Pawn Crossing the River

Xu Jiaorong asked: "Do you know where Chen Shuhua is hiding?"

Zheng Jiaohe said: "I only know that she has a hiding place in Nanyang, which was transformed from an ancient immortal cave, but I don't know the specific location."

Xu Jiaorong nodded: "Very good, from now on, you have to accept our investigation."

"I will cooperate fully, please rest assured." Zheng Jiaohe had already expected it, but he was very calm. "Please go to the living room and wait for a moment. I will change into this crane cloak and talk to you right away."

At this time, Lingguan has surrounded this place, so there is no need to worry about Zheng Jiaohe escaping.

Xu Jiaorong looked at him deeply: "Be quick."

Zheng Jiaohe said: "Okay."

Xu Jiaorong turned around and walked out. Several Taoist priests were still hesitant, but seeing that Xu Jiaorong had already walked out, they did not insist and followed him out.

At this time, only Zheng Jiaohe was left in the pledge room.

Zheng Jiaohe opened the sound transmission array on the desk and said in the same tone as usual: "It's me. There is a temporary meeting today, and I won't go back. Okay, that's it."

After finishing speaking, Zheng Jiaohe wrote a few lines on the white paper and put it on the desk. He stood up, took another look at his signing room, took off his crane cloak, put on his regular clothes, and put the five mountains in his hand. The crown is pressed against the paper.

Then Zheng Jiaohe took out a brand new "dragon-painted gun" from the Xumi object. It had graceful curves and exquisite decoration. It did not look like a murder weapon, but more like an excellent handicraft, but the color was a little different from ordinary handguns. Different, this gun has a dark luster, like obsidian. This kind of gun is very powerful, and Yao Pei once gave one to Qi Xuansu.

Zheng Jiaohe skillfully loaded a round of "Dragon Eye Jia Qi" - this is the maximum endurance limit of the "Dragon Painting Hand Gun", then gently rubbed the dark gun body, and finally raised the hand gun with one hand. Put the gun tube into your mouth bit by bit.

If a cannon is fired from the front, one shot may not be able to kill a heavenly being. The inside of a person is always the most fragile. If the projectile directly bypasses the true energy and external body, and explodes directly in the body, that is another matter.

Xu Jiaorong was waiting in the living room outside the door, expressionless.

A subordinate couldn't help but remind him: "Second Chairman, how could Mr. Zheng not commit suicide?"

Xu Jiaorong just closed his eyes and said nothing.

The subordinate shrank his head and did not dare to say more.

It wasn't until a deafening gunshot was heard in the custody room that Xu Jiaorong slowly opened his eyes and whispered: "Okay, you guys go in."

A group of Taoist spiritual officers entered the custody room and found that Zheng Jiaohe had shot himself with a gun, and his whole head was about to explode. Before he died, he left a suicide note, admitting all his crimes and not involving others.

Xu Jiaorong was still sitting in the reception room with a calm face.

Zheng Jiaohe's suicide was the result of Jiang Dazhen's acquiescence.

What Xu Jiaorong was waiting for outside the door was the sound of the gun.

After Zheng Jiaohe committed suicide, he could save many people. The reason is also very simple. If a thorough investigation is carried out, a large area will inevitably be implicated, and then more than half of the Borneo Taoist Government will collapse, which will greatly damage the balance and stability.

There is a very famous story of "burning letters" in history books. It is said that the two armies are facing each other, and their strength is very different. The enemy is several times larger than theirs. Many people think they are invincible, so many people write letters to surrender to the enemy. The final result was that less defeated more. After the commander got these letters, he did not pursue them. Instead, he had the letters burned in public. Those who had collaborated with the enemy were ashamed and grateful, which won the hearts of the people.

Therefore, Qi Xuansu has long understood that when dealing with this kind of matter, justice is a relatively secondary factor. The key lies in stability and balance. All actions to uphold justice have a major premise, that is, stability and balance cannot be destroyed. . These are the rules of the game, and unless you can break them, you have to follow them.

Xu Jiaorong, who has been in Taoism for so many years, certainly understands this truth. She is not an idealist, she is a realist, so she agrees with Jiang Dazhen's decision.

Soon, news of Zheng Jiaohe's death spread throughout Borneo.

Many people ran to the Wang family mansion, not only to find reassurance from Wang Jiaohe, but also to see the direction of the wind. More people are drawing a clear line and starting to take sides and cut off.

Wang Jiaohe knew full well that Jiang Daren had to take the overall situation into consideration and finally let Zheng Jiaohe die instead of continuing the investigation along Zheng Jiaohe's line. If Master Jiang Da wanted Zheng Jiaohe to live, then Zheng Jiaohe would not die. To put it bluntly, Jiang Dazhen wanted to preserve a well-structured Borneo Taoist government, which was the basis for the Taoist sect to rule Nanyang. It would be absolutely impossible if the Taoist sect's rule in Nanyang was shaken. All struggles must be based on ensuring the stability of Taoist rule in Nanyang.

Because of this, in most cases, no matter how hard the fight is, extreme measures will not be used. But if he is really pushed into a desperate situation, he will definitely fight to the death. When you are working hard, the brave will win when you meet on a narrow road. Who will die and who will live? There is really no telling.

So many people went to Wang Jiaohe's house, which actually conveyed a message that it was time to fight to the death. If nothing was done, the whole army would be annihilated. Zheng Jiaohe’s today is our tomorrow.

…

Wu'an Prefecture is the largest port in the Dayu Kingdom. It is about 200 miles northeast of the capital Thanglong Prefecture. It is the third largest prefecture after Thanglong Prefecture and Annan Prefecture. It has seven counties under its jurisdiction. It is about 200 miles away from Lingnan Province. Very close, trade is relatively developed.

In addition, there is also the second largest shipbuilding workshop in Southeast Asia. Although Dayu State cannot directly produce many parts and components, it can transport the parts here for assembly. There are many large shipyards here. If Shibotang's ships are damaged, they will be replenished from here.

At this time, countless workers were busy in the Wu'an Prefecture Shipyard, and there were many cranes lifting various steel materials to the ships being built.

Some ships have already begun to take shape, while others are just frames.

A team of spiritual officers entered the workshop and guarded all entrances and exits, prohibiting anyone from entering or exiting at will.

The workers' eyes showed fear, but they did not stop their work.

After a while, Li Changge came in surrounded by a group of Taoist priests.

Li Changge looked around and ordered: "Don't interfere with their production."

"Yes." Lingguan responded immediately.

Li Changge led people deep into the shipbuilding workshop.

According to the intelligence, Sun Jiaofeng has not been home these days and is hiding in this shipyard. Li Changge came to Wu'an Mansion from Shenglong Mansion.

There is a single-family two-story building in the shipyard, which is where Sun Jiaofeng's mortgage room is located.

Li Changge entered the living room on the first floor. The stewards in the shipyard had received the news and were all waiting here, like prisoners, with their heads lowered and hands lowered. When they saw Li Changge coming in, they all saluted.

Some call him Xiao Guoshi, and some call him Li Gaogong.

Li Changge asked: "Where is Sun Jiaofeng?"

Several stewards looked at each other, and finally a gray-haired old steward stood up and said: "Sun Jiaofeng is not here, he is on the King."

"King number?" Li Changge asked.

The steward hurriedly said: "This is an old-fashioned red-haired Western battleship. It has many sails and is very beautiful. However, since the introduction of ironclad ships, these sailing battleships have lost popularity, so they withdrew from the Western naval fleet. . Boss Sun... Sun Jiaofeng liked this kind of warship very much, so he invested in it and renovated it. It can be used to entertain guests and hold cocktail parties, just like the painted boats in Jiangnan, but it is much smaller than the painted boats. It’s much bigger and is usually moored at the pier.”

Li Changge only said three words: "Take me there."

"Yes, yes, yes." The steward responded, leading the way.

Soon, Li Changge and his party arrived at the dock and saw the Western warship named "King".

Just as the steward said, this battleship is indeed very beautiful. The snow-white sails are layered like clouds, the hull has been cleaned, and there is an exquisite bow statue, which seems to be a certain king of the West. .

It's just that the "King" at this time is very unusual. It is completely silent and there is not a single person on the deck.

Li Changge frowned and waved his hand to signal the spiritual officers to board the deck.

At this moment, the sound of a musical instrument sounded on the boat. ..

There is sadness in the sound of the piano, and it is very urgent, like the stormy waves on the sea, one wave after another, one wave higher than the other, as if the ship on the top of the wave is about to be sent to the sky.

Li Changge's expression changed slightly.

At this moment, the entire ship instantly turned into a fire ship.

Raging flames spurted out from the gaps in the ship's hull, and the white sails and clean decks were instantly enveloped in flames.

These fires are not ordinary flames, but use "dragon eyes" and "phoenix eyes" gunpowder, which are difficult to extinguish and cannot be approached by ordinary spiritual officials.

Soon, the fire burst into the sky and burned down the mast, and part of the mast crashed into the water. There were also masts that had not been burned down, and the fire was spreading all the way up the masts, as if it was about to set fire to the sky.

There are also flames that spread to the sea, just like the "Shiranui" in Fenglinzhou, burning blazingly on the water, reflecting the sea into a fiery red.

Li Changge stood on the shore, and the fire reflected his figure red.

In the midst of this soaring fire, the sound of the piano became smaller and smaller, until it was finally inaudible.

A spiritual official asked Li Changge for instructions: "Deputy Hall Master, what should we do now?"

Li Changge's tone was calm: "You want to see the person alive, and you want to see the body after death to verify his identity."

The spiritual officer loudly accepted the order.

The fire became more and more intense, and the masts continued to fall and hit the deck. The deck was already fragile and was directly smashed down.

Those beautiful ship buildings also collapsed in the fire.

Soon, the entire ship began to sink and the fire gradually became less intense.

The spiritual officials jumped into the water one after another and began to search.

There were also alchemists who used their spiritual thoughts to ensure that no one escaped from the water while taking advantage of the fire.

In the end, the spirit officer fished out a charred corpse from the water. After multiple inspections, it was determined to be Sun Jiaofeng.

After his son and daughter were arrested one after another, the boss behind the Nanyang United Trading Company realized that he had no choice but to set himself on fire and die. Along with him, various accounts were burned.