Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 798 The thief shouts to catch the thief
"Sit down, sit down and talk!" Wang Wenzuo pointed to the brocade mat opposite him with familiarity: "There is no need to be polite between you and me. What's the matter?"

"Thank you, General!" Lu Zhaolin sat down carefully and said in a deep voice: "General Dating Huai'en has received an urgent letter. The letter said that he has pacified the Khitan tribes, killed the rebellious ones, and conquered those who refused to surrender. The Xi people and other tribes have beheaded more than 2,300 people in total, captured 20,000 troops alive, more than 100,000 horses, and countless miscellaneous animals. I would like to ask the general to make it clear what to do next."

"Yes, yes!" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "Dating Huai'en did not disappoint me. It's so good. You wrote back and asked him to temporarily order the Khitan and Xi people to move south for the winter to appease the people until I send my envoys. Go and comfort me!”

"Yes, I will write a letter immediately!" Lu Zhaolin stood up quickly.

"Don't rush this matter!" Wang Wenzuo waved his hand and motioned Lu Zhaolin to sit down. He picked up a few pieces of paper from several cases and handed them over: "You have to take a look at this first!"

Lu Zhaolin took the letter carefully. After reading a few lines, his expression changed drastically. He raised his head and wanted to speak, but he heard Wang Wenzuo say: "Read it first before speaking!" He had no choice but to finish reading the letter.

"This is a memorial copied by my people in Chang'an. It was written by Liu Peiji, the Minister of Household Affairs, to impeach me for recommending the governor of the fifteen states of Hebei Province. It is said that there is already a storm in Chang'an, and this Minister Liu is also very famous! "Wang Wenzuo's voice was not loud, and there was no hint of happiness or anger, but Lu Zhaolin's back seemed to be struck by an invisible hammer, bending more and more every time.

"Mr. Lu, you are one of the most famous writers in the world. What do you think of Liu Peiji's article?"

"Subordinate, I deserve to die!" Lu Zhaolin suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Mr. Lu, why is this? You have nothing wrong with this matter!" Wang Wenzuo stretched out his hand to help Lu Zhaolin up: "Ordinarily, this article is only written in general, but everything is targeted and stated. For example, this forced The widowed sister-in-law remarried in order to embezzle her brother's family property; when the mother died, she took a concubine and drank too much. In order to avoid others' accusations, she sent the concubine's child to Buqu's family to be raised as an adult's child; and this He did not show respect to the clan and appropriated the clan property as his own; and in the years of great famine, he took the daughter of his beloved as his concubine..."

Lu Zhaolin's face darkened with every scandal that came out of Wang Wenzuo's mouth. He didn't know how Liu Peiji, who was far away in Chang'an, could clearly understand the subtle scandals of these Hebei nobles who were thousands of miles away. It was also written on the impeachment memorial. In fact, these things are not a big deal among the nobles, but it is one thing in private, and it is another thing to be brought up to the public for the world to know. Unless it can be proved that these are false accusations, the problem is that since people dare to write On paper, if it is sent to the emperor, as long as it is discovered, it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor. The possibility of it being a lie is extremely slim.

"I originally wanted to recommend these people to the imperial court as governors, which can be regarded as repaying the Hebei gentry for their original contributions, but now it seems that it was not considered properly!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "Although I have a lot of face, but things have gone wrong In this situation, even if it is for the sake of the court's dignity, these fifteen people can only do it."

"That's natural, that's natural!" Lu Zhaolin said with a wry smile: "When things have reached this point, it is naturally impossible to continue. My subordinates will tell everyone the whole story. Please don't worry, General!"

"Well, that's good!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "There's one more thing! I promised to recommend the children of the gentry in Hebei. I once said that they must be pure, talented, and virtuous people. How come the ones recommended by each family have turned out to be this kind of thing? ?Also, Liu Peiji is far away in Chang'an. How does he know so much about the situations of these people I recommended? I have sent people to investigate closely around me, and you must also investigate closely. This matter has embarrassed me in Chang'an. Face must not be let go so easily!"

"Yes, yes! My subordinates understand and will definitely tell everyone!" Lu Zhaolin was already covered in cold sweat when he heard this. Although Wang Wenzuo always showed his gentleness to others, he had been following him for many years. Didn't he know that he had dangers in his heart?

"Of course, not all of these fifteen people are unscrupulous people. Cui Zheng from the Cui family in Qinghe, Li Ping from the Li family in Zhaojun, Wang Kuan from the Wang family in Zhongshan, and Lu Guangzhong from your Fanyang Lu family have not been punished. Then what flaw did Liu Peiji find? It seems that he is a truly talented and virtuous person, but he was implicated by these rats, so he was not awarded an official position this time. But since he is a talented and virtuous person, I will not leave talents to the wild. The provincial governor of Hebei Province will have to wait for another opportunity, but I can remove the governor of the Andong Protectorate immediately, as long as I report it to the court afterwards! What do you think?"

"This -" Lu Zhaolin was immediately asked. As Wang Wenzuo said, the Duhufu in the border areas at that time also had administrative systems such as Duhufu, Dudufu, prefecture, and Dao. For example, the Andong Duhufu was under the jurisdiction of the Duhufu. The Songmo Governor's Mansion has jurisdiction over nine prefectures: Beshuaidaji is Qiaoluo Prefecture, Hebian is Danhan Prefecture, Duhuo is Wufeng Prefecture, Fenwen is Yuling Prefecture, and Tubian is Rilian Prefecture. , the Ruixi tribe is Tuhe Prefecture, the Chuijin tribe is Wandan Prefecture, the Fu tribe is Pili and Chishan prefectures, and the chiefs of each tribe are the governors of the prefectures. Obviously, this kind of state governor is completely different from the state governor of Hebei Province. The state governor of Hebei Province is the leader of a party with a generous salary and a lot of money. It is difficult for these state governors of the Andong Protectorate to die in office.

"Don't worry about Shengzhi!" Wang Wenzuo saw what Lu Zhaolin was thinking: "Of course I won't throw these people into those ungrateful places as governors. You should know that even if it is the Anton Governor's Mansion, the following There are some nice places too!”

When Lu Zhaolin heard this, his mind moved. Of course he knew that although most of the land under the jurisdiction of the Andong Protectorate was barren land, there were also some fertile and densely populated places. Otherwise, Goguryeo would not have been able to establish a country for nearly 800 years. The land in Shangzhou is fertile and vast, and the products are rich. If you can become the governor of Shangzhou in that kind of place, although it is not as good as Hebei Province, it is still pretty good.

"Then I will thank the general for them!"

"Thank you, thank you. This is the right thing to do!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "If I hadn't been attentive enough, they wouldn't have been implicated. This can be regarded as a little compensation from me!"

"Thank you, General!" Lu Zhaolin thanked Wang Wenzuo and said goodbye. He quickly got on his horse and headed for Fan Yang. By the time he returned to Fan Yang, it was already dark and the city gate was closed. He didn't care so much and shouted loudly from outside the city: "I am Lu Zhaolin, a member of the army in the general's office. Please open the door quickly and let me in!"

When the guards at the top of the city heard Lu Zhaolin's shouts, they did not dare to neglect and hurriedly called the captain on duty. The captain asked his subordinates to hold up torches and look at the person coming from the city. After confirming that it was Lu Zhaolin himself, he hurriedly shouted: "Lu Canjun, please wait a moment. The city gate is not allowed to be opened after dark, but I can have people hang baskets from the top of the city." Come, you can ride up to the city in a basket!"

"Okay, hurry up, I have something urgent!" Lu Zhaolin was worried. He saw a basket hanging from the top of the city, jumped off his horse, ran to the basket and climbed in. When he arrived at the city in a basket, he immediately said to the captain: "I have something important to do. Bring the horse quickly!"

"Follow your orders! Hurry, bring my horse!" Knowing that Lu Zhaolin was a popular person around Wang Wenzuo, the captain who guarded the gate hurriedly asked his men to bring the horse. He also wanted to compliment him, but Lu Zhaolin had already jumped on the horse and slapped the horse's buttocks twice. Then he left the dust.

"Tsk tsk!" The captain guarding the gate looked at Lu Zhaolin's back disappearing into the night, and shook his head enviously: "Did you see that his surname is Lu, and he is also the general's confidant? It is really enviable!" Lu Zhaolin walked all the way. He rushed to the door of Lu Mansion, jumped off his horse, and started banging on the door with the knocker: "Open the door, open the door quickly, it's important!"

"Who is it! In the middle of the night! If you are drunk and knocking randomly, be careful!" After a while, a small window opened on the door, and firelight came from inside. Lu Zhaolin shouted: "It's me, open the door quickly, I want to Meet uncle!"

"It's the gentleman who joined the army! Come, come quickly, bring the key and help me open the corner door!" The gatekeeper recognized Lu Zhaolin, and he immediately woke up, and soon the corner door on one side opened. Lu Zhaolin rushed in and said, "Go and get the horse outside, feed it well, send it to the east gate tomorrow morning, and return it to the captain on duty tonight."

"Yes!" The gatekeeper just bowed and responded. When he raised his head, he found that Lu Zhaolin had disappeared. He shrank his neck and said, "It's strange. Mr. Lang, who joined the army, is not usually like this. What's going on? Come on, Amitabha, Amitabha! Don’t make any mistakes!"

Lu Zhaolin ran all the way to Lu Renji's residence. He was very familiar with this place. He rushed straight to the front of the courtyard, knocked hard on the door, and shouted loudly: "Uncle, uncle, I am Shengzhi! There are hundreds of thousands of urgent people. It’s urgent, open the door quickly!”

A few minutes later, Lu Renji was wearing a fox fur jacket and sitting cross-legged on the couch. Next to him was Xu Xian's wife, who was at least forty years younger than him. She was looking at Lu Zhaolin with an unhappy face: "Sheng's nephew. My son, you are usually a steady person, so why are you acting so recklessly? Your uncle is already seventy-three years old, how can you be healthy at this age? If you are tossing around like this in the middle of the night, if you cause any trouble Come on, who do you want a woman like me to look to and rely on for the rest of my life?"

Seeing that the woman was about to cry, Lu Zhaolin was extremely embarrassed, so he had to bow down and apologize to his aunt, who was several years younger than him. Before he could speak, he heard Lu Renji say: "Okay, you also know that you If you are a woman, don't worry about men's affairs. Shengzhi is a person who understands the importance of things. He must have something important to come to me so late."

When Lu Zhenji said this, the woman immediately lowered her voice and muttered in a low voice: "If it's so important, is there still one night missing? It's really——"

"Okay, you go out and prepare some refreshments first! Shengzhi came here overnight, he must be thirsty and hungry!" When Lu Renji said this, he paused for a moment: "I'm a little hungry too!"

Hearing what her husband said, the woman had to get up and go out. Before Lu Zhaolin could speak, Lu Renji said: "Shengzhi, please leave her alone. I know the importance. Why are you here so late?"

"That's what happened!" Lu Zhaolin coughed and recounted what had just happened at Wang Wenzuo's place. His memory was very good, but he had only read it briefly and actually memorized Liu Peiji's memorial, and then showed it to Lu Renji. Lu Zhenji recited it again in front of him, only to hear Lu Zhenji frown and his face become darker and darker.

"Is this the original text of Liu Peiji's memorial?" Lu Renji asked.

"Not bad!" Lu Zhaolin said: "My nephew has only read it once and can only remember a rough outline, but it is not much different from the original text!"

"Since you said that, there must be not much difference!" Lu Renji nodded: "Transcribe it first and let me think about it first!"

"Yes!" Lu Zhaolin responded, took a pen and paper and started copying quickly. At this time, Mrs. Lu came in from the outside. There were several plates of snacks and a large pot of tea on the tray in her hand. She looked at Lu Zhaolin who was dictating in surprise. , wanted to see what was written, but heard Luzhenji say: "These things are harmful to you, and get out!" The woman did not dare to argue with her husband, so she had to go out.

Soon, Lu Zhaolin finished writing silently. He picked up the paper, blew on it hard, and folded it and put it on the couch after the ink was dry. Lu Renji put it in his sleeve and asked: "Shengzhi, who do you think is behind this matter?"

"You don't know yet?" Lu Zhaolin shook his head: "But the general has ordered strict inspections. The person who leaked the news to Liu Peiji must be caught and dealt with severely!"

"Yes!" Lu Renji nodded: "In that case, the general is responsible for the whole thing!"

"The General himself?" Lu Zhaolin's eyes widened: "How is this possible? Why did he do this? Why do you think it was him?"

"Nothing is impossible!" Lu Renji said: "The general was originally reluctant to recommend so many of our people as governors of the Hebei states. It was just because we had done our best for him before that we couldn't refuse him face to face. And this way , he can justifiably refuse, and put the responsibility on ourselves, after all, it is the recommender’s own problem!”

"But, is this all your speculation? There is no direct evidence!" Lu Zhaolin asked: "And as a result, the general's reputation in Chang'an will also be greatly lost. Isn't this worth it?"

"How can there be direct evidence for such a thing?" Lu Renji laughed, as if looking at an ignorant child: "If he can even leave evidence for this matter, then he is not General Wang. As for why I am so I think it’s very simple, it’s because he was too active in catching the people behind the scenes, a bit like a thief shouting to catch a thief!”

(End of this chapter)