turmoil

The moment Xiujian broke through the window, the lights in the room suddenly went out, and the strange thing was that no screams were heard.However, the fierce battle between the two sides outside the house was in full swing, and there was no time to pay attention to these details.

Yang Fan drew his saber out of its sheath, the blade opened and closed, and swept down two black-clothed assassins one after another.Unexpectedly, the long knife on the top of his head cut down, he dodged sideways, and flew out with his kick, kicking the assassin who took the opportunity to attack.

At this time, the shouts of killing in the courtyard became weaker and weaker. Hou Dingbian looked back and saw that most of the black-clothed assassins had been captured.He didn't care too much, rushed to the door in three steps and two steps, raised his leg and kicked open half of the door.

The lights in the room were off, and it was pitch black.Yang Fan rushed in, but he didn't see any blood or corpse, only the room was messy, kraft paper cut into human figures scattered on the floor, two poisoned sleeve arrows nailed to the wall.

Otherwise, it was empty and deserted.

Yang Fan's shock was no small matter, he turned his head and asked, "Where is your master?"

Han Xun didn't have time to open his mouth, he only heard a squeak from the opposite seat in the south room, the door was half opened, and the man who let the three souls of Dingbianhou go to the seven souls was wearing a thick white fox fur, standing firmly at the door: "What is the Lord Hou's order for me?"

Yang Fan's heart was beating violently, and when he saw someone suddenly, he was speechless.

He didn't necessarily care much about Zhang Jingche's life and death. When he returned to Beijing, he would love him to death.It's just that this person is a confidant under the prince's command, and he died under the nose for no reason, and it is always difficult to explain to Donggong, and it is a nail that cannot be pulled out between Dingbianhou and the prince.

At this moment, seeing Zhang Jingche standing in front of him unharmed, Yang Fan's heart finally stabilized. Looking again, Zhang Jingche was not the only one who came out of the inverted south room, and the three floors inside and outside were all from You Yunwei. good hand.

Yang Fan knew that this person had expected tonight's assassination and had already prepared for it.

"Did you know that these desperate people would trouble you on the way?" Yang Fan frowned and said, "Since I expected it, why didn't you talk to me first? Just play me like a monkey!"

Zhang Jingche and Yang Fan didn't deal with each other, but they had to be superficial. He nodded lightly, and said hello: "It's just two or three kittens, and my subordinates can take care of them. Don't bother Master Hou."

The words were polite words, but after being modified by Zhang's understatement, it became a little more provocative.

Yang Fan snorted: "This Marquis has something to say first, you have to listen to my arrangements on this journey, Chief Zhang is so independent and expert, if something goes wrong, will it be yours or mine?"

Zhang Jingche held his hands behind his back, calmly: "I am following the order of the East Palace. If something goes wrong, Lord Hou will not be held responsible."

Yang Fan raised his brows, feeling more and more upset.

At this time, Han Zhang had already taken a group of captured assassins to the steps. Yang Fan couldn't get any advantage from Zhang Jingche, so he had to turn to bully the assassins: "Who sent you here? Dare to find trouble under the eyes of this lord, eat it!" A bear's heart and a leopard's courage will fail!"

The assassin raised his head and glanced at him, his cheeks moved slightly, Yang Fan had been prepared, and quickly removed his chin, preventing him from taking poison or biting his tongue to commit suicide.The assassin couldn't speak, but there was a lot in his throat, and he stared at Yang Fan resentfully.Dingbian Hou was unforgiving, and slapped him backhanded: "What are you looking at, have you never seen a young general? Stare again, I will dig out your eyeballs!"

Marquis Dingbian had a lot of strength in his hands, but if he had spared his strength, the assassin was still beaten to the side, half of his body was numb, and he spat out a mouthful of blood in pain, with half of a blood-stained broken tooth inside.

Han Xun was afraid that Yang Fan's subordinates would beat him to death, so he hurriedly stopped him: "You don't have to do these dirty things yourself, just leave it to the humble staff to take care of it."

Yang Fan snorted, and the corners of his eyes slanted at Zhang Jingche intentionally or unintentionally, and saw the man took out a handkerchief to press his lips, coughed twice, and then said slowly: "If you don't tell me, I can probably guess that it's nothing more than Zhang Jingche Someone came back alive from Beile, your master can't sit still, lest I say something that shouldn't be said, so he wants to seal my mouth first, right?"

The assassin didn't say a word, still staring at him coldly.

"Your master is very scheming. Selling my whereabouts to the Beile people not only removes the thorn in the flesh, but also indirectly deters the thorn in the side. Two birds with one stone." Zhang Jingche crumpled the handkerchief into a ball and threw it aside in disgust. I didn't expect that I would be so fateful that I could climb back from the Underworld with one foot into the Palace of the King of Hades!"

Zhang Jingche took two steps forward, staring at the black-clothed assassin condescendingly, while Yang Fan on the side just missed the passenger car and brushed aside, already terrified for no reason.

"Thanks to your master, I was tortured by the Beile people for more than a month, and I didn't have a piece of good flesh on my body," Zhang Jingche said very gently, "Do you know how the Beile barbarians like to toss people? Using a whip to whip people's backs to blood Fuzzy, tied behind donkeys and horses, dragged along the sand and gravel!"

Yang Fan's eyelids twitched and he looked at Zhang Jingche in disbelief.

Without realizing it, Zhang Jingche slowly bent down and stared at the assassin tenderly and affectionately: "I can't settle accounts with your master for the time being... Tell me, should I return the scars on my back to you one by one?"

It was still the first lunar month at this time, and in the middle of winter, the water in northern Xinjiang was dripping into ice, but the assassin was sweating profusely.

He was still hesitating, but Zhang Jingche was impatient to waste time with him, and winked at his side.Han Xun understood and called a group of hidden guards to drag the assassin down.Zhang Jingche nodded to Yang Fan, turned around and went back to the south room where he was seated. Just as he was about to close the door, he stretched out a hand from his sideways and pressed the door panel involuntarily.

Zhang Jingche raised his head and said calmly, "What's your order, Lord Hou?"

Yang Fan raised his brows, and smiled on the surface: "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zhang Jingche tried to twitch, but found that Dingbian Hou's hand was so strong that the door panel was still motionless.He raised his eyelids, and the light in his eyes flashed away: "What does Hou Ye mean, why can't I understand?"

Yang Fan said indifferently: "You send people to report back to Beijing quickly, and within half a month, the nobles in Beijing sent assassins... Don't you think it is necessary to explain to the Marquis?"

Zhang Jingche acted nonchalantly: "What are you going to tell me?"

He pretended to be stupid to the end, and Yang Fan simply made it clear: "Is the informant you sent back to Beijing related to the Battle of Northern Xinjiang?"

Zhang Jingche frowned slightly, and Yang Fan said quickly: "In the Battle of Northern Xinjiang, my subordinates were killed and injured countless times. If there is something hidden in it, I will give them an explanation!"

The two looked at each other, with invisible sharp edges intertwined. After a long while, Zhang Jingche sighed, and finally turned sideways to open the door: "Master Hou, please come in."

Yang Fan dodged in and closed the door with his backhand. Zhang Jingche turned back to the table and picked up a stick to light up the candle lamp: "Since Lord Hou asked this, he must have already guessed in his heart...whatever you want to ask, just ask."

He is straightforward, and Yang Fan is also straightforward—although these two are not easy to deal with, but luckily they are both members of the Eastern Palace Party, and they have less worries when speaking in private: "In the middle of the war, the supply of food and grass is delayed, and there are rumors of changing generals in Beijing, and even you are lurking in Beile. His identity was exposed... Is the root of the disaster in Beijing?"

Zhang Jingche closed his eyes. Although he didn't say a word, his expression was as if he had agreed.

Although Yang Fan had speculated a long time ago, there is a difference between "groundless speculation" and "conviction with solid evidence". At that moment, the blue veins on his forehead twitched nervously, and the profile of his face tightened like a knife: "They... Aren't you afraid of being poked in the back!"

Zhang Jingche flirted with him with a look of surprise and pity.

"The nobles in Beijing are high above, like a golden Buddha statue on a lotus pedestal, worshiped by thousands of people and enshrined by thousands of people. Looking down from the Jiuchongtian, all living beings are like ants," he said lightly, "Who cares about ants? Life and death? Master Hou usually walks, will he pay attention to the dust on the soles of his feet?"

Yang Fan felt that his tone of voice was offensive for no reason, but he couldn't find any words to refute.

He was silent for a moment, then sat down resentfully at the table: "What you sent someone back to Beijing immediately is the evidence that Liu Yanzhang colluded with Bei Le and delayed the military rations?"

Liu Naihuang's surname, this "Liu Yanzhang" is none other than the name of the eldest prince of the dynasty!

Zhang Jingche grabbed the collar of the fox fur coat, and the flickering candlelight was reflected in his black pill-like eyes: "...more than that!"

Yang Fan was stunned for a moment: "What else?"

Zhang Jingche's expression was indifferent: "In the 19th year of Taiping, Zhongyong Bo Duan Hongshi colluded with Beile and Litong foreign countries, and all the families in the Bo's house were ordered to go to prison, and no one came out alive... At that time, Lord Hou was still a half-grown child, you must have heard of it?"

In the 19th year of Taiping, Yang Fan was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and he was still spending time in Beijing, dutifully being his "playboy".Hearing this, he frowned and said without hesitation: "Naturally!"

"This case has a lot to do with it. Not only is Uncle Zhongyong's house spared, but his subordinates are also widely implicated." Zhang Jingche tapped the edge of the table with a stick. ?”

Yang Fan didn't hesitate to think: "Impossible! Uncle Zhongyong is my father's old department, and he has been with him for more than [-] years. If even he can't be trusted, there is no loyal person in this Great Yin..."

His voice suddenly stopped, and finally he came back to his senses, and stared at Zhang Jingche almost in horror: "You mean..."

Zhang Jingche smiled at the corners of his eyes, his expression was almost gentle, but his words were extremely serious: "Master Hou should understand that the military power in northern Xinjiang is the most important thing, and it has always been in the hands of the Marquis of Dingbian. He is still young, and the commander-in-chief has never fallen into the hands of outsiders... The eldest prince's mother's family is Uncle Yongchang, so he naturally wants to run hard in the army, and the loyal and brave uncle will not fail, so how could he sneak in? A share of the garrison?"

Yang Fan's clenched fists trembled slightly, and if his eyes could turn into substance, he would have poked a transparent hole in Zhang Jingche's face at this moment.

"It's just that His Majesty underestimated the present. He never expected that after Uncle Zhongyong was imprisoned, he did not choose another person to be in charge of the commander-in-chief. Instead, he took this deadly weapon back to the court." Zhang Jingche sneered slightly, "It's a pity that people He didn't expect that Beile would really dare to send his troops south..."

What happened next, Yang Fan knew without him talking, it was nothing more than Bei Le’s iron hooves that shattered the Ninth Five-Year Supreme’s dream of a prosperous age. After all, the old emperor was not confused to the end. He was handed over to Yang Fan, the only son of Marquis Dingbian.

Facts have proved that this decision is very wise. After this battle, for at least three to five years, Great Yin will no longer have to worry about foreign aggression.It's just that how much blood of the strong men and tears of the people were shed during the period is not within the scope of consideration of the superiors.

"How could they, how could they..." Yang Fan's lips trembled slightly, and he couldn't control himself, and even knocked off a piece of the crudely made table board, "More than a hundred people were killed in the Zhongyong uncle's mansion, and tens of thousands of soldiers were stationed in northern Xinjiang... in these In the eyes of people, what is it!"

Speaking of the turmoil, he couldn't bear it anymore, and with a flick of his sleeve, he pushed the dim candle to the ground.

The candle wick flickered and went out unsustainably, and the cramped small room fell into darkness.With the help of the faint starlight outside the window, Zhang Jingche looked at Yang Fan in amazement, and from the tense profile of the young man, he could see a bit of aggrievedness and grief that could not be understood by outsiders.

His heart softened inexplicably, and he silently swallowed the sentence "naturally an ant" on his lips.

"I'm still a child," Zhang Jingche thought, "What would a person at such an age be doing in my time?"

Maybe it's the hard work of studying, being forced by my parents to hang my head on the beam and stab my butt, endure the humiliation and bear the burden of hardship, and only hope that I can be admitted to a good university.

Or it may be that he is addicted to online games and video games KTV, calling friends and calling friends to and fro, and being cool and unrestrained in the world of mortals.

Anyway, it won't be like the one in front of me, who is burdened by the safety of the mountains and rivers and the struggle of the imperial court. Before the age of the weak crown, he has to kill seven in and seven out in the bloody wind.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jingche's originally cold eyes softened silently.

Yang Fan stood up suddenly, and walked out without looking back. Zhang Jingche stood up right after him, clasping his shoulder with one hand: "Why are you going?"

Yang Fan didn't turn his head, and said stiffly: "Go back and write the notes... Please investigate this matter thoroughly, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Jingche knew that he would have this reaction, and shook his head helplessly: "Master Hou, listen to my advice, this matter... you have the right to pretend that you don't know about it!"

Yang Fan turned around suddenly: "What do you mean?"

"What do you want, Lord Hou? Shang Shu made a petition for Uncle Zhongyong's family, forcing His Majesty to admit that he had listened to slander, killed Zhongliang, and then punished his own son?" From a very close distance, Zhang Jingche looked at him intently, word by word. He said suddenly, "Let's not say that we are not close, Lord Hou...you are going to leave a stigma in the history books a hundred years from now!"

"If you were today... would you be able to cope?"

After all, Yang Fan is young, even if he can understand court battles and figure out the thoughts of the superiors, he can't hold back a little bit of blood, but his heart is still warm.

He may not be unable to see through the mystery, but in Dingbianhou's mind, after all, some things are more important than his own wealth and life.

However, Zhang Jingche's merciless pouring of cold water did not extinguish the warmth in his heart, but it made Yang Fan put down his thoughts of Shangshu for the time being.For the rest of the journey, Dingbianhou, who had returned from the great victory, was unusually silent, making Zhuo Jiusi think that he and Zhang Jingche had quarreled, and tried to make peace in roundabout ways.

"I know you don't like him. To be honest, not many people like this kind of people who are not upright, not to mention literary and martial arts. What's more, he is narrow-minded and extreme in methods. He is really not a good minister of the world. "Zhuo Jiusi persuaded earnestly, "But the situation of the Eastern Palace...you know better than anyone else that this kind of person is needed under your command. He has made great contributions to winning this battle. When he returns to the capital this time, he will definitely win the Holy Majesty and the Eastern Palace. At this juncture, don’t be as knowledgeable as him.”

Yang Fan gave Zhuo Jiusi a sad look, full of complaints and didn't know where to start, but fortunately he didn't need to open his mouth - there were crowds of people in the distance, the frame of the car was bright, and the bright yellow flag was waving in the wind.

Impressively, it was the soldiers who had been returned from the great victory by the Crown Prince of Great Yin who had gone ten miles out of the city.

Yang Fan and Zhuo Jiusi looked at each other, got off their horses, then walked quickly to the front, pressed the saber and knelt down: "Your Majesty Yang Fan, I greet His Highness the Crown Prince!"