Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 479
Zhou Qing was indeed hiding in Pingliu Town, but not in the town, but in a small village outside Pingliu Town.

At night, Zhou Qing stood behind a big tree and observed the situation in Bianhe Nei. The pier in Pingliu Town was full of boats. Many small businessmen who came by boat came ashore in Pingliu Town, causing a large number of boats to be stranded immediately. , one next to the other, almost occupying half of the river, this is undoubtedly the perfect place to assassinate King Liang, as long as he hides in a small boat, he can easily board the boat.

Zhou Qing also has a weakness. He can swim a little, but he is not good at water. If he gets on a boat from the water, he is worried that he does not have this ability, and he is also worried that he will miss it, but hiding on the boat is different.

Zhou Qing took one last look at the boat, then turned around and ran west.

Ten days later, five thousand-stone passenger ships sailed eastward along the Bian River. On the leading ship was an apricot-yellow pennant with the word 'official' on it. , must be released all the way.

This fleet is exactly the team of Prince Liang Zhao Zhongzhen. With the smooth implementation of the reform and its gradual deepening, Zhao Zhen became more and more satisfied with the emperor's grandson. As a reward, he was granted the titles of Kaifeng Yin and Zongzheng Siqing.

These are two very sensitive positions. Since Song Taizong Zhao Kuangyi served as Kaifeng Governor, the official position of Kaifeng Governor will not be handed over easily. Even if Bao Zheng was appointed as Kaifeng Government, he would know the affairs of Kaifeng Government. This is the same as Tang Taizong Li Shimin After taking up the position of Shangshuling, the Shangshuling of the Tang Dynasty will no longer be granted to officials, and the highest official position that Shangshusheng can hold will become Shangshu's left and right servants.

Zongzheng Siqing is an important position in the management of the royal family, and he is usually appointed as the heir of the emperor. Zhao Zhongzhen's father Zhao Zongshi took the post before, but now he has changed his title to Zhao Zhongzhen.

But this is still not the last step, that is, Wang Jue has not changed.

However, all officials in the imperial court know that Zhao Zhongzhen's prince has not changed. That's because his qualifications are still a little less. The standard for a king is thirty guards. Although he is still a county king, the number of guards has increased to a hundred, which has become the standard for a prince. If he is a prince, that is 500, and for an emperor, 3000.

At four o'clock, the fleet passed the tax card of Pingliu Town, and Pingliu Town was a few miles ahead. The two sides of the Bian River were completely silent and dark, and there was no light at all. Only the fleet had lights, because it was sailing at night. , so the boat went very slowly and went down the river.

In the cabin, the light was still on, it seemed that Zhao Zhongzhen was still asleep and was still reading at his desk.

At this time, Zhou Qing, who was lying on a small boat, held a sharp long sword in his hand and stared at the fleet a mile away with hatred. He thought of his innocent wife and children who died tragically, and slowly squeezed the handle of the sword .

As the fleet got closer and closer, Zhou Qing locked his eyes on the second ship. In the afternoon, he found the target and confirmed that the second ship was Zhao Zhongzhen's.

The fleet finally passed the pier of Pingliu Town, which was full of small boats, half of the channel was occupied, and the fleet passed by several small boats. When the second boat passed by, it was less than five feet away from the boat where Zhou Qing was hiding. , Zhou Qing leaped, and jumped onto the big boat without a sound. He squatted on the edge of the boat, looked around for a moment, made sure that he was not noticed, then turned around, dipped his fingers in saliva, and poked a small hole in the window paper. Looking into the cabin.

I saw two candles lit in the cabin, illuminating the cabin brightly. A man in a purple robe was sleeping on his desk. From his back, he should be a young man.

Zhou Qing was overjoyed, he didn't hesitate anymore, he jumped up, smashed open the window with his back, and broke into the cabin, he shouted, "The little thief will die!"

With a fierce sword, the boy's neck was severed, and the skull fell to the ground.

"wrong!"

Zhou Qing screamed, the neck was too weak and had no bones. When he looked closely, his eyes suddenly widened. It turned out to be a scarecrow in a purple robe. A face was drawn on the human head with paper, and he smiled strangely, as if laughing at his stupidity.

He was fooled, Zhou Qing was about to run, but the door was kicked open with a bang, and several guards with strong martial arts brandished their knives, and the window seemed to be blocked. He jumped up without any hesitation, and hit a Dadong, climbed to the top of the boat, and saw more than [-] guards appeared on the boat, surrounding him.

Zhou Qing had no way out, he yelled, and jumped into the river. At this time, more than a dozen arrows were shot in the air, and he couldn't dodge. He hit three arrows in a row and fell into the water with a 'thump'.

He didn't care about pulling out the arrow, threw away the long sword, and swam desperately towards the shore. Just as he climbed onto the shore, several sharp long swords pressed against his neck and back, and then a big man threw him like a mountain. Pressing firmly, several big men worked together, strangled his neck with a rope, and tied him up.

At this time, more than a dozen men on horseback came out of the town, the two leading the way were Zhao Zhongzhen and Fan Ning, whom Zhou Qing wanted to assassinate, followed by more than a dozen guards on both sides, and the four men who captured Zhou Qing were Fan Ning's confidantes There are four guards Zhu Hu.

The fleet had already docked, and a large group of guards were searching the shore with torches and long knives, looking for the assassin's accomplices.

Zhao Zhongzhen's face was a little pale, he never dreamed that someone would assassinate him, Fan Ning said lightly: "Your Highness, it's all right now, let's get on the boat!"

"Has he been bought by Zhang Yaozuo?" Zhao Zhongzhen asked.

"Zhang Yaozuo did not come forward. It was his counselor Yang Kai who arranged the assassination in Yingtian Mansion. Wang has already fully explained that Li Han is leading people to arrest Yang Kai. With conclusive evidence, Zhang Yaozuo probably won't be affected by this matter, I hope His Highness understands this."

Zhao Zhongzhen sighed, got off his horse, and walked towards the leading ship.

At the same moment when Zhou Qing failed to assassinate Zhao Zhongzhen, more than a thousand soldiers surrounded a mansion in the south of Songcheng County, covering an area of ​​about [-] mu. Li Han led [-] elite soldiers and waited opposite the gate. A soldier rushed over, bowed and said, "General Qi, the siege has been completed!"

Li Han nodded and waved his hand, "Go!"

Five hundred soldiers rushed up to the mansion with ladders on their backs. They climbed over the wall with ladders and ran to the depths of the mansion.

In the end, Wang Que was unable to withstand the fear of the leech drilling body, and explained everything he knew. This house was rented by Yang Kai half a month ago, and it was also their stronghold in Yingtian Mansion. In addition to this house, there is a private house and another small courtyard outside the city, but both the private house and the small courtyard were searched, and no trace of Yang Kai was found, so Li Han led his army to surround the mansion.

This is on a small building in the inner courtyard of the mansion. Yang Kai is burning all kinds of documents and letters in the copper incense burner, erasing all traces related to Zhang Yaozuo.

Even [-] of his subordinates were warriors he secretly trained in Yingtian Mansion. These warriors only knew that their master was in the capital, but they didn't know who the master was.

At this time, one of his subordinates rushed up and said, "Master, the soldiers have already entered the back house, and they are coming here immediately, let's go!"

Yang Kai smiled wryly, the outside was already surrounded tightly, where else could he go?The fact that Fan Ning's people were able to find this place shows that Wang was caught by mistake.

He sighed: "Hold them, buy me time, I still have something to burn."

The subordinates turned and went downstairs, there was loud shouting and killing, the soldiers had already reached the downstairs, and more than a dozen warriors blocked the stairway to resist desperately.

At this time, Li Han also arrived. Seeing the black-clothed warriors guarding the stairs, he ordered: "Shoot them with crossbow arrows!"

Hundreds of soldiers raised their crossbows, and they fired at once. The arrows were so densely shot into the entrance of the stairs that there was a scream, and all fifteen warriors were shot to death with only two rounds of arrows.

Dozens of soldiers stomped on the corpses and rushed upstairs.

Yang Kai tore up the last letter and threw it into the copper furnace. At this time, there was a rush of running on the stairs, and soldiers came up.

With trembling hands, he took out a small bottle about an inch high from his bosom, pulled out the stopper, and found a dark red liquid inside, which was the top ten poisons, Hedinghong. Drank it down, and the bottle fell to the ground with a clatter.

'boom! The door was kicked open, and more than a dozen soldiers rushed in, but Yang Kai clutched his stomach and slowly fell to the ground, curled up into a ball, his face turned black, and his breath became weaker and weaker. The counselor Zhang Yaozuo relied on finally died. In Yingtian Mansion.

The soldiers searched the house upside down, but they couldn't find a letter or note. Li Han looked at the letters that had been burned to ashes in the copper furnace, and sighed: "There is no need to search any more, and the troops will return to the camp!"

Two days later, news of the assassination of Prince Liang in Pingliu Town, the easternmost town of Kaifeng Mansion, reached the capital. Zhao Zhen was furious and ordered Kaifeng Mansion and Yingtian Mansion to investigate the case within three days.

But on the second day, Fan Ning's investigation report was sent to Zhao Zhen's desk, including the confessions of two assassins. Although they were generals of the Xiang army of Ying Tianfu, according to their account, they were bought by Zhang Yaozuo's aide, Yang Kai. .

It's just that Yang Kai committed suicide by taking poison, and no evidence of Zhang Yaozuo's involvement in the case was found.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhao Zhen issued an order that the case was a revenge reform by the Xiang army generals, and ordered to execute the two assassins on the spot, allowing Ying Tianfu to close the case, and at the same time added two hundred guards to Zhao Zhongzhen, and the number of Zhao Zhongzhen's guards reached 500 people.

(End of this chapter)