"Metropolitan Governor, Lin Yao is back!" Just as Lin Shucheng's brows were tightened, the guard's eager voice came from outside the house.

"Huh? Lin Yao is back? Let him come to me at once! Lin Shucheng's face became more and more gloomy, and he said in a deep voice. Lin Yao was his personal guard, the guard arranged for him by Situ Lei. After being trapped in Longxi Mansion for more than a month, Lin Shucheng still decided to find a way to report the situation here to Situ Lei.

Lin Shucheng believed that as long as Situ Lei knew about the situation here and let the armies of Hanzhong or Chang'an dispatch, the officials of Liangzhou would all be crawling at his feet, and he would also find out what was wrong.

"The Grand Duke!" The door of the house was opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in, which made Lin Shucheng, who was already worried, feel even more chilled in his heart. A young man who was not burly, but appeared to be muscular, walked in quickly. This person is none other than Lin Yao, who was arranged by Lin Shucheng to leave with makeup. Moreover, they were preparing to leave quietly last night.

"Lin Yao, didn't you get out? Discovered? What about the others? Lin Shucheng asked repeatedly.

Lin Yao looked bitter and sad, and said astringently: "Grand Dudu, we can't leave at all. Although his subordinates and several other brothers wore makeup, they were still stopped at the city gate. The Liangzhou army defending the city had already prepared an ambush, and before they could get close to the city wall, they were attacked by the opponent's arrows. ”

Of the fifteen brothers, eight were shot dead on the spot, and the rest immediately withdrew, but the Liangzhou army was in hot pursuit. It is also because of this that the subordinates can return here now. Around the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Situ Fei's people were secretly watching. Now, except for his subordinates, everyone else is dead! Saying that, Lin Yao couldn't help crying.

Lin Shucheng was shocked, this Lin Yao and the others were not ordinary people, they were part of the escort army selected by Situ Lei from tens of thousands of guards. Not only is it extremely capable of fighting alone, but it is also good at fighting in its own situation. He had seen with his own eyes that more than twenty such guards were better than the attack of a hundred guards, and if it was not a frontal battle, they could deal with two or three hundred people. But now, they were all killed last night.

If Lin Yao called Situ Fei like this in the past, Lin Shucheng would definitely reprimand him, but now, Lin Shucheng no longer has this kind of thought. At this moment, if he still doesn't understand that all the changes in Longxi Mansion City are the so-called of this second prince who is not looked down upon by himself, he will not be worthy of being reappointed by Situ Lei.

What exactly does Situ Fei want to do? Self-reliance? Just with these remnants of the army in his hands? Although he was extremely dissatisfied with Situ Fei in his heart, Lin Shucheng still couldn't believe that Situ Fei was self-reliant.

The existing military strength of the Liangzhou army is only about 50,000 regular soldiers, and the local government army is only about 60,000. The number seems to be not small, but among these Liangzhou troops, more than eighty percent are recruits, all of whom were formed by young men after Situ Fei arrived in Liangzhou. In the past, most of the Liangzhou army was transferred to the Central Plains, and the losses of the war with the eastern princes were seventy-seven, eighty-eight.

To say that this army is a new soldier is not to say that they have been formed for a short time, but that these soldiers have not gone through actual warfare at all, at most they have undergone some training. And those old pawns were all transferred by Situ Fei to the forefront of Yanju Mansion to resist the Zhao army. As a result, the whole army went directly to the enemy.

Besides, even if Situ Fei wanted to stand on his own, it would be impossible. To the south of Liangzhou was the 50,000 troops gathered in Hanzhong, and in Chang'an, there were 30,000 guards transferred from Yongzhou to guard the old capital. These two armies are veterans of bloody battles, and there is no problem for any one to defeat the Liangzhou army. If Situ Fei dares to stand on his own feet here, Lin Shucheng believes that in less than half a month, the old generals of the Liangzhou Army will no longer exist.

Seizure of power? Don't want me to take his place? But the current situation in Liangzhou is not a good place. Lin Shucheng frowned, and his heart was full of worries. Now that he has no cronies and no one to provide him with any information, Lin Shucheng has become completely deaf and blind, unable to make accurate judgments.

Wrong! Lin Shucheng suddenly remembered that Ling Xiao, who had the same mission as himself, had never heard from Ling Xiao, who went to Luoyang. It stands to reason that after Ling Xiao controls the situation in Luoyang, he will send a message to himself, so that Situ Fei can immediately stop him and return to Chengdu Mansion. However, until now, no news has been sent back from Luoyang.

Could it be that he was blocked by Situ Fei? Messages can't be sent back? It's impossible, if that's the case, Ling Xiao would have reported these anomalies to Chengdu Mansion a long time ago.

Damn it! What's going on here? Who gave Situ Fei so much courage?

"Lin Yao, you have a good rest in the mansion, and let Hu Wen immediately contact the secret stronghold of the Tiqi Division in the city! We must find out what is going on, and let Hu Wen immediately transmit the situation here to Chengdu Mansion, so that the prince can make a decision himself. Lin Shucheng suddenly remembered the powerful spy organization under Situ Lei's command.

"Yes......"

Luoyang, the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom. Nowadays, although it is still the most prosperous place in Yongzhou, it is no longer the sign of the surging flow of people when Dayan moved to the new place. A heavy snowfall will also turn this place into a white world.

Like Lin Shucheng, Ling Xiao, who arrived in Luoyang, was also excluded by the governor of Yongzhou. The only difference is that in Luoyang, Situ Hao, the governor of Yongzhou, has the support of a huge official system, so when Ling Xiao arrived in Luoyang, he did not directly remove Situ Hao from his position as the governor of the capital for no reason.

In Luoyang, Ling Xiao was the deputy governor of Yongzhou, assisting the governor of Yongzhou in dealing with the Yongzhou military to resist the possible actions of the Zhao army in the north, and at the same time to deal with Liangzhou in the west.

Ling Xiao's original intention was to take over military affairs first, and then meddle in government affairs, or not to meddle in government affairs, just need to take over the logistics of the army. It's a pity that in Luoyang, the old capital, there are too many people standing behind Situ Hao. Countless officials became Situ Hao's supporters and firmly controlled the military and political power in Yongzhou. Especially after Zhao Jun transmitted some information to Luoyang, Situ Hao and the officials behind him acted one after another, desperately grabbing the rights in their hands.

Unlike Situ Fei, there is no trouble in Luoyang to the point of swords and soldiers, no matter who it is, they are all in a situation of seizing power. It seems that it gives people a scenario of official infighting. Of course, this is also related to the mixed situation of various forces in Luoyang.

In Liangzhou, Situ Fei deliberately did whatever he wanted and was not noticed by others, that was because Liangzhou was remote, especially the Liangzhou rebellion, and after the capital was moved, it was not valued by the imperial court. Therefore, Situ Fei was unscrupulously placed under house arrest here as the governor of Liangzhou.

But in Luoyang, where all kinds of forces are mixed, and it is still the center of the power of the Yongjun, before reaching a certain situation or absolutely controlling me, Situ Hao naturally does not dare to do anything particularly overstepping. After all, Situ Lei is not dead.

However, Ling Xiao also failed to get the power of Yongzhou, no matter what, even if he was ordered by Situ Lei to slowly strip away the power in Situ Hao's hands, but he couldn't remove the other party from his official position without any reason. Moreover, Situ Hao is still the Metropolitan Governor, his immediate boss, and any opinions and military orders, the Metropolitan Governor's meaning is higher than his.

More importantly, Situ Hao is Situ Lei's eldest son, the eldest son, and the future His Royal Highness King Yong, this is the consensus of everyone, which is also the reason why so many officials are willing to follow Situ Hao. Therefore, now that Ling Xiao is competing with Situ Hao for power, naturally, the officials in Luoyang are all standing behind Situ Hao.

What is better with Lin Shucheng is that he was not suppressed by Situ Hao head-on, at least, Ling Xiao is still the deputy governor of Yongzhou, and in Yongzhou, he is now a big man second only to Situ Hao. However, in this Yongzhou Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, his power is not high. In other words, the current officials in Luoyang are all attached to Situ Hao.

In the eyes of these people, Situ Lei is about to become a thing of the past, so it is normal for Situ Hao, the eldest son of King Yong, to succeed to the throne. They are attached to Situ Hao, and they are naturally from the dragon's work. In addition, these officials around Situ Hao were also extremely wary of Ling Xiao.

How so? Ling Xiao is Situ Lei's cronies and has extraordinary abilities, and the people around Situ Hao naturally don't want Ling Xiao to be reused by Situ Hao's side anymore. If Ling Xiao is looked at by Situ Hao, after Situ Hao becomes the king of Yong, Ling Xiao will definitely become the most relied on person in the Yongjun again, which will naturally make Situ Hao's command unhappy. Therefore, Ling Xiao was in Luoyang, and he was resisted by everyone, and he couldn't complete the predetermined goal at all.

What worries Ling Xiao the most is that the information he sent back to Chengdu Mansion was not answered clearly at all. Later, I learned that Situ Lei, the lord of the Yongjun, had really reached the state of the sunset West Mountain. Now, Situ Lei can no longer handle military and political affairs normally. Now dealing with the affairs of the Yongjun are Situ Che, the fifth son of King Yong, and Lin Shiwen, who assisted Situ Che.

The two of them were busy with the rectification of the Yongjun army gathered in the south, where they had time to govern the situation in Luoyang. Especially Situ Che, in his opinion, as long as the more than 100,000 troops gathered in Yizhou and Ningzhou are put in order, and Jiaozhou, Jiangzhou, and Yizhou are all under his control, it is the most important thing.

Besides, the situation reported by Ling Xiao is just that he can no longer handle Yongzhou affairs normally in Luoyang, and it is not a big deal. Therefore, Stuart did not take it to heart. Lin Shiwen, on the other hand, was so busy with heavy affairs and the transfer of power that he didn't see the report at all.

The secret mission from Ling Xiao to Luoyang was only known to Situ Lei and a few people under his command, and Situ Che knew nothing about it. As a result, this situation occurred, Ling Xiao and Lin Shucheng were suppressed in both places, and Chengdu Mansion didn't know about it.

Situ Lei's health was already weak, and he personally led the army to the south to conquer Murong Cheng. Situ Lei didn't know that he and Murong were fighting, and in the end, it was Zhao Xun who was cheaper. But Situ Lei, who was dying of old age, still decided to compete with his former great enemy, Murong Cheng, who had also fought with him for more than ten years. Or maybe that's what he wants to see the most.

However, no matter how well the army went on an expedition, no matter how well the guards waited, it was still a little uncomfortable for Situ Lei. Coupled with the hard work of the war, Situ Lei finally came to the end of his life.

Regarding the choice of heir, many people think that the eldest prince Situ Hao is justified and the most suitable. But Situ Lei did not choose Situ Hao, the most important reason is that there are too many old ministers of the Great Yan Dynasty standing behind Situ Hao. In this regard, Ling Xiao and others also agreed with Situ Lei's opinion. Another important reason is that Situ Hao's temperament is too soft, and in this chaotic time, he is not suitable to be a prince of a place. In other words, Situ Hao is the lord of the guard, but not the king of the frontier.

After some consideration, Situ Lei handed over the power of King Yong to the fifth prince Situ Che, and since the end of October, Situ Che began to take over the power of the Yongjun army, and asked his subordinates to assist Situ Che in reorganizing the whole army and taking over the military administration. Lin Shucheng and Ling Xiao were sent to Liangzhou and Yongzhou just in case.

"Metropolitan Governor, the situation is very bad, the secret agents of the Tiqi Division in the city have all been taken down by the Liangzhou army!" Hu Wen, who was sent by Lin Shucheng to contact the Tiqi Division in Longxi Mansion City, came back to report.

"What? The Thiers' spies were also ...... What exactly do they want to do? ”

"Governor Dadu, although we couldn't find the Tiqi Division, the people we sent to inspect the Liangzhou Army have returned, and they have been chased and killed by the Liangzhou Army, but they still have sent back the information they have discovered!" At this moment, Lin Yao hurriedly walked in and said to Lin Shucheng in a hurry, "According to the brothers who were quietly planted in the army at the beginning, the defeat more than ten days ago was deliberately organized by someone. ”

"What? Someone deliberately lost more than a dozen cities to Zhao Jun? Hearing this, Lin Shucheng's face suddenly changed drastically, and he immediately thought that since the loss of the city was deliberate, then, after the Liangzhou army changed its commander, it was naturally deliberate to fight "bravely".

Then, if you want to do this, you can't rely on the Liangzhou Army alone, and you have to conspire with the Zhao Army...... Conspire, Zhao Jun? Lin Shucheng's head was suddenly as big as a fight, and his heart was beating sharply.

"The Grand Duke!" Lin Yao continued, "In addition, our people also found that they had purchased a large number of grain, grass and winter clothes in Qinchuan in the east, so that the Liangzhou soldiers could replenish the materials they needed. However, when our people were about to go to investigate, they were discovered by the Liangzhou army, but they couldn't come back. However, it is still vaguely known that these materials were transported by Zhao Di merchants. ”

"Could it be that they are in collusion with Zhao Jun? Who the hell is it? What do you want to do? By the way, do you ever know who is in charge of these things? ”

Lin Yao said with a gloomy face: "It's the former Grand Governor, and the second son Situ Fei personally presides over it!" ”

"Impossible! How could he collude with Zhao Jun? betrayed the interests of Liangzhou, and in the end it was himself who lost. Lin Shucheng was a little incredulous.

"That's not right! Everyone in Liangzhou ignored the military orders of the governor of Bendu, completely put aside us to do it alone, there must be extraordinary people behind the back, such a thing is definitely not something ordinary people can do. Our army is in the east and south, and it can be waved to the territory of Liangzhou at any time. They will never easily turn their backs on the Yongjun, but go to make a deal with the Zhao army. In the lord of the Yongjun, they are all members of the party, and there are countless fertile fields in the family, and the policy of the Zhao army is definitely not what they want. The more Lin Shucheng thought about it, the more worried he became. Vaguely, he felt as if he was about to guess the problem.

"Could it be that something happened in Yongzhou? Or is there something wrong with Chengdu? If there is any big change, this Longxi Mansion City will definitely not be so stable. ”

"Dare to put the governor appointed by King Yong under house arrest, and dare to ignore the tens of thousands of troops next to him, this is ...... This must be something wrong with Chengdu Mansion, either, or Liangzhou here knows the purpose of my visit. ”

"It's not good, it must be Situ Fei who knows what the situation is, and he is unwilling, but he is worried that Chengdu Mansion will react accordingly, so he didn't come forward and let the Liangzhou army put me in the air and control the power of Liangzhou by himself. It must be so, but you can't give Liangzhou to Zhao Jun for nothing! The more Lin Shucheng thought about it, the more ugly his face became.

"The Grand Duke?" Seeing what Lin Shucheng kept muttering in his mouth, his face became more and more ugly, and Lin Yao and Hu Wen on the side were secretly anxious, and shouted repeatedly.

"Lin Yao, go out immediately, go to Changshi Tianyu's mansion, and tell him, just say that the governor of Pontus wants to see the person behind him, that is, the second son!" After being awakened, Lin Shucheng said with a solemn face.

The mansion of Changshi Tianyu, which is not far from the Dadu Governor's Mansion, Changshi Tianyu, Sima Wang Hewen on the left, Sima Weiping on the right, He Zhaowu who joined the army, and Situ Fei gathered together. They gathered here not for anything else, it was precisely because Lin Shucheng sent someone to spread the word and wanted to see the person behind Tian Yu.

"Lord, Lin Shucheng has already guessed that you are the master behind the scenes in Liangzhou." Since Situ Fei was unwilling to return to Chengdu Mansion, there was a danger of being killed, and he was determined to separate himself from the territory, and the civil and military officials in Liangzhou worshiped Situ Fei as the master.

Situ Fei said in a deep voice: "You say, what is the matter with this Lin Shucheng looking for me?" ”

Wang Hewen said coldly: "Lord, what if Lin Shucheng knows? Now that he is a turtle in an urn, whatever he knows, he is not a threat to us. It's just ......"

"But what?"

"It's just that I don't know what Lin Shucheng knows, if we know about our cooperation with Zhao Jun, then we will have no way out, that is to say, the lord has begun to stand on the bright side, and it is impossible to retreat."

The reason why Situ Fei has not shown his identity and does not have an upright ruler of Liangzhou is that he wants to see the situation in Chengdu Mansion, which can be changed at any time, and once the situation changes, he can launch a substitute ghost and keep himself out of the matter. If Lin Shucheng already knows everything now, then it means that in Liangzhou, Lin Shucheng has other subordinates. Then, he will have no way back.

He Zhaowu, who joined the army, said in a condensed voice: "Lord, now that there is no way to retreat, no matter what, we should make a decision." This Lin Shucheng has good ability, the lord wants to control the army of Hanzhong or Chang'an, and this person is our best helper, the premise is to subdue him. ”