Lai Junchen has been proud of the spring breeze recently, it can be said that this is the most proud day of his life, and even Li Dezhao, the prime minister, was knocked down by him.

Countless usually high-spirited ministers actually knelt in front of him and begged for mercy like dogs, which really made Lai Junchen satisfied, and this was also his favorite thing to do every day.

However, today he was a little unhappy to come to Junchen, he just got the news that the saint sent Xiangguo Lou Shide to lead an army of 30,000 troops to Yangzhou, and sent Wu Yizong, the king of Hanoi County, to Yangzhou to announce the decree, but there was no matter of him coming to Junchen.

This made Lai Junchen extremely dissatisfied in his heart, of course he knew what Wu Yizong's real purpose was to go to Yangzhou? It was to dig up the nest of the Xingtang Society, and dealing with the Xingtang Society should be his business for Junchen, how could the Holy Lord transfer the Xingtang Society to Wu Yizong at the moment of acquiring the results, which was obviously to treat him as a monkey.

The more he thought about it, the more dissatisfied he became, and what he couldn't get when he came to Junchen, others couldn't think of it

Lai Junchen paced back and forth in the official room of the Imperial Historical Tower, repeatedly thinking about countermeasures, the saint would not agree to him to go to Yangzhou, he could only stay in Luoyang, but he could not be absent from the feast in Yangzhou, he had to send his most powerful henchmen to Yangzhou to attend the banquet for him.

At this time, Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen, the superintendents, appeared at the door, "Are you looking for us?"

"You Come In"

Lai Junchen called the two up and asked them to sit down, and he muttered, "I want the two of you to lead a hundred warriors to Yangzhou, no problem."

Hou Sizhi is about forty years old, thin and small, with a pair of mung bean eyes full of light, looking extremely cunning and shrewd, he is a famous whistleblower, who made a fortune by whistleblowers, and was once received and praised by Wu Zetian.

Because he was illiterate, Wu Zetian asked him, how can he identify a traitor if he is illiterate? He said that Pixiu never spoke, but used his horns to push out the loyal traitor, and his Pixiu theory won Wu Zetian's deep appreciation, and appointed him as the supervisor of the imperial history, a few years ago he concocted a large number of unjust cases, and was hated to the bone, Wu Zetian used him up, so he kicked him into the corner and ignored him.

Hou Sizhi knew that he had created too much evil, and he was afraid of being liquidated, so he closely attached himself to Lai Junchen and became a loyal lackey of Lai Junchen, who also took a fancy to his cunning and decided to send him to Yangzhou.

Hou Sizhi hurriedly got up and said, "Zhongcheng asked me to go to the east, and we will never go west." ”

Lai Junchen was very satisfied with his statement, patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Sit down and say"

Wang Dazhen hesitated and asked, "I don't know what Zhongcheng sent us to Yangzhou for?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you in detail. ”

Lai Junchen took a brocade scroll from the table and handed it to them, "There is my detailed task arrangement on it, you can study it slowly."

After a pause, Lai Junchen said again: "Time is urgent, Wu Yizong will set off early tomorrow morning, you must also set off before dawn tomorrow, and you must be extra careful of Li Zhen, he will also go to Yangzhou." ”

The two bowed down together and "obeyed the order"

The two left the room, Lai Junchen walked to the window with his hands in his hands, looking at the afterglow of the sunset, the red sunset reflected on his face, a fierce light flashed in his eyes, and he gritted his teeth and said: "No one wants to take away my things"

In the Xiongcheng of Datang, Yangzhou is undoubtedly a pearl in the southeast, in Datang there is a Yang Yi Yi two said, that is to say, in addition to Chang'an and Luoyang two capitals, the world's most prosperous city is the first to push Yangzhou, followed by Chengdu.

Yangzhou is not only the name of the state, but also the name of the city, composed of Jiangdu and Jiangyang counties, of which Jiangdu County is the main city of Yangzhou, located at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Cao Canal, because of the developed traffic and commercial prosperity, which also benefits from the Sui Yang Emperor Yang Guang dug the Grand Canal, running through the north and south, so that Yangzhou's economy can develop rapidly, to the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou has developed into one of the four major economic centers of the Tang Dynasty.

The most beautiful season in Yangzhou is in March, so there are fireworks in Yangzhou in March, the famous sentence, although it is May at this time, the weather is getting hot, there is no beautiful scenery of red flowers and willows, but the banks of the Cao River are lush and green, the rivers and mountains are picturesque, and it gives people a kind of intoxication like traveling in the painting.

Li Zhen and Wu Yizong and their entourage set out from Luoyang, first by land to Chenliu County, in Chenliu County should take the waterway, the group chartered more than a dozen big boats along the Bianshui south, after five or six days, gradually arrived at Yangzhou City.

"Lao Li, I think the south is still more beautiful than the north, you look at this mountain and this water, I am almost drunk. ”

Di Yan and Li Zhen sat on a big boat behind them, the big ship had three floors, they sat on the third floor, there were large spacious windows, Di Yan sat in front of the window, drinking tea, while looking at the beautiful scenery in the distance.

The green mountains are like daisies, large rice fields are distributed on both sides of the Cao River, clear rivers appear on the side of the rice fields from time to time, and clusters of thick green woods are distributed in the small rivers and rice fields, rendering beautiful scenery.

Li Zhen sat cross-legged at the big table, carefully looking at a map, he heard Di Yan's feelings, so he raised his head and smiled: "Isn't your father in Pengze? It's also the south, isn't the scenery as good as here?"

"Although Peng Ze is in the south, the population is too small, and the mood of the two places is also different, in Peng Ze, our family is thinking about when my father can go back, how can we enjoy the scenery. ”

Di Yan glanced at him, raised his voice and said, "Hey, people are in a good mood now, you either say something nice, or do your own thing, don't say these uninteresting words, okay?"

"Okay, I won't say anything, I'm just a little curious. ”

At this moment, one of his subordinates reported outside the cabin: "Commander Qiqi, General Wu has sent someone." ”

Li Zhen nodded and said to Di Yan: "I'll take a look"

When Wu Yizong was mentioned, Di Yan's eyes showed a hint of disgust, when changing boats in Chenliu County, Wu Yizong saw her, so he stared at her directly, and he couldn't slow down for a long time, just like a hungry ghost in color, when he learned that she was with Li Zhen and Di Xiangguo's daughter, he got on the boat stupidly.

Along the way, Wu Yizong forced the local government to give him a courtesan and a dancing queen, singing every night, which was extremely tiresome, Di Yan also felt that Li Zhen was right, she had to be vigilant against this lustful Wu Yizong.

"Old Li" Di Yan stopped Li Zhen.

"What's wrong?" asked Li Zhen with a smile on his face.

"Be careful," Di Yan whispered to him.

Li Zhen smiled and nodded, and left quickly, Di Yan's eyes turned to the window again, and the original good interest was interrupted by Wu Yizong, and the scenery outside became boring.

Li Zhen came to the first floor, and a personal soldier of Wu Yizong stepped forward and saluted: "The general asked Commander Li to come over and discuss important matters." ”

Li Zhen also knew that he was about to arrive in Yangzhou, and there were indeed some things to discuss with Wu Yizong, so he got on a small boat, and the boat was flying, and gradually caught up with Wu Yizong's boat.

Wu Yizong's boat is the largest building ship in this fleet, about 3,000 stones, can seat hundreds of people, in addition to 300 personal guards, Wu Yizong brought dozens of concubines, but he was still not satisfied, and forced the government along the way to offer him more than 20 dancing girls and singers, all the way to indulge in lust.

Li Zhen had several dealings with Wu Yizong, and found that he was quite like Lai Junchen, although he was lustful, but on the other hand, he was shrewd and cunning, ruthless, and was a powerful character.

A personal soldier led Li Zhen into the conference hall on the second floor, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw Wu Yizong holding two young women with heavy makeup and drinking and having fun, the strong aroma and the smell of wine were mixed together, and they rushed to Li Zhen's head, Li Zhen couldn't help frowning slightly, and bowed down to give a salute, "Humble Li Zhen sees the general"

Li Zhen's official position is only equivalent to the level of Lang General, and his title is also very low, which is too far from the general and the king of Hanoi, but he now belongs to the direct management of Wu Zetian, the son of heaven, and has the backstage of Shangguan Wan'er, so although the official position is low, Wu Yizong is relatively polite to him.

Wu Yizong did not restrain himself because of Li Zhen's arrival, he narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Commander Li is accompanied by beauty, he has a good time going south."

Li Zhen smiled faintly, "Each other"

Wu Yizong laughed, "I like such honest people, unlike those hypocritical scholars, who are dignified on the surface, but dirtier than anyone else in their hearts. ”

He brushed the ground and stripped half of the clothes of a woman next to him, revealing a snow-white upper body, the woman screamed in fright, and hurriedly hid until Wu Yizong forcibly pulled it out, and said angrily: "If you hide again, I will strip you naked, and quickly toast Commander Li." ”

The woman had no choice but to be naked, knelt in front of Li Zhen with a glass of wine, and said coquettishly: "Commander Li." Please drink."

"Thank you"

Li Zhen took the wine glass, covered it with his sleeve, and a glass of wine flowed down his arm, how could he drink Wu Yizong's wine, in order to avoid drinking poisoning by mistake, Di Yan specially made an arm cover for him, which was very absorbent, and the wine flowed down his arm, as long as he covered it with his sleeve, the other party couldn't see it at all.

Wu Yizong really didn't see Li Zhen's small means, and he didn't even notice the woman sitting next to him, Wu Yizong was overjoyed, and asked with a smile from wine: "Why didn't Commander Li bring Miss Di over?" Are you afraid of me-haha?"

Li Zhen was furious, his face suddenly sank, and he said coldly: "Yangzhou is about to arrive, isn't the general afraid of encountering any accidents?"

Wu Yizong's smile froze, and only after a while did he snort coldly and waved his hand, "You all go down"

The two dancing girls hurriedly retreated, and only Wu Yizong and Li Zhen were left in the cabin, Wu Yizong no longer had the meaning of banter just now, his face became gloomy, and he glanced at Li Zhen and said, "Does Commander Li mean that Li Yuanjia wants to assassinate me?"

"It's not just Li Yuanjia, I got an accurate piece of information yesterday, and Lai Junchen also sent someone south. ”

Wu Yizong's horse face became red, of course he understood what Li Zhen meant, he went south to Yangzhou this time, in fact, he robbed Lai Junchen's great merit, once the Xingtang Dynasty will be shattered, the credit will belong to him Wu Yizong, and it has nothing to do with Lai Junchen, so Lai Junchen will never give up.

Wu Yizong glared at Li Zhen fiercely, "Since you know that Lai Junchen sent people south, why didn't you say it yesterday?"

Li Zhen replied to him unceremoniously: "I asked the lieutenant to report to the general last night, but the general refused to see him. ”

Wu Yizong couldn't speak for a long time, and he was still at fault when he said it, so he had to snort and said: "The Holy Lord ordered you to protect me, if something happens to me, your life will not be guaranteed."

"In that case, why didn't the general listen to my advice?"

Wu Yizong sat down slowly, and asked with a straight face, "Then in your opinion, what should we do now?"