treacherous world

The fourth son suddenly shouted, Bai Yutang looked in the direction of his finger, and saw a group of soldiers and horses galloping towards the Kaifeng city gate from a distance.

The streets of Kaifeng, especially the central axis street leading directly to Kaifeng Mansion and the city gate, are very bustling. There are many shops on both sides, and there are many pedestrians on the street. You are afraid of bumping into them when you walk, not to mention that this group of people rushed straight from outside Kaifeng city. Come in.

For a while, people turned on their backs.Pedestrians on the street fled in panic, and some were knocked to the ground before they could dodge. In addition, the horse team was still moving forward, and all the shops and stalls on both sides came to him, making a mess.

The horseshoes galloped and set off waves of dust, and the bustling streets of Kaifeng were full of screams.

Bai Yutang was standing in the middle of the street with his youngest son in his arms, and he saw a tall brown horse with an iron mask on the lead, like a military horse going to war.

The man on the horse was very young, he seemed to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, but his behavior was extremely arrogant. When the horse bumped into someone, instead of stopping, he even swung the whip to drive the passers-by away.

Bai Yutang put the fourth son down, "Hide behind me."

The fourth son quickly hid behind Bai Yutang.More than half of the people in Kaifeng knew Bai Yutang. Seeing him here, they all ran behind him and stopped running, looking back.

At this time, the horse was approaching, and immediately seeing Bai Yutang blocking the way, the young man yelled, "Go away, don't stop me from trying the horse!"

And behind him, there were more than a dozen soldiers, all riding horses, shouting anxiously, "Little prince, wait!"

In Bai Yutang's life, he hated the government's people bullying others the most. When he heard that he was some kind of prince, he felt angry. All the relatives of Zhao Zhen's family had problems!

Seeing the horse approaching, he raised his foot and kicked the leading horse's chest.

How could this horse withstand Bai Yutang's sympathy, staggered, kneeling on the ground and fell on the spot, the person on the horse was startled, and quickly grabbed the horse's reins to stabilize himself.Bai Yutang reached out and grabbed his skirt, pulled him off the horse, swung his hand, and threw it backwards.

"Ah!" the man yelled, and fell headfirst. It was okay if he fell hard, but he just fell in front of the horse team coming up from behind.He turned pale with shock, and hugged his head, Bai Yutang was letting him feel what it was like to be trampled by a horse.

The soldiers of the cavalry behind hurriedly grabbed the reins and tried their best to avoid it, and they rolled to the ground one after another. Several horses also fell down, and the cavalry finally stopped.

Looking at the originally bustling street again, the place where soldiers and horses passed was a mess, many passers-by were frightened, suffered this indiscriminate disaster, and some were even injured, they all sat and groaned.

The fourth son was still holding the candied haws that Zhan Zhao gave him, and he hid behind Bai Yutang and looked around.

The young man who was thrown from the horse by Bai Yutang fell to the ground in embarrassment at this time. The heavy fall just now caused his internal organs to hurt, his limbs were paralyzed and he couldn't move, and even lost a tooth.He had been pampered since he was a child, and he had never been so angry. He raised his face and looked at Bai Yutang standing in front of the horse in horror.

"Little prince!"

The fallen soldiers around quickly got up and rushed to help the young man up.

The fourth son became even more curious when he heard the word "little prince". Where is the prince?

"Who are you, dare to attack the young prince, what should you do?" the lead guard asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang looked at the man's livery, but couldn't tell which team it was. As for how many princes there were in the Song Dynasty, anyway, he knew that the eight and nine princes were the real ones, and the others were hereditary named princes. Just like the Chai Ying I saw on the boat just now.

"Ah! Grandpa!"

At this time, a boy's cry came from not far away, "My grandpa can't wake up! Help!"

Bai Yutang hadn't been there for a week, and the fourth son hurried over behind him.I saw an old man lying beside the crushed apples and oranges beside a fruit stand, his eyes closed and unconscious, and beside him was a seven or eight-year-old child who was crying.

The fourth son hurriedly stuffed the candied haws to the child, and he freed his hand to feel the pulse of the old man, "I fell and fainted, it's okay." As he spoke, he pressed the old man's hand to revive him.

The neighbors on the side helped to bring the water. At this time, the onlookers gradually hid, and they all inquired about the situation. After knowing that someone was galloping, they all reprimanded.

Seeing that there were many injuries on the side of the road, Bai Yutang also went to help.

The little prince saw that the other party didn't take him seriously, and became angry from embarrassment, "This bold and unreasonable person dares to attack this prince, come on, arrest me!"

As soon as the words fell, the soldiers drew out their weapons one after another.

But before they stepped forward, they suddenly saw a figure flashing in the slanting stab, followed by a sound of weapons colliding, and when they came back to their senses, they saw that all the weapons in their hands were broken at the root.

Several people stood there stupidly holding the hilts and handles of their swords. In front of them, a man in blue fell to the ground, with a long sword in a black scabbard.Zhan Zhao came to chase Bai Yutang just now, and when he saw it, he was so angry that he had nowhere to vent, where did the scum come from so indiscriminately.

Bai Yutang, following the instruction of the fourth son, applied acupoints to stop the bleeding of several seriously injured passers-by. Looking back, he saw that Zhan Zhao's face was darker than ever before, with a murderous look on his face.

"Who are you?"

The person who called himself the little prince pointed at Zhan Zhao, "Do you know who this prince is?"

Zhan Zhao sneered, at this time, the dynasty mahan Zhang Long and Zhao Hu came running over with a hundred yamen servants and two hundred guards, Gongsun was riding on the horse, holding a medicine box in his hand, he was shocked by the scene Jump, get off the horse and heal the wounded.

"Lord Zhan." Wang Chao came to Zhan Zhao's side, and Zhan Zhao pointed at the little prince and the dozen or so attendants behind him, "Tie them all up and take them back to Kaifeng mansion."

"You are so arrogant!" A follower next to the little prince had a look of disdain, "I just threw a few troublemakers, who asked them to block the way, but our little prince..."

It's a pity that before he finished speaking, Zhan Zhao raised his hand and waved his sleeves, and there was a crisp "pop", the guard opened his mouth and didn't even hum, and fell down in response.Zhan Zhao was kind-hearted, even though he was already in a hurry and wanted to kill, killing people here would not help, so he just poured his inner strength and slapped the soldier.But the soldier couldn't take it anymore, his mouth and teeth were loose, and he fell to the ground and vomited blood.

"Deputy General Wang!" The little prince looked at Zhan Zhao in astonishment, "You...you dare to take human life so recklessly."

"You are the one who caress about human life!" Gongsun stood up and scolded, "Didn't you see the streets full of old and weak women and children?"

"Yes! The Kaifeng government expressly prohibits horses from entering the city, and those who violate the order will be severely punished!" More and more people gathered around to watch the excitement, and many of them came to help Gongsun carry the wounded, while others reprimanded them out of righteous indignation, using rotten apples and eggs Vegetables were smashed in, and the little prince was dodged again and again.

"Stop!" Finally, the little prince yelled, stretched out his hand and took out a token from his pocket, proudly said, "I have a gold medal from the great ancestor, who dares to be presumptuous to me?"

Zhan Zhao looked at the gold medal in his hand, saw the word "stone" in the middle, and understood it.It turned out to be a descendant of Shi Shouxin, the Jiedu envoy of the Yicheng Army.

When Song Taizu released his military power with a cup of wine, those righteous brothers who were born and died honestly surrendered their military power and returned to their hometowns, living a life of prosperity and wealth. Shi Shouxin was one of them.Shi Shouxin has a very close relationship with Zhao Kuangyin, and it is possible to be awarded a gold medal or something.This so-called little prince should have inherited his ancestor's title of mighty county king, and now lives in Chenzhou as a nominal king, only enjoying the blessings without any rights or official positions.The soldiers and horses under him are probably the remnants of the former Zhen'an Army, no wonder the uniforms are unfamiliar.In his later years, Shi Shouxin was greedy and oppressed the people, and he was cast aside. The Shi family also fell down early, and the hundreds of soldiers left behind were completely used for adultery.

According to Zhan Zhao, the Shi family has two descendants. The elder brother, Shi Tianjie, is in his 20s and is said to be both civil and military.The second brother, Shi Tianqiong, is less than [-] years old and has a very bad reputation. This is probably Shi Tianqiong.

Chenzhou Fu Yin is a good friend of Mr. Bao, and he often complained many times, saying that this little prince behaved perversely, relying on the gold medal bestowed by the Taizu to do things all day long.He has asked the emperor to deal with it many times on the table, but Zhao Zhen took into account the face of his ancestors, lest future generations say that his Zhao family was ungrateful and killed the donkey, so he kept his eyes closed all the time.But today's matter is not so simple, this Shi Tianqiong broke in like a bandit, and has already caused many serious injuries, it is estimated that Master Bao will punish him severely if he is taken to Kaifeng Mansion, otherwise it will not be enough to convince the crowd.

Shi Tianqiong didn't expect such a big mess to happen, he rushed over from Chenzhou Mansion, bought a new horse outside the city, and wanted to try it.He was used to being crazy in Chenzhou Mansion, and no one dared to take care of him, so he ran into Kaifeng as soon as he was excited, and he got into a big disaster.

He was thrown by Bai Yutang, and now his head is still buzzing, and seeing a large number of government servants from Kaifeng Mansion, he knew that this time there was a big trouble.It's just that he has a good face and has been used to being arrogant since he was a child, so he still took out the gold medal for avoiding death to stand up.

Zhan Zhao didn't like this, and waved at Wang Chao Ma Han and others, "Catch them! Take them all back to Kaifeng Mansion, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu, leave a hundred yamen servants to count the losses, help clean up the streets and treat the injured."

At this moment, Bao Yan and others also arrived, and at a glance, the people on Kaifeng Mansion Street turned their backs and turned into a mess.

"Tsk tsk." Pang Yu wrinkled his nose, "It's better than me back then, who is this?"

Bao Yan tugged at him, "Don't look, help save people."

"Oh." Pang Yu followed him and ran to save someone.

Soon, Shi Tianqiong and a dozen soldiers were tied up by Wuhuada and escorted back to Kaifeng Mansion. After hearing this, Bao Zheng sent a message.

……

Bao Zheng was arguing about the exam rules with some old scholars in Taixue, and the discussion got to the point where one head and two big, but someone came to report that two things happened in the morning.

One is that the little prince Chai Xing invited scholars to a banquet, during which a scholar committed suicide, and several assassins came to assassinate him.

Another thing is that the little prince Shi Tianqiong led the cavalry for half a mile on the busiest street in Kaifeng, causing Bai Yutang to overturn and injured countless people. Zhan Zhao tied everyone back.

Bao Zheng's already dark face became even darker, and he made people press Shi Tianqiong directly in front of the Kaifeng mansion, and severely punished the forty boards.

Someone asked if he wanted to ask the emperor, Bao Zheng waved his hand, "No."

Everyone also dispersed.

In fact, if Bao Zheng didn't report it, it doesn't mean that Zhao Zhen didn't know about it. Someone had already told him.

At this moment, Zhao Zhen happened to be free, and he was discussing with Zhao Pu about the matter of being the number one scholar in the martial arts examination. When he heard that Bao Zheng held him down, he beat him, and smiled, "It's good. When you hit 39 boards, go ask for mercy. Give his grandfather a face."

Chen Banban understood and arranged for someone to do it.

Zhao Pu frowned slightly, "Shi Tianqiong is in Chenzhou, and Chai Xingyuan is in Yunnan. What are you doing in Kaifeng Mansion?"

"Recently, civil and martial arts tests have been held one after another. There must be a lot of talents in the Kaifeng mansion. I guess they are here to recruit talents." Zhao Zhen smiled lightly, "Oh, uncle, do you think it is easy for me? There are so many people to find a few talents Rob, and you won't help me either."

The corner of Zhao Pu's mouth twitched, and he said to himself, don't come here!

"Oh, fortunately, Bao Qing shared my worries." Zhao Zhen said, and looked at Zhao Pu, "Zhan Zhao, Bai Yutang, and Mr. Gongsun, who didn't do something for me because of Bao Qing's face, these days , the emperor is not easy to do."

Zhao Pu laughed, stopped talking to him, and asked, "What is Shi Tianqiong going to do?"

"It's enough to beat him half to death and let him restrain himself. His ancestors were greedy for money, so let him do bloodletting and pay money to the people in the whole street." Zhao Zhen said, put down the notebook and asked Zhao Pu, "By the way, call Xiao Is Liangzi going to be the champion of martial arts? I just chatted with him in the barracks, this kid is amazing."

"He's still too young, maybe in a few years." Zhao Pu quickly found an excuse to prevaricate.Gongsun raised Xiao Liang as his son like the fourth son, if he knew that he let Xiao Liang enter the palace as an official, he would be in a hurry.

"Alas..." Zhao Zhen sighed again, "Everyone squeezes into the palace gate with their heads sharpened, and one or two of you regard me as a scourge, tsk."

Zhao Pu quickly left Zhao Zhen, and when he sighed a hundred and one, he ran back to Kaifeng Mansion to watch the excitement.

At this time, the gate of Kaifeng Mansion was really lively.Under Master Bao's governance, Kaifeng's law and order is quite good, especially not to disturb the people, and anyone who disturbs the people must be punished at the gate.

The little Prince Shi Tianqiong was no exception, he was pressed and spanked in front of the majestic gate of Kaifeng Mansion, the pain made him howl like ghosts and wolves.Since he was a petite child, he has never suffered such a crime, and he kept screaming.

Bai Yutang returned to the gate of the Kaifeng Mansion, saw this scene and shook his head, just about to enter, when Zhan Zhao grabbed his sleeve.

Bai Yutang turned his head to look at him, and heard Zhan Zhao mutter, "Troubleshooter."

"Is it over, Mr. Zhan?" Bai Yutang crossed his arms and asked him coldly.

"What kind of jealousy are you, and I didn't believe him!" Zhan Zhao wrinkled his nose, "He's usually a bit eccentric, don't be as knowledgeable as him."

Bai Yutang didn't say any more, since Zhan Zhao was on guard, it's fine.

"By the way, what are you doing on Chai Xing's boat?" Zhan Zhao asked again.

"I..." Bai Yutang thought for a while, and felt that he should organize his sentences, explaining why he saw a ghost last night and today he ran into a ghost again, and that ghost had a slight resemblance to Zhan Zhao's friend.

At this time, Wang Chao counted the number of sticks, "35, 36..."

Looking at Shi Tianqiong again, he was sweating profusely and had no energy to shout, he hummed hoarsely, and his buttocks were bloody.

When the onlookers saw it, they couldn't bear it. After all, he was young, but this man's arrogance and domineering was really annoying. Fortunately, no one was killed just now.

Shi Tianqiong had been yelling that he had the gold medal for avoiding death, but after being hit by a few boards, his head cleared up, and then he realized that the gold medal for avoiding death is not the gold medal for avoiding playing, so Bao Zheng didn't beat himself to death. !Only then did he remember his brother's instructions before going out - Kaifeng City is no better than Chenzhou Mansion, so be careful everywhere, especially don't offend the people in Kaifeng Mansion.

Unfortunately, it's too late!

At this moment, several officials in the palace ran over and pleaded for mercy, which was also arranged by the emperor.

Bao Zheng stood there with a stinky face, looked at the situation, and considered whether to give him a light sentence or not.But before he could open his mouth, he saw another group of people approaching from a distance.

The leader was in his thirties, and before the others arrived, the voice came first, "Don't let me go lightly, beat me hard!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and looked up, only to see that there were about twelve or three people coming.

Leading a tall white horse, there is a person sitting upright immediately. He is more than 20 years old and has a good appearance. He is wearing a blue robe and has a sense of might. His skills are not bad at first glance.

Zhan Zhao took a closer look and felt that this person seemed somewhat similar to Shi Tianqiong who was being beaten.

"Big brother..."

Shi Tianqiong raised his eyes and saw a person slowly approaching in the distance, opened his mouth to scream, and passed out.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang heard it clearly, they were brothers.

The man came up to the crowd, got off his horse, and bowed in front of Bao Zheng, "Shi Tianjie has seen Mr. Bao, and his younger brother's misbehavior caused great disaster, please punish him severely!"

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other, at least on the surface, this elder brother is more reliable, as expected, Shi Tianjie is both civil and military... Recently, many civil and military talents have gathered in Kaifeng!

"Oh, the king of the county doesn't need to be too polite." Bao Zheng replied lightly, without calling him the prince, as if reminding him to restrain himself.

Shi Tianjie repeatedly apologized to Bao Zheng, and asked his entourage to follow the yamen servants of Kaifeng Mansion to help in the street that was just destroyed by Shi Tianqiong, to compensate everyone for their losses, and to apologize door to door.

Bao Zheng nodded. Although Shi Tianjie is only a few years older than Shi Tianqiong, he is much more knowledgeable, at least not so arrogant.

At this time, Grand Master Pang came, and happened to be a lobbyist for the emperor, and asked Shi Tianjie to stay in the post house, and Shi Tianqiong took him back to take care of him.

Shi Tianjie nodded and thanked everyone, and led them away.

Seeing that the incident had subsided, Bai Yutang turned around and wanted to leave.But he didn't take two steps and was stopped by someone, looking back... I saw Zhan Zhao grabbing his sleeve to prevent him from leaving.

Bai Yutang still wanted to move forward, but Zhan Zhao held on tightly, and the two looked at each other in front of the Kaifeng mansion.

"Cough cough."

At this time, Bao Zheng coughed and said, "Guard Zhan, just now General Ouyang said that martial law has been lifted on Lord Chai's official ship, and the corpses are all on board. When Gongsun finishes treating the injured people, you all go to check it out, see and Is there any connection between the previous suicide cases of scholars?"

"Okay." Zhan Zhao nodded, feeling that Bai Yutang was about to slip away again, so he simply hugged his arm.

"Why?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao.

"Go investigate the case." Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile, "Go together?"

"I'm not an official." Although Bai Yutang was refusing, his eyes were full of Zhan Zhao's smile, and he unconsciously dragged him forward a few steps.

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes, "What are you messing with?"

Bai Yutang didn't speak, but looked elsewhere.

Zhan Zhao looked at his expression, it was obvious that he was still angry.

"Then what do you want?" Zhan Zhao leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Is there a reason to be angry?"

"Of course there are reasons to be angry." Bai Yutang glared back at him.

"What is that?" Zhan Zhao opened his eyes wide and waited, "Let's hear it?"

Bai Yutang thought for a while, "I forgot." After speaking, he turned around and wanted to leave.

"Don't go!" Zhan Zhao took his arm and walked in the direction of the official ship, "If you forget it, you won't be angry."

"Forgetting why you're angry doesn't mean you're not angry."

"Hey, don't be so childish, follow me, and be more generous!" Zhan Zhao pulled Bai Yutang and kept walking, "You see, you are angry for no reason and you forgot why I was angry, so you shouldn't be angry Yes, don't you think so?"

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao to go around twice, a little speechless, this cat is good at making excuses!

When he arrived near the official ship, he saw Qiu Langxing still standing there from a long distance. He was under a peach blossom tree. The peach blossoms had just faded, and the petals were falling with the wind.

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, how similar was this scene to the one under the apricot tree last night?It's just that the sky is bright and bright, this person shouldn't disappear suddenly, right?

While in a trance, Zhan Zhao elbowed him beside him, "Oh, you are really angry because of him, what are you doing? You two have met before, and you have a grudge?"

Bai Yutang remained silent, "Cat, are you sure your friend is alive?"

Zhan Zhao blinked, then stared at Bai Yutang.

Seeing him staring at him intently, Bai Yutang asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Hmm..." After a while, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "Well, don't you want to say that you have seen a ghost who looks like him, so you followed him just now?"

Bai Yutang was surprised that Zhan Zhao followed his train of thought without any doubt, and nodded, "Almost."

Zhan Zhao frowned, is there such an outrageous thing?

At this time, Qiu Lang walked over, "Brother Zhan, I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Zhan Zhaoxin said, what are you waiting for me to do?Aren't you preparing for the exam, and you haven't gone back to review your books yet.

"There was a misunderstanding just now, and I was afraid you would be unhappy, but since someone died on the boat, I guess you will come back soon, so I wait here." Qiu Langxing smiled at Zhan Zhao, "Please have a meal and calm down. ,how?"

After all, they have been friends for many years, and this person has a bad personality and often plays pranks, so Zhan Zhao is no stranger to it.

"Is this Bai Yutang? Nice to meet you." Qiu Langxing said, bowing to Bai Yutang with his hands folded.

Bai Yutang just nodded his head slightly, looking rather indifferent.

Qiu Langxing smiled, and put his hand on Zhan Zhao's shoulder, "I'll go to the Taibai Residence and have dinner later? I brought your favorite sweet-scented osmanthus brew from Changzhou, and my mother made it herself."

"Really?" Zhan Zhao immediately smiled when he heard the word "Osmanthus brewing". Bai Yutang also likes to drink, so Zhan Zhao leaned over and asked, "Oh, shall we go together later? Aunt Qiu is a famous winemaker, her Sweet-scented osmanthus is a must in Changzhou.”

Bai Yutang looked back, and saw that Qiu Langxing's hand was still on Zhan Zhao's shoulder, and hearing the words "Osmanthus brewing" for the first time was a bit off-putting.Without speaking, he turned around and walked to the boat, saying, "I'm not in the mood today."

After Bai Yutang left, Zhan Zhao became even more depressed, why was the mouse so angry that he didn't even drink sweet-scented osmanthus wine.

Qiu Langxing also laughed, "This Bai Yutang is as weird as it is in the legend. I don't want to disturb your investigation. I'll go first. I'll see you later."

Zhan Zhao bid farewell to Qiu Langxing, and quickly boarded the boat, and saw Bai Yutang had already entered the cabin, squatting beside the scholar's body.

Zhan Zhao walked over and knelt down beside him.

The life and death of the book is somewhat unacceptable, he held a broken pen in his hand, the pen was broken with force, and the broken slash was the tool he used to cut his throat and kill himself.The whole pen was stained red with blood, including most of the scholar's arm, and the blood spattered far away.

Zhan Zhao saw a piece of rice paper on the ground that was mostly stained red with blood.

Reaching out to pick it up, I saw two words written on the rice paper - end.

Bai Yutang picked up the other half of the pen on the ground, with the word "Cen" clearly written on it.

The two compared things together and sighed helplessly—another one!Where is this fairy?