When the first snowflakes fell in Xiangfan County, Mao Xiang and Wang Yi began to be escorted to the capital.

After the two were taken over by the Inspection Division, Chen Yi, the director of the Flying Fish Division, only interrogated the two once, except for asking about their age and life experience, and took them back to the prison without asking too much. In addition to not being allowed to visit, the two did not suffer, because they were locked in a cell, the two did not feel lonely, talking about poetry and papers, and there was paper and pen available, Mao Xiang actually filled in a poem "Xijiangyue":

The bun is loose and loose, and the lead is lightly made up. The red smoke and green fog cover is light, and the flying floc is uncertain. If you don't see each other, you will be ruthless. After the sheng song dispersed, the wine woke up slightly, and the moon in the deep courtyard was quiet.

Wang Yi praised: "What a beautiful song, Brother Mao misses Miss Xue, right?" ”

Mao Xiang was noncommittal, but Ye Qi's narrow Danfeng eyes appeared in front of him.

The guards of the Flying Fish Department took Mao and Wang out of the cell, and the two of them had changed into the cloth and cotton robes sent by the Lu Fu, except for the shackles on their feet, they did not bring flails or sit in the prisoner car, but each took a car, and there was a guard of the Flying Fish Department in the car. Chen Yi borrowed 30 shop soldiers from the county criminal department, 20 people in front of the road, and 10 people in the back were delayed, he personally took 4 flying fish guards to ride horses to guard the two cars, went out of the city from the north gate of Xiangyang Mansion, and marched along the official road to the capital city. Sister Mao Xiang and Xiangyun got the news and wanted to see them off, but they didn't let them get close, so they could only cry from afar, watching the team disappear from sight.

The escort team crossed the river, quickly passed through Fancheng Mansion, and continued north into Zhongzhou County. At this time, it was almost a year old, and the situation was unstable, and there were few brigades on the official road, so even if a team of mules and horses encountered such a team of officials, they would quickly avoid it from a distance. Although the journey was smooth, because the distance was not far, he would definitely be able to reach Shangjing before the end of the year, Chen Yi was not in a hurry, but walked one stop at a time according to the itinerary.

In the afternoon of this day, the escort team entered the Jiabee Ancient Road, located in the Savage Mountains. This is the only way to go to Shangjing, there are more than 20 miles of road, the road is narrowed, only one carriage can pass, on one side is a deep canyon, the bottom of the stream is fast, on the other side is high cliffs, peaks. This is the most dangerous section, Chen Yi ordered everyone to cheer up, pay attention to precautions, pass quickly, and be sure to drive out of the ancient road before dark.

In less than an hour, the team walked out of the ancient road smoothly, and in front of it were two widening intersecting official roads. At this moment, two teams pushing carts at the intersection were blocked, and there were more than 20 people on both sides, not giving in to each other, first yelling at each other, and then pushing and shoving. The leading escort shop soldiers scolded and drove away with knives. Those brigades were not only not afraid, but also scolded the shop soldiers, saw the shop soldiers waving knives, one of them shouted, picked up the flat shoulder and knocked down the leading shop soldiers, and the rest of the brigades who were originally fighting with each other took out the hidden weapons from the cart, shouting to kill the escort shop soldiers, and more than 30 people hidden in the woods on the side of the road also held various weapons to kill.

The soldiers in front of them were caught off guard and were immediately knocked down by 4-5 people, and the rest of them retreated while resisting. Chen Yi was not flustered, and the Flying Fish Guards around him were also calm, he first carefully observed the woods on the mountain on the right, and saw that there was nothing unusual, so he beckoned the rear team of shop soldiers to surround the two cars, and then jumped off the horse and led the four Flying Fish Guards around him to the front. Although there were 5-60 robbers, after Chen Yi and the other 5 people were killed, 6-7 people were cut down in a few rounds, and the rest of the people retreated, and the situation was reversed.

At this moment, on the hill on the right, where there was no movement, 7-8 masked men in black tights flew down from the tall trees suspended by ropes, and suddenly jumped around the car, and broke up the soldiers with three punches and two feet. The Flying Fish Guards on the car in front of him jumped out of the car and drew their swords to resist, but these black-clothed men were all strong in martial arts, and in the blink of an eye, the guard was hit by a sword in his leg and fell out of the car. After the man in black recognized the impostor in the car, he didn't care about Wang Yi behind him, the two jumped into the car and drove the car to the road next to him, and the rest of the people followed behind the car.

Chen Yi in front found out about this change, and immediately led 4 flying fish guards to kill back, but because they had already killed the middle of the robbers in front, they delayed when they turned over and killed, and the car had already driven to the official road next to it, and several black-clothed people in the back covered fought with Chen Yi and others for a few rounds, and only fled to the woods on both sides after the car drove away. Chen Yi reflexively mounted his horse and chased after him with 4 Flying Fish Guards.

Not far after chasing out, he suddenly heard an exclamation behind him, Chen Yi looked back and was shocked. A gray-clothed masked man jumped out of the canyon on the left, and when he reached the car behind, he used a thin bamboo pole to lift the curtain, and his body twisted slightly, dodging a crossbow of the flying fish guard in the car. The guard jumped out of the car, and a flying fish knife danced like snowflakes, but in the flash of light, the gray-clothed man's bamboo pole had hit him in the armpit, and then the crook of the leg was also hit, and the guard lost the knife and fell to the ground. The man in gray entered the car, pulled out a short sword, and cut Wang Yi's shackles like cutting vegetables, Wang Yi was just about to struggle, the man in gray said something in his ear, and Wang Yi immediately stopped struggling. The gray-clothed man held Wang Yi's armpit, jumped out of the car, came to the edge of the canyon in three or two steps, went down to the bottom of the valley in a few jumps, waved his hand, and a soft rope flew across the stream, around a big tree on the opposite bank, and the soft rope together, the two flew over the stream and disappeared into the dense woods on the opposite bank.

Chen Yi and a few people rushed back, but they could only watch the gray-clothed man and Wang Yi flee. Chen Yi saw that the flying fish guard with the sword in his leg was fine, and said to him: "Quickly send a signal to the main matter, just say that there was an accident, and both of them will be robbed." Then he said to the four Flying Fish Guards on horseback, "Let's continue chasing." After speaking, he took the lead in chasing the sedan with the pretending horse.

The guard, who was wounded in the leg, limped to an open area, took out the signal canister, and set off two red fireworks in a row, and the two fireworks exploded at a very high place and did not disperse for a long time.

At this time, it was not yet dark, Chen Yi and others were galloping on the road, and due to the delay, they could no longer see the smoke and dust raised by the carriage and horses in front. Chen Yi chased along the road, stopped when he encountered a fork in the road, carefully checked the rut marks and continued to chase, about 30 miles away, he saw the carriage parked at a fork in the road in front of him. After Chen Yi and the others arrived, they surrounded the carriage, and a guard got off the horse, approached the carriage cautiously, and suddenly raised the curtain with a knife, and the car was indeed empty.

Chen Yi looked around for a while, and there was silence in the twilight. He looked again at the mountainous area he had passed by, as if he saw several men in black walking in the dense forest with his adventures. He sneered, turned his horse's head, and galloped back.

As the two men in black were speeding through the carriage, one of the men in black got into the carriage and opened the shackles of the horseman. Mao Xiang asked, "Who are you?" The man in black did not answer.

As the carriage drove through the mountainous area, the carriage slowed down, and the man in black jumped out of the carriage with the horse, while the carriage continued to move forward on the road. At this time, two more black-clothed men came out of the forest, and the three of them carried Mao Xiang into the forest. Mao Xiang struggled and asked, "Who are you?" No one answered, one of them took out a black cloth and blindfolded Mao Xiang, and without waiting for Mao Xiang to shout, he took out a piece of cloth and blocked his mouth, and the two of them continued to walk through the dense forest with Mao Xiang one by one.

After walking in the darkness for a long time, Mao Xiang was taken into a carriage, the road was very bumpy, and after walking for a while, he was taken out of the carriage and into the woods to continue walking. He walked like this for I don't know how long, and only stopped when he was exhausted, he was stuffed with a water bladder in his hand, and the cloth in his mouth was also taken out, and he quickly drank water with a dry mouth, and then took a piece of dry food and ate it. After resting for a while, Mao Xiang was picked up again and began to hurry in the dark.

I walked for three days, changed carriages in the middle, and took a boat, except for resting and sharpening, I just kept hurrying. When Mao Xiang felt that life was worse than death, they stopped, and Mao Xiang felt as if he had entered the house, sat on a bed, and then the black cloth covering his eyes was finally removed. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, he heard the door shut, and when he looked closely, he was in a small room, with nothing but a bed, a small table, and a stool where he sitted, and the doors and windows were closed. He walked to the door and looked out through the gap, and there seemed to be a large living room outside, with all the tables and chairs, but empty, and the door of the living room was closed, so that he could not see the outside. Mao Xiang pushed the doors and windows, but he couldn't push them, and he shouted a few more times outside, but there was no movement. At this time, he was really tired, so he didn't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, and fell asleep on the bed.

I don't know how long I slept, but I woke up to find that it was already dark, and there were two bowls of vegetables, a bowl of rice, and a pot of wine on the table. Hungry and overjoyed, he pounced, and without using a wine glass, he picked up the flask and drank a few big sips, and then devoured it. After a while, the door opened, and two manservants came in, carrying a bath bucket, and placed it in a corner of the room, and then carried in the steaming soup bucket from outside the door, and after pouring the water, they put a set of clean clothes on the bed, from the inside out, and when everything was done, the two manservants went out without saying a word, and locked the door from the outside.

Mao Xiang simply didn't say a word, watched them go out after they were busy, got up and took off their dirty clothes, and soaked in the soup bucket. Although it was the middle of winter, it was not cold inside, and it was estimated that there was a brazier in the house outside. When Mao Xiang was washed and put on new clothes, the door opened again, and the two manservants just now came in to clean up. When they finished cleaning up and were about to close the door, Mao Xiang said, "You don't need to lock the door, I won't run anyway." The two men ignored him, locked the door and left.

For several days, except for the two servants who brought food and washing water, no one came to ask about Mao Xiang, and the two servants did not speak as if they were dumb. Mao Xiang is optimistic by nature, since he was inexplicably arrested as a five-bucket rice sect master, accidents continued, he simply went with the flow, anyway, he didn't care about anything else, he lived in peace.

The imprisoned Mao Xiang lived steadily, quite happy, but the people outside were restless.

In Jinling City, south of the Yangtze River, the only prince of Dasui - Wei Li, the king of Jinling, was pacing back and forth irritably, and the head of the palace, Shi Wei, did not dare to stand aside. Wei Ligang, the king of Jinling, was in his early 40s, and due to his long-term pampering and indulgence in wine, he became bloated and obese. At that time, Emperor Hongzhi favored his only younger brother, not only divided him to the rich southeast, gave him 500,000 mu of land at one time, stipulated that the land of the palace did not charge any taxes, and even handed over the appointment and dismissal of officials in the three southeastern counties to him.

The biggest crisis in Wei Li's life was the "Five Princes Rebellion", when it was rumored in the capital that the Five Princes Rebellion was to elect him as the emperor. Fortunately, there is really no evidence, in fact, Wei Li did not have any intention of being the emperor at that time, and he was convinced by his second brother Wei Wen, that is, Emperor Hongzhi. Wei Chang did not embarrass Wei Li, but pretended to let Wei Li succeed to the throne, but how could Wei Li dare to have a little thought at that time, and resolutely recommended Wei Chang to succeed him as Emperor Jing'an. Later, Emperor Jing'an favored him like Emperor Hongzhi, and also sealed 1 million acres of land. Wei Li will also be a prince of pleasure in a down-to-earth manner.

Until 5 years ago, after Emperor Jing'an's last son died of illness, because Emperor Jing'an had no queen, there were gradually voices in the court to choose one of Wei Li's sons to succeed Emperor Jing'an and inherit the throne. Wei Li has 3 sons-in-law, and there are 4 sons in law, the eldest son of the son-in-law, that is, the son Wei Zong, known as the sage king of the southeast, not only looks rich and handsome, but also reads poetry and books, and can be a corporal of courtesy, and the voice is very high for a while.

For some reason, Emperor Jing'an didn't seem to have this intention, and he didn't choose among the children of other clans, but repeatedly forbade the courtiers to write to the crown prince, and even killed them at the end of last year, so the government and the opposition were silent.

Wei Li was also active at first, after all, his son succeeded to the throne and became the emperor, and other sons could be crowned princes. But after seeing Emperor Jing'an's approach, he became more cautious, on the surface he became more and more respectful to Emperor Jing'an, strictly restraining the people of the palace to abide by the etiquette system, but he did not stop his activities in private, and secretly sent capable people to bring a large amount of money to Beijing to operate, win over high-ranking officials and close ministers, lay down eyeliner, and closely watched Emperor Jing'an's movements. At this moment, he had just received an urgent secret report from Jingli Eyeliner, and he urgently sought out the chief of the palace to discuss.

Wei Li said to Changshi: "Immediately send a letter to the prince and tell him that this is a trap, let him be careful, he can't bring people back, and he can't let people catch the handle." ”

Changshi said: "The prince is very smart, and with Mr. Pan by his side, he will definitely be able to handle it." ”

Wei Li became more and more irritable: "The key is what to do with that person?" If the inspection department really brings people back to the capital, then we will be empty. ”

Changshi said: "The matter is not over until the end, even if that person arrives in the capital, the emperor may not necessarily be clear that it is him, after all, there is still such a big secret there, does the emperor have a decision?" ”

Wei Li said: "That is our last trump card, and it must not be used lightly, and it is also our disaster if it is not done well." ”。

Changshi said: "Yes, the people in the capital should know the importance and will grasp the timing." ”

Wei Li waved his hand and said, "Go and send a message to the prince." ”