Tibet

Li Ye and Dugu Ming took a carriage to Pingkangfang together. Dugu Ming said slowly to Li Ye: "The Mo family incident has been resolved. Qing Wang Li Cong came out to be the mediator. An Qingxu apologized to Hou Mochen and compensated two people." For thousands of dollars, the government also closed the case. Hou Mochen sold the two largest martial arts schools to An Qingxu. More than a hundred martial arts masters of unknown origin appeared in them. They were probably sent by An Lushan from Youzhou. of."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and asked: "Do these princes have their own warriors?"

"Yes! The emperor began to loosen the bonds of the princes in the eighth year of Tianbao, and they began to recruit warriors respectively. The alliance between the princes and An Lushan should have been at the beginning of last year. By then, the power of the princes had begun to expand."

"Does the Dugu family support the crown prince or the prince?" Li Ye asked again with a smile.

"It must be the prince. As you said, those princes are just tools used by the emperor to check and balance the prince. Changing the prince is a major event that shakes the country. I believe the emperor also knows this. I think these princes are all short-sighted and vicious. , there is no magnanimity to do big things at all, and it will not become a climate in the end.”

The carriage drove into Pingkangfang, walked for a while, and stopped in front of a huge restaurant. This is the largest restaurant in Chang'an, Wude Restaurant, which is Wang Yuanbao's property, covering an area of ​​five acres. It consists of a three-story building and eight small courtyards. It is not currently open for business. The door is locked and a big 'Closed' sign is hung above it.

Of course, this restaurant was also the property of the Dugu family. At that time, Li Ye was a little surprised. How dare Wang Yuanbao use the first era name of the Tang Dynasty as the name of the restaurant. Li Ye thought it was the emperor who gave the name, but now that he thinks about it, it is impossible. , the emperor would never give the founding year of the Tang Dynasty to a businessman, but if it is the property of the Dugu family, then it is possible.

The two of them did not get off the carriage. Dugu Ming pointed to the restaurant and said to Li Ye: "Last night, a group of black men burst into the restaurant with sharp axes and chopped down everyone they saw. The shopkeeper and eight bartenders were hacked to death, and the drinkers injured more than 20 people." , I asked Magistrate Feng, he said very implicitly, the killing method was a bit like the Mo family massacre case."

"How are the Dugu family prepared to respond?" Li Ye asked.

"I want to hear your thoughts."

Li Ye sneered and said: "Calming things to rest will only lead to more tragedies. Only by beating An Qingxu severely will he retreat!"

Dugu Ming originally wanted to show up to An Qingxu and order him to apologize, but nine people died, and the shopkeeper and eight bartenders were chopped to pieces. It was extremely miserable, so he could just apologize and pay thousands of dollars. ?

The Dugu family is not the Hou Mochen family.

The Dugu family couldn't bear this bad breath, and Dugu Ming himself couldn't bear it either. After his daughter was killed by the Khitan people, Dugu Ming's temperament changed drastically. He would never compromise with anyone who seriously violated his own interests and dignity, and would definitely take revenge. .

Dugu Ming nodded, "You are right. When An Qingxu kidnapped Wang Yuanbao's second son, we endured it and paid him 100,000 yuan to redeem him, but he died a few days later. This case We have always regretted it, and I will never give in this time.”

Li Ye whispered a few words to Dugu Ming, and Dugu Ming nodded slowly, "No poison, no husband, do it!"

In Chang'an Shengdaofang, there is a martial arts hall covering an area of ​​about five acres in the innermost part, which is called Shengdao Martial Arts Hall. This is the largest of the five martial arts halls of the Mo family. At present, this kind of martial arts hall has been sold to An Qingxu. , more than a hundred warriors from Youzhou National Power live here.

At the third watch of the night, more than a dozen pieces of meat were thrown outside the wall, and three mastiff dogs immediately started fighting over them.

The warrior on duty heard the noise and walked out of the room. Just as he was about to scold him, a wolf fang 'Whoosh! ' The ground shot came and hit the warrior's throat. He clutched his throat and fell down. Just as the other two warriors ran out, two cold lights flashed and two flying knives were inserted into their foreheads.

In the blink of an eye, the three warriors on duty were killed, and several mastiffs were also poisoned and died in the open space.

The door of the martial arts hall opened, and more than 300 men in black rushed in. They quickly surrounded a house. This was the dormitory of more than 100 warriors, a well-ventilated wooden house, and more than 300 warriors raised crossbows together. Shots were fired into the wooden house from all directions, and a wail and scream suddenly sounded in the wooden house.

At dawn, An Qingxu and several of his men hurried to the martial arts hall. Advisor Dugu Wensu had already arrived first and was leading his men to clean up the mess.

"How many brothers were injured or killed?" An Qingxu asked impatiently as soon as they met.

"One hundred and fourteen people died. The crossbow arrows were highly poisonous and there was no cure. All the injured brothers died in the end."

An Qingxu felt as if he had been hit with a stick, and he was unable to speak a word. More than a hundred people died. How could he explain to his father?

After a while, An Qingxu gritted his teeth and asked, "Who did it? Do you have any clues?"

Dugu Wensu shook his head, "I don't have any clues. The government originally came, but when they saw it was us, they turned around and left. They didn't care about our affairs."

"What about the neighbors around here? Are they all dead? Don't know anything?"

"I have asked about it in my humble position. I only know that the time of the incident was at the third watch. I don't know anything else. No one dared to go out and take a peek. According to the description of the surviving warriors, arrows were shot from all directions, very densely, and enough It took a quarter of an hour to shoot, and the number of people was estimated to be around four to five hundred."

An Qingxu was stunned. There were four to five hundred people. Could this be an army?

Dugu Wensu said slowly: "Young Master, I guess it is related to the incident at Wude Restaurant. I feel something is not right."

"What's wrong?"

Dugu Wensu sighed, "We found out after killing people at the Mo's Martial Arts School that it was the property of the Hou Mochen family. What about the Wang family? Who is the backstage of the Wang family? I'm afraid it's not as simple as King Si Ning."

An Qingxu said angrily: "Didn't you check Wude Restaurant? It is indeed Wang Yuanbao's property. Is there another problem?"

"It's a bit unclear!"

Dugu Wensu explained: "Some things are not as simple as we think. It is Wang Yuanbao's property in name, but in fact it is not his. He just holds it for others!"

An Qingxu became even more angry, "Then why didn't you say anything before, and now you understand everything? It's all my stupidity. It was my order, and it has nothing to do with you. Do you want to express this?"

Dugu Wensu was An Lushan's counselor and was not afraid of An Qingxu. He also contradicted him unceremoniously: "Young Master, I have advised you before, not to rush into action, investigate carefully before proceeding, and learn from the lessons of the Mo Family Martial Arts School." , so as not to make the same mistake again, but you don’t listen to my suggestions at all, and you still insist on going your own way, so what can I say?”

An Qingxu was so angry that he clenched his fists and was about to hit him. Several of his followers were so frightened that they quickly tried to stop An Qingxu.

An Qingxu yelled: "Get out! Get out of Youzhou, you useless idiot, even a dog is better than you!"

Dugu Wensu suffered great humiliation, his face was livid, and he turned around and walked away without saying a word.

An Qingxu was sitting on the steps. His head was as big as a bucket. He didn't know what to do.

Half an hour later, Yan Zhuang arrived in a hurry. Dugu Wensu still held back his anger and reported to Yan Zhuang.

Yan Zhuang didn't like An Qingxu either. He preferred An Qingzong, who was calm, rational and kind-hearted.

An Qingxu, on the other hand, is narrow-minded, has a bad temper, does not listen to others' advice, and is relatively simple-minded.

In this matter, Yan Zhuang is inclined to Dugu Wensu. Since the embarrassment of Mo's Martial Arts School has happened, he should learn a lesson and should not rush to take action again.

But no matter how dissatisfied he was, An Qingxu was also the young master. Something big happened, and Yan Zhuang had no choice but to come and handle his funeral affairs.

At this time, An Qingxu also calmed down from his mania. He stepped forward and asked, "Military Commander Yan, what should we do about this matter?"

"Take care of the dead warrior first, and then explain to your father later."

Yan Zhuang ordered people to find more than a dozen ox carts and hired them at a high price to transport the corpses outside the city. He also spent hundreds of taels of silver to bribe the Chunming Gate guard, and more than a hundred corpses were quickly moved outside the city. buried.

There are people in Chang'an who specialize in burying corpses. As long as the money is enough, they will handle it properly.

Soon, the martial arts hall was cleaned up, and everything was as if it had never happened.

Next, Yan Zhuang began to investigate the forces behind the Wang family. Being able to dispatch four to five hundred warriors holding crossbows was definitely not something that a quiet prince like King Si Ning could do.

The Wang family can't do the same.