Chapter 171 Baptism of War

In a blink of an eye, it is July, and the Zhongyuan Festival is approaching.

Zhongyuan Festival is a Taoist saying, which is often called Ghost Festival, July and a half. This festival has been circulating in the Central Plains for a long time. In the Song Dynasty, because of the prosperity of Taoism, it gradually received attention and flourished widely. At this time, each family will invite the cards and portraits of their ancestors, burn incense and wrap clothes, offer sacrifices to the dead and put river lanterns, and the rich family will also make a Dharma meeting or a water and land Taoist field.

Now Xishan and the government are in a "honeymoon period". In order to consolidate the relationship between the two, Zhang Xiaochun, the governor of Taiyuan, carefully arranged people to come to Xishan for more than half a month in advance to pay tribute to the martyrs of Wang and Guanshan and Taiyuan, especially the Qingyunbao who were martyred in the fire before.

Therefore, Qingyun Castle was very lively for a while. During the day, the Dharma Dojo is continuous, and at night, the river lights illuminate all the streams and rivers, burning paper ash and fireworks all day long.

Chu Tianya was also invited back to Taiyuan City to participate in the dojo festival held there, which caused a lot of sensation. After all, he is a native of Taiyuan. Now he has become the "general" of the leader of 100,000 green forest. In addition to being surprised, Taiyuan people are inexplicably excited - after decades, our Dragon City has finally become a big man!

Compared with Chu Tianya's busyness to deal with all kinds of social activities, Meng De has been very silent recently. He lived a simple life and talked to few people and did not participate in any group activities. In addition to taking care of some of his official duties, he hid at home alone most of the time.

Only Chu Tianya knows how sad Meng De, an iron man, is on the special day of Zhongyuan Festival.

One evening, Chu Tianya took a time and came to Meng De's house with two pots of wine alone.

The door is closed, and there are several people guarding the door. Seeing that the lord came and they were about to call Meng De to welcome them, Chu Tianya stopped them and walked in with only two pots of wine.

At the beginning of the Nirvana fire in Qingyunbao, all the martyrs were buried in a sea of fire. In addition, after a long time since the collection of the corpse, it is no longer possible to distinguish the wherece belongs to the body. So all the wreckage can only be buried in one place.

Meng De built a separate tomb for his deceased wife in his backyard. Every day, he would go to the grave. He did not provide incense wax or burn paper money, but "chat" with him. Sometimes when he was drunk, he spent the night in the grave, just like a husband and wife sleeping together. Since this year, Meng De has never been involved with any woman.

Not many people know about this.

No one can imagine that such a bold and iron-blooded man who runs to magnify the horse's golden knife is an extremely gentle lover.

Chu Tianya came to the backyard of Meng De's house, where a circle of walls were built, and the shade was as neat as a forest, decorated with a few flowers. The arrangement is simple and warm, all created by Meng De himself. There is a cabin in the center of the yard, in which there is only a table, a chair and a wardrobe. Open the dark door in the wardrobe, there is a hole in the ground, and go down more than ten stairs, which is the tomb of Meng De's deceased wife.

The light is on in the cave. It seems that Meng De is indeed here. Chu Tianya walked down step by step and heard a reply from inside.

"Xiao Min, come on, I'll give you a toast to my husband..." Meng De's voice, with a little big tongue, obviously a little drunk.

In the silent cave, there was the sound of Meng De drinking, and then the wine bowl was placed on the table, followed by the sound of pouring wine.

"Come on, I'll respect you again."

Chu Tianya shook his head and sighed. Just as he was about to move forward, he suddenly heard a voice, which almost made his hair stand up--

"Brother Seven, you can't drink any more!"

How can there be a woman's voice? ...The seventh sister-in-law blew up the corpse?!!

Chu Tianya was hit on the spot!

"Can, can drink! Let's drink again!" Meng De was obviously drunk and giggled.

Then there was the "plop" sound, probably falling down. The woman inside shouted eagerly - "Seventh Brother!"

Chu Tianya's scalp was numb. He took a deep breath and strode forward, pushing open the wooden door of the tomb.

Two people were stunned on the spot.

Chu Tianya looked at the woman in front of him, wearing the clothes that Meng De's deceased wife used to before her death. Even the hairstyle and headdress were the same, and her face and figure were somewhat similar. Meng De had turned over drunk and lay in front of a small seat. The woman was about to help him, and the two of them showed a semi-hugging posture.

The light in the cave was not very bright. When I looked at it, Chu Tianya really thought it was the seventh sister-in-law who blew up the body. He felt that the back of the ridge was like a bucket of ice water had been poured down, which was cold. But immediately, the "female ghost" shouted more surprised than him - "Brother Chu"!

Only then did Chu Tianya suddenly see that the person in front of him was actually Xiao Ai!

"Xiao Ai, why are you here? ..." Chu Tianya couldn't help staring at her in surprise and looked at her up and down in a daz. "I really didn't notice that your dress is really similar to the old seventh sister-in-law!"

"I...I..." Xiao Ai blushed to the root of his neck and couldn't speak.

Chu Tianya breathed a gentle smile, stepped forward and helped Meng De up, patted him on the face, but there was no response. It seemed that he was really drunk. So he said, "It's wet here. First, carry the seventh brother to the room with me to rest."

"Uh-huh..." Xiao Ai answered timidly, just like a child who did something wrong waiting to be punished by adults.

Chu Tianya had already understood seven or eight points in his heart. Without saying a voice, he first carried Meng De back to his bedroom, and then arranged for the little Luo to boil hot water and sober soup.

Taking advantage of a while, Xiao Ai has changed his clothes and "changed" back to himself.

"Why do you want to change it? You look good in that way." Chu Tianya laughed.

"Brother Chu, don't laugh at me." Xiao Ai is like a thief who has stolen everything, and he has already been ashamed.

Chu Tianya couldn't help laughing, "You two..."

"We have nothing! We are all clear!" Xiao Ai shouted in a hurry.

"Haha, I didn't say anything. Why are you nervous?" Chu Tianya smiled and said, "Besides, even if there is 'what', it's normal. What's there to be nervous about?"

"Really, really not..." Xiao Ai pressed his head low.

Chu Tianya nodded with a smile, "Tell me, do you like him?"

Xiao Ai was shocked all over his body. He lowered his head and dared not come to see Chu Tianya at all. After a long time, he nodded reluctantly.

"That's simple. I'll set you up." Chu Tianya said with a smile.

"No, never!" Xiao Ai was shocked on the spot and eagerly grabbed Chu Tianya's sleeve and shouted, "Brother Chu, don't do this, let alone tell him!"

"Uh? ..." Now it's Chu Tianya's turn to be stunned, "Why?"

"Because..." Xiao Ai frowned and couldn't say anything. He bit his lip and hesitated for a long time. Finally, he just shook his head, "Anyway, no!"

"Okay." Chu Tianya smiled and said, "It seems that there is still a secret. I have to figure it out first. Don't look at me so anxiously. Don't worry, I won't tell him - you go back first, I'll just stay with him here."

Xiao Ai was relieved. He looked deeply at the sleeping Meng De and quietly left.

Later, they poured sobering soup and took a shower for Meng De. After two hours, it was late at night that he woke up.

At this time, Chu Tianya was sitting at the table in his room, lighting a lamp and reading a book "Keiyuan Guangji". As soon as Meng De turned over, he smiled and said, "Wake up?"

Meng De finally came to his senses and said in surprise, "Brother, why is it you?"

"It's not me, who should it be?" Chu Tianya laughed jokingly, stepped forward and handed him a bowl of tea.

Meng De was stunned at first, and then smiled. He got up and took the tea bowl and drank it all. "Where's Xiao Ai?"

"In the middle of the night, do you still want a big girl to be here with you?" Chu Tianya laughed.

"Haha!" Meng De also smiled, "Go back, girl! - Don't talk about her, brother, I happen to have something important to tell you."

"Oh?" Seeing that he deliberately changed the topic, Chu Tianya leaned on him and said, "What's the matter?"

Meng De immediately got out of bed and sat down with Chu Tianya and said, "A few days ago, Jiao Wentong found me and told me something. Invite me and him to get up with each other, let Ma expand be the matchmaker, ask Zhang Xiaochun to get married, and let you and Princess Xiao choose a day to get married.

"I don't know if there is such a thing?" Chu Tianya couldn't help frowning.

"Jiao Wentong means to give you a surprise. The wedding date is in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Meng De said, "I feel that Jiao Wentong seems to have other intentions, so I have to discuss it with you in advance."

Chu Tianya pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that Jiao Wentong is still dissatisfied with me. He lacks a sense of security and wants to consolidate our relationship with the old part of Qixingzhai through this marriage."

"Jiao Wentong also mentioned a thing. He said that if you marry Princess Xiao as soon as possible, you can justly recruit many remnants of Liao who are exiled in Hedong and Hebei, and expand our strength, which is especially conducive to strengthening the cavalry." Meng De said, "He is the leader of the cavalry who leads the roaring horse. It seems reasonable and feasible. But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that Jiao Wentong wants to develop his strength with Princess Xiao and fight with you.

Chu Tianya's eyebrows tightened, and he shook his head slowly after thinking, "That's not true. However, this is a dangerous signal to be vigilant. No matter who it is, I don't allow him to pull any hills or divide in the West Mountain. At the same time, we can't be suspicious, let alone point knives and guns at our own people. In the final analysis, at present, my prestige is not enough and my credit is too small to deter the heroes and convince everyone.

"I think of a place with me." Meng De said righteously, "After all, people like Jiao Wentong have been crossing the green forest in the east of the river for more than ten years, and no one can look forward to it except Guanshan. Although you have achieved fame and prestige in the past year or so, you are still shallow compared with him and not qualified enough. Unless you can reach a height that he can't reach and do something that makes him arrogant, he can really convince you. There are also those from other eight mountains in Taihang who came to Xishan this time. In the final analysis, they all came for Jiao Wentong. If you can't completely subdue the hearts of these people, there will be disaster in the long run.

Chu Tianya stood up and slowly meditated and said, "Qingyunbao has just been rebuilt and is still in the running-in period. I won't act rashly. However, there is not much time left for us to run in. When the first heavy snow falls this winter, the golden soldiers will definitely come again. At that time, a big war will be inevitable.

"Brother, do you want to use this battle to build up your prestige?" Meng Dedao.

Chu Tianya nodded, "Now Xishan is like a huge piece of stubborn iron. Although it is enough, it is not good or bad, and the quality is not high. If you want to truly knead these 100,000 people into a refined whole, you must withstand the baptism and test of war, save the essence, and make it into steel.

"If we don't say that we are brothers, we can also think of this." Meng De said excitedly, "Now Xishan seems to be as strong as there are many people, but how much combat effectiveness it really has, it may not be as optimistic as it looks. We Song people have this kind of stubborn disease. Once we are tired of happiness, we like to fight inside ourselves; once there is an invasion of foreign enemies, we will abandon the old grudges. This really echoes your words, brother. What we lack in Xishan now is the baptism of war!"

"So we have to be well prepared." Chu Tianya nodded and smiled, "The real actress is ambitious and bloodthirsty. She will definitely not give up with us. Once they invade again, it will be a life-to-death battle. And this time we have no conspiracy to use. We have to rely more on a frontal battle to solve the grudges, which is a test of life and death for us. Their army is not a bag of wine and rice. It's up to us whether we can get through this disaster.

"It's mid-July now, and there are still about four months left..." Meng De breathed a sigh and gritted his teeth and said, "I have invited Jiao Wentong, Ma Yan and others to train the troops day and night. If you can get one more point, you will get one more point!"

"Good!"

"So your marriage with Princess Xiao? ......”

Chu Tianya smiled indifferently and said, "I have also asked this question. I replied that I will put it on hold for the time being."

"Will Princess Xiao and Jiao Wentong be unhappy? Especially Princess Xiao, after all, she is a female streamer, thin-skinned and high-hearted.

Chu Tianya still smiled indifferently, "This matter must be solved in a private way, and it should not affect the overall harmony of Xishan. I'll go and tell Princess Xiao that this will be perfect only if she comes forward to persuade Jiao Wentong to quit!"

"No matter what kind of woman is, she can't stand being refused marriage, not to mention Her Royal Highness Princess Xiao, who has a strong temperament?" Meng De smiled maliciously and said, "Let me see what you say!"

"I can say that I will die, and I can say that I will be defeated by 100,000 soldiers in the State of Jin. Are you afraid that I won't accept a woman?"

Chu Tianya laughed so hard that he talked loudly, but he was worried in his heart: Damn, how can I tell her?! ...No wonder the Tian Dynasty in the 21st century stipulated that men can only get married at the age of 22, and it is enough to be 16 years old to be a soldier. It turns out that it is much more difficult to deal with a wife than to deal with thousands of troops!!