across the Quartet

Chapter Seven

It was already seven days after Gai Nie saw his junior again.These seven days can be described as extremely boring, his limbs cannot move, someone waits for him to change his clothes, eat and drink, and has two full meals a day, other than that, he has nothing to do except lie on the couch and doze, or roll on the animal skin.Jun Changping, who was at the opposite door, was full of resentment towards him and didn't say a word to him.Ge Nie secretly tried to use his internal force to force out the acupoint-sealing golden needles, but a few key acupoints were sealed, his internal energy was blocked, and he could hardly raise his true energy.After eating well but not being able to move, after seven days, Ge Nie felt that he had gained a lot of weight.

"Gei feels like he is a livestock living in a prison, and he only kills the priests after he has been fattened up."

At this time, I heard the opposite party respond with a suppressed voice: "I hope Qi can get a piece of sacrificial meat."

Before Gai Nie could answer, a cold voice came from across the wall: "Only you? I'm afraid you're not qualified enough."

The prison door was wide open, and several burly men rushed in one after another, and pushed the terrified Changping Jun out.Wei Zhuang strolled leisurely into Gai Nie's room, took a wine jug and two wine vessels from the table and filled them up, drank a glass himself, and handed another glass to his brother's mouth.I thought Gai Nie would be embarrassed and timid, but I didn't want Gai Nie to be used to being served by others these days, but he was not restrained.

Wei Zhuang was quite surprised, he took the cup casually, raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "How is senior brother recuperating these days? I think you look good."

"Very good. But Xiaozhuang, your internal strength has recovered?"

Wei Zhuang smiled and didn't answer, but just clenched his fist - let go, and saw that the wine glass was squeezed into a ball, lying heavily on his palm. "I heard that senior brother wants to see me?"

Gai Nie said: "If you continue to shut it down like this, I will be suffocated to death. I can't even move a finger. I'm afraid even the cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered are not so miserable."

"Senior brother was wronged. It's just that the time is very special, Wei has to be more cautious. It's different from four years ago, when you and I were more or less on the same side; senior brother is just a distinguished guest retained by a certain enthusiasm. But this time , I dare not let you go no matter what." Wei Zhuang threw the bronze lump in his hand casually, showing a standard grin of a mastermind behind the scenes. "you know too much."

Ge Nie quickly said: "...I don't know anything."

Wei Zhuang said with a smile: "Senior brother is very clear about Zhenyu Qianye." Gai Nie immediately understood, and looked around the cell, but found nothing.But he was sure that somewhere there was a tunnel for eavesdropping on voices, and someone memorized every word he had said to Mr. Changping, and reported it back to Wei Zhuang.

Knowing this, and the opponent is from the same school, he decided to give up the techniques of trying to figure out in the lobbying, and spread everything out. "I only know that your ultimate goal must be for the imminent battle between Qin and Chu. It's a pity that Mr. Changping is deeply jealous of the monarch no matter whether he is in Qin or Chu. What a big deal."

"Senior brother also mentioned before, 'Xincheng', that's my reason."

Ge Nie was silent for a moment. "I don't know much about them. This is Luo Wang's secret. But before leaving this time, the King of Qin told me that if Lord Changping mentioned the words 'Xincheng' and 'Huayang', he must send them His words were recorded with a knife and secretly sent back to Xianyang."

"Xincheng is said to be an organization secretly formed by the Chu people in Qin." Wei Zhuang poured himself another glass of wine slowly, "Qin and Chu have been married for generations. Back then, the Queen Mother Xuan, Ranghou, Huayang Jun, All of the Empress Dowagers of Huayang had power in the State of Qin for a while; even the father of the current king of Qin was named "Zi Chu". Many of these servants brought from the State of Chu by the nobles with the surname Mi also served as officials in Qin and went in and out The court. Therefore, the number of Chu people who have stayed in Guanzhong for several generations is quite large. However, the great power must be followed by dissatisfaction and fear of the monarch. Ranghou was expelled from Xianyang despite his meritorious support; Lord Yang captured the new city of Chu State for the Qin State, and was named Xincheng Lord, but was deprived of the title and fief in the end. Perhaps because of the situation, the Chu people who were serving as officials or doing business in Xianyang gradually formed a network in private, and agreed Exchange news so as to decide whether to stay or stay in Xianyang at any time. According to rumors, the founder of this organization is Huayang Jun who was demoted back then. He took the ironic title of 'Xincheng' just to remind Chu people— You must not be blindly loyal to the Qin State, and the only people you can trust are the township party members with similar backgrounds and circumstances."

"It's the same as what I know." Ge Nie nodded. "Xincheng is not an organization that dares to confront the Qin State. They only consider the survival and interests of the fellow villagers of the Chu State. But this organization involves a wide range of officials at all levels, down to traffickers, and even enters and exits the palace. The servants and maids of the boudoir; these few words passed down from mouth to mouth can form an invisible net when connected, so that the leaders of the "Xincheng" behind the scenes can be informed of the troubles in the court at the first time, and insight into the king's heart. Qin Wang's understanding of Xincheng It is intolerable to exist. But even if it is a net, it is impossible to detain and torture every Chu people in Xianyang without evidence. So what they are eager to know is only the leader of this organization."

Wei Zhuang said: "From the perspective of origin and status, the 'Xincheng Lord' of this generation is none other than Changping Lord."

Gai Nie said: "So seven days ago in the Palace of the King of Chu, I think that most of what Lord Changping said was true. He said that he had received the exact news that the King of Qin was suspicious of him, so he decided to take the opportunity of moving to Yingchen to escape. Back to Chu State—Where is the source of this news? Naturally, it is Xincheng. Only people from Xincheng in Xianyang will wholeheartedly serve Lord Changping instead of King Qin; only people from Xincheng will gain the complete trust of Lord Changping. At the same time, it has become the most important bargaining chip in the hands of Lord Changping. If the generals of Chu can obtain the information held by Xincheng from Lord Changping, they will naturally be more confident in the battle between Qin and Chu."

"So, senior brother, don't you know me very well?"

"It's not that simple. Your plan... has too many clues; I just want to ask from the beginning, but you may not tell me the answer."

"How about this, let's make a deal," Wei Zhuang smiled slyly, "One question for another. Is it fair? Let me ask the question first, when did the senior brother become suspicious of me?"

Gai Nie thought for a while and said: "That day in the forest, we found many headless corpses and piled heads along the river. You are not a person who leaks emotions. After that, you almost went mad and lost all your internal energy. This is really untrue, so I didn't think about it. But now that I think about it, the reason why you suffered from internal injuries was precisely because you were killed by Mr. Changping , is Liusha's subordinate; otherwise, how could you, Wei Zhuang, touch your heart for someone who has nothing to do with you."

Wei Zhuang just smiled and said nothing.

"It's the same with Master. Although internal injuries are prone to occur after winter, the time when it really occurred in front of you and me was when we talked about the Battle of Changping—" Gaine paused, and said: "Then You prepared Xinzheng's customs clearance certificate?"

"Yes." Wei Zhuang said, and asked again: "Actually, why do I need to say more, brother should have already guessed the cause and effect of the whole thing."

Gai Nie shook his head and said, "I only know the part I personally experienced. First, Mr. Changping and some noble forces of the Chu State jointly formulated a plan in Chen to escape from the control of the guards of the State of Qin by going out on a hunting trip. But the hunting That day, there were two forces with conflicting purposes ambushing in the forest, one came from the king of Chu, and the other was employed by the nobles of Chu. Surprisingly, after killing the Qin people who were escorting him, Lord Changping repented temporarily and sent The assassins of the state of Chu were also silenced. Wu Shen and others came a step too late and failed to intercept Mr. Changping, but found the killer's corpse in the water. So he ordered people to fish out the corpses from the water, cut off their heads, and spread a The witchcraft formation - the purpose of setting up the formation, as you said at the time, is to deal with the aristocratic forces who hijacked Mr. Changping - the mastermind behind this force will definitely send people to check if they don't respond; and when they find the missing When the killer of the killer, he will fall into the trap of witchcraft. In fact, who found the killer's body? It was you and me. And who was almost trapped by the formation? It was you and me. At that time you used' Wu Shen is the patriarch of the clan with the surname Wu, and the words that he wants to take revenge on the descendants of Guigu caused my illusion. I thought that Wu Shen had set a trap to kill me when he heard that I was in the escorting team for Mr. Changping. But Later, when I was fighting with him, I thought, how could Wu Shen know that Gai would return to that forest? He had never seen me, and he didn’t know me. Maybe I had fled back to Qin? Isn’t it just to find my whereabouts? The well-arranged traps can be used to deal with a person who has disappeared? Therefore, the real target of the witchcraft formation in the forest is that he thinks he will definitely return. People who came here. Similarly, Mr. Changping returned to Chen to wait for the mastermind behind the contract with him; It will appear. In the end, who did he wait for? You and me. Excluding Gai himself, and going back, there is only one conclusion left—you are the chief envoy of the group of Chu killers! But in this way, Liusha serves the king of Chu openly, but secretly cooperates with the noble forces who oppose the king of Chu—who is the force you really want to support? The war between Qin and Chu is imminent, and the king of Chu and the nobles of the country cannot work together to defend against foreign aggression , but there are many contradictions, is this really the result you want to see??"

Wei Zhuang tapped his fingers and said, "So what? I just like to watch them fight."

This is almost cheating, Gai Nie thought.He sighed and changed the subject. "These seven days... Although I have been bored, I finally remembered one thing - a name. This name is the key to unlocking all the mysteries."

"Oh? So amazing?"

"Jin Ran—this name, I feel as if I have heard it somewhere, but in fact I really don't know this person. Later, I finally remembered that this name is not what I have heard, but what I have seen—" Ge Nie's tone suddenly became urgent, "It's in that account book!"

Wei Zhuang raised his eyebrows. "Account book? What account book?"

"Yao Jia's account book. The account book that your uncle Han Fei worked so hard to pass from Xianyang, fell into my hands by chance, and passed it to you before the Zhangshui battle." Gai Nie said, "Then On it, there are recorded the names and surnames of people who have been bribed and bought by Luo Wang in the six countries of Shandong for many years. Although I copied it back then, I only read the part of "Zhao Guo" repeatedly, and the lists of other countries were only glanced at. Therefore, 'Jin Ran', a person from the state of Chu, I have never recalled before. But since this is the case, a strange thing has come——Jin Ran was bribed by the people of Qin, and would sell the secrets of the state of Chu to Luo Wang. I don’t know, but it’s impossible for you not to know. Since you have defected to Chu State, you naturally don’t want to watch Chu State be destroyed by Qin State. Then why do you let such traitors live and threaten the survival of Chu State? ?”

"People in Zhuang Zai Chu state are soft-spoken, but Jin Ran is an official and a doctor. How could I kill him when I say so?"

Gai Nie said: "I was only a centurion in Zhao's army back then. When I learned that Shangqing Guo Kai was Qin Jian, I still wanted to assassinate him. You once helped the king of Chu get the throne, and you still have the original account book as evidence. What reason does the king not believe you? Besides, even without the permission of the king of Chu, it is too easy for Liusha to make a person disappear from the world without anyone noticing. Zhenyu Qianye, isn’t he just a very Is there a good way? But in fact, Jin Ran is not only alive, but led troops to help you capture Xinzheng, why is that?" Seeing that Wei Zhuang didn't intend to answer, he had to continue: "The middleman who should have been eliminated , but he survived and led the army in battle. Naturally, you deliberately kept him. You took advantage of the fact that Jin Ran had done Qin Jian, and in turn controlled and threatened him, so that he had to obey you. For example, you can order He spread some false rumors to Luo Wang; for Luo Wang, Jin Ran is "one of his own people", so of course his words can be trusted. This is the "anti-interference" mentioned in Art of War No. 13."

Wei Zhuang finally laughed out loud, "As expected of Senior Brother. Speaking of this step, Junior Brother has nothing to hide from you." He drank the wine in his glass and said slowly: "Actually, after getting that account book, I also hesitated for a long time. This thing may be very important, or it may be worthless. Just getting rid of the middleman recorded in the account book will not prevent the fate of Korea from being destroyed. If Luo Wang is sure that the list has been leaked, he can Simply abandon the previous group of intermediaries and build a new news network. Of course, Qin State spent a lot of money for the people recorded in this account; if it is not sure that the list has been leaked, it is naturally not willing to abandon it completely. Yao Jia After the account book disappeared in Xianyang, Luo Wang suspected Uncle Han Fei, but unfortunately Han Fei is dead; he also suspected that the account book had been sent abroad, but there is no real evidence, so it can only be regarded as 'missing'."

Ge Nie suddenly said: "And what you hope is that the account they thought was leaked has been destroyed, or the list has not been leaked when it is in the hands of people who don't understand its meaning; Interpersonal contact?"

"Exactly. So senior brother, I want to thank you for helping me divert Luo Wang's attention. If the people of Qin decide to simply give up all the chess pieces in the ledger, then the ledger I got will be worthless."

"Me?" Gai Nie frowned in confusion, and suddenly realized: "Could it be that, three years ago, in Handan—"

"That's right. At the time when Qin and Zhao were confronting each other, Li Mu, the commander-in-chief of the Zhao army, was suddenly called back to the capital. A few days later, eleven high-ranking officials in Handan City were written in blood outside the mansion: Not only did they point out that they had accepted bribes from the Qin people, Even the amount of bribes and the content of the important gifts are clearly written. Soon after Li Mu was killed, Guo Kai fled and was killed again, and eleven high-ranking officials in Handan also died suddenly on the same day. These people happen to be recorded in the account A native of Qin." Wei Zhuang said with a smile, "Senior brother is really generous."

Gai Nie took a long breath and recalled: "When General Li was recalled from Jingxing Pass, I was worried that someone in the court would attack him; and I also knew that the real culprit who threatened the general's life was a person from Qin State, so the soldiers made dangerous moves. Deliberately let the name of Zhao Guojian recorded in the account book be known to everyone in Handan, which is equivalent to knocking a mountain and shaking a tiger. Not only is this group of national thieves warned, but also the Qin people behind the scenes: the account book is in the hands of someone in the Zhao army. The general is unfavorable, and I will reveal the contents of this account book to the world."

"But you didn't expect that they would do it no matter what." Wei Zhuang said meaningfully. "Maybe it's because you threatened the wrong target at all. Apart from the people of Qin and their minions, the king of Zhao is the one who wants to get rid of Li Mu. No matter whether he is suspicious or credulous or provocative, he thinks that this The leading general is a threat to his throne, and must destroy his walls. Trying to remedy this folly with your own sword and cunning is like trying to mend the broken banks of a great river with a bundle of straw. "

Xiaozhuang's metaphor is still so vivid, Gai Nie thought. "Because of my meaningless actions, Luo Wang deduced that the account book had arrived in Zhao State—" He suddenly took a breath, and realized: "So that's the case. They deduced that the person who can obtain and use this account book must be in a high position in the army. He is in charge of military affairs and assassination, and has a close relationship with General Li Mu. Therefore, General Sima became the first to be the object of their suspicion. That day in the Zhao Palace, General Sima did not die, but went crazy—probably because What kind of vicious methods did they use, such as yin and yang illusions, etc., to force General Sima to find out the whereabouts of the account book!!"

If his arm could move, Ge Nie would really like to pound the ground with his fist until there are cracks.But now he can only grit his teeth and smile bitterly. "It turns out that all of this was caused by myself."

Wei Zhuang shook his head, "No matter what you do, the result of Zhao's death will not change, so why do you take yourself so seriously? However, you have brought Zhao Gao's big trouble to Handan."

Ge Nie figured out something again. "Xiaozhuang, the reason why you stayed in Handan at that time was actually because you were worried that Zhao Gao would find me?"

Wei Zhuang smiled, "Except for him, there is nothing to be afraid of."

To this day, Gai Nie has finally connected the cause and effect.Because he exposed the account books, the real leader of the net came to Zhao Du in person when the city was broken, and brought a large number of experts including "Sword Slaves".Coincidentally, the person Zhao Gao was looking for was Gai Nie, but unfortunately he didn't know, and neither did Gai Nie.The actions Ge Nie took that day, his temperament and skills all made him look more like an implementer of a plan than a planner.Since then, Luo Wang's investigation of the account books has focused on the old land of Yanzhao, and because similar officials were killed in other countries, it can be seen that the "person" they were looking for did not dedicate this list to the monarchs of other countries.Luo Wang deduced that the account book had been lost when Zhao was destroyed, and most of the people they tracked down were dead, so the intermediary who remained in Qi and Chu could still use it with confidence.But in fact, it was because Wei Zhuang was very careful when using this account book afterwards. He did not directly get rid of the spies in the account, but selected some of them to control them, forcing them to send some real and fake documents to Qin. Half of the information.It is precisely because these people are bribed intermediaries, and most of them have betrayed important information before, so the people of Qin have less guard against them; taking such people as hostages is more difficult than sending out eyeliners. The effect of bitterly invading Xianyang is better.

The silence between the brothers and sisters lasted for a long time.

"Okay, the matter of the ledger has finally been clarified. Senior brother, do you have any questions?"

"...Since you have a lot of people like Jin Ran as bait in your hands, many of the information that you have scooped up may be false. For example, is there really a Chu Jian in the court of Qin State? Is this person Changping? Jun?? Are there really many aristocratic families in Chu who are dissatisfied with the current king of Chu and want to support him as the heir apparent?" Gai Nie clarified his thoughts as he spoke, and seemed to find a clever way in front of him. Deviate farther and farther from the original route. "If all this is a hoax - then the matter is clear. You want to weaken Qin from within, but this is not an easy task. You have found the weakest point, first dividing the king of Qin and the Keqing from other countries As you said before, 'But I want the king of Qin to know that no matter how obedient the slave is, there will be a day of backlash... If the king of Qin really annexes the world one day, then the six kingdoms will be full of his enemies. He will never know when, where, and who will betray him. "Jun Changping is an excellent pawn. You forged the correspondence between the Qu Jingzhao clan of the Chu State and Lord Changping. Welcome this person back." The kingship of Chu, firstly, caused the king of Qin to doubt the important ministers of the guests, secondly, created the illusion of internal disharmony in Chu, and made Qin's monarchs and ministers despise Chu's combat power even more. Thirdly, you have to let Luo Wang continue to trust and provide them with You are a go-between for news, so even if the original news of "Jun Changping betrayed Qin" is false, you have to make it true!!"

"Zhuang has to meet senior brother, just like Boya has to meet Ziqi." Wei Zhuang was surprised at first, and then laughed, "As early as two years ago when Zhao died, I thought that Qin would sooner or later point the finger at Chu. Therefore, I suggest that Chu Jun prepare as soon as possible. My original plan was to send a group of dark men to Yingchen unobtrusively. Once Qin and Chu go to war, they will assassinate Qin’s guard in Chen. The best way , that is to let them dress up as thieves from all over the country and deliberately arrest them in prison. But Xiang Yan's plan is even more daring, and even borrowed troops from Han to let us capture Xinzheng; although Xinzheng is probably just an abandoned Chu State However, if you take Chen at the same time, building a line of defense between Yingchuan, Ying and Chen is a good way to disrupt the progress of the Qin people. Although half of Chu's land was already occupied by Qin, the battle of Yan and Ying There are too many killings, and the Chu people have an indelible hatred for the Qin people; even though Yingchen is nominally the land of Qin, the influence from Chu always lingers here like a ghost."

"...The so-called outfield bandits are naturally the Chu army that has been lying down for a long time."

"It's the private soldiers of the princes from all over the country that the Xiang family has dispatched."

Gai Nie was still immersed in the situation he had just seen clearly. Under the shocking tone, he concealed one point of admiration and nine points of worry: "The three purposes of quicksand hijacking Mr. Changping are interdependent, and the most important point is the third point - everything. False news can only work if the Qin people believe in its source. This is like refining the middleman in this account book into a poison like a thousand nights; Asking them for military information is like light; the combination of the two is the most poisonous. Perhaps in the past, there were indeed many conflicts among the aristocratic families in Chu, but when the war is approaching, they are very likely to reconcile in danger and work together with the King of Chu. Design a plan to deal with foreign enemies. Only Wu Shen-"

Wei Zhuang said: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu knows Wei's plan in Chencheng very well. It's a pity that he always insisted on executing Lord Changping. Zhuang Ye had no choice but to follow orders. However, after hearing that Wu Shen went forward to slander in front of the King of Chu, saying that Zhuang He is a Korean, and he may have selfish intentions in exchanging letters with Lord Changping; he volunteered to take off Lord Changping's head and present it to the King of Chu, and at the same time contribute to the surprise attack on Chencheng."

"No wonder he has to use such a complicated formation... So, you are fighting with him just to gain credit?"

Wei Zhuang smiled and said: "I can't let Changping Jun really die in his hands. Once Changping Jun dies, not only will I not get the new city, but the King of Qin will also doubt whether Changping Jun really betrayed Qin."

"Indeed." Gai Nie mused, "I started from Xianyang, and my whereabouts were leaked—I'm afraid it was Lord Changping himself. He also used the new city to spread the news and summoned the world's heroes to gather in Yingchen, also in order to get rid of me. , at least to contain my actions. But all this is just paving the way for you who cooperate with him."

Wei Zhuang clapped his hands and said, "Yes. This person is an interesting chess piece, struggling to move on the chessboard, gesticulating, but unable to see the whole chess game."

Gai Nie lowered his brows in thought, and said in a moment: "That's right, King Qin, Prince Yan, Lord Changping, and you Xiaozhuang, you are all chess players, and everyone like me is just a chess piece. Vertical and horizontal are different. Jade chess pieces will not betray their masters. But flesh and blood chess pieces—also have joy, anger, pain, desire, and cherish their own lives. When chess pieces have their own ideas, they can be driven like clay figurines Is it? What you see is the overall situation, the trade-offs, and the competition. When you need it, you hold the chess pieces in your palms, and when they are useless, you discard them like nothing. There is nothing wrong with winning, but it is really a blessing for the common people in the world. Is it? And how many accidents will be caused by those chess pieces who are unwilling to obey their masters?"

Wei Zhuang burst out laughing. "Yes, yes, so this game of chess is more interesting than any other game. Ordinary chess players only need to grasp the thoughts of the players, but to play this game well, they have to take into account the thoughts of the pieces. There are too many people who can't take care of it." If there are no variables, everything in the world will run day and night according to the orbit of the sun and the moon, so what is the excitement of living? That’s why I like troubled times, because even I can’t figure out the changes in troubled times.”

Ge Nie sighed silently, but Wei Zhuang had already seen through the disapproval in his eyes. "Brother likes to rule the world, so he plans to return to Qin, right?"

"If you don't kill me, I will try to go back."

"You and I have different positions. You only want to unite the world and stop the war. I don't expect to convince you with a few words. However, I want to remind you of one thing. Why don't I tell you another story, brother." Wei Zhuang said with a nostalgic expression.

"When I was a child, my family raised many hounds. Among them was an old dog that had lost all its teeth. It sat listlessly in the corner all day long and never attacked anyone. But even the most humble servant in the family saw it on the road for nothing. They have to be kicked. Those servants who got angry with their masters like to vent their anger on it, kicking and beating it ruthlessly. One day when I woke up in the morning, I found that it had been smashed in the head by a stone and bleeding One place. I don’t know who did it. This dog is old. It is impossible and powerless to attack people, but people hate him so much. The rest of the hunting dogs in the family scratch, bite and bark at every turn, but they are all fed up. Strong, with smooth fur. Brother, do you know why?"

Ge Nie showed a surprised expression: "Why?"

"Because other dogs have teeth, anyone who provokes them will be bitten. But bullying a toothless dog has no such danger. People are like this. If an evil thing is done, there is no need to bear any responsibility." As a result, most people will do it and take it for granted." Wei Zhuang changed his tone and stood up solemnly: "If the monarchs of the seven countries in the past abused the people, their officials would warn him: if they did so, the population would flee. I went to a neighboring country. But if the world becomes the world of the Ying family, and the king of Qin restrains the people with severe punishments and laws, it is like pulling out the claws of a dog. When the Ying family has no way, who will warn them? Who can restrain them? When the four seas are united and the seven kingdoms are the land of kings, where will the people of the world go to flee?"

TBC