At night, not long after the drumming stopped, a gorgeous carriage stopped at the gate of the Prince's Villa of the Ten Princes.
The curtain was pulled up, and several beauties in palace attire slowly got out of the carriage.
Li Jingzhong hurriedly came out, bowed slightly, and welcomed them in.
The thin moonlight shone in the courtyard, the corridor was silent, and only a few rooms were lit with candles.
When the beauties who had just arrived saw this, they couldn't help but be a little scared. Their beautiful eyebrows were slightly frowned, showing pitiful postures. Even the eunuch Li Jingzhong found them very touching when he saw them.
"You wait here."
"Here."
After settling the beauty, Li Jingzhong hurried to the hall and saw Prince Li Heng sitting by the candlelight drinking alone.
The candlelight was not very bright, but the white hair on the half head was somewhat obvious.
"Your Highness, what a happy event!" Li Jingzhong hurriedly saluted and said, "The saint took pity on His Highness's loneliness, and just gave His Highness five beauties."
Li Heng put down his wine glass and stood up slightly.
When he first heard about it, he was quite moved.
But only for a moment, he sat down again, restrained the slightest movement, and shook his head.
"Your Highness?" Li Jingzhong asked doubtfully, "Aren't you going to take a look?"
Li Heng waved his hand and sighed slightly.
"Don't read it. Reading it will only increase your worries. Send it back."
"Your Highness, it's okay." Li Jingzhong reminded in a low voice: "Your Highness is indeed too lonely around you. This is the kindness of the saint, so it's okay to accept it."
Li Heng poured himself a glass of wine, drank it slowly, and said in a low voice: "Since it is rare for a saint to have mercy, how can I be satisfied with just five beauties?"
The wind blew and the candlelight in the hall swayed slightly.
Both of them were startled, and nervously turned their heads to look at the door. When they saw no one coming, they felt relieved.
Li Heng waved, and Li Jingzhong quickly followed him.
"I heard that the Zhang family intends to marry a daughter, so there's no need to lose a big thing for a small thing..."
Li Jingzhong was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately understood.
The sage's cousin Zhang Queyi had a daughter who could speak eloquently since childhood and was loved by the sage. If she could get married to the Zhang family, it would be beneficial to the crown prince's position, and she would be as good as the Wei and Du families.
"Your Highness is wise."
"Go ahead."
"Here."
Soon, Li Jingzhong's figure disappeared from the corridor, and he must have sent those beauties away soon.
Li Heng sighed again, sipping the bad wine in the glass and muttering silently to himself.
"It doesn't matter, it will happen sooner or later... When you get divorced one day, I will give you a hundred."
~~
After a while, Li Jingzhong rushed back to the hall, but his expression was different from before.
He walked hastily, knelt down in front of Li Heng, and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, it's not good. The chess piece of Zuo Jinwu Guard was pecked out by Suo Dou Cock."
The wine glass that was just picked up was shaken, and the wine spilled all over Li Heng's lapel.
"How is that possible? He is always careful when doing things."
"The news that just came... is Xue Bai. Xue Bai went to see him today. He didn't dare to take any action. He didn't dare to send the message until the curfew."
"Immediately tell us to go down and have all our people go into hiding, and the contact with the west is temporarily cut off."
"Old slave, let's do it now."
"Also, Jiang Hai must calm down."
"Here, old slave, don't worry."
Li Jingzhong hurried out.
~~
In Daozhengfang, next to Qingmen Winery, there is a house with bright lights.
The hall is covered with soft carpets and three orchids are dancing.
They have high eyebrows and deep eyes, long wavy hair, half-exposed breasts and slender waists exposed under the red gauze. They are barefoot, standing on tiptoes, and their fingernails are painted red with flower juice, which makes their skin look more beautiful. Appear fair.
"Damn it."
The man who was leaning on the couch and drinking cursed and said: "I spin around in circles every day, I spin around in circles every day, it makes your grandpa's eyes dazzled."
There were more than ten people drinking with him, and they all laughed.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I don't want to! Even though he is a tough guy, his body is weak from working every day. Can't he go out for some fresh air?"
"As I said, Jiang Dalang has been taken away, and he will be more stable recently."
"I don't want to be stable? But I came to Chang'an because I want to be a general one day, buy a big house, and make a prosperous future for my children and grandchildren. I don't want to drink with you stinking idiots day and night."
"Who said you don't have great ambitions? Be patient, and sooner or later you will be as successful as Suo Dou Cock."
"I think Tuoba is right!" Jiang Hai came out of the back hall and said, "I am bored in this house every day. I might as well rescue my brother and go to Longyou to join General Wang!"
"Mom, please give me some peace of mind."
"Jiang Sanlang, it stands to reason that you should have been prepared to die in battle, but you are still alive after being taken. What do you mean?"
"What did you say?!"
"Don't make any noise. It makes me feel anxious. Watch dancing, watch dancing, and drink."
"Ahem."
Suddenly, someone came striding in from the front yard, coughing, and said solemnly: "The person who asked for the cockfight was traced to Lao Wu."
"Then who will bring us wine? I'm tired of seeing these Orchids."
Everyone burst into laughter.
People who lick blood with the blade of a knife have a sense of indifference in everything they encounter.
"Shut up, I'm not joking with you! Tuoba, do you remember the boy we buried alive? The one who was marinated in the big water tank with the girls."
"Um."
"We haven't dealt with it properly. He has now taken refuge in Suo Dou Chong and is trying to bite us. Jiang Sanlang, he was the one who found you brothers."
"How to say it?"
There was a cold light flashing in the candlelight, and a dagger was pulled out.
"Want us to go there again? Make it clean."
"Damn it! If you make a mistake, you have to admit it and hide in your waistband for a while! If you still want to be clean, I will clean you first."
suddenly.
There was a knock on the front yard.
"Boom, boom, boom."
All the big men immediately fell silent.
"Who?"
The old servant's shout rang out in the yard.
"Jinwu Guard patrols the streets! Open the door!"
"..."
The creaking of the door opened into the hall.
Jiang Hai had taken out the crossbow from the back hall, placed it on the window hinge, and looked out through the small slit of the window.
Across the entire yard, the light of lanterns shone in through the gate.
Several armored Jinwu guards were standing outside the door, and there was also a young man standing among them with a maid in fine clothes.
Jiang Hai squinted his eyes and recognized the other party.
That was Xue Bai who they said was buried alive but survived. Jiang Mao was also present on the day he was taken.
The angle of the crossbow was slightly adjusted and pointed at Xue Bai.
The armored Jinwu Guard moved, took two steps forward, and stood in the courtyard looking around.
"There are snitches in the streets tonight, and the Jinwu Guards are searching! Whose yard is this?"
Jiang Hai then sneered.
Sure enough, the old servant stepped forward calmly and said, "My Alang's surname is Wang. He is a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs."
~~
"excuse me."
Guo Qianli forced a smile on his face, nodded to the old servant guarding the courtyard, and led the people outside.
"Let's go to the next one."
"Who is Wang Welding?" Xue Bai asked.
He always felt a little strange tonight, and finally urged Guo Qianli to follow the path Wu Kangcheng took during his night patrol, knocking on doors at every house to inquire and register, hoping to find some clues.
"You don't know Wang Welding, but do you know Wang Fei?"
"Have you heard of it?" Xue Bai recalled some of the names he heard before going to Dali Temple that day, and said, "Is he also the right prime minister?"
Guo Qianli nodded, stretched out a hand, and counted while saying: "Hebian envoy, Changchun Palace envoy, Hukou color service envoy, supervisory censor, Gyeonggi Pass interview deposed envoy... In short, Wang He held more than ten positions, including He is the right-hand man of the right prime minister, a popular figure in front of saints, and his brother’s villa is not something we can check. It is also impossible for the prince’s dead soldiers to be hidden in it.”
Xue Bai couldn't help but look back, thinking that the prince's dead soldiers might be hidden in Li Linfu's mother's villa, why couldn't they be hidden in Wang Fei's brother's villa?
Of course, this was just one of the many houses he visited tonight, and all he could do was write them down one by one.
~~
"gone."
In the lobby of the house, Jiang Hai turned around and saw a group of big men still drinking.
No one took the Jin Wu Guards seriously and calmly put away the Mo Dao and daggers in their hands.
"There are only a few armored ones in total. They're lucky they didn't come in."
"Ha, the old one, Jinwu Guard Guo Qianli, was also a veteran of Longyou. He couldn't speak. He was demoted to Jinwu Guard and took refuge in Suo Douji."
"Whoever he is, if he dares to come in, I'll chop him up."
Jiang Hai smiled, but he was actually a little eager for those Jin Wu guards to come in.
Ever since he started working with Dong Gong, he always felt overwhelmed and panicked, making him want to kill something.
~~
Xue Bai walked up to the fire watch tower again, glanced at the squares in the northeast corner of Chang'an City, lowered his head and wrote on the paper in his hand to complete the map.
When he does these things, he often forgets about loyalty and traitor, and just accepts the documents from the prime minister of the empire and does things normally.
Compared with other perfunctory people, he is much more serious.
He believed in his own judgment. Wu Kangcheng probably used his position as the Jinwu Guard Street Envoy to contact Longyou veterans for the East Palace, and sent a message to the East Palace in some way tonight.
"After walking around, I woke up from the wine." Guo Qianli yawned and said, "Is Xue Langjun really right? There is no evidence to prove that Wu Kangcheng is related to the Jiang brothers."
"Bold assumptions, careful verification." Xue Bai said: "It doesn't matter, we will investigate slowly."
Guo Qianli sighed and said: "I thought I could make a contribution in front of the right minister... Where does Xue Langjun live? I will send someone to take you back."
"Shengpingfang."
"Then I'll take you back. I'll live in the training center."
"Thank you very much."
After walking down the fire-watching tower, Xue Bai turned around and took a look. If he realized something, he took out a pen and paper and drew a stroke on his paper.
~~
"Huh? What is this? A map?"
At noon the next day, Du Wulang walked into Xue Bai's room and quickly saw the notes he put on his bedside.
"The results found last night." Xue Bai replied in a daze before he woke up.
"You don't have to hand it over to the right minister?"
"The right minister is not in a hurry to persecute the prince, so why are you in a hurry?"
"I'm anxious?" Du Wulang said: "I'm in a hurry, but what should I do? The prince has killed you and Qinglan and made a grudge. And if this matter is not resolved, the right minister will always force you to do it. .”
"Then you are mistaken." Xue Bai yawned and said, "I have told you before that this is a power struggle, not a pursuit of right and wrong."
"what for?"
"The struggle for power is about bargaining chips and interests, not results, so there is no rush."
Xue Bai responded casually, stood up, took his notes back from Du Wulang's hand, took a look at them, and put them away.
"Huh."
Du Wulang seemed to understand a little better and asked in a low voice: "Did you find something and deliberately didn't show it to the Prime Minister?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Wasn't I thinking about what you told me?"
Xue Bai shook his head and smiled bitterly, not knowing whether it was good or bad to teach Du Wulang these things.
"Hey, get up, it's already noon." Du Wulang said, "I want to see you."
"Really?" Xue Bai looked at the sky and asked doubtfully, "Did he go out in the morning?"
"No, but we have visitors."
"who?"
"In short, he is from Jingzhao Du family."
Xue Bai nodded. For some reason, he thought of Du Hope, the governor of Shanzhou who had defeated Tubo whom he heard about a few days ago.
He checked Longyou recently and realized one thing——
The evidence that Li Linfu couldn't catch Dong Gong was not because Dong Gong was really powerless. On the contrary, it was because Dong Gong's network of relationships was too deep and wide, so he could cover each other and hide everything.
Only the ones he knows so far include the Jingzhao Wei family, Jingzhao Du family, Taiyuan Wang family, Anding Huangfu family, Hedong Xue family...
