The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 161 The Grand Secretary Has Such a Matter

Xiao Xuanzi woke Tu Chengyu up because the interrogation had made important progress, and Tu Chengyu had to be present to make a decision.

Since he had something important to do, Tu Chengyu naturally wouldn't be grumpy when he woke up.

After getting up, he washed and dressed while having someone call in Yang Chun and the others who had come to report.

There were three people who came to report: Yang Chun, Su Xuanbao, and Quan Wenwei.

Tu Chengyu couldn't sleep last night because of Quan Wenwei's words, but Quan Wenwei seemed unaffected and acted as usual.

Seeing Su Xuanbao standing in front of him, he knew that his operation to capture Chai Suwen had yielded results, though he didn't know if the result was good or bad.

Tu Chengyu was lost in thought when he gestured for the chairs to be brought in and seated. After Xiao Xuanzi served tea to everyone, Tu Chengyu asked:
"What important matter do you have to discuss with me?"

Because Tu Chengyu had handed over the case interrogation to Yang Chun, he was the one who spoke first.

He said, "Your Highness, after General Su brought Chai Suwen here, my subordinate and Mr. Quan immediately interrogated him, and we have finally gotten the results."

Chai Suwen was indeed brought back, and they have already obtained the results of the interrogation, which is quite efficient.

Tu Chengyu was satisfied with this. He nodded and gestured for Yang Chun to continue.

Yang Chun then continued, "After questioning, it was found that the jade pendant on Lü Shize was stolen by Chai Suwen, and the person who instructed Chai Suwen was sent by Wu Youwei."

"Really?" Tu Chengyu was delighted with the result.

When Tu Chengyu heard yesterday that the Chai family and Wu Youwei had a long-standing friendship, he had a premonition that he could find a breakthrough to break through Wu Youwei's stubbornness by digging into the Chai family. Now it seems that his premonition was quite accurate.

Yang Chun replied, "It is indeed true; both Chai Suwen and his father gave that answer."

Tu Chengyu remembered that the Chai family members were all as stubborn as Wu Youwei, so why were they so easy to interrogate today?

Tu Chengyu asked, "Why did the Chai family confess so quickly? Did you use torture?"

Tu Chengyu wasn't worried about them using torture; he was mainly curious and wanted to hear about their methods.

That was his guess, but Yang Chun said, "Your Highness, we did not use any torture. We were just following Mr. Quan's instructions."

“Separate Chai Suwen from his family and lock them in two adjacent rooms. Then, deliberately stage a torture scene in one room so that the people in the other room will know.”

“I only did it once, and Chai Suwen couldn’t stand it anymore and confessed what he had done.”

“Chai Suwen confessed, and his family and friends could only confess as well. Then I learned that Wu Youwei was involved in this matter.”

Therefore, it seems that interrogating someone with a family and loved ones is much easier.

Unlike Wu Youwei, who had no parents, no children, and was not afraid of death, you couldn't get anything out of him no matter how many times you asked him.

Moreover, Wu Youwei, as a participant in the salt workers' rebellion, originally had no involvement in the arson case, but now this situation has arisen.

He had become involved in two separate incidents, and even the arson case was traced back to him.

In that case, if we can't get him to talk, then neither of the two things can be done in the short term.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu quickly asked, "How is Wu Youwei now?"

Yang Chun said, "Wu Youwei is still the same as before. I took the results of the interrogation from the Chai family father and son to ask him, but I still couldn't get anything out of him."

Tu Chengyu knew this would be the outcome, but there's plenty of time. As long as there's a direction, a breakthrough can always be found.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu said, "Since we can't get any information from him, let's leave him alone for now. However, this person is becoming increasingly important, so we can't be careless about his security."

The task of arranging guards was Su Xuanbao's responsibility. Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, he quickly stood up and said:
"Your Highness, rest assured, I have already increased manpower, and I guarantee there will be no mishaps."

Tu Chengyu nodded and said, "That's good. Is there anything else you want to say besides these?"

Yang Chun continued, "Your Highness, when I was interrogating Chai Suwen's father, Chai Ye, I inadvertently learned a very important piece of information."

"However, this news is too unbelievable, so I don't know how to tell Your Highness for the time being."

Tu Chengyu didn't understand what kind of news it was, but even before it was told, it felt too unreal to Yang Chun.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu couldn't help but look at Quan Wenwei and Su Xuanbao, the two people in the know, and saw that they also had expressions of agreement with Yang Chun on their faces.

Therefore, this news must be quite outrageous, which made Tu Chengyu very curious about what the news was, so he said:
“Say what Chai Ye said, and let me hear it.”

Yang Chun thought for a moment after hearing this before saying, "Chai Ye said that he and Wu Youwei are both acquainted with the Grand Secretary of the court."

There are many kinds of acquaintances. Getting to know someone on the same level is one kind of acquaintance, as is talking to someone a long time ago.

So Tu Chengyu asked, "How did they meet?"

Yang Chun said, "Chai Ye said that he and Wu Youwei grew up in the Grand Secretary's villa. A long time ago, when the Grand Secretary was still a minor official, the two of them used to run errands for him."

"Wait a minute!" Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu immediately interrupted Yang Chun. He turned to Quan Wenwei and asked, "Mr. Quan, you told me yesterday that Wu Youwei was an orphan brought from the salt fields by someone else, but now you say that they grew up in the Prime Minister's house. Does this mean that the Prime Minister is the person behind the secret abduction of the salt workers' orphans?"

If that's the case, then things have become serious.

Because the salt workers were descendants of the Taizu Emperor's mortal enemies during his struggle for power, they were later punished by the Taizu Emperor by being forced to do such hard labor as salt work.

It can be said that if there is anyone in this world who is most dissatisfied with the Tu family, it is the salt workers of Jianghuai.

Therefore, it is clear that the person who secretly took the salt workers' orphan away must have had some impure motive.

Such a person could be considered a major enemy of the imperial court, yet now they are telling Tu Chengyu that the person who did these things is actually the current Grand Secretary.

No wonder Yang Chun and the others found the news unbelievable.

Even Tu Chengyu finds it absurd now.

However, this matter was of great importance, and he couldn't help but keep it in mind.

Therefore, he wanted to confirm the previous information with Quan Wenwei.

Quan Wenwei nodded and said, "Your Highness, it is basically certain that Wu Youwei and the others are orphans of salt workers, but whether they grew up in the Grand Secretary's family is still up for debate."

Tu Chengyu also felt that such matters should not be concluded lightly, so he asked Yang Chun:
"Did Chai Ye confess to this voluntarily, or did you find out through interrogation?"

If someone intentionally revealed this information, it's possible they were instructed by someone else to slander the Grand Secretary.

If it's not something they did voluntarily, then the Grand Secretary's situation might be more serious.

Yang Chun said, "I was on the way to the interrogation and didn't think of the Grand Secretary at all, so he wouldn't have questioned me in this direction. So he brought it up on his own initiative." "But I felt that he didn't want to confess on his own initiative. Instead, it was as if he was being forced by me."

Tu Chengyu asked, "What did you say that made Chai Ye confess to these questions?"

Yang Chun said, "I told them that if they didn't explain themselves properly, I would hand them over to the local government for interrogation."

"I thought that there would be some cruel officials in the government who were good at using torture, and I thought I would use this to scare Chai Ye. I didn't expect him to be so unfazed. He immediately talked a lot, including things about the Grand Secretary."

Tu Chengyu couldn't understand why the mere mention of interrogation by officials from the yamen could frighten someone like that. Could it be that Donghu County had some notorious cruel officials?
He looked at Quan Wenwei with a face full of question marks, hoping he could offer some explanation.

When Quan Wenwei saw Tu Chengyu looking over, he quickly said, "Your Highness, I think this matter might be related to the Prefect of Zhenjiang and the Lord?"

Tu Chengyu said thoughtfully, "Tell me your thoughts."

Quan Wenwei said, "The prince once said that Prefect He came to Donghu to act as an intermediary for the Grand Secretary and persuade the prince to leave Jiangnan as soon as possible."

"What I've always wondered is why the Grand Secretary wanted the Prince to leave Jiangnan, and what the Prince did that made the Grand Secretary feel threatened."

"Now it seems that it was the matter of privately raising the orphans of salt workers that made the Grand Secretary feel threatened."

"Although the students felt that this idea was a bit outrageous, only this reason could explain the whole story."

"If that's really the case, then Prefect He, as the Grand Secretary's protégé, would definitely try to protect the Grand Secretary's secret from being leaked."

"This explains why Chai Ye was afraid when he heard that they were to be handed over to the local government for questioning. He wasn't afraid of the yamen runners, but rather that Prefect He would take the opportunity to do something underhanded."

After listening, Tu Chengyu nodded to himself, agreeing with Quan Wenwei's analysis.

At the same time, he suddenly asked, "Do you think the salt workers' rebellion and arson case might be related to the Grand Secretary?"

Su Xuanbao, that blockhead, never dared to speak when discussing issues, and now he's even less likely to say a word.

However, Yang Chun was, after all, an official of the court, and it was not appropriate for him to make a judgment on this matter.

Finally, only Quan Wenwei stepped forward to answer: "Your Highness, I believe that the Grand Secretary would not instruct anyone to do such things, but his subordinates may very well act under his name."

"The Prince's visit to Jiangnan this time, whether it is to reorganize the salt administration or to investigate the grain fields, will involve the interests of many gentry in Jiangnan."

"In order to protect their own interests, they might do these things behind the Prime Minister's back."

"However, it is too early to discuss this matter before confirming the true relationship between Chai Ye and the Grand Secretary."

Things have gone back to the way they were before.

How can I confirm this message?
Only Wu Youwei and Chai Ye knew the truth. Now that Chai Ye has confessed to this information, we can only confirm it with Wu Youwei.

However, given Wu Youwei's attitude, it was clearly impossible to get to him directly.

As Tu Chengyu was thinking, trying to see if there were any other solutions, he heard Quan Wenwei say from beside him:
"Your Highness, we can start with Prefect He."

After his reminder, Tu Chengyu suddenly understood.

Yes, besides Wu Youwei and the other two, He Lizhang, as someone who helped the Grand Secretary, must also be an insider.

To confirm the information, one could indeed try to find a way through He Lizhang.

However, He Lizhang's special status meant he couldn't be interrogated like Chai Ye.

Then we'll have to resort to stratagem.

With Quan Wenwei by his side, Tu Chengyu didn't bother to come up with a plan.

He asked, "Quan Wenwei, do you have a way to test He Lizhang?"

Quan Wenwei said, "The student has thought of a solution, which is..."

Before he could finish speaking, Tu Chengyu interrupted him, saying, "Since Mr. Quan has a solution, then do as you suggest. I trust you."

Since Quan Wenwei started following Tu Chengyu, he has helped Tu Chengyu come up with many good ideas and done many things.

There had never been any mishaps, so he completely trusted Quan Wenwei when it came to small things like devising schemes to extract information.

Upon seeing this, Quan Wenwei said no more, immediately got up to take his leave, and prepared to go down to devise a plan.

Now that everything had been discussed, Tu Chengyu didn't stop him and let him leave early.

After Quan Wenwei left, Tu Chengyu asked about another small matter.

How was Lü Chudan murdered?

Yang Chun said, "Your Highness, I haven't been able to find out the details of this matter yet, but based on their testimonies, I guess the process was roughly as follows."

"It must have been Chai Suwen who stole the jade pendant from Lü Shize and handed it over to the man sent by Wu Youwei. Then, under cover of darkness, this man scaled the city wall and went to the county town."

"Next, he somehow got into the county government office, and then managed to meet with Magistrate Lü when the prince left."

"And he threatened Magistrate Lü with the stolen jade pendant. Magistrate Lü probably recognized the jade pendant and was worried about Lü Shize's safety, which is why he was taken hostage. That's why he personally sent his servants to the backyard to report the news."

"However, later, perhaps the criminals and Magistrate Lü did not reach an agreement, or for some other reason, in any case, the murderer killed Magistrate Lü and made it look like he had committed suicide in order to frame Your Highness."

It's all just speculation, and it's not of much use anyway.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Has the murderer been interrogated yet?"

Yang Chun said, "We've already found out his name and appearance, but we don't know where he's hiding now."

Tu Chengyu asked, "Doesn't Chai Suwen know the murderer? How come he doesn't know where the murderer is staying?"

Yang Chun said, "The murderer was introduced to Chai Suwen by Wu Youwei, so he only knew the man's name. Only Wu Youwei knew the specific details."

The case of the murderer was also delayed because of Wu Youwei.

Therefore, the most important thing right now is to get Wu Youwei to talk as soon as possible.

Just then, Quan Wenwei, who had just left, returned.

In such a short time, he couldn't possibly have devised a plan to lure He Lizhang.

Has something happened again?

(End of this chapter)