Xujia Wanfu Commercial Bank, one of the three major commercial banks in Shuzhong, covers the entire Shuzhong, and there are also a lot of trade circulation in Daguang.

The three major commercial banks in Shuzhong are Huangmen Shu Jin, Cui's Warehouse and Wanfu Commercial Bank. Among them, Huangmen Shu Jin and Cui's Warehouse are the old firms in Shu, at least a hundred years of history in Shu, only the Wanfu firm was born 20 years ago, rapid development, not only monopolized a new dye technology in Shu, a few years to occupy a large market, ten years ago it defeated the old firms in Shu, Su and Gao, among the three major firms in Shu.

And now, the once glorious Wanfu Commercial Bank's home, the Xu family's compound, has become a scorched earth

The fire that burned overnight has not yet been extinguished, and sparks are still rising in many places, and the water dragon team of Chengzhou Mansion is still working hard to sprinkle water and sand into it.

The servants of the water dragon team who had been busy all night were already tired and full of faces, and they were a little distracted when extinguishing the embers at this time, one was that the high-intensity work of one night had already exhausted their physical strength, and the other was that the Xu family compound had almost burned all the time, and the fire was not so much extinguished, but that the fire basically burned everything that could be burned, and it was already burned and extinguished by itself.

Many of them have burned out, and the few embers in the backyard are not exhausted.

When Yang Yi and the others arrived, the circle around the Xu family's compound had been sealed off by the government, and the outside was full of people who came to watch.

Under the two shouts of Tie Niu, Yang Yi and the others easily squeezed to the front row of the crowd and looked at the fire from a distance.

The crowd was squeezed into a bit of a commotion, and someone scolded in a low voice: "What a crowd!" Look at the excitement and see what you can bear, there is a kind of you go in to see it! ”

Of course, Yang Yi didn't have time to pay attention to these broken mouths, just frowned and looked inside.

I don't know if it's because the criminal case yamen is not manpower enough, or if this matter is too terrifying, and all the soldiers guarding outside are soldiers of the Chengzhou army. The officials of the government had already begun to enter the front yard to search for survivors, but all they had brought out was a charred corpse with an indistinct face.

There were a few of them constantly opening each corpse and examining it, and then writing it down in the notebook in their hands.

Yang Yi was a little anxious, because he vaguely felt that this matter must not be simple, but he couldn't see what was going on inside when he stood so far away.

Just as he was in a hurry, Yang Yi suddenly saw a familiar figure at the gate of the Xu Mansion, which was Captain Meng Jimeng of the Chengzhou Army.

Yang Yi thought for a while, and said to a soldier who was blocking in front of him: "This brother, can you help me call General Meng Ji, and say that an old friend is looking for him." So saying, he took out a piece of broken silver and gave it to the soldier.

The soldier glanced at Yang Yi suspiciously, and saw that Yang Yi looked like a rich and noble man, and he shouldn't be lying to himself, so he nodded and put away the silver, turned around and ran in.

The sergeant walked up to Meng Ji and whispered a few words, Meng Ji turned his head to look at Yang Yi, and then walked quickly to this side, he didn't see Yang Yi in the crowd, but saw a tall iron bull at a glance.

Meng Ji walked a little closer and saw Yang Yi in the crowd, and a few steps away, he hugged his fists and said, "General A!" With a wave of his hand, he motioned for the vigilant soldiers to let them in.

Yang Yi and the others followed Meng Ji to the inside in the surprised eyes of the lively crowd.

"How did Captain Meng know that I had joined the military?" Yang Yi asked as he walked, just now Meng Ji didn't have the slightest scruple to call himself a general, then he could only say that he already knew that he was the commander of the Connecticut Army.

Meng Ji said strangely: "It was announced not long ago by Tao Tingshi, and the news that General A was appointed as the commander of the Kangzhou Army should be known to the entire Shuzhong military community." Then he smiled and said: "I have always wanted to take time to go to Su Mansion to congratulate the general, but there are many rights and wrongs when the New Year is approaching, you see that we are so strict with precautions, but something still happened." ”

Yang Yi was a little surprised, he didn't seem to expect the news to spread so quickly, after all, he just took a letter of appointment, and he hadn't taken office yet, so he hurriedly said: "What is Captain Meng, what are these words, I should entertain everyone, and when I am free another day, you inform the brothers of the Chengzhou Army, I invite everyone to have a drink, after all, I can sit on this commanding envoy, and it is thanks to the brothers of the Chengzhou Army." ”

Meng Ji was a little embarrassed and said: "General, don't call me Captain Meng anymore, it seems too rusty, and... And I've been promoted to lieutenant commander. ”

"Huh? Oh, why didn't Brother Meng say it earlier, make me ugly, then Jia will congratulate Brother Meng, don't call me General A, you and I are commensurate. Of course, Yang Yi knew that he should say something at this time.

It turned out that Sima Dou Xu of Chengzhou had concurrently served as the commander of the Chengzhou Army before, and after Dou Xu died in Wuxian Village, because he had not yet found a suitable candidate to take over as the commander, Tao He promoted Meng Ji to the deputy commander of the army, and the rights and interests of the commander were temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Chengzhou army.

For a military general like Meng Ji who does not have a tough background, it is a very difficult hurdle to be promoted from lieutenant to deputy commander, and it can also be said to be a qualitative leap, and it is very likely that he can be promoted to the position of commander in a few years.

Meng Ji's happiness is naturally inevitable, and if he wants to say who he is most grateful to, it is undoubtedly Gongzi Jia, a student of the former commander.

"If it weren't for Brother A's help to stabilize the army's morale after Lord Dou's death, and bring the army back to Chengzhou peacefully, where would Meng have today, and if Brother A has anything to do in the future, as long as Meng Ji can do it, he will do his best!"

Yang Yi waved his hand and smiled: "Don't worry, you can please settle for my bowl of wine!" ”

While speaking, the two of them had already arrived at the door of Xu's mansion, and Yang Yi was suddenly furrowed by a disgusting smell of burnt meat.

Meng Ji saw that although Yang Yi's face was not very good, he did not have the slightest timidity, and he praised this Gongzi a little more in his heart.

The smell of burnt corpses is actually no different from the smell of pork and mutton roasted, if you don't know, you may still feel very fragrant, once you know it, people who are a little more timid may not be able to eat for several days. If it weren't for Yang Yi and the others, they would have crawled through the pile of dead people, and they would have been paralyzed on the ground at this time.

Even so, Yang Yi's face was still a little pale, he pointed to the corpse covered with white cloth on the ground, and said, "Brother Meng, how can this be?" Have you found out why? ”

Meng Ji looked around, took a step closer to Yang Yi, and said in a low voice: "It may be the bandit's revenge..."

Yang Yi was taken aback, looked at Meng Jidao, and said, "What do you say?" ”

"The Xu family's belongings have been looted, all the people have been killed, and there is still the handwriting of bandits seeking revenge on the remnants of the wall, and now that Chengzhou City has been blocked, the whole city may be searched after the cleanup is completed."

Yang Yining said: "Could it be the remnants of the bandits after our action a few years ago?" ”

Meng Ji nodded thoughtfully and said, "It's possible, and maybe it's related to the gang of bandits you met at the post station, otherwise how could you choose Wanfu Shang's action?" ”

Yang Yi's brows furrowed even tighter, and he glanced at the Xu family's courtyard that had been burned to ruins, and already had a rough answer in his heart: this gang of bandits is very likely to be the gang of bandits that Yang Yi met, and they killed the Xu family not to take revenge, but to find the jade ring!

I only heard Meng Ji sigh again: "Why do you say that I am so unlucky, I have just been promoted and encountered such a thing, Tao Thorn Shi has already ordered that the murderer must be arrested within a month." ”

Yang Yi thought for a while and said, "Isn't the city already closed?" Is it possible that the bandits are still in town? ”

"Who knows, because last night was the New Year's Pass, so there was no curfew in the city, and the city gate was not closed, if those bandits had already left the city, it would be troublesome."

"Isn't there any other clue?"

Yang Yi absolutely didn't believe that the bandits had done such a big case, and they didn't leave any clues. There are more than 100 people in the Xu Mansion, if you want to kill all these people silently, and don't escape one, how many people do you need?

Meng Ji also seemed to be a little puzzled: "No, we have already inquired about the people around the Xu Mansion, and they didn't hear any movement, and no one found out until the fire burned." ”

"How did the people of the Xu Mansion die?"

"Most of them were slashed to death with sharp knives, and all of them were locked in the lobby of the Xu family, including Xu Song and his sons."

Yang Yi touched his chin, and suddenly condensed: "That Jin Pengyuan hasn't been found yet, right?" ”

Meng Ji looked sideways at Yang Yi and said with some surprise: "Brother A, do you mean that Wanfu Commercial Bank still has internal ghosts?" ”

"I'm just guessing that in addition to the inner ghosts, it may also be an acquaintance who committed the crime."

Meng Ji nodded, feeling that this was very likely: "Hmm... I'll report to Lord Assassin Shi when I return to the Assassin's Mansion later, and I also think it's very likely that this is the case, otherwise how could more than a hundred people be killed silently. ”

The two were talking to themselves in low voices, when they heard a commotion in the crowd behind them.

Yang Yi and Meng Ji turned their heads to look, only to see the crowd of onlookers in the distance suddenly give way, and a group of people hurriedly walked in from there.

"Gao Zuozhen?" Yang Yi saw Gao Zuozhen walking in front of the group of people at a glance.

Meng Ji was puzzled: "Why did Lord Gao come here?" I'll go take a look. ”

Seeing Meng Ji greet him, Yang Yi thought about it and followed.

"The last general has seen the tall man." Meng Ji walked forward quickly and hugged Gao Zuozhen.

Although Meng Ji belongs to the military system and is not governed by Gao Zuozhen, after all, Gao Zuozhen's official position is one level higher than his own.

It may be that the wind and frost are cold in the early winter morning, Gao Zuozhen's nose is a little red, and his face is not very good-looking.

Gao Zuozhen hadn't withdrawn his hand yet, when he suddenly heard someone say: "Late born Jia Baoyu, I have seen Master Gao." ”

Gao Zuozhen looked sideways and saw Yang Yi standing next to Meng Ji and saluting himself.

"What are you doing here?" Gao Zuozhen's face was not good.

Yang Yi didn't mind, it would be strange if Gao Zuozhen had a good face for herself, and said with a smile: "There is such a big case in Chengzhou Mansion, and I naturally have to come and take a look." ”

Gao Zuozhen also knew the news that Yang Yi was reused by Tao He, although he was very unhappy, he couldn't do anything about Yang Yi in this kind of trivial matter, and snorted coldly: "Hmph... Dog takes a mouse. ”