Gu Xuanju was taken aback, and involuntarily took a step back, his eyes showed a look of fear that could not be concealed, but this kind of expression was the most liked by Junchen, he liked to see the appearance of the official's fear of himself, which made him feel a sense of satisfaction.

"What, isn't Gu Sima welcoming me to visit?"

Gu Xuanju had already recovered his composure from the initial fright, he suddenly realized that the person who came to Junchen was not good, he restrained the fear in his heart, and hugged his fists and said: "There is something at home, it's not that you are not welcome to come to Zhongcheng, please."

Lai Junchen raised his head slightly, and walked into Gu Xuanju's house with his hands behind his back, several of his guards followed him closely, and did not stop until he reached the front of the guest hall, only one civilian attendant followed him into the inner hall.

There is no need to be polite to Gu Xuanju, Lai Junchen walked into the guest hall, sat down on the master's seat with a big thorn, and the entourage stood behind him, although Lai Junchen's actions were extremely rude, but Gu Xuanju was flustered at this time, and he had no intention of caring about Lai Junchen's rude behavior.

He sat down on the guest seat uneasily, a maid came in and served them tea, Lai Junchen just bowed his head and drank tea, without saying a word, and finally it was Gu Xuanju who couldn't hold his breath, he remembered that his son was still missing, and there was another cool official in the family who was feared by everyone, and he couldn't calm down no matter what.

"Excuse me......" Gu Xuanju carefully considered his words, "How can I help." Come to Zhongcheng?"

"I do need Gu Sima's help. ”

Lai Junchen put down the teacup with a smile, as if he was saying something extremely ordinary, "I'm investigating the big case last summer, Gu Sima is the person who directly handled the case, you should know what I'm talking about."

Gu Xuanju's face suddenly changed, and he said hurriedly: "That case has been inconclusive, and we have submitted it to the Criminal Department." ”

"I know, so I came to Fangzhou this time to review the case"

Lai Junchen took the file from the hand of the entourage beside him, threw it on the table with a bang, the smirk on his face disappeared, and said coldly: "I don't know where to start with this case, so I specially came to consult Gu Sima." ”

"This. I really don't know, I don't have a clue about this case. ”

"Yes, I don't think so, Gu Sima thinks about it again, maybe he can think of something?" As he spoke, Lai Junchen casually put a piece of jade pendant to ward off evil spirits on the table

Gu Xuan's eyes were firmly fixed on Yu Pei, his breathing began to become rapid, he finally couldn't help it, and suddenly got up and yelled, "Where did you get my son."

He recognized this jade pendant, it was the jade pendant he gave to his son to ward off evil spirits, his son had always been attached to the flesh and worn around his neck, Gu Xuanju suddenly understood, his son was captured by Lai Junchen, he stared at Lai Junchen, if it was said that his gaze could kill, he had already cut Lai Junchen into eighteen sections.

Lai Junchen put away the jade pendant and said with a sneer: "I don't understand what you're talking about, since Gu Sima has something to do tonight, then I won't bother." ”

After saying that, he got up to leave, Gu Xuanju finally collapsed, he fell to his knees, and wept: "I will fully cooperate with Lai Zhongcheng, please put my son back." ”

"You should have cooperated with me, didn't you?"

Lai Junchen was extremely proud in his heart, he liked the feeling of playing with people in the palm of his hand, like a cat playing tricks on a mouse that had been caught, he slowly sat down again, his voice was as cold as ice, "I said ugly things in front, I will only give you one chance, if you don't satisfy me, what is placed on the table is one hand of your son, then two feet, and the third time is his head." ”

Gu Xuanju knew that he had no choice, he bowed his head deeply and said, "About." That case, come to Zhongcheng. Want to know what?"

"I wonder, why did a few of them die, what did they find?"

Gu Xuanju sighed, "It's not a secret, although this case was signed by me, but the actual person in charge was Yang Tingshi, who was guarding the courtyard where the body was found at that time, and no one was allowed to enter. ”

"What's written on the bronze plaque?" asked Lai Junchen.

Gu Xuanju shook his head, "At that time, I also asked the Biao, but they were illiterate, they only said that it was like a waist card, and later I asked Yang Tingshi, but he denied the bronze medal, saying that he didn't find anything, and then the two Biao were poisoned and died, and I didn't dare to ask about it." ”

Lai Junchen showed a look of disappointment on his face, but he knew that Gu Xuanju was telling the truth, he interrogated Zhang County Order in the afternoon, Zhang County Order's statement was the same as Gu Xuanju, there was only Yang Tingshi in that house, and all the officials were not allowed to enter, but Gu Xuanju also knew that there was a bronze medal.

"And then? What else? ”

"There is also the fact that the dead people have martial arts, which is also what I secretly asked later, these people have calluses on their mouths, and they have a strong physique, but they are poisoned and died, even the bones have turned black, and two swords were found at the scene, but there is no mark on the sword. ”

"What else?"

"Also, this afternoon, the Dali Temple Chengsun Li found me and left the file of the state government as a case record. ”

"Nope"

Lai Junchen was very impatient and said: "I'm not satisfied, you have to tell me something useful, otherwise don't blame my subordinates for being ruthless." ”

"But it's really ...... to be lowly"

Gu Xuanju saw Lai Junchen give his entourage a look, and the entourage walked out quickly, he shouted in fright, "Wait a minute, I have another clue." ”

"You say," Lai Junchen stared at him viciously.

Gu Xuanju desperately wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, he was about to collapse completely, he said in a pleading tone: "I just heard, I can't be sure if it's true or not, it's still ...... There is also a servant who was hidden by the Wei County Lieutenant, and the Wei County Lieutenant has been secretly investigating, and he should know. ”

"But he's already been killed," Lai Junchen grabbed by his collar and roared.

Gu Xuanju couldn't hold it anymore, his eyes were dark, and he fainted.

Lai Junchen was really upset, he thought that he could find a breakthrough from Gu Xuanju, but he didn't expect that the harvest was still pitiful, the only harvest was that there was a bronze medal, but what was written on the bronze medal, could it be the Xingtang Society?

He pondered for a moment, it seemed that he still had to go to the assassin Yang Pei, he was the real insider.

He didn't bother to pay attention to Gu Xuanju who fainted on the ground, turned around and walked out, and asked in a whisper, "What about his son?"

Lai Junchen said coldly: "Detention first, his father will naturally cooperate with us in handling the case." ”

Lai Junchen led his men back to his residence in the south of the city, but there was still a mile away from his residence, and one of his subordinates rushed to report in a panic: "Zhongcheng, something is wrong

"What's going on?" Lai Junchen asked anxiously, his heart also nervous, the ambush last night made him a little sensitive.

"An army surrounded our house, and all the brothers were arrested"

Lai Junchen was taken aback, "Where is the army?"

"It was Yang Thorn Shi who brought-"

Lai Junchen roared angrily, urging the horse to run towards the mansion, he was also about to go to the door to find the assassin Shi Yang Pei, but he didn't expect him to strike first, Lai Junchen thought of Gu Xuanju's son, it must be for this matter, Lai Junchen was angry and hateful, but he was a little worried in his heart, there were warriors in his mansion, if he was caught, I am afraid it would be difficult for him to explain to the saint.

In front of the mansion temporarily rented by Lai Junchen, hundreds of soldiers will gather at the door with torches, and the gate will be illuminated as daylight, they are the local state soldiers of Fangzhou, commanded by Yang Pei, the assassin Shi, mainly responsible for maintaining local security, guarding the city gate, and cracking down on mountain bandits and water thieves, the number will not be too much, there are only 1,000 people in the entire Fangzhou, stationed in each county, and Fangling County has 500 people.

Tonight, Yang Pei personally led 300 people to the door to ask for someone, and the mansion of Yang Pei was next door to Gu Xuanju's house, Gu Xuanju's son was missing, and Yang Pei also got the news, just when Junchen used Gu Xuanju's son to blackmail Gu Xuanju to obey his orders, Mrs. Gu quietly ran to Yang Pei's house for help.

Yang Pei immediately made a decision, led the state soldiers to surround Lai Junchen's station, arrested all the more than 20 people in the mansion, and found Gu Xuanju's son from the cellar

At this time, more than 20 people knelt in front of the gate, their hands were tied, and Yang Pei was riding on a horse, coldly waiting for the return of Lai Junchen.

Yang Pei is nearly sixty years old, very thin, with a long beard under his chin, his eyes are clear, he is a loyal pro-Li faction, resolutely supports Li Xian, the king of Luling, and is very upright, but on the other hand, he has been an official for more than 30 years, and he knows all kinds of open and dark rules of officialdom in his chest, he knows how to protect Li Xian, and he also knows how to deal with people who are not good.

Whether it was the imperial historian Lai Junchen, or the internal guard Li Zhen, or the people of Dali Temple, or even Wu Sansi and Wu Furong, etc., Yang Pei remained silent, watched coldly, and did not get involved in all their actions, until tonight, Lai Junchen kidnapped Gu Xuanju's son and used the child to blackmail Gu Xuanju, Yang Pei knew that he could no longer be silent.

After a while, Lai Junchen led several of his subordinates to hurry to the mansion, and he saw that there were kneeling people all over the ground, and even Wan Guojun was caught and tied up, he suddenly became furious, and rushed forward and shouted at Yang Pei: "Yang Pei, you deceive people too much."

Yang Pei bowed his hand, pretending to be puzzled: "I sent troops to assist for the safety of Lai Zhongcheng, why did Lai Zhongcheng get angry?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lai Junchen as he stared at him viciously.

Yang Pei turned his head and pointed to the kneeling person on the ground, and said unhurriedly: "I received a report that there were people of unknown origin mixed in the mansion of Lai Zhongcheng, and I was afraid that someone would be unfavorable to Lai Zhongcheng, so I led the army to arrest them, and sure enough, I caught these people."

They claimed to be the subordinates of King Liang, so I wondered, how did Lai Zhongcheng get with King Liang's people? I think they must have lied in order to assassinate Lai Zhongcheng. ”

Lai Junchen stared at Yang Pei, his eyes were so hateful that he almost burst into flames, but he was speechless for a while.

After a while, Lai Junchen said viciously: "They are indeed the people of King Liang, I asked them for help because of lack of manpower, and you let them go immediately." ”

"I don't understand this, if you come to Zhongcheng to be short of manpower, you can find me, as a magistrate, I will cooperate with Zhongcheng to handle the case, but I don't come to Zhongcheng to find me, but to find King Liang's family, can you tell me what King Liang's family is doing in Fangzhou?"

"What the people of King Liang are doing in Fangzhou has nothing to do with me, you go and ask His Royal Highness King Liang, but I was ambushed by someone in Lingdong Town last night, and I suffered heavy casualties, and your magistrate has to take responsibility, Yang Pei, you better think about it, how to explain it to the saint?"

Yang Pei said coldly: "I am very sympathetic to the misfortune that came to Zhongcheng in Lingdong Town, but if I talk about responsibility, I think it has nothing to do with me, first of all, I came to Zhongcheng to take away the county lieutenant without permission, and he didn't greet me, and I searched the houses in Lingdong Town without my knowledge, and insulted women. ”

Although Lai Junchen is fierce and cunning, but in front of Yang Pei, who is proficient in the rules of officialdom, he does not have the upper hand at all, in fact, it is he who first investigates in violation of regulations, according to the convention, when the imperial history comes to the local place to investigate the case, it must be reported to the local government, of course, the imperial history can also secretly investigate the case without alarming the local government, but if something happens, they have no way to shift the responsibility to the government.

What's more important is that he took away the county lieutenant of Fangling without permission, resulting in the death of the county lieutenant, and did not tell the state assassin history, Yang Pei was actually alluding to Lai Junchen's violations, and Lai Junchen knew that he was at a loss, so he had to hold back this breath and hugged Yang Pei and said: "Thank you Yang Assassin Shi for caring about my personal safety, these people are indeed not assassins, but just the family members of King Liang, who were sent by King Liang to Fangzhou to buy mountain goods, and asked Yang Tingshi to let them go." ”

"I see, it seems that I misunderstood, since I have come to Zhongcheng to guarantee, I will spare them. ”

Yang Pei waved his hand, "Let them go"

The soldiers untied everyone's ropes, Wan Guojun and others stood behind Lai Junchen, especially Wan Guojun, who was also a court official, and he didn't dare to reveal his identity at all, he hid in Lai Junchen and didn't say a word.

Yang Pei didn't mention the kidnapping of Gu Xuanju's son, and said with a smile: "If you need our help when you come to Zhongcheng, just ask, I will do my best to help." ”

He turned his horse's head and shouted, "Go back."

Yang Pei took a group of soldiers to his mansion, Yang Pei was not stupid, he knew that Lai Junchen had suffered this big loss, and he would never let himself go, he needed soldiers to protect the safety of himself and his family.

It wasn't until Yang Pei walked away that Wan Guojun said in a low voice: "Gu Xuanju's son was taken away by him. ”

Lai Junchen's face was pale, his eyes were full of resentment, and after a while, he gritted his teeth, "Today's humiliation, I will repay it twice"