I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 402 Accident? Or was it premeditated?

South of Chang'an City.

In a dilapidated open space with few pedestrians, about twenty people suddenly appeared.

The person on the right of the first two people is Chen Luo. Half an arm's length away from him is a middle-aged man with a serious face and a thin body. Among the group of people following them, the one with a humble look and walking on the inside is The subordinate officials, wearing red and black half-armor, are the guards.

"Fan Nongling, it's right here." Chen Luo said slowly.

The man next to me is the great Nong Ling of the Han Dynasty, one of the nine ministers who won two thousand stones.

This slightly unpronounceable name was changed by Emperor Xiaojing, but the actual duties and powers were no different from the original governance of millet. He was still in charge of national taxation, mediating and allocating official salaries, military expenditures and engineering construction.

Fan Nonling looked around, narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Here? Senior Chen, this is not a peaceful place."

This area was originally a market where people gathered on their own before Chang'an was fully built.

With the development of the times, because this area was not part of the Chang'an city plan, the government rarely took the initiative to maintain market order, so a group of scoundrels who collected protection fees appeared.

These people's methods are bad and they have no worries. Even if the government arrests them and locks them up for a year and a half, they still refuse to repent.

When the real Chengnan Market was built, vendors would often rather walk a thousand steps carrying their goods than stay in this free market and sell their goods without guarantee.

The number of vendors decreased significantly, and the most obvious impact was the decline of the market.

In the end, the people nearby would rather go further to the regular Nan Market, which is rich in commodities. As for the "wild market" here, they don't even bother to take a look.

About three or four years ago, it was completely deserted, and no traders came to it at all.

However, the original houses in the market for people to rest, the sheds built by vendors, and a small temple built at an unknown time enshrined the statue of Tao Zhugong.

This has become a good place for scoundrels and criminals to hide.

That's what the phrase "It's not a peaceful place" means.

Chen Luo nodded slightly and said, "It's just that I have been around Chang'an City recently. The establishment of an Imperial Academy requires a spacious site. There is no other place more suitable than this place."

Although the market is deserted and the nearby residential buildings squeeze the space, it still occupies a large area. It is not an easy task to find such useless white land in Chang'an City, where land is at a premium.

What's more, as a former market, the location of this area is not considered remote.

As the highest institution of learning established by the Han Dynasty, Taixue was naturally not suitable to be built on the outskirts of the city, nor could it be too small and crude in scale.

Therefore, when buying a mansion, Chen Luo, who was wandering around Chang'an City, fell in love with this abandoned market at a glance and planned to use it as the foundation of the Imperial Academy.

Just wanting to requisition such a large piece of land was not a simple matter. Chen Luo did not report it directly to Liu Che, but chose to contact and communicate with the great farmer first.

While the two were talking, about thirty men with fierce faces and sticks in their hands ran out of the deserted market. They came with bad intentions.

"You guys, if you want to build a house here, you have to ask me, Biao..." The leader with a square face had half of his ear missing, and the scar spread directly to the corner of his eye.

Before he finished speaking, the guards in half-armor uniformly took a step forward, holding the swords at their waists with their right hands, ready to take action at any time.

Suddenly, the situation was tense, and it seemed that both sides might take action at any time.

"...Uh-huh." The square scarred face was stunned for a moment, then reached out and slapped the younger brother behind him, "Are you blind? Do you think you want to occupy the land and build a house?"

With the words "Quickly move", this group of vicious-looking criminals dispersed in an instant.

This sudden episode made Chen Luo almost unable to react.

Fan Nongling, who was beside him, rubbed his chin, "Senior Chen, look at it, look at it, this is indeed not a peaceful place.

If the guess is correct, those people just now must be ruffians entrenched here.

The Imperial College you want to build will only recruit talented people who have read the books of sages. How can it be built in such a smoky place?

It really hurts your reputation.

When the time comes to build the Imperial Academy here, during the construction period, these gangsters will come and cause trouble every now and then, which will greatly affect the construction progress and delay Senior Chen's plan.

Therefore, please think carefully whether to build Taixue here. "

Chen Luo frowned, nodded and said, "I will seriously consider Fan Nongling's suggestion."

"That's very good." Fan Nongling, who had always looked serious, finally showed a smile on his face at this time, "I think this market will be more chaotic. Let's go back first. In case those villains have the intention to hurt others, then I But I can’t bear the responsibility.”

After thinking for a while, Chen Luo nodded slightly and agreed.

Everyone didn't stay any longer and started walking away.

……

About half an hour later.

Chen Luo returns home.

The purchase price of the new mansion has just been negotiated, and the subsequent decoration has not yet been completed, so he is temporarily living in the original place.

"I went to see the market today, Boyu, how did you talk with Fan Nongling?" Li Xu was knocking on wooden blocks in the pavilion in the courtyard. When he saw Chen Luo coming back, he just raised his head.

Chen Luo said with serious eyes: "Not very good."

Hearing this, Li Xu put down his work and said in a surprised tone: "What's going on? When we walked there before, we found out that there were no land ownership disputes in the market. Could there be some special reason that we didn't ask about before? ?”

Chen Luo sneered, "That's an interesting reason."

He told Li Xu everything about the conversation and encounter he had just had with Fan Nongling, without missing anything.

"That's not nonsense." Li Xu has always been pragmatic. After hearing this reason, his face didn't look good.

Chen Luo agreed: "Is there any force in Chang'an City that the government cannot suppress? Not to mention the gangsters who fled when they saw the city guards, even if they were real murderers, they would not dare to rise up in Guanzhong. Stormy.”

These local ruffians dare to threaten merchants because most merchants do not have official protection in Chang'an City, and it is inconvenient for them to use unconventional means to go after the gangsters like they do in the local area.

But Chen Luo was different.

The newly established Imperial College had the endorsement of the imperial court and the official backing of the Han Dynasty.

Living in the land of Wang Ji, he really didn't believe that any force would dare to challenge the authority of the government.

This is the source of Chen Luo's confidence.

What's more, when those ruffians saw the guards, they ran away very fast, not even maintaining their composure for a moment.

Under such circumstances, he expropriated the abandoned market place as land for the construction of Taixue.

Will there be any trouble?

Do those ruffians dare to come and cause destruction?

"Indeed, then why didn't you continue the discussion with Fan Nonling? He should understand." Li Xu said in confusion. "I'm not worried about those ruffians, but I'm worried about Fan Nongling." Chen Luo's eyes were calm, but his voice dropped.

"How do you say this?" Li Xu stood up, took a few steps closer, and also lowered his voice, "How about we go into the inner room and talk."

He didn't even need to care about the content. Just by hearing this tone, he knew that what Boyu was going to say next was about secrets.

Chen Luo waved his hand, "It's fine here. I just want to make a simple guess. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, that's fine, Boyu, you decide." Li Xu nodded.

The courtyard has a good view, so there is no need to worry that the partition walls have ears. If you whisper here, no matter how sharp your ears are, you will not be able to eavesdrop on the content of their conversation.

Chen Luo slowly said: "I have three doubts about what happened today.

First, whether there are any of these gangs of gangsters gathered in the deserted market in the south of the city.

You know, we passed by there a few days ago and asked the surrounding residents about the market. They mentioned that there would be wandering vagrants and fugitives lurking inside, but no one said that there was a man in his thirties who was at least 30 years old. A gang of rogue people.

This is not a small number. Some prince mansions only have thirty or forty servants.

With so many gangsters gathering together and trying to do evil, I'm afraid they might cause some trouble.

Secondly, these gangsters appeared too suddenly, as if they were waiting for me to pass by.

When I just went to investigate, I did not hide my whereabouts, but it only took half a quarter of an hour at most to appear at the gate of the market.

For a less well-trained army, the centurion may not be able to call all the soldiers from the barracks to assemble and then transfer them to a certain place smoothly, but it may not be so fast.

Don't today's scoundrels have the hobby of wandering around and hide in remote corners for militarized training?

In other words, there are more than thirty or fifty gangsters in the market, and the ones the other party summoned to intercept us are just the tip of the iceberg.

Haha, it is probably impossible that there are two to three hundred hooligans in an abandoned market in Chang'an City, right?

Thirdly, this is a subjective opinion. I think there is something wrong with Fan Nongling's attitude.

Three days ago, when I proposed to him that I wanted to requisition the abandoned market in the south of the city, I felt that he was quite reluctant. I thought it was just an illusion.

Today, when we went together to explore the market here, he repeatedly tried to dissuade me on the way, wanting me to find another place to establish the Imperial Academy. And after this group of ruffians appeared, his tendency became more obvious.

It's really interesting. "

These analyzes did not occur in a vacuum.

On the way back home, he kept thinking specifically.

Starting from the facts, I used logical analysis to find out these obvious doubts.

Li Xu fell into silence, apparently starting to think of his own after hearing what Chen Luo said.

After about a stick of incense, he said in a deep voice, "I think your concerns, Boyu, are very reasonable. Whether it's the gangsters in the abandoned market or the attitude of Fan Nongling, it's not normal."

Even though he was joking around on weekdays, when it came to serious matters, Li Xu's thinking was quite rational.

Therefore, he did not think that Chen Luo was making groundless speculations. There was indeed some unknown truth hidden behind Fan Nongling's incident.

Chen Luo nodded, with cold eyes, "To say that what I encountered today was an accident, I absolutely don't believe it.

Huh, accident? It was probably a premeditation disguised as an accident. "

If there is one coincidence, it may be a coincidence, but if there are more than two coincidences, you must start to wonder if there is someone behind it.

Never be careless when it comes to overall planning.

Just like what happened today, Chen Luo would never believe that there was no one behind it.

"So Boyu...how do you plan to solve this matter?" Li Xu pondered for a moment and then asked, imagining several plans in his mind.

People like ruffians act recklessly, and even if the King of Heaven stands in front of them, they have no fear at all.

It's just that it's not that they are not afraid, but they don't understand.

When the high officials of the imperial court stood in front of him, their eyes would only focus on the jade pendant around his waist; when the scholar who had read poetry and books stood in front of him, they sneered at him, thinking that he was no different from a bad old man.

On the contrary, I met the most ordinary policemen of the government. The legs of these gangsters were shaking like sieves, and they were completely intimidated.

Therefore, Chen Luo decided to prescribe the right medicine.

Professional things need professional people to do them.

It is much easier and more convenient to find the right person to solve the problems encountered than to work blindly like a headless fly by yourself.

Rubbing his chin, he answered: "I plan to go to Senior Guo and ask him to come forward to solve it. He is an expert in this area."

What he encountered was not a dispute in the court, so there was no need to use too advanced means.

Mobilizing connections to deal with local gangsters is like hitting mosquitoes with a cannon. Regardless of its effectiveness, it is easy to make people laugh in vain.

In fact, to be honest, even if Guo Xie goes to deal with these ruffians, it will be a dimensionality reduction attack.

After saying this, Chen Luo turned his head and asked solemnly: "The preparations for Taixue are relatively tense now. Brother Li should have a more convenient way to contact Senior Guo, right? Can I leave this matter to you to communicate?"

By temporarily giving in, it can have a certain confusing effect, making Fan Nong Ling think that he has given up on using the abandoned market as the location for the Imperial Academy, and thus relax his vigilance.

Just beware of the other party's "killing the donkey" and deal with those local ruffians directly.

Time is precious and urgent.

The Mohist family's internal communication channels could deliver the news to Guo Xie three to five days faster than using conventional means.

Li Xu responded without hesitation: "Okay, I will pass the news to Luoyang right away."

Although the Mohist family did not leave many disciples in Chang'an, they maintained two strongholds, one bright and one dark.

The apparent stronghold is the Mohist shop in Chang'an City, which is responsible for selling specialties from various places brought by Mohist caravans and providing a safe place for Mohist disciples to rest.

As for the stronghold in the dark, it has something to do with Chen Luo.

When he was the imperial censor, this dark stronghold was the place where he received news about corruption among officials in various counties and counties, and specialized carrier pigeons were trained.

The Mohist disciples who passed through this stronghold could quickly contact Guo Xie in Luoyang and relay what happened in Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)