No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 814: Gu'er's Advice
"What are you looking at, niece?"

In a forest, a group of people were making a fire and burning firewood.

Li Xian took the water bag handed to him by Wei Mei, raised his head and took a sip, then asked the pretty girl in red clothes standing on the opposite bank of the river with some curiosity.

Xie Lingjiang stood by the water, tilted his head and looked out, seemingly in a trance.

She is tall, with waist-length black hair and a fiery red dress fluttering in the wind. The sky behind her is gradually turning dark, and the sunset glow is brilliant and absolutely beautiful.

This mountainous area is sparsely populated. Since leaving Longcheng County, Xie Lingjiang, Li Xian and their group have been walking for two days and one night, sleeping in the open air.

Li Guoer told Cai Shou to get a bundle from the carriage, from which she took out a few small sachets with medicinal scent. She waved her hand and asked Cai Shou to distribute them.

It is prepared in advance to avoid mosquitoes in the wild.

After hearing Li Xian's words, she lowered her eyes slightly, tied the brocade bag around her waist, and said softly:

"If Ouyang Lianghan were here, he would also suggest that we leave first. Every extra day we wait increases the risk.

"Although Master Yuan has calculated for us that this route is safe, this is not a reason for us to be careless. What's more, what if the old master is wrong? Man proposes, God disposes."

Everyone was a little quiet.

"I know."

Xie Lingjiang turned around, with his back to the brilliant sunset, and walked back to the fire with his slender white hand holding the sword.

Her pretty face was against the light, and her expression was a little unclear.

All I could hear was a clear and elegant voice:

"Aunt Zhen and the others didn't see the eldest brother, and they left in a state of anxiety. I don't know where Aunt Zhen and the others are. The way back to Nanlong is a bit far, but fortunately, Thirteenth Lady and the others are accompanying us."

Li Xian and others and Zhen Shuyuan and other women from Huaiye Lane separated in Longcheng. One continued to sneak back to Beijing, and the other temporarily returned to their hometown in Nanlong.

However, the two groups waited for Ouyang Rong for one more day in Longcheng County before reluctantly bidding farewell.

"Don't worry, your senior brother is not a reckless person."

Li Guoer lowered her eyes and stared at the dancing flames, with the corners of her lips curved:
"Besides, that lady named Rong Zhen won't hurt him."

Xie Lingjiang said "hmm".

By the fire, Li Xian, Li Dalang and others looked at each other and could tell that she was absent-minded.

This was the way it was in that era. The journey was long, the carriages were slow, and it was very risky to travel long distances. Sometimes, it might be many years before you parted, just like the old musician, who had been away from home for so many years that when he thought about going back, his hair had already turned gray.

The same is true for couples and lovers, many of whom are separated by death.

This time, Li Xian's family left Jiangzhou, where they had lived for many years, and returned to Luoyang, far in the north. They didn't know when they would return to Jiangzhou.

Perhaps influenced by Xie Lingjiang, a vague feeling of melancholy about an uncertain future permeated among Li Xian's family.

However, the people sitting by the fire in a daze had different reactions.

Li Xian and Li Dalang both looked towards the direction of Jiangzhou with some nostalgia.

Wei Mei sat upright on the embroidery stool brought by Shun Bo, silently looking north towards the capital.

Li Guoer took out a small blue-covered book and browsed through it by the firelight, feeling relaxed and at ease.

Cai Shou, who was standing next to her, was grilling fish while secretly glancing at a book. The book seemed to describe the scenery of Luoyang. The chubby-faced maid was curious and asked her mistress a few private questions from time to time.

Although she was a maid born in the Su family, loyal and reliable, but like Li Guoer, Cai Shou had never seen the splendor of Luoyang. Before the title of Master Li Xian was restored, she always thought that she would stay in Longcheng County for the rest of her life. Cai Shou's biological father and mother were of the same generation as Shun Bo, and were guards and maids of Li Xian and his wife, but they had never mentioned the past of the Su family to her.

There were footsteps nearby.

It was Lu Ya, returning with some dry firewood.

Xie Lingjiang turned around and glanced at the small compass in his hand:

"What is this? Why do you keep fiddling with it?"

Li Guoer spoke:
"It is a means of communication for the Three Pure Ones Taoists. Taoist Lu is trying to contact his Senior Brother Zhang from Mount Longhu. There are two compasses. Before they separated, Taoist Lu left one for his Senior Brother Zhang."

Lu Ya nodded, a little embarrassedly said:

"This pair of compasses was left by our master. They are divided into Qian and Kun, and can sense each other. Only people in our Sanqing Taoist sect can understand them. Since the day before yesterday, the compasses began to make noises. It was Senior Brother Zhang who was looking for us.

"I consulted the prince and the little princess this afternoon, and they both agreed to invite Senior Brother Zhang. Senior Brother Zhang is a direct descendant of Longhu Mountain, so he is very reliable."

Xie Lingjiang pursed his lips and said nothing more.

at night.

Xie Lingjiang and Lu Ya took turns to keep watch.

The Lixian family was sleeping soundly.

In the second half of the night, Xie Lingjiang ended his vigil and handed over the task to Lu Ya.

However, Lu Ya kept fiddling with the compass, turning his head to look at the night sky from time to time, with an expressionless face and no one knew what he was thinking.

Xie Lingjiang did not return to the carriage, but leaned against the tree with his eyes closed.

At some point, she suddenly opened her eyes, as if waking up from a dream.

"What's wrong, Brother Xie?"

Lu Ya put down the compass and asked in confusion.

Xie Lingjiang looked around and found Li Guoer was also there.

Li Guoer seemed to have gotten up at night. She was wrapped in a blanket and shawl, chatting with Lu Ya by the campfire.

Li Guoer looked over with some curiosity.

I noticed that Xie Lingjiang's little face was still confused, and he murmured softly:

"Big Brother is calling me. He's here. How about we..."

At this moment, Lu Ya next to him looked happy:
"Senior Brother Zhang is here."

As soon as the words fell, some movement came from the darkness not far away.

Li Guoer and Xie Lingjiang turned around and saw a young Taoist priest walking towards them in the darkness.

The young Taoist priest was covered in dust and had a small compass in his hand.

"Senior Brother Zhang!"

Lu Ya breathed a sigh of relief. Before he could go to meet him, Zhang Shixiu had already walked over with a serious face. His first words startled the two girls:
"Junior Brother Lu, where is the prince? Are those White Tiger Guards behind him the ones who are supposed to protect the prince? Why are they following him? They look strange."

The three of them were suddenly startled.

Li Guoer immediately went to wake up Li Xian and others.

Soon, the morning tranquility of the camp was broken.

Li Xian asked: "Have they found Taoist Zhang?"

"No, I saw something strange and murderous, so I went around them for the sake of caution. There are many of them, and they can't travel as fast as me alone."

Everyone suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

But I dare not relax.

After listening to Lu Ya's description of the two leaders of the White Tiger Guard, Xie Lingjiang took a deep breath:

"It's Li Congshan and Miaozhen. There's something wrong with them. They've been chasing us."

Wei Mei said bitterly: "That bitch!"

Li Xian felt a little sad, looking back:

"Do you really want me dead? We are cousins, why do you have to do this? Why do you have to do this?"

Li Dalang's facial muscles trembled, and he took a step forward, speaking in a sonorous voice: "The more we stop them, the more it proves that we are the key, and the greater the threat to the Wei family's seizure of the throne, the more it confirms Tan Lang's judgment!"

Xie Lingjiang asked Zhang Shixiu again, and after learning the distance between them, she looked around at everyone:
"It's less than a hundred miles away. Let's leave immediately without waiting until morning. We shouldn't stay here for long."

Lu Ya suddenly asked:

"We need to first figure out how they caught up with us and how they knew our route."

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

From just now till now, Li Guoer, who was the quietest, spoke:

"There are two possibilities. One is to track by aura or other means. There are experts among them who can follow the clues to find the person.

"There is another possibility, that the information is leaked by an insider."

As soon as these words were spoken, especially the last sentence, the atmosphere on the field suddenly dropped to freezing point.

Lu Ya glanced at Cai Shou, Shun Bo and other old servants.

Xie Lingjiang glanced at Zhang Shixiu.

The dull atmosphere was first broken by Li Dalang. His face was surprisingly serious and he said:
"There can't be a traitor. Let's not mess up the morale of the troops. Now we should think about how to escape instead of wasting time among ourselves. If Tan Lang were here, he would definitely be disappointed to see us like this."

Li Xian also forced a smile and stepped out to ease the atmosphere:
"Da Lang is right. We all came here together. I have no doubt about that."

Wei Mei frowned and asked, "Then where should we go next?"

Li Guoer looked at the fires around him and spoke coldly:
"We will continue on our way as usual, taking the Raozhou route. Since we can catch up to here, if we change the route hastily, it will make it easier for them to notice that we have been exposed. Why not take advantage of their trick and pretend that they don't know? This will also make it easier for us to quietly make room for escape.

"But we have to hurry up. We can't stop when we get to Shaoyang, the main city of Raozhou... Let's go. Pack up first and set off immediately. Put out the fire as usual. Don't do anything deliberate. We have to do what we need to do. We have to take all the luggage with us. We'll discuss it on the way."

"it is good!"

Everyone agreed. Wei Mei took Shunbo, Caishou and others to pack their things and prepare to leave.

Li Guoer suddenly turned around and asked the girl in red clothes:

"Sister Xie, you said before that Ouyang Lianghan came?"

Xie Lingjiang stayed where she was, pursed her red lips, and after a while, she shook her head gently:
"We can't wait in this situation. We have to hurry on. It's okay. The fact that the eldest brother can touch the skirt knife at least proves that he is fine. That's a good thing."

Xie Lingjiang then said to Li Guoer who nodded slightly:

"As for the first possibility you mentioned, if there really is such a capability to see qi, then he must be a master of purple qi, and we can't escape. Perhaps there is something in our body that has been detected by Li Congshan, Miaozhen and the others. They have been guarding the palace for so long, they should be very familiar with us, and they may have laid down marks on a daily basis."

Li Guoer looked at the carriage and luggage that came out of the palace, as well as the clothes on everyone, and thought:
"Master Lu, Master Zhang, Sister Xie, please follow me."

……

"stop."

In the morning, at a fork in the road deep in the mountains and old forests, a young general in a white robe raised his hand and clenched his fist, his voice hoarse.

The young general in white robe led the way, and his deputy was a middle-aged female official with a cold face. Behind them were about three hundred soldiers in white armor.

Hearing the voice of the leading young general, the three hundred White Tiger Guards instantly reined in their horses and stopped where they were, like statues, attracting several curious birds to land on their shoulders.

Three hundred elite soldiers, cold and silent, with strict discipline.

Li Congshan got off his horse, squatted on the ground, picked up some dirt, and lowered his head to sniff it.

Miao Zhen rode on the horse, looked down at Li Congshan, and asked coldly:
"Which way?"

The latter clapped his hands and pointed to the front right.

“This one on the right.”

Li Congshan mounted his horse and, together with Miaozhen, tacitly led the three hundred White Tiger Guards and continued on their journey.

About half an hour later, they stopped by a river and checked the embers of a campfire.

The bonfire was extinguished not long ago, and some waste was scattered around:

In addition to food scraps, there were two small sachets of herbs and a small blue-covered book.

The former seems to be used to repel insects, while the latter seems to have been left behind by a learned young lady.

This kind of discarded debris can be found next to the abandoned campfires that Li Congshan and others have found recently.

There are always a few scattered here and there each time.

No one noticed.

Li Congshan picked up the dirt from a footprint near the campfire, put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, then suddenly spoke:
"They left in the middle of the night and are still a hundred miles ahead of us, about half a day's journey."

Miao Zhen asked sharply:

"Why do I feel that since they passed Raozhou, their speed has increased a lot, and the distance between us and them has not shortened much.

"They didn't stop in Raozhou City. Judging from the ashes of the nearest campfires, they didn't stay long to rest. They left in the middle of the night. Did they discover us?"

Li Congshan did not answer, his eyes lowered:

"If you chase us again, abandon the baggage and travel light."

Li and Miao, along with three hundred White Tiger Guards, began a forced march. After walking for most of the day, at one point, the young general in white robes suddenly reined in his horse and pointed to a small path on the right side of the road:
"There's a smell."

Three hundred soldiers immediately surrounded them.

When I got closer, I saw a desolate place with no sign of human beings.

Miao Zhen frowned and said:
"Where are the people? Their carriages can't cross this river, so why are they here? Could it be that they went their separate ways?"

The young general in white robe walked over, squatted down, picked up some dust from the ground, sniffed it, and gave the order with a cold face:

"Return the way you came and continue on your way."

The soldiers set off again. About an hour later, Li Congshan, who was walking on the main road, turned around again and made a gesture.

The group turned into a side road and followed the traces to a stream at the foot of the mountain.

Li Congshan squatted down, picked up a piece of clothing by the stream and smelled it.

He squinted slightly.

Miaozhen was a little impatient:
"Where are the people? Why do they keep taking detours?"

Li Congshan turned around and said calmly:
"There's still a smell on the main road heading south, but there's also a smell at this fork in the road. Some of them stopped here."

"They went their separate ways? Where did this person go?"

"There should be quite a few people, judging by the food we find around abandoned campfires every time."

Miao Zhen's face turned cold: "So, they found us? Are they setting up a sleight of hand to buy us some time?"

Li Congshan looked around and said nothing.

He suddenly turned around, led his troops, took the right road, and continued heading south.

In the evening, the three hundred White Tiger Guards finally arrived at a long-missed post station before dark.

On the map, this post station is called Qingya Post Station, which belongs to Hanyang County and is not far from Hanyang County.

There is a high probability that Prince Xunyang and his family stopped at this post station to rest and recuperate, or even spend the night.

But before Li Congshan and his men could get closer, they saw a beam of fire rising into the sky from afar.

No one knew how long the fire had been burning. A group of postmen and travelers gathered outside, trying anxiously to put out the fire, but to no avail.

What was strange was that the fire was still dark green and the flames were extremely fierce.

Miao Zhen glanced at Li Congshan's gloomy face:

"The smell is gone?"

Li Congshan shook his head:

"No, this fire is strange and has no thick smoke, but the smell is much lighter."

"Where does the smell point to?"

Li Congshan pointed to Hanyang County.

Miao Zhen stared coldly at the dark green fire.

Four words came out of his mouth:

"Little tricks."

Li Congshan remained silent, as if hesitating and thinking.

He suddenly raised his hand and made a gesture.

The three hundred White Tiger Guards immediately took action.

Led by Li Congshan and Miao Zhen, they circled the post station that was blazing with flames. After making sure there were no survivors, they rushed onto the main road and headed straight for Hanyang County.

In the distance, on a lush tree, there was a hidden and isolated figure of a Taoist priest.

Zhang Shixiu stood quietly, watching from afar the dust raised by the White Tiger Guards' army as they went away.

In fact, he had been following Li, Miao and the three hundred White Tiger Guards since they left Raozhou a few days ago.

Quietly observe the choices made by Li Congshan and others.

Every time Li Congshan led his team into the place where the little princess had set up a decoy in advance, Zhang Shixiu would silently record the corresponding location, and afterwards he would touch the compass and pass the information back.

Because the "junk" discarded by the little princess was spread across many places.

Li Congshan only found part of them, and there were many missed places.

This is not a wasted arrangement; this is exactly the result that the little princess wanted.

Which debris will be found and which debris will not.

The difference is clear.

Zhang Shixiu withdrew his gaze from the direction of Hanyang County and handed that place over to Miss Xie. He had completed the duty assigned to him by Her Royal Highness the Princess.

The young Taoist quietly jumped down from the lush tree, ready to chase after the prince and the little princess.

He suddenly remembered what the little princess said to them with a chuckle after she finished the decoration that night.

"No matter how calm and experienced a tracker is, he will start to doubt himself if he encounters three or more precise misdirections in a row... Well, let's play with him."

Zhang Shixiu let out a sigh, and now he understood why the Patriarch Hall would place such a bet.

He walked forward a few steps with a dazed look on his face, as if he had noticed something.

Turning his head suddenly.

Zhang Shixiu suddenly saw a familiar young general in a white robe walk out of the dark woods behind him, followed closely by a middle-aged female official with a sullen face.

The young general in white robe had armor covering his face. The mouth of this silver-white tiger mask was curved and raised on both sides. At first glance, it looked like a funny smiling face, but now it looked extremely weird and perverted:
"I caught you. You are so brave to follow me all the way."

He pointed his index finger at the compass in Zhang Shixiu's hand:
"I forgot to mention that I'm tired of the smell of that slovenly Taoist priest in the palace."

Zhang Shixiu was horrified.

(End of this chapter)