In the study room of the Liangyi Hall of Taiji Palace, the light was very dim, Li Shimin sat behind the bookcase with a calm face, and in the shadow in front of him, a black-clothed shadow that had not changed for ten thousand years was standing there, waiting for Li Shimin's question.

"Have you found it all out?" Li Shimin asked.

"Your Majesty, it's all been found out, the assassin's name is Su Gan Chengji, he is the prince's henchman guard, and now he has been controlled by the shadow guard, according to his confession, he was instructed by His Royal Highness the prince to assassinate Zhang Xuansu!" The shadow still said in his characteristic hoarse voice.

But Li Shimin did not show any angry expression after hearing this, but sat there silently, his eyes full of pain. Last time, Li You sent the guards around him to assassinate Changshi Quan Wanji, and now it happened that the prince sent guards to assassinate the subordinate officials of the East Palace, both of them were his sons, and what he did also disappointed him very much, as a father, he was already lazy and angry, and some were just extremely heartache.

After a long while, Li Shimin calmed down and asked slowly, "Can you find out the reason why the prince sent someone to assassinate Zhang Xuansu?" ”

Hearing Li Shimin's question, the shadow glanced up, and then replied: "Your Majesty, Zhang Xuansu is upright and has repeatedly accused the prince, so he has always been disliked by the prince, and the day before the incident, Zhang Xuansu wrote to the prince and proposed to drive a Taichangle person named Chengxin out of the palace, and it was because of this incident that he finally angered His Royal Highness the prince, causing the prince to be confused for a while, so he sent an assassin to ambush Zhang Xuansu on the way into the palace, and wanted to kill the other party with an arrow, but Zhang Xuansu had a big life, so he escaped!" ”

"Satisfied?" Li Shimin was stunned. "How could a mere person who is too happy let the prince do such a foolish thing?"

What worries Shadow the most is that His Majesty asks this question. However, he still said helplessly: "Your Majesty, this satisfaction has an ambiguous relationship with the prince. From all indications, the other party should be the male favorite of His Royal Highness the Prince! ”

"Phew!" As soon as the shadow's words came out, Li Shimin immediately slapped the case angrily, and the two tigers stared roundly, looking as if they were going to choose someone to devour. If it were an ordinary person, I am afraid that he would have been paralyzed by Li Shimin's angry appearance, but the shadow has a special identity, he is just a tool in the hands of His Majesty the Emperor, what did Li Shimin ask. He replied to whatever he wanted, and all the consequences had nothing to do with him.

"Good, good! This is my son! Li Shimin's face was sneered, if he was extremely disappointed in Li Chengqian just now, then it has now become a kind of resentment, although he dotes on Li Tai, but in Li Chengqian, he also has great hopes, I didn't expect this son to use assassination as a means, but he is also so inappropriate in his private life. It simply made him heartache and anger at the same time.

But no matter how angry he is, Li Chengqian is still the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty after all, the eldest son of Li Shimin and Empress Changsun, so in the end, he can only deal with it coldly. In fact, long before the shadow investigation revealed the truth. Li Shimin guessed that this incident was related to the crown prince, after all, the place where this incident happened was not far from the imperial city, and the assassin was assassinated with a bow and arrow. He was able to escape calmly, leaving no clues.

Someone who can do that. The entire Chang'an City can be counted with a finger, plus Zhang Xuansu has a bad relationship with the crown prince. The others have not offended anyone, so except for Li Chengqian, no one else has a reason to assassinate the other party at all, and only these two items are taken together, and it can be determined that the manipulator behind the scenes must have a great relationship with the prince, and the results of the shadow's investigation also prove this.

After the shadow was reported, he asked Li Shimin a few more questions, and then retreated. At this time, it was already the beginning of the lanterns, and the shadow went out of the palace along a special passage, and immediately rushed to a manor on the outskirts of the city.

The area of this manor is not small, nominally the property of a big Chang'an businessman, but the big businessman has never been here since he bought this manor, but there are often some unidentified people wandering around outside the manor, but this manor is surrounded by ordinary people, and no one cares about the identities of these people.

Night had fallen, and most of the manor was pitch black, except for a small courtyard with a faint light. In the wing room on the left side of the courtyard, two people are sitting at the table and eating, and in the innermost part of the wing room, there is a space separated by an iron fence, which looks no different from a cell, and in this cell, there is a prisoner with a disheveled head, but this prisoner is wearing the East Palace guard uniform, if he usually wears this dress on the street, I am afraid that it will be exchanged for the awe-inspiring eyes of countless people, but now he is regarded as a prisoner.

After the two guards guarding the prisoners quickly finished eating, one of the bearded guards poured the leftovers on the table into a basin, then walked to the front of the cell, handed the basin through the food delivery port below and said: "Boy, this is what our brother ordered in Chang'an Junzilou, although Junzilou is not as delicious as Dengxian Lou, but it is also a first-class restaurant, today you are a mouthful!" ”

The prisoner who was imprisoned used to be a person with status, so he naturally knew the difference between Junzilou and Dengxianlou, he used to be a frequent visitor to Dengzhou Lou, like Junzilou, sometimes people invited him to go to a place like Junzilou, sometimes he was too lazy to go, as for the food there, it was naturally not rare, not to mention that these two guards ate the leftovers, if it was in normal times, he would have kicked it over.

But now his life is in the hands of others, and he has been imprisoned here for two days, not to mention the torture he has suffered, the key is that he can't even eat a good meal, almost every meal is rancid bread and cold water, he is about to vomit, and now these two guards can send the leftover vegetables, which is already a great mercy.

"Thank you, two big brothers, it's just that the brothers want to ask, what are you going to do with the younger brothers?" The prisoner in the prison asked with a flattering smile and a nod.

In fact, he wanted to ask more than this, since he was caught here by this group of people of unknown origin two days ago, he tried his best to torture himself, although they were all flesh wounds, but he finally failed to hold on, and told the assassination of Zhang Xuansu. Unexpectedly, after the other party heard it, he threw himself here, and didn't ask for a few days, which made him panic and couldn't understand what kind of people these people were? Who are you helping with? And after they knew that they were ordered by the prince to assassinate Zhang Xuansu, what would they do with themselves? This is also one of the issues that he has the most to do.

"Eat your food honestly, why do you ask so much?" The bearded guard reprimanded impatiently, in fact, he was just a pawn, and he was ordered to guard the other party, as for how to deal with it? That's not something he could know.

"Yes yes ~ " The prisoner in the prison sneered, and at the same time retreated to the corner of the cell with a rice bowl in his hand, while eating and calculating, according to his observation during this time, the other party should be a very tight organization, which can be seen from their clear division of labor, and the guards are also divided into three shifts, which makes him have no chance to escape at all, and can only wait for the other party's final disposal.

The imprisoned prisoner's name is Ugan Chengji, and he also reported to Li Shimin in the shadow, the assassin who was sent by Li Chengqian to assassinate Zhang Xuansu, this person is a guard of the East Palace on the surface, but in fact he is an assassin secretly raised by Li Chengqian, and there is more than one assassin like Rigan Chengji, there are about 100 people in total, of which Rigan Chengji is the most valued one.

Although the name of Ugan Chengji looks like a Turkic, but in fact he is a Han, and Wagan is a compound surname, but it is relatively rare, when he was in the last years of Wude, he had fought against the Turks in the north, and it was precisely by virtue of military merits that he was placed in the East Palace, and was later favored by the prince and introduced into the Assassins.

Originally, Su Gan Chengji thought that he was not afraid of death, and when he was on the battlefield, he was also a fierce general who dared to fight, and after receiving the courtesy of the prince Li Chengqian, he lived as a dead soldier, and felt that no matter what happened, he would not betray the prince, but it was not until he fell into the hands of the gang outside two days ago that he tasted the taste of not being able to survive and not begging for death, and that kind of torture could not be endured even by the iron beaten, so he finally failed to keep the secret for the prince.

Human nature is like this, and after the first betrayal, the second betrayal is much simpler, at least for Su Gan Chengji. Ever since he confessed to the assassination of Zhang Xuansu, he suddenly found that there seemed to be a voice in his heart that kept saying: I want to live, I must live, as long as I can live, I am willing to pay any price, even if it is ...... Even if it is to betray the prince again, he will not hesitate!

Although at the beginning, Su Gan Chengji still felt a little remorseful for the idea of betraying the prince in his heart, but as the desire to survive became stronger, the self-blame in his heart was slowly suppressed, and he was no longer a dead man in the East Palace, just a poor man struggling to survive.

I made up my mind in my heart, the kind of uneasiness that has been with Su Gan Chengji since he was arrested has finally disappeared, and even he has some peace of mind, after all, although the ancients have a saying that they sacrifice their lives for righteousness, but there are also people who do not do anything and destroy heaven and earth, although it is shameful for him to betray his master for his own life, but from another point of view, it is also a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people.

Of course, the premise of all this is that these people want to kill themselves, then he can only use the prince's secret in exchange for a chance to live, if these people don't want to do anything to themselves, then he won't say anything, and continue to be his East Palace guard after he goes back.

And just when Su Gan Chengji was sitting in the corner of the cell and thinking, an inconspicuous carriage finally arrived outside the small courtyard gate of this manor, and when the door opened, a shadow dressed in black jumped down from the carriage, and he was ordered by Li Shimin to make a complete end to this matter. (To be continued.) )