The next day, when the morning dawn first appeared, the first faint golden light spread on the towering city wall of Jincheng County, Zhang Huan and his wife and children appeared on the official road a mile away from Jincheng County under the escort of eight hundred iron horsemen. ”

"I heard the old man say that the abnormal weather is a manifestation of a military disaster, maybe this reflects the battle of Hehuang."

Zhang Huan slowed down his horse and walked with the carriage, and he smiled slightly: "Did you forget it so quickly?" The river did not freeze that winter, and the result was not an invasion of the Hui Hui? ”

Pei Ying glanced at him, "Of course I haven't forgotten, when I was on a boat in Longxi County that winter, there was a scoundrel who took my boat and fought with my men with a knife." ”

Zhang Huan laughed, "Isn't the result of the fight just that you have an extra son under your knees?" ”

His voice was slightly louder, and several pro-soldiers next to him had tense faces, but they were desperately holding back their laughter, Pei Ying blushed, glared at her husband fiercely, and closed the car curtain with a brush, and after a while, she opened the car curtain again, and smiled at Zhang Huan: "What if I return to Beijing this time and meet a person who wants to take a boat in Longxi County?" ”

"Huh! That Lao Zhang had to marry another bride and be a groom again. ”

"You dare!" Pei Ying said in a low voice.

Zhang Huan looked up to the sky and smiled, clamped his legs, and sped up the horse's speed, Pei Ying looked at her husband's back and shook her head helplessly.

At this moment, the speed of the team's progress suddenly slowed down. Zhang Huan rode to the front and asked:

"What's going on?"

Lin Jiuhan pointed to the fork in front, "A team of cavalry came from the east, it seems that someone is coming to report." ”

Zhang Huan saw that a group of cavalry from the east was stopping on the side of the road, with several carriages in it, and a horse was rushing towards this side, and when he got closer, he suddenly recognized that it was the guards he had sent to Kaiyang County to pick up Master Lin's mother, and was it the master in the carriage in front of him?

The guards rushed closer, and immediately saluted Zhang Huan and said, "Report to the governor." The subordinates have already brought Mrs. Lin in. ”

Zhang Huan nodded, turned around and instructed Lin Jiuhan, "You tell Madame." I told her to bring the child over and meet my wife. ”

After speaking. He galloped to his wife's carriage, at this time Yang Yuniang had already gotten off the carriage and was looking at Zhang Huan sadly, Zhang Huan turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt on the ground, and wept: "The apprentice is here to ask for guilt to his wife!" ”

Yang Yuniang got the news that Lin Delong's father and son were killed in battle. She seemed to be ten years older all at once.

Her hair also turned gray, and she hurriedly helped Zhang Huan up. looked at him blankly for a long time, and suddenly hugged Zhang Huan's head and cried loudly, "Eighteen Lang." Your master is dead, your eldest brother Lin is dead, the soldiers are also killed in Shuzhong, the men in the family are dead, what should we do if we orphans and widows are left! ”

Zhang Huan's eyes were also red, and he hurriedly stood up and comforted her: "Don't worry, Senior Mother, Brother Lin's son is my son, and I will definitely take care of you." ”

At this time, Lin Zhiyu's wife pulled her son forward and pressed him to the ground, "Quick! Kowtow to your uncle. ”

Zhang Huan sighed, hugged Lin Zhiyu's son, and saw that he looked thin and weak, and his eyebrows and eyes looked quite like Lin Zhiyu, so he asked him, "What's your name?" ”

The child glanced back at his mother and said timidly, "My name is Lin Guo'er." ”

"And what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I want to get into the Jinshi."

Zhang Huan nodded, worthy of Lin Zhiyu's son, he took out a jade pendant from his arms, hung it on Lin Guo'er, and returned him to his wife: "I will ask Da Ru to teach this child, and I will definitely let him realize Brother Lin's long-cherished wish." ”

Yang Yuniang wiped away her tears, her eyes showed gratitude, she glanced behind Zhang Huandi, forced a smile and asked, "Is she your wife?" ”

Zhang Huan turned around and saw Pei Ying walking here with the child in her arms, so she nodded and smiled: "Yes!" What she is holding in her hand is my son, named Zhang Qi. ”

When Pei Ying approached, Zhang Huan introduced her: "Ying'er, this is my wife." ”

Pei Ying bowed to the courtesy, and waved her son's two little hands again, and said with a smile: "Give a salute to my grandmother!" ”

Yang Yuniang liked it, and hurriedly hugged Zhang Qi, nodded his nose lovingly, Pei Ying smiled: "I just take a carriage with my wife, talk about family life, and go to my house, Pingping is also there!" ”

Everyone got into the carriage, two teams of men and horses together, together to the city, the soldiers guarding the city saw the governor back to the city, hurriedly lined up to salute, Zhang Huan just walked into the city gate, from a distance to see a woman in red riding a horse, it was Lin Pingping, in the battle of Wuwei, she was also wounded by arrows, coupled with the grief of the death of her father and brother, the injury worsened, Cui Ning forced her to stay in the house to recuperate, now the injury has healed, I heard that my mother arrived, she rushed to greet.

When the mother and daughter met, they couldn't help but hug their heads and cry, Zhang Huan stood aside, at this time Pei Ying glanced at Zhang Huan, and gave her son to the nurse, and she quietly walked to him and said with a smile:

"Along the way, your master and mother told me a lot about your past, and I can hear that Pingping has liked you very much since he was a child, and now that his father and brother have died for you, should you give someone an explanation."

Zhang Huan shook his head, "I have regarded Pingping as a sister since I was a child, and I don't have that kind of affection for her." ”

"Feelings?" Pei Ying sneered, "Then do you have feelings for Yang Chunshui?" But after seeing it, I thought in my heart that your childhood sweetheart's sister has always been in love with you, and she still refuses to marry, but you don't care about it at all. ”

"Let's talk about it later" Zhang Huan knew his wife's thoughts, so he interrupted Pei Ying's words, "I don't have this mind now, and besides, I just lost my father." ”

At this time, Lin Pingping saw Zhang Huan, she walked over quickly and smiled at Pei Ying: "Is it good to borrow your husband?" ”

Pei Ying pursed her lips and smiled, "If you want it, I'll give him to you." ”

Lin Pingping smiled and pinched Pei Ying, then pulled Zhang Huan to the side, her smile disappeared in an instant, and she said coldly with a gloomy face: "Let me ask you something, can your local soldiers kill the people casually?" ”

Zhang Huan gently broke free of her hand, and said lightly: "I have always had strict military discipline, even if my own soldiers kill people. There must be a reason for it. ”

"Then you come with me!" Lin Pingping took out a famous thorn and stuffed it to him, then turned over and galloped towards the west of the city.

Zhang Huan looked at the place name thorn in his hand, this is his own name thorn, and the title on it is the governor of Liangzhou, which should be the place name thorn when he was in Wuwei, 'What's going on?' Zhang Huan pondered for a moment, and then said to Pei Ying: "You take your wife back first, and I'll go see what happened?" ”

He gave Lin Jiuhan a look, and Lin Jiuhan immediately led a hundred people to follow Zhang Huan and gallop westward.

"Governor, over there!" Lin Jiuhan pointed to a dilapidated city god temple. I saw Lin Pingping's body flash and enter the temple. Zhang Huan was just about to enter the temple, but Lin Jiuhan stopped him. "Governor, let me check it out first."

"No, Ping Ping won't have that heart." Zhang Huan said, and went straight into the temple, there were no doors and windows in the temple, it was very dilapidated, and several gables had collapsed. It can be seen that this is a ruined temple.

Turn into the main hall. I saw Ping Ping squatting on the ground, carefully changing the dressing of an injured person. There was also a young woman next to her, with a beautiful face, Zhang Huan faintly felt that he seemed to have seen her somewhere?

The woman was eating the bread that Ping Ping had brought. Suddenly, seeing a large group of soldiers pouring in, she was so frightened that she lost her face, and immediately hid behind Lin Pingping, Zhang Huan looked at the person lying on the ground, it was an old man about fifty years old, with his eyes closed, probably because of excessive blood loss, and his face was very sallow.

Zhang Huan also felt that he was very familiar, and after thinking about it again, he suddenly remembered, isn't this the farmer who built the waterwheel in Tianbao County? I gave him a famous thorn.

"What's going on?" Zhang Huan stepped forward and asked in a deep voice.

"Xiaocui, this is the Zhang Dudu you are looking for, what did you tell him about?" Lin Pingping stood up and flashed to the side.

Only then did the woman recognize Zhang Huan, and she hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, "The governor told us that if there is an official who oppresses us, we can complain to you, we came yesterday, but my father was cut by the soldiers guarding the door, thanks to Sister Pingping who saved us." ”

She thinks clearly, speaks very eloquently, and in a few words, everyone looks at each other, and her face changes greatly.

"Wait a minute." Zhang Huan interrupted her in surprise, "Do you mean that in front of my house, I was cut by the soldiers guarding the door?" ”

"Not in front of the governor's house, they told me and my father, the governor went to Beijing, not long after we left the house, there were two masked people catching up, without saying a word, raised a knife and slashed, father was slashed twice by them, father desperately pulled me to run, they saw that there were many people on the road, so they did not chase, and then father couldn't support it and fell, just met Sister Pingping."

His own soldiers actually coaxed them into Beijing by themselves, Zhang Huan vaguely understood something, and he asked again: "Since they are masked, how do you know that they are the ones guarding the door?" ”

"My father resisted them twice with a flat pole, and one of them had his face scarf off, and he was the soldier guarding the door."

Zhang Huan didn't say a word behind his back, and after a while, he suddenly asked coldly: "Who is the official you want to sue?" ”

The woman kowtowed, and said hatefully: "The official we want to sue is to bully our Hexi refugee officer, he used moldy rice for us to eat, we can all bear it, but he took a fancy to the beautiful woman, so he forced people to stay overnight, otherwise he would be driven out, he took a fancy to me, and my father took me out and came to the governor to complain." ”

"Do you know the officer's name?" Zhang Huan asked with a gloomy face.

The woman shook her head, "I don't know what his name is, but his subordinates all call him General Chen." ”

"Chen Ping!" Lin Jiuhan blurted out next to him, Chen Ping was ordered by Zhang Huan to be fully responsible for the resettlement of Hexi refugees, no wonder those pro-soldiers wanted to kill the father and daughter, Chen Ping was their head before.

"Go and bring me all the soldiers who were on duty in front of the mansion yesterday." Zhang Huan finally became angry, and his face was extremely pale.

In a moment, more than two dozen personal soldiers were brought in, and when they saw the scene in the main hall, two of them pounced! He fell to his knees, trembling and trembling.

"Excellent! He pleaded guilty without my interrogation. Zhang Huan walked over slowly, and said with a cold face: "You two are veterans who have followed me since Taiyuan, and it is precisely because I regard you as confidants that I fully trust you, but I didn't expect you to ruin my reputation behind my back." ”

The bodies of the two gradually stopped trembling, and they kowtowed a few times and said, "We are sorry for the governor, let the governor deal with the military law." ”

"I'll talk about what to do with you later, I'll ask you first. Why did you kill this father and daughter? ”

After hesitating for a long time, one of them sighed, "They want to sue Team Chen, we are confused for a while!" ”

Zhang Huan sneered, "I can't see that you are very righteous, come here!" ”

Five or six big men immediately stood up next to him, and Zhang Huan pointed to these two, "Each of them will beat a hundred military sticks and rush to Hehuang to raise horses." ”

"Thank you, Governor!" The two wept and kowtowed to Zhang Huan, and followed the executioner.

Lin Pingping next to him knew that Zhang Huan had spared them. She saw that Zhang Huan was angry, but she didn't dare to say anything. Just see how he deals with the culprit, at this time. Zhang Huan saw that the old man had woken up, so he squatted down and asked him, "Old man, how many people have escaped from Tianbao County?" ”

The old man shook his head, and said in a low voice: "None of them escaped, I took my daughter to Changsong County for a blind date, and I escaped, and my son also died in battle." ”

Zhang Huan felt sad in his heart. He stood up. Pointing to the father and daughter, he said to the soldiers: "Take them down to heal their wounds well, and they will be compensated according to the standards of military families." Then another ten acres of land will be set aside from my name for them. ”

Several pro-soldiers agreed and carried the old man out, and Zhang Huan glanced at Lin Pingping. "You go with them! How I deal with my subordinates is a matter in the army, so don't prick up your ears and listen. ”

Lin Pingping saw that he said what he was thinking, his face couldn't help but blush, and he followed their father and daughter in a sneering manner, Lin Jiuhan was just about to speak, but Zhang Huan stopped him with a wave of his hand, he walked quickly to the other end under a broken window, and said loudly: "Don't eavesdrop, I won't let you down, go!" ”

Just listen to the outside' bang! Then there was a sound of footsteps running away.

Zhang Huan shook his head, returned to the main hall, he took out his gold medal and handed it to Lin Jiuhan and said: "You take five hundred people to Changle County quickly, don't startle the snake first, and after the investigation is clear, then arrest him for me!" ”

Lin Jiuhan received the order and took a few people to order troops, Zhang Huan was in a heavy mood, pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back, if it weren't for today's accidental incident, how could he not believe that Chen Ping's shrewd and capable subordinate would do such a thing, is it really difficult to know the face of the person? It seems that sometimes trust alone is not enough.

He did not return home, but went directly back to the Jiedu envoy Xingyuan, and the officials of Xingyuan had already received the news of Zhang Huan's return to the city, and had already cleaned up Xingyuan.

Zhang Huan strode forward, and from time to time an official walked out of the official room and bowed to him, "The governor is back!" ”

"See the Governor!"

Zhang Huan nodded in greeting, he hurried back to his room, Meng Jiao had already arrived first, and was sorting out the documents piled up on the table, seeing Zhang Huan coming in, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute, Zhang Huan waved his hand and said:

"I'll tidy it up later, and I'll invite Mr. Du for me first."

After a while, Du Mei hurried over, saluted Zhang Huanshi from afar and said with a smile: "The governor is finally back." ”

Zhang Huan asked Du Mei to sit down, and said with a wry smile: "I knew that I would encounter this matter today, so it is better not to come back." ”

Du Mei saw that Zhang Huan was not in a good mood, so he asked in surprise: "What happened to the governor today?" ”

Zhang Huan told Du Mei about Chen Ping, and finally sighed and said: "I always thought that the matter of embezzlement and stolen goods and forcible occupation of people's daughters had nothing to do with my Xiliang Army, even if it was accidental, it was also because of the expansion of the army, and some people of mixed good and bad mixed in, such as the old Wei family or the children of the Longyou clan, etc., but I didn't expect that the first major case of corruption and stolen goods in my Xiliang Army turned out to be my former pro-soldier team, which is really ironic." ”

Du Mei was silent for a moment and then persuaded him: "The governor only heard that Chen Ping gave the refugees in Hexi to eat moldy grain, but this does not mean that he has filled his pockets, maybe he has some hidden intentions, maybe his subordinates did it without permission, he doesn't know, as for forcing women from good families to stay overnight, this kind of thing is often deliberately expanded, maybe he does have a little bit of indiscretion, but in any case, the governor should not listen to one side of the story, let alone preconceive, and it is not too late to convict after the investigation is concluded." ”

Zhang Huan nodded, "Maybe you have a point, it's because I love and hate it deeply, but what makes me even more angry is that this kind of thing was only learned from an accidental incident, if my two pro-soldiers weren't hot-headed to cut down the father and daughter who filed the complaint, they might just bear it, and this matter would never be exposed." ”

Zhang Huan walked to the window with his hands behind his back and said worriedly: "What I'm worried about now is that I don't know how many big cases there are, maybe not yet, but what about the future?" Wait until it happens before killing? So there has to be something to prevent them. ”

Du Mei finally understood Zhang Huan's intentions, he went around such a big ***, in fact, he wanted to establish a supervision system, so his intention to summon himself was sure enough, Zhang Huan looked up at the sky and said slowly: "Originally, I planned to follow Emperor Zetian to set up four boxes, but in this way, it will be falsely accused, so that everyone in Longyou officials is in danger, even if they are used, they should not be doubted, so I think about it, or should focus on prevention." ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan turned to stare at Du Mei, "I plan to use Hu Yong to be in charge of government affairs, but the supervision power is separated, follow the example of Yushitai, and change the current wind picker to the supervision envoy, and you will be my first supervision order." ”