On this day, the wind is beautiful, the breeze is cool, and it is a rare good weather. The people of Chang'an City poured into the streets, gathering on both sides of the river, as if waiting for something. Everywhere is full of joy, talking and laughing loudly, so lively.

At noon, I suddenly heard a salute in the distance, everyone looked forward, only to see the direction of Guangyun Pond in the Forbidden Garden, there were people surging on the highest Wangchun Tower, behind the group of fans, drums sounded, and a middle-aged man in a yellow robe appeared with a woman. The people of Chang'an have lived in the imperial city for a long time, and they don't need to be reminded to know that this is actually the emperor's visit. People knelt down and bowed, even many of them were yellow-haired and blue-eyed Huren. For a time, the sound of the mountain shouting 'long live' resounded throughout the capital.

Leng Xiaoxiao rode a white horse, and several personal soldiers followed behind, and came to the Qujiang Pond. I saw a slightly chubby old man commanding something to the people on the left and right. Leng Xiaoxiao recognized the old man as Chang'an Ling Wei Jian. Today's Caoyun event was presided over by him.

When Wei Jian saw that it was Leng Xiaoxiao, he hurriedly ran over from afar, and said: "General Leng, there is a loss of welcome, there is a loss of welcome." Leng Xiaoxiao bowed his hand and replied: "Lord Wei doesn't have to be polite, this Guangyuntan event has been planned for a long time, and everything must have been prepared." Wei Jian said with a smile: "For today's business, the old man has not been able to sleep well for many days." It's not in vain. "I was quite proud. He also said: "General Leng is in charge of the defense of the capital, and he has won the trust of the emperor, and he should also congratulate the old man." The birthday of the saint is coming, and I guess these days are not easier than mine. Leng Xiaoxiao said: "Where is the responsibility of the last general, I dare not say anything." He looked back at the Wangchun Tower in the distance and said, "The emperor is here, and the last general must ensure that everything is foolproof." Let's take a look. ”

Before Wei Jian could answer, someone in the distance suddenly shouted to this side: "Lord Wei, the last batch of ships from Jiangnan have arrived." Leng Xiaoxiao looked at it, there were shadows and shadows on the river, all kinds of boats were neatly arranged on the water, and there were only four or five hundred boats, and the scene was spectacular. Wei Jian didn't have time to say more to Leng Xiaoxiao, and shouted: "Okay, ready, head boat away." ”

I saw a brand-new awning boat on the dock leave the shore, and it was more than three times larger than an ordinary boat. At the bow of the boat stood a young young man, with a water-green shirt and a red forehead tied on his forehead. Behind the posterior life, there were countless dressed girls, smiling, like a beautiful scenery. Even Leng Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up.

The young man in the bow of the boat whistled and took the lead in sailing the boat through the canal into the city. All the boats parked on the river were immediately dispatched by special personnel, and they followed one after another. Just listen to the earth-shattering cheers and applause in Chang'an City, accompanied by gongs and drums, wave after wave. The fleet slowly entered the city like a chain connected together. Grain and rice noodles are placed in the warehouse of each boat, and the red paper with different place names is spread on it all around, so as to show that the five grains are abundant, and the world is very good.

The head boat gradually approached Wangchun Tower, and the young man in the short shirt shouted and sang loudly: "Debao Hong Nongye, Hongnong Debaoye!" The boats in the pond are noisy, and there are many bronzes in Yangzhou! San Lang sat in the hall and listened to the song of Debao! Every time he sang a sentence, the hundred girls in the boat behind him also sang a sentence, the singing voice was loud and clear, with a thick Jiangnan accent, it was really indescribably pleasant and good. Accompanied by the laughter and laughter of the people along the way, it is a prosperous atmosphere.

Wei Jian was satisfied with his jaw, and said to Leng Xiaoxiao: "These hundred girls are carefully selected from all over the country from opera troupes and embroidery villages, and then invited a master craftsman from Liyuan to train for a long time, Fang Shi appeared today." Leng Xiaoxiao was also infected by the joyful atmosphere in front of him, and said: "Lord Wei is hard-working, today's scene is indeed extraordinary, and I will admire it." "I thought that Wei Jian had really put a lot of effort into currying favor with the emperor, and if this kind of thing was replaced by himself, he would never be able to do it. Looking at the top of the Spring Tower again, the emperor was really happy and laughed. Leng Xiaoxiao thought about it, and it seemed that Wei Jian was about to rise day by day. Got on the horse and said goodbye, and led his soldiers to patrol the streets.

The huge fleet of awning boats is connected to each other in front and back, carrying a full load of grain and local products, and it is orderly and moving along the river. On one of the inconspicuous boats was a pair of young men and women pointing, and they were also shocked by the bustling and lively Chang'an City in front of them. The young man was very excited, and exclaimed, "It's so lively, to say that the place where the emperor lives is really different." I've never seen such a tall gate. The girl smiled: "Brother Ye, don't be busy patronizing, let me tell you, the delicious snacks in Chang'an are good, I have been here three times, and the most memorable thing each time is the delicious food here." "These two people are Ye Suiyun and Tang Xiyao. The two men traveled west with the fleet, arriving at the capital of the empire in less than a month.

Ye Suiyun said: "Really? What's delicious? Tang Xiyao said: "Since you have come to Chang'an, you naturally have to eat what is not available in the side places, and it should be Hu food in the Western Regions." What kind of green pot dumplings, hand-grabbed hu cakes, fish and sesame snacks, etc., but also with Gaochang country's grape wine, or Persian Sanle pulp, or dragon paste wine, that taste is beautiful. Ye Suiyun's eyes straightened when he heard this, and he swallowed his saliva and said: "The name alone is coveted." ”

Walking downstairs to Wangchun, the captain said to the two: "The young man and the girl are so lucky, they met the emperor as soon as they came." The two of them followed his finger and looked at the tower on the highest floor of the pavilion, where a middle-aged man was talking and laughing with the woman beside him.

After Ye Suiyun saw it clearly, he said, "It turns out that this is the emperor." It's different from what I thought. Tang Xiyao said: "I saw the emperor when I was a child, but now I am a little fatter." Ye Suiyun asked, "Then the woman next to him must be the queen?" Tang Xiyao shook his head and said, "No, I've also seen the queen." But not this woman. The captain interjected: "That's the most favored concubine Yang Niangniang today, if you want to talk about status, even the queen can't compare to her." The two looked from afar and saw that the woman had a gorgeous appearance, a plump body, and a jewel-ring jade pendant on her body that looked extraordinary.

Passing through the Wangchun Tower, continue to move forward, and soon arrive at the final destination of the trip, Guangyuntan Wharf. After the ship docked after the dispatch of the shore personnel, several Liba carried the cargo out of the ship. After Ye Suiyun got off the boat, he said to the captain: "Brother Gonggong, please go back and thank Sister Ruan on my behalf, we will go back to visit her when we are free in the future." The captain said: "Don't worry, I will bring back the words of the young man." Shaoxia is a good friend, and all the brothers in Dongli Village are looking forward to drinking with you again. Ye Suiyun arched his hand, turned around and walked out of the dock. Seeing that Tang Xiyao was chattering with a girl in blue, it was not the first time to see the situation. I was very curious, could it be that this girl met a friend when she first came to Chang'an?

Tang Xiyao saw him approaching and said, "Brother Ye, this is the ninth sister, and our affairs in Chang'an are all arranged by her." The ninth sister was slender and long, with a pair of black sheaths on her hands, and the most special thing was that she had half an iron mask on her face, revealing only half of her delicate face. The ninth sister said: "Fortunately, Ye Suiyun, we will meet again." Ye Suiyun felt even more strange, hmmmmmmmm The ninth sister smiled: "You really have no conscience, you were in the grass forest that day, if I hadn't blocked the pursuers, how could you still stand here." Ye Suiyun hugged his fists and said: "I see, thank you girl for your help." Seeing his awe-inspiring face, the ninth sister sneered and laughed, and said, "What kind of righteousness, that's for the second lady of my family, who has time to care about your life and death." ”

Tang Xiyao saw Ye Suiyun's face was embarrassed, and said, "You girl, you don't talk well, so you like to make fun of people." Said to Ye Suiyun: "The ninth sister grew up with me in Tangjiabao, and she is the most kind-hearted, but she likes to play pranks. Don't take it to heart. The ninth sister hehe Zhile said: "I am the second miss's maid, I don't dare to tease the second miss, it's okay to tease the second miss's sweetheart." Tang Xiyao's face was blank and said, "If you say it, I'm angry." What about things? The ninth sister didn't dare to make any more trouble, so she took out something and gave it to Ye Suiyun and said, "It's been prepared for a long time." ”

Ye Suiyun took it and saw that it was also half an iron mask, only different from the one worn by the ninth sister, this one in his hand was like a complete mask that was cut horizontally as the bridge of the nose, only the lower half was left, and after wearing it, only the eyes and eyebrows were exposed, and all below the bridge of the nose were covered. The ninth sister took it along the center of the eyebrows, the tip of the nose, and the central axis of the person vertically cut, and after wearing it, a complete half of the face was exposed. Tang Xiyao said: "Speaking of which, you were worried that it would be inconvenient to be recognized in Chang'an, so I sent a message to the ninth sister with a lark early in the morning and prepared this mask. My Tang Sect has a rule, if a disciple goes out to walk the rivers and lakes, if he doesn't deliberately hide his identity, he will wear half a mask to show his identity, this rule is known to the world. No one will recognize you when you put it on, and you will never be suspicious. ”

The ninth sister interjected: "Fortunately, the mask of the male disciple is a horizontal half, if it is like my vertical half, it is useless to wear it." Ye Suiyun didn't say more, put on the mask, and slightly spread the hair on his forehead to cover his eyebrows, only revealing his eyes, which was indeed difficult to identify.

The ninth sister said again: "Your future identity is the second lady's guard, in terms of age, you should belong to the 'none' generation, so you should be called 'Tang Wuyun'." ”

Ye Suiyun nodded, it was his old friend who changed his name, no matter how much it was, it was not too much. At the same time, I was puzzled, this ninth sister's iron face showed half of her face, what is the use of wearing it or not? But I didn't know that since the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Sect, the main business was bounty assassination, and whenever there was a battle with the enemy or a secret operation, both men and women covered their faces with masks, and with the development of the years, a family tradition gradually formed. Even on weekdays, disciples in the sect will wear half an iron cover when they attend formal occasions, and the horizontal and vertical sides vary depending on the men and women. Of course, if someone does not want to reveal his identity under special circumstances, he can also not wear it, and there is no compulsion.

The three of them walked to the street, Ye Suiyun just said 'the stomach is drumming', and he heard the sound of horses' hooves, and several horses galloped from a distance, and the pedestrians in the street shouted and dodged on both sides of the road. Ye Suiyun and the three of them didn't know what was going on, and looked forward to it. Someone next to him reminded: "What else are you looking at, get out of the way." Looking at this situation, it must be 'Princess Xuanning' out of the palace to play. If he didn't dodge anymore, he was trampled by the horse's hooves and died in vain. ”

As he spoke, the horse team rushed closer, and the horse passenger led by Guomi was a noble girl in a stingray fur, waving a whip and shouting, "Get out of the way, get out of the way." ”

As soon as Ye Suiyun retreated, the Pegasus passed by. Suddenly, a few steps ahead, an old vegetable farmer couldn't dodge and fell to the ground. I saw that the horse rushed straight over, and saw that the old peasant was about to die under a pair of huge hooves in an instant. Ye Suiyun knew that it was too late to rescue, his arm was relaxed, and he grabbed the reins of the horse. The horse was galloping at high speed, and was suddenly pulled by him, and with a hiss, it was difficult to advance half an inch, and it was forced to stay in place. The girl on the horse screamed, flew off the saddle, and fell impartially into the vegetable shed of the old farmer who fell to the ground in front of her, with a clattering sound, and the cabbage rolled to the ground. But it happened that the vegetables were at the bottom, and the girl was unharmed, but a little embarrassed but inevitable.

Seeing that the master was in distress, the horse team behind them reined in their horses and rushed to the ground in exclamation. The few people behind waved their horsewhips, pointed at Ye Suiyun and scolded: "My guy, so bold." The princess's horse dares to stop it, and if you hurt the princess, you can't afford to pay for your dog's life! ”

Ye Suiyun said angrily: "You went on a rampage and almost trampled people to death." At this time, the princess was helped to her feet by her men, and her hair was covered with vegetable leaves, and she said angrily: "Who dares to stop my horse?" ”

Before Ye Suiyun could answer, Tang Xiyao had already taken the lead and said, "Yun Rao, look at who I am?" The princess was slightly stunned, then smiled, stepped forward and grabbed Tang Xiyao's hands, and said affectionately: "Xiyao, why are you, you don't say a word to others when you come to Chang'an, so that this princess can prepare a banquet for you." "This girl is none other than 'Princess Xuanning' Li Yunrao. Tang Xiyao had entered the palace several times with her father when she was young, and Li Longji saw that she was born exquisite and cute, and her age was similar to Li Yunrao, so he specially allowed her to socialize and play with the princess, and the two became friends, and they were friends of the general horn.

Li Yunrao glanced at Ye Suiyun and asked, "Xiyao, who is he?" Tang Xiyao said: "Tang Wuyun, my family. Yun Rao, don't blame him, just now your horse almost stepped on someone else, and he was eager to save people's hearts, but he didn't dare to bully you on purpose. ”

Li Yunrao's big eyes flashed, and she said, "Yes, I almost hurt someone, I didn't pay attention to this." It's okay, it's okay. He turned his head to look at Ye Suiyun and said, "Your kung fu is very good, you can even stop my 'Jade Dragon'." ”

Ye Suiyun smiled and saluted, and said offended. Li Yunrao thought to herself: "Their Tang Sect is the most troublesome, and they always have an iron cover on their faces. But look at this person's appearance, he is not very old, but his kung fu is very tight, but I don't know how it compares to 'him'. It turned out that she remembered Leng Xiaoxiao.

Knowing that Tang Xiyao and the others were looking for a place to eat, Li Yunrao pulled Tang Xiyao and said: "There is a newly opened orchid wine shop in the West Market, and the wine made tastes the best, you must try it." He turned around and waved to his entourage, "You all go back, you don't have to follow." The knights were about to say anything more, but they saw that the princess had already gone away.

Tang Xiyao and the three of them followed Li Yunrao to the wine shop, and as soon as they entered the door, they smelled the aroma of wine and food, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of huqin music, and couldn't help but feel refreshed. I saw that there were many diners in the wine shop, and the blonde and blue-eyed Hu people accounted for most of them, sitting in the lobby, talking and laughing loudly. In the central field, several Persian orchids are dancing to the rhythm of joy, spinning incessantly, which is very beautiful.

The shopkeeper in charge of hospitality saw Li Yunrao, and hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Your Royal Highness Princess, it's so early today." "Let's talk about leading the way. Ye Suiyun thought to himself, it seems that this princess is a frequent visitor here. Li Yunrao had the heart to entertain her friends, and ordered a lot of delicious food, and Ye Suiyun didn't know what the names of some foods were.

Li Yunrao said with a pretentious matter: "Xiyao, you came just in time this time, there is an amazing person in Chang'an City now, you must meet it." ”

The ninth sister said strangely: "What's wrong?" ”

Li Yunrao said: "This person has seven out of twenty, his name is Shen Zhuangxing, he is dashing, and he looks like Pan An." Moreover, the poems and songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are all excellent. Now among the nobles of Chang'an, they are very popular, especially those noble ladies and ladies, who are even more flocking to him. You and the ninth sister must see and understand. ”

Tang Xiyao smiled: "It seems that you are also fascinated." ”

Li Yunrao blushed and said, "Say what I do, I'm not so boring." ”

Tang Xiyao thought for a while and said, "No, if you like this person, you won't be so active in recommending me and Ninth Sister to go, it seems that you really don't like him." Could it be that there are other people who are in interest? Who's that? The ninth sister said on the side: "That's right, that's right, it must be like this." Say it, say it, who it is. ”

Li Yunrao said angrily: "You two say it, I'm leaving." The two of them laughed. Ye Suiyun didn't want to smile, so he just listened from the sidelines. The food was served on the table like a stream, and the four of them chatted while eating, so unhappy.

Suddenly heard the sound of boots, several people walked in outside the door, and a young man with deep eyes and high nose and a bearded face knew at a glance that it was a Hu man. This person has an arrogant demeanor and luxurious clothes, which is obviously not an ordinary person. Behind him was a man in black who couldn't see his age, his eyes were slightly narrowed, his face was like a crown of jade, especially his complexion, white as mutton fat, three points more beautiful than ordinary women. This person was wearing a pitch-black brocade robe, and his skin became whiter and fairer. Behind the two was a group of retinues.

Li Yunrao snorted and said, "Why is he?" The ninth sister couldn't help but ask, "Who is this person?" Looks like crazy. Li Yunrao said: "An Qingxu, it's very annoying. But he is not a big deal, but he relies on the power of his father An Lushan. "The three of them are all young and knowledgeable, and they don't know much about the political affairs of the imperial court, and they don't know who An Lushan is.

An Qingxu squinted at the wine shop, and his eyes lit up when he fell on Tang Xiyao. After the group sat down and ordered food and drink, An Qingxu's eyes always stared at Tang Xiyao back and forth, which was very rude.

The ninth sister said in a daze: "This guy's thief's eyes are so annoying to look at them, so people can't wait to dig them out." Dare to look at my young lady so rudely. ”

Li Yunrao said: "An Lushan is also the envoy of the Three Towns Festival, and he has a heavy army. Even my father had to look at him differently. No wonder this thief is crazy, let's eat our own, don't bother with him. Seeing that even the princess didn't want to provoke An Qingxu, the ninth sister said unconvinced: "What kind of official is the festival envoy, is it very big?" ”

Li Yunrao nodded and said: "Of course, our Datang has a total of ten major military towns, and they are assigned to be in charge of ten jiedu envoys, who are mainly responsible for defending the border and guarding the foreign country. It can be said that he is in charge of all the troops of the Tang Dynasty except Chang'an. Over the years, his father has been very fond of An Lushan, and has promoted him to the rank of official. So that now he alone is also the envoy of Pinglu, Fanyang, and the three towns of Hedong, and he is also crowned the king of Dongping County, and he is in charge of more than 100,000 troops, which can be said to be the most powerful feudal town now. The three of them understood that An Lushan was so powerful, no wonder even the princess didn't want to provoke his son.

Tang Xiyao suddenly said to Ye Suiyun: "Ye... Cough. Cough... Wuyun, look at the lame man in Tsing Yi in An Qingxu's entourage. Isn't it familiar? It seems that in the Land Temple that day, the "Dugu Boss" Dugu Ba who led Fuhu Village to commit murder. Ye Suiyun said it to her, and when she looked closely, it was really him.

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