At the same time that Li Jiangyao and his Metasequoia City were once again facing a huge crisis, Shengtang Bianzhou, thousands of miles away, was also ushering in an unexpected and confusing terrible chaos.

Huaiyang King Li Kui as the deputy head of river affairs, on behalf of the imperial court to attend the ceremony of sacrificing the river god held in Bianzhou, his journey from the imperial capital, through Tongguan to change to the waterway, the five-tooth giant ship down the Jin River, five or six days of effort into the jurisdiction of the Xuanjia army.

However, unexpectedly, not long after Li Kui's team landed at Hejindu, and was about to continue to march towards Bianzhou, they were suddenly attacked by a large number of unknown killers. The guards fought desperately, but in the end, they were outnumbered and failed to protect the safety of King Huaiyang. Poor Li Kui was finally cut off by the murderer and ended up with a different head.

When the entourage guards who were lucky enough to escape dragged Li Kui's body and stumbled all the way to the head of Bianzhou River Affairs, it was the third day that Taifu Xie Guang sent the recital of "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was attacked and injured, and it was preliminarily determined that he was the mastermind behind the scenes of Li Kui, the king of Huaiyang", to the imperial capital.

Xie Guang's original plan was to take advantage of the time difference to complain to the imperial court, and at the same time take action to detain Li Kui under house arrest in Bianzhou, and then slowly rectify it. But I never expected that this guy would die first, and he would die on Xie Guang's territory. In the current situation, no matter how you look at it, it looks like the Xuanjia Army was angry in order to avenge the prince and killed Li Jiong.

In the main hall, dozens of civil and military officials were silent at this time, looking at the floor in a daze.

How could they intervene in this kind of shocking case involving the struggle for imperial power? How dare they intervene?

Crown Prince Li Bing, who was sitting in the middle of the hall, also didn't say anything at this time, just looked out of the door, quietly distracted.

Faced with the sullen situation, Murong Xue finally couldn't bear it anymore and said, "Your Highness, Taifu Xie, your lords. For the sake of today's plan, we still have to quickly discuss the strategy, so that we can give an explanation to the court. ”

Xie Guang sighed softly and snorted coldly: "How do you give an explanation?" This is clearly someone who is engaged in a conspiracy behind his back, intending to frame him! ”

Murong Xue shook her head angrily: "Even if someone frames him, then he must first search for the murderer, and he must immediately report to the imperial capital." ”

Lao Jianhua, who was standing on the side, naturally knew what was going on, he pretended to be worried, and said in a deep voice: "Lord Murong, the soldiers and horses responsible for searching for the murderer have already set off, but it is estimated that the humble position will not have much effect. Now the key question is, you say that you report to the imperial court, how should you report it? ”

Without waiting for Murong Xue to speak, Xie Guang said indignantly: "No matter how you report it, I Xie someone will not be able to escape it!" It is even possible that in the end, even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be coerced in and suffer injustice! I don't know how many people in the imperial capital want to push His Highness and I into the abyss of no return, and this time, they are finally going to succeed! ”

Li Bing heard Xie Guang mention himself, came back to his senses, and said slowly: "Taifu, isn't it like this?" After all, according to what you said, the assassination of King Huaiyang has nothing to do with the Xuanjia Legion, and the imperial court will find out the truth after all. ”

Xie Guang wanted to speak and stopped, and Lao Jianhua said for him: "Your Highness, this matter is by no means that simple. King Huaiyang was attacked on the way, just not long after you were assassinated, and Lord Taifu had just played the imperial court, accusing Li Kui of being the mastermind behind the scenes. This was originally very sensitive, and it inevitably made the imperial capital feel very nervous. At this time, Li Kui died in our jurisdiction, if it has nothing to do with us, I am afraid that no one will easily believe it. If the imperial court thoroughly investigates this matter, the first thing to do is to directly remove the Taifu from military power, and may even issue an imperial decree suspending your right to supervise the state and ordering His Royal Highness to return to the imperial capital for investigation. In this way......"

Lao Jianhua didn't continue to say the rest of the words, but everyone knew it very well in their hearts. If you really want to deal with it like this, then Li Bing and Xie Guang will be finished.

Unless, they dare to resist again.

Li Bing is not a fool, of course he has already smelled the smell of conspiracy. But unfortunately, there is no better way to change the current situation.

Murong Xue pondered for a moment and said, "Let's not talk about how to deal with the imperial capital, if it is really as you said, then who is the biggest beneficiary?" ”

This question analyzes the motive behind the "assassination of the King of Huaiyang in order to deprive the crown prince and Xie Guang of power", and it is also the most important question that lingers in everyone's minds.

If this is a huge conspiracy, then it is of course aimed at the struggle for the right to inherit the throne. And from this point of view, the emperor Li Chengwu will most likely not overthrow the imperial nephew Li Bing by sacrificing his eldest son.

For the emperor, there are thousands of ways, and this is the stupidest one. Thinking like this, the suspicion that Li Chengwu was involved in it should be ruled out first.

The person in charge of the assassination of King Huaiyang obviously wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, so it was either other princes who had a chance to win the throne, or a certain important general in the court who was hostile to the crown prince and the prince.

The possibility of the princes is basically not too much to think about. Except for the dead Huaiyang King Li Jiong, the rest are not very good on the stage. Whether it is resourcefulness or strength, they are not qualified or brave to challenge a powerful man like Xie Guang.

The most suspicious are those important ministers of the court who are also strong.

It's just that the number of ministers like this is also limited.

Xie Guang's old rival Zhongshu Ling Liu Shiming is the leader of the civil official group. Although he hated Xie Guang, at best, he could only engage in some conspiracies and tricks in the court, and if he really wanted to do murderous deeds, Liu Shiming couldn't.

Xu Lie, the commander of the Qilin Army, has this strength. But he is a veteran of the Three Dynasties, and he has long been a very popular minister, and he has not heard of any prince he has been closely involved with, so there is really no reason to do such a thing that is not beneficial to him.

Liu Ce, the young master of the crown prince, and Lei Huan, the leader of the forbidden army, although they are also capable, their motives are also insufficient. Moreover, these two people have excellent official reputations, and they are recognized as upright people in the government and the opposition, and such insidious methods are not like their character.

After thinking about it, everyone invariably remembered one person - Shi Shenlie, the director of the Beiya Reverse Scale Division!

The style of acting, the way of scheming, and the means and power of Thunderbolt all meet the conditions of the Reverse Scale Division. Moreover, those brutes have always been the masters who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and they will give you something to do if there is nothing to do.

Shen Lie is the biggest suspect!

But thinking like this, no one dared to say it, including Xie Guang.

After all, in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he was unreasonably suspicious of the emperor's close ministers, and he couldn't say anything about it. What's even worse is that just a few days ago, Li Bing also specially asked about Xuanjiajun's involvement in He Jingming's case, saying that Shen Lie had some key evidence in his hands, which made Xie Guang very embarrassed.

Therefore, in the absence of real evidence, Xie Guang and his cronies easily did not dare to lead Li Kui's matter to Shen Lie, lest the prince have unnecessary misunderstandings.

In contrast, Murong Xue didn't have so many concerns, and continued to analyze: "The person who benefited clearly wanted to lead the troubles to His Highness, and then cause a conflict to break out between the imperial capital and the East Palace. Because of this, we should truthfully report to the imperial capital as soon as possible and ask the emperor to adjudicate. If we look forward and backward like Lao Jianhua, it will make things more complicated and make us passive! ”

Li Bing also felt that Murong Xue was reasonable, but Lao Jianhua's analysis also made him worried. Although he is not afraid of shadows, if the emperor really lets himself go back to question, it will inevitably become fish on the chopping board and be slaughtered.

Xie Guang's thoughts were similar to his, and he said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the old minister thinks that you can't act rashly right now. If you don't figure out the reason for it for a day, you can't alarm the imperial capital for a day. It's better than this, in order not to cause a shock to the government and the opposition and give the sinister villain a chance to take advantage of it, we should first temporarily block the news of the attack on the King of Huaiyang, and then report it to the court after coming up with a comprehensive countermeasure. ”

Lao Jianhua and Xie Guang's cronies agreed one after another, saying that this was the safest.

Murong Xue frowned, and was about to argue with reason, but saw the prince gently wave his hand at him: "Don't say it again." The unfortunate death of Brother Qiang Huang involves the dignity of the royal family and the stability of the court, and the case is very complicated, so it should indeed be handled cautiously. The palace agreed with Taifu's idea, temporarily blocked the news, took care of all the people in the Huaiyang Palace, and strictly investigated whether there were any traitors who murdered the Huaiyang King. In addition, let Di Xian bring troops to impose martial law on the city of Bianzhou and the place where it was attacked, blocking all roads to the imperial capital. Without the decree of this palace, no one is allowed to leak the news! ”

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"Master Taifu, we must think of countermeasures as soon as possible." Coming out of the prince's place, Lao Jianhua said to Xie Guang worriedly.

Xie Guang couldn't help but sigh: "Alas, this is obviously the ghost of the Reverse Scale Division in secret." Shen Lie is a sinister and ruthless person, he wants to use Li Kui's unlucky ghost's head as an excuse to deprive me of my military power, and then charge me with killing the royal family, and send me into the abyss from which I will never recover! ”

"Master Taifu is wise!" Lao Jianhua snickered in his heart: "It's not a secret, I think so too." Fang was in front of His Highness, and there were some things that were not easy to say, and he couldn't say them. Mrs. Xie, it seems that the emperor is determined to do something to you! ”

Xie Guang's expression was solemn, and he asked in a deep voice, "Sir, then according to you, what should we do?" ”

Lao Jianhua's eyes flashed, and his tone was firm: "It's still the same sentence, the first strike is stronger, and the second attack suffers." ”

Xie Guang thought for a moment when he heard this, then stared at Lao Jianhua and asked, "You mean, raise troops?" ”

Lao Jianhua is well versed in the way of wanting to capture the old and indulge, and shook his head gently: "Then don't be too eager. Just set it up, just in case. ”

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. ”

Lao Jianhua smiled faintly: "Taifu, although His Highness agreed to block the news, it is actually useless. Since someone is behind the scenes, then naturally the imperial capital will also know the news of the accident of King Huaiyang as soon as possible, so that the imperial court can ask us for guilt. We should secretly dispatch troops before Li Chengwu makes a move, so as to prepare for the unexpected. On the one hand, let the Xuanjia Legion start to mobilize secretly and maintain a state of preparedness at any time; On the other hand, he ordered the soldiers of the 12 prefectures along the river to assemble in Bianzhou in the name of guarding the river protection project. At the same time, he sent someone to secretly contact Xie Biao, the deputy commander of the Long Knife Army, and quickly led his troops to help. ”

Xie Guang hesitated slightly: "Of course there is no problem with my Xuanjia Army. As for the government soldiers, it's okay. Even if there is a lack of military orders, tiger talismans and deacons from the imperial capital, just by virtue of the prince's edict, they can also be mobilized for the reason of governing the river. The only thing to worry about is the Legion of Longknives. Xie Biao was thousands of miles away at the border pass, and he was doing his best to defend the Turks outside the pass, and he was notified to rush over, which was no different from a direct rebellion. ”

"What Taifu said is not true." Lao Jianhua said: "Although the number of soldiers in the twelve states is large, it is a pity that the combat power is not strong, and the command is also variable. With just the 100,000 Xuanjia troops in our hands, are you really not worried at all? ”

Xie Guang thought for a while: "You're right. At the moment of crisis, it is natural that Biao'er's elite soldiers are more reliable. It's just that I have another worry, will the Turks on the other side of Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass take the opportunity to make a move? ”

Lao Jianhua comforted him and said, "Don't worry about this matter. I have always been in contact with the Turkic Prince of the Temple, Ronia. In fact, the Turkic idea is very simple, as long as they are in the western frontier, unless the Holy Tang sends troops out of the customs, everything will be safe. Ronia even sent someone to bring me a message, not only will they not hold General Xie Biao back, but they are willing to borrow troops to support, just need a word from you. ”

"You don't have to borrow troops." Xie Guang felt a little relieved: "As long as the Turks can be honest with me at this time, things will be much easier." I can order Biao'er to lead the army to conceal his whereabouts and secretly return to the Central Plains. As long as the army is in hand, the emperor will be helpless with us again, and I can bargain with Li Chengwu to avoid being deducted from the villain! ”

He paused, frowned, and said, "If you want to transfer troops, there is another trouble, that is, the Grand Commander of the Long Knife Legion, Cheng Laoguo Gong......"

Lao Jianhua responded with a smile: "Cheng Kaiyang's side, Lao has his own way. ”