border cook

Jiang Yanyi said slowly, "Jian Jia, what do you think of this sheepskin scroll being handed over to the government?"

Huo Jianjia nodded: "If this thing falls into the hands of others, it may cause disaster. It would be best to hand it over to the government."

She "touched" the handle of the big knife behind her, her eyes like a little wolf: "I only have one request, if the group that killed my father is caught, there is a female travel doctor among them, I will personally Cut off her head!"

"Female doctor?" Jiang Yanyi gave a pause to the hand holding the sheepskin scroll.

Huo Jianjia's broken hair hanging from his forehead blocked his eyes, only the corners of his mouth were tightly pursed, showing a bit of stubbornness: "That wandering doctor is good at making incense and smoke, my father just fell for her way! "

Jiang Yanyi hurriedly asked: "What is the figure and appearance of the female doctor you mentioned?"

Huo Jianjia made a gesture with his hands: "She is a woman who is not "confused", half a head shorter than your master, about this tall, of medium build."

What Huo Jianjia described was consistent with the female doctor Jiang Yanyi met before. Just now she heard Xing Yao say that someone in Pipa Lane was attacked and someone used the fire to burn a lot of smoke.

I also met a female travel doctor at the market before and bought food for several people...

Jiang Yanyi's expression changed slightly: "The murderer will be caught."

She looked at Huo Jianjia's bloody clothes, and said, "Go to the next door to find okra, wash and change into clean clothes."

Huo Jianjia wiped the blood on his face and went back obediently.

Jiang Yanyi walked out of the flower hall quickly, and asked the servants of Feng's mansion that he was in the study. After telling Feng Shuo about the sheepskin scroll, he said: "There is a female doctor named Fang in the city, and there should be accomplices hidden in her residence." Well, they are most likely the remnants of the former dynasty who kidnapped Jiang Yanxi."

In the original book, the person who recognized Jiang Yanxi as the former princess in the village outside the Guan was a goddess doctor surnamed Fang.

Jiang Yanyi hadn't thought about the old part outside the pass before, after all, in the original book, it was a plot that was triggered only after the hero and heroine arrived outside the pass.

But based on the current clues, it can be seen that the female travel doctor surnamed Fang is undoubtedly the goddess doctor who dispensed "medicine" for the heroine in the original book, causing the heroine to almost poison the emperor Feng Shiyan to death.

A group of female doctors snatched Huo Jianjia and her father's sheepskin scrolls, obviously wanting to use this as a bargaining chip to cooperate with the Marquis of Xing'an.

With the flames of war, it will always be the people at the bottom who suffer. The current world is divided by three parties. The southeast is Fan Wei and Xinyang Wang's party, the northwest is Feng Shuo, and the central part is the new emperor Feng Shiyan's forces.

The three parties have their own constraints. Although there has been no peace, they dare not fight with all their strength in order to preserve their strength. The scope of the war is limited and will not affect more innocent people.

Both she and Feng Shuo intentionally prevented people from the previous court from mixing in to muddy the water. After all, if the former officials wanted to restore the country, they wished that the world would be more "chaotic" and the people's livelihood would be more miserable. more support.

Now the people from the previous court suddenly jumped out, obviously someone deliberately pulled this line.

Counting the time, the last time she contracted a cold, the female travel doctor had already come to Xizhou, wasn't it after Jiang Yanxi was arrested?

Feng Shuo asked Xing Yao to find Lu Linyuan, and there is a high probability that he suspected Lu Linyuan.

Although Jiang Yanxi had already been identified as being in the Jixiang Inn, the female travel doctor's residence must also be a stronghold. Feng Shuo quickly ordered his cronies to lead people to set up an ambush, and specifically told them not to startle the snake.

Once the net is collected at the Auspicious Inn, if there are remnants of the former dynasty who escaped and find a hiding place, they can only retreat there. It is much easier to catch them all in one go than to search the whole city.

After deploying these, Feng Shuo looked at the blank sheepskin scroll in front of the desk and asked Jiang Yanyi: "Is your maid's words trustworthy?"

Jiang Yanyi said: "My people have been watching her for a while, it's believable."

As soon as she finished speaking, Chi Qing came in from the outside in a hurry: "Where is the treasure map of the previous dynasty?"

He entered the door only to find that Jiang Yanyi was also inside, and hurriedly bowed: "Miss Chu."

Jiang Yanyi returned the gift with a blessing.

Feng Shuo showed the treasure map to Chi Qing: "Can you see what's tricky?"

"Blank?" Chi Qing muttered, took the sheepskin scroll to look around, and reached out to rub the edge of the sheepskin scroll. He didn't find any compartments inside, and his interest was completely lost. He curled his lips and said: "This sheepskin scroll It's probably fake, maybe it's a play directed and acted by the former ministers, just to get Marquis Xing'an into the game and help them save people."

He returned the sheepskin scroll to Feng Shuo, and poured himself a cup of tea to quench his thirst: "Fortunately, I rushed over when I heard the news, thinking that with this money, I could exchange a batch of weapons for the soldiers, and then organize a whole army of heavy cavalry. Have a good time!"

The heavy cavalry is raised by countless silver, and it also has an absolute advantage on the battlefield. The light cavalry is good for marching and performing some surprise missions, but the heavy cavalry can only be defeated in the frontal battlefield.

The heavy cavalry has heavy armor protection from soldiers to war horses, and shooting arrows from a long distance can't hurt them at all, they can only fight in close combat.When a light cavalry confronts a fully armed heavy cavalry at close range, the light cavalry may not be able to injure the opponent by cutting the heavy cavalry several times, but the heavy cavalry can kill or injure the light cavalry with just one blow.

On the battlefield, if there is a heavy cavalry, the heavy cavalry can crush and disperse the opponent's infantry camp in a head-on confrontation, and the infantry behind will clean up the mess and make up the knife, the chance of winning will be much greater.

It's just that it is extremely difficult to form a heavy cavalry team. It is almost necessary to select all the top soldiers in the barracks. After all, wearing heavy armor and being able to wield weapons requires cavalry skills and physical fitness.

War horses also had to be high-quality horses. Not only did they have to carry heavy armored cavalry, but they also had to wear armor to prevent them from being cut by swords.

In order to prevent their courtiers from rebelling, the emperors of all dynasties did not allow their courtiers to raise heavy cavalry privately. Only the emperor had heavy cavalry troops in his hands.

There are many hills in the south of Xizhou, and the advantages of heavy cavalry cannot be used, so they can face a stalemate with the court.But beyond the boundaries of Xizhou, the terrain is mostly plains, and sooner or later they will have to confront the imperial court head-on, without a heavy cavalry unit.

How much Chi Qing expected before he came, how disappointed he is now.

Feng Shuo didn't put his hopes on the treasure map at first, so he didn't think it was a big deal when he got this result, so he glanced at Chi Qing and said, "Didn't I ask you to raise money?"

This drudgery was caused by Chi Qing's cheap talk a few days ago, teasing Feng Shuo that he finally had the opportunity to go to Jiang Yanyi's place for dinner but failed, and finally took it for himself.

He laughed bitterly: "I tried every means to get money from Xizhou merchants, but these merchants are also cunning, each of them has a lot of money, and they are more powerful than anyone else. If you don't care about your reputation, I can directly lead them Go grab it."

Feng Shuo glared at him.

Chi Qing helplessly spread his hands: "Then I can't help it."

Jiang Yanyi didn't speak for a while, and only after hearing this, he said: "Wealthy businessmen from Xizhou have established a chamber of commerce, and I'll start with the chamber of commerce."

If Feng Shuo puts pressure on him, he can also make the rich businessmen bleed, but if he does that, the reputation he has spent so much work on before will be lost, and the rich businessmen have to "willingly" pay for it.

Feng Shuo raised his eyelids to look at her: "What do you want to do?"

Jiang Yanyi said: "Let's break through one by one."

She brought Ruyi Building and Noodle Shop to join the Chamber of Commerce, and the profit cake in the Chamber of Commerce must be redistributed. Through the successful bidding for Ruyi Building, people in the Chamber of Commerce also knew that Feng Shuo was behind her.

She wooed the merchants one by one, implying that she could get a bigger cake by paying money to support the military supply. As long as one person no longer agrees with other merchants, the other merchants will panic. In order not to be kicked out, they want to keep their own share of the cake. , you can only follow the investment.

Chi Qing's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and said, "That's a good idea."

Feng Shuo thought about it for a while, and seemed to think that this idea is feasible, and nodded: "If you need the cooperation of the government office, just tell me."

Jiang Yanyi went to paint big cakes for the merchants, and the government had to let out some rumors in order to frighten the group of old foxes.

Holding the teacup in both hands, Chi Qing looked at Jiang Yanyi and then at Feng Shuo, "Isn't I responsible for this?"

Why do you need to cooperate and let Feng Shuo know?

Feng Shuo said lightly: "This king personally supervises, you go back and supervise the construction of the city defense."

Chi Qing: "..."

What about human nature?

***

Since the beginning of winter, the heavy snow in Xizhou has almost never stopped.

Lu Linyuan stood in the yard, looking at the dead branches covered with snow outside the wall, his eyes were like a dry well, without any ripples.Compared with before, his figure was a little thinner, with a squirrel fur brocade cape on his shoulders, and he covered his lips and coughed twice from time to time.

His servant came from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly fried "medicine": "Master, it's time to drink the "medicine"."

There were two resting birds on the dead branch, Lu Linyuan watched the birds and said, "Let's put it first."

The little servant muttered: "I'm afraid the root cause of the disease may not be the last time, your cough has not recovered."

He was talking about the time when Lu Linyuan braved the wind and snow to find Jiang Yanxi for a day and a night.

At this time, the gate of the courtyard was roughly slapped twice, and the servant rushed to open the door: "Here it is, who is it?"

As soon as the courtyard door was opened, the young man saw a group of armored guards and instantly silenced himself.

Xing Yao stepped into the courtyard and showed the token of the seal of residence: "Please trouble Mr. Lu to follow Xing Mou."

Lu Linyuan had just picked up the medicine bowl, and when Xing Yao came to the door suddenly, he also showed some surprise on his face, and there was a trace of secret anxiety, he put down the medicine bowl and asked, "May I ask what happened? Where will the criminal guards take Lu?"

Xing Yao said: "Mr. Lu will know when he sees the prince."

As soon as Xing Yao mentioned Feng Shuo, Lu Linyuan's anxiety became more and more serious.

After he returned to Xizhou City, he had been cautious and cautious, so he didn't show his feet.

**

When he arrived at Fengfu's study, he still bowed to Feng Shuo as before: "Please refer to the prince for humble positions."

Feng Shuo sat in front of the desk, raised his eyelids and looked at the bowed young man below: "What did you say to me in this study that day, do you still remember?"

Feng Shuo didn't let him get up, so Lu Linyuan remained in a bowing posture. The endless words implied a warning. His heart sank, and he replied respectfully: "Remember, I'm humble."

Feng Shuo said: "It's good to remember, but tell me, the person who rescued the concubine Xi, who put him in Xizhou City?"

Lu Linyuan was terrified, but there was only a bit of surprise on his face: "Is concubine Xi rescued?"

Feng Shuo squinted his eyes, thinking that for the sake of Lu Linyuan's several meritorious service, he wanted to give him another chance, but Lu Linyuan's words directly made him lose his patience.

The knife-like sharpness in his eyes suddenly gathered, but he spoke slowly: "Lu Linyuan, this king didn't kill you, not because you are the only son of Lu Mengxue. You have saved hundreds of lives in Dingjia Village."

Lu Linyuan hurriedly knelt down, half terrified, half terrified, with a hint of embarrassment: "My lord, calm down."

Since ancient times, loyalty and righteousness have been difficult to balance.

When he went to Yuzhou as an envoy to lobby the Marquis of Xing'an, Chu Chengmao and his party were still hostages in the hands of Emperor Feng Shiyan. Jiang Yanxi became a bargaining chip in Feng Shuo's hands, and was even almost cut off a finger to threaten Feng Shiyan.

After all, it was the person he had been obsessed with all his life, and Jiang Yanxi threw himself into the trap to save him, how could he bear it!

Whether Jiang Yanxi is in the hands of Feng Shuo or Feng Shiyan, it will not be easy. That's why he contacted the old department of the former dynasty, and wanted Jiang Yanxi to follow them to hide outside the customs and stay away from this vortex of power.

The letter was written in Yuzhou, and no one else in the world knew about it except him. He didn't know why Feng Shuo suspected him. The unknown panic made his back sweat like slurry, soaking his underwear in an instant.

Feng Shuoju looked at him from above: "For the sake of those hundreds of lives, as long as you confess frankly, this king will not pursue it. Do you have anything to do with saving the remnants of the previous dynasty?"

He was known as the "Living King of Hades" in the army, and once he showed his aura, it was indeed not something Lu Linyuan, a scholar, could resist.

Lu Linyuan's hands on the ground unconsciously trembled because of his kneeling posture, and he covered up the tremors by kowtowing again: "I hope the lord will find out clearly, and I don't know anything about the rescue of my concubine Xi." !"

Feng Shuo half-closed his eyes: "I heard that Master Lu is having a very difficult time in the capital, you might as well go down and think about it before deciding whether to tell the truth to me."

Lu Linyuan has done meritorious service in the government many times, and only the last time he made a big mistake has real evidence. Although he suspects that Lu Linyuan is related to the influx of old troops into Xizhou from the previous dynasty, this is just speculation and there is no evidence.

Feng Shuo had expected that he would not be able to easily get anything out of Lu Linyuan's mouth, so he summoned him today, one is to trick him to see if he can get a result, and the other is to find a reason to lock him up first.

He was going to deal with Marquis Xing'an immediately, even if Lu Linyuan had nothing to do with the old army sneaking into Xizhou City, given the friendship between the Lu family and Marquis Xing'an, it would be a surprise that Marquis Xing'an was persuaded by Lu Linyuan, and he had to make sure that he would not let him go. Lu Linyuan tipped off the news.

After Lu Linyuan was taken down by the government soldiers to watch and detained, Feng Shuo glanced at the sky outside the window, turned his eyes away and continued to process the official documents.

In half an hour, there should be news from Jixiang Inn.

***

Jixiang Inn is located in the east of the city, and it is the best inn in Xizhou City.

Since Xing'an Houdao Xizhou, the Jixiang Inn has been booked out and never accepts foreign guests.

The main street is at the entrance of the inn, and there are hawkers setting up stalls or hawkers carrying loads of goods along the street.

Although the heavy snow has been falling, the street is full of people coming and going, and the snow is quickly trampled, "naked". The blue stone slabs that pave the street are exposed.

The sound of horseshoes came from a distance, and the scarlet cloak behind the man riding on the lion horse fluttered in the cold wind, and the lion horse was reined in at the door of the inn. woman.

"The county lord is back!" The guard at the entrance of the inn rushed forward to lead the horse.

Yang Zheng turned over and got off the horse, and the brow pendant hanging on his forehead also shook a few times.

The pendant is made of agate, and the cinnabar red color makes Yang Zheng's complexion like snow.

She glanced at the street, her eyes suddenly changed.

Not right!

This afternoon, all the people doing business in the stalls and shopping and selling things on this street are strong and strong men, but there are no women or children at all!

When Yang Zheng handed over the reins to the guards who came up to him, he asked, "Where is my father?"

The guard found nothing unusual, and said respectfully, "Master Hou is in the room."

Yang Zheng pushed aside the guards and went into the inn. When he entered the door, he found a few unfamiliar faces. Yang Zheng frowned tightly.

Several ex-government officials noticed the hostility in Yang Zheng's eyes, and stared at her covetously.

Chang Sui, who was beside the Marquis of Xing'an, came out and called "County Lord", only then did those people restrain their hostility.

Yang Zheng pouted at the corner of his mouth and asked: "These are the newly recruited guys in the inn? They don't know how to salute when they see me, and there are no rules!"

Her tone was arrogant, as if she was just a spoiled daughter of an aristocratic family.

The marquis of Xing'an and Fang Zhi had been hiding Yang Zheng's connection all along. Chang Sui Zhengchou didn't know how to explain these people to her. When Yang Zheng asked, he followed Yang Zheng's words and said, "The magistrate calm down, the old slave will... □The slaves."

Yang Zheng snorted, and said to Chang Sui: "The county lord is hungry, hurry up and bring me some food to the room!"

The former officials downstairs already regarded her as an arrogant and ignorant young lady, and didn't take her seriously.

After going upstairs, Yang Zheng keenly noticed that there was a guard at the door of a room. She went back to her room without making a sound.

Chang Sui quickly took the waiter of the inn to deliver food to Yang Zheng upstairs. After Yang Zheng sent the waiter away, he asked the maid to close the door, drew a dagger against Chang Sui's neck, and followed downstairs in the inn with a venomous tone. The arrogant look of the two people is different: "What are those people downstairs in the inn all about? Who are the people in the opposite room?"

Chang Sui was unprepared against Yang Zheng, and suddenly handed a sharp knife to his neck, and he was terrified, "County... county magistrate, please put down the knife first..."

Yang Zheng said in a low voice: "You bastard, if you want to survive, tell me! There are killers outside the inn. Who else do you think can deploy these killers on the borders of states?"

Yang Zheng's words frightened Chang Sui's courage. He knew the plan of the Marquis of Xing'an very clearly. If the King of Liaonan knew that they had different intentions and wanted to attack them, this was Xizhou. Territory, they have only one dead end!

Chang Sui told all the plans of the Marquis of Xing'an and the old ministry of the previous dynasty.

After Yang Zheng heard it, he was so angry that he slapped the dagger on the table, "Father is really confused!"

Chang Sui said: "Master Hou also wants to express his anger for you..."

"I wish the King of Liaonan would marry someone else, why would my father be angry with me?" Yang Zheng was so anxious that his brain ached.

Chang Sui was speechless, Marquis of Xing'an agreed to cooperate with the old ministry of the former court, more or less he still wanted to be a king in it.

He said: "I'll arrange a carriage right away to take you and the prince out of the city."

Yang Zheng sneered: "Those people outside are keeping a close eye on the inn. I'm afraid that the carriage will be shot into a sieve before it runs out of this street!"

Chang Sui panicked: "This...how can this be done..."

Yang Zheng said: "For the current plan, we can only catch these "rebellious" parties from the previous dynasty and donate them! Let the kitchen prepare meals, and put "masturbation" and "drugs" in the meals!"

Directly tying people up will scare the snake, so it is better to use "medicine" to get it done quickly.

Chang Sui immediately went down to arrange manpower.

It was time for dinner, and the back kitchen of the inn had already started to cook the meal. The old officials knew that the Marquis of Xing'an was now a grasshopper on the same line as them, so they did not take precautions against the Marquis of Xing'an, and waited for the food to be served, watching The table was full of big fish and meat, and they all ate wildly, and it didn't take long for them to be fascinated.

The two guards guarding the door of Jiang Yanxi's room finally realized something was wrong when they saw the companions downstairs falling down one after another. However, they were weak and were soon tied up by Yang Zheng.

When the door was kicked open, Jiang Yanxi, who was weeping in the room because of her life experience, was also terrified, she looked at Yang Zheng with frosty face, instinctively afraid: "Who are you? "

Yang Zheng glanced at her and told her left and right: "Tie it up."

Soon someone stepped forward and tied Jiang Yanxi. She wanted to yell for help, but was gagged again.

Marquis Xing'an, who had been in the room all the time, heard that the two guards were tied up, and when he went out of the room, he saw that Jiang Yanxi was also tied up.

Marquis Xing'an's eyelids twitched: "Zheng'er, what are you doing?"

Yang Zheng was furious: "Father, you did something stupid, if you don't hand him over, we're afraid we'll die in Xizhou!"

Before the Marquis of Xing'an realized the meaning of Yang Zheng's words, Chang Sui said with an expression of imminent disaster: "Master Hou, the King of Liaonan has found us, and there are killers outside the inn! Nanwang wants to be you directly and take over Yuzhou!"

Marquis Xing'an was also overwhelmed by Feng Shuo's thunderous tactics, but he still saved a little luck: "How is it possible, there are so many people in Xizhou City, even if he goes door-to-door to check, it will take several days..."

A few days is enough for him to get the treasure map, but at worst, he can't hide it anymore. Then he will turn around and a thief will chase after the thief, just sell the former dynasty and the old department, and then go back to search for the treasure.

He thought that at least Feng Shuo would send someone to test Zhou Xuan, and he had already thought about the excuse of practicing Tai Chi, but unexpectedly the other party directly arranged a snare-like strangulation.

How did he know that after the previous two city-wide searches in Xizhou City, every five households in Xizhou City now have a team, with a team leader;Whenever the government investigates people, the common people supervise and report each other. If they know about it and don't report it, ten families will sit together.

It only takes one order to search, and the results can be obtained in less than half a day.

Yang Zheng didn't want to spend any more time talking with Marquis Xing'an, and said angrily: "Father, you might as well go out and have a look, and then you will know if I'm telling lies!"

Marquis Xing'an had been in the army for many years at any rate, and when he looked out from the door of the inn, he knew that Yang Zheng's words were true, so he took half a step back in shock, and the blood on his face faded away.

He regretted it too much, and sighed: "I underestimated the King of Liaonan, I underestimated him! This time... even if we hand over the princess party from the previous dynasty, I am afraid that the King of Liaonan will not let us go... "

"Zheng'er, I'm sorry for my father!"

Yang Zheng was surprisingly calm: "Hand over Yuzhou as well, maybe there is still a glimmer of hope."

Handing over Yuzhou is tantamount to handing over military power, and they no longer threaten Feng Shuo.

The Marquis of Xing'an was still dreaming of being the emperor in the morning, but now he has to surrender his military power, he couldn't catch his breath, he vomited sick, and was bedridden.

***

When Xing Yao came back with the news, Feng Shuo was quite surprised.

Chi Qing clicked his tongue twice: "This county lord of Xing'anhou is three points better than her father. Before you do anything, take the initiative to hand over the person, and push out a dead ghost to say that Xing'anhou has been kept in the dark and changed hands." I also offer Yuzhou, a good way to abandon the car and protect the handsome."

If they were tough with Feng Shuo and lost their lives, they would lose everything.

With such a bad strategy, he can save his life without losing face, and also think of reasons for Feng Shuo not to pursue them.

Feng Shuo ignored Chi Qing, and asked Xing Yao, "Have all the 'rebellious' parties in the previous dynasty been arrested?"

Xing Yao clasped his fists and said, "There is another female travel doctor who has not been found. According to the people from Xing'an Hou, the female travel doctor has not returned after going out in the afternoon, and the people guarding the female travel doctor's house have not seen her come and go."

Feng Shuo said, "Catch him as soon as possible."

"Your subordinates take orders." Xing Yao hurriedly left after finishing speaking, and continued to look for the female doctor.

After a few difficult things were settled, Chi Qing took an orange from the fruit plate in a good mood and asked, "What do you plan to do with that former princess?"

Feng Shuo's voice was flat: "Exchange her and the new emperor for three thousand shi of grain, do you think the new emperor will be willing?"

The orange was a bit sour, and Chi Qing's nose and eyes were almost wrinkled, but his eyes widened in surprise, and he was quite happy: "After blackmailing the new emperor, he sent someone back with a pillow knife?!"

He hissed, "As expected of you!"