Zhu Hejian shook his head in opposition and said slowly: "The situation in Nanjing has not yet stabilized, and all parties are still worried about riots. It is better for the Nanjing defenders to focus on maintaining stability. I am afraid there is not much spare power."
Zhou Shangjing smiled slightly and turned to look at Xu Shengying.
Under Zhou Shangjing's gaze, Xu Shengying hesitated for a moment, then directly refuted Zhu Hejian's statement and argued with Zhu Hejian on Zhou Shangjing's behalf.
Xu Shengying took a step forward and said loudly: "Your Highness, the Seventh Prince, is wrong! The Nanjing garrison has tens of thousands of people, and there has been no intrusion by Japanese pirates recently. The humble duty of defending the city is not too heavy.
Just follow the steps!
As for stabilizing the situation in Nanjing, not only did Ying Tianfu Yamen assist, but the dissatisfaction of all forces was mainly directed at the Jinyi Guards. The Nanjing defenders also did not have much pressure. Only two to three thousand defenders were needed to ensure Nanjing's safety.
Stable!
Therefore, Beizi is fully capable of taking over the subsequent interrogation and investigation, and has the ability to follow the clues to find out all the truth! ... If His Highness does not believe in Beizi's ability, Beizi is willing to issue a military order!"
Before that, Xu Shengying had always been extremely respectful to Zhu Hejian. She seemed to be staying away from the incident, but she had also been secretly supporting Zhu Hejian's various actions. Therefore, Zhu Hejian had always been more at ease with Xu Shengying, thinking that although Xu Shengying was not his confidant, at least he would not be there at the critical moment.
You will make trouble for yourself.
But Zhu Hejian never expected that Xu Shengying would choose to betray him suddenly at such a critical moment. Not only did he directly intervene in the situation, and refuted him face to face, he also intended to fight for the right to interrogate and investigate, and was vaguely on the same side as Zhou Shangjing.
Xu Shengying even said something like "His Royal Highness does not believe in the ability of humble officials." If Zhu Hejian still insisted on his opinion and disagreed with Xu Shengying taking over the interrogation, it would be equivalent to humiliating the entire Xu family.
Even for Zhu Hejian, the Xu family, a dual-family family, was a behemoth that they did not dare to provoke at will!
For a time, Zhu Hejian was in a dilemma. He was neither willing to let Xu Shengying fully take over the interrogation, nor was he willing to directly offend Xu Shengying and the Xu family behind Xu Shengying.
After seeing Zhu Hejian in a dilemma, Xu Shengying became more determined and aggressive, and raised her voice again: "I hope your highness will learn from it! I believe that I have sufficient reasons and should take over the follow-up interrogation with full authority!"
Among the various serious crimes committed by this group of gangsters, they are also directly related to the Nanjing garrison! A few days ago, the government promulgated martial law, but they have been unable to find traces of the gangsters because they hijacked
Hundreds of Tang Kun's subordinates hid in Tang Kun's military camp. After their whereabouts were exposed, they looted a large amount of ordnance from Tang Kun's military camp... For the Nanjing defenders, it was a great shame and humiliation!
At the same time, the gangsters had previously intended to kidnap His Highness and flee Nanjing. Therefore, all the serious crimes committed by this group of gangsters were also related to the Tian family. According to court practice, once it involves royal family members, Your Majesty will
Several dignitaries from the imperial court will be selected to take charge of the investigation!
As for the humble position... he is not only the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing garrison, but also a nobleman of the day who is the same as the Tian family! Therefore, no matter from any level, handing these ruthless bandits to the humble position for interrogation and disposal is the best choice!"
Seeing Xu Shengying's resolute attitude and listing various sufficient reasons, Zhu Hejian became increasingly dilemma. Although he was extremely reluctant to agree to Xu Shengying's self-recommendation, he could not directly refute it.
On the other side, after seeing Xu Shengying's firm attitude and Zhu Hejian's dilemma, a smile appeared on Zhou Shangjing's old face.
*
There is a popular saying among the people - "The hands are short when you take others, and the mouth is short when you eat them".
In officialdom, there is a method - "If you want to take something, you must give it first."
The two seem to have the same meaning, but in fact they are completely different.
The former is passive and serves as a warning, while the latter is active and serves as a means of control.
Zhang Decheng never understood why he always owed favors to the big shots. It was because he had forgotten the warning of "taking people with short hands and eating people with short mouths."
Controlled.
In other words, Zhang De has never forgotten the warning of "taking advantage of others and eating them with a short mouth", but... his weakness was easily seen through by those big shots.
Everyone in the world has weaknesses, and Zhang Decheng is no exception.
Zhang Decheng is a great man, a great philanthropist, and is even praised by the people as "the Buddha of all families", so his weaknesses are particularly obvious.
That is, Zhang Decheng wanted to spread medicine and treat more patients in the world.
So, with a wave of his hand, Zhao Junchen directly gave him a medical school, allowing him to find the opportunity to realize his lifelong dream.
The price is - all the noble qualities, integrity, sincerity, simplicity, etc. that he was once proud of were easily destroyed by Zhao Junchen.
Zhang Decheng had nothing before, so he could be upright and have a clear conscience, and he didn't have to worry about losing anything. However, after Zhang Decheng owned a medical school, he was worried about gains and losses.
The medical school was affected and did not dare to continue to adhere to the bottom line principle.
From this aspect, Zhang Decheng, as the dean of the medical school, has become a completely different person.
As for Zhang Decheng, the carefree wandering doctor, he was killed by Zhao Junchen himself.
Song Chengren also used the same method, using various opportunities and names to give Zhang Decheng too many benefits that he could not refuse - precious medicinal materials, rare medical books, the prestige of the apricot forest - and also easily controlled Zhang Decheng, allowing Zhang Decheng to betray himself again.
All gifts given by fate have their prices marked in secret.
Zhang Decheng disdained the company of politicians, but from the moment Zhao Junchen noticed him, he was no longer able to make the decision on this matter.
The most he can do is make a fuss, shake his face, say a few sarcastic words, mentally warn himself not to always owe favors, pretend that he has not been assimilated by the politicians, and that he is still the same person as before... and then compromise to the politicians again.
All in all, for officials in the officialdom, the control method of "give first to take what you want" has always been unfavorable, because they have too many resources, and they only need to slip a little through the gaps between their fingers.
It's enough to make ordinary people unable to refuse and willing to betray themselves.
This kind of thing is always scary to think about.
Among official politicians, Zhou Shangjing is undoubtedly at the highest level, so he is also well versed in the control method of "to take what you want, you must give it first", and he is not only able to use this method to control the little people around him, even those who
Political opponents in North Korea and China who have similar status to him will also be controlled by him unknowingly.
Therefore, Zhou Shangjing handed Song Chengren directly to the Jin Yiwei, taking the opportunity to take away the Jin Yiwei's subsequent interrogation and investigation rights.
Therefore, Zhou Shangjing gave Nanjing guard Xu Shengying the opportunity to interrogate the arrested dead and investigate the truth behind the scenes. This prompted Xu Shengying to change his stance on the spot. Instead of continuing to support Zhu Hejian, he implicitly chose to stand on his own side.
Zhou Shangjing is such a "generous and generous" person. As long as he can achieve his final intention, he is willing to give up temporarily whether it is Song Chengren, a close ally, or the benefits of personally overthrowing Zhu Hejian.
In fact, Zhou Shangjing wanted Xu Shengying to be solely responsible for the subsequent interrogation and investigation from the beginning.
Yesterday afternoon, when Song Chengren visited Xu Shengying in person, he had already told Zhu Hejian's various doubts frankly. This was done at Zhou Shangjing's instruction, and he wanted to plant a seed full of doubts in Xu Shengying's heart.
The subsequent development is completely in line with Zhou Shangjing's prediction.
After seeing that Zhu Hejian was unwilling to let herself get involved in the investigation and interrogation, Xu Shengying immediately thought of all the doubts Song Chengren mentioned yesterday, and the seed full of doubts in her heart quickly took root, sprouted, and blossomed!
Then, Xu Shengying could no longer sit still and stood directly opposite Zhu Hejian, intending to go to the end personally and find out the truth.
Zhu Hejian was also forced into a blind corner because of Xu Shengying's change of stance, with no way to retreat.
*
However, just when Zhou Shangjing wanted to take the opportunity to say something and completely change the direction of the situation, Huo Zhengyuan suddenly made a statement.
After Huo Zhengyuan coughed lightly, he said slowly: "What Xu Shoubei said is reasonable. Those arrested gangsters should be interrogated by the Nanjing garrison!"
Hearing Huo Zhengyuan's statement, Xu Shengying immediately frowned.
Because Huo Zhengyuan said "participate in the interrogation" rather than "take over full power", the two have completely different meanings.
Then, Huo Zhengyuan said: "But... Xu Shoubei is a military general after all. If it is about going into battle to kill the enemy and leading the army in battle, I will naturally trust Bei Zhi. But when it comes to interrogating and deciding cases, Xu Shoubei and the Nanjing defenders are probably just laymen."
, especially when interrogating prisoners, how to make the prisoners feel the pain as much as possible while trying not to damage the prisoners' vitality is not a simple craft. It is better to leave it to professionals!
What's more, as Xu Shoubei said just now, these gangsters hijacked the military attache of the garrison a few days ago and hid in the military camp. Therefore, the Nanjing government has been unable to arrest these gangsters. The Nanjing garrison should also bear some responsibility.
Under such circumstances, it would probably not be appropriate to leave all the powerful bandits to the Nanjing garrison for interrogation!"
Obviously, Huo Zhengyuan was not willing to let the Nanjing garrison take over the follow-up interrogation and verification, and he obviously had other plans.
And his objection directly disrupted Zhou Shangjing's wishful thinking!
In this way, after Cao Jiang's military minister Liu Huaiyuan betrayed Song Chengren without any warning, after Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying betrayed Zhu Hejian without any warning, Huo Zhengyuan also betrayed Zhou Shangjing without any warning.
In the officialdom, betrayals are common, but today there are particularly many.
Zhou Shangjing quickly figured out Huo Zhengyuan's plan.
For Huo Zhengyuan, whether the captured "Chaofeng" dead soldiers were handed over to the Jinyi Guards, the Nanjing garrison, or any yamen, it was not the best choice.
Once these "Chaofeng" dead men are handed over, Huo Zhengyuan can only become an outsider, no longer able to intervene in subsequent investigations and interrogations, nor can he take advantage of the opportunity to gain profits.
Therefore, Huo Zhengyuan's best choice is to muddy the waters so that no one force can control the situation alone. The final result will be that several forces compromise with each other and jointly investigate the case.
Under such circumstances, after all, Huo Zhengyuan had personally arrested those "Chaofeng" dead men, so he had every reason to participate in the follow-up investigation and become a relevant party in the joint trial. He might also be able to take advantage of the opportunity of various forces to restrain each other and take the lead.
situation.
But Zhou Shangjing will not sit back and let Huo Zhengyuan's plan succeed.
Zhou Shangjing was willing to let Xu Shengying take full charge of the subsequent interrogation and investigation, not only because Xu Shengying was loyal to Emperor Deqing, but also because Xu Shengying came from the Xu family, a top noble family. Even though he exposed Zhu Hejian's crimes, because Xu Shengying
The glory of a single family and two kingdoms has been capped, so Emperor Deqing's subsequent awards will be very limited, and will not change the temple structure or affect the status of the "Zhou Party".
However, Huo Zhengyuan is a general of the "Zhao Party". Once he is given the opportunity to interfere in the replacement of the crown prince, the "Zhao Party" will definitely take advantage of the situation and quickly gain strength, making the "Zhou Party" even more powerless to suppress it.
Moreover, Zhou Shangjing also had to consider another possibility.
Although this possibility is unlikely, it is extremely dangerous and has endless consequences.
That is - when Huo Zhengyuan has the conclusive evidence of Zhu Hejian's crimes, and Zhu Hejian sees that his crimes are about to be exposed, he may promise Huo Zhengyuan huge profits at all costs to persuade Huo Zhengyuan not to disclose the truth for the time being, but to disclose the relevant evidence.
He was secretly sent to the capital and handed over to Zhao Junchen for disposal.
At the same time, Zhu Hejian also sent people to the capital to cede a large amount of interests to Zhao Junchen, and once again persuaded Zhao Junchen to reach a behind-the-scenes deal with him to help him conceal the truth and tide over the difficulties.
In the officialdom, when it comes to choosing between interests, nothing can be said for sure, and the changes in the relationship between enemies and friends are always beyond common sense.
With the temperament of Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan, no matter how much they reject and fear Zhu Hejian, as long as Zhu Hejian is willing to cede enough generous benefits, they are very likely to accept the cooperation.
After all, compared to manipulating the replacement of the prince behind the scenes, directly controlling the prince himself is undoubtedly a better choice.
But this kind of situation is something Zhou Shangjing doesn't want to see anyway. Even if the possibility is extremely low, he must take strict precautions!