When Han Mo and Shen Laosan returned to the convoy, the three injured guys were lying on the side, humming and chirping, more than a dozen dart masters were still asleep, and the others were all awake and sat up, holding weapons in their arms, looking at Han Mo with very strange eyes, as for the guys in the trading house, they all showed respectful and grateful looks.

Over there, Steward Song was carrying a barrel, holding a big wooden spoon in his hand, and was feeding the horses, and when he saw Han Mo coming back, his face turned pale, and he did it even more carefully, and he didn't dare to slack off.

"Let's all rest!" Han Mo waved his hand: "Ming'er has to get up early and hurry!" ”

Everyone immediately sat down to rest, and the dart masters were just going back, but the guys who got the money were full of joy, and couldn't sleep for a while, whispering.

Han Mo saw Red Sleeves sitting alone under a tree, and was about to go over, but suddenly felt an extremely sharp gaze staring at his body, and couldn't help but turn his head, but saw Tie Kui also sitting under a tree, holding a big knife in his arms, and that pair of eyes were extremely sharp in the faint moonlight, staring at his body.

Han Mo also stared at him, the two looked at each other, looking at each other without saying a word, and finally Tie Kui nodded slightly, leaned against the tree with a big knife and closed his eyes, Han Mo frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything, but in his heart he felt that this Tie Kui had a lot of taste.

There was nothing to say all night, and the next day it was just dawn, so Tie Kui summoned everyone to get up and pack up and continue the journey.

This time, Steward Song didn't dare to go forward, but obediently followed behind Han Mo, although he gritted his teeth with hatred in his heart, but he was cautious on his face, not daring to show the slightest resentment.

In the next two days, the road was smooth and the speed of the road was also fast, just as Han Mo ordered, the work of feeding the horses along the way was handed over to the Song steward, plus the horses pulling the cart, more than forty horses were fed, and it really made the Song steward realize what it means to be hard.

Han Mo went all the way to the south wind, but he didn't know that at this time, an earth-shattering event had happened in Yanjing.

……

……

On the second day of the fifth month of the ninth year of Yanli Pingguang, Han Mo had left Beijing for three days.

It was already late at night, in the depths of the Dayan Palace, in the Qianxin Palace, the tired emperor was still reading at night, and it was still the "Historical Records" written by Sima Qian.

Although he was only in his forties, the emperor's spirit did not look like that of a middle-aged man in the prime of life, and he always felt a kind of tiredness that went deep into the bone marrow, and his heart was very tired!

But for the sake of the Cao family, he must hold on, he must find the true way of the emperor, and find a way to control the courtiers.

In the past few years, the concubines in the palace have actually had a very hard time, for most of the concubines, they can't even see their husbands for several months in a row, let alone hear a few words close to themselves, one by one they stay in the empty room, like Han Shufei, who is favored and can see the emperor in three days, only this one, no other semicolon.

However, the emperor did not go to Changchun tonight. Palace, just read at night in the Qianxin Palace.

The problem that bothered the emperor the most now was this negotiation.

Seeing that the three factions of the court were formed, and the goal of the Han family to contain the Xiao and Su families was achieved, the next step was to provoke from it, let the three major families fight each other, and then slowly expand the power of the royal family, and the overall strategy was already in his own plan.

According to his calculations, as long as two or three years pass, these three factions will definitely be exhausted, and the strength of the family will definitely be greatly weakened, and the strength of the royal family will never be the same as it is now.

All he did was to endure and wait!

He also knew very well in his heart that even if the major families were clear about the intentions of the royal family, they had to fight openly and secretly, according to the old saying, the major families had no way to retreat, but to move forward desperately.

Everything seems to be very good!

But the damned Wei people sent soldiers to the border and provoked a war, and the Xiao family keenly felt that this opportunity was rare, and wanted to use this opportunity to start a war, divert domestic attention through war, take the opportunity to suppress other families, and restore the Xiao family's dominance!

Of course, the emperor did not allow that situation to happen, and the situation he had painstakingly managed, of course, did not want to be ruined by this war.

In his heart, between Wei and Qing, he had already made a choice.

But he also clearly realized that the Xiao family has a lot of friends in the court, and it has a great influence in the court, not to mention the family officials, the non-family officials who account for half of the number of the court actually have a sense of awe for the Xiao family.

More importantly, the existence of Xiao Huaiyu gives the Xiao family a strong voice in the military, and from a certain point of view, the prestige of Fan Yunao, the secretary of the Ministry of War, is not as influential as the Xiao family's influence in the army.

Xiao Huaiyu, the general of Shenwu, holds 100,000 border troops, which is by no means child's play.

What's more, there is also a Su family whose attitude is not clear, who knows what the Su family is thinking.

The Han family's faction firmly celebrated, which was expected by the emperor, as a powerful faction of the emerging family, the Han family would definitely oppose sending troops if they wanted to consolidate the power of their own faction.

Although the strategic goals of the royal family and the Han family are different, their choices are the same.

Now we can only wait for the arrival of the Wei people, and then start negotiations and make a decision, and the secret security that came today has determined that the Wei delegation will arrive in Yanjing City tomorrow.

The Wei envoy was late, and the emperor knew the reason in his heart, it was not that the Wei people didn't want to rush early, but the Wei and Yan countries did not border, and there was Nanyang County of Qingguo in the middle, and Nanyang County was sealed, and the Wei people could not pass through at all, according to reliable information, the Wei envoy could only sneak from the Wind Country.

At the beginning, the emperor really asked Princess Xiu to send a large number of officials from the Donghua Hall to investigate the movements of the Wei delegation, and even ordered that once they were in other land, they could carry out the assassination plan, so that the Wei people could not reach Yanjing City.

But the Wei people are very cunning, and the black flag of the Wei State has a strong anti-reconnaissance ability, the East Flower Hall dispatched a large number of people to investigate the whereabouts of the Wei State Mission, but there is no clue, when they get the news of the Wei State Mission, the Wei people have arrived in the land of the Yan State.

When they arrived at the land of Yan Kingdom, the people in the East Flower Hall naturally couldn't do it anymore.

……

The emperor was a little upset, and the news that the Wei people were about to enter Beijing made him feel very bad, although he tried his best to understand some truths in the "Historical Records" tonight, but in a distraught mood, although he held the book, he didn't read a word.

He put down the book, picked up the refreshing tea brewed next to him, and took a sip gently.

At this moment, Yi Kongting, the chief eunuch of Qianxin Palace, floated in from outside the door like a ghost, hurriedly came to the desk, bowed, and said softly: "Holy Lord, something happened!" ”

The emperor frowned, so late at night, under normal circumstances, Yi Kongting would never come to disturb, and it was not a trivial matter to make Yi Kongting show such a serious look on his face.

As if sensing something, the Emperor's brow furrowed even tighter, and the hand on the table clenched into a fist, "What's the matter?" ”

Yi Kongting stepped forward and said softly: "Holy Lord, I just got a report, something happened at the end of the Sitong Pavilion...... Qingguo's deputy envoy An Yuqing is dead! ”

The emperor's face showed a look of shock, "You...... Say what? ”

"The secretary of the Ministry of Rites of Qingguo, half an hour ago, suddenly died in the Sitong Pavilion!" Yi Kongting looked serious: "It's the news sent by Princess Xiu, it's true, there will be no mistake!" ”

The emperor's pupils contracted, and he sat on the dragon chair in a daze, unable to speak for a while.

After a while, the emperor said angrily: "How did Xiu'er do things? Didn't she already send someone to secretly protect the surroundings of the Sitong Pavilion? How could someone have succeeded in an assassination? ”

Yi Kongting said in a low voice: "Back to the saint, according to the news that came, An Yuqing was not assassinated...... It's poisoning and death! ”

"Poisoned?" The emperor clenched his fists, his eyes were shining fiercely, as if he was thinking about something, and quickly said, "Su Xianshi is in charge of the Sitong Pavilion...... Is he responsible for all the food and drink inside? ”

Yi Kongting nodded and said, "The food and drink of the Sitong Pavilion is indeed the responsibility of Honglu Temple, but ...... We had already arranged for people in the Sitong Pavilion before, and it was not easy to poison the food. Moreover, the people of Qingguo themselves also have precautions, even if the food is poisonous, they are afraid that they can test it, and it is impossible to be injured by poison so easily! ”

The emperor's eyes were puzzled, and he could no longer sit still, got up, put his hands behind his back, and began to walk up and down the hall.

He knew the gravity of the matter.

He also knew that not all Qingguo people wanted to negotiate with Yanguo, and there were a number of very powerful forces above the Qingguo court who wanted to sabotage this negotiation from beginning to end.

It's just that Qingguo is facing a military disaster, thousands of Li people and the direction of dominance, that is to negotiate successfully with Yan State, have no worries, and go all out to fight against the Wei people, which is in line with the fundamental interests of Qingguo, so those sabotage forces do not dare to jump out blatantly.

But now that An Yuqing is dead, then the destructive forces of Qingguo will definitely jump out, and the deputy envoy of Qingguo will die in the Sitong Pavilion of Yan State, which will definitely become the killer weapon of Qingguo's sabotage forces, and they will definitely use this as an excuse to encourage the Qingguo court to be hostile to Yanguo, so that the negotiations between the two countries cannot be carried out.

In addition to Qingguo, the faction of Taishi Xiao of Yan State will definitely take this opportunity to ask for war against Qing.

The strategy of the emperor and the Han family advocating a joint celebration will fall into a comprehensive passivity because of An Yuqing's death.

The emperor really didn't expect that things would come so suddenly, he had secretly ordered Princess Xiu to send enough dark officials to protect the Sitong Pavilion, and even arranged manpower inside the Sitong Pavilion, that is, to do his best to ensure the safety of the Qingguo Mission.

But I never expected that such a careful arrangement still had no effect, and the deputy envoy of the dignified Qingguo was poisoned in the Sitong Pavilion.

The emperor put his hands behind his back, thinking of the power, his face became more and more ugly, his forbearance was originally excellent, but An Yuqing's death made the anger in the emperor's heart burn to the extreme.

He kicked out suddenly, kicking a copper crane incense burner in the hall to the ground, and the quiet Qianxin Hall suddenly made a crisp loud noise and dispersed.

The little eunuchs guarding outside the hall hurriedly came in and bowed to the ground, and the emperor waved his hand and said angrily: "Get out of here!" ”

After the little eunuchs went out tremblingly, the emperor stared at Yi Kongting and said hatefully: "Is it the Xiao family secretly attacking?" Is it the old fox's ghost? ”

Yi Kongting looked calm at this time, and said softly: "Holy Lord, please take care of the dragon body." Dali Temple has been notified, Hu Xuexin is afraid that he has rushed to the Sitong Pavilion, and the old slave has already ordered to go down, as soon as there is news, come to report immediately! ”

"Pass on my will, let Dali Temple investigate this matter thoroughly!" The emperor said coldly: "You must find out the real murderer ...... Hu Xuexin!" ”

Dali Temple and the Criminal Department are both responsible for criminal cases, but the Criminal Department is now temporarily replaced by Xiao Wanchang, the nephew of Xiao Taishi, so the emperor naturally will not let the Criminal Department get his hands dirty.

Handed over to Hu Xuexin of Dali Temple, it is the best choice!