The night was dark and the weather was extremely hot. The sky was covered with clouds. There were electric lights flashing in the clouds. A storm was about to hit.
At the moment when the lightning illuminates, the dark clouds take on various strange shapes. Above the dark sky, there seem to be countless ghosts, gods, beasts, and dangerous rocks standing on the rocks, with sharp claws and teeth, and abyss and rocks, which makes people shudder.
Twenty miles east of Beijing, at the foot of the Dongshan Mass Cemetery, more than a hundred cavalrymen galloped over the dark official road. When they arrived at the foot of the wilderness hillside, they turned onto the overgrown mountain road and headed straight to the top of the hill.
Soon after, the cavalry arrived at the top of the mountain. It was dark all around, and the continuous cemeteries and desolate slopes on the left were empty. Between the trees and desolate graves, there was a vague sound of taunting, and it seemed to be just the sound of wind blowing grass and trees.
.
"Master Marquis, where are they? They won't let us go." A burly knight asked in a deep voice.
"Don't worry, Brother Chen, how dare they let our pigeons fly. I guess they have already arrived, but they are just hiding in the dark and playing tricks." The young Marquis who was standing on the horse laughed.
"Brothers, spread your guard to prevent others from causing trouble. Load the ammunition and unstring the bows and arrows. If anyone intends to attack, kill them mercilessly." Chen Shiyi ordered in a deep voice.
More than a hundred cavalry guards moved quickly and spread out in all directions, forming a vigilance on all sides. The cannons were loaded with ammunition and aimed at the dark place, ready to kill all monsters and monsters in the darkness.
Zhang Yanling rode his horse and stood in the center of the defensive formation, holding the reins of a horse in his hand. There was a man sitting on the horse. He was tied up with five stripes and a ball of cloth was stuffed in his mouth. The whole man was fixed on the saddle and could not move.
"Put the man down." Zhang Yanling ordered in a deep voice, and he also got off the horse.
The guards on the side stepped forward to untie the rope and lifted the tied man off the horse. After the man stood on the ground, his legs became weak and his body fell to the ground. His whole body twisted and he made a whining sound.
.
"Light the lantern." Zhang Yanling ordered.
One of the guards took a wind lantern from the saddle and lit it, and a little light lit up on the dark hillside. From a distance, it looked weird like a will-o'-the-wisp.
Zhang Yanling took the wind lantern and walked to the tied man on the ground, stretched out his hand and pulled out the cloth stuffed in his mouth. The man took a few deep breaths, and then started shouting loudly.
"Mr. Zhang, why did you bring me here? What do you want to do? Didn't we agree? I will be a witness to accuse Liu Jin of falsely transmitting imperial edicts and using troops privately. You keep me alive. Why the third update?
You brought me here in the middle of the night? You probably wanted to kill me, right?"
Zhang Yanling sighed and said in a deep voice: "General Cao, I'm really sorry. I did make a promise to you. But things have changed, and I'm afraid it won't be fulfilled."
The man lying on the ground and being tied up was Cao Xiong, the former commander-in-chief of Shaanxi Province.
Cao Xiong said in shock: "What do you mean things have changed? Are you afraid of Liu Jin? That's fine, Liu Jin is so powerful, it's understandable that you, Lord Zhang, don't dare to offend him. Lord Zhang, take me out."
Beijing wants to let me go
Really? That’s fine, I just ran away far away and never showed up again. Liu Jin didn’t know what I planned with you, so he thought I was dead. It can be said that you, Mr. Zhang, kept your promise and spared me.
Cao’s life.”
Zhang Yanling said in a deep voice: "General Cao, Yanling really wants to let you go. But others refuse. Someone wants to see you, so I can only bring you here to meet him. As for whether you can survive, that depends on
It’s up to other people.”
Cao Xiong was shocked and said: "Who? Who wants to see me?"
Zhang Yanling sighed softly, reached forward and pushed Cao Xiong's messy hair away from his face, and brought the lantern close to Cao Xiong's face. He shouted loudly: "Eunuch Liu, if you still can't hide, this deal will be necessary."
Forget it. You are just afraid that I will deceive you. See for yourself, is this Cao Xiong?"
Cao Xiong opened his mouth wide in shock and stammered loudly: "Master Zhang, do you want to hand me over to Liu Jin? Zhang Yanling, you can't do this, how can you not believe what you say? You...wuwuwu."
"
A ball of rags was stuffed into Cao Xiong's mouth, and his shouts were stuffed into his stomach.
Zhang Yanling stood up with a lantern in hand. At this moment, a lantern lit up among the mass graves on the east side, reflecting several dark figures.
"Hahaha, our family admires Jianchang Hou for keeping his word. Unexpectedly, Cao Xiong is actually still alive. Our family is very surprised."
After the words fell, seven or eight black shadows walked slowly under the light of the lantern.
Zhang Yanling laughed loudly and said: "I'm afraid Eunuch Liu has come a long time ago. He came as soon as he came. He is just waiting for me here openly, but he insists on hiding in the cemetery and peeping. Eunuch Liu is choosing Feng Shui for himself.
A treasure land?"
"Haha, hehe." Chen Shi's first-class guards all laughed out loud. The Marquis was not polite to Liu Jin at all. Liu Jin was very impressive in front of others, but he never received good words in front of Zhang Yanling.
"When did the Marquis of Jianchang become sharp-tongued and mean-spirited? If our family wants to choose a Feng Shui treasure land, don't we have to choose one for the Marquis? How can our family occupy this Feng Shui treasure land by ourselves?" Liu Jin
said coldly.
The moment a bolt of lightning broke through the dark clouds and illuminated the ground, all the cavalry guards saw countless black figures standing up among the graves in front of them, and each one of them was horrified.
Those were the men brought by Liu Jin, and there were hundreds of them. They were all hiding among the graves. After they appeared at this moment, under the light of lightning, it was like zombies all over the ground were resurrected among the graves.
All the cavalry guards quickly aimed their cannons at the cemetery, and they were all on alert.
"Eunuch Liu, stop talking nonsense. Have you brought the person I want? I don't have time to gossip with you." Zhang Yanling shouted.
Liu Jin sneered and said: "Are our family very free? The emperor wanted our family to accompany him to drink tonight, but we all declined. Serving the emperor is not more interesting than coming to this barren mountain? Of course I brought the people, and we both
Make friends."
Zhang Yanling sneered and waved his hand. Two personal guards came forward with Cao Xiong tied up.
"Eunuch Liu, do you want to see if this is Cao Xiong?" Zhang Yanling said in a deep voice.
Liu Jin said: "No need. Just now we heard what he said and saw his face. It is indeed this guy. He is really lucky."
Zhang Yanling said: "Where are my people?"
Liu Jin waved his hand, and seven or eight black figures behind him dragged three tied people forward. One of them had long hair, and she was actually a woman.
"This is Chen Zhiyong, an official of Ningxia Town. This is **Yun, a maid in the outer residence of Prince Qing's Mansion. This is Zhu Fuman, the steward of Prince Qing's Mansion. Do you want our family to explain to you what they did?"
Liu Jin chuckled.
Zhang Yanling waved her hand and said: "That's not necessary. Just kill them for me."
Liu Jin laughed and said: "You believe that these three people are the parties so easily? Are you not afraid that our family will deceive you? Find three unrelated people? If our family kills them, you can't ask them.
His true identity."
Zhang Yanling laughed and said: "Of course I believe Eunuch Liu. Eunuch Liu is not so despicable. Besides, Eunuch Liu knows what kind of person I am. If you play tricks with me, you will lose everything. I believe Eunuch Liu is not that stupid.
."
Liu Jin chuckled and said: "Thank you very much for believing in our family. In fact, sometimes we don't believe in ourselves. But you believe it. Although I am not afraid of your death, I don't dare to offend you, Mr. Zhang. Haha
, If you want to kill them, you do it yourself. Our family will not help you do this dirty work. Where is Cao Xiong? Why don't you bring him over to replace him? "
Zhang Yanling nodded and nodded to Chen Shi. Chen Shi stepped forward and grabbed Cao Xiong's arm, holding him under his arm and walking forward. Cao Xiong was completely limp. He never expected that he would end up like this.
Listening to the conversation between Zhang Yanling and Liu Jin, he knew that he was used as a bargaining chip in some kind of transaction between Zhang Yanling and Liu Jin.
Cao Xiong scolded eight generations of Zhang Yanling's ancestors in his heart, and sighed secretly in his heart. Although he had survived a narrow escape, he would inevitably die in the end. If he had a choice, he would rather die in the torrent of the Yellow River than die in the torrent of the Yellow River.
If it falls into the hands of Liu Jin, the death will be even worse.
"Wait a minute!" Zhang Yanling said solemnly.
Chen Shiyi stopped and looked at Zhang Yanling in surprise. Liu Jin's men who were dragging three people from the opposite side also stopped quickly.
Zhang Yanling walked up to Cao Xiong and looked down at Cao Xiong. Cao Xiong's eyes were blazing with hatred.
Zhang Yanling said in a deep voice: "Commander Cao, you must hate me deeply in your heart now, but you can't blame me for this. It's all your own fault. You acted as Liu Jin's lackey and obeyed his words to march and be defeated miserably. This is your own fault."
It's your mistake. You will naturally have to bear the consequences."
Cao Xiong gasped heavily, and a beast-like roar came from his throat.
Zhang Yanling sighed and whispered: "Cao Xiong, just accept your fate. But I have to tell you something so that you can rest assured. I have ordered your wife, children, and parents to be sent to a place where no one knows.
Hiding their names anonymously, no one will find them again. As long as they don't commit suicide and jump out, no one will know their identities. I also gave your family a large sum of money, enough for them to live for the rest of their lives. This is what I can help you with.
The only thing left."
Cao Xiong raised his head and looked at Zhang Yanling in shock. The anger in his eyes slowly faded, and his breathing began to become calmer. He slowly nodded slightly to Zhang Yanling.
"Send him over." Zhang Yanling waved her hand, turned and backed away.
The transaction was quickly completed. Without any hesitation, Chen Shiyi led his men to drag the three exchanged witnesses to a mass grave, and killed them all with one knife. He collected the bodies in a hurry and walked back quickly.
Liu Jin laughed and said: "The Marquis of Jianchang is straightforward. However, General Cao and our family are reluctant to kill him like this. We have to have a good talk with him about the past."
Zhang Yanling laughed and said: "That's your business, I have nothing to do with it. It's so late at night, with lightning and thunder, I don't want to stay here for a long time. I'm leaving."
Liu Jin sneered, cupped his hands and said, "Farewell, Lord Marquis."
Zhang Yanling waved his hand, and all the guards flew on their horses. Zhang Yanling whipped the horse and rushed out first. More than a hundred riders followed closely behind, galloping down the hill and quickly disappearing into the darkness.
Liu Jin stood with her hands folded until Zhang Yanling and others could no longer be seen, then she put down her hands and turned her head to look at Cao Xiong, who was being controlled and standing beside her.
"Cao Xiong... General Cao...hehehe, let's catch up with you and reminisce about old times." Liu Jin said with a smile.
A flash of lightning flashed, and Cao Xiong's frightened eyes reflected Liu Jin's smiling face. Under the lightning, that face was half shadow, half white, like a ghost, and extremely terrifying.