In October, he went to the eastern capital, from the civil and military ceremonial guards, hundreds of miles;
From Koryo in the east to Persia and Uganda in the west, the courts of the courts, each commanding his subordinates, dome huts and tents, cattle, sheep, camels and horses, filled the road. At that time, he was rich and rich, and the price of rice was five coins, and wheat and beans were not listed in the market.
——Three days later, Shengjia set off from Luoyang and made a mighty tour eastward.
From Dongdu to Mount Tai, it may not take half a month if you walk fast, and it may only take a few days to go back and forth by a single person on horseback; , Rest at dusk, and can't walk more than ten miles a day.
Yu Wenhu, the general of Xiaoqi, led a large group of troops to follow in the distant periphery, while Xie Yun personally led six hundred forbidden troops, guarding the side of the empress day and night.
Ever since that night in the Xinxin Building, Shan Chao has vaguely avoided being alone with Xie Yun.
Fortunately, the journey from Chang'an to Dongdu was extremely hectic, and Xie Yun didn't care about where Shan Chaoren was at all. After setting off from the Eastern Capital Palace, Shan Chao, as the deputy commander of the Imperial Army, led a group of troops alone, with the emperor's sedan chair not far or near, usually only able to pass through the heavy carriages, and see Xie Yun's back riding on the horse from a distance .
Xie Yun never looked back to search for him once.
In late autumn, the commander of the Imperial Army has already wrapped himself in a thick suede cloak, and his long hair is tied in a bunch behind his head, fluttering in the wind along with his clothes.
—He has a cold.
This news came out shortly after leaving Luoyang. The reason was that Empress Wu ran into Ma Xin decocting medicine one day and became suspicious. Xie Yun replied that he had caught a cold after falling into the water, and everything was complicated when preparing for the east tour, so It just kept going off and on.
This answer was reasonable, and Empress Wu could only let it go, and told him to take good care of him and not to worry about it.
But Shan Chao suspects that Xie Yun's "wind chill" actually got it in Jiangnan, because after he returned to Beijing, Xie Yun's complexion has never been better. If there is any sickness.
Whether he took the medicine or not when he was in the Xie Mansion is hard to know, but since the east tour, the guards of honor gather in one place every day, and it is difficult to avoid people's eyes and ears when doing anything. Judging by the frequency of Xie Yun taking medicine three times a day, it is very It may have started before leaving Chang'an.
—What the hell happened to his body
Shan Chao thought of the tormented "Dragon Girl" in the underground palace of Xie Mansion, and now that he thought about it, the palm that was pierced was obviously self-vented in extreme pain, and his heart sank as if a heavy object was pressed on it.
He couldn't keep thinking about it.
Whenever the scene of the naked beauty in the dark underground palace and the scene of the "Dragon Girl" leaning against him because it was difficult to walk appeared in his mind, he would feel a taboo and sinful tremor, suddenly from the end of his nerves. rising.
It was as if there was a huge monster that gradually raised its head from the abyss somewhere in the bottom of my heart.
Fortunately, there are still many things that can distract Shan Chao, such as the prince.
Prince Li Hong didn't care about Shan Chao's unjust act of leaving him in Taiyechi that night at all, and he was overjoyed that Shan Chao accompanied him on the east tour.
He is also not very good at hiding his complete trust, and he often invites his car partner to talk to Shan Chao, and it takes more than half an hour to talk. Sometimes Shan Chao took into account the sinister relationship between Xie Yun and the prince, and responded indifferently, and the prince didn't care.
At this time, there are too few people the prince can trust. Although the Eastern Palace Party has already established its wings, and Dai Zhide, Zhang Wenguan and others speak heavily in the court, but this group of important ministers are loyal to the "Eastern Palace", not the young Li Hong himself. Only Shan Chao, who resembled him in appearance and appeared like a divine soldier when his life was dying, gave Li Hong a natural sense of intimacy in his heart.
Once, he played chess with his childhood sweetheart, Miss Pei Ziliu from the Pei family in Hedong, and asked Shan Chao to be the referee for the two of them. He clapped his hands and smiled, and asked Pei Ziliu: "—Look, I'm wearing red today. Robe, Master Xinchao’s imperial uniform is also red, don’t we look like a pair of brothers?”
The complexions of the surrounding palace people changed drastically, and some of them were about to kneel when their legs softened.
Shan Chao twitched his eyebrows, and before the word "don't say it" came out, Pei Ziliu, who was only twelve years old, said innocently: "Like! Even if the clothes are not the same, His Royal Highness and the master..."
Shan Chao sternly said, "Prince!"
Pei Ziliu was startled, and suddenly stopped talking.
The prince's hands trembled, and the chess pieces fell to the ground with a slam, and everyone around them had already knelt on the ground.
The prince looked around, sighed for a while, and waved his hands: "You all step back."
All the palace people wished that they had never grown ears, so they hurriedly got up and left Che Yu.
When there were only the three of them left in the car, the prince looked at Shan Chao with some hesitation, and asked suddenly: "Master, do you still remember that in the Temple of Ci'en, Mr. Liu Ge played bitter tricks with me, and almost got involved with the monks in the temple?"
Shan Chao was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"… That's good."
The prince sighed again, and said sadly: "That day I thought I was really going to die, especially when the poison struck, I was so painful that my vision was blurred, but I still saw Commander Xie standing there coldly, coldly Looking at me coldly... Commander Xie is loyal to the queen, even if I am not poisoned to death, he still has a thousand ways to kill me."
"If it wasn't for the master, I would have entered Zhaoling by Cong Ke." The prince showed a sad and wry smile, "So when I look at the master, I only feel kind. If I have an elder brother, I should be like the master."
Shan Chao: "..."
Prince! If you have an elder brother, you are not a prince!
Shan Chao simply didn't know what to say, and after a long while, he tried his best to say euphemistically: "Even so, your Highness should be cautious about some things. The guard of honor on the east tour is no better than the East Palace, and some words have ears behind the walls."
The prince glanced at him gratefully and said, "I know."
"Although Commander Xie is close to the queen..." Shan Chao still wanted to tell Xie Yun a few words, but as soon as he said the words, his heart felt sour like a pinprick, and he couldn't continue.
"Master, please be careful, Commander Xie." The crown prince didn't realize that he wanted to defend himself, so he said solemnly, "Xie Yun has a very strange background. I heard Dai Shilang mention a few things to me—Dai Shilang's uncle is The prime minister of the former emperor, he knew a lot about the secrets of the imperial court—it is said that Xie Yun once studied under Yin Kaiyang, the head of the secret sect, and was exiled to Mobei for several years because of his failure in assassinating Yu Wenhu. After returning to the court, he was immediately reused by the queen for several months In a short time, he climbed to the high position of the commander of the Imperial Army, and quickly accumulated tens of thousands of family assets... "
Shan Chao thumped, thinking that it was so, no wonder Xie Yun would go to Mobei.
He asked again: "Why did Commander Xie want to assassinate Yu Wenhu?"
The prince's face suddenly became unnatural, and he looked at Pei Ziliu, and the little girl was looking at them with a ignorant expression.
"Uh," the crown prince beckoned, and Shan Chao went close to his ear, only to hear the crown prince whisper: "This matter is very absurd, master, just listen to it, don't take it too seriously... It is said that Commander Xie was beautiful and looked like a girl back then. At the night banquet, Yu Wenhu was drunk and wanted to force him, uh... "
Shan Chao's heart beat wildly, and rage and jealousy burst out from the depths of his brain, rushing to his limbs like a scalding hot current.
But his face was still very calm, and even his voice didn't change: "...So that's the case, no wonder the two of you don't get along."
"Although General Yuwen loses his morals after being drunk, he is still a good person." The prince did not notice the ruthless look in Shan Chao's eyes, and sighed: "Master, please listen to me. Although I don't know why Commander Xie doesn't Let you go back to Ci'en Temple, but after returning from the east tour, the master should immediately find an opportunity to escape. Xie Yun is arrogant and cruel, and even the Holy One is a little jealous of him occasionally... "
Shan Chao took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed the boiling killing intent in his chest.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your reminder. I will remember it." Shan Chao stood up, and shook his hands steadily: "It's getting late outside, and I'm about to arrive at the palace. I have to go out and arrange the imperial army's carriages and horses, and I will leave."
The prince nodded anxiously, watching his tall figure get off the car.
Shan Chao jumped off the tall prince's car, untied the bridle of Wu Yun's snow-riding horse, jumped on the horse, raised his head, and happened to bump into Xie Yun sitting on a white horse not far away, staring at him coldly.
And a gray-clothed palace man was bowing his head and shrugging his shoulders, whispering something in front of the horse, Shan Chao recognized that it was the eunuch who was serving in the prince's carriage just now.
When the palace man turned his head and saw Shan Chao, he was startled immediately, his complexion pale. Xie Yun waved his hand casually, and the palace servant immediately left trembling, not daring to lift his head.
Shan Chao looked straight at Xie Yun with deep and compelling eyes, as if he could see through the silver mask into his calm eyes.
The wind blew through the guard of honor, lifting heavy bright yellow veils.
After a long while, Xie Yun smiled on his face, rode his horse suddenly, and left without looking back.
The guard of honor walked and stopped, and finally arrived at the Puyang Palace.
The Holy Majesty was very excited, and the first thing he did when he came to the palace was to gather all the ministers for a banquet, which was very lively with lights and festoons. After the singing and dancing dissipated, it was already midnight, and even Shan Chao's sturdy body was a little tired, and the group of civil servants were even more crooked, and they were helped away by the palace servants one after another.
Shan Chao got up and was about to leave the table, but suddenly he saw the prince sneaking back through the crowd, beckoning to himself.
This is calling him over.
Shan Chao hesitated for a moment, but at this moment someone patted his shoulder, and when he looked back, it was Ma Xin.
"The Commander has something to look for you," Ma Xin said coldly with a nose instead of a nose and eyes not eyes, "It's in the side hall of Qingliang Hall, please don't talk nonsense and go as quickly as possible."
Shan Chao: "..."
Ever since the master extorted ten taels of silver, Ma Xin has always been full of indescribable hostility towards Shan Chao. Usually, when he sees him, he will either sneer at him or simply walk away. He has never said a word.
Shan Chao wondered if he had extorted too much when the lion opened his mouth. After all, the amount of ten taels of silver was too large, which left a bad impression on Ma Xin of being greedy. But the thing had already happened, and it was useless to regret it any more, so I had to give up.
Shan Chao simply thanked Ma Xin, made an apologetic gesture to the prince, turned and walked towards the inner palace.
Qingliang Hall.
Candlelight flickered in the spacious hall, and Xie Yun sat alone in the depths of the hall, with his back to the vermilion palace gate.
He had already bathed, and was wrapped in a loose cotton white robe. With one hand, he dried his wet long hair with a cloth towel, and with the other hand, he slowly turned over a page of the Imperial Army household registration book in front of him, picking up a pen to draw and annotate some words from time to time.
Footsteps came from behind, Xie Yun didn't turn his head, and said, "Pour me a bowl of tea."
The sound of footsteps stopped behind him, and he counted silently, stretched out his hand to tie the hair on the side of his neck, took the cloth towel and began to wipe it.
Xie Yun's pupils tightened suddenly, he turned around and stood up, he slapped his chest, and someone grabbed his wrist with a snap.
"—Come on!"
Yu Wenhu said lightly: "No one, you sent away all the Ouchi guards patrolling around by yourself, do you think my people will listen to your orders?"
"..." Xie Yun was holding one of his wrists, his eyes were gloomy and he said nothing.
Yu Wenhu, however, remained calm, picked up the teapot on the table with his other hand, actually poured a bowl of hot tea, and handed it to him: "Commander Xie, please?"
Xie Yun didn't snatch the tea bowl and throw it on his face, but he didn't do anything else either. The distance between the two was not close enough, and the commander of the imperial army raised his chin slightly. This action made him and Yu Wenhu look almost at the same level, and at the same time, the line of his neck and the deep collarbone on the front of his clothes were particularly obvious in the shadows: "... What is General Yuwen doing?" What are you doing?"
Yu Wenhu's Adam's apple slipped obviously, then he looked away, raised his head and drank the bowl of tea by himself.
He put the empty tea bowl back on the table, pointed to a medicine bowl under the candlestick that had almost been drunk, leaving only the last bit of black residue, and asked, "What is this?"
"Fenghan soup," Xie Yun said coldly.
Yuwenhu dipped his index finger and sucked it into his mouth: "Fenghan decoction uses thousand-year-old golden ginseng as medicine?"
"..."
"The internal force in your pulse is extremely weak, what happened?"
Xie Yun frowned and stared at him, the cuff hanging by his side suddenly moved, and a short dagger fell out silently.
The next moment he shot suddenly, Yu Wenhu's expression changed drastically, and he stepped back, only to hear the sash whistling in front of him, Xie Yun jumped forward with a knife!
Even if his internal energy is extremely weak, Xie Yun is also the foundation of the world's top master. His melee combat moves are unpredictable, fierce and swift. Yu Wenhu couldn't parry him in a hurry. own throat.
Stabbing—the sound of tearing came, and Yu Wenhu's pupils slightly dilated.
I saw that the front of his chest was cut, and the tip of the knife grazed his chest at a slight distance, and even the muscles could clearly feel the chill of the blade in an instant!
"Xie Yun!" Yu Wenhu shouted sharply.
Xie Yun landed as light as a feather, his robe and sleeves fluttered, and he flipped the dagger with his wrist.
Yu Wenhu knew that it was a standard move, and the next moment the blade would slash towards his face, so he had no choice but to reach behind his back and pull out the broad-backed blade loudly.
-when!
There was a loud bang between the gold and the stone, and the broad-backed knife and the dagger collided fiercely, splashing out a series of flames!
The two confronted each other very close, Yu Wenhu stared at Xie Yun and said: "With your current internal energy, it will be very difficult to survive this winter, if it is really because of something..."
Xie Yun interrupted him: "If I die, the imperial army will still have nine thousand disciples; if you die, how much will the Yuwen family have left?"
Yu Wenhu choked for breath.
At this moment, Xie Yun suddenly changed his move, and the dagger slid down along the wide-backed knife amidst the ear-piercing sound of metal friction, and chopped Yu Wenhu's arm in an instant!
That sharp killing intent was real.
Yu Wenhu's blood was coagulated, his mind was blank, but his body, which had experienced battles, reacted faster than any consciousness, and he drew his knife and turned his back at the nick of time.
The heavy back of the knife slashed towards Xie Yun's side!
This strike was actually a coincidence that Xie Yun's dagger was too short. If the Tai'a sword is in hand, you only need to meet it with the edge of the sword, and you can block the knife with a heavy and hard impact.
However, Tai'a sword is not there, Xie Yun's flesh and blood body, if the back of Li Kekaishan's knife hits hard, his internal organs can be crushed in one blow!
In an instant, Xie Yun didn't back down, but seemed to be trying to resist the blow head-on—
However, just before the next thrilling moment, Yu Wenhu suddenly felt another huge force coming from the side.
— It came too fast. Yu Wenhu didn't even have time to realize what was going on, he saw a long sword stabbing obliquely, and immediately swung it upwards, and in the earth-shattering loud noise, the sword flew his broad-backed sword flying!
When there were several clangs, it was the sound of the wide-backed saber coming out of his hand and falling to the ground of the hall.
Yu Wenhu retreated a few steps, looked up suddenly, and saw a young man in crimson guard clothes standing in front of him.
- That's a single super.
Shan Chao held the Seven Star Dragon Yuan in one hand, and in the blink of an eye, he rushed to catch up, his sword was extremely precise and domineering, and he forcibly caught that crushing blow for Xie Yun!
"..." Yu Wenhu hoarsely said: "Why are you?!"
Shan Chao stood in front of Xie Yun and just listened! With a crash, he supported the hilt of the sword and inserted Qixing Longyuan into the floor tile beside him.
"Danchao in Xiamobei," he said in a flat and authentic tone, without any emotion, only the lingering sound echoed for a long time with a terrible calmness: "I am here today, and I would like to ask General Yuwen for advice."