"This thief has long been disobedient. It's a pity that Datong officials blindly concealed it and deceived the emperor and the princes in the court. Otherwise, there would be no chance for this thief to cause trouble and spread the country." Wei Zhongxian put the responsibility on Datong officials.
After hearing this, Tianqi suddenly felt that Wei Zhongxian was right.
Being far away in the capital, he didn't know the situation of Liu Thief in Datong, but it was impossible for the local officials in Datong to be unclear.
Thinking of this, he said: "The governor of Datong before Liu Tie's rebellion was Li Guangyi, right?"
"After Liu Thief rebelled, Li Guangyi abandoned the city and fled, and is now being detained by the Ministry of Punishment." Wei Zhongxian said, "But the person who really protected Liu Thief was the former governor Liu Hong."
Tianqi raised his eyebrows and asked, "Where is Liu Hong working now?"
"After Li Guangyi took over as governor of Datong, Liu Hong returned to his hometown. Now he should be recuperating in his hometown." Wei Zhongxian said.
Tianqi's face sank and he said: "Xuan Da was taken advantage of by the Liu thief. He is still in the mood to take care of his old age in his hometown. He passed on my decree and ordered the Jin Yiwei to go to Liu Hong's hometown, arrest Liu Hong and return him to the capital, and then let the Jin Yiwei investigate. Whether the Liu thief in Datong is a blood relative of Liu Hong, if it is confirmed that this is true, we will work together with Liu Hong’s clan members to arrest him and bring him back to the capital.”
"Your servant accepts the order." Wei Zhongxian bowed and saluted.
"Big companion, go and do it immediately." Tianqi raised his hand and motioned for Wei Zhongxian to send his message to Jin Yiwei.
"Slave, please leave."
Wei Zhongxian bowed and backed away, and then turned around and left Qianqing Palace.
However, as soon as he walked out of the hall, he saw Gu Bingqian walking towards Qianqing Palace under the leadership of the young eunuch.
Wei Zhongxian, who was about to leave, stood outside Qianqing Palace and did not move.
"Sir Wei." After Gu Bingqian walked in, he took the lead in saying hello to Wei Zhongxian.
Wei Zhongxian said to the young eunuch who was leading the way: "You go and wait aside. We want to have a few words with Mr. Gu Ge."
Almost everyone in the Qianqing Palace was from Wei Zhongxian, and naturally so were the young eunuchs.
The little eunuch retreated to a farther place by himself, making sure that he could not hear the two people talking, and then stood still with his hands down.
"Why did the Holy One suddenly ask about Thief Liu?" Gu Bingqian had already learned the reason why Tianqi met him by bribing the eunuch who passed the order.
Wei Zhongxian put his hands in and said: "You ask our family? How could our family know, but you? It's been so long since Liu Thief's incident. How did the governor of Shanxi handle the matter? You didn't tell our family. I'm afraid. Our family wants to be considerate of you but we can’t do it.”
"Don't mention it." Gu Bingqian sighed and said, "There is no way to agree to the conditions put forward by Liu Thief, and the governor of Shanxi has nothing to do, so the matter has been delayed."
Wei Zhongxian frowned and said angrily: "What does he think he is? He actually dares to bargain with the court. We should have strangled him back then."
"Liu Thief is determined to rebel. There is no other way to recruit him. The only thing left is to suppress him." Gu Bingqian said helplessly.
Two chief ministers fell to Liu Thief one after another. If the suppression failed, he, the chief minister, might also be implicated. After all, there are many people below who are eyeing his position as chief minister, even if there is no Donglin Party. , those people in the eunuch party are also thinking about removing him from the position of chief minister all the time.
Wei Zhongxian asked: "Are you sure about the suppression?"
Gu Bingqian shook his head helplessly.
The imperial court sent large armies to Datong several times to suppress bandits, but in the end they were defeated and defeated. Although he was the chief assistant, he was not sure that he could deal with the Liu bandits in Datong in one fell swoop.
"Watch it for yourself!" Wei Zhongxian said, turned around and left.
When Gu Bingqian saw it, he hurriedly asked: "Please, Senior Officer Wei, teach me how to respond to the saint later."
Wei Zhongxian left without looking back.
Seeing this, Gu Bingqian knew that he couldn't get any advice from Wei Zhongxian, so he could only bite the bullet and follow the young eunuch into the Qianqing Palace.
"My lord, please see your Majesty."
Gu Bingqian bowed and bowed deeply.
As the chief minister, there is generally no need to kneel down and kowtow when meeting the emperor. Only the later Manchus kowtow and say hello no matter what happens.
"My dear, please encourage me." Tian Qixu raised his right hand and said at the same time, "Has the cabinet received any news about the Datong Liu thief recently?"
Gu Bingqian straightened up and said, "I haven't received it yet."
"Didn't Aiqing say that he wanted to recruit the traitor Liu? It's been so long, and there must be a result." Tianqi picked up the bowl with a dragon pattern on the table, put it to his mouth and blew on it.
Gu Bingqian felt a pain in his heart.
Although I had known for a long time that I would be asked about this matter, when I heard it with my own ears, I still felt a little unsure of what to do.
"What? After all this time, Aiqing has achieved nothing at all?" Tianqi's voice deepened, and there was a trace of dissatisfaction in Gu Bingqian's eyes.
Gu Bingqian hurriedly bowed and saluted, saying, "I am incompetent."
"I don't want to hear this. Please tell me whether Liu Thief in Datong does not accept the recruitment, or the recruitment has not been settled." There was a hint of coldness in Tianqi's tone.
Gu Bingqian knew that he had to speak at this time, so he said: "Back to the Holy Emperor, although Thief Liu did not directly refuse to recruit him, I can't agree to the conditions he proposed."
"What are the conditions?" Tian opened the lid of the cup and slowly stirred the tea in the cup, seemingly casually asking.
Gu Bingqian said: "Liu Thief proposed to stay in Xuanda, but did not agree to go to Liaodong."
"If he really wants to recruit people, I can't agree to it." Tianqi said calmly.
Gu Bingqian bit the bullet and said again: "Liu Thief also proposed that the imperial court should not send military generals to Xuanda, and that the taxes of Xuanda should be handed over to Liu Thief."
When they came back, the grain tax officer in the Main Hall had recorded all the monks' reports and confessions, sorted them out and put them aside.
"Are all the crimes committed by Bujie Temple here?" County Magistrate Qi picked up the paper full of words on the table and read it page by page.
Although he was mentally prepared, when he saw the evil deeds recorded above again, he almost couldn't help but order to kill all the monks in the Bujie Temple.
The grain tax officer nodded and said, "They are all here. Except for a dozen ordinary monks, the rest of the monks are all abbots of the Bujie Temple."
Although he didn't say much, the meaning in his words already made County Magistrate Qi understand that all the monks who worked with the abbot of Bujie Temple had committed evil acts.
"Bring here the dozen or so monks who are not the same as the abbot of Bujie Temple. I want to meet them." County Magistrate Qi explained.
The grain tax officer retreated from the Main Hall.
Not long after, more than a dozen monks of different ages walked into the main hall.
"Amitabha, this poor monk has seen the county magistrate." An old monk walking in the front clasped his hands in front of County Magistrate Qi.
County Magistrate Qi looked at the old monk in front of him.
The old monk in front of him had prominent cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and a gray beard. He was only wearing a worn-out monk's robe that was sewn with patches.
Not only the old monk in front of him, but also the dozen or so monks who followed him. Almost all of them were thin and their robes were all washed white.
