Tibet

In a magnificent mansion in the northeast of Chang'an, a man in Tsing Yi walked quickly into the inner courtyard, stopped in front of a staircase, bowed and saluted: "See you, Your Majesty!"

Standing on the steps was a man about forty years old, with his hands behind his hands. He was wearing a python robe and a gauze hat. He looked majestic. He nodded, "I've seen him!"

"The humble position has already given him the money."

The middle-aged man did not speak, and the man in Tsing Yi quickly reported: "The slum area is very complicated. As soon as our killer appears, Zhuo Honger will get the news and escape. We will never find him again, and his humble position will also We can’t be sure whether the head is around him, so I think we should stabilize him first and then get rid of him.”

The middle-aged man in brocade robes said slowly for a long time: "Where is the head?"

"Replying to the Lord, he proposed to exchange thirty taels of gold for the head. The exchange will be held at Yishui Building in Yongle Square at noon tomorrow."

The middle-aged man in brocade robes nodded, "Don't miss this time, he will fake his death, and you must cut off his head. Come to me with both heads!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

The middle-aged man in brocade robes paused and said, "There is also Yang Shun. No matter if he escapes to Luoyang or Yangzhou, we must get rid of him!"

"Your humble position will definitely not disappoint the Lord!"

"Go!"

The man in Tsing Yi bowed and hurried away.

Looking at the back of the man in green, the middle-aged man squinted his eyes and said to himself: "Father, you have been sitting on the throne for too long!"

An Qingxu returned to Chang'an again. He was preparing to return to Luoyang. Before he left the customs, he urgently received an order from his father and quickly turned around and returned to Chang'an.

There were four people sitting in the outer study, first the An brothers, An Qingzong and An Qingxu, then the chief counselor Yan Zhuang and the counselor Dugu Wensu.

In the past, the layout of Anlu Mountain was that the eldest son An Qingzong was in Chang'an, and the second son An Qingxu was in Luoyang.

But as Emperor Li Longji became increasingly mediocre, the mediocre and incompetent Yang family took complete control of the government, and the court became increasingly corrupt and chaotic.

In view of the current situation in the court, An Lushan began to change his arrangements and arranged for his two sons to go to Chang'an.

Anqing Zong was still responsible for the affairs on the surface, such as maintaining relations with the court, bribing and winning over powerful ministers. Any shady matters, such as assassinations, kidnappings, extortion and other secret matters, Anqing Zong did not participate in, but Anqing was responsible for ideas to implement.

An Qingxu said angrily: "Brother, who killed the consort Zhang Bian? There are rumors outside that it was our An family who did it. What a fart!"

An Qingzong was very upset with this brother. He finally sent him away, but he came back again. But this was his father's decision, and An Qingzong couldn't say anything.

An Qingzong said calmly: "There are many rumors. Some say that Li Ye killed him, some say that the prince killed him, some say that Yang Guozhong sent people to kill him, some say that our An family killed him, and some even say that his brother Zhang Jun killed him. . There are various opinions, but there is no consensus. In fact, it doesn’t matter who killed him, the key is why he was killed. What impact will the death of the consort Zhang Bian have?"

Yan Zhuang nodded, "The eldest son is right. It doesn't matter who kills him, why he is killed, what will be the impact after his death, and who is the biggest beneficiary. This is what we need to pay attention to."

Dugu Wensao was about to speak but stopped when An Qingxu caught a glimpse of him and said, "If you have any suggestions, Mr. Su, just tell me, don't be secretive."

Dugu Wensu quickly leaned forward and said: "I feel that no one will benefit and no one will lose. The purpose of the planner should be to muddy the water, make the current situation more chaotic, and make everyone in the powerful ministers feel at risk. If we must find the biggest beneficiary, I think it would be the martial arts school, where everyone should ask samurai to protect them."

An Qingxu agreed with Dugu Wensu's words, "Well said, let's muddy the water and let's fish together. Brother, we can't lag behind when we Anjia fishes!"

An Qingzong smiled and said: "This is also the reason why father transferred you back. Just listen to Mr. Yan's arrangements!"

An Lushan had no doubts about employing people, contacted Yan Zhuang directly, and handed over the power to Yan Zhuang instead of his two sons.

All three people looked at Yan Zhuang, and Yan Zhuang said slowly: "My lord, this assassination has actually done a lot of damage to the reputation of our An faction. People outside say that the prince-in-law Zhang Bian is a member of our An faction. He was The assassination will shake the confidence of other officials in us, so the first thing we have to do is to strengthen the protection of Anpai Minister. The eldest son must quickly open a martial arts school. A large number of warriors will come from Youzhou soon. They In the name of martial arts masters, we will protect our people."

An Qingzong nodded, "I will start immediately. The best way is to directly buy several martial arts schools."

Yan Zhuang smiled and said, "Yes! This is a good idea."

An Qingxu asked anxiously: "What about me? What is the mission my father gave me?"

"The mission given by the Lord to the Second Young Master is to catch money. Do you still remember what happened to Wang Yuanbao's second son, Wang Shaoan?"

An Qingxu nodded. Of course he remembered that he planned this incident and used Quan Furong to kidnap Wang Shaoan and extort 100,000 yuan.

An Qingxu suddenly understood, "Father is going to attack Wang Yuanbao?"

Yan Zhuang said calmly: "There are many places to spend money now. Our finances are tight. Mining alone is no longer enough. We must broaden our financial resources. Your father said that many people in the Wang family are making plans, so why don't we start first?" Qiang, I’ll leave this task to you, you must squeeze out one million dollars.”

"I see!"

An Qingxu smiled and said: "Others are fishing in troubled waters, but we are killing pigs in troubled waters!"

At the same time that the An brothers were discussing countermeasures, Li Ye was also invited to Dugu Mansion by Dugu Lie. His fiancée Dugu Xinyue happened to be not at home today and accompanied his grandmother to Huayuan Temple in Xianyang to fulfill her vows.

In addition to Dugu Lie and his brother Dugu Ming, there is also the eldest son Dugu Jinyang in the study. In fact, Dugu Jinyang does not play a big role. He spends most of his time listening, because he is the eldest son. In order to cultivate successors, these important discussions They all asked him to participate.

Dugu Lie pointed at Dugu Ming and said with a smile: "Brother just told me that my nephew was also involved in the investigation of the Prince Consort Zhang Bian's case. Everyone is paying close attention to this case, and several of our important Long family members also communicated with each other. , I am sure it was not something our Guanlong faction did without permission."

Li Ye has always been curious about this Dugu Ming. He is also a prince-in-law. He stays in the palace all day long claiming to be ill and seems to be isolated from the officialdom of the imperial court. However, he is the most well-informed. When he was investigated by the emperor's secret sect, he actually Got it too.

"Uncle Dugu, can you tell me how you knew I was involved in the investigation?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Dugu Ming smiled slightly and said: "This is the secret of the Dugu family. When you officially become the son-in-law of the Dugu family, I will naturally tell you. This is also the rule. Please wait patiently."

Li Ye smiled helplessly and asked: "Second uncle, do you have any clues you can provide me?"

Dugu Ming nodded, "I came to you to tell you an important clue. Regarding the assassin Zeng Honger, he has been in contact with us. Just now, he wrote a note. He wanted to spread the word to the prince-in-law. Bian’s head was sold to us for one thousand guan!”

Li Ye was shocked, "Zhang Bian can't be you"

Dugu Lie quickly shook his head, "My dear nephew, please don't get me wrong. We didn't kill the consort Zhang Bian, but this assassin Zeng Honger did something for us, so when we heard about the assassin, we knew it was him. We know he will come back from the dead, but we don’t know who is behind it.”

Li Ye nodded, "Uncle, you want to use this opportunity to capture the assassin Zeng Honger and hand him over to me?"

Dugu Ming said calmly: "You're half right, we want to hand over Zhuo Honger to you, but we don't want to catch him. You can catch him yourself."

After saying that, Dugu Ming handed Li Ye a note. Li Ye took the note and opened it. There was a line of words written on it, 'Tomorrow at noon, Yishuilou Street, Yongle Fang. ’

Li Ye frowned, "Yishuilou Street seems to be very big, how can I find it?"

"There is no need to look for him. As long as they wear the black and red Dugu family warrior uniforms, he will naturally come to them."

"However, even if we catch this Zhao Honger, we may not know the real culprit. I believe the real culprit will not contact him directly."

Dugu Ming smiled slightly and said: "You are absolutely right, but it will definitely go through an intermediary. The same is true for us. The key is to catch the intermediary, and the real culprit behind the scenes will emerge."

Li Ye read the note again, "Tomorrow at noon, Yishuilou Street, Yongle Fang." ’