I

  Chapter 680 677【One wrong step, wrong step by step】

  Xi'an, Shaanxi Province are all commanders and envoys.

  This yamen is under the dual leadership of the Ministry of War and the Governor's Mansion, and has two types of officials, civilian and military.

  Civilian officials are responsible for the province's military logistics, personnel files, military courts, military promotions, job transfers, etc. Military officials are responsible for the recruitment, training, command, mobilization, and combat of the regular army, patrol soldiers, and peasant soldiers in the province.

  Jiang Liang's troops are stationed in Qinzhou (Tianshui). Whether there is a foreign enemy invasion in Hami or Qinghai, he can quickly lead his troops to rush there.

  Hearing that something happened to the General Inspection Office, Jiang Liang left the defense area without authorization, and rode a fast horse straight to Xi'an Fucheng.

   Then, he was left hanging outside the interrogation room, smoking one cigarette after another.

  The person being interrogated at this moment is precisely Yu Xian who surrendered himself. When Yu Xian first joined the army, he fought with Fei Ruhe, and for the next few years, he was under Jiang Liang's soldiers. It can be said that Yu Xian's rapid promotion is inseparable from Jiang Liang's promotion and reuse.

  Xiao Hong suddenly appeared behind Jiang Liang: "Go back to Qinzhou, you are leaving your post without authorization!"

Jiang Liang and Xiao Hong belonged to the same village, and they stood up quickly at this time: "Xiao... Huang Xiantai, I know Yu Xian. He is still very brave in battle, and he obeys military orders and never commits any crime. This time it happened, I blame my previous discipline Not strict, please ask Huang Xiantai to raise your hand..."

"stop!"

Xiaohong immediately interrupted: "First of all, the trial of Yu Xian is not under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Before the Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Government came, we just cooperated with the Shaanxi Metropolitan Division to review the case. He is the deputy commander of half of Shaanxi (similar to the deputy commander of the Shaanxi Military Region, responsible for the western and southern parts of Shaanxi), how could he leave Qinzhou without receiving an order?"

  Jiang Liang hesitated to speak.

Xiaohong said: "The matter of your coming to Xi'an can be big or small. Looking at the friendship in the past, I will help you excuse this violation, just say that me and Du Si asked you to go back to Xi'an to help investigate. Come in with me now and put Tell me about Yu Xian, and you must return to Qinzhou immediately after assisting in the investigation!"

Jiang Liang lowered his head, followed Xiaohong into the house, walked a few steps and said, "Yu Xian saved my life. On the battlefield, he helped me block the knife. Can I use my title to protect his family?" life?"

Xiaohong said in a low voice: "He voluntarily surrendered himself, and he gave a lot of useful information. He should be able to survive without your pleading. But the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime cannot be escaped. How to be convicted in the end depends on the Ministry of War. Shanxi Inspection Department, leaks like a sieve, you don't know anything about it when you are stationed in Qinzhou?"

  Jiang Liang cried bitterly: "I'm leading regular soldiers, how can I take care of patrolling soldiers?"

  Another room.

"Name."

   "Yu Xian."

"age."

   "Thirty-six years old."

   "Native place."

   "Originally from Jishui, Jiangxi Province, now from Chang'an, Shaanxi Province."

   "Position."

   "The inspection commander of the General Administration of Inspection and Inspection of Shaanxi Province."

   "Confess your crime."

  Yu Xian rubbed his face and sighed: "Let me smoke a pipe, I take off my clothes outside, and there are pipes and shredded tobacco inside."

   Not long after, the smoking set was brought in.

  Yu Xian's hands trembled slightly, he took out shredded tobacco from the pipe, and tried several times before stuffing it into the pipe.

After lighting the fire and taking a deep breath, Yu Xian leaned on the chair and breathed out the clouds. After calming down, he said: "When Shaanxi was recovered, I was disabled and transferred to my current position. At the beginning, some merchants were investigated for smuggling, and they wanted to send me money." If you want to be accommodating, I will deal with everything according to the rules. Then one day, Li Chun...that is, Li Huchong, suddenly took me to go hunting at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, and entered a big house at night..."

"I was a little drunk that night, and I saw Li Huchong being served by maids and servants, and Meijiao Niang was serving and drinking. I was a little envious and a little bit unconvinced. Why can he enjoy it like this? Li Huchong persuaded me, saying Soldiers fight for wealth and honor. We were poor when we were young, and now we are disabled and turned into inspectors. What else can we pursue besides enjoying ourselves?"

   "I took in a beauty, but I was very scared and didn't dare to take it home to raise it. Then I took in another house and raised the beauty there."

"In the beginning, there were not too bad rules. I just sold the seized smuggled goods to the original owner at a low price. I didn't even dare to collect money to let the smugglers go. Then, I couldn't take it. It's not that I couldn't take it , it’s the people below who can’t stop it.”

"I made an opening for the smugglers, and I definitely need the cooperation of the people below. Many of them are my old subordinates. They dare not disobey my orders, so they can only follow me to get money. How did I know that they are getting harder and harder. Sometimes even behind my back, just let the smugglers go."

   "In the end, I didn't check the smuggling at all, but helped the smugglers clear the way."

"Those merchants are getting more and more courageous and their appetites are getting bigger and bigger. They even started to smuggle ironware and grain. When I first found out, I was so scared that I couldn't sleep for days and nights. But what can I do? I'm already dirty , I have been dragged into the water."

"Li Huchong, that bastard, said that he is responsible for everything, and there will be no accidents. Fuck his mother, he will not show up for any bad things. After the incident, he must want to clear it up. He just pushed me to take the blame. I am Tong Sheng from the previous dynasty, Li Huchong, that muddy leg, I don't know what's on his mind?"

"I buried all the money I collected these years in the ground. I didn't dare to spend the rest except for the few hundred taels I spent at the beginning. I was really scared by the people below. , it is lawless when you are greedy. I have reprimanded you many times, but it is useless, the more greedy you are, the more fierce you are!"

"Damn it, there is Li Huchong on the top, and a group of greedy people on the bottom. I feel uncomfortable being caught in the middle! I wanted to surrender a long time ago, but I didn't dare. I haven't slept well in the past two years. When the court arrested merchants in Huayin, I knew something was going to happen, and my heart became more at ease, so I rode my horse overnight and surrendered."

   "The people in my family don't know anything, they are innocent. Those beauties I adopted are also poor people, please raise your hands..."

   Liu Wenchao, who was in charge of the interrogation, suddenly turned his head and said to his colleagues, "Old Meng, should you go out first?"

  Lao Meng froze for a moment: "This is against the rules."

   "Excuse me, I want to say a few words to this bastard," Liu Wenchao said, "Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the case, I really can't help it."

  Old Meng hesitated again and again, and finally got up: "I'll just stand at the door and come in after smoking a bag of cigarettes."

  The door closed, and there were only two people in the room.

Liu Wenchao walked over with an angry expression on his face, kicked Yu Xian's chest, kicked him and the chair over, and then stepped forward and grabbed his collar: "Have you been beaten to your brain? What the **** are you doing?" ? The decapitation case, just to sleep with a few women, just to spend the hundreds of taels of silver?"

  Yu Xian did not resist, and smiled wryly: "One wrong step, one wrong step, and there is no turning back."

Liu Wenchao was even more angry: "Where are there no women? Although the imperial court prohibits concubines, the people do not hold officials accountable. Even if you are a concubine, who will sue you? I have a concubine in my family, who is definitely not as beautiful as the beauty you accepted, but women Isn’t it the same when the lights are turned off? Damn you, you only spent a few hundred taels of silver for such a big event, and your net worth is only a few hundred taels? Even a concubine can afford it! Even if you want to be greedy, who will come to check on you if you want to be greedy? Why do you have to lose your head and be greedy to death!"

  Yu Xian sighed: "I said it, I want to stop. Once the mouth is opened, the people below can't stop it. Brother, you must take it as a warning, everything can't have a beginning, and there is no turning back when you start."

  Liu Wenchao let go of Yu Xian and sat down on the ground next to him: "Give me a sip."

  Yu Xian handed the half-smoked pipe to Liu Wenchao. The latter didn't even wipe the saliva from the cigarette holder, but sucked it in his mouth, and wept while he was smoking.

Liu Wenchao's tears couldn't stop, and quickly slipped down to his chin. He recalled: "At the beginning, my family was poor, and I couldn't afford books, so I had to borrow your books to read. Your mother pities me, and it takes a lot of money to make pancakes for you." Make one and let you bring it to the school for me to eat. Your family was thrown away, and you couldn’t pay the land tax and had to sell the land. We both stopped studying and went to the county town to run errands for others.”

  Yu Xian suddenly laughed, as if recalling the interesting events of that year.

Liu Wenchao said: "When we joined the army together, what did you say? You said that you would follow His Majesty and kill all corrupt officials, evil gentry and powerful people in the world! Don't you forget that your family also had land and you could study. It is that the evil gentry colluded with corrupt officials, scattered their land under your father's name, and asked your father to pay an extra 50 acres of land! Your family was forced to sell the land by corrupt officials and evil gentry, and you were killed so that you could not read a book. You see Look, what are you doing now? You have become a corrupt official yourself, colluding with those evil gentry and wealthy businessmen!"

Speaking of this, Liu Wenchao became angry again: "It's fine for you to smuggle a few pots, but you even smuggled grain and ironware! In case of war in the future, the enemy will eat the grain you smuggled, and the enemy will hold you The smuggled weapons, in turn, killed the Datong army brothers, are you a **** human? Are you worthy of the dead brother?"

   "Stop talking," Yu Xian said with a painful expression, "give me back the pipe."

  Liu Wenchao stuffed the pipe back, lay on the ground sprawled, looking at the roof, wondering what he was thinking.

While smoking a cigarette, Yu Xian muttered: "This man, it's hard to make excuses. I thought I could control the situation, but I really overestimated myself. Being an official is like leading soldiers. On the battlefield, soldiers are defeated like mountains. In the officialdom, they are also soldiers." The defeat is like a mountain. I asked my subordinates to open an opening for the smugglers, which was like asking my soldiers to retreat. I only planned to retreat a few miles, but once I retreated, the army's morale would be lost, and the whole army would collapse if I retreated. You can't get together even if you blow the trumpet."

   Liu Wenchao didn't seem to want to hear this anymore, so he stood up suddenly: "Confess all the principal offenders and accessories!"

   As he spoke, Liu Wenchao yelled outside again: "Lao Meng, have you finished your cigarette? Come in and do some business!"

  Old Meng pushed the door open and came in, seeing the unwiped tears on Liu Wenchao's face. He lowered his head and pretended he didn't know anything, sat down and said to Yu Xian, "Continue talking."

  (end of this chapter)