Chapter 304: Counterattack from Linfeng Officialdom
What did Xu Zhenguan prepare for Zhao Duan's trip?
In addition to the authority to mobilize troops, he also has the authority to dispatch the royal shadow guards in Linfeng.
There is no conflict.
After all, strictly speaking, like the secret spies arranged by Prince Jing in the capital, the royal shadow guards also belong to the army.
Therefore, when Zhao Duan encountered the princess's strong joining on the road, the way he passed this news back to the empress in the rear was to use the shadow guard's channel.
Similarly, Xu Junling did not know that before entering the "Taicang Prefecture City", Zhao not only mobilized the cavalry of the garrison on the surface.
He also secretly assembled a team of shadow guards and entered the city together.
And communication is carried out through three copies of yellow paper that can be used as a message.
But the range of communication that yellow paper can provide is limited.
Therefore, when the spies are far away from Taicang City, they need spies along the way as transit stations, and use the carrier pigeons trained by the army to increase the communication distance.
“Flutter…”
The gray carrier pigeon flapped its wings, making a "cooing" sound, and its bright red claws kept stepping on the exceptionally white hand.
In this ordinary residential courtyard.
The sickly young man dressed as a scholar had a helpless expression on his face and scattered the prepared food on the ground. The pigeons immediately flew over and started pecking at the food.
The scholar, who looked a little frail and had exceptionally white hands, sat on a stone bench and unfolded the note to take a look.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the yard, and the horse slowly slowed down.
The scholar, who was the royal shadow guard, raised his head, skillfully put the paper roll in his hand into his mouth, and moistened it with saliva.
Footsteps approaching.
Then, the dilapidated courtyard gate was pushed open by one hand.
With a creaking sound, a dusty woman dressed like a gangster appeared at the gate of the courtyard.
He held the reins in one hand, wore a conical hat, had a sword tied to his back, and his face was covered with a bronze visor covering most of it, with two sharp eyes peeking through the holes in the visor.
"It's you."
The scholar, who looked unwell and somewhat sick, covered his mouth and coughed twice, as if he wanted to spit out the paper ball.
The armored woman stepped into the dilapidated courtyard, walked to the table, and threw the water bag at her waist to him:
"I can't swallow it, drink some water to smooth it out."
The weak scholar said helplessly:
"If you can't take care of others, you don't have to... Hey, why did you come back suddenly? Did you find something?"
"kindness."
The armor-clad woman sat casually beside the stone table, reached into her bosom, and took out a palm-sized jade mirror, with four ancient Chinese characters "Feng Yue Bao Jian" engraved on the back.
These were the spoils that Zhao Duan had seized from the rebels of Kuangfu Society.
She took out another crumpled piece of paper, spread it out, and placed it on the table. It was a portrait of the missing county magistrate Wang Chusheng.
"We've found this person. As for the other Song Tiju, we haven't found him yet."
As one of the gold medal shadow guards in Linfeng, the "scholar" who was very good at intelligence work was invigorated and asked:
"Where are they?"
"The mirror showed a Taoist temple hidden in the mountains, with a white archway."
The scholar's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and smiled:
"Baiyun Temple must be this place. If this thief is as Zhao Gongfeng suspected, he is either dead or, if not, he won't have escaped too far. But he is much closer than I expected.
Haha, this mirror of Zhao Gongfeng is good, but even if you infuse it with magic power, it cannot be opened all the time.
There was no one in the provincial capital, no one in the county town, and I didn't know which direction the person had gone. I could only half-guess and use a clumsy method to search for him piece by piece with a mirror.
The news you brought was really timely. Zhao Gongfeng just received the news and has been asking about this matter."
The armored woman didn't show much emotion and asked calmly:
"When do we start?"
The scholar pondered for a moment:
"It's better to be early than late. But to be absolutely sure, we have to gather the rest of the people."
The armored woman shook her head and said:
"When they come, it will be too late. I am enough on my own."
As she spoke, she stood up and walked out of the yard. The scholar did not stop her.
The armored woman mounted her horse, walked out of the town, and continued running southeast.
Because the road was difficult to travel on, she finally arrived at the foot of a secluded and deserted mountain at dusk.
Abandon the horse and tie it at the foot of the mountain.
The shadow guard, wearing a conical hat and carrying a long sword, walked up the winding stone steps, passed through the white archway, and saw a small Taoist temple on the mountainside.
On the plaque, the three words "Baiyun Temple" are extremely eye-catching in the afterglow of the setting sun.
The armored woman knocked on the door of the Taoist temple.
The person who opened the door was a young Taoist priest, who was shocked when he saw her appearance:
"Lady, who are you looking for?"
The armored woman said, "Wang Chusheng."
The young Taoist looked confused:
"There's no such monk in the temple. Hey, hey, hey...how did you force your way in?!"
The armored woman ignored the Taoist priest and rushed straight into the Taoist temple. She saw a cold light like a poisonous snake rushing out from the cold place!
However, she seemed to have noticed it already, sneered, and dodged to the side.
Even as the thin cold light passed in front of him, the sword edge was still stained with a dark green color.
“Clang——”
The armored woman bent her knees and drew the long sword from behind her. The sword flashed, and the powerful energy exploded like thunder.
A moment later, a warrior's body fell to the ground.
She turned her wrist, and blood from the tip of the sword spurted onto the ground, leaving a streak of red.
The Taoist priest's sharp shouts were heard behind him, and the royal shadow guard brazenly stepped into the room behind the Taoist temple.
I saw a wealthy middle-aged man dressed as a Taoist priest, wearing a small hat, whose appearance matched the portrait. He looked panicked and was about to escape through the back door.
The armored woman threw a sword, and it hit the back door with a whimper, and the hilt of the sword was still trembling!
The missing Taicang County Magistrate Wang Chusheng looked pale and collapsed dejectedly.
A moment later, the armored woman walked out of Baiyun Temple carrying the tied-up Wang Chusheng in one hand.
Just then a crow flew by and the sky darkened.
“Who are you?!”
Wang Chusheng suppressed his fear and asked in a trembling voice.
The armored woman ignored him and when she reached the foot of the mountain, she saw the scholar who had been waiting there.
"Ahem," the scholar smiled and glanced at the county magistrate.
"It has been verified to be correct. The interrogation will proceed first. However, according to Lord Zhao's latest instructions, I'm afraid we have to wait a while before sending it to the Imperial Envoy."
"What are you waiting for?" the armored woman asked in confusion.
The scholar rolled up his sleeves and looked at the dusk on the western hills:
"Who knows what the important people in the court are thinking? Maybe they are just waiting for an opportunity."
…
…
Taicang Prefecture City.
After the three ministers were suspended, the unrest in the city was not obvious that night.
However, in the next few days, the atmosphere in the capital city became increasingly uneasy, as if a storm was brewing.
Zhao Duan returned to the post station and began to pretend to conduct an investigation based on some clues left by Wang Chusheng and some clues from the evidence provided by Song Tiju.
It seems like I'm in working mode.
Meanwhile, a piece of news began to spread quietly in the capital city, which roughly meant:
The imperial envoy could not find Wang Chusheng, so in order to gain credit and report to the emperor, he prepared to arrest all the officials who had business dealings with Wang Chusheng and label them as accomplices.
Carry out "collective punishment" on a large scale.
The news spread like wildfire and went viral almost instantly, causing officials at all levels in Taicang Prefecture to feel depressed.
As Sun Xiaozhun said, in official circles, being in harmony with the world is an unspoken rule.
As the head of a county, Wang Chusheng has a very high status in the local area.
What's more, he also serves as the mine supervisor, and the power he holds is incomparable to that of an ordinary county magistrate.
While in office, he had dealings with countless colleagues.
With the comings and goings, some shady transactions are inevitable.
If we only investigate "mine silver", it would be fine, as officials at all levels rarely participate in it.
But if the imperial envoy intends to implicate others, everyone will be terrified.
Unfortunately, Zhao Duan already had a criminal record in the capital, and some people began to spread the news that he had captured more than 50 officials in the capital and earned himself a lot of credit.
For a time, everyone felt insecure due to the reputation of "Zhao Yanwang".
Not only officials, but also many gentry, wealthy families, merchants in the city... are like this.
In just two or three days, the entire city fell into great unrest.
On the third day, the people actually began to go to the government office and the post station in an organized manner to plead for the lives of Prefect Sun and others, and the situation became increasingly serious.
Inside the posthouse.
"Master Zhao, you can still sit still."
Xu Junling walked into the inner courtyard of the posthouse with her skirt fluttering, and could not help but say:
"Listen, there are so many people outside making a fuss, begging for mercy. Tsk tsk, those soldiers you have are useless. Why don't you send them out to suppress them?"
Zhao Duan was dressed in casual clothes, holding a book in his hand, reading leisurely. He raised his head and smiled when he heard the words:
"The morning breeze from the west mountain brings a refreshing breeze, I do not envy the beauty of the day or the evening."
(End of this chapter)
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