comeback [rebirth]

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, in front of a simple residential house in the southwest corner of Chang'an.

"Hurry up, hurry up! The movements are slow." A man who looked like a butler kept urging at the door, "Be careful if you can't catch up with the departure time, I want you to look good!"

"Bang!" A boy at the other end randomly threw a wooden box into the carriage, making a loud noise, and the housekeeper immediately jumped over and pointed at the boy: "Be careful! It's our wife's jewelry, if it breaks, can you afford it!"

"Hey, whose dog is this?" The boy slapped the wooden box with one hand disapprovingly, "It's just a broken box, I love it, touch it, touch it!"

"you!"

"Uncle Qin, you thought this was Duan's mansion." The little servant spat, "Your master is nothing more than a stray dog. Although beating a dog depends on the owner, you are also a guard dog of a stray dog. ...Pfft."

Before he finished speaking, the boy couldn't help laughing.

It was rare that there was no snow today. Under the scorching sun, the housekeeper blushed, "The one who committed the crime was that bastard Duan Meng. He has confessed to those dirty things with his own mouth, and has nothing to do with my master! My master is now voluntarily resigning from his old age and returning to his hometown." , you are a boy who has never seen the world, you can only stay in this kind of shabby house, whose power are you fighting here!"

The little servant sneered, and bowed slightly towards the butler, "Hey, the little one is a handyman. I really haven't seen much of the world, and I don't understand the affairs between you big men. But the little one still has eyes, and he can still see people. Because my big house was sealed off, I can only live in this kind of shabby house with my tail between my legs; the small ones also have ears and can hear the truth, knowing that someone is a scapegoat, and someone is just because of the virtuousness of the sage. After ten years of hard work and no credit, he was given face and exempted from the death penalty."

"Nonsense!" the steward scolded, "Just some hearsay and rumors are easy to use as the truth, and people don't know if they are used as arrows!"

The little servant laughed loudly: "That's okay, anyway, the little one has a cheap life, and he can't die."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and saw someone walking out of the mansion, so he finally spat at the housekeeper, turned around and entered the mansion with a "hum".

The butler's entire face turned red, and he pointed at the servant's back and trembled uncontrollably. When the person walking out of the mansion approached him, he hurriedly greeted him: "Ma'am, miss."

"Old Qin, you don't have to call us that anymore."

It was Mrs. Duan, Miss Duan's family, and Duan Mengyuan's wife who came here.Madam Duan sighed softly, and stuffed some money into the housekeeper's hand: "When the things are packed, you don't have to follow us anymore, you can find someone else."

"Can……"

"The Duan family has come to this point, maybe... it's just their own fault."

Mrs. Duan turned her head slightly, but she didn't know if she was looking in the direction of the imperial palace, or this Chang'an city, or the cloudy sky above her head.

But she quickly turned her gaze back: "You still have a wife and children to support, so it's not a problem to follow us, so just stay in Chang'an."

The housekeeper didn't speak for a long time, until Mrs. Duan called him "Old Qin" again, then he woke up and let out a long sigh.

"Ma'am, Miss." He shouted, "Be careful all the way here."

Mrs. Duan forced a smile, but she didn't reply.

The butler sighed again, and looked up to see another person: "Master."

Duan Deye briefly glanced at several carriages: "Is everything packed?"

The boy in the mansion who had blatantly laughed at the steward just now didn't even show up again, and the rest of the boys came in and out a couple of times in the end, basically loading the three people's outfits into the carriage.

Over the past decades, Duan Deye has received so many rewards that the cellar of the Prime Minister's Mansion overflowed several times, but now there are only two carriages left.

In addition, there was only one empty carriage left for people to ride in. Duan Deye glanced at it briefly and asked, "Is there any carriage in the mansion?"

"This……"

The housekeeper stumbled to answer, so Duan Deye quickly raised his hand to signal him not to say any more: "The old man knows."

He groaned for a moment, opened the curtain of the car again and took a look, and said after a while: "Put all the lady's things here into the other two carriages, the old man will just sit in this one by himself."

"Master..." "Father!"

Except for some of Mrs. Duan's clothes, only Duan Deye's own belongings were left on the carriage.Duan Deye ignored his wife and daughter's dissuasion, and only said to Butler Qin: "Go soon."

The butler said "Hey" with a bitter face, and had no choice but to turn around and follow suit.

During the Lantern Festival, lanterns have already been hung up on Yong’an Street to set up stalls. Children hold a few copper coins given by their parents and trot all the way to the sugar seller’s stall, regardless of the calls behind them.

Few people would notice that three carriages walked out of the city gate, and few people would realize that the former Prime Minister of Daning had left Chang'an.

Most of them would only know from the storytellers or the gossip in teahouses that Duan's original son-in-law with a foreign surname would be executed shortly after Shangyuan, while the prime minister took the initiative to resign and return to his hometown not long ago.

As for the other rumors that followed, for example, Duan Xiang is the real mastermind behind the scenes, for example, the second prince once interceded for Duan Xiang in the hall regardless of past suspicions, and for example, the Holy One valued love, thinking that Duan Xiang had assisted the kings of two dynasties before allowing him Returning home with wife and daughter...

There is nowhere to follow the source. As for whether to believe it or not, there is only free self-evidence.

The roads in the outskirts of Beijing were full of horses and carriages, carrying travelers going home one by one. The three carriages could only move forward slowly. After a while, they set foot on the mountain road back to their hometown, and then gradually accelerated.

Duan Deye sat alone on the carriage at the end, closed his eyes and rested his mind, his body swayed from side to side with the bumps of the carriage.Gradually, there was almost no sound of noisy and disorderly horseshoes outside the carriage, and the sound of the remaining wheels rolling over stones became extremely loud.

I don't know how long it took to walk like this, suddenly, there seemed to be birds flying over the carriage, and there was a "quack" sound.

"Wow!--"

The coachman pulled the reins suddenly, and the two horses neighed one after another. They lifted their front legs in pain, and several boxes piled up in the carriage collapsed in the shaking.

Duan Deye supported the car wall with one hand and remained silent.

The carriage just stopped at a corner of the mountain road. Outside the carriage, the driver's hand holding the rein was shaking violently. He was almost speechless, and could only stare at a masked man in black who suddenly appeared in front of him. There was a murmur between the lips: "You you you...you are..."

Before he could say the last word "who", the man in black had already dodged to his side and slapped the back of his neck!

The driver didn't have any time to react, he rolled his eyes and passed out.The man in black directly grabbed his collar and lifted him up, throwing him to the side of the two stalled carriages ahead.

Until then, the people in the car slowly opened their eyes.

"The old man thought you would come earlier." Duan Deye said.

The man in black's mouth and nose were covered by a black cloth, only his eyes were shining brightly in the sunlight.The corners of his eyes were slightly bent, as if he was smiling, and then he said: "Today is the Lantern Festival, there are too many people on the road, so Duan Xiang has been waiting for a long time."

Maybe it's because the world is vast, unlike the cramped and oppressive prison, the voice of the man in black sounds particularly clear.

Duan Deye said: "You are very happy."

"Of course." The man in black replied, "It's a long road, and my wish is fulfilled. If it's Duan Xiang, I'm afraid I'll laugh out loud."

"Haha." Duan Deye laughed twice as if agreeing with him, but said: "It's a pity, the old man's journey back to his hometown should be endless."

"It's really a pity." The man in black took out a dagger from his sleeve, pulled out the scabbard, and gently lifted the curtain of the car with the tip of the knife, "If you leave a day later, Duan Xiang and his family will be able to enjoy another round of bright moon. "

The weather on the mountain road is not like that in the city. Although the sky is high and the clouds are light, the cold wind is still unabated.A corner of the car curtain was blown and flipped frequently, making the light in the car also flicker.

The two sides remained deadlocked for a long time, Duan Deye stared intently at the man in black in front of him: "What are you waiting for?"

"I thought Duan Xiang would have something to say to me, but I seem to be a little overwhelmed." The man in black laughed at himself, "Your wife and daughter are still in the carriage ahead."

Hearing this, Duan Deye raised his gaze almost invisibly, but immediately put it back: "If it's fish and meat, then let it be slaughtered."

The eyes of the man in black were slightly curved, and there seemed to be a light sneer from under the black mask.

"Very bold, but Duan Xiang, in this chess game, you don't have to eat all the pieces to be considered a winner."

Duan Deye said nothing, but closed his eyes.

The bitter winter wind blew into the carriage with the sound of the wind, and the next moment Duan Deye felt a sharp and cold thing sticking to his skin, and then he heard the man in black whispering in his ear:

"Goodbye, Mr. Duan."

·

In the Tianlu Hall, many ministers gathered in a room, talking to each other around a table, and they have been arguing for nearly two hours.

"The sudden disappearance of the Huns in Mount Ji must have been caused by our guilty conscience when we discovered their whereabouts! According to Yichen, we should take advantage of the victory to pursue and send elite soldiers to attack from Gequan and take Shuocheng directly!"

"Go directly to Shuocheng, to put it lightly! Now it is snowing heavily in Mobei, the food and grass are scarce, the mountain roads are difficult to pass, and the terrain near the Gequan Border Pass is easy to attack and difficult to defend. How can we raise troops under such circumstances? It's not in the arms of the enemy!"

"Fortunately, General Yan had the foresight to apply for the opening of a new grain transportation route last year. Fortunately, he was not hit by heavy snow. Even so, according to Mr. Zhang's opinion, should we just wait for death and let the Huns directly attack Chang'an! "

"Nonsense! The capital is defended by the northern and southern armies, and there are mausoleums as fortifications. How could that thief touch every brick and tile in Chang'an!"

"What does the lord want!"

"If we can reconcile easily, or wait for another two months to enter the spring, during which time we will stock up on food and grass, gather elite soldiers, and prepare our troops for horses and horses, then we will win in one fell swoop!"

"Haha, it's a good one! But my lord, by the time you're furious, the Huns might have eaten up all of Daning's territory long ago!"

"Yan Dong raises troops, I'm afraid they want to seek their own death!"

"How will Mr. Zhang explain the disappearance of the Huns on Mount Ji? 1000 people, 1000 people! Mr. Zhang, that mountain doesn't eat people! If you wait for them to come in and raise troops, it will be too late!"

"Lord Qiu insists on raising troops now, because he wants the soldiers to go directly to death!"

"I raise soldiers in Daning for thousands of days, so that I can stand up and protect the people and the country in Daning at this time. At this time, I am afraid to let the world think, what will the people of Hanlin do!"

--boom!

After a few cases, Emperor Ning suddenly slapped the table: "Enough!"

The few ministers who had been arguing at first knelt down one after another, and they didn't dare to vent their anger.

However, Emperor Ning covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and suddenly coughed violently. Hearing the sound, Eunuch Rong immediately stepped forward from the side and held a teacup for Emperor Ning.

"Your Majesty! The imperial physician told you that you must not get emotional. Drink some tea first."

"Hmph, if these barbarians can always be peaceful, I won't be so excited." Emperor Ning took the teacup, raised his head and drank the warm tea in it, and stuffed it back into Eunuch Rong's hand.

On the cases in front of him was a book of rush notes, which was the news from Hanlin, saying that a few days ago, he was ordered to send spies to investigate near Mount Ji, and found the whereabouts of nearly a thousand Huns, but the other party disappeared overnight. No trace.

On the table in the middle of the hall was a topographic map of the northern part of Daning, and a black-feathered flag was planted in the position of Mount Ji.

Mount Jishan is located in the northwest of the Hanlin area. It is a high-altitude hill with a particularly large area.Among them, the southeast corner borders the land of Daning, and the northwest leads to Shuocheng where the Xiongnu Shanyu is located.

Emperor Ning calmed down for a while, and after calming down a little, he waved his hand to make Eunuch Rong step aside.He swept across the people prostrating on the ground in front of him, and finally stopped on the Yan family father and son on one side.

Yan Xuan lowered her head slightly, her brows furrowed.

"Get up."

After Emperor Ning finished speaking, he asked quickly after everyone stood up: "Taiwei Yan, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty." Yan Hexuan saluted calmly, and then turned his gaze to Yan Xuan, "Since Gouzi had the foresight to adjust the route of food and grass, and offered to investigate Jishan Mountain, he must have some plans in mind, why don't you ask him first? .”

Emperor Ning nodded when he heard the words, and then looked at Yan Xuan: "Xiao Han, if you are asked to lead the troops, what are your preparations?"

"Your Majesty." Yan Xuan withdrew his gaze from the topographic map, and cupped his hands at Emperor Ning, "Your Majesty..."

But before he finished speaking, someone broke in from outside the hall: "Your Majesty!"

A minister on the side shouted: "Why are you so panicked? Didn't you see that there are still discussions in the hall!"

"I asked Your Majesty to forgive me for entering the palace without notification!" The visitor knelt down on the ground with a "boom!", holding an urgent report in both hands above his head, "It's just that this report is too urgent..."

Having said that, Emperor Ning didn't seem to become irritable because of this, but his face remained unchanged, as if he had already expected such a scene.

He turned his head towards Eunuch Rong, and the latter immediately understood, took the memorial and handed it to Emperor Ning.

"Your Majesty." Lord Qiu, who was the loudest arguing just now, immediately asked, "Could it be news from Mobei again?"

Emperor Ning opened the memorial, glanced at it roughly, then closed it again, and put it on the case: "No."

"That is……"

Emperor Ning raised his chin towards the memorial, signaling him to go and see for himself.

Master Qiu was on a nerve, and hurriedly grabbed the report and opened it, but he saw what was written on it:

"Duan Xiang met bandits on the way back to his hometown, and fell into a cliff with his car. When he found out, he was powerless to recover."