After leaving the village and walking north along the Lishui River for more than ten miles, the night gradually became darker.
In the twelfth lunar month, even in the south of Chu, the temperature in the wilderness is shockingly low. Perhaps it is near Lishui, and everything along the way is shrouded in icy mist, making it cold and suffocating, plus withered grass and gravel. Flying in the wind, there is no one around, and there is a strange atmosphere everywhere. Even though their bodies had been wrapped in robes to keep out the cold, many people still had cold sweat gradually breaking out on the backs of their foreheads.
After asking Old Man Zou, he learned that they could reach the destination in another five miles. Li Yuan immediately ordered everyone to speed up and inadvertently glanced at Wang Jingguo, who was riding a horse next to him. The whole body was wrapped tightly. From the only small face of the young man, there was no look of fear. He kept frowning and concentrated on his way, but his eyes were bright and full of energy, showing a kind of fear. excitement about the unknown,
Li Yuan smiled slightly. This child seemed to have grown up a lot in the past year. If nothing else, the heavy breathing of everyone in the team could be felt by the biting cold. However, Wang Jingguo did not even complain, and his character became stronger. He is calm and steady. Although this young man seems to be weak and weather-resistant, he is very resilient and is actually a malleable talent.
It was already the ninth day of December, and there was also a new moon illuminating the night. Although it was not bright enough, it was enough to identify the direction. Li Yuan and his party walked the last five miles in one go. Under the guidance of old man Zou, they followed the calm and undercurrent of Lishui to the turning point. After heading east slightly and climbing over a small hill, they finally saw the silence of the grassy area. Forbidden land.
Just like Lishui turned at a strange angle here, this forbidden land also appears as a strange triangle shape when viewed from a distance. The outside of the triangle area is surrounded by dense forests, but there are no trees inside the area. They are all wild grass. , there is no trace of a living animal in the entire area, but by the dozen or so conspicuous large wells, you can see numerous white bones left by animals, and huge hollow skulls lying on the ground. They have been dead for who knows how many years.
The large tomb that was rumored to contain the souls of two thousand Chu soldiers also stood coldly in the center of the forbidden area. Under the moonlight, the surrounding areas for several miles seemed to be wrapped in a layer of white mist. The words on the stone tablet were slowly refracted, and because there were no trees to block them, they were condescending without any scruples. From time to time, they shone with a dazzling cold light towards the surroundings, like a ruthless eye that spanned time, coldly mocking those who stepped on it. People who enter this forbidden land.
"Grand Governor, we've finally arrived, it's here." Old Man Zou breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Yuan nodded, waved to everyone and said, "Let's find a place to camp. Let's eat something and drink some water first, and then we'll go and have a good look."
After setting up a temporary camp on the edge of the forbidden area, Li Yuan stood quietly in front of his tent, looking up at the looming crescent moon in the sky, and couldn't help but murmur in a low voice: "I don't know what mother is doing, Ehuang, Jingyao, Qing Is Ying thinking about me? Are Jiang Sheng and Erhu doing well... Well, it would be great if there were mobile phones these days. Even if they are thousands of miles away, they can still hear each other's voice at any time, even if they are physically present. I don’t have to worry about my family missing me when I live far away..."
At this time, Old Man Zou was holding a large armful of firewood and preparing to start a fire. He saw Li Yuan standing in front of the tent looking at the moon. He wanted to come up and talk to him, but he actually heard these puzzling words from Li Yuan's mouth. The old man's He was holding a piece of dead grass he picked casually in his mouth, but now he opened his mouth in shock. The dead grass was swaying in the cold wind and falling to the ground, which was extremely funny.
Wang Jingguo couldn't help but smile. He was used to his brother-in-law's nonsense. I still remember the last time my sister officially entered the house. When Li Yuan was drunk, he told himself that there was a kind of box in the world, in which little people could sing, dance and act. People outside the box felt as if they were actually there.
Not only Wang Jingguo, but also all the family members usually laughed when they heard Li Yuan's nonsense, but now in this strange and desolate forbidden land, Old Man Zou suddenly felt a little creepy.
"Well, Grand Governor, what did you just say? Does it sound like the legendary technique of transmitting sounds across thousands of miles?"
Li Yuan came back to his senses, smiled and gestured: "Haha, it's not Qianli Voice, it's a mobile phone. How should I put it? It's just a square box of this size..."
Wang Jingguo saw that Li Yuan was serious and started to
Come on, suppress a smile and turn around to tidy up the tent.
"Hand, chicken? I have never heard of this kind of chicken, but domestic birds? Can they be eaten? What the governor said, I have been farming for three generations, how come I have never heard of it in my life. A square box of this size can travel thousands of miles. Is the sound transmission a fairy from the sky?" Old Man Zou swallowed his saliva.
"Uncle Zou, the Governor was just joking. Last time he told me, what kind of ball can a chicken play...Don't ask again, otherwise you will go crazy." Wang Jingguo couldn't help but smiled.
Li Yuan rolled his eyes at the young man and continued to look at the crescent moon in the sky. A solitary bird happened to be passing by in the distance. He sighed to himself: "There is also something called an airplane, which can accommodate hundreds of people to fly across the sky overnight. A land of hundreds or even thousands of miles. Well, it would be great if there were planes. We don’t have to travel long distances to go anywhere. It only takes less than an hour to get from Langzhou to Lizhou.”
Why is there another unheard-of "chicken"? At this time, Old Man Zou's face turned completely pale, and he quickly pulled Wang Jingguo and said, "Brother, could it be that the Governor has been poisoned by evil spirits? It is said that in the land of evil spirits, people who are exposed to wind evil are easily exposed to evil spirits, and their brains are affected by evil spirits. If not treated in time, people will become crazy and stupid. No, it’s better for us to withdraw from this place. The governor must be good and good. Old man, I can never bear this responsibility!"
Wang Jingguo suppressed his laughter and waved his hand: "Don't worry, Mr. Zou, my chief governor is blessed by God. He will be fine in a while. Just go back to your tent and have something to eat."
Seeing Old Man Zou rubbing his hands tightly and leaving with a worried look on his face, Wang Jingguo looked at Li Yuan and laughed softly: "Brother-in-law, my sisters and I just listen to these weird ideas of yours. This Old Man Zou Are you going to go crazy after hearing this? I have prepared water. Why don't you wipe your face first, eat something and drink some water, close your eyes and have a good rest, so as not to feel listless for a while..."
"Little kid, what do you know?" Seeing Wang Jingguo hand over a wet cloth with a naive smile, Li Yuan impatiently wiped his face with the wet cloth, then turned around and went into the tent to cross his legs and close his eyes to rest.
Half an hour later, Li Yuan, who had recovered some physical strength, followed Old Man Zou as he carefully headed from the camp towards the salt wells in the forbidden area under the protection of a group of personal guards. The grass underfoot seems to be affected by the water mist from the nearby river. It is as moist as a mirror and slips slightly after stepping on it, as if stepping on snow. Occasionally, there are creaking sounds, and there are still sounds in the grass. Sewage seeps out.
Choosing the nearest salt well, Li Yuan stopped and cautiously stretched his neck to explore into the well. He saw that the inside was pitch black and emitted an indescribable sour smell. He aimed and threw some stones into it. After careful analysis, there were obviously several muffled banging sounds, indicating that this salt well is actually not unfathomable.
This also confirms another reason for Ma Xifan’s failure that year, which was the insufficient depth of salt well excavation.
Then Li Yuan neatly pulled out the sword from his waist, reached into the well and scraped hard on the stone wall until there was a crisp sound of the hard shell peeling off. At this time, he decisively put away the sword and used the torches held high by the surrounding guards to The light was bright, and everyone saw that the soil stained on the blade of the Grand Governor's sword actually contained a few light yellow crystalline salt grains.
Seeing that Li Yuan was about to touch it, Old Man Zou hurriedly reminded: "Captain, don't touch these! This is poisonous salt. In the past, those Chu soldiers ate this stuff and their intestines rotted to death, so be careful!"
Lifting his sword gently, Li Yuan raised his head and looked at these light yellow salt grains carefully, knowing that this must not be pure table salt. It must be mixed with other impurities, and the amount is not small.
Following Old Man Zou's advice, Li Yuan did not touch it with his hands, but he immediately ordered his guards to continue digging into the salt well in front of him. Lin Sichang and several generals were stunned, but they quickly handed over the salt well. Follow orders. In front of the Grand Governor, there were numerous military orders. Even if the guards no longer wanted to enter this gloomy well, they had no choice but to cover their mouths and noses and tie hemp ropes around their waists one by one to enter.
As expected by Li Yuan, as Zouping led several guards to fall to the bottom of the well first, the torch was raised high but was not extinguished, which proved that the salt well was not deep and did not reach the depth of hypoxia. It was just because it had been abandoned for a long time. , the earth and stone in the well are extremely hard, and it is very laborious to dig.
I don’t know how long I have been digging for. After everyone took turns to take over, they finally dug again.
After digging a few feet down, I immediately noticed by the firelight that the color seemed different. Under the light yellow soil surface, which is about a foot thick, the color of the precipitated particles at the bottom of the well and on the surrounding stone walls turned into a less pure white, which looked no different from the coarse salt that we usually eat.
Amid the excited shouts of the soldiers, Lin Sichang personally took the small bag of cloth particles that Zouping passed up from the well. Li Yuan gently spread the bag in his hand and examined it carefully. Wang Jingguo and Old Man Zou also came over to inspect it. But I saw that these particles were transparent under the firelight, and seemed to be a little yellow, but they were much lighter than those stained on the blade of Li Yuan's sword just now.
"This!" Old Man Zou said in surprise: "The one below is indeed different. The one above must be poisonous salt, but I don't know if the one below is poisonous."
Li Yuan nodded and said, "You will know once you try it."
Old man Zou hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Try? Grand Governor, don't forget the lesson learned by the Chu army back then. Don't eat this randomly. If it's poisonous, won't your life be in vain?"
Wang Jingguo also swallowed, looked at the frightened Lin Sichang and others around him, and whispered: "Brother-in-law, are you going to give an order for people to eat it?"
Li Yuan glanced at the young man helplessly and said calmly: "Will this governor make fun of the lives of his own soldiers? Go and feed some of the animals at random. If the animal dies, it will still be poisonous salt."
