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

Chapter 276 New Mission

When Hai Jiao talked about his great-uncle Zhou Shigong's current troubles, he couldn't help but sigh for him.

The third bedroom of the Zhou family is obviously in trouble. Even though their family was once the leader among the Zhou clan, it has already gone downhill.

After the old man passed away, the third house had no pillar of support. Zhou Shigong is not a very capable person. He is indecisive and easily deceived by his family. He can neither inherit his father's career in the military nor have the patience to be a civil servant. He is said to be a rare scholar in the family, but he has not achieved anything. It's just a matter of living a leisurely life with such a persona. It's difficult to even defend Chengdu.

Regardless of whether his brother Zhou Shicheng is from the same family as his mother and sister, he must be deficient in ability. Otherwise, he would not have reached middle age. He has even been on the battlefield and relied on the Zhou family to only reach the fourth rank. He has been unable to take another step forward in his position as the commander of the guards.

Instead of counting on saving this younger brother's future, Zhou Shigong might as well count on his own youngest son. At any rate, Zhou Jinlin did quite well as a central defender in Ningxia, much better than his eldest son Zhou Jinpu, who didn't even pass the examination at his age.

Hai Jiao couldn't say much in front of Zhou Shigong. Although he didn't mind speaking frankly to his great-uncle in private, there were still two young masters from Zhen Guogong's mansion present. He always wanted to leave something for the elder Zhou Shigong. face. But when he got home and faced his little sister Haitang, he didn't have so many worries.

He couldn't help but said: "Even if my great-uncle really wants to defend his brother, there is no need to hurry up now, right? He has not cleared himself of the suspicion yet! There are still many people in the Zhou family who suspect that he is not Innocent, he just pretended to be ignorant and let Mrs. Ma and Zhou Shuyi come forward to take the blame. Duke Zhen Guo trusted him because he didn't look like those smart and ambitious people. But there are a few people in the world like Zheng Guo Why do you know his true nature so well? He couldn't find any way to avoid it, but he rushed to worry about Mrs. Ma's son!"

Haitang heard it funny: "My great-uncle has such a temper, otherwise he wouldn't have been easily fooled by Mrs. Ma for so many years. Now that he can draw a clear line with his stepmother and sister, it is already a big improvement. Brother doesn't have to be too much. Too worried about him."

Hai Jiao sighed: "Who is worried about him?! I just don't want my aunt to be implicated by him! He is so caring about the son who was born to his stepmother who harmed him. He seems to be very affectionate and righteous. How come he doesn't treat him so well?" The same is true for my aunt and grandma? If only he had half the love for his wife as he does for his brother, my aunt and grandma wouldn't have been so depressed these years! My cousin's life would also be much easier!"

He was just complaining about Zhou Ma's family.

Haitang understood Hai Jiao's thoughts and gently patted the back of his hand to comfort him: "Brother, don't worry. Anyway, among the people who heard what he said at that time, there was no one except Jin Jiashu. Jin Jiashu would not interfere with the Zhou family's affairs. , just remind your uncle privately later. Regardless of whether Zhou Shicheng, Mrs. Ma and Zhou Shuyi are in the same group, he has been stationed at Minzhou Guard and has not participated in their activities. My uncle said before It was just his idea to recommend Prince Yingchuan to the Minzhou Guard. He had not informed Zhou Shuyi yet, so Zhou Shicheng would not be involved.

"Judging from my brother's experience in his previous life, Zhou Shuyi was retaliated against after something happened to Prince Yingchuan, but Zhou Shicheng should be safe and sound. When you arrived in Chang'an, there were no funerals in the third family of the Zhou family. At most, he was affected by his sister and his official career It's just that he was hindered. But after Zhenguo's government lost power, many members of the Zhou clan were hindered in their career in the military, and he was not the least one. He was so stable that there was no risk at all. Instead of worrying about him, my great-uncle It’s better to think more about yourself.”

Hai Jiao nodded: "Yes. His old man will inevitably get confused sometimes. No one in the third room of the Zhou family can remind him now, so we have to worry more. If he refuses to listen to what I say, I will go find grandpa. If so, He won't even listen to grandpa's words, so I'm going to find the old military advisor!" Speaking of the old military advisor, Hai Jiao added: "Today, the old military advisor also sent his children and grandchildren to visit Jin Jiashu very early in the morning. I heard that I visited him several times a year ago and took good care of him. When the old military advisor returned to his village to celebrate the New Year, he made a special detour to the other village and told the veterans there not to let others neglect Jin Jiashu. On the other side of the village The village head and the servants are now very attentive and concerned about Jin Jiashu. This is not the fault of my aunt, but the instructions of the old military advisor and the old Zhangtou."

The old military advisor was actually more concerned about the Jin family's case than Zhou Shigong. As soon as the progress of the case was informed, he sent a message to Jin Jiashu. Although Jin Jiashu himself would send people to inquire about relevant information, and his good friend Hai Jiao would bring him the latest information from time to time, the information from the old military advisor was the most authoritative and detailed. Jin Jiashu was very grateful for this.

In addition, the old military advisor is also very concerned about the case of the third room of the Zhou family.

Mrs. Ma had no concern at all that Zhang Pinggui was a criminal who had escaped under the joint efforts of the government and the Zhou family. She made up a false identity for him and sheltered him in her home. She did the whole process very skillfully, making people suspect that she had already Have rich experience. After Haijiao was reminded by his younger sister Haitang, he warned Zhou Shigong privately about this incident and suggested that he check more to see if Mrs. Ma had similar behavior in the past? What are the identities of those so-called acquaintances whom she protected and took in? Is there hidden foul play?

Zhou Shigong was interested in this matter, but he didn't know how to investigate, and he couldn't trust his people. In desperation, he had to ask the old military advisor for help. The old military advisor accepted this task, and soon found out that Mrs. Ma had received more than ten people in the past in the name of old friends, nephews or relatives and juniors, and arranged military positions for them.

Fortunately, most of the dozen or so people were from the frontier army, and a few were from wealthy households in the northwest frontier. They were all well-known and well-established, and none of them had suspicious identities. They followed Mrs. Ma's path and obtained military positions. They did neither good nor bad in their posts. The worst one was dismissed early because of his mistakes. The most successful one had already sneaked into the position of the commander of the guard. There are also some Died on the battlefield. In general, Mrs. Ma benefited herself by helping these people find military positions, but she did not cause too much trouble to the border troops.

However, Mrs. Ma's profit targets are not only in the army, but also some wealthy caravans who have also used her route to obtain customs clearance routes to the border or inland, or to supply certain materials to the army. Qualifications. Most of the people in this group are not locals from Chang'an, so it is not easy for the veteran military advisor to investigate clearly.

After leaving Jin Jiashu, Zhou Shigong took several juniors to Lao Laojun Zhuang to pay New Year greetings to the old military advisor. The latter told him the results of the investigation and asked him to find a way to continue the investigation. After all, Zhou Shigong is the head of the third room of the Zhou family, so he should be able to get the truth from Mrs. Ma’s confidants, right?

Zhou Shigong accepted this new task with a grimace. On the way back to the city, he avoided others and pulled Hai Jiao to ask for help.

Zhou Shigong had already interrogated Mrs. Ma's confidants several times, but could not find any useful information, so he simply tied them up and sent them to the Zhen Guo Duke's mansion, leaving them to worry about. Nowadays, Mrs. Ma has lost several of her confidants to him, and she is making trouble every day, making him unable to have any peace. If the fourteenth room next door had not been dissatisfied with Mrs. Ma, there would have been rumors in the clan that he treated his stepmother harshly.

Zhou Shigong felt a lot of pressure and didn't want to touch the remaining people around Mrs. Ma anymore. The old military advisor asked him to interrogate him again, but he was really unsure, so he had to ask Hai Jiao to help.

The rich caravans who often travel to the northwest...the Hai family should be very familiar with it, right? Maybe he can know the answer without interrogating Mrs. Ma's confidants?

(End of this chapter)