"The county lieutenant, Dou Ran, couldn't bear the torture, so he confessed that his ancestor, the Ruo Ao family, had ruled Anlu for four hundred years and lived for twenty generations. After the Dou family moved eastward with the King of Chu, the Yun family, an old minister who stayed in the area, benefited from it. The Dou family secretly exchanged letters with the Dou family..."
In the evening of the same day, Heifu and Tang Qian returned to the Ying County magistrate's residence and reported the progress of the case to Li You.
Tang Qian reported proudly. Although he had made little progress in tracing the "internal affairs" of Jiangling City, he was able to use the Anlu Li family and the Yun family to communicate with Li You. From the perspective of Nan County, the impact is not big, but he is still a powerful leader in the county!
"For example, Zuo Bing Cao Shi was the pavilion chief in Anlu and solved the case of thieves robbing Ruo Ao's tomb. It was Li Ping, the leader of the Li clan, who informed Dou Ran."
Li You was immediately frightened. This incident almost made Heifu's plan to fake surrender fail, and even made him a prisoner. This Li Ping is really hateful!
Hei Fu didn't want to steal Tang Qian's limelight, so he kept listening silently, but the image of a person emerged in his mind, that is, in the twelfth lunar month of last year, he invited him to his home as a guest, and also asked officials to act as matchmakers, hoping to marry his daughter to Hei Fu. My husband is the head of the Li clan. After his retirement, he became the highly respected third elder in Jinshui Township, Li Ping!
Although the marriage did not come to fruition, Lee was still generally close to Hei Fu because of his confidant Lee Hsien.
"This is an accidental injury to a friendly force."
He regretted a little. He should have thought of it a long time ago. How could Yunman tell Dou Ran about Heifu's heroic deeds? Furthermore, he also heard Li Xian mention that the old people of Li family are still telling about Ruo Ao. Some of his stories are about not forgetting his old master.
However, this emotion soon disappeared, and Dou Ran also confessed some dirty information about Yun Man. This is what Heifu wanted...
Tang Qian said: "As for Yunman, he had some trade relations with the Dou clan. According to Dou Ran, in the years before Qin and Chu started war, there were some merchant ships exchanged between the two sides. The Yun clan secretly followed the Dou clan by virtue of his status as a county lieutenant. I bought some gold and tin from here and there to make a profit, and at the same time sold the famous rhinoceros wood in Yunmengze to the Dou family."
"However, Dou Ran categorically denied whether the two families were internecine and revealed Nanjun's truth..."
After Li You heard this, he looked at Feng Jing aside: "Zi Shi, what crime should these two families deserve?"
Feng Jing responded: "The ancients said that a minister should not have diplomacy and would not dare to challenge the emperor! If a minister does not have the order of the emperor, he is not allowed to receive and interact with foreigners. This is a long-standing rule. Dou Ran is the county magistrate of Chu State. , the title of king of a place is also within this prohibition."
Hei Fu secretly cursed in his heart. In this case, Governor Ye of this county had contacts with foreign countries when he was an official in South Korea. It can be regarded as "forgetting the master's diplomacy in order to promote diplomacy" that Han Fei scolded. I surrender...
However, judging from the international environment of the Warring States Period, letters and trade exchanges between countries were very frequent. If the princes were so strict with their own ministers, people like Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Gongsun Yan, etc. would have no use.
Therefore, all the princes only verbally prohibited it, but Qin State specifically made laws for this, and severely punished anyone who was caught...
Feng Jingdao: "During the reign of the late King Zhao, the 'crime of interfering with princes' was added. If these two families are found guilty of this crime, they should be punished according to law!"
"The crime of communicating with the princes..."
Li You nodded and then remembered: "If I remember correctly, Wang Ji, the governor of Hedong County during the Zhao Dynasty, was executed in this way and abandoned the market in Xianyang!"
Heifu also heard about this. Wang Ji was originally a visitor to the Qin State, that is, a diplomat. He helped Fan Ju, a Wei man who had lost his dog, to enter the Qin Dynasty. He hid him in his carriage and transported him to Xianyang, and then sent him to Xianyang. King Zhao of Qin recommended Fan Ju.
Fan Ju's strategy of making friends with distant people and attacking with close friends won him the favor of King Zhao of Qin. After he became the prime minister of Qin, he did not treat Wang Ji badly as his savior. With his strong recommendation, Wang Ji and another benefactor Zheng Anping were promoted. Wang Ji
He even became the governor of Hedong County and enjoyed the privilege of not reporting to the court on the political and economic conditions in the county for three years.
After the Battle of Changping, the Qin army attacked Handan. Fan Ju thought that Zhao Guogang had just killed 400,000 young men and that Handan had no ability to resist, so he strongly recommended Zheng Anping as his general.
Unexpectedly, the sequelae of Wu Anjun's massacre began to appear. The Zhao people shared the same enemy and were united. Wei Gongzi Wuji also sent troops to help. Not only did Zheng Anping fail to win, but he and more than 20,000 of his men were surrounded by the Zhao and Wei coalition forces in Handan. This greedy and fearful man
The guy led his people to surrender to Zhao State and was named Lord Wuyang.
At this time, Fan Ju was embarrassed, because according to Qin law, if the person being recommended breaks the law and commits treason, the person who recommended him will also be guilty of the same crime!
King Qin Zhao and Fan Ju were considered to be kings and ministers, and he could not bear to kill him. He used the excuse that Zheng Anping had changed his position after being recommended, so Fan Ju did not need to be punished. He also ordered the middle school: "Anyone who dares to speak out about Zheng Anping's actions will be punished."
Sin!" At least he used the privilege of the king to suppress this matter.
Unexpectedly, two years after this incident, Wang Ji was the governor of Hedong County. His subordinates reported that he was having an affair with the princes. After verification, he was sentenced to death.
Wang Ji was actually recommended by Fan Ju to the post of governor of Hedong County, and he was not promoted during this period. This time, in the face of the mountain of laws and orders, King Qin Zhao could not protect Fan Ju, so Fan Ju died because of this matter...
It can be seen that the Qin State punished its ministers for having illicit affairs with foreign countries more severely. However, Nanjun was located on the border, and the officials in the territory had historical connections with the Chu State, so the ties were severed.
If Qin and Chu were at peace, no one would be well-fed enough to support a strict investigation, but now that Qin and Chu have become an enemy country, and the governor was assassinated, it is easy for foreigners to receive and interact with each other, and it is easy to put on the "inner room"
” hat.
As an Anlu native, Heifu also reported in detail: "Yun Man is the Zuowei of Anlu County, in charge of the military. His family is an Anlu County tycoon, with nearly a thousand clansmen, hundreds of servants and guests. Liping is a tycoon from Junshui Township.
, the former three elders also have hundreds of clansmen. If these two people are really the inner circle of Chu State, it is not a trivial matter. If they cause chaos and surrender to the enemy in Anlu, the entire county will be destroyed and will threaten Yunmeng.
The safety of several counties around Ze! We must quickly arrest Yun Man and Li Ping, bring them to the county to confront Dou Ran, and investigate the matter thoroughly!"
"This is a reasonable statement. There is no room for loss in important border areas."
The pressure of a county's defense was on his shoulders, and Li You didn't dare to be careless. A room a hundred feet in size would be burned with a burst of fire. Therefore, in Li You's heart, he would rather kill these people by mistake than let them go! He absolutely couldn't.
Affects preparations for war.
With this in mind, he issued the order.
"The History of Zuo Bing Cao."
"Wei!" Hei Fu came out again.
"I will give you the tiger talisman, and take three hundred county soldiers with you. In the name of inspecting the recruitment situation in the eastern counties, go to Anlu to arrest these two people!"
Li You personally gave the tiger talisman to Hei Fu and held his hand. The chief Zuo's eyes were full of murderous intent: "If it is the Yun family, Li family dares to jump off the beam to resist... It can be regarded as a crime of treason and will be executed with troops."
Of!"
…
After returning to his residence, Heifu called the coachman Sangmu who was squatting outside chatting with the clerk.
Sang Mu was the younger brother of Sophora Mu who died in the Chu Kingdom. Hei Fu saw that he was honest, so he took him out of Jingling County, but he did not regard him as a servant. Hei Fu ate whatever he wanted, and let him enjoy the same food.
He was like a brother. So a few months later, Sang Mu also became his close confidant.
"Feed the horses and put the spare wheels on the carriage. I have official business tomorrow and have to go to another county."
Sang Mu responded and immediately went to the stable to prepare.
Heifu went into the house and found a few slips in the secret compartment behind the bed that his sister-in-law made for him, which were letters sent from Anlu.
It is not a letter from the elder brother or younger brother, but a report that Heifu's subordinates make every half month. They are all written by Li Xian and entrusted by Ji Ying, who is the "director of the post office" in the township.
Sent to...
Li Xian is currently serving as the county's official history officer and is always monitoring Yun Man. At the same time, Ji Ying, Xiao Tao and others who are serving as minor officials in the township are also secretly investigating the Yun family under Li Xian's command.
Although Yun Man was cautious, the forest was big and there were all kinds of birds. There were dozens of Yun family members, and there were many officials working in various places. Although he was frightened by Qin's laws and did not dare to do anything too extreme, he made countless small mistakes.
Little things add up, and a lot of black material has been collected at the moment.
These things are not fatal in normal times. At most, Yun Man will be blamed and a few of his subordinates will lose their official positions, that's all. But when the Yun family is suspected of "corrupting the princes" and throwing them out, they are enough to cause anger.
Adding fuel to the fire brought this family to its complete collapse.
"How can we allow others to snore and sleep on the side of the bed?"
Anlu is Heifu's hometown, and his family and close friends are all there. He can't rest at home unless the Yun family is removed. What's more, Yun Man once had murderous intentions towards him, and this was his late counterattack.
Heifu silently put these slips away again, then found a piece of fine silk, lit a lamp made of animal anointing oil, and under the flickering candlelight, he picked up his pen and began to think.
He was thinking about Li Xian.
Heifu thought of the cloudy day with the first heavy snowfall, and the scene when he first met Li Xian. This literate pavilion soldier looked like a man who was unwilling to accept the status quo. Then he thought of Li Xian's fight to win the title during the Battle of Waihuang.
, he did not hesitate to encourage Hei Fu to kill the old Wei man.
As for when Heifu pretended to surrender, Li Xian, together with Ao, Xiaotao and others in Linyang City, quelled Xu Yang's rebellion in one fell swoop, which Heifu will never forget. Without these powerful subordinates, Heifu would have done something wrong.
A prisoner of the state, maybe he is the Dou Ran retainer who was tortured to death by water torture today...
The strong wind knew the strength of the grass. From then on, Heifu regarded Li Xian as the most capable and worthy of entrusting him with important tasks. By the way, he also had a son named Li Cang. Twenty or thirty years later, he might also be a son.
He is as talented as his father.
Finally, Heifu thought about Li Xian's attitude towards the clan and the patriarch when he went to Li's family for a banquet.
"He quoted what I said, saying that the clan is just the icing on the cake, and that I am the benefactor who provides help in times of need..."
Thinking like this, Heifu made up his mind and wrote quickly. He filled the silk with seal characters. After it dried, he stuffed it into a bamboo tube and sealed it.
At this time, Sang Mu also came in and said that the carriage and horses were ready and they could set off early tomorrow morning.
"The best red horse does not need to be hitched, it is left to you." The red horse "Red Dan" bought in Anlu is already in its prime, not only durable, but also fast. It is Heifu's old comrade-in-arms.
Sang Mu was a little surprised: "Lord, you don't want me to drive this time?"
This honest boy thought he was being rejected by the black man because of his poor driving skills, so he immediately bowed down to apologize.
Heifu pulled him up: "I have something else for you to do..."
He handed the letter to the illiterate Sang Mu and told him: "Tomorrow morning, when the city gate opens at sunrise, you can leave on horseback. If anyone you know sees it, tell them that you have something to do back in Jingling County..."
Sang Mu was very surprised: "Why should I go to Jingling?"
Heifu smiled and said: "It's a lie to go to Jingling, you have to go to Anlu for me!" During Heifu's visit to the county, Sangmu once went to Anlu County for him and got to know his subordinates. A good candidate for messenger.
"You must travel day and night to arrive at Anlu County, and give this letter to Wei Shi Lixian of the county official's office! And tell him something for me..."
Heifu said: "The survival of the clan, and the future of the official career, all depend on a single thought! I hope to see the decisive Li Jun in Linyang City!"