The brick-bottomed mud courtyard, the ordinary mansion of Dongxia officials, is about to reach curfew, and the only red lantern hanging is not too bright to illuminate a person's face, revealing his straight eyebrows. In his forties, his eyebrows are still dark and thick, flat and steep, but neat, as if they have been carefully repaired for many years, giving people a deep impression. He knocked on the door, waited for someone to come out of the ear room to open it, lifted a black food box, and took the initiative to say, "Entrusted by someone." The moon cakes were sent to the transporter. ”

The old man in the porter hung his ears, his face showed anxiety, and he pushed it out while shouting: "We adults don't accept gifts." You're going to come again. Tell me about something to the yamen. ”

The visitor was stunned for a moment and asked, "Mooncakes." ”

The old man said, "What's wrong with the mooncakes?" Who knows if it's stuffed with gold, silver, and tickets? Do you dare to open it for me to see? Don't you dare, everyone who comes to give gifts is like this. I sue you, our king has commended us adults for three consecutive years, aren't you ruining people, let you in, maybe there will be rumors flying all over the street the next day. ”

The old man pushed him out, shrunk down, and slipped into the doorway.

The door creaked shut.

Come to the people wood on the street.

There was a bang in the distance, which was a precursor to the curfew, so he had to snort angrily, turn around and leave. Before he could go far, three people on horseback came from the street, this person gave way to the side of the road, and watched the three of them slowly come over, one in the middle was a person wearing a purple and yellow Dongxia official robe, and two on both sides, wearing the clothes of the official eunuch's guard. The man's heart moved, and he shouted loudly: "But Lord Yang Lianting is back." ”

The official at the head was Yang Lianting, he grabbed the reins of the horse, looked over, and then jumped off the horse, his bronzed face showing a little hesitation.

The person who came shouted: "I am the old man of Shanshui Township, and I have been looking for you for 18 years." ”

Yang Lianting's face suddenly became extremely ugly, he waved his hand, beckoned the two guards, and said, "You guys go back first." ”

In Dongxia, because private slaves could not be raised, this guard was either hired or drawn up by the children of good families to serve on errands, and it was not easy for ordinary officials to put on the posture of a great master. They hugged their fists, but they didn't go to Yang Lianting's house, turned their horses' heads and left. The person who came secretly felt strange, in short, he came to Dongxia, and after setting foot in the Northern Plains, he felt strange everywhere, and he was not particularly surprised at this time.

He turned his head to watch the two guards gallop away, and said softly, "Lord Yang." is such a big official, why don't you come to the front and back. ”

Yang Lianting didn't give him a look at all, squinted his eyes and said, "What do you mean?" Who are you? The person who came said: "The surname of the contemptible person is Cao, the list, from Xixiong." A gift was given to you on behalf of your benefactor. After speaking, he stepped forward, presented the food box, and said, "Eighty-three lunar eclipses have been prepared for you, and you can go with me to check it." The old man said...... It's time for you to repay the favor. ”

Yang Lianting's face twitched.

Gratitude?

What kind of kindness to repay?

For a moment, he wanted to regret it.

In order to avenge the blood and the sea of revenge, the man promised that as long as he lurked beside Dia Bird, he would avenge his family, the hatred was too strong, and he would rather die with the enemy, he didn't think about anything, he agreed, and later in order to take revenge, in order to win the trust of Dia Bird, he killed his wife, and pointed to the enemy, that was his wife, he killed his wife, didn't he have the heart of dying with the enemy, his wife went first, and he went later...... As for Dia Bird at that time, he was not grateful, but could he expect a small warlord who relieved his military power and rebelled against the emperor to avenge himself, he was difficult to protect, and that person was not at ease?

What kind of person is that man, if he doesn't let himself lurk around Dia Bird, he can let other people go, he can let go of anyone, because no one can disobey him.

Originally, he was the only one who could avenge himself.

What happened after that was unforeseeable.

He married the maid of the righteous brothers, gave birth to a child, and followed Dia Bird to the Northeast, how did he not expect that Dia Bird took some old brothers to lay a rock-like Dongxia country, and now he has become a transit envoy, although Dongxia is different from his hometown, not that the land is not counted, and the servants are in groups, but the official income is considerable, and under the title, he can also get labor and cultivated land, and the people are welcome wherever he goes.

And he is not the person he was more than ten years ago, as a private person trusted by Dia Bird, he has participated in a lot of government affairs, his mind has begun to be meticulous, his mind is more flexible, and his ability is not what it used to be.

But the man suddenly fulfilled his promise, waiting for himself to fulfill his promise as well, and become a pawn in his hand, a pawn in his hand.

That's right.

Although Yang Lianting did not forget jì and hid it in the depths of his heart, it was light.

Thinking back then, he was like something in his heart every day, afraid that Dia Bird would find out, afraid that the people around him would find out, but as he had only done one or two irrelevant things by himself for more than ten years, he no longer contacted himself, he was fading, and even hoped that person would forget about him.

Who would have thought that one day, someone came to the door.

He sighed, stepped forward, and was about to undo the lid of the food box, when Cao Shan asked, "Take me to your house and talk deeply in the secret room." ”

Yang Lianting sighed: "My family is not safe. The inner person is a member of the Great King family. My sister? also remarried. The child is in the government school. He smiled miserably and said: "And the dark souls of Dongxia are much more powerful than you, they don't arrest indiscriminately, but they are everywhere." Let's go to where you live. ”

Cao Shan nodded and pointed him in the right direction.

The two came to Cao Dan's residence, closed the door, took various measures, and sat down separately. Cao Shan handed over the food box and asked softly, "How much do you know about the dark soul of Dongxia?" You don't have to be afraid of that, do you? Could it be that Dia Bird is not worried about you and has released people around you? ”

Yang Lianting shook his head.

The Dongxia Dark Soul is different from the Thirteen Yamen, it does not lurk on officials, but when you are in a situation, you can magically restore the facts through guò investigation of the case. What he is afraid of is not the dark soul of Dongxia, but the Dongxia people who are afraid of the hard temper of the courtyard, these Dongxia people are not dark souls, but they are more terrible than dark souls, they are not your private individuals, they are not your real slaves, you do bad things in front of them, you always feel unsafe.

But Cao Shan cares.

Jingkang's thirteen yamen have faced the dark souls of Shangdong Xia many times, and they have all ended in complete defeat, whether it is on conspiracy, tricks, methods, or direct frontal combat.

Cao Dan, as one of the few figures in the Thirteen Yamen, was wary and jealous of the dark soul of Dongxia buried in his bones.

Yang Lianting didn't want to explain more, but he wanted to ask.

Yang Lianting said: "I don't know much about the situation of the dark soul, I only know that they are actually an army, not like you, just a yamen full of minions. It was precisely because I did not know their situation that I felt terrible, I did not know where they were hiding, whether they were planted along the line around the minister. ”

Cao Shan nodded.

The Thirteen Yamen naturally know a lot about dark souls.

These terrible opponents are not only spies, but also an army, which the Thirteen Yamen can't catch up with with all kinds of methods, the Thirteen Yamen are still taking apprentices with masters, developing upline and offline, but they are neat military regulations, rigorous skill system, and a cohesive force.

It's not that there are no Dongxia dark souls who have fallen into Cao Dan's hands, and there are even people who have defected, but most of them have been trained to be tortured and have the courage to die, one or two of them are renegades, the imperial court originally wanted to reuse, but they are often found out by the dark souls of Dongxia, and they concentrate on obliteration, and they will retaliate against the Thirteen Yamen. In the face of this retaliatory attack, the thirteen yamen suffered heavy losses, and the responsible persons were wiped out from then on, and over time, they had maintained a tacit understanding with the dark soul, and without a word from above, the thirteen yamen gradually did not dare to take the initiative to provoke the dark soul.

Not long ago, the power of the Thirteen Yamen in Eastern Xia was almost uprooted by Eastern Xia, and Cao Shan shuddered when he thought about it.

He is already a fourth-grade person, a one-line action, if he is found out by the dark soul of Dongxia in this way, even if he escapes, he will still die because of the destruction of the emperor.

Compared with Yang Lianting's reaction, he cared more about whether the Dongxia Dark Soul would notice.

Yang Lianting opened the box.

It was a well-preserved human head, like a lifelike dummy, in fact, Yang Lianting knew that this was his enemy.

I didn't expect that.

Yang Lianting raised his head and asked, "What does the emperor want me to do?" ”

Cao Dan immediately got up and said, "Be the internal response of the Northern Plains." He quickly noticed the wry smile from Yang Lianting, and asked rhetorically, "What's wrong?" You won't? ”

Yang Lianting shook his head and said: "In Dongxia, one person can't do internal response, I don't have a party, even if there are some fellow villagers, I have attracted some people over the years, but when it comes to such a thing, they will immediately turn my face." Even if I sue them for the emperor's reward for their high officials. ”

He stared at Cao Dan and said: "The hearts of the people of Dongxia are condensed, and the hearts are in Dongxia. ”

Cao Shan smiled.

Haha laughed.

He said: "The imperial court has been preparing for more than ten years, your comrades? The court has prepared it for you. The imperial court handed over the north of the North Plains to him Dia Bird, such a big gesture is to make our people everywhere. He pushed through the list and said cautiously, "You command them." No one else can come out, only you can contact and direct them. These people are all reliable, they are all accused by the imperial court, just like you, they have not been used for many years, and once they turned into thunder. ”

Yang Lianting's face contorted together.

He didn't know why Cao Dan was so proud, and suddenly said, "That's it." Announce Yang Qianjin's death. To give my family Zhaoxue, I used the excuse to let my sister and family return to their hometown to worship their ancestors. Without them, I have no constraints. Moreover, you can trust me more, because they are all hostages in your hands. ”

Cao Shan nodded, stretched out a hand to him, and said with a smile: "I know that with you to enable, great things can be expected." If it succeeds, His Majesty promises to give you a county marquis. ”