We had a great time chatting, and a thousand cups of wine were too few to drink when meeting a close friend. Qin Mubai, Zheng Anshun and Li Ke, after experiencing this water ghost incident, can be regarded as "sharing the same wealth and adversity". They were originally the same kind of young masters, but now they feel more and more opportunistic.
As a prince, Li Ke has an extremely rare advantage, which he inherited from his father Li Shimin - he is a polite and virtuous corporal and has no airs.
By the time they were half drunk, the three of them had long forgotten who was the prince, who was the general, and who was the son of the richest family in the Tang Dynasty. The three of them only knew that they were close friends and close friends.
Under the influence of alcohol, words that he would normally not say out loud became unscrupulous.
"Mu Bai, so your unmarried wife is coming to Xiangzhou. This is a blatant and righteous elopement. It's really gratifying and congratulatory!" Li Ke smiled shamelessly, his eyes bright and bright. , said in a whisper, "But, what should you do with the charming Chen Nuxia in your golden house?"
"What should I do?" Qin Mubai took advantage of the alcohol and squinted his eyes drunkenly, pretending to be stupid and humming.
"Hey, you are still pretending! Do you believe that I will reveal everything about you to Wu Meiniang and Gao Yang? By then, you will not be able to eat and walk around!" Li Ke said angrily, "I can't stand this the most. The deputy pretended to be stupid and was so dumbfounded!"
"Ho ho!" Qin Mubai giggled unscrupulously, "You have threatened me no less than eight hundred times, and it has failed!"
Zheng Anshun also laughed: "Brother Qin, you are so charming! Wherever you go, you will make colorful skirts fly. As far as I know, there are all kinds of families in Xiangzhou, from wealthy families to ordinary people, but there are many Girls adore you."
"No," Qin Mubai said with a smile, "They are at most Aiwujiwu. If you hang out with His Highness for a while, you will probably be fine."
Li Ke was angry and funny, and cursed: "Zheng Anshun praises you, but you hurt me too! You are so unkind! Answer the question quickly, if Wu Meiniang comes, what will happen to your Nvxia Chen?" Is it possible that you still dare to continue to hide your beauty in the golden house? "
"Why don't you dare?" Jiu Zhuang was so daring that Qin Mubai opened his mouth and shouted, "At worst, the golden house hides both prides!"
"Haha, this guy is getting more and more courageous! Just keep your mouth tough. When Wu Meiniang comes, you won't have such arrogance." Li Ke laughed loudly, "Even if you can deal with Wu Meiniang, I think, If Gao Yang comes by then, you’re still not dead!”
"Ah!" Qin Mubai was really excited at this moment, "What did you say?"
"Haha, did you see it? He was panicked!" Li Ke and Zheng Anshun laughed together.
"Your Highness, please explain clearly, what does 'Gao Yang is coming' mean?" Qin Mubai asked.
"Huh, listen up!" Li Ke said seriously, "Didn't you mention it when you were chatting with King Qi a few days ago that you wanted to take Gao Yang to Xiangzhou to meet you? Li You is an impatient man and thought of it. The thing will be done. No, he sent someone to pick up Gao Yang, who is already on the way. He sent me a letter today and asked me to make an appointment with you. I will go there when I am free. Dengzhou gathered together and brought Gao Yang. "
Qin Mubai's eyes widened and he swallowed: "Did he really do it?"
"What's weird?" Li Ke sneered with glee, "In the past, Gao Yang spent at least half of each year away from Chang'an, mostly staying at her uncle's house in Bingzhou. But now her uncle Yin Hongzhi has accompanied King Qi We came to Dengzhou together as officials and moved here. It’s normal for Gao Yang to come and live there for a while.”
Qin Mubai's eyes started to roll, and he thought: My dear, it's okay to have Wu Meiniang. It's not difficult to make her and Chen Yan live in peace; if it's that lawless little devil, Linger is coming too... There are three women in a play, maybe it is a martial arts play, and they will play the martial arts students together, and I will play the role of cannon fodder, armor, dragon, and second.
"Pathetic!" Qin Mubai cried out, then revealed a wry smile.
"Haha!" Li Ke and Zheng Anshun laughed treacherously and proudly together.
"When the sea is flowing, a hero will show his true colors! I'm not afraid of them!" Qin Mubai was so drunk that he slapped his hand on the table. After drinking this sentence with dignity and awe, he stared at the two people in front of him with disdain and scolded, "Crisis At this moment, I realize that the world is in a turbulent state, and I finally see you clearly!"
"Hahaha!" Li Ke and Zheng Anshun laughed even more wildly, almost crying.
At this time, a woman hurriedly walked into the hall and said to the three of them: "Hey, please keep your voice down. The princess has just gone to bed, so don't wake her up!"
The three of them saw that it was Su Lianqing who had recently entered the palace and became the princess's personal maid and bodyguard.
Li Ke pretended to be angry and said with a straight face: "There are no rules! Is this how you talk to the king? Is the princess very sleepy? Take two balls of cotton and bet her ears!"
"No, no." Qin Mubai waved his hands hurriedly, "Your Highness, we'd better keep our voices down. Su Lianqing, go back and serve the princess!"
"I know!" Su Lianqing curled her lips, muttered 'three drunkards', and left in frustration.
Qin Mubai asked: "Your Highness, I heard that the princess is seriously ill. How is it?"
"Hey, don't mention it!" Li Ke knocked on the table angrily and said, "Since the day she got married, her health has not been better. She has never left the medicine jar all year round. I just can't figure it out. , How could her body be so weak? Wasn't it true that I was demoted back to Chang'an at the beginning of last year? At that time, she was in labor and could not bear the bumpy journey, so she stayed in Anzhou to recuperate without accompanying her. Soon after, she gave birth to her daughter. Your body is getting weaker. Not long ago, you were kidnapped by a water ghost and suffered some frights. After returning home, you stayed on the couch for eleven hours a day, looking like a useless person. Don't accuse me of being heartless. For her illness, I sought medical advice and prayed to gods and Buddhas, but it didn't improve at all. Because of her poor health, I never considered marrying a child for fear of irritating her. arrive."
"Just because you don't have a concubine doesn't mean you don't have another woman." Qin Mubai said, "Your Highness, as the saying goes, you should never abandon a wife who is worthless. Don't be impatient."
"That's not true, I'm just a little upset. I don't know how to cure her illness." Li Ke frowned and said, "Fengliu belongs to romance, and feelings belong to feelings. I have always made this distinction very clearly."
"It seems that you have reached a certain level of romance." Qin Mubai smiled narrowly, "I heard that the princess and your mother are still related, and they have the blood of the former Sui royal family. This marriage can be regarded as a match made in heaven! "
Li Ke smiled calmly and said: "To be honest, she and I just got married according to the decree. We don't have any deep feelings. We can only treat each other as respectful guests. But I will never abandon our love for a night and a hundred days." Regardless of it.”
"That's good. Love and loyalty have a beginning and an end. That's the true nature of a man." Qin Mubai nodded.
Li Ke knew there was something in Qin Mubai's words, but he didn't make it clear and nodded vaguely. In his heart, he couldn't help but think of Qin Shuang'er who was far away in Chang'an, and he couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sadness in his heart. After so many years, the two have admired each other but have never been together. Seeing that Wu Meiniang and Gao Yang were coming to Chang'an, there was a hint of jealousy in Li Ke's heart, and there were also some thoughts that were ready to move. But when I thought of the princess who was ill in bed, I had no choice but to suppress these thoughts in my heart and did not dare to speak out.
Zheng Anshun is a clever person. Seeing Qin Mubai and Li Ke fall into silence thoughtfully, knowing that they were both thinking about something, he took the initiative to stir up the topic to divert their attention, breaking the momentary silence. The cold scene.
"Boy, this wine is getting cold."
"Oh?" Li Ke came back to his senses and called, "Come here, let's exchange wine and food!"
The drinks and dishes were replaced, and the three of them still sat and ate and drank. Li Ke suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, I almost forgot when I was so happy! Mu Bai, do you still remember Zhao Chong on death row?"
"Remember, what's wrong?" Qin Mubai asked.
"He asked the prisoner to send a message, saying that he would see you again before leaving." Li Ke curled his lips and said, "It is a common practice in prison that all prisoners on death row can have a sumptuous beheading meal to achieve a meeting. "Family" and so on. But Zhao Chong's "Xingyuan" is not to meet any family, but to meet you. "
"Does it mean that if I don't go, I will show disrespect to the deceased and that he will not die in peace?" Qin Mubai asked.
"That's about it! Generally speaking, even the most vicious death row inmate will be satisfied as long as his punishment is not excessive." Li Ke said, "Besides, will you not go?"
"Of course I will go." Qin Mubai raised his lips and smiled, "As you know, I have always been very curious."
Death row prisoners are all executed after autumn, and Zhao Chong still has to endure some time on death row. Moreover, the Zhenguan Tang Dynasty always advocated "cautious punishment", that is, all death row prisoners sentenced to death should be uniformly transported to Chang'an, and only after the emperor's approval can they be executed after the autumn. And before the execution, Li Shimin had to personally patrol the prison. If a death row inmate complains of injustice, the case will be retried.
Because of this, Li Shimin's prison patrol a few years ago left a lasting story. It is said that that time he patrolled the prison cells before the autumn execution as usual. There were 390 death row inmates in the cell, but no one complained about injustice. Li Shimin had a sudden idea to let these people go home to celebrate the New Year, and then return to prison after the next autumn harvest to be tortured.
This sounds like a fantasy, but Li Shimin did it. You know, there is no high-tech tracking technology in this era, let alone online pursuit and arrest.
But what is really unbelievable is that after the autumn harvest of the next year, all of these 390 death row inmates actually came back, and there were quite a few of them! There were also several young men among them. After returning home, they got their wives pregnant and the family continued to be prosperous. In the end, they died in Chang'an with a grateful heart under the supervision of their hometown sons!
Li Shimin, his ministers and others were so moved that they immediately released the 390 death row prisoners and returned home to become good citizens.
It's a pity that there may be only one such thing in Chinese history, and it will only happen once. Even Li Shimin would not do it a second time. Otherwise, the law will not be lawful.
After the dinner party was over, Li Ke left Qin Mubai and Zheng Anshun to sleep in the governor's mansion. Seeing that it was still early and not sleepy, Qin Mubai brought a bottle of wine and asked the government officials to lead the way to the prison to visit Zhao Chong.
As a felon on death row, Zhao Chong was held alone in the same iron cell that Qin Mubai had seen before.
The iron door opened, and Zhao Chong sat on the haystack against the wall, looking up at Qin Mubai and smiling: "I knew you would definitely come."
Qin Mubai asked the prisoner to close the door from the outside, walked to him and sat down on the haystack, shook the wine bottle in his hand, and said, "Want a sip?"
"You've already drank a lot, give me this bottle!" Zhao Chong was not polite. He stretched out his shackled hands to grab the wine bottle, pulled out the stopper and poured it into his mouth, making it dripping. Half of the body was wet.
"It's great! It's really good wine!" Zhao Chong took a deep breath, smacked his lips, looked at Qin Mubai and said, "Are you curious, right? Guess why I asked you to come?"
"Yes." Qin Mubai nodded and admitted.
"You are very smart, so I want you to do me a favor." Zhao Chong said, "There is a secret left by my grandfather, but it has never been solved since my father got it, let alone me. ”
"What secret?" Qin Mubai asked.
"I'm not sure. My grandfather gave it to my father when he was dying. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could finish his words." Zhao Chong said, "My father has been thinking about it for half his life, and I have been thinking about it for almost twenty years. , I have never thought through it. Although I don’t know what this secret is about, I have a vague feeling that it may be a treasure, or it may be a major secret that has been forgotten for a long time.”
"Oh?" Qin Mubai raised his eyebrows in interest, "You mean, the treasure map?"
"Probably just planting things." Zhao Chong nodded, looked at Qin Mubai seriously, and said, "Originally, I wanted to take this secret underground with me. But later, I was unwilling to do so. But It's not that I'm reluctant to give up the treasure, but I'm not willing to lose this secret. I'm not boasting. In all these years, I have never met a person who is smarter than me and worthy of studying this secret together. Later, I finally met him. It's a pity that he is the enemy who dug my grave. It can be said that I am both regretful and relieved to have bumped into you. General Qin, you are much smarter than me. If it is up to you to crack this secret, you can do it!"
"If you trust me, I can give it a try." Qin Mubai was also very interested, so he nodded.
"I've even asked you to come, how can I still trust you?" Zhao Chong grinned and said, "I'm not interested in any treasures or secrets. I just want to see someone crack this secret with my own eyes. It fulfills our father and son’s long-cherished wish.”
"Okay, I'll help you." Qin Mubai nodded, "If I can crack it before the autumn sentence, I will definitely send someone to Chang'an to tell you the secret."
"Thank you!" Zhao Chong nodded solemnly, walked to the door cautiously, took a look, and waved to Qin Mubai, asking him to come over.
Qin Mubai stretched his head over without any hesitation, and Zhao Chong smiled: "General Qin, aren't you afraid that I will catch you and strangle you to death with shackles and iron chains?"
"You can't." Qin Mubai smiled nonchalantly, "Just tell me!"
Zhao Chong stared at Qin Mubai for a moment, nodded, and said with a smile: "He is indeed a character. Okay, I will tell you where the blueprint is! I only have one request. I don't care what you do with this blueprint and the possible treasures, but If you crack the secret, you will let me know whether I am in this world or in the underworld!"
"I promise you."
…
After leaving the prison, Qin Mu rushed on horseback alone to the location where Zhao Chong said the map was hidden - the Zhao family's old house, which was not far from the prison.
Zhao Chong used to be a night scent picker. There was nothing else in the house but plenty of dung buckets. The backyard, which had not been inhabited for a long time, was overgrown with weeds and piled with piles of manure. Although it has not been used for some years, the stench still lingers.
Qin Mubai tied a mask at the corner of his robe to cover his mouth and nose, and endured the stench as he opened the dung buckets one by one. Finally, I found the dung bucket that Zhao Chong said was missing an ear. Turning it over and taking a look, it turns out that the bottom is very thick. He smashed it hard and broke the barrel. The bottom of the barrel cracked, revealing a very small interlayer inside, with a small piece of stuff wrapped in oil paper.
Qin Mubai was delighted - this is it!
After restoring the messy courtyard, Qin Mubai took the small paper bag and returned to the guest room of the Governor's Mansion. Opening the packet with the help of an oil lamp, it turned out to be five pieces of thick oil paper about the same size as an ordinary book, all of the same shape and size. There were some scattered lines drawn on them, and some words with inconsistent meanings were also written here and there.
Qin Mubai tried to spell the words back and forth, but he couldn't form any formed shapes, and the words couldn't be understood clearly.
After thinking about it for a long time, I was confused and had no clue.
He couldn't help but laugh and thought to himself, if it's just a simple piece of piecing together, then do I still need to do it? Don’t be in a hurry, just think about it slowly!
No matter what treasure secrets he has, Qin Mubai is really not in a hurry. Put the paper away and fall asleep peacefully. I had a dreamless night and slept soundly until I woke up in the morning.
Li Ke had already gone to the government office to handle official business. Perhaps he suffered enough after being banned in Chang'an for a year, but when he came to Xiangzhou, Li Ke really changed his appearance and became much more diligent. I went to the Yamen every day to handle public property, taking care of all matters no matter how big or small, and focused most of my energy on political affairs. In the past, when he was the governor of Anzhou, he only remembered that he was a prince and did not care about the so-called governor. So I spent nine percent of my energy on eating, drinking and having fun, and only one percent of my energy on doing official duties, but it was still a matter of scribbling and perfunctory.
The backyard of the governor's mansion, where Li Ke lived, was very large, and all the officials and soldiers in the mansion could live and station here.
Qin Mubai heard the sound of fighting and roaring coming from the large campus in the backyard, and knew that it was the soldiers of the royal palace training in the morning. As soon as his mind moved, he decided to go and have a look.
Now the commander of the palace's personal troops is Dianjun Colonel Xue Rengui, and there are two deputies, Yin Yang and Yuwen Hongtai. I wonder how well these three people are training the new recruits in Prince Wu's Mansion now? There is also Xue Rengui. Although he has talent and potential, he has no military experience. What should the morning training he hosts look like
Qin Mubai was very curious and strode towards the school ground. I was still thinking about it, I had to think of a good way to lure Xue Rengui away from Li Ke, the "iron cock", and borrow him for a while.