"Given! We really gave 40,000 taels of silver to that Wang Wenyan, but he didn't admit it, Wang Wenyan lost his conscience. Xiong Zhaoqi replied for his sister.

"Gave me money?" Xiong Zhaoqi's answer surprised Wei Bao.

"Well, we borrowed it from all over the place, and mortgaged all the mansions and land properties of our hometown, and we just scraped together the silver. My family still owes relatives 20,000 or 30,000 taels of silver, and I have borrowed more than 30 relatives, but I am afraid that I will not be able to repay this account in the future. Xiong Xin'er also said.

Wei Bao looked at Xiong Xin'er's innocent and beautiful face, he believed Xiong Xin'er's words.

Moreover, there are IOUs in arrears, and IOUs cannot be faked, indicating that the Xiong family has really paid this silver.

In fact, regarding Xiong Tingbi's case, Wei Bao secretly sent someone from the Statistics Department of the Heaven and Earth Society to check it, and he knew that ninety percent of it was given.

If the money is given, where does it go? No concrete results have been obtained so far.

Through the information obtained by the Statistics Bureau of the Heaven and Earth Society, Wei Bao also learned some information, and there was a vague outline.

At that time, Wei Zhongxian's attitude made the middleman Wang Wenyan lack self-confidence.

Because, for such a big thing, Wei Zhongxian may not dare to agree.

Officials can maintain their status by forming gangs and boasting about themselves, what can eunuchs rely on?

The only person Wei Zhongxian could rely on was the emperor.

Everything about the eunuchs is maintained on the emperor's likes and dislikes, if the emperor likes Xiong Tingbi and doesn't want to ask Xiong Tingbi for his guilt, it's easy to say anything, if the emperor hates Xiong Tingbi, then Xiong Tingbi has a dead end, and he can't hold the silver, and he will lose everything at that time.

Therefore, if Wei Zhongxian is sure that the emperor hates Xiong Tingbi, it is estimated that he will not dare to say good things for Xiong Tingbi on the cusp.

Secondly, Wei Zhongxian's influence at that time also made the middleman Wang Wenyan lack self-confidence.

Looking at one thing, we must refer to the time background of the matter itself, in the second year of the Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian had not yet become the governor of Dongchang.

Although Wei Zhongxian was a close confidant of the emperor at that time, Wei Zhongxian's influence at that time should not have made people very confident.

In this context, Wei Bao estimated that Wang Wenyan would find another way.

In this case, why did Wang Wenyan follow Wei Zhongxian's path in the first place?

Wei Bao guessed that the main reason was because Xiong Tingbi already knew that the main crux was the emperor, and the emperor was unwilling to forgive Xiong Tingbi, so only by bribing the cronies around the emperor could he have a chance to change the emperor's attitude.

Otherwise, the emperor was unwilling to forgive Xiong Tingbi, and Xiong Tingbi's crime was there, and no one could save Xiong Tingbi.

I don't know if it's Wang Wenyan, or Xiong Tingbi may feel that if you want to change the emperor's attitude, you don't necessarily have to go through the emperor's cronies, but you should also be able to pass public opinion.

People all over the world say that Xiong Tingbi is not guilty, and if Xiong Tingbi is guilty and not punished, the emperor is not so easy to kill Xiong Tingbi.

And when it comes to manipulating public opinion, the Donglin Party is a good hand.

Now after receiving the affirmative reply from Xiong Zhaoqi and Xiong Xin'er's brothers and sisters, although Wei Bao is guessing, he feels that this guess should not be far from the truth.

Wei Bao must understand the truth and process of the facts before he can think about how to proceed.

If it weren't for Xiong Xin'er's good looks, Wei Bao really wouldn't have bothered with this kind of brain, how many brain cells would it take?

Judging from the original verdict, Xiong Tingbi must have been a capital crime.

Moreover, Xiong Tingbi's family operated with 40,000 taels of silver, which also proved that the Ming Dynasty originally wanted to kill Xiong Tingbi.

The problem is that in the end, Xiong Tingbi was successfully put alive.

This can also prove that there are indeed people who have gone through some operations behind the scenes.

And it worked, so it didn't necessarily mean that Wang Wenyan really swallowed 40,000 taels of silver, Wang Wenyan was likely to give this silver to a powerful person, and he Wang Wenyan was inconvenient to tell the truth in order to protect this character.

For an official of Xiong Tingbi's level, as long as he does not die, he will have a chance to turn over.

Everything is obvious, as long as the emperor remembers to use him, he can atone for his crimes.

However, the emperor never seemed to have the intention of reusing Xiong Tingbi again, so Xiong Tingbi naturally had no chance to turn over again.

Later, when Wei Zhongxian wanted to attack the Donglin Party in an all-round way, he found that Xiong Tingbi was a better breakthrough.

Therefore, Wang Wenyan was arrested again at that time.

Because, Wang Wenyan acted as a middleman and took a huge amount of money to operate for Xiong Tingbi, many people know that it is an ironclad matter.

In other words, the person who tried the case could directly tell Wang Wenyan that three years ago, you bribed Gonggong Wei with 40,000 taels of silver, and Gonggong Wei was upright, so he didn't accept your silver.

Now the question is, who did you spend your 40,000 taels of silver later?

Wang Wenyan couldn't deny this kind of questioning, because he had taken money and bribed Wei Zhongxian's house.

The only chance now is that this money is just something promised by white teeth, and Wei Zhongxian has never seen the real thing.

In this context, whoever is in Wang Wenyan's position will naturally say that the 40,000 taels of silver is just a number, and he has never seen this silver.

And it is impossible for Xiong Tingbi's family to have such a large sum of silver, so no one has ever received this silver.

In other words, in order to save Xiong Tingbi, Wang Wenyan made up a few lies, isn't it a big crime?

In this context, Wang Wenyan insisted that he had never seen the 40,000 taels of silver, and the 40,000 taels of silver he promised to Wei Zhongxian at the beginning, he himself was fooled by Xiong Tingbi, or he went to fool Wei Zhongxian in order to save Xiong Tingbi.

All in all, it's not a big sin to fool people, is it?

When Wei Zhongxian asked Wang Yan to bite the Donglin boss, Wang Wenyan naturally wouldn't bite indiscriminately, because even if Wang Wenyan was not a hardcore Donglin Party, he had already boarded the ship of the Donglin Party.

In addition, if Wang Wenyan confessed that he took 40,000 taels of silver and bribed people everywhere, as long as this kind of thing is brought to the table, it is also a capital crime.

If he had made up his mind, he had just empty white teeth back then, and he had fooled Wei Zhongxian with 40,000 taels of silver, which could not have been a capital crime from any point of view.

In the end, according to Wang Wenyan's confession, because he wanted to give this silver to Wei Zhongxian, but because Wei Zhongxian was honest and honest, refused to be corrupted and never touched, he gave this silver to several bigwigs of the Donglin Party.

Because the Donglin boss couldn't resist corruption like Wei Zhongxian, he actively operated for Xiong Tingbi after receiving the money, and finally let Xiong Tingbi escape death.

Is this testimony credible? Obviously not high. Because, Wang Wenyan was tried to death; The testimony in this context is naturally very unreliable.

But in any case, three things are certain.

Wang Wenyan once took 40,000 taels of silver to operate Xiong Tingbi; Because no one seems to have denied a fact.

In addition, now Wei Bao has clearly been confirmed from the Xiong family brothers and sisters.

Wei Zhongxian did not accept this kind of silver, because people said that it was because Wei Zhongxian did not see this silver that he wanted to kill Xiong Tingbi.

Xiong Tingbi did not die, because Xiong Tingbi was arrested and imprisoned at the beginning of the second year of the Apocalypse, and he did not die until the fifth year of the Apocalypse.

This series of connections can obviously prove one thing, someone must have received the 40,000 taels of silver, otherwise, Xiong Tingbi has no reason to turn the death penalty into a suspended death sentence.

Now the question is, who received the money?

Of course, if the previous inference can be established, it is a very simple matter to analyze who has received Xiong Tingbi's silver.

Even Wei Zhongxian didn't need to tell Zhu Youxiao the answer, Zhu Youxiao himself could judge it.

Everything is obvious, whoever actively defended Xiong Tingbi at a critical time back then was who received Xiong Tingbi's silver.

But who has the opportunity to go to the emperor to defend Xiong Tingbi?

This is something that offends Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian and Kebaba will definitely not allow this to happen.

Wang Wenyan's confession was based on Wang Wenyan's trial alive.

Therefore, the relevant testimony is very lacking in credibility.

However, if those Donglin bigwigs really defended Xiong Tingbi at a critical time, this testimony will have a certain degree of credibility.

Therefore, Wei Zhongxian dared to try Wang Wenyan to the death, because Wang Wenyan's testimony is not important, what matters is the facts behind this testimony.

At a critical time, the Donglin boss defended Xiong Tingbi and let Xiong Tingbi escape the capital crime.

Wang Wenyan once took 40,000 taels of silver to operate for Xiong Tingbi.

These two pieces are linked, which seems to prove that the Donglin boss has received Xiong Tingbi's silver.

Of course, this testimony is not enough to conclude that those Donglin bigwigs are guilty.

But it is enough to arrest these Donglin bigwigs as suspects first.

Wei Zhongxian started to fight the Donglin Party from Xiong Tingbi because Wang Wenyan had lobbied for Xiong Tingbi with 40,000 taels of silver, and he also went to Wei Zhongxian's house to lobby.

Based on the unspoken rules of officialdom at that time, Wang Wenyan's operation was actually a semi-open secret.

In this context, it is impossible to deny Wang Wenyan by using this kind of crime to rectify Wang Wenyan.

The key is that Wei Zhongxian did not accept this silver, who did you say this silver? If you say that this silver was collected by the Donglin boss, where else do you say the Donglin boss can run?

Therefore, Wei Zhongxian can only blame Xiong Tingbi for his bad life.

The so-called Xiong Tingbi is the Donglin Party, and it is Wei Zhongxian's attempt to rectify him, which is untenable, because Xiong Tingbi is the standard Qichu Zhejiang Party.

"When Tingbi was the imperial history, he was in the same way with Guojin and Zongwen, and he got along with each other, and he took Pai Donglin and Daoist as a thing." History of the Ming Dynasty, The Biography of Xiong Tingbi

The so-called Wei Zhongxian did not get the 40,000 taels of silver, so he was bent on killing Xiong Tingbi, which lacked credibility.

If it was because of the 40,000 taels of silver, why did Wei Zhongxian wait for three years?

Therefore, a more truth-oriented explanation is that after Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party fell into a life-and-death struggle, he found that starting with Xiong Tingbi was an excellent opportunity to attack the Donglin Party, so he turned the case over again.

Moreover, Wei Zhongxian has always regarded Xiong Tingbi as a big card in his hand, and he has to play it at a critical time.

Whether it is the inevitability of the development of history or the impetus of Wei Bao, now that the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple are controlled by Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian feels that the time is ripe, and it is time to do it to Yang Lian and other hardcore Donglin Party officials.

So, Xiong Tingbi, who escaped death in the second year of the Apocalypse, was suddenly pushed to the execution ground in the fifth year of the Apocalypse because of party disputes.

Yang Lian and others were also about to go to the guillotine, and from then on, until Chongzhen came to power, the Donglin Party could no longer do anything to launch a decent offensive against Wei Zhongxian.

Everything is already clear, but Wei Bao is still hesitant to help the Xiong family brothers and sisters, if he wants to help, how should he help?

Wei Bao felt that there was still room for operation in this matter, Xiong Tingbi was just a chess piece, and there was no conflict between himself and Wei Zhongxian.

And as the Qichu Zhejiang Party, almost all the Qichu Zhejiang Party is now under Wei Zhongxian's command, and from the old roots, Xiong Tingbi can even be regarded as Wei Zhongxian's descendants.

As long as it can ensure that the effect of striking at the Donglin Party and fighting Yang Lian and others remains unchanged, it will not be difficult to rescue Xiong Tingbi.

Thinking of this, Wei Bao said to the Xiong family brothers and sisters: "If I save Lord Xiong, will it do me any good?"

The brothers and sisters of the Xiong family were stunned, they didn't expect Wei Bao to ask like this.

Xiong Zhaoqi knelt down and kowtowed first, "If I can take my father's life, my father and I, all of our Xiong family, in this life and the next life, will be a cow and a horse for Lord Wei, and never regret it, I can vouch for my father, my father has always had the idea of living, otherwise he would not have asked the surnamed Wang to run around and bribe." ”

"If Lord Wei can save my father, I am willing to give Lord Wei a concubine as a slave." Xiong Xin'er also knelt down.

Wei Bao couldn't help but smile, and said indifferently: "You are very beautiful, and I also have a good impression of your brothers and sisters, otherwise I won't save you!" But if you want a few of you, it won't be of much use, if I want to rescue your father this time, I will have to spend a million taels of silver! Because your father has already been condemned to death, and he will be beheaded before the fall! ”

Xiong Xin'er and Xiong Zhaoqi both knew that Wei Bao was telling the truth, his father and their whole family together, where was it worth millions of taels of silver? Their family can't even make up 1,000 taels of silver now.

In fact, Xiong Xin'er and Xiong Zhaoqi have long had little hope for rescuing their father, but as children, filial piety is the first priority, but whenever there is a little opportunity, they must work hard.

Xiong Xin'er and Xiong Zhaoqi can't do anything now except cry on the ground, waiting to see what Wei Bao means, they know that among the people they know, as long as someone can save their father, it is the very young Wei in front of them, and besides this, they can no longer imagine that others have this kind of wisdom and ability.

Wei Bao secretly thought, rescue Xiong Tingbi, I can at least get the support of the Qichu Zhejiang Party, because Xiong Tingbi is the Qichu Zhejiang Party, which will greatly consolidate my position in the Wei family.

Even the Donglin Party must be impressed by me, a high-ranking official on death row can be rescued, in this world, how many things are more difficult than this?

This matter can make oneself gain the favor of the Qichu Zhejiang Party, can make oneself win the attention of the world, and can greatly enhance one's prestige.

Second, although he doesn't plan to take the traditional soldiers and horses of the imperial court, and he doesn't plan to put silver on the hands of those old soldiers, but there is a high-ranking official like Xiong Tingbi who is proficient in the art of war and has been an official for many years to stay by his side, and there is definitely a candidate for a high-level think tank.

Song Yingxing's cultural attainments are very good, he is also from a good background, and he is willing to follow him with all his heart, but after all, he has no experience as a high-ranking official, unlike Xiong Tingbi, who has been in the local area for many years, has been in the officialdom of the capital for many years, and has been in the border army for many years.

Xiong Tingbi has a bad temper and a bad personality, but it does not affect this person's role as a senior staff officer and senior consultant.

Although he has not been in contact with Xiong Tingbi, Wei Bao has already affirmed Xiong Tingbi's talent, a person with a poor personality and a bad temper, who even dares not to buy the emperor's holy decree and dare to drop the black gauze hat, this kind of person can be a high-ranking official of the first and second grades, doesn't it show that his own ability is strong?

Otherwise, in Xiong Tingbi's hands, why can't Jiannu move?

With Xiong Tingbi to help manage it, it can also make Wei Bao's presidential secretariat worry less about the defense of southern Liaoning and North Korea.

Besides, no matter how much money Wei Zhongxian bribed, he would be able to come back in the future!

Wei Bao has always regarded Wei Zhongxian as his piggy bank, no matter whether he can gain power in Chongzhen's hands, anyway, he has the first major credit for supporting Chongzhen to climb the dragon chair!

When the time comes, he, the number one hero, will definitely be able to smoothly receive Wei Zhongxian's wealth.

As for how much he can preserve the eunuch forces, it depends on his ability.

Thinking of this, Wei Bao said decisively: "For the sake of Miss Xin'er, why should I risk my life?" It's a pity that although I haven't married yet, there are already several girls who have made a lifelong promise for me. ”

After Wei Bao finished speaking, he felt that he was a little shameless and obscene, how could he say that in front of such a pure and lovely girl as Xiong Xin'er,

Xiong Xin'er hurriedly said: "I am willing to be a concubine for Lord Wei, if my father can't be rescued and his head is cut off, I will either commit suicide and go with my father, or be sold to be a singer, and the end will be miserable through hell." ”

After Xiong Xin'er finished speaking, her face blushed, this was her confession to Master Wei again, Xiong Xin'er knew that in fact, even if there was no such thing as a father, if her father was still a Liaodong Jingluo, she would also be willing to be a concubine for Wei Bao.

Wei Bao drank elixir, as if he had drunk honey, he took Xiong Xin'er up and let her stand beside him, if Xiong Zhaoqi was not present, Wei Bao wanted to hug this suffering beauty.

When a beautiful woman is in trouble, it is always easy to arouse the heroism of men.

Xiong Xin'er was held by Wei Bao's hand, her pink face turned even redder, her heart was pounding wildly, her whole body was hot, but she was very obedient.

After Wei Bao shook it, he didn't make a mistake, he immediately let go of Xiong Xin'er, and said to Xiong Zhaoqi: "Brother Xiong, get up, don't kneel." ”

"Thank you, Lord Wei, how does Lord Wei plan to rescue my father?" Although Wei Bao agreed, even if Xiong Zhaoqi didn't doubt Wei Bao's words, he had to doubt whether Wei Bao had such great power, because there were too many people who wanted to kill his father, Wei Zhongxian, Donglin Party, and some people his father had offended before, there were too many.

Moreover, rescuing his father is too much involved, and if the Wang family continues to make trouble and let his father go, they will definitely not agree, unless Wang Huazhen is also released.

In that case, who will bear the scourge of the war in Liaodong?

"Even if your father may not die, he will not escape the living crime. I'll say okay first, although I promised to help, but I'm not completely sure, don't blame me after I can't save Lord Xiong. Wei Bao said.

"As long as Master Wei is willing to rescue my father sincerely, no matter whether I can save it or not, I am Lord Wei's person, and this heart will never change, if I lose Lord Wei, I will be destroyed." Xiong Xin'er said firmly.

Xiong Zhaoqi also hurriedly said: "It's not that I don't believe in Lord Wei's character, if Lord Wei says it, he will definitely do it, I'm worried that this thing is too difficult, so I have this question, if you are guilty of Lord Wei, Lord Wei must not be like a layman like me." ’

"No, speak to me, although I don't like to beat around the bush." Wei Bao smiled: "If you want to save your father, you must first let your father bite the people of the Donglin Party, and there is no other way!" ”

"Huh?" Xiong Zhaoqi and Xiong Xin'er heard Wei Bao say this, and at the same time were shocked, although they didn't know which Donglin Party boss the 40,000 taels of silver given to Wang Wenyan ended up in the hands of the Donglin Party boss, but the two brothers and sisters knew very well that the silver must have been given to the Donglin Party boss, and the Donglin Party boss was not completely out of force, at least he saved his father's life for so long, so in terms of his father's affairs, the Donglin Party can also be regarded as kind to the Xiong family, and now in turn let his father bite the Donglin Party, which is very subversive of their three views.

"You think, Wei Zhongxian is going to use your father to drag a few important ministers of the Donglin Party into the water, if your father is willing to testify against the Donglin Party, won't he himself live? I'll help him operate it again, get a distribution, I'm now the chief official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple, this matter is not difficult, after a year and a half of the rumors have passed, I will let your father stay by my side as a follower, and this matter will be completely over. Wei Bao said: "When the time comes, I will try to take you to the prison of Fusi in Beizhen, and you yourself will say yes to Lord Xiong." ”

"Master Wei, who are you going to let my father bite?" Xiong Zhaoqi asked in fear.

"If you want to bite, bite the biggest, bite the Donglin Party ministers, Zhu Yanxi, Zhou Rupan and Ding Shaoshi." Wei Bao said indifferently.

Xiong Zhaoqi and Xiong Xin'er, the two siblings, were frightened by Wei Bao, in that case, Daddy would be the enemy of all the Donglin Party, and he would not want to reverse it in this life.

"Master Wei, the Donglin Party is powerful, if I offend them, I'm afraid that even if my father can escape the death penalty, he won't live long in the future, which is tantamount to taking chestnuts in the fire." Xiong Zhaoqi was embarrassed.

"With me to protect your father, you can rest assured! The Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple are now in my charge, who dares to secretly poison them? When the time comes, I will send your father to Liaonan, and Liaonan is my territory! Infallible. Wei Bao said confidently: "This is the only way, do you want your father to die immediately, or do you want your father to live?" ”

"Brother, don't say it, just do what Master Wei said, besides, I have to see my father about this matter, and my father will have an idea himself." Xiong Xin'er has more ideas than Xiong Zhaoqi.