"What, impossible!"
Li Yan's face was full of astonishment and a little unbelievable.
Wu Qu is not an ordinary person.
Pellet Strength master, Cangzhou Opening Gate Eight Extremes successor, Hua Guang Dharma teaching monk...
No matter which identity you have, it cannot be underestimated.
As the protector of "Yellow Springs Organization", he has extremely rich combat experience, many friends in the world, and the Cangzhou martial arts family standing behind him. It can be said that anyone who wants to take action must consider it carefully.
How could he be killed so easily?
"Who did it!"
Li Yan clenched his fists and gritted his teeth to ask.
This is one of the few friends he has, and he must take revenge.
"I don't know."
Wu Zhong took a deep breath, held back his grief and said, "That bastard died strangely. He said that he received a request for help from an old friend and went to Jinmen to help people settle the matter, but he fell asleep on the way and never woke up."
Li Yan frowned slightly, "No wounds?"
Wu Zhong shook his head and said, "There are no traces on the body. I hired Ji Province, one of the best surgeons in the government. Nothing was found. There were no traces of the operation on the ship. In the end, the Yamen closed the case as a sudden illness."
Li Yan continued to ask, "Senior is so sure that Brother Wu was murdered, there must be a reason."
"Hmm."
Wu Zhong took a deep breath, "I invited some Underworld Messenger friends..."
"There's no reaction, I can't sense it at all!"
Click!
Li Yan murderous intent rushed forward, and the back of the chair next to him was suddenly crushed by him.
He didn't know the inside story of Underworld Messenger's methods, but whether he had already entered the underworld as a soul or was wandering around as Lonely Souls and Wild Ghosts after death, there would always be some reaction.
I can't sense it at all, there is only one possibility...
He was beaten to the point of being beaten to pieces!
For a moment, everyone fell into silence.
Wu Qu is a generous and informal person, and has a good relationship with them.
The last time they met, they were very drunk.
Unexpectedly, in a short period of time, it was already Celestial Person.
Suddenly, everyone's hearts trembled and they all turned their heads.
But I saw that the originally heartless Wu Ba had changed his appearance at this moment. He was hunched over, standing with his head bowed, his fists were clenched, veins were popping out on his forehead, and his teeth were clenching.
His eyes were bloodshot, and a look of madness was brewing.
This kid is simple-minded, but he is not stupid.
It was clear who was good to him, who was his enemy, and who was insignificant.
Wu Qu can be regarded as his mentor.
Although he scolded me non-stop at the time, he taught me his skills with all his heart.
Nowadays, Wu Ba has already learned human language. Although it is not easy to speak, normal communication is no problem. He has also learned some etiquette. He specially prepared some cakes and wine on the way here, and is ready to kowtow at the door.
His weakness is his emotions, and now he is showing signs of losing control.
Bang!
Without any hesitation, Li Yan dodged and hit him on the back of the head with the knife.
This place was originally a bit dangerous, but Wu Ba's skin was rough and fleshy, and Li Yan's power control was meticulous, so he was just knocked unconscious without any physical damage.
After telling everyone to take care of him, Li Yan turned around and said, "Senior, do you have any clues?"
Wu Zhong glanced at Wu Ba on the ground, his eyes softened slightly, and he shook his head and said, "If there were any clues, I would have twisted the head of my enemy long ago, why would I wait until now?"
"That bastard doesn't have a good relationship with me. He has been wandering around in secret for these years. No one in the clan knows what he is doing in private."
"I came here just to ask you a question."
"Junior knows something vaguely..."
Li Yan didn't talk nonsense and told the story of Wu Qu and Yellow Springs Organization.
"This bastard!"
Wu Zhong After hearing this, his anger suddenly surged up, and his face turned red, "Putting aside the family matters, talking about spiritual experience, secretly provoking these people, I..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head and looked to the side.
I saw the boy timidly grabbing his trousers, "Grandpa, don't scold my father..."
When the old man heard this, he suppressed his anger and sighed.
Li Yan looked at the boy, "Is this Brother Wu's son?"
"Hmm."
The old man touched the boy's head and sighed, "His mother died early, and that bastard wandered around all day long. He finally said he wanted to settle down, ugh~"
Li Yan Hearing this, it was hard to say anything.
The most difficult thing to explain in this world is the relationship between relatives.
He also knew some information about Wu Zhong. He had earned the name "Cangzhou Iron Lion" when he was young and was only one step away from becoming a master. How could he be a peaceful master? He also had a hot temper and a bad temper.
Wu Qu never told him about his father, so he probably had some resentment in his heart.
Thinking of this, Li Yan asked for a piece of money from Wang Dao Xuan.
This coin is quite large, with a round square hole, and the front is engraved with green dragon, red bird, white tiger and black tiger. On the back are the words "long life Prosperity" and "exorcism and blessing" written in Lesser Seal Script.
This is the "Four Spirit Money", which was leaked from the royal family of the Tang Palace. Gang Qi It is dense and has the power to exorcise evil spirits and protect oneself. It was a few coins found by Wang Dao Xuan when Qingcheng was in Opening Cellar Assembly. It is very precious.
Li Yan put money into the boy's hands and asked softly, "Child, what is your name?"
"My name is Wu Anji." The boy replied timidly.
"Hmm, good name."
Li Yan nodded and said seriously, "Your father and I are very good friends. Don't leave this money. No matter what difficulties you encounter in the future, come to me with the token!"
After comforting the boy, Li Yan looked at Wu Zhong again.
"Please ask senior to take me to Brother Wu's grave..."
The Wu family is near Cangzhou City.
Like many Lineage, they built their ancestral houses in the village. Most of them were people with the same surname. They farmed and practiced martial arts, forming a clan gathering community. There was nothing special about it.
Wu Qu's grave is in the hill behind the village.
Ji Province grows winter wheat. It is sown every October and harvested in June. At this moment, the wheat ears are green, the mountains and fields are green, and there are new tombs and new monuments on the ground, with the name Wu Qu clearly engraved on them.
Li Yan endured the grief, and after some sacrifices, he looked to the side Wang Dao Xuan.
He has probed it with Divine Ability.
Wu Qu's body was already somewhat decomposed, and no abnormalities could be found.
Wang Dao Xuan had already prepared it. He first used a wooden stick to make a Bagua shape on the ground, placed the jade pendant that Wu Qu often wore during his lifetime, and then scattered some soil from the tomb around it. He kneaded the incantations and waved the copper coins and tortoise shells for divination.
There is no clue about Wu Qu's death.
Wang Dao Xuan's hexagram is half accurate and half inaccurate, but at least it is a hope.
With a crash, the copper coins fell to the ground.
The copper coins dropped were also very strange, three were exactly upright and three were diagonal.
Two of them are positive and one negative, and the other three are all positive.
"Daoist Priest, what is the interpretation of this hexagram?"
Wu Zhong next to me couldn't wait to ask.
Of course he had heard of the name Twelve Yuan Chen, and he also had a glimmer of hope in his heart.
Wang Dao Xuan caressed his beard and looked at it, thinking thoughtfully, "This is the Lake Above Water: Distress hexagram, <Xiang>: There is no water in the lake, and you are trapped. A gentleman will kill you to fulfill his ambition. Being trapped in a stone, relying on thorns; entering his palace, but not seeing his wife, it is bad luck."
Seeing that everyone looked confused, he explained, "There is no water in the water, which is a dilemma. According to the hexagram interpretation, Brother Wu should have been in a desperate situation and died. 'Entering his palace and not seeing his wife' can be interpreted as betrayal by someone he trusted."
"I knew it!"
Wu Zhong snorted coldly, "I was fine at home, but suddenly I went to Jinmen and said that my best friend's life was in danger, but I didn't even tell him when I asked him. It turned out to be a careless friend!"
Li Yan asked, "Senior, can you find out who his friends are?"
The Wu family is a powerful family in Cangzhou, and there must be many connections in the world.
However, Wu Zhong shook his head and said, "That bastard has already entered Core Realm. Many years ago, he stopped interacting with ordinary people in the world. I asked someone to inquire, but I didn't ask him who Jinmen knew."
Sha LiFei rolled his eyes, "Brother Wu has been dealing with Yellow Springs Organization most of the time these years. Could it be that those people betrayed him?"
Li Yan said thoughtfully, "Brother Wu's protector 'Living Underworld Messenger' has been killed. Although Yellow Springs Organization fell apart after his accident, he might have his friends."
"Senior, don't worry. I know some passwords for Yellow Springs Organization. I'll give it a try when we get to Jinmen. If we can find the lost members, we might have clues."
Wu Zhong Upon hearing this, he quickly said, "I will follow you too!"
"No!"
Li Yan shook his head and said, "Brother Wu was killed, and the murderer is still unknown. If it wasn't for the Wu family, and the senior left with him, wouldn't he have fallen into a treacherous plot?"
As he said that, he looked at the silent child Wu Anji squatting beside the grass in the distance, "Brother Wu only left this orphan, and he still needs senior care."
"Don't worry, no matter who the murderer is, I will hold his head to pay homage to Brother Wu!"
Because of the death of Wu Qu, the atmosphere in Wujia Village was a little solemn.
Li Yan and others did not stay long. After paying homage, they returned to Cangzhou Pier and left by boat.
Everyone was in a bad mood, and the atmosphere seemed a bit dull along the way.
Even Wu Ba, who had always been heartless, just squatted on the bow of the boat after waking up, as gloomy as a stone.
Information from the customs clearance side is constantly coming from the Cao Gang channel.
This chaos was entirely caused by Eunuch Ma's exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which also forced many people to death, causing public dissatisfaction and causing trouble.
The leaders of the chamber of commerce who led the trouble were all imprisoned.
There were also those porters who followed the beating, smashing, looting and burning. Some died directly at the gunpoint, while others were scattered and ran to the nearby rivers to become water bandits.
Although they are all poor people, this move violated the Great Xuan Dynasty imperial taboo and there was no way out for them.
Of course, Eunuch Ma is not left behind either.
He himself died in the rebellion, and all the huge wealth he had amassed over the years was confiscated. Those little eunuchs and tax collectors who were working for him were all imprisoned one by one.
Li Yan knows that this matter is just the beginning.
Linqing Customs is the largest banknote customs in the world. Although after the opening of the sea, the tax collection has not been as good as that of the coastal areas, but it still plays a decisive role in the Great Xuan Dynasty.
This riot will probably trigger a new round of fighting in the imperial court.
Of course, he didn't bother to care about these things.
Even Qiankun Academy was temporarily put in the back of his mind.
Everyone has only one goal at this time,
Revenge for Wu Qu!
After another day and night, we finally arrived at Jinmen.
Jinmen's name has been heard by everyone for a long time.
Due to the connection of Grand Canal and the prosperity of water transportation, this place has become the core hub for the transportation of materials from the north to the south. And because of Open Sea Trade, a large number of chambers of commerce have gathered and built workshops one after another in the city.
Over the years, it has attracted a huge population.
From Guanzhong to Yuzhou, from ordinary people to people in the world, everyone is running here.
The mist has not dispersed in the early morning, and the canal boat has arrived at Sancha River Mouth.
The so-called San Cha River is the intersection of South Grand Canal, North Grand Canal and Haihe River.
This is the most important dock area in Tianjin.
Everyone looked up and saw that the hundred-foot-wide river was crowded with canoes.
Cao Gang's "Manpeng Kuai" and the salt merchant's "Changlu Bo" are parked staggered, with masts like a forest.
Some ships have a "trough" flag on their bows, while others have a Salt License flag.
The morning mist entangled with the salty sea breeze, surrounding the hustle and bustle of the pier.
On the pier, the porters were as dense as ants, all carrying sacks of grain and sacks bare-chested, and stepping on the trembling springboard to load and unload goods. The supervisor's whip struck the bluestone board and sparks exploded, and the scolding was mixed with slang:
"Be quick! If you don't get these 800 kilograms into Beicang before noon, the men from the guard station won't wait for the sword!"
Li Yan and the others were traveling on the Cao Gang cargo ship. This time, they were mainly transporting cargo and delivering it to them.
Before we even docked, tax collectors came by boat.
Compared to those at Linqing Customs, the tax collectors here were much more polite in their words, but their actions were equally fierce.
They picked up iron picks and pierced the grain bags, and the yellow rice poured out.
The tax collector just glanced at it and wrote the word "mold rice" casually.
When the Cao Gang disciple who was following him saw it, he wasn't angry at all. He walked up to him with a smile on his face, and quickly stuffed a piece of snowflake silver in his hand. "The waves in the canal are rough, mold will inevitably happen, so you are so generous..."
The tax collector weighed the money, glanced sideways, and drew a circle on the account book with a cinnabar pen.
That ship of "mouldy rice" turned into "high-quality Japonica grain" in an instant, and could be sent directly to the Jingtong warehouse for replenishment.
Li Yan and others were watching with cold eyes.
After the tax collector left, Sha LiFei couldn't help but cursed, "Damn it, the world is as dark as crows!"
Cao Gang disciple smiled bitterly and shook his head, "It has been like this since ancient times. You should not be like them. The imperial court killed batch after batch, but those who reached out were never cut off."
Li Yan nodded, did not speak, but looked into the distance.
On the Haihe River, in addition to the ships of Cao Gang and salt merchants, there are also a large number of merchant ships.
Some of them are obviously not Divine Land standard, which is particularly eye-catching.
Above, Western sailors were cleaning gun barrel residue with iron brushes, and black men were brushing plywood.
"That's the Red Haired Foreigners merchant ship."
Seeing this, Cao Gang's disciple quickly explained, "I heard it's called the Tulip. Every time I come to Jinmen, I bring a ship full of spices and gold items, which are specially exchanged for porcelain and tea. I'm very rich."
As he spoke, he whispered again, "Cao Gang, we Cao Gang still have some respect for the Jinmen pier, but the real ones in charge are 'Jinghai Gang'. The 'Guo Huo' in the city are all under their command, and they are backed by high-ranking officials from the DPRK and China, so they are quite powerful."
"These people have nothing to do with me, Cao Gang. The helmsman has also given instructions not to conflict with them..."
"Don't worry."
Li Yan knew what he meant and nodded. "Just send it here. We will leave after we get to the dock. No matter what happens, it has nothing to do with you Cao Gang."
The Cao Gang disciple smiled bitterly and said, "Young Hero Li forgive me."
He also vaguely knew about Cangzhou, and the reputation of Twelve Yuan Chen was even more prominent.
If something big happened, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Chen San, the helmsman, is also the local bully in Zhangqiu Town.
When I arrived at Jinmen, no one paid any attention to me even if I mentioned my name.
Soon, the boat approached the dock.
Li Yan and others unloaded their luggage, found an ox cart to pull it, and prepared to enter the city.
At this moment, there was a commotion ahead.
I saw a tall man with black eyes. He walked a few steps and suddenly fell to the ground. He was scratching his skin like crazy, with snot and tears flowing from his nose.
There were two people beside him, and their expressions changed slightly when they saw this.
"Damn it, I'm addicted now!"
Just say that, I picked up the man and dragged him to a roadside teahouse...