Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Wujin County Government Office Gate.

A ruthless killer appears.

Zhao Haichuan carried the food box and crossed the high threshold. Just as he was about to step in, he was stopped by several concierges guarding the door: "What do you do?"

"Oh...this is from Zuixianlou delivering food to the county magistrate."

Zhao Haichuan lowered his felt hat and tried his best to cover his face. He was wearing the clothes of a waiter in the restaurant next door.

"Who knows if you brought anything else!" One of the older concierges looked at the lunch box in his hand. He seemed to be quite interested in this lunch box and stared straight at it.

Seeing the concierge's behavior, Zhao Haichuan immediately guessed that he was trying to get some benefits from himself. At this time, not only was there no errand fee for delivering food to the county minister, but he also had to pay for it himself.

Just like this, there are still many restaurants flocking to it.

Who is it that Yao Gongzhi and Yao County Zun have no other hobbies but this appetite for food?

However, Zhao Haichuan was not angry, but smiled and explained: "This uncle, how can I have anything else!"

As he spoke, he stretched his hand into his arms to indicate that there was nothing suspicious behind him.

In fact, there was a sharp dagger hidden on his leg at this moment!

At this moment, Li Hu led a team of detectives and rushed back from the crime scene of Qingping Bofan's house, and everyone was in a hurry.

"Hush!"

As Li Hu tightened the reins, the horse neighed and stopped moving forward.

"Um...what's going on?" Li Hu asked as he turned over and dismounted.

"The food has to be presented to the county magistrate. It won't be good if it gets cold... Please ask Capt. Li to be accommodating and let me in."

After hearing this, Li Hu frowned slightly, knowing that these disciples were ripping off people again, so he just said: "In that case, then come with me first."

While he was talking, Li Hu led a few detectives inside, while the rest of the detectives stayed where they were to rest.

As Zhao Haichuan expected, the concierge stepped aside very cooperatively: "Okay, since you are delivering food to the county magistrate, you can go in."

"Thank you, uncle!" Zhao Haichuan bowed slightly and walked straight to the back hall.

After passing through two corridors, Zhao Haichuan came to the door of an elegantly decorated courtyard and looked up at the door sign.

"He's upright. Ha."

Zhao Haichuan muttered in his heart.

At this moment, he saw the policeman who was having breakfast in the restaurant this morning stopped Li Hu and was talking to him. Zhao Haichuan was shocked and hurriedly hid under the bamboo forest.

However, Li Hu shouted impatiently: "Don't bother me with trivial matters."

The detective tried his best to say: "That man doesn't look like an ordinary Jianghu traveler. He may be a little weird."

"If there's anything weird, go check it out yourself!"

Li Hu frowned and then walked into the courtyard of the county lord Yao Gongzhi.

After a while, he walked out in a hurry.

At this time, a man dressed as a servant followed him out of the courtyard and asked Zhao Haichuan, "Who are you looking for?"

Zhao Haichuan hurriedly said: "Send food to the county magistrate."

"Oh... the master has been waiting for a long time, please come with me!"

Zhao Haichuan nodded and followed the servant into the back hall.

As soon as Zhao Haichuan stepped into the hall, he found that the entire hall was elegantly and exquisitely furnished. The walls, floors, tables and chairs were all made of mahogany, and all of them were made of fine wood. In addition, there are many exquisite potted flowers placed in the hall, making the whole hall look particularly quiet and pleasant.

I saw an elegant middle-aged man about fifty years old sitting at the table drinking tea. He respectfully clasped his fists and saluted: "The common people pay homage to the county magistrate!"

Then Zhao Haichuan put the food box on the table.

"No courtesy." Yao Gongzhi ordered lightly, and then continued to drink tea, as if he didn't take him to heart at all.

Zhao Haichuan didn't mind either, he still stood there with his eyebrows lowered.

"Put down the food and why don't you leave?"

Yao Gongzhi slowly put down the tea cup in his hand, raised his eyes and glanced at Zhao Haichuan, but he was not too angry.

His energy was still focused on what Li Hu reported to him about the destruction of the Qingping Bofan family.

The National Preceptor's team of governors made a thunderous attack. It must be said that it gave him a small shock and made him feel a little dazed for a moment.

Yao Gongzhi's own buttocks were not clean, so he naturally had some scruples.

Now he is still thinking about how to greet the governor team of the Imperial Master and Song Shilang without making any mistakes.

After all, the eldest son of the Fan family is still in the county, and sooner or later the prefect will know about this matter. They are all buried big firecrackers, and you don't know when they will explode.

"Huh?"

Yao Gongzhi seemed to have thought of something and said, "I don't seem to have ordered anything to eat today. Are you here to honor me?"

Zhao Haichuan's rickety waist slowly stood up and he said coldly.

"Yao County Zun."

"Um?!"

A sneer appeared on Zhao Haichuan's face. He suddenly lifted his hem and pulled the sword out of its sheath. A cold light flashed, and then, a trace of blood appeared on Yao Gongzhi's neck.

"Uh" Yao Gongzhi's eyes widened and he covered his throat in disbelief, but finally fell to the ground.

"Puch!"

Zhao Haichuan sheathed the knife, then took out a handkerchief and wiped away the traces of the crime.

Immediately, he turned around and left without even looking back.

"The County Lord has been assassinated!"

Not long after, next to Yao Gongzhi's body, a police officer who came after hearing the news knelt on the ground to report.

Hearing this, another detective immediately rushed outside and shouted: "Quickly go and inform the prefect!"

The sudden death of the county magistrate spread throughout Changzhou City in just a short time.

Some people with a keen sense of smell even noticed that this incident may be closely related to the incoming governor team. After all, how could such a coincidence happen in this world? As soon as the National Preceptor's team dealt with the Fan family, a famous bully in Wujin County, Yao Gongzhi was killed.

"Could it be that Mr. Yao County knows some great secret? In order to keep the secret, only the dead can keep their mouths shut."

"Yes, Yao County Zun has a close relationship with many officials in Changzhou Prefecture. Maybe someone deliberately took the opportunity to get rid of Yao County Zun."

"If Yao Gongzhi dies, everyone can live. Do you think he should die?"

For a time, various speculations arose, and some even said that the murderer was an undercover agent arranged by a certain lord to monitor Yao Gongzhi, and he was also responsible for eradicating dissidents for this lord!

One night, the wind and cranes roared in the capital city of Changzhou, and the vegetation was full of soldiers!

Although these rumors are just rumors, they do not lack some basis. After all, Changzhou Prefecture is so big, and many gossips in the yamen spread like this in the past.

Inside the restaurant.

Zhao Haichuan returned to the kitchen, scooped up the half pot of fish soup left last night and heated it up, then ate a bowl of fish soup with the warm white rice in the pot, and then started the pot on another stove. He burned some oil and planned to prepare a dish to fill his stomach before returning to his post with Cao Song, the official of the Hundred Households of the Imperial Guard.

Hearing the "crackling" sound of hot oil boiling in his ears and looking at the river facing the street outside the kitchen, Zhao Haichuan was stunned for a few moments before sighing.

At this moment, the door suddenly opened.

"Have you finished delivering the food boxes?"

Cao Song walked into the kitchen and said to Zhao Haichuan with a smile: "You are very diligent today! You didn't leave any traces, right?"

As he spoke, his eyes had glanced around.

"I didn't leave it behind. I cleaned it up."

Zhao Haichuan hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: "Sir, why did you come down in person?"

Cao Song patted him on the shoulder and said: "I also have to share the emperor's worries. Not only that, I also have to"

At this moment, Zhao Haichuan suddenly and violently tried to break away from Cao Song's seemingly intimate embrace, but it was too late.

A dagger stabbed into his abdomen.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Song resisted Zhao Haichuan's resistance and pushed the handle of the knife forward, and blood immediately poured out from the wound.

"Sir...sir...you...what are you doing?"

Zhao Haichuan's eyes widened, he looked at Cao Song with a grim expression, and his voice trembled slightly.

Cao Song stared at Zhao Haichuan pitifully and said, "Brother, I'm sorry."

Chi!

Another knife strike, and blood immediately splattered, staining the clothes red.

"——Uh-huh"

The severe pain caused Zhao Haichuan's adrenaline to surge. He reached out and swung the boiling hot oil pan next to him.

"Pfft!"

Cao Song couldn't dodge and was immediately splashed with hot oil, wailing like a slaughtered pig.

Zhao Haichuan took the opportunity to turn around, break the window and escape.

There is a river under the window. When Cao Song regains his mobility, how can he still see Zhao Haichuan?

Cao Song froze on the spot, and the dagger fell to the ground with a thud.

There was only one thought in my mind.

broken!

Zhao Haichuan is just Xiaoqi, a member of the Imperial Guard, and may not know many secrets, but he does know which characters he has come into contact with.

Cao Song knew very well what kind of uproar killing Yao Gongzhi would cause, but he knew even better that if Yao Gongzhi was not silenced, once this unfathomable national master found out something, more people would probably be killed. will be uprooted!

And Zhao Haichuan had seen all these so-called "more people" with him!

So he chose to deal with Yao Gongzhi and did not hesitate to kill Zhao Haichuan. This was actually killing two birds with one stone. If he could succeed, then no one who could implicate him would be able to speak. When the time comes, it will be done. According to Jiang Xinghuo's instructions to him, he could be promoted with this merit and then return to Nanjing with the money to continue looking for a good job.

However, now the plan has completely failed.

Cao Song was not sure. Now that the city was full of turmoil, once the Imperial Guard conducted a thorough investigation, if Zhao Haichuan was still alive, he would be found by the Imperial Guard. If found, then his previous choice of making a clear stand and defecting to the Imperial Guard would be completely unfeasible.

Cao Song struggled to change his clothes and walked to the Changzhou government office in the north of the city.

——————

"Cao Baihu, didn't I tell you not to come if you have nothing to do? What's wrong with your cheeks and hands?"

In the room, a 70-year-old man wearing a tattered coat full of patches sat on the edge of the bed and stood up with difficulty to ask.

The few steps the old man took towards the table, and the movement of his cleanly starched clothes made people worried whether the fabric would tear.

Coupled with the four characters "Breeze on Two Sleeves" on the plaque, it is difficult not to think that this is an incorruptible veteran.

"Yao Gongzhi is dead."

"Oh, a good death."

The old man nodded slightly, then picked up the teacup on the table again, took a sip of tea, and then said leisurely: "Did that boy named Jiang notice our presence?"

"Yes, he has already sneaked into the capital of Changzhou one step ahead of the governor's team."

The tea cup in the old man's hand shook slightly.

"Haha, this kid is quite clever." The old man said with a smile, his eyes slightly narrowed, and a playful expression appeared on his face.

"Master Prefect!"

Cao Song covered half of his burned cheek, almost out of breath.

"presumptuous!"

The old man dropped the teacup hard on the ground, causing porcelain shards to fly everywhere.

The old man looked scornfully at Cao Song, with a look of kindness on his brow that showed no anger or authority at all.

"When the sky falls, I'm holding it up! I'm the prefect of Changzhou, and I've been in power since Emperor Hongwu! When the Jinyi Guards were disbanded, I didn't even move. It's your turn to point fingers? Why, you still want to kill me too? ?”

The old man simply pulled out the dagger from Cao Song's waist, held his hand against his neck full of age spots, Cao Song breathed rapidly, finally abandoned the dagger and sat back on the chair slumped.

"I'm a little panicked. What should I do?"

"Go burn down the warehouse tonight. If you burn it, there will be no evidence."

PS: [Important reminder (there is no charge for this content)] Chapters 316 to 356 are about the rectification of officialdom and the suppression of rebellions in Jiangnan. They do not contain any theoretical knowledge. They are all practical content. If you are not interested, you can jump directly to Chapter 366. "Class" will contain theoretical knowledge content from now on.