Chapter 718 The Whole Story
The deputy that General Du gestured to stood in the very center of the hall, immediately attracting everyone's attention.
General Du, who was sitting at the head of the table, said, "Gentlemen, let's not waste time with small talk. We are all doing this for the Tang Dynasty."
Let me, your deputy, explain the whole story to you. Once you understand the details, I can then advise you on what to do next.
On Du's territory, they were local bullies, and they were talking about the greater good of the Tang Dynasty, so how could anyone say anything?
Then everyone gradually quieted down, waiting to hear what the deputy had to say.
The deputy first bowed to Commander Wang, who had been sent by Emperor Wu, to show his respect for the emperor.
Then he cupped his hands in greeting to Li Dalang and Twenty-Nine, since the Shi family army that Li Dalang had sent was actually under the command of Emperor Wu.
As for the Bad People, they were originally just a weapon in Emperor Wu's hand.
Finally, the assistant turned around and bowed to the only person in the room without an official title, the Chai family patriarch.
Li Dalang was also curious as to why the head of the Chai family had been summoned at this particular moment.
What secrets are hidden here?
The young master of the Chai family was not presumptuous at all. He quickly stood up and returned the bow to his assistant before sitting down again.
In November of the first year of Yongchang, the Bad People's Secret Service discovered a man surnamed Wang acting suspiciously in Wucheng County, Wuxing Prefecture. Upon investigation, they found that he had worked as a day laborer at a dock called Pozitou.
The discovery of opium began precisely from this point.
As Li Dalang listened to his deputy's explanation, he thought about what his superior had told him before they embarked on this mission: "To tell you the truth, it was the Bad People who specifically requested you to lead the team."
They were the ones who discovered the opium first. They thought that you were capable because you survived the mission to assassinate the Turkic Khan.
This mission is described as dangerous, but based on current intelligence, if it is successfully completed, you, as the leader of the team, will definitely be promoted one rank afterward.
Li Dalang thought to himself, "Sure enough, it was the Bad Guys who discovered it first."
The deputy continued, standing in the center of the hall: "We are also aware of the location of the Bad People in Jiangnan East Road. In the meantime, our Du family army even had some minor disputes with the Bad People."
I won't go into too much detail here, but in the end, we all found out about the opium scandal.
Finally, the General (Du Qinghui) personally led troops to thoroughly investigate the matter, which led us back to the Shen family.
Li Dalang was thinking to himself, "I knew it! This is Jiangnan East Circuit, where General Du is stationed. How could the Bad Guys be completely unaware of this?"
The reason Li Dalang would think this way is related to his time in Shule. Since he was doing intelligence-related work, he also discovered the bad guys in Shule during his year there.
Putting aside everything else, Nineteen, the Bad Guy who went to Shule with Medical Supervisor Sun, was ostensibly a medical apprentice, but whether Nineteen had any contact with Bad Guys in this area is obvious.
You can't just leave a clandestine organization like the Bad Guys.
Once you're in, it's for life.
At that time, Li Dalang discovered the Bad People's activities. When he reported it to his superiors, his superiors explained to him: "We are aware that the Bad People are here."
Don't think that just because the Bad People are undercover agents, they're any better than our scouts.
They are here because we allowed them to be here.
Besides, do you really think that only the spies from the Bad Guys are in this city?
Shangguan smiled and said to Li Dalang, who was still quite open-minded at the time, "It's not just the Bad People, but also the Imperial Guards, the Imperial Army, the nobles in Chang'an, as well as spies from Jiangnan, the South, and even the Turks. They can all be found in this city."
Li Dalang was quick to understand, and he immediately realized: "Then we must have spies in various places, right?"
"...At this point, the matter of opium was known to us, the main generals."
The following March, we spent a lot of effort to find the person who was connected with the Shen family. He was a cavalry general named Jiang Qing.
This man's newly acquired concubine was the daughter of a mistress kept outside the main branch of the Shen family. Following this lead, we joined forces with the Bad Guys and found some clues.
Therefore, the General instructed us to unite and use the Shen family to find the mastermind behind this, and to thoroughly investigate which other families had also been taken advantage of.
At this point, the deputy gestured to the official standing beside him, and soon Li Dalang had a list in his hand.
"After figuring out the details of the Shen family, we discovered that the Shen family was able to bypass the dock inspection through Jiang Qing's hands, and thus transport a lot of opium cream from the south to Jiangnan East Road in batches. From Jiangnan East Road, they spread it to other parts of the Tang Dynasty through caravans."
Li Dalang looked at the list in his hand. The first name written at the top was Gao Hengzhong, whose whole family had been imprisoned.
At this moment, the deputy began to explain the list: "One of Gao Hengzhong's eldest grandson's concubines is the eldest daughter of the third branch of the Shen family. With this relationship, the Shen family has a connection with Gao's eldest grandson."
Further investigation revealed that the eldest grandson of the Gao family had already been tricked into becoming addicted to drugs!
Upon hearing this, Li Dalang understood quite a bit. Back in Chang'an, when he learned that Shen Fangming had gone to meet Gao Hengzhong at night, he had found it strange.
After all, Shen Fangming was just a merchant from Jiangnan. Even if he was a local tycoon, so what?
Compared to Gao Hengzhong, who wielded real power, the Shen family was merely wealthy.
Besides, does the Gao family lack money?
"Even if the eldest grandson of the Gao family was poisoned by someone, would an old minister like Gao Hengzhong really rebel for the sake of an incompetent eldest grandson?"
The Gao family has more than one male heir; if this one is useless, we can just replace him.
Are there any other matters you haven't mentioned?
Commander Wang's question was also the one that everyone else present wanted to ask.
Upon hearing this, the deputy's expression changed. After his outburst, who could not tell that there must be something fishy going on?
Faced with the look in his deputy's eyes, General Du, sitting at the head of the table, could only sigh and say, "There are indeed some inside stories, but since it involves the royal family, I can't say much to you all."
"You all only need to know that through the Shen family, we discovered that Gao Hengzhong, who was hiding in Chang'an, harbored malicious intentions and used his power to do a lot for the Shen family."
Upon hearing that this matter was actually related to the royal family, everyone exchanged bewildered glances and naturally refrained from asking any further questions.
After all, the royal family's reputation is paramount, and they still want to live a good life.
"Have you found out who's behind the Shen family? And that foreigner? Have you caught him?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com