"Five hundred taels?" The man's eyes showed greed, he looked at Xu Wancheng, and suddenly sneered: "Don't think about it, one thousand taels, if you miss one tael of silver, I will report to the official!" ”

"Okay, then a thousand taels!" Xu Wanqian nodded. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Where is the silver?"

"I don't have any money on me right now!"

"You're kidding me?" The man said angrily.

"Look I've got a wound!" Xu Wancheng pulled open his clothes, revealing the wound on his right rib: "As long as you release the secret mark according to the method I taught you, my companions will naturally come in a few days, and you will have silver at that time!" ”

The man carefully examined Xu Wanyan's face, and finally said coldly: "Okay, I will believe you this way, you don't have to lie to me in the end, otherwise you will have your own good looks!" ”

Hu Kejian went home and slept for a while, and did not get up until noon the next day, and then went to Fusi in Beizhen first after lunch to confirm that the prisoner surnamed Xu had not been found. A grim reality lay before him and Wu Mengming: either the man had drowned somewhere in the sewers, or he had fled. Either way, the chances of finding it are rapidly decreasing as time goes on.

"Lord Wu, our family is going to enter the palace to face the saint later, and tell this case!" Hu Kejian said with a smile: "Besides, that Chen Zhenhui is in our hands, sooner or later the news will leak out, we have to come up with an explanation first!" ”

Wu Mengming nodded, as Hu Kejian said, a noble son like Chen Zhenhui will inevitably attract attention as soon as he disappears for a long time, rather than waiting for the matter to get bigger, it is better to preemptively handle the case into an iron case, but the surname Xu does not know whether he is alive or dead now, and the evidence chain is broken all of a sudden, and it is quite troublesome to kill the case.

Hu Kejian saw Wu Mengming's speechless appearance, waved his hand, motioned for the others in the room to retreat, and said in a low voice: "Our family has a way, but I don't know if it will be successful, and I ask Lord Wu to sum it up with me." ”

"Oh!" Wu Mengming raised his head in surprise and hurriedly said, "I want to hear it!" ”

"Our family remembers that Chen Zhenhui's confession said that he had been to Zhou Yanru's mansion after coming to Beijing, and the two talked very happily, and they also thanked Zhou Yanru for the second Zhang of the Restoration Society."

"Yes, both of them are from Yixing, and they can be regarded as world friends." Wu Mengming nodded when he heard this, the clerk of the brocade guard was a good interrogator, and during the interrogation, he interrogated Chen Zhenhui clearly during the period of time after he came to Beijing, and such a major event as meeting Zhou Yanru was naturally no exception.

"After Chen Zhenhui left the Zhou Mansion, she sent someone to assassinate Wen Ge Lao a few days later, right?"

"Not bad!" At this time, Wu Mengming had already heard what Hu Kejian meant, and his eyes were bright: "It's just—"

Chen Zhenhui said in the transcript that the reason why he assassinated Wen Ge Lao was because Wen Tiren impeached the Restoration Society in the first place, and this impeachment was stopped by Zhou Yanru. And Zhou Yanru is the first assistant of this dynasty, and Wen Tiren is the second assistant of this dynasty, right? Hu Kejian didn't pay attention to Wu Mengming's answer at all, and asked directly.

"Exactly, father-in-law, what do you mean—" Wu Mengming's face was already full of surprise. Hu Kejian smiled lightly: "What do I mean?" What can I mean? They are the big men of the court, the rookies of Shilin, and I am just an old dog in the saint. The Holy One asked me to take a look, I will take an honest look at it, and give what I see to the Holy One, as for what to do, how to do it, then there will naturally be a Holy Judgment, and now the Ying Fruit will naturally not be deceived! Speaking of this, Hu Kejian stood up: "I still have an hour to enter the palace to face the saint, and the rest will be left to you, Lord Wu, don't delay!" ”

"Father-in-law, don't worry, I won't embarrass you!"

Qianqing Palace, Hongde Palace.

This is a side hall of Qianqing Palace, located in the west of the main hall of Qianqing Palace, sitting north to south. Because Chongzhen happened to be working here when he received the victory of Helinger last time, out of a superstitious psychology, except for some government affairs that must be handled in the main hall in terms of etiquette, Chongzhen was in the Chongde Hall during this time to review and receive the ministers. At this time, he was sitting on the dragon throne in the hall, looking down at the confession document submitted by Hu Kejian.

Finally finished reading more than 20 pages of confession, Chongzhen's face was solemn and abnormal, he took a deep breath, and asked Hu Kejian, who was kneeling down, "Hu Daban, what is written on this is true?" ”

"Tell the emperor that these confessions were transcribed by the old slave and Wu Mengming looking at the documents of the Beizhen Fusi to interrogate the criminal. The old slave felt that this matter was very important, so he immediately brought this confession into the palace to face the saint, and dared to love the saint! ”

Chongzhen didn't speak, he lowered his head and looked at the confession again, compared to the usual recitals, the paper of this confession was much coarser, the handwriting was a little sloppy, and there were some ink on the edge of the paper, which was far less beautiful than the handwriting presented by the civil officials, and the writing was neat. Presumably, after Hu Kejian's inquiry, he found that the situation was serious, and he didn't even have time to copy a copy before he directly took the original to the palace. It is no wonder that Hu Kejian wanted to do this, although there was no conclusion in that confession, but if you look at the facts before and after, there can only be one conclusion - the first assistant Zhou Yanru colluded with the resumption of the society and sent assassins to assassinate the second assistant Wen Tiren, who threatened his position.

"Crazy, appalling!" Chongzhen scolded: "Three hundred years of the country, how can there be such a thing? I am so virtuous, I actually chose such a first assistant, and entrusted him with state affairs, no wonder disasters have appeared one after another, and state affairs are becoming difficult! Speaking of this, he finally couldn't hold back his emotions, hid his face and cried bitterly.

"Emperor, Emperor!" Chongzhen's abrupt move startled Wang Chengen, who was standing behind him, and hurriedly stepped forward to help Chongzhen up, while persuading: "You have to take care of the dragon body, if there is a good one, what can Da Ming do!" ”

Chongzhen sobbed for a while, and suddenly raised his head, only to see a fierce light in his red and swollen eyes: "Wang Daban, quickly draft an edict for me, I will severely punish Zhou Yanru, a beast-faced thing!" ”

"Emperor, the old slave dares to say a word!" Hu Kejian, who was kneeling on the ground, took two steps forward on his knees.

Only then did Chongzhen notice that Hu Kejian was still kneeling on the ground, and he wiped the tears on his face: "Hu Daban, get up and speak!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Hu Kejian got up: "Emperor, this confession has already been read by the minions." Anyway, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Wen are all my Ming assistants, and it is a matter of my Ming face, if the matter is torn apart, Mr. Zhou's life is small, and my Ming is decent! ”

Hu Kejian's admonition was like a basin of cold water poured on his head, and Chongzhen suddenly calmed down. As Hu Kejian said, a high-ranking official like Zhou Yanru, there is nothing to remove him from office, or force him to become a general, but if he wants to be punished and executed, it is by no means something that can be done with an edict from the Son of Heaven, and it must go through strict procedures to convict and interrogate. Even thousands of years later, there will be a note in the history books, as the reigning son of heaven, Chongzhen's charge of mediocrity and negligence will never escape.

"What Hu Daban said is that I can't afford to lose this face!" Chongzhen nodded, he had calmed down at this time, but his hatred for Zhou Yanru was even deeper. He took a deep breath, suppressed the resentment in his chest, and said in a low voice: "In this way, let Zhou Yanru resign by himself, recruit Yang Sichang back, be the secretary of the military department, the scholar of the East Pavilion University, and enter the cabinet to do things." This Chen Zhenhui must be severely convicted, his father must also punish him for the crime of not being strict with his godson, and the examiner who took him this year will also be punished. ”

"Emperor Shengming!" Hu Kejian knelt on the ground and sang loudly.

Chongzhen's decision blew a round of political whirlwind in the court, and after secret negotiations with a person from the palace, early the next morning, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant, asked to resign from the positions of the first assistant, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the scholar of the East Pavilion University at the court meeting on the grounds of physical discomfort, and return to his hometown to recuperate. Emperor Chongzhen didn't even make a symbolic gesture of retention, so he directly agreed to Zhou Yanru's request, and didn't even give the Liulu (that is, the basic salary is still paid after leaving the office) that the elders usually have when they go to work. And Jin Yiwei immediately escorted him back to the house, and he had to leave Beijing the next morning, which was not even enough time for Zhou Yanru to pack up, which made the courtiers in surprise inexplicably, and they exchanged their heads and ears, and several of the most astute thought of the recent assassination of Wen Cifu on the way to the early dynasty, and suddenly did not dare to say more.

However, the memory of the lords and gentlemen above the court is not much stronger than that of the goldfish, and the former Shoufu has just stepped on the boat to return to his hometown, and their attention is attracted to another matter: the Son of Heaven issued an edict to recall Yang Sichang, the squire of the military department who supervised the division in Shanxi, and promoted him to the secretary of the military department and the scholar of the East Pavilion University, apparently the Son of Heaven did this to fill the vacancy of Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren. This major personnel change immediately set off a new wave in the teahouse and wine shop in Jingshi, and people talked about this Yang Wenweak Yang Ge who was on the rise.

Willow Springs Residence.

"This lord!" The guy quickly lifted the heavy door curtain, stretched out his hand to make an inviting gesture, and smiled at the guests in front of him in a happy and courteous tone: "It's cold outside, do it upstairs inside!" ”

"Hmm!" Xu Hecheng nodded reservedly, and the guards who followed closely behind him took out a dozen copper coins from his waist and threw them into the guy's arms. The guy hurriedly sang a fat song to Xu Hecheng: "Thank you for the official reward!" ”

"That's it!" Xu Hecheng waved his hand disapprenorantly, pretending to be disapproving: "I asked you about something, if you answer well, I will reward you heavily!" ”

That guy has been working in this Liuquan House for more than ten years, I don't know how many guests he has seen, he has already practiced a pair of fire eyes, and he saw that the mink fur on Xu Hecheng's body is worth a thousand gold, and the servants behind him are all burly, with a straight waist, and the exposed skin is even darker and shiny, most of them are wealthy businessmen who run outside the mouth, he knows that these businessmen outside the mouth are the most arrogant, and hurriedly smiled: "Thank you, guest officer, if you know, the little one must tell the truth!" ”

"Okay, let me ask you, have you seen any strangers in this area in the past two days, and what is unusual?"

"This-" The guy thought for a while, and finally smiled bitterly: "Guest officer, it's not that the villain deliberately concealed it, it's just that I haven't seen anything unusual in the past few days!" ”

Xu Hecheng nodded, with a slightly disappointed look on his face, since Hu Kejian learned about Wen Tiren's assassination with Zhou Yanru, an unlucky ghost, Xu Hecheng's symbolic house arrest has ended. After visiting several of his business associates and checking last year's accounts, he began to secretly search for the prisoner surnamed Xu, who was said to have drowned in the sewers. Although there is no evidence, there is a fanatical idea in his heart, this mysterious man who manipulated Chen Zhenhui behind his back and committed this shocking case is none other than the sibling Xu Wanqian who turned against him and forced him to leave the country. He must not be dead, and is now hiding somewhere, waiting for the next opportunity to carry out his plan. Although Xu Hecheng has not yet figured out how he should face this enemy brother, one thing is undoubted - I must find him!

The guy saw Xu Hecheng standing at the door, looking like he didn't belong, blocking the door of his store and hindering business, so he had to urge boldly: "This guest officer, it's very cold outside, do you want to come upstairs to rest?" ”

Xu Hecheng was awakened by the guy's voice, he looked at the guy, and then at the few guests behind him who were pointing at him, and already understood that he was hindering the other party's business: "It's okay, what delicious food do you have here!" ”

When the guy heard that the business was coming, he couldn't help but perk up, and hurriedly stirred his lips and tongue and said: "Our master Liuquanju is the number of masters in Beijing, and you definitely want to come again after eating his stewed mutton and stewed carp once!" ”

"Okay, let's try this!" Xu Hecheng entered the door with a few guards, went up to the second floor, and felt that this hall was very bright, and looked up to see that the patio was paved with a thin layer of grinding mussel shells, which could block the wind and rain, and let the sun shine in, saving a lot of money for lights, it was indeed original, and he couldn't help laughing: "This is a good way, but it is rare in the north!" ”

The shopkeeper who was wiping the table on the side saw Xu Hecheng's praise and said with a smile: "What the guest officer said is that this French style is very common in Nanzhili, and the snow is heavy in the north in winter, so whenever it snows, you have to take it off and replace it with a wooden roof, otherwise it will crush the snow." I don't know what the old man wants to eat. ”

"Look at the few of us, just serve some wine and food according to the portion!"

"It's sir!"

After a while, the shopkeeper brought up the wine and food, Xu Hecheng paused for chopsticks, and ate it with a few guards, although this wine and food is not as good as the job of guarding the door downstairs said, it is also quite good. He ran all morning, and he was a little hungry, so he ate about six or seven minutes before putting down his chopsticks, and his eyes casually glanced around. Suddenly, Xu Hecheng's gaze stopped on the opposite side of the street downstairs, a middle-aged man was painting something on the wall, Xu Hecheng's eyesight was very good, and he could vaguely see that it was an unfinished gossip shape from more than ten zhang, his breathing suddenly became short, and he subconsciously slapped the table, but startled the shopkeeper who was waiting on the side, and asked carefully: "Master, could it be that this wine and food are not to your taste?" (To be continued.) )