Chapter 1067: Capture without mercy
When Yu Pingfeng went out to Dusi Yamen early this morning, he felt something was wrong and his eyes twitched violently. As the saying goes, if the left eye jumps, the right eye will bring misfortune, but this is the first time he has encountered the situation of both eyes twitching together, and he doesn't know whether this is a good or bad omen. After arriving at the Yamen, instead of getting better, the situation became even worse. Although Yu Pingfeng is not a very superstitious person, he still murmured a little when he encountered such a situation, thinking that he might have been hit by an evil spirit.
Near noon, after Yu Pingfeng finished handling an official matter and was about to go to lunch, his subordinates suddenly came to report that someone from the Jinyi Guards was here to see him. Yu Pingfeng has been waiting for the progress report from Liao Xun these days, and immediately asked his subordinates to bring the guests.
The visitor was not wearing the official uniform of Jinyiwei, but claimed to be Liao Xun's personal attendant, and showed his identity badge and Liao Xun's warrant. After arriving at the court, he presented a letter to Yu Pingfeng. When Yu Pingfeng saw that the words on the envelope were indeed Liao Xun's handwriting, he immediately opened it and read it without doubting his presence. After reading a few lines, Yu Pingfeng couldn't help but get excited.
Liao Xun mentioned in the letter that he had followed the clue of Cheng Fengxing to find the person in charge of Haihan in Hangzhou, and through the cooperation provided by Chengfengxing, he had secretly arrested this person last night. Currently, He is being detained in Chengfengxing outside the city. Under Liao Xun's persuasion, this man had abandoned his secrets and turned to the bright side, and was willing to serve the imperial court against the Haihan people. However, this man still lacked trust in Liao Xun's identity, so Liao Xun hoped that Yu Pingfeng could come forward to appease him and use his Zhejiang capital to command the affairs. His rank as a fourth-grade official should be enough to make the other party put down his last guard.
However, Liao Xun specifically pointed out in the letter that according to this person’s confession, Haihan had placed eyes and ears in important departments such as the Zhejiang Dusi Department and the Procuratorate Department. Therefore, when Yu Pingfeng travels, do not disclose your whereabouts to colleagues, and do not use Officials should maintain pomp and circumstance to prevent their whereabouts from being exposed and causing all their previous efforts to be wasted. The messenger has prepared special carriages and horses outside the Yamen. As long as Yu Pingfeng changes into his civilian clothes and obeys the messenger's arrangements, he will be escorted to the meeting outside the city.
The signature of the letterhead is Liao Xun's. Yu Pingfeng has had official correspondence with him, so the handwriting is familiar. One look at the signature shows that it is not a forgery. It's just that it's a bit unreasonable for Liao Xun to make such an arrangement, and he needs to ask for more details. He slowly folded up the letter and said to the sender: "Master Liao is really good at taking people away without saying a word. I wonder how many people Mr. Liao dispatched during yesterday’s operation?”
The messenger clasped his fists and responded: "I'd like to inform you, sir. Yesterday, Sir Liao brought only a dozen brothers and set up an ambush in the store. The storekeeper used the excuse of immigration to lure his opponents to come alone. It didn't take much effort to capture him. The man was also a coward. When the knife was placed on his neck, he immediately went weak. Mr. Liao had prepared several torture methods in advance, but none of them were used. "
Yu Pingfeng heard what he said was decent, so he did not doubt that there was something in it, and continued to ask: "Since Mr. Liao has captured the opponent, why don't you escort him back to the city, but invite me to go out of the city to deal with it?" This matter? ”
The messenger responded: "This person has many secrets, and according to his account, every yamen in the Hangzhou government has his accomplices stationed there. Even the Jin Yiwei is not safe. Mr. Liao is worried that his accomplices will find him after he is escorted into the city, and he may be silenced." Because of the risk, he stayed outside the city and temporarily requisitioned the store as a base to investigate the case. Mr. Liao said that it would be better not to let him show up until his accomplices who were hiding in Hangzhou were eliminated. "
Yu Pingfeng couldn't help but frown when he heard this. Haihan actually planted many people in the Hangzhou government. It's no wonder that most of the methods used to deal with Haihan in the past year fell into vain. I'm afraid that Zhejiang Dusi Even before the decree came out of Hangzhou, the Haihan people had already received the news. If these Haihan agents lurking in various yamen are not eliminated, it will be difficult to promote the decree to rectify Haihan to other state capitals in the future. In this way, Liao Xun did have a good reason for doing this.
The messenger continued: "What Mr. Liao wants is for Mr. Yu to show his face and identify himself in the past, and let the person know that a big shot in the government is paying attention to this matter. It will not delay Mr. Yu's handling of official business in the afternoon."
If he just showed up to comfort the Haihan prisoners captured by Liao Xun, it wouldn't take much effort. It just so happened that Yu Pingfeng had nothing else to do, so it didn't hurt to go over during his lunch break to see what was going on. Yu Pingfeng paid attention and asked the messenger to wait in front of the hall. He changed into casual clothes and came out with only one entourage. Then he followed the messenger out of the Yamen. Sure enough, a black-covered carriage stopped at the corner of the street. After Yu Pingfeng and his entourage got on, the carriage soon started heading south.
With the Jin Yiwei's warrant, the carriage passed through customs at the city gate and left the city without even a symbolic inspection. When the carriage arrived outside Chengfengxing, someone opened the door and let the carriage in, then quickly closed the door. If you hadn't been staring at Cheng Fengxing, it would have been difficult to notice that such a carriage had entered inside in an instant.
The carriage stopped in Cheng Fengxing's yard. After Yu Pingfeng and his entourage got off the carriage, the messenger took them inside. Yu Pingfeng saw that all the merchants in the store were young and strong men in casual clothes. Although they were not wearing weapons, they all looked very capable. Presumably they were all Liao Xun's subordinates. It's just that after he arrived, Liao Xun didn't come out to greet him. It was a bit inflated for a small family to put on airs in front of a fourth-rank official. Normally, he would be addressed as "Master Liao", which was just a polite word in officialdom. Do you really think that Jin Yiwei is a big deal if he has some privileges? Although Yu Pingfeng had a calm expression on his face, he was already thinking about how to beat Liao Xun after they met, lest he forget how much he weighed.
When he finally entered the courtyard, Yu Pingfeng saw a person sitting in the hall opposite the patio. It was Liao Xun who invited him here. There was a big Eight Immortals table in the hall, and Liao Xun was sitting behind the table. When he saw Yu Pingfeng coming, he had no intention of getting up to greet him. Yu Pingfeng snorted, asked his entourage to wait outside, and walked straight into the hall.
"Master Liao has such a big air!" Yu Pingfeng cupped his hands with a very unhappy tone. He really couldn't understand why Liao Xun, who was quite good at being a good person before, was actually playing tricks with him after not seeing him for several days.
Liao Xun responded with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, please forgive Liao for his inconvenience of movement and the loss of welcome!"
Yu Pingfeng asked in shock: "Mr. Liao, could it be that he injured his legs and feet when he caught the thief yesterday?"
"That's not..." Liao Xun raised his hand and pointed to the seat next to him, motioning for Yu Pingfeng to sit down.
Yu Pingfeng sat down next to Liao Xun. As soon as his butt touched the chair, he caught a glimpse of Liao Xun's hands and feet wearing iron shackles that were covered by the tablecloth of the Eight Immortals Table. He was so frightened that he almost sat down on the ground.
"Master Yu, there is no need to panic. Since you are already here, let's stay as a guest."
Following a joke, Yu Pingfeng saw a masked man appear at the door, and the follower he brought from the city had disappeared silently at some point.
"Who are you? Are you trying to rebel if you dare to detain an official of the imperial court?" Yu Pingfeng stretched out his hand and pulled the shackles on Liao Xun's body. He found that it was impossible to untie him, so he decisively gave up the useless attempt and focused his attention. to the masked man.
"My Lord, Gong Shiqi, is here to welcome you. I hope you will forgive me for not being able to greet you from afar." Gong Shiqi revealed his identity unabashedly: "I am one of the Haihan people whom Your Excellency deeply hates." Pingfeng's heart suddenly sank and he said to Liao Xun: "Then it seems that the letter you sent to me is all false news?"
Liao Xun smiled bitterly and said: "My family's lives are in the hands of Haihan thieves. I'm sorry, Sir!"
Yu Pingfeng realized almost immediately that Liao Xun had somehow fallen into the hands of the Haihan people. Unable to withstand the coercion of the other party, he had surrendered to the enemy. According to the other party's arrangement, he deliberately wrote a letter and handed it to him, using His eagerness for success led him out of the city. The most terrible thing is that Yu Pingfeng believed Liao Xun's words and did not tell his colleagues and family about his whereabouts before setting off. Now no one in Dusi Yamen knows his specific movements. Even if someone discovers that he is missing, it is impossible for him to be missing in a short time. Find this place. Yu Pingfeng wanted to fight back, but unfortunately he didn't have any weapons on him. It seemed that it would be difficult to break out of the store.
While he was hesitating, several masked men had already poured into the door, holding a wooden stick as thick as an egg and more than two feet long in their hands. However, these men did not rush forward to attack him, but stopped five feet away. But if Yu Pingfeng still tried to resist with force at this time, I'm afraid that before he could stand up, the wooden sticks around him would be smashed down. Yu Pingfeng saw that his opponent's advantage was difficult to shake, so he did not try any more useless resistance at the moment. He just stared at Gong Qiqi to see what the Haihan leader would do.
Gong Shiqi walked to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down: "Sir Yu, you have been chasing me, Haihan, so hard this year and tried every means to expel us from Zhejiang. It's been hard work." ”
Yu Pingfeng said: "For people like you who have no respect for the king's law, the government will naturally punish you. Do you know how big a crime it is to detain a court official?"
Gong Shiqi nodded and said: "Master Liao has already said it before about the detention of court officials. But since you have questions, let me explain it again. No matter how big an official you are in the Ming court, you can't control it. Haihan, the laws of the Ming Dynasty cannot cure the crimes of Haihan people. I set up a trap to arrest you because you have been using the power in your hands to oppose Haihan. You think you can overpower Haihan with your official position in the Ming Dynasty. But today. I want to tell you, this idea is so wrong!”
Yu Pingfeng said: "Kill if you want. What do you want to do by holding us here?"
Gong Shiqi said: "Master Yu, don't be so anxious, there are still places where you can come in handy. Come, bring a pen and paper!"
Immediately, someone presented papers, pens, inkstones and other study supplies. Gong Shiqi said: "Master Yu, don't be confused. I went to all this trouble to invite you here, not just to ask for your calligraphy. Now I need you to write a letter. Write a letter to your companion. Just copy the letter you saw from Mr. Liao before.”
"Are you trying to lure Mr. Guo here?" Although Gong Qiqi did not mention Guo Zheng's name, Yu Pingfeng had already thought of his true purpose.
"Don't the three of you always advance and retreat together? How nice it is to be able to gather here, and by the way, you can also see the Haihan people you have always wanted to see. It can be regarded as getting your wish." Gong Shiqi said teasingly.
Yu Pingfeng said angrily: "How could I be coerced by you to do such a dirty thing!"
Gong Shiqi said: "It's okay if you don't write, but tonight there will be an unknown fire in your house, and no one may be able to escape."
"Despicable!" Yu Pingfeng cursed angrily: "The barbarians are indeed acting like villains!"
Gong Shiqi was not worried and said calmly: "I'm just a servant doing dirty work for Haihan. No matter how you insult me, it's useless. I'm here in Hangzhou just to complete the task. As for what means to achieve the goal... none People will care about the fate of losers. What you should do now is to prevent yourself from losing too completely. At least, try your best to keep your family’s lives safe.”
Yu Pingfeng looked at Liao Xun beside him, and suddenly he understood the other person's feelings. He must have been very embarrassed when Liao Xun was forced to write a letter to him this morning. The Haihan people actually came up with such a poisonous plan to lure three of them into the trap one by one. It was really hard to guard against.
Gong Shiqi added: "Remember to mention in the letter that the two of you are together now. After finishing the letter, Mr. Liao also signed a signature. This should be more convincing."
Yu Pingfeng thought that this was indeed the case. With him and Liao Xun as guarantees, Guo Zheng, who received the letter, naturally had no doubts about his presence and would probably come to join them soon. As a result, three high-ranking officials would disappear inexplicably in Hangzhou City in one day. But in his current situation, he had no way to change the direction of the situation and was unable to resist Gong Shiqi's arrangements.
About an hour later, the messenger who had brought Yu Pingfeng here earlier entered the city again in a carriage, carrying another freshly baked letter. His destination was the Procuratorate of Punishment in the city, and he delivered the letter to Guo Zheng, the minister of justice. If Guo Zheng acted quickly enough, he would be able to take the carriage provided by the action team out of the city and rush to Chengfengxing before the city gate closed, and meet up with his two fellow victims.
Gong Shiqi ordered Yu Pingfeng and Liao Xun to be taken to different rooms and guarded. Now they are waiting for Guo Zheng to take the bait, and this mission will be completed. Looking back on this mission to Hangzhou, it was indeed a situation that he and Takahashi Minami had never imagined beforehand that it could turn around and develop into the current situation.
(End of chapter)