Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 661 Thunder Falls
Datong, Fan Mansion.

It was already late at night, and the strong servant stood guard at the door, like a door god. The vermilion door was closed tightly, and there were bursts of music and songs floating from inside, which were melodious.Fan Yongdou was having a banquet with several Shanxi merchant giants. No one knew what kind of delicacies, wines and delicacies they were enjoying. Anyway, they were good things that poor people dare not even think about. The slight smell wafting from the air has already made these servants salivate, lamenting in their hearts: "When will we be able to live a life like this? Even for a day!"

Just as he was thinking wildly, footsteps sounded, and Tianxiong sergeants armed with muskets from the brigade came trotting towards this side in a neat line.The servants were stunned, and cheered up.In other places, they have already pretended to be aggressive and let those soldiers go away like dogs. What the hell, a group of soldiers dare to come and dirty their place?But this is Datong, and what appeared in front of them was one of the two most elite troops of Ming Dynasty, the Tianxiong Army!Not to mention them, let alone their old boss Fan Yongdou, I am afraid that even Wen Tiren would not dare to show his face to the Tianxiong Army, because the Tianxiong Army has the capital to let them put away their arrogant faces!The Tianxiong army arrived in front of the gate in a blink of an eye, and the head of the family Ding greeted him politely, and asked: "Military lords, may I ask you to come here late at night, what's the matter?"

The officer leading the team looked up at the plaque hanging at the gate and asked, "Is your master at home?"

The head servant said: "Yes, I am drinking with shopkeeper Tian, ​​shopkeeper Wang, and shopkeeper Qu!"

The officer nodded: "They're all here? It's easy." He took out a document and handed it to the chief servant: "This is an arrest warrant issued by the Governor's Mansion on the Nine Sides of the North. We are here to arrest Fan Yongdou, Tian Shenglan, Wang Dengku and others, please cooperate and open the door!"

The complexions of the servants changed drastically, and the leader of the servant stuttered a little: "Jun...Mr. Jun, are you joking? How is this possible!"

The officer's face was gloomy: "How is that impossible! Don't you know what your master did? Squat aside and don't act rashly, or you will be shot dead on the spot!" He gestured to the soldiers: "Break the door! "

Two soldiers stepped forward to knock on the door. The head of the servant probably felt that the opportunity to show his performance had come. He opened his arms wide to block the door, and shouted sharply: "I don't see who dares! You poor soldiers don't even look at what this is!" Place? Not to mention you, even if you, the Marquis, offend my master, you won’t be able to afford it! I advise you..."

The officer was not in the mood to listen to his advice, and sternly shouted: "Shoot!"

The four soldiers took a step forward, pointed their muskets at the servant who was posing in the standard posture of a martyr before he was martyred and embraced thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and pulled the trigger at the same time, four gunshots were fired, and the unlucky man had four more chests. The hole slowly fell down with an expression of disbelief.The servants were in an uproar, and someone screamed: "Officers and soldiers have killed people! Officers and soldiers have killed people!" There were also screams in Fan Mansion, the noise of footsteps mixed with the muffled sound of knocking down heavy objects. It's messed up.The officer didn't care so much, he kicked down a servant who ran towards him like a headless chicken, and shouted again: "Break the door!"

Two soldiers rushed over and kicked the gate, which remained motionless.Seeing that this thing was too strong, a soldier immediately took out a pack of explosives and hung it on the copper nail of the gate, and then lit the fuse.When the fuse burned to the end, there was a loud bang, the gate was blown to pieces, sawdust shot in all directions like sharp arrows, and there was a lot of screams--there were many idiots who were dying to run towards the gate. Dan, idiot, and silly girl were hit by sawdust and turned into blood gourds.This hand shocked the servants, and everyone fell silent immediately, watching in horror as the Tianxiong army broke through the door and pointed their black muzzles at them.Some of the servants yelled wildly: "The officers and soldiers killed people! Fight with them!" Wielding short knives and sticks and screaming, they rushed towards the Tianxiong army. , Those who rushed up to seek death screamed and fell to the ground.

Fan Yongdou ran out panting, just in time to see soldiers of the Tianxiong Army ruthlessly using volleys to knock down the servants who rushed forward to fight with them, and then stabbed them with bayonets. , how does it look like a mansion of a wealthy family comparable to the Golden Luang Palace?It was simply a battlefield ravaged by the chaos!Surprised and angry, he paused on his crutches and sternly shouted: "Stop it all, old man!"

The leading officer looked at Fan Yongdou and asked coldly, "Shopkeeper Fan, right?"

Fan Yongdou's eyes burst into flames, he was extremely angry, and said sharply: "It's the old man! Why did you bring someone into the old man's mansion in the middle of the night to commit murder? Who told you to do this? Could it be that you think the grassroots can be bullied? If you don't Give the old man a satisfactory explanation, the old man will go to the capital to sue the court, not only you, but the entire Tianxiong army will be unable to eat and walk around!"

A steady voice resounded among the soldiers: "I told them to do this!" A tall and thin soldier stepped forward, threw off his cloak and the hat that was pressed down on his brow, and revealed A fair, bookish face, who is it not the prime minister of the six northern provinces, Lu Xiangsheng, Marquis of Suyi?It's just that his current state is very wrong. In the past, no matter when he always had a kind of open-mindedness and indifference that disregarded life and death, he treated people very kindly, but now his eyes are spitting fire, just like an angry snow leopard!
Fan Yongdou's heart skipped a beat, his old face twisted a few times, and he squeezed out a smile: "Marquis Su Yi, what do you mean? Is there some misunderstanding?"

Lu Xiangsheng sneered: "Misunderstanding? No, there is no misunderstanding!" With a big hand stretched out, he tore off the hat and cloak of a soldier behind him, revealing a pale and bruised face. It was Bao Chengxian!As if struck by lightning, Fan Yongdou's complexion instantly turned pale, he took a step back involuntarily, and looked at Bao Chengxian with a look of fear.Lu Xiangsheng stared at him, and said word by word: "Shopkeeper Fan, it seems that you know him."

Fan Yongdou shivered, shook his head desperately, and his voice became high-pitched and shrill: "No! No! This old man doesn't know him! This old man has never seen him before!"

Lu Xiangsheng pulled another soldier over, ripped off his hat and cloak, and pulled out the sackcloth that blocked his mouth, the boy gasped heavily and shouted, "Grandpa, save me, save me! "

It was Fan Xiaodou who left Datong with a large number of muskets in the name of fake goods and tried to give them to Bao Chengxian!
Lu Xiangsheng stared at Fan Yongdou with lightning-like eyes, his voice was calm but filled with endless anger: "Treasurer Fan, don't you even know him?"

Fan Yongdou fell to the ground, speechless.

There was another commotion inside the Fan Mansion. Several men dressed as servants pointed their knives at the backs of Wang Dengku, Tian Shenglan and others, walked out slowly, and escorted them all the way to Lu Xiangsheng.At this time Lu Xiangsheng tore off the No.3 soldier's hat, revealing his true face: it was Fan Jian who disappeared last year.This guy was ordered by Fan Yongdou to go to Nanyang to purchase explosives and steel, but he was tricked by Yang Menglong. Thinking of it now, he automatically appeared.Seeing Fan Jian appear, Wang Dengku, Tian Shenglan and others couldn't hold on any longer, their legs went limp, and they knelt on the ground with a thud, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and begged repeatedly: "Master Hou, spare your life, Master Hou!"

Lu Xiangsheng mocked: "Forgive me? Don't dare to do it, I should beg you to spare your life. Didn't you already bribe many skilled assassins to assassinate me? You even bribed the servants of my house to be in my food Poisoning, if these two methods fail, officials and gentry from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces will be gathered to attack Lu's group, and participate in Lu's hundreds of serious crimes. Such methods, such determination, I am watching You are all so scared, I should be the one begging for mercy from you."

Fan Yongdou's complexion became paler and paler.They bought assassins, bribed the servants of the governor's mansion, and secretly colluded with officials and gentry to incriminate Lu Xiangsheng. I know it like the back of my hand... It's over, this time it's really over!

Tian Shenglan knocked her head loudly, and her forehead was broken after a few knocks, blood flowed out, and she repeatedly begged: "Master Hou, we know we were wrong, please give us another chance!"

"Know it?" Lu Xiangsheng was suddenly furious, and his voice was like thunder, which made everyone's ears ringing: "Did you realize your mistake now!? You colluded with each other and went on strike to drive up prices. I can't bear it! You are hoarding for a profit. Huge profits, I will endure it! You secretly incite villagers and foolish women to obstruct road construction and mining, I will endure it! You secretly spread rumors to slander our army and alienate the feelings of the army and the people, I will endure it! I don’t have high demands on you, as long as you don’t Colluding with foreign enemies and not providing military resources and information to the Jiannu Tartars, I can bear it. Is it too much to ask? But how do you do it? Providing information to the Mongolian army almost made our army fail! Trying to The most sophisticated weapons and equipment of our army are sold to Jiannu! Is your heart red or black? Do you have to send this national calamity? Why is it so difficult for you to do some personnel work!?"

Lu Xiangsheng's roar resounded through the night sky, making Shanxi merchants shudder and sweat like rain.Fan Yongdou was even more terrified, knowing that today's test might be impossible to pass.He laughed miserably, stood up staggeringly, stared at Lu Xiangsheng with a vicious expression, and said word by word: "If it is a capital offense to provide military supplies to foreign enemies, then the generals and officials in the Nine Borders should be killed! It is a capital offense for a son to provide information, so down to the border generals, up to the court officials, nine out of ten should die! Everything this old man does is nothing more than to make money. What is wrong with a businessman chasing profit? Why should Kill us so painfully?" Suddenly his neck stiffened, the blood vessels in his neck swelled up, and he screamed wildly: "The old man refuses to accept it!"

Lu Xiangsheng laughed back angrily: "It's already so far, and you are still stubborn? Anyway, I never thought of convincing you!" He said to the soldiers: "Put them down and guard them strictly, and don't let them commit suicide. After collecting all the evidence, I will take them to the capital to report to the Ming Sheng, cut them into pieces, and execute them at the end of the day!"

No matter how polite and sincere he is to everyone, he said such cruel words as to quarter his body and execute him by Ling Chi, which shows that he is extremely angry.It has been almost a year since I came to Xuanda, Shanxi merchants have always opposed them openly and secretly, often instigating merchants to go on strike, students to go on strike, spreading rumors to slander the Tianxiong Army, making it difficult for the Tianxiong Army to build roads or open mines and factories. It was a lot of trouble, but he still endured it, because he felt that these Shanxi businessmen were rare business geniuses, and if they could be won over, it would be extremely beneficial to the country.However, these greedy guys betrayed his trust and responded to his kindness by betraying the information of the Tianxiong Army to the Mongolian Army and giving the most advanced muskets of the Tianxiong Army to Houjin. This made him surprisingly angry. I don't intend to take it any longer.

Good people don't get angry easily, but once they get angry, they are as terrifying as a volcanic eruption, and they are out of control. Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Tian Shenglan and others have been in the business world for many years, and they have seen strong winds and waves. Facing Lu Xiangsheng's monstrous anger, they were silent like cicadas, not daring to take a breath!Several Tianxiong soldiers went up and tied them up and dragged them down viciously. Wang Dengku struggled to cry out, but was immediately punched heavily in the ribs, making him unable to cry out.

The soldiers of the Tianxiong Army, who were the hardest hit, have endured these Shanxi merchants for a long time!
(End of this chapter)