Chapter Twenty-Eight: Killing is Invisible

Last year, there was a great drought in Qi County, and the hungry people were everywhere, coupled with the imperial court's levy of 600,000 people to transport grain to Liaodong, which made the people's grievances boiling. The county government was smashed, the official warehouse was robbed, although Zhang Xutuo made an example of a hundred and deterred the hungry people from grabbing food, but Zhang Xutuo also knew that the people of Qi County had been forced to a desperate situation, and if they were not given a way to live, more than 100,000 people would have to go up the mountain to become bandits. (，)

Therefore, Zhang Xutuo disregarded the opposition of the officials, and resolutely decided to open a warehouse for disaster relief without authorization, so that the hungry people who were about to break out in full swing got a ray of life, and the angry public grievances gradually subsided.

Yang Yuanqing's inspection this time is actually a general liquidation of last year's opening of a warehouse for disaster relief, if there is no such thing as corruption and illegality, then this matter will be over.

As for why Chaqi County was Chaqi County first, the common understanding is that Qi County was the first to open a warehouse for disaster relief, so the first stop was naturally Chaqi County.

After Yang Yuanqing introduced the situation, Zhang Xutuo said calmly: "All the account books for disaster relief are complete and clear, I, Zhang Xutuo, have no selfish greed for a bucket of food, Yuanqing, although you have an iron face and selfless investigation, even if other problems are found, I will accept the punishment calmly." ”

It was supposed to be a good reception, Zhang Xutuo's attitude became serious, and the brisk atmosphere disappeared, everyone was silent, and even Luo Shixin didn't dare to say anything.

Yang Zhiji saw that the scene was cold, and hurriedly laughed dryly and said: "Don't talk about business at the banquet, let's continue to talk about peach wine, Brother Yang, I don't know which one you think is better than Dali peach wine and Gaochang peach wine?" ”

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After drinking the wine, in the county office, Yang Yuanqing and Zhang Xutuo were alone, Yang Yuanqing was open and fair: "Before I left, the saint specially drew two lines for me, the upper limit is 500 stone grain, all officials who are found to be greedy for food more than 500 stone, will be impeached and beheaded, and less than 500 stone but more than 100 stone, to make a list to the saint, if it is less than 100 stone, you can let go, but in fact, we are also based on auditing, as long as the accounts are clear, the procedures are complete, basically you can let go, Therefore, even if Master has a minor problem, I will not pursue it, so please rest assured, Master. ，”

Zhang Xutuo's face sank and said: "I have already said it just now, I am clean and innocent, do you still have doubts about what I said?" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled bitterly and said: "In the eyes of the imperial history, there is no word 'innocent', if you can't find out the problem, it is the incompetence of the imperial history, and the saint will not accept such an investigation report, and you are my master, I say that you are innocent, then someone will definitely come to investigate, if it is an upright imperial history, maybe he can report it truthfully, but if it is an imperial history who is good at catering to the holy will, even if the master has no problem, he will create a problem, then the problem will be serious, does the master understand what I mean?" ”

Zhang Xutuo said coldly: "You mean to let me find some problems for you, right!" ”

Zhang Xutuo's tone was very cold, and there was also a hint of disappointment, he felt that his apprentice had changed a little and became full of power, just like an old fritter who had been immersed in officialdom for decades, and he no longer had the integrity and strength he had when he was a teenager.

Zhang Xutuo stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, staring at the sky in the distance, and when he was half-loud, he asked, "If the second imperial history concocts a false certificate against me, will it affect you?" ”

Yang Yuanqing can feel a trace of dissatisfaction with himself in Zhang Xutuo's heart, and he also knows why this dissatisfaction is? But Yang Yuanqing was also very helpless in his heart, the officialdom was killing and lurking, and if he was not careful, he would die at the hands of political enemies.

In fact, Yang Guang and he only talked specifically about the boundaries of investigating and handling the case, at least who to investigate first, and who to investigate later, Yang Guang did not say, but the holy decree said to check Qi County first, and the holy decree was drafted by Yu Shiji, he suspected that this was a deliberate arrangement by Yu Shiji, in order to put the investigation of Qi County in the first place, so that Yang Guang would think of his relationship with Zhang Xutuo.

Then Yu Shiji can use the topic to play, and then send Yushi to use his own trick to deal with Zhang Xutuo, and finally find out Zhang Xutuo's big crime, and finally he impeached himself for the crime of covering up, Yang Yuanqing has been fighting in the officialdom for many years, and he can already sensitively detect this kind of killing people in the invisible means. ()

But Yang Yuanqing also knows his master very well, if he says that he will also be implicated, he will inevitably do something against his will, and then he will be haunted for the rest of his life.

Yang Yuanqing was silent for a while before he said, "I'm afraid that my master will suffer a big crime." ”

Zhang Xutuo sneered, "If it's for this, then it doesn't matter, let them investigate, if they make something out of nothing and plant me hard, then I will fight against the saint, if the saint listens to the slander and must kill me, then I can only accept my fate, in a word, I would rather die than admit that I embezzled official food and scraped the people's fat and people's ointment." ”

Yang Yuanqing sighed secretly in his heart, if the master was really innocently killed, then the last pillar of the Great Sui would be gone, and he felt that he could no longer talk to Zhang Xutuo, so he changed the topic and smiled: "Let's talk about the anti-thief!" Didn't Master say that he was going to get rid of Wang Bo and Meng Rang before the summer harvest? Is there a solution? ”

Speaking of rehabilitating the thief, Zhang Xutuo immediately had the spirit, and he also smiled: "Of course I have a plan, it can be said that I caught Wang Bo and Meng Rang's cover door, their food can no longer last, tonight, I will lead the army to sweep Changbai Mountain." ”

That night, Zhang Xutuo left 500 people to defend the city, and he personally led 4,000 county soldiers to Changbai Mountain to suppress bandits.

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Changbai Mountain is located at the junction of four counties, the main mountain beam is in the territory of Zhangqiu, the mountain is steep, the mountains are stacked on top of each other, stretching for hundreds of miles, known as the "Taishan Vice-Yue", because the top of the mountain often has white clouds and is named, because the mountain is high and dense, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, can hide millions of soldiers, so Zhang Xutuo led the troops to encircle and suppress Wang Bo several times without success.

After more than a year of development, Wang Bo's army has reached more than 34,000 people, although in Zhu'a County horse robbery was defeated, more than 4,000 people were wiped out, but Wang Bo still has nearly 30,000 troops.

In addition to Wang Bo in Changbai Mountain, there are more than a dozen small mountain bandits, that is, dozens of people and more than 100 people, they have been in Changbai Mountain before Wang Bo, they are veritable mountain bandits, but the harm is not great, at most robbing past merchants, or harassing villages and towns near Changbai Mountain.

But at the beginning of this year, there was a strong anti-thief in Changbai Mountain, nearly 10,000 people, the thief leader was called Meng Rang, is a general with both civil and military skills, he was originally Zhang Xutuo's subordinate, as the chief bookkeeper, because of resentment Yang Guang's expedition to Goryeo and resolutely rebelled, he played the slogan, rather die at home, not to die in Liaodong, but also attracted a large number of strong men and brave men who evaded military service, so that his strength grew rapidly, and became the second mountain god of Changbai Mountain.

Wang Bo and Meng Rang were originally two independent armies, but Wang Bo immediately came to visit Meng Rang after the defeat of Zhu'a County, after some hard persuasion, Meng Rang finally agreed to Wang Bo's request, the two armies merged, Wang Bo called himself the hussar general, Meng Rang was called the champion general, and the two commanded an army of 40,000 people.

The merger of the two armies was also a last resort, both sides faced a serious food problem, to feed more than 40,000 people, a large amount of food was needed every day, and the squires of Qi County almost all fled into the city, the countryside was desolate, the summer grain was not planted, and they had nowhere to plunder.

After joining forces and growing in strength, they began to consider plundering the county seat, and only by plundering the county town could they gain something and feed their 40,000 men.

However, when considering the specific plan, the two had a disagreement, Wang Bo advocated starting with a small county town with weak troops, and returning to the mountain after plundering it, while Meng Rang wanted to occupy the big city, divide one side, repair internal affairs, increase strength, and confront the Sui Dynasty.

The two discussed for two days without results, early this morning, Meng Rang hurriedly walked to the hall, Meng Rang was about thirty-five or sixteen years old, ten years younger than Wang Bo, tall and burly, he was born in a family of eunuchs, his father was the plain Taishou of the Northern Qi Dynasty, after the fall of the Northern Qi Dynasty, he lived in seclusion at home, teaching his son to read and practice martial arts.

At the age of twenty, Meng Rang grew up, went out to travel the world, and was introduced to the county of Qi, which was done for ten years, although he was a small official, but he had the world in mind, this time the Sui Emperor invaded Goryeo, which led to the swarm of thieves in Shandong, Meng Rang thought that the opportunity had come, and resolutely raised troops to rebel.

As the local government opened warehouses for disaster relief, the people's rebellion was greatly reduced, and Meng Rang realized that he had not mastered the timing well and raised troops too early, but now he had no choice but to temporarily follow the more prestigious Wang Bo and wait for the opportunity.

"Big brother, what are you looking for me so early?" Meng Rang walked into the lobby and smiled.

Their soldiers' barracks were all made of straw huts, and the only brick and stone building was a mountain temple, which had been cleared out of the mud tires and the main hall became their meeting hall.

Wang Bo sighed, "Brother Xian, there are two things to tell you, the first thing is that our food is only enough to support us for two days. ”

Meng Rang was stunned, "Don't we still have wheat fields at the foot of the mountain?" ”

Wang Bo smiled bitterly and said: "This is the second thing I want to tell you, Zhang Xutuo led the main force to encircle and suppress us, and they saw that the wheat that was about to ripen was taken away by them. ”

"What!"

Meng Rang clenched his fists, his eyes breathed fire with hatred, the hundreds of acres of wheat fields at the foot of the mountain were planted by them with hard work, and they were about to mature, but they were destroyed by Zhang Xutuo.

"Doesn't the eldest brother have spies in Licheng County? How did you not get the news beforehand? ”

"Zhang Xutuo went out of the city overnight, and it was too late for the spies to get the news."

Wang Bo slowly gritted his teeth and said: "There are only 4,500 soldiers in Licheng County, and Zhang Xutuo brought 4,000 people, so Licheng County must be empty, so it is better for us to counterattack Licheng County, even if we take the city, but we can also harvest all the tens of thousands of acres of wheat outside the city." ”

"But I'm worried that this is Zhang Xutuo's trick to lure troops."

"Can you be sure of his plan?"

Meng Rang shook his head, "I'm just worried!" ”

Wang Bo sighed slightly, "I also know that there will be danger, but we only have two days of food, what do you say?" ”

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