Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhang Zhongcai drooped his eyelids and answered politely: "I heard from the Fourth Master that he originally wanted to poison them, but the kudzu poison could not kill them immediately, so he had to kill them again with a dagger or a sword."

Chen Shao looked at him again and asked, "Why did the boys and girls in the gardens die in different ways?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "The Fourth Master said that they originally planned to torture them half to death first and then kill them, but because of the delay in injecting the poison, they didn't have time to torture them."

Chen Shao asked: "Who suggested killing them?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "Second Master said it was Second Master Gu."

Chen Shao: "Why do you want to kill them?"

Zhang Zhongcai: "Fourth Master said that the Lord has already found out about Luoyanju. If we don't kill them all, the Lord will find out about them. If we kill them all, even if the Lord finds out about them, there will be no evidence to prove it."

"Didn't your Fourth Master say anything to warn me?" Chen Shao asked.

"The Fourth Master didn't say it, but the Second Master did." Zhang Zhongcai replied.

Chen Shao: "What did your Second Master say?"

Zhang Zhongcai: "Second Master said that killing them all would not only make it impossible to prove the crime, but also serve as a warning to you, Your Excellency. If you want to act rashly again, don't blame them for being disrespectful to the Chen Guogong Mansion."

Chan Yi snorted disdainfully, and Fu Jiu followed suit.

Li Tianliu looked at them one by one and said nothing.

Chen Shao asked calmly, "Did they tell me how to torture them?"

"I haven't heard of it." Zhang Zhongcai said honestly, "I just heard the Second Master and the Fourth Master mention Luoyanju and Qujingyuan afterwards, saying that the fate of those young men and women was like hell on earth."

Seeing that he had behaved very politely so far, Chen Shao asked in detail, "Why did Master Zhu build the Peach Garden?"

"When the master was young, he had many maids and concubines. They were jealous of each other all day long, making everyone restless," Zhang Zhongcai answered verbatim. "The old master was furious and ordered the master to drive out all the maids and concubines. The master was reluctant to part with those carefully selected maids and concubines, but he did not dare to disobey the master's order, so he took them all to the other courtyard and raised them there."

Chen Shao asked: "Bi Tao Garden used to be the Zhu family's other courtyard?"

Zhang Zhongcai said yes.

Zhang Zhongcai is nearly seventy years old. He has been following Master Zhu since he was a child. He is considered a servant of the Zhu family. In terms of the person Master Zhu trusts the most, he is worse than the chief steward. However, he is too old and cannot act as conveniently as the chief steward, so he only has the title of steward. In terms of understanding Master Zhu and the entire Zhu family, he also knows more and more clearly than the chief steward.

With the previous incident of Wu Dong being beheaded and his entire family being demoted to slavery, and the subsequent destruction of the Wen and Zhu families, Chen Shao has always been remembered as a cruel and ruthless person.

Therefore, he knew better than the steward that if he wanted the Zhang family's bloodline to continue, he had to tell the truth.

"Since the people living in Bi Tao Garden were Mr. Zhu's maids and concubines, why did it end up like this?" Chen Shao asked.

Zhang Zhongcai narrated: "The Peach Garden was originally the place where the family held flower-viewing banquets in March and April every year when the peach blossoms were in full bloom. It had beautiful scenery and a large terrain. When the master's twenty or thirty maids and concubines lived in the Zhu family, it was crowded and noisy, but after living in the Peach Garden, it suddenly seemed empty. In order to make the Peach Garden lively and fresh, and to imitate the emperor's harem of three thousand concubines, the master recruited young and beautiful boys and girls. After the boys and girls filled the Peach Garden, he felt that it was not enough to be alone, so he invited the sons of various noble families to have fun together. In this way, the Peach Garden gradually became the later Peach Garden. Other noble families enjoyed the liveliness of the Peach Garden and followed suit. Soon there were Luoyanju, Qujing Garden, etc. The young men in the noble families liked to compare everything, so in order to facilitate the comparison of beauty, they chose that one place to hold all the gardens."

So that's it. After his doubts were solved, Chen Shao immediately asked the next question: "The roster of Luoyanju records more than 2,000 boys and girls, but only more than 800 bodies were dug out in Luoyanju. Where are the remaining more than 1,000 bodies?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "Some are in mass graves, and some have been sent back home."

Chen Shao ordered: "Speak more carefully."

Zhang Zhongcai paused for a moment before continuing to answer: "When the garden was first built, most of the bodies were thrown into mass graves, and some were directly fed to dogs. Later, as the number of deaths increased, throwing them into mass graves was too conspicuous, so Old Master Qi suggested returning their bodies. After two or three years, they found it troublesome, so they had a big pit dug outside the city to bury these bodies. Once, a girl that Third Master loved the most could not bear the humiliation and hanged herself. Third Master was reluctant to bury her in that big pit, He ordered people to dig up a man-sized Albizia Julibrissin tree in the yard and buried the girl under it. When the Albizia Julibrissin tree bloomed the next year, the flowers were more colorful than those of other Albizia Julibrissin trees. The third master thought that the girl was the reincarnation of a flower fairy, so he called the sons of various noble families to show off. The sons of various noble families were unwilling to admit defeat, so they also began to bury the bodies under various flower trees. After a while, they found that the flowers of the flower trees where the bodies were buried were more colorful than the original ones, so they began to compete to bury the bodies under the flower trees.

After a pause, he continued, "In order to compete with them, the Third Master had the corpses buried in the field. As a result, the harvest from that field was higher than that from other fields. However, no one dared to eat the crops grown from the corpses. After secretly transporting the crops to Jiangnan through a cargo company, the Third Master gave up the idea of ​​growing crops from the corpses."

Chan Yi's eyes widened with anger. Chen Shao suppressed his surging anger and asked calmly, "Where are the mass graves, the big pits they dug to bury the bodies, and the land where they used the bodies to grow crops?"

Zhang Zhongcai told the addresses one by one.

Chan Yi went to Mr. Zhu's study, found a pen and paper, and wrote it down angrily.

Chen Shao took it and looked at it. After confirming that she had not made a mistake in remembering the address in her anger, he continued to ask, "Where did all those jades come from in Master Zhu's small treasury?"

Zhang Zhongcai was afraid of Chan Yi's cannibalistic gaze, so he moved to the side uncomfortably and replied, "The caravans of the Zhu and Gu families bought it from the generals of the Shan State in Changming City, Tuoyu City, and Kunlun Town, which border the Shan State."

Chen Shao interrogated: "Which general?"

"There are several generals," Zhang Zhongcai said, "including the mighty general, the general of the cavalry, the general of the east defense, the general of the west expedition, and the general of the north peace."

The titles of these generals are really messed up, Chen Shao complained silently.

Shan State is a tiny country. Although it is called a country, it is actually composed of countless armed forces. The emperor of Shan State is just a title, and he does not have the power to command the various armed forces. And each armed force is a noble family. The strength of the noble family is also based on the number of their armed forces and economic strength. The so-called mighty general, the general of the cavalry, the general of the east, the general of the west and the general of the north are just the titles of the general of Datong stolen by Shan State.

They generally do not understand the meaning of these titles, they simply think they are powerful or sound nice.

Chen Shao had never been to Shan State, and most of his knowledge of Shan State came from the information that Li Tianliu had sent out. After silently digesting the information that Zhang Zhongcai had revealed for a while, he continued to ask, "Why did the Zhu family buy the green jade?"

Zhang Zhongcai said, "Give it to an important person."

It was rare that he didn't get an accurate answer from him, so Chen Shao continued to interrogate him: "What kind of big shot?"

Zhang Zhongcai explained calmly: "A great man who can make the Zhu family prosperous."

Still no clear answer. Chen Shao tapped the armrests of the chair twice. "The Zhu family is already one of the most established families in Wu County, and the most powerful one in Hongyuan County. How can this big shot help the Zhu family prosper?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied, "The master said that this great man can make the Zhu family the most powerful family in Tang Country."

Chen Shao glanced at Li Tianliu.

Li Tianliu leaned against the door, his eyes lowered, his face looking gloomy.

The number of aristocratic families in Datong who are worthy of the title of "the most powerful" can be counted on one hand, and the number of people who deserve to be given the title of "the most powerful" can also be counted on one hand.

Among these people who can be counted on one hand, who is the big shot?

Chen Shao tapped the armrest twice again and deliberately slowed down his speech: "After buying the jade, how did you hand it over to the big shot?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied calmly: "After the Zhu and Gu caravans buy the jade, they will first send it to the Zhu and Gu families in Wujun, and then the Zhu and Gu families in Wujun will send it to that important person."

Chen Shao said bluntly: "The Zhu and Gu families of Wu County will give it to that important person. When rewarding people for their merits, the Zhu and Gu families of Wu County will definitely be rewarded first. Do your master and Master Gu agree to this?"

Zhang Zhongcai said, “When Qingyu is sent to Wujun, the master and Master Gu will also go with him.”

That's right. Chen Shao followed up his words and asked, "You are the steward beside Master Zhu. When he goes to Wujun, will you go with him?"

Zhang Zhongcai said, "They went with me in the past two years. In the past two years, both the master and I have not been in good health, so most of the time it was you and Master Gu who went with me."

"Since you've been there before," Chen Shao asked, "then you must have seen that important person. Who is he?"

"I did see him once," Zhang Zhongcai replied, "but that important person hid behind a screen, so I didn't see his true face. The next few times, it was the steward around that important person who came to get the jade."

Chen Shao asked sharply, "Didn't you deliver the jade to the mansion of the big shot? Instead, the steward of the big shot went to the Zhu family to get the jade?"

Zhang Zhongcai nodded: "Yes."

Chen Shao immediately asked, "Mr. Zhu and Mr. Zhu are also like you, and have never seen the true face of that great man?"

Zhang Zhongcai shook his head: "No."

Chen Shao continued: "Where are the Zhu family members from Wu County?"

Zhang Zhongcai said, "Master said that they haven't seen it either."

Chan Yi blurted out, "You don't even know what that important person looks like or what his identity is, so how can you be sure that he is an important person and not a liar?"

Zhang Zhongcai defended himself: "He is not a liar, he is the crown prince of the previous dynasty."

"The previous dynasty?" Chan Yi blurted out again, "It's been nearly a hundred years since the previous dynasty fell. Even if the prince of the previous dynasty lived longer, he would have turned into a pile of bones long ago, right?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "He is the great-great-grandson of the previous crown prince."

The more he talked, the more he sounded like a liar. Chan Yi asked in a thorough manner, "How can you be sure that he is the great-great-grandson of the former crown prince and not a fraud?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "He has the imperial seal of the previous emperor, as well as the official and private seals of the previous prince."

"Even if he was the crown prince of the previous dynasty," Chan Yi continued to ask, "but the previous dynasty has been destroyed for almost a hundred years. What did he use to make the Zhu family the most powerful aristocratic family?"

Zhang Zhongcai was stumped by the question.

Chen Shao understood from his blank expression why he was only a steward and not a senior steward. In addition to being too old and inconvenient to do things, his brain was also a problem. He could only do things according to orders and could not think independently. Although his eyes were dim and cloudy, he was not stupid, which showed that he was born like this, not suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He looked at Li Tianliu again, and then at the stewards around him. They were all better at selecting people than the other, and they picked out such a "treasure".

"When you met the former crown prince," since he had figured out his character, Chen Shao asked according to his nature, "Among the people who followed him, were there any people your master knew?"

Zhang Zhongcai nodded: "Yes."

Chen Shao asked: "Who?"

Zhang Zhongcai replied: "The governor of Wu County."

Li Tianliu suddenly raised his eyes and looked at him, "Are you sure?"

The governor of Wu County was Geng Yu. Geng Yu's eldest son Geng Yuanjun married Wu Han, the second daughter of Wu Wenguang, the left imperial attendant. Wu Wenguang's second son Wu Housheng was the right general of the Right Guard of the Duke of Chen's Mansion and had fought with him. When Chen Shao's second brother Chen Yi died in battle, Wu Housheng was one of the few who survived. Later, when he was avenging Chen Yi, Wu Housheng was seriously injured and had not recovered, but he followed him to fight, and killed as many elite soldiers of the enemy as he did.

When the previous dynasty fell, the prince died in a fire in the palace. If he was not dead at the beginning, but just escaped, and was secretly planning to restore the country, and Wujun prefect Geng Yu had secretly colluded with the great-grandson of the previous prince, then did Wu Wenguang and Wu Housheng know about it?

If they knew, when did they know?

Li Tianliu didn't dare to think too deeply about it.

Perhaps it was because his gaze was too dark and cold, Zhang Zhong moved aside in fear, and then he answered carefully: "Yes, it is him. I have seen him many times and I will never make a mistake."

Li Tianliu's face was instantly covered with ice, and he left quickly without even saying hello to Chen Shao. This news was too big, he had to find out the truth!

The nobles and gentry of Hongyuan County began to band together in September of the 15th year of Yuanhe. So at least half a year before that, the relatives of these nobles and gentry had already established contact with the great-great-grandson of the prince of the previous dynasty.

Chen Yi's incident happened in March of the 17th year of Yuanhe.

In other words, even if Wu Wenguang and Wu Housheng were the great-great-grandsons of the previous crown prince known to Geng Yu, they might have participated in the murder of Chen Yi!