It is said that Hu Yin, Wanqi Xie, Magistrate Huang, and Commander Han were crammed into a small cell. Although no one dared to neglect them, and Wu Jie carefully sent people to clean the place, it was summer, and some things in such a place could not be solved by cleaning.

One was the stench of urine and feces, and the other was the mosquitoes and lice that bred throughout the prison.

When Qu Duan entered the prison in full armor and sat cross-legged in front of the cell with great fanfare, the four inside were facing the faint light of the cell and helping each other catch lice.

Of course, upon seeing this person enter, Wu Jie and another high-ranking officer stood on either side behind him, holding their swords. Knowing who had arrived, the four immediately stopped and became serious.

Commander Han and Magistrate Huang were particularly sensible, hiding in the corner early, while Hu Yin and Wanqi Xie sat upright opposite Qu Duan, exchanging glances... Simply from Qu Duan's arrival and the fact that his weapons had fallen into Wu Jie's hands, they could deduce many things.

For example, the Guanzhong army was still mostly loyal to the court.

Also, Qu Duan was likely just too arrogant, not actually rebelling, otherwise he wouldn't have come here so easily... Wu Jie had come to inform him of his plan.

"What crime have I committed to suffer such humiliation?"

Unexpectedly, after both sides sat down, Qu Duan spoke first, coldly questioning the two behind the bars without even introducing himself.

Hu Yin, who had prepared a bellyful of words, was caught off guard, but Wanqi Xie stroked his beard and sneered slightly, not flustered at all: "We are in prison, covered in filth, only able to catch lice to pass the time. You are outside the prison, in golden helmet and silver armor, brocade robe, only without your weapons. How can you be the one suffering humiliation?"

Qu Duan was slightly stunned, then changed his words: "Very well, I am Qu Duan, Military Commissioner of Jingyuan Road and Prefect of Yan'an, may I ask you, Central Censor, what crime have I committed to be slandered as a rebel?"

Wanqi Xie turned to look at Hu Yin.

Hu Yin also reacted at this time, sitting upright in the prison, inquiring expressionlessly: "I would like to ask Military Commissioner Qu, as a military commissioner and Prefect of Yan'an, you detained your direct superior, Pacification Commissioner Wang Shu, and then wanted to kill him. When Chancellor Yuwen disagreed, you forcibly kept the Pacification Commissioner's seal and drove the Pacification Commissioner himself out of the territory. Is this true?"

"It's true!" Qu Duan answered proudly. At this point, these things could not be concealed.

"Why did you do this?" Hu Yin asked sternly. "Don't you know that such actions are tantamount to treason?"

"Wang Shu is incompetent. Without me, the situation could not be salvaged. How does this have anything to do with rebellion?" Qu Duan retorted proudly. "He has lost battles and disgraced the country to such an extent that I wanted to kill him to appease the world, but because Chancellor Yuwen of Chang'an disagreed, I easily let him go, only driving him out of Fuzhou. Doesn't this prove my loyalty to the country?"

Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and the others nearby, as well as Magistrate Huang and Commander Han in the prison, were all stunned... Well, not to mention that Wang Shu was your superior in terms of rank, just the fact that he was the Pacification Commissioner of Yanfu Road, and you didn't kill him. In the event of Yan'an's fall, you stripped him of his official seal and drove him out of Fuzhou. How can you still be so confident and think there's no problem?

"Where in the world is there a subordinate who detains and expels his superior from his post?" Hu Yin said, suppressing his anger. "Not to mention that you even intended to kill him."

"He lost battles and disgraced the country!" Qu Duan still sat upright and proudly. "Everyone in northern Shaanxi wanted to kill him!"

"He lost battles and disgraced the country because you disobeyed orders and didn't participate in the battle, didn't he?" Hu Yin finally couldn't restrain his expression. It seemed that not everyone could learn Zhao Guan's ability to pretend to be a wooden puppet.

"Just hearing your words, I know you're another incompetent fool like Li Gang and Wang Shu who doesn't know anything about military affairs!" Qu Duan pointed at Hu Yin, retorting sharply. "Wanyan Loushi's tens of thousands of elite troops were there, and Wang Xie was a bandit who only knew how to run as soon as the battle started. I only had more than ten thousand elites, the seed of the Guanzhong army, which should have been deployed along the mountainous areas, delaying and retreating in layers to ensure its preservation... How could it be truly lost in Yan'an according to Wang Shu's wishes? Do you know that if we had rashly participated in the battle that day according to your and Wang Shu's logic, the entire Guanzhong would have been captured by Wanyan Loushi! You wouldn't even have a prison cell to sit in, you waste!"

Hu Yin was stunned by the scolding, and everyone around him was also dumbfounded. But Qu Da continued to vent:

"Why don't you understand that the current situation in Guanzhong is entirely preserved by my efforts?! And fools like you, like Wang Shu, like Li Gang, every word you ignorant civilians say about military affairs will cost the lives of thousands upon thousands of soldiers at the front, and the country will lose ten years of national fortune?! The country has such disasters, the people suffer such tribulations, and the royal family suffers such humiliation. The Jin people are only responsible for three parts, but you civil servant wastes who strategize on paper are responsible for more than seven! If it weren't for you, there wouldn't even have been the Jingkang Incident. Now you're here to talk about me?!"

Hu Yin's face was flushed, his breathing unsteady, but he didn't know how to refute. Inside and outside the prison, not to mention the seven or eight people here, even the attendants of the Privy Council and the soldiers of the Imperial Guard who were sitting in the other cells were completely silent.

Finally, Wanqi Xie couldn't stand it and couldn't help but interject: "How can you be so rude to the Central Censor?"

Upon hearing this, Qu Duan was immediately stunned, then stood up abruptly, faced Wu Jie, and pointed at Hu Yin inside the prison, asking: "Is this young one the Censor Hu Yin? Not the Military Advisor Wanqi Xie of the Privy Council?"

"No!" Wu Jie answered helplessly. "The one who just spoke is Military Advisor Wanqi. As for the Censor, Xue Feng mistakenly thought he was fake because the Censor is young..."

"Xue Feng is truly innocent." Qu Duan looked back at Xue Feng, who was shackled in the prison behind him and was already dumbfounded. He couldn't help but inhale and laugh, but his voice trembled. "If I were him, I would have killed such a Censor with one knife long ago. Why leave him to harm the world?"

Hu Yin's eyes were already bloodshot.

Qu Duan ignored the people in the prison and continued to speak to Wu Jie: "Da Wu, did you see... I have been in the army for twenty years, and you have been in the army for seventeen years, risking our lives for the country, countless times risking our lives, but we are only a military commissioner and a military supervisor, while this kind of person, just because they have read a few books, although they are of no use to the country, can become a vice-chancellor at the age of thirty and can determine our life and death with a single word... How unfair is that?"

Wu Jie wanted to say something but stopped.

But Qu Da immediately shook his head, correcting his statement: "No, if we talk about reading, you and I have both read books. I can even write poems and compose odes. Why don't I see myself becoming a vice-commissioner of the Privy Council at the age of forty? Most of these people get high positions by being close to the Emperor. And today, you brothers have entrusted my life to this kind of person?"

Not to mention Wu Jie, everyone else inside and outside the prison didn't know how to respond, and Hu Yin, the person involved, was already breathing unsteadily and couldn't even speak.

"Alright." Qu Duan sighed again, but seemed to have calmed down, then turned to face Hu Yin in the prison. "I, Qu Da, consider myself a talented general and ask myself to be loyal. If I meet a proper minister, I am willing to argue, but if I meet someone like you, I don't even want to argue. If you say I am rebelling, then I am rebelling. If you want to find an excuse to kill me, then kill me. I won't say a word... I just have one thing to tell you. Whether Wang Shu and Wang Xie are the ones who harm the country, who are incompetent fools, and who is trying their best to stabilize half of Guanzhong, the people and soldiers of the five Guanzhong circuits will naturally know, and the rivers and mountains of the five Guanzhong circuits will naturally see clearly... You can't silence the people's mouths! And history will naturally give me an account in the future!"

At this time, seeing Wanqi Xie hiding his face and not speaking, and Hu Yin still breathing unsteadily, Wu Jie finally took a step forward and knelt on one knee towards Hu Yin, who was breathing unsteadily, for the first time:

"Central Censor, Qu Da's crimes are clear, but it's only because he's used to being arrogant and wants to remove Wang Shu and monopolize military power. He is definitely not a rebel, otherwise he should have colluded and taken precautions long ago. How could he have easily come here to see the Central Censor today? I only ask the Central Censor not to directly execute him because of his offensive words..."

For some reason, Wanqi Xie, who had been covering his face, almost wanted to laugh: "Military Supervisor Wu, I only ask you, even if this General Qu is as you said and has no intention of rebelling, and we insist on killing him today... Then killing him is certainly unjust, but according to his character, can't we add a phrase 'brought it upon himself'?"

Wu Jie on the ground couldn't refute.

Qu Duan, seeing that it wasn't the young Central Censor speaking, couldn't help but sneer: "You civil servants all treat us military generals at the front as if we were weeds? If I don't rebel, as a dignified general, you can kill me unjustly, but you can't easily humiliate me..."

"Stubborn, arrogant, disrespectful to colleagues, humiliating to superiors, often violating discipline, boasting with grand words, but without any military achievements... What humiliation are you talking about?" Wanqi Xie also sneered back from inside the prison.

"You civil servants also deserve to talk about military achievements?" Qu Duan became even more furious.

"How was Nanyang defended? Who fought in Yanling-Changshe?" Wanqi Xie reprimanded sternly. "While you were wasting your time in northern Shaanxi, the people you mocked in your poems were fighting bloody battles in the Central Plains, driving the Jin people out of Henan entirely! Do you deserve to talk about military achievements in front of us two?!"

"Did you two defend Nanyang? Did you two fight in Yanling-Changshe?" Qu Duan became even more resentful. "If you dare to answer directly, where do you put Han Shizhong and Yue Fei? And you boast about the great victory in Yanling-Changshe, saying that you annihilated more than a dozen *moukes*, but you don't know how many Jin people you actually killed, and whether you falsely claimed credit by killing civilians?"

"Qu Da!" Wu Jie was also driven mad by Qu Duan. "Is it fake that the Jin army fled Henan? Is it fake that Wanyan Loushi gave up advancing and turned to Hedong? With your character, you deserve to die today!"

"What do you know? Am I afraid of death?" Qu Duan was still not afraid, still retorting proudly. "I just want to tell you that even if the Central Plains wins, it may not be such a great victory. And even if the Central Plains wins, haven't the upper and lower Guanzhong worked hard? Why are so many grand councilors rewarded, but so stingy with official positions in Guanzhong? Isn't it because they are next to the Emperor, and everyone can be a sycophant!"

"In that case, why don't you go next to the Emperor and be a sycophant?" Hu Yin, who hadn't spoken for a long time, suddenly spoke, but he had already calmed down. "I, Hu Mingzhong, don't know anything about military affairs, but there are always people in the court who do. You say I don't deserve to talk about military achievements, but there are always people in the court who deserve to talk about military achievements in front of you... When I came, the Emperor allowed me to make a final decision. I can give you the highest specification, allowing you to go to the Emperor in Tokyo and be a vice commander of the Imperial Guard. How about that?"

Wu Jie breathed a long sigh of relief.

Qu Duan was slightly stunned, but immediately shook his head and laughed again: "You're just afraid that killing me here will shake the morale of the army, so you're coaxing me to Tokyo to kill me!"

Wu Lin, who hadn't said a word, couldn't stand it anymore: "Qu Da! This won't work, that won't work. Does everything in the world have to be done by you? If they really want to kill you, based on your nonsense just now, if the Central Censor forced us brothers to do it here, could you really survive?"

Qu Duan opened his mouth to ridicule, but Wu Jie simply got up and pushed him: "Qu Da, don't push your luck. The imperial court has won a great victory in the Central Plains, and the people are attached to it. If they really want to kill you, why would they have to go to such lengths? Whether it's the Central Censor or Chancellor Yuwen, if they really want to kill you, you have no chance of escaping. And once you get to Tokyo, even if the Emperor decides, if the Emperor wants to kill you, that's also the imperial decree, and it has nothing to do with Central Censor Hu."

It is said that although Qu Duan claimed to be both literary and martial, he was still not a match for Wu Jie, not to mention Wu Lin was also nearby? Therefore, after both sides pushed and shoved a few times, Qu Duan was directly pinned down, and then someone was found to tie his hands.

Even so, Qu Da was still not convinced, and his words were still annoying... One moment he would say, 'I know, Wu Jie, you want to get rid of me, and then you can take over the military power in Guanzhong'; the next moment he would say, 'This Central Censor has released me. With his ignorance of military affairs, staying here, I'm afraid he will ruin the seed of the Guanzhong elite troops'.

As he was being pushed out by Wu Lin, he still raised his head and sighed: "It's a pity that my, Qu Da's, heart for serving the country is actually harmed by such villains!"

Finally, he didn't forget to give Wu Lin another horse!

Not to mention how this person was acting up and unconvinced, after this chaos subsided, Hu Yin, Wanqi Xie, along with Magistrate Huang, Commander Han, and the previous entourage left the prison. Then Hu and Wanqi were arranged to wash in a separate courtyard. Seeing that there was no one else around, Wanqi Xie finally couldn't help it:

"The Central Censor shouldn't have been manipulated by his words and then let him off the hook. Based on his arrogant remarks in prison, even the Wu brothers were already angry. Killing him would have been fine."

"It's not that I was manipulated by his words, but when I was extremely angry, I felt that there was indeed some truth in what he said." Hu Mingzhong came out of the prison and relied on winning over Wu Jie to deal with Qu Duan, but his expression was still not happy. "Besides, as a minister sent by the Emperor to inspect, I shouldn't arbitrarily use the Emperor's authority for personal gain... This person ultimately has merit and is the greatest general in Guanzhong. I always feel it's a pity to kill him. It's better to hand him over to the Emperor for training."

"Alright." Wanqi Xie shook his head and sighed. "Let's take him back to Tokyo... But what about Guanzhong? Does the Central Censor think Wu Jie is usable?"

"Wu Jie is naturally usable." Hu Yin replied casually, then suddenly stopped. "Military Advisor Wanqi, please trouble you to take this person back to Tokyo to report. I won't go."

Wanqi Xie also stopped in surprise, dumbfounded: "What does the Central Censor mean? What do you mean by 'not going'?"

"To be honest, Military Advisor Wanqi, this trip, seeing the broken mountains and rivers, I feel like Du Fu, who saw and heard from the An Lushan Rebellion when he left Beijing, but I only hate that I don't have the Emperor's literary talent to express my feelings." Hu Yin said seriously. "And when that mood arises, I have the idea of requesting an external appointment... I feel that being a prefect of a prefecture or staying in Guanzhong as a secretary is better than standing in the Tokyo court!"

Wanqi Xie wanted to say something but stopped.

It is said that a dignified Central Censor would not just be a secretary or even just a prefect... What a joke? Even Wang Xie, such a useless person, was a prefect of Fengxiang, even Qu Duan, such an arrogant person, was a prefect of Yan'an, and even Wu Jie, who was under Qu Duan, was a prefect of Huaide. How could Hu Yin be on par with these people? Therefore, if he requested to stay externally, he would at least replace Wang Shu as the Pacification Commissioner, and at most he might even replace Yuwen Xuzhong as the one in charge of Chang'an or some other important task.

However, what does that have to do with him?

"As for the reasons, and today's events, I will naturally send a memorial. But there is one thing, please, Military Advisor Wanqi, be sure to present it to the Emperor on my behalf... Just say that Hu Yin knows that the overall situation of resisting the Jin in the court is now unshakable, and that I am not only useless in the court, but also repeatedly hinder the court's major policies because of my pedantry; and once I am appointed externally, Hu Yin also knows that I don't understand military affairs, so I will never act arbitrarily. On military affairs, I will only listen to the words and actions of veteran generals... Please give me a chance." Saying this, Hu Mingzhong, in his dirty underwear, bowed deeply to Wanqi Xie, who was also in a mess, in the courtyard. "And in any case, after the Jingkang Incident, Hu Yin's heart for serving the country and his determination to break with the Jin people have not wavered in the slightest."

For some reason, meeting the other party's gaze, Wanqi Xie's heart unexpectedly felt a rare sense of panic... And the last time he was so panicked was during that time when he carried the dragon banner and followed Zhao Guan out of Nanyang at night.

Counting the time, it was only three or four months ago.