Chapter 87: Ji Ji's First Meeting [A real man should be like this! He can replace...
"Hey, wake up!"
"Fan Kuai, wake up! The centurion is here."
Fan Kuai, who was lying on the ground and feeling drowsy, felt that he was about to meet Zhou Gong when he suddenly heard the voices of his colleagues around him calling him.
He forced himself to resist the overwhelming sleepiness and drowsily opened his eyes and sat up. Under the bright moonlight, he saw his centurion holding a large brown medicine gourd and pouring small black pills as big as soybeans into the hands of the soldiers around him. He shouted at the new recruits at the top of his voice:
"Everyone, let me review this tonight. The danger in the Baiyue land lies not in the natives, but in the environment here!"
"It's easy to deal with the savage natives, but it's too much trouble to deal with the poisonous miasma and the snakes, insects, mosquitoes and ants here!"
"I think you all chose to leave your homes and come to join the army to fight. You all wanted to capture a few Yue people here, so you could earn a title and make life better for your family!"
"Since you have such ambitions in your heart, you must strictly obey military orders and have awe for this unfamiliar battlefield!"
"This centurion speaks frankly, so please don't take it as an insult. If you're already suicidal after not seeing the cunning natives here, you can disregard military discipline and drink the water from the surrounding rivers and streams! See if the invisible toxins and insects in the water can inflict diarrhea and kill you!"
"If you want to fight those natives alive and don't want to give your life here in vain, you must obey every military order. No matter how thirsty you are, you must endure drinking hot water. No matter how much you sweat, you must wear your armor and tie your sleeves and trouser legs tightly with ropes to prevent being bitten by poisonous snakes, insects, mosquitoes and ants here!"
"In addition, you must also take this small, pitch-black pill. This pill is a secret imperial medicine specially prepared by the Emperor at the request of the imperial physician, based on a recipe obtained by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince from the Black Bird. It has a powerful detoxifying effect, and after taking it, it can, to a certain extent, resist the terrible miasma of Baiyue!"
"Everyone must take one pill every five days! No one can miss out! If anyone in the army has persistent diarrhea and suspects poisoning, remember not to conceal it and come to this centurion immediately to get the antidote pill! Do you understand?!"
"I understand!"
After hearing the centurion's words, the soldiers who were lying, crouching, squatting or sitting all stood up swiftly, held their heads high and answered loudly.
Fan Kuai was naturally one of them. He stretched out his hands and carefully took the precious little pill that the centurion poured into his palm with a large medicine gourd. Relying on his thick throat, he didn't even use clean water. He threw the little pill directly into his mouth, rolled his Adam's apple, and swallowed it dry.
The small pill slid down his esophagus, and the sour, astringent and bitter taste spread throughout his mouth like a burst of water.
The sleepiness that was coming up in my head was driven away by the bitter taste.
Fan Kuai then reached out and picked up the water bag hanging around his waist. He gulped down the boiled water in it while gazing at the bright moon rising slowly from the mountains with his bright tiger eyes.
The wind in Baiyue is warm and carries a thick layer of moisture, which makes people feel sticky when it blows on them. Compared with Baiyue, Chu is not considered "South".
Fan Kuai drank half of the water in his water bag in one breath. He put the cork back in place and wiped the water stains on his chin and beard with the back of his hand. He looked up at the bright moon in the dark sky with shining eyes and sighed silently in his heart:
"Brother, when we were enjoying mutton stew in the summer, even you, as clever as you are, only guessed half right! The land of Baiyue is indeed as humid and hot as you described, and the miasma that permeates the mountains is extremely dangerous. However, the imperial court has made sufficient preparations this time! This opportunity is rare. Now that I have escaped from Pei County, I must slaughter as many barbarians as possible and fight to the death to earn a title!"
…
"A-choo!"
The warm winter wind of Baiyue could not reach the distant Qin land no matter how hard it blew, despite the numerous mountains.
In November, the imperial capital was freezing cold and the rivers were frozen.
In late autumn, Liu Ji, the chief of Sishui Pavilion, together with the chiefs of other pavilions in Sishui County, sent the laborers of Sishui County to the construction site of the Great Wall.
Liu Ji, who had finally had the opportunity to travel far away, did not rush back to Chu with the other pavilion chiefs after completing his mission. Instead, he carefully put the "talisman", "verification" and "transmission" in his arms and went straight to Xianyang City to stroll around as if he was seeing some rare scenery.
He visited the suburbs, then the big city in the southeast where common people lived, and then the East Market and the West Market.
After learning that the nobles in Xianyang City all lived in the southwestern town, and finding out that the southwestern town did not restrict common people from entering, Old Liu, who considered himself a respectable person, took a leisurely stroll around the southwestern town.
Looking at the black-tiled mansions that looked exactly the same, Liu Ji couldn't help but sigh in his heart:
The Qin people had a very particular aesthetic. They loved to build everything square and squarish. Not only did they want it to be symmetrical, but they also wanted it to look exactly the same. It was like they had some kind of obsessive obsession with this.
“Tsk!”
He looked around and sighed. On the street, there were many Chu people who came to visit the aristocratic mansion area like him.
This is not surprising. After all, before the unification, when the Chu State was still alive, the Chu faction in Xianyang City was very powerful.
When Liu Ji walked along the spacious streets, as if on a picnic, at a leisurely pace, slowly and leisurely, he came to the snow-covered Weishui Bridge. He was about to stand by the bridge and admire the heavily guarded and majestic royal city on the north bank of the Weishui River from afar. Suddenly, he saw teams of black-clad soldiers wearing black armor riding on their horses running out of the royal city in an orderly and fast manner. Then, a number of low-key, luxurious and spacious golden carriages also drove out quickly, crushing the white snow.
Seeing this rare scene, Liu Ji's eyes lit up, and he rushed forward in two steps. Like everyone else, he stood on the snowy road under the Weishui Bridge, looking at the grand scene of the six golden-rooted cars on the other side of the river.
The emperor chariots six horses.
A total of thirty-six tall and sleek horses pulled six identical golden carriages. Such a majestic way of traveling, needless to say, must mean that His Majesty the Emperor is leaving the city.
Liu Ji squeezed into the crowd, with his hands crossed in his sleeves, staring intently at the grand royal convoy on the other side of the river, his eyes shining and his blood boiling.
He hadn't expected his luck to be so good! This was his first time in Xianyang, and not only had he seen the common people's gathering areas and toured the nobles' mansions, but he had even been able to witness the Emperor's outing!
Be good!
Liu Ji is indeed Liu Ji! His luck is truly not something that ordinary people can possess!
Liu Ji, tucked his sleeves in, looked intently at the bustling scenery on the other side of the river, then at the six golden carriages, and could not help but sigh loudly with great pride:
"A real man should be like this!"
The people standing beside Liu Ji and watching nodded in agreement when they heard the sigh with a Chu accent.
On the other side of the Weishui Bridge.
Xiang Ji, who was thirteen years old, also held a sharp Ji Jin sword in his arms, and looked at the long royal procession passing by him across the Wei River with his uncle. There was a light flashing in his eyes with double pupils, and his heart was like a furnace burning. The midwinter weather made him feel hot from the inside out.
Xiang Ji was already 1.6 meters tall before he reached adulthood and looked very strong.
After watching the long line of royal convoys leave the other side of the river with burning eyes, the robust young man from Chu whispered excitedly, his eyes sparkling, "He can replace him!"
When Xiang Liang, who was standing on the side, heard this, he couldn't help but glance sideways at his nephew. There was no blame in his eyes, only pride.
As the eldest grandson of the Xiang family and a prominent noble in the former capital of Chu, Xiang Ji, his nephew, shouldered the heavy responsibility of overthrowing Qin and restoring Chu. How could he have such lofty ambitions?
He reached out and patted his nephew's shoulder, smiling with relief:
"Ji, let's go to the outskirts of the city to meet the heroes here."
Xiang Ji nodded, then turned his head and glanced at the royal convoy which had completely turned into a small black dot. He then reached out to brush off the snow that had fallen from the branches of a high tree onto his head. He just turned around holding the Ji Jin sword in his arms, and unexpectedly bumped into a passerby with a "bang".
"Don't you have eyes? How do you walk?"
Xiang Ji, who was filled with immense pride and had no place to vent it, could not help but feel a little angry when he was suddenly hit.
Liu Ji was also stabbed in the chest by the hilt of the sword in the boy's arms. He knew he was in the wrong, and upon hearing the anger mixed in the Chu accent of the tall boy in front of him, he quickly stood up, bowed, and said with an apologetic smile:
"My apologies, fellow villager. I didn't mean to bump into you. I just accidentally stepped on a snow-covered slab and lost my footing. Luckily, my little brother stopped me. Otherwise, I would have slipped into the river. It's so cold, and it would have killed me!"
Xiang Ji, with his thick brows furrowed, stopped cursing upon hearing this. Xiang Liang, who was walking in front, also frowned upon seeing this. He turned around and grabbed his nephew's arm, dragging him forward.
Seeing the backs of the strong and the young leaving, Liu Ji couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and curl his lips:
"Tsk, you're so hot-tempered at such a young age, thinking you're so great just because you have double pupils."
[Eh—and you're still saying, 'I can replace him!' Humph! Standing on the edge of the royal city, and still acting so arrogantly, be careful that you'll be punished sooner or later!]
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