The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 343 Bloodshed in Yangzhou City (Part )
Ji Jinxiao was furious not because he was so angry about Xu Wenhan's death, but because he was afraid that Prince Yi Zhong would hold him accountable. After all, Xu Wenhan was killed right under his nose. Once the old man got angry, he would definitely vent his anger on Ji Jinxiao first. Now the only way to calm down the old man's anger is to find out the murderer who killed Xu Wenhan, chop off his head and send it to the palace to plead guilty. Otherwise, Ji Jinxiao's life would be in danger.

Even though Ji Jinxiao appeared to be very powerful outside and all local officials had to give him face, in the final analysis, he was just a eunuch in Prince Yi Zhong's mansion. To put it bluntly, he was a household slave in the mansion, a dog-like thing.

Household slaves are private property, and their life and death depend on the master's decision. Prince Yi Zhong has a very strong personality. Although he is very old now, his temper is still as strong as before. If he learned that his great-grandson was killed, he might really kill Ji Jinxiao in a rage. So it is normal for Ji Jinxiao to be afraid.

As for Zhang Yidong, although he was shocked by the murder of Xu Wenhan, that was all. He was the current crown prince's man, and even if Prince Yi Zhong was furious, he would only target Ji Jinxiao and would never implicate himself, so Zhang Yidong was very calm.

In addition, before the action, Zhang Yidong had already advised Xu Wenhan not to take risks himself, and not to have the idea of ​​privately keeping the woman from the Lin family and enjoying her. It would be best to completely eradicate the problem. However, the latter was bewitched and did not listen to the advice at all. It was normal for such a person to fall for a woman.

When Zhang Yidong and Ji Jinxiao arrived outside the Buddhist temple, they found that the temple had been surrounded by the prefect Hong Wenxuan and his men. However, they had a hard time attacking. After several rounds of fierce attacks, they not only failed to break into the temple, but also lost a lot of manpower.

It turns out that the Buddhist temple in front of me was built with great mystery. Although its area is not very large, even the small courtyard in front of the hall is only about 100 square meters, but it is surrounded by walls, that is, two walls, like a "U" character. The passage between the two walls is only two meters wide, and the wall height is the same as the outer wall of the yamen, a full five or six meters high. So even if you use a ladder to climb over the first wall, there is still a second wall waiting for you. If you accidentally fall into the passage between the two walls, then congratulations, you're done!
Because the inner wall is designed with a large number of holes, once the enemy falls into the alley, the guards inside the wall will use weapons such as spears and bamboo guns to stab them to death through the holes, turning the intruder into a hornet's nest in an instant.

This Buddhist temple was originally built by Lin Ruhai specifically for his wife Jia Min, because the latter loved to worship Buddha. At the beginning, the temple did not have any walls. Later, when Jia Min passed away, the temple became a place to enshrine her spirit. Lin Ruhai then raised the original courtyard wall of the temple and built a wall around it, and it became what it is today.

Lin Ruhai built a wall to seal off the temple because he could not bear to see the temple and was also worried that outsiders would disturb his wife's soul. He also worried about safety. In case of an emergency, the temple could be used as a last resort.

Jia Huan had lived in the Lin Mansion for such a long time that he naturally knew of the existence of this Buddhist temple. He had also been into the temple to burn incense at Jia Min's spirit tablet, so he immediately asked Lu Xiangsheng to escort Lin Ruhai to the temple.

The Buddhist temple itself was not big, and it was much easier to defend than the entire Salt Inspectorate's Yamen. In addition, there were enough people at the moment, with one person defending almost every few steps. Therefore, Hong Wenxuan failed to take down the Buddhist temple after attacking for a long time. Instead, more than a dozen bloody corpses were left in the alley, and several injured but not dead men in black were lying there wailing in pain, which was extremely creepy.

As for Prefect Hong, when he saw Zhang Yidong and Ji Jinxiao arriving with a large number of people, he hurriedly stepped forward and greeted them cautiously, "Master Zhang, Chief Steward Ji, what are you doing...?"

As Hong Wenxuan spoke, he looked around warily at the five hundred soldiers from the Salt Transport Administration who were pouring in like a tide. To be able to sit on the position of prefect, how could he be a cunning man? In fact, Hong Wenxuan was also worried that he would be abandoned. So when he saw that Zhang Yidong and Ji Jinxiao were not wearing black clothes or masks, and the soldiers brought by Zhang Yidong were also in official uniforms with no intention of covering up, he immediately became suspicious.

Zhang Yidong originally wanted to wait until Hong Wenxuan killed Lin Ruhai and others before he sent troops to eliminate Hong Wenxuan in the name of suppressing the rebellion, and then put all the blame on Hong Wenxuan. But now the situation has changed, and he has to send troops in advance. So even though he knew that he had aroused Hong Wenxuan's suspicion, he could only bite the bullet and explain: "I just received news that Tiehu has led the cavalry to appear outside Tongsi Gate."

Hong Wenxuan was shocked when he heard this and blurted out, "Tiehu is Jia Huan's direct descendant. He suddenly appeared outside the city. Could it be that Jia Huan has returned as well?"

Zhang Yidong nodded and said, "This is exactly what I and Chief Steward Ji are worried about. To avoid any more trouble, we have come to help Lord Hong."

Hong Wenxuan felt less uneasy after hearing this, and said half in a self-deprecating and half-testing tone, "I see. You really scared me. I thought you two were here to quell the rebellion and to kill me, the 'thief'."

Zhang Yidong frowned and said unhappily, "What nonsense! Lord Hong thinks too highly of me and Chief Steward Ji."

Ji Jinxiao also snorted in dissatisfaction, and Hong Wenxuan hurriedly smiled and said, "Master Zhang, please calm down. I was just joking. By the way, the city gates are now under our control. Even if Tiehu is a good fighter, it will be useless if he can't enter the city."

Zhang Yidong said in a deep voice: "That being said, Jia Huan is a cunning man, so we must be on guard. We should get rid of Lin Ruhai and the others as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble. Besides, it is almost midnight now. No matter what, we must all evacuate before dawn, otherwise it will be hard to hide from the eyes and ears of the world."

Hong Wenxuan said solemnly: "I understand, but there is a wall inside this Buddhist temple, and there are many people inside, so it is not easy to attack. At present, many people have been killed."

Just at this moment, three flaming arrows suddenly rose up in the Buddhist hall, rushing up to the sky with long flame tails, and finally exploded into three balls of gorgeous fireworks.

The three of them looked at each other in awe upon seeing this.

Zhang Yidong muttered to himself, "This signal should be Lin Ruhai asking for help outside the city, and Tiehu also happened to appear outside the city... Could it be that Jia Huan did not go to Jinling, but secretly returned to Yangzhou, and is even in this Buddhist temple right now."

Upon hearing this, Ji Jinxiao couldn't help but think of the bloody hole on Xu Wenhan's forehead, and his old face suddenly became extremely gloomy. If Jia Huan's bastard was really here, then Han'er was most likely murdered by him. Humph, even if it wasn't, the account would still have to be put on the head of this bastard. Wouldn't it be just right to use this bastard's head to calm the old man's anger?

Thinking of this, Ji Jinxiao immediately said viciously: "If Jia Huan is really in the Buddhist temple, then we can catch him once and for all. What are you waiting for, Master Zhang? Hurry up and do it!"

Zhang Yidong's eyes flashed with coldness, and he shouted, "Do it!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers under Zhang Yidong's command immediately drew their swords. A nearby soldier leader stabbed the prefect Hong Wenxuan in the abdomen without any warning, and then quickly pulled out his sword, causing blood to spurt out.

“Ah!!!!” Prefect Hong screamed, covered his abdomen in pain, and then fell to the ground with a thud, pointing at Zhang Yidong and shouting, “You…you!”

Magistrate Hong gnashed his teeth and glared, but he could only curse out one word with his last bit of strength, and then he died with a face full of resentment and unwillingness, and he died with his eyes open.

At this time, the soldiers under Zhang Yidong's command had already surrounded the black-clad men composed of slaves from various families. Then they raised their swords and quickly killed them all, leaving only the death warriors and guards of Prince Yi Zhong's mansion.

Looking at the corpses all over the ground, even Ji Jinxiao couldn't help but twitch his eyelids. Obviously, Zhang Yidong's cruelty was even beyond his expectations.

Zhang Yidong glanced at Ji Jinxiao, who looked stern, and explained calmly, "Hong Wenxuan has become suspicious of us. To avoid unnecessary trouble, we can't keep him here any longer. Besides, our original plan was to let him take the blame. Killing him sooner or later is still killing him."

Ji Jinxiao nodded expressionlessly, but was secretly on guard, so as not to follow in Hong Wenxuan's footsteps. Zhang Yidong ignored Ji Jinxiao and stepped forward on the blood-stained ground, saying loudly: "Master Lin, Master Yi, your subordinate Zhang Yidong has led the troops to help, and has wiped out the bandits. It's safe outside!"

At this moment, everything was quiet and it was late at night, so even in the Buddhist hall, Zhang Yiduong's voice was still clearly audible.

Lin Ruhai was weak from illness and had been tossing and turning for most of the night. He was now sitting on a chair with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes upon hearing this, and with a hint of sarcasm on his face, he said, "Does Zhang Chengliang really think that I am sick and confused?"

Yi Hong sneered, "Not only that, he also thinks I, Yi Hong, am a fool. Don't bother with him, just waste time with him and wait until daybreak."

Seeing that this Buddhist temple was as solid as a rock, Yi Hong obviously regained some confidence at this moment. In addition, he learned that Tiehu's cavalry was just outside the city. As long as he could hold out until dawn, there was a high probability that things would turn around.

However, Jia Huan did not think so. Although the Buddhist hall was easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was too passive after all. Moreover, the space of the Buddhist hall was not large. If Zhang Yidong woke up and used fire attack, it would be difficult to resist, so he had to try his best to buy time.

So Jia Huan walked to the small courtyard in front of the Buddhist temple and shouted across the wall, "Is that Mr. Zhang, the Salt Transport Commissioner, outside?"

When Ji Jinxiao heard the voice, his face immediately fell and he gritted his teeth secretly. It turned out that Jia Huan, the illegitimate son, was in the Buddhist hall. From this, it seemed that Han Ge'er was most likely killed by this bastard!

Although Zhang Yidong guessed that Jia Huan might be in the Buddhist hall, he was still slightly shocked when he heard the other party's voice at this moment, with a complicated look in his eyes. In fact, he still admired Jia Huan very much and even had the idea of ​​winning Jia Huan over for the prince.

"Yes, it is me. Is the person speaking inside Brother Huan?" Zhang Yiduong asked in surprise.

Jia Huan was happy to chat and delay time, so he replied, "I am Jia Huan."

Zhang Yidong said happily: "No wonder it sounds familiar, it turns out to be Huan Ge'er, are Lord Lin and Lord Yi in there?"

"Both gentlemen are here, but my uncle is ill and weak, and Lord Yi is also injured, so they are unable to reply." Jia Huan said casually.

Zhang Yidong said in surprise: "In that case, Huan'er, please order someone to open the door quickly. Don't delay the treatment!"

"But there are thieves outside, and I am worried that they may harm my uncle!"

"Brother Huan, please be at ease. The thieves who attacked the Salt Inspectorate's Office have been wiped out by me."

"The bandits are numerous and powerful. Has Lord Zhang really wiped them out?"

"I guarantee it with my life!"

"Master Zhang is indeed very capable, but I wonder how many troops Master Zhang brought with him? And who is behind these thieves?"

Zhang Yidong frowned and said, "Brother Huan, how about you open the door first and then explain in detail?"

Jia Huan was silent for a moment, then replied, "No need for that. For the sake of my uncle's safety, let's wait until daybreak. Sir Zhang will be the one to guard outside for half the night."

Zhang Yidong was choked and speechless. Ji Jinxiao could no longer hold back and said in a deep voice, "Master Zhang, why bother wasting time talking to this bastard? He is so cunning, how could he be easily fooled? He is talking nonsense with you now, I am afraid he is just trying to delay time so that Tiehu can find a way to enter the city."

Zhang Yidong sneered and said, "How could I not see through his intentions? I just wanted to confirm it. I didn't expect that he would be so smart and actually reply in person. Now that I have confirmed that he is in the Buddhist temple, I believe the account book must be there too. This will solve the problem once and for all, which will save a lot of trouble!"

At this time, Jia Huan's voice came out again: "I seem to hear the voice of Eunuch Ji. May I ask if Lord Zhang is with Chief Steward Ji?"

Zhang Yidong chuckled and said, "This boy's ears are sharper than a dog's."

Ji Jinxiao shrieked viciously, "Yes, I am indeed here. Jia Huan, did you kill Han'er?"

Jia Huan pretended to be surprised and said, "Why do you say that, Eunuch Ji? Although I have had some disagreements with Wang's great-grandson, I would not kill him. Moreover, Master Han is a member of the royal family. Even if Jia Huan had ten times the courage, he would not dare to do so!"

Ji Jinxiao sneered, "Others may not dare, but you, Jia Huan, may not. Moreover, Han died tragically outside the west wing of the backyard, shot in the forehead by a musket. No matter how you, Jia Huan, argue, you can never get away with it. You are just a bastard, a commoner, but you dared to kill the blood of the royal family of the Great Jin Dynasty. Your crime is so heinous that you cannot bear the punishment!!!"

Jia Huan calmly raised his voice to refute: "Eunuch Ji has fabricated charges without any basis, and Jia Huan cannot bear the consequences. Moreover, why would Wang's great-grandson appear in the west wing of the rear house of the Salt Inspector's Mansion? Isn't this strange?

"Hey, I remember now. A group of black-clad masked thieves climbed over the wall and entered with the intention of harming Miss Lin. They were shot dead by my personal soldiers outside the West Wing. Could it be that Wang's great-grandson Hanye was among them? Could it be that the mastermind behind the attack on the Salt Inspectorate's Mansion tonight was you, Ji Jinxiao and Xu Wenhan?"

At the end of his speech, Jia Huan's tone suddenly changed, from defense to harsh questioning!
When these words were spoken, even Yi Hong couldn't help but applaud. Jia Huan was a eloquent and eloquent boy. Not only did he clear himself, but he also turned the tables on the other party. I'm afraid that old Ji Jinxiao will be so angry that he will die. Let's see how he answers.

(End of this chapter)