Chapter 547 Emergency Report

Anping Inn in Jidefang is the largest and most complex inn in Luoyang. Hundreds of people from all walks of life live in this inn. No one knows their origins, and no one cares about them.

Next to the room on the second floor where Xu Shiji lived, a very strong man moved in half a month ago. He was Zhang Jue from that year.

Three years ago, after the fall of Anyang City, Zhang Jue escaped with his superb martial arts. He wrote a letter to his niece Zhang Qiao to report his safety, and then he defected to Wagangzhai and became a general of the Wagangzhai.

Why didn't Zhang Jue go to Xiao Xia? The reason was that his ideas had changed. He had always wanted to assassinate Yuwen Shu to avenge his family, but now he wanted to overthrow the Sui Dynasty.

Xiao Xia was a member of the royal family of the Sui Dynasty and the backbone of the Sui Dynasty. How could Zhang Jue possibly go to him for support?

In the room, Xu Shiji was planning their plan with Zhang Jue, Xiong Kuohai and Hou Junji. Their mission this time was to assassinate Yuwen Shu.

Great changes have taken place in the court in the past three years. The right prime minister Yang Su died of illness, and Xiao Cong was dismissed from his post last year and appointed as the inspector of Jingxiang Road.

Emperor Yang Guang immediately reformed the Council of State Affairs, reducing the original seven-prime minister system to a three-prime minister system. Yu Shiji, Pei Yun and Yuwen Shu became the three giants of the court.

Yuwen Shu was appointed by the emperor as the general who suppressed bandit rebellions in various places, and the Wagang Army was the first to bear the brunt.

Under heavy pressure, Wagangzhai decided to assassinate Yuwen Shu, with Xu Shiji as the leader, Xiong Kuohai, Zhang Jue and Hou Junji as deputies. The four of them were responsible for carrying out the assassination mission.

Xu Shiji said with a smile: "Brother Zhang, you have assassinated Yuwen Shu before, tell me about your experience!"

Zhang Jue said slowly: "To be honest, I have assassinated Yuwen Shu three times in the past ten years. I won't mention the previous two times. Let's talk about the assassination at Qinglong Temple five years ago!
Back then, I spent two months figuring out Yuwen Shu's habits. I knew that he would go to Qinglong Temple to burn incense every year. I planned it very carefully. In the end, when he was burning incense, I stabbed him to death with a sword, but I found that the person I stabbed to death was his double. "

"Substitute!" Xu Shiji exclaimed.

Zhang Jue nodded. "This is the most difficult part of assassinating Yuwen Shu. He has several stand-ins, but their bodies and faces are similar to his. Then, through makeup, they are made to look almost exactly like Yuwen Shu. Not only outsiders, but even the warriors in his house can't recognize them."

Xu Shiji was silent for a moment, then asked Hou Junji: "General Hou has served as Yuwen Shu's bodyguard. What habits does he have that can distinguish the real from the fake?"

Zhang Jue was Xu Shiji's subordinate, Xiong Kuohai was also Xu Shiji's subordinate, but Hou Junji was Shan Xiongxin's subordinate. Logically, Hou Junji should not participate in the action led by Xu Shiji, but because Hou Junji once served as Yuwen Shu's guard, he was also transferred to participate in this action.

Hou Junji thought for a moment and said, "He always brings a substitute with him when he goes to court and leaves court. I think there is only one thing he won't let the substitute show up for."

"Sex?" Xu Shiji asked with a smile.

The four of them laughed. Hou Junji held back his laughter and waved his hands, saying, "I was actually talking about his son. If anything happened to his son, he wouldn't let a substitute show up at this time."

At this time, Xiong Kuohai said slowly: "I know that Yuwen Shu has three sons. The eldest son Yuwen Wenji and the second son Yuwen Shiji are not easy to deal with. But his third son Yuwen Zhiji is not taken seriously. If we kill Yuwen Zhiji, then Yuwen Shu himself will definitely show up. Now is our chance."

Zhang Jue and Hou Junji both agreed to attack Yuwen Zhiji. Xu Shiji nodded and said, "Since everyone agrees, then our target will be Yuwen Zhiji. We will monitor him from tomorrow and look for the right opportunity. The village chief has given us half a year, so we can calmly look for opportunities and make sure we hit him in one go."

Yang Lihua's two large ships of ten thousand ton capacity were moving slowly on the Tongji Canal. The Sui Dynasty at this time was no longer the same as it was three years ago. There were countless thieves everywhere, robbing houses, robbing merchant ships, etc. Even robbing cargo ships on the Tongji Canal was commonplace.

Small thieves rob small things, big thieves rob big things. Ever since Xiao Xia's power was restricted to the south of the Yangtze River, thieves in the Jianghuai region have gradually become active.

At present, there are two relatively active bandit gangs in the Jianghuai region, one is Li Zitong in Zhongli County, and the other is Du Fuwei, who is active in Xiapi County and Donghai County. Meng Rang had a conflict with Du Fuwei and was driven away by Du Fuwei. Meng Rang took hundreds of people to join the Wagang Village, and Du Fuwei became the leader. Du Fuwei now has more than 10,000 people under his command.

When the two large ships with a capacity of 10,000 liters appeared in Liang County, they were targeted by Du Fuwei and Li Zitong at the same time.

They were big thieves who were not interested in ordinary small merchant ships. They specialized in robbing the government's grain fleets or fleets carrying taxes.

The year before last, Du Fuwei successfully robbed the tax fleet from Xia Pi County that was transporting taxes to the imperial court, and seized hundreds of thousands of dan of grain and tens of thousands of strings of money. The Emperor Yang Guang was furious, and sent Tu Wanxu to encircle and suppress the rebellion for several months, but he failed to capture Du Fuwei's team, and the rebellion was finally left unresolved.

This time, Yang Lihua's two large ships were too conspicuous, and they were guarded by 500 cavalrymen. The stronger the wind and waves, the more fish there were. Especially since Yang Lihua revealed her identity when she was resting in Songcheng County, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong were extremely surprised and decided to attack the princess's two large ships of 10,000 tons. They believed that the large ships must be full of gold, silver and treasures.

Two large ships entered Pengcheng County. That morning, a small boat stopped the two large ships on the canal. A man in his thirties led by him said loudly, "I am the head of the Qiu family in Huaiyang County. I have come to report that the bandits are going to attack the princess."

The man was none other than Qiu Hailiang. More than ten years ago, he was sent by his family to the Xiao family in Jiangdu, hoping to steal the recipe of Xiao Huan Dan, but he never succeeded. Ten years ago, Xiao Xia gave a copy of the recipe of Xiao Huan Dan to Qiu Hailiang without asking for a penny.

The Qiu family finally got the recipe for practicing internal energy. Qiu Hailiang has always been grateful to Xiao Xia, but Xiao Xia's status is getting higher and higher, and he no longer needs to repay her.

One of Qiu Hailiang's cousins served as a small spy leader in Du Fuwei's army. It was he who discovered the identities of the two large ships with a capacity of 10,000 stones, and he also knew that Du Fuwei was going to attack the two ships.

The cousin was worried about the impact on the family, so he told Qiu Hailiang, and Qiu Hailiang rushed to Pengcheng County to intercept the news.

The five hundred cavalrymen were led by General Miao Shaoling, who was also Yang Lihua's bodyguard. He was sent to follow Xiao Xia and has now been promoted to General.

After hearing Qiu Hailiang's report, Miao Shaoling was shocked and hurriedly took Qiu Hailiang to see the eldest princess Yang Lihua.

When Yang Lihua heard that the bandits were going to attack her, she immediately flew into a rage and asked, "Which ignorant thief dares to attack me?"

Qiu Hailiang knelt down and clasped his fists, saying, "Your Highness, it was Xia Pi County's rebel Du Fuwei. I'm afraid that Zhongli County's rebel Li Zitong will also come to attack. Your Highness, please notify His Highness the Prince of Jin immediately and ask him to send troops to rescue us."

Yang Lihua glanced at him and asked in confusion: "Who are you, why do you know so much, and why are you here to tip off?"

"My family is the Qiu family of Huaiyang County. They have been transporting goods on the Huai River for generations. I used to be the leader of the warriors of the Xiao family in Jiangdu. Ten years ago, I met His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, who gave me the formula for the Xiao Huan Dan. I have always remembered this great favor. Someone in my family is under Du Fuwei's command, and he leaked the news to me, so I came here to report it!"

"Are you telling the truth?"

Qiu Hailiang took out the recipe that Xiao Xia had given him and presented it to Yang Lihua. Yang Lihua recognized Xiao Xia's handwriting at a glance and saw that the paper had turned yellow and was very old.

Yang Lihua nodded, "Okay! I will ask King Jin for help immediately. Thank you, Mr. Qiu, for reporting the news in time!"

Miao Shaoling said to Yang Lihua: "Your Highness, why don't we temporarily stay in Pengcheng County? There is a coal merchant in Jiangnan Road over there. We can use a carrier pigeon to notify His Highness the Prince of Jin!"

Yang Lihua nodded, "It's decided!"

The next day, two large ships arrived at Pengcheng County. The large ships could not enter the county, so Miao Shaoling ordered the soldiers and warriors to unload all the boxes and transport them into the city by small boats. Yang Lihua also went into Pengcheng County to rest. Soon, two carrier pigeons flew urgently to Yanling County.

(End of this chapter)

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