Li Hong sat in the big tent and carefully looked through the latest interrogation records.

Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, Ko Yi and Zuo Yan walked into the big tent while talking and laughing quietly.

Li Hong put down the bamboo slips in his hand, invited the four of them to sit down, and said straight to the point: "Please come, I just want to discuss with you, should this Xiliang anti-corruption matter continue to dig deeper, or should it be stopped?" ”

Koji Yi smiled: "Adults, don't you want to stop in moderation? ”

Li Hong pointed to the document file on the case and said: "In the past few days, we have arrested more than 40 people, counting the officials of various periods in Xiliang, we have arrested one hundred and four people. However, judging from their confessions, the corrupt officials in the prefectures and counties of Xiliang and various periods are far more than these. If we continue to arrest them, it is likely that we will wipe out all the officials in Xiliang. Li Hong paused, looked at the four of them, and continued, "Some counties in Xiliang will soon enter a period of recovery and reconstruction, and the government offices of each county will soon be re-established. At this time, if we arrest all the people, the consequences will be serious, and it will also be a blow to the reconstruction of Xiliang. ”

Li Hong took two steps back and forth with his hands behind his back, and said with a wry smile: "Have you noticed, so far, we have arrested some county orders, and the subordinate officials of various counties and county governments have not caught a single assassin and a taishou." Zuo Chang was killed by the tiger head, so he couldn't be considered arrested. This situation is very unusual. Whether it was Cheng Qiu or others, they seemed to have a tacit understanding, they claimed that they didn't know that Shangguan was corrupt and perverted the law, and they all pushed it off. ”

Li Hong glanced at Zuo Yan and said unceremoniously: "Mr. Zuo is in charge of the inquiry, and there is nothing to gain in this regard, have you not invested enough energy?" ”

Zuo Yan hurriedly stood up and said, "My lord misunderstood. According to the laws of our dynasty, the cases of officials with more than 2,000 stone must be tried by the Imperial Governor's Office, so even if we have evidence of their corruption, we cannot arrest anyone. We can only present this evidence to the Tingweifu, and the Tingweifu will play His Majesty, and after His Majesty agrees, the Tingweifu will notify the local government to arrest the person, and the local government will then send the prisoner to the Tingweifu for interrogation. If we do these things on behalf of the Tingwei Mansion, it is completely against the law and we will be killed. ”

"So you don't ask?" Li Hong asked.

"What we can't handle ourselves, it's useless to ask. To tell the truth, even if we send this evidence to the Tingwei Mansion, Your Majesty will not see it, I heard that the Tingwei Mansion and the traitors are in the same group. Your Excellency ......" Zuo Yan arched his hand and said, "With the authority of the Lord, it makes no sense for us to continue to dig deeper." I think we might as well concentrate and sweep away the little corrupt officials in Xiliang, so that the harvest will be greater, and ......"

"How to deal with the aftermath of Zuochang's matter and Qingwu's matter?" Li Hong waved his hand to interrupt Zuo Yan's words, and said dissatisfiedly, "Although Zuo Chang is a stabbing history with a rank of 600 stones, the right to assassinate the history is very great, and they will be sent to the Tingwei Mansion for trial if they violate the law, but we have already killed him." Although Qingwu is nominally the property of Zhang Rang's younger brother, it is actually Zhang Rang's personal property, and we have confiscated him. Now we can't stop in moderation, and that's not what I mean when I say in moderation. ”

Xian Yu stroked three locks of long beard with his auxiliary hand and asked, "My lord, if we continue to dig deeper, where will we dig?" What do you mean by moderation? ”

"It's pointless for these little people to catch a hundred more. What I'm talking about in moderation is that we don't put our energy and time on these little minions anymore, and start to catch the big ones, catch a thorn history, and be too guarded, which can be worth catching a hundred of these small subordinates. Look at Zuo Chang's family property, he has a history of 600 stones, he has no food, no drink and no 200 million money all his life, where did he get so much property? Li Hong's face was murderous, his big hand waved down hard, and said loudly, "Resist arrest? He didn't resist arrest, but he was also beheaded. ”

Xian Yufu, Xu Rong bowed his head and was silent. Zuo Yan's face was frightened. Koji Yoshiki was a little excited.

"In the future, a limit will be set, and those who embezzle more than this limit will be arrested, otherwise it will be forgotten. We are concentrating on the big officials. Li Hong looked at Zuo Yan and said with a smile, "Mr. Zuo is afraid?" ”

Zuo Yan smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "Yes." Following you is more terrible and life is more difficult than following the Yellow Turban Army. ”

Li Hong laughed, he patted Zuo Yan on the shoulder, and said: "I counted, in the past few decades, there have been more than 100 Taishou serving in various states and counties in Liangzhou, and there are more than 30 assassins, and their longest tenure is more than a year, and the shortest is only two months. So many people ......" Li Hong clenched his fist excitedly and shook it in front of Zuo Yan, "That's a huge fortune." ”

"Okay." Koji yelled loudly, "My lord, dig deep, until you reach the traitor in the court." ”

Xu Rong glanced at the excited Ko Yi and said slowly: "Not only is it a traitor, it is estimated that it will be dug to the door of the door of the three princes and nine qing." My lord, why are you asking for our opinions, and why are you forcing us to join you? ”

Xian Yufu laughed lightly and said to Xu Rong: "This time it can be regarded as a complete death." ”

Li Hong smiled: "I said, we are people in the same boat, and no one can escape." ”

"My lord, if we have evidence, we will arrest it, and we will not submit it to the Tingwei Mansion?" Zuo Yan asked tentatively.

"No." Li Hong said categorically, "If we don't arrest them, we will have no evidence of corruption and perversion of the law by the powerful people in the DPRK and China; Without these evidences, we cannot blackmail the eunuchs and the ministers of the DPRK and China; If we can't blackmail them, how can we live? Do you stretch your neck and wait for them to cut off their heads? ”

"But we don't have any evidence now?" Zuo Yan said, "The petty officials we are catching now are all treacherous people who have been in the officialdom for a long time, and they are all stinky and hard. Although the torture of Lord Tetsu is very powerful, the level of lying of these people is even higher. ”

Li Hong waved his hand casually and said, "Don't waste time, drag them all outside the camp." If you don't want to say it, cut it in half; Lying, beheaded; If you are willing to say it, after explaining everything, you will be beaten with fifty boards. ”

Xian Yufu and the others suddenly changed color on their faces.

＝＝＝

Fu Xie was very unhappy.

After receiving a letter from Taiwei Zhang Wen, he rushed to the Pingxiang camp overnight. He was the first to witness a brutal and bloody scene. He couldn't believe that Li Hong actually ordered his subordinates to raise their swords and behead thirty-seven people in one go. His eyes widened in horror, and he didn't dare say a word.

Thirty-seven very arrogant corrupt officials became bloody in the blink of an eye, and they did not believe that Li Hong would really kill them until they died. Because according to the law of the Han Dynasty, a criminal must be tried by the government before he can be convicted, and those who commit capital crimes must also be reported to the court and the government for approval before they can be beheaded, so they have always thought that they will soon be rescued by the old master and enjoy life again, but Li Hong's butcher's knife shattered their sweet dream.

Li Hong welcomed Fu Xie into the big tent.

Fu Xie angrily questioned Li Hong again and again. Li Hong listened silently and didn't say a word.

"Why do you want to arrest the protégé of the bureaucracy? Don't you know that we have to rely on these bureaucrats to resist the attacks of the traitors? Now that you have offended both the eunuchs and the clan, if they join forces, you will die immediately without a place to be buried, you know? If we offend the Shi clan, we have actually lost the support of the Taiwei and the support of the bureaucrats in the DPRK and China, and without their support, how can we investigate this Xiliang corruption and perversion of the law? ”

Li Hong smiled and said: "My lord, since my subordinates killed Zuochang's entire family in Chang'an and bloodbathed Qingwu in Maoling, I have no way out. You don't think that if you are castrated, these bureaucrats can still make me a general, right? ”

Fu Xie's expression changed.

"They're going to kill me." Li Hong said calmly, "I have killed too many people, who can tolerate me?" ”

"So you're going to break the kettle and put it to death and come back to life?"

Li Hong smiled: "Am I doing something wrong? ”

Fu Xie sighed, shook his head and said, "If I knew this, I wouldn't help you." I didn't mean to harm you, I just wanted to use your power to kill a few corrupt officials in Xiliang, do something good for the people of Xiliang, and avenge a few dead friends. I didn't expect things to turn out like this, to get so complicated. People......

Li Hong waved his hand at him and said with a smile: "The adults think too much. I'm saving myself, and it doesn't have much to do with you. Now that there is no movement in the imperial court, and there is no holy decree from Your Majesty, I still have time to find evidence of the corruption of the powerful people in the court. ”

Fu Xie laughed miserably.

"What, you're still dreaming about it? Forget it. ”

Li Hong ignored Fu Xie's frustration and asked, "Can you provide some evidence of corruption by the successive Taishou of Xiliangzhou County?" ”

Fu Xie looked at him vigilantly and asked, "What do you want to do?" I've told you everything I know. ”

Li Hong smiled: "Since you have started, let's do it to the end, what are you afraid of?" You give me proof. ”

Fu Xie shook his hand vigorously and said angrily: "I'll give it to you." ”

"Bian Zhang has it in his hand?" Li Hong then asked.

Fu Xie squinted at him and asked in surprise, "You won't go to Lao Bian, will you?" ”

"Tell me one more." Li Hong suddenly stood up and yelled vigorously, "I want time, I want to grab time......"

Fu Xie looked at him coldly, for a long time, and spit out two words, "Meng Tuo." ”

＝＝＝

Li Hong suddenly received an edict from the Son of Heaven, which made him excited and made him cry.

In the autumn of the previous year, when he returned to the Great Han Kingdom after a bloody slaughter, he only thought that he was a Han man, that he wanted to defend his country, that he wanted to find his parents, and that he wanted to return to his homeland. He never thought that he could still be an official, and he could still lead a group of brothers of life and death to fight on the battlefield, he could still receive the holy decree of the imperial court, he could still get the favor of today's son, and he could still see the edict sent by the Son of Heaven with an eight-hundred-mile fast horse. Li Hong held the edict written by the Son of Heaven in yellow silk in both hands, and only felt that his blood was boiling, and he hated to dedicate his life to the Son of Heaven immediately.

The Son of Heaven made it very clear in the edict that Li Hong was solely responsible for the corruption of Xiliang, as long as the evidence was conclusive, he could be cut first and then played, no matter who was involved, as long as he was not a relative of the emperor, he would be arrested and would not be tolerated. All the money and property that has been copied shall be collected from the state treasury and shall not be diverted for any other purpose. The official document will be immediately sent to the Taiwei Mansion.

＝＝＝

Li Hongfei generally rushed into Zhou Shen's military tent. He couldn't control his emotions excitedly, his hands danced, his eyebrows fluttered, and he told Zhou Shen the great news. But Zhou Shen's expression made him a little unacceptable.

Zhou Shen didn't smile at all, he wanted to look at Li Hong like a dead man, and he didn't say a word from beginning to end.

"General......" Li Hong snorted and asked carefully, "General, aren't you happy?" ”

Zhou Shen slowly closed his eyes and sighed.

"General......

Li Hong saw Zhou Shen's expression and knew that something was wrong, and the joy in his heart suddenly vanished. He sat beside Zhou Shen in frustration, very dazed.

He didn't know why Xiliang's affairs were so complicated, this world seemed to be very far away from him, he was like a child who had just set foot in the world, he didn't understand anything, he didn't understand anything, he felt for a while that he should completely lose his memory, instead of recovering a part, and suffer the pain and suffering of this world. He killed from Xianbei to Lu Longsai, from Youzhou to Jizhou, from Jizhou to Liangzhou, he never felt helpless and weak as at this moment.

Zhou Shen breathed evenly and long as if he was asleep.

Li Hong sat indifferently, like a sculpture.

＝＝＝

The sound of hurried horses' hooves suddenly rushed into Li Hong's ears.

Li Hong woke up in shock and stood up suddenly.

Zhao Yun flew in from his horse almost in a volley, and the rolled up curtain rose into the air, making a low sound of breaking the air.

Li Hong felt a burst of suffocation, extremely depressed suffocation.

"We have just taken Meng Tuo's dock fort, and Ma Teng's cavalry suddenly appeared and killed us by surprise, and the army of the tiger head suffered heavy casualties."

Li Hong's blood surged, anger suddenly gushed out, he punched out in the air, and shouted: "Kill!" ”

Zhao Yunwei bowed, rushed out of the military tent, and Pegasus left.

The passionate sound of bull horns and the majestic sound of war drums resounded throughout the camp in an instant.

Li Hong glanced at Zhou Shen, who woke up, and Shi Li retreated.

"People's ......"

Li Hong stopped and turned to look.

"People, if there is no edict from the Son of Heaven, the matter of Xiliang is at best a struggle for power between the various factions in the DPRK and China, and you still have a place to maneuver. But with this edict, the matter of Xiliang is the struggle for the right of His Majesty to weaken the forces of the various factions in the DPRK and China to regain control of the dynasty, and you are the enemy of the enemy, and there is no life. ”

Li Hong suddenly understood.

He smiled proudly, waved his hand and said: "I am a citizen of the Han Dynasty, I should be loyal to the Han Dynasty and His Majesty, it is not a pity to die, and there is no regret in death." ”

"Kill ......"

Li Hong roared, turned around suddenly, and strode away.

＝＝＝

Zhongchang served Song Dian, and Zhi Jinwu (Zhi Jinwu led the Northern Army of the Beijing Division, and was in charge of the Beijing Division to patrol and guard) Zhen Ju, accompanied by Jingzhao Yin Gaixun, jointly arrived in Yongxian County.

Not long ago, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong proposed to the emperor to send Song Dian to Xiliang to supervise Li Zhonglang's anti-corruption actions, so as not to be framed by others. The Son of Heaven agreed.

The ministers led by Situ Cuilie immediately went-for-tat and recommended the executive Jinwu to be promoted to the court. The ministers' reasons are very good, a large part of Xiliang's officials are traitorous protégés, and it is unfair to let Song Dian be the prison soldier alone. The Son of Heaven immediately played the quasi-play.

Song Dian yesterday received a message sent by Zhang Rang, saying that he already knew that Li Zhonglang had sent people to arrest and arrest many protégés of the bureaucrats of the Shi clan who were officials in Xiliang. Zhang Rang told Song Dian that he must investigate this matter clearly to see if Zhang Wen was scared, made a bitter trick, shirked responsibility, and deliberately blamed Li Zhonglang. But if this incident is indeed Li Zhonglang's personal doing, Zhang Rang thinks that there are only two possibilities, one is that Li Zhonglang is crazy. Zhang Wen originally wanted to take advantage of him, but was hit by this madman. Zhang Wen stole chickens instead of eating a handful of rice, and moved stones to hit his own feet. The second is that Li Zhonglang may have followed His Majesty's secret order and deliberately used the matter of Xiliang to rectify them.

Zhang Rang told Song Dian in his letter that His Majesty had been very abnormal recently. He and Zhao Zhong and others advised His Majesty several times in person to be careful of the Qingliu Party making a comeback, and to attack Zhang Wen as soon as possible, but His Majesty didn't want to hear it, so he turned a deaf ear, and he didn't mention the word Xiliang at all, and His Majesty looked at them like a thief, with a look of disdain. Therefore, Zhang Rang suspected that His Majesty was using Li Hong to deal with the various factions in the court. Now that the various factions in the DPRK and China not only do not listen to His Majesty's words, but also do not give him face more and more, His Majesty may be angry.

Because things have changed in Xiliang, Zhang Rang asked Song Dian to first find out the reason for Li Zhonglang's great anti-corruption in Xiliang, and other things, including keeping Cheng Qiu out of the country and finding evidence of corruption among the children of the bureaucrats of the clan, should not be done for the time being.

After Zhang Wen and the three of them exchanged pleasantries, they immediately accepted the order.

The Son of Heaven first praised the soldiers of Xiliang, and then ordered Zhang Wen to immediately find a way to appease the rebels, completely pacify Xiliang, and return to the court as soon as possible. Because General Zhou Shen was seriously injured, he was specially allowed to return to Beijing to recuperate.

Zhang Wen received the holy decree. Song Dian was warmly received by the mulberry sheep and sat down in the hall first. Zhang Wen, Zhen Ju and Gai Xun walked behind, chatting quietly.

Zhang Wen inquired about the grain and grass and military resources.

"Your Majesty said that the officials of Xiliang are corrupt and corrupt, and their homes are full of money and they are very rich. If the army has no money, ask Li Zhonglang to take the army to raid their homes. Counting on the treasury to allocate money, don't think. Zhen Ju smiled, "So, Lord Taiwei, you still ask Li Zhonglang to find a way to solve it." ”

Zhen Ju is a native of Jizhou, born in a family, and his family is one of the most wealthy families in Jizhou, very rich. This Zhijin Wu was sold to him by the Son of Heaven when he donated 10 million yuan to Wanjintang in the West Garden. He was in his forties, of medium build, and of ordinary appearance, even a little ugly.

Zhang Wen smiled bitterly and said, "The army's expenses are huge, and that little money is a drop in the bucket." ”

"Li Zhonglang's army has to copy several houses a day in Chang'an, how can there be no money? Did he fill his pocket? Zhen Ju said.

"Now Li Zhonglang is crazy to arrest people, he arrests everyone, even my protégé he dares to arrest. In the past few days, several clan heads in Guanzhong have come to me to complain and plead, hoping that I can save their people. Gai Xun said angrily, "What does this person mean? The eunuchs are also arrested, and our people are also arrested, which side does he help? ”

Zhang Wen's thick eyebrows tightened and shook his head. He now regrets very much that he recommended Li Hong to take full charge of Xiliang's anti-corruption operation, so much so that now he is very passive. Li Hong's counterattack caught him off guard, he felt that he had been deceived by Li Hong, and he gradually felt that he could neither control Li Hong nor the situation in Xiliang, the crisis in Xiliang was getting bigger and bigger, and the consequences were becoming more and more unpredictable.

Sun Jian suddenly walked out of the side door. After Zhou Shen led his troops back to the Pingxiang camp, he returned to the Taiwei Mansion.

"My lord, Liangzhou Assassin Shi Geng came to write, Li Zhonglang copied the dock fort of the former Liangzhou Assassin Shi Meng Tuo, and hit Ma Teng's cavalry army hard, and now he is facing off against General Dong's army in Luoyang."