The Headmaster put down his fingers and looked at the boiling soup pot and the slices of meat on the chopping board that looked like snow. He said bitterly, "If I knew everything, why would I live like a stray dog?"
Eldest Brother cut the delicious mutton and thought to himself with a smile, "Teacher, when have you ever been afraid?"
The Headmaster put the bowl and chopsticks on the chopping board and rolled up his sleeves. He easily grabbed the sharp kitchen knife from Eldest Brother's hand. With a few swishing sounds, the mutton slices flew and piled up into a snowy mountain.
The mutton was cooked in the boiling soup. The Headmaster happily grabbed the food with his chopsticks and ate to his heart's content. The soup dripped down his beard. He did not even think of letting his most beloved disciple, the old yellow bull, who was eating grass on the meadow, roll its eyes at him and mooed discontentedly.
Eldest Brother smiled and shook his head at his teacher's happy expression. He wiped his hands clean and walked slowly to the withered winter tree. Looking at the blue lake not far below the meadow and the looming Horse Gang on the other side of the lake, he slowly raised his eyebrows and asked thoughtfully, "Teacher, is this the Shubi Lake of Youngest Brother?"
As time passed, some things that he didn't know would be known by some means. For example, the one who entered the Back Mountain of the Academy was not Prince Long Qing, but a little guy named Ning Que.
The Headmaster filled a bowl of mutton soup and drank it slowly. His slender eyebrows and tail seemed to be dancing in the winter wind. He looked at the nearby lake and somewhere further away and said, "He grew up in the City of Wei and became an adult in Shubi Lake."
Eldest Brother nodded and looked back at the Headmaster. He asked, "Teacher, why are we coming to the City of Wei?"
The Headmaster held the soup bowl and looked at the Horse Gang who were busy making a living by the Shubi Lake. He said, "After all, he is my student. Although we haven't met, it's on the way. Let's consider it a home visit."
Eldest Brother thought of the scene before he left the Academy in Chang 'an last spring. He thought of the Headmaster's words and the big black umbrella on the lad's back. He asked, "Teacher, did you know that Youngest Brother would become Youngest Brother?"
The Headmaster put down the soup bowl and sighed with satisfaction while touching his slightly bulging belly. He shook his head and said, "There is no such thing as fate in the world. In this case, how can I predict it?"
"Haotian can't arrange everything."
The Headmaster looked up at the clear sky of the grassland and seemed to see the trembling little boy holding a chopper in the woodshed more than a decade ago. He said with emotion, "Many years ago, I saw your Youngest Brother. At that time, I just felt that he looked like an old friend. I didn't expect that he would survive and come to me."
Eldest Brother looked at the grassland and said with some concern, "I don't know if Youngest Brother can handle going into the Wilderness alone."
The Headmaster said, "That is a difficult child. The Wilderness is his home, so he won't be too embarrassed. If he is really embarrassed, aren't you his Senior Brother?"
Eldest Senior Brother smiled and lowered his head, as gentle as the spring breeze.
…
…
The shrill sound of arrows piercing through the air was like the shrill sound of a flute, instantly tearing apart the twilight above the camp.
Because the distance was too far, when the arrow flew out of the camp, it was already crooked and slowed down. Like a drunken man, it fell to the ground in a sorry state. It didn't cause any damage, but everyone in the camp knew that the other party's whistling arrow was meant to warn or show off, so they didn't feel relaxed.
The smoke and dust in the distance of the grassland gradually dispersed, revealing more than a hundred horsemen. Vaguely, the barbarians wrapped in animal hide and cotton armor on the horses' backs were mighty and majestic. They held the reins with one hand and screamed crazily, as if they had seen a large number of prey.
The Yan Kingdom's cavalry in the camp split up to meet them. When they were a few arrows away, the grassland barbarians whistled and dispersed. They circled around the flat plains and shallow waters around the camp. They refused to approach, but also had no intention of leaving.
Ning Que was the first to find the traces of the Horse Gang. After giving a warning, he jumped off the carriage and silently led the Big Black Horse, ready to mount the saddle at any time. However, looking at the grassland barbarians whistling and wandering around, he gradually frowned. In the winter grassland, it was already a large group of Horse Gang that could gather more than a hundred elite horsemen. He didn't know when they started to target the grain delivery team, so he subconsciously looked to his side.
The young boys and girls of Black Ink Garden had lived in the Great River Kingdom in the far south for a long time. They had only heard about the ferocity and terror of the northern Horse Gang in legends. This was the first time in their lives that they had to face these grassland Horse Gang. However, all the disciples of Black Ink Garden, including Cat Girl, were silent and occasionally nervous, but absolutely not flustered. Each of them held a long handle of a thin knife in their hands and vigilantly waited for the battle to come.
At this moment, three horsemen galloped out from the north of the camp. They scattered at high speed under the last red flame twilight.
Nominally, the disciples of Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom were responsible for the grain delivery to the Left King's Palace in the grassland. However, the Yan Kingdom's cavalry, who were responsible for the safety of the grain team, didn't really obey the order. They were aloof from each other and disliked each other. However, looking at the three horsemen galloping out, Zhuo Zhihua couldn't help but praise them.
"The Yan Kingdom's general's reaction speed is not slow to decide to send a messenger to the palace in the first place."
Hearing this, Ning Que shook his head and led the Big Black Horse to her side. He said, "These barbarians who look like Horse Gang might be the cavalry of the Left King's Palace."
Zhuo Zhihua and the girls beside the carriage were shocked when they heard this.
Ning Que didn't explain. He looked at the grassland Horse Gang wandering in the wilderness and the Yan Kingdom's cavalrymen galloping out like three arrows. He said, "If we were at the frontier fortress of the Yan territory in the south, there might be a chance to send a messenger. But now that we are deep in the grassland, it is impossible for these three cavalrymen to escape."
After defeating the Yuelun Kingdom monk by the Jade Waist Lake and living together for the past few days, the girls of Great River Kingdom trusted Ning Que more and more. They subconsciously believed in his judgment. Cat Girl jumped on the carriage in shock and looked at the three Yan cavalrymen who were getting farther and farther away. Her face was full of worry.
The Yan Kingdom's general's reaction speed was not slow. But it was precisely because of this that Ning Que could no longer change the fate of the three Yan cavalrymen. Moreover, he was just an ordinary disciple of Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom.
…
…
The sun was sinking lower and lower. The light on the grassland was getting dimmer and the twilight was getting thicker. The three Yan cavalrymen were like tiny silhouettes in front of a blood-red canvas. The three cavalrymen were either shot by arrows or stopped by the horse ropes. They fell to the ground and there was no more movement.
After a while, dozens of grassland Horse Gang came from the same direction. The corpses of the three Yan cavalrymen were dragged by ropes behind the horses. From time to time, the corpses would bump into the soil on the ground. The scene was bloody and the scene was horrible.
The two groups of grassland Horse Gang gathered together and let out a burst of arrogant laughter. The so-called clamor was nothing more than this.
Ning Que had seen such scenes on the grassland many times. Back then, he had also dragged the corpse of the leader of the Horse Gang by the Shubi Lake for a week as a demonstration. Therefore, he was not moved. But for the young girls and the civilians in the grain transport team, such a tragic scene would definitely make them have nightmares every night. They could faintly hear the sound of breathing around them becoming rapid and panicky.
As for the two hundred Yan cavalrymen, they were in an uproar when they saw their comrades being killed and humiliated. They only managed to calm down under the strong suppression of their commanding officer. No one was a match for these barbarians on the grassland, at least before the Desolate Man moved south. The previous scene was proof. Therefore, even though the Yan army had the advantage in numbers and had the disciples of Black Ink Garden as the main fighting force, they could only suppress their anger and fear. They used the grain transport team to set up a simple formation and used the fastest speed to set up a defensive attack, waiting for the grassland Horse Gang to attack.
The atmosphere in the camp became unusually tense. It was the same after the dozens of Yan cavalrymen returned to the camp. This was because even if they had not seen it with their own eyes, they had heard of the savagery of the grassland Horse Gang. Especially the civilians in the grain transport team, their faces were ashen and their bodies were trembling. They could not even complete the simplest transportation work.
Unexpectedly, the grassland Horse Gang did not take advantage of the last light and the good opportunity to attack when the people in the camp were distracted. Instead, they held the reins and stopped a few arrows away, watching the people in the camp coldly. Among them, the three leaders of the Horse Gang were waving their horse whips and pointing, looking extremely arrogant.
As night fell, a bonfire was lit in the camp. The generals of the Yan army personally set up surveillance posts. The soldiers looked nervously at the pitch-black periphery of the grassland, facing the imminent danger. Almost no one could sleep peacefully, thinking that once they fell asleep, they would not wake up again. They were worried that the Horse Gang would attack at night.
Ning Que knew the behavior of the Horse Gang very well. Whether it was the real Horse Gang or the palace cavalry disguised as Horse Gang, once they got on a horse and became a thief, they would firmly follow the behavior of the Horse Gang. The Horse Gang would not choose to attack at night. He set up his small tent beside the horse carriage and prepared to have a good sleep in preparation for the bloody battle the next morning.
A gust of night wind blew, lifting the tent and the curtain of the horse carriage. His pupils shrank because he found that there was no one in the horse carriage. He did not know where the girl in white, Mo Shanshan, had gone.
He quietly climbed to the top of the horse carriage and looked at the periphery of the camp with the help of the extremely dim starlight. There was a circle of burning bonfire, and on the other side of the flame, he could vaguely see a thin figure.
On this piece of the winter plains, except for him, who had extremely sharp eyes, probably no one could see the thin figure.
Under the illumination of the fire and starlight, the thin figure's white robe seemed even thinner, as if it would float away with a blow of the night wind. It was like a ghost or a spirit, and no one knew what it was doing.
Ning Que looked at it silently, deep in thought.
Then he jumped off the horse carriage and fell asleep with his clothes on.
When the night was at its darkest, several shrill screams suddenly sounded from the southwest of the camp, as well as the wild howls of the horses. The Yan cavalry, who had been vigilant in the north, was startled and looked in that direction.
Ning Que, who was in the tent beside the horse carriage, had woken up.
He put his ear to the ground and listened for a while. Through the gap of the curtain, he saw the girl's figure cut out by the candlelight in the horse carriage. It gradually became brighter. He smiled and then closed his eyes, continuing to sleep peacefully.
In his dream, he wondered when he could write such a powerful fire talisman.
^^
(I wish everyone a happy Lantern Festival and a prosperous life. Just like this talisman, it smells so good …) If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com and vote for me. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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