After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Magistrate Huang's heart suddenly trembled.

There is nothing wrong with what Duke Zhen Guo said, but after thinking about it carefully, the words "clan power" are full of profound meaning.

Not to mention "powerful people", "clan" is the key point, right? Royal blood, to be precise.

The Sun family now strongly supports Prince Ji's return to the throne and the establishment of a heir apparent, but the emperor prefers the eighth prince to succeed him. What if the Sun family can't defeat the emperor, and they act arrogantly and plot against the eighth prince? Even if the Eighth Prince successfully ascends the throne in the future, he is still young. Before he grows up to be in charge, gets married and has children, if any "accident" happens and there is no successor, Prince Ji, who has the closest bloodline, will still be the most powerful. Possible candidates for the new throne.

The cousins ​​and nephews of the Sun family, from Concubine Sun to Elder Sun Ge, have always had a bad reputation in this regard. Otherwise, how could Empress Wu and the third prince die? What happened to Mr. Wu Wen’s family? Who can guarantee that they will not do it to the Eighth Prince again? Even though the Eighth Prince is still young now, he will grow up one day. As a prince, how could he not learn to ride a horse? Even if you don't ride a horse, you can also ride a car. "Accidents" can happen at any time, right?

Magistrate Huang shuddered, and became increasingly determined. He must explain the seriousness of the matter to the emperor! The emperor really can no longer indulge the Sun family! Even if the emperor misses the concubine's affection for many years, he should restrain the rest of the Sun family and not let them act recklessly and threaten the entire country of Chu!

Magistrate Huang made up his mind, discussed with Duke Zhenguo what to do next, and left in a hurry.

General Saturday and the old military advisor of Zhenguo Duke's Mansion left with Magistrate Huang. They would watch as Magistrate Huang continued to interrogate Wang Laoliu to see if he could reveal more information.

The Duke of Zhen Guo also asked General Zhou to take the guards of Shaanxi Dusi to assist the government officials in arresting people. Du Boqin and the Sun family had placed spies and spies in Chang'an's various health offices, yamen, and various households in advance to arrest and bring them to justice to prevent them from getting wind of the incident, jumping over the wall in a hurry, and doing something irreversible.

Of course, during this process, General Thursday will also bring news to each general. The information that Wang Laoliu could know was limited, and no one knew whether Du Boqin had any hidden manpower that he had not let the dead men sent by the Sun family know. Even if the government officials and the town government take away the spies who have been confessed, each household still needs to be careful that there are secrets hidden in their own homes, which may be detrimental to the owner's family at any time.

In this way, the truth about the collusion between Du Boqin and the Sun family, as well as their grand plan, naturally became known to everyone in the families of the great generals in Chang'an. Both those who knew him well, those who were close friends with him, and those who had not had much dealings with him were all shocked. Some people couldn't believe this fact. They felt that they had a good relationship with him and wanted to come to question him, but they were stopped by General Zhou and his family members.

Everyone has a consensus that it is best not to alert others at the moment. Whether it was Du Boqin's crimes confessed by Wang Laoliu or the Sun family's conspiracy explained by Zhang Pinggui, Du Boqin should not be made aware of it. He himself is still in Chang'an and cannot escape. Sooner or later, the victims will come face to face to ask him for answers, so there is no need to rush. Let him live in panic for a few days, wandering around like a blind fly trying to find out. If he is innocent, this concealment will not hurt him; if he deserves it, this small punishment can only be regarded as an appetizer.

The generals of each family temporarily suppressed their tempers and focused on strictly investigating their own families. Although Wang Laoliu only gave out a few names, many people were implicated behind these names. Pulling out the carrots and bringing out the mud revealed a dense network of relationships.

I'm afraid that this network began to be formed as early as when the Sun family was interested in military power in the northwest and sent Sun Yonglu here to take credit. Now it has developed into a large network with hundreds of connected people. , not everyone among them knows that they are working for the Sun family, and some people may have mistaken their master, but for their own selfish interests, they don't care at all. Information about Chang'an City and the northwest region was continuously collected through this network from various generals and aristocratic families to the spies planted by the Sun family in Chang'an City, and then quickly spread by a horse team disguised as a merchant. It was in the hands of Sun Yongbai in Beijing.

Most of this information is trivial and of little use. At most, it can be used by the Sun family to win over, intimidate, and frame a certain general or his family, and use the other person for their own use. But once this network of relationships was formed, it would not be difficult for Du Boqin and the Sun family to use it to hurt someone or spread slanderous rumors to sow discord.

If the Zhou family hadn't captured Zhang Pinggui and Magistrate Huang had forced Wang Laoliu to speak, these people who had been bribed to install spies and leaked information without knowing it would have had to wait until one day to find out. There is a thunder in the house!

In the winter of the [-]nd year of Deguang's reign, throughout the twelfth lunar month, Chang'an City was filled with a noisy and restless atmosphere. The generals of each family, whether they are stationed abroad or returning to Chang'an on vacation to report on their duties, seem to be thoroughly investigating the servants and guards at home, and even the dependent relatives, nephews, and generals are not omitted. After investigation, it seemed that each family sent their confidants to escort some people to Zhuangzi in a remote area on the mountainside on the outskirts of the city, and imprisoned them.

The carriages drove out of the city one by one. Relatives, friends and neighbors of each family felt a little uneasy when they saw this movement. They came to ask what happened, but no one got the answer. Some people serve tea to guests simply and rudely, while others are more polite and polite, explaining that they just discovered a small problem at home during the annual accounts and are just taking care of the housework.

Others are handling housework, what can outsiders say? I can only say goodbye knowingly.

While eliminating their own spies, various generals and noble families also increased the number of visits between each other. Not only to exchange information and eradicate spies, but also to discuss countermeasures together.

In the past, they watched the Sun family scheme against the Zhou family. Some felt the same and were very angry. Some felt that the matter had nothing to do with them. Others despised the Zhou family for offending the emperor and the powerful, which caused the entire frontier army to be deprived of military expenses and food. . Although each capital guard station can form a caravan and be self-sufficient, not everyone is good at running it. If you can't make money, you can only rely on the government to allocate funds, but because the other party is very knowledgeable and can't do anything, some generals will inevitably feel resentful.

But now, everyone is angered by the Sun family's calculations. The past grievances and resentments are no longer important. Everyone is a member of the Northwest Frontier Army. Naturally, we must work together to fight against foreign enemies. If the Sun family is really brought to power and becomes everyone's immediate boss, will everyone still have a good life? The Zhou family has military exploits, but what does the Sun family have? A notorious traitorous minister? !

Naturally, what happened in Chang'an City could not be hidden from the person involved, Du Boqin. Although no one gave him a message, he noticed that the generals and officials who had been good friends with him in the past suddenly changed their attitude towards him. They were not only alienating him, but more hostile, looking at him with anger in their eyes.

After he discovered that the spies planted by the Sun family in Chang'an City were missing, he felt even more confident.

Something must have happened.

He thought of the several killers who had been arrested earlier, as well as the dead men of the Sun family who had been caught in his village, and felt that he could no longer sit back and wait for death. He immediately wrote a secret letter and sent his confidants to the capital, asking the Sun family to have the Ministry of War issue an order to get him to the capital as soon as possible.

But he had no idea that the personal soldiers he sent with his personal letter fell into the hands of the Zhou family before they left Chang'an City.

(End of this chapter)