In recent days, Dong Xuan had been upset by some rumors in Luoyang. I don't know since when, there were rumors among the people that Gongsun Shu was going to Luoyang to become emperor.
When he first heard these rumors, Dong Xuan didn't take them seriously, but in recent days, the rumors have become more and more intense, and people in Luoyang are talking about it everywhere.
Today, when Dong Xuan went to the county government, he heard passers-by talking on the road that Gongsun Shu was going to lead troops to Luoyang and replace His Majesty.
Dong Xuan, who was sitting in the carriage, was furious. He did not get angry on the spot, but holding back his anger, he came to the county government and immediately summoned the officials of the county government to discuss the matter.
The county government at that time was not the county government of later generations. In a government office, there was only a county magistrate, a master, and several arrestees and government officials. The county government at that time was a huge and systematic bureaucracy.
The top leader of the county government is naturally the county magistrate or magistrate, then there are the county lieutenant and county magistrate, then there are the chief bookkeeper, the court secretary, the chief clerk's office (in charge of documents), the Shaofu (in charge of money), and the lower gate (in charge of taxes and levies).
), subordinate thief Cao (in charge of public security), subordinate Yi Cao (in charge of affairs), subordinate officials such as clerk, county sergeant, county historian, etc.
The county government was discussing business, and the lobby was full of people. When all the officials under his command had arrived, Dong Xuan looked around at everyone present and said in a deep voice: "Rumors are spreading in the capital now, saying that Gongsun Shu wants to fight from Shu to Luoyang.
To be the emperor of a strong man?"
Everyone present looked at each other with their heads lowered, and no one dared to say a word. They had also heard these rumors, but they were too rebellious and no one dared to mention them.
Dong Xuan patted the table and said: "I want to know where these rumors came from! Check! Investigate thoroughly! We must find the source!"
How can these rumors be tolerated once they reach today's ears? Don't say that he, the governor of Luoyang, is unlucky. Luoyang County Government, from top to bottom, is one of them, and no one can live with it.
County Lieutenant Zhang Bi cleared his throat and whispered: "County Magistrate Dong, I believe that these rumors will soon be self-defeating and dissipate naturally..."
Before Zhang Bi could finish speaking, Dong Xuan slammed the table with a loud bang. Everyone present was startled, and Zhang Bi sat upright, swallowing all the unfinished words.
Dong Xuan glared at Zhang Bi and asked word for word: "What if the rumor does not disprove itself, but intensifies? What will you do if I ask you about it? How will you explain it to me?"
Zhang Bi lowered his head and remained silent. Dong Xuan said angrily: "Lieutenant Zhang, you have to investigate this matter personally. I only give you three days, no, two days! Within two days, you must give
I found out the result!"
After a pause, he stared at Zhang Bi and said with a serious face: "If you can't handle this matter well, you, the county lieutenant, will be done."
In Luoyang, Dong Xuan was an almost unstoppable Iron County Magistrate.
If he has merit, he will not rise up, if he makes mistakes, he will not fall down. Anyway, no matter what he does, he will always sit firmly in the position of Luoyang Order.
But the Luoyang Lieutenant is different. He is replaced every three days. The current Luoyang County Lieutenant has only been in office for less than two months.
When Liu Xiugang established his capital in Luoyang, Zhang Bi was just a local gangster in Luoyang. Later, he wanted to seek an official position, so he entered the county government as a yamen servant, and then was gradually promoted to a courier, and then to a subordinate thief.
Now that he has finally reached the rank of county captain, he doesn't want to be kicked down by Dong Xuan before his butt is warmed up by the county captain.
He took a deep breath, stood up, saluted Dong Xuan, and said: "Within two days, I will definitely give an explanation to County Magistrate Dong!" After saying that, he turned around and walked out, shouting at the same time: "Zhang
Thief Cao!"
The thief Cao Zhang was Zhang Bi's disciple. Hearing his brother's call, he bowed to Dong Xuan, then trotted out of the hall, put on his shoes, and left with Zhang Bi.
As he walked out, Zhang Ben said: "Gather all your bad friends and investigate! Even if Luoyang is turned upside down, you must find out who is spreading rumors!"
Zhang Zheng grinned secretly, Luoyang has a registered population of hundreds of thousands, and the total population in the city is over one million. Finding the source of the rumors is like looking for a needle in a haystack!
Furthermore, what if the people who spread the rumors had left Luoyang long ago? Where would they go to check!
He swallowed his saliva and whispered: "Brother, there is no way to investigate this matter! How about investigating the source? Even if it is the second, third, fourth, or fifth head, we can't find it!"
Zhang Bi stopped, tilted his head, curled his lips, and looked at Zhang Zheng with a sinister look. Seeing that his elder brother was really angry, Zhang Zheng shrank his neck, waved his hands repeatedly, and said: "Okay, okay, I'll check.
I’m going to check, I’m going to check right now!”
The two of them used to be big gangsters in Luoyang. They were the top local gangsters. They had studied for several years and knew a few big names. They were relatively well-off among the gangsters in Luoyang.
Zhang Zheng followed Zhang Bi's wishes and called together some good friends to discuss the matter.
When people heard that they wanted to find out the source of the rumor, they all said that they couldn't find it. How could it be possible to find out the source of such a thing? Who would give their name when spreading such treacherous rumors?
Listening to everyone's words, Zhang Zheng sighed secretly. He also told his eldest brother the same thing, but he didn't listen!
Zhang Bi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "Focus on the people who come from Shu! Especially the businessmen from Shu!"
Everyone's eyes turned to Zhang Bi. Zhang Bi picked up the wine bowl, took a sip of wine, and said: "Such treacherous rumors must have been fabricated by Gongsun Shu, who dared to risk his head to help.
The person who followed Gongsun Shu to spread rumors to Luoyang must be someone from the Gongsun Shu faction! Such people like to use their identity as a businessman as a cover!"
"Brother Ben, what do you mean, we have to investigate all merchants who come from Shu?" A gangster with an open arms and dark chest asked, leaning his head.
Zhang Bi nodded and said: "Focus on investigating Sichuan merchants!"
There are also many Sichuan merchants in Luoyang, especially among the silk and satin merchants, many of whom are from Shu. The bastard scratched his head and muttered: "There are many Sichuan merchants. It is difficult to check!"
Zhang Ben rolled his eyes and said: "There is no need to check all Shu merchants! We should focus on those Shu merchants who seem to have read books."
According to Zhang Bi's estimate, this kind of rumor is most likely spread by educated people. If you don't know a single Chinese character, no one will believe you if you say something like this!
Hearing that Zhang Ben had reduced the scope to such a small area, everyone nodded, patted their chests and said, "Brother Ben, don't worry, I'll leave this matter to my brothers!"
Zhang Bi picked up the wine bowl and said: "Brothers help me do things, and I, Zhang Bi, will never treat my brothers badly. When the work is completed, I, Zhang Bi, will hold a banquet and entertain the brothers with good wine and meat!"
The gangsters present were all happy and said: "Brother Ben is so polite!" As they spoke, people picked up their wine bowls and saluted Zhang Ben, then raised their heads and drank all the wine in the bowl.
On the same day, Zhang Bi spread these gangsters around the city to investigate.
The next day, a gangster came to the county house and asked to see Zhang Bi. Upon hearing this, Zhang Bi immediately left the county house, pulled the gangster aside into a small alley, and asked: "Brother, have you found out anything about him?"
The gangster looked left and right, put down the package he was carrying, and opened it. Inside were thick and thin bamboo slips. He whispered: "Brother Ben, I stole this from a Shu merchant. Brother, too."
If you are illiterate, help your brother to read what is written on these bamboo slips."
Zhang Ben knelt down, picked up a bamboo slip, looked at the title of the book, and wrote three words "Luck Recording Method" on it.
What kind of book is this? I have never heard of it before! Zhang Bi frowned secretly. He looked up at the gangster and asked, "Is this stolen from a Sichuan merchant?"
The gangster also squatted down, nodded heavily, and said, "I think he has a lot more there! I took a roll of each!"
Zhang Bi didn't ask any more questions. He untied the rope, opened the bamboo slips, lowered his head and took a closer look. It didn't matter whether he looked at it or not. After looking at it, he broke into a cold sweat.
This volume of "Lu Yun Fa" is a book of prophecies. There is a sentence in it that says, "Abolish Emperor Chang and establish Gongsun."
He put down the scroll of bamboo slips and picked up another scroll with the title "Deed of Assistance to the Gods". Like the previous volume of "Luck Record", it was also a prophecy book. It said, "Prefect of the West, Yi"
Maojin'.
The prophecy recorded in the "Deed of Aid to the Gods" is relatively obscure, and Zhang Ben thought for a while before he understood its meaning.
The Western Prefect, of course, refers to Gongsun Shu, Yi implies ‘Zha’, and Mao Jin alludes to Liu Xiu. The combination of ‘Western Prefect, Yi Mao Jin’ means Gongsun Shu crushes Liu Xiu.
He swallowed, then picked up a scroll with the words "Kuo Dixiang" written on it. He opened it and found the sentence "Emperor Xuanyuan was ordered to be handed over by Gongsun".
Zhang Bi opened three volumes in a row, and in each volume there was a prophecy mentioning that Gongsun Shu was going to replace Liu Xiu. Zhang Bi squatted there, holding "Kuo Di Xiang" in his hand, and his whole body felt as if his acupuncture points had been tapped.
He was motionless, but big beads of sweat were flowing down his temples.
The gangster looked at Zhang Ben who looked strange in surprise, and asked cautiously: "Brother Ben, I...the books I'm looking for are all wrong?"
Zhang Bi suddenly came to his senses, grabbed the gangster's clothes, and asked urgently: "Where did you steal it from? Tell me, who stole these letters from?"
"It's... it's that Shu merchant! Didn't Brother Ben ask us yesterday to... check out the Shu merchant?" The gangster was so frightened by Zhang Ben's reaction that his face turned pale and he stammered when he spoke.
"Quick! Take me to find him immediately! Wait, wait! You wait here first, I'll go back and call someone!"
Zhang Bi left the gangster behind, turned around and ran out of the alley. After running a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and ran back quickly. He gathered the bamboo slips on the ground together, packed them, then carried the package and ran back to the county in a hurry.
Mansion.
In less than a quarter of an hour, Zhang Ben pulled out dozens of government servants from the county government. All of them were wearing helmets and armor, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. They had a ring-headed sword hanging on their waist and a crossbow machine on their back.
It can be said to be fully armed.
Also coming out with Zhang Bi was Zhang Zheng.
When passing by the alley, Zhang Zheng waved to the gangster who was standing there, called him out, patted him on the shoulder cheerfully, and said: "Brother, you have made a great contribution this time.
Wait for the reward!"
When the gangster heard this, he immediately beamed and jumped on the ground with joy. He said excitedly: "Brother Ben, Brother Zheng, I will take you to find that Sichuan merchant now!"
Zhang Bi didn't say anything, and shook his head at the gangster, who led the way. Zhang Bi, Zhang Zheng and dozens of government officials followed behind and went straight to an inn in Luoyang Dongcheng.
Dong Xuan appointed local local snakes in Luoyang as county captains and thieves, and now the results can be seen. Zhang Bi and Zhang Zheng have good relations with local gangsters in Luoyang. When investigating cases, these gangsters will become their backbone.
When you do something, you will naturally get twice the result with half the effort.
In the eyes of others, it would be extremely difficult to investigate this case within two days, but Zhang Bi actually did it. He rushed to the inn in the east of the city with his servants and caught the Shu businessman.
.
Among its goods, a large number of writings were found, including more than ten volumes of prophecy books such as "Lu Yun Fa", "Yuan Shen Deed", and "Kuo Di Xiang", and each volume has dozens of copies.
.
If these prophecy books were circulated in Luoyang, I don't know how many people would be misled, and I don't know how many people would know how to tell Gongsun about them.