A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 223 Closing the Net
night,
Quiet and lonely.

To the east of the south gate of Pingkangfang is Bodhi Temple.

The walls and pillars of the temple are covered with exquisite murals.
Although Li Yi had lived in Pingkangfang for some time, he didn't know that there was such a beautiful Buddhist temple not far from his home.

Brother Sun Fujia said: "These murals were painted by Zheng Fashi, a famous painter in the previous dynasty. At that time, Master Huijue used the money donated by believers to build this vast Bodhi Temple. After the completion of the temple, he brewed 100 stones of wine and placed it under the eaves of the temple's porch for people to taste.
Zheng Fashi drank eight dou of fine wine and painted these exquisite murals in one breath..."

The Bodhi Temple was once so popular that even Yang Su often invited monks from the temple to preach. Once, a young monk gave an excellent sermon and was rewarded by Yang Su with an exquisite saddle. The saddle was sold for 70,000 coins, causing quite a stir.
"But later, a well-known monk from the temple went to preach to Yang Su, but he only received a small gift, which made the monk extremely disappointed."

The night was very cold. They were waiting for Du Jingai's assassins to fall into the trap. Sun Fujia told some stories about the temple to pass the time.
"After leaving Yang Su's residence, the eminent monk casually gave the small object to a beggar on the street. The beggar wanted to exchange it for ten Hu cakes from a Hu merchant in the West Market. The Hu merchant shook his head and said that it was a precious bone. It turned out to be a precious Buddha bone relic. The Hu merchant directly offered 500,000 yuan for it. The beggar became rich overnight, buying a house, land, marrying a wife and concubines...

Everyone spoke of the greed and ignorance of the Bodhi Temple monks, but also praised the vision and integrity of the Western Region merchants.

"After that incident, Yang Su never asked the monks at Bodhi Temple to preach again. Even many nobles stopped donating to the temple. Even merchants and common people stopped putting money into the temple's incense kitchen to make money. As a result, the temple gradually became deserted."

Li Yi felt that this story must have been processed many times.
There was no reason for Yang Su not to tell the monk that he had given him Buddha's bone relics. The monk could not have failed to recognize them, and he threw the gift from Yang Su directly to a beggar on the street. What was even more bizarre was that the beggar used it to exchange for ten Hu cakes, but the Hu merchant actually paid 500,000 coins to buy them.

It's too ridiculous.

Li Yi believed even more that if it really was a beggar who took a precious bone worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to exchange for cakes, then if the Hu merchant really knew the value of it, he might have exchanged it immediately, or even killed the beggar to silence him afterwards.

The reason why such a story came out,
Considering the fact that Bodhi Temple is deserted now, Li Yi feels that the truth is more likely to be that the opponents of Bodhi Temple attacked him, or that Bodhi Temple offended Yang Su, and Yang Su made up such a story to mess with Bodhi Temple.

Yang Su was definitely an extraordinary figure. He was a general and a prime minister, and was full of wisdom and strategies. Moreover, he was both good and evil, and should not be offended.

Back then, Wu Yi's mother, Zhang, was already engaged to Li Zhi, and they were actually husband and wife. However, Yang Su wanted Li Zhi to be his son-in-law, which led to a tragedy.

"Did you know that the court just appointed Li Zhi as the governor of Hezhou?"

Hezhou was the Fuhan Commandery of the Sui Dynasty. After raising his army, Xue Ju led 2,000 men to attack the Sui general Huangfu Wan, who commanded over 10,000 men. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle at Chi'an. A storm arrived, and Xue Ju's army initially faced headwinds, but Huangfu Wan failed to seize the opportunity. However, the wind soon shifted, putting the Sui army at a disadvantage. Xue Ju seized the opportunity, rode his horse forward, and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop, ultimately capturing Fuhan.

Afterwards, Zhong Lisu, the Qiang leader of Fuhan, surrendered with 20,000 troops. Xue Ju happily married his daughter to Zhong Lisu's son Zhong Juchou. After he became emperor, he made his son-in-law the Zuo Pushe.

During the Battle of Jingzhou, Zhong Juchou stayed behind to guard Hezhou. After Xue Ju was defeated, he surrendered the state. However, not long after, Li Gui of Hexi sent troops to capture Hezhou.

At present, Hezhou is in the hands of Li Gui.
Li Zhi, the newly appointed governor of Hezhou, like Yang Gongren, the governor of Liangzhou, had to conquer the territory first.

Li Zhi used to be the prefect of Longxi County, which was adjacent to Hezhou. He was familiar with the local customs and even had dealings with the Qiang people.

However, he was originally a chief minister, and was a fourth-rank official. Now he has been transferred to be the governor of Hezhou, and the governor of Xiazhou is also a fourth-rank official.

But even Hezhou was still in the hands of the enemy, and the transfer of this governor was obviously a demotion, or even meant to make him make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

"I have nothing to do with Li Zhi, why should I care about him?" Li Yi curled his lips.

Li Yuan helped him to be adopted by Li Xiaochang, the younger brother of Yi'an King Li Xiaochang. He said it didn't matter and it wasn't wrong.

He was originally an illegitimate child, and now he is adopted, so naturally there is no problem.

"You have encountered everything. First there was the Li Jing and Li Zhi families, and now you have to deal with the father and son Du Yan and Du Jingai from your wife's family. It's amazing." Sun Fujia couldn't help but sigh.

"Yeah, how come I happened to meet such a top-notch person?"

"How are you going to handle this?"

"Du Jingai?"

"Well, he is your wife's brother after all."

"What can I do? If Du Jingai beats me up, I have to consider my wife's face and not kill or cripple him. But now he tried this trick and ended up messing it up. Who can I blame?" Li Yi couldn't help but suppress the upturned corners of his mouth as he spoke.

"Du Jingai is already in her twenties and has been married for ten years. Even if she doesn't have any children, she is already an adult.
You must always be responsible for your own actions.”

"You really don't care?"

"What can I do? Every family has its own rules, every country has its own laws. Now he has violated the laws of the country. Moreover, his father is now in the Luoyang court and has killed many officials who wanted to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. This is an enemy who came to assassinate the officials of the Tang Dynasty.

Can you let him go if you catch him?"

Li Yi laughed and said, "I, Li Yi, don't have that much face. Can I rescue him?"

Sun Fujia smiled and shook his head, "That's true, but Shi Niang will be sad."

Qian Jiulong came in,
"The prey is coming,"

Sun Fujia asked him, "General Qian, are you sure you can catch them all in one fell swoop?"

Qian Jiulong said confidently, "I have already dispatched a hundred garrison troops to ambush the Qianshui Marquis's residence. Moreover, there are twenty Yulin and fifty Luben soldiers in the residence. They can escape even if they have wings."

"Outside, there are still hundreds of bad guys led by the bad commander of Wannian County guarding the streets and alleys. The Wu Hou has also increased the number of people at the intersections outside the town tonight."

Li Yi asked himself that even if a small army came, they would not be able to gain any advantage.

"Thank you, Mr. Qian."

"I am also following orders. Don't worry, the assassins won't even be able to reach the door of Qianshui Marquis' Mansion tonight. I will definitely not let them cause any damage."

"Well, we must eradicate all evil. These guys are so bold that they not only want to assassinate court officials during the New Year, but also want to set fire in the dark.

It was dry and the fire was spreading like wildfire. Who knew how much damage it would cause? Li Yi still liked the house in Pingkangfang that he had bought for 800,000 yuan.
Although Du Yan's 17-acre house in Wubenfang is said to have a Jiangnan waterscape that is much better than his place, he still likes this side.

"We have to wait until all these assassins show up before we catch them. We can't let any of them escape. If we alert them, it will be difficult to catch them." "Don't worry, we have dispatched so many people just to catch them all in one fell swoop."

Facts have proved that Qian Jiulong is quite reliable in doing things.

Today he used a butcher knife to kill a chicken, and he was very hardworking in his stance.

Nearing the third watch,
The assassin emerged from the culvert in Pingkangfang.

Soon, they gathered near Li Yi's house, a total of ten people.

It has to be said that Du Yan and Du Jingai were quite capable. They were able to organize so many desperate assassins in Luoyang. Even though Shi Lushan confessed that most of these assassins were hired warriors from the Hu people, they were doing the dangerous jobs of guarding and assassination, and they would do it as long as the price was right.

But it is difficult for ordinary people to contact or even organize so many people in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, these professional mercenary warriors encountered the emperor's imperial guards, who were best at defending.

The mercenaries of the Hu people who specialized in assassination met the imperial guards of the emperor.
The collision of spear and shield,

It breaks when touched.

Before they could take action,

After confirming that all ten assassins had appeared, the imperial guards let out the cry of a night owl and began to close in their pursuit.

No matter life or death, as long as no one can escape.

The imperial guards ambushed in the dark launched the first wave of assault with crossbows.
Then the sword and shield soldiers rushed out of the encirclement,

Three times five divided by two,
All the Sogdian Tuojie warriors who crisscrossed the Silk Road fell.
Li Yi was still chatting with Qian Jiulong when someone came to report that they had captured them all.

"Three were killed on the spot and seven were captured alive."

Qian Jiulong smiled at Li Yi, then said to the imperial guard, "Can't we capture them all alive?"

Li Yi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that all ten assassins were caught.

We are not afraid of thieves stealing, but we are afraid that thieves will miss us.

Qian Jiulong withdrew his troops.
However, for safety reasons, thirty Yu Lin were left behind.

Li Yi's security level is now frighteningly high.

There were fifty imperial guards stationed at the camp, and fifty imperial guards sent by Crown Prince Jiancheng.

Li Yi himself also transferred fifty able-bodied tenants from the general's camp.

A small Marquis of Shallow Water has stronger security forces than those of a duke or a prime minister.

Come back home,

The situation at Qianshuihou Mansion was tense inside, and his wives, concubines, and servants were still unaware of the thrilling scene that had taken place outside tonight.

Li Yi stayed in the outer courtyard.
Zhao Yongan slept in the same room with a few imperial guards. There were sentries both in the courtyard and on the street.

The night was peaceful.

At dawn, Du Ruhui came to see Li Yi.
Last night, Fan Xing led his team to set up a net outside his house and captured ten assassins in one fell swoop.

"This damn Du Jingai was actually planning to come to my house to kill and set fire to it," Du Ruhui was still very angry when he said this.

Only after seeing the assassin arrested with his own eyes did he completely believe the information Li Yi had told him.

"Mrs. Guo wants to see you and Shi Niang."

"She wants to plead for Du Jingai, right?"

Du Ruhui looked at Li Yi and said, "Actually, I also want to ask you to help me save Du Jingai."

"Second brother wants to use Du Jingai to exchange for Sanlang?"

Du Ruhui nodded. "Sanlang is still imprisoned in Luoyang. If Du Jingai died in Chang'an, Du Yan would definitely not let him live."

"Second brother, Du Jing's lover is now in Yongzhou Prison. How to deal with him is a matter for the court officials, and I cannot interfere."

"I know. I just want you to write a letter to the Saint, asking him to show me mercy and exchange Du Jingai for my third brother Chu Ke."

If Guo came to ask him to save Du Jingai, he would not agree no matter how much she begged, but now that Du Ruhui had spoken, he had to seriously consider it.

"Okay, I'll write a petition to the Saint, but I can't guarantee the outcome."

"Wuyi, thank you. No matter what the outcome is, I have to thank you."

Li Yi waved his hand, "Second brother, there's no need to be so formal. In fact, Du Jingai is also dying. Yesterday, I went to Yongzhou Prison to see him and saw him coughing up blood. I asked a doctor to examine him. The doctor said that he was seriously ill and didn't have much time left.

He may not survive even a hundred days.

Now I can recycle the waste, if I can get Sanlang back, that would be great."

(End of this chapter)