Just as Li Zhiyun and the others were about to leave, the shopkeeper ran over to stop him and said, "Sir, you paid for me, and I can't repay you, so I'll treat you to meat soup cakes." Li Zhiyun smiled and shook his head, "No, we'll pay you back." Not hungry.”
"You have to eat even if you're not hungry, otherwise I'll feel bad."
Seeing his sincere attitude, Li Zhiyun couldn't refuse, so he had to say: "Okay, let's eat some." The shop owner welcomed them under the bamboo shed in front of the shop and gave each of them a bowl of meat soup cake - which is actually meat. Silk noodles, at that time all noodles could be called cakes. Li Zhiyun picked up the bowl and was about to eat when he saw a dozen more soldiers approaching on the street. The man at the front was riding a tall horse. He was wearing armor, had a stout body, and his face was bronze. His face was covered with large and small fleshy bumps, like pomegranate skin turned over, and his appearance was very ugly.
The group of soldiers stopped in front of the shop next door. The soldier who was collecting money in the shop ran out. The officer ran up and said something to the man on horseback. Seeing how he nodded and bowed, he was probably addressing the officer. Make a report.
Li Zhiyun turned to ask the shopkeeper standing aside: "Who is that man on horseback?" The shopkeeper said: "This man's name is Zheng Lei. He was originally a rogue in the market, but now he has become a general. The money you just paid for me, That's what he collected. For those of us who run small businesses, in addition to paying taxes to the government, he also has to take 20% of our daily profits. How can we live?" After that, the shopkeeper shook his head and sighed, then turned and walked away. .
After listening to the report of his subordinates, the general named Zheng Lei led his men to move forward. When he passed by the shed, he glanced at Li Zhiyun unconsciously and then rode over.
After Li Zhiyun and the others finished eating the broth cakes, they said goodbye to the shop owner and continued walking along the street. Along the way, Li Zhiyun and Cai Hu were very cautious, their eyes full of vigilance. Fan Shuxiang came to Xia County for the first time and was very curious. He looked around and asked questions from time to time. After walking for a while, Cai Hu suddenly touched Li Zhiyun with his elbow. Li Zhiyun turned around and saw Cai Hu slurping toward the right and front with his mouth. Li Zhiyun looked in the direction he pointed and saw a person walking towards him on the other side of the street. This man is not tall and wears a brown plain cloth jacket. Li Zhiyun took a closer look. Isn't that Hong Jiran, the chief clerk?
Hong Jiran walked with his head down and did not see them. Li Zhiyun stopped, watched him walk over, and then whispered to Cai Hu: "Let's follow him." After that, he turned around and walked towards the other side of the street.
Fan Shuxiang was walking forward on his own. When he turned around, he found that his two companions were missing. He quickly looked back and found that they were walking towards the opposite side of the street. He quickly shouted: "Hey, why are you going?" Cai Hu He had no choice but to come back, grab her and whisper: "Don't say anything, come with us."
Li Zhiyun and the others followed Hong Ruran, seven or eight feet away from him. After walking for a while, Hong Jiran turned into an alley. This alley is very long, about five or six feet wide, with only a few pedestrians. After entering the alley, Li Zhiyun quickened his pace. When he caught up with Hong Ruran, he called out: "Master Hong." Hearing the sound, Hong Ruran stopped, turned around, and looked at him with a dazed look. Li Zhiyun walked up to him and said with a smile, "What, you don't know me?" Hong Jiran stared at his face for a moment, and asked hesitantly, "You... are you the King of Chu?" Li Zhiyun smiled and nodded. Hong Jiran breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It turns out it's really His Highness. I almost didn't recognize you when you looked like this."
Cai Hu and Fan Shuxiang followed. Hong Jiran also recognized Cai Hu and said, "Your Highness, why are you here?" Li Zhiyun looked at both ends of the alley and said, "This is not a place to talk. Can you?" Looking for a secluded place?" Hong Jinran thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to the humble house, right in front."
The three of them followed Hong Zuran towards his home. Frankly speaking, Li Zhiyun did take certain risks when meeting Hong Zhiran. Now that Xia County has changed its owner, he does not understand many situations, and his identity will be exposed if he is not careful. However, he had been in contact with Hong Jiran and knew that he had a kind-hearted character and would not betray them. Besides, once they entered the county town, it would not be an option if they kept wandering around the streets like headless flies. They had to find an acquaintance to inquire about the situation.
Hong Jiran led them into a small courtyard. After entering the house, he asked them to sit down and then made tea for everyone. Li Zhiyun stopped him and said, "Master Hong, please stop being busy. Sit down quickly and tell us the situation." Master Hong sat down opposite, looked at him and said, "Your Highness, what do you want to know?"
Li Zhiyun couldn't wait to say: "Tell us about Lu Chongmao." Hong Jiran pondered for a moment and said: "Lv Chongmao was originally a local wealthy family with a lot of money and two to three hundred nurses in his house. This man has always been sinister. He was cruel and few people dared to provoke him. A few months ago, when Liu Wuzhou went south to attack Hedong, he secretly made armors and weapons at home, recruited brave soldiers, and led his men into the barracks when the moon was dark and the wind was high. He killed all the officers and soldiers, occupied the entire county, and then called himself King of Wei."
After listening to this, Li Zhiyun thought to himself that it seemed that this Lu Chongmao was as ambitious as the original Gao Tansheng. This kind of person will make trouble when given an opportunity. However, they have empty ambitions but no great talents. In the end, they will only fail, but innocent people will be buried with them. In the history without Li Zhiyun, Xia County was later massacred by Li Shimin. All residents in the county paid with their lives for Lu Chongmao's ambition.
"How are Magistrate Xu and Cheng Ding doing now?"
Hong Jiran sighed and said: "During Lu Chongmao's rebellion, Magistrate Xu died in battle, and Prime Minister Ding was captured and executed." After a pause, he added: "Like our low-ranking officials, Lu Chongmao It wasn’t too difficult, and we were allowed to take up our original positions. Several colleagues and I secretly buried them, and Magistrate Xu was buried next to his wife’s grave.”
Li Zhiyun couldn't help but sigh when he thought that the loving couple could finally meet each other under Jiuquan. He was silent for a while and said: "Master Hong, more than ten days ago, a Tang army was defeated by Yuchi Gong, and several important generals were captured. Do you know where they are being imprisoned now?" Hong Ruran shook his head. Shaking his head, he said: "I don't know. However, I can inquire."
"Well, if you have any news, you can go to the inn and tell me."
Hong Jiran agreed, and then looked at Li Zhiyun with some doubts: "Your Highness, you only have three people here?" Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "No, this king has brought 10,000 elite soldiers and is stationed there. In Gaoyang Town, fifty miles away, the army did not come to attack the county town just because they did not want to destroy the lives of Xia County." Although Li Zhiyun's words were exaggerated, he was not wrong. If he wants to attack the city, he only needs to bring over the eight cannons from the firearms battalion and blast them hard, and he will capture the city in half a day.
After leaving Hong Jiran's home, Li Zhiyun and the others returned to the inn, where they waited for news about him. Hong Jiran's work efficiency was quite high. In the afternoon of that day, he came to the inn. After entering the guest room and sitting down, he whispered: "Your Highness, I have already inquired about it. Lu Chongmao built a new cell in the East City specifically to hold prisoners. King Yong'an and the others were detained there." Li Zhiyun was very excited when he heard this. I'm so happy that my cousin and the others are still alive. It's great! He asked Hong Suran to sit down for a while, then he got up and went to Cai Hu's room next door. After a while, he came back and sat down, put a gold bar on the desk and said, "Master Hong, can you let me meet them?" Hong Jiran picked up the gold bar and said with a smile, "It's just a meeting. With this gold bar, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
The next day at Shenshi, Hong Jiran came to see him and said: "Your Highness, I have taken care of the little man. I will go to see him immediately at the third watch today."
After the second update that night, Li Zhiyun took Cai Hu and followed Hong Jiran to the Dongcheng cell. The officer on duty led them to a cell and opened the cell door. Li Zhiyun asked Cai Hu to guard outside the cell door and walked in alone.
The light in the cell was a little dim. There was a small oil lamp hanging on the wall. The flame was as bright as a bean and it made a "crackling" sound from time to time. Although the cell was very small, only seven or eight square meters, the light did not completely cover it, leaving many places in shadow. Fortunately, some light filtered in from outside the wooden fence, so everything in the cell could be seen clearly.
After Li Zhiyun's eyes adjusted to the light in the cell, he saw a layer of straw spread on the ground against the opposite wall, with several people sitting on the straw. They leaned loosely against the adobe wall, and although they were sitting in different positions, they all looked at him curiously. It was clear from the expressions on their faces that they did not recognize him.
Li Zhiyun looked carefully and saw that there were four people in the cell. Except for his cousin and the internal history minister Tang Jian, he didn't know the other two people. He didn't know if they were Yu Jun, the general manager of Shaanzhou, and Liu Shirang, the general manager of the marching army. He turned back and glanced outside the wooden fence. The guard had turned and walked away. He walked up to his uncle, bent down, and whispered: "Uncle, it's me, I'm Zhiyun." Upon hearing this, his uncle quickly got up from the ground, looked at him carefully, and held him tightly with both hands. His two arms: "Zhiyun? Are you really Zhiyun?"
"It's me! It's me."
When the three people next to him heard this, they all got up and surrounded him. Tang Jian was pleasantly surprised: "King Chu, is it really you?" Li Zhiyun quickly raised his index finger and said "shhh", turned around and glanced outside the wooden fence, then turned back and said: "Uncle, are you okay?" The uncle quickly said: "It's okay, it's okay. Zhiyun, how did you get here?" Li Zhiyun then told his second brother that he had sent him to lead the army to rescue Xia County, and they also told the story about how they defeated Yuchi Gong in Meiliangchuan. Then he said: "My father was very anxious when he heard that you were captured. He wrote to my second brother and me and asked us to rescue you." Tang Jian lowered his voice and said: "King Chu, please get us out quickly and stay in the cell. It was so uncomfortable, I was covered in lice and couldn’t sleep at night.”
Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will find a way." Then he turned his attention to the other two people and said, "Are you Mr. Yu and Mr. Liu?" The two nodded repeatedly. Seeing that the four captured generals were there, Li Zhiyun felt relieved.
At this time, the guard came over and shouted into the cell: "The time is up. Someone will come to check the prison in a moment. Come out quickly." Upon hearing this, Li Zhiyun said to his uncle and the others: "Please take care of yourself. I'm leaving." Gone." Several people said goodbye to him reluctantly, and Li Zhiyun turned around and walked out of the cell.
