Chapter 8 Hu Jinghui

Just as Zhao Ji and Di Renjie were attacked, Li Yuanfang chased a mysterious man eastward, and the two of them were speeding through the streets.

This mysterious man was none other than Yu Feng, who had attempted to assassinate Di Renjie unsuccessfully at Lanqiao Station.

After the operation failed that night, Yu Feng led his men to Chang'an to find Viper and ask him for help.

Viper was very unhappy that Feng did not kill Di Renjie.

But the mistake had been made, and they could only try to remedy the situation. They ordered Yu Feng to bring people to monitor the earthen kiln.

Because attacking the earthen kiln and rescuing Liu Jin were the real purposes of the fake delegation's visit to Beijing, if Di Renjie wanted to solve the case, he would definitely go to the earthen kiln to check.

If Di Renjie cannot find the earthen kiln, it proves that he is still far from solving the case, which will be more conducive to the next action.

As expected, Yu Feng and his men waited for Di Renjie in the earthen kiln.

Yu Feng took action personally to lure Li Yuanfang away, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

On the one hand, he didn't want him to have the chance to save Di Renjie, and on the other hand, he was planning to kill Li Yuanfang to silence him.

It’s just that Yu Feng underestimated Zhao Ji, and even more so, he underestimated Li Yuanfang.

This can be said to be a common problem among the Snake Spirits, blindly confident and looking down on their opponents. Yu Feng, Yingzi, Mo Ling, Kui Wenzhong, and even Yuan Tiangang are all like this.

After only a few rounds of fighting with Li Yuanfang, Yu Feng found that he was no match for Li Yuanfang. He could only defend himself but had no power to fight back.

"Damn, this Li Yuanfang is really powerful. Di Renjie must have succeeded. We have to find a way to get rid of him."

Yu Feng was panting, blocking Li Yuanfang's sword with his sword, and was shocked and took several steps back.

"You are the mysterious man who killed the constable in Lingzhou Inn, right?" Li Yuanfang looked at Yu Feng coldly with his sword drawn.

"So what?"

"Your death has come, give me your life!" Li Yuanfang shouted and stabbed with his knife.

"Hmph, I'm not going to play with you anymore. Your Lord Di is already beheaded." Yu Feng dodged the chain knife once again, and flew away without wanting to fight anymore.

When Li Yuanfang heard this, he was horrified: "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap to lure the tiger away from the mountain!"

No longer chasing the wind, he turned around and ran towards the earthen kiln.
-
The moment he saw the earthen kiln, Li Yuanfang felt dizzy and the world was spinning.

What caught his eyes were corpses and blood all over the ground, while Zhao Ji and Di Renjie disappeared without a trace.

"My lord, Chengyuan, my lord, Chengyuan..."

Li Yuanfang opened his throat and shouted, but there was no response.

He forced himself to calm down and carefully observed the scene, noticing a coat thrown in the corner, which seemed to be Zhao Ji's.

Li Yuanfang hurried over, bent down to pick up the clothes and checked them. He found a hole in the left sleeve of the clothes and the blood on it had dried.

Judging from this piece of clothing, Zhao Ji and Di Renjie had experienced a fierce battle, and a long time had passed.

In fact, before escorting Di Renjie into the palace, Zhao Ji was worried about scaring passers-by and causing panic, so he took off his bloody clothes.

Li Yuanfang was not aware of this, and he felt that Di Renjie and Zhao Ji were in a bad situation.

He perked up and searched around the kiln again, but found nothing. He went back to the inn to check, but there was no sign of Zhao Ji or Di Renjie.

Li Yuanfang had no choice but to return to the earthen kiln. He sighed, sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and felt full of regret.

He was wanted as a traitor, and finally had a chance to clear his name, but he was careless and fell into a trap, causing Di Renjie to be killed and disappear without a trace.

If anything happened to Di Renjie, and the enemy repeated the same tricks and put the blame on himself, he would never be able to clear himself even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

Chang'an is such a big city, where should we go to find Di Renjie?
Even though Li Yuanfang was a man of integrity, he still felt hopeless at this moment.

Just when Li Yuanfang was at a loss, a laughing voice came: "Brother Yuanfang, why are you sighing?"

Li Yuanfang jumped up and looked back. It was Zhao Ji who arrived!
He rushed over and grabbed Zhao Ji's arm, his voice a little hoarse: "Where is the master? Where is the master!"

"Don't worry, I have escorted the master to the palace. The master was worried about you and asked me to pick you up."

Zhao Ji patted Li Yuanfang on the shoulder, signaling him not to worry.

Li Yuanfang let out a long sigh, his eyes almost wet.

Zhao Ji saw this and was quite moved. This was the best example of a hero in trouble, Qin Qiong selling his horse.

"Brother Yuan Fang, don't worry. The Lord has already investigated the whole matter and will definitely clear your name and get you reinstated."

"Chengyuan, if it weren't for you, I would be doomed today. In the future, if you need my help, Li Yuanfang will do it even if he kills me." Li Yuanfang wanted to bow to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji hurriedly stopped him: "Brother Yuan Fang, why do you have to do this? If you don't mind, you and I can call each other brothers in the future."

Seeing that Li Yuanfang had calmed down, Zhao Ji followed the agreement with Di Renjie and went back to the inn to wait.
-
Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang rushed to the inn and found that it had been surrounded by Qianniu Guards.

Li Yuanfang subconsciously hurried to avoid it. Over the past period of time, he had seen officers and soldiers behave in this way almost all the time.

However, Zhao Ji stopped him and signaled him to stay calm.

He saw an acquaintance, with a pair of small eyes and a top-notch passerby face.

It was the most inspiring supporting actor in the Di Renjie world: Zhang Huan. "Zhang Huan, why are you here?" Zhao Ji stepped forward to greet him.

When Zhang Huan saw Zhao Ji, he immediately stepped forward and saluted: "Sir Zhao, I am here to protect Lord Di. Lord Di is in the inn waiting for you."

"Oh, so soon? Has the adults arrived?" Zhao Ji asked.

"Not only Lord Di, but General Hu is also in the inn." Zhang Huan replied.

Zhao Ji was slightly surprised when he heard that Hu Jinghui was also here, but he still smiled and said, "Oh, I see. I'll go meet them right away."

After entering the inn, Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui were indeed sitting in the main hall, seemingly talking and laughing.

Hu Jinghui is seven feet tall and has a sturdy build. He looks upright and inviolable.

At first glance, he looks just like the tiger-slaying Wu Song in the real world. No one would have thought that he would be the killer viper.

He is only 35 years old this year, but he has already been promoted to General of the Guards. He truly has a bright future.

As Wu Zetian's trusted general, she even entrusted him with the most confidential task, such as interrogating Liu Jin, which shows her trust in him.

"Look, they're coming." Di Renjie pointed at Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang and said to Hu Jinghui.

As soon as Li Yuanfang saw Di Renjie, he immediately bowed down and apologized to Di Renjie: "Sir, I was careless and fell into the enemy's trap, causing you to be in danger..."

Of course Di Renjie hurriedly helped Li Yuanfang up and comforted him.

Hu Jinghui, who was standing beside him, was watching this scene with great interest. His voice was firm and powerful: "Why, Chengyuan, you won't introduce me to him?"

"Oh, this is Li Yuanfang, the former guerrilla general of Gannan Province. I believe Di Gong has already told you about his affairs." Upon hearing this, Zhao Ji hurriedly introduced Hu Jinghui.

Then he turned to introduce Li Yuanfang: "This is my superior, General Hu Jinghui, the General of the Right Thousand Bull Guards. He is your majesty's favorite general. He has outstanding achievements and is highly skilled in martial arts."

Li Yuanfang quickly greeted Hu Jinghui and said, "Greetings, General Hu."

"General Li is polite. His Majesty has issued an edict to reinstate you as a guerrilla general. You will remain under Di Gong's command for the time being." Hu Jinghui returned the greeting to Li Yuanfang.

"And you, boy, did a great job in saving Lord Di. His Majesty will promote you by one level and temporarily transfer you to Lord Di's service. After the case of the diplomatic mission is fully investigated, you will be rewarded."

The left and right Qianniu Guards consisted of one general each, of the third rank, not a permanent position; one general each, of the third rank; and two Zhonglang Jiang each, of the fourth rank. Under them were the Qianniu Beishen, Beishen Zuoyou, Beishen, Zhuzhang, etc.

Zhao Ji was originally a bodyguard, and after being promoted to the next level, he became a bodyguard's left and right.

Hu Jinghui looked at Zhao Ji with a complicated look.

He probably didn't expect that this inconspicuous subordinate of his would become the key person who hindered the plan.

Zhao Ji heard Hu Jinghui's words, which were a bit ambiguous, and felt a bit uncomfortable being stared at by him. He thought to himself, "This time, Hu Jinghui's good plan has been ruined. This guy seems to have some bad intentions. We must be careful and guard against him."

Di Renjie stood aside for a while. He noticed that the atmosphere between Zhao Ji and Hu Jinghui was a little strange, and just thought that the two of them didn't get along well.

Di Renjie rolled his eyes and said to Hu Jinghui, "Jinghui, I have already told you about the plan. Go back home and pack your luggage immediately. We will meet at Tonghua Gate in the northeast corner of Chang'an."

Di Renjie was preparing to secretly pass through Chencang and head to Youzhou.

Hu Jinghui looked a little surprised. He didn't expect Di Renjie to leave so soon, but he could only nod and go back home to pack his luggage.

Li Yuanfang asked, "Sir, what's the matter with this Tiger General? What is the plan you are talking about?"

"General Hu was sent by His Majesty to assist in the investigation. As for the plan, we'll talk about it on the way."

Di Renjie watched Hu Jinghui leave with an ambiguous look in his eyes.

The emperor would not send Hu Jinghui to Di Renjie for no reason. She hoped that Hu Jinghui would play the role of monitoring Di Renjie.

After all, the case involved Liu Jin, especially the list of people involved in the King of Yue's rebellion that he had.

Wu Zetian would not trust Di Renjie, an old minister of the Li Tang Dynasty, to handle such a matter alone, so she sent Hu Jinghui to take action.

Di Renjie was probably well aware of this.

The three of them packed their luggage and headed straight for Tonghua Gate to meet up with Hu Jinghui. They left Chang'an and headed north. By evening, they had already stayed at Baqiao Posthouse south of the Weishui River.

Except for Hu Jinghui, Zhao Ji and the other two had not had a good rest since last night. They were already exhausted and went back to their rooms to rest.

Steam was rising from Zhao Ji's room. He was taking a bath to wash away the bloody smell from the day's battle.

He soaked in the hot water, closed his eyes, and recalled his experiences over the past ten days.

The journey was thrilling and he met Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang, and was promoted to a higher rank.

The only thing that worries Zhao Ji is the change in the plot.

Especially the change in the earthen kiln, which almost threatened Di Renjie's life. More attention must be paid to prevent the villain from making desperate moves.

Zhao Ji stroked the two amulets in his hand and said, "Since ancient times, people have said goodbye by breaking willow branches at Baqiao. I hope this trip to Youzhou goes smoothly."

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(End of this chapter)