Emperor Wu reigned for nearly 60 years and successively deposed three princes, and Xu Jing, the king of Qi, was the fourth.

Dozens of princes died of illness, and those who were alive became half-centenarians, Emperor Wu was finally old, and Xu Jing was the most likely to survive Emperor Wu to become a prince of the new emperor of Dayang. The reign of the Shengming, the longest-reigning emperor in the history of the Yang Dynasty, was coming to an end, and the top and bottom of the Yang Dynasty, as well as the civil and military officials, were secretly relieved.

At this time, it is inevitable that there will be a little slack.

Emperor Wu is old, although he still cares about the world, but for this kind of trivial matter, he no longer has the energy or strength to take care of it, Xu Jin Xu Heng only went to the banquet with Xu Jing's approval. But Xu Jin was still worried about this, thinking that he was not cautious enough, and after the first time such a time happened, the ministers who secretly supported the prince would inevitably be impetuous and impatient, so he would have trouble in his life.

But Xu Jing's methods are powerful, on the fifth day of the first lunar month after New Year's Day, the first court meeting and afterward, there was no situation expected by Xu Jin, which made him feel a lot more at ease.

This is roughly what happened during the New Year's Day and Spring Festival in the Imperial Capital Shen'an Castle, and these seem to have nothing to do with the people who spent the New Year in the palace of the King of Qi.

It's time to practice, it's time to eat, it's time to play, and it's been a comfortable New Year's Day.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, after midnight, Xu Jing rushed back to the Qi Royal Mansion to reunite with his relatives, and the prince of the East Palace, as an elder, saw a large group of people waiting for him to return, and his heart was happy, and he gave everyone present a lot of money, not only Shangguan Tingxue and Xu Zhen, two children, but also Xu Jin, Xu Heng, Su Su, Pu Feng, Chen Changsheng, etc., and even Jiang Zuo, who had been sleeping, put him under the pillow.

From the first day of the Lunar New Year to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, in addition to the early morning invitation and the banquet in the palace, Xu Jing returned to the Qi Palace, enjoying the joy of family. In the past, it was the crown prince Sun Xu Heng who took Shangguan Tingxue around, and now it is Princess Anle who takes a group of friends to play all kinds of games, and forcefully inserts herself into the fun of Xungui's children.

Shangguan Tingxue was spoiled by the crown prince Xu Jing, and now she is directly named a princess by Emperor Wu, and she is even more lawless. The power condensed in a small child made the children of Shen'an Xun red, but no one dared to provoke or move.

And the way the ghost sons of Huangjing played also made Pu Feng and others gain a lot of knowledge.

Time flies between plays, and in a blink of an eye, it is the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. From the beginning of the Shangyuan Festival on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the Shangyuan Festival lantern exhibition has appeared in Shen'an City. At night, the streets and alleys of the entire Shen'an City are lit up and brightly lit, and the night is endless, which is more like a city that never sleeps than the city of Xijing.

On the night of the fifteenth, Shen'an City was immersed in a sea of lights. In addition to the colorful lanterns of different patterns, huge lantern wheels, lamp trees, and lampposts can be seen everywhere, and the city is full of fire trees and silver flowers, which is very prosperous and lively.

Countless residents of Shinan took to the streets, watching lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, watching street juggling, and eating all kinds of food. Xu Heng and the others were no exception, and Xu Jing did not return home because of the affairs of the court, so several of their juniors came out to play together.

From the moment you leave the house, you enter the sea of lights. There are no fake lanterns inside the Qi Palace, but there are no lights outside the door. Although there are few pedestrians on the whole Wanghou Alley, the quality and quantity of the lanterns are indeed first-class.

But the small number of people is indeed not an advantage, Shangguan Tingxue and Xu Zhen didn't bother to look at the lights of Wanghou Alley, and as soon as they went out, they threw out of the alley and rushed to the street where thousands of people were empty. They came out to see the lantern show two days ago and knew where to be bored and where to have fun.

After the two teenagers, Xiao Yi and a handsome young man trotted behind, guarding against the two of them getting lost.

Xu Heng, Su Su and the others were not as excited as teenagers, and walked slowly behind.

"Brother, brother, hurry up, the street parade is just at the mouth of the alley, come and see!" The girl and boy had already run to the alley, looking at the street parade team that happened to walk to Wanghou Lane, her face was full of excitement, and the girl quickly turned her head to greet Xu Heng.

There are many types of street parades, and most of them are paid by the government to hire artists to perform on the night of the Lantern Festival, walking the streets and alleys, and bringing joy to the people. When you come to Shen'an City, you need jugglers to recommend themselves, and after many competitions, they are qualified to perform in Li Chuan Lane in Shen'an City.

And the one who happened to walk to Wanghou Lane was playing dragon lanterns. The thirteen sections of the paper tie long dragon are golden, wearing color and gold, and are reasonably danced by more than a dozen sturdy young men, with both form and spirit, lifelike, walking endlessly on the streets of Shen'an City, attracting countless passers-by to marvel.

Shangguan Tingxue and Xu Zhen looked excited, Xu Heng and the others also saw that their eyes lit up, and when they arrived at the alley, the dragon lantern was also nearing the end, and they happened to see a tail passing by the alley, the dragon's tail was smart, and there was really a feeling of dragon flying and phoenix dancing. I have to sigh at the high skill of the artist.

"This is a dragon dance team funded and trained by the children of Wanghou Lane, all of whom are good players selected from all over the world, and won the top three in the dragon dance competition in one fell swoop, becoming one of the teams qualified for the dragon dance in the city. After reading the dragon tail, Xu Jin smiled and introduced the origin of this dragon dance team with a smile, which caused several people around him to sigh.

It's just that Shangguan Tingxue was too lazy to listen to the story behind the dragon team, and the few people who were already walking were slowed down by his brother Xu Jin, and he was even more impatient, so he hurriedly ran over and grabbed Xu Jin's hand, shook it and said: "Brother Jin, hurry up! I heard that a group of juggling teams from the Western Regions came to Suzaku Street, it's very fun, let's go quickly!"

"Listen to Xue, didn't we see a lot of juggling troupes from the Western Regions when we stayed in Xijing City, and you haven't seen them before!"

Xu Heng smiled and told Shangguan to listen to the snow to dismantle the stage, which caused the girl to stare at her eyes and pout: "Brother Jin hasn't seen it yet?

"Hey, I haven't seen it either, why didn't you say take me to see it?!" At this time, Xiao Xi, who was standing next to Xu Jin, said with a resentful look, "Tingxue, don't you like your sister Xiao Xi anymore?!"

Xiao Xi said and reached out to catch Shangguan Tingxue, Xiao Xi is Shangguan Tingxue's nemesis, the girl hurriedly let go, dodged to the side, leaned to Xu Heng's side, and while using another brother as a block, she nervously urged Xu Heng and said: "Brother, let's go, it's late to eat, no, I didn't see it!"

The girl accidentally slipped her mouth and was heard by everyone. Xiao Xi scolded with a smile, "You know how to eat?!", and then thought of the hard work she had worked for not to grow meat on weekdays, and suddenly lost her interest in playing.

Under the repeated urging of the girl, everyone started again and walked directly to Suzaku Street, which runs north and south.

Emperor Wu ordered the state treasury to fund and the Ministry of Industry to implement, and made twelve brilliantly lit lantern towers, from the Mingde Gate in the middle of Shen'an City to the Suzaku Gate in the middle of the southern part of the Imperial City, filling the entire Suzaku Street. The twelve lantern towers were made in advance, and they were only placed in place one by one today, and when the sky was getting dark, they were lit at the same time, illuminating the entire Shen'an City. The gold is splendid, the sky is bright, strolling in it, there is quite a shocking feeling of "white jade in the sky, five cities on the twelfth floor".

Even Xu Heng and his entourage were quite shocked when they really saw that the towers were almost as tall as the city towers, and the seats were connected until the extreme north and south.

Overhead, there are tall lamp towers, and below the towers, there are weaving pedestrians.

Colorful lanterns are everywhere, juggling the streets, and countless food stalls that gather the flavors of Tiannan and Haibei are placed along the street, and the pedestrians are clustered and lively. Immersed in this situation, my heart is as calm as Pufeng, and I can't help but be lively.

Not to mention those two little kids.

Shangguan Tingxue and Xu Zhen were very excited by the lively scene, running around to see the jugglers eating and eating, followed by their relatives and masters, jumping around without any scruples.

From time to time, I see interesting things coming to pull my relatives and masters to go with me, or I see delicious things running around and pulling the same products in the past. I was overjoyed.

Shangguan Tingxue and Pu Feng ran to the front, Xiao Yi and another teenager followed behind, Pu Feng and You Zishi were not very worried about the safety of the four people in front, so they ran to the front to take care of Xu Heng and Xu Jin.

It just so happened that Xu Heng and Xu Jin didn't like to be lively, so they let them play by themselves, anyway, with the escort of Pu and You, two masters of the rivers and lakes, their safety naturally did not have to worry.

Su Su was dragged by Xiao Xi to play elsewhere, and the group was immediately left with Xu Heng, Xu Jin, and Chen Changsheng still slowly enjoying the lights and scenery on Vermilion Bird Street.

When walking through the ninth lantern tower from south to north, Xu Jin withdrew his gaze from the lanterns on the side of the street and turned his head to look at the brothers beside him: "Are you going to leave after the Lantern Festival?"

"Hmm. Although I don't know how Xu Jin knows, but for his relatives, Xu Heng has no need to hide it, he nodded and said, "Chai Xing's death is unknown, I want to go to the ghost city of Xudu to see if the ghost city of Xudu is really a hell on earth, and his ghost is listed." ”

Xu Jin knew what the relationship between Xu Heng and Chai Xing was, and expressed his understanding of Xu Heng's "impulsiveness", but he had some concerns about the ghost city of Xudu: "The ghost city of Xudu ...... Is it the castle that has been rumored to be in Shin'an Castle lately?"

"Yes, brother, you should know,"

After returning to Shen'an City, Xu Heng knew how evil the ghost city of Xudu was here, Xu Jin lived here for a long time, and he must have known, but how did he hesitate a little? Is there any secret in this?

Xu Heng asked curiously, "Is there another ghost city in Xudu?"

"Yes. Xu Jin turned his head and looked to the northeast, "Ring around the city." ”

"Ring around the city?" Xu Heng pondered the name, feeling a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it, it should be a name that was not very important.

Xu Jin didn't wait for Xu Heng to think clearly, and said the answer himself: "Before the appearance of the ghost city of Xudu, there was originally a city ...... there."

was mentioned slightly, Xu Heng immediately remembered the city that was occupied and changed by the ghost army of Xudu: "It is the city occupied by the ghost city of Xudu!"

Xu Jin bowed his head, Xu Heng was sure in his heart.

It is also strange to say, Xu Heng heard about the ghost city of Xudu from different people several times, but he only talked about the establishment of the ghost city of Xudu, but no one mentioned the real name of the city.

Set around the city.

Xu Heng's vague impression was still seen in the information he had obtained from the Jianghu Division in the Qi Wangfu during this period of time, but he only glanced at it casually and didn't care much.

But here in Xu Jin, how did Dinghuan City become another ghost city in Xudu?

Thinking of this, Xu Heng remembered a discovery he made when he was reading through the materials: the court's attitude towards the ghost army of Xudu.

Although it is said that the ghost city of Xudu has been considered a force in the rivers and lakes since its appearance, it occupies a city, a city on the territory of Dayang. It stands to reason that once such a transgression occurs, even if he occupies an empty city. As long as it still exists under the rule of Dayang, the Imperial Court will not sit idly by.

In Shao Yinshui's account, the court of the Yang Dynasty returned in vain in contact with the ghost city of Xudu, and was later recognized by the court and included in the map of the Dayang board. But in fact, judging from the literature Xu Heng has read recently, the court has not had any views and countermeasures on the seizure of the city around the city at all, only the attack of the Japanese invaders has been slightly reported, but it is only a good news sent by the city guard.

In the Jianghu Division, there was a record of the ghost city of Xudu, but it was not directly said that the ghost city of Xudu was built on the Dinghuan City. Rather, it is said that the ghost army of Xudu has established the ghost city of Xudu in the canyon between Qilaotu Mountain and Lunuer Tiger Mountain from Mobei to the south of Huangjing to the junction of the five counties of Huangjing, the seven provinces of the East China Sea and the three places of Mobei. On the way south, he repelled a wave of Japanese pirates who suddenly appeared on the border.

That's all.

The subsequent record is only the record of the local envoy who went to check it: the ghost city of Xudu disappeared out of thin air!

At first glance, it was a perfunctory record, how could Xu Heng believe it? It was impossible for the complete investigation and records to stop there, but the other information that Yujingtang gave him was all detailed, and it was impossible to hide anything in this regard, so in this case, the only explanation could only be that even Yujingtang's authority was not enough, and it was difficult to touch the truth about the ghost city of Yudu.

This further strengthened Xu Heng's idea of going to investigate.

When Xu Jin mentioned the ghost city of Xudu just now, he must have something to say to himself, and if he can't get news from the Jianghu Division, he may not be able to get it from his brother. As soon as he thought of this, Xu Heng came back to his senses and asked his brother beside him for advice: "Brother, do you know anything about Dinghuancheng?"

"I know," Xu Jin nodded, looked at the lamp tower in front of him and recalled, and then said to his younger brother beside him as he walked, "I have a friend who is the county magistrate of Liaoheyuan County under Nuluer Tiger Mountain......

"That friend of mine, he went during the day, he went directly into Dinghuan City, walked around Dinghuan City, and found,"

"What's the matter?" Xu Heng couldn't help asking.

Xu Jin smiled: "-Everything in the city is as usual, and there has been no change as rumored. ”

(End of chapter)