Hu Zhenbang saw that Zhao Laosan took the initiative to ask Ying to lead the way for the three of them, and he was grateful, and said: "In this way, I will not politely shirk, there are three brothers of Lao Lao!"

Zhao Laosan saw that Hu Zhenbang agreed, knowing that he regarded himself as a brother, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said to his subordinates: "Brothers, I want to go out with Shaoxia, you all go back, remember not to do evil again, if you meet a corrupt official who is rich and unkind, or a shameless villain like the Sang Duo you saw just now, you can rob a few and kill a few, but you must not kill innocents indiscriminately." Everyone agreed in unison.

Zhao Laosan called his subordinates again and ordered to leave a yellow healthy horse and ride it with Hu Zhenbang, but Hu Zhenbang couldn't shirk it, so he had to thank him. That day, when Mu Hanyi went to ask Zhao Laosan to bring someone to the rescue, he also ordered to bring some dry food, and Zhao Laosan also asked his brothers to stay.

Mu Hanyi took out a piece of silver from his body, handed it to Zhao Laosan, and said: "This silver will be handed over to the brothers to buy some wine to drink!" Zhao Laosan was not polite, took it with both hands, thanked him, and said to his brothers: "Brothers, this is the woman who asked you to buy wine and drink, let's disperse first!"

Everyone thanked Mu Hanyi together, said goodbye to Zhao Laosan and Hu Zhenbang, and left first.

Zhao Laosan rode a black horse to lead the way, Hu Zhenbang rode the yellow horse he sent, Mu Hanyi still rode the white dragon with Ayimu, and the four people and three horses continued to travel. Because the road ahead had been blocked by an avalanche, Zhao Laosan, the branch road that Sang Duo took, was not familiar with, and he was afraid that he would take the wrong road, but would delay the major affairs of the three of them, so he decided to go back to Qingbeastkou first, and then detour to Qingtang City from other places.

The four of them walked all the way, still day and night, fortunately did not encounter bad weather again, this way, the sun is high, and the moon is bright at night, so that the four people can continue to rush even at night, and they do not feel that the journey has accelerated a lot.

After walking for more than ten days, I saw that there was less and less ice and snow on the ground, and only when crossing the mountain road did I occasionally see the remnant snow in the shade, and the weather gradually became less cold and bone-chilling. Zhao Laosan said: "We have already walked out of Tibet, and if we walk three or five hundred miles to the northwest, we will almost arrive." ”

After walking for a few more days, the yellow grass scattered on the ground could be seen, and gradually turned into green grass again. After galloping dozens of miles on this day, Zhao Laosan suddenly pointed to the place where heaven and earth met in front of him and said: "Look, everyone, turn this hill, and there is Qingtang City in front of you." ”

All the way day and night on the road, eating and sleeping in the open, people and horses were tired, and when they heard that they had reached their destination in front of them, they were all very high, and they all cheered and jumped, and even the horses were neighing one by one, and their spirits were lifted, and they spread their hooves and continued to rush forward.

After moving forward for dozens of miles, there is a majestic city standing in front of it, the city is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the terrain is very dangerous. Everyone looked around, saw the mountains and trees towering to the sky, although it was twilight winter, but the mountains were full of verdant green cages, at a glance, people felt comfortable.

Hu Zhenbang said: "This place was called Shancheng in the Tang Dynasty, but the Tubo people have always called this place 'Qingtang City', which is related to the green trees on this mountain. ”

Zhao Laosan said: "Yes, the young man is really well-informed, and this Qingtang City is named after this." Shaoxia, Woman, and this girl, send you a thousand miles, you must say goodbye in the end, I will send the three of you here, this is going back, the brothers of the green beast mouth, are still waiting for me to go back. ”

Hu Zhenbang bowed his hand and said, "Brother Zhao, please accept Hu Mou's worship!" Mu Hanyi and Ayimu saw that the eldest brother saluted him so solemnly, and immediately dismounted to make a bow to him, and said: "Thank you Brother Zhao for saving your life, there will be a period in the future." ”

Zhao Laosan hurriedly replied: "The young man is serious, the two sisters are polite, I really don't dare to be in the next place, the third brother will go back." The green mountains are not old, the green water flows forever, we will have a period in the future!"

The three of them watched Zhao Laosan leave, until his figure became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared at the junction of heaven and earth. Then he went out to the city. Hu Zhenbang sighed: "Although Zhao Laosan is a bandit, he is quite righteous and a good man. ”

Mu Hanyi said: "Yes, it's hundreds or thousands of times better than that old treacherous and slippery Sando." ”

Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi, Ayimu stood outside the city, looked left and right, only to see the city wall stretching, so they walked along the surroundings, and asked people again, only to know that the original Qingtang City has a radius of 20 miles, a total of eight city gates.

At that time, Li Yuanhao of Western Xia rose up, captured the Uighur Ganzhou, and controlled the Hexi Corridor, and the caravans and envoys of various countries between the Song and Western Xia were often plundered, so they had no choice but to take a detour to change the Qingtang City of Tubo, which became an important town on the South Silk Road and the ancient Tangbo Road in the old days.

The city is divided into two cities, east and west, of which the west city is the royal city, in the royal city, except for the king of Tubo in the main hall, the rest are the palace, the noble family residence and the large and small temples; the east city is the merchant trade area, there are hundreds of merchants such as Dali, Uighur, Western Xia, etc., and no matter the Han people, the Khitans, the Jurchens do business here, every day is the flow of people is bustling, shoulder to shoulder.

Hu Zhenbang said: "Two sisters, in your opinion, which place should you enter the city first?"

Mu Hanyi said: "I think it's better to enter from Dongcheng first, maybe I can find out some news." Since Xicheng is a royal city, it must be more heavily guarded, and it may not be easy to find out the news. ”

Ayimu said: "I think my sister is right, I will listen to you." ”

Hu Zhenbang said: "Second sister, when you come here, I'm afraid you have to cover your face, if someone recognizes your identity as 'Princess Xixia', I'm afraid you will get into trouble." ”

Ayimu said: "Yes, the eldest brother is thoughtful. Fortunately, I still had the silk scarf given by Zina, and I took it out and covered my face immediately.

The three of them walked in from Xicheng, and sure enough, they saw various shops such as clothes, shoes, hats, gold, silver, ironware, and Yaluo tea, one after another, and merchant horse teams and camel teams dressed in various costumes were passing through endlessly, a lively and prosperous scene. Hu Zhenbang said to Mu Hanyi: "I didn't expect this place to be so prosperous, it is comparable to Bianjing." ”

Mu Hanyi said: "Big brother is right, I think it's better to find an inn to live in first, find out the news, and then discuss how to act carefully." ”

Hu Zhenbang said with a smile: "Yes, the second sister is weak, so she should take a good rest." Ayimu saw that Hu Zhenbang cared about him very much, and his heart was quite moved. The three of them walked down the street looking for an inn, and when they passed by a clothing shop, Ayimu bought a white veil and covered his face again, and carefully put away Zina's silk handkerchief. Seeing this, Mu Hanyi said curiously: "Sister cherishes this piece of silk so much, I think it must be an extremely important token?"

Ayimu said with tears in her eyes: "Sister, do you remember that when I talked to you about my life experience in the tent that day, the Zhina mentioned was the maid Zina who helped me escape from the Jietan Temple in Xingqing Mansion, she is the same as you, she is also my good sister, this is what she left me before parting, I should treasure it, but she, but she doesn't know what to do now, every time I think of her, I feel so sad, I always feel that I hurt her." ”

Mu Hanyi suddenly realized, and said in his heart: "Li Yuanhao is cruel, even the monks who have become the altar seal have to be killed, and my sister was 'missing' when she was with Zina, I am afraid that it will be more auspicious." He comforted at the moment: "Sister, don't be sad, don't think like this, it's important to take care of your body." Sister Zina is kind-hearted and a good person, and I don't think God will harm her. ”

Ayimu said with tears in her eyes: "I also hope that God can bless her safely." Mu Hanyi caressed her shoulder, and Ayimu gradually calmed down.

Hu Zhenbang was afraid that Ayimu would be uncomfortable, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Two sisters, there is a big inn in front, why don't we go there to rest?"

When the three of them entered the inn, the boss sent the horses to the stables to feed them, and beckoned the men to arrange rooms for the three of them. The three of them asked for two guest rooms, one for Hu Zhenbang, and one for Mu Hanyi and Ayimu to live next door. The three of them made arrangements and went to eat in the dining hall.

At noon, the inn's dining room was full of diners. It's easy to wait until there is a table of people, Xiao Er cleaned up the table, and was about to let Hu Zhenbang and the three of them sit down. Suddenly, I heard a thunderous voice at the door, and the little two hurriedly came up and said to the three people: "This guest officer, I'm really sorry to be tight, these two military masters at this table want it, the guest officer should wait for a while." ”

When the three of them looked at each other, they saw that they were two people who looked like Tubo officers, equipped with waist knives, and looked like they were showing off their might. The man who shouted just now was the man with a full beard in it, and the other Tibetan officer was a sturdy little man. The two walked up to Hu Zhengu and the three of them, regardless of it, they sat down with their butts and didn't take the three of them in their eyes.

Mu Hanyi was furious and was about to speak, when she suddenly saw Hu Zhenbang's eyes, as if telling her not to cause trouble. I had to endure my anger. Chong Xiaoer said: "There are such unreasonable and arrogant people in the world, I think no one is used to it." ”

Xiao Er was so frightened that he waved his hand again and again, signaling her not to say any more, seeing that the two officers did not pay attention, he hurriedly said to Mu Hanyi gently: "The girl must be careful when she speaks, fortunately the two of them can't understand Chinese, if not, I'm afraid that the two of them will ......" After that, he made a gesture and wiped his neck with his hand, which meant to kill.

Mu Hanyi "snorted", looking unconvinced, Ayimu also took her hand and said: "Little sister, we can't be angry with this kind of villain, big things are important!"

Hu Zhenbang listened, smiled approvingly: "Yes, the second sister is right, the big thing is important! ”

After the two officers sat down, they were talking in the Tibetan language, and suddenly they said something to the shopkeeper, who hurriedly went down, and after a while, brought a pot of wine, a plate of beef, a plate of mutton, and two roast chickens. When the two officers saw the wine and food, their eyes lit up, and they immediately began to pour wine and eat meat, as if they were very hungry.

At this time, the people at the table next to them will leave. The shopkeeper hurriedly cleaned up and let Hu Zhenbang and the three of them sit down. The three of them called for wine and food, ate and drank slowly, and saw the two Tibetan officers next door drinking wine and eating meat, talking in the Tibetan language, and the interest was very good.

Ayimu whispered to Hu Zhenbang: "Big brother, these two Tubo people are going to Xixia to deliver important documents. Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi suddenly remembered that when they saw Ayimu for the first time that day, they heard her sing Tibetan love songs, and it turned out that she could still understand Tubo language, and they were not happy.

Mu Hanyi said: "I don't know what important document it is, could it be that Tubo heard about the disappearance of the 'Xixia Princess' and plans to cancel this marriage?"

Hu Zhenbang whispered: "Second sister, let's listen carefully to what they are talking about?"

Ayimu bowed his head slightly, quietly paying attention to the two of them talking. Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi looked at her intently, hoping that she could hear some valuable information.

Ayimu listened carefully, and suddenly the ground was red, ashamed and angry, but fortunately she was veiled, and outsiders could not see her expression. It turned out that the two officers were now talking about the affair in the brothel last night. One said how soft the blond and blue-eyed Persian dancer was and danced like a willow, and the other said that the singer from the sandbar played the lute well, sang the little songs gracefully, and her skin was delicate and white...... None of them are good words.

Although Hu Zhenbang and Mu Hanyi couldn't see the expression on her face, they saw her eyebrows frowning slightly, her eyes were angry, and they didn't know why.