Chapter 480: Internal Support
The rain was pouring.
Inside the carriage, Sun Shaozong leaned on a cushion, his right palm suspended in front of him with five fingers spread out, as if he was holding up something huge, his expression was subtle and a little bit rippled, and in the ripples there was also a mixture of...
“Ouch!”
Zhang Cheng outside shouted, the carriage suddenly slowed down, and then stopped in the rain.
Although the car was not going very fast, Sun Shaozong was caught off guard and leaned forward. He frowned and was about to ask what happened, but Zhang Cheng had already lifted the curtain and reported, "Second Master, the Dragon Guards have blocked our way."
In fact, he didn't need to report it, because Sun Shaozong had already seen that the people blocking the road ahead were none other than the Dragon Guards.
Seeing that the carriage had stopped, several Dragon Guards dismounted and knelt in the mud like a fan, saying in unison: "Sir, Governor Lu orders you to return to the Northern Governorate to discuss matters!"
Lu Hui was in a hurry to summon me. Could it be that some big trouble had occurred again?
This is truly a turbulent time!
Sun Shaozong stuck his head out of the car and shouted, "Someone who knows what's going on, get on board, and the rest of you lead the way!"
The leading flagman jumped onto the shaft without hesitation, sat side by side with Zhang Cheng, and stuck his head into the carriage. Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to ask, he said, "I only heard that the job at Qingxu Temple was messed up, which made the governor furious. I don't know anything else."
The mission at Qingxu Temple failed?
Sun Shaozong nodded calmly, and only frowned unconsciously until Xiaoqi obediently got out of the car.
The place where the White Lotus Sect members settled was near the Qingxu Temple. If nothing unexpected happened, something must have gone wrong.
But it shouldn't be like this!
The action plan against the White Lotus sect members was formulated by Sun Shaozong and Lu Hui after repeated considerations, and in the initial stage it was mainly for surveillance. Even if there were still some loopholes, they should not be exposed so quickly.
Besides, the beggars under Hong Jiu had been investigating for several days in a row. Even those unprofessional beggars were able to avoid being discovered. There was no reason why they would be replaced by the elite Dragon Guards.
etc!
Could it be that the beggars had already revealed their true colors? So after the Dragon Guards took over, they just happened to catch up with the White Lotus Sect's original breakout plan?
That's not right either.
If that were the case, the White Lotus Sect should have taken action when Hong Jiu withdrew his sentry post the day before yesterday afternoon.
Could it be...
The book does not elaborate.
When they arrived outside the Beizhenfusi gate, the carriage had just stopped and Xiaoqi, who was riding in the carriage, had already taken a straw raincoat and held it in front of Sun Shaozong with both hands.
Sun Shaozong put on his coat, got off the car, and hurried up the stone steps. He saw eight young officers of the Dragon Guards lined up in a row in the doorway, and they were already on double duty.
"Master Qianhu."
As soon as he stepped over the threshold, Yang Licai appeared, leaning his shoulder to lead the way, and said in a low voice: "As soon as the rain started, the White Lotus thieves fled from the several inns where they were hiding. Although the people we sent to follow them immediately raised the alarm and summoned the people hiding nearby, they were still half a step too late and only managed to intercept half of the thieves."
"Because the bandits resisted fiercely, we killed more than ten of them on the spot and captured six alive. Now the governor is personally interrogating them."
The news actually leaked!
"Among those captives, are there any..."
"There are no more prisoners."
Sun Shaozong was just about to ask if there were any White Lotus leaders among the captives when he heard someone in front of him say, "The six we captured were all killed!"
As he was speaking, Lu Hui with a gloomy face appeared at the corner of the corridor.
"Pacify my lord."
Sun Shaozong and Yang Licai hurriedly bowed and saluted. Lu Hui did not reply, but just waved his sleeves at Yang Licai, who immediately bowed and left tactfully.
After Yang Licai left, Lu Hui took Sun Shaozong to the middle of the corridor and found a place with a wide view. He then said in a deep voice: "The White Lotus thieves had already taken poison before they rushed out of the inn. I didn't even have time to interrogate them before they died of the poison."
"Before they died, they loudly recited some incomprehensible scriptures. Although I didn't quite understand them, I could roughly tell that they meant to die. Obviously, they knew about the poison they had taken beforehand."
"In that case..."
Sun Shaozong couldn't help but frown after hearing this and said, "The other party must have figured out our identities, otherwise they wouldn't resort to such desperate measures!"
The members of the White Lotus Sect swallowed poison in advance, not to prepare for a suicide attack, but to avoid being captured alive and being tortured to reveal their accomplices and the secrets of the sect.
This is obviously an extreme measure. If he did not already know his opponent's strengths and felt that it would be difficult to escape unscathed, he would not have acted so drastically.
The Northern Pacification Office had only been in place for one night...
Sun Shaozong pondered in his heart, but said: "Now that things have come to this, do we need Shuntian Prefecture to send people to help search for the thieves?"
Lu Hui shook his head. "I sent someone to look for you, but it wasn't for these things. When those beggars were watching us before, the White Lotus Sect members didn't have any extreme reactions. It doesn't make sense that our elite troops from the Northern Pacification Division would be exposed overnight."
Seeing that Lu Hui had almost made the matter clear, Sun Shaozong took the opportunity to ask, "My Lord, are you suspecting that there are also White Lotus accomplices lurking within our Northern Pacification Division?"
The Northern Pacification Division is not like the Shuntian Prefecture with its mixed personnel. The lowest rank of the Dragon Guards is a ninth-rank official, and because it is a secret agency, the internal review is very strict. If the Northern Pacification Division has been successfully infiltrated by the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, there will probably be few safe places in the court.
Unexpectedly, Lu Hui still shook his head, then faced Sun Shaozong's surprised eyes and said faintly: "What I am most worried about is that there is no White Lotus Sect's accomplice in our Northern Pacification Division!"
Are you worried that there are no White Lotus accomplices in the Northern Pacification Office?
This is really...
Sun Shaozong was puzzled and pondered for a while, then suddenly realized, "My Lord, are you suspecting that some other forces are behind this and deliberately arranged for an insider to pass on information to the White Lotus Sect?!"
This time, Lu Hui finally nodded and said seriously, "Including the few people who guarded Hong Jiu and others, there are seventeen people in total who know the inside story of this operation and have the opportunity to pass on the information. They are basically the people I brought back from the south."
No wonder Lu Hui suspected that there was someone else behind this!
The White Lotus' sphere of influence has always been in the northwest, so it was reasonable for them to station some spies in the capital - but to extend their influence to the south, especially to a secret agency like the Dragon Guards, was truly unbelievable.
But this makes the situation more complicated.
What exactly is the intention of the forces that secretly support the White Lotus Sect?
Did they want to make peace with the White Lotus Sect, so they offered their surrender; or did they want to use them to achieve their own goals? Or did they want to keep the White Lotus Sect to cause trouble, so as to divert the court's attention and take the opportunity to plot something?
"Sir, the pacification lord!"
Sun Shaozong was just frowning and pondering when he saw Yang Licai rushing over again. He approached him, bowed, and said impatiently, "Prince Beijing has just sent a memorial questioning the Niu family's involvement in the case of the crown prince!"
Tsk~
Prince Beijing is quite fast, it seems he has a plan in place!
