"Your Majesty, urgent message from Southern Xinjiang!" Xiying came in quickly from outside and said respectfully.
Xie Yan frowned and reached out to take the letter. After scanning it with a glance, Xie Yan's slender eyebrows sank slightly.
Luo Junyao saw something change in his expression and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"
Xie Yan said: "There is something going on in southern Xinjiang. I'm afraid we have to leave Zhangzhou as soon as possible."
Luo Junyao blinked, and Xie Yan thought for a while, "Why don't you stay in Zhangzhou for a while, and I will go to southern Xinjiang first?"
Xie Yan knew that Luo Junyao was not just playing in Zhangzhou, but also had many things to deal with. For example, the details of what she was discussing with Shang Yue would definitely not be finished in a while.
Luo Jun shook his head and said: "It still doesn't work, business matters are important. Mr. Shang is involved in Zhangzhou's affairs. It will definitely take a lot of time to deal with it, right?"
Shang Yue received the look in Luo Junyao's direction, nodded and said with a smile: "If the prince believes in me, I can take care of all matters in Zhangzhou."
Xie Yan lowered his head and looked at Luo Junyao, who nodded seriously.
She wasn't entirely accommodating Xie Yan's schedule, it was mainly because there was really nothing major going on here in Zhangzhou.
The main thing is Nanxi Port. Shang Yue only needs to take the boat back. And she just saw the eldest brother's name in the letter. It is difficult not to involve the eldest brother in the incident in Southern Xinjiang, although Xie Yan and the eldest brother are both very powerful.
, but she was still a little worried.
"Well, let's say goodbye to the Lin family leader first, and we will board the ship tonight."
"Um."
Hearing that Xie Yan and Luo Junyao were leaving, Lin Chengyu also felt a little regretful.
However, he also knew that if there was nothing serious, the two of them would not be in such a hurry. Without asking any more questions, he immediately ordered the steward to arrange a boat to take the two of them back to Ningzhou.
After talking to Lin Chengyu about leaving early, Xie Yan and Luo Junyao returned to the room, and Luo Junyao asked: "What happened?" If it was just an ordinary thing, it would definitely not be enough for Xie Yan to change his itinerary and leave Zhangzhou early.
Xie Yan raised his hand and pressed his eyebrows, and said softly: "The chiefs of the three major tribes in southern Xinjiang are dead."
Luo Junyao was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what he was doing, and said with some uncertainty: "You mean, the chiefs of the three major tribes... are all dead?"
Xie Yan nodded and confirmed Luo Junyao's question.
Luo Junyao didn't know what to say for a while. This was obviously not an ordinary situation. It wouldn't be surprising if a clan leader died, but it was indeed a troublesome thing for the clan leaders of three major tribes to die at the same time.
"What's going on?" Luo Junyao asked.
Xie Yan frowned and said: "The letter didn't go into details. It just said that the heads of the three major tribes in southern Xinjiang suddenly died suddenly in different places on the same day. Now... the consolation envoy sent by the imperial court to southern Xinjiang is regarded as the murderer. Southern Xinjiang
The tribes are agitated and angry, and the Xuanwei Envoy cannot handle the matter."
Luo Jun shook his head. No wonder Xie Yan was worried. It was indeed a big trouble. Southern Xinjiang was not very stable to begin with, and now something like this happened again. If the consolation envoy sent by the imperial court to Southern Xinjiang was really regarded as a murderer, then
The problem is huge.
If the people in southern Xinjiang executed people before they went there, they would really be dead without evidence.
Xie Yan comforted him: "Don't worry, Jinyan is closer than us. We will rush there in advance when we receive the news."
Luo Jun said: "I hope so."
At this time, something like this suddenly happened in southern Xinjiang. I always feel that this is just the beginning, and big things will happen later.
The group left Zhangzhou in a hurry, returned to Ningzhou by boat, and then rode towards southern Xinjiang.
Southern Xinjiang is located in the southwest corner of Dasheng, with a vast area that is one-fifth the size of the entire Dasheng. However, the climate here is harsh, miasma and poisonous insects are rampant. There are not many places suitable for human habitation. Therefore, there are few large-scale cities here.
, most of the various tribes formed camps and lived together.
The only city in Southern Xinjiang is in the center of the hinterland of Southern Xinjiang. In terms of area, it is not as large as the Jianling City in Yanzhou that Luo Junyao visited before, but it is the only place in Southern Xinjiang that can be defined as a city by the Central Plains people.
Recently, both local residents and business travelers in southern Xinjiang can clearly feel a tense and heavy atmosphere. Many businessmen who are quick and well-informed have quietly left southern Xinjiang and returned to the Central Plains.
This city named Zhaoyun is currently jointly controlled by the three major tribes in southern Xinjiang. It is also the seat of the Xuanwei Envoy in southern Xinjiang.
In the past, two teams of powerful soldiers and horses were always stationed at the entrance of the Xuanwei Ambassador's Mansion. The door was open, and the front door was solemn and majestic, so that no one dared to offend easily.
However, today, the entire Xuanwei Ambassador's Mansion was closed, and no one was seen outside.
Not far outside the gate, several men and women wearing southern Xinjiang costumes were staring eagerly at the gate. Their movements were not shy, and they were obviously not afraid of being discovered.
In the mansion, Luo Jinyan was sitting on the throne with his eyebrows furrowed. Sitting under him was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was about to succeed Lingchuan Marquis as the ambassador of southern Xinjiang after he left southern Xinjiang.
"Master Zeng." Luo Jinyan frowned and said, "The people in Southern Xinjiang think you killed several clan leaders. There must be a reason, right?" Unless the people in Southern Xinjiang are crazy and want to start a war with Dasheng, otherwise this kind of behavior is just looking for trouble.
Just causing trouble for yourself.
But if the people of Southern Xinjiang really want to go to war with Dasheng and pay the lives of the three clan leaders, is the price too high?
Mr. Zeng's surname was Zeng Wei. Before succeeding the Marquis of Lingchuan, he had served as a parent official in Liangzhou and as a young minister in Honglu Temple. He had certain experience in dealing with border customs and foreigners.
Even so, less than half a year after becoming the ambassador of southern Xinjiang, he felt that he was more than ten years older.
After listening to Luo Jinyan's question, Zeng Wei sighed and said, "Lord Luo is right. The reason why they identified me as the murderer of several clan leaders is because the clan leaders received letters from me inviting them to the meeting before they died.
.They were killed on their way to the meeting after receiving my letter."
"So, those letters are from your own hands?"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Zeng Wei said: "I saw the letter in the hands of the young patriarch of the Qiu Ci tribe with whom I had been negotiating. It is indeed exactly the same as my handwriting, but I can be sure that I never wrote it.
That letter."
Luo Jinyan remained silent. Zeng Wei also knew that his words were unfounded. It was really hard for people to believe his words right away.
"Lord Luo, I can't produce any evidence to prove this right now, but I..." Zeng Wei smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "I have only been in office for only half a year and I have caused such a big mess. What do I want?"
Luo Jinyan nodded and said: "Master Zeng, there is no need to worry, the matter will always be clear. The prince is in Zhangzhou now, and he must have received the news. As long as we stabilize the situation for the time being, the prince should arrive soon."
Zeng Wei sighed and said: "I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on for long. If it doesn't work, please hand me over first. Maybe we can buy some time."
Luo Jinyan shook his head and said: "If someone is really causing trouble secretly, once Mr. Zeng falls into the hands of the people from southern Xinjiang, I'm afraid he won't survive even one night. If someone really commits suicide out of fear of crime or is beaten into submission, that would be real trouble."
Zeng Wei naturally understood this truth, but he was so anxious that his words inevitably lacked some consideration.
"Your Excellency, the young patriarch of the Ancient River Tribe, Khenbu La, is here and is requesting an audience with you immediately outside." The guard beside Luo Jinyan came in quickly.
Luo Jinyan raised his eyebrows, "Young clan leader? I heard that the candidate for the future clan leader of the Furukawa tribe has not been decided. Now it seems that no one will benefit from the death of the three clan leaders."
Zeng Wei glanced at Luo Jinyan in surprise. Luo Jinyan's words were a bit serious. If word spread, I'm afraid there would be another turmoil.
Luo Jinyan didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with what he said. He drank tea calmly and said, "Please come in, young patriarch."
"Yes, young master." Luo San bowed his hands and resigned.
After a while, Khenbra came in from the outside with someone. He did not look at Zeng Wei who was sitting next to him, but his eyes fell directly on Luo Jinyan who was sitting on the main seat.
With a hint of sadness in his brows, Khenbu La said: "Master Luo, long time no see. How are you?"
Luo Jinyan said calmly: "It hasn't been too long. Didn't I and the young patriarch only meet once at the end of last year?"
At the end of last year, people on both sides of the border between Southern Xinjiang and Huaizhou had quite a conflict over some trivial matters. Luo Jinyan personally handled the matter at that time, and the person who came forward on the Southern Xinjiang side was Khenbu La, because those Southerners who participated in the conflict
The people of Xinjiang are unfortunately from the Furukawa tribe.
Khenbu La didn't care about Luo Jinyan's words and said coldly: "Since Lord Luo has come to Zhaoyun, he must have known what happened. I won't waste any nonsense and ask Lord Luo to hand over Zeng Wei to me. Southern Xinjiang has been surrendered to the Central Plains for generations.
We don’t want to hurt our friendship with the imperial court because of this.”
Luo Jinyan asked: "May I ask, what does the young patriarch want to do after taking Master Zeng away?"
Khenpo smiled towards the two of them, full of malice and sinisterness, and said: "Of course, according to our rules in southern Xinjiang, the murderer will be punished by having thousands of insects eating his bones, in order to appease the souls of my father and the other two patriarchs in heaven."
After all, southern Xinjiang is an uncivilized land, and the criminal laws are extremely rough and cruel.
In other words, there is no real law in this place, and each tribe carries out its own lynching.
If a mistake is made within the clan, it will be dealt with according to clan rules. If it is a grievance with other clans, the clans will hardly look at right and wrong and will completely protect their own people.
Of course, if the interests and benefits are sufficient, they are occasionally willing to stand on the side of justice.
Moreover, private revenge is prevalent in southern Xinjiang. As long as you don't cause trouble to the tribe, even if you kill people and set fires outside, the tribe will not care.
Therefore, the folk customs in southern Xinjiang can be described as extremely tough. Correspondingly, the punishments in southern Xinjiang are also extremely terrifying.
One of them is to throw people into pits filled with various snakes, insects, rats, and ants. However, those snakes, insects, rats, and ants are all carefully selected and do not have the poison that can kill people immediately.
Throw people in and be bitten by these insects, and the onlookers can add more things in according to their own wishes.
People who were thrown into pits were often bitten until there was no good flesh on their bodies, but they still couldn't die and could only struggle in pain.
It can take as short as three days, or as long as ten days.
In the end, those who were tortured died in agony, and even their corpses became food for these snakes, insects, rats, and ants. Only a few bones were left, and their ashes were crushed and scattered in the most filthy and dark places in southern Xinjiang.
This kind of criminal law is truly cruel and inhumane.
Naturally, Luo Jinyan couldn't hand Zeng Wei over to him, otherwise how could Zeng Wei still be alive?
"I'm afraid this won't work." Luo Jinyan said solemnly.
Khenbra's face darkened and he said displeasedly: "Master Luo, you mean that the imperial court is going to protect the murderer of my father?"
Luo Jinyan said: "Apart from a few letters, the young patriarch probably has no other evidence to prove that Mr. Zeng is the murderer, right?"
Khenpo La said: "Aren't those few letters enough? How could my father be killed if he hadn't gone to the appointment? If it was just my father, Mr. Luo could argue that it was an accident, but... is it such a coincidence that three consecutive clan leaders were killed?
Will we have an accident together?"
Luo Jinyan raised his eyebrows and said: "This can only prove that someone wants to sow discord between the imperial court and Southern Xinjiang. Mr. Zeng has only met the three patriarchs a few times, and there is no grievance or enmity. I dare to ask the young patriarch why Mr. Zeng did this.
?”
Khenbra sneered and said: "This is the first time I have heard that the victim who was killed still needs to prove the murderer's motive. Mr. Luo is blindly protecting the murderer. Is the court determined to protect the murderer?"
Luo Jinyan said calmly: "Why is the young patriarch so anxious? By pinning the murderer's charge on Mr. Zeng, aren't you afraid that the real murderer will continue to be at large? Or does the young patriarch actually know who the murderer is?"
"Luo Jinyan! What do you mean!" Khenbra's face changed and he said sternly.
Luo Jinyan said: "I just hope that the young patriarch can give me some time."
Khenpo La said: "What if I must take the person away today?"
Luo Jinyan raised his eyebrows and said, "Then I can only say that you will definitely not be able to take anyone away today."
Khenbu La was so angry that he sneered again and again and said angrily: "Okay! What a great Master Luo, Governor Huaining! Don't forget, this is Southern Xinjiang!"
Luo Jinyan said: "Not only do I remember that this is Southern Xinjiang, I also know that Southern Xinjiang is not dominated by just one person from the Furukawa tribe. I also know that... the chief of the Furukawa tribe was not the only one who was killed. The other two tribes were not in a hurry, and the young chief was
Why are you in such a hurry?"
Khenbu La narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at the boat, Luo Jinyan, without saying anything for a long time.
Seeing him like this, Luo Jinyan continued: "Young Patriarch, please be patient. Why don't we have a good talk? We don't know a lot about the murder of several Patriarchs. Maybe we can talk about it first, maybe there will be some secrets.
Same result?
Khenbu La stared at Luo Jinyan for a long time and said slowly: "Elder Master Luo is very good at talking, but unfortunately... the court must give an explanation to the Furukawa tribe for my father's death, otherwise... don't blame us for being rude."
Luo Jinyan was not frightened by his threat and said: "This is natural. I only ask for five days. If there is no clue to prove that this matter has nothing to do with Mr. Zeng within five days, Luo will personally accompany Mr. Zeng to the Ancient River Department to plead guilty."
Khenbu La sneered and said coldly: "Since you are seeking death, I will help you."
