Wang Baisheng was overjoyed, which was expected by him, Di Renjie's people went all the way north, even if they were vigilant, they would have relaxed a long time ago, and he ordered in a low voice: "Up"

Dozens of subordinates threw the rope hook on the wall, climbed the wall, jumped into the temple, and ran along an alley to the east courtyard, Wang Baisheng learned from the monk's mouth that entering from the east wall must pass through the courtyard where the guards lived, but entering from the north wall, you can directly reach the east courtyard where Di Renjie lived.

Not long after, they ran to a courtyard wall, Wang Baisheng waved his hand, his subordinates stopped, standing in the corner, he thought about the layout of the temple in his heart, this courtyard should be the east courtyard where Di Renjie lived, he ordered in a low voice: "Kill together, move quickly, no matter who it is, cut off the head"

Everyone nodded, Wang Baisheng slowly approached the small door, stretched out the sharp horizontal knife out of the crack in the door, cut down hard, back and forth a few times, the old deadbolt was cut off by his knife, he gently pushed the door open, and a quiet courtyard appeared in front of him, there was a row of houses from north to south, there was a corridor in front of the house, the lights in the room were out, and it seemed that they were all asleep.

Wang Baisheng took his men into the small courtyard, he moved quickly, took the lead in running to the front of the main house, poked a hole in the window linen cloth with a dagger, he squinted and looked into the room, only to see a person sleeping on the bed, he was secretly happy in his heart, nodded to his subordinates standing at the door of several rooms, and dozens of bandits kicked open the door at the same time and rushed into the house.

Wang Baisheng swung his knife and slashed at the person on the couch, only to hear a crisp sound, his hand was shocked numb, and he saw clearly that the bed was a piece of wood, covered with people's clothes.

"Not good"

Wang Baisheng shouted, "I've been tricked"

At this moment, there was a scream outside the courtyard, several arrows broke through the air, and shot at the top of Wang Baisheng's head, he was so frightened that his soul was scattered, and he couldn't care about his subordinates, he ran open the back window and fled, but as soon as he arrived in the backyard, a sharp long arrow shot head-on, as fast as lightning, he couldn't dodge, and was hit by an arrow in the right shoulder socket, Wang Baisheng screamed, the knife in his hand fell to the ground, and several internal guard warriors next to him pounced and threw him to the ground, Li Zhen shouted not far away: "Don't kill him, leave him alive."

Several soldiers pressed him down and tied him firmly with ropes, Li Zhen slowly walked up to him, kicked him in the face with his foot, and said coldly: "Do you know who I am?

"You. Who are you?" asked Wang Baisheng in horror.

Li Zhen shook the gold medal of internal defense in front of him, "Do you know this?"

Wang Baisheng recognized the gold medal, his eyes suddenly straightened, he knew who this person was, and he was full of regret in his heart, how did he meet this demon?

There was no suspense in this unexpected assassination case, Li Zhen expected the other party's attempt, and did the opposite, laying a trap, so that Wang Baisheng and his men were wiped out, and the battle ended quickly, dozens of Wang Baisheng's men were killed or captured, and no one escaped, and even the two bandits who were guarding outside were killed by the internal security soldiers.

In the room, Wang Baisheng was pushed up by several soldiers, the soldiers kicked him in the crook of the knee, Wang Baisheng knelt down, he was suddenly fierce, stiff neck yelled, "If you want to kill, kill, Lao Tzu doesn't know anything, even if he knows, he won't say"

Li Zhen frowned, this person was so cruel, he slowly stepped forward, looked at him and said: "Your subordinates have confessed, you are Wang Baisheng, known as the Tsing Yi thief, who was in a lot of blood debts in Guanzhong and fled to Qingzhou, in fact, even if you confess, I will not spare your life, just give you a good time, if you refuse to say, then I will throw your body to feed the wild dogs, so that you have no place to die."

Wang Baisheng heard about Junchen, he knew Li Zhen's methods, he was not afraid of death, but thinking that he had no place to die, he was more or less jealous in his heart, and after a while, he said coldly: "You just want to know who sent me to kill Di Renjie, I can tell you clearly, I don't know, it was the middleman who entrusted me to do things, at the price of a thousand taels of gold." ”

At this time, Di Renjie's voice came from the door, "Virtuous nephew, don't ask him, I know who it is, there are only so many people in the world who want to kill me Di Renjie, and with such despicable means, it can only be the one who wants to be the prince." ”

Di Renjie walked in, he glanced at Wang Baisheng in disgust, "These bandits are extremely evil, deal with them as soon as possible, don't delay tomorrow's trip." ”

Li Zhen knew that Di Renjie was referring to Wu Sansi, and it was true, even if Li Xian was dissatisfied with Di Renjie's support for Li Dan, he would never mess up at this time and cheapen the Wu clan for nothing, and because of his participation in the Xingtang Society, Li Dan and Li Xian had temporarily reconciled.

Li Zhen knew that he couldn't ask for valuable information from Wang Baisheng's mouth, so he was suddenly interested, waved his hand, and said to the soldiers: "Everyone will be beheaded and buried on the spot." ”

Wang Baisheng's face changed greatly, and he wanted to beg for mercy again, but it was too late, several soldiers dragged him down, and there was a faint shout of mercy.

Di Renjie admired Li Zhen's thunderbolt methods, and said lightly: "I have always believed that eliminating evil is promoting good, and it seems that you are more decisive than me." ”

"Uncle has won the award, I am not a murderer, but these bandits have been cruelty to the people for a long time, and they deserve it, and I will never tolerate them. ”

Di Renjie smiled again and asked, "The virtuous nephew thinks that the other party's assassination was unsuccessful this time, will there be any more action?"

Li Zhen shook his head and said: "It shouldn't be, from the other party's finding an intermediary to arrange this matter, it can be seen that they are very careful, for fear of being known by us, if I am not mistaken, this intermediary will also be killed, and the other party will not fall into any tricks, and even if they want to do it again, it will be too late in time." ”

"Well analyzed. ”

Di Renjie smiled approvingly: "Ah Yan said that you are very smart, especially good at strategy, judging from your performance tonight, she is not exaggerating." ”

"Thank you uncle for the compliment"

Early the next morning, Di Yan broke up with Li Zhen and her father, she didn't want the subordinates arranged by Li Zhen, and returned to Luoyang alone.

At this time, the Khitan chief Li Quanzhong has called himself the supreme khan, he occupies Yingzhou, ordered Sun Wanrong to be the forward, led tens of thousands of troops to attack Danzhou, Zhang Jiujie, deputy head of the Qingbian front army, led 10,000 troops to defend Danzhou, Sun Wanrong attacked for more than ten days, it is still difficult to break through Danzhou, and at this time, Wu Zetian appointed Wu Youyi as the general, and Di Renjie as the envoy of the army spread to Yingzhou.

Although Li Qianzhong did not put the little Wu Youyi in his eyes, he was a little afraid of Di Renjie, so he ordered the army attacking Danzhou to temporarily withdraw north, the Khitan army in Yingzhou to reorganize the soldiers and horses, and recruited warriors from the Khitan departments to serve in the army, promising money and silk children and other huge benefits, and soon recruited more than 20,000 warriors from the Khitan and Xi people's departments, and the army gathered in Yingzhou, actively trained, and prepared to fight to the death with the Tang army.

Wu Youyi led 100,000 troops out of the capital, all the way to the north, in early August, the army arrived in Youzhou, but Wu Youyi ordered to garrison on the spot, the three armies rested, for five or six days in a row, the army had no intention of going north.

At noon on this day, Chen Ziang, who joined the army under his tent, walked quickly to the courtyard where Wu Youyi lived, and said to several guards: "Please report to the general for me, I have something urgent to see."

Chen Ziang was extremely depressed in his heart, more than a dozen distress letters came from Danzhou City and Andong City in a row, and the front-line rescue soldiers were like fighting fires, but Wu Youyi did not move, isn't this a delay in the fighter?

Moreover, the Liaoxi Corridor is very important, once the Khitan army captures the Liaoxi Corridor, the whole of Hebei will be open under the iron hooves of the Khitans, how can it not consolidate the defense of the Liaoxi Corridor first?

After waiting for a while, the guards came out of the courtyard and said with a wry smile: "The general is having lunch, please join the army and wait for a while." ”

Chen Ziang was secretly annoyed in his heart, but he had no choice but to wait patiently outside the gate, waiting for about half an hour, at this time, a guard came out and said to Chen Ziang: "Chen joins the army, the general invites you in."

Chen Ziang held back the dissatisfaction in his heart and walked quickly into Wu Youyi's official room.

Wu Youyi had already finished lunch and was slowly drinking a cup of hot tea, he was about thirty years old, he was quite fair, his personality was quite gentle, he was quite popular in the Wu clan, especially with Wu Sansi.

Compared with Wu Yizong's cunning and brutality, Wu Youyi can only be regarded as a white-faced scholar, with no power to restrain chickens, more than cautious but not enough wisdom, and even less courage and courage of a general.

The reason why Wu Zetian chose him as the head coach was, on the one hand, because of Wu Sansi's recommendation, but more importantly, he was more obedient and could carry out his will to the letter.

At this time, Chen Ziang, who joined the army, walked in quickly, bowed down and saluted: "See the general."

Wu Youyi really doesn't like this staff officer very much, he is always a little self-righteous and not modest enough, but Wu Youyi doesn't plan to turn his face with him, he took a sip of tea and asked lightly: "What's the important thing about Chen joining the army?"

Chen Ziang was hung by Wu Youyi for half an hour, and he also knew in his heart that Wu Youyi might be dissatisfied with him, and if he spoke too straight, it might be difficult to convince the general.

He asked euphemistically: "We have been stationed in Youzhou for six days, I don't know when the general is going to send troops to Liaodong?"

Wu Youyi smiled, "There are some things that Chen Xianjun may not know, a few days ago, the Holy Decree that all prisoners in the world and officials and civil slaves who have courage, the government will give money to redeem them, and attack the Khitan on the front line, I plan to set up armed cavalry regiments in Hebei Prefectures, and after a few months of preparation, I will go all out to attack the Khitan." ”

"A few months?"

Chen Ziang was stunned for a moment, and he asked urgently: "Is the general planning to garrison troops in Youzhou for a few months?"

"This is not my intention, this is what the Holy One meant," Wu Youyi said with some displeasure.

Chen Ziang hurriedly said: "The Holy Order's pardon of prisoners and domestic slaves is only an emergency measure, and it is by no means a source of soldiers for the Son of Heaven, and in recent years, the prison has gradually become fairer, the number of criminals has decreased, and most of the domestic slaves are cowardly, not used to marching and fighting, even if they are recruited, they may not be able to use it, not to mention the loyal ministers and righteous men in the world, the users are not enough in case, the Khitan small disaster, 100,000 troops are enough to sweep away, why use criminal slaves to fill the army, this is detrimental to the dignity of the Tang Dynasty-"

"Shut up"

Wu Youyi finally couldn't bear it anymore, and said angrily: "You dare to discuss the holy decree in vain, if you don't see that you are joining the army, I have to kill you today, come here, beat me out with a stick, remove him from joining the army, and he is not allowed to discuss military affairs again."

Chen Ziang was beaten out of the courtyard by a stick, he thought that he was worried about the country, but he ended up with a ban on resignation, and he couldn't help but be extremely sad and indignant, he slowly walked out of the military office, and sighed with tears in his eyes, "I don't see the ancients before, I don't see the people who come after, I read the world and the world, and I was alone and wept." ”