Throughout the dynasties, the courts strictly prohibited the smuggling of the people, such as private salt, copper and iron, which clearly stated that it was sold by the government. With the changes of the times, these prohibited items have also changed. For example, the former Song Dynasty regarded all the wine brewed as prohibited items and were not allowed to be sold privately by the people. However, in this dynasty, it was no longer included.

However, there are several things that any court official strictly controls. No matter what the identity or reason is, as long as they are found to be transported privately, or even if they are hidden at home, they are serious crimes or even death sentences. These are weapons, armor and other objects related to the army, such as military crossbows, and armor used in the army!

Because these things are only useful, that is, rebellion. Throughout the dynasties, as long as the government found that someone had military crossbows and armor, it could be a serious crime for treason. Even a general like Zhou Yafu of the Han Dynasty who made great contributions to the court would lose his life. As for ordinary officials, there is no need to mention it.

Now, hundreds of military crossbows and armor were found on the Cao Gang ship. What does this mean? Li Ling naturally felt like a mirror in his heart, and at the same time he was also cold. He knew that something was wrong, and he could not even control his expression and reacted, staring at Hong Yang in horror.

Hong Yang was also startled by Li Ling's reaction. He repeated the words just now after a while, then looked back at Li Ling and said, "Sir Li... Son-in-law, you want to save our gang leader."

Li Ling took a few breaths at this time, forcing himself to calm down, but the hand placed on the armrest was still trembling slightly: "He is Qingxiao's brother, that is, my brother, so I will not sit idly by and watch something happen to him. However, how could the brothers of the Cao Gang do such a ridiculous and bold move? It's actually..."

As a figure in the Jianghu Gang, Hong Yang didn't really know how serious this matter was. He only treated the military crossbow armor as a forbidden object like private salt and said, "Actually, we don't know where the brothers collected money and did things. After checking the gang insiders, there was no further information... Son-in-law, if the matter is really difficult, my brothers are willing to come forward to take this crime on the gang leader... As long as the gang leader can be rescued from the government, everything will be fine."

"It's not easy..." Li Ling sighed and looked at the other party with a gloomy face, "Do you know that as long as you find out that these weapons are really owned by the Cao Gang, let alone brother, even you, you can't even leave. Even the entire Cao Gang may be destroyed!"

Now Hong Yang was completely stunned and exclaimed: "Is this... so serious?"

"Do you know that privately hiding weapons and conspiring to rebel is a serious crime for the three tribes of Yi!" Li Ling continued to say in a deep voice.

"But these things are not ours, we just help with the delivery..."

"That's also a co-conspirator, the same charge! Also, for such a serious crime, do you think the owner of those armed forces will take the initiative to admit that the things are his? In the past few days, have you found out who asked you to smuggle the armed forces, and who took the deal?"

Hong Yang shook his head blankly again, he didn't know about this. They did check the relevant people after the gang leader had an accident, but except for the people detained in the government, everyone else said they didn't know, they didn't know that there were these weapons on their own ships, and they didn't know who asked them to transport these deadly things.

Li Ling smiled helplessly. This is the most difficult thing to deal with. It is related to his wealth and life. It is very likely that the truth will not be found. Even when he moved again, a more terrifying idea emerged. However, he did not say it in front of Hong Yang, but said after pondering: "I will not stand by and watch this matter, but I am not an official after all, so I have to find someone to help me, so I have to do it slowly.

"In this way, you should go back quickly. Be sure to tell your brothers in the gang, so that they must be patient and not really do anything irreparable because of a moment of indifference. That will not only fail to save the leader, but may make his situation even more dangerous.

"Also, what you need to do next is to check in the gang as soon as possible to find out the real culprit; the second is to take more money to manage the Jingzhou government, and be sure to drag things back. This way, there is room for maneuver and I can find a better way to save my elder brother. Do you understand?"

"Control brothers, don't let them do whatever they want, find out the culprit, and manage the government..." Hong Yang repeated the key points mentioned by Li Ling, and then Zheng pointed, "I'll write down the little one, I'll go back now."

Li Ling didn't keep him for a night, and immediately got up and sent him out. He called Li Xu again and took Hongyang fifty taels of silver as travel expenses, and then sent the person away. After doing all this, the cloud on his face became thicker, and he muttered: "Things are probably more dangerous than what is in front of him."

"Li Lang..." Yang Qingxiao finally couldn't help but walk to him, looking at him with red eyes: "How could this be like this? My elder brother... you must find a way to save him." She knew better than Hong Yang how terrible this time was. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Yang Qinghou is in danger now.

Li Ling felt his wife's panic and weakness, and quickly grabbed her: "Qingxiao, don't worry, I just said that I won't sit idly by and watch this matter, so I will definitely do what I say. After all, he is also my elder brother, and he has helped me a lot over the years..."

"But this matter..." leaning on her husband's shoulder made Yang Qingxiao a little calmer, but what's happening right now still makes her feel uneasy.

"Yes, this matter is quite difficult and dangerous, and I suspect that this matter is someone who is planning to deal with the Cao Gang. Otherwise, I really don't think anyone would be so bold that they would dare to transfer the weapons at will, and they would entrust the Cao Gang to transfer the goods. Wouldn't that send your own wealth and life to others?

"Also, although his elder brother is from the world, he may also want to earn more money to support more brothers in the gang, but he can still distinguish the importance of the matter. How could he let his subordinates do such a desperate thing?"

As he said that, his eyebrows were locked again: "The most important thing is that he went to Jingzhou without any preparation before. It was clearly determined that the matter could be solved easily. But it was just like this. When he arrived in Jingzhou, the local government intercepted the ships containing the arms of the Cao Gang... Is this really a coincidence?"

"You mean, is someone deliberately framed him?" Yang Qingxiao finally understood, her face became more and more ugly, and she said in a cold voice.

"It is very likely, and if I expected it is right, it should be related to the current governor of the two Huai Rivers. He had already coveted the power and benefits of the Cao Gang, and he wanted to use the Cao Gang to seek control by using the Cao Gang's civil strife, but later failed.

"Then, the Anshui Pass, which found the problem on the ship, was controlled by the soldiers under his command. Do you think the eldest brother is also in his hands?

"So what I worry most is that all this is set up by him, just to kill the elder brother and some other important brothers of the Cao Gang, and then use this as an excuse to swallow the Cao Gang in one bite!"

"He... is he so bold? Aren't he afraid that our Cao Gang and him will kill him?" Yang Qingxiao was really shocked and angry when she was touching, her eyebrows were raised and she said in a cold voice.

"What he wants is the Cao Gang to kill the death. No matter how powerful the Jianghu Gang is, it is only the Jianghu Gang, and it is far from comparable to the government. As long as the Cao Gang brothers crash into the government because of anger, they will completely confirm that they have evil intentions and want to rebel. At that time, Fei Zhong will have sufficient reasons to send troops to quell the rebellion and eliminate them all!"

These words made Yang Qingxiao shudder again, and the anger just now quickly dissipated, leaving only one sentence: "Then...what should I do?"

"That's why I warned Hong Yang to let them bear it and quickly find out the real key figures. However, this time they were determined that even if someone in the Cao Gang colluded with him and secretly put the weapons into the ship, it would be difficult to find out."

"Then are there any other ways?" Yang Qingxiao looked up at her husband. Every time he encountered a crisis, he could solve it with various means. This time, it should be no exception, right?

Sure enough, Li Ling looked solemn: "The self-inspection within the Cao Gang is likely to have no results, so we only have one way left, which is to investigate the Jingzhou government, investigate Fei Chong and his confidants. If what I expected was good, this was his plan, that is, he stole all the weapons from his own army.

"After all, for a governor like him who has tens of thousands of troops, it is really not difficult to get more than a hundred military crossbows and armor. So as long as he finds out that there is a shortage in his warehouse, or even finds out who is doing these things for him, the Caogang will naturally be solved."

Yang Qingxiao also agreed with his statement, but she was still a little confused: "But how to investigate this matter? You are no longer an official, and you have no contact with Jingzhou... Even if I am the Cao Gang, I am afraid I don't have such ability."

"Of course we don't have such skills, but there are still people who can help us. Yang Zhen." Li Ling smiled and said. After thinking that everything might be directed and acted by Fei Chong, he had a solution.

Fei Chong escaped the previous incident. This time, as long as Yang Zhenyu secretly found out what he did and reported to the court, he would not be afraid of not being able to take down this guy.

You should know that not only Fei Chong had a grudge with the Cao Gang, but Li Ling and Fei Chong also had old grudges. He still remembered it very clearly. At that time, it was this governor Fei Chong who sent someone to force his sister back to Jiangbei, and then that series of changes occurred.
Chapter completed!