There are several Huiren families in Luoyang, and the largest one is the Pingjia located in the north of Luoyang City. The Ping family uses business as a cover, in fact, presiding over the largest killer group in Luoyang, how many people they have, no one can figure it out, some say more than 300, some say more than 3,000, but their masters are like clouds, and their strength is obvious to all, although the departure of the first warrior Xu Yu has a lot of impact on them, but it has not reached the point of breaking the muscles and bones. On the one hand, they collect the killer's commission, and on the other hand, they have some other sources of income, and they live very comfortably, which can be seen from the fact that the Hei family occupies almost a whole mile of the house.

What is the name of the head of the Ping family, even Xu Yu can't tell, only know that the Ping family calls him Ping Gong. Pinggong is in his fifties, has a magical swordsmanship, and the first swordsman Wang Yue in Beijing has fought hard, the two have fought hard for fifty rounds, regardless of victory or defeat, and they will drink and talk. He usually doesn't go out, but stays in the backyard, receiving swordsmen, killers, or people who come to talk about business. Of course, the business that asked him to come out for an interview was a big business or a celebrity, and he didn't need to come forward for ordinary trivial things, just let his sons handle it, and most of his time was drinking, practicing swords, except for encountering things that were not handled by him, usually no one would bother him, and he lived freely.

So when a disciple hurriedly rushed into the door, Ping Gong, who was practicing swords, was very angry.

"Officers and soldiers...... Officers and soldiers surrounded us. The disciple said breathlessly.

"Officers and soldiers?" Ping Gong raised his eyebrows, laughed contemptuously, and the sword in his hand did not stop: "It's not the first time that my Ping family has been surrounded by officers and soldiers, which time is not the thunder is loud and the rain is small?" Who is it this time, Captain Yang Biao? ”

The disciple nodded again and again, "Yang Biao is here, but it's not just him, but also ...... And the people of the Northern Army. ”

"The Northern Army?" Ping Gong was taken aback, and the sword in his hand froze for a moment: "Which battalion?" ”

"Infantry battalions and shooting battalions." The disciple's face turned pale and he was terrified. Ping Gong frowned, shook a sword flower, put the long sword behind his back, and listened intently, the panicked shouts outside were getting louder and louder, getting closer and closer, and there was also the sound of fighting in the middle, and there were more and more screams, many of which he was familiar with. Ping Gong was a little moved, and was just about to speak, when the courtyard door was knocked open with a "bang", and then a familiar sturdy figure walked in, walked straight to him five steps, and stood there with his hands behind his back.

"Zhongkang?" Pinggong was a little funny, and was about to say hello to Xu Yu and say goodbye, when another person walked in, stood still with Xu Yucheng, and looked at Pinggong expressionlessly. Ping Gong looked at him for a moment, and his face changed slightly: "Wang Yue, are you here too?" ”

Wang Yue ignored him, his hand caressed the hilt of the sword at his waist, his legs were slightly separated, and he stood there motionless.

A middle-aged man and a young woman walked in the door, and the middle-aged man nodded to the woman first: "Senior sister first, please", and then raised his head to look at Pinggong, with a faint smile on his face, and nodded slightly: "Pinggong, don't come to harm?" ”

Ping Gong gasped: "Great sage and good teacher? ”

Zhang Jiao nodded, stretched out his hand and introduced, "This is the Lady of the Heavenly Master Dao Heir, Mrs. Lu." ”

Pinggong was silent, Xu Yu and Wang Yue were gone, and even the masters of Taiping Dao and Heavenly Master Dao came, and he had no power to fight back this time. No matter how powerful his swordsmanship is, no matter how many masters there are in the village, he has no chance of winning in the face of such a Taoist person, not to mention that there are a large number of officers and soldiers outside.

He didn't say a word, held the long sword behind him, looked at the door indifferently, and at the same time didn't forget to make a look at his son Pinghan who rushed to hear the sound. Ping Han understood, raised his leg and was about to go inside, when a sharp arrow roared from the wall, and an arrow shot Ping Han to the ground. Ping Han clutched his chest, his eyes widened in horror, blood spilled out of his mouth, and he died after two struggles.

"The shooting battalion is here, everyone must not move, otherwise they will be killed." Wang Kuang, who emerged from the wall, shouted loudly while loading the three-stone crossbow in his hand with arrows.

Ping Gong's eyes tightened, and he glanced at the crossbowmen and crossbows that emerged from the wall, and his heart sank for a while.

Henan Yin Hejin and Luoyang Ling Zhou Yi walked in, glanced at Ping Gong, stood aside indifferently, and never looked at Ping Gong again. Pinggong didn't speak, he knew them all, and he usually had to be polite when they met, but today's situation is obviously not the time to say hello. Captain Si Li came forward to handle the case, and Henan Yin and Luoyang Ling were not qualified to speak.

Yang Biao, the captain of Sili, and Liu Xiu, the lieutenant of the Northern Army, made a grand appearance, and Jian Shuo, as the messenger of the Son of Heaven, followed closely behind.

Liu Xiu put his hands behind his back, walked slowly to Ping Han, who was already out of breath, looked down, shook his head regretfully, and raised his head to look at Ping Gong again: "You are still holding a sword, are you ready to resist?" ”

As soon as Ping Gong's hand was released, the long sword fell to the ground, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly: "I won't give you the opportunity to kill people on the spot, as long as I don't die, how can you arrest me today, and how will you send me back in two days." ”

Liu Xiu laughed and pointed at Jian Shuo: "Do you know who he is?" He is by the side of the Son of Heaven, and I have come here today because of the edict of the Son of Heaven. Edict of the Son of Heaven, do you understand? He poked Pinggong's chest with his finger, I have to say that although this guy is in his fifties, his flesh and bones are still very strong, no wonder he can be on par with Wang Yue.

"The Son of Heaven cannot kill innocents indiscriminately." Ping Gong looked at Liu Xiu's fingers, his heart was calm, and he didn't have any anger at all, as if Liu Xiu was not poking him, but someone else. "The Son of Heaven must also be reasonable, and he can't kill me with empty words."

"Are you really so confident, or do you think the big man behind you can still keep you?" Liu Xiu shrugged his shoulders: "I can tell you responsibly, no one can save you this time." ”

"Young man, I was younger, and I was as high-spirited as you, but I think I was stupid now." Ping Gong narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked at Liu Xiu with a smile: "You have to leave three points of leeway to be a man, otherwise you won't have a chance to regret it in the future." ”

"Actually, you're still stupid." Liu Xiu didn't care about his stubble at all, and waved his hand: "Come on, take them all, if you dare to disobey, you will be killed." After finishing speaking, he approached Pinggong and whispered, "When you die, welcome to take revenge." ”

Ping Gong held his breath, and his pupils contracted suddenly. He heard a strong killing intent from Liu Xiu's seemingly plain but actually arrogant words. He knew that no matter whether the backers behind him would help or not, but as soon as he entered Luoyang Prison, I was afraid that he didn't want to say it again, the young man in front of him didn't follow the rules at all, and he was determined to take his own life.

Ping Gong suddenly remembered the emperor in the palace, the emperor seemed to be about the same age as this young man, and he also wanted to do things one by one, last year the two joined forces to play, and the Yuan family was disgraced, regardless of how serious the consequences were, and now they still go their own way, and there is a tendency to uproot the family in one breath.

Such people do things too much, and they don't weigh the interests of each convenience, they are like a red-eyed bull, they do what comes to mind, and as for the consequences, everything will be talked about later.

Ping Gong didn't dare to wait any longer, his toes moved, and the long sword that fell at his feet suddenly flew up, he held the hilt of the sword in the air, and the long sword was like lightning, heading straight to Liu Xiu's chest. His movements were very fast, and he couldn't tell that he was now in his fifties, and in an instant, his long sword had already stabbed in front of Liu Xiu.

However, he was destined to be in vain today, just when his toes began to move, Xu Yu and Wang Yue had already shot at the same time, Xu Yu's body moved, spanning two steps, just in front of Liu Xiu, both hands out, one punch to Ping Gong's wrist holding the sword, and one punch to his face. Wang Yue's long sword was unsheathed, and the tip of the sword pointed directly at Pinggong's left flank.

Ping Gong let out a long roar and retreated. At the beginning of his move, he knew that in front of so many masters, he had no chance to hurt Liu Xiu at all. Not to mention Xu Yu's martial arts skills that are difficult to enter with a sword, Wang Yue and him are not equal, only these two people are enough to subdue him, not to mention Zhang Jiao and Mrs. Lu of the Heavenly Master. But he wasn't worried about Zhang Jiao, although Zhang Jiao's martial arts were high, they were too far away, and the spells he was good at needed time to prepare, so they couldn't work in a hurry, and as for that Mrs. Lu, she was probably about the same as Zhang Jiao. The purpose of his attack on Liu Xiu was just to attract everyone's attention to Liu Xiu and create a chance for himself to escape.

Xu Yu and Wang Yue made a move, protecting Liu Xiu at the same time, but also blocking Zhang Jiao and Mrs. Lu's shooting route, Pinggong seized the opportunity and burst out with the most powerful force, flying upside down, the speed was so fast that even the archers of the crossbow battalion who were on guard did not have time to react, although a few crossbow arrows were issued, they did not even touch the edge of his clothes.

In a moment's breath, Ping Gong was only three feet away from the door of the inner room, he broke into the door, kicked the low table in the room, and was about to jump into the secret passage to escape. Right here, suddenly in front of him, a fierce tiger roared and pounced on him.

Ping Gong was startled, instinctively took a step back, and looked at it, there was only the quiet Mrs. Lu in front of him, where was there any tiger. He was taken aback, and was about to rush forward again, Xu Yu and Wang Yue arrived at the same time, Xu Yu punched him in the back of the heart, and Wang Yue pierced his throat with a sword.

Ping Gong's eyes widened, looking at Liu Xiu and Yang Biao who were slowly entering, he spat out a long breath from his mouth, and fell to his knees with a thud, blood gushing out.

"Madame, good charms." Liu Xiu praised, although he didn't believe in any spells and spells as much as Zhang Jiao and Lu, and felt that spells were just changes in sound, and spells were just visual hypnosis, but I had to admit that they all had some tricks, at least Lu Shi could conjure a white tiger in the air with only two hands with his expression and voice without a pen and dansha, which was enough to make those magicians breathtaking.

"Senior sister's talisman was originally the strongest among several senior brothers." Zhang Jiao walked in with a smile and echoed.

Liu Xiu glanced at him, he was in no mood to talk nonsense with him, and immediately asked Xu Yu and them to take people around to search for him, and they must not let go of any of them. Got rid of the master of Pinggong, no one in the entire Pingzhuang could compete with Xu Yu and Wang Yue, not to mention the help of Taoist priests like Zhang Jiao and Lu Shi, plus the cooperation of so many officers and soldiers, victory was only expected.

Pinggong's father and son were killed, the people in the village did not have a unified command, they were in a mess, they fought separately, some held weapons to resist on the spot, after killing and wounding many soldiers, after all, because they were outnumbered, they were successively wounded or killed, and some of them crossed the wall and crossed the ridge, scattered and fled, but Liu Xiu had already arranged the shooting battalion and the infantry battalion outside, and surrounded the entire Pingju tightly, how could they be allowed to rush out. Although those soldiers can't be compared with the border army, but in the face of these swordsmen and rangers, they have an absolute advantage in numbers, and they come prepared, Wang Yu and Ma Yueyan are not good at these, but Wang Kuang and Xiahou Yuan are not scholars, it may not be possible to let them go to war now, and it is not trivial to encircle and suppress a few underworlds.

In general, although there were some oolong incidents that made people laugh and cry, none of the assassin killers and swordsmen in the peaceful gathering ran away, except for the dozens of people who were killed, all the others were captured, and they were tied up and thrown aside one by one.

In front of Liu Xiu was a pile of money and jewelry in half of the room, as well as a few hoards of food, and there were more than 200 people kneeling in the courtyard, except for dozens of people who were killed for stubborn resistance, none of them escaped the net.

"My lord, this is the list of assassins under the Hei family."

Liu Xiu took it and glanced at it, flipped it over, and handed it to Yang Biao: "Please arrest your lord according to the list." ”

Yang Biao's heart was overjoyed, and he turned around and went out with the list to count the people. There were only two people left in the room, Liu Xiu and Jian Shuo, Liu Xiu blinked, took out a jade pendant from the glittering jewelry, compared it with Jian Shuo's waist, and then put it into his arms: "This jade is in harmony with the adult." ”

Jian Shuo was dazzled by the gold, copper coins and jewels in front of him, and he couldn't stop swallowing his saliva, but when Liu Xiu carried this piece of fine jade pendant into his arms, he was a little embarrassed, and while refusing, he put his hand into his arms, wanting to take out the jade pendant and return it to Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu held his hand and squeezed his eyes: "You deserve it." ”

Jian Shuo said with a wry smile: "Adult talent is the first credit, I ...... How can I take these things, in case ......"

"Do you think these things can be handed over to the Son of Heaven one by one? Not to mention anything else, Lord Yang may be an incorruptible person, how can that butcher not pluck the goose? I can assure you that if you are not this jade pendant, it will appear on the He family. ”

Jian Shuo nodded in agreement, he was very unhappy with He Jin, He Jin now only had Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and Guo Sheng, the oldest eunuchs, and he was not interested in the new generation like him.

"Your Majesty will be very happy if you have done a miraculous feat this time." Jian Shuo reminded intentionally or unintentionally: "My lord, you have to retrain the Northern Army, but you are short of money, this money ......."

"Inherit the good words of the people. When the time comes, you will not dare to forget the kindness of adults. Liu Xiu smiled and hugged Jian Shuo's shoulders: "How about it, after practicing martial arts, are you interested in going to the battlefield to make contributions?" ”

"How dare you." Jian Shuo's heart was full of joy and modesty, "With a master like an adult, what is my superficial skill, at most I will fill the façade by His Majesty's side." ”

"Hahaha, the adults are humble, the adults are humble." Liu Xiu's face was not red and his heart was not beating: "If everyone in the palace is as loyal as an adult, what worries the son of heaven." My lord, I will have to rely on it a lot in the future, so please don't shirk when the time comes. ”

"Don't dare, don't dare." Jian Shuo's face turned into a flower.

…… The Son of Heaven raised his head from the pile of songs, crossed his waist and twisted his neck, his sore and stiff neck making a gurgling sound. Jian Shuo hurriedly ran behind him, rubbed his hands warm, and skillfully pinched his shoulders. As his hand tapped all the way over, the Son of Heaven let out a comfortable sigh of regret.

"Caught them all?"

"The Hei family is one who didn't run away." Jian Shuo said with a smile: "Lord Liu is worthy of being Duan Jiming's student, and he is quite disciplined in using soldiers. ”

"Capture a few rangers, also called soldiers?" The Son of Heaven disagreed.

"Your Majesty, you haven't seen it with your own eyes, and you don't know how powerful those rangers and swordsmen are." Jian Shuo kept waving his hand while telling the scene at that time. He first said that Pinggong was no less than Wang Yue's swordsmanship, and then said that the martial arts of those men in the village, some were strong, one could deal with three or four soldiers of the Northern Army, and some were as light as swallows, climbing over the wall and crossing the ridge like walking on the ground, and the arrows of the shooting battalion could not keep up with them, in short, none of them were easy to deal with, although the Northern Army dispatched two battalions and more than 1,500 people, but if it wasn't for Liu Xiu's careful arrangements in advance, and there were two fierce generals of Sima Wang Kuang and Sima Xiahou Yuan of the infantry, maybe they would have escaped a lot this time.

"Wang Kuang?" The Son of Heaven is no stranger to Xiahou Yuan, knowing that he is Cao Ying's clansman and Liu Xiu's cronies, and now he is still one of Duan Cheng's disciples, and his martial arts skills are also good, so it should be expected to be an infantry horse. It's just that Wang Kuang did the shooting Sima, and he was very unhappy.

"yes, he just made a shooting sound Sima." Jian Shuo is also a clever person, he went to inquire before he came, not only Wang Kuang did the shooting sound Sima, He Hao did the Tunqi Sima, but Yuan Shao himself also made the Changshui Sima, and Yuan Shu's doorman Bao Hong also made the Yue Riding Sima. Jian Shuo was particularly disgusted by this, Zhao Xuan was Zhao Zhong's younger brother, but he asked Yuan Shu's disciple to be Sima, which was a typical collusion between the internal and external dynasties, and more importantly, with his opponent Zhao Zhong.

This made him unbearable, even if Liu Xiu could bear it, he couldn't bear it, not to mention that Liu Xiu also stuffed a piece of fine jade pendant for him, and if he didn't give Zhao Zhong some eye medicine, wouldn't he be sorry for his friend.

The face of the Son of Heaven became very bad, and his slender fingers were a little nervous and spasmodic, the fifth battalion of the Northern Army, Liu Xiu could only master the first battalion of infantry, and the strongest Changshui battalion was actually mastered by Yuan Shao? The main cavalry of the Northern Army is the Wuhuan Tu Cavalry of Yuyang and Shanggu, which is the personal guard cavalry of Emperor Guangwu of that year, although it is not as brave as it was back then, but every year it is still necessary to draw a part of the elite from Yuyang and Shanggu to replenish it, which is regarded as the best battalion in the Northern Army to maintain combat strength.

"How did Zhang Ranming do it?" The Son of Heaven was furious, slapped his palm on the case, and then swept all the music on the case to the ground, and Bai Chen's face was red with anger. "Call me and ask him if he wants to do it. There is also that Dong Cao Peng, who took me to the edict and asked him how much money he had received from the Yuan family. ”

Jian Shuo was taken aback, he just wanted to make a small report and let the Son of Heaven know a little about Liu Xiu's difficulties, but he didn't expect the Son of Heaven to be so angry. Seeing that the Son of Heaven was going to scold Taiwei Zhang Huan, and he was going to throw Dong Cao Peng of Taiwei's Mansion into prison to be tortured, he was a little panicked. But he didn't dare to persuade him, so he had to get the edict and run out, and at the same time asked people to quickly send a message to Liu Xiu, so that he could be mentally prepared, don't say anything about leaking.

Liu Xian was counting the results of the battle with Yang Biao, and at the same time planning who should be cleaned up next, he was very surprised when he received the news from Jian Shuo, but this matter is not complicated, it is nothing more than that the Son of Heaven feels that the Yuan family has gone too far, and it is not good to directly target the Yuan family, so he has to take the Taiwei Mansion to be angry.

He thought about it for a while and said to Yang Biao, you prepare here first, I want to rush to the palace for a while, Your Majesty has something to do with me. Yang Biao listened, didn't ask more, waved his hand and said, go and come back quickly.

Liu Xiu got on the horse and galloped all the way, and when he was about to reach the city gate, he thought about it and stopped. Rushing to the palace in such a hurry, what would the Son of Heaven think? He must have known that this was what Jian Shuo had informed me, and although he trusted me now and needed me to do things for him, the collusion between officials from the inside and outside of the court was a thorn in the heart of the Son of Heaven after all, and it would not happen now, but there was no guarantee that it would not happen in the future. Besides, it is not a good thing to let Zhang Huan know the anger of the Son of Heaven, and he, the captain, has done too much. If you have to concentrate on getting closer to the family, then you can't stay in the position of Tai Lieutenant.

"Go back." Liu Xiu turned his horse's head.

Although Xu Yu was puzzled, he didn't ask, just followed closely.

Zhang Huan received the edict and immediately rushed to the palace, the Son of Heaven was still angry, and reprimanded him with a head and face, and said to Zhang Huan bitterly, don't you know the current situation of the Northern Army, I want to reorganize the Northern Army, and let the Northern Army go to the battlefield to conquer the Huns, why do you still let Yuan Shao and his disciples serve in the Northern Army? Is this my Northern Army, or the Yuan Family's Northern Army?

Zhang Huan lay on the ground quietly, silent, and waited for the Son of Heaven to finish scolding, he kowtowed and said: Although the Northern Army is under the management of the Taiwei Mansion, and the commanders of the Northern Army are also selected by the Taiwei Mansion, most of these candidates are reported by the captains of various schools. According to the practice of these years, the Taiwei Mansion usually did not interfere in the internal affairs of the battalions, especially the selection of Sima. Because if the captain and Sima do not agree, when something happens, the Taiwei Mansion will be responsible, and the captain will shirk responsibility. This is actually similar to the fact that the subordinates of each county are generally signed by the county magistrate, the county magistrate, and the county magistrate. As for Dong Cao Peng, who is in charge of the specific affairs of the selection of the battalion commanders, he is a newcomer, and whether he received money from the Yuan Mansion or not, the minister does not know.

After listening to this, the Son of Heaven was silent, and he understood what Zhang Huan meant. Zhang Huan was talking about the personnel arrangements of each battalion, but in fact, he was talking about the Taiwei Mansion, because this time, in order to help him solve the employment problem of more than 300 people, Situ Song Feng not only digested fifty or sixty people, but also asked the Taiwei Mansion and Sikong Mansion to do the same, and Jiuqing Temple was no exception. However, this is tantamount to indirectly infringing on the human rights of the temples to use themselves. Because in the past, although the Son of Heaven had the right to determine the candidates for the three prefectures and nine temples, most of the time it was still chosen by the temples themselves, why did there be many protégés and former officials when they became the three dukes? It is because the Sangong Mansion has its own human rights and the right to recommend preferential treatment, and doing things in the Sangong Mansion is equivalent to embarking on a shortcut to the official career, and it is natural to become an official of Qianshi in the future.

To put it bluntly, this is a competition with the Son of Heaven for personnel rights, Zhang Huan and Yang Ci are not clear against Song Feng's approach, but they have many ways to use it, such as creating some problems for you. This Dong Cao Peng is Your Majesty's newly hired person, and it is not my responsibility to say that he is wrong, because he is not what I want to use in the first place, but you have to let me use it.

(To be continued)