Jiuxi

Chapter 433 Chapter 431 [So many things through the ages]

Yesterday, the capital was under martial law, and no one was allowed to leave the residences of powerful people without permission. As for the homes of the rebellious masterminds such as Wang Yan, Guo Congyi, and Ning Yuanfu, they were already surrounded by brave soldiers, waiting for the next order.

Lu Chen and Lin Xi had a simple breakfast and then rushed to Cuijingfang with Li Bingxue.

His personal soldiers and the two thousand cavalry are still in Luzhou. The secret guards of the Lu family led by Tan Zheng are temporarily unable to show their faces, so Lin Xi thoughtfully brought dozens of masters from the Seven Star Gang to act as bodyguards.

After a day and night of cleaning up, the traces left by the rebellion on the streets gradually disappeared. Although the blood on the square outside the palace had not been washed away, all the corpses had been dragged to the outskirts of the city and buried.

However, there is still a strong chilling atmosphere in the air.

Apart from officials and soldiers, there were basically no idlers in the streets and alleys.

Inside Cuijingfang, there was an extremely strong atmosphere of sadness and fear.

When Lu Chen and his party approached Guo's mansion, they could hear the sad cries inside gradually and continuously.

Arriving in front of the gate, Lu Chen reined in the reins and raised his head slightly to look at the towering gate tower.

Strange to say, the legitimate daughter of the Wang family was well-educated, courteous, and smart. Song Pei also said that she had a gentle temperament and was easy to get along with, but Lin Xi couldn't get close to her. On the contrary, Li Bingxue, who was not so harmonious when they first met and had a fight with her, unknowingly developed a relationship between the two of them like sisters.

She felt a little sorry for Li Bingxue.

The plaque has been taken off, and this magnificent mansion, which once housed the first person in the Da Qi military, is destined to perish.

There was no one else around at the moment, and she didn't want to deliberately hide it, so she said truthfully: "Guo Congyi and others deserve to die, and their relatives must also die according to the court's laws, otherwise they will not be able to scare Xiaoxiao. Of course I understand this. In other words, from Guo Congyi and others From the moment you take the step of treason, everyone in this mansion is destined to die. But I don't understand why your Majesty must let you do this? There are so many important ministers in the court who can take charge of this matter. "

Lu Chen naturally understood why Li Bingxue would consider this. He looked into Li Bingxue's eyes and said gently: "Many times, there is no way to have the best of both worlds. I want the trust of the emperor and have a good reputation in the public. If you refuse to give up, you will definitely lose everything. If you do anything else, I would advise your majesty to only kill the culprit, but in this case, you know that your majesty will never agree. "

On the other side, Lin Xi suddenly blinked.

In the short fourteen years after Li Duandu proclaimed himself emperor, the Guo family in De'an successively produced a general, five commanders, and more than ten captains. Guo Congyi relied on the support of the clan's power step by step to become the emperor. The high position of Privy Councilor.

Although she rarely comes to the capital, after all, she was brought up by Li Tianrun since she was a child, and her perspective on problems is different from Lin Xi's.

Li Bingxue shook his head.

Lin Xi thought silently in her heart, thinking about him, but having to stand at a polite distance with a smile all the time, she would feel very uncomfortable.

After the rebellion was extinguished, the strength of the Beijing army was severely damaged. It was originally unable to compare with the frontier army, and now it will be far behind. In the future, Daqi is likely to have a situation where the external force is strong but the internal force is weak.

This matter is actually not complicated at all.

Lu Chen was slightly startled. He did not expect Li Bingxue to have this consideration.

Now Guo Congyi, his son Qianniu Army Commander Guo Anmin, and twelve Guo family members serving in various military ministries have all been imprisoned in the prison of the Sutra Weaving Department. There are still hundreds of Guo family members staying in this mansion. .

Years of fighting with the enemy on the border for many years had already tempered her heart to a stone, so naturally she would not and could not feel compassion at such a time.

Lin Xi suddenly sighed secretly.

To be fair, Lu Chen didn't have much objection to this, but rather admired the king who had just experienced the pain of losing his son.

This silly girl...

The emperor obviously noticed this sign, so he couldn't let Lu Chen stay out of the matter, at least to isolate him from the Jiangnan forces.

Lu Chen withdrew his gaze, looked at Li Bingxue beside him and asked, "Can't bear it?"

Li Bingxue continued: "You led troops to quell the rebellion before. This was your duty as the head coach of the Beijing camp. The same is true for Liu Shouguang and Zhang Xu. No one can find fault. But now you continue to mess with your hands. How can we wash away the blood and the lives of thousands of women and children from prominent Jiangnan families in the future?”

Li Bingxue nodded slightly.

This was not an ordinary court battle, but an open-fire rebellion. The rebels once invaded the palace, and the eldest prince died in the battle.

At this time, not to mention Lu Chen, even Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun could not stop the emperor from going on a killing spree.

Lu Chen couldn't refuse this job, otherwise the emperor would most likely become suspicious.

So she sighed softly: "I know."

When turning around, Lu Chenhu said softly: "Of course, the reason why many times you can't have the best of both worlds and have to be forced to choose is because you are not strong enough. But I feel that as long as you continue to work hard, there will always be a way to no longer be embarrassed. That day."

The tone was so soft that only the two women next to him could hear it.

Lin Xi pondered this sentence carefully and gradually got a taste of it.

It seems that the junior brother is not only talking about the current errand, but also seems to be alluding to the future between him and Sister Bingxue?
Li Bingxue's reaction was faster, and there was a somewhat moving light in the depths of his eyes.

The three of them came to the front courtyard of Guo's house, where hundreds of Guo clan members were being imprisoned and waiting to be exonerated. The Feiyu camp soldiers standing next to them had serious expressions, because most of the people in the room were old, weak, women and children, and the backbone of the Guo family had all been arrested. Imprisoned in the prison of the Sutra Weaving Department. Seeing Lu Chen come in, an elder of the clan trembled and cried: "Master Lu, Guo Congyi is guilty, but the Guo family is innocent! We have no idea what he did. These women and children are all innocent. Please The Marquis begs for mercy from Your Majesty!"

Before he finished speaking, crying suddenly started.

Under the leadership of the clan elder, hundreds of people knelt on the ground towards Lu Chen and begged.

Lu Chen looked around at everyone but did not stop him. He did not speak until the crying subsided a little, and then he said: "You must all know what the crime of rebellion is, and I don't need to elaborate on it. In the past many years, you have enjoyed As a member of the Privy Envoy's family, he committed such an unforgivable crime today, and I can't save you. It's my fault that Guo Congyi didn't consider you before he acted."

The Guo family looked at him sadly.

Lu Chen raised his hand and said: "Take it away. Leave two hundred people to seize Guo's house, search all the property, and transport it to the Nanya Government Office. Someone will take it there and count it."

A captain from Feiyu Camp responded loudly.

Lu Chen turned to look at Lin Xi and Li Bingxue, and said calmly: "Let's go to the next one."

The cry sounded again behind him, and Lu Chen walked out without any hesitation.

……

Time passed by in a hurry, and eight days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lu Chen was almost too busy these days and could only sleep for an hour or two every night, because there were so many officials and powerful officials involved in this rebellion, and most of the criminal officials had a clan behind them, and they had many kinship ties.

If we really follow the principles of killing the nine tribes and kill them all, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of people will die in the capital by then.

For example, a grandson of the left prime minister Li Daoyan married the granddaughter of Ning Yuanfu, and a niece of Xue Nanting married the concubine of Le Qinyi. These two prime ministers are not exempt from vulgarity, let alone others?

Lu Chen could only go to the palace several times to ask for instructions from the emperor, and finally drew a range. Except for the mastermind, accomplices, and the civilian and military generals who directly participated in the rebellion that night, the rest would not involve any relatives.

Even so, the major prisons in the capital were overcrowded, and Lu Chen had to find an open space in Xicheng to serve as a temporary prison.

As the ten-day period approaches, the atmosphere in the capital becomes tense again.

"This time it's really crowded."

In a manor in the north city, Ding Hui, Minister of the Ministry of War, held a tea cup and sighed with lingering fear.

The middle-aged man sitting opposite him was naturally Li Shizhi, the left minister of the Ministry of Punishment.

Since the case of the third prince seducing Li Yunyi to assassinate Lu Chen broke out, Li Shizhi was deprived of all authority by Li Daoyan and has been staying in the palace honestly.

Now that the clouds are clearing and the moon is shining brightly, the situation in Beijing is gradually stabilizing, and it is impossible for Li Daoyan to lock his eldest son in the house forever.

It's not that the old prime minister thinks about it or not, but it's hard for him to do it now. Li Shizhi's being so respectful has something to do with his own decision.

Hearing Ding Hui's sigh, Li Shizhi smiled lightly.

Ding Hui said without hesitation: "Fortunately, Brother Shi sent someone to remind him that Wang Yan only let out a little bit of information that day, so I pretended to be crazy and fooled him. Otherwise, I would be dragged into the water by them, and I would definitely be locked up in the prison of the Sutra Weaving Department at this moment. "

Li Shizhi said leisurely: "Why should you be humble? Even if I don't send someone to remind you, you still know what to do. After all, I entrust that line to your hands. Since he is firmly on His Majesty's side, you also I definitely understand why.”

Ding Hui smiled, nodded and said: "That's true. In fact, when Brother Shi asked me to contact him, I thought Brother Shi would be like Wang Yan and others, just doing nothing but doing nothing. I didn't expect Brother Shi wanted him to Be loyal to His Majesty."

"Because no one can defeat the current His Majesty."

Li Shizhi sighed softly, his eyebrows slightly tired: "Your Majesty only needs to mobilize more than ten thousand border troops in advance, and the people in the Beijing army will be as vulnerable as chickens and dogs. Not to mention that there are many loyal people in the Beijing army. I The purpose of instigating them secretly before was just to see His Majesty's bottom line, and to let His Majesty fight with them. Now that the imperial army is full of waste, mediocre people like Guo Congyi and Wang Yan will finally give up their positions. With the redistribution of market power, many people have the opportunity to move up.”

Ding Hui's heart moved and he said eagerly: "In Brother Shi's opinion, what should we do next?"

Li Shizhi picked up the tea cup and took a sip. After a moment of silence, he said, "Do nothing."

Ding Hui is slightly puzzled.

Li Shizhi said calmly: "Have you not woken up from the fate of Wang Yan and others? Your Majesty is now a twilight tiger. Although he is old, he can still easily kill anyone who wants to tease the tiger's beard. People, and in order to stabilize the throne of the successor, he will even throw out some bait, waiting for people with evil intentions to jump in. Therefore, we just need to wait with peace of mind, and we will do whatever His Majesty says, and put away the past dozen or so. With the mentality of the year, be a loyal, pure and capable minister."

Ding Hui's eager heart calmed down. He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice: "Brother, that time you said that His Majesty could only..."

Li Shizhi said calmly: "I have a reliable informant in the palace. Your Majesty's health has not been very good. It has been getting worse in the past six months, so I conclude that your Majesty will not be able to hold on for too long. But you have to remember that this Although it won't be long, it will be very difficult, because His Majesty will eliminate all dangers that he thinks may threaten the imperial power, so you have to clamp your tail and behave honestly. Fortunately, Wang Yan and others will help us withstand this thunder. As long as we don't act stupidly, nothing will happen."

Ding Hui felt reassured and nodded: "I understand."

Li Shizhi gently put down the tea cup and said with a smile: "Don't be impatient. Your Majesty, a hundred years from now will be the time when we really start to make plans."

(End of this chapter)