Thief Emperor

Chapter 854: Suspicion and Covetousness

His Majesty the Emperor came back to his senses at this moment. He stared at Pei Huang blankly and took a deep breath: "Sanlang, this matter..."

Pei Huang clenched his fists, veins throbbing on his forehead. "Your Majesty, no matter how stupid I am, I can never do such a thing. There are only two possibilities for this."

His voice was hoarse: "The first possibility is that it was done by someone outside Xichuan, such as Li Yun or Wei Quanzhong."

"The second possibility is that it was done by someone from Jiannan Dao."

He looked up at the emperor and whispered, "I think the second possibility is more likely. Wei Quanzhong is relying on us now, so he can't do such a thing. As for Li Yun..."

"Li Yun has only climbed out of the dust in the past few years. It is unlikely that he has time to place people in Jiannan Road."

The emperor clenched his fists, his face turning pale. “Sanlang, do you mean that it was done by the Jiannan Army?”

"possible."

Pei Huang said in a low voice: "Since your majesty agreed to transport grain to Guanzhong a few months ago, there have been voices of opposition within Jiannan Road, but with Zhang Linggong here, no one dared to speak out."

"The Jiedushi Mansion is heavily guarded. It is much easier for them to do this than for outsiders."

At this point, Pei Huang suddenly had an idea and thought of another possibility: "I remember that some time ago, Li Yun's envoy Du Tong came to Chengdu Prefecture. He was eloquent and when he left, he also left Jiannan Road from Jianzhou Jiameng Pass."

"Jianzhou is garrisoned by Zhang Han, the eldest son of Zhang Linggong. It's hard to guarantee...it's hard to guarantee that Du Tong didn't instigate Zhang Han before he left."

Upon hearing this, His Majesty the Emperor took a deep breath and his face turned pale.

"These thieves, these thieves..."

"We shouldn't have let this thief leave Chengdu!"

Pei Huang shook his head and smiled bitterly, "He entered Jiannan Road through Jiameng Pass. Maybe he had already colluded with Zhang Han at that time."

"Your Majesty, this is not the time to investigate the cause."

Pei Huang looked at the emperor and whispered, "What we need to do now is to properly handle this matter. The first thing to do is to block the news."

"No news or anyone is allowed to leave Chengdu. This way, even if it was really done by Zhang Han and his men, they don't know the current situation in the city and will be at a loss for a while."

The emperor still frowned and said, "You have to have an excuse to the outside world, right?"

"Otherwise, I'm afraid people's hearts will be even more confused."

"Just say it, just say it..."

Pei Huang looked up at the emperor and said through gritted teeth, "Just say that your Majesty has been assassinated and we are searching the entire city for the assassin."

"At the same time, send a message to Zhang Linggong's three sons who are away in the city in the name of Zhang Linggong, and take control of them as soon as they return to Chengdu."

"At the same time, take over all the checkpoints in Jiannan Road."

Pei Huang gritted his teeth and said, "In this way, we may still be able to survive this storm."

The emperor was completely at a loss at this point, so he could only wave his hand and say, "Leave it all to Sanlang. Leave it all to Sanlang."

…………

Half an hour later, Pei Huang returned to the Jiedushi Mansion where he had just left. Soon, he came to the back house of the Jiedushi Mansion and entered Zhang Qiong's bedroom.

An hour ago, he was still here, chatting with Zhang Qiong.

At this time, the room was full of the smell of blood. General Zhang was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, and there was no trace of blood on his face.

His youngest son, Zhang Cang, was kneeling beside his father's bed at this time. He was also pale, with his head lowered, and his eyes were already red.

At the same time, his face was full of tears.

Pei Huang stood in the room, silent for a long time, without saying a word.

He didn't know what to say.

He already understood the situation.

Not long after he left the Jiedushi Mansion, a servant in the mansion, when delivering medicine to Zhang Qiong, suddenly took out a knife hidden in the tray and stabbed Zhang Qiong in the chest.

Fortunately, the sword did not hit the heart, but went a few inches below and penetrated into the ribs. Otherwise, the already sick Jiannan Jiedushi would have died on the spot.

The assassin killed himself without hesitation after the first strike, and his body was lying in the yard.

After understanding the situation, Pei Huang felt even more confused.

The assassin was a servant of the Jiedushi Mansion. He had been in the Mansion for three years. During these three years, he had been honest and hardworking, and was very much liked by the Zhang family.

More importantly, this person is a Taoist from Jiannan, and he is from Chengdu Prefecture, which means he is originally from Yizhou.

Their origins are quite clean and their family backgrounds are also clean.

During these three years, his family members came to visit him. Pei Huang asked around the entire Jiedushi Mansion, but no one could see that there was anything wrong with him.

It was this person who suddenly went insane today and assassinated the old general, and he committed suicide very cleanly without saying a word.

Pei Huang looked at Zhang Linggong lying on the bed, then looked at his youngest son Zhang Huan beside the bed, and gently patted his shoulder: "Master Zhang, the best doctor in the city will be here soon."

"Don't worry too much. The court will verify this matter as soon as possible." Zhang Huan violently broke away from Pei Huang's hand and turned back to look at Pei Huang with a somewhat terrifying look in his eyes: "When was the first time that Pei Xianggong accompanied the emperor to Xichuan?"

The emperor was driven out of Guanzhong by Wang Junping and fled to Xichuan in a panic. It was almost...more than three years ago.

Pei Huang was speechless, and then he said in a deep voice: "This matter has absolutely nothing to do with me or the court."

Zhang Huan wiped his tears with his sleeve and clenched his fists: "Then Mr. Pei, please remove the guards at my door. I will inform my brothers!"

Pei Huang heaved a long sigh when he heard this: "Master Zhang, if I let you do this, the entire Jiannan Road will probably be in chaos immediately."

"Since you didn't do it, what are you afraid of!"

Zhang Huan almost roared in anger.

Pei Huang took a deep breath and was speechless.

At the same time, murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

If some things cannot be explained clearly, then you have to cut the Gordian knot.

Pei Huang was about to speak, but Zhang Qiong, who was lying on the bed helpless, opened her mouth although her eyes were still closed.

"Huan Er..."

He was stabbed in the chest, and when he opened his mouth, blood foam came out, but he still managed to speak a complete sentence.

Zhang Huan burst into tears upon hearing this. He threw himself on the bedside, tears pouring down his cheeks: "My child is here, my child is here. My child is useless. I couldn't protect you in front of you. My child... my child..."

He burst into tears and could no longer speak.

Zhang Qiong's hands moved, and Zhang Huan immediately held his hands with both hands, choking and saying: "Dad, what do you want to say, what do you want to say..."

Zhang Qiong used up the last of his strength, put his hand on Zhang Huan's head, then clenched his fist and hit him lightly, blood foaming at the corner of his mouth again.

"You must not..."

His voice was faint, but clearly audible.

"You must not disobey... the court."

…………

Shannan West Road.

In a Jiangdong military camp, Zhao Cheng sat in the main seat. In the big tent, there was a map of Jiannan Road hanging.

At this time, there were several generals of the Jiangdong Army sitting in his tent. The two people sitting in the front row were Chen Da and Gongsun Hao.

These two people are both deputy generals.

Behind Chen Da and Gongsun Hao were Captain Yu Ye, who was about to be promoted to deputy generals, and Captain He Jun.

These people are the main generals arranged by Li Yun for the surprise attack on Jiannan Road this time.

Zhao Cheng pointed at the map, looked at the generals below him, and said slowly: "Everyone, the Nine Departments are taking action in Jiannan Road. Two days ago, someone from the Nine Departments told me that within five days, there will be a response from Jiannan Road."

"Once Jiusi takes action in Jiannan Road, we must act immediately. We will use cavalry to pass through Shannan West Road and head straight for Jiameng Pass in Jiannan Road."

"As long as we take down Jiameng Pass, we can enter Jianzhou and control Jianmen Pass."

"The entire gateway to Jiannan Road is now under our control. This is a very important task."

Zhao Cheng looked at everyone and said in a low voice: "Jiu Si has paid a heavy price for this, so this opportunity may only come once, and we cannot afford to miss it, everyone..."

“Who is willing to be the pioneer?”

Yu Ye stood up and was about to challenge for a fight when He Jun, who was standing beside him, pulled him down by his clothes.

Yu Ye was a little confused. He Jun glanced at Chen Da and Gongsun Hao, then glared at Yu Ye.

What I mean is, the two deputy generals haven't spoken yet, so what are you trying to do?

Chen Da looked at Gongsun Hao, then at Zhao Cheng, and said, "General, I recommend General Gongsun."

"General Gongsun, you have more experience."

Gongsun Hao stood up, clasped his fists towards Zhao Cheng, then towards Chen Da, and finally bowed to Zhao Cheng: "General, I am willing to be the vanguard."

Zhao Cheng looked at him and nodded slowly.

"Okay, then it's General Gongsun."

"right now we…"

He looked up at the map of Jiannan Road with burning eyes.

"Discuss the next steps."

(End of this chapter)