area51novel Page 535
Page 535
In Xu Qi'an's mind, the ideal life was not like that of Governor Zhang, who was surrounded by a retinue of beauties and had everyone obey his every command, but rather like that of Li Chang'an, who was surrounded by beautiful women, yet none of them dared to offend him.
"Once I have mastered martial arts, I will be the second Li Chang'an of the Great Feng Dynasty!"
After everyone was seated, a beautiful young female general in light armor strode in. She was a dashing military woman with a high ponytail and stunning good looks.
Upon seeing this figure, Xu Qi'an naturally guessed that this was none other than Li Miaozhen, the Golden Eagle Heroine, who was Xu Lingyue's biggest rival in love!
Xu Qi'an secretly compared the two princesses' looks and found that this female knight-errant's appearance was on par with the two princesses, all of them being exceptionally beautiful.
It's clear that the master set extremely high standards for accepting concubines!
Before coming to Yunzhou, she had done all this intelligence work. This Li Miaozhen was not in a formal position, but she helped the government troops to suppress bandits.
This beautiful woman in military uniform sat directly next to Yang Chuannan, and all the officials looked at her with awe.
"What a powerful female presence!" Xu Qi thought to himself.
Yang Chuannan looked at Governor Zhang and Xu Qi'an and said, "This is the famous Golden Eagle Heroine Li Miaozhen, who is also the cavalry general I have hired."
"For more than a year, she has repeatedly made meritorious contributions in suppressing bandits. If we were to really reward her for her merits, she should be the one to sit in the position of commander."
At this point, Xu Qi'an had already begun to have doubts. Could this prospective master's wife be number two?
In the past chat groups, number two was a female soldier who was enthusiastic about suppressing bandits, and she did not have a formal position in the imperial court. She looked down on Emperor Yuanjing, which is quite possible.
"Disciple Xu Ningyan greets Master Miaozhen!"
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Xu Ningyan bowed respectfully before Li Miaozhen. If Li Miaozhen were Li Chang'an's lawfully wedded wife, Xu Qi'an should have knelt down.
“Oh, Ning Yan, I’m a man of the martial world, you don’t need to stand on ceremony.” Li Miaozhen was not surprised, but instead adopted the demeanor of an elder.
She knew very well that Li Chang'an had two disciples; Li Chang'an had told her this, and it was often mentioned in the chat group.
Xu Qi'an knew the importance of pillow talk and that he should show sufficient respect to his teachers' wives.
It's never wrong to be polite, and it's never wrong to take the initiative to greet someone.
At this moment, Yang Chuannan's eyelids suddenly twitched, and the expressions of many officials present changed slightly.
Li Miaozhen has an army, and it is quite powerful. If Governor Zhang and Xu Qi'an have Li Miaozhen's support, they will not be too afraid of the local bullies in Yunzhou.
Yang Chuannan exclaimed in surprise, "Governor Zhang, so this is Mr. Li Chang'an's outstanding student! No wonder he is such a handsome man!"
Xu Qi'an gave a perfunctory reply with a forced smile, not taking it seriously.
Governor Zhang looked astonished. Li Chang'an was a prominent figure in the capital, with close ties to the two princesses. He had heard that the two princesses were having increasingly heated conflicts because of him.
Li Chang'an himself was a great Confucian scholar and a great hero. He held the title of a night watchman and had close ties with the night watchman's office and Yunlu Academy. He was a figure of great influence.
It's unbelievable that I can still feel Li Chang'an's influence even after arriving in Yunzhou.
If General Li is willing to support his investigation, she would be a help even if he encounters danger. It's just a matter of whether she would be willing to help.
At this moment, Li Miaozhen smiled and said, "People of the martial world don't care about formalities. I have known and gotten to know Li Lang for a long time, so his disciple is my disciple."
"Ning Yan has just arrived in Yunzhou and is burdened with important duties of the court. I hope that you gentlemen will give him some convenience and not bully this outsider monk."
Xu Qi'an straightened his chest, and the officials at the banquet all expressed their support, saying that the night watchman was an imperial envoy and they would naturally do their best.
However, Governor Zhang knew that even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake, and Li Miaozhen's words would have a significant impact.
However, the person he wanted to investigate was Yang Chuannan. Yang Chuannan trusted Li Miaozhen completely, and when Li Miaozhen said those words, Yang Chuannan showed no displeasure; on the contrary, he repeatedly agreed with her.
"The heroine is right. We must fully cooperate with the imperial court on official business and dare not slack off."
Xu Qi'an couldn't help but wonder how much Yang Chuannan relied on Li Miaozhen. Yang Chuannan seemed to rely heavily on Li Miaozhen, so how much of Yang Chuannan's affairs did Li Miaozhen participate in?
Moreover, since Li Miaozhen sent Li Yuchun to rescue Yang Yingying, it was tantamount to ruining Yang Chuannan's plans.
The bandit leader who was chasing Yang Yingying resisted arrest and was killed. The other henchmen had no idea why they wanted to assassinate Yang Yingying, let alone who the mastermind was.
Assuming Yang Chuannan does indeed have a problem, what is the relationship between Li Miaozhen and Yang Chuannan? Are they only superficially friendly but secretly plotting against each other?
The banquet proceeded as planned; it was a meal where both sides were testing each other, and what they ate was not important.
Song Changfu arranged for a large plate of seedless loquats for Governor Zhang to try, which Governor Zhang gladly accepted.
Afterwards, Governor Zhang whispered to Xu Qi'an that the seedless loquat was a hint, implying that if Yunzhou eliminated one person, there would be peace.
After the banquet ended and everyone left the host's residence, Li Miaozhen called Xu Qi'an aside alone.
"Your master is in Yunzhou. You can investigate the case with peace of mind. He will take the blame for whatever he finds."
Li Miaozhen's words immediately energized Xu Qi'an, even though he had been meditating without sleep for several days in order to break through to the Refining Spirit Realm.
“My master has arrived! That’s wonderful! I wonder where he lives. I’ll go and pay my respects right away.”
Li Miaozhen said calmly, "No need, he has his own place to go. You can focus on investigating the case. If you feel that you don't have enough manpower, you can have Li Yuchun come to me anytime, and I will take action."
"Thank you so much, Master's wife!" Xu Qi'an was greatly encouraged. The situation that he had felt somewhat isolated and alone had been turned around in an instant.
Li Miaozhen had a formidable army, which greatly boosted Xu Qi'an's confidence.
In fact, Li Chang'an had hinted to Li Miaozhen that Yang Chuannan was not innocent and was using her.
She was a江湖人 (jianghu person, a person from the martial arts world), and what she hated most was the infighting and backstabbing in officialdom. Instead of focusing on suppressing bandits, they were just doing all sorts of messy things.
She had initially thought that the officials who supported the suppression of bandits were actually ulterior motives, which made Li Miaozhen even more disappointed with the Dafeng court.
If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too; the root of the problem lies with the wicked Emperor Yuanjing!
Xu Qi'an bid farewell to Li Miaozhen and returned to Governor Zhang's side.
"Lord Zhang, Master Miaozhen promised us that she would help us in case of an emergency!"
This news greatly pleased Governor Zhang. "Ning Yan is truly well-connected. Now we feel much more confident."
Xu Qi'an waved his hand casually, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Finding a good master can save you thirty years of hard work."
Governor Zhang paused for a moment, then stroked his beard and chuckled, "Hehe, Ning Yan truly lives up to his reputation as a disciple of a great Confucian scholar. His words are always eloquent and thought-provoking."
Xu Qi'an chuckled dryly. His words were even more true in this era. Whether it was literature or martial arts, a master was extremely important.
"Among the three departments, the Commander-in-Chief has the most power, but today it was Song Changfu who greeted me first, and Song Changfu even introduced the Provincial Judicial Commissioner first, which shows that the two of them do not get along."
"Moreover, Yang Chuannan was relatively silent during the banquet, while Song Changfu was very active, which is very unusual. This shows that Song Changfu has much greater influence in the Yunzhou officialdom."
Xu Qi'an listened, feeling utterly annoyed by all this scheming and intrigue.
These people are really energetic, while I should dedicate my energy to cultivation and the brothel, how could I possibly waste it on such trivial matters?
Seeing Xu Qi'an's headache and frustration, Governor Zhang burst into laughter, his gloom from not being able to guess Miss Wen's riddle vanishing.
"My lord, how about we play another riddle?" Xu Qi'an asked with a half-smile.
Governor Zhang felt challenged. He thought, "Am I, a scholar, afraid of a crude and uncouth brute?" and immediately adopted a posture of suppressing everything.
"Go ahead and tell me!"
Xu Qi'an smiled, "A woman giving birth, guess the Chinese idiom!"
Governor Zhang's face stiffened, his smile froze, and his expression returned to blankness. He then lowered the carriage curtain and refused to communicate with Xu Qi'an any further.
Outside the car window, Xu Qi'an and Jiang Luzhong could be heard laughing wildly.
"Lord Jiang, what are you laughing at?" Xu Qi'an suppressed his laughter and pretended to be angry.
"It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of something happy!" Jiang Luzhong said with a hearty laugh.
"Hmph!" came a cold snort from Governor Zhang inside the carriage.
What's going on? How did Xu Qi'an, this martial artist, come up with a riddle that I can't even figure out, and even come up with two riddles!
Out of consideration for the dignity of a scholar, it would be beneath him to ask for the answer; that would be beneath him.
Could it be that his master taught him?
That's how it should be, so it's not unjust for me to lose to Li Daru.
But I am not pleased that you are mocking me like this.
Governor Zhang, his face cold, fell into deep thought in the carriage.
Miss Wen is getting married...
A woman giving birth...
Wow! What is the answer to this mystery?!
Chapter 326 Xu Pingfeng, are you scared?
The day after attending the social event, the trio from the brothel continued their investigation of Zhou Min's belongings.
Zhou Min left behind numbers, which should correspond to a codebook. The corresponding cipher can be found by following the numbers.
Xu Qi'an believed that, given the intelligence technology of this era, achieving this level of capability was already the limit.
“I’ve looked at these things over and over again countless times. How could there possibly be any clues related to the code?” Song Tingfeng complained.
“The code left by Zhou Min is the only clue, so we can only start from here,” Xu Qi’an said, firmly believing that a codebook exists.
Zhu Guangxiao stroked his chin and said, "The clues left by Zhou Min, apart from the character 'silent,' are all numbers. There aren't many numbers on the geomantic map, so where would there be a large number of numbers?"
Song Tingfeng continued, "Assuming the code is also hidden in a book, it should be easy to obtain, just like a geomantic map."
"For example, the Three Character Classic, the Da Feng Dictionary, the Yunzhou Gazetteer..."