Born in the world, no one to take care of him, in order to survive, set foot on the rivers and lakes.

Where the rivers and lakes are, no one knows.

But the rivers and lakes are in everyone's hearts.

Sometimes you can see and touch, and sometimes you can't see and touch.

There are swordsmen with swords and chivalrous deeds, as well as swordsmen who are chic and unparalleled.

Within the huge territory of the Mingwu Empire, there are ten vassal states, and there are countless large and small rivers and lakes in the princes' country, but there are only a few that can really be ranked.

For example, the Cloud Piercing Sword Sect of Ye State, the Water Moon Mountain Villa of Qi State, the Thunder Courtyard of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Qingguang Mountain of the Wei State, the Yin and Yang Gate of Wu Yue, the Wudang Mountain of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Snow Fox Palace of the Later Song Dynasty, the Dragon and Tiger Mountain of Western Chu, the Lihuo Island of Eastern Min, and the Holy Dragon Pavilion of Former Shu.

The rivers and lakes have nothing to do with the temples, this is a very widely circulated sentence on the rivers and lakes.

There are no nationality restrictions on the rivers and lakes, only the differences in sects.

But I don't know when this law began to change, perhaps from the beginning when the owner of Shuiyue Mountain Villa became the national teacher of Qi State, and then Chu Yujia broke into the palace alone with a sword, so that the two organizations of the people, one official and one official finally got in touch.

The monarchs of many vassal states began to look for these masters in the people, talented reward officials, and martial arts generals to join the army.

Maybe even Chu Yujia himself doesn't know how much impact his appearance has brought to the rivers and lakes of the world.

In an inconspicuous tavern in Yueling City, a lame old storyteller limped around the first floor of the tavern, knocking on bamboo boards to tell stories as he walked around.

What he is talking about, what he is talking about is how the Northwest Army fought against the Northwest barbarians in a desperate situation.

is talking about the battle of attack and defense outside the Huling Pass, how the soldiers fought bloodily to resist the Qi soldiers who were several times their own.

It is about how the young general led 3,500 cavalry to the capital of Qi.

It is about how the three thousand five hundred veteran soldiers in the northwest hedged against the enemy's war knife outside the capital of the Qi State.

It's about how the old soldier in the northwest won the five hundred steps for the young general.

Unconsciously, he also said the sentence that the young general said when he put his sword around the neck of the enemy monarch: "Take your head whenever I want." ”

In the end, the old storyteller looked up at the northwest, fell to the ground, his head almost touched the ground, and after getting up, he seemed to have drunk too much, his body shook three times, and he sang: "The city is broken, and the wife and daughter of the ancient road are crying and breaking their bowels. ”

After finishing speaking, the old man raised his hand and touched the tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes, and muttered to himself: "Liu Hongshan, the old soldier of the Northwest Army who returned to his hometown, is willing to die with his back to the east, but you, General Chu, don't give the old man this opportunity......"

The storyteller sighed secretly, slowly turned around and walked back to the small resting table that the tavern owner had specially prepared for him, and then he suddenly saw that there was an extra silver ingot on the small table.

The old storyteller looked up and saw that a couple of men and women who had listened to his storytelling had walked out of the tavern with their well-behaved little daughter.

In the heavy snow, the young man lifted the curtain and helped the woman to walk smoothly into the carriage, and then sent the little daughter into the car.

When the curtain was lowered, the young man seemed to sense something, and then he slowly turned around and bowed to the old storyteller.

For a moment, the old man seemed to see the general who was galloping on the battlefield with him standing in front of him.

But by the time he came to his senses, the young man had already driven away.

The carriage drove out of Yueling City and headed straight to the northwest.

From the map, Ye Guo is like a general's helmet, and there are five counties in its territory, Danyang County in the east, Duchong County in the south, Pingyang County in the southwest, Shuiyun County in the northwest, and Qing'an County in the northeast.

The five counties are like iron buckets guarding the capital Yueling in the center, such a terrain has advantages, that is, one side is difficult to support from all sides, of course, there are also disadvantages, if a county is broken, then the enemy army can drive straight into the capital of Ye State.

There are many mountains and hills in the southeast and southeast of Ye country, there are many jungles and rivers in the north, and there is only yellow sand everywhere in the west.

After walking out of the capital and going west, you will arrive at Shuiyun County in the northwest of Ye Kingdom.

There are two big cities in Shuiyun County, one is named after the natural spring in the city, and the other is Humaguan, the border city of Yeguo.

It is good to say that the inhabitants of Tongquan Mansion can at least live and work in peace and contentment, and the further west they go, the more desolate the land becomes.

The people who live in the west of Tongquan Mansion like to use the phrase 'ten miles of road and nine miles of sand' to describe this place.

In fact, this sentence can already completely summarize the situation in the western part of Shuiyun County.

To the west of Tongquan Prefecture, especially the people living near Humaguan, the folk customs are particularly strong, not to mention the young and strong men, that is, women and children of seven or eight years old, as long as they are given a spear, they dare to fight the invading barbarian cavalry.

But this fierce folk customs were also forced out by the continuous wars for many years, before the old general went to the northwest to establish the Northwest Army, almost every once in a while, there would be desert barbarians who broke through the so-called Huma Pass and invaded Shuiyun County to burn and loot a lot, although there were soldiers who came to deal with the aftermath, but it was also burned and looted.

So much so that the people here don't believe in the royal court and only believe in themselves.

Later, after the general surnamed Chu came to the northwest and established the Northwest Army, the situation here improved slightly, and there was even a ridiculous scene, that is, those barbarians who had invaded Shuiyun County for years to burn and loot were in turn choked by the Northwest Army.

Every time it was time to pay the military salary, the general surnamed Chu said: "If you want money, if you want a few granaries and silver depots, it depends on whether you can grab them back by yourself." ”

Then you can see that during that time, the cavalry of the Northwest Army continued to attack the tribes in the desert, and even the cooks and cavalry in the barracks borrowed horses and sabers to join the plundering army.

Half of the things that were snatched back were handed over according to the law, but the general still added a sentence with a big stroke of his pen: "My brothers and I went out to fight together, and there was no food or salary for the army, and no one was qualified to ask for what they got back by their own ability, so they kept it for themselves." ”

It is precisely because of this that the number of this Northwest Army has increased year by year, and its combat power has also increased year by year, and it even hit Gumo Country as far as once.

At the beginning, no one took this army with scattered discipline and no formation at the time of the charge, but so what?

Gumo country claims to be its own iron cavalry across the desert, invincible in the world, isn't it a crying father and mother who is beaten by this army that doesn't even have a formation?

It's just a pity that after the general surnamed Chu left, the Northwest Army also dispersed, and without the protection of this army, the common people returned to the previous days of fear.

While scooping water from the water tank, the old man said to a family of three who were sitting in his yard resting: "At the beginning, I only thought that the general was transferred, who thought that he had violated the royal law, and the people above said that the general surnamed Chu was an attempt to rebel by supporting the army and self-respect, but we ordinary people don't understand so many big truths." ”

"Some time ago, we discussed in private that it was absolutely impossible for General Chu to rebel, and it was definitely those guys with paste in their heads who framed them. ”

"But we have also discussed, if this General Chu can really become our king, maybe our life can be better. ”

Hearing this, the beautiful daughter-in-law covered with light veils in the family of three frowned and said, "Uncle, you can't talk nonsense, if people hear it, they will be killed." ”

"Kill and kill, how can I, the old man, ever be afraid?"

Wang Laohan said with disdain: "Even if the barbarians on the desert come, Wang Laohan and I can shoot one or two people to death if I pick up the flat pole, and I am afraid of killing my head?"

"Besides, I'm telling the truth, there is a person in our local area who doesn't love General Dai Chu and respects General Chu?"

"It's all to blame on those guys in the royal court, if it weren't for them, why would we settle here today and hide in another place tomorrow?"

The beautiful daughter-in-law was still about to say a few words, but the man beside her raised his hand and patted her arm gently, and said to the old man with a smile: "But now, the desert barbarians don't attack so often. ”

"That's natural. ”

Wang Laohan filled a few kettles, put them on the table, and said: "When General Nachu was here, he took the Northwest Army under his tent to expel these barbarians all the way to the depths of the desert. ”

The young man nodded, took out the silver ingot from his bosom and put it on the table, and said, "Thank you, uncle, for entertaining my family." ”

Looking at the silver ingots that were close to ten taels, Wang Laohan's eyes almost didn't fall.

When had he ever seen so much money?

Ordinary people can earn at most one tael of silver all year round, and ten taels of silver are enough for him to eat bread and meat for two or three years.

"Don't don't, don't, I'm just a few jars of water and some rotten tea leaves, I can't talk about hospitality, I don't dare to accept this money. ”

"Take it. ”

The young man smiled, got up with his daughter and daughter-in-law, and said goodbye to the old man again, and then got into the carriage and drove away.

Looking at the shadow of the carriage fading away, Wang Laohan held the silver in his hand, shook his head and sighed, but when he turned around, he was suddenly stunned, and then looked back at the carriage again.

He always felt as if he had seen the young man somewhere, but he really couldn't remember it for a while.

In the carriage, the beautiful daughter-in-law couldn't help but say coldly to the man who was driving the carriage: "I really don't understand why you stopped me." ”

"If they are allowed to talk like that, something may happen in the future. ”

Looking at his wife's angry appearance, the young man didn't care, but felt very happy.

Because only if you care will you get angry, and only if you care will you lose your temper with yourself.