Red House Shoufu

Chapter 253

After the second room of the Xue family received the letter from the capital, Xue Biao was already considering taking his younger sister Xue Baoqin to the north.

Since his father passed away one after another, seeing his younger sister getting older, the Mei family who was engaged to be engaged has not even heard a word from the capital, so Xue Biao has a bad feeling in his heart.

It happened that he intended to leave Jinling, a place of right and wrong, so he quickly dealt with Jinling's property after receiving the letter.Except for the ancestral sacrifice land, I sold everything that could be sold, and took a few boats of dowry that my parents had prepared for my sister earlier, and went north by boat.

Xue Baochai had been happily waiting for the arrival of her cousins ​​after receiving Jinling's reply letter, but she waited and waited, but there was no news for a long time.

Worried and helpless, he entrusted Jia Lian's relationship to inquire along the canal, and finally found Xue Dingming, the second-hand steward Xue Dingming, who was seriously injured in Dongchang Mansion, Shandong.

After Xue Dingming met Xue's family, he told the story of the incident in tears.It turned out that not long after the fleet arrived at Dongchang Mansion, some robbers scuttled the two large ships at night, making it impossible for the fleet to advance or retreat.

After the scuffle ended, the panicked family members of the Xue family were slaughtered. Xue Dingming, who narrowly escaped disaster on the sinking ship, was rescued by fishermen. It took a whole month of recuperating before being found by the people sent by Xue Baochai.

As for the Xue Tiao brothers and sisters, he has no news at all.In the huge Xue family's second bedroom, only the housekeeper survived.

After hearing Xue Baochai's cry, Lin Shu's first suspect was Wang Ziteng.How could it be possible for ordinary robbers to wipe out the entire fleet, seven or eight people on board.

And according to Xue Dingming's description, the first target of this group of people is obviously the people on board, and they don't seem to be very keen on the property on board.

Moreover, being able to tow away the remaining boats before dawn and dredging the river without others noticing is definitely not something that ordinary people can do.

Besides Wang Ziteng, who else can do such a near-perfection?
Xue Baochai leaned on Daiyu's shoulder and wept pear blossoms with rain. Lin Shu called Lai Fuquan and said, "Go to Rongguo Mansion. If Cousin Lian comes back, invite him over."

After Fuquan left, Lin Shu left the main hall and went to the study without disturbing Daiyu to comfort Xue Baochai who was still crying.

He wrote down the matter completely on paper, and copied another letter after writing it.One was sent to Lingbao, and the other was sent to the palace by Nanny Zhang.

After all, Xue Biao accepted the appointment of Zhongshun Wang Gao Yongheng, and was nominated by the household department of the eighth rank to go to Beijing to run the royal business.

It doesn't matter if the officials are big or small. This killing of officials is like rebellion, and it also disrupted King Zhongshun's previous deployment. I don't know how to say it.

By the time Jia Lian arrived at Lin's house, Xue Baochai had stopped crying, and Daiyu was sitting beside her, saying a few words of comfort from time to time.

"The news has already come from Shandong, and the shadow of the bandits has not been found yet."

As soon as Jia Lian came in, he handed several letters to Lin Shu. The Rongguo Mansion has old friends everywhere, and they are trying their best to help find the traces of the Xue Biao brothers and sisters and the mysterious robbers.

He said to Xue Baochai: "Cousin Xue, don't worry too. Dongchang Mansion has already searched a radius of tens of miles. Although there is no trace of Xue Tiao and his sister, doesn't it mean that they are still safe?"

"I have reported this matter to His Majesty, and I have also sent an urgent letter to Prince Zhongshun. After all, Xue Tiju is an official of the imperial court. It is estimated that the embroidery guards will take action soon. As long as they are still alive, there should be news soon of."

If it is said who is the most powerful in finding people and checking news, Embroidered Yiwei is definitely the strongest in the whole world.Lin Shu said to Xue Baochai: "Miss Xue, don't worry, Xue Tiju is a smart man. He probably took his sister to hide after he sensed the danger."

Xue Baochai's eyes were red and swollen from crying, she stood up and bowed to the two of them, "Thank you, Brother Lian, and Bachelor Lin. I'm just a boudoir girl, so I'll leave this matter to you two."

Daiyu supported Xue Baochai under Lin Shu's signal, and after sitting down again, Daiyu talked about her own opinion: "The purpose of these robbers is so clear, I am afraid that they have already set their sights on Xue Tiju. Or , They have been staring at the Xue family in Jinling? It is very likely that they had already planned everything when Xue Tiju left Jinling."

"There are tens of thousands of troops stationed in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Dengzhou navy is now assisting the Lu division in Nanzhili to fight against the Japanese. If it is true, as my sister guessed, it will be the best time for them to do it when the ship arrives in Shandong. Further north is the territory of Shuntian Prefecture, at the foot of the emperor, to plunder It's no different from courting death."

Lin Shu also agreed with Daiyu's opinion. He turned his attention to Xue Baochai. Few people knew about Xue Biao's invitation to Beijing to assist the emperor's business affairs. , it is definitely not something that can be done on a whim.

The three people in the room all turned their eyes to Xue Baochai, who had stabilized her emotions and became wise again.She also thought of this possibility, frowning as she thought about it.

From entering the palace to discuss this matter to writing a letter and sending it to Jinling, everyone who has been in contact with this matter comes to mind one by one.

"I only mentioned this matter to my mother, and Xue Yang, the housekeeper of the family, sent the letter to his son..."

When Xue Baochai said this, he shook his head and said, "Mother has been in poor health since my brother left Beijing, and has hardly been out of the house. As for the housekeeper, he is an old man who was close to my father back then, so it is impossible for him to betray the Xue family."

For a while, I really couldn't find a clue about this matter.Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Lin Shu said to Xue Baochai, "Miss Xue, don't worry too, the truth of this matter will always come to light."

He changed the subject again, and warned: "However, Miss Xue should check carefully to see if Mrs. Xue has accidentally mentioned this matter to other people. Also, no matter whether Xue Yang is serious about Xue's family or not. If you are loyal, it is better to check it carefully. After all, you know the face but don't know the heart!"

Xue Baochai's heart skipped a beat at Lin Shu's words, which meant something.As smart as she is, she has already realized something, but she didn't ask any more questions, and just nodded in response.

After sending Jia Lian and Xue Baochai out, Lin Shu sat in the study with a headache thinking about it.

Recently, troubles have come one after another, as if a pair of invisible hands are constantly provoking troubles behind my back, and nothing is far away from my side.

Crunch!

A gust of cold wind blew open the window that was not closed tightly. With the dim light from the lantern, Lin Shu saw that the only remaining leaves on the branches outside the window also fell to the ground.

The cold wind of early winter brought the warmth out of the room, and Lin Shu, who had been in a state of boredom for a long time, felt a little relieved.

The matter of the Xue family should be left to Jia Lian, after all, compared to the Lin family, the Jia family is the serious relative of the Xue family.And there are too many things about me, I can't take everything on myself just because I am a little curious about the Twelve Gold Hairpins in the original book.

He has done everything he can, and the next step is to look at the court and Jia Lian.Moreover, Xue Biao is definitely not a simple person who can manage the Xue family's second room in an orderly manner after his father's death.

Perhaps it was as he had guessed, when he found out that the situation was wrong, he had already taken measures to find a way for the two brothers and sisters to escape.

……

As expected, the Embroidered Guards immediately dispatched experts to investigate the matter of Xue's family. The emperor was extremely angry at such killings and plundering of officials.Moreover, this incident violated a taboo in officialdom and aroused the unanimous indignation of court officials.

No one wanted to be assassinated inexplicably when he left Beijing. When Lin Ruhai died suddenly, some people were dissatisfied with the breaking of official taboos. If it weren't for the strange situation in the court at that time, the imperial censor could have flooded the palace with notes.

The situation in the capital is pretty good now. After the Secretary of General Administration received the note from the Shandong Chief Envoy, the entire capital became restless.

The Zhima official of the eighth rank is small, but that is also an official ordered by the court.Regardless of whether these robbers are real bandits or other people's dead soldiers, this matter must not be so easy anymore.

Just after returning home from the Ministry of Rites, Lin Shu heard the butler Lin Lu say that Wang Huan was waiting for him in the study.

As soon as he entered the study, Lin Shu was pulled down in front of the desk by Wang Huan.I saw an open memorial on it, with a long string of names on it.

"The entire Hanlin Academy is short of your signature, a Bachelor Lin!"

"What is this? The lack of armed forces in the local state capital has led to a lot of banditry..."

Lin Shu read the entire memorial, and said to Wang Huan dumbfounded: "Brother Weizhong, do you know how much money is needed to rearrange the local military?"

"It's just a headache for the Ministry of Finance. I'm just making this suggestion. The specific implementation will naturally depend on a few adults in the center to make up their minds..."

Wang Huanyue said that the more confidence he had in his heart, he was not stupid. After a moment of brain fever, he naturally understood that this book was like a castle in the air, and there was no possibility at all.

Lin Shu smiled and signed his name with a brush. After drying the ink, he put it together and handed it to Wang Huan.

Wang Huan took the memorial and asked curiously: "Since you can see that the practicality of this memorial is almost zero, why do you need to sign it?"

"Let's not mention the impracticality of this memorial. Since all the colleagues in the Imperial Academy have this intention, then as a member of the Imperial Academy, I naturally have to advance and retreat with everyone."

After Lin Shu signaled Wang Huan to sit down, he handed over a cup of hot tea and expressed his opinion: "And the slack in local military equipment is indeed very serious, but it's just the matter of Xue Biao this time, and when we suppressed the rebellion in Henan, we It was discovered that the local guards were not only seriously short of staff, some guards didn’t even have a decent set of armor.”

well!Lin Shu let out a long sigh, and drank the tea in his cup, as if he was drinking away his sorrows, and told what he saw when he was in Henan.

"Brother Weizhong may not believe it. I even saw a white-haired old man in a guard. He only had half a leather armor on his body, and the long knife in his hand was full of rust. How can such a military guard protect the people?"

Wang Huan's eyes widened, and he was so surprised that he didn't react for a long time.It has only been less than a hundred years since the founding of the country, and the local guards have been corrupted to this point.

The garrison is the cornerstone of maintaining the stability of the local state capital. If the local government garrison is really corrupted like this, then the prosperity of the country will be like a tiger made of paper, which will shatter at the touch of a poke.

To give a simple example, Qi Wenhua raised troops in Xining. If Hexi could not hold back and the capital was thousands of miles away, Shaanxi would be the first place to be attacked.

Henan in the hinterland of the Central Plains is like this. Can the guards in Shaanxi be reliable?

(End of this chapter)