Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 241 Killing the Snake

It was Lao Liang who was running in a green robe.

He held a horizontal knife in front of him, suddenly turned around, and struck with all his strength, instantly breaking Li San'er's arm.

But this ambush was still less smooth than he expected. Li San'er was too vigilant, otherwise he might succeed in the long and narrow alley.

Lao Liang broke off several people's hands. He was angry in his heart and his face was as dark as water. He struck out with a knife immediately after and vowed to kill Li San'er on the spot.

Ever since he saw Guo Ashun being silenced by the Yiluo River, he realized that the water in Yanshi County was very deep. Unlike in Chang'an, where officials acted with scruples, in Yanshi County, those people were willing to kill people with just their hands.

Therefore, Lao Liang simply hid in the dark to protect Xue Bai. In this way, it can be noticed that the assassin who only wanted to deceive Jiang Hai and approached Xue Bai. He was a scout and was very good at doing this.

He showed up when he first arrived in Yanshi County, but then he didn't show up for a long time, which might have aroused suspicion. It's a pity that no one noticed him, an inconspicuous and unknown person. People's eyes were always looking upward.

"protect me!"

Li Saner's arm was broken and he was bleeding. Under the severe pain, he was unable to resist, so he yelled, turned around and ran away.

As a result, he was stabbed in the back again.

Lao Liang swung his sword three times with all his strength, but failed to kill Li San'er. He was not in a hurry and turned around to help Xue Xin.

The two of them worked together to kill the big men from the Cao Gang, and then chased Li San'er through the bloodstains.

Turning back to the corridor, Jiang Hai was fighting with several people in front of him. Seeing his commander running away with his arm broken, the Cao gang members immediately lost their sense of control. One person was killed by Jiang Hai, and two others rushed towards Li San'er. Three of them were Turned around and ran away.

Jiang Hai also suffered some injuries, but he pounced on them and killed the two people continuously.

Seeing how ferocious they were, Li Saner covered his broken arm and ran to the side path, hoping that Gao Chong would send someone to rescue him.

With all his strength, he ran very fast, and with the help of his familiarity with the terrain, he ran towards the backyard.

The dark house seems to have only one entrance and exit, but in fact there is a tunnel leading directly outside the alley wall. Only a few people know about this matter, Guo Yuanliang, Xu Shande, Gao Chong...

Along the way, his men came to rescue him from time to time, but they had been sent by him to outflank Xue Bai. Now they came over in a panic. They came in twos and threes, and they were no match for the two soldiers and Xue Xin.

After turning around a ceremonial gate, a figure wearing a blue official robe suddenly appeared in front of him.

"you!"

Li San'er's expression changed in shock, and when he took a closer look, he saw Xue Bai waiting there in person.

He was still a little surprised when Xue Bai became a substitute, but then he realized that the man had already put on all his clothes and was hiding in a secret house waiting for him to take the bait.

"Boom."

Li Saner simply threw the knife in his hand to the ground.

His left hand is broken and his right hand is disabled. He may not be able to get out by relying on force alone.

Thinking about it, since Xue Bai dared to stand there, he must have been on guard. There was someone protecting him in the darkness next to him.

"It's useless even if the county captain kills me."

"is it?"

"Although I am the commander-in-chief of the Caobang, in fact, the affairs of the Caobang...are all under the control of Prime Minister Gao Xian...If I die, another commander-in-chief will be able to deal with you."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Xue Bai asked, "Can you help me?"

"Okay, there are dozens of my people just outside the alley..."

Xue Baicha changed the topic and asked: "What kind of goods are you smuggling?"

"Iron and stone from Yancheng, coins made by Guo's family, silk and horses from Jiangnan... everything is smuggled. The county captain has account books and should know about it."

"Gao Chong is so bold, is there someone else behind it?"

Li San'er continued to bleed and became weaker, and responded: "That's the person I told the county captain...who is very similar to you."

"noble?"

"Yes."

"Actually, this shelf was put up by Gao Shang. Gao Chong is just a janitor?"

"You can put it this way..." Li San'er was in pain and could no longer answer, and said, "I can help the county captain...can the county captain save me first?"

"How can you help me?"

"As long as I live, I can also call on some of the Cao Gang." Li San'er said, glancing over and seeing Xue Bai thinking.

He no longer hesitated and rushed towards Xue Bai.

Xue Bai was on guard just now, but now he had abandoned the sword and relaxed Xue Bai's vigilance with words of surrender. It was actually a better time.

There is also a dagger stuck in his waist, which was used to kill Guo Ashun. At this time, it can be used to hold Xue Bai hostage and make those soldiers throw the rat weapon...

"puff."

Li San'er, who rushed forward suddenly, hit a single sword.

He lowered his head and looked. It turned out that Xue Bai had been prepared.

"Although it is useless to kill you, I must kill you, otherwise you will kill me, right?"

Xue Bai said this, turning the knife in his hand and twisting Li San'er's heart.

He was waiting here. He still had many things he wanted to ask, and there were many ways he could use Li Saner.

It's a pity that the man was struggling to death and was too dangerous, so he simply killed him.

Li San'er raised his right hand with the missing index finger and wanted to stab Xue Bai, but he had lost his strength.

"Gao Langjun...will kill you...to avenge me..."

Xue Bai raised his foot and kicked it, and the body fell to the ground with a dull sound.

In fact, he felt that what Li Saner shouted loudly when he first entered the yard was right. He, a county lieutenant, could not arrest a thief with just one order. To use this kind of ambush method was not honorable.

But in the situation in Yanshi County, no matter how glorious or even perfect the means are, who can be invited to take the decision? Use king's method to punish the opponent? In the end, it wasn't the other party who struck with a single strike.

It's better to chop it over with a knife first.

Among the local snakes all over the ground, kill one first.

"Brother, Li San'er's subordinates are coming to kill them." Xue Xin ran over and said, "Lao Liang and Jiang Hai stopped them at the entrance of the alley, asking brother to find a way to leave first."

"No need to leave, hang up Li San'er's head and illuminate it with a lantern." Xue Bai wiped the blood spattered on his face and said, "Let these people know that there is still Wang Fa in Yanshi County."

~~

Li Twelve Niang ran through the darkness and gradually heard shouts of death from ahead.

She then slowed down and walked in that direction, recognizing that it was the secret house where she was imprisoned.

"Qu Shuai and Xue Bai are inside, kill them."

"Don't let him go..."

Suddenly a loud roar rang out in the noise, shouting: "Besieging the imperial officials, are you planning to rebel?!"

After that, a lantern was erected, illuminating the head next to it. The crowd immediately burst into an uproar. Some people shouted that they wanted to go in and avenge Qu Shuai, while others rushed to report to the county magistrate.

Li Twelve Niang hid in the dark and heard that Xue Bai was trapped inside and was surrounded, and she wanted to save him.

But even with her swordsmanship, it was absolutely impossible to break into the heavily surrounded courtyard.

She had no choice but to temporarily hide in the streets and observe the situation.

~~

A lot of things happened throughout Yanshi County tonight, but by this time of night, it had only been more than half an hour.

Gao Chong was still outside the post house, personally watching over the capture of the demon thief.

He knew that these men were Xue Bai's greatest strength. If they were captured, Xue Bai would be just a piece of fish meat for him to slaughter in this county.

"Xian Cheng, the county magistrate asked you to go over. I have something important to discuss with you immediately."

This is the third time Lu Linghao has sent someone to invite him.

Gao Chong said impatiently: "I know what he is going to say, so there is no need to say it. I have my own opinion on how to act." "After all, he is the county magistrate, should I give him some face?"

"I've given him a lot of face, otherwise he still wouldn't take any responsibility at all?"

Gao Chong looked up and saw that the firemen had completed the siege of the attic of the post house and were preparing to light fire and set off smoke to kill those who resisted.

"Xian Cheng!"

Suddenly there was an exclamation, Gao Chong turned his head and glared at the ungrateful confidant, and scolded: "Why are you panicking?"

"Back to the county magistrate, Li San'er was killed by Xue Bai, and his head was hung in a secret house."

"what?"

Gao Chong was a little surprised, but immediately calmed down, called his newly recruited squad leader Meng Wu, and ordered him to take people to surround the dark house first.

"Do as I say."

After that, Gao Chong thought about it and returned to the county office to see Lu Linghao.

The remaining confidants were all confused and started muttering.

"The county magistrate has never gone to see the county magistrate before, why did he go to see him now?"

"Don't forget that the county magistrate is the master of a county. The soldiers and city guards are still in the hands of the county magistrate."

"Could it be that there are still variables in Qu Shuai's death?"

"We will get rid of these demon thieves immediately. What can happen? The county magistrate has always acted in a safe manner."

"..."

Tonight, Lu Linghao did not stay in Lingshi anymore, but kept waiting for news in the middle hall.

As soon as Gao Chong arrived, his face darkened and he looked very unhappy. He didn't say any greetings and directly scolded: "I told you to stop, why don't you do it?"

"It seems that the Ming government has not yet understood that Xue Bai is a poisonous snake. If we don't kill him today and let him covet the Guo family, he will swallow you and me tomorrow. If we have reason and certainty to kill him, how can we stop?" "

"I told you to hand over Guo Wanjin and everything will be fine! Don't forget that Xue Bai is the imperial concubine's adopted brother. No matter how many reasons you have, if you kill him tonight, you will be killed sooner or later."

Gao Chong was slightly sarcastic when he heard this. He laughed at Lu Linghao's short-sightedness and responded: "I have my own opinion. His charges are confirmed."

"Then let me tell you one more thing." Lu Linghao said, "He has found your incriminating evidence in Wang Yi's hands and sent it to Yanshi. If you and Xue Bai resolve the past, he will send your incriminating evidence back; If he had an accident, the evidence would be..."

"Who can I deliver it to?" Gao Chong asked, "Am I afraid?"

"Whether you are afraid or not, this county has to remind you not to delay important events due to temporary anger."

Lu Linghao sighed and said, "I was opposed to killing Wang Yansiam at that time. You see, after killing a very sick man, a man who is ten times more difficult to deal with comes, and the situation becomes even worse."

Gao Chong didn't want to listen to his ramblings, and wanted to sneer and leave, but he came here to stabilize Lu Linghao, so it was better to just turn around and leave.

"I promise not to involve the Ming Palace in any way. Please ask the Ming Palace to stop being a lobbyist for Xue Bai, okay?"

Lu Linghao stroked his beard and said, "Is the ditch head under your command dead?"

"so what?"

"In this case, can we really capture Xue Bai before dawn? If we can't by then, we can make up thousands of sins, but we won't be able to stop it."

"Don't worry, at most one hour will be enough." Gao Chong said, "As long as the Ming government doesn't interfere."

Lu Linghao was tied to the same rope with him. Seeing how stubborn he was, he nodded.

Gao Chong got the promise and felt relieved.

Although Li San'er's death was very surprising, as long as Lu Linghao was stabilized, no one in the entire Yanshi County had the strength to compete with him.

Throughout the night, Xue Bai killed Guo Wanjin and Li San'er, all while hanging around with merchants and Cao Mang. Little did he know that he could change such chess pieces at any time.

……

Seeing Gao Chong leave, Guo Huan couldn't help but cough a few times. Although his official position was humble, he was actually looking after the interests of various high-ranking families in Yanshi.

"Mingfu, Guo Wanjin's family property is not in Yanshi."

"I know." Lu Linghao stroked his beard and said, "The magistrate of Zhou County in Luoyang came to ransack the house, which will not benefit us at all."

"But what about Chang'an? Most of Guo Wanjin's family property is in Chang'an."

Lu Linghao twisted his beard and thought, thinking that if he did not cooperate with Xue Bai, the right minister would definitely be in charge of the property raids in the end, which would give him some credit, but not much profit.

But he also understood in his heart that what Gao Chong said made sense. Xue Bai was too aggressive, and Gao Chong was going to get rid of him soon, so he couldn't let his success fall by the wayside at this time.

"Be content, we must not learn to be greedy..."

The next moment, Zhao Liu came over furtively and glanced into the middle hall.

"What's the matter?" Lu Linghao was unhappy and asked with a cold face.

Although Zhao Liu was just a miscellaneous clerk and porter, he was actually an old man from the county office. He glanced around to confirm that Gao Chong was gone, and then he said, "Your Majesty, someone wants to see you."

"Who?"

"His surname is Du, he ranks fifth, and he has important items to submit..."

~~

Dark house.

Xue Bai ignored those members of the Cao Gang who wanted to invade.

With Lao Liang and Jiang Hai leading the men to guard the long and narrow alley, it would take time for the mob to break in.

Xue Bai took this opportunity to capture Xu Ba who had fled here.

Xu Ba was just a waterman, and he took the traffickers to Wang Yansiam's residence on Gao Chong's order.

Xue Bai speculated that he got this job because he had been there.

"Did you kill Wang Yansiam with Li San'er?"

"Yes."

"How to kill?"

"Qu Shuai strangled him to death with his own hands..."

Xue Bai stared into Xu Ba's eyes and suddenly changed the topic and asked: "Gao Shang is going to rebel. Does Lu Linghao know about this?"

Xu Ba's expression changed with shock and he was at a loss.

"As expected, you are also a rebel."

"County Lieutenant, spare your life! I am willing to tell you everything I know..."

Xue Bai was quite good at interrogating people. With this deception, he knew that his guess was correct.

He reasoned in reverse, knowing that An Lushan was going to rebel, and Gao Shang was now An Lushan's confidant. Li San'er worshiped Gao Shang so much that he might be an insider, so he spoke to test him.

But this information doesn't seem to be of much use. Just relying on speculation and hoping to report to the higher-ups won't work. This is the path Wang Yanxiang planned to take, and he is now dead.

Xue Bai didn't want to follow in his footsteps, so he resorted to the last resort like this tonight.

Now that he has killed Guo Wanjin and seduced Lu Linghao, he will kill Li San'er again to weaken Gao Chong's strength. The next thing to do is to continue to divide and win over.

If a very powerful hostile force is divided, half of it is brought together, and half of it is attacked, it will not be so strong.

Letting Du Wulang scare Lu Linghao was one way, but if the chips were not enough, he would have to make use of the seemingly useless information he got at this time.

Xue Bai also knew that the so-called rich man and Qu Shuai who were getting rid of now were just two chess pieces that the opponent could change at any time.

Fortunately, the night is still long and there is still time to deal with Gao Chong...

　I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a happy reunion~~Please give me a monthly ticket, please give me a monthly ticket~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)