Chapter 198 Who is worse than whom
Xie Zhan, who was being thought of by Lu Songli and others, now had a serious look on his face.
Just as they entered the southern territory from Jiangzhou, the Xie and Zhao families had just experienced a dangerous landslide.
The south is prone to rain. After the beginning of spring, the further south you go, the more rainy it gets. Xie Zhan had never expected that they would encounter such a thrilling danger.
He gathered people and brought back the scattered people.
Fortunately, several people from the Zhao family died, and only four or five people from the Xie family were injured, but no one died. It was a close call.
At this time, they found a solid stone platform nearby and temporarily settled down.
Xie Zhan took Xie Nan and Xie Bai to help the Zhao family, while the Xie family was comforted by the two elders Xie Qian and Xie Yuan.
After dealing with the Zhao family's affairs, Xie Zhan took Xie Bai and Xie Nan back to the gathering place of the Xie family before drinking a sip of hot water.
Several fires were lit in the cave, and the Xie and Zhao families sat around in groups of three or four. Suddenly, the sound of sobbing could be heard in the cave.
Xie Zhan held a bamboo water cup in his hand, his brows glaring.
This journey had been filled with many hardships, and both the Xie and Zhao families had suffered heavy casualties. This was no longer the time when a few deaths didn't matter. Now, every death pained him deeply.
He looked up at his wife, who was curled up beside him, warming herself by the fire. Besides occasionally having dreams that predicted the future, could this wife of his also bring good fortune and avoid disaster? Xie Zhan looked at Zhao Yutan with a deep and meaningful gaze.
Zhao Yutan avoided his gaze.
Because Zhao Yutan was very nervous early this morning, she found Xie Zhan and asked him if she could rest for a day instead of rushing.
When Xie Zhan asked her the reason, she hesitated and couldn't explain it clearly.
Thinking about some of her magical qualities, Xie Zhan was still considering it, but Mo Gang and Mo Yasi directly disagreed.
They were responsible for escorting prisoners, and they had a time limit. They were not far from Lingnan now, but the deadline was approaching. In addition, it had been raining for recent days, making everyone feel upset, and they really didn't want to be delayed on the road.
Mo Gang insisted on hurrying on. He was now the leader of the entire escort team, and Xie Zhan didn't want to offend him openly.
It rains a lot in the south in spring, and the weather has been rainy for the past few days, making it very uncomfortable for everyone to travel. In addition, the place they stayed the night before was not very good, so everyone was eager to find the next place to stay.
But Xie Zhan also had a plan. He let the Zhao family walk in the middle, and the Xie family was divided into two groups, walking in front and behind, surrounding the Zhao family in the middle.
His decision made it very easy for the Xie family members in the front and back to escape when the landslide occurred, but it was the Zhao family in the middle that suffered.
Xie Zhan only had time to take a couple of sips of water before someone else came looking for him. In this landslide, another member of the bailiff team died, and that person was none other than Mo Gang.
Mo Gang was the one among all the escorts that he spent the most effort and resources to win over. It was so strange that anyone could die, but he had to die.
Xie Zhan only felt a dull pain in his solar plexus. At this moment, he really wanted to know how many members of the Qin family had been killed as they headed north.
He felt that at least Qin's mother should be dead, as she had always been in poor health: Qin Lao San's wife had just given birth and should also be dead: and the newborn baby, everyone knew how easy it was for babies to die, and the chances of her surviving were almost zero.
The Qin family's children, all under ten years old, should have died...
By this calculation, more than half of the Qin family should have been killed.
However, he speculated that Lu Songli should have prepared some backup plans, and the casualties should not be more than half, but in the harsh ice and snow environment, at least two or three people should have died.
As for the second son of the Qin family in the northern border, they were escorted to Pingzhou for exile. Aside from the second son of the Qin family, the rest were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and their lives must be even more miserable. After all, no matter how powerful Lu Songli was, he couldn't reach the northern border for the time being.
Unfortunately, their two teams are now thousands of miles apart, one in the south and one in the north. He has little control over Pingzhou and can only guess at the specific situation of the Qin family.
When Xie Zhan came over, Xiao Hua was directing the young and strong men from the Xie and Zhao families to dig a pit. Next to them, Mo Gang was wrapped in a mat, waiting for the pit to be dug so that they could bury him and be done with it.
When Xiao Hua saw Xie Zhan coming, he immediately went to greet him.
The two went to talk nearby.
Xiao Hua got straight to the point. "We're almost at our exile in Lingnan. I hope everyone will be safe and sound on the way. We won't embarrass you, so you should just behave yourself. How do you think?"
Xie Zhan nodded.
Seeing him nod, Xiao Hua secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His only thought now was to quickly send this group of fugitives there, complete the handover, and then quickly return to Chang'an, and then move around a bit, or even be transferred to be a yamen runner, and never be a bailiff again!
Chang'an City
Zhang Xian was targeted.
Ever since Zhang Xian took the throne during the morning court session while Zuo Anmin was away and became a favorite of the new emperor, Zuo Anmin came back and first tried to win him over and make him follow his lead. After Zhang Xian refused, Zuo Anmin started to make trouble for him.
Of course, Zuo Anmin was very friendly to the new emperor on the surface, but he made things difficult for him in private.
But Zhang Xian's resume was spotless. The only flaw was his relationship with Lü Desheng, which he had already patched up in advance. How slippery...
Zuo Anmin thought for a moment and said, "Okay, if I can't find you, it's fine. Aren't you good at eliminating bandits? I'll ask the emperor to send you to where bandits are most active."
Zhang Xian simply claimed to be sick.
At night, he quietly came to Lu's house.
By now, Lu Desheng had already learned that his daughter and son had arrived in Liucheng and what had happened in Liucheng.
He now looks at Zhang Xian with great favor.
In response to his anxiety, Lu Desheng calmly comforted him, "You expected this to happen, didn't you? You took advantage of his inconvenience and robbed his house. Now that he's back, how can he not be angry?"
Zhang Xian nodded.
"But you have to know that only those who endure the most hardships can achieve success. Squatting is to jump higher."
Zhang Xian nodded again.
"The imperial court is not a monolithic entity. The forces of the various factions are at a stalemate. How can Zuo Anmin do whatever he wants? Don't worry, you will find your place sooner or later."
Zhang Xian thought about it and nodded again.
"So, go back and have a good rest for two days. I'm afraid you won't be able to rest even if you want to in the future."
After hearing these words from Lord Lu, Zhang Xian went back obediently.
On this day, the new emperor was digesting his food in the imperial garden. When he reached a rockery, he heard people gossiping. His trusted eunuch was about to shout to stop them, but was stopped by the new emperor.
"Hey, the palace and the former dynasty are in such a mess right now. If the prince were still alive, why would it be like this?"
"That's true. The Crown Prince has received orthodox imperial education since childhood. He should be much better at governing the country than the current one."
The new emperor's expression was very unhappy. This person now? Wasn't he referring to him?
The trusted eunuchs beside him didn't dare to breathe. In the past few months, there had indeed been rumors that the new emperor's governing skills were inadequate, but hadn't he dealt with them?
The new emperor didn't move. He wanted to hear what the two daring little eunuchs inside had to say!
"Our current one is really not doing well. Back when the late emperor was still alive, he didn't always attend the grand court meetings, but the court departments were all well-organized. It's nothing like it is now, even the morning court is a mess. I heard that those adults are like the ladies in the vegetable market, unruly."
"Yes, yes. The new emperor's control over the court is indeed not as good as that of the previous emperor. The previous emperor used Lv Desheng to keep the court in order."
Hearing this, the new emperor felt uncomfortable.
The previous emperor had Lü Desheng, so why couldn’t he have a Zhang Xian?
As for the Crown Prince? He didn't care. He was just a defeated general. No matter how much they praised him, he was already buried. Now he was the one who ascended the throne.
After hearing this, he didn't want to listen any more, so he ordered his men to arrest the two eunuchs who were gossiping inside, and to investigate the people behind them.
After much investigation, they finally found the culprit: General Xiao Qun.
The new emperor signaled Zuo Anmin to punish Xiao Qun for him, so Zuo Anmin naturally arranged for his capable generals to do the job.
Xiao Qun was completely stunned. This was such a heavy responsibility! He just thought Zuo Anmin was deliberately picking on him. Of course, he couldn't back down. He had to confront him head-on and be done with it.
Unfortunately, what Zuo Anmin did this time did not satisfy the new emperor. The new emperor scolded Zuo Anmin and then ordered the imperial physician to go to Zhang's house to check Zhang Xian's pulse!
Then, Zuo Anmin's previous suggestion to send him to a local official was naturally shelved and never mentioned again.
He began to show goodwill to Zhang Xian again and tried his best to win him over.
Zhang Xian repeatedly rejected Zuo Anmin's invitations and got on the car to return home feeling quite uncomfortable.
Lu Desheng was not surprised by this result.
For the new emperor, he was just a human being, and an emperor at that. How could he listen to such things? And the people he was comparing himself to were his biological father and the legitimate crown prince. How could he accept that?
With no one under Zuo Anmin who could replace Zhang Xian, wasn't it normal for Zhang Xian to be reused? With so many forces at court now, there had to be a sharp knife to sort things out. We couldn't let the new emperor do it himself, right?
The matter was settled, but two young eunuchs were lost. To be more precise, one was lost, as the other one was a bit of a chatterbox and was indeed in contact with Xiao Qun's people.
These forces in the palace were given to Wei Zili before he went to guard the imperial mausoleum, and he rarely used them.
That guy had written earlier, complaining that everything was good there, except the food. Lu Desheng thought about it and decided to ask his eldest brother to buy some Chang'an specialties and send them to him.
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