Jiuxi

Chapter 41 041 [Light in the Mist]

Although the transmission of news in this era was relatively lagging, in early May of the 12th year of Jianwu, the men, women, and children in Guangling City also knew that the border war had broken out.

There is no official peace covenant between Qi and Yan. They have been in a tacit state for the past six years, so there is no psychological burden for the Beiyan army to launch an offensive.

It is said that the battle was extremely fierce from the beginning. The Beiyan Dongyang Road army rushed towards the security line and launched a fierce attack on several surrounding forts.

Although the situation on the battlefield is in a stalemate, the intensity of the battles in the past few days is enough to prove that Beiyan is not a casual experiment. They resolutely want to destroy the strong backbone of the Lai'an defense line, or lose troops and retreat to the north.

The news heard from the rear was not informative enough, and it was difficult to tell whether it was true or false. After a while, someone said that the Yan army had broken three or four forts in a row, and the governor's office was preparing to transfer the Feiyun army stationed in Wuhe County to the border.

After a while, someone said that the Yan army could not even take down a military stronghold, leaving thousands of corpses behind and retreating in embarrassment.

There are different opinions and it is confusing.

But no matter what, everyone has clearly sensed the coming of war. The air in early summer seems to have become thicker and no longer as cool and dry as before.

Guangling City is located in the rear area, so there is no need to be overly anxious. After all, Beiyan and Jingchao joined forces and fought intermittently for several years without breaking through the Panlong Pass and Lai'an defense lines. Now that the Huaizhou Governor's Mansion has strong troops, maybe it will be possible in a month or two. Can defeat the enemy.

However, there are fewer and fewer smiling faces of pedestrians on the road. Most of them have solemn expressions and walk through the streets in a hurry.

From time to time, some convoys would leave the city and head south. It is said that the major ferries in Guangling are much busier than before.

In such a dreary atmosphere with dark clouds over the city, Li Jin was slightly surprised by Lu Chen's arrival.

He knew that Lu Chen was now the director of the Weaving Department, and his rank was lower than that of Guangling Inspector himself. However, the position of the director had a very special status within the Weaving Department. It was somewhat similar to the royal censor in the imperial court. He is in a humble and powerful position, and he can impeach the superior officer at any time.

When Su Yunqing left, he told Li Jin to teach Lu Chen the internal regulations and rules of the Warp Weaving Department as soon as possible. It would be best if he could also systematically learn the skills needed for fine work.

It's a pity that more than half a month has passed, and Li Jin has only met Lu Chen once. He deliberately squatted near Lu's house to stop him, but they only had a brief chat that day.

Li Jin knew very well that Lu Chen was perfunctory and seemed not very interested in the warp weaving department's business, but he didn't have a good way to solve this problem.

So today Lu Chen took the initiative to come to the door. Li Jin seemed quite enthusiastic. After the greeting, he smiled and said, "We haven't seen you for a long time. How are you, brother Lu?"

"Thank you, Brother Li. I'm sorry. Everything is fine. In fact, I should have come to visit earlier, but I just thought that Brother Li had just taken up his new post and must have complicated matters on his hands, so I delayed it for a while."

Returning to Guangling Yamen, Lu Chen could not help but feel a little emotional, which he hid well in his indifferent smile.

Li Jin invited him into his duty room and said as he walked: "You are right. Although the strongholds built by the pseudo-Yan were previously removed and dozens of people were arrested or killed, it can be said to be a rare gain in recent years. , but the Guangling Yamen is also in a mess. Because of the impact of Gu Yong's incident, I have to cooperate with the internal guards to self-correct and self-examine the entire Yamen, and I have to recruit newbies and train them."

The two of them sat down separately, and the waiter served them tea. Li Jin shook his head and said, "I didn't realize it before in the inner guard, but now I know how hard it is in the yamen. If Master Su hadn't refused, I would have really wanted to go back."

These words are somewhat superficial and profound.

Lu Chen smiled and said, "I'm afraid this will be difficult. Mr. Su asked Brother Li to take over the Guangling Yamen. Apart from his trust in you, there is also the fact that Brother Li's ability and character are far better than others."

Li Jin couldn't help laughing and said: "That's too much praise. After all, Brother Lu probably doesn't know the preciousness of his current status."

Lu Chen was slightly puzzled. He knew that Ganban was similar to Yushi, with a low rank but great power, but it didn't seem to be related to the word "guigui".

Upon seeing this, Li Jin explained: "You are the No. 12 cadre of the Warp Weaving Department. You can communicate directly with Lord Tiju, and at the same time, you can supervise everyone below the inspection school. In this Huaizhou territory, except for Lord Su, Besides, you don’t have to fear or please anyone.”

Lu Chendeng understood immediately, nodded and said: "I see, but what I just said was not to flatter Brother Li, but I really think so."

Although he knew that his words were full of moisture, Li Jin still couldn't hide his smile, so he got down to the topic and said, "You are here today, you must have something to ask me?"

Lu Chen didn't hide anything and said calmly: "There is indeed something. I wonder if there is any information about the Gu family in the Yamen here?"

"Of course there is." Li Jin's eyes twitched slightly, and then he said meaningfully: "I heard that the people in the Gu family have never been very respectful to Brother Lu. It seems that what I said to Gu Zisi last time didn't have any effect. Maybe we need to Use a little more force."

Lu Chen smiled in response, neither admitting nor denying.

Li Jin stood up and said, "The Gu family has a lot of files. It's not easy to move here. Brother Lu, please come with me."

The two left the duty room and came to a row of ordinary-looking bungalows in the back half of the Yamen. This was the archives of the Sutra Weaving Department.

Li Jinping retreated from the guarding spies and led Lu Chen into the second room on the east side. He saw more than ten large shelves with countless files placed on them.

"This is the Gu family's files." Li Jin walked to one of the shelves and asked, "I wonder which part of the records Brother Lu wants to check?"

Lu Chen said slowly, "Brother Li, please help me find records of the Gu family's business dealings with the north in recent years." After a while, Li Jin handed a file to Lu Chen, pointed to the table by the window and said, " You might as well sit and watch slowly."

"Thank you."

"By the way, I have to tell you something. Mr. Su only asked me to beat the Gu family, not to get at you, but because the Gu family also has connections in the court, and we shouldn't go too far. Gu Zisi's youngest sister She is the concubine of Mr. Qu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and she gave birth to a son for Mr. Qu the year before last."

The words were enough for this purpose, Lu Chen said sincerely: "Thank you, Brother Li, for the advice."

Li Jin smiled faintly and said: "I don't need to be polite. Take your time and see, I still have some things to do. Although the Huayue Tower has been pulled out, Mr. Su ordered me to continue to track down the senior officials of the Puppet Yan Procuratorate. At the moment, I still have some things to do. There’s not much progress.”

He obviously showed great trust in letting Lu Chen stay alone in the archives, but at this moment Lu Chen repeated his words and said: "Hua Yue Tower...Brother Li, is there a map of the inner city of Guangling here?"

Although Li Jin was a little strange, he still nodded and said: "Wait a minute."

He took out a map and laid it flat on the table. Lu Chen stared at it, then picked up a pen on the pen holder, turned around and asked, "Can I draw on it?"

Li Jin became more and more curious and said, "Of course you can. There are always many copies here in the Yamen."

Lu Chen first marked the approximate location of Huayue Tower on the map. After pondering for a moment, he drew a frame with Huayue Tower as the center and asked, "Brother Li, take a look, is there anything worthy of attention around Huayue Tower?" "

Li Jin asked in confusion: "What does this mean?"

Of course, Lu Chen would not say that this was his own experience. He only said: "Huayue Tower is just a stronghold carefully constructed by the subordinates of the Puppet Yan Procuratorate. Even if it is discovered, there will not be much loss. However, they always have to receive and transmit information. , the workers in the building often go out and easily attract attention. The most convenient thing is to set up another hidden stake nearby, which will be much safer."

Li Jin's eyes lit up, and he immediately began to look at it carefully while searching quickly in his mind.

After a while, his expression became a little strange. He took the pen from Lu Chen, drew a dot not far below the Huayue Tower, and then said softly: "Two streets south of the Huayue Tower is the Gu family mansion."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The two looked at the two points that were very close to each other on the map, and then looked at each other. Li Jin was the first to say, "Could it be a coincidence?"

"Of course it could be a coincidence." Lu Chen looked calm and said calmly: "The hidden pile is just my guess. You can't doubt that the Gu family is related to Huayue Tower."

Li Jin was silent for a moment and then asked: "Brother Lu, why did you come to inquire about the Gu family's information today?"

Lu Chen replied: "Brother Li should know that a few months ago I contracted an illness inexplicably in Pseudo Yantieshan City and almost died. I always feel that this matter is a bit strange. Although the Lu and Gu families are only business competitors, my father only has As an only son, if something happens to me, I will naturally not be able to compete with the Gu family in the future. Considering that the Lu family has no other enemies, I wanted to check the situation of the Gu family's contacts with the north, so that I can have a good idea. "

This reason is impeccable. Previously, the Weaving Department conducted a thorough investigation of the Lu family. Li Jin naturally knew that Lu Chen was seriously ill. Hearing this, he nodded and said, "This is human nature."

Lu Chen said: "By the way, just now you said that Gu Zisi's younger sister is the concubine of Mr. Qu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry. I wonder if the Gu family has other connections in the capital?"

Li Jin shook his head and said: "There should be no——"

The voice stopped abruptly.

Without good connections, how could a woman from a merchant family enter the family of a high-ranking official like Liubu Shilang?

Not to mention that Huaizhou is far away from the capital. Gu Zisi's younger sister has no obvious reputation. How could she attract the attention of the important minister Yi Zi?

There must be hidden details that no one has noticed.

Lu Chen said calmly: "I think we can find out why Gu Zisi's younger sister was favored by the Minister of Industry."

Li Jin looked solemn, nodded and said, "I'll make arrangements."

Lu Chen looked at the numerous files on the shelf and said, "Brother Li, I want to stay and take a look."

"Okay, if you find anything, please notify me in time."

Li Jin left in a hurry, obviously to arrange manpower for investigation.

Lu Chen sat quietly in front of the window, as if in trance. He didn't get up until it got dark. At this time, there were several thick piles of turned-over files on the table.

After putting these materials away, he picked up the paper full of words on the table and stuffed it into his sleeve, and then left here calmly and unhurriedly.

　Thank you to the leader of "Xia Ke Money" for the reward!I’ll add more when it’s released~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)