Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 246 Release

Dongchengfang, Cui Zhai.

Because the Cui family house was the largest, after a night of turmoil, Gongsun Gongsun and her disciples, and Du Youlin and his family members all moved into the Cui house.

This also became a huge reward for Cui Jun's bet this night.

If it is said that Gao Chong, Guo Wanjin, Li Saner and others are guilty, others will inevitably be suspected. So, when the palace envoys and deputy envoys came to Yanshi to stay at Cui Jun's house, it was obvious that Cui Jun was the least suspicious. Then it was clear who was the most reliable and famous gentry in Yanshi County.

Du Youlin promised that it would be easy to recommend Cui Han's two sons as officials. It was always easy to put the icing on the cake, and it was always easy for the sons of gentry to become officials.

At noon, the men were in the hall and the women gathered in the flower hall, chatting happily.

"There's just one thing." Cui Jun hesitated and said, "But I don't know about Zhang Sanniang?"

Du Youlin waved his hand, showed his official authority, and said calmly: "You don't have to worry about the matter between Xue Lang and Zhang Sanniang."

In fact, no one told him how to answer this question. This was the answer he came up with in a flash. It implicitly indicates that there is something going on between Xue Bai and Zhang Sanniang, but it makes people afraid to ask. Anyway, with Xue Bai's reputation, others can definitely believe him.

At that time, others will naturally guess that Zhang Sanniang came to find her lover, but they dare not admit it... Anyway, they can guess whatever they want.

Sure enough, Cui Jun showed a knowing smile and asked no more questions.

Not long after, Du Jin heard Mrs. Cui's wife coming back from the lobby and whispering.

"I heard that Lieutenant Xue Xian was engaged. Does Zhang Sanniang have an affair with him? It's true of the Chang'an atmosphere..."

Du Jin was not very happy immediately, and did not look good on Du Youlin, so he directly pulled Du Wei back to the house.

The two sisters freshened up and asked the maid to explore the front yard, wondering why Xue Bai still didn't come over.

Finally, Qu Shui came back and reported in a low voice.

"Xue Lang went to visit Pen'er."

Du Wei actually knew the meaning of this sentence. She didn't understand why Xue Bai was hiding Gao Chong. In short, she thought that he acted with reason.

After not sleeping all night, she was already sleepy. She originally wanted to say a few words to Xue Bai before going to sleep, but now she let him do what he should do. She turned around and prepared to go to sleep.

Du Jin was different, he was extremely curious, his eyes were bright, and he didn't feel sleepy at all.

"Sister, why do you think he met a rebel first and didn't bother to meet us first?"

"That's business."

"I find it strange."

Du Jin first felt that it was wrong for Xue Bai to secretly capture Gao Chong alive. He could hand him over to expose the crime or kill him to make a fuss. A motivated man likes credit the most, so how can he get rid of the norm this time?

"Sister, tell me, what's the point of interrogating a rebel?"

"This is a trial only for rebels." Du Wei murmured and fell asleep quickly.

Du Jin became more and more sober as he thought about it. Finally he stood up, changed into ordinary robes, and went out with two of his confidants.

She first noticed that no one in the city was watching, and then she went to "Pen'er"'s house.

Walking through the alley, I saw a few guys standing guard in front of the small shabby house.

Ren Mulan was half-crouching and striding forward, looking very diligent. When she saw Du Jin coming, she staggered to her feet and asked, "Second mother, why are you here?"

"Is he still in there?"

"County Lieutenant? Inside."

Du Jin walked quickly into the house. The waiters were all outside, and there was no one in the house. Only light came from the cellar. The stone slabs above were not compacted and were locked from the inside. They could neither be lifted up nor covered from the outside.

No voices were heard inside, and only when Gao Chong screamed violently, there would be a buzzing echo from below, giving off a sense of mystery.

Then she picked up a piece of broken tile and threw it inside.

Soon, Xue Bai heard the noise, came out of the cellar, opened the big lock and walked up.

"Ok?"

"Why did the trial take so long?"

“There are so many things to ask.”

Xue Bai didn't feel sleepy at all. As he spoke, he walked to the outer room and asked someone, "Do you have any medicine for the wound? Treat the prisoner's wound."

"County Lieutenant, I know how to treat injuries." Ren Mulan said, "As long as you give me money, I will buy medicine or collect herbs."

Du Jin was really good at doing these little things, so he ordered someone to arrange for a confidant who knew how to heal wounds.

She wanted to go to the cellar to have a look, but was stopped by Xue Bai.

"Don't look at it. It's my first time using torture. My skills are unfamiliar and it's so horrific that I'll scare you."

"I haven't said anything yet. What are you interrogating?"

The two of them walked out of the shabby house holding hands together. It was bright outside. Xue Bai was not used to the light and squinted his eyes. Du Jin then stood on tiptoes and raised her hands to block the sun for him.

"There is a pawnshop in the west of the city. It is Gao Chong's property and the contact point for his exchange of information with Fan Yang. His letters, deeds, and talismans are hidden in the secret room in the backyard." Xue Bai whispered: "By the way, let's go Always bring enough manpower and weapons, so as not to alert others."

Du Jin asked: "Should we take it as evidence, or should we swallow it?"

"What good is evidence?"

Du Jin laughed when he heard this and said, "Then you can cover up the news as a county lieutenant."

"Don't worry, Lu Linghao has sealed the city gate to capture the thieves." Xue Bai said, "They say they are capturing the thieves, but in fact they are trying to suppress the situation so that he can manage things from top to bottom and make the big problems smaller."

"As an official, what you seek is stability."

"Yes."

Du Jin asked again: "Is there any more?"

"There is a horse and carriage shop in Nan City. I took the officers to Fengpu to get people to prevent the specific news from spreading too quickly."

As he spoke, Xue Bai turned to look at her. Their eyes touched, as if they could create fire.

"When these little things are done, I'll talk to you slowly."

When Du Jin heard his tone, she knew that there was indeed a secret. She nodded and said, "You will have to tell me everything then."

~~

Kuixingfang, Xue Zhai.

In the evening, the first thing Xue Bai did after coming back was to drive out all the servants and maids sent by Lu Linghao.

Qinglan was very happy about this. She would rather do more work and live a quiet life with Xue Bai, not to mention that the maids were always spying on them.

Later, Du Jin came over and told her, "I have something very important to tell Abai. You must guard the yard and don't let anyone eavesdrop."

"Don't worry, Er Niang." Qinglan nodded vigorously.

As a maid from Du's house, she was particularly easy to be sent by Du Jin's envoys. Moreover, in the Du family before, Du Jin did not avoid her in some matters, but today she was so solemn, which was obviously a great event. The setting sun was shining like blood on the corridor. Du Jin pushed the door open and entered the wing. She turned around and bolted the door. She moved lightly and seemed a little nervous for no reason.

"I have taken down the pawn shop, and there are only a few ordinary nursing homes left." Du Jin said, "There are a lot of documents in the secret room, I will take my time to read them."

Xue Bai was drawing a map, but there was still no sleepiness on his face. His eyes were bright, and he went straight to the topic. He muttered: "Water transport smuggling has been around since the construction of the Grand Canal. The merchants we saw in Tongguan were registered as smugglers." The most common method is that An Lushan did not place personnel at every place on the trade routes. His smuggling caravans were registered in most places, except for a few traffic arteries."

Du Jin sat down next to him and looked at the map he drew. He saw that he had written the word "Lincheng" in the south and the word "Wuyang" below.

"The iron ore comes from Wuyang? This is what you found out."

"I deceived Gao Chong."

Hearing that there was an iron mine in Yancheng, Xue Bai guessed that it was in Wuyang Wugang.

Taking advantage of this, he deliberately exposed Gao Chong's two lies during his trial and determined the approximate scope of the iron mine. This was of no use for the time being, but it could shock Gao Chong and get more clues.

"The iron ore did come from Wuyang. It was transported by land to Yanshi, turned to water, crossed the Yellow River, and took the Yongji Canal to Zhuojun, that is, Fanyang. Only Yanshi, Weizhou, Weizhou, and Dezhou placed them along the way. People who use dots to connect lines.”

"Yanshi County is a land and water transportation place. Without this place, will they give up?"

"There are not many choices." Xue Bai said: "The iron mines are in the south. They can only be shipped by ship in Luoyang, Yanshi, and Xingyang and transported by water to cross the Yellow River and enter the Yongji Canal. Other than that, the only other option is to ship to the lower reaches of the Yellow River. If you go upstream, you still have to pass through Xingyang."

Du Jin said, "Will they bribe Xingyang officials?"

"It's not that fast. Even if someone comes to Fan Yang to report the news, it will take more than 20 days at the fastest." Xue Bai pondered: "The news comes back and forth, and it will take nearly two months at the fastest."

Du Jin had already sensed something and didn't say anything, looking straight at Xue Bai.

"What do you want after checking these?"

"Gao Chong has an empty smuggled ship on the bank of the Yiluo River. A batch of copper and iron will be delivered in a few days. Let's find out who is in their Iron Mountain and Tongshan before An Lushan can react. Business, where weapons and copper coins are minted." Xue Bai said: "Then, we will take over."

Tieshan and Tongshan are under the supervision of the Shaofu. They are not only governed by the government, but also allow private mining, and one of the ten taxes. But there are countless mountains of iron and copper in the world, and they all have supervision. It can make farm tools and copper utensils, but it cannot make weapons or copper coins. This is why many official families know that Gao Chong is smuggling, but do not think that he is going to rebel.

It's okay for others to deceive themselves, but Xue Bai and Du Jin knew very well that this was used to prepare for rebellion.

"What about after the takeover?"

Xue Bai did not avoid Du Jin's gaze. He met his gaze calmly and said, "We are here to rebel."

He had had this idea for a long time and thought about telling her. But if he had said it before, he would have said nothing except being a little "ridiculous".

Only at this time did this whimsical ambition gain some initial feasibility.

Du Jin didn't laugh at him, didn't even ask him if he was joking, he just believed him.

She had already had a premonition that Xue Bai had a restless heart. That afternoon, when they broke through the confinement, she felt his surging ambition.

The two of them had been planning to get rid of the crown prince, but they lacked an opportunity to talk about something bolder.

"Rebellion? You mean, who do you want to make emperor? Or?"

"I do."

After looking at each other for too long, Du Jin's eyes seemed to be on fire, which were ignited by Xue Bai's eyes.

She didn't say anything, but moved closer and closer, as if she was examining him. When she was almost kissing him, she whispered softly into his ear.

"Okay... Your Majesty."

There was only a muffled sound in the house, like the "pop" of firewood burning.

Even the curtains on the couch were burned and shaking.

Du Jin opened her robe and panted excitedly, a little crazy, like a she-wolf.

"You only told me...right?"

"Yes, never told you?"

Du Jin raised his head and said with a smile: "Anyone else would have thought you were crazy, you know? But I... I can be crazy with you."

"It will be dangerous, are you afraid?"

"I'm afraid? We have been in danger for a long time... My whole family has died once."

With that said, Du Jin lay on Xue Bai's shoulders, hugged his head, and asked, "You haven't slept all night, are you sleepy?"

"I'm so nervous that I can't sleep."

"Me too."

Xue Bai then got to the point.

"I have an idea. Did you know that after the three commoners case, Li Ying's legitimate son Li Qian was accidentally killed?"

"It seems...Li Wan's son? Prince Chenliu?"

"No, the son of the deposed prince also had this name. This matter was covered up, but many people who experienced the three commoners case know it. Li Qian is about the same age as me. After he was accidentally killed, I was confiscated as a slave. It just so happened that No one can find out what happened before I was adopted by Xue Xiu."

"You mean, impersonating him?"

"It's difficult. It's definitely impossible for a murdered prince to appear in the confiscated criminal's house."

"We make up a story and publish it in the newspaper when the time comes... something that cannot happen is said to be 'destiny' and God's blessing."

"It's not enough. No matter how good the story is, if you want people to believe it, you have to put a knife to their neck."

"Those iron stones can be used to make our knives?"

"Not only these, there is so much we have to learn..."

For Xue Bai, there are indeed too many things to harvest. He has to slowly digest the power and smuggling business left by Gao Chong for a long time. There are still a large number of water workers in Jinshang who can be bribed. Among the county soldiers There are massive vacancies.

In addition, after all this work is done, Lu Hun Villa in Shouyang Mountain is actually a good place to secretly accumulate strength.

When he was in Chang'an, Xue Bai was just a grass trying to survive in the cracks. The boulders on both sides almost pinched him to death, but they also protected him from the wind and rain, protecting him from the ravages of wild beasts and the violent wind, rain, and scorching sun.

When we arrived in Yanshi, grass could not survive and even small hares could eat it.

Xue Bai must grow into a tree.

So he tried his best to stand upright and grow vigorously, causing the hare to hit and die on his hard trunk.

In this way, Yanshi is a fertile wilderness that can support him.

"..."

The two people in the room let out a long sigh at the same time, like a sapling that had grown together and bloomed with branches.

It also seemed like the emotions that had been suppressed for too long were released in a big way.

(End of this chapter)