Chen Mengzhu wrote a secret letter about her worries to her grandfather Chen Qi who was far away in the border area. At the same time, she also told her father Chen Yihe. Chen Yihe was a civil servant in Chen State and held an official position in the Educational Yamen. He only loved love.
He was a scholar and did not want to participate in court disputes. After listening to his daughter's analysis of what happened to the Gongsun family, Chen Yihe just said lightly: "I understand. The Gongsun family members are free to resolve the matter."
, we, the Chen family, should not get involved!"
Chen Mengzhu was helpless when she saw her father disapproving of it. She could only hope that her grandfather Chen Qi would pay attention to it and make preparations in advance.
Chen Qi received a flying letter from his granddaughter Mengzhu and read it carefully. The more he read, the more shocked he became. Chen Qi was already very impressed with his granddaughter. He knew that if Mengzhu was not a daughter, she would definitely be strategizing on the battlefield.
The talent of a general who can defeat thousands of miles. Now in the letter, Chen Mengzhu carefully analyzed the changes in the Gongsun family and the possible political turmoil caused by it.
Chen Mengzhu said in the letter: Nowadays, in the Chen Kingdom, brothers are divided, and they should live in harmony with each other. If they are separated, they can avoid fighting, and they can share the same hatred when facing foreign aggression. However, as King Chen consolidates his power in the court, sooner or later, he will have trouble with the eldest prince and the self-respecting prince who support the army.
The third prince took action. Now King Chen wanted to use the Gongsun family's affairs to start taking action against the eldest prince's line.
The Gongsun Yihu incident was originally a trivial matter. It was nothing if the powerful bullied others with their power and killed outsiders. But the Gongsun family should not transfer their property and close down the business in Luo City at this time. This would undoubtedly be a threat to the people.
King Chen conveyed a message that the Gongsun family was going to surrender to the eldest prince, and the eldest prince accepted the Gongsun family, which meant that the eldest prince was the mastermind of this matter.
But no matter what, the Gongsun family, as the big family of the Chen State, almost controls the grain and grass business of the Chen State. To a discerning eye, this move is a demonstration to King Chen, with the intention of cutting off Luo City's food supply. At the same time, the Gongsun family
With abundant wealth, he could fund and build an army wherever he went, which made King Chen even more uneasy.
Moreover, Gongsun Xiao has been serving in the army and is Chen Qi's right-hand man. In the eyes of everyone, Chen Qi is a member of the eldest prince's family. In this way, this murder case that started in the market will cause a chain reaction.
This triggered a contest between the two major forces of Chen State.
Once King Chen has a dispute with the eldest prince, and the two fight, domestically it will only benefit the third prince; and for the neighboring countries of Qi, Qin, and Yan, they will be even more happy to see it, and all countries will
Profits from it even gave Qi the opportunity to destroy Chen.
Chen Qi's brows furrowed. He had sensed a crisis from Chen Mengzhu's letter, a crisis that was coming to the eldest prince and also to Chen Guo. He was at the forefront of this crisis, but he was powerless.
Recovery. Any crisis will bring the Chen family into an abyss of eternal destruction.
Chen Qi sent an order to the guards and quickly went to find Gongsun's staff to come to the commander's tent to discuss matters. When Gongsun Xiao came into the commander's tent, Chen Qi asked everyone else to leave, and then slowly told Gongsun Xiao the information about Luo City he had received. Gongsun Xiao
They already knew about Gongsun Yihu's incident, and also knew that Gongsun Ming and Gongsun Yinan were secretly transferring the family's property and business out of Luo City. When they met the old marshal and mentioned it, they agreed.
Chen Qi asked: "Does Master Gongsun know at this time?"
Gongsun Xiao nodded and said: "Marshal, I know now that my brother told me about this matter, and I agree with it. Since we follow the eldest prince, we must serve him sooner or later. Don't be weak and transfer your property and food to us as soon as possible."
We are here to pay for food.
Chen Qi sighed softly, looked at Gongsun Xiao, and asked in a deep voice: "General Gongsun, have you ever thought that if your Gongsun family transfers their property to Pingguan, it will arouse King Chen's suspicion, which will lead to the conflict between King Chen and the eldest prince?
If there is a direct conflict, then if two tigers fight, one of them will be injured. It just gives an advantage to the third prince and Qi, Qin and Yan."
Gongsun Xiao said disapprovingly: "The marshal is overly worried. Where my brother fainted his own property is his own business. It is not as serious as the marshal thought. Besides, Chen Wang Xinli should not be so soon.
Take action against your own brother! Internal fighting consumes national strength, brothers hate each other, and it is fun for relatives to hate their enemies. King Chen should not do such a stupid thing!"
Seeing that Gongsun Xiao didn't care, Chen Qi could only sigh secretly in his heart. The two talked about other military matters and put the matter aside. Chen Qi was about to talk to the eldest prince, but felt that there was no chance at this time.
There is no waste, it is useless to say it.
In Luo City, Lord Xue's city defense soldiers replaced the four gate garrison soldiers, and the inspections were extremely strict. Anyone with a discerning eye would naturally know that the original guard soldiers had been replaced by Lord Xue's cronies.
At night, there is still an endless stream of people entering and exiting the city gate. The garrison soldiers watch the people passing by without paying much attention. However, when vehicles pass by, they will step forward to check carefully.
Two carriages came slowly from the city. In front of the carriage were eleven men who looked like butlers in their fifties. They had short beards and gray hair. They were carrying a small bag in their hands. They walked to the city gate and looked at the interrogators.
Jun Bing looked around, then stepped forward to strike up a conversation and asked, "Master Jun, may I ask, is Master Zhang not here tonight?"
The guarding soldier looked at him with an impatient look on his face and said, "My surname is Zhang, who said I didn't come?!"
The old man chuckled and said with a smile on his face: "So you are also Master Zhang, so disrespectful. I am the steward of Gongsun's house. My surname is Mao. Today, on the orders of my master, I have to go out of the city to deliver food and grass.
I hope the military master will be accommodating!"
The soldier glanced at Butler Mao, then at the two carts following him, and then he snorted and said, "The city gate is open, so people can come and go by you. If it's just food and grass, let's check it out. As long as
As long as there is nothing unfinished.”
When Butler Mao heard this, he quickly agreed and said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Our Gongsun family has been doing grain business all year round. The goods are absolutely genuine and fair. If the military master wants to investigate, don't worry."
After saying that, Butler Mao took a step forward and stuffed the small bag into the hands of the soldier surnamed Zhang. He said softly: "Master Zhang, this is a little thought. Please keep it first. We will often do it in the future."
When you come and go frequently, you can never do without this kind of filial piety."
The soldier looked around, stretched out his hand to touch the small bag, and tried to find a few silver ingots inside. Then he laughed and said, "I'll check first before talking." After saying that, he waved his hand behind him, and more than a dozen soldiers surrounded him.
Once they got up, two of them had to get on the bus to dig through the grain bags and fodder.
Butler Mao stared closely at the two people in the car. When the soldier opened the food bag on top, touched the bag below with his hand, he shouted to the soldier named Zhang: "Captain Zhang, the food in this car is wrong.
Why is there something hard down there, but not rice?"
Butler Mao hurriedly came to Junbing named Zhang, handed over the small bag in his hand, and said: "Master Zhang, please be accommodating. It's not a big deal if you have something. I will show you more respect when I come over next time."
some!"
The soldier surnamed Zhang didn't say anything, refused or accepted, and walked to the car. Then he looked at the soldier who was checking the forage, and the soldier also found something abnormal under the forage. The soldier surnamed Zhang said
He wanted to ask the two soldiers to open it and take a look. Butler Mao was a little anxious and quickly stopped him: "Master Zhang, there is no need to look any further. If you are worried, we will not go out. We will go back with the food and grass."
But the soldier surnamed Zhang laughed and said: "What did Butler Mao say? We are doing a routine inspection, so it doesn't hurt to take a look." After saying that, he waved to his soldiers, and a few more soldiers came over.
Climb up the car, and when you get on top, you directly pull off the grain, rice and fodder on top, and use the saber to cut open the bag below. Inside are pieces of silver ingots. The silver ingots shine brightly under the light of the torch.
When he saw this situation, Butler Mao was a little panicked. He looked at Junbing Zhang, and without waiting for him to speak, he forced the small bag into his hand, and then said to him: "Master Zhang, this is our
The money in the house wanted to go out to sell grain, but was afraid of encountering bandits, so he hid in the grain cart."
The soldier surnamed Zhang weighed the small bag in his hand and said to Butler Mao: "I believe what Butler Mao said, but I don't know what my adults will think." After that, he ordered his soldiers: "
Watch these things carefully and take these people aside, away from the vehicle, and we will wait for Mr. Xue to come and see how to deal with it!"
When Butler Mao heard this, he grinned and said to the soldier surnamed Zhang: "Master Zhang, this is nothing. If you feel something is wrong, we will take it back to Gongsun Mansion!" He deliberately said the word "Gongsun".
Loudly, I want this military man to know who the vehicle belongs to.
The soldier surnamed Zhang didn't care, and ordered his men to drive several servants and cart drivers aside. When Butler Mao saw something was wrong, he became violent and said to the soldier surnamed Zhang: "Master Zhang, why are you doing this?"
, we just don’t leave the city, what else do you want to do?”
The soldier surnamed Zhang held the handle of his waist knife and said loudly: "You can come to my city gate whenever you want and leave whenever you want!"
Seeing that the matter had come to this, Butler Mao stopped being polite and said to a few guys and the driver: "We are not going out of the city anymore. We have packed up our things and are going back home."
Following Butler Mao's words, the guys lined up and looked at the two cars approaching. How could the soldiers let them pass? After a few pushes, the guys started to fight.
Their hands and feet were all neat and tidy. Although there were only a few of them, the dozens of monarchs in front of them could not control their lives. The soldiers took out their sabers and tried to suppress them with weapons. One of the guys with quick hands grabbed the weapons and started fighting with the soldiers.
.
Seeing this, there were more than a dozen soldiers gathered on both sides of the city gate, and they rushed over quickly, surrounding Butler Mao and a few men. There were also several young people in the crowd who rushed over and faced the soldiers.
The soldiers took action.
While they were fighting, there was a sound of horse hooves, and a group of city defense cavalry rushed over. In front of them was the city defense general Xue Houye. Xue Houye saw his soldiers struggling with a dozen young men who looked like servants.
He shouted from a distance: "Stop!"
When the soldiers saw Lord Xue coming, they all retreated to the back. Butler Mao also recognized Lord Xue, so he hurried forward and saluted. Lord Xue looked at Butler Mao on his horse and asked, "Is this
what happened?"
The soldier surnamed Zhang took a step forward and said: "General Qi, this guy said he was transporting grain and grass out of the city. We found a large amount of silver coins in the car and were about to interrogate them. This guy actually gathered a crowd to attack and kill the soldiers!"
"
Mr. Xue got off his horse, walked to the vehicle, looked at the silver ingots on the road outside, turned around and asked Butler Mao: "Let me ask you, who are you and where is this vehicle of silver going?"
Butler Mao quickly bowed and said: "General Xue, I am the steward of Gongsun's house. My surname is Mao. I am carrying this car of money to buy grain outside the city on the order of Master Gongsun. Unexpectedly, it caused a misunderstanding among your men."
Mr. Xue nodded and said: "Well, I understand, but I see that these two cars are worth a lot of money, so I can't just turn a blind eye. Let's do this. The cars are now taken over by our city defense government office. We will take them to the government office first. Tomorrow
Inform your young master to come and collect it. If it is really your young master’s order, I will take the money back with you. If you are the one stealing from me, then I will definitely punish you for stealing from the master’s house!”