The willows are in early spring, and the peach blossoms are bright red.

After the cold winter, Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei followed Zhao Yuan to Lin'an, and they came back with more than a dozen children that Zhao Yuan was looking for in other places.

Most of these children are similar in age to Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei, and they also have a miserable background, lonely and helpless, with no way out, and a dilemma of life and death.

Although Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei didn't understand why Zhao Yuan had to adopt so many orphans, after all, only by following him could they have food and clothing, and they would not starve to death or freeze to death, so they were also very content.

Half a month later, Zhao Yuan brought them into the Tianji Pavilion, and it was not until this time that Liu Xunyi and the others suddenly knew that Zhao Yuan, who had been with them day and night during this time, turned out to be a respected relative of the emperor, and he was named "Tianji Hou" by the emperor in the year of the weak crown, and he had been serving in the East Mansion for more than ten years.

Dongfu is "under the door of Zhongshu", shouldering the important role of the Song Dynasty and the important weapon of the country. Although the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty placed Zhao Yuan in Dongfu, in order to prevent the clan surnamed Zhao from seeking power and disorderly government, he specially ordered Zhao Yuan to form Tianji Pavilion to assist Dongfu, but he had no right to participate in military affairs.

As soon as he entered the Tianji Pavilion, Zhao Yuan entrusted Liu Xunyi and others to a young man named Qiu Han, who was only fourteen or fifteen years old, but he was the official Captain of the Golden Sword of the Tianji Pavilion, his temperament was cold and arrogant, and he always seemed to have a fierce murderous intent between his eyebrows and eyes, and his speech and demeanor were far more calm and calm than his peers, and his style of acting was even more vigorous and spicy than that of many adults.

As soon as they saw Qiu Han, Liu Xunyi and the others were shocked by the momentum of not being angry and arrogant exuding from his body, and they were much more restrained in front of him than in front of Zhao Yuan.

"From now on, you must remember every word I say, because every next word will be related to your life and death!"

Before dawn, Liu Xunyi and the others were beaten one by one by Qiu Han with a cold willow whip, crying and wailing one by one, reluctantly burrowing out of the warm quilt, and under the urging of Qiu Han's whipping, they stood in a row in the school yard in a mess. Although the standing is uneven and crooked, it is far more behaving and faster than when I first came to Tianji Pavilion a few days ago.

It had been half a month since Liu Xunyi and the others came to Tianji Pavilion, and Zhao Yuan had never shown up since he handed them over to Qiu Han. During these days, Qiu Han only did one thing, and that was to train them to obey orders, suddenly summoned, suddenly disbanded, and even had extremely strict rules and time for eating and sleeping, so that they had to be tossed at least seventy or eighty times a day.

At the beginning, there were always some of these young and ignorant orphans who didn't care, laughed and played in front of Qiu Han, and even deliberately pointed west to east, disobeying discipline. It wasn't until the afternoon of the third day that Qiu Han broke a leg with a wooden stick in front of everyone, which made Liu Xunyi and others wake up suddenly.

For half a month, except for training them to obey orders, Qiu Han had no other nonsense. In this way, more and more people were severely reprimanded, and the results of discipline became better and better.

To this day, the seventeen orphans who came to Tianji Pavilion with Liu Xunyi, almost all of them had blue noses and swollen faces, and were covered with injuries, Liu Xunyi was whipped a few times because he didn't get up in time, Qin Wei was beaten repeatedly because of his slow reaction and slow work, and even five people still need to be bedridden to recuperate, and their muscles and bones have not healed.

Before they came to Tianji Pavilion, no one expected to face such a cruel "torture", so many people secretly regretted it, and Qin Wei complained to Liu Xunyi several times: "Instead of being beaten and punished all day here, it is better to beg outside for food." ”

However, regret is regret, the gate of Tianji Pavilion is easy to enter and exit, there was a person who was hung on a tree by Qiu Han for three days and three nights because he tried to escape, fortunately, the child's life was big, so he was lucky to leave a small life. Since then, none of these children have dared to flinch.

At this moment, the sky was cloudy and cold, Qiu Han stood in the middle of the school field, his body was as tall and straight as a steel gun, his eyes were coldly looking back and forth at more than a dozen frightened children, especially when he saw Liu Xunyi, the playfulness in his eyes was particularly strong. Because Zhao Yuan once deliberately explained that Liu Xunyi is different from others, he is talented and can be made.

What is different from the past is that on the school grounds, which are empty on weekdays, today there are rows of weapon racks on display, and on the shelves are neatly placed a handful of cold-lit and shocking blades.

"You have been in Tianji Pavilion for half a month, and you have learned almost all the rules, knowing that Tianji Pavilion is not a place to play and play, once you enter the Pavilion, you will put your life and death aside, and you can only swear allegiance to Dongfu and Hou Ye. Qiu Hanxun said, his voice was the same as his gaze, cold and piercing, piercing people's hearts.

After saying that, Qiu Han suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at Qin Wei, and asked, "Qin Wei, what were you before entering the pavilion?"

"I ......" Qin Wei was so frightened that his legs became weak, but he didn't dare not answer, and hurriedly responded, "I...... I'm an orphan begging on the streets......" his voice was as thin as a mosquito, clearly not wanting to mention it.

"That's good!" Qiu Leng said, "I am also an orphan, and almost everyone in the Tianji Pavilion is an orphan adopted by Master Hou. Since you are an orphan, you should know that your life should have been gone a long time ago. If it weren't for the Hou Ye to come to the rescue, we would have frozen to death, starved to death, or been beaten to death, our lives are not as good as dogs, and we are extremely low. It was Hou Ye who gave us a new life, and we must regard Hou Ye as a reborn parent, and we must be grateful for his life-saving and nurturing grace in this life. You must always remember that this life no longer belongs to you, but to Hou Ye, to Tianji Pavilion, and to Dongfu! Hou Ye let us live, we will live, Hou Ye let us die, I will die, this is our destiny! Can you understand?"

"Understood!" shouted a dozen children in unison, their little faces covered with solemn expressions, looking less like innocent and splendid children, more like a thoughtless puppet.

Compared to Qin Wei and the other children's enthusiasm, Liu Xunyi's reaction was a little more hesitant than them, and even the contemplation and speculation that he shouldn't have at his age.

"Okay!" Qiu Han nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Today I will no longer teach you the rules, but I want to teach you to practice martial arts, so that you can be qualified to enter the Tianji Pavilion as soon as possible, become the captain of the Golden Sword, and even the young guard of the Tianji Pavilion." ”

"Then ......" Liu Xunyi mustered up the courage to ask, "The East Mansion is the Imperial Palace, and the Tianji Pavilion is under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Mansion, I only know that the East Mansion is full of court ministers, but I don't know what the Tianji Pavilion does?"

Qiu Leng looked at Liu Xunyi, and after a while, Fang Cai said coldly without squinting: "Yes, there are mostly scholars and Confucian scholars in the East Mansion, and there are neither soldiers nor horses nor guards in the Mansion, so when the wealth of the adults in the East Mansion is threatened, and the East Mansion often has to do some secret things that are inconvenient to use the hands of outsiders, they are often overstretched because no one is available, and the result is half the effort." So, under the emperor's secret order, the Hou Ye set up the Tianji Pavilion, the pavilion does not raise literati and Confucianism, only cultivates martial arts strong dead soldiers, we obey the orders of the Tianji Hou, specifically for the East Mansion to do all kinds of difficult things, so the Tianji Pavilion is also called the 'East Mansion Martial Pavilion'. Now you understand?"

Hearing this, Qin Wei's eyes rolled and he asked, "Then what are the young guards of the Golden Dao Captain you said just now, and what are those?"

Qiu Han turned his eyes and said lightly: "There are ten Shaobao seats in Tianji Pavilion, and they are the ten people with the best martial arts in Tianji Pavilion, and they are called 'Tianji Pavilion Ten Shaobao'. Other than that, the rest of them are called 'Golden Knife Captains'. Tianji Pavilion will hold a martial arts meeting every year, and the Golden Sword Captain can challenge the top ten Shaobao at will, and those with outstanding martial arts can replace them and become the new Shaobao. The young security officer worships the five grades, but the golden knife captain does not enter the rank, and the status of the two is very different, so the Tianji Pavilion martial arts meeting is the only opportunity for the captains to carp and jump into the dragon gate, so if the golden knife captain wants to soar and go to the next level, then he must continue to cultivate and strive to be among the top ten young guards. ”

"What about us?" Qin Wei asked excitedly, "Are we considered Golden Sword Captains?"

"You?" Qiu Han sneered disdainfully, his eyes full of disdain, "Only after ten years in the cabinet can you be eligible to participate in the examination, and only after passing the examination can you be regarded as a Golden Sword Captain." As for you...... Now it's nothing, you can't resist your shoulders, you can't lift your hands, it's like waste. At that time, there were a total of 30 people in the same batch of training as me, and only nine of them were finally qualified to become Golden Sword Captains. ”

"What's going to be tested then?" asked another child with interest.

"That's what you're behind you. Qiu Leng smiled and waved his hand to the weapon rack, "The examination is also called the 'civil and military examination'. The literary examination is quite simple, as long as you have the knowledge of lifting people, you can't help but be able to read and hyphenate, understand things and righteousness, and be familiar with various military tactics. The most important thing is the martial arts examination, which is divided into 'sixteen martial arts', which are the heart method, fist method, palm method, technique, fingering method, claw method, leg method, footwork method, sword method, knife method, gun method, stick method, axe method, hidden weapon, as well as archery and light skills, these sixteen items must reach the level of martial arts people, in order to be qualified. ”

Qiu Han's words made Liu Xunyi and the others all smack, and Qin Wei said to himself with a bitter face: "I have to learn so many martial arts at once, and I still have to reach the level of lifting people, this is ...... Isn't it as hard as it gets?"

"The one who can stay in the Tianji Pavilion is the dragon among the people who are both civil and military, otherwise what qualifications do you have to serve the Eastern Mansion?" Qiu Han said lightly, "The so-called three feet are the sword, seven feet are the gun, the eyebrows are the stick, the spear is one zhang and eight inches, and the blade has a length and shortness, one inch long and one inch strong, one inch small and one inch smart." The sword is divided into long swords, short swords, knives are divided into single knives, double knives, ghost head knives, dozens of big blades in the world, hundreds of small blades, more than 1,000 kinds of strange blades, all kinds of unique secret weapons, more than 10,000 kinds of blades, in the future, you not only have to dabble in them one by one, but also be familiar with the heart, and even use them freely. ”

Qiu Han's words pierced the heart like ten thousand arrows, and every word pierced the hearts of Liu Xunyi and others, making them frightened.

"In addition to learning all kinds of fists and feet, you must also be familiar with the martial arts of various sects and factions on the rivers and lakes, even if you can't get it easily, you must be able to follow suit, such as Shaolin Boxing, Five Elements Boxing, Jiaye Palm, Bodhi Palm, Cloud Chasing Leg, Rakshasa Leg, Wudang Sword, Qingcheng Sword, Kunlun Sword, Wind Knife, Shayang Knife, Liuhe Gun, Eight Desolation Guns, Mountain Chasing Sticks, Fu Demon Sticks, Mandarin Duck Steps, Dengping Dushui, Treading Snow Without a Trace, etc......." The complexity of martial arts, the vastness of exercises, the list goes on, the more you learn these things, the greater the chance of saving your life in the future. Thousands of martial arts classics were collected from all over the rivers and lakes by the power of the Hou Ye court, and now they are all stored in the library of Tianji Pavilion. As long as you have the ability and are willing to endure hardships, after the basic skills are solid, you can go to the library to read and practice one by one, this is a God-given opportunity, even if you are a disciple of a famous sect in the martial arts, you may not have such an opportunity. As for how much you can learn, it depends on your own ability. If you want to stay in Tianji Pavilion as an errand, you must be able to know all the bows, swords, and arrows, and all the martial arts of all factions. ”

"The days to come will be miserable...... Qin Wei whispered to Liu Xunyi, "I can't remember what he said so much, how can I be familiar with it and use it freely?"

"Freezing three feet is not a day's cold, what I just said is just a drop in the bucket, you don't have to be afraid, just fight steadily, and someone will teach you all kinds of martial arts in the future." Remember, you need to take your practice step by step, there are no shortcuts, and you must not be opportunistic, so you can't be ambitious! Every three months in the future, you will be tested on the results of your practice. Qiu Han ignored everyone's expressions that life was worse than death, and said lightly, "One time, the heavy staff is thirty, and the skin and flesh are open! Two times, the heavy staff is one hundred, and the bones and tendons are broken! Three times, the heavy staff is three hundred, and nine deaths are life! And since the establishment of the Tianji Pavilion, no one who has failed three times has not been able to survive the three hundred heavy staffs, and most of them have died under the heavy staff." ”

"Shhh

"So if you don't want to die a tragic death at a young age, then you must not have the slightest slackness, in the future, whether it is cold or hot or stormy, you will get up every day, learn to read and write first, start practicing two hours later, and go to bed when you practice, so that you can study and practice hard day after day, and then you can grind the jade into a great tool. Today I will start with Zama for two hours, and those who cannot hold on will come to me and receive fifty lashes for themselves. In the days to come, I and the other Golden Sword Captains will take turns teaching you. Qiu Han said expressionlessly, "Only if you suffer hardships can you become a master, and from now on until you pass the examination in ten years, you can regain your freedom." And before that, you will have to go through all kinds of torture and all kinds of suffering, so you must leave all your thoughts and thoughts behind. You have only one goal right now, and that is to do your best to live!"

Qiu Han's words were all here, Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei couldn't help but glance at each other, and there was an indescribable complex color in their eyes.

"Looking for clothes, we got rid of the bad luck of starving to death and freezing to death, but now we have fallen to the point of nine deaths. I really don't know whether it's joy or sorrow, alas!"

"Qin Wei, how can you get the fragrance of plum blossoms without going through some cold and hardship? Now Yu'er doesn't know where she is? So no matter what...... I have to live. Only by surviving and becoming a young protector of Tianji Pavilion can I have a chance to find my sister......"

"Yes! For the sake of glory and wealth, what is the point of enduring a little hardship now? Anyway, we have nothing left, either we don't do it, and we will do our best. Go to his Golden Knife Captain, our goal is the Tianji Pavilion Shaobao!haha......"

After that, Liu Xunyi and Qin Wei looked at each other and smiled again.

Although the immature smile is bitter, it also contains infinite longing for the future.

......