Walking out of the splendid but dark and depressing palace of nourishing the heart, looking up at the Forbidden City with snowflakes flying in the corridor and waist back, and the eaves and teeth pecked high, Lu Fatzi's mood not only did not have a cheerful feeling, but became more and more heavy and aggrieved, this is the crystallization of labor wisdom that took the blood and sweat of countless Chinese people to build, but now it has fallen into the hands of barbarians, and the barbarian mite chieftains live in it and enjoy the wealth and glory of the world; During the period of barbarian Tartar women, they wasted and squandered the blood of Huaxia; The real master was enslaving his knees, either kneeling down to the barbarian Tartar chieftains, or being castrated into slavery and being slaughtered and cut - whenever he thought of this, Lu Fatzi had an urge to kill all the Tartars in this Forbidden City!

Hate to hate, grit teeth to grit teeth, when the foundation is almost equal to zero, of course Fat Lu will not be stupid enough to turn around and rush into the heart cultivation hall and strangle the rabbit terminator Xiao Mazi and the old witch of Xiaozhuang to death with his own hands. In desperation, Fat Lu could only sigh faintly, gritted his teeth in his heart and said: "Wait, there will be a day, when my strength is enough, I will personally enter this Forbidden City, kill the Tartar barbarians in this Forbidden City, and recapture this Forbidden City!" ”

Having said that, but how to go in the future, Lu Fatzi still doesn't have much bottom in his heart, although so far, he has killed a lot of mites and loyal ministers, but Kang Xiaomazi after all controls the country's financial, human and material resources, and Wu Sangui, who is attached to him, only controls the recognized poor provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, not to mention fighting a protracted war with Kang Mazi, even if it is a war of attrition, it can't fight a few wars. And there is another point, although Wu Sangui's old man is a good hand at fighting, but unfortunately there is a serious problem with his strategic vision, and when the three feudatories rise in the future, whether Wu Sangui's old thing will repeat the mistakes of history is still a huge problem! Therefore, for Lu Fatzi, it is important to rely on Wu Sangui and help Wu Sangui enhance his strength, but more importantly, he must also master an armed force that is sufficient for self-protection!

It is easy to master an army loyal to oneself, but it is extremely difficult to do, it is already difficult to form an army under the noses of the enemy and Wu Sangui, and the military expenditure on forming an army and supporting the army is definitely not a small amount, although Lu Fatzi's family background is quite solid, but if you want to support an army for a long time, you have to arm and train this army, that is absolutely far from enough! In addition, there are also sending bosses, developing weapons, buying weapons and bribing colleagues, all of which are things that cost money like water, not to mention a small Qujing County, even if the financial revenue of the entire Qujing Mansion and the entire Yunnan Province is handed over to Lu Fatzi, it is far from enough!

"Damn, the peasant uprisings in history relied on human lives and murder and robbery to obtain military funds, which cannot be learned, and the success rate is pitifully low." In embarrassment, Lu Fatzi couldn't help but follow the eunuch out of the palace, while calculating in his heart, "The warlords rebelled or secessed, Zhu Yuanzhang and Jiang Guangtou both relied on the developed agricultural commerce in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the old communists relied on Maozi's sponsorship and fighting local tyrants to divide the land, which is not learned." Yan Xishan relied on Shanxi Tianfu and coal, Sun Dianying relied on archaeology, Monk Xu relied on Haiyan and Zhaoyuan gold mines, Sichuan warlords also fought around to grab those wells and salt, and Li Zongren in Guangxi, Longyun in Yunnan and Yang Sen in Guizhou relied on planting ............. ”

Thinking about this, Lu Fatzi himself couldn't help but shudder - this method is too evil, and the harm is too great, although it is a method and the only method of the Yungui army at present, it is still too dangerous and infamous! So much so that even Fat Lu's heart was ruthless and brazen, and he had to consider the consequences and costs of this method, and he was terrified and trembled!

Thinking about it, before he knew it, Fat Lu had already left the Huangji Gate, preparing to leave the palace from the Donghua Gate through the Arrow Pavilion and Wenyuan Pavilion. When passing by Wenyuan Pavilion, just in time for a large group of high-grade mite Qing officials to come out of the Wenyuan Pavilion office, seeing Lu Fatzi, a seven-grade sesame official who was not even qualified to wear Chaozhu, came from the direction of the Heart Cultivation Palace, these first, second and third grade officials couldn't help but be extremely curious, and couldn't help but talk about it, and the troubled Lu Fatzi didn't bother to pay attention to them, just bowed to them, and followed them out from Donghua Gate.

"Dare to ask this adult, but Lord Lu Yifeng from Yunnan?" Fat Lu didn't bother to pay attention to these big guys, but some of these big guys like to stick hot faces and cold butts, and the second-grade big man wearing the color of the second-grade uniform stopped Fat Lu's way with a smile.

"The humble position is Lu Yifeng." Fat Lu bowed his hand, looked at the second-grade master curiously, and found that he was thirty-four or five years old, with a square face and big ears, but he had definitely never met before. Fat Lu asked tentatively: "Dare to ask this adult, the honorable name?" ”

"Mingzhu, Nara." The second-rank officer replied with a smile.

"It turned out to be the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the master of Hongbunin University, Mingming-sama!" Fat Lu was taken aback, and hurriedly saluted.

"Excuse me, this is the palace, you don't need to be polite." Mingzhu smiled to stop Lu Fatzi's salute, and said with a smile: "Lord Lu, although your official position is small, but this official has admired your name for a long time. ”

"Ming Zhongtang has won the award, and he dares to be a lowly position." Fat Lu was modest on his lips, but he was muttering in his heart - why is this guy Mingzhu also eyeing me? Could it be that this Yanjing City is prosperous with my eight characters, and even a little famous guy can hear my name?

"Lord Lu is humble, it just so happens that I am also going out of the palace on an errand, let's talk while walking." Mingzhu beckoned, let Lu Fatzi walk side by side with him, and said straight to the point: "Lord Lu, this official is not polite to you, the emperor issued a decree this morning, removing me from the post of head of the Internal Affairs Office, and transferring to the Criminal Department Man Shangshu, the original Man Shangshu to Kana, has been relocated to the University of the Inner Academy of History." As for the reason, this official will not hide it from you, it is because of the assassination of Father Nan Huairen Nan that happened in Xuanwumen Church yesterday, this case is very important, the involvement is too wide, and the emperor is wrong to love, so this official took on this errand and led the Criminal Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Shuntian Mansion to investigate and handle the case. ”

"Oh, I have to congratulate Lord Ming on that humble position." Fat Lu hurriedly surrendered his hand, and hummed in his heart: "Boy, you should thank Lao Tzu, otherwise, your kid should be able to become the secretary of the criminal department in the second half of next year!" ”

"Congratulations on what? The head of the Internal Affairs Office and the secretary of the Criminal Department are both positive and second-grade, just flat, and there is nothing to congratulate. Mingzhu waved his hand incorrectly, and he was very proud in his heart - although the head of the Internal Affairs Office has a lot of oil and water, when it comes to power, it is not a little bit worse than the book of the Criminal Department.

After finishing the smugness, Mingzhu said again: "Lord Lu, here's the thing, just now this official checked the case file and found that Priest Nan received a total of two waves of guests on the first day before the assassination, one of which was you and the former governor Lin Tianqing Lord Lin, but is this the case?" ”

"Exactly." Fat Lu nodded, and said tremblingly: "Ming Zhongtang, the lowly position to find the South priest is just to ask him for Western knowledge, and I also ask him to find a set of books in Western languages for the lowly position, you shouldn't be suspicious of the lowly position, right?" ”

"Lord Lu laughed, you and Priest Nan have no grievances or enmity, and it is the first time you have entered the capital to meet Priest Nan for the first time, how can this official suspect you?" Mingzhu smiled, lowered his voice and said, "What the official is curious about is who the other wave of guests was that day?" There was a handyman named Li Fugui in the church who confessed that the guests were men and women, old and young, and one of them, a young man with a strange appearance, often went to Priest Nan, and talked for a long time, and Priest Nan's attitude towards him was also very respectful - can Master Lu give advice, who is this young man? ”

"Ming Zhongtang, the lower officials dare not answer this question." Lu Fatzi said cautiously: "But the humble duty has the courage to advise, it is better for Mingzhongtang to be the absence of this wave of guests, and the lowly position is for the sake of Mingzhongtang's good." ”

"Could it be that young man is the person you just went to meet Master Lu?" Mingzhu asked softly with a smile.

Lu Fatzi saw that there was no one left and right, then nodded, and said softly: "I didn't know the identity of that distinguished guest at that time, but I just found out. - If you don't guess wrongly, it is precisely because of this that the emperor asked the most trusted Ming Xiangye to investigate the case. ”

"As expected, it was him!" Mingzhu nodded, and pondered in his heart: "No wonder the emperor wants to transfer the unreliable Kana away and send me to investigate this case. ”

Thinking about this, Mingzhu arched his hand to Fat Lu and said: "Thank you Lord Lu for your guidance, this official will keep it in mind, this official will go to the scene of the murder in Xuanwumen Church to investigate, so he will leave first." ”

"That's a coincidence." Lu Fatzi said casually: "I sent someone to buy incense, candles, and paper money, and I was about to go to Priest Nan to pay tribute to the spirit of Father Nan to thank him." At that time, if you can't enter the church, please be accommodating in Mingzhongtang. ”

"Well said." Mingzhu agreed, and for the sake of Lu Fatzi being the new favorite in front of Xiao Mazi, he also said casually, "Since this is the case, then Lord Lu will go to the Xuanwumen Church with this official, so it is more convenient." Fat Lu also wanted to go to the scene to see if the Liu family brothers and Fang Shiyu and others had left any clues, so he also agreed and followed Mingzhu out of the palace.

After getting out of Donghua Gate, Mingzhu got on the sedan chair, Lu Fatzi walked and went around to Zhengyang Gate, Xiao Erlang and the Liu brothers were already waiting impatiently here. Fortunately, Xiao Erlang and the Liu family brothers have also become more sophisticated and city government under the reprimand of Lu Fatzi, seeing that Lu Fatzi followed a strange official's sedan chair over, they did not wait to come up and ask this and that as before, instigated Lu Fatzi to knock on the bone and suck the marrow and scrape the ground, just asked a few words symbolically surname, and invited Lu Fatzi to the sedan chair, and carried Lu Fatzi to follow Mingzhu to Xuanwumen Church - poor palanquin man!

The sedan pole creaked to the Xuanwumen Church, the church where the murder had just occurred had long been surrounded by the Shuntianfu envoys, and no one was allowed to enter or leave. However, for Lu Fatzi, who was escorted by Mingzhu, there was no problem, leading a few accomplice lackeys and murderers to follow Mingzhu behind, and swaggered into the church courtyard door. When they arrived at the door of the church, several officials came out of the church and saluted Mingzhu.

"Lord Wang, Lord Li, how are you doing?" Mingzhu couldn't wait to ask the two officials in charge.

"Hui Mingxiang, I have been investigating for a long time with the servants of Shuntianfu, but I still haven't found any clues." The unlucky Lord Yin Li Tianyu of the Shuntian Mansion said dejectedly: "The only thing that is certain is that the person who killed Priest Nan must be very familiar with the terrain of the church, so he was able to sneak into the church without knowing it, and escaped without alarming a single person in the church." ”

"There is another point, the person who killed Father Nan is likely to be a veteran, and he killed him with one knife, straight to the heart, and did not use a second knife." Another middle-aged black and thin man wearing a three-rank official uniform said calmly: "In addition, Xia Guan also found an important clue, the dagger that killed Priest Nan came from the workshop of the Beijing Division, which is usually only owned by military sergeants or powerful guards, and it is difficult for the people to see it. ”

"Liu Xu, this kid is smart, he killed the drunk Aobai guard, in addition to getting his waist card, he also took his dagger and eliminated another clue." Fat Lu secretly praised in his heart.

"So, what about the waist card?" Mingzhu asked, "Have you found out the calendar?" ”

The black and thin man didn't answer, but first glanced at the fat man Lu who was following Mingzhu, Mingzhu came to his senses and said, "Let's say, this Lord Lu Yifeng Lu is a friend of Priest Nan, and he came to give incense to Priest Nan, and it has nothing to do with this case." ”

"You are Lord Lu Yifeng?" The thin black man showed some joy on his face, and asked Fat Lu, "Lord Lu, I heard that you came to this church the day before yesterday, can you tell me about the situation at that time?" ”

"It's ......." Fat Lu turned his gaze to Mingzhu.

"Lord Lu, let me introduce you, this is Lord Xu, the Imperial History of the Left Capital of the Imperial Palace." Mingzhu pointed to the black and thin man and introduced Yin Li Tianyu of Shuntian Mansion, and then said to Wang Xu: "Lord Wang, you can ask Lord Lu as much as you like for a while, but don't ask about the other wave of guests, understand?" As he spoke, Mingzhu also gave Wang Xu a look.

"Understood." Wang Xu had long suspected that the little pockmark in the other wave of guests was the little pockmark who lived in the Qianqing Palace, so he immediately nodded in agreement, and said: "I went to the Ao Zhongtang Mansion this morning, and after some inquiry, I found that there was a guard named Tang Chuan in Ao Zhongtang who disappeared yesterday, and this waist card may be Tang Chuan's waist card. ”

"It's really a waist card from Aobai's family!" Mingzhu shuddered, and hurriedly asked, "Then the whereabouts of that Tang Chuan, have you found it?" ”

"Nope." Wang Xu spread his hands helplessly and said: "Not only that, but Ao Zhongtang's pro-soldier captain Crooked Tiger also forced the subordinates to help find it, saying that he wanted to see people alive and corpses when he died!" ”

"I hope it's not a thief shouting to catch a thief." Mingzhu sighed quietly, waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's go in, Master Lu, you go to the front of the spirit to pay respects, and the official will personally go to the scene of the murder to see." ”

After entering the hall, Mingzhu and Wang Xu and others went to the scene of the murder to investigate, and Lu Fatzi asked Xiao Erlang to bring incense and candle offerings on the table, put a pillar of incense on the incense, and then knelt in front of Nan Huairen's spirit and the cat cried and the mouse opened, and howled with a handful of tears and snot, "My Nan Priest, you died so unjustly!" Why did you go all your life to do good deeds and spread the gospel of the Lord? It's the one who kills a thousand knives who is so ruthless, how can he ...... a good person like you? ”

"Priest Nan, although I only have a one-sided relationship with you, I ...... your character." While pretending to cry, Lu Fatzi pondered again in his heart, "I didn't expect that it would be Wang Xu who assisted Mingzhu in investigating this case, this guy is a master who is not afraid of heaven and earth, water and fire, oil and salt, no matter who is involved in this case, I am afraid that the nine cows will not be able to pull back the deep investigation - should I take this opportunity to pit a few more Han Tartars into it?" Although there may not be much hope for pit worship, it should be no problem to pit a few Han Tartars who are still small characters, right? ”

"Wait until I go back and carefully study and study "Lai Junchen's Notes", that kid is a good hand at using the case to trap people, learn some experience from him, and then see who uses this case to trap people!"

(To be continued)