This small courtyard of Yu Shi's family is located in a remote place in the east of the city.
There are only two rooms in a small courtyard, and the house looks very old.
It can be seen that the family background is very ordinary and they live a tight life. This is the life of a sixth-rank official in the imperial court.
This was even after Li Xiao abolished the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes and distributed silver to all officials.
If the treasure banknotes are still issued as before, the life of the officials will be even harder.
Of course, except for officials in the capital.
A new salary system has already been implemented there.
At this moment, there was a violent storm outside, and the candlelight in the room was dimly lit, illuminating the room. Lying on the bed was a beautiful woman with a pale face. It looked like she had been ill for a long time.
This is Yu Shi’s wife. She has been suffering from a cough for many years, and even visiting famous doctors has not been able to cure her.
"Madam, the imperial master gave me medicine today. Please swallow it with water. Your illness should be cured soon."
Yu Shi handed the medicine to his wife and helped her up, with tenderness in his eyes.
"My lord, my illness has been cured after seeing so many doctors. If it really doesn't work, just leave me alone. After I die, you can find another woman to take care of you."
Yu Shi's wife took the medicine, looked at Yu Shi and said, she didn't want to be a burden.
"What's the word?"
Yu Shi was also an infatuated man. He said sternly: "You are my first wife. You have been with me since you were fourteen. I have been sorry for you all these years and have made you suffer so much. This time you will Don’t worry, the Imperial Master is a master of medicine, and there have long been rumors among the people that he can definitely cure diseases with medicine.”
"ah"
Mrs. Yu Shi nodded: "Then why did the Imperial Master suddenly help our family? Could it be that he wanted you to do something for him? I was buying vegetables at the vegetable market the day before yesterday, and now the whole city is talking about the Imperial Master, saying that he kills without blinking an eye. Devil."
Yu Shi sighed and said, "I don't know who this Imperial Master is, but I heard that the two sages relied heavily on the Imperial Master, and even gave him the Shangfang Sword, and even made empty promises. I think these two sages are talented and have great plans, and they will not be mistaken. That’s right, ma’am, just relax and recuperate, and don’t worry about other things.”
Mrs. Yu Shi said: "I am a drag on my husband. All these years of treating my illness have exhausted the money. Otherwise, you can move around more than your superiors, and you can take another step forward in the officialdom and realize your ambitions."
Yu Shi said: "Even if you are healthy and have plenty of money at home, I still disdain to collude with those people in the officialdom. By the way, the Imperial Preceptor said he wanted me to work for him secretly. This is true. He said he wanted to purge Official ethos.”
Mrs. Yu Shi was shocked and said, "Ms. sir, you have to be more careful."
Yu Shi nodded, "I know."
Boom——
There was a loud thunder outside, lighting up the entire window.
Under the background of the thunder, Yu Shi's wife saw a figure outside the window, holding a sharp weapon in her hand. She couldn't help but turn pale and said: "Oh no, husband, I seem to see someone outside. Could it be that someone is coming to harm us?" His life is here."
Hearing this, Yu Shi was startled and quickly turned his head to look out the window.
It was already dark outside. After a few breaths, lightning struck again, reflections appeared on the windows, and he also saw human figures.
"No, there really is a madam. You hide in bed and don't come out. I'll go out and take a look."
Yu Shi was so frightened that he sweated profusely and hurriedly asked his wife to hide.
"Mr., it's better not to go. It's dangerous. Let's run away."
"How can we escape from such a heavy rain? Madam, please feel at ease."
With that said, Yu Shi picked up the wooden stick from home and slowly moved towards the door. He kept taking deep breaths and adjusting his breathing rhythm.
If he had to escape, he could indeed escape through the back window now.
But his wife was too weak to escape, so he couldn't leave her alone.
"Damn it, I offended the minister during the day. Could it be that he sent someone to kill me?"
Yu Shi's palms became sweaty, he clenched the wooden stick in his hand, and thought to himself: "Blessings come from disasters, and misfortunes come from blessings. Madam, this elixir is not that easy to get, but since I, Yu Shi, took over the Imperial Master's Pill, no regrets!”
He gritted his teeth, suddenly kicked the door open, and shouted: "Thieves, suffer death!"
Boom——
The sound of thunder and lightning sounded again, illuminating the scene in the yard.
Yu Shi was stunned. The bodies of two men in black lay on the ground, covered with blood stains and stained by the rain.
At this time, there were two people carrying the body of the man in black and walking towards the outside of the courtyard. It was obvious that these two people were not part of the man in black. A fight had just occurred here.
The two were stunned when they heard this voice, and turned to look at Yu Shi.
"who are you."
Yu Shi shouted tremblingly, "I'm not afraid of you."
One of the men in black said: "You saw me, but you don't have to be afraid. We are here to protect you. These two dead people are the ones who want to take your life."
"Protect me."
Yu Shi looked at the corpse on the ground, then looked at the two people, and understood everything, "Are you from the National Preceptor?"
The man smiled and said: "You are quite smart. It's good to know that since the imperial master has won over you, he will protect you. You can do things with peace of mind. No one in Nanjing can hurt you."
After saying that, without stopping too much, he jumped out with the two bodies on his back and jumped directly out of the yard. His kung fu was amazing.
Yes, these are the people Li Xiao sent to protect him and win over him.
Li Xiao knew that this officialdom was very dark, and now it had touched the interests of many people, and things that harmed people's lives would definitely happen.
This is ancient times, there is no surveillance, killing and silence, as long as it is done cleanly, it is usually impossible to find out who did it, and there are often people raising dead people, so we have to be on guard.
"Thank you, Imperial Master!!!"
Yu Shi knelt on the ground and bowed in the direction where the two people left.
Then returned to the room.
After closing the door, Yu Shi felt a sense of fear.
If the Imperial Master had not sent someone to protect him, he and his wife would probably have died.
But soon he felt reassured. The imperial master was so thoughtful and sent people to protect him. For a moment, Yu Shi was extremely moved.
"Ms. sir, what happened?"
Yu Shi's wife asked anxiously.
"Madam, someone did want to assassinate us just now."
Yu Shi told what happened just now.
After hearing this, Yu Shi's wife said gratefully: "Ms. sir, I feel that the Imperial Master is not as demonic as the rumors in the market say. On the contrary, I think he is a good person."
Yu Yong nodded vigorously: "Yes, this Imperial Master does have some abilities. I was a little worried at first. He wooed me in public during the day, which is actually very detrimental to me. It turns out that he has made detailed arrangements for this."
He said with a determined expression: "The Imperial Master trusts me so much that I am willing to do my best for him!"
In the south of Nanjing, in the meeting hall of the military camp.
Sixteen corpses were placed on the ground. These were the sixteen killers sent by Zhao Jingkun. All of them had been intercepted and killed by Li Xiao's people.
Liu Dakai reported: "The head of the family originally wanted to leave a few alive, but these people all had poison in their mouths. When the matter was exposed, they all committed suicide."
Li Xiao nodded slightly.
Li Jinglong, who was sitting next to Li Xiao, slapped the table and said angrily: "It's too rampant. They recruit during the day and assassinate at night. These people are so audacious! We must find out who did it and execute them directly."
Li Xiao smiled and said: "Jinglong, since these people dare to release the killer, they don't have to worry about finding themselves. By the way, Liu Dakai, how are these people skilled?"
Liu Dakaihui reported: "They are all a group of dead soldiers, and they don't look like they can be raised by officials. They are highly skilled in martial arts and have been honed as murderous weapons since childhood."
People like Liu Dakai are his very important intelligence department. Over the years, he has compiled all the martial arts that he has systematically taught and let these people practice martial arts all day long. Now they have extraordinary martial arts skills, otherwise they would not be able to take on this important responsibility.
In addition, in addition to Liu Dakai's intelligence organization, this time he also deployed his trump card "Tianmen" to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
Li Xiao frowned slightly and said in surprise: "Where did these people come from? It's really strange."
Liu Dakai took a knife, pried open one of the people's mouths, and said: "Master, these people have all had their tongues cut out. Their behavior seems to be like the dark network organization that was active more than ten years ago. They kidnapped young children from people's homes. Cut off the tongue and start cultivating it from an early age.”
"What? All their tongues were cut out?"
Li Xiao was startled, then squatted down to investigate, and sure enough, he said: "It is undoubtedly the dark web! Unexpectedly, after all these years, this dark web has surfaced again! Back then, these people robbed the people who were sent to the court. Millions of taels of tax money have not been recovered so far. Unexpectedly, they will appear in Nanjing again. Why would they cooperate with the aristocratic family? Could it be?"
After thinking about it for a while, Li Xiao finally clarified his thoughts, "I see, Leiyu will talk to Mr. Liang. It's none other than someone from the dark web. Liang is the homophone of Liang. Isn't it the first word of Liang Guogong? Lan Jade’s remnants! What are they going to do?”
Liu Dakai lost countenance and said: "Cholera has spread all over the world!"
With a bang, Li Xiao slapped the table and said, "That's right, they want cholera to spread across the world!"
Li Jinglong said excitedly: "Damn it, now that the world is at peace and the seas and rivers are clear, this remnant of Lan Yu actually wants to bring chaos to the world. He should be punished!"
Li Xiao sat down slowly and said: "So, the craftsmen in the capital were secretly taken away by these people. Maybe the flintlock guns have been distributed to the heads of the families now. They are eager for us to fight and fish in troubled waters."
Li Jinglong said: "Then what should we do next?"
Li Xiao smiled and said: "Just wait and see what happens."
After finishing speaking, he looked at Liu Dakai and said: "Dakai, you continue to secretly protect those people and don't let them die. If one of them dies, I'm afraid no one will dare to do anything for me, Li Xiao, and their evil plot will succeed. These corpses have been taken away for disposal.”
"Yes!" Liu Dakai nodded, and then called someone to move the body away.
Li Jinglong looked at the corpse on the ground, then looked at Li Xiao and said: "Master, is this the assassination incident for now? Let them go so easily? I guess it was a group of officials from aristocratic families in the imperial court who did it."
Li Xiao smiled and said, "Do you know who it is?"
Li Jinglong shook his head, "I'm not sure about this."
Li Xiaodao: "There is no conclusive evidence. It is not appropriate to take action for the time being and wait and see what happens. However, if their assassination failed, we know that our national division is well prepared and there are many experts around it. They will be honest for a while. By the way, Jinglong , how is your taking over the Nanjing City garrison going these days? This matter is very important."
Li Jinglong said: "The garrison took over very smoothly, which was a bit unexpected. It turns out that Huazhong often bullies the sergeants and secretly deducts food and pay. The soldiers have long complained about him. I got 50,000 taels of silver after ransacking Huazhong's house. After I took over, , I used the money to reward the sergeants, make up for the previous debts, and win people's hearts. Several other generals were also attracted by me. They were the sons of my father's subordinates in the past. In addition, I placed some of the Cixi Guard generals I brought with me, and I was able to completely master."
Li Xiao nodded and smiled: "That's good. In this way, the 30,000 defenders will be at my disposal, and we will have more chips in our hands. After the matter is completed, I will report your achievements one by one to Your Majesty. It will definitely be rewarded.”
Li Jinglong cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Imperial Master!"
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and the two of them fell silent immediately.
Li Jinglong said: "Who?"
"Father, it's me."
The speaker was Li Jinglong’s daughter Li Ruxin.
"Come in."
After Li Ruxin opened the door and entered, Li Jinglong said: "Ruxin, if you don't stay at home, why are you here in the middle of the night?"
There were rough guys in the military camp, so after arriving in Nanjing, Li Ruxin went back to live in Cao Guogong's mansion. In addition, Li Jinglong also sent a hundred soldiers to protect her.
Li Ruxin bowed and said: "Father, Cao Guogong's palace is so big, and my daughter lives alone, and she is extremely bored all day long. I think my daughter wants to live here."
Li Jinglong frowned and said impatiently: "I asked you not to come, but you come anyway. How can women be allowed to live in this military camp? It's just nonsense. You can simply take the train back to Peiping tomorrow. I'll ask your mother to tell you about her family as soon as possible. You can get married."
When she heard that her father asked her to return to Peking, Li Ruxin's eyes turned red, "Father, please don't drive your daughter away. My daughter doesn't want to get married, she just wants to serve her father."
"You girl, you are really getting wilder."
Li Jinglong stood up angrily and was about to teach him a lesson when Li Xiao hurriedly pulled him back and said with a smile: "Since my niece doesn't want to leave, why do you have to force her to stay in this military camp? There is no rule in this military camp that she cannot stay. Female relatives.”
After saying that, Li Xiao looked at Li Ruxin and said: "Niece, I will help you make this master, you can stay here."
Li Ruxin looked at Li Xiao gratefully, "Thank you, Uncle Li."
Li Xiao waved his hand and ordered: "Here, bring Qiushui, Furong, Xia He, and Haitang."
Not long after, four people came into the room. They were dressed like noble men, with beautiful and fair faces. They were about fourteen or fifteen years old. They were dressed as men.
The new generation organization cultivated by Li Xiao: Tianmen.
Only he and Zhu Ningyun knew about this organization. Even Liu Dakai didn't know the origins of these people. He only knew that they were the family head's cronies.
The twelve generals of Tianmen: eight male generals and four female generals.
The twelve generals each have their own strengths and are proficient in at least two of the arts of war, Confucianism, martial arts, trade, arithmetic, medicine, and painting.
These people took in orphans who almost died during the famine, and selected the talented seedlings from them and began to train them.
Qiushui, Furong, Xia He, and Haitang are the four female generals of Tianmen.
This time the twelve generals came out in full force to bring them out for training.
This time to protect the officials who were attracted by him, the eight male generals of Tianmen were also involved.
The woman at the head, with a peach-like face and watery eyes, was Shu Jiang Qiu Shui. She was very good at arithmetic and had extraordinary martial arts skills. She held up her hands and said: "Master, please give me your instructions."
Li Xiao ordered: "This girl Li Ruxin is the daughter of Cao Guogong, and her status is extremely noble. She will live in the military camp next. The four of you will accompany her and protect her."
The four female generals cupped their hands and said, "Yes."
Qiu Shui looked at Li Ruxin kindly and said with a smile: "Miss Li Ruxin, that's great. The four of us will have a new partner."
"This" Li Jinglong couldn't sit still.
Li Xiao smiled and explained: "Don't panic, Duke Cao. These four are all girls, disguised as men, and they are my attendants. In this way, you can feel at ease living in the army, right?"
When he heard that it was a woman, Li Jinglong breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, Imperial Master."
After saying that, he looked at his daughter and said, "Daughter, I still haven't thanked you, Uncle Li."
Li Ruxin nodded informatively: "Thank you, Uncle Li."
Then, she looked at Qiushui and the other four, and found that they were all smiling and very easy to get along with.
After introducing each other, they held hands, smiled and left chattering.
'These four women are extraordinary.'
Li Jinglong's eyes swept over the four women. Not only were they outstanding in appearance, but they were also restrained in strength. They all seemed to have martial arts skills, and they were by no means as simple as Li Xiao's attendants.
How many trump cards does the National Master have?
"Mr. Cao Guo, what are you thinking about?"
"Ah, I didn't think anything of it, it's just that my daughter is too disobedient."
Li Jinglong retracted his thoughts and smiled to cover up his embarrassment.
"You can't stay in college if you're a female."
Li Xiao laughed: "I think Cao Guogong's daughter is now fourteen, and it's time to find a good match for him."
Li Jinglong said: "I thought about it too, but in order to find a suitable family, this daughter looked at several young men but couldn't like her."
Li Xiao stretched out three fingers and said, "Dong Guo Cao knows that I, Li Xiao, have three major hobbies."
Li Jinglong said: "I know a little bit about it. The first one is doting on my wife, which is known all over the world. The second one is good poetry. I have heard famous poems and terms throughout the ages. I don't know about the third one."
Li Xiao said with a smile: "The third thing is that I like to be matchmakers and promote good marriages. I hope that all lovers in the world will eventually get married. This is my biggest wish, Li Xiao."
Li Jinglong was shocked, thinking that Li Xiao was a model husband of the Ming Dynasty, the dream of millions of girls in the Ming Dynasty, but he was weak, and he only loved Princess Yong'an.
Hearing this, the Imperial Master wanted to act as a matchmaker for him.
If you can make Li Xiao talk about matchmaking, how can it be bad?
Thinking of this, Li Jinglong hurriedly said: "Please also ask the Duke to tell my little daughter that she will be a son-in-law by riding a dragon."
Li Xiao picked up the teacup and smiled slightly: "That's exactly what I meant."
Li Jinglong said: "The Imperial Master must have someone in mind, who is it?"
Li Xiao said: "Far away in the horizon and close in front of you. Yu Qian."
The reason why he said this was that Li Xiao knew that Yu Qian would definitely become a talented person in the future, but he had no background and a weak foundation. In the end, he saved the country but lost his life. If he can marry Cao Guogong's daughter, he will be in the court and have a family and village behind him.
"Yu Qian?"
Li Jinglong thought of this person and said in surprise: "In this way, this person is quite good. He strives to be the first in everything and is quite ambitious. It's just that his background is a bit poor."
Li Xiao raised his forehead and teased: "Mr. Cao Guo, you just got your title back, so you start to dislike the poor and love the rich so soon?"
Li Jinglong said hurriedly: "Master, I am foolish. The master was just a farmer back then, but now he is the master of the Ming Dynasty. Is Yu Qian really a son-in-law riding a dragon?"
Li Xiao said with a smile: "Of course, Yu Qian is just sixteen this year, and your girl is fourteen. This age is just right, he is talented and beautiful. He is only sixteen, and he can come second in the national examination. It shows that he has superior intelligence. You have also seen it during this period. This person strives to be the first in everything, never lags behind, has great ambitions and great ambitions, and is definitely not a thing in the pool. I want to cultivate him well, so that when I get old, there will be someone to succeed him."
hiss.
Li Jinglong didn't expect that Li Xiao had such a high opinion of Qian.
To be honest, Li Jinglong didn't see that Yu Qian was very powerful. He didn't listen to the previous words, but he did listen to the last sentence.
The Imperial Master wants to train Yu Qian. Are you talking about having a successor?
What does it mean?
In the future, if he is not a national master, he will at least be a chief assistant.
"Hahaha, the Imperial Master has a sharp eye and knows people, I am not as good as him."
Li Jinglong said excitedly: "I, Li Jinglong, will decide on this marriage."
Li Xiao nodded slightly, children can be taught!
(End of chapter)
