The two official servants were the two killers sent by Yuan Zai. They followed Guo Song all the way and were very experienced. They did not dress up as businessmen or the like, but dressed up as official servants whose physiques matched theirs. They were in front of Guo Song twice before.
They showed up just to identify the target, and tonight was their chance to take action.
They did not go to the inn opposite at all, but hid themselves opposite the inn where Guo Song and the others lived, waiting for the opportunity to come.
But God is not as good as God. They never expected that the inn opposite would close down, which exposed their abnormal behavior.
At two o'clock in the morning, two men in black ran across the intersection and jumped onto the roof. They could see clearly from the big tree opposite that their target, Guo Song, lived in the westernmost guest room.
Several of his men lived next door.
The two of them were as fast as civet cats, flying on the roof. The thick soles of their soft boots prevented them from making any sound. They quickly approached the upper room on the west side. They clung to both sides of the window and faintly heard the noise coming from inside the room.
Come snoring.
The two nodded and took out deadly killer weapons respectively. One was a dagger, and the other was a hand crossbow. Both the dagger and the crossbow arrows were flashing with blue light. They were obviously quenched with poison. Even if they could not kill each other, they could just cut them.
If you break even a little bit of the opponent's skin, the opponent will be poisoned and die.
A man in black gently scratched the window paper. Through the gap in the window paper, they could see their target sleeping sideways on the bed, sleeping soundly.
'Click!' There was a slight sound, the window was cut open, and the two men in black jumped into the room together. They cooperated tacitly, and shot a short arrow from the hand crossbow, hitting the person on the bed. The other person pounced on him, short
The sword pierced hard.
The two of them immediately felt something was wrong and pulled back the quilt. Where there was someone on the bed, there was a six-foot-long clothes hanger.
"be cheated!"
The two of them turned and rushed out of the window, but a person fell from the roof beam. The black sword swung past like lightning, with unparalleled speed, and 'Crack!' A human head flew out.
Another man was so frightened that he threw his dagger back and jumped out of the window. Guo Song dodged the dagger. He quickly took off his bow, pulled out an arrow, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot out an arrow.
Another man in black had already rushed to the edge of the eaves about twenty steps away and jumped down. As long as he landed, he would be safe.
But as soon as his feet left the roof, and his body was still hanging in the air, a wolf-tooth arrow shot out with a "whoosh!", it was powerful and twice as fast as an ordinary archer's arrow, and one arrow shot through the back of the man in black's head.
, the tip of the arrow protruded from his forehead, and the man in black had turned into a corpse when he landed on the ground.
Five soldiers rushed over one after another. Guo Song said calmly: "We won't find any clues. Bury their bodies and take the horses with them."
Indeed, no clues were found, but the harvest was quite fruitful. They found thousands of taels of silver and a hundred taels of gold from their horse bags, as well as two good horses and two good swords. The hand crossbows were made very exquisitely and were poisonous.
The swords can cut iron as well as mud, and even their boots are specially made so that they can run on the rooftops silently.
Guo Song distributed the spoils of war to everyone, and the silver and gold were used as transportation. The two corpses were buried in the woods outside the town. Before dawn, everyone continued to set off.
Guo Song and his party crossed Wangwu Mountain from the south of Jiangzhou, entered Huaizhou, and then headed eastward along the Yellow River. Ten days later, Guo Song and his party crossed the Yellow River in Bozhou and entered Qizhou.
Qizhou was the territory of Ziqing Jiedushi and Raoyang County King Li Zhengji. He controlled the entire Shandong Peninsula and was a powerful separatist vassal town in the Tang Dynasty.
After walking for a long time, they finally arrived at Licheng County. To their surprise, the business in Licheng was quite prosperous, with merchants gathering, and all kinds of cargo ships on Jishui Wharf.
The order in the city is also quite good, with soldiers constantly patrolling back and forth to maintain order.
At this time, a large and luxurious carriage came quickly from the north, pulled by three horses. A horse-riding entourage in front shouted: "Fellow folks, borrow the road! Borrow the road!"
Passers-by moved aside one after another, and soldiers also urged pedestrians to get out of the way. Dozens of sword-wielding followers guarded the large luxury carriage as it sped past.
Pedestrians commented a lot, "The new carriage outside Cui's residence is really luxurious. I heard that the utensils inside are all made of gold."
Guo Song was confused and asked an old man: "Who is this Cui Yuanwai?"
The old man chuckled and said: "Young man, you are a foreigner! Not even Cui Yuan knows that he is one of the largest cloth merchants in the Tang Dynasty. There are thousands of looms in the workshop, and he is a guest of the old prince."
Only then did Guo Song realize that Cui Yuanwai was a businessman. Next to him, Xue Changshou sighed: "I can't imagine that a businessman can actually ride a carriage and it's so luxurious?"
Guo Song also felt deeply that Chang'an would never allow merchants to ride in a carriage, let alone a carriage pulled by three horses. In Chang'an, such a high-profile person would have been arrested long ago, but in Qizhou, he could go out on the streets openly. This
In the Tang Dynasty, where merchants had a low status, it was a rare thing.
Guo Song quickly asked about Baofeng Restaurant, which is one of the three major restaurants in Qizhou. Guo Song quickly found Baofeng Restaurant.
The restaurant is located in Yuquanfang, the county seat. This is the largest and most prosperous neighborhood among the ten neighborhoods in Licheng County. The restaurant covers an area of about ten acres. There is a three-story red building in front and more than twenty small courtyards in the back. Ten squares hang down from the eaves.
There are several huge red lanterns with the four characters "Baofeng Restaurant" written on them.
When Guo Song and his entourage arrived at the restaurant, it was exactly noon. Business was not bad, people were coming and going, and two bartenders warmly welcomed the guests at the door.
A bartender saw Guo Song and his entourage and hurriedly greeted them: "Gentlemen, come in and have a drink. This shop has authentic Lanling wine. It's sweet and long-lasting. I won't let you down."
The two meals during the Tang Dynasty's solar eclipse mainly refer to the middle and lower class people. Rich families do not have this restriction. Most restaurants will open at noon. Many people will go in and have a drink even if they don't eat.
Guo Song said to Xue Changshou: "Take a few brothers in and have a good meal. I will come back to you."
Xue Changshou nodded, and Guo Song said to the bartender: "Take them in! I have something to do with your shopkeeper."
"Okay! Five gentlemen, please come with me."
The bartender led the five people into the restaurant. Guo Song walked in and saw the shopkeeper standing at the counter. He walked up and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, how is the business?"
"It's not bad. Everyone is cheering. Business has been good. Is there something wrong with this young master?"
Guo Song gently fiddled with the ring on his hand and asked, "Does the shopkeeper know this ring?"
Only then did the shopkeeper see the white jade turtle ring on Guo Song's finger. His face changed slightly, and he nodded and said: "Sir, please follow me, this way!"
He opened the small door next to him and Guo Song followed him out. Behind him were more than twenty restaurants and courtyards. The alley was very narrow and winding like a maze.
The shopkeeper took Guo Song to the last courtyard, opened the courtyard door and said, "Sir, please!"
Guo Song walked into the yard and saw an old woman pacing back and forth in the yard. The familiar figure made Guo Song feel warm in his heart and said with a smile: "Sister, why are you here?"
The old woman was Mrs. Gongsun whom she had not seen for a year and a half. When she looked up and saw Guo Song, she was overjoyed and said, "I was still worried that the emperor would send someone here, but I didn't expect that it would be my nephew. When will you come back from Anxi?"
of?"
"Less than ten days after I came back, I was captured by the Emperor and asked to come to Licheng to assist my sister. It also took me more than ten days on the road."
Aunt Gongsun was overjoyed by the arrival of Guo Song. With Guo Song's arrival, many of her difficult things could be solved. Aunt Gongsun quickly invited Guo Song into the room and asked a maid to serve tea.
Guo Song smiled and said: "Senior Sister, you must first tell me what happened, and then tell me what you need me to do?"
"The Holy One didn't tell you?"
Guo Song shook his head, "The emperor just asked me to help you, and then I was confused."
Aunt Gongsun sighed softly and said: "The matter is rather complicated, so we have to start from the beginning. Three years ago, a mutiny broke out in Lingnan. General Ge Shuhuang killed the Lingnan Jiedushi in rebellion and established himself as king. General Lu Sigong took over the post of Lingnan
Jiedushi led 20,000 troops to suppress Geshuhuang's rebellion. Within a few months, Geshuhuang's rebellion was suppressed, and Geshuhuang himself was executed. For this reason, the emperor made Lu Sigong the Duke of Ji.
it's over.
But a year later, Guangzhou merchants came to Beijing to complain, saying that Lu Sigong did not return the property they had stolen from Ge Shuhuang. Lu Sigong wrote a letter explaining that all the money had been used by Ge Shuhuang.
Come to recruit soldiers.
At the beginning of the year, the Emperor received a secret report that all the six million yuan that Ge Shuhuang had stolen from maritime merchants had actually been embezzled by Lu Sigong. The Emperor was furious and ordered me to send experts to Lingnan to investigate. The results of the investigation were true.
, and Lu Sigong not only embezzled 6 million guan of money, but also robbed millions of guan of money from Guangzhou maritime merchants in recent years. He accumulated tens of millions of guan of money.
The emperor transferred him to be the military envoy of Bian and Song Dynasties, and at the same time made him the king of Chenliu County in recognition of his contribution to quelling the rebellion in Lingnan. However, Lu Sigong did not expect that this was the emperor's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, so he set out on the road, a total of thirty
A warship is loaded with all the wealth he collected in Lingnan. We have received the latest information that he is preparing to enter the Yellow River from the sea and go directly to Bianzhou."
Guo Zhong hesitated and said, "Can't we arrest him again in Bianzhou?"
Aunt Gongsun shook her head and said, "I'm afraid it will be too late to catch him in Bianzhou."