Gui Yuan

Chapter 52

Fei Tian said: "After being taken away by masked men that day, they took a secret path."

Lin Rong, one of the parties involved, was most puzzled: "Is there such a thing? Why can't I remember it at all?"

Speaking of this, Fei Tian couldn't help but glanced at him: "Isn't it? They didn't slap you hard on the head and you passed out. What can you remember?"

But after thinking about it, Fei Tian said again: "Maybe it's because of you. The people who took pictures of me didn't use much force. I woke up halfway and saw a group of them dragging us down the dark and secret road. I dare not." I kept my mouth shut for fear that they would find that I was awake, so I walked for a long time, and when there was a little light outside, I arrived at the foot of the mountain."

Wei Yao said: "This kind of secret passage is half manpower and half relying on heavenly work. It is even rarer to be able to hide it like this. It is most likely the secret passage for transporting saltpeter mines. Fei Tian, ​​do you know the general direction of the entrance and exit of the secret passage?"

"I woke up halfway, but I didn't see the entrance." Fei Tian pondered for a moment, and said, "But I took a sneak peek at the exit, and I can still recognize the approximate location."

"Okay, it shouldn't be too late, let's go to Xiaowei Mountain immediately." Wei Yao said.

Wei Yao sent someone to inform Zhao Min first, and when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Zhao Min was already waiting at the foot of the mountain with a pair of people.

Zhao Min saluted and said: "There is still a team of people left on the mountain, if there is a problem, we can cooperate with each other."

Wei Yao nodded, and called Fei Tian over again: "You lead the way."

Fei Tian led them almost around the foot of the mountain, and finally found the secret passage he mentioned.The entrance of the cave was tightly blocked by the rocks in front of it, and there were a few vines wrapped around the rocks. From a distance, it looked like an ordinary mountain. If it wasn't for Fei Tian, ​​he might not be able to find it even if he searched the mountain several times.

However, the gap between the stone and the entrance of the cave is narrow, and it is difficult for a single person to enter. This place is hidden, but it is time-consuming to transport such a large amount of saltpeter ore.Ning Qing stared at the stone in front of him, and followed the vines to the bottom of the stone. The vines in other places were thick and thick, but the ones growing at the bottom of the stone were tattered.He had a guess, turned his head to Zhao Min and said, "Get a few people and see if they can move this stone."

It is said to be a stone, but it is about eight feet high and five feet wide. Normally, even a dozen people would not be able to push it, but unexpectedly, Zhao Min found a few people and pushed it, and even had some spare strength.

Zhao Min and the few people who pushed the stone felt incredible. Wei Yao tapped the stone lightly, and realized: "The stone is already half empty. It's just a vain gesture."

Ning Qing smiled and said, "That's right, this way the entrance of the cave can be concealed without hindering people from walking."

Fei Tian couldn't help but admire Pu Yu and the others, they really took great pains to transport the mine.

Wei Yao said: "I don't know what's going on inside, don't go in all, first explore the way."

Zhao Min and Tian Cheng volunteered, lit torches and entered the cave, while the others stayed at the entrance of the cave and waited.After about a stick of incense, the two came back, their expressions were not very good, Zhao Min said to Wei Yao: "It's okay, you can go in, but... the general should go and see for himself."

So they took twenty or thirty soldiers into the secret passage, and the rest were guarding outside.After walking for a certain distance, the narrow and secret passage opened up, and it turned out to be a natural cave. What is even more surprising is that there are hundreds of wooden boxes piled inside, and the unique smell of saltpeter can be faintly smelled, which is obviously the reason for their bitterness. The hard-to-find warehouse.

With a sullen face, Wei Yao ordered, "Zhao Min, let someone move all these boxes out."

Zhao Min stayed where he was, while Wei Yao and Ning Qing continued to walk forward. After walking for half an hour, they finally saw the end of the fight.Unexpectedly, the end of the secret passage was not far from the saltpeter mine, and there was still a big stone blocking it, but it completely sealed the entrance of the cave.After they pushed the stones away, the miners who were pushing the stones stopped and stared at them in a daze, with some surprised, some puzzled, and some desperate.

A pair of men and horses kept on the mountain rushed over as soon as they heard the movement, and when they saw Wei Yao, they all saluted: "General!"

Wei Yao responded, still staring at the miners and inspectors, and said, "Take everyone away."

The subordinates said in unison: "Yes!"

When he was about to arrest someone, a miner ran over, knelt down in front of Wei Yao, and shouted out of breath, "My lord! The younger one is Guo Qi, the supervisor. If you have anything you want to ask, just ask me. The others don't." If you don't know the truth, why take them to occupy Wu Si's place."

Wei Yao looked at him with a cold face, and nodded slightly after a while: "They don't know, but they can lure you who know."

Guo Qi was taken aback.

Wei Yao turned his head and ordered: "Take the manager away, you don't need to arrest the miners, just leave a few people to watch them."

As soon as Wei Yao gave an order, the subordinates acted according to what he said.

After the effect of the medicine wore off, when Pu Yu took people to look for Fei Tian to no avail, he had an ominous premonition in his heart. When he rushed to Xiaowei Mountain, he saw soldiers transporting out of the cave that no one should have noticed. The box of saltpeter powder, his expression at this moment is really complicated.

The subordinate next to him asked cautiously: "General... what should we do now, Your Highness..."

Pu Yu stretched out his hand and interrupted his subordinates. After standing for a long time, he turned and left, and said, "Report to the master and ask him to make a decision."

Things and people were brought back to Wusi. After counting, there were 120 three boxes in the cave, all of which were refined saltpeter powder. This is unlikely to be a temporary achievement. It must have been accumulated for a while. Let alone whether Xu Yang and the others can be convicted if there are only people who have no stolen goods, the unknown flow of such a large amount of saltpeter powder is also a hidden danger.

Now that the stolen goods were seized together, Xu Yang was also brought out, Wei Yao interrogated on the spot, and Bai Dingguang recorded and assisted him.

First, Guo Qi confessed: "The brothers in the mine are not profitable. They have always been mining for the imperial court, and at the same time secretly made the more mined ore into powder and secretly flowed to the people. After Zhan Wusi took office, he found out about this, and not only did he not blame him. , I also asked the villain if he wanted to make a lot of money. The villain naturally thought, the people in the mine were all born in poverty, and no one wanted to make more money, so that they would stop doing this hard work."

Ning Qing asked: "So you agreed with Zhan Guiyou, you are in charge of mining, and he is in charge of selling, if you make money, it will not be less good for you?"

Guo Qi nodded and said, "Exactly."

Wei Yao looked at Xu Yang who was scared out of his wits, and said, "What about you?"

Seeing today's posture, how can Xu Yang not understand, he lost his previous arrogance long ago, knelt down respectfully and said: "Xiaguan, I have known Zhan Guiyou before, and I was obsessed with ghosts and greedy for glory, so I agreed to him."

Fei Tian snorted: "This is bullying the dead who can't speak, and pouring dirty water on others."

Ning Qing smiled and asked, "Does Master Xu know how Master Zhan and Master Zhong died?"

Xu Yang glanced at him, leaned over and said, "I don't know."

Well, this is trying to clean himself up, if he can't escape, he will do it, and if there is no definite evidence, he will deny it.

Ning Qing was not annoyed, and continued to ask: "Then you should know the whereabouts of these saltpeter powders. With such a large amount, is it sold to the people for fireworks?"

Xu Yang buried his head even lower, almost comparable to a turtle with a shrunken head.

"The lower officials really don't know that Master Zhan handled these matters. The lower officials are only responsible for supervising the miners' mining and milling, and they don't know about the rest." Xu Yang raised his head slightly and said, "After Master Zhan died, Aren’t these saltpeter powders all piled up in the cave, if the officials really have a way, why bother to pile them up and ask the adults to hand them over as evidence, instead of harming yourself?”

Ning Qing slightly raised her eyebrows, thinking that this Xu Yang is really smart, and he really found a reasonable excuse.Indeed, with so much saltpeter powder, one is waiting to be sold, and the other is that, as Xu Yang said, Zhan Guiyou is dead and he has no way out, so he can only pile it there.There is no need to count on Xu Yang being stubborn, another Zhan Guiyou who knew the truth has long since died, so it is hard to speculate on the truth.What we can know right now is that there must be someone behind Xu Yang and Zhan Guiyou, otherwise when he was detained, he would not be able to be so peaceful. It can only mean that Wei Yao's words are right in his arms, he is afraid of death, and that one will kill him Yes, the one who killed Zhan Guiyou must be the same master.

Xu Yang was as slippery as a loach, and Wei Yao had already worn out his patience, so he asked directly, "Who else is behind Zhan Guiyou?"

As expected, Xu Yang said: "I don't know."

Ning Qing nodded and said with a smile: "Master Xu really doesn't know what to ask. Forget it, Master Bai, let someone bring the evidence."

The soldiers of the military division handed over a stack of letters to Ning Qing, and Ning Qing sprinkled them directly in front of Xu Yang, and said, "After Mr. Xu was under house arrest, I sent someone to your house and found the hidden compartment in the drawer of your study. I have carefully compared these letters, but these letters are from your hand, so who did you write to?"

Xu Yang was a little dazed looking at the letters on the ground, Ning Qing reminded: "My lord, don't say that someone copied your handwriting, the mention of the saltpeter mine is very detailed, besides my lord, who else would be interested in Xiao Weishan? Do you know everything clearly?"

When Xu Yang picked up a letter and turned it over to open it, he was taken aback for a moment, and then Ning Qing realized that most of the fear in his eyes had dissipated in just that moment, and he could even be said to be relieved.But Ning Qing had read those letters, and these did not clear him of the slightest suspicion, but instead convicted Xu Yang, so why did he feel relieved?

Xu Yang read the letter, closed his eyes and lay down on the ground, shouting: "This official is guilty, I am willing to send you back to Beijing, let the Holy One decide."

For some reason, Ning Qing panicked, and he hurriedly asked, "Master Xu hasn't answered me yet, who are you writing this letter to?"

Xu Yangdao looked up at him, and said: "Mr. An Ding is written on the letterhead, the world is peaceful, and calm is for An Ding, so this is replaced by the word Ping."

Wei Yao asked, "You mean Liu Ping, Minister of the Household Department?"

"It's him." Xu Yang knelt down on the ground, most of his former brilliance lost, "Zhan Wusi envoy and him were Jinshi in the same year, and the two have a close friendship, so Master Zhan did not hide this matter from him."

Ning Qing always felt that something was wrong, and her heart became more and more anxious, like a person who was stuck in a quagmire but could not stop struggling.

"What did Lord Liu do with you?"

"Master Liu is in a high position, if Xiao Weishan leaks the news, it will definitely alarm the higher-ups, and Master Liu will come forward to hide it for us. We are under his care, and after the saltpeter powder is sold, we will send some silver notes to Master Liu. "

Since there are bank notes, careful inspection of the accounts will definitely reveal something. Xu Yang's dare to say this just shows that Liu Ping has something to do with this matter.

"Master Xu finally said something useful." After finishing speaking, Ning Qing took a look at Wei Yao.

Wei Yao nodded, and ordered Zhao Min to drag Xu Yang down and lock him up, and escort him back to the imperial capital on another day.

Guo Qi plucked up his courage, and begged: "General, the villain is shy and pleads for me and my brother in the mine!"

Wei Yao stopped him: "That's enough, I know what you want to say. Although you and those miners don't know the truth, but you know that there are ghosts in it, you still seek profit against your conscience. For your own sake, you don't care what the saltpeter powder may be in the future. It is not wronged to use it on compatriots."

Guo Qi's face was worried, and he wanted to speak but was afraid that Wei Yao would be angered instead.

Wei Yao knew what he was thinking, so he said again: "But remembering that your crimes are not worthy of death, I will plead with His Majesty to spare your lives, go back to your hometown to farm and cultivate the land, and make up for your mistakes."

Hearing this, Guo Qi was so grateful that he almost burst into tears.

After the outsiders dispersed, Ning Qing and Wei Yao went back to the room together. Ning Qing sat in a chair and meditated, while Wei Yao read his military book. After half an hour, Wei Yao had already flipped through several pages of the book and looked up. , the person on the chair was still idly leaning against the back of the chair as it was half an hour ago. If he hadn't opened his eyes and blinked his eyelids from time to time, one would think he was asleep.

Wei Yao put down the book of war, walked up to him, and bent down.

Ning Qing felt that most of the light was blocked, and only then came to his senses, and found Wei Yao's face close in front of him, and was startled.

Wei Yao smiled, leaned against the edge of the chair, and asked, "What's the matter, what are you thinking about?"

Ning Qing corrected her sitting posture, paused, shook her head and said, "I don't know, the matter in Changzhou is settled now, but I always feel that it's not over yet, everything is going so smoothly, it's a bit unreal."

Wei Yao responded, "What do you think is wrong?"

"Liu Ping. Although what Xu Yang said is not unreasonable, we did track down Liu Ping when we were in the imperial capital, but I always feel strange. Xu Yang killed himself and didn't know anything, why did he admit it after the letter was taken out?" Liu Ping, if he doesn't tell me, who would know that he is writing to Liu Ping?"

Wei Yao nodded, half sat on the armrest, put his left hand around Ning Qing's shoulder, and rubbed his fingers lightly.

"His behavior after reading the letter is indeed a bit strange, but now that there are witnesses and physical evidence, they all point to Liu Ping. Even if he is not the person behind the scenes, he will not be innocent, and he will never be wronged."

The person behind this act reminded Ning Qing.Yes, this person is related to the grain draft in Xingchuan, Du Yuan and Liu Ping have a close friendship, and Zhan Guiyou, the three of them should be grasshoppers on the same rope.The person behind this scene is undoubtedly the minister of power and eunuch, and Liu Ping can match him, and when Wei Yao wanted to check the grain draft, he also jumped out of his mouth and followed the letter stamp to find out that Zhuangzi outside the city was also related to Liu Ping. All the clues point to him.

No, the letter stamp... vermilion lacquer tiger stripes!

Ning Qing suddenly flipped through the letters he found from Xu Yang's residence, the seals were all clean, none of them had a stamp with a vermilion lacquer tiger pattern, so it's no wonder that Xu Yang felt relieved after only looking at the envelope.

"I understand, it's not Liu Ping." Ning Qing looked at Wei Yao and said, "The real person behind the scenes is someone else."

Liu Ping, like Du Yuan and Zhan Guiyou, was a man of affairs, and if he made a mistake, he would be thrown out to rescue their real masters.Ning Qing has become more and more curious, who is it that makes them all work so hard?

After hearing what he said, Wei Yao also understood, and said, "Actually, there is one more thing."

Ning Qing looked at him puzzled, and he said: "Zhan Guiyou's death probably happened because he offended the master's family somewhere and was killed to silence him, but what did they arrest Zhong Hui for? He was just a military equipment supervisor, but he was good at making firearms. Being used by someone who wants to rely on him to do something with that saltpeter powder, why did he kill him later?"

This is indeed a strange thing, but unfortunately there is no proof now, and Xu Yang can't be expected to tell them the answer, this matter can only be let go for now.

Three days later, Wei Yao and the others packed their bags, and after more than half a month, they finally set foot on the journey back to Beijing.

On the same day, Bai Dingguang came to see him off, and Wei Yao said to him: "Master Bai is loyal, far-sighted, and cautious in handling things. I will speak to your majesty when I go back."

Bai Dingguang was stunned for a moment, then bowed to him: "Thank you, General."

Ning Qing said with a smile: "Master Xiangbai will make great progress in the future, and still have a pure heart to seek happiness for the people."

Bai Dingguang clasped his fists and bowed his head and said: "I would like to listen to what you say, and I will keep it in my heart."

Ning Qing smiled and waved his hands, stepped into the carriage, and Wei Yao immediately followed.

The carriage was in front, Zhao Min led the soldiers guarding Xu Yang's prison cart behind, the team moved away slowly, Bai Dingguang stood there for a long time, and saluted again in the direction they were going away.

With the past as a guide, the escort of Xu Yang this time can be said to be cautious and cautious.Before putting Xu Yang on the instrument of torture, Zhao Min checked carefully, there was no hidden drug, no sharp weapon before he was escorted into the prison car, and there were still a dozen people surrounding the prison car during the escort, even if he wanted to die, it would not be easy.Fortunately, Xu Yang was very peaceful, and he arrived at the imperial capital without any troubles along the way. Wei Yao escorted him to the Ministry of Punishment for Huang Jun, and Fei Tian made alarmist remarks, and Huang Jun wished to confess Xu Yang. Get up and watch carefully, afraid that Wei Yao's job report will be gone, and he will be the one who is unlucky again.

Wei Yao entered the Anqing Hall to greet Emperor Xiangfeng. Emperor Xiangfeng had been looking forward to him for a long time: "Excuse me, give me a seat."

Some time ago, Wei Yao had sent a letter, explaining the matter roughly, and he went into the palace to explain it in detail again, but the matter related to the previous dynasty was deliberately concealed, without mentioning a word.

Emperor Xiangfeng said: "Unexpectedly, there are such bold people in front of the imperial city. The inspector of Xiaoweishan and the military envoy of Changzhou were sent by my own relatives, and Liu Ping, who is even as high as a minister, is really a striker." own face."

After Emperor Xiangfeng received the letter, he copied Liu's mansion, arrested Liu Ping, and now he is locked up in the Ministry of Punishment waiting to be released.

Seeing him mentioning this, Wei Yao mentioned along the way: "They have evil intentions and hide them deeply. How can His Majesty know. But this reminds me of something."

Emperor Xiangfeng asked curiously, "What's the matter?"

"Although the miners in Xiaoweishan made mistakes, most of them were forced to make a living, and they were not intentional. I hope His Majesty will forgive them and let them go back to their hometown to farm and cultivate the land. It can be regarded as atonement."

Emperor Xiangfeng nodded: "The people of Li are ignorant. They don't know that the stability of the country is the blessing of all people. Anyway, the general pleaded for them, so I spared them. But they have to be punished slightly, and the three generations will not be officials. Be an example to others."

"Your Majesty Shengming."

Emperor Xiangfeng took a sip of tea and said, "The matter of Xiaowei Mountain has become my heart disease now, can my lord have a way to fix this mess?"

"Small Weishan is the place where my subordinates attach great importance. It would be inappropriate if today's incident happened again. I think that it is better to hand over the mining matter directly to the soldiers of the military commander. As for the inspector and military commander, they can be replaced every two years to prevent them Accumulate power, and there will be people like Xu Yang."

Emperor Xiangfeng thought about it carefully, and felt that this idea was more and more good, and said with a smile: "My lord still wins my heart, so do you have a candidate for the position of military envoy?"

Wei Yao got up and saluted, "I have been in Changzhou for more than ten days, and I deeply feel that Bai Dingguang, the deputy military envoy, is loyal, courageous and resourceful, and he is worthy of the position of envoy."

"As usual, he should be mentioned as an envoy. Since the general thinks he is good, let him go."

Emperor Xiangfeng hadn't followed Wei Yao's words for a long time. Usually, he would be the first to be afraid of Wei Yao. Maybe it's because Wei Yao handled things properly these few times, which made him feel happy.

After saying some more words, Emperor Xiangfeng looked outside the palace and saw that the palace lanterns had already been lit.

"It's getting late, my father-in-law is tired all the way, let's go back and rest first, and we'll interrogate the two of you some other day."

After Wei Yao thanked him and stepped back, Feng Yu saw that Emperor Xiangfeng's face was a little paler, and asked, "Your Majesty?"

Emperor Xiangfeng said: "It's all right, let Huang Jun keep an eye on Liu's residence for the past few days, and report immediately if there is any trouble."

"Yes."

Wei Yao went out of the palace gate and saw the carriage of the Duke's mansion, and opened the curtain, Ning Qing was drowsy, but when he saw him woke up again, he murmured: "Why did your majesty keep you for so long?"

Wei Yao sat down next to him and said with a smile, "We've been talking for a long time. Why didn't you go back first and just waited?"

Hearing this, Ning Qing smiled and said, "There's nothing wrong with the left, it's okay to wait for you. Let's go, let's go back home."

The sky is full of stars, illuminated by faint yellow palace lanterns, and accompanied by occasional voices, the carriage slowly drove out of the palace on the palace road.

The author has something to say: I didn't have time to check it, if there is a bug, tell me, I will change it later