Just like last night, Xiaoxue, who couldn't bear the severe cold, could only rely on He Qizhou's body temperature to stay warm in the middle of the night. In the early morning, Xu Muxue took advantage of He Qizhou to go out to pack his luggage and wash himself up. It was extremely difficult to comb his hair with the small comb, as if
Walking among the rocks, it was almost impossible to walk in a straight line. Thinking about the past, even the long hair above the waist was easily smoothed to the end. I picked up the pair of scissors without thinking, and then put them down again. They were withered and yellow.
My hair is just that small and I really can’t afford to cut it.
After sitting in silence for a while, he still couldn't bring up any vitality. He was irritated in his heart, thinking about why He Qizhou hadn't finished it yet, so he wrapped up his leather clothes and went out to check. He saw that He Qizhou was not doing anything, but he was standing next to the snowman he built yesterday.
I built a snowman, the height is almost the same as myself, but the body shape and appearance, well, let’s not talk about it!
"When you came out, your hands were itchy for a moment, so you also made a sculpture. The one you molded was Lin Chuan. Look, does this mouth need to be smaller?" He Qizhou has been tinkering with this for a long time, but even Lian Xiaoxue can't do it.
I can't even get the charm out of it.
"Aren't you going to go on a journey today? Go and load the horse, and I'll do it too!" Xiaoxue said.
"Oh, if you do it, can you change Lin Chuan to..."
"Is that Lin Chuan? That's called ugly! Tell me, what should I change it to?"
"Change it to you! If you really can't change it, just step on it and use it as my base." After He Qizhou said that, he ran off to find the snow dragon horse that was walking alone, and then took the hay and firewood that he had unloaded yesterday.
Luggage, tents, and food were all loaded in. The snow dragon horse seemed resentful of this and barked several times every time something was added.
He Qizhou had no choice but to pull out a few twigs from Snow Dragon Horse's back and insert them into the bundle of firewood he carried on his back. He used almost half of them when lighting the fire last night. Now it's time to share some of the burden for Snow Dragon Horse. He Qizhou was almost touched by his generosity.
When they arrived, Xue Longma cast a disdainful look at him.
"Let's go, let's go!" He Qizhou turned around with his horse and was about to carry Xu Mu, but he saw that Xu Mu had already finished changing it and was admiring his masterpiece. The 'snowman' that He Qizhou had built had not changed into Xiaoxue's face, nor had it changed into Xiaoxue's face.
It was not trampled into a pedestal, but only slightly modified, but He Qizhou was amazed and felt warm in his heart.
It turns out that the pile of snow was pushed down on the snowman "He Qizhou", and the body part was only slightly reshaped, just like a young woman wearing a big cloak, with her hooded head buried deeply in the chest of "He Qizhou"
, "He Qizhou's" original arms were changed to hugging the girl. The image of yesterday's lone hero immediately turned into a passionate hero hugging the beauty, looking at the country he had conquered...
"The change is good. It was changed so quickly, which means that the work I did to lay the groundwork was not bad." He Qizhou picked up Xiaoxue on his back, followed Xue Longma, and started heading deeper into the Gobi.
"Thank you for having the nerve to say it." Xu Mu chuckled.
"Well, it's such a pity to think that after spring, such a majestic image will turn into running water."
"What's this? It can be piled up every year." Xiaoxue said.
"Then it's settled, just like that, we will build one every year when it snows. When there are more children, we will add more one by one!" He Qizhou said with a smile.
"Bad guy!" Xiaoxue cursed, and hit He Qizhou on the head with a fist like a gust of wind.
"How many miles do you think we walked today? Did you make a mistake in the direction? Why can't you see the edge at a glance?" Xu Mu asked. The two of them have been walking in the Gobi for half a month, and they have exhausted all their food.
Half of it, two-thirds of the hay, and no firewood were gone. Xu Mu had long lost the excitement he felt when he just came out of the mountain.
He Qizhou was carrying Xu Mu on his back, and behind him was Xue Longma, who had lightened his burden: "We have probably walked fifty miles today. In the past half month, we may not have walked less than five hundred miles. We have been walking eastward. I am not sure if we have gone astray.
Unfortunately, the Snow Dragon Horse has not walked here either and cannot lead the way. According to the map, this desert desert has a radius of 800 miles. It is estimated that we will be able to walk out in half a month."
"It will take another half a month... There is no firewood at night, and even the snow needs to be melted by your internal strength. You, can you hold on?" Xiaoxue said worriedly.
"Look, I'm as strong as a horse, and I have access to the five meridians, so I won't be in trouble!" He Qizhou said as he walked: "Now the ground is not littered with large and small rocks like when we first set off, it's all small gravels.
It’s much faster to walk, but the days are getting shorter and shorter. It’s probably just after Shenshi now, and it’s getting dark again, so we have to find a place to spend the night.”
"There are advantages and disadvantages to not having big rocks. There is no shelter from the wind." Xiaoxue said.
"It doesn't matter, let's build another stone house." He Qizhou said. Five days ago, there were no stones larger than two feet on the road. There was no shelter from the wind at night, so He Qizhou had to use stones to build a semicircular stone wall as high as one person.
The snake shed tent serves as the roof and the door, relying on Xiaoxue to bring in the true energy and embrace each other to sleep through the long cold night.
"You've lost weight again! I've noticed that my appetite has gotten better these days. Is it because of this that you eat less and less?" Xiaoxue asked.
"Am I thin? How can...where can I lose weight?" He Qizhou originally wanted to say, 'How can you be thin?', but when he thought something was wrong, he hurriedly changed his mind.
"How long can Xuelongma's grass last?" Xiaoxue asked.
"That guy probably won't starve to death if he doesn't eat for ten days!"
"I originally let him eat less, but I didn't notice that he lost weight? How many more days are left?"
"Six or seven days at most. But I guess half a month will be enough." He Qizhou said.
"Where's our food? You can't eat less! I see you secretly feeding Snow Dragon Horse berries, but it's really not possible..." Xiaoxue said with some choking.
"I know, we haven't reached that point yet..." He Qizhou said painfully. It might be harder for him to kill a horse for food than to commit suicide. "In the morning, I seemed to see antelope tracks on the snow. Maybe I can catch it if I'm lucky.
Got one..."
"Dream on. You should pay more attention to whether there is firewood or the like on the road. What I mean is that if you still can't find grass in a few days, let Xue Longma find it by himself. If we are destined, we will meet again." Xiaoxue knew.
He Qizhou was reluctant to kill the horse, but he couldn't give the horse food as much as human food. Letting it go might be the best choice.
"Well, I think that group of animals migrating from the mountains may have passed by here. I don't want to believe that we can't find any food. It's windy here and there isn't much snow on the ground. Our six pairs of eyes kept staring at the ground to find
The food is worth the extra detour."
"Yeah! By the way, put some snow in the water bag, just in case you can't find water later..."
"good!"
…
"I heard that the emperor is coming today."
"I'm afraid there's going to be another war!"
"Can you win? The situation is so bad..."
"Hush! Be careful to punish you for a crime that shakes the morale of the army..."
In the long morning queue, people were whispering about something from time to time. After entering the main hall and all the officials standing still, the prince then entered the hall. However, he did not sit directly on the seat under the dragon chair as usual, but straight up.
Standing on the ground, Prince Cheng, who had not appeared in the court for a long time, came in next, causing a commotion among the officials. The eunuch Tang Taicheng shook his fly whisk and shouted loudly: "Silence! Silence! Your Majesty has arrived——"
All the officials immediately fell silent. After seeing Jiang Cong sitting on the dragon chair, they all knelt down and shouted long live the mountain. Although he rarely went to court, Jiang Cong did not feel any strangeness, but most of the officials below him were actually
I didn't know him, but fortunately I was used to the replacement of officials one after another. After looking down for a while, he said: "My dear friends, please be safe."
"Do you have anything to report to me?" Eunuch Tang asked. These memorials that need to be discussed in the palace were all transferred from the cabinet and the east palace yesterday. Usually they are just for a walk.
"The Minister of War has something to report!"
"Servants..." According to yesterday's order, there is no memorial for the biography. According to the rules, such temporary intervention should be mentioned at the end. Prince Jiang Shan just wanted to ask, but was stopped by Jiang Cong.
Interrupt the question.
"Accurate!"
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of War has recently received letters from many places. There are many Northern Zhou cavalry crossing the border in Shanxi and Hebei. The number and frequency are several times that of previous years. Our border troops are exhausted to ensure the autumn harvest. The Northern Zhou Dynasty has brazenly broken the balance for many years and caused great harm to the lives of our people.
Tu Tan, I sincerely request your Majesty to send troops to Hebei, expel the Zhou army, capture Zhenyuan Pass, and take back the land of Yanbei!"
Before the announcement of the salary report had stopped, people in the hall were already shouting, mostly with voices of doubt. Eunuch Tang could only shout for silence again!
"Is it because I haven't been here for a long time that everyone no longer even talks about the rules of going to court?" Jiang Cong asked softly, and all the officials in the hall suddenly woke up. Not only one or two were killed by Jiang Cong's stick, but everyone also understood.
, all the biographies were clearly reported under Jiang Cong's instruction.
"Jin Yue, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, begins to report to Your Majesty." "Pang Yuan, the imperial censor of Youdu,..." "Privy Council..." were constantly being heard asking for the memorial.
"Your Majesty, they are all those who are in charge, including the prince, the chief assistant, the Xiao family, and Qingliu..." Tang Taicheng whispered in the emperor's ear.
"Let's talk about the household first." Jiang Cong really couldn't name the young minister.
Jin Yue said: "We are opposed to starting a war. Now that we have been hit by disasters for many years, the national treasury is empty and may not be able to support a war!"
"I second the proposal!", "I also second the proposal!" More than ten people shouted at one time.
"Pang Wan, do you mean this too?" Jiang Cong asked. Pang Wan was an upright and honest official. He was one of the few officials he promoted. He was considered a leader in the clean stream.
Pang Wandao: "Yes, Wei Chen believes that although the drought in the Northern Zhou Dynasty is serious, the national strength is still very strong. We don't have much advantage. It's better to wait."
"Mo Dezheng, please tell me the situation!" Jiang Cong didn't want to waste any more words with those officials and directly asked the Privy Councilor to tell the situation about the negotiations. Today's situation was also what he expected. The negotiations with the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were of great importance. At present,
The only people who knew about it were the chief and deputy privy envoys and the two assistants. Everything had been decided, and not a hundred officials could influence it.