Jiuxi

Chapter 869: 867 [Glorious Trend]

In the southeast corner of the capital, there is a dark green building. It looks ordinary on the outside, but it exudes an atmosphere that keeps strangers away.

This is the headquarters of the Weaving Bureau, which makes ordinary people shudder.

Inside the signing hall, more than thirty officials stood in awe, listening to the assignments given by the returning Supervisor Su Yunqing.

"Li Jin, you lead a hundred people to the residence of Li Shizhi, the Minister of Personnel in Pingkangfang."

"As ordered!"

"Wu Qing, you lead fifty people to the residence of Hu Jingwen, the Minister of Rites in Funingfang."

"As ordered!"

"Xu Yungong, you lead thirty people to the residence of Jing Qingshan, the Minister of Revenue in Ruixiangfang."

"As ordered!"

"Sanda..."

Su Yunqing's arrangements were orderly. After the sixteen commanders were clear about their mission, he continued, "The evidence of the crimes of these officials has not yet been substantiated, so you are not allowed to enter the mansions to disturb them, but you must cut off the internal and external connections of these mansions. Under the premise of ensuring the basic lives of the people in the mansions, no one is allowed to enter or leave. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison.

Su Yunqing nodded and said, "Okay, let's set off immediately."

The sixteen commanders saluted in unison, then strode out, leading their respective spies into action.

Deng Junfei, the only supervisor left in the main office, watched this scene with fear in his heart.

Su Yunqing was thrown into prison two days ago. At that time, most people thought that there was no chance that he would ever get out again. Unexpectedly, in just two days, a storm arose in the court. Empress Dowager Xu was forced to hand over power, and Empress Ning acted as regent. The young prince was now more secure.

The most important thing is that the Duke of Qin swept away the difficult situation of the past few months and became the most powerful person in the court of Da Qi.

What is the power to make decisions on the spot?

This means that Lu Chen only needs to be responsible to Queen Ning, and within a period of time he can decide the life and death of most people in the court and the country.

As for getting Su Yunqing acquitted, it was even more of a simple matter.

There are three supervisors in the Weaving Bureau. Deng Junfei is not as good as Shi Haoyang, who was ordered to go to Dingzhou to investigate the case, nor is he as good as Shen Yi, who has a successful career. Most of the time, he is in a relatively marginal position.

Perhaps because he had been observing from the sidelines and therefore had a clearer vision, Deng Junfei saw things more clearly than the others. He felt that Su Yunqing would never fall so easily, because the Weaving Bureau had been very calm in the past two days, which in itself was the most bizarre thing.

Su Yunqing has been the supervisor for two years, and he has also worked in the Weaving Bureau for seventeen years. How could he not have any trusted confidants?

These people actually had no reaction to Su Yunqing being imprisoned. There must be something else going on.

Now Deng Junfei saw with his own eyes that Su Yunqing completed the power adjustment of the General Office of the Weaving Bureau at lightning speed within just half an hour after he was reinstated.

Two chief escort officers, four signing officers, two contract surveying officers, four escort officers, and twenty-two commanders, more than half of them were replaced by newcomers. There was no doubt that these were Su Yunqing's direct subordinates.

Deng Junfei's position as advisor has not changed, but he is now alone, like a puppet in this signing hall.

He realized that he could no longer stay out of the matter as he did in the past, so he said very respectfully: "Master, Shen Tidian did not come to the main office early this morning. I don't know where he went."

Su Yunqing turned around and looked at him, then smiled and said, "Thanks for the reminder."

Deng Junfei quickly lowered his head and said, "I dare not."

At this time, a clerk came quickly and said hurriedly: "Report to the Chief, a group of border soldiers outside sent more than 20 people, among whom is Shen Tidian."

Su Yunqing narrowed his eyes slightly, stood up and walked out, Deng Junfei and other officials followed closely.

When they arrived outside the main gate of the government office, they saw a team of elite border troops escorting more than 20 wounded soldiers. The one in the middle was the extremely embarrassed Shen Yi.

The leading lieutenant stepped forward and bowed to Su Yunqing, pointing at Shen Yi and saying, "Su Tiju, today this man led more than 200 secret agents from the Textile Bureau, and cooperated with the assassins raised by Li Shizhi to attack the Duke of Qin's mansion. Most of the rebels were killed on the spot, and finally these 23 people were captured. The Duke's wife said that since they are from the Textile Bureau, they should be dealt with by Su Tiju, please accept them."

Su Yunqing glanced at Shen Yi, who had many wounds on his body, and said to the captain, "Thank you. Please tell the Duke's wife that the Textile Bureau will never let these scums go."

"I will convey it truthfully."

The captain smiled and left with nearly a hundred elite soldiers.

"Su Yunqing!"

Shen Yi smiled grimly and gritted his teeth, "Don't be complacent, you will die sooner or later—"

"Snapped!"

The new chief escort, Guo Tai, strode forward and slapped Shen Yi in the face with all his might, followed by more than ten slaps back and forth, leaving Shen Yi's mouth full of blood, five or six teeth falling out, and he could no longer utter a word.

Su Yunqing didn't seem to care about Shen Yi's desperate curse at all, and said calmly: "Lock these 23 people in the death row and wait for their fate."

"Follow the order!"

Guo Tai responded loudly.

Deng Junfei, who was standing next to him, suddenly fell silent.

Su Yunqing turned to look at him and said in a slow tone, "Deng Tidian, Shen Yi was originally in charge of the Jingji Division, so naturally he has to appoint someone else now. Do you have anyone to recommend you?"

Deng Junfei thought to himself, you just appointed nearly twenty confidants in one breath, and you never even looked at me from beginning to end. It is obvious that you are relying on the power of Duke Qin to treat me as air. Why bother to test me now?

Although he felt somewhat helpless, he knew that from now on, the entire Weaving Bureau was under the control of Su Yunqing. Even if Shi Haoyang came back, he could only be a yes-man, otherwise he might not even be able to keep his current official position.

Thinking of this, Deng Junfei bowed his head and said, "I will leave it to the supervisor to decide." Su Yunqing smiled slightly, without any smug look on his face, and nodded, "Okay."

……

Imperial Palace, outside Hening Gate.

Han Zhongjie held the reins with both hands, looking at the cavalry of the Rui Shi Battalion in the square in the distance with a grim face. The words that Li Daoyan said to him when he left just now were still echoing in his mind.

"Zhongjie, there is no impenetrable wall in this world."

"Lu Chen and the eldest prince did not have a deep friendship, so he would not have held a grudge against the eldest prince for his death. However, the worsening of the late emperor's illness was closely related to this incident. No matter how secretive you were at the beginning, someone would have noticed it in the end."

"Now that the situation has been decided, I will not even protect the eldest branch. You should understand the reason behind this. Don't make any more meaningless struggles. It will only cause more blood to flow in the capital and more innocent people to die. It has no meaning at all."

"I know you are different from Li Shizhi. Although you are greedy, you have not lost your bottom line. Your father is watching from heaven. He certainly does not want you to take the children of the Han family with you to die. Even if you don't consider yourself, you have to consider the good reputation your father has built with his life's hard work."

"let it go."

From beginning to end, Han Zhongjie didn't say a word, just listened quietly.

The 7,000 soldiers he brought with him were the last strength of the Han family in the Beijing military system. Originally, he wanted to lead his men to destroy the Rui Shi Camp in order to reverse the situation and avenge Li Zongben, but he did not expect that the truth was completely beyond his expectations.

The person who killed the king was not Lu Chen, but Li Shizhi, whom both Li Zongben and he trusted very much.

It is difficult to describe Han Zhongjie's mood at this moment.

There was movement in the distance. The palace gate opened again, and several people walked out. Then the cavalry of the Rui Shi Battalion lined up and moved forward.

The soldiers on the Imperial Street immediately felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Han Zhongjie did not issue any orders to fight. He rode his horse forward and told all his subordinates: "Don't move rashly!"

He came to the cavalry formation of the Rui Shi Camp and stared at the young figure in the distance.

The tight formation of the Ruishi Battalion soldiers opened a gap, and Lu Chen and Shen Yulai walked out side by side.

In the bright afternoon sunshine, Shen Yulai stopped when he was still two or three feet away from Han Zhongjie and said loudly: "Han Zhongjie, accept the order!"

Under the gaze of three thousand cavalrymen and seven thousand imperial guards, Han Zhongjie was silent for a moment, then jumped off his horse and knelt on one knee.

Shen Yulai coughed lightly, looked around, and finally his eyes fell on Han Zhongjie. His full voice reached the ears of every soldier: "Her Royal Highness the Queen has ordered to remove Han Zhongjie from all military posts, deprive him of his title of Marquis of Yongyi, demote him to a commoner, and never employ him again!"

After a brief moment of silence, the soldiers on the northern Imperial Street began to stir involuntarily.

Most of them have received favors from two generations of the Han family, and Han Zhongjie has been trying every means to gather them under his command in the past two days so that they can live and die together at the critical moment.

The next moment, Lu Chen raised his right arm, and the three thousand cavalrymen of the Ruishi Battalion raised their spears and uttered a syllable in unison.

"Roar!"

Immediately suppress the commotion on the opposite side.

At the same time, 5,000 cavalrymen of the Dingbei Army appeared behind 7,000 infantrymen.

"I accept the decree!"

Han Zhongjie shouted loudly and stopped the infantrymen's impulse in time.

Even though his face was dejected, he did not get angry at this moment. Perhaps it was because of what Li Daoyan had said before, or the remaining rationality in his heart told him that if these 7,000 infantrymen acted rashly, they would surely be met with ruthless killing by the border army's cavalry.

Lu Chen retracted his gaze and looked at Han Zhongjie who stood up and took the imperial edict from Shen Yulai, and said indifferently: "I asked Her Royal Highness the Queen for this imperial edict. I wanted to kill you myself, but the old prime minister advised me to try my best to maintain the stability of the Imperial Guards and the Beijing Army before leaving. After all, if you die, many soldiers may be terrified and even take risks, just like those people in the distance. During this period, I have been trying my best to restrain myself, just because I don't want to cause too much killing, so I agreed to the old prime minister."

He paused for a moment and said in a cold voice: "As for why I want to kill you, you should know it very well."

Han Zhongjie's lips moved, but he was ultimately speechless.

Lu Chen stopped looking at him, turned his head and nodded to Shen Yulai, then got back on his horse and went straight to the front of the imperial guards. He looked at them one by one with a cold gaze, circulated his internal energy throughout his body, and roared out a short sentence.

"All soldiers, listen up! Drop your weapons! Take off your armor!"

The sound was like thunder, frightening everyone.

Looking at the Duke of Qin, who was bathed in the sun and looked as majestic as a god, and then looking at Han Zhongjie who had given up struggling in the distance, after a brief silence, some of the 7,000 infantrymen dropped their weapons and took off their armor.

This situation quickly spread.

In less than a quarter of an hour, seven thousand infantrymen had taken off their armor and were standing there anxiously.

Lu Chen said solemnly: "As long as you have nothing to do with the regicide case, I guarantee that your lives will not be in danger. Now everyone listen to my order, all generals and subordinates return to their respective stations. Before receiving the next order from me, you are not allowed to leave the station without permission. Those who violate the order will be punished for treason!"

"Follow the order!"

Hearing the promise made by Lu Chen himself, the seven thousand men secretly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed in unison.

Under the supervision of the 5,000 cavalry of the Dingbei Army, they held their weapons and armor and marched north in an orderly manner according to their original affiliations, without any disturbance.

Shen Yulai looked at Lu Chen's back quietly, feeling a lot of emotions in his heart.

Although the reason why these 7,000 soldiers gave up struggling was related to Han Zhongjie's resigned attitude, why was it that Lu Chen was able to convince them with just a few words?

Perhaps many people have overlooked one point. Lu Chen has earned great reputation with his outstanding military exploits. There are countless people who fear him, not just the border troops.

Facing an opponent who could break the deadlock with just one word, how could Li Shizhi not be defeated?

(End of this chapter)