bookrandom Chapter 937: Devoted to His Devotion
Chapter 937: Devoted to His Devotion
Jiang Zhongxin was imprisoned with almost no trouble. It was not that he did not want to resist, but that he had no time to resist.
His old housekeeper suddenly had an idea and ran into a stunning beauty on the streets of Gongcheng, and she had no servants around her.
This old fellow had followed his master to do evil for many years, and had developed a pair of wolf eyes. When he thought of the "beauty tools" hidden in the other courtyard by his master, his old face, which looked like dry bark, flushed with excitement.
He was already very good at this kind of thing, but because Emperor Mingde led the army in person, his master restrained himself, which made him feel depressed for a long time.
After the old man succeeded in using the aphrodisiac in his sleeve, he and his wife hid the red magpie in the house. Before they had time to move, the princess sent people to search every house.
He had no choice but to send the man through the tunnel and hide him in the martial arts arena.
The house looked ordinary, but it was originally an escape route prepared by the defenders of Gongcheng. It was left to Jiang Zhongxin's old housekeeper so that he could send women to the martial arts arena for his pleasure.
They have always been secretive.
Both of them were people who valued their reputation very much, and in public they both appeared to be honest generals who were loyal to the emperor and patriotic.
The pornographic pictures that Pan Yizi saw were all sandwiched between military newspapers, and "The Practical Guide to Siege" was always spread out on Jiang Zhongxin's desk.
Earlier, when Emperor Mingde personally came to Gongcheng to inspect the military camp, he also praised the exquisite arrangement of the sand table in the martial arts training ground.
If the old butler had not acted on his own accord this time, Shi Anxia, who had just arrived, would have been kept in the dark.
After the incident in Gongcheng, Shi Anxia immediately sealed off the entire city. All the pigeons were shot down, and multiple checkpoints were set up on the post roads to prevent anyone from having the opportunity to report to Songcheng.
So, when Wu Qicheng led his troops to break into the city, Jiang Zhongxin was writing at his desk, instructing his deputy general on the distribution of disaster relief grain.
Before the pen stopped moving or the words fell, the cold blade was already against the back of his neck.
This batch of grain was urgently transported from Yongle County. Three towns under the jurisdiction of Songcheng had run out of food and were waiting for food to save their lives.
He demanded that the deputy general must distribute them before the next morning.
When he was at risk of swords and knives, he struggled and knocked over the inkstone, and the ink splashed on the four large cinnabar characters "Songcheng Urgent Relief" on the grain register, winding like blood.
When he was pressed on the table, he was still trying to remind people, "If we don't see the porridge stalls start cooking before dawn, many people will starve to death."
What a dedication.
Wu Qicheng used the tip of his knife to pry open the grain book, revealing the "Secret Plays in the Spring Palace" underneath. The intertwined postures of men and women on the silk scroll matched the plaque above that read "Loyal and Brave to Serve the Country".
"The general really has a refined taste!" Wu Qicheng raised a trace of contempt at the corner of his mouth.
Qiu Zhiyan didn't believe that such a licentious and immoral person would value the lives of the people more than his own life.
There must be something fishy going on here.
He went to investigate personally, but found no clues at first.
Every bag of rice had full grains. They were the high-quality grain that Princess Yongle had sent to escort overnight despite wind and snow.
He checked several carriages and found the same thing in all of them.
Qiu Zhiyan stared at the grain cart and suddenly sneered, "Unload all the rice. I want to check it."
The deputy general glared at them, "If we delay for a moment longer, more civilians will die! Can you bear this responsibility?"
Wu Qicheng had a blank expression on his face. "I will take the responsibility!"
As the word "unload" came out, the deputy general's pupils shrank suddenly.
This slight tremor was caught by Qiu Zhiyan's peripheral vision and was even more clearly reflected by Wu Qicheng's blade.
When the grain bags were opened layer by layer, the top-grade rice from Yongle County still shone like pearls. But when the last layer of sacks was cut, the moldy black rice was exposed like a festering wound.
There are even tiny white maggots wriggling between the sticky rice grains.
"Keep checking." Wu Qicheng's scabbard suddenly pressed down on the deputy general's trembling wrist, "Open every bag."
The sound of sacks being torn apart was heard one after another. Every cart was the same: the top layer was full of new rice grains, but the bottom layer was full of blackened, moldy rice, and the stench was so strong that it made people unable to open their eyes.
Qiu Zhiyan sent people to the town to investigate again, and what they found was simply jaw-dropping.
Every grain truck that left Songcheng was loaded with sin. Half of the relief grain was secretly transferred away on the way, and the remaining moldy rice was sent to the disaster area.
The high-quality rice that was intercepted had already been circulated at a high price on the black market. The price of rice rose three times a day, and the hungry people held the moldy grain in their hands, not knowing that their life-saving rations were now piled up in the granaries of the wealthy businessmen.
Shi Anxia was furious and ordered a thorough investigation to recover all the relief grain.
She thought, if Princess Yongle knew that her hard work was wasted like this, she would be very heartbroken.
She herself was also extremely heartbroken at this moment.
Jiang Zhongxin was so hypocritical that she misjudged him. He was really hateful.
When Shi Anxia met General Jiang earlier, he thought he was efficient and upright.
It turns out the truth is so unbearable.
As the relief grain case was torn open, more dirty tricks surfaced: the account books of withheld military pay were hidden in a Buddhist scripture box, the seized fields of the people were hung with a plaque that read "Donations to Reward the Army", and even the ancestral bronze sword that he loved to show off the most was dug up from the graves of loyal ministers of the previous dynasty.
Not only that, he also kept countless young girls in his villa, who were abducted for no reason, just like Hong Que.
The girls live a life without light, and they bear the greatest humiliation and filth in the world with their bodies.
Shi Anxia used drastic measures and sent people to thoroughly investigate the general's mansion and search all the villas.
When the girls were released, they just stared blankly at the sky. There was no surprise of flying out of the cage, so what would happen if they got out?
They are dirty. They themselves think they are dirty.
Their families will also be ashamed and wish them dead. The world is so big, where can we go?
Qiu Zhiyan came to report to Shi Anxia, "The girls were freed, and three of them jumped into the well immediately."
In other words, during the days when he was imprisoned by Jiang Zhongxin, even committing suicide was a luxury.
"Is he rescued?" Shi Anxia closed her eyes gently, feeling sad.
"We saved them, but..." If we could save them once, how could we save them twice? No one could always be with them.
Shi Anxia said, "Go and count the number of people. Don't let them out to fend for themselves. Send them to Poetry City tonight and take good care of them."
Let the girls stay away from the sad place and start over in a place where no one knows them.
After a long time, perhaps the will to survive will be rekindled.
Shi Anxia instructed, "Give each of them some silver to keep as a gift, and tell them that the imperial court will not ignore them, and that they need them to be alive to testify against the beast Jiang Zhongxin, so that they can be avenged."
In fact, the matter of the disaster relief grain alone was enough to chop off Jiang Zhongxin's head. He said so only to keep the girls alive for the time being.
Qiu Zhiyan nodded in agreement, but hesitated to speak.
"What's wrong?" Shi Anxia was puzzled, "Cousin, is there anything you can't tell me?"
Qiu Zhiyan gritted his teeth and said, "Someone in Beijing must be colluding with Jiang Zhongxin."
“How come you see?”
Qiu Zhiyan turned around silently and went out, bringing in a few masked girls in black.
Those girls only showed frightened eyes... Bei Hui's heart skipped a beat after just one look.