Late Tang

"General, it's a great thing for King Zhao to invite you to form a caravan." Zhang Hong was beaming, and told Li Jing in an excited tone, "This means that King Zhao has put you and the other men in Dengzhou together. The generals who hold the military power are on the same level. It shows that your weight in King Zhao's heart has become very important, and you should be moved and happy."

"It will not be too late to be happy again when we are no longer pawns in the hands of these big shots."

Zhang Hong unfolded the list of partners, and his brows were still completely unconcealable.To be able to board the big ship of King Zhao, Jie Shuai, and the Cui family, this caravan still has no money to make, and Shamen Town monopolizes [-]% of the profits, so it will definitely be a lot of money in the future. "General, being able to be used actually means that you have the value of being used. The most feared thing is not being used, but not even having the value of being used."

"I already hate the feeling of being controlled as a pawn."

"Even if you are a pawn, as long as you cross the river, there will be a time when you will die. The key point is that you can get to that step, instead of becoming an abandoned child halfway." Zhang Hong stroked his goatee and suddenly became very excited. Said a philosophical sentence.

"Maybe I can't do it alone, but if you guys help me, it's not impossible to cross the river and kill the old man."

Zhang Hong had a weary smile on his face: "General, I'm glad to see you think so." He approached Li Jing's ear and whispered: "Just now, Captain Qiu sent someone to report that those who escaped from Salmon Island last night The shopkeepers and owners of the shops are back. Besides, Aunt Gongsun from Jianwu Pavilion has come first, and the other shops seem to be coming too."

"Sword Dance Pavilion, Aunt Gongsun." Li Jing frowned and read the two names, "Gongsun still has the guts to come?"

"Captain Qiu said that Gongsun already knew about the wrong information, and she felt very sorry for that." Zhang Hong whispered, "I think this Gongsun is not simple, but I don't think she seems hostile to us."

"Let her wait." When Li Jing thought that only half of the situation in which he bought it for three thousand coins was correct, he couldn't help thinking of the six hundred brothers who died in the battle last night. "If she is willing to wait, she will wait. If she doesn't even have the patience and sincerity, it means that she has bad intentions about this matter. Now, the thing I want to do the most is to find someone who doesn't care about life and death, and vent my anger Take the anger out of my heart."

Zhang Hong nodded, and flipped through the notepad in his hand like an old housekeeper, "One more thing, those shops saw that Song Shijun, King Zhao, and the main civil servants and generals of Dengzhou had all arrived on the island. They also proposed that they will arrange all the luncheons for the superiors today, and they will also arrange the lunches for all the soldiers and guards on the island.”

Hearing this news, Li Jing sneered.It has been seven days since he came to Dengzhou, but until now, except for Mrs. Gongsun who came to do business with him, there are thousands of shops, thousands of warehouses, and four piers on the island, and no businessman has come to the island. Came to visit him.Not to mention the slightest gift, nor did he come to work for half the army.When the pirates attacked last night, the first thing these merchants thought of was to leave the island by boat, but none of them led an escort to help.

Now that he has repelled the pirates, Song Wenwen, King Zhao, etc. are strongly supporting them, these merchants immediately changed their faces, and the bastards want to come to Laojun to express their condolences.

If possible, Li Jing would like to lead troops to search all those merchants now, just like treating Wang's shops.But Li Jing didn't drink now, so he remained sober, and the thoughts in his mind were only momentary anger.He couldn't deal with these merchants clearly.However, he would never let these people go just like this. Anyway, since they were on Salmon Island, they should belong to him.Li Jing didn't want to have a group of detached people on his own territory.If you can’t do it clearly, you can only do it secretly.

He had initially thought up a whole set of plans to deal with these people, and taking back the four piers was the first step.Now that they are coming to comfort the army, they will pay their respects to the Shangguan.Then Li Jing will take advantage of the power of Song Wen, Li Rui and others today, and pretend to be powerful.

After Zhang Hong left, Li Jing sat alone in the study and meditated.He kept asking himself in his heart, in the current situation, what would he do if it was someone else?If I were Song Wen, Li Rui, Wang Jin, Feng Zhang, how would I treat myself?After Wang Jin failed this time, will there be another wave of actions?But Feng Zhang, this cunning guy, has been hiding all the time. Is he dormant, waiting for the best opportunity to strike with all his strength, or has he died down?Facing this chaotic situation, what should I and Shamen Town do?Should we fight them directly to the end, or compromise for the time being, keep a low profile, prepare troops, and wait for the opportunity?

Strange to say, sometimes the more you think, the less you know the answer.But sometimes it is a sentence that most seems to be an outsider, but it can directly point to the heart.Li Hui'er's words "To deal with people like Wang Jin, one should retaliate with retaliation."No matter how the current situation changes, none of this can conceal the fact that Wang Jin attacked Shamen Town.Although Shamen Town can be rebuilt, the damage will always remain in everyone's hearts.

Less than a quarter of an hour after Zhang Hong left, Monk Xuan Cheng suddenly came to see him.

"I heard that Aunt Gongsun from Jianwu Pavilion is here again?" He said straight to the point when he entered the door: "Does the general still trust her?" For himself now, he no longer wears a monk's uniform, nor does he say that he is a poor monk, or spoils his family. Instead, he has changed into a fiery red military uniform, and he also wears a turban on his head.

"I believe Aunt Gongsun didn't give us false information on purpose. I want to hear her explanation."

Xuan Cheng frowned, hesitated to speak, and finally said: "I advise the general not to trust this woman too much, in fact, this woman is not as simple as you think."

"Why?" Li Jing asked suspiciously, "Do you know anything else?"

"Does the general know about the six doors?" Xuan Cheng asked suddenly.

"I've heard some. It is said that the Six Doors belonged to the Ministry of Punishments. After Emperor Taizong came to the throne, during the Zhenguan period, in order to completely solve the remnants of the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the powerful green forests everywhere, the Ministry of Punishment established the "Six Doors" secret training base. Train a new young boy named "Hawk Dog"."

"That's right, in order to deal with important cases related to the court, the imperial court specially set up a secret organization integrating martial arts masters, spies, catchers and killers. Because of the secrecy of this organization, and because the main hall of the headquarters is one after another There are six doors facing north, south, east, south and west, and two doors on each side, so it is called "Six Doors". The members of the organization also call the headquarters "Six Doors" because of their secret operations. When dealing with major cases, the majesty and terror of the six gates are widely spread among the people. After a long time, no one in the Jianghu will know the six gates." Xuan Cheng said, "Does the general know about the Plum Blossom Gate? "

"Plum Blossom Gate?" Li Jing shook his head. I only heard that during the Wu Zhou Dynasty, in order to investigate and deal with corrupt officials who broke the law and many ministers who did not agree with Wu Zetian's wishes, the Emperor Wu specially established a new secret organization. There are many members and they are very secretive. The group has strict requirements. The head of the inner guard is called the big cabinet leader. Each member has a plum blossom tattoo on his left arm, which makes the royal family frightened.Could it be that the Plum Blossom Gate is related to this Plum Blossom inner guard? "

"That's right." Xuan Cheng said solemnly, "After the death of Emperor Wu, the new emperor and the ministers headed by Zhang Jianzhi hated the internal guards and immediately canceled the Meihua Internal Guards Group. Some of the internal guards were killed, and some Incognito. Since then disappeared. However, in the later period of Emperor Xuanzong, a mysterious organization called Plum Blossom Gate appeared on the rivers and lakes. They specialized in selling information and assassinating services. Many people once suspected that Plum Blossom Gate was the inner guard of Plum Blossoms back then. legacy."

"You mean that Aunt Gongsun is from the Plum Blossom Sect?" Li Jing asked with a frown. He never thought that Aunt Gongsun was actually involved with the Plum Blossom Sect.What surprised him even more was that Xuan Cheng was a Shaolin monk, how could he know these secret things.He blurted out and asked, "Could it be that you are from the Six Doors?"

"No, I'm not." Xuan Cheng suddenly took off his robe, revealing his naked upper body, "People from the Six Doors and the Plum Blossom Gate have a characteristic, that is, they have a tattoo logo on their bodies. Six Doors The logo of the gate is an eagle flying on the left and a running dog on the right, while the tattoo logo of the Plum Blossom Gate is a plum blossom."

There is no trace of tattoo on Xuan Cheng's body, but Li Jing is still puzzled, "Then how do you know these secret things?"

"Although I am not, but a brother of mine who went down the mountain in the early years is a person of the six doors. I met him in Luoyang when I went down the mountain this time. He intends to lead me into the six doors, but I did not agree at the time. But he Please ask me one thing, that is, to help him find out the whereabouts of the Plum Blossom Gate when I was traveling. Therefore, he told me a lot of secret things about this matter, but these things are actually just superficial."

Li Jing was dubious, he asked: "How can you be sure that Aunt Gongsun is from the Plum Blossom Sect?"

"In fact, as long as you think carefully about Jianwu Pavilion and Gongsun Auntie, and think about the work they are doing behind the scenes, even a blind person can see that Jianwu Pavilion should be a hidden rudder of Plum Blossom Sect, and Aunt Gongsun must be a level of Plum Blossom Sect. The leader who is not low is very likely to be the rudder master or hall master, or even a protector." Xuan Cheng said.

"Yes." Li Jing nodded, "After what you said, think about it now, Aunt Gongsun does have many inexplicable connections with the Plum Blossom Sect. But even so, what does it matter?"

"Because the Plum Blossom Sect has changed from the emperor's private spy organization to an organization that has been secretly rebelling against the imperial court since the Plum Blossom Internal Guard changed. I am worried that if the general contacts them, it will cause disaster." Xuan Cheng persuaded.

(To be continued)