Xiong Cixu and Kong Sizhen miscalculated more than a little, they also seriously underestimated Li Xu's ruthless cunning and Li Xu's bitter hatred for Lu Fatzi, they asked Li Xu to deliberately slow down his speed to the south, in order to gain time, let Dai Liangchen collect evidence of Lu Fatzi's crime in Guangxi, and chop Lu Fatzi in the future, and Li Xu also patted his chest in front of them and said that he would absolutely comply, and also expressed his understanding of Kong Sizhen's request to Li Xu to prevent someone from killing Lu Fatzi's insinuation, and said that he would definitely 'try his best' to protect Lu Fatzi's northward 'safety'.

Of course Li Xu is acting, Li Xu thinks so, since Xiong Cilu and Kong Sizhen asked him to slow down his southward speed, and hinted that he was ready to kill Lu Fatzi on the road, then it is enough to prove that Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cizhen still did not get Lu Fatzi's death certificate this time, they were only prepared with both hands, they would take the evidence if they got it, and assassinate them on the road if they couldn't get it! In a word, Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cixu are determined to kill Fat Lu's dog this time!

In this case, Fat Lu is a dead man anyway, so why should he slow down? Anyway, Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cilu have already planned to assassinate if they can't get the evidence, so if they catch Lu Fatzi as soon as possible, Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cizhen can't get the ironclad evidence, won't they do it? The capital is so far away from Nanning, rather than slowing down to give Lu Fat Man time to escape, and causing the night to have a long dream, it is better to catch this damn fat man as soon as possible, and force Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cixu to send their hands to kill people as soon as possible - in this way, although he has to delay a little bit of involvement, he has also avenged the blood sea of revenge, right? In the future, if the East Window incident happens, isn't it none of my business?

After leaving the capital, Li Xu naturally immediately forgot the promise he made in front of Kong Sizhen and Xiong Cixu, and took ten guards and the holy decree all the way to the horse, without stopping, and went straight to Guangxi at night! In this way, because Wu Yingxiong and Nanning do not have a direct contact channel, the news must be sent to Kunming first and then to Nanning, so it is really unclear who can reach Nanning first in the warning issued by Wu Yingxiong and Li Xu's arrest team............

It's hard to talk with one mouth, Li Xu's affairs are left alone for the time being, let's go back and take a look at the long-forgotten Fat Lu. Of course, the current Lu Fatzi is still in Nanning, not only Lu Fatzi is here, but the Governor of Liangguang Jin Guangzu, the Governor of Guangxi Ma Xiongzhen and the Governor of Guangxi Ma Xiong are also still in Nanning City, and at the same time, after a long journey of seven or eight days, Wu Sangui's eldest son-in-law and number one henchman Hu Guozhu also came to Nanning City with a large team of Pingxi palace guards, and the excuse used is, of course, to investigate the truth of the assassination of Lu Fatzi, the outgoing Western Election Official, in Nanning.

Although Wu Sangui's reputation in this area has always been good, but his son-in-law Hu Guozhu is much worse in this regard, after the vigorous slaughter into the city of Nanning, General Hu and Hu Dazhongshu's first thing is not to inquire about the progress of the investigation of the case, but indifferently and ruthlessly ask the local officials in Nanning about the development of the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine.

"Don't worry, none of this is a problem." Hu Guozhu patted Han Zhang, the prefect of Nanning, on the shoulder, but smiled at Yu Xuan: "We in Yunnan have been mining copper and tin ore since ancient times, and some of them are skilled miners and kiln workers who know how to open kilns. As for the money and grain in the early stage of the mine, these are not a problem, I brought 100,000 taels of silver this time, if the third general needs it, although it can be used first, if it is not enough, I can also send someone to transport it from Yunnan. ”

"Thank you, General Hu, but let's talk about these things slowly." Yu Xuan said angrily: "General Hu came to Nanning this time, didn't he come to investigate the case of Lord Lu's assassination in Nanning?" Why did you get to Nanning City, you didn't ask about Lord Lu's current situation at all, but asked about the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine? ”

"Heh, General Liusan has learned a lesson, but the official is confused." Hu Guozhu smiled embarrassedly, quickly looked around at the welcoming crowd, and saw that there was no fat Lu among them, so he turned to Yu Xuan and asked, "General Liusan, how is Lord Lu's situation now?" Why don't you see him greet this official? ”

"The wound is almost healed." Yu Xuan continued to say in a dissatisfied tone: "But today, his wound was a little painful, so he didn't come to greet General Hu, and now he is resting at the last general's house." ”

"Okay, please lead the way quickly, I'll go see him first, and I'll talk about other things slowly." Hu Guozhu hurriedly said. Seeing Hu Guozhu's anxious expression, Yu Xuan felt a little more comfortable, and hurriedly led the way in person, led Hu Guozhu and his party into Nanning City, and asked his subordinates to arrange accommodation for Hu Guozhu's team, and personally led Hu Guozhu back to the mansion.

In front of the small courtyard where the fat man was borrowed, Zhu Fangdan, Xiao Erlang and others had already come out to greet him, and Hu Guozhu casually found an excuse to leave Yu Xuan and the others in the courtyard, and went into the bedroom of the fat man Lu alone. When he entered the room, he saw that as expected, Lu Fatzi was already standing in the room with a red face and bowing, Hu Guozhu smiled, waved his hand and said, "Excuse me, how is the wound?" ”

"Thank you General Jingo for your concern, it's been a big deal for a long time." Lu Fatzi replied in a low voice: "It's just that there are many eyeliners from all sides in Nanning City at present, so in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I casually found an excuse not to greet General Jinwu. ”

"Family, what's polite? When you return to Yunnan and Xiaosu become a good thing, I will be your uncle, so don't be angry, just call me uncle. Hu Guozhu waved his hand very casually, sat on the chair and smiled evilly, and asked in a low voice: "What is the truth about your assassination in Nanning?" Mr. Mao Yao and Mr. Liangchen both suspect that you made it yourself, so they can't guess it, right? ”

"If there is no such thing, uncle, can you enter Nanning City and contact the Lian family now?" Fat Lu asked with a smile.

Hu Guozhu covered his mouth and snickered, and said in a low voice: "Your move is really ruthless, not only can our Pingxi Royal Mansion meddle in Nanning Mansion openly, Kong Sizhen is also yellow mud this time, and he can't say it clearly with a hundred mouths." However, such tricks are still rarely used, and if you don't grasp the proportions well, you will be in trouble if you hurt yourself. ”

"Uncle, what trick did the little nephew use?" Lu Fatzi said shamelessly: "The little nephew was injured by Kong Sizhen's henchmen in Nanning and almost died, uncle, how can you get justice for your future niece and son-in-law, right?" ”

"Of course." Hu Guozhu changed his extremely solemn look, and said solemnly: "You are the protégé of the second prince Wu Yingqi, the son of the feudal clan who has registered in the Pingxi Palace, you were assassinated in Nanning City, can our Pingxi Mansion ignore it?" Don't worry, when I come to Nanning this time, no matter how much resistance there is, I must bring the real murderer who assassinated you to justice, and also find out the backer mastermind behind the murderer, and punish him properly. ”

Before the words were finished, Lu Fatzi and Hu Guozhu couldn't contain their mouths and snickered, and finally waited until they had laughed enough, Hu Guozhu patted Lu Fatzi's shoulder and praised: "Good boy, it's really amazing, it's only been a few days since I arrived in Nanning, and I made such a big noise, found such a big silver mine, and when I saw your report, the prince and we were all stunned, and they all said that your kid is either the reincarnation of the God of Wealth or the lucky star, and you can bring a lot of money there when you go there!" However, when you were in Yunnan, why didn't you take the time to help us find a big silver mine like this? ”

"There are no big silver mines in Yunnan." Lu explained: "According to my research, there is no big silver mine worth mining in Yunnan, and there is one in Guangdong, but the veins are buried too deep to be mined with the current technology. Among the southern provinces, only Nanningfu, the largest silver mine, is also the most worthy of mining. ”

"Really? Pity. Hu Guozhu was very sorry and said: "In this way, we can't expect to find such a big cornucopia from other places, so we can only strive to take down this silver mine." ”

"Then what is my uncle going to do when he comes to Nanning this time?" Lu Fatzi said: "Nanning is not under the jurisdiction of the prince, and our Pingxi Royal Mansion wants to monopolize this silver mine, but I am afraid that there is no hope." ”

"Of course, I can't keep it all right now." Hu Guozhu nodded and said in a low voice: "But such a big windfall, it must not be all cheaper for others, my father-in-law sent me this time to ask me to serve as his plenipotentiary to negotiate with the father and son of the Lian family, and strive to get more money from the middle." By the way, you shouldn't be idle in Nanning these days, right? Have you ever tested the tone of the father and son of the Lian family, and are they interested in cooperating with our Pingxi Palace? ”

"Of course, the little nephew is not idle, and thanks to the blessing of the prince and uncle, the kid Yu Xuan trusts me and lets me know a lot of secrets." Lu Fatzi nodded, and talked about the two horses and one gold talking to the lion of the two horses and one gold against the father and son of Lian Guoan these days, as well as how he instructed Yu Xuanqiao to borrow the power of the Pingxi Royal Mansion to force the two horses and one gold to take the initiative to make concessions and so on.

At the end, Lu Fatzi said in a low voice: "After my persuasion, and in view of Kong Sizhen's usual behavior as a bitch, Yu Xuan has reached a secret agreement with Erma and Yijin, and is ready to join forces to negotiate with our Pingxi Royal Mansion how to cooperate, and completely exclude Kong Sizhen and the imperial court from the distribution of interests in the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine." Yu Xuan also revealed to me that their bottom limit is four or six points, and we in Pingxi Wangfu will take forty percent, and the remaining sixty percent will belong to them. ”

"In addition, I estimate that they will not agree to the half, the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine is too big, they can't swallow it alone, and Kong Sizhen's character is too bad, they can't believe that only our Pingxi Palace, which has always had a good reputation, is their most ideal ally. This point, Yu Xuan and Erma Yijin must be very clear. ”

Lu Fatzi even figured out the bottom line of the negotiation between Yu Xuan and others, and laid such a good foundation for Hu Guozhu to negotiate, but Hu Guozhu was not happy at all, but frowned and asked: "Did Yu Xuan's decision obtain the consent of his father Yu Guoan?" What is the attitude of the national security? ”

"The attitude of the national security?" Lu Fatzi was stunned at first, and then said embarrassedly: "Uncle forgives me, the little nephew really forgot to inquire about this, but according to the little nephew, with what Kong Sizhen did to the Lian family in the past, Xuan Guoan should not object, right?" ”

"If you take it for granted, you're very wrong." Hu Guozhu shook his head and said slowly: "You don't know much about Lian Guoan, this old guy is loyal to Kong Youde, and he will never agree to exclude Kong Sizhen." In my opinion, Yu Xuan's decision must not have his father's consent, so even if we negotiate all the conditions with Yu Xuan, Erma and Yijin, the old guy of Lan Guoan will definitely stand up against it and ask Kong Sizhen to get a piece of the pie. ”

"Won't it?" Lu Fatzi scratched his head and said suspiciously: "Lian Guoan took the initiative to return Guangxi to Kong Sizhen, Kong Sizhen forced him out of Guilin with revenge, and forced him to disarm and cut his salary, ruthless and unrighteous to this point, will Lian Guoan continue to read Kong Youde's good?" ”

"Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan, once said, who has no loyal ministers?" Hu Guozhu glanced at Lu Fatzi, and said with a sneer: "If everyone can buy it, then our Pingxi Royal Mansion would have been torn apart a long time ago, if it was so easy to buy Guoan, as early as three years before Kangxi, our Pingxi Royal Mansion's hand had already reached into Sichuan, and we still need to wait until now?" ”

"If that's the case, that's bad." Lu Fatzi was taken aback and said: "If Lian Guoan insists that Kong Sizhen intervene and compromise with us, then after Kong Sizhen comes in, the imperial court will definitely follow in, and then join forces to expel us." If we don't agree, and we are not allowed to mine because of the land deed, and the imperial court takes the opportunity to issue another edict to nationalize the silver mines, we will not be able to catch even a tael of silver. ”

"This is also what the prince and us are most worried about now." Hu Guozhu nodded and said slowly: "Originally, since we Yungui had the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, we didn't worry much about the shortage of money and food, but you probably didn't know that the voices in the imperial court calling for a heavy tax on the Eight Banners Fushou Paste have become louder and louder, and the old people have also showcased their cards to us, asking us to send people to Beijing to negotiate the taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste after the autumn of this year. In the event that we suffer a great loss in this respect, we will again be constrained in terms of money and food. ”

"Also, if the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine completely falls into the hands of the imperial court and Kong Sizhen, and the mining requires a lot of manpower and material resources, then the imperial court can easily and justifiably raise a large army in Nanning, and threaten our hinterland of Yunnan at all times, so this big silver mine, even if we offend the imperial court, we must take it, at least not let the imperial court swallow it alone! Otherwise, there will be endless troubles. ”

Lu Fatzi was sweating profusely when he heard this, and then he realized that the big silver mine he found for Lian Guoan's father and son was not only a big cornucopia, but also a big trouble, and if it was not done well, it might even threaten Wu Sangui's hinterland. But fortunately, Hu Guozhu didn't blame Lu Fatzi for not doing much, he just stood up and said: "It's useless to think about it so much, I'd better hurry up and negotiate with the Lian family father and son, if I can persuade them to join forces with us, of course, it's the best, if you don't accept it, then find another way." Take care of yourself, don't come out in public on this matter, just keep in touch with me and exchange news from time to time. ”

………………

was said by Hu Guozhu's crow's mouth, although the Pingxi Wangfu offered extremely generous conditions to the line Guoan father and son, not only promised to bear seventy percent of the pre-development money and grain, provide skilled miners and mining technology, but also secretly promised that in addition to the half share, the Pingxi palace will take out half of the money separately for three consecutive years as a reward for the line Guoan father and son. At the same time, Hu Guozhu also solemnly promised that as long as the father and son of the Lian family handed over the title deed to the Pingxi Palace, then all the pressure from the outside world could not be made by the father and son of the Pingxi Palace. But alas, the miracle still did not appear.

The resistance really came from the stubborn surname of the line Guoan, and the conditions offered by the Pingxi Palace, even the insatiable gluttony of two horses and one gold were very satisfied, and felt that it was fair. But Lian Guoan just refused to accept it, insisting that Guangxi was the Dingnan Palace, and Erma Yijin and Wu Sangui both wanted to get a piece of the pie, but they had to give Kong Sizhen a part, otherwise, when they came to Jiuquan in the future, what face would they have to see the prince of Dingnan?

In the face of this situation, if Yu Xuan was a disobedient son, then he would have signed an agreement with Hu Guozhu and others behind his father, who was about to die, but Yu Xuan was a rare filial son, and if he didn't nod his head, he would not dare to be the master privately, and as a result, the negotiations naturally came to a complete deadlock. Hu Guozhu, Lu Fatzi and Erma Yijin were so anxious that they stomped their feet, but they were helpless, and they were helpless to take Guoan's bull temper.

After a few days of stalemate, Hu Guozhu, who had just come to Nanning, was better, but Erma and Yijin, who had been delayed for too long in Nanning, couldn't sit still at all, so he could only hurriedly negotiate a temporary agreement with Hu Guozhu, negotiating how to divide the spoils and how to join forces to exclude Kong Sizhen and Xiao Mazi from the distribution of interests, and then they each returned to the Yamen to deal with the official affairs that had piled up, leaving Hu Guozhu and others to continue to negotiate with Lian Guoan in Nanning City. But even so, Lian Guoan still refused to let go, and demanded that Kong Sizhen must be given three percent, otherwise Lianguo Anning would let the Phoenix Mountain silver mine be deserted there, and would never agree to the joint mining of the Heping West Palace.

After a stalemate for nearly a month, after failing to persuade Lian Guoan again, Hu Guozhu came to Lu Fatzi's room dejectedly and said to Lu Fatzi: "No, I can't do anything about this old thing, and I can't leave Yunnan for a long time, so all the things here will be handed over to you." Anyway, with the temper of the old thing, you are kind to him, he should not sell you, and in the future, as the envoy of the Pingxi Palace, you can directly negotiate with them. ”

"Uncle, the little nephew also has no way to take the old general." Fat Lu smiled bitterly and said: "In the past few days, I haven't put any effort into front of Yu Xuan, and I have even used Qi Yu to let him roll in front of Lu Guoan, but Lan Guoan just won't let go." ”

"That's why I said a long time ago, who has no loyal ministers? The old things of the country are not bought with silver. Hu Guozhu spread his hands and said helplessly: "In this way, I will make the decision for Lao Taishan, and I can let Kong Sizhen divide it into one percent, but the condition is that the imperial court is absolutely not allowed to interfere and turn the Phoenix Mountain Silver Mine into a government-run silver mine, you take this to talk to the old thing." ”

"The little nephew can only say that he tries his best, but he is not sure." Fat Lu smiled bitterly, and sighed intentionally or unintentionally: "Actually, we don't need to be so embarrassed at all, as long as the world is the prince's, what is a mere Phoenix Mountain silver mine?" ”

Hu Guozhu was silent for a long time before he said: "Let's talk about this later." Now you try your best to do it, of course it's best if you can do it, and we can't blame you if you can't do it, after all, this silver mine is really not ours at the moment. Damn, why is this silver mine not in Yunnan, but in Guangxi? With such a big piece of fat in your mouth, you don't have a chance to eat it, it's so fucking uncomfortable! ”

When he set off the next morning, of course, Lu Fatzi had to lead a few dogs to the outside of the city to see Hu Guozhu off, but to the surprise of Lu Fatzi and Hu Guozhu, the already sick and thin as a skeleton, Lian Guoan also came to the outside of the city with Yu Xuan and others to see Hu Guozhu off in person.

At the beginning, Hu Guozhu and Lu Fatzi still had a glimmer of hope, doubting whether the old thing of Lian Guoan would suddenly figure it out after hearing the news of Hu Guozhu's resignation, and was ready to completely abandon his ruthless and unrighteous heroine. But what made Hu Guozhu crooked his nose was that Lian Guoan actually pulled Hu Guozhu with his skinny old hand, coughed and said: "General Jinwu, bother to bring peace to the prince of Pingxi, by the way, please tell the prince of Pingxi, the old man also knows that Sigege has many places to be sorry for him, and this time he even sent someone to assassinate Lu Yifeng Lord Lu, but please Prince Pingxi for the sake of the face of the old prince of our Dingnan Palace, let Sigege go once, don't drive her to a corner, just teach her a lesson." If General Jinwu and Prince Pingxi are still angry, the old man can kowtow to you on behalf of Sigege to make amends. ”

Hearing Lian Guoan's words, Hu Guozhu and Lu Fatzi were completely speechless, and they didn't even have the strength to sarcastically ridicule, so they could only sigh secretly - how could such an old thing not be in Pingxi Palace? In desperation, Hu Guozhu had no choice but to cry and say: "Old general, please rest assured, your words will definitely be brought by the juniors, old general, you must also take care of your health, the medicine prescribed by Doctor Zhu for you, you must also take ...... on time." ”

"General Jingo! General Kingo! At this time, the roar from a distance interrupted Hu Guozhu and Lian Guoan's politeness, and then, a war horse that was foaming at the mouth galloped from the official road, and when it was less than a hundred steps away from Hu Guozhu and others, the exhausted war horse suddenly fell to the ground, and immediately the dusty knight fell to the ground, and then jumped up, and even the war horse didn't even bother to look at it, and rushed directly to Hu Guozhu's side. When he saw the man's face clearly, Hu Guozhu's face couldn't help but change greatly, "Lu shrimp?!" ”

"The prince's personal guard?" Fat Lu was also taken aback, and blurted out: "Something big must have happened!" ”

Stumbled in front of Hu Guozhu, Lu Shrimp only took out a letter from his arms, and before he could hand it to Hu Guozhu, the person had already stumbled and fell to the ground, and fainted directly, Hu Guozhu was shocked, and quickly shouted: "Quick, help him down to rescue!" ”

Saying that, Hu Guozhu hurriedly snatched the letter from Lu Shrimp's hand, opened it and read it in a hurry, Hu Guozhu's face was already completely white, Lu Fatzi just wanted to come up and look at it together, but Hu Guozhu grabbed his fat hand, and said with a blue face: "Yifeng, follow me back to Yunnan, immediately, now!" ”

"What's wrong?" Fat Lu asked suspiciously.

Hu Guozhu glanced at the father and son of Lian Guoan, lowered his voice and said: "The emperor has sent a secret envoy to the south with a holy decree to Nanning to arrest you!" ”

"Xiao Mazi sent someone to arrest me?" Fat Lu's face also changed greatly, and he exclaimed in his heart, "How is it possible? What went wrong there? I'm showing a flaw there?! ”

"What are you doing? Want to stay here and die?! Hu Guozhu yelled, "Follow me immediately!" ”

"General Jinwu, Lord Lu, what's wrong?" Yu Xuan also saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly rushed over to ask.

"Boom, boom, boom......." At about the same time, on the official road northeast of Nanning, there was suddenly a sound of dense horses' hooves like thunder, and at the same time, smoke was billowing from the northeast, and it seemed that a large number of cavalry were coming from the official road from Nanning to Liuzhou.

Just when everyone was surprised and inexplicable, another team of Nanning cavalry rushed over first, and the leader always bowed to the father and son of Lian Guoan on the horse: "Marshal Qiyu, Major General Qiyu, Dai Liangchen, the commander of Guilin, personally led 800 cavalry, and escorted a Qin sent to my Nanning, saying that he brought the emperor's holy decree, and asked you to immediately capture Lu Yifeng and Lord Lu on the spot, and you are not allowed to escape!" ”

"What?!" Yu Xuan and countless other Nanning generals screamed at the same time. Over there, Lu Fatzi, Hu Guozhu and the others were even more pale, and they didn't expect Xiao Mazi's messenger to come so quickly, and the early warning messenger from the Pingxi Palace's Mansion arrived at the same time.

"Say it again, Dai Liangchen, who are they coming to arrest?" Yu Xuan stepped out of the crowd and asked the scout in disbelief. The general arched his hand and replied: "Major General Hui, they are here to arrest Lord Lu Yifeng, and Lord Qincha also issued a holy decree to ask us to take down Lord Lu immediately!" Otherwise, we will bear all the consequences! ”

As if struck by lightning, Yu Xuan couldn't help but take two steps back, and when he turned around and saw Fat Lu again, Yu Xuan screamed, "What are you still doing?" Don't run yet! Ride my horse and run! Listen to the voice, they are still four or five miles away from here, you still have a chance to run, run! ”

(To be continued)