Prince Boring and Concubine Qiao Ai

Passing through the golden flower forest, the two saw countless brick and tile bungalows, small courtyards, teahouses and restaurants, and even stalls on the street... This place used to be a prosperous town, retaining all traces of traffic.

They found a fairly tidy bedroom and planned to stay overnight on the island. Luo Yi volunteered to take on the job of cleaning, while Zhao Ling searched for useful things in the town. Every time they passed by an island, they followed the Use doctrine and replenish supplies, after all, the voyage is at sea, and there is no telling when you will encounter the second one.

There is no one on the island. The strange thing is that the buildings on the island are well preserved, and there are traces of life inside.There are shadows in twos and threes on the ground of every yard and house, and there are many shadows on the road, which cannot be wiped off, just like paint on the ground.

It was weird, Zhao Ling had never seen such a scene in his two lifetimes.

Zhao Ling walked to the end and walked into the sea of ​​golden flowers. In the humid air, there was a fragrance of slightly moist soil. This place is really like breaking the Futian Formation 20 years ago. After climbing out of the swamp at the bottom of the valley, Luo Yi's back Follow the path he walked down the mountain.At that time, although his eyes could not be opened, he could vaguely see a piece of golden color.Luo Yi said it was autumn wheat. He lay on Luo Yi's back, thinking in a daze, if there was no war, the wheat would not have to be charged for military pay, and the family of the dead brother would be able to eat white flour steamed buns and drink hot air Steaming pimple soup.

At that time, people's wishes were so small that they would jump into the fire pit without hesitation even if they knew they were going to die in order to feed their families.

He lay on his back on the soft soil, completely buried his body in the sea of ​​golden flowers.

The sky is high and the earth is wide, and he can grasp the dazzling colors with one hand.

For a long time, the shadow covered the sun.

Luo Yi had a long sword pinned to his waist, but held a red umbrella in his right hand.

He approached slowly, and Zhao Ling was lying on his back in the golden flower field, curling up a lock of broken hair, and said lazily, "Which family is this man coming back from?"

"Your family." A gentle smile appeared on Luo Yi's face, and he opened the red umbrella in his hand.

Zhao Ling laughed loudly, approaching Zhu Zhechi, Luo Yi also learned to speak indecently, but the red umbrella is quite beautiful, "Where did the umbrella come from?"

"Pick it up."

Luo Yi passed by a shop that made umbrellas, and saw that there were a lot of them in stock, so he picked one up.

"In the past, my mother and concubine also liked to hold a red umbrella and lie on the green grass in the backyard of Caiyue Palace to watch the sun. I leaned on the wall and saw my father came in quietly, picked a small flower, and gave me a boo gesture." .Then he blindfolded Concubine Mu, wanting to surprise Concubine Mu. He looked more like a child than me, but Concubine Mu had already known about it."

Zhao Ling recalled Concubine Xue Gui, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in the world, but it was a pity that the concubine was unlucky, even if she was loved by thousands, she could not save the whole family.

"Who!" Luo Yi closed the umbrella to block the two sharp short arrows.

The visitor was dressed in black, with his white hair pulled up high, and he was wearing a bamboo hat to hide it. He was an old acquaintance. After Zhao Ling and Luo Yi waited all the way, this person finally appeared. It seems that this person has indeed been following them all along, and is still following them to the island.

I knew he would follow, so I dismissed Ningzhuang.

There is no one on the island, but it is a good place to talk about secrets.

"Lord Luo," the man's voice was a little hoarse, it seemed to be real, and the previous voice was fake.

Zhao Ling could no longer lie comfortably, got up with Luo Yi's hand, and heard the man in black say, "Lord Luo is finally here, I have been looking forward to it for a long time."

"Sure enough, you deliberately threw Yuxi around, let us go around in circles, and finally find this place." Just as Zhao Ling thought.

"Who are you?" Luo Yi quietly grasped the hilt of the sword.

The man slowly took off his bamboo hat and turned around.

"Uncle Xue..." Luo Yi held Zhao Ling's hand, and he really remembered the appearance under the bamboo hat.

uncle……

Zhao Ling was cold all over, it was impossible.

He saw his uncle's chest pierced by an eight-year-old child.

How could it be... still alive?

At that time, not long after Ning State surrendered, there were still many remnant parties in different places to provoke troubles. After the celebration banquet, the five national teachers gathered in Ningdu to discuss how to carve up Ning State's territory.

Due to the different contributions made by various countries during the war, especially Liang Guo, the two independent armies of Xue Luo counted as the first contribution, the military division of the coalition army and the fierce generals of several yuan were also from Liang Guo, and there were also many people from Yan Guo. At most, Qingji Kingdom's intelligence also played a vital role. The division of the country cannot be completely even, but except for Kuang Chengzong who voluntarily withdrew, the rest of them all wanted to go to the most fertile Phoenix River area.

That's Zhao Qi's business, Zhao Ling doesn't get involved in this, the periphery is unstable, and there are still many forces in Ningguo ready to move.He wiped out the branch of Ningguo nobles who claimed to be bandits, and was going to join his uncle at Xue's army camp.

Uncle didn't bring any guards with him, and greeted him alone at the gate of the city.Lancheng is the place where the Xue family army is stationed, and it is also an important supply town for the five kingdoms to conquer Ning.

Zhao Ling only stayed for two or three days, and then returned to Liangdu. He survived the catastrophe by breaking the sky, and he still hasn't returned to see Jiangdong's elders.He thought about his father, his mother, his concubine, the delicious food and wine in Liangdu, and wanted to see if his fig tree was bearing fruit.

He was riding a horse and saw his uncle standing at the gate of the city from a distance. There were a few children playing around at the gate of the city, probably from people in the city.Although Xue Si is the commander-in-chief of the Xue family army and treats the enemy mercilessly, he has no airs on weekdays, and his father and fellow villagers love him very much.

A child fell down and cried badly.

Xue Si stopped for a while, squatted down, and picked up the child. The child had beautiful features, but a large black ash was stuck on his snow-white face.

Xue Si raised his hand to wipe it, but his stomach was cold.His raised hands trembled a little, his gaze swept across the child's closed eyes sharply, and a bitter smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The child cried loudly, "It's all your fault, if it weren't for you, my parents wouldn't have died."

Xue Si didn't have the strength to get up, and all the strength in his body was drained instantly. He still supported the child's forearm. He wanted to know the reason why the child lied to him and stabbed the dagger into his heart.

"Kill..."

"My father and mother were killed by you! My father and mother trusted you so much, but they were buried in a cave because they listened to your words. I hate you, I want to avenge my parents, and I want to kill you!" The child cried more and more. The more fierce, perhaps because he was too scared, he forgot to run away, and only remembered to complain unscrupulously here.

At this time Zhao Ling had dismounted from his horse, seventy or eighty steps away from him.

Zhao Ling felt that something was wrong a long time ago, the smell of blood penetrated into his nostrils, the uncle said something while holding the child with his back turned, the source of the smell of blood was there.

"uncle!"

Flying over, he saw the puddle of blood under his uncle and fell into a coma.I also saw the blood on the child's hands and sleeves.Assassination?assassin?child?That is to say, a harmless child can take advantage of his uncle's kindness and take off his defenses.Zhao Ling quickly stopped the uncle's bleeding and shouted for help. The soldiers hurriedly carried the commander back to the mansion, and the boy was taken to prison. Handed it over to Deputy Marshal Fang Jing.

In the end, he didn't even have time to speak to his uncle.Doctors from a radius of ten miles were invited, but Zhao Ling was the only one who refused to believe that his uncle had passed away.Xue Si died before being sent back to the mansion, and he has no medical skills to heal a dead person.He had already returned, but he watched his uncle from birth to death, but he still couldn't do anything!

Fang Jing hesitated for a long time before pushing away from Zhao Ling's room. The interrogation was effortless, and the other party was just an ordinary child. Facing a long whip full of thorns, he took all of them without reservation.

"Son."

"Speak." Zhao Ling was sad, but still rational.

"The child's parents died in Yanshan Cave."

Zhao Ling raised his head slowly, he wanted to laugh and cry, two contradictory emotions can really exist at the same time.

When the Yanshan Cave collapsed, many people died, mostly villagers from nearby towns who took refuge there.

He didn't see it with his own eyes, but he heard the soldiers in the Xue family's army mention the situation at that time.Due to the severe landslides of the mountain, they could not dig out the corpses, so they rushed back to support them, ignoring those who were buried in the mountain.

But their deaths cannot be blamed on uncle.

Although my uncle ordered them to enter the cave to hide for a while, my uncle said that the cave is safe, and everyone trusts Xue Jiajun to abandon their belongings and gather in the cave in Yanshan.

At that time, Zhao Ling was going to break through the Futian Formation, and the nearby area was likely to be the only breach. He asked his uncle to help bring the innocent people around to a safe place, so that they must not stray into the formation and get lost.With so many people, it is impossible to drag them far away in two or three days, so they can only find caves nearby to live temporarily.

But my uncle also didn't expect that the Yanshan cave would be blocked by falling stones from the mountain, nor did he expect that the whole mountain would collapse with a bang, nor did he expect that the breach of the Futian formation would cause the earth to tremble and the mountains to shift.It was too late for him to save people. If he had known in advance, he would not have let everyone hide in the cave in Yanshan.

How much self-blame he has in his heart, although he can't see it on the surface, he is the commander of the Xue family army and the backbone of the vanguard army of the five-nation coalition. He must guard the border between Liang Guo and Ning Guo, let Zhao Ling poke the only breach to the end, and he must stabilize the overall situation.

"My lord, my lord said that if something happens to him, I will ask my subordinates to hand over the token of the Xue family army to you."

He is the only one in the Xue family. His two cousins ​​died in the Futian formation, his cousin is still young, and his grandfather only has his mother, concubine and uncle. He is the only one in the Xue family who can be the commander of the Xue family army.When he was a child, he often rode on his uncle's neck, pointing to the little soldier carved on the table and saying that he would be the commander of the Xue family army in the future. He has never touched this ancestral token of the Xue family, which symbolizes the status of the commander, with his own hands. Xue Zi's gold medal turned out to have such a heavy weight.

"Why?" Zhao Ling put away the token and turned to look at Fang Jing.

Uncle would not order his lieutenant like this for no reason.Unless he had already anticipated that an accident might happen.

Fang Jing took out a piece of paper from his pocket, "My lord said, if the young lord asks the reason, give the map to the young lord, and the lord also asked his subordinates to tell the young lord not to trust anyone, including the young lord's relatives and friends. In the event of an accident, the young master can take the Xue family army to follow the map in the letter and avoid into Yingling Mountain."

Zhao Ling still couldn't figure out the meaning of it. He vaguely felt that he seemed to be hiding something big.

"Young master," Fang Jing knelt down suddenly, "Young master, no, my lord, I don't know if I should say something. First, my lord has received a secret letter from Liang Dulai in the past few days. After reading it, I will discuss with my subordinate." Discussed the retreat route on this map. Avoid the guards of Liang Liang and avoid everyone's sight. The subordinates don't know the key, and the lord did not tell the subordinates before, so please make it clear."

Zhao Ling frowned. He searched in his uncle's room, but he didn't find the letter Fang Jing mentioned.The uncle burned it after reading it, indicating that the contents of this letter should not be known to outsiders.

"What about the child?"

"In prison."

"take me."

Zhao Ling still had another doubt, which Fang Jing didn't ask.

How could a child, at the age of five or six, set up such an insidious murderous plot, how could he get a poisonous dagger, how could he have such a deep hatred, so hate that he was so afraid that he would kill him maybe People who haven't seen it at all.

In the prison, the child shrank in the corner, he regretted it, no matter how deep the hatred was, his life was not important, he wanted to live.

So Zhao Ling only asked him, "Who ordered you?"

He rushed to say that someone forced him to kill, he didn't understand how innocent ignorance is, and all the heroic spirit he had just now turned into greed for life and fear of death.But he didn't know that person's name or appearance, he only knew that he was a man, tall and capable of kung fu.

"When he gave me the dagger, the skin on his right wrist was exposed, and there was a red birthmark in the shape of a peach heart." The child finally recalled the most specific point.

Zhao Ling almost couldn't stand up. He supported the wall with one hand, and the nails of his right hand dug deeply into the palm of his hand.

The heart shape is not a birthmark, but a burn scar.

He ironed it with his own hands, and for this he was severely beaten by his mother and concubine [-] times. He had a high fever in bed for three days, and he didn't get out of the gate of Caiyue Palace for half a year.

That was before he entered the Xuanwu Pavilion, the entire harem was his world, and he brought a group of children from various families who were younger than him to arrange various arrests and thieves in the harem, heroes to suppress bandits, A house-playing game in which immortals subdue demons and slay demons.He was naturally on the side of justice, and the villain was either the crybaby Xiao Nose, or Zhou Xiang, the second son of the Zhou family, the chubby guy who couldn't speak well.Zhao Ling looked down on these two, but if he could resist with some backbone, he would not bully them so brazenly.

Once, he caught a puppy that had strayed into the harem by mistake, and on a whim, he wanted to imprint a red heart on the puppy's buttocks. He burned the old iron red, and asked Xiao Lu and Zhou Geng to help catch the dog. The second brother of the Zhou family knelt down and begged him, crying, "Brother Seven, the puppy is very poor, please let it go... ..."

Zhao Ling never felt that this person had such courage, the courage born of pity for the same disease?He was startled and his hands trembled, and the soldering iron fell and burned directly on Zhou Xiang's wrist.

Since then, he has always felt sorry for Zhou Geng. Zhou Geng brought his second child to play in the harem, but he was implicated in the end, and it is said that he was also held in the ancestral hall and beaten severely.He deserved to be taught by his mother and concubine, Zhou Geng was more miserable, since then, he was never allowed to leave the house with his brother in his arms.

After that, he went to Xuanwu Pavilion, and until today, he never saw Zhou Xiang again.Hearing Zhou Geng proudly say it a few times, his younger brother is no longer a fat man, but a handsome and beautiful young man, capable of writing and martial arts, the rate of returning girls on the street is definitely not worse than him, and he will also enter the court as an official in the future Good material.

He heard that the Zhou family brothers also came to the battlefield, maybe the battlefield was too big for them to meet.

At this moment, the peach heart in my mind is branded blood red.

"Does your lord have any clues?" Fang Jing asked eagerly, he was already sharpening his sword and preparing to kill someone for revenge.

Zhao Ling didn't want to talk, why did Zhou Xiang harm his uncle?He also only has someone instigated behind him.The letter my uncle received was from Liangdu, something must have happened in Liangdu, mother concubine... mother concubine...

Zhao Ling strode out of the prison cell and ordered, "The Xue family's army is assembled, prepare the military supplies, and immediately withdraw into the dense forest of the west corridor and straight into the Heroic Mountains according to the map. Be careful on the way, Fang Jing, I will leave it to you here, and I will return to you." See mother and concubine in the imperial capital. After one month, if I don't come back..."

No, there is no if, he must come back. There are [-] Xue family soldiers here, who were entrusted to his family by his uncle.

"Stay on the Heroic Mountain and wait for me to come back."