Before walking back to the post house, Wang Che asked Zhang Shimin to go find someone first and ask if they could find drinks and food in the post house at night. He thought of finding Huo Li, and then he and Huo Xiao would have a night drink together; Princess Yun and Princess, Although Shen Peng and Zhao Ci also lived in the post house, they were under strict supervision at this time. Wang Che did not want to take over them directly before returning from Jinling.

Wang Che had been away from Tangyi for more than three months. At this time, he could only ask Huo Xiao for some trivial matters; but from Shoudong to Chaozhou, and then from Chaozhou to Jinling, he could first take a carriage and then transfer to a boat. Even if you don't sleep tonight, you can catch up on some sleep on the way.

There were three or four dark figures crouching on the street on both sides of the posthouse gate. They were homeless beggars in the city. When they saw Wang Che, Huo Xiao and others walking over, these people gathered around to beg with broken bowls in their hands.

Judging by the dim light, these people were all in ragged clothes, with dirty faces, old age, or disabilities. They were all people who could not support themselves. The garrison did not mercilessly expel them from the city; Wang Zhe and Huo Xiao came from their arms. He took out a dozen coins and was about to give them to them.

One of them came closer, but suddenly turned around and limped toward the side alley, as if he was being burned by fire.

"Stop! Who are you?" Zhang Shimin, who had not yet left, saw this scene and shouted loudly while holding down the hilt of his knife.

The man came forward as if he wanted to beg, but suddenly turned around and left. His behavior was suspicious no matter how you looked at it, especially since there were several very important people living in the post house today. How could Zhang Shimin let him leave so easily?

However, Zhang Shimin was also wary that there were assassins hidden among the other beggars, which would be detrimental to Wang Che or Huo Xiao. Instead of chasing after them in a hurry, he loudly called on the guards on duty in front of the post house to take action.

Several guards on duty in front of the post house heard the noise and reacted very quickly. They drew their knives and chased after him. Without Zhang Shimin's move, they pushed the man down at the entrance of the alley into the mud that had just been covered with cinders.

"Wang Che, Wang Che, it's me." The man shouted in pain at this time.

When he heard someone calling his name, Wang Zhe showed his badge to the guard and then cautiously approached him. Through the light, he saw a face covered with cinders.

The voice sounded familiar. After wiping the cinders on his face with his sleeve, Wang Che recognized that the person in front of him was Zhou Kun, the son of Zhou Shoumin, the former young eunuch of Honglu Temple.

It was not a sudden assassination incident. Even though Wang Che had an empty title before, his status was not low. When he signaled the guards to let the other beggars disperse, he, Huo Xiao and Zhang Shimin took Zhou Kun to him in the post house. residence.

Zhou Shoumin, Zhou Kun and his son are both from Runzhou. When Wang Che was serving his uncle Wang Jixiong, he met Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun and his son several times, so they recognized him and knew that he, Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong were captured together. Emperor Tianyou selected him to serve as his Imperial Majesty, who was still the Third Prince at the time. Unfortunately, a few days before the Third Prince left the palace, he accidentally injured his back in a cavalry accident, and he was almost crippled.

Although Zhou Kun later recovered from his back injury, he still walked with a limp.

Wang Che did not expect to see Zhou Kun in Shoudong City, nor did he expect that Zhou Kun would live in such a miserable state.

At this time, Huo Li walked in and asked, "What was the noise outside just now?"

At this time, Wang Che introduced Zhou Kun's identity to Huo Xiao, and asked Zhou Kun: "Why are you in Shoudong, Mr. Zhou, and your brother Zhou Shen? I remember that your brother Zhou Shen has been here for the past two years. Are they all serving as officials in the Shouzhou army?"

"Why, Wang Zhe, if you don't miss the old relationship, you still want to report me?" Zhou Kun was sitting in the hall in ragged clothes, calling Huo Xiao, Huo Li, and Zhang Shimin, and the three of them stared at each other, feeling uncomfortable all over.

, asked Wang Zhe impatiently.

"Look at you like this, what is there to report? Unless you were assigned by the Shouzhou Army to lurk in Shoudong," Wang Che said with a smile, "I think you are all acquaintances with the Marquis, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong.

——If you really don’t have anything to feel guilty about, even if your brother is still working for Xu Mingzhen, it has nothing to do with you. Maybe he can still get an errand in Tangyi, which is better than what you are doing now...

…”

Zhou Kun's expression softened slightly at this time, and when he saw Wang Che ordering Zhang Shimin to prepare drinks and dishes, and invited him to stay for a feast, he did not refuse.

When the drinks and dishes were served, Zhou Kun was wolfing down the wine while telling the truth.

After the Jinling Incident, his father Zhou Shoumin was forced to join many officials in supporting the crown prince, but he soon fell ill and became an official and did not hold an official position under the Anning Palace; and after being coerced to cross the river, he did not serve in Shouzhou

He was given a half-term official position; and because he had served as an official before, his family was not ordered to move to Bianjing.

In order to make a living, his elder brother Zhou Shen found a job with Cao, the governor of Shouzhou Jiedushi, through a trust relationship afterwards. However, Zhou Kun's back injury did not fully heal, and he still limped and had difficulty moving. In so many places,

Among the sons of Dujiang officials, he was not qualified to get an official position in Shouzhou, so he stayed in the house to take care of his father.

The money they carried was cheap and was robbed by the rebellious slaves when they were crossing the river. Although his brother was able to serve as a minor official, his salary was extremely meager and it was difficult to support the family. The family lived in extreme poverty after arriving in Shouzhou.

It is precisely because of this that his eldest brother Zhou Shen's wife saw that their father and son's noses were not noses and their eyes were not eyes. There were often conflicts in the house. In the end, they could not get over it, so he and his father Zhou Shoumin moved to a house only sixty-seven miles away from Shouchun City.

Shoudong from Shili came to live.

When the Shouzhou Army abandoned Shoudong, they were unable to evacuate in time and were blocked in Shoudong City. However, they were worried that their sensitive identities would be liquidated, so they temporarily moved to an abandoned house and told the garrison that

They were just ordinary households who were coerced across the river, and their identity cards had long been lost.

The father and son, one old and the other young, one is sick and the other disabled. In addition, after crossing the river, the father and son have lived too hard in the past four or five years, and they have long lost their wealth. Fortunately, they were not listed as a key inspection.

The object was able to muddle through.

The Zhizhi government provided certain relief to households in the city who were unable to work, but it was quite limited and could only ensure that Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun and his son barely survived from starvation.

Zhou Kun saw Wang Che entering the city from a distance on the street today. He hesitated several times and finally waited in front of the post house to wait for Wang Che to come back. He just wanted to rely on old friends to ask Wang Che to borrow more money and food, but when he finally reached Wang Che

When Wang Zhe came forward, he was filled with embarrassment and fear of being recognized by Wang Zhe...

"You are in trouble now and your life has been rough, but why didn't you think of looking for Mr. Hou? Even though it is not easy to meet Mr. Hou, Mr. Feng is also in Shoudong these days. Your family should know Mr. Feng, right?" Wang Zhe asked

road.

"What's the use of looking for Feng Liao? It's true that no one has gone to find Feng Liao's family these days, but instead they were imprisoned in Linhuai. Who knows what kind of torture they were subjected to?" Zhou Kun said with a sneer.

Wang Che had just come back and was not familiar with some of the situation. After listening to Huo Xiao's explanation, he realized that after retaking Huailing and other twelve counties, under Feng Liao's initiative, he had either actively or passively escaped across the Yangtze River with Anning Palace.

All officials and families were treated as prisoners of war and imprisoned for rehabilitation.

There is no torture for these people in Tangyi, but they are temporarily used as hard labor to make up for the lack of free labor after the troops in the baggage camp are incorporated into the regular soldiers. Most of these people do not do farming or weaving even after they are in decline.

Being thrown into a hard labor camp all of a sudden, even if there was no deliberate torture, it was unspeakably miserable for them.

Only a small number of clan members who were living abroad were sent to Jinling and handed over to Zongzheng Temple for disposal.

After hearing what Zhou Kun said about these things, Wang Che pondered for a moment and asked, "Would you like to serve in Tangyi?"

"I'm grateful that I can treat you to a feast, but please don't entertain me. Is it possible that you can persuade the heartless Feng Liao to spare a favor for me?" Zhou Kun hunched over and couldn't help but smile.

Said happily.

"Master Feng is in charge of the Capital Affairs Bureau. Of course I can't vouch for whether he is willing to use you to serve. However, I am serving in the Military Intelligence Staff Department and I still have the right to use one or two old ways to do things. As long as you don't feel aggrieved.

"Wang Che said with a smile.

After hearing what Wang Che said, Huo Li and Huo Xiao understood it first.

Except for the two of them, no one else knows about Zhou Kun's existence. As long as it can be confirmed that what Zhou Kun said is true, Zhou Kun can be arranged to pretend to be a refugee and flee to Fengtai or even directly cross the Huaihe River to Tongkou or Woyang.

Waiting for the city to stay for a period of time, and then going to join his brother Zhou Shen, this would be an excellent hidden stake to penetrate into the Shouzhou Army and the Liang Kingdom.

Seeing that Zhou Kun was puzzled, Wang Che told him bluntly and said: "After you took refuge with your brother Zhou Shen, you said that your father died of illness and was on the way to escape. I will arrange someone to take care of your father's daily life. Don't worry about it..."

"

Unexpectedly, Wang Che's so-called appointment was actually like this. Zhou Kun was stunned for a long time and didn't know what to say.

"The Liang Kingdom has been in chaos twice. Even if you can survive this calamity, your vitality will be severely damaged. Xu Mingzhen is even worse and is dying. If your brother cannot abandon the darkness and turn to the light, I guess there is no need for me to express how bleak the situation will be in the future -

- And when you come back one day, will you still worry that there is no place for you in Tangyi?" Wang Zhe wanted to get more from Zhou Kun, and thought of dragging Zhou Shen, who was serving as an official in the Shouzhou Army, into the water. When he saw Zhou Kun

Kun was hesitant and did not force him at this time. Instead, he ordered Zhang Shimin to carefully avoid the sight of others and send Zhou Kun off through the side door first.

Wang Che had to rush to Jinling early tomorrow morning to deliver the message and memorial. When Zhang Shimin sent Zhou Kun off and returned, he wrote a letter and gave it to Zhang Shimin, saying: "As long as Zhou Kun agrees to be Tangyi's secret agent,

Zhuang goes to lobby his brother, and you take him to see General Xi and explain the matter; General Xi will make arrangements..."

The new department will not be formally established until Wang Che returns from Jinling, but the Military Intelligence Staff Department currently has manpower responsible for lurking and spying on the Central Plains and Heshuo areas. He thought that if it was too late to send Zhou Kun back,

It will leave too many holes that are not perfect.

Wang Che asked Zhang Shimin to take his letter and go directly to Xi Faer to make arrangements in advance, but also ordered Zhang Shimin to secretly observe Zhou Kun for a day or two...

…………

…………

Zhang Shimin was still a bastard at the moment and had no conditions to conduct more investigations into Zhou Kun's background. He followed Wang Che's arrangements and secretly observed Zhou Kun for two days before coming to ask him about his wishes.

Before and after the Jinling Incident, too many princes, ministers, and countless officials from the capital fell from the clouds into the dust in the blink of an eye, and the Zhou family was just a tiny microcosm of them.

When Zhou Kun was young, he was also a dissolute son of an aristocratic family, so he, together with Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong, were selected to study with the third prince. However, before the third prince left the palace, Zhou Kun got drunk and rode a horse one day.

The horse suddenly went crazy when he got off the horse and threw him off the horse. He fell unconscious for a long time before anyone noticed him. Naturally, he lost the opportunity to enter the Linjiang Marquis Mansion to study.

Zhou Kun lay in bed for three years before he could barely get out of bed and walk around. He also thought that after recovering from his injuries, he would be able to get out of the predicament in life. However, he did not want Jinling to rebel and destroy all the officials and noble families in Jinling City.

Get involved.

After being defeated in Anning Palace, they crossed the Yangtze River and fled north to seek refuge in Shouzhou. The Zhou family continued to sink further. At this time, Zhou Kun's injury was completely healed, but it was inevitable that he would remain disabled.

Wang Che pointed out a way for him, which could even be said to be the only way for him to get out of the predicament. But at this time, he was no longer the young and frivolous lothario he had been earlier. He knew very well that once things were revealed, he would risk his life, but he would sacrifice his brother Zhou's life.

If Shen is involved, his Zhou family will be extinct.

He did not dare to agree to Wang Che easily. He returned to the dilapidated shack and was distraught for two days. His father Zhou Shoumin noticed the clues. It was not until Zhang Shimin came to visit him again that he told his father Zhou Shoumin the truth.

The father and son looked at each other in the shack for a long time. Only after Zhang Shimin came to the door did they decide to agree to Wang Che's conditions.

Ordinary people may still be ignorant of many things that happened in Jianghuai, but Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun could more or less guess that there must be great chaos in Liang.

Even without the civil strife in Liang, the Shouzhou Army, which seemed to be strong in recent years, was beaten by the Tangyi Army and was unable to fight back. I thought that this might have destined Zhou Shen's family to continue to follow the Shouzhou Army.

, one day he will inevitably become a chaotic person.

After Zhou Kun agreed, Zhang Shimin went to Xi Faer with the letter left by Wang Che.

With such a person infiltrating the Shouzhou Army, Xi Faer naturally made corresponding arrangements immediately. He sent people to investigate the backgrounds of Zhou Shoujun and Zhou Kun, arranged for special personnel to conduct special training for Zhou Kun in latent work, and began to arrange for Zhou Kun to return to Shouzhou.

The channels of the state army ensured that no obvious flaws were left during the period when Zhou Kun disappeared.

Of course, Zhou Shoumin and Zhou Kun's father and son have special identities. It is speculated that their origins may even be related to Han Qian. After Xi Fa'er made corresponding arrangements, he naturally found an opportunity to report the matter to Han Qian.

At that time, Feng Yi happened to have just returned from Xuzhou, and Han Qian was sitting in the yard chatting with Feng Yi. When Xi Faer mentioned this matter, it took him a while to remember Zhou Kun's look: "Zhou Kun..."

"It's easy to forget things after you become rich. When you first arrived in Jinling, Zhou Kun treated you to ten days of flower wine to cleanse you from the wind and dust. Do you still remember?" Feng Yi recalled for Han Qian.
To be continued...