At this time, the cold winter was coming, and the roads were blocked late at night, and frost had fallen early in the fields. The bright moon in the sky was like jade, and the frosty ground was shining brightly. The second son, Lin Xunzong, lay on the soft couch in the carriage and asked people to move the carriage.
The curtain was rolled up, and he looked at the frosty ground on both sides of the road. In the distance was Wangxiang Tower, his private garden on the south bank of Shanglin River. Wangxiang Tower stood on the west bank of Shiliang River, and tung oil paper was hung on the eaves of the building in the northeast corner.
Wind lantern, the red dim star in the night sky.
If you can endure today's humiliation, how can you bear it if the prestige you have worked so hard to build among your tribe over the years has been reduced to ashes?
Lin Xuzong lay on the brocade couch, unable to move. Although the executioner was merciful and did not strip his buttocks, Lin Xuzong was beaten ten times with a barbed iron whip. There was blood on the whip. At this time, he applied medicine to cool him down.
There was also burning pain. The iron whip was a handy weapon used by Lin's ancestors when they served their great ancestors. Lin Xuzong didn't know why such a weapon used for fighting on the battlefield was reduced to being an offering in the ancestral hall. The clan members violated the clan rules.
The torture instruments taken out were probably because they had absorbed enough blood. The two iron whips were black and shiny, and they would not rust even if they were not touched for a long time.
In the cold wind, there was a faint tinkling sound of wind chimes, and the sound of horse hooves walking across the stone street could be heard clearly from far to near in the night.
Listening to the sound of horse hooves, Lin Xuzong stood up and looked into the distance. Right at the gate of the garden, he asked someone to stop the carriage. After a while, he saw a dozen black figures on horseback appearing in his field of vision.
The sudden appearance of the rider made the servants beside the carriage very nervous. Lin Xuzong raised the corner of his mouth and showed a cold smile. Seeing the faces of the dozen or so horses gradually becoming clear in front of his eyes, he sneered in his heart: Everyone knows that I, Lin Xuzong, have good horses, and I bought them generously.
Horses and warriors are all infantry, but no one asked me where the war horses I have purchased over the years are hidden?
There is a small forest in the northeast corner of Wangxiang Tower, with several figures hidden in the shadows.
"This bastard is really raising bandits in private!" Zhao Hu clenched his fists and watched Lin Xuzong meeting a dozen knights at the north entrance of Wangxiang Tower Garden. "There were some rumors in the countryside camp, but I can't believe it."
"In order to make all the grass markets in Shiliang County gather at Shanglindu, so that all the benefits of the Shanglindu grass market belong to the Lin family, it is not unimaginable to raise bandits in private." Lin Fu actually thinks that the Lin family raised bandits in private.
It was in line with his previous guesses. Seeing is believing, so there was nothing surprising in his heart. Thinking that he would go to Jiangning to develop in the future and collude with Qin Chengzu and others in private would be an unforgivable evil in the eyes of the government. Even if it was an unforgivable crime, it would not matter.
?However, he said with a hint of contempt, "The second young master is eager to avenge his shame, but it's a pity that he can't fulfill his wish. I really can't help him."
"In the past two years, the head of the family has rarely come forward to deal with any affairs in Shanglin. The seventh lady and the second young master have dealt with them separately. The second young master today put a knife on your neck like a dog and dared not say a word.
Kneeling on the dirt floor of the mule and horse market, how can he convince the public in the future if he doesn't regain his position, let alone suppress the Seventh Madam?" Zhao Hu was not stupid, and said gloatingly from the sidelines.
After lurking in the forest for a while, he saw the dozen riders sneaking away after Lin Xuzong gave them instructions. Lin Xuzong also rode a carriage into the garden surrounded by servants. Lin Fu stood up and shook his frost-covered face.
Yishang said: "Even if Lin Xuzong still has hidden soldiers, they are probably limited..." They stood in the forest, waiting for Wu Qi, who was lurking closer and watching, to come back.
Even when he saw Lin Xuzong and his servants entering the garden, Lin Xuzong's private soldiers all rode away. Wu Qi was also very cautious when he returned. Even though Zhao Hu kept his eyes on Wu Qi's return route, he waited until Wu Qi had returned more than ten years ago.
It was only then that Mi Chu noticed that there were some strange traces on the wild grass blowing in the wind under the moonlight, and he exclaimed: "Master Crow is really good at this?"
"The ability to catch cats and steal dogs is not worth mentioning." Crow Wu Qi chuckled, his dark and thin face showing his dazzling white teeth.
"You are only good at catching cats and stealing dogs. How can a countryman have such good teeth like you?" Zhou Pu said. He was angry that Wu Qi did not go to sea and refused to return the Mo Dao and the mulberry bow to him. Wu Qi used the excuse of Zhou Pu in the future.
When he went to Jiangning with Lin Fu, he appeared in the open. The ring-headed waist knife he usually carried with him was quite conspicuous, instead of hiding in the dark.
"What did you hear?" Lin Fu asked Wu Qi.
"There are about seventy or eighty of them in total, and they all have good horses. They don't know the direction we are going, so they just spread out to search. A net spread by seventy or eighty people can take a hundred people through without fear of being discovered.
, they are afraid that someone will tip them off during the day and reveal their whereabouts. We are going to Huyan now, so we are not afraid that others will reveal our whereabouts during the day."
Lin Fu nodded. He had found out their whereabouts at Huyan. The worst they could do was ride a long distance, but if word got out, it would probably be used by Lin Xuzong to fan the flames against the Seventh Lady. At that moment, he no longer hesitated, and under the moonlight, the deep
They walked through the forest with one foot and one foot at a time, looking at the dark shadow of Iron Curtain Mountain as they walked past. Their horses were hidden in an Orion hut at the foot of the mountain. Chen Enze also asked someone to pick them up and wait.
After leading the horses in the hut, we headed up the mountain. A col deep in the forest on the mountainside was the real hiding place of Wu Qi and others in Dongyang.
There were six horse bandits who followed Wu Qi to Dongyang this time. They would hide in the dark and wait for Lin Fu and Zhou Pu's orders. At the mule and horse market, Wu Qi only showed up with two people, waiting for Lin Fu and Zhou Pu.
Pu went over to contact us, but he didn't expect that these disputes would arise.
After Lin Fu secretly met with the Seventh Lady outside the ancestral hall, he learned that the person rescued in Shiliang County today was still in charge of Jiangdong Deputy Inspector Gu Wuchen. He decided not to leave Shanglinli in a hurry and go to Jiangning. If he could go to Jiangning with Gu Wuchen's east wind,
It was much better than him being a Juren who had offended his family and was forced to leave his hometown and live in Jiangning.
Lin Fu was also worried that there would be problems with Zhou Pu and Chen Size's household registration. There were people in Shiliang County who were fawning over the Lin family, but there were also those who couldn't deal with the Lin family. The reason why Lin Fu decided to attack Lin Xuzong in Luoma City was because he wanted to
Create the illusion that "powerful people of the Lin family have to go to Jiangning to avoid trouble" if they offend. In this way, even if someone in Shiliang County wants to find fault with Zhou Pu and Chen Enze's status, they will not be able to go to them to prove it. In addition, he is the only one who wants to prove it.
When Juren leaves his hometown of Dongyang Prefecture and goes to Jiangning Prefecture to seek development, he must have a suitable excuse. He can no longer tell others that he is leaving for Su Mei.
On the other hand, Lin Fu also knew in his heart that Mrs. Seven really hoped that he could help her in Lindu. Even if he was not the same person as before, since he had taken up this body, he still couldn't shirk his due responsibilities. Speaking of which, Gu
Yingxiu was just a pawn used by Lin Tingxun to suppress the premature fight for clan power by the second son Lin Xuzong. Once Lin Xuzong's ambition could not be curbed, Gu Yingxiu's situation would be quite dangerous. Such a move today would naturally dampen Lin Xuzong's arrogance.
It can also suppress his ambition.
Zhao Hu was very impressed when he saw that Wu Qi and the others were so cautious even when they were looking for a temporary place to stay. When they walked into the mountain col, they saw no less than sixty well-bred horses hidden in the woods, and the horses all had bits on their mouths. Occasionally, they would
A horse snorted, but he didn't notice anything unusual in the forest. Zhao Hu was shocked: "How did you manage to bring so many horses into Dongyang?"
"Master Lin and Zhou Pu went to Jiangning and then to Chongzhou. After going around in circles, we left Tinghu and rushed to Dongyang. We found such a hiding place. In more than half a month, we turned into
Ling, brought all these horses here from Huaishang." Wu Qi said quite proudly, breaking them into pieces and hiding them was his specialty, otherwise Qin Chengzu would not have let him take charge of this matter.
Although Qin Chengzu and others have been in the Huaihe River for many years, they mostly live a village life of self-cultivation, living in poverty, no better off than those real horse thieves who robbed homes and houses. They have no savings, and their largest fortune is probably
Those are the few hundred horses left.
It is difficult for people to feed people on the island, so naturally they cannot bring war horses that eat more than ten times that of adults to the island. Although they are reluctant to give up, these war horses have to be sold on the shore and exchanged for money to buy supplies and transport them to Changshan Island so that others can
It is difficult to survive and stand still on Changshan Island.
After Lin Fu and Zhou Pu left, Qin Chengzu and others had already sold more than 40 fine war horses in Xinpu County, Huai'an Prefecture, and exchanged them for a ship of supplies to go to Changshan Island first, but they still had a group of fine horses in Huaishang.
Sixty well-bred horses that could be used as war horses were a considerable amount of wealth in this world. Lin Xuzong was even willing to pay a sky-high price of three thousand taels of silver for ten of the well-bred horses in the mule and horse market.
Wu Qi brought only six people back to Huaishang to dispose of the horses. Wu Qi knew that if he privately contacted those village or village tycoons who were in urgent need of war horses to sell horses, the greatest possibility would be that these horses would be eaten by these individuals without spitting out bones, and vomiting blood without spitting out foam.
If they are robbed by people, even those who sell horses will be in danger - private transactions are not allowed, and they dare not go to the official market to sell horses in public.
The original plan was to smuggle these well-bred horses to Shanglindu and sell them in batches. However, everything did not develop according to the plan. The greed of the Lin family was one of the reasons. Neither Lin Fu nor Zhou Pu were naive enough to think that Lin Xu
Zong Zhen would pay a high price to buy these horses. Lin Xuzong kept private soldiers. Those unidentified strangers who had no way out sold their goods in Shang Lindu and left Shang Lindu and were robbed. It was not just one or two incidents that happened to Lin Fu;
Their identity and status in Shanglindu were not enough for the Lin family to suppress their greed for the sixty horses and conduct private transactions fairly.
"Go and pick one." Wu Qi pointed to the horse in the forest and said to Zhao Hu.
"Really!" Zhao Hu couldn't believe it. A farm ox in Dongyang Prefecture costs six to seven thousand yuan, and a horse for transporting camels and goods is twice the price of a farm ox. Although Zhao Hu has always envied the majesty of riding on a horse.
Awesome, but the price of riding a horse made him flinch even more, let alone these war horses galloping on the Huaihe River.
Zhao Hu happily walked into the forest to pick out the most suitable horse. Lin Fu, Zhou Pu and Wu Qi found tree roots and sat on them. Looking at these horses, he was worried. He couldn't hold them just because he was a scholar.
Sixty well-bred horses went to the official market for sale. Lin Fu thought that he would still discuss this matter with the Seventh Lady tomorrow. At least a batch of them must be digested in Shanglindu, otherwise they would all be taken to Jiangning, and the goal would be too big. ,!