lady, please calm down

Chapter 303: The counselor enters the situation personally and wants to defeat the emperor
On the ninth day of March, when the new Caizhou magistrate Mo Shaohong was on his way to take office, his official ship accidentally hit a boulder on the bottom of the river and capsized.
Mo Shaohong drowned, and only seven of the one hundred or two guards of Prince Lu's Mansion survived.

The above is the official statement.
For the sake of the court's face.

On that day, many people witnessed the strange phenomenon of the official ship catching fire after the loud noise.

There were even many officials who saw the 'water thief' with their own eyes.

But the fifth-rank official appointed by the imperial court, who was shameless and unwilling to recognize the imperial court, was killed by a group of water thieves in the hinterland of Daqi?

Do the hundreds of thousands of Xiang troops raised by Da Qi live on dry food?

Furthermore, the Huaibei Rebellion had just been put down last year, and this year there were incidents of water thieves blocking and killing officials. This would not only easily cause confusion among the people, but also make Daqi look like a precarious and leaky regime.

However, even though the Daqi court ostensibly disguised the matter as an accident, King Lu's anger was not so easy to calm down.

Mo Shaohong was the No. 1 person he personally decided to release, and there were King Lu's elite soldiers on board.

This is simply a slap in King Lu’s face!
On March [-], the news came back to Tokyo City, and everyone in the court was shocked.

Under the wrath of King Lu, Da Qi's court showed rare efficiency.

The next day, Wu Weiguang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, served as the censor. He led officials from the Ministry of Punishment, Yushitai, Dali Temple and [-] sergeants to go south to Xiangcheng, where the incident occurred, to investigate the case.

Personnel from the Ministry of Punishment are responsible for interrogations, Dali Temple is responsible for trial, and Yushitai has the power to hear major local cases. More importantly, the latter can try officials below the fifth rank.

The three departments work together and can directly complete the investigation, interrogation and sentencing process at the local level.

On March [-]th, Wu Weiguang arrived in Xiangcheng and took the magistrate of Xiangcheng into custody in the presence of the Criminal and Prison Department of Henan Road and the prefect of Chenzhou who were waiting here in advance.
This move served as a warning to other officials on Henan Road to cooperate with the investigation.

At the same time, King Lu's anger was conveyed to Henan Road.

The unfortunate magistrate of Xiangcheng County didn't know anything about it, and the information he could provide was pitiful.

Due to the frequent movement of people in Hekou Town, and the county government's failure to protect the scene of the crime immediately, the people from the Criminal Department were unable to find any useful clues despite scraping the ground.

As a result, the scope of detention was gradually expanded. Wu Weiguang was quite polite to the squire who was at the scene at the time. After inviting him, his subordinates interrogated him carefully and released him without any suspicion.

But the government officials and officials at that time were in a miserable state. They were all thrown into prison and severely punished.

But the information obtained is still similar to what the magistrate said.
In short, after five or six days, Wu Weiguang only knew that before the official ship capsized, there was a loud noise in the cabin, followed by a fire, and that there were 'water thieves'.

As for where the water thief came from and where he went afterwards, nothing is known.

Another five or six days passed in this way, and April entered.

Wu Weiguang has noticed the unusual thing about this group of water thieves. Such clean and neat methods must be experienced by old bandits.

But the most powerful water bandits in Daqi are a group in the Yellow River Waterway on Shandong Road.

The other group was seeking a living on the Huai River on the border of Qi and Zhou.

Xiangcheng is close to the Huai River. Could it be that they are Huai River water bandits?
Several mansions along the Huaihe River are under the rule of Marquis Lu An. Whether it is to inquire about information or to arrest water bandits, it is indispensable to deal with him.

After thinking carefully for a day, Wu Weiguang, who was originally planning to send his subordinates to Caizhou to meet Lu Anhou, changed his mind and decided to make the trip himself.

On the second day of April, Wu Weiguang took [-] sergeants to Caizhou City. Before departure, he also arranged for officials from three subordinate departments to go to surrounding prefectures and counties to cooperate with the local yamen to continue the investigation.

At this time, more than ten counties near Xiangcheng suddenly became lively.

The officials from the capital went to the local areas to investigate the case, and they took on the title of censor. They were like ligers and tigers escaped from the cage. After arriving in various counties, they immediately launched a mass arrest.
The small landowners and merchants who live near the river, the fishermen who own sampans, and the boat owners who make a living by transporting goods with others have all become suspects of "water bandits".

Being arrested and taken to the county government was a torture. Most of the county magistrates chose to cooperate with the censors from the capital, forcing the captured people to pay for their sins.

The money gained will be divided into [-]% and [-]%.

Even there are some conscientious county magistrates who are afraid of the serious crime of "colluding with water bandits" that the censors are talking about, and they dare not speak out in anger.

For a time, Chenzhou was abuzz with complaints.

Back to Wu Weiguang, on the sixth day of April, he arrived in Caizhou.

Even though I had heard about it for a long time, I was still shocked by the prosperity of the place when I saw the shops and merchants stretching for ten miles outside Caizhou City.

After entering the city, prefect Sun Changhao, fellow prefect Chen Jingyan and others had already prepared a banquet.

Before the banquet started, because Wu Weiguang talked about the purpose of his trip, the topic naturally turned to the recently deceased Lord Mo Shao Hongmo.

Under the leadership of Wu Weiguang, several people pretended to shed a few tears for Master Mo, and then the atmosphere gradually became warm.

To avoid spoiling the atmosphere, no one mentioned the unlucky Mo Shaohong again.

Wu Weiguang praised Caizhou's prosperous situation, and Chen Jingyan modestly said: It is because of the influence of King Lu that the current stable situation is possible.
Wu Shangshu was very satisfied with Chen Jingyan's statement.

The end of Xu.

Wu Weiguang returned to the posthouse after having enough wine and food.

Not long after, Sun Changhao, who had just separated, came to visit with Wu, Wu Yifan, and Xia Zhizhong.

In Wu Weiguang's eyes, his nephews and sisters were classified as "women and children", so he asked them to go to the side hall to wait, and met Sun Changhao and Xia Zhizhong first.

It was difficult to speak at the banquet just now. At this time, there were layers of sergeants brought by Wu Weiguang guarding the outside of the post house. Sun Changhao and Xia Zhizhong finally dared to say something they had hidden for a long time.

"Brother~"

Sun Changhao, who was the first to speak, narrowed the distance between him and his wife and brother by addressing him, and said cautiously: "It's a bit strange that Mr. Mo encountered such a misfortune on his way to taking office this time."

Wu Weiguang took a sip of tea and remained silent.

Therefore, Sun Changhao became more courageous, "No matter who you are, you have to consider the pros and cons of doing things. Ordinarily, the water bandits should not take such a big risk and go deep into our Daqi territory to murder the officials. Besides, they have nothing to do with their bare hands." How much gold and silver can be robbed without horses and chariots? This is unreasonable!"

There was silence in the room. Seeing that Wu Weiguang didn't answer, Xia Zhizhong glanced at Sun Changhao and asked in unison: "What does Magistrate Sun mean?"

"When Mr. Mo dies, whoever benefits the most will be the most suspect!"

"Oh? Dare I ask, Master Mo, who will benefit the most if he dies?"

"Of course it is." Even though he knew it was safe to speak here, Sun Changhao couldn't help lowering his voice, "Of course it's Marquis Lu An! He doesn't want to let Chen Jingyan go, and he doesn't want to openly block the latter's future. Only Lord Mo can't take office. , Chen Jingyan can continue to stay in Caizhou in a short period of time!"

Sun Changhao's words were astonishing.

He was almost half right, Chen Chu was reluctant to let Chen Jingyan go.

But the speculation that he "doesn't want to block the latter's future" is completely wrong.

People all love to judge others by themselves. If Sun Changhao were to think about it, he would definitely choose to go to Prince Lu's Mansion to serve as chief minister, so he felt that Chen Jingyan should do the same.

Here, seeing Sun Changhao and Xia Zhizhong singing and trying to drag him into the water, Wu Weiguang finally paused his tea cup and scolded in a low voice: "Prefect Sun, be careful! Do you know what you are talking about? There is no reason to doubt Da Qi. Commander-in-Chief, who has accomplished great feats and controlled the three palaces, are you crazy?"

"."

"."

The house was silent again.

In fact, Wu Weiguang had thought of what Sun Changhao said more than ten days ago.

But he thinks it's unlikely. After all, the benefits and risks are out of proportion.

People may cut out a piece of flesh because of a malignant sore on their body, but they will not go under the knife just because of a mosquito bite.

In Wu Weiguang's view, appointing Mo Shaohong as Caizhou Tongzhi was like being bitten by a mosquito to Chen Chu. Although it was itchy and uncomfortable, it would not make him murderous.

After all, Mo Shaohong represents the future new emperor, and there is absolutely no need for Chen Chu to do this.Wu Weiguang, an old political stick who has been around two dynasties, puts gain and loss first in everything, and there is nothing wrong with him thinking this way.

Furthermore, he was well aware of the discord between his brother-in-law and Marquis Lu An, and even with his toes he could guess that Sun Changhao wanted to use his own hands to suppress Chen Chu.

But Wu Shangshu saw it clearly. Don't say that Chen Chu didn't do this. Even if it was really him, the court would find a way to cover it up to prevent the two sides from breaking up.

Otherwise, what can I do? Is it possible to force him to rebel?

The current situation is sensitive, King Lu has not yet officially established the position of crown prince, everything is focused on stabilizing the overall situation!

On the side, Xia Zhizhong did not have Wu Weiguang's political structure, nor did he have the latter's vision. Seeing that he and Sun Changhao failed to persuade Wu Weiguang, he couldn't help but feel anxious, "Wu Shangshu, this Caizhou gathers merchants from all over the world! A small outside the city In the construction materials market, merchants frequently make tens of thousands of transactions, and their annual turnover exceeds tens of millions! There are also film studios.
Many of these foreign merchants who came to purchase were from the Southern Dynasties, but they were blatantly trading in Caizhou.To put it more seriously, Marquis Lu An and Caizhou Prefecture are enemies!To put it mildly, this is the crime of leaking ships!

If things go on like this, how much national money will the court lose!If the imperial court cannot regain its prestige in Huaibei, from now on, the millions of soldiers and civilians in Huaibei will only know the Marquis of Lu An, not Daqi! "

"presumptuous!"

Wu Weiguang slammed the tea table, and Xia Zhizhong, who was impassioned, was frightened to stop talking.

There was a dead silence.

After a long time, Wu Weiguang looked at their faces, and finally sighed and whispered: "There are some things that cannot be rushed!"

These words were extremely obscure, but Sun Changhao and Xia Zhizhong immediately understood what Wu Weiguang meant and couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

Having said this, Wu Weiguang revealed more secrets to the two juniors, "Four of the nine towns in Daqi have clearly served His Highness King Lu, and the remaining four towns, although they have not expressed their attitude, are also I have been keeping in touch with His Highness privately through letters. Only this Lu Anhou had an affair with the third prince, and he also controlled the wealthy Caizhou and Huaibei important areas. How could King Lu keep him? But "

Wu Weiguang's gaze lingered on Sun Changhao's face for a few more breaths, and then he continued: "But we have to wait until King Lu comes to the world and gathers the military leaders of all parties before we can take action! Before that, you need to be more patient! Do you understand? !”

Having said so many reasons, there is actually only one reason, and that is. Caizhou is too prosperous!
It prospered to the point where King Lu and even the entire Qi court were jealous.

In the future, after King Lu ascends the throne and sits firmly on the Dragon Throne, if Chen Chu gets to know each other and obediently turns over the interests of Caizhou, he may still be able to continue to be an idle prince.

If he refuses, perhaps the civil and military forces of Da Qi will unite to bite him.

After all, Caizhou’s cake is big enough for everyone to get a piece of it.

It's about like a whale falling and everything comes alive.
There is no doubt that Chen Chu's Caizhou is a fat whale in their eyes that can feed many officials.

There are not many officials in Da Qi who are willing to fight for the country and the people, but for the sake of 'profit', they really dare to do it.

Sun Changhao, who knew the layout of his brother-in-law and King Lu for the first time, was excited and wished that this day would come earlier. He couldn't help but choked up and said: "Yes! Don't worry, brother! As long as I can get rid of this thief for my country, it is nothing for me to bear the humiliation and bear the burden!"

The next day, Wu Weiguang met Chen Chu and mentioned his request to ask Lu Anhou to send troops to search for traces of water bandits near the Huai River.

Chen Chu, who is "loyal to the emperor and the country", naturally agreed.

In the next few days, Henan Road was still uneventful. In Shangshui County under Chenzhou's rule, the censor randomly arrested people in the name of hunting for water bandits, causing civil unrest.

Although the official circles of Qi Dynasty are paying attention to the death of Mo Shaohong, the people are keeping this matter secret. Even except for the people of Chenzhou who were exploited by the censor, many people in Huaibei have never heard of it.

In short, the calm Huaibei seems to be pregnant with a turbulent undercurrent.

However, thousands of miles away in Lin'an City of Zhou State, there were also people paying attention to the current situation in Huaibei every day.

On the second day of April, Chen Bokang, the minister of the Ministry of War, who was nearly fifty years old, carefully read the information about Mo Shaohong's death sent from the computer control room. He leaned back in his chair and thought for a long time. Suddenly he took out a document recording the forgeries from the drawer. He read the paper containing the message from Qi Luan.

This information about Chen Chu recorded his status as a "returnee from overseas" and information about his promotion along the way.

In addition, there is also the situation of family members.

Compared with Mao'er and Cai Hua's more detailed information, the information about aunt Chen Yunong is much simpler. It only states that she was sold from the Zhou Kingdom to the Pseudo Qitong Mountain Caiwei Pavilion in her early years.

This information is easy to find out, but all the sisters in Caiwei Pavilion know it.

As for Yu Nong's more detailed information about his place of origin, parents, etc., it has long been unknown.

Outside the window, the sun was gradually moving westward. Chen Bokang, who had been thinking for a long time, suddenly picked up his pen and wanted to write down a certain plan that had been perfected in his heart for a long time.

Before putting pen to paper, I still hesitated.

After thinking for a while, Chen Bokang seemed to be encouraging himself, and he wrote a prophecy first. The counselor entered the game with his own body, hoping to defeat Tian Banzi.

After writing this sentence, Chen Bokang did not hesitate, and immediately bowed his head to write the next short article and handed it to the old servant beside him, "Send this article to Lin'an Official News"

Since the prosperity of the Puppet Qi newspaper industry, many newspapers have sprung up in Zhou Dynasty.

Lin'an Official News is a newspaper with an official background.

Although it is not as good as some tabloids that use sensational headlines and shocking rumors to attract readers, the nature of the official newspaper determines its relatively cautious and true content.

It has cultivated a group of loyal elite readers.

The third day of April.

The latest issue of Lin'an Official News was published. A young clerk in the directly-operated store of Lin'an Sihai Commercial Bank collected the newspapers of the day as usual and went back to his room alone to read them.

Turning to the third page, an inconspicuous article caught his attention.

After taking a closer look, he gradually felt uneasy because of the 'intelligence analysis' training he had received before.
After a while, the clerk cut out this short article and hurried out.

Five days later on the eighth day of April.

At the beginning of noon, Cai Hua wandered into Chen Chu's room at Jieshuai Yamen under the pretext of being "thirsty and drinking tea."

Drinking tea is fake, checking the post is real.

After walking around, nothing unusual was found. When Chen Chu was about to leave, he happened to receive a wax-sealed secret letter. There were only 310000 Ah Shang Bo characters on the envelope.

Others cannot understand, only the military commanders understand, this string of characters represents the source of the secret message.

For example, 475000 is Tokyo City, 210000 is Jinling, and 310000 represents Lin'an.
The Huaibei Jieshuai Mansion's secret line in Lin'an was not high-level and had no access to any big figures. Naturally, it was difficult to receive any important information on weekdays, so Chen Chu took a look at it with a relaxed mood.

After reading a few lines, Chen Chu couldn't help but laugh, but then, his expression suddenly changed.

After finishing reading, Chen Chu slapped the table and cursed: "Mother Xie, whose handiwork is this! What a sinister plot!"

Cai Hua, who had already reached the door, couldn't help but become very curious. She turned around and walked back, picked up the newspaper clipping left by Chen Chu and started reading.
'News from this newspaper: It is said that Mr. Chen, the minister of the Ministry of War of our dynasty, has found his daughter who lost her 14 years ago. Now she is married to Marquis Lu An of Qi State and has a daughter.
Qi and Zhou are kingdoms of brothers, and now we have become friends with Qin and Jin. It is gratifying and congratulatory.'

Cai Hua opened her mouth slightly and was very confused. When did Yunong have a father who was a high official? ? ?
Immediately, she immediately understood why Chen Chu was angry.

This 'father' is most likely false. But once this news is released, what will the Qi court think?
The commander-in-chief of our country's border army married the daughter of the enemy's minister of war?

Why, are collaborations with the enemy so undisguised now?
If you want to prove your innocence, it's easy to hand Yunong over to the court for interrogation, or kill him directly.
But Cai Hua knew that this option was impossible.

It doesn't even matter whether Qi Guochaotang believes it or not, as long as a simple 'doubt' is enough!

After all, Yunong's background was not checked at all. She did buy it from the south. It was just that she couldn't tell her place of origin and family.
Zhou Guo's move was another blow to Chen Chu's already unreliable monarch-minister relationship with Qi Guo.

The next outcome is not difficult to guess, either Chen Chu was forced to rebel and fled to Zhou.

Either lead the three prefectures in Huaibei to return to the Kingdom of Zhou.

Either he would not surrender to anyone, and he would be at war with Qi's conquering army after rebelling against Qi.

No matter what happens, Qi Guo endures and pretends not to know, but his defense against Chen Chu will definitely become more and more severe.

In short, no matter what, Zhou Guo will win!
"Your grandma is so stupid! Who is so sinister!"

Cai Hua couldn't hold back and cursed.

(End of this chapter)