treacherous world

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked casually, and Zhao Cong and Dead Ye, who were about to do something, met upright, and made an appointment to have dinner.

Everyone walked all the way to the wonton shop. Although it is a small shop, the environment is very good, and everyone sat down.

Zhao Cong ordered some dishes casually, and Zhan Zhao planned to delay if he could not escape. When Zhao Cong got anxious, he would naturally show his feet.

Afterwards, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sat and ate wontons, and they happened to be hungry, and while eating, they discussed which one was more special, the wontons here or the ones made by the aunt in the kitchen of Kaifeng Mansion.

Zhao Cong was obviously fidgeting, but the dead leaf was very steady. He seemed to have nothing to do with him, and leaned against the window beside him in a daze.

After eating a bowl of wontons, when Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt their stomachs were full, they saw one of Zhao Cong's subordinates rushing over and said in a low voice, "My lord, the eight kings told you to return quickly."

"Oh." Zhao Cong breathed a sigh of relief, and bowed his hands to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Today is really unfortunate, you two, I will leave first."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded, Zhao Cong immediately left with the dead leaves, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang paid the bill and followed.

It's also interesting to say that the two originally thought that Zhao Cong would have two ways to deal with it, one is to directly count the plan back to the Eight Princes' Mansion, and the other is to go to another place instead, he should have guessed that they will follow.

But what they didn't expect was that Zhao Cong crossed the alley and crossed the bridge, and finally went around a few alleys...and disappeared suddenly.

Bai Yutang chased him to the entrance of the alley, and Zhan Zhao squatted on the wall of the alley, looking left and right.In this area, the houses all around are roof houses, without patios or gardens, and it is almost impossible to climb over walls and the like.Besides, even if they climbed over the wall, the two of them were following one above and the other below, how could they suddenly disappear?Who can get rid of the two of them with light work alone?Unless it is the level of martial arts supreme like Tianzun Yinhou, Zhao Cong and Dead Leaf are still far behind.

"Where's the person?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang shook his head, indicating that he didn't see it!

Zhan Zhao frowned, "No reason, I didn't see it either!"

Bai Yutang had a good memory, and walked back slowly along the same route, but found no traps or secret doors along the way...

"Zhao Cong has learned how to escape from earth?" Zhan Zhao shook his head, "Miscalculation, miscalculation, we lost both of us, it's so embarrassing."

Bai Yutang smiled slightly, "Mao'er, this is called Death Gate Tunnel, and it's also a kind of mechanism."

Zhan Zhao was surprised, "Death Gate?"

"That is, once this mechanism is opened, it can only be used once, and when it is closed, it becomes a door of death." Bai Yutang looked back and forth, "This alley is very suitable for a door of death, with many walls..."

Seeing Bai Yutang staring at the alley, Zhan Zhao stretched out his hand and patted him, "Zhao Cong must have hired a lot of helpers, right? This mechanism is not something that ordinary people can do."

"Of course." Bai Yutang nodded, "There are no more than five people in the Central Plains who can do this kind of organization, and except for one martial arts master, the others are crooked."

Zhan Zhao shook his head with a smile, "Zhao Cong seems to gather all the scum of the world, I really don't understand why those desperadoes follow his instructions."

Bai Yutang also couldn't figure it out, he stretched out his hand, as if trying to find the location of the dead door from the wall.

"Forget it." Zhan Zhao pulled his hand down, "It's dirty, just run away, we are in the dark, and it is useless to check. On the contrary, he asked for something and we didn't. It's too late for him to show his feet."

Bai Yutang was not interested in these things at first, not to mention that there seemed to be nothing that would endanger Zhan Zhao, and he didn't have much enthusiasm to investigate, so he nodded and walked back with Zhan Zhao.

"Where are we going next?" Zhan Zhao made up his mind, "The clues for the civet will be tomorrow, or go back to Kaifeng? If your lord comes back, Lu Sheng will probably be able to provide some clues."

"Okay." Bai Yutang nodded, and walked back together with Zhan Zhao, a little bit concerned in his heart--it took a lot of effort to make the dead door mechanism just now, if Zhao Cong didn't have something urgent, he wouldn't just do it casually. use it?It's a pity to come, this is tantamount to spending an escape route.In addition, it also exposed him and Zhan Zhao, and it did him no harm at all. Who was he in a hurry to see?

After walking for a while, I suddenly saw a mess ahead.

Zhan Zhao saw a large number of pedestrians blocking the intersection, and many people were carrying poles and pushing small cars. The crowd was in a commotion, and some were shouting anxiously.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other—what's the matter?

"Oh, Mr. Zhan."

At this time, an old man at the side of the road recognized Zhan Zhao, quickly grabbed him and said, "Go and have a look, the ghosts are building a wall in front of you!"

"What?" Zhan Zhao looked puzzled, "What?"

"This good street in Kaifeng Mansion is blocked!" the old man said, "This ghost thing is frightening to death. Suddenly, a wall was erected from the ground and blocked the entire street. Some people want to smash it The wall, but afraid of colliding with ghosts and gods, the person at the other end seems to have gone to Kaifeng Mansion to report the crime.

"Where's the wall?" Bai Yutang asked, and the old man pointed, and he jumped, floated over the crowd, and landed on the wall.

Zhan Zhao also followed, and saw that the wall was made of ordinary blue bricks, at least three feet thick, and the blue stones were made in one piece, each piece probably weighed a hundred or so catties, and the surroundings of the wall were brand new, it was newly made. It should be an old wall.

Bai Yutang lowered his head, saw a lot of people by the wall, frowned slightly, and said in a low voice, "Stay away."

Maybe it's because Bai Yutang's eyes were too gloomy, or his tone of voice was rather cold... The crowd really backed away again and again, obediently vacating their way out, exposing the base of the wall.

Bai Yutang turned down the wall, looked at the seams at the base of the wall, and frowned.

"Yutang." Zhan Zhao asked him, "What's going on?"

Bai Yutang stood up and looked around, as if looking for someone.

"Hello." Zhan Zhao gently tugged at his sleeve, "What's going on?"

After thinking about it, Bai Yutang pulled Zhan Zhao aside, "This is a linked mechanism with the Death Gate mechanism just now."

"Linkage?" Zhan Zhao thought for a while, "Oh, if the mechanism on Zhao Cong's end moves, the mechanism on this side will also move, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded.

Zhan Zhao looked back at the avenue blocked by the thick wall, it was the most important avenue leading directly to the imperial palace and through the entire Kaifeng, and what was enclosed behind the wall should be the lifeline of the entire Song Dynasty, almost all the people who were related to the comfort of the Song Dynasty, They're all trapped inside.Calculating the height of the wall, there is more than three feet. People need light work to turn over, and ordinary people need to build a ladder... Horses can't get over it at all!Who designed this thing?Unpredictable.

"Exhibition Guard."

At this time, at the other end, Bao Zheng's sedan chair arrived, and there was another sedan chair of Grand Master Pang beside him.The two looked like they had just come out of the palace, but they were stopped halfway and came to check.Seeing such a wall, Bao Zheng frowned.Even Grand Master Pang, who always had an indistinguishable smile on his face, and occasionally pretended to be stupid, suddenly became serious.

Standing on the wall, Zhan Zhao understood the meaning of their expressions.If the main road is blocked, once something happens to the palace, the reinforcements will not be able to arrive immediately.

Bao Zheng was afraid of causing too much commotion and there were already too many people blocking both sides, so he nodded slightly to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, who took a slight step back.

Zhan Zhao raised his leg and used his internal strength to hide, and everyone heard a few "clicks", and spider web-like cracks appeared on the wall.Afterwards, Zhan Zhaoteng jumped up, and when he fell, he stepped on the top of the wall again, and the wall began to sink steadily. Soon, it sank into the entire ground, and the wall disappeared instantly.

There was applause from the crowd, anyone who knew some martial arts had to secretly admire Zhan Zhao's profound internal skills and envy his good talent.

When Bai Yutang saw that the walls and the ground were almost seamlessly fitted together, and he couldn't tell at all, he knew that the craftsmanship was superb...Which mechanism master did it?

Zhan Zhao gently swung his left hand forward and his right hand back.

Pedestrians on both sides knew very well that those who were going forward should go to the left, and those who were going back should go to the right. Everyone quickly passed the wall, and the congested road immediately became clear again.

Bao Zheng came over and whispered something to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao nodded, Bao Zheng and Grand Master Pang left first in sedan chairs.

Seeing that Zhan Zhao didn't go back to Kaifeng mansion with Bao Zheng, but looking at the lake in the distance, Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Cat, what's wrong?"

"There are so many strange things to add to the chaos." Zhan Zhao turned his head and smiled helplessly at Bai Yutang, "Master Bao just told me that a murder case happened at the Huxin Pavilion opposite, and the emperor just got the news, and he has to go back to deal with it urgently .”

"Who died, does everyone in the palace know?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.

Zhan Zhao leaned over and whispered, "Gong Xue, Minister of the Ministry of War, Mr. Gong."

Bai Yutang was taken aback for a moment, but couldn't hide the surprise on his face, "How high is the Minister of War?"

Zhan Zhaowangtian, Bai Yutang has such a good memory, but these control titles can never be remembered, "Zheng Sanpin."

Bai Yutang knew how to count, "Such a high-ranking official died like this? No wonder."

"The Minister of the Ministry of War is in charge of the selection, recruitment, and promotion of all soldiers... Although this official is not as relevant to the rise and fall of the country as Zhao Pu is, it is still a very important position." Zhan Zhao shook his head, "It is said that he suddenly violent dead."

"Why do people from the Ministry of War drink with envoys from the Uighurs?" Although Bai Yutang didn't know much about official affairs, he also knew that it was against the rules. It seemed that there were specific officials who received foreign envoys, and it was more normal for the Ministry of Rites to send out people from the Ministry of Rites. Bar?

"Sigh." Zhan Zhao hooked his shoulder with one hand, "That's why Gong Xue, as the Minister of the Ministry of War, met the Uighur envoy without authorization. Although it can be interpreted as a personal relationship or a chance encounter, he is also very sensitive."

Bai Yutang frowned.

Seeing that he didn't seem interested, Zhan Zhao said, "Why don't you go back first, and I'll come to have a look."

"No." Bai Yutang shook his head resolutely, "I'll go with you, you asked me, I'll go see the scenery."

Zhan Zhao folded his arms and looked at him, "So good?"

Bai Yutang reached out and touched his heart, "When will I be in a bad mood?"

"That's true." Zhan Zhao smiled, walked side by side to the embankment, boarded a small boat, and sailed to the lake pavilion.

Today there was a wind on the river, and the pavilion was cool and ventilated. Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked up to the third floor together.

There were only three tables on the third floor, and several imperial guards stood guard on each floor of the pavilion, and no one was allowed to leave.

Gong Xue died on the innermost table, with his back facing a wooden screen with a hundred birds facing the phoenix.He just lay quietly on the table, holding the cup in his hand... Obviously died suddenly.

Gongsun arrived here at some point, and took out a blackened silver needle from the wine glass and showed it to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "Poisoned?"

Bai Yutang observed for a while, then Gong Xue was only 40 years old, and it can be said that he was on his way to this position.Looking at him in good shape, it can be seen that he has worked hard on weekdays, worked hard and worked hard to climb up. He must have envied many people because of his magnanimity in his official career, right?But... who would have expected him to end up like this.He probably never imagined that when he climbed to the high place, he walked hard step by step, but it was a pity that he had just arrived, and before he could stand still, a gust of wind blew him down, and he fell to pieces in an instant.

Too lazy to care about these things, Bai Yutang went to the window alone to see the lake view, while he was blown away and dazed.

Zhan Zhao went to Gongsun's side, "How long have you been dead?"

"Not more than an hour." Gongsun told Zhan Zhao in a low voice, "The poison in the cup is the same as the one poisoned by Lord Cheshire."

Zhan Zhao was surprised, "But... didn't you say that Princess Cheshire is a chronic poison?"

"The amount is different, and the dosage of each ingredient is fine-tuned." Gongsun shrugged, "There is usually only one step between tonic and poison, let alone poison and poison."

Zhan Zhao nodded, seeing three sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, he turned around and asked, "Who drank with Mr. Gong?"

The guy on the side pointed.

I saw two people standing not far away, one was male and female, the other was very burly, dressed in the style of Uighur... probably it was the legendary Uighur.

Zhan Zhao knew that there would be Uighur envoys coming soon, but he didn't expect it to be so soon, and he was also involved in this turmoil.

Zhan Zhao asked the two of them, "You two, why did you drink with Mr. Gong?"

The burly one opened his mouth and said something, Zhan Zhao frowned and looked back at Gongsun.

Just as Gongsun was about to help with the translation, another young man smiled and said to Zhan Zhao, "This is Tu Milang, the third son of our big man. I am an interpreter, so you can just ask me to cry."

Zhan Zhao did a visual inspection, and it's not obvious that this person is old, he shouldn't be too old, the white powder on his face is too thick, and there is that kind of tone that raises his orchid fingers, opens his mouth, and his voice... He thought of the weird white-faced father-in-law next to Zhao Cong.Is this crying a eunuch?

It suddenly occurred to Zhan Zhao that it was popular among the Uighur nobles to keep some eunuchs, and some eunuchs, it is said that the song could move the desert to rain... Zhan Zhao felt that those eunuchs were quite pitiful.

While crying, he smiled slightly, "Master Jiuwen Zhan's name is indeed well-deserved, he is still a merciful person."

Zhan Zhao coughed lightly, and asked, "What did the third son just say?"

"Oh, we met Mr. Gong by chance." Weeping, "We just arrived today, and we are waiting for the emperor of Song Dynasty to receive us at the posthouse. The emperor said that we will have a banquet tonight, so we went out for a walk. When we arrived at the Huxin Pavilion, see This gentleman was drinking. It happened that he could speak the Uyghur dialect. He had been to Uyghur when he was young, so we sat together drinking and chatting. We didn’t know that he was Mr. Gong Xue, the Minister of the Ministry of War of the Song Dynasty. After a few drinks , he died suddenly."

"Died suddenly?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled.

Gongsun came over and said to Zhan Zhao, "Only Gong Xue's wine glass has poison in it. As for how it was poured, we have to investigate."

The third young master chattered and babbled for a while.

Crying but wanting to speak, Gongsun looked at him and told Zhan Zhao, "He said that when he was drinking, he saw water leaking and thought it was raining."

Crying, he slightly raised his eyebrows, and looked at Gongsun with admiration, "I have heard for a long time that Master Gongsun is very knowledgeable and talented, and he is a rare genius in this world. It is true."

Zhan Zhao looked at him with some amusement, "You knew who we were when we first met? I'm curious where you heard about it for a long time."

"I like to ask anecdotes about famous people in the world." Crying smiled indifferently, "I know a lot about everyone in Kaifeng Mansion... Of course, the one I want to meet the most is the world-renowned Ninth Prince, and Master Bao... That's right!" He said while looking at Bai Yutang by the window, "There is also the famous Chinchilla."

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, didn't say anything more to him, walked to the window and turned over on the roof.

Bai Yutang looked up at him, but didn't follow.

Not long after, Zhan Zhao came back and told Bai Yutang, "There are no footprints, but a piece of tile has been lifted, and it must be the poison dripped by someone with a blower."

Bai Yutang looked at the surrounding lake water and the open structure of the Huxin Pavilion—who could get on the roof without anyone noticing?

Zhan Zhao also felt puzzled, so he looked around and searched for it. At this moment, he suddenly noticed a person.

At the farthest end away from them, a young man was writing a book.At first, Zhan Zhao thought he was writing something, but after careful observation, he found that he seemed to be painting.Moreover, he was extremely fast, and he wrote like flying. He looked up as soon as he drew a picture, and he looked in the direction Bai Yutang was standing and laying down.

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, and walked towards him without warning.

Bai Yutang didn't care about where Zhan Zhao was going, anyway, he was investigating the case, but he could feel the different aura emanating from Zhan Zhao's body, why did the cat suddenly get angry?

While Bai Yutang was watching, Zhan Zhao had already walked up to the artist, stretched out his hand... and snatched the thick stack of sketches from his pen.

The man looked at Zhan Zhao in surprise as if he had suddenly come to his senses, and after a long time, he turned angry, "What are you doing?"

Zhan Zhao looked down, sure enough, what he wrote was Bai Yutang, but at that moment, Bai Yutang raised his face to look up.The movement was fleeting, but the man was drawn too closely.

Gongsun also walked over to take a look, "Oh, good at painting."

"Give it back to me!" The man wanted to snatch back the drawing.

Zhan Zhao flipped through the pages and found that this man was a prodigy in painting, he had drawn a lot, from the scenery he saw on the boat all the way, to the Huxin Pavilion, and going upstairs to sit and drink tea, the people on the Huxin Pavilion, the pavilion The outside scenery is well drawn.After they went upstairs, the drawing turned into a portrait of Bai Yutang. From the time he walked to the window until just now, almost every expression was captured.

"not bad."

Bai Yutang walked up to Zhan Zhao at some point, and suddenly took out one of the cards and showed it to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao held it in his hand, and saw that it should be the whole picture of the Huxin Pavilion painted by the painter sitting on the boat sailing towards the Huxin Pavilion.What attracted everyone's attention was that in the picture, there was a big bird parked on the roof of the Huxin Pavilion, which looked like a vulture.

"Oh!" Gongsun clapped his hands, "I see, it was poisoned with flying birds, so no one found out."

"It's a desert vulture." Kui Ze also took a look and said, "It's only found in the Western Regions. This kind of bird can be domesticated. It's very obedient, ferocious, and can fly very high."

Zhan Zhao put away the painting and asked the man, "Who are you?"

The painter seemed very angry, "I won't talk to such an arrogant person like you."

Everyone raised their eyebrows subconsciously - some said that Zhan Zhao was arrogant.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "If you don't say that I will arrest you as a suspicious person, I may not be able to detain you for a long time, but you don't want to paint these few days."

Sure enough, Zhan Zhao pinched the man's Achilles' heel with one move, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, "My name is Lin Qiluo."

"Painting the ups and downs of the Holy Forest?" Gongsun was surprised, "No wonder you have such a skill."

Zhan Zhao took that painting away, took out all Bai Yutang's paintings in his hands, and returned the rest to Lin Qiluo.

"Those paintings are mine too!" Lin Qiluo seemed anxious.

"What did you draw this person for?"

"I can draw all the special people in this world!" Lin Qiluo stared at Zhan Zhao, "At first I thought your facial features were soft and handsome, but I still wanted to draw you, but now I don't want to, so please return the painting to me, otherwise I will draw you." Go to the government to sue you!"

Zhan Zhao smiled, "May I ask what you draw this person for? What are you talking about?"

"I, Lin Qiluo, traveled the rivers and lakes and painted all over the world..."

Zhan Zhao picked out his ears, "Get to the point."

Lin Qiluo flicked his sleeves, "He looks good!"

Gongsun looked at Bai Yutang with a smile.

Bai Yutang looked out the window speechlessly.

"Isn't this illegal?" Lin Qiluo stretched out his hand to Zhan Zhao, "Give it back to me!"

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, raised his hand and returned the drawing to him.

Lin Qiluo was stunned for a moment, and at the same time as he stretched out his hand to pick it up, there was a gust of river wind passing by, and the stack of drawings instantly shattered into pieces like ashes and smoke, and was blown away by the wind like catkins.

"You..." After recovering, Lin Qiluo was furious, "Why are you so unreasonable, I..."

Zhan Zhao calmed down with a smile on his face, and looked at him with a rare gloomy look, "Next time I want to draw, I'll ask myself first."

Lin Qiluo opened his mouth, "You, you are simply unreasonable."

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows, "It's not unreasonable and it doesn't break the law."

Gongsun held back his laughter, and went back to have Gong Xue's body carried to Kaifeng Mansion for autopsy.

Zhan Zhao turned his head, saw Bai Yutang was looking at him, turned his face up and went back to continue the investigation.

Bai Yutang lowered his head and smiled slightly.

"Oh." Crying while rubbing his chin, "I never thought that Mr. Zhan still has this side."

"What about Nanxia Zhanzhao? It's simply unreasonable." Lin Qiluo asked Bai Yutang, "My lord, I didn't mean to paint you maliciously, I..."

Before he finished speaking, Bai Yutang suddenly turned his head and looked at him coldly.

Lin Qi swallowed the words that came to his lips, as if... this person really didn't like drawing him.

Bai Yutang didn't say much, seeing that Zhan Zhao was about to leave, he also left.

When Zhan Zhao went downstairs, he took out a painting that he had secretly hidden just now, held it up and looked at it, tsk tsk...it's a good painting, the profile of his mouse with its head down in a daze is perfect, looking at the nose and the eyes!

Zhan Zhao was watching with enthusiasm, when a person behind him reached out and snatched the drawing, Zhan Zhao hurriedly chased after him, "Oh!"

With a slight wave of his hand, Bai Yutang tore up the drawing and threw it out of the window.

"Damn rat!" Zhan Zhao became anxious.

Bai Yutang looked at him amusedly, "I can't show you what you want to see. What do you want a painting to do?"

Zhan Zhao muttered, "It's good to watch it when you're 80 years old."

Bai Yutang looked at him with a smile, rare tenderness.

Zhan Zhao coughed, forget it, anyway, Bai Yutang probably will be a handsome old man when he grows old.He grabbed the mouse by the sleeve and went downstairs. Gongsun was holding the medicine box and looked behind. Zhan Zhao's expression was like a cat protecting food, while Bai Yutang's eyes were full of connivance and joy. Exclusively for Zhan Zhao, no one else could see the scorching heat like a burning flame from Bai Yutang's cold eyes.

Gongsun shook his head and sighed, Zhao Pu of his family is estimated to be 80 years old, and he is also a handsome old hooligan... Zhao Pu, who was far away in the military camp, sneezed out as soon as he finished handling military affairs, rubbed his nose and smiled, his Gongsun missed him, right? .