Early the next morning, it was cloudy. Although it was past midnight, the sky was still not bright. The entire Luoyang was shrouded in gray and weak light, looking lifeless.
After Qiu Yizhi finished washing and dressing up, he called Captain Chi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao to follow the instructions of the old owner of the inn yesterday and come all the way to Dai Luanxiang's residence.
The door of Dai Luanxiang's mansion is quite wide. There are two stone lions squatting at the door, with ten bells hanging on their chests, which corresponds to the title of the second-grade military general of the owner of the mansion.
Dai Luanxiang's title of "former general" is already the highest official position among military generals, and he is often called "marshal" by others, but after all, he is still one step away from the rank of "marshal" officially conferred by the imperial court. The difference is A world of difference.
The most significant difference is that "marshals" can personally control military and political power, while "generals" at all levels are still promoted by the Ministry of War. This is why Zheng Rong, who has been granted the position of "Generalissimo of Arms and Horses", can send troops to fight against rebellion at any time, while "former general" Dai Luanxiang has to wait for the military talisman before he can lead the army on an expedition.
Similarly, Dai Luanxiang, who does not have the title of "marshal", cannot build a mansion in Guangyang City like Zheng Rong. Naturally, there are no soldiers on duty to guard his mansion.
So Qiu Yizhi calmly dismounted, walked to the door of Dai Luanxiang's mansion without any hindrance, clasped the door knocker, and knocked hard on the red painted door.
Not long after, the door opened a crack, and a young man about fifteen or sixteen years old walked out of the crack. He bowed his hands to Qiu Yizhi and said, "This is the Dai Mansion. I wonder what the business of this young master is here?"
When Qiu Yizhi saw the young man who answered the door, there was a heroic spirit between his brows, and he thought that Dai Luanxiang was really different, even the servants who were the doormen raised in the mansion were also different. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi did not dare to be negligent, and said with cupped hands: "This official is a minister of the Ministry of War. I have something to do and I want to see your old lady."
Before Qiu Yizhi left the Dengzhou front line, he had already found out clearly: Dai Luanxiang was a general for three generations, his grandfather and father had both died for the country, his wife had also died of illness the year before last, and there was only an old mother who was nearly seventy years old and had been granted the title of wife to take charge of family affairs. There is another daughter and son in the family.
The young man who answered the door agreed: "The Ministry of War has not come to visit my grandma for a long time. Please come in first and wait in the concierge for a while. I will report it later!"
Only then did Qiu Yizhi suddenly realize that the person who came to open the door of Dai Mansion was not a doorman or servant, but Dai Luanxiang's youngest son. No wonder there was something heroic between his eyebrows. It's just that this kid seems to lack some experience. As soon as he heard that he was from the Ministry of War, he already believed in himself.
Sure enough, Dai Luanxiang's son had just transferred to the mansion and came back in the blink of an eye, with a woman five or six years older than him in his wake.
This woman's sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes looked quite similar to the boy next to her. Qiu Yi immediately guessed that this woman was Dai Luanxiang's daughter.
I saw this woman holding a sword, slightly cupped her hands, performed a military salute, and said: "Since this sir is from the Ministry of War, have you ever brought a surveyor from the Ministry of War?" She looked neither humble nor overbearing, but heroic.
However, Qiu Yizhi was stunned by these words and asked: "I am just sent by my family to inquire about the daily life of Marshal Dai's family. It is not military affairs. I have never heard that Kanhe is used."
Dai Luanxiang's daughter still had a serious expression on her face: "My grandma is the first-grade concubine appointed by the late emperor and registered in the court, and she is also well-known. When the Ministry of War comes to visit, it is always official business. This gentleman must be newly transferred. People from the Ministry of War don’t know the whole story. In that case, I’d like to ask you to go back and get Kanhe and meet my grandma again.”
Qiu Yizhi saw that although her words were tactful, her attitude was extremely firm and there was no room for accommodation. In broad daylight, it was inconvenient to force her way in, so she had no choice but to give in and exit Dai Luanxiang's mansion.
Just after he left the house, Yuchi Lianghong smiled and said to Qiu Yizhi: "My dear brother is resourceful and resourceful. I didn't expect that he would encounter a weak nail in front of this little girl. It is rare."
Qiu Yizhi thought: She had suffered losses at the hands of Wen Lingjiao before, and she was often helpless with Princess Yiran. It seemed that she would have to pay more attention to dealing with women in the future.
So he calmed down, sighed and said: "Marshal Dai has a well-deserved reputation for teaching his children well. Both of his children are also outstanding people. We can't come in openly during the day. Fortunately, Marshal Dai is very incorruptible. Since It was the young master and young lady of Dai Mansion who came to answer the door in person. The guards at home must have gone to fight with the army. It seems that they can only wait secretly at night... "
At this moment, I suddenly saw a group of soldiers running in panic from a distance, seemingly heading towards Dai Luanxiang's mansion. When Qiu Yizhi saw that the number of soldiers in this group was about forty or fifty, all of them were brightly armored and fully armed, with a faint murderous aura, he hurriedly called to Yuchi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao: "The situation seems to be... Change, let’s hide aside.”
Yuchi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao were both clever people. After hearing what Qiu Yizhi said, they immediately followed him and hid behind a large locust tree on the street where they hugged each other, and stuck their heads out to look at Dai Mansion.
As expected, this group of soldiers came towards Dai Mansion.
Qiu Yizhi and the other three saw from a distance that the leader knocked on the door, but he was not as gentle as he was before. He kicked the door open without waiting for it to be fully opened, leaving only two soldiers guarding the door and waiting with his men. They swarmed in and seemed very rude.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi shouted: "No," then turned to Yuchi Lianghong and said: "It must be the imperial minions who are trying to make things difficult for Marshal Dai's family! We can't just sit back and watch, please brother, please take care of the two gatekeepers." , I’ll go in and help later!”
Yuchi Lianghong hurriedly agreed and moved forward quickly. In the blink of an eye, he had knocked down the soldiers guarding the door on the left and right. Qiu Yizhi and Zhao Chengxiao also hurriedly followed and entered the gate of Dai Mansion.
As soon as they entered the gate, the three of them were shocked. They saw three or four imperial officers and soldiers lying on the ground. All of them had broken bones in their hands and feet, and they could not stop moaning while covering the pain. Looking up, there were at least a dozen injured soldiers lying on the ground on the green brick path in the mansion.
Qiu Yizhi thought: Although she intended to teach these minions a lesson, she had not yet taken action. How could so many people be injured
He felt strange when he saw them, but he had no time to ask them about their situation, so he walked quickly forward in the direction where the court soldiers fell.
They kept walking around the front hall and the middle hall, but saw twenty or thirty court soldiers surrounding the back hall, all holding official swords. Facing this group of soldiers were just an old lady with a dragon-headed crutch, and two young men, a man and a woman, holding weapons. No need to guess, you know that the second youngest is Dai Luanxiang's mother and his children.
Qiu Yizhi again saw Dai Luanxiang's son Dai Song holding a whistle stick in his hand, and his daughter Yinping holding a sword in an extraordinary posture. Only then did she realize that the Dai family was a family of generals. They had neither father nor sons, so they must be highly skilled in martial arts. The minions of the Encouraging Secretary lying on the ground in the courtyard must have been injured by them.
I heard the loud voice of Dai's mother saying loudly: "My son Luan Xiang is serving the country on the front line, but you hawks and dogs have listened to some treacherous minister's sycophants and come to persecute his family. Do you want to destroy the Great Wall?" ? Aren’t you afraid of chilling the morale of the soldiers on the front line?”
The leader of the soldiers, wearing Qian Zong's uniform, separated the crowd and replied: "The old lady is wrong to say that. But there have been some rumors among the government and the public recently. We advise the Secretary to invite the old lady, oh, There are also Marshal Dai’s two children, just ask them!”
Dai's mother glared at the man and said: "Hmph! It turns out he is a scumbag from the Guanshan Division. No wonder he is so arrogant and domineering. Let me tell you, I am wearing a first-class royal title from the imperial court. To send me for questioning, I need an order from the emperor, which is Zhongshu Sheng You don’t even have the qualifications! Whose brand does Guan Shansi belong to? Why are you talking to me?”
"First-grade official?" The leader, Mr. Qian, sneered. "We advise Shansi to arrest too many high-ranking officials of first-grade and second-grade. That is Prince Youyan, the biological son of the late emperor, the biological brother of Emperor Daxing, and beware of the imperial uncle. , we can catch you too! I’ll give you face and call you ‘Old Lady’, or I’ll beat you to death now!”
Dai's mother has lived for almost seventy years and has seen many storms and waves. The words of Mr. Qian, the Minister of Advocacy, were like a storm in her ears. She only heard her laugh twice and said: "You bunch of thieves of the Secretary of Advocacy." His ability to arrest people is good, but his ability to release them is even better. Didn’t Prince Youyan demolish the prison of the Ministry of Justice, cause trouble in the capital city of Luoyang, and then break through Tongguan and return to Youyan Road? Everyone knows it, how can you still have the nerve to brag about it?"
The leader was so angry at Dai Mu's heart-piercing taunts that his face turned blue and purple, and he hesitated for a long time and was speechless.
But Dai's mother said again: "What kind of person is Prince Youyan? If my son hadn't blocked him in Henan for you, the prince would have captured Luoyang, the capital, and killed all you bandits! Okay!" Why, you bunch of thieves don’t know how to repay kindness, so you still want to bite me back?”
Mr. Qian, the leader of the Good Counseling Department, finally got angry when Mother Dai scolded her as a "dog thief". Regardless of his superiority or inferiority, he ordered his subordinates: "Don't listen to this old woman's nonsense, come to me! Catch her!"
As soon as he finished speaking, about twenty soldiers behind him slowly surrounded him with weapons in hand, intending to commit murder. When Dai Luanxiang's son and daughter saw this, one holding a whistle stick in one hand and the other a sword slung across his back, positioned themselves in front of Dai's mother to protect her, and began to fight to the death with them.
When Qiu Yizhi saw this scene from a distance, his heart tightened, and he hurriedly said to the two people around him: "Something is going wrong. Brother, Brother Zhao, hurry up and help them."
Yuchi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao are both bloody men, and they should not use the crowd to bully the widowed or the weak. Before Qiu Yi finished speaking, they quickly stepped forward and started fighting with the soldiers of the Encouraging Department.
If we talk about martial arts, Yuchi Lianghong alone can defeat more than twenty soldiers of the Guanshan Division without any effort. Now that Zhao Chengxiao was a helper, Dai Luanxiang's two sons and daughters also took advantage of the situation and came to kill them. In the blink of an eye, this group of soldiers who had been arrogant just now were dead, injured, and completely lost their combat effectiveness.
Seeing that they had the situation under control, Qiu Yizhi suddenly remembered that this was in the capital, next to the headquarters of the Guanshan Division, and hurriedly ordered loudly: "Quickly tie these people together, gag their mouths, and cannot let them run away. A messenger!"
Over there, Dai's mother heard the shout and followed it, but she didn't have time to ask Qiu Yi's name and ordered: "This young master is right! Dai Song, Yinping, why don't you hurry up and get the rope?!"
Dai Luanxiang has been a general for generations, and there are many ropes and bandages in his home. Dai Song went into the house and took a bunch to distribute to everyone, then tied up the minions of the Ministry of Goodwill who were still lying on the ground and tied them up one by one, and filled their mouths with linen bandages. (To be continued)