The Devil's Tribulation

On the city wall, there are six princes, headed by the crown prince. They are all Uncle Niu's "good brothers". The fourth prince Zhou Shiqing, the crown prince Zhou Shijun (the second prince), the seventh prince Zhou Shijie, the eighth prince Zhou Shimin, the ninth prince Zhou Shiqing, and the eleventh prince Zhou Shibin. These are the princes who have been granted the title of prince and have the strength to compete for the throne. Oh, there is also the eldest prince Zhou Shili, who is now leading troops in the army and is also the biggest threat to the crown prince. The crown prince has always wanted to remove the eldest prince's military power, but His Majesty the Emperor seems to deliberately prevent the crown prince from succeeding, intending to cultivate a powerful opponent for the crown prince. Looking at these princes, you should know what kind of dangerous place the capital is.

After the Third Prince finished organizing the team, he turned around and bowed to his brothers, then turned around and shouted, "Let's go!" The team set off in a mighty manner. After the Third Prince turned around, he also showed sarcasm on his face: "You just stay in the capital. When I take the Fifteenth Prince, you will cry!" The Third Prince knew that the Fifteenth Prince had always been a thorn in his father's side. Although he had ignored him for so many years, he asked him to take him back as soon as there was news. The Third Prince thought to himself: "In the past, the palace said that the Fifteenth Prince was the most like my father, and my father also liked the Fifteenth Prince very much. It was just that he was found out that he could not practice, so he was neglected for a while, and indirectly killed the Fifteenth Prince's mother, Concubine De. Although my father did not say it in these years, he must have felt indebted to the Fifteenth Prince and his mother." The Third Prince was not a fool, but the smartest among these brothers. He did not understand it at first, but after thinking about it, he guessed the emperor's thoughts. Although he did not guess everything, he guessed five or six points correctly.

In the hall, His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Zhou suddenly asked, "Has he set out already?" The eunuch Zhao Quan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Third Prince has just set out, and several other princes have gone to see him off." The Emperor had no expression on his face, but he secretly thought in his heart, "I hope I can successfully bring back the Fifteenth. His body-building skills will be of great help to the army!" It turned out that His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Zhou had long known about his youngest son through his own information channels. After he "ran away from home" that year, he met Taoist Yu and followed Taoist Yu to practice body-building skills. But later the news was cut off. After Uncle Niu and Taoist Yu were attacked, Uncle Niu began to hide his identity, and the emperor never heard from his son again. The sudden news of the Fifteenth was undoubtedly good news for Emperor Zhou Zhixiong: "As long as I can train a group of body-building warriors in the army, I can sweep across the Chu State, the Qi State, and even other neighboring countries! Achieve the immortal achievements of the Great Zhou! Surpass all ancestors! Even..."

Thinking of this, His Majesty's heart was also surging with excitement. The eunuch beside him seemed to have sensed the emperor's mood change and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, should we let the shadow guards secretly protect the third prince? After all, Fancheng is not far from the border." His Majesty nodded without saying anything and continued to review the memorials. The eunuch immediately understood the emperor's meaning and bowed down to give orders.

Trouble has already set off, heading for Fancheng. Pan Chengfeng was carrying the tripod and running in the Red Mountains. He had already run 100 kilometers, at a speed of kilometers per hour, for eight hours! Now he was too tired to move, running from early in the morning until after two in the afternoon. His stomach was growling with hunger: "No, it's really too much to double the speed at once. And I'm carrying the tripod, so let's stop today, go back and eat." Thinking of eating, Pan Chengfeng reluctantly stood up and carried the tripod back to the cave.

In this way, Pan Chengfeng trained his physical endurance at this intensity every day. After a month, he was finally able to complete the goal of 1,000 kilometers a day with relative ease. The Third Prince's team had also arrived in Fancheng.

Fancheng, in the Great Zhou Kingdom, is not a big city, and can barely be ranked as a third-rate city. Compared with the capital, the gap is even greater. After the third prince entered the city, he kept frowning. He had never seen such a broken city: "Old Fifteen has been hiding here for more than ten years?" As if seeing through the third prince's thoughts, Prefect Lu smiled and said, "Your Highness, Fancheng is the most prosperous city in the surrounding area. Of course, it can't be compared with the capital, after all, it is not far from the border." The third prince thought about it and it was true. He passed by many cities along the way, and basically did not stop in order to hurry. However, it is much better than Fancheng. The third prince nodded and said to himself: "Hurry up and find Old Fifteen and bring him back. This damn place is uncomfortable to stay for one more day." Then he asked, "How did you find the dagger? Tell me in detail."

Prefect Lu originally thought it was just a routine report, but he didn't expect the emperor to take it so seriously that he actually sent a prince to handle it. He thought to himself: "If I can do the job well this time, maybe I can leave this damn place of Fancheng, find a lucrative job, and earn back the money I have paid as a filial son over the years!" Prefect Lu was still dreaming about the lucrative job, and the third prince was already a little impatient: "What? Is there anything you can't tell me?" Prefect Lu came to his senses after hearing what the third prince said, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, it's like this. The dagger was not found in Fancheng, but in a county town under my jurisdiction. For details, we may have to ask the local county magistrate." The third prince frowned even more tightly: "We have to go to the county town?" Prefect Lu smiled and said: "The county is about 900 miles away from Fancheng. If you ride a horse, it will take about three days." The third prince was surprised and said: "Three days? No, let someone ride a dragon horse and find the county magistrate for me. I will question him in person! I will ask him in the evening!" Prefect Lu bowed and said yes.

Lixian County, the backyard of the county government office. Master Wu can already get out of bed and walk, but he still limps a little. Seeing that his son is fine, Magistrate Wu finally put his mind at ease and was in the mood to drink, listen to music and watch dances. It has been more than two months since he wrote a letter to Magistrate Lu in Fancheng, and no other news has been received. Magistrate Wu guessed that there are only two possibilities. One is that Magistrate Lu knew that the prince went to the border, so he didn't ask much. The other is that Magistrate Lu didn't know either, and is now reporting it. The news has been back and forth to the capital, and it should be about time for the news to come back, probably in the next two days. No matter which one it is, Magistrate Wu is ready to deal with it.

While listening to the song and watching the dance, a servant suddenly ran in hurriedly, disturbing County Magistrate Wu's elegance. The servant ignored County Magistrate Wu's murderous eyes and said hurriedly: "Master! The imperial envoy has come to the capital, and he is at the gate of the yamen. You are asked to go and greet him!" County Magistrate Wu was startled when he heard this, and immediately stood up and asked: "What envoy?" The servant replied: "I don't know, but it's the Third Prince's people." County Magistrate Wu was not calm this time, and immediately ran to the gate of the yamen. County Magistrate Wu never expected that a prince would come.

Magistrate Wu hurried to the gate of the yamen, and saw a guard in red official uniform, with a cold face, riding on a dragon-headed horse with a lion's tail. There was another empty horse behind, which seemed to be prepared for him. Magistrate Wu hurriedly tidied his clothes and bowed, saying, "I didn't know that the emperor was coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming you from afar." Magistrate Wu was a civil servant, and since ancient times, civil officials were more important than military officials, so he was not afraid of the guard. However, he was the guard of the third prince, so he still bowed first. Seeing that the civil servant was so tactful, the guard didn't have the same cold expression as before, and said, "The third prince has an order to ask you questions. Do you have anything else to prepare? Otherwise, leave early, the third prince will ask you questions tonight." After saying that, he also showed the token of the third prince.

When Magistrate Wu saw the token, he immediately confirmed that it was the token of the Third Prince. He bowed and said, "Please allow me to tell you something. We can set off in half an hour." The guard nodded, and Magistrate Wu turned around and said, "Please invite this gentleman to the inner hall for tea." Then he bowed to the guard and turned back to the backyard.

County Magistrate Wu didn't have anything to explain. He just wanted to buy some time to think about what questions the Third Prince would ask him. The first thing that came to his mind was, was there something wrong with the prince that Sun Erleng brought here? Otherwise, why did he invite another prince here? But he shouldn't have made a mistake with the dagger. If the identity of that prince was not a problem, then why did the Third Prince come here in person? You have to know that it must be the will of His Majesty the Emperor to let the prince run from the capital to this remote place.

Wu County Magistrate was puzzled and walked around in the backyard. He couldn't figure out the problem. He was unsure about this visit to the Third Prince. If he said something wrong, it might bring disaster. Wu County Magistrate muttered: "One prince summoned another prince? And he came by order?" Wu County Magistrate seemed to have grasped something: "Could it be that the missing prince?" Although it happened decades ago, it was the biggest event in the royal family in all those years. Although the emperor issued a gag order, the truth could not be hidden, and it finally came out. Everyone knew that the prince "ran away from home" because his mother died, and there was no news after that.

Thinking that it is very likely that the missing prince appeared in the county under his jurisdiction, County Magistrate Wu broke out in a cold sweat. If this is true, he might be in trouble! A prince has been hiding under his nose for so many years, and he didn't even notice it! But then he thought: "I have only been in office for two years. If I have to bear the bad luck, it will be the tall one first! There is no time, and I can't think of any other way. If I really want to punish him, I can only drag Prefect Lu to take the blame! Who made him receive so many benefits from me over the years! Oh, and there is also that Sun Erleng! He was the first to find out, so he can't escape! We are all in trouble together!"

Prefect Lu, who had been targeted by County Magistrate Wu, was now in a secret room talking to a man with an immortal appearance. Prefect Lu was originally quite happy, but after listening to the words of the immortal, he could not be happy at all, and even his legs began to tremble.