Oriole Line

I gave false testimony about the fraud in the imperial examination, and Da Sima believed it.Next, should you keep your promise? "

"Naturally." Qi Dai smiled lightly.

"Xiang Hu, what do you plan to do with it?"

Qi Dai's eyes froze: "I can make him disappear in this world without anyone noticing. From now on, no one will know about his appearance in Luoyang Palace."

Wen Tao remained silent, Xiang Hu really had no choice but to stay, if he lived one more day, his assassination of Zhou Yu would be more likely to be revealed, and everything he had done would be completely in vain.He thought for a while and said, "Take me to see him again."

Qi Dai glanced at Wen Tao thoughtfully: "Unexpectedly, you are quite humane now."

Wen Tao didn't answer, Qi Dai was also happy to give Wen Tao a favor, and took Wen Tao to the closed cell where Xiang Hu was held in Sijian Pavilion.Xiang Hu's head was still covered with a black cloth bag, his mouth was stuffed, and he couldn't make a coherent sound.

"Don't take too long." Qi Dai instructed.

Wen Tao nodded, and entered the cell alone, while Qi Dai gently closed the door.

Wen Tao uncovered the black cloth bag on Xiang Hu's head. When Xiang Hu saw that it was him, his cloudy eyes shone brightly, and his voice became louder, but the voice sounded a little hoarse.Wen Tao couldn't bear it, poured a bowl of water for Xiang Hu, took off the cloth stuffed in Xiang Hu's mouth and said: "Drink some water first."

Xiang Hu leaned against the rim of the bowl that Wen Tao handed him and drank the water in one gulp, panting heavily, "Master Wen, did I cause trouble for the Patriarch? What happened to the Patriarch?"

Wen Tao put down the bowl, thinking of Pu Chen's back when he left the Mingzheng Palace, the emotions he had deliberately suppressed for a long time suddenly surged up, making him almost breathless.Although he resented what Xiang Hu had done in his heart, it was inconvenient to get angry at Xiang Hu. Now that the matter had come to an end, he could only say coldly: "It's all right, I've taken care of everything. The Patriarch is all right now."

Xiang Hu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In this way, I can leave with peace of mind." He glanced at Wen Tao's expression, smiled bitterly and said, "Master Wen must be blaming me for being reckless and hurting the Patriarch at this moment. I don't regret anything else, except for the one thing that hurts the Patriarch."

Knowing that his death is not far away, Xiang Hu told Wen Tao intermittently what happened that day.The secret passage in Luoyang Palace was dug by Xiang Hu himself and led people for three years. When Pu Chen and Wen Tao asked him to fill in the secret passage, he was a little unhappy at first, and he was angry with Han Ji, the commander of the imperial army. He kept a copy of the map of the secret roads of Luoyang Palace that he handed in, and deliberately concealed one of the secret roads.In fact, he didn't have too many thoughts at the time, he just couldn't swallow this breath.Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for the Wuchang Army to be dismantled. Because of his old age, he no longer needed to guard the border, but it was precisely because of this that he planned to risk his life.Wasn't Zhou Yu's ascension to the throne back then because of secret ways?Now if he can kill Zhou Yu with his own ability, wouldn't the head of the family be able to be the emperor in a legitimate way?At that time, no one in the world will move the Wuchang Army anymore!

Of course Xiang Hu knew that Pu Chen would never agree to this matter. He was ordered by Pu Chen to block the secret passages of Luoyang Palace years ago. The palace of daily activities and the trajectory of the actions of the Custodians.Zhou Yu was diligent in administration, and he didn't often go to the harem. He mostly stayed in the Mingzheng Palace at night, and the servants were rarely used.Xiang Hu then decided to put all his eggs in one basket, taking the fate of the Wuchang Army as a bet.He is a rough man, he didn't think much, he thought that it would be best if he succeeded in one blow, and if he didn't succeed, he could hide in the secret passage, and if he was desperate, he could just die.However, he never expected that when he came out of the secret passage, it wasn't the imperial guards who alarmed him, but Si Jiange's hidden guards.

Wen Tao's expression froze when he heard the back: "So, you specially chose the time when the imperial army was handing over to walk out of the secret passage, but as soon as you came out, you met the secret guard of Sijian Pavilion?"

Xiang Hu nodded.

"Your Majesty is not in the palace?" Wen Tao asked.

"Exactly." Xiang Hu said, "I felt strange at that time, His Majesty should have dinner at the Mingzheng Hall at that time...ah!" Xiang Hu screamed, and blood flowed from his neck instantly!Wen Tao was startled, Qi Dai and two hidden guards were standing at the door of the cell at some point, and it was one of the hidden guards who just shot a dart and took Xiang Hu's life!

"Why do you..." Wen Tao blurted out, turned to look at Xiang Hu, Xiang Hu silently spit out blood, and died soon after.

"You guys have been talking for too long." As soon as Qi Dai lifted his chin, two hidden guards were about to carry Xiang Hu's body away.

"General Xiang." Wen Tao whispered, grabbed Xiang Hu's arm, and said to Qi Dai, "Where are you taking his body?"

Qi Dai's face was cold: "Don't worry about it. His identity is not visible. Anyway, Pu Mansion is in chaos at the moment, and no one will care about his whereabouts."

Wen Tao gritted his teeth, watching the two hidden guards carry Xiang Hu away.He thought of the [-] acres of fertile land left to Xiang Hu when he distributed the land to the Pu family. If he was a self-preserving person who was greedy for life and afraid of death, he might have been living in Jinyang by now.In the end it was his loyalty to Pu that killed him... A burst of grief flashed through Wen Tao's heart, he stroked Xiang Hu's arm and elbow, and finally took off the knuckles he was wearing on his thumb, Hold it in the palm of your hand.

The cell door was closed again, Wen Tao raised his eyes, and said to Qi Dai word by word: "Qi Dai, you have something to hide from me."

A trace of alertness flashed in Qi Dai's eyes.

Wen Tao said: "Xiang Hu, it's not that your hidden guard accidentally bumped into it, but you have been waiting at the exit of the secret passage for a long time."

Qi Dai sneered: "The secret road was dug by Xiang Hu back then, how can my people sit on the sidelines and wait for the rabbit?"

"Hmph, when the Great Sima ordered Xiang Hu to come to Luoyang Palace to bury the secret tunnel at the end of last year, he was constrained by the forbidden army in many ways. We thought at that time that His Majesty probably didn't want us to intervene in the secret tunnel of Luoyang Palace. In this case, His Majesty must I will hand over this matter to his real confidant, and that person is you. Since you are dealing with the leftover secret passages, how could you not find out all the secret passages underground in Luoyang Palace? The map Xiang Hu gave you is inaccurate , but it is impossible for you not to know that the map he gave you is wrong!"

Qi Dai's eyes turned cold.

Wen Tao continued: "Since you already knew that the map of the secret road he gave you was wrong, and you have been slow to fill in the secret road that was not drawn on his map, why?"

Qi Dai closed his lips tightly and said nothing.

"Then let me tell you, you just deliberately didn't touch that secret passage, and then sent someone to monitor it day and night. You're betting on Xiang Hu, or whether Puchen will use that secret passage!"

Qi Dai finally smiled and said: "Wen Tao, it's you after all. You guessed right. I know every secret road in Luoyang Palace, so when I saw the secret road map that Xiang Hu handed over to His Majesty, I didn't draw much. What would you think if it were you?" Qi Dai frowned, "Treason, assassination, right? In this case, what I did was to verify whether this possibility would really happen. The fact is , it really happened, the people in Da Sima Mansion really have the intention of rebellion!"

"You are simply asking Xiang Hu to die!" Wen Tao said.

"If he never uses that secret path, he won't die." Qi Dai sneered.

Wen Tao took a deep breath: "Does Your Majesty know about the secret way?"

Qi Dai was silent.

Wen Tao looked at him for a moment, and suddenly realized: "No wonder you didn't tell His Majesty and the imperial army about Xiang Hu. It's not that you don't want to, but you can't! Once you tell His Majesty, it's like exposing the secret. Knowing that this secret passage of Xiang Hu has not been filled, let alone knowing that you deliberately did not fill this secret passage!"

"Do you think I don't want to tell His Majesty about this secret way!" Qi Dai suddenly raised his voice, "The person His Majesty least wants to suspect in this world is Da Sima! If I tell him, the people in Da Sima's mansion deliberately kept him A secret way, the people in Da Sima's mansion wanted to use the method of Renzi Zhichang to murder him through the secret way, and wanted to replace it, what would your majesty think? What is the difference between this and killing him!"

Wen Tao was stunned: "Isn't Your Majesty mobilizing the Wuchang Army because he is afraid of Da Sima?"

"Hmph, be afraid, 15 private troops, which emperor is not afraid? If I didn't persuade you again and again, Your Majesty still doesn't know how long it will be delayed! Now, just as the Wuchang Army is about to be split up, you will leave the Da Sima Mansion Have you thought about what will happen after ten years, 20 years, or a hundred years after the rebellion of the people above, Wen Tao?"

"Great Sima...he won't do anything to offend His Majesty." Wen Tao murmured, "Not back then, nor in the future."

"What about the people around Da Sima? This time I took precautions and captured Xiang Hu. What if there is another time? As long as Da Sima's 15 private army is around for a day, the ambitions of the people around him will be hard to extinguish, and It will be difficult for me to sleep for a day." Qi Dai took a deep breath, "If I don't do this, the one who can't sleep and eat will be Your Majesty, and the one who is suspicious of Da Sima will become Your Majesty!"

Wen Tao was greatly shocked, and blurted out: "You actually did this for His Majesty?"

Qi Dai sighed quietly: "To be honest, I don't believe in you, and I don't believe in Da Sima either. But I hope His Majesty has someone who is willing to believe in something, so that he is a person, not like his father and brother." In that way, I ended up living as a walking dead..."

The long silence and the faint light of the fire in the cell made the two of them feel a little sympathetic to each other at the moment.They have known each other for many years, but it seems that they have never really understood each other until this moment.

After a long time, Wen Tao said: "Da Sima needs a charge, so that the Wuchang Army can be split up safely. You are right, the crime of cheating in the imperial examination