The next morning, Liu Zhiyuan handed over the written letter to Lotte Zang, and gave him a gold and white tael and a Hetian purple jade pendant. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Lotte Zang did not accept it, and said again and again: "Brother Liu doesn't have to be like this, he is also acting on the orders of the general." Liu Zhiyuan said: "The Le Jian Army is serious, this is a little bit of clumsy thought." If you don't accept it, I can't explain it to Humble Jing. It turned out that Le Zhenxian had been so happy that she hadn't slept all night since she learned that her brother was safe and sound. Liu Zhiyuan saw that his wife was so happy, so he prepared these two gifts for Lotte Zang.

Liu Zhiyuan saw that Lotte Zang refused to accept it, so he took down the gold, handed over the piece of Hetian purple jade pendant and said: "This jade pendant is a thing from the Western Regions, and it can be worn by your side to drive away evil spirits. Lotte Zang knew that Liu Zhiyuan had always been more generous, and if he didn't accept it, he was afraid that he would have to delay for a while, so he had to take the jade pendant, carefully tie it around his waist, and said: "Thank you Brother Liu for your kindness, and you will definitely protect each other in the future." And he rode away. Liu Zhiyuan was secretly surprised in his heart, thinking that there are such people in the world who don't love money, if the soldiers under his brother-in-law are like this, why worry about the Khitan if it is not broken.

Seeing Lotte Zang away, Liu Zhiyuan sent someone to inform his younger brother Murong Yanchao to meet at the old place in the evening, and prepared a horse to go to the mansion of Shi Jingjiao, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu. Shi Jingjiao happened to be in the house. Liu Zhiyuan stepped forward and said, "My lord, I just happened to pass by your mansion and came in to say hello." By the way, isn't the noble brother in the mansion?"

Shi Chonggui is Shi Jingjiao's nephew and is fostered in his home. Shi Chonggui is twenty years old this year, and he is brave in battle, and he is deeply loved by Shi Jingjiao. Liu Zhiyuan has something to ask for, and he can't help but praise the value of the stone in front of him.

Shi Jingjiao nodded, beckoned him into the house and said, "The noble has gone hunting outside the city." Liu Zhiyuan thought that this Shi family really had no dog nephew, and boasted: "A few days ago, I heard my brother Murong Yanchao mention that the noble and virtuous brother has greatly increased his martial arts recently, which is really gratifying. ”

Shi Jingjiao drank tea, shook his head and said, "Zhiyuan, go back and persuade your younger brother, don't think about competing with the nobles every day." Now that the court is worried about internal and external troubles, it is the time for you to show your skills, don't be confused. ”

Liu Zhiyuan was shocked after hearing this, and thought to himself, did he know something, so he deliberately asked, "My lord, what happened?" Shi Jingjiao put down the teacup, got up and walked around the room a few times, and then said: "Zhiyuan, do you really don't know or fake don't know?" Liu Zhiyuan thought that he didn't know the content of the letter, so his face was stunned. Shi Jingjiao swept in front of his eyes with a stern gaze and said, "There is going to be a big mess." A few days ago, the imperial court had made peace with the Khitan and was ready to cede Daizhou. Once this matter is announced, it will inevitably cause great chaos in the world. Liu Zhiyuan already knew at this time, so he pretended to be surprised and said: "There is such a thing, there is such a thing!"

Shi Jingjiao glanced at him and said, "At this time, you must not make any trouble with me." I heard that your brother-in-law Le Yuan wrote you a secret letter?" Liu Zhiyuan was very anxious in his heart, he didn't know how Shi Jingjiao knew these things, but seeing that he still kept looking at himself, he took a deep breath and sat there silently.

Shi Jingjiao closed the door and said softly: "Zhiyuan, this matter is originally very important, but since you are here today, I will make it clear." The imperial court prepared to encircle and annihilate the rebellious army in the Central Plains in the past two days, and did not want any more chaos in Daizhou. Unexpectedly, Le Yuan did not agree with the proposition of the imperial court, which was tantamount to sabotaging the peace talks, and he had already been joined by Du Chongwei and lost his military power. Not only that, but it also implicates you. Zhiyuan, you and I are our own people, I won't hide it from you. The emperor has decreed that I will send you to Luoyang for trial. I have suppressed the holy decree, and you and I are friends of life and death, so naturally I will not embarrass you. ”

Liu Zhiyuan thought that Du Chongwei had already reported this matter to the imperial court, and still replied: "My lord, your great kindness to the humble position, the humble position is unforgettable. ”

Shi Chonggui happened to come back at this time, and when he saw Liu Zhiyuan, the two patted each other's chests and asked Hou. Shi Jingjiao coughed, and Liu Zhiyuan said: "It's not too early, my lord, retire first." Noble and virtuous brother, I will gather in my house another day. Then he looked at Shi Chonggui and smiled.

Liu Zhiyuan returned to the house, didn't think about tea and dinner, and thought about what to do. In the evening, Liu Zhiyuan took the big knife on the wall, left through the back door on horseback, and came to the agreed mountain forest. Murong Yanchao is Liu Zhiyuan's half-brother, who worked as a military academy in the military camp of Li Siyuan of Mingzong, and after Li Siyuan was killed by a mutiny, Murong Yanchao resigned from the military academy and came to Taiyuan to defect to Liu Zhiyuan.

Murong Yanchao came to the mountain forest early, saw Liu Zhiyuan coming in a hurry, and hurriedly greeted him. Liu Zhiyuan glanced at Murong Yanchao, and the two walked towards the woods.

After a while, a group of men dressed in brown clothes rode over. Murong Yanchao recognized that it was the costume of the Imperial Forest Army, and he didn't dare to startle the snake. One of them said: "What the emperor asked Shi Jingjiao to do has been delayed for half a month now, and I haven't heard any back, so I don't know what Shi Jingjin is doing." Another person said: "I heard that Shi Jingjiao and Liu Zhiyuan are friends of life and death, I don't know if Shi Jingjiao will do what the emperor orders." The man said angrily just now: "He Shi Jingjiao is bold, and he doesn't dare to disobey the emperor's holy decree, unless he doesn't want to be the envoy of this Hedong Festival." As he spoke, this group of people had already walked past Liu Zhiyuan and Murong Yanchao.

Murong Yanchao heard it clearly on the side, and he was puzzled in his heart, his brother Liu Zhiyuan was obviously contributing to the court in Taiyuan, why did he become a thorn in the side of the court for a while. Murong Yanchao glanced at Liu Zhiyuan, and saw that his brother looked calm. Liu Zhiyuan told the events of the day, and Murong Yanchao said: "Jiedu makes the lord intend to protect his brother, but now that the imperial court has sent people here, I don't know what to do?" Liu Zhiyuan said: "There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, but it really can't be done, so I will resign from the military academy for my brother and swim in the rivers and lakes with you." Murong Yanchao said: "What my brother said is extremely true, Li Congke is mediocre and unreasonable, which makes the world restless, and it is not as comfortable as being on the rivers and lakes." The two talked for half an hour and went home.

Liu Zhiyuan instructed the housekeeper to close the door tightly. After a while, there was a violent knock at the door, and the housekeeper did not dare to open the door. The man outside the door shouted, "Open the door quickly, the son of the lord has an urgent matter to see your master." The housekeeper hurried into the house to report.

Liu Zhiyuan opened the door of the mansion and saw Shi Chonggui standing anxiously at the door, so he asked: "Brother Chonggui, did you come to the cold house so late, did Jiedu make the adult's illness better?" Shi Chonggui saw him open the door and said, "Brother Liu, everything is fine with my uncle." But Brother Liu is now in trouble. Liu Zhiyuan didn't expect Shi Chonggui's late-night visit just for this matter, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, holding his hand and asking him to get together in the mansion.

Shi Chonggui didn't have time to greet him, so he excused himself and said, "I'll go back to the house immediately, so as not to be suspicious of the Imperial Forest Army." Liu Zhiyuan saw that Shi Jingjiao was also involved, and hurriedly asked for details. Shi Chonggui replied: "When I returned to the house just now, I saw a group of Imperial Forest soldiers coming. These Imperial Forest Soldiers are arrogant, and they don't take their uncle, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, in their eyes, and directly ask to arrest you and return to Luoyang. Uncle is now in a dilemma, and Brother Liu has to go out to avoid the limelight. Thousands of words, I'll talk about them later. I'll take my leave. With that, he hurried away.

Liu Zhiyuan hurriedly thanked him, but he didn't have time to tell Le Zhenxian the details, so he went out of the city alone to avoid the edge, but accidentally intercepted the court messenger from Luoyang halfway.

Liu Zhiyuan searched for the secret letter sent by the emperor Li Congke to Du Chongwei, the assassin of Daizhou, from him. After reading the recital, Liu Zhiyuan thought to himself: "I didn't expect the emperor to disregard the lives of 500,000 people in Daizhou and insist on handing over Daizhou to the Khitan. So he rode back to the city.

Shi Jingjiao looked at the secret fold handed over by Liu Zhiyuan, and said angrily: "Li Congke has misled the country! Although he is my brother-in-law, it is tolerable to do these things, which is unbearable!" So he ordered the three armies to be on strict guard and refused to obey the imperial court's decision to cede Daizhou.

Li Congke, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty in Luoyang, learned that Shi Jingjiao did not obey the order in Taiyuan, and wanted to transfer troops to the west to exterminate Shi Jingjiao, but remembering that he was his brother-in-law with Shi Jingjiao, he couldn't bear to hurt his life, so he pardoned him for his capital crime, ordered him to resign from the post of envoy of Hedong Jiedu, and arranged for him to take the position of central minister in Luoyang.

After the holy decree, Shi Jingjiao expressed his gratitude to Li Congke, but resolutely disagreed to leave Taiyuan. Li Congke saw that Shi Jingjiao had different intentions, and spread the word that the troops were divided into various places to fight, and Shi Jingjiao ordered Liu Zhiyuan to be the general of the expedition to the east, and Murong Yanchao was the deputy general, leading the 30,000 Hedong army to block the Tang army west of Taihang Mountain. The Tang army was menacing, the Hedong army led by Liu Zhiyuan was defeated and retreated, and the Tang army was approaching Taiyuan City. Shi Jingjiao was so anxious that he sent his confidant Xu Yuanfei to Daizhou overnight to ask his brother-in-law Du Chongwei for help.

On the border of Daizhou, Du Chongwei heard that the imperial army was waving troops in the Hedong region, and he was secretly anxious for his brother-in-law Shi Jingjiao. On this day, after seeing Xu Yuanfei, Du Chongwei knew that it was for Daizhou, and he was very angry with Le Yuan and Liu Zhiyuan in his heart, and immediately set a poisonous plan.

Xu Yuanfei left the Thorn History Mansion and went to Dingxi Hou Mansion to meet Le Yuan. Xu Yuanfei handed over the clothes sewn by Le Zhenxian for his nephew Le Yiyang to Lin Hanyan, exchanged a few words with Le Yuan, and hurriedly said goodbye. As soon as Xu Yuanfei left Taiyuan on his front foot, Du Chongwei besieged the Anxi Hou Mansion. Le Yuan was about to go out when he saw a group of soldiers hurrying with weapons, so he asked, "Who are you?" One of the men on horseback stepped forward and said, "Master Hou, we have offended! We are on the orders of Lord Shi, who came to search for the assassin who murdered the Khitan envoy." ”

Le Yuan said in a straight voice: "There is no such person in my house, I think it was Du Tingshi who misunderstood." The man said, "On that day, someone saw him enter your house through the back door, and someone testified here." With that, a man in short sleeves walked out. Seeing that the man was kind-faced, he should not be able to lie. I thought to myself: "I don't know about the assassination of the envoy in the Hou Mansion, could it be that someone wants to harm me." ”

He turned around and went back to his house, gathered the people in his family and asked them one by one, but only Lotte Zang was missing. He asked everyone if they had seen Lotte Zang in the past two days, and everyone shook their heads and denied it. When they dispersed, Le Yuan sat alone in the tearoom, allowing the soldiers to search the courtyard.