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"Nonsense! The kidnapping of Lord Commander-in-Chief has absolutely nothing to do with Jianzhou Jurchens! They don't have the motive, let alone the ability!"
Probably because everyone confuses right and wrong and insists on linking He Yu's kidnapping with himself and the Jianzhou Jurchens. The repeated occurrence of this kind of thing makes Ximen Sheng extremely annoyed and his patience has reached its limit.
Therefore, after hearing what Fang Zhenshan said, Ximen Sheng immediately blurted out and refuted sharply.
As Ximen Sheng finished speaking, the expressions of everyone present changed. The Liaodong Town side all had frozen expressions, while Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin were sneering.
Because Ximen Sheng's rebuttal was undoubtedly a direct admission of He Yu's kidnapping.
This matter is extremely important. Liaodong Town has always firmly denied it even if it forced its eyes open to tell lies.
Ximen Sheng obviously knew exactly what he had done, but he still ignored it and continued: "You have repeatedly moved Jianzhou Jurchens out, insisting that Jianzhou Jurchens are related to the kidnapping of the General Soldier. , and also implicated this general, saying that this matter was a conspiracy between this general and the Jianzhou Jurchen... It was nothing more than to divert the focus, force people to submit, and cover up the real culprit!
For the sake of your own selfish interests, you lie with your eyes wide open and misrepresent yourself as a horse, but don't expect me to always compromise and cooperate with you in your drama!
I will put it here. The kidnapping of the Commander-in-Chief was due to a conspiracy by one of his own! The Commander-in-Chief has not been able to be successfully rescued so far, because some despicable people are secretly obstructing him! If we cannot face this point squarely, this matter will never be solved! "
After saying that, Ximen Sheng turned around and glanced at everyone in Liaodong Town. He saw that all the high-ranking military attaches in Liaodong Town were dumbfounded and sneered: "Although Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin are uneasy and well-intentioned, they have not said a word. Wrong! Although our Liaodong Town is the strongest, other forces are not blind, deaf, or stupid. The situation has developed to this point. It is no longer possible to conceal the kidnapping of the General Soldier. No matter how hard it is to tell the truth, we can force it. Everyone should face reality and not just think about their own selfish calculations!"
Then, Ximen Sheng turned to glare at Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin, his attitude became more and more tough, and he said in a gloomy tone: "As for you two, I will also explain clearly! What do you think about the kidnapping of my commander-in-chief? It doesn’t matter if you want to gloat over the misfortune, or if you want to impeach and complain to the central government afterwards, but don’t try to fish in troubled waters or take advantage of the situation! This general will never watch this happen, and the more than 100,000 soldiers in Liaodong Town will never allow this. Something happens!
Now, you should retreat back to the camp immediately and make no more changes. After we, Liaodong Town, successfully rescue the General, we will no longer restrict your actions and will give you a satisfactory explanation! If you are dissatisfied, then let's fight with real swords and guns! Haven't you always wanted to use this kind of thing to blackmail our Liaodong Town? Then fight! Let’s see if you have the ability to fight to the death, and you will be responsible for the consequences! "
Speaking of the latter, Ximen Sheng roared loudly.
Then, Ximen Sheng put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist, stared with murderous eyes, and looked like he was about to take the lead in charging into the battle.
Such a show of indifference is simply crazy.
But Ximen Shengnai is the second-largest figure in Liaodong Town. He has accumulated many military exploits and gained great authority over the years. Seeing him acting crazy without warning, everyone present was stunned for a moment.
Whether it is Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin who are deliberately provocative, or Li Zehe, Gan Cheng, and Xu He who have made up their minds to become enemies of Ximen Sheng, or He Bandit and He Rensheng who have placed Ximen Sheng under house arrest by virtue of their superior strength, Everyone was at a loss at this time, and many people didn't even have the guts to look at Ximen Sheng.
Just like that, the atmosphere became more and more awkward, and everyone was silent for a while.
Then, Fang Zhenshan sneered again.
A few months ago, Fang Zhenshan was still the commander-in-chief of Guyuan Town. Although the strength and influence of Guyuan Town were far inferior to that of Liaodong Town, he was once a warlord who had seen great storms. Although he would be suppressed by Ximen Sheng It took me a while, but I quickly came to my senses.
While sneering, Fang Zhenshan looked at Ximen Sheng with a flash of admiration in his eyes.
Because Fang Zhenshan has clearly seen the true intention of Ximen Sheng's behavior.
*
Since receiving Zhao Junchen's secret letter, Fang Zhenshan has roughly speculated on many recent developments in Liaodong Town, and also understood the beginning and end of this storm. Therefore, Fang Zhenshan also knew very well that the kidnapping of He Yu was definitely related to Jian The state Jurchen has nothing to do with it.
Although Zhao Junchen did not say it explicitly, Fang Zhenshan, like several Liaodong generals, believed that the kidnapping was most likely to have something to do with Zhao Junchen.
Fang Zhenshan has mentioned Jianzhou Jurchens many times before, and also related the kidnapping of He Yu to Jianzhou Jurchens. He also hinted that Ximen Sheng was related to the matter, and it was also due to Zhao Junchen's arrangements and explanations. The reason was like Ximen Sheng. What Sheng said before was just to "shift the focus, force people into submission, and cover up the real culprit."
After all, for Liaodong Town, the Jianzhou Jurchens are obviously a greater external threat, so after removing the various threats of the Jianzhou Jurchens, Liaodong Town can be forced to do many things.
In order to realize Zhao Junchen's plan, Fang Zhenshan took action frequently in the past two days, made a lot of preparations, collected a lot of "evidence", and even went so far as to arrest Zhang Zhengqing, a Liaodong scholar with extremely extensive connections.
Originally, according to Fang Zhenshan's original plan, he was going to bring out all the "evidence" he had collected to fully establish that He Yu's kidnapping was related to the Jianzhou Jurchens, and he also took the opportunity to hint that Ximen Sheng and the Jianzhou Jurchens were involved. The conspiracy will definitely leave Ximen Sheng speechless.
However, at this moment, Ximen Shengze suddenly broke out without warning.
Not only did he recklessly admit that He Yu was kidnapped, he also further created tension and further increased the danger of the two armies meeting each other!
This kind of behavior seems to be unbearable madness, but in fact it has a deeper meaning, and it can even be regarded as a method of "repaying him with kindness".
Because of Ximen Sheng's "crazy" performance, it not only directly interrupted Fang Zhenshan's subsequent performance and diverted everyone's attention, but also prevented Fang Zhenshan from completely establishing the suspicion and threat of the Jianzhou Jurchen. The tension created and the danger of the two armies meeting each other forced everyone in Liaodong Town to unite and deal with the outside world.
After all, the Jianzhou Jurchens were certainly a big threat, but the Shanhaiguan Wu family behind Wu Shilin, as well as the imperial center and the civil service system represented by Fang Zhenshan, were also a big threat.
For Liaodong Town, it is difficult to say which of these three threats is greater.
In short, Ximen Sheng also used external threats and open conflicts to achieve the goal of "shifting the focus, forcing others to submit, and covering up disadvantages."
At the same time, as Ximen Sheng himself said, this situation can force everyone in Liaodong Town to face the reality instead of just focusing on infighting and internal strife, thereby speeding up the process of rescuing He Yu in Liaodong Town.
These twists and turns seemed a bit complicated, but Ximen Sheng quickly understood the situation, the pros and cons, and took action immediately.
As a frontier general, although Ximen Sheng was not good at playing tricks and intrigues, his vision, courage, and determination should not be underestimated.
Unfortunately, Fang Zhenshan quickly figured out these twists and turns.
While secretly admiring him, Fang Zhenshan did not intend to let Ximen Sheng go, and quickly responded.
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"General Ximen Shen is so courageous! If this governor had not had the experience of being in charge of a military town, he would have been intimidated by General Ximen Shen!
However, although General Ximen Ginseng seems to have amazing courage, in the eyes of the governor, he is just guilty and eager to divert everyone's attention. Otherwise, why would he deliberately interrupt the governor's words and dare not let people Hear what's next?
As you said before, even if there is a real fight, many things must be said clearly in advance, right? We can’t let the soldiers on both sides die in this unknown battle..."
Having said this, Fang Zhenshan didn't wait for Ximen Sheng to make another plan. He waved his horsewhip and pointed it behind him, saying: "This governor has not been idle during this period. Not only did he discover that Zhang Zhengqing, an old thief, had defected to the Jianzhou Jurchens and leaked the news, , and also found several other key witnesses, which is enough to prove that there is a close relationship between the kidnapping of General He Yu and the Jianzhou Jurchens... Do you want to listen to the statements of these witnesses in detail? "
Hearing Fang Zhenshan's statement, several Liaodong military attaches were stunned.
They had long noticed that Fang Zhenshan's horse was followed by several prisoners who were tied up by Wuhuada. However, they only paid attention to Zhang Zhengqing at first. They thought that the other prisoners were all Zhang Zhengqing's accomplices, so they did not pay more attention.
But at this time, after hearing Fang Zhenshan's statement, I realized that these prisoners may be more critical than Zhang Zhengqing.
Zhang Zhengqing could only say that the Jianzhou Jurchens had known about the internal chaos in Liaodong Town in advance and might take advantage of it. However, the other prisoners were very likely to prove that He Yu's kidnapping itself originated from Jianzhou. The state Jurchen plotted.
Ximen Sheng had been vaguely aware of the follow-up development, and was naturally unwilling to let Fang Zhenshan continue to play. However, before Ximen Sheng could interrupt Fang Zhenshan again, He Bandit, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "Since it concerns the General Soldier, Naturally, we want to hear the truth about the kidnapping!"
He Bandit is only loyal to He Yu, and now he only wants to rescue He Yu. However, due to his limited knowledge and intelligence, he still has no clue about the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes.
Ximen Sheng has been hinting that this matter has something to do with Zhao Junchen, and Li Zehe and others have said that this matter is due to the conspiracy between Jianzhou Jurchens and Ximen Sheng. He Yi doesn't know who he should believe, so After hearing Fang Zhenshan claim that he had relevant witnesses, he naturally didn't want to miss it and ignored Ximen Sheng's attitude.
Subsequently, Li Zehe, Gan Cheng, and Xu He also expressed the same idea out of consideration for their own interests.
Seeing this situation, Fang Zhenshan smiled proudly at Ximen Sheng, then turned around and ordered: "Yao He, Hu Qiao! You two should confess everything you know to the generals now!"
Following Fang Zhenshan's order, two young men who looked like farmers walked timidly to the front, and then started talking to each other while stumbling.
"The villain's name is Yao He, a farmer in Hujiazhuang..."
"The villain Hu Qiao is also a farmer in Hujiazhuang..."
"...Brother Niu Zhuangniu, he was bullied by the Liaodong border army. After his family was destroyed, he was full of resentment and anger all day long, so he gathered many men in similar situations in the village, and they often got together to complain..."
"... Xiao Ren and Yao He used to follow them, but because Brother Niu often said crazy things, saying that he wanted revenge, Xiao Ren and Yao He only felt scared, so they soon did not dare to go with them. Mixed together..."
"... But one day, a man who claimed to be named Xu Sheng suddenly appeared. He said that he was a merchant from Liaodong, and his family was ruined due to persecution by the border army. Like Brother Niu, he wanted to take revenge on Liaodong Town... From that man After appearing, the various statements and actions made by Brother Niu and others on weekdays became even more frightening..."
"...Another day, the day when Liaodong Town sealed off the entire Hujiazhuang, that Xu Sheng suddenly brought a group of strangers to secretly meet Brother Niu and the others. Then Brother Niu and the others left Hujiazhuang and were never seen again. …”
Hearing this, all the military attachés in Liaodong Town had serious expressions, and they had already guessed that the Niu Zhuang and others mentioned by Yao He and Hu Qiao were most likely involved in kidnapping He under the influence of Xu Sheng. Things about Yu.
However, the military attaches in Liaodong Town were not surprised by this news, because Ximen Sheng had already investigated these matters clearly and informed them of the relevant information.
However, due to some considerations, Ximen Sheng did not directly search the entire Hujiazhuang, so he never noticed the two key witnesses, Yao He and Hu Qiao.
In Ximen Sheng's eyes, the people related to Hujiazhuang are just pawns to be used, so he has been focusing on investigating the true origin of the man who claims to be named Xu Sheng.
But soon, Yao He and Hu Qiao revealed a shocking news that no one in Liaodong Town knew.
"...However, just a few days before Brother Niu and the others left Hujiazhuang with Xu Sheng, Xiaoren and Yao He accidentally encountered Xu Sheng talking to an accomplice in the village..."
"...I couldn't understand what they said at all... I only found out later after being interrogated by the officials that those were Jurchen words..."
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