The Beacon of Kyushu

Chapter 53

After a while, Li Ruoyun came back to his senses.

He frowned slightly and thought to himself: "Right now, Yinzhou City is surrounded by the Song army. If we leave rashly, we won't be able to go far before being intercepted by the Song army. Brother Li saved my life. Although I will die for Brother Li without complaint, I must not harm other brothers because of my temper."

Li Jiqian put his right hand on his hip, looked at the half-collapsed sand table, and fell silent.Zhang Pu stroked his beard and beard, but couldn't think of a perfect solution for a while.All the men from the party couldn't speak Chinese, so they all looked at each other, full of doubts, wondering what the three leaders were thinking.

The atmosphere that was excited by everyone just now became dignified again in an instant, so dignified that it was hard to breathe.Everyone's faces were filled with confusion and anxiety at this moment, but Wan Jianfeng was still smiling and looking at everyone, as if he had a good plan in mind.

After a long time, seeing that everyone was still silent, he couldn't help laughing, "Hahaha, I didn't wrong you by saying that you are idiots! If you really want to withdraw from Yinzhou City, the most important thing is weapons and troops. How to bring weapons and troops out of Yinzhou in a reasonable and reasonable manner is the most urgent task right now."

The three of Li Jiqian looked at Wan Jianfeng together and asked, "What can you do?"

Wan Jianfeng didn't answer directly, but asked casually: "Actually, this is not a difficult task. You are all old and young. Haven't anyone died in your family?"

"Dead people..." Li Jiqian repeated in a low voice, and then his eyes showed excitement, Zhang Pu and Li Ruoyun also understood instantly, clapping their hands and laughing, "Hahaha, why didn't we think of such a simple method for a while? "

The men in the party didn't know what Wan Jianfeng said, but seeing the changes in the expressions of the three leaders, they also deduced that he must have come up with some good ideas, and they all respected Wan Jianfeng.

That night, the bright moon was in the sky.

Li Ruoyun assisted Li Jiqian in dealing with a lot of military affairs, and then temporarily relieved the heavy burden, carrying a paper bag, bought a wooden sword, and knocked on the door of Yue Chun's house.Yue Chun has been an official in the five states for a long time, but the mansion has always been surprisingly simple, even the gate of the mansion is made of the most common elm tree.After a long time, there was a little wind and grass at the door, and the dilapidated wooden door creaked non-stop.

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Brother Yue, the little brother is here!" Li Ruoyun knocked a few times, and then someone answered the door. With a sound of "creak", the broken wooden door was slowly opened from the inside, revealing half a resolute and kind face, "The virtuous brother is here, brother Yu and sister-in-law have been waiting for you for a long time, if you don't come, Cheng'er has to go out and look for you." is you!"

Li Ruoyun sighed with a smile, "Oh, although Brother Yue didn't come to discuss the matter in the afternoon, he must have heard about Brother Li's decision, right? How could Li ignore Brother Li and come to meet with Brother Li alone in such a critical time of life and death? What about Brother Yue getting together? Forget it, let’s not talk about it, I know that Brother Yue loves Wuxiangju’s beef tendon sauce most, so I bought some to serve Brother Yue with wine!”

Yue Chun took the paper package with a smile, sniffed it under his nose, and laughed, "Yeah! The sauced beef feet of Wuxiangju are still so delicious after so many years, come, come, before we leave, we brothers will last One more drink, when we leave Yinzhou tomorrow, we want to come back here to drink again, I don't know what year and month it will be!"

Li Ruoyun made a gesture of invitation, followed Yue Chun through the spacious courtyard, and went straight into the living room.At this moment, there is a large wooden table in the hall, and four low-footed beard beds are arranged beside the table.Xiao Yuecheng was sitting on the bed next to him, with a pair of chopsticks in his mouth, and his big round eyes were drooling as he looked at the dishes on the table.Sitting on the bed next to him was an elderly, plainly dressed, but very shrewd woman.

Seeing Li Ruoyun coming, Yue Cheng jumped up for joy, "Great, Uncle Li is here, Uncle Li is here! Father and Mother said you won't come and won't let me use chopsticks. Since you're here, I'm here now." You can eat it!"

The woman smiled and shook her head, stood up and greeted him, "Uncle is here! You and the head of the family have known each other for so many years, and the relationship between the two brothers is not as good as yours. Why do you always see others like this and bring things with you!"

"Haha, my sister-in-law is joking! It's just food and toys, so what's the point?" Li Ruoyun walked to Yue Cheng with a smile, bent down and said, "Cheng'er, didn't you say you wanted a sword a few days ago?" Uncle thought about it, you are still young, if you are given a sharpened iron sword, you will inevitably hurt yourself, so I have to buy you a wooden sword, do you like it?"

"I like it!" Yue Cheng took the wooden sword excitedly, recalling the moves Li Ruoyun had taught him in the past, and danced them well.The three of them looked at Xiao Yuecheng dancing the sword, all of them had smiles on their faces, and Yue Chun even smiled and said: "Haha, not bad, not bad! If you are willing to work hard and practice like this, you will definitely be better than Dad in a few years." !"

Li Ruoyun nodded slightly, and said: "Yes! Uncle will leave Yinzhou with your father tomorrow. After we leave, you must practice martial arts well and don't let it go to waste. Only in this way, one day you can be like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing you admire, Win every battle, seal the wolf and live in Xu!"

Yue Cheng nodded and took his posture back, but suddenly realized that Li Ruoyun was speaking in the wrong direction, and hurriedly asked, "Uncle Li, what did you just say! You and daddy are leaving Yinzhou? Where are you going and when will you be back?"

Li Ruoyun only thought that Yue Chun and his wife had told their children about it, but after Yue Cheng asked, he felt imprudent, and couldn't help looking at Yue Chun.Yue Chun didn't care too much, thought for a while and said: "Cheng'er, we are from Yinzhou, our ancestors have lived here for three generations, right? Now, there are a bunch of bad guys who want to attack our city. We are too weak. You are not their opponent, so your Uncle Li and I have to leave here temporarily. But don't worry, we will come back in a short time, and neither Daddy nor Uncle will leave you!"

Yue Cheng looked at the two of them reluctantly, and said pitifully, "Then...then when will you come back!"

Yue Chun said: "Well, we will definitely come back when the peonies bloom on the mountain at the latest!"

"That... so long." Yue Cheng murmured softly, pursed his mouth, and tears fell down his nose.

Yue Chun sighed helplessly, while Li Ruoyun gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Yue Cheng's eyes, "Cheng'er doesn't cry, don't you always want to learn how your uncle can move dragons and snakes? You should eat obediently first, and after eating, uncle I will teach you that."

Yue Cheng nodded slightly, "Uncle has to teach me the two moves of dragon leaping and phoenix singing and ins and outs!"

Li Ruoyun smiled and said: "Okay, as long as you eat well and stay with mother obediently until we come back, it doesn't matter if uncle teaches you the whole set of Canglong sword skills!"

Hearing this, Yue Cheng stopped crying immediately, picked up the chopsticks and picked up the vegetables in his mouth like flying, and swallowed them whole without chewing.The woman looked at the child who was wolfing down, and then picked up the jug and poured wine for the two of them.Li Ruoyun thanked him, picked up the wine glass and looked at Yue Chun who was facing him, thousands of words came to his mind.Although the two vowed to go and return together, the last drink before leaving was still not easy to swallow.

But at this moment, Li Jiqian is under more pressure than anyone else. Even though he has become the leader of the Tuoba tribe, even though he has a lot of pride and grief, he still mustered up the greatest courage to come to the backyard and knock on the door. The door of mother Deng's room.

A young and beautiful young woman came out of the mother's room.Seeing her, Li Jiqian smiled slightly and said, "Ma'am, has mother rested?"

The young woman said: "Husband, mother hasn't rested yet. If you come to mother's room so late, something must have happened?" As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a slightly old woman in the room say: "Jiqian, it's late at night. Anything? Come in and talk."

Li Jiqian quickly walked up to the old woman, knelt down and said, "Mother, the child really has important matters to discuss with mother!"

"My son, sit down and talk." The old woman pointed to the side of the bed.

Li Jiqian did not move at all, and continued: "Mother, our Dangxiang clan is now in a crisis of survival! My cousin has entered Beijing by order. If the child also goes to Bianliang at this time, then Dangxiang will inevitably become a mess, and eventually Song Dynasty The army was destroyed. My son discussed with his brothers today and decided not to go to Bianliang against the decree, but he was also worried that his mother would lose, so he was really in a dilemma!"

Deng smiled and patted Li Jiqian's head, and said softly: "Jiqian, mother knows that you care about the world and the party and all sentient beings. A young man with ambition like you should take advantage of his youth to break out into the world vigorously. How can you bind your hands and feet for the love of mother and child? Wherever you go, your mother will accompany you, even if you fail in the end, your mother will firmly support you!"

Li Jiqian's wife also said: "Husband, mother's words are what I want to say for my wife. We will follow you no matter where the ends of the earth are, and we will be with you no matter whether there are mountains of swords or seas of fire. As long as we can keep the party and the five states, no matter how much we pay. worth it!"

Li Jiqian nodded vigorously, looking at the faces of his mother and wife, tears welled up in his eyes.The belief in his heart is completely firm at this moment, so firm that it will not be shaken in his entire life. No matter who wants to destroy the party and take away the land that belongs to them, he will definitely fight with his life to the end!

The next day, at dawn, a funeral procession drove slowly to the city of Yinzhou.What was different from the past was that most of the funeral procession rode horses, guarding a large and heavy coffin, followed by a carriage hung with plain onyx.All the people in the car were dressed in filial piety, and their expressions were extremely sad, as if mourning a concubine.

Cao Guangshi, the chief guard of Yinzhou, was standing on the top of the city with his sword in his hand, thinking about how to move out the party nobles step by step.

Cao Guangshi took a few of his own soldiers and quickly walked down the wall to stop in front of the team.His eyes kept scanning the people in the team, and after a long time he said in a deep voice: "Which house do you belong to? Why don't you rest at home in the morning, why did you gather people out of the city?"

Everyone thought that Song Jun would open the city gate without saying a word when he saw the funeral procession, but they couldn't help but feel nervous when they met Song Jun's general on duty early in the morning.

Li Jiqian was afraid that everyone would show his flaws over time, so he had to bite the bullet and urge his horse to come in front of Cao Guangshi, dismounted and bowed and said: "If you go back to the general, we are just ordinary people, because my mother died of an unfortunate illness, so the brothers pooled the silver taels Please hire some people and make some extravagance so that the old man will have a good time. The first seven days of today are over, so she should be buried in peace, and I hope General Cao will be accommodating."

Cao Guangshi nodded, "Well, although your filial piety is commendable, this general cannot let you out of Yinzhou easily because of this. With so many troops, what if the mercenaries stand on their own after leaving this place and become enemies of my Song Dynasty? Will I be dereliction of duty?" He waved his hand as he spoke, and the soldiers behind him understood immediately, and quickly surrounded the coffin and carriage.

The leading soldier stretched out his hand and was about to open the coffin lid.In an instant, everyone's expressions froze. If they didn't dare to brazenly hold a saber or saber, they might have already drawn up their weapons and were ready to go.

Wan Jianfeng smiled calmly and said, "Master, look at your haste, you must be a recruit who has just joined the army, right?" Then he walked towards Cao Guangshi, clasped his fists and said, "General Cao, My old lady got the plague, and if you open the coffin lid, the consequences will be unimaginable! You have fought all your life, so you don’t care about life and death, but these soldiers under your command are still young, you don’t want them to die before they serve the country, do you?”

Cao Guangshi looked Wan Jianfeng up and down when he heard the words, then frowned, and waved his hands in disgust, "Where is the stinky beggar? Look at you, let alone the party aristocrats, I am afraid that the poor scholars in the Central Plains are ashamed to be with you. You are in the company. Presumably you are not party aristocrats, and you are not included in the migration, so hurry up and leave!"

Li Jiqian was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly bowed his hands to Cao Guangshi and said: "Thank you, General Cao. If my mother is alive in heaven, she will also be grateful for the general's great kindness. I will take him away. We will take three days as long as possible, and two days as short as possible. I will definitely return to Yinzhou City, General Cao, please rest assured." After he finished speaking, he got on his horse and led the funeral procession to leave Yinzhou City, which was surrounded by the Song army, in a fair and honest manner.

After they left the city, they didn't dare to slack off at all. They went straight for more than ten miles before slowing down.Li Jiqian took off his filial piety first, got off his horse and opened the heavy coffin lid, and took out his big summer sparrow from inside to wear at his waist.Everyone also took off their filial piety uniforms, took out their weapons from the coffin, and cheered around Wan Jianfeng.

Although Wan Jianfeng couldn't understand what they were talking about, he could guess the meaning by looking at it.Li Ruoyun inserted the long sword back, walked in front of Wan Jianfeng, and laughed heartily: "Haha, brother, I really have you! I, Li Ruoyun, have grown up so big, and it's the first time I've seen you like this, so deceitful. People who don't even blink, but you can't lie to me, or I will have your head!"

"Hahaha!" Wan Jianfeng also laughed, "Brother Li, such a calm and witty person like this young hero is indeed very rare in this world. If you haven't seen it, it doesn't mean you don't know it!"

Zhang Pu also walked over slowly, and said with a smile: "Brother Wan Xian, before you came, I was their brain trust, but now that I have you, my brain tank has become a display!"

Wan Jianfeng joked: "Brother Zhang is lucky. He is handsome and suave. Even if it is a decoration, it is enough to make people pleasing to the eye. Unlike me, if I didn't have diamonds in my pocket to do some porcelain work, I'm afraid I wouldn't have done it." People want to look at me more.”

Li Jiqian ignored the crowd, but went straight to the carriage, lifted the curtain and said a few words to the mother and wife in the carriage.Then he got on his mount and led everyone to continue towards Dijinze.

A few days later, the surrounding scene changed from a loess plateau full of ravines to an endless desert ravaged by wind and sand.Often when a gust of wind blows, the yellow sand all over the sky rises into the sky and turns into a whirlwind in mid-air. Everything that the eyes can see is ruthlessly annihilated by the wind and sand, sinking under the yellow sand forever.

The desert is majestic and dead silent, and the team marching in the desert is extraordinarily difficult and tragic.Li Jiqian rode at the front of the team, even though the yellow sand and the strong wind cut his cheeks, but he refused to stop at all to go to the oasis in his heart.

I don’t know how long they’ve been walking, but all the food and water they brought have been exhausted. People’s hunger and thirst are almost reaching the limit. At this time, someone in the team pointed to the front and shouted excitedly: “Look, brothers, look! There!"

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and saw under the high sand mountain, in the boundless sand sea, dotted with clumps of trees and weeds, it was an idyllic scenery.This kind of scene seems ordinary, but in their eyes at this moment, it is the most beautiful scenery in the world.

The crowd couldn't hold back the excitement in their hearts, they cheered and rode their horses towards the oasis, whistling past like a gust of wind.Even the carriage at the back of the team speeded up, carrying the two women, and galloped happily towards Di Jinze.

(End of this chapter)