The Grandmaster Strategist - Chapter 149

[Chapter 20 Shocking news about Missing]

Putting down the information in his hand, Li Kang looked at Huo Yi with satisfaction. Although this ordinary young man with an ordinary appearance and a simple and honest demeanor seemed to be an honest man without any scheming, who would have thought that he was one of the best figures in the Splendid League these days. Following Li Kang’s side, he did a lot of things for Li Kang, and eliminated many officials who were inclined to the court. Although he was still a little wary of the Splendid League, Li Kang had already trusted Huo Yi quite a bit.

Huo Yi, or should be Bai Yi, stood at the bottom respectfully, and when he saw that Li Kang had read the information, he said: “His Royal Highness, this subordinate has received the news, Xiahou Yuanfeng may have reached the exit, these days, Your Highness, Intercepted the imperial envoys and documents, and blocked the road leading to Dongchuan on the grounds that there were thieves infested. Although there were no flaws on the surface, the Dayong court was busy fighting against the Northern Han, and could not help but slack on Dongchuan. Li Zhi and his courtiers are not idle people. They have already discovered the clue. If they don’t want to force against the prince at this time, I am afraid that the Yong army has already entered Sichuan. However, Xiahou Yuanfeng has already taken action in person, and the Japanese alliance is outside the separation of customs. We have captured more than a dozen secret spies of Mingjian Division, and I don’t know when the prince is going to do it.

Li Kang smiled and said: “You don’t have to worry, Li Zhi doesn’t dare to turn against me now, and although I have a pattern of self-respect, but in Li Zhi’s opinion, I’m just fighting for power at most, who would think of me Would a dignified Prince Dayong deliberately split Dayong into pieces? So the court must try to appease him as much as possible. Li Zhi issued several edicts in a row to praise this king. Didn’t he just want to let this king blatantly oppose the court? He wanted to wait until it was over. After the Northern Han Dynasty, he came to deal with me with a great victory over Yu Wei. Would it be strange if Xiahou Yuanfeng did not come to this king? But now the time has not come, Li Xian was defeated at the beginning, and his strength has not been greatly damaged. With Long Tingfei’s ability , and it occupies a favorable location and people, it will definitely make Li Xian suffer a fiasco, and it will not be too late for me to take action until then.”

Huo Yi said hesitantly: “But it is the King of Qi Li Xian who is fighting against the Northern Han. He is one of the most famous generals in the world, and he is assisted by Jiangzhe, the Marquis of Chu Township. What if the Northern Han is defeated?”

Li Kang shook his head and said: “No matter how smart Jiang Zhe is, Long Tingfei is unstoppable. As long as one city and one city retreat, they can tie the King of Qi. If the battle is over for a long time, I will bribe the ministers of the DPRK and China. Jin Yan, accusing King Qi of emptying his troops, and having internal and external troubles at that time, can’t say that Li Zhi will be devastated. Even if Dayong and Nan Chu have recently reached a peace agreement, at that time, even Shang Weijun will fall into trouble even if he is an idiot. Actually, if I were Li Zhi, the most important thing was The goal is not to attack the Northern Han, but to stabilize Dongchuan first, and to fight against the outside, we must first settle the inside, this is the truth.”

Huo Yi thought to himself: “Perhaps the Dayong court was forced to do so, but now Nan Chu is watching, although the prince has objections, but it is not obvious, Li Zhi must have hoped to pacify the northern Han first with lightning speed, and then he can calm down. They have dealt with us, but they did not expect that the Northern Han army, which had suffered a great defeat in Zezhou, would still have such fighting power.”

Li Kang nodded and said, “You guys are careful, the timing of our launch is very important. By the way, we have set up a lot of ambush outside the scattered customs, and we must not let the spies of Mingjian Division sneak into Dongchuan.”

Huo Yi said confidently: “Don’t worry, Your Highness, the guardian horse of this alliance will be in charge of himself, and he will never let Mingjian succeed.” Li Kang nodded slightly with a smile. He also has his own confidants. Killing or capturing many secret agents of the imperial court, the methods are very cruel and fierce, and the loss is not small, which shows the sincerity and loyalty of the Splendid Alliance.

After retiring, he walked outside the hall, and Huo Yi’s mouth showed a faint smile. There were two young people waiting for him outside, one gentle and elegant, the other brave and sturdy, both of them were twenty-five or six-year-old. It was Shangguan Yan and Xiong Bao. Their expressions were very indifferent. A few days ago, after they were reprimanded, they followed Huo Yi into the Qing Palace in the name of committing crimes and making meritorious deeds. Although they were intimidated by lewdness, these two young people were very respectful to Huo Yi. ,

Don’t dare to offend at all, after all, Huo Yi is Huo Jicheng’s righteous son, Chen Zhen’s confidant, and their elders and family are still in the hands of the Splendid Alliance, but the repulsion in their hearts has increased unabated, even if Huo Yi has always been polite to them, it has changed. not their mood.

Seeing their expressions, Huo Yi sighed slightly in his heart, just pretended not to see it, and instructed: “Send a letter to Hufa Ma, strengthen the monitoring of Sanguan, and never allow a Dayong secret spy to infiltrate Dongchuan.”

Ma Cheng, the head of the Jinxiu Alliance who was in charge of intercepting the secret agents of Mingjian Division outside the Sanguan, was in his 40s this year, and he was a stalwart who was eager to restore the country. Yong hatred deeply, and the people handed over to him are also some of the best players in the Jinxiu Alliance. Of course, these people all have one characteristic, that is, they are very keen to fight against Dayong, because the Jinxiu Alliance has kept a low profile in the past few years and was quite dissatisfied. Letting them shoot this time is like a tiger coming out of the cage, so they have achieved remarkable results during this time.

Although two people in Sanguan also participated in this operation, they did not achieve any success. One of them was Gu Ying, the only son of Gu Ning, the guardian of the Splendid Union. A few days ago, Huo Jicheng, the leader of the Splendid Union, decided to cooperate with King Qing. Gu Ning Because Huo Jicheng was angered, he was stripped of only a few powers left, and everyone in the Jinxiu Alliance once again saw the powerful method of the alliance leader to eliminate dissidents.

Gu Ning was worried about his situation, so he asked his friend Ma Cheng to take care of his only son. Although Ma Cheng was not Huo Jicheng’s direct descendant, he was always more valued by Huo Jicheng and Chen Zhen. With him protecting Gu Ying, Gu Ning could feel relieved.

And Ma became Gu Ying’s safety. Even if he took up such an important task, he still brought Gu Ying away, but he was not allowed to take action. After all, although Gu Ying was good at martial arts, he was only seventeen years old.

So Gu Ying could only watch others do it.

The other person was different. His name was Luo Jianfei, and he was Chen Zhen’s confidant.

Speaking of which, since Chen Zhen was in charge of the daily affairs of the Splendid Alliance, most of the elders in the alliance have lost their power. Now Chen Zhen’s most used sons are Huo Yi and Huo Shan, the adopted sons of the alliance leader.

Huo Yi is shrewd and capable, strong in martial arts, Huo Shan is proficient in government news, and is the best at arranging ambushes. Although these two are young, they are powerful and decisive in killing. Everyone in the alliance is in awe.

It is said that the leader of the alliance also has a adopted son, Huo Li, who once made great contributions, but has now disappeared. There are rumors that he has died young, but no one dares to hold him accountable.

In addition, Chen Zhen has a mysterious guard next to him. This guard is composed of some guards of similar age. Each guard is a good man with both civil and military skills. Their number is uncertain and their whereabouts are secret. I am afraid that no one can get them except Chen Zhen. Knowing their strength and organization, once a major event happens in the alliance, these guards are often the ones in charge, so no one dares to despise them.

There have long been rumors in the alliance that these guards are about the same age as Huo Yi and Huo Shan, and they have similar bearing. I am afraid that they were all trained by Huo Jicheng himself. is one of them.

Luo Jianfei is a well-known guardian of the allies of the Splendid Alliance. He has participated in important affairs many times, and has cooperated with Ma Cheng many times. This man is handsome in appearance, but he is cruel and ruthless. Where he appears, blood is often poured into rivers. The enemy is ruthless, even for his own people. Except for Chen Zhen’s, he will never obey anyone else’s orders. Even Huo Yi and Huo Shan don’t dare to command him casually. His ruthless means.

Ma Cheng faintly knew that he had Chen Zhen’s secret order in his hand and could take over his power at any time, so he treated him as a supervisor, and he didn’t dare to offend him at all. At night, he would walk outside alone with his sword. When he came back several times, he was full of blood and even had scars, but no one saw his captives, not even a single head. Know how his victories are.

After all, it was not an easy task to know that the Jinxiu Alliance had set up a defense line to intercept the secret spies who came out.

If the day is good, as long as you send eyeliners to pay attention at high places, you can find their whereabouts, and use various means to send messages to inform the masters of the alliance to kill them.

If it was at night and the line of sight was not wide, they could only send experts to stand by and wait on some important roads. Anyway, there was a line of defense behind them. Even if those secret agents passed this level, it would not be so easy for them to sneak into Dongchuan.

However, most of the people who participated in the hunt at night were in groups of several people, and only Luo Jianfei liked to be alone.

That night, the moon was dark and the stars were sinking. Gu Ying quietly left the camp and followed Luo Jianfei to see what he was doing at night.

He knew that his martial arts skills were not as good as Luo Jianfei’s, so he followed from a distance. Fortunately, Luo Jianfei didn’t deliberately hide his figure, so Gu Ying actually followed Luo Jianfei all the way to a valley.

This valley is a small road from Sanguan to Dongchuan. Because the road is rough, there are few pedestrians, but it is the main road for secret spies.

If it is daytime, you can overlook the valley from the cliff, and no one can hide. If it is night, it is pitch black and you can’t see anything. There is no suitable hiding place in the valley, so it is not a suitable place to intercept. Gu Ying felt strange in her heart. , Why did Luo Jianfei choose this place, doubts grew.

Under his watchful eyes, Luo Jianfei climbed the cliffs on both sides, and had no intention of staying in the valley to lurk and wait for the opportunity to hunt.

Gu Ying hesitated for a while, and followed him up the cliff in secret. On the top of the cliff was a bamboo forest. The bamboo forest surrounded a dilapidated mountain temple. Behind the mountain temple was a flat boulder protruding from the cliff. Gu Ying knew the terrain here. He followed Ma Cheng to visit here.

Seeing that the fire was lit up in the ruined temple from a distance, and disappeared in the darkness, Gu Ying knew that Luo Jianfei had lit a bonfire, and then closed the temple door to block the leaking fire.

Then he dared to dive up the cliff and circled behind the ruined temple to see if there was a chance to enter, but he would not be seen by Luo Jianfei.

Although the moonlight was dim, Gu Ying could still vaguely see the scene in front of him. After a while, he noticed that there seemed to be a big hole in the wall behind a clump of grass in the corner. Let him dig in, he slid in lightly, there was darkness in front of him, and no fire light could be seen. According to the location, he could roughly guess that it was an offering table for the mountain god. Jinman still hasn’t been stolen.

Curled up in a small space, Gu Ying didn’t dare to move.

In fact, Luo Jianfei’s martial arts are strong, so he wouldn’t have been so unprepared. He didn’t find out on the road. It was because Gu Ying was careful, and he was eager to meet people, so he didn’t pay attention. After all, no one in the Splendid League has the courage to target him. Would you have thought that Gu Ying would be a new born calf and not afraid of tigers?

After he entered the ruined temple, he was busy lighting the bonfire and cleaning the hall. When Gu Ying sneaked under the offering table, it was Luo Jian flying out to find dry wood, so by accident, Gu Ying sneaked to this place. .

Although Gu Ying was young, his martial arts was a true inheritance from his family. Although Luo Jianfei was highly skilled in martial arts, he was still a first-rate person, and he couldn’t see clearly, so he didn’t find out about Gu Ying’s existence.

Gently showing a small crack in the cloth curtain, Gu Ying carefully looked at the blazing fire and the black-clothed boy with a gloomy and cold face.

Luo Jianfei was sitting cross-legged by the fire, closing his eyes and resting. Although he was young and handsome, his gloomy expression and the faint murderous aura all over his body filled him with a deterrent force. With an ordinary handsome face, it gives the impression that he will disappear into the darkness dispelled by the fire at any time.

Gu Ying remembered that Ma Hufa once told him that Luo Jianfei had been a killer in all likelihood. At this moment, he really understood what Uncle Ma meant. Such murderous aura, such darkness, is it not a killer?

Just when Gu Ying felt a little paralyzed in her limbs, she suddenly heard light footsteps outside the temple. Gu Ying was startled and even held her breath.

The temple door was pushed open, and the cold wind rushed in. Gu Ying fought a cold war, and saw a tall figure standing at the temple door. , I couldn’t see his appearance clearly, only seeing the hilt of the sword on his left waist, he knew that this person was also a figure in the rivers and lakes.

The man stood in front of the temple gate, stood still for a moment, stretched out his hand and gently took off his hat, revealing a beautiful and smiling face, with tears in his eyes as bright as a cold star in the night sky, looking at Luo Jian with a calm expression. Fei, as if to see relatives who have been around for many years and are generally excited.

Gu Ying’s heart widened, and she thought that she was an old friend of Luo Jianfei, so he didn’t say it clearly. After all, although he didn’t like people from Chen Zhen’s family, he didn’t want to quarrel.

Who would have thought that he had just breathed out his breath, but saw a flash of sword light, the boy in gray suit fit him, and swung his cloak to put out the bonfire with huge waves. Gu Ying held down the hilt of the sword and listened carefully to the sound of the weapons crashing. His eyes were pitch black, and the moon and stars were dark outside. He could only listen to the two people in the hall fighting hard, not to mention that he was secretly following Luo Jian, that is Luo Jian. Jianfei was dead, and he didn’t dare to take it lightly.

After a while, Gu Ying’s eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, and through the gap in the curtain, he could faintly see the two fighting in the hall.

The two of them seemed to be good at fighting hard in the dark, and the sword energy was vertical and horizontal, as if they were swaying freely in the daytime. Gu Ying could only see the sword light and the vague figures of the two of them.

But he couldn’t tell the difference between Luo Jianfei and the unfamiliar young man who had already dropped his cloak. It was the disciples of the same master who competed there, but Gu Ying clearly felt that both of them were extremely ferocious and showed no mercy at all.

The two fought about a hundred and ten moves. One of them had the upper hand, while the other was only able to parry. Gu Ying was worried, not knowing who would win.

At this time, the person who fell behind flew back and said with a smile, “Forget it, I’m convinced. Your martial arts have improved very quickly in the past few years. You must have acquired Master Li’s true biography again, right?” Gu Ying heard this person’s voice unfamiliar. Knowing that Luo Jianfei had the upper hand, his heart widened at the same time, but he couldn’t help but feel doubts. It seems that these two are old acquaintances, but why are they fighting in the dark, and they are so ruthless?

At this moment, the man in the blazing robe lit the fire and lit the bonfire. He picked up the cloak that had been thrown on the ground and put it on. Luo Jianfei sat back to his original position and motioned the man to sit beside him. With a warm smile on his cold face, he said, “Hua Liu, I haven’t seen you for many years, and now you are a high-ranking person. Can’t you think that you still remember our old friends?”

The man in gray sighed and said, “If it wasn’t for fate, I would still like to serve under the son like you. Chi Ji is now serving for the son in the northern border, and the thief is operating in the East China Sea. Lu’er’s business has spread all over the world. , Shanzi is in the middle of Shu, Yulun and Quhuang are in Nanchu, no matter where the other brothers are, they are all under the son’s wings, only me, although I am an official, I am close to the emperor, but I can’t help the son. ,Ugh!”

Luo Jianfei smiled and said: “What are you talking about, if you hadn’t helped the son to control General Qin, I’m afraid that the prince has already become the emperor, and now you follow Xiahou Yuanfeng in the Mingjian Division, it is also very important, if Xiahou Yuanfeng has the intention to be detrimental to the son, can you also find out immediately, Master Li said that if the emperor wants to kill the son, Xiahou Yuanfeng must be the first to know, so as long as you stare at Xiahou, you are staring at the emperor. Now, are you willing to give up your adopted mother and adopted brother?”

Although Gu Ying didn’t know much, she was shocked when she heard this. This Luo Jianfei was the backbone of the Splendid Alliance, and she never imagined that it would be Dayong’s secret spy. Of course, Gu Ying would not have thought that Chen Zhen was also one of them. Just thinking that if this matter is exposed, then Chen Zhen will feel ashamed and can’t help showing a smile on his lips, and then he thinks that this person is undercover in the Splendid League, and I’m afraid I don’t know how many secret spies of Dayong Ming Jiansi have been released. Go in, but hurry up and report to Protector Ma.

After all, he was young, and he was very anxious, and even his breathing was a little heavier before he knew it.

Fortunately, the two of them whispered together, their expressions focused, but they didn’t seem to notice. Gu Ying hurriedly took another breath and tried to listen.

But the voices of the two were very low, and Gu Ying could only vaguely hear some fragmentary sentences, but the two mentioned the words “King Qing” and “Splendid Alliance” from time to time.

After a long time, the two finally stopped talking, looked at each other and smiled, Luo Jianfei stood up and said: “Okay, the matter is over, you can go back, if it’s daylight, it will be difficult to act.”

The man in gray seemed to hesitate for a moment, and said, “There is one thing that Master Xiahou asked me to tell me. He hopes that the young master can think about it. After Dongchuan is pacified, he will hand over the Jinxiu Alliance to him.”

Luo Jianfei’s movements seemed to freeze, and after a long while, he said coldly, “Lord Xiahou, what do you mean, the Splendid Alliance is your son’s weapon, how can you give it to anyone, let alone why should we let Xiahou Yuanfeng take advantage of this? ”

The man in gray sighed and said, “Master Xiahou said that under the whole world, there is no king soil, Dongchuan is also the territory of Dayong, and the Jinxiu Alliance is rebellious no matter what, he is in charge of the Mingjian Division, and he cannot tolerate such a force in the imperial court. Besides. Besides, Young Master has been enthroned now, and he will be promoted step by step in the future. It is better to leave these unsightly things to him. If the Splendid Alliance still has value, then it should be controlled by Lord Xiahou.”

Luo Jianfei sneered a few times, and said, “You are outspoken, you should be clear about what happened to the Splendid Union, if it was two years ago that the young master wanted to hand over the Splendid Union, I would absolutely agree, but now the Splendid Union is in control. We have 50% of our business in Dongchuan and Xishu, and we cooperate with Tianji Pavilion and Fengyimen in Nanchu. You should be very clear about the importance of the Jinxiu Alliance to the son. This time, for Dayong, the son will sacrifice 70% of the Jinxiu Alliance. With the above strengths, I never imagined that Xiahou Yuanfeng would be so greedy, that he would not let go of the remaining 30%, and you even spoke for him, Hua Liu, do you still remember who gave you the glory and wealth you have today?”

There was no longer a smile on the handsome face of the man in gray. He raised his right hand and said, “I swear to heaven that if there is any malice against the young master, I will be killed and my body will be incomplete.”

After Luo Jianfei heard his words, his expression softened a little, but he was still angry, and said, “Well, I will listen to your explanation, why are you speaking for Xiahou Yuanfeng?”

Hua Liu sighed and said: “I just heard Lord Xiahou say this, and I have also spoken out to blame, but Lord Xiahou said that in the past, Dongchuan was in the control of King Qing, so it was not wrong for the son to control the Splendid Alliance, but after Dongchuan was pacified. , if the young master has a close relationship with the Jinxiu Alliance who intends to restore the country, I am afraid that the emperor will be more attentive. The son’s talent is a gift from heaven, and he has a huge power in his hands. If you say self-protection, it would be too much. , then one is to express loyalty, and the other is to distance yourself from the rebellion. Compared with the trivial loss, it is not wrong to gain the emperor’s heartfelt trust and remove the power that may be suspected. I also think Lord Xiahou said it politely. , and even if you give up the Jinxiu Alliance, the son still has enough strength to protect himself, we can get out of the Jinxiu alliance and concentrate on protecting the son, so I hope you can explain this to Chen Ye and the others, UU reading www.sonicmtl.com Then I forwarded it to the son to know that Lord Xiahou does not want to discuss with the son directly, if this is not possible, there will be no rift, do you think I am right?”

Luo Jianfei’s expression changed, and it took a long time before he said, “I will explain the matter to Master Chen, but how to decide in the end depends on the son’s intentions.”

Hua Liu said: “If the son does not agree, I will do my best to dissuade Lord Xiahou.”

Luo Jianfei nodded slightly, turned and walked out of the temple gate. After a while, the man in gray also followed.

Only then did Gu Ying realize that she almost forgot to breathe. How could this be possible? The Splendid Union turned out to be just someone else’s pawn. The young master they said did not know what his identity was.

Gu Ying didn’t know much about the current situation. If he had changed his father or adopted brother Shangguan Yan, he would have been able to guess how much, but he was ignorant and didn’t know how shocking what he heard.

After a while, he estimated that the two of them should have gone far, and then he got out of the offering table, ready to return to Ma Cheng and explain to him what he heard today.

Who knew that just as he walked out of the temple gate, he felt numb in his vest and fell to the ground, and then someone stepped on his back and said, “Sure enough, I heard right, there is someone lurking in the temple, Jian Fei, you can recognize this person ?” Gu Ying felt cold all over, he was not afraid of death, at his age, if he were a few years older, he would experience all the joys of life, or he would be greedy for life, but now he is young and full of energy. When Fang Gang was a child, it was easiest to let go of life and death, but what he was worried about was his father and other uncles and relatives. If he died, he was afraid that they would never have a chance to escape.

The man in grey flipped him over with one kick, Gu Ying’s pale face fell into Luo Jianfei’s eyes, his pupils shrank suddenly, and his right hand pressed the hilt of the sword.

But soon, a struggling expression floated across Luo Jianfei’s face, and the long sword was not drawn out after all.

[End of this Chapter]