Seeing the clouds

Chapter 48 Chapter 47 Scarlet
Zhang Chuo, Zheng Baiyu and Li Jingxiong were walking to Chang'an. From Wudang Mountain to now, they had ridden caravans and rode horses along the way, and finally chose to walk.

Compared with the three people's past lives, the days spent on the road were indeed boring.Fortunately, Zhang Yue had long been accustomed to this kind of ordinary life, and although Li Jingxiong, a big stone, was born in a public house, it was difficult for him to distinguish the difference between the two lives, so he felt comfortable along the way.Zheng Baiyu, on the other hand, although he was not considered pampered since he was a child in the Zheng family with a strict family tradition, the wealthy life in the prefecture was naturally unmatched by ordinary people's families.At first, Zheng Baiyu could barely eat the tasteless dry food with a little freshness. However, as time went by, it really tasted the same and became harder and harder to swallow.But when he saw Zhang Yue and Li Jingxiong's normal expressions every time they ate dry food, Zheng Baiyu didn't have the shame to complain about his dissatisfaction with the food. He could only swallow his grievance and pain together with the dry food.

Although some game can be caught occasionally, there are only a few ingredients like hare and pheasant that taste good even without seasoning. Most of the game the three of them encountered during the trip were wolves or wild boars, which were aggressive and tasted bad. Good beast.

So whenever he passed by a wine shop or restaurant in the countryside, the meat-based meals that were far from delicacies seemed to Zheng Baiyu like delicacies, whetting his appetite.

The ancients said that food is the most important thing for the people, and indeed there is some truth in it.

Naturally, Zheng Baiyu's hardships along the way were not only about food, but also the transportation of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, which also caused him great pain.

Needless to say, Zhang Chuchu has walked many miles from the Northern Xia desert to Yumen Pass, and from Yumen Pass to this day, regardless of wind and sun.And rushing on the road without stopping every day has long become a common occurrence.As for Li Jingxiong, who is known as the reincarnation of Emperor Zhenwu, he doesn't even know what tiredness is.Carrying that hundred kilograms of copper pillars, he looked like a normal person, and his physical fitness could only be described as outrageous.

This will naturally cause another hardship to our young master, the Zheng family.

Zheng Baiyu is good at everything. His only shortcoming is that he does half-hearted work and is careless.The governor and his wife had worried countless times because of his half-hearted character. On the contrary, Deng Yunfei, his mentor, didn't care. Whether it was three days of fishing and two days of netting when Zheng Baiyu was practicing, or how he behaved in the world. The whims and whims of the time did not make Deng Yunfei feel a bit like "rotten wood cannot be carved".On the contrary, Deng Yunfei would occasionally smile and comfort Zheng Yuanfu and Qin Hongwan: "Xiaoyu has just had a smooth life since he was a child. There is nothing that can make him put down everything and devote his efforts to it. But you two don't have to worry too much. Life in this world is like sailing against the current." Just retreat, Xiaoyu is still young, and he still has a long way to go." Hearing Deng Yunfei's comfort, the two of them could not say more, so they had to let things take their own course.

At this time, Zheng Baiyu encountered the first problem caused by not practicing properly: the gap between his endurance and leg strength and the other two was too big.Even though Zhang Yue was considerate of Zheng Baiyu regardless of the schedule, and would arrange a break whenever Zheng Baiyu was out of breath due to the rush, but the gap between Zheng Baiyu and the two of them could not be described as worldly.As time went by, even Zheng Baiyu, who was a rogue, was really embarrassed to delay everyone's schedule because of him.But fortunately, he was not honest enough and had the courage to join in. After a few days of desperate travel, Zheng Baiyu came up with an unlikely solution - riding on Li Jingxiong's shoulders.Anyway, he carried an eight hundred kilogram copper pillar as if nothing was wrong, and he was no worse than carrying Zheng Baiyu who weighed several dozen kilograms.

However, this kind of behavior is ugly, but it still works.Anyway, Li Jingxiong didn't mind, and Zheng Baiyu was shameless, so they hit it off right away.Zhang Chuchu, who saw such a situation, was naturally dumbfounded, but since he had no objections to either of them, he had no objections either, so the three of them started traveling eastward in such a situation.As for the robbers and bandits encountered during the journey, most of them were ordinary warriors who did not even have third-level strength. For Zhang Chuo at this time, even if he dealt with them with bare hands, such people were just wooden piles who would not fight back.

At this time, the three of them were heading east. Although they did not know the specific location, according to the map, the three of them estimated that they would reach Chang'an City in one to two days.Somehow, there were many more search and inspection checkpoints along the way than before. The level of inspection could even be described as rigorous. For a time, Zhang Yue thought that as a wanted criminal, he had inadvertently exposed his whereabouts. The temple also received news that he had returned to Daqin alive, and began to hunt him down.However, the process and details of these searches and inspections dispelled Zhang Yue's idea, because most of these searches and inspections were directed at the items that the three people brought with them, but they showed no concern for their appearance.

However, Zhang Yue's two sabers caused trouble many times. Fortunately, the three of them were able to pass with the official documents prepared by Li Jingxuan in advance and printed with the seal of the Duke of Tang.

At this time, the three of them were resting in the shade of the tree. The three of them were in different states: Zhang Yue seemed to be meditating with his eyes closed, but in fact he was nourishing his mind with his Qi. Li Jingxiong was sitting on the left side of Zhang Yue, with his head lowered and quietly holding a piece of linen cloth. Wiping the copper pillar that was almost inseparable from him, Zheng Baiyu, who had always been low energy when he was on the road, became interested at this time. Like a wild monkey, he was either rolling around on the grass or in different trees. Jumping up and down.Fortunately, among the other two people, one was very determined and was not affected by it at all. The other was at best mentally ill-informed and at worst was weak, and did not attract the slightest attention from Zheng Baiyu. force.

After a while, Zhang Yue discovered that Zheng Baiyu had no movement. This sudden silence made him a little uncomfortable, so he opened his eyes and confirmed that Zheng Baiyu's breath was not detectable around him. He sighed deeply. He didn't know that this monkey Where did he run to again? I hope he didn't run into any danger and come back quickly.Although he was a little worried in his heart, Zhang Yue naturally did not treat Zheng Baiyu as a child and got up to look around. After all, it was so easy to encounter any danger in the wilderness during the day.Even if they do encounter him, with Zheng Baiyu's physical skills, even if he can't beat him, there is no problem in running away, and the area is still relatively empty. As long as it is not too far away, Zheng Baiyu can clearly hear Zhang Yue's two calls.So after Zhang Yue thought for a moment, he stopped caring about his cousin and once again concentrated on nourishing his mind with Qi.

After a while, Zheng Baiyu trotted all the way from the south and jumped back to Zhang Yue's side. He said mysteriously: "Brother...Brother, don't sleep, there's something wrong!"

Zhang Chuchu was angry and laughing when he heard that Zheng Baiyu thought he was sleeping, so he opened his eyes and said, "If there is any situation, please tell me quickly, my young master Zheng."

Next to Zhang Yue, Li Jingxiong, who was concentrating on polishing the copper pillars, stopped holding the linen in his hand and looked at Zheng Baiyu when he heard Zhang Yue speak.After Zheng Baiyu saw that both of them were paying attention to him, he explained: "Less than two miles south from where we are, I found a military camp."

Zhang Chuchu frowned: "The military camp...is it in this barren mountain? It's a bit strange."

Zheng Baiyu nodded: "Yes, it is indeed strange. But that's not the strangest thing. In the military camp..."

Zhang Chuchu asked impatiently: "What happened in the military camp?"

Zheng Baiyu's black eyes looked at Zhang Yue and then at Li Jingxiong and said: "It seems that someone is making trouble in the military camp. I saw a red-haired man fighting with the soldiers stationed in the military camp."

This sudden information was indeed beyond Zhang Chuo's expectation, but whether it was the abnormally large number of checkpoints before, the military camp in the wilderness, and the fact that someone was making trouble in the military camp, it all told Zhang Chuo that something big was going to happen recently. occur.Could it be that someone in Liangzhou wants to rebel?But along the way, I didn't hear a single commotion.What's more, the annual Dragon Lantern Festival will be held in a few days. For such a grand festival, the security in Chang'an City and the surrounding areas must be very strict. If you do anything detrimental to the stability of the surrounding area at this time, you will undoubtedly be doing it at your own risk. If your head hits the tip of an army's gun, it will definitely be covered with blood.

Zhang Chuchu asked: "Do you know the origin of the red-haired man?"

Zheng Baiyu shook his head: "I've never seen it."

Zhang Chu nodded and asked: "Are there any influential forces in Liangzhou? For example, the Taiping Sect in the north and the Dragon Palace in the east."

Zheng Baiyu raised his eyes, recalled some things in his mind, and shook his head: "A few years ago, there seemed to be a sect called Hell that was active in the northwest area, but it was many years ago. Recently, Haven’t heard of it in years.”

Zhang Yue frowned and bit his lower lip, trying hard to connect these things, but found that he still found nothing.So he patted Zheng Baiyu, stood up and said, "No matter, let's go over and check the situation." Zheng Baiyu and Li Jingxiong also stood up in response, and the three of them rushed south.

Two miles away was not far away. In less than a stick of incense, Zheng Baiyu led the two of them to the vicinity of the military camp.At this time, the red-haired man and the soldiers in the military camp were already fighting together, but the three of them did not dare to advance rashly, so they had to hide in the dark where no one could see them, and wait and see what happened.

Zhang Yue looked at the chaotic battle in the distance and found that although the red-haired man was one against many, there was no sign of defeat in either the battle or his momentum. He showed great ease in the face of the surging encirclement and suppression by dozens of soldiers. A complete expert.Zhang Yue thought that in that kind of environment, even he might not be able to perform better than him.Zheng Baiyu said: "I don't quite understand."

Zhang Chuchu turned to him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Baiyu paused and continued: "Anyone who can cause trouble in the military camp must not be a good person no matter what the reason is. Moreover, attacking the army is a serious crime. Once it happens, the consequences will naturally be unkind. Even if the red-haired man can do it today If Jin Chan escapes from his shell, he will become a wanted criminal in the world. But he is obviously a man who has no retreat, but he did not kill the soldiers. It is really strange. Could it be that he is the son of an official from a famous family? "

Zhang Yue shook his head: "Absolutely impossible. If you think about the searches and inspections we encountered along the way, at such a critical juncture, no matter how stupid the second generation ancestor is, he would not dare to joke about the official title of an elder in the family."

Zheng Baiyu nodded and said: "Then there is only one possibility left. There are indeed forces who want to take advantage of the Dragon Lantern Festival to cause trouble."

Zhang Yue stood up and said: "Then we have to go over and help those soldiers. We can't let these thieves succeed."

Zheng Baiyu pulled Zhang Yue's hand and said doubtfully: "But cousin, what does this have to do with us? Aren't you yourself a wanted criminal in the world?"

Zhang Chuchu turned his head and looked at Zheng Baiyu, froze on the spot. After thinking about it for a while, it seemed to be the truth, but after thinking about it carefully, he always felt that something was not right.

At this time, it was Li Jingxiong who was usually taciturn and said, "But aren't your father and I both officials? Isn't it bad for us to just turn a blind eye?"

As soon as these words came out, Zheng Baiyu was stunned for a moment. Then Zhang Yueyu and Zheng Baiyu looked at Li Jingxiong at the same time. They didn't expect that what this stupid big stone said seemed to make sense.

So the two people except Li Jingxiong began to think about whether the two choices were correct, but after thinking about it, they found that neither of the two reasons seemed to be able to convince themselves.

Finally, he probably figured something out. Zhang Chuchu patted the back of his neck and said, "Why do you care so much? When we see injustice in the road, we should draw our swords to help. Let's go." Zheng Baiyu and Li Jingxiong each nodded, and the three of them He stood up and quickly rushed towards the military camp.

The red-haired boy in the military camp was currently experiencing the most exciting battle since he learned martial arts. He had no worries about thinking ahead or worries about the future.Defense, attack and counterattack, all actions are based on instinct. He is a combative person himself. This situation is undoubtedly what he enjoys and is most immersed in.But Wei You's thoughts changed rapidly when he saw the brothers Pao Ze scattered on the ground. He originally thought that the red-haired boy was just a stupid young man, so he just wanted to teach him a lesson and send him away, but the boy's strength was really beyond compare. beyond his expectation.He led the brothers from the Sishui Camp to be stationed here, and he already had official duties. If the red-haired boy was allowed to continue to act like this, once the matter was known to the superiors, the entire Sishui Camp would be in trouble, and as a The dignity of a soldier does not allow him and the Sishui camp to continue to be in such an awkward situation.So he pulled out the cold knife from his waist and ran towards the red-haired boy surrounded by robes. Taking advantage of the young man's struggle with the soldiers, he inserted it from the side, swung the cold knife and slashed hard at the young man's neck. .

Although the red-haired boy was immersed in the excitement of fighting at this time, perhaps because of his sense of crisis due to years of martial arts practice, he still felt the murderous intention brought by Wei You's sudden cold arrow.And just when the cold knife was about to cut his neck, the red-haired boy turned around and backed away with an incredible reaction, trying hard to avoid the fatal blade.But Wei You's attack did come too fast. Even if the red-haired boy dodged in an astonishing manner, there was still some red hair and blood floating in the air.

When the few surrounding soldiers saw this, they all suspended their melee fighting postures, each drew out the cold knives from their waists, and formed a siege with the red-haired boy as the center.The red-haired boy touched the blood on his cheek and was a little distracted for a moment. Suddenly a rough voice in his head stung him: "Liu Xuan!"

The red-haired boy named Liu Xuan closed his eyes in pain, holding his head with his left hand, his face twisted, as if he was trying to escape from something.

After only one breath, he opened his eyes suddenly, his scarlet eyes staring coldly at Wei You, his whole person's aura changed drastically, like a ferocious beast.

The hot sunshine covered everyone's head. Everyone looked nervously at Liu Xuan, who had become a turtle in the urn in front of them. They did not dare to relax at all. Everyone felt that this strange boy had become even more strange at this moment.

Liu Xuan moved at the next moment. He rushed towards the soldier closest to him like crazy. Before anyone could react, he kicked the soldier in the chest. The huge force forced the soldier to fall back.Liu Xuan took advantage of the victory to pursue, stepped on the wrist of the fallen soldier, took the cold knife from his hand, and then attacked the other soldiers.

Although everyone is not slack in training on weekdays, they are still new recruits who have never been on the battlefield and experienced real fighting during the Taiping years. At this moment, facing the crazy Liu Xuan, their momentum has lost a bit.Liu Xuan's rapid attack, even with more enemies and fewer enemies, made everyone more depressed and powerless. In less than a quarter of an hour, Liu Xuan chopped everyone present to the ground at the cost of his own minor injuries. Including Wei You.

Liu Xuan wiped the blood on his face and didn't look at the seriously injured soldiers around him. He just walked slowly towards Wei You who fell to the ground.

"Just...was that the sword you swung?" Liu Xuan stood in front of Wei You, looking down at Wei You with a scarlet and terrifying look in his eyes.

Wei You clutched his injured abdomen and said nothing. He stared at the red-haired boy without any sign of weakness.

"Then you go to hell." Liu Xuan raised the cold knife and swung it towards Wei You.

Wei You closed his eyes, waiting for death to come, but to his surprise, what greeted him was not the lightness of the dead man's body, but a sound similar to the collision of swords.

Heavy yet crisp.

(End of this chapter)