The rain hit the leaves, making a splashing sound.

It rained for two consecutive days, and thick mud accumulated even on the official road. The trucks carrying goods passed through the mud, leaving deep mud marks.

This caravan, including the cart drivers and escorts, has about four to five hundred people, which is larger than when Wang Li went to Jiaozhou.

As they were walking, a group of officers and soldiers suddenly appeared in front of them. The leader was young Deng Ai.

Deng Ai asked the caravan: "Now...this is an extraordinary period, and all goods must undergo official inspection."

The leader of the caravan laughed and said: "You can just check at the ferry and the city gate. Why do you still check the barren mountains and wild ridges?"

As he spoke, the caravan leader quietly stuffed a handful of copper coins into Deng Ai's hand.

Looking at Deng Ai's official title, responsibilities and the number of people in the team behind him, the merchants were sure that these copper coins were enough to bribe Deng Ai.

Unexpectedly, Deng Ai didn't appreciate it. He pointed his spear at the carts of goods and ordered his men: "Check!"

The merchant did not stop him, but reminded him: "It's all wood, don't break it."

The soldier opened the sack, checked some randomly, and said to Deng Ai: "General, it is indeed all wood. It looks like it should be used to make farm tools."

Deng Ai moved his spear, causing the soldiers to step out of the way, cupped his hands and said: "It's my duty, I've offended you."

The merchant quickly apologized and said with a smile: "No matter what, cooperating with official inspections is what we and other civilians should do."

The caravan got back on the road, and the carts trudged hard on the muddy ground, leaving deep tracks.

Deng Ai stared at the mark and suddenly shouted: "Stop!"

The merchant slowly turned around and asked with a smile on his face: "Master Jun, what's wrong?"

Deng Ai ordered the soldiers, "Move...move away the wood on the top and look below."

Merchant: "..."

Following Deng Ai's instructions, the soldiers formed a group of two, each holding the front and rear ends, and easily moved the wood on the cart, as if the wood was not too heavy.

The merchant frowned slightly, and just when the soldier opened the lower canvas, the merchant suddenly shouted: "Do it!"

First, the caravan guard drew his sword and killed the soldiers by surprise. Several soldiers who were close fell to the guard's blade.

But soon, the soldiers formed a formation and launched a counterattack.

Under the frontal attack by well-trained soldiers, the guards retreated steadily. However, the men who had originally escorted the cart suddenly took out weapons from the lower floor of the cart and launched a counterattack.

Deng Ai thought to himself: As expected, the wood of ordinary farm tools could not be so heavy and leave such deep grooves.

Now these guys are transporting weapons under the cover of transporting timber. It is very likely that when Jiangdong soldiers come over, they want to cooperate with them inside and outside. This situation is very serious.

"Capture...capture him alive!" Deng Ai shouted, thrust out a spear, and put it firmly on the neck of the caravan leader.

The merchant grabbed Deng Ai's spearhead. Seeing that his own people had no chance of winning under the slaughter of the regular army, and thinking that he could not escape, he simply put his neck on the spearhead and ended his life.

The rest of the guards did not look like civilians, but they seemed to be far less courageous than the caravan leader. Under the decline, more than half of them died in the battle, and the other half were captured.

Gan Ning received the news from Deng Ai and hurried to the military camp with Jia Xu.

Deng Ai said: "I asked them all, and they really don't know."

Jia Xu held a bamboo slip in his hand, which contained the list of marriages he had previously made with the Jiangdong family.

After browsing for a while, Jia Xu ordered Deng Ai: "Capture Han Kui!"

After Deng Ai received the order, he quickly summoned a thousand county troops and headed towards Jiangling City.

Gan Ning asked: "How did Brother Wenhe know that Han Kui did this?"

Jia Xu said: "I don't know."

Gan Ning: "..."

Jia Xu said: "This matter has been alerted, and we must react quickly. Those who marry between the Jingzhou family and the Jiangdong family are suspected, and the Han family is a big family in Jiangling and poses the greatest threat to Jiangling. First, will

Taking it down will, firstly, reduce the threat they may pose to Jiangling, and secondly, it will deter the families who are really colluding with Jiangdong so that they dare not act without permission, or at least delay their actions."

Han Kui is of the same lineage as Han Song from Jingzhou Biejia.

Han Song was originally from Yiyang. He later fled the troubled times in the Lixi Mountains and was forcibly recruited by Liu Biao as a farewell chariot.

However, Han Song was not too optimistic about Liu Biao, and even asked Liu Biao to surrender to Cao Cao, and also asked Liu Biao to send his son to Cao Cao as a hostage. Then, he was imprisoned by Liu Biao. If Kuai Liang had not persuaded him, he would have been killed by Liu Biao.

.

Later, after Cao Cao pacified Jingzhou, he released Han Song and granted Han Song an official position. However, Han Song was ill and could not make the trip, so he stayed in Jingzhou. Unexpectedly, before Cao Cao could warm up Jingzhou, he was taken away by Li Qi.

Now Han Song has passed away, but his clan still has great influence in Jingzhou.

These aristocratic families stayed in Jingzhou for family reasons, but it did not mean that they all agreed with Li Qi, a leader who had been a grass bandit. There were even discussions about right and wrong in some private occasions.

In this regard, Li Qi's original attitude was to indulge their freedom of speech, hoping to regain the support of these aristocratic families because of his enlightenment.

However, there are no eggs.

Now, Jia Xu sent troops to capture Han Kui, also killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

In the execution hall, Han Kui shouted that he was wronged and not guilty.

Jia Xu summoned a guard to escort the ordnance and asked: "Have you seen clearly, is this your master?"

The guard insisted: "It's him!"

Han Kui was furious: "I don't know you at all, so don't spit on me."

The guard said: "You are usually aloof, so naturally you don't look at us little people seriously, but when we work, at least we know who we are working for."

Han Kui was about to scold the man when he saw Jia Xu wave his hand, signaling the county soldiers to take the guard away.

Han Kui said: "Our Han family has lived in Jingzhou for more than ten years and has always been law-abiding. Jia Changshi won't just find someone to accuse me just because we are not filial, right?"

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Jia Xu smiled and said: "Although Jia Xu is not talented, he is not worthy of your 'filial piety'. If you think the other party is being wronged

Why don't you think carefully about why the other party wronged you, and have you offended anyone?"

Han Kui asked himself that he had never offended anyone, so he had to keep silent.

Jia Xu said: "I have always heard that Han Song, the uncle of the imperial family, admired Duke Cao very much, but looked down upon the period when Li Yizhou was forced to become a bandit, so he criticized him a lot. So, if we say that you colluded with Cao, the Sun family

There must be a motive for bad intentions. There are witnesses now. I can close the case at any time. The main thing is that the military situation is urgent now, and I don’t have time to waste time with you here. You should think about it clearly. Or, if there is anything else suspicious

You can also bring it up for us to investigate."

When Cao Cao invaded Jingzhou, he took away a wave of aristocratic families, such as Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue and other families. Later, Li Qi took over Jingzhou and took away another wave, such as Zhuge Liang, Ma Liang and other families.

Therefore, there are only a few aristocratic families left in Jingzhou that have the strength to cooperate with Sun Quan.

Jia Xu believed that even if Han Kui did not do this, Han Kui would not be unaware of any clues based on the inextricable connections between these aristocratic families. Therefore, he wanted to force Han Kui to death and urged him to

He named the relevant suspects.

However, regardless of whether Han Kui claimed to be a Qingliu or deliberately concealed it, he never revealed anyone's name under Jia Xu's questioning.

Jia Xu imprisoned Han Kui and ordered everyone in the Han family to be arrested. He also released news that Han Kui had confessed, so he captured his clan members and waited for Li Yizhou to return before making a decision.

At the same time, Jia Xu set up secret sentries in Jiangling City to see if there would be any clues about the real conspirators after Han Kui became the scapegoat.

According to Jia Xu's inference, the real conspirators may have two completely different reactions: one is that they think that Han Kui is in jail and everything will be fine, so they start preparing more intensively for cooperation with Jiangdong soldiers; the other is that they see through Jia Xu's fishing scheme.

From now on, law enforcement will remain on hold to observe changes in the situation.

No matter what response methods the rebels adopted, there was one thing they did not dare to do at all costs, which was to plead for Han Kui's grievances.

On the other hand, anyone who dares to plead for Han Kui at this time will most likely not be suspected. Even if Han Kui is the rebel, anyone who dares to plead for him will be kept in the dark at best.

In other words, in this way, even if the rebels cannot be attracted to take the bait, they can still observe their movements and further eliminate some irrelevant families.

At this time, Li Qi also received a letter from Jia Xu. After reading it, he frowned.

Just like playing the game before time travel, at the beginning, it was all anti-Dong alliance or anti-Cao alliance. You can also hide in the corner and develop. Improve the economy, population, and fight against a dozen remote small forces.

When you develop, an "anti-you alliance" will soon be formed. At this time, it is unrealistic to think about developing in an obscene way.

In the game, you can also build intimacy with hostile forces by sending money and food so that they will not attack each other. However, in reality, whether it is Sun Quan or Cao Cao, they are not so easily fooled.

Xu Shu asked: "Did something happen in Jingzhou?"

Li Qi handed the letter to Xu Shu.

Xu Shu read in a low voice: "Sun Quan used the excuse that the king was seriously ill and recalled Mrs. Sun..."

Zhou Cang, who was next to him, suppressed his laughter and comforted Li Qi: "Don't be afraid, doesn't my lord still have Mrs. Ren? If not, let's find another one in Chang'an."

Li Qi said nothing, his expression serious.

When Xu Shu thought about the marriage between the Jingzhou family and the Jiangdong family, Zhou Cang was still thinking that it would be a good thing to dare to fall in love. I heard that the women from Jiangnan are as gentle as water, so I, old Zhou, could also go to Jiangdong to get married.

It wasn't until Xu Shu stopped reading and frowned that Zhou Cang realized that this was probably not a good thing.

"Now the main force of our army is in the Chang'an area. If a war breaks out with Sun Quan, I am afraid that those aristocratic families who are related to Jiangdong will join forces with others, and Jiangling and the four counties of Jingnan will be difficult to resist," Xu Shu said.

"The difficulty in this matter is that not all the Jingzhou aristocratic families who are married to Jiangdong have ulterior motives, and our development in Jingzhou cannot be separated from the support of these aristocratic families, so we cannot wipe them all out. But we need to do it in a very short period of time.

It is obviously not easy to find out the conspirators behind the scenes. So Jia Wenhe mentioned a plan in his letter, which is 'Mingsheng external transfer'." Li Qidao.

The so-called "Mingsheng foreign transfer" is to confer an official title on the representatives or heads of these aristocratic families, transfer them away from Jingzhou, and send them to Yizhou or Liangzhou to take up posts, thus destroying their influence in Jingzhou, or using them as hostages.
To be continued...