Linque

Four days ago, Anfan City, Zhongzhou.

At night, Princess Jing Zhong Yiyun went to the posthouse where the Nanxi Mission stayed to meet her mentor Jing Xueli, and King Jing Lingyi accompanied her.

Of course it was not an ordinary meeting, so there were not only two people who came, and there was also a tall man in the armor of the general of the palace who stepped into this flower hall with King Jing.

He took off his helmet, revealing a heroic and rugged face, with curly hair, thick and black eyebrows, a high nose bridge, deep-set eye sockets, and faint impatience in the dark brown pupils—it was the time to respect the king in the evening Relying on Qin Fang not daring to check the convoy of Prince Jing's Mansion, the foreign man who was brought in quietly.

"The holy son of Yujiang is safe and sound."

Jing Xueli sat at the head, holding a set of tea sets in her hands.She has recently become obsessed with Dayin's tea ceremony and is studying it from the beginning. She has learned six or seven points at the moment. She chooses tea and water to cook tea and make a cup. The movements are smooth and smooth, which really means self-cultivation.

"Aren't you afraid that someone will listen to you if the big witch speaks like this?" Helando glanced at the bubbling hot tea in the pot, his thick black eyebrows were frowned, he really didn't understand the bitterness What is there to drink? Even Jing Xueli, who is making tea with a low eyebrow, is a bit weird. She specializes in making bitter water, which is really sick.

Helanduo's Dayin official speech was very difficult, mixed with a messy Yujiang accent, and Jing Xueli felt uncomfortable after hearing a few sentences.

She raised her eyes and glanced at Helan Tuo, but she didn't ignore Helan Tuo's contemptuous and disgusting eyes. She still kept moving her hands, filled a few cups of tea soup unhurriedly, and said leisurely with her lips raised, "Afraid? I There are no ears of the partition here, only the dead of the partition."

She casually threw the wooden spoon on the table, and there was a "boom".In the next moment, a seemingly invisible coercion burst out from Jing Xueli's body, and spread silently to every corner of the flower hall.Helantuo's expression changed slightly, and the female apprentice Yin Song who was sitting beside Jing Xueli served the tea made by the master, and held them in front of several guests.

Helanduo sensed Jing Xueli's sight still falling on him, and lowered his head to glance at the light blue tea soup on the tray. It was fragrant and smelled very good.So I picked up the shallow white porcelain cup that the girl chirped, and filled half a cup, but as soon as it came to my mouth, there was a bitter taste again, and the fragrance was useless.

Helantuo swallowed it reluctantly. This kind of thing called "tea" by the Central Plains people is just like the woman in Jing Xueli. She looks beautiful and generous, but in fact she has a small heart. .In short, the face is a good face, but the heart is not good.

Seeing Helan Tuo's interest in Jing Xueli, her eyes softened a little.

Everyone has arrived, and the guests and hosts are divided immediately. They sit on both sides, and after exchanging pleasantries, they start to talk about business.

"I heard that the Holy Son wants to return to the Di Huan Sutra? So how sure do you think you are of being able to convince the leaders of the pro-Yin faction in your tribe, and how capable you are of breaking through the defense line of the Shuozhou iron cavalry in the northern border?" Mirror mirror Xueli's words were very blunt, with obvious irony in his voice.

Helando's eyes were slightly cold, and he did not answer with a gloomy face.

King Jing sat on the side, sipping tea by himself, with a leisurely look, as if he didn't notice the undercurrent between the two of them.

The flower hall fell into a lengthy silence, and the atmosphere froze in Jing Xueli's words.At night, the north wind tightened, and the sound of howling cold wind outside spread all the way into the silent flower hall, as if passing by my ears.Yin Song knelt behind Jing Xueli, his eyes quickly scanned the four people with different thoughts, and he unconsciously breathed lightly.

Time was blown away by the bitter new wind, and the condensed silence finally ended in the sound of teacups falling.After tasting a cup of fragrant tea, King Jing first looked at Jing Xueli: "The tea is very good."

Jing Xueli nodded reservedly, with a smile on her face.

King Jing's gaze then turned to Helan Tuo, and he said casually with his lips raised: "Holy Son, you asked me to bring your people into Zhongzhou, and you didn't just want to find out about Dayin's reality, did you?"

Helando didn't respond, this was indeed one of his reasons for coming.He crossed the border privately, firstly to find out about Dayin's military strength, secondly——

"Holy Son," King Jing said, "I might as well tell you, if you still want to secretly search for the location of the Dihuan Sutra, or even take it directly, it is tantamount to dreaming."

He Lantuo was playing with a delicate and small Yujiang scimitar, and when he heard this, he gave King Jing a glance, obviously unconvinced.

"The Dihuan Sutra is in the Imperial Tomb on the outskirts of the imperial capital, Dichun Terrace." King Jing dropped this sentence abruptly, without looking at Helanduo's reaction, and continued: "Today three months ago, on August [-]th, A Mahayana once visited Emperor Chuntai at night, but finally returned without success, and did not even enter the door of the Little Changming Hall. Holy son, do you think this king is joking with you?"

Helantuo sat up straight slowly, in Mahayana state, he glanced at Jing Xueli, who was silent above him, with a tense expression, and said a word after a long while: "Then what do you think should be done?"

The burning charcoal in the small stove suddenly made a crackling sound, which was particularly abrupt in the small flower hall.

King Jing slightly pursed his lips, exchanged a glance with Jing Xueli, who was above him, and said slowly, "Gu Yanshi, the son of the Duke of the Northern Territory, quietly returned to Beijing with the prince a few days ago."

"...What do you mean?" Helando asked doubtfully, staring at King Jing who was half-speaking, and then at Jing Xueli who was also smiling.

"Dichun Terrace can't be entered, so you can think of other ways. If you have the ability, you can exchange precious enough things with the emperor for the Di Huan Sutra." It was Princess Jing Zhong Yiyun who spoke.

"Are you the prince who asked me to lead someone to kidnap your Dayin?" Helando narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman with a sweet voice opposite.

I heard that she used to study in Wu Xinghai, and she was regarded as Jing Xueli's disciple, but her temperament was quite different from that of Nan Xi Guoshi.

Concubine Jing Zhong Yiyun's frowns and smiles are full of amorous feelings. At this moment, her eyes are swaying, and she is looking at Helan Tuo eagerly. The light from the floor-to-ceiling gauze lamp beside her reflects her extremely gorgeous face. The tails of the eyebrows are outlined with snails, and a gentle smile is full of charm.

But the most beautiful thing under the warm yellow candlelight is not her face, but the pair of hands clinging to the cup, which are soft and boneless, with long and slender jade fingers, and the round nails are dyed red Koudan. It was almost like a little bit of bright red bloodstains.

He Lantuo stared at her dazedly, and didn't pay attention to Wang Jing's deep eyes for a moment.

"The holy son is wrong, but I didn't say that." Zhong Yiyun covered her lips and smiled coquettishly: "As far as my lord knows, the journey to the north is far away, and the prince returned to Beijing quietly. There has never been a guard of honor in the East Palace, after all, Gu Yanshi is a powerful person."

Helan Tuo leaned back on the chair with a sword, raised a finger and shook it when he heard the words, and said with a sneer: "He is nothing, you Dayin can only be called powerful by this number."

He spread his five fingers and shook them casually. Zhong Yiyun knew that he was talking about Dayin's five Mahayana realms, so he smiled and said, "Then the Holy Son is sure?"

Helando narrowed his eyes and remained silent, as if thinking about something.Zhong Yiyun didn't speak anymore, and just sat quietly beside King Jing, her face full of cuteness and innocence.

Silence once again spread in the small flower hall.

This time it didn't last too long, and Jing Xueli, who was sitting at the top, said flatly: "If something happens to the prince, Gu Yanshi and even the entire northern Gu family will be to blame. Dayin wants Shuo There are quite a few aristocratic families in the military power of the state, and when the time comes, every one of them will kill the Gu family with a single word."

Helan Tuo's ears moved slightly, and Jing Xueli's words reached his heart.

Twenty years ago, Gu Chongshan led Shuozhou iron cavalry to wipe out the sixteen tribes of Yujiang, and the king of Yujiang was forced to present the Dihuan Sutra.

Twenty years later, Gu Chongshan was dead, and the Son of Yujiang wanted to ally with Beidi to attack Dayin, but the Shuozhou iron cavalry was still an insurmountable mountain in front of them.

This cavalry, the commander is wise, the generals are brave, the army is united, loyal to the king and the country, invincible and invincible, it is the strongest weapon that Dayin rarely has.

Take care of the family.

Helan Tuo recited these three words silently, and a burst of ruthlessness suddenly burst out in his heart.

"Not only that." King Jing jokingly said: "The northern region is powerful, and the emperor is not unscrupulous about the Gu family. The whole Dayin knows that Gu Yanshi's younger sister, Gu Rouze, the daughter of the Gu family in the northern region, was once the oldest There is hope to be a queen. However, in the seventh year of Xuanxi, Gu Rou's three-year filial piety for his father expired, and the emperor suddenly established a crown prince. Then the position of Yuan Empress must not be easily occupied. This is actually a clear statement. Let Gu's daughter be the queen."

"No one knows whether the Gu family has any opinion on this, but if the crown prince made a mistake in Gu Yan's hands, tsk, if you don't have an opinion, you have an opinion. If you want to come, the emperor will think to himself, the Gu family has a big heart."

As soon as King Jing's words fell, Helanduo suddenly calmed down, raised his eyes and scanned twice between him and Jing Xueli, finally looked at King Jing, and said suspiciously: "Master Jing, do you want me to treat you Dayin?" The Chu Jun shot, could it be that he is cheating on me?"

"Spoof you?" King Jing sneered quite speechlessly: "Holy Son, are you joking? What can I do to deceive you? If I deceived you, would I have to go to such great lengths to bring you and your people into Zhongzhou? Son, with the little friendship between your father and my brother, it is not worth it for me to do this. I sincerely want to form an alliance with you, and it is my sincerity to help you. The Gu family is the emperor's mother's family, and I don't want them either. Okay, it’s just that once I step into Zhongzhou, the emperor’s people will keep staring at me, so it’s hard for me to make a move. If you can kill Gu Yanshi directly and severely damage the Gu family, I can laugh out loud in my dreams.”

Hearing the words, Jing Xueli gave a look in the direction of the apprentice Yin Song behind him calmly, then turned to look at Helanduo, waved his hand and said softly: "Okay, I don't care how you two discuss it, tomorrow morning The Nanxi Mission will set off, and when they arrive at the southern gate of the imperial capital, the Shadow Guards of the Son of Heaven, including their leader, will follow me, and their eyes will also be on me, and the rest of the people will still look at King Jing. No one knows you Helan Tuo has entered the pass, and no one will notice you, if you want the Dihuan Sutra, this is the best and only chance."

"I told King Jing earlier that we Nanxi will not get involved in your affairs, but for your father's sake, I can help you distract the attention of the emperor's shadow guard, but do you want this opportunity? That's up to you."

Jing Xueli's gaze was flat, and as soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her head and began to serve her tea set, as if her patience had run out.

A long silence came for the third time.

When Helan Tuo moved his mind, his eyes rolled a few times, and he said to King Jing: "When I'm not so sure that I can kill Gu Yan, robbing the prince is not an easy task, you have to lend me some people."

"It's easy to say." King Jing agreed, he knew that Helan Tuo wanted to drag him into the water, and he only hated the old fox in Jingxueli, who clearly wanted Helan Tuo to do something, but still pretended to be nothing to do with himself look.

But at this moment he had no choice but to nod to Helanduo: "I will lend you a group of people to ensure that you step into the border of Gyeonggi. When you kill Gu Yan, Qingyan will follow you, just don't let him make the slightest mistake, otherwise don't say change According to the Di Huan Sutra, the emperor can directly peel off a layer of skin from your Yu Jiang."

Helando didn't take it seriously: "If I treat you prince better, won't your emperor launch troops against Yu Jiang? Just fight, I'll wait."

King Jing scolded the idiot in his heart, and he only patiently said on the face: "Things must be prioritized, mobilizing troops is not a trivial matter, and we must always plan in the long run. Although the crown prince was kidnapped, he will be able to return in full. The aristocratic family that is involved in the military power in the northern border will only bite the Gu family, who will have the spare time to chase you Yu Jiang first? But if something happens to the crown prince, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty will first settle accounts with you Yu Jiang. Saint My son, the alliance between you and King Beidi hasn't been fully settled yet, has it?"

Helando was stabbed to the death spot by him, and after weighing the pros and cons, he finally nodded reluctantly.

After talking about the matter, Jing Xueli got up to see King Jing and Zhong Yiyun off, and Helanduo pretended to be returning home again, a few steps behind them.

Walking to the door of the flower hall, a voice suddenly came from behind: "Holy Son, stop."

Helan Tuo turned his head, and it was Jing Xueli's apprentice Yin Song who called him, who had been sitting behind Jing Xueli just now.

Helan Tuo glanced at her, this girl was obviously not as beautiful as her senior sister, with light features, dressed in white, and her expression and behavior had a shadow in the mirror snow.

"Son, my master has something to ask you, but it's inconvenient to say it in front of Prince Jing." Yin Song said, "My master wants to ask you, do you only want Gu Yanshi's life, or do you want the entire Gu family?" die?"

Helan Tuo sneered: "Of course the Gu family is dead."

Yin Song smiled slightly: "Then my master reminds you, when kidnapping Duke Dayin, don't kill Gu Yanshi, and the less serious the injury, the better."

Helantuo snorted immediately: "When you don't kill Gu Yan? What do you know about the yellow-haired girl?"

Yin Song was not angry, the corners of his lips curled up, and he said in a harmonious voice: "My master met Gu Zheng, Marquis of Shuo'an today, but the Holy Son may not know that he was a rising star in the army two years ago, and he was named Marquis in the First World War. I love him so much, it's all because he is from the Gu family."

"What does this have to do with not killing Gu Yan?"

Yin Song said: "King Jing is right. The emperor does have the intention of fearing the Gu family, but he also has a heart of favor. Otherwise, Gu Zheng's military achievements back then, how can he be a marquis. If Gu Yanshi If he is dead, the emperor will only feel that Gu Yanshi is loyal to protect the lord, and that the prince's accident is all your Yu Jiang's idea, and his compassion is bound to outweigh his fear. Without Gu Yanshi, the Gu family still has Gu Zheng. No way."

Helando's brows gradually frowned.

Seeing this, Yin Song continued: "But if it's the other way around, and the crown prince is taken away, but Gu Yanshi is fine, that would be too interesting. After all, his sister hasn't left the cabinet yet, and Gu Rouze was once the most hopeful." As a queen, the crown prince has always been her biggest stumbling block. The emperor is suspicious. Once the emperor's suspicion arises, will it only be Gu Yanshi who will fall? Although I am a yellow-haired girl, I also know that scheming makes good No, the three Gu families are not enough for Emperor Dayin to take care of."

"I think the Holy Son also knows that Jing Wang will naturally have his own selfishness. But this matter has nothing to do with us in Nanxi. My master reminded the Holy Son that it is just because of dealing with your father and king before, there are two It’s just a matter of friendship. It’s up to you to decide whether to listen or not.”

Yinsong's tone was sincere, and Helando stood there thinking for a moment, and finally nodded and said, "I've made a note, thank you master for me."

Yin Song watched Helanduo's back, and raised his chin slightly.

—Queen?

Two months ago, Gu Rou, the daughter-in-law of the Gu family in the northern border, had already started seeing each other for marriage. The emperor promised a marriage grace, and she just waited for a prosperous marriage in the future.