Chapter 1035 Changes in Hulao City
In the inner hall of the state capital, Sima Xiaonan looked at the censor's body that was secretly sent here, with a complicated expression on his face.
If he had been a bit disapproving of the Censor's immigration investigation before, he could not help but care less now. The censor died within his rule. At the very least, it was because he was inattentive to the affairs, which led to the proliferation of bandits in the territory. At the most serious level, it may be that he himself ordered his subordinates to kill the censor in order to conceal the evidence of the crime.
In short, no matter which situation the court determined was the case, the punishment that eventually fell on Sima Xiaonan would not be light. If someone wants to take advantage of the situation and impose severe sanctions on him, then this matter will be a disaster for him!
Fortunately among the misfortunes at the moment, because the incident occurred in an official warehouse that was not open to the public, and it was already night when the incident occurred, the news had not spread yet, and Sima Xiaotian still had some time to make amends.
But compared to this good news that is better than nothing, there is another disappointing bad news, that is, the thug who killed the censor ran away after committing the crime and was not caught on the spot.
"The official warehouse is small and closed, how could there be thieves hiding in it? They escaped without a trace after hurting people. You and other guards deserve to die!"
Sima Xiaonan pointed at several members of the hall who were involved in the matter and cursed angrily.
These subordinates were all downcast, not daring to raise their heads, and they all silently endured the master's scolding.
"Things are very serious. There must be a demon! Zheng Ziyun, the Cang Cao, was there before, but now he has disappeared. It seems he had a premonition. Even if we dig deeper into the rest, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get to the root of it!"
Sima Xiaonan's confidant Pei Zao, who joined the army as a soldier, soon discovered that the key person in charge of the official warehouse was not there, so he immediately spoke in a deep voice.
Sima Xiaonan frowned when he heard this, and then cursed loudly: "Could it be that this dog thief trapped me? But what good will it do to him?"
Although Sima Xiaonan served as the governor of Northern Yuzhou, not all state officials were his personally selected staff. Some of them had been serving in the state since early in the morning, and they were often representatives of powerful clans in the state. For example, Zheng Ziyun, a member of the Cangcao army whom Sima Xiaonan scolded, was a member of the Zheng clan in Xingyang under the rule of Northern Yuzhou.
As the Zheng family in Xingyang is a well-established clan in the county, Sima Xiaonan also needs the support of these clans in order to properly exercise his powers and handle state affairs. Therefore, after he entered the state, his position was not revoked, but unexpectedly such an accident happened.
Although it is not yet certain where the problem lies, there is no doubt that Zheng Ziyun, Cang Cao, is the most suspected of joining the army. And Sima Xiaonan couldn't figure it out despite racking his brains. He had no enmity with the Zheng family in Xingyang, and had been treated with courtesy and care after entering the state. Why did Zheng Ziyun frame him?
"Please dispatch the state soldiers quickly to capture Zheng Ziyun and his disciples. If they escape, once the court investigates them, it will be even harder for me to defend myself!"
Now that he had found a suspicious target, Sima Xiaonan immediately ordered that he should be picked out first anyway. He was really worried that someone would take advantage of the situation and slander him.
There are usually two military forces in a state, one of which is the troops stationed by the imperial court, usually led by the governor of the town. The other group is the state and county soldiers, which are the armed forces within the state and county. They are dispatched by the governor to maintain public security within the territory.
After hearing this, Pei Zao shook his head and said: "If it was really Zheng Ziyun who did it, I'm afraid the inside story is not that simple. The Zheng family in Xingyang is not an ordinary villager, and the master is also in a lot of uneasiness now. If he attacks rashly, it will be difficult to control it. That's not all. The matter cannot be decided quickly, but it may be leaked to the outside.
If the rest of the imperial censors return home and report rebellion, and the court sends more capable troops to the state, things will get even more out of control! The urgent matter now is to control the remaining censors as soon as possible and then think about how to remedy the situation. "
Sima Xiaonan was not a shrewd and capable person to begin with, but when he suddenly encountered such a change, he was already in a mess. In addition, Pei Zao was his father's chief clerk in the past years, and now he is his subordinate. The officials also have a deep friendship with each other, so they are convinced of Pei Zaoduo.
After hearing Pei Zao's suggestion, he nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes, the current plan is to control the other censors as soon as possible, do not let them escape from the city, and buy time to make remedies. However, now they are all Protected by the people in the city, can you control it? "
"There are two thousand state soldiers outside the city, and hundreds of the lord's confidants. If we suddenly attack while the situation is pending, we will definitely succeed!"
Pei Zao saw that although Sima Xiaonan wanted to move, he was still hesitant, so he gave another advice and strengthened his confidence.
"Then, please ask the soldiers to quickly gather the troops for me and carry out this matter. The lives of my whole family will be sacrificed by the soldiers. I will live in the mansion until the soldiers return the good news!"
Sima Xiaonan truly trusted Pei Zao and directly handed over all his talismans and belongings to him, asking him to act on his behalf. However, he himself was truly timid and did not dare to leave the house in person.
Pei Zao had known Sima Xiaonan's character for a long time, so he didn't care about it. After receiving the order, he clasped his fists and said, "My lord, please live in peace in the mansion. It will only take a few hours for good news to come back!"
The reason why he is so confident is of course because he has been prepared. Sima Xiaonan behaved like an aristocratic and elegant person, leaving many tedious state affairs to Pei Zao, and he also used this to manage many personnel matters that even Sima Xiaonan didn't know much about.
When Pei Zao was leaving the city with the talisman, a team of people had been waiting in the dark outside the city. When they saw Pei Zao coming out, the leader of the team immediately strode forward and whispered: "General Pei, I have been waiting here for a long time!" If Sima Xiaonan was present, he would have discovered that this person was the official Pei Zao reported to the missing Cang Cao General Zheng Ziyun. Pei Zao had previously reported that he had disappeared, but now he was not surprised to see him. He walked forward and said in a deep voice: "Are the personnel ready?" "I have sent out to gather personnel since I received the order from General Pei. Now I have collected more than 1,300 elite soldiers and can be deployed at any time!" Zheng Ziyun nodded in response after hearing this, and then introduced a young man behind him to him: "This young man, General Pei once met in my house, and at that time he introduced me as my cousin, Although the truth is like this, there is still something else hidden. This young man is indeed my cousin, but he is also a disciple of Zheng Huqi of Xiangcheng, Wei State. "After hearing this, Pei Zao's face immediately became serious, and he clasped his fists to the young man and said, "So you are a disciple of Xiangcheng Duke. I am so disrespectful!" The young man is Zheng Quan, the son of Zheng Wei, a general of the Western Wei Dynasty. Because Zheng Wei is now in charge of Xiangcheng in the south, Zheng Quan often goes in and out of Xingyang Township to contact people. He also met Pei Zao by chance at Zheng Ziyun's home in Hulao City before. "General Pei, there is no need to be polite. I am really sorry that I was not able to tell you frankly when we met a few days ago. But now the general is willing to return to the court with an uprising, which is really admirable. My father asked me to come here to cooperate with the action, and it is also a statement that he will never abandon it lightly! As long as we can occupy the city this time, the reinforcements from Xiangcheng will arrive in an instant. "Zheng Quan also clasped his fists to return to Pei Zao, and spoke to comfort him. Pei Zao was greatly encouraged after hearing this, and said with joy: "The ruler of Qi is cruel and inhumane, and the people are suffering from fear and torment. My lord is also in great distress, and he has secretly thought of going west to return to justice, but he still can't bear to leave the old Sima Taishi and it is difficult to make a decision for this person.
This time the court sent the censor to force him again, and the lord still doesn't see the situation clearly and has a fluke in his heart, so I can only make my own decision and help him make a decision. I just hope that after returning to Wei, Prime Minister Li, the Duke of Tang, can be kind and protect me, so that I will not regret what I did today!"
"The Duke of Tang is magnanimous to scholars and will reward those who have made contributions. If the plan here succeeds, Pei Canjun will have no worries for the rest of his life!"
After hearing this, Zheng Quan said seriously.
There are two thousand state soldiers outside the city, plus more than a thousand elite soldiers brought by Zheng Quan and Zheng Ziyun. Under the guidance of Pei Zao, they quickly entered Hulao City under the cover of night.
In order to control the city in one fell swoop, in addition to controlling the censors from Yedu, they also needed to control the town and the armed forces stationed in the city. Since Hulao City itself was not a military stronghold, there were only a little over 2,000 soldiers stationed there on a daily basis. More than 500 soldiers were taken away by the censors before, and there were still hundreds of soldiers left in the town. In addition, there were scattered defenders and residents in the city, which was all the armed forces in the city.
With the cooperation of local tyrants such as Pei Zao and Zheng Ziyun, the troops entering the city first took advantage of the unpreparedness to control the guards of the city gates, and then attacked the town and the military camp where the censors were located.
As the armored soldiers gathered in the town, a battle that was not fierce took place. Fu Jingyuan was ready to put on his armor and fight to the death, but when he saw a burly general suddenly rushing out of the enemy team, his expression froze, and he stared at the other party and exclaimed: "Are you a human or a ghost..."
Dongfang Lao was too lazy to listen to the other party's nonsense, and took advantage of his astonishment to cut down with a knife, and immediately killed this old friend on the spot. With the death of this general, the other enemies who were still resisting all surrendered.
As for the censor camp, the battle was smoother. Pei Zao's personal attack soon captured the censor and his followers.
Sima Xiaonan had a hard time sleeping that night. He finally made it to dawn and saw Pei Zao walking into the hall in a bloodstained military robe. He hurried forward and asked, "What's the situation?"
"I have fulfilled my lord's orders. The imperial censors have all been captured, and Fu Jingyuan, the defender of the city, has been beheaded in the military headquarters!" Pei Zao reported to Sima Xiaonan with his hands crossed. He breathed a sigh of relief that things were going so smoothly.
"Zhen, Zhencheng? Why do you want to kill Zhencheng?" Sima Xiaonan was shocked when he heard this. He looked at Pei Zao and asked doubtfully, "Does Zhencheng also want to harm me?" "It doesn't matter whether Zhencheng exists or not, but I have planned a bright future for my lord. Instead of living in fear in the country, it is better to make a quick decision and find another chance! In the past, Gao Zhongmi occupied Hulao and surrendered to Wei, and then Li Boshan occupied Guanxi and dominated. Now my lord holds his old land and offers the city to surrender. Wei is thirsty for talents, how can he not welcome him with open arms?" Pei Zao bowed in front of Sima Xiaonan and explained.