Chapter 345: Use various means

It should be said that Ma Siyi was once Cui Qinggong's number one aide, and he had his own uniqueness. A few days ago, he was in chaos because of his family's detention. The urgency of time left him with no choice but to believe Jiang Gan once. But he slowly calmed down. Gunpowder was the extreme secret of the Western Liang army. Jiang Gan was just a businessman. How could he know? Ma Siyi remembered that he was not familiar with Jiang Gan, so how could he tell himself the secret of his uncle doing jewelry business openly and doing military products secretly. This was not like a person who had been in the business world.

But no matter how suspicious he was, Ma Siyi had no choice but to take advantage of the secret of obtaining gunpowder, so he could only take a bet and try his luck. With doubts and hopes, he came to Chang'an. He had already arrived at the store, but he suddenly didn't want to go in.

It was raining all the time, and the mud on the ground was still wet. The door of this Wu Zhuyuebao store was covered with fresh horse hoof prints. That is to say, there were a large group of people gathered here just now. Although it could not directly explain any problem, Ma Siyi immediately realized something was wrong in his vigilant heart.

"Brother Jiang, let's go to have dinner first!" Ma Siyi slowly retreated while perfunctorily, looking for a way out. Suddenly, his arms tightened, and two men in gray appeared from somewhere, one on the left and one on the right, and wrapped him into the store.

"Jiang Gan, who are you and what are you doing!"

Ma Siyi struggled desperately and shouted loudly, but the arms of the two men in gray were like iron hoops, making him unable to move at all. Jiang Gan had long known where he went. Suddenly, a cover wrapped his head and dragged him into the basement from the rockery in the backyard.

‘Bang!’ Ma Siyi was thrown into a stone house, and then an iron door was closed heavily. The room became dark and the air was filled with the smell of dampness and mold.

Ma Siyi knew that he had been fooled at this time. He regretted and hated him. He grabbed the railing on the iron gate and shouted and said, "Jiang Gan, you bastard! You must die a good death."

There was silence around him, and no one paid attention to him. As he shouted, Ma Si's suspicious voice suddenly choked up. He thought of his parents, wife and children, and this time it was really a farewell. Thinking that his wife and children were likely to become Cui Qinggong's military rations, he was heartbroken and could no longer hold it back, and tears rolled down unscrupulously.

"Jiang Gan... you killed me, please... let me go!"

"Who is this person? Why is he so unscrupulous?"

Zhang Huan saw all the changes clearly from a breath window. He didn't find anything interesting, so he looked at Li Fanyun in surprise. Li Fanyun smiled and said, "His name is Ma Siyi. He turned out to be Cui Qinggong's chief aide. Now he has fallen out of favor and has been sent to get our gunpowder formula. Unfortunately, he asked the wrong person and actually asked one of my subordinates, so he came to his door today. However, he knew a lot of inside stories about Cui Qinggong, and I think it might be useful to you."

"He just wants to get my gunpowder formula? It's really a delusion!" Zhang Huan shook his head. He was not interested in this person. Seeing that it was almost noon, he instructed Li Fanyun again: "Remember! To send someone who is capable to Huaixi as soon as possible, this matter is of great importance. At the latest one, I will get all the information about Li Xilie."

Seeing that he was about to leave, Li Fanyun hurriedly stepped forward to stop him and said, "I haven't finished talking yet!"

She pointed at Shi Lao and smiled, "If I say he can instigate Cui Qinggong's top general Ma Dawei, are you interested?"

"Ma Dawei," Zhang Huan's footsteps suddenly stopped. He remembered that Cui Xiaofu seemed to have just named him Duke Qiao, and he was really interested in his heart. He walked forward again, looked through the window and looked at Ma Siyi who was begging the iron gate and begging hard, and then said to Li Fanyun: "Okay! bring him up and I'll talk to him."

As noon approached, the drizzle covering Chang'an finally stopped. The sky was still dark and the north wind was howling, cutting people's faces and hands like a knife. Soon, the wet mud on the ground began to freeze, and it felt hard when stepped on it.

Although it is cold and cold, the atmosphere of the New Year in Chang'an City has become increasingly strong. The streets are crowded with people, and there are civilians who are looking for relatives and friends and buying New Year's goods everywhere.

Yanshoufang is also very lively. It is close to the West City, and there are many inns and restaurants. In addition to Chang'an citizens, there are many merchants from afar from afar. Especially after the Battle of Anxi, many Western Regions merchants with keen sense of smell came from thousands of miles to become the foresighted people who reopened the Silk Road.

There is a huge mansion in the northwest corner of Yanshoufang. This is where Wei Er's mansion is located. Like ordinary families in Chang'an, the Wei family is also busy preparing for the New Year. At the side door of the Wei Mansion, a carriage full of items was stopped, and then more than a dozen servants ran out of the side door to carry items.

At this time, a middle-aged man with a butler and a servant walked out of the side door. The owner of the cargo transporter quickly nodded and bowed to the middle-aged man, but he ignored him and raised his head arrogantly and left.

The middle-aged man also has a surname called Wei. He is a distant member of the Wei family. He is very good at ease and can speak eloquently. He has been the second housekeeper of the Wei family for more than ten years. Today, one of his confidants begged him for something, so he will give him some face and come out with him.

The two walked through several small streets, and his subordinates pointed at a small tavern near the gate and said, "Second butler, the person is there."

"What kind of relatives are they? How is their family background?" Butler Wei asked without hesitation.

"They brother and sister are the children of my uncle's family. They were originally wealthy families in Chengdu. There was a Zhuli Rebellion in Shu. My uncle and aunt unfortunately died. The brother and sister fled to Chang'an. Although they still have some clues in their hands, they must find a future! They knew that the master was so glorious, so they wanted to go to the mansion to find an errand. In the future, the master was enlightened and they wanted to follow him to heaven, so they came to ask me for help."

Butler Wei said 'Oh!' and asked directly to his bones: "You said they still have some foundation. How thick is this foundation?"

The subordinates had no acquaintances on both sides, so they held their ears in the butler's ears and said, "They would like to pay thirty cents to buy two errands. If the arrangements are well made, it would be okay to have more."

Butler Wei smiled proudly, a look of greed flashed in his eyes. The two walked into the small winery, and the servants took him directly into a small elegant room.

There was already a table of wine and food in the elegant room. Two young men, one man and one woman were sitting at the table. The man was about 20 years old, with a big waist and a round waist, and a very burly woman. The woman was a little younger, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with fair skin and a little bit of beauty, and a red mole on the corner of her mouth.

When they saw Butler Wei enter the house, they stood up quickly. The man stepped forward and bowed and said, "Yang Xiong meets Butler Wei."

The woman behind him also stepped forward and gave a gentle polite polite voice: "Little woman Yang Ping, give a gift to the butler."

Mr. Wei quickly looked at them with a professional eye. The man Kong Wu was powerful and could be a bodyguard to protect the yard; the woman! She looked OK, especially the evil spirits between her eyebrows and eyes. She went to the kitchenette of the inner courtyard to help the servants. In the future, she might become a concubine of a master.

Of course, he couldn't say this. He didn't bother with the food and drink in front of him, so he said straight to the point: "Listen to my brother, you want to go to Wei's Mansion to plan things, right?"

The man named Yang Xiong took out a piece of yellow gold and stuffed it into Butler Wei's hand, and smiled and said, "Can we enter the Wei Mansion be just a word from Butler Wei."

Butler Wei quietly weighed it. The gold in his hand weighed more than three taels. According to the black market price, this piece of gold would be worth at least fifty knots of yuan. He couldn't help but feel excited, but he still said with a stern face: "Our Wei family is not that easy to get into, especially your non-slave identity. First of all, someone needs to introduce it to prove your innocence and reliable source. Secondly, I also have to handle specific people in charge for you. Your money may not be enough, so let's do it! I will collect it for you first, and it's not enough. What do you think?"

"Everything is up to Butler Wei!"

After leaving behind active words, a smile finally appeared on Butler Wei's face, and he said to his subordinates: "Okay! While I'm on duty today, you will bring them to me later in the afternoon. I will arrange a good errand for them."

After saying that, he glanced at the woman again, turned around and left. His subordinates shook the two brothers and sisters and quickly followed them out. Not long after they left, a few people immediately walked out of the elegant room next door, and flashed into the room where the Yang brothers and sisters were.

The person in charge was Zhu Tao. Seeing that the matter had been done, he said to the Yang brothers and sisters: "Time is tight, you must complete the task for me within three days!"

"Abide by the order!" The Yang brothers and sisters bowed, and a fierce murderous intent flashed across their eyes.

Just as Chang'an and the Tang Dynasty began to prepare for the New Year, the war in the Central Plains also showed a slight ease. The two armies confronted each other for about half a month. During this period, Cui Qinggong and Wei Deqing carried out some sporadic battles, each with their own victory or defeat, but the battle was held in Wei Deqing's territory, and Cui Qinggong's number of people was the upper hand, so the entire situation was beneficial to Cui Qinggong.

Just as Cui Qinggong's army was approaching Chenliu, news suddenly came that the imperial court had appointed Ma Dawei as Duke of Qiao. In addition, Ma Dawei occupied the food in Qiao County, so Cui Qinggong, who was suspicious, immediately stopped attacking and took the initiative to retreat a hundred miles to observe Ma Dawei's movements.

Soon, Ma Dawei, who also received the news, immediately sent his confidant to tell Cui Qinggong secretly. This was the court's plan to alienate. If he really colluded with the court, they would never be appointed as an official at this time. Wouldn't it be more effective when he turned against him? While explaining, Ma Dawei sent someone to send 100,000 stones of food to Cui Qinggong to show his sincerity. Soon, Zhu Tao also sent someone to send an urgent case and advised Cui Qinggong not to fall into the court's plan to alienate him.

Although Cui Qinggong finally believed that this was a plan for the court to alienate, he was not very relieved, so he ordered Ma Dawei to lead his headquarters to garrison Pengjun and try to stay away from him. After Ma Dawei stationed eastward, Cui Qinggong's army once again advanced northward to Yongqiu. It was December 29th, and there were two days before the New Year.

At dusk, on the official road about ten miles away from Yongqiu, Wei Deqing ran north along the official road under the escort of thousands of personal soldiers. The road was filled with refugees fleeing their homes. They helped the elderly and young, and walked north with difficulty. Some carried their elderly and young parents in baskets, and some pushed their young children with wheelbarrows. Everyone's face was covered with hunger and despair. There were constant crying along the way, and dead people could be seen everywhere in the grass.

Seeing these miserable scenes, Wei Deqing couldn't help but sigh in his heart. According to his original intention, he did not want to provoke this battle that would cause the people to suffer. However, the Empress Dowager issued two secret orders, and the head of the family forced each other again and again, and even sent Wei Qing to Chenliu as the governor, obviously to monitor him. Under strong pressure, he had to trigger this battle.

At the beginning, he fought according to his own strategy and adopted a defensive stance to wipe out Cui Qinggong's offensive spirit. At this point, he and Wei Er's ideas were consistent. However, after Cui Qinggong had suspicion about Ma Dawei and temporarily retreated, Wei Er's strategic ideas began to disagree. Wei Er advocated taking advantage of Cui Qinggong's civil strife to attack and fight Cui Qinggong in a decisive battle, but Wei Er strictly ordered him not to act rashly. Wei Er's purpose was to try to let Pei Jun's army fight Cui Qinggong first to protect his troops to the greatest extent.

Wei Deqing never agrees with this. He is going to Chenliu to persuade Wei Qing to support him and ask the head of the family not to interfere with his strategic deployment.

"General, look!" Wei Deqing's deputy general Wang Wujun suddenly pointed to the north and said, "It seems that the governor Wei is here."

Wei Deqing looked in his finger direction, and the group of people was galloping quickly towards this side. It was indeed Wei Qing's carriage in the middle. The other party also saw them. The carriage slowly stopped. Soon a guard came forward to report, "General Deqing, Governor Wei, please go and answer."

Seeing the other party being arrogant, Wei Deqing felt a little unhappy, but the deputy general Wang Wujun behind him was furious and pointed to the news agency and cursed: "My general is the prince of Chenliu, the governor of the four counties of Bian Hua, Cao and Song. How dare you, a small governor, order us to go up and meet?"

"Don't be rude!" Wei Deqing's face darkened and he scolded Wang Wujun fiercely. He used his one-arm to instigate the war horse and slowly stepped forward to see Wei Qing. However, Wang Wujun snorted heavily and followed slowly.

The visitor was Wei Qing. After getting his father's face-to-face advice, he immediately returned to Chenliu. Now he was preparing to go to Yongqiu Camp, but he met Wei Deqing who was about to go north on the way. In terms of family status, Wei Qing is the eldest son of the Wei family and the heir of the head, but Wei Deqing can't even talk about a concubine's son. The status of the two is thousands of miles apart. This is why Wei Qing looked down on Wei Deqing from the bottom of his bones. He only barely called him brother after his father repeatedly knocked him, but he also showed a little arrogant attitude from time to time. For example, now, he met Wei Deqing halfway, Wei Qing's subconscious reaction was to let Wei Deqing come to see him. Although Wei Deqing is the prince of Chenliu, in Wei Qing's eyes, these official titles were rewarded by his father, and he should be grateful.

"Deqing has seen the young head of the family." Wei Deqing turned over and dismounted, stood outside the carriage and bowed to salute.

"What a coincidence, I was about to go to Brother Deqing's army, but I didn't expect that we would meet halfway. Could it be that you were going to Chenliu to find me?" Wei Qing gently stroked his long beard under his jaw and smiled. He called Brother Deqing, but he still sat upright in the carriage.

"The young master guessed it well." Wei Deqing did not take Wei Qing's deliberate high posture to heart, so he nodded and said in a deep voice: "I am going to Chenliu to find the governor to discuss the battle with Cui Qinggong."

At this time, Deputy General Wang Wujun coughed heavily from behind. This was him reminding Wei Deqing to ask Wei Qing about his purpose first, but Wei Deqing seemed to have not understood his reminder and said: "I believe the young head of the family has seen it all the way. This battle has caused great harm to the people. For the peace of the people in the Central Plains, I think this battle should be ended as soon as possible. I wonder if the young head of the family thinks that my words are correct?"

‘Cough cough!’ Wang Wujun coughed twice behind him. He had already seen that there seemed to be eunuchs in Wei Qing’s team, so he vaguely felt that Wei Qing’s visitor was not good this time, and once again reminded him not to say too much.

But Wei Deqing's face sank. He turned around and glared at Wang Wujun and said, "If you dare to disturb me again, I will deal with you with military law!"

Wang Wujun's face was flushed and he lowered his head and stepped back. However, Wei Qing looked at Wang Wujun deeply, and then smiled slightly and said, "Brother Deqing's opinion is deeply agreed with Wei Qingqing. I am here this time to work with you to wipe out Cui Qinggong who harms the people."

Speaking of this, he made a gesture to the back and immediately walked out of the team. He said loudly: "The Empress Dowager has an order, and he asked Prince Wei Deqing of Chenliu and Wei Qing, the governor of Chenliu, to receive the order."

Wei Deqing and Wei Qing knelt down together, and the eunuch proclaimed aloud: "Wai Deqing, the governor of the four counties of Bian Hua, Cao and Song dynasty, was loyal to the country, helped Ai's family to solve the problems of the people of the world, and made contributions to the country. He specially appointed Kaifu Yitong Sansi, the prince's Taibao, and rewarded five million yuan and thousands of pieces of silk."

"I thank the Queen Mother for the reward!" Wei Deqing kowtowed heavily.

The eunuch glanced at him, but continued to recite: "Chen Liu Governor Wei Qing was meticulous, honest, fair and selfless, and specially appointed him as the Henan Dao Pacifier, the Censor, and the General Manager of Henan Army, I'm here!"
Chapter completed!