"Your Majesty, Lord Guo Chong Guo is asking to see you outside the palace."

When Wei Shen told Sun Ning about the matter, he was walking with Xiao Qian in the garden of the palace, and he stopped unconsciously when he heard the words.

A few months have passed, Xiao Qian has begun to show her pregnancy, her lower abdomen has also bulged, and the whole person is lazy and reveals a bit of maternal luster and softness, looking much weaker than before.

For this de facto first child, Sun Ning is also quite concerned, in addition to necessary government affairs, these days is more to accompany his wife.

Only then did he raise his eyebrows slightly, and when he felt compelled to go, he looked at his wife again. Xiao Qian smiled knowingly: "Sun Lang, go ahead, I'll sit here for a while and go back to the room."

"Well, then be careful, I'll go and I'll be back." After Sun Ning responded, he turned his head and told the few maids next to him, "You guys take care of Qian'er, don't be sloppy."

Only then did he bow his head and kiss Xiao Qian, and strode away. When he walked out of the harem, the temperament of the whole person changed significantly, from the wife and father just now, to the king of a country who was decisive and could decide the life and death of tens of millions of people with one word.

When Sun Ning came to the side hall in front, Guo Chong was already waiting outside, and when he saw the emperor coming, he didn't dare to slack off, and immediately stepped forward to see: "Minister Guo Chong greets Your Majesty......

The big gift behind was stopped by Sun Ning, who rushed forward, and said with a smile: "Okay, you can be considered back." My great hero is back. Come, go talk first, Wei Shen, serve tea to Lord Guo."

After the two of them entered the side hall one after another, and sat down separately, Sun Ningcai sighed again: "Guo Chong, you haven't returned for several months this time, but I am worried about it, for fear that you will go out and have some danger." new

Guo Chong was also grateful, he could see that Sun Ning's words were completely sincere, and he was really concerned about his own safety, so he was moved: "Your Majesty is so concerned about the minister, it really makes the minister not very grateful. The minister and the little official actually bothered His Majesty, and he was really worried in his heart, and it was difficult to be at peace."

"You are not a small official, you are an important minister of the imperial court, and you are a great contributor to my Dayue's success in winning Jiangnan this time, you are outside, I naturally have to feel worried." Sun Ning laughed again.

"The minister is ashamed, compared to the great cause that His Majesty has created in Jiangnan, what the minister has done in Liangzhou and other places is really not worth mentioning."

"That's not what I said, if you hadn't taken the risk in Liangzhou, how could I have easily taken Jiangnan into my pocket? To tell you the truth, not only the nine wealthy families in Jiangnan have been ordered by the imperial court, but even the Buddhist sect, which has always been regarded as a great disaster by us, has also been uprooted by my order in the past few months.

"But in the end, all of this can be carried out thanks to you in Liangzhou for making the Guo Clan's soldiers and horses completely break with the Zongheng Society. Otherwise, even if there are contradictions between the parties in the south of the Yangtze River, when the strong enemy is present, they will not fight for it, and we will take advantage of it."

After Sun Ning emphasized the other party's merits again, he asked curiously, "By the way, as far as I know, Liangzhou has successfully raised troops a few months ago, why didn't you come back until today?" But did something go wrong?"

"The minister didn't dare to hide it from His Majesty, the minister went to take revenge." Guo Chong replied with a straight expression.

"Revenge?" Sun Ning raised his eyebrows, and immediately understood, "Revenge for your mother's death? You're going to deal with the fish that slipped through the net?"

"Exactly. Over the years, the minister has not forgotten what happened at the beginning, and his heart and mind are thinking that one day he will be able to kill my mother in the vertical and horizontal society. I finally had this opportunity, and I naturally didn't miss it.

"Therefore, after the Liangzhou incident was completed, the minister led people to find the whereabouts of Li Shoumin and others, the leader of the Zonghenghui thieves, and wanted to kill or capture them to avenge their revenge."

"No wonder ......" Sun Ning suddenly looked at Guo Chong, who couldn't hide his murderous intent in front of him, and said with a smile, "So you spent months finding them and solving them this time?" What's the catch?"

"Back to Your Majesty, I have gained a lot. However, there is one thing Your Majesty said wrongly, in fact, it didn't take too long for the minister to find the Zonghenghui and kill more than half of them on the spot when they fled from Huaibei."

Guo Chong's face turned pale

became solemn: "Even the chairman of Zongheng, Li Shoumin, and his descendants were also captured by the ministers. However, thinking that the imperial court might still be useful to them, the minister did not kill them together, but took them to Jiangnan.

"It's just that along the way, there will inevitably be some twists and turns, whether it is the remaining remnants of the Zonghenghui or the Liangzhou side, they are also looking for their whereabouts. For the sake of safety and avoiding people's eyes, the minister could only go around in circles as much as possible, and he had to deal with some troubles, so he delayed these days and did not return to Jinling until today."

Sun Ning listened to him thoughtfully, and his heart was also full of emotion.

He said it lightly, what a circle, dealing with all kinds of troubles, but how dangerous it is, you can understand it if you think about it.

On the enemy's territory, with the key people they desperately wanted, and they could return to Jiangnan smoothly, Guo Chong's ability and courage were enough to impress Sun Ning. You must know that he is different from Sun Ning, but he does not have outstanding martial arts, and he really wants to be killed from the layers of nets, but it is all up to his mind to deal with it.

So looking at Guo Chong, who was obviously much thinner and haggard, and could not hide the color of the servant, Sun Ning said sincerely, "It's really hard for you."

If there was still a certain element of praise for Sun Ning to call him a great hero before, then now, Sun Ning really has no doubts about his credit.

However, there was no need to say much about these things, and he quickly perked up again and asked, "This time you have spent so much thought and time, and you have taken many risks to bring people back, it should be a lot of gain, right?"

"Sure enough, I can't hide anything from Your Majesty." Guo Chong also said with a smile, "During the period of tossing and avoiding the tracking of those enemies, the minister did not let Li Shoumin and them go easily, and used a lot of means against them. Coupled with the fact that the lives of his children and grandchildren were in my hands, in the end, he could only obediently cooperate with me and explain many of the inside stories of the Vertical and Horizontal Society."

As he spoke, he took out a booklet from his bosom and handed it over: "Your Majesty, this is the various arrangements and chess pieces that the Zongheng Society has laid out throughout the world in the past hundred years. Among them, there are two Huai and two Guangzhou, as well as Nanjinggi, Jiangsu, and some of them are far away in the north, Qilu and other places.

"Perhaps because of this defeat, many of them have been identified and eradicated or fled on their own, but some of them still survive. In addition, a considerable part of the wealth and assets of the Zongheng Society in their possession will be a great help as long as they can be used by the imperial court."

When Wei Shen stepped forward to take the booklet, Guo Chong handed over a very ordinary-looking wrench and a small box together: "And this wrench is the credibility of mobilizing the power and property of these vertical and horizontal associations."