The quaint small town of Jishui County, with its old mud walls and green tile houses, and the worn and smooth stone floor, all have a feeling of decay after being repeatedly soaked in water. Under the gloomy sky, the light was already a little dim as the evening approached.

In a pharmacy, a middle-aged man in a robe stroked the hem of his robe and sat down on a chair. His hand is very steady, and he unhurriedly takes a cushion for the guest to pad on his wrist, and then gently extends his fingers to cut the pulse accurately. Obviously, he not only sells medicinal herbs, but also prescribes prescriptions.

At this moment, several hurried figures walked outside the hall door one after another. In this quiet and somewhat lifeless town, everyone is relatively laid-back, and it seems that something is wrong.

The middle-aged man first glanced at the stone floor outside the door, which was very dry and showed no sign of rain.

"Wait a minute, officer." The middle-aged man said politely, quickly stood up, and walked to the door. He turned his head to look, and saw several men in black robes and swords, walking towards this side!

The middle-aged man's face changed, and he glanced to the other side, and there were also a few black-robed men walking quickly on the other side of the street! The scattered pedestrians on the street fled in a panic.

Those black bubble men seemed to suddenly spot the middle-aged man who was looking, and immediately started running!

The middle-aged man immediately retreated into the lobby. The guest officer, who was still sitting there with his arms outstretched, asked, "What's wrong?" The middle-aged man ignored it and immediately ran inside. The door is too late to close, because the door of the pavement is mosaic, and it is very troublesome to open and close.

He rushed straight into the courtyard behind the shop, walked to a small door, opened the wooden door, and looked to see that there were also black-robed people walking outside! He immediately bolted the wooden door again, retreated into the courtyard, and looked left and right, and outside the wall, it was the alley outside the back door; Only behind the outer walls of the wings on both sides leads to another road.

The middle-aged man had to run into a side room and close the side room with his backhand.

The voice of a woman was already heard in the courtyard.

The middle-aged man's eyes widened, and he looked around and saw a window in the wall. The window is just like the small window that Li Bai can see when he "looks up at the bright moon", small and high. The middle-aged man hurriedly pulled up a chair to the wall, his movements were rough and panicked, and suddenly "ding-ding-clang...... the furniture bumped into the loud sound.

He climbed from his chair to the window, but soon his upper body got stuck!

"Ah......" The middle-aged man squeezed out desperately, screaming, and his face turned red.

Just then, he was caught in the ankle! A voice said coldly: "Come down, Jishui County is such a small city, and the city gate will be closed immediately, where can you run if you run?" ”

The middle-aged man was dragged from the window and pressed against the chair on which he was resting.

"Ma Gong?" The young man who had just spoken suddenly asked.

The middle-aged man's face suddenly turned gray, as if he sighed secretly, and the person stopped struggling at all.

The young man found a stool and sat down. At this time, inside and outside the wing room, several black-robed men had already come. The young man sitting on the stool said: "I am Zhang Sheng, the new commander of the Jinyi Guard, your original name should be Xiao Jien?" ”

The middle-aged man was silent.

A few men who had just come in brought ropes and tied the middle-aged man first. Zhang Sheng waved his hand again, and everyone silently withdrew with their fists clenched and closed the wooden door. There was a faint sound of talking outside, and the men seemed to be asking the others in the courtyard.

Zhang Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "What did you do, do it yourself." The case has been investigated to this point, and it is painful to save trouble and avoid getting blood everywhere! ”

"I'm Xiao Jien." The middle-aged man's expression suddenly turned cold.

Zhang Sheng nodded.

Xiao Jien actually sneered: "What's the best trick?" It's nothing more than two corpses, five steps of bleeding, and the world's vegetarian. ”

Zhang Sheng was stunned for a moment, and said slowly: "I'm afraid that there are more than two corpses, how can they also bleed and die?" "The words of Zhang Sheng, the commander of Jinyiwei, must still be someone who has read some books, and can pick up Xiao Jien's allusions.

Xiao Jien glanced at Zhang Sheng, his expression was very strange, and he couldn't tell whether it was pain and despair or extreme resentment.

Zhang Sheng said again: "Fortunately, I am not a murderer today. If you are not the mastermind, as long as you recruit the mastermind, the Xiao family may not have to destroy the Nine Clans. ”

Xiao Jien stopped talking, still thinking to himself.

Zhang Sheng said: "The eunuch Wang Yin was once the righteous son of 'Ma Gong', of course he knew Ma Gong; It's useless if you don't recruit, you will be recognized when you catch the Jingshi. Ben will be ordered to be tortured on the spot. If you don't recruit you, you will be tortured here! ”

Xiao Jien remained silent.

Zhang Sheng nodded, got up and said, "Then I'll take your wife and daughter first, the brothers should be rewarded for their hard work for many days; Then I will torture and kill your son, and then I will do you again. ”

Xiao Jien's eyes trembled, and he finally spoke: "Are you still an official soldier?" ”

Zhang Sheng said expressionlessly: "What do you say? Will anyone think that it is too much to treat a wicked person like you who is mad, murders the monarch's father, and is disloyal and unfilial? The wicked should be the rule of the wicked! ”

After a while, Xiao Jien said: "King Yan is just a person who seeks to usurp the throne, I am loyal to Emperor Jianwen and avenging my father, not to mention disloyalty and filial piety." ”

Zhang Sheng sneered: "How old are you, and you are qualified to judge the first emperor?" ”

"Everyone in the world knows it." Xiao Jien said.

Zhang Sheng said: "Then you write it down, who are the 'well-known' people?!" ”

Xiao Jien was unexpectedly stunned by a general.

"I am 'Ma Gong', you call Wang Yin to recognize it......" Xiao Jien finally spoke again, "Now that the matter has fallen into your hands, I have nothing I can't say." ”

Seeing this, Zhang Sheng immediately took out the prepared paper and pen from the baggage, and poured out the ground ink from a ceramic bottle.

Xiao Jien groaned: "I can confess happily." But there is one condition, can you directly kill my family members in the future, and don't insult and torture them? ”

Zhang Sheng thought for a while and nodded, "Ben will promise you." ”

Xiao Jien frowned and asked, "How can I believe you?" ”

Zhang Sheng pointed to the paper and said, "I wrote down what I said just now, and I want you to sign it after reading it." ”

Zhang Sheng held the pen in mid-air, looked at Xiao Jien, and waited silently. Xiao Jien was also silent, looking pensive, as if he was reminiscing about the past.

…… Time seems to have returned to the early years of Jianwen ten years ago.

Xiao Jien remembered that the spring was blooming at that time, and the capital was prosperous and peaceful.

His medicinal herb business in Jingshi is doing very well, and everything is very happy. At that time, Wang Gen was actually Xiao Jien's eldest brother by blood (Xiao Jien was originally Wang Gen's younger brother, and he was raised to the Xiao family since he was a child), so he naturally took care of him a lot.

The money that should be avoided for the collection of taxes on the city and the entry and exit of goods in and out of the city was saved after the government had made a little bit of a clear circumstance; The cost of Xiao Jien's medicinal materials is lower than that of others.

At that time, although Wang Gen was a lifter, he was still studying and preparing for the scientific examination. But Wang Gen has already worshipped the emperor Huang Zicheng as his mentor, and his future is bright; The Wang family casually said hello at Yousi Yamen, and almost all of them worked. His peers didn't dare to deal with Xiao Jien, and even sent money directly to join his business gang, and his business became bigger and bigger.

Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne as the crown prince of Emperor Taizu, although soon there were private rumors that the imperial court was going to cut the domain; But at that time, Xiao Jien didn't think it was a big deal (he was not a royal prince anyway). Everything is very stable, the end of the Hongwu Dynasty and the beginning of the "Jianwen" cultural rule are about to begin, and the world seems to be about to enter a peaceful and prosperous era.

Xiao Jien thought about it at that time, it was really a wonderful and reassuring day, and he didn't expect that such a dramatic change would happen in the huge world!

Then the situation soon took a turn for the worse, and the Ming court entered a state of combat readiness, dispatching troops everywhere, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers continued to cross the river to the north! The war quickly became fierce under the unforeseen circumstances of the world, and the news of the Pingyan War was everywhere in the market.

In the second year of Jianwen, Wang Gen was on the list of high schools!

Wang Gen talked about a lot of national affairs with Xiao Jien during that time. Finally one day, Xiao Jien was summoned by the emperor and went to Dongnuan Pavilion with a small medicinal herb merchant!

At that time, there was not even a single eunuch in the Dongnuan Pavilion. In addition to the emperor and Xiao Jien who was summoned, there were four ministers: Huang Zicheng, Jing Qing, Wang Gen, and Guozhang Ma Quan.

After talking about some mysterious and difficult things between the monarchs and ministers, they finally got to the point.

Huang Zicheng roughly said something: Originally, some important spies in the north were in charge of the national ruler Ma Quan, but in the past two years, the court's spies have frequently failed, and some people have been arrested one after another; The emperor's henchmen think that Ma Quan's identity is too high and the target is too conspicuous, and he may have been targeted by the traitors and spies of the Yan Wangfu, so the court's spies in the north will often be discovered!

And Jinyiwei is even more riddled with holes, many royal relatives and nobles serve in it, and in the war within the royal family, it is difficult to distinguish between those people who are loyal and treacherous.

Therefore, the imperial court needs a person who is very inconspicuous and not easy to be targeted, and a trustworthy and talented person to take over the errand of "Ma Gong".

So Huang Zicheng recommended Wang Gen's younger brother Xiao Jien to the Son of Heaven! Wang Gen is a person of Huang Zicheng and a protégé of the Son of Heaven, and he is a trustworthy person; Xiao Jien is Wang Gen's younger brother and a "grasshopper" on a rope. And his identity is still quite hidden, and the world doesn't know the relationship between Xiao Jien and Wang Gen at all.

Huang Zicheng also said something about Xiao Jien, although he has no fame, he is calm and very smart and concise.

The Son of Heaven promised Xiao Jien that when the "Battle of Pingyan" was won, Xiao Jien would be promoted exceptionally, and he would be knighted and rewarded, and asked him if he was willing to be loyal to the imperial court.

Xiao Jien thought about it at the time: although he made a lot of money as a businessman, it was nothing compared to the worship of the ancestors and grandchildren of the glorious ancestors! And he already knew some secret things in the Winter Warm Pavilion, and he dared to refuse the world's kindness in person?

So Xiao Jien almost didn't hesitate and immediately agreed.

Of course, he didn't expect that day to be the beginning of a series of nightmares!

……

……

(At seven o'clock tonight, just a while later, in the top post of the book review circle, Xifeng Live chatted with book friends, welcome to participate, thank you.) A number of places have been set in Zongheng, there are gifts to be given, and the selected book friends are troubled to chat with Xifeng in private messages on Zongheng.com, or QQ and WeChat; Tell me the address, phone number, and nickname of the delivery so that I can send the gift. ）