Just when Prince Shou's Mansion was about to be completely captured, a loud bang was heard, as if the sky was falling and the earth was falling!
"Not good!" Liu Zhong cried secretly in his heart, but Li Shilan felt desperate inside.
With such a huge collapse sound, there is no other possibility. You don't need to look to know that King Shou has triggered the mechanism of the east gate of the underground palace, and now the entire underground palace has been buried deep underground.
As the loud noise fell silent, the remnants of the Shou Prince's Mansion had no intention of continuing to resist, and abandoned their weapons and surrendered. Only the Jianghu people in the woods southwest of the Prince's Mansion were still resisting. Liu Zhong had no energy to pay attention to them for the time being, and led his troops into the Prince's Mansion.
Among them, although Li Shilan and Luo Jian were frustrated, they still followed behind. After all, they could not completely give up hope without verifying it with their own eyes.
The group of people entered the palace, but before entering the back garden, they were choked by the dust and coughed.
Liu Zhong arranged for soldiers to guard all exits of the palace, took Li Shilan and Luo Jian and a group of elite soldiers, and headed straight to the east gate of the underground palace with his nose in his hands.
As we get closer and closer to the underground palace, the concentration of dust also increases. When we approach the east gate of the underground palace, we can no longer see our fingers.
At this moment, a figure suddenly flashed past!
"Who?" Liu Zhong shouted.
In the smoke and dust, figures kept trying to escape into the distance.
"Stop! If you run away again, you will fire arrows!" Liu Zhong warned sternly.
"Don't shoot the arrow! Don't shoot the arrow!" The figure stopped running and stood still.
Liu Zhong sent soldiers to escort the people over.
When he was still a few meters away from this person, Liu Zhong saw a familiar figure through the dust!
"Shou Wang!" Liu Zhong couldn't believe his eyes.
When the "Shou King" came forward, Liu Zhong realized that he really couldn't trust his eyes too much.
This person's figure is very similar to that of the longevity king Li Hao. Putting on the prince's clothes, it is impossible to tell the real thing from the fake one from a distance, not to mention there is such a thick dust.
"Who are you? Why are you wearing the clothes of King Shou? Hurry and get the real deal!" Liu Zhonghe asked.
"I-I-I am the longevity king Li Hao!" This fake guy is still holding on.
"Haha!" Liu Zhong sneered, "You're not telling the truth, are you? Then I'll show you what a bad person can do!" As he spoke, he pulled out the three-foot soft sword around his waist, raised the sword and dropped it, only to hear a sigh.
With a sound, half of the fake longevity king's ear was cut off.
"Ah! I said! I said!" The impostor did not dare to pretend anymore. "I, I am the substitute of King Shou!"
"Substitute? Where is King Shou himself now?"
"This little one really doesn't know!" the fake longevity king wailed, covering half of his bleeding ears.
"You don't want the other ear anymore, do you?" Liu Zhong shook the soft sword in his hand, pretending to cut it again.
"Report——" At this moment, a small group of forbidden troops came from behind. "Reporting to the imperial envoy, we just caught a suspicious person by the lotus pond."
Liu Zhong looked back and was surprised again!
"Why is there another longevity king?" Kneeling behind Liu Zhong was still a man wearing a prince's clothes and similar in figure and appearance to the longevity king.
"Who are you?" Liu Zhong frowned.
"I -" This person looked at the person in front of him who had one of his ears cut off in the same clothes as him, and was crying and howling with blood, and he immediately responded. "I am the substitute of King Shou. He arranged for us to come out after the underground palace collapsed.
Confuse the public! What I told is the truth, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
"What about King Shou himself? Where is he now?"
Whereabouts unknown
After the underground palace collapsed, two fake longevity kings suddenly appeared. Liu Zhong couldn't figure out the purpose for a while.
When she heard the second Shou Wang substitute's explanation that it was just to confuse the audience, Li Shilan had an idea.
"Brother Zhong, does King Shou want to take the opportunity to escape?"
"If he wanted to escape, why did he tell his confidants that he would be buried in the tomb if he failed?" Luo Jian asked rhetorically.
"Maybe it's a cover-up, who would be willing to die?" Li Shilan speculated.
"Then who in the underground palace triggered the mechanism of the east gate? You also said, who would be willing to die?" Luo Jian's logic is quite clear.
"This-" Li Shilan couldn't think of an answer either.
"Alan's analysis still makes sense!" Liu Zhong affirmed, "If King Shou himself doesn't want to escape, what's the use of confusing the public?"
"Hey! No matter what, we are still a step too late!" Li Shilan thought that her glimmer of hope of saving Lin Lanyue was shattered, and she fell into despair again.
"Alan——" Luo Jian patted his good brother's back, not knowing how to comfort him for a moment.
"Report——" At this moment, another small group of forbidden soldiers came to the front with one person in custody.
Liu Zhong took a closer look and laughed out loud.
"Manager Ouyang, are you okay?"
Ouyang De, the general manager of the palace, was disheveled, with blood on his forehead, and looked very embarrassed.
"Liu Zhong, I have treated you well over the years, why do you repay kindness with hatred like this?" Manager Ouyang was very resentful.
"I am a bad person appointed by His Majesty. I received the emperor's order many years ago and lurked in the palace to monitor King Shou. This is a public matter and there is no personal grudge. Please don't blame me, manager!"
"You--you little person!"
"Those who intend to rebel are villains! Take them back to me!" Liu Zhong didn't want to waste his words anymore.
Old manager Ouyang seemed to have some backbone, and he kept cursing when he was escorted away.
"Brother Zhong, can you bear this?" Luo Jian asked from the side.
"After all, he has treated me well over the years. In addition, King Shou's whereabouts are unknown now, and there are still many things that need to be pried out from his mouth!"
"Listen, it seems that the fighting outside the palace has stopped!" Li Shilan noticed something strange.
"Reporting to the imperial envoy, the rebellion in the Jianghu in the southwest of the palace has been wiped out!" A messenger ordered the imperial army to report.
"It seems that these people in the Jianghu are indeed not ordinary people. It took a lot of effort to pacify them. Maybe they will become a serious problem for the emperor in the future!"
"Brother Zhong, the Emei Sect has helped us a lot! It can be seen that people in the world are complicated, and not everyone is rebellious!" Li Shilan reminded.
"Ignoring all these things, we have searched the palace several times and there is still no trace of King Shou. Let's go back and report to the emperor immediately!" Liu Zhong ordered the imperial army to still strictly guard the inside and outside of the palace, and they could not withdraw until they received the emperor's order.
In addition, he sent heavy troops to escort these important prisoners to Tianlao. He took Li Shilan and Luo Jian and rushed towards Xingqing Palace.
Not long after, the three of them arrived at the palace and reported their orders to Xuanzong at the main building of Qinzhengwu.
"Thank you for your hard work!" Xuanzong asked comfortingly after Liu Zhong finished his report.
"I failed to enter the palace in time, which caused the underground palace to collapse, and King Shou's whereabouts are now unknown! Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Liu Zhong apologized.
"What's your crime, my dear? If you hadn't reported it in time, I might not have had the chance to stand here." Xuanzong's words were the highest compliment. "I have sent people to continue to search for King Shou, as long as he is still in Chang'an.
, you can’t escape from my grasp! There’s just something that really worries me! Do you know what I’m talking about?”