***
As soon as Deng Zhongnan entered the house, the birds of prey surrounded him again. "Go away, get out of here!" Deng Zhongnan shouted coldly, scaring the birds away and making the flowers scattered.
"Zhang Xi! Where is Zhang Xi?" Deng Zhongnan continued to yell at the door.
The old housekeeper Zhang Xi heard the sound and ran over, gasping for breath, "Master."
"Zhang Xi, what about Wei Daye?"
"Master, don't worry. I have already asked him to go back to Huguang to hide. Master, Wei Daye used a fake name, and it is not easy for the government to find him. As long as he is not caught, this matter will not involve you."
"You know shit." Deng Zhongnan paced back and forth in the hall, his expression changing constantly. He couldn't understand how the matter of Sanjiang Silver Shop could have been directly reported to the Ministry of Justice.
The city of Jinling was divided into two counties, namely Jiangning County and Shangyuan County. The south of the city belonged to Jiangning County, and the north of the city belonged to Shangyuan County. There was also a Yingtian Prefecture above it.
According to common sense, even if something happened at the Sanjiang Silver Shop, it should be tried by Shangyuan County first. If Jiangning County cannot handle the case, it should be submitted to Yingtian Prefecture for trial.
Regardless of whether the case is in Jiangning County or Yingtian Prefecture, Deng Zhongnan is confident that he can settle it if the other party cannot find any real evidence.
Now the case has crossed Jiangning County and Yingtian Prefecture and directly entered the Ministry of Justice. Bai Tie is a stubborn guy who refuses to be persuaded. This is the second reason. Although Bai Tie is impartial, he has always enforced the law impartially. In the absence of evidence, he will not torture people into confessing or accusing them indiscriminately.
The problem is that once this matter reaches the Ministry of Justice, it is basically equivalent to reporting it directly to the emperor.
If the King of Qin became suspicious, even without evidence, his career would be over. This was what Deng Zhongnan was worried about.
He thought about it over and over, but couldn't come up with a good way to crack it. It was better to stay still than to move. He could only wait and see what happened.
"You pay it back."
"What do you want, sir?" Zhang Xi approached cautiously.
Deng Zhongnan's eyes were filled with ruthlessness, and he whispered in Zhang Xi's ear, "It's best to make Wei Daye disappear completely. Now the matter has been reported to the Ministry of Justice. If he is caught, it will be difficult to salvage the situation."
"Master, this..."
"Um?"
"Yes, yes, I'll do it right away."
***
According to the report submitted by the Minister of Justice Bai Tie, the owner of Sanjiang Silver Shop, Hu San, was actually a puppet, who was instructed by a man named Zhou Ding to open a silver shop just for the reward of twenty taels of silver.
The timber merchant Li Yin was also threatened by a man named Zhou Ding. In order to keep his business, he deposited the silver in the Sanjiang Silver Shop.
The only clue now is that Li Yin secretly sent someone to follow Zhou Ding and found that he was drinking tea with Zhang Xi, the housekeeper of Deng Zhongnan, a doctor in the Ministry of Works.
But this clue ended here, and Zhou Ding disappeared.
There is no such person as Zhou Ding. Even if what Li Yin said is true, it is just his one-sided statement. And he only saw Zhou Ding drinking tea with Zhang Xi. This is far from enough to convict Deng Zhongnan.
Qin Mu didn't take this matter too seriously at first, thinking that with Bai Tie's help, the truth would be revealed soon. He didn't expect that this matter would become an unsolved case.
Qin Mu smiled coldly. It is true that every time there is a policy, there is a countermeasure!
"Let Huang Lianshan come over." Qin Mu ordered Han Zanzhou.
Han Zanzhou hurriedly sent someone to call Huang Lianshan over. Originally, Qin Mu didn't want to use Ye Bu Shou for this matter, but now someone has stuck a thorn in his throat, and he can't be happy until it is removed.
"King Qin, what do you want me to do?"
"Check Deng Zhongnan, the doctor of the Ministry of Industry. Check how many grains of rice he eats a day. I don't believe that he can wipe his mouth so clean."
“Yes.”
Qin Mu suddenly had a deep understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang. For some things, legal procedures alone would not work.
Moreover, he seemed to be too kind to his people, so that some people in the capital dared to act recklessly. He had to make a warning to them.
Huang Lianshan had just left the imperial study for a while when He Liang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, hurried over. As soon as he finished his greetings, he said, "King Qin, according to the information sent back by Dongfang Sheng, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, the Tartars are transporting a large amount of grain and grass from Shanxi to Kaifeng. I think this is unusual.
As the saying goes, "the army does not move, but it eats grass first." The Tartars' move is most likely to prepare for a large-scale counterattack against our Huainan region in winter;
King Qin, the Tartars are used to living in a cold and harsh land. The summer is hot, and the Tartars often get sick due to acclimatization when they go south. Winter is actually the best season for them to go south, so we must be on guard against this."
"Large amounts of food and grass? How could the Tartars get such large amounts of food and grass from Shanxi?" This made Qin Mu quite puzzled. As far as he knew, Shanxi had been plagued by famines for many years, coupled with years of war. Where would so much food and grass come from
"King Qin, Dongfang Sheng led his troops to rob grain twice, but the Tartars defended well. Not only did Dongfang Sheng fail, but he also lost a lot of men."
He Liang's answer was irrelevant. In his opinion, it didn't matter how the Tartars could get so much food and fodder from Shanxi. What mattered was that the Tartars had to slow down their offensive some time ago due to lack of food and fodder, and that would soon change.
Qin Mu said calmly, "When an enemy comes, we must fight him with our troops; when a flood comes, we must block it with earth. Send 10,000 troops each to Luzhou and Huai'an, as well as food and weapons. Your military department can arrange these. We are fighting on the interior, so there is no need to panic. This king believes in the ability of Meng Ke and his men."
"King Qin, Qingliu Pass is the northern gate of the capital, right..."
"No need, let Lady Hong guard it."
Qin Mu walked to the map on the wall and looked at it carefully. Since the Qing army had transported food and grass to Kaifeng, it meant that their main attack would be on the eastern front. Now Fengyang Prefecture south of the Huai River was still in the hands of the Qing army. In other words, their troops could go straight to Qingliu Pass in Chuzhou and threaten Nanjing.
Go straight to the leader, which is also in line with military common sense.
Moreover, among the three strategic points of Huai'an, Chuzhou and Luzhou, only Chuzhou has the weakest military strength. It depends on whether the Qing army will choose to attack Qingliu Pass.
This is actually not a sophisticated conspiracy, but it is very tempting. If someone is very confident in his own strength, he will often ignore the so-called conspiracy, believing that in the face of absolute power, all conspiracies are vulnerable.
"By the way, is there any information about Tudor?"
"That's exactly what I want to say. Judging from the intelligence sent back, Duoduo's illness should have almost recovered. He has also gathered a large number of brave generals, including Aobai, Gong Adai, Xihan, Ashan, Tong Tulai, Li Yongfang, Sun Degong, Xia Chengde, Zu Dale, Zu Dabi, Zu Zeyuan, Zu Zepei, Zu Zesheng, Zhang Cunren, Ye Chenlue, etc. All signs show that the Qing army's winter offensive is already imminent."
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "In this case, the pressure on Xiangyang will be relatively small. Let's transfer Li Guo and his troops to Huoshan. Minister He, please take a look. If we don't bring baggage, we can go from Shouzhou via the Fei River to Huoshan and Yingshan on the eastern foot of the Dabie Mountains and reach Wuchang."
After Qin Mu pointed it out, He Liang felt that it was possible. At present, there were not many soldiers in Wuchang, and the area was relatively well governed. The enemy could quickly penetrate without baggage and obtain food on the spot.
If Nanjing is the head of the Qin Empire, then Wuchang is the heart. If this place is trapped, Wuyang Pass and Xiangyang in the north will immediately lose supplies, and the consequences will be disastrous.
"This is the transfer order." He Liang came and left in a hurry. Fortunately, he was only about 40 years old and still had plenty of energy.
Perhaps, this is really a troubled "winter". As soon as He Liang left, Huang Lianshan came again.
"King of Qin, there is a change in Fujian. I just received news that on October 22, Longwu and Empress Zeng were trying to flee to Guangdong, but were caught by Zheng Zhilong and imprisoned in the Fuzhou Palace. After Huang Daozhou repeatedly asked for an audience but was blocked, he rushed into the palace with two or three thousand soldiers he recruited to try to rescue Longwu.
However, Huang Daozhou's troops were vulnerable and were quickly defeated by Zheng Zhibao, and Huang Daozhou was captured. After this incident, the people of Fujian were in a panic, and many local officials abandoned their posts and fled. However, Xianxia Pass and Fenshui Pass were guarded by Zheng's army and could not be crossed. Therefore, most of those who abandoned their posts fled to Guangdong.
Two days after Huang Daozhou was captured, Zheng Sen suddenly attacked and rushed into the palace to rescue Longwu. After escaping across the Minjiang River, he was caught up by Zheng Zhilong in Fangshan. In the chaos, Longwu fell off his horse and was seriously injured. Zheng Sen and his men were imprisoned by Zheng Zhilong.
After hearing this, Qin Mu was a little overwhelmed. Longwu escaped, Huang Daozhou raised an army to rescue his lord, and finally Zheng Sen came along to go against his father. This whole drama was really dazzling.
In fact, whether there is Longwu or not will not have much impact on Fujian’s defense capabilities. Fujian was originally in the hands of the Zheng family, and it is still in the hands of the Zheng family now, and it has never changed.
The real impact of this incident was on Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. Without Longwu, these four provinces would become a headless snake.
Zheng Zhilong is actually helping me!
Qin Mu couldn't help but smile, and said to Huang Lianshan, "Spread this news quickly, especially to Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Let them know as soon as possible, and have Tian Yimu, Lu Daqi and He Tengjiao increase their efforts to appease the enemy. Go quickly."
“Yes!”
******************
ps: It's almost the 10th, I believe some brothers have subscribed to the monthly ticket and received it, please support me with the monthly ticket, I am being thrown further and further away by others, in the hot summer, my heart is cold. It's like ice and fire!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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