Fenghou

County magistrate Yang Wenhui said to Zheng Ping: "Baizan has just investigated. Just now there were hundreds of operas here, which attracted a large number of people to watch, making the road very congested. This gave the assassin a chance. Beizhi believes that this hundred opera troupe creates conditions for assassins. Big suspicion."

Zheng Ping gritted his teeth and said, "Catch this hundred circus troupe immediately, and mobilize all the snakes and mice in Chengdu to search for the hundred circus troupe. Those who have clues will be rewarded!"

Snakes and rats are beggars, gangsters, rogues, and idlers. They hunt for food on the streets of Chengdu all day long. Once the government offers a reward to find someone, they are more active than anyone else.

Soon, an insider reported that this Baixi Troupe came from Chongqing Prefecture, arrived in Chengdu three days ago, and has now sailed south by boat.

Zheng Ping immediately sent two cavalry to pursue and set up checkpoints along the way to intercept the fleet.

The next morning, news came from Meizhou that they had found the boat, but all seven members of the Baixi Troupe were killed and their bodies were picked up from the water.

Zheng Ping calmed down at this moment, he suddenly realized that behind the assassination of Li Yi was a big gang.

He had to write a letter to report to Chen Qing immediately. Zheng Ping had just picked up his pen, and someone in the hall reported, "I told the Zhenfu envoy, a team came outside, about three to fifty people, and the leader was said to be Jingzhao Neiwei."

The inner guard came, how could it be such a coincidence, he immediately said: "Please come in!"

After a while, two people came in, the leader was Han Zhengfu, followed by Zhong Huan.

"Refer to General Zheng for a humble position!"

Zheng Ping was overjoyed, "It turns out that Lao Han is here, long time no see!"

The internal guards were originally restructured from Zheng Ping's scout battalion, Wang Hao was still Zheng Ping's personal guard, and basically all the senior officials were once Zheng Ping's subordinates.

Zheng Ping happily invited Han Zhengfu in, looked at Zhong Huan and asked with a smile: "This young hero is..."

Han Zhengfu introduced: "This is our internal guard judge. He was born as a Jinshi the year before last and is very good at judging cases. He is called Zhonghuan."

Zhong Huan hurriedly saluted, "Report to the governor, my father Zhong Hong."

Zhong Hong was appointed Cang Cao in Chengdu, and he knew Zheng Ping very well. Zheng Ping laughed and said, "Old Zhong brags all day that his son has been admitted to Jinshi, so it's you!"

"Juniors don't dare to be!"

"They're not outsiders, come and sit down."

The two sat down, and Zheng Ping asked someone to serve tea again. Han Zhengfu asked cautiously, "Did you hear that something happened when I entered the city?"

"Hey!"

Zheng Ping let out a long sigh, "I don't know that gang of gangsters assassinated Li Zhifu yesterday afternoon, and Li Zhifu unfortunately passed away."

Han Zhengfu and Zhong Huan looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. They even went so far as to assassinate the prefect of Chengdu. Needless to say, it must have something to do with the Hezhou incident.

"Public Fushi, we came to Chengdu to investigate the case. Something big has happened, and it's just showing signs."

Han Zhengfu then told about the secret visit of the governors of Hezhou and Changzhou to Zhao Ding.

Zheng Ping slapped his thigh and cursed: "The shit, it must be them. The Baixi Troupe comes from Chongqing, and Hezhou and Changzhou are close to Chongqing."

Chong Huan pondered for a moment and asked, "Did the prefect Li discover something and they took action?"

"It's possible, because Prefect Li is going to go to Jingzhao these two days, and I'm arranging guards for him. I didn't expect something to happen yesterday."

Han Zhengfu thought for a while and said, "Why don't we divide our troops into two groups. I will go to Hezhou to investigate their gathering of troops, and Judge Xiaozhong will stay in Chengdu to investigate the assassination case of the prefect of Li. The two must have a great connection."

Zhong Huan nodded silently, he wanted to ask his father, what happened to the officialdom in Chengdu?

……

Zhong Huan's father is called Zhong Hong, about forty years old, and he is the official of Chengdu Mansion Cangcao, in charge of the logistics supplies of Chengdu Mansion. Order him to inherit the successor fireworks of the teacher's way.

After Jingkang, Zhong Hong fled to Chengdu with his whole family.

In the study, after hearing his son's question, Zhong Hong stroked his beard and said calmly: "Actually, we all know who killed Li Yi."

"Father, who is it?"

Zhong Hong put away his smile, and said with a serious face: "To be precise, it is a big force, the royalists of Bashu."

"Royalists?"

"This is their own name. Simply put, it is some wealthy gentry who are hostile to Chen Qing and demand that Bashu return to the court."

"Like Huang Linjiang?"

Huang Linjiang is a general judge in Bazhou, a well-known family in Bazhong, and a famous royalist in Sichuan. He has a marriage contract with the Zhong family. His youngest daughter will marry Zhonghuan as his wife, but Zhonghuan already has a princess of Xixia by his side. I just want to annul this marriage.

It's okay not to stop Huang Linjiang, but when Huang Linjiang was mentioned, Zhong Hong was furious, picked up the book and knocked on his head hard, "What's the matter with you, why did you want to divorce?"

Chong Huan covered his head and explained: "Father, I am different from Huang Jiadao and do not conspire with him. He only recognizes the emperor and resolutely opposes the county king. I can't say to go with them!"

"Fart, is this your reason? Don't try to fool me, who is that woman next to you?"

Zhong Huan rolled his eyes, it turned out that his father already knew.

Chapter 827 Keeping the Emperor

"Father, that's...that's a woman from a good family that Hai'er saved in Xixia."

"Xixia? Whose daughter is she? Tell me clearly. Don't think I don't understand Xixia."

Chong Huan had no choice but to whisper, "It's Li Qianshun's youngest daughter."

"what?"

Chong Hong couldn't believe his ears that the youngest daughter of Xixia Emperor Li Ganshun was with his son.

"It's ridiculous. You are the son of the Chong family. How can you have anything to do with Li Qianshun's daughter? You send her away immediately when you go back. I will never admit it."

"Father, Ah Jiu is five months pregnant, where can I send her?"

"You...you!" Zhong Hong pointed at his son but couldn't say a word.

What should he do with the uncooked rice for cooked rice?

Zhong Hong calmed down for a while, and asked again: "You are with Li Qianshun's youngest daughter, does Chen Qing know?"

"The king of the county knew it, and he wrote me two poems."

"What poem?"

"The fire of Helan has been burning for a hundred years, and the spring breeze turns the rain away."

Zhong Hong snorted in his heart, can Xixia's destruction of the country still be called spring wind and rain?

Zhonghong is gone, she is five months pregnant, no matter how much she doesn't like her, she has to pinch her nose and admit it.

"You said her name is Ah Jiu?"

Zhong Huan lifted his spirits, and his father's tone accepted it.

"Reporting to father, her nickname is Ah Jiu, and her official name is Brother Jing."

"Brother Jing, you really have a relationship with Jing, Huang Linjiang's youngest daughter is also called Huang Jing."

"Father, what about the Huang family's marriage?"

Zhong Hong took out a wedding invitation from the drawer and threw it on the table, "As you said, if you disagree with others, you should not conspire with him. When Huang Linjiang heard that your Jingzhao became an official, he sent someone to return this wedding invitation. That's it, this engagement is over!"

Chong Huan was overjoyed and finally divorced the Huang family, otherwise Xiao Jiu would be too wronged for her to be a concubine.

"Father, was Prefect Li killed by royalists like Huang Linjiang?"

Chong Hong shook his head, "Huang Linjiang is a true royalist, he will never compromise, he is very upright, he will never use this kind of low-level assassination method, there is another group of people, they use the banner of the royalist, do everything possible To collect money, in the fish and meat town, there is no evil.

Because of the series of measures introduced by the county king, this group of people seriously harmed their interests and made them hate the county king, so they classified themselves as royalists. In fact, if the county king indulged their interests, they guaranteed to become The loyal Sichuan-Shaanxi faction. "

"But it is impossible to indulge their interests. Sichuan is the source of military salaries for the Western Army. If their interests are taken care of, the army's salaries will not be enough."

"Yes! That's right. That's the problem. This group of people is very powerful. From the officialdom to the local tyrants. I'm Cangcao. I know that last year, the sales of official salt dropped by [-]% compared to the year before, and the salt tax was basically nothing. It can be seen that the flood of private salt is serious. Since the beginning of the year, Li Yi has focused on cracking down on private salt dealers, publicly executed more than a dozen salt lords, and Li Yi's assassination is definitely related to the salt lords."

"What does father mean to say that the Yan Xiao killed by Li Yi is inextricably linked to these forces?"

"Of course, the salt owl is just a steward they sent."

"Then do these forces have names?"

"Of course they do. They call themselves the Chuanli faction. Their catchphrase is that the interests of the Sichuan land belong to the people of Sichuan, so they are called the Chuanli faction."

"Then Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, should also belong to the Chuanli sect!"

"It's possible that the Chuanli faction's lair is in the Chongqing area, including Hezhou and Changzhou, but I don't know the details."

As soon as the words fell, an arrow 'whoosh! ' When it was shot from outside and nailed to the pillar, Zhong Hong's expression changed drastically.

Zhong Huan pulled out the sword on the wall and rushed out. The courtyard was deserted and there was no one in sight.

Chong Huan was worried about his father, so he jumped back, only to see that his father was about to pull out the arrow on the post, and there was a letter stuck in the shaft of the arrow.

"It's a poisonous arrow, father, be careful!" The arrow has a touch of green.

Zhong Huan stepped forward quickly, wrapped in a piece of cloth, and carefully took off the letter on the arrow.

Spread it out and look carefully, there is only one line on the paper, "Go back to Jingzhao, or I will kill you!"

Zhong Hong's face became ugly, "These bastards dare to threaten me!"

He suddenly remembered something, and quickly asked, "You come to Chengdu alone, who will take care of Ah Jiu in Jingzhao?"

"The inner guard also has female members. I will find a few women to live with her and take good care of her."

"Ah Huan, do you want to go back?"

Zhong Huan shook his head, "I want to write to Wang Tongzhi immediately. The situation in Bashu is dangerous and is on the verge of losing control."

……

As soon as Chen Qing returned to Jingzhao Mansion, he heard two major events. The first event was that Li Yi, the prefect of Chengdu, was assassinated and killed. The second event was that an assassin appeared in his mansion.

Chen Qing didn't have time to go to the government office, so he rushed directly to his own mansion.

Both Lu Xiu and Zhao Qiaoyun threw themselves into his arms crying, Chen Qing felt something bad, took a deep breath and asked, "Who happened?"

Lu Xiu said with tears in her eyes: "Tao Qiniang and Ba Niang, both of them were hit by poisonous arrows, and they couldn't be saved!"

Tao Qiniang and Tao Baniang are the first two female guards in Chen Qing's mansion. They are rather idiotic in character, but they are highly skilled in martial arts and loyal.

"How could they?"

"We have all moved to the island. The two of them are in charge of guarding the old house. As a result, a group of assassins came last night and fought at the old house. The two of them were weak alone, and both were hit by poisonous arrows."

"What about the assassin?" Chen Qing gritted his teeth and asked.

"I heard that there were eight people in total, five of them died, and three escaped. The inner guards are trying their best to arrest them."

"Wang Hao did a good job!" Chen Qing's face turned livid.

This is the second time the assassins have come to Chen Qing's mansion. The first time the inner guards were negligent, he didn't hold them accountable. He hoped they would learn a lesson, but the second time the assassins broke in and escaped calmly. The internal guards around his mansion are serious dereliction of duty.

"How did you think of moving to the island?"

"We all have a sense of insecurity."

Lu Xiu told him about Lu Qingshan's note, and finally said: "Husband is not in Jingzhao, Qiaoyun and I feel unsafe, so we moved into Qifeng Pavilion that day."

"Your sensitivity is completely correct. I will not be in Jingzhao in the future, and you will all move into Xifeng Pavilion."

At this time, a guard came to report, "The King of Neiwei is asking to see you!"

"Let him wait for me in the middle hall!" Chen Qing said coldly.

"If he doesn't give himself an explanation today, he will never be spared!"

……

"The humble official came to apologize!" Wang Hao knelt down and saluted.

Chen Qing snorted coldly, "When my wife and children are assassinated, you won't have to plead guilty."

Wang Hao was about to cry, "The humble job is indeed dereliction of duty, and I am willing to take all responsibilities."

Chen Qing looked at him for a while, "I'm surprised, you have deployed so many spies around my mansion, even the shopkeeper of the restaurant is yours, yet someone sneaked into my mansion, are they all for nothing? !"

Chen Qing's voice suddenly became severe.

Wang Hao kowtowed and said, "This time it has nothing to do with them. It's a loophole in the defense of the humble job. The assassin came from the water."

"In the water?"

The small lake in Chen Qing's mansion is connected to the Cao River outside, and is connected by a dark canal at the bottom. Iron fences as thick as wrists have been installed on the dark canal. How can they survive?

"You mean they sawed through the grating?"

"No! They didn't saw through the iron fence, but continued to dig deeper, dug a gap a foot high, and then drilled in through this gap. They were all thin and snake-like, so they could get in."