The Jagged Emperor of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 60
A group of three boats carrying Liu Chan and others arrived at Jianye after nearly a month of sailing. The New Year has already passed.

Liu Chan originally wanted Zhuge Qiao to part with them here, and let him bring some people into the city to meet his biological parents.But his father should not be able to see him. Zhuge Jin should be fighting Jingzhou with Sun Quan at this time.But Zhuge Qiao didn't go ashore, and insisted on staying with Liu Chan. Liu Chan couldn't help feeling a little moved, and finally had to agree to go with him.

Their ship sailed all the way to Qua Port before finally reaching the end of the voyage.They would disembark here, and then travel south to Beigu Mountain in Dantu, where the Ganlu Temple where Sun Shangxiang was imprisoned is located.However, according to the original plan, after they arrived at Dantu, they would break up with Han Long and his disciples, Deng Ai, Wu Pu, and everyone who joined the camp halfway.

In fact, Deng Ai didn't want to leave Liu Chan, but Liu Chan felt that he should go outside to sharpen a lot, survey the terrain everywhere, and prepare for future wars.

Moreover, Han Long will use the name of merchants in Dantu and the area south of it to widely make friends with various ministries of Shanyue and hidden thieves in the mountains. If there is a conflict, Deng Ai can also show off his military talents. Shi Guangyuan's achievements in learning the art of war.

In the end, Deng Ai couldn't argue, so he had to agree.The purpose of Wu Pu's trip this time was to heal Lu Su's body, but now he is fighting and can't find anyone, so it's better to let him follow Han Long first, and then inquire about Lu Su's news along the way!
In fact, Liu Chan had very important strategic considerations for asking Han Long to make friends with Shanyue.The ethnic groups in Shanyue originally belonged to the Baiyue ethnic group before the Qin and Han Dynasties. Due to the integration of ethnic groups since the Qin and Han Dynasties, they are not much different from the Han people. Some of them also included some Han people who came to the mountains because they escaped government taxes, also known as "mountain people".

The production method of Shanyue is mainly based on agriculture, planting grains, and "copper and iron come out of the mountain", and often "self-made soldiers".They scattered in large groups, lived in small groups, practiced martial arts well, and relying on dangerous mountains, they formed armed groups. The death of local officials once forced many local officials to dare not take office at all.

However, they would still be conquered by Zhuge Qiao's brother Zhuge Ke later, and all the [-] strong men they got would join the army, and the troubles of Shanyue were gradually relieved.Therefore, Liu Chan is preparing in advance for future actions against Soochow.

The route of Han Long's caravan has already been fully planned: After passing through Dantu, it will continue south to Piling Diannong Xiaowei, Songjiang, Wujun, Yuhang, Kuaiji, Yuyao and other mountainous areas where the mountains gather, and then Xixiang came to Yuzhang County to carry out necessary supplies, and finally returned to Jingzhou through the Wuximan area.So after reaching Dantu, Han Long, Deng Ai and Liu Chan will act separately.

After Han Long got off the ship, he hired hundreds of people in Qu'a, and it took four to five days to unload the three ships, filling up more than a hundred vehicles.If the driver is counted, the number of Liu Chan and his party has reached 500, and they set off for Dantu in a mighty manner.

After arriving at the foot of Beigu Mountain, Liu Chan broke up with Han Long and started climbing the mountain with Zhuge Qiao and Zhao Feng's guards.

Beigu Mountain is actually not tall, like a lonely turtle shell, buckled upside down on the edge of the Yangtze River.But it got its name because it overlooks Beigu from a distance, lies across the river, has steep stone walls and steep mountains.

The road along the way is actually very difficult to walk. Even if Liu Chan is sitting in the carriage, he still feels extremely bumpy, like a mung bean falling into a sieve, which is really uncomfortable.

However, since he could see Sun Shangxiang soon, he was very excited, so he didn't care too much about how hard he had worked.

When he came to the peak behind Beigu Mountain, Liu Chan discovered that the rumored Ganlu Temple was actually not that big.

The temple door looked a little low, and was painted black, and the two door handles on it had been polished to shine.

The door was closed.Inside the white wall, occasionally one or two branches protrude, the color is lovely green, a little bit makes people feel that the owner here is not a person who rejects people thousands of miles away.

What makes people feel a little strange is that there are four or five soldiers guarding the door.Liu Chan knew in his heart that Sun Shangxiang was probably right to be under house arrest here.He wanted to go in immediately, but was stopped by Zhuge Qiao.

Zhuge Qiao thought for a while, and said, "This is the territory of Soochow Wu. You should keep a low profile and not reveal your identity."

Liu Chan understood the meaning of Zhuge Qiao's words: don't conflict with the other party casually.He asked Zhao Feng to ask if pilgrims were allowed to worship here.No, those soldiers were very arrogant. Not only did they not answer Zhao Feng's questions, they even picked up weapons to drive Zhao Feng away.

Before Zhao Feng got Liu Chan's order to act, he had no choice but to negotiate with those soldiers, and finally the two sides actually quarreled.Liu Chan was already anxious in his heart, but now that things have developed like this, he wants to order all the silver armored guards to step forward and pick those Wu soldiers!
At this moment, the gate of Ganlu Temple was opened from the inside, and a heroic female soldier in leather armor walked out.As soon as the female soldier went out, she shouted loudly: "What's the noise? It's so noisy. Why can't you calm down a bit, if the princess hears it, I might give you dozens of whips!"

Then, the female soldier's beautiful eyes swept over Zhao Feng, and she couldn't help showing a look of surprise on her face: "You, you...how did you come here?"

Zhao Feng took a closer look and recognized this woman as one of Sun Shangxiang's female guards. This person also lived in Jiangling City for two years, and everyone gets along day and night, so they are naturally familiar.Zhao Feng was overjoyed, they drifted thousands of miles down from Jingzhou, finally found the right place, and hurriedly asked: "Madam Sun is in this temple?"

The female guard nodded.Zhao Feng pulled her aside, told her in a low voice to go in and inform his wife that someone came to see her, and pointed to Liu Chan in the distance.

Seeing the two children of Liu Chan and Zhuge Qiao, the waitress was a little puzzled at first, but soon understood, and asked in a low voice, "Is one of the two children the one?"

Zhao Feng nodded, the maid asked Zhao Feng to wait outside, and she immediately went inside to report.After a while, the maid rushed out again, yelling to tell the Wu soldiers who were guarding to go away, and welcomed Liu Chan and others in, while the guards were left outside to wait.

After entering the temple, Liu Chan didn't walk very far when he saw a small shallow pool beside the road.Although it is winter at this time, there are still some duckweed floating in the pond, showing a yellowish and greenish color.

There are two stones standing by the pool, the surface has been eroded mottled by wind and rain, but each split into two pieces, which looks very neat.

Liu Chan guessed that this should be the "Sword Test Stone" cut out by his father Liu Bei and Sun Quan with their swords.He stopped and asked, "Is this the sword-testing stone used by Uncle Liu and Marquis Wu?"

The female guard Yingying replied: "Master, that's right."

Liu Chan walked over and looked up at the stone for a while.He told Zhuge Qiao and Zhao Feng that when Liu Bei was under house arrest in Soochow and was swimming here with Sun Quan, Liu Bei saw a huge rock in the pool, drew out his sword and prayed silently to the sky: "If I can return to Jingzhou, I will become a king and overlord." Karma, the sword will crack the stone, if you die here, you will not be able to chop the stone." With the sword in hand, the stone cracked.Sun Quan asked: "Why did Xuande chop this stone with his sword?" Liu Bei naturally had duplicity.

So Sun Quan also drew out his sword and struck at another stone, and the sword fell open.The two looked at each other, looked up to the sky and laughed, and left behind these two cracked stones, which later generations called "Sword Test Stones".Only then did the two realize that these two seemingly ordinary stones had such an extraordinary story, and they couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

Because he missed Sun Shangxiang in his heart, Liu Chan didn't stay at the sword-testing stone for long, and was led by the maid to the inner courtyard.At this time, the female guard stopped letting Zhuge Qiao and Zhao Feng go any further, so Liu Chan had to let both of them wait outside, and followed the female guard inside.

The scene in the inner courtyard was very different from Liu Chan's own imagination. Apart from a courtyard full of flowers and plants, there was not even a weapon rack.

Sun Shangxiang's house has no weapons, so is it still Sun Shangxiang's place?
Passing through the yard and coming to a Buddhist hall, I heard the sound of a wooden fish.

The vision inside the Buddhist hall is a bit dark, but one can see a not very tall lacquered gold Buddha statue standing on the Buddhist seat, with a rather stern and benevolent expression.

Its eyes stare straight ahead, standing quietly, as if telling every worshiper: You should not be obsessed with this life, but expect the blessings of future generations.

Under the hall, there is a woman dressed in Luosang and wearing pearl hairpins on her head. While beating the wooden fish, she knelt in front of the Buddha statue and chanted sutras in a low voice with a clear and pious voice.

When Liu Chan saw this woman, the first feeling in his heart was that this person was definitely not Sun Shangxiang, because Sun Shangxiang would not dress so luxuriously until he received distinguished guests.

But her back view and her voice are so familiar, he can't help but remind him of the scenes in Jiangling City: the way Sun Shangxiang called him a little fat man, the way he threw him into the air and then caught him, the way he was sleeping with his arms around him on the day of illness ...Thinking about it, Liu Chan couldn't help but burst into tears.

Liu Chan shouted in a low voice: "Mother."

The woman turned around, and Liu Chan saw a face that was slightly haggard but still haunted him.She is Sun Shangxiang, the mother Liu Chan pursued for thousands of miles!
Looking at the grown-up Adou, Sun Shangxiang's eyes turned red immediately: "You are Adou, I didn't expect you to grow so big!"

"Mother!" Liu Chan rushed into the temple quickly, threw herself into Sun Shangxiang's arms, and burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)