Nine thousand years old [rebirth]

A group of people surrounded Yin Chengyu and entered, and took their seats on the main seat.Xue Shu stood by his side as usual.

Zhou Zhiling had already broken free from Xue Shu's fear of killing people at this moment. After seeing Yin Chengyu, his eyeballs moved, and his face, which had just recovered, turned pale again, and his eyes also revealed despair.

I'm afraid it's really over this time.

The ambition that made up his mind to make a fortune at the beginning has been shattered, and now there is only fear and fear, and those tricks in the market are no longer useful: "Prince... Your Highness."

"Who asked you to raise the private soldier?" Yin Chengyu stared at him, tapped on his knee with his fingers: "Shao Tian?"

The Zhou family is just a merchant, and the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce has the right to speak in the Huguang area. With the ability of the Zhou family, they don't have the guts to support private soldiers.Most of them were paid by the Zhou family to raise the courageous ones.

Hearing him mention "Shao Tian" lightly, Zhou Zhiling's fingers twitched for a moment, and the unprecedented sense of crisis revived his sluggish brain.In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, "Caomin doesn't quite understand what His Royal Highness said about private soldiers. Caomin did have some contact with these bandits, but it was just for the convenience of transporting goods on weekdays. He didn't dare to do anything harmful to nature. "

He didn't admit it, and Yin Chengyu wasn't annoyed, so he just followed the trend and asked, "Oh? Then when did you get in touch with these bandits?"

Zhou Zhiling couldn't see through his depth, and didn't know whether he believed this statement or not, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "About two years ago."

"Two years ago..." Yin Chengyu muttered something in a low voice, as if he had figured something out, he suddenly laughed: "Dadong Zhou's family is quite ambitious."

Zhou Zhiling's heart skipped a beat, and he felt the dizziness of watching Fan Hu being strangled to death surged up again, but after thinking about it, he couldn't figure out what his answer could reveal, so he said with difficulty: " The grassroots... don't understand what His Highness the Crown Prince means."

Yin Chengyu didn't need him to understand, and he never explained: "As far as Gu knows, there are not so many bandits in Wangtuoling. How many of these bandits are there? Where do they usually hide?"

He said "bandits", but every word seemed to be asking "private soldiers".

Raising private soldiers is a serious crime of ransacking a family and exterminating the clan. Zhou Zhiling dare not admit it, so he can only resist stubbornly: "The grassroots only have some contacts with bandits, and I don't know how many there are."

Yin Chengyu lowered his eyes and looked down at him, his gaze made no one hide.Zhou Zhiling gradually flinched under his clear eyes, but thinking of the consequences of pleading guilty, she gritted her teeth again, not daring to utter a single word.

"Could it be that Zhou Huishou thinks that if you don't admit it, and the second prince is dead, the charge of hoarding troops and rebelling doesn't exist?"

In Zhou Zhiling's frightened and staring eyes, Yin Chengyu said in a calm and unhurried manner: "Shao Tian jumped the wall in a hurry and let you take the opportunity to assassinate Gu. Do you think that with his prudence, he will leave the Zhou family behind?"

"You have no way out." Yin Chengyu said: "If you admit it now, you can enjoy your crime and meritorious deeds. But if you still resist, you may not even have a whole body if you go to Dongchang's hands." remain."

As if to match his words, Xue Shu, who was standing by the side, looked lightly and obliquely at him, his eyes were calm and unwavering.

When he strangled Fan Hu to death with wire, he also looked calm.

Killing a person is like crushing an ant.

Zhou Zhiling's face was as white as paper, her lips trembled, and her eyes struggled and hesitated.

For a long time, in the oppressive silence, he grabbed the ground with his head and said in a trembling voice: "All the grassroots are recruited, please be merciful, Your Highness."

"Two years ago, Master Shao's cronies came to find me in person and ordered me to secretly recruit soldiers. In order to deceive others, we got in touch with Fan Hu, the leader of the bandits in Hualin Village, Fenghuang Mountain. The Zhou family provided money and food, and Hualin Village was in charge of recruiting troops. A total of more than [-] people were recruited, and they were trained in the grottoes of Phoenix Mountain on weekdays, and if they wanted to show up, they would pretend to be bandits."

That's why there are so many bandits in Wangtuoling.

Zhou Zhiling felt a burst of regret when she recalled that she was persuaded by the other party back then.Although the Zhou family's business is very big, it is limited to the Huguang area.Going out of Huguang to the north and even Wangjing, there are too many families that are more powerful than the Zhou family.However, the children of the Zhou family did not live up to expectations, and there was not a single younger generation who took the imperial examination and made an official career.

The wife's natal family, the Shao family, has some distant relatives with the Wangjing Shao family, but apart from the festival gifts sent to the capital during the festivals, there is no connection at all.

So when the Zhou family's business in the capital was in some trouble, and after the Shao family came to help, he wanted to seize the opportunity to climb this big tree.

He had no response to what the Shao family said in the capital city, and the Shao family obviously took him seriously. Shao Tian even met him personally, with the intention of supporting him inside and outside the words.

When Shao Tian's cronies came to lobby him, saying that Shao Tian wanted to train a group of loyal and reliable nursing homes and asked him to help find candidates, he readily agreed.

By the time he found out that what Shao Tian wanted was not an ordinary nursing home, but a well-trained private soldier, it was already too late.

He couldn't get off the tiger, and went to find each other several times.The other party said that the private soldier was raised by the second prince.The second prince is deeply favored by the emperor, and he has the potential to fight against the prince in court.The prince was afraid that the second prince would endanger his status, so he had sent people to assassinate him several times.The second prince raised soldiers privately in order to protect himself, intending to select loyal and reliable elites as guards.

If things come true, the Zhou family will be heroes when the second prince ascends to the throne.Even if it doesn't work, it's nothing more than a few thousand private soldiers, even with the presence of the Second Prince, they won't be able to stir up trouble.

It's hard to get off a tiger, and it's also obsessed with ghosts.

"Later, Caomin has been raising these soldiers. At first, the Shao family sent people to train those soldiers. After they took shape, they were supervised by Fan Hu, and they trained themselves. Caomin would write to Lord Shao every other month. Report the situation."

When the news of the second prince's death came later, he deliberately wanted to disperse these private soldiers.

But Shao Tian refused to allow it, and only said that it was useful for him to continue to raise it.It wasn't until the prince came to Huguang for disaster relief a few days ago that he received Shao Tian's letter in advance, and the other party was intimidating and tempting in his heart, so he had to obey orders.

"Caomin doesn't have the guts to murder the prince, but Shao Tian has already taken advantage of Caomin, and Caomin has no choice but to follow." Zhou Zhiling said, it seemed that sadness came from it, with tears streaming down his face, and a look of remorse.

"Where are those letters? Show Gu." Yin Chengyu was unmoved.

Zhou Zhiling had no choice but to wipe away her tears, got up with hands and feet, tapped on the wall behind the multi-treasure shelf, pulled out a hidden compartment, and took out all the letters stored in it.

"In the beginning, it was a close friend who passed on the message, and all the letters that came and went later are here." There were only five or six letters in total, and the letters were stamped on them.

Yin Chengyu read it one by one, but threw the letter aside: "It's not Shao Tian's handwriting, and this private seal is also wrong."

Zhou Zhiling felt as if struck by lightning, held the letters in his hands, and said anxiously: "How come? These things are indeed ordered by Master Shao, and the handwriting is also correct. Master Shao even personally received me..."

As he spoke, his voice weakened and got stuck in his throat.

It was Shao Tian who told him to do the right thing, but just as he kept these letters for later use, Shao Tian also guarded against him from the beginning.

In other words, all of this was Shao Tian's trick to lure him into the trap.

Just like what the prince said, regardless of success or failure, the Zhou family will be abandoned without hesitation.

Zhou Zhiling's whole body seemed to have been drained of energy and energy, and he became fatigued, his face was ashen.

Yin Chengyu didn't sympathize, even if there were reasons for Shao Tian's step-by-step design, if Zhou Zhiling hadn't been greedy, he wouldn't have fallen into the current situation.

The reason why Shao Tian did this is also very understandable. He is a member of Yin Chengzhang, and he used the Zhou family to raise private soldiers in Huguang, not necessarily because he wanted to rebel, but probably just in case.It's just that man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation. He lived a new life, Yin Chengzhang died in Qingzhou, and all Shao Tian's plans were disrupted.

The entanglement between Shao Tian and Yin Chengzhang is too deep, even if he switches to himself, he will not be trusted.And judging from previous life experience, Shao Tian also has a pile of bad debts behind his ass.

Once he inherits Dabao, he will definitely liquidate Shao Tian.

From Shao Tian's point of view, perhaps whoever becomes the emperor is more beneficial than him being the emperor.

So just keep doing nothing and let these private soldiers who have been raised for two years play their final value.

If successful, Shao Tian can rest easy.If it fails, these few letters and Zhou Zhiling's one-sided words will not be able to do anything to him.

It's just that he counted every step, but he didn't count Xue Shu and followed him to Huguang.

Yin Chengyu's eyes slanted towards Xue Shu's direction, with a smile in his eyes.

There are advantages to being clingy.

If Xue Shu wasn't around this time, although he could try to turn the situation around, he would have to go through some twists and turns, and it would be impossible for him to go so smoothly.

Xue Shu noticed his gaze, was stunned for a moment, then leaned towards him, and touched his fingers casually.The itching like a dragonfly touches water made Yin Chengyu curl his fingers, raise the end of his eyes higher, and hang down his hand resting on the armrest, and scratched his palm under the cover of his sleeve.

With the strength like a kitten, Xue Shu suddenly clenched his fingers, his eyes boiling.

However, the instigator had already turned his face away, and continued to talk to Zhou Zhiling: "Now the four city gates are held by bandits, if you want to get out of the city, you have a way."

Zhou Zhiling was completely overwhelmed, and couldn't even arouse the slightest rebellion.Even because of the resentment towards Shao Tian, ​​he only wished that the crown prince would return to Beijing safely and take care of Shao Tian.

He is going to die, Shao Tian don't think about it.

Zhou Zhiling thought about it very cooperatively, touched Fan Hu's body, and pulled a token from his waist: "The private soldier was raised in Phoenix Mountain and knew Fan Hu well. His You can come in and out with tokens. Moreover, the grass-roots people are somewhat indifferent to the private soldiers. If the grass-roots people take the tokens and go out of the city, no one should stop them." He also looked a little nervous: "His Royal Highness and all the adults can pretend to be the followers of the grass-roots people. , but not too many people."

Yin Chengyu nodded, looked at his messy body, and said, "Go and tidy up first, and Gu Ye will change into cheap clothes."

Seeing that he didn't blame him, Zhou Zhiling immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly went to change clothes.

"Leave four or five elites to go out of the city together. The rest stay in the city to respond at any time, tell them to find Jiang Zheng and Qi Wu, gather the troops in the city as soon as possible, and wait for the order to counterattack." Yin Chengyu said.

Xue Shu ordered five people to stay, and the rest of the servants quickly disposed of Fan Hu's body. After finding several sets of gray robes worn by the servants, they dispersed quietly to find Jiang Zheng and the others. people meet.

After Yin Chengyu and his party changed into servants' clothes, they drove the carriage and followed Zhou Zhiling to the gate of the city.