"The fish bit the bait and escaped from the hook?"
Zhang Hongdao murmured in disbelief and said sharply: "What's going on?!"
"..."
Shen Kai spoke carefully to the end and said: "When we turned around again, Li Xia had already attacked a group of people, seized the horses, and ran away before we could surround them."
"Where are you going?"
Shen Kai whispered: "No... I don't know. After chasing them for two days, I completely lost track of them."
Zhang Hongdao was silent.
"I myself feel...we are like a group of pigs, being played around in circles by him."
Shen Kai didn't dare to raise his head and said again: "Because I really couldn't find any clues, I left Lei Sanxi to continue the search... Come here and ask Wu Lang, what should I do next?"
The room was quiet for a long time.
"I have firmly established that the Di family colluded with the Song people to launch a surprise attack on Eri Dunbar. Even Di Cong himself believed that it was his retainers who did it. He has written a letter to plead guilty, and also beheaded one hundred and seventy-three people with him. The smuggled subjects of the Song Dynasty had small families, and their heads are still hanging on the gates of Yingzhou City."
Zhang Hongdao suddenly said something off-topic.
"Di Cong didn't even know that I was setting him up, and he begged me to help him. Compared to killing him, it would be a better result if he took the initiative to plead guilty. In short, I finally got rid of a catastrophe that wiped out our family. This matter Di Shun will also be implicated. One is in charge of military affairs and the other is marching thousands of households. They are all powerful men in the world who control the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people. We don't know what their fate will be.
And after I have worked so hard to do this, you come and tell me that you couldn't even catch one person and he escaped without a trace? Ha... Do you know? The Di family is willing to plead guilty. Although this is safer, but in case of emergency One day they know the truth, and the feud will be serious. And the truth lies with Li Xia."
A calm tone.
But Shen Kai was frightened when he heard this. He knelt on the ground and murmured: "Wu Lang, I...I..."
If it were Fan Yuan, he might have said, "Li Xia is not something a villain can deal with." But Shen Kai is an honest person and truly feels extremely guilty and hates his own incompetence.
After a long time, Zhang Hongdao saw that he was really suffering in his heart, and just then he said again: "There are only two ways for Li Xia to leave. One is to go southwest and return to the Song Dynasty; the other is to go to Kaifeng to continue working."
"But with Li Xia's intelligence, how could he not see that they were betrayed by Song Ting? How could he continue to work for Song Ting?"
Zhang Hongdao looked at Shen Kai with some doubts and asked: "Who do you think Li Xia is? He was betrayed, and then what? Crying? There is no way to serve the country, so you can blame yourself? What are you crying for?"
His tone became angry.
Shen Kai felt a little overwhelmed and murmured: "This..."
"You really didn't bother to search north! You were smart enough to conclude that he wouldn't go to Kaifeng, so you ended the matter hastily!"
At this point, Zhang Hongdao's tone finally became irritable.
"I've warned you a lot, but you still underestimated him! You bullied him into being young and in a low position, and you judged it based on common sense. Looking at this kid's ambition, does he really care what nonsense the Zhao and Song court sells him?"
"I...yes...I can't figure him out."
Zhang Hongdao let out a long sigh.
"Forget it, I shouldn't have sent the sparrows to catch the swans. You go and find out about the lost documents in the Jinglue Mansion. I'll wrap up the matter in Yingzhou...ahem...and then go to Kaifeng to get him in person."
"yes."
Shen Kai rarely felt so frustrated. He cupped his fists in response and said: "I heard that Wu Lang's injury is at the root of the disease and his appetite is gradually decreasing. That knife of mine..."
"It's okay." Zhang Hongdao patted him on the shoulder, "You know? I have trouble sleeping at night. As soon as I close my eyes, I dream that the Khan's court took my whole family and asked me why I dared to kill Eri Dunbari. This That's the root of my illness... I'll try my best to catch Li Xia and cover up the matter, okay?"
"Yes! Even if I die, I can still accomplish this!"
…
Shen Kai retreated, and Zhang Hongdao took a few steps, feeling that he could no longer stay in Yingzhou and wished he could go to Kaifeng in person to capture Li Xia immediately.
A subordinate came over and said: "Wu Lang, there is someone who wants to see you. He calls himself Wang Xun. This is a greeting invitation..."
Zhang Hongdao took it and took a look and murmured: "Wang Xun, Wang Muqiao? Wang Wentong's son?"
Although he did not know Wang Xun, he knew Wang Wentong.
Wang Wentong, a young man, liked to read books about political strategy so that he could impress people with his words.
This man passed the Jinshi examination in the last years of the Jin Dynasty. After the fall of the Jin Dynasty, he began to visit the princes everywhere. At that time, he also asked to see Zhang Rou, but Zhang Rou did not see him.
Finally, Wang Wentong was reused by Li Fen, the prince of Shandong.
In recent years, Li Fen has always exaggerated the combat power of the Song army to consolidate his position; he also attempted to seize Lian and Hai counties, and his power continued to expand...all due to Wang Wentong's plan.
Zhang Hongdao took note of what happened in Shandong and thought that he was indeed a cunning man. He didn't understand why his father didn't use him.
He decided to meet Wang Xun...
Wang Xun is in her twenties, with a thin and long face, narrow eyes, thin lips, and a big mouth. She smiles as if she wants to eat people, but she is very cheerful.
Zhang Hongdao had a strange perception of this person, and felt that he was somewhat unable to understand him.
"I was traveling through Yingzhou and heard that Wu Lang was here, so I came here to pay a visit... By the way, the heads at the city gate scared me to death. There were so many rebels who colluded with the Song people under the Di family. I don't know what the end will be. ?”
After a few words of greeting, Zhang Hongdao became impatient. Seeing Wang Xun's hesitant expression, he said, "When Mu Qiao came to see me, it must not be as simple as a drop-in visit, right?"
"It turned out that Wu Lang saw it." Wang Xun asked, "Can you please step aside?"
"You guys go down first."
After everyone else in the room had retreated, Wang Xun was not in a hurry to speak, and sat there playing with the tea cup.
Although Zhang Hongdao didn't have time to sit here with him, he had a high sense of self-cultivation and didn't ask any questions.
After sitting for a while, Wang Xun suddenly grinned widely and said, "Then I will tell the truth."
He stared at Zhang Hongdao and uttered a sentence slowly and solemnly, word for word.
"Goro, how about we rebel together?"
…
silence.
Frost gradually grew on Zhang Hongdao's face.
He seemed to have become an ice cave, squinting his eyes and staring closely at Wang Xun, his heart filled with murderous intent.
No one will suddenly come over and invite you to rebel together when they meet for the first time without saying a few words...unless he has a huge handle on you.
Zhang Hongdao couldn't figure it out, how could Wang Xian know?
The murder of Eri Dunbari was so secret that he actually knew about it!
Besides Wang Xun, who else knows? How to kill them all?
As soon as the thought changed, Zhang Hongdao's face returned to calmness and he said in surprise: "What did you say?"
"I'm fed up with those Mongolians stepping on us, fed up with being inferior people, how about asking Goro to join me in the rebellion?"
"What are Mu Qiao talking about...ha, are you kidding?"
Wang Xun spread his hands and smiled again.
That smile was obviously hearty, but in Zhang Hongdao's eyes, it only felt scary...