It's already late, the third-shift drum has been beaten, and there are still two dim candles burning in Mr. Wu's room. Mr. Wu sitting in front of the desk is a little drowsy, and the dense sleepiness is like an army of ants. It crept into Mr. Wu's heart, causing his eyelids to gradually become heavy, slowly closing them, then opening them with vigor and self-consciousness, and not long after, they slowly closed again, as the wick burned. , I don’t know whether it’s because the head is getting heavier or the neck is getting softer. In short, this head is bit by bit from time to time, like a chicken pecking rice, which is very uncomfortable. However, Mr. Wu has to do it again and again. He braced himself up again and again, fighting against sleepiness again and again, because he could not understand more clearly at this moment that he could not sleep yet. He was waiting for a piece of news, a piece of news that would give him a peaceful night's sleep and a peaceful mind. News about sleeping for a year.
When, when, when.
Mr. Wu was suddenly awakened. Only then did he realize that he had dozed off again at some point and fell asleep. He yawned loudly, stretched his hands to the sky, stretched his waist, and calmed down his expression. , then shouted: "Come in,"
"Master Wu," Wei Du stepped forward with sweat dripping from his head, walked quickly to stand in front of Master Wu, and said: "Sir, the one hundred thousand silver coins handed over to the government are ready. I have loaded up three carts. Tomorrow I will order thirty soldiers and we will be on the road early in the morning."
"Well," Mr. Wu said, he leaned forward and asked, "How is Chao Gai over there? Is there any movement?"
"I have been sending people to watch in secret, but I didn't notice any movement... Oh, by the way, after nightfall, a man in black wearing a bamboo hat once entered through the back door of Chao's house. However, not long after, he It's out again," Wei Dutou said after thinking seriously.
"A man in black, wearing a bamboo hat on his head, oh... what does this mean," Mr. Wu stared at the table, his eyes seemed to be frozen, and he was talking to himself and thinking carefully in his heart. He seemed to be unable to figure it out. He raised his eyes and continued to ask Wei Du: "When the man came out, did the whistleblower follow him? See where the man went and what he was going to do."
Wei Du shook his head and said helplessly: "There are a lot of things happening tonight, and the manpower is not divided. The secret sentry arranged at the Chao family did not dare to act without permission." At this point, Wei Du paused, and then continued: "Master Wu, are you too suspicious of Chao Gai? I think that instead of placing hidden sentries around Chao Gai, it would be better to keep an eye on Zang Hanzhong."
Mr. Wu waved his hand and said slowly: "Well, I have said that Chao Gai is by no means simple. Compared with Zang Hanzhong, I am even more worried about him. When dealing with Chao Gai, I have to be more cautious. That day at his village, I deliberately told him our news just to see if he would behave."
"You are worried... that he will attack Guanyin," Wei Dutou said in a low voice.
Mr. Wu nodded secretly and continued: "It is not Chao Gai who happily takes out money to make contributions. The Chao family has always been above the top and will never cooperate with our government. They even dare to do it in front of you and me." He slapped the table to challenge, but you see, Chao Gai has undergone a 180-degree change since the death of his eldest brother Chao Jidao. Not only did he take the initiative to accept the official rations very obediently, but he also I have sent money over and over again, and I am not stingy every time. Tell me, if there is nothing fishy in this, who would be so stupid?"
"I understand what your lord means. This Chao Gai is really good at buying people's hearts. There are many tricks in that ecstasy soup. The seven kinds of meat and eight ingredients that mix people up for a moment really blind the mind. It wasn't until now after listening to the lord's words. It was a sudden enlightenment," Wei Dutou said: "But, sir, why do you think Chao Gai did this?"
Master Wu did not raise his eyes to look at him, but started to pick up the wick again. The bright flame suddenly became bigger on the wick, and the whole room became much brighter. Master Wu said slowly: "Why? , of course it is something that is in his own interest. What he can see now is to win over us to help him bring down the Zang family. It is embarrassing to say that Chao Gai’s sugar-coated bullets are really powerful, and I didn’t know it. He did what he said. Now, the whole Zang family is in a state of decline. The whole family is in dire straits. Lang Lang has no wealth. It is already sunset. I am afraid that if Chao Gai takes care of it one more time, it will be over. I was originally I wanted to control it and let the two of them fight endlessly, but my excitement actually helped Chao Gai a lot. Now that I think about it, I can't help but regret it."
Wei Dutou felt something in his heart when he heard it. Thinking about it, the county magistrate also said it. However, in the officialdom, the leader cannot say that he is not good. The people below just nodded along with him. At that moment, Wei Dutou said He took a different approach and said: "That can't be blamed, sir. The two families are fighting fiercely at the risk of their lives. It would be embarrassing for us to decide when. If we want to blame, we can only blame Zang Hanzhong, but we don't He was rarely given a chance because he failed to live up to his expectations and let Chao Gai take the lead in everything. After fighting round after round, his Zang family has less and less good cards. Even if we continue to defend him, it will be difficult. If you don’t get into the leaky hole, there’s really nothing you can do about it,”
Lord Wu felt somewhat comfortable listening to this, and smiled slightly and said: "But, it doesn't matter. Although Chao Gai is strong now, it is not that we can't control him. At this juncture, it is very important. In the future, we will not be able to control him." How to divide the forces in Yuncheng County is a matter of decision-making in the past few days. You have to keep an eye on Chao Gai. If he dares to have Che Guanyin's idea, they will attack. Hum, we can catch them all. At that time, it was natural to justifiably raid Chao Gai's house and confiscate all his family property. At that time, the magistrate was the only one in power, and he felt very comfortable."
As he said this, Mr. Wu laughed, and Wei Dutou also laughed with Mr. Wu.
Mr. Wu smiled and suddenly stopped smiling, and said to Wei Dutou: "Listen, mobilize all the troops in the county. As long as there is the slightest sign of trouble on Chao Gai's side, we will close the net and catch them..."
"Report," a guard reported at this time: "Chao Gai from Shijie Village wants to see you."
Lord Wu and Wei Du looked at each other, and they both swallowed the rest of the words knowingly. Lord Wu said leisurely: "Please," then he pursed his lips and sat upright on the Taishi chair. , and said no more.
Not long after, he heard a series of urgent footsteps coming from outside. When Wei Dutou heard the sound, he turned around and saw Chao Gai running in from outside. As soon as Chao Gai came in, he clasped his fists and said: "Sir, Chao Gai A late night visit means urgent information."
"Uh..." Mr. Wu hesitated a little, and looked at each other with Wei Du, and then slowly spoke: "Uncle Chao, I don't know what kind of information I have, but I still bother you to run away in person."
"It's a very important matter. Your Majesty's personal fortune and my family's fortune are all staked on it. This matter is so big that I'm afraid it won't be clear for a while," Chao Gai said first.
As soon as Mr. Wu heard the word "wusha", he couldn't help but feel a little sensitive. He was stunned for a moment and then said: "You mean, about the one hundred thousand official silver,"
"Exactly, regarding this matter, I just got the exact news that a group of people are going to take action on this silver. Now they have assembled and will enter the pre-designed ambush point in a short time. When the official silver comes tomorrow, As soon as he passes in front of him, he will come out to rob him." Chao Gai lowered his voice and solemnly said word for word for Master Wu and Wei Dutou to listen.
"Ah," Mr. Wu said so ambitiously just now, saying that he could catch them all with just one move, but what he is really afraid of now is someone trying to steal the money, because there is Chao Gai in Yuncheng County. , Zang Hanzhong, there is also a group of strong men, that is, in a place called Liangshanshuibo, a hundred miles away from Yuncheng County, a group of untouchable gangsters have gathered, and now they are beginning to take shape. Master Wu is not afraid of the Zang family or Chao. Now, I was afraid that the Liangshan people would come to disrupt the situation, so I couldn't help but be shocked when I heard this. I took a breath of cold air, but a small drop of sweat broke out on my forehead.
Wei Dutou was also very concerned and couldn't help but move closer to Chao Gai and asked: "I don't know which group of people Chao Gai is talking about."
Chao Gai pursed his lips tightly, paused, and then said: "That group of people is extremely mysterious. At the moment, it is difficult to verify their identities. I don't know whether they are bandits from Liangshan or wandering bandits from the mountains."
Mr. Wu's brows furrowed even more after hearing this. He pressed his fists tightly on the desk and stood up, with a look of eagerness on his face. It’s really reliable information,”
"Where did you find out?" Wei Dutou also became anxiously concerned.
After Chao Gai looked embarrassed, he sighed and said: "The source of the information is not wrong, it is absolutely true. You also know that I also have some connections in the Jianghu. Just before nightfall, an old friend in the Jianghu specially came to Come and tell me, because... because he heard that I, Chao Gai, am now very close to you, sir, and he is afraid that if something happens tomorrow, I will intervene. He is afraid that I will get into trouble and his family will not be protected."
After saying this, Wei Dutou and Mr. Wu looked at each other, and now they were convinced. The knot that had been left in Mr. Wu's heart just now was also solved. It turned out that the secret sentry of the government saw it after nightfall. The man in black clothes and hat who came in and out of the back door of Chao's house was an old friend in the world, so it was no wonder. However, there were some bad guys who wanted to take advantage of the money, and Chao Gai said that he could not protect his family, so he must be a powerful group of people. Mr. Wu looked very anxious for a moment and couldn't say a word.
At this time, Chao Gai continued: "At first, I also considered this matter. It would be better for Mingze to protect himself. However, I, Chao Gai, thought about it for a long time and still had to bite the bullet. Although you, Mr. Wu, have begun to treat my Chao family poorly. Some, but after all, I have helped my Chao family a lot now. Seeing that the Zang family’s evil deeds will be punished, my eldest brother’s soul in heaven will feel some comfort. I, Chao Gai, am not like some people. Although my abilities are limited. , but there is still loyalty. I know how important this car of official silver is to you. If it is robbed by gangsters, it will not only cost Master Wu and Wei Du’s hair, but also their heads will be taken away. So, I hurriedly came over overnight to report,"
When Mr. Wu heard this, he was so moved that he didn't know what to say. He glanced at Wei Dutou and began to feel guilty for saying bad things about Chao Gai before. Mr. Wu said: "Yuan Chao is so righteous. The most handsome man in Yuncheng County, this information is really important, but, alas..."
Knowing Master Wu's suffering, Wei Dutou took over the message and said, "Except for Mr. Chao, I don't know how many people there are in this group. I don't know if our county government has enough troops to resist them."
When Chao Gai heard this, he put on a very melancholy look on his face and said: "My friends in the martial arts community didn't talk about it in detail. They just said that this group of people is very powerful, with a lot of people, and even more eyes and ears." It is very large. As for how many people there are, he did not say. However, sir, from what I heard from his tone, that group of people is really great. He usually has many people who talk casually. His tone was very cautious. Now that he has said that, I don’t dare to take any chances. Sir, think about it. Since such a group of people have made up their minds to rob the official’s money, they They must have carefully weighed the strength of both sides. Since they dare to do it, it means they have a sure chance of victory."
Mr. Wu was so frightened by Chao Gai's words that he could not recover for a moment. He muttered: "Then what should we do? Because the fight between you and the Zang family has been delayed for many days, and tomorrow is already the last day." The period has passed. If you push it back further, you will still be punished by the superiors, and you can’t afford to delay... Sigh,"
Wei Dutou was also very melancholy and said: "There is only one way from our place to the government office. I can go around this, but I can't go around there. This is really a dilemma."
Chao Gai saw Master Wu and Dutou Wei frowning with worry. Seeing that the opportunity was ripe, he slowly said, "Master Wu, Dutou Wei, there is no need to be so melancholy. I am here tonight to inform you of the news." Let you know that I am here to help."
"Ah," Mr. Wu was afraid that his ears had heard wrongly.
Chao Gai looked at Mr. Wu and said: "Sir, tomorrow I will bring all the Chao family members to help you. Even if it burns you and ruins your family, Chao Gai will not hesitate."
"This..." Mr. Wu was so emotional that he couldn't say a word.
Chao Gai stepped forward and approached Mr. Wu and said: "It's not safe to fight head-on right now. I have a perfect plan here that can cover the seas. Not only will the official silver be delivered safely, but it will also be possible to capture the gangster alive and ask for credit from above." ,"
Mr. Wu's ears immediately stood up when he heard this, and his eyes became interested, so he hurriedly asked Chao Gai for advice.
Chao Gai Weiwei smiled to himself, approached Mr. Wu, lowered his voice, and said with a serious look on his face: "We only need this, this, and this..."