In the jungle at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains, the trees are dense and the big trees are shady, covering the sky and the sun.

It's late June, the most leafy time of the year.

Here, towering ancient trees can be seen everywhere, and nearly 1,000 people have disappeared as soon as they have gone into the jungle.

Climb high and look into the distance, searching for the absconders hiding in the jungle, the dense trees dozens of feet high do not shake for a moment, and there is no movement at all. If you go into the jungle to chase after you, even during the day, the visibility in the woods is less than 100 meters, as if a tiger eats the sky and cannot lay down its claws.

What's more, there are many poisonous snakes and beasts in the jungle in summer, and most people are reluctant to go into the forest unless they have to. It's too dangerous, and the slightest mistake can cost you your life. If you are bitten by a poisonous snake, at least leave a whole corpse; If you encounter jackals, tigers and leopards, you don't even have a corpse in the capital, it's too miserable!

This is by no means a rhetorical sensational, but it is true.

It must be known that the surrounding people who live at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, but there is little arable land in the mountains, there are many beasts and pests, and most of the crops planted are not waiting for maturity, and most of them are spoiled by the animals in the mountains and forests. Therefore, most of the people here make a living from hunting, and many of the young and strong men in the village have been hunters for generations, and their ancestors have passed down from father to son, and their children and grandchildren have been hunters for hundreds of years. It can be seen from this that there are indeed countless poisonous snakes and beasts in the remaining veins of the Qinling Mountains within a radius of hundreds of miles, which not only harm the people of one side, but also raise hundreds of thousands of Li people.

The mountain people who have lived here for a long time know an extremely simple truth, it is okay to go up the mountain in winter and spring. In summer and autumn, if you are not well prepared, it is best not to go into the woods, because this is the season when jackals, tigers, leopards and poisons are most rampant.

Everyone understands the truth. But there are people who rise to the challenge, rushing into the jungle in this season, and walking in a hurry, as if they are afraid that someone will chase them.

The most striking thing is that there are not a few people who have gone into the reckless jungle, there are more than 1,000 people. And, one by one, they're all well-dressed, uh. To be precise, it should be richly dressed, half of them are wearing brocade robes, and their hair is combed shiny. Big-bodied (fat, actually). These people are not able to walk normally in the jungle at all, and most of them are half-crawling and half-walking; At first glance, the burly figure is no less than a blind bear in the deep mountains and old forests, which frightens the small animals to panic. Birds swooped up. Circling and screaming.

In addition to the hundreds of richly dressed "old man climbing team", the rest are hundreds of armor soldiers. They were well armed, well prepared, brisk, and agile. It's a pity that they led the war horses into the forest, and the war horses were carrying large and small packages, and the horses' hoof prints were very deep, and it seemed that the packages on the horse's back were not light; There is also the sound of "clanging" utensils while the horses are walking. It should be some valuable gold and silver objects, or rare treasures that are more expensive than gold and silver.

It's really hard for these people, helping the old and the young. also carried valuable bags, and looked like rich and noble people, but they didn't take the official road, but hurriedly burrowed into the hot and dense jungle. It is also the height of summer, and the forest is drilled on a hot day, and it is really blessed not to enjoy the exclusive search for sin. However, they were in good spirits, but they overestimated their own abilities, and within an hour of burrowing into the forest, some people fainted from heat stroke, and hundreds of people sat on the stones with sweaty farts, panting like oxen, their foreheads were full of beads of sweat, but their faces were pale and sickly.

"Huh, Huh, Huhu———!"

With the brocade-clothed men who walked in the middle of the group, they sat on a smooth stone slab with a "bang", opened their big mouths and gasped greedily, and the whole team stopped, each looking for a place to rest.

"Whew?????? I'm exhausted、、、 uh, I'm exhausted. How far is this from Loudiyuan, is it possible for the Hangu Pass defenders to catch up immediately? The man in brocade, oh no, to be precise, it should be the young man in brocade, he sat on the stone and gasped for breath, turned his head to look at the lush jungle behind him, and asked in a panicked voice.

At this moment, there were two people squatting beside him, one left and one right, and on the left was a middle-aged man with a white face and beard, who was also so tired that he couldn't breathe and was out of breath. On the right is also a middle-aged man, with a beard more than an inch long, with a rather lean figure, powerful and powerful, as if he was born in the army, and dressed in armor; Although he was also sweating profusely hot, his breathing was normal, at least much stronger than the white-faced man on the left.

After hearing this, the armored man on the right calmed his breath and said respectfully: "Your Majesty Qiqi、、、 Uh, Dong Hou, this place is about thirty miles away from Loudiyuan, and it should be safe now." After all, I waited for this escape, oh no, this trip to the east made full preparations in advance, under the pretext of the recurrence of the old disease of 'Dong Hou', I left the Loudiyuan Cemetery unexpectedly at dawn, and then rushed all the way. After passing Feiyundu, we abandoned our horses and walked up the mountain, while Dong Hou's chariot and the war horses of the generals continued along the official road. In this way, even if the Hanya defenders found out that we were missing, they would only chase them down the tracks of the chariot and the war horse, and they would definitely not think that we had already abandoned our horses and went up the mountain. Therefore, we are safe for the time being, but ??????"

Seeing that the armored man looked embarrassed, the young man in brocade waved his hand and said, "Dong Qing said bluntly, there is no need to have any scruples." At this moment, we are all fugitives, whether we can escape from the rule of Li Thief is still unknown, once the return to the east fails, our lives are at rest. Now, we have all arrived at this step, how can there be so many rules, it is important to escape. Therefore, whatever you have to say, you can speak boldly and with confidence, and whoever speaks is not guilty! ”

"What Dong Hou said is extremely true." The armored man replied thoughtfully: "Although I am safe at the moment, and the Hangu defenders will not catch up immediately, but the soldiers and horses under the command of Li Thief are all light horses and fast horses, and soon they will be able to catch up with the car, and then they will find out that they have fallen into the golden cicada's plan to get out of their shells, and then turn around and come back to search for us."

At present, we are in the boundary of Xiliang Land, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops under the command of Li Thief, once Li Thief hears the news and mobilizes a large army to search the mountain, we are only afraid that we will not be able to escape, and we will fall into the hands of Li Thief again. Therefore, we cannot stay here for long, we must hurry day and night, enter the deep mountains as soon as possible, and then try to bypass the Xingyang camp and go all the way east. until returning to Luoyang. ”

After hearing this, the young man in brocade frowned, and said suspiciously: "So to speak." From now on, we will have to spend a long time in the mountains and old forests? ”

"Exactly." The armored man shook his head when he heard this, his expression was extremely solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "This Qinling Mountain Range is extremely wide, there are hundreds of miles of jungle in the southern foothills alone, and the southernmost point can go directly to Nanyang County, and the mountains are steep. There are countless cliffs; Even with hundreds of thousands of troops, it is impossible for Li Thief to search the huge jungle and mountain range, and this is precisely the hope of our escape.

However, there are always pros and cons to everything. The cliffs in the jungle can both hold back the army of Li thieves. It can also block our way, and there are many poisonous snakes and beasts in the jungle, and there are many dangers. The most important thing is that we have nothing but the dry food we brought with us on this trip. There is no food source. Therefore. How to survive in the jungle is an inescapable test that we must face, and if we can't get food in the jungle, we may not be able to return to Luoyang alive. ”

At this time, the white-faced man on the left answered: "I don't know how much dry food Yilang has prepared in advance, and how long will I stay in the jungle?" ”

The brocade-clothed young man bowed his head when he heard this, and looked at the armored man with burning eyes, hoping to hear the most ideal answer from his mouth.

"Dong Hou Rongyu. At present, there are 1,137 of us, and most of the senior ministers of the DPRK and China are here. and their wives and children, and their families, and the accompanying sergeants, six hundred. According to the current number of people. The dry food, pickles and cured meats we brought with us lasted about twenty days, up to a month. However, we will have to stay in the jungle for at least two months, maybe three months, or even longer. Therefore, we must save dry food from now on, and look for wild vegetables and mushrooms as much as possible to satisfy our hunger, and it would be best if we could hunt while traveling. Only in this way will we be able to survive for about three months without anyone starving to death in the jungle. If one qiē shun lì, three months is enough time for us to bypass the Xingyang defenders, and then we don't have to drill into the forest, we have enough gold, silver and jade in our hands, and we can exchange food along the way. ”

The young man in brocade was stunned, his eyes were extremely cold, and he said in a deep voice: "How far are we from the Xingyang camp, why do we have to go for three months?" ”

The armored man said without thinking: "Less than two hundred miles." ”

"Does it take three months to reach the 200-mile journey?" The brocade-clothed young man said angrily in an unkind tone.

When the armored man heard this, his expression was very bitter, and he turned his head to look at the reckless jungle that covered the clouds, and then looked at the group of old and weak women and children sitting on the top of the mountain behind him, his eyes were gloomy.

After finally calming down, he lowered his head and said, "Today is the first time I have gone up the mountain, stepping on the mountain road carved out by the mountain people, for a whole hour, and the journey is less than twenty miles. Then, in my guess, it will probably not exceed fifteen miles in an hour, and then it will drop sharply. This is only the speed of the first day, and the rest of the day will be worse and worse, and the deeper into the jungle, the road will become more and more difficult to walk, or even no road at all. Therefore, Dong Hou might as well imagine how far we can go in a day after five days, ten, eight, or five, is it possible to be two or three miles? What's more, who would dare to assert that it won't rain during this period? After a rainstorm, we are afraid that we will not be able to move an inch in two or three days. Therefore, it is already a blessing to get out of the jungle in three months. ”

When the man in brocade heard this, he sat down on the stone in great decadence, and lost his mind. Immediately, the expression on his face changed sharply, his face was hideous, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Li thief, you forced me to flee the jungle, and I have to be a wild man in the mountains and forests for three months, and the evil thief has made me so miserable." One day, if the thief falls into my hands, I will crush my bones and ashes and destroy the nine clans! ”

The armored man heard the change in color, and after looking around, he urged in a low voice: "Dong Hou be quieter." We can't stay here for long, it's time for us to go. ”

"Let's go." The brocade-clothed man gritted his teeth and stood up, waved his big hand, shook off the arm of the armored man who was eager to step forward to support, and strode forward. But unexpectedly, as soon as he took two steps, his feet slipped and he fell sideways, but fortunately, the armored man was quick to catch him, and then helped him to move forward slowly.

?????? It goes without saying that these more than 1,000 people who are far away in the mountains and forests are Liu Xie, the son of heaven, and his party. The reason why Liu Xie assumed the pseudonym "Dong Hou" was not only to disguise his identity, but also because he lost his mother since he was a child and was raised by the Empress Dowager Dong, so he was called "Dong Hou" by the ministers.

The armored man who was called "Dong Qing" by Liu Xie was Dong Cheng, the speaker of the Lang, and the white-faced bearded man was Dong Hong, the regular attendant of Liu Xie, who was always around Liu Xie, and hundreds of richly dressed "old man climbing team" were the old ministers of the court, as well as their descendants and beloved wives and concubines. This time, the group escaped on the occasion of the original sacrifice of Loudi, but it is still too early to say, and it is still unknown whether they can finally escape from the Xiliang realm.

The trip to the original mausoleum in Loudi was put on the agenda as early as early March, but Liu Xie postponed it again and again. At first, he was ill, and then he was angry with the "Edict of the Guilty Thief", and he refused to set off, and then he was anxious and worried, but he was really seriously ill, so that Li Li was stranded in Chang'an for several days, almost delaying the battle of Chencang.

When Li Li defeated Zhang Lu's army, recovered Wudu County and marched into Hanzhong, Liu Xie suddenly decided to lead a hundred officials to the Loudi Yuan Mausoleum, carrying a large number of gold and silver utensils and accompanying packages. Because they held the customs clearance guide covered with the seal of Sikong Li Dao, the defenders of the various passes were even exempted from routine inspections, and they walked unhindered along the way.

On the day of the mausoleum, Liu Xie's old illness relapsed while inspecting the cemetery, and he stayed overnight on the shore of Jinghu Lake in the southeast of the cemetery that day, and disappeared the next day. In addition to the hundreds of officials in the DPRK and the central government, there were also 500 armor soldiers sent by Li Dao to escort along the way, not all of them were missing, but more than 300 people were missing, and the bodies of more than 100 armor soldiers were left in the tent. Yang Feng, Li Dao's cronies and captain of the guard, is also gone, and there is no one alive or dead.

—————————— to be continued—————————— (To be continued......)