Wei Dingguo took over a thick account book, he opened the first page, and the first line of words jumped into was: On December 24, the eleventh year of Chengping, Lingzhou Zhang Tai was given a New Year's gift, five hundred taels of silver, and a pair of gold ingots.

Then look down, all the records of gifts to officials at all levels, up to the important members of the imperial court, down to the small officials of the state government, more than thousands, less than fifty or twenty taels, and so on. When he boarded, Wei Dingguo stood stupidly holding the account book, at a loss.

By dawn, Zengtou City had all fallen into the hands of Liangshan Manor, Gu Haotian left the 7th Cavalry Battalion outside the village to block the roads, and recalled the 8th Cavalry Battalion back to the village to patrol the market with the 1st battalion and guard the four gates. He also sent people to inform Lin Chong, Wu Yong, and others who stayed in the old camp, and asked them to lead people to transfer the officers and soldiers to the Zengtou City barracks.

At the beginning of the day, Lin Chong and others came to Zeng's house, Gu Haotian brought Shi Wengong to meet, and the two brothers held hands and looked at each other. Later, Zhou Yunqing and Luan Tingyu also came in one after another, and the brothers rarely saw each other, and they were all full of emotion.

As the battalion commanders gathered in the Zeng family compound, the relevant battle situation was also summarized. Ji Sheng led a battalion of infantry to attack the barracks, and happened to meet Zeng Kui, who went to transfer troops, and cleaned him up with an axe, and nearly a thousand captured Zhuang Ding are now all in the barracks. Wu Song's eighth battalion of infantry attacked the storehouse, but it also encountered some resistance. Zhou Yunqing seized the four gates, and it was also smooth. Ma Xun and Li Kui attacked Zeng's family, although there was some resistance, but there was not much trouble.

Gu Haotian sat in the hall of Zeng's house and listened to the audience for a long time, but he always felt that something was missing, and he was trying his best to recall it. Wu Yong, who only listened, reminded on the side that the five tigers of the Zeng family missed one tiger. He suddenly remembered that Zeng Mi, who had been unarmed by Lu Fang, was gone. immediately asked Xu Guanzhong to take someone to interrogate Zeng Nong, and then learned that after this Zeng Mi was injured, there was no good doctor in the village, so he was sent to the Daimyo's Mansion through the tunnel for treatment on the same day.

It doesn't matter if he slips away a remnant tiger, Gu Haotian didn't take it to heart, and immediately ordered Xiao Jiasui to take the eighth battalion of infantry to take inventory of the warehouse, ordered Wu Yong and the first battalion of infantry to clean up the prisoners, and ordered the sixth battalion of Ma Xian to guard the Zeng family compound, and the first and eighth battalions of cavalry to patrol the city to maintain law and order and guard the walled gate. He and Xu Guanzhong, Lin Chong and others went to see Shan Tinggui who was arrested the day before yesterday.

Let's say that in the two days that Shan Tinggui was arrested, in addition to being restricted in his movements, he was also subjected to some kind of abuse. In the morning, he followed Lin Chong and others into Zengtou City, and temporarily entered a house of the Zeng family. When a few people came in, he was sitting there stunned, not knowing what to think.

Gu Haotian sat opposite him and said sincerely: "The grievances of the single group have been practiced in the past two days, just because Zengtou City has not been broken, and some things have not yet been completely decided. ”

"The winner is the king, the loser is Kou, Zengtou City has fallen into your hands, what truth is not up to you to say, just say it! When to take my head, I'll wait! ”

Shan Tinggui didn't appreciate it, he squinted at the people in front of him, and his tone was cold.

"It seems that you will not believe me when I say it, so I will ask someone you believe in to talk to you."

Seeing that Shan Tinggui had a blunt attitude and couldn't communicate for a while, Gu Haotian thought that instead of saying it himself, it would be better to let a more suitable person come, so a few people temporarily withdrew.

Shan Tinggui thought that it would take a lot of speech, but he didn't expect this person to simply retreat, and he was a little puzzled. When he was surprised, he suddenly saw another person coming in from outside, and when he looked closely, he was startled, and then exclaimed:

"Brother Dingguo, why are you here!"

"It's a long story, but the cause is all on my brother."

When Wei Dingguo came, he was not surprised when he was told who he saw, so he went from sending troops to defeating and then entering the village, from the beginning to the beginning.

"Say! Is this Zengtou City indeed a den of the Jurchens? The Zeng family is also innocent? ”

Shan Tinggui didn't seem to believe his ears when he heard this, and asked repeatedly.

"There will be no mistake, even if the bribery account books and correspondence can be faked, but the map of mountains and rivers and the Jurchen armor cannot be made for a while. All of this is what I have seen with my own eyes, and it is shocking! Then, the two sat opposite each other in a daze, not knowing what to think. After a long time, Wei Dingguo opened his mouth first.

"Brother Tingwe, what are your plans next?"

"What can the prisoner at the bottom of the next step do, let it be!"

"This ancient petty official is not an ordinary person, if he wants to put you and me to death, why should he be so troublesome, wouldn't it be simple to cut it in two."

"What does Brother Dingguo think he means?"

"I don't dare to conclude at the moment, it's better to ask him to let me go back and see how he replies, or know a thing or two."

"As my brother wills."

At that moment, the two had a plan, and Wei Dingguo notified the guards outside the door and asked Gu Haotian to meet.

Not long after Gu Haotian and the others were in the room on the side, they saw the guards coming to report, and several people came back with them.

"Little official, the Lingzhou government was deceived by the Zeng family and fought with your manor, and now the truth of the matter in Zengtou City has been revealed, please allow my brothers to go back to Lingzhou to explain the facts to Mrs. Zhang and eliminate misunderstandings."

When Wei Dingguo saw Gu Haotian coming in, he immediately got up and said.

"Zhang Taishou! Will Zhang Taishou dispel the misunderstanding of me, the "thief crown"? He has such a close relationship with the Zeng family, I'm afraid he will have to avenge them? Gu Haotian sneered coldly.

Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui were ashamed when they heard this, thinking of the dense bribery records of Mrs. Zhang in the Zeng family's account book, the two only felt that their faces were hot, and they were embarrassed to speak anymore. But just when the two of them felt hopeless, they heard the young man in front of them say:

"If the two regimental training envoys really want to go back, it is inconvenient for me to stop them, but all the affairs of Zengtou City will be handled by my manor, I hope the two of you will not interfere again."

The two of them were overjoyed when they heard it, as for Zengtou City, which they had worked hard to build, and it was a foreign spy, it was naturally to be dealt with by them, and Wei Dingguo promised at the moment:

"Zengtou City was captured by your manor, and you should put away the evidence of the crime and hand it over to the court for credit, and we will never interfere."

Shan Tinggui sat on the side and didn't speak, and when he saw that this young man generously released his "prisoner of war", he couldn't help but feel grateful. But when I thought of 2,000 people coming out, I felt that I had no face to go back, but I wanted to ask my subordinates to go home together, but it was difficult to speak, and I was entangled for a while.

"If you have any thoughts about the single group training envoy, you might as well say it directly."

When Shan Tinggui was in a dilemma, Gu Haotian, who was listening, spoke, he looked up, and saw this young man looking at him with a smile, without a trace of contempt, and couldn't help but pluck up his courage and said:

"There are still more than 1,000 subordinates below, who came to your army with me that day, I don't know if it's okay? Can you ......?"

"It's okay, just bring it back."

Before Shan Tinggui's words were finished, the young man who listened to him had already agreed, he was suddenly stunned, and immediately a warmth rose in his heart, and then he stood up, saluted respectfully, and said sincerely:

"The name of the jade face Meng is well deserved! There are many offenses before going down, and I hope that the petty officials will bear more. ”

"I didn't know each other before, and the two armies faced each other, so what's the offense, the two of them can go to the barracks in Zengtou City at any time to lead people."

Gu Haotian said that, he called Bian Xiang and asked him to lead the two of them over, and Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui thanked him again and again before leaving.

In the Lingzhou Mansion, Zhang Taishou discussed with his master a solution to Zengtou City with a gloomy face, and he sent troops to fight against thieves twice in the past few days, but he didn't expect that the two capable generals actually surrendered to the enemy one after another, which made him resentful. However, there were no more elite soldiers to send in this state, and he was thinking of sending an official document to transfer troops from other states to arrest these two traitors and bring them to justice, so as to dissipate his anger.

However, just as he was about to write, he heard a report from outside that the two generals, Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui, had returned to the city with their troops. Zhang Taishou was taken aback, and thought that he had misheard. Later, another subordinate official came to report that the two generals had entered the barracks and were coming to the palace. Only then did he dare to believe it, but he was confused again, the surrender of this rumor all over the city was not fake! Momentarily confused.

Later, Zhang Taishou met with Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui in the mansion, and he asked coldly:

"What can you gain from fighting for many days?"

"Don't hide it, we have no victory or defeat in the two-day confrontation with Liangshan Manor, but today we found out a shocking news, hurry back and report it."

"What's amazing?"

"That Zeng Tou City, the Zeng family, but the Jurchen spies!"

"Nonsense, although the Zeng family is from the north, they have always kept to themselves, and when did they become Jurchen spies!"

When Zhang Taishou saw it, he immediately opened his mouth and scolded.

"Don't dare to deceive Taishou, we really have conclusive evidence."

After that, Wei Dingguo said all kinds of physical evidence seen in the Zeng family's secret vault, and said that the relevant evidence was all in the barracks, and someone could send it to present.

"Where did you get the evidence?"

Zhang Taishou seemed to think of something and asked nervously.

"Last night, the Liangshan army invaded Zengtou City, and in the early hours of the morning, he intercepted the rear army with two people in the single regiment, and got several truckloads of supplies, which were all of them."

When Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui left Zengtou City, they specially asked for some evidence, in order to deal with Zhang Taishou, and at this time, they really used the pie.

There is such a thing! Zhang Taishou was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but he saw that his face was cloudy and uncertain, and he didn't know what to think.

"The spies reported that the two regimental training envoys surrendered the Liangshan bandits, but I don't know the truth?" At this time, the master on the side suddenly asked in a gloomy voice.

Zhang Taishou seemed to wake up all of a sudden, and then said coldly: "How do you explain this matter?" ”

"The so-called surrender is all rumors, General Shan was just besieged by the people of Liangshan, and he was released when he arrived."

This excuse was also discussed by the two on the road, so Wei Dingguo said it effortlessly.

Zhang Taishou listened but was noncommittal, he pondered for a while and then ordered the two of them to go back and release the physical evidence of the Zeng family to the state office, as for the rights and wrongs before the battle, they will be found out later.

Let's say that after Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui left, Zhang Taishou and his master had a secret discussion for a long time, and they both felt that if the Zeng family was indeed a spy of the Jin State, then his years of dealings with the Zeng family would definitely leave flaws, so it was better to take action first to get rid of the two scourges.

That night, the evidence of the Zeng family was sent to the state government, and Zhang Taishou and the master personally inspected it, but there was no evidence involving their own family, but they were still uneasy, thinking that it must be Wei and Shan who kept it privately to protect themselves, so they secretly discussed a poisonous plan.

At noon the next day, in order to celebrate the uprooting of the Jurchen dens in the territory, Zhang Taishou held a banquet in the state government to invite Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui, two heroes. After a few rounds of drinking, he suddenly said:

"This official asked several soldiers who went to Zengtou City yesterday, and they all said that General Shan had been defeated and captured, and General Wei had also entered the camp side by side with Liangshan Thief Guan, I don't know if what the two said yesterday to break the siege and relieve the siege and intercept and kill the rear camp is true?"

Wei Dingguo was alert when he saw that Zhang Taishou suddenly changed his tone, and immediately responded: "The soldiers below don't know the inside story, and what they say is not enough to believe. ”

"You still dare to quibble, you think that Ben Taishou has been an official for decades, and his eyes are blind and his ears are deaf!"

That Zhang Taishou suddenly became angry, only to see him slam the wine glass in his hand to the ground, and in an instant, a group of officials poured out of the wings on both sides, tying Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui into zongzi.

"These two people fornicated with the Liangshan thieves, the crime was extremely heinous, and they were put in prison under heavy flail, and they will be released from the capital tomorrow and the Shenda Imperial Court."

Zhang Taishou gave an order, and the group of officials didn't care how the two of them shouted grievances, and dragged them out.