A traitor

A few months ago, there was a flood in Bingzhou. Thousands of houses collapsed and hundreds of people were displaced. They couldn't even eat.

The imperial court immediately mobilized, opened the treasury to raise 10,000+ taels of silver, and mobilized food and grass from the land of fish, rice and water in the south for disaster relief.

However, instead of being grateful for Mu Huang's kindness, the local villagers turned to the thieves in the mountains, and one by one rose up, crying and shouting to overthrow the imperial court.

Originally, the imperial court didn't pay much attention to this group of mobsters, but unexpectedly, the Yizhou incident happened later, making the common people fully aware of the imperial court's corruption. Villagers in prefectures and counties responded one after another, and the number of people expanded to tens of thousands.

The rebel army took Bingzhou as their base, and they took down several cities in less than half a month. They didn't stop until they reached Qinzhou.

Those guarding the city in Qinzhou are old general Cheng Qi and his only daughter Cheng Ying. Old general Cheng has been a soldier for half his life, and he uses soldiers like a god. With him in charge, Qinzhou will be stable.For a while, even the main force of the rebel army was unable to break through.

However, this old general has a problem, he is too soft-hearted. Seeing that the people who joined the rebel army were all hard-working villagers in the past, he really couldn't bear to be cruel.

So the two sides were at a stalemate. After fighting for several months, there was still no result. Seeing this, the emperor was inevitably a little impatient.

After all, wars require military pay, and most of the money in the treasury is obtained from selling mines.

It is difficult to support the operation of the imperial court alone, not to mention allocating 10,000+ taels for disaster relief for Bingzhou?In such a situation where the vitality is seriously injured, how can it still bear such a loss?

The emperor was upset about the Qinzhou matter, but he knew Cheng Qi's character well. As the saying goes, the general is away, and the emperor's order is not accepted. After much deliberation, he still wants to send someone there.

It's just that the front line is dangerous. Those ministers in the imperial city are pampered and pampered. They usually talk about being heroes, but if they are really asked to go to the battlefield, they can run faster than rabbits.

In the end, there were only two people who handed over the invitation to fight, Xu Jin, a cabinet scholar, and Su Qinglang, a minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Because of the imperial concubine's affairs, although the emperor was angry with Su Qinglang, he still doted on him after all. In addition, Mr. Su had just returned from the border town, and the journey was tiring, and the bench was not warm when he returned home. How could he be sent to Qinzhou again? go?

However, seeing Mr. Xu Jin, who is nearly eighty years old, with gray hair and the appearance of walking unsteadily due to the pain of bereavement, he couldn't bear it even more. After a long time of deliberation, he could only choose Su Qinglang.

But because he was worried about Lord Su's safety, the emperor did not immediately issue an order to let him leave.

He only said that he wanted to find a few more people to go with him. As for the list of people to go with him, he still needs to consider, or the ministers can recommend themselves.

After the morning court, Su Qinglang left the palace first, and left early in the carriage.

Mei Liusheng walked behind, saw Lu Xun and Cai Jun in front, turned around and saw him, and stopped straight away, probably waiting for him to approach.

When he came to the front, Cai Jun lowered his head and said in thought: "Impossible, Mr. Su, why would you think of going to Qinzhou?"

Mei Liusheng cast his eyes on Lu Xun, and seeing him also had a puzzled expression.

So he said to Cai Jun: "Brother Su is an upright man, and he cares about the country and the people. Now there are rebels making trouble. He wants to serve the court. It is not surprising that he has this proposal."

Hearing this, Cai Jun raised his head to look at Mei Liusheng, and hurriedly said, "Master Mei, I have absolutely no doubts about my loyalty to Master Su, it's just..."

He paused, and said with deep emotion: "Master Su shouldn't be going to that place in Qinzhou..."

In Qinzhou, there is not only the old general Cheng Qi, but also the old general's only daughter, Cheng Ying.

Back then, when Cheng Qi was not a general, he worked under General Xie. The two of them went through life and death, and forged a deep friendship.

Then Cheng Qi took the lead and was sent by the emperor to Qinzhou as a general, while General Xie stayed in the border town to continue to defend the border and fight against Xuanguo.

More than ten years later, the children of the two have grown up and reached the age of marriage. With the friendship in the past and the background of both being military generals, they naturally have the intention of marrying.

And the two people involved in this marriage are the major general Xie Yu of the General Zhen Guo's residence, and Cheng Ying, the daughter of the old general Cheng Qi.

Cai Jun continued: "Back then, after Mr. Xie... was beheaded, Miss Cheng rushed to the imperial city at full speed. Unfortunately, it was too late, and a story was told back then."

"It's just that Miss Cheng used to be a close friend with the princess. When Mr. Xie was beheaded, Miss Cheng raised her sword to seek revenge on Mr. Su, but she was stopped by the princess. In the end, Miss Cheng was injured and left, vowing to live forever. I will never enter the imperial city again... But there is no real evidence for this matter, neither the princess nor Master Su mentioned it, and people only regard it as a rumor."

"However, because of Mr. Xie's matter, Old General Cheng and Ms. Cheng have prejudice against Mr. Su, that's for sure."

After hearing these words, Lu Xun stopped in his tracks, showing a stunned expression: "Ah...then Master Su's trip to Qinzhou, isn't it very dangerous?"

"It's not just dangerous..." Cai Jun smiled wryly, "This is courting death."

"So, since this is the case, why did Mr. Su go to Qinzhou on his own initiative to report to the emperor?"

Mei Liusheng stood where he was, thinking of the ravings that Su Qinglang uttered when he was seriously ill in the hot spring villa that day, and combined with Cai Jun's words, he quickly connected the key points of all events.

He thought for a moment, then turned around and walked towards the deep garden of the palace.

Seeing him like this, Cai Jun hurriedly shouted, "Master Mei, where are you going?"

Mei Liusheng turned around and replied, "Go to see the Emperor."

Cai Jun walked towards him and asked again, "What do you want?"

Mei Liusheng smiled slightly: "Protecting the family and the country is the responsibility of every man. Since brother Su has such enthusiasm, how can I sit idly by?"

Cai Jun sighed: "You know, the battlefield is more dangerous than the imperial city, and if you don't pay attention, you will die."

Mei Liusheng nodded: "I know..."

He paused, and then said: "Brother Su is a scholar. Wouldn't it be more dangerous to go there? Although I am not talented, I do know some martial arts. I can't kill enemies in battle, but at least, if someone is against him , I can still take care of it."

Cai Jun stood in front of him, thought for a moment, then smiled wryly: "That's right, after living most of my life, the younger generation has caught up with me. Master Mei, I will go with you."

Hearing this, Mei Liusheng hesitated for a moment before saying: "Lord Cai, you are no better than us, and you have a whole family to take care of, why bother..."

Cai Jun said: "Master Su has kindness to me, and I have never had the opportunity to repay him. Besides, between friends, we should support each other. Now that Master Su is in trouble, as a friend, is there any reason to see him in danger?"

Lu Xun hurriedly said, "I'm going too!"

Seeing that both Mei Liusheng and Cai Jun were looking at him, he was a little embarrassed: "Last time I went to the border town with Master Su, and when I was halfway there, I left a letter and ran away. What to say, it's me, I've always felt quite embarrassed, and..."

He paused, and then said: "To tell you the truth, Shuyao held Master Su hostage when he was in Yizhou, but Master Su didn't pursue it and let her go. If it wasn't for that, Shuyao would have no chance Come to me... She told me several times that Mr. Su is not a bad person, and he is kind to us, this kind of thing can't be forgotten."

They asked Meng Shuyao to keep the matter of Yizhou a secret from Lu Xun. It seems that she still told about the kidnapping of Su Qinglang.

However, they only talked about the previous hijacking, but did not tell Lu Xun. They knew the inside story, and they made an idea to let her go to Lu Xun, so it was nothing.

The three of them walked back to the palace, and went to the imperial study room to express their feelings to the emperor. Only then did they realize that someone had taken a step ahead of them, and Sun Zizhong had already told the emperor.

Seeing the enthusiasm of the courtiers, one by one scrambling to serve the country, the emperor was of course happy, but earlier there was not one, but now there are four, the emperor is a little worried.

If they were all sent out, including Su Qinglang, there would be five people. It would be too embarrassing for the rebels to mobilize so many troops.

Finally, after a while of deliberation, he just said, let him think about it first.

Coming out of the palace, Cai Jun said: "Master Lu and I, one is under the care of Mr. Su, and the other is under the favor of Mr. Su, so it's okay to stand up at this time.

But Master Mei, if I remember correctly, you are willing to do this kind of thing for Master Su not long after you met him, it is really touching. "

Mei Liusheng paused, and then smiled slowly: "Brother Su has not known me for long, but he is a rare confidant, and he also helped me in the previous case."

Before Cai Jun broke the casserole to ask the end, he changed the subject calmly and said: "By the way, the case of Miss Jia's murder is over, Master Cai?"

Cai Jun hummed, and said again: "I have to thank Mrs. Mei for this matter, and made a hard trip for me to go to the villa to arrest people."

Mei Liusheng said indifferently: "The ones who really helped a lot were Brother Su's family, and I was just running errands. What's more, because of my negligence, I even let the suspect commit suicide in public, causing Mr. Cai trouble."

Seeing him like this, Cai Jun comforted him: "This kind of murderer is already extremely vicious. Who would have thought that he would do such a thing? Besides, it is already a privilege to be able to pick that suspect out of the hands of the people in Qin Xiang's mansion." That's right, why should Mrs. Mei blame herself?"

Lu Xun also knew something about the previous case, so he interrupted abruptly: "I heard people say that the murderer was also ordered by others, and the man behind the scenes was the man from the Prime Minister's House of Qin. Young Master, but that Young Master...was the one who sent the carriage last time and asked someone to protect Mr. Su?"

"Since he is so kind to Mr. Su, how could he do such a thing?"

Cai Jun choked on his words, coughed awkwardly, and didn't answer.

Mei Liusheng's expression was indifferent, and after a while, a sneer of contempt appeared on the corner of his lips: "Who knows?"