Yan Zhuang took a piece of jade pendant and looked at it carefully, this jade pendant fell from the young man, and was sent to Li Qing'an's table by the soldiers, this is a full moon-shaped jade pendant, the size is like a pear, the texture is warm, the whole body is turquoise without a trace of flaws, what is even more surprising is to put it at the light, there is a clear white dragon in the jade, and Li Qing'an's gem has the same effect, this dragon is naturally formed by the internal lines of the jade pendant, lifelike, exquisite.

Yan Zhuang's face gradually became serious, he put down the jade pendant and said to Li Qing'an: "What does the envoy think of this jade pendant?" ”

"This piece of jade can't be worn by ordinary people."

Li Qing'an took the jade pendant, looked at it again and said with a smile: "It stands to reason that there are white impurities in this jade pendant, which makes its value plummet, and this white impurity is a dragon pattern, which surpasses the jade price itself, which makes it cover with a veil of mystery, I think this jade pendant, its origin should not be simple." ”

Yan Zhuang bowed his head and pondered silently, for a long time, he hesitated: "I once read a book of prophecies, saying that the brothers are up the wall, the jade dragon falls and the leaves are broken, there are rumors among the people, after the change of the Xuanwu Gate, the eighteen families built by the prince will ignore the safety of the five sons of the prince, and desperately guard Concubine Chang to escape, it is because Concubine Chang has the flesh and blood in her belly, according to rumors, the eighteen families will flee to the broken leaves, of course, these are all folk rumors, the court has never recognized it, but the Han and Tang Dynasties will rise in the broken leaves, and there are the ambitions of the world, I faintly thought of this folk rumor, But I have never dared to believe it, and this dragon-patterned jade pendant just confirms the proverb of 'jade dragon falling leaves'....."

Speaking of this, Yan Zhuang suddenly stopped talking, Li Qingan was listening attentively, and when he didn't see the following, he asked, "Then what?" Why don't you say it. ”

Yan Zhuang stared at Li Qing'an, and after a long time, he said slowly: "If the folk rumors are true, and the people after the completion of the construction fled to the broken leaves, if the Han and Tang Dynasties really supported the secret organization of the construction, if the young man who was caught was really the successor of the construction, how should Jun Dang deal with it?" ”

For ordinary people, the most common way to deal with it is to suppress the Han and Tang Dynasties and escort the descendants of the crown prince to Chang'an to invite merit, but if this is the case, Yan Zhuang will not ask himself like this.

'Yes! If so, what should you do? ’

Li Qingan looked at Yan Zhuang in confusion, in Yan Zhuang's small eyes, he saw a trace of unusually bright look, this is a hint given to him by Yan Zhuang, and it is also an expectation for him, Li Qingan seems to understand something, he doesn't say it thoroughly, so he smiled and said: "These are our guesses, what is the truth, we need to interrogate and talk about it." ”

He immediately turned back and ordered his soldiers, "Take that young man to my basement." ”

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When Beiting City was built, dozens of basements of all sizes were built at the same time, some were prisons, and most of them were warehouses for placing important documents or valuables, and there were also two basements under Li Qing'an's Jiedu Xingyuan, one was to place archival documents, and the other was to place the gold and silver coins minted by Beiting, and the entrances to the two basements, one was located in the staff room, and the other was in Li Qing'an's study.

Half an hour later, sixteen guards brought the blindfolded young man to Li Qing'an's study, and took him directly down to the basement, as the iron door of the basement slammed shut, the young man's blindfold was removed, and in front of him was a dark world, rough rock walls, bean-sized lamps, and a depressing atmosphere due to poor air flow, the atmosphere of the entire basement made people feel a chill, and let them come to an isolated world.

There was a hint of fear in the young man's eyes, and when he was first caught, there was a kind of anger and uneasiness in his heart, and as two hours passed, his uneasiness gradually turned into a kind of fear, and he thought of death.

The soldier grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down a dozen steps, and a huge iron cage was placed in the middle of the stone chamber, and before he could react, he was pushed into the iron cage by a strong force, 'Bang dang! The cage was closed, and the young man's legs trembled violently, and he slowly collapsed to the ground.

There was a sound of footsteps, Li Qing'an, accompanied by four personal guards, slowly walked over from next door, it was his twenty henchmen who participated in the interrogation, this matter was very important, he didn't dare to be negligent, Li Qing'an stood beside the iron cage and looked at this young man, he was in his early twenties, his skin was fair, smooth, and his hands were delicate, which was extremely rare in Anxi's court, and it could be seen that he was a pampered person, Li Qing'an's gaze seemed to have a special penetrating power, and from his timid and immature eyes, Li Qing'an saw through his fearful heart.

"Bold! Are you going to rebel? ”

Li Qing'an suddenly shouted angrily, and the young man trembled with fright, sat on the ground with his buttocks, his lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word.

A pro-soldier brought a circle chair, Li Qingan sat down, took a cup of tea and took a sip slowly, and asked, "Name?" ”

"Lee... 珰"

The man lowered his head and whispered, he didn't dare to look at Li Qing'an's sharp gaze, Li Qing'an nodded, this name should be true, and he asked again: "Where are you from, why did you appear in Lingxi Tea House?" ”

"I—I'm from Broken Leaves, I'm coming... Come buy tea. ”

Li Qingan laughed, those two women are the concubines of the shopkeeper Song, and the shopkeeper Song would actually use his concubine to entertain guests? It's no wonder that the business of Lingxi Tea House is good, and the answer is really wonderful.

His laughter suddenly stopped, his eyes stared at him coldly, and he approached him word by word: "You are the descendant of Li Jiancheng!" ”

The young man shuddered, how would they know? Could it be that Shopkeeper Song betrayed himself?

"I... No! His voice was unusually low, and he couldn't hold it anymore.

Li Qingan waved his hand, several personal soldiers grabbed a Hu man who was tied up from next door, this is a death row prisoner brought from the prison, dragged him to the young man, across the fence, the soldier stepped on the face of the Hu man on the ground, suddenly pulled out the horizontal knife, the cold light flashed, a miserable scream, in front of the young man chopped off the head, the blood in the neck cavity splashed to the ground, the soldier shook the head in front of the young man, looked at the hideous face, looked at the headless corpse that was still bleeding beside him, the young man was so frightened that his heart was broken, screamed, and fainted.

"It's useless, wake him up!"

A bucket of water' whoop! The ground was splashed on the young man, and the soldier quickly moved the dead body away, turning on the light a little, and after a long time, the young man slowly opened his eyes, and the dead body next to him was gone, the light became brighter, and the smile of the officer who interrogated him softened.

"I am Li Qing'an, the envoy of the Beiting Festival, your life and death are in my hands, you confess honestly, I will not torture you, treat you as a royal courtesy, and when Li Huichun comes to pay a ransom to me, I will let you go back, it's as simple as that, say it! If you say that, you won't die. ”

Li Jue is a flower that grew up in a greenhouse, pampered since childhood, was held in the palm of the elders, grew up, never suffered the slightest grievance, developed his unruly surname, this time he is the first time he went out of the house, came to the Tang Dynasty to travel, but happened to hit Li Qing'an's arrest, he is not deeply involved in the world, simple and naïve, can not withstand Li Qing'an's coercion and temptation, and finally confessed as it is.

"I live in Broken Leaves, and since I was a child, they told me that I was the fourth grandson of Prince Yin, and let me inherit my great-grandfather's legacy, and the jade pendant that you took away is my great-grandfather's relic."

Li Qing'an squinted and smiled, and sure enough, as Yan Zhuang expected, Li Jiancheng's descendants, he asked again: "Who are they?" Will Han Tang? ”

"They are the descendants of my great-grandfather's generals, that is, Li Huichun, the Han and Tang Societies are actually just shells, in fact, they are called the Hidden Dragon Society, and the Song shopkeeper is also a member of the Hidden Dragon Society, there are only twenty-two of them in total."

Li Qingxin was a little surprised, he didn't expect to get all the confessions so easily, he couldn't help but glance at this young man again, is this Li Jiancheng's descendant? He sighed secretly and asked, "Are you the only descendant of Prince Yin?" ”

"There are also some sisters, the man is just me, and my father is also a single lineman, he died of illness last year."

Speaking of this, Li Jue clasped his palms together and pleaded: "General Li, I told you everything I know, you let me go!" ”

"Huh! Rest assured, I'm the one who speaks. ”

Li Qingan said to his soldiers: "Keep him in solitary form, keep him on strict guard, and no one will be allowed to visit." ”

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Broken leaves, the most brilliant pearl in the middle of the river, the Tang Dynasty was once the westernmost city, the wind and sand have quietly covered up her charm, since the seventh year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, after the Western Turks invited the broken leaves, the Tang Dynasty lost control of the broken leaves, and thirty years have passed in a flash, her later master Tuqi Shi people from a strong time, to the final division and decay, the Tuqi Shi people have been unable to keep the fertile and rich land of the Broken Leaf River.

Some smaller forces, such as the Sogdians of Shiguo, the Qarluqs, and even the Tibetans and Tocharians, all coveted it, and a storm for the Broken Leaves River was quietly brewing in this land.

Broken Leaf City is currently occupied by the Huang surnamed Tuqi Shi people, the Broken Leaf City is mixed with ethnic groups, Han, Turkic, Turkish, Turkish, Sogdian, Qarluq and other colors are distributed, Han people mainly live in the west of the city, most of them have returned to the Tang Dynasty for decades, for example, Li Bai is one of the Han people who returned from Broken Leaves, and now there are thousands of Han people living in the city, mainly in business, most of them are Han and Tang Hui people, among which the core of the Han and Tang Dynasty Hidden Dragon Hui people are active in Broken Leaves.

In a mansion in the west of Broken Leaf City, the Hidden Dragon Society is holding an emergency meeting, and the news of the change in the North Court and the arrest of Gongzi Jue in the North Court was transmitted to the Broken Leaf by the carrier pigeon two days later, and the Hidden Dragon Society was in a mess, and in a room with closed doors and windows, more than a dozen people were arguing fiercely.

"Why did Childe sneak away to the North Garden, and who should bear this responsibility?"

A red-faced old man with a sixtieth birthday was grumpy, and he kept slapping the table with his cane, "He is the only bloodline left by Prince Yin, if he has three longs and two shorts, how can we explain to the ancestors?" ”

"Luo Weng, Jue'er has been spoiled by us since he was a child, and he has been locked up in the courtyard of the deep mansion all day long and ignores the world, if he is not allowed to go out to hone and hone, how can he inherit the will of Prince Yin, let him go out to see the world is what we all agree on, how can anyone be held accountable now."

"But now that he's been arrested, if he accidentally divulges the secret of the Hidden Dragon Society, will the hard work of our hundreds of generations be ruined in his hands?"

There was silence in the room for a moment, and at this time, Li Huichun, who had been silent, said in a hoarse voice: "Now is not the time to be held responsible, we should discuss, how can we save Gongzi back, Chang Jin, you have a good relationship with Li Qing'an, you can talk about it, how could Li Qing'an suddenly arrest the people of the Han and Tang Associations?" ”

Chang Jin sighed heavily, he knew why Li Qingan would turn his face, in fact, when they decided to expand in Beiting, he raised objections, the ambition of the Han and Tang Guild was too big, and it would take a year to develop 10,000 members, you know, the Han and Tang Guild had only developed less than 10,000 people in Datang for decades.

"We are going too fast, the unscrupulous expansion of the Han and Tang Dynasty will anger him, we should not have put our hands into the army too early, at the beginning, if you had listened to my advice, there would not have been such serious consequences, and now our hard work in Beiting is all over."

"So what do you think we should do now? Watching Childe die? ”

"Nope! Of course not. ”

Chang Jin shook his head and said: "Now we have two options to choose from, the first plan is that when Li Qingan only knows about the Han Tang Society and does not know the Hidden Dragon Society, we will pay a lot of money to ransom the people of the Han Tang Society, including Gongzi, and assure him that the Han Tang Society will not develop in Beiting." ”

"What if he already knew about the Hidden Dragon Society?"

"Then we have only one choice, agree to all the conditions he offers, and even pull him into the Hidden Dragon Society."

Chang Jin's last sentence was like an explosion of the pot, more than a dozen people quarreled, some people agreed, some people resolutely opposed, those in favor of Li Qing'an's power, and those who opposed it were to maintain the bloodline of the Hidden Dragon Society.

"Quiet! Be quiet! ”

Li Huichun knocked heavily on the table, it was still useless, the two factions quarreled so much that their faces were red, and at this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, and a family member said loudly outside the door: "There is an urgent matter from the North Court!" ”

The room was quiet for a while, Li Huichun opened the door and took the urgent mail, he opened it and looked at it, his face suddenly changed greatly, he stood there dumbfounded, the pigeon letter floated to the ground, Chang Jin picked up the letter, he was also stunned, the letter turned out to be written by Li Qingan, and there was only one sentence on it.

"Gongzi is in my hands, please come to the north court for an interview."

Everyone looked at each other, no one thought that it would really become such a situation, and after a while, Li Huichun sighed, "We should think that if the son falls into his hands, how can he keep the secret." ”

He turned back to everyone and said: "It's a matter of the life and death of the son, and the fate of our Hidden Dragon Society, I want to negotiate with Li Qing'an in person, now please follow me to the spirit of the Hidden Prince to ask for a sign, and take a look at the instructions given to us by the Hidden Prince and the ancestors." ”

Everyone came to the Hidden Dragon Temple, which is known as the Han and Tang Ancestral Hall, which enshrines the spiritual seat of the crown prince Li Jiancheng and their ancestors, which is guarded by their children, and no one outside the Hidden Dragon Society is allowed to enter.

The spiritual seat of the hidden prince Li Jiancheng is located in the middle, there is not a word on the spirit card, Li Huichun saluted three incense sticks, led everyone to kneel in front of the spirit of Jiancheng, and prayed silently.

He took a box of signs and shook them in front of the spirit, 'Bang! With a sound, a stick jumped out of the box, Li Huichun hurriedly picked up the stick, and everyone gathered around, only to see that the sign read: 'Broken leaves return to Tang, and the hidden dragon ascends to heaven.'" ’

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Ten days later, the incident of the raid on the Han and Tang Societies gradually subsided in Beiting, most of the arrested Han and Tang Hui people were released, and the seized shops were reopened one after another, only Lingxi Tea House still did not move, because Lingxi Tea House monopolized the tea business in the Western Regions, there was a tea shortage in Beiting, tea was a necessity for their lives in the Western Regions, and the emergence of the tea shortage made Beiting fall into a dilemma of no tea.

At this moment, a new tea house was suddenly opened in Jinman County, called Chang'an Tea House, a large number of tea cakes were supplied, and the price was one percent cheaper than Lingxi Tea House, the guys were all women, all of them were beautiful, and the service was enthusiastic.

On this afternoon, a group of people came to Jinman County, led by Li Huichun, the proprietor of Lingxi Tea House, and Chang Jin, Luo Pinfang, Song Quanyi and other core figures of the Hidden Dragon Society.

When they passed by the Lingxi Tea House, Li Huichun stared blankly for a long time, the gate of the tea house was still pasted with the seal of the government, and several soldiers were standing guard at the door.

Li Huichun sighed, after all, it was the industry he created single-handedly, and he was originally going to develop in Beiting, but he didn't expect it to be closed down in the end.

Li Huichun's eldest son comforted him and said: "Father, we have only lost Beiting, Hexi, Anxi and Lingxi are still under our control, and the problem is not very big. ”

Li Huichun smiled bitterly and said: "I heard that the imperial court is preparing to open a tea and horse market with the Hui people in Jinshan, so I decided to expand the Beiting store, but now that the tea house has been sealed, it means that I have lost the business of the Hui people and suffered heavy losses!" ”

Luo Pinfang, the red-faced old man behind him, couldn't help but be a little dissatisfied when he saw that he only cared about his own business, so he said, "Brother Li thinks that the tea house is more important than saving his son?" ”

Li Huichun hurriedly turned around and arched his hand: "I just sighed for a while, how could I put the cart before the horse, and now we will go to Beiting City." ”

When they reached the gate of the city, they were confronted by a camel caravan, with hundreds of horses, and the camels were loaded with large boxes, all of which were Sogdian merchants, and the camel caravan filled the city gate to the brim, and Li Huichun and the others hurriedly flashed aside.

"Li Dongzhu!" Someone in the camel team suddenly called him, and Li Huichun went to find prestige, but it was his old friend, Hu Shang Salda of Shiguo.

He was just about to step forward to say hello, but Chang Jin pulled him behind his back and glanced at Salda's back, Li Huichun was stunned, behind Salda was Yuan En, the prince of Shi, and there was a woman wearing a veil beside the prince, through the thin veil, you could faintly see her bright eyes.

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(To be continued)