At this time, the cold winter is coming, and the frost falls early on the ridges and fields in the middle of the night, and the sky is as bright as jade, and the frost is also shining. The second son, Lin Xuzong, lay on the soft couch in the carriage, let the car curtain be rolled up, he looked at the frost on both sides of the road, and in the distance was his private garden on the south bank of Shanglin Creek Wangxiang Building, Wangxiang Building stands on the west bank of the Shiliang River, and the tung oil paper wind lamp is hung on the eaves corner of the northeast corner, and the red dark star is under the night sky.

If today's humiliation can be endured, how can people be righted to turn the prestige that they have worked so hard to build up among their people over the years turn to ashes?

Lin Xuzong was lying on the brocade couch, unable to move. Although the executioner showed mercy in his hands and did not strip off his buttocks, Lin Xuzong still gave ten strokes to the barbed iron whip, and the whip saw blood. The iron whip is still the weapon of the ancestors of the Lin family when they served the ancestors, and Lin Xuzong didn't know why such a weapon used for fighting on the battlefield had become a torture weapon for the clansmen in the ancestral hall to take out when they violated the clan rules, probably because of the blood sucking foot, these two iron whips were black and shiny, even if they didn't touch it for a long time, they wouldn't rust.

In the cold wind, there was a faint sound of wind chimes, tinkling, and the sound of horses' hooves stepping across the stone street was crisp from far to near in the night.

Listening to the sound of horses' hooves, Lin Xuzong propped himself up and looked into the distance, just at the gate of the garden, he asked people to stop the carriage, and after a while, he saw more than a dozen black shadows on horseback appearing in the field of vision.

The sudden appearance of the rider made the servants on the side of the carriage very nervous, the corners of Lin Xuzong's mouth lifted, revealing a cold smile, looking at the faces of the dozen or so horsemen gradually becoming clear in front of him, and sneered in his heart: Everyone else knows that I Lin Xuzong is a good horse, and I also buy horses generously, and the township and village warriors are all foot soldiers, but no one asks me where the war horses I have added over the years are hidden?

There is a small forest in the northeast corner of Wangxiang Tower, and there are several figures hidden in the shadows.

"This shit, it's really a private coward!" Zhao Hu clenched his fists and watched Lin Xuzong meet with more than a dozen knights at the north entrance of Wangxianglou Garden, "When I was in the township camp, there were some rumors, but I couldn't believe it. ”

"In order to make the grass market in Shiliang County all gathered in Shanglindu, so that the profits of Shanglindu grass market are all attributed to the Lin family, it is not unimaginable to raise Kou in private," Lin Jian thought that the Lin family's private raising of Kou soldiers was also in line with his previous speculation, seeing is believing, and there was naturally nothing to be surprised in his heart, thinking that he would go to Jiangning to develop in the future, and colluding with Qin Chengzu and them in private, in the eyes of the government, it would be as evil as it was, even if it was not forgiven, what did it matter? However, he said with a little contempt, "The second son's shameful mind is urgent, but unfortunately he can't fulfill his wish, I really can't help him." ”

"In the past two years, the head of the family rarely comes forward to deal with any affairs in Shanglin, and the seventh lady and the second son are separated from each other. The second prince took a knife to you like a dog today, and knelt on the muddy ground of the mule and horse market without saying a word, how can he convince the public in the future if he doesn't find the field, let alone suppress the seventh lady? Zhao Hu was not stupid, and he also gloated on the side.

After lurking in the forest for a while, he saw that the more than ten riders sneaked away after Lin Xuzong's ear was mentioned, and Lin Xuzong also entered the garden in a carriage surrounded by servants, Lin Xuzong stood up and shook his frosty clothes, and said: "Even if there are still soldiers hidden in Lin Xuzong's private, they are probably limited......" They stood in the forest, waiting for Wu Qi, who was lurking closer to watch, came back.

Even if he saw Lin Xuzong and the servants entering the garden, Lin Xuzong's private soldiers all rode away, Wu Qi was also very cautious when he returned, even if Zhao Hu stared at Wu Qi's return route, he waited until Wu Qi dived back more than ten meters before he noticed that the traces of the wild grass blowing in the wind under the moon were a little strange, and praised: "The crow master is really a good skill?" ”

"The ability to catch cats and steal dogs is not worth mentioning." The crow Wu Qi smiled, his black and thin face showing dazzling white teeth.

"You also have the ability to catch cats and steal dogs, can a countryman have your good teeth?" Zhou Pu said, he was not angry that Wu Qi did not go to sea and refused to return the Mo knife and mulberry wood bow to him, Wu Qi used the excuse that Zhou Pu was going to go to Jiangning with Lin Tie in the future, and he also appeared in the bright place, and he usually carried a ring-headed waist knife with him It was already quite conspicuous, not that he usually hid in the dark.

"What do you hear?" Lin Jian asked Wu Qi.

"There were about seventy or eighty of them in all, all good horses, and they didn't know where we were going, they just spread out and searched. Seventy or eighty people spread out the net, and a hundred people were not afraid to be discovered, for fear that someone would give them a message during the day to reveal their whereabouts. Let's go to Huyan now, so that we are not afraid that we will show people our whereabouts during the day. ”

Lin Lian nodded, he saw through his whereabouts in Huyan, they couldn't ride their horses away, but when the matter got out, I was afraid that it would be used by Lin Xuzong to fan the flames and be unfavorable to the Seventh Lady. At that moment, they no longer hesitated, by the moonlight, they walked through the forest with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and walked over looking at the dark shadow of the Iron Curtain Mountain, their horses were hidden in a hunter's grass house at the foot of the mountain, and Chen Enze also asked people to take it and wait.

***********

After leading the horse in the grass liao, and then going up the mountain, a col deep in the mountainside forest was Wu Qi's real hiding place in Dongyang.

This time, there are a total of six Liumakou who accompanied the crow Wu Qi to Dongyang, and they will all hide in the dark to listen to Lin Jian and Zhou Pu's messengers; In the mule and horse market, Wu Qi only brought two people to appear, waiting for Lin Jian to come over to connect with Zhou Pu, but he didn't expect to cause these disputes.

After Lin Jian secretly met with the Seventh Lady outside the ancestral hall, he learned that the person he rescued in Shiliang County today was Gu Wuchen, the deputy envoy of Jiangdong, and decided not to leave Shanglin to go to Jiangning in a hurry. If he could go to Jiangning with Gu Wuchen's east wind, it would be much better than him being a person who offended his family and was forced to leave his hometown and go to Jiangning.

Lin Tie is also worried that there will be problems with Zhou Pu and Chen Size's naturalization, there are people in Shiliang County who are flattering to the Lin family, but there are also those who do not deal with the Lin family, and the reason why Lin Tie is categorically attacking Lin Xuzong in Luoma City is to create the false impression that "offending the strong people of the Lin family has to go to Jiangning to avoid trouble". In this way, even if someone in Shiliang County wants to find the flaws in Zhou Pu and Chen Enze's identity, they can't find them to testify. In addition, when he left his hometown Dongyang Mansion and went to Jiangning Mansion to seek development, he must always have a suitable excuse, and he can no longer tell others that he is going for Su Mei.

On the other hand, Lin Jian also knew in her heart that the Seventh Lady really hoped that she could help her in Shanglin Du, even if she was not her previous self, since she occupied this body, she still couldn't shirk her due responsibility. Speaking of which, Gu Yingsleeve is just a chess piece launched by Lin Tingxun to suppress the second son Lin Xuzong's premature struggle for clan power, once Lin Xuzong's ambition cannot be contained, Gu Yingsleeve's situation will be quite dangerous. Today's toss will hit Lin Xuzong's arrogance with a blow, and he will naturally be able to suppress his ambitions.

Zhao Hu saw that Wu Qi and they were so cautious even if they were looking for a temporary place to stay, and he was very impressed in his heart, and when he walked into the mountain col, he saw that there were no less than sixty well-bred horses hidden in the forest, and the horses were covered with horse chews, and occasionally a horse snorted, but he didn't feel that there was anything abnormal in the forest, Zhao Hu was surprised: "How can you have a way to bring so many horses into Dongyang?" ”

"Lin Ye and Zhou Pu went to Jiangning and then to Chongzhou, and after going around in circles, we rushed to Dongyang directly from Tinghu Lake, found such a hiding place, and in more than half a month, they were broken into pieces and brought these horses from Huaishang." Wu Qi said proudly, it was his forte to break it into pieces and hide his traces, otherwise Qin Chengzu would not have been able to put him in charge of this matter.

Although Qin Chengzu and others have been in the Huai for many years, they are more of a self-cultivated village life, and their lives are poor, not more prosperous than those real horse thieves who rob houses, they have no savings, and the largest property is probably the only remaining hundreds of horses.

It is difficult for the people on the island to feed, so naturally they cannot bring war horses to the island that eat more than ten times the amount of adults. Although he was reluctant, these war horses had to be sold on the shore and exchanged for silver to buy supplies and transport them to Changshan Island, so that others could survive and stand on Changshan Island.

After Lin Jian and Zhou Pu left, Qin Chengzu had already sold more than 40 high-quality war horses in Xinpu County, Huai'an Prefecture, and exchanged them for a boatload of supplies to go to Changshan Island first, but they also had a number of good horses in Huaishang.

Sixty high-quality horses that can be used as war horses are quite a considerable wealth in the world, and Lin Xuzong is even willing to pay a sky-high price of 3,000 taels of silver for ten of them in the mule and horse market.

Wu Qi knew that if he had private contact with those cottages or townsmen who were in urgent need of war horses to sell horses, the biggest possibility would be that these horses would be robbed by these individuals who would eat meat and not spit out bones, vomit blood and not foam, and even the people who sold their horses would be in danger - private transactions would not work, and they would not dare to openly go to the official market to sell horses.

Originally, it was planned to smuggle these good horses to Shanglindu in batches, but everything would not follow the plan. The greed of the Lin family is one reason, Lin Lian and Zhou Pu are not so naïve as to think that Lin Xuzong will really buy these horses at a high price, Lin Xuzong privately raises Kou soldiers, and those strangers who have no way to come and are unidentified are not only robbed in Shanglindu by selling goods and leaving Shanglindu; Lin Lian's identity and status in Shanglin Du were not enough for the Lin family to suppress their greed for sixty horses and make a fair private transaction.

"Go pick one." Wu Qi pointed to the horse in the forest and said to Zhao Hu.

"Really!" Zhao Hu couldn't believe it, a ploughing ox in Dongyang Mansion cost six or seven thousand yuan, and the horses of ordinary camel goods were twice the price of ploughing cattle, although Zhao Hu had always envied the majesty of riding on horseback, but the price of riding a horse made him retreat, not to mention these galloping war horses.

Zhao Hu happily walked into the forest to pick the most desirable horse, Lin Lian and Zhou Pu and Wu Qi found a tree root and sat on it, looking at these war horses worried, he couldn't lead sixty high-quality horses to the official market to sell because he was a man, Lin Lian thought that he would still discuss this matter with the Seventh Lady tomorrow, at least digest a batch in Shanglindu, otherwise they would all be brought to Jiangning, and the goal would be too big.