HLnovel Chapter 795 One-Day Tour
Chapter 795 One-Day Tour
At this moment, Zhao Renzhi also came over and he also found something wrong in the room.
"Have you also noticed something is wrong? Someone has entered the room!"
"Yes, we also found it. We were just about to look for you!" Qian Jie said solemnly.
"Renzhi, I just checked the luggage carefully and found that this man was not here for gold and silver. He hardly touched the banknotes. Instead, he looked through the interlayers of clothes and documents very carefully," Zhang Pingan said his discovery at this time.
"So you think it's not Prefect Cao?" Zhao Renzhi crossed his arms and thought about it.
Zhang Ping'an nodded: "It's probably not him. I see that he is very satisfied with his current job and he is cautious in nature. How could he do such a reckless and thankless thing? It doesn't make sense."
"What should we do now? If we don't catch this bad guy with bad intentions, we won't be able to travel to Guazhou with peace of mind," Qian Jie frowned.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Ping'an looked up and suggested: "In that case, why don't we catch the turtle in the jar? It can be seen that the thief left in a hurry today. He didn't find what he wanted. I'm sure he will come again later. We can set up traps and wait and see. He dared to break into the inn where the second-rank official lived. He must be very brave. I think he will come again."
"Well, that makes sense. Could it be... that they are coming for the map, your imperial edict to patrol the border, and the token?" At this time, Zhao Renzhi thought of another possibility.
They all knew that the Jinwu Khanate would most likely send people to interfere in this western tour.
For them, the most valuable thing is the national map of the Great Zhou.
In addition, Zhang Ping'an's border patrol edict and token also played a significant role.
Zhang Pingan naturally thought of this, but he was not willing to escalate the matter to this level for the time being.
Otherwise, the matter would have to be reported to the court, and Prefect Cao would have to intervene, and things would have become complicated before anything happened.
At the same time, it also shows that they are incompetent and ineffective.
This is not a good idea.
Qian Jie and Zhang Ping'an had the same idea. "Brother Zhao, let's try it ourselves first. If we can catch the person, that would be the best. Otherwise, it won't be too late to report it to the court. It would be too troublesome to let Prefect Cao intervene. Although it's unlikely that Prefect Cao did it, we should always be on guard against him."
Zhao Renzhi was a man who would listen to advice: "Well, you are right, I was not thoughtful enough. Let's do this. First, we will catch the thief in a jar. It happens that I have brought a few masters with good martial arts skills with me. I will let them lie in ambush and keep an eye on the situation, and then set up some traps in the room. If the thief comes again, he will not be able to escape."
"Okay, that's settled. Let's not make this matter public for now. We should just do what we need to do these next two days. We should prepare food and other supplies, and act more naturally," Zhang Ping'an made the final decision.
Then he comforted the two of them, saying, "I'll have Chibao arrange for more patrols tonight. Don't worry too much. Get some rest. We still have important work to do tomorrow!"
Zhao Renzhi nodded in agreement, and went out with Zhang Pingan and returned to their own rooms.
But it was impossible for him to sleep for a while. He was a sensitive and suspicious person. After this incident, a bunch of conspiracies and tricks against him flashed through his mind. How could he sleep?
Zhang Ping'an's mentality was much calmer than his. After he had eaten his fill and the accompanying guards came in to check, he confirmed that there was no problem and then went to sleep peacefully.
The next morning, after washing my face and changing my clothes, I immediately felt refreshed.
Zhao Renzhi came out with big dark circles under his eyes and yawned, and it was obvious that he didn't sleep well.
But he was also a ruthless man. He forced himself to drink two large bowls of strong tea before breakfast, which made him feel a little better.
Qian Jie was a bit better than him and didn't laugh at him. He just advised: "You can't stay up like this tonight. You have to take care of yourself!"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Zhao Renzhi said with a smile.
Qian Jie had no idea about his brainstorming session last night, so he just expressed his concern a few times and said nothing more.
As a thousand-year-old capital and a former international metropolis, Xi'an has many famous scenic spots and historical sites.
Although the three of them had important matters to attend to today, they were not in a hurry and first went to the famous gardens Qujiang Pond and Xingyuan.
He was accompanied by the same low-ranking officials who had been with him at the night market yesterday.
The poem "Two Poems on Qujiang" by a poet of the previous dynasty, "Butterflies flying through the flowers can be seen clearly, and dragonflies skimming the water fly slowly", describes the spring scenery of Qujiang.
Whenever there are grand events such as "Drinking at Qujiang River" and "Exploring the Flowers in Apricot Garden", a large number of literati and poets gather here.
Unfortunately, it is early winter now, and when the three of them went there, they could not see the beautiful scenery of spring, and there were not many people. Zhao Renzhi felt that it was boring, so he stood there for a while and then left.
Then the three of them went to Leyouyuan.
Leyouyuan is located at the commanding heights in the southeast of Xi'an City. It has a high and open terrain and is the best place to climb up and see the distant view.
The poem "Climbing Leyouyuan" "I feel uncomfortable towards evening, so I drive to climb the ancient plain. The sunset is so beautiful, but it is near dusk" has made him famous throughout the ages.
Even Zhang Ping'an had heard of this poem in his previous life.
"There's something interesting here," Qian Jie commented with a smile, looking into the distance.
The accompanying officials had been riding around all morning and were quite tired. Seeing the opportunity, they quickly suggested, "My lords, after a morning of strolling around, I'm sure you're all tired. How about we take a break at a nearby restaurant and then have dinner?"
"It's still early. We still have one place to go. Let's wait until we get there before having dinner!" Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.
Climbing to a high place and looking far into the distance, I saw the vast open fields. After exhaling the foul air, I felt much better.
He didn't want to waste these precious days on eating and drinking.
"Yes, let's wait until we visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda before having dinner!" Qian Jie agreed.
"That's right. Now that we are in Xi'an, there is no reason not to visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We must write a poem and leave it there," Zhao Renzhi also clapped his hands and smiled.
As the iconic building of Xi'an, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda has always been a place where newly-appointed scholars have their names inscribed on it. This is a special honor and one of the highest honors in life.
Whether it is writing poems or titles, only people of status can do it.
Most of the literati are very enthusiastic about it.
The official smiled bitterly in his heart and had no choice but to follow the three people to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Poor him, his old arms and legs are so tired, riding a horse is really too tiring.
The overall style of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is majestic, simple, and strong, full of power and religious solemnity. Even though it has suffered from the baptism of war, through the inscriptions and poems in different handwritings left by the predecessors, we can still get a glimpse of what this famous pagoda looked like in its heyday.
The bottom floor of the tower is embedded with a precious cultural relic - the "Preface to the Three Treasures of the Holy Teachings" stele, as well as the signature of the emperor of the previous dynasty.
This shows its former glory.
There is a wooden staircase inside the tower that spirals up, and each floor has an arched doorway from which one can look out. For that era, this level of architecture was considered very good.
"It looks a bit like Wangjiang Tower"!
After they reached the last floor, Zhang Pingan couldn't help but feel emotional.
In comparison, Wangjiang Tower is more luxurious, with clusters of flowers, while Dayan Pagoda is heavy, with a strong sense of historical accumulation.
Looking at the traces of smoke and fire that had been restored, Zhao Renzhi was somewhat disappointed. "What a shame! It's now completely unrecognizable. I've heard of the fame of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda before, but seeing it today, it's such a shame!"
The subordinate explained with a smile, "It can't be helped. There wasn't peace in those early years, so few people cared about the towers and steles. Those foreign barbarians only cared about gold and silver, and didn't care about these things. They burned everything they couldn't take. It was really in a mess. Later, Lord Cao had people repair it, and now it's worth seeing."
The implication is that if it had not been repaired, what the people saw today would have been even more dilapidated.
"I think it's okay. Okay, let's go eat. It's past lunch time." Qian Jie smiled and took Zhao Renzhi's arm to change the subject.
For lunch, we found the best restaurant nearby and had some local Xi'an specialties with a strong flavor.
Several people kept drinking water after eating.
The subordinates felt that there was something wrong with their arrangements and apologized several times in panic.
Zhang Ping'an did not blame him and asked his subordinates to lead the way to Zhongnan Mountain.
Zhongnan Mountain was a holy place of hermit culture and Taoism at that time. It was not far from Chang'an City. Many older scholars who pursued seclusion would live in Zhongnan Mountain.
Therefore, the land prices near Zhongnan Mountain are not cheap.
After all, you need capital to live in seclusion.
It’s not like a poor farmer who can just build a straw hut.
This is also the first important thing that Zhang Pingan and the other two have to do today.