Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 277 Asking King Wu to Be the Notary

There were spies everywhere in the palace, so Li Ji did not go to Ganlu Palace immediately. Instead, he returned to Chengxiang Palace and had a conversation with Li Zhong and Liu Chong'er.

Half an hour later, near the hour of You, he and Li Zhong bid farewell to Liu Chong'er together.

Li Ji found a random excuse to let Li Zhong leave the palace first, and then walked to Ganlu Palace to report to the eunuch.

Li Zhi was still in Xunfeng Palace and had not returned, so Li Ji had to wait in the side hall.

After waiting for two quarters of an hour, Li Zhi finally came back and sent someone to summon him to an audience.

Li Ji came to the bedroom, and after the formalities, he told the emperor what Princess Gao An had heard.

After he finished speaking, Li Zhi looked surprised.

"Did Gao An hear this news?"

"Her Royal Highness the Princess overheard it when she was catching a cat." Li Ji whispered.

Li Zhi didn't say anything else, but just winked at Wang Fusheng, who understood and left the bedroom.

Li Zhi said, "Xiao Ji, play a game of chess with Uncle Jiu."

The two played chess while waiting for news from Wang Fusheng.

More than half an hour later, Wang Fusheng returned to the palace and said to Li Zhi, "Your Majesty, the imperial concubine sent a maid out of the palace to Yongzhou Prefecture to instruct the Yongzhou Chief Secretary to jointly investigate the case with Yongzhou Prefecture and Wannian County."

Li Zhi felt relieved. Although Concubine Zheng's behavior was a bit against the rules, it did not directly protect her family, so it was not a big mistake.

"Xiao Ji, Uncle Jiu will assign you another task." Li Zhi said.

Li Ji hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please give your orders."

Li Zhi said, "Do you remember the last time I asked you to keep an eye on the Xiao case?"

Li Ji said: "Remember."

Li Zhi said, "It's the same this time. Please help me keep an eye on this case. If you have any news, please tell me."

Li Ji bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

The sun sets, dusk falls, and the "dong dong dong" sound of closing drums echoes throughout the city.

Li Ji first returned to his mansion, changed his clothes, took a horse, and rode towards the Wannian County Government Office with two followers.

Halfway through the journey, a tall horse with black mane came running from the distance.

The rider on horseback was a young man of about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a red cloak. He was very heroic and had excellent riding skills. He rode his horse in a very dashing manner.

"King Wu, where are you going?" Helan Minzhi pulled the reins, and the black horse raised its front hooves high and stopped in a beautiful posture.

Li Ji said, "Something's going on."

Helan Minzhi smiled and said, "I'm going to the garden outside the city. Do you want to come with me?"

Li Ji said, "I'm not free today, let's do it another day."

Helan Minzhi was very obsessed with him. He winked at him and said, "There's a new dancer in my garden. She's good at Silla dance. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Li Ji waved his hand and said, "No, I really have something to do. Goodbye." He passed him by on the wrong horse.

Helan Minzhi hurriedly shouted towards his back, "By the way, it's my aunt's birthday in a few days. I'll send you an invitation, so you must come!"

Li Ji raised his hand to indicate that he understood.

Helan Minzhi looked at his hurriedly leaving back and asked curiously: "Why are you in such a hurry? What are you going to do?"

He kicked the horse's belly and spurred it in the other direction of the street.

Li Ji rode to the Wannian County government office, dismounted and asked, and learned that Changsun Quan had gone to Yongzhou Prefecture, and even Zheng Xuankai had been transferred to Yongzhou Prefecture.

Li Ji thought to himself, "What a fast speed." He did not dare to delay and headed towards Yongzhou Prefecture again.

As the administrative agency that managed the 23 counties of Chang'an City, Yongzhou Prefecture originally had enormous power.

However, considering that there are powerful people everywhere in Chang'an City, no matter how great the power is, it will be useless.

Therefore, working in Yongzhou Prefecture is a thankless job, even harder than working in Chang'an County and Wannian County.

Often, in cases involving powerful people, those powerful people would put pressure on Yongzhou Prefecture instead of going directly to Chang'an Ling and Wannian Ling.

The Governor of Yongzhou is usually a prince who holds the position concurrently, but is only a figurehead and has no responsibilities. The current Governor of Yongzhou is the four-year-old Li Xian.

The specific affairs are under the charge of the Chief Clerk of Yongzhou.

The current Chief Secretary of Yongzhou is Xu Jingzong’s eldest son Xu Ang.

Because Zheng turned to the emperor and empress very early and had a good relationship with Li Ji, Xu Ang and Zheng Xuanguo also had a good personal relationship.

At this moment, in the outer hall of Yongzhou Prefecture, Xu Ang and Zheng Xuanguo were sitting side by side. In addition, Changsun Quan was also sitting in the hall.

The expressions on the faces of the three people were not very good, and the atmosphere in the hall was very solemn.

Xu Ang coughed and said calmly, "Zhangsun County Magistrate, if you have no objection, I will release him."

Chang Sunquan asked, "What if I have any objections?"

Although his rank was not as high as Xu Ang's, he was a son-in-law of the emperor, so he spoke without any courtesy.

A trace of anger flashed across Xu Ang's face. Just as he was about to speak, a chief officer walked in and reported to him, "Chief Secretary, His Royal Highness the King of Wu has arrived."

Xu Ang frowned, waved his hand, and asked him to leave.

Although Li Ji was young, he was the heir to the throne after all, so Xu Ang and the other two went out to the outer hall to greet him.

After a while, Li Ji came over led by a clerk. The three men came forward to greet him, and Li Ji returned a half-bow.

Xu Ang asked, "I wonder what orders the King of Wu has for coming to Yongzhou Prefecture?"

Li Ji said, "I have a servant who lives in Changlefang. He heard that a murder occurred in the square, so I wanted to go to Wannian County to inquire about it. But when I heard that the case was transferred to Yongzhou Prefecture, I came here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the three people changed.

Li Ji said, "Is it inconvenient to ask?"

Xu Ang hesitated and said, "Your Highness, this is just an ordinary case. Why are you interested?"

Li Ji smiled and said, "I once accidentally saw the Dali Temple's Di Siqing solving a case. Since then, I have been interested in solving cases."

After hearing this, Xu Ang and Zheng Xuanguo looked at each other and both cursed their bad luck.

Chang Sunquan was secretly delighted and said, "Your Highness's visit is just the right thing to do. This case has many doubts, and I have some disagreements with Xu Changshi. Your Highness is the perfect person to be impartial to us." Li Ji asked, "What are your disagreements?"

Xu Ang moved aside and said, "Your Highness, please come into the hall and talk."

Several people entered the hall together and asked Li Ji to sit at the head of the table.

Li Ji asked about the disagreement again. Chang Sunquan glanced at Xu Ang and said, "The case had just begun to be investigated, and Xu Changshi planned to release the suspect, so the dispute arose."

Li Ji's eyes turned and looked at Xu Ang.

Xu Ang hurriedly said, "Your Highness, there is insufficient evidence in this case. We cannot arrest anyone based on this."

Li Ji said: "Insufficient evidence?"

Xu Ang said, "Yes, although a carpenter pointed out that a murder had occurred in the yard next door, we searched the yard and found no clues. The carpenter said there were scissors with blood on their handles, but we didn't find them either."

Chang Sunquan said in a deep voice: "But someone gave the carpenter two silver ingots to make him shut up..."

Zheng Xuanguo interrupted, "That's just the carpenter's story. The silver ingot wasn't found in his house."

Li Ji suddenly asked him, "Is Zheng Fengyu also involved in the investigation?"

Zheng Xuanguo hurriedly said, "To be honest, Your Highness, the suspect arrested by County Magistrate Changsun is my brother."

Li Ji nodded and said, "Zhangsun County Magistrate, do you have any other evidence?"

Chang Sunquan said in a deep voice, "When the carpenter reported the crime, he was thrown into jail by one of my county lieutenants. According to my interrogation of the lieutenant, he was instructed by Zheng Xuankai. This is what they call trying to cover up something only makes it more obvious!"

Zheng Xuanguo said, "Then why not call that county lieutenant over and interrogate him again."

Chang Sunquan stared at him and said, "I believe you have already sent people to find him and make him change his statement. Naturally, you can't get anything out of him."

Zheng Xuanguo snorted, "County Magistrate Changsun, please be careful with your words. Speculation without evidence is slander!"

When Li Ji heard this, he understood.

Zheng has secretly destroyed all evidence, so the case is unlikely to make any progress.

Xu Ang said, "Your Highness, the King of Wu, according to the rules of Yongzhou Prefecture, there is currently insufficient evidence and the body cannot be found, so it is impossible to prove that someone is dead."

Li Ji said, "Doesn't the carpenter count?"

Xu Ang said, "The carpenter can only be considered a witness, but the bloody scissors and silver spear that he mentioned cannot be found, so this is not enough to arrest anyone."

At this time, another official from Yongzhou Prefecture walked in and said, "Xu Changshi, the Wei County Magistrate of Wannian County requests an audience."

Chang Sunquan said: "He came to see me, maybe he found something, please let him in."

Zheng Xuanguo said anxiously, "Wannian County doesn't have the authority to adjudicate cases independently. How could he conduct a private investigation? Xu Changshi, the Wannian County Lieutenant has violated regulations and should be suspended for questioning!"

Xu Ang was suddenly in a difficult position. Not to mention that the King of Wu was not here, he had no way to directly take over Changsun Quan's subordinates just because of his status as the son-in-law of the emperor.

Li Ji said, "We can discuss this later. Let's let the county lieutenant come in first. Let's listen to what he found out, and then we can discuss it later."

Xu Ang coughed and said, "Then let him in first."

A moment later, a burly man came into the hall, greeted everyone in the hall, and said to Changsun Quan:
"Mingfu, we've discovered that Zheng Xuankai left the city last night in a carriage. We followed the lead and found an abandoned carriage with blood stains twenty miles east of the city. We also found a patch of turned earth in the woods five miles away, which we suspect is where the body was hidden."

Chang Sunquan's eyes lit up and he asked, "Have you found the body?"

Wei County Lieutenant shook his head and said, "No body was found."

Chang Sunquan turned around and glared at Zheng Xuanguo, saying coldly, "Your Excellency is so quick to act."

Zheng Xuanguo was also sweating coldly. He did send people to dig out the body, but the people he sent had not had time to report back, and he was not sure whether they could get there before Wannian County.

Zheng Xuanguo snorted, "Prince Consort Changsun, if you don't have any evidence, then don't bring it up here."

Changsun Quan stood up suddenly and said coldly: "I won't give up. Let's wait and see." He bowed to Li Ji and walked away.

Seeing this, Li Ji also left.

After the two men left, Xu Ang said with a sullen face, "Brother Zheng, you've gone too far. If Changsun Quan finds evidence, I won't be able to defend you."

Zheng Xuanguo sighed, "I can't help it. Anyway, thank you very much, Brother Xu." He bowed and turned to leave.

After leaving Yongzhou Prefecture, Zheng Xuanguo had just gotten on the carriage when one of his men came to him. It was the person he sent to deal with the corpse.

"You did a good job this time. I will reward you handsomely when you return," he praised.

The subordinate stood by the car window and whispered, "Da Lang, something is wrong."

Zheng Xuanguo asked, "What?"

The subordinate said, "We did dig up a body according to Erlang's instructions, but it wasn't a female body, but a male body!"

Zheng Xuanguo lost his voice and said, "What?"

……

Changsun Quan walked hurriedly along the corridor of Changsun Mansion, soon came to the study and pushed the door open.

Inside the room, Changsun Wuji was sitting behind a desk reading a book. When he saw him come in, he looked up and glanced at him.

"It's Shiro, what's wrong? You look so anxious."

Zhang Sunquan's face was solemn, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Brother, they are too blatant and are simply trampling on the justice system of Chang'an. I need your help!"

Zhang Sun Wuji frowned and asked, "Are you talking about Zheng's case?"

Changsun Quan said: "Yes, they destroyed all the evidence..." and told Changsun Wuji in detail about the situation in Yongzhou Prefecture.

"Brother, I know my own limitations. Investigating cases is not my forte. Do you have anyone who is skilled in investigating cases who could lend me a hand?"

Changsun Wuji twirled his beard and said, "Even if there were, they can't be used now. Anyway, if you want to investigate the case, why don't you go find Di Renjie?"

Changsun Quan lowered his head and said nothing.

Changsun Wuji laughed and said, "Because he's only a few years older than you, you're feeling competitive with him and can't bring yourself to invite him?"

Chang Sunquan blushed and said, "I just heard that he has a good relationship with Zheng Mingyu of the Zheng family. I'm worried that he might not be fair."

Zhangsun Wuji said, "If he were unfair, would Your Majesty allow him to be the Supreme Court Justice at his age? Let him be. General Xin Mao always praises this man in front of me, so this is a good opportunity to see what he is capable of."

Changsun Quan thought of Zheng's face, took a deep breath, and made a decision in his heart.

"Okay, since big brother said so, I will go find him." He turned and left Changsun Mansion and headed towards the Dali Temple.

(End of this chapter)