Qi country.

Changan.

Qi is located in the Western Regions, most of the landforms are dominated by the vast Gobi, the desert covers the territory of Nuoda, and a piece of Xishan forest is scattered on the Gobi Desert. The city is relatively far away, and the transportation is inconvenient, and the local people's means of transportation are mainly heat-resistant long-haired camels, and the wealthy will be equipped with tall and handsome date horses. The State of Qi borders the Western Regions, and is adjacent to several rich Western Regions countries, which is the only way for merchants to pass through each other. The endless stream of cars and horses has become the blood that runs through this vast Gobi. From time to time, there are more than a dozen men and horses, carrying large cargo boxes of supplies, pulled by camels, on the road leading to the Western Regions, the bells on the camel's necks jingle and the loud snort has become a unique rhythm in this land.

Chang'an City was the capital of the Qi Kingdom, covering a large territory and surrounded by a long oasis, and was a transit point for trading gold, porcelain, silk and other materials. Merchants from the Central Plains and Jiangnan brought wheat and antiques, and traded their spices and ancient scriptures with merchants from the Western Regions, and Qi collected a lot of taxes from them. Therefore, although the terrain is steep and not suitable for production, Chang'an City has also become a rare and rich city by relying on its contacts with neighboring countries.

The city of Chang'an gathers all kinds of people from various countries, and in order to facilitate trade, and better open up and open the market, the laws of Qi are sometimes a little lax, making the place inevitably mixed with gangs. The influx of wealthy businessmen from all over the country has not only made law and order a major hidden danger, but also made the gap between the rich and the poor in the local area wide. Officials inevitably turn a blind eye to the behavior of wealthy businessmen, and some chaotic phenomena of collusion between officials and businessmen have become a characteristic of the locality.

The largest gang in Chang'an City is the Enlightenment Dart Bureau where Qi Yu is located. The road is open to trade, and the business of escorting darts is indispensable. On the long road full of yellow sand, there are often some bandits and robbers, most of whom are outlaws, greedy for money and lustful, cruel in their means, and do some things to make money and kill people. Qi Yu's Enlightenment Dart Bureau was founded by a master who had walked the rivers and lakes for many years and had strong martial arts, and was later recruited by the Qi State, and the King of Qi sent royal personnel to appoint the leader of the Dart Bureau.

Qi House.

Qi Yu sat in the pavilion in the middle of the house, with a chess set in front of him, and opposite him was an old man in his old age, with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, white beard and hanging chest, and a kind of extraordinarily heroic atmosphere.

Qi Yu carefully looked at the chess game, slowly took out a piece from the chess cup, and landed on the board.

"How?"

The old man squinted his eyes and remained motionless, as if he were asleep.

After a long time, the old man slowly spoke, "Do you have something on your mind?"

Qi Yu looked at the chessboard intently and said, "The state of Chu has been destroyed, and the people of the state of Qi live and work in peace and contentment, free from the suffering of war, where do you have any concern?"

The old man gently raised his drooping eyelids and said, "The rebellion of the Chu State is just the beginning, how can the affairs of the world be divided and combined?"

After that, the old man also took out a son and put it on the plate.

"The master is too worried. Qi Yu didn't think much about it, and then fell again.

The old man looked at Qi Yu's indifferent face, and after a while, he also took out a son, and muttered in his mouth: "Three parts of the country and seven points of chaos, the lone star has fallen on the bank of the Spring River." ”

"Smack. The old man's sunspot was thrown steadily on the plate.

A trace of surprise flashed in Qi Yu's eyes as he looked at the chessboard, and the old man's sunspot seemed to fall from the sky, giving the sunspot tightly locked by the white one more life.

The frequency of Qi Yu's falling son slowed down a little, and the breeze from the depths of the desert gently brushed the hair in his ears.

"The master's limerick level has been decades, and it is still generally boring. ”

Syllable. Shiroko fell next to Kuroko.

Like a hungry jackal staring at a fat elk.

The old man's gaze was still generally kind, unhurried, like a spring breeze blowing on his face.

The layout of Kuroko seems to be messy, but it is like a calm deep sea, and there are unknown waves lurking underneath.

"I heard the news from the Tianshu Pavilion of the Yan Kingdom that the matter of the orphans of the Chu Kingdom, presumably the master has already heard the news. ”

Qi Yu didn't look up and said to the old man.

When the old man heard this, a smile appeared in the corner of his eyes, and he said, "Yu'er, your news is better than mine." ”

"I heard from the caravan on the Tao, many people from Jiangnan and the Central Plains, some people also brought some things left over from the Chu State, and they are still of some value now. Qi Yu said.

The old man raised his eyelids and replied with a smile: "Really? ”

"Things are just dead things, and what really has value is the news from their mouths. Qi Yu said as he fell.

"Your Highness, be careful, the three of them become tigers. The old man changed his name and said with a smile. The hand also fell.

Qi Yu ignored it and said, "In the realm of Qi State, there is no intelligence agency like Dayan. Naturally, we should not be blind or deaf people who are far away from the world. ”

Syllable. The white seed fell on the plate.

"There are two orphans in the state of Chu, one is the crown prince, and it is rumored that his martial arts are strong, not inferior to all the people in the world on the list. ”

The old man held the black, stuck on the chessboard, hesitated for a while, and fell next to Qi Yu's white son.

"The other is the youngest son whom the King of Chu pities the most. "Qi Yu is down. Under the encirclement and suppression of Kuroko, Baizi turned the danger into a disaster several times, and gradually had a tendency to counter-encirclement.

Judging from the chess game, Baizi is like a tiger descending from the mountain, menacing.

Kuroko is more like a pool of stagnant water, calm and slightly unsettling.

"After the fall of Chu City, the life and death of the King of Chu are unknown, and the national teacher is like evaporating from the world, and neither of the two princes has sent any news, and they don't know whether they are alive or dead. Qi Yu said lightly.

"It's true, but Chu City is really captured, and without the national seal, the remnants of Chu State can't make any big waves. "The old man fell, Qi Yu said.

"But ......," the old man continued, holding up his wide-sleeved robe.

"No but. Qi Yu interrupted the old man's words and dropped the last white piece on the chessboard, the black son had been tightly locked by the dense white seed, and there was no chance of survival.

The old man's loving gaze slowly lifted from the chessboard, looking at the young man in front of him, who had always been taciturn.

Since the end of the battle against Chu a year ago, he has become much more mature, and he is no longer the child who is calm on the surface, but extremely competitive on the inside.

The heavens will descend on the Si people.

"Yu'er. The old man's voice became hoarse.

"Master. Qi Yu also raised his eyelids, a few yellowed strands brushed the corners of his slender eyes, and said, "You lost." ”

The old man took out something wrapped in layers of luxurious silk from his wide sleeve and covered it on the chessboard.

"Let's open it and take a look. The old man said, his white beard slightly revealing the corners of his mouth with a smile.

Qi Yu didn't know the old man's intentions, Yu Guang glanced at it, didn't move, and asked expressionlessly, "What is it?"

"It was the men from the south who brought it from the caravan. The old man's smile rippled and he said, "You may be a little interested in it." ”

"Recently, life has really been a bit boring. As he spoke, the old man stretched out his two slender hands, reached forward, grasped the corner of the silk, and pulled it open, revealing the contents in front of their eyes.

A rusty gold-plated token with two large characters clearly engraved on it.

Dark incense.

"Dark incense?" Qi Yu glanced at it and said to the old man, "The hall master of the Han Kingdom?"

The old man's gaze looked at Qi Yu and said, "Han Luyao." ”

Hearing the name, the air around seemed to fall silent in an instant, and there was a sound of leaves falling.

"I knew that the master would not come to me to play chess with such idleness. Qi Yu said lightly.

"Yu'er, you've grown up. The old man's tone slowed down a little, and he said in a low voice, "You have the name of the prince on your shoulders, and you have the burden of the Enlightenment Dart Bureau, you can't do whatever you want like you once did, living in the rivers and lakes without thinking about the distance of the temple." ”

Qi Yu rubbed a white child in his hand and did not answer the old man's words.

"What's more...... Qi An ......," the old man said.

"Master. ”

Hearing this name, Qi Yu came and interrupted the old man's words.

"Qi An has always been Yu'er's beloved brother, whether it is in the prince's mansion or in Chang'an, his identity has always been undoubted, Yu'er has always admired him, never has two hearts, and the sky can be seen. ”

Qi Yu said, his face exuding a slightly determined look.

After hearing this, the old man frowned, and said to Qi Yu: "Yu'er, there are no two masters in the country, this is a common rule in the history books. There is no shadow of the sword, let alone a place as complex and changing as the court. It's like this game of chess. ”

As he spoke, the old man stretched out his hand and took a white piece from the chessboard, and then dropped a black piece.

In an instant, the chess game changed, and the originally suppressed Kuroko raised his head again, and the offensive against Baizi was ready to start.

Qi Yu's brows tightened, his slender eyes gradually closed, there was a little more solemn aura in the breeze, and the remnants of the leaves blew up from the ground, swaying uneasily in the air.

"Since the battle of Huya a year and a half ago, Qi An has already had the heart to get rid of you, and Xu Yiwu has been blowing the wind in his ear, which forced you to defeat Huya, and even directly forced Mrs. Xu to death. The old man said.

"Master. Qi Yu's face had become angry, his cheeks were flushed, his indifferent eyes stared at the old man in front of him, and said, "Xu Yan, she was defeated and died defending the city, and she sacrificed her life for me, for the tens of thousands of people in Huya Pass...... She died at the hands of the Chu thief, and it was none of her brother's business. ”

The old man said: "But if the hundreds of thousands of Jingjia troops receive the signal, even if they come to help, instead of retreating more than ten miles to the river bank and watching the fire from the other bank, the tens of thousands of Chu thieves are already at the end of the crossbow, how can they capture this tiger tooth pass?"

The old man's voice also became stern, and the atmosphere frozen in the air tightly locked Qi Yu, and he felt a little suffocated for a while.

The wolf smoke was everywhere, covering the sky and the sun, and the red fog covered the sky above the entire Huya Pass, and there was no daylight.

On that day, Qi Yu received a secret letter from Prince Qi in his tent.

"Marching along the river and attacking Chaozhou. ”

In just seven words, he ordered Qi Yu to take all the excellent ones, give up the key place of communication between Qi and Chu, Huya Pass, and go to attack Chaozhou, a heavily fortified place in Chu.

That day, Xu Yan came to him in front of him in a general's jade armor and said to him: "Don't worry, with me, Huya Pass will be safe." ”

At that time, the Chu army only made a few painless feints against Huya Pass, and everyone felt that the main force of the Chu army was not here, and Qi Yu also believed in the idea of the imperial court.

Before leaving, Xu Yan walked to his horse, handed a long, white jade scarf, and said, "Chaozhou is at the pass, and it is easy to get cold at night. ”

Qi Yu didn't have time to say a few words, so he rode his horse and led tens of thousands of Qi troops to Chaozhou.

A farewell here is a farewell.

Seven days later, Li Qiuhan, the general of the Chu army, came to the city gate of Huya Pass.

Ten days later, Chaozhou was still unable to attack for a long time, and most of the Qi army was damaged, and its vitality was greatly damaged.

On the thirteenth, Li Qiuhan stood at the head of the city of Huya Pass, holding Xu Yanxiu's long black hair in his hand. The ashes of wolf smoke scattered in the air and rose on her delicate and fair face.

The Huya Pass was broken, Qi Yu's attack on Chaozhou was cut off, the grain and grass were intercepted, and he was isolated and helpless, and was tightly surrounded by the Chu army under the city of Chaozhou.

Qi Yu closed his eyes, and the memory grabbed his heart to death, and every moment he uncovered this scar, he would bleed like a pillar, and he was in pain.

"That's it. The old man said softly.

Qi Yu slowly opened his eyes, and the tears on his cheeks were faintly cold.

The old man tapped the token with silk on the chessboard with his index finger, and said to Qi Yu: "The past is the past after all, you can let it go, but it is impossible to erase it from your heart." ”

Qi Yu stared at the token in front of him and didn't say a word.

"When you think about it, you come to me. The old man said, got up slowly, and said, "Yu'er has always valued affection and etiquette, but the opportunity can only be taken, and it should not be allowed to wait too long." ”

The old man turned and walked out of the pavilion.

In the pavilion, Qi Yu alone stared at the messy chess game in front of him, and a few remnant leaves were rolled up by the wind and scattered at his feet.