If it weren't for Li Xianyuan appearing in front of him alive again, it would be difficult for Xue Shao to remember that he still had such an old acquaintance. Seeing his fat strange and familiar face, many images flashed quickly in Xue Shao's mind like a movie. From the beginning of his acquaintance with Princess Taiping to his departure from Beijing during the Northern Expedition, whenever there is a "big event" in the past ten years, there seems to be Li Xianyuan.

Is this just an accident?

Thinking of this, Xue Shao's eyes when he looked at Li Xianyuan became a little complicated.

"Huh?" Li Xianyuan looked at Xue Shao's bizarre eyes, and couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, "Why is Xue Gong looking at Xiaosheng like this?" ”

He also looked himself up and down, worried that he was undressed and looked foreign.

"You're fat." Xue Shao restrained his thoughts, looked at him with the look of an old friend reunited, and said with a smile: "Presumably the life in the capital, you are extremely nourishing. Why did you come to my desolate and cold side? ”

"Hey......" Li Xianyuan sighed for a long time, "It's really, it's hard to say." ”

"Come with me." Xue Shao walked forward after saying that, and repelled the guards and scouts, and only took Li Xianyuan into his residence.

There is one thing that Xue Shao knows very well in his heart, Li Xianyuan, a seemingly inconspicuous small role, can always play a very key role in times of great right and wrong. At present, the situation in the capital is tense, and Li Xianyuan, who should have lived a happy life like a pig in the capital, suddenly appeared at the border uninvited, and there must be a major reason.

"Say, what's the matter?" As soon as he sat down, Xue Shao asked straightforwardly.

Li Xianyuan, who has always been frivolous and hippie, looked nervous at this time, and said softly: "Something happened." ”

"I know something happened." Xue Shao's brows tightened, "Just ask you, what's the matter?" ”

"Brother Ling......"

Xue Shao sighed in his heart...... Sure enough, what scared me the most happened!

A few years ago, when the cool officials were rampant, under Xue Shao's instructions and arrangement, Li Xianyuan became a subordinate of Xue Shao's brother Xue Yi, and at the same time worked as a messenger in the "Pastoral Academy" of the cool officials' organization. At that time, Xue Shao's purpose was to prevent the cool officials from harming Xue Yi, and secondly, to monitor and supervise Xue Yi, so as not to let him have too much contact with the Li Tang royal family, so as not to be involved in the rebellion of the Li Tang royal family.

Later it turned out that Xue Shao's move was not bad. Otherwise, according to the established trajectory of history, Xue Yi or Xue Shao should have been a ghost under Wu Zetian's knife a long time ago.

"Here's the thing." Li Xianyuan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looking like he was starting from the beginning with a tirade.

"Getting to the point." Xue Shao said in a deep voice.

"Secretly imprisoned!"

Xue Shao sighed secretly, at least he was alive!

"Secret confinement?" Xue Shao said, "He is a noble and prominent first-class national prince, a winter official and a waiter in an important official position." Such a court member has been arrested and imprisoned, can he still do it without knowing the ghost? ”

"Here's the thing...... Li Xianyuan was ready to talk about it again, and Xue Shao looked like he had always looked like him, and immediately said quickly: "This year's flood in the south of the Yangtze River, Brother Ling was ordered to patrol the south to deal with the flood relief. Less than half a month after he took office, he was detained by the imperial court on the grounds that someone accused him of ineffective flood control and embezzlement of disaster relief funds. At that time, more than 30 adjutants and entourages accompanying Brother Ling, including cooks and grooms, were all detained on the spot, and they were taken away overnight and disappeared. ”

"Missing?" Xue Shao's eyebrows tightened.

"Yes, they were not taken back to Shendu. Until Xiao Sheng left the capital, the imperial court had not made anything public. Li Xianyuan said, "So Xiaosheng said that Brother Ling was secretly imprisoned." ”

"And how do you know that?" Xue Shao asked.

Li Xianyuan smiled bitterly, "Didn't Xiaosheng become Brother Ling's fart bug a long time ago, so he went south with him to treat the flood and relieve the disaster." Fortunately, when Yushi came to arrest people, Xiao Sheng happened to be ordered to inspect the river embankment outside. Seeing that something was wrong, Xiao Sheng hid. Then he secretly ran back to the capital to inquire about the news, and hurriedly came to report to Xue Gong. ”

"What about my sisters-in-law, nephews, and my third brother's family?" Xue Shao asked.

"I don't know...... Li Xianyuan shook his head, "The situation is urgent, Xiaosheng doesn't dare to stay in the capital longer, let alone go to Brother Ling's house to show up." Estimated ......"

"Estimated nonsense, there is no need to say it." Xue Shao's expression became cold, "You only say that you are sure of the facts." ”

"Yes, yes." Li Xianyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "There are many people who are searching for me everywhere, this is undoubted!" ”

"Then you can still go all the way north and travel through the state and county unimpeded?" Xue Shao was curious.

"It's thanks to Ashina's Chung Festival!" Li Xianyuan said, "He was ordered to be transferred to Sima of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion of Bingzhou, and he took a group of family members to prepare to go north to take up his post. Xiaosheng had some friendship with him in Xiazhou back then, so he risked his life to beg him to take me out of the customs and go north, so he let me mix with his cooks and boys, and took me all the way to Bingzhou. This didn't come all the way to eat and drink, Xiaosheng was originally fleeing, but now he is not thin but fat. ”

"The Left Guard General Ashina Zhongjie will actually be transferred to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion Sima? Such a personnel change is too unusual. Xue Shao sniffed out a hint of unusual flavor and pondered: "The relationship between him and Wang Xiaojie is not ...... than ordinary."

Li Xianyuan also nodded again and again, "At that time, Xiaosheng also felt strange, so he inquired about Ashina Zhongjie and asked him if the imperial court would also transfer Wang Xiaojie to the state?" Ashina Zhongjie just said it, and didn't know it. ”

"Regardless of whether Wang Xiaojie will come or not, the imperial court violated the conventions and suddenly transferred a heavy general who guarded the capital to Bingzhou to serve as Sima of the capital in charge of the military, and its intention has been clearly revealed." Xue Shao sneered, "First secretly took my brother hostage, and then put a sharp knife on my back...... Such tricks will not stop at the next step! ”

Li Xianyuan couldn't help but be surprised, "Hearing Xue Gong say this, Xiao Sheng felt that Ashina Zhongjie was willing to bring Xiao Sheng to the north, but it was not all out of righteousness. He seemed to ...... Just deliberately want Xiao Sheng to report to Xue Gong? ”

"Or else?" Xue Shao suddenly smiled, "Do you think that with your ability, you can really escape all the way from Jiangnan and sneak to me to report the news?" ”

"Uh......" Li Xianyuan was a little dumbfounded, and cold sweat was pouring on his forehead.

"They deliberately wanted me to know these things." Xue Shao stood up and paced slowly with his hands on his back. The expression on his face was gloomy and solemn.

"When Xue Gong said about them, he meant ......" Li Xianyuan asked tentatively.

"You know it in your heart, so why bother asking?" Xue Shao said in a deep voice.

"Xiaosheng, I'm really a little confused." Li Xianyuan said, "According to common sense, Xue Gong is now serving in the Northern Expedition with heavy troops, and the last thing the imperial court should do is to press Xue Gong step by step." Right now, it's ...... No matter what Xiaosheng thinks, he can't figure it out! ”

"You can't figure it out because you see the court as a whole." Xue Shaodao.

Li Xianyuan's eyes lit up, "What does Xue Gong mean...... There are some individual and heretical unscrupulous people who deliberately want to force Xue Gong to turn against the imperial court? ”

"If it weren't for that, how could Dang Jinbi, Guo Dafeng, and Guo An die unjustly?" Xue Shao's eyebrows tightened, "They just want to force Xue someone to a dead end, and finally turn against the imperial court." To be precise, it is against His Majesty. ”

"Xiao Sheng seems to know who 'they' Xue Gong refers to." Li Xianyuan said, "If Duke Xue and His Majesty really turn against each other, their profits will be the greatest. ”

"Yes." Xue Shao said, "Over the years, what they have worked hard to do is to eradicate Xue. Unable to do it on their own, they pretended to be His Majesty's hand. If you succeed, you will have no opponent to compete with. Even if they fail, the two tigers will be injured when they fight, and they will always be able to reap the benefits. At that time, they will lean towards the government and the opposition to do whatever they want and even steal Jiuding, which is almost just around the corner. ”

"Why am I so strange, it doesn't seem like what happened recently was from His Majesty's intention......" Li Xianyuan shook his head, "There is no doubt that although Your Majesty intends to weaken Xue Gong's power, stupid things like killing Guo An, imprisoning Yu Hongye, and detaining Brother Ling really don't seem like she can do it." ”

"It can be seen that Your Majesty's control over the court and the ministers is not as strong as before." Xue Shao said, "Otherwise, those Xiao Xiao'an dare to act under the banner of His Majesty?" ”

"When it was winter last year, His Majesty suffered a serious illness and had not been in court for a long time, and the dragon body was not as good as before. For a long time, it was rare for hundreds of officials to see the emperor. For many major government events, His Majesty has entrusted Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong to give orders on their behalf. Erzhang got involved with Wu Sansi and others again, took the opportunity to quickly sit down, and began to eradicate dissidents. Li Xianyuan said, "It's no wonder that the situation will get out of control to the point where it is now." ”

"It seems to be accidental, but it is inevitable." Xue Shao said, "Even if Your Majesty didn't suddenly have this serious illness, even if there was no sudden appearance and disturbance of Erzhang." All this is something that will happen sooner or later. ”

Li Xianyuan shook his head and sighed softly, which was a tacit acquiescence.

Just like Xue Shao understood, Li Xianyuan seemed to be confused, but in fact, he was more sober than anyone else.

"Li Xianyuan, I want you to return to the capital immediately!" Xue Shao suddenly said something shocking.

Li Xianyuan was almost frightened and jumped up, "You, what did you say?" ”

Xue Shao stepped forward and grabbed Li Xianyuan's clothes, and said in a deep voice: "I want you to return to the capital immediately and get a ...... I can't describe what an important thing it is! ”

"W-What?"

Xue Shao's momentum was amazing, and Li Xianyuan was a little frightened.

"I want you to go back and meet Princess Taiping in person." Xue Shao let go of him, patted his shirt, his tone became as gentle as possible, and said, "I want you to tell her everything we talked about today, word for word." And solemnly told her, a word. ”

"In a word, what kind of words?" Li Xianyuan's eyes widened and asked.

Xue Shao said: "Tell her that forbearance becomes gold." Everything, wait until I return to Beijing! ”