Zhang Zhengqing's superficial identity is that of a well-loved Liaodong scholar with countless good deeds.
He frequently opened porridge shacks, donated money for education, adopted orphans, and helped women and children. He found a living and connected work for the displaced poor people. He opened "yizhuang" in every city and county in Liaodong.
"Almshouse".
Moreover, Zhang Zhengqing often stood up for people's injustices and spoke uprightly. Whenever he encountered people being wronged and the government sentenced them to excessive sentences, he would take the initiative to stand up and provide defense and bail for these people.
In short, in the eyes of most people in Liaodong, Zhang Zhengqing is simply a living Bodhisattva!
But in fact, this person secretly has another identity, that is, he is the largest human trafficker in the Ming Dynasty!
He frequently opened porridge shacks and donated funds to students, just to deceive the people and steal his name; he adopted orphans and helped women and children, and then often sold them, turning these orphans, women and children into slave labor and prostitution; he often made plans for the poor people.
Finding a living and contacting people is just a convenient means of human trafficking.
All the senior military attachés in Liaodong Town are well aware of these matters.
However, on the surface, the senior military attaches in Liaodong Town still respected Zhang Zhengqing.
This kind of respect is naturally due to Zhang Zhengqing's status as a great Confucian. As a great Confucian, there are many scholars in the world who are willing to believe Zhang Zhengqing's stance and statements, so Liaodong Town has always needed Zhang Zhengqing to improve the public opinion environment for them.
In addition, there are also many real interests between the senior military attaches in Liaodong Town and Zhang Zhengqing.
For example, Gancheng owns a highly profitable stone mine. The quarry workers in it are all slave workers and do not need to be paid any wages. Most of these slave workers come from Zhang Zhengqing's population business.
Another example is that Li Zehe has always been fond of women. He has more than ten beautiful concubines in his house, at least half of whom were gifted and sold by Zhang Zhengqing.
For another example, the Li family, the general behind Li Shijie, often purchased inexperienced boys and girls from Zhang Zhengqing, and then trained them from childhood, brainwashed and trained them to become loyal and loyal soldiers.
Human trafficking was strictly prohibited in the Ming Dynasty, but the powerful officials in Liaodong who were responsible for supervising all of this had obtained various benefits from Zhang Zhengqing's human trafficking business. Therefore, they not only turned a blind eye to Zhang Zhengqing's various crimes, but also took the initiative to help
With Zhang Zhengqing covering up his evil deeds and providing shelter, the relationship between the two parties became more harmonious as they joined forces to commit evil.
What's more, because of the human trafficking business, Zhang Zhengqing's network of contacts is extremely broad. Even the high-ranking military attaches in Liaodong Town dare not underestimate him, and they are even less willing to offend him easily.
For example, everyone knows that the Guan Ning cavalry under the command of the Wu family in Shanhaiguan can be divided into three parts: the formation-breaking arrows, the armored cavalry central army, and the artillery rear army. Among them, the composition of the formation-breaking arrows is the most peculiar, and they are all Han prisoners.
, Mongolian prisoners of war, and Jurchen savages, but the Wu family’s power has always been contained within Shanhaiguan by all forces. Where did they find so many Han prisoners, Mongolian prisoners of war, and Jurchen savages?
At this time, Zhang Zhengqing's role is naturally inseparable. This is the real reason why Zhang Zhengqing always actively comes forward to provide defense and bail for civilian prisoners who have committed crimes.
For another example, the Jianzhou Jurchens have been trying to attract various craftsmen and craftsmen from the Han territory. Although the court has been strictly guarding against it, it is still unable to completely prevent this situation. Zhang Zhengqing is also in this regard.
A lot of effort.
All in all, Zhang Zhengqing's personal connections are not only intricate in Liaodong, but also closely related to the Wu family in Shanhaiguan, Jianzhou Jurchen in northern Liaoning and other forces. It is not an exaggeration to say that Zhang Zhengqing's hands and eyes are astute, and he has always been deeply loved by many high-level officials in Liaodong Town.
value.
Therefore, when the military attachés in Liaodong Town saw Zhang Zhengqing being tied up behind Fang Zhenshan's horse, looking embarrassed and frightened, his usually neatly combed gray beard and hair were in a mess, and his nose and eyes were bruised, as if he had experienced a severe torture, they couldn't help but
They were all shocked.
For a moment, He Bandit and others no longer thought about blocking Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin, but began to pay attention to what happened to Zhang Zhengqing.
Gan Cheng stared and asked first: "Governor Fang, General Wu! What is going on? Why did you tie up Mr. Zhang? Mr. Zhang is the only great scholar in our territory in Liaodong.
Even I, Liaodong Town, have always been respectful, how could we be so rude?"
Li Zehe also frowned and said: "Looking at Mr. Zhang, it seems that he has been abused? How dare you treat Zhang Daru like this? Aren't you afraid of arousing the anger of scholars all over the world? At that time, even the central government will investigate and hold him accountable.
Why don't you quickly untie Zhang Daru and apologize?"
Xu He also nodded in agreement and said: "Yes, quickly untie Zhang Daru and apologize!"
Comparatively speaking, He Bandit and He Rensheng's status in Liaodong Town is lower, and their interests with Zhang Zhengqing are not deeply tied. At this time, they are not particularly concerned about Zhang Zhengqing's situation, but choose to watch indifferently.
At the same time, there was also an interest relationship between Ximen Sheng and Zhang Zhengqing, but he knew that there must be a hidden secret in this matter, so he did not express his position eagerly. He also remained silent and waited to see what would happen.
Everything was as Ximen Sheng expected. After hearing the accusations and threats from the three Liaodong generals, Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin did not show any fear or regret. Instead, they took a deep look at Gancheng, Li Zehe and Xu He.
At first glance, his eyes were full of doubts, as if the three Liaodong generals in front of him were the ones causing trouble, and their expressions became more solemn.
Afterwards, Fang Zhenshan said slowly: "Zhang Zhengqing was arrested under the order of the governor himself, and he was also personally interrogated by the governor... As for the reason why the governor did this, I cannot tell you in detail at the moment, especially since I
When the governor discovers that you seem to have a very close relationship with Zhang Zhengqing, an old thief...
All in all, I have to meet Commander He of Liaodong Town right now. I have a very important matter to discuss with him in secret, which affects the survival of the entire Liaodong defense line. There must be no delay!"
When they heard that Fang Zhenshan didn't mention why he wanted to arrest Zhang Zhengqing at all, but just wanted to see He Yu, everyone in Liaodong Town was stunned again!
Although Fang Zhenshan's attitude was very serious and it seemed that something big had happened, everyone in Liaodong Town could not let him see He Yu under any circumstances.
After all, even these people can't see He Yu in person now.
At the same time, seeing the serious attitudes of Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin, who even called Zhang Zhengqing "this guy" and "an old thief", smart people like Li Zehe and Gan Cheng already felt that something was wrong in their hearts.
Could it be said that Fang Zhenshan has discovered Zhang Zhengqing's secret human trafficking business?
Thinking of this, Li Zehe and Gan Cheng also became much more cautious and no longer spoke easily.
However, the truth is much more serious than they imagined.
On the other side, seeing that several generals were silent, and Fang Zhenshan directly expressed that he wanted to see He Yu, He had no choice but to express his position in person: "My Lord Commander has important matters to deal with now, and it is not convenient to divide them."
Heart, so if Governor Fang and Commander Wu have something to do, they only need to inform Beizhi, and Beizhi will definitely tell the truth to Commander-in-Chief!"
After hearing what He Bandit said and seeing the silence of the other Liaodong generals, the expressions of Fang Zhenshan and Wu Shilin became more serious.
Then, Fang Zhenshan glanced at Wu Shilin, as if he had made a certain decision, while Wu Shilin nodded slightly in response, and then suddenly took up a bow and arrow from the side of his mount, bent the bow and shot towards the sky.
A loud arrow shot straight into the sky, and the sharp and harsh sound of the arrow suddenly spread throughout the countryside.
Everyone present was shocked when they saw Wu Shilin's behavior.
But what surprised them even more was yet to come.
As Wu Shilin fired the sounding arrow, the Guan Ning cavalry in the distance, the Liaodong regiment training, the Liaodong branch training, etc., immediately began to put into charge formation, and they were actually ready to fight to the death with the Liaodong army, without any hesitation, and their attitude was extremely