Just in time for rain [恰逢雨连天] - Chapter 183

[183. Chapter One Eighty Two]

Volume 5

, Chapter 182

(two years later) At the end of

Xia Yinshi, the sky was bright white, it was dawn, but the lights in Liuzhao Pavilion had been burning all night.

Yanxiu, the imperial censor of the capital, stood outside the pavilion, and knocked on the door lightly with the newspapers, military newspapers, and urgent letters that were newly obtained this morning.

“Come in.” After a while, a cold voice came from the pavilion.

Yan Xiu pushed open the door and entered: “Lord Liu, today, the Department of General Affairs and the Ministry of War sent several urgent letters at the same time.”

Liu Chaoming was reviewing the memorial, and dipped his pen in ink, without looking up: “Pick up the important ones.”

“Yes.” Yan Xiu said, “Huguang has repeatedly suffered from peach blossom floods in recent years. After the cabinet agreed to rebuild the dyke, the people sent by the Ministry of Industry to investigate the river dyke have sent the funds needed for the repair back to the capital, which is more than expected. One and a half million taels.”

Liu Chaoming kept writing: “Have you informed Shen Qingyue?”

“It has been reported to Lord Shen. Lord Shen replied that he would send people from the household department to Wuchang Mansion for this matter. Since the matter is serious, let the lower official come to inform Lord Shoufu.”

Liu Chaoming said, “I see.”

This is the long-standing tacit understanding between Shen Xi and Liu Chaoming.

Since September of the first year of Jin’an, Zhu Nanxian reorganized the cabinet and appointed him as the first and second assistants. For the past two years, most of the government affairs related to people’s livelihood and wealth have been handled by Shen Xi first. Memorials involving criminal case review, official performance appraisal, and important military and political affairs will be handed to Liu Chaoming’s desk first.

Yan Xiu added: “Since His Majesty defeated the 200,000-strong army led by the third prince of Chili, Damer two months ago, he has now led the Northwest New Army to chase out of the Quicksand Pass and once again defeated Damer’s ‘Iron Eagle Division’. , the cabinet sent a letter to congratulate His Majesty in May, do you want to send another letter now?”

When Liu Chaoming heard this, he paused for a moment.

Zhu Nanxian is indeed a rare handsome talent.

Two years ago, after he arrived in the northwest with light clothing, Damer gathered a hundred thousand troops to launch a general attack on Liangzhou Wei before he had time to rest. At that time, the northwest was at a time when military grievances were boiling. Zhu Nanxian killed three commanders overnight, and then took advantage of the cold weather to summon the soldiers to pour cold water on the city wall. The cold water instantly froze, and the city wall was slippery and difficult to climb, successfully blocking the siege. Afterwards, they gathered 10,000 archers and arrows to let the arrows rain, and the 100,000-strong army of Damer was almost exhausted. Only then did they lead the light cavalry guards out of the city, and they won the first battle with fewer enemies and more first battles, which shocked the Northwest Army.

In the spring of the following year, Damer regrouped an army of 400,000 troops and returned. Although Zhu Nanxian was defeated in this battle, he also severely damaged the Iron Eagle Division, buying time to wait for reinforcements. In the following two months, the Ministry of War and the Dudu’s Office quickly integrated the garrison of the Beida battalion and the garrison guards to conquer the northwest. Zhu Nanxian named this army the Northwest New Army, and led it to launch a surprise attack on the Iron Eagle Division who had occupied Liangzhou Wei. Victory and recapture of Liangzhou.

Since then, the two sides have fought repeatedly, and the new army in the northwest has won more and lost less. Until this year, that is, in May of the third year of Jin’an, Zhu Nanxian broke through the 200,000-strong army at Shazhouwei, and led his troops to chase out the border and attack the enemy bandits. . Liu

Chaoming said, “After this battle, Your Majesty, the whole army will return

to Beijing.”

Chao Ming said: “There is no need to send an additional letter of congratulations. Please inform the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Rites of His Majesty’s return to Beijing and itinerary, and order the prefectures along the way to prepare for pickup.” ”

Yes.”

Di Bao sorted it out, took out two ordinary letters similar to family letters from the bottom, and continued: “The other two letters were sent by the Secretary of General Affairs, and one of them was written by Master Su to you.”

Liu Chaoming’s writing stopped again, but he didn’t say a word. He made a few more lines of comments in the memorial book, and then pulled out a long swipe to close the end, and then said, “What did you write?”

“Master Su said that she has some urgent matters to take care of. She should postpone the original return to Beijing for two days, and will not return until July 12 in five days.”

Liu Chaoming was silent for a moment: “Did you say what is the urgent matter?”

” I didn’t mention it.” Yan Xiu said, “But the people from the General Affairs Department said that after Lord Su sent you a letter, he sent another letter to Lord Shen, and it was written that if you didn’t understand the urgent matter, you wouldn’t know if you were an official.”

Liu Chaoming didn’t answer this, and asked, “Didn’t you say there is another letter?”

“The other letter was written by the Fourth Princess, saying that the Fourth Highness fell ill again on the way back to Beijing, and the group will rest in Jinan Mansion for some time. , the date of returning to Beijing will also be postponed, but the autumn ceremony in August will still be

able to catch up.” “It’s good to catch up.” Liu Chaoming said, “In reply to the letter, let them put the body of His Highness first and walk slowly.”

Yan Xiu should be , and sighed again: “It’s a pity, the fourth highness has guarded the northern border for more than ten years, with a strategic mind, brave and good at fighting, and finally ended up like this. After he fell off his horse and was injured, the lord even sent a message to him that he would have a good life and recuperate in the Peiping Mansion. If Your Highness is willing to listen to the advice of the lord, the Dasui will not lose another general.”

Two years ago, on the eve of Zhu Nanxian’s personal expedition, Zhu Yu was deeply in love with him. The arrow fell.

In the summer of the following year, after Zhu Nanxian led the Northwest New Army to raid the Chili Army, Damer’s Iron Eagle Division was once defeated. Later, spies came to report, saying that Chili and Beiliang wanted to join forces to attack Dasui. Zhu Nanxian and Zhu Yushen decided to lead the army to attack at the same time to destroy the enemy’s conspiracy plan. Although the two of them were victorious, they had been wounded in battle since Zhu Yushen was injured.

The fourth concubine Shen Yun and her personal guards searched for three days and nights under the cliff without rest before finding Zhu Yushen. At that time, Zhu Yushen only had one breath left, and it was thanks to him that he practiced martial arts all year round and his health was very good, so the accompanying doctor saved his life. For this reason, Zhu Yushen became an idiot when he woke up.

Liu Chaoming said: “Everything has a cause and effect. If the Fourth Highness led his troops to defeat the Beiliang army and obstructed the plan of Beiliang and Chili to form an alliance with His Majesty, the current northern border would not have been peaceful this year. The military expenditure is too heavy, and where will the money come from to rebuild the river embankment in the Huguang area?”

Yan Xiu said: “Although this is the truth, when the lower official thinks of the current state of the Fourth Highness, he can’t help but regret it.”

Liu Chaoming took it from his desk . After reading the book, he opened it and just read two lines, his brows suddenly furrowed, and he asked, “Su Shiyu said that her return to Beijing will be postponed for two days?”

“Yes.” Yan Xiu said in surprise, “What’s wrong? Is it?”

Liu Chaoming thought for a while: “Bring the state and county annals of the capital.” The

state and county annals are very clearly marked. From the south of Dasui to the capital, the best official road goes through Aocheng, but Su Jin This time, it is enough to return to Beijing and make a detour to Suzhou, but it has to be postponed for two days?

Liu Chaoming’s eyes fell on the upper right of Suzhou Mansion, a very inconspicuous county town named Qinghe.

“I said why Shen Qingyue didn’t wait for Zhu Nanxian to return to the capital. At this time, he asked the Fourth Highness to come down and answer the order. It turned out that he and Su Shiyu had already noticed something wrong and planned to do something to His Highness and this official.” Liu Chaoming said coldly. .

Yan Xiu was stunned when he heard the words: “Why did your lord say this?” He looked at the state and county records spread out on the table, “Is there a secret stake between the lord and His Highness in this Qinghe County?

” Before standing up, he instructed: “I ordered someone to tell Shen Qingyue a message. This official has an urgent case to handle. After going out for three days, he will preside over the court meeting.”

“Sir, do you want to go to Qinghe County in person?” “But the two adults, Chen Su, are already suspicious of the adults. When you go to Qinghe County, aren’t you afraid of stunning the snakes and deepening their suspicions?”

But he still didn’t get an answer to his question, and Liu Chaoming had already pushed out the door.

At this time, the sky was full of light, a golden glow fell, and the palace was no longer silent. The waiter in front of the lantern in front of Xuanyuan Stage just blew out the wind lantern in his hand, when he saw a person with a cold temperament walking in front of him. He recognized Liu Chaoming and hurriedly knelt down and saluted, “Meet the Lord Shoufu.”

Liu Chaoming ignored it and walked out of the palace.

What about the grass and the snake?

The edict of “kill without mercy” has been hidden in this deep palace for two years. If the grass does not fight, the snake is already startled, and in this case, he acts as he should.

Anyway, born as a human, come and go alone, I have never been afraid of anything.

After receiving the letter from Shen Xi, Su Jin ordered the accompanying guards to station in the outskirts of Suzhou Mansion, changed his clothes, and took Qin Zhaolin to Qinghe County alone.

The two wore plain clothes, hired a carriage at the inn, and traveled for a full day.

After entering the county seat, Tan Zhaolin said to Su Jin very puzzled: “My lord, I really don’t understand, you have become such a big official now, why does Sir Shen want you to handle the case in person? Isn’t it just a small county magistrate? Why, can you just write a writ and send someone to bring it to the den?”

Su Jin laughed when he heard this: “You are the county magistrate’s den of thieves?” After a brief pause, he continued, “This case is not mine. You can’t investigate it in person.”

Hearing this, Tan Zhaolin raised eyebrows in his heart: “Could it be that we have finally found clues about the case we investigated in Annan for more than half a year?”

Su Jin nodded: “Yes.”

Tan Zhaolin rubbed his hands together: “I We have to see who this rich and incomparably rich landowner is.”

The “local rich owner” in Qin Zhaolin’s words was indeed a real person.

However, it is said that during Su Jin’s envoy to Annan, he found a lot of great goods in the local area, such as silk, tea and porcelain. She didn’t care much at first, but after thinking about it, Dasui and Annan border robbers are everywhere, and trade should not be so prosperous.

She found Hu Yuanjie and asked him to help her track down. I really don’t know if I don’t check it. After checking it, I found out that these large-scale goods have been sold in batches to Annan since a few years ago. Hu Yuanjie was proficient at calculating the scriptures, so he helped Su Jin to calculate an account. In ten years, the Suishan, who would sell the goods to Annan, had earned thousands of taels of silver and was rich enough to rival the country.

Su Jin knew that this matter was not simple, and what a person with such a huge amount of money could do and what he could do was immeasurable. She immediately claimed to be ill, stayed in Annan for more than half a year, collected evidence and accounts, ordered someone to bring it back to Dasui, and let Shen Xi use the power of the Ministry of Household to track down the whole country.

Just a few days ago, Su Jin received a secret letter from Shen Xi, saying that the matter seemed to be related to Liu Yun, and made her rush to the Qinghe county magistrate’s residence in Suzhou, saying that the magistrate probably knew something.

Although Su Jin came to Qinghe County non-stop, he felt that Liu Yun should not be the businessman they were looking for. But since Shen Xi checked it out, even if it wasn’t Liu Yun, he should have something to do with him.

Su Jin was cautious and changed his attire with Tan Zhaolin. Along the way, he inquired about the county magistrate with the driver. He learned that he was honest, loves the people, respects Confucianism, and loves to deal with scholars, so he claimed to be a scholar and entourage from the south. The article is presented to the government, please enlighten me.

The servant who answered the door was also polite and said: “Since the two distinguished guests have come from Qizhou all the way, why don’t you please sit in the main hall for a while, my master is better to deal with scholars, and I love poetry, books and articles in my life, and I will wait for him to come. When I come back, I will definitely have a good chat with Young Master Jia.”

At this time, it was raining, but the rain was slow and the clothes were not wet.

Su Jin bowed: “You have little brother.” The

servant took Su Jin all the way to the house, around the patio, and made a “please” gesture in the main hall, and then said: “I forgot to tell Master Jia Su, today Earlier, a young master named Zhen and Liu came from Hangzhou to visit my master. He is from a noble family. If Master Jia waits for a chat, he might as well talk to Master Zhen for a while.”

Su Jin heard the words and walked towards the door of the hall . Looking inside, his eyes fell on the person on the right hand who was holding a tea cup and drinking slowly.

Dressed in a green shirt with cold brows, it was Liu Chaoming.

[End of This Chapter]