After this incident, Li Cheng'an's provincial experience made Fang Linyuan a little surprised.

After he bandaged his wounds and changed his clothes, he rushed back to Sijing Street, and saw that Li Chengan had turned over the entire Luqi Building without stopping, and even checked the cellar where the incense was stored.

Fang Linyuan originally wanted to tell him that he didn't have to be so careful, but looking at his high-spirited appearance with the sixteen guards, it was not easy to hit them.

Only one noon, the news of his sacrifice to save his comrades spread among the sixteen guards. Somehow, this group of young masters who were used to it looked like they were going to live and die, and they seemed to entrust their lives to him.

Fang Linyuan only felt funny for a while, so he let them check it out.

So, in just one afternoon, it spread all over the streets of Sijing.

said that Li Chengan, a well-known gentleman in the capital, wanted to take Sijing Street for some reason, and a few Hu merchants who refused to cooperate let him be thrown into prison without saying anything.

The merchants and residents did not dare to provoke him, and as soon as the sixteen guards arrived, they opened the door and let them inspect it.

Fang Linyuan also went to explain that they should not mess up other people's shops and houses, and they should not forget to give some compensation when they left.

Singing back and forth with such black faces and white faces, the process of censoring Sijing Street became smoother and faster.

Li Chengan rushed forward to investigate, and Fang Linyuan just stared at the side, and all day long, he listened to the gossip.

This is because many of the merchants and shops on Sijing Street, as well as the most famous Washer, hang the sign of Chu's firm.

When he found a compound, Fang Linyuan saw that the medical hall next door was also hung with the door plaque of the Chu family, and asked casually, and the two sixteen guards around him said it word by word.

Originally, the owner of this Chu business was not surnamed Chu, but within a few years, he opened shops all over the capital, and even drove all the way along the canal to the south of the Yangtze River. Last year, the Chu firm even got the certificate of the household department and wanted to set up a shipyard at the new ferry port of the canal with great fanfare.

Originally, everyone speculated that there was no one standing behind the business, some said that it was the two princes, and some said that it was a certain prince who was famous in Beijing. There are different opinions, but unexpectedly, overnight, the head of the business family died mysteriously.

It turned out that their family was not a heavenly magnate, but a businessman who didn't know the height of the sky, and his business was booming, but he didn't know which way of the gods he had provoked.

But just when everyone thought that the Chu business was about to fall apart, this business was still as stable as a rock in Beijing without being in charge of the family. Even the shipyard at the new ferry port was built in an orderly manner.

Fang Linyuan listened with relish.

"That means that there is someone else in the owner of this business?" He asked.

"I don't know." The guard said. "Some people say that there are still others in the main family behind it, and some people have recently said that the entire Chu family business was taken down by another outsider. There is nothing to say, after all, the new owner is not surnamed Chu. ”

"What's that last name?" Fang Linyuan asked.

"It is said that the surname is Zhu." The guard said. "It's just that from Jiangnan to Shangjing, there are so many wealthy businessmen, and I haven't heard of any person surnamed Zhu who has such a big deal."

Fang Linyuan smiled and nodded when he heard this: "Maybe it's still a pseudonym." ”

"Isn't it......"

A few people were talking outside the mansion, and they saw Li Chengan come out with the sixteen guards with a strange expression.

"How?" Fang Linyuan stepped forward and asked.

I saw Li Chengan look back and said, "It's strange that there is no one in such a big courtyard." ”

Fang Linyuan frowned and raised his eyes to look at the mansion.

When they found out about it, the people inside didn't open the door. It was found that this family was a well-known Turkic merchant here, who sold hu cloth at home, but the shopkeeper had not opened his door for several days to do business.

The situation of his family was really strange, and after thinking about it again, Fang Linyuan agreed to Li Chengan's request to break the door.

There is no record of going to the shop, and there is no record of going out of the city, and there is no news for several days, which is weird.

What's more, in such a big house, there can be at least a dozen or so family members, even if the owner is not at home, is there not even a person to guard the door?

"I'll take a look." Fang Linyuan said, brushed aside the sixteen guards who were gathered outside, and strode in the direction they pointed.

Li Chengan also followed him to the house.

The house is very large, with about three entrances and three exits in the front and back, and the courtyard is also very spacious.

This seems to be a unique habit of the Hu people, even if Beijing does not allow private people to raise livestock, they prefer to leave enough places for cattle and sheep.

"The door is locked from the inside?" Fang Linyuan asked Li Chengan.

Li Chengan scratched his head and looked back at the wide open door of the house.

He just patronized the broken door, didn't pay attention to anything, and didn't notice whether the door was locked.

He stretched out his head to look at the door, Fang Linyuan glanced at him speechlessly, followed his gaze, and pointed to the door.

"You have broken the pins, and they have not closed the door from within?"

Li Chengan looked suddenly enlightened.

"If the door is closed from the inside, how can there be no one?" I saw Li Chengan ask him again.

"That's why this house is weird." Fang Linyuan said and walked into the front hall.

He pushed the cabinets and walls in the hall one by one, and they were all stable. After the inspection, Fang Linyuan inspected for a week and said, "Go to the back house and have a look." ”

"Are you looking for a secret door?" Li Chengan asked.

"The secret door may be the road leading to the outside of the house." Fang Linyuan's eyebrows froze. "But the jurisdiction of the roads in the capital has always been strict, and it is more likely that there are secret rooms here that we haven't found than the secret roads."

Li Chengan's eyes lit up, as if he was interested.

Fang Linyuan raised his hand and summoned two sixteen guards, asked one of them to go outside to inform the others, seal off all parts of this courtyard, and asked the other to go to the yamen quickly to get the information registered by this family in the official mansion.

And Li Chengan has taken the lead in bringing a team of people into the main house in the backyard and checking it privately.

Exploring the secret door has never required any skills, only care. Seeing that he looked like he was looking for treasure, Fang Linyuan didn't stop him and let him search.

Fang Linyuan himself looked around the room, and finally reached out and touched it on the table.

A thin layer of floating ash should have been uncleaned for many days.

But the surroundings are very neat.

But at this moment, a miserable scream came from not far away, which was made by Li Chengan.

Fang Linyuan raised his eyes and saw Li Chengan stumbling out of the side, his face was like earth, his whole body was trembling, and he was speechless.

"How?" Fang Linyuan hurriedly frowned and walked over.

Then he saw the sixteen guards who came out next to him, his face was pale, and he pointed straight to the side behind him.

"Found it...... General, there's a shelf there, and there's a secret door in it! The guard said.

"What do you see?" Fang Linyuan walked straight away.

was grabbed by Li Chengan's arm.

"Dead man!" I saw Li Chengan trembling and said. "Inside...... It's all dead! ”

——

The Turkic merchant family was killed in the vault.

Fang Linyuan immediately invited Qi Zuo, who said that these people had been dead for about seven or eight days.

Seven or eight days is a few days before the Flower Dynasty Festival.

Could it be that the Turkic bandits had kidnapped the family and used their house as a stronghold? This seems to be a reasonable logic, the Turkic family killed people and seized the house, used his house to hoard people, and went to the market on the day of the flower dynasty to kill people and cause trouble.

But......

Fang Linyuan raised his hand and pressed his eyebrows.

But there are many irrationalities. They kill merchants, but in what capacity do they prepare the clothes for the horses? But if they didn't rob the house, why would they kill their cooperating people before the incident?

What's more, since they left, the entire courtyard has been clean and tidy, and even the traces of horses in the courtyard have been almost cleaned quickly, so who will do this?

Fang Linyuan couldn't figure it out, and Li Chengan next to him was still vomiting vigorously.

"Get out of the way and throw up." He said. "If you destroy the scene, will you pay for your head?"

Li Chengan straightened up and looked at him with a look at a monster: "Aren't you afraid!" ”

Fang Linyuan glanced at him.

"Haven't you inquired about how many Turks have died under my hands?" He asked.

Li Chengan was speechless, and muttered for a while: "Hades." ”

——

The guards who went to the Yamen soon returned.

Sijing Street is under the jurisdiction of the Yamen of Shangjing Mansion, and Shangjing Mansion got the news of the Sixteen Guards, and hurriedly sent officials to rush to Fang Linyuan with all the documents of this family.

He was still conducting an autopsy inside, and seeing that the official looked like he was concerned, Fang Linyuan went to the front hall with him, sat down at the table, and opened the document brought by the official.

"This cloth merchant has been in Beijing for more than 30 years." The official said, pointing out one of the documents to Fang Linyuan. "The introduction of the road to Beijing, the business certificate, and the annual tax payment are all on this. Before sending it, the lower officials specially checked it, and there was no omission. ”

Fang Linyuan flipped through these vouchers one by one, and saw that it was indeed as the official said.

The next one is all the papers about this merchant in the yamen. Fang Linyuan opened it and saw that there had only been a few frictions in business transactions for more than 30 years, such as incomplete payments, all of which were trivial.

"So they have been a legitimate business for many years?" Fang Linyuan said.

The official smiled: "We have always been strict with the jurisdiction of Sijing Street, and it is said that there will be no mistakes. ”

But I heard Fang Linyuan ask again: "Can he have any dealings with the Turks?" ”

"Nothing to do." The official said. "Only a few months ago, a relative who had defected to their house from the Turks was also recorded in the yamen."

As he spoke, the official took out another document and gave it to Fang Linyuan: "Please take a look at it, general." ”

Fang Linyuan took out the document and saw that the name and surname of the relative were recorded on it. A thirty-two-year-old young man, named Ulliji, came to his relatives because of a snowstorm on the ranch in winter, which killed both his parents.

&nb

sp; Fang Linyuan's eyebrows froze, only to feel that something was wrong.

"Anything else?" Fang Linyuan asked again.

"The rest is piecemeal. They have a lot of family members and have opened a lot of shops in recent years. However, Daxuan's jurisdiction over foreign merchants has always been strict, and many businesses are not allowed to be done, so there are some cases that are abandoned and hoarded in the yamen......"

Fang Linyuan took the stack of papers.

He flipped through the pages and finally stopped at a page of documents that had been rejected by the yamen.

Carriage and horses.

It was this merchant who applied for a certificate from the Yamen and wanted to open a carriage and horse shop in Beijing.

It is clearly written on it that the number of 50 driving horses has been prepared. Fifty horses were enough to drive the horses that night and they fled.

——

Fang Linyuan immediately sent someone to investigate.

Soon, the sixteen guards who went out to investigate came back with the news, saying that their family had bought a horse farm in Beijing half a month ago, and had hoarded a lot of cars in it. And the one who paid for the horse farm was the one who went all the way to his relatives.

The horse farm he had bought was now empty, with only a few old horses and a broken cart left on the ground.

Fang Linyuan understood what was strange.

It was common for the Turks to encounter snow damage on pastures, but when he returned to Beijing last year, there was not even snow in the north.

The Turks have always had the ability to deal with snow damage, and there are not necessarily a few people who can die due to snow disasters in a year, let alone the family that can buy a horse farm in this way.

At that moment, the servant came out of it.

"How many corpses are there?" Fang Linyuan asked him.

"General Hui, a total of forty-one people." He said.

Fang Linyuan's eyebrows sank slightly, and he picked up the paperwork of the family on the table.

The whole family, including the doorman, is a total of forty-one mouths.

And Uliji, who bought the racecourse, is not among them.

——

The palace soon got the news, and in the evening, a eunuch came to invite Fang Linyuan, saying that Emperor Hongyou wanted to see him.

Fang Linyuan then entered the palace, and as soon as he arrived at the door of the imperial study, a eunuch who picked him up smiled and said to him that His Majesty had been waiting for him for a long time.

Fang Linyuan then entered the hall.

The imperial study room is burning with golden silk Canaan incense, and the surrounding palace maids are as quiet as sculptures, and the sound of Emperor Hongyou turning and folding in the huge hall is behind.

Fang Linyuan entered the salute, and as soon as he knelt down, he heard Emperor Hongyou say, "Fang Qing, hurry up." Come, give a seat. ”

Fang Linyuan was led by the chamberlain to sit down beside him, and when he saw Emperor Hongyou put down the fold, he smiled at Fang Linyuan: "Thanks to Aiqing, in just a few days, the mastermind of this gang of bandits has been investigated. ”

"This person can travel thousands of miles from the Turks to Beijing, and he has taken great pains to gather the bandits, and there must be another command behind him." Fang Linyuan said when he heard this.

But I saw Emperor Hongyou smile and nodded.

"Aiqing doesn't have to worry." He said. "When this person entered Beijing, the ultimatum of every city he passed through was registered in the various state capitals. I have sent someone to send this person's information to the various post stations, and if he appears in the territory of Daxuan again, he will be arrested on the spot. ”

Fang Linyuan nodded when he heard this: "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

"Now that the case has been understood, the people of Beijing can finally live in peace." Emperor Hongyou said with a smile. "Fang Qing, this is all your credit!"

Hearing this, Fang Linyuan hurriedly got up.

"Your Majesty praises falsely, and Weichen is ashamed."

"Sit down." Emperor Hongyou said with a smile. "I originally let you enter the palace to receive the reward, but instead I am restraining you."

As he spoke, he raised his hand, and Huang Wei on the side walked to Fang Linyuan with a tray covered with red silk and a smile.

"General, please." Huang Wei smiled with joy on his face.

Fang Linyuan looked up, and saw that Emperor Hongyou was also nodding to him with a smile, so he stretched out his hand and uncovered the red silk on the tray.

A glittering plate of gold ingots almost stunned Fang Linyuan's eyes.

He hurriedly got up and knelt down, saluted Emperor Hongyou, and said, "How dare Weichen receive such a valuable reward from Your Majesty!" ”

Look at the weight of this tray, the gold ingots on it are a hundred taels to say the least. If he has won the battle and defeated the enemy, it is reasonable to receive this reward. It's just such a small case in Beijing, how could Emperor Hongyou reward him like this?

But I saw Emperor Hongyou say: "I said that you can bear it, you can naturally bear it." ”

"But ......"

Fang Linyuan was about to resign, but Emperor Hongyou interrupted him with a smile.

"I originally wanted to entrust Aiqing with something, Aiqing is like this, it's hard for me to speak."

Fang Linyuan looked up at Emperor Hongyou.

Then I saw Emperor Hongyou and said: "Now, the trace of the Turkic bandit is unknown, and I still can't feel at ease before this person is caught. ”

"Your Majesty means ......?"

"I am thinking that Aiqing will still serve as the general of the Sixteenth Guard and guard the capital for me." Emperor Hongyou said. "When the dust settles, I will be at ease. At that time, it will not be too late for Aiqing to go. ”

——

I can't go again.

When he left the palace, Yan Ting, who was holding a large plate of gold on the side, smiled from ear to ear, but Fang Linyuan, who was on the side, couldn't laugh.

pushed again and again, and he was about to have the illusion that he would never be able to leave the capital in his life.

Back at Fuguangxuan, Yan Ting asked Fang Linyuan whether these rewards were put into his private treasury or into the treasury of the Hou Mansion. Fang Linyuan raised his hand and touched the shiny gold ingots on the plate, and asked for a moment, "Is Fang You going to resign tomorrow?" ”

Yan Ting nodded and said, "General Zhuo is leaving tomorrow." ”

Fang Linyuan nodded and said, "Leave ten taels and send them to the eldest sister-in-law, and pack the rest in a box, and let Fang You take them to Yumen Pass tomorrow." ”

“…… Checkmate? Yan Ting looked puzzled. Do you not keep a little for yourself? ”

Fang Linyuan shook his head.

But after a moment, he remembered something again and sighed resignedly.

"Leave another ten taels for the princess, and send them tomorrow."

——

Zhuo Fangyou came to the Anping Marquis Mansion early in the morning on the second day to bid farewell to Fang Linyuan.

Fang Linyuan saw him in the main hall of the Hou Mansion, and when he saw the white silk wrapped around Fang Linyuan's hand, Zhuo Fangyou couldn't help but sigh: "Compared with the outside of the Guan, it seems that the capital is also almost as dangerous. ”

Fang Linyuan didn't say much, and handed over the border fixing strategy he had written a few days ago and his father's and brother's codex to Zhuo Fangyou.

"These should be lent to you, you can look through them casually, but when I return to Yumen Pass, I will definitely return them to me." Fang Linyuan said solemnly.

Zhuo Fangyou knew that most of them were the relics of Fang Linyuan's father and brother, so he didn't dare to be dismissive, and replied solemnly: "Don't worry, I will lose my life, and I will not lose these books." ”

"Don't talk about discouragement." Fang Linyuan said, and handed a heavy box to Zhuo Fangyou.

As soon as Zhuo Fangyou opened it, he was dazzled by a large piece of golden light inside.

"You...... With so much money, you dare not give it to me! He was startled and quickly pushed the box back.

"It's not for you." Fang Linyuan said. "There are many displaced people in Yumen Pass, and seeing that it is already spring, you can exchange it for silver and buy seeds and farm tools for them."

Zhuo Fangyou sighed and took Fang Linyuan's box of gold ingots with both hands.

"Don't worry, I will definitely send this money to the people of Yumen Pass for you." He said. "It's just...... Such a large sum of money, do your wife know? Will she be able to agree? ”

The corners of Fang Linyuan's mouth twitched.

He was about to answer, but at this moment, the maid outside the door announced, "Her Royal Highness the princess has come down." ”

Zhuo Fangyou was like a thief, and quickly hid the box back.

Fang Linyuan was a little speechless: "What are you hiding, could it be that you stole it?" ”

As he spoke, he saw that Zhao Pu had already entered the door. Surrounded by maids, as bright as the sun, Fang Linyuan saw Zhuo Fangyou's red ears when he saw it, and he lowered his head crampedly and didn't dare to look at Zhao Pu again.

It's really useless. Fang Linyuan thought to himself. When Zhao Pu's identity is revealed, I will scare you to death.

"See Her Royal Highness the Princess!" Over there, Zhuo Fangyou hurriedly saluted Zhao Pu.

I saw Zhao Pu smile faintly.

"General, please." His voice was smooth, and his forged voice was like a peony in the morning, and he couldn't hear the shadow of a man at all.

"I heard that the general was about to leave the city, so I also rushed to see the general off." I saw Zhao Pu talking, and glanced sideways at the silk on the side.

saw Juan Su holding a small wooden box in both hands, stepped forward, and handed it to Zhuo Fangyou.

Zhuo Fangyou didn't dare to reach out to take it.

Fang Linyuan looked at his unpromising appearance, and his eyes inevitably hated a little bit of iron and steel. He stretched out his hand to take the wooden box for Zhuo Fangyou, raised his hand to open it, and saw a stack of silver tickets thickly separated inside, and the top one was the amount of one thousand taels.

Fang Linyuan looked at Zhao Pu in surprise.

Seeing that Zhao Pu's eyes were slightly drooping and he didn't speak, but the silk next to him said: "Her Royal Highness the princess heard that the border was cold and the people were poor, so she wanted to do her best. Whether it is to build houses for the people, raise food and give porridge, it must be written in our Hou Ye's "Thirteen Strategies for Dingbian", and they will be handed over to the general to dispose of. ”

Zhuo Fangyou next to him was stupid.

Fang Linyuan was also shocked and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

This stack of silver tickets, how to say that there are tens of thousands of taels, Zhao Pu gave it so lightly?

saw that Zhao Pu only quietly raised his eyes to look at him, looked at each other for a moment, and showed a faint and just right smile.

"Master Hou, hurry up and hand over the silver to the general." He reminded.

Fang Linyuan woke up from a big dream and handed over the box of silver tickets to Zhuo Fangyou.

saw Zhuo Fangyou holding the small box in both hands, staring at Fang Linyuan for a moment, and tears were faintly filled in his eyes.

"Virtuous couple, really virtuous couple!"

He sighed, turned around, and saluted Zhao Pu, his voice was very loud.

"I thank my sister-in-law for the people and soldiers of Yumen Pass!" ，