Delong

Chapter 136: A Journey Through the Sea of ​​Bitterness (3)

It takes skill to frame and frame. I hurried up to tell the emperor that the rumor was made by your cousin. I think your old man just doesn’t like him 1 times. Let’s kill him together. If you are comfortable, I will be promoted. You don’t have to. Wouldn't everyone be happy to be hung on the treetop by the board... Uh, not only would it be useless, but the key point would be that their own lives would be spent in vain.

First of all, the sage himself has an erratic mind and a suspicious personality, but he is also very smart. You must not let him realize that he, the emperor, is being used... Therefore, the emergence of the incident itself must not be traced.

Secondly, everyone knows the sage's self-made temperament, but why haven't too many people speculated wildly so far, helping the sage to hate those noble people who affect his mood?Because everyone knows that those noble people have the ability to strangle you to death. If things fail, they will encounter revenge from the noble people. At that time, they will be dismissed from office, or they will die without a place to bury them.

For example, Zhang Wenda and Zhang Han, Zhang Wenda has already succeeded in speculation, but his death is still unclear, and Zhang Han was speculating under the pressure of the entire Nanya that day. The results of the guards sent to Nanya.

To put it bluntly, it is up to people to make things happen. On the one hand, it is necessary to pave the way, and on the other hand, it is also necessary for speculators to be steady and ruthless at critical moments, and make a fatal blow.

Boys must know how to protect themselves outside.

The turmoil of the incident started from a routine extended pursuit after a banquet in the back mountain of Lishan.

In fact, nothing happened at the scene of the interrogation. They just talked about it as soon as they were asked. It was just a few low-ranking military officers, which did not cause any unnecessary discussions.

However, this evening, after the information was gathered to the red-eyed father-in-law of Beiya, the father-in-law who was in charge of sorting it out was only familiar with the table and compared it according to the table, and immediately realized from the time and place that when the west tour team passed through Tongguan, There should have been a private gathering of low-level military officers from Yongzhou, and then someone spread rumors in it.

Because in this batch of statements, at least four people mentioned the party by coincidence. Although none of them had first-hand information, the time and place basically coincided.

I asked the next morning, and sure enough, that meeting did happen. About 30 to [-] people participated, and there was no way to deny it.

Then naturally follow the clues, and a new round of expanded pursuit routinely occurred.

And this kind of routine expansion of recourse, within the same day, there were almost no fewer than a dozen cases, all of which occurred in the Beiya, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of War, and there was nothing special about it.

But even so, this gathering was taken seriously after another table was compiled later—because it happened a little early, and it belonged to the top of all the exact rumor spreading cases, and the source needs to be carefully traced.

Therefore, in the afternoon of that day, all the participants of the party were questioned in a unified and separate manner.

The result of the inquiry was very vague, mainly because the time was too early, and the location of the banquet that night was actually outside the Guangtong warehouse next to the Guangtong Canal behind Tongguan. More...Many people couldn't bear the pressure and compared their confessions. They all admitted to hearing the rumors, but they all said they heard them after they were drunk, and it was difficult to distinguish the real source of the rumors.

Frankly, if the sage hadn't been wrathful, the recourse to this feast might have ended there.

But isn't this the sage's fury?And did the fathers-in-law of Beiya feel insulted because of this rumor?In addition, the timing of this banquet was really too early, and according to the basic process of traceability, attention should also be paid... Therefore, more stringent review and tracing, and even torture appeared.

And soon, a very direct loophole surfaced easily—that is, among the participants of the banquet that day, there were actually two people who were not in the west tour team at the moment, so they could not be interrogated.

What's interesting is that these two low-ranking officers of the Yongzhou General Manager's Mansion actually followed their master and superior, that is, Mu Guogong led the Yongzhou Governor, Cao Cheng, the saint's cousin, and the emperor who came to have an audience with him also followed Mu Guogong. Together with the public, they left in a hurry before the rumor was taken seriously as a case.

Things have developed to this point, and someone has already smelled a weird atmosphere.

Whether to continue the investigation, who to investigate, and how to investigate have become problems.

The next day, the three main channels for investigating the case, the Beiya, the Criminal Ministry, and the Ministry of War, responded to this information in different ways.

The Beiya didn't have any worries, and directly issued an official document in the morning, asking the Jinwu Guard in Daxing to find a way to bring him; the Ministry of Punishment was a little slower, and after hesitating for a long time, they sent the document to Jing'an Taidong in Daxing in the afternoon Zhu Shou, the governor of Zhenfu, and Daxing left behind the Yinchang Division, and asked the latter to assist in the investigation; the Ministry of War was the slowest, and they did not respond to the news that day... This is understandable, because there is no doubt that they are dealing with Mu Guo If Gongbengong and Yongzhou General Manager's Mansion follow the procedure from them, they will inevitably appear aggressive. It is better to let the Beiya and the Ministry of Punishment take the lead.

However, this day's silence, or just a day's chance, aroused the dissatisfaction of a loyal minister in the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War shouldn't be so timid and fearful because of Duke Mu's special status, so that he can't care about Jun's kindness... Moreover, the member of the Ministry of War called Wang Daiji also said that the current situation is probably due to the absence of Duan Shangshu, so that No one is willing to take responsibility, but he is willing to risk his life and wealth to share a little worry for the saint.

Such a document that undermined unity naturally aroused great dissatisfaction within the Ministry of War.

But it's also a coincidence, Duan Weiren, the Minister of the Ministry of War, is in the Western Capital, and the servant is staying in the Eastern Capital. Here in Lishan, no one can stop a mere Yuanwailang, so that several Yuanwailang of the same level can only be in Wang Daiji's Showing off his power and fighting with the group of officials, he watched helplessly as this document expressing internal strife in the Ministry of War was easily sent to the two ministers.

Of course, the two lords had rich experience, so they would not let such ridiculous documents that ruined the atmosphere of the Ministry of War easily arrive at the Imperial Palace.

On this night, when Zhang Xing returned to his tent in the camp, he was not surprised to see Li Ding.

"What are you doing?" Li Ding sat beside the bonfire outside the tent, looking at Zhang Xing who had just turned back, becoming vigilant. "Qin Bao said that you drank with Wang Daiji a few days ago?"

"I went to Eunuch Yu's place in the Beiya." Zhang Xing calmly sat down on the bench opposite, and spoke frankly. "Wang Daiji came to me for this. He said at the time that he might take advantage of Duan Shangshu's absence to present a memorial to gamble on his future. Because Fu Longwei is a close servant and is familiar with Beiya, so he specially asked me to go there. Unclog..."

Li Ding was stunned for a moment, then his face turned pale, and his voice trembled unconsciously: "Did you just go to help with the dredging?"

"Yes." Zhang Xing's tone was extremely calm. "50 taels of silver, together with the memorandum, came into my hands yesterday, and the silver seal was not removed, and it was just handed over to Eunuch Yu... Eunuch Yu inspected the silver and promised on the spot that this memorandum will definitely come from Beijing tonight." This side of the yamen goes directly to the front of the imperial court."

Li Ding stood up abruptly, and his face became paler: "Have all the memorials been delivered?"

Zhang Xing was silent for a while, turned to look at the other party, and then frowned slightly: "Li Silang, Wang Daiji couldn't bear to waste time for many years, looking for a future for himself, just doing so would anger Duan Shangshu, or spoil the atmosphere of the military department, and you Why such a gaffe? Haven't you always been a recluse?"

"I didn't break the rules because of this, and worry about the Ministry of War." Li Ding quickly explained. "You don't know what is said in this memorial at all. It's not bad as I expected. This guy wants to learn from Mr. Zhang from the Ministry of Civil Affairs..."

The previous words were quite neat, but after the words, Li Ding's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally stopped abruptly, then shivered on the spot in the dog days, and quickly sat back with his hands folded, and then remained silent.

"Are you suspicious of me?" Zhang Xing narrowed his eyes to look at the other party. "Isn't that right... Do you think I was involved in this matter? Even my mastermind?"

Li Silang looked around and lost his voice, while Zhang Xing also took a bowl of sour plum soup from the bucket next to him.

"So, what's written in it?" After taking the soup, Zhang Xing was not in a hurry to drink it, but was thinking about it while using his true energy to make it iced. "I guess... You said he learned from Zhang Han, but Zhang Han didn't just come here rashly to fight against the princes of the Nanya government for the saint. They only grasped the key that the saint wants to build the Tianshu Great Golden Pillar, so that there can be a saint Support...Could it be that Wang Jiulang has found the source of the rumors and thinks he can dispel the anger of the saint?"

Li Ding replied with a sigh: "Look, I knew it, even if you didn't conspire with Wang Daiji, at least you guessed the content early in the morning, and then followed suit."

Zhang Xing took a sip of the chilled sour soup, shook his head and smiled, and said, "So, Wang Daiji went to gamble on his future, and the sage lost his temper. He may save a lot of people from dying. Even if it's not good, it's not bad for us. I'll help my acquaintances." I'm so busy, why did you look so pale just now?"

"Because we said before that this kind of rumor must not find the real source. No matter who Wang Daiji uses to vent His Majesty's anger, he is blaming the innocent." Li Ding calmed down and sat there trying to speak. "But I wasn't afraid of Wang Daiji doing this kind of thing just now, but I was afraid of you doing this kind of thing...so I turned pale."

"Why are you afraid that I will turn pale if I do this kind of thing?" Zhang Xing couldn't wait to ask while holding the cold bowl.

"Because Wang Daiji is just a yin hero, and you are a hero... He did this kind of thing, which meant that several nobles would bleed, but if you did it, the world would bleed!" Li Ding replied earnestly. "I thought that there would be such things in the future, but I didn't expect the deeds to be so obvious that they could be clearly followed before my eyes."

Zhang Xing sneered and put down the bowl: "Where do you know that I am a hero who can make the world bleed? From the fact that I couldn't break through the last right vein for more than a month? Or from the night I chatted on the mountain and picked up a book?" Or maybe you believed my nonsense and regarded me as an exiled immortal? Li Silang, this matter was done by Wang Daiji no matter what, how did it come to your mouth, that I caused the world to bleed? You have to understand, People who have to bleed just because they want to see them bleed are not mere deputy inspectors of Fulongwei."

Beside the bonfire, Li Ding was silent for a long time before responding: "Dudu's last sentence left me speechless... I can't stop this one, so what qualifications do I have to stop you? But Zhang Sanlang, I still feel that you It's not right to do this, especially if you are going to do big things, you must not be an asshole just because everyone else is an asshole, what's the point of that?"

"Maybe." Zhang Xing looked at the double moon above his head, feeling faintly. "If you can't be better than some people, you can't be more virtuous than some people, why do you condescend to criticize and ridicule others? Your words are reasonable, but I am not that tall now, so I can only do my best."

Li Ding didn't say a word anymore, the two just sat together across the bonfire, waiting for some results.

As for Qin Bao, Xiao Zhou and others, although they passed by several times, they just felt that the atmosphere was not good, and they didn't know what happened.

Leaving aside the gossip, that night, after the sage read the summary statement of the Beiya, he suddenly sent the Beiya and the Ministry of Punishment to pursue the documents of Mu Guogong's entourage and the memorials of Wang Daiji, a member of the Ministry of War, to Sima and Yu, who have been struggling in recent days.

The two lords watched it in a building that served as a temporary Nanya on the halfway up Lishan Mountain. Naturally, they understood, but they had different reactions.

"The old man's meaning is very simple." Mr. Sima Changying was an elder, so he spoke first. "Your Majesty's attitude of strict investigation is here. Why don't you immediately send a message overnight to Duan Wei, Minister of the Ministry of War who is in Daxing, asking him to take charge of the matter and personally ask Duke Mu for an entourage to investigate."

"Since the sage published Wang Daiji's memorandum, he promised that Wang Daiji would act as his agent in this matter, so why not ask this person to investigate." After hesitating for a while, Mr. Yu Changji chose to cater to his wishes.

Having been busy all day, the exhausted Sima Changying paused slightly, intending to argue, but swallowed the words back, and could only remain silent.

Seeing this, Yu Changji smiled slightly, and said calmly again: "But it's true, this Wang Daiji is sending us memorials on the right path, and at the same time sneaking up to the imperial court. His intentions are sinister, so he has to be punished... that's good, we will stay overnight Send a letter to Duan Gong in Daxing, and also send a serious article, allowing this military member, Wailang, to find someone from Yousi to go to Daxing to investigate the case, so that no one can speak, but he can calmly dispatch Duan Gong to deal with this person, and isolate him by the way. Risk...how does Sima Gong feel?"

Sima Changying thought for a while, then nodded immediately.

The matter was thrown away.

An interesting change took place in the situation. Half an hour later, Wang Daiji looked pale and hurried to look for Zhang Xing, and then he saw the Deputy Chief Inspector who was sitting opposite Li Ding across the bonfire at a glance.

But Li Ding saw this colleague from the Ministry of War coming from a distance under the moonlight, and stood up silently under Zhang Xing's gaze, and hid behind.

"Zhang Sanlang." Wang Daiji was desperate and hurriedly relayed the matter as soon as he arrived, and then couldn't hide his panic. "Things are completely different from what we thought. The saint really wanted to touch Mu Guogong, and although the Nan Ya didn't favor Mu Guogong, but because of my private delivery of documents, he favored our Shangshu and wanted to punish me for no reason. Our Duan Shangshu got those two people, and if we come to concoct me, the situation will be completely broken, and now I am confused, what do you think should I do?!"

"It's nothing to mess with." Zhang Sanlang, the instigator, naturally relaxed. "No strategy can avoid accidents. What's more, this strategy has to go through many masters. It is common for such an accident to happen... At this time, it will be a step in the door. If we are mentally or unintentionally, there must be a way to go... Now Calm down, drink a bowl of sour plum soup, listen carefully to my question, and answer it yourself, okay?"

As he said that, Zhang Xing actually brought the other party a bowl of chilled sour plum soup.

Wang Daiji was stunned for a moment, nodded heavily, then sat down, took the soup and drank it down. After shivering on the spot, he threw the bowl on the ground and let out a long breath: "Speak!"

"Have you brought the paperwork that Nan Ya gave you?" Zhang Xing asked with no expression on his face.

"Bring it."

"Have you brought any money?"

"No."

"Can enough good horses be found immediately?"

"can."

"Do you know the way to Daxing?"

"Just follow the main road all the way west."

"That's good." Zhang Xing answered calmly. "Now let's divide into two groups. You give me the documents authorized by the Nanya, and I have a few taels of gold here. Immediately go and bribe some Jinwuwei officers for you to recruit; then you go back to get the silver and the horse... ...After getting together, set off for Daxing immediately...First try to catch up with the envoy sent by the Nanya to Duan Gong, bribe him with a lot of money, or threaten him to ask him to be late; In Daxing City, lead the Jinwu Guards overnight to find Duke Mu to get them."

Wang Daiji immediately calmed down by seven points, then nodded heavily, and stood up.

But as soon as he got up, he sat down again, then stretched out his hand to grab the opponent's hand, and said sincerely: "Zhang Sanlang... I know this is a bit too much, but can you please come with me personally? I don't want Threatening you with your idea, but saying that you have seen me just now, if we sit together and plan, neither of us is bad, but when it comes to such a critical moment, I always make mistakes, but you always Can come up with the most appropriate idea... Daxing and his party don't know what will happen, and I need you to analyze and embolden me!"

"Yes." Zhang Xing thought for a moment, and immediately agreed. "But I'm the only one, and the rest of Fulongwei can't move."

Wang Daiji took the opponent's hand, shook it heavily on the spot, left the Nanya official documents, and then got up and left.

As soon as this person left, Zhang Xing got up immediately, took money from the account, and prepared to find someone.But when he dug out a few pieces of gold from under the pillow, put the compass and the gold awl in his waist, and was about to leave, Li Ding, who was standing in the tent with his hands tied and watching with cold eyes, moved towards the tent. stop.

"What?" Zhang Xing asked coldly. "Is Li Silang going to stop me?"

"I'll go to Daxing with you." Li Ding responded calmly with his arms tied. "First, let me be a witness to see how you are going to do this. Second, if things go wrong, I can still be a middleman and lead Wang Daiji to ask Duan Gong to plead guilty, lest he fail so badly that he can't turn around. , and then pull you out."

Zhang Xing took a serious look at the other party, nodded heavily, and then couldn't help laughing on the spot: "If Zhang San and Li Si join forces, where in the world can't we go?"

PS: Good night everyone.

(End of this chapter)