Because Xiao Luan was hiding in Weiguo, Zhang Qigong did not dare to make any independent decisions, so he took Bei Gongyu to the palace and asked the Prince of the East Palace for instructions.
Taking a carriage to the palace, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu passed through the layers of guards of the Imperial Guard with the token of "Captain of the Prince's Palace" in their hands, and finally arrived at the East Palace.
The East Palace is located on the east side of the entire palace. It is a collective name that includes a whole group of palaces and palaces. In fact, there is no palace directly called the main hall of the East Palace complex. The plaque engraved on it is "
The word "Evergreen" means "Evergreen", so the exact name should be "Evergreen Hall".
It is worth mentioning that in the main hall of the Evergreen Hall, there is also a calligraphy and painting painted by the King of Wei several generations ago, which uses the evergreen pines in the mountains as a symbol of long-lasting hope for the Wei Kingdom. At the same time,
It was also inspired by the princes and princes of the past dynasties who lived in this palace.
But it is a pity that the calligraphy and painting today has been carefully collected by the Zongfu as a treasure, because a certain prince did not like the painting, even the paper was yellowed, and thought it was too old-fashioned. So he replaced this one.
The "Evergreen Mountain Pine" is the latest map of Wei State's territory, including the Hetao area, Sanchuan, and Shangdang.
In the center of the map, there is a huge word "Wei" written by the current prince Zhao Run himself. It can be called a golden hook and iron painting, extremely powerful and domineering.
When Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu arrived at the entrance of Changqing Hall, Prince Zhao Run was sitting on the main seat in the main hall, giving orders to about seven or eight civil servants below the steps.
"...Developing the Hetao is the highest priority for the government, and the Hetao area belongs to Shuofang, Yinchuan, and Yunzhong. The three places are the most critical. The Ministry of Industry and Engineering is building fortifications in the three places as soon as possible..."
Just as he was talking, Zhao Hongrun caught a glimpse of Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu who were walking into the hall. Although he was a little surprised by their arrival, he did not say hello to them at this time. He raised his finger and pointed to the seats in the hall to signal them to be there.
Waiting, he continued to give instructions to the clerks.
Seeing this, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu didn't dare to disturb them, and just sat in the banquet and waited.
Unlike Zhang Qigong who was quite familiar with the architecture of the East Palace, this was the first time for Bei Gongyu to come to the prince's palace. He was inevitably curious, so he looked around.
What surprised him slightly was that although the Evergreen Palace bore the name of East Palace, the furnishings inside were actually quite ordinary and not as luxurious as Bei Gongyu had originally guessed.
The most eye-catching thing in the entire hall is the map of Wei hanging on the wall behind Prince Zhao Run's seat.
Perhaps it was a change in his mood. Looking at the lost Shangdang County and Sanchuan County on this map of the Wei State, as well as the Hetao area that the Wei people had never occupied, even Beigong Yu couldn't help but feel a little inexplicable excitement in his heart.
At this time, he realized firsthand how powerful the Wei State was now.
Suddenly, Bei Gongyu caught a glimpse of two calligraphy and paintings hanging on both sides of the map of Wei State. One of them said "worry for raw fish" and the other said "peace for dead fish".
"...Raw fish? Dead fish?"
Bei Gongyu touched his chin, puzzled.
It wasn't until he asked Zhang Qigong in a low voice and Zhang Qigong replaced the two fishes with the correct words that Bei Gongyu suddenly realized: it turned out to be "born in sorrow and died in happiness."
"Why did His Highness the Crown Prince write it as a living fish or a dead fish?" Bei Gongyu asked puzzledly.
Zhang Qigong glanced at Bei Gongyu and said secretly in his heart: Who should I ask if you ask me?
At this time, Prince Zhao Hongrun was still making decisions on government affairs. He was waving a brush in his hand, speaking fluently, and listening to the reports of the civil servants. At the same time, he wrote down one edict after another, focusing on the task without any distinction.
What a mistake.
Seeing this scene, Bei Gongyu's eyes widened in disbelief.
In just one stick of incense, the seven or eight civil servants praised the talented and powerful Crown Prince in front of them from the bottom of their hearts, and then left each with a stack of edicts.
Not to mention Beigong Yu, even Zhang Qigong was amazed.
After waiting for the civil servants to leave, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu stood up from their seats, came to the center of the palace, bowed their hands and said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Qigong (Beigong Yu), pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince."
At this time, Zhao Hongrun picked up the already cool tea and took a sip. After putting it down with a frown, he asked Zhang Qigong and Beigong Yudao: "Qigong, Beigong, you two got up this time, what's the important thing?
What?"
"Exactly." Zhang Qigong nodded and said seriously: "About Xiao Ni, I will ask His Highness the Crown Prince for instructions on anything."
Zhao Hongrun thought for a moment and stood up: "Follow me to the side hall."
"yes!"
Following His Royal Highness, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu turned around the inner door and came to the side hall.
At this time, in the side hall, there was a beautiful woman in luxurious clothes sitting at the table. When she saw Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu behind Zhao Hongrun, her eyes showed a little surprise.
Zhang Qigong recognized this woman and quickly saluted: "Zhang Qigong, I have met Mrs. Que."
From the side, Beigong Yu also saluted quickly.
It turns out that this beautiful woman is Zhao Hongrun's beloved concubine Zhao Que.
"You two adults are very polite." Zhao Que smiled and nodded in return.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun had already walked to the Kang couch by the window, casually threw off his boots, got into the warm quilt, and lay down lazily.
Compared with Zhang Qigong's expression of not being surprised, Bei Gongyu's expression at this moment seemed as if he had seen a ghost in the daytime.
He simply couldn't recognize the lazy guy in front of His Royal Highness. Is he really the wise and powerful prince just now?
Hey, hey, these two people are completely different!
"..."
Bei Gongyu blinked, feeling a little hard to accept.
At this time, Zhang Qigong had told Zhao Hongrun everything about Xiao Luan hiding in Wei.
After hearing the news, even Zhao Hongrun, who was lying sideways on the kang in a lazy posture, had his face replaced by solemnity. He frowned and asked: "Weiguo? General?... Is this true? Bei
Gong Yu?"
At this time, Bei Gongyu was still struggling with the two completely different lives and work attitudes of the Crown Prince in front of him. Leng Buding was shocked when he heard the question, and quickly added and explained: "Yes... yes, His Royal Highness. The first two
In 2008, after the Korean army withdrew from Wei State, Wei Gong Ziyu urgently needed a sum of money to rebuild the city destroyed by the Korean army. At that time, Xiao Luan considered himself a guard and a merchant who had been doing business in Qi State all year round, so he donated a sum of money
In the past two years, Xiao Luan has opened up his joints and expanded his soldiers at the same time. According to my estimation, he already has an army of no less than 4,000 troops."
"An army of four thousand...is indeed almost worthy of being called a general."
Zhao Hongrun frowned and murmured.
To be fair, a mere four thousand troops is nothing in front of the Wei State. After all, the latter now has at least 400,000 soldiers and horses that can be used for war. The problem lies in the identity of the "defensive general".
Unless the Wei State provides conclusive evidence to expose Xiao Luan's false identity, asking the Wei State to hand over one of its generals for no reason is no longer enough to be described as "humiliating".
What's more important is that Bei Gongyu still doesn't know Xiao Luan's alias in Weiguo and his exact military position. He has only heard Xiao Luan mention it sporadically in the past.
"I guess it should be in the area of Dunqiu and Pingyi. In the past two years, most of the money raised by me has been sent to Dunqiu and Pingyi by fate." Bei Gongyu guessed.
Zhao Hongrun held his chin in thought.
To be honest, it is not difficult to find Xiao Luan following the clues provided by Bei Gongyu. The problem is that if Xiao Luan is in a guard camp at this time and is also a general in the army, then,
How can he capture Xiao Luan? Is it possible to just break into the military camp and take someone away?
This is a very unfriendly behavior towards Weiguo.
"What do you two think about this?" Zhao Hongrun asked.
Zhang Qigong cupped his hands and said in a deep voice: "Your Royal Highness, I suggest that Lord Beigong escort Gao Xianhou Lu Xin's several ships filled with money to Weiguo, and invite Xiao Luan to come and take over in person. During this period, he took the opportunity to
His uniform was taken back to Daliang."
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun turned to look at Bei Gongyu and asked, "Are you willing to lure Xiao Luan out for me?"
"I'll do my best."
Bei Gongyu cupped his hands and said.
"Okay." Zhao Hongrun nodded and said seriously: "Then do this. I will ask the Green Crows to assist you. Remember, try...try not to cause too much noise in Weiguo."
"I obey!" Zhang Qigong accepted the order with his hands in hand. After saying that, seeing that Zhao Hongrun seemed to be wrapped in a blanket and retracting into the quilt, he quickly said: "Your Highness, there is one more thing... His Highness, the Prince still remembers "Chu Envoy Xiong Fen"
"In the attack at Yongqiu, more than a hundred Fenxing soldiers were killed"?
Zhao Hongrun was stunned for a moment, then said with a half-smile: "This is about my first time leading troops on an expedition. How could I forget about it? Why?"
Zhang Qigong cupped his hands and said seriously: "Master Beigong said that among the Fenxing army, there may be a Xiao Ni who is more powerful than the deputy general of the Nanyan army, Ai He. Perhaps this person came forward to intercept and kill the Chu envoy Xiong Fen.
.”
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun's face suddenly darkened: "Seriously?"
"I'm 50% sure about this, but I don't know who it is." Bei Gongyu replied.
"Around June of the 16th year of Hongde..." Zhao Hongrun frowned and ordered: "Look back and find a way to find out who among the generals of the Fenxing Army took leave during this period, or took a leave of absence.
The mission... this matter is placed after the arrest of Xiao Luan, and currently the capture of Xiao Luan is the top priority."
"I sincerely obey the orders of His Highness the Crown Prince." Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu said while cupping their hands.
"Go ahead, I'll take a nap." Zhao Hongrun waved his hand and said.
From beginning to end, Zhao Que listened to the conversation between her husband and his ministers without saying a word. At this moment, when he saw Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu leaving, he came to the Kang couch and gently reminded: "Your Highness, today
We still have to host the morning court, so don’t delay.”
Wrapping up the blanket, Zhao Hongrun said reluctantly: "The weather is too cold, I am not happy to go to the morning... Gao Li."
"My slave is here." The young eunuch Gao Li stepped forward and bowed his head in salute.
"Send someone to the Xuanzheng Palace and tell the Prime Minister that I am unfortunately contracted by a disease that says "if you hold an early morning court in winter, you will die", and ask him to send someone to inform the ministers that the early morning court in Chenshi will be temporarily cancelled. At least
...At least wait until the snow stops." Zhao Hongrun waved his hand and said.
"..." The young eunuch Gao Li was silent for a moment, and hesitated several times, but in the end, he bowed and obeyed: "Slave... I obey."
At this time, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu had not gone far. When they heard the voice of Prince Zhao Run in the side hall, Bei Gongyu's expression became even weirder.
"...Obviously he thought the weather was too cold, so he lied about his illness... Can he really deceive the Prime Minister and the court officials about his illness?"
It was really difficult for Bei Gongyu to adapt. The arrogant and domineering prince in the private cell two days ago, the wise and mighty attitude when handling government affairs today, and the appearance of the wasted son of an ordinary nobleman who was just huddled on the kang.
These three are actually the same person.
As if he had guessed what Bei Gongyu was thinking, Zhang Qigong said calmly: "His Royal Highness, the lazy side, can be left to Du You, the Minister of Rites, to deal with the headache. The top priority for you and me is to capture Xiao Luan..."
"...I know." Bei Gongyu nodded solemnly.
The next day, Bei Gongyu was worried about the unrest, so he took a boat of Gao Xianhou Lu Xin and sailed along the river to the Weiguo River area without caring about recovering from his injuries.
Because Zhang Qigong held various passage tokens, the two ships filled with money easily arrived in the Weiguo river without being inspected by the Wei ships on the river.
Following the flow of the river, the ship arrived in the Dunqiu and Pingyi areas of Weiguo in just over half a day.
Dunqiu, Pingyi, was the starting point for Sima Shang, the Korean general, to attack the Wei Kingdom during the last "Five-Party Campaign to Defeat Wei". At that time, after Dunqiu was captured by Sima Shang, this Korean general who is now listed as one of the top ten tycoons of Beiyuan
The general captured the eastern half of Weiguo's territory in a short period of time.
It is precisely because of this lesson that Duke Wei Ziyu came to Dunqiu specifically. Heavy troops were stationed in Pingyi area. According to Qingya Zhong's inquiries, it was estimated that there were about 8,000 troops.
"The next step is up to you." Zhang Qigong told Bei Gongyu when he got off the boat.
Bei Gongyu nodded, and took Zhang Qigong, the Black Crows, and the Green Crows to find a small farmhouse in Dunqiu.
According to Bei Gongyu's explanation beforehand, this small village courtyard was a stronghold set up by Fu Weijun in the past year or two. It was specifically responsible for receiving the money raised by Bei Gongyu and other "master books". Xiao Luan needed this money.
To bribe the guards and expand the army under their command.
At this time, there were more than a dozen families living in the courtyard of that ordinary small village. They seemed to be ordinary people, but in fact, these were all soldiers who were hiding in the army, or they were called members of Xiao Ni.
These people all recognized Bei Gongyu, so when Bei Gongyu came here with Ya Wu, Yang Yi and other Qiaozhuang-changed Green Crows and Black Crows, these people greeted Bei Gongyu one after another.
"Mr. Gong."
"Ah, Mr. Gong is here."
Bei Gongyu responded to these people with a smile.
Not long after, the nominal owner of this small village, a man named "Yan Lei" came to Bei Gongyu and said somewhat strangely: "Mr. Gong, you are a little late this time."
Indeed, according to the original regulations, Bei Gongyu would usually wait until a certain amount of money was raised in February and August before handing over to Xiao Luan's direct subordinates. But this time, in order to catch Xiao Luan as early as possible,
, Bei Gongyu will certainly not blackmail other people, and will wait until February next year to see Xiao Luan again.
Of course, Yan Lei just asked casually. After all, everyone here knew that Bei Gongyu, a descendant of the Beigong clan of Nanyan, whose pseudonym was Gongzheng, was Xiao Luan's right-hand man, so of course they would not doubt it.
But after hearing that this time there was only property worth 200,000 gold, Yan Lei frowned: "Mr. Gong, why is there so much missing this time?"
Of course, Bei Gongyu would not tell the real reason. He pretended to sigh and said: "The situation in Wei is not good. Prince Zhao Run issued an amnesty edict. Some secret players defected and defected to the court... Even this time with
The Gao Xian Hou Lu Xin whom I handed over also forced me to hand over the handle I used to blackmail him." At this point, he shook his head and sighed: "This is also the last time that Gao Xian Hou Lu Xin will be manipulated by me.
"
"Damn it!" Yan Lei couldn't help but cursed when he heard this.
In fact, he also knew that Fu Weijun's influence in the Wei Kingdom was indeed not what it used to be. It was not surprising that the chess pieces that were once controlled by them were given the opportunity to escape from control one by one. It was just like this.
Come, their Fu Weijun's funds will be affected.
At this time, Bei Gongyu asked calmly: "Is the young master in this area? I have important matters to discuss with him."
This was the first time that Bei Gongyu took the initiative to inquire about the whereabouts of Xiao Luan from Fu Weijun's insiders. However, because his status was quite high among Fu Weijun, Yan Lei did not suspect it. He shook his head and said, "Young Master is in Pingyi."
The military camp, but I can contact the young master on your behalf..."
Having said this, he glanced at the disguised Ya Wu and Yang Yi behind Bei Gong Yu, and said with a slight surprise: "These two people are a bit unfamiliar... Where are Liu Guang, Li Xu and others?"
The Liu Guang, Li Xu and others he mentioned were the core members of Bei Gongyu's former subordinates. However, on the night when the leader of the Black Crows, Ghost, attacked them, these people were all killed by the Black Crows.
"I asked Liu Guang, Li Xu and others to come forward to contact those chess pieces..." Bai Baoyu lied.
Hearing this, Yan Lei nodded and said in agreement: "This time it is indeed a bit short. The young master is in urgent need of money recently... Come, Mr. Gong, please come here."
With that said, he welcomed Bei Gongyu, Yawu and Yangji into the manor courtyard.
In this way, Bei Gongyu and others stayed in this small manor for a day. On the third day, after receiving the contact from Yan Lei, Xiao Luan came to the manor with his men.
Meet Bei Gongyu.
At this time, Xiao Luan was seen wearing the armor of a general of the Wei Kingdom. Judging from the style of the armor, Xiao Luan's military position in the Wei Kingdom was probably not low.
After instructing the soldiers in the courtyard to serve wine and food, Xiao Luan and Bei Gongyu sat across from each other, drinking and eating food, while complaining a lot, mostly complaining that the conditions of Wei State were backward and not as prosperous as Wei State: "Look at me
This armor, in the Wei army, would be worn by a general of the first rank of Quhou at best, and I would still be the deputy general of the first army!"
Bei Gongyu smiled slightly and said, "This is also a helpless move."
"Yes." Xiao Luan wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said melancholy: "Then Zhao Run is indeed hateful. Since he issued such an edict to instigate those traitors... it is a shame that we are not strong enough now, otherwise, he will definitely be killed.
Those traitors!" At this point, he seemed to have thought of something, and asked Beigong Yudao: "Weishan, did you really betray me?"
Bei Gongyu said calmly: "I told you a long time ago that Wei Shan is in love with that woman and will turn against her in the future."
"Damn it!" Xiao Luan poured a glass of wine with hatred on his face and said slightly angrily: "That bastard, really thinks he is Sima Song, the Marquis of Quliang?"
"In fact, it's not bad." Bei Gongyu poured wine for Xiao Luan calmly, wishing that Xiao Luan would get drunk immediately, and said in the same calm tone as always: "It is said that the Zongfu came forward and asked Weishan to marry Pingqiu.
The daughter of the Shang family, that woman is also a descendant of the Sima family of the Marquis of Quliang. If Wei Shan marries this daughter, it will be equivalent to marrying into the Sima family. In the future, he will be able to swagger around the world with the title of Marquis of Quliang..."
"...bastard." Xiao Luan couldn't help but cursed, and drank the wine in the glass with a bit of hatred. Then, he wiped the wine stains from his mouth with his sleeves, and said loudly: "Zhao
Run's move was really beyond my expectation... I didn't expect that he would dare to disobey the edict issued by his father back then."
"yes……"
Bei Gongyu agreed from the bottom of his heart.
After all, generally speaking, kings in the past dynasties would not openly oppose the edicts of the previous kings, let alone when they were still crown princes, but Zhao Run, the prince of the East Palace of Wei, dared to do so.
What is incredible is that after he made such a move, neither the Wei Dynasty's court nor the current His Majesty who now lives in Ganlu Palace had any reaction. It seemed to be a common occurrence.
Bei Gongyu was also secretly amazed at this.
"Had I known this, I shouldn't have been merciful back then. Even if I tried my best to turn against Zhao Yuanli, I still had to get rid of this Zhao Run!" Xiao Luan said with some regret.
He really didn't expect that the "Eighth Prince" who was rumored to have a lot of misdeeds would now become a powerful enemy that even he needs to look up to. What's more terrible is that this powerful enemy wants to kill him with a thousand knives.
"yes……"
Bei Gongyu nodded and agreed.
"..."
Xiao Luan was slightly startled and looked at Bei Gongyu in surprise.
You must know that in the past, Bei Gongyu always spoke of the Ji Zhao royal family with strong hatred, but today, his mood is much calmer than before.
"..."
Summarizing Bei Gongyu's various abnormal behaviors this time, Xiao Luan's heart skipped a beat, and he had a vague feeling of bad premonition.
He took a deep look at Bei Gongyu for a few times, and then realized that Bei Gongyu's hands were wrapped in bandages, and even his fingers were tightly wrapped, as if to hide something.
Looking at Bei Gongyu's face, there are also a few bruises of unusual shapes.
He asked calmly: "Beigong, what's wrong with your hand?"
"It's just a minor skin injury." Bei Gongyu said calmly: "When I was in Wei State, I accidentally bumped into Zhao Run's double crows. I was slightly injured when I escaped."
"Oh, that's it." Xiao Luan nodded in relief and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.
Seeing this, Bei Gongyu was about to continue pouring wine for Xiao Luan, but Xiao Luan flipped the wine cup upside down on the table with a snap, and the smile on his face suddenly disappeared: "Beigong, you betrayed me.
What?"
"..."
When Leng Buding heard this, even Bei Gongyu couldn't help showing a look of horror on his face.
Seeing that something was wrong, Ya Wu and Yang Yi looked at each other.