Xu Lin's words pointed at Tang Wujing, the Marquis of Zhenhai, because the senior generals and generals of Linhai City were only the second-class martial marquis of Daqi. So Zhenhaihou, who looks upright and has strict military discipline, is there really a problem?

The answer is definitely yes. Qingcheng is not without suspicion of this, after all, combined with the situation of the pirates and today's intelligence, coupled with the various suspiciousities of the Haichuan bandit this time, it is basically possible to sort out a piece of information that is becoming clearer and clearer.

There is a high-ranking general on the side of Daqi who is good at the Eight Gate Formations, secretly contacting the Haichuan people, teaching them to march and set up formations, and only teaching fur, and at the same time planning this Haichuan banditry, which led to the defeat of the garrison army in Linhai City. To sum up, it is not difficult to guess that someone is raising soldiers with bandits.

The so-called raising troops with bandits refers to the fact that local generals rely on the advantages of the high emperor and the lack of information, on the one hand, they raise a group of bandits, and from time to time plan a bandit; On the other hand, they continue to crack down on bandits. In this way, you can always reach out to the imperial court to ask for the military salary of the bandits.

And since this group of bandits is raised by themselves, and some of them are even their own confidants, the so-called bandits, in fact, do not have much expense, but the situation caused by the court has to appease the silver, so that even a group of wine bags and rice bags dare to take the risk to receive rewards.

And this time the Haichuan bandits, in fact, when Qingcheng saw for the first time that the pirates could deploy the Eight Gate Formations, he had suspicions. But at first, he just suspected that there were ghosts in the army, but when he remembered that his father had mentioned to him about the Marquis of Zhenhai, coupled with the fact that ordinary generals of the Eight Gate Formation were not comprehensible, Qingcheng also began to suspect that this time the incident was simply that the Marquis of Zhenhai was raising troops with bandits!

However, Qingcheng, the Marquis of Zhenhai, through his understanding of the people of Linhai City, also knew that he was not a corrupt official, and what he was seeking was by no means his own selfishness, but his thoughts Qingcheng was not yet clear, so he couldn't make a conclusion. At this time, King Guhong said with a clear attitude that he also began to suspect the Marquis of Zhenhai.

Qingcheng knew that maybe Zhenhaihou was wrong, but King Guhong was not a good type, no matter what, he didn't want Zhenhaihou to be planted in the hands of King Guhong. So after thinking about this meaning, Qingcheng frowned, and said tentatively: "The last general dares to speculate, Wang Ye and Xu Shuai, do you think that Zhenhaihou has a problem?" ”

"Of course", Xu Lin replied to Qingcheng without thinking, and continued: "There is a huge Linhai City, and the senior general is Tang Wujing alone. What's more, I heard that he had followed Ling Zun in the early years, and he also learned some methods of marching and arranging formations, although these eight formations are not invincible in the world, but they are also strange and indistinguishable, and it is difficult to further study. So, if it's not him, who else can there be? ”

Qingcheng has the heart to exonerate Zhenhaihou, so naturally he will not give up halfway. He listened to Xu Lin's analysis, and after pondering for a while, he said unhurriedly: "There are still people who are suspected of this." ”

"Oh? So who do you say? ”

"Xu Shuai."

Qingcheng Yun's light sentence made the scene a little embarrassing in an instant. After listening to his words, Xu Lin was stunned for a moment, and then reprimanded: "Presumptuous! The prince dared to laugh before driving. What is Ben Shuai's motivation for doing such a thing? ”

Xu Lin was slightly angry, but King Guhong didn't see any reaction, he just looked at Qingcheng fixedly, as if he had a plan in his heart.

Qingcheng heard Xu Lin's reprimand, and didn't see any fear, and said righteously: "Not only Xu Shuai, but even the last general is also suspected of this." And the last general will be ...... bold"

Qingcheng's words stopped abruptly, and instead turned to look at King Guhong respectfully. Looking at his movements, Xu Lin was stunned again, and after a while, he suddenly realized, and hurriedly reprimanded: "Presumptuous! You ......"

"Stop Xu Lin, what Qingcheng said is not completely unreasonable."

Seeing that Xu Lin was about to have a seizure, King Guhong came out to make a round, and after cutting off his words, King Guhong looked at Qingcheng, was silent for a moment, and asked with a sneer: "You mean, this king is also suspicious?" ”

"The last general will be guilty, please send it down."

In the Great Qi culture, the difference between respect and humility is extremely important, so although Qingcheng does not recognize King Guhong's personality very much, but after listening to his words, in the face of this prince's respect, he still knelt on one knee and clenched his fists with both hands to plead guilty.

King Gu Hong looked at Qingcheng, his face was expressionless, but his heart was full of anger. In his life, he attaches the most importance to the rules and is most tired of people who have no rules, so even if he understands that Qingcheng has no offense, Qingcheng's behavior still annoys him. Because he can't move Qingcheng now, it can also be said that he doesn't want to touch him.

The cold atmosphere lasted for a while, and King Guhong snorted lightly and said, "Qingcheng, this king understands what you mean, but your way is really daring. The king knows that you are disgruntled and arrogant, but you remember that this is what the king is most disgusted with. ”

King Guhong's words were not serious, and after Qingcheng heard it, he replied respectfully: "What the prince taught is that Qingcheng has confessed his guilt. ”

"Alright, get up."

King Guhong asked Qingcheng to stand up, then with one hand behind his back, and the other hand playing with an object, he took a few steps and said to him: "You mean, not only Tang Wujing, but all the high-ranking generals who know the Eight Gate Formation are suspicious, yes and no?" ”

Qingcheng heard that King Guhong correctly interpreted his meaning, and replied: "The prince is wise. In fact, the original intention of the last general was to question Xu Shuai's intelligence. According to the last general, there must be few people who know such a top secret as ghosts in our army, and Xu Shuai's scout troops got this most important information so quickly, and the last general himself is skeptical. ”

Because of the mention of Xu Lin, Qingcheng paused. And King Gu Hong didn't reprimand him this time, but waved his hand and said, "Go on." ”

"Wow. The last general thinks that we must not be led away by this information and ignore other people who are suspected of doing so. It is true that the Marquis of Zhenhai is suspected of raising troops with bandits, but is it impossible for the senior generals in other garrisons to be framed? and even rebellion against ......"

When it came to the idea of rebellion, Qingcheng's voice stopped, just because he thought of the family's grievances, which made him realize that he was not good at biting indiscriminately for the sake of Zhenhaihou's exoneration, and then because of his unintentional words, he would affect others.

And looking at his appearance, King Gu Hong and Xu Lin were both people in the know, and they also understood his thoughts. After a moment of silence, Qingcheng said again: "Therefore, the last general thinks that the circle of suspicion should not be limited to Linhai City, or Zhenhai Hou alone. After all, the war is coming, the military spirit is the heaviest, and unfounded suspicions will cause dissatisfaction among the people of Linhai City, and at that time, it will not be conducive to the suppression of bandits. It is also necessary to ask Xu Shuai's scouts to continue to collect intelligence and confirm the identity of the inner ghost as soon as possible. ”

What Qingcheng said is not a quibble, from the perspective of the overall situation, this is also something that should be worried about for the sake of safety. After all, the Marquis of Zhenhai has been in charge of Linhai City for many years, and he is a model of Qing officials, so his prestige here is still very high.

And if you suspect a second-class martial marquis of collaborating with the enemy without any evidence, and spread it, the impact on King Guhong will not be good.

So after listening to Qingcheng's analysis, King Guhong pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "What you said is not unreasonable." In this way, Xu Lin, you secretly ordered the scout troops to implement the general clues of the inner ghost as soon as possible, and at the same time send someone to find out if there was anything wrong with Linhai City before the Haichuan bandits; Several resident coaches who disagree with Zhenhaihou have any abnormal actions. ”

"Whoa."

"In addition", as he spoke, King Guhong turned to look at Qingcheng and continued: "Qingcheng, you can't be idle. After today's battle, the king expected that the day of the next big battle with these Haichuan people would not be far away, but now they have disappeared and hidden, which makes us unable to even determine the location of the opponent, so how can we talk about sending troops? In addition, the outside must be settled first, so this king intends to let you secretly investigate the matter of the inner ghosts, and strive to find out this scourge as soon as possible, in order to find out the movements of the pirates and their base camp in him. ”

Hearing King Guhong's arrangement, Qingcheng realized that he only cared about the affairs of the inner ghost, but ignored the second key piece of information.

Indeed, once a pirate hides his tracks and lurks at sea, it becomes a real problem. The vastness of the sea is far from being comparable to the land, and the whereabouts of these pirates are uncertain, and the Daqi army rashly goes to sea, which is not good for itself, unwise in war, and absolutely undesirable.

But how do people determine their orientation at sea? So the best way is to use that inner ghost to find out the information of the pirates, in order to fight again.

However, the three people present all knew that Zhenhai Hou was the most suspicious, so what King Guhong pointed out was also to let Qingcheng thoroughly investigate his situation. But Qingcheng didn't want to harm Zhenhaihou with his own hands, but the battle situation was important, so he was in a dilemma.

Seeing that Qingcheng was silent, King Gu Hong's eyes narrowed, and he asked tentatively, "You don't want to?" ”

King Guhong asked, and Qingcheng couldn't avoid it anymore, so he had to reply: "Back to the prince, it's not that the last general is unwilling to contribute, it's just an intelligence investigation, but it's not the last general's good at, so as not to delay the big thing." ”

Qingcheng deliberately shirked, and King Guhong didn't understand. After listening to the former's words, he snorted coldly, stretched out his hand and smashed the corner of the table angrily, the object in his hand fell to the ground, and he angrily reprimanded: "Presumptuous! Let your tongue be as skillful as a spring, and this king knows your mind very well. The battle is imminent, this king is the commander-in-chief, and he should focus on the overall situation, whether you want to or not, you must receive the order! ”

Listening to King Guhong's words, Qingcheng's brows furrowed, and he was very embarrassed. And just when he was at a loss, suddenly, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of something on the ground, which was the object that King Guhong had just thrown to the ground, and he was very shocked.

The thing was lying quietly on the ground at the moment, and Qingcheng saw its true appearance clearly, it turned out to be a silver ingot. And the angle at which it fell was just enough for Qingcheng to see the bottom of it, where there were also two words engraved, official silver.

This saw Qingcheng was shocked. If you want to say that with the dignity of King Guhong, don't say official silver, even if it is full of red gold, all kinds of gems or precious objects, that can be owned. But it is no coincidence that there is no book, Qingcheng just found an official silver in the hands of Wang's sister-in-law today, and he already felt that something was wrong, and another one appeared at this moment, how could it not be connected.

"With the dignity of King Guhong, it is impossible to play with an ordinary silver ingot, there is definitely something wrong with this thing. In addition, the intelligence just arrived today, and this thing also appeared here, it is very likely to be related to Haichuan, not to mention that this one in my hand is already strange, maybe it is really related. ”

Thinking of this, Qingcheng no longer hesitated, knelt down on one knee and picked up the silver ingot, held it up with both hands to make a return gesture, and said firmly: "The prince has taught you a great lesson!" The last will be ashamed, and at this critical time, the last will should not retreat. Thanks to the trust of the prince, Qingcheng should do his best and vow to find out this inner ghost! ”

Qingcheng's attitude changed dramatically in an instant, King Guhong raised his eyebrows slightly, and after glancing at Xu Lin, he took the silver ingot with a frown, and said, "It's good that you can have this attitude." Well, this king doesn't blame you, get up. ”

Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief while standing up, and at the same time thought in his heart: Hey, I didn't want to meddle in this matter, but since King Guhong began to suspect and got that thing, if I didn't come to check, another person might not care about the life or death of Zhenhai Hou, so he could only come hard. Zhenhaihou, don't let me down.