Chapter 187: Shu County’s sudden change

The incident happened on the night when Zhang Huan massacred the Dangxiang people, a horrifying massacre also occurred in the Yang family in Shu County. More than 700 male and female members of the Yang family, whether legitimate sons or illegitimate sons, whether old or children, were killed by nearly a thousand bandits stolen into the city, including the head of the Yang family, one of the members of the Tang Dynasty cabinet, and the Shangshu Zuo Pushe Yang Qi.

Of course, history is often written by the victors. The killing of bandits is just an excuse. The real killer is the elder brother of Yang Qi's 81st concubine, Zhu Li, the former general of the Longwu Army.

After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Zhu Li escaped from Tai Chi Palace. In order to seek shelter, he presented his sister to the elderly Yang Qi. Yang Qi was greedy for beauty and secretly took Zhu Li and his younger brother Zhu Tao. However, the wolf could not change his nature of eating sheep. Soon, Zhu Li, who was renamed Zhu Wu, got the position of Luo County County Magistrate through the wind beside him. The next day he took office, he poisoned the county magistrate and the county magistrate, and asked for the temporary replacing of the county magistrate on the excuse of a mountain bandit. Yang Qi was fascinated by his sister and cooperated with Zhu Li to lie that the county magistrate was killed by a mountain bandit, and asked the court to recommend that the county magistrate temporarily take the position of a county magistrate.

Then Zhu Li got a big field village in Luo County through the wind beside him, and sent his brother back to Shandong to summon his father's old subordinates. In just half a year, five thousand elite soldiers were secretly gathered in the field village. Zhu Li asked the Yang family for weapons and food in the name of encircling and suppressing bandits, and recruited three thousand soldiers in Luo County. Yang Qi agreed to all these seemingly unreasonable requests.

Although Yang Qi was confused, his eldest son, Yang Ming, the governor of Langzhong, discovered the clue and persuaded his father to be careful of Zhu Li's ambitions. Unexpectedly, Zhu Li's sister overheard the conversation between them, and immediately passed the news to the elder brother.

On the way back to Langzhong, Zhu Li sent someone to pretend to be a bandit and robbed Yang Ming. At this point, Yang Qi finally began to doubt Zhu Li and sent someone to the manor to investigate the situation.

Zhu Li realized the seriousness of the problem. On the one hand, he wrote to Yang Qi, swearing that he remembered his kindness and had no other intentions; on the other hand, he secretly sent 2,000 people to sneak into Chengdu and prepare to act.

On the 15th day of July, the day was the day when the Yang family worshiped their ancestors. More than 700 tribes from all over the country gathered in the Yang Mansion Ancestral Hall to worship their ancestors. At this time, more than 2,000 people who had already prepared had already rushed into the Yang Mansion from all directions. In just one moment, more than 700 people from the Yang Mansion were killed.

The incident shocked the Chengdu officialdom. Just as the government was investigating the family destruction incident, a group of about a thousand bandits robbed and killed twelve caravans outside Chengdu, killing people and robbing goods, and finally fled into the deep mountains more than 200 miles away. The evidence obtained by the caravan was exactly the same as the massacre of the Yang Mansion. The governor of Shu County had no choice but to report to the court as the bandits rampant.

On the second day after the Yang Mansion was destroyed, Zhu Li rushed back and cried out to his brother-in-law's death. Then he made Yang Wei, the grandson of Yang Qi who survived the trouble of playing outside, as the head of the family. Unfortunately, Yang Wei was only thirteen years old and obeyed Zhu's arrangements in everything. In less than half a month, the farms, shops and millions of coins of money that the Yang family had accumulated over decades fell into Zhu Li's hands.

At this time, Zhu Li did not show any expression. He secretly assigned five thousand confidants to various fields to arm and train tens of thousands of slaves, and promised to give them freedom.

At the same time, he bribed Yang Zilin, the governor of Shu County, and bought the military position of Shu County for his younger brother Zhu Tao. He took charge of 5,000 Shu County regiment training. He also asked Yang Zilin to agree to recruit 3,000 soldiers from Luo County to station near Yang Mansion, in the name of protecting the Yang family from the second sneak attack.

Although Yang Zilin, the governor of Shu County, pretended to be confused, there were still many discerning people who submitted letters of accusation to the court. At this time, the court was busy with the affairs of reconciliation with Tubo and Uighurs at the same time. However, the sudden change in the Yang family and the death of Yang Qi, the cabinet assistant, still shocked the Chang'an court and the power vacuum generated, and the hearts of all stakeholders were touched.

Cui Yuan wanted to let Cui Qinggong enter the cabinet again; while Pei Jun firmly opposed it. He proposed that Li Mian, a member of the Tang Dynasty who was former Jingzhao Yin and the current governor of Lingnan, enter the cabinet. This move was unanimously supported by the Li clan, but Cui Yuan was unexpectedly tough. He firmly opposed it. Cui and Pei two prime ministers had a stalemate. At this time, under the auspices of Cui Xiaofu, Cui Yuan and Pei Jun reached an agreement to temporarily shelve the dispute, jointly investigated the real murderer of the Yang family's family destruction case, and dismissed Yang Zilin as the governor of Shu County, and replaced Jiannan Jiedushi Xian Yu Shuming as the governor of Shu County.

In early August, the Chief Censor Cui Wushang set out for Chengdu under the escort of the Jinwu Guards and began to investigate the truth about the Yang family's massacre. At the same time, the left prime minister Pei Jun arrived in Jincheng County with the excuse of bidding farewell to the Tubo envoy.

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A cavalry of 800 people escorted Zhang Huan to gallop like lightning on the land of Longyou. The sun and moon changed, and saw the stars in the sky and welcomed the morning glow of golden light. On the morning of the fourth day, Zhang Huan and his party finally saw the towering city walls of Jincheng County.

Jincheng County is today Lanzhou. It was once the largest city in Helong. Since Emperor Suzong ascended the throne in Lingwu and the Anshi Rebellion, the Wei family rose in Kaiyang County, Jincheng County has gradually lost its former halo. Despite this, Jincheng County is still rich in culture and business. Many important officials of the Guanlong Group who supported Suzong's ascension to the throne lived in Jincheng County.

Jincheng County has a population of 300,000. Together with Kaiyang County, Lingwu County and Wuwei County, it is known as the four major cities of Helong. It is also the first front to defend against Tubo, with 30,000 Longyou Army stationed.

Zhang Huan ordered Chen Ping to lead 500 people outside the city, and he led 300 cavalry into Jincheng County accompanied by Pei Mingkai and Xin Lang. As soon as he entered the city gate, a strong commercial atmosphere rushed towards him. Unlike metropolitan cities such as Chang'an, there were many shops on Ping'an Street on the central axis of Jincheng County, and there were many shops, inns, restaurants, brothels, etc., with people coming and going on the streets, and carriages running, which seemed very lively.

People here are used to seeing various armies, so they turned a blind eye to Zhang Huan and the others entering the city and did not give way. Everyone had to lead the horse and walk slowly. Xin Lang was worried about his sick father and went home first. Pei Mingkai led Zhang Huan to the governor's mansion where his father rested.

On the way, Zhang Huan had already learned from Pei Mingkai that something had happened in Shu County. However, Pei Mingkai was not very familiar with the inside story. He only vaguely said that the Yang family was destroyed by bandits. Despite this, Zhang Huan guessed that something must be strange. There were more than a thousand wealthy people in Shu County. Others did not move, but they went to kill important officials of the court and perished themselves. Aren’t these bandits ridiculously stupid? Moreover, there are many garrisons in Shu County. If they don’t understand the distribution of the garrison, how could these bandits escape calmly? In fact, it is very simple to infer that the real murderer is. You only need to see who is the biggest beneficiary after the Yang family’s destruction.

After walking about three miles along Ping'an Street, the group came to the Governor's Mansion of Jincheng County.

It was the fifth day that Pei Jun came to Jincheng County. He didn't care much about what happened in Shu County. Yang Qi was extremely debauchery and was in the fish countryside. However, the imbalance in Chang'an's power caused by this made him nervous. Logically, Yang Qi was Cui Yuan's in-laws and a hardcore Cui Dang. The power vacancy left by him after his death should be made up by Cui Yuan, but Cui Yuan chose his younger brother Cui Qinggong to take over, which made Pei Jun unacceptable.

Since the revision of the family system, two by-elections were held in March and May respectively, and a large number of children from aristocratic families flocked to the court, resulting in less than 20 scholars who passed the imperial examination this year. The injustice of occupying the magpie's nest has aroused widespread dissatisfaction among poor children. Some even wrote dozens of slogans such as "The World of the Aristocratic Family" and "Returning the Li Family Mountains" on the walls on both sides of Zhuque Street. This is definitely not something that one person and two people can do.

Moreover, this injustice cannot be stopped, but it also shows signs of becoming more and more intense. Only the children of aristocratic families registered by the Ministry of Personnel who are waiting to enter the officialdom have been ranked after five years, which means that within these five years, the situation will be maintained that it is difficult for Jinshi to enter the officialdom.

This phenomenon made many knowledgeable people feel very worried. If this continues, it is very likely that the prestige of the court will be lost, and the Tang Dynasty will gradually become a split. Many Li Tang royal families have also expressed their dissatisfaction through various channels. However, the high-ranking officials who hold power are from major families, and these dissatisfaction voices have been covered up.

Pei Jun is a sober person, but he has no choice but to do anything about it. On the one hand, Cui Yuan has received support from many famous families in dealing with the problems of the aristocratic families of the Tang Dynasty. Pei Jun can't stand it alone. On the other hand, most of the Pei family also agree on the correction of the family system, so Pei Jun has been silent for this reason.

At this moment, Yang Qi died and he gave up a cabinet place. Cui Yuan naturally proposed to make up for the vacancies by Cui Qinggong, but Pei Jun believed that this would intensify the dissatisfaction of the Chinese people with the aristocratic family. He disagreed and proposed to let a royal family enter the cabinet to ease the increasingly tense conflict between the aristocratic family and the royal family.

But Pei Jun also had a deeper idea. He wanted to clear obstacles for Zhang Huan's future entry into the cabinet. Li Mian, the governor of Lingnan, was once a supporter of Prince Yu at that time. After entering the cabinet, he would be biased towards himself because of Zhang Huan.

At this moment, Pei Jun was standing in front of the window and pondering the current situation of the court. Suddenly, a hurried footsteps came from outside the door. A servant reported outside the door, "Report to the Prime Minister, Liangzhou Governor Zhang Huan, ask for a meeting!"

"Let him come in!" Pei Jun immediately restrained his thoughts. He came to Jincheng County to see Zhang Huan. On the one hand, Zhang Huan was an important chess piece in his future layout. On the other hand, Zhang Huan showed his determination and talent in the confrontation between the Ministry of Rites at the beginning of the year, which made Pei Jun regard him as his right-hand man.

After a moment, Zhang Huan and Pei Mingkai walked in, Zhang Huan stepped forward and knelt down to give a big gift, "Son-in-law, see your father-in-law."

Pei Jun quickly helped him up, looked him up and down and said with a smile: "Son-in-law, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

Zhang Huan also smiled and said, "Thank you, father-in-law, for your support for Wuwei over the past six months."

"The key is that you have added face to me in the Battle of Xibao and blocked many people's mouths." Pei Jun pulled him into the house and sat down intimately. He glanced at his eldest son again and wanted to let him leave, but he couldn't open the mouth for Zhang Huan's face, so he had to say lightly: "Come and sit down too!"

Pei Jun has always disliked Pei Mingkai because of his lame legs. Among the five legitimate sons, he liked his five sons Pei Mingyuan the most. However, due to the clan rules, he was unable to abolish the position of heir to the head of Pei Mingkai's family. His brother Pei You also advised him many times not to abolish and establish him easily, so as not to cause brothers to be killed.

Pei Mingkai is a very loyal and honest person. He also wants to please his father very much, but his inability to see through many issues has caused him to lose many opportunities. For example, today, although his father asked him to sit down, he did not expect that his father came from all over the world to find Zhang Huan, which is not as simple as talking about family matters. At this time, he should avoid it, but Pei Mingkai was ready to do it.

Zhang Huan didn't say much, after all, this was the Pei family's housework. After taking a sip of tea, he pondered for a moment and asked directly: "Mingkai told me that something happened to the Yang family in Shu County. I heard that the whole family was destroyed. Who did this?"

Pei Jun sneered and said, "The memorial reported by Yang Zilin, the governor of Shu County, said that a bandit has a grudge against the Yang family and retaliated against the Yang family. The evidence is conclusive, but many people also submitted to the court, saying that this was actually done by Yang Qi, a concubine's brother, to occupy the Yang family's property. But I can't figure out what a small Luo County lieutenant has the ability to mobilize two thousand bandits unless he is a bandit. The court has sent people to investigate this matter. Before there is nothing wrong and the investigation is clear, we will not draw a conclusion for the time being."

Pei Jun was not very concerned about Yang Qi's death. He was Cui Yuan's in-laws, so Cui Yuan was worried about it. What he cared about was how to get Li Mian into the cabinet.

But Zhang Huan was very interested in Yang Qi's death. He could kill more than 700 people, and no one was injured. This fierce and vicious method made him sigh. This attacker was definitely not an ordinary person. If he really grasped the property of the Yang family, he would cause chaos in the future.

"I wonder what the name of this Luo County Captain is?"

Seeing that Zhang Huan was interested, Pei Jun smiled and said, "His name is Zhu Wu. The Ministry of Personnel has registered that he is from Beihai County, but there is no such person on the household registration information of the Ministry of Revenue. This is very likely his pseudonym."

"Zhu Wu?" Zhang Huan seemed to have caught something, but he couldn't see clearly for a moment. He lowered his head and thought about the knot in his mind.

At this time, Pei Jun thought of something again and sighed and added: "The girl married Yang Qi as her concubine in November last year. I heard that she was only seventeen years old. Yang Qi will be retribution!"

"November?" Zhang Huan immediately thought of the Tai Chi Palace Incident that happened at that time. His mind suddenly had a name like lightning and a fire: 'Zhu Li!'
Chapter completed!