In December, Jiangning Province, heavy snow fell from the sky.

No matter near or far, as far as the eye can see, it is white. It was as if time between heaven and earth stood still for a moment, and only the snow remained, fluttering endlessly.

The elegant young swordsman stood by the river with an umbrella, and the snow fell from his clothes. Although it was already a cold winter, the water in Jiangning had never frozen, and there were still ships bustling with ships on the vast river surface covered with cold mist.

Crisp footsteps sounded behind him.

The corners of the young swordsman's mouth hooked into a smile, turned around, bowed respectfully, and said with a slight joke: "Your Royal Highness Princess, you really made me wait." ”

In the vast snow, Duan Taoli stood in the wind, and the long wind blew her in a light red Valan outfit.

"How did you find me?" Duan Taoli asked vigilantly.

The young swordsman chuckled lightly, shook his head, and said, "Don't worry, princess, it's safe here." Jiangning is an important town, and the Valan people will still be protected to some extent here. ”

Duan Taoli tightened the gray cloak on his shoulders and said unhappily: "I know that Jiang Ning doesn't exclude the Valan people, I just want to know how you, an ordinary person, found me." ”

"There are always some people in the rivers and lakes who don't know anything and don't know anything. The young swordsman smiled, "Of course, I, Li Huanglai, am not that kind of person yet, but I just happen to know a few such friends." This time I took the liberty to meet Her Royal Highness the Princess, in fact, I wanted to surprise Her Highness. ”

A flattering smile appeared on his face, but he still did not hide the innate noble momentum on his body, neither humble nor arrogant, as if he was holding the victory and was triumphant.

Duan Taoli doesn't like such people very much, and the snowy weather also makes her very uncomfortable, and she always feels like she has been deceived. She pursed her lips, but still asked, "What surprise?"

"Help Her Royal Highness the princess to restore the country. ”

At the same time as he said this, Li Huanglai snapped the umbrella and looked at the princess of Valan with a solemn expression.

Duan Taoli was stunned: "What?"

"The predecessor of Jiangning Mansion was the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, when the Great Song Dynasty raised troops to the south, the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed, and the Jinling Army dissipated. But the Jinling army was not fully armed. Li Huanglai said lightly, "The Jinling armory that the Great Song Dynasty did not discover and left behind by the former Tang Dynasty is under the ground of today's Jiangning Mansion. There are more than 12,000 fine iron armor, more than 7,000 Changge swords, and more than 200,000 sharp feather arrows. If the princess wants to restore the country of Valan, using it as capital, it is enough to pull out an elite army of 6,000 people, which is more than enough. ”

"The entrance to the armory is secret, and the mechanism is dense, and if you are not careful, you will accidentally hit the trap and die without a body. And I have the drawings of the armory in my hand. As long as the princess said a word, Li Huang came and waited for the dispatch. ”

Duan Taoli was stunned.

In Jiuda Temple, her twenty guards died in battle in order to keep her safe, Yang Hu was no longer even human when he died, and Zhao Wu'an, who was very important to her, had also left with An Qing. Princess Valan, who was standing in front of the mountain gate, seemed to have returned to the age when she had nothing, to the self who was crying by the Garan Temple.

But she couldn't let herself go.

The guards were hastily buried, and Princess Valan took the dagger on her way again. Penniless and dispossessed, she is still moving forward.

She wants to return to her homeland, and even if she has nothing, she wants to liberate her people.

This is the long-cherished wish of Duan Taoli.

After a long journey, Duan Taoli walked to Jiangning. From here, you can get back to Valan in two months by boat, which is nearly a third of the way away, but it takes less time than by land.

Unexpectedly, it had only been a few days since I arrived in Jiangning Mansion, and before I could find a suitable boat at the dock, someone directly sent an invitation to the inn.

The signature of the invitation was Li Huanglai, that is, the elegant young swordsman in front of him. He claimed to have armory drawings for Duan Taoli to send.

But Duan Taoli is not stupid.

An armory left by the Southern Tang Dynasty is enough to shake the Great Song Dynasty, and the little Varan is no problem. Even if Li Huanglai really had the blueprints, it was impossible to give them to her for no reason, just a princess of the Valan Kingdom. She has no money and no power, no matter how you calculate it, Li Huang came here to make a loss-making transaction.

Duan Taoli said vigilantly: "What is your purpose?"

Li Huanglai's smile was even stronger.

"Let me get you. He said suddenly.

"What?" Duan Taoli thought he had misheard.

"I have admired the princess for a long time, and I did not hesitate to risk my life to help the princess return to Valan, just so that one day, I can enjoy the joy of bed with the princess. Li Huanglai's face was not red, and his heart was not beating.

Duan Taoli was stunned for a long time, and after understanding his words, he immediately blushed, bit his lip and scolded: "Dengzi!"

"If there is no disciple like me, I am afraid that the princess will return to the country, it will be far away, right?" Li Huanglai whispered softly, and as he spoke, he was already a little closer to Duan Taoli.

Duan Taoli took a few steps back vigilantly, reached out and pressed the dagger on his waist, and looked at Li Huanglai with a solemn face.

Li Huanglai smiled and said, "Don't worry too much, princess. I am also a righteous gentleman, and without the approval of the princess, I will not take a step away. Why don't you take the princess to get the armory blueprints, and after the princess finishes checking the weapons, we'll get married on a later date, how about it?"

Duan Taoli frowned and said, "You sacrificed an armory just to marry me?"

Li Huanglai nodded solemnly and said, "That's nature." In May of the year before last, I saw the princess in Dali City, and I fell in love at first sight. To be able to reunite with the princess in Jiangning Mansion, God will help me if I think about it. ”

In May of the previous year, at that time, Duan Taoli had left the Dali Palace for several years, and was invited by the four princes who temporarily occupied the palace to return to China for a banquet, and there were many guests during the banquet, and Li Huanglai was one of them.

However, the four princes had no mercy, and Duan Taoli had already guessed that it was a Hongmen banquet, and after escaping early, he led his cronies all the way north and fled until he fled to the territory of the Great Song Dynasty before stopping. Since then, he has not been back to Valan.

The development of events also proved that Duan Taoli was indeed prescient. At that time, most of the Valan nobles at the banquet were wiped out by the clan within ten days, and the Gentiles were treated as guests. However, the good times did not last long, in September last year, the four princes were assassinated by dead soldiers when they inspected the army, and Dali became an ownerless city again, and Valan became more and more turbulent.

"The sons of the Varan were prosperous, and there were fifty-nine of them who had grown up to seven years of age, including twenty-three princes, thirty-six princesses, nineteen princes with weak crowns, and thirty-one princesses. Now in the civil strife in Valan, according to the news brought by my family in October this year, fourteen princes have been confirmed dead, and twenty-nine princesses have lost their movements. Li Huanglai reported a lot of data freely.

He held down the sword at his waist, his eyes were bright, and he said with a smile: "Your Royal Highness Princess, after you take out the weapons in the warehouse, go south to Fuzhou, and sell half of the armor in exchange for silver, you can hire a corps of no less than 3,000 people." When the time comes, return to Valan, raise your arms, defeat the remnants of the old soldiers under the command of those princes, and restore the country and claim the king, just around the corner!"

Duan Taoli's expression moved, and the dagger he was holding tightly in his hand was also put down.

She said tentatively, "When the time comes, I will be the daughter of the king of Valan, and you will be the king of Valan?"

Li Huanglai smiled and shook his head: "No." When the princess returns, I will leave Valan. Li Huang came to ask for nothing but to be able to spend the Spring Festival with the princess. ”

Duan Taoli was stunned again. Li Huang came to fund her, but it was just to get her people, not the title of the King of Valan behind her, which really made her puzzled. It's better to say that Li Huanglai is a real idiot, a priceless armory, just for a moment of Spring Festival.

Such a cost-effective deal, if you don't agree, that peach carp is really stupid.

She simply said, "Then how about you hand over the drawings of the armory first?"

Li Huanglai smiled: "It's easy to say." ”

Then he shook off the snow from his umbrella and chose a path to walk. Duan Taoli followed, and the snowflakes fell on her shoulders and Li Huanglai's umbrella, silently cold.

In the distance, the smoke above the river is vast.

After walking about two sticks of incense towards the most lively place in the city, Li Huanglai stopped in front of an inn of extreme luxury. As soon as he put away his umbrella, a young man who looked thirteen or fourteen years old ran over from under the eaves, took the umbrella in his hand diligently, and patted the snowflakes on his shoulders by the way.

As if he was not satisfied with the little guy's too close movements, Li Huanglai's eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure, but then he put on a smiling face again, and turned to Duan Taoli and made a gesture of please.

"When you go out, you will inevitably have some food and accommodation, and I hope that Her Royal Highness the princess will not dislike it. He said with a smile.

Of course, Duan Taoli didn't have any dislike in mind. Wandering all the year round, most of the time penniless, and unable to even afford to live in an inn, she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had entered such a luxurious inn. This Li Huang, who came from an unknown origin, was really generous.

Since it is a luxurious and atmospheric inn, presumably the guests in it have a lot of backgrounds, and it is definitely not a small mountain shop, so naturally there is no need to worry about Li Huanglai conspiring with the shopkeeper to set her up. What's more, this is Jiangning City, this place, as far as Duan Taoli is concerned, it seems that it is also very safe.

So Duan Taoli didn't hesitate and walked straight into the inn.

It is no different from an ordinary inn, the first and second floors of this inn are restaurants, and at this time it is overcrowded, and the aroma of wine and food comes to the nose. In the middle of the table is a large stage for performances, on which a dancer is dancing to the sound of the lute. There are a variety of tables and chairs around, the voices of people are boiling, and the private room on the second floor is decorated with a long screen of plain brocade, and the figure of a person is faintly visible behind it.

I haven't dealt with such a big scene for a long time, Duan Taoli was a little restrained for a while, and Li Huanglai beside him took out a folding fan out of nowhere, and pointed out from afar: "Go up here, the first room on the third floor." ”

The little servant said attentively: "Mr. Li, do I need to order you a few dishes of wine and food?"

Li Huanglai's face became gloomy: "No need. ”

The rejected little girl's face changed, obviously wanting to make some reward money, but he suffered a loss, so he could only walk away sullenly.

Duan Taoli and Li Huanglai went upstairs side by side.

On the second floor, you can still hear some noise from downstairs, and when you reach the third floor, it is immediately quiet. Li Huanglai opened the door lock with ease, stood at the door, and made a gesture of invitation to Duan Taoli.

Duan Taoli reluctantly entered the house. Li Huanglai followed closely behind, and locked the door again with a reflex.

Duan Taoli's face tightened, and he reached out to touch the dagger on his waist, but was stopped by Li Huanglai with a smile: "The drawings are heavy treasures, and the matter is big, and locking the door is just to prevent anyone from prying eyes." ”

Duan Taoli frowned and slowly lowered his arm.

Li Huanglai smiled at her, dragged out the heavy box under the bed, and after unlocking and opening it, he took out a closed wooden cylinder coated with gold paint from inside, the cylinder was two and a half feet long, the thickness of a wrist, and the two ends were covered with heavy iron rings, and there was a set of complex Kong Ming locks on the ring.

He reached out to the side of the wooden cylinder, gently plucked it a few times, pulled it hard, made a loud noise, and then quickly turned several wooden boards, and knocked on the wall of the cylinder with his fingers, and then pressed the iron ring and opened the wooden cylinder with a bang.

Duan Taoli said speechlessly: "Why bother so much to prevent theft, wouldn't it be long before the thieves cut the wooden cylinder?"

Li Huanglai shook his head and said: "This wooden tube looks stout, but in fact, the drawings inside only occupy a small piece of space, and the excess interlayer is filled with strong erosion water, once it is destroyed by external forces, the drawings inside will be destroyed in an instant." ”

"How did you get this?"

Li Huanglai smiled: "Confidential." ”

With that, he looked inside the barrel and a smile froze on his face.

Duan Taoli was puzzled, "What's wrong?"

Li Huanglai poured out the note in the wooden tube, stretched out his trembling hand to open it, and there was only a line of small words on it:

"Lan Zhouzi traveled to Jiangning Mansion, borrowed your drawings to take a look, and returned indefinitely!"

Li Huanglai's face turned pale.

Duan Taoli was stunned in place.

At the same time, on the first floor of this inn, a bearded knife man slammed a large pot of wine on the table, causing everyone around to look sideways.

Ignoring the dissuasion of the elder with long eyebrows beside him, the swordsman said drunkenly to the person in front of him: "Give me a drink!"

And the man who sat opposite him at a table, with black boots and white robes, wearing a hat, could not see his face clearly, and there was a large dark red box beside him, which looked quite unsociable in this noisy restaurant.

He pressed the hat, raised his head, and chuckled, "I'm a vegetarian and don't drink." ”

The swordsman frowned.

The restaurant was full of people.

But no one noticed that behind the white-robed man, a gray-clothed guest pretended to drink, but quietly handed over a sword with murderous intent in his sleeve.

The white-robed man was also unaware.