Jinghong Tower

Su Cheng, who died innocently, was Fu Yansheng's nephew. Fu Yansheng felt that he owed a lot to his deceased wife because he valued this nephew very much. Su Cheng was indeed very competitive. Whether it was his results in the official examination or his performance during his internship in Yuhang, they were all remarkable.

The Su family was a scholarly family and had produced two Jinshi (Jinshi) and Juren (Juren). Unfortunately, someone in the family wrote a poem mocking current politics and the family was confiscated. No one from the family entered officialdom afterwards. Fortunately, the family had a son-in-law, Fu Yansheng, who brought the family to Jin. The family was thus spared from persecution and was able to recuperate.

It seemed that the Su family was about to get better starting with Su Cheng's generation, but Su Cheng died an untimely death.

It is conceivable that this was a heavy blow to the entire Su family and Fu Yansheng.

He Ran told the truth about Su Cheng's death in the letter, and she asked Fu Yansheng to tell the Su family to select three young men to go to the capital, regardless of gender, as long as they were descendants of the Su family.

Not long after this letter was sent, the Embroidered Uniform Guards made new discoveries during their interrogation of Zhu Yanhe.

Even Zhong Yi was surprised by this discovery, and he immediately reported it to He Ran.

"Boss, do you still remember Qiao Xichang?"

Of course He Ran remembered that Qiao Xichang had a sister, Concubine Qiao, who was in the harem of the false emperor Zhou Chi (Prince of Qi). After Zhou Chi's death, Concubine Qiao gave birth to a baby boy. Qiao Xichang was arrested, but Concubine Qiao and her child were missing and have not been caught to this day.

He Ran asked, "Is Qiao Xichang still alive?"

Zhong Yi nodded: "Qiao Xichang is still in prison."

He Ran asked again: "Is Qiao Xichang related to Zhu Yanhe?"

Zhong Yi said, "Two years ago, Zhu Yanhe divorced his first wife on the grounds that she had no children and remarried. The woman he married was surnamed Qiao, and her name was Qiao Chun. She was a daughter of an official family, and according to the household registration, she was the younger sister of Qiao Xichang and the sister of Lady Qiao."

Hearing Zhong Yi specifically point out the word "household registration", He Ran raised her eyebrows slightly: "What is her real identity?"

Zhong Yi said: "Qiao Chun's original name was Yang Chun. His ancestral home was in Henan and he grew up in the northwest. In his early years, the Yang family sold horses from Yulin and did business with Tartar merchants. As a result, the Yang family accumulated a fortune. Later, after Wu Dongming started his rebellion, the horse market in Yulin was closed and the horse trading business could no longer be done. The Yang family then started the business of large carriage inns. His family had more than a dozen large carriage inns, all on the official road.

At that time, Qiao Xichang's father was still a county magistrate. County magistrate Qiao was lustful and had more than a dozen concubines in his family. These concubines gave birth to six sons and thirteen daughters for him, among which only Qiao Xichang was a legitimate daughter. In order to allow these concubines to marry into wealthy families in the future to help their fathers and brothers, when they were young, County magistrate Qiao selected the good-looking ones among them and registered them under the name of the principal wife, and raised them as legitimate daughters. Among them, Concubine Qiao was selected into the palace, and several of his daughters also married well.

Yang Chun was born beautiful. When she was twelve years old, her father bribed County Magistrate Qiao with 50,000 taels of silver and sent Yang Chun to County Magistrate Qiao's mansion and registered her as his legal wife.

Because County Magistrate Qiao was always lustful, even his wife did not know Yang Chun's origins and thought she was the daughter of County Magistrate Qiao's concubine. However, Qiao Xichang, the eldest son, knew it.

The Yang family sent Yang Chun to the Qiao family in the hope that Yang Chun would marry into a wealthy family. Unfortunately, Yang Chun was born at the wrong time. Not long after, Zhou Chi fell, Jiangnan was lost, and Jing Chongguang fled south with Emperor Yonghe.

It was at that time that the Qiao family married Yang Chun to Zhu Yanhe. Zhu Yanhe was just a gangster. Even though the Qiao County Magistrate was no longer the county magistrate, he could not marry the daughter of the Qiao family. Moreover, Yang Chun was young and beautiful, so Zhu Yanhe was willing to abandon his wife for her.

Hearing this, He Ran thought of the missing Lady Qiao and the son she gave birth to.

"Did Miss Qiao and her son escape on the Cao Gang's boat?" He Ran asked.

"Yes, County Magistrate Qiao is already old, and the head of the Qiao family is Qiao Xichang. He married Yang Chun to Zhu Yanhe on the condition that she and her son escape safely.

Under the circumstances at that time, only the Cao Gang had the ability to do so." Zhong Yi said.

He Ran already had an idea in mind, and asked, "Could it be that the Yang family really only does business as a large carriage shop?"

Zhong Yi sneered, "The boss is smart. Zhu Yanhe explained that three months ago, Yang Chun's brother found Zhu Yanhe and asked him to find a way to kill Su Cheng, who was still interning in Yuhang at the time. Zhu Yanhe went to Yuhang in person for this purpose, but Su Cheng lived and ate in the government office and never traveled alone. Zhu Yanhe didn't find a chance to kill him, so he had to start with Su Cheng's colleagues. Ma Dongxing was a gambler, so he set up a trap to make Ma Dongxing owe gambling debts and force Ma Dongxing to commit the crime."

Looking around the world, especially in Jiangnan, the Cao Gang is so powerful that local governments mainly try to win over the Cao Gang. Zhu Yanhe's father is a good brother who grew up with the Han family, and the two families later became relatives. Although the Han family is no longer the leader of the gang, Zhu Yanhe's position in the gang is not affected at all. After his father died, he took over his father's position as an elder. He is one of the four elders of the Cao Gang, and the youngest one among them.

He grew up in the gang and may have more supporters in the gang than Zong Qi, the leader who took over the Cao Gang halfway.

He does have the ability and opportunity to kill Su Cheng and silence the others.

Zhong Yi continued, "Zhu Yanhe has already explained that the inns are managed by the Yang family father and son, but the Yang family transferred all the money they earned to their hometown in Henan long before Wu Dongming started his rebellion. Even the grandchildren and women of the Yang family are now in Henan."

Thinking of what He Ran would say, Zhong Yi spoke up first: "I have sent people to Henan to capture the women and children of the Yang family. As for the Yang family's inns, I am not going to capture them all at once for the time being."

Whether it is He Ran or the current Zhong Yi, both have worked in intelligence or are working in intelligence. It would have been fine if they didn't know about the existence of the Yang family before, but now that they know, they can see at a glance that the Yang family's large carriage inns are used to collect intelligence and transmit messages.

The masters behind the Yang family are either Tartars or Dala.

When Yang Chun was sent to the Qiao family, it was obvious that they wanted Yang Chun to enter the palace or be sent to the rear house of a high-ranking official. Unfortunately, she was born at the wrong time. By the time Yang Chun was able to get married, most of the world had already belonged to He Ran, and the Qiao family could not get along with the new nobles of Ran's army, so they could only marry Yang Chun to Zhu Yanhe.

He Ran said in a deep voice: "Tell your men to be more efficient and not to cause panic among the local people."

Zhong Yi said yes and turned to leave.

Ten days later, all the women and grandchildren of the Yang family were escorted back to the capital. Such a large group of people, old and young, could not be locked up in the imperial prison, so Zhong Yi simply took them to his own house. He was the only master in his house, and there were many empty rooms, which were just the right size to hold the prisoners.

Upon learning that he had locked up all the prisoners in his home, He Ran laughed and said, "You're not planning to build a prison in your home, are you?"

Zhong Yi: "Well, I have asked people to dig a dungeon, but unfortunately the Yang family is unlucky and can't live in it."

He Ran was speechless.

On the official road in Jin, five men on horseback were tired and hungry. Suddenly, they saw a flag fluttering in the wind not far away and said happily, "Look, there is a big inn over there. Let's go in and have a rest."

In addition to hiring a carriage, one can also stay overnight and have a meal at the carriage inn, and sometimes even find cheap women.

Whether you are riding in a car or on horseback, you can take a rest in the cart.

The men dismounted in front of the inn and threw the reins to the waiter who came out to greet them: "Don't be reluctant to part with the fodder, we will give you the silver." The waiter smiled and agreed, shouting into the door: "Guests are here!"

The men wiped the sweat off their face with their sleeves and strode in. There were not many people in the carriage inn today. There were only a few people playing dice in the corner. Judging from their clothes, they must be coachmen waiting for work.

A man said loudly: "Three pounds of mutton, three bowls of mutton soup, and a basket of cakes. I'll also give you some free pickles."

At this time, a waiter came over with a smile, holding a coarse porcelain teapot and three large tea bowls: "Sir, this is your first time here, I haven't seen it before."

The guys in the inn all had good eyes. These three men each carried a large bag on their backs. The bags were square and neat, and it was obvious that they were hired by a wealthy family to deliver things over long distances. However, the things they delivered were not particularly expensive, and most of them were just festival or birthday gifts for their relatives back home.

The leading man said, "We are from Yudi. We are here in Jindi on the orders of our master to celebrate the birthday of our father-in-law."

The man said, "Now that there is no war, the roads are peaceful, and we can travel smoothly from Henan to Jin."

The man shook his head. "It's true that there's no war, but it's not peaceful either. When we came out of Henan, we encountered the Jinyiwei who were arresting people. Oh, it was terrible. They even arrested babies in their cradles. We were scared to death. We waited for most of the day, but when we didn't see the Jinyiwei come back, we dared to set off again."

The clerk was startled: "Jinyiwei went to Yudi to arrest people? Where is Yudi?"

The man said, "It's Nanhetun in Henan. Yes, it's a small place. I guess you outsiders haven't heard of it. But it's not far from the official road. We just happened to run into it when we passed by there."

The waiter said, "Please wait a moment. I'll go in and see if the mutton has been cut."

The waiter turned and went into the back. After a moment, he brought out the mutton. A middle-aged man with a moustache also came out with a tray in his hands. On the tray was a large plate of braised lamb's trotters.

"I didn't expect to meet a fellow villager today. What a coincidence. Here, this is the braised lamb trotters that my chef is best at. Brothers, please feel free to try them all."

The middle-aged man spoke with a Henan accent, and he was indeed a fellow villager.

The men were not polite and invited the middle-aged man to sit down and eat together. After a few pleasantries, the middle-aged man asked about the Jinyiwei arresting people: "To be honest, my home is in Beihetun, which is only separated from Nanhetun by a river."

One of the men said, "You are from Beihetun. My second aunt's cousin married into your village. Her husband's family name is Gao."

The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly: "Gao is a big family in our village. Hey, this is really not an outsider. Come, bring a pot of wine and put it on my account!"

After a few drinks, the men described in detail how they encountered the Jinyiwei.

"I heard that the family's surname is Yang. The men in the family are all doing business outside. There are only women and children at home. The oldest child is only fifteen or sixteen years old, and the youngest is still breastfeeding. Oh, and the girls in their family were thrown into the prison van without even covering their faces. They were pointed at and criticized by everyone. Even if they are released in the future, their reputation will be ruined. I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to get married."

Another man said, "It's better to be unmarried than to die. Those children are so young and they are crying loudly out of fear. It's such a long distance from Henan to the capital. Even adults can't stand it, let alone children. I think nine out of ten will not survive."

"And there was an old woman. She was at least seventy, if not eighty, with white hair and a shaky walk. One of the Jinyiwei thought she walked too slowly and kicked her. The old woman fell to the ground and took a long time to get up. Oh, how miserable! How pitiful!"

The men were talking so excitedly that they didn't notice that the middle-aged man's face had changed color. They didn't want to talk anymore, so they found an excuse and went back.

The men exchanged glances, ate and drank their fill, and then rode away on horseback.

In the back hall, the middle-aged man said to a waiter, "You heard what was said just now, right? Ride your horse and tell my second brother the news."

The clerk said, "Master Wu, do you want to send someone back to his hometown to check?"

"What the hell is there to see? They've all been captured. What else is there to see? Calculating the time, it's been half a month. They should have reached the capital by now. Oh! Call Xiao Ming over and have him deliver a message to the old man as well."

Ten days later, more than a dozen men in the Yang family sat in Old Master Yang's living room. They had rushed over after receiving a message from Old Master Yang.

"Boss, tell me, what is going on?"

Uncle Yang was furious. After hearing what Lao Wu said, he sent people back to Nanhetun at full speed. Everything was just as those men said. The Jinyiwei suddenly appeared in Nanhetun and arrested the women and grandchildren of the Yang family. Even the eighty-year-old grandmother and the baby were not spared.

Uncle Yang said angrily: "I heard that Zhu Yan and that loser were arrested by the Royal Guards. He must have betrayed the Yang family."

Master Yang Wu slammed the table and said, "It turned out to be him! I shouldn't have married Yang Chun to him in the first place. I told you long ago that a second-rate guy like him would be useless!"

Yang Chun was his daughter and also the most beautiful girl in the family. That was why the old man wanted to marry Yang Chun into a wealthy family so that she could eventually enter the palace as a queen. However, the Yang family was just a merchant family and had no such qualifications, so Yang Chun was sent to the Qiao family.

Old Master Yang glanced at his sons and nephews in front of him and said in a deep voice, "I just received a letter from the Queen Mother."

Everyone was shocked and held their breath, looking intently at Old Master Yang.

The former master of the Yang family was Prince Dala. In the early years, the Yang family was a horse dealer on the surface, but in fact they had always been working for the Dala people.

Later, when Prince Dala attacked Datong, he was killed by He Xiulong. Without this capable prince, the Dala regime fell into the hands of others.

The Yang family also lost their master and could no longer do the horse trading business, so they opened a carriage shop.

It was at that time that the Yang family decided to send Yang Chun into the palace.

Three years ago, Prince Dala's sister, Man, became the Queen of Tartar. Queen Dowager Man sent people to find Old Master Yang. From then on, the Yang family turned to Queen Dowager Man. In the past two years, they have delivered intelligence to Queen Dowager Man several times.

Using Su Cheng to intensify the conflict between Fu Yansheng and He Ran was the task assigned to the Yang family by Empress Dowager Man.

Before this, the Yang family, by some strange coincidence, had a son-in-law, Zhu Yanhe, who was an elder in the Cao Gang. (End of this chapter)