I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 11: Power works miracles

The next morning, Zhao Zicheng found Yang Zhi and had a private showdown with him, wanting to investigate Shi Sheng, the former private salt tycoon in Suzhou City who had defected to Zhu Zhen.

Yang Zhi was also quite surprised when he heard about Zhao Zicheng's plan. He was not familiar with Shi Sheng, but he knew that he had defected to the Yingfeng Bureau.

He warned worriedly, "Will this offend people? I don't know much about Shi's background, but he's definitely working for the Yingfeng Bureau right now. If we rashly engage in internal fighting, will Lord Zhu reprimand us? Do we have any hard evidence? Should we just come and investigate based on groundless suspicion?"

Zhao Zicheng was very firm: "I have my own evidence, don't worry about this. If he hadn't defected to Zhu Zhen, I wouldn't have investigated! If he were an innocent civilian or gentry, wouldn't I be oppressing the good people if I casually investigated? I, Zhao, would never do such a thing!"
Even if the investigation is wrong now, the most it will do is dog-eat-dog. I will be reprimanded by Zhu Zhen and lose his trust. Besides, I asked you to focus on it first and get a feel for the situation, not to attack directly."

Zhao Zi said that after thinking about it all night, he finally figured it out.

Historically, Shi Sheng was able to offer his support to the government when Fang La attacked Suzhou, which shows that he had long been trusted by the government. Therefore, it is not surprising that he defected to Zhu Zhen in advance and was able to get along with both the black and white worlds.

Imagine if an ordinary local tyrant wanted to surrender to the enemy during a war, could he do it? Could his servants even get close to the city gate?

Being qualified to present the gate meant that he had at least gained the trust of the government and the garrison commander in advance and was regarded as one of their own, which allowed him to find an opportunity to take action.

Therefore, Shi Sheng is definitely not a good person, at most he is just an opportunist who plays both sides.

Seeing how determined he was, Yang Zhi finally gritted his teeth and said:
"In that case, what else is there to say? If you hadn't exposed Duan Ming's scheme that day, I'm afraid I would have already been exiled. Now, at worst, I can only gamble with you on my commission! Tell me how to investigate, and I will use my twenty soldiers to investigate."

Yang Zhi now had at his disposal not only his own soldiers, but also those who were originally responsible for transporting the flowers and stones, as well as some personnel temporarily transferred to him by Zhu Jie.

But since we want to secretly investigate our own people, we cannot use people from the Yingfeng Bureau. Firstly, they are unreliable and may not obey orders absolutely. Secondly, they are prone to leaking secrets.

Zhao Zicheng gave a concise order, "Twenty men are enough. I've already found out where Shi Sheng has several farms in Gusu City. Divide up into several detailed groups and investigate the people and goods entering and leaving those farms in the past few days..."

After Zhao Zicheng gave some instructions, Yang Zhi immediately went to do it.

Yang Zhi's efficiency was quite good. After just one morning, by lunchtime, he had brought back some useful information and immediately reported to Zhao Zicheng:
"That Shisheng has a large compound in the west city. My people secretly visited the neighbors and they all said that a large amount of goods was brought into the compound four nights ago. It was already dark at the time, and the goods were still covered tightly. The neighbors saw it and just said it was salted fish.

For the next few days, no one was seen entering or leaving the yard. Shi Sheng, who originally lived there, suddenly stopped living there.

Zhao Zicheng thought about it and felt more confident. The other party seemed to be really suspicious, so he decided to take action.

Anyway, he didn't expect to find out anything directly. He believed that Shi Sheng must have other problems. Maybe if he put too much pressure on him, he would make a mistake or even resist out of guilt. Then everything would be easy.

Even if the final case was not the Hua Shi Gang case, but something else, as long as Shi Sheng was confirmed to be guilty, Zhu Jie would not care whether his evidence collection process was legal.

Now that we've traveled back to the Song Dynasty, who still cares about the legitimacy of evidence collection procedures? Evidence obtained through deception or intimidation is still evidence.

"Envoy Yang, bring all your men and follow me on a surprise search of that manor. We might find something."

Zhao Zicheng formally ordered Yang Zhi to assemble the troops, and then he put on a set of chain mail armor, changed his outer fancy clothes into an inconspicuous ordinary silk robe, and stepped on a pair of leather boots with iron linings on the bottom before setting off.

Along the way, Zhao Zicheng cautiously asked Yang Zhi if he was confident he could control the situation if the other party resisted the search with force.

Yang Zhi was very confident about this, and he patted his chest to guarantee that he would be the one to do the knife work.

……

At the same time, in the western part of Suzhou, Shijiazhuang.

A strong young man in his twenties was sitting at the table in the main hall and eating heartily. Next to him were a few rough men with scars and short clothes, who bowed respectfully and reported something.

"Young Master, some soldiers have been spotted around this area early this morning, investigating. Could it be that the government has discovered something? Young Master, would you mind leaving the city and taking shelter?"

The young man was Shi Sheng's nephew, Shi Yu. He rubbed his fingers, which had just grabbed a chicken leg, and said nonchalantly:

"Hide? What's there to hide for? We haven't done anything these days. Father has taken refuge with the Yingfeng Bureau now. Who would dare to come to investigate with the ordinary officials?"

The scarred leader was still worried and suggested, "Those hundreds of boxes of old books in the cellar are just a nuisance. Why not burn them?"

Shi Yu threw the chicken leg bone directly at the man's face. "You idiot, I've already burned several books. Those books were all commissioned by the emperor. I don't know what kind of paper they used. It feels smoother than my face and is very difficult to burn! I don't know what kind of ink they used either. It smells very pungent when burned. If I burn too much, it will only arouse the suspicion of the neighbors!"

After venting his frustration, he sighed, "I originally thought that any books that could be offered to the old emperor were good things. Even if Dad only wanted the notes written by the old thief Huang and didn't need the Taoist scriptures, it would have been fine to have them first. But I didn't expect these books to be so different from the ones on the market that they couldn't even be sold as stolen goods."

Scarface's men felt the same way: "Who says not? We started out as fishermen and smugglers of salt. We shouldn't get involved in the business of scholars. We don't understand the business." Shi Yu patted him on the shoulder: "Be patient for a few more days. If it weren't for the rumors in the martial arts world that the thief Huang from Fuzhou possessed amazing skills and strange martial arts taught by an unknown person, who would have the patience to go to such great lengths to rob him of his scriptures?
Last year, some of our sect's masters in Fujian robbed the tribute of Huang Lao Thief, and were killed by Huang Lao Thief himself. Now that we have finally left Fujian and arrived in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and Huang Lao Thief cannot personally escort us, it would be unreasonable not to take advantage of the opportunity to take action.

In a few days, once my father finishes copying the scriptures, he can hand in the originals. This will be considered a great contribution to our sect, and his future status in the martial arts world will naturally be much higher."

A few people were planning something when suddenly there was an unusual noise outside the yard.

Shi Yu narrowed his eyes and was about to grab a knife, while whispering, "Go see what's going on!"

After just a few dozen breaths, Shi Yu saw several of his guards running in, crying, "Young Gang Leader, this is bad! The officer who was escorting the flower and stone convoy has broken in!"

Shi Yu was shocked, but he did not give up hope. He held the hilt of the knife and strode into the yard, where he ran into Yang Zhi, Zhao Zicheng and others who had broken in.

"We are also working for Mr. Zhu from the Yingfeng Bureau. How dare you trespass!" Shi Yu didn't want to make things awkward, so he shouted in a bluffing manner.

Yang Zhi yelled out the lines he had memorized on the way, "Shi Dalang! We've captured the two Taihu pirates who sank the boat that day. They confessed that they were ordered by your father, so we're going to search your house."

"Impossible! We don't know those pirates at all and have never heard of them." Shi Yu denied it immediately.

He wasn't completely clueless, at least he didn't let slip, "Impossible, those two pirates are in the Dongshan Water Fort right now." His intelligence was considered average for a salt smuggler.

"Since you don't even know them, how do you know it's impossible to catch them? Just let us search them." Zhao Zicheng behind Yang Zhi said calmly.

Shi Yu was so upset by the pressure that he had no choice but to use the favor card and tried to squeeze him out: "What if we can't find anything? We all work for Prime Minister Zhu. Aren't you afraid of deliberately provoking internal strife and being punished by Prime Minister Zhu?"

"I don't care." Zhao Zicheng's expression was calm, and a look made Yang Zhi take action.

The twenty soldiers under Yang Zhi pounced on the house like hungry tigers and started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets.

Shi Yu's face became more and more ugly. After searching for about half an incense stick of time, Yang Zhi's soldiers finally found a cellar entrance hidden under the firewood pile, and then someone went down.

At this point, although the contents of the cellar had not yet been discovered, Shi Yu's heart had sunk to the bottom.

He gave a wink, and immediately two of his men ran towards the courtyard gate, trying to close it and isolate the inside and outside.

"Why don't you take action now! Kill these bastards, and then rush out of the city before the government notices!"

At that moment, Shi Yu had already decided to abandon his huge family wealth. After killing the other party, he took his valuables and left the city, going to the Taihu East Mountain Water Stronghold, and officially became a bandit with his father.

He no longer wanted his official positions, land, and houses.

"Mr. Zhao, stand behind me, lean against the corner!" Yang Zhi also shouted, and immediately drew out the family heirloom sword to protect his chest, blocking Zhao Zicheng behind him.

Zhao Zicheng also drew out the sword that Murong Yan had given him, leaned against the corner, protected his head and face with the sword, and observed calmly.

The moment he saw the enemy resist, he felt a little bit of anticipation and joy in his heart.

Once the enemy has taken action, the flaws in the evidence collection process are no longer important. These small fish and shrimp are just the right tools for training!
He was wearing a full set of chain mail armor, and even the soles of his boots were made of iron, so he was not afraid of ordinary knife-wielding thieves. As long as he protected his head, neck, wrists and calves, he would not be injured.

Soon, the servants of the Shi family and their subordinates who were thieves who were salt smugglers were waving their swords and hatchets and hacking around indiscriminately.

The soldiers under Yang Zhi also drew their swords and rushed into battle.

Yang Zhi himself brandished his precious sword, and facing the two scar-faced leaders, he immediately circled their heads with the sword with a quick, accurate and ruthless move, and then chopped it down cleanly.

The two leaders were trapped in their retreat by the previous feint and could only swing their swords to block.

But he didn't expect that Yang Zhi's sword could cut iron like mud and cut hair with a single blow.

With just two "clang" sounds, the two slightly rusty iron knives broke directly, and then half of the heads of the two salt merchants were chopped off.

The enemy's two main combat forces were killed instantly with the first move. Zhao Zi said that he was a little nervous at first, but he immediately calmed down.

(End of this chapter)