In the Han Imperial Palace, there were guards with swords and guns standing outside the imperial study, and everyone had a solemn and murderous expression on their faces. Such a defense specification indicated that the emperor was to discuss matters with his ministers in the imperial study, and it was a confidential matter.

The ministers came one after another, whether they were civil officials or military generals, none of them were second-class, and all of them were important ministers with great power.

A quarter of an hour later, the eunuch with the dust whisk in his hand came out and said to them in groups of three or five, "My Majesty, Your Majesty announced that you have entered the interior to discuss the matter. ”

"Obey!" Everyone lined up in two columns according to different official ranks, and Wen Zuowu and Right entered the imperial study, and then saluted the emperor sitting behind the dragon book: "The ministers have seen Your Majesty, may my emperor live long live, long live, and the prince's palace will be thousands of years old." ”

Emperor Liu Qi raised his hand and said, "Zhongqing, I summoned you here today to discuss the matter of conquest of Nanshan. ”

The crown prince added: "Ministers, please note that the Emperor is not asking you for the feasibility of fighting against Nanshan, but studying how to defeat them. ”

His meaning is very clear, and those opposing opinions should not be mentioned, so as not to be bored.

The ministers are all human spirits, and of course they will not oppose what the emperor has decided.

The emperor took a sip of the teacup and said, "The City of Thieves is in chaos, and many generals have been arrested and imprisoned as spies, and this is a great opportunity to conquer Nanshan." Since the king of thieves did not believe in his own genus, it was necessary for me to add another fire to him, so I decided to send an army of 200,000 first, and start on the twentieth day of the first month. "The most // fast // more // new // on // in

The ministers didn't know why, and the prince hugged his fists and said: "Father is wise, in this way, in order to stabilize the situation, the king of thieves will definitely hurry up and kill all the suspects." Before the big battle started, the other side has lost more than half of the middle and high-ranking generals, and our side ...... won"

"The emperor is cautious!" Liu Qi interrupted the prince.

The prince seemed to realize something, and his old face turned red and said, "The son lost his words, please punish my father." ”

The emperor waved his hand, pretending not to care, turned his head to look at the ministers with unknown faces, and said, "Everyone, do you have any good strategies to break the enemy?"

One of the ministers raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, is the 200,000 army a little less? Even if you tell you, Nanshan is already in chaos, but after all, they have 600,000 thieves, and they have two advantages. As an attacker, you should send an absolutely superior force in numbers, this is just a little bit of Weichen's humble opinion, if you say something wrong, please forgive me. ”

Liu Qi said generously: "Deliberation is to speak freely, of course it is good to say it right, and it doesn't matter if it is wrong." The 200,000 army is indeed a little less, but it is enough as the first echelon, and I will send the second and third echelons to reinforcements one after another. In addition, this expedition to Nanshan was not sent by my Han family, but I contacted the king of Dongban a few years ago and ordered him to send 300,000 horses to attack Nanshan and form a north-south attack with our army. ”

The minister who spoke just now made a look of admiration: "It turns out that Your Majesty has already made arrangements, this plan is very good, once the war starts, our side will definitely win, and Weichen wishes this southern expedition a victory!"

Several guys who are good at patting on the back shouted in unison: "Your Majesty, this battle will be won!"

More people are speculating about what the prince's words mean, why the two of them are so well aware of the situation in the City of Thieves, and they seem to be able to control the development of things.

Liu Qi and Liu Rong glanced at each other, and both of them had smiles on their faces at the same time.

Since everyone had no objections, Liu Qi ordered the ministers to perform their duties and prepare for the southern expedition, and announced the choice of the commander of the battle, and the discussion ended immediately.

Two hours later, Liu Rong hurriedly returned to the imperial study, and said excitedly: "Shi Pengyue really went to the Flying Wing Bureau and sent a letter to Nanyue Mansion in the name of sending official documents, and the recipient was Shi Qishan, the governor of the prefecture. ”

The emperor slapped the table happily: "Okay, the other party was really fooled." ”

Shi Pengyue is a second-rank member in the Han court, although he is not a high-ranking power, he only manages some ordinary things, and he is one of the ministers who participated in the deliberations just now.

As early as a few years ago, the emperor found out that Shi Pengyue had colluded with the Nanshan thieves, and after further investigation, it was determined that he was secretly bribed by the king of thieves, responsible for spying on intelligence, and sent the information to Nanyue Mansion bordering Nanshan in the name of official documents, and another spy Qishan transferred the information to the king of thieves.

The emperor wants to put a long line to catch a big fish, so he has not moved him, but has continued to promote him, but does not give him real power, in fact, the information he has access to is not classified at all, and leaking it will not have any impact on the Han.

The crown prince said with a smile: "When I was discussing the matter just now, I had been secretly observing Shi Pengyue, and he didn't speak from beginning to end, but he remembered every word my father said, and he speculated for a long time. ”

The emperor nodded, and said with relief: "We have finally completed Yunyang's trust, and I hope our efforts can play a role and help him save the day." ”

The prince sighed and said, "Who would have thought that among the lurkers - traitors appeared, they were all carefully selected. ”

The emperor said in a flat tone: "It is not surprising that people change. But fortunately, most of the people are still loyal to the Great Han, and judging from the current situation, Yun Yang has performed very well, and I believe that he can complete the task excellently. ”

......

After running wildly in the afternoon and night, Li Mengqi and his men came to Muyang Town.

They first found the location of the inn, carefully examined the ruins, and then went to the town two miles away to inquire about the situation.

In fact, after the inn was burned down, Muyang Town sent people to clean up several times, and found some charred human bones, but no complete corpses were found, let alone make a judgment based on the remaining human bones.

Because of the Chinese New Year, the town is very lively.

Li Mengqi did a lot of preparations, he brought the portraits of Pang Jianyong, Ma Jufang and Wang Qiliang, and walked into the restaurant with his hands.

Calling Xiao Er, Li Mengqi began to order, and asked coldly halfway through the order: "Why is there only a pile of ruins left in the inn outside the town, what happened?"

Xiao Er replied: "Who knows, it was about two months ago, because of the remote location and the fire at night, it was not seen until the next morning, and it is said that the boss's family of three was burned to death." ”

"A family of three?" Li Mengqi asked rhetorically.

"Yes, the boss himself, his wife and nephew. Xiao Er replied very simply.

Li Mengqi frowned: "Do you know them?"

"I know the boss, but I don't know his nephew. Because we are peers, although we are enemies, we usually have some contacts, after all, they open their stores outside the town, which has no impact on our business. Xiao Er said.

Li Mengqi gave his hand a look, and one person unfolded the portraits of Pang Jianyong and Ma Jufang, and said, "Do you think it's the two of them?"

Xiao Er only glanced at it and said, "That's right, it's the two of them, I have the deepest impression of the proprietress the most, every time I go to them, she is very enthusiastic." ”

Li Mengqi snorted lightly, what kind of enthusiasm, it was obviously a complaint.

He stuffed a piece of broken silver into the little second-hand hand, lowered his voice and said, "Don't hide it, we are distant relatives of Boss Pang, I heard that he had an accident, so I came here to inquire about the situation, is there anyone here who knows his nephew?"

Xiao Er weighed the weight of the broken silver, almost catching up with his monthly salary, and his heart blossomed, and said, "Our shopkeeper often goes to Boss Pang for tea and has seen his nephew. ”

A few minutes later, the shopkeeper of the restaurant was called over, stared at Ye Yunyang's portrait a few times, shook his head and said, "No, this is not Boss Pang's nephew." ”

Li Mengqi's eyes lit up and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Sure, I've seen Wang Qiliang, it's not like this. The shopkeeper said very responsibly: "The person on the portrait is dignified, Wang Qiliang has a sharp beak and monkey cheeks, a treacherous villain, and I am coarse, and I have told Boss Pang for this, but he didn't care." ”

Li Mengqi smiled, Wang Qiliang was indeed impersonating, although his real name and purpose could not be determined, but the evidence in front of him was enough to restrain him to death.

"Thank you shopkeeper, I can't thank you enough. Li Mengqi said to the shopkeeper.

"You're welcome, ladies and gentlemen, please take care of yourself. The shopkeeper turned and left.

He lowered his voice and said: "Everyone hurry up to eat, and after eating, return to Nanshan quickly, no one is allowed to drink, let alone make trouble." This time Wang Qiliang is dead, and the helmsman can't protect him, Lao Tzu has to report directly to the hall master this time!"

A henchman looked embarrassed: "But Lord Xiang, the hall masters of the helm lord are all in the City of Thieves, and Wang Qiliang's kid is also there, now that the city is under martial law, we can't enter at all, how can we inform the hall master?"

This is indeed a big problem, he frowned and thought for a few seconds, and said with a smile: "There is, let's go to the messenger for help, let him bring the news to the hall master, the hall master will definitely get rid of Wang Qiliang in the royal city, hahaha." ”

"Lord Incense is clever!"

The next morning, Li Mengqi and his entourage came to the Zhenwei Hall station, stuffed a gold ingot to the incense master who was in charge of the vigilance task, and successfully met the messenger.

Dai Jingwei was about to leave for the City of Thieves, Li Mengqi stopped him, first stuffed a bag of gold to him, and said with a smile: "Brother messenger, brother, I have a favor I want to ask you for help." ”

"What's busy?" Dai Jingwei frowned and asked, he knew that his identity was special and the tasks he performed were even more special, so he had to be extremely careful in everything he did.

"Help me deliver this letter to the hall master. Li Mengqi took out his own handwritten letter and said: "It is related to the reputation of our Zhenwei Hall, and the elder brother must hand it over to the hall master." ”

In line with the idea that more things are better than less, Dai Jingwei said with some embarrassment: "This is not in accordance with the rules, and I am afraid it will be difficult to obey my fate." ”

After speaking, he returned the gold to Li Mengqi.

Li Mengqi was faster, pushed the gold and said, "As long as my brother helps me with this, there will be a reward after the deed is completed." This is too significant...... Let's be honest with you, I found a spy in Xingping Helm, and this is a report letter. ”

Dai Jingwei's heart beat faster, and he looked very surprised: "So serious? Okay, I'll help you bring the letter to the hall master." ”