A brutal killing lasted until midnight before it ended. Yang Ji looked at the weapons and equipment piled up like a hill and the waves of prisoners of war. He stepped forward and picked up a spear. He looked at the spearhead through the bonfire and saw the words "Ordnance Supervision of the First Year of Renshou" engraved on it. There was a serial number at the bottom, so I threw it away casually, picked up another one and looked at it. The words engraved on it were still "Ordnance Supervisor of the First Year of Renshou", and the serial number was very close to the previous one; then I pulled out a horizontal sword from the middle. , and when he looked carefully again, his face became even more ugly.
With a "pop" sound, Yang Ji threw the Hengdao heavily into the pile of weapons.
Yang Jian, who was standing next to him, saw that Yang Ji had an ugly face, and then he looked at them one by one. He also took out a horizontal knife and looked at it. He saw the words on it were "Producer of the 20th Anniversary of the Emperor", and then he looked at a few more swords, and the words Much the same.
At this moment, he was so angry that his lungs almost exploded.
This is clearly the standard weapon of the Ministry of War. It would be understandable if one or two were left out, but if you check it casually, they are all standard weapons.
Where did the Qiaoshan bandits come from?
The answer is obvious, it is nothing more than coming from the Binzhou Army barracks.
Although Yang Jian knew that Yang Ji sold weapons to foreign countries and races, after asking his father, he found out that Yang Ji sold weapons that were completely different from others: First, Yang Ji sold them, and they were all eliminated people with short life spans. After acquiring weapons and weapons, the money he earned was used to support craftsmen and develop smelting techniques. With the weapons and equipment provided by the Sui Dynasty, the aliens could not only weaken the vitality of another alien force, but also promote the future. The longer the two sides fight, the weaker their strength will be. Secondly, with the weapons made by the Sui Dynasty, the foreign races no longer considered developing their backward smelting skills. They relied on and were controlled by the Sui Dynasty in terms of weapons.
When the Binzhou Army was sold to the thieves and bandits within the Sui Dynasty, it was the thieves and bandits who benefited, but it brought huge security risks to the Sui Dynasty.
"Your Majesty! General Jiang Cheng is here." Zong Luohu's voice came from the distance.
"Let him come over." Yang Ji said.
An officer in his forties walked over quickly and bowed respectfully: "The last general, Jiang Cheng, is here to see King Wei."
Yang Ji stared at his eyes, but his eyes flickered and he never dared to raise his head to look at him, so he asked him with a smile: "General Jiang, I want to ask you something. The weapons and equipment of the Binzhou Army are all made by ourselves." ?"
Jiang Cheng was stunned for a moment after hearing this. This question was a bit strange. How could the army make its own weapons and equipment? Is this the case with the border army?
However, he still replied: "Reporting to your Majesty, the weapons and equipment of the Binzhou Army are all numbered. If they are damaged and need to be replaced, they will be reported to the Ministry of War. After approval by the Ministry of War, it will be transferred to the Ordnance Supervisor, who will finally dispatch it. People send new armor and at the same time take away the old armor in the same amount. If anything is lost, you have to bear the responsibility."
"When was the last time you changed soldiers?" Yang Ji asked again.
Jiang Cheng replied: "About three years ago, when I was still a school captain in my humble position, I really didn't know much about the above."
Yang Ji already understood that the Binzhou Army probably sold the armor of non-existent soldiers to the Qiaoshan bandits.
Seeing that Yang Ji was deep in thought and silent, Jiang Cheng whispered, "If nothing happens to your Majesty, the general will take his leave."
"No! I have something to talk to you about."
"Please make it clear, Your Majesty."
"Where are you from?"
"The last general will be from Zhending County, Hengzhou."
"How many vacancies are there in your thousand-man team?" Yang Ji stared at him coldly.
According to Zhao Hongan, the Binzhou Army was corrupt to the core. If they were hot-headed and aggressive in investigating, mutiny was possible. Therefore, Yang Ji planned to start with the Fifth Battalion of the Left Army to dismantle Binzhou from within. State Army. And this Jiang Cheng is a confidant of General Wang Sheng of the Left Army. He must know far more than Zhao Hongan.
"..." When Jiang Cheng heard this, he felt cold sweat oozing out of his back, and the fear in his heart was immediately reflected on his facial expression.
"Haha..." Yang Ji's face was as gloomy as water, and he sneered but said nothing. However, this "haha" sound sounded like the cold wind of winter to Jiang Cheng.
"It doesn't matter if you don't say it, because the number of people can't be increased. They can be counted, but if you don't confess honestly, you won't have the chance to make meritorious service." Yang Ji pointed to the hill-like ordnance in front of him and said, "These weapons and equipment are all made by The Binzhou Army is the most favorable evidence that the unscrupulous generals in the army are capital thieves. If I include the weapons of the soldiers that do not exist in your camp, General Jiang, how do you think the court will deal with you?"
With that said, he turned his gaze to Jiang Cheng for advice.
Jiang Cheng: "..."
How else to deal with it?
Naturally, the house was confiscated for the crime of "colluding with bandits and intending to commit rebellion."
Jiang Cheng weighed it up, gritted his teeth, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the last general...the last general is willing to accept his crime and make meritorious service."
"Okay! When you get back, give me all the evidence you have." Yang Ji knew that Jiang Cheng was dirty and had no choice. Once he reported Wang Sheng or Lu Kuan, he broke with them; the only one The way is to do your best to cooperate with yourself and protect yourself with the court and laws.
"Here!" Jiang Cheng responded.
Yang Jifang was about to walk towards the meeting hall. Zhu Can and several Xuanwu guards escorted a scholar with a clear face and cheeks, walking from a distance.
Zhu Can smiled and said: "Sir, we have captured a bandit leader, who is said to be Liu Jialun's military advisor."
Yang Ji took a look at the scholar and saw that he had his hands tied behind his back and tied with ropes. This man had a fair face and elegant temperament, especially his eyes were unusually calm. There was no fear on his face, and he said, "Push him in first, I want to interrogate him personally." .”
With that said, he stepped inside.
After Yang Ji sat down, Zhu Can and others escorted the scholar in. The scholar stared at Yang Ji closely and asked, "May I ask what the general's name is?"
"You don't look like a person who can't survive. Why did you become a thief?" Yang Ji asked in reply without answering, and then waved his hands to Zhu Can, indicating that they should be loosened. Then, without waiting for the scholar's answer, he looked at his legs that were not very flexible, and then Asked: "Did the Qiaoshan bandits fight?"
"I broke it myself."
Just as Yang Ji was about to speak, a Beijing military captain came in with a square silk bag and saluted, "Your Majesty, I found this from the scholar's residence."
After hearing the word "king", the scholar knew Yang Ji's identity.
Zhu Can stepped forward to take the package and opened it in front of everyone. There were several booklets inside. After thinking about it, he gave it to Yang Ji.
Yang Ji reached out to take it and looked at the first booklet, but it was a household registration certificate, which said "Yun Zhongming, a native of Henan County, Yuzhou, his ancestral home is Wuchuan Town, his ancestors came from the Helian family of the Northern Wei Dynasty..."
After reading the household registration certificate, I read the second booklet, which was a letter of appointment from the Ministry of Personnel appointing Yun Zhongming as the magistrate of Maling County, Gyeongju; and the third booklet was a document expelling him from office as a slave...
When Yun Zhongming saw Yang Ji looking at him, he sighed silently and said, "Your Majesty, I know that if you follow a traitor and rebel, you will inevitably die. But I have a question, and I wonder if your Majesty can answer it for me."
Yang Ji said: "You said."
Yun Zhongming was silent for a moment and said: "To be honest with you, your Majesty, the strategy I discussed for Liu Jia is not to build a stronghold on the mountain, so as not to be surrounded by groups and unable to escape; if you live in a valley, you can hide at any time if you encounter an official or an army. In the mountains and forests. But I wonder how the king found this stronghold?"
After Yang Ji heard these words, he knew that this man was an extremely conceited and arrogant person. His heart suddenly moved and he said lightly: "I have exterminated countless bandits in Liangzhou, and I have already developed a judgment about the bandits' villages. An insight that can only be understood and cannot be expressed in words. If you only have one way down the mountain, it is difficult to judge, but you have four forked roads going down the mountain. As long as I roughly know the time, gathering place and frequency of your crimes on the four forked roads, I can It can be deduced that the cottage is at the intersection of four forked roads!"
Yun Zhongming stood there blankly. When he established the stronghold, he only considered convenience, but he did not think that convenience also had its disadvantages.
"You've finished asking, now it's my turn to ask you." Yang Ji stared at the slightly depressed Yun Zhongming's face and said lightly: "You have a large amount of ordnance, which is related to Doulu Kuan; you have done it three times We learned about Wei Baoluan's actions and marching route in advance, which must be related to Wang Shilang. How did you collude with Lu Kuan and Wang Shilang, and were there any correspondence between them?"
Yun Zhongming was silent for a moment and said slowly: "If I tell the truth, can your Majesty agree to my unkind request?"
Yang Ji said: "Why do you want to invite me without asking?"
Yun Zhongming said slowly: "I know that my sins are serious and I will definitely die. After my death, I asked the king to hire a carriage to take my body back to my hometown in Henan."
Yang Ji said: "It is human nature for people to return to their roots when they fall, and for old people to return to their hometowns. I can promise you that."
After thinking about it, he added: "I can even write a letter to your family in person, saying that you are a spy who infiltrated the bandits. Although my letter can't change anything, at least it can make your children Keep your head high and be proud of you, not ashamed of you.”
Yun Zhongming's request was nothing compared to the corruption evidence of Binzhou's military and political collapse. As long as he cooperated well, Yang Ji would never break his promise.
Moreover, the performance evaluations of the officials he retained are very good. It can be seen that Yun Zhongming was a good official when he was an official. The reason why he embarked on this road of no return was actually caused by Yi Chu. In the final analysis, this is A capable and virtuous victim who was sacrificed.
Yun Zhongming was prepared to die from the moment he was caught. A person didn't even care about death. He should not be affected by external objects. But Yang Ji's words later made his eyes red. .
He sniffed, bowed to the ground, said "Thank you" in a trembling voice, and then began to tell the story of the Qiaoshan bandits.
The more Yang Ji and others listened, the more frightened they became.
However, it was the Qiaoshan bandits who bribed Wang Shilang and Doulu Kuan. When they established themselves here last year, they gave them three thousand taels of gold each. Wang Sheng, Liang Hong, and Tang Shizong's middle and senior generals in the Binzhou Army also accepted the gifts. Their bribes, and Xiangle County Magistrate Xintai was no exception.
This year I gave away four more times, but they were all stolen goods that the copycat could not consume.
"The details of these gold and silver transactions and the purchase of weapons and equipment are all recorded in the account books." Yun Zhongming said this, and then mentioned a place where the account books and letters were hidden.
Upon hearing this, Yang Ji quickly asked Zong Luohu to search for letters and account books, and then asked: "According to you, Liu Jialun's time as a thief was only two years at most. How could he have so much property to bribe?"
"Thieves are called thieves, but they are actually people who are stronger than the officers and soldiers. These people kill without blinking an eye, and they are just like a bunch of dead soldiers. As for Liu Jialun, he is actually just a puppet. There is one or several powerful people behind him. I don’t know who the person or the power is specifically." Yun Zhongming glanced at Yang Ji and continued: "The money Liu Jia discussed bribing Binzhou officials and Binzhou army generals was mainly provided by those people. In fact, not many arrived, otherwise, they would have been annihilated by the army long ago. The preserved letters and accounts are the people behind Liu Jialun who want to use this as a leverage to force the Binzhou Army generals and Binzhou officials to obey their orders .”
"I don't know what their intentions are, but the Binzhou army has a total of '70,000 people.' If the generals who are caught lead their troops into Yongzhou, then the whole land of Guanzhong will be full of smelly smell."
It was precisely because Liu Jialun had many clues in his hands and knew the power of the Binzhou Army's "70,000 soldiers" that Yun Zhongming persuaded Liu Jialun to fight a battle and then fled to Baiyu Mountain. He waited until the imperial court moved the capital to Luoyang, After the rumors subsided, they used these levers to force the Binzhou army to submit, and captured Yongzhou in one go.
Although Yang Ji was brave, when he heard Yun Zhongming explain the strategy, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
He and Yang Guang originally thought that the Guanlong nobles were just raising bandits to support themselves. At most, they would increase the strength of the bandits after the imperial court moved the capital. They never expected that these people would use various means to control the army. If the Guanlong nobles were like Yun Zhongming As said, if an army of "700,000" is used to cause trouble, the world will soon be at war.
After a while, Zong Luohu came in carrying an iron box, placed it on the table in front of Yang Ji, and opened the lid.
Yang Ji picked up a letter and read it. The person who wrote the letter was Wang Shilang, the governor of Binzhou; and the second letter was written by Doulu Kuan.
The common feature in the content is that Liu Jialun must kill himself.
With these things, you can take down Doulu Kuan and Wang Shilang.
After a while, Yang Ji took a long breath and said, "Take him down to rest and take good care of him."
This Yun Zhongming has made a huge contribution. According to him, not only does he not have to die, but he also has merit. But at the moment, he cannot easily promise it.
After Yun Zhongming was taken away, Yang Ji asked Hao Yuan, "If we capture Wang Shilang and Doulu Kuan tomorrow, will there be any hindrance?"
"Your Majesty has the Emperor's Sword given by the saint, so he naturally has the right to take action at the right moment." Hao Yuan thought for a moment and then said: "After all, it is too slow to ask for an order, and it is easy for the news to leak out. Once they know that the Qiaoshan bandits have been killed, After the encirclement and suppression, it is very possible to take risks. Based on my humble opinion, I immediately sent people to control Doulu Kuan, Wang Shilang, Wang Sheng, and Liang Hong. As long as four of them are arrested, the rest will be leaderless."
Yang Ji pondered for a long time and said decisively: "Then we will arrest the four of them on the charge of "colluding with bandits and intending to rebel." The evidence is these letters of collaboration with the enemy."
As long as they bear this name, even Doulu Kuan, Wang Shilang, Wang Sheng, and Liang Hong's close confidants will have to weigh the cost and price of "rebellion", let alone others.
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