In order to be sure, Chang Feng directly closed the Yanchi City Gate. It was ordered that the people were not allowed to leave Yanchi City before the end of the Western Expedition.
This is to prevent Tatar craftsmanship in Yanchi City. If Xizuo informs the Tatars about the military supplies being hoarded in Yanchi City, the 80,000 frontier troops in the northwest will be in danger.
On this day, Chang Feng and Fatty Xu were patrolling the east gate city wall. Suddenly he saw Lu Gan, the old magistrate, riding a donkey to the city gate.
Qiu Yue at the foot of the city stopped Lu Gan: "Magistrate Lu, you want to leave the city? Where are you going?"
Lu Gan replied: "Ah, it's a matter of Qiu Qian. I'll go to Wuzhong Mansion to report on the county's grain tax collection this ten days."
Yanchi County is under the jurisdiction of Wuzhong Prefecture. It is not unusual for a county magistrate to go to the government office to report government affairs.
But during this sensitive period, Qiu Yue did not let Lu Gan out of the city easily.
Qiu Yue said: "By coincidence, the magistrate of Lu County. Admiral Chang and Prince Xu are on the north gate wall. If you want to go out, just go and talk to Admiral Chang."
Lu Gan had no choice but to come to the city wall and ask to leave the city.
Chang Feng shook his head slightly: "Luzhi County, the battle ahead is imminent. The ground in the northwest is not flat, and there is a fear of harassment by a small group of Tatar cavalry."
"It's not safe for you to go out of the city to Wuzhong Mansion. It's better to go back to the county government office."
Fatty Xu agreed: "That's right, it's just a matter of food and tax. I'll report it to your magistrate after this battle."
Lu Gan said: "You two superiors don't know something. We, Magistrate Yang, are very strict with our subordinate magistrates. If you fail to report food tax matters in time, you will be severely reprimanded."
Chang Feng said: "Don't worry. I will send a letter to your magistrate to explain it to you. You can go back first."
Lu Gan had no choice but to get off the city wall and ride a donkey towards the county government office.
Chang Feng stared at Lu Gan's leaving figure and noticed something was wrong: "Fat Master, there is something weird about this old man Lu Gan."
Fatty Xu asked: "Why is it so weird?"
Chang Feng said: "He claimed to be going to Wuzhong Mansion to report the grain tax. However, he did not bring a scribe or a government official with him."
"When a county magistrate travels, he always takes three or five government officials with him to ensure safety along the way."
"In matters related to grain and tax, scribes in each county record the accounts. He must bring a scribe to meet the magistrate, right?"
Fatty Xu thought for a moment: "That's right. It's weirdly tight. Mr. Chang, don't you suspect that Lu Gan is the fish that slipped through the net?"
Chang Feng said: "It's hard to say. You send a few strong men to keep an eye on Lu Gan."
At night, the moon is dark and the wind is high. The northwest wind mixed with sand and soil roared "vomitingly". It's like the strong wind was caught by something and became pregnant.
Lu Gan sneaked to the county Yaxi courtyard where Chang Feng and Fatty Xu lived.
A Jin Yiwei Baihu was standing at the gate of the west courtyard on duty.
The name of this hundred households is Zhang Cai, which has the same pronunciation as the name of Chang Feng's friend Zhang Cai, a doctor in the Literary and Anthology Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
He also has the same name as Zhang Cai, a minister of the Southern Ming Dynasty, but he was born more than a hundred years earlier.
Zhang Cai is a newly emerging young talent in Jinyiwei, who is smart and capable.
Liu Jin once commented: Zhang Cai looks very much like Mr. Chang more than ten years ago.
There are 8,000 Jinyiwei personnel, and it is impossible to stand out and become the follower of the big boss Chang Feng just because of his ability.
The reason why Zhang Cai stood out was because he followed Liu Jin's path. He recognized Liu Jin as his godfather.
Throughout the dynasties, identifying one's father through tactics has been the only way to get promoted.
Lu Gan asked Zhang Cai, "Sir, have Admiral Chang and Crown Prince Xu gone to bed? I'm afraid that I won't provide good hospitality and the beds will be hard and inferior, so Admiral Chang and Crown Prince Xu won't be able to sleep peacefully."
Zhang Caidao: "Master Chang and Master Xu have been busy all day. They went to bed as soon as it got dark. They should be sleeping soundly at this moment. No need to worry, Magistrate Lu."
Lu Gan nodded: "Okay, okay."
Chang Feng did fall asleep.
He was dreaming, dreaming of competing with his childhood friend Tangtang to see who could pick garlic faster. Xiao Tangtang picked up the garlic and threw the garlic cloves into his mouth to chew. He burped, almost knocking him out.
Suddenly a pair of hands pushed him awake.
Chang Feng opened his eyes and saw Zhang Cai.
Chang Feng asked: "What's wrong?"
Zhang Caidao: "At noon today, Mr. Xu sent you an order to send two people to keep an eye on Lu Gan, the county magistrate."
"There's something strange about Lu Gan tonight."
Chang Feng asked: "Oh? What's the abnormality?"
Zhang Cai replied: "He first came to the west courtyard to inquire whether you and Mr. Xu were sleeping peacefully."
"Then the brothers who watched him reported that he left the county government office on a donkey. It seemed that he was going to Ximen."
Chang Feng got up from the bed: "Let's go to Ximen."
Zhang Cai asked: "Should I wake up Mr. Xu?"
Chang Feng shook his head slightly: "That guy sleeps heavier than a pig. It's not easy to wake him up. Let him sleep."
Two quarters later, the west gate of Yanchi City.
The person responsible for guarding the west gate was a member of the border army.
Lu Gan rode a donkey to the city gate.
Hundreds of border troops stopped him immediately: "Admiral Chang has an order. No one is allowed to leave Yanchi City without his permission."
Lu Gan's expression changed: "I just followed Admiral Chang's order and rushed to Lingwu to report the urgent military situation to Commander Wang."
Hundreds of households in the border army asked: "Do you have any proof? For example, a note approved by Admiral Chang, or a token token?"
Lu Gan became anxious: "I told you it was an urgent military situation. How can Mr. Chang care about approving notes and giving tokens?"
"This military information is related to the life and death of 80,000 border troops. Can you afford to delay this important matter?"
The frontier army is always a rough guy and has no good intentions. I was frightened by Lu Gan's words.
He said: "Ah, Magistrate Nalu, please leave the city quickly. Come on, turn the winch and open the city gate!"
"Creak", the winch began to rotate, and the city gate slowly rose.
As soon as the city gate rose a foot, Lu Gan heard a voice that frightened him: "Where are you going, Magistrate Lu?"
Lu Gan's expression changed with fright. After a while, he put on a smile and turned to look at Chang Feng: "Ah, Admiral Chang is not asleep."
"I'm here to help you inspect the city gate garrison."
Chang Feng sneered: "Oh, why do you want to open the city gate when inspecting the city gate garrison?"
A hundred households in the border army explained: "Admiral, the magistrate of Lu County said that you sent him to Lingwu to report the urgent military situation to Commander Wang."
Chang Feng looked at Lu Gan: "Lu Zhixian, when did I tell you to send you to Lingwu?"
Lu Gan was stunned: "Ah, I, I may have been confused. These days, my mind has been filled with military affairs and war."
"He came to Ximen in a daze and said a few nonsense words in a daze."
"I'll go back to the county office and go to sleep."
Chang Feng said: "Are you talking in your sleep? I see that you are very awake at the moment. It doesn't look like you have been asleep? Zhang Cai, take him down and escort him back to the county government for interrogation."
The crowd escorted Lu Gan back to the county government office.
Chang Feng scratched his nose with his right thumb: "Zhang Cai, how long have you been my personal assistant?"
Zhang Cai replied: "Go back to Mr. Chang, it's been five months."
Chang Feng said: "Those who are close to Zhu are red. Following me, a butcher of Jinyiwei, you should have learned the essence of the Great Memory Restoration Technique through hearing and seeing, right?"
"Give Lu Gan a punishment!"
Chang Feng has concluded that Lu Gan is definitely a ghost.
Zhang Cai asked: "I have an order. Mr. Chang, how about nailing the footboard first and then getting on the tiger bench?"
Chang Feng sat on the chair: "Today I'm testing your torture methods. It's up to you what kind of punishment to use and how to use it."
Lu Gan had just seen the Jin Yiwei punish the fake Balmen more than half a month ago. He knew the power of Jinyiwei's punishment.
He kept begging for mercy: "Master Chang, spare my life! I will tell you whatever you ask me!"
Jin Yiwei always tortures first and then questions. While speaking, Zhang Cai had already nailed the arrow of a scorpion crossbow to Lu Gan's feet.
Jinyi guards always use two-inch-long steel nails to nail prisoners' feet.
When I came back to the northwest, it was inconvenient to carry torture instruments. Zhang Cai simply used crossbow arrows instead.
After nailing the feet, Zhang Cai pulled out his crossbow arrow and sprinkled salt on the wound.
Lu Gan's head was so painful that veins popped out: "Ah, spare my life. I am a Tatar craftsman! Even if you don't spare my life, at least give me a happy death!"
Chang Feng laughed: "After all, he is a person who has been a civil servant for forty-six years and is pampered. He is not as strong as a warrior."
"The lowest level minor punishment of the great memory restoration technique has not been finished yet, so you are going to do it now?"
Lu Gan said: "I am seventy-one years old, and I am half buried in the loess. I can't live long. I just hope that I don't suffer before I die!"
Chang Feng said: "If I guess correctly, you are one of the twenty-three people bribed by the Tatars, right?"
Lu Gan confessed: "Yes. I am!"
Zhang Cai flattered Chang Feng from the side: "Master Chang is really clever. I caught the last fish that slipped through the net!"
Chang Feng lowered his hand and signaled Zhang Cai to be silent. Then he asked: "Lu Gan, you made up a lie and left the city to report to the Tatars. Tell them that the salt pond is still a storage place for military rations, right?"
Lu Gan replied: "Exactly. I was unlucky when I went out of the city during the day. It was not good to take any of the four gates, so I chose the east gate and met you and that fat loser."
"If I'm not mistaken, that's when you became suspicious of me, right?"
"Bah!" Zhang Cai gave Lu Gan a fight: "How brave! A spy and prison officer dares to ask our Master Chang questions!"
Chang Feng said: "It doesn't matter. Yes, it was when you were about to leave the city for the first time during the day that I became suspicious of you."
"Tell me, you, a person who has received a salary from the imperial court for forty-six years, why would you betray the Ming Dynasty?"
Lu Gan squeezed out one word through his teeth: "Hate!"
Chang Feng asked: "Hate? Who do you hate?"
Lu Gan replied: "I hate the damn court, the damn Ming Dynasty, and the damn promotion system!"
"Why can I only be elected as a county magistrate? I have been working hard in the northwest for forty-six years, but I have not been promoted even half a step."
"Is there anyone in the world who has endured forty-six years of hard work and failed to get promoted to magistrate?"
"I am a candidate for the Zhejiang Provincial Examination in the first year of Jingtai. Do you know who I sat at the same table with at the Luming Banquet?"
Chang Feng asked: "Who?"
Lu Gan replied: "Xu Guan, the Minister of Rites of the dynasty! We were elected in the same year, and he is now a court official, the second rank."
"What about me? A native of the south of the Yangtze River. I was thrown by the imperial court to the northwest, a place where birds can't shit. I have been here for forty-six years! Until now, I am only a seventh-grade sesame official!"
"Why? Just because Xu Guan later won the Jinshi, we have to live in the sky and on the earth?"
"Since I was sixty-five years old, I have repeatedly asked the court to resign and return to my hometown. But the court has always refused! The Ministry of Civil Affairs also issued a document to me, saying that if I leave office privately, I will be treated as a local official losing my land."
"It's just a donkey, so it has to be given a carrot, right? If you don't give it a carrot, you should at least give it a rest."
"Where is the imperial court? They will use me to my death! In such a imperial court, what's the big deal about betrayal?"
Lu Gan finished complaining. Chang Feng believed that he was telling the truth. This was his motive for treason: a life of failure.
Sun Guishou once said to Chang Feng. There are only three reasons why civil servants or military generals can commit treason: money, women, and lack of ambition.
Chang Feng asked: "What price did the Tatars pay to bribe you?"
Lu Gan replied: "It's only a hundred taels of silver. It's very cheap."
Chang Feng sighed: "This is the first time I have seen a traitor sell so cheaply."
Lu Gan knew that his death was imminent, so he simply said without hesitation: "This is a bad coward for the imperial court and a bad coward for the Ming Dynasty. In my eyes, he is not worth a hundred taels of silver!"
"However, if I am lucky this time, I will tell the Tatars about the food storage in the salt pond. The Tatars will have to give me a reward of several thousand taels no matter what."
Chang Feng asked: "When you pass on information, there must be a contact person and a contact place. Tell me!"
Lu Gan smiled bitterly: "Ha! Not only the Ming Dynasty looks down on me, but the Tatars also look down on me."
"They thought I was an old loser. They haven't contacted me for three years. I have no contact person or contact place."
"But that doesn't matter. Now the entire Helan Mountain is the territory of the Tatars. As long as I go all the way west and enter the Helan Mountain, I can naturally pass the information to the Tatars."
Chang Feng suddenly realized. This is why all twenty-two spies were caught, except Lu Gan.
The Tatars didn't care about him at all, he was like a kite with a broken string. How can we follow the clues?
Chang Feng laughed dumbly: "It seems that the Tatars also think that the goods are cheap but not good. I don't believe that a mere one hundred taels of silver can be exchanged for enough information to determine the ownership of Helan Mountain."
Lu Gan sighed: "I have failed as an official in my life. I have also failed as a traitor. I just ask you to give me a happy life because I have been the magistrate for forty-six years and have achieved considerable political achievements."
At this moment, Chang Feng had no sympathy for the old man Lu Gan.
Those who betray the country and nation, no matter what their reasons, will not be forgiven and will not die a good death.
Chang Feng said: "The ten evils are unforgivable. The first is treason, the second is treason, the third is treason, the fourth is treason, the fifth is immorality, the sixth is great disrespect, the seventh is unfilial piety, the eighth is disharmony, and the ninth is discord. Righteousness, ten is civil strife.”
"But I think treason should be ranked first!"
"Because the traitors betrayed not only the Ming Dynasty, but also our Han clan!"
"In the final analysis, rebellion is just an internal fight within the Han family."
"You betrayed the Han clan and you still want to have fun? Are you thinking too much?"
Zhang Cai interjected: "Master Chang, it's a pity that bamboo doesn't grow in the northwest. Otherwise, he would be dragged to the downtown area and sentenced to severe bamboo punishment."
"Not one hundred households in Wei were accompanying him to the execution. There was no way to give him the punishment of Lingchi. We who were still alive and chopped off his flesh would probably kill him in half a day."
Chang Feng said: "It doesn't have to be so complicated. Take him to the downtown area tomorrow and cut him into pieces."
"After his death, he was not allowed to be buried. His cracked body was fed to wild dogs."
After hearing this, Lu Gan cursed: "Butcher Chang, you are a vicious dog raised by the court and the emperor!"
"I won't let you go even if I'm a ghost! This bastard is a rotten coward for the Ming Dynasty and a rotten coward for the imperial court. Sooner or later, someone will destroy him!"
"If there is reincarnation, I would like to be reborn in the northwest, be the leader of a rebel army, break into Beijing, and slaughter all the high-ranking officials in Beijing! Change the dynasty!"
"Bah bang bang." Zhang Cai had quick eyes and quick hands and slapped Lu Gan ten times in the face, knocking out all his teeth. So that he can no longer talk nonsense.
The next day, Lu Gan was taken to the downtown area.
Five military horses were tied with five thick hemp ropes. The other ends of the five thick hemp ropes were tied around Lu Gan's limbs and neck.
Chang Feng stood at a high place: "Dear fellow villagers, Lu Gan, the county magistrate, colluded with the Tatars and Litong betrayed the country!"
"Today, on behalf of the imperial court, I will punish him by quartering his body with five horses. In order to deter those villains who want to be exposed as traitors!"
The people cheered in unison.
In fact, the people did not care whether Lu Gan was really a traitor.
As long as an official is killed, the people will applaud. In the eyes of most people in the thirteen provinces of Ming Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, those high-ranking officials are not good at all.
Killing an official will never be unjust.
Chang Feng gave the order. Five frontier soldiers whipped their riding whips onto the horse's buttocks.
The traitor Lu Gan was torn into five parts by soldiers and horses.
Fatty Xu said: "Master Chang, now you have uprooted the entire intelligence network that the Tatars planted in the northwest."
Zhang Cai is good at doing things, and he is even better at flattering: "Master Chang, you are really clever and clever. You can strategize and defeat the enemy thousands of miles away."
Chang Feng waved his hand and interrupted his rainbow fart: "Don't praise me to the sky. Cracking the Tatar intelligence network is just a blind cat hitting a dead mouse. The Tatars made a mistake and were caught by me. Just live in a flaw.”
"And that Lu Gan below who was split into five pieces. If he hadn't been reckless and tried to leave the city twice. I wouldn't have noticed that he was a meticulous worker."
Fatty Xu said: "Sometimes good luck is also a skill!"
"Anyway, the court will reward you based on your merits. It doesn't depend on whether your process of catching the spy is complicated or bizarre. It only depends on whether you caught the spy or not."
"This time I can benefit from you again and get some rewards."
After Chang Feng executed Lu Gan, he was busy patrolling the city walls and granaries every day.
Seven days passed in a flash.
On this day, Chang Feng was watching dozens of border troops placing anti-rat poison baits throughout the granary.
A Qianhu sent by Lingwu City found Chang Feng.
Qianhu raised his hand towards Chang Feng and said, "Admiral Chang. A Tatar has entered Lingwu City. He calls himself Jinyiwei. He told Wang Zhitai that he has important information about Tatars."
"He also said that he could only give the information to you."
Chang Feng said to himself: "The Tatar side sent another spy like fake Palemon to deceive me?"
Qian Hu said: "Wang Zhitai ordered you to go to Lingwu City to identify this person."
Chang Feng told Fatty Xu: "Take that fake Balmen with you and let's go back to Lingwu City."
Everyone worked hard and returned to Lingwu City two days later.
The three-sided general command tent.
Wang Yue was still half-lying as usual. He coughed violently, and when he used a handkerchief to catch the phlegm, the phlegm was actually stained with blood.
Wang Yue quickly covered his handkerchief to prevent the news that the commander in chief was seriously ill from disturbing the morale of the army.
The war is imminent, and the morale of the military must not be disturbed.
Chang Feng, Zhang Yong and Fatty Xu were sitting at the bottom of the handsome tent.
In front of them stood a young Tatar in his twenties. This person is the "Jinyiwei man" who claims to have important military connections.
The Tatar youth said in jerky Chinese: "It's getting harder and harder to catch the bastards in the Yongding River."
He was speaking a code word for joints.
When Chang Feng heard this, he immediately concluded: This person is also a trick sent by the Tatars to disturb the sight!
There are still 5,000 words left before 12 o'clock.
(End of chapter)
