Southeast of the city, in a remote courtyard, it looked particularly peaceful under the moonlight.
Yang Jin glanced at his subordinates who were still under firm control outside the door, turned around, raised his hands to Li Xuan and said, "Your Majesty, this is the small courtyard that I purchased for my private life a few years ago, and it is also named after the servant at home, so , even in the state government no one knows about it.”
"Let's talk about your stealing and selling state government grain." Li Xuan stood in the courtyard, his slanting shadow stretched, and in the light and dark, no one knew how many people were staring at them.
Yang Jin gave a wry smile, and then said: "This matter originated from three years ago. At that time, the impact of the Dafeichuan War gradually faded away, and the DPRK and China increased their troops to the four states of Anxi. Lanzhou and Shanzhou were somewhat ignored. , at that time, the governor Zhang Yungong had just been transferred from another state to be the governor of Taozhou, and his brother-in-law Chen Xia was transferred to Taozhou City Gate School Lieutenant."
Li Xuan nodded gently, and Zhang Yungong directly arranged for his brother-in-law to be the captain of the city gate. It seemed that he was giving his brother-in-law a lucrative job, but in fact, he had an ulterior motive.
This person is too thoughtful.
"Just the year before last, Chen Xia lured Ma Zhi, a horse dealer. Ma Zhi smuggled fine horses from Tubo to the Tang Dynasty. In order to gain access to Taozhou, he spent a lot of money to bribe various families and people. The family later used their connections to help him send the horses to various parts of the Tang Dynasty for resale, and each family also received a lot of profits.
Last year, Ma Zhi started to buy grain, and the price was extremely attractive. In addition, last year was not a disaster year, so Chen Xia privately sold a lot of grain and grass to Ma Zhi, which made a lot of money. Several of us looked at it with envy. Just joined in.
All the grain that could be bought was sold. Later, when it became impossible to find a way out, the idea was sent to the county treasury, and later the state treasury. "
Li Xuan nodded slightly, and then said with emotion: "This is the method of boiling a toad in warm water, and it will lure you deeper into the trap step by step."
Yang Jin lowered his head and said: "It wasn't until recently when people from Yushitai, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of War came to investigate that we were shocked to see the conspiracy involved, so we all discussed making up for it privately... The Li family is a wealthy family, no matter how many people there are, They can take out all the food. The relationship between the Zhang family and the Li family in Lintao has always been friendly. With the help of the Li family, they have also made up for the shortfall in the treasury. Only the Yang family has a big business and no income, so they can only sit and eat. So, It’s impossible to make up for it now, but fortunately the Chen family agreed to help, but I didn’t expect that Commander Zhang would change his mind.”
Li Xuan looked at Yang Jin and couldn't help but shake his head and said: "Perhaps the marriage contract between your two families was true at the beginning, but since Zhang Shijun became the governor of Taozhou, the relationship and status of your two families have undergone earth-shaking changes. , since then, your Yang family has been exploited, food is just one of them, your elder brother’s family..."
"What's wrong with Dalang?" Yang Jin was horrified. Dalang is the future of the Yang family.
Li Xuan snorted lightly, and then said: "Then do you know where the grain you sold to Ma Zhi went?"
"Where?" Yang Jin looked confused.
"Okay, stop pretending." Li Xuan waved his hand impatiently and said: "His horses came from Tubo, and his grain and grass were naturally sold to Tubo. Even if you can't find evidence for this kind of thing, you should be able to Guess, don’t tell me that you haven’t even thought about swallowing them up.”
The confusion on Yang Jin's face suddenly disappeared without a trace. Facing Li Xuan, he said with a dejected face: "Your Majesty Ming Jian Wanli, the Yang family has indeed investigated Ma Zhi's background. After he purchased grain from Taozhou , it was indeed sold to Tubo. After last year’s autumn harvest, when he harvested more and more grain, we noticed something was wrong, but..."
"But he gave too much, right?" Li Xuan raised her eyes and glanced at Yan Yan, then sneered and said, "When did you stop selling to him?"
Li Xuan spoke very softly, but her left hand had already dropped.
Yang Jin didn't seem to notice this, and said with a wry smile: "After this year's imperial meeting, the prince mentioned in court that the King of Tibet was seriously ill, and the rumors of war in the imperial court suddenly became louder, and all the families began to search for Ma Zhi, but unfortunately , and ultimately failed to catch him.”
"Did you arrest him? Did the state government issue an official document? What was the crime?" Li Xuan's face turned cold instantly.
"No!" Yang Jin's face suddenly turned ugly and she said, "Originally, the Zhang family suggested using a reason for the horse to hurt people, but Chen Xia thought that what we did was shameful, so it would be better to just arrest them and silence them. It was very neat, so I didn’t use my connections with the government.”
Li Xuan nodded and said, "Then do you know that Ma Zhi has been in Zhoucheng now?"
"I know." Yang Jin shook his head helplessly and said, "Although the official is a member of the Taozhou Kucao army, except for some Cao Ding, there are no other people under his command. The arresters are all from the Li family and the Chen family. The person is in charge, and although everyone knows that he is hiding in the city, they have been unable to catch him."
"I know." Li Xuan suddenly looked indifferent, and then said: "Then do you know about your nephew?"
"What's the matter?"
"Just a few days ago, your nephew, without order, all the defenders at the Xiamen Gate were moved to the east side of the Tao River. It was empty for an hour."
"It took an hour?" Yang Jin stared in disbelief, and then quickly asked: "What did he do? That was a whole hour?"
"The area near the checkpoint was cleaned up later, but a large number of horse hoofprints were found on Nanshang Mountain. There were roughly thousands of them. Now that the war is imminent, you should be able to imagine that these thousands of horses were not smuggled by horses. The wild horses sold by the Tang Dynasty." Li Xuan's light words struck Yang Jin like a thunderbolt.
"Have the Tubo cavalry already arrived in Taozhou?" Yang Jin's face was extremely terrifying, unbelievable, and extremely panicked.
Li Xuan said calmly: "Don't you know about this?"
With a "pop", Yang Jin knelt down and shouted to Li Xuan in a low voice: "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with the Yang family. I have never known about the Tubo cavalry. I just occasionally lucked in the food supply to supplement the family income." , and among all the families, the Yang family has done the least, Prince..."
"What about your nephew, Yang Xuan, who privately mobilized troops to help the Tubo cavalry enter Taozhou?" Li Xuan's stern gaze suddenly weighed on Yang Jin's heart like a mountain of knives.
Yang Jin's heart suddenly turned cold. It was indeed a serious crime for him to secretly sell the treasury grain, but Yang Xuan's private deployment of troops was a capital crime for treason.
"Your Majesty, Yang Xuan is a loyal and honest man. He will never mobilize troops privately. I dare to use my property and life as a guarantee." Yang Jin's mind suddenly became clear. He knelt on the ground and said quickly: "If Yang Xuan is really It is related to Tubo, so by this time, he should have returned to Taozhou to assist the Tubo army in conquering the city."
"If it's not him, then who is it?"
"It's Xun Zhou. He is a soldier who joined the army. No... it's not Xun Zhou. It's not him. He is a loyal and upright person and cannot do such a thing. There is another one, Sima Wei Ping. Wei Ping is Chang'an Wei Ping..." Yang Jin mentioned two people at once, but he quickly rejected them both. Suddenly, Yang Jin's face became equally ugly.
"It seems that you have thought of it too." Li Xuan sighed softly and said, "You should understand what happened tonight, can you tell me?"
Yang Jin's face was full of bitterness, and then he had to kneel to the ground, and then said in pain: "It's the Governor."
"Although I didn't go to investigate, I know that there is absolutely no official document left on this matter." Li Xuan chuckled and said: "Besides, who would have thought that the governor of a state would commit suicide for no reason during the war? "Surveying refuge to Tibet, no one will believe it, even in Chang'an, I don't know how many people will refute this sentence of my king, and even lead to impeachment by the governor."
Yang Jin quickly said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, your Majesty must not have any intention of seeking refuge with Tubo. He just..."
"Just what?" Li Xuan asked coldly.
"Maybe he has ulterior motives." Yang Jin lowered his head and clenched his fists. He himself didn't believe what he said.
"Is the plan calculated at the expense of the King of England, this King, and the hundreds of thousands of people in Taozhou?" Li Xuan's voice was very soft, even a little cold: "Or is he planning to do it at the expense of half of the Li clan in Longxi? , and the entire Longxi Li family’s ancestral tomb is here to plot?”
"Bang!" Yang Jin suddenly kowtowed heavily to the ground, making a clear sound.
Some of the Yang family servants outside couldn't help but feel a little restless when they heard this voice.
Because this sound is really like the sound of a human head falling to the ground.
But then, the sound of conversation in the courtyard sounded again.
Li Xuan lowered his head, looked at Yang Jin, and said softly: "Even in the end, I am not in trouble, His Royal Highness is not in trouble, and even the Li family's ancestral hall is not in trouble, so what about your Yang family, reselling the grain? , sold to the enemy country, and finally helped the enemy bury the traces and opened the city gate..."
Li Xuan spoke word by word, and with each word, Yang Jin's face turned pale, and in the end it became even more terrible.
"You are very unlucky. During the war, your Yang family was slaughtered. You will only be left with one sentence: You deserve it." Li Xuan kicked Yang Jin on the shoulder and said softly: "You said, if tonight You and I have never met, will the final fate of your Yang family be like this?"
Yang Jin tilted his body and fell directly to the ground. The cold ground and the pain in his eyes were there. When he saw Li Xuan again, he quickly turned over and knelt down: "My lord, help me, although my Yang family has It’s a small mistake, but I am loyal to the Tang Dynasty!”
"Reselling grain from the warehouse, selling it to the enemy, and helping the enemy bury their traces. How have you been wronged?" Li Xuan kicked Yang Jin over hard.
Yang Jin did not dare to neglect, and quickly turned over and knelt down again, pleading hastily: "It's Zhang Yungong, it's him, everything is his plan, and, and... Tonight, his daughter deliberately toasted to His Majesty the King of England, that is You want to irritate my Yang family, no, no, Xuan'er, and Xuan'er, Xuan'er and the Qiniang of the Zhang family have a marriage contract, this matter must have been secretly sent to him by the Qi family of the Zhang family, so Xuan'er will believe it It’s the secret order from the governor... Oh my god, he wants to destroy my Yang family!”
"You are not stupid, at least you have thought clearly." Li Xuan snorted coldly, looked at Yang Jin whose hands and feet were trembling, and said coldly: "Listen, if the Tubo people don't knock on the city tonight, then tomorrow, you will kill them The nephew is called back to Zhoucheng alone. Remember, be sure not to be discovered by Zhang Shijun's people. There are countless people around you who have been planted by your elder brother and you. If there is a slight mistake, it will be you. The entire family was raped and executed."
"Does the prince want to see Dalang?" Yang Jin's face suddenly bloomed with infinite joy. Only the King of Nanchang had other ideas, and his Yang family could be saved.
"Hmph!" Li Xuan snorted coldly, rolled up her sleeves and said, "Tomorrow, only your uncle and nephew will come. If there is one more person..."
"I will obey the order." Yang Jin did not dare to make any mistakes.
"There are also resold grains from the state treasury. You, the Yang family, will make up for it all yourself."
"Here!"
Li Xuan took a deep breath and said seriously: "I will not help your Yang family find compensation for this matter, but I will truthfully report to Your Majesty. How many people in your Yang family can survive in the end depends on how many people can be killed this time. Are the Tubo people taking advantage of their merits?"
"Your Majesty, don't worry, our Yang family will do our best to help you." Yang Jin did not hesitate at all.
Li Xuan nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay, let's go, that's it for the night."
(End of chapter)
