Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 288: Assassination, Grasping the Week

The news of Zhao Zhen's rage soon spread throughout the capital.

At the same time, Wei Yuan and his group were heading southeast.

What’s interesting is that apart from Lin Zhaoyuan, Chen Daniu, Guo Hao and a few followers, there were no signs of the Tiger Guards.

Instead of heading southeast by water, they planned to go south along the way to enjoy the scenery in various places.

In the carriage, Wei Yuan sat upright with his eyes closed, giving people an unfathomable feeling.

He parked the imperial carriage at the Taihu Villa, thinking that he should keep a low profile and avoid letting others know about it. Otherwise, wherever he went, merchants and officials would come to visit him.

Wei Yuan was tired of socializing.

Secondly, Xie Yuying, with whom he already had physical intimacy, could also accompany him in an ordinary carriage.

For example, at this moment, Xie Yuying sat beside him obediently, not saying a word, for fear of disturbing his rest.

Xie Yuying would only respond when he gave her instructions.

It's always better to have a woman serving you than to be surrounded by a group of men.

When everyone reached a dense forest, Chen Daniu, who was sitting on a tall horse, suddenly pulled the reins and frowned deeply.

The horse under his crotch neighed as it suddenly stopped.

Immediately afterwards, the carriage that Wei Yuan was riding in also stopped.

Xie Yuying asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Wei Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

At this moment, many masked men in green clothes suddenly appeared from the trees around the crowd.

The clothes they wore seemed to blend in with the leaves of the towering trees, making them difficult to notice.

"There are assassins!"

Chen Daniu shouted and immediately drew out the sharp blade in his hand.

Hearing this, Guo Hao left Zhao Jianjia behind, quickly walked out of the carriage he was riding in, and stood beside Wei Yuan's carriage, holding a steel knife tightly in his hand.

In an instant, nearly twenty or thirty masked men drew their weapons and surrounded Wei Yuan and his group.

Chen Daniu noticed that the weapons they were using were scimitars. Liao warriors often used these knives, just like the knights of the Great Zhou were good at using swords.
"Liao Scimitar? Are you from Liao?"

In the carriage, Wei Yuan, who was sitting as steady as a mountain, heard what Chen Daniu said and simply said, "Leave him alive."

Hearing this, Guo Hao bowed in response.

Xie Yuying was terrified and unconsciously sat closer to Wei Yuan.

The next moment, those twenty or thirty Liao warriors rushed towards Wei Yuan's carriage.

Chen Daniu dismounted, steel knife in hand, and rushed towards the warriors. In a few seconds, several Liao warriors fell to the ground.

"It seems like they are all martial artists!"

Chen Daniu was amazed. It takes a lot of energy and money to train so many experts.

Although those Liao warriors were good at martial arts, they were still far behind the battle-hardened Chen Daniu.

A few warriors rushed to Wei Yuan's carriage, but were knocked down by Guo Hao.

Although Guo Hao's martial arts skills are not as good as Chen Daniu's, he can also charge into battle on the battlefield, and ordinary warriors can hardly get close to him.

Although he had held a high position over the years and his martial arts skills had gradually declined, it was no problem for him to deal with the bandits in front of him.

However, what he didn't expect was that the Liao warriors had hidden arrows in their sleeves, and would shoot at the carriage as soon as they got the chance.

At this moment, in the carriage, Wei Yuan had already been concentrating on the situation outside. When the arrow came rapidly, he stopped the arrow and held it in his hand with a speed that was incomprehensible to ordinary people.

Xie Yuying panicked when she saw the arrows coming at her, and quickly stood in front of Wei Yuan, "My Lord, be careful!"

Then, they felt someone standing on the top of the carriage, causing the horses to scream in fear.

Xu Changzhi suddenly stood on it, waving a spear in his hand, blocking the hidden arrows for Wei Yuan, and blew the military whistle.

Then, from deep in the dense forests on all sides, the sound of galloping horses could be heard.

It's Tiger Guard!
They have been protecting Wei Yuan secretly.

After the soldiers of the Manjia Camp entered the scene, they instantly killed almost all the Liao warriors, leaving only two alive.

However, when everyone was not paying attention, the two survivors suddenly committed suicide by taking poison.

Seeing this, Lin Zhaoyuan couldn't help but sigh, "It's a dead soldier."

Guo Hao bowed towards the carriage and said, "Brother, the thieves have all been killed."

Hearing this, Wei Yuan, who had never shown any sign of panic from beginning to end, slowly got off the carriage alone.

Having just experienced a fierce battle, the bloody scene was simply not something a woman like Xie Yuying could bear.

After Wei Yuan got off the carriage, the soldiers of the Manjia Camp had already gathered the bodies of the dead soldiers together.

Lin Zhaoyuan came up to him, bowed and said, "My Lord, judging from the weapons and hair accessories they use, they are undoubtedly Liao people."

Liao people?

Wei Yuan walked to the corpses and couldn't help but sneered, "If you were Liao people and wanted to kill me, would you only send these 20 or 30 people?"

"The Liao spies who were able to hide in my Great Zhou are not fools. When they see that the Tiger Guards are not with me, won't they become suspicious?"

"Moreover, if you are Liao people, why do you come to assassinate me without even disguising your identity?"

Except when relations between countries were extremely tense and Wei Yuan was in Daizhou, he would encounter some bandits who wanted to assassinate him.

Besides, this was the first time that he had ever encountered an assassin in all these years of being in a high position.

Lin Zhaoyuan suddenly realized, "My Lord, you mean that someone hired a group of assassins to frame the Liao Kingdom?"

Wei Yuan said sternly: "If they succeed in the assassination, and the Liao people kill a marquis of the Great Zhou, how can the Great Zhou let it go?"

"If their assassination attempt fails, I will also blame the Liao people. So who do you think will benefit the most?"

Lin Zhaoyuan blurted out: "Xixia."

Wei Yuan nodded, "Li Liangzuo is a good man."

"I guess Yelu Xinxian must have arrived in Xingqing Prefecture for several days. I wonder what kind of conspiracy Liao and Xia have."

"If Yelu Xinxian knew that I was assassinated by the Liao people, what would his expression be?"

Guo Hao stood behind him, "presumably about to accuse Xixia of stabbing him in the back."

Wei Yuan waved his hand and said, "Burn these bodies."

Then he returned to the carriage.

Lin Zhaoyuan followed his footsteps and asked, "My Lord, is this matter over?"

Wei Yuan said, "What else can we do? We know that it was Xixia who did it, but all the evidence points to Liao. If we hold them responsible, wouldn't that be exactly what Li Liangzuo wants?"

"What I don't understand is why Li Liangzuo chose to assassinate me at this time? Neither Yelu Xinxian nor the Liao Kingdom are fools."

"This Li Liangzuo's behavior is becoming more and more incomprehensible to me. Unfortunately, the previous plan to alienate him did not work on Li Liangzuo."

"I will write a letter and report the matter to the emperor truthfully. As for what the court wants to do, let them do it."

Hearing this, Lin Zhaoyuan nodded, and then commanded the Tiger Guards to burn all the corpses.

They had already known in advance that there was an assassin trying to kill Wei Yuan.

Keeping the Tiger Guards away was part of their plan to lure the snake into its hole.

However, when Lin Zhaoyuan learned that the assassin wanted to kill Wei Yuan, his heart was filled with confusion.

Logically speaking, shouldn't this matter be top secret?
Why is it so easy to let yourself know?
Moreover, these warriors who seemed to know that they would die but were willing to die were really too strange.
Western Xia, Xingqing Prefecture, at Li Liangzuo's home.

Yelu Xinxian had been staying here for a few days and had visited almost all of Li Liangzuo's houses. He became more and more curious and asked:
"Brother Li's house was built according to the layout of the Zhou people's houses. Considering Brother Li's status, this is really rare."

Li Liangzuo smiled and said, "The Zhou people were weak, but their culture was strong and worth learning from."

Yelu Xinxian smiled and said, "I guess by now, the assassins I sent out have already assassinated Wei Yuan."

Li Liangzuo asked, "Brother Yelu, do you think the assassination will be successful?"

Yelu Xin first shook his head, "Wei Yuan is an enemy of ten thousand people. I'm afraid it will be difficult for a few assassins to hurt him at all."

Hearing this, Li Liangzuo could not hide his disappointment.

Yelu Xinxian added: "You and I conspired to assassinate Wei Yuan, not for the purpose of actually succeeding in assassinating him."

Li Liangzuo nodded, "The assassination of Wei Yuan was just an introduction. He never dreamed that the assassins you sent out were really you Liao people."

Yelu Xinxian laughed and said, "Even if he believed that those assassins were from Liao, people in the world are not fools. Why would I send Liao people to assassinate a powerful Zhou marquis?"

The two smiled at each other, everything was understood without words.

What they call the trigger is actually a fuse, which will indirectly lead to a war.

If the Great Zhou accused the Liao of assassinating Wei Yuan, the Liao would naturally ask them to produce evidence. However, if they used the fact that the assassins were Liao people as evidence, the Liao would definitely turn the tables and say that the Zhou was making a false accusation.

After all, if one really wanted to assassinate someone, why would one send a killer who could be directly associated with oneself?
Wouldn't it be better to send someone who is irrelevant?
If the Great Zhou said that the assassins were sent by Western Xia, then Western Xia would have enough reasons to say that it was a deliberate frame-up by the Zhou.

The assassin is from Liao, what does he have to do with us Xixia?
Therefore, no matter what Zhou did, it was a mistake. And this mistake can be regarded as a reason for starting a war.

If the Zhou Kingdom turned a blind eye to this matter, then they would spread the news that Wei Yuan was assassinated, but the Zhou court did not take the matter seriously.

Who is Wei Yuan? He enjoys a high status and prestige in the country, and is considered by many people in the Great Zhou to be the backbone of the Great Zhou.

He was assassinated, but the court turned a blind eye to the matter. In addition, he was dismissed from his post by the government, so it was hard for the people of the Great Zhou not to think too much about him.

Once the suggestion of conspiracy arises, it means that there are unstable factors in the country of Da Zhou.

This is also the reason why Li Liangzuo and his men targeted Wei Yuan for assassination.

Success or failure is not important.

This was an open conspiracy, and even Wei Yuan, a military hero who could sense that war was coming at any time, did not realize it.

Even if the scholars and officials in the Great Zhou were all very smart, it would be difficult to predict what would happen.

Moreover, the conspiracy itself has no solution.

As long as the Great Zhou makes any statement or action regarding this matter, it will be completely led by the Liao and Xia countries, and eventually fall into the quagmire of war.

As of now, Wei Yuan is a very qualified fuse.
-
The seventh year of Jiayou, early July.

Bian Jing, the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.

Zhang Fu and his wife, Wei Shuyi and his wife, Wei Ruyi and his wife, as well as Changger, Muger, Minglan and others were all talking and laughing in a very spacious room.

Except for Wei Yuan, almost all of the Wei family's close relatives in the capital were invited.

There is no other reason, it’s just because today is the one-year-old ceremony for Zhuangge’er and Jingjie’er.

This is an extremely important part of the two children’s first birthday ceremony.

The first one to be held was the eldest sister, Sister Jing’er’s one-year-old birthday celebration.

At this moment, Sister Jing was sitting peacefully on the wide bed.

Many relatives were watching her.

After a while, a maid brought seals, Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, pens, ink, paper, inkstone, abacus, coins, account books, jewelry, flowers, rouge, food, cooking utensils, embroidery tools, etc.

Zhang Guifen personally placed these items around Sister Jing.

At the same time, Minglan and others began to discuss.
"I wonder what Sister Jing can catch?"

"Jingjie has always been very quiet. Maybe she can find some scriptures? Will she become a well-educated and well-mannered woman in the future?"

"Hey, that's not right, why did my aunt also put a wooden sword?"

"."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but become confused.

Zhang Fu frowned and said, "Jing Jie'er is a girl, why do you put a wooden sword there?"

Even Mrs. Zhang scolded Zhang Guifen, "It's fine that you like to wield swords and sticks since you were young, but don't spoil my granddaughter. She will be a talented woman in the future."

Zhang Guifen didn't care what the two elders said, "Dad, Mom, I just want Sister Jing to live her life as she pleases. If she really catches the wooden sword, why not let her become a female general in the future?"

Madam Zhang glared at her and said, "Nonsense!"

He pretended to take away the wooden swords placed around Sister Jing.

However, at this moment, Minglan suddenly pointed at Sister Jing on the bed and exclaimed, "Look, my sister is moving."

The voice just fell.

I saw Sister Jing crawling slowly towards the Confucian classic "The Book of Songs".

Everyone subconsciously calmed down and concentrated, not daring to make the slightest movement, for fear of disturbing Sister Jing's thoughts.

The next moment, Sister Jing really grabbed the Book of Poetry in her hand. Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"It seems that our sister Jing will become a female poet in the future."

"Just hearing the name Jingjie, she will be a quiet and scholarly woman in the future."

"Not bad."

"."

However, while they were discussing, Sister Jing slowly took out the account book and rouge.

Naturally, her small hands could not hold so many things, so she only held them for a moment and then put them beside her.

Zhang Fu laughed loudly and said, "This granddaughter of mine will not only be a talented woman in the future, but also a talented woman with outstanding appearance and the ability to manage the household."

Everyone laughed too.

Sister Jing’s one-year-old celebration ended like this.

For them, the most important thing is what Zhuang Geer wants to catch.
"Brother Zhuang will definitely become an official in the future, but I don't know whether he will be a civil servant or something else?"

"Yes, Zhuangge is the legitimate son of the Marquis's Mansion. He will inherit the Marquis's Mansion in the future, so he must become an official."

"."

Compared with the things placed around Sister Jing, there are much fewer things placed around Brother Zhuang.

There were only military books, the essentials of the three classics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, a wooden sword, gold ingots, seals and other items.

No matter which one he chooses, it will be a good start.

It can be seen that they attach great importance to Zhuang Ge'er.

Perhaps, it is because Wei Yuan knows very well that the relatives around him all value Zhuangge'er and dote on him, so compared to Zhuangge'er, he dotes on Jingjie'er more.

Zhuang Ge'er started to grasp the week.

Just as Minglan and others were discussing and speculating whether Zhuangger was going to grab the military books or the Confucian classics.

An unexpected scene happened.

I saw Zhuang Ge'er actually grabbing the Buddhist scriptures.

Seeing this, Zhang Fu frowned deeply, "Buddhist scriptures? Eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddha's name?"

Mrs. Zhang consoled him, "The child grabbed the Monday to get a good start. Zhuang's grabbing of the Buddhist scriptures can only mean that he will be a kind-hearted child when he grows up."

Zhang Fu was still somewhat dissatisfied. "To be kind in the capital? I'm afraid that in the future, you will be eaten up without leaving even a bone. It's better to worry about Sister Jing."

The voice just fell.

Suddenly, Minglan pointed at Zhuangger.

Everyone looked again and saw Zhuang Ge'er grab the Buddhist scripture in his hand and put it where he had originally sat.

In full view of everyone, they saw Zhuang Ge'er still holding something, this time it was a Confucian classic.

Seeing this, Zhang Fu breathed a sigh of relief, "Not bad."

However, Zhuangge'er continued to grab things and showed no intention of stopping.

After some struggle, he grabbed all the things around him and brought them in front of him.

Such a scene surprised everyone, and Zhang Fu even laughed and said, "Little guy, you are quite greedy."

Zhang Guifen stepped forward and said, "Brother Zhuang, you can only take one thing. Which one do you choose?"

As she said this, she wanted to take the Buddhist scriptures away and let Zhuangger choose again.

However, as soon as she started to move, Zhuang Ge'er suddenly started yelling, signaling her not to touch the Buddhist scripture.

Zhang Guifen had no choice but to take other things, but Zhuang Ge'er was still unwilling, and even used his weak body to press those things under him.

This little guy seemed to be acting as if he would fight to the death with anyone who dared to touch his things.

Such a scene made Zhang Fu laugh directly, "Okay, okay, I won't let you snatch them away, grandson. These things are all yours. Grandfather will watch over them for you. No one dares to snatch them away."

Zhuang Ge'er seemed to understand and sat back in his original position, not caring whether he felt uncomfortable when those things were pressed under him.

Mrs. Zhang suddenly realized something and said in a deep voice, "Brother Zhuang is making trouble. Tell everyone that he has seized a Buddhist scripture."

Hearing this, everyone didn't think too much about it and nodded one after another:
"In the future, Zhuang Ge'er will surely be a kind-hearted gentleman."

"My brother is really funny."

"."

Only Zhang Guifen, who knew her mother better than her daughter, knew what Madam Zhang was worried about. She sat beside Zhuang Ge'er, held him in her arms, and said with a smile:

"Did you hear that, Zhuang brother? You must be a kind-hearted gentleman in the future."

Perhaps Zhuang Ge'er didn't understand this sentence.

He just held the two objects in his hands and played with them non-stop.

A wooden sword and a Confucian classic, and he also turned his attention to seals and other items.

Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, soldiers, power, money and sex, our strong brother wants them all.

(End of this chapter)