It’s September 19th, and winter will begin in just over ten days. It’s just dawn, and it’s extremely cold in Yanmen, the border gate in the late autumn morning. The first snow of the year just fell a few days ago, and it hasn’t melted yet.

The morning wind passed by like a knife, causing pain all over the face.

However, at the foot of a hill seven miles north of Yanmen, there were already several carriages parked here. Beside the carriages, more than ten men in full armor were holding war horses, standing like javelins in the wind, motionless. They

Her eyebrows were already covered with a light layer of white frost.

On the mountainside, on a platform looking south, in front of a tombstone, three figures sat on opposite sides, looking at the tombstone quietly.

There is no word on the tombstone.

Because there is no one in the tomb where the tombstone is.

But the person who should be lying in the tomb is by no means unknown.

The person who should be lying in the tomb is Yang Yanding, the famous Yongding Marquis of Dachu.

Among the three silent people in front of the tombstone, the old man with a gaunt appearance is Yang Yanding's father, Yang Hongyi, the Duke of Dachu Town. The middle-aged man sitting in the wheelchair is named Yang Yanping, and he is Yang Yanding's brother, who was given the title of Dachu.

Ning Yuanhou. The middle-aged woman standing on the right side of Yang Yanping's wheelchair is Yang Yanping's wife, Lin Hongyu.

Not far away from these three people, there was an old man in a gray robe, standing with his hands down. This old man, whose surname was Yang Mingzhong, was the old housekeeper of the Zhenguo Palace. Yang Hongyi and Yang Yanping were silently watching the area.

There was no word on the tombstone, and Yang Zhong was silently watching the three of them.

Suddenly, Yang Zhong frowned slightly, turned around, and looked up the way down the mountain. On the mountain road, a figure ran up quickly, and reached the platform in a few leaps.

The person who came was an extremely capable man. The man stopped a few steps away from Yang Zhong. He first saluted Yang Hongyi, Yang Yanping and Lin Hongyu, who had their backs turned, and then saluted Yang Zhong.

Finally, he quietly approached Yang Zhong and whispered a few words in a low voice.

After Yang Zhong lowered his head slightly to listen to the man's words, his eyes flashed. He raised his head and looked at Yang Hongyi's back. Just as he was about to walk over, Yang Hongyi's voice came: "Zhong, let him come over."

Yang Zhong bowed to Yang Hongyi's back, said "yes", and nodded to the man beside him.

The man hugged Yang Zhong, bowed and saluted the backs of Yang Hongyi and the other three, then turned around and ran away down the mountain.

A moment later, two figures came up from the bottom on the mountain road.

As the two people gradually approached, they saw that the person in front of them had a leopard head, ringed eyes, a curly beard and thick beard, and his appearance was very majestic. This person looked to be over sixty years old, but he walked with the pace of a dragon and a tiger.

There is no sign of aging at all.

Behind this person, a young man in a white shirt walked forward slowly with his hands behind his back. The morning wind was like a knife, and the white shirt on this young man looked very thin, but the young man seemed not to care.

Care. Moreover, the young man's pace seems to be unhurried and slow, but every step he takes seems to be without touching the ground. Not only does it look very relaxed, but it is not slower than the pace of the person in front of him.

When he saw the man with a leopard head and ring eyes walking in front of him from a distance, Yang Zhong's expression did not change at all. But when he saw the young man in white shirt, Yang Zhong's body straightened up and tensed. His body was hanging from his body.

His hands on his sides were also folded up and hidden in his sleeves.

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes walked to the platform, first nodded politely to Yang Zhong, then clasped his fists at Yang Hongyi who had turned around and said: "After all these years, the demeanor of Lord Zhen Guo is as good as before, Mu

I feel so relieved!”

Yang Hongyi also clasped his fists and said: "King Mu Tian."

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes put down his hands, nodded to Yang Yanping and Lin Hongyu who turned around with Yang Hongyi and said: "Marquis Ningyuan, Mrs. Yang, Mu came uninvited, sorry to disturb you!"

Yang Yanping sat on the wheelchair and said calmly: "This place does not belong to me alone. King Mutian is serious."

On the right back side of the wheelchair, Lin Hongyu glanced coldly at the man with a leopard head and ringed eyes, but said nothing.

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes seemed completely unaware of the indifference of Yang Yanping and his wife. He turned his head and looked at Yang Zhong beside him and said: "Old sir, could you please help Mu to fetch some incense for Marquis Yong Ding?"

One stick?"

When Yang Zhong heard this, he did not move. He just looked at Yang Hongyi and Yang Yanping.

"Wang Mu Tian is determined. It's just an empty tomb. King Mu Tian doesn't need to be polite." Yang Yanping said calmly again.

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes smiled slightly, but said nothing. He just turned his gaze to Yang Hongyi with a look in his eyes.

"Ah Zhong, please get some incense sticks for King Mu Tian." Yang Hongyi nodded to Yang Zhong and said.

When Yang Zhong got the incense, the man with the leopard head and ring eyes twisted three sticks, reached into his arms, took out a fire stick and lit the incense, then walked to the tomb, held the incense in both hands, bowed respectfully three times, and then

Insert the incense into the incense burner in front of the tomb.

Yang Yanping and his wife looked on with cold eyes. When they saw the man with the leopard head and ring eyes, he was very respectful. Their expressions softened slightly, but they still had a cold look on their faces.

When the man with the leopard head and ring eyes stood up, Yang Hongyi stretched out his hand and signaled everyone to walk down the mountain together.

From the beginning to the end, neither Yang Hongyi and his entourage nor the men with leopard heads and ring eyes mentioned the young man in white shirt, as if he did not exist.

Since the young man in white shirt arrived at the platform, he did not talk to anyone. He just put his hands behind his back and admired the nearby scenery and distant mountains as if there was no one else around. When everyone had already walked up the mountain road, the young man in white shirt walked among the others.

Not far behind, still unhurried.

The group of people walked to a place on the mountainside that was slightly sheltered from the wind. Yang Hongyi stopped and said to the man with a leopard head and ring eyes walking beside them: "King Mutian came here specially in the early morning, presumably not just to burn incense. What can I say?

It’s okay for Mu Tian Wang to say so.”

When the man with the leopard head and ring eyes heard this, he immediately turned sideways, clasped his fists towards Yang Hongyi and said, "The Zhenguo is open to the point, and Mu is very grateful. To be honest, Mu came here today to discuss something."

Yang Hongyi said: "Please speak."

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes did not speak immediately, but he cupped his hands towards Yang Yanping and Lin Hongyu, and then said: "The Duke of Zhen Guo, Marquis Ning Yuan, Mrs. Yang, Mu wants to buy more grain from Ning Yuan."

When Yang Yanping and Lin Hongyu heard this, they frowned at the same time. Yang Zhong, who was following them, also frowned.

Yang Hongyi's expression remained unchanged and he asked: "How many are some?"

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes replied: "Ten million stones."

This time, Yang Hongyi also frowned.

"Dong Zhenguo, Marquis Ningyuan, and Mrs. Yang, please rest assured that the price is definitely not a problem." The man with the leopard head and ring eyes looked at the expressions of several people and said.

"King Mutian, is this your idea or the Wolf Lord's?" Yang Hongyi asked without taking the words of the man with the leopard head and ring eyes...

"To be fair to Duke Zhen, this is not only Mu's idea, but also the intention of Lord Wolf." The man with the leopard head and ring eyes said frankly.

"King Mu Tian, ​​since this matter is the intention of the Wolf Lord, you, Tianlang Chao, will negotiate with our Dachu household department. I have already retired and returned to my hometown, and do not care about state affairs." Yang Hongyi said.

The young man in white shirt standing there with his hands behind his back had been looking at the distant mountains, but at this moment he slightly raised his eyebrows and revealed a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

"Mr. Zhen Guo, Mr. Mu came here with sincerity. I also hope that Zhen Guo Gong and Ningyuan Hou Xian will come together!" The man with a leopard head and ring eyes looked at Yang Hongyi and Yang Yanping, his tone was very sincere.

.

"King Mu Tian, ​​what my father said is true. Grain trading is a major matter for the country, and Ning Yuan cannot easily take the lead." Yang Yanping took over the words of the man with a leopard head and ringed eyes and said.

"Marquis Ningyuan, since Mu asked, he naturally knew that Marquis Ningyuan was in charge. Please don't push back, Marquis Ningyuan!" The man with a leopard head and ring-eyed eyes looked at Yang Yanping and said with a smile.

"Mu, what do you mean by pushing?!" Lin Hongyu took a step forward from the back of the wheelchair, shouting with evil eyes in her eyes.

Behind the two of them, Yang Zhong folded his hands again and hid them in his sleeves. His body tensed and he stared at the young man in white shirt out of the corner of his eye.

"Mrs. Yang, please don't be angry!" The man with the leopard head and ring eyes smiled, and then sighed: "In the battle that year, Marquis Yong Ding unfortunately died in the battle, and Marquis Ningyuan was also seriously injured. Madam Yang had hatred in her heart, and Mu felt the same.

Although what happened at the end of the battlefield was beyond everyone's expectation and control, since Mu was the commander of the coalition forces at that time, he was naturally responsible for the death of Marquis Yong Ding and the injury of Marquis Ningyuan.

.Mu Mou is here to apologize to the Duke of Zhen and Mrs. Yang, the worthy couple!"

After saying that, the man with the leopard head and ring eyes raised his fists and bowed deeply to Yang Hongyi and the other three people.

When Lin Hongyu saw this, the evil look in her eyes became even stronger, and when she was about to speak again, Yang Hongyi raised his hand gently, stopped Lin Hongyu, and said: "Since my Yang family is fighting for the country, we have already prepared to be shrouded in horse leather. On the battlefield.

Fighting each other for his own master, King Mutian has no need to do so. What's more, when you provoked the war, more than ten thousand soldiers and people of our country died in the battle? You, King Mutian, cannot afford to pay for this crime."

When Yang Hongyi said this, his voice was calm and his eyes were as calm as water.

The man with the leopard head and ring eyes once again bowed his hand to Yang Hongyi. He stopped talking about the past events, but looked at Yang Yanping and said: "Ningyuan Marquis Wen Tao's military strategy was highly valued by the Emperor of Chu. The territory of Chu is thousands of miles northwest.

The eighteen cities are all under the jurisdiction of Ningyuan Hou Mansion. All important military and political affairs are decided by Ning Yuan Hou. Mu even heard that the young prince Ning Yuan Hou is a hero and is very good at planning. He has done many great things that are beneficial to people's livelihood in recent years.

Matter. The land under Ningyuan’s jurisdiction has had good harvests every year, and the treasury of each city is abundant. As long as Ningyuan Hou is willing, ten million stones of grain is not a big deal for Ningyuan. I wonder if Mu is right?"

After saying that, the man with the leopard head and ring eyes showed a smile and looked at Yang Yanping, waiting for his answer.

"The news about King Mu Tian is quite good." Yang Yanping said calmly and said calmly.

"So, can Ning Yuanhou, the master of ten million stones of grain, do it?" the man with the leopard head and ring eyes said without changing the smile on his face.

"Ningyuan does have ten million stones of grain. I can do this," Yang Yanping said.

"But?" The man with the leopard head and ring eyes is an extremely sophisticated person. After hearing Yang Yanping's two affirmative answers, not only did the man with the leopard head and ring eyes not feel relaxed, but he felt an increasingly bad feeling.

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Chapter completed!