Chapter 160: The Situation of Repeated Jumps (VII)
Mr. Ding sent the news to the capital through Mr. Ba's limited network of contacts. Looking at the time under Mr. Ding's letter, which was concise and to the point, and only the person concerned could understand it, Mr. Ba felt a sense of emotion. It is true that a journey tests a horse's strength and a person's heart is revealed over time. Only when it comes to a critical moment can we understand who is sincere.
Judging from the time, the speed of the message was not much slower than the 800-mile express. It can be seen that although these people were few in number, they all had the same feelings in opposing Yongzheng's tyranny. If they were not completely unable to accept Yongzheng, these people would not be so determined to walk on the same path with the Eighth Master.
Keeping the contents of the letter in mind, Mr. Ba went to the kitchen and threw the paper into the stove. Watching the paper turn black and be quickly devoured by the flames, Mr. Ba remembered Uncle Liu, whom he had killed.
The purpose of killing Liu Shu was simple, to prevent Yongzheng from getting more information about Huo Chong. At that time, the Eighth Master did not know how to use Huo Chong in the end, but the bigger the trouble Huo Chong made, the better. Yongzheng was already happy if he felt uncomfortable, not to mention that if Yongzheng focused all his attention on Huo Chong, he would be unlikely to devote more energy to dealing with the Eighth Master.
What has happened now proves that the Eighth Master's expectations are correct. Huo Chong has shown a much smarter intelligence than the Eighth Master could have imagined, and Huo Chong's unknown background is even more interesting. It is impossible for a craftsman to know so many things about the royal family. Huo Chong not only knows, but also understands the relationship between the princes. How deep are those people behind Huo Chong hiding?
The people in the court were all smart people. Anyone who was interested in Huo Chong thought that Huo Chong had an unknown origin. The confession of Liu Shu's son was enough to prove this. What had Huo Chong experienced before becoming Liu Shu's disciple? It was impossible for such a living person to suddenly appear.
The Eighth Master knew much more than these people. Before his death, Uncle Liu had described in detail what Huo Chong looked like when he appeared. What surprised Uncle Liu was the object in Huo Chong's hand that flashed with an inexplicable light. And Huo Chong's clothes were of indescribable texture. They were so precious that Uncle Liu had never seen them before.
Uncle Liu had some knowledge, and knew that a person dressed like this must be a very important person. Indeed, there was an option of killing and robbing. But that was the choice of a bandit. Uncle Liu was not even a bandit, let alone the courage to kill. So Uncle Liu chose to save Huo Chong, and did not even touch the things on Huo Chong's body.
Eliminating Uncle Liu would cover up the most important content. If Uncle Liu had something else to say, that would be even better. Even the Eighth Master, who knew these details, was frightened when he thought of Huo Chong's unknown secrets. Those ministers who thought Huo Chong was just an ordinary person would only suffer more.
Thinking that Yongzheng might get beaten up by Huo Chong, and that his prestige might be greatly affected, the Eighth Master was looking forward to this day coming as soon as possible.
The paper was completely burned to ashes. After thinking for a while, Mr. Ba secretly sent out a message, "Xie Cilü is not dead."
Soon, the news that "Xie Cili is not dead" began to spread in the capital. Xie Cili was too sensitive recently, and the secret service department quickly noticed this message and quickly wrote it into the secret memorials sent to Yongzheng.
Yongzheng was not happy when he saw the news. His face turned gloomy.
A governor committed suicide before being captured, which was a very positive example for the Qing Dynasty. Because of this example, Yongzheng did not pursue the blame for Xie Cilü's defeat. He even sent a letter of condolence to Xie Cilü's son Xie Jishi.
Although the minister was defeated, at least he adhered to his duty as a minister. The emperor did not blame him too much and still treated him with enough generosity for his loyalty. Overall, this is perfect. In particular, it can help improve Yongzheng's image of being harsh and violent.
But if the foundation of the minister's loyalty and the emperor's benevolence was shaken, Xie Cilü would not have died. Yongzheng's tolerance would have immediately turned into stupidity, and Xie Cilü's loyalty would have turned into hypocrisy. All the beautiful things that had been constructed would have become a laughing stock.
Yongzheng felt his blood rushing to his head. Failure is not terrible. Yongzheng doesn't like failure, but he has learned to accept failure. But being deceived and humiliated is not okay. That is another matter, something that must not be tolerated.
Having made a decision, Yongzheng called Zhang Tingyu over and asked, "Mr. Heng, do you think Huo Chong is a roving bandit or a sitting bandit?"
Zhang Tingyu had already spent some time studying Huo Chong. After a moment's thought, he immediately replied, "This thief is a bandit."
"Why do you think so?" Yongzheng wanted to confirm it again.
"Since Huo Chong started the rebellion, he has not left Shandong and has been traveling to places where he usually moves. Your Majesty, I have carefully asked the Ministry of War and officials who are acquainted with Huo Chong. The so-called elegant use of troops is just that Huo Chong has long been operating trade routes. He is familiar with the geography and can travel between places. It is definitely not that Huo Chong has some kind of natural talent."
After hearing his trusted minister crack a key point about Huo Chong , Yongzheng felt relieved. "According to what you said, if the court sent someone to ask Huo Chong to be executed, would they be able to see Huo Chong?"
Zhang Tingyu was shocked. When he first heard what Yongzheng said, he thought Yongzheng wanted to recruit Huo Chong. How could the emperor personally issue an order to recruit a bandit? After further investigation, he found that Huo Chong was actually going to surrender and be executed. This was beyond Zhang Tingyu's imagination.
Officials who had met Huo Chong said that although Huo Chong looked modest, he was a very opinionated person. Unless Yongzheng had found Huo Chong's biggest weakness and forced Huo Chong to sacrifice his life, Huo Chong would not have surrendered and asked for death in such a situation where the government troops had been defeated several times.
But Zhang Tingyu did not mention this. "Your Majesty, if you are sending someone, what is it for?"
"I want to see if Huo Chong is really a bandit. The army is being mobilized. If we can confirm that Huo Chong is still in Shandong, we don't have to worry about Huo Chong causing trouble everywhere."
Zhang Tingyu thought this suggestion was a bit outrageous. But since the emperor said so, Zhang Tingyu couldn't completely deny it. He could only ask, "Who does the emperor want to send?"
Yongzheng was more efficient than the Eighth Prince. Before the rumors in the capital that Xie Cilü was alive had spread, the people Yongzheng sent to Huo Chong had taken Xie Cilü out of the territory controlled by Huo Chong. Upon learning that Huo Chong, who escorted these people away, had actually asked for 800 taels of silver for "medical expenses", Yongzheng cursed in his heart. Huo Chong never changed his stubborn nature, even when he was about to die.
Yongzheng felt that Chen Shiguan, the current Shandong governor, was meddling in other people's affairs because he paid for the "medical expenses" privately.
However, Chen Shiguan also verified that Xie Cilü was not dead, but was just seriously injured.
On May 14, Li Fu, the governor of Zhili, had just returned home and hadn't even sat down when someone came to deliver his imperial edict. As soon as Li Fu saw the person delivering the imperial edict, he knew something was wrong. Li Fu was quite confident in his integrity and knew that he couldn't have been arrested for corruption. So the only reason for his arrest was the incident involving Tian Wenjing.
On May 16, in Hangzhou, the door of Xie Jishi, the son of Xie Cilu, was also knocked. Xie Jishi, who had already taken off his official uniform and changed into ordinary clothes, was not as smart as Li Fu. He did not know his fate until he heard the person announcing the imperial edict that Xie Jishi would be imprisoned.
But the two of them didn't know that the reason why Yongzheng dealt with the two of them so quickly was that after comparing the two people's memorials to Tian Wenjing, Yongzheng believed that the two of them were colluding with each other and causing trouble in the capital and other places. He tried his best to completely overthrow Tian Wenjing, who Yongzheng wanted to set up as a benchmark.
There were many people who criticized Tian Wenjing, including these two. Even Zhang Tingyu, who was selected by Yongzheng, told Yongzheng that he disagreed with Tian Wenjing. Yongzheng saw nothing wrong with this single statement. So Yongzheng had not thought of dismissing Li Fu and Xie Jishi from their posts and imprisoning them.
But collusion behind closed doors was another matter. In Yongzheng's eyes, cliques were no less harmful to government than corrupt officials. Li Fu and Xie Jishi had always had good reputations, which made Yongzheng even more angry. Using their good reputations to form cliques and manipulate government affairs in private was much more despicable than corrupt officials.
Thinking of a good reputation, Yongzheng couldn't help but think of Lao Ba, the "virtuous king". Still angry, Yongzheng made a new attack on Lao Ba's wife, describing her as "flirtatious".
Lao Ba received the latest news, whether it was official or personal. Seeing his beautiful wife getting angry, Lao Ba couldn't help but persuade her: "Who was the last person to be said like this? Do you know?"
"I don't know!" Lao Ba's wife answered angrily.
The eighth elder laughed and said, "It was Luo Binwang who was talking about Wu Zetian."
Lao Ba's wife was not well educated and did not know about this. She did not even know much about Wu Zetian and could only look at her husband with a puzzled look.
Seeing that communication was ineffective, Lao Ba changed his communication method and said, "Look at Lao Si's wives, they are all ugly. He said that because he is jealous."
Hearing her husband's comments, Lao Ba's wife burst into laughter, and her unhappy expression disappeared. Looking at his wife's beautiful face, Lao Ba suddenly became excited and wanted to do something with his wife.
In the following sage time, Prince Lian let his wife lean on him, but he was thinking about Huo Chong. I don't know how anxious Huo Chong would be after seeing the news.
Here, Yongzheng was also asking the "envoy" who hurried back to the capital, "Does Huo Chong look proud or terrified?"
The messenger thought for a moment before answering, "Your Majesty, I see Huo Chong has something on his mind, but it's not about us."
Yongzheng felt that Huo Chong was a bit strange. Based on his understanding of the dark side of human nature, Yongzheng naturally thought that Huo Chong had some evil thoughts. But now Yongzheng's judgment of Huo Chong has changed a bit. In Yongzheng's eyes, Huo Chong is absolutely evil and treacherous, to the point where he seems loyal and trustworthy. Huo Chong's reaction did not make Yongzheng believe that Huo Chong was considering an extremely evil conspiracy.
It must be said that if Huo Chong knew Yongzheng's opinion, he would definitely disdain it. Huo Chong felt that he might be a person who was forced to be cunning, but because of this, he became less and less interested in any conspiracy. The cost-effectiveness of conspiracy was too low.
