Li Qiufeng and Yan Dufei heard him say solemnly, their voices trembled slightly, and they knew that this turmoil was really not small. It's just that An Luzhou once heard Zhuang Hengyun talk about it, and he has always been cunning for a long time, and both of them thought in their hearts: "I'm afraid that this old thief's words are nine out of ten false, and it depends on how you act." ”

Yu Changyuan closed his eyes, opened his eyes after a while, and said slowly: "This happened twelve years ago, that is, the last year of the reign of Emperor Zhengde. The winter was particularly long that year, and it snowed heavily until April. At that time, the old man was still living in Fenyang, Shanxi, and had not yet met the four brothers who came later. It's just that the old man likes to make friends in the rivers and lakes, and he can also be said to be famous in the rivers and lakes.

"Since the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Shanxi people have been good at buying and selling to make a living, and then the Great Song Dynasty and the Great Liao contended, Shanxi happened to be on the border between the two countries, although the two sides sometimes attacked, but most of the time it was at the border market. Shanxi people are shrewd, from which to make profits, not less benefits, is to hundreds of years later, if you talk about buying low and selling expensive, the whole world is the first to recommend Shanxi businessmen. The old man grew up in Fenyang since he was a child, and although he practiced fist and foot martial arts, he was not under the four major families in Shanxi in terms of his mind to do business. “

Li Qiufeng and Yan Dufei complimented Yu Chang for a few words, and Li Qiufeng said in his heart: "No wonder you, an old thief, are so calculating, it turns out that you have grown up in the business since you were a child, and you actually calculated to the rivers and lakes, you really deserve to be an old Xi'er." ”

Yu Changchang said: "At that time, although I was eating Jianghu rice, I also had my own Zhuangzi, and I usually bought and sold some jewelry and jade, and slowly gained some reputation in Fenyang City. In the end, even the Qingcheng Mansion and Yonghe Mansion in Fenyang City often came to the door, asking the old man to help them purchase some antique jewelry from the palace.

"I remember it was mid-April, and the snow finally stopped after three days of heavy snowfall. Early in the morning, the chief housekeeper of Qingcheng Wangfu came to me and said that the prince had something important to discuss with me. I secretly wondered if there was another big deal to ask me to do, so I cleaned up and followed the big housekeeper to the Qingcheng Palace.

"At that time, I purchased pearls and ancient jade in the south for Prince Qingcheng a few times, and I was familiar with it in the Qingcheng Palace. I didn't think much about it, thinking that the prince must have taken a fancy to some jewelry and jade again, and wanted me to help him buy it. I didn't know that after I arrived at the Qingcheng Palace, I found that it was heavily guarded, which was not at all what I used to be. The guards and soldiers who usually guard the gate are all gone, and the guards who have been replaced are all big men with different faces, wearing black gauze hats, red clothes, and armor on the outside......"

When Yu Changchang said this, Li Qiufeng couldn't help but let out a "huh". Yan Dufei said: "Brother Li, is there anything wrong?"

Li Qiufeng said: "According to what the owner of Yu Zhuang said, this dress is the outfit of Jinyiwei when he went out of Beijing on an errand. It's just that the Jinyi Guard is the emperor's personal soldier, and he only serves with the emperor when he travels, wearing flying fish clothes and embroidered spring knives. This kind of dress, as the owner of Yu Zhuang said, is what he wears when handling criminal cases. It's just that the guards of the Qingcheng Palace's mansion have been replaced by Jinyi Guards, I'm afraid it's a big deal. ”

Yu Changchang said with a smile: "Brother Li has been on an errand in Jinyiwei for a long time, and he can't learn this when he sees people." If the old man knew that these people were Jinyiwei that day, he was afraid that his legs would be weak with fright. When the first emperor was there, Jinyiwei was not like the current dynasty, he really held the power of life and death, and said that he wanted to kill, so he dragged him out of the street and beheaded him. It is like after ascending the throne today, he took back the power of Jinyiwei to cut first and then play, Jinyiwei was controlled everywhere, although he looked majestic outside, he had lost the authority of the first emperor when he was in power. ”

Li Qiufeng nodded and said: "When the first emperor was here, the power of Jinyiwei and Dongchang was extremely great, and it was because of this that Wang Zhi Qianning was in trouble. After inheriting Dabao, in view of this, the decree abolished the power of Jinyiwei to execute alone, and handed it over to the Criminal Department and Jinyiwei to handle it together. Lu Bing, the former commander of the Jinyi Guard, was an old minister of the Fandi when he was now on the dragon, and he had always been cautious and cautious. Since ascending the throne today, Lu Bing has been very strict with Jinyiwei, because Jinyiwei is no longer as good as the first emperor, so that the hundred officials have changed their color. ”

Yu Changchang said: "That day, I saw that all the guards in the palace had changed, and although I felt a little strange in my heart, I didn't ask too much. When the chief butler took me to the Yin'an Palace, where the prince was receiving guests, the prince had already arrived in the palace and was talking to a person. Dressed in a green cloth shirt and in his thirties, he looked like a teacher in a private school in the countryside. At the time, I thought it was a new guest invited by the prince, but I didn't take it to heart.

After seeing Prince Qingcheng, he nodded at the man in Tsing Yi and said, "This is Yu Changyuan, if you have something to say, just tell him." After saying that, he turned into the back hall and left. The man in Tsing Yi smiled and said, "Mr. Yu, it's really hard to see you in Fenyang City." I don't know what this person came from, but seeing that the prince was quite polite to him, he didn't dare to be abrupt, and hurriedly greeted him. This man doesn't have any scars, but although his eyes are always squinted, when he opens his eyes, his eyes are full of light. We are all practitioners, so we naturally know that only people with extremely strong martial arts will be so profound.

"The man in Tsing Yi chatted with me for a few words, and suddenly said, 'In September of the previous year, Mr. Yu had been to Yu Yaolin's house?' I was startled, my hand couldn't help shaking, and the teacup in my hand fell to the ground, and it was shattered in an instant. The man in Tsing Yi smiled and said, "Mr. Yu, the cup you dropped was fired in the official kiln of the Song Dynasty, no less than 1,000 taels of silver, and you will have to pay it to the prince later." ’

"I don't care about any official kiln or not, I just feel a chill rising from the soles of my feet to the top of my head, my hands tremble, and I can't even speak. The man in Tsing Yi continued: "In May last year, Mr. Yu went to Xiangyang again, and it was a coincidence that as soon as Mr. Yu arrived in Xiangyang, the Qin family, the richest family in the city, was stolen, and a pair of Nine Dragon Jade Cups disappeared. I heard that the old lady of the Qin family was so angry that she vomited blood and died because she lost the ancestral jade cup. ’

"It's a shame to say that the old man walks around the rivers and lakes, thanks to the friends in the rivers and lakes, he can afford it, and he gives the old man a nickname with the word 'chivalry'. It's just that it's not good to be a hero, you want to be chivalrous and righteous, you want to leap into the rivers and lakes, if you don't have silver taels, you can't think about it. The old man has been mixing in the rivers and lakes for twenty or thirty years, and he understands a truth: if you want to be a hero, you must be rich. In addition to the harvest of Zhuangzi, the old man secretly did some business without capital. It's just that the old man only picks those big families who are rich and unkind, and never makes it difficult for the small people. The Lin family in Yuyao is a large local landowner, and the fields are thousands of acres, and they are greedy enough to forcibly occupy the fields of the villagers. I happened to pass by that day, so I went to Lin's house that night, took a few thousand taels of silver from his family, and took away the 'Jiuding incense burner' handed down by the Lin family. As for the Qin family in Xiangyang City, someone offered 50,000 taels for his family's Nine Dragons Jade Cup. At that time, the old man was worried about a sum of money to save the emergency, so he took over the business. The Qin family invited several masters to protect the courtyard, and relying on three points of luck, the old man stole the pair of Nine Dragon Jade Cups.

"It's just that the old man has always been cautious, and he has always been a loner, and he is confident that no one else knows about these transactions. But when he heard the man in Tsing Yi say this, it was as if he followed the old man that day, and the old man was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground at that time. Seeing that I was panicked, the man in Tsing Yi just smiled and said, "Mr. Yu, don't be afraid, if I wanted to take you, I would have tied you up and sent you to the official long ago." When I saw that he had no malice, I thought to myself that I could not avoid it, and since the matter was already known to this man, I had to see what he had to say.

"At that moment, I said to the man in Tsing Yi: 'Since Your Excellency already knows these things, Yu Mou should ask Your Excellency what you plan to do?' Tsing Yi said: 'I heard that Mr. Yu has traveled a lot in the rivers and lakes, I don't know if he knows Ma Kongkong?' I was shocked, that Ma Kongkong is a well-known tomb robber in the rivers and lakes, I have done several transactions with him, and I have also helped him sell the stolen goods. It's just that robbing the tomb is a capital crime according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, I wanted to resist death and deny it, but after thinking about it, this man in Tsing Yi seems to be confident, but I am afraid that he will already know these things, if I deceive him, this person will be angry, maybe he will send me to the official, I am not afraid of dying alone, but the whole family will be implicated by me. Thinking about this, I admitted that I had a good relationship with Ma Kongkong.

The man in Tsing Yi asked me the names of a few more people. These people are all famous figures in the rivers and lakes, both white and underworld, and they all have friendships with the old man. When the man in Tsing Yi saw that I was no longer hiding, he seemed quite satisfied, and said to me, "Mr. Yu is worthy of being a smart man. Since everyone is a smart person, you might as well have something to say. I'm looking for you this time to do something for me. If the matter is done, Mr. Yu's previous things can be written off, and there are also great benefits. I just wonder if Mr. Yu is interested in helping?

"I thought to myself: 'You are clearly threatening me to help you with something, but you want to say it so tactfully. It's just that although he thinks like this in his heart, he naturally can't say this on the surface, so he said: "Even if you say it, Yu went to the soup and went to the fire, and he was willing to be driven away." ’”