Li Shanwa thought for a while and finally shook her head: "Uncle, I don't want to go to Qi."
Guard Tian gently stroked his head and patiently persuaded him: "Shan baby, although my uncle's family is not rich, they still have three meager meals a day. If you stay in Zheng, even if you can find relatives, you can't live without it." The current situation in the state of Zheng is that they may not even have enough to eat."
Li Shanwa said stubbornly: "Uncle, you don't have to worry about me. Now the pythons in this cave that are killing people have been wiped out by Taoist Master's three blackbirds. I want to stay here and rely on what I learned from my parents before." You can survive even with your hunting skills.”
Escort Tian sighed and said helplessly: "Okay, uncle won't force you. When we part ways, I will write you an address. If you can't survive in Zheng State, go to Lanling City, the capital of Qi State, to find uncle." ,how?"
Li Shanwa nodded: "Thank you uncle. If I really can't survive, I will definitely go to Lanling City to find uncle."
The two people were talking when they suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves and the rolling sound of carriage wheels coming from behind. Turning around, I saw not far behind me, a dozen soldiers were holding torches and clearing away the rocks on the ground. A long line of carriages followed closely behind the soldiers.
Upon seeing this, the Tian escort rushed over. Someone who recognized him among the soldiers who were picking up stones quickly stood up and said hello: "I've seen the Tian Zhi envoy. Hello, the Tian Zhi envoy. Please give your regards to the Tian Zhi envoy."
"Okay, okay." Bodyguard Tian responded while calling his subordinates following him to join the crowd clearing away the rocks.
At this time, several men in black came out from behind the carriage leading the horses. Hearing the sound, Guard Tian looked up and hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "I have seen the Commander."
"Yes." Commander Ding nodded and was about to pass by when he suddenly stopped. He knew that Tian Liu and Escort Tian were uncle-nephew, so he asked, "How long has it been since your nephew Tian Liu passed away? "
Bodyguard Tian said: "Return to the commander, sir, it's been about a moment."
"Yes, I understand." Commander Ding agreed and walked over.
Thanks to the participation of Escort Arita and others, the progress of clearing the stones was much faster. However, this work was really tiring. In less than half an hour, the soldiers who were cleaning the stones were so tired that they could not even straighten their backs. The progress also slowed down. Fortunately, another group of soldiers was sent from behind to replace them and take a rest.
In this way, the two teams of soldiers alternated to clean the stones. When they were rotated down for the third time, they were very close to the exit of the Immortal Cave.
Escort Tian was about to sit down and take a rest on the pile of rubble beside the road. Suddenly he saw the group of people who had just rotated up in front running hurriedly to the back. He immediately stood up, stopped the person running at the front, and shouted: "Mr. Xu, what happened? Why are you so panicked?"
Xu Zhishi said incoherently: "Tian, Tian Zhishi, big, big things are bad, there's a fire in front!"
As soon as Guard Tian heard this, he became angry and yelled: "Envoy Xu, fortunately you have been in the army for many years. You can just put out the fire. Why are you panicking?"
Commander Xu stamped his feet anxiously: "Hey, you don't understand, that's all. I have to go find the commander and report it." After saying that, he turned to one side and prepared to pass by Guard Tian, but was struck by Guard Tian. He grabbed hold of him and said, "Hey, hey, Lao Xu, stop running around. To tell you the truth! The commander has already left this hole!"
When Xu Zhi heard this, he was startled and then asked: "When did the commander leave?"
Bodyguard Tian tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, "I've been gone for about an hour."
"Ah! What can we do?" Xu Zhizhi was at a loss for ideas.
"How about you report it to the Imperial Master?" Guard Master Tian suggested.
"Haha, which one of you is looking for the old Taoist?" As soon as he finished speaking, the old Taoist responded with a smile on his face.
When Tian Biaoshi and Xu Zhishi saw him, they hurriedly saluted together and said, "I have met the Taoist Priest of the National Preceptor."
The old Taoist waved his hand: "That's all, let's talk about it."
Tian Biaoshi glanced at Xu Zhishi, and Xu Zhishi said anxiously: "Master Guoshi, there is a fire at the entrance of the cave in front. I am here to report to the commander. You can listen to what Tian Zhi said. Mr. Commander I have left the cave, so I came to report to you."
"Oh, there is such a thing!" After hearing this, the old Taoist held his beard in one hand and held it behind his back with the other, silently pacing in front of the two of them, lost in thought.
Xu Zhishi waited patiently and saluted again: "Prince of the National Preceptor, why don't you let me lead someone to rush out and see who is causing trouble outside? If they are some bandits who are robbing homes, just kill them."
The old Taoist shook his head lightly: "No, it's okay if they are bandits. The old Taoist is afraid that if it is the regular army dispatched by the Zheng Kingdom, they will set up an ambush outside the cave, deliberately set fire to lure us out of the cave, and then gather together to annihilate them!" "
Xu Zhishi reminded: "Master Guoshi, if it is true that the Zheng Dynasty court dispatched regular troops, could the commander not notice such a big movement when he came out of the cave?"
The old Taoist nodded thoughtfully: "That's right, but you still have to be careful." Then he told Tong Tianji, the little Taoist next to him: "Disciple, go to the back and find Guan Tongzhi and Deputy Commander Yu who are in charge of escorting the team, and say I have something to tell them as a teacher."
"Yes, Master." Tianji agreed, jumping up and down and running towards the back of the motorcade.
Not long after, Guan Tongzhi and Deputy Commander Yu followed Xiao Daotong. After greeting him, the old Taoist directly ordered: "Two generals, I just heard the report from Xu Zhi that someone set a fire at the entrance of the cave. The old Taoist suspected that there was something involved. Therefore, I plan to go out as a Taoist cultivating in the Immortal Cave to find out what is going on, and I will leave the affairs in the cave to the two generals."
Guan Tongzhi and Deputy Commander Yu clasped their fists together, bowed their heads and said, "Yes, I will obey the orders of the Imperial Master."
The old Taoist didn't say anything more. He glanced at everyone, took two Taoist boys and three strange birds, turned around and walked towards the entrance of the cave. However, no one expected that the old Taoist master and apprentice and the three strange birds would come again. There is no turning back.
Li Shanwa didn't need to say much about what happened next. Chen Xiaomu basically knew everything. He stopped Li Shanwa's words and said kindly: "Shanwa, since you don't want to go to Qi, why don't you come back to Xinjiang with me?" Come to the capital, keep company with the new scholar in my mansion, and let him teach you how to read when you have time."
Unexpectedly, Li Shanwa bowed and said: "Thank you for taking care of me, sir, but now I have to go to Qi State!"
"Oh, why is this?" Chen Xiaomu said in surprise.
Li Shanwa was dumbfounded, but finally told the truth. It turned out that when Deputy Commander Yu gave the order in the cave to launch an all-in-one charge, because Li Shanwa did not belong to the ranks of Qi's soldiers, Guard Tian assigned him to In the middle of the escort car at the back, he handed him three hundred taels of silver notes and some broken silver, saying that it was the bounty for this mission. Because he was in a hurry, he did not have time to send it back home, and told him that if he died in this battle, , asked him to deliver the three hundred taels of silver notes to his home in Lanling City, Qi State, and give them to his wife and daughter. Li Shanwa immediately agreed to him without hesitation, and now it is time to fulfill her promise.
After hearing this, Chen Xiaomu sighed heavily, and then he ordered that all the bodies of the men in black be searched through, and all the banknotes and other property found were handed over to Li Shanwa to be taken to Qi State and handed over to the wife of Tian Escort. She will try to find the families of these soldiers who died in battle and distribute them to them.
Qingkui reminded: "Master Tongpan, if he gives so much money to a woman he has never met before, what should he do if he becomes greedy?"
Chen Xiaomu shook his head: "Then there is nothing we can do. In short, this is the money someone gave his life for. We can't take it. Otherwise, if word spreads, the soldiers of Qi will hate us to death. If we meet on the battlefield in the future, we will definitely fight to the death." in the end!"
Sure enough, after a while of rummaging, almost all the men in black had 300 taels of silver notes on them. There were also a few men in black, probably officials, who found 500 taels of silver notes on their bodies.
Next, Chen Xiaomu packed all the banknotes and some scattered silver found out from the man in black into a backpack and let Li Shanwa carry it on his back. In addition, Chen Xiaomu asked someone to choose a good horse and give it to Li Shanwa, and sent People escorted him to the official road leading to Qi State.
After handling everything at the scene like a quick knife, Chen Xiao stood on the side of the road, looking at the escort cars being pulled out of the fairy cave, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.
It was already midnight when he returned to the new capital. For safety reasons, Chen Xiaomu ordered the escort car to be driven directly into Su Xingran's former Princess Qingfeng Mansion, and then sent heavy troops to guard it.
When he returned to the Xinjing government office, he did not expect that in this freezing cold night, there would be a large group of people waiting for him at the door of the government office. When Chen Xiaomu saw it, his head suddenly buzzed, and he thought to himself: " Looking at this formation, could it be that something big happened in the new capital city again?" Helpless, he had no choice but to dismount his horse and walk over.
At this time, a middle-aged man wearing a robe, with a dignified appearance, and looking very capable, took the lead to greet him from the crowd, and said to him: "Linhe County Magistrate Zhuo Yihe pays homage to Lord Tongpan."
Chen Xiaomu was stunned when he heard this, and said in surprise: "You are really the Magistrate Zhuo of Linhe County. Lord Jia told me the day before yesterday that you won't be able to take office until five days later? It's only been two days!"
Magistrate Zhuo smiled bitterly and said: "Master Chen, you don't know something. I only found out after receiving the emperor's imperial edict and Master Jia's private message that Qi State is about to go to war with our country, and you are the commander-in-chief of our Zheng Army. In particular, the great victory you achieved in Tianquan County before has made our border residents of Zheng even more excited! In addition, during this period, Qi State has increased its garrison near the border of Linhe County. After receiving the emperor's imperial edict, he briefly explained the official business, and then rushed to the new capital non-stop day and night, killing several horses along the way, in order to replace the Lord from the position of government judge as soon as possible. Let’s assemble the army and prepare for war.”
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "Okay, now that the imperial edict has been issued, it's time for me to call you Zhuo Tongpan."
Zhuo Yihe quickly handed over his hand: "Mr. Chen is joking. I have to hand over the job to you tomorrow before I dare to accept the new official title."
Chen Xiaomu raised his head and glanced at the crescent moon hanging in the sky, and suddenly asked: "Master Zhuo, are you tired after a long journey?"
"This..." Zhuo Yihe didn't react for a moment, and just as he was thinking about how to answer, Chen Xiaomu added, "If Mr. Zhuo is willing, why don't we take over overnight."
"Okay." Zhuo Yihe smiled and said, "Being humble and respectful is worse than obeying orders."
After finishing speaking, the two of them were about to go to the government office. At this time, Zhang Heiniu came forward with a happy face, bent down and clasped his fists, saying: "Your Majesty, the recent murder cases in Xinjing City have been solved. !”
Chen Xiaomu was shocked when he heard that, and blurted out: "How was it broken?"
Zhang Heiniu glanced at Zhuo Yihe and said with a smile: "This is all thanks to Lord Zhuo."
