Chapter 15 Between Life and Death

"Your Highness, Zhang Rang cannot be arrested, otherwise the Prince of Yan's Mansion will completely offend the Zhang family. Read М"

In the guest hall of the Prince's Mansion, Dong An tried hard to persuade them.

Although they wanted to use the Prince's Mansion to contain the Zhang family.

But they didn't want to be at odds with the Zhang family.

After all, the Zhang family was powerful, and if they really broke up, they might not be able to win.

Yang He and Lu Chang nodded frequently.

The commotion in Tianxiang Tower was not small, and the news quickly spread throughout the small Yancheng.

Liu Fu and Chang Wei also rushed back to the Prince's Mansion after hearing the news.

"Can't be arrested, why can't we arrest her? That woman is not a servant of the Zhang family. According to the law of Dasong, those who kill without reason should be beheaded. In my opinion, Your Highness has arrested her well, and it's a pleasure!" Chang Wei stared at Dong An and the other two with a pair of tiger eyes.

When he heard the news, he was in the North Camp.

At that time, he shouted, "Good."

The soldiers of the Royal Guards knew about it, and they were all excited.

In recent years, who dared to touch the people of the Zhang family in Yan County.

The King of Yan made a move, which excited the people. For them, there was finally someone in Yan County who could control the Zhang family.

Although Liu Fu was happy, he was the King's tutor of the palace after all, and he had to consider the overall situation.

Naturally, he could not be as reckless as the soldiers like Chang Wei.

He said: "Your Highness, if you do this, you will offend the Zhang family to death. I am afraid that he will obstruct the affairs of the palace in the future, which will not be worth the loss."

Zhao Xu did not speak after hearing this, but turned to Dong An and the other two.

Said: "Today's lunch, the king is very satisfied. The royal family's personal army is currently lacking military uniforms. I wonder if you three families can supply them to the palace."

Military uniforms are not armor, they only need to be woven and sewn. It would take time to do it yourself. It is better to give them to the three families, and you can further win them over.

"No problem." Dong An immediately put Zhang Rang's matter behind his head and was very happy.

The King of Yan agreed with them.

Zhao Xu continued, "There will be a lot of business in the future, and there will be many opportunities for cooperation."

Yang Heqiang said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Highness. My Yang family will follow the lead of the palace."

"Our Lu family is the same." Lu Chang clasped his fists.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly. He just listened to this, and the details depended on their actions.

"Today's matter will not involve your three families. You can go back and don't worry. Also, don't disclose the palace courtyard and the palace's affairs for the time being."

The three looked at each other. Although they didn't understand why Zhao Xu mentioned the courtyard, they still said yes.

After the three people bowed, they left the guest hall.

When the three people walked away, Zhao Xu's eyes became sharp.

He asked the three people not to mention the courtyard in order to test them.

Whether they really want to rely on the palace will probably depend on tonight.

Then, he said to Liu Fu and Chang Wei, "Do you know Qingfeng Village?"

"Qingfeng Village?" Liu Fu's face changed slightly when he heard this, "I know, I heard from people in Yan County that Qingfeng Village is a group of very brutal bandits in Yan County."

Chang Wei nodded, "It is said that because of the annual invasion of the Northern Di people, many people either rely on the nobles or become bandits. This Qingfeng Village is one of them, and it is said that there are thousands of desperate people under its command."

"Yeah." Zhao Xu's heart sank.

On the way back, he read the note, which read: Tonight, the Zhang family colluded with Qingfeng Village to attack the palace at night.

"Look at this." He showed the note to the two.

Chang Wei and Liu Fu were both surprised, "Your Highness, what's the matter with this note?"

Zhao Xu then told the story of the singer.

"It's really strange. First, Zhang Rang killed a singer, and now another singer sent a note to expose the Zhang family's conspiracy. This Tianxiang Tower is really a small temple with a big evil wind." Liu Fu frowned.

Zhao Xu nodded. He didn't care who the singer was. The most important thing at the moment was the content on the note. "It's better to believe it than not to believe it."

In the chaotic world where human life is as cheap as a dog, the power struggle is often extremely cruel. He absolutely believes that the Zhang family can do it.

The gate guard of Yancheng is the responsibility of the county soldiers.

And the county soldiers are under the control of the three families headed by the Zhang family.

It's easy for them to deliberately let the people of Qingfeng Village in.

"What a trick to kill someone with a borrowed knife, and take advantage of the fact that your highness's personal army has not yet formed combat power. If there is no help, I'm afraid..." Chang Wei was very brave.

At this time, he was also scared and sweated.

"Your Highness, you'd better leave the palace quickly. Save your life now." Liu Fu was also panicked.

He couldn't help but panic.

The notoriety of Qingfeng Village is known to everyone in Yan County. There are desperate people inside.

How can the 100 guards of the palace resist these bandits?

Chang Wei likes to be straightforward, but he is not brainless.

He said: "Your Highness, you can't stay in the palace. Where can you go if you just leave? There are spies of the Zhang family everywhere in Yan County. Moreover, without the emperor's order, the princes are not allowed to leave their fiefdoms, otherwise it will be regarded as treason, which is a taboo."

Zhao Xu nodded, "The Zhang family has us in their hands. In this case, let's just use their tricks against them."

"Use their tricks against them?"

Chang Wei and Liu Fu looked at each other and then looked at Zhao Xu.

Walking slowly to the door, he said: "Chang Wei, go to the personal army to dispatch 500 of the strongest young men to carry food and grass, and then do this..."

Chang Wei listened carefully, and his originally frowned brows gradually relaxed.

When Zhao Xu finished speaking, he clasped his fists heavily, "I will go right away."

Liu Fu exclaimed, "Your Highness is wise. Tonight, I'm sure the Zhang family will lose more than they gain."

Zhao Xu looked in the direction of the Zhang family and sighed, "But the Zhang family is so vicious that if they are not eliminated, they will be a great threat to the palace."

Liu Fu had the same worry.

Now the palace is in the open, and the Zhang family is in the dark.

They can plan this assassination, and they can continue to plan the next assassination.

"That's true, but if we act rashly, I'm afraid they will be desperate and rebel, and the palace's personal army has just been established and has not yet been formed, so it may be difficult to resist." Liu Fu hurriedly advised.

He was afraid that Zhao Xu would be impulsive and ruin his big plan.

After all, the King of Yan had just recovered a few days ago. Although he won some people's hearts, he was only a small group of people in Yan County.

The palace's personal army was all new recruits, and their military spirit and morale were not very reliable.

In addition, the private soldiers of the three families of Zhang, Huang, and Du are said to have more than 20,000 people.

This does not include the county soldiers of Yan County.

"This king understands."

Zhao Xu knew his own weight. He had only been here for four or five days.

It was a bit of a pipe dream to think that he could destroy the number one noble family in Yan County based on the commotion he had made in four or five days.

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and your enemy will lead to victory in every battle.

He didn't even know where the forts of the Zhang, Huang, and Du families were? How many soldiers were in the forts? How many cavalry and infantry were there? How strong were they? How could he destroy these three families?

However, although he couldn't destroy the three families, he didn't have to be afraid of them.

If he said that before the Royal Guards were recruited, he was a fish that the Zhang family could slaughter.

Now, he has some capital.

Moreover, the Zhang family obviously didn't dare to raise troops against him when they played such a shady trick, and everyone was worried.

In this case, let's fight and see who will win!

Thinking of this, he said, "The Zhang family has a plan to make me uncomfortable today, and tomorrow I will have a plan to make the Zhang family uncomfortable."

"Oh? If so, I hope your plan will succeed tonight, otherwise..." Liu Fu said in surprise, and then choked up, "Although I have only been with your highness for a few days, I can feel that your highness is a wise master. Even if your highness goes to the Yama Palace, I will follow him."

Zhao Xu heard this and sprayed a mouthful of tea on Liu Fu's face, "A dog can't spit out ivory, how can I die so easily."

Liu Fu wiped his face, "Die, what do you mean?"

Zhao Xu was too lazy to pay attention to him, and kicked him on the butt, "Get out."

Liu Fu left, and the smile on Zhao Xu's face gradually disappeared.

In the past, he had only seen these power struggles in TV dramas and books, and only after experiencing them personally did he know how dangerous they were.

But he had nothing else but the unstoppable momentum.

Let him be a ghost, and he was not afraid of anything.

…

Zhang Family.

Zhang Qian and Zhang Kang sat opposite each other in the pavilion in the courtyard, drinking with candlelight.

“Brother, Rang’er is also in the palace now, is it really okay?”

“No problem, I have specifically told the people in Qingfeng Village that they will not hurt Rang’er, and when the King of Yan dies, Rang’er can come back.” Zhang Qian was very proud.

A few days ago, the Zhang family carried boxes of silver, bags of grain, and stacks of land deeds to the palace, and he was distressed every night.

Now these properties will be back soon, don’t mention how happy he is.

Zhang Kang nodded, “Brother, it’s really right to help Qingfeng Village’s second in command Pang Kun kill the first in command Zhou Jie. I didn’t expect it to come in handy today.”

Zhang Qian was even more proud. No one in Yan County would have thought that Qingfeng Village would obey the Zhang family’s orders.

He smiled and said, "Originally, this Qingfeng Village was used to deal with the three families of Dong, Yang, and Lu. Since the King of Yan is becoming more and more annoying, it doesn't matter if we use it on him first."

Looking up at the rising waning moon in the east, he said, "At midnight, the King of Yan's Mansion will disappear."

"Hahaha..." Zhang Kang laughed heartily.

The new Wang Fu, a lowly man from a poor family, still wants to be superior to him. It's just a dream.

He raised his glass to toast Zhang Qian, and then remembered something, and said, "My foolish brother heard that a team of the Wangfu's personal soldiers went to the Wangfu today. It won't go wrong. If it fails this time, the Wangfu will be on guard, and it will be difficult in the future."

"Don't worry, the people watching said that they just went to clean up the Wangfu and went back in the evening."

"That's good." Zhang Kang was relieved, "After cleaning up the Wangfu, and then cleaning up the three families of Dong, Yang, and Lu, we can monopolize the majority of ice sales, and then our strength will be further improved."

Zhang Qian's heart warmed up when he heard this.

In the Great Song Dynasty, there were also differences in status among the nobles, and people like them could basically only serve as officials in their own counties.

But if they were stronger, they would be qualified to serve as officials in the prefectures or even the capital.

"Prince Yan, Prince Yan, you are really the lucky star of our Zhang family. You gave us this great gift after you recovered from your illness, but it's a pity that you threatened our interests." Zhang Qian shook his head and sneered.

...

In the dark sky, the moon climbed higher and higher.

Midnight came quietly.

When everything was silent, many people in night clothes suddenly emerged from the dark corners of Yancheng.

They met on the street and then went to the palace with shining swords.

"Boss, the middle courtyard is where the palace is, and the two courtyards on the left and right are empty."

Three men in black hid in the corner to discuss.

"Well, take a dozen brothers to the main gate and lead away the guards at the main gate of the palace." The man in black in the middle said to the one on the left.

He was Pang Kun, the leader of Qingfeng Village.

Then he said to the one on the right: "You, take your people to the middle courtyard and watch over the money and grain. The rest of you, follow me to the backyard bedroom and kill the King of Yan."

The two nodded and each took their own people.

At this time, Pang Kun led the remaining 300 people to climb into the empty courtyard on the right, climbed over a wall, and entered the palace.

When he came to the backyard, Pang Kun saw the flickering lights in the bedroom, as if there were three people sitting in front of the lights, and laughed obscenely: "The King of Yan is really interested. I heard that the two maids of the King of Yan are very beautiful. Maybe you can taste them tonight."

The black-clothed people around heard this and immediately laughed evilly.

"Kill in! Leave the two maids alive first." Pang Kun shouted.

Dozens of black-clothed people behind him rushed straight to the bedroom.

Pang Kun folded his arms, looking relaxed, thinking: Why do we need 500 people for such a small matter? The Zhang family is too cautious.