Hua Bushi took a sip of the teacup and said, "Although the carjacking was in the junior brother's plan, it was not me who attacked the palace driver on Tianqiao Street, but 'Tianzhu'."

Cao Duyun's expression moved, and he said, "But the number one killer organization in the rivers and lakes, 'Heavenly Punishment'? They have such guts!"

Hua Bushi said: "'Tianzhu' kills people only on price, regardless of the target, but most of the targets of assassination in the past were rich gentry in the rivers and lakes or people, and they didn't have much to do with the government. ”

Cao Duyun's face was pensive, and his gaze turned to Qiu Hengbo.

Qiu Hengbo said: "The more than ten assassins who attacked the palace that day were killed on the spot by Jinyiwei, and the other two were injured and could not escape, so they quickly committed suicide by taking poison. ”

Cao Duyun let out a "hmm" and said, "The identities of these three assassins have been found to be the guards of the Fuwang Mansion, so it seems that there is only something strange about them." ”

Hua Bushi said: "This incident, the younger brother intervened in it in order to crack the 'Heavenly Punishment', and the person who hijacked the carriage was the one who was ordered by me to infiltrate his organization. If Brother Cao is interested, we can cooperate once, not only to ensure the safe return of the prince and princess, but also to find out the mastermind behind this assassination, and at the same time to eliminate the 'Heavenly Punishment', I don't know what Brother Tai wants?"

Cao Duyun's eyes flashed, and he said, "It turns out that Brother Hua came here today to use our Cao family's liliang to deal with the 'Heavenly Punishment'!"

Hua Bushi smiled and said: "You and I cooperate, it is a matter of killing three birds with one stone, and it is beneficial to both parties, 'Tianzhu' dares to openly attack the palace driver and assassinate the prince, which is also a disaster for the Ming Dynasty, since Brother Cao has been ordered by the emperor to handle this case, he will probably not allow such a killer organization to exist!"

Cao Duyun said: "This is also reasonable, but I don't know how Brother Hua wants to cooperate?"

Hua Bushi said: "Cracking the 'Heavenly Punishment', the younger brother had already had a belly case, and he had made some arrangements, but the target of this assassination was the prince, which was beyond my expectations." It seems that this time it is not only the 'Heavenly Punishment' that has to be dealt with, but also the Shili in the court, and it is the younger brother who thinks of using the power of Brother Cao. ”

He paused for a moment, and then said: "In the past three days, Brother Cao has investigated the assassination of the prince, but I don't know what clues he can find?"

Cao Duyun said: "In the past few days, the younger brother has gathered the manpower of Jinyiwei and Dongchang to investigate the case, although he has found some clues, but most of them are uncertain. Someone identified the three assassins who were killed as the guards of King Fu's mansion, and King Fu could not escape suspicion, and now the prince Zhu Yousong has been placed under house arrest, pending further evidence to be found. ”

"If you want to say that the mastermind is suspected of assassinating the prince, Gong Shu Guifei Tian also has some. Among the several princes of the saint today, in addition to the prince Ci Hong, there are also Ci Zhi and Ci Huan are all from Tian Guifei, if Ci Hong is stabbed to death, the most likely to become the prince is Ci Zhi, and the person who benefits the most is none other than Tian Guifei. It's just that these are just speculations, there is no solid evidence at the moment, Concubine Tian is deeply favored by the saints, that is, Queen Zhou of the main palace is also afraid of her, these words, Duyun can only say to Brother Hua. ”

Since ancient times, the power struggle in the emperor's harem has been complex and cruel, even in today's Ming Dynasty and the dangerous Ming court, the battle between the palace and the palace has not stopped.

Hua Bushi said: "The battle in the palace, the younger brother doesn't know about it, and he doesn't know who will benefit the most from the death of the prince, but according to Brother Cao's thoughts, are those assassins on Tianqiao Street really possible to assassinate the prince?"

Hearing this, Cao Duyun was slightly stunned, and said: "According to the situation of the battle on Tianqiao Street that day, the martial arts of the thirteen assassins are not weak, and the strongest of them is a person with a giant blade machete, and the two brocade-clothed guards who guard the palace are Lan Haochen and Lu Rong, and most of them are not the opponents of that person when they fight alone. The assassin's actions were quite thorough, and the attack was sharp, and the female concubines in the other two carriages accompanying the prince were stabbed to death, and if the prince's chariot had not been robbed, it might have been stabbed as well. ”

Hua Bushi said: "Brother Cao said maybe, but there is another reason for it?"

Cao Duyun said: "It's not a secret, the car that the prince is riding, called 'Xiang Long', is hired to hire a famous ironsmith in Jiangnan to make it for the travel of royal dignitaries, and the whole body is made of stainless steel, once it is locked from the car, it is not easy to cut it with a divine blade." Even if the Assassin was close to the prince's residence, it would not be easy to succeed. ”

Hua Bushi said: "If the mastermind behind the scenes is a figure in the palace, how can he not know the firmness of the dragon chariot? ”

"And I remember that at that time, the masters of various factions such as Mr. Qiu were in the ring on the north side of Tianqiao Street, and they rushed to the rescue only because they heard a ** shout that the holy driver was assassinated, and the shout was also quite strange. ”

Qiu Hengbo said: "What Young Master Hua said is reasonable, if it weren't for the shouts of the assassin saint, Qiu would definitely not have rushed so quickly, and afterwards I also looked for the person who shouted and spread rumors, but I couldn't find it." ”

Cao Duyun's expression moved, and he said, "Brother Hua's intention, the other party did not really want to kill the prince in planning this assassination operation, but had other purposes?"

Hua Bushi said: "As far as the junior brother knows, the thirteen killers of the 'Heavenly Punishment' did follow the chariot of King Fu into Beijing City, but that was just spending money to buy off a guard commander in King Fu's mansion. After entering Beijing, they did not act immediately, but lived in the Summer Palace for five days, eating, drinking and merrymaking in the city every day. Isn't it a little incomprehensible that such an important assassination operation should be carried out under the rule of the 'Heavenly Punishment'?"

Cao Duyun said: "Don't restrain those killers, let them show their faces in the city, and then someone will know that they are the guards of the Fu Wang's Mansion, could it be that their purpose is to blame the Fu King?"

Fu Wang Zhu Changxun was the richest vassal king of the dynasty and an important figure in the "Five Kings Party". Not long ago, Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the cabinet, had been dismissed from his post and executed, and if King Fu fell again, the "Five Kings Party" would suffer heavy losses one after another, and it would be difficult to compete with the "Donglin" and "Eunuch Party" in the future, and the pattern of the three parties in the imperial court would be broken.

The crown prince is young, even if he ascends the throne to inherit the throne in the future, it is a very long time ago, and it is not much point to kill him now, but it will be more valuable to assassinate the prince to achieve the goal of framing the vassal king.

Hua Bushi said: "Do you remember Mr. Qiu, why did we go to Tianqiao Street that day?"

Qiu Hengbo said: "'Xiandu faction' Fan Dong asked the masters of the four factions to challenge him, and we went to Tianqiao Street just to compete with him." ”

Hua Bushi said: "The skills that Fan Dongli showed that day are certainly extraordinary, but from the perspective below, it is impossible for him to have much chance of winning against the four masters of you alone." This person blatantly challenged, and spoke so arrogantly, as if he had already relied on it. ”

"The other party must have planned and arranged every step of the way. If there hadn't been Fan Dongli's challenge that day, there would not have been so many masters gathered on Tianqiao Street, and if no one had shouted for the assassination of the saint, Manager Qiu would not have rushed to the rescue so quickly. The assassins sent by the 'Heavenly Punishment' were all first-class killers, and if there were no such variables, even if they couldn't assassinate the prince, they would probably be able to get out of the way, and then they would not be able to achieve the goal of framing King Fu. ”

Cao Duyun rolled his eyes and said, "Manager Qiu, where is Fan Dongli now?"

Qiu Hengbo said: "After the incident that day, Jinyiwei detained the head of the 'Yanjing Eight Gates', but did not take into account the 'Xiandu faction', Fan Dongli had already taken the ugly woman Pei Niang out of the city and returned to the sect headquarters in Tongzhou. ”

Cao Duyun said: "Quickly order to go down and let Jinyiwei go to Tongzhou to arrest these two people!"

Qiu Hengbo should claim that it is, and walk downstairs.

After Qiu Hengbo left, Cao Duyun looked at Hua Bushi and said, "The information that the junior brother has investigated in this case has been clearly stated, can Brother Hua tell me where the prince and princess are now, and what kind of jihua have you arranged to deal with the 'Heavenly Punishment'?"

Hua Bushi smiled slightly and said, "What Brother Cao asked, of course Hua Bushi will not hide it, and if this matter is to continue, it must be done with the help of the Cao family's liliang." ”

The eldest young master stood up as he spoke, walked to the map of Beizhili hanging on the wall, and said, "They are here now." ”

He pointed his right hand on the map, and it was Human City, two hundred and sixty miles northeast of the capital.

There are many kinds of markets in ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Human City.

There are grain mills that specialize in trading large quantities of grains, miscellaneous shops that buy and sell various goods such as cloth, porcelain, and ironware, as well as markets that trade medicinal herbs, wool, animal skins, and other specialties from the north.

On the street in the north of the city, there is a semi-open-air market, surrounded on all sides by a fence of a height of a few feet, and the top is made of wood, and the high roof covered with linoleum, which is much more spacious than other ordinary markets. There is a long black flag hanging on the big pillar in front of the market, embroidered with a line of Manchu text, which is translated into Chinese as "Black Animal Fang".

In terms of scale, the Black Livestock Workshop can be ranked among the top five among all the markets in Human City, so the name suggests, the main goods traded here are livestock.

Cattle, sheep, horses, camels, and all kinds of livestock produced in the grasslands outside the Guanwai can be found in this city, and in addition to these four-legged animals, there is also a two-legged animal. Slaves were also an important commodity here, and apart from the difference in value, there was not much difference between buying and selling slaves and buying and selling cattle and sheep.

The Black Cattle Farm was one of the largest slave markets in the city.