When Gao Yue came to see him, Yang Ming thought it was not a big deal. What big deal could happen to a woman's family?
In fact, it is a huge event.
Currently, there are only seven Gao Yue's followers living in Prince Qin's Mansion, and there are forty-five people living in Jinyang Tower.
Gao Yue came to Yang Ming to tell him that two months ago, three of her followers left the capital without saying goodbye.
Originally, Gao Yue didn't take it seriously, thinking that everyone has their own ambitions. Many of his followers were originally remnants of the old Qi Dynasty. She was no longer a princess, and there was no need for others to suffer along with her.
As a result, just a few days ago, seven or eight more people left Jinyang Tower. Gao Yue suddenly felt something was wrong, so she went to Jinyang Tower and asked the people who stayed behind why they left.
At first, no one told her, but later, Gao Yue used tricks to induce her to know the truth.
Over in Goguryeo, someone has been actively trying to win over the survivors of the old Qi since last year. Gao Yue doesn't know what their purpose is, but she knows it won't be a good thing.
Most of her followers are from Bohai. After leaving Beijing, most of them will return to Bohai. If they are used by Goguryeo, another disaster will happen.
Gao Yue knew very well that the Sui Dynasty was now a prosperous unified dynasty, and most of the Guandong clans were already attached to it. Under such circumstances, trying to regain Da Qi was tantamount to hitting an egg against a stone.
She came to Yang Ming in the hope that Yang Ming could take action and find a way to eliminate the matter, because he was afraid that those who wanted to restore the country would drag down more people.
As a native of Qi, she did not want to see another war in Qi and the people suffering again.
Qi, is dead.
After Yang Ming heard this, he immediately called Su Lie in.
"Take people to Jinyang Tower and keep an eye on all Gao Yue's followers. No one can escape. Everyone will be questioned strictly. Anyone whose words are untrue will be cut into pieces!"
Gao Yue's beauty instantly turned pale, and she quickly knelt down and cried:
"Please, Your Highness, please let them go. They haven't left yet. We know that they, like me, have their hearts set on the Sui Dynasty. I beg Your Highness to have mercy on them."
Yang Ming waved his hand, Su Lie nodded and left.
"It's such a big deal that I can't tolerate my kindness," Yang Ming got down from the couch, helped Gao Yue up and said:
"I'm very grateful that you can tell me this matter, but you have to understand that if the remnants of the old Qi colluded with Goguryeo and invaded our Sui border, Hebei and Shandong would be in chaos immediately. Goguryeo is not our race. Once Entering the country will definitely lead to a life-and-death situation. You are from Bohai, how can you bear to see such a tragic situation?"
Bohai County is in the Cangzhou area of Hebei Province. It is next to Yang Wanshi's Hejian County. The current Bohai Prefect is Gao Shengdao, the eldest son of Gao Jun.
Gao Yue kept crying and begged Yang Ming to let them go.
Yang Ming stood up and frowned: "Don't worry, as long as they tell the truth, I won't move a single one of them. Anyone who sincerely loves Sui, I will make peace with them."
Collusion between inside and outside is a big deal, but Yang Ming doesn't think the survivors of the old Qi can make much trouble.
During the Northern Zhou Dynasty, a group of people had already been killed. After the founding of the Sui Dynasty, there were riots in Qi, and Yang Su killed another group. After Yang Jun took office as the general manager of Bingzhou, he also killed a group of people.
Even the leeks can't stand up to the killings one after another.
What's more, if Goguryeo really wants to invade, it must first attack Liaodong County (Shenyang), followed by Yan County (Liaoyang) and Liucheng County (Jinzhou). These three counties are on a line and form the Western Liaoning Corridor.
The Western Liaoning Corridor is the passage that connects the Northeast and the interior of the Pass. Jinzhou is the throat of the entire Western Liao Corridor. Therefore, in ancient history, the Central Plains dynasties repeatedly used troops outside the Pass and must control the Jinzhou front line.
But it was very inconvenient during the Sui Dynasty, because during the Sui Dynasty, the Western Liaoning Corridor was silted out, full of swamps, and extremely difficult to pass.
This is due to geographical factors. The Liaoning area is known as "six mountains, one water and three fields", but this one water is concentrated in the Western Liaoning Corridor.
Liaoshui, Xiaoliaoshui, Daliangshui, Bailangshui, Zhenshui, Xuanshui and Lushui are all here, so that this line is almost like a swamp.
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During the reign of Emperor Kaihuang, Yang Liang defeated Goguryeo, and he lost in this place. After the Central Plains army came here, it was not acclimatized to the soil and climate, and during the rainy season, diseases were prevalent among the army, so they were defeated.
The governor of Liaodong was Deng Hao, the governor of Yan County was Wei Yunqi, and the governor of Liucheng was Yang Linfu.
Wei Yunqi is currently in the capital, why not go somewhere? Because Yanjun was a place where Sumo and Mohe people moved in, it is not certain whether there are a thousand Han people living here. It belongs to the Sui Dynasty in name, but the Sui Dynasty does not have much actual control.
A Xiaxiajun, the prefect is only the sixth rank, and Wei Yunqi is now a hussar general. According to the tradition of the Sui Dynasty, if you hold multiple positions, you will be responsible for whichever rank is higher.
This Liaoxi Corridor is almost deserted during non-war periods.
But there are sentries here all the time, specifically to keep an eye on Goguryeo. What's more, at the end of the Liaoxi Corridor, there is Linyu Pass, also known as Shanhaiguan. If you can't break into Linyu Pass, you can't even think about breaking into Zhuojun.
Yang Ming then asked Gao Yue if he knew Gao Yingnian. Gao Yue replied that he didn't know, but Yang Ming would not exclude this person from the ranks of the survivors of the old Qi.
Because of what a coincidence, last year Goguryeo began to contact the survivors of the Old Qi Dynasty, and this year a man named Gao rebelled. Can you say that they did not collude?
In Jinyang Tower, Gao Yue's remaining followers, both male and female, were all tied hand and foot and tortured.
Su Lie doesn't know much about torture, but there are people in Wangfu Buqu who do, and Zhu Sanli is the expert.
This kind of interrogation cannot be handled politely. Fight first, you must fight. When their fear overcomes everything, it will be much easier for you to interrogate them again.
Of course, there are also tough points.
So Yang Ming's initial order was not to beat him to death, but to cut him to death.
Not only the person involved in the crime, but also those watching from the sidelines can't bear the stabbing cuts one after another. Even the torturer's psychological quality is not strong enough, and even he can't bear it.
A follower named Zhou Zheng couldn't stand it anymore after being cut twice on his thigh, but he really didn't know anything about it, so he confessed to someone who might have known about it.
So that man was also stood up, and Zhu Sanli used the knife to cut him open.
As soon as his pants were taken off, the man was already peeing and pooping all over the place, and everything happened.
"Rinse it once. His Highness will be interrogated in person later. It is not appropriate for His Highness to be exposed to such a stench," Su Lie ordered others to clean the scene.
All confessions were written down by Qiao Zhongkui's son Qiao Chun.
When Yang Ming arrived at the scene, he first read the transcripts. There were four people in total.
The content is roughly the same. They are all letters from their hometown in Hebei, asking them to go back and work together on a big event. What big event? Rebellion.
Gao Lande, the only bloodline of the Gao family, is dead, but now there is a person who calls himself the old Qi clan and has raised righteousness in Hebei. They just go back to join each other.
As for the name of the Gao family's descendant, these people don't know.
Yang Ming felt that maybe it was Gao Yingnian.
"What else didn't come out?" Yang Ming asked.
Zhu Sanli stepped forward and said: "No, it should all be the truth. These people couldn't stand being frightened. They attacked them all with three or two swords."
Yang Ming nodded.
Su Lie came over and said, "Then what should we do with these people next? They seem to be marginalized people with limited knowledge. Several of them are from local aristocratic families. Should they be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment?"
The followers around Gao Yue are not ordinary followers. They all have good backgrounds. Instead of calling them followers, they are better called staff. After all, Gao Yue is the only orphan of the old Qi clan. Their purpose of staying with Gao Yue is not simple.
For example, the song for the King of Qin to enter the battle. If he were a servant, how could he understand the melody?
"This night, you will drag everyone to the outskirts and find a place to deal with them. Remember, don't let anyone see you." Yang Ming was definitely going to silence him. Although he agreed to Gao Yue's request.
But it's a pity that Yang Ming is in a position where he can't keep his word.
And he arranged this to protect Gao Yue. If he really wanted to hand it over to the Ministry of Punishment, Gao Yue would definitely be implicated. If his father knew about it, Gao Yue might not be able to escape death.
So Yang Ming patted Zhu Sanli on the shoulder and said: "What can be said can be said, and what cannot be said cannot be said no matter what. Do you understand?"
Zhu Sanli knew what Yang Ming was implying, so he nodded quickly and said: "I understand."
After returning to the palace, Yang Ming immediately went to find Gao Yue, and Yang Yinjiang was also here.
She knew that after Su Lie and others left, she guessed that Gao Yue's matter was not simple, so she came over to ask, but Gao Yue still didn't tell her.
"You really can't tell me?" Yang Yinjiang looked at her husband.
Yang Ming told the whole story directly.
After hearing this, Yang Yinjiang narrowed her eyes and looked at Gao Yue with a cold expression.
She was already murderous.
In her opinion, once this matter is leaked, it may affect her husband and harbor rebels from the old Qi Dynasty. This kind of thing can be big or small.
If it's not on the scale, it won't weigh two ounces. If it's on the scale, it won't weigh a thousand pounds.
Gao Yue asked immediately: "Where are they? How did you settle down?"
Yang Ming said calmly: "The capital can no longer stay. I will send people to Longxi to find a place to live far away. Don't think about such a major treason anymore."
"You lied to me, you killed them, right?" Gao Yue's face turned pale.
Yang Ming said calmly: "It's up to you to believe it or not."
Then, he looked at Yang Yinjiang: "Replace all the maids around her. Aren't there seven of them? Send them to Hongnong to take care of her. Don't let them show up again."
Of course Yang Yinjiang understood what her husband meant. If he didn't show up, he would be buried in the ground.
"Okay, I'll arrange for them to go to Hongnong later."
Gao Yue trembled all over and collapsed on the ground, crying.
Yang Yinjiang gave her husband a look, meaning to ask Gao Yue how to deal with it.
After Yang Ming pondered for a moment, he said, "She didn't betray me. I can't betray her. Please comfort her."
Yang Ming was very grateful that Gao Yue could betray one of his own and tell him this secret.
Yang Yinjiang sighed inwardly and nodded.
