Late at night.

In a forest outside the west of Luoyang City, a bonfire is burning vigorously, several men are surrounding a bonfire, drinking wine, talking and laughing, beside them, there is a middle-aged man with a big tie, his mouth is stuffed with cloth, looking at these murderers with a look of fear, the crotch of his pants is already wet, and his teeth are chattering.

"This coward, before he did anything to him, he was scared and peeed." It was a dark-skinned, short, sturdy man with two axes stuck in his back, sparse hair on the top of his head, and a beard as thick as weeds.

He turned his head and threatened the man who was tied into a dumpling: "You Lao Tzu is the richest man in Luoyang, you can take out 100,000 taels of silver at will, it depends on whether your turtle son is worth anything, you better pray that your Lao Tzu can prepare the silver to send us as soon as possible, otherwise don't blame the master for chopping off your fingers one by one and sending it to your father!" ”

The kidnapped man trembled when he heard this, and his mouth began to cry, and tears raged.

"Hahaha, He Ye, don't scare this third master, he urinated on the ground, it's not that our brothers are guilty and smoked by him."

As he spoke, a horse galloped from a distance and rushed into the woods, and a man in a black suit on horseback turned over and dismounted, and walked up to them.

"Brother Xiaoma, you're finally here, we've been waiting here for a long time."

"Brother Xiaoma" was covered with a black cloth on his face, he couldn't see his face clearly, and his voice was slightly indifferent: "The letter has been delivered, ready to collect the money, Miss said, get the money and release it." ”

"What if you can't get it?"

"Don't you know the temper of the young lady, she only wants money, not life!"

Several people looked at each other and laughed.

……

In the Laurel Tower, Zhen Mingku cooled the last steel wire string that had been fired and stretched, put it aside, and packed it in a box, and beside him were several small furnaces, which were smelted various alloys that he had developed in Shuofang for many years.

Miaoyu sat on the sidelines, watching him busy with curiosity.

"Brother Bitter Fate, have you done it well?"

Zhen Mingku handed these steel wires of different thicknesses to her and wiped the sweat on his forehead, "This time it's free for you, and next time I bring silver, one hundred taels each." ”

Miaoyu wrinkled her nose: "You don't want to rob it?" ”

"It's better than robbing, do you think your brother has nothing to do, and every day when he is full, he will solve problems for you and your sister Shuangshuang for free, and pay you for doing coolies!"

Miaoyu heard him say the word "reward", her face turned red, hesitated for a moment, then walked up to him, stood on tiptoe, kissed him on the cheek, turned around and ran out quickly......

Zhen Mingku looked at her back as she fled quickly, and was stunned for a long time before reaching out to touch the place where she was kissed, and said to himself: "A kiss is a reward?" It's still the face that kisses. ”

As he was talking, he turned around and saw Zhang standing at the door looking at him, with a hint of gloom in his eyes, without saying a word, he turned around and left, and went upstairs.

Zhen Ming's head was too big when he was drenched, and he hurriedly chased him out, "Goose goose, it's not what you think, you listen to my explanation......"

A few maids at the door covered their mouths and smiled, Zhen Ming didn't care what they thought, anyway, his fear of guilt was already known in Yueguilou, and he was about to catch up upstairs, Xiaoying on the side smiled and said: "Master, there is a person from Baofu at the door who asks to see the master, saying that there is an urgent matter, let the master go to Baofu for a trip......"

Zhen Mingku stopped, turned around and asked, "Which Baofu?" ”

"Bao Xinglong, Master Bao."

Zhen Ming frowned, the whole Luoyang Bao Xinglong alone has a relationship with him, the Zhen Nursing Home, and only Bao Xinglong knows his identity in the Baihualou Nursing Home, Bao Xinglong has helped him a lot in the past six months, although it is just a friendship in the business field, Bao Xinglong also takes a fancy to his general's military power, what he values is that the Bao family has been operating for forty or fifty years for several generations, and it is all over the grain veins of the entire Great Sui.

He looked back at Zhang's back who disappeared upstairs, sighed with a wry smile, and turned out of the Laurel Tower.

……

When Zhen Ming came to Bao Mansion on horseback, there was a tense atmosphere in Bao Mansion, there were four or five times more guards in the house than when he came last time, and there were two guards at each door who were on high alert.

Hearing the report of his subordinates, Bao Xinglong, who was in his seventies, came out of the house on crutches.

"General Zhen, you're here, please come inside!"

As soon as Zhen Mingku sat down, several beautiful ladies and several teenage children walked up to him and knelt down, crying loudly.

Zhen Mingku looked back at Bao Xinglong with a puzzled expression, and said unhappily: "Master Bao, what is this for?" What's the point to say, is that the friendship between you and me needs to be like this in the family? ”

As he spoke, he hurriedly bent down to help these noblewomen up, and saw that they were crying with tears and red eyes, ranging in age from twenty to forty years old, quite a little beautiful.

"Ask General Zhen to save our father-in-law!" One of the older women cried and pleaded.

Zhen Mingku looked at Bao Xinglong with a puzzled expression.

Bao Xinglong looked angry, his old face turned red, he kept knocking on the floor with his cane, and said bitterly: "A few days ago, someone left a note in my house, saying that my unfilial son committed adultery with someone else's concubine and was caught and raped in bed by the other party, and the other party asked me to take out 100,000 taels of silver to redeem his life, otherwise I would throw him into the mountains and forests." ”

Zhen Mingku's only then did he understand, but he didn't feel surprised, once the swaggering Bao Sanye got out of the gate of this Bao Mansion, it was no different from the big fat sheep who entered the wolves to show off his fat, and asked with a smile: "What is the other party's origin?" ”

"What else can I do, they are all bandits in Guanzhong, robbers who occupy the mountains as kings, if it weren't for my daughters-in-law and grandchildren, let alone 100,000 taels, even if I don't give them a tael of silver, that unfilial son, it's not a pity to die, the wife and concubine in the family are not satisfied with marrying room after room, and they have to go outside to mess with flowers and grass, if it weren't for these half-old children, I wouldn't bother to pay attention to him, let him fend for himself, this kind of unfilial son deserves to die!"

After Bao Xinglong said these words angrily, Bao Sanye's wives and concubines cried more and more sadly.

"What are you crying about, a few women can't even look at a man, let him go out and mess with flowers and grass everywhere, you still have the face to cry here!"

Several beautiful women's cries stopped abruptly in fright, and sobbed in a low voice, although Bao Xinglong has been ignoring affairs for many years, his majesty is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the Bao family.

Zhen Ming smiled bitterly and said: "Master Bao asked me to come because he wanted me to exterminate the bandits, if I don't pay the ransom, I don't think this Bao Sanye will come back." ”

Bao Xinglong was ten years old for a while, and sighed: "The old man doesn't care about the 100,000 taels of silver, but it's not the first time that this loser has been caught doing this kind of thing, for the reputation of the Bao family, the old man has been helping him cover it and give him the aftermath, but he does this kind of ugly thing from time to time, and the old man has no more years to live, and he can't protect him for a lifetime, and now the grandchildren are still young, and when the time comes, how can the old man rest assured that such a big industry of the Bao family will be handed over to him, and the old man wants to ask the general to help the old man, Help me arrest all these bandits and send them to the government to be beheaded for public display, so that they can play some role in knocking down the mountains and shocking the tigers......"

Zhen Mingku was silent.

Bao Xinglong hurriedly said: "Of course, Lao Yu will not let General Zhen help in vain, if he can catch those bandits, Lao Yu is willing to transfer the 100,000 taels of silver to the general as a thank you." ”

100,000 taels of silver is a drop in the bucket for the Bao family, whose industry spreads throughout the Great Sui and whose assets are worth at least 10 million taels of silver.

Zhen Mingbitter smiled when he heard this, smiled very brightly, and reluctantly agreed to help as much as he could, after totaling, Bao Xinglong decided to prepare 100,000 silver taels first, and sent the Dark Guards to disguise themselves as escorts to the silver taels to go to the designated place to ransom people, as for the future, the Dark Guards will take full responsibility to deal with it.

……

Three days later, several secret guards dressed as servants of the Baofu escorted a carriage carrying a large box of Zhen's ticket number and silver tickets out of Luoyang City, in a canyon more than ten kilometers west of Luoyang City.

They shouted three times at the canyon with the code agreed upon by the bandits, "The money has been delivered", and at this time, hundreds of flags suddenly appeared on both sides of the canyon, with the word "He" written on them.

All of them had bows and arrows in their hands, and they aimed them at the escorts around the carriage, and it was evident that they were well-trained, not like ordinary bandits, and if they made the slightest mistake, they could immediately shoot these people into a hornet's nest with nowhere to hide in the valley.

A fast horse galloped across the valley, and when it came to the carriage, the man on horseback saw that there was only one carriage, and frowned: "Brought the silver?" ”

"Brought, please count it."

"What we want is 100,000 taels, not 10,000 taels, you don't want to play any tricks, do you?"

"Don't dare, uncle, please rest assured, this car is loaded with a bearer silver ticket with a face value of one hundred and two in Luoyang Zhen's ticket number, a total of 1,000, Ye should also know the credibility of Zhen's ticket number, each silver ticket has the official seal of the Secret Guard General, which can be circulated in the entire Luoyang and the states and counties near Luoyang, although rest assured, if you don't believe it, you can send someone to Zhen's ticket number to cash in the silver taels, and you will know it after a check."

"Zhen's ticket number?"

The other party had obviously heard that this was the most reputable money bank in the fiefdom of the Secret Guard General, and when he heard this, he turned over and dismounted, walked to the carriage, opened the boxes one by one and checked them, and after verifying that they were correct, he made a few gestures to those people above the canyon, and after a while, someone threw a rope with an iron hook from the canyon.

The thieves removed the box full of silver tickets from the cart, tied it up, and hooked it to the rope.

Everything was ready, and the bandit gave an order, and the box containing 100,000 taels of silver tickets was slowly lifted off the ground, and after a while, it reached the top of the canyon.

The canyon was flanked by cliffs, and there was only a narrow passage ahead, and the silver went up to the canyon, and others couldn't follow it even if they wanted to, let alone pursue it.

Those who can come up with such a solution are by no means idle.

"Where is my third master?"

"Don't worry, when we verify that these silver tickets are not fake, we will let your people go, we are just asking for money, as long as the silver is in hand, your third master will naturally be unscathed."

The bandit smiled and finished speaking, turned on his horse, and galloped away.

Several servants dressed as the Dark Guard glanced at each other, a smile on their lips, and turned to leave the valley.