Chapter 442: Worldly affairs into the urn

The fifth day of the ninth lunar month, the Wei hour (1:00 PM).

Jin Ling, Rongyu Lane, Zhen mansion.

Hearing Zhen Fangqing heard from Liu Xian's wife that a young lady requested to see her, saying she was delivering a letter for Jia Cong, and the person was waiting at the Xuanhe Hall outside the second gate.

Hearing Zhen Fangqing was surprised in her heart; if Jia Cong wanted to see her, he could just come to the door; why did he send a young lady to deliver a letter?

Ever since the Great Master sent a letter to the Old Imperial Consort in the palace to arrange the marriage between Jia Cong and her.

Jia Cong's shadow had been circling in her heart, and her heart was rising and falling, unable to calm down.

With the prestige and status of the Old Imperial Consort in the palace, if she wanted to bring this matter to fruition, it was likely that even the Retired Emperor would find it hard to refute; this marriage was eight out of ten likely to succeed.

While Hearing Zhen Fangqing was happy in her heart, she also harbored deep hidden worries.

Because she knew clearly in her heart that Jia Cong was involved in the suspicion of private firearms manufacturing by the Third Brother of the Great Branch, and had already vaguely stood on the opposite side of the Zhen family.

He was the first person to advocate for firearms in the Great Zhou; with such a barrier existing, would he still accept her? Besides her, no one else in the Zhen family knew about this, which added to the worry in her heart.

Ever since they first met at the old Jia mansion that day, Jia Cong's peerless demeanor and conversation had left a mark in her heart.

Added to the fact that her family was keen on linking her and Jia Cong in marriage, although she understood the reason, it was just using her as a bargaining chip to let the Zhen and Jia families marry and form an alliance.

There was also that Second Brother-in-law whom Hearing Zhen Fangqing disliked, pushing the waves behind the scenes to realize the calculations in his own heart.

Even if this involved processes and planning that made Hearing Zhen Fangqing feel genuinely unhappy, she was happy to see the final success of the matter.

Now, the connection between Hearing Zhen Fangqing and Jia Cong was in a state of ambiguity, and she knew clearly that she had fallen for Jia Cong.

Therefore, the weight of Jia Cong in her heart was growing day by day.

Since he had specifically sent someone to deliver a letter, she naturally had to see them.

……

She said to Liu Xian's wife, "Since it's a young lady, you go and invite her to the inner courtyard to serve tea and meet."

Not long after, Hearing Zhen Fangqing saw Liu Xian's wife bring someone in.

That was a young girl of thirteen or fourteen, wearing a pink embroidered vest on her upper body, soft silk lantern pants on her lower body, a pleated short skirt tied at her slender waist, and green embroidered shoes on her feet.

Although the young girl was not old, she was born clear and beautiful, her small face was white with a hint of red, her figure was slender and flexible, revealing the charm of a beautiful young girl.

This made Hearing Zhen Fangqing's eyes brighten slightly; such a cute young girl was rare, not inferior to Lingguan by Jia Cong's side.

The young girl bowed slightly to her and said, "Baozhu pays respects to the Third Young Lady; I am delivering a letter for Brother Cong."

Hearing Zhen Fangqing felt slightly strange about the address "Brother Cong" and was also curious about the relationship between this young girl and Jia Cong.

She opened the letter; the handsome and elegant calligraphy on it was indeed Jia Cong's own handwriting, but just reading the content of the letter made Hearing Zhen Fangqing's heart tremble slightly.

……

When Zou Min'er gave Jia Cong that storage ticket, both of them inferred that something Zou Huaiyi hid so secretly could not be a pile of gold and silver dead objects.

It was some kind of reliance to protect himself and stand in the world; after all, he had done such sinister and dark things, it was impossible for him not to leave a way out for himself.

When the Water Rakshasa assassinated Zou Min'er, she specifically asked her for the secret accounts of the Water Supervision Department, which reminded her and Jia Cong.

Both of them inferred that the things stored in the storage ticket were likely the secret accounts of the Water Supervision Department kept by Zou Huaiyi.

But the items on the storage ticket had signed a contract with the Sihai Bank, which must be signed and taken personally by the depositor; the depositor was Zou Min'er's mother.

However, when the Zou family was raided, the women of the Zou family were demoted to the Music Office; Zou's wife died in prison due to excessive worry and anger; the depositor died, and according to the contract of the Sihai Bank, this storage ticket became a dead file; even if Zou Min'er was the depositor's daughter, she could not collect it.

Jia Cong had thought about getting this storage ticket through Hearing Zhen Fangqing.

Because the Sihai Bank was an industry of the Zhen family; as the main person in charge of the Zhen family's business, Hearing Zhen Fangqing could take out the storage ticket with just a little accommodation.

But Jia Cong was worried that the Zhen family was involved in private firearms manufacturing, and might be implicated in the theft of muskets in Liaodong; once the matter was confirmed and exposed, the Zhen family would commit a major taboo of Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao!

Therefore, he had some concerns about having too much involvement with the Zhen family.

It just so happened that Lingguan saw Zhou Zhengyang's portrait and recognized that when Luo Xiong booked the theater in Jin Bi Garden in Gusu that day, the person he brought was Zhou Zhengyang.

Jia Cong was eager to go down to Gusu to arrest Zhou Zhengyang, so he temporarily shelved the matter of the storage ticket.

……

However, before he went down to Gusu, after careful consideration, he still left a letter for Hearing Zhen Fangqing in advance.

Because he considered that once Zhou Zhengyang was caught, there would be an important witness, and the follow-up of the Water Supervision Department case that had been lingering for many years would basically be settled.

To make this matter an ironclad case and clear up the corruption, more material evidence must be collected.

If the storage ticket left by Zou Huaiyi was the secret accounts of the Water Supervision Department of that year, it would be the most important material evidence.

He handed the letter to Qin Keqing and told her the whole story; if she received a feather message from him from Gusu, she would send the letter to Hearing Zhen Fangqing to take out the storage ticket as soon as possible.

As long as he captured Zhou Zhengyang in Gusu, his request for Hearing Zhen Fangqing's help would have a righteous name, rather than a private favor between him and the Zhen family, which would be most appropriate for both others and himself.

Even taking out the storage ticket through Hearing Zhen Fangqing was somewhat helping her leave a good deed; in case the Zhen family was really involved in private firearms manufacturing and suffered a devastating disaster.

With this matter, Hearing Zhen Fangqing might have more room for maneuver.

Although Jia Cong had not known Hearing Zhen Fangqing for long, he had some appreciation and mutual sympathy for this young lady who was even better than men.

……

Last night, he led people to sneak into the Geng mansion and finally captured Zhou Zhengyang in one fell swoop, then released a feather message to Jin Ling.

Gusu was not far from Jin Ling; the feather message only took half a day to reach the Xinchun Number mail station in Jin Ling; Keqing received the news and asked Baozhu to go to the Zhen mansion to deliver the letter.

Although Baozhu was young, she was smart and capable since childhood; two years ago, how old was she, and she was already able to lead Keqing out of the Qin mansion alone.

Keqing knew that although she was young, she was agile and adaptable in handling matters, and would not be ambiguous at all, which was why she asked her to deliver the letter.

After all, Hearing Zhen Fangqing was a woman; sending a male servant would be inconvenient.

Baozhu saw Hearing Zhen Fangqing finish reading the letter, slightly thoughtful, and her big eyes rolled around.

She blurted out, "Regarding the matter in Brother Cong's letter, please ask the Third Young Lady to help with all your strength; Brother Cong said he would be extremely grateful and would definitely remember the Third Young Lady's favor."

Hearing Zhen Fangqing smiled slightly and asked with interest, "Did your Brother Cong really say that to you? Why didn't he come to see me himself, but asked you to deliver the letter?"

Baozhu said without hesitation, "That's natural, he told me personally; Brother Cong is the one who keeps his promises the most, I know best; he couldn't come personally because he went down to Gusu to handle business."

Hearing Zhen Fangqing was as smart as ice and snow; although she and Jia Cong had not interacted for long, she knew he was a thoughtful and cautious person who would not easily promise things; could this young girl be making it up…? However, Jia Cong was serious and wrote a letter to ask for help; she would absolutely not shirk, saying, "Since the matter mentioned by Yuzhang involves a major national case, even if the Zhen family has to break some rules, we must help."

Baozhu's bright eyes smiled into crescent moons and said, "Thank you, Third Young Lady!"

……

Gusu, Xichang gate.

Here, like usual, there was an endless stream of people entering and exiting the city gate in various ways.

Xichang gate exited the city heading west, leading to major ports along the river; this was the most bustling city gate among the four gates of Gusu.

Zhang Wu and Jiang Xiao Liu drove a carriage, with vegetables and fruits sitting on the carriage, and five or six men carrying poles followed unhurriedly behind the carriage.

They were the last batch of people Jia Cong left in the city to cover the retreat.

When they passed through the Xichang gate, the guarding soldiers took a few fragrant pears from the carriage, chewed them in their mouths until the juice flowed, and then waved their hands, letting them out of the city.

Just as they had walked less than a hundred paces out of the city, they heard noisy footsteps behind them, as well as thunderous hoofbeats.

Looking back from afar, a large number of guard infantry and cavalry poured out of the Xichang gate, with a fierce momentum and murderous intent.

The guards at the city gate shouted loudly, "Traces of pirates and bandits appeared in the city, military order from the Guard Commander's Yamen, the four gates are closed, search and arrest the bandits, no one is allowed to enter or exit!"

Zhang Wu and Jiang Xiao Liu looked at each other, their faces couldn't help but change; if they had been a step slower just now, they would have been trapped in the city.

At this time, a general wearing a helmet and armor, leading a large number of guard infantry and cavalry, marched out of the city in a grand manner and chased toward the west.

All the guards leaving the city were wearing bright armor and were well-equipped, and among them were even heavy-armored crossbowmen.

Jiang Xiao Liu saw the large troop of guards rolling up dust in the sky, sweeping past him; the general leading the team looked majestic and was exactly the Su Zhou Guard Commander Luo Xiong. Yu Xiuzhu on the side said, "It was actually all guessed by the Count; Luo Xiong really led the troops to pursue personally.

Without military orders, mobilizing troops to leave the garrison without authorization, isn't he afraid of being accused of treason!"

Yu Xiuzhu and Jiang Xiao Liu had both been soldiers in the Five Armies Battalion for several years and had followed Jia Cong to fight in Liaodong, so they naturally knew the rules and taboos in the army.

Jiang Xiao Liu said, "He hid Zhou Zhengyang, which shows that he is deeply implicated in the Water Supervision Department case; he is just struggling on the verge of death, making a desperate gamble.

Even if he catches up with the Cong Sanye, what's the use? The Cong Sanye used himself as bait, playing him around in circles; Zhou Zhengyang was transported out of the city from another route last night…."

……

On the official road heading west from Gusu city, a large number of guard troops were marching rapidly, their steps like thunder, hoofbeats roaring.

More than ten scout cavalry galloped several li ahead of the main troop, investigating the enemy situation and tracking, guiding the direction for the entire guard troop.

Scout scouts kept returning to report the situation on the road ahead, and the atmosphere appeared desolate and oppressive.

"Commander, on the road half a li ahead, the hoof prints and wheel tracks are messy, and the distance and position are inconsistent; it should be that after exiting the city, the thieves split into multiple routes, and the road is not consistent."

"Commander, two li away from the city, all hoof prints and wheel tracks gradually converged into a stream; it should be that the thieves gathered into one route and then fled toward the northwest."

"Commander, four li away from the city, the hoof prints and wheel tracks are concentrated; as long as we follow the tracks of the carriages and horses along the way, we will definitely catch up with the thieves…."

Su Zhou Guard Commander Luo Xiong, wearing armor, led the way, galloping at the head of the troop; behind him were more than two hundred guard cavalry, and behind them were fifty crossbowmen and more than three hundred infantry.

This time Luo Xiong mobilized five hundred elite troops from the Su Zhou Guard to pursue the thieves who abducted Zhou Zhengyang; the formation could not be said to be small.

He learned from the official document of the Wuxian yamen that last night, more than a hundred people sneaked into the Geng mansion to capture Zhou Zhengyang, and the specific number could not be clarified.

But according to the confession of the Geng mansion servants, only dozens of them carried muskets.

Although dozens of muskets had already constituted a certain lethality, it was still far from the point of being irresistible.

Luo Xiong led five hundred elite guards to pursue, and had already occupied the absolute advantage in numbers and force.

And in order to deal with these dozens of muskets, he even mobilized fifty repeating crossbowmen from the guard.

In close-range confrontation, the repeating crossbow machine that didn't need to mount a bow and draw an arrow had a power close to that of a musket.

But beyond fifty paces, the power of the repeating crossbow would be greatly reduced, while the musket would still be within the optimal range.

Luo Xiong had great confidence that as long as he caught up with this group of people, he could turn the situation around and recapture Zhou Zhengyang.

And he had already made up his mind that as long as Zhou Zhengyang fell into his hands again, he would not let him live past tomorrow.

This time Zhou Zhengyang falling into the hands of others gave him too strong a sense of crisis; even if Zhou Zhengyang left behind a counter-measure, he couldn't care about it anymore.

A hundred-man commander beside him asked, "Commander, if we catch up with the thieves, should we defeat and arrest them, or charge and annihilate them?"

Luo Xiong said coldly, "These people are pirates and bandits from the sea, who wanted to cause chaos after entering the city this time; although they fled the city temporarily, they will definitely make a comeback.

Such banditry does not need to be tolerated; as long as we encounter them, kill them without mercy, and leave no survivors!"

That hundred-man commander only vaguely heard that a large number of strong men appeared on Huayan Street in the city yesterday; as for whether they were pirates and bandits, he didn't know either.

So he asked this question just now; since the Commander said so, then it was so; let the superiors worry about such things; they were just following orders.

Since the Commander said these people should be killed without mercy, then kill them all; this kind of thing was not the first time the Su Zhou Guard had done it….

……

The five hundred guards followed the path scouted by the scouts, following the hoof prints and wheel tracks along the way, and marched for nearly two hours.

Four or five hundred paces ahead, a mountain pass appeared.

The road near the mountain pass was rugged and uneven, surrounded by dense small woods, with no human traces, appearing exceptionally empty and quiet.

The western sky began to be covered with red sunset clouds; the bright red clouds had a strange beauty, as if the horizon was painted with blood….

A scout who went ahead to scout returned quickly, holding something like a cloth strip in his hand.

He said to Luo Xiong, "Commander, a cloth strip was found in the grass ahead, with the smell of residual golden sore ointment, it should be a bandage, and there is writing on it."

Whether in war or ordinary training, injuries often occurred in the army, so everyone who was a soldier was very familiar with the smell of this golden sore ointment.

Luo Xiong took the bandage; looking at the broken end, it was torn off temporarily, and a "Yang" character was written on it with charcoal.

He took out the note sent by the rice cake shop clerk from his bosom, on which "Zhengyang captured" was also written with charcoal; the handwriting of the two "Yang" characters was exactly the same.

Luo Xiong smiled proudly, "That group of thieves must be nearby; the terrain here is rugged and uneven, unfavorable for warhorses to charge; cavalry dismount and wait for orders, scouts walk and scout again!"

Not long after, the scouts reported, "Commander, after the mountain pass ahead, there is a forest, more than a hundred people are resting inside, and there are seven or eight carriages.

They set up two patrols at the edge of the forest; fearing to alarm the other party, I didn't dare to get too close.

I only vaguely saw five people wearing hoods, being detained; the others were equipped with single knives, no armor, and there were more than twenty muskets."

Luo Xiong was overjoyed; the situation reported by the scouts was almost exactly the same as described in the official document of the Wuxian yamen; those five detained people wearing hoods were Zhou Zhengyang and his subordinates.

"Infantry in front, crossbowmen in the rear, cavalry in the back, each spread out the formation, surround the forest, if they resist, kill them without mercy!"

……

In the forest behind the mountain pass, more than a hundred people were resting here, and seven or eight carriages were parked.

Chen Kuishan among the crowd looked terrified and restless.

Before entering this forest, he took advantage of others not paying attention, tore a bandage from his leg, and threw it by the roadside as a mark.

But after entering this forest, he felt that something was wrong; suddenly three people guarded him closely, their expressions and demeanor were quite unkind, forbidding him from moving around at will.

And that young man who led the team, with dozens of subordinates, left the forest, not knowing where they went.

Chen Kuishan had strongly realized that the whole thing was not what he imagined….

He thought of the note sent to the Guard Commander's Yamen, thought of the bandage thrown before entering the forest, and vaguely realized that it seemed he had fallen into someone else's trap.

……

Chen Kuishan was a secret post planted by the Central Vehicle Department in the Jin Ling Guard; when he approached Zhou Zhengyang and gained the other party's trust, he was just following orders.

Zhou Zhengyang acted through the Water Supervision Department, and the foreign materials he handled were quite astonishing.

He didn't know Chen Kuishan's identity and really regarded him as a confidant.

Over the years, he had given Chen Kuishan a lot of shares in houses, women, gold, and silver, and promoted him to a hundred-man commander of the Jin Ling Guard.

Facing official positions and rich wealth, Chen Kuishan gradually became corrupt in his heart, changing from following orders to acting for real.

The benefits he had received over the years had long made him inextricably entangled with Zhou Zhengyang, and his own background had long been impossible to wash clean.

As long as something happened to Zhou Zhengyang, he would absolutely not be able to escape; the family rules of the Central Vehicle Department were strict; as long as the matter was exposed, he would be worse off than dead.

Therefore, over the years, he knew many inside stories about the Water Supervision Department case, but he didn't report half a word to the Central Vehicle Department, so as not to implicate himself.

When Zhou Zhengyang was exposed and wanted to take him to escape, he had no other choice.

……

He suddenly thought of the young man who led the team; until now, he still didn't know his identity.

That young man had a handsome appearance and outstanding character; every time he faced him, he had a gentle and kind smile, and even called him Mr. Chen.

He seemed to admire and respect him, the secret agent of the Central Vehicle Department who sneaked into the Jin Ling Guard.

But ever since entering this forest, he knew that all this was just an illusion.

The young man's bright and clear demeanor, his harmless and moving smile, now that he thought about it, actually revealed an indescribable sinister and unpredictable nature, full of deception and danger, making him shudder.

Just at this time, a large number of people suddenly appeared at the mountain pass ahead, sweeping toward the forest here quickly.

The crowd in the forest became restless; Chen Kuishan's heart, which was like dead ashes, rekindled the flame of hope again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 443 =====