Of course, it was impossible for the Emperor Wei to doubt Xu Yin, the general of Fenxing Fortress. After all, Xu Yin, Bailiba, the general of the Junshui Army, and Sima An, the general of the Dangshan Army, were all former imperial guards of the Emperor Wei. Trust is just like Zhao Hongrun trusting Zongwei Shen Yu, Lu Mu, Wei Jiao and others. This is a deep relationship between the prince and Zongwei that will hardly fade with time.
Would Xu Yin do something that would endanger Wei's interests?
Hey!
Emperor Wei is willing to believe that innocence will collapse!
The look of shock and anger on his face was directed at the source of this rumor.
So the next day, the first thing Emperor Wei did when he arrived at Chui Gong Hall was to summon Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, and invite him to Chui Gong Hall for questioning.
About half an hour later, Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, hurried to the Chui Gong Hall, kowtowed to the ground, saluted, and addressed himself as Your Majesty.
"I love you for your life."
Emperor Wei raised his hand to help Zhou Yan, and then asked in a deep voice: "Zhou Aiqing, I accidentally learned of a rumor yesterday..."
After hearing this, Zhou Yan's complexion changed slightly.
Seeing this, Emperor Wei's heart moved slightly, and he asked tentatively: "Looking at Zhou Aiqing's expression, it seems that you have already guessed about this?"
Zhou Yan hesitated for a while, then raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty must be referring to the incident involving Fenxing General Xu Yin."
Fenxing Fortress General Xu Yin?
The three Zhongshu ministers in the Chui Gong Hall were stunned when they heard this. They stopped writing in unison and looked at Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, in confusion.
Zhou Yan really knew...
Emperor Wei narrowed his eyes and asked coldly: "Yes, that's exactly what happened!... When did Zhou Aiqing learn about this?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I learned about this matter five days ago."
"Five days ago?" Emperor Wei's face showed a bit of shock and anger, and he frowned and scolded: "For five whole days, you kept it secret and refused to report it?"
Zhou Yan showed a little embarrassment on his face when he heard this, lowered his head and said: "At that time, I was only thinking about how to suppress this rumor quickly...I am afraid that this absurd rumor will taint His Majesty's ears."
"..." After hearing this, Emperor Wei's anger subsided a lot. After nodding slowly, he asked: "What's going on? Where is the source of this rumor?"
"This..." Zhou Yan showed a bit of embarrassment on his face, lowered his head and said: "When the ministers learned about this, Xinzheng, Jiaocheng, Anling, Chengkuang, Chengling and other places also spread the news. ... I have dispatched all the officials in the Ministry of Punishment to arrest the public officials, but for the time being, I have not been able to find out who is spreading the rumors."
"What are those local county governors doing?!" Emperor Wei slapped the dragon case and cursed angrily: "I appointed them as the county governors of a place, and this is how they share my worries?!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down." There were three ministers in the palace, including the eunuch Tong Xian, who urged in unison.
"In fact..." Zhou Yan raised his head and defended those local county magistrates: "As far as I know, when the inspectors from our Criminal Department rushed to Xinzheng, Jiaocheng and other places, the local county magistrates were already there. To intervene in this matter, the county magistrates not only set a curfew, but also increased the number of guards patrolling the county during the day. However, those captured by the guards for talking about this matter were only local people. , so the county magistrates released them after giving them a lecture..."
Emperor Wei frowned when he heard this and said strangely: "Based on the spread of the rumor, shouldn't this rumor have been circulating for at least two or three months?"
"Otherwise." Zhou Yan shook his head and said in a deep voice: "According to the investigation by the inspectors of the Weichen Criminal Department, it seems that the rumors in Xinzheng, Jiaocheng and other places all originated from a caravan selling grain..." At this point
, he seemed to have thought of something, and raised his hands and said: "Our Ministry of Punishment has issued a wanted order and is conducting a large-scale wanted investigation in Henan (south of the Yellow River), and has ordered all local counties to provide assistance."
"Have you caught anyone?"
"Not yet." Zhou Yan lowered his head in shame.
Emperor Wei became more and more unhappy after hearing this, but after looking at Zhou Yan a few times, he finally suppressed the anger in his heart.
After all, he also understood that searching for the caravan spreading rumors in the vast sea of people was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.
After taking a long breath, Emperor Wei asked in a deep voice: "Zhou Aiqing, in your opinion, what are the intentions of those thieves in spreading rumors about General Xu Yin?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu said tentatively: "Your Majesty, could it be a conspiracy of the Chu State?"
Chu State?
Emperor Wei frowned and glanced at Feng Yu, thinking about the possibility of this sentence in his heart.
But after thinking deeply, he shook his head secretly and ruled out this possibility.
After all, in his opinion, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng in Chu State who was most likely to do such a thing in the past, is currently busy training the army he intends to extend his hands to in Ba. He should not deliberately spread such rumors when he is idle.
, because it does him no good.
Perhaps not many court officials knew about it, but Emperor Wei knew very well that currently his son Zhao Hongrun was secretly supporting Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng. A few days ago, he secretly transported more than a dozen ships of grain and grass to Chen County, waiting for him around the end of this year.
, his son Zhao Hongrun also wanted to transport a large amount of weapons and armaments to Xiong Tuo.
Unless Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, hit his head on a stone, how could he do such a thing that would harm others and not benefit himself?
Just when the Emperor of Wei was about to shake his head and deny the words of Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu, suddenly Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, lowered his voice and said: "I'm afraid this rumor is not caused by outsiders, but by internal thieves of our great Wei Dynasty!"
Thief...
Wei Tianzi squinted his eyes and suddenly thought of a possibility.
At this time, Zhongshu Zuocheng Yu Ziqi sighed and interjected: "Could he be the real murderer who murdered Xiong Fen, the Chu envoy?"
Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, looked at Yu Ziqi in surprise, nodded and said, "I'm afraid so."
The hall suddenly fell into dead silence, but Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu seemed a little incomprehensible and asked with a puzzled face: "Is there any connection between these...the two?"
Zhou Yan raised his head and looked at Emperor Wei, and saw that the emperor seemed to be waiting for his explanation, so he did not hide it and said seriously: "In fact, after His Highness Prince Su returned to Daliang from Chu, well, probably after the ceremony of worshiping heaven,
Your Highness King Su
I found the headquarters of our Criminal Department and had a discussion with the minister in the secret room...His Royal Highness King Su pointed out that the murder of Xiong Fen, the envoy of the Chu State, was probably the work of an internal traitor in the Wei Dynasty. This conclusion is actually consistent with
All ministers coincide with each other."
It turns out that why Hongrun went to the Ministry of Criminal Affairs headquarters was because of this incident?
Emperor Wei suddenly realized that after the ceremony, in order to accurately assess Zhao Hongrun's mood, he sent his eunuchs to keep an eye on his son's actions. Therefore, Emperor Wei knew about Zhao Hongrun's visit to the Ministry of Punishment.
However, Emperor Wei didn't know why Zhao Hongrun went to the Ministry of Punishment, because he didn't pay much attention at the time.
It was not until Zhou Yan mentioned this matter that Emperor Wei learned the truth and was very satisfied with what this scoundrel did.
After all, in the eyes of Emperor Wei, a naughty prince like Zhao Hongrun, even though he was forced to take over the mess of the Smelting Bureau, still remembered to remind Zhou Yan to beware of some thieves in the Wei Dynasty. This shows that this son has great respect for the Wei Dynasty.
It is a heartfelt recognition and a sincere hope that the Wei Dynasty will become stronger and stronger.
"Go on."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhou Yan cupped his hands and said seriously: "At that time, the ministers actually had doubts about General Xu Yin. After all, the team escorting the Chu envoy Xiong Fen included more than a hundred elite soldiers from Fenxing Sai.
I want to kill them all unless I gain their trust."
Emperor Wei frowned and glanced at Zhou Yan doubtfully. Soon, the doubts in his eyes gradually faded: "What now?"
"Now..." Zhou Yan shook his head and said: "Now it seems that, as His Royal Highness King Su said, General Xu Yin is probably not the mastermind, but someone else... Ha! Because of the scene at the beginning
Various signs made Wei Chen suspicious of General Xu Yin. However, the thieves of the caravan seemed to have something in mind with Wei Chen, and they used all kinds of evidence against General Xu Yin to make this rumor even more serious.
It is true, this is worth pondering: How did these people learn about the evidence against General Xu Yin at the place where the crime occurred?"
"Unless these thieves are the murderers who killed the Chu envoy Xiong Fen!" Feng Yu, the right prime minister of Zhongshu, suddenly realized what he was saying.
"Although it's not a hit, it's not far off!" Glancing at Feng Yu, Zhou Yan affirmed in a deep voice: "Even if the people who spread the rumors are not the group of thieves who killed Chu, they are undoubtedly their accomplices! ... The country is unfortunate, I'm afraid.
Just as His Highness Prince Su is concerned, there may be some thieves hiding in our country who are ambitious and want to do evil."
Emperor Wei frowned and pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Check! We must find out the source of this rumor!"
"yes!"
There is no doubt that Emperor Wei was determined to trace the source of this rumor. After all, it was related to the innocence of Xu Yin, a general who was loyal to him.
However, the Ministry of Punishment still seemed to be a step too slow. Within two days, the rumor spread from the Yingshui Northern Army to Daliang.
For a time, the people in Daliang City were shocked and angry, and the government and the public were shocked. It seemed that everyone was talking about this matter in private after dinner.
It’s no wonder, after all, in this era when news is not easily spread, once an explosive rumor really spreads, it is extremely difficult to stop the government and the public from talking about it.
After all, everyone is curious, not to mention the rumors related to Fenxing General Xu Yin.
Although it is said that rumors only stop at the wise, in fact, there are only a few people who can clearly see through the rumors. The vast majority of people in the world view this kind of thing with suspicion.
But as more and more people tell this rumor, more and more people believe it, and even swear to spread this rumor to others.
This is the so-called "three people make a tiger". When more and more people believe in rumors, rumors will replace the truth.
The most violent reaction in the country was in Zhaoling, Anling, Suiyang and other places. After all, these counties were either the cities that were most seriously invaded by the Chu army, or they were home to a large number of Wei people who were robbed by the Chu army.
people.
As this rumor spread, the Wei people in these cities and counties gradually transferred their hatred for the loss of their loved ones to their hatred of Fenxing General Xu Yin, so that those Wei people became anti-General Xu Yin.
Getting higher and higher.
Even in the end, in order to soothe the emotions of the Wei people in the country, the imperial court actually submitted a memorial to Chui Gong Hall: I beg you to temporarily remove Xu Yin Fen from the post of General of Xingsai and recall him to Daliang!
"Absolutely ridiculous!"
On the day he saw the memorial, Emperor Wei was furious in Chui Gong Hall. (To be continued.)