Fang Yunhan asked, "I heard that General Lei had been guarding the border for a long time, and only started to live in the capital seven years ago. How could his adopted son die overseas?"
These are some of the things he heard while traveling with the Wolf General for several days.
"This matter is actually related to a major case that shocked the martial arts world and the imperial court several years ago."
Speaking of this matter, Lu Xiaofeng didn't care about the subtle and gloomy emotions in his heart. As soon as he opened his mouth, there was already a hint of fascination on his face.
"A few years ago, people from the East Factory discovered that the prince of Taiping secretly recruited soldiers and horses, privately stored armor, and formed a clique for personal gain, intending to rebel. Following this line of investigation, they found that the prince was actually a member of a mysterious organization in the underworld."
"That organization is called the Invisible Man. Its main business is to recruit assassins. The members of the organization may be famous or unknown, but they are definitely top experts, like a shadow looming over the world. The people of the East Factory have all kinds of tricks. From the people around the Prince of Taiping, we learned that from many years ago until then, there have been at least hundreds of large robberies and headless murders all over the Ming Dynasty that were related to this organization. The gold and silver treasures involved have accumulated to the value of tens of millions of taels of silver."
Fang Yunhan's expression moved slightly. He remembered that this organization was mentioned in the original novel. It was also one of the very few organizations that had not been completely destroyed because of Lu Xiaofeng's involvement. It had an unfathomable background and its headquarters seemed to be on a small island overseas.
Sure enough, Lu Xiaofeng said next.
"The East Factory found out that the headquarters of this organization was located on a small island overseas. At that time, everyone who knew about it was terrified by the size and tight control of this organization. Some even reported it to the emperor, who personally issued an order for the General's Office and the East Factory to work together to eradicate this cancer."
Lu Xiaofeng's eyes sparkled. He was in Jiangnan at the time, and the East Factory and the General's Mansion acted secretly and swiftly in order to achieve a complete victory. Now most of the insiders in the world only learned the whole story of this major event afterward.
"That was probably the only time in decades that General Lei and Cao Zhongxian truly cooperated. These two powerful officials, each with only a few dozen elite soldiers, took a boat to raid the small island overseas, taking risks and completely disregarding the so-called rule that a son of a wealthy family should not sit in the hall. Their boldness and strategy surprised everyone."
Hua Manlou also spoke about this matter at this time, with a sigh in his tone, and said: "I heard that the leader of the invisible organization knows astronomy and geography, and can even observe celestial phenomena, predict the direction of undercurrents in the sea within a few days, and predict the time of rainfall, with the accuracy of the time of rain to within a moment. His martial arts are unfathomable, and his subordinates are all masters who are rare in a century, and outstanding people."
"General Lei sighed after the battle because such a great talent did not follow the right path. He thought that the leader's martial arts might be slightly better than that of the Western Demon Cult's leader, Yu Luosha, and his knowledge of human affairs, weather, and teaching disciples was far superior to Yu Luosha."
Lu Xiaofeng drank a cup of wine, raised his eyebrows and said: "But no matter how powerful and intelligent the leader is, after three days and three nights, there is no one left alive on the island, even if the top elites from the East Factory and the General's Mansion come out. With the combined power of the Nine-foot Heartbroken Sword and the Ghost Axe Magical Skill, the leader of the invisible man finally surrendered."
Fang Yunhan listened to this with great pleasure. He poured the wine directly into the bowl, took a few sips, and said, "General Lei's adopted son died in that battle?"
"It's more than just the general's adopted son." Lu Xiaofeng shook his head slightly. "The general's mansion used to have three general managers, together with the general's adopted son, who won over people from all sides, handled things in a comprehensive manner, and were far superior to the current four generals of the Lei Mansion in terms of literary talent and military strategy. But they all died on that island. As a result, in the past few years, the power of General Lei's side has had to shrink, and it has gradually become weaker in front of the East Factory."
There was something unspoken in Lu Xiaofeng's words. General Lei's willingness to accept a royal marriage this time might not be unrelated to this influence.
Fang Yunhan asked, "What are the losses of the East Factory?"
Lu Xiaofeng said: "The third head of the East Factory has passed away, and we haven't found a suitable replacement yet. Almost all the evil masters that Cao Zhongxian had recruited over the past 20 years have died. However, compared to General Lei's side, the loss of the East Factory is not worth mentioning at all."
After all, as long as Cao Zhongxian remains in power, there will be many people in the underworld who curry favor with him and are willing to be his lackeys. Although most of their skills cannot be compared with those of the previous group, they cannot affect the overall situation.
In fact, none of the four generals of the Lei Mansion died, but the three general managers and the general's adopted son all died. The strangeness was obvious. Some people had long suspected that the casualties between the General's Mansion and the East Factory in that battle might not all be caused by the invisible man organization, but both sides kept silent about it and no one could ask.
As they were talking about this, footsteps were heard downstairs.
I saw a team of Jinyiwei entering the door. The leader was an imposing man in a red robe. In addition to the sword at his waist, he also held an iron claw in his hand.
This iron claw is composed of three one-foot-long sharp blades. There is an iron ring at the base of the claw for grasping. The edge of the blade is faintly blue, and it is probably poisoned.
Fang Yunhan originally thought that this man would come up to question him after seeing Jin Buhuan lying in the hall, but he did not expect that he only glanced towards the second floor, then ordered the people behind him to take Jin Buhuan away, turned around and left without stopping.
Fang Yunhan was greatly surprised.
Lu Xiaofeng noticed the surprise on his face and took the initiative to say, "This man is Cao Fei, the chief of the Eastern Depot. He has dealt with me many times before and knows that he can't do anything to me, so he usually doesn't bother with me."
It is something to be happy and proud of when a person says that his opponent is unwilling to get involved with him. But when Lu Xiaofeng said this, he was unusually serious.
Because Cao Fei was essentially a very ruthless and taciturn person. This person did not get entangled with him, not because he was afraid of him, but because he was unwilling to waste a single bit of energy and was unwilling to say even a word.
The energy and hostility accumulated from giving in during these events would probably accumulate and deal a fatal blow to Lu Xiaofeng at an unexpected time.
In order to prevent Fang Yunhan from being careless about this man, Lu Xiaofeng thought for a moment and said, "This Cao Fei is a man of deep thoughts, bold and careful. Since you have provoked him, you must be more careful in the future. He was the first to find out about the matter of the Prince of Taiping."
"Oh, what do you mean?" Fang Yunhan said.
"A few years ago, it was the birthday of the King of Taiping. The King of Qi had lived in the capital for a long time and was the closest to the emperor. He also wanted to pay a visit to his old brother, so the emperor specially sent a thousand households in charge of punishment to accompany him for protection."
Lu Xiaofeng explained the whole story. "After Cao Fei entered the Taiping Palace, he became suspicious just by seeing the Taiping Prince. After the birthday banquet, he lay dormant and changed more than a dozen identities. He spent three months and failed to find any evidence for ninety consecutive days. However, he still did not give up. On the ninety-first day, he successfully captured an accomplice of the Taiping Prince. This led to the far-reaching island battle."
"Just because of a little suspicion, you dare to risk delaying your report, being dismissed and investigated, and lying dormant for 91 days?"
Fang Yunhan grabbed the wine pot, filled the bowl with wine, drank it in one breath, and said with a smile, "There are so many talented people in this world. People with talents are like leeks. It's a pity that they can't stand together and have to cut off each other's lives."
He put down the bowl, and a drop of water on the edge of the bowl split into two, half slowly slid to the bottom of the bowl, and the other half slid down the outside and wet the table.
Hua Manlou paused slightly in the movement of fanning himself gently, and Xue Bing, who had been staring at Fang Yunhan from the side, suddenly had a subtle feeling.
The bursting of a drop of wine seemed to evoke an extremely clear murderous intent, but no one knew where it came from and who the target was.
The murderous aura flashed by, like an illusion.
Fang Yunhan smiled naturally and turned sideways to call out, "Waiter, bring one portion of your signature dish each."
He finally gave up the big bowl and used a wine glass instead, raising his glass and saying, "Come on, there are still several days before the wedding banquet, let's not talk about these people. We are lucky enough to get together today, so let's have a good drink first."
…
The General's Mansion is located in the suburbs of the capital. It was built for Lei Zhentian by order of the current emperor when he just ascended the throne. It covers an area of ​​hundreds of acres and has a nine-curve corridor bridge, a lotus pond and water pavilion, rockery and long canals, and magnificent halls.
It's just that Lei Zhentian himself is not fond of luxury, and the number of servants in his mansion is not even enough to take care of such a large mansion. After the death of the three general stewards, the area where people usually move around only occupies a small half of the general mansion.
However, since the emperor had granted the marriage this time, the general's mansion naturally had to prepare early and had a lot more manpower, some of whom even came from the palace. There was always some noise and bustle day and night, and big red lanterns were hung everywhere.
Lei Zhentian stood in front of the study where he usually worked, listening to General Wolf telling him about some information he had gained during this trip.
In fact, as early as the night when Wolf General first met Fang Yunhan, he had already gradually reported what he had seen and heard during this trip through the intelligence channels of the General's Mansion. He repeated it now in order to make it clearer and more detailed.
"You mean, Fang Yunhan is so young, but his courage and martial arts are far superior to those famous figures in the martial arts world."
Lei Zhentian was extremely patient and waited until General Wolf had finished speaking before asking this question. In fact, it was not really a question. There was no doubt in his tone at all. It was more like he had heard something interesting and was repeating it subconsciously.
"That's right." The Wolf General was always unconsciously a little reserved in front of the general. Even though the general's mansion was full of joy, he did not relax at all. He said very seriously, "In my opinion, his strength is far better than Qiao Shangzhou, but after several days of traveling together, I still can't figure out his strength. I just vaguely feel that... even if he fights with the general, he probably won't be easily defeated."
The wolf hesitated when he said the last sentence, but when he really said it, he was already decisive.
When Lei Zhentian heard this, a look of joy appeared on his face.
"good."
After he lost the three general stewards, he had been feeling somewhat powerless in his fight against Cao Zhongxian over the past few years. The more and more sophisticated figures appeared in the righteous world of martial arts, the happier he would be.
Besides, the comment that "Wu Gong can compete with him" has already aroused his instinctive curiosity.
"General Wolf, after the wedding banquet, please try to keep me here. I want to have a long talk with him."
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is already the seventh day of April.