Luoyang, county capital.

In recent days, Dong Xuan has been upset by some rumors in Luoyang, and I don't know when it started, there were rumors among the people that Gongsun Shu was going to Luoyang to be the emperor.

When he first heard these rumors, Dong Xuan didn't take it too seriously, but in recent days, the rumors have become more and more intense, and the people of Luoyang are talking about this matter everywhere.

Today, when Dong Xuan went to the county government, he heard passers-by on the road talking about Gongsun Shu's desire to lead troops to Luoyang to replace His Majesty.

Dong Xuan, who was sitting in the carriage, was furious, he did not have a seizure on the spot, he held back the anger in his stomach, came to the county government, and immediately convened the officials of the county government to discuss the matter.

At that time, the county government was not the county government of later generations, in a yamen, there was a county order, a master, and a few head catchers and officials.

At that time, the county government was a huge and systematic bureaucratic system.

The number one leader of the county government is naturally the county magistrate or county magistrate, and then there are county lieutenants, county officials, and then there are chief bookkeepers, court peng, chief clerk's office (in charge of documents), shaofu (in charge of money), in charge of taxes and taxes in the lower doors, under the door thieves Cao (in charge of public security), under the door of the council Cao (in charge of deliberations), under the door of the officials, county officials, county officials, county history and so on.

The county government is deliberating, and the lobby is also full of people.

When all the subordinate officials arrived, Dong Xuan looked around at everyone present and said in a deep voice: "Now there are rumors in the capital, saying that Gongsun Shu wants to fight from Shu to Luoyang and want to be the son of heaven of the Han Dynasty?" ”

Everyone present looked at each other, lowered their heads one by one, and no one dared to squeak.

They have also heard these rumors, but they are too rebellious for anyone to mention.

Dong Xuan patted the table and said, "I want to know where these rumors came from!" Examine! Check it out for me! Be sure to find the source! ”

Once these rumors reach today's ears, what is the deal?

Don't say that he is unlucky in Luoyang, Luoyang County Government, from top to bottom, one is counted as one, and no one can eat and walk around.

Zhang Ben, the county lieutenant, cleared his throat and said in a low voice: "Dong County Order, the lower officials think that these rumors will be self-defeating and will naturally disperse in a short time...... Before Zhang Ben finished speaking, Dong Xuanmeng slapped the table and made a loud bang.

Everyone present was startled, and Zhang Ben sat upright and swallowed all the unfinished words into his stomach.

Dong Xuan glared at Zhang Ben angrily, and asked word by word: "If the rumors are not self-defeating, but intensify, what should you do?"

When asked about this today, do you go to explain it to today? ”

Zhang Ben lowered his head and said nothing.

Dong Xuan said angrily: "County Lieutenant Zhang, you will personally investigate this matter, I will only give you three days, no, two days!" Within two days, you'll have to find out the results for me! ”

After a pause, he stared at Zhang Ben, and said with a sinking face: "If you can't handle this matter well, you, the county lieutenant, can be regarded as the end." ”

In Luoyang, Dong Xuan is almost a thunderous Tiexian order.

If he has merit, he will not rise, and if he is at fault, he will not go down, anyway, no matter what he does, he has always sat firmly in Luoyang Ling's position.

And the Luoyang lieutenant is different, the replacement of two heads in three days, the current Luoyang county lieutenant has only been in office for less than two months.

When Liu Xiu first set the capital of Luoyang, Zhang Ben was just a local snake in Luoyang, and later he was bent on seeking officials, so he entered the county government as a servant, and then rose to the rank of official little by little, and then rose to the thief Cao under the door little by little.

Now that he has finally reached the county lieutenant, he doesn't want to be kicked down by Dong Xuan before his ass is hot.

He took a deep breath, stood up, bowed to Dong Xuan, and said, "Within two days, the lower officials will definitely give Dong County an explanation!" ”

After speaking, he turned around and walked out, and at the same time shouted: "Zhang Thief Cao! ”

The thief Cao Zhang was Zhang Ben's younger brother, and when he heard the call of his brother, he owed to Dong Xuan, and then trotted out of the lobby, put on his shoes, and left with Zhang Ben.

While walking out, Zhang Ben said: "Gather all your fox friends and dog friends for me and check!" Even if Luoyang is turned upside down, I have to 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 exceeds one million, to find out the source of the rumors, it is simply looking for a needle in a haystack! Besides, what if the people who spread the rumors had already left Luoyang?

Where are they going to check! He swallowed his saliva and whispered, "Big brother, there is no way to investigate this matter!" Also check the source?

We can't even find the second, third, fourth, or fifth! ”

Zhang Ben stopped, tilted his head, pouted, and looked at Zhang Zheng with pity.

Seeing that the eldest brother was really angry, Zhang Zheng shrank his neck, waved his hand again and again, and said, "Okay, okay, I'll check, I'll check, I'll check!" ”

Both of them used to be gangsters in Luoyang, there was a No. 1 local head snake, he had read books for a few years, he knew a few big characters, and he was relatively open among the gangsters in Luoyang.

According to Zhang Ben's intentions, Zhang Zheng gathered some bastards who had a good relationship together to discuss the matter.

When people heard that they wanted to find out the source of the rumors, they said that they could not find out.

How can this kind of thing be traced to the source?

Who would give their name when spreading such a rebellious rumor?

Listening to everyone's words and me, Zhang Zheng sighed secretly, he also said the same thing to the eldest brother, but the eldest brother didn't listen! Zhang Ben, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "Focus on the people who came from Shudi!" Especially the merchants of Shudi! ”

Everyone's eyes looked at Zhang Ben in unison.

Zhang Ben picked up the wine bowl, took a big sip of wine, and said: "This kind of rebellious rumor must have been fabricated by Gongsun Shu, and those who dared to risk losing their heads and helped Gongsun Shu spread the rumors to Luoyang must also be from the Gongsun Shu faction!" This kind of person likes to use the identity of a businessman as a cover the most! ”

"Brother Ben, what do you mean, but all the merchants who come from Shu Land, we have to investigate?"

A bastard with his arms open and his dark chest poked his head out and asked.

Zhang Ben nodded and said, "Focus on Shu merchants!" ”

There are not a few Shu merchants in Luoyang, especially among the silk merchants, many of whom are from Shu.

The bastard scratched his head and muttered, "There are a lot of Shu merchants, it's hard to investigate!" ”

Zhang Ben's eyes rolled and said, "You don't need to check all the Shu merchants!" It is necessary to focus on those Shu merchants who seem to have read books. ”

According to Zhang Ben's estimate, this kind of rumor is spread by cultural people, if you don't know a single big word, no one will believe it! Hearing that Zhang Ben had shrunk the scope to such a small size, everyone nodded in unison, patted their chests and said, "Brother Ben, don't worry, this matter will be handed over to the brothers!" ”

Zhang Ben picked up the wine bowl and said: "Brothers help me do things, I Zhang Ben will never treat my brothers badly, and after the matter is completed, I Zhang Ben will set up a banquet and entertain the brothers with good wine and meat!" ”

The gangsters present were all happy and said, "Brother Ben is too polite! ”

As he spoke, people picked up the wine bowls one after another, saluted Zhang Ben, and then raised their heads one after another and drank all the wine in the bowl.

On the same day, Zhang Ben spread these gangsters and went to all parts of the city to investigate.

The next day, a thug came to the county government and asked to see Zhang Ben.

When Zhang Ben heard this, he immediately went out of the county government, pulled the gangster down in the alley on the side, and asked, "Brother, have you found out your eyebrows?" ”

The thug looked left and right, put down the package he was carrying, opened it, and there were thick and thin bamboo slips inside, and he whispered: "Brother Ben, this is what I stole from a Shu merchant, and my brother is illiterate, you help my brother to see, what is written on these bamboo slips." ”

Zhang Ben squatted down, picked up a bamboo slip casually, looked at the title of the book, and wrote the words "Recording and Transporting Law" on it.

What kind of book is this, I've never heard of it before! Zhang Ben frowned secretly, he looked up at the gangster and asked, "This was stolen from Shu Shang?" ”

The thug also squatted down, nodded heavily, and said, "I think he still has quite a few there!" I took a roll of everything! ”

Zhang Ben didn't ask any more questions, untied the rope, opened the bamboo slip, looked down carefully, it didn't matter if he didn't look at it, after reading it, he was shocked into a cold sweat.

This volume of "Luyun Law" is a book of proverbs, and there is a sentence in it: 'Abolish Emperor Chang and establish Gongsun'.

He put down this bamboo slip and picked up another volume, with the title "Deed of Aiding the Gods" written on it, which, like the previous volume of "Luyun Law", is also a book of proverbs, in which it is written: "Xi Taishou, Yi Mao Jin".

The proverb recorded in this "Deed of Aiding the Gods" is relatively vague, and Zhang Ben thought for a while before he understood the meaning.

Xi Taishou naturally refers to Gongsun Shu, B alludes to 'zha', and Mao Jin alludes to Liu Xiu.

'Xi Taishou, Yi Mao Jin' is connected to Gongsun Shu crushing Liu Xiu.

He swallowed his saliva, picked up a scroll of books, wrote the three words "Elephant of the Ground", opened it, and wrote the sentence "Emperor Xuanyuan was ordered, and Gongsun held it".

Zhang Ben opened three volumes in a row, and in each volume there was a proverb mentioning that Gongsun Shu wanted to replace Liu Xiu.

Zhang Ben squatted there, holding "The Elephant of the Earth" in his hand, and the whole person seemed to be pointed, motionless, but beads of sweat the size of beans flowed down his sideburns.

The thug looked at Zhang Ben, who looked wrong, in surprise, and asked cautiously, "Brother Ben, ...... me Aren't the books I'm looking for? ”

Zhang Ben suddenly came back to his senses, grabbed the gangster's clothes, and asked urgently, "Where did you steal it from?"

Tell me, who stole all these books from? ”

"Yes...... It's that Shu merchant! Brother Ben didn't let us go yesterday...... Go check the Shu merchants? ”

The gangsters were so frightened by Zhang Ben's reaction that their faces turned pale, and they stammered when they spoke.

"Quick! Take me to him now! Wait, wait! You wait here first, I'll go back and call someone!" ”

Zhang Ben left the gangsters, turned around and ran out of the alley.

After running a few steps, he suddenly remembered something, ran back quickly, gathered the bamboo slips on the ground together, packed them, and then ran back to the county government in a hurry with the package.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Zhang Ben pulled out dozens of officials from the county government, all of them wearing armor, holding a spear in one hand, a shield in the other, a ring-headed knife hanging from his waist, and a crossbow machine behind his back, which can be described as fully armed.

came out with Zhang Ben and Zhang Zheng.

When passing by the alley, Zhang Zheng waved his hand to the thug who was standing stupidly inside, called him out, patted him on the shoulder happily, and said, "Brother, you have made a meritorious service this time, you have made a great contribution, wait for the reward!" ”

When the gangster heard this, he immediately smiled, and jumped on the ground with joy.

He said excitedly: "Brother Ben, Brother Zheng, I'll take you to that Shu merchant now!" ”

Zhang Ben didn't say a word, and shook his head at the gangsters, who led the way in front, Zhang Ben and Zhang Zheng followed behind with dozens of officials, and went straight to an inn in Luoyang Dongcheng.

Dong Xuan used the local head snake in Luoyang to be the county lieutenant and thief Cao, and now the effect can be seen, Zhang Ben and Zhang Zheng have a good relationship with the local gangsters in Luoyang, and when investigating the case, these gangsters will become their hidden piles, and when they do things, they will naturally get twice the result with half the effort.

In the eyes of others, it is difficult to find out about this case within two days, but Zhang Ben really did it.

He took the servants and rushed to the inn in the east of the city and arrested the Shu merchant.

Among its goods, a large number of books were found, such as the "Recording and Transporting Law", "Aiding the Divine Deed", "Bracket Elephant" and other proverbial books, there are more than ten volumes, and each volume has dozens of copies.

If these proverbial books are circulated in Luoyang, I don't know how many people will be misled, and I don't know how many people will tell Gongsun in their hearts.