Chapter 188: The hidden dragon appears in shock

Yan Zhuang carefully looked at it with a jade pendant. The jade pendant fell from the young man and was sent to Li Qing'an's table by the soldiers. This was a full-moon-shaped jade pendant, as big as a pear, with a warm texture, green all over the body without any flaws. What was even more surprising was that when facing the light, there was a clear white dragon with a clear claw about to fly in the jade, which was similar to Li Qing'an's gem. This dragon was naturally formed from the pattern inside the jade pendant, lifelike and exquisite.

Yan Zhuang's face gradually became serious. He put down the jade pendant and said to Li Qing'an: "What do you think of this jade pendant?"

"This piece of jade cannot be worn by ordinary people."

Li Qingan took the jade pendant, looked at it again and said with a smile: "Regularly, there are white impurities in this jade pendant, which has greatly reduced its value. But the white impurities are a dragon pattern, which surpasses the price of the jade itself, which has cast a mysterious veil. I think the origin of this jade pendant should not be simple."

Yan Zhuang lowered his head and pondered. After a while, he hesitated: "I once read a prophecy book, saying that brothers were fighting against each other, and the jade dragon fell into pieces. There are rumors among the people. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the eighteen generals built by the prince, regardless of the safety of Jiancheng's five sons, tried to protect Concubine Chang's death because Concubine Chang had Jiancheng's flesh and blood. According to rumors, the eighteen generals escaped from the sword. Of course, these are all folk rumors, and the court has never admitted it. However, the Han and Tang Dynasties would prosper, and they had the ambition of the world. I vaguely thought of this folk rumor, but I had never been sure. This dragon-patterned jade pendant just confirms the prophecy of "The jade dragon fell into pieces".

Speaking of this, Yan Zhuang suddenly stopped talking. Li Qingan was just listening to it and didn't see the following words, so he asked, "What? Why don't you say it anymore?"

Yan Zhuang looked at Li Qing'an for a long time, and then he slowly said: "If the folk rumors are true, Jiancheng's descendants fled to Saiye, if the Han and Tang dynasties would really support Jiancheng's secret organization, if the young people caught were really Jiancheng's descendants, what should the envoys do?"

For ordinary people, the most common way to deal with it is to suppress the Han and Tang dynasties and escort the prince to Chang'an to seek credit, but if this is the case, Yan Zhuang would not ask himself this.

‘Yes! If this is the case, what should I do?’

Li Qingan looked at Yan Zhuang in confusion. In Yan Zhuang's small eyes, he saw a trace of unusually bright divine color. This was a hint from Yan Zhuang and also a kind of expectation for him. Li Qingan seemed to understand something, but he didn't say it thoroughly, and smiled and said, "These are all our guesses. What is the truth? We need to interrogate it before we talk about it."

He immediately turned around and ordered his personal soldiers, "Take that young man to my basement."

During the construction of Beiting City, dozens of basements of all sizes were built, some were prisons, and most were warehouses for placing important documents or valuables. There were also two basements under Li Qing'an's Jiedu Head, one for placing archive documents, and the other for placing gold and silver coins cast by Beiting. The entrances to the two basements were located in the staff room and the other in Li Qing'an's study.

Half an hour later, sixteen guards took the blindfolded young man to Li Qing'an's study and took him directly to the basement. With the iron door of the basement rumbling, the young man's blindfolded cloth was taken off. In front of him was a dark world, rough rock walls, bean-sized lantern seedlings, and a depressing atmosphere caused by the poor air flow. The atmosphere in the entire basement made people feel frightened and came to a world isolated from the world.

A trace of fear appeared in the young eyes. When he was caught, he felt anger and uneasy in his heart. As time passed, his anxiety gradually turned into a fear, and he thought of death.

The soldier grabbed his arm and pulled him down more than a dozen steps. A huge iron cage was placed in the middle of the stone chamber. Before he could react, he was pushed into the iron cage with a strong force. "Clang!" The iron cage was closed, and the young man's legs trembled violently and slowly collapsed on the ground.

With a burst of footsteps, Li Qing'an walked slowly from the next door accompanied by four personal guards. The person who participated in the interrogation was his twenty confidants. This matter was of great importance and he dared not be negligent. Li Qing'an stood by the iron cage and looked at the young man. He was in his early twenties, with fair skin, smooth and delicate hands. This was extremely rare in Anxi Beiting. It can be seen that he was a pampered person. Li Qing'an's eyes were lit and had a special penetration. From his timid and tender eyes, Li Qing'an saw through his fearful heart.

"Bold! Are you going to rebel?"

Li Qingan suddenly shouted angrily, and the young man was so scared that he trembled all over. He sat on the ground with his butt, his lips trembling, and he couldn't say a word.

A personal soldier brought a ring chair, Li Qing'an sat down, took a cup of tea and took a sip, and asked, "Name?"

"Li Yan"

The man lowered his head and whispered, he did not dare to look at Li Qing'an's sharp gaze. Li Qing'an nodded. The name should be true. He asked again: "Where are you from? Why did you appear in Lingxi Tea House?"

"I, I came from the Broken Leaf to buy tea."

Li Qingan laughed and said, the two women were the concubines of Manager Song. How could Manager Song use his concubine to entertain guests? No wonder Lingxi Tea House has a good business and the answer is really wonderful.

He suddenly stopped laughing, stared at him coldly, and leaned closer to him and said word by word: "You are a descendant of Li Jiancheng!"

The young man trembled all over. How could they know? Could it be that Manager Song betrayed him?

"I'm not!" His voice was extremely low and he could hardly hold on.

Li Qingan waved his hand and several personal soldiers grabbed a Hu man tied up from the next door. This was a death row prisoner brought from the prison. He dragged him to the young man. Through the fence, the soldier stepped on the Hu man's face to the ground. Suddenly he drew out a horizontal knife. A cold light flashed and a screamed. He chopped off the head in front of the young man. Blood in his neck splattered all over the ground. The soldier shook his head in front of the young man, looking at the hideous face and looking at the headless corpse that was still bleeding beside him. The young man was so scared that he broke his heart and screamed, and fainted.

"It's useless, so I'll wake him up!"

A bucket of water was poured onto the young man, and the soldier quickly moved the dead body away and turned on the light a little. After a long time, the young man slowly opened his eyes. The dead body next to him was gone, the light became bright, and the smile of the officer who interrogated him became softer.

"I am Li Qing'an, the governor of Beiting. Your life and death are in my hands. You have honestly explained it. I will not torture you. I will treat you with the courtesy of the prince. When Li Huichun comes to pay me a ransom, I will let you go back. It's that simple, tell me! If you say it, you won't die."

Li Yan is a flower that grew up in a greenhouse. He has been pampered since childhood and was cared for by his elders. He has never suffered any grievances. He has developed his unruly character. This time, this was his first time traveling far away and traveling to the Tang Dynasty, but he happened to be caught by Li Qing'an. He was not very familiar with the world, simple and naive, and could not withstand Li Qing'an's coercion and temptation, and finally explained it as it was.

"I live in Suiye. Since I was a child, they told me that I was the fourth-generation grandson of Prince Yin and asked me to inherit the will of my great-grandfather. If you took away the jade pendant, it would be the relic of my great-grandfather."

Li Qingan squinted his eyes and smiled. As Yan Zhuang expected, Li Jiancheng's descendants asked again: "Who are they? Will the Han and Tang Dynasties?"

"They are descendants of my great-grandfather's generals, namely Li Huichun and others. The Han and Tang dynasties are actually just shells, but they are actually called the Yinlong Society. The shopkeeper Song is also from the Yinlong Society. There are only twenty-two people in total."

Li Qing'an was a little surprised. He didn't expect that he would get all the confessions so easily. He couldn't help but look at the young man again. Is this the descendant of Li Jiancheng? He sighed secretly and asked again, "Is you the only descendant of Prince Yin?"

"There are some sisters, I am the only one in the man, and my father is also a first-line single. He died of illness last year."

Speaking of this, Li Ying clasped his hands and begged: "General Li, I have told you everything I know. Please let me go!"

"Haha! Don't worry, I'm the one who keeps my word."

Li Qing'an said to his personal soldiers: "Please detain him alone, defend closely, and no one is allowed to visit him."

Saiye, the most dazzling pearl in the river area, this city that was once the westernmost western part of the Tang Dynasty, the wind and sand have quietly covered its charm. Since the seventh year of Kaiyuan, when the Western Turks invited Saiye, the Tang Dynasty lost control of Saiye. Thirty years have passed in a flash. Her later master, Tuqi Shiren, went from being strong for a while to finally split and decline, and Tuqi Shiren could no longer protect the fertile land of Saiyechuan.

The Tang Dynasty and the two powerful people of Dashi stood in a squat, and their eyes were all on the Thunder Ye River. Some smaller forces, such as the Sogdians in the Shi Kingdom, the Geluo people, and even the Tubo people, all coveted and peeped at it. A storm fighting for the Thunder Ye River was already quietly brewing on this land.

The city of Suiye is currently occupied by the Tuqi Shi people in Huang's surname. The ethnic groups in Suiye City are mixed, including Han, Turk, Tuqi Shi, Sogdian, Gelu, etc., and the Han people mainly live in the west of the city. Most of them have returned to the Tang Dynasty for decades. For example, Li Bai is one of the Han people who returned from Suiye. There are still thousands of Han people living in the city, mainly doing business. Most of them are Han and Tang dynasties. Among them, the core of the Han and Tang dynasties, the Hidden Dragon Society is active in Suiye.

In a mansion west of Saiye City, the Yinlong Association is holding an emergency meeting. The news that the young master was arrested in Beiting was transmitted from the carrier pigeon to Saiye two days later. The Yinlong Association is in chaos, and more than a dozen people are arguing fiercely in a room with doors and windows.

"Why did the young master sneak to Beiting? Who should bear this responsibility?"

A red-faced old man with a 60-year-old temper was irritable and kept slapping the table hard with his crutches, "He is the only bloodline left by Prince Yin. If he has three long and two shorts, how can we explain to our ancestors?"

"Luoweng, Yu'er has been spoiled by us since childhood. He was locked in a deep courtyard and ignored the world. If he was not allowed to go out and hone, how could he inherit the will of Prince Yin and let him go out to see the world is unanimously agreed. How can he hold anyone accountable now?"

"But he is now arrested. If he accidentally leaks the secret of the Hidden Dragon Society, will the efforts of our generations over the past century be destroyed in his hands?"

The room suddenly became silent. At this time, Li Huichun, who had been silent, said hoarsely: "Now is not the time to hold people accountable. We should discuss how to save the young master. Chang Jin, you have a good relationship with Li Qing'an. Tell me, how could Li Qing'an suddenly arrest people from the Han Tang Association?"

Chang Jin sighed heavily. He knew why Li Qing'an turned against him. In fact, when they decided to expand in Beiting, he raised objections. The Han and Tang Association had too great ambitions and had to develop 10,000 members in a year. You must know that the Han and Tang Association had only developed less than 10,000 people in the Tang Dynasty in decades.

"We are walking too fast, and the Han and Tang dynasties will expand unbridledly and anger him. We shouldn't have reached into the army too early. If you listened to my advice, there wouldn't be such serious consequences. Now all the hard work we have set in Beiting is over."

"Then what should we do now? Do you watch the young master die?"

"No! Of course not."

Chang Jin shook his head and said, "Now we have two options to choose. The first one is that when Li Qing'an only knows the Han and Tang dynasties but not the Yinlong dynasty, we pay a lot of money to redeem the Han and Tang dynasty people, including the young master, to assure him that the Han and Tang dynasty will not develop in Beiting."

"What if he already knew that Hidden Dragon knew?"

"Then we have only one choice, we promised all the conditions he offered, and even pulled him into the Hidden Dragon Society."

Chang Jin's last sentence was like a sensation. More than a dozen people quarreled, some agreed, some firmly opposed it. Those who agreed were interested in Li Qing'an's power, while those who opposed it were maintaining the bloodline of the Yinlong Society.

"Quiet! Quiet!"

Li Huichun knocked on the table heavily, but it was still useless. The two factions were quarreling with each other. At this moment, the door was suddenly knocked, and a servant shouted outside the door: "There is an urgent case in Beiting!"

The room suddenly became quiet. Li Huichun opened the door and took the urgent document. He opened it and read it. His face suddenly changed. Mu Daidai stood there, and the pigeon letter fell to the ground. Chang Jin picked up the letter, and he was also stunned. The letter was written by Li Qing'an, with only one sentence on it.

"Young Master Yan is in my hands, please go to Beiting for an interview."

Everyone looked at each other, and no one expected that this would really happen. After a while, Li Huichun sighed, "We should have thought that how could the young master keep the secret when he fell into his hands."

He turned around and said to everyone: "It is related to the life and death of the young master, and the fate of our Yinlong Society. I want to negotiate with Li Qing'an in person. Now please follow me to go to the Yin Prince Spirit to ask for a sign and see the Yin Prince and his ancestors give us instructions."

Everyone came to the Yinlong Temple, which was called the Han and Tang Temple to the outside world, enshrined the spiritual throne of Prince Li Jiancheng and their ancestors, and was guarded by their children. No one outside the Yinlong Society was allowed to enter.

The spiritual position of Prince Yin Li Jiancheng is located in the middle, and there is no word on the spirit card. Li Huichun respected three incense sticks and led everyone to kneel down before Jiancheng Ling, praying silently.

He took a box of signs and shook them in front of the spirit. With a 'bang!', a sign jumped out of the box. Li Huichun quickly picked up the signs and everyone gathered up. The signs read: 'Broken leaves return to Tang, Yinlong ascended to heaven.'

Ten days later, the incident of surveillance of the Han and Tang dynasties gradually subsided in Beiting. Most of the arrested Han and Tang dynasties were released, and the seized shops were reopened one after another. Only Lingxi Tea House still had no movement. Because Lingxi Tea House monopolized the tea business in the Western Regions, tea deserted in Beiting actually appeared. For the Western Regions, tea was a must-have for their lives. The emergence of tea deserted in Beiting fell into a dilemma of no tea.

At this moment, a new tea house was suddenly opened in Jinman County, called Chang'an Tea House, which supplied a large amount of tea cakes, and the price was 10% cheaper than the Lingxi Tea House. The guys were all women, all of whom were beautiful and enthusiastic in service. For a time, merchants from all over Beiting flocked to the ground, and Beiting tea was suddenly resolved. The foundation that Lingxi Tea House had built over more than ten years was easily given up.

That afternoon, a group of people came to Jinman County. The leader was Li Huichun, the main owner of Lingxi Tea House. He also came with Chang Jin, Luo Pinfang, Song Quanyi and other core figures of the Hidden Dragon Society.

When they passed by Lingxi Tea House, Li Huichun looked blankly for a while. The gate of the tea house was still covered with the seal of the government, and several soldiers were standing guard at the door.

Li Huichun sighed. After all, it was an industry he created. He was originally planning to develop in Beiting, but he did not expect it to be closed in the end.

Li Huichun's eldest son comforted him and said, "Father, we only lost all the Beiting area, Hexi, Anxi and Lingxi are still controlled by us, and the problem is not very big."

Li Huichun smiled bitterly and said, "I heard that the court was preparing to open a tea horse market in Jinshan and the Uighurs, so I decided to expand the Beiting store. But now that the tea shop has been sealed, it means that I have lost the Uighurs' business and suffered heavy losses!"

Luo Pinfang, the old man with red face behind him, couldn't help feeling dissatisfied when he saw that he only cared about his business, so he said, "Does Brother Li think the tea shop is more important than saving the young master?"

Li Huichun quickly turned around and bowed, "I just sighed for a moment, why did you put the cart before the horse? Now we will go to Beiting City."

Everyone turned their horses and headed towards the north of the city. When they walked to the gate, they met a camel caravan, with hundreds of horses. The camels were filled with big boxes, all of which were Sogdian merchants. The camel caravan stuffed the city gates, and Li Huichun and everyone quickly went to the side.

"Lord Li!" Suddenly someone called him in the camel caravan. Li Huichun looked at him and turned out to be his old friend, Hu Shangsarda of Shiguo.
Chapter completed!