At this time, the salt merchants in Yangzhou remembered a key figure, that is, Wang Mi. However, when they went to the Qi family to ask about Wang Mi's whereabouts, the Qi family replied: Wang Mi had already left the Qi family with his whole family.
, whereabouts are unknown.
After the head of the Qi family was assassinated, Qi Chun'an, the eldest son of the head of the Qi family, was elected as the new head of the family at the clan meeting of the Qi family. Qi Chun'an was in his early thirties and had already followed his father to help manage the family.
I have been in the business for more than ten years and I am very smart and capable.
So when the head of the Qi family was assassinated, Qi Chun'an actually regarded Wu Shigong as one of the suspects immediately, so he secretly arrested Wang Mi's family as soon as possible.
But before Qi Chun'an could arrange people to go to Henan to find out whether Wu Shigong was suspected of assassinating his father? At this time, a series of tragedies in Henan immediately shocked Qi Chun'an.
At this time, of course, Qi Chun'an no longer had to look for evidence that Wu Shigong assassinated his father. But for Qi Chun'an, he found that his Qi family was suddenly in a very bad position.
Let's talk about revenge first. If Wu Shigong only assassinated Qi Chun'an's father, then Qi Chun'an could either pay for the murder or spend a lot of money in the officialdom to make Wu Shigong suffer. There are many tit-for-tat methods that can be adopted
.However, the prerequisite for using these methods is that Wu Shigong must, at least on the surface, abide by the rules of Ming Dynasty officialdom.
But when Wu Shigong assassinated Qi Chun'an's father, and then unabashedly wielded a butcher's knife at the Yangzhou salt merchants in Runing Mansion and Guide Mansion, Qi Chun'an had no choice.
You must know that Wu Shigong is a military attache after all, and he has powerful force in his hands. If the two sides go head-to-head and kill each other, the Qi family will suffer anyway.
And Wu Shigong's unabashed killing arrogance seemed to be telling the Qi family clearly: I killed the head of the Qi family, and I also want to kill the salt merchants in Yangzhou, but what can you do to me? And Wu Shigong's
This kind of confession is also clearly told to everyone. If you want to take revenge, just come over.
As the saying goes: Those who are aggressive are afraid of being stunned, and those who are stunned are afraid of losing their lives. Wu Shigong has shown a desperate attitude, so the conventional method of retaliating against Wu Shigong will definitely not work.
Let’s talk about the relationship between the Qi family and the Yangzhou salt merchants. Originally, the assassination of the head of the Qi family should have aroused the same hatred among the Yangzhou salt merchants. But when Wu Shigong showed his cruel methods, those Yangzhou salt merchants were frightened.
You don't do this in business, it's a bit too gory.
And when the salt merchants discovered that Wu Shigong had also been assassinated once, they seemed to have found the reason. The salt merchants immediately united to put pressure on the Qi family, asking the Qi family to give an explanation to the salt merchants.
The occurrence of this situation almost made Qi Chun'an angry. He wanted to curse: It was Wu Shigong who killed those salt merchants and robbed those salt merchants' salt products. He wanted revenge, and those salt merchants should also find him.
Wu Shigong goes, but now those salt merchants are relentlessly looking for the Qi family, but they dare not go to Wu Shigong. What does this mean? Are those salt merchants trying to pick a soft persimmon?
Although Qi Chun'an was holding back his anger, at this time, he did not dare to fall out with those salt merchants, or even meet them. Because it was ultimately the death of Qi Chun'an's father that led to the current situation.
The foundation of the Qi family is already somewhat unstable.
However, for this reason, Qi Chun'an will never hand over the living Wang Mi. Because if Wang Mi confesses that he really sent someone to assassinate Wu Shigong, it will definitely be a disaster for the Qi family.
.Because absolutely no one will believe that Wang Mi’s assassination was just his personal act and not the mastermind of the Qi family.
However, because he wanted to solve the doubts in his heart, Qi Chun'an still wanted to know from Wang Mi: whether Wang Mi sent someone to assassinate Wu Shigong.
Wang Mi has been imprisoned in the dungeon for more than ten days. During these days, except for a little light coming from the small hole under the door of the dungeon when Wang Mi is served three meals a day, there is no other light.
There was no movement, and no one came to talk to Wang Mi. At this time, Wang Mi was about to collapse mentally.
On this day, the door of the dungeon was suddenly opened. Before Wang Mi could adjust his eyes to the light coming from outside, he was dragged out by several big men.
When Wang Mi was finally able to see clearly what was going on outside, he found Qi Chun'an's gloomy face in front of him.
Wang Mi immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed to Qi Chun'an repeatedly and cried, "Young Master, this is really not a small matter."
Qi Chun'an looked at Wang Mi straight for a while, sighed and said: "Shopkeeper Wang, you are also an old man of the Qi family, and I don't want you to suffer the physical pain. Just say it clearly,
Did you send someone to assassinate Wu Shoubei of Runing Mansion?"
"I really don't know! I don't have the courage at all!" Wang Mi knocked his head until his forehead was covered with blood. Of course he had to deny it with all his strength, because he knew that as long as he admitted it, he would be
There is absolutely no way to survive.
But when Qi Chun'an saw Wang Mi's denial, he didn't get angry. He sighed again, and then said to Wang Mi: "Don't you just miss your family? Your grandson is only over a year old."
, I went to check it out just now, and it looks very cute."
After Wang Mi heard this, he was so frightened that he suddenly forgot to kowtow. He straightened his neck and looked at Qi Chun'an, fighting over and over again in his mind.
Seeing that Wang Mi still didn't respond, Qi Chun'an let out a long sigh for the third time. He ordered the guards of the Qi family beside him: "Send Shopkeeper Wang back to the dungeon. Later, I will question Shopkeeper Wang properly.
The guys brought back from Henan must know something. Since Shopkeeper Wang wants to reunite with his family underground, I will grant his wish."
Qi Chun'an's words suddenly broke down Wang Mi's defense. He struggled out from the guard's hands, cried bitterly and kowtowed: "Young master, this is all done by the younger ones! The younger ones are just
You were confused and did not dissuade them. This is really not a small matter."
Wang Mi's confession made Qi Chun'an's pupils suddenly shrink. Although Qi Chun'an was somewhat mentally prepared for Wang Mi's assassination of Wu Shigong, when he heard Wang Mi's confession with his own ears, he still felt very
Distraught.
After a long while, after Qi Chun'an worked hard to digest the news, he said to Wang Mi: "Actually, whether you confess or not, there is no way to survive. But your confession at least gives your family a chance to survive."
There is no way out. Let me choose a less painful method for you."
After finishing speaking, Qi Chun'an gestured behind him, and a guard protecting Qi Chun'an behind him immediately took out a bottle of wine and walked towards Wang Mi. But Wang Mi saw the guard getting closer and closer with the wine.
, he shrank back in fear, and blocked the guard's direction with both hands, trying to prevent the guard from approaching.
Seeing this situation, Qi Chun'an ordered: "Help him."
Then, some of the guards held down Wang Mi's hands and feet, while others pinched Wang Mi's nose. When Wang Mi opened his mouth to breathe, the guard holding the wine poured the poisoned wine into Wang Mi's mouth.
After a while, Wang Mi's limbs twitched and his orifices were bleeding.
Seeing that Wang Mi had died, Qi Chun'an then ordered the guards: "As long as I hear a little bit of news about today's incident outside, you and your whole family will no longer be alive."
"Oh!" The guards agreed quickly.
"Also, don't dispose of Shopkeeper Wang's body just yet. It may be useful in the future. You go to the other salt merchants' homes and inform them that I will hold a banquet at Zhuozhenlou tomorrow to entertain all the salt merchants.
I've been hiding here and there these days, and now it's time to make an end of it."
"Oh!" The guards all agreed again. But after a while, the guard leader asked Qi Chun'an for instructions: "What should we do with the family members of the imprisoned shopkeeper Wang?"
Qi Chun'an hesitated for a moment and said: "Let's keep them locked up for now. But give them something delicious to eat. They... they might still be useful. Alas -!"