Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

During the two years she followed Chen Zhao, she had so much to learn. Datong was a large country with more than 300 county towns and thousands of county towns. The chiefs of each county were all temporary officials, so she couldn't remember them all, and Chen Zhao didn't ask her to remember them. In Chen Zhao's words, after she came out to investigate a case, many people came forward to introduce her to other cases.

She didn't even know who the governor of Wu County was, let alone such a complicated relationship with the relatives.

"You don't know?" Li Tianliu looked at her questioningly.

Chen Shao said calmly: "Know what?"

Li Tianliu looked at her intently: "Geng Yu and Wu Wenguang are related by marriage."

Chen Shao calmly asked back: "I should know?"

Li Tianliu said affirmatively: "Of course! You must know how your second brother died and what the circumstances were when he died. Since you know that, it is impossible for you not to know Wu Housheng, and if you know Wu Housheng, it is impossible for you not to know Wu Wenguang, and if you know Wu Wenguang, it is impossible for you not to know Geng Yu!"

Chen Shao raised his eyebrows, "I just don't know, so what?"

Li Tianliu was almost mad with anger, but soon he calmed down. He naturally didn't believe that she didn't know, but just pretended not to know to irritate him. He suppressed his anger and continued to say stiffly: "I have sent a letter to the border to ask them to secretly investigate Wu Housheng. If your second brother's death is really related to him, I will make him live a life worse than death!"

Chen Shao ordered Chan Yi: "You should also send those jade objects back to the capital immediately. Also, send a letter about the affairs of the prince's party in the previous dynasty."

After Chan Yi left, Li Tianliu couldn't help but snorted coldly: "Can you tell me now?"

Chen Shao was suspicious: "What?"

Li Tianliu's anger, which he had just suppressed, burst out again with a bang, "Tell me what on earth you are doing in Hongyuan County!"

Chen Shao admired his angry look for a moment, then said slowly, "I came to Hongyuan County to investigate the case."

Li Tianliu's face suddenly darkened, and his hands clenched into fists in an instant, with his knuckles cracking uncontrollably.

Fu Jiu rushed over like lightning, stood between him and Chen Shao, and stared at him warily.

Li Tianliu said angrily: "If you don't tell the truth..."

Chen Shao added fuel to the fire: "Why, you still dare to hit me?"

Li Tianliu sneered: "Do you really think I don't dare?"

Chen Shao sighed deeply: "It is said that my second brother has saved you many times. Look, you didn't learn a lesson on the battlefield. You are just ungrateful. Why don't you dare?"

After deliberately making a few sarcastic remarks to him, and seeing that his body was getting more and more tense and his face was getting darker and darker, Chen Shao curled his lips and said, "Whether you believe it or not, I came to Hongyuan County to investigate a case. Everyone says that the various setbacks and accidents encountered by the Duke of Chen's Mansion in recent years are some kind of destiny or curse, but I never believe in these. Facts have proved that I seem to be right. However, I did pick Hongyuan County at random, but I didn't expect to be so lucky that I accidentally found so many things. If there is really a destiny, it seems that my Duke of Chen's Mansion is not doomed yet."

"So you have always known that your second brother's death was not an accident?" Li Tianliu's anger dissipated like quicksand, and an emotion called regret surged up again.

After Chen Shao signaled Fu Jiu to move aside, he said calmly, "When my second brother got into trouble, you were in the army. Shouldn't you know more about this than me?"

Li Tianliu looked as if he had been stabbed in the heart, and his face looked extremely ugly.

After her second brother got into trouble, he only thought about how to get revenge. After killing the enemy elite soldiers who caused her second brother's death, he carried the coffin back to the capital and never thought about what happened on the day of the accident. It's not that he is ungrateful, but he simply doesn't dare to think about it. Every time he thinks about it, he hates himself for not getting up early that day!

The person who was explaining the art of war to him the night before turned into a corpse who could never speak again the next morning!

Clearly, after listening to his military strategy lecture the night before, he had made up his mind to fight him the next day, but before going to bed, he drank the wine that Wu Housheng sent him!

Li Tianliu stood up suddenly, the murderous intent in his eyes was even stronger than when he first heard that her second brother was in trouble.

He remembered, he remembered it all!

In addition to the Chen family army, the Duke of Chen's Mansion also commanded the left and right Weiwei. The left and right Weiwei consisted of three guards, five mansions, and fifty Zhechong mansions. The five mansions had a total of ten left and right Langjiang. Among the ten left and right Langjiang, the most outstanding and the one most valued by her second brother was Wu Housheng. But on the day when her second brother got into trouble, the Xun Er Mansion was supposed to go to battle. But the night before, Wu Housheng, under the pretext of wishing Xun Er Mansion a victory in advance, dragged the Zhonglang Jiang, the left and right Langjiang, and the Bingcao Canjun of Xun Er Mansion to his tent to drink.

He didn't have a big alcohol tolerance, but he was not bad either. He only drank two pots of wine that night and was drunk and unconscious.

The same applies to the General of the Central Army, the General of the Left and the General of the Right Army, and the Assistant Military Officer of the Second Xun Mansion.

We had to go into battle before dawn the next day.

The commanders of the Xun Er Mansion were all drunk and unconscious, so naturally they could not fight anymore. It was Wu Housheng and other commanders of the Qin Mansion who volunteered to fight in their place.

In that battle, only seven of the 1,000 soldiers from Xun Er Mansion survived.

Although the General of the Central Army, the Left General and the Right General who replaced the Commander of Xun Er Mansion were all seriously injured, they all survived.

Although the commanders of the Xun Er Mansion were dismissed and punished afterwards, they were all grateful to Wu Housheng and others. Even he thought that the commanders of the Xun Er Mansion were lucky. But now that he thinks about it, although Wu Housheng and others were seriously injured, none of them were fatal! Later, when he was planning to kill the elite soldiers of the enemy country, Wu Housheng's injury was not healed yet, but he took the initiative to ask to go with him to kill the enemy. When he was killing the enemy, he seemed to be crazy and more fierce than him, but thinking back carefully, his madness and fierceness were not because of his guilty conscience!

One after another, insignificant details flashed through Li Tianliu's mind like floating lights, and eventually formed the truth that her second brother was killed by his own people!

"I think," Chen Shao said slowly when his murderous intent was about to get out of control, "you should tell the Chen family army what Zhang Zhongcai said today. If Wu Housheng has defected to the princelings of the previous dynasty, the fact that he was able to plot to kill my second brother is enough to prove that he has considerable influence in the army."

Li Tianliu looked at her suddenly, "Don't worry about Hongyuan County, let's go to the army immediately!"

Chen Shao dodged his grabbing hand and said, "I can't go to the army, and neither can you. Even my second brother and his men didn't realize that Wu Housheng had any rebellious intentions, which shows how deeply they are hiding. If we go there rashly, we will only alert the enemy and make them hide even deeper and more secretly!"

"No!" Li Tianliu said forcefully, "I don't care whether it will alert the enemy or not. He is now a General of the Central Army. The General of the Central Army who survived with him is now a general of the Right Guard. If your second brother was really killed by them, then their target is the Chen family army! You are the sixth son of the Duke of Chen's Mansion, you must be responsible for the Chen family army!"

Fu Jiu stopped him from grabbing Chen Shao's hand again.

Chen Shao said calmly, "It is precisely because I am the sixth son of the Duke of Chen's mansion and must be responsible for the Chen family army that I cannot go to the army at this moment. The former Lieutenant General of the Imperial Guards is now the General of the Right Guards, and Wu Housheng has also become a Lieutenant General. What does this mean? It means that their power in the army has been growing. If we rashly go to the army, let alone without solid evidence, even if there is, we can only expose a few people. What about those spies who are hiding in the dark and have not yet revealed their identities?"

"With external enemies at hand, do you want the Chen family army to stop and focus on catching the internal thieves? Are the Chen family army willing, and are the external enemies willing?"

Li Tianliu is not a stupid man. It's not that he didn't think about these things. He just couldn't control his temper when he thought about the death of her second brother.

Chen Shao naturally knew his feelings towards her second brother and the Duke of Chen's Mansion, so she patiently and carefully presented the facts and reasoned with him. Seeing that he had finally regained some of his rationality, she could not help but continue: "You also heard what Zhang Zhongcai said. Geng Yu became the prefect by relying on his support for the prince's party of the previous dynasty. Wu County is a high-ranking county, and the prefect is a high-ranking official of the third rank. What kind of status he must have in the court to allow him to sit in this position, I don't need to say more.

"There are also the Ren and Wen families. They did not rely on Geng Yu to join the princeling party of the previous dynasty. Although Zhang Zhongcai is not sure whether they rely on the governor of Shu County, it is almost certain. The reasons for the Zhu, Gu, Fan and Qi families to take root in Hongyuan County are no longer tenable. The Ren and Wen families also arranged people to come to Hongyuan County. Why?

"Even if the reason they came here in large numbers is not because of the former princelings, there must be other unspeakable secrets behind it."

With a sigh, Chen Shao said calmly: "We have just arrived in Hongyuan County, and the facts we know are already like this. Then, what will the situation be like in the whole of Datong? To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the internal affairs. If the court is unstable, how can we stabilize the morale of the army?"

Li Tianliu sat back with an expressionless face. After drinking two cups of warm tea, he finally calmed down. “So all the accidents that Duke Chen’s Mansion encountered in recent years were caused by the princelings of the previous dynasty!”

"Whether it is true or not, it is just Zhang Zhongcai's opinion at the moment," Chen Shao said impartially, "Before we find out the truth, none of us can guarantee whether the former crown prince is really alive, or whether they are using the former crown prince's name to pervert the situation. So you have to interrogate the other managers of the Zhu family one by one, thoroughly and carefully."

Li Tianliu said in a firm voice: "Don't worry, I will make them explain themselves!"

Chen Shao said 'hmm' and reminded: "Even if we find any clues during the investigation, don't make it public. The most important thing for us right now is to stabilize the situation. We must not lose our composure, whether in the court or at the border."

The treasury is empty and there are constant wars on the border. If a war really breaks out, they will be the only ones who suffer.

Li Tianliu looked at her and said persistently: "So you came to Hongyuan County to find out the 'accidents' in Chen Guogong Mansion!"

Chen Shao said with a smile: "Is there any difference?"

Li Tianliu did not answer, but asked: "What are you going to do next?"

Chen Shao looked towards the courtyard. The sun was slowly moving westward, but the heat was getting higher and higher. "Next, we will still focus on the cases in those gardens. Once the cases are solved, the grain we found can be sent to the border."

"That's fine." Li Tianliu said sarcastically, "Small Hongyuan County has stored so much food, and I wonder how much more Wu County and Shu County have stored!"

"That's exactly what I wanted to remind you of," Chen Shao's gentle voice contained a hint of murderous intent, "A small county like Hongyuan has stored so much food. It's obvious that the other party is the prince's party of the previous dynasty, and their ambitions are not small. The enemy is in the dark, and we are in the light. If we want to deal with them, we can only take it step by step."

Li Tianliu glanced at her and said, "That's why you use the investigation as a cover."

Really... too persistent. Chen Shao shook his head helplessly and said, "This is the best cover, isn't it?"

Li Tianliu did not refute her again, he stood up and said: "Didn't you say you were going to Luoyanju?"

"Yes, we still have to go to Luoyanju." Chen Shao put down his teacup and stood up. "Let's go to Luoyanju first, then go to the big pit and mass grave outside the city, and finally go to the land where the bodies are buried."

Seeing that Li Tianliu had completely recovered, Fu Jiu drove the carriage away without any worries. Li Tianliu lagged behind Chen Shao and followed her out, saying, "Who are you going to deal with next?"

"Let's wait a few days and see what happens to the Gu family," Chen Shao thought. "If they know what's good for them, then we'll deal with the Qi family next. If they don't, then we'll deal with them next."

At this point, she subconsciously ordered: "We have to ask Mr. Luo to go to the dock and continue to keep an eye on the two cargo companies. If there is any unusual movement, you must inform me immediately."

After she finished speaking, she suddenly realized: "Master Luo...are you okay?"

"Not very good." After sending away the jade artifact and the letter, Chan Yi, who followed closely, answered, "He used to live desperately for revenge and to rescue his daughter. Now the Zhu family is gone, but his daughter has recognized the thief as her father and blamed him for ruining the Zhu family. Since he was sent back by Fu Jiu yesterday, he has been lying in bed without drinking a drop of water or eating a grain of rice, and he won't answer any questions."

Chen Shao asked: "Where is he?"

Chan Yi glanced towards Qingfeng Courtyard and said, "It's in the west wing over there."

After leaving Chengfeng Courtyard and asking Fu Jiu to wait for a while, Chen Shao turned and went to the west wing of Qingfeng Courtyard.

The west wing is very hot.

Luo Ye lay flat on his back on the bed, staring blankly at the beams. His clothes had been soaked in the rain the previous night, and after a night and a morning of fermentation, he could smell the sour odor from five steps away.

Chen Shao stopped six steps away.

Looking at his hair that had turned almost silver overnight and his chapped lips, Chen Shao asked calmly, "Are you planning to just lie there and slowly starve yourself to death?"

Mr. Luo did not respond, and did not even blink.

Chen Shao said indifferently: "The Zhu family is gone. Although your daughter recognized the thief as her father, she is from the Zhu family after all. No matter how you look at it, your revenge has been avenged. Even if you want to die, you have no regrets. But what about those boys and girls who were sold to the Zhu family, Gu family, Fan family, Qi family, Ren family, Wen family, Ding family, Hu family, etc.? They are your pawns for revenge, but they also died tragically because of you! When you feel heartbroken about your wife and daughter, have you ever thought that they are also living lives?"

Mr. Luo's eyes moved.

"If you want to die, I won't stop you." Chen Shao said coldly, "But before you die, you must apologize to them!"

Mr. Luo opened his mouth, but his throat was so dry that he could hardly make a sound: "What do you want me to do, sir?"