After the spy disguised as a prison guard received the locations of the hidden money from Ning Tian, he immediately contacted other people to investigate.
Just as he had guessed, other than hiding money, Ning Tian also kept records of his other contacts, as well as the records he left behind when he contacted people with other identities. He also kept records of bribery.
Not only were there officials from Hangzhou and Jiangnan Xidao involved, but there were also officials from other regions. Even Beijing was not spared.
Of course, he did not directly give money to some officials. Instead, he gave them gifts. The gifts were not cheap, and they were all based on the preferences of the officials.
This saved a lot of effort for the Zhang Family and Wang Family's spy departments. They had an additional piece of information about Ning Tian's bribery of officials. Someone would secretly investigate the officials in the accounts.
For example, if an official accepted the gifts but did not help with the task and was diligent in his own department, this official would not be convicted for the time being.
However, if there was a problem with an official, even if there was a problem with his family, and he relied on his power to gain personal benefits, this official would be punished.
Not only would this official be punished, but the inspection personnel sent by Li Longji would also not be able to escape.
Not doing one's job well was a crime in itself. There was no need to expect others to understand. There was no such thing.
Even the spy systems of the Zhang Family and Wang Family had themselves convicted. All of their 'salaries' were deducted, and their bonuses were gone. The personnel who had been trained to do foreign affairs also had to take turns to go back and learn again.
For those who had not graduated yet, the difficulty of passing the graduation examination increased.
They knew very well that what the young master and young lady wanted was not an explanation to shirk responsibility, but an attitude and future actions. What the two of them hated the most was that when you did not do what you wanted, you would always find excuses to justify your actions.
Instead of finding excuses and shirking responsibility, it was better to do one's job well.
Therefore, the training of the spy systems of the Zhang Family and Wang Family was stricter now. Some were directly sent to the mines, while others were sent to fishing villages. They did not have to work in a certain place for the rest of their lives to get close to life and understand the most basic knowledge, or rather, common sense.
Instead, they needed to deeply experience life in the place they were assigned in the shortest amount of time. They had to act like what they were pretending to be, and they had to be steady and flexible.
"Madam, we caught six more people. Those who escaped earlier, and the rest escaped. Please punish them." After the people from the spy system obtained the location of the hidden money from Ning Tian, they found six more people in Hangzhou. Actually, there were still others, but they had run away. This was the punishment that the person who came to report to the Jang Wong Clan was referring to.
Jang Wong Clan usually did not care about the affairs of the family. She was only in charge of the inner courtyard that did not have any external tasks. The rest of the matters were left to her son and daughter-in-law. It was not that she did not know how to do it. Her knowledge was not inferior to Zhang Zhong's. She was once a talented woman. She was smart and had a high IQ.
However, she was more willing to hide her brilliance and support her husband and son from behind.
Now that she had taken over the power, she was in charge of everything in Hangzhou. She was very dissatisfied with the spy system at home. If they were capable enough, why would they let her son and daughter-in-law work so hard?
When she heard the report, she lowered her eyelids and asked in a calm tone, "Do you have any clues about the people who escaped?"
"Yes, we have screened the people who have left Hangzhou recently and followed up with specific targets. I believe that it won't be long before our people can catch them back, or we can find new targets by following the people who have run away."
The person lowered his head and answered respectfully. There was anger on his face. He was not angry with Madam Zhang family, but with his own department. When the emperor was worried about his officials, they had to work hard. When the emperor was humiliated, the officials would die.
In the matter of Jiangnan Society, his own department's personnel did not meet the requirements, so the Young Master and Young Madam had no choice but to take action personally. Although the Young Master and Young Madam did not say anything, it was precisely because they did not blame him that he felt more uncomfortable.
The opponent was cunning. If the two of them did not succeed, he could say that his department could not find a good solution. However, the Young Master and Young Madam were accurate once they took action. If they encountered the same opponent in the future, or even a stronger opponent, would they still let the Young Master and Young Madam do it?
It seemed that he and others had thought that the Tang Empire was peaceful and had been too relaxed.
Zhang Wong Clan saw that the person who reported looked embarrassed and ashamed, so she could not say more. She sighed and said, "I never think that there is anything that Xiao Bao and Cuckoo can't do. I also know that they will definitely succeed. But I don't want there to be a next time, especially when it involves the spy department. You can leave now."
"Yes, we will do our best in the future. If we raise a dog, it can help to bite people. If we make a mistake again, we are worse than pigs and dogs." The person promised, bowed, and left.
*****
In some cases, spies were indeed worse than animals.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan rode the hot air balloon and flew with the wind for a day and a half. In the afternoon, they arrived above Mount Lu and just entered the territory of Mount Lu.
The hunting dogs sent from the special animal breeding base of Sanshui County in the capital had arrived. In the past ten years, they had raised a total of more than three thousand hunting dogs. This time, they sent a thousand dogs.
Every ten dogs were divided into a group and went into the mountain to search. If they encountered any living people, they would kill them. If they encountered any resistance, they would bark and call for reinforcements. Because the entire Mount Lu was under martial law, people who gathered firewood and herbs were not allowed to enter. Tourist activities were also stopped. If people were still inside and did not come out, no one would care even if the dogs accidentally killed them.
Hunting dogs were not rescue dogs. They were very aggressive and were not afraid of death.
Looking at the dogs that appeared under their feet from time to time, Zhang Xiaobao held the binoculars and said to Wang Juan who was also observing below, "The scenery of Mount Lu is really beautiful. There are many wild animals. When we came here before, we could only see animals in a specific area. Later, we will go down and have a good look."
"If you're not afraid of being bitten by a dog, then go in. The dog you spent money to raise will still bite you. The fog is too thick, so the effect of the hot air balloon has decreased. Find a place to land and see if Xiao Bei and the others have arrived."
Wang Juan held the binoculars not to look at the dogs, but to look at the people below. She was looking for the figures of her younger siblings. Xiao Bei and the others had already taken the boat to the nearest shore. If they were fast enough, they should have also arrived.
Their grudge of having a child that belonged to them had already become another matter, one that was no longer under their jurisdiction. Their role had also changed.
They no longer personally patrolled the area and then captured the officials. Instead, they first became bait and then sealed off all of Xunyang. They were not sealing off the area with their status as officials, but with their status as clans.
The local commoners were very cooperative. If it had been Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, it would have been absolutely impossible. No matter how powerful a faction was, the commoners would not accept it. Of course, at that time, there was not a single faction that said that they were thinking for the commoners. Otherwise, the commoners would probably have been willing to help.
After looking around, Wang Juan still couldn't find the figures of her younger siblings. She could only helplessly order the hot air balloon to land.
As soon as it landed, someone immediately came to report that Xiao Bei and the others would only arrive in the middle of the night. They had been delayed on the road and had encountered a problem. To be more precise, they had encountered the air power of their clan.
"Our clan's air power can't be valued by Xiao Bei and the others because of the hot air balloon," Zhang Xiaobao said to Wang Juan.
"I know." Wang Juan yawned.
*****
Just as Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had said, Xiao Bei and the other children didn't particularly like the hot air balloon team. They were currently directing people to prepare the food.
"Wait a little longer, it'll be ready soon. Shuiyun, have you given the children names yet? How about I give them a name? This one is called Big White, this one is called Er White, and the reddest one is Da Hong. If red and white are mixed together, they'll be called Da Fan, okay? "
Xiao Bei stood on the deck and said to Shuiyun, who was standing on a wooden pole specially made for the eagles.
Shuiyun was getting smarter and smarter now. She was even able to understand the difference between good and bad names. After hearing the names Xiao Bei gave her children, she turned her head to look to the side, obviously dissatisfied.
Xiao Yuan and the other children also stood on the deck and watched the eagles. There were a total of 13 eagles. In addition to Shuiyun and Hong Luan, there were also 11 children.
The baby eagles had already grown up. The children were very regretful that they hadn't seen the 11 baby eagles learn to fly with their own eyes. At that time, they had agreed to wait for the baby eagles to learn to fly and cheer them on from the side. Unfortunately, plans couldn't keep up with changes. They could only wait for the next nest to cheer them on.
Now they were choosing the eagles. The 11 eagles corresponded to the 11 children, including Pan'er and the other two. As for the child who was missing an ear, she wasn't assigned at the beginning. Moreover, the child was still young and was breastfeeding. She didn't know about the eagles.
"Shuiyun, tell me, how did you find us, okay? Look at me. As soon as I saw your eyes, I understood. "
Xiao Bei was waiting for someone to bring the meat over. She picked up a piece and stood on her tiptoes. She stretched out her arm to feed Shuiyun while talking to her.
Shuiyun had flown a long distance with her family and was indeed hungry. Like a human, she opened her mouth and gently touched the meat Xiao Bei brought over. Then, she slowly closed her mouth so as not to hurt the other party.
Just this action shocked the commander of the local army who followed Xiao Bei here. He knew about feeding animals. He had also seen the process of other people feeding their eagles when they went hunting in Mount Lu.
In his opinion, that eagle was already very smart. However, when it was eating, it still suddenly shook its head and accurately caught the meat in its mouth before swallowing it. He had never thought that one day, a certain eagle could slowly close its mouth.
"Little girl, this... this animal has become a spirit, right?" The local army commander asked Xiao Bei.
"Who are you calling an animal? He's Shuiyun, okay? He's my colleague. How can your animal be like this? Find one and I'll take a look. If you can't find one, I'll punish you. You're scolding your colleague, understand? "
She had never treated Shuiyun's family as animals. In her eyes, Shuiyun's family was her own family. She even dared to touch Shuiyun's child. Although she had only met Shuiyun's child twice when Little Ying was still young, she was not worried that Shuiyun's child would hurt her.
Just as she thought, Shuiyun had taught her eleven children very well. Xiao Bei didn't know how Shuiyun and Hong Luan taught them. When ordinary people wanted to get close to their children, their children would definitely glare at them angrily and act like they were going to attack.
However, when Xiao Bei's group of children came over, their eyes immediately became gentle. This was also a kind of ability. Ordinary people didn't even dare to think about it. Eagles, they were eagles. They had their own pride.
Perhaps they were really psychic. They felt the same pride in Xiao Bei's group of children, a kind of pride that was immersed in their bones. That was why they could face each other calmly.
"Yes, yes, yes. I was wrong. I deserve to die. I'm not a beast. Definitely not. I'll get angry with whoever says they're beasts. Yes, Shuiyun is a general. I almost forgot. Look at my memory."
The commander kept apologizing. Not only was he afraid of Xiao Bei, but more importantly, he found that the animal he was talking about was looking at him with a knife-like gaze.
If he was pecked, he would lose a piece of meat immediately. If the area above his chest was pecked, he would probably lose his life. Shuiyun was not an ordinary eagle. She was once an existence that could cooperate with a small army to kill people on the battlefield of Tubo.
"Shuiyun, don't be angry. Let's punish him, okay? Let's punish him by making you a comfortable nest on the ship so that your family can rest in it. Come, eat. This is snake meat specially prepared for you. I also ate it tonight. I caught quite a few snakes."
Xiao Bei also found that Shuiyun was angry and quickly comforted her. Then, she winked at the commander.
The commander nodded fiercely and replied, "Yes, yes. You're an adult. Don't lower yourself to my level. I'll make a nest right away and spread some comfortable cotton and grass for you."
He really did what he said he would do. Shuiyun's official rank was higher than his, and she had many subordinates. If the two armies really fought, he didn't have the slightest confidence in defeating Shuiyun.
He didn't think that he could rely on his intelligence and wisdom to use all kinds of long-range weapons or traps to shoot Shuiyun down.
He had heard that Shuiyun was so smart that she could throw stones from the sky at people. There was no need to say how high an eagle could fly. Shuiyun had many eagles under her command. It seemed that all the eagles in the Tang Empire were under Shuiyun's control. If they really listened to Shuiyun's orders, an eagle could throw stones weighing dozens of kilograms from the sky. Unless they dug a tunnel in advance, it was useless to hide in a house.
The others on the ship who hadn't seen Shuiyun tried their best to get closer. They were all local officials or people with power. They had only heard legends about Shuiyun. Today, they could finally see her with their own eyes. It wasn't easy.
"Let me tell you. You can look, but you're not allowed to judge Shuiyun's family as animals. Otherwise, if they attack you, I won't care. If Uncle Emperor knows, he will definitely say that even if General Shuiyun kills you, you deserve it. If you don't believe me, you can try."
Xiao Bei warned them when he saw the curious looks on the faces of many people.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
