In the fifth year of Taihe, September Bingchen, Chenzheng.

Jiannan Road, Xichuan, Chengdu Mansion, Jiedu Branch Embassy Mansion.

The early morning of September in Chengdu Mansion is full of fog, and the sunlight that has just risen directly into the courtyard of the embassy's office, coupled with the green bamboo planted in the front yard of the mansion, there is a sense of winding paths leading to seclusion, as if you are in a bamboo forest, away from the hustle and bustle.

Yang Zong finished drinking the tea in the teacup, and only then did he taste the refreshing taste of this tea, which he had never had the opportunity to drink in his life. Seeing Yang Zong drink the tea like drinking, Li Zhi couldn't help but smile, beckoned to Li Asi, the housekeeper in the house, and said, "Come, quickly pour tea for General Yang again." ”

Yang Zong hurriedly and eagerly refused: "There is no need for the envoy, Yang is a rough person, and he doesn't know much about the tea ceremony." ”

Li Zhi waved his hand, ignoring Yang Zong's words at all.

"In addition, wrap the five catties of ground dragon wells in the mansion together, and send them to General Yang's mansion on the same day."

Li Assi sang along, and hurriedly retreated from the front hall.

"General Yang," Li Zhi squinted thoughtfully, and said tentatively: "You are a person who knows the times, Hehe, this time you are willing to be loyal to my Tang, and if you want to decide, you will not regret it because Li Jiedu carried you with one hand, right?" ”

Yang Zong put down the teacup that had been in his hand with a solemn expression, looked at the front yard and said: "Yang is not talented, and he can't read poetry since he was a child. Uncle was exiled to Luzhou with his father, and later his father died early, and Yang was used to seeing Hui Hui and Tubo robbing the people of Luzhou one after another since he was a child. Uncle treated me like a father, taught me martial arts, brought me up, and used his life savings to buy me a military registration. His lifelong wish is just so that I don't have to bear the identity of a rogue son in the future. Now that the envoy has given me this opportunity, why don't I do it? ”

Li Zhi laughed, and said in his heart that Yang Zong's words were true and sincere, which made Li Zhi temporarily eliminate a trace of doubt in his heart, "That's good, that's good, General Yang rest assured, my uncle Li Zongmin's official is in the middle of the book, and the servant of the Ministry of Officials, he is not only the prime minister of the court, but also has always been good friends with Niu Xianggong, and the high-ranking people in the court are all people who are uncles and Niu Xianggong, if General Yang has this merit, promotion will definitely not be a problem." ”

"Yang thanked the envoy." Yang Zong saluted again and again, he didn't want to stay here for a long time, so he said: "It's not too early......

But Li Zhi clearly had no intention of ending the conversation there.

"But then again, what crime did Ling Zun cause his exile to Luzhou?"

Yang Zong swallowed his saliva, for some reason, whenever Li Zhi's envoy asked him a question, he could always feel an aggressive and unavoidable momentum. Although Li Zhizhi had a smile on his face, Yang Zong's back was already soaked with sweat.

"Deserter ......"

"From what town?"

"Well, Yang remembers, it should be...... Shuo Fang. ”

Li Zhi stroked his beard quietly, nodded silently, and said, "Hehe, Shuofang is indeed a remote place." But...... Isn't Luzhou the territory of the Shuofang Army, which is also exile? ”

Yang Zong had never thought about this question in detail, and he didn't know how to answer it for a while.

Who knew that Li Zhi suddenly laughed and came to relieve the siege, "Hehe, Tang Law is strict, I can't figure it out myself, hard General Yang, listen to this noise." ”

Hearing these words like a send-off, Yang Zong was relieved, and seized this opportunity to stand up and salute Li Zhi, "Then I will retire from my humble position, and I will come back to visit the envoy in the future." ”

"General Yang ......"

Li Zhi still had that iconic smile, but what was hidden behind this smile at this time made Yang Zong inexplicably afraid.

"This is in a hurry?"

"The hour is not early, humble ...... The lowly position also needs to go to the Jiedu embassy...... Discuss the conspiracy...... Surrender. ”

"Hehe," Li Zhi slowly got up from the rosewood chair and stood with his hands in his hands, "You and I have just finished talking about business, but General Yang is about to go to meet Li Jiedu, I'm afraid I don't want to tell you and me what I said here." ”

"How dare you ...... your humble position" Yang Zong looked stunned, "Yang is just afraid that the Shuai Mansion will wait too long, and his heart is ...... Suspicious. ”

"They can afford to wait, besides, there are Li Huaishen in the Shuai Mansion, Wei Rong, and a number of capable generals, not less than General Yang." Li Zhi said this extremely arrogantly, and then raised his hand and motioned for Yang Zong to follow him along the bamboo path to turn right and enter the east courtyard. led Yang Zong to the east hall, stepped on the mirror-smooth terrazzo wood floor, and sat down at a small mahogany square table.

"...... is this envoy Li?"

"Since General Yang is in a hurry to go to the Shuaifu, Hehe, it's better to make a confession first, so that General Yang can feel at ease as soon as possible, right?" Li Zhi made a gesture lightly, and the subordinates in the east hall understood, and walked into the study on the side to rummage for something.

"The confession of the lowly position, still ...... Please let the lowly go back and think about it again......"

Yang Zong suddenly felt that the courage to cut off people's heads on the battlefield of the river meanders in the past was completely useless in this deep mansion compound at this moment, as if he had been defeated by the art of disgust with victory, and he did not dare to leave the table at all, and his words became slurred.

"Hehe, don't bother General Yang," Li Zhi said, and Fang Cai's subordinate had already walked over from the study with a volume of papers, and unfolded the volume of documents on the small square table. Li Zhi put out a vermilion seal again, and then said: "General Yang only needs to sign and draw here, and print a handprint, which is enough." ”

Yang Zong picked up this confession and looked at it, but his heart sank, and he didn't care about the content. In the final payment, not only the name of Li Zhi, the envoy of the festival, but also the name and handprints of many of the envoys of the festival. There are so many people in the Xichuan Niu Party, which Yang Zong did not expect.

What made Yang Zong shudder even more was that the news of Xi Tan's surrender had just reached Chengdu today, and this confession seemed to have been prepared a long time ago.

"General Yang, please."

Yang Zong was in a dilemma.

In order to completely defeat Li Deyu, the Niu Party did not hesitate to give up Victoria, which had been lost for nearly 70 years. But now the confession in front of Yang Zong, just by signing and drawing, Yang Zong can completely wash away the identity of the son of Liu, and at the same time correct his uncle's name, he can also enter Chang'an in one fell swoop and soar.

On the one hand, it is the grace of support, and on the other hand, it is the name of the family.

After an extremely painful ideological struggle, Yang Zong ...... The latter was chosen.

At the beginning of the year.

Jiannan Road, Xichuan, hundreds of miles outside Victoria.

Zhang Yijun and Xi Yimou rode side by side, walking unhurriedly on the official road leading to Chengdu Mansion. Looking back, Victoria City has long disappeared from sight, and all you can see is the mountains and mountains of Minshan Mountain, as well as the lush greenery of the foothills of Xishan. Behind Zhang Yijun and Xi Yimou, they followed the bearded man who always looked fierce on foot, followed by more than 300 foot cavalry of the Victorian defenders, most of whom were armed with wooden forks and hidden knives, with their hair draped and their feet draped, but the marching speed of the entire army was not slow at all, which made Zhang Yijun admire.

"Is the gentleman afraid of death?" Xu is march is really boring, Xi Yumou asked without warning.

Zhang Yijun glanced at him, "Afraid of death, can you come to make a dark pile?" ”

"Hah!" Xi Tanmou laughed, as if he had already guessed this answer, "Mo Dao has one eye, but there are too many people to kill, and now when you look at other people's eyes, you can always see whether a person is afraid of death or not." ”

Seeing that Zhang Yijun didn't reply, Xi Yimou stared into Zhang Yijun's eyes, and continued to take care of himself: "In my opinion, Mr. is afraid of death. ”

"Yes," Zhang Yijun smiled lightly, his eyes did not dodge, and he looked directly at Xi Yimou, "Not only are you afraid of death, but you are also afraid of it." ”

"If you're afraid of death, you can come to make a dark pile?" Xi Yimou repeated Zhang Yijun's words just now with some sarcasm.

“…… But a certain fear of death, just because...... If you can't even save your own life, how can you do something bigger? ”

"Heh," Xi Yumou laughed disdainfully, and said, "Isn't Mr. not incompetent?" What can be done without official products? ”

Zhang Yijun didn't answer, just stared at the sky in the northeast.

"I'm not like you, I'm afraid of death," Si Tanmou said as he tightened his grip on the reins, "Bon believes in an afterlife, but I've suffered enough in this life, I don't want to do it all over again......"

Seeing that Zhang Yijun didn't react to his words at all, he knew that he was bored with his own boring plot, so he simply silenced it and looked away.

The first moment.

Chengdu Mansion, Jiedu Envoy Mansion.

In front of the mansion, Li Zhi watched Yang Zong's back expressionlessly, and gradually moved away from the Houqu Street of Wenshufang, and the people in the mansion came to his head and said softly: "Ah Lang, Yang Zong is newly attached, he won't regret going to report to the Shuai Mansion, right?" ”

"Hehe, his handprint has been pressed, and he is already openly hostile to the Jiedu envoy. No matter how stupid you are, you can figure this out," Li Zhi put his hand behind him, with a hint of cunning in his tone, and sneered disapplauded: "Besides, even if he reports the news, he can't stand alone, and the Jiedu envoy can't do anything." All he wanted was Yang Zong's handprint and confession as a general of the Yajun Army, and the people in the court would not care whether the confession was true or false. Yang Zong is useless now, he doesn't regret it, what does it have to do with me? ”

The subordinate beside him suddenly realized, and repeatedly praised the head of the family for being thoughtful.

"Whoa!"

Just as Li Zhi was about to turn around and go back to the house, he suddenly grabbed the sleeve of the person in the mansion next to him as if he remembered something, stretched out his index finger, and his eyes swirled.

"But...... For the sake of insurance, you still ask Ah Si to check carefully for me, what is the origin of this Yang Zong? ”

After another moment, as if he was uncomfortable to sit on, he kept lifting his buttocks while riding, and changed positions in the saddle from time to time, which was quite funny. provoked Zhang Yijun to observe and plot for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking: "Is it the first time for the deputy envoy to ride a horse?" ”

"Although Mr. is a secret pile, I am afraid that the time will not be long, and I don't understand the military laws of Tubo." Xi Tanmou's eyes shot like a sword on the rugged mountain road ahead, and he said quite lightly: "Those who are slaves and those who have been slaves are not allowed to get on their horses, and those who violate them will have their hands and feet cut off." ”

"The deputy envoy was a slave?" Zhang Yijun was surprised.

"My family believes in Bon, and now that Zanpu has ascended the throne, he will drive all the families who do not want to abandon Bon into slavery, and I have become a slave soldier under his command...... There was a time when he was reckless in hunting, and he missed three arrows and ate an iron beast, and I got it for him, so he cut off his slavery and was promoted all the way to become the deputy envoy of Victoria. When he said this, his face was expressionless, as if he had nothing to do with him.

"The left eye of the envoy is ......"

Xi Yimou glanced at Zhang Yijun with one eye, silently pulled out a short knife from his waist, and knocked the blindfold with the tip of the knife, "There is a price to cut off the slaves." ”

"But I don't hate it because of this......" Sidney paused for a moment, and then almost gritted his teeth and said, "I hate him for withholding money and killing the slaves in order to return to Luoza...... Sir knows ......"

Zhang Yijun nodded quietly as he listened, which was in line with the information he had collected in Victoria. Zhang Yijun couldn't help but secretly sigh that the feudal officials of Tubo needed to be greedy for military salaries and bribe the royal court in order to return to Luo. It shows that the current situation in Tibet can also be said to be dangerous, and the generals of the border state have their own ghosts, and the surrender of Victoria may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Zhang Yijun looked at Xi Yimou, suddenly thought about it, and said thoughtfully: "Yijun remembers that it was three years ago that Sima Zhu, the secret pile in Victoria, was killed. The deputy envoy also said that it was because he found some clues that he had caused the hidden pile to be killed. How did a person who doesn't do anything know about Sima Zhu's secret identity? ”

"This ......" Xi Tanmou's brows furrowed, and his eyes flickered, "I really didn't think much about it, I was just acting on orders at that time, and if I want to investigate it at that time, please ask Mr. for kind words......"

"On whose orders?" Zhang Yijun interrupted.

"I am the deputy envoy of Victoria, of course, I am reckless." Xi Tanmou took it for granted with disdain, and suddenly, his face changed as if he remembered something, and his expression became obviously serious, "But Mr. Jing mentioned this, there was indeed something unusual about Ke Mang at that time......

“…… At that time, he was no longer interested in the fact that he couldn't get money, but he was quite concerned about this secret matter. And it stands to reason that if he catches the secret pile, he should be interrogated more, and the next day he didn't even bother to ask, and directly ordered to be killed. But I didn't really care about it at the time. ”

After Zhang Yijun listened, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and his whole body was swept with goosebumps.

Thinking about it carefully, there has been no war in the southwest for a long time, and Victoria has been mixed with Han and Tibetan for a long time, and the hidden pile that can hide in Victoria for two years without being discovered, but it was suddenly exposed and killed, there must be a hidden secret inside......

"Someone in the Shuai Mansion betrayed him." Zhang Yijun unconsciously blurted out in an almost whispered voice, but these words were like a boulder entering the water, stirring up a thousand waves in his heart.

Tang law stipulates that betraying the secret pile is a capital crime, and there is no forgiveness for killing.

Zhang Yijun raised his head violently, which means that in Chengdu Mansion, some people are willing to risk the death penalty, and they also want to use the hands of the Tubo people to kill Sima Zhu, a secret stake who had lurked in Victoria. Zhang Yijun was sure in his heart that this person must still be in Chengdu Mansion, and it was necessary for him to report this matter to Li Deyu as soon as possible.

The sooner the better......

"The deputy envoy is only in charge of the march, this matter is urgent, and Yi Jun must first return to the envoy."

Seeing that Zhang Yijun looked anxious and was about to ride away, Xi Yimou hurriedly stopped him.

"Hey......" Xi Yumou was extremely puzzled by the sudden change of plan, "The previous plan was to go to Chengdu Mansion together, if Mr. is not there, we will be regarded as coming to attack the enemy army and be attacked by the Tang army, what about it?" ”

"The defenders of the pass must have gotten the news, don't worry, deputy envoy!"

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Yijun clamped the horse's belly hard, rode in the dust, and galloped towards the southeast Chengdu Mansion.

Looking at the back of Zhang Yijun riding away, Xi Tanmou spat a mouthful, his chest rose and fell slightly, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.