Chapter 2 Reunion (Four)

After Lushui, there is Yushui.

After the water flows, Jizhou is here.

When they arrived in Jizhou City, most of the vendors stopped and sold the goods they had to local merchants as quickly as possible. Then they purchased local specialties as quickly as possible and turned around and returned south.

Only a small number of vendors, mainly traders who do small businesses, will continue to go north, cross Yanshan, and enter the depths of the grassland. By then, they will sell no longer goods, but their own wealth and life. Due to the lack of competition among peers, they can often make three to five times higher profits in the depths of the grassland than in Jizhou. However, at least one-quarter of them every year, and there will be no news since then.

Many tribes will never pay when they can pay with a knife.

Countless horse thieves were hiding at the junction of the mountainous areas and the grasslands, staring with red eyes like hungry wolf.

As an experienced "old shopkeeper", Chai Rong certainly would not use his caravan to feed those unfulfilled wolf mouths. Therefore, after arriving in Jizhou, he handed over the caravan to his deputy Zhang Shun, who was responsible for taking off the goods, purchasing local specialties, and then taking his brothers back along the way. However, he himself only brought four of the smartest confidant soldiers, who continued to accompany Ning Ziming to the north while carefully checking the terrain and military information along the way.

Ning Ziming at least brought his brothers to the mountains to fight against bandits and knew the importance of collecting intelligence to the war. Therefore, Chai Rong did not need to send an invitation, and he took the initiative to contribute his own strength. With Chang Si, Ning Caichen and Han Chongyun's past teachings, and his own summary of his own feelings, he always picked up the missing parts and filled them out, and it was just the most critical point. Chai Rong was overjoyed, and unknowingly, he looked at his sworn brother countless times.

Of course, everyone could not do it too blatantly to see the military situation and terrain in the Liao Kingdom, nor could Han Jing notice it. Therefore, every day along the way was extremely careful. Fortunately, Han Jing's girlish thoughts had already been completely immersed in Zhao Kuangyin at this moment. Not only did they not feel that others were acting strangely, they mistakenly believed that everyone was deliberately creating opportunities for themselves and Mr. Zhao to get along alone, and their words were full of gratitude.

This beautiful misunderstanding made Ning Ziming extremely embarrassed. Whenever he had contacted Han Jing, he wanted to run to a place where no one was left, and immediately dig a pit to bury himself.

He can now chop people's heads with a flying axe without hesitation, set traps for his opponent without hesitation, and push the enemy to the dead end without hesitation; but he can't help but feel guilty by taking advantage of a girl's simplicity and infatuation with this kind of guilt. However, he can't find anyone to relieve this guilt. Chai Rong did this so that the Han army can go north to recover Yan Yun in the future, and the reason is open and upright. Zhao Kuangyin is now more embarrassed than anyone else, and he doesn't make things clear. At least the two brothers can continue to pretend to be nothing. Once they say things out, no matter what choice they make, it will be a dilemma.

"The broken city wall in front is Lu Longsai. After leaving Lu Long, the mission of this trip was completely completed!" As everyone's elder brother, Chai Rong clearly felt the abnormality of the two sworn brothers. When he was camping at night, he came to Ning Ziming and told in a low voice.

"Where?" Ning Ziming looked up in surprise. Sure enough, on the top of the mountain not far away, he saw a towering Great Wall. It has been abandoned for many years. Most of the enemy buildings have collapsed, and the walls made of earth and stone were filled with gaps everywhere. The wide part was enough to run four or five carriages side by side. Even with the narrow gap, it was more than enough to walk past a strong man with a sideways.

"This Great Wall was built by Meng Tian during the Qin Dynasty and was rebuilt in the early years of the Sui Dynasty. The so-called "Longcheng Flying Generals" who did not teach Hu horses to cross Yinshan would refer to this city!" Chai Rong's knowledge was very profound. With just a few words, he explained the entire historical evolution of Lu Longsai.

"Is the flying general in Longcheng Li Guang?" Ning Ziming had a cold war and stared at the incomplete ancient Great Wall again. He felt a sense of vicissitudes of history.

He rode alone to shoot a tiger, arrows without stone edges, and retreated the enemy without triggering it. He was in charge of Youbeiping for several years and did not dare to go south to herd horses. In the end, he could not bear the power to fight and angrily and untied his sword. All the allusions are all about the same person, and the image of a general created by the same person is almost perfect. (Note 1)

"That's right!" Facing the towering Great Wall, Chai Rong was also full of passion. "It's a pity that the Han Dynasty had just experienced the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms. It was not strong enough to be a hero in vain! Otherwise, it would lead the army alone in his prime. The Han Dynasty's martial arts were more than just Fenglangjuxu?"

"Then, that's of course!" Ning Ziming felt aroused when he was said, and he stood up straight with his hand pressed on the steel whip and whispered. "General Li is extremely brave and his military strategy is not inferior to Wei Huo. That's right, he was unfortunately born in the wrong era!"

Speaking of this, he suddenly felt a sense of confusion in his heart. It was not just Li Guang who had born in the wrong era. For example, if his second brother Zhao Kuangyin was born in the prosperous Kaiyuan period, he would probably be a famous gossip. And his eldest brother Chai Rong, with his ability and wisdom, would not lose to Tao Zhugong and Fan Li, whether he was doing business or being an official. As for himself, whether he was a Xiaoyao Prince or a confused bandit, he might have lived well.

Just as she was thinking with emotion, Chai Rong's slightly hoarse voice came from his ears. It was a little bitter, but more of a heroic spirit, "You have been unhappy these days, so I am the same for my brother. I never thought of using a woman to serve as a shield for myself, but I can't miss this opportunity to investigate the reality of the Khitans just because she followed her. The adoptive father had two wishes in his life, one was to end the troubled times, and the other was to recover Yan Yun. I am his son, and I can't stay out of it!"

"This..." Ning Ziming quickly turned his head and glanced at Han Jing, still feeling a little guilty.

When he woke up from a coma last year, he forgot about the past. For a long time since then, he completely regarded himself as a small bandit. He had no idea about national hatred and family hatred, or Khitan Central Plains. Until one day, someone forced himself to put the identity of a second prince on his head.

Therefore, deep in his heart, Ning Ziming always feels alienated from the outside world. He is completely different from Chai Rong, who has long regarded reorganizing the rivers and mountains and regaining Yan Yun as his own responsibility for this life.

"Before this, I had already made a thrust!" Seeing Ning Ziming's performance in his eyes, Chai Rong sighed softly and added in a low voice, "I just wanted to make more money that time, so I went from Tanzhou to Shangjing. I originally thought that I could appreciate the prosperity of the foreign land, but I didn't expect..."

A trace of gray flashed quickly in his eyes, and then he became extremely firm. "I didn't expect that I could not see a complete city along the way. Along the way, there were horse thieves everywhere, and dead bones everywhere. Kumoxi, the Jun tribes, Turks, Tiel, Sumo, all these legendary tribes disappeared. It turned out that the place where they rested was only piles of smoke and ashes. According to the confession of the horse thief I caught, there has always been a rule on the grassland that the winner took everything, including the life of the loser. If a tribe unfortunately defeated, all men above the wheel height would be cut off their heads..."

His voice was very low and his language was not organized very clearly. However, the picture described made Ning Ziming's hair stand upside down.

In the seventy years from the Huang Chao Rebellion to the failure of the Khitan's southern invasion, not only were the wars in the Central Plains. Outside the Great Wall, there were also continuous catastrophes. Uighurs, Turks, Shiwei, Khitan, Xi, and Mohe, dozens of ethnic groups and nearly a thousand tribes, attacked, encroached, and integrated on the vast land, and the heads were rolling around almost every day.

The winner takes everything, the loser has nothing, including life. All men above the wheels are slaughtered, and everything that can be taken away is loaded on a carriage. Everything that cannot be taken away is burned.

The city was burned down and the fortress was flattened. Countless classics and texts left by predecessors were thrown into the fire like nothing.

The rules on the grassland have always been simple.

It's extremely simple.

The Xi tribe, known for its skillfulness, disappeared. The Wu people, who were known for their ability to sing and dance, were completely cut off. The Turks and Uighurs moved westwards with the wealth they had stolen. Most of the once prosperous Marines died under the knife, and a small number escaped into the mountains and forests, and completely transformed into savages...

Tens of nations disappeared, and hundreds of tribes completely turned into ruins. When the Khitans finally gained the absolute advantage in fighting and began to re-establish order under the leadership of Yelu Abaoji, there was no longer a wall north of Tanzhou and westward to Yingzhou.

The Xi tribe, known for its skillfulness, disappeared. The Wu people, who have always been known for their ability to sing and dance, were completely cut off. The Turks and Uighurs moved westward with the stolen wealth.

The Khitans also regarded looting as a way to create wealth. When there was no way to rob outside the border, they would inevitably turn their attention to the south.

If it doesn't work once, it will come for the second time.

This is their best way of survival and will never give up easily.

"The tiger and wolf are on the side. You and my brother were born as men, and they were lucky enough to learn martial arts. You can't just marry a few more women and eat a few more bowls of wine and meat?" Chai Rong's voice continued, firm and clear. It seemed as if he was trying to win his approval, and it seemed that he was talking about his ambition, "If the Central Plains want long-term stability, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun must be brought back. Only by taking back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun can we rebuild the barriers and completely block the Khitans, Jurchens, Shiwei people, and all the Hu tribes who do not do anything for childbirth and only know how to rob. Otherwise, no matter who becomes the emperor, the Central Plains will never have peace! Your descendants and descendants will not be able to rest day and night!"
Chapter completed!