No. 1 Girl in the Imperial City

"I don't know who it is." Xue Ya looked at Xie Yan who had sat back again and said, not surprisingly, he saw Xie Yan's face suddenly sinking.

"Master Xueya." Xie Yan said coldly, "This king's patience has a limit."

Now that he had admitted defeat, Xue Ya's attitude became calmer.

He stood with his hands behind his back, looked at Xie Yan calmly and said, "I don't need to lie to you, I really don't know who he is."

Xie Yan chuckled lightly, and said, "So, Mr. Xueya wants to tell me that there is a person who gives you millions of taels of silver every year without paying or even disclosing his name, just for doing good deeds?"

No one knows better than Xie Yan how much it costs to raise soldiers and horses.

Even for a country as vast as Dasheng, raising nearly a million soldiers and horses all year round is already a huge burden.So when he received a letter from the Marquis of Lingchuan saying that Yisi Luan had hidden an army of more than [-] soldiers in southern Xinjiang, he knew that this was definitely not something a mere Yisi Luan could afford.

Even if Yu Ji really left behind a lot of wealth back then, it was okay to use it for other things, but if it was used to raise soldiers and horses and last for two or three years, it would be considered remarkable.

Xue Ya said in a deep voice: "My lord doesn't believe me, there is nothing I can do about it. I was not responsible for the transfer of part of the main force of Luan Yisi to the southern border, and I don't know how the previous chief came into contact with the other party. I only know that every year the other party will send 200 million silver and the required food and grass on time. As for the price..."

Xue Ya deeply forgot Xie Yan's glance, and said: "The people who transport money and food will take away a large number of jade, jade, gemstones and medicinal materials that are rich in southern Xinjiang every year, and... every year they will take a group of elite soldiers from southern Xinjiang."

"How many people?" Xie Yan frowned slightly.

Xue Ya said: "There are about 2000 people every year. Those people will board the ship from the coastal ports in southern Xinjiang along with the supplies. As for where they went, I don't know. Those who went out have never been back for so many years."

Xie Yan said solemnly: "It has been at least seven years since the establishment of the Cloud Leopard Army. If this happens every year, you have sent out at least tens of thousands of people."

Xue Ya smiled and said: "To be precise, there are 7000 people. This is part of the transaction. Most of the elite soldiers are slaves from various tribes in southern Xinjiang or people who fled from the Central Plains to southern Xinjiang. They are tough, good at fighting, fearless Death. If it wasn't for the Cloud Leopard Army to take them in, they could only live a humble and hard life in southern Xinjiang, so why not do it?"

"Boarding the ship... at sea?" Xie Yan was thoughtful.

Xue Ya said leisurely: "My lord has been in the northwest all these years, I don't know if you have heard of things in other places?"

Xie Yan looked at him and said, "For example... In recent years, pirates have been rampant along the coast..."

Xie Yan looked coldly at Xue Ya who obviously wanted to see his own jokes, and said coldly, "You know."

Xue Ya said: "Although I don't know where those people were taken and who took them away, but...they were trained by Luan Ceremony after all, and some habits can't be changed. As long as you see them , of course it can be seen.”

Xie Yan naturally understands this truth, just like the soldiers and horses of Dasheng, there is a difference between fixed and suppressed soldiers, both in their actions and daily training.A layman can't see it, but how can the person in charge of the town not see it?
"My lord, even if there is no Ceremony Master Luan, there are still many people who want to rebel." Xue Ya sneered, "No matter how hard you work, you are not here to sit in the Xie family, why bother?"

Xie Yan snorted softly, stood up and said, "If Mr. Xueya used this provocative skill to think about serious matters, maybe he wouldn't be in prison today."

Xue Ya's face darkened in an instant, she watched Xie Yan go out, and said angrily: "I've already said what you want to know, what else does the lord want?"

"Well, stay in the sky prison." Xie Yan said indifferently: "For Ruan Ting's sake, this king will not kill you. But this king advises you not to think about running outside, and to treat you outside It's not that safe."

Xue Ya sneered and said: "I don't accept his favor, you asked me to kill Ruan Ting, I can tell you anything I want to know."

Xie Yan looked back at him, "No, you are not as valuable as Ruan Ting."

"..." Xie Yan pushed the door open without looking back (this chapter is not over!)
445、Cruel and merciless?
Walking away, two guards came in after a while and said, "Master Xueya, please."

Xue Ya cast a gloomy glance at the two of them, and walked out without saying a word.

After Xie Yan went out, he didn't leave the prison, but went to the cell where Ruan Ting was held again.

After several months of recuperation, Ruan Ting's injury is obviously healed.

When Xie Yan entered, he was sitting at a square table and writing. When he heard footsteps, he just raised his head and looked at Xie Yan, "Why did the prince go and come back?"

Xie Yan said: "Has Ruan Yuelou gone to sea?"

Ruan Ting's hand holding the pen paused, and soon returned to normal, "I don't know what the prince is talking about."

Xie Yandao: "Xueya has left an army of more than one hundred thousand soldiers in southern Xinjiang, and there is a person behind him who supports Luan Yisi to raise soldiers every year. I guess... this person should be the same person who helped Prime Minister Ruan get to the position back then."

Ruan Ting finally put down his pen, looked up at Xie Yan and said, "My lord, I understand the truth of success and failure, and I also recognize that skills are inferior to others. Others, I have nothing to say."

"Ruan Xiang didn't seem to have this attitude last year." Xie Yan was not angry, but said: "Ruan Yueli and Ruan Fu are now in Ningzhou, if they want to live a dignified life, one day they will have to fight to the death with Master Luan . Xueya is in the hands of this king. If one day Ruan Yuelou dies under the name of a pirate, Ruan Xiang... you have worked so hard for half your life, what are you left with?"

"The Ruan family has been dispatched to the border, why should the lord embarrass the orphans!" A trace of anger flashed in Ruan Ting's eyes, and his hands on the table were clenched into fists.

Xie Yan took a deep look at him, "It's not that this king is embarrassing them, it's that the new head of the Ruan family doesn't want to walk around the world with the reputation of a sinful minister, and they want to get rid of your influence."

Ruan Ting was obviously deeply stimulated by these people after the guilty minister. He was a very proud person, and Xie Yan's words obviously insulted his heart.

He turned pale and bowed his head and coughed a few times, after all, Xueya hurt him badly last year, even though the injury has healed now, the root cause of the disease is unavoidable.

Xie Yan ignored Ruan Ting, turned around and walked out of the cell.

In the cell, Ruan Ting stared blankly at the paper in front of him that was full of handwriting, motionless...

In a remote small courtyard, Cao Jie sat alone under a tree, frowning slightly as if thinking about something.

Cao Mao walked in quickly and was startled when he saw the figure sitting in the yard, and hurried forward and whispered: "My lord, why did you come out?"

Cao Jie did not answer his question, but asked: "Have you heard from Yang Xin?"

Cao Mao's expression changed slightly, and he silently handed a letter to Cao Jie.

Cao Jie took it over and opened it. After scanning ten lines at a glance, he was speechless for a while, and then slowly said: "Great handwriting."

Thinking of the content of the letter, Cao Mao couldn't help but shudder, "My lord, this man is too ruthless." Those are four water villages with thousands of people.Cao Mao is really a little afraid of that mysterious boy now, he doesn't look like a normal person at all.

Cao Jie chuckled, "You only saw this?"

Cao Mao hurriedly said: "Not only is this person ruthless, but the power under his hands... I'm afraid it's also hard to measure." You must know that most of the water villages are bandits, and even the government's efforts to suppress bandits often return without success.

How many days had it been since they sent the message?It almost means that after receiving the letter, the Young Master Dongfang immediately sent people to Yangxin, and wiped out all the water villages in less than two days.

"Does the shooter have any clues?" Cao Jie asked.

Cao Maodao: "Our people guarded around the Salt Lake Village and saw some of them. Those people were all dressed in black and masked, and their strength was extraordinary. It seemed that they were wild people from the world, and the strength of the leader was particularly amazing. Several villages in the Salt Lake Village The Lord is quite well-known in Jiang Hu, and almost no one has gone through ten tricks in his hands."

"Oh? Are you sure it's all from the rivers and lakes?" Cao Jie frowned.

Cao Maodao: "The person who replied is very sure that the people in the Jianghu are not the same as the well-trained officers and soldiers of the imperial court. Those people don't act like the imperial court. The young master is worried..."

Cao Jie frowned and said, "I always feel that the appearance of this person is too coincidental."

"I don't think that young man acted like a member of the imperial court. What's more...according to Yang Xin's news, the one who wiped out the leaders of several water villages (this chapter is not finished!)
445、Cruel and merciless?
The strength can almost be called extreme.And the person who was with that boy that day was also a master.Where did the imperial court come from so many unknown masters?Now the first-class masters that the imperial court can produce are all in Shangyong, and no one has left the capital. "

Cao Jie raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows: "Maybe I'm thinking too much."

Cao Mao sighed, and said with some distress: "This time's temptation... Really, I didn't expect that person to play cards unreasonably, and wiped out four water villages in a row. Young master, I'm afraid we can't explain it to the Fang family."

Given the friendship between the Cao family and the Fang family, it is naturally impossible for Cao Jie to send the members of the Fang family to others so easily.So Salt Lake Village is not the Fang family's hidden stake, on the contrary, Salt Lake Village has always been incompatible with the Fang family's real hidden stake, Xikou Village.

I wanted to take the opportunity of probing to see if I could kill two birds with one stone, but I didn't want the young man who claimed to be surnamed Dongfang to be so ruthless that he wiped out all the big water villages near the Salt Lake village.

Cao Jie glanced at Cao Mao and said, "If you don't tell me, I won't tell you, how would the Fang family know that this matter is related to us?"

Cao Mao quickly nodded in agreement, and asked cautiously, "My lord, what are your plans for that young man?"

The mysterious young man was ambitious and wanted Yingzhou, not to mention that Fang's family had run Yingzhou for generations and had a deep-rooted influence in the local area.Even the relationship between Fang's family and Cao's family is far from an ordinary friendship. How can a young man of unknown origin be allowed to visit the whole Yingzhou?

But on the other hand, the boy caught the Cao family's tricks again, so they had to treat it with caution.

Cao Jie said: "Tell him, I want to have an interview with him personally."

Cao Mao nodded respectfully and said, "Yes, I will send someone to deliver the letter."

"Let people continue to investigate. As long as he is in Shangyonghuang City, I don't believe that no one knows who he is!" Cao Jie continued.

"Yes."

In the Prince Regent's Mansion, Luo Jun looked at Qu Tiange and Xie Xiao who were looking dusty and dusty standing in front of him with a smile, "Well done, thank you for your hard work."

Qu Tiange didn't say anything as usual, but Xie Xiao smiled and cupped his hands and said: "My concubine is serious, it's all the subordinate's job."

Luo Jun flipped through the dossier brought back by Xie Xiao, and asked while reading, "How do you feel?"

Xie Xiao said: "Mr. Qu's strength is extraordinary, which is admirable. Things are going well, but...Princess, since we have gone, why don't we let us clean up the banks of the Lingjiang River?" Only when we arrive at Yangxin can we understand those water bandits more deeply. The disaster was so deep that if the concubine hadn't specially ordered him to send troops to take care of all those people.

Luo Junyao glanced at him and said: "You are a force of unknown origin, you are here to destroy people, not to suppress bandits."

"..." Xie Xiao rubbed his nose helplessly. His first task after taking office was to commit crimes, which is really against the principles of scholars.

Luo Junyao put the files together and said: "Thanks for your hard work, go out for a few days and go back to see Princess Ancheng."

Xie Xiao nodded in agreement, bowed his hands and left.

Only Luo Junyao and Qu Tiange were left in the study, Luo Junyao looked at Qu Tiange and asked with a smile, "What do you think of Xie Xiao, Mr. Qu?"

Qu Tiange said: "He is a smart man."

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "He is indeed very smart, and he did this very well. If he hadn't been free and easy by nature and had no intention of official career, his future achievements would not be lower than that of King Ancheng."

Qu Tiange looked at Luo Jun meaningfully and said, "The princess is the one who surprised me." Qu Tiange still remembered the first time he fought against the princess, and it was only a few months ago That's all.

Luo Junyao smiled sweetly, "Mr. Qu is absurd. I asked someone to send a bank note to ask you to do it before. Do you have a clue?"

Qu Tiange nodded and said: "Of course, having money can make ghosts turn the clock, especially in the Jianghu."

"Can you trust it?" Luo Junyao asked.

Qu Tiange said: "There is nothing wrong with it."

"Very good." Luo Junyao smiled with satisfaction.

"Princess." Ye Feng pushed the door open and came in, glanced at Qu Tiange who was standing aside and said nothing.

Qu Tiange was about to resign, but Luo Junyao raised his hand to stop him and said to Ye Feng: "Young Master Qu is trustworthy, just say it."

Ye Feng said: "Cao Mao sent a letter, saying that he wants to see the public (this chapter is not finished!)
445、Cruel and merciless?
On the side of the son, there is something to talk about. "

"It seems that they have also received the news." Luo Jun shook his head and said with a smile: "Is it Cao Mao or someone else?"

Ye Feng shook his head and said: "No, Cao Mao has been very careful recently, we can only lock their approximate location, and it will take some time to know where they are."

Luo Jun waved his hands and said, "I don't want to arrest them. There's no need to go to such trouble. If there is something to talk about, let's talk about it. Mr. Qu?"

Qu Tiange nodded slightly, and gave an address.

Luo Junyao looked at Ye Feng and smiled, "Do you understand?"

Ye Feng nodded and said yes, "Understood, don't worry, Princess."

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "Let's make it tomorrow afternoon, tell Cao Mao, I... invite Mr. Cao to drink tea."

"Yes."

445、Cruel and merciless?