Lu Zhen fell into a deep groan again, and only said after a while: "It turns out that there is such a hidden relationship during the flood?" It is precisely because you have doubts about this matter that you keep silent, neither letting the people know the truth, nor daring to report the truth to the court? Because in your opinion, it is very likely that the prefect of Bao and other state and county officials did it? ”

Several officials looked at each other for a moment, but did not speak. But sometimes silence is also an attitude, representing acquiescence. And after understanding this, the faces of the Jinyi guards, including Lu Jin, became a little unsightly, and the courage of these local officials was too great, this is more than a hundred lives, and they actually gave up just like that?

Wang Ningxian then said: "Actually, the lower officials and others originally planned to report this matter truthfully, especially when the imperial court sent a messenger to investigate afterwards, and we even told them the inside story. Results...... They were also indignant at that time, and promised to give justice to the officials and the people, but after they went to Kaifeng Fucheng, they disappeared. I'm afraid they were persuaded by the prefect Bao, and even someone sent a note to the lower officials and others later, if we dare to make trouble again, the relevant charges will have to fall on us. The lower officials and other officials are soft-spoken, how can they argue with the dignified prefect, so in the end, they can only ......" said, and sighed.

When they looked at the others, their faces were also full of sadness, obviously these people have also been conflicted and aggrieved in the past few months, and it is a kind of catharsis to finally be able to tell the truth at this time.

Lu Jin's eyes drooped slightly, and the glint in his eyes flickered more and more intensely: "Do you know that not long after these imperial court envoys returned to Beijing, they were transferred from their original posts one after another, and even one official died suddenly. ”

"Huh? Is there such a thing? Several officials were suddenly a little dumbfounded, and said with confusion: "What the hell is going on?" This has nothing to do with the lower officials and the others......

"Haven't you seen what's hidden in this matter yet? Do you really think that he Bao Yugang can cover the sky with one hand as soon as he is the prefect, perfunctory such a big thing, and even let the imperial court have to cover it up? Lu Zhen suddenly threw out such a sentence, which surprised everyone: "What do you mean by this, that there are other people involved in this matter?" ”

"Yes, Bao Yugang is just a puppet who was pushed to the forefront, and there are actually other people who really control all this. I think you should be able to guess the identity of this person, after all, in the Kaifeng realm, there are not many people who can make a prefect obedient. ”

"What do you mean by an adult...... King Zhou? Everyone finally understood, but when the mystery was revealed, they were still a little trembling. If this is the case, this time the matter will be more difficult to deal with, the status of the king of Zhou is much higher than that of a prefect, and they feel uneasy as long as they think that they will be enemies.

Lu Zhen looked at them: "If it weren't for him, how could those imperial court envoys go to protect an irrelevant local prefect?" Even if some of them have a good relationship with that Bao Yugang, the others are not so easy to buy. As for transferring the relevant people from their original positions in order to ensure secrecy afterwards, it is not something that he can do as a five-grade prefect. As he spoke, his heart suddenly moved again, as if this was not even something that King Zhou could do.

Don't look at the transcendent status of King Zhou in Kaifeng City, it seems to be lawless, but in fact, the king of the Ming Dynasty has always had a low status in the court, and they are completely marginal people without real power. But this time, those officials were actually transferred from their original posts, and the problems involved are too worthy of deep thought.

Thinking of the fact that the Son of Heaven has not urged him to report the relevant inside information in the past few months, it seems that he has forgotten about this matter, and a not very good conclusion has emerged from Lu Jin's heart - I am afraid that the Son of Heaven has already known the truth of the matter, and it was he who instructed the people below to transfer the relevant officials. As for its purpose, it is naturally to maintain the face of the Heavenly Family, after all, King Zhou is also a member of his old Zhu family.

Thinking about it like this, Lu Jin's heart became more and more uncomfortable, this is a way to reverse black and white and disregard people's lives. Can't you imagine that today's Zhu Qiyu has finally embarked on such a road?

But even if he knew this, Lu Zhen did not give up on tracking down the truth of this matter, after all, hundreds of lives were at stake, not to mention that his own subordinates lost their lives because of this, no matter what, he had to give these people justice.

So after some muttering, he continued: "In addition, in fact, there is another suspicion in this case that also points to King Zhou. That is the identity and motivation of Zhu Xuan and Gong Chen. ”

"Are these two really sent by the Zhou Palace?" Several officials asked with some heaviness.

Lu Zhen nodded lightly: "This can already be confirmed, and that Gong Chen has almost defaulted before." Have you ever thought about why the Zhou Wangfu sent two house slaves to Xingze County as grain merchants a few years ago? And after this flood, they actually took the opportunity to swallow up the land of the victims. ”

"This ......" Several officials hadn't thought about it in detail, but now that they were reminded by Lu Jin, they came up with some of these problems - if Zhou Wangfu wanted to make money, with his identity, he had other means, why should he let people be grain merchants in such a small place, this is not normal in itself. It would be even more outrageous to say that he could make a lot of money because he knew that there was a flood, how could such a disaster be waited for at will, unless it was man-made! Thinking about it this way, his intentions are obvious, it is obvious that King Zhou has been fighting the idea of the land in this county for a long time, so he has sent his subordinates to pretend to be grain merchants early, and instructed them to force the victims to sell their land during this famine!

This may sound ridiculous, but it's clearly the most plausible explanation for this matter today. This can also explain why the city has not allocated disaster relief food, which is simply because the king of Zhou is hindering it, so that the prefect does not dare to support the county.

At this time, Ding Le suddenly sighed again: "I remembered." Just the year before last, Zhu Xuan wanted to use means to forcibly buy a piece of land in the city, but he was denounced. It was still the case I tried, and although he lost the case in the end, he put down his words at that time, saying that one day the land would fall into his hands. At that time, I didn't take it too seriously, but now it seems that in fact, Zhou Wangfu was fighting my idea of Xingze County land as early as the beginning. ”

After hearing this, Lu Zhen became more and more convinced of his guess: "That's it." It was precisely because of the repeated failures of the previous plan, coupled with the sudden flooding of the Yellow River this time, that the people of the Zhou Wangfu would make up their minds and suddenly use such despicable means. In order to take advantage of the land in this county. For this reason, they even did not hesitate to force countless innocent people into the Jedi! ”

"Do you mean to say...... Even the embankment was destroyed by them? After Wang Ningxian said this, even him, everyone slammed into a swoop, this speculation is too appalling, once it is true, this matter is too big.

Lu Zhen narrowed his eyes: "My people have already found out before, this embankment is indeed man-made, and it is a gap that has been blown up by someone with gunpowder. ”

"What?" Everyone exclaimed again, gunpowder is a strictly forbidden thing in the imperial court, and using this act of blowing up the river embankment is equivalent to rebellion.

Lu Zhen ignored their fierce reactions, and continued to follow his train of thought: "At that time, I was still speculating about who had such great ability and courage to use gunpowder. Originally, I suspected that it was the resurgence of the White Lotus Sect, but now it can be inferred that it was the people of the Zhou Wangfu who did it. The purpose is naturally to be able to take the land of the people at a lower cost. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall took a breath of cool air, as long as they thought that King Zhou had used such a vicious method, he did not hesitate to make hundreds of people homeless and let many innocent people die in the flood, and he was just for his own selfish desires, in order to seize the land, it made people shudder.

But when you think about it, it's reasonable. Because a person with a noble status like King Zhou who does not know the sufferings of the people will never take the disasters and life and death of ordinary people seriously. Even in his eyes, these affected people are not much different from ants, and if they die, they will die, so what impact can they have on him?

This realization made the atmosphere in the hall suddenly become depressed and solemn, and many people's faces became extremely ugly, both angry, worried, and more dazed...... Even if things are really as Lu Zhen speculated, what can be done? The other party is the hereditary King of Zhou, the uncle of the Son of Heaven who was crowned by Emperor Taizu and has a transcendent status, can the court still condemn him for this matter?

As Lu Zhen had guessed before, even if the Son of Heaven really knew about this, what he could do was to cover up the truth, so as not to ruin the reputation of the imperial court, right?

Subsequently, Ding Le even raised an extremely realistic question: "My lord, even if your speculations are true, it is difficult to convict them in the court." Even if we don't mention the identity of King Zhou Chitose, these are just our guesses, and we can't come up with any empirical evidence at all. ”

yes, that's the crux of the matter. Even if they have the heart to redress their grievances, they can withstand the pressure, but where is the evidence? Thinking about it this way, many people are depressed, and things are still difficult to do.

Lu Zhen did not show discouragement because of this, and even smiled a little firmly: "Since I dare to show my identity to meddle in this matter, it is naturally because I have a certain degree of certainty." The evidence may not have been found, but the witnesses are! ”