[The twenty-eighth day of the first month of the seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Dynasty, the beginning of the unitary period, the gate of the Wei Palace]

Xu Kezheng and Ma Huacheng, the head of the Wei Palace, kept arguing and pushing. On the order of the King of Wei, the general manager of Nama did not allow Xu Ke to enter the palace, but Xu Ke had a temper and wanted to rush into the palace.

At noon today, Xu Ke finished his business and hurriedly went out, planning to go to the Wei Palace, begging Li Jin, the king of Wei, to come to the palace to exonerate Li Junxian. No, he just walked outside the gate of Tsing Yiwei, and happened to bump into Nangong silently escorting Luoyang back to the prison. Xu Ke couldn't bear to see Luoyang Gongzi being tortured by the edict, so that he could follow Nangong into the house without saying a word, and later invited Nangong warmly to Deyue Tower to "get drunk". He himself took advantage of the gap to return to Tsing Yi Wei and rescued Sunset......

After Xu Ke sent the setting sun away, he didn't stop at his feet, and rushed to the Wei Palace. He explained his intention to the porter, and the attendant guarding the door hurriedly entered and told the chief manager Ma Huacheng. Ma Huacheng went to the study to ask King Wei. When King Wei heard that Xu Ke had come to see him, he naturally couldn't ask for it. However, when he was meeting this morning, he had just heard Qiu Mingli's earnest warning not to receive him in the next few days. Li Zhen had no choice but to wave his hand, only saying that he was tired, so Ma Huacheng turned Xu Ke away.

At this time, Xu Ke and Ma Huacheng quarreled for a long time, and when he saw that he couldn't enter, he rushed up with a frenzy in his heart, divided his hands, pushed down the two servants, and even took Ma Huacheng to the ground. He made his way into the palace in great stride.

Xu Ke recognized the location of the study of King Wei's mansion, so he walked all the way through the corridor and came to the door of the study. Ma Huacheng, who was behind him, shouted as he ran: "My little ancestor, trespassing into the palace, this is going to kill the head......

"See Your Highness if you are not sick!" Xu Ke walked into the study of the palace and saw that Li Zhen was wearing a dark black mink coat, so he set himself on the side of the brazier, while keeping warm, he flipped through the scrolls, and hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"You are so bold, you dare to trespass into the palace!" Li Zhen put down the scroll in his hand and said sullenly.

"Back to Your Highness, I haven't seen Brother Xue for a few days without illness, I miss it very much, I came to visit today, I am in a hurry, and I hope Your Highness will forgive me!" Xu Ke bowed again.

Li Zhen waved his hand at Ma Huacheng, who was panting behind Xu Ke, asked him to step back, and said to Xu Ke gently:

"Xue Tao has been recuperating in this mansion for a few days, and his injuries have been healed, so he went back to his home yesterday...... Sit down!" Li Zhen pointed to the two pestles next to him.

"Your Highness Xie!" Xu Ke walked to the side and sat down calmly.

"No disease! King Gu knows that you are here for Li Junxian?......" Li Zhen didn't wait for Xu Ke to speak, and took the lead in opening the topic.

Xu Ke saluted Li Zhen in front of the seat and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Wei, I have asked General Li in the edict prison. He has never had anything to do with the crown prince. Just because on that day, he was greedy for a cup and lost his speech, and he spoke falsely for a while, so that Wang Chenwei heard it...... General Li is loyal to the emperor, and his heart can be seen by the sun and the moon, so where does the word 'rebellion' come from......"

Li Zhen waved his hand to block Xu Ke's words, shook his head, and said: "Who let him crash into the prince's case? Now that the prince has been deposed as a commoner and moved to Luzhou Mansion for confinement, how can he, Li Junxian, get away with it?"

Xu Ke hurriedly said: "The prince is just deposed, at least he can save his life." Why can't the emperor spare Brother Li's death? I humbly beg His Highness to enter the palace to ...... for Brother Li."

Li Zhen said angrily: "Shut up! Can my second brother's life be compared with his Li Junxian? Since ancient times, rebellion has been a major crime, and the fact that my father can spare his whole family from death and avoid Zhulian is already an extrajudicial favor to him. You still want this king to beg his father and the emperor to exempt him from Li Junxian's capital crime...... You're dreaming!"

Xu Ke Huoran got up, neither humble nor arrogant, and said: "Since the emperor is convicted of the crime of rebellion, then the person who commits the crime should be beheaded as one! There is a saying that 'the prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people'! The prince is a human being, so Li Junxian is not a human being? Why can Li Ren be spared death, but Brother Li should die innocently!"

Li Zhen said angrily: "You...... You...... This king doesn't want to talk nonsense with you, you get out of here!"

Xu Ke originally wanted to beg King Wei with good words today, begging him to go to the palace to intercede for Li Junxian, but at this time, seeing Li Jin's attitude, he knew that he was hopeless. He turned around and walked out, but when he reached the door, he stopped again, turned slightly, and said coldly:

"His Royal Highness the King of Wei, this time he followed His Royal Highness to the south to raise food for disaster relief, and saw His Royal Highness work tirelessly and bumpy for the livelihood of the victims...... His Royal Highness cares about the safety of the common people and cares about the well-being of the people, and this heart makes him feel very impressed by the disease-free people! His Royal Highness is a person who is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, and has a great righteousness in his heart, which is very different from other princes. Now, if it really comes to the time when it is at stake with oneself, what is the difference between His Highness and those who are wise enough to protect their lives......?

After Xu Ke snorted coldly and exited the study, Li Jin's face turned pale with anger, picked up a silver-white celadon bowl, and fell to the ground with a "pop". That Ma Huacheng hurriedly bowed down and ran in, squatting down and busy cleaning up the broken porcelain pieces, while looking up and asking for orders: "Your Highness, do you want to send someone to ...... him?"

"Arrest him, you dog-slave, he is the king's savior...... Without him, this king would have died several times!" Li Zhen kicked Ma Huacheng and scolded angrily.

Xu Ke walked out of the Wei Palace, strolling on the streets of Chang'an City. The cold wind of the winter night blew his heart tight, and in the bottom of his heart, he couldn't help but feel an inexplicable depression and melancholy. He came with confidence, thinking that he had risked his life to save Li Jin's life, but now he was just asking him to intercede with the emperor, which was nothing more than a gesture for Li Jin. Unexpectedly, this Prince of Jiuzhu put on a lofty demeanor, and he was so indifferent to Li Junxian's life and death.

Xu Ke secretly said in his heart: "For an ordinary folk girl, you can work so hard to save her, and for a general Zuo Wuwei who has made great achievements, you actually ignore it like this! I thought you were a warm-hearted person, but I didn't expect that once the nine royal pearls on your head were involved, you would be so unwilling! You are just afraid that the prince will come back and destroy your dream of becoming the new prince...... Ahem, you royal nobles, again

There can be a few good people!"

Asking King Wei to exonerate Li Junxian was already the last resort Xu Ke could think of. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't want to ignore Mr. Qiu's advice and force him to break into the Wei Palace. But now, after a long time, King Wei is still indifferent. Thinking that the hope of Brother Li's rescue had become slim again, Xu Ke couldn't help but feel a little disheartened and depressed at this time.

......

At the same time, in the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Chu King's Mansion, the maids served a plate of agate thousand fish soup for the King of Chu. It is said that this plate of 10000 fish soup has the fragrance of dozens of kinds of fish meat, and there are also Western precious spices mixed in it, and the taste is incomparable. Therefore, before dinner, the king of Chu ordered someone to cook this soup, so that he could "pad his hunger" first.

Li Zhi, the king of Chu, picked up the silver spoon and took a bite of the fish soup, put it in his mouth, and was savoring it. Qin Jianxun, the secretary of the Ministry of War, hurriedly ran in, and as soon as he entered the door, he said with a smile: "Your Highness, congratulations! There is a great event!"

The king of Chu waved his hand and withdrew a group of subordinates, took another mouthful of soup and put it into his mouth, chewed and tasted it for a long time, and then asked: "What's the matter?

"Your Highness, Sun Xun ...... It's dead!" Qin Jianxun replied with a smile.

"Oh, Sun Xun is dead?" Li Zhi put down the soup bowl and got up to ask again.

Qin Jianxun said: "Your Highness, rest assured, Sun Xun is indeed dead! According to my Tsing Yi Wei's internal report, he died early this morning. ”

Li Zhi asked, "He...... Is it that you can't stand the torture instrument and die yourself?"

Qin Jianxun said: "Sun Qianhu's kung fu, His Royal Highness is not unaware, how can ordinary torture instruments kill him? Moreover, the means in the Tsing Yi Wei will not put the prisoner to death when he is executed." ”

Li Zhiqi said: "So, he was killed by someone else? Didn't you say that Sun Xun didn't drink the white porridge yesterday night? Why, he ...... today?"

Qin Jianxun hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Your Highness, it wasn't the white porridge that night yesterday, that bowl of porridge was drunk by the servant who sent the porridge in the end." The person who stabbed Sun Xun to death today, Your Highness, guess which one......"

Li Zhi said impatiently: "Don't play dumb riddles with this king, this king's bowl of soup is going to be cold...... Tell me, who the hell is it?"

Qin Jianxun showed an excited look on his face and said, "Your Highness, the one who stabbed Sun Xun to death with a sword this morning is that Tsing Yi Wei Baihu, Xu Ke!"

Li Zhi picked up the bowl of "Agate Thousand Fish Soup" again, took a spoonful and put it in his mouth to taste, and said slowly: "It turned out to be that Xu Ke! Why did he go and stab Sun Xun to death?"

Qin Jianxun said: "I heard that this time at the mouth of the West Gorge, he was originally Qincha's guard, but he was injured and comatose by Sun Qianhu on the spot. Today, after he learned what happened, he stabbed Sun Qianhu to death with a sword, presumably he took revenge for personal gain!"

Li Zhi sneered a few times: "It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous! In the end, it was my fourth brother's subordinates who got rid of Sun Xun! After Sun Xun was arrested, this king didn't sleep well in the past few nights. Today, thanks to my fourth brother, I can finally sleep well. This also ...... It's ridiculous!"

Qin Jianxun also said: "What kind of goods are the people trained by the King of Wei, and there is more than enough success and failure! This Xu Ke is so young, after all, he has no knowledge, and he openly stabbed Sun Xun, the only key criminal, to death for his own personal anger! Now, as soon as Sun Xun dies, there is no proof in this case, Your Highness, from tonight onwards, you can finally sit back and relax......

Li Zhi couldn't help but sigh: "Speaking of this Xu Ke, this king suddenly remembered that three days ago, this king took great pains to ask you to send someone to kill his entire family. But I never thought that he would do the king a great favor today. It seems that you didn't get rid of him that night, and this king not only blames you wrongly, but also has to thank you......"

Qin Jianxun's face was very embarrassed, he knew that this master often said some backwords. At this time, the meaning of King Chu's words was not so much a word of praise as a word of blame. Immediately he said:

"Your Highness, in order to avenge his personal revenge, this Xu Ke dared to openly stab the important prisoner in the Tsing Yi Wei Prison. According to my great law, this is a capital crime! My subordinates will definitely join him tomorrow so that he will shed a layer of skin even if he does not die!"

Li Zhi couldn't help but take a closer look at Qin Jianxun a few times, and the feeling in his heart was extremely complicated. He thought for a while, but still waved his hand, and said indifferently:

"Forget it, don't go to him......"

"Your Highness, according to the speculation of his subordinates, if Shen Huan of his Tsing Yi Wei knew about this, he would definitely protect him. When the time comes, Shen Huan will come to the emperor for a 'peace mud', and the emperor will be soft-hearted, and most of the matter will not be investigated! Your Royal Highness, this Xu Ke is one of the wings of the King of Wei after all, wouldn't it be better if he could take advantage of this to cut him off?" Qin Jianxun took another step forward and said earnestly.

Li Zhi's face changed, and he said with a slight displeasure: "Jianxun, why are you so unruly today! Do you want this king to say this thing a second time!"

Qin Jianxun didn't expect the King of Chu to be angry about this, so he hurriedly bowed down and saluted: "Please forgive your subordinate Meng Lang! Since His Royal Highness is determined to let Xu Ke go, his subordinates ...... Your subordinates should obey their orders!"

Having said that, this Qin Jianxun secretly sighed in his heart: "When will your King Chu become so benevolent?" I sent eight masters in the army three days ago, but they all returned, and even these eight people have never returned, and the opponent's martial arts and strength can be imagined. Now, if you don't take advantage of the other party's mistakes and punish him to death, if you miss today, you will never find such a good opportunity again!"

Although Qin Jianxun couldn't help shaking his head in his heart, he really misunderstood what King Chu meant. Although Li Zhi despises the deeds of his subordinates in his heart, if he wants to achieve great things, how can he be restrained? No matter when and where, Li Zhi will never show any "woman's kindness" in his chest......

Li Zhi knew his father's heart. This time, he sent Sun Xun to assassinate the King of Wei, which was originally a risky move, betting that his father would control Bintian soon. At that time, once the emperor dies, he is the eldest son of Chu and the only prince of Jiuzhu, even if his father does not have an edict to pass on the throne, the new emperor's dragon chair will naturally belong to him. But now, it is becoming more and more obvious to him that his father's body is still very strong, and what he judged before was just some illusion.

Sun Xun was quilted

After being arrested, Li Zhi clearly felt that his father had already found out that the mastermind behind it was himself. In the past few days, not only the surroundings of the Chu Palace, but even the Jingyang camp in the north of Chang'an City, the Wugong Xiaocai Cavalry Camp in the west of the city, and the Shenwu Army in the south of the city have all discovered the eyeliner under the cloth of Tsing Yi Wei. His every move here is clear to his father. The reason why his father didn't move him may be because of the love between father and son, or maybe he still wants to give him a chance to repent.

In the past few days, Li Zhi has been thinking hard about what kind of excuse to find to go to his father and emperor to dissect his heart, and even "bear the guilt". Today, I actually heard that Sun Xun had already been stabbed to death, and this time, God really helped him! As soon as Sun Xun died, the assassination of Qin Cha was closed. His father didn't want to touch him in the first place, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't find any reason. Then he Li Zhi, even the work of "bearing the guilt of petitioning" can be saved......

What Li Zhi wants to do most now is to let Sun Xun pass this matter as soon as possible, and no one will mention it again. If you listen to Qin Jianxun's words, and hold on to Sun Xun's death, in case there is a big turmoil and find out some "things that should not be investigated", then the situation will be even more out of control...... Compared with the huge risks that may arise, what is the value of whether this 100 households can be eliminated?

It's ridiculous that Qin Jianxun, a third-grade member, is the number one henchman in the hands of King Chu in vain, but he doesn't notice the overall situation in Li Zhi's chest......

"Your Highness, now that Sun Xun is dead, that ...... Kang Youren, do you want to stay?" Qin Jianxun asked Li Zhi again.

According to the original plan, after the king of Chu used Kang Youren's poison pill to send someone to poison Sun Xun, he immediately wiped out the Kang family.

At this time, Li Zhi narrowed his eyes, thought for a while, but said, "Forget it, since Sun Xun was not poisoned by him, let's keep him first...... This person is also a genius, and this king may be able to use many things in the future. ”

"Subordinates obey!" Qin Jianxun leaned over and saluted again, and when he saw that the King of Chu had no intention of keeping him for dinner, he turned around and said goodbye.

When Qin Jianxun was about to go out, Li Zhi stopped him again and ordered, "That...... Jianxun! Xiaokang told me that he had lost two personal maids, named 'Ah Zhu' and 'Ah Ju'. You go to Jingzhao Mansion tomorrow and ask Zhong Xingming to help you find it...... And your subordinates in the military department also sent people to keep an eye on the ......"

"Subordinates take orders!" Qin Jianxun replied, then turned around and withdrew.

......

An hour later, Chang'an City was plunged into a pitch-black night.

In Cuiyun Building, Sheng's singing and swallow dancing are still very lively. The prince and grandson, the wealthy businessman, indulge in carnivals, chase and laugh, and spend a lot of money here......

Pei Caibao came in a hurry and entered a private room on the second floor, where Li Zuo, the king of Han, was already waiting.

"Sixth Master, you've been waiting for a long time...... Pei Mou's teacher is not good today! He was delayed a lot of work on the way, and dozens of his subordinates were damaged...... "As soon as Pei Caibaofu sat down, he hurriedly bowed and bowed.

"What's the matter that makes you, an adult of a thousand households, still so troubled?" Li Zuo asked with a smile.

"Ahem! It's all the incompetence of his subordinates! Today, I have already captured several of Sun Xun's comrades, as well as his son who was robbed before. I don't want a gust of wind to blow halfway along the way, so that these people have run away!" Pei Caibao sighed.

Sun Xun's comrades don't matter anymore,...... Li Zuo said indifferently. He didn't seem to care about Sun Xun's escape with the party.

"Sixth Master...... This Sun Xun is now dead, and his comrades have been robbed again, and this case can be ......," Pei Caibao couldn't help but say ashamedly.

"I also know about Sun Xun's death. But...... Right now, the old man has received the secret letter, and none of this matters...... You've done a great job with this!" Li Zuo said with a smile.

MeSign ?...... Where did the secret letter come from!" Pei Caibao couldn't help but touch a few short whiskers under his chin and said in amazement.

Li Zuo couldn't help but wonder: "Didn't you put this secret letter that was searched from Sun's Mansion?"

Pei Caibao said: "Sixth master, his subordinates have already made arrangements, but this morning Sun Xun died suddenly, and Shen Huan immediately ordered to raid the house and take people." Subordinate...... I haven't had time to put this letter yet. ”

Li Zuo's eyes narrowed, and after a moment of thought, he said, "It seems that someone has thought of us together......! The exact news from the palace today, Shen Huan entered the palace for the second time today, and presented a secret letter from the old man from Sun's house. When the old man saw it, he was so angry that he dropped the cup on the spot! Although I don't know what is written in the letter, I guess that it must have been written by my eldest brother to Sun Xun......

Pei Caibao was surprised in his heart: "Could it be...... Did the King of Chu really have a secret letter left in Sun Xun's mansion, but I couldn't find it at that time?"

Li Zuo smiled and said: "He won't be so stupid! I think that Sun Xun went in and out of the Chu Palace's mansion twice in three days, what is really the matter, and it is not good for him to order it in person?"

Pei Caibao thought for a while, and couldn't help laughing: "Sixth Master, it seems that you are not the only one who doesn't want the King of Chu to ascend the throne!"

Li Zuo said: "In your opinion, this is the one who secretly released the secret letter...... Who could it be?"

Pei Caibao replied: "In the past few days, three people have been in and out of Sun's mansion. One is Zhang Muye, a thousand households of the Qingjing Division, and the other is to inspect the Nangong of a thousand households, and today it is these two thousand households who are responsible for raiding the Sun family. According to my subordinates, at noon on the 26th day of the first month, he went to Sun's mansion and said that he was ordered to inspect it...... According to the subordinates, all three of them are possible!"

Li Zuo said: "Is there no one else?"

Pei Caibao said: "Since Sun Xun was arrested, Sun Mansion has always been surrounded by subordinates, among them, except for three thousand households who have entered, there is only one snitch who robbed Sun Xun's son......"

Li Zuo smiled and said disapprerovingly: "You still missed someone." ”

Pei Caibao was puzzled: "Sixth master, my subordinates really don't know, who else can ......?"

Li Zuo snorted coldly and said, "This person is, your governor, Shen Huan!"