"Hmph~! You are so brave, Ma Zhongming! You dare to plot against me. It seems that I have been too kind these years!"
In Changsun Mansion, Changsun Wuji looked at Ma Cheng, who was kneeling on the ground with his hands bound, and said angrily.
In fact, Changsun Wuji had already become suspicious of Ma Cheng on the way back from the palace. After all, Ma Cheng was the prince Zhan Shi. He was not in the East Palace to study with the prince today, but he came to tell him specifically about Yanhuang Bank's sanctions on Anguo and The matter of the Kangguo merchants, and intentionally or unintentionally brought the topic to Li Ke, which made him feel a little afraid of Li Ke's current power, so he went to the palace to impeach Li Ke!
Changsun Wuji, who had been in officialdom for more than ten years and had battled wits and courage with countless people in the officialdom, calmed down and thought about it carefully, and guessed that Ma Cheng came to see him this morning, and it was not just to reveal a piece of news to him. There is probably a conspiracy behind this!
So after returning to the house, Changsun Wuji wanted to test Ma Cheng. He deliberately pretended that the previous trip to the palace went smoothly to make Ma Cheng relax his vigilance and gradually reveal his flaws. Then he ordered Ma Cheng and Ma Cheng to be separated. Catch all the people behind Cheng!
After all, an old fox is an old fox. The reason why Ma Cheng was able to successfully plot against Changsun Wuji in the morning was entirely because Changsun Wuji was not wary of him, and he also captured one of Changsun Wuji's "weaknesses" very well. Knowing that Changsun Wuji was even more concerned about Li Chengqian retaining his position as crown prince than Li Chengqian himself, as long as someone threatened Li Chengqian's position as crown prince, Changsun Wuji would definitely get rid of that person at all costs!
But in terms of resourcefulness and means, Changsun Wuji outsmarted Ma Cheng. The moment Changsun Wuji became suspicious of Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng's failure was already doomed! Regardless of whether it was overt or covert means, Ma Cheng couldn't defeat Changsun Wuji!
However, there is a slight risk in Changsun Wuji's doing this, because he used Li Er's name to deceive Ma Cheng before. He tampered with Li Er's words. If the censor knew about this, he might be accused of tampering with the emperor. Yu's crime! But... Changsun Wuji will definitely not let this happen!
At this time, there was a person kneeling on Ma Cheng's right side, it was An Guo businessman An Shuncai!
Anshun had just received the news earlier that Ma Cheng had arrived at his teahouse. Anshun knew that if Ma Cheng came to see him at this time, there must be new progress in the matter he had entrusted to him, so he rushed there as quickly as possible. Anshun was in a teahouse, but before he could say a few words to Ma Cheng, several sword-wielding warriors rushed in from outside the wing. Anshun was shocked and quickly called the servants and guards in the teahouse, but who knew they rushed in? These people's martial arts skills were extremely high. Not one of his dozen or so people could stand up to the leader of the samurai, and they were all defeated in a short while! Then, he and Ma Cheng were all tied up here!
But Ma Cheng knew the leading sword-wielding warrior. He was Chang Sun Qinghe, the guard leader of the Changsun family. The moment he recognized Changsun Qinghe, Ma Cheng's old face instantly turned pale. He knew that he Failed, he was completely finished!
At this moment, facing Changsun Wuji's anger, Ma Cheng's eyes were dull and he turned a deaf ear. His whole body was like a puddle of mud, as if he was about to fall to the ground at any time. He did not beg for mercy, because now that the matter had been exposed, he knew that no matter what he No matter what, he would be left with a dead end. After all, he had offended Changsun Wuji!
He just didn't expect that the matter would be revealed so quickly, and he didn't expect that as soon as Changsun Wuji came back from the palace, he would suspect him and send someone to follow him!
What happened in Taiyuan? What happened after Changsun Wuji went to the palace earlier
This is the biggest doubt in Ma Cheng's heart!
Anshun told Ma Cheng some of the reasons why Yanhuang Bank banned merchants from Anguo and Kangguo this time, but not completely. Ma Cheng only knew that there were merchants with nine surnames in Taiyuan City who were causing trouble, so Yanhuang Bank took this action today! But in Ma Cheng's view, there is no room for change in this matter. Because the merchants with the nine surnames in Taiyuan were in trouble, the court could just arrest the troublemakers there. However, the Yanhuang Bank sanctioned all those doing business in the Tang Dynasty. The merchants of Anguo and Kangguo went too far!
That's why he was willing to take risks to help Anshun solve this matter.
But judging from the current results, he seems to have thought things too simply. Changsun Wuji must have "hit a wall" when he went to the palace to impeach Li Ke, otherwise Changsun Wuji would not have set up him and ordered him to do so as soon as he came back. He relaxed his vigilance and went to Anshun to "report the good news"!
"And you!"
Seeing that Ma Cheng had his head drooped and his eyes were lifeless, obviously knowing that he was going to die and had given up treatment, Changsun Wuji turned to An Shuncai who was kneeling next to Ma Cheng. He asked in a cold voice: "You are the one who let me Ma Cheng’s scheming old man? Are you Hu Shang?”
"Go back... back to Mr. Zhao Guogong, little... little..."
Feeling the terrifying aura emanating from Changsun Wuji, Anshun was so frightened that he couldn't even speak. In fact, the moment he entered Changsun's mansion, he knew that he was going to die. After doing business in Chang'an City for so many years, he How could it be possible that I have never heard of Changsun Wuji? He had asked Ma Cheng for help before, more because he wanted to use Ma Cheng to get in touch with Changsun Wuji, an important official in the Tang Dynasty, but he never expected that things would eventually develop to this point!
"Master, this person is An Shuncai, a wealthy businessman from Anguo. He bribed Ma Cheng and wanted to borrow your hand to lift the ban on Yanhuang Bank!"
Seeing that An Shuncai couldn't even speak clearly, Changsun Qinghe cupped his fists at Changsun Wuji.
"good very good!"
Changsun Wuji's face was as cold as ice. He stared at An Shuncai and said word by word: "How dare a mere businessman scheme against me? Very good! Qinghe, drag him down, break his limbs first, and then bring him over. I’m asking you a question!”
"Yes! Master!"
Changsun Qinghe accepted the order with clasped fists and strode forward, trying to lift Anshuncai from the ground.
An Shuncai was horrified when he heard what he said. At this moment, this guy spoke quickly. He quickly begged for mercy: "Mr. Zhao, please forgive me! Mr. Zhao, please forgive me! An just wanted to ask Mr. Zhao to help mediate the ban imposed by Yanhuang Bank on us. However, Mr. Zhao has a high position and great authority." , Mr. An, a merchant, found it difficult to meet Mr. Zhao Guogong, so he thought of asking Ma Zhanshi from your house to help introduce him. Mr. An has absolutely no ill intentions towards Mr. Zhao, and please spare his life, Mr. Zhao!"
"Hmph! What a helpful introduction! In the end, you actually want me to be a knife in your hands to deal with Yanhuang Bank! What a wolfish ambition!"
Changsun Wuji sneered. Then, he suddenly felt that the name Anshuncai seemed a bit familiar. Soon, he recalled what Li Er had said to him when he was in the palace - "Qingque was kidnapped by Turkic spies in Taiyuan." Anshunshan, an Anguo merchant in Taiyuan City, colluded with Turkic spies, and Kang Qu, a Kangguo merchant, and others incited civil unrest to obstruct the government from rescuing Qingque!"
Thinking of this, Changsun Wuji's expression changed. He looked at An Shuncai and asked coldly: "Wait a minute, your name is An Shuncai?"
An Shuncai had already been lifted up by Changsun Qinghe, and was about to be dragged down to break his hands and feet when Changsun Wuji suddenly asked a question. This guy seemed to see a glimmer of hope of survival, and he nodded quickly and said: "Yes, yes, yes! The younger one’s name is An Shuncai!”
"Do you know Anshunshan? Who is he to you?"
Changsun Wuji waved his hand to Changsun Qinghe, indicating to him to put Anshun down first, and then he looked at Anshun and asked.
These days, brothers usually have similar names, such as Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang, Yuchi Baolin and Yuchi Baohuan, Fang Yiai and Fang Yizhi. Although this kind of thing cannot be said to be absolute, when such names appear, These two people are very likely to be brothers or from the same family!
Changsun Wuji asked this question because he also wanted to try his luck.
Unexpectedly, he was actually "touched" by him!
"We know each other! Of course we know each other!"
An Shuncai's eyes lit up, and he wondered, could it be that his cousin had a relationship with Changsun Wuji? In this case, he could save the day today, so he quickly said:
"Going back to Zhao Guogong, An Shunshan is An's cousin. Shunshan is in charge of hundreds of shops in the Tang Dynasty. As long as Zhao Guogong can spare his life, I and my cousin are willing to donate all the family assets..."
"shut up!"
This guy also wanted to use money to bribe Changsun Wuji. Changsun Wuji couldn't help but frowned and interrupted him, and then shouted coldly: "Anshunshan colluded with Turkic spies in Taiyuan and held the King of Wei hostage. You should be punished for your crime. As your cousin, this matter must have something to do with you, Qinghe, immediately escort this person to Dali Temple and let Dai Shaoqing interrogate him!"
Hearing this, Ma Cheng, who was kneeling on the ground, was shaken and said with regret in his heart: No wonder! No wonder Yanhuang Bank wants to ban merchants from Anguo and Kangguo. No wonder Ge Lao went to the palace but came back in vain. This cousin of Anshuncai actually colluded with Turkic spies in Taiyuan. If he had known this...
If Ma Cheng had known that something like this happened in Taiyuan City, even if Anshun had only given him one hundred thousand yuan, he would not have dared to intervene in the matter. Now, he can only feel infinite regret in his heart!
"Wha... what?"
When Anshun heard Changsun Wuji's words, his face suddenly turned pale!
What did he hear? His brother Anshunshan actually colluded with Turkic spies in Taiyuan City and kidnapped the King of Wei of the Tang Dynasty
What he was most worried about actually happened! Now even if Changsun Wuji doesn't kill him, the Emperor of Tang Dynasty will not let him go!
It's ridiculous that he has been thinking about how to lift the ban on Yanhuang Bank. If he had known this, he should have fled Chang'an in advance!
"Yes! Master!"
Changsun Qinghe clasped his fists and accepted the order. Then he strode forward, grabbed Anshuncai's shoulders, and dragged Anshuncai out like a dog to death.
Suddenly, only Changsun Wuji and Ma Cheng were left in the room!
"Ma Zhongming, although you come from a poor family, I appreciate your talent, so I kept you in my house back then, and let you get to where you are today step by step, but you have disappointed me so much!"
Looking at the person he had trained with his own hands, Changsun Wuji shook his head, his face full of pain and disappointment.
Indeed, when he first learned that Ma Cheng was plotting against him, he hated Ma Cheng so much that he wanted to have him cut into pieces immediately to relieve his hatred. But now that he has calmed down, Changsun Wuji only has So heartbroken and disappointed!
Ma Cheng is indeed a talented and learned person, and he has trained him with his own hands. Ma Cheng can go from being a poor scholar to becoming the prince Zhan Shi today. Behind this is Ma Cheng's own efforts, but more importantly, it is his eldest grandson. Wuji helped secretly from behind.
Changsun Wuji put a lot of thought into the move by recommending the person he trained to be the prince in the East Palace. He wanted to correct the prince's wrong idea of "underestimating Confucianism and focusing on engineering". In addition, Ma Cheng was in the East Palace. , if something happens over there, he will be informed of the news as soon as possible, right
But his well-intentioned move ended in vain because of the "betrayal" of his own people. How could he not feel sad about this? How not to be disappointed
"The elder Ge Zhongming had the kindness to meet me, and Zhong Ming deeply felt it. Today, he was so greedy for profit that he did such a stupid thing. Zhongming asked himself that he would not be able to see the elder Ge again in the future, and he is willing to die to apologize!"
Ma Cheng looked a little touched. He grabbed the ground with his head and kowtowed heavily to Changsun Wuji. Then he groaned and a lot of blood came out of his mouth. Then he tilted his neck and rolled his eyes. , fell to the ground.
This guy bit his tongue and committed suicide!
From the perspective of modern medicine, there is no scientific basis for the description in the novel of instant death by biting the tongue. In fact, in real life, we often see many examples of people whose tongues are injured or even partially missing due to various reasons and still survive.
But there are no absolutes in the world, and it cannot be said that biting one's tongue and committing suicide definitely does not exist. Generally speaking, if the person bites his tongue and commits suicide, if the root is broken, the person usually faints because he cannot bear the pain. Because the blood vessels at the base of the tongue are large, and because the tongue is inside the mouth, it is difficult to stop bleeding by compressing blood vessels. If the bleeding cannot be stopped, the person who bites his tongue and commits suicide is likely to die from excessive blood loss!
As for general tongue cutting, because it is cut from the outside, the tongue will not be cut off at the root, but only the tip of the tongue will be cut off, so it is relatively less painful.
Another theory is that when people bite their tongue, they bite off the base of the tongue (the root of the part in the mouth), and the remaining part will block the trachea and cause death by suffocation.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, there is still a probability of "successful" in committing suicide by biting one's tongue!
In the house, Changsun Wuji saw Ma Cheng vomiting blood to the end. He couldn't help but stare blankly. He knew that Ma Cheng had probably bitten his tongue and committed suicide. He did not expect that this guy would wake up at the last moment and bite his tongue to commit suicide and die as an apology. Courage, looking at Ma Cheng's dead body on the ground, Changsun Wuji sighed leisurely and shouted outside: "Here comes someone!"
"Master...!"
Soon, two well-dressed warriors came in outside the house. When the two men came in and saw Ma Cheng lying on the ground, they both had stern looks, but they didn't say much, and their expressions quickly returned to normal.
"Ma Cheng secretly colluded with Anguo businessmen and committed suicide out of fear of crime. Drag him down!"
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