A few days later, a spy on the Eastern Front came with news that Pei Qijun and Li Zhihang had a secret meeting.

When Han Zheng conveyed the news to Pei Gongcuo, he stared eastward and said faintly, "What was the result of their meeting?" ”

"I thought that Pei Qijun wanted to use Li Xinyi's matter to plot against General Li, but he was refused. He left looking a little dejected. ”

Pei Gongcuo muttered: "Pei Qijun is a secret meeting, he seems to have guessed that he would be rejected by Li Zhihang, so he will do such a scene to provoke the relationship between me and him." ”

Han Zheng was so little dismissed by Pei Gongcuo, and he also felt that Pei Qijun had ulterior motives. He just wanted to say that fortunately the emperor was thoughtful, otherwise he would have fallen for Pei Qijun's plan, but he heard Pei Gongcuo say: "However, I have to say that he succeeded." ”

Han Zheng was surprised: "What does the emperor mean by this?" ”

"Li Zhihang easily let go of Pei Qijun and concealed the matter, which means that he has left a way back for himself."

Han Zheng said suddenly: "So, Li Zhihang is still likely to defect?" ”

Pei Gongcuo nodded: "Now that Li Xinyi is in Pei Qijun's hands, he has one more card than me, if he allows Li Zhihang to take the important position and crown Li Xinyi as the queen, I don't believe that I can be loyal to Li Zhihang to the death alone." Pei Qijun was slow to move, not just watching, thinking that he had been trying to persuade Li Zhihang. ”

"Then what is the emperor going to do?"

"Since Li Zhihang can't make a decision, then I will help him."

Li Zhihang's son Li Yizheng is a household servant, and he does things in a proper manner in the imperial court, but his biggest disadvantage is that he is a good man, and the wives and concubines in the family are like decorations, which has long caused their dissatisfaction. Pei Gongcuo let people buy off one of his most unfavored concubines, exposing some of his unknown evil deeds, such as forcibly robbing a young man from a good family into the house as a forbidden obscenity, and accepting bribes privately.

After receiving the accusations, Pei Gongcuo ordered Han Zheng to investigate and collect evidence. The results confirmed that what he said was true, so he sent someone to rescue the young man who was robbed by Li Yizheng, and found a lot of rare tributes from the study.

Pei Gongcuo summoned Li Zhihang back to Beijing for trial for the crime of concealing tribute, and sentenced him to seven days, otherwise he would be punished for conspiracy.

When Li Zhihang was undecided, Pei Qijun appeared again and said straight to the point: "Does General Li really want to go back to Beijing to be tried?" ”

"The emperor's order is hard to disobey, otherwise what else can I do?" Having said that, how could he be stupid enough to go back and die.

"Is this 'private tribute' true?"

"This ......," Li Zhihang stammered.

Pei Qijun joked: "It seems that there is really something." The so-called private tribute represents the harbor of evil, if you don't want to replace the emperor, you want to change the dynasty. No wonder I promised you a phase and your daughter in the future, but you were not tempted, it turned out that you had greater ambitions. ”

"You are talking nonsense, you will always be loyal, and you will die for Nanxiu Jiangshan, and you will never have the heart to rebel."

"Well, you can go and tell the emperor this, maybe the emperor will be merciful and sentence you to life imprisonment or exile to a wild land."

"You ......"

"What? Am I not right? But I still have to remind the general, don't you wonder why your precious son was exposed at this time and caused your east window incident? ”

Li Zhihang couldn't help but look surprised: "You mean the emperor ...... him?"

"Nanxiu now has the rebellion of the Three Kings inside, and Dongli is eyeing him outside, coupled with my henchman, Pei Gongcuo naturally needs to install more henchmen to defend the territory for him. After many years of recuperation and recuperation, light rents and reduced taxes, the treasury was not abundant, and an earthquake and flooding in the south almost emptied the treasury. Now that we are facing war again, we are hoarding grain and grass, and it is the time when we need silver. Removing you from your post and raiding your home not only retracts your military power but also fills the treasury, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. ”

Li Zhihang frowned deeply when he heard this, and his chest was already stagnant, and he said after a while: "But my wife is ......."

"Xinyi has been properly settled by me, as for your family, although they are stared at by Pei Gongcuo's people, as long as you promise to help me, I can also let people transfer them away without knowing it, and I guarantee that you have no worries."

At this point, Li Zhihang had no choice but to defect.

The next day, the northern line Tongcheng and the eastern line Changyu ignited the flames of war at the same time. Li Zhihang's flying pigeon sent a letter to Pei Gongcuo, clarifying his patriotism and expressing his willingness to return to Beijing for trial after driving out the enemy.

Pei Gongcuo replied: Hua Qian, the new general of the town, is about to arrive, and he hopes to return as soon as possible.

Li Zhihang delivered an impassioned speech on the stage of the generals, saying that the emperor was instigated by traitors to frame Zhongliang, but at the moment of national crisis, he changed generals in battle, ignoring the safety of the country.

Seeing that the anger of the soldiers was provoked, he took the opportunity to instigate: "Now that the emperor has ordered that he will return to Beijing for trial, the heavy responsibility of guarding the country will be handed over to you." ”

At this time, a general stood up and said: "For the sake of the country's righteousness, I am willing to go to the capital to advise the emperor, and those who are willing to go with him please stand up." ”

The results were well received. Li Zhihang quickly ordered 20,000 soldiers to drive to the capital.

80,000 defenders against 100,000 elite soldiers, which is still an advantage for the side defending the city. However, not long after Li Zhihang left, another 50,000 elite soldiers landed from the sea. The soldiers defending the city were dumbfounded, but the city gate was opened from the inside, so the 150,000 soldiers outside the city poured in like a flood of floods, and killed them by surprise with an unstoppable force. In the end, they leveled Changyu and went straight to Guang'an. Hua Qian, who had already reached the halfway point, had to sit in Guang'an and start a long tug-of-war with them.

At the same time, Bae received another piece of good news and another bad news. The good news is that Wen Liangyu and Pei Yingshi have successively quelled the rebellions of the vassal kings in the northwest and west, and are leading troops back to defend. The bad news is that Tongcheng on the northern front was captured by Ji Yunye.

The gossip group are all generals, and they are Pei Gongcuo's personal guards when there is no war in peacetime, but at this moment, the country is in trouble, and he has to transfer them to the front line. So after Hua Qian, he transferred five people one after another, leaving only Hua Xun and Hua Dui to take turns guarding Shuihua Palace.

When Hua Mian woke up, Pei Gongcuo was on his way to the next court. Shuyu came to deliver the message, but before he finished speaking, he had already galloped away.

As soon as I entered the Shuihua Palace, I saw a fairy-like person lying on the chaise longue under the phoenix tree, bathed in the spring sunshine, and caressing Xiaobai in his arms with a sickly but tranquil face. It's so beautiful that it's hard to bear to blaspheme.

Pei Gongcuo slowed down and came to Hua Mian's side, wanting to take her into his arms, but he was worried that her delicate body would not be able to withstand his enthusiasm, so he held back.

Hua Mian felt someone approaching and looked up at him. The light swayed slightly in the breeze through the gaps in the branches and leaves, casting a soft light and shadow on her raised face, giving her pale little face a touch of delicate beauty.

When she saw that it was Pei Gongcuo, she couldn't help but stagnate. However, after only a moment, he lowered his head again and continued to help Xiaobai smooth its already shiny and silky hair.

Her actions made Pei Gongcuo's heart tingle, and he half-squatted down to look at her and said, "Are you blaming me?" ”

Hua Mian's subordinates paused, their eyes fixed on Xiao Bai, as if they were thinking about something, and then slowly moved their eyes to his body, staring at him for a while before saying, "Actually, apart from the lack of trust in me, you haven't done anything wrong." ”

Pei Gongcuo smiled bitterly: "You must be sarcastic." My biggest mistake was that I shouldn't have distrusted you, or you wouldn't have ......."

She cut him off and said, "It's already happened, it's useless to say anything more." Now I can't pick up my shoulders, I can't lift my hands, I can't run, I can't jump, I can't climb trees, I can't dance, I can't even sleep, such a waste person, what are you still doing by your side? ”

Pei Gongcuo's heart was sour, he held her hand and said, "I don't want you to sleep, I just need to see you every day." Have you forgotten that we have another child? Even if you can't run and dance, you can still teach your husband and children. ”

The corners of Hua Mian's lips were sneering: "This child has only been born for more than eight months since he returned to the palace, and the emperor will not have doubts, right?" ”

Pei Gongcuo felt a pang in his heart, and the strength of holding her hands couldn't help but increase a little: "It's all my fault, I shouldn't doubt you." ”

Hua Mian sighed and said, "You don't need to blame yourself, anyone will be suspicious of this matter." But what I want to tell you now is that that child is indeed yours. ”

Although he wanted to know the answer, he was not happy at all when the answer really came out of her mouth. With hope in his eyes, he said, "Can you forgive me?" ”

Hua Mian shook his head and said, "There is no point in forgiving or not forgiving. If my forgiveness can be exchanged for you letting me go, I will definitely forgive you without hesitation. ”

This sentence made Pei Gongcuo stunned for a long time, and he didn't think about what she meant by this for a long time. When he finally grasped the point, his heart suddenly tightened, and he couldn't breathe because of the pain.

She even thought about leaving him!

He couldn't help but bury his face in her hands, letting the tears wet her palms and burn her heart with a scorching temperature.

He said sadly, "You said that even if I lose everything, I won't lose you. Now that Ji Yunye and Pei Qijun have called, it is very likely that I will really lose everything, but you have broken your promise. ”

After a while, he suddenly raised his head and said, "Actually, it was me who broke my promise first." Now I am no longer in a position to ask of you. Her original words were that if the emperor treats Myanmar as always, his original intention remains the same, even if he loses the world in the future, he will not lose Myanmar.

Thinking of this, he only felt more and more grief in his heart, and he could not help himself.

Looking at Pei Gongcuo like this, the pain in Hua Mian's heart was no less than him. If she hadn't been hurt, she would have kept her promise and be with him for the rest of her life. However, she knew better than anyone that she would die at any moment due to the overwhelm of her heart. She can't give him a lifetime anymore. Just a moment ago, she had nearly fainted because her heart could not bear too much grief.

In the end, Pei Gongcuo seemed to have made up his mind and said, "If you really want to leave me, I won't be reluctant, but can you stay with me for some more time?" At least if I really lose everything, I won't be too desperate to have your company. ”

Hua Mian held back the pain in her heart and forced out a smile and said, "Okay." ”

This "good" did not make him feel as happy as expected, but made him feel more sad, he gently took her into his arms, sniffed the long-lost jasmine fragrance on her, and only sighed.