Chapter 1112 Zhengshan’s reluctance!
Just as Murong Zhengshan was looking at the drizzle outside the window and feeling sad for his own self-righteousness, his guard Lu Zheng came over with a serious expression and reported:

"Sir, someone is targeting us..."

Murong Zhengshan was shocked when he heard this and then asked:
"What's going on? Who is the other party?"

Lu Zheng said without hesitation:
"This morning, two peddlers appeared outside our house. At first, the gatekeeper didn't pay much attention and just drove them away. But just now, a peddler selling plums came to our door. I took a look at this person and felt that he didn't look like a fruit seller!"

"I didn't touch him lightly because I was afraid of alerting the enemy. Sir, do you think I should capture him?"

"Although I don't know where they came from, I heard that a group of defeated soldiers from the Jiangnan Army have been making a lot of trouble recently. They call themselves Guoshanhu and have robbed several families. A few days ago, they robbed the Zhao family's mansion, killed the master of the Zhao family, and stole a lot of money!"

"Everyone in this town is in danger now. I wonder if the one targeting us is this tiger!"

Upon hearing that the other party might be the defeated soldiers of the Jiangnan Army, Murong Zhengshan's face flashed with surprise!
Although he actually hid in this town to see what the situation was, in name he still played a trick and pretended that he was robbed by the defeated soldiers of the Jiangnan Army on his way back to Yijing and disappeared!
After all, if he really escaped without any disguise, it would be tantamount to confessing to the Marshal that he had framed An Miaoyi...

Murong Zhengshan had a good idea at first, thinking that pretending to be robbed could be a good way to attack or defend!

If the rumor is correct, he will pretend to escape from the bandit's lair and reappear, then return to Yijing to serve as Ye Mingsheng's attendant!

But if the situation is not right, Murong Zhengshan can fake his death, and then wait for a few years when the storm has passed, and then he can change his name and return to the world or go to a remote border area!
However, Murong Zhengshan never thought that after pretending to be robbed by the defeated soldiers of the Jiangnan Army, he actually encountered the defeated soldiers of the Jiangnan Army!

After pondering for a moment, Murong Zhengshan nodded under Lu Zheng's gaze and then instructed:

"Be careful!"

"understand!"

After receiving the order from Murong Zhengshan, Lu Zheng turned around and left without hesitation, preparing to catch the hawker who was following him.

After Lu Zheng left, Murong Zhengshan also lowered his head and sighed. There were only more than 30,000 Fengwu troops entering Jiangnan, which were only enough to garrison in some large towns. Not to mention the countryside, even the smaller towns were not under the actual control of the Fengwu Army at present.

Because the Jiangnan Governor Lu Jianchao had once wanted to fight the Fengwu Army with force, he also recruited tens of thousands of people to join the Jiangnan Army.
Now that the Fengwu Army has taken over Jiangnan, in order to reduce the financial burden and allow these people to devote themselves to construction, many Jiangnan Army soldiers have been sent home.

After all, the daily eating, drinking, defecating and urinating of these tens of thousands of people is not a small number, and most of those recruited are young and strong and are the main labor force. Letting them go back can create more value...

Although the Fengwu Army had good ideas and gave these people some travel expenses, there were always some people with evil thoughts among the tens of thousands of people. They gathered together and did not think about production, but instead thought about robbing houses and doing some low-cost business!
These people don't have the courage to go to big cities and towns. After all, there are no Fengwu troops or local militias there. They only dare to try their luck in small towns and villages that lack defense forces!
Murong Zhengshan, who happened to be on the run, did not dare to go to the big cities and towns where he might be discovered, and only dared to take refuge in this small town!

Even though Murong Zhengshan wanted to keep a low profile, he was, after all, the eldest son of a large family. Even if he wanted to keep a low profile, he was still somewhat out of tune with this small town. It seemed that this was the reason why he was targeted by these defeated soldiers of the Jiangnan Army!

Murong Zhengshan felt helpless when he thought of this. Now he only hoped that Lu Zheng could solve this problem for him. Because he was fleeing, he only had Lu Zheng and two confidants by his side. Although these three people were good at fighting, if they really encountered a group of more than ten defeated soldiers, it would still be very troublesome and their identities would be easily exposed!

The gang of Ye Mingsheng's lackeys in the Coordination Office have very sharp noses. It would be a disaster if they found out that I am here...
Just when Murong Zhengshan was thinking about how to solve the problem, Lu Zheng came back. Although he was always calm, a look of panic appeared on his face!

Without waiting for Murong Zhengshan to ask what happened, Lu Zheng took out a waist plaque and said:
"Master Zhengshan, hurry up! This peddler is a spy from the Coordination Office. I wanted to capture him secretly, but he found me unexpectedly. After a fight, I found that I couldn't capture him alive, so I killed him and found this Coordination Office badge on him!"

Looking at the three big characters "Coordination Office" on his waist badge, Murong Zhengshan felt his head buzzing, and he was completely stunned as if he was struck by lightning!

However, at this moment, several screams were heard outside the yard, and the screams immediately brought Murong Zhengshan back to reality!

Murong Zhengshan could tell that the two screams came from his other two confidants, and it was self-evident what happened when such sounds appeared at this time!
Lu Zheng took a deep breath, thinking of Murong Zhengshan, and said in a deep voice:

"Sir, I'll go stop them! You run out the back door!"

After he finished speaking, Lu Zheng didn't wait for Murong Zhengshan to reply, he drew out the Miao Dao from his waist and walked towards the main gate of the house. Looking at Lu Zheng's determined back, Murong Zhengshan was furious!
Lu Zheng had guarded him for many years, and although they were nominally master and servant, Lu Zheng had taken care of him like an elder brother all these years, and now Lu Zheng's departure might be their farewell... Although he was very angry and in pain, Murong Zhengshan knew that he had to run away as soon as possible and not let Lu Zheng's sacrifice become meaningless!

After wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, Murong Zhengshan ran towards the back door of the mansion. However, what this young man from a noble family did not expect was that when he arrived at the back door, he found two middle-aged men waiting for him quietly at the door.

Seeing Murong Zhengshan appear, one of the men in blue glared at Murong Zhengshan fiercely, then took out a tael of silver from his pocket and threw it to his colleague next to him.

The bald man who got the silver also preached happily:
"I told you that these noble family kids would definitely run out the back door. Old Huang, you still don't believe me. I'll give you this tael of silver as a lesson for you!"

Seeing that he was used for gambling by these two people, Murong Zhengshan, who was always arrogant, was also a little annoyed, but he was at the mercy of others at this time, so Murong Zhengshan suppressed his anger, clasped his fists towards the two of them and said very sincerely:
"If you two are willing to let me go, I, Murong Zhengshan, will definitely reward you handsomely! I'll give you 10,000 taels of silver!"

Speaking of ten thousand taels of silver, Murong Zhengshan deliberately emphasized his tone. He believed that the two men who were betting with him were probably money-loving people, and that even if they spent ten lifetimes together, they could not earn ten thousand taels of silver. Therefore, Murong Zhengshan believed that this ten thousand taels of silver would surely make the two spies from the Coordination Office change their minds...
Under Murong Zhengshan's expectant gaze, the bald strong man among the two seemed to be tempted. However, just when Murong Zhengshan thought he was going to escape successfully, the man in blue clothes called "Lao Huang" moved his right hand and a flying knife hit Murong Zhengshan's throat the next second!
Murong Zhengshan's body trembled, and he lowered his head and looked at the flying knife on his throat in disbelief. Realizing that he was about to die, Murong Zhengshan's expression was full of unwillingness!

As a young talent of the Murong family, he still has the mission of revitalizing the family to complete, and he has not yet helped the Murong family reach the pinnacle of power!
Although he felt too much unwillingness in his heart, Murong Zhengshan finally fell to the ground, his consciousness falling into the cold darkness.

Looking at Murong Zhengshan who died with his eyes wide open, Lao Huang walked over and kicked Murong Zhengshan angrily and cursed:
"You, the parasites of the court, deserve to die!"

Listening to Lao Huang's words and looking at Murong Zhengshan lying dead on the ground, the bald strong man subconsciously touched his bald head. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes revealed regret!
Faced with the temptation of ten thousand taels of silver, he was indeed tempted. Although the salary of the General Coordination Office was relatively generous, he could not earn so much silver in his ten lifetimes!

He was even more greedy and hesitated whether to kill Lao Huang and take all the 10,000 taels of silver promised by Murong Zhengshan. But unfortunately, Lao Huang acted too quickly and killed Murong Zhengshan directly, so he could only regretfully miss this overnight opportunity to get rich...

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Higashima Heiankyo

In the study of Muto Mansion, Ishihara Nobuo looked at the silent Muto Masaaki in front of him and said calmly:

"Muto-kun, have you heard the rumor?"

Facing Ishihara Nobuyuki's questioning, Muto Mazaaki remained silent. If Ishihara Nobuyuki asked him this question publicly, he would definitely deny it and tell Ishihara Nobuyuki that it was a lie, the most shameful slander and smear against him, Muto Mazaaki and the Muto family. He, Muto Mazaaki, had never killed his brother to seize power!

But now there are only him and Ishihara Nobuyuki in this study room. The two have known each other for decades as both enemies and friends, and they know each other's background very well, so Mutou Masaaki is too lazy to quibble!

Ishihara Nobu looked at Muto Masaaki who remained silent, and after a moment's hesitation, he said:
"Muto-kun, I don't care about anything else about this rumor. I only care about one thing: are these Zhou people really here to avenge her?"

Hearing this, Ishihara Nobuyuki's eyes became fierce and he said in a deep voice:
"Ishihara-kun, what is it? What if it's not?"

“Why, Ishihara-kun, do you want to hand over my entire Muto family in exchange for the Zhou people’s non-interference?”

In the past month or so, with the promotion of some people with ulterior motives, the rumor has spread rapidly. Almost all the upper class of Dongdao know the story that Muto Masaaki killed his brother to seize power for the position of head of the family, and at the same time killed people to silence them and trained his own daughter to be a killing tool. His own daughter broke free from his control and fled to Da Zhou, and now she comes back for revenge!

Although there is no evidence to prove that this story is true, this slightly magical story has attracted everyone's attention!
Rather than believing that this story is fake, people would rather believe that it is true. After all, Muto Masaaki, one of the three big bosses, has always been known to be cunning, ruthless and merciless!
For the sake of power, he killed his own brother and silenced his own woman, and trained his own daughter to be a killing tool. Such inhumane things are completely possible for Muto Masaaki to do!

And the comeback of her biological daughter many years later is also as epic as it is anticipated!
Under such circumstances, multiple versions of the rumor emerged. Some said that the Zhou people only wanted Muto Masaaki's head, some said that they not only wanted Muto Masaaki's head, but also wanted to kill Muto Masaaki's entire family, and some even said that they wanted to exterminate all three clans...

For this reason, some voices quietly emerged in the shogunate, believing that it would be possible to consider sacrificing Muto Masaaki in exchange for the Zhou people not interfering in the internal affairs of Higashima!
Of course, this voice was very weak in the shogunate, and those who held this view were all enemies of Muto Masaaki. The vast majority believed that they should stand on the side of Muto Masaaki!
After all, Muto Masaaki is one of the three big bosses and holds a pivotal position in the shogunate. If he is handed over to the Zhou people for disposal just because of some rumors, where is the national prestige of Toushi Island?
Muto Masaaki had naturally heard of this rumor. At first, he scoffed at it, but when the rumor spread more and more widely, and the Coordination Office delivered thousands of muskets to the Hojo and Watanabe families, Muto Masaaki began to panic!
He even began to regret that he did not strangle Mori Hui to death in her cradle because of the woman's pleading. If he had really done that, this would never be the case now!

Ishihara Nobu looked at Muto Masaaki who was a little stressed and immediately promised:
“Muto-kun, regardless of whether the rumor is true or not, you are a big shot in the shogunate. As long as I am still one of the three magistrates, I will never allow the practice of handing ministers over to other countries for disposal…”

(I don’t know if you guys would like to read the story about Muto Masaaki. If you are willing to read it, I will write a little more about it. If you are not willing to read it, I will just skip it!)

(End of this chapter)