Dongchengfang, Cui Zhai.

Because the Cui family's house was the largest, after a night of turmoil, Aunt Gongsun and her disciples, Du Youlin and his family all lived in the Cui house.

This has also become a huge gain for Cui Hui to make a bet on this night.

If Gao Chong, Guo Wanjin, Li San'er and others are guilty, others will inevitably be suspicious. Then, the palace worship and transfer deputy envoy to Yanshi all went to Cui Hui's house to borrow, it can be seen that Cui Hui is the most suspicious, so who is the most reliable and famous gentry in Yanshi County, it is clear at a glance.

Du Youlin promised that it would always be easy to recommend Cui Hui's two sons as officials, and it would always be easy for the children of the gentry to become officials.

At noon, the men were in the hall and the women were gathered in the flower hall to talk and have fun.

"There's one thing." Cui Hui hesitated a little and said, "But I don't know Zhang Sanniang?" ”

Du Youlin shook his hand, put on an official posture, and said lightly: "You don't have to worry about Xue Lang and Zhang Sanniang's affairs. ”

In fact, no one had ever explained how he was going to answer this, and it was the answer he came up with on a whim. vaguely showed that there was something between Xue Bai and Zhang Sanniang, and it made people dare not ask. Anyway, with Xue Bai's reputation, others will definitely be able to believe it.

At that time, others will guess that it should be Zhang Sanniang who came to find a lover, but they dare not admit it...... Anyway, you can guess it.

Sure enough, Cui Hui showed a knowing smile and didn't ask any more.

It didn't take long for Du Yan to hear Mrs. Cui coming back from the lobby and muttering quietly.

"I heard that Xue County Lieutenant is engaged, so Zhang Sanniang has a personal relationship with him? It is worthy of the meteorological ...... of Chang'an"

Du Yan was not very happy immediately, and she didn't have a good face for Du Youlin, so she directly pulled Du Yan back to the house.

The two sisters freshened up and asked the maid to go to the front yard to explore, wondering why Xue Bai couldn't come over.

At the end, Qu Shui came back and reported in a low voice.

"Xue Lang went to visit Pen'er."

Du Cheng actually knew the meaning of this sentence, she didn't understand why Xue Bai was hiding his nobility, in short, she thought that he was acting reasonably.

After a night of sleep, she was already sleepy, and she originally wanted to say a few words to Xue Bai before sleeping, but at this time, she also followed him to do what he should do, and she turned her head and prepared to sleep.

Du Yan is different, extremely curious, with a pair of bright eyes, and no sleepiness at all.

"Sister, why did you say that he saw a thief first, and didn't bother to come to see us first?"

"That's the right thing."

"I think it's weird."

Du Yan first felt that it was very wrong for Xue Bai to secretly capture Gao Chong alive, it was okay to hand it over to expose the reverse case or kill a big work, and the top ghost liked credit the most, how could he sweep away the normalcy this time.

"Sister, you say, a thief, what do you have to try?"

"It's only the trial of the thief." Du Cheng muttered and soon fell asleep.

Du Yan became more sober the more she thought about it, and finally turned over, changed into an ordinary robe, and took two henchmen out.

First, she paid attention to it, and there was no one in the city to watch it anymore, so she went to "Pen'er"'s house.

All the way through the alley, I saw a few men standing guard in front of the small dilapidated house.

Ren Mulan was half-squatting and walking on the horse, looking very diligent, when she saw Du Yan coming, she shook twice and stood up, and asked, "Erniang, why are you here?" ”

"He's still in there?"

"County lieutenant? Inside. ”

Du Yan walked quickly into the house, the men were all outside, there was no one in the house, only the light came out of the cellar. The slate on top was not compacted and locked from the inside, so that it could neither be lifted up nor covered from the outside.

I can't hear the voices inside, only when Gao Chong screams violently, there will be a buzzing echo below, revealing a sense of mystery.

She then picked up a piece of rubble and threw it inside.

Soon, Xue Bai heard the movement, came out of the cellar, opened the big lock and walked up.

"Huh?"

"How did you take so long?"

"There's so much to ask."

Xue Bai didn't feel any sleepiness at all, and as he spoke, he walked to the outhouse and asked, "Is there any medicine?" Heal wounds. ”

"County lieutenant, I know how to heal injuries." Ren Mulan said: "As long as I give money, I can buy medicine and pick herbs." ”

Du Yan is the one who really knows how to do these little things, and tells people to arrange another henchman who knows how to heal injuries.

She had the heart to go to the cellar to have a look, but was stopped by Xue Bai.

"Don't look at it, it's the first time I've used torture, it's rusty, it's miserable, and it scares you."

"What did you judge yet?"

The two pulled themselves out of the dilapidated house, it was getting bright outside, Xue Bai was a little uncomfortable with the light, squinted his eyes, and Du Yan stood on tiptoe and raised his hand to block the sun for him.

"There is a pawnshop in the west of the city, which is a noble industry and a contact point for his communication with Fan Yang, and his letters, deeds, and card symbols are hidden in the dark room in the backyard." Xue Bai said in a low voice: "By the way, bring enough weapons when you go, don't alarm others." ”

Du Yan asked, "Do we want to take it as evidence, or do we swallow it?" ”

"What's the use of evidence?"

Du Yan laughed when she heard this, and said, "Then you can cover up your movements as a county lieutenant." ”

"Don't worry, Lu Linghao blocked the city gate and took the thief." Xue Bai said, "He said that he was a thief, but in fact, it was to suppress the situation, he was good at going up and down, and the big things were small." ”

"Official, what you want is stability."

"Yes."

Du Yan asked again: "Is there anything else?" ”

"There is a carriage and horse shop in Nanshi, and I will take the messenger to the shop to get people, so that the specific news will not spread too quickly."

While speaking, Xue Bai turned his head to look at her, and the eyes of the two touched, as if they could rub fire.

"When these little things are done, I'll talk to you slowly."

As soon as Du Yan heard his tone, she knew that there was really a secret, nodded her head, and responded, "You have to tell me through then." ”

~~

Kui Xingfang, Xue House.

In the evening, the first thing Xue Bai did after coming back was to drive out all the servants and maids sent by Lu Linghao.

Qinglan was very happy about this, she would rather do more work and live a quiet life with Xue Bai, not to mention that those maidservants were always spying on them.

After that, Du Yan came over and explained to her: "I have something very important to say to Ah Bai, you must guard the courtyard and not let anyone eavesdrop." ”

"Erniang, don't worry." Qinglan nodded vigorously.

As a maidservant girl from Du Zhai, she is particularly easy to be sent by Du Yan. And in the Du family before, Du Yan didn't avoid her for some things, but today she is so solemn, obviously it is really a great event.

The sunset sprinkled on the corridor like blood, Du Yan pushed the door into the wing, turned around and plugged in the door bolt, and acted lightly, inexplicably looking a little nervous.

"I've taken down the pawnshop, and there are only a few ordinary nursing homes left." Du Yan said: "There are a lot of documents in the secret room, I'll read them slowly." ”

Xue Bai was drawing a map, his face was still not sleepy, his eyes were shining, and he went directly to the point, and muttered: "Caoyun smuggling, since the opening of the Grand Canal, we saw the merchant registration in Tongguan is the most common way of smuggling, An Lushan did not place people in every place on the trade road, and his smuggling caravan was registered in most places, except for a few traffic arteries. ”

Du Yan sat down beside him, looked at the map he had drawn, and saw that he had written the word "Yuncheng" on the south side, and the word "Wuyang" below.

"The iron ore came from Wuyang? This is what you judged. ”

"I deceived Gao Chong."

Hearing that there was an iron mine in Yuncheng, Xue Bai guessed that it was in Wuyang and Wugang.

Taking advantage of this, he deliberately exposed the lies of his two times and determined the approximate range of the iron ore when he interrogated Gao Chong, which was useless for the time being, but it could deter Gao Chong and get more clues.

"The iron ore did come from Wuyang, and it was transported to Yanshi by land, turned to the waterway, crossed the Yellow River, and took the Yongji Canal to Zhuo County, that is, Fanyang. Along the way, only Yanshi, Weizhou, Weizhou, and Dezhou installed their people to lead the line with points. ”

"Yanshi County is a land and water transportation place, without here, they will give up?"

"Not a lot of options." Xue Bai said: "The iron ore is in the south, and it can only be transported by water in Luoyang, Yanshi, and Xingyang, crossing the Yellow River and entering the Yongji Canal. In addition, the only way to load the ship to the lower reaches of the Yellow River is to go upstream, but it still has to pass through Xingyang. ”

Du Yan said: "Will they buy the officials of Xingyang? ”

"It's not so fast, even if someone goes to Fanyang to report the news, it will take more than 20 days at the earliest." Xue Bai muttered: "Once the news comes and goes, it will take nearly two months at the earliest. ”

Du Yan had already sensed something, and she didn't speak, looking at Xue Bai with her eyes straight away.

"What do you want?"

"Gao Chong has an empty smuggling ship on the banks of the Yiluo River, and a batch of copper and iron will arrive in a few days. Before An Lushan reacted, we found out who was operating their iron mountains and copper mountains, and where the weapons and copper coins were minted. Xue Bai said: "Then, let's take over." ”

Iron Mountain and Copper Mountain are under the supervision and governance of the Shaofu, which is governed by officials and allowed private mining, and is one of the ten taxes. But there are several iron mountains and copper mountains in the world, and they are all supervised. You can cast agricultural tools and bronze tools, but you can't make weapons and can't mint copper coins. This is also why many official families know that Gao Gao is smuggling, but they do not think that he wants to rebel.

It's just that others deceive themselves, but Xue Bai and Du Yan know very well that this is used to prepare for rebellion.

"What about after the takeover?"

Xue Bai did not avoid Du Yan's gaze, greeted him calmly, and said, "Let's rebel." ”

He had had this idea for a long time, and he thought about telling her. But if he had said it before, he would have nothing but a little "ridiculous".

It was only then that this whimsical ambition had its first feasibility.

Du Yan didn't laugh at him, and didn't even ask him if he was joking, and directly believed it.

She had long sensed that Xue Bai had a restless heart, and that afternoon, when they broke through the confinement, she felt his surging ambition.

The two have always planned to get rid of the prince, but they lack an opportunity to talk about something bolder.

"Rebellion? You mean, who do you want to help become emperor? Still is? ”

"I should."

After looking at each other for too long, Du Yan's eyes seemed to be on fire, which was ignited by Xue Bai's eyes.

She didn't speak, but drew closer, as if to examine him, and when she was about to kiss him, she whispered in his ear.

"Okay...... Your Majesty. ”

All that was left in the room was a muffled sound, like the "crackling" of firewood burning.

Even the curtains on the couch were shaken.

Du Yan lifted her robe, panting excitedly, a little crazy, like a she-wolf.

"You've only told me...... Is it? ”

"Yes, never told you?"

Du Yan raised her head and said with a smile: "It must be someone else...... You must think you're crazy, you know? But I ...... I can go crazy with you. ”

"It's going to be dangerous, are you afraid?"

"I'm afraid? We are already in danger...... My whole family is one of those who have died. ”

Saying that, Du Yan lay on Xue Bai's shoulder, hugged his head, and asked, "You haven't slept all night, are you sleepy?" ”

"I can't sleep."

"Me too."

Xue Bai then got to the point.

"I have an idea, do you know that after the Sanshu case, Li Ying had a sister-in-law, Li Qian, who was killed by mistake?"

"It seems to be...... The son of Li Wan? King Chen Liujun? ”

"No, the son of the abolished prince is also named this one, and the matter has been covered up, but many people who have experienced the Sanshu case know it. Li Qian is the same age as me, after he was killed by mistake, I was confiscated as a slave, and it just so happened that no one could find out what happened before I was adopted by Xue Rust. ”

"You mean, impersonating him?"

"It's difficult, it's definitely impossible for a slain prince to appear in the house of a confiscated criminal minister."

"We make up a story and publish it in the newspaper...... It is impossible to happen, so it is said to be the 'Mandate of Heaven', which is blessed by God. ”

"It's not enough, no matter how well the story is written, if you want people to believe it, you have to put a knife on their necks."

"Those iron stones can be used to make our knives?"

"There's more to learn than that......

For Xue Bai, there are indeed too many things to harvest, the power and smuggling business left by Gao Chong, he has to slowly digest it for a long time, there are still a large number of workers on this land and water to buy, and there are a large number of shortages in the county soldiers.

In addition, when these are done, in fact, Luhun Villa in Shouyang Mountain is a good place to secretly accumulate strength.

When he was in Chang'an, Xue Bai was a small grass that survived in the cracks, and the boulders on both sides almost killed him, but also sheltered him from the wind and rain, and protected him from the ravages of the stormy and scorching sun.

When it comes to Yanshi, the grass can't survive, and the little hare can eat it.

Xue Bai must grow into a tree.

So with all his might, he stood up and thrived, so that the hare crashed to death on his hard trunk.

In this way, Yanshi is a fertile field that can support him.

“……”

The two men in the room let out a long sigh at the same time, like saplings that had grown together, blooming branches.

It's also like the emotions that have been suppressed for too long have been released by a long time.

(End of chapter)