"There are only two choices before Hou Xu, one is to stay in Luoyang, the other is to run away far away. If it is the latter, then Mr. Zhang can sit back and relax, because it means that Hou Xu will never come back again.
Unless those people are so powerful that they can find people who just want to hide."
Chen Mu slowly studied the ink, then held a hairpin pen and practiced calligraphy on a piece of Caihou paper. It must be said that Hongdu School is really luxurious enough. Students who practice calligraphy on weekdays can get paper, and even some
Students steal paper and sell it.
However, although Caihou paper is good, it is actually much worse than modern paper. Wait a few years, when Zuo Bo of Qingzhou invented Zuo Bo paper, and that will be the beginning of the great era of calligraphy in the Jin Dynasty.
Wang Jun sat next to him and watched him copying the great scholar Cai Yong's "Seal Script" on the paper stroke by stroke. He was learning Cai Yong's own Feibai style. He chuckled and said: "Cai Yilang's talent is
It's great, but it's a pity that he's not very good at being a good person. Wang Zhi also kindly saw him off, but he made the guests and hosts unhappy, and he is still exiled."
"His knowledge is good, but his personality is a bit too upright."
Chen Mu responded casually.
Zhang He said sadly from the side: "Don't worry about Cai Yong for now. I want to ask Chen Sima, what's the explanation if Hou Xu didn't leave Luoyang?"
Chen Mu stopped writing, thought for a while, and said: "The fact that he didn't leave means that he has a purpose. What purpose can a person from the Yellow Turban Dao have? To bring down Mr. Zhang? Or does he want to throw himself into a trap? So he has only one purpose.
, that is money, or making a deal with others to pardon his death penalty."
For the Yellow Turban Army, the things in Hou Xu's hands were of no use. Because of Tang Zhou's informant, Taiping Dao had to revolt in a hurry. The originally prepared internal spy plan was ruined, and they could not blackmail Zhang Rang.
What.
Moreover, now that the momentum of the Yellow Turban Uprising has been beaten to the point of collapse, Zhang Jiao probably has no intention of using these things to make a fuss anymore.
So from the perspective of the Yellow Turban Army, these things in Hou Xu's hands are actually just a pile of waste paper.
But for Zhang Rang and the family members who may exist behind the scenes, these things are the best weapons to bring down Zhang Rang.
If Hou Xu escapes from Luoyang, it means that he has no intention of keeping these things. Then Zhang Rang will not get it, and those behind the scenes will not get it either.
As long as there were no political enemies to attack, Zhang Rang could naturally sit back and relax, find a fake Hou Xu to fool Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and the matter would be over.
If Hou Xu is still staying in Luoyang, it means that he has other demands.
The Yellow Turban Uprising has now been suppressed to a large extent. As a rebel group that is about to fail, if Hou Xu still wants to stay in Luoyang and serve as an internal response, it is simply because there is something wrong with his head.
So since he is here, his purpose is naturally to get away with a large amount of money, or to pardon himself for the capital crime of rebellion.
Regardless of any of them, it was impossible for him to contact Zhang Rang.
After all, compared to the other group of people, Zhang Rang may want both people and things, but his life may also be in his hands.
"It is impossible to pardon the death penalty. Even Duke Zhang and Duke Zhao cannot help him on the charge of rebellion."
"It's just for money."
"What if he has money himself and hides it in the mountains and forests?"
Zhang He asked again.
Chen Mu asked back: "What do you think would happen if a person went out with a large amount of gold and silver jewelry in troubled times?"
While Zhang He was still thinking, Wang Jun answered for him: "I will die."
"Yes, he will die miserably. So Hou Xu needs a force. No matter what force it is, even if it is just dozens of guards, it can guarantee his life safety."
"So where will Hou Xu go to find this force?" Zhang He asked.
"Good question."
Chen Mu's pen tip continued to dance on the paper, but the thinking in his mind never stopped, and he said: "I heard that Sili's Yellow Turban force only had more than a thousand people implicated?"
Wang Jun's brain was much more flexible than Zhang He's, and he quickly realized what he was saying: "The Yellow Turbans in other states are making such a big fuss, and Sili's Yellow Turbans can't just be making a small fuss, so there are still many Yellow Turban believers that we haven't found yet.
"
"Yes." Chen Mu said with a smile: "Do you believe that among the hundreds of thousands of refugees outside Luoyang City, a Yellow Turban army of tens of thousands can be gathered in an instant?"
"I see."
Wang Jun said excitedly: "After Hou Xu was kicked out by Zhang Gong, he either left or stayed. If he left, it meant that he was hiding alone, and he couldn't bring a lot of gold and silver, and he certainly wouldn't bring it with him.
Those gift lists must have been destroyed by him. If he stayed, he would have no choice but to find the Yellow Turban followers of Sili."
"Yes."
Chen Mu looked like a child who could be taught.
As a modern person who has experienced life in the Han Dynasty, he is well aware of the inconveniences of this era.
When you go out, you either walk or use transportation.
There are ships in the south and horses in the north. If Hou Xu wants to leave Luoyang, he has to take a carriage or ride a horse by himself. There is no problem in bringing some property and personal belongings with him.
But the question is what era is it now?
Scholars in the Han Dynasty who wanted to study abroad had to bring swords, practice martial arts diligently, and invite a few friends before they dared to travel far.
This is still a peaceful time.
In times of war, if a person goes out alone and takes a large amount of money with him, it is undoubtedly no different from giving away his head.
Bandits, road bullies, defeated soldiers and mobs, any of them are enough to kill people.
Therefore, if Hou Xu brought money with him after leaving Zhang Rang's house and planned to leave Luoyang, he could only bring a small amount of gold and silver that could be hidden, and travel day and night to avoid possible dangers in order to ensure his safety.
of safety.
If family members are with you, it will be even more troublesome. If a family walks in the wilderness, they may encounter jackals, tigers, leopards, bandits and road tyrants, which will bring danger to the family. If you follow the refugees, the refugees will also turn into thugs.
They robbed his property and food, insulted his wife, and even started cannibalism in many states, making it difficult to protect his life.
Therefore, the best way is to find some people to accompany you to ensure your safety. For example, the Yellow Turban believers who were originally planning to revolt in Sili were not caught and executed.
But going out alone and going out with a group of people are two different things. Hou Xu's own money alone would definitely not be enough to eat, drink and have sex along the way, nor would it be enough to rely on those Yellow Turban believers who were so poor that they had to revolt against the imperial court.
Therefore, Hou Xu needed a large sum of money for travel expenses and settlement expenses.
This is a bit like in the Young and Dangerous movies of later generations, where a member of a certain society committed a big crime and needed a lot of money to run away to other places.
So where does the money come from?
Of course, we have to think about the gift orders on hand that hold evidence of Zhang Rang's affair with Zhang Jiao.
So this is why Chen Mu went to Wei County to take a look and immediately said he wanted to go back to Luoyang.
Because he guessed that Hou Xu had probably not left yet, and even if he left, he would not leave Sili.
The three of them waited quietly in the room.
About half an hour later, Zhang Feng came back, holding a large stack of bamboo slips in his hand.
Zhang Feng was sweating profusely and said loudly when he came in: "But I am exhausted. These lists are not things that need to be recorded. I have to search and inquire one by one. I have been busy for half a day, but I only found this part."
"Which part?"
Chen Mu asked.
"I asked a few of the ministers and Xiaohuangmen who were on duty for the list of entrances and exits of the Shangshutai. Every name, official position, etc. was written down. I am afraid there are hundreds of people. Some of them were amnesty for party members.
The emperor just issued an order for the list. The actual list had to be obtained from various departments. I searched and visited them one by one, but I could only ask hundreds of people. It was too difficult to find."
Zhang Feng threw the bamboo slips weighing several kilograms on the table and shook his head.
The emperor said lightly that the ban on the party was over, and he granted amnesty to the party members all over the world. The imprisonment of the party members was considered to be lifted.
Zhang Feng had to break his legs and ask people everywhere.
Because there were thousands of party members in the early years of Emperor Guangling. In the fifth year of Xiping, that is, the last disaster of party imprisonment caused by Cao Luan's letter eight years ago, tens of thousands of relatives and descendants of party members were involved.
Including the people involved in the past, several disasters caused by party imprisonment have affected at least tens of thousands of people.
If these people are direct relatives, they will be hunted down. If they are collateral relatives, they will be imprisoned and not allowed to be officials or go to other places.
Therefore, except for the immediate family members of party members, the imperial court will not spend this effort to search all involved lists.
After all, collateral relatives are only not allowed to be officials. To become an official, you need to check the status of your relatives within five generations of your ancestors. Once found, it is impossible to become an official, and there is no need to keep a list. Therefore, this group of collateral relatives is the most difficult to check.
Zhang Feng has been busy all day. No one knows where these people are or what they are doing now except the parties involved.
"Then let's start with this batch."
Chen Mu took the bamboo slips, pushed the directory belonging to the Shangshu Desk in front of Wang Jun, and said, "You can take a look at these."
Wang Jun was confused: "What's the use of all this?"
"I'm not familiar with anyone in the palace. Only you are. I don't know any of these people. How can I find them?"
Chen Mu shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
Wang Jun was dumbfounded and said, "Then you should tell me who I'm looking for."
Chen Mu thought for a while and said: "Look for those people who should not be present at the Chancellor's desk at this time. Forget about those who sent official documents, it should have nothing to do with them."
Wang Jun was puzzled and asked: "What are you talking about? Can't you just tell me straightforwardly?"
"Let me ask you, how do we usually go to Datian to listen to the documents from the various states and counties in the Han Dynasty?" Chen Mu asked.
Wang Jun said without hesitation: "Of course it will be sent to Luoyang by the memorials from various states and counties, and submitted to the Shangshutai, where they will be sorted out and presented to the emperor for reading."
"If Wang Yun's memorial is seen by Duke Zhang, do you think it will reach the emperor?"
Chen Mu asked back.
Now Wang Jun stopped talking, but Zhang He said: "Rang Gong will definitely intercept the memorial and put Wang Yun in prison."
Zhang Feng, who was on the side, asked without thinking, "In this case, Wang Jun, why did you persuade my father to take the initiative to submit the memorial?"
Not to mention Wang Jun and Chen Mu, even Zhang He looked at him like an idiot and said: "Once Wang Yun is imprisoned, all the officials will make a fuss, and various impeachment memorials will be reported. Once the emperor knows about it, he will feel that
The public wanted to cover up the situation, but instead took the position to let the public and private affairs spread out. How could this kind of thing be covered up?"
Chen Mu nodded: "So someone has to go to the Chancery to ensure that the memorial will not be intercepted by Zhang Gong. If my guess is correct, Brother Wang just left the Chancery and their people went in."
"That's not right. Since intercepting the memorial suits those people's wishes, why should we ensure that the memorial is not intercepted? It's not in line with normal principles."
Wang Jun figured it out. He didn't quite understand. Since Zhang Rang's interception of Wang Yun's memorial would deepen the emperor's suspicion, why would he send someone to ensure that the memorial was delivered to the emperor instead of ensuring that the memorial was delivered to Zhang Rang?
It's so illogical for people to intercept you.
There was a hint of indifference in Chen Mu's eyes, and he spoke slowly: "Because the officials are officials, and the people behind them are the people behind them. The officials want Mr. Zhang dead, but those people behind them just want to threaten Zhang."
It’s just a public handle.”
In the past, Party members and officials did not have separate families because they were all scholars. Now they have separated families because Party members were persecuted, but officials have become aristocratic families one by one.
Before, Chen Mu thought that the two of them were together, until he discovered in Wei County that there were only party members and no officials.
After all, if all this is led by officials, then the people searching for Hou Xu in Wei County must be people from the government, not a group of unknown people with Yingchuan accents.
And from beginning to end, the officials did not take any action after Wang Yun's report. Even if they followed the people who impeached Zhang Rang, Chen Mu suspected that they were another group of people.
This shows that the intelligence and resources between the two are not shared, and their purposes are completely different.
All the unusual things showed that what Chen Mu was facing was not one force, but three groups divided into light, dark and hidden Hou Xu.
I just don’t know if the officials in the court know that they have become pawns. If they don’t know, it would be too boring.