Late Tang

After the banquet, Li Lingfu did not immediately go to Xuan Cheng to ask Li Jing what it meant to go to Qingni City.In the study room where he lives, there are several cavalry generals of the Crane Control Army who first followed him in Liaodong, his three sons who have just grown up, and the uncles left behind by his father when he was the old city lord. The old retainer, and his wife Mrs. Gao also attended this core meeting.

"Where does this Li Jing come from?" Li Mengfa, the head of staff of Qingni City, who is nearly 70 years old and has been the owner of the Li family for three generations, asked.Although the boss is old, he is full of energy, with a childlike face and a red face.He has been the city lord of the Li family in Qingnipu for three generations, and has always served as the head of the staff. Li Lingfu also relies heavily on him.

Li Lingfu rubbed the purple sand teapot on his finger, turned to look at his second son Li Juyi, who was only 20 years old, "Erlang, I asked you to collect information about Li Jing, how did you collect it?"

Li Juyi's long and Li Lingfu's prints are almost identical. He was born when Li Lingfu was still a horse thief in the Yingzhou area of ​​western Liaoning, and he didn't return to Qingnipu until he was ten years old.When he returned to Qingnipu, at the age of ten, he had already followed his eldest brother, third brother and third brother on horseback and opened bows and arrows, and followed his father to participate in the battle to rescue Qingnipu. At ten years old, he not only went to the battlefield, but also personally Shoot and kill three Duli Town soldiers.So far, half of his left ear is still missing on his face, which was cut off by a Duli Town soldier during that battle.If the boss hadn't shot the soldier with an arrow in time, he might have died ten years ago.

The tiger father has no dogs, and Li Juyi, who is only 20 years old, is already a captain in the Crane Control Army. Compared with Li Juren, the big man who has stayed in the city to follow his father to learn how to manage the city all these years, he has the temperament of a father.He habitually touched the only half of the ear left over there, and said slowly: "Li Jing, whose name is Jiyu. His ancestral home is Yingzhou in western Liaoning. His ancestors served as the Pinglu Army Primary School for generations, and then crossed the sea to Qingzhou with the army. His grandfather He was the leader of Li Shidao's yamen army in Ziqing and Pinglu Jiedu. Later, he attacked Ziqing Town and died on the battlefield. His grandmother and his father moved to Wang Lizhuang, Qingning Township, Muping County, Dengzhou. His father abandoned martial arts and went to literature. First, he later recorded affairs for Tancheng and died in the Qiu Fu Rebellion when Li Jing was seven years old. Li Jing was raised by his widowed mother since he was a child. Sending food to Xuzhou died in Pang Xun's rebellion and failed to take the imperial examination."

"Just last year, my second brother died at the hands of Yan Ding, and he also narrowly escaped death. Later, he was framed and imprisoned. He was almost exiled in Yili, but was released from prison with the emperor's amnesty. Then he took the initiative to join the Dengzhou United Army for the same village. Because of assassinating bandits on the road, he was appreciated by the former governor of Dengzhou, Cui Yunqing, Sima Yuguan, Bie Jia, and Zhao Wang Li Rui, and he rose to the top and became the leader of the united army."

"Years ago, he served as the general of Shamen Town in Daxie Village. Last month, Cyclops led nearly two thousand pirates to attack Salmon Island, but he defeated and wiped them out with a group of newly recruited soldiers and a group of farmers."

The boss Li Meng half closed his eyes, "That's all?"

Li Juyi flipped through the scroll in his hand, "There is still some information, but it has not been confirmed yet."

"Let's listen first." Li Meng said directly.

"Also, we have heard some unconfirmed information. Li Jing's entry into Shamen Town was actually the intention of Song Wen, the new governor of Dengzhou. His intention was to let Li Jing drive into the garrison of Dengzhou like a wedge. It is said that this is what Song Wei and Cui Yunqing, commanders of the Ziqing Festival, also meant. There is also a rumor that the former governor of Dengzhou, Feng Yanqing, was actually Li Jing who used the name of a pirate and ordered Cui Yunqing to ambush and assassinate him."

"In addition, our people suspected that the cat island was attacked and captured not long ago. It was Zhen Donghai who left the letter, and Li Jing was also involved in it, and he was even the mastermind."

The study room was extremely quiet. The excuse for Duli Town and Beisha City to attack Qingnipu this time was that they attacked Cat Island.If Li Jing was the mastermind of this matter, wouldn't it be that they were also implicated by Li Jing.

"Is there any more?" Li Lingfu, who had been silent all this time, asked without any expression on his face.

"I just received a piece of news that the lair of the Cyclops in Tieshan was breached yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon, a fierce naval battle took place in Tieshan Harbor. Fengzhang's fleet of 37 ships and a dozen of Cyclops' The two boats joined together and were ambushed by forces suspected of being Zhendonghai in Tieshan Port. In this battle, the forces suspected of being Zhendonghai used an extremely powerful fire, and the Feng family's fleet was defeated, only a dozen or so The boats fled back to Wuhu Island. However, Wuhu Island was captured by Li Jing, and the dozen or so boats finally escaped from Li Jing’s pocket and were all captured.”

Even Li Lingfu was shocked by this news, "How credible is the information? Also, what kind of ships and how many people are there in Fengzhang's squadron?"

"The news has just been sent, and it has not been confirmed, but the possibility is very high. Even if such important news has not been confirmed, the spies would not dare to send it back indiscriminately. The squadron that Feng Zhang has 37 warships, led by the school of Montenegro Under the leadership of Wei Wuqian, there are also several lieutenant officers in Daxiezhai, and his nephew named Ming as the Duyu Marquis Supervisor. The 37 warships include one building boat, two fighting ships, ten sea falcons, and four walking ships. There are eight warships and twelve yachts. Among them, there are four sea falcon ships that are the latest modified iron-clad sea falcons."

There was a sound of gasping in the room. Such 37 warships were almost equivalent to the full strength of the poor fleet of 3000 people in Qingnipu.It's incredible that such a force was wiped out as soon as it was said to be eliminated.

The third child Li Juli curled his lips, and said disdainfully: "Second brother, why is he talking about everything? How is this possible? Zhendonghai is just a top-ranked pirate in the Liaohai Sea, and even the one-eyed dragon is not weaker than them Even if they join forces with Li Jing, it is impossible to wipe out such a fleet. What's more, this battle was basically fought by a group of pirates in Zhendonghai, but Li Jing took Wuhu Fort. How is this possible? Could it be true? When did the pirates become so powerful, not only were they able to quietly capture such a heavily fortified castle island as Cat Island, but now they even wiped out a powerful fleet?" Li Juli said at this time At the age of 19, he is not like his elder brother's Wen, nor his second brother's Wu, but he has a kind of arrogance and madness.

Li Lingfu reached out his hand to stop Li Juli's plan to continue talking, he sighed, and said heavily: "I think it's very likely that this is true."

Mrs. Gao said: "Li Jing's envoy is on the island, why don't you send someone to ask him, don't you know everything?" Mrs. Gao usually does not participate in the affairs of the city, but Li Lingfu often asks her the affairs of the city.Her words carried a lot of weight in Li Lingfu's heart.

Li Meng, the manager, also opened his eyes, and said solemnly: "This old man also thinks that the news is true. Since Li Jing actually sent someone to attend Zhongmou's birthday, and even brought such a heavy gift, I just changed it. He gave us a big money-making business at the banquet, and it can be seen that this Li Jing is no ordinary person. You have just heard the information about Li Jing. Died in prison. But now, in less than a year, he is already a town general, has his own territory and soldiers, and has even wiped out more than a thousand pirates who will attack by himself. It is not easy to be capable of both civil and martial arts, and also need the help of nobles. No matter how many things he does, the old man will not find it strange."

"If these are true, then Li Jing is too daring. Not only did he assassinate Shangguan Shangyanqing, but he also secretly colluded with the pirate town Donghai, and even attacked Cat Island. Now it is the one who will be Feng Zhang. The sub-fleet was wiped out and Wuhu Island was captured, isn't he planning to rebel? What does he mean by coming to us now?" The boss Li Juren was secretly startled, this Li Jing was too fierce, he was completely a The man who fears nothing.

"I think this is good news." Li Meng has experienced too much, has seen the ups and downs of Qingni City, and sees things more thoroughly than the three brothers Li Juren. "Looking at the situation, this Li Jing is completely a tiger. It can even be said that this is a tiger deliberately released by Song Wei, Cui Yunqing and others, in order to disturb the chaos in Dengzhou. Originally, the matter of Dengzhou has nothing to do with us. It doesn't matter, but the distance between Daxie Village and our Qingnipu is only more than a hundred miles. Since Li Jing dared to attack Maodao, he went to Tieshan in Duli Town to suppress the one-eyed dragon's nest, lured and wiped out the Fengzhang Squadron, and even If it is to seize Wuhu Island, it can be seen that this is not a person who follows the routine."

"This old man has seen a lot of people like this. They are generally divided into two categories. One is the lunatic. This kind of person is either killed by the enemy or killed by his own subordinates. There is also a kind of person like Li Jing, who seems to be reckless. Every step is carefully calculated. Taking one step, he has already counted three steps and saw ten steps away. If such a person is an enemy, it would be terrible, but Li Jing will not become our enemy, which is a blessing."

“How come you see?”

"Interests, everything is due to interests. There is no conflict of interest between us and Li Jing now. It can even be said that we have a common enemy. Our main enemy is Duli Town, and Li Jing's biggest enemy now is Feng Zhang. Everyone Don't forget, one of the 36 representatives in charge of Duli Town is the Feng family, and there are several other families connected to the Feng family. Naturally, Li Jing came to us because he was afraid that Duli Town would take action against him. An enemy of an enemy is a friend. We are all enemies of Duli Town, so we can be friends."

The boss looked wise, "Zhongmou, go and find that monk envoy, now it's time to talk to him about some serious matters. Friends are friends, you should ask what you should ask, and you should discuss the terms of the discussion." .What matter, negotiate the conditions first, and the relationship will be stable." He stood up with his cane, "Okay, the rest of the work is left to you, my old bone will be dizzy when it gets dark. Drowsy, I'll go back first. I was greedy for drinking at night, and I couldn't resist the temptation to drink a small glass of Wuliangye, and now I feel more energetic. By the way, Zhongmou, I will send two jars of this wine to the old man later."

(To be continued)