Chapter 152 Chapter Twenty

The 20th chapter of the fifth vertical and horizontal siege Putting down the information in his hands, Li Kang looked at Huo Yi with satisfaction. Although this ordinary young man with an ordinary appearance and a simple and honest demeanor looked like an honest man without a plan, who would have thought that he was one of the top figures in the Splendid League? These days Following Li Kang's side, he did a lot of things for Li Kang and eliminated many officials who were inclined to the court. Although he was still a little wary of the Jinxiu League, Li Kang already trusted Huo Yi. Huo Yi, or it should be Bai Yi, stood at the bottom respectfully, seeing that Li Kang had read the information, he said: "Your Highness, I have received news that Xiahou Yuanfeng may have arrived at Sanguan. These days, Your Highness Intercepting the imperial envoys and documents of the imperial court, and blocking the road from Sanguan to Dongchuan on the grounds of thieves and thieves. Li Zhi and his subordinates are not idle people, they have already discovered the clues, if they don't want to force the prince to rebel at this time, I'm afraid Yong army has already entered Sichuan. We have captured more than a dozen secret spies of the Mingjian Division, and we don't know when the prince is going to do it, it's not too late, if we wait until the Dayong court is free, I'm afraid we won't have a chance."

Li Kang said with a smile: "You don't need to worry, now Li Zhi will never dare to turn against me, and although I put on a pattern of supporting soldiers and self-respect, in Li Zhi's view, I am just fighting for power and power, who would think of me Would a dignified Prince of Dayong intentionally let Dayong fall apart? So the imperial court must try to appease him. Li Zhi issued several edicts to praise this king. Isn’t it because he doesn’t want this king to blatantly oppose the imperial court? He wants to wait until he is destroyed After the Northern Han Dynasty, it would be strange if Xiahou Yuanfeng didn’t come to deal with me again with the prestige of a great victory? But the time has not come yet, Li Xian was defeated at the beginning, and his strength has not been greatly damaged. With Long Tingfei’s ability , and occupying a favorable location and people, will definitely make Li Xian suffer a disastrous defeat, and it won't be too late for me to make a move at that time."

Huo Yi hesitated and said: "But the one who fought against the Northern Han Dynasty was King Li Xian of Qi. He is a famous general in the world, and he is assisted by Hou Jiangzhe of Chu Township. What if the Northern Han Dynasty loses?" Li Kang shook his head and said: "No matter how smart Jiang Zhe is, Long Tingfei can't resist him. As long as he retreats one city at a time, he can tie the king of Qi. If he is invincible for a long time, I will bribe the ministers of the court and the central government." Let me put it this way, accusing the King of Qi of wasting his troops, there will be internal and external troubles at that time, Li Zhi will not be able to say that Li Zhi will suffer, don't look at the recent peace agreement between Dayong and Southern Chu, at that time, no matter how idiot Shang Weijun is, he will make trouble. In fact, if I am Li Zhi, the most important thing is The most important thing is not to attack the Northern Han Dynasty, but to stabilize Dongchuan first, and to fight against the outside world must first settle the inside, this is the most reasonable."

Huo Yi said thoughtfully: "Perhaps the Yong court had no other choice. Now that Southern Chu is watching, although the prince has objections, it has not been made public. Li Zhi must hope to pacify the Northern Han with lightning speed, and then he will be able to calm down." They have dealt with us, but they did not expect that the Northern Han Army, which was defeated in Zezhou, would still have such combat strength." Li Kang nodded and said: "You should be careful. The timing of our launch is very important. By the way, we have set up multiple ambushes outside Sanguan, and we must not let Mingjian Division's spies sneak into Dongchuan."

Huo Yi said confidently: "Your Highness, don't worry, the Guardian Horse of the alliance will personally sit in the town, and will never let Ming Jiansi succeed." Li Kang nodded with a slight smile. Killed or captured many secret agents of the imperial court, the methods were very cruel and fierce, and the loss was not small, which shows the sincerity and loyalty of the Splendid League. After resigning, Huo Yi walked outside the hall. There was a slight smile on the corner of Huo Yi's mouth. There were two young people waiting for him outside, one was gentle and elegant, and the other was brave and tough. It was Shangguan Yan and Xiong Bao, with very indifferent expressions on their faces. A few days ago, after they were reprimanded, they followed Huo Yi into Qing Palace in the name of committing crimes and making meritorious service. Although they were frightened by the power of adultery, these two young people respected Huo Yi very much. After all, Huo Yi is Huo Jicheng's adopted son and Chen Zhen's confidant, and their elders and family members are still in the hands of Splendid League, but the repulsion in their hearts continues unabated, even if Huo Yi is always polite to them. Can't change their mood.When Huo Yi saw their expressions, he sighed slightly in his heart, pretended not to see them, and ordered: "Send a letter to Guardian Ma, and strengthen the monitoring of Sanguan. We must not allow a secret spy of Dayong to sneak into Dongchuan."

Ma Cheng, the person in charge of the Splendid League who is in charge of intercepting the Mingjian Division's secret agents outside Sanguan, is in his forties this year. He is a core member who is determined to restore the country. Yong's hatred is very deep, and the people handed over to him are all outstanding players in the Fairview League. Of course, these people have a characteristic, that is, they are very keen to fight against Dayong. Letting them take action this time is like a tiger coming out of the cage, so they have achieved outstanding results during this period. Although there are two people in Sanguan who also participated in this operation, they did not achieve anything. One of them is Gu Ying, the only son of Gu Ning, the chief protector of the Splendid League. Because of offending Huo Jicheng, he was cut off from the few remaining powers, and let everyone in the Splendid League once again see the leader's powerful means of eliminating dissidents.Gu Ning was worried about his situation, so he asked his good friend Ma Cheng to take care of his only son. Although Ma Cheng is not Huo Jicheng's direct descendant, he has always been valued more by Huo Jicheng and Chen Zhen. Gu Ning can feel at ease only because he protects Gu Ying.And Ma became concerned about Gu Ying's safety, even after accepting such an important task, he still brought Gu Ying to pass the customs, but he was not allowed to make a move. After all, although Gu Ying is good at martial arts, he is only seventeen years old.So Gu Ying could only watch others do it.

But the other person is different, his name is Luo Jianfei, he is Chen Zhen's confidant guard.Speaking of which, since Chen Zhen took charge of the daily affairs of the Splendid League, most of the elders in the league have lost their power, and now Chen Zhen is most important to the adopted sons of the leader, Huo Yi and Huo Shan.Huo Yi is shrewd and capable, with high martial arts skills, Huo Shan is proficient in organ information, and is the best at laying out ambushes. Although these two are young, they hold great power and make decisive killings. Everyone in the alliance respects them.It is said that the alliance leader also had an adopted son, Huo Li, who once made great contributions, but now he has disappeared. There are rumors that he died young, but no one dares to pursue it.In addition, there is a mysterious guard around Chen Zhen. This guard is composed of some guards of similar age. Each guard is a talented man with both civil and military skills. Knowing their strength and organization, these guards are often the ones in charge when major events happen in the alliance, so no one dares to despise them.There have long been rumors in the league that these guards are about the same age as Huo Yi and Huo Shan, and have a similar bearing. I am afraid they were all trained by Huo Jicheng himself. is one of them.

Luo Jianfei can be regarded as a guard familiar to the allies of Splendid League. He has participated in important affairs many times and cooperated with Ma Cheng many times. The enemy is ruthless, and even his own people are very tough. Except for Chen Zhen's, he will never obey other people's orders. Even Huo Yi and Huo Shan dare not order him casually. This time, Chen Zhen sent him to break the customs just to use His cruel methods.Ma Cheng vaguely knew that he held Chen Zhen's secret order in his hand and could take over his own power at any time, so he treated him as a military supervisor, and he didn't dare to offend him at all. Sleeping, and at night, he walked outside alone with his sword. When he came back several times, his body was bloody and even scarred, but no one saw his captives, not even a head, which made people uncomfortable. Know how he fared.

You must know that it is not easy for the Splendid League to set up a defense line to intercept the secret spies who come out of the pass. Dayong's secret spies are very skilled, and their ability to hide and hide is also outstanding.If the day is fine, as long as you send out eyeliners to watch carefully at high places, you can find their whereabouts, and use various means to send letters to notify the alliance masters to intercept and kill them.If it is night and the sight is not wide, they can only send experts to stand by and wait in some important roads. Anyway, there is a line of defense behind. Even if those secret spies pass this level, it is not so easy to sneak into Dongchuan.However, most of the people who participated in the hunt at night were groups of several people, and only Luo Jianfei liked to be alone.

That night, when the moon was dark and the stars were sinking, Gu Ying quietly left the campsite and followed Luo Jianfei to see what he was doing at night.He knew that his martial arts were not as good as Luo Jianfei's, so he followed from a distance. Fortunately, Luo Jianfei didn't deliberately hide his figure, so Gu Ying actually followed Luo Jianfei all the way to a valley.This valley is a small road from Sanguan to Dongchuan. Because the road is rugged, there are few pedestrians, but it is an important way for secret spies to come and go.If it is daytime, no one can hide from the cliff overlooking the valley; if it is night, it will be pitch black and nothing can be seen, and there is no suitable hiding place in the valley, so it is not a suitable place to intercept, Gu Ying felt strange Why did Luo Jianfei choose this place? Doubts gradually arose.Under his gaze, Luo Jianfei climbed up the cliffs on both sides, and had no intention of staying in the valley to wait for the opportunity to hunt.

Gu Ying hesitated for a moment, and secretly followed up the cliff. On the top of the cliff was a bamboo forest, surrounded by a dilapidated mountain temple. Behind the mountain temple was a flat boulder protruding from the cliff. Gu Ying knew the terrain here. He followed Ma Cheng to inspect here.Seeing the flames lit up in the ruined temple from a distance, and it flashed away in the darkness, Gu Ying knew that Luo Jianfei had lit a bonfire, and then closed the temple door to block the leaking flames.So he bravely dived up the cliff and walked around behind the ruined temple, wanting to see if there was a chance to go in without being seen by Luo Jianfei.Although the moonlight was dim, Gu Ying could still vaguely see the scene in front of him. Not long after, he found that there seemed to be a big hole in the wall behind a clump of grass in the corner. Let him get in, and he sneaked in lightly. There was darkness in front of him, and he couldn't see the fire. Based on the location, he could roughly guess that it was an altar for the mountain god. As for the lack of fire, it seemed that it was spread on the altar The brocade mantle was still not stolen.Curled up in the small space, Gu Ying didn't dare to move. In fact, Luo Jianfei is strong in martial arts, so he wouldn't be so defenseless in the first place. He didn't notice it on the way. It was because Gu Ying was careful, and he was eager to meet people, so he didn't pay attention. Would you have thought that Gu Ying would not be afraid of tigers as a newborn calf?After he entered the ruined temple, he was busy lighting the bonfire and cleaning the hall. When Gu Ying sneaked under the altar, it was the time when Luo Jianfei went out to look for dry firewood, so by mistake, Gu Yingqian came to this place .Although Gu Ying is young, but his martial arts are true from his inner family. Although Luo Jianfei's martial arts are strong, they are only first-class after all. Gently exposing a small slit in the curtain, Gu Ying carefully watched the flickering fire and the black-clothed boy with a gloomy and cold face.Luo Jianfei sat cross-legged by the fire, closing his eyes and resting his mind. Although he was young and handsome, his gloomy expression and the faint murderous aura exuding from his whole body made him full of intimidation. The usual handsome face, but it gives the feeling that he will disappear into the darkness dispersed by the fire at any time.Gu Ying recalled that Hufa Ma once told him that this Luo Jianfei had been a killer in all likelihood, and now he really understood what Uncle Ma meant, such a murderous look, such darkness, is it not a killer? Just when Gu Ying felt his limbs were a little numb, suddenly there was a slight sound of footsteps outside the temple, Gu Ying was startled and even held his breath.The temple door was pushed open, and the cold wind rushed in. Gu Ying shivered, and saw a tall figure standing at the temple door. The man was wearing a gray cloak and a sun-shading hat on his head, and he was very low. , I couldn't see his face clearly, but I saw the hilt of the sword protruding from his left waist, so I knew that this person was also a figure in the quack.The man stood in front of the temple gate, stood still for a moment, stretched out his hand and gently took off his bamboo hat, revealing a delicate and smiling face, eyes as bright as cold stars in the night sky with faint tears, fixedly looking at Luo Jian with a calm expression Fei, as excited as seeing a relative who has not been seen for many years. Gu Ying felt relieved, and thought, could it be Luo Jianfei's old friend, so he didn't say it clearly, after all, although he didn't like Chen Zhen's family, he didn't want to fight among himself.Unexpectedly, just after he breathed a sigh of relief, he saw a flash of sword light, and the gray-clothed boy jumped on him, waving his cloak, and with a huge wind and waves, he extinguished the bonfire. Gu Ying felt his eyes go dark, and then heard a The sound of weapons colliding, Gu Ying held down the hilt of his sword and listened carefully. It was pitch black in front of him, and the stars and moon were dark outside. He could only listen to the two people fighting hard in the hall, not to mention that he secretly followed Luo Jianfei, that is, Luo Jianfei. Jianfei died, and he didn't dare to take it lightly.After a while, Gu Ying's eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, and through the gap in the curtain, he could faintly see the two fighting fiercely in the hall.These two people seemed to be good at fighting hard in the dark, with sword energy freely, as if they were in daylight, Gu Ying could only see the sword light and the faint figures of the two.But he couldn't tell that Luo Jianfei, that strange young man had dropped his cloak at some point. It was the disciples of the first master who were competing with each other, but Gu Ying clearly felt that the two of them were extremely fierce and showed no mercy at all.The two fought about a hundred moves, one of them gained the upper hand, but the other was only able to parry, Gu Ying was worried, not knowing who would win. At this time, the man who was at a disadvantage flew back and said with a smile: "Forget it, I am convinced. You have improved rapidly in martial arts in the past few years. You must have obtained Master Li's true biography again, right?" Gu Ying heard this man's voice was unfamiliar, Knowing that Luo Jianfei had the upper hand, his heart felt relieved, but he couldn't help feeling suspicious. It seemed that these two people were old acquaintances, but why did they fight in the dark, so ruthlessly? At this time, with the clothes on the fire, the man in gray lit the fire folder, lit the bonfire, picked up the cloak that was thrown on the ground and put it on, while Luo Jianfei sat back to the original position, motioning for the man to sit beside him, There was a warm smile on the cold face and said: "Hualiu, I haven't seen you for many years. Now that you are a high-ranking and powerful person, you still remember us old friends?" The man in gray sighed and said, "If it wasn't for the tricks of fate, I would still like to serve you under the young master. Now Chiji is working for the young master in the northern border, Pioli is operating in the East China Sea, and Luer's business is all over the world. Bai Yi , Shanzi is in Shuzhong, Yulun, and Quhuang are in Southern Chu. No matter where the other brothers are, they are all under the young master's wing. Only I, although I am an official and close to the emperor, can't help the young master. ,Ugh!" Luo Jianfei smiled and said: "What are you talking about? If you hadn't helped the young master control General Qin back then, I'm afraid the crown prince would have become the emperor. Now you follow Xiahou Yuanfeng in the Mingjian Division, which is also very important. If Xiahou Yuanfeng intends to be unfavorable to the young master, can you also find out immediately? Master Li said that if the emperor wants to kill the young master, Xiahou Yuanfeng must be the first to know, so as long as you keep an eye on Xiahou, it is equivalent to keeping an eye on the emperor. , are you willing to let go of your stepmother and stepbrother?" Although Gu Ying didn't have a lot of knowledge, he was shocked when he heard this place. This Luo Jianfei was the backbone of the Splendid League, but unexpectedly he was Dayong's secret spy. Of course, Gu Ying never thought that Chen Zhen was also one of them. I just thought that if this matter was exposed, Chen Zhen would feel ashamed, and couldn't help but smile on his lips. Then he thought, this person is an undercover agent in the Splendid League, and I am afraid that he has released many secret spies from the Great Yong Ming Division. If you go in, you have to report to the horse protector quickly.After all, he was young, and he was very anxious, and his breathing became a little heavier before he knew it.Fortunately, the two of them whispered together, their expressions were focused, as if they didn't notice it, Gu Ying hurriedly took another breath and listened hard.But those two people's voices were very low, and Gu Ying could only vaguely hear some broken sentences, but these two people mentioned the words "King Qing" and "Splendid League" from time to time.After a long time, the two people finally stopped talking and looked at each other with a smile. Luo Jianfei got up and said, "Okay, the matter is over, you can go back. If it's dawn later, it will be difficult to act." The gray-clothed man seemed to hesitate for a moment, and said, "Master Xiahou asked me to tell you about one thing. He hoped that the young master would think about it. After Dongchuan's peace, he would hand over the Splendid League to him." Luo Jianfei's movements seemed to froze, and after a while, he said coldly: "What does Master Xiahou mean? The Splendid Embroidery League is the master's sharp weapon, how can we give it to others casually, not to mention why should we let Xiahou Yuanfeng take advantage of it? " The man in gray sighed, and said: "Master Xiahou said, in the whole world, there is no king, Dongchuan is also the territory of Dayong, Jinxiu League is a rebellion anyway, he is in charge of the Mingjian Division, and he cannot tolerate such a force in the court's hands." In addition, the young master is now a Marquis, and he will be promoted step by step in the future. It is better to leave these unsightly matters to him. If the Splendid Embroidery League still has value, then it should also be controlled by Master Xiahou." Luo Jianfei sneered a few times, and said: "You are brazen, you should know what is going on with the Splendid League, if it was two years ago, the young master wanted to hand over the Splendid League, I absolutely agree, but now the Splendid League is in control We have 50% of the business in Dongchuan and Xishu, and cooperate with the remnants of Tianji Pavilion and Fengyimen in Southern Chu. You should be very clear about the importance of the Splendid League to you. This time, for Dayong, you will sacrifice 70% of the Splendid League. With the strength above, I never imagined that Xiahou Yuanfeng would be so greedy that he would not let go of the remaining 30%, and you would speak for him, Hualiu, do you still remember who made you have the glory and wealth you have today?" There was no trace of a smile on the handsome face of the man in gray. He raised his right hand and said, "I swear to the sky, if there is any malice against the young master, I will die a violent death without my bones intact." After hearing what he said, Luo Jianfei's expression softened a little, but he was still angry, and said, "Okay, let me listen to your explanation, why are you speaking for Xiahou Yuanfeng?" Hualiu sighed and said, "I just heard Lord Xiahou say this, and he also spoke out against each other, but Lord Xiahou said that in the past, Dongchuan was under the control of King Qing, so it was not wrong for the young master to control the Splendid League, but after Dongchuan was pacified, , if the young master has a close relationship with the Jinxiu League who intends to restore the country, I am afraid that the emperor will be overwhelmed. Your talent is a gift from heaven, and the power in your hands is huge. It would be too much to talk about self-protection. If you are willing to hand over the Jinxiu League on your own initiative , then firstly, you can express your loyalty, and secondly, you can disassociate yourself from rebellion. Compared with the insignificant loss, it is not wrong to gain the emperor's heartfelt trust and remove the power that may be suspected. I also think that Lord Xiahou's words are polite , and even if you give up the Splendid League, you still have enough strength to protect yourself. We can also get out of the Splendid League and concentrate on protecting you, so I hope you can explain this to Lord Chen and the others, and then pass it on to you, Marquis Xia My lord doesn't want to discuss it directly with the young master, if it doesn't work out, there will be no suspicion, do you think I'm right?" Luo Jianfei's expression changed several times, and he said after a long time: "I will explain this matter to Lord Chen, but the final decision depends on the young master's wishes." Hualiu said: "If the young master disagrees, I will try my best to dissuade Lord Xiahou." Luo Jianfei nodded slightly, turned around and walked out of the temple gate. After a while, the man in gray followed him out.It was only then that Gu Ying realized that she almost forgot to breathe. How could this be possible? The Splendid League was just someone else’s chess piece. The young master they mentioned had no identity. He controlled the Splendid League with one hand, but he had something to do with Da Yongming Jiansi.Gu Ying didn't know much about the current situation, if it was his father or brother-in-law Shangguan Yan, he would be able to guess something, but he didn't know how shocking what he heard was.After a while, he guessed that the two of them should have gone away, so he got out of the altar, ready to go back to Ma Cheng and explain to him what he heard today.Who knew that as soon as he walked out of the temple gate, he felt numb in his back and fell to the ground, and then someone stepped on his back and said: "Sure enough, I heard correctly, there is someone lurking in the temple, Jianfei, do you recognize this person?" ?” Gu Ying only felt cold all over his body, he was not afraid of death, at his age, if he was a few years older, and had experienced all kinds of joys in life, he might be greedy for life and afraid of death, but now he is young and vigorous, full of blood When Fang was young, it was easiest to throw life and death lightly, but what he worried about was his father and other uncles and relatives. After his death, he was afraid that they would never have a chance to escape.The man in gray kicked him over, Gu Ying's pale face fell into Luo Jianfei's eyes, his pupils shrank suddenly, and he pressed the hilt of his sword with his right hand.But very soon, a struggling expression appeared on Luo Jianfei's face, the long sword was not drawn out after all.