allonlinenovel Chapter 1163 A tattoo of loyalty, a vow never to betray
Chapter 1163 A tattoo of loyalty, a vow never to betray
Hou Gui opened his mouth again and said, "Reply to the Immortal..."
Suddenly remembering that the immortal opposite him didn't want her to always call him "immortal," she quickly covered her mouth and stopped talking.
However... when Hou Gui spoke to the immortals in front of him, it seemed that he couldn't even speak without the prefix "Replying to the immortals..."!
Hou Gui swallowed the words "Returning Immortal..." with a hint of embarrassment, and said, "Uh... the current commander of the prefectural troops is named Zhu Gefang, and he is the prefect's cousin!"
"what?
The imperial court has a clear decree that clan members cannot serve as officials in one place, let alone cousins!
Crown Prince Xiao Jingye frowned and said.
"The immortals are unaware of this!"
Only a few people in the Dongchang Prefecture government knew that the commander of the garrison was Zhu Gefang, the prefect's cousin; he was known to outsiders as Xun Zheng.
"How is this going?"
Xiao Jingye pressed for an answer.
"Back... um... before the current prefect Zhu Gefu took office in Dongchang Prefecture, the commander of the Dongchang Prefecture's military forces was Xun Zheng."
At the beginning of his term, the current prefect suddenly turned against Xun Zheng, the former commander of the prefectural troops, and arrested him, imprisoning him in the Dongchang Prefecture prison on charges of impersonation and fraudulently taking the position of commander of the Dongchang Prefecture troops!
He even dragged in his cousin Zhu Gefang, portraying him as the victim of being impersonated, who was actually Xun Zheng.
The prefect then placed his cousin, Zhu Gefang, in the position of commander of the prefectural troops.
The prevailing opinion at the time was that Zhu Gefang was the real Xun Zheng!
The reason why a few of us knew about this was because... Zhu Gefang was drinking with us one time, and he got drunk and started rambling on in his drunken state!
Soon, Prefect Zhu Gefu summoned all the people who had been drinking with Zhu Gefang that day and silenced them!
Ever since the prefect replaced Xun Zheng, the commander of the prefectural troops, with his cousin Zhu Gefang, we have always referred to Zhu Gefang as Commander Xun.
Over the years, even we've almost forgotten that Zhu Gefang was a fake Xun Zheng!
"Such a thing has happened!"
Zhu Gefu dared to replace a government official with his cousin; he was truly audacious!
Crown Prince Xiao Jingye was so angry that his brows furrowed and his face turned ashen.
"Has no one raised any questions about the replacement of officials?"
Xiao Jingyu asked.
"Yes, I have!
Yes, it was there at the beginning!
After all, many of them had worked with Xun Zheng for many years.
However, the day after Zhu Gefang replaced Xun Zheng, His Highness Prince Yi, the current emperor's nephew, arrived in Dongchang Prefecture.
His Highness Prince Yi personally received Zhu Gefang in public and offered him much comfort.
In front of all the officials of Dongchang Prefecture, His Highness Prince Yi addressed Commander Xun as "Commander Xun" repeatedly!
One moment he said that he had been wronged by someone maliciously replacing him, and the next he encouraged him to be a good official in the future, to train the soldiers of Dongchang Prefecture well, and to build a solid fortress for the capital city of Jingyue.
His Highness Prince Yi's words directly confirmed that Zhu Gefang was indeed Xun Zheng.
After that, no one raised any further questions about it!
"Xiao Jingyi has been to Dongchang Prefecture?"
After uttering this to himself, Crown Prince Xiao Jingye immediately understood—
Zhu Gefu, the prefect of Dongchang Prefecture, was Xiao Jingyi's man;
Xiao Jingyi set up a scheme in Dongchang Prefecture;
Dongchang Prefecture was located at the outer gateway of the capital.
There is also a secret gold mine in Qilin Mountain...
Given all this, it's no wonder that Xiao Jingyi was willing to step in and cover for Zhu Gefu, and replace Xun Zheng with Zhu Gefang!
Where is Xun Zheng, the former commander of the imperial guards, now?
Is he alive or dead?
Xiao Jingye then asked another question.
Xun Zheng is alive!
Xun Zheng is still alive!
"Oh!
Where is Xun Zheng now?
Xiao Jingyu pressed for an answer.
"Xun Zheng is... he's in Qilin Mountain!"
He and several other soldiers from the prefectural barracks who refused to associate with Prince Yi and the prefect were all sent by the prefect to mine in Qilin Mountain!
Upon hearing Hou Gui mention the mines in Qilin Mountain, Xiao Jingye, Xiao Jingyu, and Leng Rongyue exchanged glances—hmm, finally getting to the point!
However, compared to the mine that was right there, the lives of Xun Zheng and the others were more important!
Are you sure Xun Zheng is still alive?
Is he currently working in the mines of Qilin Mountain?
Xiao Jingyu wanted to confirm it again.
"Yes, Immortal... um... yes, I'm sure of it!"
Just a few days ago, I went into the mountains to dig for gold... Oh... by the way, the mine in Qilin Mountain is a gold mine!
I saw him a few days ago when I went to the mine to pull gold!
However, he had become so thin that he was almost unrecognizable, barely recognizable as human!
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyu and the others felt a chill in their hearts.
Xun Zheng was sent to Qilin Mountain to suffer in the mines because he refused to collude with Prince Yi, Xiao Jingyi, and Prefect Zhu Gefu, thus betraying the court and Jingyue.
Xun Zheng... they absolutely must save him!
"What does Xun Zheng look like?"
Does the person have any distinctive facial features?
Leng Rongyue, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but blurt out a question.
“Back then…uh…Xun Zheng used to be a tall and imposing man.”
But now... now... she's still tall, but... she's too thin! So thin she's unrecognizable, you can hardly tell what she used to look like!
Oh, by the way, his appearance is not easy to describe;
However, he has a tattoo on his left arm that is the Chinese character '忠' (zhong), meaning loyalty and faithfulness.
It is said that his grandfather tattooed it on his body.
When the prefect arrested him, he was still trying to force Xun Zheng to submit, hoping to make him work for him.
But Xun Zheng was a tough guy, upright and unyielding!
He said that his grandfather tattooed the character "忠" (loyalty) on his head so that he would be loyal to Jingyue and the emperor!
Xun Zheng would never be a traitorous or rebellious minister!
I must never betray the word 'loyalty' that my grandfather tattooed on my head!