The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 97 A Big Fire

Two hours ago, the Xue family mansion.

Xue Xiuliang hurriedly ran into the inner study: "Brother, we have searched the whole city, but we still can't find Tao Wenju!"

Xue Xiuming put down the tea cup and said with a gloomy face: "Is there any place that has not been searched?"

Xue Xiuliang blurted out: "Jiedu Mansion and Yajun Camp."

Xue Xiuliang reacted and said angrily: "Brother, you mean that Tao Wenju hid in Jiedu Mansion? But how could he suddenly betray the Xue family?"

Xue Xiuming said coldly: "If you ask me, I will ask you! You are responsible for dealing with him. Someone around you must have leaked the news. He knew about it and ran away overnight! This person knows a lot of secrets. Converse, we can’t stay in Anding anymore, we must rush to Zhecheng City immediately!”

Xue Xiuliang was extremely angry and said viciously: "When I catch this guy, I will break his bones with my own hands!"

Xue Xiuming paced with his hands behind his back, thinking for a moment: "Immediately send someone to notify the county warehouse, and we will start tonight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a follower reported at the door of the study: "Two gentlemen, there is news that the Jiedu Mansion has ordered the outer city gate to be closed, and no unauthorized entry or exit is allowed from now on!"

"This" Xue Xiuliang was startled and his eyes widened in surprise.

Xue Xiuming stood up loudly: "We can't wait any longer, leave the house immediately!"

~~~
There is a vacant courtyard in the southeast corner of the back house. The door of the courtyard is always locked and no one lives in it. The servants of the Xue Mansion are not allowed to come near.

From the outside, this slightly dilapidated courtyard is nothing special, but when you open the chain and walk in, you find that the courtyard has already become a construction site, with a hollow in the middle, forming a hole, with a ladder leading directly to the dark Bottom of the cave.

The tunnel entrance of the Xue family, which had been hidden for many years, was finally put to use.

Xue Xiuming and Xue Xiuliang put on ordinary coarse cloth gowns, led twenty or thirty entourages into the courtyard, and surrounded the city with bright torches at the entrance of the cave.

The awning and cover were lifted to reveal the dark hole, and the first group of followers held torches and went down the ladder into the hole.

A maidservant ran over in a panic, it was Cuihong who was serving Li Shi.

"Sir, madam, she refuses to leave! Tell me."

Cuihong glanced fearfully at the entrance of the cave, which was as dark as a bottomless abyss, and stammered and was speechless.

"What did she say?" Xue Xiuming's face was terribly gloomy.

Cuihong said with a tearful voice: "Madam said that she just wants to wait for Shi Jieshuai to come and ask Shi Jieshuai to send someone to escort her back to Xiazhou."

Xue Xiuming squinted his eyes slightly, with a sinister look in his eyes.

"You go back first and pack your luggage for Madam. I will go back in person to persuade her later." Xue Xiuming ordered indifferently.

Cuihong didn't dare to be suspicious, she pulled her skirt together to salute, then hurried back to the back house with her skirt in hand.

Xue Xiuming called a guard and whispered some instructions in his ear. The guard was shocked at first, and then repeatedly confirmed that Xue Xiuming's order was correct before leaving quietly.

"Brother, this."

Xue Xiuliang on the side was filled with horror when he heard what he said.

Xue Xiuming was silent for a moment, then said coldly: "She asked for it herself! Let's go!~"

Under the protection of his entourage, Xue Xiuming slowly descended the ladder to the cave.

Xue Xiuliang gritted his teeth and followed closely.

The group of people hunched over and left Xue's house along the tunnel.

This tunnel is not long, and the exit is in the backyard of a warehouse across the street from Xuezhai.

The two of them came out of the tunnel and got into the carriage that had been prepared. The escorts dispersed, leaving only two men who pretended to be coachmen and drove the carriage to the west gate of the county.

As soon as the carriage entered the street, a group of fully armed tooth soldiers lined up and marched towards Xue Zhai. The leader was none other than Wei Hu, who was dressed in black armor.

The people retreated one after another, standing by the roadside and whispering.

The carriage also moved aside to wait. Xue Xiuming opened a corner of the curtain, watched the tooth soldiers passing by, and whispered: "Let's go!~"

Xue Xiuliang swallowed and was filled with fear: "Fortunately, we left in time. But brother, if Shi Kuangwei sends his trusted tooth soldiers to guard the city gate, how can we get out?" Xue Xiuming looked at the messy street, lowered the curtain, and sneered: "Don't worry, Shi Kuangwei knows that the Ya army is not monolithic. At this time, he will only let his trusted subordinates garrison the Ya city, and let the rest of the troops guard the city gate to prevent internal chaos. But in this way, the omissions in the outer city will But there are too many. The Xue family invests thousands of taels of silver on Yajun every year, and the money is not spent in vain!"

Xue Xiuliang breathed a sigh of relief. The Xue family had been planning for many years. If something happened and they were trapped by the small outer city, the joke would be big.

The carriage mixed into the chaotic crowd and slowly drove to the west gate. A large number of people gathered in front of the city gate, clamoring for the guards to open the gate.

Xue Xiuming asked his entourage to take his token to the leader Dutou. Nadutou took the token, looked at it, waved and ordered the door to be opened, and the carriage passed through the city gate smoothly and left the county.

When the carriage drove away, the city gate was closed again, and the crowd suddenly burst into shouts of dissatisfaction.

Dutou shouted plausibly: "The city is closed by the commander-in-chief of the Jiedu Mansion! No one is allowed to enter or leave without the order of the Jiedu Mansion!"

~~~
When Wei Hu led his troops to Xue's house, it was already dark. The tooth soldiers held their torches high, and the bright fire blocked the front and rear gates of Xue's house.

The tooth soldiers broke open the door of the house and rushed into the back house without encountering any resistance.

Suddenly, among the scattered houses, a large house was gradually filled with smoke and then burst into flames!
The fire spread very quickly, and in a moment, the fire climbed to the eaves from all sides of the house, and the panicked screams of the two women came from the house.

Several sneaky figures were spotted by the tooth soldiers, who immediately drew their swords and killed them. The tooth soldiers quickly surrounded them, cornered several people in a blind corner, stabbed several to death and captured two alive.

"General, the door is locked with a chain and kerosene is poured on all sides. The fire is burning very fast, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to put it out. These people are acting suspiciously and want to escape. Maybe they set the fire."

Ya Bing escorted the suspect to Wei Hu.

Wei Hu pulled out his horizontal knife, lifted one person's chin with the tip of the knife, and said coldly: "Did you set the fire? Who was in the house? And who ordered you to do it?"

The man's throat slid, he felt the coldness on his chin, his legs trembled, he hesitated and did not reply immediately.

Wei Hu slashed the man's throat with a swing of his knife, and hot blood spurted out and splashed onto the other man next to him.

Seeing his companion screaming, he covered his throat and fell to the ground. His body twitched twice and stopped moving. The man was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed: "General, spare your life! The person in the room is Mr. Xue's wife, Mrs. Li." , it was the fire that Mr. Xue ordered the little people to set!"

Wei Hu wiped off the blood on the blade and put it back into its sheath. Without looking at the man again, he turned around and looked at the house not far away that was about to be completely swallowed up by the fire.

There was a scream from behind, and the man was stabbed to death by Wei Hu's soldiers.

"General, there is a window on the northeast side of the house that has not been burned. Breaking the window can save people. My subordinates, go now!"

The confidant commander Pang Guangsheng reported that he would lead people to break into the house to save people.

"Wait a minute!" Wei Hu stared at the blazing house and suddenly stopped him.

Pang Guangsheng looked at him puzzled.

"The fire is too strong to take risks." Wei Hu narrowed his eyes and said calmly.

Viewed from the front, the main house had been engulfed by the fire, half of the eaves had collapsed, and the beams on the west side had also collapsed.

In the light of the fire, two figures were vaguely visible, huddled in the east corner in panic, their heart-rending cries growing fainter.

"But, didn't Vice Envoy Zhu tell you that Mrs. Li must be rescued?" Pang Guangsheng hesitated and whispered.

Wei Hu shook his head and said, "We were a step too late. Mrs. Li was trapped in the house and was burned to death."

Pang Guangsheng was startled and said subconsciously: "There are still people calling for help."

Wei Hu's expression suddenly became stern, and he glanced at him ferociously.

He immediately did not dare to say any more, bowed his head and retreated with fists in hand.

Boom~ A loud bang came, and the east side of the main house finally collapsed in the fierce fire. The figures in the fire disappeared instantly. There was no longer any faint cry for help, only the beeping sound of burning firewood sounded from time to time.
Wei Hu stood astride his sword, his face full of indifference.

Xue Xiuming sent people to burn Mr. Li to death, which shows that the couple completely fell out because of Li Guangbo's death. Mr. Li should know the truth about Li Guangbo's death.

If she were alive, she might be able to ease the conflict between the two vassals by explaining the truth to the Dingnan Army.

In this way, it is naturally the best solution for Zhang Yijun and Shi Kuangwei.

But Wei Hu suddenly felt that maybe Li's death would be more beneficial to him.

The Xue family is not the only one who needs Changyi Town to fall into chaos.
　I’m very busy during the day at the end of the month, so I can only update less, I’m really sorry (＞人＜；)
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(End of this chapter)