Bang bang bang——, bang bang bang——
Suddenly, the sound of bangs and gongs and drums resounded throughout the entire Luoyi Imperial City.
The guards held torches and long knives, shouted "there is an assassin", and searched closely for the uninvited guest who broke into the palace at night.
Prince Li Bing woke up from his sleep. Hearing the noisy noise outside, he stood up in panic and hurriedly called the chamberlain guarding the auxiliary compartment of the dormitory to ask them what happened.
The servants reported in surprise: An assassin was found in the palace, and the Xuanjia Army was on full alert to arrest him.
After hearing this, Li Bing couldn't sleep peacefully no matter how heart-warming he was. Cursing secretly, he stood up to change his clothes, and then led all the attendants to the imperial study room, waiting for news from outside.
At this moment, Shen Lie, who broke into the palace, seemed to disappear out of thin air, leaving no trace of him. No one knew where he was hiding.
Shan Tingxian was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He directed the officers and soldiers of Xuanjia to work for a long time, but got nothing. He did not dare to stay outside for too long, so he ordered his men to continue searching carefully in the palace halls, and at the same time urgently recruited more troops. A large number of troops blocked the area around the imperial city, while I rushed to the imperial study room to accompany him.
As soon as Li Bing saw Shan Tingxian, he quickly asked in a deep voice: "Tingxian, have you found the assassin who entered the palace? What is going on? Why did another assassin appear?"
Shan Tingxian swallowed his saliva and dealt with it carefully: "Your Highness, the assassin suddenly broke into Ziwei Palace tonight, and I and others are searching for it with all their strength. Although the assassin has not been caught yet, there are currently people in the palace and the imperial study. With proper defense, His Highness’s safety is absolutely guaranteed…”
Unexpectedly, just in the middle of what he said, a long laugh suddenly came from the ceiling of the Imperial Study Room: "Hahaha, Master Shan is exaggerating. I am a humble minister, Shen Lie, please see His Highness the Crown Prince."
In the midst of everyone's astonishment, Shen Lie, the head of the Nilin Department of Beiya, fell gracefully from the roof and knelt down directly in front of Li Bing: "The young minister of Dali Temple, Shen Lie, broke into the palace at night and disturbed the Holy Master. He deserves death." , please punish me, Your Highness."
"Bold assassin! Protect me!" Shan Tingxian shouted loudly and immediately pounced on Shen Lie who was kneeling on the ground.
Prince Li Bing woke up from his surprise and hurriedly called out to Shan Tingxian: "Wait a minute! Don't move, Tingxian. I recognize this Lord Shen Lieshen."
Hearing this, the surrounding guards couldn't help but stop and stood between Li Bing and Shen Lie, all on guard. Shan Tingxian, who was about to pounce, had no choice but to put down his posture and looked at Shen Lie, who was kneeling on one knee, and then at the prince, waiting for his next instructions.
Li Bing also looked solemn at this moment, and his eyes were constantly focused on Shen Lie.
Who is Shen Lie?
His apparent identity is the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, a mere fifth-rank official. But in the aristocratic circle of the imperial capital, who doesn't know the reputation of Shi, the director of Beiya Nilin?
Especially five years ago, after he personally overthrew the King of Lanling Li Maoxun, the important ministers and generals in the court formed a general consensus: If you don't know Shen Lie, you don't know how to write the word "death".
As a direct descendant of the royal family, the dignified Crown Prince Li Bing certainly knew very well that the Lord Shen kneeling in front of him was the true confidant of the emperor and his uncle, and was by no means someone he could handle without authorization.
Moreover, since Shen Lie can take charge of such an important department of the Nilin Division, he is a calm and sophisticated character with a measured advance and retreat. There must be a reason behind his sudden and brazen intrusion into the palace tonight.
Li Bing calmed down and said in a deep voice: "Shen Aiqing, please get back on your feet first. What exactly happened tonight? Please tell me the truth."
Shen Lie thanked him, stood up slowly, raised his hands to Li Bing and said, "Your Highness, by the emperor's decree, I am responsible for investigating the assassination of He Jingming, the commander of the Fierce Blade Army and the protector of Zhenjiang. It has been more than a year. At present, there have been major developments in the case, so His Majesty ordered the ministers to come to Luoyi to report to His Highness."
When Li Bing heard what Shen Lie said, he immediately remembered it.
From a certain perspective, as the founder and guardian of the Holy Religion Covenant, General He Jingming was of great significance to Li Bing. His sudden death can also be regarded as one of the reasons why Li Bing finally turned to Xie Guang, which triggered the "Imperial Capital Incident".
The fall of an imperial general should have been a major event of concern to both the government and the public. However, due to the subsequent events such as the rebellion in Western Xinjiang and the prince's departure from Beijing, and the case itself involving intricate political struggles, in the end no one cared about it. Indifferent and deliberately forgetful.
The only ones who still care about pursuing the case are probably the old troops of the Fierce Blade Army and the Zhenjiang Army, and the Nilin Changshi in front of them.
Li Bing had special feelings for He Jingming, so he couldn't help asking with concern: "Is there any clue about General He's case? How is the situation?"
Shen Lie replied calmly: "The biggest suspect at the beginning was Xu Youchang, the former chief officer of the forward battalion of the Xuanjia Army and General Qianniu Zhonglang. However, after this person escaped our capture, he led his men to flee to the west. The whereabouts of Xinjiang Ghost Desert are still unknown. Xie Guang, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanjia Army, also dismissed this completely. However, after investigation by Weichen, it was found that there may be other members of the Xuanjia Army who were involved in the case. At present, The Xuanjia Legion follows the Emperor's decree and follows His Highness the Crown Prince to guard Luoyi. According to our military system of the Holy Tang Dynasty, the Guards are naturally the personal troops under your command. Therefore, if the minister wants to investigate the case in depth, he has to ask His Highness for instructions first. .”
Li Bing couldn't help being slightly stunned when he heard this: "Is this happening? Since we are investigating the assassination of Commander He, everyone should cooperate fully, and the Xuanjia Army is no exception. However, Shen Aiqing, what are you doing about this? You should follow the rules and visit me normally. Why do you have to break into the palace at night and disturb the guards as if they are facing a powerful enemy and have no peace?"
"Your Highness clearly knows," Shen Lie smiled faintly: "Assassinating a general of the imperial court is a crime of conspiracy to rebel. It involves a shocking case. I dare not deceive Your Highness. I arrived in Luoyi this evening. I originally planned to come to see you early tomorrow morning. However, Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the place where they settled, they were suddenly attacked by a large-scale attack by the Xuanjia Army. All of Wei Chen's men were either killed or injured, and Chen managed to escape from the encirclement by risking his life. With no other choice, he had to So I decided to flee into the imperial city and beg His Highness for protection."
Hearing what he said, Shan Tingxian beside him was shocked and shouted angrily: "You are spitting blood! We are not attacking you at all, but we are arresting the assassin in the White Horse Temple case!"
"Am I spitting blood?" Shen Lie sneered without giving in, "Didn't I just shout to you that I am Shen Lie from Dali Temple? Are the sword wounds all over my body fake?!"
Shan Tingxian became angry: "Asshole! You are talking nonsense..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard Li Bing slamming the desk and shouting: "Shut up! Stop being rude!"
The surrounding guards were furious when they saw Prince Long Yan, and subconsciously drew their swords out of their sheaths, making a clanging sound.
Shan Tingxianguan worshiped Huangmen Shilang. Those guards were originally his subordinates, but now they drew swords against him. He suddenly felt a little baffled. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and knelt down quickly: "Your Highness, please calm down. I really don't know the identity of Lord Shen. We were hunting for assassins at the time, and the conflict between the two parties was completely a misunderstanding."
Prince Li Bing did not respond at all, but stared coldly at Shen Dan.
Fortunately for Shen Lie, the situation in front of him at least showed that he made the right bet. But Shan Tingxian, who was kneeling on the ground, was uneasy and his heart was pounding.
He couldn't help but panic.
Lao Jianhua had made a judgment at the beginning that the White Horse Temple incident was a golden opportunity. It could not only destroy Murong Xue's image in the heart of the prince, but also use the incident as bait to catch the big boss of Nilin Division. fish.
With so many unexpected changes happening, it was impossible for Shen Lie not to come to Luoyi in person, both emotionally and rationally.
Therefore, he had set up a dead end tonight that would invite you to the urn early in the morning.
However, I never expected that Shen Lie would be very calm. The notice of the investigation of Murong Xue had already been reported to the world, but Lao Jianhua and the others waited and watched. As the days passed, they never saw any trace of Nilin Director Shi.
A few days ago, the dredging project of Jinhe main road was finally finalized. Li Bing appointed Lao Jianhua and Di Xian to accompany Grand Tutor Xie Guang to Bianzhou to supervise the preparations for the project. Lao Jianhua was thinking about Shen Lie and made excuses to delay for a few days. In the end, he couldn't wait any longer, so he left the city early this morning with Xie Guang and others.
No one expected that as soon as Lao Jianhua left in the morning, Shen Lie entered Luoyi in the evening.
Shan Tingxian, who was responsible for staying behind to guard the eastern capital, received reports from two secret sentries at the city gate and Murong Xue's residence almost at the same time, and immediately judged that Shen Lie had indeed entered the city. At this time it was too late to pursue Lao Jianhua. In desperation, he had no choice but to inform General Ye Rongcheng of the Xuanjia Army to launch a round-up operation according to the original plan.
However, Shan Tingxian failed to calculate that Shen Lie was more cunning than an old fox, and in desperation, he actually pulled out such a trick as "breaking into the imperial city at night and alarming the prince".
Shan Tingxian came from a rough and shabby background, and he was no stranger to fighting and killing, but when it came to court games, he was definitely a layman. The situation in front of him took a turn for the worse because of Shen Lie's nonsense, especially the specious description of "He Jingming's death was related to the Xuanjia Army", which forcibly linked the arrest of him tonight to a major court case. relationship.
No matter how you look at it, it looks like the Xuanjia Army chose a despicable trick of "killing people and silencing them" in order to cover up some "unspeakable" cases.
In this case, how could it not arouse the suspicion of Prince Li Bing?
