Chapter 135 What is this (Part 4)
After arriving in Zibo County for a few days, Zhang Wei felt more and more that something was wrong. Every day, he went to the headquarters of the platform run by Huo Chong, and asked people from all walks of life in the county government. He determined that although Huo Chong was under the banner of "planting blessings", he neither burned paper to worship gods nor held rituals.
On weekdays, all this Zhongfu platform does is help people pay taxes, advise people on what to plant to make money, help people farm, and purchase various agricultural products.
During the slack season, the people can work in the workshops and farms under the Zhongfu platform, and they and their children can go to Huo Chong's school to study.
Zhang Wei was a servant of Yongzheng, and he was loyal to Yongzheng. He was naturally not moved by Huo Chong's good deeds. Before arresting Huo Chong, he had learned from Yongzheng that Huo Chong was spreading rumors and misleading the people. He seemed to be doing good things, but in fact he was plotting something bad. The better Huo Chong did, the more dangerous he was, and he had to be arrested.
After asking so many people, I didn't hear anyone say anything bad about Huo Chong. At most, they complained about how hard the work was and how little money they made. No one could see through Huo Chong's evil intentions.
People come in and out of the headquarters every day, all busy with their own business. In the workshop, all kinds of food and other items are transported in and all kinds of things are transported out. It's busy and bustling. Zibo is not a wealthy place, but the people related to Huo Chong are not badly dressed, at least neatly.
Just as the emperor said, Huo Chong has built a country within a country on his own and has a small imperial court!
Zhang Wei became more and more afraid, and urged the people in Zibo County to find out where Huo Chong had gone. Every time he got the answer "I don't know".
At this time, Shandong Governor Chen Shiguan sent some more people, led by a deputy garrison commander Ning Hai, who led more than 300 people and stationed dozens of miles away from the county seat.
When Deputy Garrison Commander Ning Hai heard that Huo Chong was not there, he shouted to arrest everyone in Huo Chong's headquarters. Zhang Wei saw that there were people who were more excited than him, and hurriedly dissuaded them, "Such a big fuss will only alert the enemy. We have been waiting for a few days, so wait a few more days."
Ning Hai shouted, "Emperor Zhang, even if that's the case, arrest a few people and interrogate them first. What's the point of just waiting?"
Zhang Wei thought this made sense. Just as he was thinking about what to do, he heard Ning Hai continue, "Tell the county government to send someone to call in the steward who stayed here and arrest him for interrogation. After the steward is arrested, won't Huo Chong's men go and call Huo Chong back? We can interrogate the steward and find out where Huo Chong went. We can ambush him on the road and catch him every time."
This plan made Zhang Wei feel good about Haining. It sounded right to him. Zhang Wei discussed it again and called the guards who came with him to call the magistrate to give the order.
The guard stopped Zhang Wei, "Brother Zhang, since the emperor has said that Huo Chong is a notorious bandit, if he knew that the steward was arrested, how could he not be on guard? This is not appropriate."
"...What should we do then?" Zhang Wei began to think that the guard was right.
"It's not impossible to do so. Just let Haining do it himself."
After hearing this, Zhang Wei shook his head repeatedly, "If the master knew that we were trying to shirk responsibility like this, how could he agree?"
After thinking about it, Zhang Wei made up his mind, "Huo Chong has such a big family business in Zibo County, how can he give it up? Just do as Ning Hai said. If anything goes wrong, I will let my master punish me!"
Having made up his mind, Zhang Wei called the current magistrates of Ninghai and Zibo counties. He showed the imperial edict to the magistrates, who were shocked and said quickly, "Imperial Envoy, is this true?"
"Are you saying that I forged the imperial edict?!" Zhang Wei shouted.
The county magistrate was so frightened that his face turned pale. He shook his head and waved his hands repeatedly, "I have absolutely no such intention, absolutely no such intention. But Huo Chong is a law-abiding person and has never spread rumors to confuse the public. Saying that he is plotting a rebellion... is this... true? "
Ning Hai shouted angrily: "Are you trying to help the thieves?"
Seeing how scared the county magistrate was, Zhang Wei was instructed by Yongzheng before he set out, and tried to appease him without being harsh, saying, "This Huo Chong harbors evil intentions. The emperor has a clear vision and can see through the evil of this thief. I am here by order to catch the thief. The county magistrate does not need to be afraid."
Hearing that the imperial envoy was not here to question him, the county magistrate finally calmed down and said quickly, "The men used by the thief Huo Chong are all his students. His eldest disciple is a woman named Qian Qing..."
Before the magistrate could finish, Ning Hai couldn't help laughing out loud, "Haha. She was clearly a mistress, but she gave him the title of a student. This Huo Chong is really a thief. Just arrest this little girl, she must know where Huo Chong went."
Zhang Wei also felt that Huo Chong was too lustful and looked down on him. There was nothing wrong with keeping a woman, but he gave her the name of a student. Wasn't this just an attempt to cover up something?
The magistrate knew that this was not the case. However, the most important thing at the moment was not to defend Huo Chong, so he could only lower his head and listen to the two warriors.
Zhang Wei ordered the county magistrate to send someone to summon Qian Qing, but unexpectedly the person who came back reported that Qian Qing was not available.
Ning Hai got excited, "Oh! This little girl is really brave! Imperial Envoy Zhang, why don't you let me block the door and catch her out."
Zhang Wei didn't want to make it public, but he felt something was wrong. Ning Hai's suggestion was not unacceptable. Finally, Zhang Wei made up his mind, "If we alert the enemy..."
"They are just a bunch of common people. The government troops asked them to come out, but they dared not come. Are they looking for death? How dare they do this? If we let them run rampant, we will be alerting the enemy!" Ning Hai stood up after he finished speaking.
Zhang Wei also thought it made sense. Nowadays, if a small tax collector walked around the countryside beating a gong, the people would be scared and dare not move. If an official pointed at the people and scolded them a few times, dozens of people would be scared and run away.
The mistress of the head of a local platform for cultivating blessings actually dared to ignore the government. It can be seen that she is used to being arrogant and does not take the government seriously at all.
Thinking of this, Zhang Wei said, "Shoubei Ning, thank you for your help."
Ning Hai did not mobilize the more than 300 people outside, but only called his own soldiers and brought 20 people from the 50 people he had sent before. He went straight to the gate of the Zhongfu Platform.
Zhang Wei followed from a distance. Seeing the Ninghaining guards rushing to the gate like wolves and tigers, the people along the street were frightened and hurriedly dodged to make way. However, the closer they got to the headquarters of the Zhongfu platform, the less excited people were. Although they were in a hurry, they just dodged.
Ning Hai arrived at the headquarters and immediately had someone kick the door. Someone immediately came out to stop them. Seeing that both sides would not give in, Ning Hai's men had never seen such people before, so they were ready to fight.
Zhang Wei was a little surprised. He was about to send someone to warn Ning Hai to be careful, but he saw Ning Hai actually called his people back and then shouted, "You bitch called Qian Qing, the government asked you to go, but you dared not go. Now the government is at your door, do you dare to come out?"
Zhang Wei didn't know whether to praise or ridicule. Ning Hai was able to keep his composure and didn't attack directly. But the woman named Qian Qing was on his mind. Did he take the wrong medicine?
Thinking about this, Zhang Wei leaned forward, wanting to see how things would develop.
Not long after, the gatekeeper of the Zhongfu platform at the gate made way for a woman to come out. The woman was wearing a long skirt, but her walking posture was very brisk, just like a man.
She didn't seem to be afraid when she reached the door, and walked a few steps forward. Standing in front of everyone. Zhang Wei originally thought that Huo Chong's mistress should be a seductive and charming woman, and most likely a slut. Seeing the woman in front of him, she had a fair complexion, a dignified appearance, and walked and behaved like a girl. She was completely unrelated to a mistress .
Seeing such a beautiful woman, some of Ning Hai's men laughed maliciously. Although Zhang Wei looked down on such people, he didn't want to say anything. He just watched quietly.
Ning Hai laughed and ordered, "Take her away!"
"Why?" the woman sneered.
"Yoho!" Ning Hai became interested and shouted, "Just because I'm an official, I can arrest anyone I want! Go ahead, arrest them!"
Two soldiers rushed forward immediately, but the woman did not dodge or evade. When the two men got close, she suddenly kicked one of them down, then grabbed the other by the shoulders and knocked the other down with a knee.
The officers and soldiers were all shocked. They didn't expect this woman to be so ruthless. They didn't expect that she could easily knock down a man.
Ning Hai was shocked and angry, and shouted: "Catch this woman and kill her!"
The officers and soldiers shouted and rushed forward. Zhang Wei watched the officers and soldiers rushing forward, and inexplicably felt some sympathy in his heart. This woman... what a pity...
"Ah!" A scream was heard. It was actually a man's scream.
Zhang Wei thought it was a woman who was beaten, and felt even more sorry. By the time he realized it was a man's scream, two more men had already screamed.
At this moment, one of the young men guarding the door shouted, "Fuck him! Go!"
Those people were standing on the steps, and Zhang Wei could barely see them rushing down waving sticks.
Rebellion! Rebellion! Zhang Wei was shocked. Until just now, Zhang Wei still thought Huo Chong was a cunning person, that is, taking advantage of the court not paying attention to Huo Chong, Huo Chong gave small favors to the people and reaped various benefits.
However, Huo Chong was not there at the time, but his men dared to attack the officers and soldiers. This was a rebellion!
Just as they were panicking, they saw the officers and soldiers turning around and running away. There was a gap left, and Zhang Wei looked through it. He saw Huo Chong's men lined up in a row, stabbing the officers and soldiers who were only armed with swords with their long sticks.
These people moved skillfully and smoothly, their arrangement was very neat, and their coordination was surprisingly smooth.
As a servant of Yongzheng, Zhang Wei had seen the military exercises. He knew something was wrong. The people on the other side were not ordinary people. They were trained and had undergone training comparable to that of the military.
At this time, more and more government troops were fleeing. Zhang Wei had already seen Huo Chong's female disciple wielding a sword and madly killing the government troops.
Although she was just a woman, her movements were unusually smooth and her moves were particularly sharp. The government troops were trained very rigidly on weekdays, and most of them were pinned down by the "gun formation" of this woman's accomplices. This woman chopped the government troops in front of her into pieces.
Zhang Wei saw that the situation was going to get worse, so he led his guards forward and shouted, "You are planning a rebellion! You are going to kill all nine clans!"
The rebels on the other side seemed to waver a little when they heard this rebuke. A moment later, the woman in the crowd on the other side shouted loudly: "Who are you trying to scare? Let's kill all these bastards. Kill them all, and kill all their clans! Kill!"
This was the first time Zhang Wei was threatened with the death of his entire clan, and he was furious. However, Zhang Wei soon realized how useless those men were, and after being scolded by the woman, he mustered up his courage again and fought against the government troops.
The government troops were unable to resist and were killed and fled in all directions. The Ninghai garrison commander no longer had the arrogance he had before. He fled in fear with his personal soldiers protecting Zhang Wei and other guards.
