The two went out in the snow and came to the city of Lanzhou.

Wu Lie took Qin Shuhuai under a section of the city wall where no one was around, and said, "Let's go in from here." I have taken care of the brothers who defend this part of the wall, and even if they see it, they will embarrass us. ”

Qin Shuhuai nodded, then grabbed Wu Lie's shoulder and quietly got up, and crossed the city wall in the blink of an eye.

Wu Lie knew that he didn't need to say hello at all.

Walking further inside, under the leadership of Wu Lie, he quickly entered the Young Master's Mansion.

Yan regretted seeing Qin Shuhuai, and hurriedly said, "Brother Qin, you are here." ”

Qin Shuhuai saw that his face was still a little pale, so he asked, "How is Brother Yan's injury?"

"Brother Meng Qin gave him a miracle medicine, and it got better and better day by day. Speaking of which, Brother Qin saved him again in the next time, but he said a word of thanks late. ”

"Brother Yan, don't say such things. If you hadn't sacrificed your life to save Zai Xia that day, I am afraid that I would have died a long time ago, and if you want to say Xie is also under Brother Xie Yan. Qin Shuhuai sighed, "Speaking of which, your sect has suffered such a great change, and it is difficult to escape the blame below. If only I could have informed Brother Yan earlier. ”

Yan Cheng also sighed and said, "Brother Qin doesn't have to blame himself. At that time, the two apostles were in power, and you were a member of the court, so no one would believe it even if you said it, but you were suspected by our sect. With Brother Qin's insight, he must know this, so he didn't say it. This is also known below. ”

Wu Lie also said, "What the young master said is right, this matter is not to blame on the Qin gang leader. Moreover, wasn't the Qin Gang Leader almost killed by the bombing, if he wanted to harm this sect, why did he venture into this Ming Hall? It's a pity that many people can't figure it out, hey!"

Qin Shuhuai nodded heavily, "That's true." ”

I thought to myself, what two empathetic people!

Yan regretted it and said, "Don't hide it from Brother Qin, invite Brother Qin to come tonight, and discuss important matters." ”

"Brother Yan, please speak. But if Qin can help, he will not refuse. ”

Yan Chengzhi groaned, and then said, "Brother Qin, since my father and Zhao Protector are immortals, the hearts of the people in the sect have been scattered. Now the sect is divided into three factions, one faction wants to return to Kunlun to cultivate and recuperate, and the other faction wants to send troops to the Western Regions to destroy Ruoqiang and other countries to avenge the sect leader. The other faction wants to inherit the will of the sect leader and continue to fight hard to kill the Forbidden City as soon as possible. Now these three parties are arguing, and even I, the young master, can't suppress it. ”

After listening to this, Qin Shuhuai knew the reason why Yan Chengzhi was unable to succeed as the sect leader now.

Because once he succeeds to the head of the church, his decision is a fatwa, and no one can oppose it.

Therefore, for the sake of their own ideas, all factions will inevitably try their best to block him from succeeding to the throne for various reasons, and unless the opinions of all factions are unanimous, they will jointly push him to the throne.

Speaking of which, although the Demon Cult has a convention of the son inheriting the father's business, it may not be the case.

Qin Shuhuai said, "Brother Yan, who are the current supporters of each faction?"

Yan Wuyue said, "Those who support returning to Kunlun to recuperate, in addition to me, there are also Shen Xi, Fujisanren, Wu Banner Master of the Fire Banner, Chen Banner Master of the Houtu Banner, etc. Those who supported the sending of troops to the Western Regions included Mei Protector, the Six Apostles, the Seven Apostles, and the banner owners of the Qingshui Banner and the Jumu Banner. And those who want to fight to the Forbidden City are the banner owners of the Ruijin Banner and a large number of ordinary believers. ”

Qin Shuhuai thought about it for a while and said, "Actually, this wave of people who want to fight the Forbidden City is not a matter of worry. First, the battle of Muxueya has proved that it was not provoked by the imperial court, but by the empress, as for the so-called factory guards who appeared, it was nothing more than the empress looking for someone to pretend. ”

In one sentence, he first wiped out the court.

Although he didn't know if the factory guards had participated in the pursuit of Yan Wuyue back then, who made the empress the mastermind, and they were all dead, who didn't push her head?

And this kind of headless public case, when the parties have basically passed away, Yan Chengzhi will admit that the imperial court is not involved whether he believes it or not—otherwise, would he let him lead troops to fight with the imperial court on the one hand, and the Western Regions on the other? Yan Chengzhi would not be so stupid.

Sure enough, Yan Chengzhi nodded slightly.

Qin Shuhuai continued, "So, it is estimated that it is because the low-level soldiers still don't know these things, so they still regard the imperial court as the culprit of the Yan Sect Master's immortal going, and this is up to Brother Yan and Wu Qi Lord to explain to them." Second, discerning people can now see that your religion will inevitably fail to defeat the imperial court now, and if it is not done well, it will ruin the foundation of your religion for hundreds of years, so most reasonable people will not agree with this, so this faction is not to worry. ”

Yan repented, "Brother Qin is reasonable. When I go back, I will find everyone present at the time, including Mei Protector and others, to prove to the brothers in the sect that this matter was the work of the empress. ”

Qin Shuhuai nodded, and said, "However, this faction that sent troops to attack the Western Regions has a large number of middle and high-level support from the sect, so it is more difficult to do." He paused, and then asked, "However, what I wonder about is that since the empress and the second apostle are dead, why are they still in such a hurry to attack the Western Regions?"

"Brother Qin doesn't know. Yan Chengzhi said, "According to reliable information, the empress and the second apostle already had a son, and now he is the king of Ruoqiang. Although the empress is dead, if we don't cut the grass and eradicate the roots, he will definitely seek revenge with the power of the whole country in the future, which is also a hidden danger. Also, the three red-topped masters who killed Zhao Protector are also said to be from the three small countries in the Western Regions. We can't find them now, and if we want to take revenge, we can only attack those three countries, so I think they will definitely show up. ”

As he spoke, he sighed again and said, "But having said that, how easy is it to go on an expedition against these countries? Brother Qin may not know the situation in the Western Regions, but those small countries are now all vassals to the Yarkand Khanate, that is to say, they are all part of the Yarkand Khanate. If we move them, it will be tantamount to waging war against the entire Yarkand country! Then the territory of Yarkand is very large, there are at least 100,000 elite soldiers, and the desert is a natural danger, so let's rashly go on an expedition now, isn't this hasty? If we don't say anything else, we may not be able to scrape together enough grain and grass!"

"So I proposed, let's postpone the expedition first, wait for the cultivation to recuperate for a year or two, and reserve enough grain, grass and military resources before going on the expedition, but Mei Protector and the others didn't listen at all!"

When Qin Shuhuai heard this, his eyes suddenly rolled.

The Demon Cult wants to recruit Yarkand? This is a good thing!

The Yarkand Khanate, which was established in 1514 on the basis of the Chaghar Khanate, was already very powerful by the time of Chongzhen, from the west of Jiayuguan to the east of Kashmir, more than a dozen small states in the Western Regions were annexed by him or declared vassals to him.

Now, the Yarkand Khanate and the Dzungar Khanate basically occupy the Western Regions (the Western Regions here, in a narrow sense, refer to the new . THE WHOLE TERRITORY OF JIANG AND THE WESTERN PART OF MONGOLIA) MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE TERRITORY, AND IT HAS LONG BEEN OUT OF THE CONTROL OF THE MING DYNASTY.

And if Qin Shuhuai wants to achieve the ultimate task of subjugating the four Yi and the eight directions to the court, it is inevitable to send troops to make them vassals, and re-establish the jurisdiction of the guard in the corresponding area.

Of course, this is a big fight.

He originally planned to cultivate and recuperate for a few years, first pacify northern Mongolia, Liaodong and Houjin, and then move west to conquer Yarkand and Dzungaria.

However, since there were people in the Demon Sect who wanted to fight Yarkand so much, he changed his mind.

If Yarkand can be destroyed first, it will be equivalent to pacifying half of the Western Regions.

How could this sudden temptation not be great?