"Master, you can't die!"
Miserable cries rang out in the dark room. Zhou Qingfeng lay on his stomach in front of a tattered bed, wailing endlessly. His senior Yang Jian stood at the side and felt the same way. After a while, he also began to cry.
The room was very shabby, and there was a musty smell of dampness everywhere. There was even a faint smell of dead rats that lingered. Because there were no windows, the room was not well lit. They could only rely on the light coming through the cracks in the wooden walls to provide illumination. The spliced wooden walls also showed how simple and shabby this place was.
There was not even a blanket on the tattered bed, only a nest made of Mongolian grass. The hay had already turned black and even carried the disgusting smell of feces and urine. Gu Yuanwei, an expert of the Ming Imperial Court, was lying on such an unpresentable bed. His cheeks were sunken, his face thin, and he was unconscious.
This shabby place was not in Fushun City, but in the horse market outside Fushun Pass. The so-called horse market was the place where the Jurchen tribes of Liaodong and the Daming conducted regular trade. The northern barbarians first came to exchange horses, cows, and sheep for the necessities they needed to survive. Later, the Daming merchants from the mainland shipped more goods, and thus made a huge profit.
Most of the northern barbarians were poor and used to living a hard life, so there was not even an inn in the horse market. Many Mongolians and Jurchen would often sleep in the open if they wanted to. If they could find a house with a roof and walls, it would be considered a luxurious apartment. The advantage of living here was that no one would come to check their identity. The disadvantage was that from time to time, people would be killed in fights. After all, there was no law here.
Yesterday, they met in the city. Yang Jian had to hide for a day to bring Zhou Qingfeng to the horse market outside the pass.
Seeing how unlucky Gu Yuanwei was, Zhou Qingfeng was quite surprised. He hoped to break free from the other party's control, but he also hoped to learn from the other party. In particular, the zhenqi that Gu Yuanwei had forcefully poured into him was not only the foundation of his current cultivation, but it also restricted his development.
If Gu Yuanwei died, Zhou Qingfeng really didn't know what to do next. However, perhaps his crying was too fake, or his voice was too loud, but Gu Yuanwei, who was originally unconscious, actually woke up. Seeing his two disciples yelling about dying, he panted heavily and angrily scolded, "You two unfilial disciples, I'm not dead yet, why are you yelling?"
Zhou Qingfeng immediately stopped crying and pretended to be obedient. He even reached out to pat Yang Jian's head and scolded, "Master isn't dead yet. Why are you wailing?"
Yang Jian was really sad that he ended up in such a miserable state after a month of hard work. He couldn't stop sobbing. However, he looked at Gu Yuanwei's sullen face and said with grievance, "It was Junior Brother who cried first. When he cried, I felt so sad that I also cried. "
Gu Yuanwei sighed weakly, but he couldn't do anything else. When he first accepted his eldest disciple, he liked his honesty. Who would have thought that things would turn out this way? An honest disciple was completely useless. Looking at this little disciple, he seemed very obedient, but there was a sense of cunning in his bones.
Gu Yuanwei woke up, and his two disciples hurriedly helped him sit up and lean against the wall. He only scolded once, but he was already panting and his body was extremely weak. Yang Jian helped him eat something, and he fell asleep again. The situation was laid out in front of him, and there was no need to say anything more. Crying was useless anyway. Zhou Qingfeng turned to Yang Jian and asked, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
Yang Jian immediately scolded, "It's all the evil daughter of the Yuan family's doing. Her Karmic Fire of the Red Lotus has always been sinister and vicious. Master was injured while fighting with her, and the Spring Yang Pill we obtained a few days ago only delayed the injury. We originally hoped to find a local cultivator in Fu Shun to help. However, the cultivators here are either unworthy of their reputation, or they are arrogant and evil, so no one was willing to help. It dragged on until today …. "
As Yang Jian spoke, tears fell from his eyes again. He wiped them with his sleeve and said, "We heard that the East Faction Guards chased us to Fu Shun, so we quickly escaped. After helping Master settle down, I went to rescue you. But in this situation, Master is already helpless, and I am also confused. It's really like 'call the heavens, but the heavens don't respond; call the earth, but the earth doesn't respond'. "
Zhou Qingfeng was at a loss of what to do with the current situation, and he had no idea what to do. He thought about whether to go back and find his companions, but what could he do even if he found them? He asked Yang Jian, "Senior Apprentice Brother, I want to ask why Master is being chased by the imperial court. Is there any room for negotiation? "
In this situation, there was no point in hiding it. Yang Jian sighed and said, "Master was originally a member of the Imperial Guard, and a few years ago, he was assigned to the East Faction Guards as a squad leader. He was responsible for investigating the officials and arresting them. At the peak of his power, he didn't dare to say that he controlled the entire court, but he still attracted the attention of the officials. But not long ago, Master ran into trouble, and in the blink of an eye, he lost power. "
"What trouble?" Zhou Qingfeng asked.
"Uh … It's just that Master got some silver from the Inner Palace's treasury but was discovered." Yang Jian wanted to gloss over it in one sentence.
"Got some silver?" Zhou Qingfeng was determined to get to the bottom of it. "Senior Apprentice Brother, you'd better explain it clearly. Otherwise, I won't be able to help even if I want to."
Seeing Gu Yuanwei lying on the hospital bed in the middle of nowhere, Yang Jian's heart was gloomy and listless. Since Zhou Qingfeng wanted to ask, he explained in detail. "Among the ten warehouses of the Inner Treasury, the Inner Transport Warehouse is the most important one. It belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, but is supervised by the East Faction Guards under the Song: Director Of Ceremonies. Master happened to be in charge of this matter, and conveniently got some gold and silver to supplement his household expenses. "
"What? This must be an inside job! " Zhou Qingfeng was dumbfounded. "Getting money from under the nose of the Emperor, you guys are too daring."
The word 'inside job' angered Yang Jian. He shouted angrily, "This is called 'those who rely on the mountain, those who rely on the water, draw water'. Which official in the court doesn't think of ways to get money? Just last year, the eunuch Zhang Xuan of the Inner Treasury was in charge of repairing Mu Zong's Zhao Mausoleum, and the materials he submitted to the Ministry of Works amounted to hundreds of thousands of silver.
Li Jin of the Ministry of Works felt that there was something fishy about this. After investigating, she found out that Zhang Xuan had increased the materials by more than ten times. After this incident, the Minister of War Wang Xiangqian also filed a complaint against the Inner Treasury, saying that the eunuchs accepted bribes from the mausoleum guards, and replaced the mausoleum's mausoleum with rotten wood to fill their own pockets. The eunuchs in the palace even dared to take advantage of the Emperor's mausoleum, what else wouldn't they dare to take advantage of?
This kind of thing wasn't an exception. There were countless cases in the court. Wasn't it just getting some silver? Everyone did it, so why couldn't Master do it? Moreover, Master didn't get much. He was just unlucky enough to be discovered. Moreover, I don't believe that there won't be such an inside job after four hundred years. "
Yang Jian spoke aggressively, turning the tables around to question Zhou Qingfeng.
Zhou Qingfeng originally wanted to say 'of course there won't be …', but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Since ancient times, the biggest thief was always an inside job. Just by looking at the tigers that were killed over the years, one worse than the other, he knew how crazy the people who stole the socialist people were.
"Okay, you … you're right. This matter is still not new after four hundred years. "Zhou Qingfeng said angrily," Continue, continue. It's just getting some money to spend. How did I get so unlucky? "
Yang Jian suppressed Zhou Qingfeng's momentum. He snorted a few times, then lowered his head and sighed. "Although there are a lot of gold and silver in the internal transport warehouse, they aren't the most valuable. The various antiques and treasures collected since the founding of the dynasty are the most attractive. Some have been stored for more than two hundred years without anyone asking. Many of the records have been lost, so we don't know what they are. "
"So you guys secretly …" Zhou Qingfeng said half a sentence, but he was stopped by Yang Jian's glare.
Yang Jian continued, "Master just wanted to investigate the origin and use of those treasures? He even wrote a book to investigate those antiques in the treasury. It could be considered as doing something useful. But one day, an extremely daring thief came to the transport warehouse. Master fought with him and took back the stolen 'Yin Yang Tablet'.
When the 'Yin Yang Tablet' was first taken back, it was just two normal jade stones. No one knew what it was. Fortunately, Master had a good understanding of the treasures in the treasury. He looked through many ancient scrolls before he understood the strangeness of this thing. But before Master could report the results, an imperial censor impeached Master and revealed the matter of him getting gold and silver.
Master was already the supervisor of the East Faction Guards. Unless the Emperor or the East Faction Guards Commander personally gave the order, no one could investigate him. Being greedy for money was not a big crime. At most, he could just make up for the deficit.
But this impeachment case broke out very quickly and the implications were huge. In the past, a lot of the silver that was in deficit was planted on Master. It was obvious that someone wanted to use Master as a scapegoat. Without waiting for Master to do anything, he lost his position in a few days and was sent to prison for interrogation.
Master once said that working in the Brocade Guard and the East Faction Guards will not end well. Sooner or later, something will happen. I still vaguely remember these words, but I didn't expect it to suddenly become true. Master learned of the news early and fled the capital that night. But it's a pity that many people who worked with him to get silver had their houses confiscated. Some even had their entire families executed. "
After the matter was finished, the room was quiet for a few minutes. There were too many dirty and shady things in the imperial court. This was only a small matter. Zhou Qingfeng thought for a while and asked again, "In other words, Master is being hunted by the imperial court because he embezzled gold and silver?"
"Yes."
"What does this have to do with the 'Yin Yang Tablet'?"
"Master said that there was nothing on the surface, but he felt that there was a connection after thinking about it. The person who ran to the treasury to steal things must be a big traitor, but he couldn't guess who it was. Someone must have felt that Master was in the way and wanted to kill him to vent their anger. Master fled to the desolate border and had no way out. He simply activated the 'Yin Yang Tablet' and wanted to rely on the true dragon to avoid trouble. That's why he called you here. "
This matter was confusing and confusing!
Zhou Qingfeng thought to himself, "I just transmigrated, how did I get into this kind of trouble?"
Gu Yuanwei was unconscious and Yang Jian had no idea what to do. Zhou Qingfeng sat in the room, feeling vexed. When he walked outside, the air was also turbid. Cows and horses neighed, and the crowded horse market was not a quiet place to begin with. Livestock were everywhere, and the stench was so strong that it made one frown.
Just as Zhou Qingfeng was trying to sort out the main story from the chaos, a bald barbarian wearing a tattered leather robe suddenly walked over and scolded him in broken Chinese, "Brat, get out of my way. This piece of land belongs to my Master. Get lost, or else I'll kill you. "
Zhou Qingfeng was so vexed that his head hurt. Suddenly seeing an ugly person shouting at him, he couldn't help but snort coldly, "Who the f * ck are you telling to get lost? Say it again if you have the guts! "
Master Zhou also felt that he had some ability. After suffering setbacks again and again, he wanted to find an unlucky person to vent his anger on. But the bald barbarian glared, and his rash and bloodthirsty nature exploded like a firecracker. He pulled out a saber from his waist and chopped down at Zhou Qingfeng's head, the tip of the saber revealing several feet of blood.
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