Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Tian Lingzi led the horse on foot.Just the day before, ten horses, including his mount, had been killed for lack of food and grass.He looked around and sighed gloomily: "My good emperor, the surroundings are wilderness, where can there be food?" "How can we go on because we are exhausted? Tell the guards to rest for a while." "Okay." When the imperial army arrived under a row of poplar trees by the side of the road, Tian Lingzi waved his hand and sent an order to rest on the spot, and then helped Li Xuan off his horse.It was cold and cold, with dark clouds overhead.Ling Zi felt in the dry food bag, there were still three pieces of shortbread left, and handed it to Li Xuan.Li Xuan glanced at it, then shook his head: "Water far away won't quench your thirst, so share it with my brothers."

Tian Lingzi suddenly changed his color, glanced at the disheveled princes under the tree in the distance, and hummed: "These princes are used to being pampered, and now they are just causing trouble! Giving them the cake is better than giving it to the guards! "One sentence stabbed Li Xuan's heart.Thinking of a eunuch being so presumptuous, I couldn't help but feel bitter. Shou Wang Li Jie sat with his back against a big tree, and the days of running around had already made him lose all the delicateness in his body.He was not afraid to continue on his way, but his stomach kept growling. "If there are loyal ministers here, they will definitely send us something to eat at this time. Does the Tang Dynasty have no loyal ministers?" In the heart of the little prince, he simply looked forward to the arrival of the loyal ministers.

"Your Majesty - Your Majesty -" Li Yan was leaning against the tree trunk and closing his eyes to rest his mind, when he heard someone calling him from a distance, it seemed that he was in a dream, just like enjoying the long live of his descendants on the golden throne.The voice of shouting, from far to near, seems to be real. "Am I hungry and confused?" "Your Majesty, look, someone is coming from a distance." This time, Tian Lingzi's voice came from his ear.Li Xuan slowly opened his eyes, only to see a horse leading a team of mules full of goods to gather towards him.Immediately, one person, dressed in a pale official uniform, got off his horse from a distance, and leaned forward: "My humble servant sees the emperor!"

Li Xuan looked the official up and down: "Zhen, it seems that I have never seen you before." "My minister is Li Kang, the county magistrate of Hanyin County. Knowing that the emperor is in danger, he came here to offer food and grass." Li Xuan and Tian Lingzi jumped up almost at the same time: "What? Offering food and grass? You really solved my urgent need! I will reward you heavily!" After Li Kang thanked him, he took a plate of mutton breast from his entourage and brought it to Li Xuan himself.Li Xuan picked up a piece with his hand and put it in his mouth.He seems to have never eaten such a delicacy, and he has a long aftertaste.He said to Li Kang: "Aiqing, escort me to Xingyuan, and then I will reward you heavily!"

Li Kang's complexion changed suddenly, and he stammered: "This... I am weak and sick, and I am afraid that I will embarrass the important task of escorting..." "Forget it!" Li Yan's face sank, and he thought to himself: We all know that the road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to go to the blue sky. If it weren't for the virtuous person who swore to be loyal to me to the death, how could he be willing to trek and endure this hardship with me.It seems that this person is not a loyal minister and good general, he just wants to win my reward. "Li Kang, you answer me truthfully. With your mere county magistrate, how can you know my whereabouts, and how can you think of coming to offer food at this time and place?"

Li Kang's face blushed and turned pale for a while, so he had to reply truthfully: "I dare not hide anything. I am a small official in the county. How can I be clever and clever, and dare to make my own opinions. It was Zhang Yuchuan who offered me advice. He said Your Majesty's hasty trip will inevitably encounter difficulties, so let me come to Xichahe to meet him. This humble minister came all the way here... What a coincidence, I really met the Emperor!" Li Yan said to himself: "This Yu Chuan is a genius! Junrong, do you know where this person came from?" "This old slave knows a thing or two. This person's real name is Zhang Jun, and his courtesy name is Yuchuan. He is from Hejian County. He was once alienated from his friends because of his fondness for empty talk, so he concealed his name and studied the vertical and horizontal techniques of Guiguzi in Jinfeng Mountain. Early on During the Qianfu period, it was Yang Fugong, the privy envoy, who summoned him to the imperial court, promoted him to be a doctor of Taichang, and later promoted to be a member of the Duzhi branch. Last autumn and winter, he returned to Shangzhou due to illness..."

"Oh, that's how it is." Li Xuan sighed in his heart, even though Tian Lingzi had all the power, it was hard for him to remember such an inconspicuous person!Then he said to Li Kang: "Since you are sick, you don't need escorts. Go back and pass on my oral order, and order Zhang Jun to meet me in Xingyuan as soon as possible!" "Yes..." Li Kang left the food and grass and returned with the mule team.After getting temporary supplies, the team continued to go to Xingyuan. The vast Qinling Mountains!A group of disorganized guards moved slowly among the mountains.Long before Li Kang saw the horse, only the emperor and concubines rode horses.Li Kang left his horse to Tian Lingzi, but the four princes Fu, Ze, Mu, and Shou could only walk with the imperial army on foot.After turning over a mountain, it is the famous plank road into Shu.Square holes were dug on the steep cliffs, and rows of sleepers were connected by iron chains, and each piece of wood was supported to build up an endless long dragon.There is a saying that "stairs and stone stacks are connected together", and thousands of cliffs can actually achieve a road for people and horses.This exhausted team marched scatteredly on the plank road, zigzagging and stretching back and forth for a length of five miles.Tian Lingzi was worried that he would not be able to make it to Xingyuan today, so he would have to sleep in the wilderness, so he could not help galloping to the end of the team, holding his whip all the way, driving the lagging soldiers to speed up.

Ever since he was born in the Daming Palace, Li Jie has never experienced such hardships in the past fourteen years. He has already been exhausted from running around for days.His shoes were nowhere to be found, one foot was wearing a tattered sock, the other was bare, and he was struggling step by step on the snow-covered plank road.The soles of the feet were blistered, and before they could cry out the pain, they were frozen by the snow.The bone-soaked cold spread from the soles of his feet to his whole body, and his tiredness made his body seem to be floating in mid-air.The plank road in front of me is so long and endless that I can't find a place to rest.His body began to sway back and forth, and before he knew it, he was already at the end of the line.He could see Fu Wang and Tian Lingzi in a trance, and the emperor brother was already far away among the rugged mountains.Finally, he found a flat talc like a treasure, and rushed forward in a panic as if grabbing a life-saving straw. More understanding than his bed.The sun shines directly on it warmly, giving it a palpable warmth.He closed his eyes almost happily, just wanted to fall here and never get up...

"Pa—" The horsewhip lashed Li Jie's back. Even though he was wearing a jacket, this whip was enough to beat Li Jie, who was suffering from hunger and cold, to the slate. He almost fainted from the pain, and his chapped lips were bitten hard by his teeth, bleeding immediately.Li Jie straightened up, and turned his head to see: the military commander Tian Lingzi was riding on a black horse, holding a whip and urging him to go on the road. "Jun Rong, please find a horse. My feet are torn and frostbitten. I really can't go anymore..." Li Jie begged. "Where can I find a horse for you in the deep mountains and old forests? If you don't go fast, no one will care about you after you fall behind! Don't go fast!" After speaking, he lashed Li Jie's right arm again.

Li Jie endured the pain, and glared at Lingzi, humiliation, anger, and helplessness rushed into his heart.When did he think that a servant of the Li family would be so rude to his master.God, what kind of world is this! "Military appearance must not be rude to the prince!" The sound came suddenly, which startled both Tian Lingzi and Li Jie.It was a guard who spoke.Li Jie seemed to remember seeing this person in Fu Wang's mansion before. "What are you!" Tian Lingzi glared at the guard and was about to draw his knife. "Military Rong calm down!" At this time, Fu Wang heard the movement in front, turned around and ran over, and slapped the guard.Then he begged Tian Lingzi: "Junrong calm down! The bastard in the house is ignorant and contradicted Junrong. You go first, and King Shou and I will follow quickly."

Tian Lingzi's anger dissipated, and he gave the two princes another look: "Come on quickly! We will wait in the small town ahead, we won't wait too long!" After finishing speaking, he whipped his horse and left. King Fu sighed: "People are under the eaves and have to bow their heads! Seventh brother, we have to keep up and not fall behind. We will be fine when we get to Xingyuan!" Then he said to the guard, "Don't hate me for beating you, if he If you get angry, I will kill you with one knife." "The little one doesn't dare! The little one has a straight temper and can't bear to see King Shou humiliated." In one sentence, Li Jie felt warm in his heart. "What's your name?" Li Jie asked. "Little Li Yun." As he spoke, Li Yun took off one of his boots and tied it to King Shou's frostbitten foot. "Li Yun, I've made a note of it. If I gain power in the future, I will definitely be rewarded!" Seeing this, King Fu told Li Yun, "I will entrust King Shou to you, and take care of him all the way." So the three supported each other, with one foot tall and one foot short, and followed the team staggeringly.Li Jie had already forgotten the cold, only his back was still burning with pain.He murmured: "Xingyuan is ahead..." Xingyuan is the government of Shannan West Road.After Li Xuan's absurd "betting three rivers by hitting the ball", Niu Xu became the Jiedu envoy here.Xingyuan is located in the southwest of Guanzhong, with the Qinling Mountains in the north, Bashan Mountain in the south, and the Han River running through it. It is known as the "Little Jiangnan" in the northwest and the "cornucopia" in Qinba.Fang Guo, which once gave birth to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, was once famous all over the world because the Western Han Dynasty created by Liu Bang originated here. Li Xuan stayed in Xingyuan for a few days, and Chen Jingxuan, the envoy of the Xichuan Festival, kindly invited the emperor to visit Chengdu.Coupled with Tian Lingzi's constant advocacy, he finally shook his determination to stay in Xingyuan.Li Xuan worried that if Huang Chao continued to advance westward, Xingyuan's manpower and financial resources would be powerless to resist the Cao army.The country is ruined and the family is destroyed!It hurts!Li Xuan thought, Chengdu might be a good place to go if you want to try your best.So, with a heartbroken heart, the guards escorted the current emperor and continued on the Shu Road to Jiannan. Although it is still a plank road, the undulating scenery on both sides makes this journey not boring.After passing the Jianmen Pass, under the cover of the thousand-year-old cypresses in the Cuiyun Corridor, the road is much smoother.He walked and stopped for several days, and suddenly one day, Tian Lingzi changed his usual stern face, jumped off his horse excitedly, ran to Li Xuan and said repeatedly: "Your Majesty, hurry up! Cross this mountain, it is Mianzhou is here!" Li Xuan looked in the direction of Tian Lingzi's finger, and saw a winding river surrounded by green mountains.Further south, there are undulating hills, and countless ferocious mountains are far behind.He let out a long breath, and said, "Further to the south, it's the Chengdu Plain..." "Yes, the emperor can sit back and relax in Chengdu." Hearing this, Li Xuan fell silent immediately.The emperor of the Tang Dynasty, now once again set foot on the road of Emperor Xuanzong to enter Shu, the history turned out to be an amazing coincidence.Will this be another luck for Chengdu, a famous city with a thousand years of history?Or is it another misfortune for the Tang Empire? The two horses of the monarch and his ministers walked side by side in front of the team.Li Xuan broke the silence, and suddenly asked Tian Lingzi: "Yesterday, Zheng Tian sent me that letter, asking me to pardon Sha Tuo, Li Guochang, Li Keyong and his son. I thought about it all night, but I couldn't make up my mind, and I wanted to ask you." Seeing that the emperor was still relying on him, Tian Lingzi couldn't help showing a smile, and replied: "This is a good strategy. The emperor can order him to attack Huang Chao and make atonement." "Okay. I didn't have a good opinion of his father and son, especially Li Guochang, who received the emperor's favor but didn't want to repay it. It's really hard for me to harass the prefectures and counties many times. But who told me that the Tang Dynasty is in such a situation now... ...Let these alien races make some military exploits. When you arrive in Mianzhou, you pass on my order to order Li Ke to redeem the thieves, but you don’t have to give them official positions for the time being.” Li Yan looked at the beautiful mountains and rivers around him and sighed: “Mianzhou is no better than Jiange Ah, really Sai Jiangnan." "The emperor will be happy when he arrives in Chengdu!" Tian Lingzi was originally from Xichuan, and once he entered Xichuan, he seemed to be a different person.He hasn't returned to his hometown for many years, thinking that he will come back this time, but he has returned home! "Your Majesty, this old slave has an old man who lives in Mianzhou, and his family has quite a lot of property. I haven't seen him for many years. I wonder if the Emperor will give this old slave a face. Going to his house for a night will definitely be a hundred times more comfortable than the state and county mansions." "Okay, I'll follow you." Li Xuan's answer was a little helpless.Tian Lingzi didn't say any words of thanks, but he was very happy in his heart.I thought to myself that this time I came back in full glory, accompanied by the Son of Heaven, this face is big enough. Not far from the south of Mianzhou City, there is a manor with thousands of hectares of fertile land in front and mountains and forests in the back.In the manor, courtyards are nested and buildings are stacked, creating a scene of prosperity and stability.Seeing this, and thinking back to his Chang'an Palace, Li Xuan, the emperor, couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Li Xuan's team came to the gate of the manor, and there were already people waiting in line. The owner of the village is about fifty years old, wearing a blue robe, and was surrounded by a group of his men to welcome him out of the gate: "He You, villager in the wilderness, see my lord, long live, long live, long live!" A group of people knelt and kowtowed. Tian Lingzi was the first to say: "Please get up quickly," he said, and got off his horse to help He You up, "Brother, it's been a while since we parted!" Li Jie endured the pain under his feet, and cursed secretly in his heart: "You dog slave, I will kill you sooner or later to thank the world!" Li Yan only felt sore in his heart, and couldn't say a word. He You extended the emperor and his party into the manor, and ordered a banquet to be held in honor of the accompanying soldiers, and a banquet of singing, dancing and wine was held in the main hall.Li Xuan sat in the center, Tian Lingzi and He You sat on the left and right, and the concubines and princes sat next to each other.With a wave of He You's hand, the thick and melodious introduction of the pan flute came from the side of the screen. When you close your eyes, you can be led to the verdant bamboo forest by this moving note.The last lingering sound dragged on for a long time, lingering in the air from time to time.Suddenly, the clapper sounded rhythmically, driving the musicians to interweave the moving melodies of pipa, sheng, and zither magnificently, and a row of young girls in the center danced accordingly, showing the beauty of Xichuan. That night, Li Xuan once again felt the extravagance of the imperial palace and his hypocritical dignity, and the escorting soldiers also died drunk in the heavenly manor.Only Li Jie returned to the room early.He hugged the quilt so bitterly and wept endlessly, while in the distance, the melody comparable to the Taichang Temple's imperial palace music, mixed with the unique Qiang flavor of Xichuan, the drumbeat continued all night long.Li Jie has been familiar with the rhythm since he was a child, but at this time the familiar music reaches his ears like a steel needle piercing his heart.Finally, the tiredness of the day and the pain in his muscles and bones made him fall asleep quickly and deeply.That night, he dreamed that the emperor's brother killed Tian Lingzi, was welcomed back to Daming Palace by all officials, and became the emperor respected by the world; and he himself returned to the familiar Liuwangyuan, reciting poems in leisure time, playing the piano in leisure time, and living his life. The inner longing for a life without contention with the world... The birds in the early morning sang melodious songs in the bamboo forest outside the window, and the cool air sneaked in through the cracks of the window, waking up Li Jie who was sleeping.He rubbed his eyes and opened the window to see that the outside world was shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist.Li Jie wrapped his injured foot again with a white cloth.From Xingyuan to the south, he had a horse to ride.Although these days were also spent in bumps, compared with that period of inhuman days, they are no longer bitter.What's more, there are officials chasing and escorting from Chang'an every day, and the team going to Chengdu is growing day by day.However, whenever he thought of Tian Lingzi's two lashes on him, Li Jie's back would ache, and his heart felt like a knife was twisting. After getting out of bed, he slowly drew out his sword, stared at the sharp cold light, and said to himself: After reciting these four sentences, he shook his head again: "Alas! As a dragon vein, the world cannot be peaceful. Today Li and Tang are unlucky, and the people in the world must be more poor!" After finishing speaking, the sword was sheathed and hung on his waist.Pushing open the door, a gust of fresh earth rushes towards the face - this manor has an unusual style, with houses stacked on top of each other, and the courtyards are nested inside and outside.If it is placed in Chang'an, apart from the inferior scenery of Daming Palace and Qujiang Pond, I am afraid that there is nothing comparable to the mansions of officials and wealthy businessmen.Li Jie shuttled through it with great interest, and passed through several large gardens without knowing it.Through a long pavilion, a unique stone arch in front leads to another yard.Li Jie walked through the arch curiously, and a different world suddenly appeared in front of his eyes: a garden of more than ten acres, surrounded by a quiet and unique artificial lake, surrounded by rockery, and plum blossoms blooming along the lake.The lake water stretches along with the surrounding plum forests. Several stone arches and a row of stone piers lead the line of sight to a small stone mountain in the middle of the lake.Looking from a distance, there is a pavilion on the top of the mountain, and the calm lake reflects the elegance of the pavilion.Li Jie walked around the rockery, passed several stone arches, and climbed the stone ladder to the front of the pavilion.Looking closer, there is only a guqin and two chairs in the pavilion.Taking a step back, you can see that there is a pair of couplets on both sides. The first couplet is: How bright the moon is, how cool the breeze is, but the heart of the lake invites old shadows. The next link is: There is a song in the mountains, a song in the flowing water, and there will be beautiful women in the pavilions. The two thin characters of "Yiran" hanging above seem to be the official script imitating Cao Quanbei. After reading it, his curiosity became more interesting.Unexpectedly, someone in this mountainous place can write such an interesting pair, as if meeting friends with a piano. The shoulders of the guqin on the table are undulating. It is a good piano of the Fuxi family. The broken dragon scale patterns on the surface are really uniform and lovely.Li Jie stretched out his fingers to touch the body of the piano, there was no trace of dust, obviously it had been cleaned every day.He sat down involuntarily, his fingers lightly stroking the strings.Lian Yue's escape made his originally slender fingers rough, but when he touched the strings, time froze suddenly.At this time, he is no longer the prince and grandson of the Li Tang Dynasty, no longer the young longevity king of the Tang Empire, but immersed in "Flowing Water", playing the role of a temple dweller with an indifferent heart and a pure soul.The sound of the qin is rustling, and the sound of the zither is curling. The strings are calm like a mountain, clear like water, and tender like a moon, but they seem to be mixed with deep feelings for the world and infinite concern for the people; the sound of the zither is like the sky. Flying dewdrops, flying down with the waterfall, hit the rocks that have been smoothed by the years, arouse the flying crystal, soak in the calm air, and go straight to the window of the bosom friend...