Chapter 22 Chapter Three Inquiry

Li Ping took a sip of the fragrant tea slowly, then put the teacup back on the table.Looking out of the window from his position, he could just see the tall and thick blue-gray walls outside the Prime Minister's Mansion. Every time he saw this wall, he would feel a sense of suffocation in his heart, as if he could not breathe under the pressure of this wall.In fact, not only this wall, but the entire Prime Minister's Mansion made him feel an invisible pressure, like heavy barriers squeezing his space.The reason is simple, this is Zhuge Liang's prime minister's mansion, not his.

Thinking of the name "Zhuge Liang", Li Ping felt indescribably depressed. Originally, he and Zhuge Liang were both the ministers of the first emperor Liu Bei.But since Zhuge Liang’s Southern Expedition in the third year of Jianxing, Li Ping felt that he was gradually squeezed out of the decision-making center, from a central official who controlled internal and external military affairs to a local governor who guarded Jiangzhou. Last year, Zhuge Liang asked him to lead his subordinates to leave Jiangzhou, which had been in business for many years, and go to Hanzhong.Under pressure, Li Ping could only agree, but he felt like a hibernating bear being forcibly pulled out of a tree hole, and he was very reluctant.As soon as he arrived in Hanzhong, the 20,000 soldiers he led were immediately broken up and distributed to various battalions.And he himself was in charge of the government affairs under the title of Zhongduhu—this government office naturally refers to Zhuge Liang's prime minister's residence.So Li Ping, who was originally on an equal footing with Zhuge Liang, has now become the former's deputy.

This made him very dissatisfied with his strong self-esteem, and felt that he had been insulted, and this kind of emotion could not be expressed, so he had to rot in his heart, slowly ferment and deteriorate. "After all, I am also a minister personally entrusted by the late emperor, and now I live in such a place as a subordinate!" Thinking of this, Li Ping squeezed the teapot hard, his fingers ached.It's not that he didn't resist. In Jiangzhou, he once asked for the opening of the government office and the designation of the five counties near Jiangzhou as Bazhou. These requests were naturally rejected, so he also rejected Zhuge Liang's two transfers to Hanzhong. Require.

Li Ping always felt that since he was a minister of Tuogu, he should have a status consistent with his status. At this time, there were three unhurried knocks on the door.Li Ping groaned, picked up his teacup again, and signaled to come in.Joining the army, Hu Zhong pushed the door open and entered. Hu Zhong's appearance has hardly changed from two years ago, with a calm demeanor, but there are more white wisps on his temples.He bowed respectfully to Li Yan and said, "Lord Protector, everything is settled." Li Ping put away his resentful expression, and put on a plain expression: "Very good, didn't anyone else see it?"

Hu Zhong nodded vigorously, but didn't say much. "As expected of the predecessor of the Military Counselor, it did not disappoint." Li Ping patted his knee appreciatively. Hu Zhong was a talent that Li Ping specially poached from Si Wencao, firstly because of his outstanding ability, and secondly because Hu Zhong was a native of Yizhou, Li Ping felt that he was much more reliable than those guys from Jingzhou.Facts have proved that Hu Zhong's performance is quite good, and Li Ping is very proud of his vision.In Hanzhong, where Zhuge Liang is surrounded by wings, he must have his own cronies.

At this time, Hu Zhong continued to say: "The governor Cheng Fan is already waiting outside, do you want to explain to the Lord Protector?" Li Ping narrowed his eyes and waved his hands: "No need, ask him to follow the pre-agreed agreement." "yes." Then Hu Zhong left the room.He walked to the corner of the corridor and saw Cheng Fan waiting there with a piece of paper, so he shook his head slightly. "There's no need to wait, Li Duhu instructed to follow the plan." "That's fine." Cheng Fan didn't care about this kind of cold reception, he stretched out his two thick arms and stretched his waist, "Anyway, I don't want to look at his face, as if someone owed him money. "

"It's not good behavior to talk about your boss behind your back." Hu Zhong laughed secretly, but on the surface he reminded him with a straight face.Cheng Fan disapproved and pinned the bamboo strips to the waistband of his trousers.This bamboo slip is square and square, and around his waist hangs a fat scale that looks like a piece of armor. "Since the guard has said so, we don't have much to do these days. Are we going to drink at night? Call Shang Xiaohe, we haven't seen him for a while." Hu Zhong spread his hands: "Me too, he seems to have encountered some big incident recently, and he was too busy to see anyone."

"I hope this time he won't make a fuss like last time. He was relegated to Jiangdong far away, and there is one less person to drink with me." Cheng Fan said in a tone of hatred.Hu Zhong smiled slightly, and flicked the bamboo piece at Fan's waist with two fingers, and replied easily: "It depends on whether that guy's sense of humor is too much." Xun Xu didn't feel the conversation between the two friends. Even if he felt it, he was too busy to sneeze. On March 6th, he and Yin Ji successfully sent Du Bi and Xu Yong to the Jing'an Division in Qinglong Mountain.There, the two men were housed in separate rooms separated from each other.

However, the experience of the two people is not the same.Du Bi was the first to be examined. For three consecutive days, he was carefully interrogated by the joint investigation team of the Jingan Division, the Siwen Division, and the military.Every detail, every reason, every motive is questioned and cross-referenced.In addition, several members of the Military Advisory Division searched all the information provided by Du Bi in the past two years day and night, trying to find any suspicious or contradictory points. Both Xun Xu and Yin Ji participated in the investigation team, and they were more harsh than anyone else.They believe that Du Bi will never be a double agent, so the stricter the scrutiny, the sooner he can prove his innocence.Du Bi himself did not show boredom or irritability with the day-to-day scrutiny. His attitude was very cooperative, his mind was clear from beginning to end, and his answers to questions were concise and logical.This made Xun Xu admire him.

Compared with Du Bi, Xu Yong is relatively more relaxed.He doesn't have to attend any review meetings, he can sleep until the sun rises before getting up, eat three meals a day with vegetables and meat, and every three days he can get a jar of Shu wine brewed by the official kiln in Chengdu; occasionally some officials will come to visit and be kind Chat with him casually about household matters; he can even leave the Jing'an Division to wander around the mountains—of course, he must be accompanied by people from the Jing'an Division. This is an arrangement based on the Yin Series' suggestion.This experienced old man pointed out that a defector will be in a state of uncertainty and panic in the early stage of defection. If it cannot be handled properly, this will cause an inevitable psychological shadow, and at least cause the defector to feel dissatisfied with them. Trust, which in turn will distort the information; if it is serious, it will make the defector unable to bear the pressure and choose to commit suicide.

"Does that mean we should serve him like a pregnant woman?" Xun Xu asked a little dissatisfied after hearing this instruction. "That's right." Yin Ji stretched out a finger and waved it meaningfully, "You know, he might give us a big fat boy." Siwencao internally used to refer to fugitives like Xu Yong as "parturients", and interrogating intelligence as "delivery"; It's hard to change your mouth. On March 8, the review of Du Bute was finally completed.The review team issued a carefully worded statement saying that Du Bi was not suspected of being an enemy spy as far as the current situation was concerned, and that review officials agreed that he remained loyal to the Han Dynasty.However, censors from the military insisted that the scope of Du Bi's tenure in Hanzhong should be temporarily limited to prevent unexpected situations. Xun Xu did not object to this, he had selfish intentions; if Du Bi's scope of office was limited, then he would not be able to work in key departments.In the eyes of the military, the Jing'an Division is a redundant department that makes a lot of trouble.In this way, he could justifiably transfer Du Bi to the Jing'an Division. Next, it's time to "delivery" Xu Yong. On the morning of March 9th, Xun Xu got up early.For the convenience of work these days, he has been living on Qinglong Mountain.This was originally the general affairs office of the Armament Zhufang, but later the general affairs department was abolished, so the vacated building was taken over by Jing'an Division.It was here that Xun Xu met Mi Chong for the first time two years ago, and was escaped by the other party under the absolute advantage.So this place has its own meaning for him. He opened the door and yawned contentedly against the fresh mountain breeze.It was only getting light now, and the sun was still creeping below the horizon.Xun Xu turned around and scooped up a spoonful of water from the big urn by the side of the house to rinse his mouth first, sprayed it into the flowerpot under the window, then poured the rest of the water into the copper basin, washed his face carefully, and finally Then pour the water in the copper basin into another wooden basin with a slightly larger size, and keep it for washing feet at night.This is a streamlined style in Hanzhong, which lacks water. Suddenly, he saw a figure swaying on the opposite side, and when he looked carefully, it was Du Bi.Judging from Du Bi's short and narrow attire, he seemed to have just returned from a walk. "Fuguo, you got up so early?" Xun Xu raised his voice and greeted.After hearing this, Du Bi walked over here.His face is rough and dark due to long-term living in the Northwest, and there are two eye-catching plateau reds on his cheekbones. He is just in his early thirties and looks as old as forty; his behavior is also as old as forty He is as calm and composed as other people: "Hehe, I'm used to it, I was like this in Longxi. But Xiao and you got up early enough, and the shift of the door guard hasn't changed yet." Since coming to Qinglong Mountain, the two of them have begun to use words to call each other affectionately.There is a strange phenomenon in the underground intelligence world. People who work as spies in other countries are often more likely to trust their own country's internal affairs department. No one can explain why.One theory is that being a spy has a natural enemy in awe of the internal affairs dedicated to counterintelligence.But few would agree with this view... Xun Xu took out a blunt wooden stick and gently rubbed it on his teeth, saying inarticulately, "I can't sleep. Today's 'labor' is about to begin." "Hehe, if you have a boy or a girl, it depends on the present." Du Bi nodded knowingly.He was transferred to Jing'an Division by Xun Xu just after he was cleared of suspicion yesterday, and his current status is Jing'an Division's backup counselor.Xun Xu insisted that Du Bi participate in the investigation of Xu Yong. The reason was that Du Bi was familiar with Wei’s internal affairs and could verify the authenticity of Xu Yong’s materials; Du Bi trusted that his presence could stabilize the mood of the fugitives. "However, Xiaohe, you'd better not bring up the topic of 'Candle Dragon' from the very beginning. This has a lot to do with officials inside the Prime Minister's Mansion. Before you are sure that Xu Yong's words are 100% reliable, rashly raising this issue will disrupt Rhythm. According to my contact along the way, Xu Yong is a person who is easily nervous, and pushing too hard may be counterproductive." For Du Bi's reminder, Xun Xu agreed twice, and while using a ladle to scoop up water, he rinsed away the residue in his mouth.He picked up a towel and wiped his mouth, then raised his head and said to Du Bi: "I hope we can get some results before Prime Minister Zhuge sends troops." "Is Prime Minister Zhuge planning another Northern Expedition?" Du Bi had just returned from Longxi, and he still didn't understand the military situation in Hanzhong. "Yes, in April, the specific date has not yet been determined, and there is still about a month to go." "enough." Du Bi pinched his chin confidently. Inquiring about Xu Yong's house has been carefully designed, Jing'an specially invited the servants in the palace to help with the decoration, trying to make the room not so rigid and serious.Xun Xu also specially called the family members of several officials to modify the details.In short, Xun Xu wanted the room to look relaxing. The inquiry officially began at Sishi, and only Xun Xu, Du Bi, and a small clerk in charge of records participated in the inquiry.Behind the gauze curtain on the other side of the room, several musicians were playing seven disc music, and the music flowed out of the gauze curtain, filling the room with a relaxed atmosphere.Xun Xu looked up at Xu Yong who was kneeling opposite him. His eyelids were swollen, obviously he didn't sleep well yesterday. "I said Shoucheng, don't be so nervous, this is not a trial, it's all your own people." Xun Xu smiled and called Xu Yong directly, trying to calm his emotions. Xu Yong forced a smile, as if a knife was on his neck.Xun Xu and Du Bi looked at each other, and put down the documents in their hands in unison.Du Bi stood up and signaled the clerk in charge of the record to stop writing first, then scooped out a spoonful of wine from a jug that had just been opened, and poured it into three wooden cups. "Come on, come on, Shoucheng, you and I have a few drinks first." Du Bi handed the cup to Xu Yong kindly, and said casually, "Prime Minister Zhuge also sent an envoy to praise the governor's loyalty yesterday, and the Han Dynasty also I will never disappoint my loyal ministers." I don't know if it was the effect of the drink or he heard Du Bi's hint, Xu Yong's complexion became rosy and his mood relaxed after drinking a glass of wine.Xun Xu lost no time in asking. The questions asked were all carefully designed. The first question was about Xu Yong’s family situation. This was to dilute the taste of the interrogation and make him get used to speaking—most people would become talkative when they mentioned their families. This chatty urge can last a long time.Then I asked questions about his career history and interpersonal relationships.The Jingan Division had prepared the relevant Cao Wei official documents the day before, and if Xu Yong’s statement contradicted the information, it would be discovered immediately; then Xu Yong would be asked to introduce his defection in detail (of course, Xun Xu used is the word "return"), which will be contrasted with Dubute's confession. The inquiries continued into the afternoon, and that was the end of the first day.Xun Xu didn't want to push Xu Yong too hard, "We have to follow the rhythm." Du Bi repeatedly emphasized this point.This day did not produce any results, which was expected by Xun Xu and Du Bi. The beginning was just a guide, and they needed to slowly let Xu Yong enter his role. "The midwife's job is not to pull the baby out, but to tell the mother how to give birth." Yin Ji also warned Xun Xu.Of course, this indecent remark was not officially recorded. The questioning was carried out smoothly under such guidelines, and the atmosphere was always friendly. Xun Xu carefully prepared a few jokes, which received good responses, and Xu Yong was very cooperative.Three people work three hours a day, neither too fast nor too slow. On the evening of March 11, Xun Xu, who had finished his third day of inquiry, left Qinglong Mountain for the first time and returned to Nanzheng "Taoist Temple". "The baby was born?" Yao You immediately asked when he saw Xun Xu appearing at the door.Xu Yong's "return" is a big event. As the Siwen Cao Dongcao, he has been paying attention to the inquiry work.Now Xi Caofeng Feng Ying has been demoted to the Military Advisory Department, so he is now Xun Xu's immediate superior. Xun Xu walked into the room and put a thick stack of hemp paper on the table in front of Yao You: "This is the first child." "What? Is there no summary?" Yao You flipped through the records, frowned and said with some dissatisfaction in her tone.The record in his hand was more than three inches thick, and the handwriting was badly written. At a glance, it was obvious that it was an unorganized original copy. Xun Xu patted the dust on his body and explained: "Because the inquiry has just ended and I haven't had time to write it yet. Moreover, if it is transcribed, others will have access to this record. At this stage, I think the less people I have contact with, the better. " Yao You heard that he was implying something, and asked quickly: "Then what exactly are you getting now?" Xun Xu replied calmly: "Xu Yong confessed a mouse lurking in Nanzheng." "Is it Candle Dragon?" "Probably not, this person's rank is not high, which is inconsistent with Zhulong—of course, I haven't confirmed this with Xu Yong." Xun Xu took a sip of water and continued, "But according to the testimony provided by Xu Yong, He has been working for Cao Wei for four years." Then he said the person's name and position. After Yao You finished listening, she slowly rubbed her knuckles.Familiar with the inside story of the officialdom, he knows: the name itself is not important, what is important is the person behind the name.He pondered for a moment, before he said: "Who else knows about this?" "Besides me, there are Du Bi, Xu Yong and the clerk in charge of the records. They have all been quarantined. As soon as the interrogation is over, I will leave with the original records, and no one else has touched them." "Very good." Yao You nodded in satisfaction, and then showed a puzzled look, "How reliable is Xu Yong's words?" "So far, what he explained has been verified and there is no flaw." "Maybe he just lied about it." "That will be known tonight." Hearing what Xun Xu said, Yao You suddenly raised his head, he knew that the person in front of him was a man of action: "Are you going to do something tonight?" "The sooner the better, the other party may smell something if you wait too long. Mice have always had a very sensitive sense of smell." Yao You stared at Xun Xu's eyes for a long time, and finally made up his mind: "Then let's do it, but be careful, and don't make too much noise." "yes." Xun Xu bowed and was about to leave when Yao You suddenly called him back. "Wait a minute, if you are in charge of this operation, what will you do with the inquiries from Qinglong Mountain?" "I want to stop for a day and give Xu Yong a period of rest. If it doesn't work, Yin Sicheng and Du Beizi can take over my job." "That Du Bi, can you really trust him completely?" Yao You had never met Du Bi, and this old man had a sense of distrust for anyone he hadn't met—and the same for those he had met. Hearing this question, Xun Xu laughed, and his sense of humor popped up again inappropriately: "At least he's not as annoying as the military." That night, Xun Xu, Pei Xu, Asheer, and seven or eight "Taoist priests" from the Jing'an Division quietly came to a certain house in the east of Nanzheng City.At this time, the sky was already dark, and the closed door drum had been knocked five times. Except for the soldiers who were watching the night, ordinary residents and officials had already returned to their homes early, and the streets were extremely silent. "It's this family right?" Xun Xu asked.The scale of the house in front of me is not large, the walls near the gate are old, the two wooden doors have faded, and the dripping eaves on the roof of the gate seem to be crumbling, showing that the owner's situation is not very good. Pei Xu took out a map from his pocket and looked at it, and told Xun Xu that he was right.Xun Xu immediately arranged for two people to guard the back door at the back of the street, and then signaled Asher with his eyes that he could start. Asher smiled, raised two fists and knocked on each other, and patted the door.Soon there was a sound of footsteps inside the door, and then a woman's voice came from the crack of the door: "Who is knocking?" "Excuse me, is this Deng Xian Deng Gong Cao's house?" "That's right, but my family's officials have not returned, and now I'm the only one at home, so it's inconvenient to open the door." "Since Deng Gongcao is not here, can you please pass something to him?" Hearing this request, the woman inside the door hesitated for a moment, opened the door halfway, and said, "What is it?" "It's a piece of jade, please open the door a little bit so that I can take it." Seeing Asheer's tall figure with curly hair and charming smile on his face, Mrs. Deng unconsciously agreed, and pushed the door open another five minutes.Asher immediately stretched out his right arm to hold the door, turned his right foot inside, and leaned in with half of his body.Mrs. Deng was shocked, and it was too late to close the door.At this time, Xun Xu, Pei Xu and others who were behind Asheer also came out of the shadows, and a group of people gathered at the gate of the house in a dark mass. Mrs. Deng didn't expect so many people to rush out at once, she thought they were robbers, she took a few steps back in fright, her face turned pale.Asher stepped forward and covered her mouth, for fear that she would startle the neighbors if she screamed; Mrs. Deng tried to resist at first, but she couldn't hold back Asher's strength, so she had to give up struggling, but her whole body couldn't help shaking. Seeing that Mrs. Deng was under control, Xun Xu waved for everyone to enter the yard, and then closed the gate to avoid being discovered by others.They brought Mrs. Deng into the house, and saw a candlestick lit in the main hall, with a section of embroidery and needlework beside it. It was obvious that Mrs. Deng was making a female celebrity before opening the door. Only then did Asher let Madam Deng go, seeing seven or eight men of unknown origin suddenly added to the room, she did not dare to shout loudly; as soon as Asher let go, she collapsed on the ground. "We have... nothing valuable in our house..." Xun Xu couldn't help laughing when he heard this plea.He walked over and knelt down, and said kindly: "Don't be afraid, we are from the Jing'an Department of the Prime Minister's Mansion, not tax collectors." After speaking, he took out his seal from his pocket and waved it in front of Mrs. Deng, proving that what he said was true. "Then... what do you want to do, my lord?" Mrs. Deng's nervousness did not subside at all. "We want to know, where is your husband?" "He went to Xingshi to do some errands, and Li Duhu sent him to deal with almost Ku..." "Did he say when he'd be back?" "I went there three days ago, so I should be back tomorrow." "Very well, the last question, do you know who your husband usually hangs out with?" Mrs. Deng moved her left foot, and replied tremblingly: "I don't know... My husband and I have only been transferred to Nanzheng for more than a year, and we are not very familiar with him; besides, he seldom tells me about his outside affairs..." Xun Xu nodded in satisfaction, stood up and looked around the room with interest, then lowered his head and asked, "You don't mind if we check your house?" "What? How, how is this possible?" Mrs. Deng quickly got up, her expression flustered. "Don't worry, if anything is damaged, Jing'an Division will fully compensate you." As soon as Xun Xu gave the order, his subordinates immediately began to rummage around the house, while he pulled a mustard bed and sat down, looking leisurely at Mrs. Deng, whose complexion alternated red and pale.Less than a quarter of an hour later, Pei Xu came out from the back room holding a stack of silk satin. The silk satin was yellow and stained with mud, and all of it was densely written in small script. "Where did you get it?" Xun Xu asked. "In the mezzanine of the wall in the inner room." Pei Xu said disapprovingly, "In such an old house, the edge of the wall is still new soil. It's too obvious, and the concealment is not professional enough, and there is no challenge." "This is not within the scope of our business. Go and complain to Emperor Wei." After Xun Xu finished speaking, he took the silk satin from him, and found that the silk cloth was cut into seven-inch squares, and each piece was written with different themes, some about the deployment of troops, and some about policy trends.However, from Xun Xu's professional point of view, the information is very rough, and although the subject matter is extensive, it lacks in-depth; the only particularly detailed subject is the relevant data on Hanzhong farming. "It seems that Xu Yong really didn't lie." Xun Xu nodded silently. The characteristics of the information are exactly the same as the name Xu Yong provided: Deng Xian, styled Tuozhi, joined the army who guarded Li Yan in Jianxing for eight years He came to Hanzhong as an identity and was assigned to be in charge of statistical work in the Hanzhong Tuntian area; that's why he showed his understanding of Tuntian data and his unfamiliarity with other fields in the intelligence. "I invite the lords of the Wei Dynasty of the Shang Kingdom to learn from you..." Xun Xu glanced at the title of one of the silk cloths, and could not help but sneer from his nose.This is unprofessional, a spy worth his salt would never put titles and greetings on classified documents.It seems that Deng Xian is not a professional spy, but just a sour literati who secretly communicated with Cao Wei. That was the end of their work for tonight. Xun Xu sent two people to stay and monitor Mrs. Deng to prevent her from tipping off.Others rushed directly to the north gate of Nanzheng to ambush, and Deng Xian might return to Nanzheng at any time. In the early morning of March 12, the sun had just risen halfway from the east.With the light of the rising sun, the soldiers on the battlements could clearly see the civilians waiting to enter the city under the walls.There is still about half an hour before the opening of the north city gate, so these civilians are leaning against the base of the city wall in twos and threes, unhurriedly packing their bags, and there will be a few leisurely crows or cock crows from time to time. . Xun Xu took a deep breath of the morning air, and the fresh and icy wind rushed into his lungs, refreshing his tired spirit.He and Pei Xu were carefully leaning on the edge of the battlements and looked down, hoping to find Deng Xian among the waiting crowd. "It seems not. Maybe he hasn't come back yet." After carefully counting the number of people, Pei Xu reported to Xun Xu.His eyesight is very good, and he can see the auxiliary star of Kaiyang in the Big Dipper without any difficulty. Xun Xu didn't say anything, he squatted inside the battlements with his hands folded in his arms, hunched over like a sleeping cormorant.Pei Xu looked down again, approached Xun Xu and asked worriedly: "However, Master Xun, do we really want to arrest him?" "Huh? What do you mean?" Xun Xu asked back while maintaining his original posture. "You know, Deng Xian is Li Ping and Li Duhu's personal entourage brought from Jiangzhou. If Master Li doesn't know, will there be any trouble?" Pei Xu's worry was not without reason. The year before last, Xun Xu had acted against General Ma Dai without authorization, which aroused strong dissatisfaction from the military, and was finally forced to transfer.Although Li Ping doesn't have much power in Nanzheng now, he is the Protector of the Central Government after all.From an administrative point of view, his rank is second only to Zhuge Liang, and he is the number two figure in Nanzheng, the kind of big man who has to think before anyone mentions his name. Xun Xu stretched out a hand expressionlessly, patted the non-existent dust on his shoulder, and simply said "oh" to show that he knew.Pei Xu shut his mouth knowingly, turned his head and continued to stare at the noisy crowd outside the city. Xun Xu has his own concerns.After he returned to Hanzhong from Jiangdong, Prime Minister Zhuge secretly met with him once.During the meeting, Prime Minister Zhuge said that the coincidence of Li Ping's transfer to Hanzhong and Xun Xu's reinstatement was not a coincidence, but some kind of hidden causal relationship.After Li Ping arrived, he needed to rely on Xun Xu's ability to strengthen Hanzhong's internal monitoring.This is the end of Prime Minister Zhuge's words. He believed that Xun Xu could understand his hint, and Xun Xu did understand. And now that one of Li Ping's close assistants is suspected of being a spy of the State of Wei, the deep meaning of this is worth pondering... Xun Xu had no direct contact with Li Ping, so he had no intuitive impression, but he had heard many rumors about this senior official.These rumors did not directly comment on Li Ping's reputation and morality, but intentionally or unintentionally leaked some inside information about high-level decision-making-people often like these things the most.For example, in the seventh year of Jianxing, Prime Minister Zhuge asked Li Ping to go to Hanzhong. Instead of agreeing, Li Ping asked to upgrade the five counties of Jiangzhou, which he had operated for many years, to the state level, establish a new Bazhou, and make him the governor In the eighth year of Jianxing, when Zhuge Liang asked him to reinforce Hanzhong again, Li Yan proposed that he would open a government office and set up another decision-making center outside the prime minister's house; finally, Zhuge Prime Minister made a compromise and appointed his son Li Feng to replace him. He was willing to go north because of his position in Jiangzhou. Xun Xu has no way of commenting on the veracity of these rumors, but one thing can be confirmed directly with the naked eye: since the fifth year of Jianxing, the relationship between Zhuge Liang and Li Ping has become increasingly rigid, and the latter has made up his mind to passively confront Prime Minister Zhuge.His transfer to Hanzhong was considered a big failure within the Shu Han.As for whether this failure will make his attitude more negative or change to the opposite of negative, no one knows...at least no one knows now. A loud horn sounded suddenly, and Xun Xu was suddenly awakened from deep thinking.There was a deafening sound of door-opening drums above his head, and the drums shook off the dust that had settled on the flagpoles of the battlements at night, and the dust fell like snowflakes on the heads of Xun Xu and Pei Xu.The civilians in the city rushed towards the gate one after another. "Do it, look over there!" Pei Xu suddenly lowered his voice and shouted. Xun Xu looked in the direction of his finger and saw a man and a horse galloping from a distant road. There is also a special cloth bag for the prime minister's mansion. Xun Xu asked, "Is that him?" Pei Xu nodded, relying on his amazing memory, he remembered seeing this person at the banquet welcoming Li Ping. No need to say anything else, Xun Xu stood up immediately, stretched his numb legs a little, and walked quickly down the city wall, followed closely by Pei Xu. When the knight approached the city gate road, he reined in to slow down the horse, while waving his whip and shouting loudly.The civilians who had been huddled together leaned towards the two sides one after another, making way for them.The knight passed through the crowd unceremoniously, and came straight to the gate of the city.Just at this time, the guarding soldiers slowly pushed open the two heavy gates from the inside. Just as the knight was about to gallop into the city, he was stopped by a soldier. "I'm sorry, my lord, please show your name badge." "What? I'm from the Prime Minister's Mansion, and I want to check?" the knight asked dissatisfied.The soldier straightened his chest without showing any weakness, and repeated: "My lord, please show your name badge." At this time, the reins of the knight's mount were held by another soldier.The knight had no choice but to take out the famous thorn from his body, and at the same time glared at the soldier fiercely: "Do you know who I am?" "You are Lord Deng Xiandeng, right?" It was not a soldier who answered him, but an official who appeared out of nowhere.The not tall official took the name thorn from the soldier's hand with two fingers, fiddled with it meaningfully, and handed it back to the knight. "Who are you?" Deng asked cautiously. "I am in charge of Jing'an Division, and my name is Xun Xu." Xun Xu respectfully handed over his famous assassin, "I think we need to talk." The color on Deng Xian's face disappeared rapidly in the next instant.