Lin Ning and Jiang Xuanche's trip was not a tour of the mountains and rivers, so the two of them barely stopped on the road, except for giving the horse water, resting their feet and eating some dry food, the two of them galloped on the official road day and night, and slept in the open for a few days, before rushing to Jiangcheng to stay in Jiangcheng when it was dark one day.

When they reached the gate, the gate was about to close. The soldiers defending the city yawned and casually examined the gates handed out by the two.

For the convenience of traveling, Lin Ning had already changed into men's clothes, and wrapped cloth towels on his head and face for the windbreak, and of course the two of them were also forged. Facing the soldier's gaze, Lin Ning pulled the face towel down slightly, and the soldiers didn't see it clearly when the sky was dark in the evening, and seeing that the two had a good attitude, he waved his hand and let them pass.

When I went to the city, every house had already turned on its lamps. Lin Ning originally planned to stay at the guest house, but Jiang Xuanche took her around the streets and alleys of Jiangcheng, and finally came to a small courtyard with a single family.

"Tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk. ”

Jiang Xuanche regularly knocked on the wooden door and repeated it three times. Only then did the sound of slow footsteps come from the courtyard, and the courtyard door opened with a "squeak" in front of Lin Ning, and there was an old lady with a withered face standing in the door.

Jiang Xuanche and the old lady glanced at each other, neither spoke to each other, and after a while, the old lady slowly moved towards the door and let go of the door.

Lin Ning led the horse into the door carefully, the door was too low, and the horse almost couldn't get in. After the horse was safely tied to the courtyard, Lin Ning looked around.

This courtyard looks unsightly, but there is a horse shed, and the yard is well organized, and it looks like a family that usually lives at home.

The old lady led Lin Ning and Jiang Xuanche into the inner room, and after looking around, the two lived in their own east and west wings, bathed and washed, and finally washed away the dust.

The dinner was very frugal, but for the two people who only ate dry food and drank cold water along the way, it was no less than the delicacies of the mountains and the sea.

After the meal was full, the old lady withdrew from the main room with the dinner plate, Jiang Xuanche took out a roll of sheepskin map from his arms and spread it on the case, pointed to the terrain all the way and said to Lin Ning:

"From Jiangcheng, we have to take the waterway, it will take about five days from Jiangcheng to Fenglindu, let's try to find a merchant ship, and it would be great if we could pull the horses on the boat. ”

Jiang Xuanche's finger nodded at Fenglindu and said, "After passing Fenglindu, there is no waterway to go." Moreover, the ground in Yanzhou is quite unsettled, and there are many bandits and robbers blocking the road, so we may have to take the trail or blend into the large caravan with the protection of the armed brigade to be safe. ”

Lin Ning nodded, thought for a while, and said: "Yanzhou Assassin Shi is a disciple of the clan, right? I remember that in the first year of Pyeongchang, the founding hussar general Yu Jia, broke the last bloodline, Xiao Zilan took Yanzhou back and sent his clan uncle to serve as the assassin. Not...... It should be Xiao Wenzhang. ”

Jiang Xuanche chuckled, glanced at the window, and said, "If you don't shy away from saying this, you should have seen that this grandma is deaf and dumb." ”

Lin Ning didn't answer, just looked at the map on the case carefully.

Jiang Xuanche said again: "Xiao Wenzhang's father was originally a rural villager, Xiao said that the emperor was a genius and made a marquis, and Xiao Wenzhang was raised under poverty and wealth for a long time. Really, heh. ”

"Most of the children of the clan are like this, so what's so strange. ”

Lin Ning sighed lightly and recalled the ups and downs of this continent in the past hundred years. Since the collapse of that powerful unified dynasty, the continent has fallen into infinite strife, with princes from all walks of life fighting for territory, and everyone can be emperor, without any orthodoxy at all.

Later, the Five Kingdoms were established, and the Xiao family usurped the position of the previous dynasty and established the country, and after the first emperor's dynasty, the other two countries were annexed, and now the situation of the Three Kingdoms is formed.

After a hundred years of chaos, basically no one believes in things like "orthodoxy" and "conforming to the mandate of heaven", if it weren't for this, it would be impossible for the Xiao family to be called the king and emperor with such a humble background.

For example, the Su and Jiang families, who can survive the century-old war, are all wise and protect themselves, and only sweep the snow in front of their own homes. Anyway, as long as this country is not a foreigner to sit, no matter which family sits on the throne in Middle Earth, it will inevitably only be courteous to the family.

But the first emperor was really a virtuous lord, and the heads of the two families were said to have moved out of the mountain, and since then they have fallen into a court dispute. If the world is peaceful, it is a way to glorify the ancestors.

But in today's situation, the two have to rebel, and there is no psychological burden on the contrary. Lin Ning and Jiang Xuanche naturally have no respect for the royal family, just with the things Xiao Zilan did, Lin Ning would not have the slightest patience to kill him a hundred times.

If there is only Su Nisheng's matter, the two families will not take this step decisively, but the information revealed behind this is very dangerous, Xiao Zilan is different from the first emperor, he does not rely on the family's ability to govern the country, but is very jealous of the territory and military power in the hands of the family.

Xiao Zilan's heart to do something to the family is simply known to everyone, and he can't hide it. Lin Ning even suspected that the matter of forcibly marrying Su Nishang was just a prelude to the family.

Xiao Zilan tested the bottom line of the family with this matter, he knew that the daughter of the Su family disdained to marry the royal family, and she would definitely marry the family of the same family. Therefore, he deliberately used imperial power to force and persecute the family, just to test where the bottom line of tolerance of the Su and Jiang families was. Seeing that the two families had not resisted for ten years, and Jiang Xuanming was sent to the border of Youzhou by him, he became proud, and recently he has become more and more exposed.

"Along the way, I just felt that this Middle-earth was becoming more and more unstable. Natural and man-made disasters, displaced people are everywhere, there are starvation on the road, and there is no corn in the fields. After only more than ten years of stability, they will be plunged into war again, which is really cruel to the people. Lin Ning's fingertips stroked the mountains and rivers on the map, his eyes solemn.

What's even more ironic is that the wars that make most of the living beings in this land miserable are all due to the selfish desires of princes and generals. However, the princes and generals in it are so free that this is really helpless.

Jiang Xuanche looked at Lin Ning's expression, and also cast his gaze on this meticulously depicted map, and said:

"Since I was a child, I didn't like the court, and I felt that what I was fighting for was some meaningless things. Therefore, I love the rivers and lakes even more. When I was a child, I left home alone, attached to the mountains and rivers, fought with swords, and was happy and revengeful, how carefree. ”

Jiang Xuanche found a pot of wine out of nowhere, picked up the teacup and poured a cup for Lin Ning, and then poured himself a drink.

"But after staying for a long time, I feel that the rivers and lakes also have intrigue and intrigue in the rivers and lakes, and fighting for fame and fortune is just fame and fortune, and there is no real leisure anywhere. ”

Lin Ning smiled and said, "Yes, what exactly is freedom." The country village husband has the last resort of the country village man, and the princely generals also have the unfreedom of the princely generals, everyone is in the bureau, and everyone is not free. ”

"So what you want is great freedom?" Jiang Xuanche raised his eyes and looked at it, smiling rather than smiling.