Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

At that time, the sky was getting brighter and there were more and more pedestrians on the street. Such a magnificent guard of honor was usually rare.The dust behind the car has not yet cleared away, rumors and speculation are floating all over the sky like willow catkins. Rumors have no feet, but they move faster than anything else. Wherever Yan Wei's guard of honor goes, rumors follow. This is "Shechuan", an important town in the hinterland of the Yang Kingdom. It was just in the afternoon, and Yan Wei and his party did not delay here, as the wind passed through the city.As soon as the car passed by, the spectators gathered like fallen leaves after the wind had blown, chattering.

At this moment, two people came from outside the city, they were Li Qichen and Tong Shui. "What's the matter? It's so lively?" Tong Su has such a personality, no matter where he goes, no matter who he faces, he can strike up a conversation without restraint. On the opposite side were a few idlers, talking happily, when someone came to ask, an old man with a gray beard hurriedly replied: "The honor guard of the fifth princess has just passed, and the fifth princess is going to marry Prince Jiang! This shows that the two countries need to repair each other and stop fighting..."

"Princess Fifth?" Li Qichen frowned. Another red-faced man hurriedly said: "You are wrong! I heard that the fifth princess is going to be a hostage, not a marriage." "A joke! You have always used the son as a hostage. How can you use the princess as a hostage? Your Majesty still has several young masters. Why do you want the princess to show her face?" The man who spoke was a short and fat man with a sneer on his face. "May I ask how old is the fifth princess? What does she look like?" Li Qichen asked eagerly. The three of them looked at each other, and the red-faced man murmured, "The car is going so fast, and the curtains are so airtight, who can see clearly..."

"Hehe, according to me, it's not only a marriage, but also a hostage. It's just a girl for Jiang Guo's prince Yang to paralyze him. If you don't want to fight, you will suddenly hit him hard! This is called a beauty trick, and this is the use of soldiers." The way. The girl said that she is the fifth princess, but I don’t think it may be true. Just find a beautiful girl to prevaricate the people of Jiang Guo! In the past few decades, Yang Guo has never been afraid of Jiang Guo’s coming? Why do we need to repair with them? !” A big bald man next to him spoke so passionately that the veins on his neck were swollen.

Li Qichen asked again: "When a king marries a daughter, Jiang Guoshangqing must personally greet him. Have you ever met Jiang Guoshangqing's car wife?" The old man pondered: "Besides the big cart with pheasant feathers that the princess was sitting in, there are several other black painted carts, but I don't know which one is the one from Jianguo..." The short fat man said: "It is said that this princess was living among the people before, and she just returned to the clan, and I heard that her mother and concubine were imprisoned for a crime, and committed suicide by taking poison, so the king may not spoil this princess. Is this wedding ceremony... even if it is simple Some are normal."

The red-faced man said again: "I heard that's not the case. Jiang Guo didn't send Shangqing to welcome his relatives. He deliberately humiliated us! It's just because we assassinated his family's relatives." The big thanked man hurriedly said: "Joke! Are there fewer assassins they sent to assassinate us..." Li Qichen frowned deeply upon hearing this. Those few people saw that Li Qichen and Tong Sui had stopped talking, and started arguing on their own. Li Qichen listened in a daze, his heart was in a mess, he didn't want to listen any more, but he couldn't move for fear of missing any useful news.

Seeing this, Tong Shu quickly tugged on Li Qichen's sleeve, pulled him to a deserted place by the side of the road, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on here?" Li Qichen frowned and said, "I don't know..." Tong Sui said, "If you're worried, we might as well hurry over there and lift the veil to have a look." Li Qichen said in a deep voice: "Absolutely not! What if the princess is really married, and there is Jiang Guoshangqing in the team to greet her, wouldn't we ruin the king's big business by showing up at this time?"

Tong Shui asked: "Then Yan Wei is the fifth princess according to the sequence?" Li Qichen nodded: "There used to be a fifth princess, who was only thirteen years old this year, but Yan Wei stepped in, it should be the fifth princess..." Tong Shui said: "Maybe it's the original fifth princess, everyone is used to it and can't change it." Li Qichen shook his head and said: "Seniors and youngsters are in order, it is unlikely to skip the older ones and send the younger ones away..." Tong Shu pondered for a moment, and then said: "Then let's sneak up and take a look in the dark. If God doesn't know, it shouldn't matter..."

Li Qichen shook his head again: "There are so many eyes on such a huge guard of honor, how could anyone not notice it? Don't forget that bumping into the guard of honor of the princess is also a capital offense." Tong Shu scratched his head and asked, "Then what should we do?" Li Qichen pondered and said: "It's better to go to Chiya according to the original arrangement, and you can inquire about it by the way." Tong Rate patted his thigh: "Yes! Mr. Yue'an is very well-informed, he must know what's going on!" Under the red cliff, the colorful mountain walls are dazzling in the sun, which is so beautiful that it makes people palpitate.The surrounding empty mountains are silent, and the birds are singing and chirping, just like a fairyland on earth.Who would have thought that there is a huge drum casting and forging place on the top of the cliff, all the weapons and half of the official utensils in the whole Yang Kingdom come from here.

When the two came to the foot of the mountain, Tong Shui took out the bamboo whistle from his pocket and flicked it into the sky with his hand, and the whistle shot into the air, making a shrill howling sound.When the whistle fell, Tong Shui reached out to catch it, turned his head and smiled at Li Qichen, and the two looked up together. Not long after, the huge rattan basket fell down, and Du Rong walked out of it.I saw that his hair was a little disheveled, his eyes were black and blue, his expression was quite tired, and there was a small wound on his forehead, and the blood had congealed and scabbed.

Tong Shu hurriedly asked, "Why is there an injury on the head? You don't look good either, is something wrong?" Du Rong stretched out his hand to touch the wound on his forehead, grinned wryly and said, "The slaves on the Red Cliff rioted...the craftsmen and soldiers were killed and injured, and I also suffered a lot here. I have been busy with the aftermath these days and have no rest, so... ..." Li Qichen was shocked, and hurriedly asked: "How is the situation above?" Du Rong said: "It has been pacified, and there is basically no problem. Only the blast furnace utensils need to be tidied up, and the drum casting cannot be started for a while." Li Qichen asked again: "Did Jiang Guoxi instigate it?" Du Rong sighed: "It's not clear yet, I'm interrogating, it's probably related to Jiang Guo..." Tong Shui scolded: "Jiang Guo's gang of birds don't dare to fight in an upright manner, they only use these dirty tricks." Li Qichen secretly sighed in his heart, the two of them went to Jiang Country to assassinate Mu Xuanshi, it was not a dignified method, could it?Winners and losers, who cares about these trivial details in the process... Later historians use their pens like knives, and they will naturally whitewash conspiracies and tricks as far-sighted and talented... Du Rong said to Tong Shuai again: "This time, it's thanks to your brother Zhao Lei, who is smart, capable, and decisive, and he is indeed a person who can handle big things! If he hadn't discovered it early this time, the situation would have been out of control..." As he said, he gave a thumbs up and praised. Tong Shu smiled triumphantly: "My brothers are all rolled over with knives, their noses are sharper than foxes, and they can immediately detect the slightest sign of trouble." Li Qichen bowed and said: "We are ordered by the king to investigate the whereabouts of Gongzi Cong, and we are here to ask for the documents and materials of Tongjiao." Du Rong took out a roll of silk from his bosom, handed it to Li Qichen with both hands, and said, "It's all here, be careful!" Li Qichen took it with both hands and put it in his arms. Tong Shui asked again: "Is Mr. Yue'an on the cliff?" Du Rong said: "He went to Huaidu to report on his duties but did not return. He should be back in a day or two. Do you have anything to do?" Tong Shui murmured: "It's...it's nothing, but when I came here, I saw the fifth princess's car and said he was going to Jiang country. I don't know what happened, I was a little curious." Du Rong smiled and said: "Oh, that's Princess Fu's car wife, it's not a big deal to go to Jiang Guo as a hostage." After hearing this, Li Qichen was sure, and frowned slightly: "Princess Fu is still young, and going away from home, I think she will suffer..." Du Rong said: "It's nothing. In other countries, there are still infant sons as hostages, and there are servants and eunuchs serving them, and they won't suffer much. And it's only for a year or so." Tong Shui asked again: "Why did you send the princess as a hostage this time? Usually, shouldn't the hostage be the son?" Du Rong said: "I don't know about this either, it may be that the Jiang country has different customs..." Du Rong watched Li Qichen and Tong Su go away, and was about to turn around to return, but saw Mr. Yue An walking slowly from the depths of the forest, far away, followed by a large number of followers. Du Rong hurriedly stepped forward to salute. Jun Yue An asked: "After receiving your secret letter, I rushed back overnight. How is the situation above?" Du Rong reported: "The overall situation has been decided. The leaders are being interrogated. The skilled apprentice slaves are imprisoned in the old mine pit under strict supervision. The remaining slaves who participated in the uprising have all been killed, and some of them did not participate in the uprising. The slaves were imprisoned in the original slave residences, and the remaining number of slaves was only 30% of the original number." Lord Yue An looked solemn, nodded slowly, and asked again: "What about our casualties?" Du Rong said: "Soldiers are damaged by 10% and craftsmen are damaged by 30%. Of the original fifty-six blast furnaces, about 70% can be used just by looking at the appearance, but I don't know if there are hidden wounds, which can only be seen after ignition. The blast furnace itself is very strong and hard to burn." It was damaged, but the blast pottery pipes and bellows were severely damaged, and only 10 to 20% of them were completely usable. The blast furnace, air pipe, and bellows were basically in good condition, and only two furnaces could be started with a little repair. Ninety percent of the pottery fans were destroyed. The large-scale artifacts carved on the ground have all been destroyed." The more Mr. Yue An listened, the more dignified his expression became: "Within a month, how many blast furnaces will be available after initial cleaning?" Du Rong said: "No more than ten seats..." Yue Anjun shook his head and sighed. Du Rong said again: "Ten is enough, the number of slaves is not enough at present, no matter how many furnaces are opened, the number of blast slaves can't keep up, and it can't be cast..." Mr. Yue An nodded: "You have to recruit slaves and soldiers from other places. It is easy to make pottery pipes, and we can solve them by ourselves on the cliff, but it takes several months to make bellows from tanned leather sheets, so we can only find a way to go to other places." Shang Tiao cooked skin for emergency..." Jun Yue An thought about it in his heart, and then said it out of his mouth. Du Rong nodded repeatedly at the side, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Mu Bie...is gone." "Oh?" Jun Yue raised his eyebrows, "Have you checked the corpse and the list? Who else is missing?" Du Rong said: "There are two other slaves who are also missing. After the preliminary interrogation, it is said that one of them is the leader of the trouble... The other is not clear." Jun Yue An asked again: "The roll of silk paper left by Mu Xuanshi, is it in Mu Bie's hands now?" Du Rong said: "Yes. According to your instruction last time, after the text is transcribed, the original will be handed over to him." Jun Yuean pondered for a while, then suddenly changed the subject, and asked, "You didn't tell them the two truths just now, did you? They don't know that it was Yan Wei who went to Jiang Country, right?" Du Rong said: "Yes. I'm afraid their trip is more dangerous than assassination. They can't be distracted. With their friendship with Yan Wei, they can't let them know the truth." Jun Yue An said: "Although that is the case, they will hate you when they know the truth in the future." Du Rong smiled wryly: "It's better to let them hate me than to let them die..."