Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 225 The Shocking Case

The fact that Jiangnan was attached to the Tang Dynasty was actually after Du Fuwei, the Jianghuai general, descended to the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Wude. Before that, the Yuhang counties could not effectively belong to the imperial court because they were separated by Du Fuwei.Not long after Du Fuwei joined him, in the sixth year of Wude, his assistant Gong Bing forged Du Fuwei's letters and raised his troops to rebel, causing another turmoil in the north and south of Jianghuai.It's just that this rebellion was not up to standard, and the court settled it with three strikes, five divisions and two divisions.

It's just that Chang'an doesn't seem to be at ease.

The central court needs to learn about a matter from local officials, often from the other party's report, not necessarily the truth of the matter.Therefore, in order to know exactly one thing, one person from the capital officials is usually dispatched to the place to investigate. This kind of capital officials are usually the emperor's cronies, or very capable officials.

From here, we can also see the emperor's attitude towards this matter.If no Beijing officials were sent, but only a question was sent, or the Beijing officials sent there were not important, then it means that you should deal with it in an appropriate way at the local level?
But the emperor didn't like others to try to figure out his "sacred will", so the imperial court sent imperial envoys to the localities, the first class was to investigate clearly, and the second class was to make unannounced visits.It's easy to say, the bottom has its own countermeasures, clean up the house and treat guests, the worst thing local officials fear is unannounced visits.

On TV, there are often scenes of imperial envoys concealing their identities and making private visits in microservices. In fact, this is not nonsense, but a method forced out of communication between the central and local governments in this era of underdeveloped communications.

Of course, dispatching imperial envoys is more troublesome, and it is rare for the emperor to have a person who can take advantage of his leisure time, so officials who pass by the place where the incident happened are asked to take a look.

For example, Xu Qing, who resigned from Cangzhou and popped up in Yuhang all of a sudden, is more suspected of being an "imperial envoy".At this time, Zhu Yijiang and other officials in the room thought Xu Qing was here as an imperial envoy.

Zhu Yijiang picked up the chopsticks, settled his emotions, looked at Xu Qing and said: "Master Xu, I have heard about the disappearance of a hundred people, but I don't know whether Master Xu came here by the emperor's order?"

Xu Qing thought to himself, judging from Zhu Yijiang's performance just now, it must not be as simple as what he has heard.It's just that Xu Qing had no choice but to answer Zhu Yijiang's question. How could someone who had been in the officialdom be easily fooled?
So at this moment Xu Qing could only say: "No."

Everyone knows that if you pretend to be an imperial envoy, forging an imperial order is a felony.Xu Qing just casually asked about this matter, there is no need to make a show of himself.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, since it was not the emperor's order, there is still room for change in this matter.

"Is that the meaning of which department or adult, the Ministry of Punishment? Or the head of the Jiangnan Road, or..." Everyone asked again.

"You didn't answer my question at all, but instead probed into my words. What do you mean? Could it be that there is something hidden?" Xu Qing said, thinking that apart from the emperor's order, he still borrowed the rest at will.

But the other party should not be stupid, if he really served the Ministry of Punishment and Jiangnan Dao's intention, then he should have an official letter on him.

Moreover, Xu Qing's current status is only a loose official without authority, uncle, if he really wants to ask about the local affairs, it's still a bit short-handed.

Zhu Yiyang was calm on the surface, but his heart was already in a mess of fright. He was not a civil servant, but a military commander.Civil servants can make friends with each other, at most form cliques, but military officers can't. Even if you and I love each other, you should not be too enthusiastic when you meet each other, otherwise if someone with a heart sees you, you will have the intention of plotting chaos.

Therefore, once disaster strikes Zhu Yijiang, no one can reach out to save him.Therefore, as an official, he was very careful when he led the troops in a town, and it was almost as if he was walking on thin ice.

Those who lead a town are most afraid of being said to be self-respecting as a soldier, or as a bandit.Once such rumors spread, dismissal from office and imprisonment is inevitable.Zhu Yijiang is also afraid of this, but he is not afraid of this the most. What he is most afraid of is actually that these road bandits who are making trouble have something to do with this army under him!
Tens of thousands of thoughts flashed through Zhu Yijiang's mind, he opened his mouth but did not speak, while the director next to him calmed down a little bit, the director said in his heart, this Mr. Xu heard that he is a good official for the people, he must be on the way You have to know the grievances before you manage such a matter. At most, it is entrusted by some adult to investigate the matter strictly.

Ordinary people can just fool around a bit, let him do his duty of face, and it's over.But the other party is No. 1 in the world's literary world, and he is a good official who is upright and upright for the people. He will go to Beijing to be a saint in the near future, and he will be heard by Datian. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is half an imperial envoy.

Can such a person be fooled?
The chief secretary weighed left and right, and chose a cautious approach. He winked at Zhu Yijiang, patted his shoulder and said: "General, since Master Xu is asking, you should tell the truth."

Zhu Yijiang has worked with this master for many years, so he understands what the master means. He patted him on the shoulder to let him not panic.

Zhu Yijiang put down his chopsticks again and said: "This case, alas, this case is indeed frequent in nearby counties. Not long ago, another boatload of wealthy businessmen were killed. I used eyeliner to find clues. , and sent arrest documents at sea, but they were all clues.”

Xu Qing asked: "This case is so strange, has the supervisor never asked about it?"

Zhu Yijiang said: "Why not, it's just that this is not a matter of one state and one county. Even a general manager can't find out the problem. There were people who gathered to protest, and those foolish county magistrates pushed innocent people out to become bandits. Kill them and lock them up in a cell to appease the people."

"It's really a trace, and there is no clue at all. Could it be a ghost?" Xu Qing said with a smile, but the laughter seemed a little cold.

Seeing Xu Qing like this, Zhu Yiyang looked at the people present, and the other officials and generals shook their heads helplessly, avoiding Zhu Yiyang's sweeping gaze.There was a trace of determination in Zhu Yijiang's eyes, and he said quickly: "Master Xu, my eyeliner, scouts, and investigations are not pussies. Once a businessman friend of mine was killed, and I vowed to investigate thoroughly. You can find out later , The more I investigate, the more frightened I become, the case of the disappearance and murder of a hundred people can only be shelved slowly."

Xu Qing frowned and said: "This case involves hundreds of lives, how can it be put on hold? Could it be that the people behind it are some kind of family with deep roots? No, how could the family be greedy for such a petty profit? The clues you will find Bring them all to the official to read them."

"Master Xu, those clues are all compiled into a book, scattered and scattered, it is too cumbersome to find!"

"It's okay, I'll just take a look..."

Hearing this, everyone in the hall looked at each other in blank dismay. It seems that Mr. Xu really wanted to investigate thoroughly.Alas, why did you invite this thorn back in a moment of enthusiasm?

The people present admired Xu Qing, but their understanding of Xu Qing was based on hearsay, which was incomplete, so the image of Xu Qing in their hearts was different.After hearing Xu Qing's words, the master bookkeeper and a few people who served the pen and ink in the army sneered from the bottom of their hearts. This case of no head has been arrested for many years, and the special detectives have not solved it. You are a literary world, okay, I admit you The poems are well written, but those who recite the wind and the moon are fine, how can they solve the case, and let you play and see your jokes then.

Obviously, few of the people present had heard the story of Xu Qingri's case-breaking. If they had heard that story, they might regret that half a hundred lives were wasted.

But Zhu Yijiang and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They were most afraid that Xu Qing would use his status as a superior to oppress them. He would not hurt his back while standing up and talking.If he does it himself, it will be much easier. If it goes wrong, there will be no loss. If he manages it well, can people like himself follow suit to claim credit?Moreover, in this way, can't that matter be slowed down?
Everyone in the hall was saying, let Master Xu take a look at the dossier, presumably Master Xu has an excellent literary talent, and he will be able to dissect some clues from the lines.

And humanely said, yes, yes, Master Xu is here to investigate the case, and the truth will be revealed within a day.

Zhu Yijiang thought about it for a while, and said with a smile: "Oh! I'm just confused, why don't you know Mr. Xu has outstanding political achievements, seasoned and capable!" Zhu Yijiang immediately asked someone to bring the file, and after a while, the two strong men took The dossier was brought over.

That's right, lift!
The documents in the public room were already written on paper, and it took two strong men to carry such a paper document.

As soon as the two strong men put the dossiers down, a burst of dust rose from the old and new ones, and everyone present slapped them.The master clerk also choked, and said dissatisfied: "Why are there so many?"

"I, I," a strong man was so nervous that he couldn't speak, thinking, why did he take too much and still be blamed?The other calmed down and replied: "All the literate people in the army are here, and the two of us can't read, so I brought them all."

"Hey! You..." The master secretary came to the front, rummaged around, took out some files wrapped in black cloth, and waved his hands for the two to carry them away.Xu Qing felt relieved, it seemed that these people hadn't deliberately made things difficult for him, he thought he had to find it from such a large pile of documents!
The chief secretary handed Xu Qing the dossier wrapped in black cloth, smiled awkwardly and said, "I made Governor Xu laugh..."

"It's okay, are all these volumes?" Xu Qing raised his hand and asked.

"No, I remember it at the time, and there are some in every volume." The chief bookkeeper shook his head, looked at Xu Qing, and his eyes revealed the meaning of "you know it's amazing".

Zhu Yijiang smiled and said: "Inspector Xu, why don't you put down the dossier and drink and eat food, and use it for the banquet. Let's read it tomorrow, shall we?"

Xu Qing patted his head, remembering that this was still a banquet, so he apologized and had a drink with everyone, and I drank again.On the spot, Xu Qing also wrote a little yellow poem, like sitting alone in an empty room and making a wife, which caused everyone to burst into laughter.It is said that Xu Cishi has a true temperament and a real man.

It's just that Zhu Yijiang and a few people who knew "that incident" couldn't be happy at all and forced a smile.

After the banquet, the secondary characters all retreated, leaving the bones scattered in the lobby and the remnants of the meal in wine glasses.People in the army are bold and unrestrained in drinking and feasting.

Finally, there are Xu Qing, Zhu Yijiang, and the master secretary, who are always in the hall.

In fact, Xu Qing only drank a few sips of wine, but pretended to be drunk, and tapped the file on the table with his fingers.The dossier was wrapped in black cloth and tied tightly with a rope. Xu Qing's eyes lit up, and he suddenly asked Zhu Yiqing, "General Zhu, what was the title of your book just now, and the investigation of this case will shock you?"

(End of this chapter)