I traveled through time and space and encountered a famine, and I became a hermit.

Everyone thought it was a good idea.

They all responded, "I think this is a good idea. Everyone can eat meat according to their ability."

Gu Ji thought about it and felt it was a good idea, so he spoke in support: "Okay, this elder brother's suggestion is good. Let's do as this elder brother said and have a simple competition. In the end, the winner will be selected to be ten people, and go with me to quarry stones."

Everyone responded and stood around, leaving an open space in the middle for everyone to exchange ideas.

The man with a square face and narrow eyes clasped his fists and saluted to everyone, saying, "Then I won't be polite. I will defend the first round. Anyone who wants to come up and compete, just come over."

"I'll do it!" A tall and strong man walked into the open space. After the two men bowed to each other, they started fighting directly.

The crowd around him cheered and encouraged him. But within ten moves, the strong man who came up later was defeated.

Everyone groaned in disappointment.

Next, the square-faced man challenged five or six people in succession before he was defeated due to exhaustion.

After that there was another round of duels. Finally, the top ten people were selected according to the ranking. There were two followers of the Duan family, a man with a square face and narrow eyes, a man whose mouth tilted to one side when he smiled, a man with a round face, and several other men who had been bodyguards and were ranked at the back.

After selecting the people to mine the stones, Gu Ji asked Zhishu to take out two heavy iron disc-like objects from the bamboo basket.

Gu Ji got the thing and said to everyone, "Now we need two more people to hold this thing and shine it on the ground to absorb some of the iron sand on the ground."

"Master Gu, what is iron sand?" someone asked.

"I can't describe it to you in detail. Anyway, if you see something on the ground that automatically sticks to this, just collect it." Gu Yi shook the black iron plate in his hand.

Then he held the black iron plate not far from the ground and shook it slowly. Everyone saw that some black and tiny things had been absorbed by the smooth iron plate.

Gu Ji was very happy to see that he had gained something so easily. He held it up for everyone to see, "You can see, the thing adsorbed on it is called iron sand."

After saying this, he told Zhishu to bring a box, carefully remove the iron sand from the disk, and put it into the box.

"I never thought that there are things on the earth that we can use but cannot see. Today really opens my eyes." Someone sighed.

"Who said it wasn't? Mr. Gu, what is this thing? Why is it so magical?" Someone asked, pointing at the black plate.

"This is called a magnet. Anything made of iron will be sucked up if it's within a close distance." Gu Ji handed it forward to clear up the confusion for everyone.

As we were talking, we heard a voice in the crowd shouting, "Ah, my ring." After saying that, we immediately realized something was wrong and covered our mouths.

Everyone looked in the direction the person who was shouting was looking, and saw that a shiny gold ring was being attracted to the black magnet.

It turned out that when this person heard the black disk was called a magnet and saw the effect of the magnet, he was worried that his iron ring would become a joke, so he wanted to take it off.

Maybe because he felt guilty and didn't hold it firmly, the iron ring was sucked away when Gu Ji stepped forward to show it.

After watching a joke together, the atmosphere among everyone became more relaxed and they felt like they were closer.

Next, Gu Ji arranged the division of labor, and everyone performed their duties and worked enthusiastically.

While everyone in the Gu family was working enthusiastically, the bearded General Xu finally arrived at Zesheng County with his men.

The leader of the soldiers at the city gate recognized General Xu from afar, hurriedly gave a few instructions to the people around him, and then ran up to him quickly.

He said anxiously, "General Xu, you are finally back. The prince asked you to come back, so go see him immediately."

General Xu was also surprised when he heard this, and ordered the soldiers behind him: "Two deputy generals and the military secretary, follow me to see the prince, and the rest of you take the villagers back to settle down first."

"Yes, General." The generals responded.

General Xu, his two deputy generals, and Ji Shi rode at full speed to Prince Li's palace.

Inside Prince Li’s Palace.

Prince Li was sitting in the main seat, and below him sat a young man, who was the commander of the imperial guards who was sent by the emperor to investigate the news of the emperor's grandson.

King Li is an elegant man in his thirties with a gentle and amiable temperament. Just looking at his appearance, it is hard to imagine that he was crowned king based on his military merits.

The two seemed to be drinking tea leisurely, but in fact, they were both anxious inside.

At this time, a white-faced, beardless steward hurried in, bowed to the two people in the hall, and said, "Your Majesty, there is news from the door that General Xu has returned."

"Oh!" The two people in the room straightened up instantly. King Li said to the steward with a barely perceptible sense of ease in his tone, "Go and inform the concierge. No need to pass the message. Just bring the person over when you see him."

"Yes, I'll arrange it right away." After saying that, he quickly stepped out.

After the two waited for a while, General Xu, his deputy general, and Ji Shi strode in, knelt on one knee, clasped their fists, and said, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"No need to be polite, stand up and talk." King Li called out quickly.

"Thank you, Your Highness." General Xu stood up and looked at the young man next to Prince Li. "Your Highness, who is this?"

Prince Li introduced: "This is the commander of the royal guards. He came here to ask you something."

General Xu clasped his fists again and said, "Greetings, Commander Wang."

Commander Wang nodded slightly and asked directly, "General Xu, how did you track down the little emperor's grandson who was abducted this time?"

General Xu glanced at King Li and reported, "Reporting to the King, I was misled by the rebels at first. After correcting the direction, I rushed to Weng County. However, I was too late. When I arrived, Weng County had been burned down."

"Burned?" Commander Jiang frowned. "What about the little grandson? Could it be that he really passed away?"

General Xu hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, when I arrived, although Weng County had been destroyed, the rebel army had already fled. The survivors in Weng County have been rescued by the Gu family. I wanted to continue chasing them, but ended up receiving this." As he said that, he presented the cloth strip written by the little grandson of the emperor.

After Prince Li took it and looked at it, he handed it to Commander Wang.

Prince Li continued to instruct General Xu, "Tell me in detail what happened on your journey."

"Yes, Your Highness." Then, General Xu recounted in detail what happened during his tracking journey.

It starts from when he was ordered to track, to how he was misled by the rebel army, to how he saw through the enemy's clues, to how he tracked them to Weng County, to the tragic situation in Weng County, to receiving the cloth strips, to being ordered to resettle the refugees, to asking the Gu family to help resettle the refugees, to how a refugee got sick on the way and delayed his return.

As General Xu spoke, Ji Shi showed the documents he had recorded along the way to Prince Li and Commander Wang.

When Commander Wang saw the tragic situation in Weng County, his eyes were cold and he said, "These rebels are so cruel, they are no different from beasts." He calmed down and asked, "Then according to General Xu, the little emperor's grandson had escaped at that time, so have you seen the little emperor's grandson?"

"In reply to Commander Wang, the little emperor's grandson must have disguised himself at the time and deliberately concealed the truth. I have not seen the little emperor's grandson." General Xu said truthfully.

"What?" Prince Li and Commander Wang asked anxiously. "You haven't even seen the little grandson in person."

"Your Highness, Commander Wang, although I have not seen them in person, the last few orphans were taken in by the Gu family who lived in the nearby mountains and forests. As long as we find the Gu family, I believe we will be able to find the little grandson." General Xu said hurriedly.