Chapter 30 8. Tell a lie the truth

In the past few days, Du Chuan was very depressed. First, a few days ago, the messenger of the Yuan family fled back from Jizhou in a hurry, saying that his luggage was stolen by snitches on the way. The secret letter jointly written by the Yuan brothers to Yuan Shao and the map of the military fortresses in Hanoi County drawn by Du Chuan All lost.This unexpected incident shocked Du Chuan and the Yuan brothers: If these two things fell into the hands of the court people in Xudu, what would happen?They dispatched all the servants and searched along the messenger's previous route, but still had no clue.All indications show that in this year of war and chaos, it is not a particularly unexpected thing for the rogues and thieves to take the courier to steal the baggage unpreparedly—because the hundred and ten servants they sent out were also on the way to search. People have stolen property in shops and post houses.

During the period, Du Chuan once suspected that someone else might have done it deliberately, but after racking his brains to think about various situations, he still couldn't guess any clues.Of course, Ma Yi, the trickster, was also within his suspicion.Now, he already knew that this Ma Yi was Sima Yi, the second son of the former Jingzhao Yin Sima Fang and the younger brother of Sima Lang, the head of the Sikong Mansion, and he was indeed a member of the Sima family in Wen County.This made Du Chuan deeply suspicious. This Sima Yi is really mysterious. He not only has such a noble and prominent background and background, but also deliberately pretends to be an inferior child from a humble family, restraining his sharpness and mixing with his group in a humble manner. What is the intention of this?Could it be that he wants to find out our details, and take the opportunity to take the head of us to claim credit from Cao Sikong and receive a reward? ...So, since he knew Sima Yi's true identity, he sent special eyeliners to monitor all the actions of him, Niu Jin and other related personnel.The eyeliner came back and reported to him: Sima Yi and Niu Jin showed no signs of abnormality during the Yuan family messenger's delivery to Jizhou.Moreover, even now, Du Chuan and his eyeliner have not found anything suspicious about Sima Yi.

There was no other way, so Du Chuan had no choice but to redraw a map of Hanoi's military-style fortresses, and asked the Yuan brothers to rewrite a secret letter for help to Yuan Shao.This time, they decided that Yuan Hun would go out in person, and with twenty-five servants, they would go straight to Jizhou with the escort of the picture and the letter under strict security along the way. Just as Du Chuan was so busy with this matter, an urgent letter from Xudu's court minister suddenly arrived: five days later, Yang Jun, the servant of the Huangmen and the supervisory censor, will arrive in Hanoi County to inspect Tuntian Anmin For affairs, the Hanoi County Government Office promptly greeted them.This time, Du Chuan's hands and feet were in a mess again, and he was almost out of breath.

When he was struggling to think of a countermeasure, he suddenly heard a knock on the wooden door of his prefect's office, and said impatiently, "Come in!" The hall door opened, and Ma Yi stepped in with a respectful face. Thinking of Ma Yi, that is, Sima Yi's background, Du Chuan couldn't help feeling a little vigilant, and hurriedly smiled, holding the emergency letter from Shangshutai, shaking Sima Yi a few times, saying: "Ma Jun Come on, come on, Du Mou is anxious about Mr. Yang Jun coming to inspect the affairs of the village and the people in this county. Since Ma Jun is here today, I have a good brother who will share this responsibility, and we can discuss it together That's settled..."

When Sima Yi heard this, he thought to himself: This Du Chuan is worthy of being a smooth old official. As soon as he opened his mouth, he first labeled himself a "good brother who shares this responsibility" and dragged himself into this place. Let's talk about the muddy water!The smile on his face flashed and disappeared, but his demeanor became more respectful: "Du Juncheng's words are too polite! I just rushed here when I heard that Mr. Yang Jun came to the county to inspect the village and the people's affairs, and I listened carefully. Du Juncheng's instruction."

Du Chuan saw that Sima Yi's expression was calm and undisturbed, and he was as humble to himself as before, but it was not easy to use any tricky words on him—besides, Yang Jun's field inspection was coming soon, and he himself would not Maybe just make this matter a big one, so as not to be difficult to end at that time.stop!stop!stop!Regardless of what Sima Yi's intentions are, let's work together with him to deal with Yang Jun's on-site inspection! He was certain, so he also said to Sima Yi solemnly: "As for the situation of farming and reassuring the people in this county, Ma Jun, you are actually very clear: there are not many official farmlands and customers in all counties in this county. Where are you?" Can you stand up to Mr. Yang Jun's on-site inspection? If you don't want to come out and deal with it, I'm afraid Mr. Yang Jun will take off the official hats on you and me as soon as he arrives at the scene! My boss is useless. Lost——You Ma Jun is young and promising, it is really not worthwhile to delay your future because of such a trivial matter!"

Sima Yi heard that his speech was quite different from the previous ones, and he was full of threats. He was secretly annoyed, so he put on a contemplative expression on the outside, and slowly followed his previous plan and said: "Cheng Du has always Yuan Rong is prudent, why are you so anxious today? It is true that there are not many official farms and clients in this county, but there are six or seven hundred private farms and tenants under the names of the two masters in this county—if Mr. Yang Jun really wants to come to inspect on the spot, so we have no choice but to take advantage of it, report the private fields and tenants under the names of the two masters Yuan as official lands and customers of the county government, and then seal the word of these tenants tightly, and select a few If you go out to deal with it cleverly, you will naturally be able to deceive Lord Yang Jun. What does Du Juncheng think of this plan?"

What Du Chuan was waiting for was that Sima Yi took the initiative to speak out this strategy of stealing the beam and changing the post. Now that he heard him say it casually, he was secretly happy: Sima Yi, Sima Yi!This trick of cheating and cheating Yang Jun was thrown out by you on your own initiative!If Yang Jun finds out in the future, it can be regarded as your fault, but I, Du Chuan, slipped away!At that time, don't blame me, Du Chuan, for not being able to "share this responsibility" with you! He pretended to stare and ponder for a while, then nodded and replied: "Mr. Ma's idea is of course a good one, but Du has been busy sorting out the charts and books in the government office recently, so I'm afraid I can't go to Yuan's mansion with you. Coordinate this."

Of course Sima Yi knew that he was withdrawing from the hurdle, clearing the ties, and reserving a field for himself to stay out of the matter in the future, but he didn't expose it. He just smiled lightly: "Du Juncheng is certainly very busy these days, I'm afraid there is still work to be done at the Yuan Mansion." You and Ma Mou go to take care of it? Ma Mou goes alone, and the two Yuan masters may not agree." "No, no need." Du Chuan grinned, waved his hands and said, "The two masters of the Yuan Manor and Mr. Ma are familiar with each other, and they will understand that this is what I mean when they see you. I will also cooperate with you, Mr. Ma, to perform this play well. Mr. Ma has always done things smoothly, so once you step out, how can there be any problems that cannot be easily solved?"

Sima Yi also stopped lingering with him, pretending not to mind, frowned slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Forget it! Forget it! Now that the situation is urgent, Ma has no choice but to show his face! This afternoon Ma will arrive The Yuan Mansion is going to coordinate and deal with this matter... Oh, right! Du Juncheng, Mr. Yang Jun is doing an on-site inspection this time. If he sees that the affairs of the village and the people in our county have been completed successfully, I am afraid that he will immediately respond when he is happy. Submit a letter of recommendation to the Sikong Mansion and Shangshutai of the imperial court, and promote you, Du Juncheng, to the Ministry of Households as Du Zhishilang."

Du Chuan listened, squinted his eyes and smiled slightly: "Ma Jun's words are a bit flattering. Du is getting old, and it's no good to be the servant of the household department. Anmin has made a lot of contributions, and Master Yang favors him a lot." At this point, he thought about it, and couldn't help but want to trick him, and to see how he reacted, he pretended to be very casual and said: "Where are you going?" At that time, Mr. Ma had excellent work in the fields and was strongly recommended by Mr. Yang, and he had an extremely deep network of people to support him - you will naturally be able to rise to the top and make a fortune!" "Is there an extremely deep personal connection?" Sima Yi's expression was startled, and he stared at Du Chuan for a long while in surprise, as if he couldn't believe that the words came from him, and seemed to have been picked out of a deep hidden secret. Secretly, he said in a low voice, "Why did Du Juncheng make such a statement? Mr. Ma didn't quite understand..." Du Chuan didn't force him with words, but put on a shallow sneer, and met his astonished gaze without avoiding it. After a while, Sima Yi was finally discouraged, lowered his head slightly, and said a little shyly: "Oh! I never thought that I kept my background a secret, and I still couldn't escape the eyes of Du Juncheng—you said There is no trace of deep personal connections in the imperial court, but I am indeed a member of the Sima family in Xiaojingli, Wen County, this county." "Hehehe... Ma Jun, oh, Sima Jun, I'm afraid your origin and background are not as simple as being a member of the Sima family in Wen County!" Du Chuan couldn't help touching the beard at the corner of his mouth with his hand, and there was a hint of coldness in his smile "As far as Du knows, you are actually Sima Yi, the son of former Jingzhao Yin Lord Sima Fang, and the younger brother of Xudu Cao Sikong Mansion Master Sima Lang!" Sima Yi's complexion changed suddenly, and he pretended to be very horrified. He bowed down to Du Chuan and said in a trembling voice, "Du Juncheng is really a god! You know all about Yi——I really admire your foresight. Endless!" Du Chuan smiled and waved his hands, with the "eight" mustache on the corner of his mouth curled up, and asked slowly: "Sima Jun, you have such a noble and noble family background, and you have such a smart and honest talent and knowledge. Why are you willing to take the position of a subordinate in Hanoi County? In the past, Du was too blind to see Mount Tai. If there is any disrespect, please forgive me, Mr. Sima." "Du Juncheng's words really made me at a loss." Sima Yi fell on the ground, sweating profusely in panic, and replied very respectfully as before, "Du Juncheng has taken good care of me for more than half a year, and I will remember it deeply in my heart." , Unforgettable. In fact, this rude act of taking a false name and concealing one's family background really deeply offended Du Juncheng and all his colleagues in the same county. Please forgive me!" After hearing this, Du Chuan stroked the two "eight" mustaches at the corners of his mouth, tilted his upper body, lowered his eyes so as not to look directly at Sima Yi, laughed dryly for a while, and finally replied after a while: "Mr. Sima took a false name and concealed his family background. There must be deep intentions—as long as this move is beneficial to your great cause! As for what you say is offensive or not, it is a bit too far-fetched." "How can I say something about 'great plans and great achievements'? Du Juncheng's words are too serious, too serious." Sima Yi couldn't help laughing at himself, raised his head and said to Du Chuanhua, "To tell the truth, I have taken a false name for myself this time. Hiding from your family background is indeed for the sake of admiring your own ability, giving full play to your strengths, and becoming an official with both name and reality! Du Juncheng has worked with this subordinate for a long time, and he must be very familiar with his temperament and temperament. Although this subordinate belongs to a family Coming from a famous family, but also a Confucian scholar who has read the scriptures of sages and sages, he always disdains to be promoted by virtue of his family background! Therefore, I hide my real name, surname, family background, and just want to rely on my true talents to learn to stand out Now, Master Yang Jun is here to inspect the affairs of the village and the people in this county. It can be said that it is a great opportunity for me to gain the appreciation of my superiors and stand out! I also hope that Du Juncheng will help me with all my strength." "Oh...so that's your intention to hide yourself..." After Du Chuan listened, he thought about it, and found that everything Sima Yi had done since he entered the county mansion was indeed eager for quick success and quick profit, which was really unreal. He came here deliberately for himself and the Yuan brothers!Could it be that I was really overly suspicious?If what he said was true, then there would be no conflict with him.He seeks to be promoted to his official position, and I seek to earn my own money. Well water does not interfere with river water, both sides are safe!well!Now that I think about it carefully, the "Zhuo Yi" assessment quota given by Shang Shutai earlier this year must have come for him, Sima Yi! As soon as he thought of this, he captured his mind, and asked with some surprise: "Mr. Sima, you have an elder brother who is the chief bookkeeper of Cao Sikong's mansion, and you still need to seek promotion in such a secretive and devious way." Is it? You can really toss..." Sima Yi smiled slightly, and said: "Cheng Du Jun doesn't know something. Now that Cao Sikong is in power, he can't be stricter in enlisting people from famous families. If there is no real talent and performance, he will ignore them at all." He is selected based on his family background and family background. The more a person from a famous family enters an official position, the more picky he will be! In this road to officialdom, someone has already taken the lead. Didn’t you talk about the one from Yingchuan County earlier? Are you going to count Chen Qun? He is actually a descendant of the famous Chen family in Yuzhou, and he has an old friendship with Mr. Xun Yu from Shangshutai, but in the end he can only rely on the "secret and devious" you said. Detour' way to get promoted! Sigh..." Seeing what he said, Du Chuan nodded slightly, the doubts on his face slowly receded, and finally stood up with a smile, patted him on the shoulder a few times, and said happily: "Okay! Mr. Meng Sima attaches so much importance to you, I have no other words, I will do my best to help you make achievements in the affairs of garrisoning the fields and reassuring the people in this county. Beijing!"