It was late at night, and a snowstorm once again came to Lingzhou Mansion, which had just experienced a drastic change. This made the city, where no one went out late at night, even darker and quieter.
But to the surprise of many people, in the middle of the night, the city gate that was supposed to be closed was secretly opened a crack, and three important prisoners who were supposed to be detained in the prison and strictly guarded by the Qingzhou Army At this time, they were sent out of the city, and the person who sent them out of the city was surprisingly Sun Tu, the Jingdong Road Superintendent who personally led the people to capture them.
These three felons were naturally the three brothers Zeng Tu, Zeng Suo and Zeng Sheng. At this time, they had put on the attire for a long journey, and were equipped with swords, guns, bows, arrows and weapons. They even had a horse by their side, which was considered a very high treatment in the Song Dynasty army.
Sun Tu, who was standing beside them, looked at them carefully for a while, and then said: "Are you all familiar with the road to the Kingdom of Jin? Also, you all have to think clearly about how to win their trust when you get there. If you make the slightest mistake, you will die without a burial place."
Zeng Suo grinned: "Don't worry, Supervisor Sun, our lives are our brothers' own, so of course we don't dare to be careless. The Jin people and our brothers are inseparable. As long as we are given a chance, we will definitely turn the place upside down. Let me do the last thing for Da Song."
"Then let's set off. I hope everything goes well for you." Sun Tu nodded to them, and clasped his fists slightly. The three of them flew onto their horses, and without the slightest hesitation, they galloped towards the darkness ahead. During the period of time when he sent them out of the city, Sun Tu never once questioned whether the three people would regret or betray him, as if the three of them were his confidants.
In this regard, he, Sun Tu, acted very generously, but the people around him couldn't help but murmur. Especially Chu Mingsheng, the governor of Lingzhou, looked even more worried. He endured it for a while and then tried to say: "Prisoner, is it too hasty to let them go like this? They are the descendants of the Jurchens after all. If they let the tiger return to the mountain, … Moreover, their crimes are not light in nature. If some people find out about them, there will be endless troubles."
"Since you are going to use them, you don't have to be too suspicious, otherwise it will only make things more complicated. As the saying goes, use people without suspicion. I believe that with the deep hatred they have formed with the Jurchens, as long as they are given a chance, they will definitely Do some great things in the Kingdom of Jin." Sun Tu said with a smile, with a calm look on his face: "As for you worried about this matter being spread, the only people who know about it now are you and me and my brothers in the Qingzhou Army, I believe The brothers around me won't talk nonsense unless..." As he spoke, he glanced meaningfully at the other person again.
This made Chu Mingsheng shiver violently, and he quickly shouted as if he was swearing: "You can rest assured, Superintendent Sun. It is impossible for me to reveal today's events to anyone in my humble position. If you dare to mention it to others, Just let me have my intestines pierced and my belly rotten, and I will be cut into pieces by five horses and die!"
Seeing his nervous look, Sun Tu laughed unconsciously, and went over and patted the other party on the shoulder: "You don't have to be like this, Inspector Chu. I naturally trust you, otherwise I wouldn't have called you along to send him off." They left. And I can see that you are a capable person. You and I will have to cooperate well in the future to deal with the Liangshan bandits who have been causing trouble to our Shandong Province for a long time. "
Sun Tu's words came from the bottom of his heart. From Zhang Yunfeng's words, he already had a certain understanding of the Lingzhou Governor. This time when he came to Lingzhou, he had further personal experience and saw that this man indeed has real talent. Although his personal martial arts skills were far inferior to Dong Ping's in terms of practical knowledge, he was not inferior to him in leading troops, so he naturally wanted to use them for his own purposes.
As mentioned before, Sun Tu currently has no shortage of vanguard generals who dare to fight and can fight. What he lacks are excellent commanders who can train and lead troops, take charge of his own duties, and share some military affairs for him. This time, he was also very lucky. He actually found Chu Mingsheng, a veteran of many battles, from Lingzhou.
Chu Mingsheng was stunned for a moment before he understood Sun Tu's solicitation, which made him immediately happy. He quickly clasped his fists and said, "Thanks to you, the supervisor, for your respect. From now on, I will obey the teachings and orders, and I will not dare to violate them."
Nodding with satisfaction, Sun Tucai smiled and said: "That's good. I believe that as long as we generals work together, Shandong will soon be truly at peace, and we can clear up chaos for the court and the world."
"Yes, that's how the humble position sees it." Chu Mingsheng also laughed. He was really happy. If Sun Tu could really become his backer, he would be able to strengthen his position in Lingzhou in the future. Don't worry about Magistrate Weng and his ilk coming to make things difficult for you.
Thinking of this, he turned his mind to the case of Magistrate Weng's collusion with foreign enemies, and couldn't help but whisper: "Captain, how should we deal with the charges against Magistrate Weng? Should we report it to the court? Or..." In In his opinion, it would be better not to repay the matter. It would be better for him to commit suicide in prison out of fear of his crime, and that would be the end of it. After all, Mr. Weng also has a backer behind him. If he really reports to the court, it’s hard to say what the outcome will be.
Sun Tu shook his head and said: "We have done the right thing in this matter, so naturally we will report all his crimes to the court fairly and openly. I have already made a plan before and will send people to investigate starting tomorrow. In Zengtou City, if you let the wronged people in the city go to the government office to complain, as long as the charges are proven, are you still afraid that he will be able to overturn the situation?"
Seeing that Sun Tu had made up his mind, Chu Mingsheng said no more and could only say yes.
In fact, he really thought too highly of Sun Tu, thinking that this young general could really be unscrupulous to the point of lawlessness, and could kill court officials like pigs and dogs, and he would not suffer backlash in the end. But in fact, Sun Tu himself knew that the previous killings of officials were all helpless actions caused by a strange combination of circumstances, and the consequences were also quite dangerous. He had already prepared to become an enemy of the Song Dynasty court before he gritted his teeth. Kill people.
But today's Lingzhou magistrate has not really taken on a mortal enemy with him, so naturally there is no need to take the risk of killing him. Anyway, none of these officials are clean. As long as they continue to investigate, they can dig out many crimes. If they are handed over to the court, they can naturally be solved by others.
Sun Tu's plan was most comprehensively implemented the next day. First, he sent people to Zengtou City to search for relevant evidence. Then the government office also unearthed a large number of evidence. Magistrate Weng and Zengtou City interacted with each other. Letters, invitations and other items were enough to establish the accusation that the Lingzhou prefect had close contacts with Jurchen spies.
Later, when the officers in the yamen preached to the people that Sun Dujian wanted to make decisions for the people and asked everyone to sue Magistrate Weng, the people who were deeply wronged soon came to hold them in their arms.
The mentality of giving it a try came over.
It was only then that Sun Tu realized how many evil things the prefect had done in Lingzhou City. In order to make friends with the wealthy businessmen and local tycoons in the city, he often referred to deer as horses and confused right and wrong. Not only that, but later he even took matters into his own hands. For some money and land, the Women's House could always come up with various crimes and force them on some innocent people, causing many people to suffer injustice and their families to be destroyed...
If these things had not been exposed, no one would have believed that this prefect, who was usually serious in speech and looked like a gentleman, would commit so many shameless crimes. But now, because of Sun Tu's strong attack, the other hidden side of Magistrate Weng has been exposed to the sun, which makes people feel chilly and unable to calm down for a long time.
Even Chu Mingsheng, who had a huge conflict with Magistrate Weng, looked in disbelief after learning the relevant details: "He...he actually did so many evil things behind his back, and I didn't even know about it... "
Of course, ninety-nine percent of these things were done secretly by the people under Weng sent by Magistrate Weng. At this time, those who were instigated were naturally unable to escape the law. In three days, there were thirty or forty prisoners in the prison, most of whom were gangsters. The magistrate Weng was accused of being the bastard of Lingzhou.
After almost everyone was arrested and the crimes were all investigated, Sun Tu asked people to bring Magistrate Weng who was in prison. At this time, this man no longer had the composure he had before, and almost knelt down when he saw Sun Tu. And when Sun Tu listed his crimes one by one, his face turned pale, his knees softened, and he finally knelt down in front of Sun Tu: "Sun... Sun Dujian, I really don't know that Zengtou City." He is actually a Jurchen descendant, so he has contact with them... "
"Of course I know this, but how do you explain it to the common people like you?"
"I... I am forced to have no choice but to welcome people in the officialdom. It costs too much to manage things up and down. It is difficult to support it with just the salary, so I have to plunder it from the private sector." Magistrate Weng He explained in a low voice with a bitter look on his face.
"Hmph, the salaries of our officials have always been generous, and even I have never had to worry about it. You actually use this as an excuse. Is it true that everyone in the world is a fool?" Sun Tu sneered disdainfully.
Magistrate Weng looked at Sun Tu, and finally said honestly: "The governor doesn't know something. If you are an ordinary official, you don't have to do these things, but it is a little different for lower officials. Because I need to pay a large amount of money to a certain prime minister in the court. Otherwise, I would not have been able to serve as the prefect of a state within just five years of joining the government."
Sun Tu was stunned by these words: "Oh? Who is the filial prime minister in the court that you need to please?"
"He... is the current Prime Minister, Grand Master Cai." While announcing his backer, Magistrate Weng's originally bent waist suddenly straightened up, and the panic in his eyes quickly dissipated, as if he only needed to reveal his backer. Coming out is enough to solve all problems.
And this statement indeed made Sun Tu's face harden. Even the hands of the two scribes who were listening to the review and taking notes trembled, leaving an ink mark on the clean book.
Who would have thought that this seemingly inconspicuous magistrate of Lingzhou would have such a huge backer!