It has been a month since the promulgation of the multi-phase system, but the imperial court has not been calm, the multi-phase system has changed the entire power structure, and the officials of the Northern Sui Dynasty will be more or less affected, and many details of the system have been implemented step by step over time, and almost every official has felt its influence on themselves. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Everyone is paying attention and looking forward to it every day, so much so that the once boiling Lu Chu case has been completely forgotten.

But some people have not forgotten the case.

There is a small street in the east of the middle capital, called Donggong Lane, the small street is about a mile long, there are not many households, but there are more than a dozen gambling halls on both sides, there are not many gambling houses in the Sui Dynasty era, mainly to throw the pu, the play is very similar to the dice rolling of later generations, but the gameplay is much more complicated, each gambling house is crowded with all kinds of gamblers, almost everyone loses red eyes, shouting loudly.

At this time, a black man lost all the last consistent copper coins, scolded and walked out of the gambling hall, his surname is Du, a local, he has no name since he was a child, everyone calls him Du Hei, because he has a pinch of thick black hair on his stomach, so he has to be nicknamed Black Belly, in his early years, he was a famous scoundrel in Anyang County, and later defected to Wei Dao'er, became a school captain, after Wei Dao'er died, he took more than a dozen of his subordinates back to his hometown to eat, and gradually became the beggar leader of Anyang County, controlling hundreds of beggars, becoming a local tyrant.

Now Anyang County has become the central capital, the population has increased to more than 500,000, and there are thousands of beggars from all over Hebei.

Du Hei lost all his money today, and he was really unwilling in his heart, "What time does it close at night?" He asked, looking back.

The shopkeeper of the gambling hall smiled gloomily, "As long as Du Ye is rich, he can come at any time!" ”

"Just wait for your words, wait for me."

Du Hei walked out of the gambling house quickly, and walked to the end of the side street, he needed to go back and get some more money, but when the little guy and his horse at the corner of the street were gone, it was past midnight, the night was deep, most of the people began to sleep, and the street was deserted, and there was not a single pedestrian.

At this moment, a carriage came quickly from the darkness, 'Gah! Stopping in front of him, two big men in black jumped out of the carriage, Du Hei was taken aback, turned and fled, but found that there was already a person standing behind him, and before he could react, there was a sharp pain in his head, and he didn't know anything, and fell to the ground limply.

Three men in black stuffed him into the carriage, which sped away and soon disappeared into the darkness.

........

Du Hei woke up slowly, but found himself in a cold and dark stone room, the bean-sized lamps flickered and dimmed, the walls were hung with various torture instruments, and four naked men stood around with their hands crossed, looking at him coldly.

At this time, Du Hei found himself naked, and his whole body was chained, and his heart began to be frightened, and when he turned around, he saw a young man sitting not far from him, and in front of him there was a table with paper and pen on it.

"Who are you, and where is this?" Duhey began to struggle in horror.

The young man looked a little impatient and gave the big man next to him a look, and the big man stepped forward and slapped Du Hei more than a dozen times, hitting him with gold stars in his eyes and losing a tooth.

"If I ask you a question, you will answer, and if half of the sentence is untrue, I will chop off one of your fingers, understand?"

Du Hei nodded in fear, and the young man said coldly: "Regarding the rumors of Du Shangshu, we found out that you are the source of the spread, that is to say, the rumors started from you, we want to know, who asked you to spread the rumors?" ”

Du Hei Mind's Buzz! He was about to speak, when he suddenly thought of the man's threat to him, and he hesitated and said, "It is a man of about forty years old, who asked me to spread something and gave me ten taels of gold." ”

The young man snorted coldly, and the big man next to him chopped it off, Du Hei let out a heart-rending scream, and his right thumb had been chopped off, and blood flowed like an infusion.

"I'll give you one last chance, and I'll cut off your head without saying anything!"

"I say!"

Du Hei cried and shouted, "It's the housekeeper of the Zheng Mansion!" He was the one who told me to do it. ”

"Which Zheng Mansion?" The young man asked, staring into his eyes.

"Zheng Shanguo, the secretary of the Criminal Department, his housekeeper is known to my brother."

"What's the butler's name?"

"The surname is Qin, called Qin Da Butler, don't kill me, I know where his family lives?"

The young man nodded, and instructed left and right: "Take him down, bandage him, and turn around for him to testify." ”

.........

At dusk, Pei Ju sat in the dining hall as usual, he paid great attention to maintenance, only drank a bowl of white rice porridge for dinner, and ate a little fruit, and there were two maids standing next to him, carefully serving him.

At this time, he saw his second grandson Pei Jun hesitating in front of the steps, as if he had something to report to him, so he put down the teacup and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Pei Jun came in and saluted: "Zheng Shangshu is here, saying that he has something urgent to see!" ”

Pei Ju thought for a while, "Take him to the Guike Hall for a while, I'll come right away." ”

Pei Ju thought about Zheng Shanguo's intention while drinking tea, in fact, he could guess that Zheng Shanguo was still here for that incident, and decades of officialdom experience told him that this matter was not over, and Zhang Xuan couldn't just stop it.

This matter was indeed a bit excessive, almost causing Lu Chu to be ruined, and almost ruining the implementation of the multiphase system, Zhang Xuan's unfathomable attitude made him really uneasy, if this matter is not handled well, it is very likely to be the end of his Pei Ju career, and he must completely break with this matter.

Thinking of this, Pei Ju got up and walked towards the guest hall.

Pei Ju came to the Guike Hall, but saw that Zheng Shanguo was like an ant on a hot pot, fidgeting, Pei Ju was a little dissatisfied in his heart, he couldn't hold his breath at all, and he actually wanted to seal the Ziwei Pavilion Senior Minister!

He coughed lightly and walked into the lobby, Zheng Shanguo jumped up suddenly, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Uncle Shi, something happened!" Something happened! ”

"Why is Zheng Shangshu so anxious?" Pei Ju asked with a smile.

The sentence 'Zheng Shangshu' suddenly widened the distance between him and Zheng Shanguo, Zheng Shanguo seemed to be stabbed in his heart, he was stunned for a moment, sat down slowly, Pei Ju smiled: "That's right!" Say something slowly, don't rush. ”

Zheng Shanguo said in a deep voice: "My housekeeper hanged himself in the afternoon. ”

"Oh! It's unfortunate. ”

Zheng Shanguo handed a note to Pei Ju, "He left this." ”

Pei Ju took the note and opened it, there was only one sentence on it, 'Betraying the master, there is only one death to apologize!' ’

"What does that mean?" Pei Ju asked puzzled.

"This Qin steward used to be my scholar, he followed me for thirty years, he was loyal to me, I just let him do Lu Chu's things, he has seen his corpse, he has been tortured, he should have confessed."

"I don't understand, what did he confess?"

"Of course it was Lu Chu's confession, doesn't Uncle Shi understand?"

Pei Ju shook his head, "I really don't understand, what is Zheng Shangshu talking about?" What happened to Lu Chu? ”

Zheng Shanguo looked at Pei Ju in astonishment, and after a long time, he nodded and said, "I understand, then don't disturb Pei Xiangguo's rest, and his subordinates will leave!" ”

Zheng Shanguo's face was gloomy, he got up and walked out quickly, Pei Ju picked up the teacup and said lightly: "Send me off!" ”

.......

In the official pavilion of the Vermilion Bird Palace, Zhang Xuan was reading a report handed over to him by Fang Xuanling, and Fang Xuanling said a little apologetically: "Your Highness, it is basically certain that the rumor was made by Zheng Shanguo, he has an excellent relationship with Yang Qing, and the list of manors should be obtained from Yang Qing's son." ”

Zhang Xuan threw the report on the table and snorted: "I'm afraid it's not only Zheng Shanguo, there are people behind him who are planning for him, just with him Zheng Shanguo, can he get the senior minister of Ziwei Pavilion?" ”

Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment, and suddenly woke up, "Could it be—"

Zhang Xuan walked to the window with his hand down, looked at the cornices in the distance, and for a long time, Zhang Xuan said coldly: "For his own interests, he almost divided the court, he disappointed me too much." ”

Fang Xuanling said in a low voice: "It's just that I didn't expect that the housekeeper would hang himself, so there will be no witnesses, and I am afraid that I will not be able to testify against them." ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "Everyone knows this kind of thing, let you check this matter, but I want to confirm it myself, what does it matter if they admit it or not?" ”

"Then what is Your Highness going to do?"

Zhang Xuan pondered for a long time and said, "I have decided to appoint Zheng Shanguo as the Taishou of Qichun County. ”

Fang Xuanling sighed secretly in his heart, and was demoted from the Shangshu of the Criminal Department to the Taishou of Qichun County, which meant that Zheng Shanguo's career was over, but Fang Xuanling also understood in his heart that Zhang Xuan's punishment of Zheng Shanguo was not only because of the Lu Chu incident, the Zheng family bet on Chang'an, Luoyang, and Zhongdu at the same time, especially the Zheng family secretly transferred a large amount of Yang Qing's wealth to Guanzhong, and Zhang Xuan had long been dissatisfied with the Zheng family.

"Is that the end of the investigation?"

Zhang Xuan nodded, "The fewer people who know about this matter, the better, especially the person in charge of operating the communication, so that he will shut up forever." ”

"Humble duty understands!" Fang Xuanling bowed and retreated.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Xuan slowly ordered: "Early tomorrow morning, let Zhongdu Mansion Yin come to see me." (To be continued.) )