There is no softness in Jiali's heart, as an orphan, she has been adopted by Xu Run at the age of four, and has undergone the most rigorous assassination training. Along with her, there were three children of the same size, all three of whom had died in Xu Run's mission, contributing to the master's cause. Now, it was finally her turn, and the thought of being able to dedicate herself to her lord made Jiali excited, and her eyes became hot when she looked at Lu Liang.

Holding the teapot, Jiali walked around behind Lu Liang, and the staggering on the banquet seemed to have all disappeared, and there was only Lu Liang in her eyes.

The teapot is specially made, the handle is broken off by Carrie, and the curved handle is sharp and sharp, and the jet-black tip indicates that it is highly poisonous. Throughout, the target seems to have completely failed to notice the anomaly, and the time is ripe!

"Whew!" The small sound was inaudible, and the tip stabbed at Lu Liang, who was close at hand, and Jiali seemed to be able to see the target's neck pierced by herself.

"Bang!" Jiali fell on her back on the wall behind her, the blood on her forehead spilled on the white wall, the handle of the pot in her hand fell, and her delicate hand hung down weakly.

Lu Liang did not notice that there was an assassin behind him, but this room was not completely closed, and in the small park in the hotel outside the window, there was already a sniper hiding here, and the muzzle of the gun was pointed at this private room. The bullet passed through the glass window and hit the assassin's eyebrows directly, and the soldiers belonging to the Luliang Defense Regiment showed elite qualities and fired decisively at the moment when Jiali made his move, hitting the target!

“DUANG!” The door was slammed open, and several guards rushed in to protect Lu Liang, while others took Wu Shimin, Metro, and Xu Fa under control and took them out of the room, while the other two checked on the female assassin. The incident happened so suddenly, even Lu Liang didn't react, and in just a few seconds, such a drastic change occurred!

Five minutes later, 100 heavily armed soldiers of the Security Corps arrived at the hotel and escorted Lu Liang and the others back to the Prime Minister's Palace. Immediately afterward, a large number of Bureau of Investigation agents dressed in black took over the hotel, and the investigation began.

"Lu Liang, how are you? Are you really not hurt? Wu Yue looked at Lu Liang with concern, tears flowed down her cheeks, and her body kept trembling. Lu Liang had to go up and hug Wu Yue and comfort him in a low voice.

"It's okay, it's not hurt at all, my father-in-law is not injured, the assassin was killed, it's okay, don't be afraid." There were just the two of them in the room, and they could say something intimate. Lu Liang and Wu Yue were already engaged according to traditional customs, and according to Lu Liang's intentions, they would not get married until after the restoration of the whole country, but Lu Liang's age made him not want to continue to endure the single life, so he simply set up a room in the Prime Minister's Office for the life of the two. Let's put it this way, even if Wu Shimin knew, he didn't dare to say anything about the cohabitation life of the two, of course, this was only agreed by Wu Yue after Lu Liang's persuasion several times.

Wu Yue's mood calmed down a little under Lu Liang's persuasion, and then she asked, "How can there be assassins?" How did he get to you? Who is behind this? ”

"What you are asking is what the Bureau of Investigation will do next, but the most important thing for me is to block the news of my assassination, so as not to let the outside world be affected by this matter. As for the masterminds behind the scenes, the imperial court, compradors, the Japanese, the French, the British, I have too many enemies, any of them is possible. ”

The whole incident was quickly clarified, and Carrie's entry into the private room as a waitress was checked by agents of the Investigation Bureau, and she did not carry any sharp weapons on her body. However, it is impossible for the Bureau of Investigation to investigate and delve into the true origin of a waiter, and this is where the enemy takes advantage of it.

The person in charge of hotel management is Xu Fa's subordinate, and obviously, Xu Fa is the most suspicious. And Xu Fa's performance afterwards is also undoubtful, he has been in a very nervous state since returning to the interrogation room of the Investigation Bureau from the hotel, and a day later, Wu Shimin and Metro were ruled out of suspicion. At this time, Xu Fa also confessed all the things under the interrogation offensive of the Investigation Bureau.

It turned out that Xu Fa was originally Xu Run's distant cousin, and the two had been in correspondence before. According to Xu Fa's confession, he always hoped that Xu Run would come to Guangdong to do business, and Xu Run also tried to persuade Xu Fa to enter the comprador camp. Later, Xu Run tempted Xu Fa, saying that after killing Lü Liang, the imperial court would hand over one-fifth of the factories in Guangdong to Xu Fa, on the condition that he assist the assassins to infiltrate the hotel and find a way to create assassination opportunities.

Xu Fa succeeded in luring Lu Liang to the hotel and letting the assassin into the private room, but unfortunately, he fell short, he did not expect that there would be snipers staying near Lu Liang at all times.

The incident was clear, Xu Fa was convicted of treason, sentenced to death, all family property was confiscated by the provisional government, and a public auction was organized. By the end of September 1903, the date of the Northern Expedition had been set in advance.

Of course, it was impossible to remain indifferent to the assassination, and the Investigation Bureau followed up to organize a retaliation against the mastermind behind the scenes, and soon after, Xu Run was found dead in his bed, and not a single wound was found on his body, looking at the signs, it looked like sudden death caused by a heart attack. This is not a difficult task for the Bureau of Investigation.

Lu Liang did not continue to pay attention to this matter, for him, there were more important things to solve by himself. For more than a year, there have been more and more secret exchanges between the provisional government and the two lakes, and Cai Yuanpei has done a fruitful job, making Zhang Zhidong less and less wary of himself. At the end of 1902, Zhang Zhidong even received a handwritten letter from Lu Liang, from which he saw Lu Liang's sincerity, and how Zhang Zhidong and those behind him would be treated if the two lakes took refuge in the revolution, which was also the thing that Zhang Zhidong's interest group was most concerned about.

According to Lu Liang's promise, if Lianghu changes banners and defects to the revolution, Zhang Zhidong will serve as the vice premier of the provisional government, and those high-level officials under his command who are willing to join the administrative organs will be assigned as appropriate after training and examinations. The administrative power of the two lakes will definitely be returned to the provisional government, and the eighth town of the new army will also be reorganized and join the ranks of the Zhenguo Army. The results of the Westernization Movement in the Lianghu area will be rectified under the organization of the Provisional Government, such as the Hanyang Iron Works, which will be modernized, the machinery will be renewed, the personnel will be rehired, the management system will be renewed, and the ownership will be nationalized. Other light industry enterprises are not included in the scope of nationalization, such as Hubei weaving layout, which will become Zhang Zhidong's personal industry.

These conditions can be said to be very favorable, but what made Zhang Zhidong still not make up his mind by September 1903 was power. He knew that after defecting to the revolutionary government, although he served as vice premier, he would not have much real power, and the provisional government was a self-contained system, completely different from the imperial court, and he was so old that it was impossible for him to adapt to the new regime. His men were also divided into two factions, each arguing endlessly.

The geographical location of the two lakes is extremely important, these two provinces are located in the center of China, Hubei undertakes the Central Plains and the south of the Yangtze River, and Wuhan is known as the central place, which is just in the center of the country and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Hunan penetrates deep into the southern hinterland, with Guizhou and Jiangxi on the left and right sides, and controlling Hunan can gain strategic advantages. Moreover, the two places have fertile land, abundant resources and large populations, and Wuhan and Changsha are both open ports on the Yangtze River, with strong ability to accept new things from the outside world. If the two provinces can be controlled before the Northern Expedition, it will be very beneficial for the Zhenguo army.

On September 25, 1903, the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway was opened to traffic, and this railway was considered by the imperial court to be the most powerful evidence of Zhang Nanpi's private collusion with the party. Everyone knows that the railway line to the territory of the chaotic party can be opened, and no one will believe it if there is no cat in it. At this time when the storm was about to come, the railway was opened to traffic, which became the fuse of the change of the situation, and all major forces were affected by this railway.

First of all, the two provinces of Jiangxi and Anhui to the east, Wei Guangtao ordered the seventh and ninth towns to move to the border area and directly threaten the two lakes by force. Ding Zhenze in the west also sent an infantry association from the 19th Town to move to the border between Guizhou and Hunan, if it were not for the lack of troops and the great threat of the provisional government, perhaps the imperial court would have marched to Lianghu and exterminated Zhang Nanpi, a traitorous party.

What prompted Zhang Zhidong to make up his mind was the movement in the north, and the third town of Beiyang, which Duan Qirui was under control, moved to Xinyang, Henan. The situation between the two lakes is extremely tense, and it seems that war is imminent. Zhang Zhidong can be dismissive of Wei Guangtao and Ding Zhenze, but he can't ignore the Beiyang army, Wei Guangtao and Ding Zhenze are foxes, Duan Qirui's third town is a tiger, he doesn't think that his eighth town can resist a siege on three sides.

The imperial court has turned its face, and the next work has become logical, Zhang Zhidong only has the only way to take refuge in the provisional government, and the rest is how to let the two lakes smoothly enter the rule of the provisional government.