Chapter 107 Bao Zheng Asks for Help
Because a group of people abducted from Wuyou Cave were successfully rescued, this was the most successful effort to control the chaos in Wuyou Cave in decades.
Therefore, throughout the capital, families whose relatives were missing sent people to Kaifeng Prefecture, asking Prefect Bao to increase rescue efforts and try to find a way to rescue their relatives.
They did not dare to attack the government office, but just knelt at the door and shouted loudly for help.
For two days, they knelt from morning to night, then broke up and came again the next morning.
Bao Zheng came out several times and explained that things were already being done, but for confidentiality reasons, the bad guys in Wuyou Cave could not be let know about Kaifeng Prefecture's plan, so the specific date of the action was uncertain.
Only then did they persuade those people to go back.
The families of the missing persons also understood that if the news of Kaifeng Prefecture’s actions leaked, the hope of rescuing their loved ones would be even slimmer.
Zhan Zhao breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the neighbors kneeling at the door disperse.
The entire Kaifeng Prefecture has been very busy these past two days, settling the victims, cleaning up the scene, and interrogating the arrested Wuyou Cave members. It was all hard work.
But even so, no one in Kaifeng Prefecture complained.
After all, this was the first time that Kaifeng Prefecture had truly hurt Wuyou Cave.
Zhan Zhao returned to his patrol room, changed into casual clothes, picked up a yellow hollow crystal ball, put it into his clothes, then left Kaifeng Prefecture and walked towards the low hill.
Two incense sticks later, Lu Sen received Zhan Zhao in the pavilion.
"No matter when you come here, this place makes you linger." Zhan Zhao said enviously, and then put the yellow crystal on the table: "Lu Xiaolang, I have washed this thing with well water, and there is no peculiar smell."
Lu Sen took the yellow crystal ball in his hand and placed it on a red box.
Then Zhan Zhao was surprised to find that a faint lightning seemed to surge out of the red box, penetrate into the interior of the crystal ball, and be stored.
"Is this magic weapon driven by lightning?" Zhan Zhao asked curiously.
"Yes." Lu Sen nodded: "So you have to recharge it every two days. "
Zhan Zhao looked at the crystal ball curiously again, then looked away. He clasped his fists and said, "Prefect Bao asked me to thank you again on his behalf. He said that if it weren't for Master Lu's help, Kaifeng Prefecture wouldn't be able to save a single person no matter how hard they tried."
Indeed...the sewers of Bianjing City are interconnected, forming a three-dimensional underground kingdom. Besides, apart from Wuyou Cave and Guifan Tower, no one else knows the terrain below.
In other words, even the people in Wuyou Cave only knew part of the terrain, and each group below controlled a small area of the terrain, which led to the formation of numerous small groups that confronted, cooperated with, and checked and balanced each other.
It is extremely difficult for an outsider to find someone in Wuyou Cave, and he may even get lost inside if he is not careful.
But with this detector, the situation is different. Although it can only display a range of about 200 meters in radius, this is a three-dimensional detection range. Therefore, the information obtained is much more than that obtained through a flat map. All channels are displayed in a 3D map that everyone can understand.
The more complex the terrain, the more effective this detection method is.
What's more, this detector can also detect life.
So as long as there is someone within a range of 200 meters, it can reveal it.
With this information, Zhan Zhao and Lu Sen could easily locate where a large number of beggars gathered in Wuyou Cave.
Hearing Zhan Zhao mention Bao Zheng, Lu Sen also laughed: "In a few days, Bao Fuyin's life will not be so good!"
Zhan Zhao was a little confused.
Lu Sen didn't say much, just chatted with the other party.
By the evening, the crystal ball was fully charged and was taken away by Zhan Zhao again.
He already knew how to use this thing, so naturally he didn't need Lu Sen to follow him.
Besides, Zhan Zhao also felt that it was not very "humane" to let Lu Sen, a real land immortal, follow him into the smelly sewer.
I am a military man, I have been through wind and rain, I am used to it.
But Master Lu is a banished immortal who is otherworldly and detached from the mundane world. How could he do this?
Afterwards, Zhan Zhao relied on this detector to successfully go down the sewer three times, rescuing about 500 missing people and killing a large number of vicious Wuyou Cave beggars.
For a time, the reputation of Kaifeng Prefecture was high in Bian Jing, the fame of constables such as Zhan Zhao soared, and Bao Zheng's personal reputation reached an exaggerated level.
Then, just as Lu Sen predicted, the questioning of Bao Zheng came.
Several censors stood up and accused Kaifeng Prefecture of excessive killing during this period.
In more than half a month, four operations killed at least six or seven hundred beggars. The morgue was already short of manpower.
The bodies of these beggars could only be dragged on a cart pulled by oxen and taken to a deserted mountain hundreds of miles away, where they were buried in a pit.
Bao Zheng stood on the left side below the dragon throne. He squinted his eyes and watched the censors come up one after another and then go down one after another.
When encountering such a thing, he habitually looked to his left, but only saw a ball of air.
The Eighth Wise King has been gone for several months.
There are only a few people in the court who can help him now, and all of them have been sent out.
He suddenly felt like he was fighting alone.
However, Bao Zheng's mind was extremely strong, and this feeling of weakness only lasted for a moment. Afterwards, he returned to normal and quietly watched the last young censor finish his words.
Everyone's eyes were on him.
Zhao Zhen stroked his forehead, his eyes were full of bloodshot. This was not caused by anger or staying up late, but people with high blood pressure would have more bloodshot eyes than ordinary people.
"Lord Bao, what do you think?"
Although Zhao Zhen was not a wise and capable ruler, he was still a qualified emperor, except that he had a soft personality.
He did not believe a word the censor said. In comparison, he trusted Bao Zheng more.
Bao Zheng bowed and said, "I just did what I should do, and I hereby assert that anyone who speaks for Wuyou Cave must have a close relationship with it."
After saying this, Bao Zheng glanced at the censors. His face was expressionless, but the murderous intent in his eyes was already evident.
All officials were in an uproar.
Only Master Pang showed a meaningful smile.
Although those censors were made uneasy by Bao Zheng's gaze, they were not too afraid. They stood up again and criticized Bao Zheng with words, saying that he was arbitrarily making charges and excluding dissidents.
Of course, there were also many people who supported Bao Zheng. Many people stood up at that moment, and both sides accused and attacked each other.
The court was suddenly in chaos again.
Zhao Zhen sighed deeply and stroked his aching forehead: "It's obviously a good thing, why are you arguing again?"
Compared to the 'warm' atmosphere in the court, Lu Sen's life was quite carefree.
Because of the house arrest order, Bilian, Ringo and Heizhu rarely leave the mountain.
Only Lu Sen and Yang Jinhua can go out.
The main reason is that Lu Sen has his own "iron armor". Unless he is besieged by a dozen masters at the same time, it is almost impossible to break his defense in a short time.
Besides, assassination requires one to strike and then run away. Under normal circumstances, when the assassin sees that he cannot break through Lu Sen's defense, he will most likely run away. Only an idiot would continue to fight against a person who is "invulnerable to swords and guns".
Yang Jinhua, on the other hand, is very powerful in martial arts.
She has been married to Lu Sen for half a year. With fruits and honey provided every day, she can practice martial arts at an extremely high intensity every day. Three hours is equivalent to the amount that others can practice in three or four days.
So now her strength is growing rapidly. She was already very powerful, and now she is even stronger.
Although he is still not as powerful as his mother, Marshal Mu, it is still very difficult to assassinate her in the city of Bianjing.
In particular, she not only had some small equipment made by Lu Sen, but also a top-quality accessory with "Defense" +3.
Can significantly reduce the damage from direct attacks.
Taking all these into account, if a real fight breaks out, Mu Guiying may not be able to defeat Yang Jinhua in her 'complete state'.
After all, the improvement of strength by "equipment" is extremely huge.
Lu Sen now rarely attends court and often goes to the Ministry of Rites to "sit in the court".
The position of Langzhong in the Ministry of Shrines was originally a sinecure. He only needed to give some instructions during major festivals, but he only needed to give instructions. The rest of the work was handled by his subordinates.
He could spend a whole day holding a pot of tea and looking through the files of the Ministry of Rites, just like an elderly civil servant.
Regarding such blatant behavior of "slacking off", the Ministry of Rites not only did not think that Lu Sen did anything wrong, but instead praised him highly.
"Master Lu should be pure-hearted and have few desires, and not contend with the world."
It has to be said that special people and special positions will lead to different views.
If it is a position like prefect, it will be evaluated as "a figurehead".
Lu Sen was drinking tea that day, but unexpectedly, an unexpected guest came to the Ministry of Rites.
"Master Lu, I haven't seen you for a few days." Bao Zheng bowed and sat down opposite Lu Sen.
Putting down the teacup in his hand, Lu Sen stopped reading the file. He looked up and looked at the other party with some surprise: "Prefect Bao, why are you here?"
"After all, I am the Privy Councilor and in charge of Kaifeng Prefecture. It shouldn't be a big problem for me to visit the Ministry of Rites." Bao Zheng smiled rarely.
Lu Lin sat up straight, clasped his fists and said, "Of course there is no problem if you come to the Ministry of Rites, but if you take the initiative to come to me, then there is a problem."
Bao Zheng's smile froze, and then he said helplessly: "Master Lu speaks more directly than this black-faced official."
Lu Sen chuckled and said nothing.
What Bao Zheng just said is actually double standards.
There were many "iron straight men" in the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty, and many people who dared to speak out about the right and wrong of the officials. Bao Zheng could definitely be ranked among the top three among them.
He enjoys arguing with others every day, but now that Lu Sen is arguing with him, he thinks that Lu Sen speaks directly. Isn't this double standards?
Bao Zheng saw Lu Sen's strange smile, thought about it, and realized that what he said just now was indeed a bit like "the thief crying thief". He coughed lightly and immediately changed the subject and said: "I want to meet with the Prince of Runan in private, please ask Master Lu to help me make the connection."
After saying this, Bao Zheng saluted very seriously with his fists clasped.
Lu Sen was stunned for a moment: "Taishan goes to court almost every day, so Bao Fuyin can just go to him directly, why does he have to go through this formality?"
"He doesn't want to talk to me any more." Bao Zheng looked helpless: "When he saw me coming, he either glared at me or just walked away."
It would be strange if he didn't get angry.
Lu Sen also knew something about this.
Because the Prince of Runan had a big business, all the famous hotels in the capital were managed by the Prince of Runan's white gloves.
As the business grew and the money became digits, I wanted to do something good.
Therefore, the taverns and hotels of the Prince of Runan would provide porridge every once in a while, or use other means to help the poor and beggars in the city.
If you do this more often, the money will naturally be donated to the beggars in Wuyou Cave.
If it were an ordinary official, he would just let the matter go.
But Bao Zheng was different. He temporarily sealed more than a dozen properties of the Prince of Runan, and after a careful investigation, he confirmed that the properties of the Prince of Runan had no connection with Wuyou Cave, and then he removed the seals.
This caused the Prince of Runan to lose a lot of money.
In fact, losing some money is nothing, but if you lose face, the situation is different.
So the Prince of Runan gets angry whenever he sees Bao Zheng now.
"It seems that Bao Fuyin needs to find someone to join forces." Lu Sen propped up his chin and looked at the other party with interest: "How is it, how does it feel to be betrayed by your own people?"
Bao Zheng snorted: "We have different ideas, so how can we talk about betrayal ?"
"You are just being stubborn." Lu Sen laughed happily: "Too much killing! This kind of note, which is usually only posted on the foreheads of warriors, was actually posted on Bao Longtu's forehead. Do you think it's funny?"
Bao Zheng's eyelids twitched, and he sat up straight, ready to speak, but after thinking about it, he hunched his body again: "If we want to do something, we must impose severe punishment."
"Well, that makes sense." Lu Sen clicked his tongue. "But when General Di pacified the southwest, Bao Fuyin and the Eighth Sage King and other civil officials did not say that."
In fact, Lu Sen had not said that after he served as a military supervisor and killed 100,000 enemies, although Bao Zheng did not say anything in the court, he essentially agreed to let Lu Sen come back, and believed that Lu Sen had indeed killed too many enemies.
I just didn't express my views out loud, but I have mentioned them to the Eighth Wise Kings many times in private.
Bao Zheng felt a little embarrassed.
There were few reliable civil servants in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Suppressing military men is the national policy. Can it be compared with scholars?
When scholars speak and act contradictory, that is the "deep meaning". If you don't understand it, that is your own business!
But Bao Zheng knew that such a fallacy would not work with Lu Sen. Seeing that Lu Sen was mocking him, he stood up and said, "If Master Lu is unwilling to help, I will leave now. I still have official business to deal with."
"Don't worry, Prefect Bao. You will be able to meet the Prince of Runan." Lu Sen also stood up: "Of course, I don't want to care about the specific content of the conversation."
Bao Zheng breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you very much, Master Lu. When you have any news, please come to Kaifeng Mansion to inform me."
After saying this, Bao Zheng turned around and left.
He didn't want to stay with Lu Sen because he felt that the theories that Lu Sen held, or the way Lu Sen practiced, seemed a little abnormal.
After Bao Zheng left, Lu Lin no longer had the intention to look at the files. He wanted to go home and take a look. However, not long after he walked out of the Ministry of Rites, he saw a man blocking him in the middle of the street, preventing him from leaving.
When Lu Sen saw his actions, he immediately became unhappy: "Envoy Xiao, you are standing in the middle of the road. You walk wherever I walk. Are you trying to tease me?"
