Jiuxi

Chapter 635 [The Curtain Gradually Revealed]

July 29th, afternoon.

Hundreds of elite cavalrymen escorted a spacious and sturdy carriage and appeared in the northern suburbs of Guangling.

Lu Chen was waiting in person outside the north gate, and then accompanied the carriage into the city under the awe-struck gazes of countless people.

At the front of the team, someone was holding up a large flag with six large iron-painted and silver-hooked characters "Duke Rong of Da Qi, Xiao" embroidered on it.

The person in the carriage was the Duke of Rong, Xiao Wangzhi, who had made outstanding military achievements.

Lu Chen rode his horse side by side with a middle-aged man with an ordinary face.

This man had bright eyes and a lingering breath, and his hands holding the reins were white and slender. He was none other than Yuchi Gui, who was ranked eighth on the Jianghu Martial Arts List.

Lu Chen said with emotion: "It has been more than a year since we parted in the capital. I miss you very much."

Yuchi Gui teased, "Really? You and the Duke often exchange letters, but it seems that you only mentioned me once in the letter, and there was no follow-up."

Lu Chen smiled awkwardly.

Yuchi Gui said gently: "I was just joking. If you greet me every time, I will doubt whether you have ulterior motives."

Lu Chen nodded, and asked curiously: "Senior, did you catch up with that swordsman?"

Yuchi Gui said, "That day he saw that the situation was not good and fled. It took me some effort to find his whereabouts. Then I went west with him from the capital, passing through Hezhou, Huzhou, Luzhou, Yazhou, and then crossed the Hengjiang River to the north, and returned to Jingzhou from the Jiangbei Road of Yan State. We fought seven times on the way. In the end, I destroyed his sword and forced him to swear a blood oath that he would never be your enemy again in this life. After doing this, I returned to Dingzhou and served the Duke."

He spoke calmly, but Lu Chen was shaken.

Two masters ranked in the top ten in the world traveled thousands of miles, using all they had learned in their lives to compete with each other. It was a magnificent and awe-inspiring story. What a legendary story this is in the martial arts world.

Lu Chen said sincerely: "Thank you for your trouble, senior."

Yuchi Gui said calmly, "Cold Sword Yin Qianjue is a heartless and cold-blooded man, and he hates karma the most. At first, he only attacked you at the request of some people, but he was defeated on Qingfeng Street. If he can't kill you, his sword heart will be covered with dust, so I must find him to solve this hidden danger. People like us in the martial arts world strive to be consistent, and we can't leave such a big threat to you. Besides, although I don't allow you to call me master, after all, you have learned my free-hand fighting. We are master and apprentice in reality without the name of master and apprentice. This is what I should do, and you don't have to take it to heart."

Having said that, how could Lu Chen remain indifferent?

It’s just that Yuchi Gui is too free and easy, and he only pursues peace of mind in everything. No matter how much respect Lu Chen has for him, he can only keep it in his heart.

Thinking about the seven consecutive battles between these two top masters, Lu Chen couldn't help but ask curiously: "After this battle, Senior will surely be able to enter the top three of the martial arts ranking?"

Yuchi Gui shook his head and said, "Not necessarily."

Seeing that he didn't seem to want to talk more, Lu Chen didn't ask any more questions.

Yuchi Gui turned his head and looked at him, smiling, "But it is a foregone conclusion that Lin Xi will be ranked tenth in the upper volume."

In fact, it has always been difficult for Lu Chen to have an intuitive feeling. After all, Lin Xi has always been gentle and considerate in front of him. It is hard to imagine that she would basically not refuse his senior sister, who is already one of the ten most powerful people in the world at such a young age.

During the chat, Lu Yuan gradually came into view.

When I arrived at the door, I saw Lu Tong standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me.

The carriage stopped and Xiao Wangzhi walked out slowly.

His gentle gaze swept across Lu Chen and Yuchi Gui who were standing beside him, and finally fell on Lu Tong's face.

The two smiled at each other, and after the greetings, they entered the mansion side by side.

When they arrived at the main hall, the servants served them fragrant tea and then left.

Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Tong exchanged pleasantries for a moment, then looked at Lu Chen and said, "The border defense of Dingzhou has been basically formed. Feiyun Army, Qixing Army and Ningyuan Army are stationed in the northern Dingfeng Road and Baotai Mountain line, Lai'an Army and Fengfu Army are stationed in the western Qingliu Pass defense line, and our army has captured Teng County in the southwest, which is currently guarded by Guangling Army, and Dingbei Army is patrolling and defending the west of Lei Ze Plain. After you take over as the governor of Dingzhou, you can adjust the deployment of troops in the defense area."

Lu Chen said, "Thank you for your concern, Uncle Xiao."

Xiao Wangzhi smiled calmly, stared at his expression and said, "It seems that the trip to the capital has brought you a lot of pressure." In terms of understanding Lu Chen, Xiao Wangzhi is probably not much worse than Lu Tong, because Lu Chen has almost personally watched from a small captain to his current position step by step.

Xiao Wangzhi had seen Lu Chen's performance on the battlefield in recent years, as well as some of his actions in private, so he could easily see the worry hidden in Lu Chen's eyes.

At this moment, besides the two of them, there was only Lu Tong in the hall, so Lu Chen naturally knew everything. He sighed and said, "When I was in the capital, I talked about some things with Uncle Li. The rebellion that changed the fate of many people seemed to have other hidden stories."

Under the gaze of the two elders, he briefly repeated the analysis.

"The person behind this is Han Zhongjie."

To Lu Chen's surprise, Xiao Wangzhi gave a firm judgment without much thought.

Seeing that both the Lu family father and son showed puzzled expressions, Xiao Wangzhi continued to explain: "The rebellion of the noble families implicated a wide range of people, but the decisive factor was still the generals of the Jing army. There are not many people in this world who can influence the Jing army, especially for a rebellion of this scale. Only the Jingguo Mansion has such strength. Mr. Han will definitely not do this. Only Han Zhongjie has a chance. The current Jing army was founded by Mr. Han, and Han Zhongjie has contributed a lot to it. You can't ignore this point just because he has been unemployed for many years."

Lu Chen was horrified.

When analyzing with Li Tianrun before, their focus was on who would make the most profit. Now that Xiao Wangzhi reminded him of this, Lu Chen reacted immediately.

Wrong direction.

Seeing this, Xiao Wangzhi said, "Brother Li and I are different. He has absolute trust in the late emperor. Of course, the late emperor deserves his trust, but he was ultimately too cautious towards those people in the court. Unlike me, I have always suspected everyone equally. Mr. Han's character is impeccable, but Han Zhongjie may not be willing to be a rich man. If he wants to come out again, he must wait until there is a big disturbance in the Beijing army."

Lu Chen said slowly: "In other words, the rebellion was actually an accidental plot by various forces? The late emperor wanted to lure the snake out of its hole, those aristocratic families wanted to take a risk, and Han Zhongjie wanted to fish in troubled waters, which eventually led to a large-scale fight."

Xiao Wangzhi said calmly: "Now it seems that this should be the case."

Lu Chen thought for a moment, frowned slightly, and said: "I really want to know whether His Majesty is involved in this."

The two elders looked at each other, and Xiao Wangzhi asked, "Why do you say that?"

Lu Chen whispered, "There has always been something I can't understand. Why are the rebels so obsessed with the eldest prince? From the situation at the time, we can see that they did not collude with the eldest prince beforehand, which is obviously not in line with common sense. If the rebels want to succeed, it is not enough to just kill the late emperor. They must have a just cause."

Xiao Wangzhi's expression became serious, and he said in a deep voice: "So you suspect that the Second Prince is the one they are loyal to?"

Lu Chen's thoughts were a little confused. He tried his best to stay calm, sorted out the thoughts bit by bit, and said, "I have a guess."

"Before the rebellion, the one the Jiangnan clans really supported was not the Third Prince, but the unrestrained and aloof Second Prince. At the same time, the Second Prince secretly colluded with Han Zhongjie. He asked Han Zhongjie to secretly instigate the Beijing army to rebel, and let those rebels involve the First Prince."

"On the night of the rebellion, the rebels did not choose the Second Prince, who had a better chance of becoming the crown prince. Instead, they lured the First Prince into a trap and forced him to become the banner of the rebellion. If the rebels succeeded that night, they could pin the crime of regicide on the First Prince, and then let the Second Prince take charge of the situation with justification."

"It's just that the rebels didn't expect that the eldest prince, Ganglie Ruosi, would actually use the method of dying together to clear his name. They also didn't expect that Your Majesty had already made arrangements for me to lead the Feiyu Army and the Seven Star Army to rescue the king. It's just that the second prince and Han Zhongjie hid well enough. They successfully hid behind the scenes, so that no one discovered the role they played in this rebellion."

Lu Tong and Xiao Wangzhi looked at him solemnly.

Lu Chen stood up and paced slowly in the room, continuing, "Although there is no evidence that they did this, it can explain what the Second Prince did after he ascended the throne. He knew that I, the Right Prime Minister, and Qin Tiju were the most trusted ministers of the late emperor, and the biggest helpers after he ascended the throne, but he pointed the spearhead at me and Qin Tiju one after another. If it was just me, it would be fine. I have never understood why he wanted to take action against Qin Tiju, and why he was so impatient."

Lu Tong said coldly: "According to your speculation, this matter is easy to explain, because he has a heart disease. He is worried that you, the loyal ministers of the late emperor, will notice the clues and discover what he, the emperor, did in the past, and he is afraid that you will avenge the late emperor. The late emperor's condition deteriorated so quickly, in large part because of the untimely death of the eldest prince. So he wants to put you on a high pedestal and keep you away from the center, while trying every means to take away Qin Zheng's power."

Lu Chen stopped, looking very ugly, and said in a cold voice: "When Li Zongjian designed to frame the eldest prince, Li Zongben defended and explained for the eldest prince in front of all the ministers. I thought he was really a filial and caring person. I didn't expect... If the eldest prince really died in his hands, would he still be able to sleep peacefully?"

Xiao Wangzhi couldn't help but sigh quietly.

Lu Tong said indifferently: "This is about the supreme power of the emperor. Even father and son can become enemies, let alone the love between brothers. Now he is the emperor of Da Qi. Li Zongjian's reputation has long been tarnished. No one can threaten his throne. Even if you expose these things, how many people in the world will believe it?"

Looking at Lu Chen's livid face, Lu Tong raised his voice slightly: "Chen'er, control your anger."

Lu Chen sighed and nodded, "Yes, father."

His expression gradually calmed down, but his eyes were as cold as a thousand-year-old ice.

(End of this chapter)