Ten miles away from Zhuozhou, a hardened loess road winds around a mound and leads to a small town in the distance. At noon in the middle of summer, the weather was unusually hot, and there were bursts of knowing cries from the trees on the mound, which made people inexplicably irritable.

The farmers don't want to go out to work because it's hot, the travelers don't want to rush at noon, and the traders don't want to leave at noon. Therefore, on this loess road, there is not even a single figure at this time, which is particularly deserted.

Suddenly, a fast horse galloped across the loess road, kicking up a cloud of dust, like a whirlwind blowing in mid-air. This is a horse that is one in a million, and at the moment it is tired and sweating profusely, foaming at the mouth, and dying. But the man on the horse still thought the horse was slow, and frequently waved the whip in his hand, and kept urging the horse to continue to gallop forward.

The horse galloped for a moment, but it couldn't bear it anymore, and let out a mournful cry of "sigh and slip", and then fell to the ground with a bang. The horse's middle-aged man also seemed to be exhausted, and as the horse fell to the ground, the shirt that had long been soaked in sweat and blood suddenly stuck to the dirt.

This middle-aged man is extravagant, and he should be a very decent person. But at this moment his face was pale, his brow was tightly locked, and although the sharp arrow on his hip had been broken, the wound was oozing blood. He was already in pain and tired, and after this fall, he couldn't care about the dust on his body, and fell to the ground only gasping for breath.

It took him a long time to breathe a sigh of relief and slowly get up from the ground. He looked back at the way he came, and then turned his head to look at Tokyo, a hundred miles away, tears welling up in his eyes. He stomped his feet and muttered to himself in a low voice, as if he had endless regret and grief in his heart.

At this time, there was a sound of horses' hooves on the loess road behind him, and the "creaking" sound of wheels running over the dirt road. When the middle-aged man heard this voice, a deep fear appeared in his eyes, and he could no longer care about crying and remorse, and continued to run forward without looking back.

At this time, he was extremely tired, and Mo said that he was so tired that he could not afford to fall to the ground if he compared his foot strength with the carriage behind him, but he was afraid that he would fall to the ground if he didn't go three or five miles. What's even worse is the three deep arrow wounds on his buttocks, although the body of the arrow has been broken by him, the arrow is still inserted in the buttocks, and the blood drips down his buttocks with every step he takes, making him scream in pain.

The sound of the carriage was getting closer and closer, and in the blink of an eye, it was two or three feet behind him, and the middle-aged man knew that he couldn't escape no matter what, so he simply pulled out his long sword from his waist and looked at the carriage behind him with fierce eyes.

When he turned around, he realized that the carriage that was following him was nothing but a donkey pulling a cart. The donkey was very athletic, kicking away with four kicks, like a steed on a wheel. The chariot was driven by a handsome and elegant young man, and his temperament did not match the tattered donkey cart, only the same shabby clothes on his body, plus the cheap goods on the cart, showed that he was a small trader from a poor family.

This elegant young man was driving a donkey cart while holding a copy of the Analects in his hand, and was reading it with relish, not noticing the middle-aged man on the road at all. In a few moments, the donkey cart was in front of the man, and he almost crashed into him.

Although this middle-aged man was tired and sweating profusely, and his buttocks were also wounded by arrows, his martial arts were not bad, and he avoided it with his body rubbing the donkey cart. The young man who was driving the car was shocked by the middle-aged hand, hurriedly stopped the donkey cart, and arched his hand: "Dare to ask this official family name, but you want to go to Gu'an County, not far ahead?" ”

The middle-aged man said without thinking: "I ......" He only said one word, and then he realized that it was wrong, and hurriedly changed his words: "Really...... It's so hot, if this little brother is willing to give me a ride, I can't ask for it! ”

Qingnian hesitated a little and said, "You don't dare to report your name, how dare I take you casually?" If you are a villain and try to kill people and intercept goods on the road, wouldn't it be a big deal? ”

The middle-aged man pondered for a moment and said: "My surname is Du, my double name is Tingyi, and I am a military general under the command of Zhao Guangyi, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. Yesterday I lost a battle on the front line and was chased and killed by the Liao army, so I rushed all the way here. Now that the horse had run away and died, and was worried that he couldn't make it to Tokyo, he met his little brother. ”

The car Qingnian nodded and said: "Xiaosheng Lu Mengzheng, the word Shenggong, lives in Luoyang, he is a scholar, but his family is poor, and his mother is sick in bed, so he can't go out to do some business." If you don't think this donkey cart is broken, get on the cart and lie down, and I'll give you a ride! ”

Du Tingyi hurriedly said gratefully: "Thank you, when I return to Tokyo, I will definitely be indispensable for your benefits!" After he finished speaking, he got into the donkey cart and was about to lie down on the cart and sleep well, but as soon as his butt hit the board, he screamed in pain. He hurriedly rolled over, lay on his side on the donkey cart, and then fell asleep comfortably.

Seeing this, Lu Mengzheng smiled slightly, picked up the book with one hand, and patted the donkey's buttocks with the other, and the donkey cart drove forward slowly, and he continued to read the broken "Analects" with relish.

(End of chapter)