Chapter 1185: Killed with a stick!

Ye Mansion, Attendant Department
Although Ye Mingsheng has left Yijing for a southern tour, the work of the Attendant Department has not decreased. As the director of the Attendant Department, Ye Cheng is also carefully sorting out the memorial files...
As a department that directly assists Ye Mingsheng in his work, the current Secretariat has grown from a small department of seven or eight people a few years ago to a medium-sized staff organization with more than thirty people.

Although the number of people increased several times, Ye Chengdu had to personally check and proofread the final memorial files and did not leave this most important job to others.

And now, because Ye Mingsheng led his troops to the south for inspection, An Miaoyi, the mistress of the Fengwu Army, was once again given the right to know. Therefore, in addition to compiling the files of these matters into a report and sending it to Ye Mingsheng for his review, Ye Cheng also had to send these files to An Miaoyi for her review.

Under such special circumstances, Ye Cheng also did his work more carefully and meticulously to avoid any mistakes.

Just as Ye Cheng was reviewing the report sent by the General Staff on the battle between Xun Ke and the Third Army and Jamukha's troops in the Elunqin Grassland, Zhao Dingwen, the second-class attendant officer of the attendant department, came over and reported to him in a low voice:

"A cup of tea ago, Madam Zhao was called over by Qiqige who was beside the Madam!"

Upon hearing this news, Ye Cheng, who was reviewing the combat report, narrowed his eyes immediately. Seeing this, Zhao Dingwen continued in a low voice:
"Sir, should we do something?"

Ye Cheng said calmly:
“It’s okay…”

Seeing that Ye Cheng seemed confident, Zhao Dingwen bowed and retreated without saying anything. After he left, Ye Cheng called over another second-class attendant officer, Zhang Yufeng.

As soon as Zhang Yufeng entered the room, Ye Cheng asked him to close the door and then asked;

"Have you made any progress on the things you were asked to investigate?"

Zhang Yufeng nodded seriously and said:
"Although Feng Yuning hid very well, I still managed to dig out some information about him!"

Ye Cheng nodded slightly and instructed:
"speak!"

Zhang Yufeng organized his words and replied:
"Feng Yuning's father is named Feng Junchen. He was a Jinshi forty years ago. He served as a Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy and a Langzhong in the Ministry of Revenue. He finally became a fourth-rank censor in the Metropolitan Censorate in the early years of Anhe. However, due to the internal struggles in the court at that time, Feng Junchen was demoted to Yunbing!"

"According to the information I found, Feng Yuning was one of our eldest lady's many suitors in his early years, but he was just unrequited love and our eldest lady didn't pay much attention to him. He even asked his father to propose marriage to the An family, but in the end his father didn't agree. Later, his father was demoted to Yunbing, and Feng Yuning followed him to Yunbing, and the matter ended up in vain!"

"Feng Yuning was a very good student. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 23, but he failed the imperial examinations repeatedly. It was said that this was because of his father Feng Junchen, who implicated him and caused him to be suppressed by some powerful people..."

Hearing this, Ye Cheng interrupted Zhang Yufeng's story and asked:
"Do you know who the Feng father and son offended in the past?"

Zhang Yufeng thought about it and said:
"There are many different opinions on this from what I have investigated. Some say it was Lin Yi, the then Minister of Rites. It seems that it was because Feng Junchen reported Lin Yi for embezzling a sum of money when he was the censor. Some say it was Tan Jinxian, the then Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Some say it was Wei Yun, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Censorate!"

"Because it's been a long time, and the past few years have been very turbulent, some of the people involved have either passed away or can't be contacted, so some of them are hard to verify. But from the information we have so far, Feng Yuning failed the imperial examinations repeatedly, and it's very likely that someone was interfering!"

"But it's not clear whether it was Lin Yi, Tan Jinxian, or Wei Yun who did it!"

Ye Cheng nodded when he heard this and motioned Zhang Yufeng to continue.

"After Feng Yuning failed the imperial examinations many times, he gave up literature and went into business. He founded a business called Yudefeng. His main business was selling tea bricks and pottery to the grasslands and transporting sheep from the grasslands back to the Great Zhou. With the help of some old connections of his father Feng Junchen, Feng Yuning's Yudefeng business did not become very rich, but it also made a lot of money!"

“During the first Yunbing War, Feng Yuning actively approached the Luoan court and raised a lot of food and fodder for the imperial army. After the war, he was valued by Wang Muzhi, and at Wang Muzhi’s instruction, he became one of the main suppliers of military supplies for the Yunbing Army…”

"However, during the second battle of Yunbing, Feng Yuning saw that the Luoan court was in decline, so he contacted the General Coordination Office and reportedly passed on a lot of important intelligence about the Yunbing army to the General Coordination Office. After our army captured Yunbing, he also made a significant contribution to our army's supply!"

"In addition, it is said that he has a very good relationship with General Ye Dong. It is said that the mistress Su who gave birth to a son for General Ye Dong was given by this Feng Yuning!"

"Later, relying on his relationship with General Ye Dong and the Coordination Office, Feng Yuning expanded his business to Youyan, Jiyu, and I heard that he made a lot of money. Half a year ago, he came to Yijing, but there was no movement at first. I heard that he just came to know Yijing and inspected the market!"

"But three months ago, he contacted the eldest lady through the An family's connections, and rented the shop on Houde Street from the eldest lady to open the Fushenglou Gold Shop!"

"We are still investigating what connection Feng Yuning has with the Madam, but I am sure that Liu Baichuan, the captain of the Coordination Office, must have a stake in Fusheng Building. As for whether General Ye Dong has a stake in Fusheng Building, we still need to investigate, but I personally think there is a high probability that he does!"

After listening to Zhang Yufeng's story, Ye Cheng also fell into deep thought. Seeing this, Zhang Yufeng tentatively said:
"Although Feng Yuning is a clean person, I can still arrest him with the evidence I have. Do you want to do it?" Ye Cheng hesitated but finally shook his head. At this time, Zhao Dingwen, who had just reported to Ye Cheng, came back and reported to Ye Cheng:
"Sir, the eldest lady beat Madam Zhao to death with a stick..."

･･････････
･･････････
In Licheng, in a hidden and simple bungalow.

Lin Boyan, with a pale face, was biting a rag while digging the bullet out of his left arm with a dagger. As there was no painkiller, Lin Boyan could only endure the pain of his flesh and blood being torn out. The heart-wrenching feeling hit Lin Boyan's soul again and again like a tide, and beads of sweat the size of beans slid down Lin Boyan's face.

Although he felt that he was about to die, Lin Boyan still gritted his teeth and tried his best to dig out the bullet from his left arm. About half a cup of tea later, when Lin Boyan felt that he was about to die, the damn bullet was finally dug out by him. Seeing this, Lin Boyan breathed a sigh of relief and took out a small packet of hemostatic medicine from his body and sprinkled it on the wound.

The hemostatic drug was very effective and the bleeding from the gunshot wound on his left arm stopped soon. Seeing this, Lin Boyan finally felt relieved and began to recall what had happened in the past twelve hours.

Around this time yesterday, when Chen Fugui did not come to his residence as agreed, Lin Boyan had a bad feeling and wanted to run away. However, because of the strong sense of mission in his heart to rebuild the Great Zhou, he was willing to wait for Chen Fugui for another day!
After all, Chen Fugui is a secret agent of the Supervisory Department lurking in Licheng for many years. Now he is also a local tyrant in Licheng. If we want to successfully assassinate the traitor Ye Mingsheng in Licheng, we can’t do without his help...
So in view of Chen Fugui's value and role, Lin Boyan wanted to wait for one more day even if it meant taking some risks. He had high expectations for Chen Fugui. He comforted himself that Chen Fugui was just delayed because of some other things and would be able to reunite with him soon!
Therefore, Lin Boyan only took people to a new place to live, and did not run away directly. However, it is a pity that the beautiful expectations are only expectations after all, and cannot become reality!
An hour and a half ago, just when Lin Boyan's patience was gradually exhausted, a large number of Censorate officers and agents from the United Coordination Office appeared at his former residence. Seeing this, Lin Boyan completely gave up and realized that Old Man Chen had been arrested by the United Coordination Office, and that the United Coordination Office had pried open his mouth and betrayed them.

In addition to being angry about this, Lin Boyan also wanted to take the remaining men away, hide for a while, and then plan the assassination of Ye Mingsheng.

However, those officers from the Censorate and the spies from the Coordination Office were no pushovers. Relying on some clues, they still found Lin Boyan and others who were preparing to escape.

Facing a large number of police officers and spies, although Lin Boyan and others were brave enough to risk their lives, they were still like an egg hitting a rock. As their teammates fell one after another, even Lin Boyan's left arm was hit by the police's musket. At the most critical moment, Lin Boyan, with the determination to die, detonated the bomb that was originally intended to kill Ye Mingsheng.

There was chaos at the scene after the bomb exploded, but fortunately Lin Boyan, who had originally planned to serve his country for the rest of his life, was not directly killed by the explosion, and was not even injured. For this reason, he was very smart and changed into a police officer's uniform in the mess, and successfully escaped from the encirclement and hid in this secluded bungalow...
Thinking back to what had just happened, Lin Boyan was in a very low mood. To be honest, he was not afraid of death. Ever since he decided to assassinate Ye Mingsheng, he had already put his personal life and death, honor and disgrace aside. He had only one thought in his mind, and that was to eliminate the thief for the country!
As long as he can get rid of the traitor Ye Mingsheng for the Great Zhou, Lin Boyan will be able to die with a smile on his face even if he is torn to pieces!
However, the coldness and cruelty of reality filled Lin Boyan's heart with grief and indignation as he wanted to kill the thief but was powerless to do anything!
He didn't know why God took such good care of Ye Mingsheng, the big traitor, and let Ye Mingsheng so lucky to escape his assassination. Could it be that God had abandoned Da Zhou, the big traitor, and this was the true destiny?

Because of the weakness and exhaustion caused by excessive blood loss, Lin Boyan fell asleep despite being filled with grief and self-doubt.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Boyan woke up from hunger. Just as he was about to stand up and find something to eat in the house, he heard a faint noise coming from outside, and in the noise there seemed to be the barking of dogs, as if someone was searching!
This immediately aroused Lin Boyan's high alert. Just as he was thinking about what to do, suddenly there was a burst of fierce dog barking outside, and the next second a surprised shout was heard outside the house.

"Found it! The assassin is hiding here!"

As soon as these words came out, Lin Boyan’s head suddenly buzzed, and then he felt hopeless at the sound of footsteps around him...

Lin Boyan realized that he was exposed, and without thinking much, he drew the dagger from his waist, opened the door and rushed out. Even if he, Lin Boyan, died, he would take a few of Ye Mingsheng's lackeys with him!

Half an hour later, in the Licheng office of the Coordination Office, Zhang Yong, a centurion of the Coordination Office, walked quickly into the government office and smiled as he reported to Zhao Lei, who was anxiously waiting inside:

"Reporting to Lord Zhao, the mastermind of the case, Deputy Chief of the Supervisory Department Lin Boyan, has been brought to justice!"

Hearing this, Zhao Lei immediately showed a look of surprise and asked:
"Is there anything that has slipped through the net?"

Zhang Yong smiled and shook his head and said:

"No more! None of the people Chen Fugui betrayed have been found, and they have all been brought to justice! There are no more people plotting evil in Licheng City, Lord Zhao, you can now rest assured!"

After hearing what Zhang Yong said, Zhao Lei let out a long sigh and sat down on the chair, his face full of relief and satisfaction. The Marshal will arrive in Licheng the day after tomorrow at the latest, so it is already the last moment!

Fortunately, everything has been done now. Thinking of this, Zhao Lei seemed to realize something and immediately instructed Zhang Yong:
"Even so, we still can't let our guard down! We must stay 100% focused. We should be prepared for the worst!"

"Master Zhao, don't worry! I've already given orders that if anyone dares to slack off in the next few days, I'll whip him to death!"

After saying this, Zhang Yong paused for a moment and then looked at Zhao Lei meaningfully and said:

"Master Zhao, I have just had someone send Chen Fugui to your Censorate!"

Zhao Lei was immediately delighted when he heard this, and quickly expressed his opinion:

“Don’t worry, brother Zhang. You’ve helped us a lot this time. Your share is indispensable…”

(End of this chapter)