Song Yi

Chapter 453
Du Wenhao wondered, "Don't you ask me to spare your life?"

Li Chang smiled miserably: "I am so old, how many days can I expect to live? As long as you can bypass my family, I will tell you everything."

"Okay, I promise you, if you can truthfully confess and confess that other people have done meritorious service, I don't have to kill you."

A flash of surprise flashed in Li Chang's eyes. Although he was old, his desire for life was still very strong. He asked with a slightly trembling voice, "Is this true?"

"Of course! Don't forget, the Empress Dowager has authorized our National Security Bureau to independently try your case. That is to say, your life is in my hands. As long as you can tell the truth, report and expose others, and provide evidence Clues to other people's important crimes, especially clues to treason and collaboration with the enemy, I promise you will not die!"

Li Chang nodded slightly, and his breathing became a little short: "Okay, I will confess, I will report!"

"Okay, let me ask you first, is the man who was pulled out of your cellar just now from Xixia?"

"Well, he was sent by Xixia."

"What is he doing?"

"He is here to bribe, and wants me to help them replace the coach of the Western Xia expedition."

Du Wenhao's spirit lifted: "What do you mean?"

"I heard from him that this time our army of the Great Song Dynasty has adopted a strategy of step by step, using the dense battle camps to advance steadily, and using a bow and crossbow with a long range to attack. When they concentrated their forces to break through, they met our army to fight. They had no choice but to back off. They were very troubled by Da Song's tactics, and hoped to persuade the Empress Dowager to change the coach through me and others."

Du Wenhao was really elated, but his face remained calm: "Don't make up nonsense, I will check with him, you should know what the consequences will be if you talk nonsense."

Li Chang sighed: "The old man has already reached this point, is there any need to talk nonsense?"

"It's good to know. Let me ask you again, where did your gold and silver piled up like hills come from?"

"Most of them were sent by Xixia, and I was asked to help them. Some were bribed by other officials who were investigated and prosecuted."

Du Wenhao's heart trembled, and he said in a deep voice: "When did you hook up with Xixia? How much information did you send out?"

Li Chang remained silent.

Du Wenhao said coldly: "At this time, you can't look forward and backward, have illusions in your heart, you must confess truthfully!"

Li Chang's face was uncertain, and he finally raised his head slowly, and asked: "You just promised to spare the lives of me and my family, can you really do it?"

"The empress dowager has authorized me to directly kill officials below the third rank who have committed felonies of treason, and you know that, so I can decide your life or death, but it is still the same thing, you must report enough valuable people. Things come, this is the premise!"

"Okay! Let me say," Li Chang swallowed hard, "After the battle of Yongle City, our army triumphed all the way, and the Xixia army lost to our army's plague weapon. We were very flustered, so we met me through Cai Jing's relationship..."

"Cai Jing?" Du Wenhao asked urgently, "Cai Jing, Governor of Kaifeng Prefecture?"

"Yes. He has a relative who has been doing business in Xixia for many years. He has met many Xixia royal families. After the Xixia people got to know me, they paid me a lot of money and asked me to provide them with information."

Du Wenhao's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Cai Tou, the relative who troubled Cai Jing, was a double agent?This is important news, don't be alarmed, the double-faced agent's plan can sometimes play an unexpected role!
Du Wenhao asked, "What information did you provide them?"

"I don't know anything about the battle plan, but I have always had a good relationship with Privy Councilor Han Zhen, so I spent a lot of money in bribes to drag him into the water, and found out about our army's combat deployment formulated by the Privy Council, and provided them to Xixia. "

Du Wenhao finally understood why our army was in a state of invincibility in the early stage with the plague weapon, but was restrained everywhere in the later stage, and finally defeated Yongle City. The Xixia people, the Xixia people were able to wipe out 20 Song troops in Yongle City, causing the biggest defeat in the history of the Song Xia war!

It turns out that the culprits turned out to be the upright Yushi Zhongcheng Li Chang and Han Zhen who was sent to Hainan!
Fortunately, I feel sorry for Han Zhen who was exiled to Hainan. If what Li Chang said is true, not only is it not worthy of sympathy, but he will lose his head!

Du Wenhao also understood why Li Chang didn't mention the issue of saving his life at the beginning, and then repeatedly asked Du Wenhao to spare his life.It turned out that he knew that if he explained this matter together, he would definitely die.

However, Du Wenhao does not regret the promise he made earlier. The importance of investigating the crimes involved is not as important as obtaining more useful information, digging out the inner ghosts of the court, and providing useful information for the current military operations as much as possible. importance.If Li Chang can provide useful information, it doesn't matter much if his head doesn't fall off.

I didn't expect that I was going wrong. I just wanted to find out some of Li Chang's faults so that he wouldn't hinder the military reform. I didn't expect that I found a big fish after the investigation. I must make good use of it and hunt it down.

Du Wenhao stood up, walked around with his hands behind his back, figured out the problem, turned around and asked, "Aside from providing our army's battle plan, what else did you do?"

"There's nothing else."

"Nonsense! Back then, Emperor Xia Huizong planned to dedicate Henan to our Great Song Dynasty in order to form an alliance with our Great Song Dynasty and kill the Queen Mother Liang. As a result, the news was revealed. Didn't you leak it?"

Li Chang hurriedly said: "My lord, it's really not me. I really don't know about it. I even leaked the battle plan of Yongle City, so why hide it. It's really not me." I did it, and it’s the first time I’ve heard about it from an adult.”

"Then who do you think is likely?"

"This..., I really don't know..., but Zaizhi should know about such a confidential matter. Maybe it's Han Zhen who doesn't know."

"What information did you provide Xixia?"

"It's really gone. After I got the battle plan from Han Zhen, I gave it to the Xixia people. I didn't give them anything else. This time, they wanted me to find a way to replace the coach or change the battle plan. I originally wanted to talk to Han Zhen about this matter, but what happened last time, I was dismissed, and Han Zhen was also demoted to Hainan, so this matter was put on hold. Xixia Xizuo let me Think about it again, I haven't figured out what to do, so he stayed at my house these days until he was caught."

Du Wenhao secretly called it a fluke, if this incident hadn't disrupted their plan temporarily, who knows what troubles would arise.Before Qu Zhen and the others led the army to set off, she had repeatedly stated that she must strictly implement the step-by-step combat plan. Now it seems that the results have been achieved, and Xixia is already a little panicked.

Du Wenhao asked again: "Then what else did you do that violated the king's law?"

"The other thing is the matter of accepting bribes when investigating and punishing corrupt officials who broke the law. I have accepted bribes more than ten times in total. Do you want to talk about it one by one?"

"Don't worry about this, you go down and write them down one by one. I want you to report others, this is the most important thing. You just confessed your crimes, and you also reported that Han Zhen was bribed by you to provide a battle plan. Because you are a joint crime, it is your obligation to report and expose the accomplice, which is not considered meritorious service, and it is not enough to reduce your criminal responsibility. You must confess the person who bribed you, and you must account for the crime of accepting bribes, and it cannot be considered meritorious service, so , you have to offer something more valuable.”

Li Chang nodded, swallowed again, and said: "I know that some officials may have connections with Xixia, because Xixia Xizuo once asked me about the status and role of these people in the court, and it is estimated that they want to ask these people Bribes. But whether they were bribed or not, I don't know."

Du Wenhao's heart moved, this was a good clue: "Okay, you write down the names and positions of these people, and if you find out that some of them were bribed by Xixia, you can count them as meritorious service!"

When Li Chang heard this, his spirits lifted immediately, and he agreed again and again.

After Du Wenhao asked again and again, he believed that Chang Li didn't know anything else, so he gave up and asked him to write the names of those individuals to himself, and then slowly explained who bribed him.

After Du Wenhao came out, he immediately called Shen Shengping, the director of the Department of Internal Affairs and Special Affairs, and handed him the list, asking him to immediately monitor these people day and night, and at the same time, conduct peripheral investigations.

Shen Shengping didn't ask how the news came, and he bowed and agreed, took the list, turned around and was about to leave, Du Wenhao stopped him again, and said in a low voice: "You send a few confidants alone, and you will also give Cai Jing I watched day and night, and sent some other people to the border between Song and Xia to secretly watch Cai Jing’s relative, Cai Tou, who is the head of the Western Xia Department of the Foreign Affairs and Special Affairs Department! But be careful not to startle the snake!”

Shen Shengping was taken aback, and finally asked in a low voice: "Master Guo, this Cai Jing... Could it be that he was also bought by Xi Xia?"

"Probably, but don't touch him yet, and monitor him secretly. It's still useful to keep this line. In addition, you should work hard to organize the intelligence network against Xixia alone, and don't let Cai Jing know."

"Yes!" Shen Shengping agreed.

Du Wenhao said again: "You immediately dispatch a special operation team to secretly arrest Han Zhen and bring him back."

Shen Shengping was even more surprised: "Hasn't Han Zhen been demoted to Hainan?"

Du Wenhao didn't mention that Han Zhen was bribed by Xixia and leaked Yongle City's battle plan. The less he knew about this kind of thing, the better. He nodded and said, "Yes, he has been away from the capital for more than ten days, but they can't leave quickly, so it should be soon." We can catch up soon, we want to arrest him secretly, we can't let others know, understand?"

"This subordinate understands! Please rest assured, the Duke, the humble officer will definitely arrest him safely." Shen Shengping bowed before turning around and going out.

(End of this chapter)