"By God's will, the emperor ordered that Yanghe guard Xia Deyi... Zhangjiakou guard Liu Dongming, according to Chaer and others, together with the eight major Shanxi merchants, betrayed the country..."
At first, Xia Deyi and others were a little puzzled. Why did the emperor mention them at the beginning in the imperial edict? Why didn't he mention King Lu Yan himself?
But then, when they heard that the imperial edict said that they had collaborated with the eight major Shanxi merchants to betray the country, their expressions suddenly changed.
Although the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants didn't say it clearly, they knew that they were indeed the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants, and they were doing business with Tonglu. Isn't it just smuggling? However, the imperial edict said that the Tonglu were traitors, which meant that this was an edict to punish them. And this crime, to be serious, isn't treason just like treason?
No one can bear such a big crime. At the same time, they also knew that the place where they should make a fortune was exposed.
At this moment, they didn't dare to listen anymore, and they all stood up to refute, or cry out for injustice.
However, at this moment, many armed guards were seen on both sides of the back hall, swarming towards them with swords and spears.
If you don't want to die, you can only resist. They quickly wanted to draw their swords, but they found nothing. Suddenly, they remembered that when they came in, the weapons were left outside.
At this time, Xia Deyi felt regret in his heart. What exactly was he thinking? He actually wanted everyone to listen to King Lu Yan. Now, he didn't even have a chance to resist!
With their bare hands, these Chen Xinjia's confidants knew which of the traitorous generals from various places would be brave and good at fighting. They were immediately forced by Lu Xiangsheng's bodyguards with swords and guns. Several of them waited on one after another. , tied tightly. Then, they were forced to kneel on the ground.
After Lu Xiangsheng read out the imperial edict, he looked condescendingly at these scum in the army and shouted coldly: "All of them are locked up. We will escort them to Beijing when the news comes from Governor Hong."
Outside the Governor's Mansion, the personal guards of the local generals faintly heard noises coming from the Governor's Mansion, as if their generals were shouting. I couldn't help being a little surprised and a little commotion.
When Lu Xiangsheng's personal guard who was on duty at the door saw him, he immediately shouted: "This is the Governor's Mansion. Mr. Lu is inside, what do you want to do?"
With such a reminder, these local generals and personal guards suddenly became intimidated when they thought of King Lu Yan's reputation, and quickly stood aside and waited obediently. Of course, they were thinking, could it be that their master was spanked by King Lu Yan again?
After waiting for a long time, they still didn't see their master come out, so these personal guards became a little confused again.
However, before they could come up with anything, they heard the sound of neat footsteps coming from the street. As soon as they heard that, they knew that there must be an army coming, and they all looked back.
Sure enough, a Ming army came over. They marched neatly and had a fierce aura. You could tell at a glance that this was definitely an elite force!
These personal guards are all servants maintained by the generals in various places, and they are considered to be the most capable of fighting in the border army. But at this time, when they saw that the entire army was elite, they were surprised.
He quickly stepped aside and commented in a low voice on the sudden arrival of this elite army.
However, what they didn't expect was that after the army arrived at the gate of the Governor's Mansion, Lu Xiangsheng's personal guard at the gate suddenly pointed at them and said: "My lord has an order, arrest them all!"
As a result, these people were dumbfounded. Those who were more flexible quickly thought of the previous movements in the Governor's Mansion. But at this time, they had no choice but to surrender.
In the Governor's Mansion, Lu Da quickly came out and immediately began to give orders. This elite group is actually the five thousand brave guard battalion under his command. Previously, they were hiding outside the city. After all the generals from various places arrived, they sent someone to notify them to enter the city.
Now that all the generals have been captured and the army has entered the city, they will begin to control the city gates and arrest the designated criminals in the city.
It's just a pity that none of the Shanxi merchants are here.
In Zhangjiakou, it was still called Zhangjiakou Fort at this time. It was built in the fourth year of Xuande reign in the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 200 years. In the eighth year of Jiajing reign of Ming Dynasty, it was expanded. It is an important military garrison castle on the Great Wall defense line and is known as the "Martial City" in northern Xinjiang.
Since the 30th year of Jiajing, this place has become an officially designated place for tea and horse trade between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia. As a result, Zhangjiakou's purely military function began to develop into commercial affairs. In the fifth year of Longqing's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the mutual trade agreement agreed with Ada Khan was further changed. By the Wanli period, this place was already very lively. From that time on, some Shanxi merchants began to betray the country and rose rapidly.
At this time, the Zhangjiakou Fort was bustling with traffic and people coming and going, making it very lively.
However, in the lobby of a large house in the city, the atmosphere was extremely serious.
In the lobby, there were two people sitting at the main seat, and three more sitting on each side. Although there was tea around these eight people, no one touched it. Everyone was staring at one of them and talking. These people are naturally the eight major Shanxi merchants.
"This is impossible! With such a big official commotion, no matter how busy Mr. Chen is, he will definitely send a letter back!"
"Yes, especially the position of Governor Xuanda, it goes without saying how important it is. Even if Mr. Chen cannot leave now that he has become an assistant minister in the cabinet, he will definitely send someone back!"
"..."
Faced with doubts, Huang Yunfa said a little annoyed: "King Lu Yan is already at the Governor's Mansion, how can I lie to you? Xia Deyi sent someone to inform you, how can I still lie?"
At this point, he looked annoyed and said: "Isn't he just a minister of the cabinet? It's not like we haven't helped him before. Why is this Chen Xinjia so anxious? Has he forgotten that we are his foundation?" Without us behind him, even if he becomes the chief minister of the cabinet, he will never be able to secure his position!"
Fan Yongdou frowned and suddenly said, "Could it be that Mr. Chen is busy with the rebellion?"
At this point, he seemed to have figured out something, and then said: "The emperor's decree is for Mr. Chen to cooperate in the investigation of the grain dealer's rebellion. This is a big case. Mr. Chen may want to reverse the situation, and is busy , or maybe you didn’t expect Lu Xiangsheng to come and take office so soon, so you were delayed after coming and going?”
This speculation is indeed possible.
However, these Shanxi merchants were not satisfied and heard Wang Dengku say angrily: "Master Chen and the Yangge Department don't know what happened. Why don't they completely overthrow Lu Xiangsheng! And let him come back as the Governor of Xuanda. This Isn’t it causing trouble for us! Remember, we spent so much effort to get him away!”
"Yes, now that Lu Xiangsheng's father is gone, the same method cannot be used again!" Tian Shenglan also shook his head and said, "It would be great if his mother is still alive. We can repeat the same trick!"
"..."
Hearing the complaints against Chen Xinjia in the lobby, Fan Yongdou came out to smooth things over and said: "Everyone, everyone, things have become like this. It is useless to talk about this. Anyway, we have basically concentrated the supplies here. He Lu The King of Hell is still in Yanghe, so he can mess around there as he pleases, I believe Yang Gebu and Lord Chen will come up with a solution soon."
After hearing this, there was a silence in the lobby. Wang Dengku answered his words and said: "How about transporting everything to Liaodong? I don't know what's going on. When facing this King of Hell, I always feel that when I think of all the bad things in the capital, I feel a little uneasy!"
"Yes, I don't know what King Lu Yan will do again!" Wang Dayu nodded and said, "But he will definitely reorganize the army first, and when Mr. Liu comes back, we will ask about the situation. Like now, Lu When the King of Hell arrived, we were frightened first, so that’s not the case!”
Hearing what he said, other Shanxi merchants felt as if they were really frightened by Lu Xiangsheng. This was too bad for his morale. They couldn't help but echoed: "Yes, why are we afraid of King Lu Yan?"
"This Shanxi is our territory. When Lu Xiangsheng comes this time, we should deal with him properly."
"Let me tell you, let's just find a way to kill him this time. If we don't do it ruthlessly, no one will know how powerful we are!"
"..."
It was Fan Yongdou who stopped the verbal nonsense and said: "Okay, after contacting the capital, let's deal with King Lu Yan according to the situation. Anyway, he has just arrived, so he won't be in trouble with us right away!"
After he finished speaking, he didn't drink tea. He stood up and said, "Let's go take stock of our belongings and get ready to leave the customs."
There were too many supplies, and it was so far all the way to Liaodong. Just the guards required a lot of people. Although I have been there many times, no matter what, with so much supplies shipped out of customs, it is not easy to just leave.
Hearing his words, other Shanxi merchants also stood up.
But at this moment, someone suddenly hurried into the lobby and reported to Fan Yongdou who was sitting in the main seat: "Master, it seems that there are factory guards in the castle."
"What?" Upon hearing this, all the Shanxi merchants were shocked and stared at the man, a little unbelieving, "You say it again?"
"Master, since the past two days, there have been some suspicious people wandering around the fort and asking about us." The man immediately reported again, "The people below felt something was wrong, so they reported the situation. Yes. They suspect that they might be factory guards, at least the way they do things is like people from the government!"
Fan Yongdou's face immediately turned ugly when he heard this, and he shouted sternly: "Why are you reporting now?"
"Master, they are all dressed as businessmen." The man explained quickly. "I originally thought they were asking about us because they wanted to do business. And this matter has not happened for a long time, so the people below didn't pay much attention. After these two days , only to realize that something was wrong with them. The people below felt it and reported it immediately."
In the past, there had been such things. For example, when they first started smuggling with Jianlu on a large scale, people from the government came over, but these people eventually died in the hands of "rogue thieves".
Later, when Lu Xiangsheng became the governor of Xuanda, another person came here to check the situation. There were no accidents. These people also died in "accidents".
Then, after Chen Xinjia became the governor of Xuanda, nothing like this happened again. Because of this, these Shanxi merchants were a little careless and reported the situation a little late.
Fan Yongdou frowned, feeling as if the house was leaking and it was raining all night. King Lu Yan ran back again, and someone suspected to be a factory guard appeared in Zhangjiakou. Could it be that there was an accident at the capital, and it was not as bad as imagined?
He didn't have time to think too much and immediately asked: "Where is that person?"
"The thirty-six people in the fort have been targeted." The man quickly reported, "The other three people left the city, and the villain also sent fifteen people to follow them. Just like before, he will find a place to catch them. Interrogate the situation and then do it!”
"Okay!" Fan Yongdou nodded after hearing this, "Once the news from outside the fort is true, we will immediately attack these people in the fort and don't let any of them escape!"
After hearing this, the man quickly patted his chest and assured, "I understand! Don't worry, sir, nothing will go wrong."
Watching him leave, Fan Yongdou looked a little grim and said to other Shanxi merchants: "The grain merchant's conspiracy case should have come to Shanxi. I don't know if this is the first batch. If it goes on like this, it will be a bit passive. We must contact the capital side immediately to find out what is going on there, and we cannot let the capital side send people over continuously, otherwise flaws will be exposed sooner or later!"
"Oh, it's really not easy for us to do some business!" Wang Dengku said with emotion after hearing this.
Upon hearing this, Liang Binbin comforted him and said, "Don't worry. After this batch of materials is cleared from customs, the next transaction will have to wait until at least the end of the year. During such a long period of time, we have all behaved ourselves. Even if the court comes, there is no evidence." , what else can be done?”
Fan Yongdou was noncommittal about this, thought for a moment, and then said to them: "Don't move now, everyone, wait until these government minions are dealt with before transporting the supplies out. Otherwise, there will be too much movement, and I'm afraid of what might happen!"
His words were a safe move, and the others had no objection, so they all returned to their respective mansions in Zhangjiakou Fort to start arranging relevant matters.
At the same time, in the fields outside the castle, three people were riding on horseback, and behind them, there were fifteen horsemen following.
The road was not smooth these days. Slowly, the three riders seemed to sense something was wrong and increased their speed. The fifteen riders behind were familiar with this area and knew that a long stretch of road ahead was relatively desolate, so they sped up and started chasing the three riders in front.
Such an obvious intention made the three riders in front of them a little panicked. They stopped taking the official road, rode away, and ran towards the mountains and forests.
"Haha, I'm in a panic!" The leader of the fifteen riders behind laughed loudly, then waved his hand and shouted, "Hurry up and chase them, we can't let them run away."
Therefore, the intention was obvious. The three people were running away in front, while the fifteen riders behind were chasing them desperately.
After running for a long time, probably far away from the official road, I turned around a valley mouth and finally caught up with my target.
The three horsemen seemed to know that they could not run away, so they stopped their horses and turned around to look at the people behind them.
"Haha, let's see if you guys can run away, this is my territory!" The leader of the Fifteen Riders shouted proudly, drew out his sword, turned around the mouth of the valley, and was about to go forward to arrest someone, but saw someone in front of him. The situation behind the three cavalrymen was immediately shocking and dumbfounded.
. m.
