Qi Ning pondered for a moment before asking: "Bai Tangling was assassinated and the blame was placed on the Miao people. Did Li Hongxin coerce you into conspiracy?"
Wei Shutong immediately shook his head and said: "Master Hou, the official didn't know anything about this at first. When the official heard about the rebellion by killing officials in Heiyan Cave, he was really surprised and found it a bit unbelievable. Among the Miao people in these years, Although a few people occasionally cause trouble, the Miao King of Cangxi is mature and prudent and discerns the truth. The seventy-two holes of the Miao family have lived a stable life in these years without causing trouble." After a pause, he continued: "Xia Guan As I said, I was originally going to send someone to investigate the matter, but Li Hongxin came to the door and said that the Miao people were causing trouble and must be severely punished."
"Li Hongxin holds your hand, so you dare not disobey?" Qining sneered.
Wei Shutong smiled bitterly and said: "Xiaoguan is confused." After a pause, he immediately said: "Xiaoguan realized that Li Hongxin might have a trick at that time, but he did not dare to break up with him. If the news about Xiaguan killing his wife spread, Your Majesty...!" He sighed, looking very helpless.
The majestic governor of Xichuan killed his wife with his own hands. Once it becomes public, Wei Shutong's position as governor will certainly be unstable, and he is afraid that he will be traced and his future will be ruined.
Seeing Qi Ning's stern look, Wei Shutong said: "But the official also knows that it is not easy to break up with Li Hongxin on the surface, but if he wants to plot evil, the official cannot let him control him." At this point, The voice suddenly became a little solemn: "Although Xianguan sent troops to besiege Heiyan Cave, he did not attack Heiyan Ridge. Instead, he wrote a report to the court to report the matter. Xianguan knew that if the report went up, the emperor would be able to see the flaw, and he would definitely send someone to come. investigation."
Qi Ning said calmly: "Master Wei is quite scheming." He thought to himself that Wei Shutong was a high-ranking official in one party after all, and he still had some scheming skills.
Wei Shutong also heard the slight sarcasm in Qining's tone, but at this time he could only bite the bullet and said: "Li Hongxin has urged us to attack the Black Rock Cave several times, and Xiaguan has always found various reasons to delay it, and at that time, Xiaguan I suspected that Hua Xiangrong might be Li Hongxin's person, and I was more wary of her. I tried my best to maintain it, just hoping that when the court sends someone over, God will live up to my intentions, and the Marquis will finally arrive."
Qi Ning said: "In this way, you have still made great contributions to the court."
"Xiaguan has absolutely no such intention." Wei Shutong shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Master Hou, to be honest, Xiaguan knows very well that if Xiaguan obeys Li Hongxin's command, Xichuan will be in chaos in the end. Xiaguan didn't For the sake of utilization value, Li Hongxin will certainly kill Xiaguan to sacrifice the flag, but the court will not let Xiaguan go."
Qi Ning secretly thought that it would be great if you, old guy, understood this truth.
No matter how Wei Shutong made peace with Li Hongxin, in the eyes of the people of Xichuan, Wei Shutong represented the imperial court. Once Li Hongxin rebelled, Wei Shutong could only be killed first.
Qining knew that Wei Shutong confessed all this to him tonight, not because of his conscience, but because the old guy understood the key point.
If the imperial court had sent ordinary officials over, Wei Shutong might not be so frank this time, but Jin Yihou was one of the four great marquises in the empire. Under such circumstances, if Wei Shutong wanted to climb out of the pit, he could only Can grab Jin Yihou's thigh.
"According to what you say, Li Hongxin is ready to rebel?" Qining asked: "Do you have any conclusive evidence in your hand?"
Xichuan Li Hongxin has always been a serious concern for the imperial court. For the imperial court, the existence of Li Hongxin put Xichuan in unpredictable danger.
Since the founding of the Chu State, although there had been a military campaign to conquer Bashu in the west, and Li Hongxin had finally surrendered to the Chu State, the empire's main military deployment was to deal with the Han State in the north.
In the past twenty years, the Northern Han people have never given up the idea of going south to attack Chu and annex the world, and Chu State has always wanted to go north to conquer the Northern Han Dynasty and dominate the world.
The two sides have been fighting for years, spending countless financial and manpower.
Because of this, Chu State adopted a gentle policy towards Xichuan from the beginning.
The focus of the Huairou policy lies in the king of Shu, Li Hongxin.
There are many forces in Xichuan, and Han, Miao, and Ba people live together. As the lord of Xichuan at that time, if the court comforted Li Hongxin, then the people of Xichuan would also be able to feel the court's goodwill towards Xichuan. But if the court wanted Cutting the knot with a quick knife, trying to get rid of Li Hongxin and seek stability in Xichuan can only be counterproductive.
King Xichuan surrendered to Chu, and it was known to the whole world. If Chu killed Li Hongxin without any conclusive evidence, the consequences would be disastrous. After all, the Northern Han Dynasty was not at peace, and even a figure like Li Hongxin could be killed by Chu. From now on, it is hard to imagine that anyone would dare to surrender to the Chu State.
The imperial court sent Wei Shutong to Xichuan. Of course, it wanted to gradually digest Xichuan and monitor Li Hongxin's actions. But there was another point. Of course, it also hoped that Wei Shutong could find strong evidence of Li Hongxin's restlessness in Xichuan.
Of course, the Chu court hopes to deal with Li Hongxin. As long as it has conclusive evidence in hand, it will naturally not show mercy.
When Qi Ning saw that Wei Shutong and Li Hongxin had such a relationship in private, he immediately thought about whether Wei Shutong might be able to find evidence of Li Hongxin's intention to rebel, and said softly: "Master Wei, if you have Li Hongxin's intention in your hands, For the conclusive evidence of rebellion, I can guarantee that you are safe and sound. I can even explain to the emperor that what you did before was all falsehood and subterfuge. It was a sacrifice made to obtain evidence of Li Hongxin's crime. Not only was he not guilty, but he was actually guilty. Meritorious."
Wei Shutong frowned and smiled bitterly: "Master Hou, in fact, even if you don't tell me, Xianguan has always thought so in his heart. When Xianguan came to Xichuan, before leaving, the late emperor had privately told him that if It would be best if we could find evidence of Li Hongxin's intention to rebel, but if we can't find it, we must ensure the stability of Xichuan and keep an eye on Li Hongxin." He paused and lowered his voice: "Over the years, I keep in mind the late emperor's will and dare not be careless in the slightest, but Li Hongxin is cunning and cunning. He has been in Chengdu since he surrendered to our great Chu. He seems to be indifferent to fame and fortune and just wants to survive."
Qi Ning frowned and said, "So, you don't have any evidence of his rebellion?"
"Li Hongxin must also know that his subordinates have been searching for evidence of his intention to rebel." Wei Shutong frowned: "So he has been very careful these years. He rarely leaves the house, and rarely interacts with his former boss. The subordinates have had contact with each other... I know this is just superficial, but I just can't get a handle on it."
"The Li family has been established in Xichuan for hundreds of years. It is a big tree with deep roots. It is easier said than done to catch him easily." Qining also knew that Wei Shutong and Li Hongxin must have been intrigues and deceits over the years, and they fought hard. In the end, Wei Shutong After all, I have never played with Li Hongxin.
Wei Shutong nodded slightly and said softly: "Li Hongxin is very cautious, but Li Yuan did some evil things in Chengdu. The lower official also thought about finding a breakthrough from Li Yuan, but although that kid did evil things, no one came to the government to report him. I can only turn a blind eye."
Qi Ning remained calm and asked: "Master Wei, how much wealth does Li Hongxin have? It is said that he donated and built many temples. Do you know how many there are?"
"That must be a trick to deceive others." Wei Shutong affirmed: "He deliberately pretended to study Buddhism and built temples everywhere, just to make the world think that he really has no desires and no fights." He paused and thought for a moment. After thinking about it, he said: "So far, we have donated and built more than ten temples. Except for the larger one in Qingcheng Mountain, most of the temples are very ordinary and have little incense. Xiaguan actually sent someone to take a look. They were deserted and deserted. The temple is just a few monks."
Qi Ning thought for a while and then asked: "Have you really never heard of Ksitigarbha mentioned by Li Hongxin before?"
Wei Shutong immediately shook his head and said: "I have never heard of it. I heard Li Hongxin mention it suddenly at the dinner table with Mr. Hou." He paused and then said: "But I thought it was just a story he made up. The so-called The Ksitigarbha does not exist. He fabricated it just to divert the attention of the government and even the court to the illusory Ksitigarbha, so that he could operate secretly."
Qi Ning thought that if he had not actually met the Ksitigarbha party members, he might have thought that this was a character made up by Li Hongxin, but now he knew that Ksitigarbha must exist.
"In the Black Cave incident, you felt that Li Hongxin was behind the plan from the beginning to the end, but you couldn't get any evidence of him. The court has no evidence, so of course you can't believe it." Qi Ning said slowly: "Master Wei, what you are saying now How should I report this to the Emperor?"
Wei Shutong smiled bitterly and said: "I know that the crime is unpardonable. If the emperor wants to punish the crime, I just ask the marquis to help and intercede, and not to implicate his family."
"Did you know nothing about the assassination at Jianjia Palace?" Qining asked, staring into Wei Shutong's eyes.
Wei Shutong said hurriedly: "I swear to God that I will never know anything about it. Lord Marquis, my official understands now that on the day we entered the city, Li Hongxin accompanied us to a restaurant for dinner, and what he said was for the purpose of assassinating Jianjiaguan. "He hesitated and then said: "The Li family of Xichuan and the Qi family of Jinyi have a life-and-death feud. The Marquis may know that Li Hongxin's eldest son died because of the Qi family. Li Hongxin was very devoted to his eldest son and wanted to inherit the inheritance. The mantle has ended up like that, this person must have an unforgettable hatred for the Qi family."
Qi Ning sneered and said nothing.
"This time the Marquis came to Xichuan, Li Hongxin must have thought it was an excellent opportunity, so he wanted to take revenge." Wei Shutong looked solemn and lowered his voice: "But he did not dare to murder the Marquis openly. Therefore, he could only use underhanded tactics. He deliberately spread the word that there were assassins in Chengdu who specialized in assassinating officials, and arranged assassins in advance in Jianjia Hall. He was worried that the assassins would directly target the Marquis and he would not be able to escape his involvement, so he pretended that he was also assassinated by the assassins. , In this case, if the court investigates, Li Hongxin will be guilty of insufficient protection at most."
Qi Ning nodded and said, "Master Wei has seen through the mystery."
Wei Shutong sighed: "It's all because of the confusion of the lower officials. I always thought that Li Hongxin was not that courageous, but... this person is really cruel and ruthless." Looking at Qining, he said: "Master Hou, since Li Hongxin takes action, I'm afraid he will I won’t let it go, so I must be more careful.”
Qi Ning smiled lightly and said: "I am a dignified prince, and Li Hongxin is just a down-and-out prince. Mr. Wei, with your protection, do you think I really can't leave Chengdu alive?"