Sadao Araki sat by a mountain stream, gently stroking his famous Prussian mustache. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the past few days of negotiations, to his surprise, Prime Minister Inukai Takeshi and Minister of Finance Takahashi Isaki have already revealed the image of cooperating with those Koyasan monks.

This lack of indiscipline has no more to express than to make Sadao Araki more disgusted with the imperial civil servants and elected politicians.

He sat here alone, thinking about something else.

In addition to the hats of "corruption", "disloyalty", and "non-nationals" on the lips of old military leaders like him, the most critical problem is that after Ito Hirobumi's group of Meiji veterans, the cabinet can no longer find a strong prime minister who can eat both the army and the navy.

The influence of the civilian cabinet on the military ministry became weaker and weaker, and gradually the cabinet did not regard the military as its sphere of interest. Until then, the military can rely on the absolute strength of the army to suppress the navy internally and intimidate the cabinet externally, but what will happen if a more powerful force than the army comes to the stage?

Needless to say, the cabinet officials will definitely get in touch with each other as soon as possible. And now, when the authority of the cabinet has been declining, Inukai Takeshi and Takahashi are Kiyoshi who intend to redirect the political situation back to the Taisho era, and they will definitely unceremoniously give up the interests of the military headquarters to Koyasan!

Although a military boss like Sadao Araki has nothing to do, he talks about "the Imperial Army is an honest and honest person who defends the Imperial State" in the journal led by the military department. Moreover, the military is not as good as the political parties participating in the political circles, there is a principle of military secrecy in peacetime, and journalists rarely expose negative news about the military, relatively speaking, it still maintains a rare positive image in the imperial political circles.

But just how filthy is this positive image that is completely decorated by press control?

Some people may think that the "Siemens incident," which brought about the resignation of the admirals one after another, is already the most notorious corruption case in the history of the military department. But the Navy reaped the benefits of that incident, and in front of the Minister of War, it could only be sneered contemptuously.

You must know that after the fall of Tsarist Russia, when the army sent troops to Siberia under the pretext of armed intervention against the Red Russian regime, the army officers directly swallowed up most of the 600 million yuan in military expenditure! Until the end of the war, they also withheld 24 million yen in the special budget and used it as a small treasury for the senior army officials.

What was the concept of 2,480,000 yen at this time? For example, the Yawata Iron Works, the largest government-run steel mill in the empire, had a start-up capital of only 570,000 yen. The funds embezzled by the army are equivalent to swallowing five Yaman Iron Works in one go!

And even if the army looks so ugly, no one dares to say anything. Although the House of Representatives organized a joint investigation meeting at that time to investigate the whereabouts of the military spending, the army dared to directly assassinate the Tokyo prosecutor general who presided over the investigation, and then announced that "the body has been cremated"!

As a big man in the upper echelons of the army and the leader of the army imperial faction, Sadao Araki has naturally enjoyed the pleasure of walking sideways for many years.

And he also knows very well what is the fundamental interest of the army - guns and money bags!

Whether it is enough to suppress the standing armed forces of the navy and the cabinet, or the huge military expenditures that are beyond the reach of even the most corrupt politicians, these two are the foundation of the army's foothold in the empire, and the reason for the constant struggle between the army, the cabinet, and the navy.

Even as the boss of the imperial faction, Sadao Araki can always incite the junior officers of the 1st Division in Tokyo to assassinate important cabinet members in order to be loyal to the emperor and play the trick of "heavenly punishment of national thieves". Afterwards, the offender is sent to a court-martial, in exchange for a reduction in punishment.

This method not only deterred political opponents, but also ensured that the bigwigs of the imperial faction did not get blood on their hands, and it is no wonder that the power of the imperial faction is getting stronger and stronger, and there is almost a momentum of unifying the military department and being self-respecting!

But what if a military force that is not inferior to the army suddenly appears inside the empire?

Originally, this assumption could not have existed, although the navy had strong armaments, but the navy's main combat home was at sea, and the guns of the combined fleet would never dare to aim at Tokyo, so it was naturally a head shorter than the army that controlled all the land garrisons of the empire.

Not to mention, the predecessor of the army, the Choshu Domain, was the hero of the restoration that overthrew the shogunate and returned to power, and over the years, the army opened up its territory to the outside world, defended the imperial palace internally, and suppressed rebellions, whether it was the imperial family or the Chinese chaebol, elected politicians or cabinet officials, all under the protection of the army.

Even the emperor knew that in the event of a large-scale rebellion like Tsarist Russia in Japan, the Metropolitan Police Department, which had been reorganized by the Shogunate Imperial Court, would not be able to reach the shore with only the navy, and the only one who could be the patron saint of the empire was the army.

Therefore, when Emperor Hirohito wanted to show his side as a military leader, he would only wear the field marshal uniform.

But this kind of transcendent status is in danger of being unsafe now!

God knows when those monks who pretended to be gods and ghosts in Koyasan mastered such powerful weapons and controlled the whole of Tokyo in a short period of time, and they carried out such a mutiny without knowing it!

All the status of the Army is based on the fact that it is the most violent organ responsible only to the Emperor. But if the "strongest violent organ" becomes the "second most powerful violent organ", then the benefits that the army has previously seized will inevitably be spit out and offered to the new victors!

Thinking of this, as the boss of the Imperial Road faction of the army, Sadao Araki couldn't help but feel like a knife.

But for such a thing, how to deal with it, it is not up to Sadao Araki to have the final say. At the very least, his old partner Shizaburo Mazaki, as well as veterans of the War Department and the Military Senate, should be involved.

After all, this is not the previous assassination of important cabinet members who were targeted to uproot, as long as a few bigwigs gave a brief signal, there were naïve young officers who had their brains broken by the pamphlets of the Imperial Dao faction, screaming and dying for them for free.

This time it's an enemy you've never fought before!

When Sadao Araki was thinking about going out of his mind, he remembered the voice of Otkaku Cen Sheng behind him: "Your Excellency Araki, it turns out that you are here. Please pack up, this joint expedition with Koyasan Monk is coming to an end, and it is time for us to return to the base camp and see what we have seen and heard in the prelude of His Majesty's Imperial Prelude. ”

Looking at the Navy Minister Otkaku Tsune, who was as thick as a black bear in Hokkaido, Sadao Araki suddenly remembered a question:

If you want to confront the coup monk army of Koyasan, do you want to unite the forces of the navy?

This thought came to him, and he pressed it down again.

During the two wars of Nisshin and Russo-Japanese, the naval power swelled rapidly, and if it were not for the Army's forced suppression of the Navy through the Siemens Incident and the forcing of a large number of important Navy personnel to step down, the Navy would now be subservient to the Army. Then the empire at this moment is the world of the navy, and there is nothing to do with the army.

Such a dangerous competitor, let them keep it as they should be.

Let alone......

Looking at the stout Admiral in front of him, Sadao Araki remembered with some mockery that this majestic looking Lord of the Sea, although he was the undisputed head of the Navy, it was a pity that his talent and courage were not at all comparable to his predecessors. Can such a character, as well as the navy that cannot go ashore, really play a role in the next war?

With such contempt in his heart, Sadao Araki still nodded reservedly: "Your Excellency, since this is the case, then let's leave." ”

Speaking of this, Sadao Araki turned around and clenched his fists as if he wanted to take all the beautiful scenery in front of him into his palm: "When I come next time, I hope that this beautiful land is already the territory of the Imperial Kingdom!"

......

.........

In the distant Hainan Island, now the boundary of Qiongzhou in the Great Song Dynasty, the ambitions, delusions, lusts, and conspiracies of a group of smugglers in time and space are intertwined.

But from this subtropical island to the north, the boundary of Dongping Mansion in the Great Song Dynasty is a live drama of another scene.

"Raiding the house?"

Sitting cross-legged on a bluestone on the bank of the Grand Canal, the immortal warlock who had already taken off the wizard's beard played with the fishing drum in his hand, frowning and said: "Even if you want to copy the Ximen Qing family, don't you think we can catch the big head?"

Speaking of this, Wei Ye still had that mocking face, looking in the direction of the government and sneering:

"Although Chen Wenzhao is a relatively honest one in the Cai Party, it does not mean that he is not moved by the Ximen Qing family's industry! You must know that now that Cai Jing has resigned from the prime minister's house, no matter how famous and enthusiastic he is, he has to make an attitude of writing "Leisure Fu" to show that Zhao Guan's family at this moment. His husband has to pretend to be cowardly, and these chickens and dogs and scattered henchmen below naturally have to find a way for their own family. Not to mention anything else, at least Wang Hao, the golden-eyed man, should he give more benefits there? Not to mention being promoted to an official and making a fortune, he just wants to live in peace, and this money is always indispensable. In addition to Ximen Qingjia, where can Chen Wenzhao find compensation?"

Speaking of this, the immortal warlock finally brought a trace of regret: "Not to mention Chen Wenzhao, there are still so many hyenas in Qinghe County and Yanggu County waiting to divide the corpses. Although they were given 10,000 guts, they didn't know what we were, but if we have to eat alone, it will be more difficult to be official. It is not difficult to replace it with your senior brother Xu Xuanling, with his identity as a servant of Baoguang Palace, but Bianliang can't leave him. And you ......"

Wei Ye sighed and said with emotion: "Just a Shenxiao Palace envoy sent it, this is too insignificant. ”

Gongsun Sheng looked at Uncle Xiao's face, read the dissatisfaction and regret in his expression, and wanted to say more: "Uncle Xiao, the dispatch of my envoy from the Shenxiao Palace was not arranged for me by you. ”

But he has been cultivating for a long time, and although he has been infected with some green forest habits of eating large pieces of meat, drinking wine in large bowls, and dividing gold and silver in large scales on the rivers and lakes, this business of serving the teacher has not been abandoned.

Especially after getting along with Uncle Xiao for so many days, he knows that Uncle Xiao is now running with his tongue full of words, and he just needs a compliment that will complain.

But it's also very hard and talented.

At least in Gongsun Sheng's opinion, he can participate in the illusion of the earth, and he is by no means a stupid person, but in this matter, he is inevitably very talentless.

So Gongsun Sheng had to organize the language before he said: "Although the nephew is a lowly official, but the nephew still carries the name of an envoy, if you want to share a little profit in this case, what is the difficulty?"

Wei Ye snorted from his nostrils, shook his head and said: "You also know that you are in the name of an envoy, but your envoy is going to Dongyue to make incense and make Jiao, how can you stay here in Dongping Mansion for a long time?

The two sentences blocked Gongsun Sheng so much that he couldn't answer, Wei Ye shrugged his shoulders and handed the fishing drum in his hand to him: "Regardless of these articles in the officialdom, you can take a look first, what is the mystery of Uncle Shi's fishing drum?"

Luo Zhenren's vein is about the art of changing the heavens and the earth, and there is no in-depth study in the sacrificial refining weapon, and even Gongsun Sheng's Songwen sword is extremely inconspicuous in front of Wei Ye's large collection. At this moment, Gongsun Sheng saw Wei Ye asking him to taste the magic weapon, but he was very puzzled.

Carefully took the fishing drum, touching the green bamboo skin that was as smooth as jade, but in Gongsun Sheng's perception, there seemed to be a cloud seal secret talisman, winding under his fingertips.

Seeing Gongsun Sheng's reaction, Wei Ye nodded and said, "Looking at your expression, it seems that you have seen some clues? Wei's fishing drum is harvested from the hundred-year-old Tianfu bamboo, a specialty of the blessed land of Luofu Mountain. On that day, Fu Zhu was in the past when he hugged Puzi Gezhichuan in Luofu Mountain for alchemy, and drank the king of Guangli in the South China Sea to spread clouds and rain to relieve the drought. Because Bao Puzi did not have the paper on hand at that time, he replaced the rune paper with bamboo leaves, and the calligraphy was on it, but he left this vein of heterogeneity. On its essence, it can be combined with the Xuanwen bamboo planted by Sanmao Zhenjun in Maoshan and the cloud seal bamboo left by Guiguzi in Xianju Cave, which can be regarded as a rare wonderful product in Fu Dao. ”

Gongsun Sheng just listened honestly, just like when he stood in front of Luo Zhenren in the past, listening to Luo Zhenren talk about the anecdotes of Gu Immortals, and would never ask how the origin of Tianfu Bamboo went, and where could Xuanwen Bamboo be bought.

Like this kind of natural treasure, the place where it grows must be under the dangerous peak, in the valley, and it is some inaccessible places. Even if there are immortal people transplanting and planting, it will only be in the blessed land of the cave where ordinary people cannot enter. When the teacher talked about these treasures, he only gave his disciples an increase in knowledge, and did not say that he must be cheeky to do something good for the younger generations.

But since Uncle Xiao took out this fishing drum for his own reference, it must have a more far-reaching intention. If you draw a circle and ask your apprentice, if you honestly answer "this is a circle", you have to shake your head, and then hit your head with a ring ruler, and then make a song "Dan is not a circle, but a circle is Dan" and something like that.

Perhaps you answer this question with a six-year-old junior brother who has just started, and you make a very philosophical ode, but the little junior brother innocently replied "This is a circle", maybe the elders of the sect deeply feel that the little junior brother has a childlike heart and is lively, which is in line with the way of the Taoist child. And you wrote a poem to expound the metaphysics, but it was full of acquired carve flashiness, and you lost the original purpose of the Tao, so you were beaten again......

So Gongsun Sheng, who had suffered this kind of loss many times, still glanced at the little uncle cautiously first, and asked respectfully, "From which angle do you want the disciple to start expounding?"

Wei Ye frowned puzzledly, and glanced at him like looking at an idiot: "What other angle can this be explained? The sacrificial technique of this magic weapon, the next direction of the sacrificial refinement, the completion and strengthening of the material of the magic weapon, and the integration of the rune seal and the qi machine, the most important thing is the fundamental idea of the various mystical movements." If you don't talk about that, what kind of cow and bezoar are you going to talk about?"

Gongsun Sheng let out a long breath, and then put the fishing drum in the palm of his hand, his mind was condensed, and he sensed what kind of physical properties this fishing drum made of Tianfu Bamboo was.

After a while, he raised his head and said uncertainly: "Junior uncle, although the Heavenly Rune Bamboo is an extremely rare heavenly and earthly treasure, in the eyes of the senior nephew, it is better than such delicate things as cultivating spiritual skills and transporting runes. But Uncle Xiao, the rune you sacrificed on the fishing drum seems to be the qi of the dry yang, and it suddenly sprouts, it is a road of thunder and a yang, and the rune and the treasure are not too compatible. According to the master and nephew, shouldn't it be more appropriate to change to a treasure material that senses the qi of wind and thunder?"

Gongsun Sheng replied cautiously, but Wei Ye was only silent for a moment, and then took out a section of old bamboo from his sleeve. This section of the bamboo tube does not have the tender green texture of the Tianfu Bamboo like green jade, and there is no Tiancheng Fu Seal looming on it, but a layer of fine scale armor faintly emerges on the surface of the bamboo skin, as if lying in Wei Ye's hand is not a bamboo tube, but a section of the trunk of the scaly aquarium.

Holding this bamboo tube, Wei Ye nodded to Gongsun Sheng: "Since you think that the physical properties of Tianfu Bamboo are not compatible with this fishing drum, then I will test you with this question." This knotted dragon bamboo in my hand is also a rare alien species, after it grows up, it can make a dragon roar on a cloudy day, causing the wind and thunder to work. You can take this dragon bamboo to try your hand and see if the fishing drum made in this way is more compatible. ”

"Uncle Junior, you know me, my nephew is really not very proficient in this sacrificial refining weapon, this ......"

"Not proficient? I'll pass on your art of sacrifice now...... Well, speaking of this sacrificial refining method, I also have a little experience, and it is not a problem to pass on your one-and-a-half-trick style. But how much time do you think it will take to practice such a fishing drum?"

......

.........

Wei Ye taught Gongsun Sheng to refine the magic weapon hand in hand, but at this time, Dongping Mansion was busy with another thing from Yin Chen Wenzhao to Yanggu County.

Raid Ximenqing's home.

It's a pity that Ximenqing had a really good relationship with the Cai family before, and actually let him get an official body of the governor to come back.

You must know that this kind of criminal officer is also a standard civil official, and according to the special care that the Great Song Dynasty has always given to civil officials, as long as they are not involved in major crimes such as rebellion, this kind of criminal official always has some privileges to enjoy.

For example, the most famous principle of "not killing scholars" in the Great Song Dynasty is now shining on Ximenqing's head.

In the prison of Dongping Mansion, Ximen Qing was lying in the cell unconsciously, and the two jailers outside the door were chatting and gossiping: "I really can't imagine that this Ximen official is also the first person in our Dongping Mansion to cover up luxury, but now he has become a death row prisoner!"

"Don't say nonsense, although the Ximen officials are involved in the big case, it is only a crime of harboring and not reporting, and it will not fall to that point. ”

I heard that the prefect has already decided the case and cut off a prisoner who is destined for Salmon Island! Although this person is not a prisoner on death row, he is no different from a prisoner on death row. ”

Listening to the three words "Salmon Island", even the jailer who had been defending Ximenqing couldn't help but shudder, and refused to say any more.

It is no wonder that Shamen Island in the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, Temple Island in Shandong, has never been a good place.

The small island on the sea does not occupy a large area, and the Shamen Island village on which the prisoners are escorted is also very small, but the Criminal Department likes to exile felons to this small island.

Therefore, this isolated island prison has always been overcrowded, and the food allocated to Salmon Island Village will never be enough. Therefore, in order to deduct some oil and water from the village, the successive governors of Shamen Island Village had to think of the law to reduce the population in prison.

Waterboarding, crushing bags, and nailing prisoners are very traditional methods of killing without trauma, which are disdained to be used by the intellectuals of Shamen Island Village. Often, the prisoner went to the island with his front foot, and was thrown into the sea to feed the sharks with his hind foot.

That's it, it's a particularly benevolent person, some Zhizhai simply take pleasure in killing, and even have a record of killing 600 people a year. There are so many such notorieties that they have spread far and wide, and even a slogan has been spread on the rivers and lakes, called "You can't live on Salmon Island"!

If Ximenqing is really exiled to such a hell on earth, although it is to implement the tradition of the Great Song Dynasty not to kill civil officials easily, it is no different from killing him.

Ximenqing was completely unaware of these discussions, and still lay down in the cell in a daze, like an old log waiting for rotting raw mushrooms.

In his hand, he still held the statue of a virgin carved from white jade, but there was a look of disgust on the face of the statue that could not be concealed.

In addition to this statue of a white jade virgin, Ximenqing's body was still soaked in blood. Although he was carried into the Dongping Mansion Prison on the first day, the cell boss couldn't stand the strong smell of blood, so he asked someone to boil hot water and wash Ximenqing fiercely. But after washing, somehow, Simon's official was covered with pus and blood, as if the pus and blood had come out of his pores!