"Master Guoshi," I saw Princess Xiao Wanjun of Zhaoning bow slightly, and said in a pleasant voice, "I have some things here that I need your guidance and help." I wonder if you have free time today? ”

As before, Princess Zhaoning still showed a polite attitude like a student in front of the national teacher, without the arrogance common to those in the upper echelons.

She didn't take a servant with her, and her carriage was parked hundreds of meters away.

She braved the cold wind of the early morning and walked alone. The sunlight illuminated her face and cast a long shadow behind her.

"Your Highness, please come in!" The national teacher smiled faintly.

The furnishings in the national teacher's home are simple and simple, and there are no extra chairs. The two of them sat on the floor by the window.

The sitting posture of the national teacher is big and informal; The princess sits on her knees, her back straight, and her posture graceful.

"Master Guoshi, since I saw the 'Fire Character' designed by the Exorcist Gu in the Longmen Academy yesterday, some ideas about the future development of the 'Divine Machine Camp' have popped up in my mind, and I would like to ask for your opinion."

"What do you think, Your Highness?"

"I think maybe my previous concept was wrong," Princess Zhaoning said slowly, her head lowered, "and the best way to deal with the ghosts when the 'Long Night' is coming is not to gather talents and form a special team. No matter how talented they are, it is difficult for them to have the ability to compete head-on with the strengthened 'Fierce God' level ghosts before the arrival of the 'Long Night'.

"In the previous generation's 'Shenji Battalion', there used to be the famous 'Easy Swordsman' Su Wangshan and 'Jade-faced Yama' Fang Hongshu...... The degree of their dazzling light at the beginning was no less than that of today's Sword Pavilion Su Xiao and Youzhou Zhao Yan. If you get them together, you may be able to easily eliminate ghosts such as Zhu Yan, Qi Qi, and Wutong God, and the results are indeed brilliant, but after all, it is difficult to really help the people across the country. In the face of a terrifying monster like 'Poor Qi', they can only stand still. ”

"What does Your Highness think we should do?"

"Let's take a simple example! For example, a young man like Gu Xu, if he is placed in the "Divine Machine Battalion" as a pure combat unit, it will be a waste. Although he has great potential, he will not be able to make a decisive difference in the outcome of the battle.

"However, if he is allowed to defend one side and lead a group of monks to fight together, he can use his wisdom to arm the people around him with a method similar to the 'fire character', so as to save more people's lives. In addition, the Bagua Array that he designed yesterday that can be used for calculations, although it is impossible to directly replace the household department, but in the long night of shortage of human resources, it has extremely important strategic significance, at least it can help many remote prefectures and counties to allocate resources. With a talent like him, it's clear that he can play a greater role than just fighting. ”

"However, Your Highness, Gu Xu can be regarded as a genius that has been rare in the Great Qi Dynasty for hundreds of years...... Taking him as an example, will it be a bit of a generalization? ”

"I've also thought about this question," Princess Zhaoning frowned slightly, "but I later felt that this was more due to the guiding role of the imperial court in the monks - the imperial court chose to take the scholars from the eight shares, and the scholars put down the qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, and went to recite the "Notes on the Four Books Collection"; The imperial court chose to hold a ring competition and distribute resources with meritorious deeds, and the monks danced swords and swords, obsessed with improving their cultivation realm and combat ability. ”

Speaking of this, she looked up at the National Teacher, and a pair of bright phoenix eyes shone brightly: "Master National Teacher, the invention and creation of Chiyangzi's predecessor you mentioned yesterday left a very deep impression on me. Perhaps, in the eyes of others, it is not the business of respected monks to transform the Quyuan plough or study the talisman array that calculates the accounts—but, as a mortal with no talent for cultivation, these things resonate strongly in my heart. ”

As she spoke, she pulled out a few yellowed sheets of paper from her pocket.

On these papers, some imaginary and nuanced imaginary diagrams are drawn—such as a formation that can replace a mill for grain hulling or debran driven by true elements, a smelting device that can replace water drainage, and a complex formation that can transport large quantities of grain resources over long distances, and so on.

"These are all some of my previous unrealistic fantasies, which made the National Teacher laugh," Princess Zhaoning smiled embarrassedly, then she paused for a moment and said in a somewhat heavy tone, "It's just that when I was dealing with the affairs of the imperial court recently, I learned that in the territory of our Great Qi Dynasty, there is a lack of food resources in many places - because of the scourge of ghosts, there are many casualties, and the fields are uncultivated. The amount of grain tax collected by the state treasury is also decreasing year by year. It makes me worry if we have what it takes to get through the long night. It's just that I, as a mortal, feel powerless a lot of the time, and hate myself for not being able to help more. ”

The national teacher looked at her bright face and was silent for a long time. For a moment, he couldn't see through whether Princess Zhaoning's words were sincere, or just words used to persuade him.

But no matter what, her words still caused ripples in the heart of the national teacher after all. He thought of Chiyangzi who stopped and meditated on the edge of the ridge back then, and thought of Gu Xu who was struggling to write in the "Siqi Hall" of Longmen Academy, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

"I'll do my best to help you if you need it," said the national teacher after a long pause, "but I'm just a lonely old man after all." If you want more help, you may need to go to the Exorcist Division to find the Boss of Lotus. ”

"Thank you, Master Guoshi!" The corners of Princess Zhaoning's mouth turned up slightly. Her smile was like the first rays of light at dawn, instantly dispelling the gloom in the room.

And at this time, she suddenly remembered an important thing: "By the way, Master Guoshi, I recently learned from some documents that although the members of the previous generation of 'Shenji Battalion' were wiped out in the mission of killing the fierce beast 'Qiqi', it was not 'Qiqi' who really killed them, but the 'Ghost King of Bishan'...... How much do you know about this? ”

"'The Ghost King of the Mountain'?" Hearing the princess's words, the national teacher frowned.

Pishan is located in the north of Luojing City, also known as "Beibi Mountain".

Because it is located on the dragon vein of the great wilderness, relying on the mountains and facing the water, Tibetan wind gathers qi, it is an excellent feng shui treasure place for the mausoleum, so there is a saying of "born in the south of the Yangtze River and buried in the north".

The former dynasty, that is, the imperial tomb of the Great Chu Dynasty, is located in Bishan.

However, after the fall of the Great Chu Dynasty, the yin wind roared angrily and the evil aura was rampant in the Bishan area, and it was completely shrouded in gray fog that could not be seen in the five fingers.

In the midst of that fog, a ghost at the level of a "fierce god" was born.

He wears a crown on his head, wears a yellow robe, his face is blurred, and he has many ghost soldiers and ghost generals under his command, and he occupies an area of the emperor in the imperial tomb of Bishan Mountain.

It is not a "ghost king" in the true sense of the word, and has not held a promotion ceremony, but it claims to be the "ghost king" itself.

Perhaps because it was so famous and evil-doering, people accepted its self-styled title over time.

Many people have wondered whether it has anything to do with the emperors of previous dynasties, but they have not yet received a definite answer.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but that's all the ...... I don't know much either. The national teacher shook his head.

The "Shenji Battalion" of the previous generation was established under the leadership of Lu Huan, the first assistant of the cabinet at the beginning, and had little to do with him. So naturally, he didn't know much about it.

"It's okay." Princess Zhaoning smiled faintly and quickly brought over the topic.

…………

In the next period of time, the two briefly chatted about the recent affairs of the court.

About a quarter of an hour later, Princess Zhaoning said goodbye to the national teacher and left the humble brick house.

It was a sunny day.

The sun had already climbed into the air, and the air was bright and dazzling. Looking at it, I only felt that the world was vast, my eyes were faintly painful, and the dead branches of the mixed wood forest rustled in the cool breeze.

But Princess Zhaoning's mood was not calm.

As she returned to her carriage on the withered grass, many things came to her mind.

The first thing that bothered her was that in the recent period, there have been many proverbs circulating among the people - such as "There is a son of heaven in the Northeast", "The four Yi gather in the dragon and fight the wild, and the fire is the main thing when the sun rises" and so on.

Many people feel that these proverbs all point to the Zhao family in Youzhou.

And Princess Zhaoning also learned from some books that some monks who advocate metaphysics will use the mutual growth and restraint of the five elements to explain the change of dynasties.

For example, the Great Chu Dynasty belongs to Mude, advocating cyan and valuing benevolence and righteousness, whether it is the background color of the flag or the sacrificial dress, it is blue and blue.

The later Great Qi Dynasty belonged to Jinde, and the banner was also white and gold.

The reason why Qi was able to destroy Chu was because of "Jin Kemu".

According to this set of theories, after that, it should be "fire and gold".

But Princess Zhaoning felt that there were many doubts.

On the one hand, her father, Emperor Tianxing, has always left her with the impression of being very powerful, even invincible; On the other hand, Zhao Changying, the head of the Youzhou Zhao clan, Yan Guogong, has never broken through since he was promoted to become a "saint" level powerhouse, and his strength has always been the weakest of the five saints of Great Qi.

She didn't think that the Youzhou Zhao clan had the ability to confront the Great Qi Imperial Court head-on.

"Perhaps...... Is this a means by which the father wants to take this opportunity to weaken the power of the gate valve family? She thought to herself.

The second thing that bothered her was that among the servants of the court, there were gossips similar to "the queen is immoral and jealous" and "Your Majesty wants to depose the queen".

When she first heard these words, Princess Zhaoning only felt that they were very outrageous.

After all, Emperor Tianxing has lived in the deep palace for a long time, retreated and cultivated, and has not touched a woman for many years. Many of the women who entered the court through the draft a few years ago are still in perfect shape, and they have been waiting in the dim and cramped courtyard for a long time, unhappy.

And the queen herself has also not seen her husband for a long time.

In Princess Zhaoning's own opinion, if the "Empress is immoral" is to be discussed, then His Majesty the Emperor should first reflect on his own problems.

However, the princess quickly figured out that these rumors were probably deliberately spread by her father—just as he had previously failed to pursue the assassination of the fourth prince, Xiao Shangzhen, it was also a means for him to knock the Xiangyang Chen family.

The third thing that worries her a lot is what several other princes have done recently.

After the disaster in Qingzhou Mansion, Gu Xu became a rising star in Luojing City.

But few people remember that when the Kong Xuansan people held a ceremony to promote the "Ghost King" in Yishan, the eldest prince Xiao Shangyuan and his entourage, the royal family with the sixth realm cultivation, were actually on the scene.

As far as she knew, after they were rescued back to the capital by three saints who rushed to the scene, the eldest prince had been closed in his mansion, behaving in a low-key manner, almost forgotten by the world.

No one knew what he was doing.

"Maybe he's in retreat?" Princess Zhaoning made such a guess.

She knew that before going to Qingzhou Mansion, the eldest prince Xiao Shangyuan had already had a cultivation that was close to the peak of the fifth realm, and she was just one foot away from knocking on the "Xudu Gate" and promoted to become a powerhouse of the sixth realm.

It is likely that he was mentally stimulated during this trip to Qingzhou, and took this opportunity to find an opportunity for promotion.

"If he can really break through to the sixth realm, then the 'Tai'a Sword' should be in his pocket sooner or later, right?"

The other princes seem to be indifferent to the recent experience of the eldest prince, and are still living on the original trajectory.

The second prince, Xiao Shangheng, still stayed in his luxurious and luxurious mansion, enjoying singing and dancing all day long, tasting food and wine, and having fun with beauties.

The third prince, Xiao Shangli, remained in the northwest frontier, following the border army of the Great Qi Dynasty and fighting against the northwest barbarians.

As for the fourth prince, Xiao Shangzhen...... is still in the backyard of the princess's mansion, laughing and playing with spinning tops with a few servants.

——The four princes seem to have chosen to lie dormant quietly in their own ways, and faded out of the scope of people's exchanges and discussions.

Sometimes, Princess Zhaoning can't help but think about what she would choose to do at such a time if she was also a favorable competitor of "Tai'a Sword".

"I think I should try to worship the national teacher as a teacher, try to develop contacts in the 'Luoshui Conference', and then try my best to have a good relationship with that genius boy named Gu Xu......"

But she quickly cut off these thoughts.

Thinking too much about this kind of impossible thing will only increase the sadness.

She sighed softly and boarded the carriage that was waiting for her by the edge of a large tree.

"Let's go home!" She instructed the coachman.

"Yes, Your Highness!" The coachman responded respectfully.

Then there was a "snap" and the sound of a horsewhip.

The carriage drove forward in the sun, and gray dust kicked up behind the wheels.

…………

Meanwhile.

Shen Qiu was also in Luo Jing's inn, busy with his own personal affairs.

He wrote a letter to his father, the head of the Shen family, saying that he had a very good home in the capital and should not return to Jinling for a long time.

"Have you found your daughter-in-law?"

"There is a woman in Luojing City who can take a fancy to you?"

These are the two sentences that the head of the Shen family replied to him.

Shen Qiu also replied to his father with two sentences.

"It's not a woman, it's a man."

"It's not a daughter-in-law, it's a proprietor."

Then the head of the Shen family ignored him for a whole day.

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