meet Lord Langzhong." ”

The white-haired old man carried the lantern behind his back with one hand and a lantern in the other, nodded, and crossed the threshold of the bookstore, and the young man who gave way sideways followed, and the old man casually inserted the lantern handle into the low end of the book at the height of the book wall, turned his head to look at the young man with a face like a crown of jade, and said with emotion: "Forty years ago, you and I met for the first time, you are like this, and now goodbye, it is still like this, envy others." ”

The young man clenched the folding fan and smiled, "For us aliens, it is a great blessing to be born as human beings. ”

The old man nodded, but did not refute.

The young man asked curiously, "Is it the arrangement of the adults that those people can live in the pillow station?"

The old man was silent.

The young man curiously stopped asking.

He opened this small bookstore a hundred years ago, looked at the world with a cold eye, saw a lot of human feelings and sophistication and turmoil in the Huan Sea, and was no stranger to the officialdom of Da Li. In the Dali Imperial Court, under the six Yamen Shangshu Lang, Lang Zhong was the chief official of each department, and Lang Lang was the adjutant, from the five products. The official positions of Lang Zhong and Wai Lang are not obvious, but there are three Lang Zhong, whose authority is beyond imagination.

This is the Ministry of Officials Examination Division, the Ministry of Military Selection, and the Ministry of Rites Ancestral Sacrifice Qing Officials Division, these three chief officials, can be described as a humble and powerful position, the government and the opposition attention, once the place is released, it will inevitably be an exception for the feudal officials.

An inspection of the promotion of all local officials below the fourth rank in the dynasty.

One is responsible for screening and reviewing the promotion of martial artists for the dynasty military, especially the power to recruit people in the rivers and lakes.

A person who is specifically responsible for a country's sacrificial ceremonies, many times the king has to ask this person, this civil official with low rank, is often from the Confucian palace and academy.

The unremarkable old man in front of him is one of them.

Forty years ago, as the owner of this bookstore, Li Jin once gave two classics to a shabby scholar who went to Beijing to take the exam. But for Li Jin, who is not in the temple and far away in the rivers and lakes, there is another layer of significance for the priest of the Ministry of Rites, that is, this small yamen, it is said that many officials in the capital can't even find the door, but they are secretly in charge of the screening and evaluation of the gods of the world's mountains and rivers, although there is no final survey right, but there is a vital right to recommend.

Li Jin passed by the official eunuch Jia of Red Candle Town, and after learning that the old man sat in this position, he sent several letters, all of which were mud cows into the sea, and there was no news, Li Jin did not dare to make a mistake, so he had to regret it.

For a hundred years, the "young man" with the pseudonym Li Jin has worked hard and tried his best to seek the position of the god of the river and water, and has used many ways of incense, all of which have returned in vain.

The old man said suddenly: "The reason why Chong Jiang does not have the position of the river god, you should know the reason, so you quietly sent the letter to my house, I just didn't see it, not because I didn't want to help, but because I was really powerless." ”

The young man smiled bitterly and nodded, "Understood." As long as His Majesty the Emperor doesn't nod, I'm afraid that it will be useless for the Ministry of Rites to speak. ”

The old man smiled and stared at the young man in front of him, every twenty or thirty years, this person would change his face and appearance, the old man squinted and said, "But now there is an opportunity in front of you, it depends on whether you dare to fight for it." ”

The young man didn't show an excited look, and asked rhetorically: "I heard that in Longquan County, which was once the Lizhu Cave Heaven, Emperor Dali enshrined a dragon and a river god of the Dragon Whisker River, a god of the Tiefu River, and a mountain god in Piyun Mountain, Lamp Mountain and Luoluo Mountain, and gave three mountains and two rivers at one time, a total of five seats, which has already used up many of His Majesty's family resources, how can it be possible to hedge against the river and throw out a precious place when it is about to be stretched?"

The old man smiled: "Don't worry, it's not a conspiracy against you, to put it mildly, you won't let me go out in person." ”

The young man was a little annoyed and angry, and then he looked helpless under the fence and stopped talking.

The old man restrained his smile and said, "With Red Candle Town as the center, within a radius of thousands of miles, all the mountains and rivers that have been enshrined by the Dali Imperial Court, as well as the alternate land and river women, all need to be on standby in the near future, ready to participate in an encirclement and suppression at any time. In addition, the southern border towns, including Da Li Yefu Pass, dispatched a large number of elite cavalry troops, and scattered countless scout reconnaissance horses. As for you, Li Jin, if it weren't for the love of the book gift back then, I would never have told you the news. With you or without you, it makes no difference. ”

Li Jin was shocked beyond measure, "What are you doing in such a big battle in Dali? What are you encircling and suppressing?"

The old man bluntly said, "Alone. ”

Li Jin looked into the old man's eyes, not as if he was fake, and asked slowly, "Lord Langzhong, what do you need me to do?"

The old man smiled: "A little bit of small things within your power, you just need to help keep an eye on a man who has just arrived in Red Candle Town, because I know that more than two hundred years after walking out of the Chongtang River, you have been operating very well in Red Candle Town, more familiar with the waterways than the city gods, and more familiar with the wind and grass of the town than the two river gods, and if there is no record error in the archives of the capital, you have a few rare blue fish, from ancient books, which are most suitable for reconnaissance and transmission of news in a small area." ”

Li Jin's face was not very good-looking.

The old man sneered: "Relax, the blue fish is indeed a once-in-a-century encounter, but I am not to the point where I want to make money." ”

Li Jinzi laughed at himself: "It's me who lives the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain." ”

He then asked, "Who is that man?"

The old man replied slowly: "A man wearing a hat, with a small silver gourd around his waist, is accompanied by a group of children, who are from the former Lizhu Cave Heaven, and now Longquan County. As for the true identity of the man, the Dali spy report has not yet been learned. ”

Li Jin was dumbfounded, "That person has come to my shop before." ”

The old man's eyes were like electricity.

Li Jin said carefully: "It's just a coincidence. ”

The old man waved his hand and advised: "It doesn't matter, from now on, remember not to show your feet, even if it is useless, it is better than having one." If you accidentally startle the snake because of your mistakes, you don't have to worry, because you must have died at that time, and if that person doesn't kill you, I will do it myself. ”

"But if this matter is done, I don't dare to guarantee that you will become the god of the Chong Jiang River, but I can ask His Majesty the Emperor to remember your name first. ”

Li Jin laughed at himself: "Does this count as Jane in the emperor's heart?"

The old man stopped scrolling through the book, turned his head and asked, "What, don't you want to?"

Li Jin laughed and said: "Wealth is in danger, not to mention that I don't need to be in the battle in person, and I will make a sure profit and no loss, I have done it!"

He snapped his fingers, and near his shoulder, two delicate small fish with extremely slender tails appeared, they were the same as his divine will, and what the fish could see was within Li Jinmu's reach.

They swayed their long tails and disappeared in an instant.

Before the old man left, he smiled and sighed: "The price of the books in your shop is still so expensive." ”

Only at this moment did Li Jin feel that the old man still had a little bit of the demeanor of the young man at the beginning.

The old man retrieved the lantern and left the shop.

The old man walked out of the alley, and around the corner stood a burly man with his arms around his chest, and the two walked side by side, and the latter asked, "Aren't you afraid of drawing snakes?"

The old man said casually: "Actually, this hunt has reached this point, so even if Li Jin suddenly loses his mind and goes crazy, he runs in front of the man named Ah Liang and tells all the truth, it doesn't matter." ”

The man said angrily: "In the final analysis, do you still want to repay him for the book gift back then?"

The old man smiled and narrowed his eyes, revealing a little conceit, and said softly: "The favor I owe is still worth a little money." ”

————

Zhu Lu said that he wanted to eat rock sugar gourd, although Zhu He was a little curious, why his daughter suddenly liked sweets, but this request was nothing at all, so he took the girl to find a stall together.

In the end, they were really found by the father and daughter, and there were vendors carrying a large string of sugar gourds, walking through the streets and alleys, shouting loudly.

Zhu He didn't like this thing, Zhu Lu bought three strings in one go, Zhu He was a little puzzled, the girl smiled and said that she would eat one string, and the other two strings could be given to Miss and Chen Ping'an.

The girl also said that she wanted to apologize to the boy tonight, so that she could say sorry to him so that she could feel at ease.

Zhu He was relieved and extremely happy.

The father and daughter returned to the post station and learned that Chen Ping'an and Li Baohua had returned to the pillow station.

Zhu Lu hadn't finished eating a bunch of rock sugar gourds, so he picked the courtyard behind the first-class post house and asked his father to help him give Chen Ping'an a message, saying that he would make an appointment with Chen Ping'an to meet here.

Zhu He strode away, feeling a little funny in his heart, this girl is too thin-skinned, just bow her head and admit her mistake with others, what is there to be ashamed of.

It didn't take long for the straw sandals boy to appear at the end of the painted corridor, and after seeing the Zhu Lu sitting on the bench at the other end, the boy quickened his pace slightly.

On the bench beside the girl, fifteen or sixteen sugar gourds were scattered.

The girl stood up with a smile and put her hands behind her back, looking coquettish.

She walked towards the boy.