Chapter 345 A cornered dog will jump over the wall
Since he was so sensible, Jiang Yuan decided to keep him for the time being.
After all, Jiang Yuan was new to the area, so it wasn't appropriate to replace all the commanders at once.
Zhou Tongchun is in poor health and has already decided to let his eldest son take over the business.
The person in charge of logistics, who led a group of corrupt officials to enrich themselves at public expense, has already been dealt with.
The person who secretly poisoned them and tried to kill their family is most likely that Commander Han. Even if Jiang Yuan can't do anything to him for the time being, he will find a way to get rid of him as soon as possible.
In this way, of the original four commanders of Dinghaiwei, only the slippery Commander Wang remains.
To prevent unsuspecting soldiers from being incited and causing unrest within the army, Jiang Yuan decided to keep Commander Wang on the job for the time being.
If he continues to perform exceptionally well, Jiang Yuan wouldn't mind keeping him in that position. Conversely, if he relapses into his old ways, Jiang Yuan naturally won't make an exception for him anymore.
While helping Xie Wanniang load the valuables onto the carriage, Jiang Yuan briefly explained the progress of the investigation to her.
Xie Wanniang frowned more and more as she listened. "He's just a nobody. He probably wouldn't have such audacity. There must be someone behind him instigating him."
“Yes,” Jiang Yuan nodded, “I have sent people to capture Han Shun, but we probably won’t get anything useful out of him.”
As the two were talking, Old Qian hurried over, bowed, and replied, "My lord, Your Highness, Han Shun has been captured. In addition, I have also discovered that Han Shun's master, Han Tao, the commander of the garrison, has deep ties with the local powerful Chen family. The two families are not just related by marriage; they also have some other secret transactions that cannot be made public."
Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan already knew that Han Tao was the son-in-law of the Chen family, and that the Chen family had a very deep-rooted presence in Dinghai County and even Ningbo Prefecture.
However, this was the first time the two of them had heard that Han Tao had other connections with the Chen family in private.
Jiang Yuan looked at Lao Qian, "When you went to arrest Han Shun, what was Han Tao's reaction?"
"His face looked terrible, a mixture of surprise and panic, but he concealed it quickly, so the change in expression was only a fleeting moment."
Jiang Yuan's eyes flashed even colder. "Didn't he say he wanted to come to me in person to ask me what happened?"
Old Qian shook his head. "No, he only asked his subordinate why he wanted to arrest Han Shun. After his subordinate explained the situation, he sent the steward to fetch Han Shun."
He paused for a moment, then added, "However, I have arranged for several people to guard outside his residence. If he makes any unusual moves, we should be able to receive the news immediately."
Objectively speaking, this method is not very efficient, and the information obtained is mostly scraps. However, since they are newcomers and cannot immediately place people around the enemy, this last resort is the best option for them at present.
Jiang Yuan clearly understood this as well, so he didn't urge or blame Lao Qian and the others.
After dismissing Old Qian who came to report, Jiang Yuan helped Xie Wanniang load all her things onto the cart, and then led his children, guards, and servants to their new residence in a grand procession.
During this time, Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang brought up Han Tao again.
Based on the information she had, Xie Wanniang speculated, "As a commander of a garrison, he probably thought he would have a chance to be promoted after the previous commander was transferred. However, he did not expect that you, an outsider, would be suddenly transferred by the emperor to fill the vacancy, which directly shattered his dream of promotion."
Jiang Yuan nodded, "If that were all, it would be fine. But now Lao Qian and the others have found out that he has some shady dealings with the Chen family. He must be worried that I will take action against him after I take office."
The fact that outsiders like Lao Qian could easily find out this information shows that quite a few people know about it.
Their actions were not discreet and full of loopholes, so they were naturally extra vigilant about personnel changes in the heads of the garrisons.
After all, they weren't sure if the new commander of the guards would be like the previous commanders, turning a blind eye to their underhanded actions.
As they worked, the two of them speculated back and forth about what kind of shady dealings the two families had been up to that made them so nervous about Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang's arrival.
Meanwhile, inside Han Tao's residence, he was clutching a jade pendant, leaning back in a grand chair with a gloomy expression.
He originally thought that even if Zhou Hao was arrested, Jiang Yuan would only target Zhou Tongchun, but unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan sent his confidants to his residence to arrest him because Zhou Hao implicated Han Shun.
And that gambling den thug, he was clearly one of the henchmen of the prefect's cheap brother-in-law, his men got involved, yet Jiang Yuan didn't target him.
Is this reasonable? Would a normal person bypass them and go directly to his personal attendant Han Shun? Didn't Jiang Yuan consider that those two might be making baseless accusations to protect the mastermind behind it all, namely their respective masters?
Could Jiang Yuan not have figured out such a simple logic? He's clearly targeting Han Tao on purpose!
Han Tao was so angry that he couldn't help but curse Jiang Yuan.
Although he had Han Shun's entire family in his hands and the chances of him turning against him were extremely slim, he still felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Because both he and Jiang Yuan knew that even if Han Shun claimed that all of this was done by him alone and had nothing to do with anyone else, Jiang Yuan would never believe such a false claim.
As Han Tao had predicted, the next day at noon, another of his trusted lieutenants rushed over to report, "Sir, Han Shun said that he saw that you had made great contributions in Dinghaiwei and should have been in the position of commander, but Jiang Yuan had taken your place. So he was dissatisfied and took it upon himself to get rid of Jiang Yuan and make room for you."
Upon hearing this, Han Tao's mood did not improve much, because he knew that Jiang Yuan might value evidence when solving cases, but when it came to revenge, Jiang Yuan did not need so-called "conclusive evidence".
Han Shun lied and protected Han Tao. Jiang Yuan would indeed be unable to continue digging deeper along this line because the clues would be cut off, and he would indeed be unable to do anything to Han Tao for the time being. However, Han Tao still had other incriminating evidence, waiting for him to dig deeper and deeper.
Jiang Yuan wasn't particularly angry when Han Shun lied because he still had a backup plan.
Just as Han Tao had predicted, he had already made up his mind to find other incriminating evidence against Han Tao.
As for Han Tao, Jiang Yuan was certain that he would not let him go without evidence. He would continue to investigate until he found irrefutable evidence to bring Han Tao down.
"Rather than waiting to die, it's better to strike first," Han Tao murmured. "Since this feud has already been made, it's either him or me who dies next."
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