The pottery pavilion was built near the water, and the back wall was facing the calm pottery water, and more than a dozen small boats on the pottery water were busy, which were the people sent by the Taoting Pavilion chief to find the corpse. But after a busy day, they still didn't find anything. The pavilion chief didn't dare to give up, especially when they saw General Wei Liu Xiu's flying horse coming, his face was so vicious that he wanted to eat people.

Liu Xiu sat in the room and didn't say a word. The eldest princess carefully accompanied her, Li and Guo Jia's mother and son were waiting by the door, and the pavilion chief and the thief stood tremblingly outside the door, not daring to take a breath. The eldest princess had already lost her temper this morning, and after General Wei arrived, although she didn't lose her temper, her eyes were three points more terrible than her temper.

"Evacuate everyone." Liu Xiu's voice was a little hoarse, "The water flow of Taoshui is not urgent, if it was overboard, it should have been discovered a long time ago." ”

The eldest princess waved her hand quietly and motioned to the pavilion chief to do what Liu Xiu said.

"Tell me about the discovery again." Liu Xiu closed his eyes and raised his head slightly.

After separating from Liu Xiu yesterday, the eldest princess and the others did not walk fast, and stayed in Taoting in the evening. Tang Yingzi lived in the room next to the eldest princess, and was originally accompanied by a maid, but she had a hot time with Guo Jia in the past two days, and she was accompanied by the Li family at night. After a tiring journey, everyone slept tired, so they washed up early and went to bed. This morning, Li was the first to get up and go to see the two children, but found that only Guo Jia was in bed, she originally thought that Tang Yingzi got up early and didn't pay much attention to it, but later when she had breakfast, she didn't see Tang Yingzi appear, so she became alert.

When they searched inside and outside the pavilion and didn't see Tang Yingzi's shadow, everyone realized that Tang Yingzi was gone. Guan Yu immediately checked the inside and outside of the room, but did not find any traces, the window facing the river was open, but the screen to block mosquitoes was closed well, and the door was also closed well, and there was no trace of opening. The house is not chaotic, the bed where Tang Yingzi slept still retains the appearance of sleeping, and even her coat is there, but the shoes are missing.

In a word, Tang Yingzi suddenly disappeared.

Liu Xiu had already heard what had happened and carefully checked the relevant details, but to be honest, he was not a criminal investigation expert and had not found more clues. The windows are closed, the doors are closed, if it is Tang Yingzi who went out by herself, then how did she get out, and how could no one find out? If someone kidnapped her, then how could he move her, Guo Jia's mother and son could do it without alarming him, but how could he close the doors and windows?

Could it be that Guo Jia's mother and son are internal responses? As soon as this thought surfaced, Liu Xiu shook his head and vetoed it, Guo Jia's mother and son are grateful to him now, and they shouldn't do such a thing, at least at present, they can't find a motive.

"General, Henan Yin Hejin and Luoyang Ling Zhou Yi are here." Guan Yu walked up to him and said quietly.

Liu Xiu raised his eyelids and sat there motionless, watching He Jin and Zhou Yi pant and walk in. He Jin was full of smiles, and was just about to speak, when he saw Liu Xiu's face, licked his thick lips, and swallowed the words back. Zhou Yi was a little unhappy, with a straight face, and made a salute: "I don't know what the important thing is that the adults have sent me to come?" ”

The eldest princess sank her face, Zhou Yi knew that Liu Xiu was in a bad mood now, and she deliberately spoke like this, obviously with the intention of looking for a thorn. She wanted to reprimand Zhou Yi for a few words, but she, the eldest princess, actually didn't have a hard waist for a few days, otherwise she wouldn't have been occupied by He Jin and Guo Xun in the fiefdom, although she felt that she should help Liu Xiu say a few words at this moment, she didn't know how to say it.

Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes: "A girl in my family is missing here." One of you is Henan Yin, and the other is Luoyang Ling, what do you say I am looking for you? ”

Zhou Yi pretended to be surprised: "Girl? Is it your daughter? Oh, that's so careless. ”

"It's not my daughter, it's a girl I've adopted." The corners of Liu Xiu's mouth twitched slightly, and his fingers curled twice, "It's about the same age as your son Zhou Jue." ”

Zhou Yi's face was cold, and he didn't dare to squeak again. He now has two sons, the eldest son Zhou Yu and the second son Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu is eleven or twelve years old this year, and he is as old as the missing Tang Yingzi. Liu Xiu deliberately mentioned Zhou Jue, of course, not just to explain his age. However, he was also angered by Liu Xiu's unreasonableness, and stood aside with a gloomy face and remained silent.

The eldest princess walked up behind Liu Xiu and put her hand on his shoulder. Liu Xiu's shoulder muscles were tense, and he looked like a vigilant tiger that could pounce at any moment. She sighed and patted it gently. Liu Xiu held her with his backhand and let out a long breath, "Bring a pen and paper." ”

The pen and paper were brought, Liu Xiu drew a portrait of Tang Yingzi, and when Tang Yingzi's round face jumped on the paper, a tear dripped down and wet the paper. Seeing Liu Xiu's gaffe, the eldest princess hurriedly took a step forward and stuffed the portrait into He Jin's hand: "Please Lord He immediately look for someone like this, and offer a reward of 100 gold, as long as there is news to send it, there will be a reward." ”

He Jin only agreed, took the portrait and left with Zhou Yi. The eldest princess turned her head, motioned for everyone to withdraw first, and comforted Liu Xiudao: "Husband, Yingzi is gone, it is the responsibility of the concubine, if the husband is unhappy, just say it." It's just that you, as General Wei, have lost your etiquette in front of everyone, which is not appropriate after all. Besides, Yingzi is not small, and she has always been clever, maybe she will find a chance to escape soon, so don't worry too much. ”

Liu Xiu nodded, raised his face, and his eyes were red. The eldest princess felt sour and took out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears.

"Eldest princess, do you know what it's like for a person to suddenly go into a completely unfamiliar environment, open his eyes, and don't know anyone?"

The eldest princess didn't understand what he meant, and looked at him quietly.

"I believe that this feeling is only me and Yingzi have ever had. She was still a child, she had already suffered like this once, and she should not suffer a second time. Whoever it is, if I catch him, I'll make him regret it. ”

The eldest princess sighed faintly: "Although I haven't encountered this situation, it's not much better. The first emperor died, and the three of us sisters were trapped in the mansion, the eldest sister was okay, she always had her own home, and my second sister and I knew who we knew except for a few Eminem around us, at that time I only knew that the first emperor had died, but I didn't know that we had no father. ”

Thinking of the previous days, the eldest princess's eyes also turned red. Liu Xiu pulled her over and sat on his lap, gently hugged her waist, and rested his chin on her shoulder: "Eldest princess, Yingzi doesn't want her biological father, she is willing to follow me." I can't sit idly by and watch her be wronged. He Jin and Zhou Yi probably couldn't find any clues, so I had to find them myself. ”

"Where are you looking?"

"It's a weird situation here, and I don't think it's something ordinary people can do." Liu Xiu's waist straightened up, and his voice became cold: "If my guess is correct, this has something to do with the person who pretended to pass on His Majesty's edict and transferred me away from you." ”

"Fake Your Majesty's edict?" The eldest princess gasped.

Liu Xiu briefly said his conjecture. After arriving at Yuyuan Pass, a eunuch passed the edict of the Son of Heaven and asked him to rush back to Luoyang City immediately, but after entering the palace, the Son of Heaven did not show any anxiety. At that time, he thought that the Son of Heaven was just a neurotic person who was used to his surname, but now he felt that there might be a ghost in it, and coupled with the news that Liu Yunshuang told him, he felt that Tang Yingzi was probably robbed by people from Taiping Dao. The situation of Tang Yingzi's disappearance is very strange, and it is in line with the behavior of people in the Daomen.

After listening to Liu Xiu's analysis, the eldest princess also felt reasonable. They immediately set off to rush back to Luoyang City. Liu Xiu entered the palace and told the Son of Heaven about someone and Tang Yingzi's disappearance. The Son of Heaven was furious and asked people to find the eunuch who was pretentious, but when the eunuch came, he swore that he had only heard it wrong, and no one instructed him, and he refused to change his words even if he was beaten to the point of breaking his flesh.

The eunuch did not let go, but Liu Xiu refused to give up, he came to Jinglu in Bishan and found Mrs. Lu directly. After talking about the situation, he asked Mrs. Lu, "As far as you know, is there anyone in Taiping Dao who can kidnap Yingzi under such circumstances?" ”

Mrs. Lu's heart was shocked, and she didn't need Liu Xiu to say it herself, she also felt that this thing should be done by Taiping Dao.

"[***] It's just a technique, and the eight disciples of Taiping Dao should all know it." Mrs. Lu said, "Li is a woman, Guo Jia is a child, it should be a trivial matter to charm them, let them get up and open a door, close a door or something." She raised her head and looked at Liu Xiu: "Do you want me to help?" ”

"No, you don't." Liu Xiu shook his head, "Zhang Jiao is now an official of the imperial court, and I don't need to deal with him in the same way as people in the rivers and lakes." Besides, you used to be the same family, and it's not good to fall out over my business. ”

Mrs. Lu wanted to speak and stopped.

Liu Xiu immediately returned to Luoyang City, ordered Guan Yu to order all the heavy armor soldiers, Zhang Fei took 200 personal guards to ride, and more than 300 people went straight to the base of Taiping Road in Luoyang. This place is no stranger to Liu Xiu, it is the former home of the first Huiren in Luoyang, the old residence of the Ping family. After the Ping family was destroyed, it was rewarded to Zhang Jiao by the Son of Heaven and made the Jinglu of Taiping Road. After Zhang Jiao came out, it was presided over by Ma Qiang and Ma Yuanyi.

As soon as they saw more than 300 heavily armed samurai, the people of Taiping Dao were shocked, and hurriedly closed the door and went in to report. Liu Xiu waved his hand, Guan Yu took three steps and made two steps to catch up, kicked on the gate, and a black gate collapsed, knocking the two Taiping Taoist priests hiding behind the door into their heads and bleeding, screaming miserably.

"Let Ma Qiang come out." Liu Xiu walked into the courtyard with his hands behind his back and an expressionless face, Guan Yu followed closely with the heavy armor soldiers, one by one, with horizontal eyebrows and eyes, like a fierce and vicious spirit.

Tang Zhou rushed out surrounded by several Taoist priests, and when he saw this scene in front of him, he immediately became angry, and rushed up and shouted: "Which battalion are you from, you don't have long eyes, and dare to come and smash the gate of our Taiping Road?" ”

Before the words fell, Guan Yu took a big stride, rushed to Tang Zhou in two steps, raised his hand was a slap, there was a crisp sound of "pop", several teeth mixed with blood flew out of Tang Zhou's mouth, and the originally arrogant shout suddenly became a whimper.

"Let Ma Qiang come out and talk to me." Liu Xiu walked in front of Tang Zhou. Tang Zhou's face was covered with blood and frightened, he glared at Liu Xiu, but refused to bow his head, just wanted to say a few cruel words, Liu Xiu stretched out a finger to block his lips, and shook it gently: "Don't talk nonsense, annoy me, I'll send you back to your hometown now, Jinan seems to be not far from Mount Tai." ”

Tang Zhou was frightened by Liu Xiu's murderous gaze, and didn't dare to say a word.

"What's the matter?" Ma Qiang hurried out, and when he saw the scene in front of him, he frowned, put the dust tail on his arm, and saluted with a vertical palm: "It turned out to be General Wei, I don't know who provoked General Wei, and he wanted to make such a big fire?" ”

Liu Xiu slowly walked in front of Ma Qiang, circled around him twice, stretched out his hand and wiped it on his white robe, his voice was so calm that there was no trace of emotion, like the cold ice of the past year. "Ma Qiang, as the head of the Eight Great Disciples, you must know the Holy Aunt, right?"

"Holy aunt?" Ma Qiang was uncomfortable by him, and Qiang laughed: "She ran from me, of course I know, but isn't she in the general's mansion?" ”

"It was supposed to be, but she's just disappeared." Liu Xiu turned to stand in front of him, put his hands behind his back, lowered his head, and looked at the tips of his boots. After a while, he raised his head and looked at Ma Qiang coldly: "She was originally the holy aunt of your Taiping Dao, but now she is a member of my Wei General's Mansion, you can't just rob it back." ”

"Robbery?" Ma Qiang was taken aback, "You mean, Holy Aunt...... It's gone? ”

"Don't pretend to be confused with me." Liu Xiu rudely interrupted Ma Qiang's words: "I know, what you want is not her person, but this ring." Liu Xiu raised his hand and showed the ring in front of Ma Qiang: "Although this ring was originally not your Taipingdao, I am willing to give this ring to you now, as long as you send Yingzi back safe and sound." ”

Ma Qiang's eyes lit up, and then he shook his head again: "General Wei, you misunderstood." We did hope that the Holy Aunt would return to the Daomen, but we really didn't rob her, at least...... I do not know. ”

Liu Xiu frowned: "You don't know? ”

"I really don't know." Ma Qiang nodded vigorously, as if he was afraid that Liu Xiu would not believe it. "However, after all, the Holy Aunt has a fate with my Taiping Dao, and I am willing to mobilize the disciples of the Taiping Dao to search for it together."

Liu Xiu squinted his eyes and looked at Ma Qiang motionlessly. He didn't believe Ma Qiang's words, Ma Qiang's eyes were too warm when he looked at the ring, and there was a lot of room for regression in his words, which showed that he was pretending to be confused, just to ask for a good price.

"I don't care what you say." Liu Xiu shook his head, "I only have one sentence, within ten days, you send Yingzi back to me intact, and I will give you the ring." Otherwise, the next time I come to the door, you'll not just be broken here. ”

Ma Qiang looked at the cracked door and smiled bitterly: "General Wei, although we have some festivals, but after all, we don't have any deep hatred, so why bother?" The great sage and good teacher are still officials of the imperial court, our Taiping Dao preached in Luoyang, and we also got the permission of the Son of Heaven, and there are many dignitaries and nobles who come to my door. ”

Liu Xiu sneered, turned around and left: "Remember, after ten days, if I can't see Yingzi, it's not just the gate that will be demolished." He stopped at the door and turned to look at Ma Qiang: "I will not only demolish your house, but also drive you to death like the original Ping family." ”

After speaking, he shook his chin: "Make a show for them." ”

"Whoa." Guan Yu responded loudly, and with a wave of his hand, the heavy armor soldiers rushed over in a neat line, hitting the wall and body in front of him, and with a loud "boom", half of the wall collapsed, and the dust was flying.

Ma Qiang and the other disciples were dumbfounded, watching Liu Xiu take the people away, and they didn't dare to move. He had no doubt that if Liu Xiu was stimulated at this moment, these three hundred big men would definitely not come to make a show.

"Master, this ...... What can I do? Tang Zhou covered his swollen face and said vaguely.

Ma Qiang took a deep breath, frowned, turned around and walked inside, and instructed as he walked: "Immediately arrange for people to look for the Holy Aunt around Luoyang, and urgently tell the Great Sage and Good Teacher that Liu Xiu is willing to exchange the ring for the Holy Aunt." ”

"But...... We didn't rob the Holy Aunt. ”

"Just because we didn't rob doesn't mean that others haven't." Ma Qiang shrugged his eyebrows, and his displeasure was overflowing, "Do you do it in Luoyang without notifying me, do they still take me in their eyes?" ”

"Master, do you mean ......" Tang Zhou suddenly understood, and was just about to speak, Ma Qiang glared at him, Tang Zhou understood, and quickly closed his mouth.

Tsing Yi Mountain, Tangxi Pavilion, Zhang Jiao is wearing Xuan armor and standing with a sword. Not far away, Bu was leading more than 50 soldiers to a small mountain pass. The mountain pass was guarded by more than 20 people, these people were quite disciplined, there were spearmen, sword and shield men in front, and crossbowmen in the back, relying on the favorable terrain, stubbornly resisting, after more than an hour of fierce fighting, more than ten Taoist priests were injured, and seven or eight corpses were hiding under the mountain.

Zhang Jiao didn't move, he waited patiently for Bu to arrange a new round of attacks. At the beginning, he was also very anxious, but now he is not in a hurry, he feels that it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have someone who has experienced actual combat in northern Xinjiang as an opponent and exercise the combat ability of his disciples. If you let it go easily, it will be a tyrannical thing.

Bu had arranged for twenty crossbowmen to take cover at the bottom of the mountain, and divided the rest of the men into two groups and climbed up the hillside on the left and right. The slope of the hill was not very steep, and it was the crossbowmen who were in danger, but with the crossbowmen at the bottom of the hill to cover, the people on the hill were obviously feeling the pressure, and they fought back while blocking the people who climbed up from both sides, some of them were in a hurry, and the rain of arrows was much more sparse.

Wu Fu is very anxious, he only has a dozen bows and crossbows now, it is impossible to do everything, but if he can't take care of one side, he may be exploited by the other party. He and Zhang Jiao have been fighting for half a month, and the situation is getting more and more difficult. He found that he had made a mistake, although there were no high mountains in the Runan area, but there were a lot of water, and it was difficult for the knights he brought to play a role, so they could only dismount and fight, although these people were also good at dismounting and fighting, after all, their power was greatly reduced. And the combat effectiveness of those locally recruited troops and vassals is too poor, if it weren't for the support of these knights, I'm afraid they would have been defeated by Zhang Jiao a long time ago.

Wu Fu felt that he underestimated Zhang Jiao, and Yuan Shao also underestimated Zhang Jiao, they originally thought that the county soldiers that Zhang Jiao could lead were all from Runan, and would not work for Zhang Jiao, but they never thought that Zhang Jiao also had appeal in Runan, he gathered two or three hundred Taiping Dao believers who were proficient in martial arts, and formed a tribe that completely obeyed him. Most of those people were from civilian backgrounds, and they had always been dissatisfied with the power of the family, and they were not afraid of death in battle, and they were one after another, and while they had made great sacrifices, they also matured at an unbelievable speed, and they were no longer as stupid as they were at the beginning.

Of course, Zhang Jiao's command is also an important reason, and it is his progress that enhances the combat effectiveness of the believers. And his own martial arts skills are very strong, once he enters the battlefield, it is often the most uncomfortable time for Wufu.

Bu had climbed up, holding a large shield, hiding behind it, his eyes were fixed on the crossbowmen on the hillside, and as soon as they pointed the arrows at him, he crouched down, and as soon as the crossbowmen went to deal with the others, he moved forward with his shield. He didn't climb very fast, but he was very steady, and he was approaching the hill step by step.

Wu Fu couldn't hold his breath, and when Bu had climbed ten paces away, he ordered his guards to attack, and he must drive Bu Ji down, if he could kill him, it would be even better.

The twenty guards, who had been recuperating, roared and rushed out of their hiding place, raising their swords and pounced on Bu Ji. Bu had been waiting motionlessly, and suddenly shouted: "Release the arrow!" ”

The crossbowmen who had been prepared at the foot of the mountain shot arrows at the running warriors, although those warriors had been wary of the archers on the side, but when they ran, there were inevitably places where they were not well covered, two people were shot at the vital point and fell to the ground in pain, and four people were slightly injured, and they pulled out the arrows on their bodies while running, and the formation that had been covering each other was a little chaotic for a while.

Bu had seized this opportunity, roared angrily, and rushed up with his people, and when they got together, the arrows under the mountain stopped, so as not to injure his own people by mistake. They were not greedy for merit, and several people rushed forward, cutting down two first, and then immediately turned to attack and defend, and entangled those soldiers to the death.

Zhang Jiao under the mountain saw this scene, smiled, and waved his hand: "Peng Tuo, you go up, bite them." ”

The stout Peng Tuo had already seen his blood boiling, and hurriedly led more than 30 people to rush over to support Bu Ji.

"He Yi, you also take thirty people to contain the other side, and this time you must catch Wufu no matter what."

The thin and tall He Yi answered, called thirty people, and rushed to the other side.

Wu Fu was taken aback, did not dare to fight again, and hurriedly ordered a retreat. With a shout, the warriors who had been gathered together dispersed and entangled their opponents to death. Wu Fu didn't care too much, turned around and ran, and soon disappeared into the mountain, seven or eight soldiers who could not get out were surrounded by Taiping Dao believers who rushed up, dead and dead, and surrendered.

Zhang Jiao was very satisfied. At this moment, Ma Qiang sent the news that Tang Yingzi was missing and Liu Xiu was going to exchange the ring for Tang Yingzi. Zhang Jiao was shocked: "The holy aunt is missing?" ”

"Yes, Henan Yin and Luoyang Ling have already issued rewards, and the holy aunt is really missing."

"Who did it?"

"I don't know." The cronies sent by Ma Qiang were surprised when they saw Zhang Jiao's face, and they couldn't help but be a little surprised. Ma Qiang always thought that Zhang Jiao arranged someone to do it, but now looking at Zhang Jiao's face, it seems that he doesn't know.

Zhang Jiao quickly understood what Ma Qiang meant, and he shook his head with a meaningful smile.

(To be continued)