Kaifeng Monster

Chapter 36
"Veteran thought," Grand Master Pang took a step forward, slightly arching his hands towards the Eighth Wise King, "The Eighth King is sympathetic to the common people, and he has good intentions, but giving them medicine will not be able to cure the root cause."

"Oh?" The emperor leaned forward slightly, and finally there was a slight ups and downs in his words, "What does the grand master mean?"

"Xuanping's danger lies not in disease, but in Kaifeng."

"Speak." The emperor remained calm.

"Since ancient times, diseases and epidemics have passed, and mourners have been everywhere. They have invaded the city and plundered land, as if entering a land without people. Besides, according to the Xuanping county magistrate, famous doctors gathered in the city did not know the disease, and they were helpless. Even if Kaifeng helped them with famous doctors Do you know when it will be effective and when will it be persuasive?" Taishi Pang changed his subject, "What's more, Xuanping County is only a hundred miles away from Kaifeng, and there are more than 26 households in Kaifeng. Frequently, once the disease enters Kaifeng... Your Majesty, if Kaifeng is in danger, the Song Dynasty will be in danger, so don't be careless!"

Bao Zheng sighed in his heart, what Grand Master Pang said was also what he thought in his heart, but how could he express what followed.

"On the other hand, Xuanping has more than a thousand households and less than [-] mouths. Since the Xuanping county magistrate has sealed the Xuanping gate... Your Majesty, please set up a barricade ten miles outside Xuanping City. No one can be let out of the city. Don't let anyone into the city!"

"What the grand master said," the eight virtuous king frowned, "does he want to sacrifice the lives of more than ten thousand people in Xuanping?"

"Eight princes," Taishi Pang said arrogantly, "just now, the princes also heard what Xuanping county magistrate said, that the epidemic is threatening, and the young and healthy people who were healthy yesterday will have nasty sores on the next day. Pus, those who are weak can't survive the night, and those who are stronger will only take three to five days. I don't know where the epidemic started, and those who have been with the epidemic will die. A few of them died one after another... From my point of view, this Xuan Ping has already been poisoned everywhere, so we can't keep it."

"What do you mean by keeping it?" The eight virtuous kings, who are always refined and polite, showed anger, "According to the grand master, he wants to burn Xuanping with a fire, regardless of whether the people in the city live or die?"

Grand Master Pang thought "that's exactly the case", but he didn't dare to confront the Eight Sage Kings head-on, turned around and bowed to the emperor: "Please ask the emperor to rule."

"The emperor's uncle has compassion, how can I not know?" The emperor slowly got up and stepped down the dragon case, "It's just that if there is really no other good plan, Xuan Ping can abandon it."

After a pause, he said with a helpless smile: "Uncle Emperor, I am not the magistrate of Xuanping County. The magistrate of Xuanping County may only care about Xuanping, but I have to consider the people of the world."

This is not entirely true, "Xuanping county magistrate only cares about Xuanping"?No, no, he ran faster than anyone else.

The emperor's words are tantamount to sentencing Xuan Ping to death.

A faint sense of sadness filled Bao Zheng's chest, and a bitter taste came out of his mouth.

The world is just a game of chess on Zhao's wrist, it is reasonable to give up the car to protect the handsome, Xuan Ping can only quietly withdraw from the game.

Too many people only saw the chess moves and chess fell, but Bao Zheng heard the desperate cries gradually die down from the shadow behind the chessboard, and saw blood and flames eroding every corner of Xuanping.

The robe vibrated slightly, and he took a step forward, meeting the astonished eyes of the emperor.

"The minister has the original play."

Back at the Kaifeng government office, it was dawn time, Bao Zheng couldn't even take care of breakfast, so he hurriedly summoned Zhan Zhaohe and Gongsun Ce to discuss matters in the study.

Let me briefly describe the previous events.

"The Holy Majesty will entrust this matter to Taishi Pang with full authority, and the Taishi will secretly transfer troops out of the city today."

"The eight virtuous kings and the government repeatedly spoke, and the Holy Majesty finally agreed to send [-] doctors from the Imperial Hospital to go together, but..." Bao Zheng sighed, "The doctors from the Imperial Hospital were also dispatched by Grand Master Pang."

"In that case, what's the difference between being a faction and not being a faction?" Zhan Zhao frowned.

Bao Zheng didn't answer, but turned to Gongsun Ce: "Mr. Gongsun..."

"Students understand." Working together for many years, Gongsun Ce has already guessed Bao Zheng's intentions, "Students only need to burn Angelica dahurica and wormwood lavender, and cover their faces with medical towels, and they should be able to temporarily resist the poison of the epidemic. If they have half a day, they can take a closer look. It is unknown to be able to find a way to deal with the disease."

"Xuanping county magistrate had already closed the door when he left the city, Grand Master Pang will set up shackles and barricades ten miles outside the city," Zhan Zhao smiled, "Mr. "

Bao Zheng was silent, not knowing what to say.

On the way back, he thought over and over again, only this method might bring a glimmer of life to the people of Xuanping.However, Grand Master Pang went away with the holy order, and Xuanping would be trapped to death. How easy is it to break the shackles and barricades?Xuanping is plagued by death and plague, how difficult and dangerous is it to enter this city?
After hesitating for a long time, he finally made up his mind. Unexpectedly, before he even spoke, the two of them had already invited.

Bao Zheng's eyes became hot.

Now that I think about it, the hesitation on the way home was ridiculous. I underestimated Zhan Zhao and Gongsun Ce.

Frankly speaking, Zhan Zhao handles the case frequently, cooperates frequently with the four captains, and occasionally partners with the Five Rats.During this period, Gongsun Ce was playing the role of a consultant, and suddenly he wanted to be a partner in twos and twos. This feeling is really weird.

After noon, Gongsun Ce, who had been disguised, rode a donkey with two parcels on its buttocks, and rattled out of Kaifeng from the north gate.After waiting for a cup of tea in a tea shed more than ten miles away in the northern suburbs, he met Zhan Zhao, who was pretending to be a coachman, and drove out of the city from the south gate.

In all fairness, Taishi Pang, apart from being a little narrow-minded, a little narrow-minded, and a little vulgar in his actions - in other respects, he still has two brushes.

Not to mention anything else, let's just talk about last night's seminar in Yushufang, Taishi Pang's on-the-spot reaction skills such as observing words and expressions, distinguishing meanings in words, etc. are still very good.

This is just a rhetoric, and when it is reflected in actual actions, people will never lag behind.

Entering the palace in the middle of the night, starting soldiers early, equipped with good horses, and riding fast all the way, Xuanping was already in sight.

Dismount from the horse ten miles away from the city, set up the most peripheral roadblocks, swords and soldiers guard the flails, and set up a wooden platform on the ground, assisted by archers.

Five miles away from the city, another roadblock was set up, still with swords and soldiers holding flail rails, and a wooden platform was erected on the ground, assisted by archers.

Three miles away from the city, sharp knife traps were randomly dug, covered with floating soil and dry grass, and feathers were inserted as a mark.

Within one mile from the city, the city guards left by Xuanping county magistrate were sent to inspect and inspect, poured oil on the city wall and surrounded the city, and set fire immediately if there was any movement.

After the formation was completed, Taishi Pang, who was pampered and pampered on weekdays, was exhausted enough, and he still worked tirelessly to climb up the wooden platform accompanied by two guards, overlooking and looking at the fruits of his hard work excitedly.

"Such a careful arrangement," Grand Master Pang couldn't help crowning himself, "I want to see who can get into Xuanping!"

Grand Master Pang obviously forgot a common saying.

It's not easy to talk about the cloudy or sunny until late--it's not easy to talk too much.

Because, a few miles away from the left side, suddenly there was a noise of torches, some unrestrainedly knocked on the warning gong, and there were cat-like archers on the wooden platform, whizzing and whizzing straight. Release chain arrows.

Master Pang was dumbfounded.

"This, this, this... what's going on?"

For the time being, these panic-stricken soldiers and guards couldn't care less about resolving Grand Master Pang's confusion.

The little leader who took the lead quickly drew out his waist knife: "Catch me!"

Before chasing the words, a white plume arrow flew out whizzing past his ears, the little boss screamed, turned around, covered his ears and jumped to scold: "Damn, watch!"

At the same time, the brothers at the side had already chased after him, the shiny sword flickered under the light of the fire, and the blade pointed directly at the woman in white who was rushing towards Xuanping City in front of her.

"stop!"

"Stop for me!"

"Can you stand still?"

Nonsense, of course not stop.

In the midst of her busy schedule, the woman took the time to turn her head and smiled, obviously not paying attention to this group of capable and brave Gyeonggi soldiers and guards on weekdays.

Seeing that he was approaching the Wuli Lane, the target of his shouting also changed accordingly.

"Stop, stop her, stop her!"

After hearing the shout, the swordsmen guarding the Wuli shackles drew their swords out of their sheaths one after another, and the archers on the wooden platform were obviously not idle, because the soldiers and guards chasing them scolded while hugging their heads.

The woman moved swiftly between the arrows and the blades, her steps were like lightning, and in the blink of an eye, she had already passed the five li shackles.

So the two groups of soldiers and guards merged into one, swearing and chasing after him, the gong rang behind him, but luckily the feather arrow stopped flying.

After chasing for a while, the guards suddenly remembered: Isn't there a sharp knife trap here?

Not enough time to stop, several pioneers had already gone down, and when they looked carefully again, only a few hands were holding the edge of the trap, and shouted like a pig: "Help! Help!"

So the chasing soldiers were divided again, a small part rescued their colleagues, and most of them bypassed the trap and continued to chase without stopping, but they wondered in their hearts: Could this woman be a traitor?How did she know to avoid the feather mark?

The loud noise here has already alarmed the guards at the city wall, and they all drew their swords to block, but when there was a blur in front of them, the white shadow moved in the wind, shaking Lingling shivering, the woman was already more than ten feet behind.

Seeing that the woman was not far from the city wall, one of the guards had a quick wit and threw the torch in his hand towards the city wall.There was a bang, and the flames rose up, and those patrols who had no time to escape were hit by the heat wave, and the sound of howling ghosts and wolves could be heard endlessly.

Unexpectedly, the woman didn't stop on her feet, rushed into the fire, passed through the wall and disappeared.

For a moment, the whole place fell silent.

The fire was still burning, and the fire dragon circled the city, reflecting the night sky in Xuanping red.And then, someone who didn't know made a heart-piercing voice: "Damn..."

In Xuanping City, the woman was coming out of the wall, Fang patted the ashes on her body, suddenly heard a cry from outside the wall, said angrily: "You are a ghost! Your whole family is a ghost!"

When the fire broke out outside Xuanping, Gongsun Ce was leaning on the shaft of the carriage in the depths of the dense forest not far away, gnawing on the dried buns he had brought. In the mouth of the shaft horse that spewed white gas.

"Could it be that... Zhanwei was discovered?"

Thinking about it, I don't think it should be—Zhan Zhao has always been meticulous and thoughtful, and he would never be so hasty and reckless.If the people who provoked such a big battle were not extremely reckless, then they must have high self-esteem and did not take the ten-mile barricades seriously.

Sure enough, after a while, he heard the sound of footsteps, it was Zhan Zhao in black night clothes.

"Guard Zhan," Gongsun Ce hurried up to meet him, while pointing to the outside, "That's it?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head and said, "It's the South Gate that changed. I just explored to the north at that time, and I couldn't see it clearly from too far away. It sounds...someone must have broken through the ten-mile shackles before us."

"Wouldn't it be bad to startle the snake?"

"It's not necessarily bad." Zhan Zhao showed a sly smile, "You can rob while taking advantage of the fire, and fish in muddy water. Mr. Gongsun, we will enter through the south gate."

The closer you go to the edge of the forest, the more eye-catching the bright clusters of swords will be.

The South Gate has undergone a change, and the number of people here has increased by an unknown amount. More importantly, not far ahead, Grand Master Pang is leading his troops to rush to the place of "drumming" aggressively.

Gongsun Ce couldn't help but said to Zhan Zhao: "Guard Zhan, there are more people here, so the defenses in other places must be weaker, why not follow..."

Zhan Zhao didn't answer, and suddenly hissed with his fingers, the cat bent down and took a few steps outside, took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket, threw one piece farther away, and threw the other piece a few steps ahead of him. .

Gongsun Ce was looking puzzled, Zhan Zhao bent down and picked up two stones from the ground and popped them out with his fingers, the second stone hit the first stone with more force, making a thumping sound.The sound was neither loud nor small, just enough to attract a closer guard to turn his head.

The soldier guard clearly heard a strange sound, but when he turned his head to look, he couldn't discern any clues, so he couldn't help but took another step towards this side.

Ah, what is it that glows seductively silvery under the bright moonlight?
Next, the soldier started a bloody journey to find silver under the moon, and the journey ended when he was dragged into the forest by a sleeping hole, took off his armor and took off his waist knife.

In the same way, the No. 2 treasure hunter, Le Diandian, embarked on the old road of being the first.

After a stick of incense, the two guards swayed into Grand Master Pang's guards and hung at the tail of the team. From a glance, there was nothing special about it.

If we have to pick some faults, we can only say that as a member of the mighty Gyeonggi Guards, one of them is too thin, the armor and helmet are obviously a size bigger, and the posture of holding the knife is quite awkward. strenuous.

"Guard Zhan," Gongsun Ce couldn't help expressing his admiration to Zhan Zhao in a low voice, "This knife is heavy enough. It's really not easy for you to wield swords and swords on weekdays."

Every sentence comes from the bottom of my heart, I don’t know how difficult it is to live without being in charge of the family.

After walking for a while, there were several big pits on the ground. When I looked at them, the sharp knives at the bottom of the pit stood upright, which made Gongsun Ce's back feel cold.

There were people shouting nearby: "Just look at it and go, no one will pick you up after you go down, now fill in the soil and it will be your hometown."

Gongsun Ce pondered for a long time before he realized what the "hometown" referred to. He suddenly felt that the lifelike meaning of the market slang and Taoist jargon was infinitely wonderful, and it was even more unique than "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye Zi Yue Shi Yun". Organize and collect well, it can be regarded as keeping some folk collections.

This is a later story, and I will not show it for the time being.

Near the south gate, the fire had already been put out, but the outer part of the city wall was scorched black and smelled of smoke. A row of soldiers and guards stood down at the base of the wall, accepting Taishi Pang's furious lecture.

"Passing through the wall, passing through the wall, why don't you say that you have burrowed into the ground? I am more convinced that you said that you have burrowed into the ground. There are examples of ground squirrels in the world." The more he talked, the more angry he stretched out his hand Pointing to the city wall, "Since we've drilled through, why isn't there even a hole? Why don't you drill for me!"

"Teacher, drink water." Guessing that the grand master might be scolding dry, the attendant master hurriedly offered tea.

Grand Master Pang reached out to take the teacup.

Just at the moment when they were about to catch up, the two soldiers and guards who were more than Zhang away suddenly stood up, and they did not know whose head was on the way to borrow strength, and they were already halfway up the city wall in an instant.After a group of people reacted, the two had jumped onto the top of the wall, one of them slipped and something fell from his head.

Grand Master Pang was stunned on the spot with his head up, his mouth was wide open, it just so happened that the thing fell more than ten feet beside Grand Master Pang, and he rolled a few times at Grand Master's feet unwillingly.

When I looked closely, it was the usual helmet and hat worn by the Gyeonggi Military Guard.

After a while, Taishi Pang's angry shouts came from outside the city.

Zhan Zhao couldn't help laughing, took off the armor covering his body, took out the prepared medical towel from his arms, and covered his face.

This trip into the city went smoothly unexpectedly, but it was thanks to the passing friend who disrupted the situation set up by Grand Master Pang, otherwise he would take Mr. Gongsun through the ten-mile barricade...

Zhan Zhao turned his head to look at the startled Gongsun Ce.

One word, difficult!

Take a rest on the top of the city tower, overlooking the whole city, in the huge Xuanping, no one raised fire, revealing an indescribable dead silence and strangeness.

Could it be that the people in the city are all... dead?
Just now, my heart, which was a little light because of the smooth entry into the city, suddenly felt like a thousand weights.

Zhan Zhao lost his mind for a moment, when the fire lighted up beside him, it was Gongsun Cehuang who lit the fire pocket.

"Let's go, Guard Zhan." Gongsun Ce sighed in a low voice, "The sooner we find someone, the more hope of a cure."

Zhan Zhao nodded, took out a torch from the torch slot by the wall, stirred it once in the kerosene urn at the foot of the wall, lit it with Gongsun Ce's torch, poked around, and said: " The city ladder is over there."

Looking at the pulsating flames, the dark entrance to the city is like a night beast that can't find out the depth of its throat, just waiting to devour those who enter by mistake.

Gongsun Ce broke out in a cold sweat involuntarily.

As if seeing Gongsun Ce's panic, Zhan Zhao went down the steps first, poking the torch forward, making the descending stone steps flickering.

Gongsun Ce cried out inwardly ashamed, took a few steps, and followed Zhan Zhao.

However, things in this world are really what they are afraid of.

Just after walking down for a while, Zhan Zhao's body stopped suddenly, and he raised his hand to signal Gongsun Ce to stop.

Gongsun Ce didn't understand, so he moved to the side, and when he saw it, he was startled, and his heart beat like a drum.

But when the city ladder turned down the corner, two human feet suddenly appeared, the shoe on the right foot fell off to the side, revealing the bare feet, which made people feel hairy.

Zhan Zhao signaled Gongsun Ce to stay there with his eyes, put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and slowly stepped down the city ladder. When he got closer, he let out a sigh of relief, shook his head at Gongsun Ce, and bent down to check on the deceased.

(End of this chapter)