C62

antechamber, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were still here.

"I heard that you recently dismissed a few guards." Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang was not surprised that Yuwen Tong would know about this. Firstly, it was not a secret, and secondly, Yuwen Tong's subordinates were all powerful, so it would not be difficult for them to gather information.

"They're all lazy eaters and dirty hands and feet." Ling Zhang said.

Yuwen Tong nodded, he wanted to say more, but Wang Dashan returned to look for him, "Eldest Young Master, Xia Feng's letter has arrived."

Ling Zhang's eyes lit up, he quickly opened the letter Wang Dashan had brought over and started to read it carefully.

Although Yuwen Tong had only stayed in the Ling Family for one night, he was very clear on the people who served him by his side. According to his knowledge, this person called Xia Feng was sent by Ling Zhang to do some work, so it was rather secretive as to what exactly he was doing.

Seeing that Ling Zhang was so happy, Yuwen Tong could not help but guess.

Xia Feng's letter was very thick, and explained in detail the background of all the guards he had investigated. Basically, it matched what they had currently, which made Ling Zhang heave a sigh of relief.

As long as there were no problems with the person, he could start his training.

At the end of the letter, Xia Feng said that he was currently in Yanzhou, and if Ling Zhang had no other instructions, he would leave for Tan Yang.

Yanzhou... Ling Zhang's heart was moved, this was just the right time for Xia Feng to check Liu Yi's background.

He looked at Yuwen Tong, "I'm going to write a letter."

"I'll wait here." Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang returned to his own courtyard, wrote a letter to Xia Feng, and sent it over to him.

On the other side, Yuwen Tong merely gave Yao Yi a glance, before Yao Yi quietly left.

So what Ling Zhang did not know was that before the letter he wrote to Xia Feng even left the Tan Yang City, it had been intercepted by Yao Yi.

At this time, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had already left the Ling Residence, and were strolling in the streets.

"You want to go to the West Mountain?" Ling Zhang was surprised.

"Investigate the Jia family mine you mentioned." Yuwen Tong said.

"But it's daytime now, there are many guards in Jia family mine, we will be discovered once we get closer." Ling Zhang said.

"Just follow me." Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang suspiciously looked at him, but after thinking about how powerful Yuwen Tong was with his movement technique, perhaps he would be able to enter, he decided to first follow Yuwen Tong to take a look.

There were many medicine stores in Tan Yang City, and walking on the streets, one could always smell the smell of medicine. For the citizens of Tan Yang City, they were already used to this smell.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang walked side by side on the street, paying attention to every single medicine shop. They discovered that every single medicine store had a flag planted in front of them, and the flags were embroidered with a totem that resembled a family emblem.

Ling Zhang noticed that he was looking and said: "Those are the family emblems of the merchants behind every store. The flag is placed outside to let people know which shop it belongs to with a single glance. All the merchants who often cooperate with the Tan Yang's medicine merchants knew which family's goods are the best to leave from, and which family's goods are the hardest to leave from, so there is no need for them to waste time on other families. "

"All of this has something to do with bandits?" Yuwen Tong immediately replied.

"Yes, merchants that come from outside the will put their flags on them the moment they leave the Tan Yang, so that they can pass through without a hitch. Otherwise, they will not be able to leave the Tan Yang. What was difficult to leave was that their relationship with Zhang Chong wasn't harmonious enough, and they didn't have enough filial piety. Actually, everyone in Tan Yang knows about the collusion between the State Guard and the bandits, but no one dares to say, if you want to continue doing business, you must obey such an unwritten rule. " Ling Zhang said.

Yuwen Tong frowned, his gaze cold.

"You probably noticed it when you entered the Tan Yang, there are almost no solitary houses in the outskirts of the Tan Yang City, all the farmers are gathered here, every living area has flags planted on them, right?" Ling Zhang asked him.

Yuwen Tong nodded, "Indeed."

Although the sky was still dark and could not be seen clearly, it did not stop Yuwen Tong from discovering the obvious flags.

"Those flags are the army flags of the State Guard, they are just like the flags outside the stores. Most of the time, they are useful, but they can also not work, and will often cause blood to flow everywhere." Ling Zhang said with a cold voice.

He then continued, "At that time, the Tan Yang State Guard will go out and annihilate a mountain. The reward will be sent to the Shang Jing."

The commoners were actually not stupid. Who didn't have that kind of guess in their hearts? But there was no helping it, since they were living on this land, they had no choice but to compromise on some matters.

Furthermore, the current emperor was in a coma. The other prefectures had heavy taxes, poor land, or other problems, so what if they left the Tan Yang? They still had to face other problems.

The road out of the Tan Yang was being watched by bandits, could they really leave the Tan Yang safely? What about the pain?

In the Tan Yang, as long as you give the State Guard enough respect, there's an 80% chance of him surviving.

This was what the people thought.

Yuwen Tong was silent for a moment, then said: "According to what you have said, not only the merchants, even the commoners have voluntarily or are forced to obey the State Guard."

Ling Zhang said as he stared at him coldly, "That's right, so it's not easy to overturn Zhang Chong."

He had walked a difficult road.

"Looking through all these, the most fundamental thing is still the bandit gang's calamity. The current Tan Yang State Guard relies on those bandits to achieve what they want, so in order to deal with Zhang Chong, the bandit's calamity must first be resolved." Yuwen Tong said.

"The imperial government doesn't want to send another army to destroy the bandits. Do you have any ideas?" Ling Zhang looked at him.

"The reason why the imperial government did not send their army to exterminate the bandits was complicated, but the premise was that the Tan Yang State Guard would not harm the imperial power." Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang immediately understood the meaning behind Yuwen Tong's words. He thought about his suspicions towards the Tan Yang State Guard and asked Yuwen Tong: "Did you discover something?"

Yuwen Tong looked at him, and said in Ling Zhang's hopeful eyes: "I can't tell you right now, you'll know when the time comes."

Ling Zhang felt disappointed, Yuwen Tong was actually still hanging in people's appetite. But Zhang Chong had a blood feud with him, how could Yuwen Tong just patiently wait for him?

No matter what, he would investigate it himself.

If Zhang Chong really wanted to rebel, then he could set off firecrackers to celebrate.

He didn't have the heart to care about the consequences of rebelling.

Thinking about it here, Ling Zhang suddenly remembered that Wang Dashan mentioned that Liu Yi originally wanted to join the army, but gave up after going to the State Guard's encampment.

Looks like I have to talk to Liu Yi now.

"Is that the Jia family you were talking about?" Yuwen Tong suddenly said.

Ling Zhang looked at him suspiciously, while Yuwen Tong indicated that he should look at the other side.

Ling Zhang looked at the street diagonally opposite to him, where a palanquin stopped under a restaurant opposite to them. On the door frame of the palanquin hung a wooden signboard with the word Jia hanging on it, a person walked out from the palanquin.

"It's Jia Yin." Ling Zhang's voice turned cold.

"Oh? is that Jia Yuanling's father. " Yuwen Tong said.

"It's him." Ling Zhang said.

The restaurant's layout could be considered average among the Tan Yang City s, and it could be considered a pretty good restaurant near the West Gate s. But the Jia family was located in the east side of the city, and there were a few restaurants of a much larger scale in the east side of the city.

"We'll leave the city later." Ling Zhang said.

Yuwen Tong did not say anything, he looked around, then looked at the small teahouse behind him, "Let's go take a seat here?"

The teahouse was also two storeys wide, but it was not very spacious. On the second floor, there was a window seat facing the street. Ling Zhang paid extra silver and switched seats with the customer who was originally sitting by the window.

Coincidentally, Jia Yin was also sitting next to a window on the second floor of the Pleasant Hotel, looking over at the other side of the main street.

Ling Zhang closed half of the window, covering himself and Yuwen Tong, and wondered why Jia Yin looked like he was waiting for something, but what?

Suddenly, Ling Zhang's eyes turned cold. Today was exactly the day Jia Yuanling would be sent into exile.

"What? Did you remember something?" Yuwen Tong poured him a cup of tea.

"Today is the day Jia Yuanling will be sent into exile. According to the tradition of the Tan Yangzhou's yamen, this time should be around the time Jia Yuanling will be escorted to the West Gate." Ling Zhang said.

Yuwen Tong looked out the window at the main street and saw from afar that four constables were escorting a man dressed in gray prison clothes over.

Due to these people, the streets were in an uproar. Many people made way for them on both sides of the street.

So that was Jia Yuanling.

Yuwen Tong gently rotated the teacup in his hand as a trace of killing intent flashed in the depths of his eyes.

"He's coming."

Ling Zhang turned to look at the street and saw Jia Yuanling, who was being escorted over.

Jia Yuanling sat in the prison cart, his hair in disarray, his eyes looking through the messy hair. As long as anyone dared to point at him and talk, he would stare at them viciously, until they did not dare point at him anymore.

With his back against Jia family, he was obviously already a prisoner, yet he still acted so arrogantly.

Ling Zhang looked at the prison cart expressionlessly. What was Jia Yuanling being so arrogant for?

It was unknown if he had sensed Ling Zhang's gaze, but Jia Yuanling suddenly raised his head and looked towards the teahouse.

Ling Zhang did not dodge, and met Jia Yuanling's pair of venomous eyes with his.

Jia Yuanling was enraged, he stared at Ling Zhang as though he wanted to tear Ling Zhang into shreds.

"Just you wait, I'll be back." Jia Yuanling said to Ling Zhang soundlessly.

Ling Zhang quietly stood there without moving. His cold and detached response was the best form of disdain and ridicule.

Come back? I'm afraid it's not up to you.

Jia Yuanling was agitated by Ling Zhang's reaction, he tightly clenched his fists, and his eyes that was staring at Ling Zhang slowly turned red.