Fengqi crabapple

Chapter 223 The underground river under the cliff
Because the Crown Princess was in the car, they didn't walk very fast.

"Apart from that path, is there any other way to reach the bottom of the cliff?" The Crown Princess opened the curtain and asked Shen Congxi who was riding beside the carriage.To find Cheng Hanbai, we have to start from this cliff.

Shen Congxi said: "This is a mountainous area, that is, mountains are stacked on top of each other. This locust ridge happens to be the first barrier on the roadside. One side faces the road, and the other side is endless mountains. The mountain is where the refugees gather. That path is where people walked out, and I didn’t realize there was a road nearby.”

The Crown Princess thought for a moment and then asked: "Is there a river on the back of the mountain? Are the plants growing luxuriantly?"

Shen Congxi shook his head, and when he saw the disappointment on the princess's face, he recalled carefully: "Although there is no river, there may be plenty of rain, and the plants in the valley are more lush than elsewhere."

"What kinds of plants...are there?" the Crown Princess became interested and asked.

Shen Congxi smiled: "Princess Concubine, you just got me in the exam. I don't know each other, so I didn't pay attention."

Yu Lang, who was walking behind, said: "I know the banana tree. At that time, I was afraid that its big leaves would block it, so I turned over it for a while, so I remembered it."

Haitang was overjoyed and her heart became clearer.She closed the curtain and said to Xie Ruitan: "There may be underground rivers in the valley. When you go down, pay attention to look for bananas, reeds, or noodle grass, golden Daidai, Malan flowers, and... big ant nests !”

"I recognize plantains, reeds, and ants, but I don't know what the others are..." Xie Ruitang said in embarrassment.

"Then I'll go down by myself!"

"No! Just stay up there and I'll kick or stomp on any suspicious places, okay?" Xie Ruitan quickly assured.If she was in the palace, Haitang should be restricted to the inner hall of the East Palace and not allowed to move around, right?Now this aunt still has to climb the cliff.
When they arrived at Lichao Ridge, Xie Ruitang refused to let go of his worries all the way even though he saw that Haitang was fine.He glanced at Haitang's stomach and said with a smile, "There must be a leather monkey inside, it can withstand all kinds of troubles!" He carried Haitang out of the car, and asked Shuang'er to quickly put on the cloak.

"Let's go down and search to see if there is an underground river." Xie Ruitang said to Yan Shiyi and the others.

Haitang nodded and said, "Look for plantains, reeds, noodle grass, goldenrod, malanthelia, and large ant nests and swallows' nests. These all like to grow and live near the water."

"Swallow? I've seen swallows down there! Their tails look like scissors, so they're easy to spot," Cheng Shuang said.

"Then let's go!" Yu Lang had been searching for a few days and was almost desperate. Now that the Crown Princess suddenly proposed a new idea, he was gearing up again.This time the prince is here too. Even if the young general is hiding in the soil, we must dig him out!
"Cong Xi, Ling Xue, An Qing, you and the Crown Princess stay on the cliff. Protect the Crown Princess and pay attention to safety." Xie Ruitang said, and before walking down the cliff, he added to Haitang: "You put the heavy rain Don’t run around with the pear blossom needle in your hand.”

At dawn, the road was easy to walk, but it took more than half an hour to get down to the cliff.After the Crown Princess specially pointed them out, everyone found some of the plants Haitang mentioned. Among them, the reeds were particularly obvious. They didn't even notice it at first. The reeds grew in a patch along the mountainside.

"This bush grows so unexpectedly," Xie Ruitang suddenly pointed to a patch of bushes and thorns and said, "There are reeds next to it, but here are thorns, cutting off the reeds. If something unusual happens, there must be a monster, go and have a look. "

At this time, Cheng Shuang also pointed to the sky and said, "This is where I saw the swallows. Look! Swallows!" Everyone looked up in the direction of his finger. There were several swallows with brown backs and white bellies and tails docked on the mountain. While flying, their nests are built in the grooves of rocks.

Yu Lang and Ling Feng walked over first and carefully inspected the thorn.

"It should be put together. The color of the soil is different. The soil on the thorns is drier than the one next to it." Yu Lang said as he squatted down and pushed aside the grass to take a closer look at the edges of the two fields.

Everyone gathered around, and sure enough, if you look carefully, there is a clear boundary between the dry soil under the three-step long and wide clump of thorns, and the wet soil under the reeds next to it, but the top is covered with grass, just look at the plants. Nothing unusual. "It takes such a big entrance and exit for horses to get in." Yan Shishi said.He pulled out his sword and stabbed it towards the boundary, but it only went down two inches, and it couldn't go any further.He smiled and said, "It can't be pried, there must be a mechanism nearby."

Ling Feng and others immediately circled the thorns and searched carefully.Yan Shiyi and Xie Ruitang went to check the rocks behind the thorns.

"Yes! Get out of the way." Yan Shiyi shouted.He stretched his hand into a small hole in the rock, and felt another protruding stone inside. He tried to press it, but there was no movement. Yan Shiyi held the stone and tried to twist it, and the whole thorn slowly sank. It went down, revealing a hole in the ground.

instantly.There was the sound of ding-dong ding-dong water flowing in the cave.

"Underground river!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Princess Concubine is really a god!" Yan Shixi patted the dust on her hands and laughed, "Without her reminder, I probably wouldn't have found this place if I searched for ten times." Yu Lang was so excited that his face turned red, There are a hundred of them, what have they been doing these days?

"Ling Yun and Cheng Shuang will stay outside with their own soldiers. Ling Feng, you pick a few people. We will only go in with ten people." Xie Ruitang said.Ling Feng saw that only Prince Edward, Eleven Lord, Yu Lang, Cheng Dan and him entered the cave.The situation inside is unclear, so it’s really hard to get everyone in there.

After entering the cave, it was completely dark inside. Everyone lit torches, and ten people walked carefully along the river.This is a cave washed out by the river. The top of the cave is two stories high, so it is quite spacious when walking around.When Xie Ruitang touched it, the stone wall was also wet.

Just like this, Heigulongdong walked no matter how far they went. A section of the underground river disappeared underground. Fortunately, the cave continued and was still very moist. After walking for a while, the underground river seemed to be playing a joke on them, and it disappeared again. came out, and the water began to flow with joy.A small bright spot also appeared in the distance.

Several people started to get excited: The exit has arrived!When I walked to "Two Points", I discovered that it was a large cave entrance, and the underground river flowed out into a clear mountain stream.

"This should be the back mountain of Centipede Ridge. The guide said it was called Savage Ridge. I didn't know there was a shortcut from the bottom of the mountain." Yu Lang said: "If the guide is right, this is the refugee settlement. "

"There are voices nearby!" Ling Xue said, "And there are many people."

A few people quietly climbed up a slope by the stream, but they didn't expect that what they saw was a simple town!A town crowded with refugees, a town made up of shanties where refugees live.

However, the town doesn't look very peaceful now, and there was a quarrel not far away: "Needless to say, tomorrow's copycat! We are going to settle this land. If it is not for the land, why should we hide in the mountains?" Come? There are many of you, but we got there first. The rules in the mountainous area are first come, first served, and we will never give in!"

"You arrived but didn't start using it. It was we who opened the wasteland after we arrived. I remember that King Taiping said that whoever opens the wasteland has the right."

"Prince Taiping? Prince Taiping is dead! We don't care about Prince Taiping."

Everyone understood that this was a battle for territory between different gangs among the refugees.King Taiping was killed, and there was no one to manage these millions of people, and it was only a matter of time before there was a fight.

Xie Ruitang made a gesture, and everyone went down the slope and returned to the underground river cave.

(End of this chapter)