Li Xiao was locked under the deck of the rear ship, in a cabin that was originally used to store the ship's debris.

Because it is not used as a passenger cabin, it has no windows, and it is semi-sealed and below the deck, so it is damp and dreary. However, after experiencing life and death, Li Xiao was so tired that he almost collapsed, and he still slept very soundly on the two wooden planks that were improvised together.

It wasn't until he woke up hungry that he realized that he was no longer the beautiful son of Chang'an City, but a poor man who escaped death but became a prisoner.

Thinking of his experience, he couldn't help but cry.

With the cry, the door was pushed open, and an ordinary face appeared in his sight, Li Xiao knew that this face was the guy who commanded people to bring him to Ye Chang.

"Huh."

Seeing that he was just crying and nothing else, Bian Ping laughed twice, then retracted his head again, and the door slammed shut again.

"What's wrong?" The guard who was on guard with him asked.

"It's that kid who is crying, I heard that he is a big official in Chang'an, Shaoqing...... It's much bigger than our lord's official, I didn't expect it to be such a thing."

"Compare him with our lord, Brother Bian, what you said is wrong"

"Yes, yes, I said it's wrong, it's time to slap your mouth, slap your mouth, halu ha"

Bian Ping really slapped his face lightly, and the guard laughed and sighed, I don't know if it was for Li Xiao or Bian Ping's virtue.

"What do you think our main guild will do with this?" The guard asked again after a moment.

"What to do? Naturally, it's up to him, with what he did, it's not too much for our lord to kill him ten times and punish his whole family, but our lord has always been merciful, as long as he ......"

Li Xiao heard what he said later, he was a little unreal, his heart moved, he stopped sobbing, and put his ear on the door panel, wondering what Bian Ping would say. But the other seemed to have finished speaking, leaving only a string of staccato laughter.

Li Xiao's heart became uneasy again, if he said that he started crying because of his own experience, now he is worried about his future.

Although he is now free from the assassin, falling into the hands of Ye Chang seems to be no better than being caught by the assassin, the only difference is that he dies quickly and slowly.

Do you say that you have only one way to die?

He was pondering when suddenly the door was pushed open again, because he was clinging to the door and almost knocked over by the door. When he looked up again, he saw Ye Chang appear in front of him with a gentle face.

"Ye Ye Sima, spare your life, spare your life, I'm just a little person who relies on my father's shadow, Ye Sima spare me"

"I can spare you, but I'm afraid that nothing else can spare you. Li Xiao, you said that if I put you on the shore at this time, how many days would you live? ”

Li Xiao trembled suddenly, and his eyes showed fear again.

"I want to kill you, but I don't want to bear this charge on others." After Ye Chang finished speaking, he gestured behind him: "Give it to him." ”

One person entered the cabin sideways and put a food basket in front of Li Xiao, and the smell of food came from the food basket, which was the taste of food. Li Xiao suddenly felt that there was a hand in his abdomen that was about to stretch out, and he couldn't wait to grab all the food in the food basket.

Ignoring any image etiquette, he opened the food basket, which was just some homely food, but he ate very deliciously. Ye Chang watched him gobble up, and didn't say a word, just asked people to bring water when he was choking.

Filling his stomach in the shortest time in his life, Li Xiao took a breath, then knelt down in front of Ye Chang and bowed deeply: "I just ask for mercy, I am willing to serve Ye Sima"

"How can you work for me?" Ye Chang shook his head, and his voice was still very gentle: "Thesis, I already have Confucian scholars who are proficient in official documents, and I have ten thousand warriors in front of me. What can you do for me? ”

"I ...... I ......"

Li Xiao was stunned for a long time, and he really couldn't find where he could work for Ye Chang.

"I heard you suspect that the assassin is from the Prince?" After drying him for a while, Ye Chang asked again.

Li Xiao didn't think much about it, just gritted his teeth: "Since the assassin was not sent by Ye Sima, then ...... Then only the people around the prince will send it."

Ye Chang was very interested, and he didn't have a good impression of Li Heng, in fact, with the fall of Wei Jian, he vaguely felt in his heart that he and Li Heng were only afraid that they could stand on each other. If Li Heng inherited Li Longji's throne, his only choice was to flee.

It is precisely because of this that he can't wait to establish the foundation of Liaodong and wants to send his sister-in-law and nephew to Liaodong.

"How so?"

"The prince himself is not involved in this matter, but that Zhang Pei is an extremely insidious person" Li Xiao racked his brains desperately, trying to find something that would keep him alive. Although he is stupid, he also has his little cleverness, and suddenly remembered something, so he took Zhang Pei out of his pocket.

He remembered that Ye Chang and Zhang Pei had a feud, and then thought that a big reason why he didn't like Ye Chang was also because of Zhang Pei. It was Zhang Pei who had mentioned it in front of him, saying that Ye Chang was frivolous and should not be reused, and then he slandered Ye Chang in front of his father......

As for what was the source of the feud between Zhang Pei and Ye Chang, at this time, he actually thought about it, it seemed that it was at the party of the eldest princess of Yuzhen, Ye Chang swept his face

"Zhang Pei?"

"Yes, yes, it is Zhang Pei, this person is the most deceitful, he flatters the saint on the surface, but in fact he is in the same party with Wei Jian, Huangfu Weiming, etc., and often gathers in private, thinking that the saint favors Li Linfu, which is not the blessing of the country...... They instigated their father to fight with Li Linfu, and also provoked the relationship between their father and Ye Sima. When they first said that Ye Sima was mean, they said "

At this time, Li Xiao saw that the straw was about to be clung to, so a lot of attacking words were poured on Zhang Pei. He is actually a stupid person, but when he bumps into a dead mouse, he doesn't know what to say, and his nonsense is close to the truth

"Why did he do that?" Ye Chang was not deceived by his words.

"One is because he thinks he should be the prime minister, but he is just a squire, and he has long been quietly dissatisfied; The second is because ...... Because the spring and autumn are already high today, he wants to be a dragon hero"

Li Xiao's words are not nonsense, not only Zhang Pei, but also his father Li Shizhi, all realize that Li Longji is getting old and cannot stay on the throne forever. Whether it is for yourself or for the prosperity of your children and grandchildren, you need to make long-term plans. However, Li Longji is old and does not die, and he has a very tight grip on power, preferring to entrust power to a powerful minister like Li Linfu rather than handing over power to the crown prince Li Heng, and even spying on Li Heng openly and secretly. Beware of suspicion and suspicion, which is almost undisguised, which makes Li Shizhi and others very worried.

Ye Chang remembered Jiang Mei's evaluation of the crown prince Li Heng at this time: quite similar to his father

At the beginning, Li Longji made friends with a lot of people, so when he launched two coups to get rid of Empress Wei and Princess Taiping, he had cronies available in his hands. If Li Heng is quite similar to his father, how can he not follow suit?

But Li Longji's suspicion of Li Heng is far greater than Li Dan's vigilance of Li Longji, so Li Heng must make two sides, one is filial piety to his son, Kuanhe and the prince, and the other is the future British lord.

"Do you know what kind of characters are in the hands of the prince?" Ye Chang understood this, and suddenly felt a little cold.

"Wei Jian, Wang Zhonghe, Huangfu Weiming...... These people are all in the hands of the prince, oh, and Zhang Pei, he kept his distance from the prince openly, but actually secretly colluded with the inner prison around the prince, and what the prince said badly to my father was conveyed by him"

Ye Chang suddenly remembered that when he was seeing off at Baqiao, Li Xiao had said "treat the prince" or something, but was stopped by Li Shizhi in time. He brought it up and asked, "What did you want to say at that time?" ”

Li Xiao's face changed, and he hesitated a little.

Ye Chang sighed: "Do you think I'm asking for myself?" I'm asking you how I can tell who sent the Assassins if I don't know what the plans are on the other side of the road? ”

"I ...... I want to say that the crown prince will inherit the great treasure, you ...... It's all going to die......" Li Xiao's voice lowered.

"Oh? What plans does the prince have? ”

Li Xiao hesitated for a while, and then whispered: "Originally, there was one, Huangfu Weiming and Wang Zhonghei were in charge of the army, and my father and Wei Jian were the prime ministers, as long as Li Linfu was removed, it would ...... Then he asked the saint to be the emperor. ”

When he said this plan, Ye Chang let out a long sigh.

Li Longji

Ye Chang was almost certain that this plan had not completely concealed Li Longji, at least, Li Longji had sensed the possible existence of this plan by virtue of the acumen he had cultivated through years of political struggle.

So Li Longji used Li Linfu, and Li Linfu used Ye Chang and Lu Qi to wipe out Wei Jian, Huangfu Weiming, and Wang Zhonghe. These people are the backbone of the crown prince Li Heng's power, and if they are eliminated, it means that Li Heng has lost the ability to threaten Li Longji.

As for why Li Longji didn't just abolish Li Hengjie...... Maybe it's because he's old and doesn't have the courage he had at the beginning, or maybe it's because the Sanshu case made him regret it, so he didn't start so ruthlessly.

Originally, Ye Chang thought that the so-called princely party was just something that existed in Li Linfu's speculation, but now he got from Li Xiao's mouth that this small group did exist and had activities. From this point of view, he always thought that the people who played chess outside the chessboard were Li Longji and Li Linfu, but in fact, he was wrong, and the people who really played chess were Li Longji and Li Heng, the father and son, that is, Li Linfu, and it was just a chess piece, but this chess piece was also thinking about how to get rid of the chess player.

That's politics.

"In that case, it is possible that the person who assassinated you and tried to blame me was sent by them...... Zhang Pei is not a little suspicious. Ye Chang pondered for a long time, and then laughed: "If I leave you alive...... Will you listen to me? ”

"Wish, may the parents of the one who gave birth to me, and Ye Gong who lives me, if I can live, I am willing to serve Ye Gong

Bian Ping next to him sighed lightly, worthy of being the son of the prime minister and a high-ranking official of the imperial court, flattering people is really a professional level, and he is a good hand, but he only dares to call Ye Chang the main father, but he does not dare to call him "Ye Gong". He was only in his early twenties, and he was called "Ye Gong......

Just when Ye Chang interrogated Li Xiao, there was already chaos in Shangyang Palace.

All the eunuchs and palace maids were terrified, and the eunuchs and female officials who were in charge of the affairs were completely devoid of the previous days, and their faces were as pale as earth.

"Haven't you found it yet?" A female officer asked.

"No, I've searched everywhere in the ditch and pond...... Mother really, really ......."

"How is this good, it's only been two days, and it's been a ...... like this."

"If you live to see people, you must see corpses when you die, otherwise how can you explain to the saints? We are no longer fortunate people in this Shangyang Palace, if the saint blames again, except for death, how can you and I deal with ourselves? ”

In the midst of the gossip, no conclusion has been reached. After arguing for a while, everyone got tired and began another round of silence.

At this time, with the sound of hurried footsteps, a sergeant broke in, his expression was a little unnatural, and his body was still drenched: "I found this at the iron fence of the Yugou Water Gate leading to the valley water."

He was holding a silk silk in his hand, but it was hung from Concubine Mei's body. Bian Ping made a small passage at that time, and when he was in the water, Concubine Mei pulled off the silk on her body when she held her breath and drilled out

"Is this something from the mother?" All eyes were on a palace lady kneeling on the side.

This is Concubine Mei's personal palace Xue Zhi, she is not only serving Concubine Mei, but she also knows the things around Concubine Mei. She carefully distinguished it for a while, and then cried: "Where is the mother's mother?" ”

The sergeant hesitated for a moment, and then said, "At the bottom of the iron bar, I found a small exit. ”

"What"

The eunuchs and female officials who were still sitting suddenly stood up in unison, and their faces changed drastically.

"You mean, the exit can be drilled out by one person?" A eunuch asked sharply.

The sergeant looked at Xuezhi: "As long as you are not too fat, you can get through it......"

"Niangniang, don't you ......" everyone's faces have changed greatly, could it be that Concubine Mei escaped from Lu?

Concubine Mei was beaten into the cold palace, nominally the lord of Shangyang Palace, but they, the palace maids and eunuchs, also had the responsibility of surveillance, if Concubine Mei escaped and fell into the people, they would definitely die without a place to be buried

"What about the letters?" After a long time, there was humanity.

"Exactly, the widow of the mother to the saint, Xuezhi, you take it out"

"How can we watch the mother's recital?" Xue Zhi said in a trembling voice.

"When is it, if you want to die, hand over the remains" A eunuch walked over and scolded fiercely.

They have already called it a "legacy", and no one raised any objections, that is, these internal officials and female officials have reached some kind of tacit understanding.

Where can Xuezhi resist them, they can only hand over the fold, this is actually a letter, which was found on Concubine Mei's couch, and I don't know when Concubine Mei wrote it. The letter was not sealed, but a eunuch dismantled it, and everyone came up to see it, whether they were literate or not.

But it was a suicide note, only saying that he was guilty of heaven, and he could no longer see the saint, and his heart was sad, and he had no intention of remaining alive, so he could only commit suicide. At the end of the suicide note, he also asked Li Longji to release her attendant palace maid out of the palace for the sake of several years of kindness, and promised to marry the children of a good family.

After receiving this letter, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"The mother is strong," someone whimpered.

"Yes, the saint must be sad for it...... However, our Shangyang Palace has been in disrepair for a long time, and even the iron fence of the Water Gate is rusty and broken, and we must also ask the saint for sin. ”

The soldier's face was a little strange, and he just wanted to say that the iron fence was not so much rusty, but more like someone sawed it, but as soon as he opened his mouth, more than ten pairs of fierce eyes stared at him.

He has only one more thing than one less.