Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao took out the secret letter he had thrown to her before and pushed it in front of him: "After reading this letter, what do you think, or do you have anything to say?"

Li Tianliu had a gloomy face and sneered repeatedly: "What do you want me to feel, or say?"

Chen Shao's face was filled with sternness: "I hope you can calm down!"

"You want me to..."

"Li Tianliu!"

Chen Shao's cold eyes finally made Li Tianliu calm down. He grabbed the secret letter, shook out the letter paper, and read it through. He said in a sarcastic tone: "Isn't it just a lack of food? The Wen family and the Zhu family have so much food stored in their warehouses. Arrange people to deliver it, and it will be solved. If it's not enough, don't we still have to deal with the Gu family, the Fan family, the Qi family and the like?"

Chen Shao looked at him sharply: "The national treasury has long been empty, and the emperor issued orders to collect grain from various counties three years ago. Why are the warehouses of the Wen and Zhu families still so full?"

Li Tianliu sneered disapprovingly: "Why not? Isn't it just to prepare for rebellion?"

Chen Shao pressed on, "If you want to rebel, you have to raise troops. Where will the troops come from?"

"Of course it's from..." Li Tianliu was halfway through his words when he suddenly got stuck. The light in his eyes suddenly changed from carelessness to turbulence. He slowly turned his head, looked into her calm and self-controlled eyes, and asked word by word, "Are you talking about those robbers?"

"Whether it was those robbers, I can't confirm it for now." Seeing that he finally calmed down, Chen Shao briefly repeated what he asked Ding Lisheng. After that, he immediately said: "Under what circumstances, the robbers only accepted the amnesty of the Gu family, the Zhu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family, but not the amnesty of the Ren family, the Wen family, and others? In addition, the Gu family, the Zhu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family transported grain to Jiangnan every year. So where did the grain transported to Jiangnan go?"

After throwing two questions in a row, Chen Shao did not give him time to think, and continued: "Assign other people to recruit the second and third branches of the Gu family. Go and interrogate the steward of the Wen family first. I want to see if the reason why the Ren and Wen families could not pacify the robbers is because they did not get the hereditary edict."

Li Tianliu suppressed his anger and said, "How brave they are!"

Chen Shao said calmly: "How can you rebel if you don't have much courage?"

Li Tianliu snorted coldly: "Since you know they have bad intentions, why do you let them join the Chen family army?"

"There are three reasons," Chen Shao said calmly, "One is rebellion; two is that food will not reach the border on its own; three is that after so many years of fighting, the country's strength has gradually weakened, and the supply of soldiers and food has become increasingly insufficient. Recruiting them can just make up for this shortage, and also allow the veterans who have been fighting for many years to breathe a sigh of relief."

Li Tianliu resisted instinctively: "Aren't you afraid that you might fail to incite rebellion and instead invite a wolf into your house?"

"Don't be afraid." Chen Shao said simply, "When the previous dynasty fell, the ministers who were loyal to the previous dynasty were basically all dead. Those who were not dead were probably almost wiped out. Although the prince of the previous dynasty did not die in the sea of ​​fire, after so many years, the restoration activities are still being planned, which is enough to prove that there are no useful people around him. Their power may be considerable at the moment, but it is not easy to have a million soldiers. If their soldiers are taken from robbers from all over the country, then why would these robbers be loyal to them? It's nothing more than for money, power, or fame. I give them the opportunity to gain wealth, power, and fame in a fair and just manner. What reason do they have to refuse?"

Chen Shao raised his lips slightly and laughed twice, then continued: "Besides, most of the robbers probably don't know anything about the former crown prince. They just wholeheartedly support the 'capable' robber leader because they can enjoy the good life. By letting them join the Chen family army, we can also screen out which 'capable' robber leaders are."

Li Tianliu agreed with her in his heart, but deliberately didn't show it on his face: "Continue with what you just said."

Chen Shao said: "It's nothing. Just arrange for someone to find a few trustworthy people. After you finish shouting, let them encourage other people to denounce the Gu family together and try to psychologically disintegrate those ordinary robbers."

Li Tianliu glanced at her, stood up and said, "You have done everything to benefit the people before, and you have been waiting for this day."

Chen Shao said calmly: "My efforts to benefit them have never been empty talk. Why can't I use their momentum to eliminate violence and protect the good people?"

Li Tianliu questioned: "Didn't you plan this all along?"

Chen Shao shrugged noncommittally. Even if she had planned this all along, so what? Her plan was based on eradicating evil for them. The more effort they put in, the more they would cherish their good days in the future and the more they would support Datong. In return, the faster they would be able to eliminate the princelings of the previous dynasty, calm the border war, and restore peace to Datong.

Li Tianliu did not ask any more questions and quickly got back to the point: "We don't need anyone from the Ren or Ding family this time?"

"Yes." Chen Shao tapped the desk twice. "To avoid leaks, we can arrange for them tomorrow night."

Li Tianliu nodded and went out to make arrangements.

Chen Shao followed him out of the study and stood under the eaves, watching the Yulin Guards who were leaving under his arrangement. His eyes involuntarily fell in the direction where the woman in white had appeared earlier.

Fu Jiu looked in the same direction as her: "Should we go and invite the two Miss Zhangs over now?"

"No need." Chen Shao arranged, "Go and tell Ding Lisheng and Ren Shoukang that you can bring back the people from the second and third branches of the Gu family."

Fu Jiu went obediently.

Chen Shao looked at his back and secretly calculated the steps to deal with the Gu family. After making sure that there were no omissions, he returned to the study to take out the evidence of the Gu family's evil deeds, wondering if he could use it.

She pondered over this until dark. When Chan Yi and Quan Shu Yu came back from the Wen family, she still had the evidence against the Gu family in her hand.

Chan Yi and Quan Shu Yu entered the study room chatting and laughing.

Chen Shao raised her eyes slightly and looked at the two of them. The moment she saw Quan Shuyu, an idea suddenly occurred to her mind: "Did those students also come back with you?"

Chan Yi nodded: "He went back to Qingfeng Courtyard. Is there something the young master wants to talk to them about?"

Chen Shao took a look at the sky outside, put down the evidence, and was about to say that he would talk about it tomorrow, when Li Tianliu strode in and said, "The trial is over. The Wen family also has two hereditary imperial edicts for fifth-rank civil officials!"

Chen Shao stood up in surprise: "Also in the small warehouse?"

Li Tianliu said "hmm" and asked her: "Do you want to pick it up now or tomorrow?"

Chen Shao took another look at the sky outside and said decisively, "Go get it tomorrow, or you can find a way to get it back quietly. They have sent people to secretly watch our every move. Since we have decided to take action the day after tomorrow, let's not make things complicated."

Li Tianliu also said decisively: "Then I'll go get it."

Chen Shao responded and reminded: "Be careful."

Li Tianliu said nothing, turned around and blended into the night.