After a whole day's journey, they entered the Dijing of Wuzhong County, and that night Shen Yuan, Wang Wei and others rested in a market outside Wuzhong City. Zu Zhao didn't say anything all the way, and he was thinking about how to answer Liu Yan after seeing Liu Yan, the assassin of Youzhou. He believes that Liu Yan will definitely not have any intention of targeting, so whether he can get out of danger this time depends on whether he can convince Liu Yan.

The first time I fell asleep in handcuffs and shackles, I honestly felt bad.

This night, Zu Zhao was extremely difficult to close his eyes, he was not only thinking about meeting Liu Yan in his heart, but also secretly calculating the days, the sixth day of the second month had passed, although he didn't know what the specific day of Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban Uprising in Julu was, but it must be not far away. Troubled times are coming, but at this moment he is in prison, which is really very different from his original Jihua, but fortunately, it is not so difficult.

At dawn the next day, Shen Yuan led the team and continued on the road.

The group passed through the county seat of Wuzhong, made some supplies in the city, and went straight to the official road all the way west after leaving the city.

However, when he was about to leave the realm of Wuzhong County, a team of knights suddenly rushed towards the official road ahead. The knights were all dressed in black, with delicate leather bands on their heads, and their mounts looked like tall horses. The people in this kind of costume are either rich or noble, and they are basically the doormen and servants of some high-ranking officials and nobles.

When Yuan Shen saw this kind of costume from afar, he only thought it was a passerby, and he didn't take it to heart.

It wasn't until the group of black knights approached that they gradually slowed down their horses, as if they were trying to stop. Shen Yuan and Wang Wei were a little vigilant here, and they signaled their respective subordinates to pay more attention, after all, the world is not very peaceful now.

In the blink of an eye, the black-clothed knight approached within twenty paces, and as the leader grabbed the reins, the rest of the knights stopped after him. The leader is in his twenties, but he is burly and tall, but he has a majestic posture. He asked loudly at Shen Yuan: "Dare to ask, but who is the Shen master team who went to Jixian County?" ”

Shen Yuan's face showed doubts, he didn't know any of these people in front of him, and immediately asked, "Who are you waiting for?" ”

Without waiting for the black-clothed knight to answer, Zu Zhao heard movement in the ox-cart behind, and took a look at it earlier, and at this time he already recognized the black-clothed knight who was the leader, and immediately exclaimed: "Brother Xianyan? ”

Shen Yuan, Wang Wei and the others were more and more surprised, Zu Zhao would know such a black-clothed knight?

The leader was none other than Li Xin, a founder of Guangcheng County who was selected for inspection at the same age as Zu Zhao that day.

When Li Xin saw Zu Zhao on the ox cart, he showed a smile of reunion after a long absence, and while he was about to hit the horse, he beckoned: "Sure enough, it's you, but I want to find it all the way on this official road." ”

However, he hadn't taken a few steps ahead before Shen Yuan's troops were alertly blocking him. Shen Yuan asked again without losing vigilance, "Who are you?" What is the attempt to stop us? ”

Li Xin was slightly stunned, and immediately bowed to Shen Yuan and said, "Lord Shen, forgive me, I forgot to introduce it for a while." Under Li Xin, who is now the head of the Taishou Mansion of Youbeiping County, yesterday he was ordered by the Taishou Mansion to urgently welcome Lord Shen and others, and due to the seriousness of the situation, he asked Lord Shen to temporarily release Zu Zhao. ”

Shen Yuan still had to sort out the matter, but behind him, Wang Wei was furious and said: "Nonsense, the Taishou of Youbeiping County has already died, who issued the order you were waiting for?" Hmph, isn't it the ancestral family that bought you and other small people and deliberately deceived here? Someone, take down this impostor thief for me. ”

Wang Wei's subordinates received the order and immediately stepped forward.

Li Xin was still patient, and he and the black-clothed knights behind him were not in a hurry to make a move. Unhurriedly, he took out the Taishou Mansion token and publicized it, and he said in a straight voice: "Lord Shen, this is the next job." There is indeed an urgent matter this time, and Youbeiping County has sent someone to the state capital yesterday to inform Liu Yuanjun of this matter, presumably Liu Yuanjun already knows about it at this time, and hopes that Lord Shen can make it convenient. ”

Shen Yuan was still hesitating, and Wang Wei on the side once again said noisily: "Hmph, you said that it is convenient to do it?" Do you know what kind of crime this ancestor Zhao is, how can he just let it go? Let's not talk about Zu Zhao, why did you ask us for people from the Taishou Mansion of Beiping County, but honestly, who instructed you and others to do it? ”

Li Xin's face gradually became cold, he is a native of Youbeiping County, so he will naturally show respect for Shen Yuan, as for who this Wang Wei is, he doesn't know at all, even if the other party is under the command of General Zhang, Youzhou is not a place under Zhang Wen's jurisdiction.

Shen Yuan was also very disgusted with Wang Weiyue's substitution, and he said teasingly: "Lord Wang, you have to let the family finish speaking, are you in such a hurry?" ”

Wang Wei's face was angry: "You ......"

Before Wang Wei could say anything, Shen Yuan had already turned to Li Xin and asked in an unhurried tone: "This brother, you said that it was because the situation was too fast, I don't know what happened?" ”

Wang Wei was aggrieved and turned his head resentfully.

Li Xin looked sad, sighed, and then said: "Half a month ago, the commander of our county was ordered to go out to Changcheng, and at first the battle was extremely smooth, and he won consecutive battles until he reached the city of Changcheng. Who knew that just before the day, Changcheng and Guangcheng counties suddenly gathered a crowd to rebel and assisted the rebel Zhang Play in Changcheng to attack Wen Duwei, who could not take care of both the beginning and the end, and was cut off from the grain route, and the army was discouraged and defeated day by day. ”

When Shen Yuan heard this, he was very surprised, and hurriedly asked, "What?" Wen Duwei was actually defeated? ”

At this time, Wang Wei finally found a loophole, and said in a stitch: "Earlier, it was Na Zuzhao who petitioned General Zhang to let Youbeiping County send troops to quell the chaos as soon as possible. The decline of the official army and the rise of the rebels are really becoming more and more uncontrollable. ”

Li Xin ignored Wang Wei, he strengthened his tone and said to Shen Yuan: "I'm afraid Lord Shen doesn't know that on the third day of the first lunar month, Zhang Jiao, a giant deer from Jizhou, openly played the slogan of 'the sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand, the age is in Jiazi, and the world is auspicious', and ordered all the Taiping Daoists in the world to rise up. Now there are seven or eight Taiping Dao rebels in Beiping County on our right alone, either occupying the county town or occupying the mountain, and it is really a mess. ”

Shen Yuan frowned and asked, "Is there such a thing?" It's just that why haven't we heard anything along the way? ”

Li Xin sighed: "Before, it was precisely because the ancestor had repeatedly broken the thieves and shocked the north of the county with his prestige, so many Taiping Dao thieves turned south. Most of the Taiping Road riots in the county occurred in the south of the county, especially in Guangcheng and Changcheng counties. The county government had only received the 300-mile express report in the evening of the day before yesterday, and Lord Shen was in Xu Wu, so he didn't know about it. ”

On the ox cart, Zu Zhao heard Li Xin's words, and many thoughts suddenly appeared in his heart, and the mighty Yellow Turban Rebellion actually slowly kicked off without his knowledge. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad, but one thing was certain, he had an inexplicable momentum in himself at this moment, like an encouragement before letting go.

On the day Shen Yuan left Jixian County, he heard that Liu Yan, the assassin of Youzhou, had issued a restriction order prohibiting Taiping Dao activities within the state border, and he knew that Taiping Dao was rampant in various counties and even prefectures. To say that Taiping Dao would gather people to cause chaos is really unexpected, otherwise the states and counties would not have taken corresponding control measures to this day.

But at this moment, Li Xin's words obviously didn't seem to be making up facts, not to mention that with the power of the other party, if he really wanted to rob Zu Zhao, he could launch a surprise attack first, and there was no need to take such a risk. That's why people are suspicious.

At this time, Wang Wei spoke again and said: "Make up nonsense, if Taiping Dao wants to create chaos, why wait so coincidentally until today." At the moment, I don't even know whether your token is real or fake, and you dare to talk about it here, do you really not know whether you are alive or dead? ”

If Wang Wei didn't say this, Shen Yuan might hesitate for a while, but it was precisely because the other party put on a posture of being high and no one in his eyes three or four times, especially not taking him as a Youzhou ruler at all, which was really infuriating. Almost instinctively, he chose to believe Li Xin, and asked directly, "Even so, what does this matter have to do with Zu Zhao?" ”

Li Xin breathed a sigh of relief and continued to explain: "It is precisely because of the defeat of Captain Wendu and the precarious situation of the county government, so the Taishou Mansion thought about recruiting volunteers and brave men from all over the country the day before yesterday. Zu Zhao is a volunteer leader in Xu Wu County, and he has broken thieves many times in the past few months, and his reputation is far and wide. In the next time, he was ordered to invite Zu Zhao to lead Xu Wuxian to rush to the aid of the county government and participate in the suppression of the unrest in the county. ”

Hearing this, Shen Yuan nodded slowly and sighed: "I see, I didn't expect this ancestor Zhao to have such a prestige that shocked the whole county at such a young age, it is really commendable......

When Wang Wei heard Shen Yuan say this, he suddenly realized that the other party seemed to have the intention of giving in, and immediately said loudly: "Lord Shen, don't you really listen to one-sided words, and you want to let this ancestor Zhao go, right?" General Zhang is still waiting in Jixian County to interrogate this person in person, if something goes wrong, you can bear it! ”

Hearing Wang Wei's words like "General Zhang" with his mouth open and closed, Shen Yuan was already angry, and he replied coldly: "Lord Wang, this is the territory of Youzhou, no matter how big or small my affairs in Youzhou are, I only obey Liu Yuanjun's decision, General Zhang is just ordered to come to Youzhou to recruit troops, is it possible that he still wants to meddle in the internal affairs of Youzhou?" ”

Wang Wei said angrily: "What do you mean by this? ”

Shen Yuan said without concessions: "Youbeiping County is in danger, the county government has ordered the counties to be mobilized to help the county government, and Zu Zhao is the leader of Xu Wu County, so I naturally have to focus on the overall situation in front of me." What's more, I have been investigating in Xu Wu County for seven or eight days, and there is no conclusive evidence to prove the crime of misdeeds committed by the ancestral family. Thinking that Liu Yuanjun is wise, he will never be difficult for Zu Zhao, why bother to work so hard at this time. ”

Wang Wei was quite anxious, and threatened loudly: "You dare! ”

Shen Yuan didn't look back at Wang Wei at all, he said to Li Xin: "Since such a major event has happened in Youbeiping County, I will go to Pinggang County with you first, if you really need Zu Zhao to come forward to summon Xu Wuyiyong, I will definitely deal with it as appropriate." ”

Li Xin was still a little reluctant, after all, it still took a day for Xu Wu to arrive before and after Pinggang, and this time he needed a large team, so he was afraid that he would not be able to catch up on the trip. But considering Zu Zhao's current situation, it would be good to be able to reroute to Pinggang County, anyway, when he arrived in Pinggang County to let Shen Yuan and others understand the truth, he would definitely be able to return Zu Zhao to a free body after all. After sighing helplessly, he nodded and said, "That's it, it's fine." ”

Wang Wei was angry, but he didn't dare to force it at this time. There were not many of his subordinates, and at this time, Shen Yuan's men and Li Xin's men and horses were counted together, as if they had exceeded twice as many as themselves, even if they wanted to come hard, it was impossible.

Shen Yuan immediately explained to his subordinates and prepared to divert to Pinggang County.

Li Xin made other arrangements for his three subordinates, one of them returned to Pinggang County on horseback first, and informed the Taishou Mansion of the situation, while the other two galloped to Xu Wu together, continuing to convey the order of the Taishou Mansion to dispatch volunteers and recruit strong men, the intention was to hope that Xu Wuxian would make preparations as soon as possible and go to the county government at any time.

After the three subordinates left, Li Xin, Zhang Luo Shenyuan and others turned along the official road to Pinggang.

Soon after hitting the road, Li Xin slowed down his horse and came to the ox cart and met with Zu Zhao. The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then Zu Zhao asked about Li Xin's situation after Liu Taishou was assassinated that day. After that day, Li Xin originally planned to return to Guangcheng, but who knew that during that time, rumors of thieves also came from Guangcheng, and under the persuasion of several left officials of the Taishou Mansion, Li Xin finally stayed. Li Xin was originally a brave and upright man at this age, and the Taishou Mansion suffered this catastrophe, and it was the time to employ people, so he was first transferred to the northern governor Zhou Zhi to listen to the errand, and as Zhou Zhi's injury improved, he was transferred back to the Taishou Mansion to lead the guard.