Volume 2: The Eighth Route Army's Festival Envoy - Chapter 12: Jing and Jie

Looking at the eight-year-old boy who was tied into a dumpling and gagged and thrown at his feet, Li Wenge's brows tightened, and a trace of imperceptible anger flashed in his pupils, looking at the few Qin family elders who were standing in front of him with a groveling expression and a flattering expression, he pursed his lips, tried his best to calm his tone and asked, "...... What are you paying a lot of money to bribe the guards of the Jiedu Mansion to see me? ”

The eldest man of the third room of the Qin family looked at each other for a while, and the younger brother of the previous patriarch Qin Jiwei, the forty-eight-year-old Qin Jishao, stammered: "...... Be...... That's what happened, the current patriarch of my clan...... Fifteen Lang...... Innocently, he had offended the general before, but now the clan's houses discussed and tied him up...... came to the general for disposal, and the Fenglin Qin clan was willing to donate money and food to help the army's salary...... The right to pay for the previous sins should be paid...... I also hope that the general will have a large number of people and spare the lives of the entire Qin family. The old man dares to guarantee that the matter of going against the general is purely the patriarch alone, and has nothing to do with the clan, and now the patriarch is here, but with the general's fall, he only asks the general to be merciful and compassionate, and he will not harm the clan, and the old man will be grateful...... In the future, the general will be sent, and the Qin clan will be driven and willingly serve the labor of dogs and horses......"

Fenglin Qin's Clan? Li Wenge frowned and thought about it for a long time, and he never remembered what conflicts and contradictions had occurred between this family and himself. Among these clans in Yanzhou, except for the Gao family, it seems that there has never been a direct conflict with other clans.

Having said that, could it be that this boy who was tied to the ground, curled up and whimpering and struggling, was the patriarch of the Fenglin Qin clan? There are so many elders and brothers in the clan, why did they teach a doll to be the patriarch?

Qin Gu, who was discussing the reform of the tax system with him just now but was interrupted by these people, walked to his side with a face full of disdain, and said lightly: "When Zhang Zuowei was in Yanzhou, the senior attendants once held a banquet to entertain the mission, and this Qin Xiaoguan once said a few words in public, and the observation at that time said that this matter was ......"

When he said this, Li Wenge immediately remembered it. At that banquet, the Yanzhou clan was all there, but none of them took a stand on the issue of the fight between themselves and the Gao family, and it seemed that only a very young patriarch said a few words, which was said to be extremely unpolite, but how he said it, he couldn't remember it at the moment.

It turned out that because of this incident, the elders of the Qin family were afraid that the whole clan would be harmed, so they tied this child, who was no more than ten years old no matter how you look at it, to ask for guilt.

Thinking about this cause and effect, Li Wenge's face became even more gloomy, he silently walked to the shelf, took off the short knife that had been carried by him since he was alone last year, slowly walked to the side of the squirming little figure, and pulled the knife out of the sheath without saying a word, the snowy knife light suddenly made several Qin family men palpitate, and couldn't help but fall down on his knees, Qin Jishao took the lead in kowtowing his head, and said in a mournful voice: "General Mingjian...... That incident was indeed a temporary rambling by the patriarch of my family, and he didn't discuss it with the villain in advance, and the villain really didn't know about it......"

Li Wenge glanced at these people lightly, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, he slowly leaned down, gently pinched the rope with his hand, cut the blade into the gap between the rope and the child's body, carefully pulled the knife back and forth, and cut the three ropes that bound the child's arms, feet, and hands one by one, and then untied the cloth that covered the young man's eyes, the young man's hands and feet were tied, and a rope was strangled on his mouth, and his eyes were covered by the cloth and he couldn't see, but his ears were not blocked, The answers between everyone were clear, and although he was young, he also knew that he had caused a catastrophe and his life was only in the mundane.

Therefore, as soon as Li Wenge untied the noose that strangled his tongue, he immediately began to speak with tears in his eyes, his voice crisp and a little hoarse, but he couldn't hear what he was saying for a while.

Li Wenge turned his head to look at Qin Gu suspiciously, Qin Gu shook his head with a look of compassion, squatted down and said to the young man named Qin Zhaoduan: "Don't be afraid...... This is General Lee, he won't hurt you, make your words clearer......"

Qin Zhaoduan gasped for a while, and finally spoke again, but this time, Li Wenge understood.

"General Lee...... Zhao'er offended you...... Zhao'er apologizes to you, please don't embarrass your mother......"

Li Wenge gently stroked the child's head, helped him to sit up on the ground, and asked slowly, "...... Well, since you apologized and apologized, I won't blame you, you are a good child, what's wrong with your mother? ”

Li Wenge knew that children were simple-minded, and he often couldn't understand things if they were too complicated, so it was better to follow his words and tell him about it, and after apologizing and accompanying the sin, it would be fine, and Qin Zhaoduan was psychologically more acceptable.

Sure enough, Qin Zhaoduan immediately cried when he heard this: "Woo...... Zhao'er saw Uncle Zhong and they took away their mother's ...... Zhao'er saw her mother crying......"

"Who is Uncle Zhong?"

Li Wenge raised his head and asked, but this time he asked the three representatives of the Qin family who were kneeling on the ground in a daze, and his tone was full of cold taste.

As soon as Qin Jishao touched Li Wenge's gaze, he shivered and stammered, "Yes...... It's the chief steward of the house......"

Li Wenge thought about it, but he didn't know the point, and asked again: "What happened to this little mother?" ”

Qin Jishao shuddered and said, "...... It's-"

Li Wenge frowned: "Unwilling to say? Li Hu—"

Li Hu, who was standing outside the guard, responded and said loudly: "Here!" ”

Li Wenge pointed to the three men of the Qin family and said, "Pull these three guys who are inferior to beasts out of the city, dig a pit, and bury them alive!" ”

"Yes——!" Li Huping saluted, glanced at the "three guys" with disdain, waved his hand without hesitation, walked into a few soldiers, the eagle rubbed the chickens and set up a few people, the three big men suddenly cried like wolves, and the two younger ones were hot and humid on the spot, and suddenly there was a foul smell in the room.

"The general spares his life - the general spares his life...... The villain is willing to say ......"

"Slow down—"

With Li Wenge's order, several soldiers stopped at the same time, and several people lost their support, and immediately fell to the ground, and became a ball.

"You only have one chance at the moment, if you tell the truth, maybe you still have a chance to live, if you don't tell the truth, unless you put on your wings and fly out of the Yanzhou territory...... Otherwise, General Ben doesn't need to move a finger, and he can make the whole family turn into powder in an instant......"

Li Wenge said succinctly.

Now that he has both the ability and the strength to say such threatening words, with his current power in Yanzhou, it is indeed not difficult to destroy a middle-class and lower-class clan overnight.

That Qin Jishao trembled and wailed: "It's the villains who are confused...... Fifteen Lang...... Oh, the patriarch offended the general, and I guessed that it must be his mother Fan who was not virtuous, so that he taught the patriarch badly, so that he did not measure himself and offended the general Huwei, so the clan discussed that the Fan family was imprisoned and locked in the firewood room, only to wait for the general to punish fifteen ...... today Patriarch, early tomorrow morning, he will sacrifice to the ancestral temple and sink the Fan family into the lake to atone for his sins, so as to show the loyalty of the Qin family to the general......"

"Allegiance...... How can this general dare to ask you wise men and nobles who 'know the great righteousness' to be loyal to him? Li Wenge gritted his teeth and sneered coldly.

"Li Hu ——!"

"Dao!"

"You will gather twenty garrison soldiers at this moment - no, pass on my military orders, and the scout brigade will allocate twenty cavalry and bring ......"

His eyes swept over the three people, and finally pointed at Qin Jishao and said: "Take this old guy, hurry up and rush to the Qin Mansion in Fenglin County, arrive in one night, and save the Fan family, the mother of Qin Xiaoyuanwai, who will be sunk in the lake tomorrow, this is a military order, and it must not be violated, if it is still too late at that time, all the men over the age of eighteen in the Qin Mansion will be sent to the state to govern, and they will be sent down!" ”

"Yes!" Li Huping received the order in his chest.

“…… General, villains don't ride horses......"

Qin Jishao shouted in horror.

“…… You'd better be able to ride—" Li Wenge said to the old guy with a sly smile, "What can't ride a horse is useless to General Ben, and what is useless should be buried alive, General Ben ......"

Before he finished speaking, Qin Jishao hurriedly cried and shouted, "The villain can ride a horse...... The villain will ride a horse......"

Li Wenge waved his hand, and the two personal soldiers set him up again, Li Wenge said: "You had better pray that God is obviously holy, Fan's life is the life of your adult male of the clan, you can't die if she is still alive, if she dies, you murderers who participated in the 'public discussion' of the clan will go to the moat to bury her, do you understand?" ”

"The villain understands...... The villain understood...... "Qin Jishao's tone was completely out of shape, and his face was as white as a piece of paper.

Li Wenge waved his hand: "Go!" ”

After Li Hu and the others left, Li Wenge turned around lightly and smiled gently at Qin Zhaoduan, who was sitting on the ground and looking at him with his eyes wide open: "Don't worry...... Fenglin was less than sixty miles away from Zhouzhi, and they were on horseback, and they should have arrived in time overnight......"

"You...... Are you really the General Li that Uncle Gao said? ”

Qin Zhaoduan asked with big eyes blinking.

Li Wenge smiled bitterly: "Yes, I am that person!" ”

Qin Zhaoduan asked blankly: "Uncle Gao said to Zhao'er and many others, you are a rebel who rebels against the gang and often turns things upside down, a demon king who kills people without blinking, and the worst and worst person in the world......

Li Wenge touched his nose, his reputation seemed to have been ruined by the Gao family father and son, he sighed and asked: "I used to believe in other people's words very much, but later I found that other people's words were not very reliable, so I gradually learned to see with my own eyes, listen with my ears, and use my heart to perceive and discern, or is it more reliable to judge things by myself......

He paused and said in a low voice: "You are still young, you can't understand many things, and when you grow up in the future, you will be able to figure out all these things......"

Qin Zhaoduan shook his head: "Although I don't know why Uncle Gao said that, but Zhao'er has already figured it out, you have to save Zhao'er's mother, you want to save Zhao'er'......"

The immature children's voice lingered here for a moment, and then said with a warm taste: "You...... He's a nice guy......"

……

Wang Jun's recent life has become more and more comfortable.

Since the incident when the emperor privately sent six houses to Yanzhou to visit the mission a few months ago, he really said that he was sick and hid at home for a while. In fact, it is said that it is called an illness, and it is clear that he is very dissatisfied with the behavior of the Son of Heaven for sending an embassy to other towns without a privy councillor and deliberately avoiding himself as a cardinal minister (privy envoy and prime minister). In fact, the decision-making at that time was discussed by the Son of Heaven and the Zhongshu Sect, strictly speaking, it was not against the imperial court system, although the power of the privy envoy has been recognized internally and externally for many years, and has become an unwritten practice, but after all, it has not been determined in the name of the ceremonial and regulatory system, strictly speaking, this is not the emperor breaking the rules of the game.

However, Wang Jun doesn't think so, in his opinion, the unwritten rules of the game are also rules, not to mention that although he is not the prime minister (Zhongshu Ling), but after all, he is also one of the prime ministers of Zhongshumen Province, such a big thing does not know that he will stay in the capital, which is an extreme disrespect to himself.

If you change to an ordinary person, you would never dare to call out to the emperor, but Wang Jun is different. He was not only the chief assistant of the court, but also the internal and external positions, and the emperor gave him the honorary title of Pinglu Jiedu envoy before the expedition, which made his status in the court to a higher level; What's more, he is also the minister of the Yuan Mou who assisted the emperor in raising troops and the side of the Qing monarch, and was the second most powerful person in the Great Zhou Dynasty except for the emperor. The deputy commander and close comrade-in-arms have been friends with the emperor for many years, Wang Jun asked himself, although he is not a royal family, nor is he a vassal king, but he still has the qualifications to play temper with the emperor.

Sure enough, at the beginning, the emperor still sent his inner servants to persuade him to come back to see things, after touching a few nails, the level of the lobbyist became higher and higher, Hanlin bachelor, privy deputy envoy, and finally the prime minister Fan Zhen, whose status in the province was second only to himself, actually came to invite him out of the mountain, Fan Zhen also brought a message from the emperor, if Brother Xiufeng refused to return to the cabinet, I would go to the prime minister's mansion to demote and invite.

No matter how arrogant Wang Jun was, he didn't dare to let the dignified Son of Heaven Luan come to his house, so after pretending to shirk it, he finally returned to the Privy Council again.

However, this incident made Wang Jun come to a conclusion, no matter how great the authority of the Privy Council is, after all, it is the provincial minister who is directly subordinate to the imperial power, and when the emperor needs it, he can isolate China and foreign countries and become the prime minister above the province of Zhongshumen, once the emperor and the Zhongshu minister reach an agreement, the role of the Privy Council as a channel body to contact the prime minister and the imperial power is minimal, theoretically as long as the emperor can control the prime ministers, the privy envoy is worthless, even if he has concurrently served as the prime minister, Nor can they expand their powers at will.

Compared with the five-room Zhongshu Province, although the Privy Council is closer to the emperor, because of the simple power structure in the court, there is no subordinate executive body that directly gives orders to the six ministries, nine temples and three yazhu towns, so that the power of the Privy Council must always pass through the Zhongshu Gate to extend to the inside and outside of the court, which makes Wang Jun, who has always valued power very seriously, deeply inconvenient.

A privy council without an executive body, no matter how powerful it is, is not a real prime minister, as long as the imperial power is strong enough, the emperor can abolish a privy envoy with a word, because unlike the Zhongshu of the six administrative powers, the existence of the privy council completely depends on the emperor's personal preferences.

Only by establishing a subordinate executive body that replaces the five chambers of the Zhongshu and directly controls the administration of the six ministries, can the Privy Council cease to be the mouthpiece of the emperor and become a real internal minister.

Therefore, the first thing Wang Jun did after his comeback was to ignore the resolute opposition of his subordinate privy deputy envoy Zheng Renzhi, and began to build two rows of civil engineering and two rows of wing rooms in the courtyard where the Privy Council was located. After these rooms were built, Wang Jun was ready to gradually promote his cronies and ministers to enter these rooms to deal with the affairs of the cardinals, gradually replacing the five rooms of the central book, and if possible in the future, he was ready to ask the emperor to gradually replace the seal of the edict from the seal under the door of the middle book to the seal of the privy council.

On this day, he received a joint recital from Ruan and Li Bin, reporting the news of Gao Yunquan's death to the imperial court, he had dealt with military affairs for many years, and naturally knew the political significance of this matter, so he hurriedly took the recital and went straight to Ouchi to find the emperor.

Originally, this matter should have been politely predicted that the prime minister on duty would be a book, but Wang Jun didn't pay attention to this stubble at all.

I am the privy envoy Tongping Zhangshi, and I already know about it, which means that Zhongshu already knows about it!

Wang Jun didn't have the slightest uneasiness in his heart, he felt that this reason was very sufficient!

Entering the palace gate, Wang Jun heard a clanging sound from behind the hall, as well as the sound of hitting the wooden stake with a big wooden hammer.

After saluting the emperor, Wang Jun asked suspiciously: "Why is the sound of the palace?" ”

Guo Wei, the son of the Great Zhou Dynasty, smiled honestly: "Brother Xiufeng is smiling, I want to build a new small hall on the south side of the Imperial Garden, this is the craftsman of the Ministry of Industry is drawing ink lines on the side to lay the foundation......"

Wang Jun's brows furrowed, as a prime minister, although he was not as knowledgeable as Feng Daofan and others, he still knew some of the traditions of the prime minister's duties - a tradition that had been inherited by successive generations of prime ministers since Duke Wei Wenzhen.

"There are more than 100 buildings in the palace of Your Majesty, why do you want to build another palace with a lot of construction?" Wang Jun asked slightly reproachfully.

For the prime minister's questioning and exhortation, as long as it is not too confused emperor, he will immediately accept advice to stop the project, Guo Wei is a person who has been in the world for a long time, and naturally will not violate the tradition in this regard and leave a notoriety of refusing to admonish, with Wang Jun's understanding of the emperor, even if Fan Zhen and others admonish, the emperor will immediately admonish from the good, not to mention that the relationship with the emperor is extraordinary.

However, Guo Wei listened to Wang Jun's words, his expression became serious, and he said slowly: "I'm ashamed...... I built a temple in the palace, and Brother Xiufeng reprimanded me like this, and I also took this as a ......"

“…… But—" The Emperor's tone suddenly changed when he said this, and he asked in a rather relaxed tone: "There are only a few people in the Privy Council, and the houses in the courtyard are already a little empty, and Brother Xiufeng has been building a large number of wooden houses in them recently, but why?" ”

...