Li Zhen's worries soon became a reality, as soon as night fell, a young guest came to Li Zhen's house, Li Zhen changed his clothes, and when he came to the guest hall, a young man in a cyan robe stood up, bowed and saluted: "Commander Li, we haven't seen each other for a long time." ”

After a little identification, he found out that this person turned out to be Li Chongrun, Li Zhen didn't expect him to come to him, so he hurriedly replied, "Let the eldest son wait for a long time." ”

The two sat down separately, and Li Zhen asked with a smile: "The prince is in good health"

"My father is in good health, but he can only live in the palace and cannot go out, and many things can only be passed on by me. ”

Speaking of this, Li Chongrun asked tentatively: "Commander Li should have thought that I would come."

Li Zhen understood what he meant, and smiled bitterly, "The situation has been very chaotic recently, and the people who came to Junchen Daxing Prison have made the people panic, is the eldest son here for this matter?"

"Frankly speaking, I came from the Xingtang Dynasty. ”

Li Zhen was silent, of course he knew that Li Chongrun's matter was coming, and he came to him, there must be a deep meaning, how could he face it? After a moment of silence, Li Zhen nodded silently, "What's the matter, eldest son, please tell me directly."

Li Chongrun glanced at Li Zhen deeply, and said slowly: "The Holy Lord secretly issued a decree at noon today, ordering Xiangguo Lou Shide to lead 30,000 troops to Yangzhou.

"And then?" asked Li Zhen quietly.

"Five days ago, my father sent a message to Li Yuanjia, the king of Guangling, with a flying pigeon, asking him to disband the army immediately, but Li Yuanjia has not responded so far. ”

"Is the letter not delivered, or is it ......"

Li Chongrun shook his head, "The letter should have been delivered, but Li Yuanjia refused to reply." ”

Li Zhen somewhat understood what he meant, "You mean to say that something is going to happen in Yangzhou?"

Li Chongrun's gaze became very worried, and he nodded slightly, "I'm afraid that's the case."

He took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Li Zhen, "This is a letter from my father to you, take a look."

Li Zhen took the letter and opened it, only to see that it was written at the beginning: 'Those who know change with the times, and those who know make things as they go,

He continued to read it, Li Xian wrote very implicitly in the letter, but the meaning was very clear, hoping that Li Zhen could stand up and help Xingtang Society tide over the crisis, Li Zhen returned the letter to Li Chongrun, but Li Chongrun shook his head, "You can keep this letter, my father said that you are trustworthy." ”

Although Li Zhen knew that this was Li Xian's deliberate trust in himself, which was a small kind of envelopment, but now to help the Xingtang Society is tantamount to going against Wu Zetian, which is a great risk, but Li Zhen didn't say it, everyone understands this kind of thing, he was silent for a moment and asked, "What does the prince want me to do?"

"My father wants you to go to Yangzhou to stop Li Yuanjia from raising troops. ”

Li Chongrun's eyes were extremely anxious and said: "Li Yuanjia has a hot personality, once he raises troops, it will bring a bloody storm to the Li royal family, my father said, only you can stop him." ”

Li Zhen smiled bitterly, "The prince thinks too highly of me." ”

"No, my father never exaggerated, he was one-one, and he said that you were the most intelligent, decisive, and trustworthy person he had ever met. ”

Li Zhen was quite surprised by these words, he saw that Li Chongrun said very sincerely, and there was a trace of emotion in his heart, and after thinking about it, Li Zhen said again: "But I am the commander of the internal guard, without the approval of the saint, I am afraid that I can't go to Yangzhou without authorization——"

"It's a difficult problem, but my father will ask the Shangguan people to help solve it. ”

Li Zhen finally nodded, he knew that he couldn't avoid this court turmoil, he smiled and said, "I can promise you that I will do my best, but I have a small condition." ”

"You name it, if we can do it. ”

"You can do it, and I will also join the Xingtang Society. Li Zhen said calmly.

Li Chongrun was stunned, he didn't expect Li Zhen to make this request, he was very moved in his heart, when the Xingtang Society was in danger, Li Zhen actually wanted to join, no wonder his father said that he could be trusted.

Li Zhen took the long sword, gently stroked the scabbard, and sighed: "This is also the master's sustenance for me, he hopes that I can do my best to help Li Tang revivenation, I wanted to bring it up last time, but I didn't know how to speak." ”

"I know, I'll go back and tell my father, I'm sure he will be happy to accept you as a member. ”

Li Chongrun got up and saluted, then said goodbye and left, Li Zhen kept sending him to the door, but at this moment, a carriage in the distance came quickly, and with a sound, it stopped in front of Li Zhen and Li Chongrun, Li Zhen couldn't help but take a step back and clenched the hilt of the sword at his waist.

At this time, the door opened, and out of it came a young man wearing a gauze hat, it was Li Chengqi, the king of Shouchun, as soon as he looked up, he happened to see Li Chongrun, Li Chengqi's smile suddenly froze, he saw Li Zhen from the carriage window, but he didn't expect that the person next to Li Zhen turned out to be Li Chongrun, Li Chongrun was also stunned, he didn't expect Li Chengqi to come.

This is a more embarrassing scene, Li Xian's eldest son met Li Dan's eldest son, but this embarrassment was immediately broken, the two brothers showed a smile on their faces at the same time, hugged each other tightly, a lot of words do not need to be said explicitly, everyone understands in their hearts that Li Chengqi came to Li Zhen at this time, and it must be for the Xingtang Society.

"Go ahead, I'll take my leave. ”

Li Chongrun saluted the two of them with a fist, and walked quickly to the opposite corner, where there was also a carriage, he got into the carriage, closed the curtain, the carriage started, and soon drove away.

Li Zhen really didn't expect Li Chengqi to follow, he smiled bitterly in his heart, he turned out to be the sweetheart of Li Dan and Li Xian's contention, Li Chengqi's coming must be related to the recent turmoil in the government and the opposition.

Li Chengqi smiled slightly: "Come so late, disturb Commander Li's rest." ”

"It's okay, Your Highness, don't be polite, please come in. ”

Li Chengqi was also not polite, and followed Li Zhen into the guest hall, the housekeeper Uncle Lin had just cleaned up the guest hall, and he didn't expect another guest to come, so he hurriedly ran to let the maid sencha.

Li Zhen smiled and said: "My eldest sister is not in Luoyang, I am the only one in this mansion, please sit down, Your Highness."

Li Chengqi sat down with a smile, "I also heard that Sister Ling bought a manor in Lingzhou and is going to plant grapes, I have to say that Sister Ling is very discerning and very capable." ”

Li Zhen knew that they got the news from Wang Yuanbao, the Wang family has always been attached to Wang Li Dan, and is Li Dan's biggest supporter, and he will take out a huge amount of money every year, and he even has a little doubt that the eldest sister can buy the Wang family's manor at a very low price, whether there is also a Li Dan factor in this.

"How is Brother Ling now?" Li Zhen asked with a smile.

"He's not bad, he studies hard, he practices riding and archery whenever he has free time, and now he's learning to play polo with Li Bu, the virtuous brother should know Li Bu."

"Of course, I know him very well, he plays good polo, but unfortunately he didn't play this polo tournament. ”

Speaking of the polo competition, Li Chengqi couldn't help but laugh and said: "No one would have thought that the internal defense polo team actually reached the finals, and the whole Luoyang is talking about Brother Xian, saying that Brother Xian was not able to participate in the game in the end, which is a pity." ”

"There's no way, I've been ordered to go to Fangzhou, Your Highness should know it very well," Li Zhen said with a pun and nodded casually.

Li Chengqi blushed slightly, he immediately realized that Li Zhen was likely to know the truth, but Li Zhen immediately changed the topic, he sighed and said: "Just now I talked about the current situation with Chongrun Gongzi, and we were both deeply worried, if this turmoil is not handled well, I am afraid it will have a far-reaching impact on the political situation in the Tang Dynasty." ”

Li Chengqi was silent for a moment, and asked tentatively: "I don't know if Chongrun came to Commander Li for—"

"The prince of Luling hopes that I can go to Yangzhou. Li Zhen said very frankly.

"I also thought about it, it should be for the Xingtang Society. ”

Li Chengqi sighed softly, "Don't hide it from Commander Li, we are also members of the Xingtang Society, but the factions are slightly different." ”

"There are still factions in the Xingtang Society?" Li Zhen asked with a little curiosity.

Of course, there will be some different propositions, the Xingtang Society was originally founded by Li Jingye, and later after Li Jingye's failure to raise troops, the Xingtang Society also died out, but later when the Yue King raised troops, the Xingtang Society was restored again, and became the link between the Li royal family to destroy Wu and Xing Li.

However, at that time, there were internal differences in the army, and some of the royal family opposed the use of force and advocated negotiations with the Wu clan, but the king of Yue firmly advocated the overthrow of the Wu clan by force, so the Xingtang Society was also divided into two, that is, moderates and hardliners, my father belonged to the moderates, and Chongrun they belonged to the hardliners, you understand"

Only then did Li Zhen understand the difference between Li Xian and Li Dan in the Xingtang Society, it turned out that they were divided into two factions: moderate and tough, he thought about it and asked: "Do you know the difference between moderate and tough today?"

Li Chengqi shook his head, "She shouldn't know, this is the core secret of the Xingtang Society, even Su doesn't know, they belong to the periphery, this secret can't be said by the non-royal family." ”

Li Zhen suddenly had a sense of unease, Li Chengqi actually told himself such a core secret, there must be some kind of trust, he didn't want to hear a secret that shouldn't be known to him.

"Then why did Your Highness tell me?" Li Zhen asked in a low voice.

"This is my father's intention, I hope that Commander Li can help us when the Xingtang Society is in danger. ”

After speaking, Li Chengqi knelt down and kowtowed to Li Zhen, Li Zhen was startled, and hurriedly helped him up, "Your Highness doesn't have to be like this"

Li Zhen smiled bitterly and said: "Just now, the prince of Chongrun came to me, and he also hoped that I could help the Xingtang Society get out of the crisis, but how could Li Zhen get the favor of the two princes?"

"Commander Li's performance in the eradication of Wei Tuan'er and Xue Huaiyi, we all have to see, especially this trip to Fangzhou, Commander Li turned the tide and successfully helped King Luling get out of the crisis, my father is full of praise for Commander Li's ability, and Commander Li holds the power of internal guard, which is a valuable resource for us powerless royal families, please Commander Li must not be arrogant. ”

Li Zhen nodded and said to Li Chengqi: "In fact, I have promised Gongzi Chongrun just now that I will go to Yangzhou and try my best to prevent the King of Guangling from raising troops." ”

Li Chengji was overjoyed, "This is exactly what my father was expecting"