Yesterday, martial law was imposed in the capital, and the mansions of the powerful were not allowed to leave without permission, and as for the homes of Wang Yan, Guo Congyi, Ning Yuanfu and other rebellious masterminds, they had already been surrounded by brave soldiers, waiting for the next order.

Lu Shen and Lin Xi simply had breakfast, and then rushed to Cuijingfang with Li Bingxue.

His own soldiers and the 2,000 cavalry are still in Luzhou, and the secret guards of the Lu family led by Tan Zheng are inconvenient to show up for the time being, so Lin Xi intimately brought dozens of masters of the Seven Star Gang to act as guards.

After a day and a night of cleaning up, the traces of the rebellion in the streets gradually disappeared, and although the blood on the square outside the palace had not been washed away, the bodies had been dragged to the outskirts of the city for burial.

However, there was still a strong atmosphere of slaughter in the air.

In addition to officials and soldiers, there are basically no idlers on the streets and alleys.

In Cuijingfang, there is an extremely strong atmosphere of sadness and fear.

When Lu Shen and his party approached the Guo family's mansion, they could hear the sad cries inside gradually entering their ears and stretching endlessly.

Walking to the gate, Lu Shen grabbed the reins and looked up at the towering gatehouse slightly.

The plaque has been taken down, and this magnificent mansion, which once housed the first person of the Great Qi military, is destined to end.

In the short 14 years after Li Duannandu became emperor, the Guo family of De'an has produced a general, five commanders, and more than ten captains, and Guo Congyi has stepped into the high position of privy envoy step by step with the support of clan power.

Now Guo Congyi, his son Qianniu Jun have commanded Guo Anmin, and the twelve Guo children who have served in various military departments have been imprisoned in the prison of the Warp Weaving Division, and there are hundreds of Guo clansmen who remain in this mansion.

Lu Shen retracted his gaze, looked at Li Bingxue next to him and asked, "Can't bear it?" ”

Li Bingxue shook his head.

Years of fighting with the enemy on the frontier have already sharpened her heart like iron, and naturally she will not and cannot move her heart at such a time.

There was no one around at the moment, and she didn't want to deliberately hide it, so she said truthfully: "Guo Congyi and the others deserve to die, and their relatives must also die according to the laws of the imperial court, otherwise they can't deter Xiaoxiao, of course I understand this truth." In other words, from the moment Guo Congyi and others took the step of rebellion, the people in this mansion were already destined to die. But I don't understand, why did Your Majesty have to let you do this? There are so many important ministers in the court, anyone can preside over this matter. ”

On the other side, Lin Xi blinked suddenly.

Lu Shen was slightly stunned, he didn't expect that Li Bingxue would be motivated by this consideration.

It's not complicated at all.

After the rebellion was extinguished, the strength of the Beijing army was hit hard, and it was originally inferior to the border army, but now it will be left behind.

The Son of Heaven obviously noticed this sign, so he couldn't let Lu Shen stay out of the matter, at least to isolate him from the Jiangnan forces.

In all fairness, Lu Shen didn't have much disgust with this, but admired the king who had just experienced the pain of losing his son.

Li Bingxue continued: "You led the troops to quell the rebellion before, this is your duty as the commander of the Beijing camp, and the same is true for Liu Shouguang and Zhang Xu, no one can find faults. But now that you continue to have blood on your hands, and it is the lives of thousands of women and children of the Jiangnan Wang clan, how can you wash it clean in the future? ”

Although she rarely comes to the capital, after all, she was taught by Li Tianrun since she was a child, and her perspective on problems is different from Lin Xi's.

Lin Xi suddenly sighed secretly.

She was a little distressed.

It's strange to say, the Wang family's concubine is knowledgeable and courteous, and Song Pei also said that she has a gentle temperament and is very easy to get along with, but Lin Xi can't get close. On the contrary, it was not so harmonious when they first met, and Li Bingxue, who had competed with her, unconsciously the relationship between the two was like sisters.

This silly girl......

Lin Xi thought silently in her heart, obviously thinking about him, but she had to always stand at a polite distance with a smile on her face, thinking that she would feel very uncomfortable.

Lu Shen naturally understood why Li Bingxue thought like this, he looked at Li Bingxue's eyes, and said gently: "Many times, there is no way to have the best of both worlds in this world. I want the trust of the Son of Heaven and a good reputation in the community, but I refuse to let go of the two, and in the end I will definitely lose the bamboo basket. If it were to do something else, I would advise Your Majesty to only punish the evil, but in this matter, you know that Your Majesty will never agree. ”

Li Bingxue bowed slightly.

This was not an ordinary court fight, but a rebellion carried out by open fire, and the rebels once stormed the palace, and the eldest prince was killed in battle.

At this time, don't say that Lu Shen is Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun in person, and they can't stop the Son of Heaven from killing.

Lu Shen couldn't refuse this errand, otherwise the Son of Heaven was very likely to be suspicious.

So she sighed, "I see." ”

When he turned around, Lu Shen suddenly whispered: "Of course, the reason why you can't have the best of both worlds many times and you have to be forced to choose is because your own strength is not strong enough. But I think that as long as you keep working hard, there will come a day when you will no longer be embarrassed. ”

The tone was very soft, and only the second daughter next to her could hear it.

Lin Xi pondered this sentence carefully, and gradually tasted some flavors.

The junior brother doesn't seem to be just talking about the errand in front of him, but also seems to be alluding to the future of him and Sister Bingxue?

Li Bingxue's reaction was faster, and the depths of his eyes glowed with a little moving brightness.

The three of them came to the vestibule of Guo's house, hundreds of Guo clansmen were detained here waiting for the fate, and the soldiers of the Feiyu Battalion standing next to them had solemn expressions, because the scene was basically full of old and weak women and children, and the pillars of the Guo family had been imprisoned in the prison of the Warp Weaving Division.

Seeing Lu Shen coming in, a clan elder trembled and mourned: "Lord Lu, Guo Congyi is guilty, and the Guo family is not guilty!" We don't know what he's doing, these women and children are innocent, beg the marquis to plead with His Majesty! ”

Before the words fell, the cry suddenly began.

Hundreds of people, under the leadership of the clan elder, knelt on the ground towards Lu Shen, begging endlessly.

Lu Shen looked around at everyone and did not stop it, until the crying stopped a little, he spoke: "What kind of crime is to plot rebellion, you must all know very well, and there is no need to repeat it. For many years, you have enjoyed all the glory and wealth of being a privy envoy, and today he has committed such an unforgivable sin, and this hou cannot save you. If you want to blame, blame Guo Congyi for not thinking about you before acting. ”

The Guo family looked at him with a sad expression.

Lu Shen raised his hand and said, "Take it away." Leaving 200 people to seal up Guo's house, confiscate all the family belongings, and transport them to the Nanyaguan Office, where someone will receive the inventory. ”

A captain of the Flying Feather Battalion responded loudly.

Lu Shen turned to look at Lin Xi and Li Bingxue, and said calmly, "Let's go, next one." ”

The cry sounded behind him again, and Lu Shen did not hesitate and walked out.

……

Time passed in a hurry, and eight days passed in the blink of an eye.

These days, Lu Shen is almost too busy to touch the ground, and he can sleep for an hour or two at most every night, because there are too many officials and magnates involved in this rebellion, and most of the prisoners are a clan behind them, and they are intertwined with relatives.

If you really kill all the way according to the criteria of the Nine Clans, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of people will die in the capital by then.

For example, a grandson of Zuo Prime Minister Li Daoyan married Ning Yuanfu's granddaughter, and a niece of Xue Nanting married Le Qinyi's concubine, these two prime ministers are not exempt from vulgarity, let alone others?

Lu Shen could only enter the palace several times to ask the Son of Heaven, and finally demarcated a range, except for the mastermind, accomplices, and civil and military generals who directly participated in the rebellion that night, the rest were not implicated in relatives.

Even so, the major prisons in the capital were overcrowded, and Lu Shen had to find an empty space in Xicheng as a temporary prison.

As the ten-day period approached, the atmosphere in the capital became tense again.

"It's really a lot of people this time."

In a manor in Beicheng, Shang Shuding of the military department would hold a tea cup and sigh with palpitations.

The middle-aged man sitting opposite him was naturally Li Shizhi, the left attendant of the Criminal Department.

Since the outbreak of the case of the third prince bewitching Li Yunyi to assassinate Lu Shen, Li Shizhi was deprived of his authority by Li Daoyan and has been staying in the mansion honestly.

Now that the clouds are open and the moon is bright, the situation in Beijing and central China is gradually stabilizing, and it is impossible for Li Daoyan to lock his eldest son in the mansion forever.

It's not that this old man wants to do it or not, but it's difficult for him to do it now, and Li Shizhi's deference has something to do with his own decision.

Hearing Ding Hui's exclamation, Li Shizhi smiled indifferently.

Ding Hui said unsatisfactorily: "Fortunately, Brother Shi sent someone to remind me that Wang Yan only missed a little bit that day, so I pretended to be crazy and stupid, otherwise I would be dragged into the water by them, and I would definitely be locked up in the prison of the Warp Weaving Division at this moment." ”

Li Shizhi said leisurely: "Why should you be humble? Even if I don't send a reminder, you know what to do, after all, I have entrusted that thread to you. Since he is firmly on His Majesty's side, you must understand the truth. ”

Ding Hui smiled and said, "That's the same." In fact, when Brother Shi asked me to contact him, I thought that Brother Shi would be like Wang Yan and others, so he simply didn't do anything, but I didn't expect Brother Shi to want him to be loyal to His Majesty. ”

"Because no one can defeat His Majesty now."

Li Shizhi sighed lightly, his eyebrows were slightly tired: "Your Majesty only needs to transfer more than 10,000 border troops in advance, and these people in the Beijing army will be as vulnerable as chickens and dogs, not to mention that there are many loyal people in the Beijing army." I secretly instigated them before, just to see Your Majesty's bottom line, and by the way, let Your Majesty fight with them. Now that the court army is in ruins, mediocre people like Guo Congyi and Wang Yan have finally given up their positions, and there will inevitably be a redistribution of power, and many people have the opportunity to go up. ”

Ding Hui's heart moved, and he said eagerly: "Then in the eyes of the world brother, what should we do next?" ”

Li Shizhi took a sip of the teacup, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Don't do anything." ”

Ding will be slightly puzzled.

Li Shizhi said calmly: "Could it be that the fate of Wang Yan and the others has not made you sober up?" His Majesty is now a tiger in his twilight years, and although he is dying, he can still easily kill anyone who wants to provoke the tiger's whiskers, and in order to secure the throne of his successor, he will even throw some bait and wait for someone with bad intentions to jump in. Therefore, we just need to wait with peace of mind, we will do whatever Your Majesty says, put away the mentality of the past ten years, and be a loyal minister, a pure minister, and a capable minister. ”

Ding Hui's eager heart calmed down, he leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice: "Brother Shi, that time you said that Your Majesty was at most ......"

Li Shizhi said calmly: "I have a reliable eyeliner in the palace, Your Majesty's health has not been very good, and there has been a clear trend of aggravation in the past six months, so I conclude that Your Majesty will not last too long." But you have to remember that this period of time is not long, but it will be difficult, because His Majesty will sweep away all dangers that he thinks may threaten the imperial power, so you have to clamp your tail and be honest. Fortunately, Wang Yan and others helped us carry this thunder, and as long as we don't make stupid mistakes, we should be fine. ”

Ding Hui was relieved and nodded, "I understand." ”

Li Shizhi gently put down the teacup and said with a smile: "Don't worry, after a hundred years of Your Majesty, it will be the time when we really start to settle." ”

(End of chapter)