[Comprehensive] Cannon fodder, do you want to counterattack?

When the news of the disappearance or death of Wei Guogong Pei Ji, the just-retired prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was sent back to Chang'an to report to the imperial court, and spread to various houses at the fastest speed, Lin Ruo had just stepped into the house.

Although it wasn't raining, the first thing Lin Ruo did when he returned home was to take a shower and change clothes, wipe his hair half dry, eat some light and refreshing food for lunch, and then open the window to blow Taking a nap under the cool wind covered with a thin quilt.

Because of Lin Boyuan's connivance, since he stopped studying in the academy, Lin Ruo, who was not under the pressure of further studies and exams, always slept until he woke up naturally, but this time it was an accident.

It took Lin Ruo a little time to recognize the person sitting on the bedside after being rudely awakened, and the expression was still full of bewilderment and dullness that was unique to when he first woke up: "King Qin?"

Li Shimin's anger and anxiety when he came here consumed most of the process of waking up Lin Ruo, and now he smiled wryly: "Do you know how much trouble you have caused?"

Sleepy eyes, messy black hair, and red marks left by the pillow on his cheeks, he looked so peaceful and peaceful, looking at this delicate young man who seemed to be pampered and ignorant of the sufferings of the world, who could have imagined what a shocking thing he did just now What kind of turmoil has been stirred up outside by what happened!

The young man's confused eyes gradually cleared up, and the childishness on his face receded in an instant, showing a bit of helplessness: "Can your Highness go to the flower hall to have a cup of hot tea first, and let Caomin tidy up his appearance before chatting with His Highness?"

Seeing Lin Ruoruo's indifferent and careless appearance, Li Shimin wanted to grab him by the collar and give him a hard lesson, but in the end he just stared at him for a while, then walked away.

Lin Ruo rubbed her forehead and looked outside the door.When he just returned home, it rained for a while, but now it rained heavily, pouring over the Milky Way and falling to the ground, the noise was so noisy that his brain hurt, it was only half afternoon, but the sky outside was as dark as if Dusk—going out in this kind of weather requires courage and motivation, and meeting him at this time requires these two things even more.

Lin Ruo watched the rain for a while before starting to tidy up. Putting on a robe, pulling up her hair, and wiping her face, she went to the small flower hall. When she opened the curtain, she saw Li Shimin sitting with a big horse and a golden sword, and forced to drink ginger soup The posture, but it doesn't make people feel rough.

Li Shimin's complexion was ugly, his long eyebrows were tightly wrinkled, the corners of his lips were pursed, and his eyes, which were somewhat deeper than others, were even more gloomy like a deep pool.

Lin Ruo entered the door, sat down beside Li Shimin across the tea table, and said casually, "Have you found Pei Ji's body?"

Li Shimin put down the bowl, pressed his bouncing temples, and said word by word: "Lin Ruo, do you know who he is?"

When Lin Ruo entered the door, he sent the servants clean, and could only pour tea for himself, without even raising his eyes when he heard this: "Huh?"

Li Shimin's voice was a bit fierce and forbearing: "He is the hero of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Duke of the first rank, and the prime minister of the country! By the way, he is the best friend of the father, the most trusted and favored by the father. Courtier! Excuse me, he has countless acquaintances in the court, and his disciples are everywhere, even the elder brother and I want to give him three points! You actually used him as a living sacrifice to your slave who sold himself as a slave in front of three hundred imperial guards and so many people! book boy!"

The veins on Li Shimin's forehead popped out, he gritted his teeth and said, "Lin Ruo, how dare you!"

Lin Ruo pushed the poured tea in front of Li Shimin and said, "Your Highness has only come to discuss with me the question of whether you dare or not. Don't you think it's too late?"

Li Shimin said angrily: "Do you know how many papers have been placed on the father's desk to ask you to be executed? Do you know how many ministers are kneeling in the rainstorm in front of the Taiji Hall at this moment, please ask the father to order you to be arrested and brought to justice? do you know……"

Lin Ruo interrupted: "Since His Highness knows so well, why did he still appear here? I heard that it was Pei Ji who spoke to the Emperor at the beginning, which made His Highness miss the position of Prince. Liu Wenjing's death is the biggest thing in His Highness's heart." Hidden pain. No matter from which angle you look at it, His Highness has more reasons to kill him than me... Your Highness is here now, so you won’t be afraid of getting burned and being regarded as my Lin Ruo’s accomplice?"

Li Shimin said coldly: "It's a shame that you still have the mood to care about other people's affairs. I thought you were going crazy because of your book boy!"

Lin Ruo interjected, "So Your Highness came here just to scold me?"

Lin Ruo's cold and impatient tone finally made Li Shimin calm down a little, and took a deep breath: "Why?"

Lin Ruo picked up the teacup and said calmly, "Since he wants to kill me, I will naturally kill him back. Does such a thing need a reason?"

Li Shimin said angrily, "You know what I'm asking!"

Lin Ruo leaned back in the chair lazily, and said lightly, "I really don't know about that."

Li Shimin's anger, which had been suppressed so easily, surged up again: "Lin Ruo!"

Lin Ruo held the hot tea and lowered his head to sip it, but he ignored it.

Li Shimin looked at Lin Ruo's appearance, as if someone had poured cold water on his head, and his anger turned into bitterness. He could only laugh at himself: Why did he come here? bad guy.

He knew in his heart that no matter what the young man did, he had no position to blame him, but he couldn't control his worry and anger: Doesn't this young man know that what he did was enough to make him steal his family and destroy his family? ?How good is that book boy, in order to avenge him, he even disregarded his own wealth and life!

Looking at the innocent young man, Li Shimin felt a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart, and said in a shy voice: "Ah Ruo, don't you know that if you kill an official to rebel, what's more, you killed an important minister of the country, a first-rank duke, the current court Prime Minister! And in front of the [-] Royal Forest Army dispatched by His Majesty... You are like this, even if your father wants to protect you, you will not be able to save you. What's more, you have done too much this time. On your side..."

Lin Ruo said indifferently: "His Highness mentioned Pei Ji's identity over and over again, because he thinks that we are lowly like ordinary people, and we die as soon as we die. Is it not worthy of Mr. Pei's life?"

Lin Ruo still looked down at the undulating buds in the cup, Li Shimin couldn't see his expression clearly, only the long eyelashes that didn't even have the faintest tremor showed the boy's indifference as always, Li Shimin smiled wryly: "You clearly know that I That's not what it means, a hundred Pei Ji is not worth one of you..."

After a pause, Li Shimin continued: "If you want to kill Pei Ji, you should do so quietly. Why do you want to make it known to everyone, as if you are afraid that others will not know that it was you who did it... Forget it, let's talk about it now." What's the use of these? Now you are being stared at by countless pairs of eyes. I will go to the palace and drag the courtiers there, so that they will not let you be imprisoned today. You pack up your things first, and after nightfall, I will send someone Cleared the surrounding dark whistle to allow you and Mr. Lin to leave. You first avoid the limelight outside and wait..."

Lin Ruo finally raised his head, and looked at Li Shimin with slight surprise: Li Shimin's behavior is tantamount to an open confrontation with Li Yuan and most of the imperial court. If this is the case, the dragon chair he yearns for will be farther away from him... It turns out that this person is willing to do this?

Lin Ruo suppressed a trace of strange emotions in her heart, and interrupted: "His Royal Highness Qin is really planning to prove the name of accomplice?"

Facing the clear and peaceful eyes of the young man, Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, then laughed at himself and said: "Just sit down and sit down, father can't just kill me just because of Pei Ji."

Lin Ruo smiled slightly, shook her head and said: "Your Highness, the grassroots are very grateful for your kindness, but for such a trivial matter, His Highness does not need to be involved."

Li Shimin looked at him and frowned: "A trivial matter?"

Lin Ruo hummed: "It's a small matter."

But he refused to say a word.

Li Shimin stared at him for a moment, his eyes were gloomy and oppressive like the low and gray sky, and finally nodded silently: "I am troubled."

Looking at Lin Ruo one last time, suppressing the churning emotions in his heart, he stood up and strode out.

From Lin Ruo's point of view, he can't think of a way to get rid of the crime anyway, and his staff are not good at these things, otherwise Liu Wenjing would not die in vain... Lin Ruo's current attitude is clearly unwilling to let him It may not be possible to intervene and be on guard, but the refusal and alienation are obvious.

At this point, it was pointless for him to stay and try to persuade him, and he didn't dare to stay any longer, he was afraid that if he continued talking, it would make him look more wronged and pitiful... That's not Li Shimin.

As soon as Li Shimin stood up, Lin Ruo saw his muddy boots and his drenched clothes... Lin Ruo frowned slightly, but did not speak after all, letting his back disappear into the storm outside .

After Li Shimin's back completely disappeared, Lin Ruo looked away from the window. Some things, ignoring them is the most correct way to deal with them... Moreover, he has something more worthwhile to do.

Lin Ruo closed her eyes, restrained her mind, concentrated all her thoughts towards the center of her eyebrows.

In the prison of Dali Temple, when he fainted for the first time due to lack of water and intense heat, he vaguely felt a faint flame in the center of his eyebrows, which conveyed a kind and joyful emotion to him, and exuded a coolness that made him feel comfortable... ...It's a pity that he couldn't feel this feeling after he woke up. If he didn't find that he was not afraid of cold and heat afterwards, he almost thought it was just a hallucination.But now, he clearly knew that the flame was real.

It was there, and he was used to it and rejoiced in its presence.

As Lin Ruo collected his breath, the sound of the rain outside the window gradually faded, and the surrounding light gradually faded. In the silence and darkness, there appeared in his perception an existence that was extremely dark and emptiness, Lin Ruo held back. Containing the joy in my heart, my mind stretches towards the flame...

"Snapped!"

Lin Ruo swayed back, lost his mind, the sound of wind and rain rang in his ears again, and the flame disappeared without a trace.

Lin Ruo opened his eyes, and looked unkindly at the demon book that was floating in the air and just slapped him on the forehead just now.

The demon book trembled under his gaze, and then landed on the coffee table by his hand in an extremely well-behaved posture, as light as nothing.

Lin Ruo opened his mouth to speak, but let out a light cough, paused for a moment, and couldn't help coughing a second and third time...

Lin Ruo wiped the corner of her lips with a handkerchief, looked at the glaring red on the plain cotton handkerchief, and suddenly couldn't help laughing: That's why a gifted scholar coughs, either he doesn't vomit, or he vomits blood, so he is worthy of the status of a gifted scholar .

Lin Ruo stretched out his hand to take some tea to rinse his mouth, but he saw the demon book jumping up with a swish and began to tremble. Lin Ruo was dumbfounded by the loudness of the movement: it was hard for him to imagine that a book could express the emotion of panic so realistically. .

"none of my business!"

A few big ink-colored characters appeared on the old book cover, and then more words rushed out: "It's not my fault, I won't recite it!" "Seeking truth from facts, venting anger is shameful!" "Employees who work hard need encouragement! "...

Lin Ruo was dazzled for a while, and raised his forehead and said, "Shut up!"

Yaoshu's movements froze, not daring to distinguish the fact that he had no mouth and no sound, but obediently quieted down, and there were three words like children's graffiti on the cover - "Please let me go".

"You..." Lin Ruo just closed his mouth after saying a word, his eyes fell on the door, and the demon book also lay down in an instant, the words on the cover faded away, and it still looked old and simple.

The next moment, Li Shimin opened the curtain and entered the door with a body full of moisture, strode up to Lin Ruo, and spread his hands.

A small piece of jade pendant was lying in the palm of Li Shimin's hand. He said in a deep voice, "I don't know what plan you have. Since you don't want to tell me, I won't ask. But if...you send someone to take this jade pendant to Huang Ji For a clothing store, find a tailor surnamed Fang, whether you want to see me or arrange to go out of town, or other things, you can tell him to do it... It doesn't matter if you go with your tail, they will handle it."

"Do not……"

"I know you don't need it," Li Shimin interrupted, "but if I do, you just..."

He paused before continuing: "Take it!"

Lin Ruo hesitated slightly, and reached out to take the jade pendant from his palm: "Thank you."

-

In the Tang Palace and the Tai Chi Hall, people stood all over the place, but the only one talking was Dou Chengji, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.Li Yuan sat high on the dragon chair, with no expression on his face, but mixed feelings in his heart.

Pei Ji died... Li Yuan's hands trembled uncontrollably: Pei Ji died, when he was completely unprepared.

To him, Pei Ji is not only a monarch, but also a close friend.Pei Ji is not a capable person, he doesn't know how to fight, his governance is mediocre, and he has a lot of selfishness. He understands all these, but he is still willing to reuse them for him.Pei Ji ran away from the enemy, lost thousands of elites, and lost the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty. Others would have ransacked his family and wiped out his family, but he still couldn't bear to punish him, and would rather play tricks with his son than protect him... In his heart, Pei Ji was different from those courtiers kneeling on the ground.

Pei Ji has a handsome appearance, a personable manner, elegant and interesting speech, and is the most understanding, knowledgeable and interesting... If it wasn't for Pei Ji's obedience to Lin Ruozhi's affairs, and his suspicion of what happened back then, no matter what No matter how reluctant to belittle him.

But although he acquiesced to Pei Ji's resignation, he never thought of letting him die. He didn't even see him for the last time. The last impression he had of Pei Ji was that he was babbling outside the palace as if to give his last words. , and his desolate back covered in mud when he got up again after falling... Every time Li Yuan thinks about it, his heart aches like twists and turns.

If it was someone else who did such a thing, even if there was only the slightest suspicion, he would smash his body into thousands of pieces, smash his bones into ashes, but it was Lin Ruo, it was Lin Ruo... the unique Lin Ruo in heaven and earth... .

How could it be him?Such a thing, even if he hears it, he will find it dirty... He must have made a mistake, it must be!

"...It happened so suddenly. When the board fell apart, only the big housekeeper standing behind Mr. Pei had the chance to catch him," Dou Chengji was still chattering: "But it was raining at the time, and the housekeeper was holding an umbrella in his hand. And he was also falling, and he didn't dare to reach out rashly to grab it. When he realized it, Mr. Pei had already been wrapped in iron chains around his feet and dragged into the bottom of the water.

"The man used a bamboo tube or something like that to ventilate, and hid himself under the water in advance. Mr. Pei attacked as soon as he entered the water. A hemp rope was tied to the iron chain on Mr. Pei's feet, and the hemp rope passed through a body at the bottom of the water. The stone lock is connected to the small boat on the river. As soon as this side succeeded, the people on the boat began to tighten the hemp rope... When someone found that Mr. Pei was missing, he had already been dragged from the bottom of the water to where the stone lock was.

"At this moment, the people on the boat dropped the ropes and left, but the iron chains on Mr. Pei's feet weighed twenty catties... Mr. Pei is not good at water, and after being dragged under the water for so long, he was already exhausted. I didn't even have the strength to rush to the surface of the water to ask for help, so I just died at the bottom of the water...with hatred."

"Bang!" A jade cup hit Dou Chengji's knee, Li Yuan's face was extremely ugly: "I don't want to hear how they did it, I just want to know who did it!"

Dou Chengji lowered his head, feeling more dissatisfied with someone in his heart - if he hadn't overturned the entire Dali Temple by himself, at least someone would be scolded with him at this moment, and this tricky job would not be so difficult. Let him do it alone.

"I have already asked the people at the pier, because it was raining, everyone hurried to and fro with their heads down, and no one noticed whether anyone went into the water before the incident. But after the incident, everyone on the entire pier who could get into the water went down. Those who are underwater will not be noticed among the search and rescue crowd, and he can also dive from the bottom of the water to other places to go ashore with the bamboo tube..." Dou Chengji bit the bullet and continued: "That boat disappeared without a trace afterwards. There was no trace, maybe it was scuttled where no one was around. Because the boatman on the boat was wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat, and was far away, no one could see his appearance clearly. However, there was some clue about the origin of the boat. On a rainy night before, a fishing boat was stolen from a fishing village near the pier. The owner of the boat reported it to the officials.

"All the officials on the pier have been detained and are going to be interrogated strictly to see if the murderer is hiding there. At the same time, people are also sent to search around, looking for suspicious people who appeared on the river bank..."

Li Yuan interrupted impatiently: "That is to say, you searched for half a day and found nothing?"

Dou Chengji choked, and said: "There is another clue, which is the board. I heard from the people on board that when they were preparing this morning, they found that the board had a strong smell of dead mice and rotten eggs. The smell couldn't be washed away for a while, so they found a spare board at the pier for fear of being offensive to the nobles. Who knew that the board was tampered with at the connection, and it was fine for short-term use, but as long as they found it Just poke it from below at the right place, and the whole board will fall apart."

"Because the boats will have their own boards, there are not many spare boards on the dock. That one is the largest and strongest, and it will not be used once in a year or so at the dock, so no one is aware of it. What's the difference... But Mr. Pei's departure from Beijing was only made a few days ago, and it should have happened in the past few days that the board was tampered with. I have already sent people to investigate, and there should be results soon."

Although Dou Chengji spoke with certainty, he didn't have the slightest bit of confidence in his heart: up to now, we only know that there are at least two murderers, but one of these two people has been hiding under the water from beginning to end, and they haven't even appeared once, and only one of them is wearing a bamboo hat. The distant back of the man in coir raincoat can't even tell the difference between tall, short, fat, or thin, let alone describe his appearance-although there are many good detectives and criminals in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice, and there is not even a clue of a footprint. Where do they start?

Besides, since that person was able to drag Pei Ji out and slowly kill him under the protection of hundreds of people under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people, the two people he hid, whose figures and appearances no one knew, could really be find out?The biggest possibility is that those two people don't need to hide at all. It's time to plant the land and go to work... If they don't say it themselves, who knows what they have done?

Although boards and boats are also clues, this happened a few days ago, and one happened on a rainy night when no one was there, and the other happened on a crowded wharf. With the heavy rain these days, everything was washed away. Starting to solve the case above is undoubtedly looking for a needle in a haystack.

But this case... Dou Chengji glanced at his colleagues behind him, raised his head sharply, and said, "Although this case is complicated and confusing, it is easy to solve it..."

Seeing Li Yuan's eyes sharpen sharply, Dou Chengji choked up, but continued on: "Although the murderer has not been traced yet, but the chief envoy is very clear—I ask you to arrest the suspect Lin..."

"boom!"

Another teacup slammed on the ground, but Dou Chengji continued, with a firm tone: "Please arrest the suspect Lin Ruo!"

"Suspect? Why do you say he is a suspect?" Li Yuan was furious: "Did he go into the water or board the boat? Or are you incompetent and unable to solve the case yourself, so you just want to arrest someone to take the blame?"

Dou Chengji said: "Your Majesty, when Lin Ruo's book boy Xiaoshu died, he was wearing a twenty-jin iron chain, and the iron chain wrapped around Mr. Pei's feet was exactly twenty catties; the one Lin Ruo gave to Mr. Pei Cheng Yi is a piece of hemp rope, and it is the hemp rope that dragged Mr. Pei under the water; when Lin Ruo gave Mr. Pei the hemp rope, he said that when the man was angry, he bled for five steps, and then Mr. Pei died because of the hemp rope. under the chain...

"Also, does Your Majesty know how I found Mr. Pei's body? I heard from them that Lin Ruo was standing on the shore when the incident happened, so I went to investigate in person, and saw three burnt incense sticks and wine bottles on the ground. I found these things It was placed with its back facing the river, and people were horrified immediately, and people went into the water from here, and the body of Mr. Pei was fished out...Your Majesty, do you really think that all of the above are coincidences?"

Li Yuan said coldly: "What about the evidence?"

Dou Chengji said: "If you ask about the evidence, you will naturally find it!"

Li Yuan was furious: "Presumptuous!"

Dou Chengji didn't dare to say any more, Zheng Guogong Li Shentong took a step forward and said: "Does Your Majesty still protect him at this moment? Lin Ruo openly murdered the important ministers of the country in full view, it is simply insane! Such vicious people, if they don't Where is the law of the country? Where is the majesty of the court? Your Majesty, I beg you to immediately issue an order to arrest Lin Ruo!"

As soon as this remark came out, more than a dozen people in the hall said together: "Your Majesty, please issue an order immediately to arrest Lin Ruo!"

Li Yuan sat on the dragon chair with a sullen face and said nothing, his chest heaved violently, and the hall was completely silent.

Until the servant's voice sounded: "Your Majesty, Secretary and Young Supervisor Lin Boyuan has an audience."

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan said, "Xuan."