Following the method taught by Guan Chen, Cheng Jin secretly kidnapped Meng Chong when he was out of the city on business. Then he wrote a letter to his family and sent it to Meng Luo's house, asking for 20,000 taels of silver.
, two thousand taels of gold.
When this letter arrived at the Meng Mansion, it immediately caused an uproar, and the entire Meng Mansion seemed to have exploded.
It is true that Meng Luo is the left prime minister of the imperial court, but his family wealth is not very rich. He is an upright man, and he is also a good official. All his income comes from his salary, and in the Feng Kingdom, the imperial court has long become a puppet in appearance.
Although the monthly salary of the ministers of the DPRK cannot be said to be small, it is far from what it was when he went to Beijing. Meng Luo's salary, excluding the expenses of supporting the whole family of the Prime Minister's Mansion, has little left. How can he still scrape together 20,000 taels of silver and
An astronomical figure like two thousand taels of gold?
Although the old man was shocked, he did not lose control. While he ordered his family to go out to raise money, he also sent someone to report to the Lieutenant's Palace. He himself went to the palace to find Montaigne to discuss how to solve the matter.
Montaigne was shocked when he heard the news that his younger brother had been kidnapped. He couldn't stay in the palace any longer, so he followed his father and hurried back to the Prime Minister's Mansion. When Montaigne and Montaigne returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Gu Chen had been captured by the Prime Minister.
The servants of the government were invited.
Knowing that although Gu Chen was the deputy leader of the Lieutenant's Mansion, he was actually the real person in charge, and he knew the situation of Yancheng very well. In order to save his second son, Meng Luo was very polite to Gu Chen and treated him as an honored guest.
Montaigne had no unnecessary nonsense. After Gu Chen sat down, he asked bluntly: "There are kidnappers appearing in the majestic capital. I wonder who Mr. Gu thinks the kidnappers are? How to deal with this matter?"
"It's hard to say, the capital is very uneasy now." Gu Chen frowned, pretending to be worried, and said: "Two days ago, an assassin sneaked into the palace and stabbed the king!" He paused.
After a while, he continued: "Prime Minister Meng, General Meng, I think you two should also know that a large number of loyal people have gathered outside the capital recently, and there are a mix of dragons and snakes among them. It is inevitable that there will be desperadoes who take risks for money. According to me,
It is speculated that the kidnapping of Mr. Meng is probably related to Zhenren outside the city."
He pushed the whole matter out of the window and put the blame on the innocent people outside the city, and the blame was justified. There are over a million innocent people, who can guarantee that there will be no lawbreakers among them?
Meng Luo's expression changed and he asked urgently: "Master Gu, in your opinion, how do you think this matter should be handled?"
Gu Chen pretended to ponder for a while, and said quietly: "After all, money is something external to the body, but human life is at stake. I think I will accept the conditions of the kidnappers first and give them all the gold and silver they ask for, and then I will redeem the young master.
I, the Lieutenant’s Mansion, can go ahead and investigate. I believe that within ten days, we will be able to recover the ransom sent by Meng Xiang.”
Of course, Montaigne was not satisfied with this answer and thought that Gu Chen did not do his best. He laughed coldly and said: "I think that if the family of Minister Feng Guo is kidnapped by bandits, Lord Gu will never give him anything."
Are you giving such an irresponsible reply? Mr. Gu, as the head of the Lieutenant's Mansion, did not try to arrest the kidnappers, but instead asked us to give the kidnappers gold and silver first. Are you deceiving me that there is no one in the Meng family?"
Gu Chen hurriedly waved his hand and said repeatedly: "I never meant this, General Meng misunderstood me! Mr. Meng is in the hands of the kidnappers now. If the Lieutenant Mansion goes to search for the kidnappers, they are afraid that they will alert the snake. In case the kidnappers jump over the wall, Mr. Meng
There are three long and two shortcomings, and the lower official cannot bear this responsibility!"
Montaigne wanted to speak, but Munro stopped him with his hand and said: "Tian'er, what Mr. Gu said is not unreasonable."
As he said that, he looked troubled and said to Gu Chen: "Master Gu's method is feasible, but the Prime Minister's Mansion really can't get so much gold and silver at one time. Look, Master Gu."
Gu Chen smiled indifferently and said pointedly: "Meng Xiang is the left prime minister of the dynasty. He is inferior to one person and superior to tens of thousands of people. A mere twenty thousand taels of silver plus two thousand taels of gold. To Prime Minister Meng,
It should be a drop in the bucket, right?"
"Fart!" Before Munro could say anything, Montaigne turned red with anger and said angrily: "My father is an official and has always been honest. How can I have so much gold and silver in my family?"
"Haha!" Gu Chen smiled leisurely and said, "General Meng, don't be angry. After all, I don't know the truth either."
After thinking for a moment, he said: "Let's do this. If Meng Xiang really has difficulties regarding the ransom, the lower official can report it to the king and ask for help."
"It would be great if His Highness Feng Wang is willing to help." Meng Luo looked at Mengtian and said with concern: "But His Highness Feng Wang may not help me!"
"Please don't worry about this, Mr. Meng. Your Majesty always makes a clear distinction between public and private affairs. He will never stand idly by when Young Master is in danger." Gu Chen said sternly.
"In this case, I would like to thank Master Gu first!" Munro looked excited, stood up, and bowed to the ground.
"Oh, Mr. Meng is so polite that I'm going to kill you!" Gu Chen also stood up in a hurry and saluted Meng Luo respectfully.
Montaigne looked on with a cold eye, always feeling that Gu Chen was a bit inconsistent in what he said, but he couldn't tell what was the problem for a while.
Let's talk about Gu Chen. After leaving Mengluo, Mengtian and his son left the Prime Minister's Mansion and immediately went to the Prince's Mansion to request money from Tang Yin.
Tang Yin had no idea about the conspiracy between Cheng Jin and Gu Chen. When he heard that Meng Luo's second son had been kidnapped, he was also secretly surprised. He frowned and asked, "Who did it? Have you found out?"
Gu Chen rolled his eyes and said nonchalantly: "The affairs of the state are busy and the king is working hard and has no time to spare. Why should the king care about trivial matters like this?"
Twenty thousand taels of silver, plus two thousand taels of gold, is this a trivial matter? But how smart Tang Yin is, since Gu Chen said so, there must be a hidden secret in it, and it's not a very clean secret. It's okay for him to know such a thing
It's really better not to know.
He smiled slightly, nodded and responded: "Okay! Since General Gu said so, I won't ask. The gold and silver you mentioned can be lent to Meng Luo. Later, you can take my handwriting and ask for it.
Just go pick it up, adults."
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Gu Chen responded before he could speak.
Tang Yin picked up his pen and was about to write a handwriting to Zhang Zhe, but felt it was inappropriate, so he changed Zhang Zhe's name to Shaofu Zongyuan and said, "It's better not to come out of the treasury, but from the palace.
You go to Master Zong and ask Master Zong to withdraw gold and silver from the treasury."
"My lord, see you soon!" Gu Chen bowed his hands and saluted. He also felt that such a "dirty matter" should not be recorded in the treasury, and it would be most appropriate for the palace to pay for it.
After Tang Yin finished writing the edict and handed it to Gu Chen, the latter handed it over and said goodbye. Before he left, Tang Yin reminded him without raising his head: "This gold and silver is not a small amount. After the matter is completed, let Cheng Jin deliver it as soon as possible."
Go back to the treasury to pay the account."
Gu Chen was stunned for a moment, then turned around and looked at Tang Yin in surprise who was giving instructions on the official document. He couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. From beginning to end, he never mentioned a word about the inside story, but he still couldn't hide it from the eyes of the king!
Admiring secretly in his heart, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, General Cheng will be reminded in the future."
"Yes! Let's do it!" Tang Yin said no more and returned his attention to the mountain of official documents.
Things went smoothly, Gu Chen returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and also brought over 20,000 taels of silver and 2,000 taels of gold. Mengluo was overjoyed, and took Montaigne with him to welcome Gu Chen out of the palace and bring Gu Chen into the palace.
"Master Gu has helped me a lot this time!" Meng Luo thanked Gu Chen profusely, who smiled lightly and said: "Prime Minister Meng should not thank the official, but the king!"
"This" Meng Luo hesitated for a moment and did not speak immediately. Knowing that he had been grudged against the king for a long time, Gu Chen immediately interrupted the topic and said: "Now that the gold and silver have been collected in full, I don't know when the kidnapper agreed to pay the ransom.
when?"
"It's time tonight." As he spoke, Meng Luo handed the kidnapper's letter to Gu Chen. The latter took it and read it carefully from beginning to end. Then he put down the letter and said to Meng Luo: "Meng Luo will follow the kidnapper's instructions.
Go ahead and ask for it! Kidnappers usually value money and will not kill innocent people indiscriminately."
Before he finished speaking, Montaigne asked dissatisfiedly: "What? It sounds like Mr. Gu's lieutenant's residence does not plan to send anyone to escort the father-in-law?"
Gu Chen's face straightened and he said: "The kidnappers specifically mentioned in the letter that Prime Minister Meng's entourage should not exceed five people. Wouldn't it be a bad thing if someone from my lieutenant's residence went there?"
"At least you should make appropriate arrangements, otherwise what should you do if something happens?" Montaigne said solemnly: "What if the kidnapper's request for ransom is false and the purpose is to assassinate the father-in-law?"
"This official didn't think so much for a while." Gu Chen took a breath and slowly lowered his head.
"The people in your lieutenant's residence must be prepared to go out of the city for rescue at any time!" Montaigne said in a deep voice.
"But, my lieutenant's residence does not have cavalry. If something really changes, I'm afraid it will be beyond our reach." Gu Chen muttered and thought about it for a long time. An idea flashed in his mind and he said: "This matter can be reported to the Ninth Committee
Legion to help. First, the Ninth Legion is a cavalry legion. It is fast and has strong combat power. It can easily deal with the kidnappers. Secondly, the Ninth Legion is not far from the place where the kidnappers decided to trade.
We can arrive in the shortest possible time without arousing the kidnappers' suspicion and vigilance."
After hearing this, Montaigne's eyes suddenly lit up. It would be great if the Ninth Legion could really be invited to help. However, the Ninth Legion is the only cavalry legion in the Feng Kingdom, and it is also a heavy cavalry legion.
The treasure is very precious, and the commander of the army, Qi Heng, is arrogant and has high ambitions. I'm afraid I can't invite him even if I want to! He asked: "Master Gu, do you think General Qi is willing to do this?"
Gu Chen shrugged and said: "General Qi and Mr. Guo Jue have always been on good terms, and Xiaguan and Mr. Guo have some friendship. If I ask Mr. Guo to be a lobbyist, I will definitely be able to get this done. What's more, this matter will be done by General Qi.