Struggle in the early Tang Dynasty

At this hour and in this weather, where would there be new guests staying?So Fengling Inn turned off the lights early, closed the door and closed the shop.

In the entire Fengling Inn, it was even more silent than outside the inn.

The residents in each room turned off the lights and went to sleep, and the doors of every room were closed tightly, oblivious to what was going on outside.

Only the westernmost guest room on the second floor was brightly lit, and seemed to be asleep.

The owner of this room is Guo Ye.

In the room at this time, apart from Guo Ye, there were also Zhenniang and Zhao Jiuchou.

Guo Ye and Zhao Jiuchou sat around the table and talked, while Zhenniang poured hot water into the wooden basin upside down, reaching into the wooden basin from time to time to test the water temperature.

After a while, she picked up the tub and walked up to Guo Ye, and said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, the water temperature is just right, you can soak your feet first."

After saying that, he immediately placed the wooden basin in front of Guo Ye's feet, squatted on the ground and took off his boots and socks for him, then slowly put Guo Ye's feet in the wooden basin and soaked them in hot water.

"hiss……"

Guo Ye felt the heat immediately when his feet entered the water, and he bared his teeth and groaned, and then praised: "Not bad, my feet are recovering from fatigue after being frozen for a day, tsk tsk, comfortable!"

After praising, Zhenniang continued to squat on the ground to wash Guo Ye's feet, rubbing her tender and smooth hands on Guo Ye's feet, and under the touch of hands and feet, a strange feeling floated all over Guo Ye's body, which could not be stopped. There were a few more clicks of praise.

Comfortable is comfortable, but he has no time to work on Zhenniang now, because he and Zhao Jiuchou are talking about serious business, so he has to put aside the strange stimulation brought by the beauty's foot caress.

While enjoying the hot feet, he turned around and asked Zhao Jiuchou beside him, "Hey, Jiuchou, let's continue, where did we just say?"

Knowing Guo Ye's thoughts on Zhenniang, Zhao Jiuchou knew that Guo Ye was no stranger to it, so he returned to the topic and replied: "I was talking about Gu Sanye just now, after dinner today, didn't you ask me to follow Gu Sanye's whereabouts? I followed him after dinner until the first watch, and found that this old ghost didn't live in the Fengling Inn at all, and this old ghost was very vigilant, following him for almost two hours. Grandma's, basically, was caught by him. Walk around with me."

When Guo Ye heard what Zhao Jiuchou said, he clapped his hands repeatedly and shouted: "Look, look, am I right? I just said that this old ghost is not simple at all. And I found that what he said today is Deliberately. Tell it to one person."

Zhao Jiuchou was not as observant as Guo Ye, so he couldn't help wondering: "Could it be that he discovered your identity, my lord?"

After Guo Ye heard this, his cheeks turned red immediately, and he spat: "Zhao Jiuchou, I don't want to be such a spoiled person. I am a little sixth-rank Xiaoqi captain, and I am an old little guard of Xichuan, and I have nothing to do with the Guanzhong area. , Is there any use for him to tell me about the disasters in several downstream state capitals?"

Zhao Jiuchou asked: "The lord said just now that the old ghost Gu San said what he said today on purpose, and he said it specifically for one person?"

Guo Ye was a little depressed by Zhao Jiuchou's reaction, but Zhenniang who was washing his feet suddenly raised her head, blinked her eyes, and asked softly, "Could it be the old man in Confucianism today?"

"It's still Zhenniang who is smart!"

Guo Ye praised, stretched out his right hand involuntarily, pinched Zhenniang's juicy cheek, wiped the oil and said: "This time I took Zhenniang to Chang'an, I really did the right thing, come on, let me..."

"ah!!"

Zhenniang's small face was pinched by Guo Ye, and she jumped up in embarrassment and panic, and staggered, splashing the warm water in the wooden basin all over the floor.

Babble, Zhenniang retreated three or two steps, fled to the door, and shouted in panic: "How can a high official be so rude? I'll go back to my room to rest, tomorrow, see you tomorrow..."

bang~

He opened the door and rushed out, with a vigorous posture like a rabbit, and fled immediately.

Only then did Guo Ye realize that it was indeed a bit frivolous for him to tease Zhenniang in front of Zhao Jiuchou.

Seeing Zhenniang running away, she glanced at Zhao Jiuchou embarrassedly and smiled awkwardly.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiuchou didn't look at him at all, obviously he didn't bother to care about Guo Ye's dirty business.

On the contrary, he asked Guo Ye with great interest: "So it's the old man that my lord is talking about? By the way, at dinner, my lord, you said that this old man is not simple. Could it be that he is some kind of big shot?"

Guo Ye didn't answer Zhao Jiuchou's question immediately. He took a foot cloth from under his buttocks and wiped his wet feet, then stood up, walked to the door, and closed the door again.

Then he walked back slowly, and said: "Whether you can be called a big man, I don't know now. But I see this old man, his conversation is extraordinary, and his innate aura is also formed by years of pampering. If you ask me about the phrase "also from Chang'an", it can be concluded that this old man must have a lot of background. If you observe carefully today, you will find that when the third master Gu spoke, his eyes were basically locked on the old man. It was done on purpose, or it was purposely told to this old man."

Speaking of this, Guo Ye deliberately lowered his voice, and said: "What the old ghost Gu San said today has a subtext, and the meaning behind his words is to tell this old man that the imperial court has indeed allocated 150 million guan for disaster relief. Silver, but it was not used for disaster relief. Instead..."

"But what?"

Guo Ye rolled his eyes and snorted, "Stupid, such a huge amount of money was allocated to several state capitals but not used for disaster relief. It is obvious that the officials of several state capitals have been greedy."

After hearing this, Zhao Jiuchou's face changed suddenly, and he exclaimed in disbelief: "What? They dare to covet the relief money. How many bloody people have died? Could it be that the governors of these state capitals are all wolf-hearted people? ? Aren’t they afraid that the imperial court will be suspicious and pursue them because they starved to death so many people?”

Guo Ye shook his head slightly, and suddenly sneered, "Man dies for money, and birds die for food. As for why these state governors are so blatant and so stupid to greedy for such a huge amount of disaster relief money, then I don't know." Yes. Maybe, there is a bigger secret behind it, and it needs to be pulled out bit by bit. By the way, let’s get down to business..."

With two beeps, Guo Ye tapped the table twice, and said softly: "A case of corruption of ink that can involve several governors of the prefecture or lower than the governor, this matter is definitely not a trivial matter. The ancient three’s speech today was deliberate, and the old man’s questioning was inseparable from the famine in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and he came from Chang’an again, combining all kinds of signs and clues, the identity of this old man should be ready to be revealed, right?”

Zhao Jiuchou got up abruptly, and shouted decisively: "He is a member of the imperial court, and he must have come here specifically for the disasters in the downstream state capitals."

"That's right!"

Guo Ye nodded and replied: "Besides, I believe that this old man came here to investigate the disaster situation, but after arriving at Fenglingdu, he discovered that behind the famine in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, several state governors were also involved in the ink corruption case. Otherwise, it is impossible for him to bring only two subordinates from Chang'an, hehe, if we really want to investigate the extensive ink corruption case, with the three of them, there is more than enough energy."

Hearing that the matter was quite serious, Zhao Jiuchou couldn't help but worry a little: "My lord, since the imperial court has sent a special person to investigate this matter, then let's not mind our own business, shall we? Besides, we are also under the supervision of those corrupt officials now." On the ground, if, just in case..."

Guo Ye knew very well that what Zhao Jiuchou said was reasonable. If the governors of the several downstream states were all involved in the case of embezzlement of ink and relief money, then the risk factor of participating in this case would definitely be high.

Although these corrupt officials and governors were born as scholars, as long as their fundamental interests are touched, Guo Ye firmly believes that these gentlemen will definitely tear off their glamorous coats and reveal their ferocious claws.

At that time, the three of us can fight against hundreds of legs with two fists, and if the other party evaporates himself, it will really be a big deal.

Thinking of this, Guo Ye hesitated...

tuk tuk tuk~~

A knock on the door suddenly sounded, interrupting Guo Ye's thoughts.

Zhao Jiuchou's face changed suddenly, and he picked up the gold-threaded big ring knife on the table in an instant and was about to break through the door, but Guo Ye grabbed his impulse and shook his head to signal him not to act rashly.

At this time, Zhao Jiuchou, in Guo Ye's opinion, was a bit like a bird of prey.

After stopping Zhao Jiuchou, he asked out the door in a concentrated voice, "Who is it?"

"Little brother, do you remember the old man who talked to you when you had dinner in the lobby today?"

A loyal and peaceful voice sounded from outside the door. Judging from the meaning of his words, it should be the servant of the Confucian old man today.

Immediately, Guo Ye replied: "Remember, what's the matter?"

The servant outside replied: "My lord wants to invite my younger brother to come to the room, saying that he has something important to share with you."

Guo Ye was very surprised that his grandma even took the initiative to find him.

Moreover, he dared to conclude that the old man was aware of the ink corruption case behind the famine, just as he expected.But at present the Yellow River is impassable, and the old man can't ask for reinforcements from Chang'an, so when there is an extreme shortage of people under his command, he thinks of himself who has a relationship with him once.

Everyone has come to the door, it seems that this matter cannot be left behind, otherwise, if this old man is some kind of big shot in the court, will he still be a mess in the Imperial College when he arrives in Chang'an?

Immediately, he rushed to the door and replied: "Tell your master to wait a moment, I will meet him in the room later."