The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 54: Murder

Zhao Cheng was really frightened this time. He quickly ran over and knelt in front of Gai Jiayun, crying, "General, you have to save me. This is how I have always done things. It was no problem before, and it can be solved now."

"It was okay before because I had the final say in Anxi and you were only below me. But now, Prince Shou has the final say."

Gai Jiayun sighed and continued, "Some things are not as heavy as a pound if they are not weighed, but if they are weighed, they are more than a thousand pounds."

Zhao Cheng asked: "General, what should I do?"

"Two ways." Gai Jiayun thought, "First, the people you send out don't bite you, or they don't have the chance to bite you. Second..."

Gai Jiayun did not finish the second one, because this method, if told, might harm his entire family.
But Zhao Cheng seemed to have understood, and he just lay there.

……

……

……

Feng Changqing captured Wang Tiedan, but did not rush to interrogate him. Instead, he immediately took people to Wang Tiedan's house.

Wang Tiedan has been doing evil things with Zhao Cheng and others over the years and has made a lot of money. His house is also extremely luxurious.

Feng Changqing ordered his men to surround Wang Tiedan's house. Just as the enclosure was completed, Zhao Cheng arrived with his men.

Zhao Cheng saw Feng Changqing and asked, "Why are you here, General Feng?"

Feng Changqing asked: "Why did Sima Zhao come here?"

"How dare you!" Zhao Cheng shouted, "How dare you, a militia commander, speak to me like that? I order you to get your people to withdraw. I have sealed off this place."

Feng Changqing sneered and said, "I am following the order of His Royal Highness Prince Shou to investigate this place. Could it be that General Zhao is following the order of the Saint?"

"You...don't use His Royal Highness Prince Shou to pressure me!" Zhao Cheng was anxious to capture Wang Tiedan's relatives to threaten Wang Tiedan, so he was extremely angry.

Feng Changqing took out Li Heng's order and said to the soldiers behind him, "Listen, Prince Shou has ordered us to surround this mansion. Anyone who dares to trespass will be killed without mercy!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers behind Feng Changqing responded loudly and drew their weapons in unison.

For a moment, the atmosphere was tense.

Seeing Feng Changqing being so tough, Zhao Cheng laughed out of anger and said, "General Feng, officials should keep in harmony with the world. Can the Prince of Shou stay in Anxi forever? If the Prince of Shou leaves, who will support you?"

Feng Changqing said: "General Zhao, please don't worry about my affairs. General Zhao should take care of himself first."

"Okay, okay, you wait!" Zhao Cheng pointed at Feng Changqing viciously and led his men to retreat.

Seeing Zhao Cheng walking away, Feng Changqing murmured, "Your Highness Prince Shou is right. These despicable people only know how to threaten other people's relatives."

Zhao Cheng walked angrily, muttering to himself, "Damn it, I underestimated Li Heng. This kid is so young, but his calculations are so thorough."

As Zhao Cheng was speaking, a soldier ran over and reported, "General, Wang Tiedan was caught by Feng Changqing, so he didn't take care of his afterlife. Except for Wang Tiedan, everyone else handled it cleanly and was not discovered."

"Okay, that's good."

Zhao Cheng felt more at ease. If it was just Wang Tiedan who was not very smart, he could get away with it.

But the soldier said, "But many people went to His Royal Highness Prince Shou's place today."

"Who are they?" Zhao Cheng asked hurriedly.

The soldier said, "Some are here to file a complaint, and some are family members of people who were just killed."

"Damn it!" Zhao Cheng cursed, then laughed and said, "If Prince Shou hadn't come here, I wouldn't have known that my crimes were so numerous. No, I'm actually such a fierce man!"

Zhao Cheng laughed for a long while, then said to the soldier, "Gather all the brothers who have done the work and go to the ruined temple outside the city."

"Yes." The soldier took the order and left.

……

……

……

In a ruined temple outside the city.

Zhao Cheng stood under the dilapidated Buddha statue. In front of Zhao Cheng, there were nine people.

Behind Zhao Cheng were three large boxes, each filled with gold, silver and jewelry.

When everyone was present, Zhao Cheng asked, "Tell me, how have I treated you over the years?"

The nine people looked at each other and said in unison: "The general has been very kind to us."

"Okay." Zhao Cheng glanced at the nine people. "You have followed me for so many years, enjoying wealth and glory. I know some of the things you have done, and I don't know some of them. But whether I know or not, you have enjoyed the happiness you deserve. Now someone is deliberately trying to make things difficult for you. I believe they will find you soon. I have prepared the money for you. This money is enough for you to live for several lifetimes. You can all run for your lives."

Hearing this, one person said, "General, our family business is all here, is there no other way?"

Zhao Cheng shook his head and said, "I don't have it, do you have it?"

Another person said, "General, fight him!"

"With whom?" Zhao Cheng looked at the man and asked.

That person said: "Of course it is Shou Wang."

Someone took the lead, and the others followed suit: "Yes, it's Prince Shou. We're all going to die anyway, so why not fight him!"

Zhao Cheng looked at the nine people and asked, "What do you mean, you want to assassinate Prince Shou?"

"That's right." The nine people replied in unison.

Zhao Cheng sneered, drew his knife, and said, "Come on, someone is plotting to assassinate Prince Shou, kill them all!"

At Zhao Cheng's command, the soldiers who had been lying in ambush rushed out, first shooting them with arrows and then hacking them to death with swords.

In a moment, the blood spread all over the room and splattered onto the face of the Buddha statue.

Zhao Cheng initially thought of letting them take the blame, but Li Heng had anticipated this and actually protected Wang Tiedan's family.

By doing this, Li Heng lost his bargaining chip.

Of course, he could also take advantage of the fact that Li Heng hadn't discovered the others and arrest the families of the others and force them to take the blame.

But this would make too much noise, and not everyone would care about their family.

So killing them is the best way.

Zhao Cheng stepped on their corpses and walked out of the ruined temple.

Outside the ruined temple, the wind and snow continued.

Zhao Cheng reached out to catch the falling snowflakes and said, "What beautiful snow!"

……

……

……

In the inn.

Due to Li Ying's notice and Zhao Cheng's murder, all the people involved in the case came to report to Li Ying and brought their families with them to seek Li Ying's protection.

Li Heng couldn't handle it alone, so he asked others to receive the guests and report the results to him.

Li Heng was looking at the summary results when Xin Yunjing suddenly came to report, "Your Highness, the military commander Zhao Cheng wants to see you."

"Oh?" Li Heng was slightly surprised, closed the document, and said, "Please ask him to come in."

After a while, Zhao Cheng rushed in, knelt down as soon as he entered the door, and said, "Your Highness, Prince Shou, I have something important to report!"

"General, there is no need to be so polite." Li Heng asked Zhao Cheng to stand up and said, "General, please speak frankly if you have anything to say."

Zhao Cheng said: "I got the news that someone was plotting to assassinate Your Highness, so I took people to capture them. I didn't expect that they were all a group of desperate criminals who resisted arrest, so I ordered them to be beheaded on the spot."

After that, he had the body carried away.

Li Heng was startled, he stood up and counted, there were nine bodies, and the documents in his hand involved exactly nine cases.

This means that Zhao Cheng killed everyone involved.

(End of this chapter)