Not long after, the young man was summoned.
After the salute, he looked confused, and obviously didn't understand what to call himself here.
Eunuch Shang Shan continued to lie without blushing: "Look, sir, these workers are deaf and dumb, and they are useless. It's not worth it for you to be angry with people like this."
"Then let him chop wood in my house, and you," Mrs. Wen angrily looked at Gu Yin, "Go and build a small stove, I'll see if you dare to be lazy in front of me!"
"This..." The palace servant who served Mrs. Wen couldn't make up his mind.
"What's the matter? The old man can't get the job done?" Mrs. Wen said, and was about to leave the house again, "Then I'll go see the sage and let him tell the difference!"
Emperor Longqing can't see anyone right now. If this incident gets bigger, people will find that Emperor Longqing was seriously injured. There was no need for the rebels to attack, and the military heart of the Guards was directly scattered.
"Don't be angry, listen to you, and let them make atonement here!"
Mr. Wen lived in the house of the second head of the original bandit village, which was quite spacious.
The palace servants moved the tables and chairs beside the kang to one side to make room for the young man to chop wood, while Gu Yin set up a small stove, put a clean slate on it, brushed it with lard, and put a plate next to it that was prepared in advance. diced meat and vegetables.
Wait until the oil on the slate starts to sizzle, then put the diced meat and vegetables on it to roast.
After a while, the smoke began to rise in the house, Gu Yin took a fan, and the smoke went towards the palace servants who were guarding the house.
When they were young, they were selected to serve the emperor closely. They couldn't stand it. They coughed and stood outside without realizing it.
When they stood at the door, the old man with a stern face asked Gu Yin, "Why are you looking for me? Are you worried about me?"
Gu Yin held back her laughter, pretended to be reprimanded and said with a guilty conscience: "I didn't look for you, this one looks for you. I'm just helping."
"Boom!" The axe split the wood, and the young man's voice sounded at the same time, "The situation is special, the boss will forgive me."
As the sound of chopping firewood became more and more intensive, the young man continued: "I'm asking to see you because the younger generation heard that he was going to slaughter the town and put the blame on the rebels."
"Impossible!" Mrs. Wen immediately refuted, the anger on his face was no longer a fake, "I know you are a member of the rebel army, and your position is different from that. But that is the one I look down on, although Not as good as their fathers and grandparents, but they won't do things that are inferior to pigs and dogs."
"You are trying to verify it." The young man chopped the last bit of wood, stopped talking, and stuffed the chopped wood into the small stove.
Slaughter town
Gu Yin listened to their words in her ears, her hand holding the fan and fanning the fumes tightened, her fingernails digging into her palm.
After the slate burnt was almost done, and finally sprinkled with seasonings such as cumin and chili noodles, it was placed in a bowl.
"Hmph, wouldn't it be better to do this earlier?" Mrs. Wen snorted lightly and tasted the slate roast directly, which was a lot more than usual.
Later, Gu Yin and the young man went down, Gu Yin's face was pale, even his lips were white, and Eunuch Shang Shan looked a little guilty: "Little lady, don't blame our family, it's not just that a servant like our family can't do errands well. being scolded."
Gu Yin took a deep breath and smiled with a white face: "I don't blame my father-in-law, I want to be lazy and should be punished."
"Hey, go, let him help you." Eunuch Shangshan also ordered the young man to stay together as a pair of wild mandarin ducks.
"What's wrong with the owner?" Shopkeeper Zhou was cooking a big pot of rice in the kitchen, and he quickly asked when she saw her face was wrong.
Others don't know, of course, the shopkeeper Zhou knows about the relationship between Mr. Wen and Gu Yin, and also knows that she deliberately cooks preserved egg and lean meat porridge to communicate with the old man.
"It's fine, I'll just rest." Gu Yin smiled weakly and sat on the small bench in the corner.
The young man followed him to chop wood next to him, or he used the sound of chopping wood and the sound of shopkeeper Zhou's spatula as a cover. He asked in a low voice, "Scared you?"
Gu Yin nodded, the young man sighed slightly, and his eyes fell on her palm.
Her nails were trimmed short and round, but she pinched out a bloodstain on her palm, one can imagine how uncomfortable she was.
"Why?" Her throat tightened.
After asking, without waiting for the young man to answer, she figured it out on her own.
When the abolished emperor was in Hanshan Town, he would naturally not do anything to the people. But now that he has led people out of Hanshan Town, a large force of the Rebel Army should be chasing after him soon. If during this time difference, he sent someone to slaughter the town, claiming that it was done by the rebel army - just because the people of this town received the abolished emperor, so the rebel army would be angry.
The Rebel Army was originally a miscellaneous army with multiple forces intertwined together. Before being incorporated by the Righteous King, many soldiers and soldiers were engaged in the business of robbing money and stealing goods.
As long as this news is widely publicized, it will definitely shake the people's trust in the rebels.
And don't all the people believe it, as long as the emperor fled to the south to treat the people with courtesy, let those people believe this rumor by comparison, plus he has the old man by his side, and in the name of the old man, he ordered his former disciples to be This is a big fuss. So even if the abolished emperor cannot restore the country, he can still make some people believe in him, cede territory and rule with the new dynasty, and stand against each other.
"I understand." She pursed her lips to herself, with a smile that was uglier than crying, "You can save the townspeople, right?"
The main force of the Rebel Army is still behind, and only the vanguard led by the youth, Qingche Jian Xing, chased after him. At this time, he was the only one who managed to sneak in. With his unmistakable identity as a deaf-mute disabled person, by chance. After hearing a few words, I guessed the thoughts of the emperor.
If the abolished emperor starts within these three or five days, I am afraid that...
"Don't worry, there's me... we're here. The old man won't sit idly by."
The young man's reassuring low voice rang in his ears, Gu Yin wiped his eyes, and said firmly: "Yes, we have the upper hand! Did you pass the news back to the town?"
He had already thought about having someone notify the county magistrate, but unfortunately, before the emperor withdrew from Hanshan Town, he had already left thousands of elite guards in ambush around the town to be closely monitored. Recklessly to notify the people to evacuate, it is very likely to startle the snakes and let them start in advance.
It was because of the existence of these people that he guessed Emperor Longqing's intentions.
These people should have been instructed. If the people rush to evacuate, most of them will do it directly. Thousands of elites with high martial arts skills meet thousands of unarmed people, which is tantamount to opening the prelude to the massacre in advance.
Seeing the other party's embarrassment, Gu Yin guessed that there must be something unspeakable. Although she was impatient, she didn't ask any more questions. After all, this news is only a guess of the youth, and the old man has to find a way to verify the accuracy of the news. Just hope he heard it wrong or guessed it wrong.
…
After Gu Yin and the young man left, the palace servant who was serving Mrs. Wen naturally reported the matter to Emperor Longqing.
Emperor Longqing was also supervised by the late emperor and had practiced martial arts for many years when he was a child. It was only after the late emperor went and became an emperor that he became more and more lazy, so his physical foundation was not ordinary.
But in the rainy night, he received two punches from the assassin. Although he was protected by the soft hedgehog armor, the treasure in the palace, he was seriously injured in his heart.
It was also thanks to him that he brought the imperial doctor out, and the internal bleeding was stopped first by applying needles, and he said that he would take good care of him. Of course, the imperial doctor did not dare to say that this kind of internal injury is easy to leave the root of the disease.
Emperor Longqing couldn't get out of bed for several days, his mood can be imagined.
Hearing the people below report such trivial matters, his temper in the palace showed, and a tea cup fell directly on the palace staff's head, "This kind of trivial matter also bothers me, get out of my way!"
The man in the palace was smashed and bloodied, and crawled out.
This is not over yet, Emperor Longqing asked the palace servants to kneel outside his house, and he was allowed to get up after his orders.
The people in that palace were bloodied, and they knelt in the rain all night, and the next day they died.
Right now, this kind of medicinal material is precious, and the life and death of this kind of person does not even need to alarm Emperor Longqing.
Mrs. Wen found that the palace servants in the house had changed. He didn't show his face, and only let people pass the word that he wanted to see Emperor Longqing.
Emperor Longqing was in good shape. He was able to get out of bed after a few days of rest. Although he was still pale, as long as he didn't exercise, people who were not skilled in martial arts would not be able to see that he still had internal injuries.
Mrs. Wen asked for an official meeting, and Emperor Longqing asked someone to bring him over.
After Mrs. Wen finished the big ceremony, he said distressedly: "I heard that the Sage was assassinated, and the old minister could not sleep well, but unfortunately, he was old and frail, and was lingering on the bed, so he couldn't share the worries of the Sage!"
Emperor Longqing waved his hand and said weakly, "It's okay, I'm just frightened, I'll be fine for a few days."
Although the old man is not good at martial arts, he is not stupid. Before the assassination, Emperor Longqing went to see him every day and said something like "The boss must get better, I'm still waiting for you to be my right-hand man and my minister". I know that he has strong expectations for the return of the country.
After the assassination, he stayed at home, and the old man refused to meet him several times. Said it was just frightened, how to make people believe it
"So that's the case, God Bless Saint!" Mrs. Wen let out a long breath.
After sitting for such a long time, Emperor Longqing felt a pain in his heart again, and he endured the pain and asked, "The boss asked me to see me, should there be something else to say?"
The old man said with guilt: "I am ashamed, I have been lying down for a long time, and I have been thinking about it for a long time. I don't know how to help the sage to win the hearts of the people. I just thought of a way that is not a last resort and can't be used."
"In what way?"
"Dangerous waters lead to the east," said Mrs. Wen with difficulty.
The two sentences did not match the foreword, but Emperor Longqing immediately understood and smiled: "The eldest man really is on my side, and I thought of going to one place with me!"
Grandpa Wen closed his eyes, thinking that the rebels were right, Emperor Longqing was really going to do something that was inferior to pigs and dogs!
Fortunately, I didn't take the fake death drug.
At that time, he took out the fake death medicine, but later heard that Gu Yin was also involved. He really regarded that girl as his granddaughter, and he was also the one who told Gu Yin to stay still in the town. How could he see her getting involved here
Thinking that he had to get her out anyway, the old man hesitated, and the assassination of Emperor Longqing later gave him no chance to take Gu Yin out, so he dragged him and didn't take the medicine.
If there is no hesitation, now he is a dead person, and no one can contain Emperor Longqing!
"But the old minister also wants to ask the saint for grace. After all, Hanshan Town is the old minister's hometown. Can we change it?"
Emperor Longqing rubbed his chin, and asked someone to take a look at the map.
Hanshan Town is the largest town in this county, so it is naturally the best choice for Tu Town to frame the slander. He had already quietly arranged it before, thinking that Mr. Lian Wen would hide it together. But now that the old man has thought of something with him, and if he does it behind his back, he will naturally guess that it is likely to damage the friendship between the monarch and his ministers.
And Mr. Wen finally gave him the verdict that he would help him recover his country, and he still wanted to use Mr. Wen, so it was not impossible to save face. Anyway, in his opinion, which town to slaughter and which clothes to wear are no different, they are small matters that will not affect the overall situation.
"Then choose this Chunshui Town." Emperor Longqing took it easy and pointed to the town to which the hilltop they were currently located belonged to.
"Your Majesty is magnanimous!" Mrs. Wen endured his disgust and thanked him.
Since this day, Mrs. Wen has "recovered" and is by the side of Emperor Longqing every day.
Three days later, Gu Yin found that there were more people on the mountain - also heard from the guards who came to eat and drink, saying that some of them were assigned to perform tasks before, so it was so hard for them to patrol, and now they can finally relax.
When the young man came to help in the kitchen, he also brought good news, saying that the elite guards around Hanshan Town had withdrawn to the mountain.
Gu Yin finally breathed a sigh of relief, tears streaming down unconsciously.
She still had pot ashes on her face, and there were two white marks where the tears rolled.
The young man couldn't help bending his lips, reaching out to help her wipe it, but before touching her face, he retracted his hand.
Gu Yin took out a small mirror and took a look, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
When Eunuch Shang Shan came to spread the word, he saw them standing opposite each other, both facing the door. If you don't look at their appearance, but just look at their body shape, they are a very matched pair.
The young man stepped forward to salute him, just so that the petite Gu Yin was completely behind her, so she immediately touched and smeared the ashes of the pot.
"Master Wen told you to go, saying that the freshly baked slate grilled last time was very good, and let you go to freshly bake it again."
After an "offering offer", Mrs. Wen said something else against his will. Now, he seems to be the first person under Emperor Longqing who has no one around him. Ironically, he used to be dedicated to the country, the people, and the emperor. But he ended up like that, and now he speaks some false Dakong remarks against his conscience, but instead makes Emperor Longqing treat him more and more affectionately.
After his status has risen, Emperor Longqing is no longer restrained by him. Of course, he still cannot leave the bandit village at will, but summoning a cook and a deaf and dumb helper to cook in person is not worth mentioning. The palace servants have learned from the past, and they will not bother Emperor Longqing with such trivial matters.
This time, no one was watching the house every step of the way, and they all retreated to the door consciously.
At the same time as the chopping wood sounded, the old man said first: "Your news is right, I have already tried to make that person let go of Hanshan Town... But he turned his head and pointed at Chunshui Town."
Emperor Longqing is stubborn, and now the old man follows him, so he gets his good face, but he can't persuade him to change his mind - if he really listened to the persuasion, he would not have been an official of the old man, let alone fall to the end of the country's subjugation. .
"In the past few days, he will let people go down the mountain to buy food in Hanshan Town." The old man said another crucial piece of news.
Emperor Longqing and his party fled in a hurry, and the food they brought was naturally not enough.
The purchase of food this time also indicated that the Imperial Guard was about to move forward, and that the front foot was about to destroy Chunshui Town at the foot of the mountain.
After saying the news, both Old Man Wen and Gu Yin's eyes fell on the young man.
The best way, of course, is for the youth to take advantage of this kung fu to assassinate Emperor Longqing again.
However, the young man said, "I can't get close to him."
After encountering an assassination attempt, the defense of the people around Emperor Longqing became more and more strict. And after arriving on this mountain, the house where Emperor Longqing lived was at the highest point on the mountain, and there was a height difference from where other people were.
Even in the dark of night, torches were lit around his house, and the dark guards were guarding the heights, so that anyone who approached would have an unobstructed view.
And although Gu Yin can make the emperor's food, but everything the emperor uses is kept by a special person. Gu Yin will deliver it to his hands before cooking for him, and there are also people who are still eunuchs to test the poison.
Not to mention Mrs. Wen, among the three, he is the most convenient to approach Emperor Longqing, but at his age, he is not skilled in martial arts, so he does not need to dispatch guards, and any palace servant can hold him down.
"Then use poison to bring down the dark guards." Mrs. Wen was an important official of the three dynasties, so he naturally knew the existence of those dark guards who were skilled in martial arts and ruthless. And the last trace of kindness to the old dynasty in his heart was also wiped out when Emperor Longqing was about to slaughter the town to blame.
After he finished speaking, he also sighed sadly, and there were checkpoints in and out of the mountain. How could it be possible to bring poison in, and although the dark guards were eating and drinking with the guards, they were not as delicate as Emperor Longqing, but they had to go through the poison test with silver needles. It is impossible for the highly toxic to be tested, so it is only possible to use less toxic ones, such as croton powder, laxatives, Mongolian sweats and the like.
But this kind of thing won't work if it is diluted. If you want to achieve the effect of bringing down a large group of people... Not to mention Hanshan Town, the entire county may not be able to collect such things that are usually invisible.
And there are also hunting dogs in the army, and this common poison has long been trained to distinguish.
The old man and the young man were at a loss. Seeing that the meeting time was almost over, Gu Yin said, "Actually, poison can be created in daily food."
There is moldy rice and moldy beans in the cellar in Gu's house.
"Mildewed rice can be washed and dried to remove its taste, and the same is true of beans, and the taste is even more indistinguishable after oil extraction. In addition, fungus can also produce toxins after soaking for a long time... But it is not guaranteed that everyone will suffer from acute poisoning. Symptoms may also be latent in people. So if there is a better way... "
Everyone knows that moldy rice and beans can't be eaten, and fungus can't be soaked for too long, but this kind of thing can poison people, and the old man and the young man have never heard of this. But Gu Yin was not casually talking nonsense, and neither of them doubted her statement.
"Using this method first is to hold them back for a day or two, which is also an opportunity." The young man said decisively.
After a few more careful discussions, the young man and Gu Yin left, Gu Yin returned to the kitchen, and the young man limped out to fetch water.
…
When it was time to buy food, the guards brought the old man in town, the second master, and ordered the shopkeeper Zhou to accompany him.
The group went down the mountain to Hanshan Town and went straight to the various rice shops.
There are two large rice shops in the town, one is Daxing Rice Shop, and the other is just closed.
The guards had to be ordered not to rob, and they had to show courtesy to the people, so they had to leave after not seeing anyone for a long time.
Then the group went to Daxing Rice Shop, which is the Wen family's own shop. At this time, there were other customers in the store. Master Wen Er directly asked Wen Peifeng to invite all the guests away.
"My family's rice is the best, and the old man is not deceived!" Mr. Wen Er's nature of profiteer was brought into full play, and Kou Can Lianhua wished to praise his rice to the sky.
How do the guards know what rice is? Seeing that the rice in the store is indeed as white as snow, and this store is owned by Wen's family, they will be loaded into the car after a little inspection.
Coincidentally, there was a sack of rice that was not tightly packed, and some fell out of it. A guard went up to tie the bag tightly, smelled something wrong and said, "Why does this rice have a strange smell?"
Master Wen Er smiled and said, "Little lord, I don't understand, the weather is so wet, how can rice noodles stand up? It will change its taste when it gets wet a little."
After speaking, he looked at the commander of the guards again and said softly: "The price of damp rice is low, what's the difference, hehe."
We all know that the second master Wen is very unworthy of the stage, but it is precisely because he is unworthy of the stage, so when he was evacuating, Emperor Longqing specifically did not let Master Wen follow the old man whose attitude was not clear, and only let him put Wen. Take the second master.
"Let's split the account between five and five, what do you think?"
This little money, when he was in the capital, naturally couldn't get into the eyes of the guards. But time has changed, and their net worth is still in the capital, which is when they are short of money.
The commander of the guards also fought for a long time to find this fat man, and the words of Master Wen Er scratched his itch.
"Thirty-seven, I'm seven, you're three." He slanted Mr. Wen Er, and didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed, but urged his subordinates: "How can you pay attention to this when you go out? Don't say it's wet, it's moldy, disaster. Don't the people eat the same way during the New Year?"
Like most people in this era, the guards, who don't know the wheat, don't know the benefits.
"Oh, let's do it, let's do it." Master Wen Er's bare eyes were full of pain.
The two hit it off, and then Master Wen Er took them to buy oil.
The last group of people also brought back some sauerkraut and fungus, the natural quality is not so good, but the worse things, the more the price difference!
The next group of people brought food back to the mountain, and the soldiers guarding the checkpoint also took the order, and the hounds did not respond to smell the poison, so they happily let go.
So this evening, the kitchen received this batch of "fresh" ingredients.
Gu Yin breathed a sigh of relief after the inspection, but if the people from the imperial city knew some ways or refused to accept bribes and were more upright, the plan would not go smoothly to this point.
But this step is not over, and the difficulty is still to come - to handle these ingredients so that there is no peculiar smell, so that people can eat them unknowingly.
"How about the shopkeeper making sauerkraut and chicken porridge? It's weirdly cold today, and it's nice to drink something warm at night. I seem to have bought some fungus today, and fried shredded pork is the best thing to eat." Gu Yin served as eunuch Shangshan face to face to ask the shopkeeper Zhou.
Shopkeeper Zhou looked at Eunuch Shangshan again, who was drinking the lard residue that Gu Yin honored.
In the past, he was only responsible for passing meals to the emperor and testing poisons. When he went out, the little eunuchs waited on him one by one. Now, he has become a person in half the kitchen, wandering around the pot every day.
He waved his hand lazily, "You can decide for yourself."
After the whole chicken is cut into pieces, marinate in green onion and ginger cooking wine for a quarter of an hour to remove the fishy smell, slice the tofu and mushrooms, and cut the potatoes into strips.
After that, heat a large pot of oil, put onion and garlic and saute until fragrant, add sauerkraut and stir-fry, add water to boil after frying, add the marinated chicken pieces, then add mushrooms, potato strips, and rice.
Gu Yinlai gave the porridge to Gu Yinlai. She judged that the heat was a must, and put some tofu on it before it was out of the pot.
The hot sauerkraut chicken porridge is ready.
At the same time, shopkeeper Zhou also fry a large pot of fried pork with fungus - the fungus had been soaked in advance, and after being sent to the mountain, they were soaked for half an afternoon. At this time, it had become glutinous and soft, but shopkeeper Zhou was not inferior to Gu. Yin, stir-fry with high heat and add some spices, no matter in appearance or smell, it is no different from ordinary fungus.
"Today, the little lady and Master Zhou don't hide their secrets." Eunuch Shang Shan swallowed the scent of the stove, "Our family is also a little hungry, so it's time to have a meal first."
But Gu Yin couldn't let him eat this. Eat him first, how could the people outside eat it
"Where are you going to eat this big pot of rice?" Gu Yin smiled, "We'll make you something else exquisite."
Gu Yin winked at Shopkeeper Zhou, then put the sauerkraut in the pot again to fry until fragrant, and then added the chicken nuggets to stir-fry. At the same time, Gu Yin put down a bowl of chicken soup hand-made noodles with enough chicken.
The sauerkraut fried chicken accompanied by the refreshing and delicious chicken noodle soup coaxed Eunuch Shangshan into a smile.
After a while, the guards came to pass the meal.
This time, the two guards who came to carry the food were complaining, "Brothers didn't talk about cooking gold and jade in the capital before, they were also popular and spicy. When did they fall to this point?"
Their so-called fall, that is, the two dishes and one meal that Emperor Longqing made for them, with the standard of meat and meat.
Not to mention marching and fighting, even ordinary wealthy people do not eat as well as they do. Just talking about the fungus, the common people can't afford it.
But in their view, such treatment is like torture.
"Don't say a few words," the companion gave him an elbow, and at the same time sighed, "Today's food is delicious!"
"The adults have worked hard." Shopkeeper Zhou smiled and went to distribute food with them as usual.
The general army is strictly disciplined, even when it comes to meals, so these sons and brothers from the imperial city naturally don't pay attention to those.
Smelling the delicious food today, everyone asked for more than usual. There is a lot of meat porridge and a small amount of fungus. Most of these fungus are finally presented to the dark guards. They are the people who are most admired by the emperor in the camp today.
In the kitchen, Gu Yin was impatient and scared, but she still had to smile to deal with the eunuch Shangshan.
At this moment, a tall figure appeared at the door, and when Gu Yin saw him, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
The half-drunk eunuch Shang Shan looked at him with a funny look, and joked: "It's a coincidence that you are good looking. It must be because the little lady's food is so delicious today that she hooked him up!" He then waved to the young man and said: "Stop standing outside the door, come in quickly."
Seeing Gu Yin's trembling hand, the young man took it for the first time.
His hands were dry and warm, and the warmth spread from his fingertips to Gu Yin's heart.