Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The Yulin Guards' recruitment of the second and third branches of the Gu family went smoothly.

Chen Shao did not ask to conceal their whereabouts, and the Yulin Guards did not hide their whereabouts either. The Gu family, the Fan family, the Qi family, and others soon got the news.

The Fan family and the Qi family breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that no action would be taken against them.

The Gu family was as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

They never expected Chen Shao to be so despicable.

The people from the second and third branches of the Gu family went to Hongyuan County repeatedly some time ago, indeed to seek asylum, and the first branch of the Gu family did find various reasons to reject them.

The eldest branch of the Gu family certainly did not stand by and watch the Wen family die. Instead, as Chen Shao guessed, after the Wen family was raided, they sent a letter to the Wujun family, informing them of the situation and asking for their support. The Wujun family only replied to them after the Zhu family was raided. The Wujun family also refused to support them.

The reason why the Wujun family refused was simpler. After Chen Shao dealt with Luo Zhengxin and Wu Dong, he sent a letter to the crown prince and Wujun prefect Geng Yu, asking them to send Wu Dong's family to Hongyuan County for trial as soon as possible. Geng Yu did not take Chen Shao's letter seriously at first. After the Gu, Zhu, Fan and Qi families reported everything Chen Shao did in Hongyuan County to their respective families, Geng Yu panicked. When he hurriedly wrote a letter to the great-grandson of the crown prince of the previous dynasty, the crown prince's order also arrived, ordering him to fully cooperate with Chen Shao's work and send Wu Dong's family to Hongyuan County as soon as possible.

Now, no matter what the plan of the great-grandson of the previous prince was, Geng Yu had to follow the order.

Fortunately, the reply from the great-grandson of the former crown prince arrived soon, ordering him not to interfere too much in the affairs of Hongyuan County. In short, it was to let the nobles and gentry of Hongyuan County fend for themselves.

Chen Shao came with such force that no matter how dissatisfied they were, the Gu, Zhu, Fan and Qi families had no choice but to watch him die without helping.

Since the main family "did not help", the eldest branch of the family could do nothing but "did not help".

But the eldest wife could never have imagined that their self-protection measures would be used in this way by Chen Shao!

Furious and angry, the Gu family no longer cared about their reputation and could only go to the Fan and Qi families for help.

"It's not that we don't want to help." It was Master Gu and Master Gu who came to the Fan family to seek help. Before they even explained their purpose, Master Fan sighed, "Since Sixth Young Master Chen has surrendered to your Second and Third Houses, if we leave them alone, we will end up like you sooner or later. The robbers we surrendered were supposed to be divided equally with the Qi family, and now we have to give some to the Second and Third Houses, so there won't be many people left for our First House. If we help you again, it's hard to guarantee that Sixth Young Master Chen won't suddenly turn against us, given her past behavior."

"That being said," Master Gu said with difficulty, "but are you really just going to watch them die without helping? You should know that Young Master Chen Liu's target has never been just the Zhu family, nor just the Gu family, but all the noble families and gentry in our Hongyuan County. After she has dealt with my Gu family today, it will definitely be your Fan family's turn tomorrow."

"None of us wants to end up like the Zhu and Wen families," seeing that the Fan brothers were silent, Master Gu could not hide his anger and said, "If we want to break the impasse, we have to unite and face the outside world together!"

Master Fan and Master Fan II looked at each other, and Master Fan coughed and said, "Brother Gu has a point, but the second and third branches of the Gu family have already accepted the offer of amnesty from Master Chen Liu, and do not need the Gu family's extra care. We and the second and third branches of the Qi family are still like lambs to be slaughtered, without any protection. If the Gu family is willing to move some people to help us protect the second and third branches, then we can help the Gu family overcome the current difficulties."

"You are taking advantage of someone's misfortune!" Master Gu slammed the table and stood up.

Master Gu also looked at Master Fan with anger on his face.

Mr. Fan smiled bitterly: "You don't have to look at me like that. Mr. Chen Liu's actions today are clearly aimed at your Gu family. Your Gu family wants us to help them through the difficulties, but you put us in danger. There is no such a good thing in the world."

Master Gu sneered: "Our Gu family is gone today, and your Fan family will not be able to escape tomorrow!"

Fan Ye said: "If you can't escape, you have to wait until tomorrow."

"Okay, okay, okay!" After saying "ok" three times, Fan Bingbing flicked her sleeves, turned around and left.

Master Gu followed closely behind.

"If you hadn't insisted on teaching Ding Lisheng a lesson, perhaps there wouldn't have been any disaster today." As the two men walked out of the house, Master Fan suddenly spoke.

Master Gu turned around suddenly and stared at him intently: "You have informed Ding Lisheng!"

Mr. Fan regretted his quick words, but his face remained cold and he sneered, "But I just gave you a kind reminder, but it made you so suspicious. Fortunately, I didn't agree to help your Gu family through the difficulties. Otherwise, my Fan family would not even wait until tomorrow, and would be destroyed today!"

Master Gu was still staring at him intently. "I was wondering why Young Master Chen Liu suddenly turned against the Zhu family when he was fine. It turns out you were behind this!"

Master Gu looked at Master Gu Er, then at Master Fan Er, and soon understood what was going on. He could not help but said in shock and fear, "No wonder Master Chen Liu ignored the easy-to-deal-with Fan and Qi families and attacked the Zhu and Gu families. It turns out that your Fan family had already surrendered to Master Chen Liu. What a Fan family!"

"Brother Gu, be careful with your words!" Mr. Fan could no longer sit still. With a cold face, he said solemnly, "My Fan family is loyal to... and heaven and earth can bear witness to this! Just because my Fan family does not have the spare energy to help your Gu family through the difficulties, your Gu family framed you like this. What is your intention?"

"Whether it's a frame-up or not, you know it in your heart!" Master Gu said coldly, and then he took Master Gu Er away. His steps were hurried, as if he was being chased by a dog.

Fan Ye looked at the backs of the two men, clenched his fists, and quickly unclenched them. After doing this several times, he finally suppressed the urge to have someone capture them and surrender to Chen Shao.

After they disappeared, Mr. Fan could not help but speak: "Brother, what's wrong..."

Mr. Fan sighed, "They brought so many people here just to guard against us. This is in the Fan family. If we really start fighting, we can indeed take them down. But they are right. Young Master Chen Liu's target has never been just the Zhu family or the Gu family. Even if we take down the Gu family, it will only delay her opportunity to take action against us."

Mr. Fan's face showed some embarrassment and bitterness, "Are we just going to surrender like this?"

Mr. Fan's eyes were deep. "Even if Mr. Chen Liu dealt with the Gu family today, it is impossible for him to deal with our Fan family tomorrow. Let's see how she deals with the second and third branches of the Gu family first."

Mr. Fan nodded and said nothing more.

After leaving the Fan family, Master Gu and Master Gu Er never went to the Qi family again.

Half an hour later, Master Qi and Master Qi II, who had learned the news, quietly entered the Fan family.

While they were busy discussing ways to protect themselves, the prefectural government.

After accepting the amnesty, the people from the second and third branches of the Gu family seemed to show their determination and all followed the Yulin Guards back to the prefectural government.

The Gu family would be attacked tomorrow, so Chen Shao naturally had no time to interrogate them one by one. After leaving behind Master Gu Si from the second branch of the Gu family and Master Gu Wu from the third branch of the Gu family, Fu Jiu sent the rest of the people to the Juxian Building to settle down.

The Gu brothers are arranged in order of their birth date.

Mr. Gu is eight years older than Mr. Gu Er and nine years older than Mr. Gu San. Therefore, although Mr. Gu Si and Mr. Gu Wu are the eldest sons of the second and third wives, they can only rank fourth and fifth.

Although Fourth Master Gu and Fifth Master Gu accepted the amnesty, they were still very nervous when facing Chen Shao. Chen Shao comforted them a little and then turned to the main topic: "Why did the Gu family travel thousands of miles to Hongyuan County to settle down?"

Fourth Master Gu said awkwardly, "It is said that Old Master Zhu wanted to run away from home after quarreling with his family. The old master of my family has a close relationship with Old Master Zhu, so he came to Hongyuan County with him."

It was similar to Zhang Zhongcai's answer. Chen Shao asked a few more questions, and after the answers were almost the same, he asked the key question: "Has the Gu family been sending food to the Wujun family every year since they came to Hongyuan County, or did they only start in recent years?"

Fourth Master Gu answered honestly, "It only started in the last five or six years."

Chen Shao interrogated: "What is the exact time?"

Master Gu Si calculated silently for a moment and replied, "It should be November of the sixteenth year of Yuanhe."

Chen Shao looked at Master Gu Wu.

Master Gu Wu quickly replied, "It was November of the sixteenth year of Yuanhe."

Chen Shao asked: "Why do you want to transport grain to your family?"

Master Gu Wu said, "The grain price in Jiangnan is higher. We can sell it for more money if we transport it there."

Chen Shao looked at Gu Siye, who also gave the same answer. After thinking for a while, Chen Shao did not ask why the grain was not transported to Jiangnan to sell in the early years, but continued to ask: "Did you know that the Gu and Zhu family caravans were secretly trading green jade with several generals of the Shan Kingdom?"

The expressions of Fourth Master Gu and Fifth Master Gu changed instantly.

This means knowing. Chen Shao did not give them a chance to explain, and asked directly: "Why did the Gu family buy so much green jade?"

Gu Siye stammered, "To make money."

"To make money..." Chen Shao saw that they didn't seem to be lying, so he asked, "So you guys didn't know that the eldest branch of the Gu family had joined the great-grandson of the former crown prince and was planning a rebellion?"

Fourth Master Gu and Fifth Master Gu's faces turned pale. They knelt on the ground in panic, trembling, and could not utter a complete sentence for a long time.

Chen Shao did not let them get up. He handed the Zhu family's hereditary edicts to Chan Yi and asked her to show them. Then, looking at the two people who were scared into a puddle of mud, he said calmly, "Such a big thing, Master Gu and Master Gu really didn't tell you?"

The two men kowtowed repeatedly in horror.

"Kowtow won't solve any problems," Chen Shao said calmly after letting the two kowtow for a long while, "Since you all say you don't know, then prove it to me. Go back and pick as many as you can, and be sure to pick capable men you trust, and follow me to the Gu family to capture the rebels tomorrow!"

The two of them responded with yes and went away supporting each other.

Watching the two men walking away, Chen Shao instructed Li Tianliu again: "The Ding and Ren families have already escorted the people from the Wen and Zhu manors back, right? Arrange for someone to pick out two or three hundred smart and capable people from among them, and have them act with us tomorrow!"