The Fragrance Restaurant was a typical Jiangnan style pavilion. The eaves, arch, carved beams, painted beams, red wood carved doors and windows, rosewood tables and chairs, everything was simple and elegant, revealing luxury.
The interior of the shop was decorated with the shopkeeper's ingenuity. The spacious lobby was separated into independent spaces by flower and tree screens, making the lobby feel both penetrative and relatively private. Even if a young lady or daughter-in-law came here to eat, she was not afraid of being stared at by a group of men.
The second floor and above were all private rooms. The four seasons were clearly distinguished here, especially in Jiangnan, where there was little snow. Therefore, there were relatively more private rooms named after the word winter, and it made you feel extremely cool as soon as you saw the entrance hall. Therefore, on the first day of the Wafting Fragrance Restaurant's opening, the private rooms with the word 'winter' on the second floor were fully booked.
The third floor and above were basically closed to the public. The people who came to the third floor seemed to be ordinary people, but in fact, they were all Ying Tianlong's spies who had come back from various places to report or pass on information.
After entering the Wafting Fragrance Restaurant, Lu Yu went to make the arrangements. Ying Tianlong walked around alone. After looking around, he nodded in satisfaction and walked towards the private room on the third floor.
When they arrived at a spacious and bright room on the third floor, the door opened quietly. Ying Tianlong was stunned when he looked inside. It turned out that it was Yu 'er and Feng' er who opened the door for him. When he looked inside, the captain of the Tiger Team and the yes-man were also present. What surprised Ying Tianlong was that the daughter of the ghost genius, Wu Yongyong, and Qin Yue, who was praised by Ying Tianlong as a god, were both sitting inside.
Ying Tianlong walked into the room in surprise. The door behind him closed quietly. Then, everyone in the room stood up and knelt down together."Greetings to the Nine Virtuous Kings. Your Highness, thousands of years, thousands of years.”
"You, what are you doing? That Wangye was conferred by the Emperor and was only used in the court. We, we don't talk about that here, all of you quickly get up.”Ying Tianlong hurriedly said when he saw everyone paying their respects to him.
Before anyone could speak, Wu Yongyong said,"Your highness, etiquette cannot be abolished. You are our lord, and now you have been conferred the title of King of the Nine Virtues by the current emperor. This is also our honor. Thus, Your Highness must allow us to pay our respects before we can talk about anything else. Otherwise, we will kneel for a long time."
This was simply too forceful. However, because he was really afraid that these people would kneel for a long time and not be able to get up, he could only agree.
Ying Tianlong sat in the middle. Lu Yu, Wu Yongyong, and the others stood respectfully in front of him. Lu Yu took the lead and said,"Subordinates Lu Yu and the others respectfully welcome the Nine Virtuous Kings. Your Highness requests that we pay our respects.”
Everyone bowed three times before standing up. What Ying Tianlong did not expect was that after everyone stood up, there was no hierarchy. First, Wu Yongyong squeezed in front of him and asked,"How has Brother Bao been these few days? Did the emperor make things difficult for you? Hmm, I don't think so. If it was difficult for you, I wouldn't have made you a prince.”
Without waiting for Ying Tianlong to reply, Yu 'er squeezed over and said,"Young master, quickly let Yu 'er see if you've lost weight. Young Master, have you been eating well and sleeping well these past few days?”
Just as Ying Tianlong was about to say,"How can I sleep well without Yu 'er?", Feng' er pulled Yu 'er away and asked,"Young Master, did the Emperor test your martial arts? What martial arts did you practice for the Emperor?”
" Reporting to Your Highness." Just as Ying Tianlong did not know who to answer first, the yes-man knelt down in front of him and said,""Wangye, ever since Miss Ruoying left the residence to patrol for a few days, her attitude towards wangye has changed greatly. Every day, she sent her maid Xiuchun to her aunt's place to ask when wangye would return to the fu. These few days, Ruoying had already started to accompany her aunt to manage the affairs.”
In fact, Ruoying's servant girl Xiuchun had been interrogating the yes-man every day, asking him when Ying Tianlong had returned to the residence and where he had gone. However, the yes-man did not dare to tell the truth. He was afraid that Ying Tianlong would catch him and punish him again.
Ying Tianlong was somewhat helpless against the crowd's clamor. At this moment, the captain of the Tiger team said something to resolve Ying Tianlong's predicament.
"Reporting to my lord, the tiger team has something important to report.”The leader of team Tiger was at the back of the group, but his voice sounded as if he was speaking in front of Ying Tianlong. It could be seen that his internal strength was extraordinary.
"Oh, all of you can leave for now. Sister Wu, Second Brother Lu, and Yu 'er can stay behind.”After hearing what the captain of team Tiger said, Ying Tianlong had a reason to smooth out the situation.
Seeing that there was a serious matter and it was a very important matter, the unrelated people consciously retreated. The originally noisy private room immediately quieted down.
Waving his hand, Ying Tianlong got everyone to sit around the table and said to the Tiger Captain,""Is the matter Shixiong wants to say related to the grain silver?”
" That's right, my lord's silver has been robbed," the captain of the tiger team said, revealing a shocking incident."And the group of people who robbed the silver was actually led by a person whose height, appearance, and clothes were very similar to my lord's. And that group of people were all dressed the same as my lord's black-robed guards.”
"Ah?" The quiet private room let out a few surprised sounds.
"Senior Brother, quickly tell me the details of the situation."”
"My lord, this is what happened." The captain of the Tiger team then began to explain the entire process.
As it turned out, ever since Ying Tianlong heard the advice of Wu Yongyong, he had adjusted his strategies in all aspects. The tiger teams that escorted or robbed the silver were all disguised as people of all shapes and sizes. Some of them were disguised as small vendors, pushing carts to sell pots and pans, some were carrying bags to buy vegetables and fruits, and some were selling small toys. Some of them pretended to be literati and traveled in groups of three to five in the name of traveling. Look here, leave a few lines of broken poetry. He walked around and drew a few pieces on the walls of the tavern. Fan Buyi followed the convoy of the Tianyi Bodyguard Agency. When they encountered important towns, they would secretly monitor them.
Ever since the people of Tianyi Bodyguard Agency were ambushed in the Yuelai old shop in Hefei, everyone in the agency had put in 120,000 points of effort to protect the escort vehicle. From Hefei to Huainan, from Huainan to Fuyang, the journey was calm. They were about to reach Zhoukou. After Zhoukou, they would enter Xuchang and not far from their destination, Kaifeng. Although they might encounter soldiers on the way from Xuchang to Zhengzhou and then Kaifeng, there were relatively fewer people in the forest. Moreover, several large prefectures were guarded by the Song army, which increased their safety.
However, the road between Fuyang and Zhoukou was not very peaceful. Not only were there robbers and raiders, but there were also scattered soldiers who killed wantonly. Between Fuyang and Zhoukou, Taihe, Jieshou and Shen Qiu not only did not have any troops stationed, even the yamen did not have any officials. It could be said that these three cities were the most chaotic.
Therefore, when they were preparing to set off in Fuyang, Situ Hao had a discussion with Shangguan Jie. They smeared poison on all the weapons, carriages, and boxes of silver. Guard soldiers pay dare not lose, poison cover please retreat.
Furthermore, they sent out three groups of scouts, with two people in each group and two miles apart as outposts. If there was a situation, they would use the whistle as a signal to remind the convoy to be on guard. In addition, Situ Hao instructed everyone, If they encountered any powerful bandits on the way, they would immediately kill the horses and all the escorts and escorts would retreat. They would wait for the bandits to be poisoned before killing them. At the same time, Situ Hao arranged for people to follow behind him with the horses he had just bought in case of an emergency.
Situ Hao's arrangements could be said to be rigorous, but he probably wouldn't be able to earn much money from this trip. However, if the silver could be delivered safely, then the name of Tianyi Bodyguard Agency would be known throughout the world.
According to Ying Tian Long's instructions, the Tiger Team naturally knew the importance of Tai He, Jie Shou and Shen Qiu, so they sent scouts to the three cities to investigate the situation. These three cities did not have "Yue Lai Old Shop", so it was relatively difficult to obtain information.
The leader of the Tiger Squad disguised himself as a councilor and rode on a horse. Behind him was someone carrying a palanquin, and behind him were the carriages of young ladies and womenfolk. They had followed the escort carriage of the Tianyi Bodyguard Agency out of Taihe City for a short distance when a scout in front came to report that the young master had led more than a hundred black-clothed guards to a mountain pass in front. As he had not received any orders beforehand, it was inconvenient for him to contact the young master, so he rushed back to report to the captain for his decision.
The captain of the Tiger team thought to himself,'That's not right. No matter what the Young Master is here for, he should have sent a message to me, or asked me to cooperate or let me retreat.' But this time, why didn't the young master send a letter to inform him beforehand, and why didn't he give him a new order? Why did he personally come to rob the silver?
Could it be that the road ahead was filled with danger, and Young Master wanted to reveal his identity and come directly to protect the escort? That's not right. The matter of protecting the escort should not be handled by the Young Master. Think about my Young Master's status. Who can bear the responsibility of letting the Young Master personally protect the escort?
But could it be this or that? He was at the back while the Young Master was in front. There was a long convoy of escorts from the Tianyi Escort Agency in between. Moreover, he did not know what the Young Master wanted to do. If he directly contacted the Young Master, would it ruin the Young Master's plan?
After thinking for a long time, the leader of the Tiger Team finally decided to follow the "Tianyi Bodyguard Agency" forward, but the distance between them was slightly wider. He would change into the attire of a servant and go to watch. If the young master could rob the escort carriage and escape unscathed, his men would secretly protect the young master's safe retreat. If the people of the escort agency resisted fiercely, his men would charge out from behind and help the young master rob the silver. After making up his mind, the captain of the tiger team gave his orders to everyone.
A few moments later, hundreds of young ladies, young wives, young maids, strong men, merchants, peddlers, and all sorts of people emerged from the palanquins, carriages, the city gates, and the city walls. These people didn't care what they were wearing. All of them drew their weapons and hid in the forest beside the official road, moving forward quickly. After changing into the attire of a servant, the captain of the tiger team mounted his horse again and rushed forward.
The "poison" trick of the "Tianyi Bodyguard Agency" was indeed effective. On the way from Fuyang to Taihe, they encountered a few small groups of robbers. When those people saw the words on the flag of the escort carriage and the expressions of the escorts, they all retreated without fighting. Who would snatch the silver that was not spent?
Situ Hao and Shangguan Jie were also secretly pleased with themselves when they saw this. They were both happy that this "poison" worked. However, they did not let down their guard because they knew that the closer they were to their destination, the higher the possibility of the escort cart being robbed.
All the knowledge he had gained along the way, especially after fighting with several groups of robbers, Shangguan Jie's ability had greatly improved. His ability to adapt to the enemy's situation, his proficiency in saber techniques, his decisiveness in predicting things, and his cautiousness in doing things were already beyond words. In particular, his self-created "Emotionless Saber Technique" had almost reached the point of perfection.
The official road from Taihe to Jieshou was mostly mountain road, or the official road was sandwiched between two mountains. Seeing the mountain pass in front of him from afar, Shangguan Jie put his hand on the awning and looked up and down for a long time before coming to Situ He and saying,"Master, look at the mountain pass in front of us. This mountain is steep. If someone throws rolling wood and stones from above, we will be trapped in this mountain. If they trap us for a few days, we won't even need to fight.”
"En, Jie 'er is right. Jie' er, I will protect the carriage. You take a few people up the mountain to check.”
"Yes, Master. You, you, you come with me." Shangguan Jie then pointed at a few bodyguards and followed him to the mountain to investigate.
Didn't the scouts of the Tiger Squad report that the golden-robed Ying Tianlong and the black-robed guards were at the mountain pass ahead? Hehe, one had to know that this mountain pass was not the only official road here. Moreover, this place was relatively close to Taihe City. Even if they wanted to rob the escort carriage, they would not choose this place. Besides, if someone wanted to rob the escort vehicle, they would not expose themselves in front of the bodyguard agency. They would always hide and attack the bodyguard agency.
Shangguan Jie returned to the convoy of the Bodyguard Agency and told Situ Hao that there was no ambush or rolling wood on the mountain. Situ Hao waved his hand, and the escort carriage rolled in. After three rounds of investigation, the Tianyi Bodyguard Agency entered the deep mountains.
They arrived at another mountain pass. Just as Shangguan Jie was about to continue his investigation, a whistle suddenly sounded. Then, more than 20 masked men rushed out from the front of the carriage. The leader was about 15 or 16 years old. He was wearing a light golden long robe and a golden crown on his head. Even the scarf covering his face was light golden. There were more than ten black-robed guards standing on his left and right. They were all wearing black scarves and masks. Each of them held a big machete in their hands. Their eyes were peeking out of their scarves and staring at the people and carriages of the Tianyi Bodyguard Agency.
"Who are you? Why are you blocking the way here?”Seeing that someone was blocking the way, Shangguan Jie lifted the reins of his horse and rode to the front of the convoy, raising his saber to ask.
" My young master is Suzhou Jin…" A black burly man on the left of the golden-robed man opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly stopped after saying a few words.
A man in black on the right of the golden-robed man said,"Who we are is not important. What is important is that as long as you obediently leave the silver, we promise not to harm your lives.”
"Arrogant brat, try the Love Seeking Saber in my hand first. It won't be too late for you to be arrogant if you win against the saber in my hand.”Shangguan Jie raised his saber and was about to charge forward.
At this moment, three bowstring sounds could be heard, followed by three sharp arrows stabbing into the ground three feet in front of Shangguan Jie's horse. Then, the person said,"See? If these three arrows wanted to kill you, it would be a piece of cake. Look around, there are all master archers. Every arrow in their hands can penetrate your body at this distance, especially here.”The man pointed at his heart.
"Despicable, shameless, do you dare to fight me one-on-one? If you really win against me, I will be convinced.”
"Sigh, you muddle-headed fool. You have already become our target. Who would still want to compete with you? Besides, if we really compete, I'm afraid you won't even be able to escape a single round from my young master. Those who know each other, quickly put down the escort cart filled with silver. I'll let you all leave this mountain path.”After that person finished speaking to Shangguan Jie, he turned to the men in black who were holding bows and arrows around him and said,"Everyone, listen up. Anyone who tries to kill the carriage horse will be shot immediately. Anyone who tries to climb the mountain will be shot immediately. When I count ten, if they still don't put down their weapons and surrender, I will shoot them all.”
"Yes." The replies from the surroundings buzzed in the mountains, and the echoes continued to ring out, as if there were thousands of troops.
The captain of the Tiger team, who was hiding in the distance, saw this and smiled. This must be the Young Master. Look at the posture of these people holding the bow and the accuracy of their archery. This must be the result of the Traceless Sect of the Young Master's third brother, Sai Li Guang. No one else had this ability.
It was unknown how Shangguan Jie was forced to hand over the silver he had been escorting. Let's watch the next exciting content.
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