"Could it be that you and him are in the same party?!" Wang Xian glared at the two officials with murderous intent.
"Of course not!" The two of them quickly denied it, fearing that Wang Xian would be angry and cause disaster to Chi Yu. "We have no idea at all!"
"Then submit a letter with me!" Wang Xian said without any doubt.
"This...if he really colluded with the White Lotus Sect, we will be held responsible!" The two of them still wanted to push back and delay. "It's just that the words of these thousands of households are not enough to convict a third-rank inspector.
Should we report to the Ming court first and remove him from his official position, and then interrogate him in detail?!"
"What I said is the truth!" Wang Xian said decisively: "Today you two must submit a letter with me, otherwise..." Wang Xian picked up a bag of eggs in front of him and said murderously: "Let Zhou Yong help you eat it
!”
Both of them had seen Liu Ben's tragic situation just now, and they didn't dare to say anything, so they had no choice but to nod in agreement. Wang Xian immediately asked someone to get the memorial. When the two adults saw it, they found that it had been written long ago and they were just waiting for their signature.
That's all. With no other choice, the two adults had no choice but to pick up the pen, sign their names in the blank space, and then take out their seals to sign.
Wang Xian had the memorial taken away, and then Liu Ben, who was like mud, was taken into custody. Zhou Gan whispered a few words in his ear, and then Wang Xian's expression softened and he comforted the two of them: "Don't worry, I have conclusive evidence."
It proves that he is a member of the White Lotus Sect and has colluded with the King of Han!" He said with an inscrutable smile and said: "While the three adults were here as guests, the Jin Yiwei had already ransacked Liu Ben's official residence! They found it
There are so many things!”
"Ah..." Chu Yan and Ma Zhong realized that Wang Xian invited them to dinner in order to lure the tiger away from the mountain!
Chu Yan and Ma Zhong left the imperial envoy's quarters while holding on to the wall. As soon as they went out, they vomited all the eggs in their stomachs. Ma Zhong wiped his mouth and cursed: "I will never eat eggs in my life."
Got it!"
"Whoever dares to raise eggs in front of me will be killed by me!" Chu Yan was even more unbearable. His whole body was as limp as noodles. If he wasn't supported by someone around him, he would have to sit on the ground. He looked at Ma Zhong
, lowered his voice and said: "The rabbit dies and the fox grieves for its own kind. We cannot ignore Liu Ben."
"Yes." Ma Zhong nodded and agreed: "The man named Wang is a lunatic. If he continues like this, we may also suffer!"
"Yes." Chu Yan wanted to speak more deeply, but he had many worries, and Ma Zhong was the same. They exchanged a few words in a low voice and then went back to their homes.
In the carriage, next to the pearl pool, Zhou Yong was leading people to clean up. When it was put on the table, Zhou Yong picked up Wang Xian's egg and asked strangely: "Can't these three idiots recognize that this is a duck egg?
"However, he also admitted that the duck eggs were small and white, and they didn't look much different from eggs.
"They are all things that cannot distinguish their four bodies from their five grains," Wang Xian said disdainfully: "If I just take a goose egg, I'm afraid they will think it is a big egg!"
"Sir," Zhou Dare left and returned at this time, and said with some worry: "Actually, nothing valuable was found from Liu Ben's house. How will it end like this?"
"Don't worry, it's going as planned." Wang Xian was very sure, and said slowly: "You don't know if you didn't find them, but someone will be unable to sit still tonight."
In fact, Wang Xian's arrest of Liu Ben was a very risky move! Because he had no conclusive evidence at all, only the confessions of those thousands of households... After returning from Tai'an, Wang Xian was thinking all the time about how to find out the mole.
!But his manpower in Shandong was too weak and he couldn't find strong evidence at all! In desperation, Wang Xian put together all the intelligence and reasoned it out like Conan.
The signs of army mobilization that day could not be concealed from others. Jinyiwei investigated the abnormal mobilization of all armies near the Taiyi Mountains one by one. Wang Xian drew an order route based on the chronological order of these armies' dispatches, from north to south.
Coming from the direction of Le'an Prefecture, it can almost be concluded that the King of Han was involved! However, the actions of these armies were chaotic and they stopped briefly. It can be seen that the King of Han was definitely not leading this matter, and was probably only responsible for support. Moreover, the King of Han should know very little about the situation in Shannan, otherwise he would act
It will definitely be more thorough and sharp!
This is also easy to understand. After all, the King of Han was more than 160 miles away and the incident happened in a hurry. If Zhu Gaoxu only received the notice from the White Lotus Sect, he would have no time to confirm the arrangement. At most, he would only ask others to cooperate. This kind of speculation
is consistent with the facts.
Wang Xian pushed back to the White Lotus Sect. They crossed Taiyi Mountain that night and went straight into the Grand Canyon. It could be said that they were very fast. However, the White Lotus Sect was able to know their movements in advance and still had time to mobilize the army and arrange for the villagers to do what they wanted.
Bait, this means that they will get the news at dawn at the latest, otherwise it will be too late to do these things. Because the Buddha Mother and her party are always on the move, it is unrealistic to use carrier pigeons to send messages, and they can only rush to report the message!
Wang Xian looked at the map carefully and found that no other route could deliver the letter in time, except for one road - starting from Qixingtai, there was an imperial road from the Tang Dynasty that led directly to the plains in the south of the mountain! Wang Xian ordered people to conduct on-site investigation and found that
Although the imperial road back then was dilapidated, it was still not a problem to ride a horse alone! From Qixingtai to Mopan Village where Elder Tang changed clothes, it would take about four hours if you walked at night!
Zhou Gan asked some of the officers and soldiers who were escorting the convoy that day, and he found out that in the evening of that day, Liu Ben led his people to the Seven Star Platform. Calculating the time, Liu Ben could still wait for an hour or two before sending someone out. In terms of time,
That's enough!
Next, we need to verify whether any of Liu Ben’s entourage left Qixingtai that day! It’s right to ask Liu Ben’s cronies about this kind of question! After some screening, the target was locked on the Qianhu. Then
Ming Qianhu is in charge of all the soldiers and horses of Anchasi Yamen, and also plays a role similar to that of Liu Ben, the captain of the bodyguard. If someone left Qixingtai that day, he would definitely know it!
In order to avoid alarming the snake, Wang Xian deliberately had the father of Qianhu in his hometown in Linqing beaten up. Sure enough, after Qianhu got the revenge, he became furious and immediately asked Liu Ben for leave and took his people back to his hometown to seek revenge.
He was caught by the Jinyiwei! The interrogation started and the Qianhu didn't recruit him, so the Jinyiwei grabbed his parents, wife and children in front of him and threatened to kill his whole family. The Qianhu confessed that he was the one who reported the letter to the White Lotus Sect.
!
But it is said that Liu Ben was very vigilant. Those Qianhu had only been with him for a few years and did not know anything more... It was also the first time that he reported to the White Lotus Sect...
Wang Xian's original plan was to call Liu Ben to the office under the pretext of treating guests to try something new, and at the same time ask Zhou Gan to lead people to search his official office! If any evidence of crime could be found, everything would go smoothly! However, Liu Ben was indeed sentenced to death.
His anti-investigation capabilities were extremely strong, but he did not leave any useful evidence. This made Zhou Gan very worried that Wang Xian had exceeded his authority to investigate Liu Ben, and hostile forces would take the opportunity to attack him! Once someone interfered, the thousands of households would turn over their confessions.
The consequences could be disastrous!
In the final analysis, Wang Xian sent a provincial inspector to jail based on only a bunch of speculation and one person's confession. The risk is too great!
Zhou Gan was very worried, so why wasn't Wang Xian the same? He just couldn't show it in front of his subordinates. That night, Wang Xian tossed and turned and couldn't sleep at night, so he had to put on his clothes and get up and pace in the courtyard.
The night was as cold as water, and the waning moon was like a hook, illuminating the ground covered with silver frost. Wang Xian clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the moon in the sky from time to time. He couldn't help but sigh secretly. As he was sighing, he suddenly heard someone behind him imitating his own sigh.
, turned around and saw that it was Lingxiao.
Lingxiao was wearing a yellow gauze nightgown, looking pretty under the cold moonlight. This girl who was always full of energy rarely revealed her quiet and elegant side.
"Why are you wandering around without sleeping?!" Wang Xian said angrily.
"I was sleeping well, but you were walking around outside the door." Lingxiao rolled her eyes at him and for the first time did not quarrel with him. Instead, she took two steps forward and said softly: "Why are you doing this?"
Woolen cloth?"
"Uh..." Wang Xian looked at Lingxiao in astonishment and reached out to touch her grease-like forehead, "You don't have a fever, why are you talking nonsense?"
"Can't I talk to you like an adult?" Lingxiao opened his hand angrily.
"Of course." Wang Xian smiled and said, "What do you want to say?"
"I think you are asking for trouble," Lingxiao thought for a moment and said softly: "I remember after the chaos the year before last, you, sister Qing'er, and your godfather and godmother promised that you would never work for others again.
, I will stay in peace and contentment from now on. It has only stopped for more than a year, why..." At this point, Lingxiao's eye circles turned red, and his voice was choked as he said: "When I left Nanjing, Sister Qing'er asked me to see
I’m keeping you in mind and won’t let you take any more risks... How do you want me to tell her about these things in Shandong?”
"So you're crying in embarrassment?" Wang Xian said amusedly: "Did I ask you to help hide it, so you couldn't sleep well?"
"Yeah." Lingxiao nodded, tears dripping down his cheeks, "And I'm also scared. What if the reinforcements that showed up that day were not reinforcements, but enemies who came to kill us?!"
Wang Xian sighed, wiped the tears from Lingxiao's face, reached out to hold her in his arms, patted her back gently, and whispered: "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't take risks, but I just
There is nothing one can do about such a person..."
Ling Xiao was hugged by Wang Xian for the first time, and her body froze immediately. The next moment, she slowly raised her arms a little awkwardly and timidly, wrapped her arms around Wang Xian's waist, and gently leaned her face on his shoulder.
For the first time in history, this girl's heart almost jumped out of her throat, and she couldn't hear what Wang Xian was saying.
"I don't want to take risks. I also want to live a peaceful life with my family." Wang Xian said: "But such days scare me and always make me feel like I am living in an illusion. Only adventures that lick blood from the edge of a knife can make me happy."