Survival countdown

"What Wang Yueming?"

Keshan's eyes shifted from Zhao Baiyu to Huo Jingtang in astonishment, full of doubts: "So the king of the small county has been hiding beside Mr. Zhao, and even released a little general Cui to confuse me, just to lower my vigilance and make me take it seriously. I thought Mr. Zhao only wanted stability in the northwest and didn’t care about the struggles among the tribes. After all, if you want to be a fisherman who wins in the end, you have to have soldiers in your hands. I didn’t expect... I didn’t expect that Emperor Dajing would dare to fight in this peaceful time. Let Xiaojun Wang go back to the northwest, I really missed a move."

Zhao Baiyu listened quietly to his emotion before telling him kindly: "Actually, the 'Little General Cui' beside me has always been Huo Jingtang."

Su Keshan's complexion changed drastically, his pupils dilated.

Zhao Baiyu took out the letter paper that was submitted to the court that day from his cuff, and let Keshan, who had no problem with his eyesight, see the printed letter clearly.

"When we first arrived in Jingzhou, we all identified ourselves."

This made Ji Keshan unacceptable. He always believed that his loss was due to his misjudgment of the degree of trust that Emperor Dajing had in Lin'an County King. According to common sense, it is absolutely impossible for Huo Jingtang to go back to the northwest to handle the battle of Tiandu Village during the peace season. , isn't this handing over all the forbidden and foreign soldiers on Jingyuan Road to Huo Jingtang?Aren't you afraid that he will rebel?

Huo Jingtang is not in the northwest, so what is there to fear?

He thought he was going to lose here, but Zhao Baiyu said that they revealed their identities openly when they first arrived in Jingzhou?

How can it be?

Keshan's stunned eyes shifted to Meng Tianzong who came out of the front hall, he was unscathed in the chaos, and he could clearly see him squinting his eyes and looking around.

Just like this, how can you not see that there is something wrong with his eyes?

"Monster!!"

Shocked Keshan roared angrily, his heart was flustered, and his injury was affected, he couldn't help vomiting a big mouthful of blood.

"what?"

Meng Tianzong, who was physically and mentally frightened, was so frightened by the roar that he rolled down the steps, and couldn't get up for a long time, and couldn't figure out why he was suddenly hated by Ji Keshan.

When everything is in place, great things can be achieved, but how can Keshan be willing to lose to a stupid old dog?

"To do great things, you need the right time, right place, and harmony between people. The heavens want you to make a bad move and suffer a complete defeat, which means that it's time for you to pay off your debts." Zhao Baiyu asked, "Do you know the third master?"

Keshan's face was gray and his eyes were dull. He thought he was brave and resourceful, and he was able to climb up to the position of Generalissimo of the Northwest and the leader of the Tibetan clan with a body that was as insignificant. Can you imagine being defeated by a negligible omission?

His mentality was out of balance, his eyes were bloodshot, and he couldn't help but fall into an extremely paranoid state.

"What are the third and fifth masters? Just tell me what crime you want to blame on me, or do you want to use me to bring down someone? Say it!"

Seeing that Keshan's expression does not seem to be fake, could it be that he was wrong?

Zhao Baiyu: "Who belongs to Daxia's money? What collusion do you have with Daxia? When Tuoba Mingzhu was besieging the city, what did you give him in exchange for his retreat?"

Ji Keshan sneered again and again, and he didn't want to say it at first, but seeing Zhe Qingfeng and other surviving chiefs of the Tibetan tribe coming out, he felt stimulated. The leader seized the position of the family in the northwest of the Shu family, and took away the position of the great leader that should have been hereditary from the children of the Shu family——

Among the group of people who came out, none of them wanted to take his life.

Rather, let the court have an excuse to raid the family and exterminate the family, and naturally suspect other tribes who married with the Ji family, so that they live in the suspicion of Emperor Dajing all day long, and live in trepidation.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything I've said, including colluding with Great Xia State Master Sang Liangyu in the early years, sitting on the throne of the chief with his assistance, and accepting bribes from Sang Liangyu a few years ago Minerals such as grain, silver, copper and iron from the south were transported into Daxia through the border market, which helped Daxia's economy take off in just a few years, the country became rich and the people strong, and it was freed from the economic constraints of the big scene, and then aggressively invaded the Northwest. border."

The leaders of the Tibetan tribe who came out were all displeased when they heard about it. Ji Keshan's collusion with the enemy and treason would surely implicate the various Tibetan tribes who were closely married to him, and affect the Dajing court's doubts about the loyalty of the Northwestern Tibetan tribe.

After this incident, Dajing may introduce a series of measures to suppress the control of the Tibetan leaders in the army, tighten preferential policies for the Tibetans, and Keshan will drag down hundreds of thousands of Tibetans in the northwest by himself. It is a serious sin.

Huo Jingtang suddenly pulled out his black gun, and when Ji Keshan was in extreme pain, he quickly thrust the black gun into his other shoulder, and the screams instantly resounded through the night sky.

Zhao Baiyu's face was covered with frost, and he showed no sympathy. His selfishness caused Daxia to launch countless wars, and hundreds of thousands of people died. Some were soldiers who defended their families and some just wanted to protect themselves. The common people, the old and the weak, women and children of the land on which they live.

"In this way, you are just an intermediary who helps transship contraband and take some profits from it, but where do the grain, silver, and copper-iron minerals in the south come from? Why do you say that something happened three years ago... because of the two rivers case? The nail that Sang Liangyu buried in the south to earn money for him?"

Keshan smiled weakly: "My lord Zhao...is really smart and clever. Originally, in order not to attract attention, Sang Liangyu arranged to collect money in the south of Dajing. More people will only make you think that he is a spy, and you will not be able to guess Sang Liangyu's real purpose-but who would have expected it? Who would have expected it! You, Zhao Baiyu, directly killed half of the southeast officialdom! You understand How powerful is the destructive power? The carefully arranged chessboard, the scattered chess pieces, all messed up! The big net that has been laid out for many years has been destroyed like a rotten one, and there is no way to repair it. The place!"

He gave a thumbs up: "Lord Zhao, Zhao Baiyu! If you hadn't killed most of the southeast officialdom three years ago, I wouldn't have been reduced to where I am today. You are amazing."

It was unclear whether he was speaking ironically or sincerely praising, and Zhao Baiyu was not interested in knowing: "Sometimes people have to look for reasons on themselves, do you understand that if you do many unrighteous actions, you will kill yourself?"

He asked in a low voice: "Did you give the evidence of your collusion with Sang Liangyu to Tuoba Mingzhu? The things that Sang Liangyu transported from the south passed through your hands, and they should be recorded in this account book."

Su Keshan: "Yes." He raised his hand to beckon: "Master Zhao, come here, I will tell you quietly."

Zhao Baiyu stretched out his foot, stopped it, and retracted it nonchalantly after a while: "I'm sorry, Sir, I'm a timid person who is afraid of death. I'm worried that you will catch me and threaten Huo Jingtang to escape as soon as I pass by. What's more frightening is you You didn’t want to run away, you just wanted to exchange one for another, what should you do if you wanted to take me to death? When you lied to Jingdan, I watched the whole process, and I still have lingering fears, and I really dare not take risks.”

Ji Keshan put down his hand: "I'm so sorry, I couldn't fool you."

Zhao Baiyu: "It's okay, after all you said I'm smart."

Keshan laughed loudly, "A mouth is tricky and mean! But I am looking forward to your fight with Sang Liangyu, that Sang Liangyu is absolutely a lunatic, I will see how you drive this lunatic to the end - the account book is It is hidden in the Zen room of Zhelong Tianzhu in the Great Compassion Temple! As for the batch of silver hidden in Daxia, you can ask Zhelong Tianzhu, she must know better than me."

After saying that, he suddenly pulled out the black spear, his arm was bulging with veins, and his strength was boundless, even Huo Jingtang couldn't stop Ji Keshan from committing suicide by sticking the black spear into his throat.

Zhao Baiyu and Huo Jingtang glanced at each other, without saying anything, they immediately made people look up to the chiefs of the Fan tribe in the mansion, and if there were any survivors, they would be treated immediately, and Zhe Qingfeng was ordered to guard Long Tianzhu himself.

The imperial troops transferred by Ji Keshan had long been controlled by the Tanghe iron cavalry. They obeyed the command and soon returned to the camp. As for the total number of Tibetan soldiers brought by Ji Damu and Ji Dan respectively, the total number of soldiers was more than 5000, with [-] dead and injured, and the rest were also controlled. Wait for further processing.

Zhao Baiyu and Huo Jingtang went to the Great Compassion Temple, and sure enough they found an account book in Zhelong Tianzhu's meditation room. The quantity and value of each shipment was very clear.

After getting the ledger, the two stepped out of the Great Compassion Nunnery, and the sky was bright, the thin sunlight fell on the ground, and the deserted street was quickly occupied by lively hawking, and the people living ordinary lives continued to work, kicking off the prelude to a new day , No one knows that last night this city was fought with war and blood flowed like a river, let alone that after today, the regime will change, and a family that has gone through two dynasties will be forever annihilated in history.

It's none of their business.

***

The front hall of the mansion.

The original messy front yard of the hall has been cleaned up, and the imperial army has replaced the servants and maidservants of the Shu family to guard the house.

Zhao Baiyu and Huo Jingtang stepped into the front hall, Zhe Qingfeng clasped his fists and said: "General, Mr. Zhao, the family members of Ji Keshan are all controlled in the back house, and 20 taels of silver and gold have been moved out of the Ji family's treasury. There are some silver jewels, and a large number of land deeds, all of which were illegally seized. I have [-] Jingyuan troops and [-] Tibetan soldiers with amulets, and I also ordered the deputy general to take the command temporarily according to your orders, general."

The rest, such as how to deal with the leaders of the Fan tribe and the soldiers who came over from their authority, etc., will be decided by the court after Zhao Baiyu reports to the court.

Zhao Baiyu: "Where's Zhelong Dzi?"

Zhe Qingfeng: "Inside." He moved out of the way, looked at the woman who was still in a bridal attire and said in a low voice, "Since Keshan died, he has been sitting by the window staring at the sky. Two hours have passed without moving. .”

Zhao Baiyu knew that her long-cherished wish had come true, and it was the time when all kinds of feelings were mixed. If she was a person who really cared for the fragrance, she shouldn't bother her, let alone interrogate the interrogator Long Tianzhu who was going to interrogate the prisoner.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Zhelong Tianzhu said: "My grandfather is from southern Xinjiang. He learned a little bit about Gu poison and medicine, and taught them to my aunt, and aunt taught me. She taught the medicine first. This kind of drug that can confuse the mind was put on Ji Keshan. Ji Keshan was vigilant and suspicious, with a cruel and firm heart. My mother did not dare to take a large dose, and neither did I. We can only be cautious, use our weak strength and this To take revenge... Xiao Zhao, do you think the revenge between me and my mother is a joke?"

"How?" Zhao Baiyu was quite surprised, "Keshan is so powerful, you are helpless, weak and insignificant, but he died with the infamy of collaborating with the enemy and treason, you are still alive, you still won. The process is not important, The result is that the winner has the final say. Ji Keshan is easily irritable and irritable, superstitious about gods and Buddhas, and partial to Jidan, which leads to restlessness in the back house and dissatisfaction among the Tibetans, which in turn aggravates his sense of crisis... A series of chain reactions have caused him to be trapped in a cocoon today It's not that you and your mother have worn Keshan's spirit and psychology for decades, I'm afraid we won't be able to deal with him so easily."

Before knowing the truth, Ji Keshan felt guilty and guilty. It is true that he was tortured, and it is also true that he is superstitious about gods and Buddhas.

Zhelong Tianzhu turned around and covered his face with tears streaming down his face: "I'm really afraid... I'm afraid that my mother's death will be used by this beast again."

Her parents died because of Keshan, and even death was exploited to the extreme, and she was deeply under the shadow of Keshan for the first half of her life and could not escape.

When she heard that Ji Keshan knew that there was a problem with burning incense, she just counted on the time, and her defense collapsed instantly. She just felt that ten years of persistence was meaningless.

Fortunately, Zhao Baiyu woke her up, the world is often decided by the winner.

"You are right, our schemes are not useless." Zhelong Tianzhu wiped his face dry, showing kindness: "Master Zhao, what do you want to ask? I know everything."

"What happened to the batch of silver hidden in Daxia that Ji Keshan said?"

"I also guessed that you wanted to ask this. I said before that someone gave me people and money, and told me to wait patiently. When Ji Keshan dragged all the Tibetans into a situation where the Tibetans and the imperial court were confronted one day, then It’s the time when my vengeance will be avenged, sir, do you still remember?”

Zhao Baiyu nodded.

"This person signed the letter to me with only two words: Three Ye."

Three visits, the third master, the name of Wang Yueming.

"I don't know his name. I only know that he is from Liangjiang. He claims to be a down-and-out scholar. He died of illness three years ago. They gave me a wooden box. He only said that if Ji Keshan died of treason and collaborating with the enemy, he was from Lin'an County. The king personally came to settle the matter, so Keshan asked me to hand over the box to the person accompanying the King of Lin'an."

Zhao Baiyu frowned, has Wang Yueming exhausted his plans to this point?

"Seven years ago, Keshan frequently met with merchants from the south, and the business hall was closed for three days a month, but I know that the trade of goods between merchants from the South and Xia Kingdom has not stopped. Four years ago, Daxia suddenly attacked Kunzhou. The road border market was closed, cutting off trade with Daxia, but the Jingzhou market was open three days a month as usual, and I guessed that Keshan might be secretly collaborating with the enemy. This is a crime of beheading, and it can bring down Ke It’s a great opportunity for kindness, and it’s worth the risk. But I was single and weak, and I was quickly discovered and hunted down. Someone rescued me in the downtown market. It was Mr. Sanye’s man, and it was me and Mr. Sanye that time first contact."

"He seems to understand my life experience, hatred and schemes, including the matter of drugging sandalwood, as if he knows everything."

"Mister told me that I can't kill Ji Keshan, but Ji Keshan will kill himself, I just need to wait for the time." Zhelong Tianzhu looked thoughtful, "Mr. didn't reveal too much, I know what he gave me. People seem to have a very close connection with Daxia, and they understand Daxia's official language, southern Xinjiang language, and even Turkic language...I only learned a few more languages ​​for the convenience of contact."

Zhao Baiyu: "That batch of silver?"

Zhelong Tianzhu: "I only know that Mr. has a huge amount of silver stored in Daxia. The specific amount and how to get it are all in the wooden box he gave me. Ji Keshan didn't know the existence of the wooden box, so I don't know where to get the news, since three years ago, I have been sending people to sneak into Daxia to find the money."

As Ji Keshan said, it was because he kept sending people to infiltrate Daxia that Tiandu Village, an easier-to-break defense line, was discovered, and the battle of Tiandu Village led directly to a series of events that followed.

Zhao Baiyu looked at Huo Jingtang.

Huo Jingtang: "Ji Keshan wants to take the money for himself, and will not leak the news to the outside world. On that day, he used the evidence of his affair with Sang Liangyu to persuade Tuoba Mingzhu to withdraw. Tuoba Mingzhu has the ability to restrain Sang Liangyu Naturally, we can’t wait to return to court with the evidence, and we still have a chance to get the money.”

Zhao Baiyu was thoughtful, and asked Long Tianzhu, "Where is the wooden box?"

Zhelong Tianzhu smiled slyly, "It's in a humble pawn shop under the name of Ji Keshan."

Zhao Baiyu laughed, it was really dark under the lights.

***

Before Wang Yueming died, he was still planning to arrange things three years later. The wooden box that may be related to the safety of the two countries has now been redeemed, put on the table, and placed in front of Zhao Baiyu.

Zhelong Tianzhu said generously: "I won't bother you anymore."

After saying that, he retreated outside the house, only Huo Jingtang and Zhao Baiyu were left inside.

Zhao Baiyu crossed his fingers, rubbed his thumbs together, looked at the wooden box with an uncertain expression, wanted to open it but was reluctant to open it, and for the first time in more than 20 years of life, he had a rebellious mentality of not admitting defeat.

If he opened the wooden box, wouldn't it mean he was tricked by Wang Yueming again?

He was plotted to deal with Changping last time, why do you want to use him this time?

He explained Long Tianzhu's words, "Give the box to the person who is traveling with the King of Lin'an", who else but Zhao Baiyu?

"Why don't you open it?" Huo Jingtang asked.

Zhao Baiyu twirled his thumbs, unwilling to answer.

Looking at his small appearance, Huo Jingtang guessed that this was a little arrogance among extremely intelligent people, even as gentle as Zhao Baiyu, he couldn't avoid rivalry with others.

"It's a pity that you meet your opponent at chess?"

"No matter how smart Wang Yueming is, he can't offset the crimes he committed. I am indeed sorry, but I regret that the people all over the world lost a good official due to the political struggle in the officialdom."

Huo Jingtang held Zhao Baiyu's little finger and said: "I also thought so. But I also believe that there is only one Zhao Baiyu in the world, even if he falls into a muddy valley, he is still sincere."

Huo Jingtang could always moisten things and comfort Zhao Baiyu's emotions silently at the right time, and Zhao Baiyu felt that his unhappiness at being plotted by Wang Yueming disappeared in an instant.

Zhao Baiyu opened Wang Yueming's wooden box, and saw that there were seals, waist cards, three ledgers and a letter inside.

Huo Jingtang took the seal and waist badge to read, while Zhao Baiyu looked at the ledger first, and then opened the letter to read: "Zhan Xinjia: Mr. Zhao is very honored to see this letter."

The first sentence is irritating, but fortunately, the second sentence goes directly to the topic.

Wang Yueming is familiar with the official circles and shopping malls in the southeast. How could he not be aware that Sang Liangyu sent spies posing as Nanshang to Liangjiang to plunder wealth?

So people made an investigation and chased to the northwest border, and found that Sang Liangyu and Ji Keshan were in collusion, and Long Tianzhu, who was rescued by fate, was found.

Xu is pity, Xu is a useful chess piece, Wang Yueming cultivated Long Tianzhu, set up a chess game, and waited for the arrival of the chess player.

However, Zhelong Tianzhu and Ji Keshan are incidental things. Wang Yueming's real purpose is to destroy the Xia Kingdom and force Sang Liangyu to be killed. It turns out that Sang Liangyu was the one who encouraged the students to sacrifice to the Confucian Temple, but took the lead before the officers and soldiers arrived. He ran away, ignoring the lame Wang Yueming, who ran back to Liangjiang, and deceived Wang Yueming's parents and fellow villagers. Daoquan was that Wang Yueming planned to sacrifice the Confucian Temple alone to anger the court and the emperor, fearing that the family would be ransacked and the family would be wiped out. He went to the doctor in such a hurry that he was seized by the local county magistrate to take private revenge.

Sang Liangyu knew that sooner or later news about the capital mansion would reach Liangjiang, so she deceived the Wang family's wealth, saying that she was going to the capital to bribe high-ranking officials to save Wang Yueming, but in fact she took the money and fled all the way to Daxia, and transformed herself into a national teacher with more than [-] people in Daxia. .

Wang Yueming spent several years finding out the truth, and kept looking for opportunities to ruin Sang Liangyu's reputation and leave a notorious reputation in history.

In fact, dating back to 15 years ago, Wang Yueming began to deploy in Daxia. It was not until he discovered that Sang Liangyu had an affair with Keshan seven years ago that he decided on the path to take in the future.

"Wang Yueming gave me a large amount of money in the account book before, and the whereabouts of it is unknown. After checking his treasury, there was no such money. I did suspect that the money was related to the money you mentioned earlier. In the end, I still believed in Wang Yueming. His disdain for Sang Liangyu was from the bottom of his heart, but he left a doubt, and now I know.” Zhao Baiyu sighed and said, “It turns out that he opened the largest bank in Daxia, and there is a bank at the foot of Qilian Mountain. A private horse farm, full of war horses that can go to the battlefield, even got an arsenal!"

Qian Zhuang controlled Daxia's throat, while War Horse and Arsenal complemented Dajing's shortcomings. Wang Yueming is really a genius.

Horses are one of the keys to victory or defeat in a war. The Xia Kingdom is small and scarce, and it can still become a headache for Dajing. The biggest reason is that the cavalry is excellent and difficult to match.

The cavalry mounts, the horses are like dragon colts, which is the reputation of the Great Xia war horse.

In the past, Xia Guo surrendered to Dajing and regularly sent high-quality horses, but when Xia became independent, Dajing lost the source of war horses, and the horse training and horse breeding skills were very different, so he was constrained everywhere on the battlefield. The shortage of warhorse resources for the Tanghe Iron Cavalry trained by Huo Jingtang is still a problem that cannot be solved.

The second is the arsenal. Dajing's weapons are unrivaled in the world. However, Xia Guo found rich coal mines, and the technology of smelting weapons is improving day by day, gradually surpassing Dajing. Even Dajing's craftsmen have to learn superb smelting technology from Xia Guo.

In particular, Xia Guo invented the magic arm, bow, and fire gun more than ten years ago. The former is the pinnacle of individual weapons in this era. In recent years, Dajing has also re-engraved artillery and applied it to the battlefield. After all, the gap between technology and power is not small.

The third is the money bank. Xia’s materials are scarce, and tea, salt, copper, iron and other items are almost non-existent. Even the currency uses Dajing copper coins and silver on a large scale. In order to curb this phenomenon, they are trying to promote original currency. It needs to be exchanged with Dajing, but Dajing doesn't recognize Xia's currency.

In the end, the official currency of Dajing is still popular.

"Once the secret collusion between Sang Liangyu and Ji Keshan spreads in Daxia, the court of Xia Kingdom will inevitably be in turmoil. It is the time of seizing the reserves, and it will be even more precarious. If the bank is withdrawn at this time, a large amount of funds will flow back, and the people will inevitably resent Boiling, seize this opportunity to seize the arsenal and racecourse—" Huo Jingtang: "God bless me."

Zhao Baiyu frowned: "The people's livelihood is so difficult, I'm afraid there will be a war." I'm afraid it will be a short and fierce battle.

"So before that, we must prepare a perfect plan to deal with it." Huo Jingtang held Zhao Baiyu's hand, looked straight into his eyes and said, "I need to go to Daxia."