Li Hong sat in the big tent and carefully looked through the latest interrogation records.

Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, Qu Yi and Zuo Yan walked into the tent while talking and laughing.

Li Hong put down the bamboo slips in his hand, asked the four of them to sit down, and said straight to the point: "I want to come here, just to discuss with you, should we continue to dig deeper into the Xiliang eradication, or stop at the right time?"

Qu Yi smiled and said, "Do you want to stop at the right time?"

Li Hong pointed to the document on the case table and said, "In the past few days, we have arrested more than 40 people. In short, we have arrested 104 officials from various periods of Xiliang. However, judging from their confessions, there are far more corrupt officials from various prefectures and counties in Xiliang and the periods of each period. If we continue to arrest them, we may have to catch all the officials from Xiliang in one go." Li Hong paused for a moment, looked at the four people, and continued, "Some counties in Xiliang will soon enter the recovery and reconstruction period, and the government offices of each county will be re-established soon. At this time, if we arrest all the people, the consequences will be serious, and the reconstruction of Xiliang will be also a blow."

Li Hong took two steps back and forth, and smiled bitterly: "Have you noticed that we have arrested so far, all the county magistrates and officials of each county government have not yet arrested a governor or a prefect. Zuo Chang was killed by Hutou, so he cannot be considered arrested. This situation is very abnormal. Whether it is Cheng Qiu or others, they seem to have a tacit understanding. They claim that they do not know that Shangguan is corrupt and abused the law, so they all pushed it away."

Li Hong glanced at Zuo Yan and said bluntly: "Mr. Zuo is responsible for the inquiry. There is no gain in this regard. Have you not invested enough energy?"

Zuo Yan hurriedly stood up and said, "My lord has misunderstood. The law of our court stipulates that the cases of officials of more than 2,000 stones must be tried by the Tingwei Mansion, so even if we have evidence of their embezzlement, we cannot arrest people. We can only submit these evidence to the Tingwei Mansion, and the Tingwei Mansion will report to Your Majesty. After Your Majesty agrees, the Tingwei Mansion will notify the local government to arrest people, and the local government will send the criminals to the Tingwei Mansion for interrogation. If we do these things on behalf of the Tingwei Mansion, it will be completely illegal and we will be beheaded."

"So you won't ask?" Li Hong asked.

"If we cannot handle things ourselves, it is useless to ask. To be honest, even if we send these evidences to the Tingwei Mansion, Your Majesty will not see them. I heard that the Tingwei Mansion and the traitor are in the same group. Lord..." Zuo Yangong bowed and said, "With the power of the Lord, we will continue to dig deeper. I don't think we should concentrate our energy and sweep away the small corrupt officials in Xiliang, so that we can gain more, and..."

"How to deal with the matter of Zuochang and Qingwu?" Li Hong waved his hand to interrupt Zuo Yan and said dissatisfiedly, "Although Zuochang is the governor with a salary of 600 s, the governor has great power. They will even be taken to the Tingwei Mansion for trial if they violate the law, but we have already killed him. Although Qingwu is nominally the property of Zhang Rang's younger brother in the Central Constable, it is actually Zhang Rang's personal property. We have already searched him. Now we just want to stop at the right time, and what I said is not the same."

Xianyu asked with three long beards in his hand, "Sir, if we continue digging deeper, where will we dig? What do you mean by stopping at the right time?"

"It doesn't make any sense to catch a hundred of these little people. What I said is that we should stop focusing on these minions and start catching big people. A governor or prefect can be worthy of arresting one hundred such small officials. Look at Zuo Chang's property. He is a governor with a salary of 600 stones. He doesn't eat or drink in his life and does not have 200 million yuan. Where did he get so much property?" Li Hong's face was murderous, and waved his hand hard, and said loudly, "Resistance to arrest? If he refuses to arrest, he will be executed."

Xian Yufu, Xu Rong bowed his head and said nothing. Zuo Yan looked frightened, and Qu Yi was a little excited.

"In the future, a limit is set. If the corruption amount exceeds this limit, the officials who are engaged in the subordinates will be arrested, otherwise it will be forgotten. We will concentrate on catching the high-ranking officials." Li Hong looked at Zuo Yan and smiled, "Mr. Zuo is afraid?"

Zuo Yan smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "Yes. Following you is more terrible than following the Yellow Turban Army, and life is more difficult."

Li Hong smiled, he patted Zuo Yan on the shoulder and said, "I counted it. In the past few decades, there have been more than 100 prefects in Liangzhou's prefectures and counties, and there are more than 30 governors. They have served for the longest year and the shortest one is only two months. So many people..." Li Hong clenched his fist excitedly, shook it in front of Zuo Yan, "That is a huge fortune."

"Okay." Qu Yi shouted, "Sir, dig deep until the traitor in the court."

Xu Rong glanced at Qu Yi with an excited expression and said slowly: "It's not just a traitor, but I guess I'll have to dig up the door of the houses of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. Sir, you are not asking for our opinions, you are just forcing us to do with you."

Xian Yufu chuckled gently and said to Xu Rong: "This time I'm completely putting it to death."

Li Hong smiled and said, "I said that we are people on the same boat and no one can escape."

"Sir, if we have evidence, we will arrest you and not submit it to the Tingwei Mansion?" Zuo Yan asked tentatively.

"No sending it." Li Hong said firmly, "If we don't arrest them, we will have no evidence of corruption and abuse of power in the court; without these evidence, we will not be able to threaten the traitor and the ministers in the court; if we cannot threaten them, how can we survive? Are we stretching our necks and waiting for them to chop our heads?"

"But we have no evidence now?" Zuo Yan said, "The little officials we are now catching are all cunning people who have been through the officialdom for a long time, and they are smelly and hard. Although Lord Tie's torture is very powerful, these people have a higher level of lying."

Li Hong waved his hand casually and said, "Don't waste time, drag them all out of the camp. If you don't want to say, cut them in half; if you lie, behead them; if you are willing to say, you will behead them after you will be told everything, and then beat them up to 50 big boards."

Xian Yufu and others suddenly changed their faces.

＝＝＝

Fu Xie was very unhappy.

After receiving a letter from the Grand Marshal Zhang Wen, he rushed to Pingxiang Camp overnight. He first witnessed a cruel and bloody scene. He couldn't believe that Li Hong actually ordered his subordinates to raise their swords and cut thirty-seven people in one breath. He widened his horrified eyes and did not dare to say a word.

Thirty-seven arrogant corrupt officials were bloody in a blink of an eye. They didn't believe that Li Hong would really kill them until they died. Because according to the Han Dynasty, a criminal must be tried by the government before he was convicted, and those who committed the death penalty must be reported to the Tingwei Mansion for approval before they could be beheaded. Therefore, they always thought that they would be rescued by the old master soon and enjoy their life again, but Li Hong's butcher knife shattered their dreams.

Li Hong's general Fu Xie welcomed him into the tent.

Fu Xie asked Li Hong angrily. Li Hong listened silently without saying a word.

"Why do you want to arrest the disciples of the aristocratic bureaucrats? Don't you know that we have to rely on these aristocratic bureaucrats to fight the attacks of the traitors? You have offended the aristocratic eunuch and the aristocratic eunuch. If they join forces, you will die immediately without a burial place. Do you know? If we offended the aristocratic eunuch, we will actually lose the support of the Taiwei, the support of the bureaucrats in the court, and without their support, how can we continue to investigate the corruption and abuse of power in Xiliang?"

Li Hong smiled and said, "Sir, since my subordinates killed Zuo Chang's family in Chang'an and washed Qingwu in Maoling, I have no way out. You wouldn't think that the traitor has fallen, and these aristocratic bureaucrats can still be named a general, right?"

Fu Xie's expression changed.

"They will definitely kill me." Li Hong said calmly, "I killed too many people, who can tolerate me?"

"So you just burn your boat and put it to death and live?"

Li Hong smiled and said, "I did something wrong?"

Fu Xie sighed and shook his head and said, "If I had known this, I would not have helped you. I did not intend to harm you. I just wanted to use your power to kill a few corrupt officials in Xiliang, do some good deeds for the people of Xiliang, and avenge a few dead friends. I didn't expect things to become like this, and they would become so complicated. People..."

Li Hong waved his hand at him and smiled and said, "Sir, I am thinking too much. I am saving myself, and it has nothing to do with you. The court has not yet moved, and Your Majesty has no imperial edict. I still have time to find evidence of the corruption and abuse of power in the court."

Fu Xie smiled terriblely.

"Why, you're still dreaming? Forget it."

Li Hong ignored Fu Xie's frustration and asked: "Can you provide some evidence of corruption by the past prefects of Xiliang Prefecture?"

Fu Xie looked at him alertly and asked, "What do you want to do? I have told you what I know."

Li Hong smiled and said, "Since you've started, then do it to the end. What are you afraid of? Give me evidence."

Fu Xie shook his hand hard and said angrily: "I've given it to you."

"Is it on Bian Zhang's hand?" Li Hong continued to ask.

Fu Xie looked at him sideways and asked in surprise: "You won't go to find Lao Bian, are you?"

"Tell me another one." Li Hong suddenly stood up and shouted hard, "I want time, I want time..."

Fu Xie looked at him coldly, and after a long time, he spit out two words, "Meng Tuo."

＝＝＝

Li Hong suddenly received the emperor's edict, which made him excited and made him cry.

The autumn of the previous year, when he returned to the Han Kingdom after bloody death, he only thought that he was a Han country, he wanted to defend his country, he wanted to find his parents, he wanted to return to his hometown. He never thought that he could still be an official, a group of brothers of life and death fought on the battlefield, received imperial edicts from the court, and received the favor of today's son, and could see the hand edicts sent by the emperor with eight hundred miles of fast riders. Li Hong held the edicts written by the emperor with Huang Ling in both hands, and felt his blood was boiling, and he wished he could sacrifice his life for the emperor immediately.

The emperor made it very clear in the hand edict that Li Hongquan is responsible for the anti-corruption efforts of Xiliang. As long as the evidence is conclusive, he can be executed first and then reported. No matter who is involved, as long as he is not a royal relative, he will be arrested and will not be tolerated. All the money copied will be confiscated to the state treasury and will not be used for other purposes. The formal documents will be immediately issued to the Taiwei Mansion.

＝＝＝

Li Hongfei rushed into Zhou Shen's military tent like a slight. He was so excited that he couldn't control his emotions. He danced with his hands and feet, and told Zhou Shen endlessly about the great news. But Zhou Shen's expression made him a little unacceptable.

Zhou Shen didn't smile at all. He wanted to look at Li Hong like a dead person, without saying a word from beginning to end.

"General..." Li Hong asked carefully, "General, are you unhappy?"

Zhou Shen slowly closed his eyes and sighed.

"General..."

When Li Hong saw Zhou Shen's expression and knew that something was wrong, the joy in his heart disappeared. He sat next to Zhou Shen in frustration, very confused.

He didn't know why things in Xiliang were so complicated. The world seemed very far away from him. He was like a child who had just entered the world. He knew nothing and didn't understand anything. He felt that he should completely lose his memory, rather than recover part of it, and suffer the pain and torture of this world. He killed from Xianbei to Lulongsai, from Youzhou to Jizhou, from Jizhou to Liangzhou, and from Jizhou to Liangzhou. He never felt helpless and weak like this moment.

Zhou Shen breathed evenly and longly as if he was asleep.

Li Hong sat down like a sculpture.

＝＝＝

The rapid sound of horse hooves suddenly rushed into Li Hong's ears.

Li Hong woke up in shock and stood up suddenly.

Zhao Yun almost flew in from the air, and the rolled curtain rose into the air, making a low sound of breaking through the air.

Li Hong felt a suffocation, extremely depressed suffocation.

"We just took Meng Tuo's fortress, and Ma Teng's cavalry suddenly appeared and caught us off guard. Hutou's army suffered heavy casualties."

Li Hong's blood surged, and his anger suddenly gushed out. He punched the air and shouted: "Kill!"

Zhao Yunwei bowed, rushed out of the military tent, and left.

The intense sound of cow horns and majestic war drums resounded throughout the camp in an instant.

Li Hong glanced at Zhou Shen who woke up and bowed.

"Social..."

Li Hong stopped and turned around to look.

"If the people do not have this imperial edict, the Xiliang incident will be at best a dispute over the power of various factions in the court, and you still have a place to go. But with this imperial edict, the Xiliang incident will be a dispute over the power of His Majesty that weakens the various factions in the court and regain control of the power of the court. You are the enemy of the public and have no chance of life."

Li Hong suddenly understood.

He smiled proudly and waved his hand and said, "I am a great man. I should be loyal to the great man and your majesty. I will not be cherished if I die, and I will have no regrets if I die."

"kill……"

Li Hong roared, turned around suddenly, and left with great strides.

＝＝＝

The Central General Song Dian, who was the chief servant of Jinwu (the Jinwu led the Northern Army of the Capital and the patrol and guarded the capital), arrived in Yong County together with Jingzhao Yin Gaixun.

Not long ago, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong proposed to the emperor to send Song Dian to Xiliang to supervise Li Zhonglang's anti-corruption campaign to avoid being framed. The emperor agreed.

The ministers headed by Situ Cui Lie immediately confronted each other and recommended Jinwu Zhenju to accompany him in the court. The ministers had very good reasons. A large number of the officials in Xiliang were disciples of traitors and eunuchs. It was unfair to let Song Dian be the military supervisor alone. The emperor immediately approved the report.

Song Dian received a message from Zhang Rang yesterday, saying that he had already known that Li Zhonglang had sent people to arrest many disciples of aristocratic bureaucrats who were officials in Xiliang. Zhang Rang told Song Dian that he must investigate the matter clearly to see if Zhang Wen was afraid, so he used a trick to shirk responsibility and deliberately blamed Li Zhonglang. But if this matter was indeed Li Zhonglang's personal actions, Zhang Rang thought there were only two possibilities. One was that Li Zhonglang was crazy. Zhang Wen originally wanted to use him, but was attacked by the madman. Zhang Wen failed to steal a chicken and lost a handful of rice and shot himself in the foot. The other was that Li Zhonglang might have followed His Majesty's secret order and deliberately used the Xiliang incident to cure them.

Zhang Rang told Song Dian in a letter that His Majesty was very abnormal recently. He and Zhao Zhong and others advised His Majesty in person several times to be careful of the Qingliu Party members coming back and attack Zhang Wen as soon as possible, but His Majesty thought he had not heard it, and turned a blind eye to him. He looked at him without mentioning the word Xiliang at all. Moreover, His Majesty looked at them like a thief, with contempt. So Zhang Rang suspected that His Majesty was using Li Hong to deal with various sects in the court. Now, the various sects in the court not only did not listen to His Majesty, but also gave him less and less face. His Majesty might be angry.

Because things in Xiliang changed, Zhang Rang asked Song Dian to first find out the reasons for Li Zhonglang's corruption campaign in Xiliang. Other things, including protecting Chengqiu and finding evidence of corruption among the children of aristocratic bureaucrats, should not be done for the time being.
To be continued...