Zhong Huan said fiercely: "You won't shed tears until you see the coffin. If you dare to be verbose again, I'll cut off your ears first and then your nose!"
Liu Lu was so frightened that he trembled all over and did not dare to hide it any more. He said honestly: "My master's real name is Liu Xianchen. He is a descendant of Taiwei Liu Mei, and he is the Duke of Runan County."
"Liu Mei?"
Zhong Huan thought for a moment and said, "But he is Queen Mingsu's brother?"
Empress Mingsu was Liu E, the empress of Song Zhenzong, who had ruled as the queen mother for a long time. Her brother Liu Mei was actually her ex-husband. Because of her rapid rise, she became a famous relative in the era of Song Renzong.
It turns out that he is a descendant of Liu Mei, that is, he is a relative of the Song Dynasty.
"Did you kill Liu Zhen's family?"
"Liu Zhen deserves his punishment. Like us, he is also the master's breadwinner. He has been taking care of the grain business for the Liu family. The master treats him well, but he betrays the master and attempts to embezzle the master's 100,000 yuan in grain money. Who else will die if he doesn't die?
?”
Zhong Huan immediately understood that the largest grain merchant in Bianliang turned out to be a relative of the Liu family, and that Liu Zhen was just a senior steward of the Liu family.
So the people who opened Taibai Restaurant in Jingzhao and invested 120,000 yuan in buying a teahouse turned out to be relatives of the Liu family, but they didn't want Jingzhao to know their true identity, so they kept it secret.
Of course Zhong Huan also understood that the Liu family were relatives of the Song Dynasty. If the emperor found out that they were secretly investing in Jingzhao, they would definitely be punished by the emperor, so he concealed his identity.
"Then why did you pretend to be Liu Zhen?"
Liu Lu said with a mournful face: "I don't know what the master is thinking, but I heard from my father that at that time many people blamed the emperor's abduction and the demise of the imperial court, which were all caused by his relatives' harm to the country. My master was afraid of being held responsible, so he
I have concealed my identity, and as far as I know, many relatives have changed their names."
Zhong Huan nodded and ordered: "Bandage his wounds!"
Two soldiers applied medicine to Liu Lu and bandaged his wounds. At this time, Uncle Jiang asked from the side: "Aren't all the relatives kidnapped by the Jin Kingdom?"
"They were kidnapped in a group. At that time, Emperor Huizong was on a tour to the south, and most of his relatives followed him south. After the Jin soldiers withdrew north for the first time, the emperor returned to the capital. The relatives wanted to leave a way out, so they left some of their family members in Jiangnan. My family
There were three brothers, and the two older brothers returned to the capital. The old man stayed in Jiangnan and transferred a lot of wealth to Jiangnan. Later, the two elder brothers and their families were kidnapped, and the Liu family took root in Pingjiang Mansion."
This is only reasonable and reasonable. It is not Liu Zhen, a grain merchant, but Liu Xianchen, a relative. Zhong Huan asked again: "How many relatives invest in buying land in Jingzhao?"
"I'm just a small manager, so it's impossible for me to know about this kind of thing."
That's right, Zhong Huan stopped questioning him and ordered his release. Liu Lu came out of the private house and found that he was not far to the west of the manor.
He fled back to the manor in panic, and sent Zhuang Ding back to Wu County to report to the master. At this time, Zhong Huan led his people to evacuate Pingjiang Mansion. It was not his task to contact the Liu family. He believed that the Liu family would send someone to Jingzhao.
Show up.
.........
The Liu Mansion is not in the city, but at the foot of Shangfang Mountain in the southwest of the county. It is a huge mansion covering an area of about fifty acres. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with beautiful scenery and is surrounded by lakes and rivers. You need to take a boat to reach this mansion.
.
The owner of the Liu Mansion was named Liu Xianchen. He was appointed as the training envoy of the Caizhou Regiment in the imperial court and was granted the title of Duke of Runan. Their family originally had more than sixty people, but the main members were kidnapped by the Jin soldiers and remained in the Jiangnan branch.
There are only about ten people left.
However, most of the Liu family's wealth was transferred to Jiangnan in time to ensure that the Liu family could continue to prosper.
Liu Xianchen was about sixty years old. He had four sons, seven grandsons, five granddaughters, and even two great-grandsons, making him a full house of children and grandchildren.
Liu Xianchen sat in the lobby and looked solemnly at Liu Lu who was kneeling on the ground. Liu Lu had half of his ear cut off.
"Are you sure the other party is the internal guard of the Western Army?" Liu Xianchen asked.
Liu Lu looked sad and said tremblingly: "They said so themselves. I even saw their silver medals."
"silver medal?"
Liu Xianchen asked: "What kind of silver medal?"
"It looks a bit like an eagle's head."
Liu Xianchen nodded, that's right, it was indeed the Neiwei Yingpai. Liu Xianchen also realized that he must have spent 120,000 yuan to buy Yi'an Tea House, which attracted Chen Qing's attention, so he sent someone to Pingjiang Mansion to investigate him. The details of.
"What did you say to them?"
"I just said what the master told me!"
Liu Xianchen slapped the table and said, "How dare you lie to me? Do you want me to cut off the other ear too?"
"Sir, please spare my life. They are really too cruel. I can't stand their intimidation, so I have to tell them."
"what did you say?"
"Tell me the true identity of the master."
"Then what?"
"Then they asked if it was the master who killed Liu Zhen back then?"
Liu Xianchen frowned, how could the other party know about Liu Zhen?
The eldest son Liu Wei said to his father: "Father, the other party may have gone to Bianliang to investigate. Many people in Bianliang know about Liu Zhen. It is not a secret."
Liu Xianchen nodded and asked: "Then how do you answer?"
"I told them that Liu Zhen was also a domestic servant of the Liu family. He was ungrateful, betrayed his master, tried to embezzle food and money, and deserved his death."
"What did they say?"
"They didn't say anything. The young man at the head asked his men to stop the bleeding and bandage my wound, and then let me go."
"Nothing else?"
"No, that's all you asked?"
Liu Xianchen asked repeatedly and confirmed that there was no more, and then asked Liu Lu to withdraw.
The eldest son Liu Wei pondered for a moment and said: "My child feels that the Western Army just came to investigate the background of the deal, mainly involving the princess. They are a little worried, but in fact there is no malicious intent."
Liu Xianchen nodded, "I really underestimated them. The internal guards actually dug out all my old records."
"Father, my son suggested a secret trip to Jingzhao. Since they know about it, it would be a bad idea not to go."
Liu Xianchen sighed and said: "Things are not that simple. It depends on the attitude of the guild leader? Prepare a boat for me and I will visit the guild leader."
.........
Associations were very common in the Song Dynasty. This is related to the tolerance of the emperors of the Song Dynasty to associations. Therefore, the parties in the court were united and opposed, and the ministers had different political views and different concepts of governance, so they formed various political groups, fought fiercely in the court, and criticized each other. New parties and old parties appeared repeatedly. The more than one hundred years of the Song Dynasty were basically spent in internal fighting among various parties.
In the early years of Jingkang, a large number of relatives and dignitaries fled to the south of the Yangtze River. When Bianliang fell, the second emperor was taken prisoner, and the news of the demise of the Song Dynasty came, these relatives and dignitaries from the south of the Yangtze River spontaneously formed a political group in order to protect themselves. They are called Song Yihui, indicating that they are survivors of the Song Dynasty and are composed of more than twenty families.
Later, Kang Wang Zhao Gou ascended the throne in Yingtian Mansion, a new imperial court was established, and the Song Yihui was renamed Song Xinghui.
Of course the emperor Zhao Gou also knew about the existence of Song Xinghui, but he never interfered. As long as it was beneficial to his rule, he basically ignored it.
The purpose of Song Xinghui is to revitalize the Song Dynasty, but in fact, they are more focused on business and making money. For example, the largest cabinet shop in the Song Dynasty, Baoji Cabinet Shop, was established by Song Xinghui. The Shi family is the largest shareholder and the second largest shareholder.
It is the Xiang family, and the third largest shareholder is the Liu family.
Song Xinghui was established in Pingjiang Prefecture, but its more than twenty member families are distributed throughout the south of the Yangtze River, with Pingjiang Prefecture being the largest, followed by Lin'an, and then Jiankang.
Half an hour later, Liu Xianchen took a boat and arrived in front of a large house in Mudu Town. This was the mansion of the president. There was no big signboard, only a small signboard with the word "Gaofu" engraved on it. It was very low-key.
"Ah! Duke Liu is here." The housekeeper came out with a smile on his face.
"Are you here, Master?"
"Here! Duke Liu, please come in."
Liu Xianchen nodded and quickly walked into the mansion.