At three o'clock, there was no one on Yongfeng South Street.

Because the faceless meeting was about to be held, the southern battalion of the Tiande Right Army set up a checkpoint on the street in front of the gate to check the people entering and leaving. At this moment, there are only two soldiers on duty at the level, chatting and waiting for their companions to come and change shifts.

There was a creaking sound of cars in the night, and the two of them suddenly became nervous.

"Who?" The older soldier snapped off his drink, and at the same time prepared to let his legs slip away.

"We are the people of the Assassin's House." With an answer, a black oilcloth carriage stopped six or seven feet away, and the front of the carriage was indeed hung with the official lamp dedicated to the Assassin's Mansion. A green-robed officer jumped out of the car and beckoned to the two and walked over.

When the soldier saw that it was the car of the Assassin's Mansion, he relaxed his vigilance. The older soldier asked, "It's so late, where is my brother on business?" The little official smiled: "On the order of Lord Changshi, transport a rare object out of the city to Hengsai Town." Do the two brothers want to open their eyes? The second pawn was interested when he heard this, and followed the little official to the front of the car together.

Suddenly, two figures sprang out from behind the car, slid behind the two soldiers, and without waiting for them to scream, they knocked them unconscious, tied their hands and feet, gagged their mouths, dragged them up and threw them behind a tree on the side of the road. Then two men in the right army uniforms picked up the spears on the ground and stood on the sentry post in front of the camp gate.

The carriage continued forward with a screeching sound, and when it came to the south gate, the little official jumped out of the car and shook the lantern a few times towards the dark south gate. Suddenly, a lantern also appeared on the city tower, three times on the left, three times on the right, and after shaking a few times, the inner city gate opened with a muffled sound. With a smile on his face, the little official tapped his hand twice on the carriage.

The carriage slowly drove into the urn city, and the inner city gate suddenly closed.

"What do you want to do? This is the car of the Assassin's House! It's your own people! ”

The little official shouted at the blue and white night sky above his head, but he was afraid in his heart and had no confidence. No one paid attention to him, the city was dark and silent, and the carriage was lonely like a flat boat in the eye of the storm, and there was a risk that the boat would capsize at any time.

After a cup of tea, the inner city gate opened with a "squeak", and a small colonel walked in with a lantern: "Your Excellency, Judge, please ask Zhang Changshi to talk about the city." The car door opened, Zhang Cheng, who was dressed in civilian clothes, jumped out of the car first, the green-robed little official took the pad, and a red-faced girl helped a white-haired old man to get out of the car.

The arrow tower at the south gate was heavily guarded, and more than 20 patrol battalion soldiers were tied and knelt in front of the duty room on the left side of the arrow tower with their arms tied, and everyone was ashamed to see Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng stopped and looked at the soldiers and bowed deeply: "I hurt you." ”

Yang Hao greeted him in front of the gatehouse, and bowed to the white-haired old man: "Presumably this is Gu senior." ”

The old man replied: "The old man is Gu Zan, I don't know what advice the judge has when he summons him in the middle of the night?" Yang Hao smiled slightly, let him aside, and said, "Please serve tea in the hall." The old man thanked him, strode into the arrow tower, and sat in the main guest seat, Zhang Cheng and the girl sat next to him.

Yang Hao asked the girl with a smile: "The girl is Liuyun?" The girl nodded and said, "It's rare that the adult still remembers the name of the little girl." ”

Yang Hao smiled: "How can you forget, at the beginning of the year, the girl broke into here alone with a knife, opened the city gate and let Yang Hao enter the city." Yang Hao was blocked in front of the south gate of the right army, and it was the girl who used a little trick to help Yang Hao pass the pass. How dare Yang Hao forget such kindness? ”

Liuyun sneered and said, "At that time, we were still friends. ”

Yang Hao sneered and asked, "The girl is saying that we are enemies now?" ”

Gu Zan snorted coldly and said, "The old man is a rough man, and he has never liked to twist and turn. The adults have taken the three of us into custody, and they must have known their identities. Dare to ask what your lord will do with the remnants of our three ghost gangs? ”

"I want to ask Mr. Gu to go to Chang'an to create another ghost gang." Yang Hao replied more directly.

The three of them were all shocked when they heard this, and Gu Zan asked cautiously, "Aren't the adults the most hated by the ghost gang?" ”

Yang Hao smiled and did not answer directly, but started with another thing:

"'Steal from the south, rob from the north, cheat from the west, cheat from the east, and only the middle is clear'. The Ghost Gang is not monolithic, there are more than a dozen factions, large and small, and among the various factions, only your Qing faction is still clean. You earn your hard-earned money by taking care of people's homes, bodyguarding goods, mediating disputes, and spying on news. I've heard that you're pretty good at finding out the truth. In Yongfeng City, if you lose a needle, as long as you ask for help, you are guaranteed to be able to find it, and the price is fair, and Tong Su is not bullied. ”

Gu Zan couldn't help nodding, he wasn't sure what Yang Hao meant by saying these things for a while, so he didn't answer. Yang Hao continued:

"I heard of a blind mother-in-law who asked you to help her find an old incense burner that had been handed down by her for one hundred and twenty-eight dollars. You took great pains to find the incense burner, and spent a hundred and twenty taels of silver before and after, and when the incense burner was in your hands, you found that it was a rare treasure, worth a thousand gold. Some people will advise you to keep the censer in your own hands, or to sell it, deduct one hundred and twenty taels of silver, and return it to its owner. Mr. Gu didn't say a word and returned the incense burner to his wife. It's amazing how faithful you are. ”

Gu Zan looked proud, waved his hand and smiled: "That is the biggest loss-making transaction Gu has made, and it is embarrassing." ”

At this point, Gu Zan had roughly seen Yang Hao's intentions, so he asked directly: "Do you want the old man to act as your eyes and ears in the capital and find out the news?" ”

Yang Hao smiled and nodded.

Gu Zan groaned: "Chang'an is the foundation of the world, and it is not easy to live ......"

Yang Hao is willing to give 30,000 taels of silver to support Mr. Gu. In the future, if there is any trouble, there will be another reward. In addition, General Meng has promised to appoint Zhang Cheng as the Chengying Lang of the Tiande Army stationed in Shangdu Jinjuan, and he can assist you in secret. ”

When Zhang Cheng heard this, he was very shocked, he didn't expect that Yang Hao not only did not pursue himself, but also entrusted the Jinju Academy to undertake the important responsibility of Ying Lang, Cheng Ying Lang's official residence was eight grades, and his status in the Jinju Academy was second only to the Zhiyuan. The Tiande Army's garrison in Shangdu has always been borne by the three cities of Fengzhou, so the weight of his speech in the Jinyuan is no less than that of Qin Bang, the prefect.

"How can Gu Zan repay the kindness of the Lord Gang for the reinvention of the Ghost Gang?"

"Please Mr. Gu tell the second leader of the Ghost Gang that Yongfeng has become a place of right and wrong, and Yang Hao doesn't want to see anything unpleasant happen."

"Hahaha......" Gu Zan let out a hearty laugh, got up and said: "Lord Yang is a cheerful person, Gu Mou also said something refreshing, the old man must persuade the second leader to quit Yongfeng, so as not to cause any more trouble to the adult." He also said: "From now on, the Chang'an Ghost Gang will be driven by Lord Yang." Yang Hao was overjoyed, handed over 30,000 taels of silver to Gu Zan in person, and released twenty soldiers of the patrol battalion.

Yang Hao stood as the leader of the city saw the carriage creak and disappear into the vast wilderness of the night. I suddenly felt a little sad in my heart. Although I have known Zhang Cheng for a short time, I also feel very close to him, and I also appreciate his shrewdness and ability. But the mystery cases that occurred one after another after entering Yongfeng made Yang Hao doubt his identity. First of all, Hou Jie and other fifty people disappeared mysteriously, Meng Bochang still knew the truth in Fengzhou, and he was kept in the dark as the captain of the prison gate, which is unjustifiable in any case.

Then there is the incense case, Zhang Cheng kept saying that he wanted to find out, but in the end, he put all the blame on the concubine who fled without a trace, saying that she left incense to harm people in order to avenge Meng Wei.

Finally, there is the kidnapping case of Lu Rui, Lu Rui's disappearance and the carriage of the Shifu is at the scene, and after Lu Rui was returned, Zhang Cheng got the news and hurried over.

All indications indicate that Zhang Cheng has some kind of close connection with these three things, and he may not be the mastermind behind the scenes, but he must know who is the mastermind behind the scenes. Yang Hao remembered what Meng Bochang had said to him, and he sent someone to follow Zhang Cheng and found that he was really entangled with the ghost gang. From this, Yang Hao can conclude that these three mysterious cases were planned by the ghost gang behind the scenes.

When Hou Jie's disappearance occurred, Yongfeng's overall situation was undecided, and the outcome was still between two sides, and they abducted Hou Jie to fish in troubled waters. The planning of the Mixiang case is to give himself a disadvantage and warn himself not to infringe on their interests. When they kidnapped Lu Rui, Yongfeng was already in their own hands, and this was their effort to rescue Qingpi. Yang Hao believes that if Zhang Cheng hadn't intervened at the last moment, they would have sent someone to find him for a showdown.

Zhang Cheng plays a very delicate role in this, he can't stop the ghost gang's actions, and he doesn't even know about it beforehand, but he can always quickly intervene after the fact to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

Could it be that he is the legendary second leader?

Yang Hao told Meng Bochang everything he knew, and to his surprise, Meng Bochang knew that Zhang Cheng was a member of the Ghost Gang from the beginning. At the beginning, Zeng Chongyang and Meng Bochang decided to cooperate with the ghost gang in order to ensure the success of the uprising, and they chose Zhang Cheng, who stepped on both black and white, as the object of cooperation, and promised Zhang Cheng that after the success of the uprising, he would be guaranteed to do the long history of Yongfeng, and the "business" of the ghost gang could also be extended to Fengzhou and Feng'an.

Zhang Cheng persuaded the leader of the Ghost Gang, Qingpi, to participate in the uprising, but this move was resisted by the elders of the Ghost Gang, and in the end, Qingpi only agreed to allow Zhang Cheng to participate in the uprising in his personal capacity, and promised that the Ghost Gang would remain neutral in the uprising.

After Meng Bochang and Zeng Chongyang parted ways, Zhang Cheng and the Ghost Gang lost their use value. In order to gain a firm foothold in Yongfeng, Meng Bochang accused Qingpi of planning the "Hou Jie disappearance case" behind the scenes, violating the original promise of neutrality. He put pressure on Yang Hao to completely solve the problem of the ghost gang before the faceless meeting on the eighth day of the first month of March. Yang Hao also hated the ghost gang's human trafficking, and he and Meng Bochang did not have the slightest conflict in liquidating the ghost gang, but he and Meng Bochang had differences of opinion on how to deal with Zhang Cheng.

Meng Bochang advocated cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, and executed Zhang Cheng and Qingpi and others. Yang Hao had another idea: the ghost gang was not as vulnerable as imagined, and after the arrest of the thirteen leaders including Qingpi, they could still kidnap Lu Rui on the street in broad daylight. Moreover, there were more than 20 soldiers in the patrol battalion, who had always been regarded as his confidant, who were willing to risk life and death to help Zhang Cheng escape.

It is a mysterious and terrifying force that once chosen to be their enemy, it will be a nightmare that will never go away. On the other hand, if you can turn enemies into friends and collect them for your own use, it is tantamount to adding wings to a tiger.

Gu Zan used to be the leader of the ghost gang, and he was the leader of the Qing faction, and at the moment of the life and death of the ghost gang, as a senior in the gang, Gu Zan planned to kidnap Lu Rui in order to put pressure on him to rescue Qingpi, which was a logical thing. And Zhang Cheng can make Gu Zan change his plan, and then persuade him and Liuyun to flee with him, then he should be the second leader of the Ghost Gang!

As soon as Qingpi dies, Zhang Cheng will become the leader of the ghost gang, and Qingliu will be in charge, and the ghost gang will have the opportunity to abandon evil and turn to good.

Of course, Yang Hao also knew that Meng Bochang would no longer let the Ghost Gang stay in Yongfeng, so he suggested to Meng Bochang that Zhang Cheng replace Qin Bang and serve as the prefect of the Tiande Army stationed in Chang'an, and let him create another Ghost Gang in Chang'an, which can not only move the disaster outward, but also have more eyes and ears to watch the court.

Meng Bochang finally agreed with Yang Hao's idea, but out of distrust of Zhang Cheng, he did not agree to remove Qin Bang, but let Qin Bang and Zhang Cheng contain each other and supervise each other.

――――

On the eighth day of the first month of March, the faceless meeting of the Baoli Society was held at the Chiayi Inn outside the north gate of the Yongfeng Thorn History Mansion. The so-called faceless meeting means that all participants are wearing masks to participate in the meeting, and without the permission of the host, no one is allowed to speak at will, and the violator will be immediately executed.

Yang Hao and Meng Bochang were unable to attend the official meeting, one was busy waiting for everyone to eat, drink and Lazar, and the other rode a horse and carried a knife to guard. The faceless meeting lasted for three days, and Yang Hao was terrified for three days. The meeting on the third day lasted late at night, and at the end of the meeting, someone called him and Meng Bochang into the venue.

The venue was renovated from three upper rooms, which can accommodate 200 people at the same time. There were only eighty-seven attendees, and the chief steward and seven sabers sat on a high platform at the east end, and behind them was a brocade screen, behind which a secret door was opened, and from the secret door they rode through an alley to the north to the south gate of the patrol camp.

The golden mask worn by the Grand Governor was very eye-catching in the candlelight, the seven swords surrounding him wore silver masks, and the seventy-nine horizontal swords under him were all brass masks. There are also many halberds who came to Yongfeng this time, but none of them are qualified to enter the venue, and Yang Hao is the only one in the venue who wears a black iron mask.

The two of them stood solemnly under the stage, and a saber stood up and said, "The chief manager ordered, Meng Bochang is promoted to a third-grade high-level horizontal sword." Yang Hao, who is holding the halberd of the ninth grade, was promoted from the fifth grade horizontal knife. ”

After saying this, everyone stood in awe.

The chief manager walked down the steps and came to Meng Bochang and Yang Hao. A horizontal knife warrior held a tray with a bright yellow satin base and two jade tokens on it, an oval shield engraved on the front of the token, the word "stabbing horse" engraved on the shield, and the back was decorated with two crossed knives. The only difference between the two tokens is that the tassels of the subfixes are different, the tassels of Meng Bochang's token are purple, and Yang Hao's tassels are red.

The chief steward bent down and hung the jade plaque on the belts of the two of them, and asked them, "What is the duty of the stabbing horse?" ”

"Assist the Holy Lord and revitalize the Tang Dynasty." The crowd in the hall shouted in unison.

――――――――――――――

Note: In the Tang Dynasty, the feudal towns were all placed in the capital division, and the generals were the masters, which was said to be left behind. In the twelfth year of the Tang Dynasty (777), it was renamed the Shangdu Jinjuyuan, referred to as the Jinjuyuan. With the prefect as the prefect and Cheng Yinglang as the deputy prefect, he is in charge of the newspaper and delivers the chapter and the edict is transferred. Since the Jinsoin was established for the local feudal towns, and the expenses were borne by the local government, the Jinsoin also served as a gateway for the local feudal towns to monitor the central government and other places, and regularly reported important military and political information about the central and capital events, such as the activities of the emperor, the emperor's edicts, the appointment and dismissal of major officials, the memoirs of ministers, and other important information.

Note: The text Chinese is similar to today's checks.