Tong Guan fled over the mountain with Xin Xingzong, because they were worried about the pursuit of the horse thieves, and the two did not dare to flee along the official road. Wuma Mountain is the remnant vein of Taihang Mountain, in a north-south direction, although the mountain is not high, but these two have been pampered for a long time, and have not walked out of four or five miles, their clothes are carved out of many big holes by mountain stones and thorns, and their hands and feet are grinding out blood blisters, and their calves seem to be filled with lead. "These Diao people, when this official returns to Bianjing, he will definitely send troops to clear them." Tong Guan hated and hated.

"That's what your lord said!" Xin Xingzong echoed weakly, but there was a grunt in his stomach, and he hadn't touched rice for a long time. Tong Guan is the fortunate minister of the Son of Heaven, he is also a general, for a long time, from the pathfinding, camping, and even preparing horses and equipping these idle chores, they are all done by their subordinates, and the two masters don't need to think about it at all. At this moment, he fled in a hurry, and actually forgot to bring dry food and water.

The two of them trekked in the mountains for three whole hours, and found a small tree hanging with a lot of wild fruits, which seemed to have traces of wild beasts such as deer and sheep gnawing, and the two were overjoyed to pick several pieces, who expected that when they bit down, the fruit was sour and astringent, and Tong Guan almost didn't stick out his tongue. Xin Xingzong ate two fruits, but he was still not hungry. Seeing that it was getting late, Xin Xingzong's eyes lit up, and he pointed to the thatched house under the mountain and said, "My lord, there is a family there!" ”

Tong Guan also leaned his head over and hesitated: "Could it be another ringing nest?" The two looked at each other, their faces on the other side were covered with dust and vicissitudes, and they finally made up their minds that in order to fill their stomachs, even if it was Longtan Tiger's Den, they had to break through.

After climbing to the bottom of the mountain, the two of them first lay in the grass and observed for a long time, and finally found that there seemed to be only an old peasant couple in the grass house, so they came out with peace of mind. The old man was also kind, and when he saw the two people in distress, he asked his wife to cook more millet rice, and scooped out a scoop of water from the stove house for the two of them.

Tong Guan gulped the water into his stomach, and Xin Xingzong watched with a blank eye, until the adult stroked his stomach and handed over the empty gourd scoop, and the old man took it and asked his wife to scoop a scoop of water again.

"Look at the appearance of the two of you, are you from outside the mountain?" The old man smiled and groaned.

"Yes, the two of us met a horse thief on the official road, and it took a lot of hard work to escape with our lives." Tong Guan said as he spoke, and his eyes turned red, as if he was really a businessman who had encountered a strongman.

"Alas! It's not easy in this world! The old man sighed, "A year ago, there weren't so many bandits. He paused, then suddenly changed his words, and scolded in an accentuated tone: "It's all that damn traitor Tong Guan, who has made everything outside the mountain have no way to live, so he has to run to the mountain." After saying that, he slapped the table. The old man's hand was extremely strong, and with a bang, Tong Guan's eyelids jumped in fright. The old man himself hurriedly laughed and said: "Countrymen are used to being rude, and the guest officer is not strange." Then he began to babble and curse Tong Guan. The news of the mountain people is very closed, and they are often despised by people outside the mountain, so the old man knows that the most common topic for people outside the mountain is to scold Tong Guan, so in order not to make the guests boring, he also scolded in front of the two of them with great interest.

Tong Guan didn't dare to reveal his identity again, but when he listened, his face was cloudy, and Xin Xingzong also had a bitter face, and said secretly: "When I find the local government, I will definitely put this old couple in prison for punishment, if he has children, he must cut off his children and grandchildren, so as to relieve the hatred in his father-in-law's heart." ”

The old man scolded for a long time, and the two guests didn't agree, he felt a little embarrassed, and said with a smile: "The countrymen don't know how to entertain guests, the two officials sit first, I'll go to the stove house to have a look, the old woman is slow to cook dinner." Then he got up and went out. At this time, the farmhouses were mostly made of thatch and branches, and the stove houses were built separately from the other houses in order to prevent fire.

Xin Xingzong was about to comfort him at first, but Tong Guan glanced at him first, and said in a low voice: "Go out and have a look, beware of this old thief." ”

Xin Xingzong nodded immediately, tiptoed behind the old man, and when he saw him walk into the stove room, he quietly squatted outside the door and eavesdropped, only to hear the old man's urn and said angrily: "Old woman, where is the * of our medicine mouse, find it out quickly!" ”

Xin Xingzong was shocked when he heard this, and almost fell down.

He didn't dare to stay, and tiptoed back into the house again, saying the same thing to Tong Guan. When Tong Guan heard this, he gritted his teeth and said, "What a vicious old thief." Xin Xingzong said: "My lord, these two old guys don't have the strength, and they only dare to poison them." Strike first, let the last general slaughter them. ”

Tong Guan scolded: "Reckless! Killing these two angered the thief even more. His face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "It's better to escape from the thieves' den while it's dark." ”

Xin Xingzong immediately nodded yes, and the two of them rummaged around the house together, took out the fine skills of searching the place, found some fruits and millet hidden by the farmer, wrapped a rag coat, and escaped at night.

When the old man went back to the room, he saw that he was turned over everywhere, lost a piece of clothing and food, and couldn't help but scold: "I said how sneaky, two thieves, fell to death in the mountains in the dark!" "It turned out that because the rats drilled at night, the old man couldn't sleep well, so he and his wife asked for rat poison to drive away the rats.

Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong didn't dare to stay near the thieves' den, and they didn't know the direction at night, they staggered up the mountain in the dark, just trying to escape as far as possible. For many times, Master Tong was so tired that he couldn't crawl, so Xin Xingzong carried him on his back. Tong Guan was grateful, and sighed: "Xingzong, you are the only one among the generals who is loyal, and when I return to the official family, I will definitely live and cultivate in you, and the marquis is not a problem." Xin Xingzong was originally exhausted, but he was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, "Then it will all depend on the support of Master Tong." "There is strength under my feet, too.

At this moment, in the show pavilion of Bianjing Gonglou, a light was slightly lit, Chen Dongping raised his hands to the mirror, and Master Li tied a wide belt for him behind him, and smoothed the folds of his clothes. Chen Dong often stayed in Master Li's pavilion, which was an open secret in Gonglou. His family is wealthy, and he has also made generous moves. At this time, although he was restricted by his old man to his hands a little tight, and the reward was not as generous as before, but one of the girls was willing, and the other was that Li's mother was also holding back, and the two of them were deeply affectionate and the best, and when it was time to redeem himself, he would not only force out the girl's private savings, but also knock a large sum of money from Chen Dong.

"Chen Lang goes out early and returns late these days, and the concubine is always a little frightened." Master Li whispered behind him, holding his shoulders and leaning his body behind Chen Dong.

The undulating gentleness made Chen Dong also a little addicted, and he immediately settled down, gently patted the soft wattle on his shoulder, and whispered sideways: "The husband must do something." The old thief thought he could cover the sky with one hand, but he didn't know that it was difficult to commit the wrath. He smiled slightly, and said, "Thanks to Tong Guan, the dog thief, the old and the new Qingliu who are divided in the court, there is a faint tendency to join forces, this court, after all, is a scholar and the Son of Heaven to rule the world together, even if the official family favors the old thief again, it won't be long before the luck is cut off, the merchants*, and the capital are in turmoil, and he should recognize clearly that the hearts of the people in the world are turned back." Cai Jing, an old thief, finally had a miscalculation. The fortunes of the country are sinking day by day, and this sincerity is a good opportunity to turn things around in one fell swoop! ”

Master Li had heard what he said several times, and he leaned slightly in front of Chen Dong, sorted out his positive appearance for him, and said in a low voice: "The concubine can only praise and pray every day, and may the gods in the sky keep Chen Lang's great things successful." After speaking, he stood two steps away, looked at Chen Dong, who was dignified, and said with a smile: "It's all done." The concubine sent her husband out. ”

The so-called Qingliu in the DPRK and China is not completely devoid of its own forces, and the agitation of attacking Tong Guan for dozens of days, coupled with the power under the table, some shops in the Bianjing market have closed down, and the transportation in the southeast is not very smooth, and the official reasons are varied. In private, it is said that there are traitors in the court, and the market is not peaceful.

The situation seemed to slowly slip out of Cai Gongxiang's expectation and control, and what made him most angry was that Tong Guan clearly set off from Hejian a few days ago, and then disappeared.

Although if the Qingliu in the DPRK made a big deal and angered the officials, it was the crown prince Zhao Ke who suffered in the end. But the loss of control still made Cai Jing a little angry. According to common sense, in order to avoid long nights and dreams, Tong Guan should not stop and rush all the way back to Bianjing.

At present, there are not too many bullets in the Qingliu for the chaos in Hebei, but there is already a momentum of mountain rain in the DPRK and China, and whoever is the first to jump out may become the target of the party's struggle. Tong Guan is now nowhere to be seen, and some of the officials who were originally attached to him in the court are leaderless, and they are also anxiously waiting for the deity to appear. Several important ministers of the court in front of the official family, Cai Jing, Wang Fu, Li Bangyan, Liang Shizhong, although they have some affection for Tong Guan, and they also want to pull the prince off the horse as soon as possible, but since the leak in Hebei was poked out by Tong Guan himself, he should have the consciousness to go back to Beijing to wipe his ass as soon as possible, and my Cai Mansion is not opened for your Tong family. Several important ministers knew in their hearts that as long as Tong Guan appeared, with his wit and official family taking care of the old Qing Dynasty, and using his personal temperament, most of them would be able to settle things. And if others interfere too much in this matter, the officials will suspect that they have formed a party for personal gain.

Time passed day by day, Tong Guan was still nowhere to be seen, and Cai Jing was getting angrier and angrier. He even secretly tested Shen Yun to see if he was a ghost caused by the Imperial City Division, and Shen Yun sent it away with the words "There is no such thing" with a straight face. With the information of Cai Jing's confidant in the Imperial City Division, the Imperial City Division Jinqian Mansion is also making every effort to find Tong Guan.

Taihang Mountain, stretching for 800 miles, the momentum is magnificent, the terrain is complex and changeable, countless mountain ranges are cut by Juma River, Hutuo River, Zhanghe River, Qin River and many others, many horizontal valleys, locally called "陉", there are many faults left by ancient earthquakes, the mountains are precipitous, especially the east of Taihang Mountain is the steepest. Affecting the luck of the two sides of the Great Song Dynasty Qingliu and the traitorous party, the long-awaited Tong Daren and his confidant Xin Xingzong have been lost for almost ten days in this reckless Taihang Mountain.