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Chapter 617 Quan Wanji Exposed

That's right, these three people were exactly the storytelling trio that Li Yan met when he first took Xue Rengui to Chunyu Tower in the East Market to rest. One of them was praising Li Ke on the stage, and the other two were guiding public opinion among the crowd below the stage, praising Li Ke and suppressing the prince.

At that time, Xue Rengui was about to step forward to deal with these people, but was stopped by Li Yan. Instead, Li Yan asked Xue Rengui to follow the three people and find out their backgrounds. If these people were related to the King of Shu, they would be thrown out in the end, blocking the last link of the plan and directing the dirty water towards the King of Shu.

If it has nothing to do with the King of Shu, then find an opportunity to adjust the plan. In short, no chess piece will be wasted.

Afterwards, Li Yan went to Changsun Wuji and asked him to launch a public opinion offensive, taking advantage of the situation and expanding the storm. When Xiao Yu made his response, Changsun Wuji stopped all actions and brought back all the people who had spread out to add fuel to the storm.

Before Wei Zheng started to search all over the world, Xue Rengui had already found out that these three people were indeed sent by Quan Wanji, so Changsun Wuji gave these people to Wei Zheng as clues at the critical moment.

Just when Wei Zheng was worrying about having no evidence and being unable to track down the real culprit behind the incident, he was handed a pillow just as he was dozing off.

Both Li Yan and Changsun Wuji knew that Li Ke would not do this task of spreading rumors and gathering popularity to suppress the Eastern Palace himself, but would definitely ask someone close to him, so they pointed to Quan Wanji from the beginning. Moreover, Quan Wanji was a sixth-rank Honglu Cheng who had plenty of people under him and would not do it himself.

So he deliberately turned a corner, allowing the brokers to vaguely see a figure who looked vaguely like Quan Wanji sitting in a sedan chair. However, the people who truly revealed Quan Wanji's identity were the ones he hired at the beginning.

Wei Zheng was cheered up and immediately interrogated the three men. After some intimidation with torture instruments, he learned that there were witnesses and a portrait of Quan Wanji was drawn. The men no longer resisted and confessed honestly.

After a busy afternoon and the next morning, Wei Zheng finally concluded the case before leaving court. After the court was dismissed, he immediately went back to the palace and came to Chengqing Hall to report to Li Shimin.

"Your Majesty, after my non-stop investigation day and night, the case has finally been solved. All clues point to the same person. All evidence shows that the mastermind behind this turmoil is none other than the Minister of Rites Quan Wanji." Wei Zheng said proudly.

In just four or five days, a case that had caused a stir in the entire Chang'an was finally concluded, and Wei Zheng could be considered to have made a great contribution.

Li Shimin was stunned. This was completely different from what he thought of two forces participating in a game. He then picked up the case summary handed over by Wei Zheng, and asked while examining it, "Is it true? It was Quan Wanji who was behind this, and no one else was involved?"

"No."

Wei Zheng explained: "After I returned yesterday afternoon, I caught a few people who were telling stories and drinking tea at Chunyu Tower in the East Market. After interrogation, I found that they were instructed by Quan Cheng, the housekeeper of Quan Wanji's mansion, to spread rumors among the crowd to elevate the King of Shu."

"After receiving this clue, I sent people to arrest Quan Cheng that night."

"Under witnesses and evidence, Quan Cheng confessed personally that he was instructed by Quan Wanji to bribe people to guide public opinion in the downtown area, boosting the prestige of the King of Shu while suppressing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, causing the people to be disappointed with the Crown Prince and turn to support the King of Shu."

"And for the sake of caution, I had the brokers I captured earlier wait on the way to the court this morning. Without my prompting, they immediately recognized Quan Wanji among the ministers. He was the one who was secretly directing the movement and was sitting in the sedan chair."

Cen Wenben, who was serving the emperor in Chengqing Palace, could not help but ask, "Sir Wei, I believe there is no problem with your investigation, but I have a question. If it is true that Quan Cheng bribed these people, why didn't Quan Cheng kill them after such a long time and let you arrest them? Isn't this too strange?"

"There are also brokers who bribed and spread the news. Why would Quan Wanji, a sixth-rank official in the court, come forward in person? This is too suspicious."

Li Shimin also looked at Wei Zheng in confusion, while Changsun Wuji watched the scene without saying a word. He watched Cen Wenben continue to argue, and Wei Zheng's refutation would be more convincing than doing it himself.

"What's there to be confused about?"

"To bribe the brokers, Quan Wanji did not show up directly, but instructed them from behind. He has been isolated and careful enough, but some brokers were curious and followed him and discovered Quan Wanji's existence. This is what we found out. Who knows how many people Quan Wanji has assigned? Only he knows."

Wei Zheng smiled slightly. "The teahouse people whom Quan Cheng bribed at the beginning only told them to make up a story about the Shu King's trip to Suizhou and spread it in the downtown area. He also sent people to stir up trouble among the crowd and guide public opinion. He never thought of making up some miracles for the Shu King, such as a dragon entering his belly or a canopy protecting him."

"But he overlooked that rumors are a double-edged sword that can hurt others as well as yourself?"

"People are extremely keen on strange stories. Ordinary people spread rumors from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred, and from mouth to mouth. Some people who like to attract attention and attract attention add fuel to the fire and make things worse."

"The King of Shu clearly just shot an eagle in front of the Turkic camp, but in the end, it became that the King of Shu shot Jie Li with one arrow. Three people make a tiger, and the accumulated criticism destroys the bones. What's so strange about this?" Uh.
Cen Wenben was speechless, not knowing how to refute. Finally, he said awkwardly, "Even if it was Quan Wanji who did it, it doesn't prove that the King of Shu ordered it. Maybe he took the initiative to speak for the King of Shu. After all, he also serves as the schoolmaster of the palace."

"That's not difficult. We just need to send someone to arrest Quan Wanji and we'll know the answer after one trial."

Wei Zheng bowed to Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, I have almost finished the task you assigned to me. Quan Wanji is a sixth-rank official in the court. If we need to arrest him, we need your consent. Please give us your instructions on what to do next."

Li Shimin saw that Wei Zheng and Cen Wenben had argued for a while and now calmed down. In fact, after the last Turkic negotiations, he discovered that Li Ke had a reputation for being competitive. He did not expect that he would use the results of the Suizhou trip to build popularity among the people and suppress the prince.

The case report submitted by Wei Zheng clearly stated that Quan Wanji's steward Quan Cheng instructed these people to elevate the King of Shu in front of the crowd while demoting the Crown Prince into a cowardly and incompetent waste who only knew how to flatter the emperor and father to win favor.

Quan Cheng also explained this point. Everything was ordered by Quan Wanji, and it was clearly confirmed to be correct.

Quan Wanji was an official in the Shu Palace and was wholeheartedly planning for Li Ke. He also had this motive and position. Li Shimin believed that even if Li Ke did not instigate it, Li Ke definitely knew about it in advance and tacitly supported it.

Of course, if Li Ke was completely unaware of this and allowed his subordinates to do such a big thing behind his back, then he, the King of Shu, would be further labeled as an incompetent waste.

If Quan Wanji is arrested now, Li Ke will inevitably be implicated in the next step. No matter what, the King of Shu cannot deny himself.

If Quan Wanji was arrested again, the next step would be to face the King of Shu's endless sophistry and wanton attacks. Li Shiming was also a prince, so he knew very well what the King of Shu would say.

It's nothing more than: I am innocent, please understand me, father. I have been busy repairing the canal recently and knew nothing about this?
Was it all Quan Wanji who made the decision on his own accord?
Or is it that someone is secretly fanning the flames and deliberately framing me, and God can bear witness to my heart?

If the court was idle at ordinary times, Li Shimin would be very interested in watching the two sons fight and play a balance of power. But what time is it now? The campaign against the Turks will be launched this winter. The whole court is actively preparing for war, and everyone's energy is working hard to defeat the Turks.

The Northern Expedition to defeat Jie Li was the top priority in Li Shimin's mind. Before that, all the conflicts and disputes in the court had to give way to this.

At this time, if the drama of the internal strife among the princes for the throne was brought up, who knows how many people would be disappointed with the court. Li Shimin could not create trouble and actively destroy the current good situation of stability and unity.

Li Shimin thought of his own brothers' fratricide. He did not expect that it would happen again in the next generation. Suddenly, Li Shimin felt a little sad and was extremely disappointed with his second son.

I thought he was a man with an open mind and integrity, but I didn't expect that he would do such small tricks in private and attack the prince who had always protected him.

During his trip to Suizhou, he won the recognition and gratitude of all officials, as well as the 5,000 imperial guards of Zuotunwei from the prince's humility. But he was still not satisfied, and now he had his eyes on the position of prince, and was trying hard to win popularity among the people.

Isn't it that I haven't given him enough? Isn't the prince's love for him enough?
It's really unpopular!
Li Shimin waved his hands dejectedly and said, "Wei Zheng, you have done a good job. This case ends here. You can continue!"

"All of you go down, I want to be alone for a while."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Several ministers looked at Li Shimin, whose face was gloomy, and stopped talking. They bowed and retreated leisurely.

When they reached the door, Li Shimin's voice came: "Tomorrow's Taiji Hall meeting, let the Crown Prince and the King of Shu attend."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The three of them nodded in agreement, while Cen Wenben's face looked very ugly. The emperor seemed to no longer pursue the matter, which just showed that he had already determined that the instigator of this matter was the King of Shu. In this case, if he did not want to capture the King of Shu, there was no need to investigate further.

But the emperor's disappointment in the King of Shu was something the King of Shu could not bear. Worried in his heart, Cen Benwen left Chengqing Hall and hurried out of the palace.

(End of this chapter)