At Yangzhou City Inn, Li Zhen completed the mission of going east and began to pack his luggage to return to the capital. This time they returned north, they also prepared hundreds of prison vans to escort nearly 100 members of the Goryeo Restoration Congress arrested in the southeastern states. They will closely guard them back to the capital by the state troops along the way.

In the courtyard, all the warriors had been packed up, and the prison car was parked outside the inn, waiting for the Yangzhou Prefecture Army to come and meet. At this moment, Yangzhou Prefect Lin Qing hurried over and walked into the gate and asked anxiously: "Can General Li be there?"

Li Zhen walked out of the room and asked with a smile: "Is Prefect Lin coming to see me off?"

Lin Qing hurriedly walked forward, took out a document and said to Li Zhen: "I just received the urgent order from Your Majesty, which is for General Li."

Li Zhen was stunned and quickly took the hand order and looked at it. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Di Yan stepped forward and asked, "Brother Li, what happened?"

"It has something to do with your father. The emperor has appointed your father as the military envoy of the Hebei Daoguan Army, and asked me to hurry to Pengze and guard him north to Youzhou."

Di Yan was surprised and happy. Her father was finally re-activated. She couldn't help but feel excited and said anxiously: "Will we go to Pengze now?"

Lin Qing next to him smiled and said, "I heard that the military situation in Hebei is tense, and Prime Minister Di will definitely set off the road immediately. It is estimated that he has already gone north. General Li might as well arrive in Shouchun first. This is the only way to go north. General Li can meet him there."

When Li Zhen heard that he made sense, he went up to Zhao Qiuniang and Lu Jin and said, "You two are responsible for taking the prisoner back to the capital and handing it over to Dali Temple. I want to rush to Shouchun and guard Di Prime Minister to go north. If you need to rush to Hebei, I will write a letter to notify you."

Zhao Qiuniang and Lu Jin looked at each other and bowed together: "After the order"

Li Zhen gave a few more instructions, and then he said to the prefect Lin Qing: "For the escort of the state soldiers, please ask the prefect Lin."

"Don't worry, I'll make arrangements, there will be no mistakes."

Li Zhen immediately took Di Yan and more than 30 subordinates to leave Yangzhou first, and ran towards Shouchun City with a quick horse.

Shouchun is located in the northern part of Shouzhou, close to the Huaihe River, connecting the Jianghuai River and the Central Plains. Since ancient times, it has been an important town in the Jianghuai River. It has developed commerce and a large population. It is also a must-pass place for crossing Huaibei from southern prefectures.

It was not far from Yangzhou to Shouchun. Li Zhen and his group traveled day and night, and arrived at Shouchun City in just three days.

The first thing they did after arriving in Shouchun was to confirm whether Di Renjie had crossed the Huai River. After all, the war in Hebei was in a tight position, and Di Renjie would also urgently head north. At the same time, Li Zhen sent several subordinates to Pengze, Shuzhou, Haozhou, Hefei and other places to inquire about Di Renjie's news.

As soon as Li Zhen led his men to rest at the post station, the Shouchun County Magistrate rushed to visit him after hearing the news. The Shouchun County Magistrate was Gu, and he was a Jinshi. He was quite capable and managed Shouchun County in an orderly manner. He was rated as the best person by the Ministry of Personnel twice, and he was likely to be able to advance one step next year.

Therefore, the magistrate Gu is particularly careful that high-ranking officials in the capital or superior officials come to Shouchun, and he will cheer him up. Although Li Zhen does not belong to the civil service system, he is a powerful inner guard. Even the cruel official Lai Junchen, who is famous all over the world, has been eradicated by him, which makes officials from all over the world respect and fear him. When the magistrate Gu heard that Li Zhen had arrived in Shouchun, he was also nervous.

Li Zhen was discussing Di Yan with Di Yan about the route that Di Renjie might go north. Although the possibility of taking Shouchun is the most likely, it is possible to go through Haozhou to cross the Huai River, or even Linhuai County to north. Di Yan thought for a while and said, "I remember when I followed my father to Pengze to take office, I walked in Shouchun. Although we did not go to the county town to rest at that time, we did cross the Huai River from Shouchun Wharf. We are more familiar with this route. I don't think he will take other routes."

Li Zhen looked at the map and pondered for a long time and said, "Actually, I am more worried about the safety issues on his way. Your father firmly supports the Li royal family and will inevitably be hated by the Wu family. In Pengze and others, they may not dare to do it easily, but if they go north, the Wu family may use the bandits along the way to attack your father, causing an accident. In fact, the emperor asked the inner guard to protect your father from going north, and she was worried that this would happen."

Di Yan became even more nervous, "Brother Li, we can't go to Pengze. Will they attack my father on the way?"

Li Zhen smiled and said, "It's only a few hundred miles from Pengze to here. Because the appointment time is very hasty, even if the other party wants to attack your father, it's too late to arrange it. So I guess there should be no accident before crossing the Huai River, but it's hard to say after crossing the Huai River, especially on the way across the Central Plains, I think it's the most unsafe, so I have to be extra careful."

Having said that, Di Yan was still worried. She had followed Li Zhen over the past year and had too many conspiracy and assassinations and knew some of the dangers in the officialdom. If Wu Sansi or other Wu clan members were determined to seize the Tang Dynasty, their father would be a stumbling block for them, and they would definitely not let their father go easily.

"Brother Li, why don't I go south to Pengze to welcome my father."

"Wait for a while, we have to confirm with the government whether he has passed Shouchun, and then it will not be too late to go south."

As soon as Li Zhen said this, his subordinates reported outside the door: "Report to the general, the magistrate of Gu County in Shouchun is looking for a meeting outside."

Li Zhen smiled and said, "Just just wanted to find them, they came."

He turned around and walked out of the room and walked towards the gate. Di Yan also followed closely behind Li Zhen. At the gate, the magistrate Gu, county magistrate, county magistrate, chief clerk and other officials were patiently waiting for Li Zhen to summon him. At this time, they saw a young general walking over quickly.

Although the magistrate Gu had never met Li Zhen, he knew Di Yan. Last year, Di Yan accompanied his grandmother to Pengze to reunite with his father. He passed by Shouchun County and received good care from the magistrate Gu.

Since Miss Di followed the young general, then this person must be General Li Zhen of the Inner Guard. He hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "The lower-ranking official is Gu Deming, the magistrate of Shouchun County. Welcome General Li to Shouchun County."

Li Zhen smiled and said, "Li Zhen was deeply moved by the enthusiasm of the magistrate Gu. This time I am guarding the Prime Minister Di to the north by the emperor's will and preparing to meet him in Shouchun. I wonder if he has arrived in Shouchun?"

When the magistrate Gu heard that Di Renjie was also coming to Shouchun, he was shocked and happy and said quickly: "The officials have not heard about the arrival of the Prime Minister of Di. If there is any news, they will definitely report it to the general immediately."

Li Zhen thought to himself that Di Renjie must have known the news that he came to escort him. Even if he was in a hurry to go north, he would leave a message to him in Shouchun. Since the county magistrate didn't know, it means that Di Renjie had not arrived in Shouchun.

"Thank you for the news from County Magistrate Gu"

After pondering for a while, Li Zhen said again: "If this happens, I will go south immediately. If I go wrong with the Prime Minister of Di, I would like to ask the County Magistrate Gu to tell the Prime Minister of Di and ask him to wait for me to come back to meet in Shouchun."

"It must be certain"

County Magistrate Gu exchanged a few more greetings with Li Zhen and said goodbye. Li Zhen immediately said to Di Yan: "Since your father has not arrived in Shouchun, we can go south to greet him now."

Di Yan was overjoyed and hurried back to the house to clean up. He followed Li Zhen and left Shouchun and headed south again.

They walked south along the official road. At noon the next day, they arrived at a small town called Guiyang. As soon as they entered the town, they saw Di Renjie and several of his followers, holding their horses and looking around in the town. Di Yan shouted, "Dad"

She turned over and dismounted and ran over. She was extremely excited and took her father's hand and jumped and laughed. Di Renjie also received an imperial edict urgently sent to Pengze County, and appointed him as the Hebei Guanjun Ling Envoy and the prefect of Yingzhou to deal with the Khitan rebellion and invasion of the south.

Knowing that the situation was critical, Di Renjie explained the matters in the county to the county magistrate and set off to the north immediately. He also knew that Li Zhen would come to guard him to the north, so he probably met in Shouchun, but he did not expect to meet his daughter in this small town.

Di Renjie was so happy that he couldn't stop talking, and held his daughter's hand and asked, "A Yan, why are you here? How are your grandmother's health?"

Di Yan didn't know how to explain to her father that she was with Li Zhen, so she turned around and glared at Li Zhen, blaming him for not coming to see him. Li Zhen also quickly turned over and got off the horse, stepped forward a few steps, knelt down on one knee and said, "My younger generation, Li Zhen, have seen Uncle Di"

Of course, Di Renjie also heard about Li Zhen's deeds. He was not surprised that Li Zhen was promoted to the commander of the inner guard in just one year. In the era of the Queen, there were many officials who were promoted overnight, but Li Zhen could actually defeat Wu Chengsi, Xue Huaiyi and Lai Junchen, which really forced Di Renjie to look at him with admiration.

Moreover, in the wife's letter, she also revealed a little about the relationship between her daughter and Li Zhen. At this time, he saw that her daughter was with Li Zhen again, so he knew it. Di Renjie quickly helped Li Zhen up and said with a smile: "Thanks to my nephew, I have not been assassinated in prison. Now I think about it and I am a little scared. This time I go north with the order, which will probably make some people uncomfortable, and I have to ask my nephew to worry more."

"Please rest assured, my younger brother will do his best to protect my uncle's safety."

Di Yan held his father's arm and acted coquettishly, "With Yan'er here, who dares to have a bad idea to attack Dad?"

Di Renjie knocked his daughter lovingly and said with a smile: "You little cat causing trouble, daddy is still afraid that something will happen to you."

"When did I get into trouble, how could Dad say that to Yan'er?"

Di Yan shook her father's arm and glanced at Li Zhen secretly. She didn't want Li Zhen to know her nickname at home. She hurriedly changed the subject and asked, "Dad is safe all the way? Have you ever met any suspicious people?"

This is also something Li Zhen is concerned about. He also looked at Di Renjie inquiringly. Di Renjie smiled slightly, "Not yet. Even if someone wants to be unfavorable to me, it won't be so fast."
Chapter completed!