From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 553

Looking around, the official road ahead was already full of people, and there were about a hundred horses, many of whom were carrying bows and arrows.

Geng Qing's face became solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "Sir, it's the bandits from Lingyun Village. I know their leader. How about I go and negotiate with them?"

Zhou Yuan said: "Be careful, come back if the negotiation fails."

"Yes."

Geng Qing rode on the horse and went forward with seven or eight brothers. The flag of Weiyuan Escort Agency was also raised.

He shouted: "Old Knife! Is it necessary to make such a big scene? It's not like he's robbing the government silver!"

A scarred man in his forties, extremely tall, came riding a black horse.

He glanced at Geng Qing, and then said in a deep voice: "Take your people away, this is not something you can get involved in."

Geng Qing smiled and said: "Then you can get involved? Lao Dao, whether it is escorting or becoming a bandit, isn't it all for a living? You are forcing the brothers in the village into a dead end."

"Nonsense!"

Lao Dao said coldly: "Do you think I have a choice? If I don't take action today, I will be wiped out tomorrow."

Geng Qing glared and said: "Are you afraid of the soldiers, Lao Dao? We have wiped out bandits seven or eight times in these years, and the soldiers have never defeated you."

"Bullshit."

Lao Dao rolled his eyes and said: "Do you think I am really a fool? How can these skinny dogs in my village fight with the government? Fight with soldiers? Usually, bandit suppression is just a show, and everyone gets paid. This time is different..."

"If I don't help this time, I will really suppress bandits next time."

Geng Qing's face darkened, and he said coldly: "Do you mean you want to fight to the death with our Weiyuan Escort Agency?"

Lao Dao sighed and gritted his teeth and said: "It's not easy to be a bandit these days. Those big guys are fighting each other, and they have to use me as a dog for a walk."

"Mr. Geng, can you say a few good words to the big guy below? Let him go back to Jinan Prefecture, and I will lead my brothers to chase him, and put on a show, and everyone will be at peace."

"I really don't want to be a scapegoat."

Geng Qing didn't say anything, but slowly retreated.

Then he walked in front of Zhou Yuan and told Zhou Yuan the story in a low voice.

Zhou Yuan thought for a while before saying, "Let's go back to Jinan Prefecture and meet Lu Zhili again. You tell the bandit leader that he offended me today and I will settle accounts with him sooner or later."

"If he wants to live, he should disband the village and go to the nine major gangs in Shenjing to wait for my punishment."

After saying that, he got on the carriage.

The brothers of Weiyuan Escort Agency quickly cleared the official road, and the carriage slowly headed towards Jining City.

And Lao Dao, who was standing on the hillside, was also overwhelmed when he heard Geng Qing's words.

Then he couldn't help cursing a few plants and gritted his teeth and said, "When the gods fight, the little devils suffer. But I'm not that stupid to go to Shenjing to wait for punishment. At most, I can go to a farther place to continue to live."

He turned around and said in a low voice, "Let's go, take the money and follow me to the southwest."

...

In the carriage, Li Yu'an meditated for a while, and his complexion was obviously much better.

She then opened her eyes and looked at Zhou Yuan, saying, "Are you going to have a falling out with Lu Zhili?"

Zhou Yuan said, "He is the one who wants to have a falling out with me, so I'll see how capable he is."

Zhuang Xuansu said in a deep voice, "The city is his territory, and we will be passive if we go there. The garrison camp of Jinan Prefecture has 4,000 people, and we will suffer if there is a real fight."

Zhou Yuan sneered, "Do you think my Emperor Sword is given to me for free?"

Zhuang Xuansu said, "At this critical moment, we must be careful of the possibility that the other party will fight to the death."

Zhou Yuan said coldly He said, "The premise is that he is not under my control. As long as Lu Zhili is under my control, how dare the Jinan garrison mess around?"

After speaking, he looked forward and said, "Geng Qing, have you sent out the carrier pigeon?"

Geng Qing, who was driving the carriage, said hurriedly, "Sir, it has been sent out. It will reach Linqing in an hour, and then the brothers over there will come quickly and must arrive before dark."

Zhou Yuan said lightly, "Then enter the city before dark."

After speaking, he peeled an apple and handed it to Li Yu'an.

Li Yu'an was obviously very happy. He took it happily and laughed while eating.

Zhuang Xuansu saw this scene, but his brows were frowned more and more.

At about dusk, Zhou Yuan's carriage slowly entered the city gate.

But at this moment, the city was already full of patrolling officers and soldiers, who seemed to be looking for people everywhere.

These soldiers were ferocious and extremely arrogant. Obviously, they received extremely strict orders.

Zhuang Xuansu's face was grim, and he gritted his teeth and said, "This Lu Zhili is really desperate. He dares to come to us like a madman."

Zhou Yuan said, "Then go directly to the governor's office, don't make them anxious."

Soon, Geng QingHe stopped and whispered, "Sir, someone wants to get on the carriage."

"Get on."

Zhou Yuan only said one word, and after about a few dozen breaths, Guan Lu got on the carriage.

He clasped his fists to Zhou Yuan and whispered, "Sir."

Then he looked at Li Yu'an, lowered his head, and blamed himself, "Miss Li, I'm sorry, it's my fault."

Li Yu'an smiled, said nothing, and just looked at Zhou Yuan.

Zhuang Xuansu's face became even uglier, she snorted and said nothing.

Guan Lu then talked about business: "Sir, the reason why those twenty-odd people escaped our investigation was because the Jinyiwei was covering for them. I even suspect that they were all Jinyiwei members."

"Those twenty-odd muskets should not have come from the Shenjiying, but from the Jinyiwei."

"At present, our infiltration of the Jinyiwei has not reached the level of everything, so we have the current situation."

Zhou Yuan said: "Does it mean that Lu Zhili has a deep relationship with the Jinyiwei?"

"No."

Guan Lu said: "Sir, this may not be done by Lu Zhili, because Lu Zhili died more than an hour ago."

Zhou Yuan raised his head suddenly.

"What!"

Zhuang Xuansu also exclaimed: "The chief governor of a province, a second-rank frontier official, died?"

Guan Lu smiled bitterly: "He choked to death on osmanthus cake while eating snacks, but in fact, someone should have knocked him unconscious and blocked his trachea with osmanthus cake, suffocating him to death."

"We also have people in the governor's office. The information sent over said that the murderer is a ruthless character with great experience in doing things and did not leave any clues."

Zhou Yuan took a deep breath and couldn't help laughing: "It's getting more and more interesting, isn't it? At the beginning of the investigation, a second-rank governor died."

"If we continue to investigate like this, I'm afraid the Great Jin Dynasty will be turned upside down."

Guan Lu said: "By the way, sir, we have infiltrated the Cao Gang, but we can't do ideological work on a key figure for the time being. That person is determined to "Zhou Yuan said, "What can he decide?" Guan Lu thought for a moment and said, "He is in a special position and can provide evidence of smuggling, including salt transportation records and key figures." "But his request is also very special. Not only does he want to talk to the adults, but he also wants the adults to work for him." Zhou Yuan said, "Where is he?" "Linqing." At this point, Guan Lu said, "He will go south to Huai'an tomorrow. If we meet, we can meet him in Jining Prefecture." Zhou Yuan was silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Okay." He was also confused. From the time he set out from Shenjing to now, he couldn't tell how many forces had emerged, and he didn't know who was the ultimate mastermind. Now even Lu Zhili was killed in advance. It seems that the person behind the scenes is really scared. The other party knows me very well. Does he know that my target is not just the Bai family and the Song family? If so, everything that has been done before seems too mild. It seems that it is necessary to speed up the process. Now we have to compete for speed.