Zhao Zhengli's dark skin faded visibly to the naked eye, as if the dark clouds had dissipated, revealing a fair and handsome face, with red lips glowing with precious light, sword-shaped eyebrows and a face like a crown of jade.
Zhang Ziya felt as if he had seen a ghost; he was so frightened that he could not speak coherently: "This, this, this..."
Yu Xiaowei and Li Zhanyi also opened their bright eyes, their red lips and pink faces full of confusion.
The sisters of the Bi family hurriedly lifted Taoist Zhao from Tukeng, and then fed him a Qi-nourishing Pill to help him digest. The elegant young master with clear outlines slightly moved his eyelashes, and slowly opened his sparse eyes. Zhao Zhengli glanced suddenly. Seeing the two beauties beside him with red and swollen eyes and smiling and crying expressions, he asked in a weak tone: "Why are you two crying? Who bullied you?"
These words deeply hurt the hearts of the two sisters. He had only half a foot back from the Palace of the King of Hell and he began to worry about the two sisters. I am afraid that they will never find another one in this world. The tears that hadn't dried were flowing down her face again, but what was different from the past was that she was extremely happy at this moment, throwing herself into the arms of the bad Taoist priest and crying loudly.
Taoist priest Zhao was at a loss and blushed. It was the first time in his life that he was so close to a woman. He didn't know that a woman's body was so soft and had a faint fragrance. This made the inexperienced Taoist priest panic. He looked around and found that he was He was lying in a pit, just over eight feet tall. Then he moved his gaze upwards and found that Yu Xiaowei, Li Zhanyi and Zhang Ziya were looking down at him in the pit. He seemed to understand something: "Hey, you three have no conscience, right? You actually want to bury the three of us alive! It’s in vain that I tried my best to protect you last night!”
"..."
The three people in the pit were speechless. It seemed that this misunderstanding could only be explained by the Bi sisters. Are the three people more confused about his resurrection? Although it was not as obvious as the Bi sisters, there was still joy in their eyes.
Yu Xiaowei, who was just a little happy, looked at the three people huddled together in the pit and pursed her lips, turning her head to the side silently.
Li Zhanyi, who looked like a lady, glanced at Zhang Ziya who looked envious and quickly moved his eyes away in a pretentious manner.
Zhao Zhengli didn't feel that he had died. He only knew that he was very tired from the poison that invaded his internal organs last night. He couldn't open his eyelids and fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw the Bi family sisters crying and being in the pit with him.
This time, Daochang Zhao slept very soundly and felt refreshed. On the other hand, the other five people looked tired and looked like they had not slept for several nights.
He was thinking hard, how could the poison in his body disappear overnight? The circulating Qi seems to be all over the body and integrated with flesh and blood.
He was puzzled.
Several people got on the road and walked towards Qipanguan.
Li Zhanyi, who has been traveling around the world for several years, suddenly said: "Does the Taoist priest know anyone from Longhu Mountain?"
Zhao Zhengli shook his head: "I have only been out of the mountain for more than two months, and I have been wandering around Shu. Where do you know the Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain?"
Li Zhanyi frowned: "That's strange. There are countless strange medicines in the world. Although there is an elixir of immortal grass on the coast of the East China Sea that can bring the dead back to life, after all, it is a legend. The unique Dragon and Tiger Heaven Pill in the world can be compared with the elixir of elixir. , even the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Pill does not have the magical effect of bringing the dead back to life. Moreover, the "Heavenly Cloth Silkworm Technique" that is used to resurrect from the poisonous body and practice Nirvana and rebirth cannot achieve the effect of resurrecting in one night."
Zhang Ziya said: "Maybe the Taoist leader is surprised by the bones, but it's not necessarily that he has adapted to the poison in his body!"
Sisters of the Bi family also said: "It's really possible. The Taoist priest has been soaking tea oil and sulfur water to refine the poison for several months. Maybe he has quietly improved his physical condition."
Several people nodded doubtfully, but Li Zhanyi felt that the credibility was still not high. Could it be that he was really the reincarnation of a god?
The lady looked at the handsome Taoist priest's face with more curiosity, and her eyes wanted to see him thoroughly.
Taoist priest Zhao said unnaturally: "I know you are handsome, so don't look at me, Senior Sister Emei. It would be nice to give me a look, but I don't want to have a love triangle between you and Ziya, so I don't want you to have a love triangle with Ziya." Senior sister, stop wasting your time."
"..."
The plump elder sister was speechless, Zhang Ziya blushed, but the sisters from the Bi family smiled. Only Xiaowei hurried on with an expressionless face.
Qipanguan Station does not have many horses and can only provide three rides, which means two people ride one horse...
Daochang Zhao is in trouble. Should he ride on the same horse as he wants with the sisters of the Bi family? Or should I choose between Yu Xiaowei and Li Zhan?
While he was struggling, two horses were already galloping past. He and Zhang Ziya were the only ones left at the door of the station. The guy who was half a head shorter than the Taoist priest was smiling at him. As both men, he naturally knew what the bad Taoist priest was thinking about just now. , of course he did, but not as obviously as Taoist Zhao. Out of respect for his strength, Zhang Ziya politely handed over his hand: "Taoist, I have no choice but to ask you to ride on a horse with me. Should Taoist sit in front or behind?"
The Taoist priest gave him a very disappointed look: "What are the front and back, filthy words, I'm on horseback!"
"..."
In the end, the bad Taoist leader put Zhang Ziya on his horse and carried him on the road like a prisoner. Zhang Ziya strongly protested: "Ah!... Taoist priest... I can't stand it!"
"Taoist Master!...Ah!...Slow down!"
"Shut up, I'll shake your guts out if I yell again!"
"..."
They didn’t know whether it was because Taoist Master Zhao had improved his horse control skills, or whether the two horses in front were waiting deliberately and caught up with the four of them in less than a moment. They were particularly surprised when they saw Zhang Ziya’s riding style. They didn’t need to think twice to understand that it was the work of the bad Taoist Master. Thanks to yesterday I feel sad for him.
After traveling for more than thirty miles, Zhang Ziya felt dizzy, nauseated, and even the overnight meal was in his throat. He regretted one thing at the moment, that is, he should have dug a hole on the spot in the morning to bury the damn bad Taoist priest. If you don't, you won't suffer this crime.
Perhaps the bad Taoist priest was not so bad after all. Seeing that Zhang Ziya was really desperate, he asked him to ride in front of him, and Zhang Ziya felt as if he had been released.
There were no dangerous passes along the way, and the three horses galloped for more than seventy or eighty miles, stopping three times from Qipanguan to Xingyuan Mansion, which took about an hour.
The mountains and rivers are lonely, the clouds are flying across, and the market is prosperous.
Xingyuan Mansion is as fertile and prosperous as the land of Shu. The environment surrounded by mountains and rivers is very livable. It is connected from south to north and is a natural granary. It has caused the heroes of the past dynasties to fight bloody battles. There are four plank roads in the Qinling Mountains, namely Chencang, Baoxie, Tangluo and Ziwu. They range from the ancient Shang Dynasty to the pre-Qin Dynasty to the troubled times of modern times. They all leave ancient battles here. It can be said that every plank road is filled with blood and blood. The bones laid out.
The six of them did not come to Xingyuan Mansion to experience the humanities and history. They checked their identities at the government office, found the five-flowered horse luan sedan that the Yu family had been waiting for for several days, and then asked for a heavy cavalry of Xingyuan Mansion armor to escort them.
After last night's bloody lesson, everyone agreed that it was important to "take advantage of the situation" and find escorts on whichever county road they came to. This was not considered cowardly. On the contrary, the government was very happy. After all, Zhao Zhengli belonged to the person appointed by the local government. It's hard to explain what happened, not to mention the Minister of War's precious daughter. It would be best to get rid of this hot potato as soon as possible.
On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth lunar month, a few people officially headed north to Jingzhao Mansion via the Tangluo Plank Road. They were escorted by fifty armored cavalry from Xingyuan Mansion. The plank road was ignited with murderous air. Tourists from all walks of life heard the wind and gave way. The night attack on Qipan Mountain occurred. There are also rumors in the world that "the devil sword killed all the Nanzhao survivors, and the momentum scared away the Tubo masters", "human devil" became Zhao Zhengli's new title in the world.
Li Zhanyi and Zhang Ziya are equally famous, but it is a pity that they are overshadowed by the ruthless character "Human Demon". These three masters alone are scary enough, and now they have added fifty armored heavy cavalry, which is not as powerful as the great master. Dare to come forward and say hello.
There are rumors that Zhao Zhengli was seriously injured in the battle at Qipanling, so he dispatched fifty armored heavy cavalry to escort him in Xingyuan Mansion.
Regardless of whether it was true or false, no one came forward to test it, because there were still two grandmasters and fifty heavy armors, and many people in the world were expected to watch the excitement on the Tangluo Plank Road, and they were afraid of asking questions, assassinations, etc.
The fifty heavy cavalrymen of Xingyuan Prefecture spent a day escorting them to Fengzhou to hand over to the Tongyuan Army. There was no edict between counties and roads and they could not cross the border. This was an iron law of the Qing Dynasty.
When you enter Fengzhou, you enter Qinfengjun Road. Qinfengjun Road covers a total of twelve states and thirty-eight counties, divided into three armies, namely Wude, Zhenrong and Tongyuan.
The one who led Zhao Zhengli and others was a detachment of the Tongyuan Army from the far south. There were more than seventy people, wearing iron armor, with three-meter spears standing on their saddles. Equipped with strong shields, their horses and cavalry were uniform, and their marching momentum was far better than the previous five. The sight of the ten-level cavalry made Zhang Ziya's blood boil with excitement. The fifty-level cavalry earlier did not make him so excited.
The reason is that Xingyuan Prefecture's heavy cavalry belongs to the government office. Geographically, it is not as close to the border defenses of the Three Kingdoms as Qinfeng County. It is Xixia and Khitan on the top, and Tubo is on the left. Although the war has become less and less in the past two years, the border defense areas are unavoidable. To keep things going, there were one or two small battles in a few months.
This group of iron cavalry were the warriors who climbed out of the Corpse Mountain and the Sea of Blood back then. Their morale as soldiers was naturally evident. If seven hundred or seven thousand people marched, their morale would explode to the sky. Most people would not be able to see their legs and feet very well.
The seventy armored soldiers said nothing, except for the ninth-grade casual officer who led the team; Wu Lei accompanied the Rong captain and communicated with a few people on urgent issues. The remaining dozens of people were like machines, eating but not talking, sleeping without taking off their armor, and so on. Travel on the Tangluo Plank Road for two days.
On the afternoon of the 28th day of the lunar calendar, escorted by Captain Wu Lei and Rong Xiaowei, we entered Yongxing County Road. All we could see was the vast loess bordering the sky and the earth, with wind and sand blowing in the air.
Zhang Ziya looked at the vast scenery and sighed: "It's just as the old saying goes, go up to the north and see the vast murderous atmosphere, go down to the south and see the gathering of scholars."
Wu Leihao clapped his legs and said happily: "This is very reasonable. There are scholars in the south, but there are many reckless men in the north. Civilization governs the country and Wu determines the territory. Although no one in the north or the south looks down on the other, they can't live without each other. It's a pity. Nowadays, the imperial court seems to be more fond of literati, and it’s hard for me to wait for these warriors.”
When Wu Lei said it, he was obviously depressed and regretful. He shook his head and put the topic aside, and said with great pride: "This is not vast yet. If you go more than a hundred miles north, you will find the endless desert outside the Great Wall; all you can see is the blue sky and yellow sand. , where you can feel the true vast murderous aura.”
Zhao Zhengli glanced at Zhang Ziya who looked obsessed: "Aren't you going north to regain the land of Yanyun? How about joining the army with the Rong captain?"
Before Zhang Ziya could say anything, Wu Lei, the captain of the accompanying army, took the lead and inquired about Zhang Ziya seriously: "Ziya's heart is something that I admire. If all the world has this kind of heart, why worry about the smoke and clouds not coming back for sixteen days? I'm afraid the Khitan, All Tubo must be brought under my Daqing territory. However, it would be an understatement for our team to come to Ziya Grandmaster. If you are really serious, the young general can recommend you to the Tongyuan Army General's Mansion, and you will definitely become famous in the north and make the Khitan timid. !”
Zhang Ziya stole a glance at Li Zhanyi who was sitting in the five-flowered horse sedan, and said politely: "Thank you, Captain, for your appreciation. There are not many border wars now, and Ziya wants to travel around first. When the front line becomes tight in the future, Ziya will never look back."
Wu Lei didn't understand his deep meaning at all, and said in an iron-clad and heroic manner: "Ziya is humble. With your master's Taoist practice, joining the army is naturally not like soldiers charging, preaching, qualified soldiers, Taoist martial arts and other important positions..."
Zhao Zhengli felt awkward when he saw Zhang Ziya talking about the same topic inconsistently, so he changed the topic: "I heard that the school captain could use seventy cavalry to set up a seven-star formation to block the charge of nearly a thousand Khitan soldiers. I was very curious. What are the seven-star formations? What’s so special?”
Mentioning Wu Lei's expertise, he proudly raised his chest and talked about it; he handed the six people over to the Jingzhao Mansion Yamen who were waiting for them, and before leaving, he did not forget to remind Zhang Ziya that he was always waiting for words.
There are twelve prefectures in Yongxing County Road, with two prefectures, one is Hezhong Prefecture, which is responsible for guarding the northern Khitan, and the other is Jingzhao Prefecture, which is responsible for transportation, military training and other logistics.
It is only over a hundred miles from the capital, and there are two ways to travel: water and land.
The most important thing about waterways is safety. Now that the end of August is approaching the Yellow River flood season, the river is turbulent, few shippers are sailing, and official ships can only sail at specific times.
Bandits were rampant in several places on the mainland, and there was only one official road leading directly to the capital, which was only for emergency use by the imperial court.
At that time, Daochang Zhao had tasted the benefits of sending officials and family members, so he naturally knew how to pull the flag by pulling the tiger's skin. On the grounds of lack of time, he asked the Yamen of Jingzhao Prefecture to open this road as an excuse, and told that he worked hard for the imperial court in Shu. How great the sacrifice was, how difficult it was to get to Beijing all the way, and how miserable they all were.
In fact, there is no need for him to pour out the trouble. Li Zhan, the governor of Jingzhao Prefecture, Tian Zhicheng, the governor, Zhi Junxin and others have already found out clearly. They also know that the powerful forces in the capital do not want to see him enter the capital, and spend a lot of money to buy others on the black market. head.
Although Jingzhao Mansion is a treasured land, it is at most a second treasured land without the favor of the emperor. The first treasured land is naturally the contemporary capital; Bianjing, how dare their bureaucrats, the second treasured land, offend the first treasured land? The Taoist priest from Shu was blocked from entering Beijing. Apparently some people in the court did not welcome this 'outsider'.
They can't afford to offend several forces. It's definitely not possible to keep him here. Letting him go smoothly will also indirectly offend the temple people. The only thing they can do is to control the time well, and neither make things difficult nor help.
Based on their many years of climate experience, autumn rain will definitely fall in the next day or two. At that time, it would not be offensive to refuse on the grounds of collapse and congestion on the official road. Of course, the prerequisite must be to warmly entertain a few people and dispel their concerns.
So several scarlet-robed officials from the Jingzhao Mansion warmly entertained the six guests from afar as imperial envoys, and took several of them to visit the prosperous capital of the old Tang Dynasty to experience the prosperity of this thousand-year-old imperial capital and taste various special delicacies.
The prosperity of this place stuns the six of them. It is the most magnificent city they have seen so far. Even Yu Xiaowei, the daughter of the Minister, who has seen all the prosperity, can't help but sigh at the majestic royal aura of this imperial capital, which is even more majestic than the capital city.
Zhao Zhengli was in the prosperous Jingzhao Mansion, but his heart stopped at the 800-mile Qinling Mountains not far from Jingzhao Mansion, because there were the Five Blessings and Seventy-Two Valleys, as well as the monasteries of Sun Simiao and Li Chunfeng of the old Tang Dynasty. He wanted to visit them one by one, but unfortunately After all, this trip is just a passing trip.
After being warmly received by several scarlet-robed bureaucrats, it was almost dark. Seeing that tomorrow was the 29th day of the lunar calendar, Zhao Zhengli was really panicked and thought to himself: If he had known that the road would be difficult, he would have set off after receiving the imperial edict, so he would not have Living up to the beautiful scenery and ancient temples along the way, it is certain that we will stay in Jingzhao Mansion tonight.
Several officials enthusiastically sent people to prepare the yard.
That night, the weather failed, and it rained heavily all night. In the morning, there were still autumn rains. The six of them had planned to set off early, but they couldn't stand the warm hospitality of Li Zhan, the state pastor. They exchanged glasses for glasses and had the most expensive breakfast in history.
It was almost noon when we set off again, and it was definitely too late to take the boat, so we had to rush on the plank road. The military commander hurriedly said that heavy rain last night and landslides had blocked the plank road, and the soldiers were urgently clearing it, so a few people could wait a little longer.
The six of them naturally couldn't afford to wait. Tomorrow would be the 30th day of the lunar calendar. If something went wrong and the imperial edict was violated, they would have to take dozens of kilometers of rural roads and be escorted out of the county by the Jingzhao Prefecture cavalry.
The autumn rain continued, and the road was muddy and winding. We first arrived at Tongguan and then headed east along the river embankment.
The rolling Yellow River flows to the east, and the yellow bandits are roaming. The remaining bandits are rampant in the remaining dozens of miles. Although they are not very good, they are difficult to deal with. They go back and forth all the way, which is so annoying that the guards of Jingzhao Mansion are completely unable to resist. Zhang Ziya only then Forced to clear the way with a gun.
It was already dark, and the rain was getting heavier. I rushed to the northwest of Beijing Road, and the guards of Jingzhao Mansion stopped here. If they came any closer, they would be accused of treason and forced the palace.
The six of them walked alone for the remaining dozens of miles. The road below the capital was peaceful. The only road was muddy and slippery. The loess was sticky to the axles, but Zhang Ziya had to scrape the mud to clear the road.
It was already midnight when we arrived in the capital, and the five-flowered horse luan sedan of Yu Shangshu's family turned into a real "flowered horse", but it was stained by mud.
