Fang Junyi frowned and raised his eyes to look out the window. The sky was getting dark and it was raining lightly. Why would Princess Changle send someone here at this time and in this weather?
After thinking for a while, he said: "Bring people in."
"Here!"
The soldiers pushed out the door, and in a moment a slender and thin maid came in. She took off her cloak and hat. It turned out to be a maid beside Princess Changle.
"This slave has met Duke Yue."
The maid gathered her train and bowed.
Fang Jun hummed, took a sip of tea, and asked, "Why did His Highness ask you to come?"
The maid lowered her eyebrows and lowered her eyes, and said softly: "Your Highness ordered your servant to come here. If you have anything important to do, please go to the manor and talk to the Duke of Yue."
"Now?"
"Here."
"What on earth is going on?"
"I don't know..."
Fang Jun frowned more and more, and asked again: "How are the three of you, Your Highness Gao Yang, Your Highness Chengyang, and Your Highness Jinyang?"
The maid replied: "This slave is just a personal maid in the room of my Highness. She doesn't know much about the outside world. She just has lunch with several Highnesses at noon."
Fang Jun nodded and remained silent.
With several princesses living together, Fang Jun would naturally not think about those romantic affairs. Moreover, Princess Changle was reserved and dignified. Even though she could see that she was quite fond of him, she never exceeded the distance. How could she send her own maid?
Come and invite yourself for a tryst on a rainy night?
Since this is not the case, then perhaps there is a safety issue.
Jiangnan seems to be peaceful, but in fact, it has already been turbulent secretly. Fang Jun has long sensed that something is not right in the atmosphere. After all, these Jiangnan nobles have lived freely in the south for hundreds of years. Even when the Sui Dynasty unified the mountains and rivers and the eight wastelands,
The Jiangnan nobles never surrendered, so in order to gain the support of the Jiangnan nobles, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty had to open a canal, build a Jiangdu, and personally stay in Jiangnan.
It is really common to engage in some conspiracy and conspiracy to deceive the king behind the scenes.
Even if he couldn't figure out why these people were against Princess Changle, he didn't dare to be careless at all. After all, Gao Yang and Jinyang both lived with Changle. If Princess Changle discovered something strange, once she was in danger,
Several princesses may be in danger.
Fang Jun nodded and said, "Go and wait outside while I change my clothes."
"Here."
The maid exited the door. Fang Jun thought for a moment, then called Wei Ying in and said, "Bring more people, fully armed. Oh, by the way, bring so-and-so's musket."
Fang Jun changed his clothes, and Wei Ying had already taken his musket, a single-barreled flintlock musket made of fine steel, very delicate.
Putting away the musket, he walked out of the house with the guardian eagle. More than fifty elite troops had gathered in the yard, all wearing raincoats and bamboo hats. Bows and crossbows are not suitable for use in this weather. The bowstring will reduce its toughness if it is wet with rain, so
All are equipped with horizontal knives.
Fang Jun and the maid boarded the carriage, left the town office, went straight to the pier, transferred to a warship and went straight down the Yangtze River waterway. Soon they went upstream again, turned into Wangyu River near Haiyu Town, and arrived outside Suzhou City.
Jinji Lake.
At this time, the sky was already completely dark, the sky was full of dark clouds, the stars and moon were missing, and the light rain still hadn't stopped.
Abandoning the ship and landing, the soldiers lit up the lanterns, and a large group of people rode to the Xu family manor.
There are three parts to guarding the manor. The outermost part is guarded by soldiers sent by the Navy to prevent any stray people from entering. The inner part is the Suzhou County soldiers stationed by Mu Yuanzuo, led by Suzhou Sima Shen Wei, and the innermost part is the Royal Imperial Army.
The navy soldiers naturally made way for Fang Jun to enter, but when they reached the checkpoint guarded by Suzhou County soldiers, they encountered obstacles.
Suzhou Sima Shen Wei was very conscientious and insisted on staying here even on rainy days. He smiled bitterly in front of Fang Jun and said: "It is not the last general who dares to stop the Duke of Yue. It is actually the governor Mu who has strict orders not to allow any idlers to wait." Enter the manor to avoid bumping into the princesses. The general will obey orders, how can he dare to neglect his duties in the slightest? I hope that the country of Yue will forgive me."
Fang Jun sat on the horse and raised his eyes to look inside the manor. It was a rainy day and a gloomy night. There was no light in the manor for business. The gloom was like a dragon's pond and a tiger's den. It gave people an extremely depressing feeling and always felt that the atmosphere was very abnormal.
After pondering for a moment, Fang Jun turned around and said to Wei Ying and other soldiers: "You will exit quickly. If someone comes in, if anything happens, return to Huating Town immediately and let Pei Xingjian lead his army."
"Here!"
Wei Ying responded, slowly retreated with his soldiers, and returned to the place where the navy soldiers were stationed to rest for a while.
Shen Wei apologized and said with a smile: "The Duke of Yue is joking. The manor has three floors outside and three floors outside. It is safe and secure. How can there be any risk? The general only has military orders and does not dare to do anything. If he offends him, We will hold a banquet at the end of the day to apologize to the Duke of Yue."
Fang Jun smiled faintly and said: "General Shen has done his duty well. I can only appreciate it. How can I be dissatisfied? Stop talking and let's go."
"Here! But... please get off your horse, Duke Yue, so as not to disturb your highnesses."
Shen Wei had a smile on his face, but he was neither humble nor arrogant.
Fang Jun looked at him deeply for a while, then swung the stirrup up from the saddle and jumped off the horse, flicked the reins, and strode towards the manor without saying a word.
Shen Wei ordered people to take good care of the horses and followed closely with a few close associates, laughing and talking with him, but Fang Jun ignored him.
This section of the road leading into the manor is very flat and paved with blue bricks. However, the road surface is inevitably uneven due to its age. The accumulated rainwater has no time to seep through and cannot flow away, forming large and small puddles. My shoes got wet when I stepped on them, and my clothes got wet all over.
The shoes on his feet were soaked by the rain, making them damp and cold, which made Fang Jun's spirit become clearer and more concentrated.
He always felt that something was not right, but he was worried about the safety of Gao Yang and Chang Le, so he could only walk in one way, but his spirit was always tense and he did not look back, but he paid attention to Shen Wei's movements from beginning to end. He subconsciously placed his hand near the musket he wore. If anything went wrong, he would immediately draw his gun and fight back, while speeding up and running into the manor.
There are royal guards in the manor, so they can ensure safety...
The dark gate of the manor was twenty steps away. Shen Wei behind him did not see anything unusual except for smiling and talking. Fang Jun had already seen the guard standing at the gate of the manor in the darkness, and he felt a little relieved.
Maybe he was just unfounded and nothing unusual happened in the manor. Maybe Princess Changle really just wanted to have a private meeting with him in the middle of the night...
The guard who was on duty at night heard the commotion and asked, "Who is it?"
Shen Wei immediately said: "The Duke of Yue is worried about the safety of his highnesses and has come to check. Why don't you open the door quickly?"
With the sound of footsteps, a group of guards walked out from behind the door. When Fang Jun arrived at the door and verified each other, the leader of the guards quickly performed a military salute and said: "It turns out to be the Duke of Yue, please follow me in!"
Nothing was abnormal. Fang Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Have your highnesses been well?"
Before the words were spoken, a sudden change occurred!
Just when he relaxed his tense spirit when he saw the guards, a strong wind suddenly came from behind him. At the same time, the leader of the guards in front of him had a ferocious face, and his hand was already on the scabbard of the horizontal sword at his waist. Go up and wait to pull out the horizontal knife.
Fang Jun was horrified for a moment, and the hairs on his body stood on end. At the critical moment, he kicked the ground suddenly. The powerful explosive force caused his body to suddenly take a step to the side. At the same time, he pulled out the musket under his clothes and pointed it at the leader of the guards. He was shot in the face.
"boom!"
The fire flickered in the dark rainy night, and the leader of the guards was caught off guard. There was a splash of blood on his face, and he fell to the sky without saying a word.
Just as Fang Jun took a step, he felt a cold feeling under his left rib, and then a sharp pain came. Without thinking, he used his landing foot as a guide, and instantly turned his body to face Shen Wei, who was behind him, and fired the gun in his hand. Then he threw it out.
The weight of such a large pile of iron was considerable. He charged up the force and hit Shen Wei right in the face. Shen Wei let out a scream, holding a dagger in one hand and squatting on the ground covering his face with the other hand. Blood flowed down his face. His fingers gushed out and he shouted: "We can't let him escape, kill him!"
The county soldiers behind him and the imperial guards in front of them all drew out their swords at almost the same time and rushed toward Fang Jun like wolves and tigers!
Several bright horizontal knives flashed coldly under the light of the horse lanterns. More than ten sturdy men rushed towards Fang Jun without fear of death. The horizontal knives passed through the rain curtain and struck at Fang Jun's vital parts one after another.
The rain was falling, and the Xu family manor, which had been quiet before, suddenly became murderous!