Both of them in the study were slightly stunned, especially Sun Tu, who frowned: "Is Yuan Wang coming here because he was guilty?" If he thought that the person behind the scenes who had colluded with the evil dragon gang might be only six or seven percent, then he is now more than 90% sure.

But unexpectedly, after a little pondering, Cai Jiu still spoke: "Yuanzhoutui is also invited to speak." It was not until he spoke that Cai Lian, who was blocking the door, letting Yuan Wang in. At this time, his face was full of humble smile, which was completely different from before: "The lower-ranking officials have met the prefect, but they didn't expect that Sun Tuanlian is here. You have really cured a big problem for my Jiangzhou this time."

Sun Tu had quickly adjusted his mindset. Hearing this, he quickly stood up and saluted and said politely: "Yuanzhou has pushed the honor, and the Xiaguan just talked to the prefect. The extermination of the Jiangshui bandits is the responsibility of Xiaguan and others to serve in Jiangzhou. I dare not claim to be credited." When he said this, his eyes still fell on the other party's face with some suspicion, as if he wanted to see through his thoughts completely.

Not only him, but Cai Jiu also looked at Yuan Wang thoughtfully. Although he had not asked, his expression had already brought up his doubts. Yuan Wang was looked at by the two of them without any panic. He just smiled as if he was flattered: "There are two things to say today, and the first one is to apologize from the prefect."

"Oh? Yuanzhou Tui has been diligent, honest and honest in Jiangzhou for many years. How could he be guilty of his crime?" Cai Jiu asked with a smile, his tone was quite plain. It was obvious that he had guessed that the other party would say this.

"The Xiaguan knows that he is stubborn and has fought with the prefect for a different position in the court for many years. Now I think all the things I shouldn't have been wrong before. My Jiangzhou is located in a critical position, and the court's taxes are important, but because of some of the thoughts before, the money, grain and taxes have been repeatedly failed to be handed over in time. It is really a great crime. In addition, the Xiaguan, as the subordinate of the prefect, has caused trouble to the prefect on a daily basis. Fortunately, the prefect was magnanimous and did not blame me. Now I think about it even more ashamed. Now the prefect knows that it is wrong, and I hope the prefect can forgive the prefect for his moment of confusion!" At this point, Yuan Wang had bent down deeply and arched to the ground, but had already raised the tribute to Cai Jiuxing, the second only to kneeling in the officialdom, and put his attitude down so much that he could not be lowered.

Cai Jiu's expression changed slightly, and he quickly said, "Why do you have to do this in Yuanzhou? Please get up quickly. It is inevitable that there will be disputes between you and my colleagues. I have never blamed you. I can't bear such a heavy gift." Although he said this, he still sat there tremblingly without any intention of avoiding or supporting him. He just waited for the other party to give him enough gifts before he gave Sun Tu a wink and the latter helped him to help him up.

"The prefect can treat me so magnanimously, which really makes me cry." After straightening up, Yuan Wang thanked me again, and then said with a bitter face: "Actually, there is something that the prefect has long wanted to tell the prefect that it was not my original wish to make things difficult for you a few times, but someone has to do it."

"Oh? But who dared to force Yuanzhou to do such things?" Cai Jiu was right and knew that the real key was coming.

"To be honest, the one who has made the Lord Liang behind his back several times in the past year was the Lord Liang, who is the Lord Liang. I have to cultivate it today, so he has the will, and Yuan Wang can only follow the order." Yuan Wang's answer was very happy, and he immediately revealed his true backstage.

As soon as this statement came out, Sun Tu's reaction was stable, but Cai Jiu quickly changed his face: "You are actually Taifu Liang? No wonder..." No wonder Yuan Wang, a small state magistrate, dared to compete with the prefect of Yizhou, who is the son of Cai Jing, and even did not hesitate to be enemies with him in the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, Cai Jiu thought that Yuan Wang wanted to win a good official reputation, and in addition, he had many friends in the court who were censors of the same year who dared not be afraid of offending him. Until now, he realized that there was such a great god behind him, no wonder he had someone impeached Yuan Wang several times before and the result was nothing.

The Liang Taifu was named Liang Shicheng. He was another highly favored high-ranking official next to Zi Zhao Ji today. Not only did he serve as the chief tutor, but he also led the Xingde Army's Jiedu. His honor was not inferior to Cai Jing, who was the Grand Tutor. Moreover, because of his background as an emperor's close servant, he was in a sense more trusted by the current officials than Cai Jing.

Yes, Liang Shicheng, like Tong Guan, was both a eunuch in the palace. Moreover, his status and power in the court were far above Tong Guan. Although he was also collectively called the "Six Thieves" by the people, his official position was far beyond his peers, only under Cai Jing, and even called it "hidden image" by the world.

After the founding of the Song Dynasty, it learned from the lessons of the demise of the former Tang Dynasty and established a national policy of promoting civil and suppressing military affairs. At the same time, it also showed the eunuchs, a group that caused trouble in the late Tang Dynasty, and almost did not give them the opportunity to gain military power or regime. However, after this tradition lasted for more than a hundred years, it broke the rules with the emergence of Zhao Ji, a tyrant official of the dynasty, and not only promoted high-ranking officials like Tong Guan and the Privy Councilor to hold military power, but also handed over many government powers to Liang Shicheng, and made them balance the power of Cai Jing in the court.

Perhaps Liang Shicheng's power is far less powerful than that of Cai Taishi, who has been ups and downs in the court for decades, and his disciples and former officials are everywhere in the world, but Liang Taifu still has the confidence and courage to fight openly and secretly in the court, with Cai Jing and his subordinates in external counties!

Cai Jiu really didn't expect that such a powerful and terrible enemy would be buried beside him. If Yuan Wang hadn't revealed his hidden identity today, he would have been kept in the dark until now.

After several changes in his face, Cai Jiu returned to calm: "So that's it. I really underestimated Yuanzhou before. But what made me curious is why you are willing to tell such a secret matter to the truth?"

"This is the second reason why Xiaguan came to visit today." Seeing that Taishou Cai was worried, Yuan Wang finally let go of his heart. He glanced at Sun Tu and said, "Xiaguan heard that after the suppression of Pingshui bandits, the soldiers had brought one person out of their nest..."

Sun Tu didn't understand what he was going to say at this time, and nodded without any concealment at the moment, nodding, "Yes, that man's name is Cheng Jichang, who is a merchant in my Jiangzhou city. As far as the water bandits said, he passed on the relevant information about our official army's bandit suppression, which led to the failure of the official army's bandit suppression several times. As far as the officials knew, the deployment of the official army was a secret in the army, and even few people in my government office knew about it, let alone a mere merchant, so there must be another envoy among them." After the last sentence, his eyes looked straight at Yuan Wang without any evasion, and his meaning was quite clear.

Yuan Wang was a little confused on his face, and finally he could only sigh: "The matter is now not dare to hide it anymore. Yes, it is me who leaked all kinds of military information to the gangsters and evil dragons this year."

Even though he had made a judgment, after hearing his admitting this, Sun Tu and Cai Jiu were still shocked and could not come back to their senses for a long time. Then, Sun Tu quickly spoke: "Yuan Wang, do you know how much sin you have committed? Because of what you did, you killed no less than five hundred soldiers, and made countless people live without any living, making all the industries in Jiangzhou City decay... You still call yourself a citizen, and you are also called a good official by countless soldiers and people!" He became more and more excited as he spoke. He had already stood up from the table. If Cai Jiu had not been by his side, he would have slapped the other party in the face to vent his anger.

However, Cai Jiu, after the initial surprise, had calmed down again, and just frowned and asked, "Why do you do this? Is it just to make Jiangzhou under my rule so that the court can punish me? But as a local prosecutor, your crime is even more serious when you become a rampant bandit."

"If you go back to the prefect, the officials did this not to cut off the waterways in Jiangzhou, but to have other purposes and obtain enough benefits." Yuan Wang's attitude became more and more respectful, but the inside story he said was even more shocking: "On the surface, it seems that Xunyang River has been cut off by the fierce dragon this year, but in fact it is not the case. Some merchant ships can still pass through this waterway smoothly without being invaded by water bandits."

"Is these people spending money to buy peace? And Cheng Jichang plays the role of the broker in the middle?" Sun Tu immediately understood and asked.

"Yes, this money is divided into three parts by me and the evil dragon. This is the real purpose of my plan." Yuan Wang did not hide it anymore, nodded and told the truth.

Only then did Sun Tu understand why the evil dragon and a group of water bandits were entrenched on the Xunyang River for so long. You should know that since they robbed passing ships on the river, few merchants have already transported goods from the water, so they can't get any oil and water. But now it seems that the one who really kept them here for many years was because they had long been colluding with the government.

"Why do you do this?" Cai Jiu asked in confusion: "If you are greedy for money, there are other means, why do you have to take this big risk? And as far as I know, Yuanzhou is usually frugal and honest. What do you need to do for so much money?" If the other party was really a corrupt official, he would probably have driven him out of Jiangzhou City long ago if he found out.

Yuan Wang smiled bitterly: "The officials are indeed not greedy for money, but this does not mean that I don't need money. If I want my colleagues in the court to show their opinions for me and let Taifu Liang speak for me, I spend more than hundreds of thousands of yuan a year... A small prison camp is not enough to solve the problem, and I don't want to ruin my reputation for many years, so I have to think of another way..."
Chapter completed!