Wang Xinghui looked at this turquoise and clear waterhole in a daze, the waterhole is not too deep, you can see the bottom at a glance, there is nothing unusual at the bottom of the water, but there seems to be another way out of the black hole inside, he muttered for a while, walked gently into Tanzhong, and immediately just arrived at the cold soaking muscles and bones, less than eight or nine steps, the water has reached the chest, and the head is about to touch the top of the cave. He took a deep breath and dived into Tan. As soon as he opened his eyes, the blue fluorescence was not far ahead, and the waterhole was getting lower and lower, until finally he wanted the cat's waist to pass, and when he turned a large stone above his head, he hurriedly walked a few steps, reached out to the top of his head, and his hand was already stretched out of the water.

He stood up, the end of the waterhole is really a cave, a small stone room, sealed at this end of the waterhole, only to see the old turtle lying on the side of Tan, there is no breath, it is really still snake venom attack and died. At the foot of the old turtle, there is a big night pearl, shining with a blue halo, illuminating the treasure light in the cave, and at the end of the stone room, a narrow crack in the ground, going up obliquely, I don't know where it leads.

He picked up the jewel in his hand, and as soon as the jewel entered his palm, a ray of light flashed, and then it turned into dimness, but it was delicate and warm, and after a while, the whole body was warm like a morning glow, and his spirit was instantly lifted. There were too many strange things this night, and Wang Xinghui felt as if he was in a dream. After a while, the jewel in his hand slowly condensed a trace of blue light and flowed slowly, he thought: Legend has it that there is a good gem in the world that can collect the essence of the sun and the moon, containing the aura of heaven and earth, this Mo Zhen is not a supreme treasure? Where does this gem come from? According to legend, when the ancient Yu King ruled the water, he got the turtle in a cave to offer the treasure, and later managed the world's floods.

Of course, this orb was not spit out by the old turtle, but it was not a chance, and Wang Xinghui couldn't guess the origin of this orb at that time, so he thought about it for a while, and then stopped thinking about it. The room is clearly visible under the reflection of the gems, Wang Xinghui walked in front of the stone crack, and walked two or three miles along the stone crack, the ground is no longer muddy, but it is getting steeper and steeper, the crack is more than one person wide, but the top of the head is a very high slit, like a knife and axe chiseled out.

He carefully examined the situation around him, and thought to himself that he was probably in the belly of the mountain by this time. The front seam is divided into two, one flat to the left, and the other continues diagonally upward. Wang Xinghui groaned a little, and walked towards the gap on the left, the crack on this side was much smoother, Wang Xinghui quickened his pace, and walked in the belly of the mountain for another hour or two, and the light gradually came in front of him, he couldn't help but be excited, seeing that the crack was getting wider and wider, and the hole was in front, he rushed up two steps, and heard the outside "chirp, chirp, huh-" someone riding a horse towards this side.

Wang Xinghui subconsciously stood on the inside of the cave, leaning against the entrance of the cave, blocking his body and listening carefully, only to hear a person outside say: "Master, just rest here!" Another horse approached, and the person on the horse answered: "Okay, the scenery here is excellent, Secretary He, take down the stool, take out the pastries, madam, there is a mountain spring here, let's eat the pastries here and then go!"

As soon as Wang Xinghui heard the voices of these two people, he immediately remembered that it was the county magistrate Li and Secretary He of Han'an County! He thought that the county magistrate Li and Secretary He could appear, and this place must be not far from the Liantian Mountain, and he was about to rush out. I only heard a few more people approaching with a huff, followed by the sound of the sedan chair falling to the ground, and then the voice of Secretary He: "Madam, the mountain road is rugged, you have been shaking hard all the way, sit down and rest!"

Then there was the sound of several palanquin men sitting on the ground, and a woman said with a little anger: "Secretary He, do you still call me Mrs., don't you call me Mrs. of the county magistrate?" Secretary He replied with a smile: "Yo, look at my memory, the county magistrate, the county magistrate's wife, you two sit down, the pig porridge brought to us by the wife of Director Li of the Governance Bureau will be just right, you see, it's still steaming!"

I only heard the county magistrate's wife continue: "I said master, you are a director of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, isn't it better than running here to be the county magistrate? ”

County Magistrate Li said slowly: "This is an opportunity to admire Tao Xuan, forgive me how do you women's families know? If it weren't for the Republic of China's first initiation of the official system, forgive me a small businessman, how could I be the parent of a place? Fang is in a big mess today, the princes of all parties support their own troops, and the chairman of the committee has long wanted to extend his tentacles to the land of Bashu, and this time he spent a lot of money to open up the important joints in Shuzhong, so that I can have the opportunity to get the post of county order, but the forces in Shuzhong are complicated, and he Liu Wenhui is not an incompetent person, how can he not know the thoughts of the chairman? As the so-called walking on thin ice, such as facing the abyss, we must not be careless, the squires and adults who should be visited, are not allowed to lack courtesy, you must not fill in the trouble for me, Secretary He, you have followed me for many years, and you will still have to bother more in the future!"

Secretary He didn't answer yet, but heard another young and handsome voice say: "Dad, we have a letter of appointment from the Guangzhou National **, does he Liu Wenhui dare to disobey?"

County Magistrate Li replied with a light smile: "My son is still young, he doesn't dare to disobey in the open, but can't he disobey secretly? Not to mention, since the fight with Guo Xunqi, it has become more and more difficult for us to gain a foothold in Sichuan, why can Li Yuanhong and Yuan Shikai be the presidents of the Republic of China? Mr. Sun also knows that the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, in the future, we are guests from afar, you take your brothers like you, even the dragon will also pick it up for me, give me a little leisure, don't pull out the gun at every turn! Time is not waiting, we must do our best to complete this important matter as soon as possible. ”

Wang Xinghui quietly poked his head out, only to see that outside the cave was a well, shaded by green trees, and County Magistrate Li had his back to the entrance of the cave, wearing a gray Mao suit, sitting on the edge of the well, shaking a folding fan! Secretary He was wearing a long robe, changed into a master's dress, and paced back and forth in front of County Magistrate Li; when he was engaged in the battle with Guo Xunqi under the reorganization of Lian Tianshan Mountain, Wang Xinghui had several meetings with County Magistrate Li and Secretary He, and both of them had little change from two years ago, except that County Magistrate Li had more gray hair on his temples.

On a wooden stool in front of the county magistrate Li sat a richly dressed woman, holding a handkerchief in one hand and a piece of pastry in the other, chewing slowly in her mouth. On the official road a little farther away, there was a small sedan chair parked, seven or eight horses tied to the willow tree, and several sturdy men squatted under the shade of the tree, one of them was dressed differently and wore a Western-style top hat, which was very eye-catching, and this person should be the son of the county magistrate who had just spoken.

Secretary He said thoughtfully: "We are going to visit Director Qin of Yujiang Mansion this time, this Director Qin has served as the deputy director of the Quartermaster Department of Southern Sichuan since the Republic of China 5, it is said that his ancestor is the protégé of the former Qing governor, the Republic of China 15 years, that is, he just retired last year, he lives in a simple place, lives in seclusion in Yunnan Diancang Mountain, not easy to see people, this time we finally asked someone to send a post, got a reply, we must seize the opportunity to ask him for advice, in the future, the affairs of the middle of the Sichuan, it will be easier to handle more"

The county magistrate's son said again: "We don't really want to befriend him, it's just a matter of visiting that matter......" Before he finished his sentence, County Magistrate Li coughed, and nodded slowly: "I heard that this Director Qin is still a fan of opera, not only Sichuan Opera, Peking Opera, but also Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, and tea-picking opera, but unfortunately we haven't prepared for a long time, Feng'er, you have to take this matter to heart, and let people find a good opera troupe from your hometown Suzhou to bring Han'an, in case you need it from time to time." ”

Wang Xinghui listened to his conversation for a while, and Secretary He listed the squires and foreign men who still needed to be beaten one by one, and County Magistrate Li nodded his head one by one to express his appreciation. Wang Xinghui thought to himself: This secretary He always looks like a good old man who is smiling and chanting on weekdays, but he is meticulous and meticulous, and he is not leaking, when he first went to Liantian Mountain, he kept the names of several people in the cottage firmly in his heart, and today he understands the local officialdom and the people so clearly, and all the arrangements are in his heart, which is really a not simple role.

I also heard the county magistrate Li ask: "Secretary He just said that everything is not bad, I don't know that in addition to what you just said, in this Sichuan-Yunnan area, there are other folk famous people, high-ranking hermits, and reckless heroes. ”

Li Feng, the son of the county magistrate, answered impatiently and said: "Okay Dad, in my opinion, you are too careful, the landlord and the old wealth, you take the initiative to make friends and visit, you also want to visit the popular people, and you also want to make friends with the bandits in the green forest, according to my opinion, the mountains and forests in this area are deep and dense, and the hermits are afraid that there are no, and the bandits and robbers have to beware of it, and the brothers have cheered me up, we finally came out to let the wind out, as the saying goes, thieves do not go empty, but they can't go back empty-handed." His last words raised his voice, addressed to his subordinates who were resting in the next row of willows.

Li Feng is young and vigorous, his mouth is open, and he compares himself to a thief as the son of the county magistrate, everyone feels funny when they hear it, and laughs: "Please rest assured that the county magistrate and young master have long been itchy, and the grandson who is not afraid of death wants to come to rob the road, just give our brother a few live targets to practice......"

Suddenly, I heard someone in the southeast shouting: "What blind little beast, eating the bear's heart and leopard gall, blowing the atmosphere here, blocking the way of the master!"

Everyone looked at it together, Wang Xinghui hid at the entrance of the cave, and also saw a corner on the official road, and a group of people were bustling and crowding.

The three yellow horses led by Xiong Jian were quite Xiong Jian, and immediately all three of them were dressed in black, and one of them in the middle "shouted" and strangled the horse's head, and the horse neighed, standing high, and the two sides also held down the saddle, and looked at this side together, with anger on their faces!

Behind him, there were five or six bare-chested mule drivers, driving four or five mules, and the sides of the mules were full of goods, and from a distance, I didn't know what was in the carts. Several of the mules opened their nostrils and gasped for air, as if the cargo was very heavy.

Several mule drivers did not watch out for the sudden person in front of the person blocking the middle of the official road, the reins were in a hurry, the mule and horse were in pain, the head was swinging, and the goods on the back were ping-pong, several people couldn't pull it, seeing that a mule was about to hit the sedan chair parked in the middle of the road, the man in black on the left raised his hand, grabbed the reins, and pulled back, the mule could not move at all, immediately braked his heels, and kept neighing.

The mule driver hurriedly held down the reins of the mule, only a foot away from the sedan chair, and several people shouted and cursed: "What kind of person? So ignorant, park the sedan chair in the middle of the road!", "His grandmother's, blind, get out of the way of grandpa!", "Carrying a big sedan chair, dare to marry a girl?", "It's not a girl, you see it's not a beautiful little lady, his mother's appearance is not bad." ”

Seeing that the county magistrate's wife was beautiful, several people whispered and gradually became funny.

A mule driver cleared his throat and said sharply: "Brothers, which little bastard scolded the street just now, and acted majestically on this Yigeng Road, we have been walking here for more than ten years, and today can be regarded as a touch, but you have to open your eyes!"

Everyone else followed suit, they looked at the situation, and saw that the other party was a sedan chair and a female dependent, and they already knew that they were not bandits, but they were annoyed that Li Feng had no words, so they joked, and one of them simply said loudly: "Where are there any bandits, there is a girl who is out of line, why don't we snatch it back and be the lady of the village!"

The county magistrate's wife was already in her early thirties, just because she was gorgeously dressed, she did look a little like a girl who had just come out of the cabinet, she saw the other party's frivolous words, and said that she was young and beautiful, but she didn't care, and the expression on her face was half anger, but more joy. Seeing that the mouths of this group of people were getting more and more unclean, County Magistrate Li couldn't help but frown secretly.

The three men in black who were riding on horses were interested in laughing when they saw that everyone was laughing, and the beautiful woman was not very angry, and she couldn't help laughing and saying nothing.

Suddenly, Li Feng stood up, threw out a long horsewhip from his waist, "snapped" two soft sounds, one whip hit the mule's eye, and shouted: "Blind beast, the county magistrate's wife's palanquin, can you also touch?" The mule's eyes ached, and he couldn't help retreating, and the other whip hit the hat on the head of one of the mule drivers who laughed the most, and the brim of the hat pressed on his face, covering his eyes, and the man was taken aback, and fell off the mule's back in fright.

When he was about to throw off the brim of another muleman's hat with a backhand whip, the man in black on the left suddenly stretched out his right hand and caught the whip.

Both sides drew their guns one after another, and for a while they both pointed their guns at each other, shouting: "Don't move! Don't move!"

The man in black and the son of the county magistrate pulled the horsewhip, and the stalemate continued, and the guns on both sides pointed indiscriminately, and both sides thought in their hearts that there was no need to go off the fire for a joke, and no one fired the first shot! But neither of them was willing to put down their guns. The man in black in the middle suddenly laughed and said: "This little brother has good arm strength, good arm strength, misunderstanding and misunderstanding, all misunderstanding, come, everyone put down the gun, don't be nervous! Come on, come on, put it down." Secretary He and the county magistrate also took the opportunity to stand up and play a round and asked everyone to put down their guns.

The man in black in the middle glanced at the man on the left, and the man on the left saw that the other party refused to let go of his hand, so he suddenly grinned, and suddenly let go of his hand, Li Feng groaned and fell backwards.

Secretary He helped Li Feng up, and the county magistrate frowned and said, "Where are you from, why are you so barbaric, why do you dare to molest women from good families!"

The black-clothed man in the middle had already seen the county magistrate's dignified appearance, and heard that he admitted that he was the county magistrate, so he immediately intended to make friends, and hurriedly jumped off the horse and gave it up. The county magistrate saw that he spoke very politely, and the two sides did not have any festivals, so he also nodded slightly. The two sides asked each other's names, and the man in black in the middle introduced himself first, it turned out that his name was Tu Jianwei, Li Hongyi on the right, and Ouyang Ping who had the strength to grab the whip with Li Feng. Tu Jianwei said: "The three of us brothers are the servants of the brigade commander Wang Lingji, and we have been doing tobacco business on this road all the year round. ”

Secretary He pointed to the county magistrate Li and introduced: "This is the first county magistrate of Han'an County, the first county magistrate of Han'an County, and the county magistrate Li!"

When Tu Jianwei heard this, they all hurriedly dismounted and apologized, Ouyang Ping smiled at Li Feng: "Li Gongzi has good arm strength, we don't know each other! Don't be surprised, don't be surprised! Come, brothers, apologize to the county magistrate and Li Gongzi!"

County Magistrate Li saluted slightly, and said with a smile: "The three are modest, looking at the three skills, I'm afraid that they are not ordinary masters and servants with Brigade Commander Wang!"

Tu Jianwei said to him with a smile: "Where, where is it, the three of my brothers just take care of Brigade Commander Wang's home, and it is really an honor to have the honor to meet County Magistrate Li today." ”

Everyone was polite for a while, Tu Jianwei asked where the county magistrate Li and his party went, the county magistrate Li only said to visit a famous elder, a few people explained the direction, so they walked together, Secretary He thought to himself, southern Sichuan accepted the national ** moderation of Guangzhou, Wang Lingji also had merit, speaking of Han'an County is under the jurisdiction of Yibin Wang Lingji, which is the person who is the top boss. You can't help but know each other, both of them are happy, everyone walked around and greeted each other, Ouyang Ping pulled the two brothers who drove the car and the county magistrate's wife to make amends, and Secretary He asked Li Hongyi whether the brigade commander Wang Lingji was doing well.

Wang Xing saw that they were going to go the same way, and while everyone was not paying attention, he also quietly flashed out of the hole and walked behind the cart. Yi Geng Road is an ancient road from the south of the ancient Sichuan into Yunnan, rugged and difficult to travel, the merchants of the past often go together, it is not surprising, everyone saw him behind him, and no one asked about him.

Wang Xinghui sometimes hitched a cart on the mule cart, and sometimes sat on the side of the cart with the mule driver.

Tu Jianwei is a caring person, asked Li Hongyi to ride a horse to the front, stay in the store along the way, arrange the wine and dinner, the county magistrate Li and Secretary He saw it in their eyes, and they must also return the invitation, Tu Jianwei did not shirk, everyone all the way, you please eat, I arranged accommodation, and I was very interested.

On the third day, at this time it has entered the hinterland of Hengduan Mountain, in Qiqi County, the mountains on both sides are becoming more and more dangerous, only to see the deep shadow of the mountain, the sound of various crows everywhere in the dense forest, a cold wind blowing in the valley, all feel cold, the sky is full of dark clouds, it seems that it is about to rain heavily.

Everyone was anxious, between the mountains and mountains, in case of a heavy rain, I was afraid that they would be drenched in soup, but they couldn't see the post station on the side of the road, and they didn't see the tea shop and canteen, so they had to step up their steps.

Turning a pass, I saw a manor in front of me from a distance, very magnificent, and the back of the manor was overlapped, all of which were chaotic mountains like axes and knives.