one 3
"you--"
Liu Qingye was about to retort when he suddenly heard a stern voice behind him, saying, "Qingye, you've already lost, why don't you admit defeat?"
Liu Qingye was shocked. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man in the crowd with a serious face. Who else could it be but his master Cao Mengsheng? He immediately felt cold in his heart and knew that he had caused a big disaster.
“Master…Master…”
Cao Mengsheng pushed through the crowd with a stern face and walked up to him: "I haven't seen you for so many days, and you actually came here for fun?"
Liu Qingye lowered his head and dared not speak.
Cao Mengsheng continued: "You have already lost, why don't you come with me?" As he said this, he turned around.
Liu Qingye dared not say a word to defend himself, and followed behind with his head down. Dan Ying laughed at the side and said, "Oh, you didn't study hard, and you got scolded by your master, didn't you?"
"Dan Ying!" Suddenly, a voice in the crowd shouted, with both kindness and majesty. A Uyghur man who looked like a black iron tower strode up and shouted, "Dan Ying, what are you doing!" He hurried forward and saluted Cao Mengsheng and his disciples, saying, "I am Tashan, the chief of the Ale tribe. My daughter is ignorant, so please stay."
Dan Ying stamped his foot, ran up and grabbed Tashan's arm and said, "Dad, what are you talking about? I clearly won, why are you scolding me?"
Tashan ignored his daughter and said to Cao Mengsheng, "Hero, your disciple is very skilled. I really admire him!"
Cao Mengsheng smiled faintly and said, "Patriarch, you are too kind. I am just a herbal medicine dealer. My humble skills cannot compare with the wealth of the team leader. Please forgive me for any offense."
Tashan smiled and said, "Why should a hero be so modest?" Then, he suddenly changed his voice to Chinese and said, "Life and death are not my concern—"
Liu Qingye was shocked: "Ah, isn't this the incision of Songqiao Academy? How did the Uyghur leader know this?" He turned to look at his master, his face also full of astonishment.
Tashan smiled slightly and said, "Hero, please spare me a moment to talk."
The house of Chief Tashan is different from the layout of ordinary Uyghur families. It is gorgeous yet simple, rough yet elegant. In addition to all the household furnishings, there is even a desk used in the Central Plains, which is equipped with all the four treasures of the study.
After the master and his apprentice sat down on the felt mat, Tashan took out a bottle from the wooden box beside the table. Liu Qingye stretched his head to look at it. He saw that the bottle had a sky-blue background with pine needles painted on it, and a jade pendant was tied to the mouth of the bottle. It was something from their Songqiao Academy! Tashan seemed to see through his thoughts and turned the bottle over. He saw a bright red seal on the bottom of the bottle, which was the four words "Songqiao Academy".
Tashan handed the bottle to Cao Mengsheng and said, "Hero must be wondering how a Uighur like me can speak Chinese and own this bottle. Actually, this bottle is not mine, but was left by my late wife."
Liu Qingye vaguely remembered that Moller mentioned that Dan Ying's mother was Han Chinese. Could it be that she... He looked at his master and saw that Cao Mengsheng was frowning, obviously not daring to trust anyone easily, so he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Tashan was completely unaware and continued, "My late wife fled from Jiangnan to the desert sixteen years ago. When I met her, she and her companions were being hunted by several Qing Dynasty soldiers. Her companions were bleeding from wounds of varying sizes, and they had a child of four or five years old with them. My wife herself was also seriously injured. But she still fought off the enemy by herself, and her movements were exactly the same as the moves this little brother used in the duel just now."
Liu Qingye knew that the unique palm technique of Songqiao Academy he had just used had been seen by others, and his master would definitely punish him severely. He didn't know how many times he would have to run to the poplar tree with stones on his back. He couldn't help but glance at Cao Mengsheng guiltily, but he saw that Cao Mengsheng had a strange expression, a look of complete shock, which made Liu Qingye very strange.
Tashan paced for two steps and said, "After she defeated the enemy, she fainted. I brought her and her companions back to the tribe, took good care of them, and fell in love with them. However, she always rejected my proposals, saying that she had an extremely important mission and would definitely implicate me. For this reason, she even refused to tell me her name. But for her, I learned Chinese and wrote Chinese characters. I spent a lot of effort and finally moved her to marry me. Then I learned that her name was Ye Bailian."
"Ye Bailian!"
With a clang, a silver tea bowl fell to the ground. Cao Mengsheng had already stood up from his seat, and said in a trembling voice, "Junior Sister...I will marry you..."
Before he finished speaking, Tashan bowed to the ground and said, "I wonder if this is the hero Li Yunsheng or the hero Cao Mengsheng... I am Tashan of the Lantern Festival and I am here to pay my respects."
“The Lantern Festival?” Liu Qingye was shocked: he knew about this organization. He heard that the fourteen leaders were all heroes who specialized in assassinating Qing officials inside and outside the Great Wall. He didn’t know anything else, but the leader, the great hero Wang Chunshan, beat the regent Dorgon so hard that his liver and gallbladder were torn apart and he vomited blood and died. He really avenged the thousands of compatriots who died! Liu Qingye thought that the Lantern Festival was full of Han people, but he didn’t expect that the leader of the Tashan tribe was also a member. It was a strange thing.
As he thought about it, he glanced at his master, only to see Cao Mengsheng standing there in a daze, with a miserable expression, as if his mind had completely left his body. He only murmured "I am Cao Mengsheng" and could not say anything else. Liu Qingye had never seen his master so distraught, and thought that his master must be thinking of the battle at Songqiao Academy, when more than half of his fellow disciples were killed or injured, and scattered all over the world. He had been searching on the grassland for years, but only found news that his junior master had passed away. How could he not be sad?
Tashan didn't notice and continued, "The Lantern Festival was originally to spread the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty. It was a major event to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. It has nothing to do with me as a Uyghur... So, at first, Bai Lian and the others kept it from me, saying that they were afraid of implicating me. But in fact, although we Uyghurs were not bullied by the Qing Dynasty, we were oppressed by the Mongolian masters for many years. I did not personally experience your Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Jiading, but how could I not know the pain of being enslaved? Besides, since I married Bai Lian, her affairs are my business, and the affairs of the Han people are our Uyghur business..."
"Chief Tashan," Cao Mengsheng suddenly interrupted, "How did my sister die? Was she killed by the Manchu Tartars?"
There was a hint of sadness on Tashan's face, and he sighed, "Alas, Bailian died of illness due to overwork for the Lantern Festival." After a moment of silence, his expression turned into indignation, and he shouted, "But to put it bluntly, she was killed by the beasts of the Qing Dynasty! If I, Tashan, can't avenge her, I'm not a man!" As he said that, he slapped the low table beside him, making the cups and plates on it jingle. "So, after Bailian passed away, I told the hero Wang of the Lantern Festival that I would take Bailian's place. I don't know martial arts, and I don't have many men and horses, but as long as I, Tashan, live, I will never let those beasts go!"
Liu Qingye sat aside and listened. He was also excited with Tashan's words at first, but then he thought: When the Qing army entered the pass, there were millions of Eight Banners cavalry. Even if Chief Tashan wanted to help the Han people restore their country, it would be a foolish dream with the troops of the Ale tribe. Chief Tashan was just a brave and brave man, but he had no brains at all! But he thought about it again. He and his master, plus the anti-Qing patriots he had met over the years, were just an Ale tribe. Even if he counted the chivalrous men scattered all over the world, compared with the imperial court, they were just ants to giant beasts and drops of water to the ocean! He was confused for a while and simply stopped thinking about it.
But after hearing what Tashan said, Cao Mengsheng bowed deeply to Tashan and said, "With the clan leader's words, I believe that my junior sister will die with peace of mind!"
Liu Qingye was shocked when he heard this - he looked at Cao Mengsheng, his expression was serious and his sadness was completely hidden.
Cao Mengsheng said, "What's there to be afraid of when you're alone? Gu Yanwu has a poem that says, 'I wish to pacify the East China Sea, even if my body sinks, my heart will not change. The sea will never be pacified, but my heart will never be broken. Alas, don't you see that there are many birds carrying wood in the West Mountain, and magpies and swallows come and go to build their own nests?' As long as there are people in the world who are determined to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, they will risk their lives to fight these bandits, and they will not be afraid of not being able to drive them away. Our disciples of Songqiao Academy have always taken it as their responsibility to defend their country since the Southern Song Dynasty--" As he spoke, he pulled Liu Qingye over and pointed at him, saying, "This child's parents were killed by the court for rebelling against the Qing Dynasty, but this child is going to continue to rebel. Although my junior sister is gone, but as the clan leader, since you are willing to help her, she will definitely be pleased if her spirit is in heaven!"
Liu Qingye felt a flush on his face when he heard this. He thought: What was I thinking just now? Was I afraid of the Manchu Tartars? Everyone in Songqiao Academy is a hero who sacrificed their lives for the country. Even if it means risking their lives, they will never give up... How can I show my cowardice and bring shame to my parents and my master?
Tashan was stunned for a moment and said, "Brother, my Chinese is not good. I don't understand what poem you are talking about. However, we Uyghurs have a saying that 'no matter who breaks into our home, he must be killed without a burial place'. This is what I said to Mr. Wang at the beginning - I am your Han son-in-law, I must help you drive the Manchus away - over the years, I have lobbied the other twelve chiefs of our thirteen Uyghur tribes, telling them that none of the Manchus are good guys! As long as we form a thirteen-tribe alliance and defeat the bandits in Dzungar, the Uyghurs will work together with the heroes of the Lantern Society, the Central Plains Dragon Slaying Society, the Heaven and Earth Society, and the White Lotus Sect to kill the Manchus without a single piece of armor left -"
Cao Mengsheng excitedly shook Tashan's hand: "Patriarch——"
“Hey——” Tashan interrupted him, “You are Bai Lian’s senior brother, which means you are my brother. We Uyghurs and Han people are brothers. Call me brother, and we are brothers!”
Cao Mengsheng nodded, and immediately hugged Tashan as a gesture of respect according to their Uyghur etiquette, calling out, "Brother!"
"Oh!" Tashan seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "Brother, there is one more thing I forgot to tell you - the other woman who came to our Ale tribe with Bai Lian was called Wu Shuiqing, and she was also from your Songqiao Academy -"
"Senior Sister Wu!" Cao Mengsheng said in surprise, "Yes, she is the only daughter of my mentor - where is she now?"
Tashan said, "She and the girl she brought with her have always lived in Alebu. The girl, Li Mingxin, is now twenty years old. Miss Wu is now the fourth leader of the Lantern Festival. We received news a few days ago that the Qing general Fu Chakang came to the desert and tried to trick the Uyghurs and Kazakhs into forming an alliance with them. He said he would help us fight the Dzungars, but who would believe him? Fourth Sister Wu took her daughter to assassinate the old villain!"
"Really?" Cao Mengsheng said, "That's really unfortunate - I also heard the news that Fu Cha Kang came to the desert, and knew that he sent envoys to discuss the alliance. I was afraid that he would spread rumors to confuse the people, so I ambushed him on the way and killed all the Qing soldiers - but I didn't meet my senior sister - I originally planned to rush into the military camp and get rid of the old thief Fu Cha, but my disciple... Alas, it's a pity that a few of the Qing soldiers escaped. I don't know if they took the opportunity to go to some tribe to stir up trouble..."
Liu Qingye suddenly realized that the few Qing soldiers he killed under the poplar tree that day were the ones who escaped from his master. When he heard that his disappearance had delayed his master's assassination of his enemy, his face turned red and he hurried forward to report: "Master, none of those Qing soldiers escaped. I killed them all that day." He then told Cao Mengsheng what happened under the poplar tree that day.
Cao Mengsheng finally showed a look of praise on his face: "Well, you are so brave at such a young age, and it is really worth my teaching for so many years."
"Speaking of being so young—" Tashan suddenly called out to the door, "Dan Ying, Dan Ying, come here quickly!"
Dan Ying and Mo Le Yuan did not go far either, they were eavesdropping outside the door, but their Chinese was even worse than Ta Shan's, and they could hear them sighing and talking passionately, but it was hard to tell what they were talking about. She heard her father calling her, and she could no longer hide, so she walked in and said, "Dad, what do you want me to do?"
Tashan pulled her in front of Cao Mengsheng and said, "Brother, this is the daughter of Bai Lian and I. You have seen her just now." As he spoke, he also nudged Dan Ying and said, "This is your mother's senior brother, and also your aunt Wu's junior brother. You can call her uncle..."
"Uncle?" Dan Ying looked at Cao Mengsheng suspiciously.
Cao Mengsheng looked at Dan Ying carefully, and he was filled with mixed feelings. Although Dan Ying was a Uighur beauty with a high nose and deep eyes, she still had the beauty of a Han Chinese woman between her eyebrows. How could she not be the shadow of the deceased Ye Bailian? He kept muttering in praise: "She looks so much like her mother... so much..."
"Ah?" Dan Ying asked in confusion, "Really? But everyone says I look like my dad!"
"Dan Ying!" Tashan shouted.
Cao Mengsheng then realized that he had lost his composure and interrupted with a smile: "Oh, I was thinking, calling you uncle is fine, but just now I saw that the little girl is light and agile, and she is a good material for martial arts training. If you don't mind, I would also like to take her as my apprentice and teach her a few moves... so that she can be a companion to Qingye..."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean by disdain or not?" Tashan laughed. "Dan Ying's Kung Fu was originally taught half by the White Lotus Sect and half by Fourth Sister Wu. But Dan Ying was naughty and didn't learn well. Brother, you don't disdain her, that's the best - Dan Ying, why don't you pay your respects to your master and senior brother?"
"Master? Senior Brother?" Dan Ying looked at Cao Mengsheng, then at Liu Qingye, and said, "Dad, I asked my senior brother to show me your cow, but he refused. If he keeps acting like a senior brother in the future, I will be in big trouble. That won't do!"
Tashan said awkwardly: "What nonsense are you talking about, kid!"
"Unless..." Dan Ying's green eyes turned cunningly, and he smiled and said to Cao Mengsheng, "Unless Master, you teach me powerful kung fu to deal with my senior brothers, and if my senior brothers bully me, Master will stand up for me, then I will become your disciple."
Liu Qingye was so moved when he saw Dan Ying's sparkling green eyes and affectionate look that he forgot about the fight in the arena. Now, after hearing what she said, he suddenly felt that having this junior sister was the most unfortunate thing in the world. If the master agreed to this for the sake of his junior uncle, he didn't know how much trouble he would have to endure in the future!
But when Cao Mengsheng saw Dan Ying's expression, he suddenly felt like the dead Ye Bailian, as if he saw the little junior sister who studied and practiced sword skills with him in Songqiao Academy. A thousand thoughts and emotions filled his heart, and he nodded and said, "Your senior brother is older than you and more sensible than you, he will not bully you."
