Yangzhou City is not like Luoyang and Chang'an layout into a chessboard-shaped square market structure, its streets and markets are naturally formed, there are two important markets in Yangzhou City at present, a south market, a north market, these two markets are mainly batch-based, the north market concentrates all kinds of grain, ironware, meat, livestock, cloth, oil, salt and other bulk goods, while the south market concentrates on silk, famous porcelain, colorful brocade, jewelry and other luxury goods, as well as other small materials, such as musical instruments, bronze, lacquerware, etc., as well as goods from foreign lands and overseas.

Therefore, there is a saying in Yangzhou that there is a famous inn near the gate of Nanshi, called Tongda Inn, which covers an area of seven or eight acres, can accommodate hundreds of guests to live here, Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen led dozens of black warriors to live here, and Li Zhen is the same, these days Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen are understanding the situation in Yangzhou, looking for opportunities.

The task given to them by Lai Junchen was to sabotage Wu Yizong's trip to Yangzhou and prevent Wu Yizong from successfully exterminating the Xingtang Society, Hou Sizhi originally planned to assassinate Wu Yizong in Yangzhou City and force him to withdraw to Luoyang, but Wu Yizong's fleet was anchored in Yanting Town and refused to enter Yangzhou City, which made Hou Sizhi's plan fall through.

At noon, Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen sat in the room to discuss their next move, Hou Sizhi sighed and said, "I got the news today, someone assassinated Wu Yizong in Yanting Town a few days ago. ”

Wang Dazhen was taken aback and asked anxiously, "What is the result?"

Hou Sizhi shook his head and said in frustration: "I heard that Wu Yizong was only slightly injured, and there was no major problem, but this assassination was a surprise, and Wu Yizong's defense has become tighter, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for us to start in the future." ”

Wang Dazhen frowned, "Could this be someone framed us?" ”

Hou Sizhi was stunned, he had never thought of it like this, he hesitated for a moment and said, "No, who would know that we are in Yangzhou, and besides, who would have thought that we would also want to assassinate Wu Yizong?"

Wang Dazhen has always despised Hou Sizhi, born in a small official, relying on the whistleblower, he has no real skills, but he got mixed up with the position of supervising the imperial history, he sneered and said: "Don't underestimate others, I dare to guarantee that Li Zhen will know that we are in Yangzhou"

"Could it be that Li Zhen's bitter trick deliberately sent someone to assassinate Wu Yizong?"

"His duty is to protect Wu Yizong, it's not good for him, it can't be him" Wang Dazhen hated Hou Sizhi for interrupting his words, and said coldly: "I suspect that Wu Sansi is thinking about it, he has a deep contradiction with Wu Yizong, and he assassinated Wu Yizong to blame Zhongcheng." ”

While the two were talking, there was a sudden sound of rapid running outside, and a black warrior rushed in and shouted: "It's not good, there are a lot of black-clothed warriors outside, there are hundreds of people, and we are surrounded by the inn." ”

Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen were taken aback, looking at each other, at this moment, a scream broke out in the courtyard, the black-clothed warriors had already attacked the courtyard where they lived, Wang Dazhen was strong in martial arts, he reacted extremely quickly, jumped up and drew his sword from the wall, and prepared to escape through the back door.

Hou Sizhi was so frightened that he hugged his feet and begged: "Don't leave me, take me with you"

"Fuck off"

Wang Dazhen shook him fiercely, trying to get rid of him, but Hou Sizhi hugged him and refused to let go, scolding: "You don't want to leave me, you want to die and everyone will die together."

Wang Dazhen was furious in his heart, murderous, and a backhand sword slashed through Hou Sizhi's neck, this sword was extremely powerful, almost chopping Hou Sizhi's head away, Hou Sizhi died tragically on the spot, Wang Dazhen kicked him away, jumped out of the back window, and ran straight to a small door, he knew that it was his only chance to escape.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he rushed to the small door, a black-clothed masked man suddenly appeared in front of him, raised a crossbow and aimed it at his front door, and before he could react, a crossbow arrow shot into his head, Wang Dazhen screamed miserably, and fell to the side of the small door.

The black-clothed masked man took off his face scarf, revealing Jian Dongxi's pale face, he sneered, took out a volume of secret decrees and stuffed it into Wang Dazhen's arms, turned around and disappeared from the small door.

The tragedy of being born in the Tongda Inn in Yangzhou South City quickly spread throughout the city and became a topic of discussion all over the city, it is not a secret who those black-clothed warriors are, many people have seen Li Chen, the son of the King of Guangling, appear outside the inn, those black-clothed people must be the army of the King of Guangling, the key is who was killed?

Some people saw dozens of corpses carried out, and more than a dozen people were detained, all of them were fierce warriors, all kinds of sayings circulated in Yangzhou City, but no one could say the point, for a time rumors were spreading, there were unscrupulous profiteers who took the opportunity to spread rumors, saying that the king of Guangling was going to rebel, and suddenly the people were panicked, and the price of rice rose in response.

On the afternoon of the day when Tongda Inn was born, Li Zhen and Di Yan returned to Yangzhou from Jiangyang County, and they heard about the inn tragedy at the city gate.

At this time, Jiu Zhi also came from Yanting Town and reported the situation to Li Zhen, everything was calm on the side of the fleet, Li Zhen was more concerned about the affairs of Yangzhou Chengsheng at this time, he sat down and asked Lu Jindao: "What is the tragedy of the inn?"

"Returning to the commander, the lowly post also has to report the matter, it should be that the people who came to Junchen were surrounded by Li Yuanjia's army and annihilated, the lowly post got the exact news, Wang Dazhen and Hou Sizhi are dead, half of the black officials they brought are dead, and the rest are either arrested or fled. ”

Li Zhen was secretly surprised in his heart, he had realized the seriousness of the problem, the two people sent by Junchen, Wang Dazhen was the servant of the imperial history, and Hou Sizhi was the supervisor of the imperial history, regardless of whether Li Yuanjia really planned to kill them, but as soon as these two people died, the situation immediately became serious, and Li Yuanjia had no way back, so he could only rebel.

Li Zhen paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, urgently thinking about countermeasures, and at this time, Lu Jin said in a low voice: "Last time, the commander asked us to monitor Changshi Zhao Wenchu and Taishou Lin Qing, and we did show up. ”

"What's up?" asked Li Zhen when he turned around.

"Someone secretly visited Lin Qing last night, it was a young man, but he quickly left the Taishou Mansion, and in addition, Lin Qing went to Jiangyang two days ago and met Li Yuanjia secretly. ”

Time was running out, Li Zhen immediately made a decision, he instructed Lu Jin: "There are three things, you must send people to do it immediately, the first is to send people to organize people to fish for a stone tablet in the West Lake, the long history Zhao Wenchu knows where it is, he will help you." ”

"Obedience"

Li Zhen said to Jiu Zhi again: "Old Fat, you go and tell Captain Zhao and ask her to inform Wu Yizong to retreat and leave Yangzhou." ”

Jiuzhi was a little unhappy, and muttered in a low voice: "This little thing, just send a brother to it, I am a dignified lieutenant." ”

Although he was dissatisfied, he didn't dare not agree, Jiu Zhi was about to agree, but Li Zhen changed his mind, "Okay, you do the third thing, let Captain Lu send someone to report the news." ”

"What do I do?"

Li Zhen patted him on the shoulder, "The third thing is the most important, and the risk is also the greatest, if you do it well, you will be promoted to official wealth, but if you fail, you may lose your life, are you willing?"

Jiuzhi's face was red and white, and he finally gritted his teeth and said: "As long as I can be promoted to official wealth, I will let go of the fat man." ”

Outside the Taishou Mansion, Zhao Wenchu's face was full of bitterness, and he was extremely worried in his heart, he had realized that he had made a big mistake, and he was going to be beheaded by the whole house, behind him, Li Zhen and Di Yan put on a little makeup, put on the official clothes of the scribes, and became the appearance of two officials.

At this time, Li Zhen saw the housekeeper walking out of the mansion, so he whispered to Zhao Wenchu: "This is your only chance, you cooperate with me well, I can say a few kind words for you in the report to keep you from dying."

Zhao Wenchu sighed, "Don't worry, Commander Li, I understand in my heart"

The housekeeper stepped forward and said, "Changshi, Taishou is not in a good mood, let's come back another day"

Zhao Wenchu knew that he would say this, so he hurriedly stepped forward and whispered: "It's someone from the capital, he must see him, otherwise no one can save him." ”

The housekeeper was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly ran back, and Zhao Wenchu said to Li Zhen in a pleading tone: "I am willing to assist the commander, I just ask the commander to show me a way out." ”

"As long as you cooperate with me to do things well, I can ask the Shangguan Sheren to intercede for you. ”

"Thank you, Commander" Zhao Wenchu was ashamed, didn't dare to look at Di Yan, and hurriedly lowered his head.

At this time, the housekeeper came out again and said to Zhao Wenchu: "Taishou is waiting in the study, please Zhao Changshi come with me"

Zhao Wenchu took Di Yan and Li Zhen into the Taishou Mansion quickly.

At this time, Taishou Lin Qing was like an ant on a hot pot, if Jian Dongxi was in front of him, he would definitely pull out his sword and split Jian Dongxi into pieces, he hated Jian Dongxi in his heart, Jian Dongxi deceived him, and did not tell him that the people sent by Junchen were Hou Sizhi and Wang Dazhen, and he did not expect that these two people would be killed in the inn

He thought that Lai Junchen sent a black official, the black official was killed, and Lai Junchen didn't dare to say anything, but Wang Dazhen and Hou Sizhi were different, one of these two people was serving the imperial history, and the other was supervising the imperial history, they died in the Yangzhou Inn, this crime was too big, he Lin Qing really couldn't afford it, and he realized that he was on the sword Dongxi

At this time, the housekeeper said at the door: "Envoy, Zhao Changshi is here."

"Let Him In"

Zhao Wenchu walked in, followed by two people, Zhao Wenchu gave a salute, but looked back at Li Zhen nervously, Lin Qing was stunned, he thought it was Wu Sansi who sent someone, but it didn't seem to be very similar, he hesitated and asked, "Who are you?"

Li Zhen raised the gold medal in his hand, "I am Li Zhen leading the internal guard"

Lin Qing was taken aback, he was so frightened that he took a step back, and was about to shout, Di Yandu was extremely fast, and he drew his sword and pressed it on his neck, "If you dare to shout, I will kill you"

Lin Qing was stunned for a moment, not daring to shout again, Li Zhen smiled and said: "Does Lin Yuanjun think that I am here to arrest you? In fact, I am here to save you, supervising the imperial history and serving the imperial history died in Yangzhou, how can you explain to the saint?"

Li Zhen's words hit him to the point, Lin Qing couldn't help but sit down, unable to say a word.