It's just that Li Hao had already thought of a reason on the way over, so at least Lou Niu didn't notice anything was wrong for a while.
Of course, Lou Niu did not give up his suspicion, but instead focused on his subordinates, hoping to use this to determine Li Hao's whereabouts along the way.
After all, there are some things that Li Hao himself and the main leaders can hide, but it is too difficult for the soldiers below to hide them too.
However, Li Hao was naturally on guard against this. Anyway, the whereabouts he fabricated were basically based on reality. Even if Lou Niu went to inquire, he wouldn't be able to find out much.
Moreover, Li Hao himself was not afraid of Lou Niu becoming suspicious, since he had already entered the city anyway.
In this case, it's not that Li Hao looks down on Lou Niu, but that in fact Lou Niu has no chance of making a comeback.
Previously, I was worried that Ling Buyu would be caught off guard by Lou Niu's scheme. In fact, when it came to his ability to lead troops in battle, Lou Niu was still far behind.
After arriving at the county government, Li Hao met Ling Buyi and Cui You, and was then asked the reason for coming.
Li Hao explained: "It's like this. The prince will be arriving soon, so he sent me to check the situation and choose the corresponding place to stay.
As a result, just halfway through the journey, I heard the news that Tongniu County had been captured by Ma Rong, so I brought my troops over.
Originally, I was thinking that Tongniu County would be strong and easy to defend, and I was worried about this. Then I received the news that Mr. Lou had taken back the city single-handedly. "
After saying that, he said to Lou Niu again: "Here I have to congratulate Mr. Lou Niu. You have made such a great contribution this time. When the prince gets the news, he will definitely help you ask for credit from your majesty. After all, you are also Lou Niu. He is the nephew of the Taifu family."
Upon hearing Li Hao's compliment, Lou Niu's originally smiling face suddenly became a little ugly, but he recovered quickly.
He said aloud: "General Yuan is over-praising me. I just did some decent things and I don't deserve such praise."
After saying that, he left first because he had to deal with official business, leaving the place for Li Hao and Ling Buji to talk.
But this is a legitimate reason. There is no county magistrate in Tongniu County now, and the county magistrate is also imprisoned in the county government office. There is only one county captain working outside, and he is injured.
Therefore, after Lou Niu entered the city, he took over the responsibility of handling official affairs by virtue of his contribution to persuading Ma Rong to surrender.
Of course, after Ling Buyi and Li Hao arrived, they naturally had the power to take over directly, but neither of them had any intention of doing so.
Just after Lou Niu left, Ling Buyi suddenly asked the two brothers Liang Qiu to go out and guard the door, and then said, "Is there anything wrong with Lou Niu's persuasion to surrender Ma Rong?"
Hearing this, Li Hao thought that Ling Buyi had seen something. After all, this guy was still smart, so he asked, "Oh, what problem did you see?"
Unexpectedly, Ling Buyi shook his head and said: "I didn't see anything from Lou Niu, but your attitude today is obviously wrong. There is no way you don't know the relationship between Lou Niu and Taifu Lou.
But since you know it, why did you say this just now? As far as your city is concerned, I don't think this is a momentary oversight. "
Seeing that Ling Buyi judged the problem this way, Li Hao was helpless, but anyway, Li Hao had no intention of hiding it from him and Cui You.
"I think Lou Niu has already told you about Yan Zhong and Cheng Shi. Now they are being placed in a safe place by me.
Moreover, when my people encountered them, they were being surrounded and killed, and the leader was Ma Rong. "
When Ling Buyi and Cui You heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other in shock. Cui You said with emotion: "It seems that Mr. Lou suppressed the person too hard and actually forced him to do something in order to get ahead." Such an audacious thing.”
"No matter what the purpose is, since he dares to do such a thing, he should think of the consequences if it fails." Ling Buyi commented, and then asked Li Hao: "Then what are you going to do next? , just relying on the words of Yan Zhong and Cheng Shide is probably not enough to convict Lou Niu of offending him."
Li Hao did not answer after hearing this, but asked: "Oh, that's the case,
How come Zicheng believes in me so much and thinks what I say is true? "
Ling Buyi stared at Li Hao twice and did not answer the question. He just said: "Now that Shouchun has not been captured yet, I don't have much time to stay here. Can your soldiers control the situation alone?"
Seeing that Ling Buyi directly changed the subject, Li Hao did not ask any more questions. After all, Li Hao also believed that Ling Buyi believed that it was normal for him to believe in himself more, whether it was from a close relationship or based on realistic considerations.
He just replied: "You can rest assured about this. Lou Niu is really smart and has never been on the battlefield. If I can still stumble against such a person, it will be a wonder in the world."
But now His Highness the Crown Prince is on his way here. If you wait for two more days and see the Crown Prince before leaving, Peng Kun's defeat has been decided anyway, so there is no need for you to be so anxious. "
Ling Buyi replied: "After all, it's more reassuring to keep an eye on you. If I had known you were keeping an eye on this matter before, I wouldn't have come over.
I will lead the team to leave early tomorrow morning, and I will leave the affairs here to you, but remember to keep the noise down so as not to affect the situation of the battle. "
Li Hao naturally agreed directly to this. After all, Li Hao himself had no intention of starting a war, otherwise he would not have let the prince come over, but would have dealt with it himself.
However, there is actually a benefit for the prince to come. Let him personally hear the accusation against Taifu Lou from Lou Niu. I think the impact on the prince will be much better than if Li Hao forwarded it.
As for whether Lou Niu would be so cooperative, Li Hao was confident, because after this incident, his own future was ruined.
Under such circumstances, in order to ensure Lou Yao's future, he would also take the initiative to find a way to bury Taifu Lou with him, so that he would no longer be suppressed by Taifu Lou.
Of course, before that, one must first completely break Lou Niu's illusions and verify this case, and this is not difficult for Li Hao. After all, Li Hao has opened his eyes on this matter.
There are two breakthroughs in this matter. One is the county magistrate Li Feng. Since this guy wants to cooperate with Lou Niu and Ma Rong, he must know the inside story.
It's just that Lou Niu may not let him live, and he can start faster than Li Hao, because the prison itself is now under his control.
Furthermore, for a damned person like Li Feng who was full of bad intentions, Li Hao actually had no intention of saving him, so he took it as a backup option, taking it if he could, and forgetting if he couldn't.
What Li Hao mainly wanted to seize was another breakthrough, which was his correspondence with Ma Rong and Yan Zhong. Most people have not developed the good habit of destroying letters after reading them.
Of course, Ma Rong's main purpose is to guard against Lou Niu. After all, this guy is someone who pushes his close friends who believe in him to a dead end just to achieve his goal.
If Ma Rong was completely defenseless against this kind of person, he would be a fool.
Early the next morning, Ling Buyi led his troops to leave Tongniu County, and Li Hao and Lou Niu went to see each other off outside the city.
On the way back to the county government office, Li Hao took the initiative to mention to Lou Niu that the prince came to Tongniu County to stay, and discussed with him how to receive him.
After hearing this, Lou Niu had doubts and asked: "Tongniu County has just experienced Ma Rong's incident. There are still many soldiers under Ma Rong's command in the city. If the prince comes here at this time, I am worried that something will happen to the prince." If you are disturbed, what should you do?"
Li Hao replied: "Now that Tongniu County has returned to its former glory under the governance of Mr. Lou, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince still has the imperial army with him, when the time comes, Ma Rong's subordinates will directly move to the outside of the city. The Yulin Army and the others looked at it and saw that nothing could go wrong.
It just so happens that we can take this opportunity to replace the city defense guards. Although I believe that the soldiers will not cause trouble under the leadership of Mr. Lou, it is not appropriate to let them take charge of the city defense, Mr. Lou thinks. "
What could Lou Niu say to this, so he could only reply: "General Yuan is right, so I will make arrangements to clear out the county government offices first so that His Highness the Crown Prince can stay."
Li Hao heard this and smiled and said: "Then I'll trouble Mr. Yuan. I just happen to send some people to help. After all, some specific defense work still needs to be arranged by specialized people."
Lou Niu replied: "
This is as it should be. The prince's safety is the most important, and these servants under me are indeed not capable of doing this job. "
After confirming the matter, Li Hao returned to the camp and began to dispatch troops into the city. Not only was he responsible for protection, but he also took the opportunity to find the letters hidden by Ma Rong.
Because we have learned from those details that were placed in the city earlier, Ma Rong spent most of his time in the county government after entering the city.
Therefore, it is most likely that the place where he hid the things is in the county government office. After all, he would not leave such important things to others.
Of course, Li Hao also had people look for him secretly in other places, but because of the special nature of the county government, he needed to find an additional excuse.
Lou Niu was not completely without doubts about this matter, but the prince's arrival was beyond his control, and as long as the prince came, his county government would have to step aside.
After all, there is no royal residence in Tongniu County, so the prince cannot be allowed to live in a private residence. That would be unreasonable.
But it's not true that Lou Niu can't be stopped at all. As long as he dares to go out and secretly encourage the soldiers and horses in the city to mutiny, the prince may not come to take risks.
But thinking of Li Hao who was in the city, Lou Niu gave up the idea. After all, doing such a thing under Li Hao's nose was too risky, and more mistakes would be made.
Therefore, in the end Lou Niu was just the one who let people keep an eye on Li Hao secretly to see if they could discover anything.
But Lou Niu didn't understand that the people Li Hao could send out had spent several years carefully cultivating them. There was no place where the rangers he was looking for could see and live.
Within two days, they found the hidden compartment in the county government office, retrieved the letters collected by Ma Rong, and delivered them to Li Hao.
After getting this, Lou Niu's fate was decided. However, Li Hao did not attack in time. Instead, he was waiting for the prince to arrive, and secretly sent a message to Yuan Wo to take Cheng Shi and Yan Zhong to meet the prince. , came to Tongniu County together.
Anyway, the prince was accompanied by many soldiers and horses, so it was extremely easy to hide these two people without letting outsiders discover them.
In addition, the capital also sent people to stare at the bronze mirror that Lou Niu had carved for Wang Yanji. After all, Li Hao had not forgotten that Lou Niu was versatile, so these letters were written in a different font that he was used to. .
Therefore, he needed to compare it with a bronze mirror engraved with different fonts to confirm that the letter was written by Lou Niu himself.
The night before the prince's arrival, Li Hao sent someone to invite Lou Niu, saying that he had something to discuss with him.
Lou Niu arrived as promised, only to find Li Haozheng sitting alone in the middle, with two people who looked like guards standing next to him, and not even a maid around him.
Immediately, he felt a little uneasy in his heart, especially after getting close, he looked at the figure of one of the guards, and he looked more and more familiar, but suddenly he couldn't remember where he saw it, and this uneasiness was even more intensified.
However, Lou Niu's psychological quality was still good. He suppressed all this in his heart, sat down with a normal face, and asked: "I wonder what General Yuan has to say when he came to me today."
Li Hao was not trying to sell things at this time, and said directly: "It's nothing, I just want Mr. Lou to know the situation and make the right choice."
After saying that, he motioned to Yuan Wo and asked him to show the things to Lou Niu. Yuan Wo took out a letter from the box in his hand and handed it to Lou Niu.
Lou Niu looked at this familiar person, took the letter with full of doubts, and immediately froze.
Because this is exactly the letter he wrote to Yan Zhong. The content of the letter is to persuade him to take the fine copper and family scrolls out of the city, and it even involves the specific time and place.
At this point, Lou Niu also remembered why he looked familiar to Yuan Wo, because he had indeed seen this man before, and he was the one who rescued Yan Zhong in the first place.
But even so, Lou Niu still took a chance and said, "I don't quite understand what General Yuan wanted to say when he showed me this letter."
Li Hao laughed when he heard this and said: "Master Lou, this is wrong. At this time, if you continue to pretend to be Hu Tu, you will be looking down on me."
"I really don't understand what General Yuan is talking about.
How dare I pretend to be Hu Tu in front of you? Lou Niu replied.
Li Hao shook his head and said, "It is true that the handwriting used on this letter is not your usual handwriting, but I heard that on the token of love you gave to your wife, you personally engraved a poem in a different handwriting.
Do you think the handwriting on this letter is the same as the handwriting on the bronze mirror? I have sent people back to the capital to look for the bronze mirror. I believe it will be clear after comparison. "
At this point, the luck in Lou Niu's heart was completely broken, and he couldn't help but feel infinite sadness.
Because the splendid future he had worked so hard to plan for himself finally came to nothing, and there was no room for improvement from now on.
But soon Lou Niu collected his thoughts and asked aloud: "I think General Yuan has found these evidences for a long time, but it was not until the prince came that he specifically asked me to tell him. There must be something he wants me to do."
Lou Niu was really smart, and he quickly noticed Li Hao's intentions.
