"Wei Zheng is a recognized difficult guy, he will definitely investigate to the end, this matter is really troublesome." The elder of the second room, Cui Huang, the younger brother of the head of the family, Cui Yan, said worriedly.

Cui Jun, the elder of the third room and the cousin of the head of the family, Cui Yan, said disapprerovingly: "What's the big deal, are there still few such things in our clan, and there has been no accident when we come out." Wei Zheng is a foreigner, and he doesn't know anything about going to us, not to mention that he sent someone here, even if he himself came in person, what can he investigate? ”

He was right, the imperial court had also sent people to investigate the case about Cui's before, but no one who came dared to offend Cui's, and in the end they all took the benefits given by Cui's and went back to speak for Cui's.

Everyone talked about it, but they didn't pay much attention to the people sent by the imperial court to investigate.

Cui Yan, the head of the family, said: "The name of the person, the shadow of the tree. After all, Wei Zheng is different from other officials, and it is better to be cautious in this matter. ”

"The head of the family is right, I heard that Wei Zheng likes to make secret visits to investigate the case, if he sends someone to investigate, he will definitely adopt a clear and dark approach, and the officials he sent will contact us on the surface and secretly send people to collect our evidence." The person who said this was Gao Yi of Qinghe County, who was one of Dafangfang's sons-in-law.

This incident was provoked by the children of the third room, and the elder of the third room, Cui Jun, was a little embarrassed, and he said, "What is there to worry about? We are not afraid of open investigation, and we are even less afraid of secret visits, the entire Qinghe City is our people from top to bottom, and strangers will be stared at immediately, what can they find out? Once you find out that strangers are looking for trouble, just get rid of them. ”

In the past, Hebei Province sent people to investigate the cases of the Cui clan, but they were either stopped outside Qinghe City, or they disappeared inexplicably.

Qinghe County Ling Gao Yi said: "Third Elder, Wei Zheng is different from ordinary people, once he gets the evidence, with Wei Zheng's character, he must be dealt with severely, this person does not eat soft and hard, and oil and salt do not enter." He is the supervisor of the imperial history, the official of the imperial court, we can't kill him too, right? ”

Cui Jun, the elder of the third room, said unconvinced: "Could it be that he Wei Zheng will come in person?" If he goes to make an unannounced visit in person, no one knows his identity, where he died, and who can know? ”

Cui Yan, the head of the family, said: "Okay, don't argue anymore. We must be careful about this matter, everyone will arrange it, and we must be careful not to cause new chaos in all recent activities. Each family should check the accounts so that no one can see the problem on the surface. Also, be sure to watch out for strangers. If you find a stranger, keep an eye on them, confirm their identity, and don't act rashly. After all, they were people sent directly by the imperial court, and if they died here, they might anger the imperial court and cause even more trouble. ”

Speaking of this, he raised his voice and said, "Do you understand?" ”

Everyone said in unison, "I understand." ”

After everyone left, Cui Huang, the elder of the second room, said: "Big brother, my eyelids have been jumping recently, and I always feel that something is wrong. ”

Cui Yan said: "What you said makes sense, our Cui family, as the largest family in the world, has always been a thorn in the side of today's one, always wanting to attack us, so that their Li family can monopolize the world." Although we are not afraid of him, it is better to be careful, second brother, you are careful, you have to take a lot of trouble these days, go around, and don't leave any loopholes. ”

"Yes, big brother, I will." Cui Huang said.

The Cui clan's power is not only in Chang'an and Beizhou, the branches and vines on their big vine are almost all over the country.

Jizhou.

A large number of case-handling personnel from the imperial court gathered in Jizhou, although they all went in makeup, but so many people with foreign accents appeared in Jizhou, and it was inevitable that they would be noticed by those who were interested.

A brother of Cui's distant house overheard the conversation of some outsiders and found that they were all from the government, and this time he came to Jizhou to target the Cui family of Qinghe. In the Qinghe Cui clan, he is just a marginal little person, and he has never even seen the face of the head of the family. After he heard the news, he thought that this was an opportunity to make meritorious contributions, if the family could get the news and avoid the catastrophe of the Cui family, he would definitely be rewarded by the head of the family, and maybe he would be able to get the favor of the family from now on, and maybe he would become a person with status in the clan.

So, he hurriedly came to Qinghe County to report to the head of the family, Cui Yan really rewarded him, saying that after this incident, he would arrange a better position for him in the clan.

At this time, Wang Huairen, a servant of the Criminal Department, began to go to Qinghe County with the case-handling personnel, and Hou Junji's army and the Eastern Expeditionary Army also approached Beizhou.

After Cui Yan and the others got the news, they hurriedly convened the elders of the clan again to study countermeasures, they didn't know about the army sent by the imperial court, and thought that it was just Wei Zheng making trouble, so they sent some case-handling personnel from all over the country to secretly investigate.

After discussing for a long time, everyone decided to send Cui Huang, the elder of the second room, to Chang'an with a large amount of property to find Cui Zixuan, the provincial servant of the Menxia Province, and let him operate in the court, and at the same time strengthen the guard in Qinghe County to prevent outsiders from entering.

Outside the city of Beizhou, Zhichong House.

Wang Yi, the governor of Zhichong Prefecture, is also the son-in-law of the Cui side branch, he was born in a poor family, and has always envied the power of the Cui clan in Qinghe, he tried his best to get closer to them, and finally married a widow of the Cui side branch as he wished, and became a member of the Cui clan system in Qinghe, but originally the Cui clan looked down on the military people, thinking that they were vulgar fighting men, although he was a member of the fourth grade of the imperial court, he still had no status in the Qinghe Cui clan, and he was not allowed to participate even in the clan sacrifices.

He is a person from the Qinghe Cui clan in the eyes of outsiders, and an outsider in the eyes of the Qinghe Cui clan.

On this day, two officers came to Zhichong Mansion, they showed the documents of the Ministry of War, and asked him to take the main officers of Zhichong Mansion to see Hou Junji, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and several people did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly left the barracks and came to Hou Junji's temporary camp.

Before seeing Hou Junji again, they saw that both sides of the highway were full of Tang troops wearing helmets and armor, numbering no less than 10,000 people, they had not heard of any major events in the imperial court, and they did not understand why such an army appeared here.

What happened next, made Wang Yi, the governor of Zhichong Mansion, want to cry without tears, he finally got the light of the Qinghe Cui clan and was dismissed, and the post of governor was temporarily represented by someone sent by Hou Junji.

After controlling the military power in the Beizhou area, Hou Junji waved his army to control the city of Beizhou, and then the army directed towards Qinghe County.

That night, the Third and Fourth Armies of Sun Yongsheng and Xiang Donglei of the Eastern Expeditionary Army surrounded Qinghe County from the northeast of Qinghe County, and Hou Junji's troops surrounded Qinghe County from the southwest.

Hou Junji did not enter the city immediately, he was waiting for the arrival of Wei Zheng.

Wang Huairen arrived with the case-handling personnel, and they immediately launched an investigation in the surrounding areas of the county seat.