Geng DaZhang was lying on the ground pretending to be dead. When he saw Zhuang Zizhou killing Zhang Gou and then walking towards him, he was frightened and frightened. He loudly begged for mercy: "No, don't kill me. I can help you find my employer."
There was no expression on Zhuang Zizhou's face.
The sword flashed again.
Shopkeeper Geng was also stabbed in the heart.
He covered his chest, blood flowed from his fingers uncontrollably, and his body quickly stopped shaking.
…
When Wu Chengsi and Princess Taiping came to the house with their people, they saw corpses everywhere, not a single living person.
After seeing Zhang Gou among the corpses, Wu Chengsi was stunned and slowly walked to Zhang Gou, feeling sad and angry at the same time.
Two personal guards were accompanying him. One of them checked Zhang Gou's breath, then checked the wound, and said, "Your Highness, this man has been stabbed in the chest and is already dead."
Wu Chengsi said nothing and silently looked at Zhang Gou's corpse.
In addition to the corpses in the house, there were many straws laid on the ground with flames burning on them. It seemed that someone wanted to burn down the house and destroy the corpses.
Unfortunately, there was too little furniture in the room and the fire did not start. The guards easily extinguished the fire as soon as they arrived.
Princess Taiping stood next to Wu Chengsi, covered her nose with a handkerchief, glanced at Zhang Gou's corpse, and hummed: "These cloth merchants are so brave, they dare to kill our people."
Deacon Huang whispered: "Your Highness, everyone in Buzhuang is also dead." He looked closely at the body of shopkeeper Geng Da.
"Hey, who killed Zhang Gou?" Princess Taiping frowned.
Feng Wu suddenly came to Zhang Gou, rolled his eyelids, and then put her ear on his belly.
Wu Chengsi said: "Feng Wu, what's wrong?"
"This man is still breathing and not dead." Feng Wu replied.
The guard from before said anxiously: "How can you survive if you were stabbed in the heart?"
Wu Chengsi squatted down and put his hand under his nose. After nearly ten seconds, he felt a faint breath and said happily: "Sure enough, he is not dead. Send him to the palace quickly and let the princess treat him!"
The guard was so ashamed that he took out the golden sore medicine from his clothes and stopped Zhang Gou's bleeding.
Then he and another guard carefully lifted him onto a wooden board and put him on the carriage.
Wu Chengsi glanced at each deceased person and said in a deep voice: "Inform the people from Dali Temple immediately."
As soon as he finished speaking, a banging sound suddenly sounded, and then, the only wooden cabinet in the room suddenly started to shake.
The guards immediately surrounded him, and two guards pulled the wooden cabinet with all their strength. They saw a hole in the wall behind the wooden cabinet, and there were two women in the hole.
"Wen, Miss Wenqing!" Wu Chengsi was shocked.
"Your Highness, Your Highness... Your Highness!" Xu Wenqing cried miserably, running towards the direction where Wu Chengsi's voice came from with open hands, but accidentally tripped over the wooden cabinet.
Wu Chengsi hurriedly stepped forward to help her up, while Xu Wenqing hugged his waist tightly and cried loudly.
Wu Chengsi patted her back gently and comforted her with gentle words.
"Second cousin, who is this woman?" Princess Taiping's unhappy voice sounded from behind.
"Her name is Xu Wenqing. She is the daughter of the governor of Yangzhou and a good friend of mine."
Princess Taiping folded her arms, feeling a surge of anger in her heart, and said loudly: "Come here, go and bring the shopkeeper of the ten brocades to me immediately."
Immediately, several guards came out of the house. They divided into two groups, one going to Dali Temple and the other going to Shijindan to arrest people.
After a long while, Wu Chengsi noticed that Xu Wenqing in his arms had stopped crying, and asked: "Miss Wenqing, did you come to Chang'an with Zhang Gou?"
Xu Wenqing said "hmm" and said, "I came to see you with him. We just arrived in Chang'an today."
Wu Chengsi hesitated for a while and said, "Why did you hide in the wall? Who injured Zhang Gou?"
Xu Wenqing trembled all over and said nothing.
Wu Chengsi said softly: "Then forget it, I'll have someone take you back to the house to rest first."
Xu Wenqing shook his head, hugged Wu Chengsi tighter, and said, "Your Highness, I'm so scared, please don't leave me."
Wu Chengsi said: "Well, the smell of blood here is too strong, let's go outside."
Princess Taiping walked to Luwei and asked: "Hey, I want to ask you, do you know what happened here?"
Lu Wei was supported by two guards and stared blankly at Princess Taiping, unable to say a word.
Princess Taiping smelled a strange smell on her body, wrinkled her nose and took two steps back, ordered the maid to help Lu Wei change her clothes, and then followed Wu Chengsi and the others to the courtyard.
In the courtyard, Wu Chengsi asked Xu Wenqing to sit on a stone pier and asked the question again.
Xu Wenqing gritted his teeth and said: "Your Highness, I, I will tell you everything. You must avenge Senior Brother Zhang!"
Wu Chengsi was stunned for a moment, and then he understood that Xu Wenqing thought Zhang Gou was dead, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Brother Zhang is still alive, he should be able to save him!"
Xu Wenqing grabbed Wu Chengsi's sleeve with all his strength and said with tears streaming down his face: "Really? Is he really not dead?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Yes, he is still alive."
Xu Wenqing nodded vigorously, took a deep breath, and told everything he heard while hiding in the cave.
Although she spoke intermittently, Wu Chengsi generally understood her.
"In other words, you initially offended the Shijinban people and were blocked here. Then three more people came and killed all the Shijinban people?"
Xu Wenqing hesitated and said: "I don't know if it was three people, but I heard three voices in total, the first two voices came together, and the last voice said that you are almost there, and told the first voice to evacuate quickly.
"
Wu Chengsi asked again: "Did you mention why those people wanted to kill the Shijindan people?"
Xu Wenqing thought for a while and said: "It seems that Shijindan was originally with them, but someone is eyeing the owner of Shijindan, and they said they would abandon their soldiers to protect their carriage!"
"The owner of Damask? What's his name?"
"I only remember the last name is Cai."
"Back to Your Highness, the owner of the Ten Brocades is called Cai Yang, and he is known as Cai Huzi." Butler Huang interrupted respectfully.
Wu Chengsi's heart moved and he looked towards Feng Wu, and she happened to look over as well. Cai Yang was the businessman Yang Xuan was secretly investigating.
"Miss Wenqing, are you looking at the people in Shijindan as bad people?" Wu Chengsi said in a solemn voice.
Xu Wenqing kept saying: "Ah, yes! He is a bad person."
Wu Chengsi took a deep breath. Judging from this, there must be a huge organization behind Cai Yang. They secretly bribed people from all parties to promote the Liaodong War.
After learning that he was targeting Cai Yang, he immediately chose to kill and silence him.
Princess Taiping's expression also changed. She pulled Wu Chengsi aside and whispered, "Second cousin, the bad guy is my father's spy. Doesn't my father already know about the treasury?"
Wu Chengsi touched his nose and whispered: "I sent that bad guy."
Princess Taiping looked at him with wide eyes and said, "You? Could it be that your father has handed over bad people to you?"
Wu Chengsi explained in a low voice: "There are four branches of bad guys, one for Your Majesty, one for King Lu, one for King Zheng, and one for King Han. After King Han was imprisoned, Your Majesty gave his branch to me. This
It’s top secret, don’t tell anyone else.”
Princess Taiping smiled sweetly and said, "Don't worry, I won't even tell my mother."
At this moment, Xu Wenqing let out an uneasy shout.
Wu Chengsi returned to her, comforted her with a few words, and then said: "Miss Wenqing, you just said that there were three voices that killed those cloth merchants. The first voice left last, and the third voice appeared last.
Where is the second voice?”
Xu Wenqing said: "The second voice went to Cai Yang!"
"Do they know the whereabouts of Cai Yang?"
"No, those cloth merchants don't know the whereabouts of Cai Yang, but a famous cloth merchant said that as long as he writes a letter and puts the address in Shunfeng Building, their boss will follow the address to find him."
"Where is the SF Building?"
Xu Wenqing thought for a while and shook his head.
Princess Taiping interrupted: "I know, it's near Li Garden."
Xu Wenqing nodded quickly and said, "Yes, they mentioned Li Garden."
"Where is the address in Shunfeng Building?" Wu Chengsi asked again.
Xu Wenqing's eyebrows furrowed tightly, showing an expression of hard thinking. Lu Wei suddenly interrupted: "It seems to be in a chopstick basket!"
Xu Wenqing's eyes flashed and he said: "I remembered, it was in the chopstick basket on the table by the window on the second floor of Shunfeng Building."
Wu Chengsi's eyes suddenly became sharp, and he squinted and said: "Very good, they don't know your existence, and they will definitely still be squatting near the Shunfeng Building."
Princess Taiping said excitedly: "Second cousin, we can mobilize the army to surround Shunfeng Tower within a radius of five miles and catch turtles in a jar!"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "No need to go to such trouble, I have a better way."
…
Shunfeng Building is a small building. Near it, in addition to giants like Liyuan, there are also many large restaurants with their own characteristics.
The owners behind every restaurant are by no means ordinary people.
The reason why a small building like Shunfeng Building can survive in such a highly competitive environment to this day is not only because of its "burning hump" that is unique in Chang'an, but also because its owner is the deputy steward of the Guangping County Government.
The Guangping County Government has only this one property in the whole of Chang'an, and this small building is an important financial source for the Government.
Brother and sister Cheng Boxian and Cheng Caiyi regard this small building as a golden pimple, and other families naturally dare not pluck the tiger's buttocks.
Therefore, as its name suggests, no one dares to cause trouble here.
It's a pity that both the Cheng family brothers and sisters are not good at business, so there has been little development in Shunfeng Building.
Xu Xiaowei had a meal at the table by the window on the second floor and put the note with the address of Wang Datou's courtyard in the chopstick basket.
Then he left the restaurant and watched from the window on the second floor of the teahouse diagonally opposite.
Suddenly, he noticed something, turned around and saw Zhuang Zizhou appearing at the top of the stairs, slowly walking towards him.
"Why are you here?" the young man asked curiously.
Zhuang Zizhou walked to the window, smiled unnaturally, and said, "Things have changed."
The young man looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, so he asked: "What's the change?"
"King Zhou and Princess Taiping suddenly came over. I could only kill them all and then evacuate there."
The young man was stunned and asked, "What are they doing there?"
Zhuang Zizhou touched his nose and said, "Do you still remember the man in white who was caught by Geng Liang?"
"Remember, what happened to him?"
Zhuang Zizhou said seriously: "He is from Prince Zhou's palace."
The young man's eyes widened and he said, "Then you still dare to kill him?"
Zhuang Zizhou said calmly: "He saw what I looked like, and I had no choice."
The young man gritted his teeth and said, "I heard that King Zhou was a very powerful person, and even the princes were brought down by him."
Zhuang Zizhou said nothing, his eyes uncertain.
The young man pressed his hand on the window eaves, snorted and said: "I don't know who the guy in white is, but King Zhou actually went to that kind of place for him."
Zhuang Zizhou said in a low voice: "I have asked the general. His name is Zhang Gou, and his uncle is Xu Yuanju, the governor of Yangzhou. I heard that Wu Chengsi thinks highly of Xu Yuanju, so he naturally wants to take care of his nephew."
The young man said: "Then you are causing big trouble?"
Zhuang Zizhou sighed: "I came to you just to say goodbye to you. Your brother will take my place from now on. You just need to obey his orders."
"You want to leave Chang'an?" the young man asked in surprise.
"No, I want to leave the Tang Dynasty and go to Piao State to stay for ten years." Although Zhuang Zizhou's tone was calm, the sadness in his eyes could not be concealed.
How many decades can a person live?
"Piao Guo?" The young man was stunned.
Zhuang Zizhou forced a smile and said: "This is the general's order. Wu Chengsi is too powerful. As long as he stays in the Tang Dynasty, there will be no absolute safety."
"But didn't you silence everyone there?"
Zhuang Zizhou shook his head and said: "The general said that King Zhou was born in Dali Temple and was best at solving cases. I left in a hurry, maybe I left some clues. After you complete this mission, you may have to hide for a few years."
The young man stamped his feet and said: "It's all the fault of those bastards from Shijindan. They caught everyone who was not easy to catch, but they caught the King of Zhou. Otherwise, they wouldn't have..."
Zhuang Zizhou said: "Okay, that's how it is in our line of work. It's hard to predict good and bad fortunes. You should put this thing away. It contains the latest orders from the general."
The young man took the sleeping sheep jade tablet handed over by Zhuang Zizhou, put it in his arms, and said dullly: "I understand."
Zhuang Zizhou smiled again, turned and left.
The young man stared at his back silently, and waited until he disappeared at the top of the stairs before turning his gaze away and looking at the Shunfeng Building again.
Although he is young, he is already very good at controlling his emotions.
After a stick of incense, his pupils suddenly shrank, and he saw a bald monk sitting down by the window on the second floor.
The young man stared at the monk for a moment, but did not see him reach out to take out the note from the chopstick basket.
Soon, the monk left after eating a vegetarian meal. The young man's tense spirit relaxed a little. At this moment, he found a man in linen clothes coming to the seat by the window.
The man in linen clothes did not sit down, but reached out to rummage in the chopstick basket. A smile appeared on the corner of the young man's mouth and he quickly went downstairs.
When the man in linen came out, he followed him quietly.
It was the beginning of the Youshi hour, and there were many pedestrians on the street, but the young man was like a fish, walking through the crowd, following closely behind the man in sackcloth.
Not long after, the man in sackcloth took an increasingly secluded path, and the boy followed him into an alley half a foot wide.
Fortunately, he has excellent tracking skills, otherwise he would be most easily embarrassed in this environment.
After turning five turns in a row, the young man gradually became a little uneasy. Suddenly, when he turned another turn, he found that the man in linen clothes had turned around and was facing him, with a mocking smile on his face.
not good!
The young man's face changed drastically and he stood up without hesitation. As soon as his body was close to the top of the wall, a large net fell down and caught him.
As soon as the young man landed on the ground, a dozen people surrounded him in an instant. The leader was a woman in purple, and behind her, there were many people dressed as guards.
The young man screamed in his heart: "Could they be King Zhou's people? This is impossible. No matter how powerful King Zhou is, how would he know that I am here?"
For a moment, a look of determination appeared on his face, he pulled out the short knife and wiped it towards his neck.
But the woman in purple moved faster than him, and stepped on his back. Then the barbed wire shrank, and the boy was instantly entangled into a rice dumpling, unable to move.
Immediately afterwards, he felt pain in the back of his neck and lost consciousness.
…
With Wu Chengsi's current status, he seems to have a dozen spotlights shining on him, and his every word and deed is always being watched.
Therefore, when many people heard that he had been staying in a small courtyard in the south of the city for more than an hour, they felt strange and began to send people to secretly gather information.
It didn't take long for Wang Datou's small courtyard to attract the attention of many dignitaries in Beijing, the most active of which was Princess Anhua's Mansion.
Since Wu Chengsi was named "Marshal of the Western Campaign", the Murong brothers have been racking their brains to enter the Western Campaign camp.
But there are too many people who have the same thoughts as them, and everyone's background is no worse than that of Princess Anhua's Mansion. Many of them are former subordinates of Li Ji and Su Dingfang.
Everyone in Chang'an City didn't know that the Su family and the Li family were Wu Chengsi's closest allies. In contrast, the only thing the Murong brothers had was their mother's personal relationship with Princess Taiping.
Murong Xuan didn't think that he could enter the Xidian camp just by relying on this friendship, so he began to think of other ways.
In the past few days, he has been trying to make friends with the people around Wu Chengsi.
Several bachelors and editors from the Hanlin Academy were his first choice, but unfortunately those people were all scholars and were very indifferent to him, so the progress was not smooth.
Later, Murong Xuan set his sights on Dali Temple again. At first, his target was Di Renjie, who had just been promoted to the rank of Shaoqing of Dali Temple. Unfortunately, Di Renjie was cautious and unsmiling, and his progress was not smooth.
It wasn't until he shifted his target to Zhugenan that he finally achieved something.
He even regretted why he didn't target Zhuge Nan from the beginning.
Because Zhugenan is too easy to break.
In a private room of Liyuan Restaurant, Murong Xuan raised his wine glass high and said with a smile: "Brother Zhuge, why should you care about those people's opinions? Come on, let's have a drink."
Zhugenan clinked glasses with him and exclaimed angrily: "It's really unreasonable. I earned my position as Young Minister with real merit, but they say that I rely on being around His Highness to flatter him. It's really abominable!"
Murong Xuan smiled and said: "They are just jealous of you. Who in Dali Temple can be as highly regarded by His Highness the King of Zhou as you are?"
Zhuge Nan snorted and said: "Forget it, when I was promoted to the temple prime minister, they said that I relied on my foster father's relationship. I have long been used to it!"
Murong Xuan poured wine for the two of them, raised his glasses and said, "Brother Zhuge has a broad mind that is admirable. Let me toast you again."
Zhugenan toasted and had sex with him.
After a long while, Zhuge Nan glanced at Murong Xuan and said with a smile: "Brother Murong, tomorrow I plan to go to Prince Zhou's Mansion to pay my respects to Her Royal Highness the Princess. Do you want to come with me?"
Seeing his gaze, Murong Xuan was startled and thought to himself: "This young man seems to be fussing, but in fact he has already seen my purpose of approaching him." He cupped his hands and said sincerely: "Thank you, Brother Zhuge."
Zhuge Nan snorted and said: "I know that many people have been trying to curry favor with His Highness the King of Zhou recently. They are either looking for Zhou Xing, Wang Bo, Di Renjie, or Russell, Le Shou Bo, or the British Duke."
Murong Xuan was stunned and said: "Brother Zhuge, I..."
Zhuge Nan waved his hand and said: "I don't mean to blame you. You are the first person to come to me. This shows that you still think highly of me, so I am doing this favor for you."
Murong Xuan stared at Zhuge Nan for a long time and said: "Brother Zhuge, I do have other thoughts when I treat you to a drink, but I do admire your ability to solve crimes and really want to make friends with you."
Zhuge Nan smiled and said, "Aren't we friends a long time ago?"
Murong Xuan smiled slightly and said, "It is a pleasure to have a friend like Brother Zhuge."
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by a voice: "Zhuge Shaoqing, are you in there?"
"He is one of my subordinates." Zhuge Nan explained to Murong Xuan and shouted: "Come in."
A man wearing official uniform of Dali Temple entered the private room, glanced at Murong Xuan, and said:
"Zhuge Shaoqing, there was a murder case in the south of the city. His Highness King Zhou sent people to the temple office and asked us to take over the case immediately. Nie Si Cheng has already taken his people there."
Zhuge Nan stood up suddenly and said, "Why didn't he inform me?"
The official hesitated for a moment and said: "Nie Si Cheng said that since you and Di Shaoqing have already gone to the Yamen, it would be best not to disturb you."
Zhugenan stamped his feet and said bitterly: "This guy just wants to take the credit."
He patted the official's shoulder and said, "You informed us promptly. I'll note this credit for you. Let's go back to the temple office immediately."
Murong Xuan stood up and said, "Brother Zhuge, is there anything I can do for you?"
Zhuge Nan smiled and said: "Brother Murong, this is official business, so I can't let you get involved. I had a great time drinking today, and I'll treat you to a drink another day."