Chapter 412 of Gui Zi Scroll: On Uncle Bai Lian’s Plan
Qingwen came to Feng Ziying because Shen Zizheng was here.
Hearing that his brother-in-law was here, Feng Ziying naturally wanted to meet him.
When he walked into the room, he saw Shen Yixiu and Shen Zizheng talking. Seeing Shen Yixiu smiling sweetly, he was obviously very happy that his brother-in-law was here.
"Jun Yong is here, don't leave at noon, it will be dinner time soon, just eat here with your sister and me."
Feng Ziying knew that Shen Zizheng came here mostly to talk to her about business matters, but Yi Xiu was not an outsider, so there was no need to avoid taboos. Besides, the siblings hadn't seen each other for a long time, so it was more lively to have dinner at the same table.
"Don't you need to worry about that?" Shen Yixiu asked in surprise. She knew that the Jia family was coming, but she didn't have a deep relationship with the Jia family, so naturally she didn't need to meet them.
"Don't worry about it. They went to Longfu Temple to burn incense and pray for blessings. Maybe they can have a vegetarian meal there." Feng Ziying waved her hand, "I finally had a day off, and I am happy to be free. Jun Yong is here, let's just drink Two glasses.”
Seeing that her husband offered to have a drink with his brother, Shen Yixiu was also very happy. He pursed his lips and smiled: "Then I will also have a drink with you two."
What I drank was Shaoxing rice wine. It was soft and pleasant in the mouth, and it was very suitable for sipping slowly.
"It seems that the Ministry of Punishment has made a lot of progress?" Feng Ziying mused, picking up a chopstick of chicken marrow and bamboo shoots, and said slowly: "Why haven't I heard much news from the Ministry of Punishment since I came back? Does it mean that the Ministry of Punishment still wants to block the Ministry of War? No news?"
"Ziying, you can't say that. The Ministry of Punishment also has the rules of the Ministry of Punishment. Many situations are still in the verification stage. It is true that the scope of the White Lotus Sect's involvement is too wide, beyond your imagination, and it involves all parties and all levels, including the imperial court and local officials. There are a lot of them, so it would be a bit out of order for me to talk to you today, but you are the right minister of the Ministry of War, so it doesn’t matter if I tell you in advance."
Shen Zizheng looked very calm, his tone was indifferent and gentle, but he was very sure.
Feng Ziying had already expected the penetration of the White Lotus Sect into the government, but generally it would be more common in local government. If it was in the court, it would be relatively rare.
"Jun Yong, I'm afraid I know the White Lotus Sect better than you do." Feng Ziying raised her hand and said, "This is bad goosefoot sent from Huzhou. Try it. You should have it in your hometown, but the taste may not be the same."
Shen Zizheng picked up a goose paw, tasted it, and nodded: "Well, it's almost the same. The taste of Jiangnan is so memorable. It's not easy to eat original Jiangnan cuisine in Beijing. Please invite your chef." It’s good, but more importantly, it has to have the right materials.”
"If you like it, Junyong, you might as well come here more often. Tong Niang misses you as an uncle too. In addition, your sister also hopes that you will come and talk to her more." Feng Ziying said with a smile: "The White Lotus Sect is in Yongping Mansion. It was very rampant. The time I stayed in Yongping Mansion was too short. I only had time to do some preliminary investigations and communicated with the Ministry of Punishment and Long Jinwei. Shifokou should be the home of the White Lotus Sect, but the Wang family This clan should have gone into hiding a long time ago, there is no more of their backbone there, only some foolish men and women who believe in religion are left."
"Well, I will come when I have time." Shen Zizheng continued: "The White Lotus Sect is nominally affiliated with the Wang family, but in fact it is not the case. There are various branches in various places. We can only say that the Wang family is the sect. One clan has greater influence among them. For example, Fengzhou Bailian has little relationship with the Wang clan. The same is true in Shanxi, but the Wang clan has greater influence in North Zhili, Shandong, and South Zhili. , especially in Beizhi and Shandong, many local leaders are disciples of the Wang family and accept the command of Wang Sen and his sons, so they have great potential power."
"I'm afraid there is no trace of Wang and his son at all now, right?" Feng Ziying asked, "Where is Captain Long?"
"Long Jinwei is probably not as good as our Criminal Department. They don't care too much about this matter." Shen Zizheng shook his head: "The Wang family and his son and several important disciples have disappeared now, such as Zhang Cuihua and Zhou Yin in the capital. , Mi Bodhisattva from the southern prefecture of Shuntian Prefecture, Bazhou, and Wushuang who started to develop in Baoding, Zhending Anbao, Li Guoyong from northern Shandong, Xu Hongru from southern Shandong, many of whom we only hear their names now, but they don’t even know them. We don’t know their true identity, let alone their appearance. They are all told by word of mouth among the cult members..."
Feng Ziying's heart also sank.
It seems that although the Criminal Department has made progress, it still remains at a relatively superficial level of investigation. It has not yet obtained more specific and detailed information on the leaders and network structure of each region.
Beizhi and Shandong are the two most dangerous areas, especially in Beizhi. There are also many White Lotus followers hiding in Jizhen and Xuanfu Army. If they really break out at a critical moment, the harm cannot be underestimated.
"Then what progress has your Criminal Department made?" Feng Ziying frowned.
"We have roughly found out a lot of hiding places in the capital city. Speaking of which, we have to thank you for your help. Shuntian Mansion has very capable people, and there is also the Drunken Vajra Ni Er, who is very familiar with the three religions and nine streams in the city. Familiar with me, he helped us point out a lot of clues..."
Shen Zizheng took a bite of the roasted deer breast that Shen Yixiu put for him and chewed: "We have roughly grasped the traces of Zhang Cuihua, but we are not sure yet. If Zhang Cuihua can be caught, then her two apprentices, Mibeimi Bodhisattva and Wushuang Zhanghailiang cannot escape."
"It's not that simple. Zhang Cuihua can't command Mi Bei and Zhang Hailiang now." Feng Ziying shook her head.
Although he had left Shuntian Mansion for two years, he knew at that time that Zhang Cuihua's two apprentices had already matured and developed independently, and were not very constrained by his master Zhang Cuihua. Zhang Hailiang was now very influential in Baoding, and Shun Shun was The southern prefectures and counties of Tianfu are within the sphere of influence of Mi Bodhisattva.
"We also know this, but they have always had a very close contact. Mibei should be hiding near the suburbs of Beijing now. She has been traced in Zhuozhou, Miao County, Dong'an, Tongzhou and even Tianjin Wei, and Zhang Hailiang is there. He is active in Bazhou, Xiongxian, Rongcheng, Gaoyang, and Renqiu, and some people have seen him in Cangzhou."
Shen Zizheng has been working hard in the Ministry of Justice for so long. He is no longer as lacking in self-confidence as before, and he speaks with confidence.
In his opinion, the Ministry of Justice where he worked was the most professional. Although this brother-in-law was the right minister of the Ministry of War, he was specialized in the art, but he could not compare with him in this aspect.
"Well, are you planning to hang on to Zhang Cuihua and dig out Mi Bei and Zhang Hailiang?" Feng Ziying frowned, "Isn't this easy? It is said that Mi Bei has several stand-ins, and now he can't even figure out his age. , some say that Mi Bei is in his early thirties, some say that Mi Bei is less than 20, and some say that Mi Bei and Zhang Cuihua are actually senior sisters. There are more rumors about Zhang Hailiang, whether he is a monk, a Taoist priest, or a layman, everyone disagrees. one,……"
"It's normal for these monsters to make up their faces and hide themselves." Shen Zizheng mused: "You said it's really hard to catch these two people, but on Zhang Cuihua's side, we are confident that we can finally pass. Zhang Cuihua found some clues about Mi Bei and Zhang Hailiang."
Feng Ziying then nodded. The Ministry of Punishment had been working on it for so long and it was in vain that it had provided them with a lot of clues. If there was no progress at all, it would be unjustifiable.
"Okay, you two have been talking about business for so long. The dishes are almost cold. Let's eat the vegetables first..." Shen Yixiu also knew that her husband and brother were talking about business, so she never interrupted until now. Indicate them to eat food and drink first.
After the meal, Shen Zizheng played with Tong Niang for a while, and then talked with Feng Ziying about some of the current plans of the Criminal Department.
In addition to spreading widely in Beizhi and Shandong, the White Lotus Sect is also rampant in South Zhili, but it is mainly concentrated in Jiangbei, Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Fengyang is more severe.
Because of the confrontation with Nanjing, the Ministry of Punishment's investigation in South Zhili is lagging behind. Once the court and Nanjing reach an agreement, the Ministry of Punishment will start investigating in South Zhili. It is estimated that the situation is not optimistic.
"Duke Ji Hui and Duke Yu Chen are not on good terms?" Feng Ziying asked with a smile.
"Humph, it's okay." Shen Zizheng had also heard about the dispute between the two big bosses in the ministry, but he knew that this brother-in-law had a close relationship with Han Xu, and Liu Yishen was the backbone of Jiangnan scholars. The relationship with Feng Ziying is not good.
"What do they think about the White Lotus Sect?" Feng Ziying was more concerned about this point.
"To be honest, we don't pay much attention to it. Lord Shangshu basically never asked about it. Lord Zuo Shilang also asked occasionally and didn't give much instructions. We were just investigating on our own. Fortunately, they didn't set up obstacles for us. In addition, Long Ban The lieutenant also came to contact me from time to time, so there was no trouble in the department."
Shen Zizheng got a little angry when he talked about this and ignored it. He relied on his own group to investigate. Fortunately, the people in Shuntian Mansion were more supportive and the foundation laid in the early stage was good, so that such progress could be made.
"I can go and talk to Mr. Yu. Logically speaking, he shouldn't ignore it. I mentioned it to him." Feng Ziying thought for a while, "Maybe he did this on purpose. If he really wanted to come and ask about this in a big way, I'm afraid Ji Hui Gong will cause trouble for you."
Shen Zizheng suddenly realized it and patted his head: "It is indeed possible. Although Mr. Han didn't ask much, he still gave a lot of help. No wonder they were silent and just immersed themselves in doing their own things."
Feng Ziying laughed.
Liu Yishen and Han Xu were originally on the wrong side. They belonged to the northern and southern scholar groups respectively. Han Xu must have been reminded by himself and must have known about the threat of the White Lotus Sect. This kind of secret support was the best help.
Moreover, Liu Yishen might not be aware that Han Xu was secretly supporting him. If Han Xu made a big show of his support, it would be difficult for him to handle it. Now that he is secretly supporting Han Xu and pretending not to know, everyone can look good.
