Ying won the favor of the general, ran thousands of miles, made outstanding achievements, and was prosperous for 24 years, Ying denounced Duan Invincible for corruption and collusion with the enemy's business travel with personal vendettas, and his time was invincible, which was tacitly approved by the general. Eino offended.

- History of the Northern Han Dynasty; The Legend of Quartz

In the general's mansion, Long Tingfei stood in the hall with his hands in his hands, his heart was furious, these days, he trained the soldiers, rectified the armor at the same time, did not forget to supervise the generals under his command, in his heart, Duan invincible, Quartz is the most suspicious, these two are his trusted generals, Quartz is good at fighting, but not good at intrigue, Duan Invincible is good at garrison, although he is the most trustworthy backing of the Northern Han Army, but it is inevitable that there are fewer opportunities to make meritorious contributions, in this way, Duan Invincible's rewards and promotions are lagging behind, Moreover, Duan Wudi's surname is deep and cautious, Long Tingfei was a little suspicious of him, but Xiao Tong monitored the generals, but there was no evidence to prove that the two had colluded with Dayong.

Since he returned to Qinzhou, Duan Wushu has been busy adjusting his defenses everywhere, and Long Tingfei has paid careful attention to all his actions, and the defense laid by Duan Wushu is solid and there are no flaws. Quartz was too lazy to pay attention to everything except for the war, and there was nothing special about it except that he had recently become obsessed with a famous singer.

The singer Xiao Tong has carefully checked that she is the daughter of Su Yi, a former Jinyang celebrity. Su was originally a loyal minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, refused to change the Northern Han Dynasty, after the first lord ascended the throne, there were many sarcastic words, and finally the first lord was angry and asked Su to take the house, Su Yi died in prison, that was ten years of prosperity. And Qingdai is Su Yi's only beloved daughter, after the death of her father, the family property was confiscated, this woman is helpless, living in the dust, even so, this woman's surname is arrogant, innocent and chaste, quite respected by the world. It can be said that this woman has hatred for the Northern Han court, which can be seen from her usual behavior, she almost never pretends to be a color to the powerful and wealthy families of the Northern Han Dynasty, and she is widowed, fortunately, there are many people who respect this woman's demeanor, otherwise she will not be able to perform in peace. Quartz fell in love with this woman, although it was a little inappropriate, but just looking at her behavior, she knew that she would not take refuge in Dayong, otherwise she would never give up the opportunity to get close to the powerful to get information, so Long Tingfei did not interfere in the matter between Quartz and Qingdai, not to mention, in Long Tingfei's opinion, Quartz may not be able to impress this woman's heart.

The two most suspicious generals had no traces, Long Tingfei had already doubted whether he had fallen into the enemy's plan to divide the enemy, who knew that things broke out suddenly, Quartz suddenly accused Duan Wushu of colluding with business smuggling, this matter made Long Tingfei feel quite tricky, to put it in his heart, although Duan Wuving's smuggling was secret, but if Long Tingfei didn't know anything, it would be too incompetent, but what Duan Wuving did was exactly what Long Tingfei was inconvenient to do, not to mention that all the proceeds were used by Duan Wuving to supplement military salaries, Therefore, Long Tingfei not only did not ask for the guilt, but instead arranged for the quartermaster to cooperate with Duan Wuyi, so that the silver money was quietly used for food and pensions. It's just that Long Tingfei must not admit this matter, otherwise, the general who guards one side blatantly violates the law, even if the queen understands this matter, those officials will not let him go easily. Most of the generals under Long Tingfei's command know something, only Quartz, firstly, his surname is straightforward, and everyone is worried that he will accidentally leak out, and secondly, Quartz does not care about these things, so many people know things, but only Quartz is ignorant. Therefore, Quartz suddenly attacked with this, and pointed directly at Duan Invincible, which made Long Tingfei unable to react for a while, so he had no choice but to order Duan Invincible to be detained. Of course, Long Tingfei also has a little selfishness, and before the internal annihilation is unknown, he doesn't mind temporarily suppressing Duan Invincible, after all, if Duan Invincible rebels, then the blow to the Northern Han Army will be too great. Despite this, Long Tingfei was still very angry, because Duan Wuving's matter was exposed, so it would be difficult to clear his name, so that no matter whether Duan Wuvor betrayed or not, Long Tingfei was facing the dilemma of losing one less general, so he was very annoyed with Quartz, and couldn't help but regret that he had been too fond of Quartz in the past, and he was so indulgent that he didn't know how thick it was.

Xiao Tong walked in, looked at Long Tingfei's straight back, hesitated for a moment, and stepped forward and said, "General, Yufei is back, he wants to see you immediately." ”

Long Tingfei's body was shocked, during this time, Dayong was heavily guarded, it was difficult to pass on information, he didn't know the result of Qiu Yu's flying assassination, he heard from Xiao Tong's tone that the assassination was not successful, and sighed and said: "That's it, it is difficult to assassinate a dignified prison army, just come back safely, let him in, does he have any urgent matter to see me." ”

Xiao Tong said: "Let's ask him to make it clear to the general, this matter is related to the general of our army, Yufei has never had any entanglement with the generals, and his words should be more fair." Long Tingfei was shocked and said, "Let him come in." He was filled with a sense of foreboding.

Qiu Yufei walked into the lobby with Ling Duan, as soon as Ling Duan saw Long Tingfei, his expression immediately became excited, he looked at Long Tingfei with excited and admiring eyes, in the hearts of the soldiers of the Northern Han Army, Long Tingfei was a god who surpassed everything. He bowed respectfully and said, "The villain Ling Duan knocked to see the general." ”

A trace of doubt flashed in Long Tingfei's eyes, and he asked, "Are you?" ”

Ling Duan knew that Long Tingfei would not recognize him, after all, he was wearing a mask when he appeared in front of Long Tingfei, thinking of this, he couldn't help but think of Tan Ji again, and couldn't help but burst into tears, and said, "The villain is the ghost cavalry guard under General Tan. ”

Long Tingfei looked at Ling Duan in surprise for a long time, stepped forward to pick him up, and said: "I didn't expect General Tan to still have guards alive, Ling Duan, your name is Ling Duan, alas, the ashes of your general have been sent back to his hometown by me for burial, and the imperial court also has a reward, but it's a pity that he can't go into battle to kill the enemy." Speaking of which, Long Tingfei's tone was also sad, but he quickly calmed down and asked again, "How did you escape back?" ”

Ling Duan looked at Qiu Yufei, and Qiu Yufei said lightly: "You should explain everything to the general." Ling Duan nodded, telling everything he had seen and heard, and then Qiu Yufei added the scene of his assassination. Long Tingfei frowned when he heard this, he was originally suspicious in his heart, although what Qiu Yufei and Ling Duan said seemed to be nothing special, but in his and Xiao Tong's ears, the truth revealed after pulling out the cocoon was shocking to the two. After all, compared to Duan Wuving, Long Tingfei believed in the quartz he personally promoted, and Xiao Tong was also more suspicious of the shrewd and cautious Duan Wuving.

They naturally had no doubts about Qiu Yufei, but there was no doubt about Ling Duan, Long Tingfei looked at Xiao Tong, Xiao Tong understood, coughed and said, "Ling Duan, what do you think these things can prove?" ”

Ling Duan said blankly: "The villain is not clear, although General Shi has always been at odds with our general, and often sarcastically embarrassed the general, but if General Shi will have a rebellious heart, the villain really can't believe it, but if it is not, why are Li Hu and they all beheaded, compared to them, the villain follows General Tan to kill people in Zezhou, that is, to explain to the people of Zezhou, and he should also behead the villain." And although Marquis Jiang is not the boss, but the villain sees that all the generals in the army have great respect for Marquis Jiang, he said that if he wants to keep the two of us by his side, no one dares to object, and even after King Qi knew, he only warned us a few words, so that we must not be ungrateful. But all of a sudden, Li Hu was forcibly taken away and beheaded, and Marquis Jiang didn't stop him, I think if I didn't know anything, I'm afraid I would have been killed. And Marquis Jiang is magnanimous, even Li Hu almost killed him without blaming him, if it weren't for the stake, the villain really didn't understand why he did this. ”

Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong exchanged glances, from Ling Duan's words, they couldn't hear a trace of falsehood, and Ling Duan's thoughts were a little messy, not like a lie made up in advance, which showed that Ling Duan did not surrender to the Yongjun army and came back to deliver false information. Qiu Yufei saw the thoughts of the two of them, and said coldly: "When I met Ling Duan, he was already dying, if he hadn't met me, I'm afraid he wouldn't have come back." ”

Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong knew what he meant, if Ling Duan betrayed the Northern Han Dynasty, it would be absolutely impossible to fall into that situation. Even the bitter meat plan must have a limit, since Qiu Yufei said that Ling Duan was almost dead, then there is no falsehood, if Ling Duan can hide Qiu Yufei's eyes, Qiu Yufei is not qualified to be Jing Wuji's descendant disciple.

At this time, a guard came to report that Quartz was already waiting outside to be seen, Long Tingfei was a little hesitant in his heart, originally he recruited Quartz to come to find out why Quartz suddenly attacked Duan Wuving, but now he had doubts in his heart, but he was worried about startling the snake, he glanced at Xiao Tong, Xiao Tong's eyes flashed and said: "Let's let him in, you always have to ask, junior brother, you take Ling Duan to retreat to the back first." ”

Qiu Yufei nodded, but he said lightly: "I have seen General Duan on the road, the general, the senior brother, although General Duan violated the military law, but he is also a painstaking person, and I ask the two of you to give him a chance." ”

Long Tingfei frowned slightly, sighed and said: "I don't know, but I'm afraid this matter is not so simple, although Quartz is reckless, but such a big thing is actually publicized without asking me for instructions, I originally thought he was unintentional, but now I think he is intentional, Yufei, I will deal with it well, Ling Duan, Yufei, you have an arrangement?" He could see that Qiu Yufei was very kind to Ling Duan, so he asked a special question.

Qiu Yufei said: "I like this kid's qualifications and surnames very much, and I am going to take him back to meet Shizun and Senior Brother, if Senior Brother also likes it, I want him to worship under Senior Brother, if not, I will reluctantly accept a disciple." ”

Hearing his answer, Long and Xiao both looked moved, Xiao Tong stepped forward and looked at Ling Duan carefully for a while, and said with a smile: "Although the qualifications are only middle and upper, this kid is a persevering surname, and he is not too upright and inflexible, he has become a ghost rider at a young age, and the senior brother should like it, okay, the junior brother has a good vision." ”

Qiu Yufei smiled slightly, called Ling Duan, and retreated to the back with him.

Long Tingfei ordered someone to pass Quartz in, and after a while, Quartz strode in, he had already forced away the smell of alcohol on his body, and after coming in, he respectfully saluted, and said: "The general will come here, but what are the orders?" ”

Long Tingfei glanced at Quartz deeply, and said: "Quartz, there is one thing I haven't asked you, and now Duan Wudi is about to be escorted here, let me ask you, how did you know that Duan Wudi did that smuggling, such a big thing, why didn't you discuss it with me in advance, but said it in public when the generals were deliberating, fortunately, Duan Wushu did not abscond in fear of crime, if there is a bad pool, wouldn't it be your sin?" ”

Quartz hesitated for a moment and said: "It was Shi Jun, the deputy general of the last general, who inadvertently found out and told the last general, and the last general was angry, and he didn't have time to think about it and said during the discussion, this is the last general's guilt." Speaking of this, he showed a slight look of shame on his face, in order to take revenge on Duan Wuxian, he and Ben never thought of reporting to Long Tingfei in private, although he was straightforward, he was not stupid, such a large-scale smuggling, his subordinates could find out, if Long Tingfei didn't know at all, it would be strange, he only did this to force Long Tingfei to kill Duan Wuving. Quartz knows in his heart, although the general has always been very fond of himself, but he relies more on Tan Ji and Duan Invincible, besides, if it was in the past, Long Tingfei might have severely punished Duan Invincible, and now the army is in critical condition, thinking that the general is likely to conceal this matter, but Duan Invincible will live a long time, and Qing Dai will not be happy.

Although his expression changed slightly, Long Tingfei and Xiao Tong were both people with hearts, and both of them could see it clearly, Long Tingfei sighed in his heart and said, "You wait for Duan Wushu to confront you in the hall." Quartz stepped back. Long Tingfei's expression was cold, and he said: "Xiao Tong, Quartz has a ghost in his heart, you go to his house in person and search if there is anything that should not be there." Xiao Tong replied in a low voice and turned to go out. Long Tingfei hated it in his heart, slapped his palm on the table, the teacups and other things on the table were shocked and jumped, the tea splashed, and there were immediately guards pouring in from the hall, Long Tingfei's expression calmed down, and said: "You clean up, after Duan Wushu is escorted, you go to his shackles, bring him to see me, and escort all the soldiers who escorted him to the back, and don't allow them to walk indiscriminately, Shi Jun is the general who escorted him, and he will also be brought with him." ”

After half an hour, Duan Wushu was finally escorted. Long Tingfei saw Duan Wuving, who looked calm but was a little embarrassed, and he didn't know what to say for a while, no matter what Duan Wuvor was smuggling for, whether he acquiesced or not, this matter had been exposed. If the truth is told, then the dilemma faced by the Northern Han Dynasty will be known to everyone, but I am afraid that the army will be unstable, and the crime of violating the national law is not so easy to be forgiven in the government and the opposition, although the lord of the country trusts himself, but there are still many forces in the DPRK that are dissatisfied with him, Long Tingfei knows that he is afraid that he will be recalled for questioning at that time. If it was in the past, Long Tingfei didn't mind being asked, as long as he could still lead the army to fight, the title and official position were not important, but when was it now, Dayong could be in trouble at any time, and he couldn't leave Qinzhou for a moment. If the lord of the country is obviously partial to himself, I am afraid that he will lose the support of the people and have a great impact on his reputation. The only solution is to let Duan Wushu take the blame, although as long as he says a word, Duan Wushu will definitely obey, even if he dies, he will not implicate himself, and in fact, he did not interfere in this matter, but let Duan Wushu suffer on his behalf, Long Tingfei would not be able to do this kind of thing anyway.

Duan Wudi understood what Long Tingfei was thinking in his heart, and stepped forward and bowed: "The guilty general knocks on the general, and asks the general to deal with the criminal general in accordance with the national law and military regulations, no matter what the punishment is, the criminal general is willing, but now that the country is employing people, I ask the general to leave the guilty generals alive, so that the guilty generals will die on the battlefield, not on the execution ground." ”

Long Tingfei's body shook slightly, and it took a long time before he stepped forward to help Duan Wuyi up, and bowed deeply: "General Duan, this was Tingfei's fault, but let the general bear this stigma, Tingfei is guilty." ”

A look of excitement flashed in Duan Wuving's eyes, and he said solemnly: "Why did the general say this, this is all the last general's desire for profit, and what to do with the general." ”

Long Tingfei understood Duan Wuyi's intentions, since Duan Wushu had already borne the responsibility for this matter, it could not involve Long Tingfei. He straightened up gloomily and said, "Invincible, you are waiting on the side now, there is one more important matter now, you are listening to it." Come on, pass on Shijun. ”

Shi Jun who walked in looked very uneasy, he was quite shrewd, since he met Qiu Yufei on the road, he didn't dare to embarrass Duan Invincible anymore, and on the last part of the road, he kept beating the drum in his heart. Shi Jun was originally a brother of the quartz clan, when he was a teenager, he was brave and ruthless, he was a famous scoundrel in the township, and later defected to quartz, because he was dexterous and martial arts, and he became the deputy general of quartz from a pawn.

A few days ago, Quartz told him to explore Duan Invincible's shortcomings, Shi Jun was really a little embarrassed, not because of Duan Invincible's prestige, but because Duan Invincible had always been rigorous, and Shi Jun had no idea where to start, but Quartz's order could not be disobeyed. It happened that there was a general under Duan Wuving's command who was demoted by Duan Wuving because of violating military law, and the general was resentful and looked for an opportunity to stay in Qinzhou City, Shi Jun got acquainted with him after learning about it, and pulled him to drink and have fun, this general was dissatisfied with Duan Wuving, and under Shi Jun's bribe, he showed a trace of tone and told Duan Wuving about smuggling. After Shi Jun learned about it, he reported the news to Quartz. Quartz is also a famous general, since he knows such a thing, he really found evidence soon after, after all, Duan Wushu has the support and acquiescence of the senior generals in the army, so he did not keep secrets too much, and under Quartz's planning, he successfully caught the thief and took the stolen goods. The whole thing went very smoothly, but Shi Jun had one thing to hide from Quartz, in the process, Shi Jun "found" a lot of clues, but these information was actually not found by Shi Jun, but obtained from some mysterious people, without this information, Quartz would not have been able to grasp Duan Invincible's handle so smoothly.

But now Shi Jun regrets his short-sightedness, thinking that those mysterious people came to the door with gold and silver, saying that they were smuggling merchants who colluded with Duan Wushu and were at odds with them, and the two sides were rivals in business, so he wanted to help Quartz fight Duan Wushu in order to eradicate the backstage of those merchants, which was a very reasonable reason, and he also needed this information, so Shi Jun was disrespectful. But what happened on the road made Shi Jun realize that his boss might have stabbed a hornet's nest, if there was anything wrong with quartz, his glory and wealth would be empty, but even if he regretted it, it would be useless. When Shi Jun escorted Duan Wushu to the General's Mansion, Duan Wushu was immediately unshackled and invited in, but Shi Jun himself and those sergeants were taken into custody, and Shi Jun was even more uneasy, thinking about how to deal with it. It didn't take long for Shi Jun to be summoned for questioning, and he naturally had no way to refuse, so he could only walk into the White Tiger Festival Hall where Long Tingfei summoned the generals. As soon as he saw Long Tingfei, whose face was blue and his body was full of anger and murderous intent, Shi Jun only felt that he could barely breathe, and he took a few steps forward and fell to his knees, and his body couldn't help but tremble.

When Long Tingfei saw this situation, he became even more suspicious in his heart, and asked coldly: "Shi Jun, did you find out about Duan Invincible's smuggling?" ”

Shi Jun said cautiously: "It is the last general." ”

Long Tingfei said hatefully: "How did you find out, didn't you dare to spy on the general secretly?" ”

Shi Jun opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't export, bribing Duan Wuving's generals and accepting bribes from businessmen are not things that can be said explicitly, if he said it himself, he didn't say whether Duan Wuvor was guilty or not, he was afraid that he would be pushed out and beheaded first. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sweat on his forehead, knelt on the ground, kowtowed again and again, and didn't dare to speak.

Long Tingfei said angrily: "You still don't tell the truth, if there is half a lie, I will ask you for the crime of deceiving the boss, and I will cut you with a thousand knives." ”

Shi Jun's face turned pale with fright, and he hurriedly told him how he got clues from the general's collar and how he got bribes and information from the mysterious person.

Long Tingfei was furious, kicked out, kicked Shi Jun aside, Shi Jun spit blood, but he didn't dare to wipe it, got up and knelt on the ground, and said again and again: "The last general is guilty and begs the general to spare his life." Long Tingfei said coldly: "Take him down and hand him over to Xiao Tong for torture and interrogation." Several guards dragged Shi Jun down.

Long Tingfei sat back in his seat, closed his eyes tiredly, and thought carefully about Shi Jun's confession, those who provided information were very suspicious, he asked Duan Wudi: "Invincible, do you know who will hold a grudge against you, and can get detailed information about your smuggling." ”

Duan Wushu frowned and thought for a moment, and said: "The businessmen who colluded with the last general are all big businessmen in the country, and there are only two or three companies that are qualified to do this kind of business. Unless it is the merchants of the East China Sea who trade with those merchants, it is possible to know the information of our shipments, but how can they have the ability to participate in the military affairs of the Northern Han Dynasty? ”

Long Tingfei smiled bitterly for a moment, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and said, "How can you have the ability, we have all forgotten that the person has been in the East China Sea for nearly three years, and I am afraid that this matter has long been in his hands." ”

Duan Wuyi's face changed, he naturally understood who the "person" Long Tingfei was talking about, but he asked cautiously: "General, this matter may not be the case, the businessmen we cooperate with have all specially checked, it should not be Dayong's person, and we also deliberately excluded the Hai Clan, just because the Hai Clan and the East China Sea are too close." There is no problem with the identity of those merchants, most of them are people from the Southern Chu side, and behind the scenes should be the most mysterious Tianji Pavilion in Southern Chu, even if that person is clever, he can't stretch his hand so long. And the information we got from Nan Chu should not be a problem, Tianji Pavilion has damaged the interests of Dayong many times over the years, we once suspected that the backstage of Tianji Pavilion is the Nan Chu family, and now we have the same hatred as Nan Chu, they will not fall into the well at this time. ”

Long Tingfei was quite convinced of Duan Wuyi's judgment, but he still thought that Dayong must have intervened in this matter, and who would want the Northern Han military to be in chaos except Dayong. After thinking about it, he said: "You also said that the Hai clan and the East China Sea are very close, according to Princess Bi, the Hai clan and Jiang Zhe also colluded, and the smuggled goods must pass through Binzhou, and the Hai clan is there to cover the sky with one hand, I am afraid that the clues will not be able to escape their eyes, if they have the heart, they may not be able to collect these intelligence, alas." ”

This time Duan Wushu was also silent, Long Tingfei's judgment was very reasonable, the entry and exit of the goods really couldn't be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Hai clan, could it be that Jiang Zhe had already laid chess pieces in Binzhou, Duan Wushu suddenly had a ridiculous idea in his heart, could it be that Jiang Zhe lived in seclusion in the East China Sea, supported the Jiang family in the East China Sea and the Hai clan to develop Binzhou into the center of Yuanyang trade, and also had the intention of luring us to smuggle, now if this route is broken, I am afraid that my Northern Han will immediately fall into the predicament of insufficient materials, thinking of this, Duan Wushu suddenly felt cold all over his body, But he didn't dare to say what he thought, so he could only comfort himself, no matter how shrewd Jiang Zhe was, he couldn't think so far-reaching, the affairs of the East China Sea were still the masters of the Jiang family, and he couldn't do it like his arm.

At this time, Xiao Tong came in with a solemn face, he handed over a brocade box, opened the box, and it contained two letters. Long Tingfei took a look at it, and immediately felt that everything was lost.

Both letters were not letterheaded or signed.

The first letter reads, "The old department of the king, all have been extinguished, the grace of the gentleman's subordinates has been repaid, the Long's Zezhou has been defeated, how can the king not understand, if the army is advancing north, the king regrets it is too late, if he abandons the darkness and turns to the light, he can be allowed to take the position of marquis, the general ponders deeply." ”

The second letter reads, "You know the situation, go with the sky, it is a blessing, please remove Duan Invincible first, to show sincerity, I will secretly help the general to act." ”

Long Tingfei said sadly: "Have you asked his personal guards, but someone planted it?" ”

Xiao Tong said bitterly: "The subordinates interrogated carefully, no one knows how Quartz contacted Dayong, but this brocade box is placed in the cabinet in Quartz's bedroom, and only Quartz has a key in this cabinet." And some people noticed that Quartz would check the letters inside from the brocade box every night before going to bed. If someone had planted it, at least the letters before last night wouldn't have been in them. ”

Long Tingfei stroked his forehead and said nothing, his expression was cold and gloomy, and after a while, he said, "Send Quartz to see me." ”

When Quartz walked into the hall, Long Tingfei could no longer suppress the anger in his heart, and threw the brocade box and two letters on the quartz face, Quartz's eyes flashed, and when he saw the letter, his face turned red, and said: "How can the last general's personal letter be in the hands of the general." ”

Long Tingfei, who had the idea of what to expect, was completely disappointed, and he said coldly: "Then do you admit that these two letters are yours?" ”

Quartz's face turned red and said, "It's all the last general." ”

Long Tingfei laughed loudly, his laughter was full of sadness, and said: "I have always valued you, can you repay me like this, you are worthy of the king and the soldiers of the three armies." ”

Quartz was confused in his heart, and said in his heart, why is there any obstacle to the poems that Qingdai wrote to me? He subconsciously picked up the letter and looked at it, and when he saw it, he was stunned and could no longer speak.

Long Tingfei said coldly: "Originally, I still believed that it was not an accident for you to intercept and kill the King of Qi, and I also thought that you attacked the invincible because you were not used to this kind of greed, but now how do you explain that the Northern Han Dynasty has failed you, and you want to commit treason to the enemy." ”

Quartz was anxious and wanted to explain, but the more anxious he was, the more difficult it became to distinguish, holding the two letters, he couldn't speak, his injuries were not all healed, and in his eagerness, he couldn't help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.

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