Chapter 446: Secret legacy can cause collapse

Jin Ling, Fengle Lane.

That ordinary three-entry courtyard was not calm at all; people were entering and exiting from time to time, brewing huge waves and undercurrents all the time.

In the study, the middle-aged man sat calmly, but his expression couldn't hide his fatigue.

The young man with capable demeanor was as respectful as usual and said to him: "Commander, after we received the letter from Xuanhe gate, the people arranged by the Commander in advance have all been deployed.

Before Jia Cong enters the yamen, we will definitely be able to intercept him! It's just that the subordinate doesn't understand, since we are acting now, isn't it a bit late?

Zhou Zhengyang fell into Jia Cong's hands for several days; maybe he has already confessed, and Jia Cong already knows all the inside stories."

The middle-aged man sneered: "Zhou Zhengyang is also a character; he can be the Jin Ling Guard Commander, not only not stupid, but also not a soft bone.

If he wasn't such a person and didn't leave behind self-protection moves, he wouldn't have lived until now after being reported.

He knows very well that if he confesses everything, it's a dead end.

Conversely, if he retains something, he will think that I have concerns, and perhaps at the last moment, he can save his life.

He fell into Jia Cong's hands, and his only hope is this; so unless it's a last resort, he won't easily throw away his bottom cards.

According to the intelligence from Gusu, Jia Cong abducted Zhou Zhengyang at night, and transported him out of the city at dawn, then was pursued by Luo Xiong with troops, eager to escape.

This morning he arrived outside the Xuanhe gate of Jin Ling; this journey was non-stop, without any gaps, mostly he didn't have time to interrogate Zhou Zhengyang.

So acting now is not late, everything is still in time…."

……

Jin Ling, Xingqian Street.

No one expected that the fire-armored team fighting the fire would suddenly use water-spraying bamboo guns to spray the musketeers.

For someone like Qu Hongxiu who didn't know much about muskets, this kind of strange behavior was even very puzzling.

Only Jia Cong knew clearly in his heart that the other party's planning was clear and they were fully prepared.

The improved Rumie muskets used by the musketeers still adopted the fire-rope ignition mode.

This kind of fire-rope gun would be unusable once soaked in water, becoming a fire-burning stick.

The other party feared his ten musketeer personal guards, who possessed strong firearm deterrence, so they first abolished the muskets to remove his most reliable force.

Jia Cong's brain flashed like fire, suddenly thinking of Zhang Kangnian's reply to the official document, asking his three hundred musketeers to camp outside the city; was it for the same purpose?

At this time, those fire-armored team members pulled out hidden weapons from the water dragon carts and rushed to kill toward the carriage.

The doors and windows of several houses nearby broke open, and many big men in black hoods rushed out, with sharp blades shining coldly, also rushing toward Jia Cong's troop.

When Jia Cong entered the city, he had somewhat expected that the first wave of news about his capture of Zhou Zhengyang in Gusu had mostly been transmitted to Jin Ling.

But the next day, he surrounded and annihilated Luo Xiong in the west of Gusu, and most of his five hundred guards were killed or injured, leaderless.

The news that Luo Xiong was controlled by him must not have been transmitted to Jin Ling.

But even so, the news that Zhou Zhengyang was captured by him would make him encounter some accidents and misfortunes when he returned to Jin Ling.

Before entering the city, the three hundred musketeers he led were detained outside the city, which was a dangerous signal.

Whether it was encountering a blocked intersection along the way or coincidentally meeting a fire-armored team fighting a fire, he kept feeling vigilant.

It was just that he had just entered the city and hadn't even had time to return to the official yamen, yet he encountered an interception halfway; such a fierce and urgent move was still beyond his expectation.

It is conceivable that the ruthlessness and madness in the heart of that person behind the scenes had reached an extreme point.

Jia Cong shouted loudly: "Meet the enemy! Protect the imperial criminal in the carriage!"

This sentence was like throwing sparks on oil; those assassins were like moths to a flame, rushing toward the carriage crazily.

The ten musketeer personal guards under Jia Cong had followed him to fight in Liaodong and were also brave soldiers who had experienced the blood and fire of the battlefield.

But they usually trained mainly with firearms; the proficiency and precision of using muskets were their strengths.

The muskets on their bodies were soaked by the water dragon in advance, making them lose their sharpest reliance.

The sword and spear attack techniques of ordinary soldiers, although considered proficient, were obviously inferior compared to the martial arts of these assassins.

Each assassin was agile, their killing methods were fierce, and their advance and retreat were quite military-like, and they also occupied an absolute advantage in numbers.

In just a short time, two of the ten musketeer personal guards were slashed by knives, and another was seriously injured, life or death unknown.

Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu each drew their curved knives and joined the battle; their knife techniques were exquisite, practiced for many years, and very tacit.

As long as that musketeer was in danger, they would swing their knives to relieve the trouble, and finally managed to resist the attack of the assassins; in the small alley, knife shadows were dazzling and shouting was constant; the two sides were temporarily evenly matched.

But because Jia Cong and others were restrained, no one had time to guard the carriage.

This was also the effect the assassins wanted; one of the assassins immediately jumped out of the battle, jumped onto the carriage shaft, lifted the curtain, and stabbed in with a knife.

A man in the carriage with his hands and feet tied and a hood on his head was stabbed through the heart by this fierce and ruthless knife, letting out a miserable and piercing scream.

Jia Cong slashed an assassin in front of him with a knife, jumped onto the carriage shaft with all his might, and swung his knife at the assassin who was committing the crime, stopping the assassin's attempt to pull off the dead man's hood.

The two fought for two moves; the assassin saw Jia Cong's knife technique was sharp and had no intention to fight, faked a move, jumped off the carriage shaft, and shouted loudly: "Already succeeded, retreat quickly!"

The assassins who were still fighting heard their companion's prompt and jumped out of the battle quickly, advancing and retreating with evidence, clearly having been tempered and trained for a long time.

In just a short moment, all the assassins fled quickly and disappeared on Xingqian Street.

Jia Cong hurriedly asked his personal guards to invite a doctor to give emergency treatment to the wounded.

He walked to the carriage and lifted the curtain; the person in the carriage had been stabbed through the heart and had long been dead.

Qu Hongxiu on the side said: "It's really too dangerous; if Cong brother hadn't sent Zhou Zhengyang away from another route early, he would have died today, and all our hard work would have been in vain."

Jia Cong pulled off the hood of the person in the carriage; this person was not Zhou Zhengyang at all, but the Central Vehicle Department secret agent Chen Kuishan who had defected.

Although he had already stopped breathing, a pair of eyes were still rolling, still full of fear and disbelief.

Jia Cong put the hood back on him.

Qu Hongxiu asked: "Cong brother, you put this guy in the carriage and covered his face; did you guess that you would be assassinated when entering the city?"

Jia Cong said: "Zhou Zhengyang is one of the masterminds of the Water Supervision Department case; once he is captured, someone in Jin Ling city will be extremely concerned about him for self-protection.

I took Chen Kuishan as a substitute to enter the city, originally wanting to set a trap to lure out the person behind the scenes, but I didn't expect that we would be so fiercely assassinated just after entering the city.

Actually, before I went down to Gusu, I read the secret report on the connections of the guard generals collected by Xu Qiniang, and I roughly guessed who the mastermind was.

Now he thinks Zhou Zhengyang is dead, which is exactly what I want; this can make him not take a desperate gamble, otherwise he would cause military chaos in Jin Ling city, and the consequences would be unimaginable."

Jia Cong left two personal guards

The assassination on Xingqian Street would soon be heard by people from the Ying Tian Prefecture or the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but Jia Cong did not want anyone to come into contact with this carriage.

In the current officialdom of Jin Ling, the person Jia Cong trusted most was Yang Hongbin, the Judge of the Court of Judicial Review, who was stationed in Jin Ling by imperial decree.

By driving the carriage into the temporary office of the Court of Judicial Review, Yang Hongbin would help him keep this secret, and he only needed to keep it for two days.

Jin Ling, Fengle Ward.

By the afternoon, the middle-aged man who had been waiting for news finally saw a lean, sturdy man walk into the study.

"My Lord, your subordinates have not failed your mission; we have already killed Zhou Zhengyang on Xingqian Street!"

The middle-aged man's eyes flashed with a strange light as he asked, "Are you sure you have killed him!"

The man said, "It was your subordinate who did it personally, stabbing him in a vital spot. He is dead as dead can be; there is absolutely no mistake."

At this moment, the man suddenly remembered that Zhou Zhengyang in the carriage was wearing a hood. After he killed him, he had wanted to lift the hood, but just then Jia Cong had arrived.

Thinking of this, a slight doubt arose in his heart, but it was immediately dismissed by himself.

At that time, Jia Cong and his personal guards were defending the person in the carriage extremely tightly. If it weren't Zhou Zhengyang, why would they have fought so desperately?

Even Jia Cong's three musket guards were seriously injured by his own men in order to protect the carriage.

So the man would absolutely not be stupid enough to tell his master about this ethereal and uncertain doubt.

Otherwise, if complications arose, he would be the one to suffer in the end, and he might even lose his life.

The middle-aged man before him had reached such a high position; as a subordinate of many years, he knew very well how sinister and ruthless his methods were....

The middle-aged man heard this and finally relaxed slightly, saying, "Go down and rest first. Tomorrow, take your men and set off with me; I will not treat you unfairly."

He saw the young man standing respectfully beside him, and a trace of relief finally appeared on his face as he said, "Liu Xuan, you must know that the most powerful things in this world are not high office and power.

It is the secrets you know that others don't, and these secrets will determine the future and life or death of many people.

Once Zhou Zhengyang is dead, whether it's the matter of the Water Surveillance Division or other entanglements, many clues will be broken, and no one will ever know the location of the secret treasury of the Water Surveillance Division. In fact, in the eyes of big figures, these little things in Jin Ling, what do they count for?

The old affairs of the princely titles, the reversal of imperial power, the coveting of the state—these are the private secrets that shake the world.

Whoever has these secrets, power and wealth are all within their grasp.

Even if there is no official career, what does that count for? Figures who were once high and unreachable, before these secrets, are nothing more than people whose life or death is decided in a word, and whose downfall is caused by a single event.

Living in this world, whether trapped in setbacks or residing in low office, struggling to survive, supporting oneself bitterly—isn't it all to have the wind and clouds in one's hands...!"

Liu Xuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he bowed his head, saying, "Your subordinate has been taught. I have arranged a five-hundred-picul merchant ship in the Zhen family's fleet.

All procedures have been handled secretly, and we can set sail at any time...."

Jia Cong took his remaining personal guards and drove the carriage into Yang Hongbin's temporary office of the Court of Judicial Review, and the main gate of the yamen was tightly closed.

Not long after, hearing that the Count of Weiyuan had been assassinated on Xingqian Street in the city, the Ying Tian Prefecture yamen and the Embroidered Uniform Guard both sent people to inquire and understand the relevant details.

But they were all rejected by Yang Hongbin, on the grounds that the Count of Weiyuan was safe and sound during the assassination on Xingqian Street, but Zhou Zhengyang, whom he had accidentally captured in Gusu, had been assassinated and died.

The Court of Judicial Review was under imperial decree to investigate the Zhou Zhengyang case in Jin Ling. Zhou Zhengyang's corpse had already been examined and collected by the coroner of the Court of Judicial Review, and the Court of Judicial Review declined the intervention of outsiders in the official business handled exclusively by the Court of Judicial Review.

Jia Cong, as a noble of the imperial court and a Grade 5 official, was under imperial decree to handle affairs in Jin Ling, but he had been assassinated within Jin Ling City.

The Ying Tian Prefecture and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as the yamen for governing and pacifying Jin Ling, had to ask about it for the sake of reason and sentiment, putting on an official show.

But Yang Hongbin brought up the imperial decree to speak, so they naturally wouldn't ask for trouble again. The Zhou Zhengyang case was very thorny; they were more than happy not to be allowed to touch this hornet's nest.

However, after such a disturbance, the news of the assassination and death of the imperial criminal Zhou Zhengyang spread through the officialdom of Jin Ling at an astonishing speed.

By sunset that day, almost the entire officialdom of Jin Ling had heard the news.

Some watched coldly, some sighed and wrung their hands, some felt relieved and secretly rejoiced; various reactions were endless.

Others noticed that Zhou Zhengyang had been on the run for several months, and the Jin Ling Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Regional Military Commissioner's yamen had searched several provinces and could not capture him.

Yet that young Count had only made one trip to Gusu and had brought this person to justice; this was somewhat too coincidental.

The eighth day of the ninth month was destined to be an extraordinary day. On this day, many things underwent key changes and were destined for their future direction.

And at this time, rumors about the Emperor sending an imperial envoy to Jin Ling to convey a decree and involving major changes in the officialdom were also becoming increasingly rampant.

There were even well-informed people who said that the imperial envoy conveying the Emperor's decree had already arrived at Gantang Post, fifty miles away from Jin Ling.

Calculated by time, it was estimated that he would arrive in Jin Ling tomorrow....

Just when everyone in Jin Ling City believed that Zhou Zhengyang had been assassinated.

An inconspicuous passenger ship set off from Gusu, and after more than two days of sailing, it passed Changzhou and Zhenjiang.

In the early hours of today, the passenger ship left the waters of Zhenjiang and sailed to a place only five miles away from Jin Ling.

The cabin of the passenger ship was fully loaded with more than twenty people, five of whom were prisoners with their hands and feet bound.

Zhang Wu and Jiang Xiao Liu stood at the bow of the ship, looking out at the surging river ahead.

The boatman Zheng Xiaohai beside them said, "Two masters, if the ship sails forward for another cup of tea's time, we will be able to see Longtan Port in Jin Ling."

Zhang Wu said, "Brother Zheng, the ship doesn't need to sail forward anymore. Find a secluded river bay nearby to stop the ship and rest; we will enter the city tomorrow."

That day, Jia Cong captured Zhou Zhengyang from Geng Physician's residence overnight and let Zhang Wu and Jiang Xiao Liu escort the prisoner, leaving Gusu overnight on Zheng Xiaohai's ship.

And Jia Cong himself took hundreds of men, leaving Gusu through the Xichang Gate one after another, using Chen Kuishan to send out news to attract all the attention of the Su Zhou Guard Commander Luo Xiong.

Sailing all the way, Zhang Wu and Jiang Xiao Liu greatly admired Zheng Xiaohai's boat-handling skills.

Although they had successfully left Gusu with Zhou Zhengyang, the waterway had to pass through the inspections of the patrol boats of the Su Zhou Guard, Changzhou Guard, and Zhenjiang Guard along the way.

Before the imperial decree was issued to Jin Ling, their identities could not be seen in the light. If the garrison soldiers along the way discovered that they were escorting five prisoners, they would have no way to justify themselves.

Moreover, once the news leaked, Jia Cong's prior planning might all be wasted, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

However, this unremarkable boatman Zheng Xiaohai actually had a strange familiarity with the waterways and could use the terrain and timing of the waterways along the way to easily avoid the inspections of all the patrol boats.

This kind of ingenious boat-handling skill was simply tailor-made for them. Originally, transporting Zhou Zhengyang safely to Jin Ling by waterway would have had some risks and troubles.

But after getting on Zheng Xiaohai's ship, all this became easy.

Zhang Wu was an old man from the Jin Ling Central Vehicle Division, meticulous, capable, knowledgeable, and quite calculating, but he had to admire Jia Cong's talent for seizing the initiative in everything.

He had only been in the south of the Yangtze River for less than two months; how did he collect a figure like Zheng Xiaohai, and this person happened to be in Gusu?

It was as if Jia Cong had known about today's events a long time ago, which was why he could use Zheng Xiaohai's skills to succeed just right.

Jiang Xiao Liu on the side asked, "Brother Zhang Wu, we are almost at Jin Ling; why not enter the city today?"

Zhang Wu said, "Before we set off, the Count told me that before the imperial envoy conveying the decree from the Love Shenjing arrives in Jin Ling, the situation in the city is dangerous and unpredictable.

Zhou Zhengyang is deeply involved; I don't know how many people in Jin Ling City want him dead.

Calculated by the itinerary, the imperial envoy conveying the decree definitely cannot arrive in Jin Ling today, and the situation in the city is not yet settled.

Bringing Zhou Zhengyang into the city at this time, if someone takes a risk, the twenty-plus of us might not be able to resist.

So it's better to wait for the imperial envoy to arrive before we escort the prisoner into the city. I ask the brother to enter the city first to send a message to the Count, needing to send more men to receive us to ensure everything is safe."

The eighth day of the ninth month, Jin Ling, Yumin Ward.

Jia Cong came out of the temporary office of the Court of Judicial Review and returned to Yumin Ward with Qu Hongxiu.

As soon as he entered the residence, Baozhu greeted him.

She said with a smile, "Brother Cong, you're back. I helped you accomplish a major task; I let Miss Zhen San help you take that storage file."

Jia Cong felt happy in his heart and said, "Hurry and bring the things for me to see."

Baozhu ran back to her room and brought the storage box over.

Jia Cong saw that the fire lacquer seal on the box was intact, so he opened the box on the spot and took out several letters and a blue-covered booklet.

Jia Cong only flipped through a dozen pages, and he was both shocked and happy. That blue-covered booklet was the secret account book left by Zou Huaiyi.

It recorded more than twenty overseas ships, as well as the quantity of foreign goods on each ship, the channels for transport and dumping, the silver and wealth obtained, and the personnel involved in the distribution.

Some of the names involved had already been caught and exposed in the storm two years ago, but there were more people who had always remained at large.

These deadly contents almost uncovered all the lost clues and mysteries of the major case of the Water Surveillance Division two years ago.

Zou Huaiyi secretly preserved this secret account book as a means to protect his life. Unfortunately, the incident happened suddenly, and his crimes were already exposed; he had no chance to use this thing at all.

Jia Cong captured Zhou Zhengyang in Gusu, which was obtaining the most critical human evidence, and this blue-covered booklet was important physical evidence.

Now, with both human and physical evidence complete, the undercurrents and filth left over from the major case of the Water Surveillance Division that year would surely be swept away.

Because the hidden dangers and haze covering half of the Great Zhou's Jiangnan would also be dispelled from now on....

Jia Cong saw that the following pages of the blue-covered booklet were some anecdotes collected and recorded by Zou Huaiyi.

Among them, Jia Cong already knew about the old affairs of Du Hengxin's background, but the records on this were more detailed.

Regarding anecdotes such as the extermination of the Du family, the rebellion of Wu Wang in the Love Shenjing, the abdication of the Retired Emperor, and the ascension of Emperor Jia Zhao, he had heard Zou Min'er talk about them before.

The contents recorded in this booklet were basically not much different from what Zou Min'er described that day.

But in Jia Cong's view, whether it was the records in this booklet or what Zou Min'er knew, they were actually just rough descriptions of the old affairs of that year and could not investigate the connections and roots among them.

These records and statements all showed that the destruction of the Du family and the rebellion of Wu Wang had closeness in time, but no connection between the two was found.

The rebellion of Wu Wang that happened in the Love Shenjing that year must have been a major event that shocked the imperial capital.

But Jia Cong had never heard anyone mention it in the Rongguo Jia family. In fact, thinking about it carefully, it was not strange.

This kind of bloody matter involving the struggle for imperial power was originally a private matter of the royal family. The noble families of the imperial court, in order to avoid suspicion, would not privately discuss or promote such things.

His teacher Liu Jing'an, a two-dynasty veteran who served as Minister of Rites, was less than sixty years old when he retired that year.

He must have known about this old affair that year, but he had never mentioned a word to him, probably also out of such taboos.

Jia Cong saw the last two pages of the blue-covered booklet and found that the content before and after was somewhat incoherent, as if a page was missing in the middle.... (End of chapter)