Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"The Zhu family has a hereditary imperial edict that allows for one third-rank official, two fourth-rank officials, and three fifth-rank officials, but the Wen family only has two fifth-rank officials, and they are both fifth-rank civil servants," Li Tianliu took the imperial edict back. Chan Yi, who was standing beside Chen Shao, looked over and said in confusion, "This gap is really huge. Is the Wen family willing to do this?"

The Wen family only has one volume of imperial edicts.

The handwriting on the edict is still very similar to Chen Shao's in terms of pen structure and pen strokes.

Chen Shao looked away from the imperial edict and looked at Li Tianliu: "Have you asked the managers of the Wen family?"

"I didn't ask those managers, but I did ask Wen Zhongtian." Li Tianliu said seriously, "Wen Zhongtian doesn't believe that the Zhu family has a hereditary imperial edict for a third-rank official and two fourth-rank officials. According to him, the Zhu family has at most one more hereditary imperial edict for a fifth-rank civil official than the Wen family."

Chan Yi asked, "Didn't you show him the scrolls of the Zhu family's hereditary edicts?"

Li Tianliu glanced at her and ignored her. He continued to talk to Chen Shao, "I called the steward beside Master Zhu to confront him. Wen Zhongtian still didn't believe it, but he still confessed many things he had never said before. As for the matter of recruiting the robbers, according to him, it's not that the robbers didn't accept their recruitment, but that the governor of Shu County didn't allow them to do so."

Chen Shao asked: "Why?"

Li Tianliu said: "The governor of Shu County said that we should not be too ostentatious, so as not to arouse suspicion from others and fail. However, the Wen family and the Ren family's own understanding is that the imperial edict given to them by the great-great-grandson of the former crown prince is a hereditary fifth-rank civil servant. Since they are civil servants, it is indeed a bit presumptuous to recruit robbers."

Whether it was the statement of the Shu County governor or their own understanding, it was hard to convince them. The plan to deal with the Gu family had already been arranged, and Chen Shao could not make trouble at this critical moment. After thinking about it carefully for a while, he could not figure out the reason, so he simply asked: "What about the jade in the Wen family's small storehouse? Where did they come from and what are they used for?"

"It's similar to the Zhu family. They bought them from Changming City, Kunlun Town and other border towns bordering Shan State. The caravans of Fenglong Trading Company bought them from the stewards under several generals of Shan State." Li Tianliu said solemnly, "After buying them, they will be transferred to the Shu County family, and then transferred to the Shu County governor together with the Shu County family. The Shu County governor will then hand them over to the steward sent by the prince's party of the previous dynasty."

"That is to say," Chen Shao concluded, "Wen Zhongtian also doesn't know what the great-great-grandson of the former crown prince wants Qingyu for?"

Li Tianliu nodded.

Chen Shao looked at the imperial edict in his hand and frowned, "No."

Chan Yi and Quan Shu Yu also looked at the imperial edict with her, but did not see anything wrong.

Fu Jiu stood behind them, also on tiptoe, stretching her neck, looking over their heads at the imperial edict, but she also couldn't see anything wrong.

Only Li Tianliu stood still like a mountain, looking straight at Chen Shao, waiting for her to say what was wrong.

Chen Shao handed the imperial edict to Chan Yi and said slowly, "It's not the imperial edict that's wrong, but the Wen family. Although the grain in the Wen family's granary is less than that of the Zhu family, like the Zhu family, every granary is full. Every year before the new grain comes out, the old grain will be transported to the family. The same is true for grain and Qingyu. They all work for the prince party of the previous dynasty, but the treatment is very different. If the Wen family doesn't know, then what about the Wen family? What about the governor of Shu County?"

Chen Shao knocked on the table twice, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then continued: "You know, whether in terms of economic development or strength, Shu County is no worse than Wu County. If you say that the Wen family is not as good as the Zhu family, it's fine, but the Wen family is no worse than the Zhu family. Since the princelings of the previous dynasty want to restore the country, there is no reason to do such a "favoritism". Even if some of the princelings of the previous dynasty are short-sighted and really do "favoritism", the governor of Shu County will not agree. If the princelings of the previous dynasty succeed in restoring the country, when it comes to rewarding merits, people like the governors of Wu County and Shu County will inevitably hold high positions. And after they hold high positions, whether they can suppress others depends on their own strength. Where does their own strength come from?

"They are nothing more than the noble families and gentry who responded to them before. The governor of Wu County was able to secure one third-rank, two fourth-rank, and three fifth-rank hereditary high officials for the Zhu family, while the governor of Shu County could only secure two fifth-rank civil officials. Now that they are far apart, they can hide it, but in the future, when it comes to rewarding meritorious service, it will certainly not be possible to hide it. How can the Wen family support him again?"

"And the most crucial point," Chen Shao raised his eyes, "Hongyuan County and Shu County both belong to Jiannan Road, but the Gu, Zhu, Fan, and Qi families' main homes are far away in Jiangnan Road. There's no reason to favor one over the other, or to give up the near and seek the far."

Li Tianliu stood up quickly: "I will interrogate the steward of the Wen family again!"

"Wait a minute." Chen Shao stopped him, "This problem should not be caused by the Wen family, but more likely by the Wen family in Shu County. Jiangnan Road is not a short distance from Jiannan Road, especially from Wu County to Hongyuan County. Why did the Gu family, Zhu family, Fan family and Qi family in Jiangnan Road arrange people to come to Hongyuan County from a long distance? I think about it, maybe there is only one answer, that is, their people are not only stationed in Hongyuan County. If this guess is true, then the Wen family is very likely to divide the benefits obtained, and the Hongyuan County Wen family did not get the good part, or the Wen family pays more attention to other counties. When you go to interrogate the steward of the Wen family again, remember to focus on this part."

Li Tianliu left.

Chen Shao looked at his back, thought for a moment, then turned back to Quan Shuyu and said, "You don't have to go to the Wen family tomorrow. I have more important things for you to do."

The whole book is good.

It's getting late.

Chen Shao did not wait for Li Tianliu.

After waking up and having breakfast, Chen Shao arranged for Quan Shuyu to ask Zhang Ruyuan and others to copy the evidence of the Gu family. Then she entered the study and found Li Tianliu was already waiting for her.

Seeing her come in, Li Tianliu handed her the paper and said quickly, "You guessed it right. The Wen family has planted people in most of the counties in Jiannan Road. As for whether the good part of the benefits were given to others, Wen Zhongtian and the Wen family manager are not sure. But Wen Zhongtian said that if the Wen family really gave the good part of the benefits to others, it must have been given to the Wen family in Nanxi County and Yunnan County. The Wen family members in these two counties are all direct descendants of the Wen family."

Chen Shao listened to his words while looking at the paper in his hand.

There were two pieces of paper. The first one recorded nineteen county names. Although Li Tianliu did not explain, Chen Shao had already deduced from his words that these county names were the places where the Wen family had placed members of the Wen family.

Among the thirty-five counties in Jiannan Road, the Wen family was stationed in nineteen of them.

The second one only recorded six county names, covering all the county towns from Yunnan County, Nanxi County to Hong County bordering the Shan State. It should be the place where the Zhu family lived.

Putting the two pieces of paper into the drawer where the hereditary edict was placed, Chen Shao said, "Put this matter aside for now, and wait until the Gu family is resolved."

Li Tianliu also knew that things had their priorities. "I asked Liu Deming's father to be the one to encourage the people to support the event. Please see if he is suitable. If not, I will find someone else."

Chen Shao nodded: "Let's choose him."

"Is there anything else?" Li Tianliu asked again, "If not, I will go and see how they are trying to recruit the second and third branches of the Gu family."

"Go ahead." Chen Shao said confidently, "We'll talk about other things when you come back in the evening."

Li Tianliu said "OK" and turned to leave.

Chan Yi looked at his back and said with a sigh, "I don't know if the sun rose from the west today, which made him so good-tempered."

Chen Shao smiled and said nothing.