Chapter Seventy-One: The Road to Heaven

  At this point, Liu Guanshi let out a soft sigh and said somewhat bitterly: "From now on, I'm afraid Ah Lang won't be able to manage things so strictly either."

  He waved his hand indifferently and said, "You go, stay well in the side house, don't run around."

  "Yes, Liu is busy with his duties, I'll be off."

  Yang Fan smiled respectfully and turned to leave.

  "Zhou Xing?"

  Yang Fan walked all the way, thinking about this person, and after a brief analysis, he shook his head and denied the possibility that Zhou Xing might be related to him.

  In the second year of Yongchun, during the Shaoyang blood case, Zhou Xing was just a county magistrate in the northern region. Until recent years, Wu Zetian's power grew heavier and she had ambitions to overthrow the Li Tang dynasty, change the sky and replace the sun. Only then did she begin to reuse cruel officials to eliminate obstacles for her. Zhou Xing, due to his ruthless and decisive handling of cases, gained Wu Zetian's favor and rose rapidly to become a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice.

  The incident that occurred at the time could not have involved Zhou Xing, who is now the Minister of Justice and de facto head. From either the perspective of caring for subordinates or the emergence of such a major case in Shendu, it would be normal for him to personally inquire about his subordinates' affairs.

  He had already learned that today's Cai Dongcheng, although he is the Left Commander of the Imperial Guard and a powerful general with great power in his hands, was once a brigade commander of the Dragon Martial Guard. This man is probably the one who actually carried out the Shaoguan Blood Case. He hurt one Yang Mingsheng, but brought out another Cai Dongcheng, who is also just a pawn. The mastermind behind the scenes has still not appeared.

  It seems that in order for him to appear, we must first get rid of Cai Dongcheng and his four top henchmen, only then can we force the mastermind behind the scenes to show up!

  Yang Fan thought all the way back to the side yard.

  That day, Yang Mingsheng blurted out a name: He Lanmianzhi.

  Yang Fan had already inquired about this He Lan Min, who was the nephew of Wu Zetian. His mother was Wu Zetian's sister and had also received favor from Emperor Gaozong of Tang, being conferred as Lady Han of Korea. His sister, He Lan, had also received favor from Emperor Gaozong, being conferred as Lady Wei of Korea.

  He was renamed Wu and became the heir of Wu Shiyue, Emperor Gaozong's father. He was created Duke of Zhou and his wealth and nobility reached its peak.

  However, Wu Zetian later accused He Lan Min of colluding with her maternal grandmother Yang and embezzling public funds for personal gain, among other crimes. As a result, He Lan Min was stripped of his title and exiled to Lingnan, where he took his own life by hanging himself with a horse's reins during the journey. This marked the end of He Lan Min's legendary life.

  Yang Fan couldn't think of any connection between He Lan Min and the small village in Shaozhou.

  He Lan Minzhi was said to be unbridled, romantic and fond of beauty. However, he was handsome, elegant and talented, with a strong family background and identity, so he had many friends in the court and the countryside. Later, these people were all implicated by him and demoted or exiled.

  Yang Fan suspected that the suddenly built Taoyuan Village was likely used to settle those officials who were demoted due to their association with He Lan Min, and the eleven surnamed families in the village were those implicated officials from back then.

  Then Xiaocun was built a year after He Lanming's death, but the Tucun massacre occurred eleven years later, which is a bit strange.

  If the villagers of this small mountain village that suddenly appeared were the officials and their families who were implicated by He Lan Min, if the imperial court intended to eliminate these people, there was no need to wait for so many years, let alone use a plague as an excuse.

  Moreover, at the time of the Shaoguan blood case, He Lanmin had already turned into a lump of yellow earth, and both the court and the people had long forgotten such a person. How could it be possible that more than ten years later, they would suddenly take poisonous action against those implicated? From their mysterious actions and the personnel used to conceal their identities and whereabouts, it is also impossible for this to be done by the imperial court.

  Yang Mingsong is the specific implementer of the Shaoguan Blood Case. From a sentence that slipped out of Yang Mingsong's mouth, it can be proven that the occurrence of the Tucun Blood Case must have a significant relationship with He Lanmin. This point is certain without a doubt. The question is: what exactly is in the mountain village? What secrets do these "villagers" have that someone would use such an inhumane and genocidal massacre to solve?

  Perhaps, only by figuring out this problem can we find the real mastermind behind the scenes. Yang Fan thought for a long time and had no other strategy to think of, it seems that he could only use killing as bait to shock the mastermind into appearing.

  Cai Dongcheng's four great guardians have lost one, leaving only three people. Even if they join forces, it will be difficult for them to exert their combined strength again. Yang Fan plans to eliminate the four great guardians one by one and then kill Cai Dongcheng. By that time, Yang Mingsong, like a frightened bird, will definitely seek help from his true backstage mastermind.

  The mourning hall was set up for three days, and the three great henchmen under Cai Dongcheng guarded the mourning hall for three days. The entire Yang Mansion stood guard with strict vigilance for three days, dragging on until people were exhausted and their strength was depleted. However, that mysterious assassin never appeared again.

  There's no way to guard against thieves for a thousand days, but there is a way to be a thief for a thousand days. Such tense precautions can't last long, let alone the guards and patrolmen, even the officials from the Ministry of Justice and the constables from Luoyang Prefecture have been complaining for three days, if this continues, everyone will collapse before the assassins arrive.

  Cai Dongcheng and Yang Mingsheng also knew that this couldn't go on, so they discussed it and had no choice but to reinstate the original night watch system. Everyone took turns keeping watch at night, so they could all get some rest.

  That night, Yang Fan was on the first patrol again. According to the three-shift rotation rule, they had to rotate every four hours, which means that Yang Fan needed to guard from nightfall to dawn, a total of eight hours, and then rest for eight hours, totaling sixteen hours.

  "Shh, shh, shh!"

  As Yang Fan walked through a clump of trees, Ma Qiao came out from inside again, with a grass hat on his head, waving at him.

  Yang Fan walked over, smiling and saying: "Brother Qiao, you're really good at hiding."

  Ma Qiao pulled him under the tree and scolded: "Are you crazy? Why are you risking your life like this, running back and forth? If that assassin sees you, he'll kill you with one sword, and Lang Zhongfu will at most send you a coffin!"

  Yang Fan naturally understood Ma Qiao's kindness, but he couldn't just go back and forth. Others could slack off, but he couldn't. He was looking for an opportunity to make his next move. However, the guards in the mansion were much stricter than before, making it easy for him to kill someone, but difficult to do so without revealing his tracks.

  Yang Fan just smiled shyly, Ma Qiao glared at him with a "hate iron for not becoming steel" expression and said helplessly: "You, you're really thick-headed!"

  As he spoke, Ma Qiao reached into his pocket and pulled out something, handing it to Yang Fan.

  "This thing is heavy and has an arc-shaped iron piece. Yang Fan asked: 'What is this thing?'"

  Ma Qiao was untying his belt while saying, "This is the bottom of a pot. My family had a leaky pot that I still planned to mend and continue using, but after my mother heard about what happened at the Yang estate, she didn't feel safe, so she smashed that broken pot in half."

  Ma Qiao said, and from the back of his waist, he pulled out another iron plate and handed it to Yang Fan: "Here, you put one in your chest and one on your back, who knows, it might come in handy if..."

  Yang Fan hastily declined: "No way, I've used it, what would you do? This was prepared by your mother-in-law for you, hurry up and take it back."

  "Hey, I'm just lying here, what's there to worry about? Besides, my family has many brothers, if something really happens... nothing will happen! Later, I'll find a more secluded place to go and sleep soundly. Whether the assassin comes or not, I won't get up no matter what, let alone shout loudly. What could possibly happen?"

  Ma Qiao was a good waistband, drilling into the woods and poking his head out to instruct: "Don't be too stubborn, if you can slack off then slack off. Even if the manager catches you, he'll just scold you at most. What's the worst that could happen? It's not worth risking your life."

  "Ah! I get it!"

  Yang Fan didn't need the iron pot lid armor, but his heart was still warm. He put the two pieces of iron into his clothes in front of Ma Qiao and then bid farewell and left.

  With these two things on him, his movements would inevitably be greatly affected. After leaving Ma Qiao's line of sight, he wandered to the place where he met Miss Xue Lian last time, looked around front and back to make sure no one was there, then took out the iron pot piece and stuffed it into Yang Jia Miss Snow Lotus hiding cricket place.

  "What are you doing here?"

  Yang Fan kicked the iron pot into the bushes and was about to fasten his belt when a cold voice came from not far away.

  Yang Fan was secretly shocked in his heart, this person could actually deceive his ears, such light footsteps.

  Yang Fan slowly turned around, and saw a man with long arms and torso, wearing a round-collared long shirt, with a flying scarf on his head, a thousand-ox knife hanging from his waist, tightly gripping the hilt in his hand, standing steadily like a mountain. This person was standing on the small path looking at him, beside him was a pear tree, its yellow pears weighing down the branches, as if they were about to touch his shoulder.

  "Qian Niu Bei Shen Jia Hui!" translates to "A thousand cows are prepared for Shen's family prosperity!"

  Yang Fan recognized him at a glance!

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