Zhang Bao was led by soldiers to see Zhang Mingqian, who was locked up in a stone house. Zhang Mingqian suddenly saw his uncle. He rushed forward with excitement, grabbed the iron fence and asked urgently: "Second uncle, why are you here?"
"I'll negotiate with them and let you out. You haven't been wronged, right?"
Zhang Mingqian said bitterly: "They interrogated me last night and asked me about the whereabouts of the Jin envoy. How did I know? They beat me up. If they hadn't wanted to exchange information from my father, I would have died last night."
Zhang Bao became even more frightened, "Don't worry, I'll tell them that they are not allowed to abuse you anymore!"
He turned around and hurried to see Zhong Huan.
At this time, Zhong Huan's subordinate Xue Ke also arrived. He was the tracking master and was responsible for tracking Zhang Bao.
Zhong Huan's real purpose in arresting Zhang Mingqian was not to find out who was the Jin envoy, but to arrest Zhang Wo. The three assassinations of officials in Pingzhou were all planned by Zhang Wo. If he was not eliminated, he would not be able to deter other wealthy families.
, Yanshan Road officials still live in insecurity.
"When I saw Zhang Bao enter Yinhu Villa in my humble position, Zhang Wo must be hiding there?"
"Maybe just now, but not necessarily now. As long as you keep an eye on Zhang Bao, I will lead the army to follow behind."
Xue Ke hesitated and said: "Follow Zhang Bao and you will surely find Zhang Wo?"
Zhong Huan nodded, "Zhang Mingqian is his only son. He must be eager to know the outcome of the negotiation. This is also the time when he relaxes his guard the most. I believe my judgment will not be wrong!"
At this time, the soldier said at the door: "Zhang Bao is here!"
Xue Ke quickly said: "I'm going to prepare first!"
He dodged away, and Zhong Huan immediately ordered: "Bring him in!"
After a while, Zhang Bao was brought in, bowed and said: "See General Zhong!"
Zhong Huan waved his hand and said, "Please sit down!"
Zhang Bao sat down and said anxiously: "General Zhang knows my purpose of coming. I would like to ask, what are the conditions for General Zhang to let my nephew go?"
"My conditions are simple!"
Zhong Huan said directly: "I want to capture the secret envoy of the Jin Kingdom and tell me his whereabouts. I will let Zhang Mingqian go."
Zhang Bao nodded, "No problem. My brother agreed, but I told you the information. It will take a certain amount of time to catch him. Can you release Zhang Mingqian first?"
Zhong Huan thought for a while and said: "He can be placed under house arrest. You can find a small courtyard and let him live in the yard. My soldiers will stand guard at the door and will not interfere with his life. Once I catch the Jin envoy, I will lift the house arrest.
I am also worried that you will give me untrue information."
Zhang Bao thought for a moment, and he felt that house arrest was not bad, as long as he lived comfortably and didn't go out.
"He can be placed under house arrest, but he is not allowed to be beaten or abused during these two days!"
"Do not worry!"
Zhong Huan smiled meaningfully and said, "I promise I won't beat him again."
Zhang Bao said goodbye and left to meet his brother at Bailong Villa, thirty miles away. He was very cautious. He sat in the bullock cart and looked back from time to time to make sure that no one was following him. Indeed, no one was following him. There was nothing behind him for several miles.
There was no one outside, which made him feel a little relieved.
In fact, Zhang Bao also knew that his brother had sent people to assassinate Pinglu County officials. Even the Pinglu County Lieutenant was seriously injured and was still lying on the hospital bed. The county magistrate was also almost assassinated and killed the wrong maid.
After the inner guards arrived, the elder brother became afraid and did not dare to live in the city. He had to change manors every day for fear of being caught by the inner guards.
Zhang Bao also felt that his brother was a bit careless. First of all, the internal guards did not have any evidence to prove that his brother planned to assassinate the county magistrate. Secondly, the internal guards had been here for almost a month and had not attacked the Zhang family's property. Zhang Bao believed that the internal guards were targeting the Kingdom of Jin.
The spies should not be from wealthy families like them.
But Zhang Bao didn't know that the top-secret tracking of the inner guards was by no means as simple as he thought. He followed far behind. The inner guards were hiding in the wilderness on both sides, at least two miles away from him, walking side by side with him, or even in front of him.
Waiting for him, the other party can see him, but he cannot see the other party.
More than an hour later, Zhang Bao entered Bailong Villa. Zhang Wo had already arrived first. The key reason why he chose Bailong Villa to meet his brothers was that it was easy to escape from the Villa. The buildings in the Villa were built on the mountainside with dense woods and a road.
The secret passage can be drilled into the woods a hundred steps away, and even if he is surrounded, he can escape without being noticed.
Zhang Wo sat on a wide chair and said with a gloomy face: "My son was abused by them?"
"They may have interrogated Ming Qian last night, but they probably didn't hurt his bones or muscles. They promised that they could use house arrest later!"
"House arrest?"
Zhang Wo snorted heavily, "You mean, if they can't catch the Jin envoy, they won't let my son go?"
"Brother, you should be able to catch it! Didn't those Jin envoys say they want to come back to see the training ground?"
"That will be at least a month or two later."
At this moment, a man from the village stumbled up to the lobby and said: "Master of the village, countless soldiers appeared outside and surrounded the villa!"
"What?"
Zhang Wo jumped up, startled and angry, and glared at his brother Zhang Bao: "Didn't I ask you to be careful not to be watched?"
Zhang Bao also panicked and said: "I'm very careful, no one is following me!"
"Humph! It's weird that you can find them."
"I"
"Stop talking, go to the door and stop the inner guard to buy me time."
"Brother, wouldn't I be in danger?"
Zhang Wo comforted him and said: "It's me they want to arrest, not you, otherwise you would have been arrested long ago. Go quickly and don't delay."
Zhang Bao had no choice but to leave in a hurry.
Zhang Wo ran away from the backyard woodshed, which was locked all year round, and he had the key in his hand. He entered the woodshed, pushed aside the pile of firewood, and lifted up a wooden board, revealing a large, dark hole.
The reason why he chose Bailong Villa was because there was a secret way to escape.
Zhang Wo jumped into the secret passage and crawled out. The love between brothers and the relationship between father and son were all forgotten by him at this moment. Saving his own life was the most important thing.
The secret passage was about a hundred steps long, leading to the mountain forest behind the house. Zhang Wo used his hands and feet, panting from exhaustion, and finally climbed out of the secret passage.
Zhang Wo was stunned when he climbed out of the secret passage. He was surrounded by internal guards. Zhong Huan stood in front of him and looked at him coldly. Zhang Wo had forgotten who the other party was. How could such a trick as the secret passage be concealed?
Passing the inner guard?
The next morning, the interrogator reported to Zhong Huanhui: "This Zhang Wo is as capable as his son. No matter how hard he is tortured and interrogated, he just refuses to tell."
Zhong Huan sneered. He understood what Zhang Wo was thinking. He thought that if he didn't say anything, he would be valuable and would not die. He really thought too much.
Zhong Huan then came to another cell, where Zhang Wo's brother Zhang Bao was imprisoned. When he saw Zhong Huan coming in, he quickly stepped forward and said: "General Zhong, I'm just an ordinary businessman. I really haven't done anything harmful to nature.
"The assassination of the county magistrate was done by my elder brother and had nothing to do with me. I even advised him not to do such a stupid thing."
Zhong Huan said calmly: "I just want to ask you something. As long as you tell me, I will let you go home, and you can do your business honestly, and your family will be safe and sound."
"If it's an envoy from the Kingdom of Jin, I really don't know. I haven't had any contact with him."
Zhong Huan shook his head, "I'm not an envoy from the Kingdom of Jin. I just want to know which wealthy families your brother has been closely associated with recently? That's it."
Zhang Bao knew very well that if he said anything, his brother's life would be in danger, but when he thought about the ruthlessness of leaving him and escaping from the secret passage alone, there was no trace of brotherhood in his heart. Since he was ruthless, don't blame himself for being unintentional.
Already.
"I know that they have been gathering secretly in the name of birthday celebrations in the past few months. Previously, it was Jizhou wealthy Guo Wei's birthday celebration. Next month is my brother's birthday. In fact, his birthday is in May and has already passed."
Zhong Huan perked up and asked quickly: "Do you have a list?"
"Yes! My brother asked me to come forward to help him celebrate his birthday and gave me a list. Among them, he sent someone to notify me and asked me to leave him alone. Eight of them were wealthy family heads from all over the country. He specially used a pen to write these names on the list.
Circle eight people."
"Give me this roster and the list of eight people, and you'll be fine."
Of course, Zhong Huan did not fully believe Zhang Bao's words. He ordered people to search Yinhu Manor carefully. Sure enough, he found eight gilded invitations in a box, which contained Zhang Wo's own handwriting, "On the night of the Yuan Dynasty, we discussed the righteous deeds together."
', eight characters.
The names on the invitation exactly matched the eight people circled on the roster.
