Before you know it, it's dawn.

Qin Mubai glanced outside the door, rubbed his somewhat stinging eyes, and said, "Now at this hour, it is the time for the government soldiers to assemble for morning exercises, and it is inconvenient for us to return to the military camp. It's better to rest here for a while, and go back later to see King Wu together and explain what happened. ”

"It's okay......" Chen Yan nodded, squatted down silently, leaned against the pillar and hugged her knees, and looked at the open space in a daze.

Qin Mubai walked outside the house and moved his muscles and bones, and couldn't help but feel a little hungry. The hundred horsemen had already dispersed, so he had to go into the woods and pick some wild fruits, and fortunately he caught a hare. So he went back to the hut, lit the fire, slaughtered the hare, and roasted it.

Chen Yan watched silently until Qin Mubai roasted the hare half-cooked before he spoke: "You, a pampered son of the Shi clan, actually do this?" ”

"Could it be that someone has stipulated that only you people who are allowed to walk the rivers and lakes will?" Qin Mubai smiled and threw her two wild fruits, and said, "Eat the pad belly first, and the hare will be roasted quickly." In fact, the superficial scenery of our hundred horses was obtained after a hundred times of torture. When we train, it's a simple and inhuman scenario. Survival in the wild like this is a small trick. ”

"You're really a special official." Chen Yan said, "No official will torture himself and suffer for himself, right? ”

"Zhu Chengwen, why not?" Qin Mubai smiled indifferently, "What we have suffered is only flesh and skin, and his heartache is even worse than ours. ”

The corners of Chen Yan's mouth twitched slightly, leaned her chin on her knees, and said leisurely, "I have something I want to ask you." ”

"Just ask." Qin Mubai said casually while roasting the hare.

"Do you have a woman you love?" Chen Yan asked.

Qin Mubai was slightly stunned and pondered for a long time...... It's really bad for a woman who has accompanied or had something to do with her in her past and present lives, but where to start with the word "deep love"? More often than not, it's more like being in the game world.

"Nope."

"I can see it." Chen Yan chuckled, her face softened a little softer, and she said, "At first glance, you are a cynical man, and there must be a lot of women around you." The more men like you, the more women like you. ”

"You seem to know a lot." Qin Mubai smiled to himself.

"Actually, people are quite cheap. When a person truly loves you, you may not feel it, and you may not cherish it. When you lose it, you don't know how precious it is. Chen Yan said.

"Maybe......" Qin Mubai didn't want to continue to talk deeply. Women are emotional animals, and talking about emotional topics with them can go three days and three nights without sleeping. Obviously, Qin Mubai doesn't have such energy now.

"Actually, I lied to you." Chen Yan said suddenly.

"Really?" Qin Mubai said with a little surprise.

"Yes." Chen Yan nodded, "Actually, Zhu Chengwen and I have never been husband and wife, and we have never made a private agreement for life or a marriage contract. We grew up together, and he has always been like a big brother to me. He was twenty-two years old when he got married, and I was sixteen. At that time, I suddenly felt that I had lost something forever, and I realized that I also loved him deeply. The age at which love first opened was really crazy, and I even wanted to marry him as a concubine at that time. But Zhu Chengwen is a true gentleman, and he refused. And even after his wife died, he didn't give me any hope or opportunity, let alone promise. He loved his wife so much that he vowed never to marry him again. Between me and him, I have always been just confidants. After the age of sixteen, we don't talk about feelings. But I know that he will be willing to die for me, just as I am willing to sacrifice everything for him. We talk to each other like brother and sister, husband and wife, and best friends. So I know everything about him, and he has always had absolute trust in me. ”

Qin Mubai's heart moved slightly: "Did he really give you an account book before he died?" ”

"Yes." Chen Yan said, "It's not to send, but to give it in person." I exchanged letters with him in my hometown, and when I saw that he was doing badly, I traveled all the way to Jishan County to see him. Unexpectedly, he was furious and wanted to drive me away immediately, saying that I should not have come at all. I have traveled thousands of miles to spend more time with him, and I have not been able to spend more than a stick of incense. I was so grief-stricken that I vowed never to pay attention to him again. Before leaving, he gave me a burden to pass on to the children of his hometown. I didn't even look at it, picked it up and left. It wasn't until I was halfway through that I lost my breath and opened my baggage, and found the account book inside. That's when I found out...... He was determined to die! I regret that I was so stupid in the first place, and didn't see through his intentions! Maybe if I had calmed down a little bit, it wouldn't have ended like this! ”

"Hey, the mistakes are often just a millimeter, but they are wrong." Qin Mubai shook his head and sighed, and asked, "Where is that account book now?" ”

"It's near Zhu Chengwen's tomb, on a big willow tree in the grove. Rest assured, no one will be able to find what I have hidden. Chen Yan said.

"Good! After a short rest, let's go first to get the account book back, and then go back to see King Wu! ”

"Okay."

Half an hour later, Qin Mubai walked out of the woods, called the hundred horsemen who were guarding there, and asked them to get two horses, one each with Chen Yan, and galloped towards Zhu Chengwen's grave.

The autumn wind and falling leaves galloped quickly, and Chen Yan's mount was naturally inferior to Qin Mubai's Fire Cloud Divine Horse, and he fell behind. She always looked at the man in fluttering clothes not far in front of her, and kept thinking in her heart: this man is really unique, he always gives people a sense of mystery. He can easily see through other people's hearts and guess other people's behaviors, but people can't figure out what he's thinking. And he, who is an official, is not the same as ordinary officials, he has no official tone and no prestige. Although he is sometimes a little evil and domineering, he still retains a sense of justice, which makes people feel that there is a sense of righteousness in him.

"Do I believe him completely?" Chen Yan kept asking herself, but there was no answer.

It's time for Zhu Chengwen's grave. The two first paid tribute, and then Chen Yan jumped on a big willow tree as lightly as a raccoon cat, uncovered a large piece of bark, took out a bamboo tube from the hollow tree pole, and jumped off the tree.

"That's it." Chen Yan said.

Qin Mubai hurriedly opened the bamboo tube, only to see that there was an account book wrapped in oiled paper. After a cursory glance, it was full of records of large sums of money and grain in and out, which were quite detailed. Under each record, Zhu Chengwen also made annotations, explaining how the money was recorded in the official account of the yamen, and where it was actually used.

There are three pages dedicated to the direction of six money. It was all a large number of civil engineering equipment and a large number of laborers hired by the yamen in the name of building the lake embankment, but in fact, these civil engineering equipment and laborers were completely nothing. These six sums of money were sent to Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, in a roundabout way by their own ingenious means!

Obviously, this is Zhang Tianci's handwriting. He did not directly use money to bribe Li Daozong, but sent a large amount of congratulatory gifts to Li Daozong in the name of the yamen during some birthday gifts and holiday visits.

Emperor Li Shimin once "advocated" officials of all sizes not to encourage this kind of arrogance and indulgence, but there is indeed no law that explicitly prohibits officials from accepting congratulatory gifts.

So Zhang Tianci and others played a sidekick and exploited the loopholes of the law, so as to achieve the goal of doing what they liked and bribing Li Daozong.

If Li Daozong knew where the money came from, he would not have collected it. However, as the "supreme official" of the Jin and Merge generation, the "filial piety" of his subordinates was not very outrageous, although some of them were not good, but they did not violate the law, so he accepted it generously. There is a way to take people with short hands and eat people with short mouths, and it is unknown whether Li Daozong later provided Zhang Tianci with any convenience.

"It's a clever bribery." Qin Mubai said, "The law can't be studied deeply, but Li Daozong did collect money that shouldn't be collected. ”

"Not bad." Chen Yan said, "Because of this, Zhu Chengwen is in great pain. Originally, when the embankment money was allocated, it was not enough, and part of it was taken away from time to time to send it to honor the king of Jiangxia...... The King of Jiangxia, who had always been perfect in his mind, suddenly collapsed. But at the same time, he also suspected that Zhang Tianci, Cheng Songnian and others were deceiving him, and he was always reluctant to believe that King Jiangxia was such a person. It's a pity that he has not been able to meet King Jiangxia in person to clarify the matter, but he has to compromise under the threat and intimidation of Cheng Songnian and others. ”

"You can imagine what it was like." Qin Mubai said, "Officialdom, especially local officials, if they offend their immediate bosses, they must be miserable. In front of such a huge group as Zhang Tianci and Cheng Songnian, Zhu Chengwen is weak and powerless, and he is powerless to fight against it. I guess Zhu Chengwen also adopted a delaying tactic at that time, ostensibly compromising with him, but secretly planning how to solve this matter. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have been killed. ”

"I don't know." Chen Yan shook her head sadly, "He was very violent and wanted to drive me away at that time, and he had some intentions that didn't want me to be in danger. It's just that I didn't wake up at the time......"

"That should be it." Qin Mubai sighed, "It's a pity that Zhu Chengwen's efforts all failed in the end." A sudden flood disrupted his deployment and cost him his life. ”

"This is all providential...... Chen Yan's eyes turned red, her brows lightly touched Zhu Chengwen's tombstone, and she was stunned.

"Let's go, go back to Juntun to see King Wu! The three of us discussed and must solve this matter perfectly! Qin Mubai said, "It should also be a consolation to Zhu Chengwen's spirit in the sky!" ”

"Okay, let's go!"