In the hustle and bustle, Chen Zhong actually does not have access to much outside intelligence, because the soldiers sent by Zhongzhou who are called bodyguards but are actually monitors will deliberately cut off his intelligence sources to prevent him from knowing too many things and causing too much of himself. idea.
But after all, they have limited manpower. In Nanyi Province, the Zhongzhou warlord did not dare to send too many soldiers deep into the hinterland with great fanfare. The place where Chen Zhong was located was his own hometown, and intelligence sources were almost everywhere, so there was still an endless stream of information leaking out.
Even if he only heard half of it, it was enough to shake the morale of the army.
What's more, the current environment and the people around him would never leave him time to hesitate and struggle. There are always some external waves trying to push him around in all directions.
Chen Zhong is not a very noble person, nor is he a very independent person, which is why the Zhongzhou warlord chose him. But at the same time, he is not an extremely evil person, so even after making a selfish decision, he will soon be shaken by the attitudes of the people around him, or be condemned by his conscience.
So after this incident, he soon became uneasy and panicked because of the development of the matter. Although people sent by Zhongzhou have been controlling and brainwashing him, firstly, the methods are not professional enough, and secondly, since they want to use him to persuade local greedy young adults, they naturally cannot prevent him from contacting others.
They could only consciously isolate those who seemed to affect the plan from contact with Chen Zhong.
On this day, Chen Zhong was still talking about the gold mine to the young people in the village as arranged by the guards, but his mood was obviously not high, and his words were not as convincing and attractive to everyone as when he first came back. , instead of improving his eloquence, he obviously lost power because of his negative attitude.
Naturally, the man who was called a guard but was actually a monitor was very dissatisfied. He stared at Chen Zhong fiercely for several years, and through silent threats, he reluctantly cheered up Chen Zhong a little.
But this weak progress disappeared without a trace when Chen Zhong's second uncle arrived.
Uncle Chen's second uncle is the elder in the village and is also recognized as the most educated person in the village. It is said that he never read a book when he was a child, but he learned thousands of words by eavesdropping outside the school in the town and studying by himself with a few old books. As he grew older, he even became a recognized scholar in the village.
The villages in Nam Yi Province are also prosperous, and there are actually not many people who have read books. However, the status of Uncle Chen's second uncle is higher than many serious people in the village who have read books. Of course, it is not only because he is literate and read books, but also because He himself is extremely intelligent and cerebral.
This is also someone the guards want to isolate and guard against as much as possible.
After Chen Zhong's second uncle came in, one of the guards signaled Chen Zhong to try to provoke him to leave. As a result, the second uncle openly said: "Third boy, you can only talk about gold mining to an inexperienced kid." Children listen, but an old man like me can’t listen?”
This statement has a different meaning, as if Chen Zhong only dared to use it to deceive children about the gold mine, but he did not dare to show it to others.
But he did get the truth right. Chen Zhong definitely didn't dare to let his second uncle know more about the gold mine. In other words, even if he dared, the monitor would not dare.
So at the signal of the guards, Chen Zhong directly asked them to invite his second uncle out.
But he didn't expect the old man to be dragged out by two guards while shouting: "Okay! Are you willing to tell the news about the gold mine to outsiders rather than to your own family!? Third boy, our Chen family raises I haven’t treated you badly in so many ways, have I!?”
Chen Zhong suddenly felt a little anxious. Naturally, he knew in his heart that the gold mine was not a good thing, so he would rather lie to outsiders than to lie to his own people. But what the old man said was so heartbreaking that he couldn't hold it back for a moment. His face was so depressed that he almost cried. He blurted out: "Second Grandpa, I didn't mean that -"
The second uncle tapped the ground with his crutch and shouted: "Then you won't let them stop!? You two guards don't look like guards, but like the masters of the third boy's family!?"
What he said was shocking, especially when there was a group of young adults watching from the side. Although they did not have sharp minds and were tempted by the gold mine, they were also because of the respect for elders that they had been taught since childhood. Jingxian thought and instinctively felt that something was wrong, so he wanted to stop him, while opening his mouth to persuade Chen Zhong.
Seeing that nothing could be done, the two guards reluctantly stopped, but secretly glanced at Chen Zhong, asking him to cooperate. Chen Zhong was very embarrassed.
The old man was helped up by several young people, rubbed his scratched shoulders and arms, and said: "Third boy, you can do it. How much wealth have you made, and you dare to attack my old man? What on earth are you doing? You’ve made a fortune, but what have you gained that makes you crazy?”
Chen Zhong didn't dare to receive the looks from the guards, but he also didn't dare to follow their wishes and force the old man out. He lowered his head and said, "Second uncle... I didn't mean that. Why are you here too?"
Uncle Chen did not answer his words. Instead, he took his crutch, pinched his back, walked around the two guards, and said: "Third boy...where did you recruit the guards? How can I See, they are much tougher than you? Are you their master, or are they your master?"
Chen Zhong was frightened when he heard that. The guard was just pretending here, and he must not respect Chen Zhong very much. But when he heard such a sensitive question from the old man, he was still shocked and said quickly: "I'm just doing what Boss Chen says."
Second Uncle Chen looked at them and said without comment, "I hope so."
Then he said to Chen Zhong: "Third boy, do you still listen to what your uncle is telling you now?"
Chen Zhong was stunned for a moment, then said: "Second uncle, what did you say...do you have anything to do with me?"
Generally speaking, he still respects his second uncle Chen very much, and he must listen to whatever the other person has to say. But at this time, he couldn't help himself, so he didn't dare to answer Uncle Chen's words.
The second uncle then said: "I have something to tell you. Don't let your two guards follow me. If you are still willing to listen to my old man, just follow me into the house to talk."
Chen Zhong hesitated a little after hearing this. The guard cast a threatening look at him, but unexpectedly, the second uncle happened to be standing between Chen Zhong and the two of them, blocking the sight of both parties. The guards wanted to stop them, but the second uncle did not give them this chance. Instead, he waved his hands to the young people who were asking Chen Zhong about the gold mine and said, "You guys will be watched by the second uncle and your third uncle." Door. The same goes for your third uncle. People in his own village don’t believe it, but people hired from outside. These two people are gangsters, and the second uncle can’t believe it. If you listen to me, put them in jail first, and let me follow them. Your third uncle will talk about private matters at home later."
When he said this, the young men hesitated for a moment, and then they actually surrounded the guards to take them out. The guard was a little anxious immediately, but this time was not suitable for an attack. After a little hesitation, he was pushed out by everyone.
Chen Zhong was very worried, but he lacked any opinion after all. After being pushed twice by his second uncle's crutch, he took advantage of the situation and entered the house. He was actually a little afraid of dealing with Second Uncle Chen, but he still had the courage to ask: "Second Uncle, do you need my help with anything...I might..." He wanted to say that he might not be able to help, but Remembering his character at this time, he shook his head and said, "...it may not be able to help anything."
The second uncle stared at him for a long time, but did not answer his question. Instead, he suddenly said: "Third boy, are you being threatened?"
Chen Zhong: "...!?"
He was very uneasy and his voice was almost trembling. He couldn't hide it at all, but he still pretended to be shocked and said, "Second uncle, what are you talking about?"
The second uncle understood what he looked like, and sighed and said: "Xiao San, no matter how big the problem is, your family will help you. But you... must not do anything that harms your own people, otherwise it will not only You, your parents, uncles, children... will have no place in the countryside from now on."
The second uncle's words were not exciting, and could even be said to have an ordinary tone, but when he heard them in Chen Zhong's ears, they seemed to shake his heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys, shaking him for a moment to the point where all the defenses in his body were almost shattered. The point - and then the experience in Zhongzhou, the threat from the staff and the presence of his family flashed through his mind, but he finally calmed down.
He pretended to be nonchalant, and said in a dry voice that he thought he could hide from the other party, but in fact it was hard to win the trust of others: "Second uncle, what are you talking about...How could I harm one of my own...Besides, I've made a mistake now." I even hired guards, so how can anyone threaten me?"
Of course, it was impossible for the second uncle to believe what he said, but seeing that he had been perfunctory, he did not continue to press the question to expose the unnaturalness of his attitude. He pretended not to notice, and said to Chen Zhong: "Anyway, mistress, you have to remember... The world outside is not peaceful, but our family is not easy to mess with. Just say that in these ten miles and eight villages, which family and clan are not the same? Living together for generations, the same spirit connects the branches? It's all about breaking the bones and connecting the tendons. We won't let our family be easily bullied by outsiders, but if anyone eats the inside and outside, the result will not be much better than offending the outsiders. .”
Chen Zhong's heart trembled, he was very shaken for a moment, and he almost wanted to tell the matter. But in the midst of his confusion, there was always a shadow in his mind, which was the hordes of Zhongzhou troops armed with live ammunition. The young and middle-aged people in the village may indeed have some deterrence against other villages, but compared to the real What are the warlords?
Thinking of this, Chen Zhong's courage shrank back.
After the prince received the information, some people scolded Chen Zhong angrily: "This Chen Zhong is really worthless, and his name was wasted!"
Mr. Ren, however, was very calm and said: "It's just a matter of fire. We are just ordinary people. If we are really so decisive in killing, we will not be pushed out by Zhongzhou as a target. This matter must be dealt with slowly." "
After that, he was really not impatient and arranged a series of tasks. Chen Zhong only sent a few people to secretly beat the drum, but Ji Geng increased his firepower - if the court had no prestige now, and the prince was inconvenient to take the initiative, this matter could actually be simpler.
Because of the news, the government office in Nanyi Province has received many reports and arrested several people who were inciting public sentiment. Most of the people caught were ordinary gangsters bribed by Zhongzhou spies, but there were also a few more important spies mixed in among them. Mr. Ren is trying to follow the clues and use these people to catch the spy who infiltrated into Nanyi Province from Zhongzhou and chop off one of Li's claws.
This process cannot be accomplished by relying on the people under the crown prince alone. After all, he is still a prince and not an emperor. He is currently only in the process of studying and does not hold any formal position. Although he has a certain influence in Nanyi Province, But it is not easy to directly order officials to act according to their own wishes.
He can only use his influence to act in a subtle way.
But this is not a bad thing.
During this period of time in the Xia Kingdom, the reputation of the imperial court had actually reached an extremely low level. Nanyi Province is located in the south, with a prosperous environment, and the Crown Prince has exerted subtle influence and supervision in recent years. It is already a relatively politically clear area, but it is still inevitable that officials will be corrupted, officials will oppress the people, and the powerful will take advantage of the situation.
If direct pressure is exerted from top to bottom, the efficiency will be high, but it is inevitable that some people will not take advantage of the situation, or even overdo it, and take the opportunity to bully and exploit the people. If something like this happened, it would be better for the prince to ignore it at first, and the harm would be less.
The entire political system of the Xia Kingdom is now rotten. The emperor does not care about anything and is more addicted to pleasure. The "Prince Regent" had minions throughout the court, and even exiled the dignified prince to Nanyi Province under a random title. He is indeed more capable than the emperor, but the prince's mind is not on government affairs. He is more concerned about fighting for power and profit. Because of the rampant warlords, the regent himself didn't pay much attention to the nominal "prince", but he never killed him. When he returned to Beijing, he would mostly pretend to be a good uncle.
Coupled with the cultural atmosphere of Nanyi Province in the past, several forces here finally chose to support the prince after several battles. It may now be one of the most peaceful areas in the entire Xia Kingdom.
But even so, the prince would not place his hopes in the current corrupt bureaucracy, but would rather use strategy rather than power to achieve his goals.
Facts have proved that several suggestions put forward by Yin Lian are extremely to the point.
After Ji Geng's list came out, people came to his door one after another to confirm whether the people on the list were his family members or just people with the same name. The prince actually found many people with matching identities. After he followed up and reported the situation of these people through newspapers, it immediately aroused fierce reactions in many towns and villages. Although newspapers are not available in every village, if a local is trapped in Zhongzhou or even dies in another country, the news will be brought back soon by his fellow villagers.
This resulted in a very wide range of news dissemination, and because word-of-mouth was bound to be distorted and exaggerated, once the public opinion tendency of this "gold mine scam" was characterized, it would be exaggerated again and again in the direction of being characterized, until it was Demonize.
By late August, many places in Nanyi Province had begun to "smell the gold changes", which really left Zhongzhou's gold mining scammers with no place to hide. Even those "pyramid salesmen" who had appeared before were also listed on the list of people's voluntarily The list of liars began to be shouted out by everyone.
But it was Chen Zhong's betrayal that really sealed the whole matter. Under the hard work of the prince's men, Chen Zhong was finally pushed by the environment, relatives and friends to make a decision. In turn, he cooperated with the prince's men to trick Zhongzhou. Not only did he expose Zhongzhou's conspiracy, but he also helped the government dig out Zhongzhou. The warlords lurked in several strongholds and important figures in Nanyi Province, helping the prince to clean up the political circle in Nanyi Province.
During the whole process, Yin Lian gave many useful suggestions, and the friendship with His Highness the Crown Prince and even his advisers quickly deepened, to the point where they even called each other cousins. She felt that this might be the friendship of doing things together - although she only talked but did not do anything from beginning to end, it was obvious that the other party also recognized her ideological contribution.
The reward for Yin Lian's efforts during this period was a large stack of letters written by His Highness the Crown Prince and famous historical figures. Although a small part of them may not be visible to others due to the difference in world lines, it is not a problem to pick out one or two that will not make people notice the abnormality but can express their identity and background.
Yin Lian felt that this wave of favorability was worth it.
