How did you, a prisoner on death row, become an important weapon of the country? Yecheng Gao Weiming

At the same time, outside Tianshou Mountain, at the entrance of the archway of Huangling Town.

The sky dimly lit up.

Li Xin was seeing Xu Xiake off.

In the past half month since he returned home, in addition to the rescue in the capital, he also organized the military and civilians to pull the "escape cabin" all the way back to the imperial mausoleum, and at the same time studied the mystery of Xu Xiake's survival.

Recently, there has finally been progress.

The progress lies in something Xu Xiake carries with him.

It turned out that Xu Xiake had passed through Maoshan during his travels in the first year of Tianqi and participated in a Luotian Jiao held by the Quanzhen Taoist sect.

At the ceremony, I was entertained by Shu Benzhu, the then abbot of the Maoshan sect, and witnessed the entire process of the Luotian Dajiao.

After the ceremony, Shu Benzhu gave Xu Xiake a palm-sized, exquisitely carved jade crane as a parting gift.

This [Crane] has become what Li Xin is most interested in now.

It is made of mysterious stone and is red in color. When exposed to the sun, it will glow with a strange luster.

Shu Benzhu once told Xu Xiake that carrying it with him can ward off misfortune and drive away evil spirits.

Xu Xiake is also honest and obedient, and has been in his arms for many years.

It's no use trying to ward off misfortunes and evil spirits. Bandits have robbed him three times in the past few years.

Every time the money was looted, there was no interest in this broken stone.

Who would have thought that he really saved his life in Shiniu Village.

Li Xin couldn't help but wonder.

Could it be that it made silicon-based life forms afraid of swallowing Xu Xiake?

However, due to the lack of modern instruments, Li Xin was unable to explore the elemental composition of this [Crane].

Which element on earth can have an impact on silicon-based life?

This is very important.

It is so important that it affects the life and death of the entire human race four hundred years from now.

After some discussion, the two finally decided that Xu Xiake would continue the journey and go to Maoshan again to find the abbot Shu Benzhu to see if they could obtain stones of the same material for Li Xin to study in depth.

At the same time, Xu Xiake has one more thing to do.

For the rest of his life, he still traveled across mountains and rivers, visiting every inch of Ming Dynasty, looking for the whereabouts of that thing.

After all, seeing the tragic situation in Shiniu Village with his own eyes made him unable to let go for the rest of his life.

Find it, seize it, and give an explanation to the villagers of Shiniu Village.

"Zhenzhi..."

Before parting, Li Xin frowned and returned the stone [Crane] to Xu Xiake.

"You'd better hold this thing. If you touch it, it's better than losing your life."

Xu Xiake smiled and did not refuse, took it and put it in his arms.

"Mr. Feng, students don't want to be pretentious with you anymore."

"This trip will definitely fulfill your instructions. Sir, please wait patiently for good news about our students."

"Now... take leave!"

After saying that, Xu Xiake didn't talk nonsense, put his luggage on his back, turned around and left.

Li Xin silently watched Xu Xiake's leaving figure.

The other party's feet had long been damaged due to long-term hiking, and the way he limped made him admire him even more.

"Hey, why bother! Sir, I think he will die on the way sooner or later..."

Shen Lian, who was standing aside, sighed.

He still couldn't understand that Xu Xiake obviously had a horse but didn't ride it, and he didn't have money, so he had to carry a big cake on foot and walk a long way. This was a miserable situation.

According to Xu Xiake's explanation.

If you ride a horse, your horse will be robbed and your life will be lost.

Only by walking slowly can you go further.

But Shen Lian never understood why a man in his forties who had a wife and children and did not stay at home or work and enjoy his old age spent his whole life in such trouble.

Li Xin smiled lightly as he listened to Shen Lian's complaints.

"Shen Lian, do you know."

"Fifteen years later, someone asked Xu Xiake the same question."

Ok?

Shen Lian was stunned.

Fifteen years later, will anyone still ask me this question?

But how do you know that.

Li Xin continued: "Fifteen years later, Mr. Xu's feet were swollen and rotten, and he could no longer walk."

"He was driven back to his hometown in Jiangyin and died soon after. When he was dying, local officials in Jiangyin came to visit him at home."

"Everyone looked at his painful appearance and sighed and asked, why did he come?"

You have been working like this all your life, what are you trying to do?

"Xu Xiake breathed heavily and smiled lightly."

"When I was young, I made a great wish: to face the blue sea and see the sky at dusk, to see the blue sky and climb up to the white sun."

"Don't you hear that Zhang Qian excavated the sky and did not see Kunlun? Tang Xuanzang and Yuan Yelu Chucai were ordered by their masters to travel to the west. I took an old commoner, a solitary pair of crotches, and a poor river sand to go up to Kunlun and travel through the Western Regions, inscribing their names. Jueguo, with three people, becomes four, I will not hate it to the death..."

The meaning of this sentence is that in the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian was ordered to go on an envoy to the Western Regions, in the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang put on his cloak and traveled westward, and in the Yuan Dynasty, Yelu Chucai respected the king's orders and ran around.

I am the only commoner who has not been sent by the emperor. Holding a bamboo stick and wearing straw sandals, I have traveled all over the mountains and rivers, and experienced all kinds of things in the world.

Although I am alone, I walk and live together in mind with these three people.

I won’t regret it even if I die.

After hearing this, Shen Lian was startled and muttered to himself.

"Is this... dying without regrets?"

Looking at Xu Xiake's firm back, Shen Lian was no longer confused.

In a daze, he seemed to find meaning in the other person, the meaning of life.

Yes!

Although the Ming Dynasty is decayed and the empire will decline, we are unable to support a single tree and cannot shake the sky.

Just do your own thing well.

Even if you die in this matter in the end, there will be no regrets.

This is why Shen Lian still has not returned to the capital half a month after the natural disaster occurred.

He witnessed the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and saw those in power fighting for power and profit.

Shen Lian was completely heartbroken by this cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness for the sake of his own interests, regardless of the life and death of others.

Even if he took refuge with King Xin.

But to a certain extent.

What is the difference between Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao?

He also despises the common people in the world and does not care about the life and death of the people.

He didn't know what to do with the rest of his life.

Continue to help the evildoers?

But now that I have seen Xu Xiake traveling far away and listened to Li Xin's teachings, I finally understand.

It is easy to know the sky, but difficult to shake it.

Since you can't shake it, why bother clinging to pain anymore.

Just follow your heart and go with the flow.

Shen Lian twitched the corners of his mouth, suddenly feeling relaxed all over, and looked at Li Xin with a smile.

"Sir! It's getting light now, and the breakfast stall in town should have just come out."

"How about you and I go have a bowl of wontons?"

"I heard that the [official hat] will be taken back today. How about we go to greet them after eating?"

Li Xin was stunned when he heard that. Seeing that Shen Lian seemed to be completely different, he understood what he should have realized and couldn't help but laugh and curse.

"Wontons? Shen Lian, please don't put your mother on my account. In just a few days, major shops in Huangling Town said that I owe more than ten taels of silver!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Shen Lian laughed loudly and patted the embroidered spring knife beside him.

"gentlemen!"

"Shen was first loyal to the imperial court, then surrendered to the king, and now he has switched his allegiance to the court and became your subordinate. He is simply a slave of the third surname."

"Since then, I have been through life and death, and I still don't know where to bury my bones."

"Just treat me to a bowl of wontons. See how stingy you are?"

Li Xin couldn't help but smile and nodded with a wry smile.

"Okay, eat! You can eat whatever you want in Huangling Town, and it will all be on my account. I will buy you some oranges later, okay?"

Shen Lian couldn't understand this bad joke from modern times, and couldn't help but be overjoyed.

"Orange? Very good!"

The two were laughing and about to return to the town.

After all, [Official Hat] will be brought back from Shiniu Village today, and the two of them are still busy.

Unexpectedly, a rapid sound of horse hooves came.

At the same time, a clear and loud shout sounded from behind.

"Mr. Feng, are you okay?"

Li Xin suddenly turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and looked at the man on horseback.

But I saw that it was Zhu Xin, a member of Jinyiwei Baihu, and the current Xinwang Zhu Youjian.

Shen Lian also stood up at the same time, placing one hand on the waist knife and frowning coldly.

There was also a person sitting on the war horse not far in front of him.

The other party also held a long knife and looked over with a smile but not a smile.