Chapter 107

"Yes, that's him! There is also one who followed Chen Tianfu back then, serving as a captain, surnamed Zhang."

Jiao Zheng's lips trembled: "Zhang... Zhang Shi'an?"

Wang Yang blinked: "Is that so? I don't even know his name. Old Jiao, you are very well-informed. This Zhang family gathered 200,000 coins and requested to be let off, so the scapegoat will probably come from the first or the third person."

Jiao Zheng felt his breathing suddenly become very difficult. He was waiting for Wang Yang to say the third person, as if waiting for a guillotine about to fall!

Actually, he had already guessed who the third person would be, but he still held onto a last glimmer of hope!

"The third one is in Jingzhou, surnamed Jiao. Oh, Old Jiao, the same surname as you; maybe he is your relative." Wang Yang said with a smile.

Jiao Zheng's mind went blank instantly, and a cold fear swept through his whole body. All his previous self-comfort and hope for luck vanished in an instant. It had come; it had finally come...

He steadied himself, dismissed all the attendants, walked to Wang Yang, and knelt down with a thud: "Young master, save me!"

Wang Yang said in surprise: "Old Jiao, you are..."

"Young master! I once belonged to the Vanguard of the Imperial Guard and served as a personal guard commander under Chen Tianfu. That third person, it is me!"

Wang Yang looked shocked.

Chen Qingshan's cold eyes narrowed slightly.

Jiao Zheng kowtowed and shouted: "I am willing to give 300,000 coins of my family wealth, begging the young master to save my life!"

He didn't know if Wang Yang really didn't know or was just pretending to point him out. But since someone from the capital had already come to investigate, he couldn't run. Let alone 300,000, as long as he could survive this disaster, he would not hesitate even if it meant bankruptcy!

As for whether this was Wang Yang trying to swindle his money, he thought the possibility was very small. After all, he was of the Langya Wang clan, a noble young master with boundless learning. Besides, the family's grain business was so large that even the Prince had to banquet and reward them. Would such a person use this kind of thing to cheat money? There was no need! Besides, cheating this kind of money was very risky. If he really took the money and didn't do the job, when the case was brought to court, he would definitely expose these things. Wang Yang, a famous noble of a great clan, cared most about his reputation and was unlikely to earn this kind of risky money.

Jiao Zheng didn't know that when he focused on the 300,000 coins, he ignored other real purposes Wang Yang might have.

"No, Old Jiao, you... you... so... they came to Jingzhou to arrest you?" Wang Yang acted the part to the fullest, still pretending to be trying to figure out the situation.

Jiao Zheng kept kowtowing: "Begging the young master to save me! Begging the young master to save me!!!"

"Old Jiao, you... you get up first. Let me think."

Jiao Zheng didn't dare to get up, fearing that if he stood up, he wouldn't be able to move Wang Yang. He just kept kowtowing, hoping to kowtow until Wang Yang's heart softened. With the force, he actually kowtowed until he bled!

"What are you doing? Get up quickly! I didn't say I wouldn't save you!"

Jiao Zheng, like a drowning man suddenly grabbing a lifeline, his lips trembling: "Young master, young master is willing to save me! Thank you, young master! Thank you, young master! From now on, I will follow your orders!"

Wang Yang's tone carried a hint of reprimand, urging: "Get up first, get up first. Things haven't reached that point yet; what are you panicking about?"

Jiao Zheng stood up trembling: "Yes, yes, with the young master here, there will definitely be no problem."

"I can't say that either. Although my second uncle is in charge of this case, there are still so many assisting officials, so it's not easy to make unilateral decisions. But you just said you could come up with 300,000; is that true?"

"Of course, of course. I wouldn't dare to lie to the young master even if I lied to anyone else!" Wang Yang asking about money made Jiao Zheng feel much better.

"Hmm. Then there should be no problem. But you have to tell me what you actually did, otherwise they wouldn't dare to take your money."

Jiao Zheng's face showed hesitation.

Wang Yang was afraid of making Jiao Zheng suspicious, so he didn't urge him, drinking and eating as if nothing had happened.

Chen Qingshan's heart hung in the air as she saw they were about to approach the truth.

"May I ask, young master, why did they come to arrest me?" Jiao Zheng asked tentatively.

"How would I know? I just listened casually and didn't ask in detail."

"Then could you please help me ask..."

Wang Yang interrupted directly: "What's the use of asking? Since you've been made a scapegoat, you must have left evidence in someone else's hands. If you know, they'll arrest you; if you don't know, they'll still arrest you."

Jiao Zheng shamelessly begged flatteringly: "Please, young master, help me ask—"

Wang Yang put down his wine cup unhappily: "Old Jiao, why are you so ignorant! If you are involved in a major crime like treason, then my uncle can't save you, and of course, I can't get involved—"

Jiao Zheng hurriedly explained: "I didn't, I absolutely didn't!"

"If you didn't, then speak! If you don't speak, I don't know the details, so how can I rashly intervene in this case!"

Jiao Zheng's mouth opened slightly, as if he wanted to speak but was very hesitant, his eyes full of hesitation and anxiety.

Chen Qingshan saw Jiao Zheng so hesitant and was very worried that he would bite his teeth and not speak. If so, what could Wang Yang do?

Wang Yang said unhappily: "Old Jiao, if you don't want to say it, forget it. I'll pretend I don't know about this."

"Don't, don't, don't! I'll say it, I'll say it! At that time, I received orders from General Chen... Chen Tianfu to escort the looted property back to the capital. Out of righteous indignation, I went to the Jiankang County Magistrate's office to report Chen Tianfu for looting people's property. I had the merit of reporting, and plus I helped the court find the stolen goods, so I wasn't convicted at the time. Now that I think about it, they probably want to re-add the charge of looting people's property to me! But I was just following military orders, and I didn't participate in the looting! I was only responsible for escorting the property back to the capital! I am wronged!"

Chen Qingshan's heart went cold halfway through hearing it.

Jiao Zheng's version was the same as those people's; there was no inside story, no injustice, the facts were just like that. His years of running around to clear his name had become a joke.

After listening, Wang Yang stood up directly: "Since Jiao Military Advisor says so, then I will take my leave."

Jiao Zheng panicked immediately: "Young master, young master, what are you..."

"I don't care about your mess. You don't even tell the truth; sooner or later you'll drag me down."

Jiao Zheng cried out: "What I said is the truth!"

"Truth my ass! Do you think I'm stupid? Is this little thing worth a retrial? Is it worth so many people coming all the way to Jingzhou to investigate?" Wang Yang said, becoming more and more impatient: "Forget it, forget it. They will arrest you in the next two days. You can go to the prison and tell them then. I don't want to care anymore." After speaking, he walked out.

Seeing that he couldn't hide it from Wang Yang, Jiao Zheng knelt down on both knees, his forehead pressed tightly against the ground: "Young master, calm your anger! I'll tell the truth! At that time, I followed Chen Tianfu's orders to transport the property to the Bureau of Manufacture..."

Chen Qingshan's pupils shrank!

Wang Yang: Where? What bureau?

Wang Yang didn't know much about the history of the Six Dynasties system, so he didn't know what kind of institution this was. But Chen Qingshan knew.

The so-called "Bureau of Manufacture" was originally an institution in charge of weapons and military service. Because military service involved the deployment of the Imperial Guard, it was close to the Son of Heaven. At first, it was only equivalent to an office of the Son of Heaven, with low rank and power.

By the Southern Qi Dynasty, in order to seize the military power of the General of the Guard (similar to the Minister of Defense), the Bureau of Manufacture suddenly became the spokesperson of the Son of Heaven, specializing in military power!

The head of the Bureau of Manufacture, the "Supervisor of the Bureau of Manufacture," was known as the "External Supervisor." Together with the "Internal Supervisor," the Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary favored by the Son of Heaven, they were known as the Internal and External Supervisors, one military and one civil, with great power.

If the property looted by his father was not transported for himself, but for the Bureau of Manufacture, did that mean the looting was not his father's intention, but an order from the Bureau of Manufacture?

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Note: ① There is no consensus in academia on whether the Supervisor of the Bureau of Manufacture and the External Supervisor are the same. Many scholars are accustomed to directly treating the External Supervisor as another name for the Supervisor of the Bureau of Manufacture, which is not necessarily correct. Zhang Jinlun's "The Southern Dynasty Supervision Bureau and Its Military Power Problem" discusses it in more detail, but it is still not very clear. Because there is really not much information about the External Supervisor, and there are always examples of the same name and mutual reference in historical materials. My own feeling from reading is that these two concepts should not be completely overlapping, and the scope of the External Supervisor may be larger than that of the Supervisor of the Bureau of Manufacture. However, this is only a general impression, not a conclusion reached after serious research, so it cannot be trusted! For convenience, this book follows the writing in "History of the Southern Dynasties · Biography of Favored Officials" and simply treats the External Supervisor and the Supervisor of the Bureau of Manufacture as one institution, but it may not conform to historical facts.

② During the Southern Dynasties, imperial power rose. In order to seize power from the powerful clans, they began to reuse cold-born people (including those from cold families and commoners). However, because the powerful clans controlled the channels for selecting officials, the Son of Heaven could only let cold-born people serve as low-ranking officials, using temporary means beyond the system to grant them power. The Internal and External Supervisors rose against this background. Historical books from the Tang Dynasty sometimes refer to "villains holding power," which in some cases refers to cold-born people in power. So sometimes it is said that the Son of Heaven "trusted the villains," but the real situation may not be that the Son of Heaven used a group of morally corrupt people, but that the Son of Heaven bypassed the scholar-official group and conventional systems to rely on private individuals.