Fenghou

"The king of the county is completely correct. You can see the tendency by looking at the number of liquidation stores in the county where the state capital is located. It is not wrong at all. Of course, I mean that before the assassination of the prefect of Chengdu, the Chuanli faction failed to rebel. , certainly the winds have changed in many states."

"I see. Today you are the governor of Jianzhou for the last day. You have handed over to Tongpan and sent the people away. Tomorrow morning, you will go to Chengdu to take up your post. You should first go to Zheng Ping, and Zheng Ping will assist you."

"Humble job will definitely do the last thing to deal with the aftermath."

……

Chen Qing returned to the southern military camp and sent his own soldiers to send a military order to Zheng Ping. He had appointed Zheng Ainong as the prefect of Chengdu and asked Zheng Ping to assist Zheng Ainong to take office smoothly.

At this time, Lu Gui sent someone to send news that he had wiped out the 15 rebels who had fled to the west. The main general was Li Jinxiao's second son Li Yong, who had died in the melee. Li Jinxiao's two nephews and 300 members of his clan were also killed. Caught, the rebels were beheaded 500 people, captured [-] people, only a small number of rebels escaped, and the Song army killed [-] people.

Chen Qing didn't care about the outcome at all, he only cared about how many casualties he had suffered. Sending [-] experienced cavalry to fight against a group of mob rebels was a humiliation in itself, but he really didn't have a worse army .

Fortunately, with 300 casualties, the maximum number of casualties is about a hundred, which is within his acceptable range.

In the afternoon, he received news from Tang Qian that Li Jinxiao, his father and son and son-in-law Wu Miao had been captured. At dusk, he received another report from Tang Qian that they had captured Zhang Jian and 14 of his clan's children. A scout leader, Han Song, sent news that they had captured Wang Dongyuan and 15 of his nephews.

These traitors, Chen Qing, were not even interested in interrogating them. He immediately ordered the captured traitors Li Jinxiao, Wang Dongyuan, Zhang Jian and their nephews to be publicly beheaded at Caishikou, Chengdu. The thieves who killed Zizhou officials and their families were 350 and five, and the rest of the prisoners were all sent to mines for three years.

Chen Qing also issued three salt and iron orders at the same time. First, it announced that all the salt wells in the prefectures and counties were owned by the Sichuan Road Salt and Iron Transit Department. All the salt lords were attacked all over the road, and all the salt lords were executed; thirdly, all officials who colluded with the salt lords were also arrested and executed.

These three salt and iron orders frightened private salt dealers and officials colluding with them to flee. This is actually a blow to the Chuanli faction, basically killing them all.

Then there are the royalists, and it is very simple to deal with them. They are all dismissed from office because of their unqualified political achievements.

Of course, this is not something that can be done with one order. The Supervision Department and the Department of Officials dispatched by Chen Qing have been busy until the end of the year, before they dismissed all the officials from dozens of prefectures and counties, and then promoted officials from the Sichuan-Shanxi Province to take over their posts.

As for the cessation of execution and the separation of powers agreement with the court, it is very simple. Chen Qing ordered all the armies to set up checkpoints on the road to Sichuan, and refused the court's messengers and officials to enter Sichuan Road. The court completely lost its power over Sichuan Road.

As for the imperial court, Chen Qing still wrote a very sincere memorial to Lin'an and handed it over to the emperor Zhao Gou. He believed that the current separation of powers was being used by thieves and seriously damaged the interests of the people, so he had to suspend the current The decentralization agreement will be re-implemented when the time is ripe.

Chapter 836 Dismissal

At the same time when Chen Qing purged the officialdom in Bashu on a large scale, the coffin of the Supreme Emperor finally arrived in Lin'an. The emperor Zhao Gou, dressed in filial clothing, led all the civil and military officials to greet him at the dock. When the coffin was carried out of the big ship, Zhao Gou and all the civil and military officials fell to the ground and mourn cry.

Zhao Gou helped the coffin in person, sent the coffin of his father to the temple for deposit, and ordered the whole country to mourn in silence for seven days. Three days later, the court held a grand ceremony to bury the coffin of the Supreme Emperor in Yonggu Mausoleum, and established the temple name Huizong.

For the late emperor Zhao Huan who was unable to accompany him due to illness, Zhao Gou generously respected him again as Emperor Xiaociyuan, and named him the elder brother of the Emperor Jian Guo, which is equivalent to enjoying the treatment of the emperor, but the specific job is to supervise the country. God knows how to be imprisoned in the country.

The former prince Zhao Chen was also named King Ning.

It was easier for Zhao Gou to deal with this nephew. After all, after cleaning up the old ones, the younger ones were easier. Lao Tzu was demoted from the emperor to the supervisor of the country, so the son can continue to be the prince?

Of course, these canonizations are just Zhao Gou's own words. If Zhao Huan himself does not accept it and refuses to announce his abdication, then the above canonizations are not legal.

So the key is for Zhao Huan to express his acceptance. How to get his brother to accept it is indeed a headache for Zhao Gou.

In fact, Zhao Gou’s biggest headache was Chen Qing. On the pier, Zhao Ding stood in front of the coffin and read out the emperor’s last decree. Encourage the world's heroes to work hard to become stronger, and those who welcome back the two emperors can be crowned princes in recognition of their great contributions to the country.

Hearing the last sentence, Zhao Gou was furious. Damn it, Zhao Ding didn't leak this news to himself in advance, and even read it publicly, so that all civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty knew the will of the Supreme Emperor.

Of course, we can’t blame Zhao Ding. The Supreme Emperor’s will is sealed and can only be opened after checking the seal on the spot. It is basically true, but the last sentence is clearly added later. How could Jin Guo allow such a will to exist? ?

Can Zhao Gou deny it?He couldn't deny that this was the Supreme Emperor's last decree. It was read publicly in front of the Supreme Emperor's coffin. The late emperor could prove that, as the late emperor, no one would suspect that the will was false.

Only Zhao Gou knew that his father was the king of the county at most, how could he be the prince, it was obviously tailored for him by Chen Qing.

In fact, Zhao Gou also had some guesses in his heart. This was probably Chen Qing's condition. If he made him a prince, his brother Zhao Huan would announce his abdication.

But what if that's not the case?

As if swallowing a dead mouse, Zhao Gou was forced to kowtow in front of the emperor's coffin to accept the will.

Three days later, Zhao Gou had no choice but to hold his nose and issued an decree, which greatly commended Chen Qing's great contribution to welcoming back the second emperor, but he didn't mention how to reward Chen Qing. Wang Zhijue.

Zhao Gou's meaning is also very clear, it is okay to be a prince, but there are conditions, please come to Lai'an to negotiate.

……

Xie Qian completed the escort mission and returned to his home in Lin'an City. He took half a month's leave and wanted to take a good rest.

At night, Xie Qian was telling his two sons about Jingzhao's situation. At this time, the housekeeper hurried in and whispered something in his ear. Xie Qian was startled, "Really!"

"Yes, it is indeed him."

"Please come to the guest room quickly, I will come right away!"

Xie Qian never thought that Prime Minister Qin Hui would come to visit him, which made him flustered.

Xie Qian stood there in a daze for a long while, and after being reminded by his son, he came back to his senses and hurried to the guest room in the atrium.

Qin Hui was already sitting in the VIP hall drinking tea.

Xie Qian hurriedly stepped forward, bowed and saluted, and said, "I don't know that my husband is coming, so I am far away from welcoming you. Please forgive me!"

Qin Hui put down the teacup, and said with a smirk: "I won't give you the truth, I came here with the official's secret decree, do you want to see the official's secret decree?"

"Understood dare not!"

Of course, Qin Hui didn't have any secret orders. He knew that the emperor was very dissatisfied with Zhao Ding because of the Supreme Emperor's edict, so he wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of Zhao Ding.

In fact, Qin Hui had already laid a trap for Zhao Ding, that is, Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, went to Jingzhao to visit Zhao Ding, and then Li Jinxiao rebelled, so Qin Hui could impeach Zhao Ding and order Shu officials to rebel.

But today Qin Hui just received an urgent report from Bashu, Li Jinxiao's rebellion has been extinguished by Chen Qing, and Chen Qing is purging the pro-court officials in Bashu prefectures, which means Chen Qing officially tore up the power separation agreement signed with the court.

Only then did Qin Hui realize that the consequences of this incident were too serious. The key was that the Son of Heaven knew that he had a connection with Li Jinxiao. Once this matter fermented, the Son of Heaven could easily guess that he was the one who encouraged Li Jinxiao and others to rebel.

I must stay out of this matter completely, and I can no longer use this trap to impeach Zhao Ding.

He used the emperor's secret decree to bribe Jie Qian.

"General Xie also saw it. On that day, Mr. Zhao read the emperor's last edict. The last sentence of the edict made the officials tremble with anger. No matter whether the edict is true or not, Mr. Zhao should communicate with the officials first, instead of reading it directly. The family is very dissatisfied with Mr. Zhao, and has already decided to dismiss him, General Xie, you are recommended by Mr. Zhao, once he is dismissed, what will happen to you, think about it?"

Xie Qian sighed and bowed his head in silence, how could he not know!He will also be demoted, and his official career will be over.

Qin Hui said earnestly again: "Now you have a chance. The officials can't use the emperor's edict to dismiss you, so you need an excuse. The officials want you to stand up, or you can provide evidence. In return, you will be a privy secretary." According to the decree, Jiasan official Zhongsan doctor, from a military general to a civil official, is still a fifth-rank general, and this opportunity is only once."

Xie Qian is currently serving as the Commander of the Palace, which is not the same as that of Chen Qing and Yue Fei. The Commander of the Palace is only a dispatcher and has no actual military power. When it is his turn to be on duty, he will receive a An army patrols Ouchi, this kind of dispatcher is easily cancelled, and his actual rank is No. 14 Youwu Doctor, the sixth rank.

The sixth rank of a general is far from the fifth rank of a civil official, and their status is completely different. How could Xie Qian not be moved.

Xie Qian raised his head and said, "Mr. Zhao took a bribe from Chen Qing."

Qin Hui was overjoyed and asked anxiously, "What bribe?"

"A string of very expensive white jade Buddha beads, and a precious sword. It is the royal sword in the Supreme Emperor's collection. It is called Qingyue. This matter is absolutely true."

Qin Hui was trembling with excitement, he never expected that Zhao Ding would be here today, this was suspected of colluding with Chen Qing, the emperor would believe that Zhao Ding also participated in the concocting of the imperial edict.

All of these can be ignored, and the charge of accepting bribes from local warlords is enough to dismiss the prime minister.

"You write a letter of report now. I, Qin Hui, always keep my word. I will definitely guarantee you to be a privy secretary and join Zhongsan doctor."

"Thank you Xianggong for cultivating, I will write now!"

Xie Qian immediately wrote a report letter and handed it to Qin Hui, who hurried away with the letter.

Xie Qian was sitting in the VIP hall as if in a dream. At this moment, his wife Mrs. Zhang came over to clean up the teacup and said in a low voice, "It's not good for you to expose Mr. Zhao!"

Xie Qian immediately glared at her, "I told you, you are not allowed to eavesdrop on my conversation with the guests."

"I didn't eavesdrop. You speak so loudly. Of course I can hear you in the hall. Besides, I just remind you kindly."

"Women know what a fart. If I don't write this letter, once Zhao Ding is dismissed, I will be unlucky and you will have to go to the street to beg for food."

His wife, Mrs. Zhang, said again after a while: "What if Mr. Qin's words don't count?"

"Don't worry, everyone is watching! I wrote a report letter. If there is no benefit, who will dare to work for Qin Hui in the future?"

Mrs. Zhang wanted to say this, but in this way, everyone would know that you betrayed Enxiang, but she never said this.

The next day, Qin Hui used Jie Qian's report letter as evidence to impeach Zhao Ding for accepting bribes from local generals in private.

Sure enough, when Zhao Ding was forced to admit that he had indeed accepted the white jade beads and the famous sword Qingyue presented by Chen Qing, but he also defended himself that he had already written a report, but he hadn't had time to submit it yet.

How could the emperor Zhao Gou listen to his defense? He already believed that Zhao Ding and Chen Qing had colluded and deliberately read the emperor's last edict publicly, which caused him to fall into extreme passivity.

Zhao Gou immediately decreed that Zhao Ding was dismissed from the position of Xiangguo and demoted to know Quanzhou affairs.

A month later, Chen Qing's memorial on the suspension of the decentralization of power on Sichuan Road was sent to Lin'an. In a rage, Zhao Gou deposed Lv Qingshan again and demoted him to Shaoxing county lieutenant.

Chapter 837 Hidden Secrets

Early in the morning, Zhang Miao quickly came to Chen Qing's official room, clasped her fists in salute and said, "The king of the county is looking for me?"

Chen Qing smiled and waved his hands, "Sit down and talk, just want to confirm yesterday's investigation report."

Zhang Miao sat down, and he glanced at Chen Qing's desk. It was the investigation report of the Supervision Department that he had submitted yesterday. It contained the situation of more than a dozen state officials. It was unknown who had problems.

Chen Qing flipped through the report and asked: "I mainly want to ask Li Xuemin, the general judge of Chengdu. The report said that he was recommended by Zhu Shengfei. I know that he took office when Zhu Shengfei was the envoy of Sichuan and Shanxi, but does this mean that he is Zhu Shengfei? recommend?"

"Reporting to the county king, Li Xuemin was undoubtedly recommended by Zhu Shengfei. We wrote this, and there are a lot of documents to prove it. We even suspect that he is actually a member of Queen Mother Wei."

"Why do you suspect that it is Queen Mother Wei?"

"At that time, in order to fight for the position of general judge, Zhu Shengfei wrote twice to criticize Zhang Jun for wanting to control Sichuan and Shaanxi. Later, Zhu Shengfei also gave up the right to recommend the general judge of Jiangling Prefecture, and then succeeded in pushing Li Xuemin to the position. But we found that Zhu Shengfei and Li Xuemin overlap. It's not deep, on the contrary, Li Xuemin has a close relationship with the younger brother of the Empress Dowager Wei."

Chen Qing suddenly became vigilant, "You mean Uncle Wei Tong?"

Zhang Miao nodded, "Wangjianglou, the largest restaurant in Chengdu, is owned by Wei Tong. I heard that the tea in Chengdu is also controlled by Wei Tong. It all happened not long after Li Xuemin took office."

"Has Wei Tong ever intervened in salt and wine?" Chen Qing asked coldly again.

"There is no salt, but alcohol is deeply involved. He controls nearly half of the alcohol in Chengdu. We all have detailed investigation reports."

Chen Qing nodded, and ordered the door to work: "Hurry up and find Wang Hao, the commander of the inner guard!"

After walking away quickly, Chen Qing said to Zhang Miao again: "Remove Li Xuemin from office, even if you pass your opinion to the Ministry of Officials, the official reason is to cover up the traitor!"

Chen Qing signed the report and handed it to Zhang Miao, "We will deal with it as soon as possible according to your opinions."

"The humble job will deal with it today, what about Wei Tong?"

"I'll hand over Wei Tong's matter to the inner guard, and the Supervision Department will leave it alone."

"I understand it."

Zhang Miao saluted and withdrew.

Chen Qing paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He just came back from Chengdu the day before yesterday. During this time, he has been dealing with Sichuan Road.

As a superior, he looked at the Sichuan Road Rebellion from a higher level. He knew that Qin Hui was the instigator behind the rebellion, but during the specific investigation process, Chen Qing always felt that there was still a force manipulating it. These rebels gave them a lot of resources, some of which Qin Hui could not provide.

For example, nearly 4000 people lurk into Chengdu. This is not the lurking of forty scouts, but the lurking of nearly 4000 people requires contact, coordination, concealment, and life. Qin Hui does not have this resource, and neither does Li Jinxiao and others.

Chen Qing always felt that he had missed something. It wasn't until Wei Tong mentioned by Zhang Miao just now that Chen Qing suddenly realized that this third force that had been hiding behind was most likely the Empress Dowager Wei, and the specific executor was Wei Tong. Li Xuemin is the patron.

I really forgot about this role. Back then, Zhu Shengfei and Liu Guangshi served as Xuanfu envoys of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and they were all related to the Empress Dowager Wei. This woman has been intervening in the situation in Sichuan. At this critical juncture, it is impossible for her to stay out of it.

At this time, engaged in the report at the door, "Qi report to the county king, Wang Tongzhi is here."

"Let him in!"

After a while, Wang Hao walked in quickly, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the king!"

Chen Qing originally wanted to replace Wang Hao, but his wife Lu Hao persuaded him that Wang Hao is a rare talent. Although he made some mistakes in protecting the county palace, he was very capable in other aspects.

Lu Xiu understands her husband because he uses himself as a benchmark to measure others. Few people can pass, even if it is replaced by other people.

Lu Xiu finally convinced her husband, and Chen Qing decided to give Wang Hao another chance.

Chen Qing asked: "The imperial examination will be held in five days. Is there anything unusual on the streets of Jingzhao?"

"Reporting to the county king, I have sent enough people to observe secretly. Everything is normal at present. If there is any abnormality, we will find it immediately."

Chen Qing nodded and turned back to business, "Is there any news from Chengdu?"

The inner guards sent more than 300 people in Chengdu, led by Zhong Huan, to search for the big fish that might have been missed. The harvest was not bad. Two pigeon letter points were pulled out, and more than a dozen people were arrested, all related to the imperial court. One of them was Qin Hui. eyes and ears.

"Reporting to the county king, there is no new news so far."

Chen Qing said slowly: "There must be a big fish in the city of Chengdu. It is the subordinate of the uncle Wei Tong. He is very powerful in Chengdu. I suspect that the four thousand rioters could quickly lurk in Chengdu before. To be precise, they are the Empress Dowager Wei's power, which has been ignored by us. This power is distributed in the officialdom and shopping malls. We must completely uproot this force from Shu."

Wang Hao was surprised that there was such a big thing, "I will give you an order when I get back from my humble position."

Chen Qing didn't answer, and asked after a while: "Do you think Zhong Huan is suitable?"

Wang Hao nodded, "Although he is young, he is resourceful and resourceful. He has made outstanding achievements repeatedly, and the soldiers also admire him. He is now able to take charge of his own affairs. The humble official wants him to take over Han Zhengfu's position."

Chen Qing appreciated this very much, and boldly promoted the young man, "I also agree to promote him, starting from the commander, and as for the judge, you can pick another one after the new year's Jinshi comes out."

"Go! Tell him to ask Zheng Ping for help. Zheng Ping will give him a thousand elite soldiers. The number of your inner guard soldiers has reached [-]. You can expand to [-] this year, and use your own army in the future."

"I understand!" Wang Hao bowed and retreated.