comeback [rebirth]

After hurrying away all morning, the two stopped in front of an inn.

Xiao Er immediately came up to greet him: "You two guest officers, do you want to stay at the hotel if you are a top player?"

"Tip."

The people who came and went from south to north have seen a lot, Xiaoer can tell that they are extraordinary identities by looking at their clothes, and said more earnestly: "Oh, good! I will go and prepare a private seat for the two adults."

"Don't be so troublesome." Cen Yuan said, "Any table in the lobby is fine. By the way, help feed the horses. You need high-quality fodder. They are more expensive than us."

As if in response to his words, the two horses brazenly honked twice.

Hearing the words, Xiao Er immediately called for the servant, gave a few instructions, and asked them to lead the horse away one by one, and then turned to the two of them: "The two of you, this way please."

Yan Xuan looked away from Cen Yuan's white horse and asked, "Does that horse have a name?"

"Yes." Cen Yuan said, "'Jianwen' matches Ge Ying quite well."

Yan Xuan lowered his head and pondered for a moment, but soon realized some of the connections, couldn't help laughing, and asked, "Why did you choose such a name?"

Cen Yuan stretched out a finger and tapped on the sword at his waist: "Don't you think the pattern on its body is very similar to Mingyu Sword?"

Hearing this, Yan Xuan took another look back at the last moment before entering the inn.

——The horse is all white, but there are several slender gray patterns on the horse's belly. At first glance, it looks like the unique patterns on jade.

"It does look a bit like it." Yan Xuan responded, and then remembered something, "Is that the horse I gave you last time?"

"Yes." Cen Yuan said, "You can still remember."

The last time Yan Xuan came to the prince's mansion to give a betrothal gift, it was impossible to bring all the horses directly, so they were all sent to the horse farm that Cen Yuan bought privately to raise horses for fun.Later, Cen Yuan went over to take a look, good guys, the number was nearly half a hundred, the racecourse could hardly be filled, and all the horses were elite breeds.

But since they have all been sent, it is impossible for Cen Yuan to send someone to send them back, so let them take care of them first.It wasn't until he needed a horse on his wedding day that he realized that he didn't have a regular horse, so he went to the racecourse to pick the most pleasing one.

Yan Xuan gave a soft "hmm" and said, "I picked these out one by one, and they were trained in the Yan family's horse farm—"

"You—" Cen Yuan thumped when he heard that, of course he knew what kind of horses were bred in the Yan family's racecourse. me??"

"..." Yan Xuan sighed helplessly, and continued the previous words: "The defective products that have been eliminated."

"You're trying to scare me to death." After hearing what he said, Cen Yuan let go of his hand, patted his chest pretendingly, and said to himself that if the little general was really insane and suddenly went crazy, he would give him an official horse as a betrothal gift. Then the two of them still want to use their heads.

Now he still regrets his life.

Although they are also horses trained in the Yan family's racecourse, only the ones that are finally sent to the military camp are the real official horses. No matter what the reason is, the eliminated horses are left to the Yan family's disposal, but they are generally not used for sale. Most are kept for personal use.

Yan Xuan couldn't help but laugh, but he had nothing to do with the other party in his heart, so he could only pinch Cen Yuan's ear punishingly: "I only listen to half a sentence, and blame others."

Cen Yuan: "..."

He stopped immediately, and raised his hand to touch his ear, which became hot in an instant.

After a while, he took two quick steps to catch up, but he didn't say anything.

There weren't many people in the inn lobby, Xiaoer took them to a corner, which was a relatively quiet place.

When Cen Yuan saw the wooden sign with the name of the wine written on the wall, he immediately felt his mouth a little dull, but considering that it was still sunny and he had to continue on his way, he suppressed his desire to drink and ordered a pot instead. Tea.

Immediately afterwards, he began to read according to the wooden sign hanging on the wall: "Five-spice duck, eight-treasure duck, stir-fried rabbit, phoenix, shark's fin, golden bird's nest, fish fillet in tomato sauce, chicken honey sauce, cucumber, emerald glutinous rice balls, sweet-scented osmanthus cake, ruyi cake, acacia cake ..." He paused halfway through the reading: "..."

Xiaoer: "This guest officer..."

Who just said that there is no horse Jinggui?

"Stop playing." Yan Xuan held Cen Yuan down, but the latter seemed to be making trouble with him on purpose: "Come and have a taste."

Yan Xuan glanced at Xiaoer who had a complex expression, and asked Cen Yuan, "Have you brought any money?"

"Of course I have." Cen Yuan took off the money bag from his waist and put it in front of Yan Xuan, but under the three pairs of eyes, he could see that the money bag was quickly deflated.

Cen Yuan: "..."

In the past, Lou Yuanbai followed him when he went out, and there were many places that could give him credit. He didn't need to bring money at all. The money bag was more like a decoration, unless he thought of the possibility of spending money in advance.

But now, perhaps because Yan Xuan took care of the preparations before going out, he was happy to be a shopkeeper without thinking about it, so at this moment, he only has these scraps of money on him.

Yan Xuan shook his head, then turned to Xiaoer and said, "Spicy pot chicken, mushroom stew, emerald white jade soup, two bowls of rice. Thank you."

Xiao Er responded immediately: "Hey, good!"

"Wait." Cen Yuan said.

Xiao Er was really afraid that he would come with another list of dishes and couldn't pay for them, so he immediately returned to his disheveled face: "..."

Cen Yuan said, "Let's have another acacia cake."

When Xiaoer heard that he just added such a dish, the other person next to him looked quite reliable, not like someone who would eat free food, his face was like a kaleidoscope, and he burst into a smile again: "Okay! Those two sit down for a while."

After finishing speaking, he first went to get the teapot to serve tea, then retreated as if fleeing.

Cen Yuan poured a cup of hot tea for the two of them, pushed one of the cups in front of Yan Xuan, moved himself to the other side, and forced himself onto the corner of the bench.

Being pushed like this, Yan Xuan took advantage of the situation to give way to the side, and asked, "What's the matter?"

Cen Yuan hooked his hands at him, leaned shoulder to shoulder with him, and asked in a low voice, "How many bank notes did you bring?"

Hearing this, Yan Xuan lowered his eyes and remained silent for a while, then took a sip from his teacup: "What if I said I didn't bring it."

"Are you serious?"

As if to confirm the truth of what he said, Cen Yuan suddenly pinched Yan Xuan's chin and asked the other party to look at him: "Say it again."

"..." Yan Xuan's thin lips tightened suddenly, and after a moment of silence, he pressed the other's hand: "If I really didn't bring it, what should I do, Your Highness?"

As soon as he heard his words, Cen Yuan knew that this person was teasing him again, so he gave a soft "tss", pulled his wrist from the opponent's hand, and sat back to his original position.

"What else can I do, go back and get it now."

Immediately afterwards, he shook the tea in the cup, and continued nonchalantly: "If it doesn't work, I'll sell Jianwen."

Jianwen, who was enjoying the forage with his head down, felt his horse's back suddenly cool down, and sensed Ma Sheng's first crisis.

It's just a pity that its sense of crisis could not be conveyed to the lobby of the inn, and after a while, Xiao Er came to serve the food, and Cen Yuan was already very hungry, so he forgot what he had just said in a blink of an eye.

He ate a few mouthfuls, suppressed his hunger, and then continued the unfinished topic: "Did you just say that the horse was defective?"

Yan Xuan helped him pour the soup into a bowl separately, and said, "Yes, but as long as it doesn't go to the battlefield, it can be regarded as a good horse."

"No wonder." Cen Yuan said, "Compared to the horse used for hunting in Bailu Forest last time, I think Jianwen runs much faster, although there is still a gap between Ge Ying and Ge Ying."

He paused for a while, then asked on a whim, "Hey, then tell me, if these horses raised by your family can run from Chu State to Chang'an within half a day."

It takes more than a day for carrier pigeons to send messages between the two places, but if these excellent horses can really run so fast, wouldn't any news about them in Chu be transmitted to Chang'an almost in time?

Unexpectedly, Yan Xuan's hand holding the spoon stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Cen Yuan asked.

Only then did Yan Xuan wake up suddenly, he put down the spoon, put the bowl of soup in front of Cen Yuan, Fang replied: "No."

Cen Yuan felt a little weird, but it was not obvious, because Yan Xuan's expression returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

"I think so too." Cen Yuan said quickly, "What about Ge Ying?"

Yan Xuan shook her head: "It will take a day and a night."

Cen Yuan smiled and said: "The answer is so accurate, it can't be that he really ran away."

Yan Xuan: "..."

He looked down at his own bowl, and was silent for a long time before turning the subject in a low voice: "Sometimes, the sooner the better."

"Huh?" Cen Yuan still didn't know much about the real marching and fighting, and even less about the selection of horses, so he couldn't help but be aroused by his curiosity: "Then what's the standard?"

"Height, weight, and sensitivity to bows and arrows." Yan Xuan said, "There are still many standards."

"Then why was Jianwen eliminated?" Cen Yuan asked, anyway, he is now his own horse, and it is no problem to know more about it.

Yan Xuan thought for a while and said, "It's probably because the horseshoes are too loud."

Cen Yuan didn't know whether he was serious or joking, he just said, "...?"

"Occasionally marching at night, it may not be a good thing to be mighty."

Yan Xuan's expression looked serious and serious, so although Cen Yuan was still a little confused, he was fooled for a while, thinking that this was indeed the truth.

He was pondering on this side, but the steam from the hot soup on the other side seemed to have faded a little, Yan Xuan tapped the table on his side twice with his fingertips: "Eat quickly."

Cen Yuan let out an obedient "Oh".

It's just that after the meal, the two paid the bill and came out, and the two horses were already full and kicking their hooves outside.

Cen Yuan pulled Jianwen out, and reprimanded in a low voice before getting on the horse: "Be quiet, horse hoof."

Jianwen: "..."

·

Normally speaking, it would take at least five or six days to travel in a horse-drawn carriage from Chang'an all the way to Huachu County, Chu State.Cen Yuan and Yan Xuan only rode horses, relatively speaking, they would be faster, but they didn't rush on purpose, on the surface, they seemed to be walking while having fun, only a little faster than normal travel, and finally at dusk on the third day Arrived at the pass of Chu State.

The two were allowed to pass after showing their badges to the guards. Cen Yuan didn't get on the horse immediately, he and Yan Xuan led the horse for a few steps, then whispered to each other: "I thought they would come after us. I took some measures before entering Chu State, I didn't expect this journey to be so smooth."

Cen Yuan thought to himself, if this place is really tricky, nine times out of ten he will stop him and Yan Xuan before they enter the Chu Kingdom, to save time, and secondly, this road is no worse than in the city, where horse bandits and bandits disappear Inexhaustible and inexhaustible are usually a headache, but once you need to shirk responsibility, it becomes the best excuse.

Therefore, although they looked defenseless along the way, they were always on guard, wondering if a group of masked men would suddenly appear from the side.In the end, apart from encountering four or five veritable little thieves once, the journey was relatively peaceful, and it allowed the two of them to really travel around the mountains and rivers.

Yan Xuan pondered for a moment when he heard the words, but in the end he couldn't figure out a trick.He said: "Be careful in everything in the future."

After passing through the pass of Chu State and walking a short distance, you will encounter a river across the river, and you can only cross the river on the bridge.At the moment, the bridgehead is full of people, all of them lined up, waiting to get on the bridge one by one.

Cen Yuan said: "Don't rush this night, we will leave tomorrow."

Yan Xuan had nothing to do, and said "Yes".

The reason why Chu State is said to be the smallest vassal state is mainly because of the terrain here.

It is said that hundreds of years ago, there was no land here, but only a few scattered islands, and the sea was almost endless at a glance.It's just that over time, some people found that the islands out of the water gradually became bigger and bigger, the water level continued to drop, and the islands gradually became connected.

So not long after—it was not Daning at that time, it should be two dynasties ago—this place was named "Chu" and became the current state of Chu.

In recent years, someone has browsed the historical map and found that the territory of Chu State is much larger than that of a hundred years ago. People can't help but guess whether there are other lands under the water or outside the sea area. A brand new land exists.

It's just that the sea looks vast but is full of dangers. No one has ever dared to explore it, and everything is temporarily unknown.

Now the Daning County and the State are parallel, and there is a Huachu County in the Chu Kingdom, which contains a total of six or seven counties. The largest county is called Danlin, which is also the place where the Chu King's Mansion is located.

This Danlin County is located in a special place. It was originally a small island surrounded by a river, and there were other counties and towns outside the river, and this river was the river that appeared in front of them now.

Because from the map, the river looks like a moat, forming a nearly regular circle around Danlin County, so it was named "Round River".

Yan Xuan glanced at the other business road next to him, and asked again, "Would you like to visit Qingjiang County?"

Jiang Zhaoyi's natal family is located in Qingjiang in the distance.

Qingjiang County, located in the northwest of Danlin County, is the second largest county in Chu State.It faces the sea in the north, there is a bridge leading to Danlin in the southeast, and the rest of the direction is land.If I went to Jiang's house to have a look around tonight, it wouldn't be a bad idea to enter Danlin County directly from Qingjiang County tomorrow.

Cen Yuan followed his line of sight, looked down, thought for a moment, and said: "Forget it, we will cross the river directly tomorrow."

Yan Xuan couldn't help looking at the other party.

In his impression, Cen Yuan did not have any conflicts with the members of the Jiang family. Even ten years ago, when Jiang Zhaoyi's elder brother brought Su Li to Beijing, Cen Yuan liked this uncle very much.

Cen Yuan noticed Yan Xuan's gaze, and probably guessed what he was thinking of, and gave him a wry smile.

"I don't like them kneeling on me."