Chapter 655: Follow the clues

When Hu Peiyun and his party arrived in Chang'an, the city gate had been closed, but Hu Peiyun still entered Chang'an City with his special identity and returned directly to the headquarters of the Intelligence Hall in the Imperial City.

As soon as he entered the gate, a staff officer on duty came forward to report: "General Hu, the princess sent someone to find the general in the afternoon."

Hu Peiyun was stunned and hurriedly said, "What's wrong with the princess?"

"The person who came here didn't say anything, just asked the general to take some time to go to the royal palace tomorrow."

Hu Peiyun knew it in his heart. He sighed secretly and said, "I understand!"

Just as the officer was about to leave, Hu Peiyun said again: "You should find someone to find the old stele craftsman named Ding."

After pausing, he ordered: "Go to the inner guard again. If General Qin is in the inner guard, please invite him."

Although it was already the first time, the incident was serious and alarmed the princess. Hu Peiyun was not sleepy at all. He wanted to investigate the case overnight.

In the lobby, Hu Peiyun was holding a pot of herbal tea. While drinking tea slowly, he looked at the giant turtle in the water tank, but he was thinking about the strange things that had happened these days.

The giant turtle seemed to be asleep, lying in the water tank without moving. The ancient seal characters on the turtle shell flashed strange light under the light. The first thing Hu Peiyun thought of was the intention of the mastermind behind the scenes. Judging from the discovery of Ruizhao at the same time in Xinfeng County and Lantian County, it was already obvious that the people behind the scenes were to create a kind of momentum, a kind of momentum that the general was eager to ascend to the throne.

The ancients said that ascending the throne requires humility and repeated reluctance. This has become a habitual idea for people, being modest, low-key, and following the trend. This is especially important for generals. If the general is impatient to ascend the throne, what should the current little emperor do? Whether it is killing or abolishing, it will give people a feeling of usurping the throne. Therefore, the latter created a lot of auspicious signs at this time, which is obviously a means of frame-up. The sinister intention and careful arrangement can be seen that this is a great conspiracy.

At this moment, footsteps came from outside, and a soldier reported: "Report to General, Ding Beijiang has brought it."

Hu Peiyun was excited and immediately said, "Please come in!"

Soon, several soldiers brought in the tall and thin old stele craftsman yesterday. He searched through the information for a whole day today and finally found a clue.

The old stele craftsman was about to kneel down, but the soldier supported him. Hu Peiyun stepped forward and bowed and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work, please sit down quickly!"

The old stele craftsman dared not sit there. He took out a stack of manuscripts full of words and handed them to Hu Peiyun and said, "General, please look at this."

Hu Peiyun took the manuscript, walked quickly under the light, and checked carefully.

The manuscript has more than a dozen pages, which is a Buddhist scripture. The font is not large and it is all ancient seal characters. He saw the word "Tang" at a glance, which is indeed very similar to the word "Tang" on the back of a turtle.

He hurriedly ordered the soldiers to say, "Turn the giant turtle down the lamp."

The two soldiers quickly moved the giant turtle under the lamp, and he carefully identified the light. The six words were found in the Buddhist scriptures, and they were indeed exactly the same, especially the word "Qing" of Qingping An. The top point is very distinctive, and it is a semicircular shape, which is completely consistent.

Hu Peiyun quickly flipped through the back, and no writer left his name. He asked the old stele craftsman, "Who wrote this?"

"Report to the general, this was a scholar named Zhao who asked me to carve a monument three years ago, saying that it was for his mother to celebrate the 70th birthday. He paid the deposit at that time and agreed to take it out after half a year, but he has not come yet."

Hu Peiyun felt nervous. If there was only this information, it would be meaningless. Where can I find a scholar named Zhao, who is so big in the world?

"Do you know what his name is and where he lives?"

The old stele craftsman shook his head, "He only said that he would ask me to get the goods after half a year, and he didn't say anything else."

Just when Hu Peiyun felt a little disappointed, the old stele craftsman suddenly said, "I remembered it. He seemed to have said that if he couldn't come and get it, he would ask an official named Qi to come and get it, the same is true."

The old stele craftsman dipped his finger in water and wrote the word "Qi" on the table, "I only remember what kind of temple official is an official, and which department is too long, and I have forgotten a little."

This is also a clue. With this clue, you can find some clues. After all, there are not many people with the surname Qi.

Hu Peiyun's heart ignited another hope. He ordered someone to reward the old stele craftsman with two hundred silver dollars, so that he could report it at any time when there was new news. The old stele craftsman had thanked him for his gratitude.

Just as the old stele craftsman left, Hu Peiyun immediately walked into the Intelligence Hall Document Library. The Intelligence Hall Document Library is actually the archives of various intelligences. The document library is extremely large. It is divided into seven major databases according to different categories, such as the central government, local governments, finance, military departments, civilian households, officials, criminal laws, etc. There are millions of pieces of intelligence at various levels, and a total of twenty-one clerks and a Cucheng are responsible for daily management.

Hu Peiyun was looking for information about officials. He walked into the room of the personnel database. One warehouse consisted of two rooms, one was an external office room and the other was an internal document library. The office room was not big, with four tables and two bookshelves placed against the wall, which were densely packed with cards. These were index cards for searching for information.

There are three clerks in the personnel database. The reason why three people are needed is to ensure that there must be someone on duty day and night, so each of the three people is on duty for four hours a day.

For example, it is the night time, and there is a person in the personnel database who has not returned home and sleeps directly in the office room outside. If there is any situation, you can wake up at any time.

The soldier woke up the clerk on duty. When he saw that Hu Peiyun was here to check him in person, he was so scared that he bowed and bowed, "See General!"

Hu Peiyun waved his hand, "I want to check the information of the officials."

"Yes! Yes! Please follow me, General."

The Wenshu Lang lit an oil lamp and took Hu Peiyun into the warehouse. The Wenshu Lang lit all the thirty-six lamps on the wall first, and the library suddenly became bright as day. The warehouse was very wide, like a small palace, neatly arranged with nearly two hundred bookshelfs one hundred and ten-meter tall. The bookshelf were densely filled with various files, which were divided into volumes according to the name of each official, one official and one file, and the entire library was filled with the fragrance of ink.

Hu Peiyun couldn't help but exclaim that he had been to the Ministry of Personnel's document library, which was only half the size of this one. Of course, the Ministry of Personnel has accumulated countless document files over the past century, but judging from the size of the files placed on the shelf, the Ministry of Personnel cannot compare to the Intelligence Hall.

The documents and materials of the Information Hall directly inherited the information of the Han and Tang dynasties, and they spanned a hundred years, and they were piled up like mountains. The only officials on the shelf were placed on the shelf. This was also the result of the Anxi Army attaching great importance to intelligence. Each file contains numbers, first-rank, second-rank, etc., which are arranged according to the size of the official position.

In fact, this is inheriting the classification method of the Ministry of Personnel and the Han and Tang dynasties. If it is indexed by surname, it will be easier to find, which is also one of the shortcomings. The Intelligence Hall is also preparing to establish a new surname index.

Wenshulang introduced to Hu Peiyun: "The document library is divided into five parts. The northwest corner is Anxi personnel affairs, the southwest corner is the Southern Tang personnel affairs, the northeast corner is Hebei personnel affairs, and the southeast corner was originally Jiangnan personnel affairs, but now it has been changed to local state personnel affairs, and a large part in the middle is the personnel affairs of Jingji and Duji. I wonder where the general is looking for?"

"I want to find an official with the surname Qi in the court."

The Wenshulang nodded, and he took Hu Peiyun and several of his men to the middle. In the middle was a circle surrounded by bookshelf. Inside the circle was a large column and a wide low table was placed where you could sit by the table to check information.

The clerk walked to the pillars of the house and lit an oil lamp on the big pillar. He pointed to a large wooden board hanging on the pillar and smiled: "Please look, General!"

Although Hu Peiyun was the leader of the Intelligence Hall, this was his first time here. He walked to the big wooden board and looked carefully. It turned out that it was a picture of the imperial officials' list. I saw that the large wooden board was painted with ink lines on it, and each department had its official names. A small wooden sign was hung under each official name, about the size of two fingernails, with the name of the official on it.

Hu Peiyun couldn't help but give a thumbs up and praised: "This is very good, is there any place?"

The Wenshulang nodded and replied, "There are all, almost every road, but only official officials, and the scattered officials and the king's ranks are also listed."

Hu Peiyun pointed at the small wooden sign and searched one by one, hoping to find an official with the surname Qi, but he searched several times and had all the surnames, but he couldn't find the surname Qi. His brows frowned. What's going on? Could it be that the stele craftsman was old and stupid and remembered the mistake?

He found another official named Zhao, but found more than a dozen, but this was meaningless. The old stele craftsman only said he was a middle-aged scholar, but not an official.

Hu Peiyun was a little disappointed. At this time, one of his followers reminded: "General, the stele craftsman is talking about three years ago. In three years, there will be many changes."

Hu Peiyun suddenly realized that yes, there were indeed many changes in three years, such as going to the Southern Tang Dynasty, being sent to the place, resigning from the officialdom in his old age, etc., which are all possible.

He hurriedly asked Wenshulang, "Is there any official brand chart here from three years ago?"

Wenshulang Wenshulang thought about it and asked, "Is the general sure he is an official in the court?"

Hu Peiyun felt a little nervous, and the old stele craftsman said he couldn't remember it clearly, but he nodded, "It should be!"

The Wenshulang found a ladder and took two thick rosters from the top of a bookshelf. He smiled and said, "For example, if an official named Qi went to Nantang, we would hang his famous brand directly to Nantang, but this is just a change in the brand, and we can't see the process, such as what position he used to be and what position he is now, so we will also register. One of these two rosters is to register the changes in the official positions in the past three years, and the other is the roster of scattered officials and titles. Generals may wish to check it from here."

Hu Peiyun was about to take over the roster, when a soldier came in to report: "General, General Qin is here, waiting in the lobby."

Hu Peiyun quickly smiled at the Wenshulang and said, "Let me ask you to come and search. If you find it, report it to me immediately!"

After saying that, he turned around and went out.

In the lobby, the inner guard general Qin Haiyang was holding the teacup and bowing his head without saying a word. Hu Peiyun walked in like a gust of wind. Before the people arrived, the voice came first, "Old Qin, I thought you were going home to sleep, but I didn't expect you to be in the room."

"I wouldn't even dare to go back to your home without even returning to my home."

Qin Haiyang joked, then put down the teacup, stood up and said, "Do you know there are also strange signs in Lantian and Xinfeng?"

Seeing that Hu Peiyun's face was not surprised, Qin Haiyang was stunned, "Do you already know?"

"Um!"

Hu Peiyun waved his hand, "Sit down and talk!"

Qin Haiyang sat down. Seeing Hu Peiyun's face full of worry, he asked, "Is there anything else?"

Hu Peiyun nodded and sighed slightly, "A white jade tablet appeared again yesterday. Lao Qin, the situation is a bit bad!"

"I also think it's not good. This afternoon, reports from Xinfeng County and Lantian County came. Many officials were talking about it, saying that the general was crazy about ascending the throne. How could there be so many auspicious signs?"

"Yes, you're right. Since ancient times, there have been some auspicious things. For example, this thousand-year-old turtle, if there are no words on the shell, it's a good thing. For example, the white jade stele, if there are no words on the stele without words, it's a good thing. But like this kind of blatant engraving and the content is simple, it's a bit abnormal. I heard from my father that at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, and a fish belly brocade book of "The Rise of the Great Chu, King Chen Sheng". That is why the laborers who followed him were mostly ignorant and rough people, so it's better to be more straightforward. However, this time, three-year-old children know that we are making fakes, which will greatly damage the reputation of the general. I think this is a premeditated incident, and the purpose is to discredit the general."

Hu Peiyun was under great pressure. He was most afraid of another heresy now, but the actual situation was that it was very likely that it would appear again tomorrow. Now four items have been released. If the general was to completely discredit the general, at least five or six more items would have to be released, and the situation would be difficult to control. If the incident really deteriorated to that point, it would be his serious dereliction of duty in the Intelligence Hall.

Hu Peiyun knew in his heart that they had actually dereliction of duty, and this matter must have been planned very early, and there were a large number of participants, just waiting for the opportunity of a great victory in Hedong, but their intelligence hall was unaware of it, Hu Peiyun could not refuse the blame.

Now he urgently needs the assistance of the inner guard to control the situation, but he is afraid that Qin Haiyang will not do his best, so he pondered for a moment and said, "General Qin, this incident has alarmed the princess."

Qin Haiyang was stunned. He asked nervously: "What did the princess say?"

Hu Peiyun shook his head, "The princess sent someone in the afternoon. I happened to be away, so I asked me to explain tomorrow. The matter is really serious."

Qin Haiyang also knew that Princess Zhao never asked about military and political affairs, but this time she made an exception and sent someone to inquire, which showed that the matter was so serious that the princess could not sit idly by. Hu Peiyun invited herself so late, so he must have something to ask for.

He nodded, "I wonder what General Hu has now?"

"I want to do it in two steps at the same time!"

"General Hu, please tell me, but I have heard of it."

Hu Peiyun organized some ideas and said slowly: "First of all, I have gotten a clue, which is related to an official named Qi in the court. I found this person, followed the clues and found the main messenger behind the scenes, and secondly, I want to prevent any more abnormal signs from happening. I am short of manpower in this latter case, and I hope General Qin can help."
Chapter completed!