Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-Four

Another stone chamber. This stone room is about the same size as the stone room where Li Qichen and Tong Su recuperated their wounds, the only difference is that the side with the door is not a brick wall, but a thick wooden fence.There is a person on each side of the wooden fence. The person inside is also dressed in white, the only difference is that his hands and feet are shackled, and they are tied together by a thin iron chain, and the other end of the iron chain is nailed to the stone wall. I saw that this man was drawing small vertical paths on the mountain wall with a link of an iron chain: from bottom to top, there were six lines in total, and the number of vertical paths in each line was different. Use a horizontal line to cross every two adjacent small vertical lines. Finally, if there is one vertical line left in each line, draw a long horizontal line and record it as Yang Yao; if there are no vertical lines left, draw two short lines. Horizontal lines are recorded as Yin Yao.It turned out to be divination.

I saw that the person recorded all the six lines, and drew another vertical line, but this time he crossed out every six vertical lines, and the remainder was changed lines... The man outside moved the lamp to the wooden fence, his head was almost embedded in the gap of the wooden fence, he squinted his eyes, and looked closely at the hexagrams on the wall, as if he had poor eyesight. Under the light, I saw that this person was wearing a smoky brown coat, but he was wearing a white copper mask on his face, which was the same as the masks of the "Qing Emperor" and "Red Emperor", covering half of his face, and one could see the exposed part of his face. There are still some burnt scars on the skin of the corners of the mouth and cheeks.The man laughed and said, "Are you trying to tell a fortune again?" His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, as if his throat was injured.

The man inside nodded and did not turn around, just said: "Yes... torture once every seven days, and divination once every seven days, just to calculate the good and bad fortune of torture tomorrow. In the past, King Wen played Zhou Yi, and he was also in prison. " The masked man outside smiled and said, "Master, are you comparing yourself to King Wen?" The person inside turned his body halfway, but he was concentrating on the divination, and did not answer. The masked man looked at the stone wall carefully, and said: "Going down the ridge, you need hexagrams." It’s about the position of heaven, and it’s right in the middle. It’s good to be involved in the great river.’ It seems to be a good sign, the young master should judge the time and the situation, and be right in the sky, so as to be able to ‘achieve merit’!”

The man inside chuckled, and when he turned around, his fair and handsome face was bloodless, but he wore a faint smile. There was a bit of helplessness and forbearance in that smile, and it looked like a shy apology in a trance. It seems that it is Gongzi Cong. Just listen to Gongzi Cong saying: "If there is a change in the line, it should be based on the change in the line. The change in this hexagram is the upper six. 'Up to the sixth, enter the acupoint, and three unexpected guests come. Respect it and end auspiciously.' From the hexagram It looks like things are going to change, I'm afraid the eldest brother has sent troops, right?"

The masked man seemed a little surprised, took a deep breath, and said, "Your guess is right, Yang Jun has already killed the Changyan Pass... I heard that the Qing Emperor and the Red Emperor have returned, and they gave a lecture on the scriptures a few days ago. , the Yellow Emperor will probably be here soon, you..." Gongzi Cong interrupted him: "I don't know who they are. They dare to call themselves Yellow Emperor and Red Emperor. No wonder they hide behind masks and dare not see people. Do you also know that you have no face to see your ancestors?" In one sentence, it seemed that the masked man was also scolded.

The masked man covered his mouth with his hands and coughed lightly in embarrassment. Gongzi Cong also felt that he was speechless, and said in a low voice: "I'm not saying that you...you have scars on your face, and you wear a mask to avoid scaring others, it's also out of kindness..." The masked man nodded, and said softly: "Since the hexagram says 'respect is good', why don't you agree?" Young Master Cong laughed and said, "Then we have to see who these 'uninvited guests' are. You can't even show your face?" The masked man seemed both surprised and delighted, and shouted, "Master, are you agreeing?"

Gongzi Cong shook his head lightly: "I didn't say what I would promise, I just said that if others respect me, I can respect him, but if others want me to bow their heads and obey orders, my son Cong is not that soft-boned. .” The masked man sighed: "My lord, tomorrow is another routine execution day. If you agree, you won't have to suffer any more..." Young Master Cong raised his eyes to look at the masked man, and sighed softly: "After these days, you know me. I have been suffering from a strange disease since I was young, and the pain was unbearable. After more than 20 years, I can bear the pain more than I can bear it." Ordinary people are much stronger, this ordinary torture is actually useless to me, why should you waste your time..."

The masked man held the thick wooden fence with both hands, almost stuck his head inside, and said anxiously: "But, my lord, pain is one thing, but physical damage is another. You are no different from ordinary people in this regard. , Didn't you notice... your body is recovering slower each time?" Young Master Cong smiled sadly: "Because he is a man of iron, he will be tortured every few days, and his recovery will be slower and slower... so what? If I obey you, you will take advantage of the opportunity of elder brother to send troops to kill him." Father Jun, making me king is just treating me like a puppet... If I refuse to agree, you will not dare to harm Father Jun, right?"

The masked man sighed: "That's not necessarily the case... If you don't agree, there are other ways. You are just suffering in vain, and you might even lose your own life. Why bother..." Gongzi Cong laughed and said, "I also find it strange... If you set up puppets, wouldn't those smaller ones be better manipulated? Why do you have to set me up?" The masked man smiled and said, "My lord, you don't know something. Your grandfather used to be the commander of the army and died in the battle of Yang Jin. Now most of the soldiers and horses stationed in Yangjin's border are your grandfather's old troops. They are naturally happy to support you." of……"

"Furthermore, since eldest brother has already led the troops to conquer Jiang State, the number of these soldiers and horses has accounted for 80% of the soldiers and horses left behind in Yang State, so you can securely keep me in the country, right?" Young Master Cong said coldly with a sneer on his face. . The masked man froze for a moment, and then said again: "Since you know, I won't say much, but don't you think that this matter belongs to you, and the grandfather of the son Heng was your grandfather's brother-in-law, who died in the 'three The prestige of the concubine and concubine attacking Jiang before the peace negotiation was only higher than your grandfather, not inferior to him, but son Heng is still young and has a bad reputation, and her mother and concubine just committed suicide, so she is not as good as you It's just suitable. But if you are so obsessed with obsession, you can only change to Young Master Heng in the end, and with his disposition, I'm afraid he will rush to agree!"

Gongzi Cong was stunned for a while, as if he didn't know these causal connections before, he was stunned for a moment, and then he said with a twist of his mouth: "You know a lot about these palace secrets, but when I ask you about Yan Wei's whereabouts, you don't know anything about it." The masked man smiled bitterly and said: "I really don't know the whereabouts of that Yan Wei. Everyone in the valley was driven out that day. In short, no one was killed. The girl must have left the valley with the crowd..." Gongzi Cong was silent for a while, then murmured: "You can go to find Gongzi Heng, or you can go to other younger brothers, in short, I will never kill your father, if other people want to kill their father, I can't recover. , but I must never be an unfilial son." The masked man sighed: "Now the situation is imminent. If you don't allow it, I'm afraid they will kill them soon. You can survive tomorrow, but you may not survive the next time..." Gongzi Cong was stunned, his body seemed to be stiff, and he remained motionless.It took a long time before he slowly lowered his arms, and the sound of iron chains clanging a few times sounded extremely ear-piercing. After a while, Gongzi Cong suddenly raised his head, tilted his head and smiled slightly, that smile, like the spring breeze urging all the flowers to bloom, was clear and gentle: "The cold winter is over, now the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, what else is there to endure?" What about the ones who don’t pass? Even if we stay in a dark place, the air here is warm, and the wound feels comfortable..." This time it was the masked man's turn to be stunned, he looked at Gongzi Cong suspiciously, and said, "Are you...are you really not afraid of death?" Gongzi Cong laughed and said, "I'm not afraid of death, I'm just afraid that death will be unclear." The masked man was startled, and asked, "How do you say that?" Gongzi Cong said: "I've been talking about "Yi" with you these days, and I feel like you and I are from the same school. There are many schools of Yi studies, so why do you and I explain exactly the same?" . The masked man was a little flustered by his staring, and hurriedly said: "It's time to eat... Well, is your wound still hurting? Do you want to take another medicine?" Gongzi Cong took a step forward, stared into the masked man's eyes, and asked, "Who the hell are you? Can't you tell me, let me understand?" The man in the mask smiled: "What do you think?" After saying that, he turned and left. In the stone chamber. Young Master Cong was lying prone on the mat, his white clothes were stained with blood, like a tree of red plums blooming in the snow. Outside the wooden fence, stood four people wearing masks. The person wearing the red, cyan, and yellow jade mask stood with his hands behind his back, and the person wearing the copper mask was slightly bowed, looking cautious and respectful, with one leg curled unnaturally, as if suffering from an old disease. I just heard the person wearing the topaz mask say: "Hasn't he agreed yet?" This person must be the "Yellow Emperor". The masked man bowed and replied, "Yes..." Emperor Qing frowned slightly, and asked, "Why haven't you woken up yet?" The masked man bowed again: "I just woke up once, drank some water, and passed out again." Chi Di shook his head and said: "Time is running out, it won't work if you continue like this, you have to be punished severely, you must let him agree!" The masked man opened his mouth, and just about to speak, the Qing Emperor spoke first: "There can be no more punishments, if you become disabled, I'm afraid you won't be able to inherit the throne." The masked man also said submissively: "Yeah...he wakes up slower every time. If there is more torture, I'm afraid he won't be able to survive..." The Yellow Emperor waved his hand and said sharply: "I can't wait any longer. I'll give you three days to let him speak. If he can't, we have to replace him!" Emperor Qing said: "If we find that 'Double Dragon Transforming Fish Pendant', even if he doesn't open his mouth, we can still do things. At worst, we can find someone who looks similar to him to replace him temporarily. When the overall situation is stable, we can replace him with a little doll." yes." The Red Emperor let out a sigh of relief, and said angrily: "I don't know where he hid that thing, if he is willing to say it, there is no need to delay it for so long!" The Yellow Emperor shook his head and said: "Anyway, it's limited to three days. After three days, if he doesn't nod and can't find the jade, he must be replaced!" Followed out.