Whoever is poor and who will be sure of the good and the bad? Success or failure is self-aware; suddenly he shouts on the head, and when he looks back, he sees no trace.

Qi Mei'er saw that the leaves of the trees in the mountains were green, and the grass under the trees was green, and knew that the snow in the mountain pass had melted, and it was time to leave. I don't want to give up this mountain pond that has lived for more than half a year, more than 100 days and nights of practicing martial arts by the pond, and the ignorant teenager, I don't know whether he has affection for himself or not, this kid is courteous to Qi Meier everywhere, and he will never cross the thunder pond half a step, not like a twenty-year-old market boy, more like a Shuoru who reads poetry and books as calm. But she didn't know that when Ma Hoof was in her hometown, she was taught every day: Don't look at indecent things, don't listen to indecent people, and don't say anything indecent about it! His master, Ma Wangsun, had thousands of child servants in his family, and men and women were mixed with such and such problems, and he was very strict with the slaves. When the horse's hooves are seen more, they have immunity, and for women, they would rather think in their hearts than dare to look at it or say more. Although this Qi Meier is a woman of different races in the West, the young men and women in their clan often begin to fall in love around the bonfire, in the mountains, and in the pasture when they are teenagers, and she is accustomed to seeing the enthusiastic duets of her childhood companions. She felt that she had to find a man who could make her heart flutter, a man who was brave and brave, a man who was heroic, and a man who was extremely intelligent, so that she could live with her and fly with her wings. Her parents have urged her many times, laughing at her naïve thoughts, where is there such a perfect man, and she happened to meet him?

The two of them were thinking about their own thoughts, and they didn't dare to break the barrier, just thinking about how to leave, and both of them were waiting for that day to come.

It was another full moon night, and in between the exercises, in fact, even if they didn't practice now, they no longer felt the cold and heat unbearable, but they were afraid of the embarrassment of the two of them sitting idle, looking at each other speechlessly, so the two of them continued to practice. Qi Mei'er plucked up the courage and asked, "What are your plans?"

Ma Hu thought for a moment, "I, I should go to Shan Yuting to see the angel." ”

"And then?"

"And see if you can rescue the angel and protect the angel to the West Pole. ”

"You don't have any plans for yourself?"

The horse's hooves scratched his scalp, "What can I do myself?" He peeked at Qi Mei'er, her face was red and white, after more than half a year of practicing Mochizuki Gong, her figure was more slender, her face was more delicate, and her voice was more charming. The horseshoe swallowed his spittle, reproaching himself for not having indecent thoughts, not having dirty thoughts, or as the steward once taught, "Don't see, don't speak, don't listen, don't move." "And one more sentence: don't think about indecent things.

Qi Mei'er already knew his life experience, knew that he didn't dare to confess to himself, took his hand, his hands were cold, his palms were full of sweat, looked at him affectionately, and said, "Can you not think about anything else-----?"

The horse's hoof was surprised and delighted, could she be interested in herself? He was bold, raised his head, looked at her beautiful face in the light of the fire, and raised her hand to her mouth, she was not angry, and her eyes were full of smiles. He was emboldened, and she meekly moved closer to him. The horse's hooves hugged her, looked at the red cherry lips, and couldn't help but bow their heads and kiss her. Qi Mei'er seemed to melt and stuck to his arms. The moon was shining on the head, and the wind and waves of the mountains and forests covered the roar of beasts in the distance, and the murmur of a few grass and insects.

It was dawn, the two of them put out the fire, packed up their belongings, and went down the mountain together, Qi Mei'er was eager to return to her tribe, she didn't know what it was like to be in her clan now. They had just reached the foot of the mountain, and a group of men and horses galloped from afar, hunting banners, whistling horses, and vigorous knights. The two hid in the bushes, looking out, a sheep's head on a large white flag, staring mightily into the distance, and two big horns piercing the sky. Qi Mei'er was overjoyed: "This is my people! They are coming for me!" The horse's hooves were like falling clouds, this day, this moment, finally arrived, she, Queen Xiqiang, was finally going to return to her palace and accept the worship of her subjects. Can he, an illegitimate child, a slave, a prisoner, a Han Chinese exiled to the grassland, follow her back to her palace?

Qi Mei'er pulled him out of the bushes and shouted, "I'm here!" The group of men and horses roared up, and the people on the horses jumped off their horses from afar, and Qi Mei'er threw away the hands of the horses' hooves, and galloped into the crowd, and they laughed and jumped together. The horse's hoof watched quietly, and he was happy for her.

Qi Mei'er remembered something, pushed away the crowd, ran over and took the horse's hand, and returned to the crowd, this group of people were men and women, old and young, they were all looking at the horse's hooves, the horse's hooves felt that they must be very vulgar, he wanted to tidy up the tattered clothes on his body, how could he cover a hole, other holes were bigger, he heard their laughter, and knew that they were laughing at themselves. He felt embarrassed, his face was red with a cloth, and his back was sweating. He didn't hear a word of what Qi Mei'er said. A group of people saluted him one after another, Qi Mei'er took his hand and asked him to return the salute, he arched mechanically, feeling unprecedented embarrassment. Qi Mei'er didn't expect him to be so restrained, and couldn't help frowning, thinking that he might be the first time he saw a big scene, and he would slowly get used to it in the future.

Someone took out the robe of the Xiqiang warrior and put it on the horse's hooves, and some people led the horses, Qi Mei'er was a jujube red horse that was shiny and shining in the sun, and the horse's hooves were a variegated horse, which was also a steed. The horseshoe followed them, and Qi Mei'er was surrounded by people wearing mink fur hats and multicolored feathers on their heads, and wearing elaborate leather robes, and walked with joy and joy.

Along the way, the clansmen told Qi Mei'er that they had been looking for her after her disappearance, and that most of the warriors she had brought to protect her had died under the swords of the Huns, and only two or three had escaped by narrowly, but they were also seriously wounded, and they could not tell where the queen had gone, but they certainly did not fall into the hands of the Huns. They also went to the various royal courts of the Xiongnu to investigate, but did not say that they had captured the king of Qiang. Then some people said that they might have fled into Qilian Mountain, and they were greatly relieved that Qilian Mountain was their ancestral mountain, and when the queen arrived on the mountain, it was equivalent to returning home. It's just that he didn't wait for the queen to come home. How did they know that the queen was seriously injured? Then there was heavy snow on the mountain, and there was no news of the queen for months. When the snow melts away, the minister of state sends people around to search for the queen again, and if the queen does not return to the clan in time, there may be a big change in their clan immediately. Qi Mei'er listened and felt afraid.

When they arrived at the station, the Qiang flute, horn, pipa, and basket made loud noises, and more people came to greet their queen. Then there were groups of samurai, nobles, and noblewomen who saluted the king of Qimei. Qi Mei'er was full of energy, and waved frequently on the horse, but he didn't get off the horse. Her horse had passed, and the nobles dared to mount their horses, followed her, and returned to the camp.

A man with white hair gave an order, slaughtered cattle and sheep in the open space of the camp, put wine jars and wine bags on the table, and after a while, the smell of meat and wine hit his face. Qi Mei'er sat on a high platform, she was full of pride, in the days when she would no longer be in the clan for a year, she thought countless times that there would be no one plotting against her, and now it seems that she is too worried, and the subjects still love her.

The man with white beard, Ma Hoof heard that he was the minister of Xiqiang, and he was the loyal subordinate of Qi Meier's father and the old prince, and he was also loyal to Qi Meier. He took the lead in raising a glass to congratulate the queen on her successful escape, and everyone followed loudly to congratulate, and cheers rang out at the foot of Qilian Mountain. After the prime minister toasted, according to the size of their official positions, they stepped forward to toast Qi Mei'er, everyone toasted, Qi Mei'er drank, and her subjects all applauded loudly. Qi Mei'er was a good drinker, and he drank more than a dozen glasses in a row, his face was red and bright, and he was like a flower, still sitting upright, not showing drunkenness. The horse's hooves looked at him from afar, his heart was sour, but he didn't know what to do, where he was sitting, several Xiqiang strong men ate and drank violently, cut off large pieces of meat with a short knife in their right hand, and held a wine bowl in their left hand, high-spirited, pushing the cup and changing the lamp, talking about some romantic affairs at night, and their eyes slanted at the horseshoe and the horse away from the smoke, with contempt. Seeing that no one paid attention to him, the horse-hoofed horse was angry, picked up a big bowl of wine and drank two sips, but he was in a hurry, choking on a cough, those strong men daxiao, they didn't expect that this Han man not only looked weak, but also drank so unmanly. Ma Liyan barely drank a big bowl of wine, he didn't like to drink in the first place, he couldn't tolerate alcohol, and he was already groggy at this time. He stood up and staggered back to the tent under the arrangement, and a man secretly stretched out his legs, and the horse's hooves and a dog ate, and threw himself on the ground, and everyone hahadaxiao. The horse's hooves wanted to jump up and fight with people, but he was heavy, he slowly got up, at this time the prime minister came over, reprimanded a few young people for messing around, stepped forward to hold the horse's hooves, and the horse's hooves fell their hands, just "snapping" on the prime minister's face. Everyone was in an uproar and scolded one after another, and the minister waved his hand to appease everyone, but his face was not scared, and the horse's hooves stood in a daze, not knowing what to do. Qi Mei'er saw the chaos here, concerned about the horse's hooves being despised by others, hurriedly got off the high platform, and came to the front, someone with sharp eyes and vinegar to tell the rudeness of the horse's hooves, not only with the young warriors in the clan, but also waved his hand to hit the kind-hearted prime minister. Qi Mei'er's face was gloomy, but it was inconvenient to blame the horse's hooves, so he asked him to take him back to the tent to rest first.

The horses' hooves were whistling and they were brought back to the tabernacle, and the man departed. The horse's hooves fell on the cushion, feeling that he had come to this Xiqiang country for no reason, and fell asleep in self-pity in a daze by people's unwarranted idleness. I don't know when, when I heard Qi Mei'er's voice, he rubbed his eyes, Qi Mei'er looked at him with a smile, his body was full of wine, and his eyebrows and eyes were like flowers. As soon as Ma Hu wanted to step forward and hug her, he caught a glimpse of two other women next to him, staring at him, and immediately put away his lust.

Qi Mei'er smiled: "Why are you so drunk? I get drunk like this after drinking a little bit!"

Horseshoe remembered the situation at that time, felt uncomfortable, and said: "You are very drunk and proud!

Qi Mei'er let the two maids go, stepped forward to hug his shoulders, and said with a smile: "Are you blaming me?" Alas, you have also seen that they are so enthusiastic, I have not seen them for so long, and I feel very guilty in my heart! A few glasses of wine are their hearts, and drinking them is my heart. In the future, there will inevitably be some bumps and bumps between young people in the clan, and they will be courteous to you when they see me; Okay, okay?"

The horse's hooves were anxious: "Well, I said, what do you mean? What do they look at your face, and give way? What's wrong with me? When did I lose my temper?"

Qi Mei'er smiled: "Aren't you just losing your temper now!"

"You don't think I'm worthy of your status as a queen, do you? What can you say, I was taught by my mother when I was a child, and I should be respected by nobles, and then I was constantly taught how to eat, how to drink, how to walk, how to sleep, how to do this, how to do that!

Qi Mei'er said, "No one wants to teach you a lesson." I'm just reminding you that the rules of your Han land and the Central Plains are your rules, and we in Xiqiang have the feelings of our Xiqiang people. Why is it wrong for us to live in harmony?"

It's just that I've always been kind to people, but I also want people to be kind to me!"

"Alright. Do not say. Hurry up and go to sleep. It's been a long time since I've slept peacefully in the tabernacle. Qi Mei'er calmed down, ended the war of words and left his tent.

The horse's hooves tossed and turned and he couldn't sleep, so he got up and went out of the tent, and saw that the moon was as bright as water, and the blue sky was deep, and a great star was shining in the northern sky. Dozens of bonfires are still burning in the camp, and people are drinking, dancing and singing next to them. The horseshoe crept up to a campfire, but it was a man and a woman making love. Hurried away, and came to another campfire, where several samurai drank and blew the air, one said that he had beaten a tiger, and the other said that he had knocked down a black bear. One of them suddenly said, "The man that the queen has captured is like a girl! I don't know if the queen is? One said, "Be careful! Let the queen hear it, she will lose her temper!"

One of them said: "How can it be her turn now! Prince Jincheng is the one who is really in charge!"

Several people hurriedly stopped him from talking, "Don't talk nonsense! The horseshoe was taken aback, it seemed that Qi Mei'er was a little too optimistic, and she was afraid that a big change was brewing around her. Although he did not despise the claims of a few people, he did not dare to attack, and quietly retreated to the tabernacle.

In the morning, Qi Mei'er ordered the village to set off and return to their royal court. Along the way, Qi Mei'er kept discussing with the elders and nobles in the clan, and Ma Hoof always saw her frowning slightly, showing an unhappy look. Know that there is no haode message.

He felt like he should do something, and his chest was full of liliang. He walked down the mountain nostalgically, and the patrolling Xiqiang guards saw him walking around in the dark and greeted him, and he nodded. Recognize the direction and head north.

On the third day, a fast horse broke into the camp, and a knight drenched in sweat reported that "the western pastures have been seized by Ruoqiang! The herdsmen have been killed and the cattle have been robbed!"

Qi Mei'er was furious, causing people to blow the horn and gather people to discuss things. There was no big tent, they sat on the floor, with Qi Mei'er sitting in the middle, and the elders sitting around.

The minister of state was the first to speak: "This Ruoqiang has repeatedly deceived me, it is really hateful! It's just that, after all, they are also a branch of my Xiqiang, and it is best to reconcile, so don't use the sword and soldiers and hurt the friendship of our kindred race." ”

An elder named Changhei, who was younger, said angrily: "What do you say? What do you say about the friendship of the same clan everywhere? How can others think of the friendship of the same clan to you! In the past few years, you have always said that you are in harmony, but you have always been robbed of pasture, livestock, and population! He didn't dare to say the words "the queen is too weak", but the meaning was already obvious. Qi Mei'er's face changed, some people said how Jincheng was in the past two days, she always couldn't believe that the tall and mighty cousin, the cousin who always circled her and made her happy, would have any other ideas. She forced herself to calm down and said, "Elder Changhei, what if it depends on you?"

Chang Hei said: "If it is up to me, I will immediately send troops to exterminate Ruoqiang!"

Someone teased: "If you send troops, it must be Elder Changhei who commands the troops!" This Changhei just followed Jincheng to show off his might, but he didn't have many skills, he usually looked at the martial arts, once he went into battle, he ran fast. Chang Hei Nene said: "Me, of course I can, but I think it is still appropriate for Prince Jincheng." His martial arts and his bravery are obvious to all! Say that he is the first warrior of Xiqiang, no one has an opinion! Even on the prairie, he is also a first-class hero, and that year he fought with the king of Yanqi of the Xiongnu, and all of them fought against the prince of Jincheng, so that we did not destroy the whole clan!" Everyone nodded, knowing that what he said made sense. The minister said: "Prince Jincheng is certainly a famous warrior in Xiqiang, and the queen has just returned home, so let's think about it in the long run." He couldn't say anything against it, he just felt that it was inappropriate to let Jincheng command the army, but he couldn't say how inappropriate.

Qi Mei'er saw that the young elders and warriors advocated fighting, and the older elders had a serious attitude, and she couldn't make up her mind for a while. The order continued to inquire about the news, while urging to hurry up and howl. Fortunately, the minister of state led people to look for her, and all she brought was light horses, and she traveled quickly.

They finally returned to the royal court, a tent on the hillside, hidden between the green mountains and green waters, the outside of the royal court stone wall more than a foot high, on the banner is already waving, the city gate is wide open, countless knights, people poured out, all kinds of Xiqiang musical instruments sounded, stirring up the birds and beasts in the distant woods.

With tears in her eyes, Qi Mei'er entered the royal court amid the cheers of the people. Coming to her tent and dismounting, a tall warrior took the reins of her horse and handed it to the guards behind her. This person has not left Qi Mei'er's left and right from outside the city, looking at his affection for Qi Mei'er, the horse's hooves are sour. just knew that that person was Prince Jincheng, and knew that he might harbor evil intentions, so he forbears in his heart and wants to protect Qi Mei'er secretly.

Now the horseshoe was also dressed in the clothes of the elders of their clan, although it was disdain in the eyes of others, and the horse's hooves swallowed it all for the sake of raising their eyebrows. In the past few days, Qi Meier only talked to him at night when she was sleeping, in order not to let people talk nonsense, she always simply asked the horse's hooves, and she was always accompanied by maids. Horseshoe knew her hardships as a queen, and did not quarrel with her anymore. The minister of state led the horse's hooves and also came to the big tent, which can accommodate hundreds of people to discuss matters. The prime minister asked the horseshoe to stand beside the samurai and walked to Qi Mei'er himself.

The tall young man, Prince Jincheng smiled and said to Qi Mei'er: "Queen Bixia, these days, but you have suffered! Do you want to rest now, or discuss state affairs? I don't think there is anything important, or do you rest first? We will discuss it tomorrow, how about it?" Qi Mei'er was secretly surprised if someone was deliberately stirring up trouble among them.

Qi Mei'er said: "What's going on in the grassland in the west? Let's talk about it." Cousin, you are left behind, it should be clear. ”

"That's fine. Prince Jincheng was still smiling and said, "At the beginning of spring this year, some people said that Ruoqiang had driven the cattle to the pastures where we often graze. At that time, the grass had not grown yet, and I didn't care. At that time, everyone was mainly worried about the safety of Queen Bixia, and they didn't bother to care about the affairs of a few shepherds. In the summer, the shepherds on both sides began to fight each other, shooting each other's cattle and burning each other's tents. Things are getting bigger and bigger. I sent to see it, and it was just a valley with three or five shepherds there. ”

Qi Mei'er was a little relieved, "Weishenme hasn't calmed down yet?"

"Their elders did not want to suffer, so they sent men to steal the enemy's cattle, probably dozens of horses, thousands of cattle, more than thirty camels, and thousands of sheep. And dozens of women and children!"

When Qi Mei'er heard this, she knew that she was going to suffer, it was originally just a matter of fighting for grassland, but now it has become a war.

"This elder did not inform him, so he sent troops without authorization, which provoked the anger of the other party, sent more than 500 knights, and heard that he would borrow a thousand troops from the Huns, and captured the elder and them all, and all the items we got were taken away. Now the Huns have also arrived. We have discussed, we can't stop there, we must send troops, otherwise we will be laughed at by the tribes on the grassland!"

Qi Mei'er didn't expect the Huns to be involved, and the painful experience of this time in the Lin Conference made her reacquaint herself with the Huns, and she couldn't fight with them, she had to outwit them. "You're saying that the other party has fifteen hundred knights now?"

"Yes. ”

"How many knights do we have now?"

"There are less than three thousand people who can get on the horse. ”

"It seems that the enemy is strong and I am weak. Of the 3,000 people, the royal court will leave 1,000 people to guard, and the remaining 2,000 will have to fight against each other on the grassland, and the other side is a warrior who can fight in battle, but these 2,000 people are many teenagers who have never been on the battlefield!

Jin Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "Twenty percent is not either!" Although in the big tent, many young samurai are eager for revenge and have not dared to move, but they know that the shili of both sides is clearly displayed, although the other party is small in number, it is a real warrior, and although there are many people on their side, they are civilians. If the other party fights and arrives at the royal court, it will naturally be the same enemy, and the whole country will kill the enemy.

There was a lot of discussion in the big tent, but now there was silence, and no one spoke. Qi Mei'er looked around, everyone was worried, only the horse's hooves were silent, calm, for the big things in their clan, he couldn't interject, and he didn't understand, he just cared about Qi Mei'er, as long as no one was unfavorable to her, nothing else had anything to do with him.

Prince Jincheng looked at the horse's hooves, as if he had suddenly found him, and said: "This brother is following Bixia?Brother?" It turned out that after seeing the clansmen, Qi Mei'er just said that she was recuperating in the mountains, and did not say much about her and the horses' hooves. What will happen to two young men and women who have been together for a few months or more than half a year? Everyone saw the two of them coming out of the mountains, both in rags, and no one believed them when they said they had nothing to do with each other!

"Horseshoe horses out of the smoke! The horseshoe replied. Ma Hu didn't know how much Qi Mei'er had said to their clansmen, but he did his own thing and didn't want to say more.

"Brother Ma is from the Central Plains, what should you Central Plains people do when you encounter such a thing?" someone asked.

The horses' hooves have been listening to them for a long time, and it seems that on their border, several families are fighting with people from other countries, and they are fighting for something. "We are like this, like the Huns, who have to rob people, grain, and so on every year, and they don't say that they often fight. ”

Everyone knew that the horseshoe was telling the truth, and the Xiongnu also robbed them every year, robbing much more people and livestock than Ruoqiang, but they were not angry. Everyone was silent.

Jin Cheng glanced at an elder, this man was in his forties, his sideburns were already gray, and he said slowly: "For the Xiongnu, even the emperors of China are mainly peaceful! This is due to national strength, the Huns are good at riding and shooting, and the Chinese are fighting on foot, for this reason, China has many cities. As long as the walls are clear, the Xiongnu knights will return empty-handed, and they will not be able to cause much damage to China, and the Huns will not be able to graze their horses in the Great Wall! In the same way, the Han Dynasty sent troops to defeat the Xiongnu, and they could not cultivate in the desert outside the Great Wall. The two sides are good at defending and attacking, and Zuihou's gains and losses are basically balanced. Moreover, the Xiongnu and Han dynasties were both big countries, and the area was so vast that no one could eat anyone. Let's try to look at the same thing, it happened between Xiqiang and Ruoqiang, this year we lost a valley, how many herdsmen, next year? How many valleys do we have to lose? How many more herdsmen can we lose?" The implication is very obvious, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu get along, suffer some losses, and can not reach the situation of the country, but it is the loss of some children every year; Everyone understood and shouted, "Oh, it's so dangerous! We are still lucky, thinking that it is just a grassland, but we didn't expect anything else, it is our survival home! The cries of "drive the enemy out!" and "drive the enemy out!" spread from the big tent to the outside, and everywhere there were cries of "drive the enemy out."

Qi Mei'er also made up her mind to fight to the death against the invaders. The people took counsel as to who would lead the army to drive out the enemy. Chang Hei and Ke Nengyun advocated that a brave warrior who could serve the people lead the whole clan of warriors to fight the enemy, although they did not say that Prince Jincheng should lead the troops, everyone knew what they meant, and most of them echoed the voice; the minister and a few elders suggested that it would be better for the queen to lead the troops herself.

Ke Nengyun said: "It's not that the queen is not a warrior, our queen's wisdom and bravery are all first-class." It's just that, firstly, the queen Bixia has just experienced the life and death of the Xiongnu, and she has only returned to the royal court, and she has not had a good rest; second, this battle is related to the life and death of my Xiqiang clan! If Bixia commands the army, then she can only win, not lose. If there is a mistake, there is no room for manoeuvre. Others are different, with Bixia in the royal court, even if there is some bad pool ahead, it can stabilize people's hearts. "It's both reasonable and reasonable, and people can't find fault. The prime minister has nothing to say, Qi Mei'er naturally can't say anything, and besides, he is the commander of Jincheng, after all, he is his cousin, and there is no doubt about employing people. He ordered the right prince Jincheng to command 2,000 elite warriors and go to the border to recover the lost territory.

Jin Cheng did not stop, and took Ke Nengyun, Chang Hei and many warriors on horseback to go on horseback, and Qi Mei'er took the remaining old and young women and children to see them off. Needless to say, the warm and touching scene was not to mention.

Returning to the big tent, the minister of state said worriedly: "Since Bixia disappeared, there have been constant proposals for Prince Jincheng to take over the throne. It's just that I am here, and I didn't hand over the soldiers and horses to him, so he didn't succeed. Now that he has obtained the military power, the future is worrying!" Several older elders felt that it was the national minister who was disturbing him, and Qi Mei'er did not believe that Jincheng would betray her.

News kept coming: the two sides were engaged, a small battle was fought, each side was victorious, and the two sides were in a stalemate. Then there was no news for several days.

Once again, the news came that the Xiqiang knights had been defeated! They had been ambushed by the enemy, and many of them had been killed. The whole royal court fell into sorrow and fear. Many were already preparing to flee into the mountains with their possessions or join the Xiongnu. There was chaos in the royal court.

Seeing all the green mountains and refusing to live, there are still people in the depths of the stratus clouds, and there are no people in the deepest depths, and there are no clouds and no one and no oneself.