In the winter of the eleventh year of Jianyuan, the imperial study.

Snowflakes were fluttering outside the window, and the swan-haired snow had fallen for three days and three nights. After lunch, the emperor stood in front of the window and watched, the snowflakes were held on his face by the wind and instantly turned into a drop of water.

The emperor stood in front of the window for a long time, accompanied only by the silent radiating heat of the stove.

The guard on duty entered the room, knelt in the distance, and reported, "Your Majesty, there is a message from the army, and General Ji is critically ill."

The emperor was still standing by the window, but his back was clearly shocked, and there was no response for a long time.

The guard knelt for a moment, then silently stepped back.

Shen Hai came in from the door and stood behind the emperor. The cold air was coming in from the open window. Soon he felt a coldness on his face, but the emperor was still standing there, looking out the window as the sky turned white, as if he had become a sculpture.

Snowflakes fell rustling, and some tried to break into the house, but halfway through, the heat from the stove evaporated into water droplets, falling on the bright yellow dragon robe of the man in front of the window.

Shen Hai took a few steps back and knelt at the feet of the emperor, "Your Majesty, take care of your dragon body."

Hearing the voice, the emperor turned around and closed the window by himself, ignoring his words and saying, "General Ji is dying."

Shen Hai was stunned for a while, then quickly reacted, saying, "General Ji has been away for a year."

The emperor said "um", sat back on the chair, and said calmly: "As soon as the old general leaves, I should take back the tiger talisman."

He said again: "I don't know if Ji Jiu will be able to come back." This sentence was very soft, but it seemed to be talking to himself. After a short pause, the emperor raised his voice again and asked Shen Hai who was kneeling beside him, "Does Ji Jiu know that I deliberately set him aside?"

Shen Hai didn't know how to answer such a question. After the border city is the desert, and after the desert is the green space. Above the green space, it must be the gathering place of the Huns. Children who live in the frontier all the year round know such a simple thing, but the emperor sent Ji Jiu away to explore the terrain.

In this kind of terrain, there is actually no difference between exploring and not exploring. Because the sand in the desert is flowing sand, even if Ji Jiu walks past, he may not be able to walk back according to the previous route. How to advance and retreat, whether you can find the Xiongnu royal court, whether you can find it once, and whether you can find it a second time, all depends on the will of God, and whether the general himself is sharp.

Shen Hai was silent for a long time before he cautiously said: "General Ji is very smart." He said, only said this sentence, and then did not say anything else.

The emperor was also silent, looking at the memorials on the dragon case, Fang Jiu said, "He doesn't care if I deliberately set him aside." What he cares about is the promise. When he returns to Beijing, the world will be handed over to him. The emperor fiddled with the memorials on the case, thinking that in this world, no one understands Ji Jiu's eagerness to wipe out the Xiongnu better than him, because he is the same.

So, before everything was ready, he wanted to exile this person far away, to a very far, dangerous place where he didn't have to face the dark guns and arrows.

Before calling on the Xiongnu, he had to wash away some people, many of whom had close contacts with Ji Jiu. If Ji Jiu is here, they may have a dispute, or they may implicate Ji Jiu.

No matter what kind of situation, he doesn't want to see it, so exile Ji Jiu is the best choice. This imperial city is far more dangerous than the desert.

When he came back to his senses, the emperor looked at Shen Hai and asked, "Is the memorial ready?"

"Okay." Shen Hai responded, took out a booklet, and said, "Tomorrow morning, Master Zhang will personally play it..."

The emperor waved his hand and interrupted him, "You can do the rest."

Shen Hai hurriedly kowtowed and stepped back.

As soon as Shen Hai left, the emperor summoned the guards who had previously reported to him and asked him about the condition of General Ji. The guards were his confidants. If you can't stand it, this is the time to report.

The emperor asked, "How long can it last?"

"It is said that the soup is no longer in the water, and I am afraid that it will not survive the winter." The guard stood for a while and added: "The old general is getting old, and it is normal to be sick when he says he is sick."

The emperor snorted softly, noncommittal, and let him retire after a few words.

After all, it is a young man with too little experience. How can know that General Ji is not old and frail, but his only son has been away for a year, and he has no news, worried and seriously ill.

These generals on the battlefield have experienced too many killings, seen too many partings of life and death, and they all seem to be hard-hearted. But don't know that the heart wrapped by the iron stone is also soft, and there will be care and nostalgia. That kind of care and nostalgia will only be more profound and secret than ordinary people, because that is the weakness of the generals, and it will affect the whole body. .

The guards withdrew, and the emperor went back to the window alone, watching the snowflakes flying outside, wondering if he would be able to see Ji Jiu come back in the next snowflake year.

In March, General Ji passed away. The soldiers carried his coffin back to the city and buried it in the ancestral tomb of the Ji family.

In the autumn, a secret letter was introduced into the palace, saying that it seemed that Ji Jiu had been seen in the nomadic team of the Huns.

In the blink of an eye, it was another winter, and the blood-washed court had regained its stability. Shen Hai personally went to the frontier town and found one of the 500 soldiers Ji Jiu had left in the city to ask Ji Jiu's movements.

After he left, the group of soldiers dressed as camels went into the desert.

On the 16th day of the new year, Ji Jiu's camel caravan slowly appeared on the horizon.

February is Ji Jiu's favorite season. There is a kind of sprouting beauty, a kind of dark tide that is about to spread.

The complexion on his face darkened, and the edges and corners were much more distinct than before. It was a kind of vicissitudes and fortitude after the sandstorm. There was a wound on his arm, and the white silk wrapped in it had turned into a muddy yellow. Leading the camel, he came from a distance, and there were thirty people behind him, who seemed to be following him slowly but step by step.

Shen Hai greeted him and hurriedly said, "General."

Ji Jiu smiled, her voice a little hoarse: "I didn't expect that the first acquaintance I met was you."

"This way, General..." Shen Hai paused, omitting his greetings, and said, "General, come back to Beijing with me."

Ji Jiu said yes, took two steps, turned his head and asked him, "Is my home okay?"

Shen Hai hesitated for a moment before saying, "The old general started spring last year... he went."

Ji Jiu's expression changed, the pain disappeared in a flash from his eyes, and he quickly regained his composure. He turned over and rode on the horse that he had brought, and cupped his hands: "The accident at home, Ji must take the lead, and Lord Shen can unite the people and horses. After that, Shen Jue was called to follow, and the two rode away without a trace of stagnation.

Running all the way, along the way, some people who Ji Jiu had arranged earlier finally met his master after two years of waiting, and they greeted him one after another. He told them what happened in the past two years. Ji Jiu heard that his former friend's house was stolen, Some colleagues were all beheaded, which is also a specious attitude and declined to comment. As if it had nothing to do with him.

It was only when he heard that Lao Xiangguo was listed and Ge Jue ransacked his house, his eyelids jumped, and he stared at the table full of food for a long time.

He didn't speak, as if he had nothing to say.

Back in the imperial city, Ji Jiu didn't go home, but went straight to the palace, or in the study, and met the emperor.

The monarchs and ministers faced each other face to face, and the eyes of each other were both familiar and unfamiliar, as if two years had passed, so that they had forgotten the appearance of each other in their minds. After standing for a long time, we started talking.

But there was no greeting.

Ji Jiu didn't mention the exile, the emperor didn't mention the old general's gloomy death, and he didn't even ask about the changes in personnel in the past two years, all the thrilling experiences.

Just sitting on the ground, with a huge map in the middle, in the blank space in the northwest, Ji Jiu took out his own drawing that had been drawn for two years, and the blank was filled in an instant.

Except for this picture, it seems that nothing has happened in the past two years, as if Ji Jiu never left Beijing, but just returned from the army.

They tacitly concealed everything that happened in the past two years.

When it was late at night, the candles were lit, and then the sky turned white, the sun was shining, and the candles went out. Ji Jiu crooked on the ground, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The emperor put away the picture, took the cloak and put it on him, then sat aside to review the memorial.

Occasionally also look at the man lying on the ground. In two years, it seems that a sword has been tempered. It has no sharp edge, and the whole body is dark and dull. Only the person holding him will know the power of this sword - unstoppable. .

He will hold this sword, sweep the Xiongnu, pacify the world, and shock the sea. This is the purpose of the emperor, and it is also the purpose of Ji Jiu, so he is willing to be the sword of others, and he is willing to be the eagle dog.

for their ultimate goal. Everything else is trivial, so they don't talk about it.

They are all the same people, heading straight for a purpose and sweeping away all obstacles. As for what would happen along the way, they didn't care.

The emperor hadn't slept all night and was tired. He held the memorial in his hand and fell asleep after reading two lines.

Ji Jiu only took a nap, and soon woke up to see the cloak on his body, dragons and tigers crouching.Such embroidery and color can only be matched by kings in the world.

Ji Jiu grabbed the cloak and got up, pinched the corner of his eyes, and saw the emperor sleeping on the desk at a glance.He put the cloak over his body.

Then left quietly.

There are too many similarities and too many differences between them, but this does not prevent them from fighting side by side in the face of foreign enemies.No matter what the future encounters and choices will be, at this moment, their purpose is the same.

Life and death, honor and disgrace, are bound together, and no external force can separate them.

Support and help each other, this will not be changed until the last day.

How can you say that you have no clothes, and you share the same robe with your son.