Harue Kagetsu

Along the hill, Luoshen kept rolling down.

The grass cut her exposed delicate skin, the large and small rubble in the grass, the limbs and body that she constantly rolled over.

Pain.

But she has completely lost control of her body, she can only close her eyes and roll faster and faster, as if she is about to roll down a bottomless abyss.

Just as the sky was spinning and the pain was endless, suddenly, the downward trend stopped.

It was as if she had hit a wall.

The wall was solid, thick, and finally ended her pain.

It was Li Mu's arms and his chest that caught her.

She was caught by him. His hair was messy, his face was pale, and his clothes were scratched, revealing half of his snow-white shoulders with scratches and scars. He looked miserable and embarrassed. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at him for a while before he seemed to finally come back to his senses. When he came, he called "Lang Jun" with a trembling voice, his eyes were red, and he grabbed his sleeve with both hands, and he plunged into his arms.

Cried.

Heartache and self-blame, twisting Li Mu like a knife. He hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead, which was covered with grass clippings and was scratched with a few small wounds by Cao Feng.

Hou Li chased after him out of breath, looked at the hill where the little white tiger had long since disappeared, paused, and turned to look at Li Mu's back hugging his wife's comforting back. After waiting for a while, he couldn't wait any longer. He walked over cautiously, accompanied his smiling face, and said in his blunt Chinese: "Congratulations to Li Shishi for successfully rescuing his wife. Dare to ask my wife, how did you discover that little white tiger just now?"

Only then did Luoshen realize that there were others nearby. He hurriedly released Lang Jun's sleeve, which was still tightly clenched in his palm, broke free from his arms, and lowered his head to wipe away the remaining tears from the corners of his eyes.

"It's you?"

When she raised her face, Hou Li suddenly widened his eyes, pointed at Luoshen, and was speechless.

The young musician who played the Hu Pipa that day really left a deep impression on him, and he still remembers it now. Therefore, as soon as he saw the face of Mrs. Prefect, although a man and a woman were dressed differently, they were still recognized at a glance.

He was astonished and froze. It wasn't until he saw Li Mu take off his coat, quickly wrap it around her shoulders, and help her up from the ground, that he regained his senses and hurriedly lowered his head.

Luo Shen knew that he recognized him, nodded at him, and recognized it, and then reluctantly calmed down and told the scene of the encounter with the little white tiger just now.

She was still terrified and still in shock, but Hou Li was overjoyed when he heard it.

He breeds beasts, and he has beast masters who are proficient in beast taming, and he is also good at this. I just saw the little white tiger that was only four or five months old from a distance. Not only was its coat rare, but it also had tall eyes, broad jaws, broad shoulders, and strong shoulders. At a glance, I knew that it would be the king of beasts in the future, and I immediately thought of capturing it. .

Hearing Luoshen talk about his confrontation with it, his eyes lit up: "I have raised a lot of cubs, but I have never encountered such a clever thing. If you can catch it, tame it, and follow my instructions in the future, The rest of the tigers and leopards, don't worry!"

When he saw the young musician before, he was astonished. If he could not ask Li Mu, he knew that he belonged to Li Mu, so he had to give up. It's just that I still feel a little regretful in my heart.

Today we know that it is not a man, but a woman. Not only that, but also Mrs. Li Mu.

These days, Sui has been searching hard beside Li Mu, and he has seen with his own eyes that he is trying to find his wife, sleepless, how dare he save the slightest bit of not reading? Even taking one more look, I was afraid of being offended. After speaking, I bowed and left in a hurry.

An attendant over there also came to plead guilty to Li Mu, saying that the dozens of Xianbei warriors were fighting with their lives, and they couldn't escape for a while, so the Murong brothers and sisters took the opportunity to escape. Just now, he finally killed all the warriors, and the rest have gone after him.

It was dark. Li Mu knew that he wanted to catch up again, but there was little hope.

Although the lingering resentment in his heart was hard to dispel, but seeing his wife's pale face and having finished talking with Hou Li a few words, he seemed to have used up all his strength and stood unsteadily.

The tent was erected, and the fire was still burning.

Li Mu knew that she had been frightened for many days, and her hands, feet and forehead were all scratched, and she felt very pity. She was afraid of being tired. Although she was separated for many days, she didn't want her thoughts. Lie down and said softly, "Go to sleep."

Luoshen closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, looking at him who was still looking down at him, a hazy mist slowly appeared in his eyes.

"Lang Jun, I'm so scared, I'm afraid I'll never see you again..." Her voice had a faint cry.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here, I'm here..."

Li Mu stroked her back with his palm, as if coaxing a frightened child.

She stretched out a small hand and gently stroked his thin face, which was covered in stubble, and suddenly plunged into his arms, her jade arms wrapped tightly, and kissed him casually.

"Lang Jun, don't you want Ami..."

While weeping, she begged him vaguely, praying for pity in every possible way.

No man in the world can resist such a terrifying person.

Li Mu hugged her soft body and asked for her.

The solid body and the familiar breath finally dispelled the shadows in Luoshen's heart.

The moment she was possessed by him, she cried again.

She was not dreaming, he finally received the message she sent him and came to her side.

"Lang Jun, Lang Jun—"

She gasped and kept calling out to him.

Li Mu responded to her with his own body, served her, and finally exhausted her, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep in his arms.

After she fell asleep, Li Mu stared at the slightly raised lips of the girl in her arms, as if she had finally gotten a satisfied sleeping face, her eyes were red and she couldn't sleep for a long time.

…

Early the next morning, Li Mu ignited three ground fires, and by the afternoon, he recalled his followers one after another.

Tracking Murong for sure was fruitless.

Looking at the vast wilderness to the north, he stood for a moment and said, "Go back."

The group was about to embark on the return journey, but Hou Li did not return, and brought the spirit dog, saying that he would stay and catch the little white tiger.

Li Mu knew that he liked this way, and he encountered the divine beast he liked. Thanks to him for his help this time, he left some entourage to help him catch beasts, and took the rest on his way home.

The way back was smooth and smooth, and after five or six days, I returned to Yicheng.

The siege of the city had long since ended, and the city residents had all moved back to the city a few days ago.

In this battle, there was almost no need for Yicheng's army to start, and the Xijin army in the city killed each other and ended the siege.

About half of the soldiers at the bottom of the army were Han Chinese.

He couldn't find anything to eat, so he began to slaughter the hundreds of cavalry horses that had not left the city at the time, and rushed into the city with the infantry. A few days later, after the last mouse was also caught, his eyes were red. The Xianbei generals and advisors conspired and came up with a strategy to break out of the siege, secretly summoning a thousand Han soldiers in the team, massacred, and then planned to take advantage of the dark to throw the corpses into the city and stack them into mountains to force people. Bridge, stomping on and rushing out.

Li Mu had been prepared for a long time. When the first corpse was dropped at the head of the city, the defenders immediately noticed it and quickly summoned people with a horn to remove the corpse.

A corpse is thrown at the top of the city, and a corpse is collected below.

Hundreds of corpses are thrown at the top of the city, and hundreds of corpses are collected below.

The bridge of people failed, and the news that General Xijin massacred the Han soldiers at the bottom also spread.

The rest of the Han soldiers in the army, although now they are all weapons for killing people without blinking an eye, but in the past, they were either soldiers who were caught and forced to be soldiers, or soldiers who were unable to make a living in troubled times and voted for food. When they heard the news, they discussed in secret, all turned against the water, rushed into the battalion and killed their superiors, and then fought with the Xianbei soldiers.

In those two days, the city became a **** on earth.

On the seventh day of the siege, he killed the last Xianbei and the remaining several thousand Xijin Han soldiers, climbed the city wall, begged for surrender, and vowed to return to Han soldiers and be loyal to Li Mu.

At this point, the sealed city gate was reopened.

For Xijin, this battle was not a big battle, but what Emperor Xijin thought was inevitable. The first is to establish prestige, and the second is to inspire the army for the upcoming attack on Chang'an and seek benefits. Therefore, in addition to enough food and grass, the rest of the equipment is also excellent. There are even 2,000 cavalry, which can be described as excellent weapons, but I didn't expect it to end like this.

Yicheng paid enough baggage, knives, spears, swords, halberds, bows and arrows, food enough for the entire city's soldiers and civilians for a month, and 2,000 war horses.

In order to repay Hou Ding's previous loan of grain, Li Mu selected a thousand horses and sent them to Qiuchi.

War horses are precious. In a sense, even more expensive than soldiers.

Hou Ding had already received the news that Xijin's army attacked Yicheng, and knew that this was a disgrace to him by Gu Huilong.

He had little confidence in Yicheng's ability to hold on. Although Li Mu didn't ask for help, he was ready to send troops to help at any time, but he didn't expect that in the end, not only did the news of Yicheng's great victory come without sending troops by himself, but also, after a few days, he got another one out of thin air. Thousands of horses are overjoyed.

Reciprocity. He prepared another 50 carts of grain, and when he learned that Mrs. Li Mu had used money to buy hemp from the locals, he ordered the people to harvest in large quantities. This returns Li Mu's gift.

After Li Mu received it, he set aside military rations, and the rest was distributed to each household according to the head.

The whole city celebrates, adults and children, smiling.

…

On the day Luoshen returned to the city, when the city gate was approaching, the news spread, and almost all the city residents rushed out of their homes to the street to greet her.

Gao Huan even personally drove the carriage for the elder sister and sent her back to the governor's mansion.

Luoshen entered the governor's mansion and found that the place that she had gradually cleaned up had suffered a new disaster because of the seven or eight days of siege.

Needless to say, in the front hall, the wall collapsed, and the house was burnt down a few more times, which had just been repaired. Afterwards, although it had been cleaned up these days, later, according to Aju and the maids, when they first came back, they were in a mess.

These days, Aju spent all day in self-blame, remorse and worry. Finally, when Luoshen came back and saw that she was safe, she hugged her and cried, cried, and brought a group of servants and maids to kneel on the ground. On the ground, she said it was all her fault, she was too negligent, she didn't notice that the blind girl was strange before, and she would allow a person of unknown origin to approach her so close.

In the past, Aju was not such an unruly person. On the contrary, she took the upper and lower ranks very seriously.

If she was still in Jiankang in the past, she would never have called someone from outside to be so close to Luoshen.

It's just that after arriving here, everything is different from Jiankang, and sometimes for convenience, it is inevitable to obey. Luoshen is also the most kind-hearted and pitiful. She has no pretence towards the people below her. The citizens of the city also respect and love her very much. Everyone is friendly. As time goes by, Aju gradually let go of some of the old rules. In addition to the special circumstances in those few days, they all lived together together. On that day, she was busy with the servants and maids, and she was negligent for a while to cause such a disaster. How not to blame yourself, not to regret?

How could Luo Shen have the heart to let her blame herself so much. He hurriedly helped her get up, and asked everyone to get up too, saying it was her own negligence, so that they didn't have to blame themselves too much.

Aju wiped away her tears, got up, and led people to serve Luoshen and settle down. After settling down, he asked Qiongshu to stay in front of her to follow orders, and then called everyone to another room, saying:

"You all listen to me. The young lady just said that it was her negligence, but that she was kind-hearted and gave us these servants face. But we can't shame ourselves!"

Everyone was silent and the atmosphere was solemn.

"Since I came here, I was also neglectful. From the beginning, I threw away some of the previous rules. This time, if it's wrong, it's me! You all follow me too, forgetting that you came here. , the first thing is to serve the little lady first!"

Her eyes were serious, and she swept the crowd in front of her.

"Other things, what the little lady ordered, it's not that it's not important, we have to do it too, but you remember it for me, no matter what, there is nothing better than serving the little lady!"

"From today onwards, I will arrange shifts for you. The person who is in turn will be in front of the little lady, even if the sky is falling and the person is dying! There must be no one! Let alone people of unknown origin, who can get close to her casually!"

"Fortunately this time, the little lady was fine and returned safely, otherwise, I didn't scare you, you know it yourself, starting with me, one by one, don't even think about living!

"Did you hear?"

Her voice was very harsh.

"I heard it. Follow Mammy's teachings!"

The crowd answered in unison.

Aju nodded slightly: "Just remember. Let's do things."

…

In the backyard, Aju learned from the pain and taught the servants and maids to eliminate hidden dangers. On the same day, Li Mucai sent Luoshen back to the house in the forecourt of the governor's house. When he came out, he saw Jiang Tao, Fancheng and others also kneeling on the ground, kowtowing to plead guilty.

Li Mu was silent for a long time, then called everyone to get up, and said, "This time there is an oversight, and the mistake started from the beginning. It is the right way to make up for it after a sheep is gone.

Fan Cheng was extremely ashamed, and blamed himself for his dereliction of duty that day, and he took the people behind him, and he couldn't afford it.

Jiang Tao also had a shy look on his face, and said, "It's because I did things carelessly. Now that Yicheng's reputation is gradually spreading, in the future, the influx of refugees will only increase, and the spies will do meticulous work, I'm afraid it will be indispensable. This time, it is from Xianbei. Murong Ting told him to take advantage of a loophole, and I don't know where he came next time. During the days when the governor rescued his wife, I have re-investigated all the citizens of the city. All are registered separately. All new entrants to the city will do the same in the future."

"In the past, there were few people in the city, and there were no rules. Now there are more and more people. It is planned to appoint a head of every ten households to be responsible for the management, and then to issue an order to warn the city people to be alert to those who behave abnormally around them. If there is any situation, report it immediately. If you catch spies, you will be rewarded to prevent them from mixing in with spies again.”

Sun Fangzhi also said: "For the thousands of troops who surrendered, I was also divided into various troops and handed over to Guo Zhan, Dai Yuan and others for training. The daily incision in the army changes at any time. The governor can rest assured that this one will never go wrong. of."

Li Mu got up, clasped his fists and said, "At the beginning, you all resolutely came here with me. In less than a year, this barren land has become popular today, and the army has also expanded smoothly, and its fame is far-reaching. I, Li Mu, have three heads and six arms. The power of one person is also determined to be impossible to achieve this result. And General Fan, it is also hard work. It is all thanks to all of you that I have achieved what I am today, and I have the fact of Li Mu, the prefect. Now everything is just the beginning. The strong enemy is behind . From now on, I need your efforts even more."

He looked at Jiang Tao and Fan Cheng.

"When I came, Madam specially asked me to tell you that in this accident, she herself was negligent and was at fault, and she has returned, safe and sound, so that you don't have to feel guilty about it. You all listen to her. This matter is over. That's it. Don't make the same mistakes in the future."

Fan Cheng was very grateful and kowtowed to thank him.

Li Mu helped him up, turned his head, and looked at Jiang Tao: "Is there any new news these days when I'm gone?"

Jiang Tao nodded: "I was just about to tell you. General Yang sent someone to deliver the letter the day before yesterday, saying that Xu Mi and Lu Guang decided to join forces to send troops to attack Yuzhou while Xijin Beixia competes for Chang'an. He has received Xu Mizhi's message. My life, I am preparing to send troops."

Saying that, he handed over a letter.

Li Mu took it, unfolded the letter, read it again, pondered, and only handed the letter to Jiang Tao.

Jiang Tao was busy watching with Sun Fangzhi.

Sun Fangzhi snorted: "Lu Guang sent his son to Zhenjun? Didn't he go to Jiaozhou to be the prefect? ​​Is Lu Guang trying to take advantage of the new emperor's enthronement to win a big battle so that the Lu family can turn over?"

"I have never seen this Young Master Lu. But I heard that he was one of the most romantic figures in Jiankang before. If this time, he can really win and retake Yuzhou from Beixia, it will be a great achievement, and there will be no limelight. two."

As soon as Sun Fangzhi finished speaking, he suddenly remembered the relationship between Mrs. Inspector Li and the eldest son of the Lu family in the past. Knowing that he had made a slip of the tongue, he hurriedly changed his words and said with a smile: "Of course, no matter how popular he is, he was also your subordinate of Inspector Li at the beginning. A defeated general. Besides, a hundred-footed worm is dead but not stiff. Beixia may not be able to capture it without his hands and hand over the Yuzhou that has been occupied for decades. Whether this battle can be won in the end, I don’t think so.”

Li Mu glanced at him and said nothing.

…

Half a month later, news came that war broke out in Longxi.

Gu Huilong, the emperor of Xijin, personally commanded 200,000 horses to attack Xijing Chang'an.

Beixia sent heavy troops to fight, and the two sides met near Bacheng, a hundred miles away from Chang'an, and went to war.

As the war continued to expand, more and more refugees from Longxi went to Yicheng with their families and asked for shelter to escape the war. On one day, there were thousands of people.

Yicheng is in the stage of rapid expansion. Reclamation and wars depend on people.

The refugees had to be allowed to enter the city, but there was a lesson from the previous time. Jiang Tao was more cautious in examining the identity of the refugees. He deliberately divided an area in the city to accommodate those who had just entered the city. The surrounding area was separated by soldiers. A curfew was imposed, and city residents were strictly prohibited from going out without any reason, and those who violated the order would be expelled from the city.

The implementation of the system is strict and orderly. Although the population of the ancient city has increased greatly, it is orderly and there is no chaos at all.

On the side of Luoshen, he did not give up eating because of choking. She still taught the children to read and write as before. They also organized women to use the dozens of carts of raw materials sent by Hou Ding to spin thread and weave cloth, and were busy making shoes and clothes for the army.

The only difference from the past was that Aju was extremely cautious now, and would never let her be the governor of the Shifu alone, let alone a stranger.

Not to mention Li Mu, to strengthen the security of the governor's mansion, day and night, they are all guards in shifts, and no more mistakes are allowed.

It's just that, no matter how careful the precautions are, sometimes there will always be unexpected surprises.

This afternoon, Luoshen was in the house, accompanied by Aju and a few maids, making a men's clothes inside, which he planned to make for Li Mu.

Knowing that his sewing skills are limited, even though he wears it, others can't see it, and he knows that Li Mu will not dislike it, but he still does it very seriously, and he does not dare to be careless. He was concentrating, when a maid suddenly ran in from outside, opened the curtain, and with a panicked face, shouted: "Madam, it's not good, there is a tiger running into the house! General Fan said that a tiger caught by Hou Li escaped from the cage. He ran away and jumped into the house! Tell me to hurry up and tell Madam, close the doors and windows first, and don’t let anyone come out! He is leading someone to arrest him, and he will notify you when he is caught!”

The maid's voice fell, and everyone in the room was shocked.

As if facing the enemy, Aju got up immediately, hurriedly called everyone back to her room, closed the courtyard door, and immediately entered, the doors and windows were locked tightly, and then led a group of people to block Luoshen behind her.

Luoshen was also startled at first.

Unexpectedly, in the clear sky, there will be a tiger running into the governor's house.

After thinking about it again, I suddenly remembered the little white tiger who had been staring at him for a long time in the grass that day half a month ago.

At the time, I was really too scared. When I came back after the incident and recalled the scene at that time, it was indeed somewhat like what Hou Li said, that Xiao Baihu should not have hurt himself at that time. Otherwise, it would have already jumped up at that time.

In the blink of an eye, it has been more than half a month. Just yesterday, she had just thought about it, Hou Li stayed behind and said that he wanted to capture the little white tiger, but she didn't know if he got his wish. Unexpectedly, so coincidentally, today, a tiger came into the house.

Could it be that this is the little white tiger that chased after him that day?

For some reason, perhaps because she knew that there were so many people in the governor's mansion, she was not as nervous as Aju and the others. She turned her ears carefully and listened to the movement outside.

At first, there was a faint sound of shouting, and the noise seemed to be in the front hall.

Gradually, the shouting became louder and louder, as if it was coming towards the backyard.

"Quick, shoot the arrow! Shoot it to death! Never let it run behind!"

The guard's voice was clear.

Suddenly, a long roar of tigers resounded in the sky over the entire Governor's Mansion.

Everyone in the room turned pale. A few timid maids, trembling with fear, sat on the ground.

Luoshen's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he hurried to the window, pierced the window paper, and looked out from the window pane.

"Little lady, don't look, don't be scared!"

Aju followed and dragged her back desperately.

At this moment, Luoshen saw a white shadow, suddenly jumped in from the wall, and fell to the ground.

She recognized it at a glance, it was the little white tiger who had confronted her earlier, with a circle of black hair on her neck, as if wearing a necklace.

However, it is no longer as majestic as when it ran out to frighten her.

There was a broken chain hanging from his neck, two arrows were inserted into his butt, one left and one right, his hind feet were bleeding, and he jumped into the yard like a headless fly, limping toward the corner of the wall. Run, run to the front, see that there is no way, jump over the wall again.

Only this time, it seemed that the strength was exhausted, the top of the wall was high, the front paws slammed up, struggled a few times, only ripped off a few bricks, and the whole thing fell to the ground. When he got up, he suddenly saw the bamboo, which seemed to have taught him to think of a place to hide. As he was about to run over, the courtyard door was kicked open.

Luoshen saw Li Mu holding a long stick, dashing in, and a few steps in front of the white tiger, blocking its way, and swept across with a stick.

Accompanied by a screaming "Ouch", the little white tiger flew up, hit the wall heavily, and fell to the ground.

One of its leg bones seemed to be broken by Li Mu's stick. It struggled, got up, and fell to the ground weakly, screaming, looking at Li Mu who was walking towards him, his eyes full of eyes. Frightened color.

"Ami, are you alright?"

Li Mu shouted.

"I'm fine-"

Luoshen hurriedly responded, pushed open the window, and stuck his head out.

Hearing her voice, the little white tiger turned to see her, as if he recognized her, suddenly changed to a whimpering sound, huddled on the ground, and looked at her pitifully with two eyes.

"This beast is fierce, get out and kill it!"

Li Mu firmly pressed the little white tiger, who seemed to be trying to get up, with a wooden stick, and turned back and shouted.

The guard responded, took the iron chain up, and put it on its body at once. Several people were messing around, and they quickly wrapped it tightly, dragging it and pulling it out.

"woo woo woo woo-"

The little white tiger struggled, its claws kept digging on the ground. Wherever it passed, there was a lump of mud. Both eyes looked at the Luoshen by the window sill, and the cry was extremely miserable.

Luo Shen's heart softened, and he hurriedly said: "Langjun, don't kill it, okay? It was captured well, and it is also pitiful. Just let it go back."