The cold wind was howling, the snow was falling, and the earth was covered with a layer of snow.

The emperor favored Taoism, and the country was full of Taoist temples, but for ordinary people, they were more looking forward to the wind and rain, for them, the prestige of the land lord was much higher than those Taoist priests, so all over the Qin State, many places have built land temples, land temples will not be very large, and they are generally built by the people spontaneously raising donations.

The smaller land temple, less than one person high, just puts the tablet of the land god, and the larger land temple is also decent, like a small temple.

Such a land temple is generally built near the village, not far from the village, every year before the ploughing, many people will go to the land temple to burn incense, begging the land lord to bless the water and soil wind and rain.

On a cold winter night, the snow was falling, and a land temple stood alone on the ground, and the roof was covered with snow.

The people in the village also rested early, and in the middle of the night in this cold winter, naturally no one would pay attention to a land temple, and the sound of trampling on the snow was masked by the cold wind, and no one could hear it.

"Lord Wang, I can only rest here for a while tonight." Under the heavy snow, Qiu Ruxue turned his head and said to King Qi behind him: "The snow is too big, I can't go anymore, this land temple can be warmed up." ”

Behind Qiu Ruxue, in addition to King Qi, there are also Lu Haosheng and Ling Shuang, while Ma Zhongheng is walking in the back, serving as the task of breaking off, several people are wearing thick coarse cotton clothes, wearing felt hats, and wrapping their bodies tightly, at first glance, there is no difference from ordinary people, it is difficult to imagine that the prince of the empire will be among them.

King Qi looked tired, nodded, and several people pushed the door into the Land Temple, and Ma Zhongheng entered the door and closed the door with his hand.

It was pitch black inside, Qiu Ruxue took the fire fold and lit up the fire, only then did I see that this land temple was also quite narrow and not spacious, but in terms of the scale of the land temple, it was already not small.

There was a muddy earth god inside, and there was nothing else, King Qi walked to the wall, sat down, and then looked at Ling Shuang, and said, "Ling Shuang, tired, right?" Come, sit here and take a break. ”

Ling Shuang went to King Qi and sat down, and then King Qi looked at Qiu Ruxue and asked, "Qiu Daxia, where are we now?" How far is it from Xigu Pass? ”

"Lord Wang, this is already in the territory of Tongzhou on Xishan Road, less than three days away from Xigu Pass." Qiu Ruxue said: "When I get out of Xigu Pass, which is the northwest boundary, when the time comes, I will get a few horses, and I can ride to Shuoquan." ”

"Qiu Daxia, we've been walking for a few days, why can't we ride a horse?" King Qi frowned and said, "If we ride a horse, I'm afraid we would have been out of the customs long ago." ”

"Lord Wang, if you really ride a horse, I'm afraid we won't be able to go to Tongzhou." Qiu Ruxue sighed: "After we leave the capital, the prince will inevitably send people to follow and chase, even if we have arranged it in advance, so we will set up a maze and divide a few people, but as long as we ride a horse, the prince's people will definitely follow and chase, the prince has a lot of powerful tracking masters, and it is entirely possible for them to chase after them through the traces of horses." On the contrary, when we walked on foot, the footprints were quickly obliterated, and there were so many people on foot that even if there were footprints, they would not be able to recognize ......! ”

King Qi looked at the coarse cotton shoes on his feet and sighed.

After leaving Beijing, Qiu Ruxue had already made arrangements in advance, and arranged several groups of men and horses outside the city, and when the king of Qi arrived at the established position, the four people and horses went separately in four directions, that is, Shen Wansi and the white blind man, and each brought a road of men and horses as a way to lure the enemy.

And new clothes were prepared outside the city, all of which were worn by ordinary people, and even the shoes were already prepared, and the king of Qi and his party took a carriage, and after passing Qulong Mountain, they should immediately take the car to walk to cover their whereabouts.

Walking down this way, rushing day and night, he was really tired, but he was worried that the prince's people would catch up at any time, and he didn't dare to stay, King Qi had never suffered like this, but he was helpless.

He mentioned looking for horses several times along the way, but Qiu Ruxue explained several times that Qin State's control over horses is very strict, and if you want to buy horses, you need to register with the local government.

"Lord Wang, it's already very close to Xigu Pass, as long as you hold on for a few more days, you can enter the Kansai region." Lu Haosheng also knew that the King of Qi was pampered, and after tossing down the way, it was really painful for King Qi, "Now we are in the territory of Xishan Road, and it is also the last part of the road, but at this time, we have to be more careful." ”

"Why?" King Qi asked, "Lu Changshi, do you think the prince's people will always chase here?" ”

"They won't give up, but the most important thing is that the prince has ever thought about who the governor of this West Mountain Road is?" Lu Haosheng said solemnly: "Lord Wang, Qiao Mingtang, the governor of Xishan Dao, that's a princeling!" ”

King Qi suddenly looked stunned and thought about it.

This time they went to the northwest, did not pass through Yunshan, but detoured into the Tongzhou area, Tongzhou is the only place to go out of the customs, and it has always been an important place for soldiers.

King Qi once went to Yunshan, but he had seen Qiao Mingtang, the governor of Xishan Dao, and he really knew that Qiao Mingtang was a princeling.

"When the prince leaves the capital, the prince will definitely guess where the prince will go." Lu Haosheng said: "The whereabouts of the prince are nothing more than two roads, one is to Hexi, looking for the saint, and the other is to the northwest, looking for Chu Huan, these two roads, of course, the prince also knows these two roads, so he will definitely send people to pursue on these two roads, the northwest road, he will not relax, Tongzhou is the only way to the northwest in the Guannei, and Tongzhou belongs to Xishan Road, and the governor of Xishan Road is Qiao Mingtang, and he even suspects that the prince has sent someone to greet Qiao Mingtang, so that he can find the whereabouts of the prince on the ground in Tongzhou......!" ”

King Qi frowned and asked, "Are you saying that Qiao Mingtang will send someone to intercept us in Tongzhou?" ”

"It's not impossible." Qiu Ruxue finally said: "Qiao Mingtang knows the situation in Tongzhou very well, and he is a princeling, if he really gets the prince's secret order, then he will inevitably send more people in Tongzhou to find the traces of the prince, so when I arrived here, I saw that it was only one step away from going out of the customs, but it was precisely the moment when we couldn't relax the most, only out of Xigu Pass, we were out of the prince's control, the princelings in the northwest were very weak, and his tentacles had not been able to reach the northwest at the moment." ”

King Qi was helpless, leaning against the hard and cold wall, "Then we can only be careful and careful, and get out of the customs as soon as possible......!" He clenched his fists and sneered: "The prince will force this king to die, and one day, this king will also let him live and not die and ......!" In his tone, there was already a bitter Senran, obviously full of hatred for the prince that went deep into the bone marrow.

There was silence in the room, and soon, the faint light of the fire was extinguished, and the fire in Qiu Ruxue's hand could not last long, and in the darkness, it seemed that the air had become very cold again.

"There's a leak in here...... King Qi couldn't help but say: "Let's stay here all night, and when it gets dawn, I'm afraid we'll freeze to death......!" ”

Ma Zhongheng said: "Then I can only find some firewood that can be burned...... When we came here before, we passed through a small forest, where there were many dead trees, and we went to cut down some trees, and I wonder if we can make a fire in the road? ”

"There are no windows around this land temple, and when the door is closed, the fire can't shine out, so there should be no problem." King Qi immediately said: "If there is no fire, hold on until dawn, and you will really freeze to death...... people!" ”

"Commander Ma, if you can, go chop some firewood and ......!" Qiu Ruxue thought for a moment and said to Ma Zhongheng.

Ma Zhongheng said: "Qiu Daxia, then the prince is ...... here!" ”

"Don't worry, I'm by the prince's side, there's no problem."

"Okay, then there's a hero of revenge." Ma Zhongheng said happily, cleaned up, stepped forward to open the door, a gust of cold wind came in from outside the door, Ma Zhongheng flashed out of the door, and Qiu Ruxue stepped forward and closed it.

The room was pitch black, as if they were too tired from the journey, and several people did not speak, even the sound of breathing was also masked by the sound of the howling cold wind outside.

Although the land temple was simple, the King of Qi was sleepy, leaning against the hard wall, his eyes had been closed, but Qiu Ruxue held down the handle of the knife and remained vigilant.

Time passed, but Ma Zhongheng didn't come back for a long time, Lu Haosheng finally asked: "Qiu Daxia, Commander Ma has been gone for so long and hasn't come back, shouldn't something have happened?" ”

Qiu Ruxue was silent for a moment before he said, "Wait a minute, there shouldn't be any problems...... ”

After waiting for a while, there was no movement from Ma Zhongheng, Lu Haosheng got up and said, "Qiu Daxia, even if you cut down two big trees, it's time to come back......!" ”

King Qi was obviously also awakened and asked, "Ma Zhongheng hasn't come back yet?" ”

"Lord Wang, Commander Ma has been gone for more than half an hour, and he has not seen anyone for a long time, but I am afraid that something has changed."

"What could happen on such a cold day?" King Qi suddenly became nervous, "Qiu Daxia, what should we do?" Or...... Why don't we go over and find it together? ”

Qiu Ruxue thought for a moment before he said: "Lord Wang, don't act rashly, Lu Changshi, you and Miss Lingshuang are waiting here with the prince, holding your knife, don't go out until I come back...... Don't even open the door. "I don't want that grove to leave here, I'll go and have a look, and I'll be back soon......!" ”

"Qiu Daxia, you have to be careful." Lu Haosheng immediately said, now Qiu Ruxue is the backbone, and when he goes to Shuoquan, he must rely on Qiu Ruxue to lead, Lu Haosheng really doesn't want any problems with Qiu Ruxue.

Qiu Ruxue opened the door, Lu Haosheng waited for Qiu Ruxue to go out, then he stepped forward and closed the door, he also brought a knife with him, drew the knife and guarded the door.