fifth form

Chapter 2571: Many Unexpected Events
Almost all the people in Zhangjiazhuang are in a state of dispersion, with husbands unable to see their wives and children unable to see their parents, thus being divided.

This method of detention in the Huainan Palace caused great trouble to Zhang Xuezhou and others, and also resulted in them only rescuing half of the people in their initial rescue.

But Zhang Xuezhou must also admit that he had done his best at the time. The ways to escape Huainan involving food, weapons, and mounts were not something that could be accomplished on a whim, and the planned escape route also needed to avoid conflicts.

The success of the first rescue was somewhat due to luck, and the next rescue attempt obviously could not be done just by talking.

"Let's go to Shouchun first and eavesdrop on them and see how their search for Changxing is going?"

If the Beishan area remains heavily guarded, it will be difficult for Zhang Xuezhou to find a breakthrough.

If the search for Changxing causes the Beishan area of ​​Shouchun to slacken off, Zhang Xuezhou can wait for an opportunity to act.

The former will allow Zhang Xuezhou to search for Changxing based on the information, while the latter can allow him to try to rescue him. He has options no matter what the situation.

"Master Dong also came to Shouchun City, so why didn't he participate in the search for Changxing? But the matter of Bairou is indeed too important. Or maybe Master Dong's flying skills are too low, so he returned to Chang'an City before Changxing fell? Or maybe Master Dong knew the seriousness of the matter and hurriedly left Chang'an City before coming to Huainan to investigate?"

Zhang Xuezhou was quite familiar with the location of Shouchun City in Huainan. This was not only because he had been to Shouchun City many times, but also because there was a place favored by the Water Palace in the Huai River that encircled Shouchun City.

This special positioning allows him to easily find Shouchun City in the dark.

In the middle of the night, Shouchun City was completely silent, with only a few guesthouses displaying lanterns, and the only area with bright lights was the royal palace.

Zhang Xuezhou was familiar with the route and found a dark area to land.

He also thought of Dong Zhongshu, who was always in a hurry to go to Chang'an City.

"I'll go check out the situation at the Huainan Palace first!"

Zhang Xuezhou looked around and then sat down on the ground.

When it points towards the body, the yang soul body pulled by magic power emerges.

The limited magic power he controls makes his yang soul not only short, but also limited in the distance it can detect.

However, the profound magic power in the realm of supernatural powers allowed his yang soul to take shape, with all the necessary parts missing and his body size being extremely well-proportioned, unlike the big-headed dolls condensed by some mages.

It is not uncommon for many great monks from the Yide River Holy Land to use their yang soul incarnations to cause trouble in Chang'an City. Zhang Xuezhou had done this a long time ago.

If it is possible to do bad things without anyone noticing, Zhang Xuezhou believes that everyone will try it.

Normal cultivators need to plan carefully before sneaking into important areas, but for Zhang Xuezhou, all of this is a piece of cake.

After simply entrusting Rong Tianding with the protection of his physical body, Zhang Xuezhou transformed into a small figure and floated away.

“So busy!”

The Shouchun city area was extremely quiet, but once entering the Huainan Palace, it became busy and did not stop even in the middle of the night.

Baskets of soaked beans were scooped out of the well water and sent to the stone mill to be crushed.

The white soy juice flows like a stream along the pipe designed under the grinding mill into a large basin, and is then scooped out one scoop at a time into a large cauldron that is heated by fire.

There is normal pre-made white meat, and there is also white meat that has been formed into blocks.

These new foods made from gypsum water were wrapped in cloth and then slowly squeezed out of the water by placing them on bluestone.

Some of the drained white meat is fried in boiling oil until golden brown, some of the white meat is left in a certain area until it turns green and hairy, some of the white meat is pickled into minced meat, and some is smoked with spices.

Compared with Zhang Xuezhou's crude test, the Huainan Palace is obviously constantly researching various ways to use white meat.

Zhang Xuezhou also saw various dishes made from white meat, as well as white meat mixed with rice. There were also hundreds of men, women, young and old with chains wrapped around their feet, looking pale as hell, being held in prison vans, queuing up to wait for feeding tests.

Obviously, what Dong Zhongshu and Zhang Xuezhou could think of, the core figures in the Huainan royal court could also think of.

It is no exaggeration to say that white meat is a strategic asset because it can turn horse feed into delicious food.

However, compared with Zhang Xuezhou's decisiveness, the Huainan royal court is still testing back and forth, trying to test out all the problems of white meat as much as possible.

The amount of water in the white meat, the number of days it can be stored under different conditions, the ingredients it can be paired with, and the condition of the meat after people eat it are all recorded.

There are also medical officers stationed next to the many people who eat the food to prevent them from getting sick after eating.

"Seems a bit like someone from our village?" The testers at the Huainan Palace could distinguish them better. Some of those with tattoos on their foreheads were prisoners, while some who had not been branded were most likely those who wanted to gamble their lives to make merit, or were forced to come for the food tasting because they were restrained.

After looking at these men and women with rough hands and feet and haggard faces, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but frown.

He was only eighteen years old when he left the village, and now he is thirty years old. Many uncles and aunts have become old men and women. Moreover, the people in Zhangjiazhuang have always been doing rough labor, and their aging is very obvious. It is very difficult to distinguish them just by looking at the naked eye.

"If we were in Xishi Mountain, we could take advantage of the weak defenses to sneak away, but what should we do if we are in the Huainan Palace?"

Hiding his body, Zhang Xuezhou floated around and kept observing, and kept hovering near many people, constantly observing these elderly people who had never been branded.

After more than ten years in captivity, even the most high-spirited youngster would fall into depravity, let alone an elderly person.

Zhang Xuezhou looked at these old people with their heads down. Only occasionally could he see the unwillingness in their cloudy eyes.

"Zhang Zhoushi, it's your turn!"

Zhang Xuezhou originally wanted to explore around the Huainan Palace, but he waited for a long time next to the prison car waiting for food tasting.

Until a garrison officer came over with a plate of fried white meat, Zhang Xuezhou quickly approached.

"Sir, can I see my family after I eat?"

The white-haired old woman raised her head and asked, and the garrison officer responded nonchalantly.

"As long as you can complete the rounds of tasting, you will get what you agreed to in the first place!"

The garrison officer in charge of monitoring the meals and the official negotiating the terms were obviously not the same person, but those who were trying the food had no right to choose. Even though they knew that the person was different, they could only ask with a glimmer of hope.

After the garrison officer urged her twice, the old woman had no choice but to swallow the food she had eaten over and over again in big gulps.

Before I had any contact with them, these foods were undoubtedly delicious, but I couldn't bear to eat the same food every day.

As long as the time comes, many testers need to eat.

If one cannot swallow the food or dies, it means the failure of the test, and thus the desired result.

Of course, the old woman was lucky. The food she ate was not too bad. Those tasters who happened to choose hairy food would have a hard time surviving three days.

"Zhang Houren?"

When a small voice asked in the old woman's ear, the white-haired old woman quickly raised her head and looked around.

"There's still half left. Can't you eat any more?"

At the garrison officer's question, the old woman had no choice but to lower her head again and continue swallowing the food that was beginning to make her feel sick after eating it repeatedly.

Zhang Xuezhou, who was in charge of the testing, sighed. He looked at the area in the palace where the white meat was produced and tested, and then at the guards patrolling back and forth with swords. He felt that it was almost impossible to rescue people from the palace.

This made Yang Po start searching other areas of the Huainan Palace.

"wonderful!"

After passing through two silent palaces, Zhang Xuezhou arrived outside the main hall of the Huainan Palace.

He was just about to cautiously approach the brightly lit hall to listen when he heard a shout and applause broke out in the hall.

"With this Midas touch, even if I can only maintain the golden time for a month, I will have countless wealth!"

In the hall, as the narration became complete, Zhang Xuezhou also recognized the voice of King Huainan.

"I never thought that we could really perform the legendary method of turning stone into gold. As long as we mix the magic gold with real gold, no one would find out, not to mention a month, even a year!"

"The Eight-Step Immortal Pill failed to be refined, but Li Qi and Shu Jin who accidentally refined it are both amazing!"

"I have always said that Dongfang Shuo is a very blessed person. Ling'er has done a great deed by taking his Eight Steps to Immortality Pill formula!"

The hall was filled with heat waves. As the voices continued, Zhang Xuezhou could recognize the voices of King Huainan, Liaotu, Liu Qian and others.

But the conversation among the crowd also made Zhang Xuezhou stunned.

The Prince of Huainan and his gang failed to produce the genuine Eight-Step Immortality Pill, but they did produce one unexpected by-product after another.