The First Lackey Under The Empress

Assassin!

Accompanying this heart-wrenching cry, the sound of dogs barking rose within the quiet Caoyun Yamen.

The starlight overhead also turned cold. While loudly raising the alarm, Ning Zechen felt a strong sense of anger and confusion rising in his heart.

However, the enemy did not give him time to think. Four assassins dressed in night clothes attacked him from four directions almost simultaneously.

The gleaming blades in their hands were dazzling, like a spider web, trapping the Grand Coordinator of Caoyun firmly in the center. Such an attack, even if he were at his peak, would be difficult to resist, let alone in his wounded state.

Am I going to die…? At the critical moment of death, Grand Coordinator Ning tried his best to turn his head towards the bedroom, seeing the window already lit up and his wife's shadow rapidly enlarging.

"Don't come out…" He wanted to warn her, but the assassins were already upon him. However, at that moment, the air of the night seemed to ripple with illusory waves.

A sigh-like Buddhist invocation came from afar:

"Amitabha…"

In the sky, illusory lotus flowers spun and fell, like a snow.

The four assassin-guards were horrified to find themselves surrounded by what felt like a swamp, unable to move. It was clear that one more step would allow them to stab Grand Coordinator Ning to death, but that one step was like an insurmountable chasm.

Not only that, but the killing intent in their hearts was erased by the Buddhist invocation. Their hearts lost the desire to kill, and the urge to lay down their butcher knives and become Buddhas arose.

It was this delay that allowed a black shadow to flash through the darkness. On the roof, Eunuch Hai Chunlin, an imperial family devotee in a python robe, arrived with the wind. This eunuch coldly swept his gaze around and lightly flicked his fingers.

"Ding!"

The four blades fell to the ground simultaneously. The black-clad assassins exchanged horrified glances, simultaneously abandoned their actions, and flew away in four directions to escape.

"Still want to leave?"

Eunuch Hai coldly snorted and took a step forward.

In an instant, four "Eunuch Hais" appeared simultaneously, each intercepting an assassin, striking the assassin's head with a palm. The four elite assassins died simultaneously, their bodies falling.

Immediately, the four Eunuch Hais merged into one, gracefully landing in front of the collapsed Grand Coordinator Ning.

—Where were the clones? It was just that his body technique was too fast, pulling out four afterimages at the same time.

"Lord! !"

The door was pushed open, and Madam Ning, wearing her inner garments, supported herself on the door frame, as if struck by lightning, her face pale as she issued a miserable cry, running over in a few steps to hug her husband, who was spitting blood and whose lips were turning blue.

The young girl who had already fallen asleep next door was also awakened. Opening the door and seeing this scene, her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.

In the distant night sky, a piece of white gauze clothing drifted over, revealing a voluptuous Bodhisattva Prajna, with a lotus mark appearing on her brow.

"He's been poisoned. It should be poison applied to the assassin's blade."

Eunuch Hai squatted down and pried open Grand Coordinator Ning's eyelids, without turning his head:

"It's up to you."

Bodhisattva Prajna smiled charmingly: "The poison is fierce, but fortunately, it was timely."

She raised her hand and grabbed, and a jade purification bottle appeared in her hand. Buddhist texts protruded from the white porcelain bottle, vaguely piecing together into a small Dharma form—the Buddhist deity "Medicine Buddha."

A cluster of water flowers shot out from the bottle, condensing into a water person in the likeness of the Buddha, circling in the air and drilling into the mouth of the nearly unconscious Grand Coordinator Ning.

Then, a circle of Buddhist light appeared on Grand Coordinator Ning's gray face, and then, in the surprised eyes of everyone, his complexion visibly returned to normal.

He suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood, and the whole person woke up, gasping for breath:

"Wife… Madam?"

Grand Coordinator Ning looked around blankly before noticing the old eunuch and the female Bodhisattva beside him.

Madam Ning wept with joy, hugging her husband and checking his wounds, surprised to find that the knife wound on his back was healing rapidly.

"This poor nun has performed a Dharma treatment. Fortunately, it did not injure any vital points, only consuming some of the Grand Coordinator's Qi and blood to heal him. He will recover completely after three days of recuperation," Bodhisattva Prajna said with a smile.

Only then did Ning Zechen understand what had happened, and a joy of surviving a catastrophe arose in his heart. After comforting his wife and daughter, he supported his weak body to get up, first bowing in thanks, and then asking in confusion:

"Eunuch Hai? Bodhisattva? How did you come?"

Eunuch Hai also breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Zhao Du'an guessed that you might be in danger and asked the two of us to come to your aid. He fell behind and will arrive later."

Did Envoy Zhao send people to save me? Ning Zechen was stunned.

But now was not the time to talk. Ning Zechen first comforted the Yamen's on-duty staff, ordered them to check the four corpses, and then was helped back to his bedroom to wait.

…

A moment later, Zhao Du'an, protected by Lang Shiba and Ji Yue, arrived late.

"Grand Coordinator Ning? Fortunately, it seems our enemy miscalculated."

Zhao Du'an stepped into the bedroom, and seeing that the person was still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief and showed a smile.

Eunuch Hai quickly described the matter briefly, and at the end said:

"The assassins were all death warriors with poison hidden in their mouths, making it impossible to identify them."

Bodhisattva Prajna smiled and said: "Envoy has owed this poor monk a favor."

"It is the duty of a monk to save lives. What kind of favor do you want?"

Zhao Du'an put on his pants and denied any obligation, not giving the old nun a good look, and quickly walked to the bed.

Grand Coordinator Ning sat on the bed, his expression grateful: "Envoy, if it weren't for you, I would have died."

His wife and daughter beside him also saluted at the same time, Madam Ning's eyes were red:

"Envoy first saved my mother and daughter, and then saved my lord, there is no way to repay you…"

"What are you saying? It should be me apologizing. If it weren't for me, I imagine the Grand Coordinator would not have been implicated and encountered danger tonight," Zhao Du'an said with shame, looking at everyone:

"I want to talk to the Grand Coordinator alone."

Everyone tacitly walked out of the room.

When only the two of them were left in the room, Ning Zechen couldn't help but ask:

"Envoy, how did you know I would be assassinated?"

Zhao Du'an pulled up a chair, sat by the bed, and told him about his encounter with the courtesan's assassination:

"…I felt something was wrong. Later, thinking about the kidnapping of your wife, I guessed that the enemy might be pretending to assassinate me, but actually attacking you… In this way, they can both block the 'New Policies' and make me lose assistance."

Ning Zechen was silent for a moment, disbelief mixed with bitterness:

"Envoy… does the Shen family really have such courage? I was just thinking, and I still can't believe it. You need to know that in another month, His Majesty's dragon boat should arrive. At this juncture, the Shen family… Or is it that the people who assassinated us were not from the Shen family?"

As the Grand Coordinator of Caoyun, how could he be stupid?

Recalling the appearance of the Prince Jing's heir during the day, he also had a guess in his heart.

Under the candlelight, Zhao Du'an stared at this colleague who also relied on women to rise to power. His face was flickering in the light of the candle:

"Grand Coordinator, is it important whether it's the Shen family or not?"

Ning Zechen fell silent!

Yes, is it important?

Zhao Du'an said in a deep voice:

"As far as the imperial court is concerned, to promote the New Policies, the Shen family is one of the most difficult bones to gnaw on. Whether Prince Jing's mansion intervenes or not is just accelerating the clarification of the contradiction between the imperial court and the local noble families.

You have been stationed in Jianning Prefecture for several years, do you still have hope for these clans? Do you expect them to wake up and follow the general trend?

I know that you are bound hand and foot here, many things cannot be done openly, and cannot be done, so this time I came here, in addition to preparing for the Fengshan ceremony, is to cut the Gordian knot with a sharp knife."

After a pause, Zhao Du'an stared at this second-rank official:

"What you dare not say, I will say; what you dare not do, I will do; the people you dare not kill, I will kill!!"

"I only want results, that is, before His Majesty's Fengshan ceremony, to break the backs of these great families!"

Ning Zechen stared blankly at the ambitious young man in front of him, looking at the fire in his eyes, a surge of enthusiasm rising in his heart.

Tonight's near-death experience, dying in office, was a huge stimulus to him.

As a military officer, how could Ning Zechen be willing to be bound?

"Envoy Zhao, what are you going to do?"

Zhao Du'an reached into his arms, took out a "map", and spread it out by the candlelight. On it were the Shen family's huge industries.

Its tentacles spread to all kinds of businesses, as well as a large number of farmland and shops.

"The Shen family is the head of the noble families. As long as we defeat them, the rest of the gentry will naturally collapse, but since Prince Jing's mansion has come forward to intervene, it will be difficult to forcibly arrest their clansmen using the Caobang case.

Moreover, this crude method is also easy to cause fear among the gentry… On the contrary, it is not good. The Fengshan ceremony is approaching, our methods still have to be more elegant."

"Therefore, I plan that in the next month, you and I will work together to comprehensively attack the Shen family's industry from all aspects… We must make the huge Shen family unable to bear it, and force the Old Madam Shen to bow her head…"

"And, the most important point is that every time we grab something, we must distribute it to other small families in the city…

The so-called one whale falls, all things live, only by letting other gentry realize that dividing up the Shen family is good for them, and this benefit… may make up for the losses suffered by accepting the 'New Policies'…"

"In this way… they will not band together, and even turn around to help us…"

Zhao Du'an said one by one, the plan he had thought up along the way, named the "Whale Fall Plan."

Ning Zechen listened in a daze, and his eyes looking at him were not right.

Thinking that this is also called "elegant means"?

You are going to dig through the roots of the Shen family!

Especially the idea of "dividing up the Shen family to compensate each family" is to turn the contradiction between the imperial court and the gentry group into a contradiction with the Shen family alone…

Living Yama.

At this moment, Ning Zechen finally understood the weight of the nickname "Zhao Yama."

"Your Excellency's plan is truly brilliant, but as a result, I fear the assassinations we face will only increase," Ning Zechen sighed.

Zhao Dou'an smiled: "Is the Governor afraid?"

Ning Zechen laughed heartily, a touch of almost mad-tiger-like ferocity flashing in the eyes of this pragmatist:

"Even the Buddha in the temple has some anger. Ning's life and fortune are about to be lost. If I remain weak, wouldn't I be laughed at by the world?"

"Someone!"

He shouted loudly.

The bedroom door opened, and the advisor Wen Liang walked in with his head bowed: "Governor, what are your orders?"

Ning Zechen threw down his official seal and said fiercely:

"Mobilize the canal soldiers! I want to vent my anger! I've had enough of this humiliation!"

… …

… …

The next day, at dawn.

As the east revealed a hint of dawn, the shops in Jianning Prefecture were already opening their doors to welcome customers.

In this era, without nightlife, people woke up early. Inside a silk store belonging to the "Shen family."

The shopkeeper directed the staff to sweep the street in front of the store, organize the goods, and prepare to welcome customers.

"Shopkeeper, when can we take down the white paper lanterns outside our store? Ever since they were hung up, business has been much worse. People outside see them and refuse to come in, saying they're unlucky. The Sun family's store across the street even said we're selling funeral clothes…"

A shop assistant complained while wiping the table.

Immediately, the shopkeeper inside the counter tapped the assistant on the head with a long wooden ruler and glared:

"If you can't speak properly, sew your mouth shut! If the owner wants them hung, they'll be hung for the whole month. If these words get out, I won't care if the owner breaks your legs, but don't implicate me!"

The shop assistant shrunk his neck in fright, afraid to speak, knowing that the Shen family was indeed capable of such things.

For these local powerhouses, as long as they didn't openly kill people, no one would care about dealing with some small characters.

The shopkeeper walked to the door, looked at the Sun family's silk store across the street, and snorted:

"Let the opposite door be proud for a few days. Don't worry, once Second Master is buried, just ask the owner for a word. How much business they've taken, won't they have to spit it out obediently? In our Jianning Prefecture, we are…"

Just as he was boasting, shouts suddenly came from the street. A large group of canal soldiers, wearing neat uniforms and carrying knives and spears, marched in formation. The leader pointed to the long street:

"All those with white lanterns hanging in front of their doors will be sealed up! The accounts will be sealed and sent to the yamen for the advisor to review!"

A group of foreign canal soldiers responded: "Yes!"

Then, like ferocious wolves, they roared out amidst the surprised gazes of the people.

They rushed into the Shen family's shops hanging white cloth, smashing and looting, and rudely driving people out.

"What are you doing?"

The silk shopkeeper was shocked when he saw a group of canal soldiers rushing in:

"Do you know who our owner is? Who dares to act like this?"

Merchants have always feared soldiers, but with the Shen family behind him, the shopkeeper had the confidence to scold these soldiers.

The canal soldier who issued the order swaggered in, sneered, and kicked the shopkeeper to the ground, spitting:

"What Shen family? We don't care. We only follow the orders of the Governor! The Governor received a report that merchants in the city are hoarding goods and disrupting the market. Anyone who dares to stop us will be thrown out!"

The shopkeeper screamed and was thrown onto the street with a group of shop assistants. They watched helplessly as the canal soldiers locked the store door and posted a crossed seal with the official red stamp.

He was both shocked and angry. Amidst the onlookers on the street pointing and whispering, he looked up and saw that all the Shen family's shops on both sides of the bustling long street were sealed up, while the other shops were intact.

A similar scene was played out in various parts of Jianning Prefecture during this day.

… …

… …

"Pa!"

In a study in the Shen family mansion.

The current head of the Shen family, the biological father of the deceased "Second Master Shen," threw another "letter of help" he had received heavily on the table.

He raised his head and stared like a lion at the family members standing in a row in the room with their heads bowed, roaring:

"Are you all just watching as those soldiers wreak havoc?!"

A group of family members trembled, and one of them mustered up the courage to say:

"Family Head, when we received news from the people below, the matter had already happened, and there was no time to stop it."

Another person also complained:

"Yes, Family Head. Besides, those people are still canal soldiers. Although they are a group of lowly people, they are wearing those uniforms, and we dare not do anything rashly, lest we cause trouble for the family."

The Shen family was a large clan, and the shopkeepers of ordinary industries below didn't even have the qualifications to enter the Shen family mansion.

After receiving the news, they could only report to their superiors layer by layer, the small owners reported to the big owners, and it was collected in the hands of the Shen family's children.

Therefore, by the time the Family Head found out, the matter had been going on for a long time.

"In one day, not only were all the shops in the city sealed up, but the tenant farmers in the farms were also arrested under various pretexts, and even the goods from the caravan that should have been sent out were detained…"

The Family Head's face was ugly: "Ning Zechen… now that he has the backing of that Zhao, he has finally revealed his fangs."

Everyone dared not say a word.

He waved his hand with a gloomy face, and a group of family members fled out as if they had been granted amnesty, leaving him to walk out of the study and towards the mourning hall.

… …

Inside the mourning hall.

The black coffin was still placed in the hall, not yet buried.

Only the Old Madam and her personal maid, Hong Gu Niang, were here today.

The Old Madam, short in stature, wearing pure black mourning clothes, with silver hair at the temples, sat on a futon, and her dragon-headed crutch was placed on the ground beside her.

In front of the Old Madam, there was a bronze basin, and she was alone, throwing paper money into the brazier.

The paper money was swallowed by the flames and burned to white ash. In the past few days, the paper money burned overnight was enough to fill five large houses.

It was all because the Old Madam said: "Our Shen family's descendants can't be short of money when they go to the underworld."

At this time, Hong Gu Niang led the Family Head to the outside of the mourning hall and said to the Old Madam's back:

"Old Madam, the Grand Master has come."

The Family Head, who was like a lion just now, was as gentle as a kitten at this time, bowing and cupping his hands: "Son has important matters to report."

The Old Madam didn't even turn her head and continued to burn paper money: "Speak."

"The people below reported that Ning Zechen was assassinated yesterday and almost lost his life… Zhao Dou'an originally stayed at Jingyuan, and was suspected of also encountering an assassination by a courtesan, and then rushed to the Canal Transport Yamen at night to save Ning Zechen…"

"And today, from dawn, Ning Zechen sent out a large number of canal soldiers to seal up and detain many of our shops and goods…"

The Family Head told the news he had received in detail.

As the Old Madam listened, the action of feeding paper money stopped.

When she heard that many industries under the family's jurisdiction were now sending for help, she was momentarily lost, and her hand was almost licked by the flames.

She retracted her hand in pain, and the old woman came back to her senses and said:

"Were those assassins sent by my Shen family?"

The Family Head said: "Mother. Without your permission, how dare we rashly assassinate? Yesterday, some juniors like Wuji did have the idea of taking action, but they didn't implement it. Besides… even if someone secretly went to do it, it wouldn't be so fast and so meticulous, double-line assassination."

The Old Madam listened and murmured softly:

"Yes, too fast, too meticulous, how could it be a temporary idea? It's clearly been planned for a long time."

The Family Head bit his teeth and said:

"Mother! I'm afraid this matter was done by the Jing Prince's Mansion, wanting to frame us. Now that Ning Zechen has the backing of that Zhao, he has torn his face and is obviously going to start a war. We…"

The Old Madam didn't turn her head, raised her right hand, interrupted the latter's words, and said softly:

"Everyone knows the heart of the Jing Prince's Mansion. Not surprising."

After a pause, she said: "We can guess it, how can that Zhao and that Ning not guess it?"

The Family Head was stunned: "You mean, they deliberately want to use this as an excuse…"

The Old Madam said calmly:

"Whether there is the Jing Prince's Mansion or not, this battle will be fought. There are many experts around the kid Zhao. If he wants to forcibly arrest you and me and throw us into prison, no one can stop him, and neither can Xu Jinglong. But they didn't do that. This is not kindness, but their ruthlessness.

Knowing that arresting you and me will instead make the great aristocratic families fear, resist, and rely on the Eighth Prince… On the contrary, the current method is more clever and more fatal."

She slowly stood up, and Hong Gu Niang hurried forward to help her pick up the dragon-headed crutch.

The Old Madam turned around in the mourning hall, overlooking the eldest son listening to the instructions below. Her face, with its crisscrossing ravines, was filled with indifference:

"This battle is going to be fought. If that Zhao wants to fight, then I will accompany him in a fight. So what?"

The Family Head suddenly raised his head: "Mother…"

The Old Madam instructed with majesty: "Give the order, fight back. Until death, never stop!"

… …

Help catch the bugs.