Chen Xiaomu took a few steps forward and stood far away from Zhang Yong. "Can you speak now?" he said to Zhang Yong.

Zhang Yong's nose and tears instantly flowed down, and he cried in a trembling voice: "Master Jun, I know that I have committed a heinous crime, and no matter what I do now, it will not help!"

"Did you ask me to come here to listen to your complaints?" Chen Xiaomu interrupted Zhang Yong and asked coldly.

"I don't dare. I know I'm guilty, so I dare to complain!" Zhang Yong hurriedly defended.

"Let's talk about it directly. What merits do you want to accomplish and what sins do you want to atone for? But if you want to escape with your life, then you don't need to say anything anymore!" Chen Xiaomu didn't want to listen to his ramblings anymore.

Zhang Yong sighed, "Master Jun, I have indeed made a lot of money as the prefect for more than two months. You know that there are many wealthy households in the new capital, so...!"

"So you killed all these people?" Chen Xiaomu said coldly.

Zhang Yong carefully looked at the group of people standing behind Chen Xiaomu, and lowered his voice and said to Chen Xiaomu: "Master Jun, I want to give you this money to buy the lives of my whole family!"

"'Haha, you have a good idea. One life is one million taels. How many lives do you want to buy?" Chen Xiaomu asked coldly.

Zhang Yong was stunned. A life of one million taels is so many times more cruel than mine. He blinked his eyes and said with difficulty: "Master Jun, to tell you the truth, I only have less than two million taels in my hands now."

Silver, look...?"

"Is this your atonement?" Chen Xiaomu glanced at him with disdain.

"Master Jun, I have a secret thing to tell you. I wonder if it counts as meritorious service?" Zhang Yong racked his brains and finally remembered something.

"Tell me." Chen Xiaomu was naturally interested in these so-called secrets.

"I suspect that Guan Wenjin, the Minister of War of the State of Zheng, is an internal agent of the State of Chu!" Zhang Yong said while observing Chen Xiaomu's face.

The name Guan Wenjin was quite unfamiliar to Chen Xiaomu. This was the first time he heard this name from Zhang Yong in Zheng Junli for so many days.

Chen Xiaomu nodded and signaled Zhang Yong to continue.

"I once went to the Marshal's Mansion to report to Han Fei about raising food and grass. I heard his military advisor Wu Cheng accidentally say that when Han Fei raised troops to attack Zheng in Xinyang Pass, Zheng's army faced him in Cicada City.

It was this Guan Wenjin who was defeated by the Chu army at the first touch, and the 200,000-strong army was wiped out by the Chu army in an instant!"

Chen Xiaomu frowned and said, "Zhifu Zhang, are you kidding me? Guan Wenjin lost the battle. I can only say that he is incompetent and a mediocre person. But why do you say that he is an insider?"

Zhang Yong nodded, "Master, I thought the same way at the time, but after Han Fei led his troops to attack Tianquan County, Wu Yan's deputy general Fu Tong once came to me to drink wine. That time because of the new capital city

The largest brothel, Rouge House, had a top prostitute named Xiuhong who had just arrived from Chu State. Fu Tong was very drunk that day. Later I found out that this top prostitute named Xiuhong, whose real name was Yan Wanqing, was actually Fu Tong who was a scholar in Chu State.

An old friend from that time, Yan Wanqing, whom they had not seen for several years, ended up in a brothel."

Chen Xiaomu became increasingly impatient with Zhang Yong. He interrupted Zhang Yong and said, "Prefect Zhang, do you want me to hear Fu Tong's love-hate relationship and romantic affairs? Can you tell me the key points directly?"

Zhang Yong quickly nodded in agreement and continued, "Fu Tongjiu had a mental problem. After getting drunk, he scolded Han Fei, saying that he was not the one who sent people to Zheng Guo to kidnap Guan Wenjin's favorite concubine.

How could Jin be defeated so easily? It was supposed that he would be promoted to the general of Wu Shengguan after a good thing was accomplished, but this good thing was replaced by Wu Yan later!"

"What nonsense? How could a dignified minister of the Ministry of War of the Zheng State be fettered by a concubine? Ruining the Zheng State's 200,000-strong army?" Chen Xiaomu turned around and walked out of the cell. He didn't want to listen to Zhang Yong's ramblings anymore.

Ying, when he reached the door, he turned around and said to Zhang Yong, "First write down the crime you committed, sign it, and give it to me to read. I will deal with your family as appropriate."

After walking out of the Xinjing Mansion Prison, the sunlight outside made it difficult to open one's eyes for a moment. "Mr. Chen, where should we go now?" Li Gui came over and asked for instructions.

"Last night I asked you to search for Zhang Yong's son Zhang Tong in the Zheng army. Is there any news?" Chen Xiaomu asked Li Gui as he walked.

"Not yet. It stands to reason that this Zhang Tong is the commander-in-chief of Zheng's army. It should be easy to investigate. However, now that Zheng's army has suffered heavy losses and its organization has been disrupted, it will be quite difficult to investigate. Maybe this person has died in the battle.

It’s possible!”

"No matter what, you must get to the bottom of it. You want to see the person alive and the body of the dead. How about you go to Zhang Yong's house to find Miss Xiaohuan and take her with you to investigate. She knows Zhang Tong!" Chen Xiaomu said to Li

Gui said.

Li Gui nodded in agreement, or suddenly thought of something, and said to Chen Xiaomu: "Mr. Chen, you asked me to send people to the drug store to buy all the soul-returning herbs. Almost all the drug stores in Xinjing City have been sold.

I bought it short and bought more than a hundred catties in total!"

"Okay, let's go over and take a look now." Chen Xiaomu said happily. Before, he had been worried that there was no such traditional Chinese medicine as soul-returning grass in ancient times.

The soul-returning grass bought by Li Gui's men was piled in the palace. When Chen Xiaomu arrived, Su Xingchen was counting with a palace maid. Chen Xiaomu asked the old eunuch Wang Gonggong who was watching to find a big pot and bring it over.

Set up a large pot in the courtyard of the palace, first put the purchased soul-returning grass into the pot and wash it with warm water, then start lighting firewood at the bottom of the pot to boil the medicine, and wait until the water in the pot turns into liquid medicine.

He took out all the soul-returning grass with a slotted spoon and continued to add firewood to the pot to simmer until the liquid in the large pot turned into a thick consistency like porridge in half the pot and gave off a bitter smell.

So he poured out the medicinal liquid and gave it to Su Xingchen, and told her to fill half a bowl with empress Lu every time before having a meal, rinse it with boiling water, and give it to her to drink, and then take it for half a month.

Su Xingchen took the jar containing the medicinal solution and handed it to the palace maid standing behind her. She looked at Chen Xiaomu with twinkling eyes and asked in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, are you leaving Xinjing? Why don't you wait here, sister?"

Chen Xiaomu shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Definitely not. If we don't conquer Chu State's Xinyang Pass now, it will be difficult to conquer it in the future!"

"Are you going to attack Chu State's Xinyang Pass?" Su Xingchen cried out. In her heart, it would be a great blessing for Zheng State to be able to recover now. Chen Xiaomu still wants to counterattack Chu State with only the few troops he has.

Xinyangguan, this is too courageous!

"The invader must pay a price, otherwise he will launch a war unscrupulously once the opportunity is ripe. Especially for an inhumane invader like the Chu State, you must beat it painfully and frighten it, so that it can become honest!" Chen Xiaomu's eyes

It became more and more chilly.

"Then let me go with you. Do you still remember what the queen mother said to you that night?" Su Xingchen lowered his head and said softly.

Chen Xiaomu immediately glanced at Ximen Ruoen who was standing next to him with a guilty conscience. It happened that Ximen Ruoen's eyes were staring at him. Chen Xiaomu laughed twice and advised Su Xingchen: "Look, the queen's body is not in good shape right now.

You are the only relative, and if you leave me again, she will not even have a relative by her side for the time being. Even though the mother-in-law may not say anything, she will feel so miserable in her heart!"

"Then wait until Father and others come back, and my eldest sister and I will go find you together!" Su Xingchen looked at Chen Xiaomu with a worried face. In fact, Su Xingchen was in a dilemma at this time. Now after Chen Xiaomu's persuasion, he decided to stay for the time being.

Accompanying the lonely Empress Lu.

When Chen Xiaomu and his party walked out of the palace, it was already morning. He, Li Gui, Ximen Ruoen and others rode back to the prison in Xinjing Mansion. Wu Yan and Zhang Yong were tied up by the jailer Wuhuada and brought to Xinjing.

When they saw Chen Xiaomu and his entourage coming to the custody room of the mansion prison, the scouts under Li Gui who stayed in the prison to wait for orders hurriedly presented Zhang Yong's completed and signed confession to Chen Xiaomu. Zhang Yong's confession lasted two full days.

Chen Xiaomu read the large piece of rice paper carefully. Zhang Yonggai wanted to save the lives of his family, so he wrote down his guilt in detail, and basically could not find any faults.

Chen Xiaomu put away the charges written by Zhang Yong and walked into the custody room. He walked up to Wu Yan first and said to Wu Yan: "General Wu, I have ordered your family members to be sent out of the city. I estimate that there will be two or three more."

It’s time to leave the jurisdiction of Xinjing Prefecture!”

Wu Yan nodded, "Thank you, General, for your magnanimity. Wu Yan is deeply ashamed!"

Chen Xiaomu came to Zhang Yong, who was looking at him eagerly, and said with a smile: "Prefect Zhang, do you have anything else to say to me?"

Zhang Yong responded quickly: "That's right, that's right. I ask the military master to show mercy and spare the family of the sinner Zhang Yong. I am grateful for your great kindness even under Jiuquan!"

Chen Xiaomu suddenly leaned over and whispered into Zhang Yong's ear, "If you explain two things clearly to me, I will no longer hold your family accountable!"

Zhang Yong was stunned and said, "Master Jun, all of Zhang Yong's responsibilities have been clearly written in the confession, and we will never hide anything."

"I'm not talking about your guilt now. I'm asking you, what is the name of your distant nephew in Zheng Junzhong, and where did you hide the money you just mentioned? You have to think clearly, this is your last chance.

." Although Chen Xiaomu's voice was soft, the coldness in it made Zhang Yong shudder.

Zhang Yong did not dare to hesitate any longer, fearing that his slight negligence would bring disaster to his family, so he quickly told Chen Xiaomu the name of his distant nephew and the place where he hid his money.

Chen Xiaomu imitated the public trial of later generations and was helped by Li Gui to choose it at the original training ground of the Zheng Kingdom's imperial army. Because the notice was posted at dawn, the imperial army's training ground, which could accommodate more than 100,000 people, was crowded with ordinary people who came from all directions in the new capital city.

, most of these people's families had people killed or wounded by the Chu army's massacre of the city, or suffered from Zhang Yong's exploitation.

Chen Xiaomu, Li Gui, and Tang Huai each held a notice in their hands and stood on the general ordering stage at the Royal Forest Army training ground. Looking at the endless black crowd under the stage, Chen Xiaomu began to read aloud what Wu Yan and Zhang Yong had done in the new capital city.

As soon as Chen Xiaomu spoke about the crime he had committed, the bustling crowd standing under the stage suddenly fell silent. Tang Huai mobilized hundreds of soldiers from the army to surround the general stage to prevent accidents.

There are two wooden stakes standing on one side of the ordering platform, which are more than one foot high and thicker than the mouth of a bowl. There is a thick wooden stick across the wooden stakes. Two thick wooden sticks with slip knots hanging below are hanging from the wooden sticks.

There are two stools placed under the rope. Later, this will be the simple gallows used to hang Wu Yan and Zhang Yong.

Chen Xiaomu's announcement had just been read halfway when the crowd in the audience began to commotion, shouting that they were going to rush to the stage to kill Wu Yan and Zhang Yong, who were already tied up and kneeling on the stage. Tang Huai was called in to maintain the situation.

The hundreds of security guards couldn't stop them, so Chen Xiaomu had no choice but to put away the notice in a hurry, and asked the six soldiers selected to carry out the hanging to pick up Wu Yan and Zhang Yong respectively, and send them to the gallows in advance.

They held up the stools that had been set up, put the buckles under the rope around their necks, and then kicked the stools away. Wu Yan and Zhang Yong struggled a few times on the gallows, then straightened their legs and died.

.

Before Chen Xiaomu had time to let people put down the two bodies, the angry crowd from the audience rushed up. Two thick wooden stakes were pushed down by the crowd who rushed on the stage. The two corpses hanging on the wooden stakes were instantly torn apart.

Afraid that the irrational crowd would attack Chen Xiaomu, Tang Huai and Li Gui quickly ordered soldiers to surround Chen Xiaomu and escort him away.

After leaving the Imperial Army training ground, Chen Xiaomu's underwear was soaked through. Thinking that he had never taken a proper bath before in this world, he paid some money to Li Gui and asked him to go to the street to bathe himself inside and outside.

He bought two pairs of ready-made clothes and sent them to the inn owned by Zhou Hui's mother-in-law. He wanted to take a good bath there. Anyway, the clothes of the ancients were all wide robes with big sleeves. There was no need to try them on in person, just buy them and put them on.
Chapter completed!