When Cui Chengxiu came out of the capital with thirty or forty students from Yenching University and a large group of people, in order to improve the relationship with these students and serve as his future help, he put down his body along the way and tried his best to please these students.

As the leader of the eunuch party, Cui Chengxiu's notoriety has naturally spread all over the world, although these students are not the elite scholars who revere the Donglin party, but they do not have much of a good impression of the eunuch party.

However, in the process of getting along along the way, these students who were not deeply involved in the world were moved by the performance of this former military department secretary, and they felt that this former military department secretary looked amiable and approachable, but not as arrogant and hateful as rumored.

Although Cui Chengxiu was regarded by the Donglin Party as a shameless villain manipulating authority, as a big landlord in the North, as long as he let go of the stubbornness in his heart, the scholarly demeanor and conversation cultivation he cultivated since he was a child could allow him to easily gain the closeness of these students and let them let go of their vigilance.

However, when their team reached Shanxi, news came from Shaanxi that the pro-clan was plotting rebellion. It is said that the rebellious clans suffered many casualties in the arrest operation on the night of May 3, and some rebel parties even stormed the houses in the city and looted many good people and merchants.

Because of this sudden incident, the situation of the gentry and common people in Shaanxi Province who were in danger of fire and water because of the land issue was also quietly eased. The reason is that the fields and water sources controlled by these pro-vassal clans have now been taken over by the imperial court, and some of the fields that are disputed with the people, as well as the water sources that have been occupied by the pro-vassal clans, are now again determined by the local government, which naturally makes the originally desperate people have expectations and no longer try to break the jar.

And some gentry in Shaanxi who have a relationship with the palace have also lost interest in the dispute over the ownership of the land of the disaster victims, and they are more concerned about whether this sudden outbreak of rebellion will implicate themselves. The loss of the land that you disputed with the victims was just the loss of some property, but if you were implicated in a case of rebellion, it would be the end of falling into hell and never being able to turn over.

The Shaanxi gentry clique, which had originally united against the local government and tried to keep their land, finally split because of this case. The gentry related to the two royal palaces desperately inquired for information and looked for connections, trying to stay out of the matter. Although it has nothing to do with the royal palace, after losing the leaders of the clan and gentry who stood in front of the local government, the remaining gentry did not have the confidence to confront the government head-on, so they softened their attitude and wanted to wait for the court to send someone to mediate.

Although the sudden outbreak of the rebellion case eased the current conflict between the people and the people in Shaanxi, it also caused panic among the entire Shaanxi gentry. Although the danger of local civil unrest in Shaanxi has decreased, the risk of unrest in Shaanxi has not decreased, but the main body has changed from the victims who have returned to their hometowns to the gentry who are worried about being involved in the rebellion.

With the arrival of these news, the documents and letters from the Shaanxi government and gentry urging the investigation team led by Cui Chengxiu to hurry as soon as possible also flew like snowflakes.

The change in the situation in Shaanxi made Cui Chengxiu suddenly put away and continue to make friends with these college students. After talking to Zuo Liangyu once, he quietly led a group of cavalry on the road alone. On the afternoon of May 12, the ninth day after the night of the chaos in Xi'an, Cui Chengxiu finally arrived at the majestic and magnificent Changle Gate in Xi'an.

Although it was still early, the streets of the city were already sparsely populated, and at every intersection, a group of heavily armed sergeants could be seen standing behind the rejection horses. Cui Chengxiu and the others walked all the way, and they could see that the closer they got to the official area in the north of the city, the tighter the guards became, which could be called a post in five steps and a sentry in ten steps.

The officials who led Cui Chengxiu and his party into the city saw the look of surprise on Cui Chengxiu's face, so they said to him with a smile: "Lord Qincha don't worry, Xi'an City is very safe now, and all rebellions have almost been caught." ”

Cui Chengxiu stretched out his horsewhip and pointed at the sergeants patrolling on the side, and asked in surprise: "Since the city is so safe, why do you have to set up so many sergeants on patrol?" ”

The official laughed a few times in embarrassment before explaining: "The rebellion in the city has long been controlled, but some of the sergeants who were transferred into the city from other places, some of whom broke away from the army without permission after entering the city, and then broke into private houses and committed many crimes. In order to arrest these lawless soldiers, several adults ordered the entire city to be blocked, and then searched for the fugitives according to the neighborhood divisions. So far, these deserters have been apprehended. Starting tomorrow, the brigade will be withdrawn to the barracks outside the city. ”

Cui Chengxiu nodded slightly, and stopped asking. When they arrived at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, they saw Yang He, Tian Ergeng, and Wu Jun waiting for him on the steps of the gate of the Procuratorate. Cui Chengxiu dismounted with the support of his entourage, and then stepped forward to talk to the three of them before entering the procuratorate under the leadership of Yang He.

Although Cui Chengxiu's official position after his recovery was not high, the three of them did not dare to hold it up in front of him. After all, when he was driven home to guard filial piety, he was already a senior member of the government. When Choi Chengxiu arrived, he naturally took over the dominance of the three of them.

After meeting the local officials in Shaanxi in the lobby of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Cui Chengxiu smiled but unceremoniously ordered the expulsion: "Everyone has accepted Ben Qincha's reception, this official can be regarded as having endured."

Next, this official wants to talk privately with Governor Yang, Commander Tian, and Gonggong Wu, so you can go down first. If you have something to do, I will send someone to ask you to come and discuss it at another time. ”

Under Cui Chengxiu's strong drive, these officials retreated resignedly, and soon Cui Chengxiu and four others were left in the lobby. Cui Chengxiu glanced at the three of them and said, "What happened in Xi'an City?" What's going on with this King of Han and King Qin conspiring against each other? Can any of you explain this to the officer? ”

Tian Ergeng looked at the two people on the left and right, and realized that it seemed that he was the only one who could stand up and explain here. So after being silent for a moment, he took the initiative to speak: "Back to Master Cui, here's the thing..."

After listening to Tian Ergeng's account of the seizure of the reverse case, Cui Chengxiu couldn't help but look at the three of them with a smile and said: "Because of the investigation of Zhang Qing's murder case, the evidence of collusion between King Han and King Qin was found, which is too much of a coincidence, right?"

Do you really think that a discerning person will believe that two princes who have no fists and no courage can collude together to rebel? It is said that these clans oppress the good and run rampant lawlessness in the feudal country, and there is probably an existence. However, when it was said that they rebelled and wanted to take a big position, the official was the first to believe it. What do you want to do with all this risk? Does Your Majesty really know what you are doing now? ”

Yang He still maintains the posture of looking at his nose and nose, as if all this has nothing to do with him. Tian Ergeng was also silent, he didn't know how to explain to Cui Chengxiu, as a former eunuch henchman, he was actually very worried about being associated with Cui Chengxiu again, because this might violate the emperor's taboo.

Wu Jun looked at the expressions of the two, so he said to Cui Chengxiu: "Why should Master Cui be too serious, what does it matter if a clear-eyed person believes it or not, the foolish husband and foolish woman of the people believe it."

There is also a denunciation letter from King Qing here, which says: The king of Qin once sent a letter to him, asking him to conspire against him together, and agreed to transfer him to the rich land of Huguang after the matter was completed, and not to suffer on the frontier. King Qing did not want to be in the company of the traitor, so he asked Gonggong Zhang to send a letter of denunciation to His Majesty. With King Qing testifying, who else in the world dares to question it?

In addition, these days, we have raided the henchmen who have been involved in the anti-crime case, and nearly 27,000 hectares of land have been registered. According to His Majesty's order, these fields will be transferred to Lord Cui to mediate land disputes between the people and to be used for the resettlement of displaced people in Shaanxi. ”

Cui Chengxiu didn't actually want to stand up for the Shaanxi gentry and clan, but as soon as he thought of the letters sent by the local gentry in Shaanxi, he couldn't stay out of it, otherwise he wouldn't get the support of these gentry in the next errands he did in Shaanxi.

"Is that a good thing? You have wiped out the clans of the Qin and Han domains, and you have implicated so many local gentry, and I have traveled all the way, and the gentry in the Guanzhong area are all panicked. Now that the two thieves of Gao and Wang are gathering people in Pucheng and Baishui, if they see the chaos in Guanzhong and take the opportunity to attack Xi'an, do you still think this is a good thing? ”

Tian Ergeng suddenly came out and answered: "My lord, of course this is a good thing. Without us as the wicked men, how could the gentry in these places expect their lords to come and decide for them?

As for the two thieves Gao and Wang peeping into Guanzhong, my lord, food is needed to gather troops. In the past two years, although Shaanxi has greatly developed water conservancy, it is the Guanzhong region that has benefited the most. As long as the land dispute between the gentry and the disaster victims can be resolved, in order to protect their homes from being destroyed by the rebels, they will inevitably accept the organization of the government and organize local regimental training to fight against the rebels going south.

As for the clan, adults don't need to worry too much. The three feudal clans of Qin, Han, and Qing were all to be moved to other places to reduce the pressure on Shaanxi's supply clan. We have already calculated that if only one Su domain is retained, the more than 970,000 stone taels that Shaanxi supplies to the clan every year can be reduced to at least 370,000 stones.

Among them, 170,000 stone of the Su Domain, about 200,000 stone of the old, young and female clans of the three feudal clans, and the remaining 600,000 stones, deducting the 200,000 stone that will be in arrears every year, can at least save nearly 400,000 stone of grain for the Shaanxi region. With these 400,000 stone of grain in hand, Shaanxi can provide relief to at least hundreds of thousands of people every year. In this way, the pressure of transporting grain from the south into Shaanxi every year will be greatly reduced. ”

Cui Chengxiu was silent for a moment, he finally understood why Chongzhen would tell him that when he arrived in Shaanxi, there would be no clan problems here that he needed to solve. For him, who had been ruthless to the Donglin Party, it was not that he could not accept such a scheme. But what worries him is that the emperor has moved so many clans at once, will there really be no troubles?