The return of the son-in-law

The Tatar army marched south, and the messengers traveled day and night, and finally handed over the situation of the Northwest Army to Li Chonghao's desk.

Li Chonghao glanced at ten lines and was furious: "Bold! Who spread the news!"

Yue An and the others were puzzled. Li Chonghao couldn't vent his anger, so he pointed the finger at the messenger who was still kneeling below: "Say! What's going on! What do you mean Ning Guhan has been beheaded? Several Tatar tribes formed an alliance and gathered an army of [-] to attack the northwest!"

How can the messenger be so clear?Not to mention him, I am afraid that there is no one in the entire Northwest who really knows the current situation of Tatar well.He could only relay what he heard as much as possible: "I heard that the treaty signed with Ningguhan that day was spread out, and after the leaders of the Tatar tribe knew about it, they temporarily ceased fighting and attacked Ningguhan together. The tribe captured Ningguhan alive, and beheaded him in front of many tribesmen. The severed head was still hung on the flagpole. These tribes knew the deal Ningguhan made with us, and all of them spurned Ningguhan And his tribe, now that Ningguhan is dead, his tribe is like rats crossing the grassland, bumping and hiding everywhere."

"Who wants to know what happened to the Ningguhan tribe!" Li Chonghao interrupted him and asked, "I want to know how those tribes know about the treaty we signed with Ningguhan!"

The messenger replied tremblingly: "That day the third prince brought five thousand generals to the northwest, I, I guess that's when the news was spread."

Hearing this, Yue An had a thought, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, calm down, now is not the time to explore these things. Tatar's army has already moved south, and the most important thing now is to let the northwest army camp block Tatar's army, so as to avoid the flames of war." spread to the Central Plains."

"Humph! Trash!" Li Chonghao cursed, but he didn't know whether he was cursing the messenger, the Northwest Army Camp, or Li Shaojun.

Yue An glanced at the messenger who was still kneeling on the ground, and said, "Your Majesty, the battle in the northwest is urgent, why don't you summon General Zhao, General Li, and General Wang immediately, and ask them to discuss countermeasures together."

Li Chonghao waved his hands weakly, and said: "Just do what Yue Qing said, call the three generals to the study immediately, and then invite the Minister of War, Yue Qing stays, and the rest of the loves leave first. This messenger, take him down to rest first, I may have something to ask later."

The other ministers in the study knew that they could not intervene in what happened after this, so they resigned with a wink.As for the messenger, he didn't have much strength left after running all the way, and he suffered from Li Chonghao's anger, his feet became weak, and finally two servants helped him down.

Because Li Chonghao didn't like military officers, the three generals Yue An talked about stayed at home early, and it was a big move to train soldiers once in a while.As for the minister of the Ministry of War, Li Chonghao can't reuse it, and he usually doesn't have much to say in the court. He just handles some matters such as the selection of military officers, military registration and ordnance. Even the military power was taken away by Li Chonghao early on, and he became a The nameless Minister of the Ministry of War.

Now that the four of them were summoned together, they already guessed that something big must have happened, which made Li Chonghao uncharacteristically invite the four of them to discuss countermeasures together.

But when they learned that it was Northwest Tatars who invaded, several people couldn't help but gasp in their hearts.

"For the current plan, the only way is to quickly dispatch people and send more troops and food to the northwest. We must block Tatar's cavalry, and we must not let them cross Mang Mountain."

"I agree with General Wang. Tatar's cavalry are all-powerful on the grassland. Once they pass Mang Mountain, it will be difficult to stop them."

"In my opinion, now the people in the northwest should be allowed to retreat a hundred miles south, and set up various traps, bridle ropes and other obstacles, so that Tatar has to dismount and fight."

Li Chonghao frowned when he heard the words of a few people: "Okay, how long have you heard the news before you can come up with a foolproof solution? If this is true, this Tatar is no longer my Northwest There is a big hidden danger! Within three days, I will send 30 troops to the northwest, and increase food and grass to fully resist the attack of Tatar! Now Li Li is in charge of the northwest, right?"

Fang Weiqing, Secretary of the Ministry of War, said: "Return to Your Majesty, it is Li Li."

"Let Li Li act immediately, and Tatar must not be allowed to cross Mang Mountain!"

"Yes!"

The more Li Chonghao looked at these faces, the more upset he became. He didn't understand military affairs, so he sent these people over to discuss, but he couldn't come up with a solution for a long time. He wished he could pull these four people down and behead him immediately.

"Within three days, I will get a feasible solution, you know?"

The four could only respond: "Yes!"

"You go down first." Li Chonghao sent the four people away, and then let the attendants retreat, leaving only Yue An, and then said, "Yue Qing, I remember Jun'er said that day, Ning Gu Han was careful, and only brought two people to meet him. Tatar didn't know that he signed the contract with Jun'er. Now that this matter has spread, I am afraid that someone from the capital may have tampered with it. You help me Get this man out."

Yue An said in his heart that it was not good. He said it specifically to divert Li Chonghao's attention, but Li Chonghao still thought of this.It's just that when the emperor spoke, he couldn't refuse, so he could only respond: "Yes."

After Yue An left the palace, he returned home and wrote a post, asking an inconspicuous boy in the mansion to send it to Prince Qin's mansion, while he called the housekeeper and asked, "Is there a letter from the northwest?"

The housekeeper shook his head and said, "No letters have come from the Northwest for more than a month. My lord, do you want to send someone to the Northwest to have a look?"

"It's too late." Yue An sighed, and said again: "When the King of Qin arrives, immediately invite him to my study. You should watch carefully these two days, and don't let other people approach."

"Yes."

Li Shaojun accepted the post, immediately changed into casual clothes, brought only a few skilled attendants, went out from the side door of the palace, and walked around to Yue'an's mansion.

"Ning Guhan died?" Li Shaojun was taken aback, "When did it happen?"

"Your Highness doesn't know about this?" Yue An was also surprised, "Did neither Jiang Yannian nor Guo Zhan'an send a letter to His Highness? Ning Guhan was captured and beheaded by the leaders of other Tatar tribes shortly after the beginning of spring."

Li Shaojun shook his head and said, "Jiang Yannian sent me a letter last time, saying that there was something strange about the Northwest Military Camp. It seemed that someone was suspicious of him and was watching him, so he stopped writing letters. As for Guo Zhan'an, he is now the general judge of Xuzhou, and his status is sensitive. Father is still a little worried about him, so I haven't written to him for a long time."

"That's strange," Yue An said, "Ning Guhan is dead, and the content of the treaty signed by His Highness and Ning Guhan is circulating on the Tatar Grassland. For such a big event, they should have someone send a letter. .”

Seeing Yue An's sigh, Li Shaojun couldn't help asking: "What does Master Yue mean?"

"To be honest, I haven't received a letter from Northwest for more than a month," Yue An said truthfully, "As usual, I can receive it every half a month."

Li Shaojun couldn't help being suspicious: "Could it be that there is a change in the northwest and someone is blocking it?"

"Your Highness, don't worry, I will send someone to investigate this matter, but there is one more thing now, Your Highness must be more careful." Yue An said in a low voice, "Your Majesty suspects that the content of the treaty was leaked, and someone in the capital deliberately revealed it. Yes, he ordered me to thoroughly investigate this matter. Your Highness was the one who signed the treaty with Ning Guhan that day, and bears the brunt of it. Your Highness, please be more careful these days."

Li Shaojun smiled wryly: "It would be the worst thing for me to say that the content of the treaty leaked out, but the emperor was the first to doubt me. It was really well-intentioned."

Yue An persuaded: "Your Highness has a noble status, and now he is the first-class prince of the town. He has the highest voice in the court. It is inevitable that some people will feel jealous. I am afraid that some people will take advantage of this opportunity to make trouble and fish in troubled waters."

Li Shaojun nodded and said: "I understand, Mr. Yue, the treaty signed that day is sealed in a study in the palace, and there are special people guarding it. As for the people who already know the contents of the treaty, there are only a few. You might as well use two approaches, Send people from both parties to investigate, maybe you can find something.”

Yue An nodded and said: "Thank you for your reminder, Your Highness, leave this matter to me. It's better for Your Highness to show up less these days, especially pay attention to the one who lives in the palace."

Li Shaojun smiled and said: "I made a note of it, but Master Yue, don't worry, although the fourth child always trips me up, he hasn't developed the courage yet."

"It is imperative to be defensive."

The waves in the capital are undercurrents, and anyone with some insight in the court knows that an unspeakable event has happened.For a while, there were different opinions, and everyone was in danger.

Besides, in the northwest, Guo Zhanan was dealing with official business in the yamen that day, when suddenly a young man in the yamen came to report: "Master Guo, there are some soldiers outside, who said they came here to see you on the orders of General Jiang Yannian. "

Guo Zhanan paused the pen in his hand, nodded and said: "Got it, please invite them to sit in the front hall, and I will come later. By the way, it is not easy for these soldiers to come from the barracks. Prepare some snacks and tea together. .”

After the boy left, Guo Zhanan put down his pen and said to Hao Yun who was beside him, "I got some ink on my hand, go fetch a basin of water."

Hao Yun didn't suspect him, so he went down to fetch water.

After Hao Yun also left, Guo Zhanan immediately took off his official uniform and put on a regular uniform.He untied the sword hanging on the wall again, took it out and saw that it was sharpened, so he held it in his hand.Afterwards, he walked quickly to the door of the study room, found a badge of identity and a road guide for walking in the northwest from Hao Yun's hanging clothes bag, and stuffed these two things into his bag .

After finishing all this, Guo Zhan'an took a small path that few people walked, all the way to an unused back door of the government office, and slipped out while the gatekeeper was neglecting his duties.

After Guo Zhan'an left the government office, he didn't leave immediately. Instead, he circled half a circle to the gate of the government office.

I saw a lot of soldiers standing at the gate of the government office. At first glance, there were about thirty or forty soldiers. Each of them had a sword hanging on their waist, and a bow and arrow on their back, with a stern look on their faces.

This further confirmed the guess in Guo Zhanan's mind. He couldn't help but glance at the direction of his home, and finally chose another direction, heading directly for a city gate in Xuzhou.

When Hao Yun came back with a basin of water, Guo Zhan'an had long since disappeared from the study.He just thought that Guo Zhan'an couldn't wait for him to go to the front hall to meet the guests, and was about to put down the water to find someone in the front hall, when he saw the official uniform left by Guo Zhan'an, he realized something was wrong after a second thought - if it was usual, Jiang Yannian would send someone over , When did Guo Zhanan ask people to wait in the front hall?

Although Hao Yun didn't know why Guo Zhan'an avoided seeing him, he knew that these people were not friendly, so he put down the basin, put away Guo Zhan'an's official uniform, and hid it under the cabinet.

On the other side of the front hall, several soldiers waited and waited for Guo Zhanan, anxious in their hearts, they even drew out their swords and put them on the young servant's neck, forcing the young servant to take them to Guo Zhanan's office.

"Where's Guo Zhan'an?" Several soldiers searched the area and asked Hao Yun, who was on the side.

Hao Yun pretended to be stupid: "Master Jun, I don't know too well. My lord asked me to fetch him a basin of water and said he needed to wash his hands, but he was gone when I came back."

"Huh! I think you are toasting and not eating fine wine!" The soldier was not very good-tempered, and he was not very satisfied with Hao Yun's answer, so he went straight to it.

Hao Yun was punched in the stomach, almost vomited acid water, and simply begged for mercy: "Mr. Jun, calm down, calm down! I really don't know where Mr. Guo has gone, please forgive me!"

"Okay, if you run away, the monk can't run away from the temple. Even if this Guo Zhan'an runs away, can his family run away?" Another soldier who was slightly shorter stopped his companion, looked at Hao Yun again, and asked, "I ask you, How long has it been since you fetched water?"

Hao Yun didn't dare to lie about this matter, and confessed honestly: "Just, just half a stick of incense."

"Oops! Hurry up and send someone to check at the city gate, Guo Zhan'an must not be allowed to leave Xuzhou!" The soldier's eyebrows jumped, he patted a colleague and ordered, and then pointed to his other colleague, "You, Go talk to Xie Bing and tell him that this is an order from the Northwest Army Camp. Now is a critical moment, and everything in the Northwest is about military affairs. Guo Zhanan is suspected of colluding with the Tatars, collaborating with the enemy and treason, so he must be arrested and brought to justice quickly."

"You really want to say that?" asked the general who made the move before, "Don't forget the general's previous explanation. If Xie Bing doesn't listen, what should we do?"

"I can't care so much! I'm afraid Guo Zhan'an has already noticed something strange, so he deliberately delayed the time. The top priority is to find him out, and he must not be allowed to inform the capital!" Said, the soldier turned his eyes to Hao Yun and the unlucky man The boy said again: "All people related to Guo Zhan'an should be imprisoned first. Take these two people down first, and we will go to Guo Zhan'an's house immediately."