Chapter 115: The Luo Family Feast (2)

Li Weizheng was naturally arranged on the island of the artificial lake. He was absolutely indispensable in the mediation of the Guangdong officialdom. To a certain extent, this Luo family feast was actually opened for the Jinyiwei.

The long dining table was spelled into a rectangle with embroidered tablecloths, and various exquisite containers were filled with wild game and delicacies. Officials chatted with their familiar colleagues, mostly about romance. Although the purpose of this feast was to alleviate the crisis in the officialdom, in fact, everyone was very careful and avoided not mentioning the disaster relief grain case and the huge property of County Zhang today.

Li Wei was sitting in a seat beside him. The governor Hong Zhifan was supposed to chat with him, but in the morning they turned their faces, and Mr. Luo had a small conflict with him just now, so the commander Zhang Yi came forward to chat with him.

Heqing Hou Zhang Yi is nearly 60 years old today. He was the founding father of the country. In his early years, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight south and north and made great contributions. He was the commander-in-chief of Guangdong four years ago, and his status was the highest among all the officials in Guangdong.

The official crisis caused by disaster relief grains not only ignited local governments, but also military systems. The grains came from military warehouses, but Zhang Yi denied that there was a problem with military grains and insisted that it was a problem with local governments. At the same time, he did not allow Hong Zhifan to send someone to investigate his warehouse. In this way, a kind of criticism arose between him and Hong Zhifan. The two did not buy into each other and blamed each other. Before the future of the Jinyiwei, Luo Ziqi, the envoy of the Jinyiwei, came to investigate the matter. Zhang Yi and Hong Zhifan had slapped the table and beat the bench. They had quarreled more than once or twice, and they all said that it was the other party's actions. Luo Ziqi had no choice but to work on the case and just waited for the Jinyiwei to be the boss.

But when the news of the Jinyiwei's upcoming investigation of the case really reached Guangdong, the two of them were panicked and tacitly reached a tacit understanding and unanimously defended the matter to settle the matter.

Although Zhang Yi was a founding father, he did not dare to put on airs in front of Li Weizheng, not only because he was a Qianhu, but also knew that Li Wei was the prince's person. Coincidentally, Zhang Yi was also from Linhuai County, Fengyang, and was a neighboring village with Li Wei. The two of them spoke hometown dialect in a foreign land thousands of miles away, and they were particularly intimate.

"Haha, when I was a child, I climbed almost every day. The head of the clay Buddha in the land temple on the top of the mountain was still knocked off. Now I feel ashamed to think about it. Last year, I wrote a letter home and asked my son to rebuild the land temple. There is also your Lijia Village. When I was a child, I often went to your village to steal pears, and I was bitten by my master's dog." Zhang Yi was particularly excited when talking about the past, and even forgot about his mission tonight.

Li Weizheng quickly smiled apologetically and said, "If you say this, I have to apologize to my seniors."

"Why?" Zhang Yi was a little surprised.

"Because the pear forest near Yuanbaoshan in Lijia Village is my property, my senior was bitten by my dog, so wouldn't I apologize?"

The two looked at each other and laughed together. When everyone saw that they were chatting vigorously, they all quietly breathed a sigh of relief. They secretly praised the commander who was worthy of being a veteran. The devil only bought his account. Not far away, Hong Zhifan saw that they had a good conversation, but it seemed that Zhang Yi was off topic, so he gave a wink at Guangzhou governor Xu Yanzong and asked him to go up and remind Zhang Yi about his important business today.

Xu Yanzong had no choice but to carry a pot of wine and walked forward and smiled, "The two of them have no wine in their glasses, so I'll add wine to you."

Zhang Yi glanced at him and suddenly remembered the serious matter. He smiled and waved his hand to rush Xu Yanzong and said, "I have wine here, don't interrupt my interest."

"I'm sorry, the officials are troublesome." Xu Yanzong retreated.

At this time, Zhang Yi stopped talking about the past. He sighed and said, "Actually, everything is good in Guangdong. The strong winds coming from the sea every year are terrible and disasters are caused every year. But this year is particularly serious, causing floods. Li Qianhu doesn't know how many people died. They were drowned, smashed by houses, killed by epidemics, and died of hunger. There are at least tens of thousands of people. Thanks to the emperor's wise wisdom, even if the order is issued to liberation military rations, otherwise, when the food from other places comes, I don't know how many people will starve to death."

Seeing that his topic was gradually getting to the main business, Li Wei smiled faintly and said, "Although natural disasters are terrible, I think man-made disasters are even worse. What does Lord Zhang think?"

Seeing that Li Wei was on the road and did not avoid the case, Zhang Yi said frankly: "The forest is big, of course there are all kinds of birds. Dozens of counties in Guangdong were hit by disasters. They were very hurrying to distribute relief grains and there was no time to check them carefully. Some officials may have used this loophole to embezzle disaster relief grains. I have heard of it, but I know that this is definitely just a case, but if it spreads too much, it becomes a local official. This is obviously a rumor. How could everyone be greedy? And the same method is used. If I am a local official, it would be more convenient to report more victims to embezzle. Anyway, there are so many people who died, how can I investigate it? So there must be many rumors here. Li Qianhu came to investigate this case, but don't expand the matter. The post-disaster reconstruction is still expected to be done by local officials!"

Zhang Yi had reached a tacit understanding with Hong Zhifan a few days ago. This case was handled with too many rumors, and at most a few scapegoats were killed to submit a letter to the emperor. The key was to settle the Jinyiwei, and no matter what method was used, Li Weizheng had to accept the plan they proposed. Therefore, this Luo family feast was extremely important, and we must first test Li Weizheng's bottom line.

Li Wei was sucking a sip of wine and said slowly: "I know this matter in my mind. The case must be investigated. The officials who committed the case must also be killed. I think the Guangdong official should focus on how to calm public anger and restore people's livelihood as soon as possible, rather than racking his brains to mediate the matter, because this is the reason why the emperor is angry. I think as long as the public anger is calm, the emperor may consider the issue of post-disaster reconstruction and thus slight retribution for Guangdong officials. This is the root cause. What does Lord Zhang think?"

Speaking of this, Li Weizheng calmed down and said, "Of course, I am not completely unreasonable. Under the principle of investigating the case, I will try my best to give you a chance to make up for your mistakes. I will take the initiative to investigate slowly. This is the only place I can give in. It depends on how you convince the emperor to go online with practical actions, but I also have something to say first. If I find it, I will definitely kill you!"

"That's it! That's it! Of course, we have to handle it impartially." Zhang Yi responded with a haha.

He actually had a solution, and of course he was very clear about the problem. So in the past month, he only did two things. One was to order people to sif the rice bran in all the military warehouses and fill the insufficient parts with the grain from other military warehouses. This was one thing, and the other was to artificially create the illusion of the disaster that the military warehouse was washed away by the flood, and to shirk the deficit caused by sifting out the rice bran into losses in the flood. In this way, his military system would be seamless. As for the possible consequences of the local officials, he was just doing his best. If the Jinyiwei was really determined to investigate the situation to the end, he would withdraw in time.

For example, now, Li Weizheng has made a clear statement that if he wants to solve the problem, he will ask the emperor for permission. He will never give in to the investigation of the case. This is his bottom line. Zhang Yi knew that the emperor would definitely not let go, so the earthquake in the officialdom in Guangdong was inevitable, so he immediately decided to withdraw from the case.

"Okay, on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, we won't talk about these disappointing topics. Let's talk about the customs of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in our hometown. Do you know the Huai River to worship the moon?"

The feast continued, but after Li Weizheng showed his attitude, the actual significance of the feast was lost. Soon, the governor Hong Zhifan and the commander Zhang Yi both left early on the excuse of being unwell. Then the prosecutor Luo Ziqi and the commander Xuanwei also left quietly. The feast became a true "feast". No one talked about political affairs anymore, and almost everyone was enjoying a rare delicious food. Li Weizheng, a thousand household of the Jinyiwei, also became a cold show. The seventeenth prince Zhu Quan did not come to attend the banquet tonight, and no one was willing to get close to the Jinyiwei.

Li Wei was sitting in a corner without any concern and slowly savoring the wine. Shisanlang stood behind him. He had already investigated. Zhao Wuji and the King of Qin did not come to attend the banquet.

At this time, a young official came over as if nothing had happened. The man was about 30 years old, tall and burly, and Kong Wu was powerful. Although he was wearing the costume of a low-ranking civil servant, he felt that he should be a military officer. He sat next to Li Weizheng, poured a glass of wine, and started drinking on his own. Li Weizheng glanced at him with interest. Other officials hid far away when they saw him, but this guy ran to him to drink. Do he want to get close to him?

He didn't show any expression, waiting for the person in front of him to speak first. Sure enough, this person drank a glass of wine and sighed: "Everyone thinks it's safe to stay away from the storm, but he didn't know that the safest place is in the center of the storm."

He glanced at Li Weizheng and smiled, "If I were a corrupt official, I would definitely take the initiative to go forward and establish a good relationship with Qianhu, Jinyiwei. Now the Qianhu is drinking alone alone. No one has come forward to seize such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How timid is he!"

Li Weizheng smiled faintly and said, "Are you here to seize the opportunity?"

"Where? I am honest and honest. Why do I need to seize opportunities? Besides, I am not an official from Guangdong, so don't be afraid."

Speaking of this, he pulled the chair and approached Li Weizheng and whispered: "Li Qianhu did something very satisfying this morning, but I feel that it is still a bit lacking."

"Tell me, what else do you owe?"

The man smiled slightly, "Since noon, officials have been transporting wealth outside the city one after another. If it were me, I would send people to wait on the official road outside the city, one catches one person, two catches one pair, and then openly trial the case again, so that all the officials involved in the case can explain the source of the money to the people of Guangzhou clearly. If they can't explain it clearly, they will peel them on the spot. The emperor has been worried about Guangdong for a long time, and the bigger the trouble, he will be happier. After Li Qianhu investigates the disaster relief grain case, he will be commended by the emperor when he goes back. Can the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei escape from the hands of the adults?"

When Li Wei heard him speak viciously, he asked vigilantly: "Who are you?"

The man quickly stood up and bowed and said, "The following is the river channel envoy, Lord Pan, who has just come from the capital. The next surname is Ji Ming Gang, a small person, is not worth mentioning."

"Ji Gang!" Li Weizheng looked at the man incredible way. In the eyes of others, perhaps he was insignificant and a small person, so he dared to speak out his real name in such a blunt manner. However, Li Weizheng knew who Ji Gang was, Zhu Di's most powerful hawk and the commander of the Jinyiwei in the Yongli period, who killed many people. That was a later story, but this person appeared in front of him. Isn't this saying that King Zhu Di of Yan also sent someone?

Li Wei suddenly smiled like an old fox. He raised his glass to Ji Gang and smiled slightly: "It turns out to be Lord Ji. I have never heard of it. However, Lord Ji has a unique idea and will definitely have a bright future in the future. I will give you a cup."

Ji Gang smiled and drank a glass of wine with Li Weizheng. He just wanted to meet Li Weizheng, but he never expected that there were people in this world who knew his future destiny, otherwise he would never come to drank this glass of wine with Li Weizheng.

Ji Gang left, and the feast continued. At this time, a Luo Mansion butler said a few words in Li Weizheng's ear. He immediately got up and followed the butler to the inner house. The personal guard Shisanlang followed closely. Li Wei was walking into a deep house and was taken into a room with closed doors and windows. The room was simply furnished and soft. There was a table near the east wall. Several yellow rosewood carved chairs were surrounded. There were already three people waiting in the room. Among them, the person standing was Luo Nansheng, the head of the Luo family, and his brother was standing next to him.

Luo Beisheng, but Li Wei was concerned about the sitting person. This was an old man over 70 years old. His teeth were almost gone, and his wrinkles showed the ups and downs of his life. Only his eyes were a cunning look, which was completely unworthy of his aging appearance. This old man was Luo Heng, the father of Luo Nansheng, who was a famous overseas trader forty years ago. He no longer involved in the specific affairs of the Luo family fifteen years ago. But today when the Luo family encountered a critical moment of life and death again, he came forward and would make the final deal with the Jinyiwei.

"Please forgive me, Lord Qianhu. I am old and can no longer stand up to greet me." Luo Heng's voice was not loud, but it was very clear. He was not as vague as other old people because of teeth loss. Luo Nansheng hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Lord Qianhu, this is my father. I want the adults to come here to discuss something."

He pulled open the chair and respectfully invited Li Wei to take his seat. The Shisanlang behind him seemed like a stone sculpture, which made people feel that he had no chance of life. Li Wei was sitting down and smiled slightly and said, "How long is Mr. Luo's life this year?"

"I am seventy-five years old this year, and I have not had a few years of life. I thought I could last for a long time, but I didn't expect that my descendants would be unworthy and caused a big disaster, which made it difficult for me to fall into the soil. Alas!"

While telling slowly, Luo Heng observed the changes in Li Weizheng's expression. Using his seventy years of life experience to resolve this unprecedented crisis in the Luo family, he was not worried about the assassination case. Since Li Weizheng did not confiscate the Luo family as soon as possible, the matter would turn around. He was concerned about the smuggling case of the King of Qin, which is a major case that would drag the Luo family into the abyss. The matter is very serious, and the Luo family can no longer escape unscathed. The key now is how to minimize the losses of the Luo family.

Li Wei was silent for a long time, and then asked slowly: "Is the Luo family still engaged in overseas trade?"

"I haven't done it anymore!" Luo Nansheng was shocked and hurriedly denied it.

His father Luo Heng waved his hand to stop him and pointed calmly: "To be honest with the Lord Qianhu, my Luo family is indeed secretly conducting overseas trade, but the trade volume is far less than before the ban on the sea."

He knew that he had entered the negotiation stage with Li Weizheng, but there was an unequal negotiation between them. The Jinyiwei Qianhu seemed to be single-handed, but he was high and held the power of killing, and could destroy the Luo family at any time. The Luo family crawled at his feet, like a baby looking up at an adult, and the negotiation capital was really not much, and it could even be said to be only one thing, that is intelligence. They knew the specific information of the Qin King's silver ship, which was the fundamental reason why the Jinyiwei Qianhu was not moving in the Luo family. The head of the hometown Luo Heng had a deep gaze and saw the key point of the problem at a glance. He did not need to deliberately avoid some things and got on Li Weizheng's ship directly.

"Very good. The frankness of the hometown owner is admirable, but frankness cannot atone for the sins. I might as well admit that the Luo family can come to the door to seize the matter at any time. The case of your assassination of the Jinyiwei Qianhu is enough to destroy your Luo family and destroy your wealth."

Speaking of this, Li Wei was pausing for a moment, staring at the eyes of the old master, and finally slowly expressed his true intention, "What's more, the Luo family participated in the silver smuggling case of important officials of the court. If this case is verified, the Luo family will not be able to redeem their crimes. The situation in the Luo family is so serious, I hope you can have a clear understanding."

He said it a little vaguely and did not clearly point out the case of the Qin King smuggling silver, but the drums were not required to be hit hard. He believed that the Luo family could understand what he meant.

The owner of the old man Luo nodded tiredly, "I know!"

The advance warm-up of the negotiation has ended. The following is the bargaining between the two sides. This is the core of today's negotiations. However, Li Wei was not patient to increase the price bit by bit like a businessman. In fact, there are not many concessions he can give. Once the Luo family participates in the Qin King's silver smuggling case, they will definitely be implicated, but the problem is how serious the implicated is.

Li Weizheng immediately raised his voice and said solemnly: "I cannot give you any promises, and I can only give the Luo family the greatest reduction within my authority. As for what I want, it is very simple. I want you to tell me everything I know and cooperate with the Jinyiwei to handle the case to the greatest extent. There is nothing to bargain, you may not agree, but if you agree, I hope to get your clear answer by dawn tomorrow at the latest."

After saying that, Li Wei was standing up and walked out. As soon as he reached the door, the old and determined voice of the head of the Luo family came from behind: "I agree now that our Luo family will unconditionally accept all the requests of the Qianhu Lords."

Li Weizheng looked back suddenly, staring at the eyes of the old master and said slowly: "Since I agree, I hope that within an hour, the Luo family will write a complete report to me. I need your written information, all the information and details, and no one can be missed."

Li Wei was leaving, and the three of the Luo family father and son were silent. After a while, the second son Luo Beisheng asked, "Father, what should we do now?"

Luo Heng didn't say anything. He lowered his old head and seemed to be considering some major decision. Luo Nansheng sighed and said, "We only have one hour, I'll write this report first!"

As he said that, he went into the side room next to him, lit the light, and wrote it in front of the desk. He wrote in detail. From how the King of Qin contacted the Luo family three years ago, he started working on the first ship of silver, and continued until the King of Qin's deployment this year. Thirty thousand taels of gold were transported from Xi'an, writing about their Luo family's secret warehouse on Huangpu Island, and writing about the gold shipped to sea in March.

The report took half an hour to finish. Luo Nansheng wrote his name on the office. He sighed and put down his pen. At this time, the second brother helped his father walk in.

"Have you finished writing?" Luo Heng asked softly.

Ronansheng nodded, "I didn't hide anything, I told you all."

"This is right, we can hide it, but even if we cooperate and get involved in the smuggling case of the King of Qin, the devastation of the Luo family is inevitable, so we must make the worst plan."

Speaking of this, Luo Heng sighed long, his old eyes showed his longing for his hometown, and he slowly expressed his final decision: "From tonight, our Luo family will transport the property that can be taken away to the island in batches. Once the time is ripe, the old and young Luo family will take a boat to leave the Ming Dynasty and go to Nanyang to find our place of survival."

Li Wei was coming out of the inner house and walking to a garden. He stretched his waist gently in the slightly cool night breeze. He felt very good tonight. He got what he wanted most and opened the gap in the Qin King smuggling case from the Luo family. The garden was very quiet. About two hundred steps away was the place where the female guests had a meal. There was a faint noisy voice. He walked to a tall shrub. When he suddenly heard a "wow!" sound in the bush, two people emerged from it. They were two young people, one man and one woman, laughing intimately, and holding hands. They seemed to have found no one outside the bush. When they suddenly found a tall man standing in front of them, they were trembling all over. The woman screamed in a low voice.

"Haha, you guys are dating here!" Li Weizheng's heart suddenly became lighter. He waved his hands and smiled, "You guys keep going, I didn't see anything."

"You are Li Feipi of the Jinyiwei!" The young man suddenly recognized Li Weizheng. He looked shocked and pulled the woman to kneel down with a "plop" and begged, crying and begging: "Please spare our lives!"

When Li Wei heard them call him Li Baipi, he couldn't help but ask in anger and laughing, "Am I really that scary?"

When the young woman heard Li Weizheng's gentle tone, she suddenly plucked up the courage to say, "Sir, my cousin and I have been engaged since childhood and have a relationship, but my parents thought that my cousin was poor and wanted to regret the marriage. We had no choice but to discuss countermeasures here and ask me not to tell you, otherwise we will not be able to live."

"Then what countermeasures have you discussed?" Li Weizheng smiled and said, "I am a kind person, and I may be able to help you."

The head of the Jinyiwei who killed and skinned people in the street actually claimed to be kind-hearted. The young man seemed to hear something ridiculous, but he dared not to say it, so he could only whisper: "The villain's father is the county magistrate of Qingyuan County. He is an honest official and has a poor family. He also opposed this marriage, so we planned to elope, but we were not in a position to keep money in our hands and were worried."

At this moment, a chuckling suddenly came from the side, "Eloping is a good way. When you have children, come back. The rice is cooked and your parents can do nothing."

The sound came suddenly, which scared everyone. Kikuchi Fengya walked out of a flower bush with a smile on her face. She took out two pearls from the bag and stuffed them to the girl, "These two pearls are worth at least 100 gold. Go to a remote place to buy a house, live there for a year or two, and come back when you have a child. As for this Jinyiwei Qianhu, don't beg him, maybe his help will kill your parents."

The two were so scared that their faces were pale. They hurriedly thanked Kikuchi Fengya Qianen, and did not dare to talk to Li Weizheng anymore, so they ran away in a hurry.

Li Wei was looking at the two of them running away, then he turned around and smiled faintly at Kikuchi Fengya and said, "Have you been following me all the time?"

Kikuchi Fengya glanced at Shisanlang who was like a shadow behind Li Wei, and raised his head and smiled lazily, "Who said I have been following you? I have drunk too much and lie here for a nap. The couple hid in the bushes and kissed and hugged their heads and cried bitterly, waking me up, and you just happened to be here."

As she said that, she slowly approached Li Wei. Shisanlang behind her suddenly 'hum!', and murderous aura rose. Kikuchi Fengya stopped tactfully and said with a smile: "When I talk to the man I like, I always hope to get closer, and it is best to snuggle up with him. This guy will put away the knife! Such a beautiful scenery, how can you destroy the mood?"

Li Wei was very wary of this femme fatale. He almost assassinated himself in the morning, but he came to flirt at night. Her real intention was unpredictable, and she had no scruples. Maybe she was so cold that she could not be careful and let herself die in ecstasy like the Japanese envoy. He took a step back and said with a smile: "Miss Fengya's mood is forgiven. Li was ashamed of accepting it. I was afraid that I could not stand the temptation of Miss Fengya, could not control myself, and did unrestrained things, so it would be better to leave a little distance."

Kikuchi Fengya smiled so hard that the flowers were trembling. She glanced at Li Weizheng charmingly and gave a Qiubo and said, "Is Li Qianhu interested in me too?"

Li Weizheng laughed and said, "A beautiful lady, a gentleman is a good match. I am not a gentleman, of course I am interested in Miss Fengya."

Kikuchi Fengya suddenly chuckled, "Other men try to please me and use the most beautiful words in the world to confuse me, but Li Qianhu said that I am not a lady, but I like it, come! I respect Li Qianhu for a cup."

She looked like a wine glass appeared in her hand like a magic trick. She took out a pot of wine from the flowers, poured a glass of wine, sucked it lightly, and handed it to Li Weizheng, smiling coquettishly: "If Li Qianhu is willing to drink my glass of wine, then Fengya will only have Li Qianhu, the only man in her heart."

Li Weizheng raised his head and laughed and said, "If I drink this glass of wine, wouldn't it make other men sad? How could Miss Fengya give up a forest for Li's tree? I won't drink this glass of wine. Well, I have something to do, so I will lose my companion first."

After saying that, he bowed politely, then turned around and strode away. Kikuchi's elegant hands froze in the air, and his face was extremely cold. After a while, her gloomy face slowly calmed down again. She smiled, drank the wine all over, squinted her eyes and said to herself, "Li Qianhu, you really fascinated me!"

Li Wei was turning a door, but he stopped and immediately said coldly to Shisanlang: "Go and kill this woman, and leave no trouble!"
To be continued...