、、、、、、、

Chapter 357

According to the method taught by Gu Chen, Cheng Jin took advantage of Meng Chong's opportunity to go out of the city to do business, secretly kidnapped him, and then* he wrote a letter to his family and sent it to Meng Luo's mansion, asking him for 20,000 taels of silver and 2,000 taels of gold.

When this letter arrived in the Mongolian Mansion, it immediately caused an uproar, and the Mongolian Mansion was like a fried pot.

It is true that Monroe is the left minister of the imperial court, but his family wealth is not very rich. He is upright, and he is also a clean breeze for officials, and all his income only depends on his salary, and in the country of wind, the imperial court has long become a puppet with nothing to show for it, although the monthly salary of the ministers of the court and the central government cannot be said to be less, but it is far less than when he was in Beijing, Mengluo's salary, except for the cost of supporting the whole family of the Prime Minister's Mansion, there is not much left, where can he make up such astronomical amounts as 20,000 taels of silver and 2,000 taels of gold?

The old man was shocked, but he did not lose his senses, and while he ordered his family to go out to raise money, he sent someone to report to the lieutenant's palace, and he himself went to the palace to consult with Montaigne on how to settle the matter.

Montaigne was also shocked when he heard the news of his brother's kidnapping, and he couldn't stay in the palace anymore, so he followed his father and hurried back to the prime minister's mansion. When Meng Luo and Montaigne returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Gu Chen had already been invited by the Prime Minister's Mansion.

knew that although Gu Chen was the deputy leader of the Lieutenant's Mansion, he was actually the real person in charge, and he knew the size of Yancheng well. In order to be able to rescue his second son, Meng Luo was very polite to Gu Chen and treated him as a guest.

Montaigne didn't have any extra nonsense, and after Gu Chen sat down, he asked bluntly: "In the dignified capital, there will be kidnappers appearing, I don't know who Lord Gu thinks the kidnappers are, and how to deal with this matter?"

"It's hard to say, the capital is not peaceful now. Gu Chen frowned, pretending to be worried, and said: "Two days ago, there were assassins who infiltrated the palace and stabbed the king!" After a pause, he continued: "Meng Xiang and General Meng, presumably the two of you should also know that a large number of Zhenren have gathered outside the capital recently, among which dragons and snakes are mixed, and it is inevitable that there will be outlaws who take risks for money. ”

He pushed things all the way away, and the basin was deducted on the heads of the chaste people outside the city, and the deduction was reasonable, more than a million chastity, who dared to guarantee that there would be no lawbreakers among them?

Meng Luo's face changed, and he asked urgently, "What about ...... Master Gu, in your opinion, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Gu Chen pretended to be silent for a while, and said quietly: "After all, money is something outside the body, but human life is a matter of heaven, I think, I will accept the kidnappers' conditions first, give them all the gold and silver they demand, and wait for the redemption of Ling Gongzi, my lieutenant's mansion can also let go to investigate, I believe that within ten days, the ransom sent by Meng Xiang will be recovered." ”

Of course, Montaigne was not satisfied with such an answer, thinking that Gu Chen did not do his best. He snorted coldly and said, "I think, if the family of the Minister of the Wind Country was kidnapped by bandits, Lord Gu would never give such an irresponsible reply?

Gu Chen hurriedly shook his hand, and said in a loud voice: "The lower official has no such intention, General Meng has misunderstood the lower official! Now that Meng Gongzi is in the hands of the kidnappers, if the lieutenant's mansion goes to search for the kidnappers, I am afraid that he will startle the snake, in case the kidnapper dog jumps off the wall in a hurry, Meng Gongzi has three long and two short, and the lower official can't afford this responsibility!"

Montaigne was about to speak, but Monroe waved his hand to stop him and said, "Tian'er, what Master Gu said is not unreasonable. ”

As he spoke, he showed embarrassment and said to Gu Chen: "Lord Gu's method is feasible, but the Prime Minister's Mansion really can't make up so much gold and silver for a while, Lord Gu, you see ......."

Gu Chen smiled lightly, and said in another sense: "Meng Xiang is the left minister of the imperial dynasty, under one person, above ten million people, just 20,000 taels of silver plus 2,000 taels of gold, for Meng Xiang, it should be a drop in the bucket?"

"Fart!" Before Meng Luo could speak, Montaigne's face turned red with anger, and he said angrily: "My father is an official and has always been honest, where is there so much gold and silver in the family?"

"Hehe!" Gu Chen smiled leisurely and said, "General Meng, don't be angry, after all, the lower officials don't know the truth." ”

After pondering for a moment, he said: "In this way, if there is indeed difficulty in the matter of the ransom, the lower officials can report to the king and ask the king for help." ”

"It would be great if His Highness the Wind King was willing to help. Meng Luo looked at Montaigne and said worriedly: "It's just that His Royal Highness the Wind King may not be able to help the old minister!"

"Please rest assured about this, the king has always been clear about public and private, and he will never stand idly by when Ling Gongzi is in distress. Gu Chen Zhengse said.

"In this way, the old man will thank Master Gu first!" Meng Luo looked excited, stood up, and bowed to the ground.

"Oh, Meng Xiang is polite, kill the lower official!" Gu Chen also hurriedly stood up and bowed back respectfully to Meng Luobi.

Montaigne watched coldly, and he always felt that Gu Chen was a little uncomfortable, but where was the problem, he couldn't say it clearly for a while.

Let's say that Gu Chen, don't pass Meng Luo, Montaigne father and son, leave the Prime Minister's Mansion, and immediately go to the palace to ask Tang Yin for money.

Tang Yin had no idea about Cheng Jin and Gu Chen's conspiracy, and when he heard that Meng Luo's second son had been kidnapped, he was also secretly surprised, frowning and asking, "Who did it?"

Gu Chen's eyes rolled, and he said in a non-trivial manner: "The state affairs are busy, the king is hard work, and he is flawless, so why should the king bother to ask about such trivial things?"

Twenty thousand taels of silver, plus two thousand taels of gold, this is still called a trivial matter? But how smart Tang Yin is, since Gu Chen said so, there must be another hidden secret in it, and it is not very clean kind of hidden secret, such a thing, it is really better not to know if you know it.

He smiled slightly, nodded and replied, "Okay! Since General Gu said so, I won't ask." The gold and silver you mentioned can be lent to Monroe, and later, you can take my handwritten instructions and ask Master Zhang to pick it up. ”

"Yes, King!" Gu Chen replied without saying anything.

Tang Yin picked up the pen and was just about to write an edict to Zhang Zhe, but he felt that it was inappropriate, so he immediately changed Zhang Zhe's name to Shaofu Zongyuan, and said: "This money should not be taken out of the treasury, but from the palace." You go to Master Zong and ask Master Zong to withdraw the gold and silver from the treasury. ”

"The king will see it!" Gu Chen bowed. He also felt that such 'dirty things' should not be recorded in the treasury, and that it was most appropriate for the palace to pay for them.

Waiting for Tang Yin to write an edict and hand it to Gu Chen, the latter gave his leave. Before he went out, Tang Yin didn't raise his head and reminded: "This gold and silver is not a small amount, after the matter is completed, let Cheng Jin send it back to the treasury as soon as possible to pay the account." ”

Gu Chen was stunned for a moment, turned his head and looked at Tang Yin who was commenting on the official document in surprise, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile, from beginning to end, he didn't say a word about the inside story, but he still couldn't hide it from the king's eyes!

Secretly admiring in his heart, he nodded and responded: "Don't worry, the king will remind General Cheng at the end." ”

"En, do it!" Tang Yin said no more, and his attention returned to the mountain of official documents.

Things went well, Gu Chen returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and at the same time brought 20,000 taels of silver and 2,000 taels of gold with him. Meng Luo was overjoyed, took Montaigne, welcomed out of the palace, and brought Gu Chen into the mansion.

"Master Gu has done the old man a great favor this time!" Meng Luo thanked Gu Chen for his kindness, and the latter said with a light smile: "Meng Xiang should not thank the lower officials, but the king!"

"This ......" Meng Luo hesitated for a moment, did not speak immediately, knowing that he had a long-standing grudge against the king, Gu Chen immediately interjected the topic again, and said: "Now that the gold and silver have been gathered, I don't know when the kidnappers agreed to pay the ransom?"

"It's time tonight. As he spoke, Meng Luo handed the kidnapper's letter to Gu Chen, who took it and read it carefully, read it from beginning to end, then put down the letter and said to Meng Luo: "Meng Xiang will go according to the kidnapper's request! The kidnappers usually value money and will not kill innocent people indiscriminately......

Before he finished speaking, Montaigne questioned dissatisfiedly: "What? It sounds like Lord Gu's lieutenant's mansion doesn't plan to send someone to escort his father?"

Gu Chen's face turned straight and said, "The kidnappers specifically mentioned in the letter that Meng Xiang's entourage must not exceed five people, and if my lieutenant's mansion sends someone to go, wouldn't it be a bad thing?"

"At least you should make appropriate arrangements, otherwise once something happens, what should you do?" Montaigne said in a condensed voice: "In case the kidnappers' ransom is fake, and the purpose is to assassinate the father, what should you do?"

"This ...... Xia Guan didn't think about it so much for a while......" Gu Chen took a breath and slowly lowered his head.

"The men of your lieutenant's palace must be ready to go out of the city at any time to rescue them!" Montaigne said in a deep voice.

"However, there is no cavalry in my lieutenant's mansion, and if there is a real change, I am afraid that it will not be able to reach the whip. Gu Chen muttered while pondering, pondering for a long time, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and said, "You can ask the Ninth Legion for help in this matter." First, the Ninth Legion is a cavalry legion, which is fast and powerful, and it is not a problem to deal with the kidnappers, and second, the station of the Ninth Legion is not far from the place of trade set by the kidnappers, and it can arrive in the shortest possible time, so as not to arouse the suspicion and vigilance of the kidnappers. ”

After hearing this, Montaigne's eyes lit up, if he could really ask the Ninth Legion to help, it would be great. However, the Ninth Legion is the only cavalry legion in the Wind Country, and it is still a heavy cavalry legion, it is very precious, and the legion leader Qi Heng is arrogant, and his eyes are too high, I am afraid that I can't please him! He asked: "Lord Gu, do you think General Qi is willing to help with this?"

Gu Chen shrugged his shoulders and said: "General Qi and Lord Guo have always been friends, and the lower officials and Lord Guo have some friendships, I asked Lord Guo to be a lobbyist, and I will definitely be able to do this, not to mention, this matter is just a gesture for General Qi!"