Li Zhiyun didn't panic, just smiled and said, "I believe General Xu won't act like this." Xu Sunchen listened, sat down slowly, and said with a hint of sarcasm on the corner of his mouth: "You are so bold that you dare to come to Xia County alone." Li Zhiyun shook his head and said: "General Xu's words are fallacious, I am the king of Tang Chu, how can I be alone in danger?" Don't hide it from General Xu, Wei Chigong has been defeated by the king in Miragawa, and he and Xunxiang escaped alone. The army led by this king is stationed in Gaoyang Town, and if you want to conquer Xia County, it is just a gesture. The reason why this Wang Zhi did not order the siege of the city, but came to meet General Xu, was just because he didn't want to let the lives of Xia County be ruined. ”

"General Xu, as the patriarch of the Xu clan, has thousands of lives in his hands. This king knew that General Xu and the Xu clan were forced to attach themselves to him because of Lu Zhenmao's great power. However, Lu Zhengmao has now become a bird in a cage and a fish in the pond, if General Xu can repent and know his way back, this king can play the Ming court, open the net to General Xu and the Xu family, and not blame the past. If you fight back, you can also receive a meritorious service award. ”

Li Zhiyun was both soft and hard, talking endlessly, and his words made Xu Sunchen unsettled, and he was up and down. Xu Zisheng on the side persuaded: "Third uncle, the King of Chu has made his words very clear, Lu Chongmao is at the end of his rope, let's hurry up and break off with him!" Xu Sunchen was just about to say something, but the servant hurriedly walked in and shouted, "Master, it's not good, King Wei is here!" When Xu Sunchen heard this, he was taken aback, and hurriedly stood up and said to Li Zhiyun: "Lu Zhengmao is here, you guys go to the back hall to hide!" ”

Although Li Zhiyun was a little surprised in his heart, he was not panicked on the surface. He is now in a high position, and once a person has power, he will have confidence in his heart, and he will be able to calm down in case of emergency. Moreover, to be honest, he didn't take Lu Zhenmao too seriously, it was also a rebellion in Buyi, Xue Qiang and Gao Tansheng were all planted in his hands, what kind of wind and waves could Lu Chongmao set off?

Li Zhiyun said calmly: "General Xu, my carriage is in the courtyard, Lu Chongmao already knows that there are guests in your mansion, if you dodge, it will arouse his suspicion, it is better to meet." As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone outside the hall door say loudly: "Shun Chen, are you a guest at home?" ”

Li Zhiyun turned his head to look, and saw two people walking in from outside the door, the person in front of him was about five feet three inches tall, with a stout body, wearing a purple satin robe and a crown. His face is very large, twice as large as the average person, thick eyebrows, pig eyes, garlic nose, thick black lips, and a messy beard under the lips. Behind Lu Chongmao, there was also a person, who was Zheng Lei who Li Zhiyun saw on the street that day.

Seeing Lu Chongmao coming in, Xu Sunchen and Xu Zisheng both stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and saluted with fists. Lu Chongmao bowed down and pulled Xu Sunchen up, and said, "Shunchen, get up, don't be polite." Then, he straightened up, cast his eyes on Li Zhiyun's face, and said, "Who is this son?" ......" Xu Sunchen hurriedly introduced: "King Wei, he is the nephew of the minister, and he came to visit the minister at home. Lu Zhenmao looked Li Zhiyun up and down, walked up to him and said, "What is your surname?" What do you do in Xia County? Li Zhiyun smiled calmly and said, "The surname Wang is a businessman, come to Xia County to buy some goods, and come to visit Shibo casually." ”

"Where does Prince Wang come from?"

"Jinyang."

Lu Chongmao nodded and said, "I don't know how many cities there are in Jinyang?" How many squares? ”

Li Zhiyun has been in Jinyang for a few months, and this question certainly does not bother him: "Two cities, one hundred and six squares." ”

"Putuo Temple at the south gate of Jinyang, I don't know if Wang Gongzi has ever been there?"

"King Wei may be mistaken, Putuo Temple is at the north gate of Jinyang. In the next often accompany Jiaci to the temple to worship the Buddha. ”

Lu Chongmao saw that Li Zhiyun's answer was perfect, and the suspicious look in his eyes gradually faded, so he stopped interrogating. Li Zhiyun didn't want to delay here for a long time, so he took the opportunity to bow his hand to Xu Sunchen and said: "Uncle Shi, you have a distinguished guest, and the little nephew is inconvenient to disturb, so I will leave." Xu Sunchen nodded and said to Xu Zisheng: "Erlang, send off the guest for me." ”

Li Zhiyun nodded at Lu Chongmao and walked out of the hall with Xu Zisheng. The carriage was still parked in the courtyard, and after saying goodbye to Xu Zisheng, he boarded the carriage and left the Xia Gongfu.

Li Zhiyun returned to the post station and saw Hong Zhaoran and Cai Hu waiting for him in the guest room. Cai Hu has been carrying his heart for him, and he was relieved to see him come back safely. After Li Zhiyun sat down, Hong Zhaoran asked, "Your Highness, how is it when you see Xu Sunchen?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "Before the words were finished, it happened that Lu Chongmao broke in. However, looking at Xu Sunsin's expression, he should be touched. Hong Zhaoran said: "Xu Sunchen has more than 1,000 people under him, and the west gate and the south gate are in his hands. If His Highness can say that he will turn against the water, he can easily attack the city. ”

"Why don't you bring in the army and put some pressure on him?" Cai Hu proposed.

Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said, "It's not the time yet, let's wait and talk." The three of them talked for a while, and Xu Zisheng came. After he sat down, he said to Li Zhiyun: "After Lu Chongmao and the others left, Xu Sunchen told me that what His Highness said today, he needs to think about it for a few days before replying. When Li Zhiyun heard this, he nodded and said, "Okay, just give him a few days." Xu Zisheng continued: "Your Highness, it is not safe for you to live in this post station, so you should move to the barracks to live." I told Xu Sunsin, and he agreed. Li Zhiyun thought about it and felt that Xu Zisheng was very thoughtful, so he nodded and agreed.

The barracks that Xu Zisheng said was next to Xu Sunsin's mansion. This barracks is actually the ancestral hall of the Xu family. Xu's surname in Xia County, the ancestral hall is in a courtyard that covers a large area, this courtyard is the public property of the Xu family, there are more than a dozen houses in the courtyard, in addition to the ancestral hall, there is also a private school, and the children of the Xu family receive enlightenment education in the private school.

After Lü Chongmao's rebellion, the compound was converted into a barracks, and the school and some other buildings were converted into barracks, where Xu Sunchen's soldiers were stationed. However, most of these soldiers were natives and had their own homes in the city, so they did not live in the barracks at night, except for the soldiers on duty.

Xu Zisheng led Li Zhiyun and them into the barracks and placed them in a small courtyard behind the ancestral hall. There was a bungalow in the courtyard, which was originally a warehouse, but it was later cleaned up and put up with beds, tables and chairs as barracks. As soon as they settled down, Xu Zisheng brought three more companions to meet Li Zhiyun, all three of whom were young men in their twenties. Xu Zisheng said: "Your Highness, the three of them are all my good brothers, and they are all dissatisfied with Lu Zhenmao and are willing to serve Datang. The three of them stepped forward to pay respects to Li Zhiyun. Li Zhiyun was very happy, and hurriedly saluted: "Brothers, you are all good. After Lu Chongmao is eliminated, you will be reused. ”

In the south of the city, in the backyard of a mansion, only a string sound was heard, and a long arrow came out of the string, hitting the bull's-eye made of straw twenty paces away. On the one-foot-sized round arrow target, six long arrows were inserted high and low, all around the bull's-eye, without deviating too much.

After a round of shooting, Zheng Lei's face showed a conceited smile. Shooting a number of arrows in one breath, his arm was a little sore, he stopped to take a breath, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a subordinate walking to the sidelines, so he handed the hardwood bow in his hand to the guard on the side, took the towel handed by a delicate and lovely maid, wiped his sweat, looked up and said to the subordinate: "Zhou Jian, is there something wrong?" ”

A subordinate named Zhou Jian walked over, clasped his fists and saluted, and then said, "General, do you remember the young man you saw at Xu Sunchen's house yesterday?" "Yesterday, Zhou Guan also went to the Xia Mansion with Zheng Lei. However, he was not qualified to enter the hall and was left outside, and he saw it when Li Zhiyun came out of the house.

"You mean the prince?" Zheng Lei nodded, "What's wrong?" ”

"Some people suspect that he is the king of Chu of Li Tang."

When Zheng Lei heard this, he was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "Who said that?" ”

"One of his subordinates, his subordinates have brought him here." Zhou Jian said, turned around and beckoned to a man next to him. The man was standing a dozen steps away in a cramped and uneasy way, and when he saw Zhou Tube waving to him, he hurriedly ran over and nodded at Zheng Lei. Zheng Xue stared at him and said, "How do you know that he is the King of Chu of Li Tang?" ”

"General Hui, the villain used to be a servant in the county government and met the king of Chu. Yesterday, the villain saw a few people on the street, one of them was like the king of Chu, but ......"

"But what?"

"However, the villain has only met the King of Chu once, and his memory is a little vague, and he is not sure." Because Li Zhiyun wore makeup, although the official recognized him, he was not very sure.

Zheng Lei became angry when he heard it. He was originally a scoundrel in the market, he had always been rude and brutal, raised his leg and kicked the other party, glared and said, "I'm not sure what you're talking nonsense?" When the official saw Zheng Lei angry, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed to apologize. After a while, Zheng Lei dissipated his anger and said indifferently: "Get up." When the official heard this, he hurriedly got up.

"General, my subordinates have found out that there are four of them, living in the inn......"

Without waiting for Zhou Jian to finish speaking, Zheng Lei ordered: "Whether he is the king of Chu or not, you immediately take people to the post station and arrest them." ”

"However, they are no longer at the station."

"What, ran away?"

"No, they moved to the Xu ancestral hall."

This subordinate likes to gasp loudly when he speaks, and Zheng Lei glared at him dissatisfied. Of course, Zheng Lei knew that the ancestral hall of the Xu family was now a barracks, and if he sent someone to break in and arrest people, there would inevitably be a conflict. Besides, he met that prince at Xu Sunchen's house yesterday, and now, Xu Sunchen arranged Wang Gongzi and his entourage into the ancestral hall of the Xu family. If Wang Gongzi is really the king of Chu of Li Tang, then Xu Sunchen is guilty of collaborating with the enemy. Xu Sunchen is not an ordinary person, he has a heavy army, and he is not easy to mess with. Since the matter involved Xu Sunchen, Zheng Lei had to act cautiously.

Of course, Zhou Jian understood this, and tentatively: "Or, let's report to King Wei, right?" Zheng Lei thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Don't tell King Wei first, I have always been at odds with Xu Sunchen, if there is no conclusive evidence, King Wei will not believe my words, but think that I am framing Xu Sunchen." ”

"What then?"

Zheng Lei pondered for a moment and said, "In this way, you send someone to keep an eye on the outside of the Xu ancestral hall, as long as those people come out, find a place where no one is around, and immediately arrest them." When we get conclusive evidence, we will report to the King of Wei, and then see what Xu Sunchen has to say. When Zhou Jian heard this, he hurriedly hugged his fists and said, "Yes!" ”