National Division

The dark gray city wall in the northwest border is tall and thick, looking from a distance, it looks like a gray dragon winding on the ground, guarding the great rivers and mountains behind it.

However, the places near the border are all wastelands. Although it is already spring, grass has grown in some places, and some places are still bare. It looks like it has been gnawed by a dog. It is really not very beautiful. When some wind blows, a piece of loess will be rolled up.

Qi Jun opened the water bag and took a sip of water, and rinsed the fine sand in his mouth by the way.Here, it doesn't matter how tightly you close your mouth, you will always feel that there is something wrong between your teeth, not to mention the fine dirt on your face.Looking at the long gray dragon in front of him, he turned his head and knocked on the carriage beside him: "We're going to the Lingkou Pass."

A weak reply came from the carriage: "True or not, His Highness said this yesterday."

Qi Jun raised the curtain and looked in. Zhibai was lying in the car, and when the light came in, he raised his head weakly: "How far is it?"

Seeing his miserable appearance, Qi Jun wanted to laugh but held back, got off his horse and got into the car: "It still hurts a lot?"

With a mournful face, Zhibai raised his hand and touched his butt: "It still hurts—"

This is already the No. 15 day after the big star Jing Ziwei of the Qintian Supervisory Report.Although Zhibai scoffed at the idea of ​​"shocking Ziwei", Emperor Jing'an connected this matter with the killing in the womb a few days ago and took it seriously.Hearing that the star was likely to fall at the northwest border, he immediately planned to send imperial envoys to the northwest to look for it—of course, in name only for the purpose of escorting a batch of military salaries and inspecting the border defense by the way.

Originally, this errand was to be handed over to someone from the household department, but in the end Qi Jun took this opportunity into his hands.Considering that he was the one who successfully welcomed Xingtie back in the Southwest last time, although some people fanned the flames in their ears that the commander of the Northwest Border Pass was the father of the Crown Princess, if the Crown Prince went there, he might be happy or worried about the border army's intelligence, but Emperor Jing'an Still handed over the matter to Qi Jun.

Escorting the army's salary is not an easy job, and Qi Jun didn't plan to do anything special, so when he first left the capital, there were no carriages at all, and everyone rode horses.After walking like this for five days, Zhibai fell down—he had never ridden a horse for such a long time. Although this kid is very talented in controlling the horse, he can make the horse obedient just after getting on the horse, but his ass is not for a long time. After testing, after five days, the buttocks and thighs were all worn out, and he could no longer sit on the saddle.Qi Jun had to temporarily transfer another light carriage from the post station on the way, loaded him and some sundries into this carriage, and drove to the border.

"Since you don't know how to ride a horse, what can you do?" Qi Jun stretched out his hand and lifted up Zhibai's coat, revealing his bare legs and round buttocks. Suddenly, a smell of medicine hit his face, black and green I smeared a large piece of the ointment, and I looked really embarrassed, as if I fell somewhere and was covered in dirty mud.Qi Jun frowned in disgust, lowered his head to take a closer look, and said, "I told you to stay in the capital and wait, but you didn't listen, why bother to come out and suffer this."

Zhibai rested his head on his arm, and flattened his mouth pitifully: "Actually, I'm pretty good at handling horses, who knew the saddle is so hard..."

Qi Jun snorted, and slapped him where he didn't apply the medicine: "If you get hurt, you should have said it earlier, who told you to hold on?"

"Didn't His Highness say that the border gate is coming soon..." Zhibai muttered in a low voice, but ended up slapping him again, "Your Highness, if you hit again, you will be killed!"

"Nonsense!" Qi Jun slapped him a third time, but it was lighter each time, "It would have been nice to stay in the capital." Meaty and very interesting.

Zhibai grinned and smiled: "Your Highness came to find Xingtie for me, how can I have the heart to let His Highness run around alone."

"Slick tongue." Qi Jun smiled, and gave him a light slap, and covered him with his outer shirt, "Dignified Immortal Master Xiuming, I will embarrass you when you enter the border like this. Come on, take a good rest Come on, we are not in a hurry anyway, let's take care of your——and then talk about it."

Zhibai made a face at his back, and when he got out of the carriage, he held his chin and thought about it for a long time, finally found seven copper coins, held them solemnly for a while, and threw them out with a clatter.The seven copper coins fell on the ground in front of him, head-on or upside-down. He scratched his head and looked at it for a long time, then patted his forehead annoyedly: "Sure enough, it's the books that I hate when I'm done using them. I knew that when Master taught divination." You should study hard!" He put away the copper coins one by one, and muttered to himself distressedly, "Or is it a miscalculation? Maybe the hexagrams are not interpreted like this and I don't know, but I am here to patrol the border. Your Highness doesn't need to lead troops into battle, so there shouldn't be any disasters caused by swordsmen..."

Qi Jun didn't know that Zhibai came out of Beijing not to find Xingtie.The Mausoleum Pass is just ahead, and the officer in charge of acceptance at first thought it was just an ordinary convoy escorting food and salaries, and rode over carelessly until he heard that the young man in front of him was the current crown prince, and was so startled that he almost rolled off the saddle. Busy with the salute, he told the soldiers to go back and report to the general, so when the convoy entered the Chengguan of Lingkou, Zhao Di had already led the soldiers to greet him at the gate of the city, and the city had already arranged accommodation.

Zhibai still had injuries on his buttocks, so it was inappropriate to show up like this anyway, so he had to be packed up by Qi Jun and stuffed into a mansion in the city. The cook prepared a table of food and wine, and let him eat to his heart's content alone in the house.

Injuries on the buttocks do not prevent Zhibai from eating.It's just that the cook didn't know that he was a vegetarian. There were sixteen dishes in a banquet, and most of them were meat dishes. When Qi Jun entered the room, he saw Zhibai drooling over the meat dishes while picking the vegetarian dishes. What?"

"Why is Your Highness back?" Zhibai sat on the edge of the chair with a crooked body, "Isn't there a welcome banquet?"

"What's the wind?" Qi Jun waved his hand, "The hussar general mentioned it, but drinking is not allowed in the army, so I can't break the rules because of me, and besides, the soldiers have to watch night shifts, and they all gather together to have a feast. What does it look like? If this delays military affairs, wouldn’t it be my fault. I just had dinner with the Hussar General,” glanced at the table, “speaking of which, I’m not as comfortable as you.”

"Your Highness, eat some more?" Zhibai hurriedly greeted him, "There are a lot of dishes, and I am worried about wasting too much."

Qi Jun really didn't eat well, so he pulled a chair and sat down, seeing that the meat of chicken, duck and fish hadn't been touched, he said with a smile: "Actually, no one knows your identity, so it's okay to eat a few bites, I don't mind will speak out."

"How can this be done!" Zhibai hurriedly put down his chopsticks and clasped his hands together and recited the Buddha of Immortality, "It's a sin, a sin."

Qi Jun thought it was funny: "You Taoist priest is so deceitful, are you still afraid of sex?"

Zhibai looked serious: "This is different. Killing is no small matter, so the merit of saving lives is like building a seven-level pagoda. If you can't save lives with your own hands, then eating a vegetarian diet to reduce killing is also a merit, so..."

"So how much merit have you cultivated by throwing my highness to feed the snakes?" Qi Jun gave him a sideways glance while holding the vegetables, and immediately shut Zhibai's words back to his mouth.

"This—" Zhibai stammered for a long time, and finally smiled, "Why does Your Highness always bring up old things..."

Qi Jun laughed loudly, and gave him a chopstick of bean sprouts: "Save you don't stop talking about the scriptures, which makes me have a headache. Tomorrow, I have to go to the border with General Hussars to inspect the border. You can rest for another day and hurry up to raise your child." It hurts."

Qi Jun was in a hurry along the way, although he didn’t have to eat and sleep in the open, but most of the time he just ate dry food to satisfy his hunger. Vegetables are rare, and they can’t be made into dried dried meat to carry with him. After getting a round belly, he crawled to sleep contentedly. When he opened his eyes the next day, the sun was already high, and Qi Jun had already gone out to the military camp, leaving only two guards behind him.

After sleeping all night on the soft pillow of the high bed, Zhibai felt that his butt was almost healed. When he first came to the border, he also wanted to see the scenery of the Northland, so he asked the two guards with a smile, "I also want to go out and have a look, okay?"

Qi Jun kept these two guards just to accompany him to go out and about, so naturally he obeyed his orders, and they left the house after a little tidying up, and wandered around the city casually.

The style of the northwest is very different from that of the capital city. The passers-by in the city are quite a few wearing foreign clothes. Zhibai watched it with great interest, and wandered all the way to the bottom of the city wall, but was stopped by the sergeant guarding the city wall: "The general has an order, and the idlers wait. You are not allowed to go up the city wall, please forgive me, young master."

The two guards who followed were about to step forward to negotiate, when they saw a group of people coming down from the city wall. The leader was wearing a thin iron general armor and a red cloak. He is tall and straight in black robes, although not as burly as the general, but he has the heroic spirit of a young man, but his expression is solemn, as if he has something on his mind.Qi Jun saw him from afar, walked over with a smile on his face, and said, "Sure enough, I can't stay here. Come, I have met General Hushi."

Zhibai also guessed that this person should be Zhao Yue's father, Zhao Di, so he smiled and asked with one hand.Zhao Di was slightly taken aback, and then suddenly understood: "This is Xiuming Immortal Master? Disrespect and disrespect." As he spoke, he couldn't help but secretly glanced at Qi Jun, thinking of such a half-immortal who had lived for hundreds of years. , how to grow into this appearance, no wonder His Royal Highness is so intimate, without any sense of awe.

Zhibai didn't know what Zhao Di was thinking. In fact, he almost forgot that he had told the big lie in front of Emperor Jing'an, so he didn't realize that he already had five or six hundred years of life, so he just smiled and said to Qi Jun. Said: "Your Highness, is the scenery on the city wall good?"

Qi Jun replied solemnly: "The scenery in the north has its own flavor." In fact, it is no wonder that the scenery is good. He has stood on the top of the city for a long time, and he has already eaten a mouthful of dust, even the new robe on his body It was also stained with a light grayish yellow, knowing that this guy was obviously making fun of him on purpose when he saw his gray appearance.

Zhibai smiled and was about to speak when suddenly a red shadow flashed in the corner of the wall, and everyone turned their attention to it, only to see a hairy head protruding from the corner of the city wall, it turned out to be a big dog, its coat color was an extremely strange fiery red, Shaking his head and wagging his tail, he moved closer to the crowd.

Zhao Di was quite surprised: "Where did this dog come from?" He has been here at the border for more than half a year, and he has never seen a red dog.

The big dog sniffed everyone, then turned around and ran away wagging its tail.Qi Jun caught a glimpse of Zhibai staring at the dog, and said to the guards beside him, "Catch up and see which family raises it."

The guards responded quickly, and several accompanying sergeants ran to please His Highness, but turned around after a while, and everyone looked frustrated: "Your subordinate is slow to follow, the dog is gone."

Qi Jun couldn't help being a little surprised: "It's gone?" It only took the dog to turn around, and he ordered people to follow. The guards and sergeants moved very fast, how could they lose it?

The guards were also very puzzled: "Behind the corner is an alley with high walls on both sides and no doors. I really don't know where the dog went." They even checked whether there was a dog hole in the wall, but The dog seemed to disappear out of thin air, only three feet away from the ground.

Seeing Qi Jun's expression seemed a little displeased, Zhao Di hurriedly laughed and said, "If Your Highness likes dogs, there are many ferocious mastiffs in this pass, but the color of the one just now is a bit weird—it's impossible to tell who dyed it. Come to play, how about asking someone to find some other good ones?"

Qi Jun said this because he saw that Zhibai seemed to like the dog quite a lot, but it was not what he wanted to make people spend a lot of trouble for a dog, so he quickly declined.Zhao Di was busy with military affairs, and it was rare to spare half a day to accompany him to inspect the city defense. Qi Jun naturally understood, and after a few words, he invited him to go to the central army. The feet parted ways.

All the way back to the residence, Qi Jun saw that Zhibai was still looking thoughtful, so he rubbed his head casually, and said with a smile: "If you like that dog, you can ask the guards to inquire about it later. Red is rare, but easy to find."

Zhibai looked up at him and asked, "Your Highness, is there going to be a war?"

"What!" Qi Jun's expression changed suddenly, and he quickly turned around to look around.Fortunately, he had already entered the house at this time, and even the guards stayed outside, so no one could hear the conversation between the two of them, so he breathed a sigh of relief, stared at Zhibai and said, "How do you know? Who told you ?”

Today on the city wall, Zhao Di dismissed the soldiers around him, and said something to him. It was these words that made him still very worried when he came down from the city wall. Zhao Di said: We want to fight.

Naturally, wars are fought every year on the northwest frontier, but they are small battles where Jie slaves pretend to be bandits and enter the pass to plunder, but what Zhao Di said is a big battle.Since he came to the border, the few small battles have been fought smoothly, but he still can't hurt Jie Nu, because the cavalry that Jie Nu came to harass is no more than a few hundred, coming and going like the wind, and it is unpredictable Where will the attack be, and the frontier is where a large army is stationed, and the mobilization is not as fast as the Jienu. Therefore, although there have been many successes in the capital, Zhao Di himself understands that such an approach will take a lot of time and get half the result. If time drags on, the sergeant His vigor will also be dragged down, and he will be no different from the previous generals.

What Zhao Di meant was to take advantage of the prince's visit to inspect the border to release the news, use Qi Jun as bait to lure Jie Nu to come, and then launch an ambush.It is now March, and it looks like a beautiful spring day when the grass grows and the warbler flies, but in fact, it is a time when the border is green and yellow, and the looting of Jie slaves is becoming more and more frequent. , what is attracted may be the main force of Jie slaves.If you can make a beautiful ambush, you can hurt Jie Nu's vitality.

This plan is still only in Zhao Di's heart, and it has come out of his mouth and into Qi Jun's ears, no third person knows about it, but how did Zhibai know about it?Could it be that there are spies in the army?

Zhibai was taken aback by his sudden stern expression, and then he said in a daze: "No one told me anything, it's just - didn't His Highness see that dog today?"

Now it was Qi Jun's turn to be puzzled: "Dog?" Could there be something wrong with that big dog?

"That's a tengu." Zhibai frowned slightly, "Wherever it goes, there must be a disaster of swords and soldiers. If it appears at the border, there must be a war about to be fought. And the tengu—it's a bit ominous, if it is true If you want to fight, I am afraid that you will lose more than you win—"

Before the last word "less" was uttered, Qi Jun had already covered his mouth: "Shut up! Don't say such depressing words in the army, otherwise it will be a crime to shake the morale of the army!" The army is no better than the capital, even if he You are an immortal master, so you can't say something casually.Qi Jun thought for a while, and then repeated Zhao Di's words in a low voice.

"Using Your Highness as bait?" Zhibai was taken aback, and reached out to touch the copper coins in his sleeve, "This is absolutely impossible!"

"It's not that I really want to risk myself, it's just a search for someone to pretend. As long as you and I make a scene, pretend to go out secretly to find Xingtie--by the way, General Hussars has told me that ten days ago There is indeed a long star falling, if there is a star iron, it will be a hundred miles away from the pass, so most of Jie Nu is convinced."

Zhibai didn't listen to what he said later, took out the copper coin and threw it on the ground, stared at it for a long time and shook his head: "Your Highness, this idea is really——it doesn't matter. This hexagram is really ominous, and the soldier is already It's fierce, it's not auspicious, and it's really not suitable to do it."

Qi Jun couldn't help frowning: "But I'll see, this plan is feasible." Zhao Di's words today really moved his heart. Although Zhao Di was appointed General Hussars, because of being a foreign relative, he was criticized by the court. , if there is such a big victory, it will block the mouths of everyone on the one hand, and it will also be a great help to him on the other hand.What's more, the suspicion of the Ye family's assassination is still there at this time, which is the opportunity.If it lasts forever, and being coaxed by Concubine Ye Gui to make Emperor Jing'an turn around again, it will take a lot of extra effort, "Is your hexagram... sure to be accurate?"

"This—" Zhibai did not dare to say that he must be accurate and accurate, after all, he has not mastered the art of divination, but when Qi Jun said this, he felt ominous, "Your Highness Be careful!"

Qi Jun himself was a little undecided: "Forget it, since that's the case, you and I will go to see the Hussar General tomorrow and discuss it."