Li Gongde was placed on the corridor outside the study by Sun Fulu, Xu Hun was tied up, seriously injured, his clothes were stained with blood, and beside him was a confidant of Li Gongde, who was eyeing the spy Xu Hun. This person is a genuine little master with a good cultivation level. In Lingzhou Jianghu, he has always been as famous as the leader of Liantang, who is nicknamed Pohou, but one is still enjoying the glory and wealth in the mansion of Jinglueshi, and the other is wiped out overnight. Dead body, it can be seen that being a family dog guarding the house is much more comfortable than being a helpless wild dog. Li Gongde looked quite calm, with his eyes closed and concentrated, but his two fists tucked in his cuffs were clenched and clenched. At the end of the corridor, Hong Shuwen, who was born in Baima Yicong, was leaning against him, like a poisonous snake waiting for an opportunity. When Hong Shuwen stood up straight, Li Gongde suddenly opened his eyes. When he saw His Royal Highness returning with Xu Beizhi on his back, the scene was so different from what he had imagined, he was inevitably a little dazed. After all, Li Gongde came over with a hob in an official dye vat, so he immediately calmed down and let the personal guards leave first. This time, the old man did not pretend to be an elder, but solemnly brushed his clothes and sleeves, and fell to his knees , said in a deep voice: "Li Gongde came to plead guilty to His Royal Highness overnight, and I hope His Highness will save Li Hanlin because of his love for more than 20 years!"
Li Gongde couldn't see Xu Fengnian's expression. His Royal Highness probably handed the drunk Xu Beizhi to Hong Shuwen first, and then walked quickly, holding the arms of Mr. Jing Lueshi, trying to help him up, but Li Gongde tried his best Kneeling down, His Royal Highness asked anxiously: "Why does Uncle Li behave like this, how can Feng Nian afford it? What happened to Hanlin? Uncle Li got up and spoke!"
Li Gongde said with a faint cry: "Your Highness, if you don't agree to save my son Hanlin, Li Gongde will kneel and die here, and he won't get up!"
Xu Fengnian, who was full of alcohol, said angrily: "If I don't save anyone, I can do it, but Hanlin can't help it. How can I let Hanlin fall into danger?! Uncle Li, why do you have to act like this? Could it be that you are a dignified Beiliang Daoist? Jing Lue envoy, what are you doing to feel sorry for the Xu family?!"
Li Gongde raised his head and said with tears running down his face: "Your Highness, Li Gongde has been loyal to Beiliang for twenty years. The heavens can learn from it. The general's cultivation of the Li family has been reborn with kindness. Li Gongde believes that he will get rid of the greed that he dare not deny This crime has absolutely no second thoughts towards Beiliang and the Xu family!"
Xu Fengnian squatted in front of Mr. Jinglue, who lost his composure, and said in a soft voice: "In this case, Uncle Li should get up and talk. Let me first talk about who the kidnapped person is, and why Hanlin asked me to rescue him. There is no one here. Outsiders, you and my uncle and nephew can speak directly. If I can’t do something, then I’ll go and beg Xu Xiao, I don’t believe anyone in Beiliang can hurt Hanlin! Who can wrong the Li family!”
Then Li Gongde got up tremblingly and panicked, wiped his tears with his sleeves, pointed at Xu Hun, and said sharply: "This person is named Xu Hun, he is the confidant of Li Xifeng who weaves the golden thread, and he is also a member of the Liyang court. A few years ago, Li Xifeng, an old and cunning man, pretended to meet me and mentioned that this person was a descendant of his distant relative's family. I read the secret letter written by Bi Yaner, threatening that as long as I, Li Gongde, were willing to defect to Beiliang, my status in the court would be no less than that of that bastard Yan Jiexi, and that Zhao Gou had already arranged for the Li family. How could Li Gongde be so ungrateful and take this thief down immediately, just pity my son Hanlin, who has been transferred to the Northern Mang and Southern Dynasties by a military order, and now has been forcibly escorted eastward along the northern border. I'm afraid that he will enter the capital from Jizhou in a short time. Your Highness, although Li Gongde has no intention of betraying Beiliang, since he will be targeted by Li Xifeng and Xu Hun's gang of insidious villains, it is Li Gongde's strategic envoy. If it is done wrong, they will think that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it. No matter how His Highness and the general deal with Li Gongde afterwards, Li Gongde will never complain, but His Highness is very clear about Hanlin's behavior. If he arrives in the capital, he will definitely Having been hacked into pieces by that embarrassing Bi Yan'er and the Emperor of the Zhao family, Your Highness, you must save Hanlin..."
Xu Fengnian let out a foul breath and smiled, "So it's this time, Uncle Li, don't worry too much, come on, go to the study and sit and have a sip of tea, Fengnian will send letters to Xu Xiao, Chu Lushan and General Youzhou respectively Huangfu Cheng will definitely guarantee to return Uncle Li a safe and sound Li Hanlin!"
Li Gongde was about to nod his head to thank him, when he suddenly widened his eyes. His Royal Highness, who had always talked and laughed in front of him, could dig out many secret gold bumps for such a piece of Xu Hun, so he just pushed it out with one palm. His five fingers hooked and tore off half of Xu Hun's face, and then he still seemed to dislike the trouble, and an immortal stroked his head. Poor Xu Hun died on the spot without saying a word. Xu Fengnian, who was covered in blood, carelessly wiped his sleeves, then carefully supported Master Jinglue with one hand, and pushed the door with the other. The two of them crossed the threshold together. Xu Fengnian stopped, leaned back, and smiled at Xu Yanbing "Please ask Uncle Xu to ask Hong Shuwen to send the three secret letters quickly, and give the last one to Huangfu Cheng, saying that this prince allows him to privately mobilize two thousand light cavalry to go out and intercept it. By the way, call someone to send a pot of heat." Come over with tea."
Xu Yanbing nodded.
Li Gongde said in a low voice: "Your Highness, Xu Hun is clearly not an ordinary spy. Li Gongde had planned to set him up before. It seems that when Yan Jiexi escaped from Beiliang, he personally participated in it. With him in hand, You don't have to worry about Li Xifeng and the Golden Thread Weaving Bureau not giving in. It seems safer to kill them later."
Xu Fengnian shook his head and smiled, "Uncle Li underestimated how tight-mouthed these dead men are. Besides, in Beiliang, where I live, I don't bother to care about Li Xifeng or the weaving bureau. It's a passable excuse. If you want to kill, you can kill them. I am not relatives with them. They are both enemies anyway. There is no need to talk about affection. To do this kind of thing, it depends on who is ruthless. Come on, it’s the same fate, otherwise, how can you call a dead man, the dead man is not called for nothing.”
Li Gongde listened to His Highness Shizi's extraordinarily leisurely and indifferent words, and when he sat down, he glanced at the untimely gray hair of the young man, and said nothing.
Xu Fengnian comforted with a smiling face: "If Uncle Li thinks that Huangfu Cheng and two thousand cavalry are not enough, he can send two more crossbowmen and one thousand cavalry."
Li Gongde quickly echoed: "Okay, okay. Sigh, this messy thing really embarrasses His Highness."
Xu Fengnian waved his hand, Xu Yanbing personally delivered the tea, and Xu Fengnian told him the order to add more troops to leave the customs urgently.
Xu Fengnian sneered and said: "What a Li Xifeng, if he really doesn't sing, he is already an astonishing name. He has been a turtle in Beiliang for more than ten years. If he wants to do it, he specializes in big business. He is addicted to digging the walls of Xu's house. Give it to him. The master of the Zhao family is still not satisfied with his in-laws, and now even Uncle Li is unwilling to let him go. After tonight, I will go to learn about the golden thread weaving. By then, he will not be as lucky as Xu Hun gone."
Li Gongde sighed, looked at Xu Fengnian, and said sincerely: "His Royal Highness, even though Li Gongde did not commit the crime himself, he also thinks that his reputation has been ruined. In fact, when His Highness came to Lingzhou, Li Gongde already had this idea. The waves behind the river pushed the waves ahead, and the hearts of the people in Beiliang. He has little knowledge, talent and learning, and his reputation is even worse. Not to mention the second-rank envoy, he was also the governor of Lingzhou at that time. Before retiring from the official position, at least I served His Highness as a helper for a year or two, which was considered to have fulfilled a wish of being an official in the Northern Liang Dynasty. It was a public heart, and indeed there were selfish intentions. I never thought that His Highness would live in the general's mansion. The officialdom in Lingzhou immediately fell into chaos right under his nose. At that time, Li Gongde knew that he was old after all. Go back to your hometown to take care of your life."
Xu Fengnian gently lowered his head and blew on the tea mist, smiling without saying a word.
The study room was dimly lit, Li Gongde held the teacup in both hands to keep warm, the mist was steaming, and the expressions on the faces of the old and the young were blurred.
Li Gongde weighed his words carefully, and said slowly: "His Royal Highness, Li Gongde's resignation is not just to avoid suspicion, it is indeed because he knows that it is difficult to take on the big task. To be the first economic envoy of Beiliang Dao is to drive ducks to the shelves. If you want to talk about Li Gongde The well-known official addiction is almost enough. Now Beiliang has expanded and the atmosphere is brand-new. Li Gongde doesn't study much, and he is far behind Wang Xihua and other scholars. But a few days ago, he saw it with his own eyes. Zheng Zhen replaced the old talismans with new peaches on one door after another, and figured out a truth that he had never understood before. No matter how good the old Spring Festival couplets were written, they were exposed to the wind and sun for a year, and they were so old. Just looking at it is not festive enough, far less pleasing to the eye than Xinlianzi. Besides, Beiliang is full of vigor and talent, and His Highness is determined to rectify the officialdom. In the final analysis, officialdom knowledge is nothing more than the essence of shifting the position. It’s easy to say that everyone in the entire Beiliang officialdom can be promoted to a higher level, and the most educated people in His Highness’s favor can be moved up. This is when Li Gongde will finally do something within his ability for Beiliang...”
Xu Fengnian interrupted: "Let's not talk about that first, Uncle Li is still young, it's too early to talk about retiring from office and wandering in the forest."
Li Gongde hesitated to speak.
Xu Fengnian had a face full of uncontrollable laughter, and said narrowly: "I guess, Zhang Julu told the court at least to give Uncle Li a Shangshu and a bachelor's title, otherwise he would be too petty."
Li Gongde laughed and said, "Li Gongde never opened the secret letter, so he doesn't know the contents."
Then the manager put the secret letter in his arms on the table. Xu Fengnian glanced casually, and heard Li Gongde's hearty laughter for the first time tonight, "If you want Li Gongde to say it, a Shangshu with the same rank as the Jinglue envoy, plus a palace that can't change money University scholars, they don’t even look down on them. It’s almost the same to give up the position of Tantan Weng Huanwen to Li Gongde. Of course, if the chief assistant is willing to let the virtuous, Li Gongde doesn’t mind accepting it. If this is the case, let Li Gongde go back on his word once, Your Highness, please don't stop Li Gongde, he will take office immediately tomorrow."
Xu Fengnian took a sip of tea, laughed and said, "If the son of the Zhao family has this courage, hey, I really won't stop Uncle Li. The officials trained by us in Beiliang ended up becoming the chief assistant of the imperial court. It sounds good, but in the future, countless scholars will flock to Beiliang to become officials? Because Beiliang is a land of prosperity, this son is happy that they have worked hard in Beiliang for 20 or 30 years, accumulated enough hard work, and then ran away. Let the imperial court politely accept the old-age pension, comfortably enjoy ten years of high-ranking officials and generous salaries, and all of them are bestowed posthumous posthumous titles by the emperor after death. What a wonderful thing. Everyone is happy."
Li Gongde smiled knowingly.
Xu Fengnian restrained his smile and said, "Uncle Li, you can still be your envoy with peace of mind, and Hanlin, I promise to send you back to Lingzhou unscathed."
Li Gongde still wanted to speak, so Xu Fengnian closed the cup lid, put it on the table, and said with a look of undeniable refusal, "Uncle Li, it's settled, we'll wait for Hanlin to come back and talk about everything!"
Li Gongde had no choice but to stand up and say goodbye, and left the study silently.
Xu Fengnian sent it to the door of the study, sat back in the chair and closed his eyes.
This secret matter that would shock the government and the public if it was spread out, he was the one who planned the overall situation, and Xu Weixiong and Wutong Yuan were responsible for deliberating every detail. Li Xifeng, weaving golden thread, made a deal with Beiliang, and his descendants stayed in the capital as hostages. If he wanted to leave Beiliang alive and make the court or the emperor not suspicious, he had to do so. It is true that Xu Hun is a conscientious spy of Zhao Gou, and it is also true that Li Xifeng and Zhang Julu, who is coming to the court, are two autographed letters. Li Hanlin was dispatched to Northern Mang and Southern Dynasties are still true. True and false, intricate, intertwined interests during the period, their big and small actions are enough to make people dazzled, especially on Beiliang's side, there can be no mistakes in one step, Liyang can afford to lose, Beiliang can't afford to lose, win, golden hazel Weaving has changed from a government agency to Beiliang's private property, and a large number of spies lurking in Beiliang and around Beiliang will be tracked down, and even many Liyang spies who have infiltrated the military on the border will also be uprooted. In this way, the mud in the Beiliang mud pond can be cleaned up. When Xu Fengnian became the general of Lingzhou, he did not want to be in the military affairs of Lingzhou from the very beginning, but to make the officialdom in Beiliang completely free from worries, so that those scholars could take root with peace of mind. If Li Gongde resisted the temptation, then Xu Fengnian had said to himself before that he would let Uncle Li be addicted to being an official. If not, it would be the worst situation. There was never any plan to destroy the Li family, but only to let Li Gongde resign from office and return to his hometown under the pretext of being unwell, and to be a rich man in Huangnan County with peace of mind. Liang's officialdom tried his best to move according to His Royal Highness' wishes. What Xu Hun did was Li Xifeng's will, and Li Xifeng's advice to Xu Hun was Xu Fengnian's secret preference. As for Li Hanlin, the leader of the crossbowmen, a large number of the most elite eagle warriors from Beiliang have long been following in secret, and there are even six junior masters from the palace among them. . It's just that Xu Fengnian knew that, in this way, there was no one left of the four friends who grew up together, went to the brothel and took the blame together, the four brothers.
Master Jinglue walked out of the general's mansion slowly with that confidant servant.
Li Gongde turned his head to look at the slightly gloomy mansion in the night, and asked with a smile: "What kind of person do you think His Royal Highness is?"
The little grandmaster hesitated for a moment and said, "A master."
Li Gongde chuckled, and didn't force this prudent Jianghu master, and said to himself: "Although it is not poisonous and not a husband, but being affectionate may not be heroic."
The subordinate did not dare to talk too much.
Li Gongde walked to the front of his house, just about to step up the steps, suddenly retracted his feet, and said with a smile: "Let's take a walk on Xingzi Street, which is finally clean."
Li Gongde walked on the empty and lonely street, and said with emotion for no reason: "All living beings are suffering, and it depends on how to enjoy the suffering. Others see you as pitiful, but you don't know that you are suffering, and that is the real skill."
"I, like the general, am old. No matter what I do now, it is for my children and grandchildren."
study.
Xu Fengnian reached out to hold the teacup.
The white porcelain cup shattered with a bang.
Half a cup of tea splashed all over.
It is scheduled to arrive at the general's residence in Lingzhou on the third day of the first lunar month, and it is not until the fourth day of the first lunar month.
Three secret letters are deliberately mentioned in the hallway.
Xu Fengnian gave the Li family opportunities again and again.
At this time, there was still only a single confidential letter on the table.
In this game of chess, Beiliang, which has a favorable location and people, can't lose at all, there is only a difference between winning more and losing less.
But for him, Xu Fengnian, he lost no matter what.
He's the one who asked for it!
Xu Beizhi spoke really well.