Yangzhou City Pavilion Station, Li Zhen completed the task of the eastward journey, began to pack their luggage and prepare to return to the capital, this time they also prepared hundreds of prisoner cars to escort the nearly 100 members of the Goryeo Restoration Congress arrested in the southeastern states, and they will be closely escorted back to the capital by the state troops along the way.

In the compound, all the warriors have been packed, and the prisoner car is also parked outside the pavilion, just waiting for the Yangzhou state army to come to converge, at this moment, Yangzhou Taishou Lin Qing hurriedly came, walked into the gate and asked urgently: "General Li is here?"

Li Zhen walked out of the room and asked with a smile, "Lin Taishou is here to see me off?"

Lin Qing hurriedly stepped forward, took out a document and said to Li Zhen: "I just received an urgent letter from Your Majesty, which is for General Li." ”

Li Zhen was stunned, and hurriedly took the command and looked at it, a hint of surprise suddenly flashed in his eyes, Di Yan stepped forward and asked, "Brother Li, what's wrong?"

"It has something to do with your father, the saint has named your father as the envoy of the Hebei Daoguan army, and ordered me to rush to Pengze to guard him north to Youzhou. ”

Di Yan was surprised and delighted that her father had finally been reactivated, she couldn't hold back the excitement in her heart, and said hurriedly: "Shall we go to Peng Ze now?"

Lin Qing next to him said with a smile: "I heard that the military situation in Hebei is tense, Di Xiangguo will definitely go on the road immediately, it is estimated that he has already gone north, General Li might as well rush to Shouchun first, there is the only way to go north, General Li can meet him there." ”

Li Zhen heard that he was reasonable, so he stepped forward and said to Zhao Qiuniang and Lu Jin: "You two are responsible for escorting the prisoners back to the capital and handing them over to Dali Temple, I will rush to Shouchun to escort Di Xiangguo to the north, if you need to rush to Hebei, I will write to inform you." ”

Zhao Qiuniang and Lu Jin glanced at each other, and bowed together: "Obey the order"

Li Zhen gave a few more commands, and then said to Taishou Lin Qing: "For the matter of the state soldiers' guards, please ask Lin Taishou to do so." ”

"Don't worry, I'll arrange it, and there won't be any mistakes. ”

Li Zhen immediately took Di Yan and more than 30 of his subordinates to leave Yangzhou first, and quickly rushed towards Shouchun City.

Shouchun is located in the north of Shouzhou, close to the Huai River, communicating with the Jianghuai River and the Central Plains, since ancient times, it is an important town of the Jianghuai River, with a large commercial and large population, and it is also a necessary place to cross the Huai River from the southern states to the north.

It was not far from Yangzhou to Shouchun, and Li Zhen and his entourage traveled day and night, and it took only three days to arrive at Shouchun City.

The first thing they did after arriving in Shouchun was to confirm whether Di Renjie had crossed the Huai River, after all, the war in Hebei was tight, and Di Renjie would also urgently go north, and at the same time, Li Zhen sent several of his subordinates to Pengze, Shuzhou, Haozhou, Hefei and other places to inquire about Di Renjie's news.

Li Zhen led his subordinates to rest in the post station, Shouchun County Commander heard the news and rushed to visit, Shouchun County Commander's surname Gu, Jinshi background, quite capable, Shouchun County was governed in an orderly manner, twice by the Ministry of Officials rated as superior, it is very likely that next year can be a step higher.

Although Li Zhen does not belong to the civil official system, he is a very powerful internal guard, and even the world-famous cool officials to Junchen have been eradicated by him, making officials all over the world respect and fear him, Gu County Ling heard that Li Zhen had arrived in Shouchun, and he was also nervous.

Li Zhen was discussing with Di Yan in the room the route that Di Renjie might go north, although the possibility of taking Shouchun was the greatest, it was also possible to take Haozhou to cross Huai, and even to Linhuai County to go north, Di Yan thought for a while and said: "I remember that when I followed my father to Pengze to take office, I took Shouchun, although we did not enter the county seat to rest, but it was indeed the Huai River that was crossed from Shouchun Wharf, this route we are more familiar with, I don't think he will take other routes." ”

Li Zhen looked at the map and pondered for a long time and said: "Actually, I am more worried about the safety of his road, your father firmly supports the Li royal family, and he will inevitably be jealous of the Wu family, in Peng Ze they may not dare to do it easily, but if along the way to the north, the Wu family is likely to use the bandits along the way to attack your father, causing an accident, in fact, the saint asked the internal guards to protect your father to the north, she was worried that there would be such a situation." ”

Di Yan's heart became even more nervous, "Brother Li, if we can't catch up with Peng Ze, will they attack my father on the way?"

Li Zhen smiled and said: "It's only a few hundred miles from Peng Ze to here, because this appointment time is very hasty, even if the other party wants to attack your father, he won't have time to arrange it for a while, so I estimate that there should be no accidents before crossing the Huai River, but it is difficult to say after crossing the Huai River, especially on the way across the Central Plains, I think it is the most unsafe, so I should be extra careful." ”

Having said that, Di Yan is still worried, she has followed Li Zhen for more than a year and experienced too many conspiracy assassinations, and she also understands the sinister officialdom, if Wu Sansi or other Wu clan people are bent on seizing the Tang Dynasty, their father is a stumbling block for them, and they will definitely not let go of their father easily.

"Brother Li, why don't I go south to Pengze to greet my father. ”

"Wait a minute, we have to confirm with the government whether he has passed Shouchun first, and then it's not too late to go south. ”

As soon as Li Zhen said this, there was a report from his subordinates outside the door: "General Qiyu, Shouchun Gu County Commander is asking to see you outside"

Li Zhen smiled: "I was looking for them, and they came." ”

He turned around and walked out of the room and walked towards the door, Di Yan also followed closely behind Li Zhen, at the gate, Gu Xian Ling and other officials such as the county commander, the county lieutenant, and the chief bookkeeper were patiently waiting for Li Zhen to summon him, at this time, they saw a young military general walking over quickly.

Although Gu Xianling had not met Li Zhen, he knew Di Yan, who had accompanied her grandmother to Pengze to reunite with her father last year, passing by Shouchun County, and was well taken care of by Gu Xianling.

Since Miss Di was following behind this young general, then this person must be Li Zhen, the general of the internal guard, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to salute, "The next official is Gu Deming, the commander of Shouchun County, and General Li is welcome to come to Shouchun County." ”

Li Zhen smiled slightly: "Li Zhen was deeply moved by Gu County's enthusiasm, this time I am escorting Di Xiangguo to the north by the will of the Holy Lord, and I am going to join him in Shouchun, I wonder if he has already arrived in Shouchun?"

When Gu Xianling heard that Di Renjie was also coming to Shouchun, he couldn't help but be surprised and happy, and hurriedly said: "The lower officials haven't heard the news of Di Xiangguo's arrival, if there is any news, they will definitely tell the general immediately." ”

Li Zhen secretly thought, Di Renjie must also know the news that he came to guard, even if he was in a hurry to go north, he would leave a message for himself in Shouchun, since the county order was not known, it means that Di Renjie had not yet arrived in Shouchun.

"Thank you for the news of the county order"

After a deep sigh, Li Zhen said again: "In this case, I am going to go south immediately, if I go wrong with Di Xiangguo, I also ask Gu County Order to tell Di Xiangguo, and ask him to wait for me to come back in Shouchun to meet." ”

"Definitely"

Gu Xianling exchanged a few more words with Li Zhen, and then said goodbye, Li Zhen immediately said to Di Yan: "Since your father has not yet arrived in Shouchun, then we can go south to meet him now." ”

Di Yan was overjoyed, hurriedly went back to the house to clean up, and followed Li Zhen to leave Shouchun and go south.

They went south along the official road, and at noon the next day, they arrived at a town called Guiyang, and as soon as they entered the town, they saw Di Renjie and several of his entourage, who were leading their horses to look around the town, Di Yan shouted, "Daddy"

She turned over and dismounted, galloped over, she was very excited, holding her father's hand and jumping and laughing, Di Renjie also received a holy decree that was urgently sent to Pengze County, and named him the envoy of the Hebei Guanjun and the Taishou of Yingzhou, in response to the Khitan rebellion and southern invasion.

Di Renjie also knew that the situation was critical, so he explained everything in the county to the county and immediately set off for the north, he also knew that Li Zhen would come to escort him north, so he estimated that he would meet in Shouchun, but he didn't expect to meet his daughter in this town.

Di Renjie was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth, took his daughter's hand and asked, "Ah Yan, why are you here, how is your grandmother's health?"

Di Yan didn't know how to explain to her father that she was with Li Zhen, so she turned around and glared at Li Zhen fiercely, complaining why he didn't come up to greet him, Li Zhen also quickly turned over and dismounted, took a few steps forward, knelt down on one knee and said, "Senior Li Zhen, I've seen Uncle Di."

Of course, Di Renjie also heard about Li Zhen's deeds, and he was not surprised that Li Zhen was promoted to the commander of the internal guard in just one year, in the era of the empress, officials who rose overnight abounded, but Li Zhen was able to bring down, Wu Chenghei, Xue Huaiyi and Lai Junchen, which really made Di Renjie have to look at him with admiration.

And in the letter from his wife, there was also a faint revelation of the relationship between his daughter and Li Zhen, at this time he saw his daughter with Li Zhen again, so he knew it, Di Renjie hurriedly helped Li Zhen up and said with a smile: "Thanks to the virtuous nephew, I was not assassinated in prison, and now I think about it a little later, I am ordered to go north this time, it is estimated that it will make some people uncomfortable, and I have to ask the virtuous nephew to bother more." ”

"Please rest assured uncle, the younger generation will definitely go all out to protect his uncle's safety"

Di Yan hugged her father's arm and said coquettishly: "With Yan'er here, who dares to beat Daddy's bad idea?"

Di Renjie knocked on his daughter lovingly, and said with a smile: "You little troublemaker, Daddy is still afraid that something will happen to you."

"When did I get into trouble, how could Daddy say that about Yan'er?"

Di Yan shook her father's arm, but her eyes secretly glanced at Li Zhen, she didn't want Li Zhen to know her nickname at home, she hurriedly changed the topic and asked, "Is Daddy safe all the way?"

This is also something that Li Zhen is concerned about, he also looked at Di Renjie inquiringly, Di Renjie smiled slightly, "Not yet, even if someone wants to be unfavorable to me, it won't be so soon." ”

Di Renjie met Li Zhen, there were more than 30 internal guards to protect him, his heart also fell, thinking about the war in Hebei, Di Renjie ordered everyone to get on the horse, and the group sped up the horse and galloped to the north.