Fenghou

At this moment, more than [-] guards of Zhou Kuan came, and someone in the yard shouted in Jurchen language: "The wind is tight, go!"

The remaining men in black jumped onto the roof and fled into the distance.

Zhou Kuan had already guessed who the blue-clothed warrior was, and he actually called himself Counselor Zhou. Then they must be from the Lin’an intelligence point. At this time, Zhou Kuan calmed down a little, stood up and asked, "Are you... Dong Qun's subordinates?" ?”

The blue-clothed warrior who was protecting him just now clasped his fists and said, "In Wei Yanzong, Guanshi Dong's scout Dutou surprised Counselor Zhou."

"Very good! Very good! Thanks to your protection today."

At this time, a cavalry leader rushed in and saw that Zhou Kuan was fine, he was relieved, and quickly knelt down on one knee to plead guilty, "The low-level guards are ineffective, and it almost caused a catastrophe. Please punish Zhou Kuan!"

"Hey! You are battlefield guards, not personal guards, and it's not your responsibility. Get up!"

Zhou Kuan knew in his heart that it would be no problem for thirty cavalry to protect him on the battlefield, but if they were to defend against assassins, they really couldn't.

Zhou Kuan walked into the yard, and saw five or six corpses lying in the yard, plus two corpses in the room, a total of eight people died.

"These are all assassins?"

The head of the scouts, Wei Yanzong, stepped forward and said sadly: "Two of our men were unfortunately killed in battle. The other six were assassins, but there were no survivors. We specially kept two wounded assassins, and they also committed suicide by taking poison. "

Zhou Kuan frowned, "Is there any clue? I can find out who did it."

"Reporting to Counselor Zhou, I have seen it just now, and there is no clue on them, but..."

"But what?" Zhou Kuan asked.

"But half an hour ago, someone threw a note to our residence. The note said, 'Someone is going to assassinate Zhou Kuan tonight,' and we hurried over and stopped the assassin."

"what!"

Zhou Kuan was taken aback, "Who is this person?"

Wei Yanzong shook his head, "We were also shocked. The other party actually knew that Ruyi Teahouse was our intelligence point, but this person should have no malicious intentions, and thanks to his timely report."

Zhou Kuan thought for a while and said: "The situation in Lin'an is unpredictable, I guess he will come again in the next two days, you can set up an ambush, you should be able to catch this person, but don't hurt him, he saved my life. "

"Understandable!"

Wei Yanzong explained a few more words to the cavalry leader, and then left with the bodies of his fallen men.

"Counselor, why don't we go back to Huzhou, it's too unsafe here."

Zhou Kuan shook his head, "The king of the county will be here tomorrow. At this critical moment, I can't leave in a fit of anger. This will only be detrimental to the king. Tomorrow I will ask Li Xianggong for an explanation. He must ensure my safety. "

"Then I will strengthen the guards with my subordinates tonight, so that no more accidents can happen."

Zhou Kuan smiled and said, "I probably won't be here tonight."

That being said, the cavalry were still divided into two squads to watch the night, and they stayed up all night, and indeed no assassins came to harass them.

Chapter 852 Fermentation

The inner hall of Guojiu’s mansion was brightly lit, and several men in black knelt on the ground to plead guilty. Wei Tong cursed: "A group of idiots who failed even in such a trivial matter, and they are still under Chen Qing's subordinates. If you assassinate Chen Qing, you can still count on you!" ?”

"My lord, the other side also has very powerful guards. We didn't take precautions. We were attacked from behind by them. The brothers suffered heavy casualties. If we knew that there were such a group of people, we would also be careful."

"Who are these people? Could it be that Wang Bo's information was wrong?"

"We don't know, but it must have been not thirty cavalrymen, who came later."

"Then did you leave any clues?"

"According to the prince's order, the humble officer yelled a Jurchen word, and then retreated."

Wei Tong walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, suspicious and annoyed in his heart, he waved his hands to make the black-clothed assassins retreat.

He immediately said to the subordinates at the door: "After dawn, let Jia Yingfang come to see me!"

……

At dawn, Wang Bo, the county magistrate who was the first to receive the news, arrived with a large group of archers. Although he was ordered by his uncle to spy on Chen Qing and his men, there were assassins in the expensive hotel. If he is responsible, my uncle can't keep him.

But after searching around and asking Yi Cheng and others, there was no clue. The envoy Zhou Kuan was frightened and saw no one.

Wang Bo had no choice but to discuss with Jia Yingfang in a low voice, and Jia Yingfang smiled and said, "Since the messenger is fine, it is luck among misfortunes. This kind of thing is impossible to prevent, and the higher authorities cannot blame the county magistrate. The county magistrate has come to understand and check the situation." , Yicheng said that someone said Jurchenization, so it can be suspected that Jurchens did it, and then suggested that the envoys be moved into the city, so that as the county magistrate, you will be fine, but the county monarch must report to the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, Taichang Temple, it is best to inform Mr. Li."

"That Li Guang has always looked at me disliked, will he take the opportunity to clean me up?"

Jia Yingfang snorted disdainfully, "The county lord's duty of public security at night is within the county town, and now something happens in the suburbs, what does the county lord have to do with it?"

"Yup!"

Wang Bo slapped his thigh and said excitedly, "The gates of the city are closed at night, so what do I have to do with what happens outside the city?"

He was not afraid, and immediately sent people to the government office, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs to report the case. Soon, Zhang Zhu, the Yin of Lin'an Prefecture, Wang Zao, the Minister of Dali Temple, and Wang Juzheng, the Minister of the Criminal Ministry, rushed to the VIP post. news came.

Li Guang really couldn't understand Wang Bo. He wanted to use this opportunity to remove Wang Bo from his position as the magistrate of Qiantang. The preliminary investigation report has been written, and it is also watertight. The incident happened outside the city at night, and it was beyond his ability. The officials who arranged the accommodation should be severely punished. Why didn't they arrange protection?

Wang Bo's last sentence pointed to Huang Guinian. Huang Guinian belonged to Li Guang, so Li Guang couldn't say anything.

He flipped through the report and asked, "I suspect it was done by the Jurchens. Is there any evidence?"

"Reporting to Xianggong, Yicheng heard them yelling a Jurchen saying, so the humble official suspected that it was related to the Jurchen. Of course, it was just a suspicion and there was no conclusive evidence."

Li Guang nodded, a little surprised in his heart, he couldn't see that this dude still had a good method of doing things, making himself invulnerable.

"Okay! The county government will leave this case alone and hand it over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali Temple. You should step back!"

"Farewell to the humble post!"

Wang Bochang breathed a sigh of relief, and hurried back to report to his uncle. Li Guang was really anxious. The consequences of this incident were serious, and he had to report to the emperor.

……

Jia Yingfang saw Wei Tong again at the Liuweiju Teahouse, and he explained: "The information I gave the prince is correct. Zhou Kuan's entourage is 30 people, all of whom are cavalry. They live in the entourage courtyard. They will rush back when they hear the news The day lily is cold, and our source of information is an insider of the hotel, which is absolutely accurate."

"Then explain to me, who are the dozen or so blue-clothed warriors who suddenly killed them? Kill six of my subordinates."

Jia Yingfang said calmly, "Those warriors in blue are the intelligence scouts of the Western Army in Lin'an."

Wei Tong was startled, "Really?"

Jia Yingfang nodded, "We have people in the station, and we heard the conversation between them. It should be a coincidence that they came here."

Wei Tong took a sip of tea and said, "Unexpectedly, your county lord still has quite a lot of resources! Check it out clearly."

"That's right! Qin Xianggong will definitely give him resources if he asks him to do something."

Wei Tong nodded, "Okay, if you have any news, please report to me in time."

"Humble job must report in time."

……

After listening to Li Guang's report, Emperor Zhao Gou was not very shocked. Maybe Zhou Kuan's level was far from shocking him. He waved his hand and interrupted Li Guang's report, "Since he is fine, , let him move into the city, and strengthen his security, you can deal with this kind of thing, there is no need to report to me."

"Your Majesty, this matter will be used to make a fuss..."

"Okay, I said it, you can deal with this matter, do you want me to say it a second time?"

Li Guang was really helpless, so he could only bow down and say, "My minister obeys the order!"

Zhao Gou knocked on the table, "Li Xianggong, you are a planner and in charge of the third department. Your energy should be focused on finance and taxation. I care about the money. I need money to fight wars. I need money to raise the army. Without money, I can't sleep at night." I can't sleep well, and about Chen Qing's matter, leave it to Mr. Zhu to take care of it, and you don't have to ask about it."

Li Guang couldn't wish for it, he really didn't want to ask about Chen Qing's affairs, the risk was too great.

He immediately bowed and said, "My minister obeys the order!"

……

Qin Hui returned to the mansion with a gloomy face, and went directly to the study. After a while, his wife Wang came to his study with tea, "What's wrong, you were reprimanded by the officials again?"

"No!"

"What do you do with that gloomy face, like how much someone owes you?"

Qin Hui let out a sigh of relief, and said angrily, "I just found out today who secretly handed the "Jing Zhao" to the emperor. It was beyond my expectation!"

"who is it?"

"Zhu Shengfei!"

"Ah! Didn't you say it was Li Guang?"

"Although Li Guang is hateful, he would not do such small tricks behind his back. Even if he did, he would tell me, but Zhu Shengfei was different. He stabbed me in the back instead of showing the newspaper to the officials. The matter, the officials are very dissatisfied with me, and they even said the words of "deceiving the superiors and the inferiors". This Zhu Shengfei, for the sake of superiority, will do whatever it takes to step on me to climb up. Isn't he afraid of stepping on the air and spraining his feet?"

"Is the master going to clean him up?"

Qin Hui waved his hand, "Today, the officials have entrusted him with dealing with Chen Qing. If he can't handle it well, he will feel better."

"Isn't Li Guang in charge of this matter?"

Qin Hui sneered, "The last time Li Guang scratched the official's back when he mentioned a former emperor, he thought the official would forget? This idiot, he forgot how Zhang Bangchang died back then."

"Master, are there all these unhappy things in the court?"

Thinking of something, Qin Hui laughed and said, "Bo'er performed very well today, it's rare for Li Guang to praise him."

Wang was surprised and delighted, "Really? Even Li Guang praised him."

Although Li Guang is Qin Hui's opponent, Wang also knows that Li Guang's character is good, even if he praises him, then Bo'er must be good.

"What did Bo'er do that Li Guang praised?"

"Yesterday's assassination case, he handled it very thoughtfully and in place. Li Guang couldn't find fault with him, so he had to praise him."

"I heard from Bo'er that the assassination case last night might have been done by Jin Guo. Do you want to confirm it, master?"

Qin Hui thought for a while and said, "Whether it's the Jurchen's fault or not, I guess they will all come to me tonight."

Chapter 853 Arrival

Sure enough, as Qin Hui expected, as soon as it was dark, Liu Si, the deputy envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, came to Qin Hui's residence.

Liu Si is a member of Wanyan Zonghan. He used to be the transfer envoy of Hebei Road. Now Wanyan Zonghan's faction has been demoted, and he has been demoted as the deputy envoy of the Kingdom of Jin to the Song Dynasty. Of course, he is a Han from the Liao Kingdom. First of all, language is not a problem, nor is the way of thinking. question.

More importantly, when Liu Si came to visit Qin Hui, Emperor Zhao Gou had given permission, "If there is an emergency, you can directly contact Zai Zhi."

Outsiders don't know whether Liu Si came to Qin Hui to discuss business or private matters. Maybe he has an urgent matter and needs to contact Xiangguo!

Qin Hui asked Liu Si to sit down in the guest room, Qin Hui asked: "Is the envoy Liu here because of what happened last night?"

"I heard that Chen Qing's emissary was assassinated last night. The assassin said something about Jurchen, but I want to solemnly declare that we did not send an assassin. We did not do this!"

Qin Hui smiled and said: "There is no evidence, and we have not determined that Jin Guo did it. You can't just because someone shouted on the street, 'I am the prime minister', and then everyone thinks he is the prime minister? So it will never be because of Just one sentence from Jurchen will be determined to be the work of Jin Guo, so don't worry."

Liu Si shook his head, "I know you don't have any evidence, but as an envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, I still need to solemnly declare on behalf of the Kingdom of Jin that we did not do this."

Qin Hui nodded, "I can accept your country's statement."

Liu Si handed over a formal statement to Qin Hui, who took it over and said, "I will forward it to the Son of Heaven tomorrow!"

"Then I have to send another letter to Xiangguo!"

Liu Si took out Wan Yanchang's letter from his bosom, this is Liu Si's real intention of coming to Qin Hui tonight, he came to deliver the letter to Wan Yanchang.

Qin Hui opened the letter and read it again, his brows furrowed, Wan Yanchang was going to Lin'an again.

"I see, envoy Liu, is there anything else?"

"There is nothing else. If Mr. Qin needs to reply to the letter, just hand it over to me."

After Liu Si stood up and said goodbye, Qin Hui pondered for a while and said, "You can send a message back. This time Chen Qing personally led a hundred thousand troops to come to An."

"I've heard it too, but is the news accurate?"

Qin Hui nodded, "The news is accurate!"

Liu Sigong cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister Qin, for the announcement. I'll go back and report right away."

……

Liu Si left, Qin Hui went back to the study and paced back and forth, a little upset, Wan Yanchang posed a problem for him.

"Master, what happened?" Mrs. Wang appeared again without losing the opportunity.

Her desire to participate in politics is very strong, and she can always interfere in government affairs through her husband, such as turning against Chen Qing. This is Wang's suggestion to use Chen Qing, a common enemy, to form an alliance with the queen mother to ensure that Qin Hui's position will not fall.

She often goes to the palace to look for the Empress Dowager Wei, and she can also convey some of the Queen Mother's thoughts to Qin Hui. To help realize it, Qin Hui did it.

After Liu Si left today, her husband was depressed. Something must have happened.

Qin Hui sighed, "Talan gave me a letter, which said that the emperor of the Kingdom of Jin wanted to reach a permanent truce agreement with the imperial court, and even promised to return Bianliang to the imperial court."