Chapter 177 Chapter 5: Xingzang Rediscovered

Empress Palace. Qu Shiming and the seventeen subordinates who attacked Xiang Shaolong had their hands tied behind their backs, and they knelt under Li Yanyan's platform. Five of them suffered sword wounds of varying severity, their bodies were covered in blood, and they looked miserable. Including Qu Shiming, seven of the twenty-five assassins were killed by Xiang Shaolong. Li Quan and the ministers who were working in the palace rushed to hear the news, and two of them were the general Dou Jie and the doctor Cheng Suning. This Doujie was originally a person attached to Li Yuan, but later saw that Lord Chunshen was powerful, so he turned to Lord Chunshen and Li Quan.Cheng Suning has always been Li Quan's minion, and he sent his nephew Cheng Qi to pretend to be a boatman with his family that day, intending to kill Mrs. Zhuang, mother and child in the Huai River.

Dou Jie and Cheng Suning are both about forty years old, the former looks mighty and looks like a general.The latter's face was pale, and he could tell at a glance that he was a person indulging in wine and lust. In addition, there are Wu Zhan, the guard of the outer city, and Lian Anting, the chief guard who is responsible for protecting the queen mother and crown prince. Xiang Shaolong stood leisurely and contentedly at the head of Li Quan, followed by Wu Zhan and Lian An Ting.Opposite are Dou Jie and Cheng Suning. Qu Shiming's face was ashen, and he bowed his head in silence. Li Yanyan had a phoenix crown on her head, but she didn't cover her face with a heavy veil, her gorgeous jade face was covered with a layer of severe frost, Huang Mu said with authority: "What's going on? Who instigated it?"

Qu Shiming lowered his head and said: "After Wan Ruiguang came to Shouchun, he ran amok and treated me as if there was no one in Dachu. Today, he offended the Queen Mother in the Dian Palace and even said that he would kill people. The villain was resentful, so he wanted to teach him a lesson. He paused, and no one ordered him behind his back." Li Yuan's voice sounded at the entrance, and he said with a long smile, "Wan Ruiguang is so rampant, if your Qu Shiming's home is taken over, what will you do?" Everyone turned their attention to the entrance, and saw Li Yuan walking quickly with high spirits, first saluted Li Yanyan, and then went to Xiang Shaolong, clearly standing on the same side with him.

Li Quan sneered and said: "Zuo Xiangguo's words are wrong. How can the two things be compared? When Li Lingyin occupied the Dian Palace, the previous king was still there, and he didn't speak out against it. It's clear..." Li Yanyan cut him off coldly and said, "Thank you so much!" Li Quan glared at Li Yuan and Xiang Shaolong, snorted, and did not continue.But everyone knew that what he was going to talk about was Li Chuangwen's forcible occupation of the Dian Palace, which was agreed and acquiesced by the dead ghost King Xiaolie. Dou Jie coughed dryly and said, "Qu Shiming committed crimes in the court without telling the Queen Mother, which is indeed a violation of military discipline, but he was just out of righteous indignation, so it is still justifiable, and I hope the Queen Mother will punish him lightly."

He is an important minister of the Chu State's military, and even Li Yanyan, who is the empress dowager, would not consider what he said. This shows that Chunshen Jun's current strength really has an overwhelming advantage. Cheng Suning also interceded: "Qu Shiming just wanted to frustrate General Wan's arrogance, and he had no intention of killing. The Empress Dowager learned from it." Xiang Shaolong laughed and said, "This is really strange. You were not there at the time, but why did you insist that General Qu just wanted to teach my subordinates a lesson? Did you discuss it long ago?"

Cheng Suning was at a loss for words, his eyes stared at Xiang Shaolong with hatred. Lian Anting, chief guard of the Imperial Guard, bowed and said, "The Empress Dowager Mingjian, when the ministers led people to the East Garden, Mr. Qu and others were holding sharp knives. In the garden, it was obviously after some intense fighting and chasing." Li Quan sneered and said, "Is this just in the hands of the head of the Imperial Guard?" Lian An Tingxian has deep self-cultivation, even though Li Quanming ridiculed him for coveting the position of the inner city guard one level higher than him, he still remained calm and said: "Mr. , is dereliction of duty."

Li Yuan smiled and said: "Deliberately distorting the facts is not only suspected of dereliction of duty, but also a crime of deceiving the emperor. Mrs. Li, please don't get carried away too much." Li Quan said angrily: "Zuo Xiangguo..." Li Yanyan interrupted him, and said to Wu Zhan, the outer city guard who hadn't spoken yet: "What's General Wu's opinion on this matter?" Wu Zhan is in charge of the city guard, he has great power, his status is at the same level as Dou Jie, and his stand has always been impartial, so his words are particularly influential.

Wu Zhan, who is like a lion, opened his giant eyes like copper bells, shot a cold and stern look, and landed on Qu Shiming, and said in a deep voice: "In the palace, it is a serious crime to use a sword rashly, let alone commit murder. It is unforgivable, but since Mr. Qu insists that it is just a general disturbance and fight, we should make the matter clear. The queen mother only needs to take away all the perpetrators from the end, and interrogate them separately to ensure that the truth will be revealed." Li Quan, Dou Jie, and others immediately changed their expressions. Unexpectedly, Wu Zhan didn't care about them at all. It would be even worse if the masterminds behind them were revealed.

At this moment, the door official sang: "Mr. Chunshen is here!" Jun Shenjun was followed by a general on the left and right, and one of them was the seventh son Huang Zhan, who rushed into the hall aggressively. When saluting, Li Yuan told Xiang Shaolong in a low voice that the other general was Chun Shenjun's third son, Huang Ba. Chunshen Jun arrived at the first place of Dou Jie, unexpectedly, he pointed his halberd at Qu Shiming and said, "Qu Shiming, as the inner city guard, you are responsible for the security of the forbidden palace, and you know you broke the law, do you know the crime?"

Xiang Shaolong and Li Yuan exchanged glances, they both knew that Chunshen Jun was going to kill someone to silence him. Qu Shiming also thought that Jun Shen wanted to use another method to excuse him, so he hurriedly said: "I will be convicted at the end!" Chunshen Jun turned to Li Yanyan and said, "Old Minister, please make an order from the Empress Dowager to behead all the perpetrators." Qu Shiming trembled all over, raised his head in astonishment and shouted: "Your Majesty! This matter..." Huang Zhan, the queen of Chun Shenjun, jumped out and kicked Qu Shiming on the mouth. Qu Shiming's teeth shattered and his lips exploded.

Chunshen Jun turned his head and stared at Qu Shiming who was moaning in pain on the ground, and said with disdain: "I am guilty of a capital crime, and dare to insult the Queen Mother, it is really not enough to escape the blame." With a few words, Huang Zhan's action of sealing his mouth was brought over. Li Yanyan looked at Chunshen Jun coldly, and after a while, she sighed and said, "Come here! Push these people out of the hall and hang them immediately for the Ai family, and the chief guard will be in charge of the prison sentence." Lian Anting knelt down to accept the order, and ordered the guards to escort Qu Shiming and others. Li Quan and others were all pale, but they knew that this was the most beneficial solution for them. Li Yanyan's beautiful eyes flicked across the crowd, and when her eyes fell on Xiang Shaolong, she paused for a while, flashed a complicated expression that was difficult to comprehend, and finally came to Wu Zhan, and said softly: "General Wu thinks that the inner city guard Who should take up the position?" Xiang Shaolong has a good impression of this mighty general Wu Zhan, and also wants to hear his proposal. Lord Chunshen and the others all showed signs of alertness. It can be seen that the position of the inner city guard has a crucial influence on the struggle between the two factions.On the contrary, Li Yuan had a calm demeanor and a smile on his lips. Wu Zhan said solemnly: "Now Shouchun is in an eventful autumn, and even the forbidden place is unavoidable. The final general thinks that it is not appropriate to make a big change, so he will be promoted to a higher level by Mr. Lian, and the position of chief guard will be given by the deputy guard. Chang Dugui added, does the Empress Dowager think it is feasible?" Before Chun Shenjun and others objected, Li Yanyan said one step earlier: "General Wu's proposal is very much in line with the mourning family. This decision is made, and no one else can object." Then she said: "General Wan is frightened, please stay step, retreat!" ◇◇◇◇◇◇ Li Yanyan received Xiang Shaolong alone in the imperial court, and after the maidservants drove her out, the beautiful queen mother showed a rare smile, and said to Xiang Shaolong who was sitting at the bottom: "General Wan should be much more famous than he is now. Reasonable." Xiang Shaolong felt stunned in his heart, pretending to be puzzled and said, "Why did the Empress Dowager say such things?" Li Yanyan glanced at him and said, "The ones who were going to assassinate you just now were all outstanding members of the imperial guards, and everyone could block ten with one, but General Wan still killed seven of them under a deliberate sneak attack, but Mr. In the slightest, it reminds me of someone." Xiang Shaolong's entire spine was soaked in cold, he asked: "Who does the Empress Dowager remember?" Li Yanyan changed the topic and said: "After meeting with the general this morning, I went to see Mrs. Xiu'er's embroidery. She was in a trance, made mistakes one after another, and even stabbed her finger. I asked the servants, and I found out that the general had met with the general when he left the palace. Xiu'er bumped into each other, and she arranged for a carriage to take the general away. I didn't think of anything at the time, but after seeing the general's performance in the Dian Palace and the palace, I naturally had a different idea." Xiang Shaolong murmured that something was wrong, knowing that she had become suspicious of him. Li Yanyan's beautiful eyes lit up, she stared at him fiercely and said: "In the world, there is only one man who can make Xiu'er lose her mind at the first sight, can General Wan tell me who that is?" Xiang Shaolong knew that his identity had been found out, Guo Xiu'er was Li Yanyan's close friend, and he would tell her about himself from time to time, so Li Yanyan noticed that there was something strange about her demeanor, and that he acted surprisingly secretly, with great skills, and finally Guess that this pretty and intelligent beauty is Xiang Shaolong. It can be said that my disguise on this trip was a mess everywhere, but fortunately Tian Dan didn't know that he was coming.And Li Yanyan forced herself to reveal her identity only after she dismissed the others, there should be room for things to turn around. After sighing, he returned to his usual calm and unrestrained style, and said lightly, "Did she tell you the story of 'Honey'?" After Li Yanyan nodded slightly, she turned her jade face and said to herself: "Xiang Shaolong! You are so bold, are you going to be ordered by the people of Qin this time to confuse me, the vassal states of Great Chu?" Xiang Shaolong smiled wryly and said: "How can I, Xiang Shaolong, be such a despicable person, and I don't bother to do this kind of thing. Why don't you just see the truth on the battlefield. I'm here this time to kill Tian Dan. Now The Queen Mother exposed her identity, so she had no choice but to return to Qin, and her only request was to lead the orphans and widows of Dian to leave safely." Li Yanyan lost her voice: "Is it so easy to go?" Xiang Shaolong looked at her with a smile, and after feasting on the beauty for a while, he said calmly: "If you want to kill or cut, it's up to you, but if you are killed, and Chun Shenjun sent someone to assassinate Xu Xian, even With Lu Buwei, it will be difficult to prevent the Qin army from suppressing the disaster." Li Yanyan was furious and said: "This is really deceiving people too much. Are you really afraid of your Qin State when you think of me as Da Chu? Qin Guo is in the midst of the civil uprising in Dongjun County, and you can't take care of yourself. Do you still dare to bully me, Da Chu?" Her words were hard on the outside and soft on the inside, anyone with a discerning eye would know that she was timid.It's no wonder, now who isn't talking about Qin's discoloration. Xiang Shaolong smiled and said: "The state of Qin is too busy to take care of itself now, but what is the change of the people in Dongjun? However, Qin may still not have the power to destroy Chu, but as long as the queen mother is forced to move the capital again, the consequences will be self-evident. After the two of them stared at each other for a while, Li Yanyan said coldly, "Just now you said that Lord Chunshen sent people to attack Xu Xian's envoys?" Xiang Shaolong was overjoyed in his heart, knowing that things had turned around, he said in a deep voice: "This is really a huge conspiracy by Tian Dan and Lu Buwei to overthrow the state of Chu. Mr. Chunshen thought that killing Xu Xian would please Lu Buwei, but it turned out to be a failure." into a trap." Then he told the story, especially about Lu Buwei and Tian Dan's collusion, first encouraging Li Yuan, and seeing that he was unmoved, he gave up Li Yuan and took Chun Shenjun.By the way, I described in detail the process of meeting Mrs. Zhuang in Qinling, and then pretending to be a boatman for Cheng Qi to murder her. Li Yanyan's beautiful eyes couldn't help but widen, her jade face flickered, she was obviously shocked. Finally Xiang Shaolong said: "The Empress Dowager should know by now that I don't have the slightest intention to do anything wrong with Da Chu." Li Yanyan said distressedly: "Why is Mr. Chunshen so foolish that he dared to attack and kill the envoys from Qin who came to offer condolences? I must stop this." Xiang Shaolong said: "If it could be stopped, I would have stopped it a long time ago. Xu Xian is a core figure in the Qin army. If something unexpected happened, and Lu Buwei revealed that it was Chunshen Jun who did it, then the only way to calm the anger of the Qin army is to offer a Jun Shen’s head. Then I might try to excuse Da Chu.” Li Yanyan said in astonishment: "How could I do this. Sigh! Even though I am the Empress Dowager, I still don't have the ability to behead Chun Shenjun so easily." Xiang Shaolong knew that she was moved, and said in a low voice, "As long as the Queen Mother doesn't object, I will work it out with Uncle Taiguo." Li Yanyan was stunned and said, "Does Uncle Taiguo know that you are Xiang Shaolong?" Xiang Shaolong nodded. Li Yanyan was clearly aware of the past between the two of them, she said in a deep voice, "Didn't he have a hatred for taking love from you?" Xiang Shaolong said: "Brother Li can only choose between the civil strife in Chu State, the Qin army's invasion, or killing me. Brother Li is a man who loves his family and country, so he chose to cooperate with me!" After thinking for a while, Li Yanyan showed a tired face, and said softly: "General Wan, please step back, let me think about it." Seeing her weak demeanor, Xiang Shaolong's heart skipped a beat, he suppressed his thoughts and retreated. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ As soon as he stepped out of the palace gate, he invited Li Yuan to talk to him in his other courtyard in the palace. After Xiang Shaolong told about Li Yanyan's knowledge of him, Li Yuanxi said, "This is very wonderful. If there is a younger sister on our side, our chances of winning will be greatly increased." Xiang Shaolong deliberately tested his sincerity, saying: "The Empress Dowager seems to have a very special attitude towards Brother Li and Lord Chunshen. Is there any other love in it?" Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, then sighed deeply, showing pain, and said, "Even though Brother Xiang has always been Li's old enemy, neither I nor Tian Dan admire Brother Xiang very much." , I am even proud to have an opponent like you, if someone else asked me this question, I would just evade the matter, but now I don't want to hide it from you, and I believe Brother Xiang will keep my Li family a secret." Xiang Shaolong's heart sank, he knew that what was expected was true, Li Yanyan was indeed involved in something contrary to ethics. Li Yuan was silent for a long while before slowly saying: "When Yanyan was fourteen years old, she was already very beautiful. My parents and I, as elder brothers, all regarded her like a jewel like a treasure, but I didn't expect that not only outsiders coveted her beauty , even within the clan there are people with such wolfish ambitions." Xiang Shaolong was stunned, it seemed that he had guessed wrongly about the relationship between Li Yuan and Li Yanyan, the incest was someone else, but why was Li Yanyan's attitude towards Li Yuan so strange. Li Yuandao: "I don't want to mention the details. The incident happened when Yan Yan was sixteen years old. This man with a beastly face was Li Quan, and Li Ling also participated. Li Quan was the most powerful of the Li clan at that time. We dared to be angry but didn't dare to speak out, and because of this, my parents left with hatred, Yan Yan changed completely, she refused to contact men at all, hid at home all day long, only willing to see me alone, there was an unusual attachment." Xiang Shaolong wondered, "If that's the case, she should wish to kill Li Quan. Why does she still favor him so much?" Li Yuan said sadly: "Because she also hates me!" Xiang Shaolong looked at him in astonishment. Li Yuan slapped several faces with his palm, with flames of hatred shooting out of his eyes, he gritted his teeth and said, "From that moment on, I decided to kill Li Quan and Li Ling by whatever means. People who are not as good as beasts openly asked me for someone again and again. I was so forced by him that I came up with a plan, which was to send Yanyan to Chun Shenjun. Shen Jun gave it to the king, Brother Xiang should understand what I mean! Only in this way, Li Quan will not dare to touch Yanyan, and I can not only gain the favor of Chun Shenjun, but also become the uncle of the country." Xiang Shaolong stared blankly at Li Yuan, he didn't expect the process to be so complicated, it's really hard for every family to recite.At the same time, it can be seen that among the various countries, the Chu family is not only the most powerful, but also the most promiscuous. Li Yuandao: "It took me ten days of hard work to persuade Yanyan, and the reason why she agreed was mainly for the sake of Chu State, because if the king has no children, there will be chaos immediately after his death. But she has The first condition is that the child's father must be me, and she is only willing to bear children for me." Xiang Shaolong lost his voice: "What?" Li Yuan's handsome eyes turned red, his expression was gloomy, and he said slowly: "I pretended to agree to her, and when I acted, I replaced a general who was similar in size to me. In a fit of rage, she killed him with a protective dagger. The next day, she followed me to Chunshen Jun's mansion without saying a word, and never spoke to me again. After she became the empress dowager, she treated me better. She deliberately favors Li Quan, just to hurt me, and now we fully understand her unbalanced mentality. So when I know that she treats you differently, I will be so happy, and I hope she can return to normal." It was only then that Xiang Shaolong understood why Li Yuan and Li Quan were fighting with each other, and why Li Quan was so arrogant, there was such an abnormal and perverted relationship. After taking a deep breath, he said, "Li Quan is now with the Queen Mother, hey! Is there any..." Li Yuan shook his head and said: "Absolutely not. Yan Yan hated men deeply after that incident, and she was only willing to talk to me alone, but then she fascinated Chun Shen Jun and the king so fascinated, even I was puzzled. Somehow she put up with them." Xiang Shaolong said: "She is for you, because only in this way, you will not be killed by Li Quan." Li Yuan was shaken all over, grabbed Xiang Shaolong's hand, gasped and said, "Is it really like this?" Xiang Shaolong said: "That's true. She was willing to serve the two men indulgently just for revenge. But she knows that you are still not the opponent of Chun Shenjun and Li Quan, so she kissed Li on purpose. She has the right to neglect you, just because she allows you to live in the palace, so she has a hidden intention to protect you." Li Yuandao: "Then why didn't she explain it clearly to me?" Xiang Shaolong said: "Because she really still hates you, when I peeked at you from behind the screen that day, I already discovered this subtle situation." After Li Yuan told the story, he felt much more comfortable, nodded and said: "Brother Xiang's words are very reasonable, now Brother Xiang should understand my sincerity in cooperating, as long as I can kill Chun Shenjun, Li Quan and Li Ling , and everything else is no longer on my mind.” Now even Xiang Shaolong wants to kill Li Quan and Li Ling, two people who are not as good as beasts.Asked: "Who is in charge of the military power in Shouchun now?" Li Yuan returned to calm and said: "Shouchun's army is mainly divided into the outer city army, inner city army and outer defense army. Originally, both the inner city army and the outer defense army were controlled by Chun Shenjun and Li Quan, but Qu Shiming is dead. , Lian Anting is in charge of the Inner City Army, and Dugui is promoted to Chief of the Imperial Guard. These two are my people, so the Inner City Army is firmly in my hands. I didn't expect Wu Zhan to be so helpful." Xiang Shaolong said, "Which side is Wu Zhan originally from?" Li Yuandao: "Wu Zhan is only loyal to the crown prince and Yanyan. If he hadn't supported the overall situation, my sister would have fallen under the control of Chun Shenjun and Li Quan, and I couldn't even protect her. The number of soldiers in the inner city is between 10,000 , I will replace all of Qu Shiming’s remnants of the party, and only by keeping my sister and the crown prince can I have the capital to deal with them.” After a pause, he continued: "The outer city army has 30,000 troops, responsible for the defense of Shouchun City and the four nearby cities. The commander of the outer defense army is the ungrateful Doujie. Back then, I strongly recommended him to take up this important position. After knowing that I came back from Handan, he turned to Chunshenjun and Li Quan. The foreign defense army is responsible for the defense of both water and land and the construction of the Great Wall. There are 50,000 people and they are the most powerful. Otherwise, I would have killed Li Quan. .” Xiang Shaolong said: "What about Chun Shenjun and Li Quan's personal strength?" Li Yuandao: "Li Quan has nothing to fear, but the three sons of Lord Chunshen, Huang Zhan, Huang Hu and Huang Ba are all brave and invincible generals, plus five thousand generals, no one is more powerful than him in Shouchun. I only have two thousand generals under my command, which is far behind." Xiang Shaolong said: "Now Huang Hu has brought 3,000 people to assassinate Xu Xian, and his strength has been greatly reduced, so it should be a few days before we do it. Otherwise, if Huang Hu comes back, Lord Chunshen will definitely deal with us immediately." Li Yuan sighed and said, "I thought of this too, but when King Yelang and Li Ling arrived, the whole situation changed immediately. They had nearly 2,000 people here, among whom there were many experts. And Chunshen Jun is very scrupulous about his sister now, Li Lingzao led his men to break into the Dian Palace. Brother Xiang also needs to be more careful." Xiang Shaolong felt a big headache and asked, "Is there any way to win Wu Zhan over?" Li Yuandao: "Let's not say that it is almost impossible. If Wu Zhan is really on our side, the secret fight will turn into an open fight, which will be harmful to us. Therefore, the best way is to bring Chun Shenjun, Li Quan, Li Ling, Dou Jie, etc. used thunderous means to kill them all, and then the younger sister came forward to clean up the mess, only regretting that we still don't have enough strength to do so." Xiang Shaolong patted him on the shoulder, and said: "Take action first, and stop others later. Brother Li, is there a way to get me a picture of the situation in Yelang Palace? If it is possible, I will go and kill Li Ling tonight." , so as not to have long nights and dreams.” Li Yuan patted his chest and said, "This is easy. Brother Xiang, go back to Dian Palace first, and I'll come to you later!" When the two stepped out of the compartment door, they happened to bump into Guo Xiu'er, and the three of them were startled at the same time. Li Yuan didn't know that Guo Xiu'er knew Xiang Shaolong's identity, and said with a smile: "Xiu'er, come and pay a visit to General Wan Ruiguang, he is the younger brother of Princess Dian." Guo Xiu'er didn't dare to look at Xiang Shaolong, she lowered her head and bowed gracefully.Xiang Shaolong had mixed feelings, and after a few polite words, Li Yuan sent someone to send him back to Dian Palace. Along the way, Xiang Shaolong still had Guo Xiuer's pretty face flashing in his heart from time to time, unexpectedly, after a few encounters with Handan, she still couldn't forget her. After arriving in Shouchun, the development of things was completely beyond his expectation. His original intention was to assassinate Tian Dan, and then leave Shouchun to Dian Kingdom to fulfill the promise of helping Mrs. Zhuang restore the country. Unexpectedly, Guo Xiu'er, Li Yuan, and Li Yanyan were identified successively, and they were deeply involved in the power struggle in Chudu Shouchun. He sincerely wanted to help Li Yuan, and one of the reasons was for Guo Xiu'er.Because if Li Yuan collapsed, Guo Xiuer's fate would be very tragic. On the other hand, they are outraged by righteous indignation. Li Quan and Li Ling, two people who are not as good as beasts, are really hateful.As for Mr. Chunshen, it is unforgivable for him to send people to deal with Xu Xian, not to mention the matter of Zhao Guo. The problem is that even with the addition of Li Yuan's people, they still don't have the strength to deal with Chun Shenjun and Li Quan. The only way is to force Li Yanyan to stand on their side. Only by killing Li Ling and showing her strength can she change her mind. He couldn't believe that Li Yanyan didn't want to repay the shame and hatred that changed her character and her whole life, otherwise she wouldn't have defended Li Yuan and the dealer. When I thought of this, I had already arrived at Dianwang Mansion. Xiang Shaolong made up his mind and decided to go to the Yelang Palace to assassinate Li Ling tonight, otherwise he might never have the chance.