Following Xi Cheng's order, a small team of Jinyi guards rushed in.
Xi Chengnai was the garrison eunuch of Nanjing and had jurisdiction over all factory guards and military forces in Nanjing.
In particular, the Jin Yiwei were under the direct command of Xi Cheng, and all the major yamen in Nanjing City had no right to interfere.
But after these Jinyi guards heard Xicheng's order clearly, they still hesitated and did not dare to take action immediately.
Who is Song Chengren? He was a former feudal official, the head of the Jiangnan Jin gentry, a close ally of Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister, and the father of Song Qiwen, the Minister of Civil Affairs!
This series of titles makes the guards dare not offend them at will.
Seeing the hesitation of the Jinyi guards, Xi Cheng angrily urged: "What are you waiting for?! Didn't you hear our order? Arrest Song Chengren immediately and take him to the capital!"
And just when the Jinyi guards were about to arrest people under Xi Cheng's urging, Zhou Shangjing finally stopped him and said, "Wait a minute!"
Zhou Shangjing stood up slowly, walked up to Xi Cheng in person, stared at Xi Cheng condescendingly, and asked in a cold voice: "You just said...that you have conclusive evidence that the head of the Song family interfered with Nanjing's military power with evil intentions, but your words are completely unfounded.
It's unconvincing! What is the identity of the head of the Song family? How important is influence? How can he be convicted based on your words?"
When he asked questions, Zhou Shangjing finally stopped keeping a low profile, and his power as a powerful official who had been in charge of the court for decades was fully demonstrated.
Under Zhou Shangjing's cold gaze, Xi Chengcheng felt as if he had awakened an old male lion that looked old but could still bite people. This old lion had been angered by him and was sawing him.
The teeth, hooks and claws looked like they were about to tear themselves into pieces in the next moment.
Xicheng was intimidated, his arrogance disappeared, and for a moment he did not dare to answer at all.
But the next moment, everyone present heard the voice of the Crown Prince and Grand Master Wang Baoren.
"What Zhou Shoufu said makes sense! The head of the Song family has a noble status and cannot be dealt with at will! It just so happens that the people in Nanjing who are qualified to speak are here... Xi Zhenshou, if you really have conclusive evidence, why don't you show it and let everyone comment on the truth?
?If you can really prove that the head of the Song family bribed military attachés, interfered with military power, and committed a taboo for officials, then with the loyalty of Zhou's chief minister, he will definitely not favor the Song family!"
While speaking, the old man Wang Baoren was present and confident.
The evidence in Xicheng's possession was secretly provided by Wang Baoren.
Moreover, Wang Baoren is very confident now, thinking that his move will definitely cause Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren to be in chaos and have no time to take care of themselves.
Just when Xicheng threatened to arrest Song Chengren, Wang Baoren had been closely observing the changes in Zhou Shangjing's expression.
Before that, Zhou Shangjing still looked sleepy and sleepy.
This is also a matter of course. The situation in Nanjing changed too much last night. Zhou Shangjing's physical condition was not good to begin with, and he had not slept all night. Naturally, he was physically and mentally exhausted, and tired.
Zhou Shangjing's performance also means that the current situation is still under his control, and many variables are within Zhou Shangjing's expectations. These variables even originated from Zhou Shangjing's behind-the-scenes promotion from the beginning.
But just after Xi Cheng publicly stated that he wanted to arrest Song Chengren, claiming that Song Chengren had committed the crime of interfering with military power, Zhou Shangjing's expression immediately changed, and he quickly regained his energy. He no longer showed any signs of sleepiness, and now he is going to die directly.
He threatened Xi Cheng and supported Song Chengren in public. He seemed to have a strong attitude and overwhelming power, but he was not at all as knowledgeable and unpredictable as before.
Therefore, it is obvious that Wang Baoren's move not only completely exceeded Zhou Shangjing's expectations, but also completely hit Zhou Shangjing's weakness.
Once Song Chengren was captured by Xi Cheng and taken to the capital, not only would all the Jin gentry in Jiangnan be panic-stricken, and they would no longer be able to unite against Xi Cheng and Zhu Hejian, Zhou Shangjing's power in Nanjing would also be directly reduced by half, even if
Zhou Shangjing can still keep Song Chengren after returning to the center of the capital, but he will definitely lose this game in Nanjing!
After Xi Cheng heard Wang Baoren's reminder, he also noticed the encouraging eyes of the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian. He finally got rid of the awe in his heart and said sternly without giving in: "Since Zhou Shoufu and Wang Taishi both want to check the evidence, then our family will
Show the evidence and make you convinced!"
Later, Xi Chengcheng took out two letters from his arms and handed them directly to Zhou Shangjing in front of him.
After Zhou Shangjing raised his hand to take the two letters, he immediately lowered his head and read them carefully.
After a while, Zhou Shangjing had read the specific contents of the two letters, but he did not raise any questions immediately. Instead, his expression became more solemn, and he just handed the two letters to Song Chengren expressionlessly.
After Song Chengren read the specific contents of these two letters, his expression also changed uncontrollably.
*
In Nanjing, in addition to the garrison forces controlled by Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying, there was actually another important military force.
That is Nanjing Jiangfang Camp.
The main responsibilities of the Nanjing Jiangfang Camp are to inspect smuggling, maintain public security on the river, arrest river bandits, resist Japanese pirates, etc. It has always been deployed at various ports and docks outside Nanjing. On weekdays, it does not enter Nanjing at will and cannot directly enter the city.
Interfering in the changes in the situation in Nanjing, it is often ignored by all parties.
The highest officer of the Jiangfang Camp in Nanjing was called "Cao Jiangwuchen" or "Caojiang Governor Yushi". Although this position was held by a civil servant, he did not have the power to command operations, but he had the power to supervise military discipline. Therefore,
He became the top officer of Nanjing Jiangfang Camp.
The current military official Cao Jiang is named Liu Huaiyuan. This person has always acted in a low-key manner and has always had a good relationship with Song Chengren.
The two letters that Xicheng took out at this time were both related to Liu Huaiyuan, the military minister of Cao Jiang.
Among them, the first letter was written by Song Chengren himself. It was a secret letter that Song Chengren sent to Liu Huaiyuan the day before yesterday.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The content of the secret message is - Song Chengren predicts that the situation in Nanjing will soon change dramatically, and requires Liu Huaiyuan to dispatch officers and soldiers from the Jiangfang Battalion to secretly control the surrounding areas of Nanjing, arrest all suspicious persons, etc.
As for the other letter, it was a real-name report from Jiang Wuchen Liu Huaiyuan for impeachment.
According to Liu Huaiyuan's report, since he was appointed by the imperial court as Cao Jiang Wuchen two years ago, he was shocked to find that the Nanjing Jiang Fang camp had been completely infiltrated and controlled by the Song family and the Liang Gang. As Cao Jiang Wuchen, although he was nominally Jiang Fang's
The highest command of the battalion, but in fact it is not as effective as the Song family and the grain gang forces.
At the same time, the Song family and the grain gang were also trying to bribe Liu Huaiyuan. Of course, Liu Huaiyuan was unwilling to join in the conspiracy, but in order to collect more intelligence and obtain more evidence, he accepted the bribe under the pretense of "bearing the humiliation" and became a
As an accomplice of the Song family and the Grain Gang, he has assisted Song Chengren in doing many things in the past two years.
Recently, the situation in Nanjing has been turbulent, which can be said to be a sensitive time. However, Song Chengren secretly asked Liu Huaiyuan to send troops to control the surrounding areas outside Nanjing at this time. This immediately made Liu Huaiyuan wary, worried that Song Chengren had evil intentions.
, so he did not dare to continue to lurk to collect evidence, but decided resolutely to expose Song Chengren's various crimes to Xicheng's real name.
After reading the specific contents of these two letters, Song Chengren was shocked and felt deeply troubled and unable to find a solution in a short time.
This is because - Liu Huaiyuan's report revealed that there was no problem at all. Song Chengren had indeed been secretly infiltrating the Nanjing Jiangfang camp.
In recent years, Song Chengren seems to have retired from office, but he is still one of the core figures of the "Zhou Party", not only because of his qualifications and background, but also because Song Chengren controls one of the money bags of the "Zhou Party".
This money bag is water transportation, grain gangs, and smuggling.
While using the Jiangnan area to transport grain to the capital hub, Song Chengren and the "Zhou Party" had been secretly smuggling various materials and grabbing a lot of money.
In this case, Song Chengren had to infiltrate and bribe the Nanjing Jiangfang Camp, because this army had the power to inspect smuggling. Only by controlling the Nanjing Jiangfang Camp, Song Chengren would have no worries when he drove the grain gang to smuggle.
Out of such considerations, after Liu Huaiyuan became the military minister of Cao Jiang, Song Chengren deliberately made friends with Liu Huaiyuan, threw huge profits, and easily bribed Liu Huaiyuan. The two sides had always cooperated with each other, and Song Chengren had regarded Liu Huaiyuan as a confidant.
Therefore, Song Chengren never expected that Liu Huaiyuan would be secretly instigated by Wang Baoren to rebel, but he had never been alert.
What's more, he never expected that Liu Huaiyuan would choose such a critical moment to stab himself in the back without any warning.
Liu Huaiyuan's betrayal will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the subsequent situation in Nanjing City!
Liu Huaiyuan's report was obviously directed by Wang Baoren, and his technique was extremely clever. He did not mention the smuggling, but instead focused on Song Chengren's intervention in military power, bribery of military attachés, and the recent turmoil in Nanjing, implying that Song Chengren was here.
Secretly mobilizing the troops of Nanjing Jiangfang Battalion at a sensitive time is an unforgivable act!
If Liu Huaiyuan directly pointed out that Song Chengren infiltrated and bribed the Jiangfang camp for the purpose of smuggling and making money, although the crime was also serious, only the relevant Nanjing yamen had the right to hear the case. Song Chengren could also stay in Nanjing to stabilize the power of the Jin gentry and continue to support it.
Zhou Shangjing, but after Liu Huaiyuan connected this matter with the military power matter, the nature became extremely serious. Song Chengren had to be taken to the capital and handed over to Emperor Deqing for personal interrogation. Once Song Chengren left Nanjing, Zhou Shangjing would
To put it simply, the firewood has been drained.
At the same time, Liu Huaiyuan's sudden betrayal also destroyed another arrangement of Song Chengren.
Prior to this, Song Chengren ordered his grandson Song Jicheng to lead a large number of people to round up Jiang Xiao and the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers. However, they failed. Most of the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers had fled out of the city through the river sluice under the city wall, and Jiang Xiao
Xiao Xiao and a small number of "Chaofeng" dead soldiers could not escape in time, so they simply raided Huo Zhengyuan's temporary residence, causing a series of subsequent incidents.
At that time, after Song Chengren learned that most of the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers had already fled out of the city, he was not in a hurry at all. It was because he had contacted Jiang Fang Camp in advance, thinking that he could use Jiang Fang Camp's troops to escape from the city.
The "Chaofeng" dead men were all caught in one fell swoop.
This is also the real reason why Song Chengren sent a secret message to Liu Huaiyuan and secretly mobilized Jiangfang Battalion troops to control the surrounding areas outside Nanjing.
In this way, no matter how the situation in Nanjing develops, Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren will be able to capture a large number of "Chaofeng" dead soldiers alive, and they will definitely be able to find conclusive evidence that Zhu Hejian secretly raised the dead soldiers, which can be said to be a winning ticket.
But now, with Liu Huaiyuan's betrayal without warning, it means that most of the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers who fled out of the city in advance are very likely not to be arrested and are still at large.
Jiang Xiao has also escaped from Nanjing City. As long as he successfully reunites with these "Chaofeng" dead soldiers, the "Chaofeng" organization can quickly restore most of its vitality!
As for Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren, if they still want to find conclusive evidence that Zhu Hejian raised dead soldiers, they can only count on the captured dead soldiers controlled by Huo Zhengyuan!
After understanding the situation, Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren looked at each other, with a trace of reproach flashing in their eyes.
Zhou Shangjing was blaming Song Chengren for being too negligent.
The current change in the situation seems to be the initiative of Xi Cheng, but in fact it is undoubtedly the handiwork of Wang Baoren. Wang Baoren handed over the relevant evidence to Xi Cheng, while he hid behind the scenes and fueled the situation.
Over the years, one of the main tasks assigned by Zhou Shangjing to Song Chengren was to restrain Wang Baoren and prevent Wang Baoren from rapidly expanding his influence in Nanjing's official circles. As a result, Song Chengren actually allowed Wang Baoren to bribe Liu Huaiyuan, the military official of Cao Jiang, under his nose.
In the end, he was not alert at all and still trusted and reused Liu Huaiyuan. This mistake was so serious that Zhou Shangjing was caught off guard and fell into passivity.
At this moment, Song Chengren was also filled with blame, but the target of his blame was... Zhao Junchen, who was thousands of miles away!
When things have developed to this point, Song Chengren has roughly guessed the reason for Liu Huaiyuan's betrayal.
It’s because of the “United Shipping Company” founded by Zhao Junchen!
Before Zhao Junchen founded the "United Shipping Company", the Liang Gang, Nanjing Jiangfang Camp, and the "Zhou Party" forces cooperated tacitly and happily under Song Chengren's operation, and everyone made a lot of money.
Although Liu Huaiyuan claimed that he accepted bribes only to collect evidence when he exposed and exposed Song Chengren, before the emergence of the "United Shipping Company", Liu Huaiyuan had absolutely no motive to betray Song Chengren and was only focused on following Song Chengren to enrich himself.
However, after the emergence of the "United Shipping Company", it quickly replaced the smuggling business of the Yangtze River and Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, greatly reducing the profits of the smuggling business of the Liang Gang, Nanjing Jiangfang Camp, and the "Zhou Party" forces, and the combination of interests of Liu Huaiyuan and Song Chengren also
It quickly loosened up.
It is said that Liu Huaiyuan spent 100,000 taels of silver to get into the army department, and finally got the lucrative job of Cao Jiang Wuchen. He was originally expecting to make up for the shortfall by making a lot of money from this position, but before Liu Huaiyuan could do so,
Huaiyuan earned a few more days of money, and "United Shipping Company" was born. In the end, not only did it not make any money, but it also owed a large amount of debt.
In all likelihood, it was this situation that allowed Wang Baoren to find an opportunity to secretly instigate Liu Huaiyuan.
However, even if I figure out the specific reason now, it is of no use.
For Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren, the top priority now is to find ways to quickly reverse their disadvantage.
Otherwise, once the Jin Yiwei captures Song Chengren and takes him to the capital, everything will be over!
*
"Zhao Junchen, Zhao Junchen! Although you and I will definitely be political enemies in the future, I really want to thank you today! Without the 'United Shipping Company' you founded, I would not have had the chance to coerce Liu Huaiyuan and make him become my
The key piece in your hand to deal with Zhou Shangjing!"
Seeing that both Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren had solemn expressions but were unable to retaliate, Wang Baoren felt proud and secretly thanked Zhao Junchen.
Then, Wang Baoren turned his head and glanced at Zhu Hejian, and nodded slightly to indicate that Zhu Hejian should be dismissed.
At this time, the two letters that Xicheng took out had been circulated to many important people. Zhu Hejian also read the contents immediately and was also overjoyed.
Before that, when Wang Baoren claimed that he had trump cards to deal with Zhou Shangjing, Zhu Hejian was still a little dissatisfied. He thought that Wang Baoren was Zhou Shangjing's always-defeated general. Zhou Shangjing might have seen through the root of the situation long ago, even though he thought he had found a few cards.
The trump card will also be easily cracked by Zhou Shangjing.
But now, Zhu Hejian realized that he had underestimated Wang Baoren.
If Wang Baoren could not pose a threat at all, Zhou Shangjing would not have paid so much attention to him for many years.
At this moment, Wang Baoren's long-prepared move quickly reversed the situation, making Zhou Shangjing instantly passive.
Some things are as light as a feather if they are not put on the scale, but as heavy as a thousand stones if they are put on the scale. Everyone is aware of it and is involved in it, but it must not be exposed on the table.
For example, Song Chengren's infiltration and bribery of Jiang Fangying was like this!
So, Zhu Hejian stood up immediately and asked with a solemn expression: "Has Xi Neichen confirmed that the contents of these two letters are correct? Are there any frauds or exaggerations?"
Xicheng nodded calmly and said: "If Your Highness doesn't believe it, you can summon Military Attaché Liu Huaiyuan and ask him personally!"
Zhu Hejian sighed, seemingly unwilling to embarrass Song Chengren, his expression full of struggle.
But in the end, Zhu Hejian waved his hand and said: "The head of the Song family is the head of the Jin gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, a close friend of Zhou Shoufu, a former official of the imperial court, and the father of Song Shangshu. These identities are extremely sensitive and involve meddling in military power.
, the matter of bribing military attachés... This situation is no longer something we are qualified to decide!
That's all. The Jin Yiwei listened to the order and immediately escorted the head of the Song family to the capital to await the trial of his father. However, after all, he is a highly respected senior member of the court. Before the matter is finalized, he must not be treated badly along the way. He must still be serious and serious.
Serve..."
As Zhu Hejian finished speaking, and seeing that none of the big shots had any objections, the Jinyi guards finally took action to remove Song Chengren from the scene and escort him to the capital immediately.
