104. Test
Lu Jin.
uncle.
A strange yet familiar name and title.
The other party exists in the world of Chenji in the form of a legend, thousands of miles away, but like the towering mountains beside Chunlei Lake, it is hard to ignore.
In the study of Zhou Mansion, only Chen Ji, Jin Zhu and Xi Feng were reading the court newspaper.
Xifeng sat upright on the armchair, his expression dull and contemptuous, as if he was not reading the court bulletin, but the memorials from the governors-general of the various provinces of the Jing Dynasty.
Jin Zhu sat at the mahogany desk, put down the official report in his hand, and looked at the tiger-faced figure opposite him. "Do you think the previous firearms explosion in Luocheng was caused by the internal strife in the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Department?"
Chen Ji took the official report in his hand and spread it out for Jin Zhu to read. "Lu Jin was forced to resign due to political failure, and his political enemies must have immediately clipped his wings. This explains why the assassins from the Jing Dynasty who attacked you, my lord, are now fighting each other with the monks from the Jing Dynasty Kujue Temple."
The Golden Pig clapped his hands. "It took me a whole day to figure out something, and you figured it out with just one sentence from this newspaper. Amazing!"
"So the Lord knows about this."
Jin Zhu smiled and said, "The internal purge of the Military Intelligence Department is not just happening in Luocheng. There are also chaos in Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Tianjin."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "They are fighting among themselves like this, aren't they afraid of delaying important matters?"
The Golden Pig said meaningfully, "Is there anything greater than power in this world?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked, "Is the internal strife in the Military Intelligence Department over?"
The Golden Pig smiled and said, "It's still early."
"oh?"
At this moment, a spy came in from outside the door with a tray and brought in a pot of hot tea.
Jin Zhu lifted his sleeves and poured hot tea for Chen Ji, sighing, "Lu Jin will never accept failure. For a man like him, we can never easily judge his success or failure until the moment he dies."
"Your Excellency seems to hold him in high esteem?"
Jin Zhu poured himself another cup of hot tea and began to chat leisurely, "Lu Jin was originally a descendant of a military hero from the Jing Dynasty. When his family fell into poverty, he resolutely knelt at the door of the residence of Yuan Zhong, the Deputy Privy Councilor, and acknowledged Yuan Zhong as his adoptive father. He also offered all of his family's remaining land and money in exchange for a position as a 'Secretary of the Privy Council'."
"At that time, it was popular among the descendants of the Jing Dynasty nobles to hold idle positions in the Privy Council, spending their days walking birds, fighting dogs, gambling, and visiting prostitutes."
"But Lu Jin didn't just sit around in the Privy Council. Instead, he petitioned for permission to establish the Military Intelligence Department. Yuan Zhong mocked him publicly, telling him to just sit around and do his job and not get his head around it. Lu Jin didn't give up. He simply knelt before Yuan Zhong's door for three days and three nights. Yuan Zhong lost his patience and publicly declared, 'Go to the Ning Dynasty and kill a cabinet minister, and I'll let you establish that ridiculous Military Intelligence Department.'"
Golden Pig sighed, "From that day on, Lu Jin disappeared, and it wasn't until years later that he reappeared. When he did, he was holding the lime-pickled head of our Minister of Revenue, standing in front of the vermilion lacquer gates of the Privy Council. This incident shocked both dynasties. The Ning Dynasty was furious, sending over thirty assassins to kill him, but all failed. Meanwhile, Lu Jin was noticed by the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Yuan Mao, and his career quickly rose."
The Minister of the Central Secretariat was the prime minister of the Jing Dynasty, second only to the emperor and above everyone else.
Chen Ji was a little surprised: "Why does the Lord know so much about this matter?"
Jin Zhu drank the hot tea in the cup, closed his eyes and savored it for a moment, then opened his eyes and smacked his lips and said: "The best Xinyang Maojian, it's a pity that it's out of season... I know this is not uncommon. Ever since Lu Jin was appreciated by Zhongshu Pingzhang, Yuan Zhong, that big mouth, has been drinking and chatting with people every day.
Speaking of Lu Jin kneeling to him twice. Not only that, even though Lu Jin was on the same level as him, he still treated Lu Jin like a son and ordered him around.
Chen Ji laughed and said, "This Yuanzhong, I'm afraid the grass on his grave is already over a meter high, right?"
Golden Pig smiled and said, "If Lu Jin really did kill Yuan Zhong, it would be nothing more than a clichéd story. Lu Jin is just a clichéd person, not worthy of our Secret Service's serious attention. In fact, Lu Jin not only did not kill Yuan Zhong, but he always treated him as his adoptive father, presenting him with generous gifts every year and festival to express his gratitude for his support."
Chen Ji was stunned.
The Golden Pig exclaimed, "The people of the Jing Dynasty may not know what laws the Emperor has issued, but they certainly know that Lu Jin will repay a favor. As long as you have helped him, it will be like having a golden medal of immunity from death."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "This man is extremely politically intelligent, why did he lose to Lu Guanwu?"
Jin Zhu shook his head: "It wasn't him who lost, it was Zhongshu Pingzhang Yuan Mao who lost... No more talking, let's continue reading the court newspaper."
"Um."
Chen Ji quickly flipped through a whole box of official reports, and he suddenly realized something: none of the official reports mentioned that Lu Jin had a younger sister.
It was as if that woman had never really existed.
…
…
However, at this moment, a secret spy outside knocked on the door of Zhou Mansion under the cover of night.
Amid the creaking sound of the wooden door turning, the spy, without waiting for the door to fully open, slipped sideways into the yard, knelt on one knee, clasped his fists, and said, "Sir, this is bad!"
Jin Zhu stepped over the threshold and walked from the study to the courtyard: "Didn't I ask you to escort Liu Tiao and the others to transport the deputy supervisor out of the city? Why did you come back alone?"
The spy said in a serious tone, "Liu Tiao stuffed the deputy supervisor into the inner compartment of a manure cart and was about to secretly transport him out of the Qinglong Gate in the north, but the Luocheng Military Commissioner happened to find him! Before I could step forward to rescue him, the military commissioner's infantry surrounded Liu Tiao and his men and formed a military formation. With over twenty elite infantrymen, I have no confidence in this formation."
Jin Zhu's expression changed. "What? I asked you to just transport one person, and you made such a big mistake!"
The spy said bitterly, "This method of transporting people has always worked, but I didn't expect it to fail this time. My lord, what should we do now? Liu Tiao and the others are probably going to suffer. My lord, why don't we reveal our identities and ask the Luocheng Military Commission to release them? How can we let our people fall into the hands of these idiots?"
Chen Ji also stepped out of the house at this time: "No."
All the spies looked at him, as if knives were cutting into his body.
Jin Zhu looked at Chen Ji: "What do you mean?"
Chen Ji looked up at the night sky and thought for a moment: "If I reveal my identity now and Liu Mingxian finds out, all my efforts will be wasted. Master Jinzhu, is it more important to bring down the Liu family or to save a few of my subordinates?"
"All are important."
Chen Ji soothed him, "Maybe they will come back on their own at dawn?"
"Hmm?" Golden Pig thought thoughtfully.
Chen Ji no longer answered, but turned back into the house and continued to take out one official newspaper after another from the box and flipped through them quickly, constantly looking for some information.
Golden Pig looked back at the thin figure in the house, and always felt that the other party was the Twelve Zodiac Signs, while he seemed to have returned to the days of being a pigeon-level spy.
At that time, if the sky fell, there were tall people to hold it up, so it was not Songkan's turn to worry. At the command of his superior, he rushed forward to catch the thief Jingchao, and after catching him, he ate a bowl of steaming beef noodles on the way home, as if he had swallowed the bloody smell in his head.
Jin Zhu sneered to himself and went into the house to continue reading the official newspaper, leaving the spies looking at each other in bewilderment.
At the time of Si, the sky outside Zhou's mansion was already bright.
Xifeng was so sleepy that he kept nodding his head, but Chen Ji was in high spirits as he took out a new report from the second box.
He stood beside the box, opened the first page, and saw a passage: In the autumn of the fifteenth year of Jianing, Chen Liqin of the Chen family was appointed Tongzhi of Luocheng. The eldest son of the family was quite talented, while the illegitimate son was dull and taciturn...
Just as he saw this, a hand reached out from the side and took the newspaper from his hand.
Chen Ji looked up in surprise. Jin Zhu smiled and closed the official report. "This official report is a secret document sent by my Secret Service to various states for Hai Dongqing and the twelve zodiac signs to review. Hai Dongqing and the twelve zodiac signs need to obtain blood from their eyebrows to open it. I have made an exception to show you and Xifeng the information from Jing Dynasty today. You can't read the rest."
The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere suddenly became stagnant.
Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "Then I won't watch it."
The Golden Pig smiled and patted his shoulder, "Hurry up and make some achievements. When you become a Saker Falcon, you'll be able to see whatever you want. If you become a zodiac animal, you can even go to the Jiefan Building to view even more confidential documents."
Chen Ji explained, "Achievement is secondary. This time, I assisted in the overthrow of the Liu family mainly to avenge you, sir."
"Good brother!"
At this time, several spies climbed over the gray tile wall and entered Zhou's mansion.
"Huh? Six!" A secret agent in the courtyard asked in confusion, "Weren't you arrested by the Luocheng Military Commission? Why did they let you go?"
The Golden Pig came into the courtyard and asked solemnly, "Have you revealed your identities?"
Liu Tiao shook his head. "No, before we left last night, the lord beside you told us not to reveal our identities as secret agents, so we had no choice but to allow the Military Commissioner to capture us. They took us to the city wall and detained us, and then took the deputy inspector away for questioning. About an incense stick of time later, Lord Liu from the Military Commissioner came to tell us that we could leave and that we would be waiting for the Lord Commander in three days."
The spies were stunned: "Are we just going to let you go like this?"
The Golden Pig asked, "Is anyone following me?"
“Yes, but we got rid of him.”
The spies looked at the Golden Pig and said, "Sir, something is fishy."
Chen Ji said calmly, "This is a test from the Liu family. The deputy supervisor must be from the Liu family. Liu Mingxian deliberately handed him over to us to see how we would deal with him. You didn't reveal your identities after being arrested. Our plan to impersonate the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department has been half completed."
The Golden Pig exclaimed in admiration, "I didn't expect that you are so young yet you can do things so flawlessly."
Chen Ji bowed and said, "It's all thanks to your good teachings. The Liu family should have trusted us by now. When we meet again in three days, there will surely be a surprise. I am here to wish you great revenge. However, I have been away for too long this time, so I must hurry home."
"Go ahead, go ahead. Remember to meet here the day after tomorrow night."
"clear."
Jin Zhu stood on the steps in front of the study, watching Chen Ji leave the Zhou residence. His smile gradually faded. He waved to Liu Tiao, "Send a man on a fast horse to Kaifeng Prefecture to bring Meng Ji over. Now that the Liu family matter is over, I have many people to interrogate."
At this time, Xifeng stood up from the armchair and asked in confusion: "...I have been with you for seven years, how come I didn't know that you still have a grudge against the Liu family?"
Jin Zhu was stunned for a moment, then sighed: "Master, you are really immersed in the role."
…
There is one more chapter tonight but it will probably be very late to finish, so everyone should get up early tomorrow morning to read it.
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