The author said: I have neglected management these two days and my collection has dropped sharply. I would like to ask for your support and advice!
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Knowing that even the airtight Youyan military camp had been infiltrated by the Tianzun Sect, Qiu Yizhi feared that his trick would be discovered, so the next morning, without any servants, he brought a lunch box to visit the imprisoned Tianzun Sect believer Yu Mei. Before approaching the tent, Yizhi rebuked all the surrounding soldiers from a distance, and strictly ordered that anyone who approached would be punished by military law, and then he personally lifted the curtain and came in.
Yu Mei was still lying flat on the ground like he was yesterday, but he looked much better. When he saw that the person who came in was his fellow disciple from yesterday, he immediately sat up and struggled to stand up.
Upon seeing this, Yizhi quickly put down the lunch box in his hand, gently pressed his shoulders and said, "You and I are brothers, why must you be so polite." As he spoke, he opened the lunch box and placed five or six meat and vegetable dishes, four white steamed buns and a pot of water in front of Yu Mei.
After Yu Mei was arrested, he was beaten with fifty sticks without explanation, and then whipped, clamped, and branded. He fainted several times and was splashed with cold water several times. Fortunately, he was smart. Every time he felt dry, he pretended to be beaten, pouted his mouth, waited for the cold water to be splashed, and drank half a mouthful. It was better than nothing. Not to mention food, he only ate half a stale steamed bun in three or five days, and was already starving.
The food on the table consisted of only a few simple dishes cooked by the army cooks, but in Yu Mei's eyes they were delicacies. She didn't even have time to use her chopsticks, but just picked up the plate and poured the food into her mouth.
Qiu Yizhi felt a hint of pity and said, "Senior Brother Yu, please eat slowly. Be careful not to choke..."
The man choked when he heard it, and hurriedly took the kettle, put his mouth over the spout and drank. After a while, he said, "I haven't had a good meal for a few days. It's all thanks to you, brother, for taking care of me today. I can't repay you for your kindness!" As he spoke, he choked up.
Yizhi found him a little amused when he saw his demeanor. He also thought that the Tianzun followers had such firm beliefs, which really fulfilled the teachings of the saints that "power cannot bend". On the other hand, do all the upright gentlemen have such integrity? Thinking about it, he actually felt a little respect for him and said, "Brother Yu, you are too kind. I really don't deserve it."
Yu Mei took a breath, calmed down a little, and said, "I haven't asked for your name yet, brother?"
"I am Xu Jia, a junior in the sect, so I dare not call you Senior Brother!" "Xu Jia" is a homophone of "false", and Qiu Yizhi used these two words as a pseudonym, which was also very creative. After a pause, he continued, "I am a personal soldier under the Grand Prince, and I am deeply trusted by the Grand Prince. I was assigned to look after Senior Brother Yu. Don't you think this is not the arrangement of the Heavenly Lord?"
"I didn't expect that King Youyan's several princes also had saints from my religion placed beside them. The power of heaven is truly unpredictable!" Yu Mei couldn't help but sigh.
Yizhi sighed and said, "There were four brothers who joined the Youyan army with me. One of them was shot and killed by the Turks on the battlefield, one is missing and seems to have apostatized, and one was beheaded by the government troops after being exposed. Only I am still undercover in the army, and I am becoming more and more trusted..."
"The numbers one and four are the laws of the Holy Religion. Junior Brother Xu, there is no need to worry." Yu Mei continued to eat and drink as he spoke, but he was not eating as voraciously as before.
After hearing this, Yizhi seemed to have suddenly realized something. He said, "Senior Brother Yu is indeed very active in the sect. His teachings are profound. I am far inferior to him! This number of four has been fulfilled since our master's teachings... I think the failure of the Holy Religion's uprising this time is also the will of heaven!"
Yu Mei nodded his head in agreement, then changed the subject and said, "But Yu Huangding has more than a thousand brothers and sisters, all of whom are loyal believers of our Holy Religion. Otherwise, why would they stay in the mountain stronghold and refuse to surrender?"
"Of course. I was moved by Yu Huang's lone army, so I risked exposing my identity and came to rescue you brothers." Yizhi was still thinking about how to bring up the topic, but he didn't expect that Yu Mei was eager to survive and make a contribution, so he consciously led the topic here. He was overjoyed and said, "Brother, I have sent away the soldiers guarding around here. I have a few important questions for you, Brother Yu. Please answer truthfully and in detail. It is very important to the success of this plan."
Yu Mei had already dispelled all her concerns about Qiu Yizi. After hearing what he said, she nodded and said, "Junior Brother Xu, you can ask as much as you want!"
"I wonder how Senior Brother managed to get down from the mountain? How did he get captured by the government troops?"
"Oh, this..." Yu Mei looked around subconsciously and said, "To be honest, a tunnel from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain has been dug since the beginning of the construction of Yuhuangding. Several brothers on the mountain were afraid that the tunnel had been blocked by the government troops, so they said that I was strong and capable, and sent me out of the tunnel to explore. If there is no obstruction, I will escape from here and let the government troops surround the empty city."
Seeing that he was beaten to pieces and was deceived by himself, Yizhi found it very funny that he was still boasting about being "strong, smart and capable". He asked with a hint of ridicule: "Then how did Senior Brother Yu get caught by the government troops?"
Yu Mei sighed and said, "This tunnel is very long. I walked for who knows how many hours before I found the entrance. I was already thirsty. I wanted to find a village first and get some water and rice, but I didn't expect that there were military camps all over the mountains. I had no choice but to sneak into the camp to steal some dry food to fill my stomach, and that's how I was caught."
"I have something I don't understand, I hope you can give me some advice."
Yu Mei was a self-important person. He was really at the end of his rope before, so he was very polite to others. Now that he had eaten and drunk enough, and seeing Yizhi asking him questions, he couldn't help but feel proud, and said in a tone of seniority, "Junior brother, please ask, and I will answer you without hesitation."
"That day in Guangyang City, the Saint Girl escaped through a tunnel. There is another tunnel under the top of Yuhuang. Could it be that there are people in the Saint Church who are proficient in this?"
Yu Mei smiled and said, "This is a secret of the sect. Even my brothers don't know about it. Junior brother often works outside the sect, so of course he doesn't know about it. I, senior brother, have only studied for a few years and passed the examination. Therefore, I am responsible for sorting and copying scriptures in the main hall, so I know about it." He took a sip of water, as if to keep the secret, and continued, "My sect is originally a Western religion. During the process of its spread, a large number of books were brought to the Central Plains. In addition to most of the doctrines and scriptures, there are also various Western technical books. Therefore, I believe that among the senior brothers, there are skilled craftsmen who were inspired by the books and are proficient in the technology of digging tunnels."
This is a very important piece of information. The Western Regions are thousands of miles away. When the Han Dynasty was at its peak, its power could only touch the edge of it. Now that the country is in decline, it has long severed its relationship with it. Only a few profit-seeking merchants have been to the Western Regions and brought back fragmentary intelligence. If we can wipe out the Tianzun Sect headquarters in one fell swoop and seize these books, it will be of great benefit to understanding the customs and habits of the Western Regions and acquiring the skills and techniques of the Western Regions.
Yizhi thought about all this and felt extremely happy, but also a little guilty. He was afraid that if he showed his joy, Yu Mei would see through his mistake, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "I wonder how many brothers there are on the mountain? Don't blame me for talking nonsense. How many ordinary believers are there? How many altar masters are there?"
This is very true. The situation is extremely tense now. There are more than a thousand believers trapped on Yuhuang Peak. It is extremely difficult to save them all. In this case, we have to temporarily abandon the teachings of "the disciples of the Holy Church are all brothers, sisters and sisters, and never cheat or betray each other" and save the middle and high-level leaders of the church first. Although Yu Mei is superstitious and pious, he is not an ignorant villain. He is of course well aware of this evil trick, so he said: "There are more than 1,300 brothers on the mountain, including fifty or sixty brothers who are altar masters, deacons, and soldiers. They are all elites of my church!"
"I have met Temple Master Wang Tong from Guangyang City once before. I wonder if Temple Master Wang is also in the main temple?" This is actually what Qiu Yizi is most worried about. If Wang Tong is still on Yuhuang Peak, then Yizi can no longer implement the plan personally, and the possibility of the plan's success will be greatly reduced.
Yu Mei heard this and said, "This leader Wang is usually the most arrogant. That day when he fought against the Youyan army, he led hundreds of followers to the front, but he didn't kill a single government soldier. He was shot like a hedgehog by crossbows. He really overestimated his own abilities!"
Yizhi listened to Yu Mei's tone and thought of Wang Tong's arrogant demeanor in Guangyang City that day. He guessed that he was usually very arrogant and offended many Tianzun believers, which led to him being hated so much after his death.
But now that Wang Tong was dead, the matter was resolved, and Yizhi could boldly implement the plan he had secretly planned. So he pretended to be regretful, sighed and said, "I know... I will take action tonight, I hope you can prepare early!"
After a few more words, he left the tent and went to discuss things with his brothers Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen.
At midnight, the lights in the army had already been turned off. Zheng Sen followed Yizhi's plan and deliberately withdrew all patrol soldiers and strictly ordered the soldiers of each camp not to leave their tents. As a result, the entire camp was silent, with only the chirping of countless toads and crickets.
Yizhi picked and picked, and selected and selected, and finally chose ten guards from his personal soldiers whose backgrounds he knew very well, and followed him to the outside of the tent where Yu Mei was imprisoned.
Qiu Yizhi personally held the lantern, lifted the curtain and entered the tent. Seeing Yu Mei sitting alone in the middle of the tent, he called out softly, "Senior Brother Yu, I'm here!"
Yu Mei had been waiting for a whole day and was already getting impatient. When she saw Yizhi coming, she suppressed her extremely excited mood and almost shouted out: "Junior Brother Xu, you made me wait so long!"
Yizhi quickly made a gesture to keep quiet, and without speaking to him, he took out the key from his sleeve, unlocked Yu Mei's handcuffs and leg irons, and whispered: "Brother Yu, please don't speak loudly. I've already drunk the soldiers. Please lead the way. We'll go through the tunnel and go up the mountain now!"
Yu Mei nodded vigorously, biting her lip, and followed Yi Zhi out of the tent, only to see ten Youyan soldiers standing in a row outside the tent. She was so shocked that she took a half step back. Seeing this, Yi Zhi lowered his voice and said, "These ten are either my life-long friends or my brothers in the sect. Please rest assured, Senior Brother Yu!"
Seeing that the ten people all had expressionless faces and were very serious, Yu Mei did not dare to ask any more questions. He just nodded as a greeting and said to Qiu Yizhi beside him, "Junior Brother Xu, please come this way."
Yu Mei had been tortured for days, his body was covered with wounds, and several toes on his feet were broken. He walked very slowly and limped, so everyone had to follow him slowly, walking out of the military camp. The ground in the camp had been leveled, so people could still move around, but after leaving the military camp and moving a few steps in the overgrown woods, Yu Mei could no longer walk.
Yizhi had no choice but to call over a tall and strong soldier, carry Yu Mei on his back, and let him guide the way as they slowly moved forward.
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PS. The fact that Tianzun Sect is good at digging tunnels is a big foreshadowing, which has the effect of resurrecting the dead in the plot, so I will introduce its origin and development later, and try to further rationalize it. (To be continued)