Chapter 36: The Twelve Iron Guards (Part II)
"At that time, the world was divided and the melee was endless, and strange people, knights of the rivers and lakes, and heroes of the green forest took refuge in the rebels in various places. Pen Γ fun Γ Pavilion www. ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ γ infoThis also includes Chang Yuchun, who later became the founding father of the Ming Dynasty. β
"In the fifteenth year of Yuan Zhizheng (1355), when Taizu led the army into Hezhou, Brother Chang was looking for a way to get ahead and achieve great things, and saw that Taizu had strict military discipline and loved the people like a son, so he took refuge in him. We are a group of friends who have been favored by Brother Chang to some extent, and they have defected to him in the next few years. β
"When marching and fighting, we must strategize and anticipate the enemy's opportunities, and intelligence is particularly important, and because we are used to wandering the rivers and lakes, we have a wider network of channels and contacts, and we are not used to the rules and regulations of the army, so we are mainly engaged in collecting intelligence privately, and our public identities are also famous in the rivers and lakes. β
"Time is like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, Taizu has been training in the Covered Boat Mountain for five years. On that day, Taizu summoned our group to discuss the situation in the world and arrange the next tasks. β
"After the meeting, Emperor Taizu said that he had been thinking about it a lot lately, and he often dreamed at night that an old man with red hair was holding a box that was not gold or jade, carved with flames and red foxes, and insisted on giving it to me, saying that it could help me to fight the world. I don't know if this dream is good or bad. Since we're all here today, let's take a walk together to relieve the pressure."
"On that day, a group of more than 20 of us walked away for any purpose. The scenery along the way is picturesque, the scenery is quiet, and everyone lingers for a while, forgetting the distance of the journey. β
As he was walking, Taizu stopped his body violently, waved his hand to signal everyone to stop silently, and looked at the left front with surprise and joy. When we saw it, we couldn't help but be ecstatic. I saw three or four zhang away in front of the left, a red like fire spirit fox dancing on the branches, the hair was red, flowing with colorful light, with its jumping and dancing, dazzling, glamorous as Danxia. β
"We have never seen such a foreign object, and we lost our minds for a moment, and when we came to our senses and tried to catch it, it had already noticed our presence, and ran forward with a few jumps. So we chased after it. The spirit fox is indeed not an idle thing, watching it drill around in front of us, we are all extraordinary, but we can't catch it. β
After chasing about a stick of incense, the spirit fox swooped in front of it and disappeared, everyone was wondering, chasing to the place where the spirit fox disappeared, and a small village appeared in front of them. The village is full of smoke, quiet and peaceful, shaded by green trees, full of flowers, unkempt children, and elderly people playing happily in the shade of the trees. Everyone was amazed by the paradise-like scene in front of them. And they were not dressed like they were now, and those people were also surprised to see us, and they gathered around, and I heard some children shouting, 'Look, mother, where did those people come from, they are dressed so strangely', and an old man on crutches came to inquire and learned that we had come here after the red spirit fox, and said strangely: ' According to your description, this spirit fox should be our patron saint Red Fox, the old man has never seen his true face after living for one hundred and eight years, but I didn't expect you to have the fate to see him, and he must be a person of noble status. ββ
Emperor Taizu said with a smile that he was just a reckless, but now that the smoke is everywhere, the people are not happy, the chaos has been fighting for many years, the world has never been calm, and the people of Li have been living in dire straits. How many places in the world can there be like yours?"
"The old man said: 'Back then, Gu Gong's father had three sons, the eldest son, Taibo, The second son Zhong Yong and the third son Ji Li, Ji Li and his son Ji Chang are virtuous and capable, the ancient father has the heart to pass on Ji Li and then Ji Chang, Tai Bo insight into his father's mind, in order to fulfill his father's mind, in the name of collecting medicine, and Zhong Yong left Zhou Yuan, came to the land of Jingman in the south of the Yangtze River, our ancestors followed Tai Bo and his younger brother Zhong Yong to the land of Jing Man, and later lived in seclusion here, it has been more than 2,600 years, and the outside world has never had any contact, and because in this deep mountain and old forest, no one usually comes to the village, so the outside is ignorant of the outside worldγ It's just that since the red fox has led you here now, it is naturally the will of heaven. The ancestors left a treasure back then, saying that it was left for future generations to be destined to calm the world and govern the country and the country. For more than 2,000 years, it seems that there are really one or two destined people who came here, borrowed the treasures, and sent them back after the world was calm. Now that you are here, and the world is in turmoil, the old man is willing to lend this thing to the nobles. ββ
Emperor Taizu asked the old man what that treasure was, and it had such a magical effect. The old man said, it is a treasure left by the ancestors, called the Red Fox Treasure Box, which can summon heavenly soldiers and gods, kill the enemy and break the formation, it is as easy as a hand. β
After listening to it, we were a little unimpressed, most of these gods and ghosts are fooling people, and no one has ever seen them. β
"The old man saw that our expression was a little bleak, and there was no surprise in his imagination, and said: 'I know that you may not believe it, but the world is full of wonders, before you see the red fox, will you believe that there is such a colorful charm spirit fox in the world? Since you're here, why don't you take a look? This old village has lasted for 2,000 years, so it won't fool you as an outsider, right?'"
Emperor Taizu thought that what the old man said was reasonable, so he happily went. The old man also said that you need to be careful when entering the place where the treasure box is placed, and the ancestors have set up many traps in the place where the treasure box is enshrined, so as to prevent outsiders from stealing it. β
"We turned left and right with the old man, and walked out of the village and headed back to the mountain. After walking a short distance, the old man stopped at a place where the rattan basket was densely strewn. On the surface, it looks like a large green patch of rattan thorns spreading and growing like a wall, but after the rattan is removed, there is a hole in the sky. We lit the torches and walked along the road for a cup of tea, and then we came to a huge cave, surrounded by vivid petroglyphs, probably about the origin of the treasure box, deeds, and tribal history. In the middle of the cave, there are three stone carvings with a strong face sitting in a circle, all of them are standing with the left hand on the chest, the right palm is upward, the three palms are touching, and there is a box about seven inches long, more than five inches wide, and four inches high on it, which looks mysterious and powerful under the light of the fire. β
"After a series of worship and prayer ceremonies, I got the red fox treasure box smoothly, but there was an accident when I came out, Emperor Taizu accidentally touched the mechanism, attracting monsters like monitor lizards, and Brother Chang accidentally got poisoned by the lizard in order to save Taizu. β
Since then, Brother Chang's temper has become violent, although he is invincible on the battlefield, he has made outstanding achievements, but it is contrary to common sense to kill and slaughter the city, and it is not a gentleman's doing. It became a stain on his shining life, and he later ran out of medicine during the march and died of poison at the age of forty. β