"Master, you can't die!"

A mournful cry sounded in the dim room, and Zhou Qingfeng lay in front of a rotten bed, crying out and wailing. His senior brother Yang Jian stood aside and felt the same way, and after a while, he also cried and cried.

The house was very dilapidated, and there was a musty smell of too much dampness everywhere, and there was even a lingering smell of dead rats. Due to the lack of windows, the room was poorly lit and could only be lit by bright light through the cracks in the wooden walls. The wooden walls also show the simplicity and dilapidation of this place.

There was not even a quilt on the rotten bed, only a nest made of ula straw. The hay was already blackened, and even smelled of feces and urine, which was disgusting. Gu Yuanwei, the famous master of the Ming Court in the past, fell on such an unseemly bed, his cheeks were sunken, and he was described as emaciated and unconscious.

This tattered place is not in Fushun City, but in the horse market outside Fushun Pass. The so-called 'horse market' is the place where the Mongols, Jurchen tribes and the Ming Dynasty in eastern Liaodong conducted regular trade. The barbarians of the Northland were the first to bring horses, cattle and sheep in exchange for the scarce supplies needed for survival, and later the Ming merchants in the interior brought more goods and made huge profits.

Most of the barbarians in the north are poor and accustomed to a hard life, so there is not even an inn in the horse market. Many Mongolians, Jurchens tend to sleep in the open if they want to spend the night, and if they can find a house with a roof and walls, it can be considered a luxury apartment. The advantage of living here is that no one will come to check the identity, and the disadvantage is that there are fights and brawls from time to time to kill people, after all, there is no royal law here.

Yesterday in the city, Yang Jian hid and spent a day leading Zhou Qingfeng to the horse market outside the pass.

When he saw Gu Yuanwei so unlucky, Zhou Qingfeng was also quite surprised. He is looking forward to getting rid of the other party's control, but he also hopes to learn from the other party. Especially the true yuan that Gu Yuanwei forcibly infused him, this mismatched true yuan was not only the basis of his current cultivation and casting, but also restrained his development.

In case Gu Yuanwei died, Zhou Qingfeng really didn't know what to do next? But maybe he cried too fakely, or his voice was too loud, Gu Yuanwei, who was originally unconscious, woke up. Seeing that the two apprentices were shouting about what to die or not, he took a heavy breath and scolded angrily: "You two unfilial apprentices, I'm not dead yet, what's the funeral?" ”

Zhou Qingfeng immediately stopped crying and behaved well. He also stretched out his hand and patted Yang Jian's head, and also scolded: "Master is not dead, what are you crying about?" ”

The moon was running around but ending up so miserable now, Yang Jian was really sad, and couldn't stop sobbing for a while. It's just that he looked at Gu Yuanwei's angry face, and said aggrievedly: "Obviously, the junior brother cried first." As soon as he cried, I cried as I felt uncomfortable. ”

Gu Yuanwei sighed weakly, and there was no way to punish him. When he first accepted the apprentice, he took a fancy to his honesty, who Cheng thought that today's bad situation, the honest apprentice is useless. Looking at this little apprentice again, he seems to be very obedient, but he is cunning in his bones.

Gu Yuanwei woke up, and the two apprentices hurriedly helped him to sit up against the wall. He scolded like this, and he was panting, and his body was extremely weak. Yang Jian took care of him and ate something, and he fell asleep again. There is no need to say much about this situation, anyway, it is useless to cry, Zhou Qingfeng turned to ask Yang Jiandao: "Say, what's going on?" ”

Yang Jian immediately hated and scolded: "It's all a good thing done by the evil daughter of the Yuan family, and the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire' she cultivates has always been vicious and vicious. The master was injured in the fight with her, and the 'Chunyang Dan' he got a few days ago only delayed the injury, and he hoped to find help from the local monks in Fushun. But the monks here are either vain or pure-minded, and no one is willing to help. Drag it to today's ....... ”

Yang Jian shed tears again as she spoke, wiped her sleeve with her sleeve and said, "We heard that someone from Dongchang chased Fushun, so we hurriedly escaped. After settling Master, I'll go and rescue you. But at present, the master is helpless in this situation, and I am also in a mess, which is really 'called heaven, and heaven should not be; and the earth is not spiritual.' ”

The current situation is really helpless, and Zhou Qingfeng has no clue. He wondered if he would go back to find his fellow travelers, but what if he found them? He asked Yang Jian, "Senior brother, I want to ask the master why he was hunted down by the imperial court?" Is there room for mitigation? ”

In the current situation, it's not interesting to hide it. Yang Jian sighed and said: "Master was originally a person from Jinyiwei, and a few years ago, he was assigned to the East Factory as the head of the shift, responsible for 'investigating hundreds of officials, patrolling and detaining'. But not long ago, the master encountered a trouble, and he lost his position in the blink of an eye. ”

"What's the trouble?" Zhou Qingfeng asked.

"Well......, it's the master who got some silver from the inner treasury but was discovered." Yang Jian wanted to bring it in one sentence.

"Got some silver?" Zhou Qingfeng was determined to ask clearly, "Senior brother, you'd better explain things clearly, otherwise I can't help if I want to." ”

Seeing Gu Yuanwei fall on the hospital bed in this wilderness store, Yang Jian's heart was gloomy and listless. Zhou Qingfeng wanted to ask, so he said in detail, "Of the ten inner libraries, the inner carrier is the most important one." It is subordinate to the Ministry of Households, but it is supervised by the East Factory under the Master of Ceremonies. Master happened to have some convenience in charge of this matter, so he easily got some gold and silver to fill the family. ”

"What? This is a thief who guards and steals himself! Zhou Qingfeng was dumbfounded, "You guys are too bold to make money from under the nose of the emperor Lao'er." ”

The word 'thief' annoyed Yang Jian, and he shouted angrily: "This 'relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the water to eat the water', the official in the court doesn't want to find a way to make money?" Just last year, Zhang Xuan, the eunuch of the internal official prison, was responsible for repairing the tomb of Mu Zongzhao, and the cost of materials submitted to the Ministry of Industry reached hundreds of thousands of taels.

The Ministry of Industry told Li Jin that something was wrong, and after checking, he found that Zhang Xuan had increased the material cost more than ten times and reported it. After this incident was discovered, Wang Xiangqian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, also sued the internal officials and supervisors, saying that those thieves accepted bribes from the officers and soldiers guarding the tomb and replaced the mahogany of the tomb with rotten wood, so that they could fill their own pockets. The eunuchs in the palace dare to take advantage of the imperial tomb, what else dare not take advantage of?

This kind of thing is not a special case, and there are countless people in the Manchu Dynasty. Isn't it just to get some silver, everyone does this, why can't Master do this? Besides, the master hasn't caught much, but he was unlucky and was discovered. Besides, I don't believe that there will be no such thing as self-theft and favoritism in 400 years? ”

Yang Jian said with a fierce momentum, and questioned Zhou Qingfeng in turn.

Zhou Qingfeng originally wanted to say, 'Of course there will be no ...... in four hundred years', but he couldn't get angry before he spoke - throughout the ages, the biggest thieves are internal thieves. Just by looking at the tigers that have been defeated over the years, one after another, and each one is worse than the other, we can see how rampant the people who dig the corners of socialism are.

"Well, you ......, you're right. This is not new after 400 years. Zhou Qingfeng said stupidly: "Keep talking, keep talking." It's just a matter of getting some money to spend, why is it unlucky? ”

Yang Jian suppressed Zhou Qingfeng's momentum, snorted several times and lowered his head and sighed, "Although there are many gold and silver in the inner transfer warehouse, it is not the most precious. Since the establishment of the dynasty, the collection of various antiquities and exotic treasures is the most attractive, some of which have been stored for more than 200 years without being cared for, and many of the recorded volumes have been lost, so you don't know what they are. ”

"So you ...... secretly." Zhou Qingfeng said half a sentence, and was stunned back by Yang Jian's glare.

Yang Jian continued: "Master just wants to explore the origin and function of those strange treasures? He also wrote a book to inspect the antiquities in the treasury, which can be regarded as doing something useful. It's just that a bold thief came to the transfer warehouse one day, and the master took action with him to recapture the stolen 'Yin Yang Gui'.

When 'Yin Yang Gui' was first recaptured, it was just two ordinary pieces of jade, and no one knew what they were. Fortunately, the master knew a lot about the treasures in the treasury, and he checked many ancient scrolls to understand the strangeness of this thing. But before the master could report the results, an official wrote to impeach the master and shake out the matter of him making gold and silver.

It is said that the master is already the head of the East Factory, and no one can come to check on him unless the emperor and the eunuch of the East Factory personally order him. It's not a big sin to be greedy for some silver, it's a big deal to make up for the shortfall.

But this impeachment case broke out very quickly and the implication was extremely high. In the past, a lot of empty money was planted on the master, and it was clear that someone wanted to use the master as a scapegoat. Without waiting for the master to make amends, within a few days he lost his official position and was about to be imprisoned and interrogated.

Master once said that the errand in Jinyiwei and Dongchang did not end well, and something would happen sooner or later. I still vaguely remember this, but I didn't expect it to suddenly come true. The master learned the news early and escaped from the capital overnight. It's a pity that many people who worked with him to make money were raided, and some even beheaded all over the house. ”

After that, the room was quiet for a few minutes. There are too many filthy and shady scenes in this court, and now it is only a small part of it. Zhou Qingfeng thought for a while and asked again: "In other words, the master was hunted down by the imperial court because he embezzled gold and silver?" ”

"Yes."

"What does this have to do with 'Yin Yang Gui'?"

The master explained that it didn't matter on the surface, but he thought it was okay afterwards. The guy who ran to the inner carrier to steal must be a big thief, but it is impossible to guess who it is. Someone must have felt that Master was in the way and wanted to kill him to vent his anger. The master fled to the border wilderness and had no way out, so he simply activated the 'Yanggui' and wanted to take refuge in the real dragon to avoid disaster, so he summoned you. ”

It's confusing to hear this!

Zhou Qingfeng secretly said in his heart: "Lao Tzu is just a crossing, why did he fall into this kind of trouble?" ”

Gu Yuanwei was unconscious, and Yang Jian was helpless. Zhou Qingfeng was bored sitting in the house, and the air was turbid when he walked outside. The neighing of cattle and horses, the crowded horse market is not a clean and good place, and the livestock defecation everywhere is even more frowning.

Just when Zhou Qingfeng was trying to sort out a main line from all kinds of chaotic situations, suddenly a bald barbarian in a rotten leather robe came over and scolded in unfamiliar Chinese: "Boy, get out of my way." My master wants this place. Get out of here, half a step slow will kill you. ”

Zhou Qingfeng was so irritable that he had a headache, and suddenly saw an ugly monster snorting at him, and he couldn't help but snort coldly: "Who the fuck are you telling to get out?" Kind of tell me again! ”

Uncle Zhou also felt that he had some ability, and he wanted to find an unlucky guy to vent his anger when he was frustrated. But the bald barbarian really stared, and his reckless and murderous temperament exploded like a cannonball. He took out his waist knife and slashed at Zhou Qingfeng's head, revealing several feet of blood light on the tip of the knife.

Damn, this is still a ruthless person!