Chapter 161 The Root of Evil

Chapter 161 The Root of Evil

Chapter 161 The Root of Evil
"But why could it be Chen Ye? After all, he is the leader and is loyal to Chen Shubao." Yang Zhao asked puzzled.

Xiao Xia shook his head. "Because some of his actions were very abnormal. First, when Jingzhao Prefecture interrogated him, he should have confessed everything so that the murderer could be caught as soon as possible. But he said nothing and wrote it down on a piece of paper for us. As a servant of 25 years, doesn't he know that such things cannot be concealed from the master? And he can't give us the list without permission while the master knows nothing about it."

Yang Zhao nodded, "That makes sense. He gave us a list of six people, but he was not on the list. In fact, he is the one who has the most contact with the outside world. But I can't understand why he has followed Chen Shubao for 25 years and is loyal to him, so he would betray Chen Shubao?"

Xiao Xia smiled faintly and said, "That's the problem? Did Big Brother know that Chen Ye was about to die?"

Yang Zhao was stunned. "I looked at his interrogation records. He was only forty years old, in the prime of his life. How could he die?"

"He broke through the barrier through martial arts training, but failed to consolidate his essence. For the past twenty years, he has been relying on taking medicine to maintain the state of breaking through the barrier, but in return, he overdrawn his life span. If Chen Shubao treated him well, he might not have any complaints. But Chen Shubao was very mean to him. His salary was low, and he was not even eligible to live in the mansion. He had to rent a house outside. So he told me that he had no wife or children and nothing.

"Brother, do you understand? He has been loyal for 25 years, and has spent his entire life protecting his master. Now that he is about to die, he has nothing left. Do you think he will feel hatred in his heart?"

Yang Zhao nodded. "What you said makes sense. Twenty-five years of loyalty may very likely turn into twenty-five years of hatred. What should we do?"

Xiao Xia hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm really worried that he will be silenced. Big brother, send someone to find him immediately and invite him to the Dali Temple to assist in the investigation. If the Chen family asks about it, we can say that we are protecting him and someone is killing these warriors to silence them. By the way, send the other four warriors on the list to the Dali Temple for protection as well."

Yang Zhao immediately stood up and said, "I'll arrange it right away!"

Xiao Xia pointed at the fried noodles that had just been served on the table and said with a smile, "Brother, take it to the car and eat it!"

Yang Zhao walked away with the plate of noodles. When he reached the door, he asked again, "If I need help urgently, where can I find you?"

"I'll be back home soon. If you need anything, send someone to find me at my home."

Yang Zhao's carriage left quickly. Xiao Xia grabbed a handful of money and put it on the table, then got on the horse, left Chongrenfang and went home.

A dozen Dali Temple guards asked Chen Ye to leave the courtyard where they were handling a matter. Chen Ye suddenly broke free from the two guards and ran away. He had realized that something was wrong. The other party's defensive posture towards him was not to ask him to assist in the investigation, but to arrest him.

A dozen Ti riders were chasing after him, "Stop! Stop him."

Just then, a group of monks came over and blocked the way. Chen Ye shouted, "Get out of the way!"

The monks were panicked. Two of them were unable to dodge and collided heavily with Chen Ye. The three of them fell to the ground together.

At this time, Chen Ye no longer had the ability to break through obstacles, and his martial arts had become very ordinary. More than a dozen Ti cavalry rushed up, pinned him to the ground, and tied him up with ropes. Chen Ye shouted loudly again, but his mouth was blocked by a piece of rag, and his head was covered with a bag. More than a dozen Ti cavalry forced him onto a carriage and left quickly.

In an alley opposite the gate of Xingshan Temple, two men in black watched helplessly as a group of Dali Temple guardsmen escorted a hooded man with his hands tied behind his back out of the temple, pushed him into a horse-drawn carriage, and then the guardsmen rode their horses and escorted the carriage away from Xingshan Temple quickly.

"Is that him?" a man in black asked in a low voice.

"It should be him. The clothes and body shape are the same. We are a step late."

Two men in black were ordered to kill Chen Ye, but they were a step too late and were captured by the Dali Temple.

Chen Ye angrily scolded the interrogator on the other side: "You clearly said that you wanted me to assist in the investigation, but you brought me to the Dali Temple for interrogation. On what basis? Is there any evidence that I am involved in the case? Who will dare to cooperate with your investigation in the future?"

Yang Zhao, who was standing nearby, waved his hand and said, "Bring it up to him!"

A soldier placed a leather suitcase in front of him and opened it, revealing exactly one thousand taels of silver.

Chen Ye's face changed drastically. This was the silver he buried in the yard, and the other party actually dug it out.

Yang Zhao sneered and said, "Who gave you this money?"

Chen Ye gritted his teeth and denied: "I don't recognize these silver coins, they are not mine. I rented that house, who knows who buried the silver!"

Yang Zhao laughed, "I didn't tell you where we found the silver. How do you know we dug it out from under the rented house?"

Chen Ye's face turned pale instantly, he had let the cat out of the bag.

Yang Zhao shook his head. "You are really stupid. Zhang Mao is dead, Zhou Xiaodong is also dead. Believe it or not, if I let you out, I will have to collect your body within an hour. It is safest to stay in the Dali Temple cell. We are actually protecting you."

Chen Ye sneered and said, "I won't live for a few months. It doesn't matter to me whether I live or die."

"Do you still want others to think that you died for your loyalty to Chen Shubao?" Yang Zhao said incisively.

Chen Ye's eyes were filled with anger. He shook his head slowly and said, "That bastard is not worthy of my loyalty. I was so blind that I actually pledged my loyalty to such a despicable and unscrupulous bastard."

Yang Zhao nodded and said, "In fact, we already know that you are the insider, so why do you have to hide it for the other party? If you can cooperate with us, I promise to let you have wine and meat for the last few months."

"How did you know it was me?"

"It shouldn't be you who gave us the list, but Chen Yan. You didn't report it to the master at all. This kind of low-level mistake is not made by a warrior who has been loyal for 25 years. You have been prepared for it, just to mislead us." Chen Ye was silent for a moment and said, "I don't know who they are? They found me and gave me 1,000 taels of silver. I agreed to be their insider. Last night, I hid in the garden waiting for them. Three men in black came, and I told them that Chen Shubao was in Ziyu Tower. I drew a map for them in advance so that they could find Ziyu Tower."

"They didn't ask you to pledge allegiance?"

"No, it's just a deal. I can't give you any useful information, but they are not from Chang'an."

"how do you know?"

"I met three of them one after another. They all spoke with Hebei accents. There was another useful clue. They lived in the old city of Chang'an. I went to Chang'an to meet their leader. I was sitting in a carriage with my eyes blindfolded. But I heard the shouts of Wang San Mazi's mutton soup. It was a shop in the old city of Chang'an, close to Xi'an Gate. I had been there twice."

"Their leader also speaks with a Hebei accent?"

"Yes, judging from their voices, they are probably in their thirties, but I don't know where exactly they live. They never took off my blindfold."

Yang Zhao asked some more questions before asking Chen Ye to sign and put his fingerprints on the document.

Chen Ye was imprisoned in the Dali Temple Prison and no one was allowed to visit him.

In an inn in the ancient city of Chang'an, two men in black reported the latest situation to their leader, "Leader, we are a step too late. The other party has already taken Chen Ye away!"

The other leader was in his early thirties, tall and majestic. He said coldly, "Speak clearly, are you asking to leave or are you being captured?"

"Reporting to the leader, they were arrested with their hands tied behind their backs."

The leader snorted, "It's useless to be exposed in just one day!"

A scholar who was also about 30 years old said, "Don't worry, young master. The other party shouldn't be able to find us."

The leader is called Gao Zhu, the grandson of Gao Huan and currently the vice president of the National Protection Association of the Remnants of Northern Qi. Their intention is very clear, which is to assassinate Chen Shubao, put the blame on Crown Prince Yang Yong, and at the same time provoke a struggle between Yang Yong and Prince of Jin Yang Guang.

The scholar in his thirties was called Wang Bo. Historically, he instigated a civil unrest in Qi County with a poem called "No Song of Death in Liaodong", which marked the beginning of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

Qi County was the old nest of Northern Qi. All the unrest that occurred here was related to the remnants of Northern Qi. Therefore, it was reasonable that the prelude to the anti-Sui movement began in Qi County.

From ancient times to the present, even when the suffering of the people reached the point where they had to eat their own children, they dared not rebel. Only when they really could not survive and there were people with ulterior motives to instigate and lead the way, would the people rise up in rebellion.

This was the case with the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Uprising in the Qin Dynasty, the Red Eyebrows and Green Woods Uprising in the late Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Huang Chao Uprising in the late Tang Dynasty, and so on. How could the Sui Dynasty be an exception?
The reign of Emperor Wen of Sui was one of the most prosperous and stable periods in history. The cloth and grain accumulated by the court were not used up until the reign of Empress Wu Zetian. The grain used to conquer Goguryeo came from the four major granaries, rather than being forcibly requisitioned from the people.

As for conscripting civilians to perform labor, it was also the people's obligation in the rent and labor service, that is, labor service. Every civilian had to perform labor for the court for twenty days every year, and of course they had to bring their own dry food.

How is it possible that the Sui Dynasty prospered and stabilized for thirty years, but the people could not survive and started a rebellion only six years after the new emperor ascended the throne? It was nothing more than Yang Guang's defeat in Liaodong, which gave those with ulterior motives an opportunity.

On the one hand, it is the inertia of history. After three hundred years of division, a strong inertia of division has been formed. The separatist forces in various places are strong, and people all over the world believe that division is greater than unity. The short-lived unification of the Sui Dynasty could not stop this strong inertia of division.

In fact, the same was true for the Qin Dynasty. It was not Chen Sheng and Wu Guang who truly destroyed the Qin Dynasty, but the old aristocrats of the six kingdoms. Wasn't Xiang Yu the representative of the Chu Kingdom?

The short life span of the Qin and Sui dynasties was caused by the huge inertia of division.

On the other hand, the foundation of the Sui Dynasty was unstable. Yang Jian's throne was illegally usurped. If he could usurp the throne, wouldn't others have the same idea? For example, Li Yuan and other Guanlong nobles.

History says that Li Yuan was forced to revolt because he used the palace maids of Jinyang Palace. This reason is so absurd that it makes Li Yuan look like an innocent little white rabbit.

In addition, there was the instability in Northern Qi and the South, as well as the dissatisfaction of the Guanlong nobles with Yang Guang's relocation of the capital. These factors destined the Sui Dynasty to be an unstable dynasty, which was prone to unrest. Once external factors appeared, internal factors would intensify the shock. The combination of internal and external factors led to chaos in the world.

In the end, the Guanlong nobles seized the world from Sui Yang, and the Guanlong noble dynasty changed its chairman.

Gao Zhu walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and reviewed the entire process again in his mind. There were indeed no loopholes. The only problem was that they had talked to Chen Ye and their accents would reveal their identities.

Gao Zhu said with some concern: "That's true, but we have talked to Chen Ye and he knows our accent. I think we should evacuate Chang'an immediately just in case."

Wang Bo smiled and said, "Yang Guang will not bring it up with us. He will definitely try every possible means to hint that it was the Crown Prince who did it. He will not let go of this opportunity. This is also the original intention of my design, to make people think that it was the Crown Prince who made trouble for the King of Jin.

Especially once Concubine Chen is convinced that the prince killed her brother, she will certainly slander the prince behind his back. Over time, the prince's position will be unstable, internal strife will break out, and there may even be a civil war for the throne. This is our chance to restore Northern Qi."

Gao Zhu said happily: "Mr. Wang Bo's plan is brilliant! The seeds of internal strife have been planted. Everyone pack up and leave Chang'an tonight."

Gao Zhu said to his cousin Gao Changfeng: "You stay in Chang'an and be responsible for collecting all kinds of intelligence. If there is any important news in Chang'an, you must inform us in time!"

(End of this chapter)