Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"In addition to the Gu and Zhu families, there is also a Zhang family in Wu County who has surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty." Without Chen Shao asking, Master Fan continued, "In addition to the Wen and Ren families in Shu County, there is also a Fei family who has surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty."

There are five aristocratic families in Wu County and five aristocratic families in Shu County. Three aristocratic families in both counties have surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty. The situation is so complicated and bad. Can she really eliminate them by working alone?

Chen Zhao asked her to replace him as the Minister of Dali Temple and go to various counties to find the treacherous officials who killed their parents and massacred Yaowang Valley. She did come to Hongyuan County for this purpose at first, but the appearance of the prince's party in the previous dynasty made her realize that Chen Zhao asked her to investigate the treacherous officials, but this treacherous official was obviously not the same as the treacherous official she thought. Chen Zhao asked her to investigate the treacherous officials so that she could help the prince eliminate the deep-rooted problems and restore peace to Datong, but she always mistakenly thought that his purpose was to let her take revenge.

Perhaps, they have known about the existence of the Prince's Party of the previous dynasty for a long time, but due to the current situation in Datong or the power of the Prince's Party of the previous dynasty, they did not dare to act rashly. They used the excuse of investigating treacherous ministers and rebels to allow her to gradually clip the wings of the Prince's Party of the previous dynasty from the local area.

Of course, these are just her guesses. She would have to write back to ask Chen Zhao whether they were true or not.

After collecting his thoughts, Chen Shao continued to ask, "In addition to Wu County, Yuhang County, and Shu County, do you know which other counties or noble families have surrendered to the prince's party of the previous dynasty?"

Mr. Fan looked at her carefully and said hesitantly, "From what I have heard about Jiangnan Road, many counties and many noble families have surrendered."

Chen Shao patiently asked, "What are they specifically?"

"I'm not sure exactly which ones they are, but I've heard from my family a few times that more than half of the counties in Jiangnan are controlled by the great-great-grandsons of the previous crown prince." Mr. Fan hesitated for a moment and said, "I only know about the governors of Danyang County, Jinling County, and Wuxing County, as well as the Gan, Ji, and Zuo families in Danyang County; the Jiang and Zhou families in Jinling County; and the Shen, Qian, Yao, and Wu families in Wuxing County."

Chen Shao looked at Master Qi and motioned for him to add more.

Master Qi said with a gloomy face: "What I know is the same as what he knows."

Chen Shao nodded, tapped the armrest with his hands, wrote down the counties and families confessed by Mr. Fan, and asked a few more questions. Seeing that the answers were not new, and he could not think of anything else to ask, he asked the Yulin Guard to take them away. Looking at their staggering backs, he quickly reviewed their answers twice in his mind, put away the hereditary edicts of several families, put them back into the sandalwood box one by one, and then stood up, slowly looked around the Zhongyong Hall, and then walked out of the Fan family.

It's already daybreak.

Chen Shao stood outside the gate of the Fan family, looked back at the Fan family, and then looked at the Qi family across the street. As the night quickly receded and the sunlight swept in, he took a long breath and said, "We need to speed up the investigation of each family's treasury."

Quan Shuyu nodded in agreement.

As Chen Shao walked down the steps and headed towards the carriage, Fu Jiu rushed out from Qi's house and quickly jumped in front of the carriage, "Master, are you going back?"

Chen Shao said 'hmm' and asked him, "Nothing went wrong last night, right?"

Fu Jiu straightened her chest and said, "Nothing went wrong."

Chen Shao looked at him and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you for a few more days and guard this place well."

Fu Jiu immediately said, "Don't worry, sir. Even if I lose it, the gold, silver and jewelry inside will never be lost!"

"I believe you." Chen Shao said with a smile and then got into the carriage.

Shangyang Street, where the Fan and Qi families lived, was separated from the most prosperous Yong'an Street and Yanghuai Street in the county by Qingyang Street. Coming out of Shangyang Street, passing through a long alley, it was Qingyang Street. After crossing Qingyang Street and passing through another long alley, the bustling voices of Yong'an Street and the hot aroma of various breakfasts came towards us.

The news of the Fan and Qi families being raided had already spread like wildfire after a night of fermentation. When the motorcade suddenly emerged from the alley, the people who saw it subconsciously retreated to the sides, but the next moment, the people who retreated immediately surrounded them and greeted them: "Are you done with your work, sir? Come over and have a bowl of wontons before you go back."

"Eat a cake."

"Come and eat the buns. We just steamed them."

“I have noodles at home.”

The shouts came one after another.

"We've been busy all night and we're all hungry," Chen Shao instructed Li Tianliu, "Then stop and eat something before going back."

Li Tianliu raised his hand, and the convoy slowly stopped by the roadside.

Chen Shao got off the carriage and walked into the noodle stall owned by Wang Zheng’s grandparents after being invited by various vendors.

Wang Zheng was also helping. When he saw Chen Shao coming over, he hurriedly said stiffly, "Hui Min Pharmacy hasn't opened yet. I, I'm just here to help. I'll be there in a moment."

When Wang Zheng's grandparents heard what he said, the smiles on their faces froze. They rubbed their hands and explained anxiously, "We also told him not to come over to help, we can handle it ourselves, but he just wouldn't listen and insisted on coming over before dawn to help. But don't worry, sir, he has never delayed the serious work in the medicine store. If he dares to delay, we old couple will be the first to not let him go!"

Chen Shao smiled, looked at Wang Zheng, then looked back at the two old men, and joked, "It seems that my reputation among the people is not very good."

The two old men quickly explained: "Your Excellency has misunderstood, we didn't mean that, we..."

"No need to say more, old man," Chen Shao said with a smile, "I understand."

Turning back, he asked Wang Zhengdao, "Did Master Qi or someone else forbid you to come and help?"

Wang Zheng shook his head and said no repeatedly.

"I said that Master Qi is not such a person." Chen Shao smiled, "It's a good thing that you can come here early every day to help your grandparents with the work. I hired you, or Master Qi hired you, just to hire you to do the accounts for Huimin Pharmacy, not to buy you as a person. In short, you only need to do the accounts for Huimin Pharmacy, and the rest of the time you are still you, not someone's slave, do you understand?"

Wang Zheng repeatedly said he understood.

Seeing that he really understood, Chen Shao didn't say anything more. He found a table and sat down, then ordered, "Give me a bowl of noodles, and let me taste your cooking skills."

Chan Yi pulled Quan Shuyu to sit down with her and also called out, "Give us a bowl too."

Chen Shao looked at Li Tianliu: "What about you? Do you want to eat noodles with us here, or go eat something else?"

Li Tianliu sat down opposite Chan Yi and said, "Give me a bowl too."

He waved his hand again and said, "Eat whatever you want. Today..."

Meeting his gaze, Chen Shao said politely, "It's my treat today, eat whatever you want."

Li Tianliu raised his voice and asked, "Did you hear everything?"

The Imperial Guards shouted, "I heard it!"

Then they dispersed in a hurry.

"My Lord, please try our buns too."

“Try our cakes, too.”

“And our tofu.”

“Our soup cake.”

"Wontons, wontons, eat our wontons first!"

The table was small and couldn't hold much food, so several stall owners cleverly moved two other tables together. Even though Chen Shao kept shouting "enough, enough", food kept coming. Seeing that there would be no more seats if they didn't hurry, Wang Zheng and his grandparents hurriedly brought the noodles over, "Our noodles are ready too, please take your time, adults."

Looking at the tables full of food, and then at the stall owners who hurried back to take care of the Yulin Guards after the food was delivered, Chen Shao's eyes suddenly became warm.

Is there really any need to save this country that is in such a state of disrepair?

At this moment, she seemed to have the answer.