Under the cover of night, Big Hammer was playing with his hammer while shouting excitedly at the top of his voice.
Gao Jianli, who was next to him, also agreed with this and nodded in agreement, "With the cover of night, the operation should go much smoother."
Of course, it is best to do things like ambushes at night, as the chance of being discovered in advance is lower.
However, the Mo family had no control over the specific time when the Dongxing Patrol Team would pass by the Xixiang Valley Road.
They cannot change the location at will, and naturally they cannot freely control the time.
However, the chances of the convoy passing through the Xixiang Valley Road at night are not low.
Although the Eastern Patrol Team will camp and rest regularly, it does not always happen at night.
Because the convoy was moving at a turtle crawling speed, there was no danger even if the visibility was poor at night, and the carriage specially made by the Gongshu family was extraordinarily stable when it was slow enough, and it did not affect the rest of the people in the carriage.
Therefore, many times the fleet will travel at night according to travel needs.
So the probability of the convoy eventually passing through here at night is basically 50%, and the Mo family just happened to hit this 50% chance.
It’s not exactly a stroke of luck, but it’s still a good start.
The sledgehammer was swinging the hammer excitedly. Although he deliberately suppressed his voice, the excitement in his tone could not be concealed:
"That's right! This time we can definitely kill the tyrant Ying Zheng and bring peace to the world!"
Facing Sledgehammer who couldn't help but open the champagne in advance, Gao Jianli kept calm and reminded, "Now is not the time to relax, there is still a tough battle to be fought next."
"Be careful."
"Don't worry." Big Iron Hammer smiled and patted his pectoralis major, "He came out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, he will be fine!"
This is not a big hammer bragging.
In terms of martial arts and combat power, he is certainly not as good as Gao Jianli, but he is a serious soldier after all. He has personally experienced scenes of tens of thousands of people fighting, and was even treated as an abandoned son and almost died in the hands of the enemy.
He has survived to this day, and his ability to deal with large melees is definitely one of the best among all the people in the Mo family.
"Well..." Gao Jianli didn't say much and stopped.
They are all veterans who have fought for a long time, so there is no need to emphasize this kind of thing again and again.
"The next step is to wait for the target to reach the target." Gao Jianli's eyes pierced through the night and cast his gaze towards the dark west end of Xixiang Valley Road.
………………
At the same time, the east patrol convoy was moving slowly towards Xixiang Valley Road.
The huge motorcade looked like a slowly swimming fire dragon in the night, with bright yellow flames running through it from beginning to end.
In order to ensure lighting, all the guard soldiers on duty at the periphery held torches, and every carriage in the convoy hung as many oil lamps as possible around the carriage.
It is certainly an exaggeration to say that the surroundings of the convoy are as bright as day, but short-distance vision is basically not affected at all.
In the center of the motorcade, in one of the emperor's cars, Ying Zheng still hadn't rested.
In the spacious carriage, candles were lit everywhere to ensure that his line of sight was not affected at all.
Although it is already late, model worker Ying Zheng is still working.
Normally, he would not stay up so late. After all, his physical condition does not support it. You should know that he usually wakes up no later than 5 o'clock (five to seven o'clock).
However, as Songhai approached, Ying Zheng felt a little angry and had been working overtime to deal with government affairs.
Naturally, he worked so hard so that he could fully focus on the things he dreamed of most after arriving in Songhai.
After finishing another memorial, Ying Zheng temporarily stopped working, raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, and asked at the same time:
"How long until we get to Songhai?"
Zhao Gao, who was at the next level, immediately replied with a sharp voice, "We are expected to arrive outside Songhai City at noon tomorrow morning. The people below have already notified us and are ready to welcome you."
"How are the rebels in the Songhai area being dealt with?" Ying Zheng asked again calmly.
"This..." Zhao Gao hesitated for a while, then knelt down directly to Ying Zheng and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I am incompetent. The people sent to Songhai reported that the situation does not seem to be very good."
Ying Zhengmian's gaze suddenly turned cold, but his tone remained indifferent, "How bad is the situation?"
"Those slaves are all trash. I haven't found any clues in a few days. I just found that the rebels around Songhai were injured under General Zhang Han's suppression, but most of them were hidden. It seemed that the fundamentals were not harmed.
.”
"It's still unclear whether they will wait for an opportunity to make a comeback."
Zhao Gao's words basically told Ying Zheng that the trip to Songhai would be unexpected, and it was obviously completely different from the peaceful and prosperous era that he and Ying Zheng had exaggerated before.
The reason for changing his words was naturally to shirk the blame.
He had previously boasted to Ying Zheng about the peaceful and prosperous times in order to make the emperor happy - don't think that Ying Zheng doesn't like to hear good things.
But Zhao Gao knew that the Mohists were about to take action, and his fictitious peace would soon be exposed.
If he didn't expose his previous lies personally, Ying Zheng's anger would probably burn on him after the Qinglong Project happened.
After all, he is the leader of Luo Sheng. Ying Zheng can accept that he is not professional enough in escorting, but cannot accept that he is useless at all.
So he must vaccinate Ying Zheng in advance.
Of course, this would still put some responsibilities on him, but with the buffer, the most he would receive would be a reprimand, and the main responsibility would be thrown onto Zhang Han with his words.
Although he repeatedly emphasized in his words that the people he sent to Songhai were useless and could not do anything, he also implicitly emphasized that the Shadow Guards were mainly responsible for Songhai's affairs, and their trap was just a side drum.
With great power comes great responsibility. The three or two kittens that Luo Wen had just sent to Songhai were all trash. If anything happened, the blame would have to be taken by the Shadow Guards with sufficient manpower and strength.
Ying Zheng was clearly aware of Zhao Gao's subtle blame-shifting behavior, but he just glanced at him coldly and did not care about it.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Because it is human nature to blame others, and in Ying Zheng's view, Zhang Han is indeed mainly responsible for Sanghai's incident.
As an emperor, it has nothing to do with how many secrets he hides behind his back and how many difficulties Zhang Han faces. He only cares about the results.
Whether Zhao Gao should be held accountable depends on what surprise Sanghai can give him.
………………
In Songhai City, dozens of miles away.
Like Ying Zheng who hasn't slept yet, Zhang Han didn't rest either.
However, Ying Zheng could only stay up all night, but Zhang Han was determined to stay up all night tonight.
He still hasn't figured out the details of the Mohist Qinglong Plan, but one thing is certain - they will definitely take action before the emperor enters Songhai City.
Anyway, Zhang Han couldn't imagine any other way to assassinate the emperor after he entered the city.
Send someone to die to gamble on the odds?
Or lead people to attack the city directly?
In short, one is more unreliable than the other.
Therefore, the most likely time period for an accident is the few hours before the Eastern Patrol Team arrives at Songhai City.
Although Zhang Han was determined to fail, he couldn't really stop doing any work, especially when it involved assassinating the king and killing the king, which was his core scope of work.
He failed to prevent the assassination from happening in advance, okay.
But if he couldn't arrive in time and respond after the assassination, it wouldn't be possible.
What gives Zhang Han a headache now is that the people he sent out have found almost no valuable information.
The Shadow Secret Guards found out that the Mo family was making some moves, and they were quite big. Almost all the Mo Family strongholds controlled by the Shadow Secret Guards around Songhai were empty.
If nothing else, the base that the Shadow Guards didn't know about should have been empty.
Whether these people have been mobilized to carry out a certain operation, or they have withdrawn and gone into hiding in advance under the command of the Mohist high-level officials, it all indicates that the Mohist family is about to make a big move.
But the Shadow Guard just couldn't find out the Mo family's movements.
He sent people to conduct a net-like investigation within thirty miles around Songhai, but still could not catch the opponent's tail.
This is not to blame for the incompetence of Zhang Han or the Shadow Guards. How could they have guessed that the real location of the Mo family's operation was almost a hundred miles away.
After determining the location of the ambush, in order to avoid alerting Songhai, all the men sent by the farmers, as well as most of the men from the Mohist family, went directly to the west of the Xixiang Valley Road in batches to hide and wait for action.
The Mo family only left the necessary manpower on Songhai's side to maintain signs that the Mo family was still operating normally here, and then all of them were transferred to the ambush site tonight.
It's so late at night, even the elite Shadow Guards can't keep following the target that easily.
Moreover, a considerable number of the people left behind by the Mo family did not participate in tonight's assassination operation at all, but were used to distract attention, running around all over the world.
But this made Zhang Han feel very uncomfortable.
I knew something was going to happen, but I couldn't find the right place.
If the Mo family made any big noise, it would be difficult for him to explain it to the emperor.
Zhang Han, who had not received good news for a long time, gritted his teeth and went straight to the general's mansion.
If you can't handle it yourself, just look for outside help.
………………
Zhang Han, who was walking in a hurry, quickly arrived at the General's Mansion, which had fallen into silence under the night cover... Although there was no movement in this place during the day.
Fortunately, Gu Xun, who has been going to bed early and getting up early recently, was still up tonight. Zhang Han successfully met his old boss and supporter and explained the dilemma he was facing now.
Gu Xun, who was eating late-night snacks alone in the house, looked at Zhang Han suspiciously after hearing Zhang Han's request for help:
"Have you been thinking too much in your mind recently and you are temporarily confused?"
"This..." Zhang Han was suddenly criticized by Gu Xun, and Zhang Han was a little confused, "Is there any omission in the end?"
"No." Gu Xun replied, spreading his hands, "Don't you even have this little confidence?"
"But the problem is that you didn't make any omissions."
"If the Mo family made any big moves, it would be impossible for them to hide it from you until now."
"But I will..." Zhang Han had a vague guess in his mind, but it had not yet been fully formed.
Seeing this, Gu Xun took a sip of wine and continued unhurriedly, "You can't find them, which means they are not within the scope of your investigation now."
"But..." The vague guess in Zhang Han's heart was completely realized, but he still couldn't accept it, "How could..."
Although he only sent people to investigate the entire thirty miles around Songhai, considering the possible disturbances caused by the Mohist family this time, no clues could be found within thirty miles, which basically means that the fifty miles are 'empty'.
What are the Mo family doing so far away?
In Zhang Han's opinion, the ideal opportunity for the Mohist assassination was when the Eastern Patrol Team was handing over to Songhai's welcoming team.
Theoretically, this is the time when the protection is the strictest, but at the same time, this is also the time when the emperor's target position is clearest.
Of course, there is a more suitable opportunity, that is, when the mirage sets sail, the location of the emperor's target will be clearer, and the defense force will most likely be reduced a lot.
However, the Mo family is obviously going to take action today, and the mirage will be launched later.
"Execute the Qinglong Plan." Gu Xun responded with a shrug as he continued to eat his midnight snack, "No one told you that they would definitely operate near Songhai, right?"
"Their purpose is to assassinate the emperor. They can act wherever the emperor is. There is no reason to be restricted to Songhai."
Considering that it was late at night, Gu Xun's diet was relatively vegetarian, so he had a few lamb chops grilled, a pot of beef simmered, and then a flower-haired one and a pot of stuffed orchids.
At this time, while dealing with Zhang Han, he did not delay squeezing the edamame.
"But if it's too far..."
After gradually accepting this fact, Zhang Han found that he seemed to be... okay?
Gu Xun knew what he was thinking, and nodded to help him confirm, "Yes, this matter has little to do with you."
The strength of the Shadow Guard is far inferior to that of Luo Sheng, but the main difference lies in two aspects.
One is the intelligence network.
Luowang has the most powerful intelligence network in the world, even Quicksand is not as good as it, but it may have some advantages in reporting from some off-beat sources.
The second is the number of people.
Even if you don't consider the entire snare, just counting the snare killers who can be mobilized at will by Zhao Gao, the number is more than ten times more than that of the Shadow Guards.
One more person means one more combat power. With a manpower difference of ten or even dozens of times, the Shadow Guard's horse attack cannot be compared to Luo Sheng's.
Therefore, a snare with enough manpower can weave the net all over the world, but the Shadow Guards with limited manpower can often only focus on a certain place, no more than two or three.
Judging from the manpower Zhang Han could mobilize at this time, the Xixiang Valley Road where the Mohists chose the ambush location was simply not within his scope.
As long as he can rush over as quickly as possible after receiving the request for help from the convoy, he will be considered worthy of his responsibilities.
Thinking of this, Zhang Han's face, which had been slightly anxious before, immediately calmed down completely.
Of course, as a close minister of the emperor, he knew that such creatures with absolute power were generally consequentialists - that is, unreasonable.
If Ying Zheng holds Zhang Han accountable afterwards, he will definitely not be able to escape.
However, based on Zhang Han's understanding of Ying Zheng, if he just expresses his anger, there will never be too serious punishment.
At a lighter level, it would be a reprimand and a fine; at a more severe level, it would be nothing more than a demotion and self-reflection... 80% of the time he would be promoted back.
For Zhang Han, this level of punishment is completely acceptable.
In this case, he naturally doesn't need to worry.
But he didn't intend to just let it go, and decided to show positive performance to avoid any accidents that would cause all his years of hard work to be wasted.
But this requires solving a new problem - where is the Mo family's action location?