Fenghou

Chen Qing was really speechless, he thought of this way to enter his mansion.

"Get up first, I don't have time to pursue you this time, but I want to know, where did these assassins come from? Is it related to the assassination of Li Yi in Chengdu? It is said that there are three people who escaped, and I must catch these three people. "

"This is what I want to report. The three escaped assassins have been caught, but two of them committed suicide by taking poison, and one is in the process of being rescued. In addition, I have identified the poisonous arrows, shot and killed Li Zhifu, and threatened Zhong Huan. The arrows are exactly the same."

Chen Qing frowned, "What's the matter with threatening Zhong Huan?"

Chapter 828 Unbalanced

Wang Hao took the note from Lu Qingshan and told him about sending Han Zhengfu and Zhong Huan to Bashu.

He took out a thick letter, "This is just sent by Zhong Huan. Some descriptions of the situation in Bashu, I copied a copy and sent the original to the county king."

Chen Qing took the letter and asked: "Have Zhao Ding and Lu Qingshan gone?"

"I left a few days ago, took the coffin of the Supreme Emperor to Shangluo Road, and then took a boat from Xiangyang to Hangzhou."

"I see, continue to strengthen the guard to prevent the other party from being assassinated again, not necessarily me, maybe other high-ranking officials, such as Zhao Kai."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Wang Hao knew that the county king had let him off for the time being, but he was still negligent. The other party pretended to be a dredging boat and stayed outside the mansion for five days, but they didn't go to check.

After all, they didn't pay enough attention to the safety of the waterway. After this incident, he must strengthen the safety of the waterway, and there must be no third time.

There is also Zhao Kai, the king of the county actually mentioned protecting Zhao Kai's safety, it seems that the king of the county knows it well.

……

On the fourth floor of Qifeng Pavilion, Chen Qing stood in front of the window and looked at the sparkling water on the lake. He was still thinking about the matter of Bashu. He always felt that it was strange for the two governors to visit Zhao Ding. The support is right, it is not just now to come to find the support of the court.

Can Zhao Ding represent the imperial court?It can't represent it at all, and since it can't represent it, why did they come to Jingzhao from Hezhou all the way? When they have time, they can go to Lin'an.

Chen Qing had an intuition that these two people had set up a situation for Zhao Ding, which was most likely related to the struggle between Qin and Zhao.

But regardless of this situation, Li Yi's assassination was real. Chen Qing knew very well what Li Yi's assassination meant.

It means that Sichuan is about to lose its balance. This is an opportunity for him to abolish the contract and annex Sichuan in an all-round way.

If there is rebellion, let them rebel!The bigger the incident, the more reason to annex Sichuan.

At this time, Lu Xiu came to her husband with a cup of ginseng tea, "It's too late, my husband has worked hard all the way, go to bed early! I will let Yingluo accompany you tonight."

Chen Qing shook his head, "I'm not in the mood tonight, how about this! Let everyone sleep together on the floor in the lobby."

Lu Xiu was startled, "Will they still come?"

"Normally, they don't come, but this is precisely when we relax, and when we relax, there are loopholes."

Chen Qing looked at the dark hill outside the window, "I even suspect that there are more than eight of them, there may be others lurking in our palace."

"But the inner guards have searched several times, and the hounds have also come."

Chen Qing shook his head, "For professional assassins, these are not problems."

Chen Qing said to Lu Xiu again: "They ran to the old house to assassinate, they are too stupid, the lights are bright on the side of Xifeng Pavilion, all the guards and maids are here, don't they know?"

Lu Xiu was right when she thought about it, it was really unreasonable to go to the dark and empty old house to assassinate.

She covered her mouth in horror and said, "What does Husband mean to say that the assassination last night was a fake assassination, but tonight is the real assassination?"

Chen Qing nodded, "This is the most common technique used by assassins. It is very professional, but our internal guards are obviously not professional enough!"

"Then what should we do? How many children!"

Chen Qing hugged her into his arms and kissed her forehead, "Don't worry! It's their misfortune that I came back in time today."

Her husband's firm tone gave Lu Xiu an extremely strong sense of security.

She nodded, "I'll arrange it now!"

……

At one o'clock, in front of the hill in the northeast corner of the mansion, three black shadows quietly gathered together. The middle shadow pointed at the Qifeng Tower in the center of the lake, and raised four fingers to indicate that they were on the fourth floor. And go, there is no trace in the blink of an eye.

There has always been such a group of people living at the bottom of the Great Song Dynasty. They are highly skilled in martial arts, their whereabouts are uncertain, and they are at home everywhere. They disdain to join the army and defend their families. At the same time, they despise the law, but they have to rely on the government and the powerful to survive. .

The government's rewards and arrests are written for them, and the rich and powerful will find them if they want to deal with their enemies, and they can get rid of them even if something happens.

These people don't put other people's lives in their eyes, nor their own lives in their hearts. They only have money in their eyes, and when they get rewards, they will go to eat and drink, squander their money, squander all their money, and then go to find money .

These three assassins are professional assassins from the middle of Shu, they are tolerant, ruthless, and sure to hit with every blow.

Yesterday's eight people came to cover them. After the miss, the mansion was in chaos. Did the three of them know where the target was hiding?

Their goal is Chen Ji, Chen Qing's only son. Chen Qing's wives and concubines are meaningless, and Chen Qing's only son is of great value.

The three threw themselves into the lake and swam silently to the small island in the lake from three directions.

Thirty female guards have already been arranged. They hide in the dark and specialize in hunting down assassins who approach quietly.

And Chen Qing was sitting on the top of the Qifeng Pavilion, with a quiver on his back and a fixed-distance bow in his hand, and Fang Tian's painted halberd was beside him.

A small jug of sake was placed in front of him, and while he was sipping, he looked coldly at the surface of the water.

At this time, Chen Qing suddenly noticed a small black spot appeared in the sparkling light about fifty steps away from the shore, and when he looked closely, the small black spot disappeared, and soon appeared again forty steps away from the shore.

Chen Qing sneered, drew out an arrow, and shot it out with Zhang Gong. These assassins were trained strictly, every movement was honed, and he would definitely show up at thirty steps.

This assassin showed his head every ten steps, took a breath and then dived again. Just as he showed his head, opened his mouth to take a breath, an arrow blinked in front of him, and he couldn't dodge it. "Pfft!" The arrow shot into his mouth, and the arrow The tip protruded from the back of the head, and sank into the water without a word.

At this time, Chen Qing saw the No.2 assassin again, wearing a gray tight-fitting samurai uniform, lying on a gray boulder, the color of his clothes and the color of the boulder completely coincided, like a chameleon, he was observing the surrounding dark places Lurking guards.

Without hesitation, Chen Qing drew another white feather arrow and shot it, "Pfft!" The arrow hit the back of the neck, without even a scream, the assassin's legs twitched for a moment, and he was nailed to the stone.

After killing two people, Chen Qing is looking for a third person, at least three people are needed to cooperate with each other.

But he searched around but found nothing. He didn't see the third person, so he turned around and looked to the other side.

At this time, he suddenly noticed that the little beasts in the corners of the eaves on the second floor were a little strange. There was a monster that warded off evil spirits squatting on each corner of the eaves, like Pixiu, Suanni, and the like, the size of a seven or eight-year-old child.

But there is only one squatting on the eaves in the northeast corner of the second floor, but there should be no small beasts in the northeast corner, so there is one more.

This No. 3 assassin is really powerful, and he escaped several hidden barriers.

Chen Qing drank the wine from the gourd and threw it at the little beast, "Get off!"

"Boom!" The gourd hit the eaves, making a loud noise, and the female guards also saw the strange little beasts.

"There, squatting on the eaves!"

Knowing that he had been spotted, the assassin jumped up, flew down like a bat, landed on a big tree, jumped up again, and jumped into the lake.

But the moment he fell into the lake, an arrow came first, "Poof!" It hit the back of the neck and pierced the assassin's neck, and the arrow tip came out from the throat. "Plop!" The assassin fell into the water .

When his body appeared on the shore again, it had turned into a corpse, with his mouth open, his eyes staring blankly at the sky, an arrow stuck in his neck, and the blood had solidified.

Another corpse in the water was also found by the guards and transported to the shore. There was also a corpse nailed to death on a boulder, which looked very funny, like a dried frog.

Chen Qing looked around carefully again. He was sure that there were only three assassins, so he went downstairs to the study to rest.

Chapter 829 News

Early the next morning, Chen Qing came to the official room, and as soon as he sat down, he ordered Chao Qing to invite Zhao Kai.

After taking a sip of tea, Chen Qing took out the letter written by Zhong Huan and read it carefully. A lot of news came from his father Zhong Hong, which made Chen Qing hear of the name Chuan Li School for the first time.

At this time, Zhao Kai walked in quickly, and said with a smile: "The king of the county is looking for me?"

When Chen Qing met Zhao Kai in Sichuan, he was not in good health, giving people the feeling that he would not live for a few years, but after arriving in Jingzhao, his health was getting better and better, not only energetic, but also walking vigorously , completely like a different person.

Zhao Kai is currently in charge of finance, taxation and material circulation, and he has contributed a lot to the smooth flow of money in Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Chen Qing asked Zhao Kai to sit down, and asked the tea boy to serve tea, "What does Counselor Zhao think about Li Yi's assassination?"

Zhao Kai's eyes were gloomy, and he said in a deep voice for a long time: "It can only be said that these people have gone crazy for their own interests."

"Who are these people, the Chuanli faction?"

Zhao Kai nodded and said: "The king of the county also knows the Chuanli faction, yes, it is them, he claims to be a royalist faction, and he supports the imperial court. So, spent most of the time fighting them."

"Is it so cruel? An assassination method was used."

Zhao Kai sighed, "There is a salt inspection office under the transfer envoy. There are ten officials in it, and nine of them died unexpectedly. The king of the county, the salt dispute in Bashu has always been a life-and-death struggle, and Li Yi was assassinated because of it."

"So sure?"

Zhao Kai nodded, "If the government takes all the salt tax in Sichuan, it should exceed 300 million guan a year, but in reality we only get 240 million guan a year, but last year the salt tax dropped sharply to 60 guan, which shows that private salt is rampant. The Tang government deployed all the prefectures in Sichuan to crack down on private salt. Basically, there was a lot of thunder and a little rain, but the Chengdu government was serious. It has hanged more than a dozen salt lords in a row. I was very worried about Li Yi's safety, and I wrote to him specially. , I didn’t expect him to be assassinated so soon.”

"Aside from attacking the salt owl, is there no other way?"

Zhao Kai smiled wryly, "Sichuan's financial and tax benefits are a piece of cake, only one big piece, the government takes the big one, and the local gentry can only take the small one. There is no way to reconcile it, unless the two families work together to deceive the common people."

"So the two sides can only face each other head-on!"

"This is unavoidable. Please forgive me, the king of the county. Even the civil servants know that you will die or I will live. Therefore, Li Yi was assassinated, but the king of the county is so hesitant. It shouldn't be!"

Chen Qing said lightly: "I'm actually thinking about whether to take advantage of this matter and eradicate it together with the royalists."

Zhao Kai thought for a while and said: "If this is the case, the commotion is too big. I suggest that we can clean it up together, but the final result is different. If there is no harm to the people, just move them out of Sichuan."

Chen Qing nodded, "He needs to get accurate information from Bashu before he can do it."

……

After Zhong Huan was threatened, he asked Zheng Ping for help, and sent his parents to Hanzhong overnight to avoid disaster. Zheng Ping gave him another [-] elite soldiers, plus [-] of his own men. Continue to investigate the case of Li Yi's murder.

In fact, there are still many clues in Li Yi's investigation of the case. First of all, it is related to his attack on Yan Xiao. All over Bashu are attacking Yan Xiao, but basically it is thunderous and rainy. Several salt lords have effectively curbed the rampant phenomenon of private salt in Chengdu.

But Yan Xiao is actually a running dog of the Chuanli faction. In the final analysis, the root cause lies in the Chuanli faction. He needs to understand the specific situation of the Chuanli faction.

On this day in the government office, Zhong Huan got an important piece of information. Li Yi's aide, Lu Chuan, disappeared immediately after Li Yi was assassinated. This Lu Chuan has a lot of important information. He may be bribed by the other party, but he may also be afraid of absconding. .

At night, Zhong Huan summed up the investigation of the past two days in his room. This is a good habit of his. Every two days, he has to record all the big and small things, so as not to forget, and every time he sums up, he will have a new report. discovery.

No, he suddenly discovered the problem of the poisonous arrow. The poisonous arrow that shot Li Yi was exactly the same as the poisonous arrow that warned him. This means that after the assassination of Li Yi, the other party did not completely evacuate Chengdu, but continued to monitor. How do you know you're coming?

Chong Huan tried his best to recall the situation at that time. After they entered the city, they immediately went to find Zheng Ping, and then stayed at the inn.

"Station!"

The idea flashed across Zhong Huan like lightning, there must be the other party's eyeliner in the station.

There are not many people in the post station, one steward, two deputy stewards, and then several clerks, grooms, chefs, the bottom has little to do with him, Zhong Huan's target is on the deputy steward who is in charge of receiving them, this person is called Li Jin.

Do you want to catch him directly?

Zhong Huan thought about it, and decided not to startle the snake, but to observe for a while before talking.

Zhong Huan immediately arranged for two highly skilled men to monitor Li Jin.

In the early morning of the next day, just as Chong Huan was leaving the house, just as he was getting on his horse, a little beggar sneaked over, smiled, handed him a note, and ran away quickly.

Zhong Huan opened the note, and there was only one sentence on it, "Meet you at Wangsi Teahouse as soon as possible." '

Chong Huan had lived in Chengdu for ten years, so of course he knew where Wang's Teahouse was, so he urged his horse and a few of his men to walk in the direction of Shuixian Bridge in a calm manner.

Wangsi Teahouse is under the Narcissus Bridge, where Li Yi was stabbed, very close.

In the morning, the teahouse was already open for business, but there were not many customers. As soon as he entered the gate of the teahouse, a waiter came up to him and said, "Is that Mr. Zhong?"

Zhong Huan nodded, "Is anyone waiting for me?"

"Exactly, please follow the villain."

Zhong Huan asked his men to drink tea in the lobby, and he followed the staff to the second floor, opened the door and entered an elegant room, only to see a very elegant middle-aged man sitting inside.

"You are Mr. Lu!" Zhong Huan said with a slight smile.

The middle-aged man gave a thumbs up and praised: "As expected of an inner guard, I'm in Luchuan!"

"I'm thinking, if Mr. Lu is not from the other party, then it's time to show up these two days."

Lu Chuan sighed, "How could I belong to them, they hunted me down everywhere."

"why?"

"Because I know too much. To be precise, Prefect Li knows too much."

The two sat down and poured a cup of tea each.

Lu Chuan sighed and said, "Prefect Li actually died because of his balance. For so many years, he has been trying to balance the interests of several parties. He wants to ensure the wealth and taxes of the Western Army, and he doesn't want to over-exploit the interests of the local tyrants. He has repeatedly warned the local gentry that enough is enough, otherwise he will attack. His warnings have always been effective, but the warnings have been ineffective since last year. Last year, they were crazy about illegal salt sales. The salt tax in Chengdu Prefecture alone was reduced by [-]%. The same is true in other places, so this year, Li Zhifu started to crack down on Yanxiao, which can be regarded as a complete turnaround.

Just five days ago, he received a warning letter. Someone warned him not to execute the salt lord Wang Jian, otherwise his life would be exchanged for his life, but Li Zhifu was unmoved and hanged Wang Jian publicly the next day . "