Chapter 33: Execution
For Jinling Prefecture, this was another unusual night, with quite a lot of noise, especially the sound of the large group of spiritual officers in action, which made many people dare not sleep all night, fearing that it was another secret society making trouble.
The next morning, when people walked out of their homes, they found that there were still many fully armed spiritual officers patrolling the streets in a line. Although there was no full martial law, the atmosphere in the city was still quite tense, indicating that the various movements last night were not a dream, but something really happened.
Soon, news spread that something happened to Li Cixi of Jiangnan Daofu - there were many spiritual officers standing outside Li Cixi's mansion, looking like they were going to confiscate his house, which must be a problem.
For most people, Li Cixi, who has deep roots, is not unfamiliar. Although he is a big man and has a considerable distance from ordinary people, he is still well known because he has been in Jiangnan for too long.
To be fair, Li Tianlan's reputation is not too bad. If there is anything, he hides behind the scenes and does not show up in person. Most people don't know what he has done. It's just that ordinary people don't care about the struggles among the high-level officials of the Dao Sect, so after a brief discussion, things quickly returned to calm.
However, there was a great shock inside the Dao Mansion. Li Tianlan had been the second deputy master of the Mansion for more than ten years. The head of the Mansion and the chief had changed several times, but he still stood firm.
What Li Tianlan did was unknown to outsiders, but people inside the Dao Mansion knew it. As early as the first Jiangnan case, there was news that Li Tianlan might fall into the Skynet. As a result, Fang Linhou became a scapegoat. The seven-member team of the second Jiangnan case came with great momentum, but in the end, a big fire could not do anything to Li Tianlan.
This is like the story of the wolf coming. The wolf didn't come the first two times, but when the wolf really came the third time, people didn't believe it.
But they had to believe it. Some people also remembered that Qi Xuansu, who is now the chief deputy master of Beichen Hall, also participated in the second Jiangnan case, but at that time Qi Xuansu was just a "follower" of Chief Zhang and Chief Lei. But no one expected that, before Chief Zhang attacked Jiangnan Daofu for the third time, Chief Qi had already taken down Li Tianlan.
Whether it was people who knew the inside story or those who didn't, they all thought that this matter was related to Chief Qi - this was obvious. When Chief Qi didn't come, everything was calm. As soon as Chief Qi arrived, Li Tianlan fell. There was no such coincidence in the world.
Of course, Li Tianlan still had some followers, but they were all in a state of panic. Without Li Tianlan as the leader, they couldn't make any waves.
Zhang Jucheng took charge of the overall situation and did not personally participate in the arrest of Li Tianlan. In addition to preventing some external forces from taking advantage of the chaos, it was also to prevent these people from running away. Under the command of Zhang Jucheng, they were all closely monitored, and once there was any movement, they would be taken down immediately. The reason why they were not taken down immediately was mainly to try Li Tianlan first, and then catch them all in one fell swoop after there was enough evidence. Now that I have the advantage, there is no need to take the risk of doing some illegal operations, but to do it in accordance with the procedures so that others can't find any faults.
What Qingwei Zhenren said about "until Li Tianlan" refers to people who are equal to or above Li Tianlan, such as Wu Guangbi. These small fish and shrimps below Li Tianlan are naturally not included.
Zhang Jucheng is in a good mood now. He has overthrown Li Tianlan and further consolidated his authority as the Zhenren of the House. It is not difficult to have a one-man show. There is no obstacle at all to implement Jinque's resolution to block Fenglinzhou. This is called sharpening the knife before cutting wood.
This made Zhang Jucheng sigh again. No wonder Donghua Zhenren likes Qi Xuansu. He is capable, able to resist things, and has a good reputation. He is not the kind of person who turns his face and refuses to recognize people when he succeeds. It would be great if the Zhang family had such a successor. To put it another way, if his daughter can fight for her spirit and find him such a son-in-law, he will have no regrets.
On the other hand, after Qi Xuansu took down Li Tianlan, he contacted Zhang Yuelu as soon as possible.
This has always been Zhang Yuelu's wish. Ever since she started to make a name for herself in the Taoist sect, she has been inextricably linked with the Jiangnan case. After several entanglements, she was about to become the real person in charge of the palace, but in the end, Qi Xuansu solved it in advance.
"Qingxiao." Qi Xuansu used the sutra to form a projection, and the two of them talked as if face to face.
It was late at night, and Zhang Yuelu, who was opposite, was still dressed in formal clothes, but she took off the lotus crown. Judging from the situation, she should not have slept all night: "Tianyuan, is there something wrong so late?"
Zhang Yuelu's tone was not relaxed, and even a little nervous. As everyone knows, Qi Xuansu is a person who does not come to the temple for no reason. He usually does not contact Zhang Yuelu very often. When he suddenly contacted her in the middle of the night, Zhang Yuelu's first reaction was that something happened.
Qi Xuansu smiled and said, "Don't be so serious. I came to you so late because I want to tell you a good news."
Zhang Yuelu felt relieved and joked, "What good news? Has Jinque decided to let you enter Jinque as a real person now?"
Qi Xuansu kept it a secret, "You should be able to guess what I have been doing these days."
Zhang Yuelu thought about it seriously and said uncertainly, "According to the time, you should still be in Jiangnan Daofu. When you were in Yujing, you mentioned Li Ping to me. Could it be that..."
Qi Xuansu smiled and said, "You guessed right. Uncle Zhang and I joined forces to successfully take down Li Tianlan. Is this good news?"
Zhang Yuelu was stunned for a while, then leaned back on the chair, feeling quite relieved: "Of course it's good news. After so many years, we finally got this old ghost down."
This sigh can be described as sincere. When Zhang Yuelu was a young girl, she fought with this old ghost and almost died in Jiangnan. Now she is the chief deputy head of the Borneo Taoist Palace and is about to get married. It finally comes to an end, and this period of time is really not short.
Qi Xuansu said: "It is considered as revenge for you. When someone intercepted and killed you, it was these people led by Li Tianlan who did it. For me, it is a shock. No matter who is behind it, this is a warning. "
Zhang Yuelu showed a reminiscing look and said softly: "Do you still remember what happened back then? The two of us walked from Yujing back to Yunjin Mountain. That was considered a trip to the world, right? On the way, I also learned some slang from you in the world. But there is no use for it, but you don’t say these dirty words much anymore.”
"How could I forget?" Qi Xuansu said, "That was the most relaxing and happy day in my life. That's why I have to tell you the news as soon as possible."
Zhang Yuelu sighed: "Three big whites should be floating around."
Qi Xuansu also used this topic to retrieve the memories of when the two first met: "I remember that before we left Yujing, we went to see a new play. The tickets were given by Ning Zhenren. It was good. I went to see it again, but I never had the chance. I was so busy that I couldn’t get enough time to go there.”
Zhang Yuelu joked: "The key is that no one will send tickets anymore."
Qi Xuansu said: "I thought you were going to say that if our love lasts for a long time, how can we stay together day and night?"
Zhang Yuelu waved his hand and said, "I can't tell."
The two chatted for half an hour before ending the call. Qi Xuansu returned to Tianxin Dao Palace before dawn.
Tianxin Taoist Palace is the core of Jiangnan Taoist Palace. For the Taoist government, there are not many secrets in the Taoist Palace. Unless there are only two people like Qi Xuansu and Zhang Jucheng talking in secret, no matter how confidential things are, they will disappear in the Taoist Palace in a short time. There will be wind. Wherever the wind goes, whoever observes the direction of the wind will be able to seek benefits and avoid disasters.
Li Tianlan was arrested late at night. In less than half an hour, the news spread throughout the Taoist mansion. The east had not yet turned white, the red sun had not yet risen, and the whole Taoist mansion was already filled with a mighty dawn breeze.
At this time, the lobby of the Taoist Palace was already full of people, with numerous Taoist crowns and dazzling crane cloaks.
However, it was different from usual times. At this time, the camps were clearly divided. Some people looked terrified, as if they were waiting for the final judgment. Others were obviously more relieved, but they also looked serious.
There was silence in the entire lobby.
After a while, Zhang Jucheng strode in, with the wind blowing under his feet and high spirits.
Lei Xiaohuan was half a body behind, following Zhang Jucheng to the left, and to the right was a spiritual officer in black armor, taking the place of Li Tianlan, the second deputy palace master.
It is very uncommon for spiritual officials to participate in discussions. When Qi Xuansu was in Borneo, he could only bring in two first-grade spiritual officials to participate in Taoist government meetings. Normally, spiritual officials could not participate in the affairs of the palace master.
This adds to the unusual atmosphere today.
Zhang Jucheng and the others entered from the south gate, passed through the passage between the two camps, and came to the foot of the north wall.
The Five Thousand Words of Taozu was engraved on the wall. Zhang Jucheng turned around, facing the crowd with the Huanghuang Five Thousand Words behind him.
Lei Xiaohuan and Lingguan also stood on his left and right.
Zhang Jucheng looked around and said, "Fellow Taoists, maybe some of you already know, maybe some of you don't know yet. The second deputy palace master, Li Tianlan, is currently under investigation by the Taoist sect for being suspected of serious violations of the law."
Once Li Tianlan, who had been standing in the Jiangnan Provincial Government for more than ten years, fell, even though there were rumors early on, people who were not part of Li's party still had doubts, while those who attached to Li Tianlan were lucky. Now that they heard Zhang Jucheng's announcement in court, it was like Tian Feng. Mighty and thunderous!
People who were not from Li Tianlan's group immediately showed expressions of excitement.
The Li Party camp was as if it had been beaten by frost, and everyone looked defeated, frightened and confused.
Zhang Jucheng continued: "If there are people who are accomplices in the crime and confess to the Taoist government as early as possible, they can still be lenient. If they are stubborn and stubborn, they will regret it when they are found out by the Taoist government. They will be dealt with severely and severely. Don't It’s said to be unforeseen.”
As soon as these words came out, many people became even more panicked.
Zhang Jucheng said: "Deputies of the palace, assistants of each branch, and directors and deacons of each department, if they are aware of the illegal activities of Li Tianlan and his accomplices, they can report it immediately. Depending on the specific situation, it will be counted as meritorious service. As for daily dependence, Li Tianlan, I also hope that you will repent and fight back, and the Taoist government will use its discretion to be merciful!"