Li Jiangyao recuperated for half a day and decided not to go to the imperial capital, but immediately led the team back to the front line of the river.

Lian Ji was killed, and Ge Shu Xuan was ambushed, and between this loss and gain, the tripartite forces within the court were once again brought out, making the whole situation turbulent.

The so-called tripartite forces, namely the emperor Li Bing, the left servant of Shangshu Wei Zixuan, and the Zhenguo Mansion that is about to rise.

Li Bing was the representative of the imperial power of the Holy Tang Dynasty. Although his starting point is basically the same as Li Jiangyao's, he hopes that peace will be restored in the world, but his vigilance and suspicion of Li Jiangyao have never changed.

As long as there is an opportunity, Li Bing will still try his best to restrict him and the Zhenjiang army.

At this point, it doesn't matter whether it's right or wrong. Whoever becomes the emperor is difficult to be completely at ease with the generals who have hundreds of thousands of heavy troops in their hands.

Therefore, Li Jiangyao did not blame Li Bing for being too suspicious, and only hoped that this emperor would stop going crazy and making trouble and affecting the counterinsurgency operation.

As for Wei Zixuan, he is now in a semi-open state. As Lao Jianhua's spy who broke into the imperial court, his situation became more and more tense, so his actions became more and more blatant.

This guy can only race against time to see whether Li Jiangyao will come up with ironclad evidence to defeat him first, or whether he will get rid of his biggest threat Li Jiangyao first.

The only trouble is that there are many civil and military ministers in the DPRK who do not know the truth, either because of the tendency to become inflammatory, or because of the authority of the left minister, they have come close to Wei Zixuan and have become a force to help the abuse.

As for the Cheng brothers and sisters in the Zhenguo Mansion, they represent the traditional aristocratic forces of the Holy Tang Dynasty. Xie Guang's rebellion, the Turkic invasion, and later Lao Jianhua and the king of Huaiyang raised their own troops, causing the world to fall into chaos. As a result, the original old aristocracy was severely impacted, and all the forces declined and withered to varying degrees.

At the same time, army generals such as Li Jiangyao, Murong Xue, and Ma Hongjie, because of the needs of the situation, gradually developed and strengthened their own strength through war, and faintly became the upstart group of the imperial dynasty.

The two camps, the old and the new, have inevitably arisen in various contradictions and conflicts.

To put it bluntly, after all, it is still a struggle for power.

Even if Li Jiangyao is not rare in the power of the imperial court, Ma Hongjie and Murong Xue are as high as possible, but their interests will inevitably follow their strength, and they with heavy troops in their hands will not become a thorn in the side of the traditional nobles, and it is impossible.

The three forces of the DPRK and China have different positions and different purposes, but they all coincidentally stand on the opposite side of the military, which makes the political situation of Shengtang treacherous.

Lian Ji finally failed to escape the arrows of those black-clothed killers, which is a footnote to this fierce struggle - the killers are all from military backgrounds, and their true origins will definitely not escape the scope of the three forces.

It is precisely because of this that Li Jiangyao made the decision to temporarily leave the imperial capital, a place of right and wrong, and jump to the outside to examine the chessboard.

What emperor is suspicious, what wasp is in charge, what is the queen elected, you can toss as much as you like, and Lao Tzu will not accompany you.

What I am looking for, you simply cannot understand, and I do not bother to explain. Instead of continuing to make false promises with you, it is better to go to Lao Jianhua and Bao Yuchun for trouble, so that they have a headache.

Li Jiangyao, under the escort of Xiahou Ninghan and 10,000 white-robed soldiers, arrived at the Luzhou camp safely. When Xu Youchang and the others heard that most of them had come back, they hurriedly escorted them out of the city more than ten miles away, and picked up Li Jiangyao's team halfway.

"Jiang Yao, you're scared me to death!" Xu Youchang complained distressedly: "The Intelligence Department sent back the news, saying that you and Ge Shuxuan fought a decisive battle against Xifeng Mountain and were seriously injured. All of us were in a hurry on the spot, and we immediately wanted to rush to the imperial capital! ”

Li Jiangyao smiled faintly: "What's the hurry?" Afraid I won't be able to kill that monster? ”

Xu You said angrily: "What's the matter if Brother Shuxuan dies or not?" We are afraid that if something happens to you, what will the Zhenjiang army do? You guy, can you make people save some snacks in the future? ”

Li Jiangyao shrugged, and then sighed lightly: "I'm fine, but I can't save Lianji." ”

"I've heard everything from the Intelligence Department," Xu Youchang sighed with him: "This is also the fate of that girl, God has arranged it like this, no one can do anything." In short, you've done your best. ”

Li Jiangyao looked at Xu Youchang and said with emotion: "The moment Lian Ji was shot by the killer, I did have a sense of powerlessness in my heart. desperately killed Ge Shuxuan, but still couldn't change anything. That painful and uncomfortable feeling, I really want to slash and kill, and vent it fiercely! ”

Xu Youchang knew that his good brother was depressed, but he didn't know how to persuade him, so he could only ask: "Have the identities of those killers been found out?" ”

"The people from the Intelligence Department went to chase it, but there is no result yet." Xiahou Ning Han next to him said in a deep voice: "The real target of those people is actually Jiang Yao, Sister Lianji was just injured by misfortune. ”

When Xu Youchang heard this, his sword eyebrows immediately rose: "Damn! Don't let me know who it is, or you'll slaughter him!" ”

Li Jiangyao smiled faintly: "There are a lot of people who want to kill me, and they don't care about these two more." ”

Xiahou Ninghan frowned lightly: "Jiang Yao, you can't say that." The battlefield has the rules of the battlefield, and the court has the rules of the court. It's one thing to play a game with a knife and a gun, and it's another thing to send a killer to plot your life. Now that the enemy has broken through the bottom line and launched a sneak attack directly on you, then we must not rest on our laurels! ”

"I agree with Ning Han." Xu Youchang continued: "Whether it is hurting you or killing Lian Ji, it is a challenge to the entire Zhenjiang army. If you let it go so easily, the other party will only be more arrogant in the future. ”

Li Jiangyao knew that he had a point, and asked with a smile, "What are you going to do?" ”

Xu Youchang glanced at Xiahou Ninghan next to him, and said in a deep voice: "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye." To let all opponents know that if you dare to send someone to plot against the capital of the Zhenjiang army, you must pay a heavy price! ”

He paused slightly, and then deliberately added: "Even if he is royal." ”

Xiahou Ninghan nodded: "I will personally investigate this matter, and I will definitely find out the killer that night!" ”

The two looked at Li Jiangyao at the same time, and Li Jiangyao bowed slightly: "Okay, then let Yudra, and they cooperate with you, and first figure out the origin of the black-clothed killer." The big battle with the rebels in the south is about to begin, and it is indeed necessary to clear the threat behind them early. ”

-

Li Jiangyao returned to Luzhou and began a new round of armament warfare. The north bank of the river once again gathered elite troops and horses, exerting great pressure on the rebels on the south bank.

At the same time, there is also a major event in the imperial capital - the candidate for the Empress of Shengtang has finally been announced.

Cheng Wen, the daughter of the Zhenguo Mansion, was unsurprisingly favored by the emperor Li Bing and officially determined to be the lord of the harem.

After receiving the news, the royal nobles and civil and military ministers came to congratulate them one after another, reminiscing about the old and making friends, all hoping to establish an alliance with the Zhenguo Mansion in order to consolidate their powerful position in the court.

Suddenly, the status of the Cheng family rose sharply again. The Buzheng Fang Guogong Mansion, which was originally full of people, has gradually become busy and lively.

Within a few days, the emperor's will came from Zhongshu Province, officially confirming that Cheng Dong would inherit Cheng Kaiyang's title and be promoted to a new generation of Zhenguo Duke. At the same time, the second brother Cheng Xi was promoted to the rank of general of the fourth grade Qianniu Zhonglang and transferred to the forbidden army corps to take charge of Jin Wuwei.

Next, just wait for the wedding of the Son of Heaven.

During the period when the imperial court was busy preparing for Li Bingchengwen's wedding ceremony, the Imperial Capital Branch of the Intelligence Department of the Zhenjiang Army also urgently dispatched to track down the clues of the black-clothed killer in Xifeng Mountain.

This matter is related to the serious problem of Dadu Hu being assassinated, and it is absolutely intolerable to the soldiers of Zhenjiang, so not only the imperial capital branch attaches great importance to it, but Yudra also specially dispatched a large number of investigation masters to the imperial capital to assist in the investigation.

The secret agents started from the five killer corpses left on Xifeng Mountain, recognized the appearance and characteristics, and even let go of the old scars and black mole birthmarks, recorded and compared them in detail bit by bit, and then searched around to verify the identity clues of the killer.

At the same time, more than 30 tracking experts in the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang, with greyhounds and falcons, scattered within a radius of ten miles of Xifeng Mountain, searching for the whereabouts left by the killers inch by inch, and according to the analysis of the master of the case, repeatedly simulated and demonstrated the psychological state and action trajectory of those killers that night.

As a result of its tireless efforts, the Intelligence Division was soon able to reap the benefits in both directions.

The people who identified the clues of the corpses finally confirmed the identity of one of the corpses, which was Luo Yongtao, the junior colonel of the cavalry battalion of the White Tiger Legion.

The secret agents who searched for the killer's traces locked the opponent's retreat and escape route, and the final target was the camp of the Third Banner of the White Tiger Legion.

After receiving these two reports, the intelligence captain of the Imperial Capital Branch immediately made a decision and ordered the operatives to go out overnight and directly kidnap several leading officers of the Third Banner Cavalry Battalion of the White Tiger Army.

After some torture, a battalion officer surnamed Jiang confided the truth in tears: Someone did transfer the cavalry squad to the imperial capital on a business trip before, but when those officers and soldiers returned to the team, only Luo Yongtao and the five of them were missing.

And the person who ordered the transfer of troops was Cheng Xi, the second son of the Zhenguo Mansion, who was the original commander of the flag and was now just canonized as the general of the forbidden army!

The Intelligence Department confirmed the situation, immediately rushed to report to Luzhou, and asked Yudra for instructions on the next move.

To put it bluntly, the Imperial Capital Branch wants to take revenge, please approve it!

The matter involved the imperial lords, and the eldest lady of the Cheng family was about to become the queen, Yudra didn't dare to make up her mind easily, so she first found Xiahou Ninghan and Xu Youchang and asked their opinions.

"Nothing to hesitate about!" Xu Youchang slapped the table and shouted: "Let the people from the Imperial Capital Branch continue to investigate, as long as it is confirmed that Cheng Xi is behind the scenes, no matter what kind of royal relatives he is, he will immediately launch a counterattack, and I will bear all the consequences!" ”