The carriage with two horses abreast stopped outside the side entrance of the Duke's Mansion. Ye Jingtang, dressed in a black robe and a bamboo hat, dressed as a knight-errant, stood beside the carriage.
After waiting for a while, the sound of flapping wings came from behind the tall wall of the Duke's Mansion, and then the bird emerged from the wall and landed in front of the Night Terror Hall, holding a candy man in its mouth and shaking its head as if offering a treasure.
.
Ye Jingtang took the candy man over and looked back and forth. It was obvious that it was an owl like a gourd. It was very delicately made and asked:
"Where did this come from?"
"Chi chi chi..."
The bird made gestures with its wings and claws, indicating that it had nothing to do last night, so it ran to the pier to look for poached eggs to play with, and the poached eggs were brought over by him.
Ye Jingtang can naturally understand the meaning. Yesterday, he did see Yunli buying a candy man near Bingtuotuo on the street. Unexpectedly, he bought one for him.
Ye Jingtang chuckled, because the candy was not easy to preserve, and Yunli's efforts would be wasted if he didn't eat it, so he brought it to his mouth and licked it.
Speaking of which, when he was a child in Honghe Town, his adoptive father also bought him candy figures. At that time, he felt that these were only for children, so he was not very interested and did not taste any special taste.
But now that I have grown up and eat these things that are meant to coax children, I feel a bit like things are right and people are different.
While the Night Terror Hall was sighing secretly, the sound of footsteps came again from behind the wall, as well as the words of the mother and daughter:
"You should say hello in advance when you are traveling far away. You are such an adult and you are still the Queen Mother. How come you are as busy as you were when you were a child..."
"Mom, I have my own sense of propriety. The place I went to is not too far away. I will be back after a few days of shopping..."
"How many guards should you bring at least?"
"Bring Ye Jingtang and Master Xuanji with you, nothing will go wrong, and you won't need to be escorted. We can go there lightly, and we can come back faster..."
…
Seeing the hidden candy man, Ye Jingtang turned to look at the side door. Within a moment, he saw a large number of female relatives coming out.
At the head were Mrs. Zhao and the Queen Mother, followed by her sister-in-law, nephew, daughter-in-law, etc. Hongyu was walking in front, holding a small package in her hand, dressed like a maid who accompanied the young lady to burn incense in the temple.
The Queen Mother changed out of her usual gorgeous and noble attire and put on a common skirt in Jiangzhou. Her bun was also changed into the style of a girl who had not left the palace. She looked like a plump and beautiful beauty, but her temperament had been cultivated over the years.
Still here, his demeanor is still dignified and steady when walking, and there is still a sense of contrast in his appearance.
The Queen Mother walked out of the side door and saw Ye Jingtang waiting outside. It was hard for me to be too intimate in front of her, so she looked around for Shui'er, only to find a naked carriage outside the door, with no one else there.
The Queen Mother was slightly stunned and asked:
"Shui'er hasn't come yet?"
Shui'er promised to come together yesterday, and she will definitely come today, but if she came to the Duke's Mansion to pick someone up, she would easily run into Yuhu. How dare she run to the door and wait in the distance to watch secretly.
Ye Jingtang came to the door, bowed to Mrs. Zhao first, and then said:
"Master Xuanji went to the city to buy some things for the journey and asked me to pick up the Queen Mother and meet her on the street later."
The Queen Mother was a little confused, but she didn't say much after thinking about it. She was helped by Hongyu to board the carriage, and then raised the curtain and waved:
"Mom, you go back, I'm just going out for a walk, there's no need to stir up a lot of people."
Mrs. Zhao had no choice but to think of this as her precious daughter. After greeting Ye Jingtang for a few words, she stood at the door and watched:
"Slow down on the road and don't be in a hurry. If you feel it's a long way, just come back."
"I know, Night Terror Hall, let's go."
"Drive~"
Ye Jingtang sat outside the carriage, waved his horsewhip, and the carriage headed out along the white stone road. The birds were still waving their wings at the top of the carriage.
After walking out of the sight of Mrs. Zhao and others, the Queen Mother completely relaxed her posture, but it was hard to say anything. She just raised the curtain like a wealthy lady going out for fun, and enjoyed the street scenery with Hongyu.
The two of them had just glanced at each other before they noticed that Shui'er, who was floating in the air with a fairy spirit, walked out from behind a willow tree not far from the Duke's Mansion.
The Queen Mother was naturally a little surprised when she saw this and asked:
"Why aren't you waiting at the door? Why are you standing here?"
"I just came back and bumped into him while walking here."
Xuanji couldn't explain the reason, so she jumped onto the carriage lightly. Seeing that Ye Jingtang was still secretly eating candy, she took the owl lollipop, put it in her mouth and bent down into the carriage.
?
Ye Jingtang's hands were empty, and he wanted to go back and slap his naughty wife's buttocks, but the occasion was not suitable, so he finally gave it up.
Master Xuanji sat down in front of the Queen Mother, looked back at the Duke's Mansion, and asked:
"If you want to go to Yuxu Mountain, just tell me. Why are you bringing Ye Jingtang with you?"
The Queen Mother came up with this excuse just to avoid Yuhu and go out to play with her lover. If she didn't take it with her, she might as well rest in the house. However, it was not easy to say these words to Shui'er. She just said:
"There's nothing wrong with Ye Jingtang. I just happened to take him to see the world. You are the master uncle of Yuxu Mountain. I have to introduce him well when the time comes. Speaking of which, you are a big man, and you still eat candy..."
"do you want?"
"No, what should I do if I gain weight..."
Ye Jingtang sat outside the carriage, listening to the chat between the two daughters-in-law, but without interrupting, he simply said "drive" and headed out of the city.
Crying, trampling...
——
It is still late autumn in Jiangzhou, but thousands of miles away outside the Northwest Great Wall, winds have rolled over thousands of mountains, snow has buried the earth, all birds and animals are gone in the wasteland, and it is difficult to see a trace of human beings outside the villages and towns.
Huhu——
The cold wind like a knife swept across the endless Tianlang Lake. The lake, which used to be as vast as the sea, was now covered by solid ice and turned into a white ice field. A fleet of vehicles could be faintly seen, moving slowly on the ice field.
On the plain beside the lake, a majestic city stands here. The flag of the King of Northern Liang hangs on the city head. Countless cavalrymen in silver armor are stationed in the wind and snow outside the city. From a distance, the flags and smoke can't be seen to the end.
It is as if the entire Tianlang Lake is isolated from the northwest land.
The city used to be the new royal capital of the Northwest Royal Court. However, after the Northwest Royal Court began to decline, it was gradually abandoned. When the royal court was completely destroyed more than 20 years ago, it became the "West Sea Protectorate" of Beiliang.
Zuoxian Wang Yaoling, together with Zhenbei City in the north and Pingyi City in the south, formed a defense line along the lake, which could also be regarded as the boundary line actually controlled by Beiliang.
Because Tianlang Lake freezes every year after winter, the army can cross the natural barriers on the ice and directly attack the interior of Beiliang. For this reason, every year after winter, soldiers and horses are routinely drilled in the area around the Xihai Protectorate. Inland soldiers
Horses will also be deployed to strengthen defenses to prevent the Xihai tribes or the Wei Dynasty from taking the opportunity to cause trouble.
The various tribes in the West Sea and even the Wei Dynasty had long been accustomed to this kind of military control, and it did not cause much objection.
But this year's Tianlang Lake is a little different from previous years.
Thousands of miles of snow fell by the Tianlang Lake, but an area more than thirty miles away from the West Sea Protectorate was unusually green.
From a distance, it looks like the garden is covered with a layer of white snow. Until you get closer, you can see the pure white flower buds. The light fragrance even dispels the biting chill of the snowy day.
There is such a beautiful scenery in the ice and snow, which is enough to make anyone in the world linger for a long time. But unfortunately, 99% of the people in the world cannot witness this grand scene with their own eyes. After all, this place is called "Snow Lake Forest".
The Snow Lake Flower, which blooms in sixty years, only grows on the west bank of Tianlang Lake. Because it is too scarce, people all over the world will rob it every time it appears. In order to control it, the Northwest Royal Court in the past dynasties will move the Snow Lake Flower whenever it is found in the wild.
Plant it in this area, which is most suitable for the growth of snow lake flowers.
It takes sixty years for the Snow Lake flowers to bloom once. Even if the output is high, the emperor will not be willing to part with this medicinal material that can kill people, renew pulses, and be paired with Tianlang beads and other magical formulas.
No one can have too much of a scarce thing.
For this reason, the Xuehu Forest Medicine Field with a radius of dozens of miles is extremely tightly defended. A six-foot-long city wall surrounds the surrounding area. Elite soldiers from Beiliang are stationed on the periphery. There are also Jianghu masters who are close to the court and are stationed in rotation. In addition, King Zuo Xian stays in the West Sea.
In the Duhu Mansion, not to mention climbing up the wall to see the medicinal fields, it is difficult for ordinary people to approach this area than to climb to the sky.
In the twelfth lunar month of winter, in the endless snowy lake forest, several pharmacists wearing official uniforms of the Taiyuan Hospital can be seen. Accompanied by the elites of Baixiaoying Camp, officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Ouchi eunuchs, they carefully inspected each flower plant and recorded it carefully.
Archive.
The Xian King of the Left, Li Kai, was walking in the flower field wearing a python robe. He had already recovered from the injury he suffered a few months ago. He looked good, but his behavior was quite careful. He even pressed the python robe slightly to avoid rubbing off the clothes around him.
Mosaic leaves.
After all, this snowflake forest was Emperor Liang's private garden. Even he was just a minister who took care of it on his behalf and had no right to dispose of it without authorization.
Behind King Zuo Xian is an old man who is over seventy years old. His name is Shi Daoyu. He is the head of Canglong Cave in Beiliang. He is one of the ten great masters. He is also known as the "Poison Saint of Beiliang". He was invited by King Zuo Xian to suppress the battle.
One of the masters.
Although Shi Daoyu is regarded as the Saint of Poison by Jianghu people, poison and good medicine are both medicines with opposite effects, but the principles are not much different. He himself is considered the leading pharmacist in Beiliang. At this time, he was walking behind Zuo Xian with his hands behind his back.
Behind the king, he observed the flowers and plants at his feet:
"The last time I came to Xuehu Forest, I was only 12 years old. I really didn't expect that I would be able to see Xuehu flowers bloom again in this life. According to the experience of previous years, the flowering period should be within one month. The output this time,
It’s actually more than last time…”
Although Zuo Xian Wang Li Kai is not young, he obviously didn't have the chance to see the flowers blooming in the Snow Lake last time. After guarding the Snow Lake Forest for more than ten years, this was the first time he saw the flowers blooming. He responded:
"The northwest royal court has been destroyed, and the southern dynasty is at peace. There has been no war in recent years. I have been taking care of it day and night. A good harvest is inevitable. No news has been spread yet. As long as we wait until the flowering period and pick the snow lake flowers smoothly,
This king has just passed this test."
Shi Daoyu naturally knew the news about the flowers blooming in the snow lake, and what would be the consequences if it spread.
Let's not talk about what will happen to the Jianghu forces. The Wei Dynasty designated heavy troops to be deployed at the border to exert pressure and force Beiliang to get a share of the pie.
After all, snow lake flowers are two different things, and no one can tell what will happen in the next sixty years. Even if the emperor himself doesn't use it, there are always times when there are so many people in a country in urgent need. If the empress doesn't blackmail her now,
If you vote hard, future generations will have to be choked by Beiliang.
In fact, the Beiliang court also knew that it was impossible to eat alone. After all the Snow Lake flowers were picked, they would definitely have to be divided among the Southern Dynasties, and the clan leaders of the various tribes in the West Sea, etc., would have to give them some sweetness, otherwise there would definitely be trouble.
But this is only after picking.
As long as the Snow Lake Flowers are put into the treasury and it is said that a total of ten kilograms have been collected, three kilograms will be given to the empress and two kilograms to each of the Xihai ministries. The empress cannot go to Yanjing to weigh the kilograms herself. No matter how hard she doesn't believe it, she will have to admit it.
And if the empress knew about the harvest in advance, there would be no end to the trouble, and she would definitely be blackmailed.
In order to keep it secret, ever since there were signs of flowering, Xuehu Forest was only allowed in and out. King Zuo Xian personally stood here to supervise, and even deliberately spread the news that he was injured by Ye Jingtang in Huangming Mountain to avoid suspicion from the outside world.
With such strict defense, in King Zuo Xian's opinion, there should be no problem in hiding it until after the flowering period.
But after all, Shi Daoyu has seen the old man who won the treasure last time, and he has a pessimistic attitude towards this:
"There is no airtight wall in the world. Even if no news is leaked, it is still difficult to hide the Snow Lake Flower. There are always some wild flowers of the Snow Lake Flower. They are usually as hard to find as dead vines, but they are very eye-catching after blooming. As long as
Once one of them is discovered, the whole world will know the news. In my opinion, it won’t be long before there will be demons dancing wildly on the shores of Tianlang Lake.”
King Zuo Xian understood that it was not easy to pick this fruit smoothly, so he put his hands behind his hands and considered it:
"Most of the Wu Kui in the Southern Dynasties were cleaned up by Ye Jingtang on their own. Lu Taiqing was restrained by the imperial master. Now the only one who can come to disrupt the situation is the leader of Pingtian. As for our dynasty, Hua Ling, Xi Tianshang, and Sima Yue are not there.
Now, for the remaining experts, the imperial court has promised their share, and they will only stand on the imperial court’s side now, who else will stand up?”
Shi Daoyu touched his beard, thought for a while and said:
"There is more to the world than meets the eye. Huangming Mountain, Sunset Peak, Nanxiao Mountain and other places hide many hidden masters. No one can tell.
"Last time the flowers bloomed in the snow lake, the Northwest Royal Court thought that not many people would dare to snatch them, but a bunch of old bastards appeared in the deep water. Among them were two old men over a hundred years old, and one was Gongsun Bai, a master in the middle period of the Great Yan Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty.
Yang, the other is Qian Tianyue, the great master of Daliang more than 150 years ago.
"These two are not very powerful at first, but they have great talents. After retiring and practicing hard in the mountains for decades, their internal martial arts have become extremely perfect. They join forces to grab the Snow Lake Flower, and even King Tianlang can't stop them.
"However, both of them had hidden injuries before going into seclusion. Their attainments were extraordinary and they were saints, but their bodies could not keep up. Although they grabbed the Snow Lake Flower, they were killed by a pack of wolves before they could escape from the wasteland. There is a legend about the Snow Lake Flower in the world.
, most of them were created by these two people.
“In the past sixty years, it’s hard to tell how many more masters from the Northern and Southern Dynasties have failed halfway, but have not given up on martial arts and are ready to fight to the death…”
King Zuo Xian felt a little stressed when he heard what Shi Daoyu said. He recalled:
"Liu Qiansheng, Sun Wuji, Mu Yunsheng... there are many great masters who have washed their hands in the golden basin but are not sure of death. There are also Xuanyuan Tiangang, Xie Jianlan and other descendants who may have been late bloomers. If they all show up, the situation will be dire.
It’s really hard to control.”
Shi Daoyu knew that a group of people would definitely appear, but the pressure was not too great, so he said:
"These people are hiding from the world, there must be a reason why they are hiding from the world. People who are indifferent to the world and don't want to be involved in political affairs will not come to join in the fun; those who are secretly injured and in urgent need of snow and lake flowers must have shortcomings
, it depends on the situation at that time, if the idea is too hard, just give it a few dollars to spend in snow lake flowers, and people in the world will cherish their lives, so their appetite will not be too big.
"However, the Night Terror Hall is a variable. News came from the Jianghu that Long Zhengqing was killed. Judging from the seating capacity, the Night Terror Hall is not too far away from the prince.
"Ye Jingtang is the empress' confidant. If the empress does not want to fight on the face of it, secretly she will definitely send strong men to snatch it away. If Ye Jingtang comes to visit, I estimate that he will take eight out of ten kilograms, but he will not be able to take away the remaining two kilograms.
Even if it is burned, it will not be kept by the imperial court."
King Zuo Xian and Ye Jingtang have old and new grudges, and they know that Ye Jingtang did this. Moreover, Ye Jingtang is gaining momentum too fast, and it may not take too long to catch up with him.
However, no matter how fast they grow, the flowers only bloom in a few months. He doesn't believe that Ye Jingtang can run over from the southeast sea so quickly, and can pick all the Snow Lake flowers in front of him from among the thousands of troops.
Even if it could, Night Terror Hall only had two arms and two legs, how many could it carry?
King Zuo Xian thought about it and said casually:
"As long as the Night Terror Hall dares to step half a step into the West Sea, I dare to let him never come back. The accounts from last time have not been settled yet. If this matter had not been delayed, I would have already visited the door myself and reported a shot.
hatred."
Shi Daoyu knew that Ye Jingtang, the orphan of King Tianlang, was a serious concern for the imperial court, and it was good news that he could come to snatch Xue Huhua, so he didn't say anything more at the moment...
——
At night, the junction of Jiangzhou County and Linshan County.
Creaking, creaking...
A carriage carrying three women, a man and a bird drove into an unknown town in the night.
There was a firelight in the carriage, and Master Xuanji was leaning on a small couch, with two small wine bottles in front of her. As she got further and further away from her apprentice, her original idleness gradually showed up, her cheeks were flushed, she held her cheeks in her hands and hummed.
Xiaoqu, his eyes fell on the back of the car door, occasionally biting his lower lip, not knowing what he was thinking about.
The Queen Mother was too drunk to drink, but she couldn't hold back the water. She was already dizzy from drinking. She leaned on the carriage and fed the birds, muttering something while drinking:
"I remember the last time I went to Yuxu Mountain and saw you for the first time. I thought you were a fairy in the mountains, following you around all day long. But in the end, I found out that the sparrows in Yuxu Mountain are more serious than you. You
Suppose you are a monk, commit murder, steal, commit adultery, indulge in alcohol, and commit three of the five precepts. How did you learn this dharma?"
Master Xuanji took a sip from his wine glass and asked:
"Why did I break three rules?"
The Queen Mother raised her slender hands, clasped them and counted:
"There's no need to talk about the drinking thing, right? You are Wu Kui, so you must have committed murder. Also, you are full of lies, how dare you say you haven't committed this crime?"
While he was talking, two chuckles came from outside the carriage:
"hehe……"
Seeing this, the Queen Mother sat up a little, turned around and said:
"Night Terror Hall, do you think there is something wrong with what I said?"
"No no……"
Ye Jingtang was sitting outside the carriage driving. Hong Yu had just blocked the wine from the Queen Mother, so she leaned against her with her legs dangling in the air to sober up.
Hearing the Queen Mother scolding Shui'er, Ye Jingtang felt that the Queen Mother was still too conservative. Logically speaking, Shui'er had violated all the five precepts of Taoism.
Over the years, Shui'er has traveled all over Beiliang in search of the Minglong Picture. The military planes have taken whatever they wanted, and the thief must have committed it.
As for prostitution...strictly speaking, it's burning.
Ye Jingtang was afraid of being picked off by Shui'er, so he couldn't make this joke. After responding, he saw that it was too late, so he stopped in front of the town's inn and turned around and said:
"It's getting dark, let's stay in the town for one night."
The Queen Mother was dizzy from drinking and was looking for a place to sleep. After hearing this, she pulled Shui'er up and let her support her, and they got off the carriage together.
Ye Jingtang stopped the carriage in the inn courtyard, helped the drunk Hong Yu into the inn, opened three rooms, and sent Hong Yu back to the room first. He did not throw it away casually because she was a maid, and helped take off her shoes.
After covering myself with quilt, I went out and went to the next door.
The Queen Mother indeed drank a lot. After entering the room, she lay down on the bed.
Master Xuanji sat in front of her and helped the Queen Mother cover her with a thin quilt to avoid the cold at night in winter.
Ye Jingtang opened the door slightly, looked inside, and asked after seeing this:
"Would you like me to get some hangover soup?"
"Why don't you go to bed early, I'll do all this."
After Master Xuanji finished speaking, he took advantage of the Queen Mother lying beside him and deliberately bit his lower lip and raised his chest slightly, as if to reward him with a night terror and a good night kiss.
When Ye Jingtang saw this scene, he was naturally not used to Shui Shui, so he entered the house quietly and walked up to it.
Master Xuanji secretly frowned, feeling that Ye Jingtang was a bit brave. He pointed his eyes at the drunken Queen Mother and showed a look that said, "If you have the ability, just do whatever you want." However, Ye Jingtang came closer and without any hesitation, he lowered his head and took it in his mouth.
Red lips.
"..."
Master Xuanji was originally going to push the Queen Mother to wake her up, but when they came to kiss her, she was afraid that her affair would be discovered and she didn't dare, so she just pushed her away with a cold look.
Ye Jingtang kissed her twice and found that Shui'er didn't dare to act rashly. Naturally, she became bolder. She put her hand on her conscience and carefully felt her heartbeat. It wasn't until Shui'er slowly started to react that she stopped abruptly. She stood up and closed the curtain:
"Go to rest early, I'm going back to my room first."
?
Master Xuanji licked her lips lightly, knowing that Ye Jingtang was teasing her, she did not fall for the trick at all and continued to cover the Queen Mother.
Squeak~
Soon, the door closed and the inn became quiet.
Master Xuanji covered her with a quilt, fetched hot water, and wiped the Queen Mother's cheeks. After finishing her work, it was already dark, so she lay down next to her.
She lifted up the quilt and was about to hug Huaiyan to sleep, but when her hand touched the drunken Huaiyan, she muttered:
"Don't... what to do if you are discovered..."
"?"
Xuanji's eyes narrowed and she looked at the drunk Queen Mother carefully. Her eyes were full of suspicion. She thought about imitating the movements of the Night Terror and rubbed the watermelon.
But her hands are obviously different from those of Night Terror Hall.
The Queen Mother noticed something was wrong and woke up immediately. She secretly thought that something was wrong. In her haste, she suddenly raised her head and held down the thief's hand on her chest with a confused look in her eyes:
"Shui'er, you...what do you want to do?"
"..."
Master Xuanji's expression froze, but her mind was really stable, so she pinched it naturally:
"Just try it out. Go to bed early.",
"Shui'er, you don't like women, do you?"
"How is it possible? Don't think blindly."
"..."
The Empress Dowager turned her back on guests. Seeing that Shui'er had been fooled, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She immediately acted on guard and rolled around while holding her chest...