In two days, Cui Yingyuan and the other three people's arrangements were finally in place.
After Shen Yourong returned to the camp, he directly gathered his troops and marched to Jinan. He then informed the officials in Jinan that there were remnants of the White Lotus Sect nearby and he came to conquer them.
The officials in Jinan have no doubt that he is there, because the leader of the bandits, Xu Hongru, is not alive or dead anymore, and there are indeed many remnants in various parts of Shandong.
Therefore, Shen Yourong's army successfully entered Jinan City, and in the name of preventing espionage, troops were dispatched to control various important places in Jinan.
Since Cao Wenzhao's troops were equipped with elite cavalry, they had plenty of time to prepare.
Moreover, if Xu Hongru does not appear, he cannot expose his whereabouts.
And just when Liu Zongzhou was about to arrive in Jinan and officially take office.
Xu Hongru led nearly 500 rebels and suddenly launched an attack on Liu Zongzhou's convoy.
Because he arrived in a hurry, Liu Zongzhou's motorcade was mainly composed of accompanying staff and domestic servants.
There were less than a hundred sergeants guarding it.
Therefore, they were at a disadvantage as soon as the battle began. Fortunately, they had many carriages, horses, and baggage, and the number of rebels was not large.
You can build a defensive formation based on this, and rely on the long-range strikes of bows and crossbows to stabilize your position.
Xu Hongru was not in a hurry to attack. He was just here to act. He just had to trap Liu Zongzhou here and wait for the Ming army to capture him.
As for escaping, he never thought about it at all, and he knew he couldn't escape.
Although most of the 500 people Cui Yingyuan handed over to him were indeed his people, they had all been captured by the Ming army.
They performed a self-rescue drama before bringing these prisoners out of the Ming army camp.
Besides, Cui Yingyuan didn’t trust him absolutely, so how could he leave no backup plan?
Around him, there are a total of thirty fanzi, pretending to be his confidants, protecting him every step of the way.
Don't say you want to run away, just speak slowly.
Liu Zongzhou was also puzzled when he saw that the rebels surrounding him neither attacked nor retreated.
This place is only a dozen miles away from Jinan. How dare they attack us so arrogantly? Are they really not afraid of death?
However, after thinking hard for a long time, Liu Zongzhou could not figure out the reason.
Xu Hongru is also smarter here.
He knew that if he surrounded him without fighting, he would be easily spotted.
Therefore, every once in a while, he sent more than a hundred people to charge and attack, creating the illusion that he wanted to attack but could not.
Half an hour later, Xu Hongru finally waited for Cao Wenzhao's cavalry to attack him.
When Liu Zongzhou saw the reinforcements arriving, he decisively adopted tactics of internal and external cooperation. It took less than a quarter of an hour to completely eliminate the remnants.
In order to avoid letting outsiders know that this group of remnants escaped from the Ming army camp.
Cao Wenzhao also issued a death order to his troops and killed them all, leaving no one alive.
The five thieves headed by Xu Hongru did not resist at all and were caught directly.
When Liu Zongzhou learned from the rebel disguised by Fan Zi that this person was Xu Hongru, he was extremely excited and laughed loudly.
Cui Yingyuan, who was traveling with the army, finally felt relieved when he saw that no accident occurred.
Everything that happened next happened exactly as he had expected.
When Xu Hongru and others were escorted to Jinan, Liu Zongzhou was the chief officer of Shandong, and he was the one who captured them.
Even Feng Yan couldn't care less, and immediately summoned officials at all levels to interrogate him at the government office.
But when Xu Hongru said that all this was instigated by the Confucian family in Qufu, and that they promoted and supported the activities of the White Lotus Sect in Shandong and the rebellion, etc.
Liu Zongzhou was stunned and stunned. For a moment, it was as if his head was short-circuited and he didn't know what to do.
Because he didn't know whether he should believe what Xu Hongru said.
The other officials who were summoned to hear the trial did not believe Xu Hongru's nonsense at all.
There were a few people with bad tempers who even ignored their own manners and rushed forward to punch and kick Xu Hongru.
"Traitor, you dare to slander the descendants of saints here when you are about to die. I swear that I will report to your majesty, and it will be too late to wipe out all nine of your clans."
"Futai, it seems to me that this thief probably knew that he was going to die, so he went crazy. It is better to take him back to the prison and behead him when His Majesty's decree comes."
After Liu Zongzhou's brain went blank for a short time, he quickly recovered.
At the same time, he also adopted the advice of his subordinates and ordered people to take Xu Hongru back to prison instead of interrogating him.
Then the other four thieves leaders were taken in for interrogation.
However, when these four people unanimously insisted that the people behind the scenes were the Kong family.
The officials, who were not calm at all, seemed to have been cuckolded by others. They expressed their indignation and immediately beheaded the four people to prevent them from slandering the descendants of the saint.
Fortunately, in addition to these civil servants, there were also two generals, Cao Wenzhao and Shen Yourong.
Including Choi Young-won, the screenwriter and director who wrote the script.
Because of their obstruction, the civil servant's wish was not realized, otherwise these four people might really have been killed.
"Futai, Long Live Lord has a decree. All leaders of the White Lotus Cult must be escorted back to Beijing for interrogation by the three departments before they can be dealt with."
"What's more, this matter also involves the Qufu Confucius family. Regardless of whether what they say is true or false, this is beyond the scope of Futai's jurisdiction and decision-making."
"In my opinion, it is better to send the army quickly to escort these people back to Beijing and leave them to Long Live Lord to deal with them personally."
Listening to Cui Yingyuan's words, Liu Zongzhou also believed deeply.
However, before he could say anything, he heard someone say
"Everyone who conspires and rebels can be punished, so why do you need to interrogate him? Not to mention alarming His Majesty."
"These traitors are all mad dogs who have lost their minds. They have already lost their consciousness. No matter how much I ask, I won't be able to find out anything."
"Besides, during today's interrogation, we didn't even use severe punishment, but they told everything in one go, and they were so consistent."
"I think this has been colluded for a long time. The purpose is to slander the Kong family and ruin the reputation of the Kong family."
Then he pointed at Cui Yingyuan and said
"And you, you came to Shandong secretly in the first year of Tianqi. You have done a lot of things behind the scenes over the years. There is no guarantee that you, an eunuch, have not been connected with these traitors."
"Colleagues, do what I say make sense?"
As soon as the words fell, the officials present immediately echoed.
Obviously, they didn't believe what Xu Hongru and others said at all, and they also cast suspicious eyes on Cui Yingyuan, who had been operating in Shandong for a long time.
Liu Zongzhou also seemed to be reminded and felt something was wrong.
The words of Xu Hongru and the other five people were so consistent, and they all confessed without any effort.
This series is indeed very suspicious.
Besides, he had just arrived in Shandong and didn't know much about the situation here, so he chose to remain silent and looked at Cui Yingyuan, expecting what he would say.