Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

Cui Cheng was full of abyss-like despair, his voice was hoarse, and he almost shouted, "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible, how did you find out our identities?! We obviously didn't leave any marks!"

"Sunburned and dark skin, short stature, short stature...do I need to tell you more about the difference between you and Jingren? Do you really think that we are all blind and can't tell the difference between Qianxiang people and Jingren?...You guys It was exposed from the very beginning." Jiang Yuan smiled and said calmly, speaking at a neither rush nor slow pace, as if everything was under his control.

"No, how do you know about King Shun? No one knows about this! You can't ask!" Cui Cheng shouted in horror with his eyes wide open, his whole body trembling, almost hysterical.

"Who is King Shun? He is the confidant of His Highness the Crown Prince, so why doesn't His Highness send someone to watch him every day? I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, among King Shun's confidantes, His Highness the Crown Prince sent there Spy, it's a pity that he is too stupid to know about it, and even if everything is leaked, he doesn't know who said it." Jiang Yuan raised his lips and raised his eyebrows.

"Then what about the Jinling historians? You...you have no way of knowing about the historians!" Cui Cheng swallowed, "We are not in Beijing, but Shi Ding in Guangxi! Even Bowling Hou Shi Nai didn't know about this matter You know... didn't you say that the sky is high and the emperor is far away?! How do you know?" Cui Cheng roared.

"Oh, so you don't know? Ah, you Qianxiang country's spies are really irresponsible, didn't you even tell you such a big event? Bowlinghou Shijia once participated in the rebellion of King Yong, but our hands There is no evidence inside, so they let them go. But someone has been watching Shijia's every move, just waiting for them to show their fox tail." Jiang Yuan didn't look at him, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea , Drink it dry in one sip to dilute the sweetness in your mouth.

"Let's not talk about the important matter of the historian's collusion with the Qianxiang country. Even Shi Ding's family eats a few onions, a few heads of garlic, a few bowls of rice, and a few mouthfuls of vegetables every day. The old man is also clear. Just follow the historian's instructions. People, naturally know about the assassins, and it is not difficult to catch such things in one go. Sure enough, we first sent a person dressed as His Royal Highness to go out of the palace to the downtown, hooked out the assassins, and then followed them secretly Don't startle the snake, and in the end, won't you all be caught?" Jiang Yuan's smile looked extremely fierce, which made Cui Cheng's heart ache a little.

"So... so you followed them to Jingliu Mountain?!" Cui Cheng seemed to have lost some important support, his whole body was exhausted, and his whole body was relaxed from spirit to body. He was afraid that he would collapse to the ground.In his eyes, the young man on the opposite side is not a human being, but a devil!

Jiang Yuan snorted, laughed straight away, raised his voice, and said loudly: "Hey, did you hear that, Cheng An, those escaped assassins are hiding on Jingliu Mountain, send someone to catch them!"

At the exit of the prison cell, a young man in his twenties leaned out half of his body, and said with a smile: "As expected of Jiang Yuan and Jiang Qingyuan, it's so easy for you to get out of the assassin's hiding place. During the time when the incense is burning, you haven’t even been sentenced... If I say you should come to the Ministry of Punishment, how can the Ministry of War show your talent?”

Cui Cheng reacted suddenly, disregarding the question in their words, "Wait, you don't know where the assassin is hiding, you were telling me just now?!"

"So what are you talking about? Is there no smart person in Qianxiang Country? Such a stupid guy can be a spy, no wonder he will be arrested." Jiang Yuan shook his head and said: "Of course we are making up some nonsense to trap you Well, otherwise, why would Ben Hou live a good life? However, I went to chat with you, a fool, in a cold place like the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. If you are all caught, you will be locked up and wait for execution. If you are in this mood, you can come here and ask questions.”

Jiang Yuan stood up and shook his head again and again, "I didn't expect that the spies of Qianxiang Kingdom would be so easy to deceive, and they were so stupid. If we knew everything, the assassin would know where he was, and what else would he do?" Sending someone to pretend to be His Royal Highness to lure snakes out of the hole? Just arrest all of you and it’s over? There are so many loopholes in my words, and you didn’t catch any of them, and you are still a spy? There's really no talent."

The young man shook his head, picked up a plate on the table, picked up a piece of snack inside, walked outside while eating, and said vaguely: "Don't tell me, the taste of the tea prepared by your criminal department is not satisfactory. A little bit, but the taste of this dim sum is really good, comparable to the dim sum in the palace, where did you buy it?"

Cui Cheng's eyes were red, and he struggled hard for a few times, but he couldn't break free. After struggling for a long time, his whole body fell limp, his eyes were dull, and he murmured, "It's over, it's over!" ..."

Sure enough, it was all over.

Those assassins from the Qianxiang Kingdom who failed to assassinate were still hiding in the caves of Jingliu Mountain, waiting for the next order from the country or the arrival of people who helped them transfer. In the end, what they waited for was the fully armed Gyeonggi camp hundreds of soldiers.

Before they could react and commit suicide by taking poison, the arrows smeared with anesthesia pierced their skins. Except for a few people who were very unlucky and died on the spot, the remaining dozens of assassins were all captured alive by the Gyeonggi camp. , Escorted back to the capital, waiting for disposal.

Of course, the old emperor didn't have the leisure to send someone to monitor the historians of Jinling. In his eyes, historians who lost Master Shi are not even grasshoppers. How can there be any need for surveillance?However, the Shijia fleet that traveled northward from the southeast coast to the capital was detained by the Ministry of Punishment before it could leave the capital.

The sailors on the ship and the shopkeepers of historians and merchants were all taken as witnesses and imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He made a confession, and even pressed his fingerprints on the confession.

With the confessions provided by the assassins of Qianxiang Kingdom, the spies Cui Cheng and the shopkeeper of the Shijia, together with the evidences found by Jiang Ning and Jiang Yuan, it can be said that there are all witnesses and material evidences, and the iron case is hard to overthrow!

Situ Sheng sorted out these evidences for a while, and then showed them to the old emperor who was sick in bed, and asked the old emperor to "make a clear judgment"!The evidence he had in hand was not enough to implicate all the power of the family and nobles, nor was it enough to kill Situ Hui, the fourth son, but their power would inevitably be reduced again and suffered a serious blow.

Capitalizing on the enemy and treason, this is a heinous crime!No emperor can tolerate such a thing happening, not even a faint king, and a "wise king" can't bear it even more!

After reading the testimony in his hand, the old emperor spurted out a mouthful of blood, staining the bright yellow bedding with bright red.

The little eunuchs on both sides quickly took out a silk handkerchief to wipe it for him, but the old emperor swung it away.He swallowed the fishy sweetness in his mouth again, and roared loudly: "Go... go and tell me that King Shun enters the palace, I will see him soon, let him enter the palace immediately without delay... see... see drive!"

Shun Wang Situhui immediately obeyed the order and entered the palace.He didn't take this summoning seriously either. The old emperor had been in a state of discomfort for a while, lingering on the sick bed, unable to get up, and had to hand over all important affairs of state to Prince Situ Sheng.

When people get sick, they want to see their relatives, and they want to be accompanied and coaxed.So the old emperor has often summoned Shun Wang and Yizhong County King to the palace to meet him and talk with him.This is a common occurrence, so of course Situ Hui didn't care.

When he arrived at the old emperor's bedroom where he was convalescing, Situ Hui began to feel that something was wrong when he saw the serious and indifferent expression of the servant in charge of communication.Even if these servants were not overjoyed when they saw him in the past, they were not so serious.Sometimes the performance of the servants can reflect the mood of the king. Could it be that the father is in a bad mood?

Situ Hui was supported by a family and was not short of money. With a shake of his hand, a small pouch containing 200 taels of silver was stuffed into the hand of a servant standing beside him.

The servant did not intend to refuse, pretending to be straightening his sleeves, put the purse in his hand into a hidden pocket on his body, and said to Situ Hui in a low voice: "Just now His Royal Highness came down to the bedroom, and then the Emperor became furious and urgently called Your Highness. Entering the palace, until now my heart has not calmed down."

Situ Hui didn't think it was his own business, he thought it was the third son Situ Sheng who said something that shouldn't have angered the old emperor.He thought in his heart, could it be that the matter of the third child's control of the government made the emperor dissatisfied?Or did the youngest have any important political affairs that the father didn't see?It's impossible for him to mobilize the army under the emperor's command...

He was standing there daydreaming, when the servant who had entered the room had already come out, Situ Hui hurriedly adjusted his clothes, and walked into the bedroom with a bow.From the corner of his eye, he saw the old emperor lying on his side on the bed, and the crown prince Situ Sheng was standing beside him. Situ Hui quickly pulled up the hem of his clothes and knelt down to salute according to the rules.

Before Situ Hui finished speaking, the old emperor had already grabbed a teacup beside him and threw it over his head. If he hadn't knelt down so quickly, the teacup would have flown over his head, and he would definitely have hit him on the head. Blood comes.Even so, the warm tea poured over his face.

"Father... Father Emperor..." Situ Hui was very surprised, and he didn't care about the rules of not looking up at the emperor. He quickly raised his head to look over, but he was facing the old emperor's bloodshot eyes full of resentment.

"What do you call my father? Do you regard me as a 'father' or as an 'emperor'? You are unfaithful and unfilial! How did I have such an unworthy son like you!" the old emperor said. Cursing fiercely, he threw all the confessions and testimonies in his hand in front of him, "Look at it yourself, I have loved you for so many years, I never thought I would teach you such a bastard! You...you are Is this how you repay your father?! Cough cough..."

Seeing that the old emperor was coughing in anger, Situ Sheng hurried over to support him and help him carry his back, looking like a peerless filial son.

Hearing such a severe reprimand, Situ Hui was also frightened for a while. He didn't care about anything else. He quickly grabbed the confession testimony on the ground and looked through it one by one. But he was sweating down his back, and in a short period of time, his sweat wet his clothes, and even his eyes were hurt by the sweat from his forehead.

After reading the confession, Situ Hui hurriedly kowtowed, knocking his forehead hard on the ground covered with gold bricks, and said loudly, "My son is really wronged, how can I dare to do such a thing without a king and no father?" Do it...Father, these things are really not done by my son, it's them...they wronged my son..."

Kowtowing until blood flowed, shouting for injustice and inexplicably mourning, the voice was as shrill as Zigui's cry, its sorrow was as high as the top of Nanshan Mountain, and its sorrow was as deep as the abyss of the North Sea. It was really sad for those who heard it. Those who cry...

Situ Sheng knew very well that it was really impossible to knock Situ Hui down with such a confession.

After all, no matter whether it was collusion with Qian Xiangguo or assassination of the crown prince, the people under Situ Hui were responsible for the whole matter. He himself never showed his face from the beginning to the end. decisive evidence.

If he said he did it, he did it.If he didn't do it, he didn't do it.What can be asserted is not evidence, but the mouth of the old emperor.No matter how much he doubted, as long as the old emperor didn't say anything, nothing would happen to Situ Hui.

The evidence in Situ Sheng's hands is only enough to convict the King of Dongping County, the King of Nan'an County, the historian of Baolinghou, and the Yang family, the mother's family of Princess Shun, who are actually in collusion with Qianxiang Kingdom. With some small people, there is no way to do more.

Based on these vague testimony alone, it is really not that easy to overthrow a prince who holds real power and is protected by the old emperor.

Situ Cheng peeked at his father. Although the old emperor gritted his teeth with hatred and reprimanded him, he didn't mean to do anything to Situ Hui at all.He kept scolding King Shun for mistrusting his courtiers, listening to slander, and being deceived by his subordinates... This clearly meant that he didn't want to touch Situ Hui.

Situ Sheng thought very clearly that his father, the emperor, was clinging to the power in the court and would never hand it over to him. Shun Wang Situ Hui was a sharp weapon to balance the power in the hands of the crown prince.It would be pure nonsense to say how much his father loved Situ Hui... But unless the old emperor died, he would definitely do his best to keep Situ Hui's position.

Otherwise, the old emperor is in a sick bed, unable to go to the court to listen to the government, so how can he check and balance Situ Sheng, who has greatly increased his power?Once the balance is lost, wouldn't all the power in the world fall into the hands of Situ Sheng?This is absolutely intolerable for an emperor who loves power extremely.

Thinking about what happened at the beginning, the old emperor really wanted to save the two families of Yong Wang Situ Xu and Lian Wang Situ Yi from Situ Sheng, and he chose to send them far away to a barren land in exchange for their money. survive.

But now?He didn't care at all how Situ Cheng would deal with Situ Hui when he came to power. He just held King Shun by his side, as if he was protecting his fourth son. In fact, his behavior had already determined Situ Hui's fate. In the future, after Situ Sheng ascended the throne, even if Situ Hui did not die, he would have a miserable life, life would be worse than death.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stood there calmly. He had already seen through his father more than ten years earlier.Since there is no hope, there is no disappointment.Seeing the old emperor and Shun Wang Situ Hui hug each other and cry, and put on a big show of fatherly kindness and filial piety, he had a cold face and felt nauseated...

Yesterday was full of guests and friends, but today we see ruins, the rich and the poor come and go, the loess is full of tears and cold...

The king of Dongping County and the king of Nan'an County were rich and powerful in the south of the Yangtze River during the Yan Dynasty, and they have been passed down for several generations for more than a hundred years.In its prosperity, there are only a few heroes in the world who can compete with it, when the bell is struck and the feast is eaten, and there are only a few heroes in the world who can compete with it; and when it declines, the flowers and the spring are gone, the tiles and bricks are broken, and the splendor of the past is gone to the abyss, and survival is not enough. Well, how could he read it?

As for the troops of the two of them on the southeast coast, thousands of miles apart, how could they rescue their master in time?How can there be resistance when the leader is lost?As soon as the imperial army arrived, they abandoned their weapons and surrendered within a day. The old emperor personally appointed generals to take over the vacated position, and he refused to hand it over to Situ Sheng, the crown prince who supervised the country.

Dongping and Nan'an are not only two of the four kings with different surnames, but also the two leaders of the Xungui faction. When they fell, Xungui naturally became panicked, like a shadow of a bow and a snake.

On the other hand, Princess Shun Yang's mother's family was charged with collaborating with the enemy and treason for colluding with the Qianxiang country.Not only their family, but also several aristocratic families were involved. Those who ransacked their homes for a while, and those who were imprisoned, waiting for their ending will be extremely miserable.The chief culprit was beheaded and abandoned in the market, all adult men in the clan were beheaded, minors were castrated into the palace, and all women were sent to Jiaofang.

The Yang family has collapsed, Princess Shun's concubine Yang has not been treated well because she married into the royal family, but the concubine is not good enough to be a concubine, and she is allowed to become a monk by the imperial edict.

As for the historians of Jinling, the Yang family and the two county kings of that family did not escape the knife on their heads. The historians were only from marquis background, and they did not have such great power, so how could they avoid it?The emperor can't cut off his own son, how can he care about the lives of the rest?

Don't say that the historian is an empty-headed lord, so what if he is the chief minister of the dynasty?In this matter of collaborating with the enemy and traitorous country, it would be considered the benevolence of the old emperor if the three tribes of the barbarians and the nine tribes were not punished. As for the historians?Hmph, don't even try to hide.

The truth of the matter is simple.Shi Ding, who was thrown to Guangxi to eat and die, couldn't bear such a painful life, but no one among the nobles was willing to save him, not even his second brother. In desperation, he Impressed by the bright future promised by Qianxiang Kingdom and the family, he sent his own caravan in Jinling to escort the assassins to Beijing.

He had a good idea. It was Situ Sheng and Jiang Yuan who threw him to Guangxi. If Situ Sheng died, it would be Situ Hui who would be in charge. The land was transferred back to the prosperous capital.At that time, I will show his bitter and mean second brother, he, the third brother, is also very capable!

It was indeed a good idea, but it turned out that he dragged the entire historian into the abyss...

Shi Nai didn't know what happened when the heavily armed Gyeonggi battalion rushed into Bowlinghou's mansion.He had learned martial arts for a few days, but he was no match for those soldiers who practiced every day. Before he could resist, he was put on the neck by a steel knife and pressed hard to the ground.Just as he was about to yell, he was tied up with a rope, and then dragged to a corner.

Shi Nai came back to his senses and yelled loudly, "What are you guys doing? Do you know that this is a trespass into an official house? They are going to be accused of crimes and beheaded! I am the Marquis of Baoling, how dare you do anything to me?!" He Just after a few quarrels, I saw those soldiers tied up all the men and women in the front yard and threw them into the corner, and then rushed into the back yard regardless.

That's the backyard!It's the place where the female relatives live, and Shi Nai didn't care about anything else, and hurriedly shouted: "Come back, you bastards, get out of here!"

The soldiers of the Gyeonggi Camp were not willing to listen to him, and rushed straight into the backyard. Afterwards, the whole backyard heard women's screams, the sound of porcelain cracking, screaming, insulting, reprimanding, beating, and all kinds of things. The same sound came from the backyard, and finally there was only one sound-the shouting of soldiers.

The entire Bowling Hou historian, from the master to the slaves, was all tied up and thrown aside, and then the soldiers led the accountant to start counting the items, sealing them up and packing them, as if they were raiding the house.

Shi Nai wasn't angry anymore at this time, he finally understood that these soldiers came here following orders and didn't listen to his scolding at all.He didn't know what Shi Ding did, and thought it was Jiang Yuan's intentional revenge.Hastily said: "Even if Marquis Guanying is very powerful, there is no one in Marquis Bowling's mansion. If you just break into the official house and force your way, you are not afraid that I will get involved and your heads will fall to the ground?!"

"Our heads fell to the ground?" It was Pang Liang who led the troops to break in. He has been following Jiang Yuan since the San Francisco rebellion. He has been in command of the army in the Gyeonggi camp for these years. He is Situ Sheng's confidant, and even Jiang Yuan's direct descendant.He has been with the hot-tempered Zhang Dahai all the time, and he lost his temper after being abducted, so he doesn't pay attention to an empty-headed Marquis at all.

He cupped his hands in the direction of the palace, "There is an order from the sage that Shi Ding colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country. It has been verified that the entire family of the historian family will be imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to await punishment. The whole family will search their homes. This is the order of the sage, Lord Shihou, Are you still planning to resist the decree?" He deliberately prolonged the word "Ye", not as a respectful title, but as a mockery.

Shi Nai could no longer hear these taunts, and all he could think about was the accusation of "collaborating with the enemy and traitorous country", so he smacked a mouthful of blood, and fell straight to the ground.The blood-stained mouth opened and closed and just said one sentence - "Shi Ding, you have cheated the whole family!"