Xu Zhi saw the man in black walk through the dense woods, over the vast fields, until he came to the bank of the Ru River. I saw an oasis by the river not far away, surrounded by slender reeds, and in the open space stood a girl in red, extremely graceful and beautiful, holding a flute in her hand, playing alone in the moonlight, and a maid-like maid holding a dulcimer to play carefully. The breeze blew the girl's long clothes, singing and dancing lightly, just like the goddess of Wushan Ling Bo treading the waves.

Xu Zhi listened to the song from afar, the style was very elegant, it was actually a gorgeous and magnificent court music, the flute and piano sound were high and low, crisp and soft, with the melody suddenly high-pitched and suddenly low, just like the beautiful mountains and fine waters in the south of the Yangtze River. Xu Zhi was born in the south of the Yangtze River, he loved music since he was a child, and he heard from the music the ambition and tenderness of playing the popular mountains and rivers and embracing the universe.

Xu Zhi saw that the music suddenly changed tone, just like a spring breeze passing through the palace wall, drizzling rain drifting across the water, birds flying over the flowers, and the maid caressing the qin gradually could not accompany each other, leaving only the girl's lonely flute resounding in the night sky.

The girl suddenly interrupted the playing, and sighed to the maid: "Momiji, you have done your best!" This piece of music is called "Wangjiangnan", which was originally the imperial music of the court hundreds of years ago, and the feelings expressed in the song are as endless as the surging river in front of you, which cannot be stopped by the secluded palace walls. It's a pity that although the world is big, there is no bosom friend who understands my heart! No one can play this song "Wangjiangnan" with me!"

The man in black stopped not far from the girl's master and servant, and stood with his hands arched, looking very respectful. The man in black waited for the girl to finish playing the tune before he bent down and whispered, "Princess, my subordinates have completed all the things to be done in Caizhou according to your instructions!"

Xu Zhi listened, and was secretly surprised: "Why is she a princess like Yuan Zhi, could it be that King Huang also has a daughter?", just when he was puzzled, he saw the girl turn around, face the man in black, and said softly:

"General Zhou, hurry up and excuse me! This trip to Caizhou, the general has worked hard, everything the general has done for the court, this princess will tell her father, ask for merit for the general, and pass on the history!"

The man in black hurriedly bowed down and replied: "It is a subordinate matter to serve the princess, and I dare not be rewarded by surprises for a little effort!"

Only then did Xu Zhi understand that the girl in red was the princess of Tang Xizong, and the man in black was also a general of the imperial court, I don't know what conspiracy they had to sneak into Caizhou so deliberately and incognito?

I saw that the girl continued: "General Zhou, you have made a lot of credit this time, and you even said that the traitor Huang Chao led his troops south, so let Yang Xingmi in Jiangnan and Gao Jixing in Jinghu find a way to stop these grass cowards, which can not only relieve the predicament of the Central Plains for several years, but also consume Huang Chao's living force." ”

The man in black modestly replied: "These are the princess's ideas, and the subordinates just follow them, and no matter how great the credit is, the princess will also be yours!"

The girl ignored the flattery of the man in black, but raised her head, looked at the bright moon in the sky, and sighed: "General Zhou, you are too humble, we can be regarded as doing our best for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, whether the court's henchmen can be completely eradicated, I am afraid it depends on the will of God!"

Seeing the girl's worried, the man in black comforted softly: "The princess doesn't have to worry too much, now that she has been separated for a long time, the forces of the princes on all sides are balanced, and the court is weak but can still command the Quartet. If Liukou Huangchao wants to replace the imperial court and break the balance of the current situation, it will inevitably be opposed by all forces. Therefore, the subordinates thought that the Huangchao Rebellion was only a disease of the limbs to the imperial court, not a major problem for the henchmen, as long as the imperial court clarified the rule of officials, appointed the virtuous and capable, and exempted the local taxation, these rogues would be eliminated quickly!"

The girl smiled and said: "Listening to the general's words is better than reading a book for ten years! I hope that my father can also come to his senses, do something for the people, and give confidence and hope to the people in the world!"

The man in black continued: "Long live since he ascended the throne, he has implemented inaction under the watchful eye of the powerful people, which is a clever measure to restrain the handsome and stabilize the people's hearts. If the imperial court wants to eradicate the great problem of local feudal towns, it needs to wait for the opportunity. But things must be reversed, and now the emperor is bewildered by a few close ministers, addicted to games, ignoring state affairs, and being criticized by the world, I am afraid that it is not the blessing of the common people in the world!

The girl was a little melancholy, and replied: "General Zhou, don't talk about those things in the imperial court, tell me how you did this tricky thing in Caizhou? Tonight, the moonlight is like water, and this princess is in a very good mood, and I also want to hear about the general's clever methods?"

The man in black said humbly: "The princess praised it falsely, and her subordinates just took advantage of the opportunity of the rebellious Huang Chao to recruit relatives for her daughter, and divided and bought Ye Luchun of the Black Eagle Sect, so that he could take the opportunity to recruit relatives to Huang Chao and go south. Although Ye Luchun is a two-sided and three-knife wall-head grass, this person can speak well, and he is clever and eloquent, even Huang Chao also blinded him, and he was obedient to him, and at the end he also gave him the false title of a staff general. ”

The girl praised: "This method is so good, but there are some flaws." What if Huang Chao's generals object?"

The man in black continued: "The subordinates also know the powerful relationship at this level, and I think that Huang Chao was also deceived by Ye Luchun's clever words for a while, and there are so many generals under him, there will definitely be people who understand and oppose going south to Jiangnan." ”

At this time, the maid, who had been silent beside the girl, asked anxiously, "Yes, General Zhou!

The girl glanced at the maid and said angrily: "Red leaves, you tidy up the musical instrument first, and when General Zhou finishes speaking, you can ask him if you don't understand anything!"

The maid named Hongye didn't dare to say much anymore, and hurriedly lowered her head and hurriedly cleaned up the musical instruments placed on the ground, only to see the man in black continue: "The subordinates then considered buying the generals under Huang Chao, and the subordinates also carefully analyzed, Huang Chao trusted the two generals the most, one is Shang Rang, this Shang Rang is a scholar, who attaches great importance to faith and righteousness, is sensible, and it is difficult to be bought by others. Therefore, I put all my chips on Zhu Wen, another general of Huangchao, as expected by his subordinates, this Zhu Wen is extremely cunning, has no affection, only pays attention to interests, you give him what he wants, even his own mother can be betrayed, let alone Huangchao!"

The girl sighed: "It turns out that this is the case, since this Zhu Wen can be bought by us, it is very likely that he will betray us in the future, so we must be extra wary of him, General Zhou, is there no one around Huang Chao who understands that going south is consuming his own strength and stands up to oppose it?"

The man in black smiled: "How could it not be? Especially Huang Chao's daughter, as well as his concubine Xu Zhi, he wanted Huang Chao to cultivate his glory at the beginning, accumulate strength, and wait for the opportunity, but that Huang Chao was bent on how to get the world and ascend to the throne early, but he felt that Xu Zhi was deliberately opposed to him being called the king and emperor, and he had a grudge against him. ”

The girl said silently: "Huang Chao's new horse is Xu Zhi? is the one who offended General Yun in Runzhou, Jiangnan?

The man in black smiled: "Now this Xu Zhi is not what it used to be, and it is no longer the Wuxia Ameng of the past, he doesn't know where he learned a good skill, and he actually made a tie with his subordinates, it is the back waves of the Yangtze River that push the front waves, it's really ashamed!"

The girl saw that the man in black was worried about Xu Zhi's affairs, and comforted: "General Zhou's martial arts are excellent and his knowledge is far-reaching, how can Xu Zhi, a junior boy, be able to match him?"

The man in black sighed and continued: "The princess doesn't know, that Xu Zhi is not only far-sighted, but also chivalrous and courageous, dedicated to the people of Li, and will definitely be a big trouble for our court in the future!"

The maid Hongye didn't interject for a long time, but couldn't help but ask: "Princess, which Xu Zhi? Is it the Xu Zhi that General Yun often mentions? What kind of ability does he have to make the princess, Lord Yun, and Lord Zhou all feel awe-inspiring and have trouble sleeping?"

The girl whispered "um" and continued to ask, "Then how did the general deal with this Xu Zhi?"

The man in black muttered: "I saw Xu Zhi stand out in the Caizhou competition, I was afraid that he would become Huang Chao's right-hand man in the future, and he would inherit Huang Chao's foundation in the future, so our court would never have peace, so I privately thought of a plan to get rid of Xu Zhi." ”

The girl asked curiously, "What kind of plan is it?"

The man in black replied: "I saw that Hui Feng was often drunk alone in the Yanyu Building after Xu Zhi was elected as the Huangchao Horse, and I knew that he was unhappy, so I privately found Zhu Wen's second brother Zhu Cun, and told him that there was a little girl who sang in the Yanyu Building who was very smart, and asked him to stir up the situation, so as to provoke Hui Feng to come to the rescue, and then his subordinates secretly killed that Zhu Cun, and successfully blamed Hui Feng, so that not only did he get rid of the general of Caokou for the imperial court, but also successfully aroused the contradiction between Zhu Wen and Xu Zhi and others!"

The girl pursed her lips, smiled faintly, and said, "General Zhou, I know that you are also thinking about the imperial court, but it is a little too vicious to do so, after all, Xu Zhi and we have no deep hatred!"

The man in black replied: "The princess is too kind-hearted, but her subordinates are helpless to do this, if you don't do this, I'm afraid you can't fake it, and you can't deceive Zhu Wen, a cunning villain." ”

The girl seemed to suddenly come to her senses, and praised: "General Zhou is really a clever move, if you don't do this, I'm afraid you can't say that you can't move Zhu Wen to kill Xu Zhi, Huifeng and others, and it also puts Huang Chao in the dilemma of either protecting his son-in-law or protecting his love general, which also cuts off Huang Chao's way to reuse Xu Zhi." ”

The man in black continued to analyze: "The princess also thinks too highly of that Huang Chao, he is just a fallen talent, how much ability can he have, and he is also short-sighted and indecisive in this matter: one will favor Xu Zhi and Huifeng in front of his daughter, and the other will claim to avenge the dead Zhu Cun in front of the soldiers, so when Zhu Wen took out the so-called ironclad evidence of Li Zhen and others, he and Zhu Wen had the same mind to get rid of Xu Zhi and Huifeng. ”

The girl sighed: "So there is a story that Xu Zhi later took Zhou Yuanzhi to rob the death row, make trouble in the general's mansion, and escape from Caizhou City?"

The man in black replied: "Princess! That's right, and later Zhu Wen found me again and asked me to take someone to the White Pavilion to kill Xu Zhi in private, and then set fire to destroy the corpse." Haha, I'll take this opportunity to fake it, on the one hand, in addition to Xu Zhi's henchman, on the other hand, I can gain Zhu Wen's greater trust, so that I can better understand the movements of the Liukou and do things for the princess and the court. ”

When the girl in red heard this, she seemed to be unsatisfied, and whispered: "What kind of legendary figure is this Xu Zhi, I heard General Yun say in the palace that he killed bullies and fought corrupt officials in Runzhou, Jiangnan, this time I didn't expect that he took the princess of Huangchao to rob the death row prisoner, and made a big fuss in Caizhou City, Princess Huangchao still loves him so much, for him to break with his parents and wealth, what good is he about?"

The girl pondered for a while, and suddenly asked, "General Zhou, are you sure that Xu Zhi was really burned to death by the fire?"

The man in black bowed down and replied, "This is what my subordinates have seen with their own eyes, and it is true. The entire Baiting Post House was burned to ashes by the fire, how could that kid survive!"

When the girl heard this, she lowered her head and stopped talking, as if she was a little lost.

After listening to the story of the man in black, Hongye asked curiously: "This Xu Zhi doesn't have three heads and six arms?" The princess was too curious about him, and as soon as she saw General Yun in the palace that day, she asked him to go to the household department to check this kid's family history file non-stop! Xu Zhi was burned to death, not to mention the princess, even the slave felt a little pity!"

Seeing that Momiji had something to say, the girl asked rhetorically, "What's the pity?"

Hongye smiled: "It's a pity that the slave maid is the same as the princess, I just heard how this Xu Zhi is a hero, and I really haven't seen how he looks, how is it better than our General Yun?"

Before the maid Momiji finished speaking, she saw the girl blushing in the moonlight, glared at her, and didn't dare to continue.

Xu Zhi hid in the dark and heard the story of the man in black and the jealousy of the imperial court towards him, his heart was surging, and his breathing gradually became short. But he thought that he was in danger and should not be reckless, so he quickly held his breath again, listened to the girl in red change the topic, and continued to ask:

"General Zhou, this trip to Caizhou has been hard work, in addition to meeting Xu Zhi, have you also made some potential friends for us?"

The man in black replied, "In addition to the subordinates who bought Ye Luchun of the Black Eagle Sect and Zhu Wen from Huang Chao's side, there is also Ou Yangguang of the Tiger Gang, who is also willing to consider cooperating with us. However, these people were a little hesitant at first, and then they were all moved by a strange book proposed by their subordinates, and their subordinates really didn't understand that strange books were artifacts for the world, how could the princess easily leak the secret promise of the strange book to others, and ask the princess to think twice?"

After hearing the worry of the man in black, the girl couldn't help but let out a giggle like a silver bell, and said: "General Zhou doesn't have to worry about this matter, you just need to keep it a secret for this princess, even General Yun can't tell you about this matter, this princess has her own plans!"

The man in black was very confused, and couldn't help but ask again: "Why can't even Lord Yun know what kind of secret is hidden in this strange book?"

The girl glanced at the puzzled eyes of the man in black in the moonlight, and then at the curious eyes of the maid beside her, and then turned her gaze to a sandbar in the water in the distance, and said after a long time, "Do you want to know the origin of this strange book?"