At the beginning of the day,

Chaoyang City,

On a simple ox cart from south to north, a middle-aged Confucian scholar in a white robe and a young child who looked like a little scholar sat in a dilapidated carriage and dozed off.

"Squeak squeak......"

The wheels jolted through the muddy country roads,

It was raining lightly in the sky,

Rainwater drips from the crevices of the carriage,

"Tick Tick ......"

A drop of rain penetrated the gap and fell straight to the tip of the middle-aged man's nose,

The eyes are slightly open,

It's dawn,

A ray of light poured in through the gap in the carriage,

The middle-aged Confucian got up, rubbed his eyes, stretched his waist, held his hands together, lifted the curtain, stretched out the window, took a handful of rainwater, patted his face, and became much more sober, and then ripped off a rag to block the gap above his head.

took out a book from the bamboo tower behind him, put his fingers in his mouth and dipped a little saliva, opened the book, leaned on the carriage and read it leisurely, shaking his head from time to time, and speaking loudly.

"See the virtuous and think together, see the unvirtuous and introspect. ”

"Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ”

"My day, three provinces, my body......"

The sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, the sound of the ear.

"Master Zeng, are you awake?"

"Don't blame the student for oversleeping, sir. ”

"Goo-Goo......

Seeing this, the scholar scratched his head, took out two steamed buns from the package in his arms, knocked them, and said in a daze: "Sir, the steamed buns are hard, I'm afraid I have to be wronged Mr." ”

"No problem!"

"Master, I have good teeth. ”

The middle-aged Confucian who was called Zeng's master did not dislike it, took the steamed bun and took a bite.

"Zinan, where are you?"

"Master, we have reached the boundary of Shangchuan. ”

The scholar took a bite of the steamed bun and felt the teeth of the wood,

Looking at the slow chewing and slow-swallowing Zengfuzi, he opened his mouth aggrievedly.

"It's already in Kamikawa......"

Zeng Fuzi ignored the abrupt sigh, untied the water bladder on his waist, poured a big mouthful, and swallowed the water and the hard steamed buns in his hand in three or two bites.

"Master, this time you are an envoy of the Qi Kingdom. ”

"Is it really okay to sneak out now?"

"Wouldn't it be good to go back to Yong'an as soon as possible to restore your life, and then return to our Jixia School Palace to teach students to read sage books in a down-to-earth manner?"

The scholar leaned on the carriage, touched his teeth, tilted his head, and spoke.

"Master, I am an envoy, but I have not welcomed back 200,000 soldiers of the Northern Expedition, how can I have the face to return to Yong'an?"

"If you really don't say a word, won't you lose the face of our Jixia School Palace?"

At some point, Master Zeng took out a ring ruler from behind him and gently tapped the back of the scholar's hand.

"Anyway, you have to go to the party. ”

"Even if you set up an inscription, it's just excellent to burn some paper money. ”

Zeng Fuzi put away the ring ruler and said no more.

Yinshi,

The sky is getting dark,

Lift the curtain and look out, the scene of a flat river has fallen behind you, and you can see the mountains at the left and right ends of the front from a distance, the mountains are towering, but the road ahead is smooth.

"It's almost time to join the party!"

Zeng Fuzi sighed and lowered his tone,

The book in his hand was gently put back into the bamboo tower.

The little scholar looked at the unprecedentedly restless gentleman, and really couldn't figure out what could make his husband feel uneasy, in the final analysis, he was also the master who came out of the Jixia School Palace, and they had been mythologized in the hearts of countless students on the mountain on weekdays.

"Mr. Zeng, did the party really kill 200,000 people?"

The little scholar stretched out his head and looked at the wilderness that was gradually moving away, and finally couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Haven't you already read the letter to Yong'an?"

"But that's 200,000 people!"

The little scholar opened his mouth wide and shouted.

"In times of war, human life is like Kusuke. ”

"That's why there is self-cultivation, Qi family, governing the country, and leveling the world......"

"Master, I don't have enough knowledge, I can only do it as a family. ”

"What is the level of Cai's knowledge of sacrificial wine?"

"Master Cai, his old man, has come to the point of governing the country. ”

Zeng Fuzi turned his head and looked in the direction of the Jixia School Palace and said, with an imperceptible smile on the corner of his mouth, the most sacrificial wine in the Jixia School Palace at the moment, and even many masters are his first sons, and he happens to be one of them.

"What about the flat world?"

"It's so ambitious!"

"Zinan, you haven't achieved this step of self-cultivation now, so you dare to ask the world!"

"If you think too much, you'll mess up your learning. ”

Zeng Fuzi spoke.

"But in the Xue Palace, is there anyone who can do that?"

The scholar raised his head and asked reluctantly.

"Yes!"

After pondering for a while, Master Zeng nodded very seriously.

"Who is it?"

The boy tilted his head and saw little stars in his eyes.

"Naturally, it's Meng Fuzi, his old man!"

"Mengfuzi?"

"Which Mengfuzi?"

"Naturally, it is the former sacrificial wine of our Jixia School Palace, Meng Haoran and Meng Fuzi. ”

"I've been living in the back mountains for a long time and don't ask about the world, and it's common for you not to know. ”

Zeng Fuzi mentioned the same longing look.

"Master Zeng, have you seen Master Meng?"

"I'm lucky enough to meet you!"

Zeng Fuzi stroked the long beard on his chin and chuckled.

The ox cart was still staggering towards the inside of the party, and a conversation at this moment also diluted a lot of the gloom in his heart.

A sudden and terrible cry pierced the silent night,

Under the moonlight,

A dark shadow was cast to the ground,

The ugly strange bird on the dead wood by the roadside was startled,

Flapping his wings and flying high into the air, leaving the shadows on the ground.

"What does it smell like?"

The scholar covered his nose,

A strong smell of rotten flesh lingered on the tip of the nose like a bone gangrene.

The moonlight is as cold as water,

In the eyes is the tattered Qi army camp,

Halberds, broken swords, axes, hooks and forks everywhere.........

The corpse outside the camp had been half buried in the rain-soaked soft mud, the exposed half of the body was clearly visible with white ribs, and the skull showed two hollows looking at the sky.

"This is my Qi country's Shangdang camp?"

Zeng Fuzi stepped out of the car and looked at the surrounding scene by the moonlight, the soles of his boots stepped down, the mud under his feet was soaked with blood, and the dark red mud spots were splashed and stuck to the white robe, which was particularly eye-catching.

His eyes fell on the dead wood on the side, and half of the broken Qi State Daxu was slanted in the mud, and the remaining half of the flag was draped on the branches of the dead wood, which had already broken several big holes, and there were dozens of corpses around him who seemed to be guarding the Da Xu.

The corpse below Da Xu, the silver-white armor outside the corpse had more traces of swords, guns, swords, halberds, and his gaze moved upward, and it was clearly visible that the ribs on his chest had been stepped on and dented, showing a strange angle and twisting.

"This is the battle armor of Old General Qi!"

"I saw it when I went on the expedition, and Your Majesty gave it personally!"

The scholar didn't hear for a long time,

He poked his head out to look at the corpse on the ground and muttered.

Zeng Fuzi carefully walked around the corpse, grabbed the corner of the flag and tore it off, and finally leaned over and gently covered the corpse with a long sigh.

"Take a pound of yellow paper out!"

Zeng Fuzi raised his head to prevent the tears from flowing out of the corners of his eyes.

"Master, yellow paper. ”

After tinkering on the ox cart for a while, he held a pile of yellow paper in his hand, his little head poked out and looked at the surrounding scene, but he didn't dare to leave the carriage, but just lay on the side.

"Hmm. ”

Zeng Fuzi nodded, approached and took the yellow paper.

Take out the fire fold,

The yellow paper is lifted piece by piece,

Among the countless corpses, a ball of fire lit up.

I don't know how long it took,

Until the last piece of yellow paper is swallowed by tongues of fire,

Only then did Master Zeng get up slowly.

"Let's go, go to Yanggu Pass. ”

"I heard from the soldiers who returned to Chaoyang County that there were only thousands of people who broke through the siege, and the remaining 200,000 were all killed outside Yanggu Pass, and there were many people, and the master couldn't do too much, but at least he had to go and worship. ”

The voice fell,

Zengfuzi sat in front of the carriage,

Silently looking at this dilapidated Shangdang camp,

I closed my eyes and felt sad in my heart.

"Squeak squeak......"

The ox cart continued its way to the Northlands.

On the mottled city wall, countless strange-looking birds stood on the battlements, their gloomy eyes staring at the ox cart below, and a few terrible cries sounded from time to time.

As soon as he poked his head out, the scholar faced the mottled half of the city wall, and his eyes moved upward, and a row of cold eyes came into view, and one fell off the ox cart without sitting firmly.

"Master, there are monsters!"

The scholar's hands were supported so that he would not be paralyzed to the ground, but there was obviously a trilling in his immature voice, and his fingers trembled uncontrollably as he pointed to the top of the city wall.

"Get in the car!"

Zeng Fuzi looked straight at the battlements and sighed.

I can't know,

It is the anger of the living that disturbs the strange birds,

Or is it fresh meat that makes them hungry and thirsty,

A strange bird of large size flapped its wings and galloped in the direction of the ox cart.

meanwhile

The rest of the countless strange birds hovered above the ox cart,

Countless shadows fell to the ground to cover the ox cart,

It is so thick that even the moonlight cannot penetrate it.

Zeng Fuzi raised his head with a solemn face,

The ring ruler in his hand shot out,

There is blood dripping from heaven,

The feathers swayed gently and swirled and fell,

"Bang ......"

The strange bird fell on the roof of the carriage,

The already dilapidated wooden planks are crumbling,

Fishy blood dripped from the cracks in the carriage, the scholar only felt that his face was a little sticky, his fingers trembled and stretched out on his cheeks, opened his eyes and saw the bright red of his fingertips through the moonlight, and curled up in the corner of the carriage in horror, Zhu Lou blocked in front of him, and the burden was lifted and the rag was covered on his head.

The vultures hovering low did not retreat when they saw this,

Smelling the fresh blood of their companions stimulates their anger.

Countless vultures began to swoop down on the carriage,

With the sound of the howling wind,

From afar, it looks like a large cloud falling from the sky,

"Zinan, wooden box!"

Outside the carriage, Mr. Zeng shouted violently.

"Wooden box!"

Seeing that there was no reaction behind him, he spoke again.

"Master!"

The scholar tore open the rags to reveal a pair of frightened eyes,

Looking at his master and son alone in the face of thousands of strange birds, like a flat boat in a big river, it may be submerged at any time, gritting his teeth and rummaging in the carriage.

"Master, be careful!"

The scholar was lying on the bottom of the carriage with his whole body,

Holding a wooden box in his hand, he spoke.

"Squat!"

The wooden box is smoothly held in the hand,

Push away the planks on the upper floor,

A long sword lies quietly in the middle,

The hand reached into the wooden box and the long sword reached into the wooden box and landed,

The hand holding the book holds the sword equally steadily,

A humble gentleman, gentle as jade,

A gentleman with jade also wears a sword!

Confucianism was never as pedantic as it was rumored.

The long sword in his hand was raised gently,

A Confucian robe hunted.

When the clouds clear,

The cold moonlight sprinkled down, and there was a rain of blood in the sky, with a fishy smell and down, and corpses were everywhere as far as the eye could see, and the remaining strange birds in the sky fluttered their wings and went away.

Next to the ox cart,

Three zhang away,

A Confucian man in white,

Holding a three-foot sword,

Lonely cocoon,

Walk alone.

"Master, are you still alive?"

The childish voice of the child sounded on the ox cart.

"Not dead!"

The scholar on the ox cart looked at the falling feathers in the sky and the countless bird corpses on the ground, and the foot that had just taken out of the air was in mid-air, hesitating and not daring to fall.

"Ahem......"

The long sword slammed into the ground and suddenly vomited blood.

"Master!"

Seeing this, the scholar couldn't care about anything else, so he suddenly got out of the car and rushed over, falling to the ground several times in a short distance of three feet, and finally helping the blood-stained white clothes to the ox cart.

"No problem. ”

"Let's keep going"

Leaning on the door panel of the carriage, Master Zeng wiped the long sword into the wooden box, licked his chapped lips and spoke.

......

"Master said that this strange bird fed on carrion. ”

"How can you attack the living now?"

The childish voices of the ox carts sounded.

"Zinan, for the teacher before the famine in the palace before the famine Nian Cheng has seen rats cannibalism, groups are everywhere, the road meets the living, the group of attack, but a cup of tea, there is only a lot of white bones left, and the victims talk about it all change. ”

"Master, why is that?"

"Animals and humans eat too much flesh, so they naturally don't want to eat anything else. ”

"This strange bird also wants to eat too much meat from living people in Shangdang. ”

"Naturally, I don't want to eat carrion. ”

"Isn't that ...... then?"

The scholar looked at the valley blocked by the boulder in front of him and made a startled sound, the smell of rotten flesh permeated the field, that is, the land dozens of steps away from the valley mouth had been soaked in blood, and he could imagine what it was like inside without pushing the boulder away.

Looking up at the top of the valley, countless strange birds landed on the trees, leaving only black silhouettes, like the nest of monsters in folk tales, eerie and terrifying, with a strange atmosphere.

"Alas......"

Zeng Fuzi let out a long sigh.

Just lifted the wooden box,

and abruptly put it down,

didn't make too much noise,

Just carrying the remaining pounds of paper money in the carriage,

Walk over to the boulder and crouch down.

I don't know how long the fire burned outside the valley,

When I got up, my calves were numb,

There was only one piece of paper left on the ground,

"I only hate myself for not being a monk. ”

"I can recite a mantra for these 200,000 dead souls. ”

Gently pick up the toddler who is already asleep next to the boulder,

He turned and walked to the ox cart.

"Master, is the worship finished?"

The scholar rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"It's over. ”

"Where are we going now?"

"Do you want to go back to the Jixia School Palace?"

"No!"

"Go to Yanggu Pass. ”

"What are you doing in Yanggu Pass?"

"Wait for someone!"

"Waiting for whom?"

"His surname is Xu. ”

"Bringing 300 A into Yong'an, this is the only way. ”

"Why wait for him?"

"Because he's going south. ”

"A person whom Meng Fuzi likes very much may die!"

"But Meng Fuzi didn't want that person to die. ”

"Because he died, the Qi country was in chaos. ”

"Maybe it wasn't just the hundreds of thousands of people who died at that time. ”

"So we don't want him to go south!"

"But what if the master can't stop him?"

"A wise man and a gentleman, he who takes the world as his successor. ”

"If you can't stop it, you have to try it. ”

"Even if the master is dead, there will be tens of millions of Qi people. ”

A middle-aged man in a Confucian shirt sits at the head of the city of Yanggu Pass,

He patted the wooden box lying across his knee and muttered.