In addition, Bai Yijie, with the assistance of the officials of the Ministry of Defense, reorganized the Jinghu counterintelligence system, including Shi Wenhu and other patriotic righteous people in the locality, and reorganized the secrecy system of each army.

Jackal, the leader of the Mongol spies who was ambushed in Jinghu, once said in a report to the Great Khan: "Since the beginning of April, the search of the Southern Dynasties has suddenly turned to meticulousness, and we and others have been arrested by more than a dozen Southern Dynasties one after another, and it is almost impossible to carry out effective operations. The reason for this should be that the deputy capital of Jing and Hubei has reformed the method of cracking and cracking the work, and there must be powerful people in the middle of running the whole thing. ”

On May 2, Bai Yijie, the senator of the Metropolitan Commandery, and Wei Zugui, the eldest daughter of Wei Zugui, who came to Xiangyang Mansion to return to Shun and was named the commander of the Baojie militia, got married.

On the one hand, Zhao Kui took care of Zheng Dutong's face, and on the other hand, he also deliberately accepted Wei Zugui, a famous general in the north. From the standpoint of the envoys, the enthusiasm for using the horses of the Northern Loyal Army has never diminished.

The wedding was very lively, and the only one who seemed a little excited was Zheng Yunming, the deputy governor of Jing'e and Hubei, when Bai Yijie was dragged around by a group of young people to persuade people to drink, Zheng Yunming just drank one cup after another, as if these happiness were far away, so far that it was difficult for him to fit in even if he was on the spot.

Bai Yijie saw all of these in his eyes.

When everyone was a little drunk after three rounds of drinking, Bai Yijie quietly pulled Zheng Yunming to sit in an inconspicuous corner of the banquet.

"Today is a good day for Bai Mou's little Dengke, why is Du Tong unhappy?"

Zheng Yunming was also three points drunk at this time, he patted Bai Yijie on the shoulder and said: "What did the military advisor say, you can achieve this marriage with the lady of the Wei family, it is really a match made in heaven." When I was in Beijing, the teacher told us a lot of stories about the country with a family, and at that time I argued that having a country and a family is just a joke sent by the emperor, and that a real man must understand the mission of protecting the family until he has a family, and then he will understand the meaning of defending the country. If the eight strategies we discussed in the grass house before were just scholarly and empty talk, then after today, for the sake of the Wei family and your future children and grandchildren, you will do your best to turn the eight strategies into practical measures to defend this country, neither for me nor for the emperor, but for the happiness of Wei Ruolan, your sons and grandsons, and future generations thousands of years later. ”

Bai Yijie was moved in his heart, but he would not be the one who showed his mood on the spot, but said lightly: "Even so, I also hope that our capital can start a family as soon as possible, so that Xiangyang will be at ease." ”

Zheng Yunming stared at him and shook his head and said, "As far as you do, I can't do it." ”

"It's late." Bai Yijie said with a straight face: "Dutong's family affairs are related to the command of the entire Jing'e army. I have already had meetings with Lu Tong, Ge Tong, Wang Deputy Commander and Yang Deputy Commander, as well as Ma Staff Officer and Liu Senator, in order to calm your heart, you must use this method to make sure that Yu Chengdu and the little lady of the Lai family are concerned. ”

He whispered in Zheng Yunming's ear: "At this time, it is estimated that Lai Wengong is already in prison, and it is still too late for Dutong to go to Changsha Mansion to rescue him now, if he delays some time on the road a little, I am afraid that Lai Gong's life will not be guaranteed." ”

Zheng Yunming stood up with a swish, stomped his feet and scolded: "Gongfu mistook me!" Gongfu mistook me! Said that he was in a hurry and ran out of the hall.

Only a room of inexplicable surprise was left and Bai Yijie smiling with a white feather fan.

Lai Wengong, the famous hero of Jinghu South Road and the owner of the famous Heming Village, sat in the dark and damp prison of Changsha Mansion at this time, and the climate in Jingnan has turned hot after entering April, with mosquitoes and flies flying everywhere and rats infested in the filthy prison. Lai Wengong didn't feel anything unbearable, the conditions here were many times better than when he was eating and drinking in Dengzhou, Tangzhou and Xinyang, and sleeping with the enemy's corpse on his head.

The heavy wooden door creaked open, and the guard of the cell led an official-like man down the steps with a dim oil lamp.

This is the Changsha General Judgment, and since Lai Wengong's arrest, the General Judgment has always tried this case in person. It is no wonder that with Lai Wengong's reputation on Jingnan Road, if it is confirmed that he really colludes with the north, there will be a huge shock in the entire Jingnan, and the lords of the government who have always had dealings with Lai Wengong on weekdays are only afraid of being implicated. In order to keep the black yarn on the heads of the masters, I have to firmly grasp everything in this case.

The general judge ordered the guards to open the prison and brought Lai Wengong out.

"Now that the human and material evidence are there, and the Futai, the Xiantai and the pacification envoy will be tripartitely interrogated, are you still unwilling to confess?"

Lai Wengong raised his eyelids, the tiger power in the messy beard was still there, and he said coldly: "What you haven't done, what do you confess!" ”

Tong Ju twisted his eyebrows and shouted: "Don't think that just because you are Lai Wengong, the prefect yamen has nothing to do with you, even if you are Lai Weng, the yamen can also be punished!" ”

Lai Wengong sneered: "When Lao Tzu was cut four holes in the body of the gold thief with an iron cone gun on the Siping Bridge, he never thought of giving in. ”

The face of the general sentence sank, but he didn't dare to really drink the order to sentence Lai Wengong, and everyone in Jingnan knew that Lai Wengong had an extraordinary relationship with some big people in Lin'an. At this time, I offended him, and I don't know who will alarm the nerves of the Jingshi in the future.

He snorted, flicked his sleeves and turned to leave the cell.

After the general sentence left, an elderly guard quietly said to Lai Wengong: "Who in the whole Jingnan doesn't know that Master Lai has been wronged, what letter do you want to send to Lin'an, everyone is willing to help deliver it." ”

Lai Wengong smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Even if Lai wants to lose his head this time, he won't provoke the minister of Lin'an to come forward." ”

As he spoke, he slowly closed his eyes again.

At this time, it was already dusk, and the pedestrians on the official road west of Changsha City were already very sparse, and the servants of the Changsha Post Station outside the city yawned lazily while beginning to clean up the flags, tables and stools outside the post station. At this time, a small puff of smoke and dust suddenly rose in the distance, and after a while, everyone saw that it was more than ten fast horses galloping in the direction of Changsha City.

This small group of knights came to the front of the inn, and dismounted with stirrups, and the servants hurried forward to meet them. In the dim sky, they could clearly see that the leader of the comer was a scholar in civilian clothes and a sword, but then they also saw the respectful appearance of the soldiers who were accompanying the scholar who made the color of submission and utility clothes to him. How can such a character be contemptuous? Immediately, the post man led the way and let everyone into the upper hall to rest.

When he brought the roster for everyone to register, he realized that Lu Dao turned out to be Zheng Yunming, a young general in Jinghu who had recently become famous.

"The prefect of Changsha can be in the county government?" Zheng Yunming asked, "I have something to do and need to meet with the government immediately." ”

Yi Cheng was embarrassed and said: "At this time, Lord Futai has already stopped handling official business."

Liu Quan, who was standing behind Zheng Yunming, raised his eyebrows and shouted: "Do you have to pick a special time when Dutong comes to visit your mansion!" "He's a quick temper that he has cultivated in the frontier. Because the generals in the border area often have to deal with urgent military affairs, even in the middle of the night, the third watch will meet with the generals and soldiers who come to report to them. But this is the mainland, and the habits of the bureaucrats are completely different from those on the side, and the most important thing here is to handle official affairs in accordance with the rules and live a peaceful life.

Zheng Yunming waved his hand to stop Liu Quan's seizure, and said to Yicheng: "So tomorrow I will go to visit the prefect again." ”

Yi Cheng wiped the sweat from his head, and hurriedly greeted the servants to entertain these proud soldiers from the front.

After drinking and eating, the soldiers were already asleep in their rooms, Zheng Yunming had something to do and couldn't sleep well, so he slowly walked out of the room and walked along the verandah to the front hall.

At this time, the upper hall was closed, and only the side hall where the lower-level officials and officials were received was still lit, and a group of people were sitting in front of the lights and talking casually.

Zheng Yunming took advantage of the darkening night to quietly walk to the side of the crowd, found a bench and sat down, and listened carefully, everyone was not talking about anything else, it was Lai Wengong, who had been making a lot of noise in Jingnan recently.

A soldier soaked his feet in a hot tub while telling the ins and outs of the case with great interest.

Ten days ago, the Imperial Armory Institute sent someone to send a secret formula to the Arsenal of Changsha Prefecture, which was said to be the formula of the refined gunpowder presented to the emperor by Zheng Yunming, a new general in Jinghu. Along with the gunpowder recipe came four armed envoys of the Imperial Division, who strictly guarded the gunpowder formula, and even the prefect could not approach the recipe casually, except for the necessary few craftsmen who could get a glimpse of the recipe and the book of how to make it.

Usually the recipe is kept strictly in an iron box with a self-destruct mechanism, and if someone tries to force open the box, the recipe and the book will be destroyed. To open the box, you need four keys, one for each of the two envoys, one for the prefect of Changsha and one for the local artisan chief, and when all four keys are ready, you can open the iron box and take out the recipe and make the book, and then start to make gunpowder according to the steps.

It stands to reason that such a precautionary measure can be said to be foolproof.

But five days ago, when everyone opened the iron box again, they found that the secret gunpowder formula of Tianzi No. 1 had disappeared!