On a late autumn night in the fifth year of the Apocalypse of the Ming Xi Sect, the sky over Kyoto was covered with lead clouds, the vast sky was dark without starlight, the wind roared outside the window, and the air was cold to the bone.

Look at the black clouds that crush the city, it must be a precursor to a storm. Sure enough, as a bolt of lightning pierced the sky, a shower like a waterfall poured down, and in an instant, the prosperous Jingshi became a Ze country.

In the mansion of a large Zhumen family in the west of the city, Yang Lian was pacing back and forth in the study, sometimes letting out a long sigh, and the unresolvable sorrow lingered in his heart, so that he had no sleepiness in the frosty and dewy autumn night. The chilling sound of cicadas in the banyan tree outside the house made him even more depressed, and in order to calm his mind, he picked up a book on the case and began to flip through it.

The books that he usually has in his heart seem to be a thousand weights in his hands now, and the sorrows in his heart are condensed on his brows, so that he has no intention of reading.

Throwing the book on the case, Yang Lian opened the door of the study and shouted loudly outside: "Yang Zhong, Yang Zhong." ”

After a while, a person approached with a bamboo umbrella and asked, "Master, what is the matter with you calling the little one so late?"

"Yang Zhong, have you received a letter from the house in the past few days?"

"There is no letter, sir, if there is a letter, won't it be sent to your office?" replied Yang Zhong.

"yes, I'm confused too. ”

Yang Zhong listened and said: "Master, you work hard for the court day and night, you have to take good care of your body." It's a cold autumn night, so you might as well rest early. ”

"Alright, you go down first. Yang Lian waved his hand at Yang Zhong and motioned for him to step back.

Yang Zhong was about to close the door and leave, but there was a dense knock outside.

"There are still people disturbing the master's dreams in the middle of the night, and I will go and drive away these people who don't know the current affairs. Yang Zhong said angrily.

"Yang Zhong, without my words, how dare you make a mistake? Someone is visiting in the middle of the night, there must be something important to discuss, why don't you hurry up and open the door of the house?"

"Yes, sir, I'll go open the door. After Yang Zhong retreated, he hurried towards the door of the mansion.

Yang Zhong opened the door of the mansion and saw four people standing in front of the door. In front of him was a bearded man, wearing a hat and a robe, and the two people behind him were carrying a man who was soaked and thinly dressed. He was about to step forward to ask, but the man in front of him pushed him away, and then he waved his hand to signal the people behind him to come in quickly. The three people behind him hurriedly entered the mansion, and at this time, Yang Zhong felt that the origin of the four people was extraordinary, he looked out of the door, and quickly locked the door of the mansion.

The uninvited guest entered the door of the mansion and went straight to the study, where the man in the cloak and the old man who was originally in the study were gathering around the bookcase at the moment, talking softly and secretly.

Yang Zhong didn't dare to approach the study, he knew that the master and the visitor were discussing secrets at this time, and he thought that even if he couldn't hear the content of the conversation, it would be a great achievement to be able to peek into the face of the visitor. So Yang Zhong pretended to shout loudly outside the door: "Master, the weather is cold, I'll make you and the guests a pot of hot tea and send it." ”

"You don't have to serve tea, you give us a pot of hot wine to warm us up. Yang Lian said in the study.

"I'll do it right away. Yang Zhong answered outside the door and disappeared into the rainy night.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one around, the bearded man opened his mouth and said: "Lord Yang, the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband. It's really rude for me to visit late at night, and I hope that my lord Haihan, but my lord is the imperial history, and it is also my duty to investigate the traitor, so how can I look ahead and look backwards now, and care about personal gains and losses? It seems that we are not entrusted to anyone. ”

Although the words of the bearded man have the meaning of reproach, at this time he is already "opening the bow and not turning back", saying goodbye to the body to ensure that the matter will not be leaked, personal life and death are small, but the traitor is not removed, it is really in vain.

Yang Lian, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, was in charge of the Imperial History Terrace, was upright, and was an official in the court, and he corrected many corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and was quite appreciated by Emperor Xizong.

The bearded man visited Yang Lian for a big event, but when he saw that Yang Lian didn't say a word, he was very unhappy in his heart, and he once again ridiculed Yang Lian: "I have heard for a long time that Lord Yang is selfless and selfless, known as the reincarnation of Bao Gong. In the face of the bearded man's repeated insulting words, Yang Lian was not angry, he just smiled at the comer, and waved his hand to signal him to sit down.

"The frightening wind met the slow Langzhong. The bearded man was so anxious that he couldn't get a positive response from Yang Lian, how could he sit still? In a fit of anger, the bearded man yelled at the two people behind him: "Let's go, what time are we wasting here?" After listening to the bearded man's call, the two hated men were about to go out with the man who was soaked and his back was full of blood.

"Wait. Yang Lian saw the four of them leaving, and hurriedly stopped them with words, and the bearded man turned his face away, sneered and said: "Lord Yang, you stop us from going, is it possible to capture and kill us in the mansion and sacrifice it to the traitor to invite rewards?"

"Hmph, if Yang has this thought, people and gods will abandon him. Yang Lianyi said solemnly.

"Even if Lord Yang doesn't have this thought, it can't be guaranteed that others don't have this thought. We should leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible, so as not to be crushed. The bearded man said unceremoniously.

Yang Lian said: "The eldest husband has to come and understand that the four of them braved the rain to visit each other to tell each other about the secret matter, not that Yang was timid and afraid of his life, but because of the things you entrusted, the involvement is very large, and the involvement is widespread. ”

The bearded man took over and said, "There will be a will be a will to die, and there will be no will to steal a life." "As long as we put our own life and death aside, others will not hesitate. Adult, please take a look at this. The bearded man said as he pulled out an oilcloth package from his bosom. This package has three layers inside and three layers outside, and it must be a very important object. Yang Lian couldn't help but think like this in his heart.

After the package was released, the bearded man handed a booklet to Yang Lian, along with a letter. Yang Lian took the hairpin and opened the wax seal, and read it carefully through the light, only to feel a chill on his spine, and beads of sweat the size of beans seeped from his forehead from time to time.

Yang Lian's lips twitched, his teeth rattled, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a few words from between his teeth: "Eunuch thief, don't rebel?"

Seeing Yang Lian's stunned expression, the bearded man just sneered, Yang Lian pointed to the letterhead and asked, "Didn't you know about it a long time ago, why are you so calm?"

The bearded man said to Yang Lian: "My lord, look at that account book, after reading it, I still have something to teach my lord." ”

Yang Lian picked up the account book and began to flip through it, and he was surprised to find that it recorded the taxes and miscellaneous expenses of various states and counties for a year, and the whereabouts of the accounts could be checked.

After Yang Lian looked at the account books, he felt that the local tax collection had far exceeded the regulations of the imperial court, but he didn't understand where the excess silver taels had gone?

"This ...... This ......" Yang Lian hesitated and didn't know what to say.

The bearded man laughed, "Lord Yang, you want to ask where the extra silver taels are going, right? ”

Yang Lian nodded, and the bearded man continued: "This extra silver tael has all gone into the pocket of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, this eunuch is in charge of the high position of the East Factory, but he does not want to serve the imperial court, listing harsh taxes and private allocation of troops, it is really a wolf's ambition." ”

The words of the bearded man were like a thunderbolt, which shocked Yang Lian's stunned, and at this time his heart was also shrouded in clouds, raising the army was a big crime of rebellion, he could not fully believe that Wei Zhongxian, who controlled the important people in Dongchang, may just raise some of his own relatives, or these people are people from Dongchang. Yang Lian is still intoxicated with self-woven dreams.

The bearded man saw through Yang Lian's thoughts, he knew the seriousness of the problem of raising a private army,

Therefore, he said to Yang Lian: "I can understand Lord Yang's concerns, but the money transactions listed in the account books are by no means fabricated and framed, this is information intercepted by someone risking his life from the army.

"Who has the ability to go into the heavily guarded army to steal evidence?" Yang Lian asked.

The bearded man pointed to the person behind him who was stabbed in the back and said: "His name is Zhang Ergou, he is a villager of Dashizhai Village, and he has followed his father to the mountains to collect medicine since he was a child, so he climbs over mountains and mountains like walking on flat ground. Once when he went to the mountains to collect medicine, he faintly heard the sound of shouting and killing from the mountain col, so he hid behind a boulder in the mountain and peeked down, and found that there were about 20,000 people in the mountain col who were exercising. Zhang Ergou knew that there had been no military affairs recently, and the prefecture and county had not recruited village warriors, so why was there such a group of men and horses hidden here? After Zhang Ergou came down the mountain, he disguised himself and mixed into the barracks. Only then did he know that this mysterious army was the private army of Wei Zhongxian, the prince of Dongchang Factory. In order to find out the intentions of the army, Zhang Ergou lurked in the barracks. After more than a month, he discovered that Wei Zhongxian's cultivation of the army was not for the imperial court's expedition, but to protect his own safety. ”

After listening to the bearded man's story, Yang Lian interjected and asked, "In this way, that account book is also related to this army." ”

The bearded man nodded, and then said, "Yes, it was stolen by Zhang Ergou who entered Wei Zhongxian's personal barracks at night. ”

"What a reckless man. Yang Lian praised him, and then he said: "I don't know something, and I ask the strong man to give advice." ”

"Your Excellency, please speak. The bearded man said.

"This Zhang Ergou doesn't seem to know martial arts, how dare he risk his life to go to Wei Zhongxian's big account to steal evidence? Isn't this a waste of death?"

"Lord Yang, this Zhang Ergou put Soul Forgetting Grass in the diet of the camp in advance, and the patrol soldier who was responsible for the security of the eunuch was actually Zhang Ergou's fellow villager, Zhang Ergou always secretly carried out the night patrol on his behalf, so that this guy could have time to go to Hualiu Lane to tryst with his old lover. The bearded man explained.

Yang Lian listened to the bearded man's account, and then looked at the account book in his hand, and the dying wounded man. Everything was so reasonable that he couldn't help but believe it. What he has to do now is to do his best to heal this seriously injured and dying Zhang Ergou, and he wants people to have evidence and evidence to bring down the traitorous minister Wei Zhongxian, who has brought disaster to the country and the people.

Just as Yang Yushi and Qiu Han were secretly discussing a plan to impeach Wei Zhongxian, a cry of pain came from outside, followed by the sound of items shattering. Yang Lian and the others ran out of the study when they heard the sound, and found that Yang Zhong was bleeding from his forehead and fainted under the corridor of the study, and there was a shriveled wine jug and four wine glasses next to him.

"It's not good, Yang Zhong is injured, it must be slippery on a rainy day, he accidentally fell while walking and fell on the pillar. Yang Lian said with a sigh.

Yang Lian, who walked the bearded man, approached and asked, "Lord Yang, who is this?"

"This is my old housekeeper Yang Zhong, I asked him to warm up our warm wine, but I didn't expect it to look like this. Yang Lian shook his head and said.

The bearded man said to Yang Lian: "Because of our presumptuous visit, it has added a lot of troubles to the adults, and it is late at night, and our thoughts have been explained to the adults, so we will retire." But there is only one thing that I can ask for my help. ”

"What's the matter?" Yang Lian asked.

"This brother of mine is seriously injured and should not be tired of driving, so I ask an adult to take care of him on his behalf. The bearded man said.

Yang Lian nodded, at this time he also hoped that this person would stay, because he still had a lot of questions to ask Zhang Ergou for verification in person, and the Imperial History Mansion was also a dignified official mansion, and the small number of people did not dare to come here to murder Zhang Ergou.

Seeing that Yang Lian intended to take in Zhang Ergou, the bearded man and the others got up to say goodbye. The cold wind howling in the night swayed the door of the study wantonly, making a terrible creaking sound, and the remaining candle on the desk was extinguished by the wind. Suddenly, there was a dark spot all around, and Yang Lian felt that the wind had blown into his heart, making him feel a burst of heart palpitations. I was afraid that something bad would happen, and his mind began to think wildly again.

After settling down, Yang Lian summoned a few servants in the mansion to carry the injured Yang Zhong back to his bedroom, and cleaned up a nearby side room for Zhang Ergou to heal. After a period of hectic commotion, Yang Lian, who was physically and mentally exhausted, returned to his bedroom, and after a while, he heard the sound of thunderous sleep, he was too tired.