Chapter 305: Memorials Enter the Imperial City

Yang Zhengshan stared at Zhang Maosheng, stroking his beard, and then said to Song Dashan: "Brothers, let's gather the troops, seal off the Zhang family, and prohibit the Zhang family from going out. As for the interior of the Zhang family, there is no need to seal it off for the time being!"

After these words were spoken, Song Dashan had not yet responded, but Zhang Maosheng suddenly raised his head and looked at Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan said with a smile: "The investigation is not under my jurisdiction. I am only responsible for blocking all matters related to the Salt Transport Bureau!"

The Zhang family's performance was beyond his expectations, but it also made him realize that the Zhang family was not just a simple wealthy family.

A family with a long history must have its own way of survival.

Such as the Changping Marquis Mansion and the Zhang family in front of us.

Three hundred years is not a few generations, but more than a dozen generations. There is naturally a rationality for it to have survived more than a dozen generations without decline.

Yang Zhengshan was not very clear about how deep the Zhang family's background was, but he understood that the Zhang family would not run away or resist.

Because once you resist, it is equivalent to forcing yourself into a dead end, and you will ultimately have no choice but to go down this path.

Since the Zhang family would not resist or run away, Yang Zhengshan did not have to imprison the Zhang family. He just needed to confine them.

Confinement is better than imprisonment!
"Thank you, General. Thank you, General!" Zhang Maosheng thanked him repeatedly.

Yang Zhengshan looked at him and said, "No need to thank me. I hope your Zhang family won't do anything that will embarrass this general. Otherwise, you should know the consequences!"

"Yes, General, don't worry. My Zhang family will stay at home obediently and wait for the court's investigation!" Zhang Maosheng assured wisely.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, then glanced at the glittering silver ingots in front of the hall, turned around and walked out of Zhang's house.

At the same time, Song Dashan also withdrew from the Zhang family with his soldiers.

"Arrange someone to guard here!"

Yang Zhengshan gave an instruction and then returned to Zheng's house with Zheng Xiao.

On the way back, Zheng Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid that the Zhang family will do something?"

"They won't!"

"why?"

"Because they are not in the same group as Luo Fu!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

"Not in the same group?" Zheng Xiao was surprised.

Yang Zhengshan explained: "The Zhang family has recorded all of Luo Fu's money transactions over the years. It's obvious that they have made plans long ago. If Luo Fu gets into trouble, they will abandon him!"

“Maybe they had a lot of cooperation before, but the Zhang family never regarded Luo Fu as their own, otherwise they would not have kept such an account book.”

Officials collude with businessmen. Most of the time, businessmen are tools for officials to make money, but the Zhang family is the opposite. They use officials as tools to ensure their own stability.

Since it is a tool, it can be discarded at any time.

Perhaps the Zhang family had invested a lot in Luo Fu and others in the past and spent a lot of money, but tools are just tools, and they will throw them away without hesitation when it is time to do so.

This is the Zhang family's cleverness, but also their helplessness.

Of course, the Zhang family dared to do so because they had other reasons to do so. The officials they supported were definitely more than just Luo Fu. If Luo Fu fell, they could still ask other officials for help.

As long as they are willing to pay money, I believe there are many officials who will help them and assist them in dealing with matters.

When the time comes to judge their crimes, all they need to do is spend money to avoid disaster.

Zheng Xiao quickly figured out the key to this and couldn't help but curse: "There is no business without fraud!"

"Ha ha……"

Yang Zhengshan chuckled and said nothing more.

That night, the city was very quiet, quieter than usual. There was no disturbance, as if everything seemed exceptionally peaceful.

However, many people understand that beneath this peace there are undercurrents.

Luo Fu was captured and the Salt Transport Administration was sealed. Many officials involved in the case stayed awake all night. From time to time, a figure would jump out from the dark streets and quickly disappear.

Carrier pigeons and figures flew over the city wall and left the city.

On the south gate tower, Song Dashan and a group of soldiers lit a bonfire and roasted delicious pigeons.

"Sir, we shot another one!"

A dark-faced soldier ran over holding a pigeon and grinned.

"Roast it, roast it!" Song Dashan's mouth was full of oil, but he was still very happy when he saw the pigeon.

"But a lot of pigeons flew away!" the soldier whispered.

Song Dashan waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "The general said, don't worry about it."

Carrier pigeon messaging is probably the simplest and fastest way of messaging here, but it is not easy to stop carrier pigeon messaging.

Don’t think that carrier pigeon messaging is just releasing a pigeon to deliver the letter. In fact, real carrier pigeon messaging is releasing multiple pigeons at one time to prevent accidents and failure to deliver the letter.

Moreover, the cost of sending messages by carrier pigeons is not low, and raising and training pigeons is not an easy task.

However, probably all the pigeons in Liao'an City were released tonight. Song Dashan and his men shot down more than a dozen pigeons, but quite a few still flew away.

There were not only pigeons, but also people. The city wall of Liao'an Prefecture was not low, almost three meters high, but such a wall still could not stop the warriors.

Yang Zhengshan did not intend to stop them, as it was too much trouble to do so. If they wanted to deliver the letter, let them do it.

Anyway, Yang Zhengshan's goal has been achieved. His purpose of coming to Liao'an Prefecture was to rescue Zheng Xiao. Now that Zheng Xiao is safe, other things have nothing to do with him anymore.

Nothing happened that night. The next day, Yang Zhengshan and Zheng Xiao went to the Salt Transport Office.

The Salt Transport Office had been completely sealed off, all warehouses and rooms had been sealed, and all officials had been imprisoned in the backyard of the office, which was also Luo Fu's residence.

Luo Fu and his family were even more important targets for custody.

After the two of them inspected the place and found no problems, they went back.

Like Yang Zhengshan, Zheng Xiao was no longer in control of what happened next. Once such a big case was uncovered, the court would usually arrange for the three courts to investigate and try the case. Zheng Xiao was just an inspector of salt, so he was considered a whistleblower, but he would not be the one to try the case.

At noon on the second day after Yang Zhengshan arrived in Liao'an Prefecture, Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao arrived in Kyoto.

The prosperous Kyoto really broadened the horizons of these two country bumpkins. Neither Chongshan Town nor Liaodong region were considered wealthy places in Dayong.

Kyoto is the most prosperous and wealthy place in Daiei besides Jiangnan.

Compared with Liaodong, the prosperous Kyoto is like two different worlds.

However, the two were not in the mood to appreciate the prosperity. After entering the city on horseback, they went straight to the external memorial office at Jingyun Gate of the imperial city.

The Outer Memorial Office was an institution specifically responsible for delivering memorials. Memorials were sent to the Outer Memorial Office, then to the Inner Memorial Office, and then to the Imperial Study by the eunuchs of the Inner Memorial Office.

Things went smoothly, and soon Yang Mingzhi and Yang Minghao came out of Jingyun Gate.

"We have entered the imperial city!" Yang Minghao looked back at Jingyun Gate and said in disbelief.

However, Yang Mingzhi was full of worries. He was worried about Yang Zhengshan. He didn't know whether Yang Zhengshan would get into trouble if he led his troops to Liao'an Prefecture without permission.

"Well, I've been in!" Yang Mingzhi said softly.

Yang Minghao looked at the imperial city with some curiosity, but unfortunately he could only see a corner of the imperial city from here and could not see the majesty of the imperial city at all.

"Let's go, let's go find Wu Zheng!" Yang Mingzhi said softly.

"it is good!"

After the two brothers left, the memorial was quickly delivered to the imperial study.

It was afternoon at this time. Emperor Chengping had just woken up after a short nap and washed his face.

Eunuch Chen walked in from outside the study door holding two memorials.

"Where did the memorial come from?" asked Emperor Chengping.

"In reply to your Majesty, they are memorials from Lord Zheng, the Imperial Censor of Liaodong Salt, and General Yang, the Commander of the Tenglong Guard!" Eunuch Chen placed the two memorials on the desk on the couch with a smile.

Emperor Chengping smoothed his messy white hair, then leaned back on the couch with the help of two young eunuchs.

"Your Majesty, this is the lotus seed soup sent by Concubine Ning!"

Eunuch Chen took out a bowl of lotus seed soup from a food box and placed it in front of Emperor Chengping.

Emperor Chengping took two sips of the lotus seed soup and put it down, then opened the memorial that had just been delivered to him.

The first thing he saw was Yang Zhengshan’s memorial. After reading it, his face looked a little unhappy.

No matter what the reason is, privately mobilizing troops is a big taboo, especially now that Emperor Chengping is particularly sensitive and is particularly averse to such things.

However, Yang Zhengshan had left a good impression on him before, so he was just a little annoyed and did not lose his temper immediately.

Putting down Yang Zhengshan's memorial, he opened Zheng Xiao's memorial again.

The more I looked at him, the darker his face became, and the gloomier his eyes became.

"Bastard thing!"

After reading it, Emperor Chengping suddenly became furious and swept the lotus seed soup on the table away with a wave of his sleeves.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

In the study, Eunuch Chen and a group of young eunuchs knelt down and shouted.

Emperor Taiping ignored them and glanced at the memorial in his hand, saying, "Summon the Minister of Justice, the Minister of the Supreme Court, and the Left and Right Censors of the Censorate!"

"Yes!" Eunuch Chen responded, quickly got up from the ground, lowered his head and hunched over as he walked out of the study.

As soon as Eunuch Chen left the room, Emperor Chengping began to cough violently. Several young eunuchs were so frightened that they hurriedly poured him some water to calm him down. Eunuch Chen quickened his pace and almost jogged.

After a while, Emperor Chengping finally recovered, but his face looked a little ugly.

His deep eyes were filled with anger that could not be concealed.

The reason why he was so angry was not because of Yang Zhengshan, nor because of Luo Fu, nor because of Zheng Xiao.

He has seen all kinds of corrupt officials in the 30 years since he ascended the throne. How could he be angry over a Luo Fu?
What really made him angry was the person behind Luo Fu.

After just reading the memorial once, he knew that there must be someone else behind Luo Fu, otherwise Luo Fu would never have such courage.

As for who is behind Luo Fu, Yang Zhengshan can guess a little, and Emperor Chengping can at least guess 70% to 80%.

That's why he was so angry.

(End of this chapter)