Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Of the fourteen noble families, nine surrendered to the princelings of the previous dynasty. It was known that the princelings of the previous dynasty had been planning for nearly a hundred years and their strength should not be underestimated, but when the facts were revealed, Chen Shao's heart was still covered with a layer of ice.

Chen Shao forced himself to cheer up and asked sternly, "When did the Gu family, the Zhu family, and your two families submit to the princeling party of the previous dynasty?"

Since he had even confessed to stealing the royal tomb, there was nothing left to hide. Master Fan answered honestly, "In June of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe."

Chen Shao asked, "Mrs. Zhu's birthday?"

Mr. Fan nodded in agreement.

Chen Shao asked: "What about your families? When did they surrender to the princeling party of the previous dynasty?"

Master Fan also had a grudge against the Yuhang County family for standing idly by. When they were coaxed into submitting to the great-great-grandson of the previous crown prince and working for him, they had said all sorts of things. Now that they were in trouble and asked for help, he shirked the responsibility of not implicated the great-great-grandson of the previous crown prince and asked them to solve their own problems. Well, they had no way out, but they couldn't stay out of it! Because of Chen Shao's attitude of not taking any soft or hard words, Master Fan's original resentment instantly surged up like a flood. He no longer cared about the consequences and blurted out, "They had already submitted!"

Chen Shao interrogated: "How long ago was it?"

"I don't know exactly when," he said, then he remembered that she didn't want to hear this, and Master Fan quickly changed his words, "Anyway, when we surrendered, the former crown prince's great-grandson asked them to give us those volumes of hereditary edicts. Ha, I was so overwhelmed at the time that I didn't have time to investigate further. Now that I think about it carefully, they were clearly unwilling to give us those volumes of hereditary edicts!"

Chen Shao got to the bottom of it and asked, "Who are they?"

Master Fan snorted, "The eldest son of the family."

Chen Shaoyang raised his eyebrows, "Do the second and third houses on your side know that you have surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty?"

Master Fan said expressionlessly, "The great-grandson of the previous crown prince said that before something is done, it is not appropriate to let too many people know about it, so as to avoid leaks, so he didn't let us tell them."

"Since the Second and Third Houses were unaware of your families' submission to the great-great-grandson of the previous crown prince," Chen Shao asked slowly, "then can we also say that only the eldest house knew about your families' submission to the previous crown prince's party, and the Second, Third, Fourth Houses, or the side branches were not aware?"

Master Fan gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."

Some things really cannot be thought about too deeply. Take this matter for example. When they got those volumes of hereditary edicts from the eldest branch of the family and learned that the other branches were unaware of it, they were particularly pleased, thinking that they had finally washed away the shame of being expelled from the family and could be proud of themselves. It was with this mentality that they worked extra hard and strived for perfection whenever they served the great-great-grandson of the former crown prince. Now looking back, they were sold out by the eldest branch of the family and are still counting money for them. There is no one more stupid than them in the world!

Mr. Qi obviously thought of this as well, and his expression was even uglier than when he was ridiculed by Chen Shao before.

Of course Chen Shao ignored their complicated emotions because that was her purpose.

It is true that the questions she asked Mr. Fan were to extract more clues, but at the same time, it was also to tear off their gorgeous disguise of surrendering to the princeling party of the previous dynasty and expose the fact that they were being used and calculated. She wanted them to recognize the facts and extract more clues from them!

"Since these volumes of hereditary imperial edicts of yours came from the eldest branch of your family, does that mean that the eldest branch of your family is holding more hereditary imperial edicts?" Chen Shao asked, adding fuel to the fire.

Mr. Fan and Mr. Qi's faces instantly turned as cold as ink.

Chen Shao pretended not to notice and continued to add fuel to the fire: "None of you have seen the appearance of the great-great-grandson of the former crown prince. What about the eldest branch of the family? Are you sure they haven't seen it either? Also, are you sure your fathers were expelled because of stealing the Xinping King's Tomb? The clues of stealing the Xinping King's Tomb were provided to your father by the Wei and Jian families, so were they expelled from the family? And the people from the Yang, Dongguan, Hu, Yan, and Ji families who also stole the Xinping King's Tomb, were they also expelled from the family?"

Mr. Fan squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "No!"

Chen Shao pressed, “Nothing?”

Master Fan continued to speak through his teeth: "They have not been expelled from the family!"

Chen Shao pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Why?"

"Why?" Master Fan gnashed his teeth and said, "They are all from the eldest son's family!"

"Because you are not from the eldest branch of the family, you were expelled from the family. This means..." Chen Shao looked at him meaningfully, then looked at Master Qi, "Are your relatives afraid that the princelings of the previous dynasty will know that you stole the Xinping King's Tomb and seize their interests?"

Mr. Fan was furious, and Mr. Qi's eyes were bloodshot.

"It seems that your families have already submitted to the former prince's party at least sixty-seven years ago," Chen Shao said nonchalantly. "For such a long time, they can be considered the confidants of the former prince's party, or even core members, right? Then, it is impossible that they have not seen the great-great-grandson of the former prince."

Listening to their increasingly heavy breathing, Chen Shao curled his lips and changed the subject, "Except for your nine families, the remaining fourteen noble families, such as the Cen family, the Chu family, the Sheng family, the Weng family, and the Ji family, as far as I know, are also large families that have been passed down for decades. Why didn't the princelings of the previous dynasty, or your nine families, win over them?"

Mr. Fan was about to say, "Who made them so pedantic and stubborn?" But when the words came to his lips, he suddenly remembered that he had been fooled around, and quickly changed his words, "I tried to win them over, but they didn't listen."

Master Qi added with a cold face: "They are all families of scholars, and most of their sons are very ambitious. Many of them have passed the imperial examinations, and many of them are officials in the court."

Although he already had the answer in his mind, Chen Shao still asked further: "Do they know that you are the princelings of the previous dynasty who have surrendered?"

Master Fan answered almost knowingly, "Before they gained Master Huangfu's trust, they were all acting under the banner of joining the General of the Auxiliary State and supporting Prince Guangling in his fight for the throne."

Li Tianliu sneered: "You are using their name, do they know?"

The General of the State is upright and upright, with a strict military style, and is the leader of the conservative faction in the court. The Prince of Guangling and the Crown Prince are brothers from the same mother, and their relationship can be described as "honey and oil". It is impossible for them to compete for the throne. It is self-evident what the former Crown Prince Party used them as a banner!

Mr. Fan did not answer him.

Chen Shao glanced at the imperial edict on the coffee table, then looked at Master Fan and Master Qi: "They are unwilling to submit to the princeling party of the previous dynasty. Have they been excluded or targeted?"

Mr. Fan still didn't speak.

Chen Shao looked at Master Qi, but Master Qi didn't say anything.

It seems there is.

Chen Shao changed the subject again: "Did the Wen family, Ren family, Ding family, Hu family, Zhao family, and Zhou family also join the princeling party of the previous dynasty?"

"Except for the Wen family and the Ding family, the other families don't have it." Master Fan finally spoke, "Ding Lisheng is too greedy, and the other families are not big enough."

Chen Shao asked: "If not, then why would Ding Lisheng serve you so faithfully?"

Master Fan's eyes flashed with disdain: "We told him that we would join the general and support Prince Guangling in his fight for the throne. He wants to be a follower of the emperor, so he has to serve us."

This statement is similar to what Zhang Zhongcai said, so it should be credible. Chen Shao then asked: "Are the Ren and Wen families the princelings of the previous dynasty who surrendered through the governor of Shu County?"

Mr. Fan nodded and said yes.

Wu County, Yuhang County, and Shu County were all the most economically developed counties. After Chen Shao silently noted it down, he asked casually, "Wu County also has five noble families. In addition to the Gu family and the Zhu family, which other families have surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty?"