Novoland: Eagle Flag Chapter 1: Like a dragon

Xiang Kongyue——This mysterious master of cunning art of war appeared in history for the first time, and it was so short.

It was still on that snowy night on December 7th in the ninth year of Emperor Yinxi...

Afterwards, Ye Yongrong checked the roster of the Habayashi Heavenly Army, and found that Xiang Kongyue was only a small official in charge of documents in the Habayashi Heavenly Army's shogunate, who had just been recruited two months ago. Searching through the roster, there is only one line of small print about Xiang Kongyue: "Xiang Kongyue, a third-class document, with a monthly salary of four hundred copper baht and thirty catties of rice."

While Ye Yongrong couldn't help but burst out laughing, he couldn't help feeling disappointed. She may never know the origin of this mysterious man. When Xiang Kongyue walked into the heavy snow, Ye Yongrong felt that he was like a visitor in the emptiness, once he left, he would turn into emptiness again.

In the vast sea of ​​people, those who once danced together will never meet again.

Ye Yongrong thought of that moment again, when Xiang Kongyue stood on the fence with his hands behind his back, looking at the white sky, his eyes seemed to be able to see through everything in the world. She silently put the roster back to its original place, and turned her head to look out the window, which was still snowing heavily.

According to the official historian's records, in the year that Emperor Xi died, Zhongzhou was snowed for a whole month. To the west of the Suohe Mountain Range and to the north of the Thunder Eye Mountain Range, the three thousand miles of land are completely covered in plain color. Heavy snow also floated on Sushui.

Sushui is a big river, originating from the Suohe Mountains, running from east to west, separating the two states of Lanyue. It is also one of the water veins that the Chu, Wei and Chen four countries rely on for their survival. Every year, half of the goods that flow from Wanzhou to Lanyue two states are sent downstream from Sushui. When Sushui flows through Leiyan Mountain, there is a small tributary, Qingyi River. Qingyi River diverges into a thin stream, and flows northeast into Qingyi Lake in Chen State. After the Qingyi River crossed the Leiyan Mountains, there was an unknown small town beside the river. The mountain town is facing the Leiyan Mountains on one side, and the gentle beach on the Tsingyi River on the other side. When autumn comes, the eyes are full of reed flowers. The snow-white reed flowers are blown up by the wind like clouds, and finally fall on the river and flow to Tsingyi Lake with the water. So this place is also called Liuyunpu, but it has this name many years later.

The small town in winter is extremely quiet, and most people are still dreaming. The woodcutter has returned. He got up early and went to the mountain to cut oak branches to sell as firewood, and there was a thick layer of snow on his coir raincoat. Stepping on the small road in the town with his feet stiff with cold, the woodcutter took a deep breath, the cold snow chilled his heart. In this kind of weather, everyone sleeps late and wakes up late, only he has to chop firewood for money, otherwise there will be no food and clothing for the day. Alone in the heavy snow, he couldn't help feeling desolate. Looking back, he wasn't like this just three years ago. At that time, the price of firewood was much higher than now, and there was some meat on the table from time to time. But since the princes and lords who left the country led troops into Tianqi, the merchants of Tianqi heard that they had fled to Wanzhou one after another. As one of the main waterways for Tianqi merchants, the Qingyi River has gradually become deserted, and boats on the river have become increasingly rare. It is rare to see merchants temporarily staying in the town. No matter how good the firewood you cut, if no one buys it, you can't get a high price.

The woodcutter muttered softly, thinking that the situation in the coming year might be even more bleak, and he was at a loss for a while.

He suddenly heard a slight noise behind him, and turned around in shock. A white horse stood quietly in the wind and snow, and the young man in white clothes who was riding the snow smiled faintly at him. The others are there, but they seem to be integrated with the snow shadow behind them, so pure that they are not stained with dust.

"Fifth brother." Xiang Kongyue smiled softly.

"Mr. Xiang!" The woodcutter was rather surprised, "Didn't you go to Beijing?"

"The capital is finally in a different place, and I haven't returned home early, how are you doing, sir?" Xiang Kongyue still smiled lightly. His smile looks gentle, but it always has a meaning that people can't see through.

"Okay, I sent a load of firewood before I went down the mountain."

"Thank you very much," Xiang Kongyue bent down on the horse, and handed the two gold bahts to the woodcutter. Then he stopped talking, pulled the rein, and the white horse kicked the snow away. The woodcutter turned his head to watch the man rush straight across the only street in the town and climb up the mountain along the narrow mountain path. As he gradually ascended, Xiang Kongyue's white clothes were already buried in the snow. In the end, the woodcutter could only see the snow powder kicked up by the horse's hooves rising and falling in the middle of the mountain.

The two gold bahts in the woodcutter's palm had already been warmed by him, and he looked down at the joyful expression on his face. Now that this generous Mr. Xiang is back, maybe there is no need to worry about winter. In Zhao Wu's memory, since Xiang Kongyue came to this town six years ago, he could often get a few gold baht from Xiang Kongyue to buy wine. Although Xiang Kongyue is not rich, and sometimes makes a living by selling literature and writing, he can give the last gold baht to poor people who have never met without hesitation when he gets drunk. In the past, there were often customers from Tianqi who were doing business on the river, but they were blocked by wind and rain and settled in the small town. Among them were some noble young men from the gentry. But in front of Xiang Kongyue, who is a commoner, none of these people dared to pretend to be respectful, and most of them called Xiang Kongyue "son" and called themselves "late school". The year before last, a wealthy businessman surnamed Yuan from Wanzhou came here admiringly. He chatted with Xiang Kongyue by candlelight at the only tavern in the town. When he left, his face was pale, and he secretly said that Xiang Kongyue was "not a talent that the world can tolerate".

But it was Xiang Kongyue who, for six consecutive years, got up early every day to climb the mountain to visit an old man who lived in the middle of the mountain. Most people in the town can't tell when the old man came here, and no one has seen his real face. He seemed to be in that small hut forever, and only woodcutters like Zhao Wu heard him say a few words because they often went up the mountain to deliver firewood to him in winter. Zhao Wu once saw Xiang Kongyue sitting under the eaves of the thatched cottage, talking with the old man through the bamboo curtain. There is no sign of chills.

For that old man, Xiang Kongyue always referred to him as "Sir" without mentioning his name. People in the town have been inquiring for a long time, but they have never heard anything about the old man from Xiang Kongyue, which adds a sense of mystery to the thatched cottage in the middle of the mountain. But after all, it's not a romantic affair, it's just a pair of teachers and students who are different, gradually people's interest fades away.

Ordinary people often neglect some things, and stand quietly beside those who do not see the people who push history forward.

The small courtyard is covered with snow, and several plum blossoms are blooming under the crystal snow, which are shockingly red. There is a distant sound of the piano in the snow dance all over the sky, and the continuous sandalwood fragrance comes out from behind the bamboo curtain, and dissipates with the sound of the piano.

The sound of the piano suddenly stopped, a white horse had already crossed the small bridge across the mountain stream in front of the house, Xiang Kongyue's snow-covering cloak swept the snow off the wooden railing, and the broken snow fell leisurely on the frozen mountain stream. With a thought, Xiang Kongyue pulled back the horse, silently controlled the horse to turn back, tied the horse to the railing on the opposite side of the bridge, walked across the small bridge on foot, and opened the firewood gate in the yard. There was a snow-covered grass mat in the yard. Xiang Kongyue knelt on it respectfully, bowed down and bowed: "Teacher, student Xiang Kongyue bows."

"Oh, you'll be back so soon?" After a moment of silence, an old man's voice came from behind the bamboo curtain, "You have completed your training, so you don't need to come see me again."

"Don't dare to disturb the teacher, it's just that the apocalypse has changed, I think the teacher will be interested," Xiang Kongyue said, "A few days ago, the emperor led his servants and two hundred forest troops to attack Li Gong Ying Wuyi, and was defeated by Ying Wuyi's subordinates. The posthumous title is Xi. Ying Wuyi and the royal ministers have supported the late emperor’s younger brother Zhu Wang, and when I left Tianqi, the emperor had already ascended the throne.”

After a long time of silence in the thatched cottage, there was a low voice: "Oh..."

For a while, the voice in the cottage sounded much older.

"Twenty years ago, the teacher once said that the princes of the empire supported their own self-respect, and the royal ministers formed cliques for personal gain. Sooner or later, Tianqi's political situation would be chaotic." Xiang Kongyue knelt quietly in the snow, calmly, "today is finally I verified the teacher's words, but the teacher is not happy?"

"The first emperor called me the emperor's teacher. I can only foresee the demise of the Bai family, but I can't help the descendants of the Bai family. It is my incompetence." The voice of the person in the thatched cottage was hoarse. Just to tell me about this?"

"Teacher, please teach me the way of an emperor!" Xiang Kongyue suddenly bowed down.

"The way of the emperor?" The man in the thatched hut suddenly sneered, "People are the most jealous of greed. When you came to my door and insisted on worshiping under my door, I couldn't refuse, so I had to agree to teach you the way of governing the country. You have finished your studies. Cheng, with your talent today, even if you can take the position of the Three Lords of the Apocalypse, are you still not satisfied, and you must learn the way of the emperor that subverts the world?"

"The heavens and the earth have been overthrown, and now the king is fighting against the princes with a sword and dies, and the subordinates are unwilling to save them. The wind and clouds are raging in the east, and chaos is coming! Earth," Xiang Kongyue's eyes were sharp, "The teacher also said back then that the way of governing the country is the art of governing the world, and the world is already in chaos. Without the means to turn the clouds and rains, chaos will never be ruled!"

"What does it have to do with you to govern the world?"

"If there is me in the world, it is all about the students to govern the world!" Xiang Kongyue raised his eyebrows, his eyebrows were like swords.

After a moment of silence, the people in the thatched cottage smiled wryly: "What a Xiang Kongyue, I made an exception to accept you as a student. I shouldn't hold anything back after joining my sect. But back then I refused to teach you the art of war, do you know why?"

"Students don't know."

"The way of the emperor is like the art of slaying the dragon. How many people in the world want to learn but can't learn it, but they have no use for it. Die in the way? Your intelligence is the only thing I have seen in my life, but I teach you the way of governing the country, but not the way of the emperor. I just don’t want to see that one day your end will be worse than mine.”

"End?" Xiang Kongyue raised her head in surprise.

"Although you are my student, you have never seen me, have you?" The person in the thatched hut lifted the bamboo curtain with a low laugh, "Xiang Kongyue, look at your teacher, think about your future. Would you like to be like me?"

The old man with a haggard face sat at the door, his snow-white long hair hanging down. He pulled off the long gray coat on his body, and his legs shrank below the knees, leaving a layer of skin wrapped around the leg bones. The old wounds on both knees are still there, but the old man has no kneecaps. One of his eyes can no longer distinguish between black and white, and the only remaining right eye is staring at Xiang Kongyue, and the eyes are no longer as sharp as they used to be.

"Teacher..." Xiang Kongyue did not expect that the hero who was famous in Kyushu in the past would be reduced to such a situation.

"Forty years ago, Emperor Fengyan and I met in Bi Zhi of the Chun Kingdom. At that time, he was only one of the fourteen princes of the royal family, and I was also unknown...I never thought that the romance of that dynasty would fall in On both of us." The old man raised his head and sighed. When the wind came, the snowflakes under the eaves suddenly drifted away, adding confusion to his pupils.

Xiang Kongyue looked solemn, stood up and took a step back, pressed the snow with both palms, prostrating and fell down in the snow.

In the 1300-year history of the Yin Dynasty, there were more than 70 emperors, all of whom were called by posthumous titles. For example, Bai Luyan's posthumous title was "Xi" after his death, and the official historian wrote "Xi Di Ji". But the only two exceptions are Bai Yin, the Rose Emperor who founded the country, and Bai Qingyu, the Fengyan Emperor thirty years ago. "Qiangwei" and "Fengyan" are the nicknames of these two emperors. Bai Yin used the rose battle flag as his commanding flag to cross the four states of East China, while Bai Qingyu gathered the heavy troops of the princes to form the strongest royal army in the history of the Yin Dynasty. "Fengyan Iron Brigade", the northern barbarians twice, intending to unify Kyushu. Because Bai Qingyu's military exploits are astounding in ancient and modern times, comparable to that of Bai Yin, so novels about him are spread all over East China, and everyone knows that "Emperor Fengyan" is an unrivaled hero. In the end, the ministers of the royal family also had to obey the folk customs, and no longer called Bai Qingyu "Emperor Yinwu", but changed their name to "Emperor Fengyan".

Looking back at that period of history, Bai Qingyu was born as a humble concubine, and was discriminated against by all his brothers, so he had no hope of becoming the emperor. Later, in the fierce battle to seize the heir, he turned out to be born out of nowhere, swept away all forces in one fell swoop and ascended the throne, and finally went to the northern land, roaring the seven seas, and it was not only his own strength. Xiang Kongyue also vaguely knew that her teacher and Emperor Fengyan were inextricably linked, but the teacher kept this section secret, and Xiang Kongyue was inconvenient to ask more. Today, the teacher finally touches on this past event, which means that the teacher will tell the whole of his life experience, and there is nothing to hide. When the teachers and students came to face each other calmly, Xiang Kongyue's heart was shaken, and he couldn't help but stand up and pay respects.

"I know that you are lonely and arrogant in your heart. Why wasn't I like this when I was young?" , persuaded him to rise up against his fate, and finally took the throne. The late emperor felt our friendship at the beginning, and selected me from a commoner to be the emperor's division, to lead the military affairs of the Eastern Lu, and to control the shogunate of the Habayashi Heavenly Army. In fact, it was a civilian Prime Minister, one of the most important ministers of the royal family."

"In order to establish a reputation handed down from generation to generation, I persuaded the first emperor twice to raise troops to conquer the barbarians, with the intention of unifying the world and establishing an empire that has never existed before in history. I personally galloped forward in the two northern campaigns, plotted and exhausted my strength What I have learned all my life is to hope for the humiliation of Yixue when he was a teenager. But both times, I only ruined my good boy from Donglu." The old man looked down at Xiang Kongyue, with sadness in his eyes.

"Before the last return to the south, the corpses of 70,000 disciples of Zhongzhou were lying on the Xuehao River in the south of Shuofang. The first emperor and I climbed the earthen wall to look at it in the middle of the night. Ideal, how many bones and blood will be left forever in a wild place far away from home? The first emperor fell to the ground and cried bitterly, and I was heartbroken."

Xiang Kongyue's heart was shaken, and she slightly raised her head to look at the teacher, but what she saw was the teacher's desolate smile. Xiang Kongyue hastily lowered her head again, not daring to say more.

"You are familiar with history books, and you know that the first emperor brought back countless famous horses and treasures from Beilu, but you don't know how many blood and tears are hidden in the historian's pen. There is not much difference between the bones," said the old man shaking his head, and seemed to have fallen into long-term contemplation.

"Teacher, what about your legs..." Xiang Kongyue asked in a low voice.

"Speaking of which, my legs are insignificant," the old man said lightly, "After returning from Beilu, most of the royal family's famous generals died in battle. A big event that provoked the wrath of the people. During the serious illness of the first emperor, I was in a trance, fell into the trap of the opponents in the court, was deprived of military power, and cut off my kneecap in the iron prison of Tianqi City. They forged the imperial edict of the first emperor and ordered Kill me outside the city of Tianqi. It's just that I am suspicious and have the habit of leaving too many retreats. So I bought two top assassins very early and have been lying in ambush in Tianqi. They saved me at a critical moment. Come back here."

The old man waved his sleeves to the surroundings: "The mountain is still the same mountain, and the snow is still the same snow, but on Biluo Peak, the old man is forever."

Teacher and student, one looked into the distance in awe, while the other knelt down on the ground, not speaking for a long time. In the silence, the snow fell on the roof of the thatched hut. The thick layer of snow could no longer support it. It rubbed against the thatch and slid down, and a piece of snow fell all over Xiang Kongyue's dark hair. Xiang Kongyue was still kneeling there, and the old man sighed softly.

"Kongyue, I've come to this point, don't you think you're going to quit?"

Xiang Kongyue stood up, shook off the snow from her body, and looked at the old man silently. His eyes are extremely clear and quiet, but they are unfathomable, more cold than the snowflakes in the sky. The old man looked at him for a moment, then lowered his eyes. Xiang Kongyue lifted up her white robe, knelt down on the ground again, got up and took a further step, bowed again, went down the steps, and knelt down deeply again. This is the etiquette of apprenticeship, and it is also the most solemn gift between teachers and students.

"When you worshiped me as your teacher, I received this gift from you," the old man said in a low voice, "but I never thought I would have the opportunity to receive this gift from you."

"Teacher, please teach me the art of slaying dragons!"

"I have already told you that the world is so big that it cannot be mastered by one person's wisdom, nor can one person's power reverse the chaos of the current situation. It is not that I am unwilling to teach you the art of dragon slaying, but I am afraid that I cherish your talent. , but in the end it made you as hopeless as I am. Why do people bother to carry the world and everything on their shoulders? Even if you are not afraid of harming others, aren’t you afraid of harming yourself?"

"Students never give up without trying."

Suddenly there was a look of caring in the old man's eyes.

"Okay. It's your fate that you meet me, and it's my fate that I meet you. Maybe the dragon slaying technique is not willing to be buried. In the dark, we all depend on the fate of the stars! With your talent, it is even better. When I was young, when I think back to my time, there is absolutely no reason to shrink back." The old man slapped Chaimen with his skinny palm, "You are my student! You are my student!"

"Deep mountains and great swamps, full of dragons and snakes, you can't be accommodated by mere well water," the old man smiled strangely, and whispered in Xiang Kongyue's ear, "but if you have the heart of a foreign race, you will plot against me, the king of the Eastern Lu. Earth, don't think that there are no heroes in East 6 who can control you!"

"So the teacher already knew my origin." Xiang Kongyue's face was pale, with a wry smile on his lips, "I thought I was smart."

"I don't need to pursue your origin and origin, but if you want to learn my dragon slaying skills, you must keep my two promises!"

"Teacher, please tell me." Xiang Kongyue straightened her robes and bowed in front of the old man.

The old man nodded slightly, leaned over to Xiang Kongyue's ear, and whispered something. A gust of wind rolled snowflakes into the eaves, and those few whispers were also swallowed by the wind. Xiang Kongyue looked up at the old man, who gently stroked the top of his head.

Xiang Kongyue bowed down again, and the old man smiled slightly.

"Fifth Brother, come and see!" Lu Yan, a fisherman, suddenly shouted from the window of the wine shop in the town.

Zhao Wu took Xiang Kongyue's two gold baht, and at this moment he no longer thought about collecting firewood, and lazily huddled in the wine shop, drinking hot wine around a charcoal brazier with a few poor brothers. At this time, he heard Lu Yan calling him, and ran over drunk.

"Look at the snow in the middle of the mountain," Lu Yan pointed at the halfway up the mountain, "I've never seen snow like this before."

When Zhao Wu stared at it with wide eyes, he realized that it was a thin whirlwind, wrapped in countless snow flakes. From a distance, it looked like a snow roll hundreds of feet long, like a living spirit flying in the air. Young Jiao.

"Like a... dragon!" Zhao Wu murmured after taking a sip of his wine.