Ministers and others get married by decree

"Your father is General Chu who guards the West Sea?"

Chu Lou looked up with a surprised expression.This Zhao Tongzhi... so straightforward?

He nodded hesitantly, cupped his hands and said, "My lord, it is my father."

Zhao Tongzhi stroked the stubble on his chin with one hand, and looked at him thoughtfully.

"A major case happened in my residence tonight. I don't want to tell you more about the details," he said lightly. "In the past few days, I have to wrong the little general to stay in our prefecture's manager's office. After the investigation, this case has nothing to do with you." It doesn't matter, let you go south again."

Chu Lou's heart trembled.

"Master Tongzhi," he said eagerly, "No matter what the case is, you must tell the boy so that the boy can explain one or two for himself?"

Zhao Tongzhi raised his hand to stop him.

"The little general only needs to wait for a few days, and I have no right to decide other matters," he signaled to the captor, "Take him down, you don't need to be tortured, so you can be guarded, and don't neglect your meals."

Chu Lou still wanted to speak, but was dragged down by someone covering his mouth.For a moment, he almost thought that he was going to be executed privately, and regretted that he hadn't tried to escape earlier.

The Sili Yuan...isn't the Sili Yuan the Fucheng Prison!

God!

He has been in prison for the first time in all these years!

If his father finds out... No no, if his mother finds out——

Chu Lou closed his eyes in despair.

Wang Cheng squinted at the small yamen in the capital, wondering.Master Tongzhi said that he would not do anything to him, but this little yamen actually looks like he is going to the execution ground... Tsk, these rich and powerful children are really squeamish.

Chu Lou was escorted all the way to the prison, which is the Siliyuan.

Each prefecture has set up two courts of punishment and prison, the Si Li Yuan is in charge of civilian prisons, and the Si Kou Yuan is in charge of military prisons.The magistrate also acts as the agent of the Si Kou Yuan, but the Si Kou Yuan is independent. Following the old practice of the Mabu Yuan in the previous dynasty, the central government sent a Jiedu envoy to serve as the constitutional secretary of the Si Kou Yuan, which was changed every three years.If it was Chu Lou's elder brother Chu Yuan who committed the crime, he would be imprisoned in the Sikou Yuan at this time.

The State Council is divided into East and West Courts, where civilians and officials and gentry are separated, and subdivided into men's prisons and women's prisons.Chu Lou was directly taken into a row of prison cells on the east side, and there was a jailer at the door to register.

"Prisoned!" Wang Cheng knocked on the table with his official knife.

The jailer raised his head, saw Wang Cheng quickly stood up, and saluted him: "My lord!"

Chu Lou couldn't help looking at Wang Cheng.

He knew that this person would definitely not be a mere prisoner!

Wang Cheng ignored Chu Lou's gaze: "You arrange him a well-ventilated and clean prison cell, without torture tools, and don't neglect his meals. I'll pick him up again in a few days."

Only then did the jailer look at Chu Lou: "Do you want to record the case?"

Wang Cheng shook his head: "There is no case, this is Zhao Tongzhi's order, you just put him in prison."

The jailer had a clear expression on his face, responded, and began to search the body with his hands: "My lord, I have offended you, but there are rules in prisons. Anyone who is put in prison will be treated with golden knives like wine, pens, paper, money, and porcelain." , pestle and stick, all are not allowed to enter."

Chu Lou glanced at Wang Cheng, who was standing aside with arms folded, with a look of nothing to do with him.

The jailer took the purse, the jade pendant, the certificate of the ancient painting and cultural relic shop from him, and threw them on the table one by one.Chu Lou glanced at the lotus root pink purse, but didn't make a sound in the end.

"Thanks for your hard work." Seeing that the search was over, Wang Cheng stepped forward to look around on the table, picked up the purse, and shook out the broken silver inside, "You take this money, so you can buy some utensils for him. Just leave the purse to him." After saying that, he threw the purse into Chu Lou's arms.

Chu Lou squeezed the purse, looked at Wang Cheng hesitantly, and finally stuffed it honestly into his sleeve.

"...Thank you, my lord."

At this moment, Wang Cheng became kind and patted him on the shoulder.

"You are also an innocent disaster, but only three or five days of work, so let's feel wronged."

Chu Lou lowered his eyes and followed the jailer into the cell.

"Xiao Langjun, why don't you live in this room?" Perhaps after taking the money, the jailer's attitude improved a lot, and he opened the outermost cell, "I haven't lived in this room for more than half a year, and it was just cleaned last month. However, it’s relatively clean.” When the word “clean” came out of his mouth, he always felt that it meant something.

Chu Lou glanced at the prison cell, and found that it was no different from the prison cell he knew. It was in the middle of the night, and there was no light, and the ground was clean, so he walked in.

The jailer saw him standing motionless in the middle of the cell, so he didn't try to persuade him, and locked the door himself.He has seen many people like this, and even if they are locked up for ten and a half months, they can still sleep well in the pigsty.But this young gentleman doesn't seem to live long, so he is considered lucky.

"I'll bring you some food in the morning, Mr. Xiaolang, let's rest first." He said with a smile.

Chu Lou casually cupped his hands at him: "I'm sorry, please go and do it yourself."

When the jailer left, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Chu Lou looked around, the aisle outside was dimly lit, and there was only a small window facing outside in the cell, so it was naturally even darker.The corner was covered with thick straw. He squatted down and touched it. Seeing that it was very dry, he sat on it.

He had already seen it when he walked in just now. This row of cells is in the shape of a "T". He is at the bottom of that row, near the entrance. There is a door at the intersection of the innermost vertical and horizontal. After entering There are extensions on the left and right sides.There were no prisoners in the row of cells he was in, but there were disordered breathing and faint gunshots in the deep cells.

It made him shudder.

Chu Lou leaned against the wall, looking at the sky outside the small window.

Tonight, there is no moon.

On the official road leading to Tongzhou outside Fucheng, the flames are brightly lit at this time.If you look closely, you can see that there are about five groups of about one hundred people of the government army are gathering.

"Commander, our entire battalion's soldiers are here," said the first envoy, holding up the torch, frowning, "Zhao Tongzhi ordered us to guard the city gates, allowing entry and no exit..."

Xu Changshun interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said: "The city gate is closed, it is enough to leave a team to guard the city gate, and the rest follow me to the north!"

Going north, isn't that going to Tongzhou?

The deputy looked at the commander suspiciously, and asked tentatively, "My lord, who are we going after?"

With a "clang", Xu Changshun suddenly drew the knife and put it on his neck, gritted his teeth and said angrily, "One more word, and I will deal with you by military law!"

"My lord, don't do it!" "Deputy envoy Yuan!" The people around screamed, and some even drew their knives, causing chaos.

"My lord, calm down—" the deputy envoy quickly calmed down, and raised his hands, "I'm just asking questions, and I never mean to disobey my lord!" He glanced at Xu Changshun, and saw that the other party's eyes were red, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing. , looking like a madman, the knife on his neck kept shaking, and he couldn't help but secretly startled.

They suddenly received an order from Zhao Tongzhi tonight. They only knew that the prefect Chen was assassinated and had to shut down the city to arrest the assassin. The judge had already taken people to the capital.Originally, something happened to the magistrate, as a state garrison, as long as he kept his duty and guarded the gate, it was enough, but judging by the performance of the commander, could it be—?

He didn't dare to think about it.

Xu Changshun was in a hurry, managed to calm down, put the knife back into its sheath, and gave him a cold look.

"Extinguish the fire, get on the horse!"

Now all the government soldiers did not dare to talk too much, they extinguished the torches in their hands, and mounted their horses one after another. 100 people returned to the city, and the remaining 400 people formed two teams, followed Xu Changshun and the four deputy envoys, and rushed towards the distance in the dark.

Deputy envoy of Zuodu——Yuan Zhen followed closely behind Xu Changshun on his horse, and the warm wind swept past his face, bringing the humid river smell along the coast.He and his colleagues on the side exchanged glances while they were running fast, and they all silently looked at the figure on the horseback ahead.

Local garrisons may change their defenses in three years, or change their generals in three years.The five of them led the troops in Tianjin Mansion for only one year, but Xu Changshun has been the commander of the Tianjin Manor's garrison for four full years. As subordinates, although they usually don't have a deep friendship, they are still in harmony.But now it seems that they really don't know this Shangguan well enough.

He couldn't help feeling anxious.Commander of an army, if something goes wrong, the entire army will be implicated.These few people, these soldiers under their command, have been working hard in changing defenses in various places for so many years, what is wrong with them?

At this time, a car and horse team of fifteen or six people appeared one mile in front of the official road, and the light of the torches illuminated the darkness. They were probably merchants who wanted to go outside the Fucheng in advance and wait to enter the city early in the morning.

Those merchants heard the roar of horseshoes on the road from a distance, followed by the silent army approaching quickly, so they consciously avoided to the side of the road, intending to wait for the army to leave before moving on.

Xu Changshun drew his saber with one hand.

"Form up to clear obstacles!" His voice was extremely hoarse and gloomy in the night.

Before the four deputy envoys had time to react, the cavalry behind them had already drawn out their sabers in unison, and the three-foot-long blades reflected patches of bright and cold light.

Just a few moments.

Xu Chang's horse speed did not slow down at all, and he charged head-on at the merchant team that was slowly dodging to the side of the road with a knife in hand.Two rows of cavalry surrounded the merchants from both sides in an orderly manner like ghosts, surrounding them in groups.Then there was the sound of blades cutting through the human body in the circle, and a few screams were annihilated in death before they could be uttered.

In the blink of an eye, a massacre was complete.

Yuan Zhen rode the horse up to him and almost rolled off the horse.He pushed aside the horse team and squeezed into the middle to have a look, almost fainting.

All dead!

All are dead!

There are men and women, old and young among these merchants, and there are also strong men dressed as bodyguards, who can't even pull out their weapons, and all of them are killed with one blow, lying on the ground silently.

No one's eyes were closed, but those eyes that were staring straight ahead were blank.

I don't even know why I died.

"You! Xu Changshun!" Yuan Zhen's eyes were shattered, his whole body was trembling, and he pulled out his long knife and pointed it at the man on the horse, "You, you are crazy—you are crazy!! You are——— "

He was full of shock and grief, and didn't know how to vent it. During the Taiping period, as a soldier guarding the people of a place, how could he! ?How could he be so ruthless and slaughter unarmed people at will? !

Xu Changshun's face was splattered with blood, and he drove up to him expressionlessly, staring coldly at his former subordinate.

After a long while, he smiled contemptuously, held the knife forward, and easily pushed away the sharp blade pointed at him by Yuan Zhen with the tip of the knife, and then slowly wiped the human blood on his saber against the opponent's skirt.

"Yuan Zhen, our task tonight is to clear up the assassins outside the city." Xu Changshun patted the stiff side of Deputy Envoy Zuo Du with the back of his knife, "Are you doing this to openly disobey the military order?"

Yuan Zhen was trembling all over, and his blood rushed to his brain in bursts, so that his eyes became black.

Just as he was about to speak, his shoulders on both sides were supported, and he pressed down hard——

"boom!"

Yuan Zhen knelt on the ground involuntarily.

Kneeling with him were three other deputy envoys.

"Please calm down the commander! Mark a few to be the leader of the leader, loyal and loyal, and never dare to defy!"

Xu Changshun looked at them with heavy eyes, then withdrew his knife, and with a wave of his hand, everyone lined up and returned to the main road to continue walking.