The Red Mansions

Chapter 170

Chapter 170

In the Daming Palace, Emperor Chongping had just landed behind the imperial case, and called the inner prison to summon Jia Heng to have an audience.

At this moment, Jia Heng walked in, saluted and let it go, only to hear Emperor Chongping say: "Jia Qing, I was in a hurry to see you this early in the morning, but what's the rush?"

Emperor Chongping took the tea from Dai Quan and asked in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, after interrogating Liu You, the head of the Five Cities Military Division overnight, I have already found out the case of the examinee being beaten and maimed by the Sanhe gang, but the matter is so important that I am afraid and don't know how to investigate it. Please also ask Your majesty will show you." Jia Heng said, cupping his hands.

And when Jia Heng opened his mouth, Emperor Chongping was also surprised, because his voice was a little hoarse, and he couldn't hide his fatigue.

Emperor Chongping raised his eyes and was startled. He saw that the young man's eyes were bloodshot, but his eyes were still bright and sharp, and his heart skipped a beat.

"So fast? What did Ziyu find out?" Emperor Chongping looked solemn, and he put the teacup on the imperial case beside him, his eyes fell on Jia Heng's hesitant face, and he had some guesses in his heart.

In fact, last night he had already asked the Jinyiwei Baihu named Qu Lang, and he already had a certain understanding of the Jianghu Gang in Dongcheng. Among them, the Sanhe Gang, the largest, was the most powerful. The dignitaries are deeply involved, but Qu Lang doesn't know who and how deeply they are involved.

He has promoted him to be a thousand households of Jinyiwei, purging the Jinyiwei who secretly communicated with the music, and today he is about to order Dai Quan to send someone to investigate the matter secretly. Unexpectedly, the young man in front of him found some clues in a short period of time.

Jia Hengdao: "Your Majesty, I have found out that Fan Yi was beaten and maimed by Liu You, the head of the Wucheng Army and Horse Division, who ordered the Sanhe Gang to do it out of personal enmity. There are other people, last night there were even members of the Sanhe Gang and the people from the Wucheng Bingma Division cooperating inside and outside, intending to kill Liu You to silence them!"

"Assault on the government office, killing people to silence them?" Emperor Chongping's face suddenly became gloomy and terrifying, and he shouted: "How courageous!"

Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "According to Liu You's confession, the Sanhe Gang got involved with..."

"And what?" Seeing Jia Heng's hesitation, Emperor Chongping's face was gloomy, and he said, "I said the day before yesterday that no matter who is involved, we will investigate to the end and punish them severely! Don't worry about it!"

Jia Hengdao: "The Sanhe Gang seems to have a close relationship with His Royal Highness Qi Wang, who is in charge of government affairs. According to Liu You, almost [-]% of the profits made by the Sanhe Gang's businesses and shops are sent to Qi Wang's residence. I don't know the authenticity of what he said, but I will offer it up now."

Emperor Chongping's face was livid, and he said, "Dai Quan, bring me the confession."

Dai Quan took the wooden box containing the confession from Jia Heng, opened it and inspected it, and saw that there was nothing unusual, then took out a thick stack of books with the confession, and handed it to Emperor Chongping.

Emperor Chongping took the paper on which the confession was recorded, and began to read it.

The Daming Palace fell into silence for a while, and the golden sun in the early autumn morning passed through the window and fell on the curtains, smoked tripods, bookshelves, and vases in the palace.

However, the sound of "swiping" turning pages became more and more urgent and fast, like the prelude to a storm brewing.

Not only Liu You's confession, but also the confession of the Sanhe gang who came to silence him.

With Emperor Chongping's mentality, how could he not draw the whole picture of the matter in his mind.

Liu You colluded with the King of Qi, and because the incident was revealed, the King of Qi sent a member of the Sanhe Gang to kill him with soldiers and horses in Wucheng!

"Reverse, reverse!"

Emperor Chongping slapped the confession in his hand on the ground, roared like thunder, and shouted angrily: "At least five or six million taels a year? The Sanhe gang has 60 people... What is he going to do?! I'm not dead yet!"

All the maids and eunuchs around knelt down one after another, and even Dai Quan knelt down with a "plop", his body trembling.

Jia Heng's face was indifferent, and he cupped his hands and said: "Please calm down the anger, I think this matter needs to be investigated in detail..."

"Check it out in detail? Fifty percent of the masters of the army and horses know it, and so do the hundreds of households in Jinyiwei, but I don't know it!"

Even though I had vaguely guessed from Qu Lang's few words yesterday that there were vassals and nobles for him, but now seeing the 3 members of the Sanhe Gang earning at least five or six million taels of silver a year, Chong Emperor Ping was still stunned by this number, his heart was filled with anger.

Based on Emperor Chongping's knowledge, he believed that five or six million taels of silver was just too much!

Now King Qi has both money and people, if there is the one from Chonghua Palace... what is he going to do?

Emperor Chongping didn't dare to think about it, and suddenly looked at Dai Quan coldly, his eyes almost devoured, "You dog slave, King Qi and the Sanhe Gang have been linked for several years, your inner guard , do you eat dry rice?"

The more he talked, the more angry he was, he grabbed the paperweight beside his hand and threw it at Dai Quan.

Hit on the shoulder, Dai Quan groaned, knelt down on the ground, kowtowed, and cried in a low voice: "Your Majesty, this old slave really doesn't know, this old slave doesn't care about the east city..."

Seeing this scene, Jia Heng's heart trembled.

The wrath of the emperor was actually somewhat beyond his imagination.

According to the theory of slack and inseparable relatives, the emperor would lose his temper at most when he learned about it, but this look of being stripped of dragon scales obviously has secrets about the royal family that he does not know.

Thinking further down, the key is faintly clear.

"This should be the anger of an emperor who suddenly found out after being deceived by others, and this should be... the anger after feeling that the imperial power was threatened! King Qi has sent the Royal Household Department to observe politics for almost eight years. , Neichang and Jinyiwei seem to have never reported..."

Jia Heng pondered for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, should we continue to investigate this matter?"

For many things, it doesn't matter what you find out, but whether the higher-ups are willing to investigate. This determination cannot be made.

"Don't worry about it. You and Xu Lu will thoroughly investigate to the end. The Sanhe Gang must be uprooted. As for the loss of tax money in Dongshi, we must also investigate!" Emperor Chongping's face was gloomy, suppressing the burning anger in his chest.

Some people can't afford to turn the waves!

He has ruled the world for fourteen years, and has been in power for six years. No one can shake his throne according to the people's will!

Jia Heng was responding, but saw Emperor Chongping suddenly turned to Dai Quan, and said in a deep voice: "You dog slave, call King Qi into the palace, I have something to ask him!"

Dai Quan felt terrified and left as ordered.

Jia Heng's heart sank when he heard this, no matter what, the King of Qi probably hated him.

But this is also a helpless thing, as long as you want to do something, you need to offend others. If he helps to cover up, once the emperor finds out, what he gets is not jealousy, but murder.

"It's just that when King Qi enters the palace, he will definitely argue that he needs to be vaccinated in advance." Jia Heng thought about this, hesitated for a while, and said: "My lord, is there a possibility that it is grain loading and unloading, and water transportation?" , can't live without these people for a moment, so His Royal Highness King Qi has to cooperate with them?"

When Emperor Chongping heard the words, he snorted coldly and said, "Du Jitong, the Governor of Water Transport, led the grain guards to escort the grain. When will these gangsters be used? It's just King Qi's audacity to do things without authorization. Ziyu, don't worry. In this matter, he acted so boldly, you have to detect it in advance, and correct his mistake, you really have to wait...it will be broad daylight, when there will be a lot of discussions, it will not be so simple."

Jia Heng looked silent, somewhat cold in his heart.

Is this the difference between inside and outside?

Judging from the meaning of today's son, it seems that there is still no way to abolish King Qi as a commoner, and there is even a plan to suppress it?

Just now it was obvious that Longyan was furious...

"Of course, this is also human nature. Even if it is Wu Xun, as long as he does not commit the ten heinous crimes, there are still eight things to discuss. What's more, the prince! Moreover, there are many troubles in the country now. Not to mention that the king of Qi was abolished, it is to use him The prince's collusion with the gang forces, if it is exposed to the world, it will have an impact on the emperor's holiness." Jia Heng's mind turned, and he somewhat grasped the emperor's psychological bottom line.

The Sanhe Gang must be eliminated, and the matter of King Qi must be suppressed.

Jia Heng said: "My lord, there is one more thing I want to say to my lord. Now that the Sanhe Gang has a large number of people, I am afraid that the five cities' soldiers and horses will not be able to support them. Please transfer the soldiers from the Beijing camp just in case. Bandits in Jingping East City!"

Transferring the army to the Beijing camp was not only to prevent the Sanhe gang from taking risks, but also to prepare for the temporary management of the matter by the Beijing camp in case the grain cannot be unloaded in time.

"The army of the Beijing camp, which one do you want to transfer?" Emperor Chongping said with his eyes twinkling.

Jia Heng understood, and said in a deep voice, "Please transfer Guoyong Ying Niu Jizong's department!"

Emperor Chongping paused for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "I will give you the Heavenly Sword, and the soldiers of the Beijing camp will be dispatched by you, but don't dispatch them now. In two days, Niu Jizong will be impeached and punished with suspension. At that time, there is no owner, so you can transfer the battalion into Beijing to calm the bandits."

Taking advantage of Niu Jizong's incompetence in governing the army, and the fact that King Qi was being used, he wanted to take back the power of a battalion first.

When Jia Heng heard this, he cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, my lord, I didn't intend to transfer the soldiers of the Beijing camp right now, and when the group of little people show their ugliness and show their evil to the world, I will use my axe!"

Emperor Chongping nodded, looking at Jia Heng with more gentle eyes.

Jia Heng thought for a while and said: "My lord, if there is nothing else to do, I will retire first and continue to try the case together with Mr. Xu."

However, even if the case is being tried with Xu Lu, depending on what the emperor said, it is not easy to let everyone know about King Qi's involvement in the case.

"If I didn't come to see the emperor at the beginning, let Xu Lu and others go to the front...it won't work. At that time, the emperor was caught off guard, but he would have a bad feeling for me. Once the bad feeling arises, his suspicious temperament will be amplified."

Jia Heng pondered the pros and cons.

This is the tricky point he said earlier, the key is not to be close to each other, you can't kill it all at once, you can only cut it slowly.

For example, Chongping Emperor Longyan was furious just now, wishing he could chop King Qi alive, but the thunder still hangs in the air, only a thorn in his heart.

"So, if you want to overthrow King Qi, it's not enough to rely on this one thing alone, you need to look again."

However, at this moment, Emperor Chongping said: "Ziyu, don't leave in a hurry, wait until you see King Qi."

Jia Heng's heart trembled slightly, and he looked up at Emperor Chongping.

What did the Son of Heaven ask him to stay for, King Razi's hatred?

No, the king of Qi has already hated him, so there is only one purpose, to show his kindness and comfort, even if the king of Qi wants to move him, he needs to be cautious.

Emperor Chongping said in a cold voice: "If you blame him for his faults, if he is narrow-minded and harbors resentment, he will pretend to be a prince! Since he is involved with the Three Rivers Gang, he knows the situation inside the Three Rivers Gang, and if he cooperates."

Just listening to Dai Quan outside said: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Qi is waiting outside."

Emperor Chongping said coldly: "Xuan!"

Not long after, I saw a young man of 27 or [-] years old, wearing a prince's python robe, with fair skin and a fat body, entered the side hall under the guidance of the inner eunuch.

"My son has seen the father, long live the father, long live the father." King Qi paid respects and said loudly.

However, Emperor Chongping did not make King Qi stand up, and said coldly: "Send people into the five cities to attack and kill the court officials, Chen Cheng, who gave you the courage!"

"This... Where did the father come from to say this? My son doesn't know about it." King Qi's face changed drastically when he heard Emperor Chongping call him by his name angrily. A coldness flashed across Jia Heng's heart.

The person who was sent to the Sanhe gang yesterday to silence them returned without success. He heard the news early in the morning, and it was Jia Heng who stopped him!

I don't want to, I haven't found this guy to settle accounts, but this guy came to my father's side and slandered me!

And Jia Heng was keenly aware of this passing gaze, and aware of the maliciousness deep in that gaze. Looking at the fat King Qi, five words flashed in his mind inexplicably.

The king of Qi is also a man.

If you obediently confess your guilt as soon as you come in, please forgive Emperor Chongping, but he must be wary of the honey-belly sword of this mouth.

Emperor Chongping shouted, "Liu You, do you recognize him?"

"My son doesn't know." King Qi said anxiously.

"You still dare to quibble!" Emperor Chongping yelled, and threw the confession in his hand onto King Qi's face, and shouted: "Liu You's confession is so clear, I don't know it!"

King Qi's complexion changed slightly, holding the confession, his chubby face flushed red with anxiety, and said: "Father, this is him accusing my son, son..."

"Enough!" Emperor Chongping sneered, interrupted King Qi's defense, and sneered: "Collude with gangsters, bribe officials of the court, send villains to attack government offices, all these evil things you have done, I will depose you, more than enough !"

King Qi was shocked when he heard the words, and lowered his head. Suddenly, it seemed to Jia Heng that the performance was somewhat clumsy, and wept loudly: "Father, I was confused for a while. I just arrived at the household department. There is no manpower to order, and I am not less affected by the gang of civil servants in the household department. I can’t do errands, and I am often laughed at by people for being pigheaded and pig-headed. Enyi, this is how to win over to do things by your side. They have helped to transport grain into Beijing for the past few years, and they have contributed a lot. As for the fact that they beat and maimed the candidates for the exam, I don't know it! As for the matter, even if I borrow a hundred courage from my son, I will not dare, there must be a villain maliciously slandering, and Liu You's wanton gossip..."

Emperor Chongping suddenly slapped the imperial case, and shouted: "I don't want to hear you say these things. Now the Sanhe Gang has tens of thousands of people in the East City. What are you doing for your own use?"

King Qi called Qu and said, "Father, 4 to 4 people? Father, where did the sons and ministers go to get [-] to [-] people? They are all just begging for life. Haha, they carry grains on the pier and ferry to eat together... ..."

Seeing this scene, Jia Heng frowned. King Qi had to say that he was really a bit shameless and generous.

No matter how clumsy the performance was, he was inexplicably confident and wanted to soar a high note that would wipe out the whole world.

"People are ugly and don't know it. What evil did the emperor do to give birth to such a son? Don't be..." Jia Heng thought disrespectfully, but for a moment, his eyes became darker, "Could it be that Is it King Qi's way of self-protection, pretending to be stupid?" Jia Heng's mind flashed suspiciously, but after careful consideration, he felt that there were many possibilities.

"Otherwise, it cannot be explained. Emperor Chongping didn't know until today that King Qi has been hiding in Dongcheng for so long! He looks stupid, but in fact he is treacherous." Jia Heng looked deeply, thinking, "Fake insanity is really the seed of the emperor! "

(End of this chapter)