Chapter 116 The Last Struggle
June 20th, 15:30
After Di Qing sat down, he was still gasping for breath. It was not easy for him to kneel down. He had a sore on his back. His legs could still walk, but his waist could not move at all. Even when he went to the Golden Palace, he had to sit. But today, he took the risk of his wound bursting open and showed great respect to Yan Shu.
Yan Shu also felt embarrassed. Even though Di Qing was the person he hated the most in his life, a soldier with tattoos on his cheeks, a warrior who had been suppressed since the founding of the Song Dynasty, spoke a truth that left him speechless. If he had been violent and swearing, that would have been what Yan Shu thought. But Di Qing not only did not use violence, he did not even use sophistry. He talked about the truth quite calmly. He did not even use the word "the appearance", considering that the monk Huai Liang was present, so as not to show off his knowledge in front of an expert. He killed countless people and was arrogant for a while, why did he see so clearly now?
"If I remember correctly, Mr. Yan was born in the second year of Chunhua. Now..."
"Di Gong remembered it wrongly. I was born in the twelfth month of the first year of Zhunhua. I am now sixty-four years old."
"Di Qing is just a warrior, and he was careless and made a mistake. Haha... I was born in the fourth year of Jingde, and I am almost fifty years old. Confucius was not deceiving me, and now I really know the will of heaven."
"Mr. Di..."
"I know my back ulcer will never heal. I will have to go to the underworld to meet the ghosts who died at my hands. How many of them were killed unjustly? Alas, only when a person is about to die will he know how to repent."
Huailiang and Bao Zheng, who were standing behind Di Qing, saw blood seeping out of Di Qing's clothes on his back. That was where he had a sore on his back. The kneeling just now had obviously torn the wound open, and pus and blood were coming out. It must be very painful now.
"I have also suffered from a serious illness all my life, and I am afraid I will not live long." Yan Shu said. For some reason, he and Di Qing, his mortal enemy, suddenly felt a genuine sympathy for each other.
"Mr. Yan, your name Yan, according to Shuowen Jiezi, means blue sky. And your name Di means running dog. One is high and the other is low, one is clear and the other is turbid. Everyone can see it clearly." Di Qing's face became paler and paler, and his body leaned forward more and more. "Now, with foreign enemies at hand, Mr. Yan should be of high integrity and righteousness, and put aside the social status and help the court first..."
Di Qing suddenly fainted and fell forward. Yan Shu tried to hold him up but failed and saw him fall to the ground. He and Wen Yanbo beside him also saw the pus and blood oozing from Di Qing's back and were frightened for a moment.
Everyone was in a panic and didn't know what to do after helping Di Qing up.
"Don't panic." Huailiang shouted, "I know some medical skills, go get some wine."
"What kind of wine?" Bao Zheng asked.
"The spicy sauerkraut is best. And get some medicine to seal the knife wound."
"The coroner just left. I don't have any medicine for external injuries in my office?" Bao Zheng said.
"My lord, I have some in the barracks. I'll go get it."
Xu Chong rushed out of the hall. Huailiang tore open Di Qing's clothes from behind and waited for Bao Zheng to bring liquor to disinfect it. After a while, Xu Chong brought medicine for the knife wound. The bleeding stopped and Di Qing woke up groaning. Xu Chong and Huailiang hurriedly carried him outside. His carriage was at the corner gate. When the two came out, Shen Kuo and Yong'er came in a hurry. There was no time to say anything. Shen Kuo watched them leave.
He walked inside with a bewildered look on his face, and saw Yan Shu and Wen Yanbo bowing to Bao Zheng to say goodbye. The two turned around and saw Shen Kuo and Yong'er, but they were not too surprised. Yan Shu was in tears, with a guilty look on his face, not knowing what was going on. Shen Kuo and Yong'er stood there blankly, watching the two old men pass by. Yan Shu suddenly stopped and turned to Yong'er: "I'm sorry for you and your sister. But your sister is fine. I just got her report and was about to escape from the Maitreya Sect. Seeing you, I remembered something else."
Yan Shu tremblingly took out a strip of cloth from his lapel and handed it to Yong'er.
"You can give it to Bao Longtu."
After saying this, Yan Shu turned around and left trembling.
When Wing-yee heard that her sister was fine, she quickly opened the cloth strip, which read: The thieves are planning to burn the Heavenly Book. The new leader had his face covered, so his true appearance was unknown. Only a broken finger on his right hand was seen.
Shen Kuo quickly took out the cloth that Lao Liu had brought just now, and surprisingly he could piece it together with this one. The ink was the same, the handwriting was also the same, and there were also blurred words, indicating that it was folded before it dried. It can be seen that the original text was written on the same piece of cloth and then torn apart.
Yong'er looked up again, staring at Yan Shu walking away with his cane. In her heart, Yan Shu was more of a benefactor than a bad guy. If it weren't for Yan Shu, she and her sister would have died of hunger and cold when they were young.
Bao Zheng came out of the lobby, stood on the steps with his hands behind his back and sighed. He originally wanted Yong'er to confront him face to face and expose Yan Shu's conspiracy. Now it seems that it is not necessary. First, Yan Shu himself was arrogant when he first came, and he admitted that the thirty-year hat monster was his own doing. Secondly, Di Qing influenced Yan Shu for him and solved the party struggle that shook the country, which he was most worried about. He never expected that the one who could really take the overall situation into consideration was a warrior like Di Qing. The ones who would do anything to unite the party and fight against the dissidents were people like Wen Yanbo and Yan Shu who had been reading the books of sages all their lives.
"Husband..." Shen Kuo's words awakened Bao Zheng from his deep thought.
"Oh, you and Miss Hu come in first, have a drink of water, and wait for Huailiang and the others to come back."
The two went in. Yong'er sat down and looked around. She had no interest in what the men were talking about.
Over there, Shen Kuo and Bao Zheng were studying the two pieces of cloth on the table. It was obvious that Xiao Ping had written all the information on one piece of cloth at that time, and she must have sent it to Wen Yanbo and Yan Shu through other channels. But why did she tear it into two halves? There was no way to ask her now. A reasonable explanation was that the situation was urgent at that time, and she did not have time to write the same information, which can be seen from the sloppy handwriting on the cloth. As Wen Yanbo's female spy, she naturally had to complete her mission. However, she tore the cloth and asked Lao Liu to take out the information, which showed that she did not trust Wen Yanbo. So she temporarily gave the more important part of the information to her sister. It wrote the location where Maitreya would take action, and that there might be important information in Boss Pei's shop, and also asked Shen Kuo to take good care of her sister. At that time, it seemed incoherent because the part in Wen Yanbo and Yan Shu's hands was missing, which was the purpose of the opponent. They wanted to destroy the heavenly book this time. This was probably the purpose of the two . They wanted to give this part of the information to Bao Zheng conditionally. The purpose is to wait until the Heavenly Book is destroyed before arresting the Maitreya people.
"What a pity... If it weren't for Lord Di's noble character today, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to move those who are determined to unite and fight against dissidents. But I don't understand, Lord Yan and Lord Wen, they come to deal with me based on Xiao Ping's piece of cloth?"
"My husband, Xiao Ping's note clearly pointed out the Maitreya leader. That's why you two husbands are confident to come and discuss this with you. They want the Maitreya to burn the Heavenly Book first. Their confidence is that they are confident that they can capture the Maitreya leader."
"Are you sure? How do you know?" Bao Zheng looked at the two pieces of cloth again and found no information about the leader of the Maitreya Sect.
"Xiao Ping didn't find out the identity of the new leader, but she saw that the leader was missing a finger on his right hand."
"So what if you're missing a finger? There are probably many people in Bianliang who are missing fingers."
As they were talking, Huailiang and Xu Chong came back.
Lao Bao hurriedly asked Di Gong how he was. Xu Chong said that fortunately there was ready-made medicine in the mansion. He had applied the medicine and was temporarily stable. He was now half-conscious and half-asleep.
"I hope Di Gong is okay." Bao Zheng sighed again.
"There will be no trouble tonight, but I think Di Gong's fate has come to an end, and I'm afraid he won't last long. It's a pity that the country has lost its great leader. However, Di Gong has already gained great enlightenment, and he may be liberated. Very good, very good." said the monk.
"Di Gong is so wise and righteous that it really makes us ashamed." Lao Bao used the word "us" probably to represent Yan Shu and Wen Yanbo in setting the tone for this war between generals and ministers - the literati and officials were completely defeated.
"I see Lord Yan. He looks haggard but excited. I'm afraid he won't live long. What a pity! The country is about to lose a great and virtuous man. Amitabha." The monk didn't say a single auspicious word.
"I noticed that, too." Bao Zheng shook his head and said, "... That's right!"
Bao Zheng suddenly remembered what Shen Kuo had said that had just been interrupted.
"Cunzhong, how can we tell the leader from fasting?"
"My lord, I have seen a man with a severed finger who refused to show his true face to others."
"I have seen it too." Xu Chong slapped his thigh. "On the 15th of the second day, Master Xu and I entered the palace and ran into Fang Xiangshi who was performing the Nuo dance in the palace. She always used a mask to cover her face, and her right hand was missing a finger."
"That's right. I also saw the leader in the abandoned underground palace of Beimang Mountain. At that time, she was also wearing a mask and her true appearance could not be seen, but she looked very much like a woman. So the two of them met."
"Very similar?" Bao Zheng asked.
"Well, she can ventriloquize. Her voice is sometimes male and sometimes female, but more female."
"Did you see the leader's severed finger on that day in Beimang Mountain?"
“I haven’t seen it.”
"I haven't seen her true face, so I can't say it's definitely a girl."
"I know she is a woman." Yong'er, who was sitting far away, said, "When I was put into the sarcophagus, she held my hand. It was clearly a woman's hand, and it was also missing a finger. It was the index finger of my right hand."
After Yong'er finished speaking, she started teasing her eagle again.
"So, the leader is a woman, and she is missing a finger. Then the one who performed the Nuoyi, Xiangfang, is also a woman, and she is also missing a finger?" Bao Zheng frowned and thought.
"There is one more thing," Shen Kuo said, "That day outside the Yuqing Palace, Yu Jing left a tunnel under the Seven Stars Terrace that led to the river. I thought at the time, if he wanted to escape, why did he lead it to the river? Now I think it was because the fleet of the great Nuo master was leaving by the river. So he originally had a way to retreat. He wanted to meet up with the Nuo master and escape from the capital together during the chaos."
"But I also heard you say that the leader has a leg disease and can't walk? Since Fang Xiangshi can dance the Nuo dance, he must be able to walk."
"This..." Shen Kuo couldn't answer for a moment.
"The leg disease may be just a cover-up." Huailiang took over the topic. "Maybe he was practicing some kind of skill and injured his leg, making it inconvenient for him to walk. It's not that he can't walk."
"What kind of thing could hurt your leg?" Bao Zheng asked.
"I have seen Zoroastrian magic tricks, which require self-mutilation. For example, sticking spikes into the ribs is actually a hole made in the body where there are no blood vessels or internal organs, and a bamboo tube is inserted. When performing, a long needle is used to pierce the body, but it actually just passes through the skin and the gaps between the internal organs."
"Why so cruel?"
"There are even more cruel ones. The Western heretics buy children while they are still young, dislocate their legs and twist them, and bend their legs like dogs. They pretend to be disabled and beg on the streets or act as monsters in the lower houses. However, they can still walk, but their joints fall off easily, so they don't walk often."
I don’t know where Huailiang saw these horrific stories.
"Legs and feet bent?"
Shen Kuo thought of something else.
"My husband, I remembered the mantis-like monster I saw on the top of the Baifan Building. That day, I first saw a dignified woman playing the piano there, but then her body suddenly grew in size and chased after Xu Jieji and me like a mantis about 17 or 18 feet tall."
"Not bad, not bad." Xu Chong nodded quickly to indicate that this was the case.
"But then she jumped onto the roof and was as light as a swallow. Does that mean her sudden increase in size was just a trick?"
"Well, now that you mention it, it seems to be like that," said Xu Chong.
"Later, I played the instrument and cut my hand, and there was a gap on the string. Now, I think it might be that the player was missing a finger, so he used some sharp artificial finger to play on the stump, and thus cut the string?"
He suddenly thought of this section. Of course, later, when he eavesdropped on Xiao Ping's playing, the strings suddenly broke, which somehow made him Xiao Ping's soulmate. However, the foreshadowing of the broken strings may have been buried in the Baifan Building.
"There are five or six hundred imperial guards guarding outside the Yuqing Palace. Only Fang Xiangshi, whom the emperor trusts the most, can go in and burn the Heavenly Book." Bao Zheng nodded, "However, these evidences are not enough to arrest someone. Especially now, the emperor relies on her very much. Tomorrow at noon, we will hold another exorcism ceremony inside and outside the Yuqing Palace. The emperor wants to use Fang Xiangshi and the Heavenly Book to exorcise evil spirits and restore people's broken hearts."
What Lao Bao said was also true. At present, the imperial court was losing its mandate of heaven, and the only one who still had credibility among the people was Fang Xiangshi and the Heavenly Book, who were trying to turn the tide. How could they arrest people based on specious evidence?
"How difficult is that?" Huailiang said with a smile, "Why not take her down right away when she strikes?"
"During the Nuo ceremony tomorrow?"
"Yes, if she wants to burn the Heavenly Book, she can only do so tomorrow. Otherwise, I think the guest star will disappear in a few days. The opportunity will be lost. If the Heavenly Book is burned, the people in the world will be scattered, and the disappearance of the guest star will naturally not be important. This link must be connected."
"Isn't it a bit risky to give her the opportunity to take action?"
"My husband, this is the only way. Otherwise, go to the palace at dawn and report to the emperor. Tell His Majesty all the evidence we have. Do you think His Majesty will arrest her?"
"That definitely won't happen." Bao Zheng said with certainty.
"That's it. We'll all go there at midnight tomorrow and be extremely alert. Let's see what tricks she can play. As soon as she makes a move, we'll catch her." Huailiang said with great energy, just like when he was watching a magic show in a tile house, he vowed to see the tricks of the magic show clearly.
"That's the only way. There's one more thing. Minister Wen just mentioned that he asked Mu Sheng Yu Hao to create the hat monster 30 years ago, but it's different from the current one. The current hat monster is impossible to figure out."
"I just saw it." Xu Chong said.
"Have you seen it again? Have you ever tried the method I taught you?" Shen Kuo asked anxiously.
"I tried it, and it worked. I blew the silent whistle, and the Hat-demon came toward me. I didn't catch the Hat-demon, but I caught this..."
He took out something folded from his lapel. It was clearly a roll of black paper with thin strings attached on both sides, like a rope ladder. However, such a paper ladder would not be able to withstand the force.
"That's right. I guessed it." Shen Kuo slapped his thigh.
