Lu Yun went to the Yiguo Mansion first, and handed the letter to Qin Qiong in person, Qin Qiong took out the letter paper, unfolded it, and drew a simplified version of the map of the Tang Dynasty, and there was a state in the upper left corner of the map specially marked with the name - Tingzhou, and also circled Tingzhou, which seemed to be a key point.

Qin Qiong's brain capacity was limited, and he took this simplified version of the map and looked left and right for a long time, but he didn't understand what it meant, and asked Lu Yun with a blank face: "This letter from the poet is crazy...... What does that mean? ”

Lu Yun replied respectfully: "The villain doesn't know, the young master asked the villain to pass the word, if you can't understand the grandfather, go and ask the British duke." ”

"English duke?" Qin Qiong was stunned, and then thought of Li Ji's resourcefulness, so he nodded and said, "Okay, you can step down." ”

"The villain quits." Lu Yun saluted and retired, and after coming out of the Yiguo Mansion, he went to the Lu Guogong Mansion, Lu Yun waited outside the Lu Guogong Mansion for a full afternoon, and finally saw Cheng Yanjin, which made Lu Yun very depressed, after meeting, I saw Cheng Yanjin with a dead face, almost nostrils to Lu Yun, it can be seen that this thing doesn't want to see Lu Yun at all.

Sure enough, as soon as Cheng Biting Jin opened his mouth, he said: "To be honest, the old man didn't want to see you, because at the beginning, the old man warned the bastard and asked him not to provoke the prince, but he didn't listen, and now he knows that he came to find the old man." ”

Lu Yun knew that he was very unhappy, so he kept patiently letting him train, and when he finished training, he handed over the envelope with both hands and said, "Grandpa Guo, my young master said, this letter will be opened by you personally, and he will also let the little one pass to you, so that you must believe him." ”

"Trust him?" Cheng Yanjin asked blankly, "What do you believe in him?" ”

Lu Yun shook his head and said, "The villain doesn't know, he said you will understand." ”

Cheng Yanjin rolled his eyes and thought about it carefully, suddenly his face changed, and he waved his hand and said, "I know, you can step down." ”

"Yes, the villain is retiring." Lu Yun then retired.

After Lu Yun left, Cheng Yanjin opened the envelope, took out the stationery, and unfolded it to take a look, only to see four words written on it: There are ghosts in Tingzhou.

After reading these four words, Cheng Yanjin fell into deep thought.

That night, the British Duke Li Ji and the Yiguo Duke Qin Qiong went to Cheng Biting Jin's Mansion together, Cheng Biting Jin slaughtered sheep and chickens, and was hospitable, the three of them drank and feasted, and Cheng Biting Jin Ping retreated left and right, and suddenly asked: "Big brother, Mao Gong, come to me this time, what is the matter?" ”

Li Ji smiled and said, "It's not for the sake of poetry. ”

"This bastard thing." Cheng Yanjin couldn't help but scold, and said, "It was he who did his own death, and no one could help him." ”

Li Ji smiled indifferently: "Don't hold on to biting the gold, we all know that you are the most distressed poet here, I won't tell you that the poet sent a letter to Shubao, you should also have one." ”

Cheng Yanjin rolled his eyes, reluctantly took out the envelope from his arms, slapped it on the table, and pushed it in front of Li Ji, Li Ji took out the letter and looked at it, suddenly the corners of his mouth raised, and muttered: "Okay, maybe this method is really feasible." ”

Qin Qiong looked at Li Ji with a bewildered expression, he hadn't figured out what the situation was at all, Li Ji said that the method was feasible, and it felt really bad to have his IQ crushed.

The next morning, Li Ji and Cheng Yanjin entered the Taiji Palace together to meet them, Li Shimin met them in the Ganlu Palace, and Fang Xuanling was also there, but he didn't see the eldest grandson Wuji.

After the two entered the temple to pay respects, Li Shimin flattened them, and then asked, "Mao Gong, Zhijie, what is the matter with this visit?" ”

Li Ji arched his hand and said: "Back to Your Majesty, Your Majesty has been worried about two things in recent days, and the minister went back to think about it day and night, and suddenly had an epiphany and came up with a wonderful way to get the best of both worlds." ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he spread his hands and said, "What is the magic method of Mao Gong, let's hear it." ”

"Yes." Li Jidao, "Your Majesty's two recent troubles, one is Li Hao, the other is Gao Chang, the minister thought, why not use Li Hao to deal with Gao Chang, Your Majesty can sit back." ”

Li Shimin frowned and thought about it when he heard this, and asked, "Use Li Hao to deal with Gaochang?" How to deal with it? ”

Li Ji only replied with four words this time: "Draw the ground as a prison." ”

Li Shimin frowned and thought for a while, and said, "Do you mean to send Li Hao to Xizhou or Tingzhou?" ”

Li Ji shook his head and said: "With such a poor place, I'm afraid that Li Hao will die before he arrives at the place." ”

Li Shimin nodded, agreed with his words, and asked again: "What does Mao Gong mean?" ”

Li Jidao: "Since the Tingzhou Assassin History has become vacant, why not send Li Hao to take up the post, although this son is young, but he is resourceful, and then he can use his strength to defeat the lieutenant to assist him, or he may be able to contain Gao Chang." ”

"This ......" Li Shimin groaned when he heard this, to be honest, this punishment doesn't seem to be heavy, Tingzhou Assassin History, that is the state official of the fourth grade, the feudal official, the Tang Dynasty has not let an eighteen-year-old boy serve as a precedent for assassination since the founding of the country, and besides, let Li Hao go to Tingzhou as a assassin, it is really too dangerous, Tingzhou has a special geographical environment, located on the edge of the border of Gaochang country, although Gaochang is said to be subordinate to Tang, but in recent years, the king of Gaochang has become increasingly dim, faintly has a heart of disobedience, if Li Hao is unlucky, It is really possible to die there, after all, the strength of a country is not comparable to Li Hao's cleverness.

Li Shimin was hesitating, and accidentally saw Cheng Yanjin, and then remembered that he hadn't asked Cheng Yanjin yet, so he asked: "Zhijie, what are you here for?" ”

Cheng Biting Jin saluted and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister has recently received an exact secret report, and there are people in Tingzhou who have access to foreign countries!" ”

"What!" Li Shimin suddenly changed color when he heard this, a series of things flipped in his mind, and finally connected into a line, no wonder Gao Chang was able to accurately find a caravan in the desert every time, no wonder Tingzhou Assassin Shi and Zhichong Du Lieutenant went out to suppress the bandits, and the whole army was wiped out, it turned out that there were internal ghosts, all this made sense.

"Who is it?" Li Shimin glared and asked.

Cheng Yanjin knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty forgives me, the person who came to report does not know the identity of the traitor, and I hope Your Majesty will send someone to investigate." ”

"Send someone to check?" Li Shimin was stunned, and suddenly realized that something was not quite right, and after thinking about it carefully, didn't Cheng Yanjin mean to send Li Hao to investigate.

"You two...... I'm here to intercede for Li Hao. Li Shimin looked at the two of them suspiciously.

"The minister is dedicated to the country and has no selfishness." The two replied in unison, both expressionless, which shows that the acting skills of these two people are also first-class.

Li Shimin stepped down from the throne and paced back and forth in front of them, and said slowly: "Send Li Hao to Tingzhou to serve as the assassin...... What do you think...... Is it appropriate? ”

"Not suitable!" The two replied in unison.

Li Shimin was very surprised, it was you who proposed to let Li Hao go to the assassination history, and it was you who said that it was inappropriate, what kind of trouble? Li Shimin was almost amused by them, and held back a smile and asked, "Why is it inappropriate?" ”

Li Ji replied: "Li Hao is still young, and it is not suitable for such an important position, and it is easy to provoke criticism. ”

"That Mao Gong, you also proposed the method of drawing the ground as a prison before, and what kind of magic method did you say?" Li Shimin looked at him with great interest, eager to see what he was doing.

I saw that Li Ji's face did not change and said: "Li Hao is just not very old enough, if you talk about ability, it is more than enough to serve as the assassin of Tingzhou and the captain of Zhichong at the same time." ”

Li Shimin was silent when he heard this, Li Ji was right, Li Hao is all-round in literature and martial arts, and has quite high political opinions, looking at the Tang Dynasty, I really can't find a few talents better than Li Hao, but unfortunately, he is too young, and he acts as a bastard, and he is always criticized by those old stubborns in the court, and he wants to get ahead...... It's a bit hard.

"The matter...... Rong Zhen thought about it. After Li Shimin was silent for a long time, he waved his hand and said, "If it's okay, you can retreat first." ”

"Yes." The two retired.

Li Shimin thought alone for a long time, then suddenly turned his head to look at Fang Xuanling and asked, "Xuanling, what do you think of this method?" ”

Fang Xuanling had already guessed that he would ask himself, and slowly arched his hand: "Your Majesty, this is a wonderful method of killing two birds with one stone, but there is still a difficulty. ”

"I know." Li Hao looked distressed when he heard this, "The group of rotten Confucians led by Kong Yingda will definitely oppose it." ”

"Your Majesty."

Li Shimin frowned and thought for a long time, and then asked, "Xuan Ling, is there a way to shut up Kong Yingda?" ”

Fang Xuanling thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, if you can move a person, it is useless for Kong Sacrifice Wine to oppose it." ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin rolled his eyes and thought about it carefully, and immediately smiled, "You mean Wei Zheng?" ”

"Your Majesty."

Li Shimin suddenly felt that this matter was becoming more and more interesting, and immediately ordered Wei Zheng to be summoned to face the saint.

At noon, Wei Zheng came to the Ganlu Hall to meet, Li Shimin Xuanzhi entered the palace, after Wei Zheng saluted, Li Shimin did not beat around the bush, and said directly: "Wei Qing, I have been entangled in two things recently, I am very annoyed, Wei Qing knows what is going on?" ”

Wei Zheng is a smart person, how could he not know what was going on, but he still decided to pretend to be stupid and give it up indifferently: "I don't know, please show your majesty." ”

Li Shimin said: "The first thing is to punish Li Hao, and the second thing is Gaochang." ”

Wei Zheng said: "Your Majesty, the second thing is that the minister has no idea for the time being, but it is not difficult to punish Li Hao, according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, those who despise the emperor's authority will be killed without forgiveness, and the family property will be confiscated, and if the circumstances are serious, the three clans will be razed." ”

Li Shimin almost choked to death with saliva when he heard this, he suddenly felt that he was too naïve, how could Wei Zheng be so old and stubborn, how could he be willing to protect Li Hao, I was afraid that even if his own son broke the law, he would ask for the national law to be the priority.

At this moment, there was a Jinwu Guardian newspaper outside the door: "Your Majesty, Zhaowu Captain Li Yuanzhong asks for an audience!" ”

"Li Yuanzhong?" Li Shimin was stunned when he heard this, and then said in a loud voice, "Xuan! ”

"Xuanzhao Martial Captain Li Yuanzhong is here!"

Li Yuanzhong strode into the Ganlu Palace, stopped beside Wei Zheng, and then knelt down to worship the mountain.

"Flat." Li Shimin spread his hands and said, "Li Yuanzhong, suddenly asked to see me, what is the matter?" ”

Li Yuanzhong took out a folded piece of paper from his arms and said, "Your Majesty, Li Hao, the secretary of the Datang Scientific Research Temple, asked Weichen to hand over this thing to Your Majesty." ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin's eyes suddenly lit up, he had a hunch that this was a good thing, because every time Li Hao sent a note, it was a good thing that shocked Datang, so now when he heard that it was a note sent by Li Hao, he secretly felt excited, and hurriedly said to Xu Lian, "Quick, submit it." ”

Xu Lian ran down, took the note, and then handed it to Li Shimin, Li Shimin opened it and looked at it, confused, only to see a simple thing drawn on the paper, a bent iron bar, semicircular, there seemed to be a few small holes on the surface of the iron bar, it seemed to be used for nailing, a very, very simple diagram, and with three words - "horseshoe".