Great Han Empire

Chapter 207
Huangfu Li hurried in.

"My lord, ride quickly in Chang'an."

Gai Xun was startled, stood up abruptly, and asked, "What happened to Chang'an?"

"The former governor of Liangzhou, Zuo Chang, had a family of 120 and three, all of whom were killed." Huangfu Li said aloud with a nervous expression.

"Who did it?" Gai Xun asked angrily.Who is so bold as to dare to kill someone on his land.

"Yan Liang, Li Zhonglang's military commander." Huangfu Li replied in panic, "I heard from Kuaiqi that Mr. Yan held Li Zhonglang's token and was ordered to search Mr. Zuo's house. He said that Mr. Zuo was corrupt and perverted the law. He once embezzled 5000 million military funds at one time. Mr. Zuo led his family and servants to resist arrest and injured several of Mr. Yan's subordinates. As a result, Mr. Yan became violent and led people to forcefully rush into Zuo's house and killed the Zuo family. Do not stay."

Zhang Wen was shocked when he heard the words, his blood surged up immediately, and he became dizzy.

Gai Xun opened his mouth wide, startled and angry, unable to utter a word.Zuo Chang served as the governor of Liangzhou the year before last, and Gai Xun was the prefect of Hanyang at that time.Zuo Chang's misappropriation of military expenses is the evidence he collected.This time I was relieved, but the trouble was also big.

"What else did Kuaiqi say?" Tao Qian asked enthusiastically, "Where is that murderous Army Sima now?"

"I heard from Kuaiqi that he's still in Chang'an, and he's bringing people around to raid his house."

"Why didn't you stop it? Where's Chang'an's troops?" Sangyang asked angrily.

Tao Qian said with a smile: "The military commander is carrying out his official duties with the token of Lord General Zhonglang. Who dares to stop him? Unless he doesn't want to live."

Gai Xun sat down slowly, with thick eyebrows furrowed, feeling at a loss for a moment, and couldn't find a way to deal with it.The incident happened in the city of Chang'an. Once the court finds out, as Jing Zhaoyin himself, he cannot absolve himself of the blame.Although Zuo Chang committed a heinous crime and deserved his death, Li Zhonglang killed them all without interrogation and presentation to the emperor, which was too much.

"Yuan Gu, has Mr. Zuo Chang ever done this?" Zhang Wen asked slowly, trying to calm down.

Gai Xun nodded.

"The evidence for this is solid. I tried to stop him back then, but he didn't listen. Later, he was afraid that I would betray him, so he planned to frame me. He ordered me to take a thousand soldiers to garrison Ayang to resist the rebellion of Lao Bian and Xian Lingqiang. Army. If it wasn’t for the old man’s saving face, I would have died a long time ago.” Gai Xun said with a wry smile, “Now we have been killed by this leopard. Zuo Chang is the man who served Zhao Zhong in Zhongchang, and I heard that he is a distant relative. Now we have nothing but There is no other way out other than fighting naked with the eunuchs."

Zhang Wen sighed and said: "Immediately set out to ride eight hundred miles to Luoyang, and report to the emperor first."

"Boxin, Gongzu, immediately write to Lord Situ, Lord Sikong, and Lord Yushi to report the details and ask for help."

"Yuan Gu, you have a good relationship with the general, and you are the one to write the general's letter."

At this moment, Bo Cui Wei, the head of Taiwei's Palace, rushed in like a fly.

"My lord, Li Zhonglang is rebellious."

Zhang Wen's brain exploded, and he suddenly felt dizzy, his eyes were full of golden flowers, and his body was about to collapse if he didn't listen to him.He hurriedly fell down on the desk and closed his eyes tightly.

Gai Xun seemed not to hear, frowning, drooping eyelids, stroking his black beard, motionless, still thinking about Chang'an.

Sangyang scolded angrily: "Don't talk nonsense. What's going on?"

"Bao Hong, the captain of Fufeng County, sent a letter saying that Li Zhonglang was rebellious." Cui Wei said nervously, "Yesterday afternoon, Li Zhonglang's subordinates, Sima Zhao Yun and Wen Chou, suddenly led an army to attack Qingwu near Maoling."

"What did you say?" Gai Xun stood up again with a look of horror.

Zhang Wen barely opened his eyes just now, but when he heard Cui Wei's words, he immediately closed his eyes again in pain, gnashing his teeth in pain.

Sang Yang was dumbfounded.

This time Tao Qian couldn't be happy either, he stared blankly at Cui Wei, and asked in a low voice, "Qingwu?"

Cui Wei nodded, and said with certainty: "It is indeed Qingwu, and it belongs to the family property of the emperor's uncle, King Wuyang. Everyone knows it."

"Liu Zhong, the manager of Qingwu, immediately sent someone to ask for help from Captain Bao. Captain Bao rushed over overnight with 500 people. Not only did Zhao Yun and Wen Chou not listen to Captain Bao's dissuasion at all, they even detained Captain Bao. The two were unable to attack for a long time, so they immediately transferred 3000 troops from the Huaili Injured Barracks. Captain Bao said that they had broken through Wubao this morning."

Tao Qian asked frightenedly, "Is there still someone alive?"

"Captain Bao said in his letter that there was no one alive except for women and children, and they all killed them. They rebelled, my lord, and Li Zhonglang rebelled." Cui Wei then handed the scroll of bamboo slips in his hand to Tao Qian, "This is Master Bao's letter, please read it."

Tao Qian took it and gently placed it on Zhang Wen's desk.

Zhang Wen slowly opened his eyes, suppressing the anger in his heart, looked at Sang Yang and said, "Bo Xin, immediately take my warrant to Maoling and order Li Zhonglang's people to leave Qingwu."

"Slow down..." Gai Xun suddenly stopped him.

Zhang Wen and the others looked at him puzzled.Gai Xun's gaze immediately turned to Huangfu Li and Cui Wei who were standing in the room.

Zhang Wen waved to Huangfu Li and Cui Wei.The two of them knew that they were humble and unsuitable to stay on this occasion, so they hurriedly saluted and retreated.

"For more than ten years, Qingwu has been managed by this Liu Zhong. King Wuyang or his subordinates have never been to Qingwu. For more than ten years, the manager of Qingwu has not changed, and no one from Wuyang Palace has visited here. , isn't it a bit strange?" Gai Xun walked to Zhang Wen's case and said in a low voice.

"My lord has investigated?" Sangyang asked.

"Someone has investigated it." Gai Xun said: "Before Bian Zhang rebelled, he once told me about this Qingwu. Although this Qingwu is the property of King Wuyang, it has a lot to do with Cheng Qiu. The old man said, He has investigated and found that this Qingwu and the nearby fields used to be the property of the general Dou Wu. After Dou Wu was killed for a crime, this place was sold, and it was sold by many people, but the person who finally bought it was not Wuyang King. , but Zhang Yu, the younger brother of Zhongchang Attendant Zhang Rang, and it was Cheng Qiu who came forward to do this, and he also paid for it."

Zhang Wen, Sang Yang and Tao Qian looked shocked.

"This idiot just came from Jizhou, and he doesn't know anything. Otherwise, even if you give him a lot of courage, he would not dare to openly attack Wubao, the uncle's Wubao. Since Li Zhonglang sent someone to fight Qingwu, there must be evidence If this Wubao has always been the place where Cheng Qiu hides his money, maybe Li Zhonglang can find evidence that Cheng Qiu and the Xiliang bureaucrats bribed and raped eunuchs. In that case, the situation will be very beneficial to us."

Gai Xun looked at everyone, and continued: "Geng Bi and Cheng Qiu searched the real intention of Li Zhonglang's camp, Li Zhonglang must have known it, otherwise he would not have struck like lightning immediately after attacking the Zixiushan military camp in Longxian County. Capture corrupt officials in Xiliang. Obviously, this is his own way to save himself."

"Li Zhonglang stopped fighting, and suddenly tried his best to arrest people and ransack their homes. Presumably, he wanted to find evidence that Xiliang bureaucrats corrupted the law, bribed and raped eunuchs. If they found the evidence, his life would be saved. But he kept it from Mr. Taiwei , without telling the Taiwei Mansion, acting privately, obviously with bad intentions, trying to drag us into the water together."

"Now he has done it. His iron cavalry is chasing him wantonly outside without any restraint, but we are cornered by him, with nowhere to go." Gai Xun grabbed his long beard and said bitterly, "It's a done deal now, and everyone is tied up by him. I got stuck on a rope, and I couldn’t do it without accompanying him.”

Zhang Wen looked at the bamboo slips on the case table and twitched his beard in silence.Sangyang and Tao Qian looked at each other, helpless.

Zhang Wen suddenly smiled, and said slowly: "Actually, we also wanted to catch Cheng Qiu just now, and we also wanted to force the corrupt officials in Xiliang to give up some money, but we didn't want to make things big, and we didn't want to provoke their backstage forces. I just don’t want to confront the traitors in the palace.”

"Actually, what we want to do is the same as what Li Zhonglang is doing now. We want money from corrupt officials in Xiliang, and Li Zhonglang is now confiscating it. I don't have to worry about money anymore." Zhang Wen He said with a smile, "Li Zhonglang is probably transporting money to Xiliang in a cart now."

Gai Xun, Sang Yang, and Tao Qian smiled wryly upon hearing this.

"Since we have no way out, let's do it together." Zhang Wen said, "Which one of you has a better way?"

Sangyang pondered for a long time, then whispered, "Sir, should you be more cautious?"

"Li Zhonglang's purpose is nothing more than to use the evidence in his hands to make the Taiwei and His Majesty unable to punish him, and to threaten the court's traitors so that they cannot slander and frame him. His idea is beyond reproach, and he did so It is also the only way to save himself. But he knows nothing about the affairs of the court, and he has no idea that because of his impulsiveness, he has revealed the contradiction between the bureaucratic family and the eunuch.”

"He caused too much misfortune. He killed Zuo Chang, attacked Qingwu, and unscrupulously seized property. He has completely angered the rape and eunuch. He has driven us all to a dead end."

"Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang will not think that Li Zhonglang did this because of personal grievances, because Cheng Qiu annoyed him, or because they want to drive Li Zhonglang away from Xiliang. They definitely don't think so."

"They must think that this is a conspiracy by the Taiwei and a group of Qingliu party members. They want to take the opportunity to attack them and eliminate them. The traitors in the palace will definitely fight back to the death. The traitors have the help of the emperor and are very powerful. It is very difficult for us to fight against them. This matter develops to the end, and it is likely to be the third disaster of party imprisonment in this dynasty."

Tao Qian snorted and retorted: "Bo Xin's words are wrong. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as we help Li Zhonglang find conclusive evidence, we will be able to overthrow the traitor. Why is Bo Xin so unconfident? In my opinion, we Pretending not to know, let Li Zhonglang make trouble. Anyway, the matter has already become a big mess, so if we simply make a fuss about him, at most we will be killed. But once we find the evidence, it is not certain who will live and who will die."

Sangyang said angrily: "Gongzu, why are you talking like that? Our power is not as strong as that of rape and eunuchs. This is a fact. Have you forgotten what happened in the second year of Jianning (169)?"

"In the second year of Jianning, Zhongchang servant Hou Lan arbitrarily mutilated the people in his hometown. The supervisor Zhang Jian wrote a letter of impeachment and demanded that Hou Lan be punished. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jian's memorial was quietly detained by Hou Lan. He ordered the villain to falsely accuse Zhang Jian of contacting the party. He wanted to arrest Zhang Jian for plotting against the law. At this time, Zhongchang Shi Cao Jie took the opportunity to instruct the Tingwei Mansion to involve the party members who had suffered from the party's imprisonment. As a result, more than a hundred party members including Li Ying and Fan Pang were arrested and died in prison , Zhang Jian was spared by fleeing abroad. Later, the traitors accused many celebrities and heroes in the world as party members, causing more than 700 people to be unjustly killed and exiled. More than 1000 Tai students were arrested. Are you sure about these things? Have you forgotten?"

"Now the power of traitors is stronger than before. They are all Marquises and Zhongchang servants. Zhao Zhong was named General of Chariots and Riders by the emperor at the beginning of the year. Don't you know? What are you trying to do by instigating your lord so much? "

Tao Qian said angrily: "Don't confront them, wait for death?"

There was a sudden silence in the house.Everyone is thinking about their own thoughts.

Zhang Wen breathed out slowly, and said: "The matter has come to this point, it's too late to say anything. Gongzu is right, this is an opportunity, maybe we can take this opportunity to bring down the traitor."

"Gongzu, imitate Li Zhonglang's tone and write an urgent memorial to the emperor, saying that in the process of annihilating the rebel army, the troops accidentally discovered evidence of Xiliang bureaucrats being corrupt and perverting the law. For the safety of the country and society, I intend to quickly Take action to punish traitors. However, I found out that Mr. Taiwei and some corrupt officials in Xiliang have friendship with former officials, so he decided to hide from Mr. Taiwei and directly report to His Majesty, begging His Majesty to approve this minister to purge Xiliang's officials. .”

"Let's send this secret letter to Luoyang first, and let Liu Shangshu personally present it to His Majesty. When the eunuchs get the news of Chang'an and go to file an imperial petition, I think His Majesty should be sober, and won't believe in slander immediately." kill me."

"Anyway, I still want to let the emperor know that this incident was caused by Li Zhonglang for the sake of Xiliang to suppress corruption. I did not do it deliberately, and I have no ulterior purpose."

Gai Xun praised: "Your Excellency is still thoughtful. Send the secret letter to several adults to Luoyang first, let them prepare early, so as not to be caught off guard by the rape eunuchs in the court, and lose the opportunity." got a head start."

Zhang Wen nodded and said, "I hope the edict the emperor gave you is his real idea, otherwise, we will be miserable. This Li Zhonglang knows how to fight. He has never been in the officialdom and knows nothing. He has killed us." Too bad. By the way..." He looked at Gai Xun and asked strangely, "Where did Li Zhonglang get these evidences? People, property, everything is clear."

(End of this chapter)