Quan, a simple word, explains the root of the chaos in this world.
From small gangs to large state agencies, the struggle for power has never stopped since ancient times.
The "stealing of the country" that is likely to happen or is happening now is because power has moved people's hearts and confused their eyes.
After all, as the "Nine Five Lords", the feeling of controlling the world is enough to make many people go crazy. Some people dare not go beyond the threshold, not because they don't want to, but because they don't dare to use their peaceful life as a bet to fight for that impossible glimmer of hope.
As the saying goes: "The emperor takes turns, come to my house next year!" As long as there is a chance, some people don't mind being the "bandits who steal the country"!
Today, there are indeed undercurrents surging within the Tang State. Li Zongsheng and others were clearly going to Jiangling City to perform a top-secret mission, but they were betrayed to the enemy.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, the betrayed deputy commander is not the key. How can he control the situation by himself?
There were problems with this mission from the beginning, and the problems lay with the top brass.
The current situation can be regarded as a nationwide campaign to defeat the Tang Dynasty. Between internal and external troubles, it makes people feel that the Tang Dynasty has begun to come to an end!
Putting aside the attacks from the Western Wilderness and the Northern Desert for the time being, the Southern Barbarians occupying the prosperous Jiangling was like a thorn in the Tang Dynasty's throat, making people eager to get rid of them quickly!
Moreover, there are many properties belonging to the ministers of the DPRK and China in Jiangling City. Now that they fall into the hands of the enemy, the losses to them will be huge. These people are always thinking about taking back Jiangling City as soon as possible, which will have a considerable impact on the war situation.
Fortunately, not everyone was unclear about the overall situation. After Li Zongsheng and others worked hard to convey the news, several teams sent troops and then launched an attack on the barbarians in Jiangling City.
Now that the racecourse was destroyed, the number of remaining war horses was limited, and it was difficult to replenish new war horses in a short period of time. During this time gap, the Tang Army naturally had a considerable advantage.
It's a pity that not everyone is so sober, or maybe they are not willing to be sober. At this time, they still have Xiao Jiujiu in their hearts and give priority to their own interests.
In this way, although it dealt a big blow to the barbarians in Jiangling City in a short period of time, the city was not broken. The reason was that the various departments were infighting and it was difficult to cooperate.
The opportunity that Li Zongsheng and others had finally fought for with their lives was wasted in vain!
Nowadays, although the barbarians have suffered a lot of losses, they still firmly control Jiangling City. Once the new war horses arrive, the Tang people have lost all opportunities.
However, Li Zongsheng has no way to do this. It is a miracle that he is still alive now, and he is unable to compete with the big guys behind the scenes.
However, he still couldn't help but feel disappointed and worried in his heart. If this continues, the foundation of the Tang Kingdom will be shaken, and it will really be destroyed by then!
…
In addition to investigating the true identity of the "thief of the country", Lin Yan is also paying attention to the movements of some forces.
Needless to say, the Xuantian Sect was easily listed as a key suspect by Lin Yan due to their tense relationship with the Tang State.
In fact, if it weren't for the subtlety of the situation in Chang'an at this time, Lin Yan would probably have faced Xuantian Sect.
In addition, there is another force that cannot be ignored, and that is - the academy!
Originally, the academy ignored the disputes in the Tang Dynasty and showed a detached attitude. But today's situation is changing rapidly, and it's time for the academy to take a stand!
On weekdays, the academy can naturally be aloof, but after all, the academy is the academy of the Tang Dynasty. Once there is a problem in the Tang Dynasty, the academy must express its stance!
The so-called "lips are dead and teeth are cold", although it is also one of the three religions, but unlike the other two religions, the academy itself does have a close relationship with the Tang Dynasty, and the fate of the Tang Dynasty will also have a great impact on the academy to a certain extent.
However, Lin Yan thought again and again, but did not rush into the academy recklessly. Putting aside whether the academy is willing to get involved in the current incident, just exposing his identity will cause a lot of trouble.
In fact, Lin Yan could understand with just a moment's thought that there must be an informant of the Xuantian Sect in this academy. If he was not careful, the enemy would spy on him. But now, it is not the time to reveal his identity.
There was a knock on the door, and Monk Chen and Guo Toad came in. The two of them had been sent out by Lin Yan to investigate around the residences of some high-ranking ministers.
Lin Yan said: "How is it?"
Monk Chen replied: "Sir, as expected, those ministers are all being targeted. We went to several of them one after another, and they were all like this!"
Lin Yan continued: "Who are those people who are following you?"
Guo Toad took the words and said: "They have clear goals and are well-trained. It is very likely that they come from the same force or organization."
"The monk and I tried to track some of them, trying to find some clues. Maybe we can find their lair and find out the instigators behind the scenes."
"However, although these people are not very strong, they are very vigilant. Even the two of us were almost discovered. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, we did not continue to track them!"
Lin Yan nodded, agreeing with Guo Toad's judgment.
Now, although it would be a great good thing to find some clues from these people, things obviously will not be so simple and successful, and the mastermind behind the scenes will not make such a low-level mistake, and others will find a breakthrough from the stalker.
Lin Yan had reason to believe that these stalkers should be a group of people with a relatively low status in the organization and should not have access to real secrets.
In other words, those responsible for tracking are a group of proper tool men. Even if they are caught, it will be useless!
Sometimes, it's not that these people don't want to recruit, but that they really can't do anything because they really don't have access to things that are too confidential.
Lin Yan thought for a while and then said: "Keep watching, but don't pay too much attention. Now we only need to know that there is such a force secretly monitoring Chang'an City, and that's enough!"
As for who was behind it, Lin Yan could not confirm it for a while. But these are not important. For Lin Yan, as long as Emperor Tang is not dead and he is rescued, all crises can be easily solved!
Since the other party chose to monitor the ministers of the DPRK, it means that his control at this time is not very strong. Otherwise, if he directly reveals his identity and forces these ministers to take sides, it will save a lot of trouble.
According to common sense, if the Tang Emperor dies or is controlled, the princes should be the ones who benefit the most. Because they can gradually put their personal power on the surface, euphemistically calling them loyal saviors, it is difficult for others to say anything.
If Emperor Tang really dies, then these princes can legitimately gradually take control of the court situation, but things may not be as simple as imagined.
Moreover, Lin Yan instinctively felt that something was not normal, because those princes were not fools, and they would not choose such a risky and inefficient course of action.
Royal people naturally have corresponding scheming and methods, which they need to learn since childhood.
At this time, a person's name suddenly appeared in Lin Yan's mind, that was the prince of Tang Dynasty! Oh no, it’s the former prince!
Although he had not personally witnessed the scene when the Eight Thousand White Clothes attacked Chang'an, he later learned what a disgraceful role the prince played in it.
Later, the crisis was resolved, but the prince was rescued by Xuantian Sect. This is a mystery!
Lin Yan was not an idealist. Since Xuantian Sect had gone to great lengths to rescue the prince, it was impossible to treat him as a decoration. He must have thought carefully and believed that they could play a different role.
And if the Emperor of Tang is really controlled by someone behind the scenes to pass on the crown prince, then the Xuantian Sect can obtain the Tang Kingdom without any effort.
After all, the prince's bloodline is pure. When the other princes are eliminated with the help of Xuantian Sect, the prince will have the right to speak alone!
The more Lin Yan thought about it, the more likely he felt that this matter was possible. Now if he wanted to truly understand something, he might have to go to Xuantian Sect!
After discussing with Ming Ya and others, Lin Yan no longer hesitated and moved towards Xuantian Sect after nightfall.
With Lin Yan's current level, it is not difficult to break through some peripheral defenses. What is really tricky is some of the inner things.
There must be many strong people in the opponent's base camp, and even the ancestors of Xuantian Sect are also on the mountain. No one knows how strong they are now!
Therefore, Lin Yan's infiltration was taking a huge risk. After all, the opponent was not a small sect, but one of the three sects, the leader of the Taoist sect!
This time Lin Yan went alone. After all, one more person meant more danger of exposure. The other people's realms were still far behind him, so it was better to be safe by himself.
The Xuantian Sect naturally has a sect-protecting formation, but it is not turned on all the time on weekdays. Because the energy consumed by such a large formation is not a small amount, no matter how wealthy Xuantian Sect is, it cannot afford such squandering, and will only be activated at critical moments.
Lin Yan was wearing night clothes, and the sect-protecting formation that could warn even if it was not fully activated, now showed no reaction at all, allowing Lin Yan to pass through.
At this moment, he seemed to be integrated with the surrounding environment, transforming into wild grass, trees, flowers, birds, fish and insects, becoming a part of nature.
This is a method in "Mo Jue", called "Tian Zhi". Its original intention is to perceive the personality of "Heaven", and then gradually move one's spirit closer to it, so as to achieve the effect of integrating with nature.
Lin Yan did not disappear, but distorted the perception of others, and did not feel that he was different from the surrounding environment, thus achieving a good hiding effect.
He was sneaking all the way, and before he knew it, he was halfway up the Xuantian Peak...
