The slope of the hill is gentle, full of weeds, the world is vast, a piece of withered yellow, two dead trees on the top of the slope, this is the only embellishment between this open world, but today there is a group of people to rest here.

The little girl skillfully picked up the dead branches and weeds, piled them up in the best way to burn, bowed her head and said silently, and stretched out her hand to point.

"Canopy ......"

A fire appeared in front of him.

I don't know how many times I've done this kind of thing in recent years, it seems to have become her habit, and it doesn't matter.

After the little girl finished doing it, it was as if she only yawned and stretched, without any intention of getting praise, and there was no follow-up action, so she sat down next to the Taoist very casually, turned her head to look at her curiosity, and thought about her own things.

The wind blows the fire in one direction.

The black horse was tethered to a dead tree in the distance, and the red horse stood alone on the other side, both with their heads bowed and quietly mawing on the grass.

The Taoist turned his head to look down.

There is an official road below, but there are also weeds.

I don't know how long no one has walked by.

The voice of the swordsman came from beside him:

"Not a single one."

"yes."

It has been half a day on this road, and I have walked forty miles, but except for the section where I just left the city, I met no one after that. It seems that in this direction, there are neither pedestrians passing nor pedestrians coming. The world is vast and empty, full of gold, just find a small hillside, you can see the distance, but there is only one of them between the heaven and the earth.

It's a feeling of loneliness and ease.

There was a sound in front of him.

But it was the swordsman who took out the mutton he had bought in the city, and did not use anything, but skewered it and roasted it on the fire.

Song You also put away his thoughts and went to help.

The little girl had already done her work, so she could sit next to the Taoist and watch the adults go about their work, and if she was tired of watching, she could turn her body away and lean on the Taoist. Other than that, she has plenty of time to do her own thing and think about what she has to think about.

The best fresh mutton really does not need to be marinated, only roasted on the fire, and the natural meat is fragrant when cooked, and there is no fishy smell at all.

Song You took out another small clay pot.

It is a self-ground dried chili noodles with a variety of spices to make a unique dry ingredient of this era, not to mention used to match meat, even if it is dipped in water and boiled wood, it is delicious. It's a pity that so far, there are only two people and one cat in this world.

Sprinkle carefully on the grilled meat.

This thing is precious, and Song You only planted two plants in the middle of the year, so it hurts to waste a little.

When I opened the package delivered by Liu Junshou again, it was just like Song You thought, there were really just some snacks and dry food, which had to be eaten in these two days, and there were also some persimmons that were easy to carry. Song You took a few pieces of dim sum and divided half with the swordsman, and with the fragrant roast mutton, it was today's lunch.

It's nice to have such a meal during the trip.

Although it was a troubled year in a disaster year, he was so nourished, but he was calm and ghost-free, but he got rid of demons all the way, so he didn't feel ashamed.

After eating, one persimmon per person.

Sanhua Niangniang doesn't eat this, but seeing that both of them have their own after-dinner snacks, she is not far behind.

I saw the little girl get up and trot away, groped around the edge of the quilt bag for a while, seemed to have found two small balls, and came back to sit down, Song You inadvertently turned his head to see that they were two small balls wrapped in gray wood slag and not much bigger than his thumb, and at first glance he didn't recognize what they were.

Until the little girls took the balls on their own and smashed each other.

"Smack......

Peel off the gray wood slag on the outside, and also peel off the eggshell, and inside are two dark green and almost black bird eggs, with beautiful pine flowers.

Even Song You was stunned.

I don't know when she learned it, nor when she did it, I only know that she did put a lot of private cat items in her blanket, and there was everything, but since Sanhua Niangniang never rummaged through Song You's things from the quilt bag, Song You naturally wouldn't look at what she had put in her blanket.

“？”

The little girl noticed his gaze, raised her head, and looked at him strangely, as if she didn't know what he was staring at herself, but she didn't care, just peeled the eggshell, wiped the ashes casually, and put a bird's egg in her mouth, chew it, chew it.

The other was handed to the Taoist priest, who shook his head.

He handed it to the swordsman, but the swordsman refused politely, and she didn't care, so she continued to put it in her mouth.

Eating with a blank face, but the heart is delicious.

People are really smart—

If you change to a cat, the eggs and meat that you can't eat can only be eaten by insects, but people can come up with so many ways to turn meat and eggs into insects that they don't like to eat.

No wonder only people have cats, and no cats have people.

Fortunately, I am smart and love to learn......

When the little girl thought about it, she was very happy.

After eating, he cleaned up the fire, sat in silence and rested for a while, and then continued on his way.

This walk went from noon to dusk.

Before leaving the boundary of Pu County, there are still few people on the official road, and this afternoon, I only met an old farmer who went up the mountain to cut grass, and two waves of pedestrians who went to Jingyu.

The existence of the snow field seems to have turned Guijun into the existence of the same as the Yeshan Zijun in the mouth of the scholar ghost, and it is not lonely, but it is actually lonely, except for the local people who are in need may enter and exit the county, there are no people from other places who enter Hezhou from Guijun, and no one will go from Hezhou to Yanzhou, and merchants and travelers will not pass from here.

Since the outbreak of the plague, it has become more closed.

Today's journey was good, there was little delay on the road, and the group arrived at the junction of Pujun and Guijun before sunset.

There are also defenders here.

Although the terrain is flat here, there is a big river, from east to west, the water is deep and urgent, the pass is located on the side of the river, named Beifeng Pass, it is a rare pass in Hezhou, and it is also the most important pass.

Song You and the swordsman led their horses to the pass.

The defenders had not seen anyone in the direction of the county for a long time, and the swordsmen were heroic and very vigilant, so they stopped them early and came to inquire.

"Who? Do? ”

"I've seen the school captain, my surname is Song Mingyou, he is a wandering Taoist, and he wants to return to the county." Song Tourist saluted, "I have a degree in the next place, I passed through Pujun Jingyu before, got acquainted with the county guard, and also took a handwritten letter from Liu Junshou, please make it convenient." ”

The guard listened to it, but he didn't ask him what he was going to do in Gui County, nor did he pick up the degree and handwriting he handed out at the first time, but was stunned for a moment.

Then he turned his head and asked his comrades around him to inform the general, and then he collected his weapon, took it, opened it to check, and looked up at the jujube red horse behind Song You, the three-flowered cat wearing clothes and hoods, and the heroic swordsman beside him, which seemed to be comparing something.

Gradually, the little slackness on his face quickly dissipated, and his vigilance slowly became solemn and respectful.

"I've seen Mr. Song!"

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Then there was a sound of armor.

The general guarding the pass came with his own soldiers.

The general's belly, beard, tiger back and bear waist, a good imposing general.

"Bang!"

The general clenched his fists: "Is it Mr. Song You Song, who is slaying demons all the way in Hezhou?" ”

"It's just a little monster."

"The last general Zong Xiuwu, it's polite."

"Courteous."

Song You thought that his deeds of subduing demons and eliminating demons all the way in Hezhou were known to them, so he was so polite, but after chatting a few words, he heard this general say:

"Since the beginning of this year, there has often been news of Mr. killing demons and demons into our ears, General Chen passed by in August, and he specially told us to wait, saying that there is a gentleman who came all the way to the north, from Hezhou, if you hear about the Guijun epidemic and the snow demons, you must pass from here, let me wait to pay attention to it, don't neglect Mr., Zong's heart is total, the two must be the same person."

"General Chen?"

"General Chen Ziyi, General Chen!"

"General Chen has returned to the north?"

"Since the summer of this year, the Eighteen Divisions of the Northern Grassland have invaded again, and the imperial court has been shaken, and General Chen has been ordered to return to the north as soon as possible to resist the north."

"I see."

Song You nodded.

Although the defenders here are in Hezhou Pu County, in fact, it has been the Saibei people who have been guarding against it before. Because Hezhou is really flat, there are few natural dangers, if the Saibei people have beaten Yanzhou, from Heyuan all the way to the south, the whole Hezhou will only have a few passes according to the river to defend. If this place is lost, the entire Hezhou will no longer have resistance in front of the cavalry, and the Saibei people can gallop all the way south, until Angzhou, the Central Plains Dynasty will have natural danger.

Most of the military power in the north is in the hands of General Chen, and this general guarding the pass may also be General Chen's person.

It's just that the Saibei people have already been defeated before, and it has only been a few years, and it is okay if it is a small group of harassment, but what this general said is a large-scale attack, which inevitably makes people feel strange.

I don't know if it was caused by the fact that General Chen Ziyi's cronies in the northern border army saw that General Chen had been left in Changjing for a long time and did not return, or it was caused by General Chen Ziyi's previous statement that he wanted to repair a book and go to the north to investigate the ghosts of his own soldiers and soldiers in his dream.

Song You didn't think much about it, after returning to the county, it was the snow field, and after the snow field was the border of Yanzhou, since General Chen had returned to the north, he could probably see him.

"Don't hide it from Mr., it's boring to guard the pass, whether it's a general or a soldier, and I'm on fire duty at night, I often tell the story of Mr. slaying demons and eliminating demons, which is better than a long night." General Zong said, looking up at the sunset gradually sinking in the distance, "It's getting late at the moment, after crossing this bridge, it is to return to the county, why don't you rest in the camp for the night, and then go over tomorrow morning, and let us entertain you, how about it?" ”

"The general has good intentions, I'd better pass the test." Song You thought for a while before saying to him, "General Zong's courtesy has already been received, and I am very grateful, but I am only here to go to Guijun, although it is late today, I can also take advantage of the daylight to go again, and the general only needs to let us pass, and I am grateful." ”

"Good!"

General Zong didn't talk nonsense, waved his big hand, and immediately let him go.

Song You saluted him, and together with the swordsman beside him, he took two horses and slowly walked through the pass.

Sometimes it's a bit dreamy to think that a man like him would have a day when he could be courteous all over a state just by his name. If you let him think about it that year, he just came down from Fulongguan and lay on the ancient cypress tree on Jinyang Road to rest in the afternoon, most of them would not have imagined it.

The world can take people to places they don't even expect.

It's just that this name didn't come out of thin air, it was in Hezhou after three seasons and four counties, and all kinds of legends were accumulated.

After passing the pass, and then crossing the river, it is to return to the county.

Day and night are just alternating, there is no lack of white bones on the road, strange birds cry in the wilderness, the sunset is afraid of pedestrians, if you walk alone on the road, I am afraid that you will really walk with ghosts unconsciously.

(End of chapter)