My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 294 Pleasant Goat

April 5th.

Gao Yu and his group have already arrived at the foot of Mount Tai.

Once you reach Mount Tai, you won't be far from Taishan Prefecture.

Mount Tai, also known as Daishan, Daizong, Daiyue...

The first line of Du Fu's poem "Looking at Mount Tai" is "How majestic is Mount Tai?"

For the Chinese land, Mount Tai is the foremost of the Five Sacred Mountains. Emperors would offer sacrifices to it, as would ordinary people. Scholars and patriots also liked to use Mount Tai as a metaphor to express their aspirations.

Sima Qian, in his *Records of the Grand Historian*, wrote in the chapter on the Feng and Shan sacrifices: "Since ancient times, when have emperors who received the Mandate of Heaven not performed the Feng and Shan sacrifices?"

Ban Gu also wrote in the Baihu Tong: "When a king receives the mandate of heaven and rises to power, changing the dynasty, why must he ascend Mount Tai to perform the Feng ceremony? It is to instruct and guide the ruler."

Mount Tai is regarded as a place of 'completion' that connects directly to heaven and communicates with heaven.

Since ancient times.

A monarch who has made outstanding contributions and whose virtue is like that of Heaven would go to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan ceremony, in order to proclaim to Heaven and Earth the merits he has made.

of course……

After a certain shameless person in the Song Dynasty insisted on glorifying himself by performing the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, the entire Fengshan ceremony itself became 'tainted'.

But for now.

The sacredness of the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai has not been tarnished. Ordinary emperors simply do not have the courage to defy the world and forcibly perform the Fengshan ceremony.

Gazing at the towering, cloud-piercing Mount Tai, Gao Yu stood for a long time.

"Nature bestows its most wondrous beauty, dividing day and night with yin and yang."

Only by experiencing it firsthand can one truly appreciate the charm of these poems.

Upon hearing these two lines, Cui Xian pondered for a moment and couldn't help but praise, "The world only knows that the general is unparalleled in bravery, but they don't know that the general can utter such fine lines so casually."

"When we parted at the foot of Mangshan Mountain, the general's words, 'Though separated by vast oceans and seas, we are as close as neighbors,' were already a timeless classic. Today, we have another excellent line."

Cui Jishu, Cui You, and Yang Yin were all well-read scholars, so they were naturally able to appreciate the inner meaning of the poems and praised them repeatedly.

Gao Yu remained calm and composed.

Give the ancients a little shock of nine-year compulsory education!
Gao Yu naturally wouldn't show off; it was just that upon seeing the magnificent view of the towering Mount Tai, this phrase naturally came to mind.

Little did they know that inside the carriage...

Cui Zhifan also vaguely heard it, especially when Cui Xian recited "A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near" in a loud voice. Her eyes lit up and she couldn't help but secretly lift a corner of the curtain to peek at Gao Yu's profile through the gap.

He was momentarily lost in thought.

Gao Yu's reputation for bravery is known to everyone in Hebei.

Gao Yu was handsome, and she had seen it with her own eyes.

After getting to know Gao Yu in person, she thought he was a handsome, brave, and lecherous man. However, she never expected that Gao Yu would have such a 'refined' side, which vaguely overlapped with the image she had in her teenage fantasies.

The carriage resumed its journey, swaying slightly.

However, this did not affect Cui Zhifan's ability to pick up her pen and write down the words Gao Yu had casually mentioned earlier: "Nature bestows its most wondrous beauty, dividing day and night with yin and yang." She couldn't help but read them aloud softly.

I closed my eyes slightly, savoring the beautiful imagery in the words.

Gao Yu had no intention of lingering at Mount Tai, but Gao Yue rode up to his side and said with a smile, "Brother, why not go up Mount Tai to offer sacrifices? Brother defeated 300,000 with only 3,000 men outside Luoyang. With such merit, how can you not go up Mount Tai to offer sacrifices?"

Gao Yu smiled and shook his head.

Taking a trip to Hebei is already high-profile and flamboyant enough.

Are we still going to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices?

If the news gets back to Luoyang, Yuan Ziyou might start to doubt himself.

Let's keep a low profile for now.

First, take control of Shandong and establish it as your solid foundation.

I'm about to meet Yang Kan and Yang Changchu.

What does the girl from back then look like now?

Girls change a lot as they grow up, and I don't know if I'll still be able to recognize her at a glance.

………………

Within Taishan County. "Changchu, Changchu."

A young girl, barely out of her teens, ran up to Yang Changchu with a playful laugh. "It's been rare these past few days that it hasn't rained. Why don't we go out for a spring outing?"

"Is Gao Lang still coming or not? I heard you say two months ago that an old friend was coming."

"You can't just make things up. What old friend? She's clearly Chang Chu's sweetheart. So many prominent families came to propose marriage, but Chang Chu rejected them all."

These are all Yang Changchu's close friends.

They were all powerful families from various regions of Shandong.

The young girl who first called her "Doukou" was from the Liu family of Pingyuan, and another girl was from the Pei family of Hedong, which was her sister-in-law's family.

They had been friends before, and Yang Changchu started seeing them frequently last year.

The inner courtyard was bustling with chatter.

Yang Changchu seemed somewhat absent-minded, giving perfunctory replies and occasionally glancing up to the north.

She knew Gao Yu's general whereabouts. If Gao Yu was coming to Taishan County, he would be coming from the direction of Taishan.

"I really don't know what kind of handsome appearance could make Chang Chu so unforgettable?"

Liu, the woman from Pingyuan, teased, "Chang Chu, you've piqued my curiosity!"

"I've heard that Gao Lang is a valiant warrior of his time. Haven't you heard that nursery rhyme? He led three thousand brave warriors and utterly defeated the 300,000-strong allied army of Southern Liang!"

"If he's brave... would he be a handsome man? The warriors in my tribe are all big and burly."

The woman from the Pei family seemed to be thinking of her own retainers, and a look of disdain appeared on her face.

What's so special about this burly, unromantic brute?
Yang Changchu didn't rush to refute, but just chuckled, "He's different, you'll know when you see him."

The more she acted this way, the more kind-hearted her girlfriends became.

Based on their stereotypes about warriors, it's hard for them to imagine what a handsome warrior would look like.

How can a warrior, exposed to the elements, be compared to a pampered scion of a noble family?

although……

The sons of aristocratic families often succumb to excessive use of Wushisan (a type of sedative), which makes them prone to engaging in dissolute and unrestrained behavior.

But he was indeed fair-skinned, handsome, and had a beautiful appearance.

However, there are exceptions.

Mulan, Peng Le, and the others had arrived in Taishan County early on. They had heard of a general named 'Mulan,' who was handsome and unlike ordinary warriors.

Is Gao Yu an exception?
A group of girls were chattering noisily, but they were quickly drawn to the sound of footsteps.

Pei Zhirou glanced at them, then looked down at Yang Changchu, and chuckled, "Changchu, my husband asked me to tell you something."

"What's the matter?"

Yang Changchu suddenly looked up, anxiously asking, "Sister-in-law! Tell me quickly, what happened? Is it...?"

"You..."

Pei Zhirou shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

My sister-in-law is usually a very composed person, so why does she change her attitude whenever a certain person is involved?
She was actually very curious too.

What exactly does Gao Yu look like?
Can it be both male and female?

Her own sister-in-law and her own husband both spoke highly of her.

Seeing Yang Changchu's state, she stopped teasing him and directly told him the news.

"General Tian Ce has already sent word that he will arrive in Taishan County tomorrow..."

"really??"

Yang Changchu became somewhat agitated, then stood up, muttering to himself, though it was unclear what he was saying.

On the contrary, the eyes of the Liu and Pei women were darting around.

"Tomorrow, we'll also go and see what this Gao Lang looks like!"

They haven't entered the city yet.

It seems that Gao Yu has already attracted the attention of a group of women.

(End of this chapter)