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Chapter 494: Swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger! (asking for monthly votes)
The sun sets warmly.

The pale golden light carried a kind of thinness that didn't seem to fit in with this season.

In the south of the Yangtze River, the Qin King's coming-of-age ceremony, which had been prepared for several months, had finally taken shape. Large flags were pointing to the sky, and although they had not yet been unfolded, one could already see what a grand occasion it was when the countless crimson flags were fluttering and unfolding.

Qu Hanxiu watched this scene and was so moved that the dull old man almost cried.

It’s finally done!

The old scholar cursed in his heart.

The King of Qin is indeed a young man, and he is worthy of the title of "King Wu". His temper is like a wild horse that has broken free from its reins, and there is absolutely no way to restrain him with etiquette or laws.

Such heroes are rare in history.

With such a fierce temperament, one will encounter dangers, challenges, and many difficulties and obstacles on the road ahead. Some people will not live long, but no matter how long they live, they will always be a turbulent force that tears apart the times.

Qu Hanxiu was a man of etiquette and law from the past. He had been frightened by the Prince of Qin more than once, causing his mind to become distracted and his vision to go dark. For example, when he was crowned king, Qu Hanxiu was pressed down on the chair by those three arrows.

In fact, it was not the King of Qin who pressed Qu Hanxiu down with force.

It was simply that Qu Hanxiu saw the past world order falling apart before his eyes. An old man in his seventies or eighties could not withstand this kind of shock to his soul, and his legs and feet became weak.

He wished he could faint right there and then.

When Chen Fubi, the King of Puyang of the State of Chen, deposed and enthroned the emperor.

Qu Hanxiu also scolded the boy in person. Even with a wolf-blade knife on his neck, he did not weaken his legs. His eyes were filled with blazing anger. That was because of the Wolf King. No matter how rebellious the King of Shenwu was, he could not tear apart the etiquette and laws of that era.

King Shenwu did it arbitrarily.

It seemed that he had broken the etiquette, but the things he did to break the constraints of the so-called etiquette proved that the mentality of that brave king at that age and period was still constrained by the framework of "etiquette".

Only the King of Qin.

Of all the heroes he had seen in his life, he was the only one.

In those eyes, Qu Hanxiu did not see any respect for etiquette, nor did he see any rebellion or provocation against etiquette, but just pure disregard, as if he was looking at something rotten that would eventually collapse.

Indifference, vast disregard.

This is what makes Qu Hanxiu feel uneasy.

However, such a King of Qin also needs to have his coming-of-age ceremony.

Qu Hanxiu could not help but shake his head and sigh. The achievements of the King of Qin were really too glorious. Among the wise kings in history, there were actually some who had conquered for seven years and established such a foundation. However, it took seven years of fighting and hard battles to conquer such a territory.

But he is only twenty years old. It's really outrageous, outrageous.

This has never happened since ancient times.

Qu Hanxiu was thinking about what kind of reputation he would leave in future generations after holding this coming-of-age ceremony. He was so satisfied that the hunger in his stomach seemed to disappear.

When he looked up, he saw Nan Hanwen over there. The latter was twenty years younger than the others and was still a junior in his eyes. He was walking hurriedly and it was unknown what he was busy with.

Qu Hanxiu called out to Nan Hanwen.

"Study hard, study hard..."

Nan Hanwen, whose courtesy name is Xiuye.

Nan Hanwen looked up and saw the great scholar from Zhongzhou. He raised his eyebrows, resisted the urge to turn around and walk away, and bowed respectfully on the surface, saying, "It turns out to be Lord Qu."

"I don't know what's the matter with you, calling me here."

Qu Hanxiu said calmly and arrogantly: "The elder called you, is it because of some official business? This kid is so rude!"

???

Nan Hanwen resisted the urge to knock this guy to the ground and kick him a few times.

I cursed him in my heart, saying that he was an old fool.

On the surface, she seemed to agree with him.

He said respectfully, "You are right. I have not studied etiquette enough. Please allow me to take my leave now and go back to read the etiquette. After a few years, when I have a clearer understanding of the etiquette classics, I will come back to apologize to you."

"Farewell."

Qu Hanxiu raised his hand and pressed Nan Hanwen's shoulder: "Stop."

Nan Hanwen's forehead twitched, he sighed, and said:
"Do you have any other advice, Mr. Qu?"

Qu Hanxiu couldn't help but frowned and said, "I said a few words to you and you got impatient. You don't have a good temper. How come you are like your teacher Tan Tai Xian Ming?"

Nan Hanwen paused. He thought of the figure he had longed for. He said in a low voice, "Although I work under the Prime Minister, we are not in the position of master and disciple. Senior Qu, please don't make a mistake."

Qu Hanxiu stared at him and said indifferently: "Forget it, no matter whether you are a disciple of Tan Tai Xian Ming or not, I am hungry today. Since you are a junior, shouldn't you treat me to something to eat?"

Nan Hanwen laughed angrily.

Are you pulling him onto the avenue just to eat?

But he also knew that Qu Hanxiu was really out of money.

Qu Hanxiu is an official of the Ministry of Rites of Zhongzhou. Apart from anything else, it is just his recent status and experience as the Red Emperor of Zhongzhou. The grand ceremony of all countries paying homage to Zhongzhou has long ceased to exist, so the Ministry of Rites is just an idle position.

Qu Hanxiu in Nan Hanwen's eyes.

He's a rigid, inflexible old guy.

But he is also cunning and treacherous, and has repeatedly tried to use etiquette and laws to restrain His Majesty the King of Qin.

He is greedy for fame and takes advantage of his seniority. His biggest goal at the moment is to use the King of Qin's coming-of-age ceremony to successfully leave his name in history. For this, he can give up many other things. He is an annoying person.

But I really have no money left.

Qu Hanxiu was drained of the huge gift money from His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin.

It was not enough to squeeze all the money out of him, so he also signed a lot of foreign debts and many sales contracts with famous scholars and great Confucian scholars in the same industry. It was agreed that after this, he would return to Zhongzhou and give away his treasured calligraphy and paintings, scrolls, and ancient books to these famous scholars and great Confucian scholars.

But Qu Hanxiu was crazy about becoming famous and leaving his name in history.

Even so, we must take advantage of the long wind of King Qin and the coming-of-age ceremony.

We are really poor right now.

Nan Hanwen looked the old man up and down and said, "Never mind. However, I am just a marginal official in Da Chen. Even if I have a little money, it is not much. I cannot afford to treat myself to any delicacies."

Qu Hanxiu was overjoyed, still raised his chin, and said in a literary manner:

"Living in a humble room, with a bowl of rice and a jug of water, he is still happy."

"That's fine."

Nan Hanwen sighed and said, "Then follow me."

A moment later, Qu Hanxiu, dressed in the attire of an official from the Ministry of Rites, stared with wide eyes at a shop in front of him where people were coming and going. He saw the people passing by looking at him curiously. The adults were still more considerate, but those little kids really didn't observe etiquette.

Just staring at him.

It was like looking at a rare and exotic animal that wouldn't normally appear here.

Qu Hanxiu said angrily: "Where is this?"

Nan Hanwen sat down skillfully and said:

"Two bowls of duck blood vermicelli soup, a plate of freshly baked sesame cakes, and a small plate of pickled radish slices. Mr. Qu, please take a seat. Don't underestimate these things. They taste great."

"The weather has been abnormal recently, with snow falling everywhere. Eating these things will warm you up."

Qu Hanxiu's forehead twitched and he said, "This is not polite!"

Nan Hanwen asked, "Do you want to eat?"

Qu Hanxiu was silent for a while, then sat down and said, "Eat!"

Nan Hanwen then felt that the old man had some intention, and said slowly: "It seems that even Mr. Qu, who is well versed in etiquette, will get hungry."

Qu Hanxiu said as a matter of course: "Hunger and thirst are human instincts. Human instincts and spiritual matters are the most essential etiquette. What restrains human instincts is not etiquette, but only law."

Nan Hanwen raised his eyebrows and looked at Qu Hanxiu, who had revealed the difference between Confucianism and Legalism in one sentence. He felt that this old guy did have some skills.

It was the first time for Qu Hanxiu to eat these things, and he didn't know how to cook them. He watched other people eat and learned as he watched, but these street delicacies did not fit in with what he had learned, and he was inevitably a little flustered when he tried to learn them on the spur of the moment.

Finally, the last child who had just been staring at his big beard and his extremely gorgeous clothes that shouldn't have appeared here laughed out loud.

She smiled and said, "That's not how you eat it!"

The 80-year-old Qu Hanxiu said, "Oh? Then how should I eat it? Please teach me."

The child sat on a high stool, swaying his legs and feet, and took out a freshly baked pancake, looking like a little adult. He said slowly, "Okay, if you want to learn, I'll teach you."

"This pancake can be eaten plain or soaked in water. You can eat it any way you want. Just pick it up and bite it."

"Like what you just said, grandpa, you have to take the chopsticks and the plate first. That's weird. There are not so many rules. Some people even eat like this."

"Drink the soup first, then eat it on empty stomach, and enjoy the aroma of the grain inside the pancake."

"Then break off a little bit and put it in the duck blood soup to eat. It absorbs the flavor of the duck and tastes like duck meat, soft and warm!"

“I’ve never eaten duck, so I think this is what duck tastes like!”

The little girl shook her feet proudly as she spoke.

Although she had never eaten duck, there was light in her eyes and she smiled with pride. She did not feel inferior or ashamed because she had never eaten duck meat. She was just proud because she had guessed the taste of duck meat.

Nan Hanwen saw that Qu Hanxiu did not laugh at the child, but nodded and praised:
"So that's what you think, young master."

The child was happy to be called Little Master. He blinked his eyes, raised his little hand to his mouth, and said to Qu Hanxiu carefully and proudly, "Well, since you have already called me Little Master, I can't hide anything."

"Here, this is my favorite way to eat it!"

The child raised his eyebrows, then held the half of the pancake, stood it up, poked the soft middle, and then pinched it hard, creating a small hole in the middle of the half pancake.

She picked up some duck blood, duck offal, and pickled radish with chopsticks and put them in. She held it in her little hands, opened her mouth, and took a big bite. When she put it in her mouth, she could taste the tough wheat-flavored cake, the soft duck blood, the crispy duck offal, and the radish. All kinds of tastes appeared.

The little girl's eyes narrowed.

"This is the most delicious thing in the world!" "I'll teach you!"

Qu Hanxiu said seriously: "Thank you, young sir."

Then he came back, picked up the thing, ate it, and his eyebrows relaxed. He ate in a polite but extremely fast way, which showed that he was really hungry. Nan Hanwen sighed, reluctantly, and said:

"Shopkeeper, give me another bowl of vermicelli soup and a pancake."

Qu Hanxiu stretched out his fingers: "Three cakes, three."

Nan Hanwen looked at him.

Qu Hanxiu smiled and said, "Three gives birth to all things. The number three is auspicious."

Nan Hanwen had no choice but to say to the shopkeeper, "Give me three."

"Well, please wait a moment."

The shopkeeper turned around to prepare. When the child over there left, Qu Hanxiu stood up and bowed slightly to see him off, looking quite polite and courteous. Others laughed at him as an old man, but he didn't care about their looks.

At this point, he seems to be a person who doesn't care much about reputation.

Nan Hanwen said: "Mr. Qu is... different."

After sitting down meticulously, Qu Hanxiu said, "There is a sequence in learning the Dao, and a priority in learning the art. If you learn from others, no matter what kind of knowledge it is, you should follow the etiquette you would show to your teacher."

“This is also a gift.”

Nan Hanwen asked, "Even if it's just a child?"

Qu Hanxiu was surprised and asked, "Are you more talented and knowledgeable than all those younger than you?"

Nan Hanwen didn't know how to answer. Qu Hanxiu looked around and said, "The city where His Royal Highness Prince Qin is located has a different atmosphere among the people. This atmosphere makes people feel that this place is comfortable."

Nan Hanwen said: "What."

Qu Hanxiu finished a pancake at an extremely fast speed.

Then he said, "This bowl of hot vermicelli soup and this freshly baked pancake are a small portion. Naturally, there are people in other places who can easily afford these things, but those people have frowned, even the children."

"Nor will they have the natural liveliness in the eyes and eyebrows of the common people in the Qin King's territory."

"In their country, it always seems as if there is a mountain pressing down on their brows and shoulders."

Qu Hanxiu was silent for a while, then took the initiative to speak: "In fact, when General Yue sent out his troops, many officials from the Ministry of Rites protested and condemned it. They believed that as long as the four parties did not fight, the world would be peaceful."

"But this is just a scholar's opinion."

"In fact, war only represents the undercurrents hidden in this world. It is so turbulent that the nobles can no longer suppress it. Only at this time should we send troops to fight in order to comply with the will of the people."

"So, I stopped them."

"Continue to implement the coming-of-age ceremony for His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin."

Nan Hanwen seemed to be getting to know this old man for the first time, this old man who was old-fashioned, cunning, and fame-seeking. The latter was meticulous, holding a bowl of vermicelli soup, and said: "Before, I was shot by His Royal Highness the King of Qin with three arrows, and that sentence..."

"[Please the whole world to die], I was so shocked that I couldn't sleep for several days."

"Do you think I am timid?"

Nan Hanwen nodded slowly and said, "A little bit."

Qu Hanxiu said: "Ritual is the standard that constrains the world and the foundation of the times. Asking the world to die is to destroy such a foundation and standard, but Nan Hanwen..."

The old man, who had experienced eighty years of chaos, looked at Nan Hanwen with a painful look and said, "Even if it is a rotten order, it is still order. It must surpass the chaotic world that has completely lost all propriety, righteousness, integrity, and moral standards."

"If we simply let the world die, and use the bravery of a mere warrior to shatter the original order and etiquette of this world, it will only lead this era to greater chaos, unless..."

Qu Hanxiu's voice was decisive: "Rebuild a new order."

"Re-establish new etiquette and moral standards."

"Only by binding people with propriety and restraining them with law can the world be reborn."

"That is the true way to let the old world die."

"Before, I didn't believe him, but now, I do."

The disdain in Nan Hanwen's heart gradually dissipated. He looked at the old and conservative man in front of him with a hint of shock in his eyes. Perhaps, being able to remain a celebrity of etiquette and law in such an era of moral decay and destruction represented something.

He said, "Because of His Royal Highness Prince Qin's courage?"

Qu Hanxiu said: "No."

"Because of the young master I just bowed to."

Nan Hanwen was puzzled. Qu Hanxiu, the old-fashioned, fame-seeking scholar, lowered his eyes and looked at the steaming pancake. It was a perfect pancake, clean, tidy, and tasted of meat.

He laughed:

"A child who has the mind and time to think about simple food and how to eat it, and who is secretly proud of it, is what a peaceful and prosperous age should be like."

"It is from this child that I have glimpsed the [ritual] that the King of Qin is about to establish."

Nan Hanwen's face was moved.

Qu Hanxiu paused, and suddenly realized something. His eyes widened slightly, and he said, "You don't really think that I am just an old antique who will accept anything a child teaches me, right?"

Nan Hanwen's gaze shifted, but he remained calm: "Of course not."

"Mr. Qu, you are a man of high moral character and great talent. How could I look down on you?"

Qu Hanxiu was so angry that he wanted to smear the cake on the old man's face, but he couldn't bear to fill the cake with so much effort. In the end, he just said, "Forget it!"

"Of course, during this period of time, I have gradually glimpsed new possibilities in this world. Otherwise, why would I be willing to borrow money to attend the King of Qin's coming-of-age ceremony? And why would I still stay here?"

"Damn it, how come those famous scholars are so rich!"

"When I saw the Qin king's army was invincible, I saw only tyranny; when I saw the Qin king's three arrows to win the hearts of the world's troops, I felt only heroic. Only today, in this bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup full of the flavor of human life, I finally saw peace in the world."

Nan Hanwen looked at the old man who was still sitting upright even at this moment, and just smiled: "Old sir."

"what?"

"It's pink."

Qu Hanxiu was stunned, and finally smiled happily.

After eating this bowl of steaming hot vermicelli soup, the smell of fireworks and the warm taste of peace seemed to flow into every corner of the body. Qu Hanxiu stood up, and the famous scholar and the first old man in the Ministry of Rites turned around, stopped, looked sideways at Nan Hanwen over there, and said:

"There are still five days until His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin's coming-of-age ceremony."

"This is the beginning of a new ritual. I will definitely take this opportunity to go down in history. I will not let this opportunity go. So, no matter what, I will definitely promote this coming-of-age ceremony."

The old man looked at Nan Hanwen and said:
"Even if it is, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is not in Jiangnan."

!!!

Nan Hanwen's pupils contracted violently.

I almost broke out in a cold sweat on my back.

Qu Hanxiu turned around and paced, meticulously, just like the etiquette of the old days, walking into the bustling world of mortals. Even if they were not people who shared the same path, they all had their own persistence and perseverance.

The world is turbulent and full of heroes.

Don't underestimate anyone.

There were still four days before the King of Qin's coming-of-age ceremony. It was a dark night without stars or moon, and the sky was still hazy and not yet bright. The mayor and the defender of Guanyi City slept soundly, and they each had their own thoughts.

The soldiers defending the city were also drowsy and only vaguely seemed to feel the earth shaking. They woke up in this situation, opened their eyes in a daze, and then their bodies stiffened in an instant.

The sun is above.

But it has the courage to block out the sun.

Silent but terrifying oppression.

Thousands of soldiers, wearing ink-black armor and dragon horses with eight-foot-high chests, arrived at the direction of the city that could be seen by the naked eye like a torrent before they were discovered.

But in the eyes of everyone in the capital of the State of Chen, it was still a peaceful and prosperous time.

Yue Pengwu's battle line is still hundreds of miles away from here.

The farthest of the other directions was still thousands of miles away, which was a very long distance, so long that the dream of a prosperous and peaceful age still existed in people's minds. Youlian made three plans in succession to find a way out.

The chief steward swallowed up two million taels of silver, intending to seek a safe retreat.

Some people tried to take the land deeds and indentures, thinking that they would own tens of thousands of acres of land and have thousands of servants serving them in the future. These were people who were preparing for a retreat. The ladies were admiring the flowers in the snow, and the maids were playing and making fun of each other.

The colorful satins and silks fluttered like butterflies, and the laughter was as sweet as silver bells, attracting talented men and gentlemen not far away.

The talented man composed poems and couplets, and the young man talked and laughed happily.

The warm wind intoxicates the tourists, who can see thousands of tall buildings rising. The days are warm, and the horses' hooves pass by on the bluestone slabs, as if walking through a dream that will never end. The sense of peace that makes people lazy and soft to the core is truly intoxicating.

until--

The sound of horse hooves shatters this lazy and intoxicating atmosphere of peace!
The huge flags soared into the sky, the banners fluttered, and a solemn and sharp aura filled the air.

The coldness penetrated into the bones and the sword energy was eerie.

The large scarlet flag with a Qilin pattern was unfurled, with only one word on it.

Shatter all illusions!

All return to nothingness.

say--

【Qin】!
On that day, the King of Qin attacked Yicheng.

Half a day later.

(End of this chapter)