Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

At half past the hour of Mao, the sun rises in the east over the river east of Zhenjiang, and the lake sparkles with golden light.

The merchant ship with ochre-colored sails sailed along a strange curved route near the edge of the Dajiang Bay.

Two patrol ships of Zhenjiang Guard passed by nearby, but because of the difference in time and water area, as well as the obstruction of the reed marshes along the coast, they just missed it.

The man at the helm is well versed in the patrol times and locations of military ships, and can always avoid them in time, like a ghost wandering along the waterways.

Just as the merchant ship was sailing along the waterway to the next node, there was a remote fork in the river.

Suddenly, a medium-sized passenger ship emerged from behind an isolated island in the river ahead and headed towards the merchant ship quickly with a stern and dangerous aura.

Behind the passenger ship, there were three larger merchant ships following closely.

The three merchant ships spread out in a claw shape with their sails fully hoisted. Two of them quickly overtook the passenger ship and blocked the waterways on both sides of the merchant ship with the ochre sails.

The bow of the merchant ship looked at the three familiar merchant ships with surprise in their eyes, and murmured: "Those are the merchant ships of the Zhen family fleet, why are they all filled with officers and soldiers!"

The other two merchant ships sailed in a semi-arc on the river, sandwiching the merchant ship with ochre sails in the middle, and the third merchant ship also surpassed the passenger ship, blocking the waterway ahead.

The sailors present had already seen that the three merchant ships had been waiting ahead, intending to intercept their first ship and block it in the river.

The middle-aged man rushed out of the cabin with more than twenty guards armed with swords. Seeing the scene in front of him, he, who was always calm, couldn't help feeling panic in his heart.

I only heard someone on the merchant ship on the left shouting, "Huang Yougui, you are so brave. The Zhen family treated you well, but you actually betrayed your master, privately opened a merchant ship, and smuggled the imperial prisoners. Aren't you afraid of being beheaded and having your property confiscated?"

A sturdy man on this boat, with a pale face, looked at the man questioning him on the bow of the opposite boat and said in panic: "Why is it Manager Liu? I don't want to do it either. I was forced to do it."

Liu Xian shouted, "Drop anchor immediately. You have done something stupid. Go back and explain it to the authorities."

The middle-aged man shouted, "Don't stop the boat, speed up and rush over!"

Huang Yougui pleaded with a bitter face: "Master, the other side is a 500-ton ship like ours, and there are three of them. We can't rush through no matter what."

The middle-aged man's face turned pale when he saw two people standing on the bow of the opposite ship, one of whom was a middle-aged man with an unremarkable appearance.

The other one was a handsome young man, wearing a moon-white Shu brocade robe, with a curved sword hanging from his waist, and he looked dazzling.

The middle-aged man looked at the young man with a look of disbelief, "Jia Cong, how could it be you? How could you stop me here? How is this possible?"

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Du Hengxin! Do you think I should be in Jinling City at this time, chasing Zhang Kangnian who killed an official and escaped?"

On the opposite boat was the Jinling Commander-in-Chief Du Hengxin. He had always kept a low profile and thought he was impeccable. Even if the imperial edict said he was derelict in his duty and incompetent, it could not prove that he was guilty.

Now that Jia Cong appeared here, he had more or less understood that everything he had done was not as flawless as he had thought...

Jia Cong continued, "At that time, I also thought that Zhang Kangnian, after hearing the imperial edict, thought that he would definitely fail, so he took the risk, killed someone and escaped.

However, I heard from the Wucheng Bingmasi that not only Zhang Kangnian's residence is in Fenglefang, but you, Du Hengxin, also live in Fenglefang, which made me realize that this matter is strange. "

Those masked assassins killed more than 20 people in a short period of time. Their martial arts skills were superb and their methods were fierce and extraordinary.

Now that we have come to this, we should kill them all to prevent the news from leaking out. Why would we let a useless soldier go and let him come back to inform me? This is not too unreasonable.

Moreover, Zhang Kangnian was only suspended from his post for probation and has not been convicted of any crime. His crime is lighter than yours. He has a strong background in Shenjing, so it is possible for him to escape punishment.

Since he could hold the high position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, he was not a fool. He should not be unaware of the seriousness of this matter. There was no need for him to do such a drastic thing and cut off all his retreat routes.

Moreover, the Five Cities Military Division has dispatched additional personnel outside your mansion, but the door of your Du Mansion is closed and everything is normal.

You live together in Fenglefang, less than a stone's throw away from each other. No matter how big a thing happened, you, Du Hengxin, turned a blind eye to it. It's a bit too strange.

That's right, whether it was me or Yang Hongbin, the person we suspected most about the unresolved case of the Water Supervision Bureau was Zhang Kangnian, because his words and deeds in the Zou Mansion that year were so eye-catching.

However, before I left for Gusu, I received a secret report from the Ministry of Vehicles, which was about investigating the privacy of a senior military officer of the Guards.

It is said above that when Zhang Kangnian was the commander of Suzhou Guard, Luo Xiong was his most trusted deputy and the two had a deep friendship.

However, just because they are close friends doesn’t mean that Zhang Kangnian recognizes Luo Xiong’s talent.

Later, Zhang Kangnian was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Jinling Military Commandery, and someone recommended Luo Xiong to succeed him as the commander-in-chief of Suzhou Guard.

However, Zhang Kangnian strongly opposed it, thinking that although Luo Xiong had some talents, he was rash and lacked sophistication, making him unworthy of the important task. He wanted to recommend his own candidate.

In the end, it was you, Du Hengxin, who strongly recommended Luo Xiong and allowed him to take the position of commander of Suzhou. From then on, Luo Xiong obeyed your orders and harbored a grudge against Zhang Kangnian.

Apart from the three of you involved, few outsiders know about this kind of official secrets.

However, with the ability of the Central Vehicle Department, it is not difficult to find out these secrets.

So on the surface, everyone thinks that Luo Xiong is Zhang Kangnian's confidant, but the truth is just the opposite.

In addition, I accidentally learned that Zhou Zhengyang had been on the run because he was hidden by Luo Xiong.

Luo Xiong and Zhou Zhengyang were both commanders of the guards, and were in a state of checks and balances in the officialdom. How could he take the risk and hide the other party?

Unless Luo Xiong was also involved in a major case at the Water Supervision Bureau, or he received orders from his superiors!

So from that time on, I began to realize that you are more suspicious than Zhang Kangnian. You hold a higher official position than him, and you act more advantageously than him!
So when I learned that you also lived in Fenglefang, I roughly guessed that such a bloody incident had occurred in front of Zhang’s mansion, and someone was trying to rescue Zhang Kangnian in a big way.

It is very likely that it was a cover-up from the beginning to the end.

Only you, Du Hengxin, have the reason to do this. I am preparing to bring people to your house to investigate.

At this time, someone sent a message saying that you escaped by water... "

Although Du Hengxin was now imprisoned and almost impossible to escape, after listening to Jia Cong's words, he realized that he had already been caught in a lot of loopholes, and he felt regretful and angry.

Suddenly, he heard Jia Cong say that someone had reported him to the police. He was terrified and all his attention was drawn to him. He couldn't help asking, "Who reported him to you?"

Just then, someone at the stern of the boat shouted, "What do you want to do?"

Then there were the sounds of two huge objects falling into the water. Du Hengxin realized that those shouting were indeed his men. He suddenly felt the ship shaking and the people on the deck were somewhat unsteady.

A man ran over from the stern and shouted, "Sir, just now someone on the opposite ship dived and sneaked onto our ship and secretly dropped the anchor!"

When Du Hengxin heard this, he was almost furious. He immediately came to his senses and realized that Jia Cong had blocked the left and right roads with the boat, but had not taken any other actions.

As if showing off to herself, she told him how he saw through her, and said that he was able to track her down here because he was informed by others.

For a moment, I was bewitched by his words and was almost fascinated by them.

It turned out that he was deliberately diverting his attention, and took advantage of this opportunity to secretly send someone to dive and drop the anchor. What a despicable and treacherous kid!

Jia Cong shouted, "Their ship has dropped anchor, board it and arrest them immediately!"

The musketeers on the merchant ship immediately built a prisoner bridge between the two ships.

However, Du Hengxin still had more than 20 men around him, all of whom were his trusted warriors that he had cultivated over the years in the guards. They were all highly skilled in martial arts and would naturally not surrender.

As soon as the pontoon bridge between the two ships was built, it was hacked and chopped by them, and then overturned on the river. Two musketeers boarded the pontoon bridge, and one of them was hacked and thrown into the river.

Jia Cong shouted angrily: "Everyone retreat, raise your guns and shoot!"

On the merchant ships that were attacked from both sides, at least dozens of muskets fired at the same time. If the shooting space on the ship was not limited, the number of muskets firing would have been even greater.

Dense bullets fired at Du Hengxin's boat like heavy rain.

Although Du Hengxin's twenty-odd men were all highly skilled in martial arts, they were nothing more than vulnerable targets under the indiscriminate and high-density shooting of muskets.

Before they could even dodge, six or seven people fell down, and screams rang out one after another.

The deck was empty and there was nowhere to hide. Some people wanted to run to the stern to hide, but their legs were not as fast as bullets, and those who ran attracted more kicks and shots from the musketeers.

After two rounds of shooting, most of the twenty-odd guards were killed, and those who survived all had gunshot wounds. Even Du Hengxin was shot in the leg.

However, the sailors on the ship hid at the stern of the ship out of fear when Jia Cong ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge, and finally they all escaped the disaster.

Among these sailors, there was a tall, dark man who, like the other sailors, huddled at the stern, but his eyes were moving calmly, observing the situation at the bow.

Du Hengxin endured the severe pain from the gunshot wound in his leg and watched Jia Cong order his men to build a pontoon bridge. A large number of musketeers quickly passed by and stepped onto the bloodstained deck.

Du Hengxin did not expect Jia Cong to be so vicious. He brazenly opened fire and killed people when there was a slight obstruction in boarding the ship. More than 20 of his most elite men were killed by him in an instant.

It seemed that Jia Cong did not even care about the life of the wanted criminal. If he had not laid down on the deck and dared not move after the gunshot, he would have been shot dead on the spot.

……

After Jia Cong got on board, he ordered his men to clean up the dead bodies and the wounded. After sitting for a while to rest, he immediately ordered the sailors to turn the ship around and return to Jinling at full speed.

He looked at Du Hengxin, who was looking depressed on the deck, and felt a genuine sense of relief in his heart. So far, his mission to Nanjing under the imperial order had come to a successful conclusion.

The Water Conservancy Bureau case shocked the government and the public. The principal culprit, Zou Huaiyi, committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Although the case came to an end, many mysteries remained.

Later, he accidentally caught Zhou Suqing, a fugitive from the Water Supervision Division in Liaodong, and ended up exposing Zhou Zhengyang, the commander of Jinling Guard. In the end, after many twists and turns, he finally identified the real mastermind of the big case, Du Hengxin, the former number one man in the Jiangnan Guards and the second-rank commander.

Now that all the evidence is available, it is irrefutable that Du Hengxin had planned everything and finally confessed his crime.

But Jia Cong still had many doubts in his heart...

Jia Cong asked the military doctors to clean and bandage Du Hengxin's gunshot wound.

Whether it was the severe pain from the gunshot wound or the despair after being captured, Du Hengxin's face was pale, his expression was cold, and he didn't say a word, as if he had lost his soul.

Jia Cong suddenly said: "I have read the secret files of the Ministry of Rides, and I know that your career has been rough, and it is not easy for you to become a high-ranking official of the second rank.

I originally thought that someone like you would take your career very seriously and would be cautious in your actions, and would never risk losing your job. I didn't expect that you would end up in such a big deal. Don't you think it's not worth it?"

Jia Cong's strange words surprised Du Hengxin, and the cold and stiff expression on his face relaxed slightly.

In fact, at this point, if Jia Cong, in the attitude of a victor, questioned him about the case and forced him to confess, it would all be within the scope of the cleanup.

But he happened to ask an irrelevant topic, but this topic seemed to touch Du Hengxin.

He said coldly: "The secret files of the Central Vehicle Department must have said that I sold out my relatives in exchange for a career in politics, so do you think I would take my career in politics very seriously?"

Jia Cong's expression changed slightly, and he asked, "Aren't you?"

Du Hengxin glanced at Jia Cong and said, "You were born into a rich and powerful family, and you were blessed with a smooth life. Naturally, you don't understand the difficulties of children from poor families.

Although the Jinling Du family is also a prominent family, my family is a distant branch of the Du family.

Although I have gone through many ups and downs in the past decade and climbed to the high position of the second rank, from the beginning to the end, I have always been a poor person with no foundation.

In the eyes of others, I am just a tool that can be discarded after use, a puppet cultivated by others to achieve their own goals.

I, Du Hengxin, am a man of strategy and talent. I shouldn't be such a role!
When I was just a centurion, I dreamed of climbing up to a high position. But as I became more and more powerful, I finally understood this truth.

The official position and career that I have worked so hard to obtain is nothing more than a toy that can be taken or taken away at will in the eyes of the nobles. No matter how hard you try to grab it, it can be taken away easily. Why should I treat it as a treasure?

In this world, the only way to avoid being subjugated to others is to make others submit to you.

The things that make people surrender are nothing more than wealth, secrets, ambitions... "

Du Hengxin became more and more excited as he spoke, his expression distorted, as if he was filled with a hostility that was difficult to dissipate.

He glanced at Jia Cong, and seeing the disapproving look in his eyes, he smiled coldly: "You come from a noble family, you won't understand what I'm saying, why bother talking nonsense with you!"

Jia Cong suddenly said seriously: "You are wrong. I understand what you said, but I cannot agree with it. Evil deeds are evil deeds. No matter how many excuses you use, it will be useless.

I don’t have the same worries as you, not because I was born into a noble family, but because I only do what I think is right and comfortable, and I won’t force or distort myself. "

Seeing the disdain in Du Hengxin's eyes, he smiled and said, "You won't understand what I'm saying, because we are not the same kind of people."

……

On the way back by boat, Jia Cong was worried about an accident, so he asked his seven musket guards to keep a close eye on Du Hengxin and no one except himself was allowed to approach him.

Since Du Hengxin was arrested, his communication with Du Hengxin was limited to that insignificant conversation, and he did not ask the other party any questions other than that.

Because interrogating important criminals is the responsibility of the Dali Temple, and Jia Cong is only responsible for solving cases and arresting important criminals.

The reason why he was so cautious and clearly defined the boundaries was due to another level of consideration and concern.

That day at the Taiping Gate in Nanjing, he discovered that the imperial envoy who delivered the imperial decree was actually Guo Lin, and he knew that the whole matter was not as simple as he had imagined.

Guo Lin was a fourth-rank official who was the supervisor of Qianyang Palace. He had great power in the inner court and was the most trusted eunuch of Emperor Jiazhao. However, he was sent by the emperor to be an imperial envoy to convey the emperor's imperial edicts and was granted great power to control the emperor at will.

To others, the emperor sent his trusted eunuch to Nanjing just because he attached great importance to the major case in Nanjing, but Jia Cong did not think so.

The information he learned from Zou Min'er and the records in Zou Huaiyi's blue-covered secret account book were full of obscure connections between the demise of the Jinling Du family and the extraordinary ascension of Emperor Jiazhao to the throne.

Therefore, Jia Cong had good reasons to speculate that the reason why Emperor Jia Zhao sent Guo Lin to Nanjing in person was not because he valued the Nanjing case, but because of Du Hengxin, who was closely related to his ascension to the throne.

This is also the reason why he kept an appropriate distance from Du Hengxin. After all, he had many contacts with Emperor Jiazhao and knew the emperor's deep and serious character very well.

……

The return journey was smooth, and by noon of the second day, the ship entered Jinling Longtan Port.

Although Du Hengxin did not encounter any accidents along the way, another strange thing happened on the ship when it docked.

At that time, Jia Cong boarded the ship and captured Du Hengxin. The captain Huang Yougui and more than a dozen sailors were also detained by Jia Cong.

Furthermore, after questioning, it was discovered that the reason why the captain Huang Yougui sailed out of the port without the permission of the Zhen family was because someone had captured his family and was threatening him.

However, no matter what the reason, these people were guilty of transporting the imperial prisoner and could not escape criminal prosecution.

When the ship docked, the captain and sailors who were transporting Du Hengxin discovered that one person was missing when they were escorted ashore.

The musketeers under Jia Cong searched the entire ship but found no trace of the man, and no one knew where he had gone.

After Jia Cong learned about this, he felt a lot of worries in his heart.

After arriving in Nanjing, he worked hard and finally cleared up the remnants of the Water Conservancy Bureau case and arrested all the wanted criminals.

But behind all this, there seems to be a hazy shadow hidden...

Because Jia Cong sent the information to Jinling in advance, people from Yingtian Prefecture, Dali Temple, and Jinyiwei were already waiting at the dock to receive the prisoners escorted by the ship.

Yang Hongbin from the Dali Temple went to the scene in person and brought with him several officials who were familiar with Du Hengxin. They identified Du Hengxin and signed and sealed relevant documents to confirm that the criminal had been brought to justice.

But the next scene surprised Jia Cong a little. After the Dali Temple handled the relevant documents, Du Hengxin was taken to the Qianhu Prison by the Jinyiwei instead of being taken to the Dali Temple for interrogation.

After asking Yang Hongbin, he learned that Guo Lin had passed a message to the Dali Temple, saying that according to the secret order of the emperor, Du Hengxin was dismissed and investigated according to the order. If he had other crimes, he would not be sent to the Dali Temple in Nanjing, but would be escorted to Shenjing for special interrogation.

After Jia Cong knew the whole story, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. It seemed that his original speculation was indeed correct.

He watched Du Hengxin being taken onto the Jinyiwei carriage and saw the Jinyiwei escort team leave Longtan Port, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He handed Du Hengxin over to the Jinyiwei, and the whole thing was considered a success. And seeing the situation at the dock today, getting rid of Du Hengxin, this hot potato, made him feel even more relieved.

……

Jinling, Chengxian Street.

The Jinyiwei team escorting Du Hengxin had just entered the intersection of Chengxian Street when they found that the street was very crowded.

In front of them, a team of carriages and horses almost filled half of the road.

At the head of the team were two men on horseback.

The man was in his early forties. Although his face was weathered, he had an elegant appearance and was quite graceful.

The other person was a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old, thin, with regular features and a gentle manner.

Following behind the two men was a blue silk sedan chair.

Next came five large carts filled with goods, with the company's logo on them.

The leader of the team looked at the crowded road and frowned, asking, "Whose convoy is this? It's so grand that it's blocking the street?"

The Jinyi captain next to him said: "Look at the logo on the carriage, it's the Jinling Xue family's convoy. The two people riding in the front must be the second master of the Xue family and his son.

I have a cousin who works in the Xue family's Ziyun Pavilion. I heard from him that the second master of the Xue family has been running business in Nanyue for more than half a year, and he will return to Nanjing this month to check the accounts.

I guess it's just a coincidence that I just came into the city today and their Ziyun Pavilion is on Chengxian Street."

When the captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard heard that the carriage and horses belonged to the Xue family in Nanjing, he stopped talking.

Everyone in Jinling City knows about the four great families of Jia, Wang, Shi and Xue. These four families have strong power and are not to be easily provoked.

This Jinyi captain naturally would not think of asking the Xue family's convoy to give way, so it would only take a while.

At this moment, a loud noise suddenly came from a shop on the left side of the road, followed by billowing smoke, and then continuous firecracker sounds, deafening.

The pedestrians on the road were in a state of chaos. Someone shouted, "Oh no! There's a firework store on fire!"

Firecracker debris was flying everywhere, and people on the street were running for their lives. The surging crowd not only disrupted the Xue family convoy in front, but also scattered the Jinyiwei escort team.

The leader of the group, a captain in imperial uniform, shouted and cursed loudly, trying to disperse the crowd, but the intense and continuous sound of firecrackers covered up his voice and no one could hear it clearly.

A tall man seemed to be pushed by the crowd and hit the wall of the carriage carrying prisoners, looking a little embarrassed.

After a moment, he stood up straight, and followed the crowd away from the street. His robe fluttered inadvertently, revealing a flash of cold silver light. (End of this chapter)