Putting down the information in his hand, Li Kang looked at Huo Yi with satisfaction, although this ordinary young man with an ordinary appearance and honest demeanor seemed to be just an honest man with no scheming, but who would have thought that he was one of the best figures in the Splendid League, these sons followed Li Kang's side, did a lot of things for Li Kang, and cleared out many officials who were inclined to the imperial court, although he was still a little wary of the Splendid Alliance, but for Huo Yi, Li Kang was already quite trusted.

Huo Yi, or it should be Bai Yi, stood respectfully at the bottom, and saw that Li Kang had finished reading the information, before he said: "Your Highness, your subordinates have received the news, Xiahou Yuanfeng may have arrived at Sanguan, these words, His Royal Highness intercepted the envoys and documents of the imperial court, and blocked the road leading to Dongchuan on the grounds that there were thieves, although there were no flaws on the surface, the Dayong court was busy fighting with the Northern Han Dynasty, and it was inevitable to slack off on Dongchuan, but Li Zhen and his courtiers were not idlers, they had already found clues, If you don't want to force the prince to rebel at this time, I'm afraid that the Yongjun army has already entered Sichuan. However, Xiahou Yuanfeng has already taken action in person, and recently said that the alliance has caught more than a dozen secret spies of the Mingjian Division outside the Sanguan, and I don't know when the prince is going to do it, without further ado, if we wait until the Dayong Imperial Court frees up our hands, I am afraid that we will not have a chance. ”

Li Kang said with a smile: "You don't have to worry, now Li Zhen will never dare to turn against me, and although I put on a pattern of supporting the army and respecting myself, but in Li Zhen's opinion, I am at most fighting for power, who would have thought that I, a dignified Prince of Dayong, would deliberately let Dayong be torn apart?" So the court must try to appease, Li Zhen issued a few edicts in a row, commending the king, doesn't he just don't want the king to blatantly oppose the court, he wants to wait until the Northern Han Dynasty is destroyed, and then come to deal with me with the victory Yu Wei, if Xiahou Yuanfeng doesn't come to the king, he will feel strange? But now the time has not yet come, Li Xian's initial defeat, his strength has not been greatly damaged, with Long Tingfei's ability, and occupying the geographical advantage, he will definitely make Li Xian suffer a fiasco, and I will not be too late to make a move at that time. ”

Huo Yi said hesitantly: "But the one who fought with the Northern Han was Li Xian, the king of Qi, he was a famous general in the world, and he was assisted by Jiang Zhe, the Marquis of Chu Township, what if it was the Northern Han who was defeated?" ”

Li Kang shook his head and said: "Jiang Zhe is no matter how smart he is, Long Tingfei just can't resist, as long as the retreat of one city and one city, you can tie the king of Qi back, and when the time comes, I will not win for a long time, I will buy the ministers of the central government to make a statement, accusing the king of Qi of wasting troops, and when the time comes, I can't say that Li Zhen is anxious, don't look at Dayong and Nanchu have recently reached a peace agreement, at that time, even Shang Weijun will fall into the well no matter how idiotic he is, in fact, if I am Li Zhen, the most important thing is not to attack the Northern Han, but to stabilize Dongchuan first, and to settle the inside first, This is the truth. ”

Huo Yi thought about it: "Maybe the Dayong Imperial Court is also forced to do so, now Nanchu is watching, although the prince has objections, but it has not been revealed, Li Zhen must be hoping to calm the Northern Han with lightning speed, and then they can calmly deal with us, but they didn't expect that the Northern Han army that had been defeated in Zezhou still had such combat power." ”

Li Kang nodded and said, "You should be careful, the timing of our launch is very important, by the way, we will set up a heavy ambush outside the Sanguan, and we must not let the spies of the Ming Jian Division enter Dongchuan." ”

Huo Yi said confidently: "Your Highness, rest assured, the Ma Protector of this alliance is personally in charge, and he will definitely not let Mingjian Si succeed." Li Kang nodded with a slight smile, he also has his own henchmen, and naturally knows that outside of Sanguan, the Splendid Alliance has either killed or captured many secret agents of the imperial court, and the methods are very cruel and fierce, and he has also suffered a lot of losses, which shows the sincerity and loyalty of the Splendid Alliance.

After retiring, he walked outside the hall, the corners of Huo Yi's mouth showed a faint smile, waiting for him outside were two young people, one gentle and elegant, the other brave and fierce, both of them were twenty-five or sixteen years old, these two people were Shangguan Yan and Xiong Storm, their faces were very indifferent, a few days ago, after they were reprimanded, they followed Huo Yi into the Qingwang Mansion in the name of guilt and meritorious service, although they were afraid of Yinwei, these two young people were very respectful to Huo Yi, and they didn't dare to offend at all, after all, Huo Yi was Huo Jicheng's righteous son, Chen Zhen's confidant, And their elders and family members are still in the hands of the Splendid Alliance, but the rejection in their hearts is increasing unabated, even if Huo Yi is always polite to them, it can't change their mood. When Huo Yi saw their expressions, he sighed slightly in his heart, only pretended not to see them, and ordered: "Send a message to Ma Protector, strengthen the monitoring of Sanguan, and definitely not let a Dayong secret spy mix into Dongchuan." ”

Ma Cheng, the head of the Splendid League, who is responsible for intercepting the secret spy of the Ming Jian Division outside the scattered pass, is in his forties this year, and is the backbone of the desire to restore the country, this time Chen Zhi specially sent him to preside over this matter, because he has a deep hatred for Dayong, and the people handed over to him are also a few good hands in the Splendid League, of course, these people have a characteristic, that is, they are very keen on fighting against Dayong, because in the past few years, the Splendid League Taoguang was obscure and quite dissatisfied, this time let them shoot, like a tiger out of the cage, so they have achieved remarkable results during this time.

Although there are two people in Sanguan who also participated in this operation, they have no achievements, one of them is Gu Ying, who is the only son of Gu Ning, the great protector of the Splendid Alliance, some time ago, Huo Jicheng, the leader of the Splendid Alliance, decided to cooperate with King Qing, Gu Ning was cut off of the little power left because of the anger of Huo Jicheng, so that the people of the Splendid Alliance once again saw the powerful means of the alliance leader to eliminate dissidents. Gu Ning was worried about his situation, so he asked his friend Ma Cheng to take care of his only son, although Ma Cheng was not Huo Jicheng's descendant, but he had always been more valued by Huo Jicheng and Chen Zhen, and with him to protect Gu Ying, Gu Ning could rest easy. And Ma became Gu Ying's safety, even if he took over such an important task, he still brought Gu Ying to Sanguan, but he was not allowed to make a move, after all, although Gu Ying had good martial arts, he was only seventeen years old. So Gu Ying could only watch others do it.

And the other person is different, his name is Luo Jianfei, and he is Chen Zhi's henchman and guard. Speaking of which, since Chen Zhi was in charge of the affairs of the Splendid League, most of the old people in the alliance have lost power, and now the most important ones used by Chen Zhi are Huo Yi and Huo Shan, the righteous sons of the alliance leader. Huo Yi is shrewd and capable, strong in martial arts, Huo Shan is proficient in organ news, and is the best at arranging ambushes, although these two people are young, they hold great power, kill decisively, and everyone in the alliance is in awe. It is said that the leader of the alliance also has a righteous son, Huo Li, who once made great contributions, but now he has disappeared, and it is rumored that he has died young, but no one dares to pursue it. In addition, Chen Zhi has a mysterious guard by his side, this guard is composed of some guards of similar age, each guard is a handsome man with both civil and military skills, their numbers are uncertain, their whereabouts are secret, except for Chen Zhen, I am afraid that no one can figure out their strength and establishment, once there is a major event in the alliance, these guards are often the people in charge, so no one dares to despise them. There have long been rumors in the alliance that these guards are of the same age as Huo Yi and Huo Shan, and they are similar in bearing, I am afraid that they were all trained by Huo Jicheng himself, and most of them are the eyes and ears of Huo Jicheng's cronies sent by Chen Zhi in order to master the affairs of the alliance, and this Luo Jianfei is one of them.

Luo Jianfei is a more familiar guardian of the allies of the Splendid Alliance, he has participated in important affairs many times, and has cooperated with Ma Cheng many times, this person is handsome in appearance, but he is ruthless, and where he appears, there are often rivers of blood, this person is not only ruthless to the enemy, but also very hot to his own people, except for Chen Zhi's, he will never obey other people's orders, even Huo Yi and Huo Shan dare not command him casually, this time Chen Zhi sent him to disperse, just to use his ruthless methods. Ma Cheng faintly knew that he held Chen Zhen's secret order in his hand and could take over his power at any time, so he treated him as a prison army, and he didn't dare to offend in the slightest, this person had a strange temper, he slept with his head covered in the secret rudder during the day, and at night he walked outside with a single sword, and when he came back several times, he had a bloody breath on his body, and even scars, but no one saw his captive, not even a head, so people didn't know what his results were.

You must know that the Splendid Alliance set up a defense line to intercept the secret spies who came out of the scattered passes, after all, it is not easy, Dayong's secret spies are very good, and their ability to hide is also outstanding. If Bai Yue is okay, as long as he sends out eyeliners to pay careful attention to the heights, he can find out their whereabouts, and use various means to send messages to notify the masters of the alliance to intercept and kill. If it is at night, the line of sight is not wide, so you can only send masters to wait for the rabbit in some important roads, anyway, there is a line of defense behind it, and those secret spies are not so easy to sneak into Dongchuan even after passing this level. However, most of the people who participated in the hunt at night were in groups of several people, and only Luo Jianfei liked to be alone.

On this night, the moon was dark and the stars were sinking, Gu Ying quietly left the camp, and followed behind Luo Jianfei to see what he was doing at night? He knew that his martial arts were not as good as Luo Jianfei, so he followed from a distance, but fortunately, Luo Jianfei did not deliberately hide his figure, so Gu Ying actually followed Luo Jianfei all the way to a valley. This valley is a small road from Sanguan to Dongchuan, because the road is rugged, so there are few pedestrians, but it is the main road for secret spies. If it is Bai Yu, overlooking the valley on the cliff, no one can hide, if it is night, it is pitch black and you can't see anything, and there is no suitable hiding place in the valley, so it is not a suitable place to intercept, Gu Ying wondered in her heart, why Luo Jianfei chose this place, doubts gradually arise. Under his gaze, Luo Jianfei climbed the cliffs on both sides, and had no intention of staying in the valley and waiting for the hunting opportunity.

Gu Ying hesitated for a moment, and secretly followed up the cliff, on the top of the cliff is a bamboo forest, the bamboo forest surrounds a dilapidated mountain temple, behind the mountain temple there is a flat boulder protruding from the cliff, Gu Ying knows the terrain here, he followed Ma Cheng here to inspect at the beginning. Seeing the fire in the broken temple from a distance, it flashed away in the darkness, Gu Ying knew that Luo Jianfei had lit the bonfire, and then closed the temple door to cover the leaking fire. He had the courage to sneak up the cliff and go around to the back of the broken temple, wanting to see if there was a chance to enter, but he would not be seen by Luo Jianfei. Although the moonlight was dim, Gu Ying could still vaguely see the scene in front of him, and after a while, he found that the wall behind a clump of grass in the corner of the wall seemed to have a big hole, he silently pushed away the dead grass, the big hole could barely let him get in, he got into it lightly, it was dark in front of him, and he couldn't see the fire, according to the location, he could roughly guess that it was the offering table for the mountain god, as for not seeing the fire, it seemed that the brocade curtain spread on the offering table was still not stolen. Curled up in a small space, Gu Ying didn't dare to move.

In fact, Luo Jianfei's martial arts are strong, he would not have been so defenseless, and he didn't realize it on the road because Gu Ying was careful, plus he was eager to meet people, so he didn't pay attention, after all, no one in the Splendid Alliance dared to target him, who would have thought that Gu Ying would be a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers? After he entered the ruined temple, he was busy lighting a bonfire and cleaning the hall, and when Gu Ying sneaked under the offering table, it was when Luo Jian flew out to find dry firewood, so by mistake, Gu Ying sneaked to this place. Although Gu Ying is young, his martial arts are the true inheritance of his family, and although Luo Jianfei is strong in martial arts, he is only first-class after all, and he can't see everything, so he didn't find Gu Ying's existence.

Gently exposing a small slit in the curtain, Gu Ying carefully looked at the extinguished fire and the black-clothed young man with a gloomy and cold face. Luo Jianfei sat cross-legged by the fire, closing his eyes to recuperate, although he was young and handsome, but that eerie expression and the faint murderous aura exuded from Zhou's body made him full of deterrence, although the firelight illuminated his handsome face like a knife and an axe, but it gave people the feeling that he would disappear into the darkness dispersed by the firelight at any time. Gu Ying remembered that Ma Protector had said to him that this Luo Jianfei had been a killer, and at this moment he really understood what Uncle Ma meant, such a murderous aura, such a gloomy, not a killer to blame?

Just when Gu Ying felt that her limbs were a little paralyzed, suddenly there was a slight sound of footsteps outside the temple, Gu Ying was startled, and she held her breath. The temple door was pushed open, the cold wind poured in, Gu Ying fought a cold war, only to see a tall figure standing at the temple gate, that person was wearing a gray coat, wearing a sunshade hat on his head, pressed very low, he couldn't see his appearance clearly, only to see the hilt of the sword exposed on his left waist, he knew that this person was also a character in the rivers and lakes. The man stood in front of the temple gate, stood still for a moment, stretched out his hand and gently took off the hat, revealing a delicate and smiling face, the eyes of the cold stars as bright as the night sky faintly filled with tears, and looked at Luo Jianfei with a calm expression, as if he was as excited as seeing a relative who had not been around for many years.

Gu Ying's heart was relieved, and he said in his heart, it was Luo Jianfei's old man, so he didn't say it explicitly, after all, although he didn't like Chen Zhi's family, he didn't want to fight infighting. Who knew that he had just breathed a sigh, but he saw the sword light flashing, and the gray-clothed young man actually pounced on it, waving it, with a huge wind and waves, extinguishing the bonfire, Gu Ying only felt that it was dark in front of him, and then there was a sound of weapons hitting in his ears, Gu Ying held down the hilt of the sword, listened carefully, it was pitch black in front of him, and there was no light outside the stars and moon, he could only listen to the two people in the hall fighting hard, not to mention that he secretly followed Luo Jian to fly, even if Luo Jianfei died, he didn't dare to shoot easily. After a while, Gu Ying's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and through the gap in the curtain, he could already faintly see the two fighting fiercely in the main hall. Both of them seemed to be good at fighting hard in the dark, and their sword qi was vertical and horizontal, as if they were swaying freely in the daytime, Gu Ying could only see the sword light and the faint figures of the two of them. But he couldn't tell that Luo Jianfei, the strange young man who had dropped Da Yu at some point, both of them were dressed in strong clothes, and their figures were similar, and even the swordsmanship and martial arts had many similarities, but it was like an apprentice of a master competing there, but Gu Ying clearly felt that these two people were fierce and peerless, and there was no mercy at all. The two of them fought about a hundred and ten moves, one of them had the upper hand steadily, but the other only had the ability to parry, Gu Ying was worried, and he didn't know who would win.

At this time, the person who fell behind flew back and said with a smile: "That's it, I'm convinced, your martial arts have improved very quickly in recent years, you must have obtained the true inheritance of Li Ye again, right?" Gu Ying heard this person's unfamiliar voice, knowing that it was Luo Jianfei who had the upper hand, and at the same time his heart was wide, he couldn't help but have doubts, it seems that these two people are really old acquaintances, but why do they have to fight in the dark, and they are so ruthless?

At this time, the man in gray lit the fire, lit the bonfire, picked up the big coat thrown on the ground and put it on, Luo Jianfei sat back in his original position, motioned for the man to sit beside him, and said with a warm smile on his cold face: "Hua Liu, I haven't seen you for many years, and now you are a high authority, can't you still remember us old people?" ”

The gray-clothed man sighed and said: "If it weren't for fate, I would still want to serve under Gongzi like you, now Chiji is working for Gongzi in Northern Xinjiang, Thief Li is operating in the East China Sea, Green's business is all over the world, Baiyi and Shanzi are in Shuzhong, Yulun and Quhuang are in Southern Chu, no matter where the other brothers are, they are all under the wings of Gongzi, only I, although I am an official and close to the emperor's side, but I can't help Gongzi, alas! ”

Luo Jianfei smiled and said: "What do you say, if you didn't help Gongzi control General Qin at the beginning, I was afraid that the prince would have become the emperor, and now you are following Xiahou Yuanfeng in the Mingjian Division, which is also very important, if Xiahou Yuanfeng has the intention to be unfavorable to Gongzi, can you also find out immediately, Li Ye said that if the emperor wants to kill Gongzi, Xiahou Yuanfeng must be the first to know, so as long as you keep an eye on Xiahou, it is equivalent to staring at the emperor." Besides, are you willing to give up your stepmother and brother? ”

Although Gu Ying didn't know much, he was also shocked when he heard this, this Luo Jianfei was the backbone of the Splendid Alliance, and he didn't expect it to be Dayong's secret spy, of course Gu Ying would not think that Chen Zhi was also one of the parties, just thinking that if this matter was exposed, then Chen Zhi would be embarrassed, and couldn't help but smile on his lips, and then thought that this person was undercover in the Splendid Alliance, I don't know how many secret spies of the Great Yongming Jiansi were put in, but it was necessary to report to the horse protector quickly. After all, he was young, and his heart was very anxious, and before he knew it, he was even breathing a little heavier. Fortunately, the two of them whispered together, their expressions were focused, as if they didn't notice, Gu Ying hurriedly took a light breath and tried to listen. But the voices of the two people were very low, and Gu Ying could only faintly hear some fragmentary sentences, but the two of them mentioned the words "King Qing" and "Splendid Alliance" from time to time. After a long time, the two finally stopped talking, looked at each other and smiled, Luo Jianfei got up and said, "Okay, the matter has been discussed, you go back, if it is dawn in a while, it will be difficult to act." ”

The gray-clothed man seemed to hesitate for a moment, and said, "There is one thing that Lord Xiahou entrusted me to relay, and he hopes that Gongzi can think about it, and after Dongchuan is peaceful, he will hand over the Splendid Alliance to him." ”

Luo Jianfei's movements seemed to freeze, and after a while, he said coldly: "What do you mean by Lord Xiahou, the Splendid Alliance is the sharp weapon of the son, how can he give it to people casually, not to mention why do we let Xiahou Yuanfeng take advantage of this?" ”

The gray-clothed man sighed and said: "Lord Xiahou said that under the whole world, it is not the king's land, Dongchuan is also the territory of Dayong, and the Splendid Alliance is also rebellious no matter what, he is in charge of the Mingjian Division, and he cannot tolerate such a force outside the control of the imperial court." And the prince has now been made a marquis, and he will rise step by step in the future, it is better to leave these unbright things to him, if the Splendid Alliance still has the value of existence, then it should also be controlled by Lord Xiahou. ”

Luo Jianfei sneered a few times, and said: "You are not ashamed, you should know clearly, what is going on with the Splendid Alliance, if it was two years ago, Gongzi wanted to hand over the Splendid Alliance, I absolutely agreed, but now the Splendid Alliance controls our business in Dongchuan and Xishu fifty percent, and in Nanchu and Tianji Pavilion, Fengyi Gate Yu Xian, the importance of the Splendid Alliance to the son You should be very clear, this time for Dayong, the son will sacrifice more than seventy percent of the strength of the Splendid Alliance, I can't imagine that Xiahou Yuanfeng is so greedy, he won't even let go of the remaining thirty percent, You even spoke for him, Hua Liu, do you remember who made you have the glory and wealth you have today? ”

There was no longer a trace of a smile on the gray-clothed man's delicate face, he raised his right hand and said: "I swear to the heavens, if there is any malice to be sorry for the son, let me die unexpectedly, and the bones are incomplete." ”

Luo Jianfei listened to his words, his expression was a little relaxed, but he was still angry, and said, "Okay, I'll listen to your explanation, why are you speaking for Xiahou Yuanfeng?" ”

Hua Liu sighed and said: "I just heard Lord Xiahou say this, and I also reprimanded him, but Lord Xiahou said that in the past, Dongchuan was in the hands of King Qing, so there is nothing wrong with Gongzi mastering the Splendid Alliance, but after Dongchuan is pacified, if Gongzi has a close relationship with the Splendid Alliance that intends to restore the country, I am afraid that the emperor will also be more careful." If Gongzi is willing to take the initiative to hand over the Splendid Alliance, then one can confess his loyalty, and the other can also dissociate himself from rebellion, compared to insignificant losses, it is not inappropriate to gain the emperor's heartfelt trust and remove the power that may be suspicious. I also think that Lord Xiahou is polite, and even if you give up the Splendid Alliance, Childe still has enough strength to protect himself, and we can also get out of the Splendid Alliance and concentrate on protecting Childe, so I hope you can explain this matter to Master Chen, and then pass it on to Childe to know, Lord Xiahou does not want to negotiate directly with Childe, so if it doesn't work, there will be no suspicion, do you think I am right? ”

Luo Jianfei's expression changed several times, and he said after a long time: "I will explain this matter to Chen Ye, but how to decide in the end still depends on the meaning of the son." ”

Hua said: "If the prince does not agree, I will do my best to dissuade Lord Xiahou." ”

Luo Jianfei nodded slightly, turned around and walked out of the temple gate, and after a while, the gray-clothed man also followed. Gu Ying realized that he almost forgot to breathe, how could this be possible, the Splendid Alliance turned out to be just someone else's pawn, the son they said didn't know what his identity was, he controlled the Splendid Alliance with one hand, but he had something to do with the Da Yong Ming Jian. Gu Ying didn't know much about the current situation, if he changed his father or his brother-in-law Shangguan Yan, he would definitely be able to guess a few points, but he didn't know how appalling what he heard. After a while, he estimated that the two of them should have gone away, and then he got out of the offering table, ready to return to Ma Cheng's side and explain to him what he had heard today. Who knew that as soon as he walked out of the temple gate, he felt that his vest was numb, and he fell to the ground, and then someone stepped on his back with his foot and said: "Sure enough, I heard it right, there are people lurking in the temple, and the sword is flying, do you recognize this person?" Gu Ying only felt cold, he was not afraid of death, at his age, if he was a few years older and had experienced all kinds of joys in life, he might be greedy for life and afraid of death, but now is the time when he is young and vigorous, and his blood is strong, it is easiest to throw away life and death, but what he is worried about is his father and other uncles and relatives, he is afraid that they will never have a chance to escape from this death. The gray-clothed man flipped him over with a kick, Gu Ying's pale face fell into Luo Jianfei's eyes, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his right hand pressed the hilt of the sword. But soon, Luo Jianfei's face floated with a look of struggle, and the long sword was not pulled out after all.

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