Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 63 Invitation

In Madam Sun’s temple, flames rose and black smoke rose into the sky.

Yandu is close to the sea and can get water anytime and anywhere. There are many Taoist priests in the city, and the fire was quickly suppressed.

Liu Daogui looked back at the hazy smoke in the city, and felt an inexplicable sense of unreality.

"Agui, what are you doing?" Liu Heibin yelled and pulled Liu Daogui back to the world.

"go!"

While the city was still in chaos, everyone left the city, found war horses, and galloped north.

Yunxiu in his arms was shaken and woke up several times. Seeing that Liu Daogui was still there, he fell asleep peacefully.

It was not until dawn that the war horses stopped to rest because they were exhausted.

"Why don't I go back to Jingkou first, meet Azun, and find out the situation in Guangling. If the situation is not good, I can take my family and flee Jingkou in advance." Liu Guangzhi pulled off the cloth on his forehead and tied his hair again.

Although the task was accomplished, there were too many strange things, so it was indeed necessary to leave someone in Guangling or Jingkou.

Liu Daogui warned: "Be careful."

After resting for a while, Liu Guangzhi got on his horse and slowly headed southwest towards Guangling.

After fighting all night, everyone was exhausted and fell asleep immediately.

Liu Daogui was preoccupied, so he simply acted as a guard.

After a while, Yunxiu woke up with a "嘤" sound. He first looked at Liu Daogui, then at himself, his eyes blank.

"Why did Tianshidao give you to Huan Chengzhi?" Liu Daogui went straight to the point.

If a gift is to be given, it should be given to Huan Hong, or at the very least, to Huan Daozhen.

Yunxiu sighed softly, "Isn't it because Huan Chengzhi holds the military power? My cousin wants me to confuse him and drag him down step by step. If Liu Lang hadn't arrived in time, I..."

Huan Hong was too high-ranking, what kind of women had he not seen? He would never betray the Huan family for a woman.

Huan Daozhen has seen many ups and downs, is good at internal fighting, and will not be confused by women.

The only one who could succeed was Huan Chengzhi.

The key is that he has more than a thousand elite soldiers from the Western Palace under his control, and what the Tianshi Dao lacks most is elite soldiers...

"You are wholeheartedly devoted to the Heavenly Master Way. Don't they have any regard for our past friendship?"

Liu Daogui sighed in his heart, the evil thief is always an evil thief, his nature has not changed.

"Old love? In their eyes, I'm just a woman." Yunxiu's voice became low.

In this chaotic world where people are treated like dirt, what can a weak woman do?

Especially for women who are pretty, their fate may be even more miserable.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Without Yunxiu, the line of Tianshi Dao is broken, and no one believes in any of the other Liu Daogui of Tianshi Dao.

The fact that Sun Yizhi was willing to sell out his cousin to Huan Chengzhi for torture shows the style of the Tianshi Dao.

Yunxiu hesitated for a moment and then said, "I'm going to rely on my brother..."

"Is your brother also a Taoist priest?"

"Yes..." Yunxiu pursed his lips.

"You don't have any other relatives?"

"My parents died early, and my brother and I lived with the Sun family for a long time..."

There was a moment of silence between the two. The spring sun was warm, a few egrets flew across the sky, and the grass and trees swayed in the gentle breeze.

"Jiangzuo is in turmoil, you're unwell, and alone with no one to look after you. Why don't you follow me north to Lanling? Once you've recovered and found your brother, I'll send someone to take you there."

After all, we met once. In these chaotic times, it is very dangerous for a woman to search for her relatives.

"Could it be that Liu Lang is worried about my safety?" Yunxiu returned to his usual appearance.

"The Heavenly Master Way is not a place for you."

"Liu Lang, don't worry. I, Xu Yunxiu, am not that easy to bully!" A hint of cruelty flashed in Yunxiu's eyes.

As a woman of her generation who could find a place in the Tianshi Dao, she was certainly not an ordinary woman.

Liu Daogui smiled awkwardly, "I was overthinking it."

"Liu Lang, why don't you come with me south to join my brother? You will definitely achieve great things in the future!" Yunxiu looked extremely serious.

"If we don't share the same ideals, we can't work together. Let's part ways now." The Tianshi Dao even sold her out, so how could Liu Daogui join in?

"Then we'll meet again. When I achieve great things, Liu Lang can come find me again." Yunxiu smiled sweetly and turned to the east...

Liu Daogui looked at her back and became more and more wary. This woman's mental strength was far beyond that of ordinary people.

However, in Tianshi Dao, Sun and Lu are the most respected, and there is no famous person with the surname "Xu".

While I was thinking about it, a voice came from behind me: "Just let her go like this?"

Liu Daogui turned around and saw that Hei Xiong and Zhou Duo had woken up without him noticing. Their eyes were wide open with a playful look on their faces. Although Zhou Zheng didn't peek, he was also craning his neck to eavesdrop...

Liu Daogui coughed and said, "If she wants to leave, I can't stop her. Now that she's awake, let's get going."

The sooner we return to Chishan Village, the sooner we can have peace.

There are still many things waiting for us in Lanling County.

The four of them mounted their horses and headed north together.

The war horses were not fed with fine food, and they would have to nibble on some grass after trotting for an hour.

Fortunately, it was late spring, and Huainan was covered with green grass, so the horses could eat their fill.

From Huaiyin to Xia Pi, the mountains and fields are full of busy people, hunched over, silently working in the fields.

After the Battle of Feishui, Huainan temporarily no longer had to face the threat of the northern Hu people and began to regain its vitality.

However, the clerks and servants of the powerful families that could be seen everywhere destroyed this peace and beat the ragged tenants at will.

Wherever there is profit, the hands of the nobles and powerful will be there.

The most valuable things these days are land and people.

Forts and manors are located among the fields.

As soon as Liu Daogui and his riders approached, the bows and arrows on the fort would be raised.

As a result, they had to sleep in the wilderness along the way, and sometimes they were criticized by clerks. Only when Liu Daogui took out the seal of the General Zhenglu's Mansion did the clerks dare not make things difficult for them.

They encountered several robbery gangs and were killed by the vicious Liu Heibin and Zhou Duo.

It took seven or eight days to reach Lanling.

There was a row of wooden stakes along the way, filled with rotten heads. When the spring breeze blew, the dead hair fluttered in the wind, as if entering a ghost cave.

At this moment, several people suddenly jumped out from the grass, with cold light flashing in their hands.

"Uu——"

The warhorse was frightened and stood up. Liu Daogui drew out his ring-handled sword as a conditioned reflex.

"It's General Liu, General Liu is back!"

Those people were jumping up and down.

Liu Daogui glanced over and saw that they were Gao Xun's personal guards. "Why are you here?"

This place is about thirty or forty miles away from Chishan Village.

Several people excitedly said: "Sima Gao ordered us to set up secret sentries here!"

The Sima family usurped the throne of the Cao family through conspiracy and treachery. They were more defensive within the family than outside, and there was a sense of pettiness from top to bottom.

After winning the Battle of Feishui, they still hid in Jiangdong and refused to move.

Although the area north of the Huai River was nominally Jin territory, it was actually a buffer zone. Not only did the Hu people often come to plunder, but the powerful people and garrison commanders in the south also frequently went north to rob and kill refugees and seize people's wives and daughters.

Gao Xun, this secret sentry, is obviously guarding the area south of the Huai River...

"Thank you for your hard work." Liu Daogui praised.

Several people led the way and avoided various traps.

After walking two or three miles, we saw more than a hundred young men laying the foundation and piling up wood at the fork in the river ahead. It seemed that they were going to build a fort.

Women, the elderly and children were all working in the fields.

The area is surrounded by plains, nourished by rivers and has fertile land. Many areas have the outlines of fields and canals, and it can be seen that it was once a fertile farmland more than ten years ago.

A rough calculation shows that this piece alone can turn into more than a hundred acres of farmland.

But the problem is that it would be difficult to reclaim the land with only the old, weak, women and children in the village...

(End of this chapter)