It had been snowing all night, it was midnight, and the morning light had not yet emerged. There were a few bright lamps lit in the room. Huo Linfeng washed and dressed, and turned his face to look at Rong Luoyun on the bed from time to time.
Rong Luoyun rolled up the quilt, yearning for the warm quilt, squinting, staring at Huo Linfeng putting on the last layer of filial cloth. He sat up and asked, "Will Emperor Cheng be buried today?"
Huo Linfeng said "Yes": "The monks in Fa Temple will go to the imperial mausoleum after reciting scriptures."
The door was creaked and pushed open without knocking first, so it was naturally Lu Zhun who was so unruly. The little God of Wealth was radiant and flirtatiously wearing a purple jade crown, walked in and sat down beside the bed.
Huo Linfeng said: "The Lord of the Third Palace got up really early, what's the matter?"
Lu Zhun replied: "I want to go out for a walk." He said it seriously, "Chang'an is at the foot of the emperor, so you can't come here for nothing, at least you have to make a fortune."
Rong Luoyun asked: "Are you going out to rob the Tao?"
Lu Zhun raised his hand to touch the jade crown, he had asked the master to calculate it, robbery is a murderous job, it is easy to cause disaster, if you want to crack it, you need to wear brighter clothes to add a little joy. As the saying goes, "colorful purples and bright reds", when people wear red to seek death in national funerals, they should wear purple.
He also knew that Chang'an was heavily guarded, unlike Xiganling where the emperor was far away. "Brother Huo," he flattered, "You must know where the slack is, can you point out the way?"
Huo Linfeng has always held grudges: "Stop calling me second sister-in-law?"
Lu Zhun changed his face very quickly: "What second sister-in-law, you are a great general, and it was my second brother who became the general's wife."
Inside the bed, Rong Luoyun lifted the brocade quilt and kicked Lu Zhun out. Huo Linfeng couldn't help laughing, walked to the side of the bed and leaned over to hold Rong Luoyun's face, saying: "I'm entering the palace, you sleep again a little while."
After finishing speaking, he turned around and was about to leave, but stopped, Huo Linfeng said again: "Third Palace Master, it's the time of national mourning right now, and there are countless treasures offered in various places. There is a post house fifty miles outside the city, do you understand?"
Lu Zhun got up: "I understand, I understand!"
Huo Linfeng said: "Then take your second brother with you, let him go around too, he'll grow fat after staying in the mansion all day." As he spoke, he walked out, and stepped out of the bedroom swiftly.
Rong Luoyun was stunned on the bed, where did he gain weight? He raised his hand and squeezed his arm, stroked his belly, got out of bed barefoot and ran to the mirror stand, looked carefully at the bronze mirror, did not feel fat...
Lu Zhun came over and said, "Second brother, when you wake up, Du Zheng ordered people to prepare horses. Could it be that Big Brother Huo and Prince Rui rode to the palace?"
Rong Luoyun came back to his senses: "Only Linfeng himself." Yesterday Meng Tingyuan came back to explain some things, and went back to the palace overnight, "Why did you remember to ask Prince Rui?"
Lu Zhun didn't want to mention Prince Rui, but he heard his secret and endured it all night. He whispered: "I talked to him yesterday." With an inscrutable expression on his face, "Second brother, you don't know, Princess Rui actually..."
In a few or two sentences, Lu Zhun shook off the secret of Meng Tingyuan's husband and wife. Rong Luoyun was stunned for a moment, but after thinking about it for a while, he felt that it should be expected.
He warned: "Don't tell others about this, remember?"
Lu Zhun pondered, this could be regarded as a royal secret, if this was the condition, would Prince Rui want to reward him with a sealed amount of money... Silver, gold, South Sea pearl onyx, he leaned on the mirror stand with his hand on his chin, The more she thinks about it, the more beautiful she is, showing a naive and foolish smile.
Taking advantage of that fool's unconstrained style, Rong Luoyun cleaned his face and changed his clothes, tied up a high ponytail, and when he was dressed, he slapped Lu Zhun hard on the forehead, shattering his daydream.
The two brothers left the garden, did not go through the main entrance of the palace, leaned against the high wall and jumped lightly, and when they landed again, they were already somewhere in the south of the city. The gates of the city are heavily guarded, and the entry and exit must be strictly checked. It took half an hour in line to finally pass through.
Once out of the city, the important official roads are covered with guards, let alone robbery, and even driving on the road is under the watchful eyes of everyone. Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun judged the situation and chose the deep path with no one to walk south through the desolate forest.
No one was seen along the way, about twenty miles later, Rong Luoyun stopped and sniffed, smelling a foul smell of blood. Follow the smell, and gradually, you will come to a withered and yellow bush, covered with thick snow, and you can't see anything unusual.
Lu Zhun covered his mouth and nose, drew a machete and pushed the bushes away, the stench became stronger, and he used the knife grate to remove the floating snow, only to see several dead bodies lying there.
"Second brother, look!"
Rong Luoyun stared intently, moved his gaze a little further, and said, "It should be the same in front." He broke branches and approached, scraping off the snow covering all the way, exposing corpses one by one.
A total of sixteen people, without weapons, are all dressed as ordinary people, including old and young women and children. This road is hidden, who committed the crime, and why were these helpless people killed
"That..." Lu Zhun swallowed, "Could it be that he was robbed and killed?"
It's not impossible, but Rong Luoyun's sharp eyes picked up a bundle with a branch, and two pieces of silver fell out of it. Looking at the others, many people still had their luggage, which showed that the murderer was not trying to make money, but simply killed.
Rong Luoyun said, "Third brother, let's continue walking."
They were facing south, and the smell of the dead was more or less strong, but it never stopped, and corpses were found under the bushes one after another. After walking forty miles, Lu Zhun wiped his face and muttered, "No one was there along the way."
These words reminded Rong Luoyun that it was unusual to see only dead bodies and no living people for forty miles. After a while, he understood that this road was not guarded by officers and soldiers, and there were people walking on it at first, but no one dared to walk it now because they lost their lives in succession.
It seems that Huo Linfeng knew something was wrong and asked them to investigate on purpose.
Rong Luoyun said: "Third brother, go up the tree."
With a few falling leaves, Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun immediately hid themselves, and after ten miles passed by, they arrived at the exit of this dense forest, fifty miles away from Chang'an City. Outside the forest is a deserted road, and there are no post houses at all.
Rong Luoyun leaned on the branches, his ear bones moved slightly, and he detected a little movement with the six-way Sanskrit sound. He waited with bated breath for the sound of horseshoes, rolling of wheels, and the order for the journey. He didn't know which group of people and horses would walk such a deserted path.
After half a stick of incense, a line of nearly a hundred people approached inch by inch, all wearing ordinary clothes, but they couldn't hide their demeanor and appearance. Rong Luoyun had seen it in Saibei, and it was the unique aura of soldiers.
When the team came, when they passed under the tree, Lu Zhun wanted to fly to intercept him, but Rong Luoyun grabbed his back. He lowered his voice and asked, "Second brother, will you meet them if you don't go down?"
Rong Luoyun said: "Don't startle the snakes, let them go."
When a group of soldiers and horses gradually walked away, Rong Luoyun jumped off the tree and walked along the rut. Suddenly, he leaned over and picked up a feather, and put his head on the snow, which showed that it had just fallen, and there was no bird in the deep forest to suffer from the cold in this scene.
It could only have been... fallen from the carriage.
Rong Luoyun came to his senses and said, "It's Feather Arrows." The carts and bags of sacks must have been filled with weapons and food, and many people died along the way, which shows that these soldiers of unknown origin are by no means the first batch .
After figuring this out, Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun continued to ambush. Three groups of people passed by in one day, and it was nearly dusk when the last group arrived. The two brothers followed, and when they reached the outside of Chang'an City, the soldiers did not go through the main gate, but entered the city through the corner gate on the west side.
Such a suspicious team, three batches a day, was able to enter the city smoothly, which shows that the inside and outside are fundamentally colluding. Without any further delay, Rong Luoyun and Lu Zhun walked through several alleys and returned to Prince Rui's Mansion not long after.
Turning over and landing, Lu Zhun was startled: "Oh!"
Under the tree by the wall, Huo Linfeng stood with his elbows folded, and said with a smile, "I guess you're showing up from here, come and wait." Then Rong Luoyun turned around, and he took a step forward with sharp eyesight and opened his arms to catch the person up.
Hugging firmly and turning half a circle, the sleeves of the clothes brush off the snow on the tips, like falling flowers in spring.
Huo Linfeng asked: "What do you gain from robbery today?"
Rong Luoyun snorted coldly: "I'm ashamed to ask." He jumped off with his legs up, and slapped Huo Linfeng's chest with his palm, "General Huo, you are really cunning."
Huo Linfeng let the beating go: "I'm afraid that if I speak too clearly, it will make you lose interest."
While talking, he walked towards Zheyuan, and he dared not rest assured until he closed the door and entered the house. To put it more clearly, Rong Luoyun said: "There is a desolate mountain road fifty miles outside the city. Today, three teams of soldiers and horses entered the forest with weapons and weapons. forage."
Huo Linfeng asked: "How many people are in the team?"
Rong Luoyun thought for a while: "The minimum is close to a hundred, and the maximum is two to three hundred."
With his face up, Huo Linfeng dipped a cloth towel to clean his face. The hand holding the sword was so gentle that it even made him itchy. He asked: "Sneaky, whose soldiers are those people?"
Huo Linfeng said: "Did you forget? Chen Ruoyin has been recruiting troops all these years, and now it's finally coming in handy."
On the small couch, Lu Zhun was so hungry that his chest was pressed against his back, and he was holding a box of dim sum and was devouring it. Hearing this, he stopped and sprayed the residue of the dim sum and said, "What's the use? He wants to rebel?"
Huo Linfeng said lightly: "Wrong, he is afraid that someone will rebel."
Huo Linfeng will definitely not let go of the matter of colluding with the barbarians, even if the new emperor favors him, he will force Chen Ruoyin to pay the price. At that time, Chen Ruoyin will be able to label her as a "conspirator", and then send troops to suppress it, and it will be justified.
Rong Luoyun asked: "What are you going to do?"
Huo Linfeng shouted outside: "Du Zheng, tell Tian Che to come here."
It was already dark, Du Zheng went to call Tian Che with a lantern, Huo Linfeng sat at the table and waited, not long after, Tian Che came over in normal clothes and waited by the door to salute.
"Arrange it," Huo Linfeng ordered, "Ten elite cavalry are divided into two teams, and lie in ambush in the wild forest forty miles outside the city, taking turns. If any soldier enters the forest, no one is allowed to go out alive. "
Tian Che took the order: "Yes, the general will do it immediately."
This is going to kill someone, so Lu Zhun put down the lacquer box, walked to Rong Luoyun's side, and asked, "Second Brother, is something going to happen?"
Rong Luoyun said lightly: "Everything is within expectations and within the plan, so it's not an accident."
Lu Zhun went to ask Huo Linfeng again: "Brother Huo, Chang'an doesn't know how to fight?"
Huo Linfeng heard timidity, and deliberately said: "In order to get rid of traitors, it is natural to fight fiercely."
Lu Zhun thought to himself, one more of him is not much, and one less of him is not much. If he loses, he will die, but if he wins, he will not be promoted to a noble... He hesitated for a moment, then said dully: "Second brother, the end of the year is approaching. I want to go back to Xiganling."
Rong Luoyun exposed it: "Why are you so greedy for life and afraid of death?"
People in the Jianghu, the most taboo is "greedy life and fear of death", Lu Zhun covered it up and said: "No way...the money in the Golden Pavilion has not been spent yet, if something happens to me in Chang'an, wouldn't it mean that I will die with my eyes closed..."
Huo Linfeng and Rong Luoyun couldn't help it, and immediately burst out laughing. Lu Zhun lost face, and made amends: "Actually, I miss my elder brother. When I came here, my elder brother taught me how to palm..."
The room was full of excitement, suddenly there was a knock on the door, it was the housekeeper of Prince Rui's residence.
The housekeeper reported: "Young Master Rong, someone from outside the house is looking for you."
Rong Luoyun asked, "Who is it?"
The steward replied, "He said his name is Duan Huaike."