Cheap shop, willow house

Senior Brother Cheng supported Liu Xin, who was vain, at the door to enter the Liu Mansion, and the Li family had already heard the news and was sent away by Senior Brother Cheng in a few words.

came to the courtyard where Liu Xin lived, and the moment Senior Brother Cheng closed the door, Liu Xin recovered instantly.

"You drank a lot, and you suppressed it with internal force?" Senior Brother Cheng joked with a smile.

Liu Xin looked up at the sky with disdain, his head was slightly cloudy, and a sense of pride rushed straight to the top of his head from the soles of his feet, but Liu Xin was still a little restrained, and he said lightly: "I have a good amount of wine!" ”

"Huh." Senior Brother Cheng said with a smile: "Then Liu Licheng reacted quickly, directly came to you, brainwashed you, and wooed you." Ordinary people may be on the verge of his ways! ”

When Liu Xin saw this, his face suddenly turned cold, and he said in a cold voice: "If it were an ordinary person, it is estimated that he would have died at the hands of that death row prisoner." That death row prisoner looks like a Dacheng Realm martial artist! ”

Senior Brother Cheng nodded, and his face was a little solemn: "At that time just now, I went to confirm something. The identity of the death row prisoner is very easy to check, and in the prison of Dali Temple, the martial artist of Dacheng Realm is locked up. White Lotus Sect, Ye Fang! ”

"The martial artists of the Dacheng Realm should not be unknown people." Liu Xin thought about it and felt that he didn't remember the name Ye Fang.

"That's right, he is the White Lotus Sect's Guardian Venerable, Guan Xiangyi's introductory disciple!" Senior Brother Cheng explained, his expression was serious, and there was a hint of jealousy in his eyes.

Liu Xin's face showed surprise, because he was very familiar with this Guan Xiangyi, and he and Xue Sheng compiled this name on the list of the top 100 masters of the rivers and lakes!

The White Lotus Sect Apologetic Venerable, Guan Xiangyi. Ranked fifth on the Zhengyang martial arts list, a proper grandmaster realm figure. The top characters of the entire Zhengyang Jianghu pyramid.

At the beginning, the White Lotus Sect was ordered to be encircled and suppressed by Emperor Kangyang, and he was born out of thin air, and in the hands of the imperial warriors, he still kept the White Lotus Sect Master thorough, and he still easily coped with the siege of the three top-grade Dacheng Realms.

If it was that disciple, Liu Xin felt that he might be in trouble in the future. Because in the eyes of outsiders, it was he who killed Ye Fang, although this revenge is not carried by him alone, but even if it is a one-part hatred, Liu Xin can't bear it.

That's a pipe elephant! Grandmaster Realm!

Liu Xin said with a bitter face: "This Liu Licheng really hurts me!" ”

"Hey, how do you know that Liu Licheng hurt you?"

"Senior Brother Cheng, didn't you say that Liu Licheng reacted quickly and wooed me or something, plus his unusual behavior recently, it's easy to guess!"

"Hehe, I see. That's right, it was Liu Licheng who hurt you, but we haven't found out the reason why Liu Licheng did this yet. Senior Brother Cheng said, he felt that Liu Licheng suddenly re-attacked Liu Xin, there must be a special reason, and this reason must be very strong.

"There is also the restaurant where Liu Licheng is today, and a suspicious person has also appeared." Senior Brother Cheng continued.

Liu Xin frowned: "Who?" ”

"Thousands of households in the Outer North City, Shao Shiwang!"

Senior Brother Cheng said in a deep voice: "We suspect that he is also involved in this matter!" Because a White Lotus Sect rebel like Ye Fang is also a martial artist in the Dacheng Realm, Dali Temple will not easily bring up this kind of person, even if he has a military department. Therefore, we continued to investigate, only to find that this person was personally mentioned by the right Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and the right Shaoqing of Dali Temple is a noble. And this Shao Shiwang is also noble! ”

"You are saying that Marble Right Shaoqing mentioned such a felony because of Shao Shiwang's relationship. By the way, Liu Licheng is from the Wudi City faction, he and Xungui belong to two major factions, and even if they were safe, they would never get along. This time, I ran into each other, saying that there was no cat greasy in it, who would believe it! ”

"Shao Shiwang..."Liu Xin chewed on the name, always feeling that he had heard it somewhere.

I only heard Senior Brother Cheng continue: "You have a lot of troubles at once now, you have to think about what to do next." ”

Liu Xin suddenly relaxed his expression, leaned back, leaned back in the chair, and said to Senior Brother Cheng with a smile: "I can't help it, but I still have Senior Brother Cheng, as well as the sect, the secret investigation team, you will definitely help me!" ”

Senior Brother Cheng: "You are a contemporary disciple Senior Brother, how can you rely on the sect so much!" ”

Liu Xin waved his hand: "These troubles are also necessary to be encountered in the course of normal tasks, and they are not provoked, they found the door by themselves!" ”

...

Imperial City, Taihe Palace

On the broad white jade Dan Majesty platform in front of the Taihe Palace, a sundial is furnished, a pair of Jialiang, a pair of copper turtles and bronze cranes, plus eighteen copper tripods, symbolizing imperial power and longevity.

Three-layer white marble stone carved base, surrounded by railings, under the railing is countless stone carved water dragons, once in the rainy season, here can present the wonder of thousands of dragons spitting water.

The Taihe Hall is about 12 zhang high, and it is the palace with the highest specifications today. The large owl kiss at both ends of the main ridge of the top of the hall is composed of 13 glazed components. On each corner of the eaves, there are glass immortals and mythical beasts standing in a row, which are dragons, phoenixes, lions, heavenly horses, seahorses, fish, swordsmans, pigs, and bullfights. Okay.

Although the Taihe Hall was built in the previous dynasty, it has the state of the fairy palace because of the continuous reconstruction, expansion, reinforcement, redecoration and so on in the middle. It has been praised by countless literati as the emperor's palace in the world.

Although several emperors once changed the name of the Taihe Hall to the Huangji Palace, Emperor Kangyang changed it back to the Taihe Palace.

The decoration in the Taihe Hall is very luxurious. Under the eaves, the dense bucket arch is applied, the indoor and outdoor beams are decorated with Hexi color paintings, the upper part of the doors and windows is inlaid with plum blossom checkered, the lower part is embossed with the cloud dragon pattern, and the jointed tenon is equipped with the gilded copper leaf engraved with the dragon pattern. The gold bricks in the hall are paved with the ground, and the throne is set up in the bright room, which is the emperor's imperial chair, also called the dragon chair.

Today's Emperor Xuyang stipulates that there is a big dynasty every three days and a small dynasty every day. The Great Dynasty summoned hundreds of civil and military officials, while the Small Dynasty consisted of several ministries and important military attachés.

Today is not a big day, but because there is something urgent, so I convened a hundred officials and held a big court meeting.

In the Taihe Palace, hundreds of civil and military officials are arranged on both sides, with military attachés on the left and civil officials on the right, which is the situation of military attachés suppressing civilian officials today.

On the emperor's dragon chair, Emperor Xuyang was sitting on his lap, listening carefully to the narration of a military attache in the hall.

Emperor Xuyang is now close to the year of the Mandate of Heaven, and after reigning for eleven years, his temples are already pale, his lips are thin, his eyes are clear, and he is full of nobility. The face is upright, and there are Sichuan lines hidden between the eyebrows, and he is not angry and self-assured.

Emperor Xuyang listened carefully to the narration of the officials below, and at the same time, his gaze slowly roamed, sweeping the faces of every official for a certain period of time, so that all the officials faintly felt the gaze of His Majesty the Emperor. He seemed to be a natural emperor, looking down on the courtiers under his seat.

It was early this morning, and what we were talking about was the Shandong urgent report that was sent urgently for 800 miles early this morning.

The bandits in Zhengyang are now huge in Liangshan, Shandong, and the imperial court has not been able to clean it up, and it has dragged on from the time of Emperor Kangyang to this day. As a result, there were also mountain bandits in Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places gathered, imitating the Liangshan uprising. Bandits are like weeds, and they can't be burned no matter how much they burn.

Now Sichuan and Shaanxi each have a mountain bandit gradually become a trend, the local government, the military has also encircled and suppressed, but all failed, for a long time, those mountain bandits began to join the momentum, more and more people to join the mountain bandits, I am afraid it will not be long, the mountain bandits are strong, it is time to attack the city.

As a result, the governments of the two places have sent a lot of urgent reports, and the 800-mile urgent report this morning. It was sent from Shandong, and there seemed to be infighting in Liangshan Shuibo, and many corpses floated out along the river. And three days ago, some bandits in Liangshan secretly sent a letter to the Yamen of the governor of Shandong, saying that they were asking the imperial court to edict peace, and they could use it as an internal response to solve the trouble in Liangshan.

Whether it is Zhao'an or Qing has become the focus of controversy in the Taihe Palace.

Most of the military attaches tend to clear Liangshan, and most of the bandits in Liangshan are rebellious, and Liangshan is also one of the largest and most powerful in the Demon Dao sect today. It can be said that it is second only to the evil sect, but when it comes to the degree of harm to the Zhengyang court, Liangshan should be the first in the demon path.

Of course, the military attaches would not let this group of demonic martial artists recruit and become their colleagues.

Wenchen is inclined to Zhao'an, and their reason is also very simple, now there are continuous natural disasters in Zhengyang State, and the people are not able to make a living, if they want to clear Liangshan, at least 100,000 troops will be dispatched. The baggage behind the 100,000 military horses, the people, etc., is enough to overwhelm the current imperial court.

But Zhao'an is different, Zhao'an is to attack the shield of the other with the spear of the other. There is no need for the imperial court to spend anything, just give a promise. Moreover, whether the military attache is held by the righteous martial arts or the demon martial arts is not much different for civilian officials, they are all political enemies.

Especially now that the martial arts are desperately suppressing the civilian clique, and today's civil officials have been tightly embraced, unlike the era of decades of attacking each other and standing on the hills.

Emperor Xuyang never expressed his opinion from beginning to end, he just watched silently, watching the two major factions of civil and military attachés make moves against each other. He had to wait until the two sides were powerless to come out, and then enter the market forcefully and lay the foundation for victory in one fell swoop.

In fact, the struggle between civilian officials and military attaches is also a microcosm of the struggle between the South and the North. Because of the southward invasion of the Northern Barbarians 200 years ago, the family and civil official groups in Zhengyang almost collectively relocated to the south. After the later war of restoration, because the north has been surrounded by the northern barbarians, these civilian official families in the south have a psychological shadow, plus the south has fertile water and soil, outstanding people, and the climate is more comfortable than the north, so the north has become a place for military attaches to settle down.

More than 200 years have passed, although some civil official families have also risen in the north, they are far less than those in the south. Although there are some military attache families in the south, of course, they are not as good as the military attachés in the north who have been in business for 200 years.

In this way, the styles of the north and the south were completely different, and the gap between civilian and military officials became wider.

In fact, twenty years ago, a Confucian general rose, both civil and martial arts, if he can really rise, maybe he can become a mediator between the north and the south between the civil and military, but unfortunately, the last Confucian general, with martial arts to rise, but finally died in the civil rule.

Since then, there has been no last possibility of mutual acceptance between the civil and military.

Looking at the civil and military sides who quarreled from morning to noon, didn't even eat lunch, but were still full of energy, Emperor Xuyang recuperated and felt that he had thought everything through and thought it through, and he could end this farce.

"Ahem!"

Emperor Xuyang's light cough was not loud, and it could not be transmitted to the back of the hall at all, but the miraculous thing was that after Emperor Xuyang's two light coughs, all the ministers in the palace stopped speaking at the same time.

Emperor Xuyang looked at everything with satisfaction, his eyes burst with the power of the emperor, he slowly got up, and the ministers immediately felt as if they were pressed with substantial pressure on their bodies.

"Even if you want to recruit An Liangshan, you need to show them the power of the imperial court first, otherwise, they will only despise the imperial court, and there will be no jealousy and fear in their hearts, and there will be repetition!"

Emperor Xuyang paused and said his final decision:

"On the Liangshan side, you just need to appease and let them decide for themselves whether to submit to the imperial court, and if they choose to submit, then show enough sincerity to come out! Fan Shiyan, this matter will be handed over to you! ”

Cabinet Wenhua Hall Scholar, Ministry of Rites Shangshu Fan Yan slowly walked out two steps, and said loudly.

Although Fan Shiyan is a civil official, he is burly, with clean silver hair, and he acts in the same way, and among the six scholars in the cabinet, this one is famous for his knife mouth. The kind of knife mouth that can punish the heart, he doesn't have a tofu heart. The military attachés laughed at him and called him the Iron Man Shangshu.

Emperor Xuyang bowed his head slightly, and continued: "Sichuan, Shaanxi's bandits, summon Wu Guogong, Jin Guohou back to Beijing. The military department will discuss countermeasures, and then transfer 10,000 iron cavalry and 10,000 elite soldiers from the Beijing camp to clear the bandits in the two places within a time limit! ”

Wu Yingdian University Scholar of the Cabinet, Wu Yan'i, the secretary of the Ministry of War, stepped out generously, this Wu Shangshu was born in a big family, and his words and deeds seemed to be upright, and he also said yes, and then held his head high and walked back to the team slowly.

"Okay, if there is nothing else, retreat!" As soon as Emperor Xuyang's words fell, he turned around and walked away quickly, as if he had already expected that there would be no other things today. Walk neatly.

The ministers immediately retreated, and the civil and military sides were clearly distinguished, but there was no previous smell of gunpowder. The faces of all the officials were calm, showing that the ministers of the DPRK and China had good qi cultivation skills.

...

Outer city, Chongbeifang

Liu Licheng set up a separate courtyard here to house the women who were rescued from the white paper workshop that day.

That day, the killer entered the house of this group of women, and when he was about to kill, he was stopped by the girl, and then Liu Xin and others broke the siege, and in the end, only one old woman unfortunately suffered, and although the rest were somewhat injured, they did not worry about their lives.

Later, they traveled to Shuntianfu County, and were brought here again, and finally rested in peace for these two days, and the family of more than a dozen people, all dressed in plain clothes at this time, guarded the old woman's spirit.

The old woman was the eldest of them, and she was also the wife of the former master of the Royal Beast Sect, but unfortunately the Imperial Beast Sect began to decline more than ten years ago, and then the husbands of these women, that is, the disciples of the sect, were recruited into the palace, and there was no news for more than ten years.

Originally, there were fifty or sixty people in these eight families, but unfortunately some people left, some remarried, and even a few died of illness, until now there are only a dozen people left. Life was already difficult, but suddenly changed, causing these women to have a dead silence on their faces.

Only the girl, although her arm was injured and bandaged, her expression was still smart, but this agility was the agility of sadness.

Her name is Xiaoli, her mother died early, and her father's name is Gui Qinchen, who is one of the eight eunuchs who raised horses. Because her father was summoned to the palace, she was raised and taken care of by all the women when she was still an infant, and she respected and loved these aunts who had the grace of nurturing them very much. Especially the old woman, she is the pillar of this group of women, and she is also the backbone that supports everyone to continue to live and persevere.

Now that the pillar has collapsed, the heart of the Lord is broken, and everyone does not know how to continue to live.

If Liu Licheng hadn't sent someone to send some food and clothing to spend on, they would have starved to death.

At this time, it was late at night, everyone was guarding the old woman's spirit, but they were all soulless, the girl Xiaoli walked beside everyone, handed water to this one, and sent medicine to that, she knew that it was time for her to take care of everyone.

The girl's silver bell-like voice continued to sound softly, making the faces of the women slowly appear angry.

The body of the old woman is still in the Shuntianfu County Office, because it is a matter of killers, and the county government needs to examine her injuries. Therefore, everyone could only burn white paper and simply decorate it in the courtyard.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the courtyard, it was already noon, and there was already a curfew outside, how could there be any noise. For a moment, a terrifying emotion quickly spread.

Bang!

There was a sudden slam on the gate, and then a faint roar came into the courtyard from outside.

"It's... Is it that the killer has come to the door again? ”

"Ah, don't... Don't..."

"Run! Run! ”

"Where can I escape?"

“...”

Suddenly, like frightened rabbits, the women got up and paced, and like headless flies, they spun around the yard.

"Run? No, hurry! Hide Xiaoli! Hide Xiaoli! Fast! The eldest of them was confused for a moment, and then suddenly she seemed to be awakened by something, and turned her head to look for something.

Other women also reacted that Xiaoli was raised by them together, just like their biological children, if the killer really came to the door, then they would desperately protect Xiaoli, which was their last source of courage.

Everyone began to look for Xiaoli, but there was no sign of her in the courtyard.

"Xiaoli! Where have you been! There was a woman with a crying voice.

"Aunties!" The voice of the girl Xiaoli came from the side, and the women looked over and saw Xiaoli coming out of the side room, holding a bright kitchen knife in her left hand and a rolling pin in her right hand.

Xiaoli walked to the center of the courtyard, facing the door, her chest rose and fell violently, her eyes were half resolute, half fear, she endured the fear in her heart, and said to the women behind her in a trembling voice:

"Aunties! If it's really the killer who comes to the door, I'll protect everyone! ”

The women were stunned for a moment, and then someone reacted, rushed forward, hugged Xiaoli's waist, and was about to drag her back.

Xiaoli twisted around and broke away from the woman who didn't have much strength, and the woman fell to the ground all of a sudden.

"Aunt Qin, come into the house, I... I've learned martial arts, and I'll protect everyone! Xiaoli said resolutely, her expression very solemn.

More than a dozen women seemed to be infected, and the eldest woman thought about it, and suddenly rushed into the room, and when she came out again, she held a long-handled broom in her hand, and held it on her chest with both hands, and the fear on her face was visible to the naked eye, but she still said to herself:

"Anyway, it's a death, it's better to fight, no matter how you say it, we are all sons and daughters of the rivers and lakes, why not be afraid of life and death!"

Because of this woman's words and the emotions infected by Xiaoli, these women actually looked for the guy who took advantage of them, and for a while, pots and pans, chairs and pillows, the women held their "weapons" and looked vigilantly in the direction of the door.

The girl Xiaoli did not stop the aunts, she only had one belief at the moment, that is, to live and die with the aunts.

Time passed slowly, and there seemed to be no other movement outside the door, and after a long silence, there was a knock outside the door, and the women immediately raised the "weapons" in their hands, and they all looked frightened and determined.

Knock knock!

"I'm the captain of the Jinyi Guard, and some of the little people have just approached, and they have been driven away by us, you don't have to be afraid, let's rest!"

The women still kept moving, but they saw each other's confused and wary eyes.

After a while, seeing that there was no movement inside, the person outside the door knocked on the door several times, but the frequency was faster than before, and then the person outside the door said in a slightly hurried tone, ""

"Ladies and gentlemen... Auntie, was there anything going on inside? If it's okay, please call back! ”

The women were still silent, except for the girl Xiaoli, who hesitated for a moment, and then took two steps forward with determination, approached the gate, and said slowly, "We... We're fine! ”

The voice outside the door seemed to relax, and said, "It's okay, you guys, rest early!" There are our brocade guards guarding the door, it will be fine, rest assured! ”

It was only at this time that the women finally put their minds at ease, and for a while the pots and pans fell to the ground, and the sound of low sobs came, and the girl Xiaoli put down the kitchen knife and rolling pin, and hurriedly stepped forward to comfort, but there were too many people crying, and she couldn't be busy for a while.

Constantly saying that it was okay, it was okay, the girl Xiaoli suddenly looked up at the starry sky above her head, and secretly made a wish in her heart:

God, I want to practice martial arts, I want to protect everyone, if God has mercy on us, please help me, help me!

In the alley not far from the small courtyard, more than a dozen brocade-clothed lieutenants dressed in fish and dragon uniforms held the handle of a knife in one hand and a torch in the other, looking around vigilantly one by one.

The captain who knocked on the door came over and reported to a hundred households at the head:

"There is nothing wrong in the yard, and we have found no anomalies at the sentry posts on the rooftops of a few buildings."

"Good!"

The hundred households turned around, and the light of the torch reflected his face, which was none other than Liu Licheng's hundred households, Wu Hao.

Wu Hao looked at the seven corpses neatly placed in the alley, they were all wearing black clothes, just now they tried to sneak into the courtyard where the group of women lived, but they were attacked by Wu Hao and a group of school captains who had been ambushed here for a long time, seven of the eight killers were left, and the other was injured by Wu Hao, and one arm was considered useless.

"Sure enough, as expected by the adults of a thousand households, this group of killers is really bold, and they kill people three times and twice, what secrets are really hidden in this group of women and children! The person who fled just now should be their leader, Xiao Chengjing cultivation, slightly weaker than me, if I hadn't been in a hurry to escape, I wouldn't have been able to hurt him easily. Wu lowered his head and muttered to himself.

Ordered a few lieutenants to put these corpses in the carriage and send them to the Thousand Households overnight, he still needs to watch here, the killer shot three times and twice, and it is estimated that he will not give up if he does not achieve his goal.