On the Shambhala Plateau in the southwest of the Tang Dynasty, there is a huge pasture, which is only 80 miles away from the city of Luoqi, the capital of the Tibetan state, and opposite the Jokhang Temple.

This ranch is famous as Qingyang, the terrain is wide and lush, and the grass is continuous. Thousands of horses were supplied to the Tibetan army every year, and it was one of the important sources of supply for the empire's war horses. Its owner is the uncle of the current Tubo State Zanpu, the Tubo State Dalun, the Tashi King ----- Gar Dongzan.

It is now the eighth year of the Tang Dynasty, the Tubo Empire and the Tang Dynasty stand side by side, and the merchant and agricultural politics are prosperous. In particular, the prosperity of the military is not inferior to Li Tang, and the reason for this depends on the super combat power of the Tubo cavalry. And this point is inseparable from the developed animal husbandry in Tibet at that time. It is the existence of many horse farms that can provide a steady stream of horses for the army and become a strong guarantee for the country's military. And this Qingyang Racecourse is the most important part of it.

As far as the eye can see, in the Qingyang Ranch at this time, thousands of horses are running, sitting and lying, all of which are of different colors, all of which are well-bred excellent horse breeds. A bright-eyed girl rode a snow-white half-large foal to and fro across the meadow, shuttling between the horses, laughing from time to time.

The girl was sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a noble mink fur and a white velvet felt hat. Not far away, more than a hundred servants waited quietly, and a young woman at the head of them shouted loudly: "County Lord, County Lord, don't run so fast, be careful." "It turned out that the girl on that horse was the only daughter of Gardonzan---- Xingyue Zhuoma. The woman who cried out in worry was her personal servant, Tassie.

Tasi was worried at this time, and secretly begged the gods to bless him, don't let this playful county lord who doesn't know the severity of the damage in the slightest, otherwise he really can't afford it. Just when she was at a loss, a voice came from a distance: "Xingyue's riding skills are really getting more and more proficient." But such an unbridled madness is still too dangerous. ”

When the servants heard the sound, they saw a young man walking slowly on a tall horse. Tassie was overjoyed, stepped forward and saluted: "My lord, please advise the county lord quickly, don't drive the horse so fast, what if you don't pay attention and fall down?" It turned out that the man was King Tashi's second son, Garqinling, Xingyue's brother.

Qin Ling smiled: "It's your duty to take care of Xingyue, and I can't control her." ”

Tassie bowed with both hands and said, "Everyone knows that the county lord is at home, so he listens to you the most." If you don't care about it, in case the county lord really has a damage slip, what is good? ”

Seeing that Tasi was full of helpless pleading, Qin Ling laughed, stretched out his fingers in his mouth, and blew a loud whistle. Xingyue Zhuoma in the distance heard the whistle and came over, saw the Garqin Mausoleum, and immediately turned the horse's head and galloped back. greeted: "Second brother, you are here." ”

Qin Ling praised: "Your 'Snow Lotus' is really a good horse in a hundred, running down at such a gallop, without showing any fatigue. ”

Xingyue was triumphant and said: "Then it goes without saying that the snow lotus is not a mortal species, even if you search all over Tubo, there is no second horse that can match it." As he spoke, he patted the white horse's neck with his hand, obviously cherishing it very much.

Qin Ling smiled, this little white horse was found by his father Wang Tuoren from Dawan Kingdom two years ago, and gave it to Xingyue as a birthday gift. Since then, my sister has been obsessed with horseback riding, and she loves this white horse even more, and does not allow it to be wronged in the slightest.

Qin Ling looked at Tasi on the side and whispered to him, and said, "I brought something interesting today, do you want to see it?" ”

Xingyue's eyes lit up and asked, "What's interesting?" ”

Qin Ling pretended to be mysterious: "Fireworks." ”

"What's that?" Xingyue asked.

Qin Ling said: "It was brought back from the Tang Kingdom by my uncle two years ago, and it was very gorgeous and beautiful after it was lit with fire, and we can't see it in Tibet." Do you want to see? ”

Xingyue Zhuoma was aroused, flashed her big eyes and nodded vigorously, and said, "Take it out and take a look." ”

Qin Ling looked at the sky and said, "Don't worry, this fireworks are the most beautiful to light in the dark night, and it's still early, so let the horse servants clear the pasture out of an open space first." ”

At that moment, Tasi hurriedly ordered a group of servants to wait for the two to go to the tent to rest, and on the other side, he called the head of the horseman who was in charge of the pasture and told him to clear the pasture quickly, so as not to delay Lord Qinling to set off fireworks at night.

After everyone left, the head of the horse gathered dozens of horse servants, and after quickly assigning the task, he also hurried to the county lord's tent, knowing that the county lord not only had good food and drink, but also sang and danced with everyone, but he didn't want to delay for a moment.

A group of horsemen drove the horses back to the enclosure. Three of them were assigned to clean up horse manure. This errand is the most unpleasant, smelly and tiring, not only does it smell bad, but it also has a lot of labor, so the three of them are also listless.

Seeing that the others had finished their errands one by one, they all went to the county lord to eat, drink and dance, and heard the faint bustle in the distance, and one of the horse servants named Bajie said: "Don't talk about eating food and drinking good wine, I don't think we can even catch up with the fireworks." The other two were also silent and depressed.

At this moment, I suddenly saw a person walking out of the horse pen not far away. When Bajie saw it, he hurriedly shouted loudly: "Gu Gunu, come over here."

When the man saw him waving his hand, he came over. The man was a young man and a horse servant. He walked closer and said nothing, looking at a few people in a daze.

Badje asked, "Gugunu, why are you going?" ”

Gu Gunu pointed to the horse ring, and then pointed to the direction of the county lord's tent, which means that he had finished his work and was about to go to the tent.

Bajie snorted and said, "Who said you're done, there's still a lot to do here." Then he made a gesture, handed over the tools for cleaning the horse manure of the three of them to Gu Gunu, and finally said: "We have been waiting for you here for a long time, this is the work assigned to you by the chief manager, if you can't finish it, you won't have anything to eat." After saying that, he smiled slyly, pulled the other two and left.

After walking a few steps, he looked back, and Gu Gunu didn't say a word, and had already picked up the rake and cleaned it up. One of the horse servants, Redarang, was a little unbearable, and said, "Bajie, this should have been our errand, if... What should Gu Gunu do when he goes to the governor to complain? ”

Bajie said nonchalantly: "He's a dumb person, how can he sue?" Look, isn't he doing a good job? ”

Redaran still felt that he couldn't go, and said, "But... ”

Bajie said impatiently: "There is not much wine on the county lord's side, I am going, if you want to go back to help him, please poop." After saying that, he and the other person ran away without looking back. Redaran became anxious, glanced back at Gu Gunu again, turned around and shouted, "Wait for me... The three of them disappeared after a while, leaving only Gu Gunu to clean up the horse manure on the ground with a rake.

In the open space at the highest point of the grassland, there were men and women in the palace servants, and more than 100 people sat in a circle, singing and laughing. The bamboo baskets containing food and wine are passed back and forth in people's hands, so lively. The Lord of Xingyue County and the King of Qinling County sat on the throne and talked and laughed.

Garqinling noticed that his sister seemed to be a little absent-minded, and his eyes were constantly searching the crowd, so he asked her, "Who are you looking for?" ”

Xingyue was asked by her brother, a little stunned, and said, "No... Didn't look for anyone? With that, he bowed his head and ate the pastry that Tassie had served.

Qin Linghu asked, "Do you want to listen to the Dharma Discussion Conference that will be held in Hongshan Palace in three days?" Xingyue Zhuoma chewed the food in his mouth and shook his head blankly. Seeing this, Qin Ling said curiously: "Why don't you know? ”

Tassi on the side said: "The county lord only knows how to soak in the horse farm and play with Snow Lotus every day, but he doesn't know that this news has already spread in recent days. I heard that it was the Chiba Venerable of the Black Sect and the Great Wheel Ming King of the Yellow Sect who put each other in the ring to argue and defend the law. ”

Xingyue wiped the corners of her mouth and said in surprise: "Wow, the leaders of the black and yellow factions have gone out in person, what is the purpose of making such a big move?" ”

Garqin Ling sighed: "It's not for the famous monk conference held in the Tang Kingdom. "It turned out that a month ago, Tubo Zampu received a letter of invitation, which was sent by the senior monk of the Tianzhu Bodhi Society, Mothiello. The letter explained that after years of preparation for the Bodhi Society, and in conjunction with the Jialan monks in Luoyang, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the 'Famous Monks Conference' will be held in Shaolin Temple, a major Zen temple in the Central Plains, after March. Monks and monks from all over the world were invited to gather in Shaolin to debate and expound the Dharma together, and to learn from each other and promote Buddhism. At that time, Buddhism was prosperous, including the Tang Dynasty, and there were countless countries that advocated Buddhism, so this meeting of famous monks can be said to be a very important event. And Tibet is a big country that worships Buddhism, how can it be an exception. Since the introduction of Buddhism by Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty, after nearly a hundred years at this time, Buddhism has already become the existence of the state religion in Tibet. The two most powerful of these are the Black Sect and the Yellow Sect. Due to the different understandings of Buddhism between the two parties, they are bound to become fire and water on weekdays, and they do not give in to each other. As soon as the news of the invitation letter came out this time, the people in the Black Sect and the Yellow Sect were all ready to move. vowed to win the position of representing Tibet. Therefore, in the past month, the two sides have been in constant conflicts over this matter, and even used force to fight, and even the multi-party coordination of Tubo Zampu has been useless. In the end, the leaders of both sides decided to conduct a debate in the Red Hill Palace to decide who would ultimately have the right to participate in the meeting.

After listening to what happened, Xingyue Zhuoma couldn't help but say: "Since this is the case, why don't the two parties go to the conference together, and no one should fight." ”

Garqinling shook his head and said: "The dispute between black and yellow has been going on for a long time, and the mutual grievances are too deep, not to mention that Zampu will not agree, even they themselves will never agree to participate in the meeting." Therefore, we will strive for clarity. Speaking of this, Qin Ling suddenly remembered something and said: "By the way, this time Zampu specially designated his father as his personal envoy, and led the Sangha to the Tang Dynasty in a month. ”

Xingyue's eyes lit up, and she said, "Really, so the county lord really wants to go and see who wins." ”

While a few people were chatting, the sky gradually became dark as the sun set. Qin Ling stood up and stretched his waist, and said to his subordinates: "It's time, go and get the fireworks of the Tang Kingdom." Everyone was very excited when they heard this, and they couldn't hold back their curiosity, and they got up to watch.

Xingyue Zhuoma ordered someone to bring the little white horse 'Snow Lotus' and turned over and stepped on the horse's back. Qin Ling asked, "Why are you doing this?" Xingyue said: "I want Snow Lotus to accompany me to watch the fireworks." Qin Ling knew that she loved horses, and since she insisted on doing so, she did not object.

The next person will take out the wooden box where the fireworks are stored and place it on the ground. Only then did people see it clearly, and they all thought that this box was not small, and they didn't know what was inside.

Qin Ling personally stepped forward with a torch in his hand, turned around and said to everyone: "Everyone pay attention. With that, he leaned down and lit the fire rope that was exposed on the outside of the wooden box. I saw that the flames quickly jumped into the wooden box, leaving only a faint puff of green smoke.

Everyone held their breath, and after a while, they heard a loud bang, and a fireball flew straight into the night sky, accompanied by a thunderous explosion, and in the eyes of everyone, the sky and the earth were bright, like a flame of flowers blooming in mid-air, and suddenly there were thousands of golden threads, and the brilliance was magnificent.

The Tibetan people have never seen the power of fireworks and do not understand the danger, so they are quite close. At this time, the fireworks exploded like thunder, and the others were nothing, but the white horse 'Snow Lotus' was frightened, and with a neigh, he pulled out his four hooves and rushed out, instantly knocking people around. Tassi hurriedly shouted: "County Lord, County Lord, save County Lord... It turned out that she saw that Xingyue was still on the horse's back, and at this time she had disappeared with the white horse as she rushed into the darkness.

Tassie hurriedly said: "My lord, out of the horse farm in front, not far away is the high slope, the horse can't be seen in the dark, if it runs around and rushes out, isn't it... ”

Galqinling also panicked when he heard this, and hurriedly shouted that his men would chase after him. But at present, except for the white horse of the county lord, the rest of the horses have already been sent back to the enclosure, and where to find mounts for a while. Straight to Qin Ling anxiously stomped his feet.

At this time, Xingyue on the horse's back was screaming loudly in horror, tightly hugging the white horse's neck and not daring to let go, and shouted vigorously: "Snow Lotus stop, stop." But the white horse was like a madman, and he didn't stop.

At this time, Xingyue, who was in a panic, inadvertently saw a figure flash out of the darkness and chase after him. The man had no mount, but ran on one leg and two legs, but he was so fast that he could not get off his horse. And the distance between each step of his life was huge, like a volley in the air, only staring at Xingyue Zhuoma dumbfounded, forgetting to be afraid.

The distance between the people and horses gradually narrowed, and after running for a while, the black pressure in front of them could not see the reflection of the ground, and they had reached the bank of the high slope. The high slope is a hundred feet deep, and if you fall into it, you will be crushed to pieces. The pursuer was also aware of the danger ahead, he took a deep breath, his legs penetrated, and flew forward, landing on the white horse's back with a hula.

Xingyue Zhuoma exclaimed, was picked up by the man, and the two of them got out of the saddle and landed safely. Xingyue was frightened and shouted, "Snow Lotus, stop... At this time, the white horse was out of control, and rushed out with a swish, falling into the abyss.

At the last moment, I saw the man's arm wave, and a rope flew out, right on the horse's belly. As the white horse fell rapidly, the man was dragged so that he couldn't stop sliding forward. You must know that although this horse has not yet grown, it is still too heavy compared to manpower.

Seeing that the man was about to be dragged to the edge of the cliff, he slammed his waist and feet into the grass like two stakes, and suddenly brought up two deep trenches. But he finally stopped at the moment when he was about to fall to the side of the slope. After he slowly pulled the white horse back to the slope along the rope, the white horse experienced all this thrilling, and he was also so embarrassed that he lay on the ground and couldn't stop panting.

Xingyue Zhuoma had just chased after him, and when he saw the person who had saved him and Snow Lotus, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Gu... Ancient Gounu... "It turned out that this man was the mute horse servant Gugunu.

Xingyue Zhuoma didn't care about saying much, and hurriedly stepped forward to check on the horse, and found that it was just frightened and overtired, and it was fine, so he couldn't help but let go. She turned her head and said, "Thank you, Gu Gunu, I thought you didn't come to the ranch today, I looked for you for a long time at the bonfire party just now." Gu Gunu was obviously exerting too much energy, and his face was covered with sweat, but he just smiled at Xingyue.

At this time, there were voices and fires in the distance, and it turned out that Garqin Ling led many domestic servants and slaves to hurry over. When they saw that Xingyue Zhuoma, who was sitting on the edge of the high slope, was safe and sound, and they were all overjoyed, everyone's hanging hearts fell to the ground. Tassie couldn't stop crying, hugging Xingyue and refusing to let go.

Qin Ling has a shrewd and capable personality, and as soon as he saw the white horse Snow Lotus and Xingyue lying on the ground in embarrassment, he knew that there was something wrong and asked, "What happened, how did you stop the white horse?" As he spoke, he looked at the cliff two feet away, and couldn't help but be afraid for a while.

Xingyue heard her brother ask, and was about to explain the thrill of Shicai to everyone, but she saw that Gu Gunu outside the crowd was shaking her head gently, so she immediately changed her words and said: "Fortunately, my riding skills are good, and Xuelian is just tired of running, so I let it stop at the critical moment." Second brother, if it were you, I'm afraid I would have flown out with the horse's neck long ago. It was common for Xingyue to tease her brother, and Garqinling smiled and didn't care. But the rest of the servants did not dare to laugh, but they were all relieved. Tassie hurriedly asked the county lord to wrap a felt blanket and bring hot milk wine, she was really worried that Xingyue would have a good time.

At this time, the horse servant Bajie suddenly saw Gu Gunu standing outside the crowd, and he was a thief, so he hurriedly beckoned Redarang and the other two, and walked up together and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?" Don't hurry to work, be careful that you don't have anything to eat tomorrow. Gu Gunu glanced at the three of them, then at the stars and moons in the crowd, bent down to pick up the horse on the ground, and silently left in the direction he came.

When everyone left with the stars and the moon in their arms, Garqin Ling inadvertently looked at the ground a few steps away, there were two trenches with broken grass, and he couldn't help but think about it.