Zhu Nao

A few days later, Jiangning Mansion.

In a courtyard full of peach blossoms, Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng were sitting under a tree playing chess.

Xie Wuchen focused on the chessboard, analyzed the chess game, and carefully made a move.However, he waited for a while, but before Liu Jingfeng made a move, he couldn't help but looked up to the opposite side.

Liu Jingfeng was also looking at him, to the point of ecstasy, so he didn't pay attention to the chess game at all.

Xie Wuchen frowned slightly: "What's wrong with you?"

Liu Jingfeng said: "I was thinking, if we can still be like this when we get old."

Xie Wuchen was slightly stunned, silent for a moment, and said: "Why do you say this all of a sudden?"

Liu Jingfeng didn't know what to say.Recently, the general situation of the world has changed too fast, and he felt uneasy, fearing that such days would not last long, so he suddenly felt such emotion.But this was unlucky, so he just shook his head and said with a smile, "I just suddenly feel very happy... I hope nothing will change."

Xie Wuchen didn't answer the call.After a while, he whispered: "It's your turn."

Liu Jingfeng still didn't look at the chessboard.He suddenly stretched out his hand to caress Xie Wuchen's hair, Xie Wuchen subconsciously leaned back a little, but did not completely dodge.Afterwards, Liu Jingfeng plucked a peach blossom from his hair, which was blown onto his head by the wind.

Liu Jingfeng hesitated to speak, and finally said: "Lao Qi... your third brother has been gone for so many years, is there really no way to resolve the grudge between you and Xie Twelve?"

Xie Wuchen is rare in Japan today, but when he heard this, his eyes sharpened sharply.He said coldly: "Did you ask this question yourself, or did your Liu family ask you to ask it?"

Liu Jingfeng hurriedly said: "I asked the question myself. I just..."

Before the words were finished, a person hurried in from outside the yard, and the two of them hurriedly stopped talking.The person who came in walked to Xie Wuchen's side, saluted, and said: "Xie Gong, Liu Gong, the Zhang family in Huainan sent someone here, saying that there is something urgent to see."

"Huainan Zhang family?" Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng looked at each other.

Xie Wuchen said: "Take me to the Bamboo Viewing Hall."

The situation in Huainan is also what they are currently paying close attention to, and the two of them have lost their interest in chess today, so they temporarily put aside the unfinished chess game and went to Guanzhu Hall together.

Soon, a child of the Zhang family was brought before them.

As soon as the Zhang family saw the two of them, he hurried forward, knelt down in front of them with a "plop", and cried miserably: "Xie Gong, Liu Gong, I beg you to remember the relationship between you and me, and save us all." Clan!"

Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng were startled, and hurriedly asked: "What happened?"

The disciple of the Zhang family said: "Since the Jianwu general Ma Shu came to Huainan, he has been tyrannical. In the fish and meat town! They not only seized the government's taxes and food, but also kept forcing money and food from the people with a little wealth in the countryside. If they don't give it, they will force it." Rob! We gave them a sum of money half a year ago in order to calm things down, but who would have thought that they would come to our door every month because of their greed! We are just a small rich family, and we have a lot of people to support. How can we stand their plunder?"

It was not the first time that Ma Shu had heard of Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng's actions in Huainan.This Zhang family is a big local family in Huainan.Both the Xie family and the Liu family can be related to distant relatives, so they have already come to sue once two or three months ago.

Liu Jingfeng said: "I remember I gave you a token two months ago, and I also wrote a letter to the army, telling them not to harass you anymore. Did General Jianwu ignore it?"

The disciples of the Zhang family said: "Thanks to Liu Gong's great kindness, those bully troops have indeed stopped for a while. But recently they have forced conscription in the countryside and conscripted more than a thousand men! They conscripted soldiers and were short of food, but the village Many families have already fled because they couldn't stand their oppression. We also thought about fleeing, but after all, the family has a large population and it is inconvenient to move, so we didn't have time to move away. Unexpectedly, ten days ago, they brought thousands of soldiers to surround Take our farm and force us to hand over [-]% of the farm's grain!"

Both Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng were taken aback.It is true that Zhang's family is well-off, but it is also true that the village has to support a large number of people. Ma Shu will cost [-]% of the food, which is simply too cruel and merciless, leaving no way for others to survive.

The children of the Zhang family cried: "They oppress the good people so much, we naturally can't sit still. We showed them the token that Duke Liu gave us, and also said that we are relatives of Duke Liu and Duke Xie, and they can't treat us like this. But who would have thought that those bully soldiers would snatch the tokens and scold us, saying that they only knew about General Jianwu, but not Xie Gong and Liu Gong.”

The faces of Xie Wuchen and Liu Jingfeng became serious.The Huainan soldiers didn't really say that they didn't know these words, maybe Zhang's children made them up to provoke them.But Ma Shu is domineering and arrogant, which is obviously not made up by Zhang's children.

The children of the Zhang family said again: "Of course my uncles can't just watch them steal all the food and let our people starve to death. Therefore, hundreds of villagers were organized to rebel. But those bully troops broke into the village regardless Killing and robbing food! Many people in our clan were brutally killed by them, and several of my uncles were also taken away by them, and their lives and deaths are still unknown! Xie Gong, Liu Gong, I beg you to affirm my clan members!"

Xie Liu and the two gasped.

"Ridiculous!" Xie Wuchen slammed the table and stood up abruptly. "This horse harness is indeed about to rebel!"

Not only did Ma Shu ignore their orders, but he also dealt with the Zhang family who they had already ordered to return to Shanghai. How could he know if this was done on purpose to show them, to embarrass them?

Liu Jingfeng was also very annoyed, but felt that something was wrong, so he hesitated and didn't make a sound.

The Zhang family knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily: "I beg you two to uphold justice for our Zhang family and save my family members!"

Xie Wuchen said coldly: "Don't worry, Ma Shumu has no law and has ulterior motives, I will not let this matter go!"

The disciple of the Zhang family got Xie Wuchen's guarantee, and immediately beamed with joy, and kowtowed a few times: "Thank you so much, Mr. Liu, thank you so much!"

Liu Jingfeng just smiled awkwardly, but remained silent.

He ordered people to put the Zhang family's children down, and Xie Wuchen immediately summoned several servants and asked them to send letters to the various dignitaries in Beijing, to inform them of Ma Shu's crimes in Huainan.He asked people to prepare chariots and horses, and prepared to go to the palace to find Han Rushan.

However, before Xie Wuchen set off, Liu Jingfeng stopped him.

"Old Seven... I always feel that this matter is a bit strange."

Xie Wuchen frowned and said, "What's wrong?"

Liu Jingfeng said: "Didn't we all think that Ma Shu had already colluded with the Shu people? Even if they wanted to join forces to show us, the Shu people should provide some food and grass for the Huainan army, right? Ma Shu wanted to raise money. Grain, he didn’t hesitate to deal such cruelty to the people of Huainan. It doesn’t feel like he’s pretending, but he seems to be really poor and crazy..."

Xie Wuchen couldn't help but startled.

Indeed, seizing money and food from the government is okay, but forcibly expropriating food and grass from the common people is a very disgraceful thing.It even got to the point of using the army to kill and rob. If it wasn't for being poor and crazy, Ma Shu shouldn't have done such an extreme thing.

Could it be said that he has secretly surrendered to the Shu people is the false news deliberately released by the Shu people to sow discord?Is Ma Shu really fighting against Shu?

Xie Wuchen said coldly: "Then what do you say? Are we really going to provide him with food and grass?"

Liu Jingfeng was speechless for a moment.Ma Shu is now disobeying orders and robbing. If they continue to coax Ma Shu, it will be appeasement.The problem is that it is not easy to get rid of Ma Shu. It is not that Chen State has no army, but because the aristocratic family is in power, the way of recruiting soldiers is different from that of Liang and Shu. The private property of the family.The Xie family has an army in their hands, the Liu family has an army in their hands, and some other aristocratic families also have more or less soldiers in their hands.But the surnames of these troops are Xie and Liu, not "Chen".In the place of death and life, who is willing to take out his private soldiers to serve the country?

After a long time, Liu Jingfeng said helplessly: "I hope the Ma family can trick Ma Shu back..."

This seems to be the only hope for them to solve the thorn in the horse harness...

……

……

At the same time, not far from Ma's mansion, a man was hiding in a dark alley, observing his surroundings vigilantly.

Soon, he heard light footsteps, and he poked his head out to see that it was indeed his companion who had returned.

These two were the soldiers sent back by Ma Shu.

"How, have you heard the news?" One person asked.

Another person nodded solemnly: "I heard from people nearby that I saw Mr. Ma leave the mansion the day before yesterday. He was not sick at all. And every time he left the mansion, there would be a few guards with him. They said it was to protect him. I Look, it is very likely that the court sent someone to monitor him."

The person who spoke first said: "I observed carefully, there are many people patrolling and watching around here. They must all be people from the imperial court!"

It has become very clear now that the so-called Ma Shu's father is seriously ill, and asking him to come back to see his father for the last time is a trap.Once the horses come back, they will be controlled by the imperial court immediately!

The vicinity was not safe either, the two soldiers were afraid that they would be discovered if they stayed for a long time, so they didn't dare to delay any longer, they hurriedly left the vicinity of Ma Mansion, and went back to Huainan to report to Ma Shu.