Jian Zhaoxing

Chapter 259 Clearing the Fog to See the Light

Lin Zhiqing's pupils contracted.

The "uncle" that Zheng Kuo mentioned was her father, Lin Congrong.

Lin Congrong had a distinguished military record and was once just one step away from becoming a marquis.

Receiving this news under such circumstances was still somewhat unexpected, even though she had some suspicions.

She stared intently at Zheng Kuo's face, trying to discern any guilt, worry, or hesitation in his expression.

but no.

Zheng Kuo's face remained filled with anger and extreme sorrow.

Even Yan Yu, who had been standing casually to the side, straightened up, his brows furrowed, revealing his anger.

Lin Yangyang's mouth dropped open: "You... what did you say?"

Zheng Kuo looked like a piece of rotten wood, but his voice was still full of energy:

“In that war with Daliang, Lord Bo arranged for me to stay behind to guard the rear, while Jiang Yunhe attacked the flanks, and he himself faced the enemy head-on.”

"At the beginning of the battle, the situation was clearly in favor of our Great Sheng, but for some reason, the formation of Great Sheng's rear was disrupted, and the people of Great Liang seized the opportunity to encircle and annihilate the army on the front line!"

"The formation is in disarray?" Lin Yangyang frowned deeply. "Military formations are a closely guarded secret. Why are you so sure it was Jiang Yunhe who did it, and not a spy from the Great Liang within the army?"

Lin Yangyang was thinking entirely from the perspective of a general, and at this moment, she appeared particularly calm.

Lin Zhiqing also had this question in her mind.

"Ha!" Zheng Kuo sneered.
"How could I not have had my suspicions? But in the end, the troublemakers had vanished without a trace, and rumors were spreading throughout the army that the missing lord was the culprit behind the annihilation of the entire army!"

“An army cannot move without a general. During the year that Lord Bo was missing, I offended many people while trying to quell the rumors, while Jiang Yunhe, who is usually very shrewd, rose rapidly in rank.”

“I did not suspect Jiang Yunhe at first. He was superior to me in both strategy and martial arts.”

“I have no interest in power. Instead, I have been secretly investigating the Marquis’s whereabouts. However, Jiang Yunhe’s orders to send me out to fight have become more and more frequent.”

"Moreover, people who shared my ideas have encountered various accidents and withdrawn from the battlefield one after another."

Lin Zhiqing's eyes narrowed. According to this explanation, Jiang Yunhe's behavior was indeed very problematic.

Because she had figured out what had puzzled her before.

But she did not interrupt Zheng Kuo, who was completely immersed in his emotions.

Zheng Kuo's face showed indignation:

"I'm a rough man. How could I possibly think of the intricacies involved if I just charged forward with a big knife?"

"It was a year later when I realized that Jiang Yunhe was secretly hindering my search for the Earl and spreading rumors about him."

“I risked my life to obtain evidence that Jiang Yunhe had shot a sneak attack from behind the main force, but Jiang Yunhe discovered it.”

"Left with no other choice, I had to rush from the military camp back to Shengjing to expose Jiang Yunhe's true colors."

As he said this, he touched the hideous scar on his face:
"This scar was left from that time. In the chaos, all the evidence I had was destroyed."

Even though his voice was very strong, Lin Zhiqing still sensed a deep sense of regret in it.

Lin Zhiqing spoke up promptly: "Uncle Zheng, the evidence is destroyed. Besides you, who else knows about this?"

Zheng Kuo's chest heaved violently:
"No one knows except me and my son."

Lin Zhiqing remained silent for a moment, then said nothing more.

Zheng Kuo then continued, "At that time, I only knew that there were no great generals on the border and that monkeys were the overlords. I did not know that the Earl who had escaped death had already returned to Shengjing with the heads of the Liang generals."

"It was precisely because of this that Jiang Yunhe was thrown into disarray, which gave me a chance to escape." "But when I returned to Shengjing and saw the Marquis after a near-death experience, he had already become a confirmed traitor, and the old Marquis had been forced to retreat back to Bianliang."

At this point, his voice rose again, seemingly because his inner resentment was beyond words:
“I didn’t even get to see the Earl one last time, and since I have no evidence, I dare not step forward rashly.”

“On the day my uncle died, I found my son. Together we came up with a plan to make the Lin family think that I had stolen gold and silver jewelry and disappeared.”

"Only by bearing the infamy can Jiang Yunhe believe that the Lin family has indeed not been in contact with me, thereby reducing the possibility that he will be so ruthless as to take action against the Lin family."

His emotions gradually calmed down:
"I can't run away, so I can only try to get back to Yongqing, the most dangerous yet safest place."

"Before returning to Yongqing County, I told my son that if the situation in the Lin family stabilized, he must have the old Marquis come to me!"

"And so we waited until now."

"But I never expected that the person who came would be you, Miss Zhiqing!"

Zheng Kuo's voice trembled as he recounted everything that had been weighing on his heart for so many years, and he let out a long sigh.

Lin Yangyang stood there, stunned, the sheer volume of information almost overwhelming her.

Yan Yu and Zheng Kuo both looked at Lin Zhiqing.

As Lin Zhiqing listened, he mentally reviewed the whole incident again.

From a psychological perspective, Zheng Kuo's words and attitude were flawless.

Furthermore, if Zheng Kuo's words are applied to the current situation of the Lin family, many questions that Lin Zhiqing had not been able to understand before seem to make sense now.

When Lin Zhiqing visited the wounded soldiers and veterans, he found that they had all died from various accidents after leaving the battlefield.

She initially thought the problem stemmed from the imperial gift, which led the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion to target them.

But now it seems she was only half right.

The deaths of those wounded soldiers were indeed related to the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion, but the connection to the imperial gifts was very weak.

The true purpose of the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion was most likely to silence those who had received aid from the Lin family and sided with their father.

He embodied the attitude of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Zheng Kuo, who truly possessed the evidence, was out in exile, while the others who had sided with Zheng Kuo and joined the army with Bian Lin naturally did not survive.

No wonder, no wonder...

When Lin Zhiqing first arrived in Dasheng, he did have doubts about the vested interests of the Zhenyuan Marquis's Mansion.

However, Jiang Liuyun's acting skills were so good that even with psychological analysis, I couldn't find any major flaws.

This is certainly largely due to Liu Mang, who was also well-versed in psychology and worked for Jiang Liuyun.

However, aside from psychological judgment, what Lin Zhiqing couldn't explain at the time was that if the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion wanted to eliminate the Lin family completely, the best opportunity would be the moment his father's treason was discovered.

They have the ability and the courage.

However, the Zhenyuan Marquis's Mansion did not ruthlessly destroy the Lin family, but instead gradually eroded their power.

This is why Lin Zhiqing has never been able to figure it out, nor has he brought the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion into the main perspective.

However, after hearing Zheng Kuo's words, Lin Zhiqing understood why the Zhenyuan Marquis's Mansion had kept the Lin family alive in the first place.

Upholding public opinion and gaining a good reputation are only a very small part of the picture.

The biggest reason is that they didn't know that the evidence in Zheng Kuo's hands was gone, so they treated that so-called evidence as a time bomb.

They tested him in every way and pressured him in every way.

The Zhenyuan Marquis's series of actions were mostly intended to test and force the Lin family to produce that evidence before sending them to their deaths!