Li Zhiyun left the state government office with his entourage, and followed Huang Renjie through several streets and into an alley. Finally, they stopped in front of a house. Huang Renjie stepped forward and slapped the door panel hard.
After a moment, the courtyard door was opened, and a man wearing a loose robe appeared in front of Li Zhiyun. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, not tall, with a long and thin face, slightly yellowish skin, blistered eyes, a flat nose, thin lips, and a few rat whiskers on his chin.
Huang Renjie took a step back, pointed at Li Zhiyun and said: "Zhang Gui, this is the King of Chu. The emperor sent him to investigate Dou Jing's case. The prince has something to ask you." Upon hearing this, Zhang Gui looked at Li Zhiyun, as if he had eaten something. Surprised, he immediately raised his hands and said, "Zhang Gui, the Chief Registrar of Qizhou, is here to see His Highness the King of Chu!"
Li Zhiyun smiled and nodded, and said: "Zhang Gui, can we go in?" Zhang Gui reacted after hearing this, and quickly spread his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please!"
Li Zhiyun followed Zhang Gui into the room and looked around. The furnishings in the main room were very simple, with only a square table and a few chairs. He sat down at the square table, and Zhang Gui brought a cup of tea and placed it in front of him. Li Zhiyun took out the letter from his sleeve and handed it to the other party: "Zhang Gui, did you give this letter to Huang Changshi?" Zhang Gui took it and read it, folded it and handed it back to Li Zhiyun. , said: "Your Majesty is right, the villain gave it to Master Huang."
Li Zhiyun motioned him to sit down across the table, and then said: "Zhang Gui, I want to know how you got this letter?" Zhang Gui looked at him and said: "The matter has to start three months ago. . That day, the villain received an urgent document from the court that needed to be processed immediately. However, the governor had already returned home. The villain had to go to the governor's home to find him, but the governor was not at home, so the villain could only stay and wait. Because he was a frequent visitor, the housekeeper took the villain into the study and asked him to wait there. Seeing a pile of letters on the table, the villain was bored, so he went to look through them and happened to find this letter. Letter. Seeing how important the matter was, the villain quickly left the governor's home, found Huang Changshi, and handed the letter to him."
After listening to this, Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said: "So, Dou Jing wrote this letter originally to send someone to Xue Rengao. However, before sending it out, you happened to find it, right? Is that so?" Zhang Gui nodded after hearing this and said, "That should be the case."
Li Zhiyun thought for a while and couldn't find anything to ask, so he stood up and said, "Zhang Gui, excuse me. If there is anything unclear in the future, I will come to you again." Zhang Gui said quickly: "My lord, I am always waiting for you."
Zhang Gui sent Li Zhiyun and others out of the house. As soon as everyone walked into the yard, they saw a man in his twenties and wearing a robe walking in from the door. He walked in a hurry, holding a roll of paper in his hand. He was stunned for a moment when he saw everyone, and then said: "Zhang Gui, do you have guests?" Zhang Gui agreed.
When Li Zhiyun saw that this man had a fair face, a slender figure, and was full of literary aura, he turned to Zhang Gui and said, "Who is this young master?"
"Oh, he is the villain's friend Feng Lan."
When Li Zhiyun heard this, he turned to the young master, cupped his hands and said, "It turns out to be Mr. Feng. It's a pleasure to meet you. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"May I ask you are?"
"He is the King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty." Zhang Gui introduced.
"It turns out to be His Royal Highness the King of Chu." Feng Lan quickly returned the courtesy.
Li Zhiyun looked at the paper in the other person's hand and said, "Mr. Feng, what are you holding?"
"Oh, this is a painting I drew. I would like to ask Zhang Gui to help frame it." Feng Lan said, opening the paper and handing it to Li Zhiyun.
Li Zhiyun took it and looked at it. It was a picture of three gentlemen: pine, bamboo and orchid. The painting was lifelike and showed his skill. After praising a few words, he handed the painting back to Feng Lan, turned to Zhang Gui and said, "Zhang Gui, do you know how to frame paintings?" Zhang Gui smiled and said, "To be honest with you, the prince, when I was young, I was I worked as an apprentice in a paper-paste shop for several years, so I learned some skills."
After Li Zhiyun said goodbye to Zhang Gui and Feng Lan, he left Zhang Gui's home with his entourage and Huang Renjie.
The next day, Li Zhiyun decided to meet Chang Da, the leader of the Qizhou garrison. Chang Darai was a chariot and cavalry general. After Dou Jing was arrested and imprisoned, he acted as the governor of Qizhou.
Li Zhiyun brought Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and several guards to the military camp. After the sentry standing guard at the door went in to report, a school captain came out and led them in politely.
After everyone entered the military camp, the captain pointed with his hand and said: "Your Majesty, General Chang is on the court over there." Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Then you can lead us over." Everyone passed through several buildings The barracks came to the vicinity of the stadium. From a distance, they saw a large group of soldiers, about one or two hundred people, gathered next to the stadium. The soldiers didn't know what game they were watching, and they cheered from time to time.
Everyone walked over and found that the soldiers were not watching a game, but a special performance. There was a table in front of them, and in the middle of the table was a pile of copper coins, about five or six of them. In the distance, a horse galloped forward, and sitting on it was a dark-skinned general, holding a polo club in his hand. The horse was as fast as lightning and arrived in the blink of an eye. The general waved his polo club, which drew a beautiful lone line in the air and hit the pile of copper coins with unusual accuracy. However, only the top copper coin was blown away, and the other copper coins did not move at all.
The soldiers burst into cheers. Li Zhiyun was simply stunned: Isn't this too accurate? It’s incredible! After the general rode over, he made a big circle and returned to the original starting point. Then, he rode up again, waved the polo club in his hand again, and hit the top copper coin with the same accuracy.
The general dismounted amidst the cheers of the soldiers and handed the reins to the soldiers, ending the performance. The soldiers slowly dispersed, and the captain walked over and said a few words to the general. The general turned his head and looked this way, and then walked over.
When the man walked up to him, Li Zhiyun took a quick look and saw that he was more than seven feet tall, with a straight build, a majestic face, and a long beard under his chin. He walked up to Li Zhiyun, knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists and said, "General Chariot and Acting Governor of Qizhou, Chang Da, pays homage to His Highness the King of Chu!"
Li Zhiyun quickly pulled him up and said with a smile on his face: "General Chang, there is no need to be so polite. Please get up and speak. General Chang has extraordinary skills, and I admire him very much." Chang Da smiled and said, "Some small tricks will make the prince laugh. ”
"General Chang, I have come to Qizhou to investigate the case of Dou Jing's rebellion on the orders of my father. I hope that the general can help me."
"Your Majesty, don't worry. As long as something goes wrong, I will obey your orders." Chang Da said, then paused for a moment, "Your Majesty, would you like to inspect the barracks?"
"All right."
Under the leadership of Chang Da, Li Zhiyun inspected the barracks, weapons depot and granary, and finally came to the playground. A group of soldiers were sitting around on the playground. They were watching a competition and cheered from time to time. In the open space among the soldiers, a one-on-two duel was in full swing.
A man with a black face was shirtless and held a large knife in his hand. The two men facing him held long spears. The two spears twined around him like poisonous snakes, heading straight for his life gate. The big knife in the black-faced man's hand danced like a flywheel, the knife was gleaming, and the whole body was protected like an iron bucket, making it impossible to splash water.
Both sides come and go, you attack and I retreat, swords and guns collide, and sparks fly. While the stalemate was going on, the black-faced man suddenly shouted loudly, raised his arms, and slashed across with the big knife in his hand, cutting off the tips of the two big guns. The surrounding soldiers burst into cheers. The two men saw that their spear points were gone, so they had no choice but to throw their spears and admit defeat.
The black-faced man stopped his posture, threw the big knife to a soldier, and took the towel handed by the other person to wipe his body. Chang Da smiled and waved: "Shizheng, come here." When the black-faced man saw it, he quickly threw away the towel, took the clothes from the soldiers, put them on, and then walked over.
When he came up to him, Chang Da introduced to Li Zhiyun: "This is my deputy general Chu Shizheng." Then he pointed at Li Zhiyun and said: "Shizheng, this is His Royal Highness the King of Chu." Upon hearing this, Chu Shizheng said, He quickly clasped his fists and said, "General, I'll see you at last, King Chu!" Li Zhiyun returned the greeting with a smile: "General Chu's martial arts are extraordinary, which opened my eyes to the king. I'm glad to meet you. I'm glad to meet him."
At night, Li Zhiyun sat next to the desk, reading the letter repeatedly by the light of the candle. He had read this letter countless times, but he didn't see any flaws. This case was handed over to him personally by his father, and he felt deeply responsible. However, there was no clue so far, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.
At this time, the door was pushed open and Liu Yinglian walked in. When she saw Li Zhiyun sitting next to the case, she walked over and said, "What are you thinking about?" Li Zhiyun glanced up at her and said, "Of course I am thinking about the case." Liu Yinglian looked at him with concern. "Is there any new discovery?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "I found a few parties involved, but there was no loophole in what they said. Therefore, there has been no progress in the case."
"Then don't sit here and meditate, go out and get some air." Liu Yinglian said, reaching for his arm.
