Jiankang City was shrouded in a layer of gloomy clouds at night. It was not yet the curfew time, but every household had already turned off the lights and closed the doors tightly.
In the corner of the wine shop, the shopkeeper's five-year-old child was rolling around on the ground, "I don't care, I don't care, I'm going to eat the candied haws from Liu Mazi's house in the west of the city." His face was covered with tears and snot, as if his father wouldn't buy it and he would be lying. momentum.
But the shopkeeper glared and ignored him, the abacus in his hand crackling. The boss's wife, who was wearing a jingchai sarong, felt sorry for the childish child and said angrily: "The west of the city is not far from here. It only took you three-quarters of an hour to let the boy drive the carriage. Why have you become so stingy in your old age?"
"You mother-in-law know how much you know. There has been a lot of unrest in the west of the city recently. Just count the number of missing people you heard about, let alone the ones registered for investigation by Dali Temple. I heard that those who were found were covered in ulcers, and their limbs were Not quite, son, do you still dare to go?"
Recently, a series of mysterious cases have happened in the west of the city, which has caused a lot of noise and the people have heard about it. The boy was frightened by the appearance of the shopkeeper showing his teeth and claws. The landlady stood aside and did not dare to say anything more. The shopkeeper sighed, and now Everyone was too scared to go out, and the business of his wine shop was getting worse and worse.
*
In a dark hall, several people who looked like Taoist priests were sitting around a pill furnace. Liu Yu, who was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, was sitting on a high seat on a soft couch. He had an impetuous and sinister nature and kept urging loudly.
"Report to the Emperor, this zombie needs to borrow the power of the Yin and soft brilliance of Chanjuan between heaven and earth. The remaining breath of the dead person will be the best of the original body, and the soul will be roasted in the fire of this elixir furnace for seven, seven and forty-nine days. He can become an indestructible Yin soldier. It has only been more than twenty days. Please wait patiently to verify the truth of what the old Taoist said." The old Taoist has gray hair on his temples and a light silver beard. He has a somewhat immortal air. , but if you look closely, it is not difficult to find that he is triangular and narrow, with a shrewd light shining in his eyes.
Liu Yu frowned, extremely dissatisfied with his answer. Recently, the voices in the royal city have become louder and louder, saying that he was born under the summons of a black dragon and had an unknown birth. Weird things happened one after another after he ascended the throne. Rumors spread, and people protested. The folds were handed to him, and they all urged him to leave.
Just when he was worried about this, the old man in front of him came with his disciples riding yellow cranes. He called himself Li Mubai, the master of Maoshan. He said that he had calculated that the emperor was in trouble and came here specially to provide him with tips and tricks. The immortal aura fluttered, making the young emperor look straight at him.
A group of rotten old men in the imperial court bullied him because he was young and weak. With the help of experts, he had his own plans to achieve a great career. Liu Yu's eyes were full of gloom, and the flames of hatred were burning, "Master, you must refine the Yin soldiers for me in fifteen days. By then, I will command the Northern Wei Shao to help me. And you must promise my queen's resurrection." Don’t forget, I will have a big reward when things are done.”
The fifteenth day was still too impatient, but Li Mubai was not stupid. He saw the woman's skeleton placed in the hall early in the morning, and only briefly talked to the eunuchs before he understood the whole story. It turns out that this woman is the daughter of the Jiang family. She was separated from His Majesty during the Jiankang Revolution, and has become His Majesty's obsession since then. Upon closer inspection, I found that this Jiang girl died strangely. Looking at her body, it seemed as if her soul had been forcibly removed. She had lost her seven souls and six souls. It was not easy to be resurrected. Unexpectedly, there were rumors that the fatuous and cruel young emperor still had such children. . The old Taoist expression showed no emotion, but his heart was agitated by the urging of Young Emperor Liu Yu. "Your Majesty, the quality of the Yin soldiers will be greatly reduced in this way, and we must achieve a breakthrough in quantity." In fact, this is not the case. Failures and explosions have happened frequently recently. Zombies run away at night, and the number he can control is getting smaller and smaller. In order to prevent the new emperor from becoming suspicious, he made a random excuse.
Young Emperor Liu Yu was shocked, "Have all the hundreds of serious criminals in the prison been refined?" That's hundreds of lives, and they were used up so quickly.
The old Taoist expression did not change, "Your Majesty, if something unexpected happens, it is best to prepare in advance."
Liu Yu's face was filled with clouds, and he kept pacing in place and thinking. He was now being restricted by Ruan Dianfu, and he didn't have much power at hand. If he moved too much, he would definitely know about things and interfere with his plans.
Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, "By the way, wait until I write a secret letter to Xiao Daocheng. Isn't he a general? He is currently leading troops to fight. I asked him to bring me some corpses." Xiao Daocheng and Ruan Dianfu were in the court. They were fighting openly and secretly, and the two of them were fighting each other. If he got close to one of them, Ruan Dianfu would not be able to interfere rashly.
Liu Yu patted his crown, annoyed that he had ignored Xiao Daocheng's power for so long, and hurriedly asked his personal father-in-law to go to the treasury to collect the treasures and send them to Xiao Daocheng, and asked him to do this favor.
The matter of the Yin soldiers was a big taboo, and it was not allowed to be known to too many people. Li Mubai wanted to persuade him, but Liu Yu had his own ideas, so he had no choice but to give up.
The glazed tiles on the eaves came loose and made a slight sound. Li Mubai was startled to realize that someone was eavesdropping, so he threw out a Yin-Yang fan and went out to find out the details of the other party. The spiritual power is like the wind. Even though the dark one dodges and reaches him, a piece of cloth is still cut off and falls with the wind, stumbling in the night.
Li Mubai used his internal energy and took back the fan. He found that the fan seemed to be contaminated with other people's Qi. He stared silently. Liu Yu noticed something was wrong with his expression and asked him if there was anything strange about him.
"No problem, Your Majesty." It's just a trick played by a yellow-haired boy. Don't interfere with his grand plan. Li Mubai's eyes darkened.
*
Wang Jingze was dressed in a masked black dress, and his toes kept tapping the corners of the eaves in Jiankang City, and finally landed at Xiao Daocheng's mansion.
He clutched his chest, still a little shocked. The old man didn't know the depth of his skills. The wind brought out by a fan could actually make his chest tremble. He must have had amazing internal strength.
The move was strange. The fan was made of black wood carvings as a curved bow. The fan surface was as thin as a cicada's wing, and the black air was flowing. Wang Jingze knew that this thing was a yin and yang fan from the netherworld, but the old Taoist's eyebrows were bright and he looked like an immortal. , It doesn’t look like someone from the demon world, he is really a demon!
Wang Jingze knelt down on one knee respectfully and reported the situation to Xiao Daocheng one by one, "General, your Majesty colluded with the demons to cultivate Yin soldiers in the palace."
Xiao Daocheng was horrified, when did Liu's child become so brave and deal with such filthy things as Yin soldiers?
"Have you ever found out what his purpose is?" Xiao Daocheng stood with his hands behind his hands, his thick brows furrowed like a mountain.
"Back to the general, he wants to attack the Northern Wei Dynasty in half a month." Wang Jingze carefully recalled the content of the conversation between the two and answered.
Northern Wei? Did he really think that he could regain the northern territory after reading two pages of military books? Xiao Daocheng secretly said that he was really overestimating his abilities.
"General, there's one more thing. They want to ask you for some corpses of people who were dying on the battlefield to refine zombies." Wang Jingze's eyes turned red with anger. This was really a waste of human life, not giving them a way to survive.
"The dying person, why?" When Xiao Daocheng heard this, the wolf hair in his hand paused, and a trace appeared on the rice paper.
"The old Taoist said that only in this way can the Yin soldiers refined from the souls of the living dead be the most powerful." His tone was angry, making it clear that he didn't believe what the old Taoist said.
A dying person is also a human life. Survive, put a place into production, and then support yourself. This is undoubtedly a great honor for the soldiers who fight for the country on the battlefield and protect their homeland.
Liu Yu's actions invisibly harmed their interests. If word spread, it would chill the hearts of many soldiers.
Xiao Daocheng has been away from home all year round, and he knows best the hardships of the frontier and the heavy frost and dew in the world. In the years since Liu Yu ascended the throne, many new policies and laws have been promulgated, but few of them are effective. They waste people and money, and the people's lives are not as good as every year. He also saw it in his eyes.
Xiao Daocheng knew that the young emperor was eager to ascend the throne and wanted to do something to prove that he had already taken over the power in the court and no longer needed old guys like them to point their fingers. However, Xiao Daocheng thought that Yin Bing's move was extremely stupid. , if people in the north get wind of it, they are afraid that it will cause trouble again, and the country will not be stable.
He didn't speak for a long time. Wang Jingze seemed to have read through his thoughts. He knelt down and kowtowed, "General, I and the 400,000 brothers behind you are supporting you. I implore you to consider the new policy, overthrow the tyranny, and restore purity to the holy world."
Xiao Daocheng fired out a burst of internal force and clamped Wang Jingze's neck to prevent him from saying any more, "Don't talk nonsense. Do you know that under the emperor's feet, those who say such words will be punished by the nine tribes."
Wang Jingze had followed him in the army for many years, and the two had a solid friendship, but this was the first time they were in trouble. When Xiao Daocheng relaxed, Wang Jingze held his breath, blushed and kowtowed several times to express his intention.
When he retreated, Xiao Daocheng fell heavily on the soft chair. There was a storm in his mind. Did the prince and general Xiang Ning have any idea? For the sake of the world, what could he not do to Xiao Daocheng?
*
Murong Zheng secretly sneaked back to Jiankang City in the Southern Dynasties. He brought many elite masters from the Murong family with him this time to collect information about Tao Hongjing. Once he is caught, the power of the Qinglong in him will be taken back by him. .
But recently, the atmosphere in Jiankang City was very different from that in the past. People were walking in a hurry in the bustling city. They hurriedly bought their things and then went home. They no longer wandered around Jinling in the past.
The difference in time period is particularly obvious. The crowds are the most crowded at noon when the sun is at its peak. There is not a soul in the evening and morning. Murong Zheng observed for several days and specially chose a noon time to enter the teahouse to inquire about the news.
The storyteller in the teahouse spat, "That man is lying on the corner of the street, letting the green-faced fanged monster pierce his blood vessels with its fangs. Take a closer look. There is black gas around the wound, and the shadow of the black dragon is looming. The green dragon on that man is 80% to 90% similar." He touched his beard and pointed mysteriously in the direction of the palace.
Murong Zheng came in midway and heard that the story was just a rough idea. At this time, he took out a piece of gold and put it on the table. He gave the boy some two silver ingots and asked him to call the storyteller to come up and tell him again.
When the storyteller came up and saw Jin Zi, his eyes almost went straight. He raised his mouth and started spitting out the words. Murong Zheng stretched out his hand to signal him to stop.
"Which top are you talking about?" Murong Zheng asked sharply.
Hearing this, the storyteller leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Go back to my guest, that is of course the people who live in the sky. This matter is now being discussed in all the teahouses. There are even rumors that someone has seen the man who died violently. This Whether it's true or not, it's up to you, my guest, to judge." At the end, there was another wave of blessings and bows.
Murong Zheng snorted coldly. This man knew how to hide his clumsiness. Folk stories were often exaggerated. Naturally, he didn't believe it at this time. But since rumors were spreading, there was no smoke without fire. He didn't mind adding fuel to the fire and making the people angry. His words became more popular, until God heard that Jiankang City was in chaos, and the time had come. He sipped the tea calmly, thinking to himself.
