As the foundation of a country, the common people have always had the most sensitive sense of smell, and as soon as the court was ready to start the Northern Expedition, the people noticed something strange from the slightly higher prices and the atmosphere of the capital, and the gossip in the tea shops and restaurants was flying all over the sky these days.

Some say that the emperor plans to expand the territory, and some say that the barbarians are coming to Jinghai to grab grain, in short, there are all kinds of theories.

Originally, there was a big court in three days, but now it has been changed to a big day in one day, and the civil and military ministers can't even go home when they go down to the court, and they deal with official affairs in the government office, ready to be summoned by the emperor at any time. Several elders of the military department even simply lived in the government office, causing the wives and concubines at home to complain, and every time they wanted to inquire a few more words, no matter how favored they were, they would be scolded and cried.

In the palace of Prince Zhongyong, there is a post in three steps, a post in five steps, and the guards are on duty in shifts, not to mention outsiders, even flies who want to fly in must be checked.

From time to time, the captain Pegasus arrived, and Pegasus ran out of the city, and one by one the orders were sent to various places, and soon, there were elite soldiers who went to the north and the west according to the orders.

In such a busy situation, half a month has passed.

On this day, in the study of the palace, the huge map of the Jinghai Empire hung on the wall, all kinds of markers were densely packed, Zuo Yuanhao was dressed in a dark robe, his white hair was curled up at will, and his slender fingers were gently swiped on the map, thinking about how to distribute the troops.

Father-in-law Hong walked in lightly, glanced at the soup bowl that had run out of heat, sighed in his heart, and was just about to serve it hot, but a guard suddenly came outside to report-

"Lord Wang, Northern Xinjiang Emergency!"

"Bring it in." Zuo Yuanhao turned around, his brows furrowed slightly. It stands to reason that 5,000 elite soldiers have already arrived at the predetermined ambush position, as long as they do not reveal their hiding places and wait for the war to break out.

Sure enough, a dusty soldier was supported by two guards, stumbled in, and when he saw Zuo Yuanhao's soldier, he cried loudly, knelt on the ground and said: "Lord Wang, my general and Wu Qian brothers were surrounded and killed by Shaluo soldiers as soon as they left the border pass, and the general sent a small one to die to send a letter to the prince. ”

It will take seven days to return from the Northland Pegasus at the earliest, even if the fierce battle is over at this time, needless to say, 10,000 elite soldiers are afraid that they have become dead souls, no wonder this soldier is crying so sadly, maybe he is the only person alive in the whole army.

Zuo Yuanhao slapped the table suddenly, got up angrily, and asked in a cold voice: "You mean, as soon as the army left the border pass, it was surrounded and killed by the Shaluo people, but your army exposed its whereabouts?" ”

"Absolutely not!" The soldier wiped a handful of tears and shouted with red eyes: "Lord Wang, our general requires all war horses to be wrapped in horses' hooves, even if we also have copper coins in our mouths, rest during the day, march at night, and absolutely do not expose our tracks. But as if they knew where we were going, they set up a trap and ambush, and 30,000 people surrounded and killed us, and many of our brothers died......"

The soldier remembered the misery of that day, and suddenly tears flowed out again, "Lord Wang, you want to avenge our generals and brothers!" ”

Since it is not the traces of the march exposed, it can only be the possibility that the news leaked in advance, but now it is not certain, if the news leaked in advance, how can it be that the northland alone was ambushed?

In order to confirm his suspicion, another guard came from outside the door to report, and soon, a soldier with an even more embarrassed look ran in and sent a handwritten letter from the general of the west.

Needless to say, he was also ambushed two days after leaving the border pass, and the whole army was wiped out.

At this time, even the guards in the house and Grandpa Hong guessed that there was something wrong in their own mansion, and everyone who approached the study was suspicious.

Zuo Yuanhao's face was as dark as the prelude to a storm, he waved his hand and motioned for the guards to send the two soldiers down to rest, and then asked Gonggong Hong to call the leader of the four guards of Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang to come over.

Chen Sheng walked at the end, his expression was a little strange, as if he was a little excited and a little happy, which made Gonggong Hong glare at him several times, for fear that he would anger the prince at this time.

Zuo Yuanhao was silent for a long time, slowly looked at the four henchmen and Hong Hai, who had been serving by his side since he was a child, and said after a long time: "You have followed this king for a long time, this king has the most trust in you, and now the military information has leaked, it is obvious that it is flowing out of the palace study, this king does not want to doubt you, you all think about it, who has entered the study in the past half a month, or what is abnormal?" ”

The so-called soldier is a confidant who dies, and the four guard leaders and Gonggong Hong heard that the master did not doubt them at all, and they were extremely grateful, and immediately knelt down and responded: "Thank you for the undoubted grace of the prince, and the slave will definitely repay him with death." ”

Zuo Yuanhao waved his hand and motioned for them to get up, "You are loyal, this king never doubts." Let's talk about it, but what did you find? ”

Hong Gong was in charge of the trivial affairs of the whole house on a fair day, and was the first to speak: "The prince is good, the prince's food and food are all taken care of by the slaves on weekdays, and the manpower of the inner and outer courtyards has never come in, so the servants really have no doubts." ”

The three leaders glanced at each other, frowned and thought for a long time, shook their heads, and said one after another: "When the subordinates were on duty, they never let outsiders in. ”

Only Chen Sheng remained silent, so everyone's eyes slowly focused on him.

Zuo Yuanhao's eyes flashed with suspicion, and he asked, "Chen Sheng, do you have nothing to say?" ”

Chen Sheng stepped forward to salute, but at the end, he turned to the leader of the Tianzi group and said, "Brother Zhao, in fact, there was a person who came in the study ten days ago, and you were on duty at that time, and I happened to come to talk to you about something, do you remember?" ”

Zhao Guo was stunned when he heard this, and muttered in his mouth: "I didn't come to outsiders when I was on duty, ten days ago...... Yes! His eyes widened suddenly, and he really remembered something, but then he said: "It's not possible, that person is not an outsider......"

"Say!" Zuo Yuanhao listened impatiently, and opened his mouth to scold.

Zhao Guo's heart tightened, and he hurriedly said: "Lord, when you entered the palace ten days ago, the princess Niangniang came to deliver a bowl of yam soup, and when she walked to the door, her subordinates stopped her, but the princess Niangniang accidentally spilled the yam soup on her skirt, and the maid went back to get her clothes, and the mother went into the study and waited for a quarter of an hour......

Xu Shi also knew that he had disobeyed the order, and the more Zhao Guo spoke, the quieter his voice became, and finally simply knelt on the ground and waited for it to fall.

He knows the temper of his own prince best, and prevarication and making excuses will only make him more severely punished.

Sure enough, Zuo Yuanhao was so angry that his hands clenched into fists, but he only spoke: "Thirty military sticks, go get them yourself!" ”

"Yes, lord." Zhao Guo let out a sigh of relief, but he still couldn't believe it in his heart, the women in the back house rely on their husbands to live, and the princess has no reason to be a traitor, after all, this matter is not good for her at all, can she still go to the west or north to be the queen if she betrays the prince and the court?

Not only Zhao Guo thought so, everyone in the room frowned.

Chen Sheng knelt directly on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Lord Wang, my subordinates have a kind of affection, if there is anything wrong, I hope that the prince will not blame him." ”

"Say, the king knows what is right and wrong."

Chen Sheng stood up at this time, thought about it and said carefully: "On that day, the prince went out to inspect and was calculated by the traitor, and Liu Hu and other brothers were also poisoned, only the princess and the two maids came back safely, and the subordinates were suspicious.

According to the princess, the bandit also went to the courtyard where she lived that day, killed the two brothers who stayed behind, and knocked the maid unconscious, but why did the bandit show mercy to the princess's subordinates? If the subordinates are bandits, even if they tie up the mother back and ask for benefits from the prince or the court, it is much more cost-effective than letting it go, this is one of them.

In addition, a few days ago, the two maids were taken to Zhuangzi by the prime minister's wife, and later they drowned for no reason, but the prime minister's wife kept her mouth shut and asked the house not to gossip about this matter, and the princess lied to the prince that she had already disposed of the two maids, which was the second.

"And thirdly, the subordinates have found two maids these days, according to them, when their daughter was alive again, they once said that the princess was eccentric, and one day a month someone asked someone to light a glass lamp under the eaves of the courtyard, and even panicked after hearing that the prince had returned safely. Let's ask, when a wife hears that her husband has returned safely, she is only happy, how can she exclaim what is good?

"In the end, today's events, added together, the subordinates boldly guessed whether the princess Niangniang had something to hide from the prince, or said that she was ...... was rebelled by the enemy and became a mole? ”

The more everyone listened, the paler their faces became, and in the end, they didn't dare to take a breath, saying that the princess was a traitor in front of the prince, this Chen Sheng was really bold, but it was undeniable that he said several doubts that could not be argued.

Zuo Yuanhao was not angry at all as everyone imagined, but tapped his fingers on the table and calculated.

At the end, he replied lightly: "This is reasonable. ”

Chen Sheng's heart was actually far from being as calm as on his face, and when he heard this, he immediately felt like a deflated ball, and his back softened. "The subordinates are also speculating, and the prince still has to make up his mind."

"Silence on today's affairs, go down."

"Yes, lord." Several of the leaders of the guards saluted respectfully and hurriedly withdrew. The prince just doesn't give a gag order, and they won't be stupid enough to casually reveal today's events.

Gonggong Hong, who was familiar with his master's temper, slowly retreated to the door, bowing his head and waiting.

Sure enough, after a while, Zuo Yuanhao beckoned him to step forward and whispered a lot of words.

Subsequently, the antique porcelain in the study suffered, all of them were shattered, and they all became the victims of the prince's hatred.

The sound of ping-pong pong spread outside the courtyard, which made the maids very curious, but they didn't have the courage to ask.

Later, the prince rushed out of the house and entered the palace in a rage, and Gonggong Hong asked everyone to take new things to the study again with a bitter face, and only then did two small servants hear a little news sporadically.

After a while, everyone in the palace was privately rumoring that the two soldiers and horses sent out by the prince were defeated, and the prince was furious, and entered the palace to ask to see the emperor, and wanted to send additional troops to several border passes, and even used some "nails" that had been buried for many years to ensure victory in a hundred battles.

Ye Lian naturally heard the news, no matter how she thought about it, she felt that this news was important, if she stole the troop distribution map and blackmailed that person, maybe she would be able to get a complete antidote, and get rid of the identity of a traitor from now on, even if that person was arrested and confessed to her, as long as she didn't admit it, no one could arrest her, the prime minister's daughter, to ask for the guilt.

In this way, the more she thought about it, the more excited she became, and faintly hoped that the prince would come back from the palace earlier, and when the distribution of troops was determined, she would go to pick the "fruits of victory".

As for how many Jinghai soldiers will be killed if her news is sent, it is not within her consideration. She is a golden branch and jade leaf, she is a super-grade princess, even if she dies tragically because of her, it is the honor of these soldiers......

It was another night when the night was dark and windy, and five glass lamps were lit under the eaves of the main courtyard of the palace.

Once born, twice ripe, this time there is no need to command, all the maids and women have gone to bed early, and no one wants to anger the master and cause unnecessary trouble.

Soon, the man in black entered the main room like a ghost again, but Ye Lian did not stammer politely as usual, but sat firmly on the low couch in front of the window, and greeted casually, "The leader is here, sit down." ”

A flash of annoyance flashed in the eyes of the man in black, but there was a smile on his face, and he responded: "Why, what good information has the princess found, so stable as Mount Tai?" ”

Ye Lian couldn't bear to raise her chin proudly, stroked the phoenix hairpin on her head with her right hand, and said with a smile: "I really can't hide anything from the leader, the news I gave to the leader last time was quite useful, right?" I heard that almost all of the troops sent out by Jinghai were surrounded and killed, and my prince was very angry. Recently, he plans to increase his troops at the border gates, and even use a few small works that have been buried in your two countries for many years...... Hee-hee......"

The more the man in black listened, his eyes brightened, and he secretly said in his heart: No wonder this woman is so bold today, it turns out that she has found such a big thing.

It's a pity that he was listening carefully, but Ye Lian looked at him with a smile and didn't continue to speak.

The man in black was furious, and just wanted to teach Ye Lian a lesson, but after thinking about it, he still endured it.

In that case, this news is important. I'll tell you the same as above, as long as you steal the exact list and the distribution of troops, I'll give you two antidotes, how about it? ”

Ye Lian saw the faint anger and longing of the man in black, and couldn't help but laugh and tremble. These days, her little life has been held by others, and she has to grovel, she doesn't know how much resentment she has in her heart, and now she has finally gained the upper hand, how can she be unhappy?

"The leader really fooled me like a child, once this news is given to you, we Jinghai will only have one way to defeat, and you two countries will conquer the city and redraw the rivers and mountains, such a splashing credit, it is only worth two antidotes, in exchange for two months of peace for me?"

"And what do you say?" The man in black had a cold face, if it weren't for that information, he would have taken this stupid woman's life in a hundred ways.

Ye Lian raised her chin and said disdainfully: "Of course it's a complete detoxification!" If you don't give me an antidote, I'd rather die and the net is broken, and I won't help you steal the news again, and then you will wait for my prince to lead the troops to level your grassland. ”

The black-clothed man's fist hidden in his sleeve creaked, but at the end, he gritted his teeth and responded: "Three days later, we will have news in one hand and antidote in the other, and we will not deceive each other." ”