The Red Mansions

Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Shenjing Castle, Dongcheng

In Anyifang, at the southeast corner of Ruyi Hutong stands a mansion that occupies a vast area, with five front and rear entrances, and two cross-courtyards on the left and right.

But at this moment, in the mansion, there were many people, people were drinking wine, and it was extremely noisy.

Gein, today is the birthday banquet of the son of Sanhe Clan leader Li Jinzhu. There are hundreds of tables in the main hall and the two courtyards.

Not only the heads of the Sanhe Gang above the rudder master, but also the members of the small gang who came to congratulate them, as well as the merchants of the Dongcheng store came to eat.

In the flower hall, the screens and other things had already been removed, and the five main halls looked spacious and bright.

On the main seat, Li Jinzhu, the leader of the Sanhe Gang, was sitting in his early forties, with a fat body, a big bald head, triangular eyes, a toad mouth, and his laughter was as loud as a bell.

He has worked hard for half his life, but he doesn't even have a son, he is only approaching forty, and recently married an aunt, so he gave birth to such a son, so he cherishes it very much.

It was in the afternoon at that time, and the nanny was holding a baby with a tiger hat on his head and a gold collar around his neck. Several maids were carrying a few plates with books, paper and pens, wooden knives and wooden swords on them. There are abacus, gold scales, and women's bellybands and other things.

It's clearly the first birthday banquet to catch Zhou'er.

Pan Jian, the second head of the Sanhe Gang, held up the wine cup with one hand, pinched the apron on the wooden plate with two fingers in the other hand, and said with a smile, "Brother, why did you ask someone to prepare the apron?"

"Haha, this bellyband is essential. If you grow up and don't know how to play with women, how can you pass it on to my old Li's family? My old Li's family has been passed down for three generations. It's hard to get this single seedling." Li Jinzhu put down the wine cup and greeted a In front of everyone in charge, he smiled.

The laughter was bold and resonant, and the flesh on his face trembled accordingly. His bald head was shiny and his complexion was dull, like a marinated egg.

I don’t know if it’s because Li Jinzhu did a lot of immoral things in the first half of his life. The aunt in the back house had more than 20 rooms and gave birth to six daughters in a row. It took more than a year to get the tofu Xishi Bai’s in Dongcheng before they gave birth. a son.

"Brother's treasured sword is not old, if you work harder, you will have ten or eight sons tomorrow. If nothing else, your daughter will have to have another, and you must gather a seven fairies." Five short tall men in brocade robes laughed and said.

The man is Huang Zhuo, the third head of the Sanhe Gang.

Li Jinzhu put down the wine cup heavily, and said with a big laugh, "Damn it, ten or eight sons, do you think I'm a stud?"

Everyone at one table laughed loudly, and the laughter spread to other tables, and they also laughed in agreement.

Han Ziping, the fourth master, smiled and said: "Brother, how about we discuss it in advance, my daughter Qiang'er, my eldest brother also saw her, she looks like her mother, she must be a beautiful woman in the future, she is three years old now, there is Dao is a third-year female junior, holding gold bricks, so why don't you make an extra kiss now, how about ordering a doll kiss for Hu Zi?"

The fourth master, Han Ziping, is in charge of the general ledger of the Sanhe Gang, and is usually taken as an arm by Li Dazhu.

At this time, a mid-mature woman in a pink skirt, Li Jiuniang, the fifth head of the family, said with a charming smile: "Fourth, your daughter is good, my daughter is not bad, she is five years old this year."

A table of big and small bosses all smiled and looked at the two of them.

Li Jinzhu's yellow eyes under his broken eyebrows were a little deep, and he smiled and said: "You are so small, you are all thinking about it, why don't both girls run away, and marry together when the tiger grows up!"

His son and his wife have to find an official family no matter what, otherwise they will fight and kill like him, and they will not be a leader.

When everyone in the hall heard the words, they roared with laughter.

Han Ziping smiled lightly, but picked up the wine cup and took a sip, his eyes lowered, if his daughter is a regular wife, it's fine, if she's a concubine, forget it.

And at this moment, a black-clothed gangster hurriedly came to the hall from outside the hall, with an ugly expression on his face, he whispered a few words in Li Jinzhu's ear.

Everyone cast their gazes in unison, but saw that the smile on Li Jinzhu's face quickly disappeared, his pupils shrank, and they didn't know what happened.

The third master Huang Zhuo's eyes flashed, and he laughed angrily, "Brother, what happened?"

"It's okay. The grain grains from all provinces in Beijing are coming soon. We'll discuss how to transport them to the official warehouse later." Li Jinzhu smiled and said, "Second, third, fourth, fifth, you guys come with me , Uncle Shou, you entertain everyone for me, and you must eat and drink well."

Several people looked at each other, knowing that something must have happened, they all got up from their seats and went towards the back hall one after another.

As soon as he entered the back hall, Li Jinzhu's face became gloomy, and he sat on the grand teacher's chair, and slapped the young couple suddenly, with a sound of "Boom!", several heads looked at each other in shock.

"Brother, what's the matter?" Pan Jian withdrew his smile, sat down on a stool beside him, and cast a questioning look.

Several heads also sat down one after another.

"Liu You of the Wucheng Bingma Division was captured." Li Jinzhu said coldly.

Han Ziping's complexion changed slightly when he heard the words, and he said, "Liu You, didn't elder brother just see him this morning? Could it be related to that incident!?"

Huang Zhuo frowned and said: "Probably yes, he suddenly looked for me in the morning, and asked to find some skilled people to take care of a small school in the Si Yazhong. I don't want to think that there are people behind the small school, there are people in the army. The people who guarded each other in secret, shot several brothers to death with hand crossbows."

Li Jinzhu looked solemn, and said in a deep voice: "It's from the Jia family. The person Liu You wants to beat is the cousin of the patriarch of the Jia family! Brothers, we have caused big trouble, and now they are coming for us!"

"The patriarch of the Jia family!" Pan Jian, the second head of the family, changed his face suddenly when he heard the words, and said in a surprised voice: "But the newly named General Yunhui, Jia Heng, the one who wrote the Three Kingdoms script?"

"Three Kingdoms Storybook? This...how did you offend him?" Huang Zhuo was startled, frowned and said, facing the strange eyes of the crowd, he smiled bitterly: "This is the one who has been the most popular in the last half month. Zhang Dayan, the group of thieves who flattened Cuihua Mountain, are now awarded nobles for their meritorious service, and they are in the limelight for a while. By the way, the Three Kingdoms that the elder brother asked to write the book the day before yesterday was written by blind man Qian!"

Blind Qian is not blind, he is just a one-eyed dragon who is blind in one eye. He often tells stories in the teahouse Fu Ming Lou. Recently, the Three Kingdoms was published. I have nowhere to go, how can I have spare money to buy scripts?

So Mr. Storyteller automatically filled this sinking market.

Sure enough, when Huang Zhuo talked about the manuscript of the Three Kingdoms, Li Jinzhu's face changed slightly, and he stared slightly: "Why is it him? I was just saying, which scholar wrote such an exciting book, let's see if he can be caught. Write a chapter, give him a meal, and quickly finish writing the chapters that follow.”

Everyone: "..."

"It's just what to do now? Don't say anything else, the people of the Jia family are not easy to provoke. Otherwise, go and ask that..." Han Ziping frowned and gave a thumbs up.

This is of course the eldest son of the emperor, His Royal Highness the King of Qi, who has now opened a mansion to oversee affairs and is in charge of the household affairs.

Li Jinzhu frowned and said, "That one can..."

However, at this moment, another servant came running from the outside, standing under the eaves, holding a letter in his hand, and said anxiously: "Master, a letter from Miss Chunxiang of Miaoyin Pavilion."

Li Jinzhu's face changed drastically, and he waved: "Hurry up and bring it here."

When the servant took the envelope, Li Jinzhu took the envelope, opened it and looked at it.

What caught my eye was the beautiful handwriting, which was the handwriting of Miss Chunxiang, the oiran of Miaoyin Pavilion.

"Brother, what did the letter say?" Huang Zhuo asked impatiently.

Li Jinzhu's face was covered with frost, and he said in a cold voice, "Look for yourself, that Brother Liu, you can't stay!"

As he spoke, he handed the letter to several people for circulation.

The content of the letter is very short, and it is also narrated in a woman's tone, but it reflects the will of a noble person!

His Royal Highness King Qi!

Get rid of Liu You, we can't let him live until tomorrow!

"This... But Liu You is in the Wucheng Bingma Division. If you want to do it... it's difficult." Han Ziping said with a frown.

Li Jinzhu yelled: "If it's difficult, we have to do it! Otherwise, Liu You knows too much. Once that person is involved, we won't have enough heads to chop off!"

As soon as Li Jinzhu's words came out, everyone's hearts trembled.

The reason why the Sanhe gang dominated other gangs and dominated the one-acre land in the east city was inseparable from the support of the prince.

Several masters exchanged winks, and they all saw a hint of cruelty in each other's eyes.

Liu You seemed unable to stay.

"Wucheng Bingmasi is easy to get in, but if you want to get in touch with Liu You, you need to have internal guidance. Otherwise, the brother of the third brother Leitang will be like a headless chicken if he goes in." Pan Jian frowned. .

The four halls of the Sanhe Gang were windy, thundery, and stormy. The wind hall was managed by Li Jinzhu himself, while the thunder hall was managed by Huang Zhuo. As for the rain hall and the electric hall, the second master Pan Jian and the fourth master Han Ziping were in charge.

This second leader is actually the think tank of the Three Rivers Gang, not Han Ziping who looks like a scholar.

Huang Zhuo said: "Qiu Liang's deputy commander, Feng Xiaolou, asked Liu You to connect with him last time, let go of one of my deacons, and charged us 3000 taels of silver. I'll wait to find him."

"Third brother, this matter must be done in a leak-proof manner, and the movement must be small, so as not to make a scene known to everyone." Li Jinzhu frowned and said, for some reason, he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

"Brother, don't worry, we are all old enough to do this kind of thing, so we will be safe." Huang Zhuo said, patting his chest.

Li Jinzhu nodded and said: "In addition, let the brothers be more honest recently, and those brothers who beat someone, the family is 1000 taels of silver, hurry up and run out of the city!"

"Brother is talking about the family members of those brothers who are gone?"

"Not only those few, but also the bosses and family members who were originally in contact with Liu You were all given money, and they were asked to hide in the capital for the past two days, and they were sent to several counties under Jingzhao. Don't come back." Li Jinzhu's tiger eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice.

For half of his life in the rivers and lakes, apart from being brave and ruthless, he relied on four words, steady and cautious.

Han Ziping nodded and said, "Brother, I'll arrange it."

Li Jinzhu said: "Fourth brother, I can rest assured that you are doing things."

Han Ziping himself is in charge of the gang's financial account books, so if he withdraws silver, he cannot avoid this accountant.

After instructing the brothers, Li Jinzhu also put away the seriousness on his face, touched his bald head, and said with a laugh: "Okay, you should eat and drink in the front yard, don't take anything to heart, Ma Le I don’t know, I thought something big happened in the gang, why did the heads of the family run to the backyard.”

Several people laughed loudly, and the haze in their hearts seemed to be dispelled by the laughter.

……

……

The night was shrouded in silence.

The deathly wind lamp under the eaves of the soldiers and horses of the five cities swayed with the autumn wind, and the six soldiers guarding the gate all tightened their sleeves.

As soon as autumn comes to Shenjing City, there is a large temperature difference between day and night, and it is still sweltering at noon, but at night, when the cool air cools down, you need to add cotton clothes.

"Brothers, it's windy right now, go inside and drink to warm yourself up." At this time, the deputy conductor Feng Xiaolou, who was on duty, came out of the room and said with a smile.

A few soldiers showed signs of moving, but they were still worried.

"Commander Feng, Mr. Jia just took office, don't..."

"He went home early and slept with his mother-in-law in his arms. How could he know this! Besides, who can come to this military department? The government is a heavy place. Who dares to trespass, my useless son has just booked a marriage, and I feel happy , prepared some food and wine, let’s all go in and have fun.” Feng Xiaolou laughed.

Hearing the words, several soldiers looked at each other, just smiled and congratulated, hooked their shoulders, and followed Deputy Commander Feng into the Wucheng Bingma Si Yazhong.

And as soon as the few people left, seven or eight members of the Sanhe Gang in black night clothes and black veils wrapped their faces slipped into the Wucheng Bingma Siya with the open gate.

At this moment, on the roof of an inn called Zhang's Old Inn not far from the Siya of Bingma in Wucheng, Cai Quan said to the brocade-clothed boy in a black cloak beside him: "Sure enough, you are here."

In the evening, Jia Heng left Wucheng Bingmasi, but secretly sent a carriage to transfer Liu You and Mr. Fan out, and then waited here.

Jia Heng was wearing a big cloak, looking at Wucheng Bingmasi a hundred steps away in the distance, for some reason, he wanted to smoke a cigarette, but since he didn't have any paper cigarettes at this time, he could only say in a deep voice: "Give Shen Yan a haircut." The trumpet, the fish is hooked!"

As soon as Cai Quan obeyed, he gave orders to the two soldiers of the Beijing camp behind him.

With a whoosh, the fireworks flew towards Wucheng Bingmasi and exploded in mid-air.

In the alleys and alleys around Wucheng Bingmasi, black soldiers came out and rushed towards the gate.

"Let's go, let's go down too!" Jia Heng said in a deep voice, also beckoning Cai Quan, and went down the high place.

As for the soldiers and horses of the Five Cities in the Yamen, the members of the Sanhe Gang, who had just entered the courtyard and were about to run to the cell in the southeast corner, were startled when they heard the sound of a trumpet in the quiet night.

The tall and tall man in black at the head just raised his hand, signaling the people behind him to stop and listen to the movement.

"Wei Duozhu, why do I feel something is wrong?" Someone in the black clothes said.

That Wei Ruozhu said in a low voice: "No, this is a trick!"

At this time, the torches were lit on the four walls, and the sound of shouting and killing from the government office was very clear in the quiet night, and it also made Feng Xiaolou, the deputy commander of Zhongcheng who was inviting a few soldiers to drink in the courtyard next door. The color changes suddenly.

"Where is the sound of killing?" The soldiers who were drinking all stood up in unison, their eyes uncertain.

At this time, the sound of metal and iron clashing of weapons in the courtyard also sounded, as well as the sound of killing and screaming.

Feng Xiaolou's complexion changed, he pulled out the Yanling Saber from his waist, and said, "Let's go, brothers, go out and see the situation..."

However, as soon as I brought a few soldiers to the eaves of the corridor, I saw a few lanterns raised at the moon gate, and a dozen soldiers from the Wucheng Bingma Division were reflected.

Shen Yan said: "Where is Deputy Commander Feng going?"

Feng Xiaolou's heart trembled, but his expression did not change. He asked, "Deputy Commander Shen, there are thieves breaking into the office outside, starting a fight?"

"Deputy Commander Feng, the thieves you attracted come to ask me?" Shen Yan said with a sneer.

Feng Xiaolou's expression changed drastically, and he said, "Shen, what do you mean?"

Shen Yan sneered, and shouted: "What do you mean, someone, take this beast! Give it to Lord Jia later!"

Following Shen Yan's deep drinking, the soldiers behind him took it towards Feng Xiaolou, and the soldiers guarding the gate were confused for a moment and did not dare to act rashly.

Feng Xiaolou didn't know that he had been exposed, and walked towards the house with the Yanling knife in his hand, cursing: "Shen, you want my old Feng's head, you are not qualified! I will see who dares to come here!"

As he spoke, he waved the Yanling Saber in his hand, threatening the soldiers.

Shen Yan looked at Feng Xiaolou who was holding the knife and frowned. After all, he was the deputy commander. It was not a small matter to be ruthless and really hurt his subordinates. His eyes flashed, and he sneered: "Deputy commander Feng , as an ex-colleague, I would like to advise you, think about your family members before you act violently! It is a serious crime for you to collude with bandits! If you still dare to kill officers and soldiers, it is tantamount to rebellion! Your son is just engaged, you say if you are arrested Into the prison, this life, is it over?"

"You...you are despicable!" Feng Xiaolou hesitated for a moment, but was knocked down by several soldiers of Wucheng Bingmasi and fell to the ground.

"Tie it up first!" Shen Yan shouted heavily.

At this time, the shouts of killing in the courtyard were also a little weaker.

At this time, Jia Heng, also under the retinue of Cai Quan and other soldiers of the Beijing camp, entered the Si Ya compound.

The surrounding lights were brightly lit, bloodstains could be seen on the ground, and a bloody smell rose up.

After all, he was a member of a gang, and his desperate fight under the wall still caused some casualties.

At this moment, a military officer with the appearance of a hundred households clasped his fists and said, "Report to Mr. Jia, five of the eight thieves died, two were captured alive, and one was seriously injured."

Jia Heng nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Let's take it to the official hall first, and the officer will interrogate overnight."

(End of this chapter)