coobybook Chapter 234: Changes in Zui Xiang Lou
Chapter 234: Changes in Zui Xiang Lou
Yangzhou City, Qi Prefecture.
Su Tang and his friends returned to Yangzhou City at night.
No one came to disturb them for two days.
Perhaps it was because Governor Hong was not in Yangzhou City, and all forces in the city were unusually quiet.
On the streets, people's lives seemed to be unaffected.
When Chunmei and her friends went out to buy things, they didn't notice anything unusual.
Su Tang was not in a hurry either. She had a magic weapon and would shoot anyone who disobeyed her.
"Master, Magistrate Hong has come with a group of officials again."
That afternoon, Su Tang was eating the Yangzhou snacks that Xia Mei had just made in the house.
Knowing that Su Tang loved Yangzhou food, Xia Mei went to find the chef in Qi Mansion to learn from him.
In this way, when Su Tang returns to Kyoto, she will have someone around her who can cook Yangzhou cuisine.
Su Tang turned her head to look at the person reporting at the door, "Is Magistrate Hong back?"
"Yes." The guard replied.
"Let's go and take a look. They should have some reinforcements."
Prefect Hong fled overnight that day. Although he did not take his belongings with him, it was a shame for a prefect to leave the city under his jurisdiction overnight without being summoned.
If he can't give a reasonable reason, this alone can be used to charge him with desertion from his post.
Although Su Tang was just a woman and should not have interfered in state affairs, she still had the gold medal bestowed by Emperor Jing in her hand. This was probably something that no official could have imagined.
"Let's go." Qi Lingheng knew that Su Tang loved to join in the fun, so he had no choice but to accompany her.
When we arrived at the gate of Qi Mansion, we saw a group of officials from Yangzhou Prefecture.
Su Tang narrowed her eyes. The official who was dismissed by Prefect Hong that day was actually standing among the crowd today. It seemed that this person paid a considerable price to stand here again.
"Your humble servant greets Her Royal Highness the Princess and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi." Outside the Qi Mansion, when Governor Hong saw Su Tang and Qi Lingheng, he bowed and saluted to the two of them.
"I haven't seen Prefect Hong for several days. What's the matter today?" Qi Lingheng stood in front of the tall gate of the Qi Mansion, looking at the officials standing on the street.
"I caused the princess and the king of Qi to be frightened on the street before. I should have calmed them down earlier, but I had some important matters to deal with. Today I finally have some free time. So I brought a group of Yangzhou officials to once again implore the princess and the king of Qi to go to Zuixianglou and let the officials of Yangzhou Prefecture apologize to you and Your Highness the Princess."
As Prefect Hong spoke, he bowed again and saluted to Su Tang and Qi Lingheng. The officials behind him also saluted, "I beg the princess and the king of Qi to do me the honor."
"Well, since Prefect Hong and everyone else have requested it again and again, I and the King of Qi cannot refuse to do you a favor, right? Shall we go now?" Su Tang stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Qi Lingheng.
A pair of perfect couple stood on a high place, the breeze blew through the corners of their clothes, and the two corners of their clothes entangled with each other.
Prefect Hong was overjoyed when he saw this, and quickly responded, turning around and making a gesture of invitation, "Then I will be waiting for the princess and the King of Qi at the entrance of the alley."
"Yes." The King of Qi responded, and soon a carriage came from the side door of the King of Qi's mansion. Su Tang and the King of Qi got on the carriage and followed the people leading the way.
Soon all the carriages arrived at Zui Xiang Lou. Magistrate Hong got off the carriage first. His chubby body ran very fast. He brought a group of officials and accompanied Su Tang and Qi Lingheng to Zui Xiang Lou.
Just hearing the name Zui Xiang Lou, Su Tang thought it was a restaurant, but when she arrived there she realized it was just a group of bungalows.
Fortunately, the decoration of the entrance was not bad, and Su Tang and Qi Lingheng were welcomed into Zui Xiang Lou by Prefect Hong and others like stars among the crowd.
"Hehehe, Zui Xiang Lou has been cleared today, so Princess and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi can rest assured." Prefect Hong walked beside Qi Lingheng and replied with a smile.
But even Su Tang could tell that the smile on his face was not genuine.
Moreover, today, Magistrate Hong would deliberately straighten his back most of the time and only used more respectful words in his speech.
They walked to a courtyard, where they saw flourishing flowers and a long banquet table in the middle.
After Su Tang and Qi Lingheng took their seats, Prefect Hong and other officials from Yangzhou Prefecture immediately sat down at the bottom.
Soon, musicians began playing stringed instruments, and a dozen women in lightly dressed clothes came forward to dance to the music, their figures as graceful as willows swaying in the wind.
Su Tang raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at Qi Lingheng, and Qi Lingheng smiled back.
Although there were specially trained dancers performing at the palace banquet, they were after all in front of the entire court of civil and military officials. Although those women danced much better than the woman in front of them, their clothes were far less revealing than the woman in front of them.
Looking at the lustful expressions of the officials around her, Su Tang couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Fortunately, Qi Lingheng beside him didn't even look at those women. He frowned and looked at Prefect Hong, "You are so brave to do these low-class things and pollute the eyes of the Grand Princess."
With a whoosh, the sound of stringed instruments stopped, and the dancers who were dancing hard also stopped and knelt down in the direction of Qi Lingheng.
"Step back, why don't you step back?" Magistrate Hong waved his hand and said to the dancers and musicians.
After the dancers and musicians left, the originally lively courtyard became unusually quiet.
The accompanying officials present all looked at Su Tang. There was confusion in their eyes, but more of it was disdain.
In their opinion, there was nothing wrong with going out to drink and have fun with a woman, especially since they were just watching the dancers dance.
But Su Tang is just a woman, so she doesn't let them be happy.
Afterwards, everyone looked at Qi Lingheng with pity. With such a shrewish woman at home, the King of Qi might not be able to enjoy other beauties.
"Hehe, if you don't want to watch, there's a juggling troupe outside. Why don't we let them perform some street skills? It can't be too boring, right?" Prefect Hong glanced at Qi Lingheng, then at Su Tang.
"If Tang'er thinks it's too noisy, let's just go back." Qi Lingheng turned his head and looked at Su Tang and said.
"Hey, Magistrate Hong has good intentions. Why don't we just watch the acrobatic show?" Su Tang raised the corners of her mouth slightly, without any displeasure on her face, as if it was just the King of Qi who was thinking about her and the princess didn't care.
Prefect Hong retracted his gaze, lowered his head and turned around, with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Pa, pa!" Magistrate Hong raised his hand and clapped twice, and soon a group of strong men quickly came to the venue.
They brought a lot of weapons and other items with them and placed them at the entrance of the yard.
Su Tang and Qi Lingheng looked at each other, their eyes full of interest.
Soon some street acrobatics began to be performed one after another in the venue. Su Tang rested her elbows on her cheeks, looked at the performers with a smile on her face, and occasionally said a word of reward.
Chunmei would also take out some purses and hand them to the performers.
Those people took it one by one and left after expressing their gratitude. However, when they left, they would take a look at where Su Tang and the others were.
The officials below were also immersed in the performance on the spot, and some of them would cheer from time to time.
Su Tang and Qi Lingheng did not say anything to stop them, and seemed to be very satisfied with the arrangement.
At this time, another pair of men and women holding long swords came and performed sword dancing for the people on the scene.
The two men kept leaping and moving in the yard, dancing with their swords beautifully.
However, at this moment, someone's wine glass fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.
When everyone turned around to look at the source of the sound, it was Magistrate Hong who smashed a wine glass.
However, Su Tang and Qi Lingheng did not look at Prefect Hong, because the two people who were performing in front of them were now flying towards them with swords in hand, one on the left and one on the right.
"Protect the emperor!" Qi Yan and Qi Lingheng drew their swords at the first moment. Qi Yan protected Qi Lingheng, while Qi Lingheng used his sword to deflect the long sword that was attacking Su Tang.
Su Tang smiled as she pulled out a semi-automatic rifle and fired twice at the people opposite her. The two men fell to the ground instantly, their eyes wide open as if they had died with their eyes open.
The failure of the two sword dancers did not scare away the others who wanted to attack Su Tang and the others. Those people seemed to have decided to die and only wanted to kill Su Tang or Qi Lingheng.
People came towards Su Tang and the others one after another. The guards who came with Su Tang and the others also gathered behind Su Tang and Qi Lingheng, protecting them tightly from behind.
At this time, Chunmei and Xiamei also took the swords handed over by the guards around them, ready to fight with Su Tang who was coming towards them through the main gate.
"Just take care of the back first, and leave the front to me. No one should stand in front." The guards who came this time understood what Su Tang meant. These guards were the Jinyiwei that Su Tang brought out from the space.
They knew that if they stood in front of Su Tang, they would most likely be injured by mistake, and the gun in Su Tang's hand was enough to kill anyone who rushed up.
Chunmei and Xiamei didn't know what the gun that suddenly appeared in Su Tang's hand was. Although they had been to Su Tang's space in the past few days, the weapons in Su Tang's space had never been shown to them.
Chunmei and Xiamei were a little anxious and wanted to go forward to help Su Tang resist, because there were too many people doing the acrobatics.
"We don't need you." Qi Yan suddenly moved quickly behind Chunmei and the other two, holding their collars in each hand, preventing them from going forward and causing trouble for Su Tang.
"Let us go!" Chunmei shouted urgently.
In their opinion, Qi Yan must have done this on the orders of Qi Lingheng.
They were wrong. It turned out that when Qi Lingheng was in trouble, he didn't care about the princess' life or death. Not only did he not help, he also let the guards stop them.
Xia Mei subconsciously turned around and bit Qi Yan's arm.
"Hiss!" Qi Yan's arm muscles shook, and he finally shook off Xia Mei who was biting him.
Xia Mei looked at Qi Yan angrily, "Stop making trouble. Didn't you see the thing in Madam's hand? With that thing, no one can get close to the master. If you go forward, you will get hurt by mistake."
Chunmei and Xiamei only noticed at this time that as the object in Su Tang's hand made a crisp sound, the person who was rushing towards Su Tang and the others would fall to the ground.
What kind of weapon is this?
The two were confused at this moment, but they were also sober now. Su Tang had just said that if they were not allowed to go forward, they were disobeying their master's orders.
Seeing that the two had finally calmed down, Qi Yan let them go and began to pay attention to the situation around him.
Although Su Tang had a gun in her hand, she had no kung fu, and they also had to prevent anyone from throwing hidden weapons at her.
Su Tang finally got the situation under control. Anyone who rushed towards them was killed by her with one shot.
Until there were less than three assassins left, the people on the opposite side stopped and prepared to turn around and leave.
"If you want to leave, it's not that easy." Su Tang threw a smoke bomb forward, but this smoke bomb was not intended to cover the other party's departure. The smoke bomb was improved by Su Tang, and it emitted the medicine she specially prepared.
As the smoke dissipated, the three people on the opposite side who wanted to escape immediately fell to the ground with stiff limbs.
Su Tang put away the gun in her hand at this moment, "Tie up those three people and check if there is any drug hidden in their bodies or mouths, and leave them alive."
Following Su Tang's order, Qi Yan and the other two secret guards immediately flew towards the three people.
Soon they brought them back one in each hand.
Upon seeing this, the other guards stepped forward, tied up the three men, and carefully checked them for any hidden poison. Sure enough, they found poison in their mouths.
At this time, the courtyard of Zui Xiang Lou had been completely controlled by Su Tang's men.
Some of the officials who came here today were injured in the chaos just now, but fortunately no one died.
At this time, Qi Yan brought another person over from the side. It was Magistrate Hong who had been acupunctured.
Not only was Magistrate Hong unable to move at this time, he also had his mute point pressed, so he couldn't even speak. He opened his eyes wide in horror and looked at Su Tang with disbelief in his eyes.
"You don't have to look at me like that. You should know what the consequences will be after making that decision."
Just as Su Tang finished speaking, the sound of armor rubbing against each other was heard outside the yard.
Then a group of soldiers in heavy armor quickly entered the courtyard.
"I am the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the garrison outside Yangzhou City. Yang Huaili greets Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi."
"Well, Lord Yang, please stand up." Su Tang responded.
Qi Feng was following behind Yang Huaili. When he saw Qi Lingheng and Su Tang, Qi Feng just bowed and then stood silently beside Qi Lingheng.
At this time, Magistrate Hong, who had been tied up and pushed to his knees on the ground, had a flash of disbelief in his eyes when he saw Yang Huaili, who was wearing armor in front of him. Then his head dropped heavily, and his body collapsed like a deflated ball.
If there hadn't been a guard holding him up, he would have probably collapsed to the ground.
"I have already had people search and seize control of several places in Nanshan that you specifically instructed me to visit.
In addition, a group of people gathered outside the city were also controlled. This is the token found from that group of people."
Yang Huaili raised his hands high and there was an iron plate on the ground.
Qi Feng stepped forward, took the iron plate and gave it to Qi Lingheng.
"This is a token of the Suzhou governor." After reading it, Qi Lingheng handed the sign to Su Tang and asked her to identify it.
Su Tang took the iron plate, on which was clearly printed a big word "Su".
"Lord Yang, you have worked hard today. When I return to the capital, I will report your contribution truthfully." Su Tang put the iron plate into her sleeve pocket and said to the man in heavy armor in front of her with a smile.