When I woke up, there were seven or eight small fishes neatly placed around me. The calico cat was soaked all over and was lying on the grass next to it, sleeping deeply in the sunshine.

The sky and the earth are still vast, and the bay-red horse ran back and was standing in the shade of the tree grazing.

"..."

Song You let out a long breath, got up unhurriedly, and went to cut open and wash all the fish. Hearing the noise, the calico cat raised its head and looked at him for a few times, then turned over again and continued to lie down and sleep.

Dinner is grilled fish and grilled rat.

Fall asleep with the stars in mind.

The clothes had been left in the sun for a day and the wind had blown them all night, and they were dry by the next morning.

One person, one cat and one horse then continued on their journey.

Walking in the grassland.

Yanzhou is a vast country with few people. Walking alone in such a world will indeed make you feel lonely. However, once you accept it, it will not scare you at all. On the contrary, it will make your heart broader and more peaceful.

Walking alone is one of the most common spiritual practices.

It's the same for everyone.

Occasionally when walking up the hillside, I will see a white tent package in the distance. Occasionally I will light a campfire and spend the night, and a pack of wolves will come over tentatively to investigate. When it rains, I will find a tree to sit on all night. When there is no rain, I will sit on it.

Lie down on this piece of land and watch the stars in the sky and the river flow by.

As General Pu said, sometimes they are invited as guests by herdsmen, and sometimes they are stopped by people from official ranches, because the bay-red horses have neither reins nor signs of loose saddles, so they are suspected.

It's a good thing to meet people and ask them for directions.

It's a good thing if you don't meet him, you just enjoy walking alone.

Song You walked very slowly, covering dozens of miles a day. He spent most of his time resting, lost in thought and absorbing the aura of heaven and earth. In this way, he gradually approached the place where General Pu and the schoolmaster had mentioned that the horse racing meeting would be held.

I have already met people traveling with me on the road.

Song You talked with an adult in charge of the official ranch. This horse racing club is not actually called a horse racing club. It has its own name. It is an activity to worship heaven and earth. However, just like the temple fairs in the Central Plains, it is difficult for so many people to come.

It's rare to see so many people gathered together, especially on this prairie, so naturally we can't just worship the heaven and the earth.

There must be singing and dancing performances.

There must be trade relations.

There should also be various entertainment activities and activities that promote marriage between men and women.

We are all mortals in this world, living beings with flesh and blood and thoughts. The seven emotions and six desires, as well as the smoke and fire of the world, are naturally indispensable.

Among them, the most lively activities were trade on the grassland, exchange of daily necessities, horse roping, horse racing and other activities. People in the military paid the most attention to horse racing, so they called it the Jockey Club.

The road under my feet gradually became clearer, and there were obvious traces of being trampled by people and horses and being rolled over by wheels.

Songyou walked along the road without any hurry or slowness.

The Sanhua Empress transformed into a girl and followed beside her, beating the grass on the roadside with a bamboo stick.

From time to time, young men would pass by on horseback, and there would also be people with their whole families riding horses and slowly passing him, and there would also be people driving ox carts and horse carts pulling goods, making a clanking sound as they walked on the road.

When they saw the bay-red horse with neither reins nor saddle beside Song You, they couldn't help but cast more glances at him.

I don’t know whether it’s because of his enthusiastic nature, or because the grassland is so vast, and he’s exhausted from not talking to anyone for a long time, but many people greet him, some in local dialect and some in Dayan Mandarin.

If he didn't understand, Song You smiled and nodded.

If you understand, let's talk a few words to each other.

Although part of Yanzhou is grassland and borders Saibei, after all, it has belonged to the Central Plains since the Yu Dynasty and has been for thousands of years. The Great Wall has long been built in the north. Except for the possibility of falling when the Central Plains Dynasty was weak, most of the rest was in the hands of the Central Plains Dynasty.

, in this grassland, even the locals only have similarities with the Saibei people, but in fact they are no longer the same.

In particular, different dynasties and generations have different management methods for the grassland of Yanzhou. The previous dynasty was governed by the Northern King. However, the Northern King was too loyal to the previous dynasty. When Dayan conquered the world, he also defeated him. Now the current

The people from the north of Yanzhou became more and more culturally similar to the people from the Central Plains. They even had to study for the imperial examination, and there were many people who entered the court and became officials. This was also a manifestation of Dayan's strength and tolerance.

After passing this grassland, the rest of Yanzhou is almost the same as other states, just like the fortune teller I met at the beginning came from Yanzhou.

As I was walking, a voice suddenly came from behind:

"That Taoist Priest!"

The voice is clear and youthful.

Song You couldn't help but look back.

It was a young man riding a yellow horse. His face was tanned and he smiled at him, but his teeth were very white.

It seemed that he came to the grassland party with his family. He was accompanied by his brothers and sisters and two middle-aged people, a man and a woman, who all smiled at Song You.

"Be polite."

Song You raised his head and said.

"Are you also going to participate in the grassland party?" The young man on horseback gradually caught up.

The boy was riding a Northern Yuan horse, but it was taller than Song You's bay-red horse.

"Yes, let's go see the excitement."

"It's just ahead, not too far away."

"Thank you."

"Why don't you ride a horse if you have one?"

"Just walk."

"Hey, is your horse too small? Carrying such a heavy load might crush it to death?"

The young man said and laughed.

Several brothers and sisters of different sizes around him also laughed.

Song You could tell that there was no malice in it, so he replied: "I'm really afraid of tiring it."

The bay-red horse also walked forward silently.

Only Sanhua Empress could not help but stop and stand on the roadside, raising her head high and staring at the speaker.

Riding a horse was faster than walking. The young man and his group slowly passed Song You and walked to the front.

But the young man still turned his head and kindly reminded them: "Although it's not far, if you don't ride a horse, you may have to walk to the grassland at night. It's easy to get lost in the grassland at night, and there are wolves. Sir, it's best to walk to the grassland before night."

Go to the meeting camp, otherwise the little girl will be snatched away by the wolf."

"Thank you."

Song You sent him off with a smile.

The little girl still stood where she was, staring up at him with a thoughtful look in her eyes. She didn't catch up with him quickly until he walked away and the Taoist priest also walked away.

Walking is indeed not as fast as riding a horse. I don’t know how many people passed by the Taoist. The two sides turned their heads and looked at each other countless times. However, the Taoist walked firmly. Even though she originally wanted to rest more, Sanhua Empress seemed to want to get to the grassland as soon as possible.

When going to the camp, Song You naturally wanted to listen to Empress Sanhua, so he almost didn't stop.

We saw the campground in the evening.

It is a large piece of white tents, some large and some small. Except for a few large tents in the middle, which are arranged in a regular manner, the rest are very messy. The larger tents can be bigger than a room, and the smaller tents can only sleep one person. There are people piled up in the middle.

They had gathered firewood and were lighting a bonfire. There was a large field outside, which had been trampled by horses so that no grass could be seen. Someone was riding a horse on it, constantly shouting loudly.

The two of them walked over slowly.

Suddenly their ears became lively, and the voices of many people spoke together, which made them a little unaccustomed to it after walking through the grassland for several days.

The two men, one large and one small, couldn't help but look at each other.

"Eh? Sir."

Suddenly there was another shout from behind.

Song You turned around and looked over, seeing the same young man.

The young man smiled happily and said:

"meet again!"

"Very fateful."

"Where do you guys live?"

"I don't know yet." Song You stopped to talk to him, "Maybe I can find a place casually."

"There are a lot of thieves at the grassland meeting. You don't have tents. Your things are on the ground and may be stolen. Horses may also be stolen." The young man reminded bluntly, and couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, "And there are often people who go out after

I couldn’t find where I lived, someone’s things had been stolen, and I thought I was in the wrong place.”

"Then we have to be more careful."

"It would be even worse if it rained."

"Yes." Song You replied, looking up at the sky, "Fortunately it won't rain these days."

"how do you know?"
To be continued...