country

Although Xue Poye vaguely understood something, but the matter was of great importance, he naturally did not dare to say it lightly, but was slightly taken aback, and immediately broke the stiffness with a smiling face, and asked, "Senior, did you go to see Ye Qingyao later?"

The flute player pondered for a long time, then sighed, and said slowly: "I'm tired, I'll talk so much today."

Xue Poye was stunned for a moment, it was like being stuffed with a fishbone in his mouth, it was extremely uncomfortable, halfway through the flute man's words, the most exciting part came to an abrupt end.

The flute player stood up and walked slowly to the portrait, staring intently, motionless.

Xue Poye could only stand up and say, "Excuse me, goodbye!"

"Xue Poye!" The flute player said calmly, "Do your job well, at least...you can protect the people around you."

Xue Poye was taken aback, frowned, but did not speak.

"That child...!" The flute player said softly, "Is he alright?"

Xue Poye was startled, he was not a fool, of course he knew who the so-called "child" was referring to, if he guessed right, of course it was Little Shitou, his little apprentice.

If you remember correctly, the flute player also mentioned the small stone in Hexi Marsh last time, but he didn't pay much attention to it at the time, thinking that it was just the flute player who mentioned it casually.

But today the flute player mentioned Xiao Shitou again, and there was a hint of concern in his voice. According to Xue Poye's shrewdness, he had already guessed that there must be some entanglements. What's the matter with Xiao people?

The house was very quiet for a while, but the piercing cold wind blew out. Although he was not in the cold wind, Xue Poye still felt chills.

"He's fine!" After a long time, Xue Poye replied calmly.

The flute player sighed, waved his hand, and said softly: "You go." After a pause, he said calmly: "It won't be long before you will know the story behind."

Xue Poye smiled faintly, and said slowly, "I'm waiting for the time to listen."

After walking out of the small room, Xue Poye didn't stop, and walked back quickly. After walking for a long time, and getting far away from the "Acacia Palace", Xue Poye finally stopped, turned around slowly, and stared at the "Acacia Palace". The "Acacia Palace" in the distance.

There was no one around the Acacia Palace, and the lantern hanging outside the courtyard was the so-called "wild fire" that Xue Poye saw earlier.

Only then did Xue Poye let go of his clenched fists. Only at this moment did he realize that his hands were covered with cold sweat. In this cold winter night, his whole body seemed to have entered the ice cellar.

"Who is he?" Xue Poye stared at Xiangsi Palace and murmured, "Could it be... no, how is it possible? Ziqing? Could it be Old Tan? What's going on?"

Xue Poye was really confused!

He tried his best to sort out the intricate relationship, but he couldn't straighten it out anyway. Instead, he felt dizzy. When he was shocked by the cold, he realized that there was a thin film floating in the sky at some point. snowflakes.

The winter snow finally came down.

Xue Poye stretched out his hand, caught a piece of snowflakes, his hands were cold, watched the snowflakes gradually melt in his palm, shook his head with a wry smile, and said to himself: "It's been a year, old friend, I see you again!"

On a winter night a year ago, snowflakes were in full bloom and catkins were flying like flying catkins. In that cold night, Xue Poye traveled to Dachu.

When he was about to die, he was rescued by the Xiao brothers and sisters. Until now, Xue Poye has become the deputy chief of the Emperor's Majesty's Imperial Guard, and has become an important general who has been wooed by others.

Everything was like a dream. In the blink of an eye, this year passed by in a hurry. In the short year, many things happened and many people met.

This is not the fairyland on earth in the dream, it is still full of good and evil in human nature, and you still have to live within the rules of the world such as friends, relatives, and enemies.

"I wonder if it's snowing in Hangzhou?" Xue Poye turned around, walked back, and whispered to himself.

There is his closest relative in this world over there, but he has become the deputy general guard in Kyoto in a daze, and it is impossible to leave for a while.

People always want to climb up. It is impossible for Xue Poye to throw away this hard-won opportunity. What's more, Xue Poye is a smart person. He was caught in the big prison, and then killed by those guys with ulterior motives.

For example Liu Tuo!

People are in the court, they can't help themselves!

"My lord!" There was a burst of cheers, it was said to be cheers, but the voice was not loud, just a group of Habayashi guards shouting excitedly in front.

Xue Poye raised his head, and saw six or seven Habayashi guards holding Habayashi sabers in their hands, all of them were extremely excited, and said in low voices: "My lord is back, my lord is back, God bless you!"

When Xue Poye saw these subordinates, most of the chill in his heart disappeared immediately, he stepped forward quickly, and said with a smile: "Why did you come here?"

But he saw a person coming up from behind, it was Ximen Lei Zang, he also had a smile on his face, and saluted, "Your Excellency is fine, that's great."

Xue Poye saw that everyone's expressions were full of admiration, which was very different from the past, so he couldn't help being very surprised. He didn't rush to ask for a moment, and raised his hand and said, "Don't worry, everyone, I just turned around and returned to respective positions."

Immediately a group of people walked back, and faintly heard Habayashi Wei behind him praising Xue Poye for his incomparable martial arts, ghosts and gods were afraid, Xue Poye was even more strange, he pulled Ximen Lei Zang closer and asked: "What's going on? You see Me, like I came back from the gate of hell."

"My lord, you probably don't know that you just came back from the gate of hell." Ximen Leizang sighed, "Didn't your lord see it just now? We didn't dare to go forward to meet you, it was because of that tree!"

"Tree?"

"That cypress tree!"

Xue Poye thought for a while, and there seemed to be that tree in his memory, "Oh", he said strangely: "Are you afraid of trees?"

Ximen Leizang said with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, I don't know. That tree is like a boundary sign, and you can't enter it. When the big tree passes by, it is the boundary of the Acacia Palace. His Majesty the Emperor made a decree many years ago, no one is allowed to step in." Half a step from the boundary of Acacia Palace, offenders will be beheaded." Paused, shook his head: "There was once a warrior transferred from the underground state capital, who entered my Habayashi camp, and that Habayashi guard only talked about kung fu. Yu Linying is also a first-class master. During the night watch, we forgot to tell him this rule, and he also entered the boundary of Acacia Palace in a daze. After we realized it, we could only wait behind the cypress tree. One night, and the next morning, his... hey... only one of his heads was thrown... After so many years, we don't know exactly how he died, but his expression was distorted and terrifying before he died, obviously It was a huge fright, and many people said that there are ghosts in Xiangsi Palace...!"

Xue Poye couldn't help shivering, and couldn't help but look back, there was a bottomless night, only the deserted snow flakes were floating gently.

"When that Habayashi guard died, the cypress tree was only as tall as me. Now... hehe... eight years have passed...!" Ximen Leizang said thoughtfully.

Xue Poye was taken aback: "Eight years?"

Ximen Leizang nodded.

The snow was still falling, and it seemed that it was going to fall more and more. Xue Poye and his party returned to the guard room of Habayashi Guard in the palace.

The guard room is a place for the Habayashi soldiers to rest, and it can be regarded as an aspect of Dachu's humanity. Although it is provided for the Habayashi soldiers to rest, the real rest is only the officials of the Habayashi Guard.

"How long has this Acacia Palace been built, do you know?" Xue Poye returned to the guard room, immediately pulled Ximen Lei Zang aside, and asked in a low voice.

Ximen Leizang thought for a while, and thoughtfully said: "I'm afraid it has been more than ten years. I have worked in Yulin Ying for 11 years. This Acacia Palace existed before I came."

"More than ten years?" Xue Poye frowned, pondered for a long time, and then asked again: "Then do you know who lived there before Acacia Palace?"

A strange look flashed across Ximen Leizang's face, he hurriedly shook his head and said, "This subordinate doesn't know, this subordinate doesn't know!"

Of course Xue Poye saw the strange look on Ximen Leizang's face, but since the other party didn't want to say anything, naturally he couldn't make things difficult, and just nodded with a smile.

"Because of this, I was terrified when my lord entered the Lovesickness Palace. It would be a great fortune for my lord to come back." Ximen Leizang approached Xue Poye and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, my lord, I have already explained to all my brothers. However, this matter will not be leaked, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Xue Poye smiled faintly, and said in his heart: "Of course you don't know, there is a person in the Acacia Palace, even if you hide it, what's the use of it." With a smile on his face, he said: "Thank you very much." I don't know why Yes, a heavy drowsiness welled up, Xue Poye stretched and yawned, Ximen Leizang hurriedly ordered his subordinates to add firewood to the stove, the guard room was warm and tight, Xue Poye leaned forward Leaning on the chair, it didn't take long before he fell asleep in a trance.

The next day in Kyoto, it was as if covered with a layer of pure white silver gauze, wrapped in pure silver, extraordinarily enchanting.

Kyoto is full of snow scenes, the streets were cleared of snow early in the morning, exposing smooth bluestone roads, the snow melted, and everyone was wearing bloated clothes.

The nobles are naturally furs and warm brocades, and the common people are wearing cotton clothes, actively resisting the cold, and the people who come and go are more or less talking about the snow. It seems that this year’s heavy snow is worse than previous years. A little early.

Walking on the snow, the sound of "creaking" is extremely crisp.

Xue Poye rode in the carriage, and this time he did not go back directly to Xue Yuan, but went to the North City, with eight heavily armed Habayashi guards following closely on both sides, fully on guard.

Traveling westward, the snow is thicker, this is not the main city, so many places have not been cleaned, the carriage is crushed on the snow, and the "creaking" sound of Habayashi's cowhide boots stepping on the snow , is really a bit mighty.

There are not many houses in this area, and the few scattered houses look really depressed.

Xue Poye was sitting in the car, frowning. This time, he was going to see if there was any progress in the gunpowder experiment of Xiao Su Gun and Sergio Gattuso. In more than a month, Xue Poye went there three times. Every time I returned disappointed, the silver leaves spent nearly a thousand taels, and the gunpowder experiment did not make any progress.

But Xue Poye knows that this kind of experiment is unusual, even if it fails a hundred times, as long as it works once, the general formula will be successful.

But now these two guys have found a rich man, spending money like running water, eating delicious food and drinking spicy food, and even a lot of materials are shipped in trucks. If it was not for experimenting with gunpowder, they would not live in this remote place.

Xue Poye felt that it was necessary to remind them. After all, his economic base was in Hangzhou, and most of the thousands of taels he brought were spent at this time.

The carriage moved forward with difficulty on the snow, but the Habayashi guards were like ice and snow, not afraid of the cold weather.

"Oh!"

A loud bang sounded like a sky-shattering earth-shattering came from the front, as if the earth had suddenly cracked.

"Protect your lord!" There was a deep shout from outside the carriage, and then there was a loud "clang clang", and the eight Habayashi guards drew out their sabers one after another, with stern expressions, and their eyes moved around. , the first reaction was that someone wanted to assassinate Vice President Wei.

Xue Poye was also startled by the loud noise, but quickly judged that the loud noise came from not far ahead, with excitement on his face, he opened the curtains, and ordered: "Quick, move forward."

A Habayashi guard hurriedly said: "My lord, there is an abnormality ahead, I am afraid there are assassins, my two brothers and I will stay here to resist, and the others will escort you back to the camp."

Xue Poye smiled and said: "No problem, no problem, that is the voice of the general, you don't need to panic, go, go quickly!"

All the feather forest guards were stunned. The sound of the ground breaking that day was actually ordered by the vice president Wei?

But since Xue Poye said so, the guards of the Habayashi didn't say anything more. The guard of the Habayashi shook the reins and continued to move forward. In case of change.

After all, the loud noise shocked everyone.

After walking for a while, Xue Poye was by the window, and saw two figures standing in front of him from a distance, motionless, like stone statues in the snow.

Xue Poye ordered to stop, got out of the carriage, and told everyone: "You wait here, don't approach, it's dangerous over there."

Habayashi Wei hurriedly said: "My lord, if there is danger, my subordinates are willing to go, my lord must not be in danger." Other Habayashi guards also said one after another: "My subordinates are willing to go, my lord must not be in danger!"

Xue Poye shook his head with a smile. Although this group of people made it inconvenient for him to be around, they were so loyal that they could even die for themselves. , you are indeed in danger, you stay here and wait, this is the general's order, don't fight any more."

All the feather guards looked at each other, and finally clasped their hands together and said: "Your subordinate obeys."

Xue Poye nodded in satisfaction, and then walked forward slowly with his hands behind his back. The two figures in front remained motionless, they were Xiao Su Gun and Gattuso.

Xue Poye walked behind them, but the two of them didn't realize it.

Xue Poye raised his head and looked forward, only to see a huge deep pit in the open space not far ahead, surrounded by pieces of wrought iron, probably a blasted copper furnace.

"Did we succeed?" Xiao Su stick asked blankly.

Gattuso also stood still, muttering: "God, we have created a miracle, brother, do you know, this is a miracle, a miracle that cannot be replicated."

Xiao Su Gun still asked blankly: "Have we succeeded? Have we succeeded?"

Xue Poye suppressed the excitement in his heart. He knew that this was an epoch-making creation, and said softly behind him: "Yes, you have succeeded. You have developed the formula of gunpowder!"

Xiao Su Gun and Gattuso finally came to their senses, turned their heads and saw that it was Xue Poye, and said excitedly: "Brother Xue, you, I...we succeeded!"

Xue Poye put his hand on Xiao Su's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Yes, you succeeded, congratulations."

Xiao Su Gun's eye circles turned red, he clenched his fists, looked up to the sky and said: "I want to show those who look down on me that I, Xiao Su Gun, am not an incompetent person, let alone a rascal, I... I succeeded. "

"No one dares to say you are a hooligan, let alone say you are a hooligan." Xue Poye stared at the deep pit in the distance, and sighed: "People in the world think you are a lunatic, but they don't know that you are a genius." .”

Xiao Su stick grabbed Xue Poye's hand and said excitedly: "Brother Xue, only you, only you believe in me, only you believe that I can succeed."

Gattuso waved his hands into madness and laughed.

Xue Poye smiled, and suddenly asked: "Did you write down the formula?"

"Write it down!" Xiao Su said hurriedly, took out a piece of paper from his bosom, and was about to hand it to Xue Poye when he suddenly thought of something and took two steps back with a strange color on his face, quite embarrassed.

Xue Poye understands his intentions, the piece of paper in Xiao Su Gun's hand now contains the formula of gunpowder, in other words, the things in Xiao Su Gun's hand are priceless treasures, not something that can be exchanged in a few cities.

The so-called "invaluable" absolutely cannot describe the preciousness of that recipe.

Xue Poye chuckled and said, "Try again, according to the formula."

Only then did Xiao Su Gun come to his senses, nodded and said: "Yes, yes, yes, we must try again, don't be a coincidence, just have a good time." He actually put the formula into his arms again.

Xue Poye's expression was calm, and he didn't show any signs of blame.

Immediately, the three of them returned to the house, took out the copper stove and placed it on the open snow field. Xiao Sugu and Gattuso added ingredients to the copper stove according to the recipe. They were very careful, and even used a scale to measure the amount of ingredients.

This tossing took a lot of time. After adding the materials and covering the stove, the two lit a firewood under the stove. The firewood was added with turpentine oil, so it burned very vigorously.

When everything was settled, the three left far away and stood watching from a distance.

The fire was raging, and smoke gradually started to rise around the copper furnace. The three of them covered their ears and waited quietly for the change.

Seeing that the firewood was about to burn out, but there was no sign of an explosion, Xiaosu Gun and Gattuso both showed frustration and disappointment on their faces.

"I'll add another fire." Xiao Su's stick was about to rush over to add fire, but was held back by Xue Poye. Sure enough, it exploded and fell apart, and the snow on the ground was flying all over the sky, mixed with a smell of gunpowder floating in the wind.

It worked!

Not only Xiao Su Gun and Gattuso were ecstatic, but even Xue Poye was full of excitement.

Since it was successful both times, there is no doubt that the formula developed by Xiaosu Gun is correct, and this is the real gunpowder formula.

Xiao Su stick was jumping and screaming like a child at this moment, while Gattuso looked devout, pointing his finger at his chest, performing the church ceremony of the Christians, and muttering in his mouth: "God bless, God bless!"

"brush!"

The cold wind rose, and the blade was like ice. In a burst of cold light, it touched Gattuso's neck, and the blade was close to Gattuso's throat. As long as the blade was pulled lightly, Gattuso's blood would be splashed here .

Gattuso yelled "Ah" for the rest of his life, not daring to move, and said repeatedly: "Maggard, Megade...!"

Xiao Su Gun was frightened from the ecstasy, and saw Xue Poye holding the Habayashi Saber, which was resting on Gattuso's neck, Xue Poye was staring at Gattuso coldly with a cold expression on his face.

"Brother Xue, you... what are you doing?" Xiao Su stick was terrified and took two steps back at a loss.

Xue Poye sighed, and said lightly: "For Da Chu, for my descendants of Da Chu!"

Xiao Su Gun's face was pale, and he stared blankly at Xue Poye.

Xue Poye said slowly: "Gattuso has followed you in the development of gunpowder, and already knows the formula of gunpowder. Once he returns to Rome, this formula is bound to spread in the west, and it will pose a huge threat to my descendants." After a pause, he shook his head and said, "Gattuso, I'm sorry, you must die. Only in this way can the recipe become my Dachu's unique secret recipe."

"No, no, no!" Gattuso's face was ashen, frightened: "You can't do this to me, you can't, I...I promise, I...I won't tell the formula, I promise you, I promise God swear...!"

"It's a pity!" Xue Poye shook his head: "I don't believe in your God!"