The author said: Good weekend, I will continue to update, please continue to support me, thank you!
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The first time Qiu Yizhi walked through this tunnel, he climbed from the bottom up, so it was very hard. Although he went down from the top this second time, he was afraid of revealing his identity through words, so he didn't talk as much as possible, and it was very boring all the way. In addition, the backbone of the Tianzun Sect behind him was carrying a lot of luggage, and he didn't walk fast. Therefore, he felt that he had walked a lot longer than when he went up the mountain.
When the group of people came out of the tunnel under the mountain, the sky was full of stars. It was already past the You hour and it was the Wu hour. When they were about to leave the tunnel, Yizhi specifically asked everyone to extinguish the torches in their hands to prevent being discovered by the government troops. Therefore, the surroundings outside the tunnel were pitch black, and only the lantern in Qiu Yizhi's hand emitted a faint light, so they could not see the surroundings clearly.
Deacon Shi was always worried about "Xu Jia", fearing that this unknown boy would plot something. After leaving the main altar of Yuhuangding through the tunnel and returning to the ground, he finally felt relieved. Following the lantern, he walked up to Yizhi and said, "Today, it all depends on Junior Brother Xu, otherwise our Tianzun Holy Church will definitely fight to the death with the government troops! It's not that Senior Brother is afraid of death, but I am afraid that the elites of the Church will be lost in this battle, and I don't know when the Holy Church can be revived."
Yizhi heard that although he spoke in a grand and solemn tone, his tone was filled with undisguised joy. He knew that this plan had been largely successful, so he flattered him, "Shi Zhishi is truly a man of foresight, and a child like me cannot possibly be as good as him! I wonder if the backbone members of the sect have all arrived? Let's discuss it and make a long-term plan..."
After hearing this, Deacon Shi nodded slightly, went back to take inventory, and said, "A total of fifty-eight people, not one more, not one less!"
"Okay! I..." Before Yizhi finished his words, his grip loosened and a lantern fell to the ground. The wick and oil inside spilled onto the ground, instantly burning a large area of grass.
Before Deacon Shi could ask what was going on, he saw flames all around him, and countless soldiers holding torches surrounded them. The leading officer was tall and strong, holding a sword, and shouted, "You are surrounded, why don't you surrender quickly!" The Tianzun Sect members were immediately in chaos when they heard this.
Seeing this, Yizhi shouted, "It's a trap! It's a trap!" and ran away. Before he could run a few steps, he fell to the ground with an arrow stuck in his back.
The leading officer shouted loudly again: "If you don't surrender, we will kill you!" The officers and soldiers around him all shouted in unison: "If you don't surrender, we will kill you! If you don't surrender, we will kill you!" The Tianzun sect followers were frightened.
The sudden change in the situation frightened everyone so much that they dared not put up any resistance and were arrested one by one by the government soldiers. The government soldiers did not talk to them, but blindfolded them with black cloth, stuffed their mouths with hemp seeds, tied them up like dumplings, threw them on horseback, and sent them to the military camp for imprisonment.
Qiu Yizi, who had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead for a long time, finally stood up, brushed off the dirt on his body, and said to the officer leading the army with a smile: "The backbone members of the Tianzun Sect have all been captured. Big brother, this time we have accomplished a great success!"
It turned out that the leading officer was none other than Zheng Xin, the eldest prince of King Youyan. Following Qiu Yizhi's arrangement, he sent people to follow Yu Mei and "Xu Jia" who pretended to escape from the military camp, find the exit of the secret passage, ambush elite soldiers around, use lanterns as a signal, and attack in one fell swoop, catching all the core members of the cult.
Even though Zheng Xin had some prejudice against Yizhi, he had to admire his brilliant plan. He personally helped his brother remove the arrow from his back and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "It's all thanks to Yizhi's resourcefulness. Big brother will certainly not forget this contribution!"
Qiu Yizhi was also very happy to hear this, and did not forget to be modest: "My brothers and I are all loyal to the country and filial to our father. Why should we care about our achievements?"
This touched Zheng Xin's heart, and he didn't want to continue. Instead, he said, "Now the evil cult members on Yuhuangding are leaderless. We will send troops to attack the mountain from the secret passage. With the help of the inside and the outside, we can settle the matter!"
Qiu Yizhi heard this and said, "I hope you can show some leniency, especially to Yu Mei. You must let him go. The leader of the Tianzun sect is still at large. If we find out his identity, I'm afraid it's this person."
"Oh?" Zheng Xin thought Yizhi had come up with another plan, and asked hurriedly, "How will this plan work? I'd like to ask you."
Qiu Yizhi felt embarrassed when he heard his elder brother's question was very humble and polite. He scratched his head and said, "I haven't figured out this plan yet. I just think leaving a clue in the cult will be useful in the future." After that, he grinned and said, "Yu Mei is not a smart man anyway. Letting him escape is just like letting a cat go back to the mountain. Are you still afraid that he will bite people?"
Zheng Xin really couldn't figure out whether his scheming brother really had no plan as he said. He just felt that he was so cunning and unpredictable that he would not get any answer if he continued to ask. So he had to agree, "I am finally convinced by Yizi's strategy today. I will discuss it with your second brother and make sure your plan will not fail." After that, the two walked side by side back to the military camp.
Zheng Xin was 25 years old this year, in the prime of his life. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the son of a vassal king could be appointed as the crown prince after he reached adulthood, in order to inherit the throne. But he had waited for five years since he came of age, but there was still no sign of him being canonized as the crown prince, and he had not even received a single title from the court. On the other hand, although he was far superior to his cousins in terms of talent, political achievements, and reputation, he was far behind in terms of being promoted to a noble title. Thinking that his third brother Zheng Miao was already 18 years old this year, he could not help but suspect that his father had already made preparations to abolish the eldest son and establish the youngest son, and as soon as Zheng Miao came of age, he would submit a petition to the court to appoint him as the crown prince. This thought—he had never revealed it, not even to his second brother Zheng Sen, with whom he had a very good relationship—was always like a big stone pressing on his chest, making him unable to let it go all the time.
Therefore, Zheng Xin often tossed and turned in the middle of the night, boasting that he had never made any mistakes in politics or military affairs. Although his archery and martial arts, literary talent and rhetoric were not as good as his wise and brave father, he was not inferior to his brothers, and was far more mature and experienced than them. Now was a time of both order and chaos, and the situation was full of crises. Who else but himself could carry forward the cause of the famous King of Youyan
Who knew that his father inexplicably adopted Qiu Yizhi as his adopted son. He originally thought that he was just a confidant raised by his father to serve him, but he didn't expect that he was so resourceful and had been as close to Zheng Miao as a brother since childhood. If he came up with one or two vicious plans when competing with Zheng Miao for the position of the crown prince, it would be a big trouble. Qiu Yizhi was extremely doted on by his father, and he could neither win him over nor offend him. He couldn't let go of his elder brother's airs to please him, which really felt like a thorn in his throat.
The next morning, the Youyan army launched an attack on the main temple of the Yuhuangding Tianzun Sect. Since the "Xu Jia" that Yizhi pretended to be had been shot dead by the government troops, it was naturally not possible for him to show up in public again, so he could only wait for good news in his tent.
Just after noon, the battle report came in. Since the core members of the Tianzun Sect were captured last night, nearly 200 cult members were captured at the entrance of the secret passage overnight. The next morning, Zheng Xin arranged more than 300 elite soldiers, led by the two soldiers who followed Yixia down the mountain yesterday, to enter the tunnel to attack Yuhuangding. Along the way, they kept encountering Tianzun followers who tried to escape from the secret passage. By the time they reached Yuhuangding, they had killed more than 100 people. This secret passage was dark and long, and it was impossible to take care of the beginning and the end. When the elite soldiers of Youyan entered the main altar from the secret passage, the Tianzun followers knew nothing about it, and no one was responsible for organizing resistance. Although they were still strong in fighting spirit, they fought on their own and were defeated in less than half an hour. The soldiers of Youyan took this opportunity to open the city gates, and the army rushed forward, finally breaking through the main altar of the Tianzun Sect in Yuhuangding, which had been besieged for nearly 20 days.
After hearing the battle report, Qiu Yizi was very happy. After dressing up, he called General Cui Nan and rushed to the mountain.
The tunnel dug by the Tianzun Sect a hundred years ago was really narrow and dark, and Yizhi didn't want to walk through it for the third time. Although Cui Nan didn't say anything, he was very interested in exploring the cave. So the two of them split up and went up the mountain surrounded by people.
This was the second time that Qiu Yizhi had climbed Mount Funiushan from the main mountain road in a few days. However, today, the important matter had been decided, and his mood was different from the day before. He had the leisure to enjoy the mountain scenery. Along the way, there were sometimes jagged rocks, sometimes towering pines, and exotic flowers and plants up close, and waterfalls in the distance, which really made people feel relaxed and happy. Shuttled through this beautiful scenery, Yizhi walked naturally and briskly. When he climbed to the top of Yuhuang Peak, the sun was still high. After being filtered by the thin clouds, the light from the sun was no longer scorching, and it was gently sprinkled on the body, making people feel extremely refreshed.
The group swaggered into the main temple of the Tianzun Sect from the main gate and saw that the battlefield had been cleaned up quite well. There was not a single arrow or sword on the ground, only pools of black blood. The captured Tianzun followers had been blindfolded, gagged, and kept under centralized custody. The injured, whether Youyan soldiers or Tianzun followers, were treated very differently, but they all had military doctors by their side. There were also eight or nine Youyan soldiers who died in the battle. They had already been carefully embalmed and placed in one place to wait for burial when they returned home with the army. The bodies of the killed Tianzun followers were also neatly piled together, and lime was sprinkled around them, waiting to be burned.
Qiu Yizi entered the main altar last night and was in a deep tiger's den. He only wanted to get out of it safely. Now he was willing to take a closer look at the main altar that the cult had worked so hard to build. The main altar covers an area of about five acres. In the middle is a large square. The ground is paved with stone bricks. The gaps between the bricks seem to be filled with glutinous rice. It must have been built with great care. In the center of the square is a huge tripod, which is several times larger than the one in Guangyang City that day. It must have been the object of worship for all the believers when it was on fire. A circle of houses was built around the square according to the terrain of the mountain. Each house is three stories high. The walls are also made of stone and the gaps are filled. They are not afraid of being cut by knives or burned by fire, and there are no handholds for climbing.
Before Qiu Yizi had time to take a closer look, a soldier came up to report that Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen were already discussing matters in the main hall, and asked Yizi to go ahead and talk.
The furnishings in the main hall of the Tianzun Sect's main altar are no different from those in ordinary wealthy homes, except for the four large banners with the words "Anger", "Foolishness", "Resentment" and "Benevolence" hanging on the wall, which are quite eye-catching.
Before Yizhi could say anything when he entered the hall, Zheng Sen came up to him and scolded him with a big smile on his face, "What a bad idea you came up with, my dear brother. You want me to deliberately let a few cult members go down the mountain. You see, there are only two small paths on this mountain, so how can I let them go? I had to pretend to be careless when guarding the prisoners and let a few of them escape. But this Yu guy is too timid. He hid in the bushes and didn't dare to come out. He had to order all the soldiers nearby to be transferred away before he could poke his head out and leave. Hahaha, I'm afraid he is still hiding in the mountain at this time!"
Yizhi was relieved after hearing this. He greeted his two brothers, exchanged a few words of greeting, and then left the hall. He took his followers to check the situation of the Tianzun Sect's main hall room by room. (To be continued)