No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 606 Some people seek for the Peach Blossom Land, while others laugh at Zhishuang [asking for a monthly ticket! ]

hall.

At the table, everything was quiet except for the bubbling sound of the fish soup.

"ridiculous."

The candle in the snow uttered the slightly awkward words of the Great Zhou Dynasty:

"You want to destroy the Donglin Buddha, but you don't want to kill the officials who presided over the statue. Isn't this just treating the symptoms but not the root cause? Are they just keeping them around for the New Year?"

Du Shuqing had a dull expression, as if he had facial paralysis:

“But killing Lin Cheng, Wang Lengran, and the people from the Wei family is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one.

“At the beginning, when Lin Cheng, the Lingtai Lang of the Xia official, was parachuted in from the capital, he excluded Ouyang Lianghan, causing the latter to be demoted and idle, and the Xunyang Grottoes to be shelved, it was originally very good news.

"Mr. Wei wrote a letter specifically to instruct the Lady and other heroes to only destroy the Buddha and not kill Lin Cheng, Wang Lengran and others. He was worried that the situation today would occur and Ouyang Lianghan and the Xunyang Grottoes he led would be used again by the false emperor...

"But the more you worry about something, the more it will come."

Xue Zhongzhu had no expression on his face and stared coldly at Du Shuqing:
"You don't want to kill this one, you don't want to kill that one either. Why don't you just speak clearly? You've been talking so much nonsense. You should have just said it straight that day. Why shouldn't you just kill this dog official named Ouyang Lianghan first? All the dog officials who made statues for the false emperor and helped Zhou to commit atrocities should be killed. Why show mercy?"

"It's different." Du Shuqing shook his head firmly.

"Different? What's different?"

The tall Hu Ji with blonde hair like candles raised her chin and said calmly:

"If this Ouyang Lianghan is really that powerful, how could he not be defeated by an outsider like Lin Cheng in the dispute over the location of the Buddha?"

Du Shuqing looked forward and spoke in a normal tone:

"A gentleman deceives others with his tricks, while a villain lures them with his benefits. Therefore, villains often deceive gentlemen to gain advantage."

“No matter if he has good methods or not, Ouyang Lianghan works under the false emperor and helps the tyrant to commit atrocities. How can he be called a true gentleman?

She shook her head, chuckled again, and said pointedly:
"If we really want to find a way to treat both the symptoms and the root cause, it's actually very simple. There is only one...

"That means you, the Southwest Kuangfu Army, will fight for your reputation, defeat Zhou Ting's army on the front battlefield, capture Qin Jingzhen alive, recapture Jiangzhou in one fell swoop, control Xunyang Palace, and then go south to attack the southeast hinterland.

"They directly seized half of the empire and divided the country with the Great Zhou... If your Southwest Restoration Army really has this ability on the front battlefield, how about I persuade the Female Monarch Palace to lead Yunmeng Jianze to publicly express my support for your Restoration Army in Tiannan Jianghu and even in the Jianghu of the world?"

At this moment, Xue Zhongzhu was sitting cross-legged, with his hands on his thighs and his upper body slightly leaning forward, giving people a very aggressive feeling.

The tone was also unyielding and tough:
"In the final analysis, weren't you blocked by Qin Jingzhen and unable to retake Jiangzhou? You could only allow the fake emperor Wei to create statues at will? Now you are talking to me about this afterwards. Who gave you the courage to talk to me like this?"

The candle in the snow is blazing.

Facing the overwhelming momentum from the opposite side, Du Shuqing sat still, remained quiet for a moment, and shook his head slightly.

Without waiting for him to speak again, Wei Shaoqi put down the soup bowl and pressed towards Du Shuqing in the air to stop him.

"What the eldest lady said makes sense, but it's a pity that we have to be cautious in military matters. It's not as easy as the eldest lady thinks. Qin Jingzhen is cunning and skilled in military operations. He has temporarily stopped our offensive...

“So this time, regarding the Donglin Buddha incident, I have no choice but to ask you and your clan to take action.

"During this Xingzi Lake Buddha operation, we can see that the Grand Lady and the other heroes have done their best. It is useless to look back and think about it. What is most important is what to do next. Let's look forward."

Wei Shaoqi smiled slightly and said:
"Besides, with the last survey, we now have a general idea of ​​the true and false cards of the female officials of the Supervisory Office and the Imperial Observatory in Xunyang City, which will be helpful for our next layout..."

He changed the subject:
"By the way, how are the people on the side of the eldest lady preparing? The strict crackdown by the Supervisory Council and the Xuanwu Camp in the various states of Jiangnan recently should not have hurt their vitality. I heard that many people have been arrested. Will it be..."

"You don't need to worry about Tiannan Jianghu. Mr. Wei is here, and his safety will be taken care of by me and my junior sisters. There is no need to worry."

Wei Shaoqi and Du Shuqing saw it.

Xue Zhongzhu has a face that is different from ordinary people, with deep eyes, a high nose, red lips and white teeth, an exotic mixed-race face, and a calm expression.

"Mr. Wei, did you bring Mr. Li's painting this time?"

Wei Shaoqi calmed down, stood up alone, and poured another bowl of hot fish soup.

Du Shuqing had one hand on the edge of the table and the other on the cylindrical cloth bag on his knees, his face dull.

Xue Zhongzhu looked at them and asked softly:

"I heard from the Fifth Junior Sister who stayed in Yunmeng that this time Mr. Wei sneaked here and took a detour to Yunmeng Lake. He left Yunmeng from the exit of Yuenu Gorge upstream of Longcheng County, and then came here...

"Well, is it the same as the last time before the Southwest Restoration Uprising, when you and Lord Li and his party entered Yunmengze to look for me, and you also went to look for that legendary place along the way?"

Wei Shaoqi sighed:
"Why is the eldest lady so interested?"

"No reason."

The candle in the snow lowered its eyes:
"I just want to say that you don't have to hide anything. You can talk to our Jianze about that thing. The Queen Palace knows more than you do. Maybe... there will be some cooperation.

“However, the 900-li Yunmeng Lake is so vast, with countless lakes and countless rare treasures, and some mythical species occasionally appear in its depths.

"There are places deep in this swamp that even our Lady Sovereign Palace has not been able to fully explore for thousands of years... In short, just tell us what you are looking for. It is really meaningless to be on guard like this."

Du Shuqing said expressionlessly:

"Doesn't Yunmeng Jianze have the stuff that the eldest lady is talking about? Didn't they also mobilize that kind of force to destroy the Xingzi Lake Buddha and behead Lin Cheng and the others? I heard that it was a hidden monarch of your sect..."

He was interrupted in the middle of his speech because Xue Zhongzhu on the opposite side suddenly cast a cold look at him.

“I’ll say it one last time. Don’t mention this again, and don’t spread rumors about our sect’s hidden master.

"I am not a rude person, and our sect will not be impolite. I will do my best to be a host, but please do not lose the etiquette of being a guest."

Du Shuqing pursed her lips and looked at Wei Shaoqi.

Wei Shaoqi looked thoughtful.

The atmosphere at the table fell silent.

The three of them were quiet and each finished a bowl of delicious white sturgeon soup.

Receiving Wei Shaoqi's gaze, Du Shuqing took out a file from his arms, placed it on the table silently, and pushed it in front of Xue Zhongzhu with two fingers.

Under the gaze of Xue Zhongzhu's raised eyebrows, Wei Shaoqi spoke softly:
"Topographic map of Xunyang City including the Shuangfengjian Xunyang Grottoes."

Xue Zhongzhu opened the map and took a look. After a while, a hint of surprise and amazement flashed in her eyes.

"Drawn by Shuqing, this one is more detailed."

Wei Shaoqi's voice came from the side, and he explained softly to Xue Zhongzhu who was carefully examining the map of Xunyang City:
"When we were demoted by the Zhou court, we passed through Xunyang City and stayed there for so long. We also asked Lord Li to find an opportunity to let Ouyang Lianghan take us to visit the Xunyang Grottoes at Shuangfengjian. One of the purposes was to give Shuqing time to draw this map."

At this point, the middle-aged scholar in a washed-out Confucian robe sighed:

"Well, with this detailed map... If Junzhi hadn't been in Xunyang Palace, and if Qin Jingzhen hadn't been blocking the way... Hongzhou would have been taken, and once our army entered Jiangzhou, it would have been easy to capture Xunyang City.

"It's a pity that there are no ifs in military affairs."

"nice one."

Xue Zhongzhu lowered his head to browse, then carefully put away the map and put it into his sleeve.

She took another look at the dull, stubborn but talkative young man named Du, stood up and prepared to leave.

"It can be seen that Mr. Wei and Mr. Du are a little tired. After dinner, you can rest first. It must be tiring to travel for such a long time. We can discuss it tomorrow. Second Junior Sister has prepared guest rooms for you."

"Okay, thank you for your concern, First Lady and Second Lady."

Wei Shaoqi and Du Shuqing stood up and saluted, watching her tall figure leave.

Xue Zhongzhu walked to the door, suddenly stopped and asked:

"Does that Peach Blossom Spring really exist? Who or what is inside it?"

The hall was silent. Xue Zhongzhu glanced back and saw Du Shuqing was silent and calm, while Mr. Wei was straightening his clothes and thinking.

She turned around, pushed open the wooden door, and faced the wind and rain.

……

night.

A full moon hangs high over the river.

There are thousands of stars adorning it.

After several days of heavy rain, it quietly stopped late at night, bringing us a night scene of stars in the sky.

It should be sunny.

A shop with the flag of Tao Shou Zhai sailed alone on the river.

On the deck, under the moonlight, a tall Hu girl stood with a sword on her back, holding the railing with her hands. Her white Wu dress fluttered in the river breeze, revealing her slender hands with skin as white as cream under her cuffs.

Perhaps because of her mixed blood, her skin was as delicate and white as milk. When the silvery moonlight fell on it, it was even more dazzlingly white, as if covered with a layer of hoarfrost in an autumn morning.

Her blue eyes were bright and deep, reflecting the full moon and the sparkling river water.

If we ignore the sharp temperament of this tall Hu girl, then the first impression given by her tall and delicate body outlined by the Wu skirt fabric blowing in the wind is definitely one of graceful charm.

I don’t know whether the Lady of Yunmeng is good at the Hu Xuan dance that the Hu girls of the same ethnic group in Chang’an and Luoyang are proficient in... I guess no one dares to think or ask this.

"Sleep?"

Xue Zhongzhu looked dazed. When she heard the light footsteps on the deck behind her, she asked without turning her head.

"Ah."

Yu Nianyuan, with his white arms wrapped in a snow-white blanket, walked to Xue Zhongzhu and together they looked at the rare scene of the river and the moon which had calmed down after the rain.

The second lady of Yunmeng had just soothed her new cheap disciple to sleep.

Just as night fell, the sky was still dark and spring thunder was still rumbling on the top of the clouds. A little girl with a pigtail was so scared that she ran to her master's boudoir. As a result, her confused little head went into the wrong room and crawled into the master's bed.

Of course, she was carried out by the uncle with a bad face and thrown at the door. Then, the pale and confused little Loli was led back to the correct room by the master who came with a helpless look on his face...

"Wei Shaoqi and the others still haven't mentioned the painting?"

"Ah."

The candle in the snow squinted.

"I checked and found that Tao Yuanming once wrote an essay about Peach Blossom Spring."

Yu Nianyuan took the initiative.

The candle in the snow remained silent and looked straight ahead.

At the beginning, Li Zhengyan and his entourage were demoted by the court and exiled to the southwest. After passing through Xunyang City in Jiangzhou, they deliberately passed by Yunmengze and visited the door.

Li Zhengyan told Yunmeng Jianze the specific secrets of the Great Zhou Songde Tianshu and the Four Great Buddhas that the Great Zhou court was about to build.

Xue Zhongzhu, who had lived in Yunmeng for a long time and never went down the mountain all year round, was too lazy to pay attention to them at first and didn't even see them. At that time, he asked the sixth junior sister who had nothing to do in the palace to send them away at will.

However, just a few months after this group of people left, a world-renowned rebel rebellion broke out in the southwest.

In fact, Xue Zhongzhu vaguely knew that Li Zhengyan, Wei Shaoqi and their group were not ordinary people and had some abilities, but he did not expect that some of them were so brave that they dared to directly challenge the Great Zhou court.

However, even so, Yunmeng Jianze would most likely just watch from the sidelines, just as he had watched the world's disputes time and time again in the past.

This kind of indifference and coldness continued until... Li Zhengyan sent someone to deliver the confiscated head of the Guizhou Giant Buddha. After seeing this mysterious golden head made by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, Xue Zhongzhu could no longer sit still.

On that day, he persuaded the Queen to lead the Yue women down the mountain...

Xue Zhongzhu still remembered something that Fifth Junior Sister had mentioned:
When Li Zhengyan and his party passed by Yunmengze, they brought a picture with them and followed an ancient text that recorded Peach Blossom Spring to find a place called "Peach Blossom Spring".

The fifth sister who was supervising the trip had seen this painting and said it was a picture of Peach Blossom Spring.

But in the end they did not find the "Peach Blossom Spring" and left in disappointment for the first time.

It is not difficult to understand. After all, Yunmeng Lake is too big. Even though it has shrunk a lot compared to the ancient Yunmeng Lake in the pre-Qin period or even in ancient times, it is still vast. There are some islands in the deep lake that are as wild as the world outside, hiding many ancient and strange things. A few years ago, a Yue girl from our sect accidentally entered a small island cave and met a crooked-headed little fox that could speak human words...

Anyway, there are many strange stories about the Yunmeng Ancient Lake at the foot of the mountain, and every year countless people go deep into Yunmeng to look for ancient sites.

Therefore, Xue Zhongzhu didn’t care much about the “Peach Blossom Spring” that Li Zhengyan, Wei Shaoqi and his group were looking for.

But now look at what Li Zhengyan and others did, and then look back... the things they were thinking about on the eve of the rebellion must have been unusual. Every step they took before launching the rebellion in Guizhou must have been important, such as staying in Xunyang City.

So, the "Peach Blossom Spring" in the poems and paintings might really exist. As for what is hidden inside...

On the deck, there was silence for a while. Xue Zhongzhu took out a map of Xunyang City hand-drawn by Du Shuqing and handed it to Yu Nianyuan.

Her face was calm and she said:

"The guests are all here. Let's issue the Yunmeng Order tomorrow."

"it is good."

Hearing the three words "Yunmengling", Yu Nianyuan nodded solemnly.

But he heard Xue Zhongzhu's rare deep voice: "Any news about the Seventh Junior Sister..."

Yu Nianyuan hesitated and shook his head gently:

"Not yet. I didn't want to make a big fuss and let too many people know, but now it seems that we can't delay any longer. It's not a bad idea to make a big fuss. At least the little sister in hiding can hear the news and know that we are looking for her."

Xue Zhongzhu was silent for a moment and waved his hand:

"Okay, let's go."

"Master sister, please go to bed early."

Yu Nianyuan tightened the blanket just as he was about to turn around.

Suddenly, the cold voice of Xue Zhongzhu came from behind:

"Second Junior Sister, do you think the words 'Zhi Shuang' are funny?"

"Funny? Who laughed?"

Yu Nianyuan paused, looked back, and found that the senior sister had drawn out a snow-white sword, holding it horizontally in front of her, and looking down at a certain position on the sword. His expression could not be seen clearly.

This time she was really curious:

"Who dares to laugh at Senior Sister?"

Xue Zhongzhu turned his back and said nothing, as if he was concentrating on observing the sword.

Yu Nianyuan glanced at her lonely figure under the moon.

The eldest sister has been a little absent-minded lately.

Ever since the elder sister left Yunmeng in the middle of the night carrying the Red Lotus Sword Seal and went to Daogu Mountain to track down [Craftsmanship], and had her first fight with the owner of the Butterfly Love Flower, but returned empty-handed, she has occasionally been quiet and absent-minded like this.

Tonight I asked her a strange question.

Yu Nianyuan shook his head and turned to leave the deck...

------

(PS: Ask for a monthly ticket! or2)

(End of this chapter)