Chapter 734 Huainan Spy!

Huainan, Shouchun, the largest theater Spring Garden
In my dream, I hear the chirping of orioles, and the years pass by in a rush. I stand alone in a small courtyard.

All the smoke has gone out, and the embroidery thread has been thrown away. Are you as concerned this spring as you were last year?

The gentle breeze blows into the idle courtyard, swaying the spring like a thread. I stopped for a while to adjust my hairpins, without hiding the water lilies to steal a glance at someone, the colorful clouds are slanted. How can I walk into the boudoir and expose my whole body?
You think the green skirt and the bright hairpin with eight treasures are so beautiful.

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Looking at the beautiful woman's graceful figure on the stage and listening to her soft whispers, Xu Benlei, who had completed his task, looked more and more enjoying it.

Ever since the Zhennan Army suffered a great defeat in Hebei and Henan, the evil spirits in Huainan that had been suppressed by the Zhennan Army have begun to stir again.

As Xu Zhaojie's uncle and also the head of Qianhuwei, the intelligence department of the Zhennan Army, Xu Benlei has been very busy recently.

Either there is a problem in Bozhou or there is a problem in Zhucheng, even in the second largest city, Kangyin, there are people who want to rebel!

If it were only the evil spirits inside Huainan, the problem wouldn't be that big. After all, many of these people had been suppressed by the Zhennan Army once, and the few remaining people now wouldn't be able to make a big difference. But the problem is that the Coordination Office is among them!
The earliest name of the Coordination Office was Fengzhou Military Statistics and Investigation Office. Now its name has long been changed to Fengwu Army Military Coordination and Investigation Office. It is the leading intelligence department under the Fengwu Army. As the Fengwu Army becomes more and more powerful, the Coordination Office becomes more and more famous in the Great Zhou!
The reason why the Thousand Tiger Guards led by Xu Benlei was able to be established was because Xu Zhaojie followed the success of the Supervisory Department and the Coordination Office and imitated them...

Under Ye Mingsheng's instruction, the Coordination Office has never stopped infiltrating Huainan and the Zhennan Army. However, since the Zhennan Army was defeated in Hebei and Henan, the Coordination Office's infiltration has become more and more intense. It often funded some bandits who opposed Xu Zhaojie's troops and even sent a group of professional killers to specifically assassinate civil and military officials loyal to Xu Zhaojie in Huainan.

In the initial half month, the killers from the Coordination Office killed seven officials in succession, making the entire Huainan officialdom tremble in fear. Xu Zhaojie, who had escaped back to Huainan with untold hardships, was extremely angry. He instructed Xu Benlei to eliminate these killers at all costs and maintain the stability of the Huainan officialdom!

Xu Benlei, who knew Xu Zhaojie's methods, was very clear that if he failed to complete the task, Xu Zhaojie would not let him go just because he was his cousin. Faced with the pressure of being beheaded, Xu Benlei mobilized all his means and connections, and finally created a trap, encircling and capturing the eleven killers from the Coordination Office who had lurked in Huainan.

Xu Benlei originally wanted to capture some people alive and extract some useful information from these killers. He also wanted to take this opportunity to dig out some information about the organization of the Coordination Office in Huainan, and even who was the spies in the Coordination Office.

Xu Benlei always believed that these killers were able to cause such a big impact in Huainan and kill so many people in a row. The power of the Coordination Office alone was definitely not enough. There must be an insider behind them who provided intelligence to the killers of the Coordination Office...

If we don't find out the accomplice, even if we finally wipe out all the killers from the Coordination Office, the Coordination Office can still dispatch another group of killers to turn Huainan upside down again, so we must uproot the grass!

Although Xu Benlei's idea was good, the killers sent by the Coordination Office were all ruthless people who had undergone special training from the Coordination Office. They were very loyal to the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng. After discovering that they had encountered a trap and there was no hope of breaking out, they eventually chose to commit suicide, using such a tragic way to keep the secret.

Xu Benlei could do nothing about the failure of his plot, but his luck seemed to be very good. Within a few days, his men captured Song Chaosheng, the core intelligence officer of the Central Coordination Office in Huainan. Song Chaosheng was very stubborn at first and did not give a word even after being tortured for five days.

Xu Benlei was also very anxious as he couldn't get Song Chaosheng to talk. After all, with the cautious style of the Coordination Office, the staff of the Coordination Office hidden in Huainan would inevitably start to retreat once they found out that there was a problem with Song Chaosheng. By then, even if Xu Benlei's mouth was pried open, the effectiveness of the intelligence would inevitably be greatly reduced!

Seeing that torture did not open Song Chaosheng’s mouth, Xu Benlei changed his strategy and attacked the people around Song Chaosheng. They soon dug out Song Chaosheng’s two mistresses and an illegitimate son in Shouchun. Faced with his wife being humiliated and his son being mutilated, Song Chaosheng did not yield in the face of severe torture, but finally chose to betray the Coordination Office out of grief...
With the information provided by Song Chaosheng, Xu Benlei dug out thirteen secret agents of the Coordination Office in Shouchun and reaped great rewards. Not only that, he also dug out the Coordination Office's accomplices in Huainan, the Liu family from Kangyin and the Qu family from Shouchun. The Coordination Office promised these two families that as long as they supported the Coordination Office's actions, they would support them when the Fengwu army set foot in Huainan in the future.

After receiving the information, Xu Benlei immediately handed it to Xu Zhaojie like offering a treasure. Xu Zhaojie also realized that the situation in Huainan was unstable, so he intended to kill people to establish his authority and use blood and corpses to tell everyone that he, Xu Zhaojie, still has the final say in Huainan.

So Xu Zhaojie did not hesitate and immediately ordered Xu Benlei to execute the entire Qu and Liu families!

After receiving Xu Zhaojie's order, Xu Benlei immediately took action and executed all the people in the two families, totaling more than a thousand people.

After doing this, there were no more assassinations of officials in Huainan, which also allowed Xu Benlei to report to Xu Zhaojie.
However, the execution of thousands of people shocked Huainan, and everyone was once again shocked by Xu Zhaojie's cruelty!

You should know that before Xu Zhaojie came to power in Huainan, there had not been any aristocratic families being exterminated in Huainan for decades. Now Xu Zhaojie has been in power in Huainan for only more than a year, and such incidents have already occurred two or three times. Everyone is silent, wondering whether Xu Zhaojie's butcher knife will fall on them next time...

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Just as Xu Benlei was feeling satisfied and happy about completing the task assigned by Xu Zhaojie and was listening to music in Chunhua Garden, several bricklayers walked into Cao's Mansion in Shouchun.

The Cao family was originally one of the big families in Shouchun and had been standing in Shouchun for a hundred years. When Xu Zhaojie took over Huainan, the Cao family also had the merit of supporting him. The Cao family originally thought that Xu Zhaojie would use them for this reason.

However, the Cao family never expected that Xu Zhaojie did not trust them at all, and he was treacherous and did not honor his previous promises to the Cao family. He only gave the Cao family some insignificant powers.

In order to gain better and faster control of power in Shouchun, Xu Zhaojie quickly tore off the mask of hypocrisy and launched a round of purges in Shouchun.

Although the Cao family was spared from the purge due to their contribution in supporting the enthronement, under the coercion of Xu Zhaojie, the Cao family still donated hundreds of thousands of money and grain to provide sufficient military supplies for the Zhennan Army!
The third day of next month is the birthday of Cao Chuan, the old man of the Cao family. Although the Cao family is not as prosperous as before, as the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The Cao family is also preparing to do something for the old man. Therefore, they have found some craftsmen in the past few days to repair the house and the pavilion...
Led by the Cao family's servants, the bricklayers came to the work site, and a Cao family steward said:

"You guys, get this ash ready!"

After saying this, the steward instructed a bald bricklayer with ordinary appearance:
"Come in with me, there are broken floor tiles in the room, can you rebuild them for me?" "Yes!"

Under the steward's order, the bald bricklayer followed the steward into the room. After entering the wing room, the steward left the door ajar and looked the bald bricklayer up and down. The bald bricklayer smiled faintly, took out a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to him.

The Cao family steward took the jade pendant and carefully examined it, then returned it to the bald bricklayer and opened a mechanism in the closet. As the mechanism was opened, a secret passage suddenly appeared on the wall. Seeing this, the Cao family steward whispered:
"follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he led the bald bricklayer into the secret passage. After walking in the secret passage for about half a cup of tea, the Cao family steward and the bald bricklayer walked out of the secret passage and came to an antique room, where a middle-aged man was waiting for him.

This person is none other than Cao Huan, the youngest son of Cao Chuan, the old master of the Cao family...

After bringing the person here, the Cao family steward bowed and left, leaving only the bald bricklayer to deal with Fang Cao Huan's gaze. Under the other party's gaze, the bald bricklayer subconsciously touched his bald head, then smiled faintly at Cao Huan who was sitting in the main seat and said:

"Brother Cao, how are you?"

In response to the bald bricklayer's greeting, Cao Huan snorted coldly, then shouted:
"Catch him!"

As soon as these words came out, several sturdy servants of the Cao family walked into the room and took down the bald bricklayer. Looking at the controlled bald bricklayer, Cao Huan walked in front of him, looked at the bald bricklayer with a calm expression in front of him, and said viciously:
"Zhang Ren, you are so brave! You dare to come here! I will hand you over to the Marquis now!"

Hearing this, Zhang Ren, the commander of the Fengwu Army, was not afraid at all, but instead had a faint smile on his face. He smiled and said to Cao Huan, facing his vicious eyes:

"Brother Cao, why are you doing this?"

“Since Zhang dares to come here today, he must be not afraid of death! Moreover, since you, Brother Cao, have allowed me to come here, how could you really have the heart to let me die…”

Cao Huan sneered upon hearing this, and then punched Zhang Ren hard in the stomach, causing Zhang Ren to grimace before saying indifferently:

"Zhang Ren, you are too arrogant, aren't you? I asked you to come here just to capture you alive! As long as we catch you, we can crack down on those rats in Shouchun! This is all the plan of the Marquis, what do you know?"

Listening to Cao Huan's words, Zhang Ren smiled and said, enduring the pain:

"My Lord's plan? Brother Cao, do you want me to die of laughter?"

"If Xu Zhaojie really trusted your Cao family, would the Cao family have fallen to this point? Would he let Xu Benlei interfere with your Cao family?"

After Zhang Ren finished speaking, Cao Huan wanted to say something. At this moment, an octogenarian, supported by his servants and leaning on a cane, slowly walked into the room. Seeing the appearance of this old man, Cao Huan, who was originally arrogant, also became respectful. The old man slowly walked in front of Zhang Ren and said with some emotion:
"That's right! With someone like you as his assistant, it's no wonder Marshal Ye was able to achieve such great success in just a few years!"

After saying this, the old man signaled the Cao family servant to let Zhang Ren go. Zhang Ren, who was let go, bowed to the old man in front of him and said:
"Zhang Ren, the captain of the General Coordination Office, greets Old Master Cao!"

After saying this, Zhang Ren paused and said:
“There are many hidden talents in my Fengwu Army. Zhang Ren’s insignificant talent is not worth mentioning! I’m sorry to have made a fool of myself, old master…”

Upon hearing this, Old Master Cao smiled slightly, then sat on the armchair behind him, and then said to Zhang Ren leisurely:

"Do you know why I say you are good?"

Hearing Old Master Cao's question, Zhang Ren subconsciously wanted to say that he had passed the Cao family's test, but he always felt that something was wrong. Just as Zhang Ren was thinking about it, Old Master Cao said lightly:

"Young man, your method is too cruel! You killed more than a thousand lives just like that. Aren't you afraid of going to hell in the future?"

Zhang Ren was shocked when he heard this, but he pretended to be calm and said:

"Xu Benlei killed the man. I am very sorry about this. There is a traitor in our coordination office. When our Fengwu army marches into Huainan, we will use the heads of Xu Zhaojie and Xu Benlei to commemorate the Qu and Liu families!"

Listening to Zhang Ren's answer, Old Master Cao looked at Zhang Ren seriously. Zhang Ren felt a little uneasy when he saw his cloudy old eyes. At this moment, Old Master Cao withdrew his gaze, sighed slightly, and said with some disappointment:
"Young man, the fact that you are able to come here is enough to prove the sincerity of our Cao family. But now it seems that although you have some courage and are willing to take risks, you do not have the sincerity to cooperate. In this case, you should not come here!"

After saying this, Old Master Cao shook his head again, then stood up from the armchair and prepared to leave...
(End of this chapter)