In a separate cell in the damp and dimly lit prison of the Ministry of Punishment, a middle-aged man in a road uniform was sitting cross-legged in a pile of hay on the ground, closing his eyes and recuperating.

"Bang la la" came the sound of the cell door chain opening.

The middle-aged Taoist priest couldn't help but open his eyes and watch. I saw a young man with a white face, a sword eyebrow, and a strange expression on his face pacing in.

The Taoist priest looked him up and down curiously: this person was not wearing an official uniform, nor did he see a faceless face, let alone an invincible posture, so he should not be a person in the officialdom. New inmates? Seeing that he was cleanly dressed, the texture of his clothes did not look like that of ordinary people, and he was not depressed, and he walked around the street calmly, and he did not look like an unkempt prisoner......

Filled with doubts in his heart, the man walked up to him, sat down unceremoniously, and sat cross-legged on the haystack opposite.

Guan Yu raised his head and stared at the Dao Master in front of him for a moment, then a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he said, "I have wronged the Dao Master, let you devote yourself to cultivating in this prison." What kind of treasures are in your red pills, which have actually harmed the lives of the saints today, I am afraid that you will suffer more grievances in the future! ”。

The Taoist priest on the opposite side snorted coldly, rolled his eyes and whispered: "Although I don't know who you are, no matter who you are, just a few words will force me to tell the secret recipe of the elixir that I have obtained after ten years of hard research!" ”。

Guan Yu laughed and said, "The Dao Elder is too worried!" At the moment, no one paid attention to the high-ranking officials and ministers outside, and no one believed in your so-called elixir secret recipe, but they were just discussing: were you instructed by others to deliberately poison the saint, or did you do it unintentionally...... This is a big difference, and it has to do with whether the Taoist chief is dragged out and beheaded or exiled to the wilderness ......."

Speaking of this, Guan Yu deliberately paused and paused, his eyes staring directly at the face of the Taoist priest in front of him.

The middle-aged Taoist priest was no longer calm when he heard this, his body shook slightly involuntarily, and at the same time, the muscles of his face twitched uncontrollably twice, and a trace of imperceptible fine sweat flowed from his forehead.

He tried to sit up straight, calmed his emotions, and let out a cold snort from his nostrils, and said in a steady tone, "You want to scare me? Poor road has been walking the rivers and lakes for many years, what wind and waves have you never seen? After ten years of hard research, refining the elixir of immortality, and coming all the way to pay tribute to His Majesty, how can he have the heart to do harm? ”。

Guan Yu nodded slightly and said, "I think about it." You have never met today's saints, you have no grudges in the long days, and there is no enmity in the near future, and the dedication of the "elixir" is nothing more than wanting to fight for fame and fortune, glory and wealth. I don't dare to murder the true son of heaven if you have a few guts! So, you've probably been wronged. ”

The middle-aged Taoist priest's thick neck bone rolled up and down a few times, although he did not open his mouth to answer. But looking at Guan Yu's eyes, there was obviously a bit of gratitude and closeness.

Guan Yu raised his eyebrows again, looked the Taoist priest in front of him up and down a few times, and grinned: "Dare to ask Dao Chief: After ten years of hard research to refine such an elixir, I just want to ask, have you ever tasted the effect of the medicine with your own mouth, and are there any side effects?" ”。

The middle-aged Taoist priest was stunned for a moment, swallowed his saliva twice and replied: "I am a cultivator, and sooner or later I will become an immortal, how can I be greedy for the prosperity of Hongchen?" Not to mention that the elixir is extremely difficult to refine, and it is only suitable for the true dragon to take it. Those who are blessed are hard to bear! Those who are not qualified to enjoy it will not only not be beneficial to longevity and immortality, but will also bury the root cause! ”。

Guan Yu sighed lightly when he heard this, stood up and paced back and forth in front of him with his hands behind his back, walked around twice, and suddenly stopped in front of him, squinted his eyes, leaned over and sneered: "Dao Chang means that the current saint is not the true son of heaven, and he is not blessed to receive your elixir, so he will die a whimper, right?" You poisoned the saint, not count, but also slander his reputation, this is a disobedience, a crime on top of a crime, a heinous crime, and the nine clans should be killed! ”。

The middle-aged Taoist priest trembled, hurriedly stood up, waved his hand again and again, and said: "Poor Dao has no meaning of that, I just said: The elixir is specially refined for the saint, and no one else in the world is qualified to taste it!" ”。

After speaking, he lifted the long sleeves of his robe and wiped the sweat from his head.

Guan Yu slowly straightened up, retracted his gaze, and began to pace back and forth with his hands behind his back, and after a few back and forth, he suddenly stopped in front of the Taoist priest, and reprimanded in a hurried voice: "This king originally came out of kindness to save your life, but you don't know what to do, and you are still full of nonsense, it seems that Your Excellency is determined not to live!" Do you think that if you pound ginseng, deer antler, epimedium into powder, cnidium monnieri and cistanche, and then mix some gold sand powder and mercury, you will lie to the outside world that it is an elixir and deceive others, but you can hide it from this king?! ”。

The Taoist priest suddenly widened his eyes, spread his hands, shook his body violently, and blurted out, "Who are you?" Where did you steal the secret recipe that you have been studying for many years!? ”。

Guan Yu stared at the Taoist priest's eyes with a straight face, and after a while, he shook his head lightly and said, "If I say that I guessed blindly, can you believe it?" ”。

After saying that, Guan Yu turned his head, brushed his sleeves away, and strode out of the prison door.

The middle-aged Taoist priest slammed into the prison door, clutching the fence with both hands and shouting, "Now that you know the recipe that you have obtained from years of hard research, you can know that I only have filial piety to the saint, and I have no intention of harming him. What else am you doing behind me? Let me out! ”。

Guan Yu couldn't help but stop, glanced back at him with disdain, and replied, "You deceived the world and stealing your name, bullying the king, and you still want to get out of the prison alive?" It's just a fool's dream, wishful thinking! ”。

Coming to the door of Dazaifu, Guan Yu turned over and dismounted, handed over the reins to the guards behind him, and hurried up the steps.

When the guards in front of Dazaifu saw that it was the king of Dingbei, they all bowed their heads and bowed slightly, not daring to stop them.

Walking to the inner room, Shi Dazai, who was dressed in civilian clothes, hurriedly greeted him and asked, "The sixth brother came just in time, but he has been to the prison of the Criminal Department?" Is that bull-nosed old man willing to confess? Who did he conspire with to murder the royal brother? ”。

Guan Yu shook his head slightly, sighed softly, reached out and grabbed the tea bowl on the table and poured a few sips first, then turned around and sat down, and told Shi Tiangong about the situation he asked and his thoughts one by one.

Shi Tian stroked his long beard with his hands, squinted his eyes slightly, and nodded again and again as he listened.

Guan Yu paused slightly after speaking, looked at Shi Dazai and asked in a low voice, "What does the second brother plan to do with Jin Guifei and that Taoist priest?" ”。

Shi Dazai waved his sleeves angrily and said, "Whether intentionally or unintentionally, you have to crack that stinky Taoist priest!" As for Concubine Jin, her family has been flying in the court for many years in the name of the emperor's relatives and relatives, doing many evils, and the people's grievances are huge, so they just took this opportunity to behead them all over the house and exterminate the nine clans! ”。

After speaking, Shi Dazai frowned and looked back at Guan Yu and said, "By the way, sixth brother, although he is forced to keep secrets to the outside world, there is really no impermeable wall in this world. The two sons and nephews of the imperial brother, who heard the news from nowhere, led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the garrison to the capital city on the pretext of visiting the sick, shouting that they wanted to meet the saint, and I have sent someone to stop them. I'm looking for you to discuss a solution. You and I should work together and deal with it carefully, so as not to cause a big change! ”。

Guan Yu was slightly startled, and hurriedly asked, "How many soldiers and horses are available in most of the capital?" How many men did he bring with him? In case I make a move, I know it in my heart! ”。

Shi Dazai responded: "Since the Nguyen Wu rebellion, the imperial brother was bitten by a snake once, and he was afraid of the well rope for ten years. There are always 20,000 soldiers and horses stationed in the capital, and they can dispatch emergencies at any time. I have sent someone to investigate, Liu Yong and Liu Neng each brought about 10,000 soldiers and horses, it is estimated that they have not received the exact death of the imperial brother, but they are still ready to move, vainly trying to fight for the throne. ”

Guan Yu frowned, nodded slightly, and said, "How does the second brother of the imperial throne inheritance think about it?" ”。

Shi Tiangong sighed and said: "After the world was initially decided, the imperial brother had several heirs in the past two years, not to mention a few princesses, and the successors were the two princes, but they were still young!" The royal brother was in the prime of life, so he did not appoint a prince. In the order of eldest and youngest, the three-year-old prince under the queen's knees should succeed to the throne. The other prince is still in infancy, born to the lady concubine after you went to Qingzhou. ”

Guan Yu was stunned, his eyes widened and he asked, "The concubine you said was the girl like smoke on the Yanliu River back then?" ”。

Shi Tiangong nodded slightly: "That's right, it's her." ”

Guan Yu lowered his head silently, feeling lost in his heart. Yue'er actually gave birth to a prince for the royal brother, I originally wanted to take her to break through the barrier and fly away! Could it be that the two of us are really destined to have no part in this life?!

There was a sudden noise in front of the mansion, and then, a waiter hurriedly ran in, knelt on the ground and saluted Shi Dazai: "Tell Dazai-sama, there are two generals in front of the door, a fat and a thin one, and there are dozens of soldiers behind them, who want to break in." ”

Before the words fell, the noise had already swept into the courtyard, Guan Yu hurriedly got up and walked to the front of the house with Shi Dazai, and raised his hand to look out.

"What the fuck are you? Lao Tzu is a relative of the emperor, even if he Shi Tiangong sees the two of us, he has to be polite, and he dares to stop Lao Tzu, I'm afraid he doesn't want to live, right? Get out of here! ”。

Before the figure could be seen, a loud shouting and scolding came in first. Then, the hula-la-head surged, and the fat man with a big belly, armor, and a saber at his waist rushed to the front with a shout.

He raised his head suddenly, his eyes fell on Shi Tiangong's face on the steps, raised his arm, stretched out a thick index finger and pointed at Shi Tiangong unceremoniously and said, "Shi Dazai, where have you hidden my imperial uncle in the current saint?" The two of us came all the way to visit his old man's condition, why did you push back and block him in every possible way?! Isn't it suspicious, what kind of conspiracy?! ”。

Guan Yu, who was standing behind Shi Dazai, raised his eyes and looked at the faces of the visitors: the pair of thick and powerful broom eyebrows with distinct branches were a little similar to Liu Qian back then.

From behind the fat general, a thin man with the same armor and a waist like a hemp rod suddenly jumped out, and shouted with confidence across his waist: "Shi Dazai, you must explain clearly to our brothers today, otherwise don't blame us for being polite!" We need to meet today. ”

Shi Tiangong hurriedly bent down and said with a smile: "General Liu Yong and General Liu Neng, don't be impatient, the saint is seriously ill, after discussing with the ministers, he temporarily moved him out of the palace and found a secluded place to recuperate with peace of mind." This is also to listen to the advice of the imperial doctors. Since the two generals have come to our mansion, please come in for a short rest and drink tea, and we will talk ...... while drinking."

The round-bellied General Liu Yong raised his right arm and waved his hand suddenly: "Don't come to that set!" What is so good about tea, it is bitter, as if anyone has never drunk it when they are young, we are here to ask you for someone in person! ”。