"The day before yesterday, the relatives were finally reunited, and they didn't know each other in life and death overnight."

Who would have thought that in one day, Taohualing Cottage could suffer such a catastrophe, and even the two elders of Li Shan also committed suicide by jumping off the cliff.

In fact, Yun Meng and Jiang Ying also expected that the official army would counterattack, but they didn't expect it to come so quickly. So why was Guo Shuai able to move in such a short period of time to rescue the soldiers? One or two must be explained here. It turned out that Yun Meng interrogated Guo Shuai that day, and found a secret letter from him, thus revealing a huge secret that he couldn't even dream of.

Guo Shuai confessed that he was originally a confidant of Pingnan General Du Shuo, and was later ordered to be transferred to General Zhennan.

Yun Meng didn't believe it at first after hearing it, and said suspiciously: "Guo Shuai, you don't want to deceive me, who doesn't know that the imperial court regulations clearly stipulate that the military salaries of each government should first be allocated from the Duzhi Shangshu Temple to the Wubing Shangshu Yamen, and then send special personnel to escort and transport them to the garrisons in various places, and they should all be official money. Where is there such a nondescript person as you, you say that you are ordered to escort military salaries, do you have official documents? If you can't get it out, you don't want to get out today! ”

Although Guo Shuai is a treacherous person, he is now a knife on his neck, and he knows that no matter how dishonest he is, he will suffer even more. So he said with a sad face: "King, what the small one said is indeed true, but this military salary is not the other military salary, and the small one escorted should actually be called private salary, which is privately collected and levied from all over the country, and is specially used for the deployment of the Western General's Mansion, so it is not the military salary allocated by the imperial court." ”

When Yun Meng heard this, he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and then asked, "If that's the case, do you have a certificate?" ”

Guo Shuai nodded frequently and replied: "Yes, yes, there is still a secret letter from General Zhennan to General Huanyuan on the little one, the king can see it at a glance." ”

Yun Meng hurriedly asked Jiang Ying to search his body, and sure enough, he found a letter in Guo Shuai's arms. Look at the envelope is indeed a letter written by General Zhennan to Huan Yuan, and it is also sealed with wax. Yun Meng picked up the letter and shone it in the light, and turned it over several times, wanting to see the content of the letter, but he didn't know whether to open it, how to open it?

Cao Qi, who was standing on the side, looked anxious, snatched the secret letter, and regardless of Yun Meng's obstruction, he tore open the envelope, took out the letter and handed it to Yun Meng, and said in his mouth: "Hey, I really don't understand, why is it so simple that things are always so troublesome." ”

Jiang Ying scolded with a smile: "You black brother, you are really not a fuel-efficient lamp!" ”

Yun Meng waved his hand, signaling the two of them not to speak yet, and gently unfolded the letter and read it. It's okay not to read it, the more you read it, the more Yun Meng's surprise increased, and then Yun Meng was already sweating on his forehead, his brows were tightly locked, and even the hand holding the letter couldn't help trembling slightly.

Jiang Ying was still in his heart, and he knew that there must be something wrong with Yun Meng's expression, so he asked someone to take Guo Shuai elsewhere first. Then he asked Yun Meng softly, "Brother, is there any trouble?" Is there something strange in this letter? ”

Yun Meng sighed, handed the letter to Jiang Ying and said, "They are all their own brothers, and there is nothing to hide, virtuous brother, take a look for yourself!" He buried his head deep in the crook of his arm and fell into deep thought.

Jiang Ying took the letter and read it quickly, but also gasped, Cao Qi was also curious, so he asked Jiang Ying what was written on the letter. Jiang Ying whispered to Cao Qi: "There are some things in the letter that I don't quite understand, but it says that this gold and silver was confiscated and raised by the Pingnan General's Mansion and the Zhennan General's Mansion, and it was also mentioned that because Yangzhou Assassin Shi investigated Du Shuo and was worried about the impact on General Huan, he was transferred to Jiangzhou instead of being sent directly to Jingzhou as usual. In addition, General Zhennan also begged General Huan that since the imperial court was so weak, it was better to make plans as soon as possible. ”

Cao Qi touched the back of his head and said: "It's a mess, it's been a mess for a long time, it turns out that this general Huan wants to set himself up as the king!" So what does Yun Meng have to do with us? ”

Jiang Ying stabbed Cao Qi with his elbow and reprimanded in a low voice: "What do you know, that General Huan is my brother's mentor." Cao Qi covered his mouth and didn't dare to say anything more.

At this time, Yun Meng's heart was so confused that he didn't hear the conversation between Jiang Ying and Cao Qi at all, although he didn't want to believe what was said in the letter, but it was clear that the mastermind behind Du Shuo's case was his mentor, and it also proved his original doubts about the supernumerary of Jingzhou soldiers and horses. Everything is too chaotic, Yun Meng is very conflicted in his heart and doesn't want to face it. That is, in the case of Yun Meng's confusion, Guo Shuai was let go in a daze, although Jiang Ying and Cao Qi had strongly opposed, Yun Meng still stubbornly believed that he should keep his promise.

Besides, after the captain Guo Shuai was released, he didn't dare to delay for a moment, he ran away, he knew in his heart that if he couldn't catch the bandits, he would have no way to live. Coincidentally, Guo Shuai didn't run far, and he met an army of officers and soldiers, Guo Shuai stopped the officers and soldiers, and as soon as he reported, it turned out to be the soldiers of Jingzhou. The person who commanded the army was Huan Yuan's cronies Xu Hong and Xu Guangda. Xu Hong was ordered by Huan Yuan to clear the remnants of King Cai, and was about to return to Jingzhou, when he happened to meet Guo Shuai, a lost dog, near Taohua Town. When Guo Shuai saw Xu Hong, he described what happened, of course, he must have made a big fuss, saying how powerful the Peach Blossom Mountain thieves were. When Xu Hong heard this, he was stunned, and the soldiers of the Beifu under the jurisdiction of the command post attacked the Peach Blossom Village, and they were caught off guard by Jiang Ying and were unprepared, which led to the later blood-stained Peach Blossom Village.

Xu Hong's Beifu soldiers are a strange soldier created by Huan Yuan himself, the number of Beifu soldiers is large, and they are divided into multiple battalions according to the color of the battle armor and battle flag, among which the black battalion is the most courageous, each is carefully selected, one in a hundred, and the body is strong, there are two under the hand, whether it is a single soldier, or a team of five people, ten people have a strong combat power, where can a group of minions in Taohuazhai be the opponent of the Beifu soldiers.

Xu Hong ordered the soldiers to quickly clean up the battlefield, and the one hundred and thirty boxes of gold, silver and jade that were robbed were also found, while Guo Shuai said with a smile: "General Xu is wise and powerful, and he leveled the Peach Blossom Village without much effort, and the last general really admires it." ”

Xu Hong snorted, he looked down on people like Guo Shuai from the bottom of his heart, and asked coldly: "Captain Guo, didn't you say that this thief leader of Peach Blossom Village is a person who looks like a scholar, have you ever seen this person when the two armies fought just now?" ”

Guo Shuai replied: "Back to General Xu's words, the little one looked carefully during the battle just now, and he really didn't see the thief leader, and he didn't find this person among the dead and wounded and captured thieves. But we should still be said to have won a big victory in this battle, General Huan will definitely do."

Before Guo Shuai finished speaking, he was stopped by Xu Hong, Xu Hong said: "Pifu, what do you know, if today's incident leaks the slightest bit of news and spoils the general's major event, you and I will be to blame even if we die." Don't go anywhere now, I'll leave you some manpower, you quickly inform the local yamen, draw shadows and graphics, let them send more people, set up more checkpoints, and check out the 20 miles radius of this Peach Blossom Mountain, but to the outside world, it can only be said that the official army suppressed bandits, but about the expedition to the west of the general's mansion can not be mentioned. Do you understand? Guo Shuai nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

Let go of the Peach Blossom Mountain side for the time being, and then say that Yun Meng took Qingyao, after parting with Jiang Ying and Cao Qi, galloped all the way, and returned to Jiangling three days later, the two hurried back to Huan Mansion, but learned from Yu Weng that Huan Yuan was not in the mansion, and went to Jiankang more than ten days ago. If you ask anything else, Yu Weng only replied that he didn't know, and asked Yun Meng to just wait in the mansion. Yun Meng's heart was in turmoil, where could he stay, so he secretly ran out of Huan Mansion without Yu Weng and went to Jiankang again.

Walking and walking, Yun Meng felt that something was wrong, there were many more checkpoints out of thin air, and the inventory was also very tight, fortunately, Yun Meng had the waist card of the West General's Mansion, and the officers and soldiers guarding the card were not embarrassed, just a few simple questions and let go.

At this time, Qing Yao urged the horse to Yun Meng's approach, glanced at the side with his eyes, and said softly: "Childe, look over there." Yun Meng followed Qing Yao's eyes, it turned out to be next to the checkpoint, posted with a bounty for arrest, and then looked at the portrait above, the painting was the head of Yun Meng, Jiang Ying, and Cao Qi, but maybe the level of painting was too poor, and Yun Meng had an extra beard.

Yun Meng hurriedly lowered his head and urged the horse to gallop away with Qing Yao. In the middle of nowhere, Yun Meng said to Qing Yao: "It seems that Taohuazhai has been suppressed by the official army, but I don't know how Jiang Ying and them are now?" ”

Qing Yao comforted Yun Meng and said: "Son, don't worry too much, haven't you already settled the master of Jiang Village and they evacuated Peach Blossom Village?" It is estimated that the official army is empty, and the people on the cottage should be fine. ”

Yun Meng sighed: "I hope so, but we also have to be careful along the way, I always feel that something is going to happen." ”

So the two no longer took the official road, but only took the small road, although the road was more detoured, but they avoided the officers and soldiers who were interrogating along the way. Finally, on this day, the master and servant finally arrived in Jiankang again. Although it is less than 20 days since Yun Meng left Jiankang last time, but today he re-entered Jiankang City is a great change in the scene, Jiankang City has disappeared from the bustling and lively flow of people in the past, a capital city of Nuoda is solemn and abnormal, the whole city is full of vegetarian, there are armed soldiers patrolling and standing guard everywhere, and the pedestrians on the road are also in a hurry. Yun Meng and Qing Yao got off the horse, and Qing Yao led the horse, and the two walked into the city.

Yun Meng was puzzled in his heart, and said in his heart: "This scene, it's not the Son of Heaven or the Queen Mother, I didn't expect so many things to happen in just a few days." ”

As he was walking, he heard someone behind him calling, "Is it Brother Yun Meng in front?" Yun Meng stopped, turned to look, but saw a young general, full of armor, behind him was a team of soldiers, Yun Meng looked carefully, it turned out to be Huan Ye.

Huan Ye saw that the person in front of him was indeed Yun Meng, so he walked forward quickly with a smile, arched his hand, and said, "Brother Jingluo, it's really you." Look at your dusty appearance, where did you come from? Didn't you come to Jiankang to deliver a letter at your father's behest? It's ......"

Yun Meng also arched his hand and said with a wry smile: "I didn't expect to meet a virtuous brother here by such a coincidence, but it's hard to say, the teacher is also in Jiankang?" ”

Huan Ye looked puzzled, hesitated for a moment and replied: "My father is indeed in Jiankang, but there have been many things in the court these days, and it is really difficult to see my father when the first emperor is mourning the new emperor and ascending the throne." ”

Yun Meng thought to himself: "I see, it seems that there have been a lot of changes in the capital these days. Yun Meng didn't say anything more in response, but he was very tired of Huan Yedao's saddle horse, since the teacher was busy with official business, he would go back to the general's mansion to rest and wait. Huan Ye was not suspicious, and after greeting Yun Meng, the two said goodbye to each other.

After seeing Huan Ye leave, Qing Yao asked Yun Mengdao: "Childe, don't you think it's strange?" Why is this errand of patrolling the streets of the capital not done by the Beijing patrol army, but by the eldest prince with the Jingzhou soldiers? ”

Yun Meng was silent for a moment and said, "Yes, does the teacher really want to do that?" ”

Qing Yao asked again: "Then, are we really going back to the General's Mansion now?" ”

Yun Meng shook his head and said, "Now, I have too many questions and want to find someone to talk to. Let's not go back first, go directly to Brother Yin. So the master and servant turned around and went to Yin Yuan's residence.