Qiu Liang led his troops to besiege a large house in Zhuzhi Lane that had been in disrepair for a long time. They were blocked in a small yard next to the garden, so he simply ordered people to bring in artillery. The soldiers secretly cheered when they saw the artillery. Qiu Liang gave an order, and everyone retreated to a distance, and the artillerymen
Aiming at the courtyard, he fired the cannon. Hearing a loud rumbling sound, the shock caused pain from the ears to the back of the head. The courtyard wall turned into rubble in the blink of an eye, and dust filled the sky. The dust gradually fell, and the smell of blood spread. The soldiers all looked at Qiu Liang.
Waiting for him to give the order, Qiu Liang stood there in a daze while holding his breath. For a long time, the old man closed his eyes slightly and opened them again, ordering people to come forward to check.
The five rooms all collapsed, and there were many corpses lying scattered inside. Qiu Liang was getting older, and his legs and feet were not as bright as when he was young, so he went to the front to rest. After sitting for a while, he called over a servant who could help him.
"Go, call Jia Cong." The man responded and started to leave, but Qiu Liang called him back again. After thinking for a long time, he said, "Don't go, let the prince know first." The man responded again.
After sitting there for about two-quarters of an hour, a soldier guarding the door came and said, "Mr. Jia is here."
Qiu Liang frowned: "Is he alone?"
"Yes, I brought four followers."
Qiu Liang was silent for a moment and said, "Call him in."
Suddenly Jia Cong walked in, looked around with innocent eyes, and asked Qiu Liang, "Master Qiu, what's going on?"
Qiu Liang glanced at him: "Why are you here?"
Jia Cong said: "I went to the Yamen today, but you were not here. You said you had other business matters. I thought I was just going to take a break, so I came. Who knew your official duties were here."
Qiu Liang stared at him and said, "Whose house is here?"
"I don't know, I just know that an inventor lives here." Jia Cong said, "I wanted to see him yesterday, but I couldn't see him." Qiu Liang heard something was wrong and asked for details. Jia Cong then helped him queue up to buy snacks.
The person who said that a friend can make a copper wire drawing machine said it again. "Actually, our craftsmen have already made that. The person named Mei said that his friend's work must be better than ours. He said it very confidently. I
I called my daughter-in-law to come with me. Who knew that the man wanted to take Qiao and refused to see me."
Qiu Liang was confused: "What does the person named Mei look like?"
Jia Cong scratched his head and gestured: "Seven feet tall with fine features and a capital accent. His demeanor is quite elegant." He turned around and called a guard over, "What did Mr. Mei look like yesterday? You and Master Qiu can describe it and let them
Draw a picture.”
Qiu Liang didn't have the painter with him at the moment, and he didn't dare to leave, so he sent someone back to the Yamen to call, and ordered him to check the shop where he bought snacks yesterday. Jia Cong asked what was going on here. Qiu Liang said: "
Last night I received a report from an informant that there is a secret work from another country hidden here."
"Ah?!" Jia Cong was stunned, "Careful work?" Qiu Liang stared at him with a good look. Jia Cong thought for a long time, then spread his hands and said, "I'm confused."
Qiu Liang said: "Can you tell me the story in detail again, and what does the hunchbacked old servant look like?"
Jia Cong turned to look at the guard; the guard said: "I remember." Jia Cong hugged his fists towards him.
Then he recounted what happened yesterday. When he mentioned that Mr. Mei and he went to the small teahouse to talk, his eyes quietly glanced at the green bricks on the ground. What kind of business did Qiu Liang do? After listening to this section, he looked at Jia Cong
Said: "That's all? Didn't you say anything else?"
Jia Cong curled his lips and touched the back of his head: "There is something else. I don't know if I can talk to you. Why don't you go back and ask Acen." He thought for a while, "This matter is confusing... Mr. Qiu, call me
Acen, come here."
Qiu Liang frowned slightly: "That's it for now. You can continue."
"Yeah. Then I called my wife to come over."
"Since I'm just looking at the machine, what should I ask your wife to do?"
"My wife is also interested in these things." Jia Cong said, "She likes new technologies very much, and she has studied science and engineering at Dajiala Academy and is more knowledgeable than me. I am also afraid of being deceived.
." Qiu Liang nodded. Jia Cong then went on to talk about how he followed Mr. Mei and how the old servant opened the door. Mr. Mei went in and asked, but he refused to see Jia Cong. Jia Cong sang at the door for a long time in order to stir up ideas.
's ditty.
Qiu Liang asked curiously: "People don't want to see you, so why are you singing little songs?"
Jia Cong said confidently: "I can't sing~ I just make some noise to disturb him. What if he gets bored and comes out to scold me? Can't I take advantage of the situation to coax him? I can't see him in person.
What's the use of having an impeccable tongue?"
Qiu Liang glared at him: "That's unreasonable!" Jia Cong curled his lips.
Qiu Liang thought for a long time before telling the story of the attack on the house. Jia Cong was lazy at first, but when he heard that the dead people were frightened, he sat upright. After Qiu Liang finished speaking, Jia Cong's mouth grew so big that he couldn't close it for a long time:
"You... pushed the cannon over here?!" Qiu Liang nodded. Jia Cong shivered, "Oh my God! It's so high-end!" He was stunned for a long time, rubbing his temples and muttering, "This... what the hell!"
Nai stood up and walked around the room twice with his arms behind his back, and suddenly said, "Is Mr. Mei among the dead thieves?"
Qiu Liang said: "The rubble has not been cleared yet, and some bodies have been carried out."
Jia Cong hurriedly said: "Let me take a look." He turned around and was about to walk back when he suddenly stopped, as if frozen. After a long time, he turned around and said, "Master Qiu, you just said... the thieves are surrounded
Then, he killed the soldiers who entered the courtyard and threw the corpses out one by one?"
Qiu Liang sighed: "Not bad."
"Then...are all the corpses Pao Ze? Are you sure they are all dead?"
Qiu Liang was suddenly stunned: "Are you suspecting that the thief escaped from the courtyard disguised as my Junpao Ze's body?"
Jia Cong said: "I have never been on the battlefield so I don't know... This is what is written in the comments."
Qiu Liang ordered to count the corpses of Pao Ze who died in battle. Not long after, soldiers came to report that there were many corpses, but two Pao Ze were found in the yard and had been stripped of their shirts. Qiu Liang was stunned: "They were allowed to escape!
"
Jia Cong touched his chin and said: "It may not be a bad thing. He would disguise himself as a corpse and run away, which is obviously a risky move. It means that there is no tunnel leading to the outside of the house." He thought again, "Are all the thieves dead? Are any of them injured?
?”
Qiu Liang sighed, stood up and said, "Let's go and have a look."
The two walked to the back, where the bombardment ruins were still being cleaned up, and the smell of blood and gun smoke was strong. Jia Cong had not seen so many dead people for a long time, and he felt sad. He silently bowed three times to the corpses and said regretfully: "They are all
It's not good for a man in his prime to do something. There are so many wastelands in foreign countries that no one has cultivated."
Qiu Liang was about to ask him why he was bowing, but he couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "The same rice can feed hundreds of people, but there will be few thieves."
Jia Cong lowered his head and looked at the corpses: "Not a single one alive?"
Qiu Liang knelt down and looked at the corpses that had been cleaned up one by one. After a while, he discovered that one of the corpses did not die from the rubble. This person died from poisoning. Qiu Liang pinched his mouth, and there was indeed something inside.
The fangs were bitten into pieces, and he said solemnly: "These people are dead soldiers."
Jia Cong frowned unconsciously: "A dead soldier is not something that ordinary wealthy families can afford."
Qiu Liang said seriously: "What else did Mr. Mei say to you?"
Jia Cong hesitated for a moment: "Do you... know about the baby girl in the prince's house turning into a boy?" Qiu Liang nodded. Jia Cong whispered, "Mr. Mei said that his friend loves Fan Meiren, and that matter
He did it for Fan Meiren." Qiu Liang was stunned. Jia Cong explained, "That's why... I called my wife over. Men may not have women who can talk about love affairs."
Qiu Liang thought for a moment, poked him with his finger, and cursed: "You're confused! I've obviously set a trap for you to trick you into coming here!"
Jia Cong winced and said: "Last night when I went back... I also thought about this possibility... Then I thought about it, I didn't come in here anyway, what do they want to do to me?"
Qiu Liang hummed: "It's obvious that Mei is trying to coax you to meet someone. Since that person refuses to meet, you must recognize him." Then he thought again, the prince's house received the dagger message, that is
The reason why Jia Cong failed to meet this person is because the person named Mei wanted Jia Cong to meet someone in the house, but the people in the house didn't want to see him, and there were others who also wanted to prevent Jia Cong from seeing him?
Ask Jia Cong, "Do you recognize any of these corpses?"
Jia Cong looked around one by one. There was neither Mr. Mei, nor a hunchbacked old servant, nor a bald and thin old man. Those who died were all young and strong. He couldn't help but regret in his mouth: "What a good young and strong man..." Qiu Liang endured
Jia Cong couldn't help but glare at him. After looking at all the corpses, Jia Cong shook his head and said, "I don't even recognize them."
Qiu Liang said: "These are all minions. The person he wants you to meet is probably the leader." He checked again and found that they were all dressed the same. He ordered them all to be moved back to the Yamen and ordered them to be inspected carefully.
At this moment, the painter has arrived, and he and Jia Congzhi's bodyguards have finished painting Mr. Mei's portrait in front. Qiu Liang felt familiar at first glance. Jia Cong looked at him and said, "Is this the co-author who you have always known?"
Qiu Liang frowned: "It just looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it before."
Jia Cong said: "This is the first time I've seen it... Huh? Why do I feel familiar?" He also looked at it for a long time, "But I really haven't seen it before! How can it look familiar?" Nai pinched his chin,
He muttered, "Could it be that I know his father? His brother?"
"Oh!" Qiu Liang stroked his palm, "Mei Hanlin's son!"
"Ah?!" Jia Cong secretly shouted in his heart, "Damn it, it's really him!"
Qiu Liang said: "I met him in Beijing. He was still young at that time. Although his appearance has changed a bit now, you can still see his outline."
Jia Cong touched his nose: "What's going on... He seems to have been engaged to a young lady from the Xue family back then. She traveled thousands of miles to come to the capital just to wait for her marriage. Then when the capital was in chaos, he regretted the engagement. The Xue family came to argue with him,
He said that the prince's mother's family took a fancy to the Xue family's money and forced him to break off the engagement; he is innocent."
Qiu Liang frowned, and after a while he murmured: "I heard that this person is quite talented, but now I don't know who he has joined."
Jia Cong had other thoughts inside. As the saying goes, appearance comes from the heart. This house obviously hides some secrets, and the two old men are very likely to have been guarding it for many years, similar to guards. Qiu Liang said, the ruins
The voices shouting at him in the yard were extremely strange and unpleasant. By that time, all the corpses of Shu soldiers had been thrown away. Whether the speaker was a hunchbacked old servant or a bald and thin old man, it was normal, but the soldiers who died now were all very tall.
Therefore, one of the two men may not have come out and led the dead soldiers to resist. But he never thought that Qiu Liang was so impatient that he would use artillery. However, there was no old man among the corpses.
He just lowered his head and thought, Qiu Liang asked: "Cong'er, what are you thinking about?"
Jia Cong said: "I wonder if there is a cellar in the ruined yard."
Qiu Liang's eyes moved: "Why do you see it?"
Jia Cong said: "I encountered so many things when I came back to the Kingdom of Shu. There are tunnels in the Prince of Shu's palace, tunnels in Ding Wangji's house, and cellars in the Qingyang Palace. It seems that the Kingdom of Shu has a fate with the cellars. Will we encounter them again this time?
To the cellar tunnel? This house is so big and the place is so remote. It looks like it has bad intentions... Well, it seems like it has some special purpose."
Qiu Liang said with a smile: "Although it doesn't make sense, I am also suspicious. I will ask them to dig three feet into the ground later."
The two of them walked around a few times and saw that the house was ordinary elsewhere, so they went back to the Yamen. They also ordered the painter to draw many portraits of Mr. Mei and send them to the Chengdu police officers, saying that he was a confidential prisoner.
An official as big as Qiu Liang had the best men under his command. A group of strong men worked non-stop, lighting torches at night, and at dawn the next day they emptied the rubble and started digging the ground. Jia Cong didn't sleep too much.
Qiu Liang's people picked him up early - and sure enough, there was a tunnel opening under the main building of the courtyard. Qiu Liang had already rushed over and sent someone to call Jia Cong.
Jia Cong yawned and rushed to the ruined house. It was already dawn, and Qiu Liang's people were tightly surrounding him on three levels inside and outside. The tunnel entrance was under a large case that had been crushed in the main room. The case
But it was made of rosewood. He lit the torch and followed the soldiers down. Jia Cong took a breath of air-conditioning - it was too big! It was too high!
The underground space is as high as two stories, and you don't know how far it is at first glance. There are many large pillars lined up and they are all made of fine nanmu. The ground is paved with blue bricks, and there are stone beasts everywhere. Jia Cong followed the soldiers
After walking a few dozen steps, I saw rooms on both sides made of bricks. I walked into a room, which was quite small, about fifteen or six square meters. There were beds, tables, and no bedding.
There was a lamp holder with a pen and inkstone on it, no paper, and full of patina. There were oil stains in the lamp holder and no dust. Jia Cong walked around the house for a long time and asked the soldiers who were following him: "Have you seen the toilet?" The soldiers shook their heads.
Then he came out of the house and looked for someone to find out where Qiu Liang was. A small leader led him there. There was still a road at this point, so he turned two corners to find Qiu Liang. Qiu Liang stood with his hands behind his back, and in front of him was a
There was a large shelf full of jars. Jia Cong came over and asked, "Master Qiu, is there anyone alive?"
Qiu Liang said: "There are no living people, but only one dead body." He pointed casually.
Jia Cong followed his hand and looked over. He saw an old man lying on the ground. It was the old servant with a hunchback. "How did he die?"
"Bite it into pieces." Qiu Liang said, "He died yesterday." He paused, "I saw that the calluses on his hands were very thin."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Maybe he doesn't know much Kung Fu."
Jia Cong blinked: "Then...should there be someone else with strong martial arts skills?"
Qiu Liang pointed at the jar and said, "Being a prison guard requires some skills. Otherwise, how can you watch so many prisoners?"
Jia Cong looked up at the jar and twitched the corner of his mouth: "What's in it... what's in it... could it be ashes?"