The Demon-Slaying Grandmaster

Chapter 102: Insidious Means
Ever since Li Jingxiao used thunder magic to dispel the curse of three cat-faced old ladies in the Northern Pacification Prison and saved Zhou Gong and the other two.

Li Jingxiao's position in the Jinyiwei actually surpassed that of the commander Zhou Boyi.

If Li Jingxiao had not cared about the affairs of the Jinyiwei, or even didn't care.

It would be easy to sideline the commander Zhou Boyi.

Although Li Jingxiao did not seize power, the Jinyiwei had already called the office where Li Jingxiao worked the "Left Pacification Office".

Even Zhao Junming and Erfu themselves considered themselves to be members of the "Left Pacification Office".

As for how many staff the Zuo Zhenfu Division has now.

Because Zhou Boyi never thought of making things difficult for Li Jingxiao from the beginning.

Li Jingxiao had no intention of competing for power with Zhou Boyi, and the relationship between the two was pretty good.

Zhou Boyi not only gave the Left Pacification Office sufficient money and grain, but also gave Li Jingxiao two quotas for the thousand-household office.

But Li Jingxiao himself did not want to recruit enough soldiers for the two thousand households.

First of all, it's not necessary.

Secondly, if we hire so many people, there will be more trivial matters in the future.

After all, there are two thousand households with a total of 2248 people.

It is a bit unreasonable that so many people just take money and silver wages without doing anything.

Moreover, ordinary soldiers are of little use in dealing with monsters.

Li Jingxiao doesn't want to be busy like a top all day long.

It would be better to just gather one centurion, that is, ten small flags, a total of 112 people.

In this way, after so many days, only 4 small flags and a 12-man personal guard were recruited.

And except for Zhao Junming and Han Mengzhuo who are the general flag officers, the other twelve old brothers are all small flag officers.

It’s not that Li Jingxiao doesn’t want to promote these people, but promoting them without any achievements is not good for himself as the chief officer or his subordinates.

As for the horses, 50 assassins were ambushed and killed in the imperial mausoleum, and more than a dozen Goryeo warriors were killed two days ago.

There were dozens of horses, all kept in a yard rented next to the yamen, so there was no shortage of horses for travel.

Moreover, most of these horses are of high quality.

But although there are few people, Li Jingxiao will not refuse the sufficient money and food for the two thousand households.

Even if he doesn't want it, he will offend people.

That sentence 'If you don't take it and I don't take it, how can the Commissioner take it?'

It fully describes the reality of officialdom.

The morning passed quickly. Li Jingxiao woke up from his practice at noon and looked at the progress of his Eternal Spring Exercise.

Small success (248/500).

It only takes one month at most to master the secret path.

He shouted "someone come here" outside.

Soon, Erfu came in personally carrying three dishes, a soup and a large bowl of hot rice.

After dinner, Li Jingxiao took out his guqin and practiced the Seven-Stringed Invisible Sword while digesting his food.

Although I have very little time to play the piano these days, even if I only play for half an hour or ten minutes every day, my experience has reached the entry level (94/100).

So, in just half an hour, the Seven-String Invisible Sword had been upgraded to Minor Success (1/500).

Erfu and others who had already returned from outside the house stopped when they heard the piano music.

I couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

To ordinary people, the seven-string invisible sword is just the sound of a piano.

But for those who have practiced internal energy, once Li Jingxiao attaches his internal energy to the strings and plays.

That is the invisible sonic power that kills people.

But even if Li Jingxiao did not add internal force, the simple sound of the piano was enough to attract Erfu and others who had cultivated internal force.

Every time I hear the sound of the piano, the true energy in my body shows signs of instability.

I always feel that if the adults play the piano a little more sharply, the true energy in my body will riot.

Naturally, they became more afraid of and respected Li Jingxiao.

Not long after, the sound of Zhao Junming returning was heard.

"Come in".

Zhao Junming quickly put his thoughts aside, walked quickly into the lobby, and bowed to Li Jingxiao.

He reported, "Sir, I have led my men to the south of the city and asked my colleagues.

It was learned that Zhang Hua and a group of scoundrels had recently been at the Chaoyangmen Canal Wharf, specifically targeting those outsiders who had no connections and came to Beijing to do business.

If we find the foreign merchants who were cheated, we can report these scoundrels to the government. If they don’t die, they will be exiled or banished.”

Li Jingxiao nodded. Just think about it, making a living at the canal dock, and you will know that the means must be shady.

He casually took out two 10-liang silver ingots from the game inventory and threw them to Zhao Junming.

"Go to Ningguo Mansion and tell Jia Zhen about this."

Zhao Junming's face lit up with joy after he caught the two silver ingots.

For just this little thing, the adults rewarded me with 20 taels of silver.

He took 5 taels for himself, and the three men who had been running with him for the whole morning shared 5 taels.

The remaining 10 taels are the expenses for doing things.

After having lunch at the Pacification Office, Zhao Junming went to Ningguo Mansion.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Li Jingxiao was seeing patients in Zhenwu Temple.

Zhao Junming hurried over with three of his men.

He asked his cousin Zhao Junheng, "Are you free now, sir?"

Zhao Junheng shook his head and asked in a low voice, "Brother, is there something urgent?"

Zhao Junming thought about it and decided not to tell his cousin about Zhang Hua.

He smiled and waved his hands, "There's no rush. I've been running around all day, so I might as well take a break."

After waiting for more than an hour, Li Jingxiao sent away the last patient.

Focus on character level.

Level 9 (395/900), it only takes four or five days to reach level 10.

By then, I don’t know if I can leave the game’s novice village.

Just after taking a few sips of tea, Zhao Junming walked in, bowed and said.

"Sir, this afternoon, Master Zhen from Ningguo Mansion went to the military headquarters in the east of the city and arrested Zhang Hua and his gang.

The reason for the arrest was that there had been a lot of illegal activities at the docks recently, and many merchants had filed complaints with the government.

Now we are going to clean up the rogues on the docks."

Li Jingxiao nodded in satisfaction. Given the relationship between Jia Zhen and Qiu Liang, catching a ruffian was no big deal.

Now, not to mention outsiders, even Zhang Hua himself could not have guessed that his arrest was related to his childhood marriage.

He looked at Zhao Junming and said, "Keep watching. I guess Zhang Hua will be sentenced to exile.

Ningguo Mansion would also take the opportunity to make him cancel the engagement.

If Zhang Hua's father went to the Military Affairs Office to work for connections."

Having said that, Li Jingxiao did not continue speaking, but looked at Zhao Junming.

Zhao Junming nodded quickly, indicating that he understood what to do.

I thought to myself, although the adult is young, he does things in a very organized way.

Moreover, you are not involved in anything, and if something goes wrong, you will not be implicated.

Three days passed in a flash. Before Li Jingxiao went out that day, he glanced at the level column.

Level 9 (735/900).

If my wife hadn't had her period, she would have been level 10 today.

When they arrived at the yamen, Zhao Junming hurried forward, held Li Jingxiao's horse, and followed behind him to report in a low voice.

"Sir, news has come back from Jizhou that the three Taoist priests have been inviting people from the Hu and Liu families outside the Great Wall to come in and fight against that cat-faced old woman together.

That’s why there’s no news coming back.”

Li Jingxiao finally felt relieved and laughed, "If the Maoshan Sect Master knew about this, he would definitely scold the three brothers for being brainless.

With so many fellow disciples around, you actually gave the credit to an outsider." Although he said so, Li Jingxiao also wanted to meet these disciples who had gone out to perform rituals.

He continued, "Send a message to the three Shi Delong brothers, find out the range of the cat-faced old woman's activities, and ask them to bring the people from the Hu and Liu families back to the capital.

I want to meet them.”

Zhao Junming nodded quickly, then continued, "Zhang Hua's father has been busy with the military affairs office in the east of the city these past few days.

I heard that more than one hundred taels of silver have been spent, and the Zhang family has some connections with the eunuchs of the imperial farm.

The East City Military Affairs Office should not dare to offend the eunuchs in the palace."

After saying that, Zhao Junming looked at Li Jingxiao, and Li Jingxiao knew what this guy meant.

But he didn't plan to show up just like that.

And if Zhang Hua was smart, he would have canceled the engagement immediately after coming out.

Otherwise, the eunuchs of the imperial farm would be willing to give his father face this time.

It’s hard to say what will happen next time.

He waved his hand and said, "Just release the person, there's no need to embarrass the people from the Military Affairs Department.

However, among the ruffians who were arrested with Zhang Hua, some must have had no money or connections and were still imprisoned in the Bingmasi prison.

Ask the clerk you know to ask those people whether they are willing to identify Zhang Hua's crimes in recent years.

Then tell Jia Zhen that if Zhang Hua doesn't know what's good for him, he'll be arrested again."

The Wucheng Bingmasi is actually not a government office, but the five military command offices of the Central, East, West, South and North.

A government office in the capital responsible for patrolling and arresting thieves, clearing streets and drains, handling prisoners, and banning fires.

As long as Zhang Hua committed a crime in the capital, the military forces in the east or south of the city could arrest him.

Zhao Junming left the hall and first reported the news that Li Jingxiao wanted to meet his disciple back to Jizhou.

Then he took his men out and went to Ningguo Mansion.

But Jia Zhen was not as patient as Li Jingxiao, and he went to find Qiu Liang again that day.

But just because Jia Zhen is stupid doesn't mean Qiu Liang is stupid.

The next day, Jia Zhen still hadn't sent anyone to test whether Zhang Hua and his son were willing to cancel the engagement.

The father and son escaped from the Bingmasi prison in the east of the city.

As soon as he returned home and was about to welcome the guests and get rid of the evil spirits, he was captured by soldiers from the south of the city.

When the father and son heard that it was the ruffian who was still imprisoned in the east city jail who reported them, they were so angry that they started cursing.

As I kept cursing, my heart skipped a beat.

its not right.

Since those ruffians were imprisoned in the Bingmasi Yamen in the east of the city, how did the soldiers in the Yamen in the south of the city receive the report?
Father Zhang thought about it for a moment and secretly guessed that he must have offended someone.

He slapped Zhang Hua in the face, pushed his chest and stamped his feet, cursing him as an "unfilial son".

No amount of money or connections will be of any use unless you find out who you have offended.

And if the family wants to rescue their son, they will have to sell the land.

But after all, he is my biological son, so I can only follow him to the South City Yamen first.

After asking the clerk, I learned that someone had indeed reported it.

And he reported the case to the East City Yamen.

But when the East City Yamen heard the report, they found that Zhang Hua and a dozen ruffians were extorting money in the south of the city, injuring several people, and breaking the hand of one person.

The commander of the east city suddenly felt overwhelmed.

He had just accepted the money from the Zhang family, and for the sake of the old eunuch serving in the imperial manor, he released Zhang Hua.

If we arrest someone again now, it will not look good.

But if no one is arrested, this matter will obviously be filled with evil.

As a last resort, the case was transferred to the South City Yamen.

Anyway, the victims who were injured and disabled were from the south of the city.

It is also reasonable to hand it over to the South City Military Affairs Office.

Father Zhang suddenly felt helpless and powerless.

I used to think that I had offended someone, and as long as I could use my connections, I would still have a chance to ask them to spare my son's life.

But now it seems that the person behind the scenes is not afraid of the eunuchs in the imperial farm at all.

Unexpectedly, Zhang's father gritted his teeth and told the clerk that he planned to sell dozens of acres of fertile land at home.

Just want to save my son's life.

When Li Jingxiao learned about this in the afternoon, he couldn't help but frown.

The only person he wanted to deal with was Zhang Hua, and his goal was to make the Zhang family cancel the engagement on their own initiative.

But if this forces the Zhang family to sell their land and ruin their property, it would indeed be a bit too much.

He said to Zhao Junming who came back to report, "Go to Ningguo Mansion again and tell Jia Zhen that the You family mother and daughter have heard about this.

After asking for help from Mrs. You, Ningguo Mansion was willing to spend money and use their connections to change Zhang Hua's sentence to imprisonment in the capital.

But the price is that the Zhang family will cancel the engagement."

Zhao Junming nodded, thinking that the master was kind-hearted.

However, the Lord's kindness is not necessarily a bad thing for me and my subordinates.

If I get into any trouble, at least I’ll get a light sentence at the hands of an adult.

Thinking of this, I felt a lot more relaxed.

But in his heart, his loyalty to Li Jingxiao was much higher.

For Li Jingxiao, since Zhang Hua had committed the crime himself, there was no problem in arresting and sentencing him.

What he didn't want to see was simply that he didn't want Zhang's elderly father to destroy the family business accumulated over the years because of an unfilial son.

Moreover, you can still save your life by staying in prison in the capital.

But after Li Jingxiao finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "No, go find the clerk you know and ask Zhang's father if he knows any wealthy relatives.

Let him ask his relatives for help."

Zhao Junming nodded in agreement, not understanding why.

Li Jingxiao didn't explain to him.

Li Jingxiao thought that it was normal for the Zhang family to have a relationship with the eunuchs because their family had worked in the imperial farm for generations.

But now the eunuchs don’t have enough face.

In desperation, he will most likely take the initiative to find Old Lady You.

But if Ningguo Mansion asks Zhang's father to cancel the engagement, even a fool would know that it is Ningguo Mansion that is interfering.

If Li Jingxiao takes You Erjie as his concubine in the future, outsiders will think that Ningguo Mansion is trying to curry favor with him, but Li Jingxiao's reputation will also be bad.

But Zhang's father asked for help from Old Lady You, and then went to Ningguo Mansion.

Jia Zhen took the opportunity to point out that since Zhang Hua was so incompetent, how could the You family dare to marry their daughter to him?
Considering our past friendship, I have no problem helping you, but the marriage must be cancelled.

Otherwise, the You family would rather let the second daughter become a nun than marry their daughter to him.

If Zhang's father was not stupid, he would know that if he did not cancel the engagement, not only would he fail to save his son, but he would also offend the Jia family.

Moreover, Zhang Hua could serve his sentence in the capital without worrying about dying in exile or military service.

Or they may die of old age in a foreign land and not even be buried in their hometown in the capital.

You Erjie also got rid of this marriage, but still owed a favor to the Jia family.

More than two months later, she married into the Li family as Yuanchun's dowry, and no one would say anything.

When outsiders learn about this, they will also stand on the side of the You family.

The Jia family will gain a good reputation for helping relatives.

Li Jingxiao had two beautiful sisters.

The only unlucky one was Zhang Hua.

But if Zhang Hua himself had not committed any crime, the final outcome would have been the same.

But Li Jingxiao would definitely have to put in more effort and thought to force Zhang Hua to cancel his marriage with You Erjie.

Now, the Zhang family goes to ask Old Lady You for help, and Old Lady You asks Jia Zhen for help.

The marriage was called off, and the Zhang family still had to thank Jia Zhen and Old Lady You.

(End of this chapter)