After the Shangyuan Festival, the governors, governors, and sergeants from all over the country who came to Beijing to gather for court also returned one after another. Wu Huaiyu and other eight governors and governors who were responsible for the hardship of Liang also took up their posts.
Before leaving Beijing, the emperor specially summoned Huaiyu and others to discuss the plan to conquer Liang again. After the court meeting, the emperor gave them a banquet to see them off.
"Wish you success!"
"Congratulations!"
After the banquet was over, Huaiyu went directly to Yongzhou Yamen with the decree he had just obtained from the emperor.
Yang Gongren, the pastor of Yongzhou, has never been to this yamen since he took office. He only receives a salary and does not work.
Huaiyu directly met with Wen Yanbo, the governor of Yongzhou, who was also the minister of the school inspection department and the clan uncle of Wen Fu, the captain of Wannian County.
Wen Yanbo was about the same age as the warrior Yu. This Wen family from Taiyuan had been herding sheep in Saibei for a year after being defeated in Hedong and captured. However, this man was said to be very loyal and hard-boned. After Jieli captured him, he interrogated the true and false of the Tang Dynasty.
, Wen Yanbo didn’t say a word.
After a few pleasantries when they met, Huaiyu handed over a secret order.
After Wen Yanbo looked at it, he frowned and was a little confused, "Marquis Wu wants to take away all the prisoners from Yongzhou Yamen?"
"Yes."
"Can I ask what these prisoners are being asked to do?"
"The secret decree clearly states that we will lead these people into confinement in Yanzhou, farm fields, reclaim wasteland, and guard the frontiers."
"In Yongzhou Prison, there are prisoners with both major and minor crimes, but there are not many who are worthy of being exiled to the army."
"This is a special order. I will take away all the prisoners in prison, no matter how big or small they are."
"Isn't this inappropriate?"
"The will of the saint!"
Faced with this unreasonable order, which was still secret, Wen Yanbo hesitated for a while and finally decided to comply with it.
There were not many prisoners in Yongzhou Prison. In June last year, Gao Shilian, then the governor of Yongzhou, released the prisoners and armed them to participate in the Xuanwu Gate Incident and attack Fanglin Gate. Afterwards, many prisoners were pardoned, and even some were
Those who have made meritorious service and received official honors.
Of course, as a capital city, there is always no shortage of prisoners in prison.
While waiting for the appointment, Huaiyu and Wen Yanbo chatted for a while. Wen Yanbo was from the Wen family in Taiyuan, Hedong, and Wu Huaiyu was also from the Wu family in Taiyuan, Hedong. They were both fellows from Taiyuan, Hedong. One was Qixian, Taiyuan, and the other was Wenshui, Taiyuan. They were adjacent to each other.
Not far.
Wen Yanbo also took over from the warrior Xun during this period.
Huaiyu and Wen Yanbo intentionally talked about his past experiences. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Wen Yanbo was conquered by Luo Yi, who ruled Youzhou as a Sima. Later, Luo Yi defected to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty awarded Wen the title of Chief Administrator of Youzhou. Later,
He was conscripted into the imperial court and served as a member of Zhongshu Sheren and a minister of Zhongshu.
Then Shi, the commander of the march, was defeated in the Hedong battle and was captured. He herded sheep for a year and came back to serve as the governor of Yongzhou.
Huaiyu talked to him about the past, mainly because he wanted to hear from Li Yi's old subordinates and talk about Li Yi.
Wen's evaluation of Li Yi was that he was brave and capable of fighting, good at cavalry, good at using the horse, and excellent at riding and shooting. However, Li Yi was stubborn and unkind.
Although he is said to be kind but not in charge of the army, the fact that he can be criticized as unkind by his old subordinates shows that Li Yi does have character problems. Li Yi is still the king of the county, and he is in charge of the three divisions of Kaifu. Wen Neng can say that he is unkind, which is enough to show that this person is unkind.
In fact, it may be very cruel, and being unkind is already speaking to save face.
Huaiyu got a more useful piece of information from his words, that is, Li Yi was indeed brave, but because of his cruelty and harsh treatment, he was unpopular.
Wen Yanbo, Xue Wanche and many other people once served under Li Yi in Youzhou, and now they all hold important positions in the government, but no one still has a good relationship with Li Yi, or even no longer contacts him.
Wen Yanbo's words revealed that something would happen to Li Yi sooner or later, especially his wife Meng and his son, who were the ones causing trouble.
"I met with my nephew Wannian Wenxian Lieutenant before. Wenxian Lieutenant was young and promising. He lamented that it was difficult to become a Fujing County Lieutenant and wanted to find a foreign position.
There is still a shortage of soldiers among the soldiers of a certain Yanzhou Prefecture. I wonder if Mr. Wen is willing to let Brother Wen go to Yanzhou with me?"
Huaiyu took the initiative to ask Wen Fu to join the Yanzhou Army as a soldier and Cao Shenjun.
This Bing Cao joined the army at the eighth rank, while Wen Fu's current Wannian County Lieutenant was at the eighth rank, which is equivalent to being promoted by two levels.
There are two counties in Chang'an City, Chang'an Wannian, each county has six county captains, and Wen Fu is just the thief-catcher responsible for public security among these six county captains, with a low position and a light job.
Go to Yanzhou to become a soldier among the state soldiers. Although it is a border area, you will have the opportunity to perform meritorious service and your job will be more important.
This was a favor given by Wu Huaiyu to Wen Yanbo.
Wen Ziran knew very well, and after some thought, he accepted the favor.
"If Marquis Wu does not despise his young Meng Lang and is willing to support him, that is his good fortune."
When leaving, Huaiyu took away more than a hundred prisoners, and Wen Yanbo personally sent him to the yamen gate. Wu Huaiyu successfully gained the favor of the Wen family in Taiyuan.
The three heroes of the Wen family are more powerful than the three phoenixes of Hedong. Although Xiao Wen died young, Wen Yanhong is now the Duke of the country and the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and has won the trust of the emperor. Wen Yanbo had some setbacks in his official career due to his capture, but he was able to do it again immediately
Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, indicating that he has been affirmed by the new emperor.
Moreover, Huaiyu remembered that this man, who was historically the first prime minister of Zhenguan, had a higher official career than Wen Yanhong, the current Minister of Rites.
"Please leave it to Marquis Wu for Wen Fu."
"We are all from Taiyuan, Hedong Province, so there is no need to say such unconventional words."
······
Chen Sheng, Chen Xing, Xu Jizu, and Xu Siye were ordered to bring a group of soldiers from the Weibei camp. They took over a hundred prisoners from the Yongzhou jailer and escorted them out of the city.
"What does Erlang do with all these prisoners?"
“There are people of all ages and genders.”
Several people were a little confused.
Huaiyu just smiled and escorted people out of the city to the Weibei camp. Su Lie and others were also surprised.
But Huaiyu not only brought over a hundred prisoners from Yongzhou Yamen, he also brought prisoners from Chang'an and Wannian County Yamen, as well as prisoners from Dali Temple Prison and the Penal Department Prison.
There are many prisons in Chang'an.
In addition to the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, Yongzhou, Chang'an, and Wannian all had prisons.
In addition, Yushitai, Xiaowei and Wuhouwei also have prisons. Although there are no formal prisons, they have always had prisons to hold their own prisoners.
There are also East and West Tufang in Chang'an City, where prisoners who have been sentenced to prison terms and forced to labor are detained. There are many reform-through-labor prisoners, and they were all transferred by Wu Huaiyu.
In a few days, all the prisons in the capital were almost emptied by Huaiyu, leaving only a handful of those in Dali Temple who had committed heinous crimes and were still left there to await execution in the autumn.
There is no hope of saving these people.
More than a thousand prisoners of all kinds were brought to the Weibei military camp. Among them, the most serious crimes were death row prisoners, some were exiled and were waiting to be exiled, some were sent to the army, and more were sentenced to labor reform. Some of them had not committed serious crimes.
The results are now also brought.
Seeing so many prisoners, even men and women, Niu Jianwu and other officers were surprised.
"Do you really want to take these people to Yanzhou to garrison the fields and guard the border?"
Huaiyu always responded to these inquiries by saying that this was the case.
But actually, not exactly.
In the military camp, Huaiyu called Chen Sheng.
This is the first subordinate of the Liumen Shuofang Bureau selected by Wu Huaiyu.
"Head of the Criminal and Constitutional Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and Criminal Justice?"
Chen Sheng was a little confused about this appointment, "Does the Ministry of Punishment have such a department?"
Huaiyu did not hide anything from him. He briefly talked about the secret agency Xingxiansi and their secret mission, without revealing too much information.
"Intelligence, surveillance?" Chen Sheng became even more confused, "That sounds like an errand for the Staff Department of the Ministry of War."
The staff of the Ministry of War are in charge of maps, city gods, towns, forts, beacons, and all matters related to conquest and defense. They are also responsible for military intelligence.
The responsibilities of the Criminal and Constitutional Division actually have little overlap with those of the Functional Division. One focuses on military intelligence, while the other is mainly on surveillance and reconnaissance. The collection of military intelligence is just incidental.
"Our main responsibility is to monitor and patrol to see if anyone is plotting rebellion."
"We are the fifth department of the Ministry of Punishment. We handle cases under orders and act secretly. We are under the direct control of the emperor. We can arrest, torture and execute those rebels and local bandits without going through ordinary judicial organs and procedures.
········”
With the emperor's permission, investigations were carried out under orders, and torture was carried out secretly.
Chen Sheng couldn't help but be surprised.
This secret yamen is a bit ruthless.
"What do you need me to do?"
What Huaiyu was interested in was that Chen Sheng had traveled around the capital with Mr. Li Er, and made friends everywhere. He was also quite capable, with strong martial arts skills and a good strategy.
"Assist me."
Huaiyu handed Chen Sheng a sign with an eagle on the front and a dog on the back.
"From now on, you are the head of the Shuofang Bureau of the Criminal Justice Department, codenamed Feiyu,"
Chen Sheng was originally the deputy of the Hundred Cavalry Team, from the ninth rank. Now Huaiyu has given him the title of chief, from the eighth rank, which is equivalent to a four-level promotion. However, this is a secret position, and Chen Sheng is still the deputy of the team on the surface.
The first task Huaiyu gave Chen Sheng was to screen the more than a thousand prisoners and select some of them.
"Select some capable people to be recruited into our Shuofang Bureau. These will be our first batch of informants,"
Those who commit murder and arson can be arranged to be assassins and spies, and women can be arranged to be spies. In the future, they can be placed next to officials and generals as slaves and servants, etc.
It is necessary to use these prisoners, otherwise we really don’t know where to start.
Next, Huaiyu naturally did not intend to rely on these prisoners alone. He could recruit any good man, street scoundrel, or rough bandit who could be recruited.
Even traffickers, lackeys, and lowly workers in industry and commerce can develop.
Huaiyu's request for Chen Sheng is to pick out some downlines who can develop as soon as possible.
"On this journey north, you first select some people for simple and secret training, and then arrange to work as servants for our officers and generals heading north to practice their skills first."
Chen Sheng nodded, "Everything has been arranged?"
"Since we are practicing, we should all keep an eye on it."
It is also a normal practice to arrange for those prisoners who are ostensibly to be taken to Yanzhou to be sent to the army to guard the border, and to be used as attendants for the officers and generals on the way.
"Has Li Erlang not returned to Beijing yet?" Huaiyu asked about Li Jing's second son, Li Dejiang. Li Jing had previously said that he would send people to Louguan to capture him and take him home, and send Huaiyu to the army to Yanzhou, but now he is still there.
No one was seen.
"Yongkang Gong has made up his mind this time. I guess Erlang won't be able to escape," Chen Sheng said.
Huaiyu thought for a while, "If Mr. Li comes, do you think he would be willing to join the Criminal Justice Department?"
