seventy - seven
It was a dark and windy night, and You Shu ran forward against the fierce mountain wind. His lightness skills were so superb that he was worthy of being taught by Xie Feiyuan himself.
But the mountain road was difficult to walk on, and it was pitch black in front of him and he couldn't see the road. You Shu couldn't move his hands and feet. He could always hear the roars of the pursuers not far behind him, and there were stray arrows shooting from behind. Even though he was nimble and agile, he still accidentally got shot in the arm.
You Shu accidentally exposed himself and criticized himself for his carelessness. This mistake almost cost him his life.
As the noise behind him grew louder and louder, You Shu could only continue to run forward. His throat tasted fishy and sweet, and he could spit out blood when he opened his mouth.
Fortunately, he couldn't see anything around, which gave him an opportunity, because the pursuers behind him couldn't see anything either. You Shu heard the sound of the rushing river and was suddenly overjoyed. It was really God's help to him.
You Shu ran to the edge of the cliff, and the abyss was just one step away. He could still hear the sound of river waves hitting the shore. He looked back at the pursuers who were about to catch up with him, gritted his teeth, turned around, and jumped into the abyss.
When he fell into the water, he curled up and protected his head. Therefore, even though he fell from such a high place, he only felt dizzy for a short time. After floating in the water for a while, he could swim freely. The pursuers did not find anyone at the edge of the cliff. When they looked down, they saw the surging Yellow River. They estimated that there was no chance of survival, so they wandered around the edge of the cliff for a while and then dispersed.
You Shu swam forward in the dark with his excellent swimming ability. Fortunately, he had great physical strength and was not washed away by the rapids. However, there were many reefs in the river and he almost hit the rocks several times.
As the sky gradually brightened, You Shu finally swam to the shore and climbed up, soaking wet. He had used up all his strength and lay on the shore gasping for a long time before he could recover. When the first ray of sunlight shone on him, You Shu felt as if he had escaped death.
Only when his limbs gradually warmed up due to the sun's exposure could You Shu regain control of his body and sit up from the ground with difficulty.
I almost died.
You Shu reached into his arms and took out a handful of poppy flowers. The wrapped poppy flowers were still there. He breathed a sigh of relief and rested for more than half an hour. Then he stood up from the ground. He was very hungry, so he hunted a rabbit and roasted it to satisfy his hunger. After eating, he set out on his way back.
There were no pursuers, and although You Shu had no horse, his journey was relatively smooth, and he returned to Mianzhou in four days.
Xiao Weixin had lost contact with him. Although the news brought back by Kingfisher was exciting, he could not contact Xiao Shu afterwards. He could not help but feel anxious. The mission was completed, so why hadn't Xiao Shu come back yet
"Why don't we go look for him together?" Ying Jiu came forward to ask for orders. They, the brothers, were also a little impatient. Ying San had never encountered such a situation during all his years of carrying out missions. He might be really trapped.
Xiao Weixin thought about it and finally agreed: "Okay, go quickly and come back quickly, don't alert the enemy, if Xiao Shu is fine, it will be difficult to deal with him if you expose his whereabouts."
"Yes." Ying Jiu received the order, turned around and was about to walk out of the tent door with his sword in hand.
At this time, Wang Chen hurriedly ran in from outside: "He's back! He's back! The Third Young Master Ying is back!"
Xiao Weixin was stunned for a moment, and then the next second he disappeared from the tent and walked quickly outside.
You Shu was warmly welcomed by Qi Han and led inside. He finally saw someone familiar, and his heart was relieved. Before he could even drink a sip of water, he saw Xiao Weixin approaching from not far away. He quickly stood up and knelt on one knee: "Your Majesty, I... have fulfilled your mission."
Xiao Weixin picked him up from the ground and held him in his arms without saying anything.
Qi Han scratched his head, turned around and took Wang Chen and Ying Jiu out, "Don't disturb the prince's peace."
Wang Chen felt sad, "It seems that Ying San is really going to ride on my head."
Ying Jiu glanced at him, snorted, and turned away.
Their third brother is not an ordinary person, it would be strange if the prince didn't love him.
"Why don't you come back?" Xiao Weixin confirmed that the person in his arms was safe before letting him go and started to attack, "Didn't I tell you not to act on your own? If there is any emergency, your safety comes first?"
As he was talking, he saw the simply bandaged wound on You Shu's left arm, and he became even more unhappy: "What's going on? Didn't you say everything was going well?"
You Shu was scolded by him for several minutes before he found a chance to reply: "Let me talk to you slowly. I feel dizzy if you talk too much."
When Xiao Weixin heard that he was dizzy, he became very nervous and hurried to find Hua Chun to check on him. You Shu stopped him and said, "Call her later. I have something to tell you."
He pushed Xiao Weixin to sit on the chair, and then said, "Have you received the defense map I gave you?"
"Got it." Xiao Weixin wanted to blame him when he mentioned this, "Since you have already got the things, why don't you come back? Do you know how worried I was these days?"
You Shu apologized repeatedly with a good temper: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you can say whatever you want in the future."
"Let me show you something." He lowered his head and took something out from his arms. The fabric was wrinkled and smelly due to the bumpy ride and soaking in water. Xiao Weixin's severe mysophobia made him instinctively want to throw it away, but when he remembered that it was Xiao Shu's thing, he endured it and sat back.
When You Shu opened the tightly wrapped cloth ball, Xiao Weixin frowned and asked, "What is this?"
There was nothing extraordinary in the cloth, only a dry thing that could not be recognized in its original appearance, which looked like some kind of flower.
Just as You Shu was about to explain, another person came in from outside. Xiao Weijing came in with a fan in her hand and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law is finally back?"
"I think if you don't come back, my seventh brother will bring people to destroy the Huzhou nest directly."
You Shu stood up, saluted him, and then sat back down. Xiao Weijing also sat next to Xiao Weixin. She glanced at the thing on the table and couldn't help but be attracted to it: "Where did this thing come from?"
"This thing has a name in our place, it's called opium poppy." You Shu whispered, "Have you ever heard of it, Your Majesty?"
"No." Xiao Weixin shook his head, "Is this the reason you came back so late?"
You Shu nodded, took the flower and handed it over: "Your Majesty, please smell it carefully."
Xiao Weixin didn't know what he was going to do. Although he was somewhat reluctant, he still obediently leaned over and smelled it. "It's nothing special, and there's no fragrance."
"Of course you can't smell anything from a single plant, but if you smell it more often, you will feel refreshed and happy, and you may even have hallucinations."
Xiao Weixin frowned: "What do you mean?"
You Shu hesitated for a while before saying, "Your Majesty, maybe you don't understand, but I know the harm of this thing. Looking at this one plant alone, it is harmless and may even be used as medicine, but if it is planted in large areas, the fragrance alone will make people's bodies numb and comfortable. If you smell it for a long time, you will become addicted."
"Is there such a thing?" Xiao Weixin was surprised. "I have never seen it in a book."
Xiao Weijing came closer, stroking his chin, "From your description, I have heard of it before."
"I like to read some light books. I read a travelogue before. It was about someone who traveled to a foreign country in the south and found that the locals were good at growing a kind of red flower. The fruit it produced seemed to have similar effects."
"But that thing is rarely seen in the Central Plains, so I just took a look." Xiao Weijing pondered, "Since you brought one back specially, it must be because there is a large patch?"
You Shu nodded: "That's right."
"I saw someone planting a large number of these flowers on a mountain outside Huzhou City. There was so much that I couldn't see the end of it. The number was huge." He said seriously, "If there were only one or two plants, I wouldn't be so worried, but since someone is planting them on a large scale, it means he must know what this thing can be used for."
Xiao Weixin gradually understood, "You mean... someone wants to use this thing to import it into Daliang to paralyze us?"
"It's not just that." You Shu's face was gloomy, "I'm worried that someone wants to use it to destroy the foundation of our Daliang."
"Once people get addicted to this stuff, they can no longer live without it. Without it, people will gradually go crazy and lose their minds, and they will be able to do anything. But if they are constantly supplied with it, their bodies will slowly become useless, like a pool of rotten meat, with no meaning in life."
Xiao Weixin's face turned serious, and even Xiao Weijing restrained his cynical expression.
"Who has such a vicious mind?"
You Shu was not only worried about this thing being planted in large quantities, he was even more worried about what if the person who planted it knew how to refine it
Although this era has its limitations and it is impossible to have the environment of a modern laboratory for precise extraction, even if it is roughly refined, the toxicity is considerable. He was very concerned about the empty boxes carried by those people. They must be used for transportation. Who can guarantee that they will not be processed after transportation
You Shu knew how terrifying this thing was. It could quickly destroy a healthy person in the shortest possible time. If someone really wanted to put it on the market in large quantities, the country would be on the verge of destruction.
Xiao Weixin also thought of this. He stared at the dried poppy in his hand with a gloomy face and said coldly: "No matter who it is, if he dares to target the people of Daliang, I will tear him into pieces."
"So, let's burn those things after we deal with the rebels." You Shu said, "I don't know if there are any more planted in other places. I think the key lies in that military advisor."
At this point, You Shu added: "I always feel that the military advisor looks quite familiar, but I can't remember where I have seen him."
Xiao Weixin sneered, "Didn't you say that there are regular city defense troops in the city?"
"That's not hard to guess."
"Someone in the capital is colluding with the rebels."
You Shu's eyes widened slightly, "You mean..."
Could it be that the military advisor was actually a cover, and the person behind him was the one who really controlled everything
And that person is most likely in Beijing.
After all the calculations, the civil and military officials in the court were able to do this, so...
Prime Minister Xia, the villain