The imperial court attaches great importance to Dai Luanxiang's affairs, lest Marshal Dai, who has a high prestige in the army, once he is not convinced and shouts loudly, the soldiers under his command will be excited, and they will simply turn against the imperial court. Therefore, Cheng Yan, the inspector, was specially sent to the front line in Dengzhou to handle the matter.

This Cheng Yan was originally a close guard of the current emperor Zheng Yao when he was in the palace, and he has always been decisive and quiet, and he is approachable, and he is quite famous in the capital.

After Zheng Yao ascended the throne and became emperor, he thought that Quanshan Si had always been Wang Zhonghai's descendant, and it was really difficult to control; But at present, his position as the emperor is still unstable, and there are many officials who oppose him among the six ministries, and he is inseparable from the Quanshan Division for a moment, and he cannot fully control this secret agency for a moment and a half.

So he thought about it, so he had to install cronies in it, in order to gradually squeeze out the old people in the Quanshan Division, so as to realize the mastery of the Quanshan Division.

Cheng Yan is one of them.

Although Cheng Yan is Zheng Yao's right-hand man and has done a lot of things for him, his character is also upright. When he first heard that he was going to send himself to serve in the Quanshan Division, he was also quite reluctant, just because the reputation of the Quanshan Division was too stinky, and he would rather not be promoted than go to this dye vat.

But Zheng Yao persuaded Cheng Yan in every possible way, saying that it was precisely because of the misconduct of the persuasion of Shansi that he should be sent in so that he could slowly seize power and then rectify it.

Cheng Yan thought that Zheng Yao was now the Son of Heaven, such a plea was really rare, and every word he spoke was reasonable, and he remembered that Zheng Yao had saved his life when he was the prince, so he reluctantly agreed.

Zheng Yao did not treat Cheng Yan badly.

When the dead old emperor Zheng Yong set up the Quanshan Division, he felt that it was too powerful, and he was afraid that it would come to the point where the tail could not be lost, so he set the grade of the Quanshan Division Yamen to be extremely low, not only to be controlled by the eunuchs and not allowed to be on the table, but the chief official was only a Zhonglang general from the fourth grade.

However, as soon as Cheng Yan entered the Yamen of the Persuasion Division, he was appointed as the inspector of the five products, and all affairs were only responsible to the emperor Zheng Yao, and there was no need to be controlled by anyone else.

There is such a relationship, and Cheng Yan is responsible for escorting Dai Luanxiang back to Beijing. Before he left Beijing, Emperor Zheng Yao personally received him, only saying that Dai Luanxiang was bewitched by traitors in the army.

Dai Luanxiang is well-known in the government and the opposition, although Cheng Yan has nothing to do with him, he has also been friends for a long time, and he secretly admires it in his heart. He really didn't expect Zheng Yao to make such a self-destruction of the Great Wall at this moment of life and death, so it was refreshing to take the order to set off on an errand.

As soon as he arrived at the Dengzhou camp, Cheng Yan, together with the eunuchs of the prison army, found Dai Luanxiang and sent him a decree: "The Holy Secret is here, please Marshal Dai alone to receive the order!" ”

Dai Luanxiang is good at using soldiers, but he is not good at conspiracy and trickery, and he has also heard that Cheng Yannai is the first powerful confidant around the new emperor, and he will personally pass on the decree, which will inevitably involve confidential military affairs, so he retreated from the left and right personal soldiers and knelt down to receive the order.

Cheng Yan personally read the holy decree to Dai Luanxiang, to the effect that the recent progress in pacifying the Youyan rebels has been very slow, and Dai Luanxiang should immediately return to Beijing to report on his work, and the supply of grain and grass on the front line, the replenishment of troops and other matters can also be played together.

Dai Luanxiang listened to the holy decree and was still surprised, so Cheng Yan helped him up with his own hands and comforted: "Although the last general is not as wise and martial as Marshal Dai, he is also from the army, and he knows that changing commanders in battle is a taboo for soldiers. To put it irreverently, although the saint is wise today, he has never led his troops into battle, and he does not know the taboos. It is precisely because of this that the emperor even summoned the marshal back to Beijing to consult military affairs in person. As long as the marshal reports truthfully, with the emperor's wisdom, he will definitely have another will. ”

Dai Luanxiang listened to Cheng Yan's sincere speech, and saw that he treated him politely everywhere, so he willingly handed over the affairs of the military camp with General Qian Qing, the left of the Dengzhou camp alone, and came to the capital Luoyang.

Along the way, Cheng Yan treated Dai Luanxiang very politely, and there was nothing undesirable in food, clothing, and daily life, let alone the use of torture instruments such as prisoner carts and flails.

Cheng Yan has admired Dai Luanxiang for a long time, always asking for warmth, and often asking for advice on leading troops to fight. Dai Luanxiang saw that Cheng Yan was very different from the traitor and cool official in the persuasion of the good division, and the two had similar personalities, and their words were also opportunistic.

Therefore, this persuasion and his entourage were not so much an errand to escort the prisoners, but more like a servant escorting high-ranking officials of the imperial court, and they walked very safely, and smoothly passed through the Tong Pass and entered the region.

However, although Cheng Yan treated Dai Luanxiang politely, the others in the persuasion of the good division did not have this bearing.

It turned out that the Quanshan Division wanted to infiltrate the forbidden army in order to grasp the military power and seize greater power. But Dai Luanxiang, as a former general of the forbidden army, has always been disdainful of him, and he has always obstructed them openly and secretly, and he has already formed a bond with them.

Dai Luanxiang originally had an extremely deep foundation in the army, and he naturally had no way to persuade Shansi to take him, but once he saw that he was in trouble, he had to take action to avenge his daily revenge. However, although they have this unsightly dark idea, the chief official Cheng Yan is very trusted by the emperor at present, and Dai Luanxiang is still powerful, so it is not easy to be embarrassed at will for the time being.

However, the good times did not last long, as soon as he entered Tongguan, he had not walked a few steps, and the fast horse from the capital passed the holy decree. The person who delivered the decree also specially instructed that it was the emperor's dictation and asked Cheng Yan to personally read the decree to Dai Luanxiang.

Cheng Yan naturally didn't dare to resist the decree, and when he opened the holy decree sealed in the yellow satin, he read it out to Dai Luanxiang word by word.

However, this decree had just been read halfway, and Dai Luanxiang, who knelt down on the ground to receive the decree, was already sweating like rain when he heard it.

Cheng Yan, who was standing on the ground and announcing the decree, was no better, his hands, feet, and even his whole body trembled, and even his tongue stammered. It turns out that the wording of this decree is extremely harsh, and I can only hear that it reads:

"Recently, I heard that the left general Qian Qingchu was in charge of the army, so he fought hard and attacked the Yan thieves, and he had recovered the lost territory in Henan in a few days, and the soldiers pointed directly at the enemy's nest. And Dai Qing is known to be good at military orders, why is he hesitant in the middle of the month and can't take a step closer? I also heard rumors in Beijing: Yan follows Luan Xiang, Pengcheng thousands of miles. Although I am dull, I also know that it has more meaning. And what Dai Qing did, can he trust me in my fist? Can you be the first emperor to be lonely? Can it be a kindness to parents? Is it possible to look forward to the people? What Dai Qing did, disloyalty, unfilial piety, unkindness, and injustice! Therefore, Cheng Yan inspected the school, and took Dai Luanxiang lock into Beijing to wait for impeachment, and there must be no mistake! ”

This holy decree was drafted by Emperor Zheng Yao himself, and it was sent before it could be transcribed, and it was his cursive writing of the dragon flying and phoenix dancing, and the pen was less pretentious than the usual pretentiousness and more murderous. Especially the last word "mistake", obviously dipped in cinnabar ink with a brush, written thick and large, in Cheng Yan's eyes, it was like a few steel knives, flying up and down on the bright yellow rice paper.

Dai Luanxiang Chengfu was deep, knelt on the ground and smiled bitterly, thinking: At the beginning, King Youyan had said to himself on the bank of the Yellow River that he was mean and unkind to the saint today, but he didn't expect it to be fulfilled so quickly! But although he thought so in his heart, he couldn't say it clearly in his mouth, so he only said in a dejected voice: "The criminal minister has the order, thank you!" ”

Although Cheng Yan was shrewd and capable, he had never seen anything in the world after all, and seeing that the emperor's holy decree was so strict, he was frightened by this thunderous anger and stood in place, and after a long time he said: "Marshal Dai, this ......" but he couldn't say it anymore.

The minions of the persuasion division around him have gained momentum.

Hearing that the holy decree said that Dai Luanxiang was to be "locked into Beijing", he did not wait for the command of the leader Cheng Yan, so he transferred iron shackles, wooden flails, prisoner cars and other things from the surrounding county offices, and greeted Dai Luanxiang as rudely as he did not land, and then came to the capital.

The leader of the Quanshan Division is the eunuch Jin Deqiang, although this person is cruel and tyrannical, but he is not stupid, he knows that Dai Luanxiang has a great reputation among the government and the opposition, and if he is seen by the people on the official road, there will inevitably be more disputes. Therefore, he crossed his behalf, leading the army not to take the wide road, but to find a remote road.

However, although this small road is also in the bustling, it is not as good as the official road after all, and there are very few restaurants and inns along the way. Two months ago, in the process of rescuing his father-in-law, Youyan Wang Zhengrong, he left the capital and rushed to Tongguan, in order to delay the imperial court's dispatch of the news, all post stations in Jingi were completely destroyed, and they have not been repaired so far.

Therefore, there are no post stations on both sides of the road for supplies and rest - whenever the water and rice run out, a special person must be sent to turn back to the main road to buy and transport back; When the sun sets, they have to find a broken temple and a thatched hut to stay together--this persuasion and his party have really had a very difficult journey, and they only travel about fifty miles every day.

In addition, Jin Deqiang saw that the people on this small road were sparse, very desolate and remote, and felt that the matter was too big to be taken lightly, so he specially transferred more than 100 soldiers from the capital to persuade the good division, and they would unite in one place, and they took nearly 200 people to the west of the capital with a Dai Luanxiang.

On this day, the obscene rain in the sky fell for a whole day, and the people of the Persuasion Zenji were exhausted in this thin autumn rain, and their feet had long since stopped obeying the call, but they only dragged forward step by step in the muddy ground by instinct.

Just when everyone was hungry and cold, Jin Deqiang, the leader on the horse, raised his eyes and saw a dilapidated Taoist temple faintly appearing in the distance, and there seemed to be a fire flickering in the Taoist temple, and there was cooking smoke rising. He asked Cheng Yan: "I said General Cheng, we are tired after walking for most of the day, and the miscellaneous family sees a broken temple in front of us, why don't you go in and rest?" I don't know what General Cheng thinks? ”

Cheng Yan had already been overshadowed by this Jin Deqiang, and when he asked this, he had no choice but to nod and say: "What Jin Gonggong said is very true, and the last general is also just tired, and the weather is not good today, so it is okay to rest early." It's just that this place is very remote, and it should not be careless, and it would be better if you asked someone to stand forward and go and investigate. ”

Jin Deqiang sneered when he heard this, and thought to himself: Your kid is also clever when he speaks, but he teased in his mouth: "General Cheng is a popular person around the emperor, and the miscellaneous family does not dare to send it." Since General Cheng wants someone to go to investigate, then the miscellaneous family will be affected and take the first step. ”

After that, Jin Deqiang greeted more than a dozen cronies, and without saying hello, he urged the military horse under his crotch, spread his hooves and galloped towards the Taoist temple, leaving Cheng Yan to lead more than a hundred unlucky ghosts, pushing an extremely heavy prisoner cart in the cold and biting wind and rain, slowly squirming on the muddy road.