After seeing Taiyuan City from a distance, Zhao Junchen's team hid in a place with few passers-by. Except for Bao Wenjie and a few Jin Yiwei who still maintained the disguise of disaster victims, the rest of them changed into the clothes of ordinary people.
Then, under Zhao Junchen's order, the Jinyi guards dressed as ordinary people entered Taiyuan City in batches, responsible for inquiring about the situation in Taiyuan City and finding a suitable residence for Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen did not enter the city directly. Instead, he and Bao Wenjie and others walked towards the west of Taiyuan City under the leadership of Ma Jia, the official of Lu'an Prefecture.
Although Li Xun, the governor of Shanxi Province, arrested victims everywhere, he naturally would not imprison them in Taiyuan City.
Ten miles west of Taiyuan City, there was a crude camp built specifically to detain famine victims sent by the prefectures of Shanxi Province.
According to Zhao Junchen's plan, Bao Wenjie and others would disguise themselves as disaster victims and sneak into the camp, take the opportunity to inquire about information and collect evidence. When Zhao Junchen questioned Shanxi Governor Li Xun, Li Xun would have no room for excuse.
After approaching the camp and seeing the detailed environment in the camp, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but frown.
This camp is too simple. It is just a piece of land surrounded by wooden fences. The area is less than a hundred acres, but there is a large group of disaster victims inside. A rough estimate is that there are at least 2,000 people, which seems to be very crowded.
There are no houses in the camp, only some simple and shabby tents have been erected here and there. Many victims can only live in the open air. There are many soldiers guarding the outside of the camp. The victims can only enter and cannot leave. They eat, drink and relieve themselves in the small camp.
The solution made the camp not only look extremely dirty, but also filled with a pungent stench.
At the same time, Bao Wenjie looked angry and said: "The governor of Shanxi allows the victims to live here? Even a pig pen and horse carriage must be cleaner and more spacious than here? Once someone is infected with the epidemic, wouldn't it be thousands of dollars?
Will all the victims suffer?"
After hearing Bao Wenjie's angry rebuke, Ma Jia, the official of Lu'an Prefecture, smiled and said something fair: "Sir, although the environment here is not good, most of the victims are unwilling to leave, because they
Here you can at least have two bowls of porridge every day, but it is much easier than when you were fleeing the famine."
Bao Wenjie snorted coldly but did not answer.
At this time, Bao Wenjie was wearing a pair of worn-out coarse cloth clothes and trousers, with some dust deliberately smeared on his body. Just looking at his appearance, he looked no different from ordinary disaster victims.
Originally, Bao Wenjie was still full of confidence in his mission, but after seeing the messy environment in the camp, he felt a little cold-hearted.
After Zhao Junchen glanced at the change in Bao Wenjie's expression, he slowly said: "Mr. Bao, whether we can catch the crimes of the northwest provinces this time and find out the truth about their arrests of victims will depend on everything.
You! Otherwise, once Shanxi Governor Li Xun denies it and we have no concrete evidence in our hands, there will be nothing we can do against him... It’s just that the environment in this camp is really too bad. Although it is for the sake of the people, it is also
I really feel wronged to Mr. Bao."
Zhao Junchen's words were timely, inspiring Bao Wenjie's pure spirit and dispelling Bao Wenjie's retreat.
Bao Wenjie nodded with a serious expression and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao. After entering the camp, I will collect detailed information and find tangible evidence as soon as possible. This will definitely make Li Xun indisputable."
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly and then said: "In addition, if you can't get any information from the victims, after another hour, you can ask the Jinyi guards to reveal their identities directly, control the officials guarding the camp, and ask them for information.
Maybe we can collect more intelligence, and I will also leave a group of people outside the camp to assist you... But don't alert the snake in advance, I don't want Li Xun to be prepared in advance."
Bao Wenjie's consciousness was very high, but the guards behind him, who were also pretending to be victims of the disaster, had bitter expressions on their faces.
As Bao Wenjie said, the environment of this camp is not as good as a pig pen and stable. The royal guards, who have always been pampered and pampered, are really unwilling to step inside, but this is Zhao Junchen's order, and they do not have the courage to disobey.
While talking, a team of people had already arrived at the gate of the victims' camp.
An official from Taiyuan Prefecture who was guarding the camp came to greet him. After seeing Ma Jia, he was stunned and asked: "Why is it you Ma Jia? Are you another victim sent by Lu'an Prefecture? I remember you from Lu'an Prefecture.
Didn’t a batch just arrive yesterday?”
Ma Jia hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "It turns out to be Team Leader Zhang. Aren't we caught another group? Although there are not many people, I happened to be going to the governor's Yamen to submit official documents, so I sent them here with me."
Already."
Leader Zhang turned his head and looked at the "disaster victims" behind Ma Jia.
At this time, there are only about ten Jinyiwei who are still pretending to be disaster victims. These people are relatively thin and have the most outstanding acting skills. Coupled with their sad faces, they are all in high spirits despite traveling day and night.
Sluggish, with a messy image, but it’s hard to find fault with
However, Zhang Bantou still had some doubts in his heart and asked: "What's going on? Most of the victims we usually see fleeing famines are old, weak, women and children. Why are all the victims in this group adult men?"
Because of Zhao Junchen's warning in advance, Ma Jia was well prepared, put on a nonchalant look, and replied: "Who knows what happened? I didn't ask in detail. It seemed that before they fled to Lu'an Mansion,
The old, weak, women and children in the family have been arrested one after another by local officials, and only these adult men have escaped arrest... But their affairs have nothing to do with me. I am just responsible for escorting them here and that's it.
Why are you so idle... Wang Bantou, I will return to Lu'an Mansion tomorrow. If you have time tonight, we brothers can go have a drink? I'm treating you!"
After hearing what Ma Jia said, Team Leader Wang thought about it and found that what Ma Jia said made sense. He was only responsible for guarding the camp and preventing the victims from escaping. Why should he care about the identities and origins of these victims?
In addition, Ma Jia's proposal to treat guests to drinks also diverted Bantou Wang's attention.
So, Team Leader Wang waved to his subordinates and said: "Send these victims into the camp, and find someone to count the number of people in the camp. If the number reaches 3,000, let me know, and I will report it to the governor!"
"
After Bao Wenjie and others entered the camp one after another, Wang Bantou turned to Ma Jia and said with a smile: "I will return to the city at Youshi today. You can wait in the city for a while. I will go find you then!"
"Okay! Then I'll go to the city and wait for you!"
After saying that, Ma Jia turned around and walked towards Taiyuan City.
After Zhao Junchen took a deep look at the camp filled with victims, he also followed behind Ma Jia.
*
After Zhao Junchen entered Taiyuan City, the Jinyi guards who entered Taiyuan City first had already booked an inn and were looking around for information.
After Zhao Junchen stepped into the most spacious room in the inn, as the door closed, Mao Jiadong led a group of officers in uniform to salute Zhao Junchen, waiting for Zhao Junchen's further instructions.
Zhao Junchen found a chair and sat down, and then asked Mao Jiadong: "Did the brothers reveal their whereabouts when they sneaked into Taiyuan City?"
Mao Jiadong replied in a deep voice: "As far as Mr. Zhao is concerned, the brothers have not been exposed."
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly, then turned to Ma Jia and asked: "You often come to Taiyuan Fucheng to submit official documents. Do you know who the most trusted aide of Shanxi Governor Li Xun is?"
Ma Jia quickly replied: "As far as I know, Governor Li's most trusted aide is his brother Li Qian."
Zhao Junchen asked again: "Li Qian lives in Li Xun's house?"
Ma Jia shook his head and said, "No, Li Qian has his own house."
Zhao Junchen asked again: "Very good, do you know where Li Qian's house is?"
Ma Jia nodded again and said, "Master Sun once sent me to deliver gifts to Master Li, so I went to his house."
Zhao Junchen nodded again, his expression gradually became solemn, his eyes turned to Mao Jiadong, and he ordered: "After evening, send some reliable Jin Yiwei to Li Qian's house to control all Li Qian and Li Qian's relatives.
Get up, press for information from Li Qian, and be sure to pry out from him the real reason why Shanxi Governor Li Xun went around arresting people fleeing famine!... But don’t make too much noise, be secretive, and don’t alert others!”
Jin Yiwei was very familiar with this kind of thing, so Mao Jiadong immediately responded in a deep voice: "I obey my orders!"
Zhao Junchen turned his attention to several other Jinyiwei officers and issued orders one after another.
"Send someone to investigate near Prince Jin's Mansion and collect Prince Jin's recent movements..."
"Collecting price changes, military mobilization, and folk rumors in Taiyuan City in the recent period..."
"Send a team of Jin Yiwei to leave Taiyuan City and wait near the Taiyuan Military Town camp. After the gates of Taiyuan City are closed, they will identify themselves to the generals in the military camp and announce orders to them as imperial envoys, asking them to do so in person tomorrow morning.
Come to Taiyuan City to see me, but no one is allowed to lead troops. The soldiers and horses in the Taiyuan Military Town camp are not allowed to be mobilized at will without my order... Mao Jiadong, you will handle this matter personally..."
"Monitor the movements of Wang An, the prefect of Taiyuan, and all Shanxi merchants in Taiyuan City. If there is any abnormality, report it to me immediately..."
"Arrange a team of people to lurk near the governor's Yamen. After I enter the governor's Yamen in person tomorrow morning, I will immediately control the situation near the governor's Yamen..."
As Zhao Junchen issued orders one after another, the officers of the Jinyiwei took orders one after another and left the room one after another.
That night, the situation in Taiyuan Mansion was destined to be unstable.
But because Zhao Junchen's actions were concealed, the various forces in Taiyuan Prefecture still did not notice any abnormalities.
*
By the early morning of the next day, Zhao Junchen's various orders had already come to fruition.
In the inn room, when Zhao Junchen carefully reviewed all the information collected by the Jinyi guards overnight, his face was expressionless, but there was a faint anger in his eyes.
In particular, the information that the Jinyi guards obtained from Li Qian's mouth completely confirmed some of Zhao Junchen's conjectures.
Before this, Zhao Junchen had always hoped that his guess was wrong.
Then, Zhao Junchen slowly issued a new order again: "Everyone should put on the uniforms of the Imperial Guards and follow me to the Shanxi Governor's Yamen to see Li Xun!"
…
Well, the first update and the second update will be relatively late, so please check them out tomorrow morning.
Also, regarding the taste of corn, native corn does have a very hard texture, thick skin, dry meat, and a lot of starch. I ate bugs several times when I was a child, and it was by no means a treat. Among the popular sweet corn, waxy corn, and tender corn,
These types are all products of genetic modification. They have thin skin and juicy texture, and naturally have an excellent taste, but these types would not have existed in the Ming Dynasty.