In the early morning, Zhongnan Mountain is shrouded in the summer glow. Clouds are misting, butterflies are dancing and cranes are singing. The bells of several Taoist temples are ringing melodiously, and Sanskrit chants are chanting in Buddhist temples.
It's like a paradise outside of heaven.
Li Ke had a messy beard on his face. He wore a star-hole hat and a patchwork short-breasted jacket. His lower body was a pair of whitened blue cloth trousers. The legs of the trousers were rolled up to his knees, revealing half of his body covered with dust. calf.
At this moment, he was sitting in an ox cart, wearing a sweat towel, and holding a shiny hatchet in his hand. Looking left and right, he saw a woodcutter cutting firewood in the mountains early in the morning.
Ahead, Zhao Chong was similarly dressed, holding a black buffalo pulling a cart and waving a hemp rope whip in his hand. He strolled away carefree while singing a woodcutter song in his thick voice.
Li Ke sat on the bullock cart, looked at Zhao Chong a few times, and couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.
In the past few days after escaping from Anding County, he had been following Zhao Chong, traveling through states and counties along the way, dressing up in various disguises. Either he pretended to be a businessman's master or servant, or he pretended to be a fisherman and a porter. Li Ke even pretended to be a woman once, and it was so vivid that it was hard to tell whether it was true or false.
As soon as they arrived in the pass, Zhao Chong mysteriously fetched a lot of equipment. The two of them pretended to be Zhongnan woodcutter and drove an ox cart up the mountain.
Along the way, Zhao Chong went to different mountains and sang different songs, and he pretended to look like different people. He even imitated the dialects of many places to look like the real thing. At the age of ten, he followed his father and began to travel in the world. At the age of sixteen, he began to lead the green forest bandits on the Jingxiang Waterway. It has been more than twenty years now. Li Ke was amazed by his vigilance, agility, knowledge and various clever methods.
"Brother Zhao, it's a pity that people like you are not put to great use." Li Ke said with a smile while sitting on the bullock cart.
"Brother Li, isn't what I'm doing now a big deal? Haha!" Zhao Chong laughed loudly, his powerful voice startling the birds in the forest.
Li Ke saw that the mountain was secluded and there was no one around, so he asked in a low voice: "Why do we go to Zhongnan Mountain?"
"Don't ask too much, you will know later." Zhao Chong turned around and said something warily, and continued to sing his folk songs.
Li Ke said no more, sat on the bullock cart, and followed Zhao Chong away.
Along the way, Zhao Chong didn't answer any of Li Ke's questions. He only emphasized one point repeatedly - "Don't worry, I will never harm you."
Li Ke thought to himself, if he harmed me, I would already be a dead body. As long as this life was picked up, just believe in him!
In this way, the two disguised themselves and lurked all the way from Jingzhou to Zhongnan Mountain, which was only a step away from Chang'an.
Looking up into the distance, you can vaguely see the statue of Yao'er girl on the top of Zhongnan Mountain. Li Ke couldn't help but think of Qin Mubai again, and thought to himself: Along the way, I occasionally heard rumors in the market that Qin Mubai in Guanxi wanted to rebel... I wouldn't believe this kind of thing even if he was beaten to death. However, if such rumors spread to the court, what should we do
Zhao Chong actually chopped two loads of firewood on the mountain and put it on the oxcart, then turned back halfway up the mountain, walked through the dense forest, and walked on a rugged mountain path.
After walking for nearly an hour, the bullock cart finally stopped in front of an unusually deserted and dilapidated Taoist temple. Zhao Chong stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a while, a little Taoist boy came out. When he saw Zhao Chong, he bowed his head and said, "Old Zhao has brought firewood again. Please come in quickly."
"We're here." Zhao Chong turned back and smiled at Li Ke, "Be diligent, bring the ox cart in, unload the firewood and then collect the reward."
"Okay, Brother Zhao." Li Ke smiled and jumped out of the cart, and together with Zhao Chong led the cart into the Taoist temple and to the woodshed in the backyard.
"Your Highness, it's finally safe when we get here." Zhao Chong dusted off the dirt on his body and bowed to Li Ke, "Please follow me."
"Okay." Li Ke nodded, secretly looking forward to it: It's finally time to solve many mysteries!
Zhao Chong led Li Ke through a few steps in the Taoist temple and entered a secluded single room. The furnishings in the room are quite simple, with a few futons, a bed, a case, a niche, a table and tea, and that's it.
"It's been a hard journey, so Your Highness will rest here for two days," Zhao Chong said.
Li Ke looked around, but there was no one else waiting, and he didn't find anything eye-catching. So he wondered: "Aren't you going to tell me something? Or let me meet someone?"
Zhao Chong smiled and said, "Don't be anxious. You will know what you should know sooner or later; the people who should see you will come to see you sooner or later. Your Highness has just escaped from the catastrophe, so why should you be anxious?"
"That's fine." Li Ke didn't say much and sat down on the couch calmly, "I'm really tired. I'll just have a full sleep before talking."
"Your Highness, take a rest. Zhao went out to do some things and will be back soon. Three meals a day will be served by a Taoist boy." Zhao Chong said, "Please do not wander around or leave the Taoist temple. Remember."
"rest assured."
Zhao Chong left. Li Ke lay on the bed with his head resting on his arms, looking at the old gray roof and feeling worried, and thought to himself: I wonder how Yin Yang is doing? There are also those guards and soldiers, most of whom have lost their lives. As expected, the news had already reached Chang'an. Now that I don’t see people alive or dead, how anxious should my father, the emperor, and my mother and concubine be? What kind of chaos is going to happen in the court
Li Ke, if you really want to go to Chang'an City now, it will at least make your parents feel relieved. But being impatient can mess up big plans. Now that he knows very little about the outside world and is in danger, he should just listen to Zhao Chong's arrangements!
The next evening, Zhao Chong just came back, still dressed as a woodcutter.
As soon as Zhao Chong entered the house, Li Ke asked him: "How is the situation in Chang'an?"
"Chang'an?" Zhao Chong smiled and sat down, poured himself tea and drank, and said, "I didn't go to Chang'an."
"Then where did you go?"
"Go see my master and report your death." Zhao Chong said with a strange smile.
"What?" Li Ke was surprised.
"Your Highness, think about it. I was ordered to intercept and kill you. Don't I need to give an explanation to my master now?" Zhao Chong said with a smile.
"Then your master...has he believed it?"
"You have to believe it if you believe it; you have to believe it if you don't believe it." Zhao Chong played with the tea cup.
"I'm curious… "
"Is it just that I want to know who my master is?"
"good."
Zhao Chong stood up and walked to sit across from the table where Li Ke was sitting. "This is a long story. Zhao, there is more than one master."
"How many are there?"
"It's not too many, just three or four!"
"..." Li Ke was stunned and speechless.
"Haha!" Zhao Chong laughed and said, "As the saying goes, a good bird chooses a tree and a wise minister chooses his master. Although Zhao is not a kind person, he understands this truth. Therefore, although I have many masters, they are really worth it. There is only one person who is loyal to Zhao."
Li Ke's eyes narrowed slightly, "You don't mean to say that that person... is my father, right?"
"Tsk! Or else, His Highness is smart?" Zhao Chong smiled and nodded, "That's right. One of my masters is your father, the current Holy Emperor. However, I have only seen him from beginning to end. He has two sides. After all, one is a death row prisoner who should have been executed long ago, and the other is the True Dragon Emperor. It is inconvenient whether I want to see him or he wants to see me. "
"What about your other master?" Li Ke asked, "Can you tell me?"
"Okay!" Zhao Chong smiled nonchalantly and said cheerfully, "Sooner or later, His Highness will know the truth anyway. It doesn't matter if it's sooner or later. But before I tell you these things, Zhao has a request."
"Speaking."
"If your Highness succeeds, Zhao will not expect you to repay your kindness, but please let Zhao have a free way to live." Zhao Chong said.
Li Ke frowned and nodded: "I promise you."
"Your Highness is very happy." Zhao Chong smiled, "A person who can become a close friend with Qin Mubai should also be trustworthy. Well, now Zhao knows everything and talks about everything. Your Highness, please ask!"
Li Ke took a deep breath and said, "I want to know, who sent you to intercept and kill me?"
"Doctor Yushi, Wei Ting." Zhao Chong said, "He is one of my masters. He is also my direct savior."
"Wei Ting? Wei Xiaochen?... There must be a connection between the two, right?" Li Ke was quite surprised and said, "If I remember correctly, Wei Ting was the father-in-law of King Li You of Qi. Back then, When Li You rebelled, he was implicated and was dismissed from office. Later, he surrendered to his fourth brother King Wei, and with the help of King Wei, he returned to the court and took charge of the Yushitai. Is it possible that he was saved when he blocked the appointment of the Yushi doctor. You?"
"good."
"But by that time, the water ghost case had long passed, and Li You had rebelled! The time was wrong!"
Zhao Chong smiled and said, "Your Highness is so careless. Have you forgotten that all prisoners on death row will be executed after the autumn? Moreover, the Xiangzhou water ghost case involves almost 60% of the officials in Jingxiang area, and also has the Chang'an Weidu family. Regarding such a major case, I don’t know how many people were involved in the court. They tried to block the case for more than three months, but the case was still not completely concluded. During this period, Zhao suddenly became a piece of cake. In addition to Wei Ting, the imperial censor who wants to save his nephew, there are also many people with evil intentions who want to save Zhao's life or kill him as soon as possible. "
"Who are there?" Li Ke asked with a frown.
Zhao Chong said with a smile: "Zhao had already put life and death aside, and it didn't matter if he died. But seeing so many people interested in Zhao, Zhao wanted to live a few more days. So Zhao successively Three masters surrendered, the first of which was Wei Ting. He was the imperial censor, and Zhao was interrogated back and forth in Dali Temple and the censorship station, and was imprisoned in both places. Wei Ting said he could do it. Use the golden cicada's escape plan to save my life, but the prerequisite is that I conceal and retract some of Wei Xiaochen's criminal evidence to reduce Wei Xiaochen's crime. "
"You agreed?"
"Not only did he agree, but he also did it truthfully." Zhao Chong said with a smile, "Because Zhao knows that no matter what evidence Zhao makes, Wei Xiaochen and Du Chengyuan will definitely die. Because there are bigger figures than Wei Ting. They must die!"
"who is it?"
"He is my second master, that is... your good fourth brother, His Highness the King of Wei." Zhao Chong smiled more and more meaningfully and said, "In the eyes of the King of Wei, both Wei Xiaochen and Du Chengyuan are extremely inconspicuous. However, these two people have collusion with Wei Ting and many ministers under his command. I don’t know how many people have made suggestions to the King of Wei, and they want these two people to die as soon as possible. The King of Wei can. They didn't want to be implicated in any way, so Wei and Du were bound to die. At the same time, Zhao was just a green forest bandit leader who had little connection with the government. Therefore, Zhao's life and death attracted less attention. The king really hopes that I can continue to live, does your highness know why? "
Li Ke frowned, "I once heard Qin Mubai say that the King of Wei once secretly moved Zhang Tong, the one-armed one-armed cavalry, with the intention of asking him to reveal something about me and Qin Mubai in Xiangzhou. 'No.' He wanted to falsely accuse us. Zhang Tong was very loyal. He refused and escaped. Is this the intention of the King of Wei? "
"To be more specific, in addition to wanting me to expose your criminal evidence, he also wants to know the secret of the treasures of Emperor Yang's mausoleum." Zhao Chong laughed again, "Actually, Caozhong of the Xihe River is the mausoleum of Emperor Yang, and I didn't know it before. . But I took advantage of the situation and survived. "
"So that's it..." Li Ke nodded with sudden realization, "In this case, even if Wei Ting breaks his promise not to save you, it won't hurt King Wei's face, so he has to save you. Even if he wants to kill you and silence you afterwards, he still can't. I dare not offend King Wei for this!"
"That's right." Zhao Chong said with a smile, "Wei Ting and the King of Wei, they both have their own agendas, and Zhao Chong happened to be circling between the two of them, intervening in order to survive. In fact, all of this is a coincidence. . If your father had not come to inquire about the case in person and told me that you and Qin Mubai discovered Yangdi's mausoleum in the Xihetrough and retrieved the imperial seal, Zhao Chong would not have thought of this plan. When people came to meet me secretly, they initially asked me to falsely accuse you and Qin Mubai. At that time, Zhao would not agree. Secondly, even if he agreed, the false accusation would not be possible because Zhao did not know about you at all. But I told King Wei at that time that in fact, in addition to the jade seal handed down from the emperor, there was also a secret treasure from the previous dynasty. In addition to the gold and silver that was extremely rich, there was also the emperor's dragon spirit passed down from generation to generation. ! And these are things that you and Qin Mubai have not discovered and cannot find. Only Zhao knows about it! - In this way, Zhao survived. Under the secret order of King Wei, he recruited green forest heroes to find the treasure here. It’s been three years.”
"Fourth, your mind is so evil! Even if you have the imperial dragon spirit, it shouldn't be his!" Li Ke punched the table with a little annoyance.
"I also know that King Wei is not a good person. So, I quickly betrayed him." Zhao Chong smiled very playfully and said, "Just before the execution of the Queen of Autumn, His Majesty the Emperor came to patrol the prison in person as usual. , I met him for the second time. In fact, when His Majesty came to see me for the first time, I found out that the reason was that I indirectly helped him find the Jade Seal of the Kingdom. Yue Aiwu Jiwu. But at that time he could not say that because of legal justice. But this time when he came to patrol, Zhao knew that it was my last chance to survive, so I told His Majesty about Wei Ting and King Wei. Tell the truth without reservation... His Highness should be able to imagine the outcome. "
"Afterwards, my father turned a blind eye and let Wei Ting use the golden cicada's escape plan to save your life?" Li Ke said in surprise, "From then on, you became my father's ambush between Wei Ting and Wei Ting. Where is the spy from King Wei?"
"Your Highness, you are really wise!" Zhao Chong chuckled, "That's right. On weekdays, Zhao is the eagle and dog's minion raised by Wei Ting; secretly, Zhao recruits green forest heroes to help King Wei find treasures, and occasionally does some coercion. Kidnapping, murder and silence. In fact, Zhao is a confidant of His Majesty the Emperor, lurking beside Wei Ting and King Wei. At critical moments, he will strike back - just like what happened today, Zhao Rush to save King Wu!"
"So that's it..." Li Ke took a long breath and finally realized it. Suddenly he was shocked: "Did you tell my father beforehand about saving me?"
"No." Zhao Chong shook his head. "First of all, the incident happened suddenly and there was no time to repay. Secondly, His Majesty the Emperor said that he would never see me again and only asked me to help him secretly. If there is no earth-shattering event or his will, , I cannot reveal my identity.”
"Then my father and mother really don't know anything about it. Aren't they anxious and worried?" Li Ke's eyebrows were furrowed and his face was filled with worry.
"Don't you want to ask, Your Highness, who sent me to kill you?" Zhao Chong said.
"Isn't it Wei Ting and King Wei?" Li Ke was a little confused.
"Haha -" Zhao Chong smiled strangely, "If I tell you, you won't believe it. In fact, it is Wei Ting who wants to kill you; but it is King Wei who wants to save you!"