In the deep winter, the closer to the evening, the lower the temperature, coupled with the heavy snow that raged for a day and a night the day before yesterday, there is still a small amount of snow on the shore of Daming Lake that has not melted, a bunch of east and west, and some places on the lake are still frozen, but the ice is very thin, and it is impossible for people to walk on it.

Since Daming Lake is formed by the convergence of spring water, the spring water that emerges from these underground springs will not be lower than 18 degrees Celsius, so even if the weather is cold, Daming Lake is unlikely to freeze, and even if it is frozen, it is a small area of freezing, and it is a thin layer. Because of this, it is a dream to walk from the frozen surface of the lake to the island in the middle of the lake.

After the eunuch Luo Xiang built his station on the island of Daming Lake, he expelled tourists from all over the world, so there was no sail on Daming Lake, and even if there was a patrol boat.

There is a wharf built on the edge of Daming Lake, and there are two small boats on the wharf, which are used for people to go in and out of the house to buy, or to deliver news, and there is a special person in charge of taking care of it.

At dusk, a small boat left the dock by the lake and headed for the island in the middle of the lake. The island in the middle of the lake is only five or six hundred meters away from the pier by the lake, so the boat quickly sailed to the pier in the middle of the lake, and a messenger got off the boat nimbly, greeted the fan who was guarding the pier, and then went straight to the house on the island.

It is said that there are four wharves on the island in the middle of the lake, and each wharf is moored with more than a dozen ships of different sizes, which are for the use of the fans, Luo Xiang's subordinates raised five thousand fans, the strength is comparable to a guard, and it is also equipped with a small number of firearms.

Today's island in the middle of the lake is obviously more heavily guarded than usual, with dozens of men with knives guarding each pier, and there are heavily armed fanzi patrols on the island from time to time.

Besides, the spy got off the boat and went straight to the house, where he met Luo Xiang, the eunuch of the town guard, in the tea room of the middle courtyard.

Although there was a charcoal stove burning in the tea room, Luo Xiang was still dressed very bloated today, and his ruddy and shiny old face was much grayer, as if he had suddenly aged several years.

It's no wonder that Luo Xiang has been nervous since he was threatened by Zhao Quan and forced to transport 10,000 stone of grain and a small number of weapons to Liubu Town. Later, Xu Jin set up an ambush in Liubu Town like a clever plan, and annihilated Wang Tang Zhao Quan and his gang in one fell swoop, at this time, Gonggong Luo was even more flustered, suspicious all day long, suffering from gains and losses, for fear that Xu Jin had mastered the evidence of his crime of collaborating with the enemy, but he was lucky, hoping that these were all coincidences.

Because of this, after getting the news that Xu Jin was coming to Jinan, Luo Xiang was so scared that he was going to die, hiding on the island in the middle of the lake all day long, and strengthened the defense of the island.

At this time, the messenger stood in front of Luo Xiang and replied: "Qin Cha is now drinking and feasting in the yamen of the political secretary, and during the banquet, Yan Shenggong has already come forward to say something. ”

"What did Xu Jin say?" Luo Xiang hurriedly asked urgently.

The messenger repeated Xu Jin's words, Luo Xiang couldn't help frowning when he heard this, although Xu Jin's words sounded like he had the meaning of turning war into jade, but he didn't explicitly say that he wanted to reconcile with himself, which naturally made him feel unsure.

Luo Xiang pondered for a moment, waved his hand, and said, "Go and explore again." ”

The messenger left as promised, Luo Xiang walked to the stove, spread his hands to warm up on the charcoal fire, his face changed, today he not only found Yan Shenggong to say that he also prepared a "gift" for Xu Jin, if Xu Jin accepted this "gift" with a smile, this can ensure that it is okay.

……

Outside the city of Jinan, in the camp of Gui Dewei, a group of soldiers were discussing around the map, a total of Huang Qi, the commander of Gui Dewei, Lai Qingshui, the commander of Xuzhou Wei, Qi Jingtong, the deputy commander of the cavalry, and more than two officers with more than 1,000 households.

At this time, the map spread out in front of the generals was a map of Daming Lake. In fact, before the army was transferred to Jinan, Xu Jin gave everyone a task, that is, to capture the island in the center of Daming Lake tonight and capture the eunuch Luo Xiang.

Luo Xiang, a turtle with a shrunken head, hid on the island in the middle of the lake that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and coupled with the fact that his subordinates raised a large number of private soldiers, it was not easy to capture him, so Xu Jin accepted the banquet of the bureaucrats in Shandong Province today, and he also talked with the bureaucrats during the banquet, all in order to paralyze the eunuch Luo Xiang, let him relax his vigilance, and then thunder to take it down. As long as Luo Xiang is taken, the next step will be the group of corrupt elements in Shandong officialdom.

However, at this time, Huang Qi and the others were in trouble, because in order to capture Luo Xiang's station, they must first have a ship, and they just don't have a ship, and it is too late to requisition ships on the spot, not to mention that such a big movement will definitely cause Luo Xiang to be alert.

Everyone discussed and discussed, and finally decided to do a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, cutting down trees to build wooden platoons, and on the other hand, selecting hundreds of soldiers who were skilled in water to sneak into the island in the middle of the lake to grab the boats on the dock, and at the worst, to destroy the boats on the island, so that they could catch turtles in the urn.

After the generals decided on the plan to attack the island in the middle of the lake, they immediately took action, felling trees to build rafts, and disguised themselves as camps, but they were not afraid to arouse suspicion.

……

In winter, the days are short and the nights are long, and at about five o'clock in the afternoon, the sky begins to darken, the temperature is getting lower and lower, the cold wind blowing in the face erodes the bones and muscles, and the pedestrians on the streets are sparse, and people put their hands in their sleeves, and their felt hats are pressed low, and they hurried home.

Xue Bingxin came out of a pharmacy in the north of the city with a bag of medicinal herbs, ready to return to the inn, and when she passed by the Yamen of the Political Secretary, she couldn't help but take a look at the door, because there were several brocade guards wearing flying fish suits guarding there.

Xue Bingxin frowned, since the brocade clothes were guarding here, Xu Jin's guy should be inside, and it was estimated that he was still drinking the celebration bar, thinking that that guy was enjoying big fish and meat, and his brothers were still suffering from hunger and cold in Daqing Mountain, Xue Bingxin inexplicably had a sour nose, sighed and continued to move forward.

However, at this moment, out of the corner of Xue Bingxin's eyes, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in the distance flashing into the alley, and her back was a bit like Qiu Fu.

Xue Bingxin chuckled in her heart, could it be that Senior Brother Chengqiu wanted to take the opportunity to assassinate Xu Jin? Qiu Fu had a deep hatred for Xu Jin, and he said that he would kill him when he entered the city just now.

Xue Bingxin couldn't help but be secretly anxious, and hurriedly quickened her pace and chased into the alley, not worried that Qiu Fu would kill Xu Jin, but worried that Qiu Fu would be captured by mistake, Xu Jin's guy was protected by so many people, and there was also a master named Xie Erjian, Senior Brother Qiu was definitely not an opponent.

Xue Bingxin chased into the alley, the person just now was gone, but fortunately, there was still a small amount of snow on the ground, leaving footprints on it. So Xue Bingxin followed the footprints, turned a few alleys, and went around to the wall behind the Yamen of the Political Secretary, and the footprints were interrupted here.

At this time, Xue Bingxin was even more sure that the person was Qiu Fu, and Senior Brother Qiu was indeed planning to assassinate Xu Jin.

Xue Bingxin looked up at the nearly three-meter-high wall, jumped up more than two meters, and made a big split, with two long legs supporting the walls on both sides of the alley, and then kicked hard to firmly climb the wall.

Xue Bingxin was holding a packet of medicine in her left hand, and she was vigilantly observing inside the wall. There are more than 10,000 people's yamen, which are divided into the front office, the middle government and the back office, and the houses are lined up one after another, and there are no less than 300 large and small rooms.

At this time, Xue Bingxin's location was the back office, which was the residence of the political envoy's family. Xue Bingxin squatted on the wall and observed for a moment, but found no trace of Qiu Fu, hesitated for a while, and finally gently jumped from the wall into the courtyard and walked cautiously along a corridor.

At this moment, a group of people came from the end of the corridor, and Xue Bingxin alertly hid behind the pillar.

The group of people who came at the end of the corridor was none other than the concubine Wen of the political envoy of Zuo Bu, as well as the concubine An'er, and there were two maidservants waiting next to him. An An'er was dressed in a dress, obviously dressed up carefully after bathing, her skin was tender and pink, and she looked even more delicate and moving, but her eyes were a little red and swollen, and her expression was aggrieved and sad.

Wen Shi took his daughter's hand, whispering something as he walked, An'er blushed and nodded from time to time, and the group passed through the corridor, but they didn't notice Xue Bingxin lying behind the pillar.

When the Wen family walked away, Xue Bingxin flashed out from behind the pillar, tilted her head slightly thoughtfully, and then tiptoed up lightly, because she vaguely heard the Wen family mention the word "Xu Jin" just now, so she felt that following this group of people might be able to find Xu Jin, and Senior Brother Qiu had to find Xu Jin first if he wanted to assassinate him.

Xue Bingxin followed Wen's mother and daughter through the courtyard from afar, and finally passed through a hanging flower door and came to an independent courtyard, and then Wen's mother and daughter went directly into the house and closed the door.

Xue Bingxin couldn't help frowning, hid under a low flower wall in the courtyard, observed for a while, and was about to leave after making sure that Xu Jin would not be in the house, but the door of the house opened, and the beautiful woman and maidservant girl came out just now, and Xue Bingxin had to hide back under the flower wall.

Wen was about to leave the courtyard with two maidservants, when a man who looked like a housekeeper hurriedly ran in, and when he saw Wen, he asked, "Aunt Wen, are the six girls ready, Qin Cha will come over soon." ”

Wen nodded and said, "Xin'er is in the room!" ”

"The sixth girl won't be stubborn, right? If the master's big thing is ruined, you two want to have a good result! ”

The Wen family is only a concubine, so this housekeeper has no respect for the Wen family in his words.

Wen Shi was obviously used to it, and he didn't get angry, just nodded and said, "Don't worry, Xin'er has already agreed, there will be no problem." ”

The butler waved his hand and said, "That's fine, get out of here quickly, don't let the Qin Cha bump into you." ”

Wen glanced back at the locked door, sighed secretly, and left the courtyard with the two maidservants.