Shangguan Zhishui bit her lip tightly, her face was a little pale, but she forced herself to calm down and listened to Wei Jing's words. Qiu Hu and the others in the distance first saw her and exclaimed loudly, and then saw that she was not unusual, hesitated, but still did not surround her after all.

"Really?" Although Shangguan Zhishui's face was as calm as water, he still couldn't hide the slight tremor in his voice.

Wei Jing bowed down and bowed deeply, "It's true, Wei is willing to guarantee with the head of the item." My father once taught me to be a man to repay my kindness, and the young lady once had the grace of life to the lowly family, and now is the time for me to repay the kindness. ”

After speaking, Wei Jing drew his sword and crossed his neck, and said with a bleak smile; "I've already brought the words, Miss believe it or not, please take care of yourself. Although I am a pariah, I also know the things of loyalty. It is righteous to repay the kindness of the young lady, and it is disloyal to betray the king of Han; Since it is difficult to achieve both loyalty and righteousness, why not die to fulfill yourself. ”

After speaking, he was about to kill himself, but he heard Shangguan Zhishui shouting; "Wait."

Hearing the call of the beautiful woman, Wei Jing's heart couldn't help moving, although his heart was determined to die, his hand stopped involuntarily, and he couldn't help but open his eyes and said; "I've made up my mind, don't persuade Miss again, I hope you take care of yourself."

Seeing Wei Jing suddenly draw his sword, Qiu Hu and the others were startled, thinking that he was going to be unfavorable to the young lady, so they hurriedly rushed up, but Shangguan Zhishui stretched out his hand and waved back.

Shangguan Zhishui looked at Wei Jing calmly and said; "I'm not advising you not to commit suicide, but I hope you can answer a few things in my heart that I don't want to answer, and if you still want to die after answering, then please do it yourself."

Wei Jing couldn't help but show a look of disappointment on his face, opened his mouth and smiled bitterly; "Miss wants to ask something, but it doesn't hurt to say it, the people who are dying under will naturally know everything, and they will say everything."

Shangguan Zhishui nodded and said in a deep voice; "I want to ask you, what kind of loyalty do you mean? Loyal to whom? ”

Wei Jing was stunned for a moment, and then said; "Naturally, I am loyal to the king and the king of Han."

Shangguan Zhishui said coquettishly: "Ridiculous, you and I are both Qi people, and the Fengtian family has been the main one for generations, Liu Bang is just a reckless man in the Chu country, even if he is crowned the king, he is also the king of Han, what does it have to do with me?" Besides, he punished the Tian clan as much as possible, and it would be a great rebellion for us to wait for the Qi people not to avenge the first king, but now you are still stupid and loyal to him? In vain, you have also read the books of sages and sages, and you can be regarded as an all-round talent in civil and military affairs, but it is so unreasonable, isn't it ridiculous! ”

Wei Jing's face turned blue and white for a while when Shangguan Zhishui said something, the muscles on his face twitched constantly, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally abandoned his sword and bowed to Shangguan Zhishui; "Miss's lesson is that Wei Jing is blunt, and he doesn't know how to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and he is almost ridiculed. I am willing to worship under the Tao family as a slave, and I hope that Miss will take me in. ”

Shangguan Zhishui secretly breathed a sigh of relief, his face was a little pale, and he smiled reluctantly; "You are a dignified seven-foot man, a good martial artist, how can you worship under the knees of my little woman, it is better for you and me to be called friends."

Before waiting for Wei Jing to refuse, Shangguan Zhishui shouted; "Fauber."

"Yes." Fauber hurried in and bowed down.

Shangguan Zhishui stretched out his hand, pointed at Wei Jing and said; "Free up a horse for Mr. Wei, and we will immediately get up and rush to Jimo, and the carriage should hurry up and leave me alone."

A team of chariots and horses galloped quickly on the gallop road leading to loneliness, and after a while, Shangguan Zhishui suddenly ordered to stop and rest.

It turned out that when she calmed down and thought about it, she realized the danger. Since Liu Bang wants to lay out the Tao family, he will naturally not miss her, and he must have already arranged people to wait for her on the way home, waiting for her to throw herself into the net.

Taking advantage of the gap between the team resting in the woods, Shangguan Zhishui and Wei Jing rode fast horses out of the woods from the other direction, while her maid disguised herself as her and hid in the carriage and refused to show up.

Although Qiu Hu and others are generals of the Tao family and are usually loyal, most of these people defect to Tao because of the Tao family's rich fortune, and in the final analysis, they are all here for money, not because of how loyal they are to the Tao family. If it is a matter of life and death, in order to survive, the Tao family may soon be sold.

Therefore, there are only two people in Shangguan Zhishui who can be trusted, one is the old servant Fu Bo who has dedicated his life to the Tao family, and the other is the Wei Jing who sacrificed his life to report the news. Therefore, Shangguan Zhishui asked Fu Bo to continue to rush to Jimo with the team according to the original plan, in order to distract Liu Bang's attention, and she and Wei Jing copied the trail and returned to Jimo to report the news first.

Although it was early spring, the weather was still very cold, and even a strong man couldn't stand it even if he was strong and strong, let alone Shangguan Zhishui, who had a weak physique. It didn't take long for her lips to turn pale with a sentence of coldness, and her whole body trembled up and down, but she still gritted her teeth and refused to stop.

Wei Jing rode his horse close behind, wanting to use his body to block the cold wind for Shangguan Zhishui, but found that it was just a drop in the bucket. He saw that Shangguan Zhishui's weak body on horseback was swaying non-stop, and he almost fainted, so he couldn't help but reach out and stop it.

"Miss, if you go on like this, I'm afraid your body won't be able to stand it."

Shangguan Zhishui's teeth trembled, and only after half a sound did she breathe and stammered; "I didn't ...... It's okay, I can hold on...... Hold on. ”

Wei Jing frowned, knowing that she was forcibly reckless, so he said; "If Miss doesn't dislike Wei Jing's humble background, it is better to ride with Zaixia, since we are alternating between two horses, the speed will not be too slow."

Shangguan Zhishui's face showed hesitation, she also knew that Wei Jing was telling the truth, if she continued to hold on, I was afraid that she would faint before she reached Jimo. It seemed expedient that I had to ride with him.

With the support of Wei Jing, Shangguan Zhishui turned over and sat behind him. The tip of his mouth and nose was full of the male smell of an adult man, and his face couldn't help but blush slightly, and his heart was like a deer. Although Shangguan Zhishui is already a mother, because of her husband's early death, she is almost blank about the man's body, and her heart is suddenly in turmoil.

Thinking of the critical matter at home, Shangguan Zhishui forcibly suppressed his thoughts and said in a flat voice; "Mr. Wei, please."

Wei Jing didn't dare to look back, but whispered a "yes" back, and then rode his horse and galloped. Wei Jing has been from Rong for many years, and his riding skills and martial arts are very exquisite.

After galloping for two hours, the fast horse arrived at Jimo.

Jimo is the largest city in the south of Qi and the economic center of Qi Nan, so it was valued by Tao Zhugong, who started in Tao, and migrated here as a family base.

After hundreds of years of operation, the power of the Tao family has long been entrenched in Jimo City, and even the county order is the in-law of the Tao family. Therefore, Shangguan Zhishui expected that if Liu Bang wanted to do something against the Tao family, he would definitely transfer troops from other places, and would never use local manpower, so as not to startle the snake.

What Wei Jing said is also in line with Shangguan Zhishui's guess, Liu Bang really sent Chen Ping to personally bring 2,000 Praetorian Guards to Jimo to do it. In Chen Ping's opinion, the three fattest fat sheep in Qi State, the Zou family was too close to Liu Bang, so this time it was crossed out by Liu Bang, and the Tao family and the Long family became the first to bear the brunt.

The Tao family is the famous Tao Zhu Gong, and the richest man in the world for hundreds of years, and his family wealth is piled up without exaggeration. According to Chen Ping's estimate, just slaughtering this fat sheep is enough for Qi to collect financial taxes for several years, so he is very enthusiastic and active in this matter.

Shangguan Zhishui had the Tao family's card order, so the two of them had no effort to enter the city.

After entering the city, the two of them galloped towards the Tao Mansion, and when they were about to reach the front of the mansion, Shangguan Zhishui asked him to dismount in advance. She wore a veil to cover her face, and let Wei Jing lead the horse to the front of the house with her. Seeing that someone from the Tao Mansion asked, Wei Jing said that he was the younger generation of Tao Zhugong of this generation, and he specially came to meet him today, and took out the token given to him by Shangguan Zhishui.

Seeing that there was a token as evidence, the servant did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly reported to Tao Zhugong.

This generation of Tao Zhu Gong is the seventh generation of Tao Zhu Gong Tao Wan, who was also a shrewd and capable master when he was young, and later as he got older, his energy gradually became weak, so he entrusted all the things in his hands to Shangguan Zhishui. He himself is happy, teasing the birds and feeding the fish every day, and rarely asks about trivial matters at home, but he is still the patriarch, even if Shangguan Zhishui encounters a major event, he will come to despise him.

So when he heard someone asking to see him, he couldn't help but be stunned, holding the gold medal in his hand in a daze. Outsiders may not know about this gold medal, but he knows that this is the only evidence for the Tao family to transfer personnel and funds abroad, and it is generally in the hands of the contemporary Tao Zhugong, and now it is in the hands of his daughter-in-law Shangguan Zhishui.

"Quick, please come in." Tao Wan put down the token and said with a full stomach.

After a while, I saw a man and a woman approaching from a distance, and the man in front looked very faced, conceited and had never met before. The figure of the woman in the back looked a little familiar, but she couldn't remember it for a while.

"What are you looking for the old man?" Tao Wan stroked his beard lightly and said slowly.

Shangguan Zhishui saw that there was no one left and right, so he lifted the veil and said, "Father, it's me." ”

Tao Wan was startled, looked Shangguan Zhishui up and down, and said with a strange face; "How do you dress like this?" Suddenly thought of something, and glanced at the Wei Jing vigilantly, the hidden meaning was self-evident.

Shangguan Zhishui didn't have the leisure to explain to him, so he told everything he knew. Tao Wan's face was full of astonishment at first, and then his complexion slowly eased, and after listening to Shangguan Zhishui's words, he shook his head and smiled bitterly; "Ups and downs, ups and downs in life, the ancestor Tao Zhugong has already explained in the ancestral teachings that our Tao family has been rich and noble for three hundred years, and it has been smooth sailing, but I didn't expect it to decline in my hands today."

Shangguan Zhishui saw that his face was indifferent, and he didn't see any anxiety, so he couldn't help but say urgently; "Father, now is the time when our Tao family is in danger, you must always find a way to let us avoid this catastrophe."

Tao Wan smiled bitterly, and asked rhetorically; "What do you think? Liu Bang is the lord of the Qi country, and as long as he is the king one day, we can only be his subjects. He has a large army in his hands, and we are just a businessman, even if we are rich, what can we do? He only needs a warrant, and the army can wipe out the three-hundred-year foundation of our Tao family. This is the power of kingship, which is not comparable to that of a rich merchant like us. ”

Shangguan Zhishui's face turned pale and said in a trembling voice; "Are we going to be tied to death, and there is no other way but to die?"

Tao Wan shook his head, his face arrogant; "Of course not, Liu Bang is the king, he wants to wipe out our family, we can't fight against it, but the Tao family has been operating in the Qi country for more than 300 years, how can he, a mountain villager, be easily uprooted. There are still three caves in the cunning rabbit, and my Tao family is in the world, how can there be no way out. ”

"There is a tunnel in my study that can go straight to the outside of the city, you take my grandson to escape from there, as long as the descendants of the Tao family are still there, Tao Zhugong will never decline. It is impossible for Liu Bang to do all the shops and storefronts of our Tao family in various places, this is our opportunity, and I will send my cronies to inform the henchmen in various places. ”

Tao Wan's old face was full of excitement, as if the passion that had disappeared for a long time had returned to him again, and he kept summoning his henchmen to give orders in an orderly manner.

When he saw Shangguan Zhishui coming back in a hurry with his young son in his arms, Tao Wan touched his head with a smile on his face, looked up and said to Shangguan Zhishui; "You go quickly, if it's too late, the Han army will notice it."

Shangguan Zhishui was startled and said; "Father, won't you come with us?"

Tao Wan shook his head slowly; "I'm not leaving, I'm already at this age, and even if I escape, I'll only have a few more years to live. It is better to die vigorously on the foundation of my Tao family for 300 years, which is also a good choice. Besides, I'm not there, and you're not bound to be impressed."

Stretched out his hand and took out a thick roll of cloth from his arms, handed it to Shangguan Zhishui, and said solemnly; "This is our Tao family for 300 years! The experience of doing business, as well as the list of Tao family forces in various places, if you have the opportunity, you must take refuge in the Qin State and let them avenge us! Hehe, Liu Bang, the villain, thinks that he can destroy our Tao family with thunderbolt means, you must know that our most precious thing is not money, but experience, experience and connections accumulated and recorded for hundreds of years! I want the ancestor Tao Zhu Gong to scatter his wealth and soon become the richest man again, this is the ancestral motto of our Tao family."