Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 96 Today feels like a spring breeze

Chapter 96 Today feels like a spring breeze

Old Cao was a specialist—I don't know if he was a black glove or a white glove, but he was a high-ranking unofficial staff member of the Prime Minister's mansion, higher in rank than a regular steward. He was someone who specialized in doing things for the Prime Minister that he couldn't do in his official capacity.

He had already investigated the cause and effect from the beginning; now all he needed to do was figure out how to describe the matter. Right and wrong were all in his mouth.

Evidence? Of course he wouldn't commit perjury. Just as Lin Zhou had fooled him, he had also fooled Lin Zhou, but at this moment his stance had shifted to Lin Zhou's side.

It is human nature to seek advantage and avoid harm. No matter how much he dislikes Lin Zhou, he will definitely not push his ally to someone else when he can gain another ally for himself.

Everyone likes a simple-minded, naive boy like Lin Zhou because they don't think things through. Although they might cause big trouble, in times of crisis, such a silly kid might really be the last straw.

For Lao Cao, all he had to do was talk a little and manipulate things a bit.

"By the way, Brother Cao, don't rush off."

Lin Zhou came out of the store carrying two large bags: "This one is for the Prime Minister, and this one is for you."

"I have one too?" Old Cao was clearly taken aback for a moment as he held the item. "Don't give me the wrong thing."

"How could that be? Look, your name is still stuck on it."

Cao Wenda looked down and saw that his name was indeed crookedly written on the seal. The characters, which looked like chicken feet crawling, made him shake his head.

However, to be honest, this detail really touched him. Although he had received gifts before, those gifts all had ulterior motives and were essentially an exchange of benefits. But Lin Zhou had never asked him for anything. In fact, in such a short time, because he had hooked up with the princess of the Jin Kingdom, he had clearly created a significant gap in status between himself and Cao Wenda.

Even so, he was still included in the gift set, which meant it was a pure gift, a gift without any exchange of benefits.

"This belongs to the Prime Minister, don't get it wrong."

"I know, I can still read." Cao Wenda waved his hand, carrying his things. "I'll head back now. Be more careful next time."

"Okay, okay, oh dear—Brother Cao, please stop nagging me like my mother does."

"Every step is fraught with danger, brother!"

After silently shaking his head, Cao Wenda bid farewell to Lin Zhou. He then returned to his residence and opened his own gift, which contained not only some wine and food but also a palm-sized gold-inlaid jade Buddha plate.

He picked it up and examined it under the light for a while, then suddenly chuckled and shook his head: "This kid, he's really rich."

After saying that, he handed the item to the woman beside him: "How much do you think this is worth?"

His wife was immediately awestruck by the exquisite craftsmanship of the object as soon as she picked it up, and held onto the Buddha plate tightly, asking, "Was this a gift from the Prime Minister?"

"Do I deserve a gift from the Prime Minister?" Cao Wenda chuckled self-deprecatingly. "It was a young man who gave it to me."

O

"What's that?" His wife turned her head and saw another one, reaching out to take it.

"Don't move!" Cao Wenda suddenly called out to her, "That belongs to the Prime Minister. If you open the seal, he will definitely suspect that I took something out of it."

His wife abruptly pulled her hand back: "Then why did you take it back? Aren't you trying to harm someone?"

Cao Wenda glanced at the gold-inlaid jade in her hand and chuckled, "It's been so many years since I've been treated like a human being. Don't you want to come back and see for yourself? Alright, I should go deliver the gifts to the Prime Minister."

"Hurry up, don't delay."

Cao Wenda hurried to the Prime Minister's residence carrying his belongings. Qin Hui had already declined to see guests, but Cao was, after all, someone he had sent out, so he could easily see him.

When Cao Cao entered, Qin Hui was sitting in his room in his bathrobe, drinking a calming soup. Upon seeing Cao Cao, he casually asked, "Has the matter been clarified?"

"Prime Minister, the investigation is complete. The Yu family is not part of the Yue faction; it was just a lecherous young master who caused the trouble. The maid was also Lin Zhou's maid, but she had been getting along very well with the Jin Kingdom princess these days, and this is what angered the princess."

"

"Fools!" Qin Hui cursed viciously, "Brainless brutes, these warriors are all—what did that kid say?"

"His intention was to downplay the matter; it would be really bad to embarrass Commander Zhang over a maid."

"Whose fault is it? Isn't it because Zhang Jun is surrounded by a bunch of brainless good-for-nothings?!" Qin Hui slammed his fist on the table and roared, "With their family's power, they could have any kind of wife they wanted, why did they have to provoke the Jurchens?"

Cao Wenda stepped forward, bowing respectfully. He lowered his voice and said, "Prime Minister, I believe the best course of action right now is not to try to get him out."

"Oh?" Qin Hui raised his eyelids slightly. "Go on."

"In my opinion, rather than trying to protect someone, the best course of action right now is to cut the Gordian knot and identify that family as part of Yue Fei's faction. Because they harbor resentment towards the Prime Minister and the Jurchens, they conspired with their accomplices to carry out an assassination plot. But Heaven has blessed the Song Dynasty, and their plan has failed."

"Did Zhang Jun agree?"

"What can General Zhang do if he doesn't agree? Does he dare to storm the Prince's mansion? He wouldn't dare. If it's determined that the Yu family is part of Yue Fei's faction, General Zhang will actually feel relieved, at least he'll have an explanation to his superiors and subordinates. Besides, right now the Jin Kingdom is insisting that the Yu family is part of Yue Fei's faction, and we can't get involved, so we might as well go with the flow."

Let's do it.

After Cao Wenda finished speaking, he pushed the bag in his hand forward: "Prime Minister, this is a New Year's gift from that boy. He originally wanted to send it over a couple of days ago, but it just so happened that you were assassinated, so it wasn't convenient for him."

"yes----"

"Heh, that silly boy is quite thoughtful. Okay, put it down."

As Cao Wenda stepped out of the Prime Minister's residence, he took a deep breath.

The next day, the Imperial City Guard found all sorts of "evidence" about the Yu family's secret meetings with Yue Fei's faction. The evidence was irrefutable and irrefutable, concluding that the six members of the Yu family were all related to Yue Fei's faction. In fact, the testimony included complete confessions of how they discussed assassinating Qin Hui with others and how they confirmed the assassination of the Jin prince.

With both witnesses and physical evidence, there was no way to defend oneself.

Zhang Jun then issued a proclamation to all the generals of the army, and even went to the palace in deep sorrow to resign, saying that he had failed in his duties and was blind to the truth, and asked Zhao Gou to allow him to retire and return to his hometown.

However, the proposal was naturally rejected. Instead, a symbolic fine was imposed on some of the salary, and an imperial edict was issued ordering the three armies to conduct a thorough purge and investigate Yue Fei's faction.

As for the Yu family father and son, they naturally became expendable pawns. They were quickly labeled, and the same tactics used against Yue Fei were extremely effective: first label him, then have him choose sides. The methods were still the same as those of the older generation.

Arrested one day, dragged out and beheaded the next. What the hell is this "Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review"? They didn't even have a review process when they killed Yue Fei! Besides, they were from a military family, not an aristocratic one, so they weren't entitled to exile.

Even when they dragged all the men in their family out to be beheaded, they didn't strictly adhere to the noon time rule. On a gloomy, rainy spring evening, they just dragged them to a mass grave on the outskirts of the city to be beheaded, and then went home to have dinner.

"Chopped it up? Just like that?"

"Yes, just cut it like that."

Lin Zhou was stunned for a long time after hearing the news. He hadn't even reacted yet. He had thought it would just be a two-day beating, and then someone would bail him out. But he hadn't expected Lu You's fighting style to be so deadly right from the start.

Seeing Lin Zhou's surprised expression, Lu You didn't show much astonishment: "Right now, anything involving Yue Fei is dealt with extremely quickly. Moreover, this matter also involves a prince of the Jin Kingdom, so only this method can quell the situation as quickly as possible."

Lin Zhou sat there, holding his cup for a long time without drinking, pursing his lips: "Does this mean I've completely offended Zhang Jun?"

"That's natural."

Lu You's face was full of smiles: "It's no different from cutting off his left and right hands, and then expecting him to smile and shout 'Good, good!'"

"How could Qin Hui agree to this? Aren't he and Zhang Jun allies?" Lin Zhou felt completely confused about the intricacies of the situation.

Killing an ally so easily? Wouldn't that disrupt stability? In his mind, how could he be so ruthless?

"I think this is probably because Qin Hui himself was assassinated and is in a fit of rage."

Actually, none of that is entirely correct. The most crucial figure in the Yu family who was so quickly eliminated was neither Lin Zhou nor Lu You, but rather Cao Wenda, who seemed utterly useless.

As I said before, good and bad, right and wrong, are all on his lips. His method of playing the game of nine parts truth and one part falsehood can be called brilliant. All the information he told Qin Hui was true, verifiable, and would not be exposed no matter how you investigated it.

The only unverifiable statement is that "the maidservant had a close relationship with the princess, and the princess was furious." It's true that the person who led the raid was Yang Ti, the princess's brother. It's also true that the princess spent all her time with Lin Zhou. Therefore, the fact that the princess had a close relationship with Brother Ying is implicitly acknowledged.

Going even further, everyone knows that the prince is afraid of his wife and dotes on his daughter. When his daughter throws a tantrum, the prince submits a letter of state, which is perfectly reasonable.

This kind of lie, which is wrapped in truth layer by layer, is like rat poison sandwiched in a sandwich. It's sweet on the outside, but once all the sugar is gone, it snaps and dies on the ground.

So what was false in this case? The evidence was false, the witnesses were false, and the testimonies were false. But these falsehoods were derived from real data; in other words, through layers of weighing of interests, General Yu's family died under a truthful lie.

To put it simply, someone has taken something extremely trivial and put it on the scale.

The prince is the weight, Qin Hui is the steelyard, Lin Zhou is the tray, General Yu is the goods, and the one who connects them and weighs them is Cao Wenda.

An insignificant character was able to wipe out a high-ranking general's entire family in an instant.

This was the first time Lin Zhou had ever personally experienced the horror and cruelty of politics and struggle.

Of course, the result was good, so we should open a bottle of wine to celebrate.

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