The death of a man was like an extinguished lamp!
Zheng Xi's death was beyond everyone's expectations, not only because of the fact of his death, but also because of the cause of his death.
A Garrison of a county was poisoned to death in less than three months after taking office!
This was not only a strange story in Jiang City, but it was also an extremely rare and unheard of thing in the entire Jin Dynasty.
"Appalling, really appalling! In this bright and peaceful world, an official appointed by the imperial court was killed in less than three months after taking office. Where is the justice? Where is the justice?"
In Prince Ning's Mansion, the capital city
The angry roar spread throughout the mansion. All the servants and maids in the mansion shrunk their heads and lowered their heads. They did not even dare to breathe loudly. They just muttered in their hearts, "I don't know which unlucky person has made His Highness so angry. From the looks of it, His Highness wants to kill someone. It's really scary!"
"Your Highness, this matter is really strange. I'm afraid we have to think about it further!"
"Think about it further? How can we think about it further? He's already dead. What's the point of thinking about it further?"
Prince Ning was tall and handsome. As he looked around, there was a trace of a dignified bearing flashing between his eyebrows. But now, this dignified bearing suddenly exploded in anger. The surging anger enveloped the entire open hall. Everyone in the hall was as quiet as cicadas in winter, not daring to say a word.
However, the white-robed scholar who had advised him to think about it further looked at it calmly. He turned a blind eye to it and only said when Prince Ning's anger gradually subsided. "Your Highness, Zheng Xi was poisoned to death by a strange poison. Even if we investigate it immediately, there's no way to start!"
"No way to start? Do you think I'm a fool? After Zheng Xi's death, whoever benefits the most from it will be the biggest suspect. First, arrest those who can benefit the most and interrogate them one by one. I don't believe that we can't find anything! "
"That's not feasible!"
"It won't work. Why won't it work?!" Prince Ning roared like an angry lion.
"The one who benefits the most from Zheng Xi's death should be the current Navy Commander of Jiang City, Zhou Bao. And he's not easy to deal with!"
"Not easy to deal with. Humph, he's just a small Navy Commander of Jiang City. What's so difficult about that?"
"Your Highness, Zhou Bao is not only the Navy Commander of Jiang City, but also the Outer Core Elder of the Wu Family in Yunzhou. He also has a close relationship with Wang She of Tian Long Taoism!" The scholar in white said lightly, "Most importantly, his strength is not weaker than an ordinary Level Seven expert. Granny Long, a Level Seven expert of the Meng Family in Ningzhou, was killed by him in public. Your Highness should know about this, right?"
"It's him?" Prince Ning's expression changed. He gradually restrained his flame-like Qi Power. "I remember now. Yes, he's the Navy Commander of Jiang City. It's him!"
Junior Leopard didn't have many opportunities to show his face in Jianghu in the past two years. It could be said that after he came to Jiang City, the only thing that caused a sensation in Jianghu was the killing of Granny Long. Killing a Level Seven expert with the strength of Level Four was unheard of in the martial arts world. Therefore, even now, he was still very famous in Jianghu. However, people in Jianghu often regarded him as an Elder of the Wu Family who had a close relationship with Wang She of Tian Long Taoism. As for his identity as the Navy Commander of Jiang City, it was really not worth mentioning, so it was often ignored.
It was the same for Prince Ning. Now that he was reminded by the scholar named Yuanzhi, he suddenly remembered.
"Yuanzhi, in your opinion, Zhou Bao benefited the most from Zheng Xi's death. So, could he be the one who killed Zheng Xi?"
"From a reasonable point of view, he has a good reason to kill Zheng Xi because his interests have been rooted in Jiang City. The Navy of Jiang City has been completely subdued by him. He has as much as 60% of the huge interests on the entire Luo River. Zheng Xi's arrival could be said to have infringed on his interests too much. However, the possibility of him being the murderer is not great!"
"Reason?"
"According to our intelligence, when Zheng Xi was appointed, Zhou Bao wasn't in Jiang City but went to Shuzhou. He didn't return to Jiang City until the day before Zheng Xi's death. When he returned to Jiang City, he didn't even know that the garrison of Jiang City had been changed!"
"Shuzhou?" Prince Ning raised his eyebrows. "Did he go to Shuzhou for the Golden Goose Cup?"
"It should be. However, he returned without achieving anything, just like most people!" Yuanzhi said with a smile.
"Shuzhou is the only way from Zhonghe City to Yuezhou. Do you think Yuezhou …?"
"Impossible. It takes at least half a year to go from Zhonghe City to Shuzhou, and then from Shuzhou to Nanman Yuezhou. He left for no more than two months, which is exactly the time for a round trip from Zhonghe City to Shuzhou!"
"What if he had a good horse or a superb Lightness Skill? Don't forget, although he is only at Level Four, he has killed a Level Seven expert!"
"From Yuezhou to Zhonghe City, a round trip in two months. Even in the whole Great Jin, there are only two such horses. If there is one more, it is impossible for us not to know. As for the Lightness Skill …" Speaking of this, Yuanzhi smiled. "Your Royal Highness is a master of martial arts. You know the limit of the Lightness Skill better than me. When Xue Wuya was chased by Lu Shaoyou for thousands of miles, it took him three months to run from Yangzhou West County to Yunzhou. The distance from Nanman Yuezhou to Zhonghe City is even longer than that. Is it possible for him to make a round trip?"
"So, what happened in Yuezhou has nothing to do with him?"
"What happened in Yuezhou definitely has nothing to do with him. I think Zheng Xi's death has nothing to do with him either!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"As I said just now, he has just returned to Jiang City for one night. Even if he made arrangements as soon as he came back, it would be too late. Besides, generally speaking, when a new boss comes, no matter what his attitude towards you is, you have to get in touch with him first. Even if he really has a prejudice against you, you have to try your best to see if he can change his prejudice against you and see if there is any possibility of easing the relationship. Even if there is no possibility, you need time to calculate the gains and losses, and then make a detailed plan. How could he kill someone just after meeting him and not even talking to him? What's more, Zheng Xi was poisoned to death. Although Zhou Bao has strange martial arts, I've never heard of him using poison. The Wu Family in Yunzhou has been established in the world for 500 years, but they have never produced a poison expert. What's more, Zheng Xi is a Level Five expert. Even if he was poisoned, ordinary poisons couldn't do anything to him. What he was poisoned with was an extremely rare and strange poison. Even Physician Sun couldn't tell what kind of poison it was. If he didn't plan for a long time and deliberately, how could he get such a poison? "
"Plan for a long time and deliberately?" Prince Ning's eyes narrowed, and his killing intent burst out. "You mean, this has nothing to do with Jiang City?"
"Jiang City is a small place, and it can't do something like this!" Yuanzhi shook his head. "Even Zhou Bao couldn't do it, so …"
"That is to say, it could be done by my good brothers?"
"Apart from that, there is no other possibility!" Yuanzhi said lightly.
"Who is most likely to do it?"
"It could be anyone!"
"Don't tell me we should just let it go like this?"
"Of course we can't let it go like this. However, since it has involved other princes, we can only think about it in the long run. Your Highness, the urgent matter now is not to find out the real murderer, but to Zhonghe City. Zheng Xi is just a nobody, a chess piece. Since he was killed, the imperial court will naturally investigate it. As for Your Highness, we can just send someone else. It's no big deal. Your Highness's important matter is more important. We can't delay it because of this!"
"What you said makes sense. The important matter is more important. We can't delay it because of this useless Zheng Xi!" Prince Ning nodded. "Yuanzhi, do you think it's possible for us to pull Zhou Bao over?"
"If it was a year ago, it might be possible. But now, Zhou Bao has become an Outer Core Elder of the Wu Family. His identity is more sensitive, so we'd better not do anything to him!"
"That's the only way!" Prince Ning sighed softly. "This time, who should we send?"
"Your Highness has many disciples. It's up to Your Highness to decide who to send. I'll take my leave!"
Yuanzhi cupped his hands and left the open hall.
"Your Highness!" Seeing Yuanzhi's figure disappear into the flowers in the courtyard, the others in the open hall came to themselves. "Your Highness, Chen Yuanzhi …!"
"What he said makes sense. Let's do as he said!" Prince Ning waved his hand gently, looking a little tired.
… …
… …
"Your Excellency, I really didn't expect that Zheng Xi would die so easily. It's a good thing for us!"
Jiang City, Navy Barracks.
Zhu Ba's excited voice came.
It had been two months since Zheng Xi was suddenly poisoned to death. After the initial shock and various speculations, everything returned to normal.
A Garrison appointed by the imperial court was poisoned to death in less than three months, which was naturally a big deal. Zheng Xi was not only Prince Ning's man, but also an official of the imperial court. Such a thing could be said to be a disgrace to the imperial court. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice quickly organized the most capable officials of the Imperial Censorate to Jiang City to investigate.
As the person who benefited the most from Zheng Xi's death, Junior Leopard was naturally listed as a key suspect. However, just as Chen Yuanzhi had analyzed in Prince Ning's Mansion, the capable officials of the Imperial Censorate removed Junior Leopard's suspicion after some analysis and investigation.
Junior Leopard also had time to deal with the matter of River Heart Island.
He had a premonition that he wouldn't be able to hold the position of Navy Commander of Jiang City for long. After Zheng Xi's death, the imperial court would naturally send another person to take over. Judging from Prince Ning's aggressive attitude, it could be seen that this time, it would definitely be Prince Ning's man who would take over Zheng Xi's position. In addition, since Li Yuan had been transferred, his backer in Zhonghe Prefecture had disappeared. He definitely wouldn't be able to hold the position of Navy Commander for long.
However, it didn't mean that he would give up the interests of River Heart Island.
Zheng Xi's death had won him precious time, giving him the opportunity to manipulate everything.
First, the ownership of the Broken Dragon Beach wharf of River Heart Island was put on the agenda again. Because of Junior Leopard's strength, no one dared to meddle in this area, but it didn't mean that others didn't covet it.
After returning from the Garrison Mansion, Junior Leopard relented on the ownership of the harbor and asked Shopkeeper Zhao to add fuel to the fire in secret. In less than a day, all the well-informed people in Jiang City knew that Junior Leopard and the Navy of Jiang City were going to give up the harbor.
This was within everyone's expectation. Prince Ning's strong intervention made everyone understand that Junior Leopard couldn't stay in the position of Navy Commander of Jiang City for too long. In that case, it was better to make a fortune before he left.
What they didn't expect was that although Junior Leopard relented, he didn't want to give up the interests. On the contrary, he wanted to use another way to completely control the interests of River Heart Island.
The harbor of River Heart Island was originally owned by the Navy of Jiang City, but now it was managed by the Chamber of Commerce of Jiang City. The Chamber of Commerce of Jiang City bought the right to use the entire harbor for 100 years, just like other harbors and wharves in Jiang City. The only difference was that this time, the name of Anyuan Store appeared in the list of core members of the Chamber of Commerce of Jiang City.
Anyuan Store!
This was the name set by Junior Leopard. On the third day after Zheng Xi was poisoned to death, this seemingly small warehouse quietly opened in Jiang City. When it opened, it was very quiet. No one knew that it was Junior Leopard who opened it, and no one knew that it was owned by all the officers and soldiers of the Navy of Jiang City. In this seemingly small warehouse, Junior Leopard alone owned 15% of the shares. Wang Cheng, Jiang Xiao, Zhu Ba, Wang Datong, Yuan Long, and the other Navy leaders each owned 5% of the shares. The rest of the shares were distributed to the soldiers of the Navy of Jiang City. In the beginning, except for Junior Leopard and Wang Cheng, even the soldiers of the Navy of Jiang City didn't know about it.
It wasn't until Zhu Ba got married five days later that it was announced. It wasn't until then that all the influences in Jiang City realized that there was one more person who had a share of this huge cake of interests in Jiang City. It was also until then that they understood why Junior Leopard was willing to transfer the interests of River Heart Island's harbor and even the warehouse. In the final analysis, he just wanted to transfer the interests from his left hand to his right hand.
With just a flip of the hand, the entire situation had changed.
The Anyuan Store was just a warehouse and a shop. It was of the same nature as many shops in Jiang City that benefited from River Heart Island. The only difference from before was that the Navy of Jiang City reaped the benefits alone. Now, all the big shops in Jiang City shared the benefits together. After the transfer, Junior Leopard pulled the most powerful shops in Jiang City with the deepest background into the same boat, becoming a community of interests.
As a Chamber of Commerce in Jiang City, it was eager to have such a powerful member. Because the Anyuan Store was closely related to the Navy of Jiang City, which controlled the shipping of the Luo River. Faintly, it was also inextricably linked to the strongest water bandits on the Luo River. The appearance of the Anyuan Store was a ready-made protective umbrella for the whole Chamber of Commerce in Jiang City. Only fools would be unwilling to accept it.
Moreover, the Anyuan Store didn't belong to Junior Leopard alone. It belonged to the entire Navy of Jiang City. The Navy of Jiang City could change its Commander, but he couldn't change the entire Navy of Jiang City.
Was it possible?
Because of this, even if Junior Leopard was no longer the Commander of the Navy of Jiang City, the Navy of Jiang City wouldn't allow the current situation to change for its own benefit.
Therefore, accepting the Anyuan Store was equivalent to adding an insurance for itself and the whole Chamber of Commerce in Jiang City on the Luo River. It allowed the Chamber of Commerce's ships to travel freely on the Luo River, between the docks and warehouses of River Heart Island, without any worries.
Because of this, everyone had gained great benefits. Therefore, when everything was confirmed and everything was secure, Zhu Ba shouted excitedly in the Navy Barracks of Jiang City.
He had just become a bridegroom and owned a large property. It was impossible for him not to be excited.
"Shut up. How many times have I told you not to mention Zheng Xi? Whether Zheng Xi is dead or not, it has nothing to do with us!" Junior Leopard scolded him, but the smile on his face couldn't be concealed.
If Zheng Xi was still alive, things wouldn't go so smoothly. After all, as the Garrison of Jiang City, he had a say in the ownership of the port. What was more, he came to Jiang City with Prince Ning's mission. Controlling River Heart Island was a great help in accomplishing Prince Ning's mission. Now that he was dead, Junior Leopard calmly drew all the influences in Jiang City to his side and tied them together with benefits. In this way, even if the new Garrison took office, this fact couldn't be changed.
After all, the Garrison was just a military chief officer. It was a taboo for him to meddle too much in local affairs.
"Your Excellency, are you really leaving?"
After being scolded by Junior Leopard, Zhu Ba didn't have the slightest dissatisfaction. On the contrary, he had a flattering smile.
"The Admiral sent me a letter. It's a foregone conclusion that he'll leave Zhonghe Prefecture. He asked me to leave with him!" Speaking of this, Junior Leopard slightly raised his eyebrows. He was very unhappy about this, but he had no choice. The situation was not in his favor. Once the new Admiral arrived, the Navy of Jiang City would definitely be replaced. It was useless for him to stay here. Rather than waiting for the new Admiral to arrive, he would be transferred to an idle position. It was better to return to Li Yuan's side. It was better to have such a powerful Admiral to protect him than to rush around alone.
"Then I'll go with Your Excellency!" Zhu Ba shouted. Junior Leopard hadn't been in Jiang City for a long time, but he was the one who got the most benefits. Moreover, Junior Leopard had always looked at him differently. Even though he was reckless, he wasn't stupid. Junior Leopard was so young and his future was definitely limitless. Following behind him would only bring him benefits. It was better than staying in a small place like Jiang City for a lifetime, right?
God knew what kind of person the new Navy Commander would be. If they were to go against each other, it would be bad for him to stay here.
"Bullsh * t. In Jiang City, I'm far away from the Emperor. No one can control me. When I'm by the side of the general, I'm just an ordinary guard. There are many people who can control me, but there's no one I can control. What's the point of you following me?!" Junior Leopard stared and scolded, "Stay in Jiang City obediently and help Commander Wang look after this place. In the future, you won't be lacking in benefits!"
"Benefits? What benefits?!" Hearing that there were benefits, Zhu Ba became excited. Now that he had been spoiled by Junior Leopard, he wouldn't be interested in ordinary benefits.
"Enough! Don't embarrass me here!" Junior Leopard waved his hand and turned to Wang Cheng and the others. "Things in Jiang City are neither complicated nor simple. As long as we have a good relationship with the big shots of the Chamber of Commerce and the County Magistrate, everything will be fine. As long as we do everything according to the rules and don't violate the laws of the Jin, no matter who comes, they can't do us any harm. As for the group of masters in the Multiple Chain Dock, you're more familiar with them than I am. If the new Commander really wants to cause trouble, you know what to do!" “
Wang Cheng and the others understood tacitly and laughed. They said in unison, "Your Excellency is wise!"
… …
… …
On the Luo River, the current was rapid. It rained for several days, causing the whole river to rise sharply. The water level was rising. On the River Heart Island, the water level almost reached the port. These days, due to the rapid flow of the river, the water transportation in the whole Jiang City was in a state of emergency. Many ships capsized at the rapids of the Broken Dragon Beach. The port of the entire River Heart Island was in a mess. However, all this had nothing to do with him.
Tomorrow, the new Navy Commander would take office, and he would leave today.
He didn't want to hand over to the new Commander. In fact, there was nothing to hand over. The specific affairs of the Navy of Jiang City were all handled by Wang Cheng, so there was nothing for him to hand over.
After all, Zheng Xi was poisoned to death by him!
He used Demon Devil Needles and Invisible Poison!
Things looked complicated, but in fact, they were very simple.
Junior Leopard didn't want to give up his own interests, nor did he want to have a big conflict with Zheng Xi. Therefore, he adopted the most extreme, most direct, and least suspicious method.
Just as Chen Yuanzhi analyzed in Prince Ning Mansion, no one would think that on the first day he came back, he would poison his immediate superior. It was totally illogical.
Junior Leopard did it. He did something that was completely illogical. After doing this, he gained precious time and separated his own interests from the position of Navy Commander. Everyone was happy.
Since the matter in Jiang City had come to an end, there was no need for him to stay here, lest new problems arise.
In Li Yuan's letter, he made it clear that this time, he was leaving Zhonghe City not for a flat transfer, but for a promotion. He needed people to help him. Junior Leopard did a good job in Jiang City, showing his strong ability to handle affairs and leadership. His strength could compete with a Level Seven expert. Li Yuan appreciated Junior Leopard very much. As long as Junior Leopard returned to his side, he would definitely put him in an important position.
Junior Leopard just laughed it off. Although he was only at Level Four, he had already proved to the world that he, a Level Four expert, could kill a Level Seven expert. Even if the one he killed was the weakest among the Level Seven experts, he was still a Level Seven expert.
No matter who it was, no one would refuse to have a Level Seven expert under their command. Li Yuan was no exception.
In fact, apart from Li Yuan, he had received several secret letters these days, all of which were soliciting him. Although he was still an Outer Core Elder of the Wu Family, the influences who wrote secret letters to solicit him were not weaker than the Wu Family in Yunzhou. Moreover, they offered better treatment than the Wu Family.
However, Junior Leopard was not satisfied. The treatment and benefits were better than the Wu Family's. However, if he turned his back on the Wu Family for such a small benefit, his reputation in Jianghu would be ruined. Moreover, he was in charge of Anyuan Store now. In the future, his benefits would not be small. Therefore, he would not care about such a small favor.
"Forget it, Little Du, let's go to Admiral Li's place and see what kind of surprise he will give me!"
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