Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The Ren family, Ding family, Zhao family, Hu family, and Zhou family cannot be moved for the time being.

Now she is short of manpower, so she needs the help of Ren, Ding Lisheng, Zhao Lin, Lei Dehou, and Hu Qinglu to deal with the aftermath of Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi. In other words, she will not take action against Ren, Ding, Zhao, Zhou, and Hu until the aftermath of Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi is completed and Ren, Ding, Zhao, Zhou, and Hu have no intention of self-examination.

All the tasks of the aftermath work have been assigned to people, and now she has become a freeloader.

Chen Shao took two sips of tea, stood up and went to the wooden box containing the evidence of the crimes of the Ren and Ding families. He opened the box, picked up a stack of evidence, and read it one by one. After reading less than ten pieces, Fu Jiu rushed in and said anxiously, "Many people came to the prefect's mansion to sue the Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families!"

Chen Shao put down the evidence he was looking at and followed him out of the study, asking as he walked, "Have you ever asked what the lawsuit is about?"

Fu Jiu shook her head: "I didn't ask."

"You've come just in time." After walking a few feet from Chengfeng Courtyard, they ran into Li Tianliu who was returning. Li Tianliu stopped when he saw them and said, "This is the list of the caravans. Except for Fenglong Trading Company, the caravan leaders of the Gu, Zhu, Fan and Qi families have all been executed by you. What should be done next? Come up with a plan quickly."

Chen Shao took the list and read it while instructing Chan Yi and Fu Jiu, "You two go and welcome the people who are filing a lawsuit to the lobby and write down the people and cases they are suing. If there are too many people filing a lawsuit, go get some people from the second and third branches to help."

Chan Yi and Fu Jiu left immediately.

Chen Shao looked through the list from beginning to end and asked Li Tianliu: "Where are the people?"

"They are all arranged in the lobby." Li Tianliu replied.

Chen Shao glanced towards the lobby and said, "Move them to the second hall. I'll wait for you there."

Li Tianliu waved and called four Yulin guards to follow her before turning around and leaving.

Chen Shao glanced at the Yulin guards and walked to the second hall.

The caravan of Fenglong Trading Company had twelve people, the Changshun caravan of the Gu and Zhu families had thirty-six people, and the Yongshun caravan of the Fan and Qi families also had thirty-six people.

Chen Shao glanced at the crowd and asked Li Tianliu, "Are these the only people in the caravan, or did you pick them out?"

Li Tianliu leaned on the table with one hand and replied calmly: "Just pick out these people."

Chen Shao looked at Ren Zhongxing who followed him and asked, "Are you in charge of the Fenglong Caravan?"

Ren Zhongxing bowed and said, "My second brother is in charge. Father was worried that my second brother had never worked with adults, so he sent me here to wait for adults' instructions."

"Go and call your second brother." Chen Shao ordered without question. After he left, Chen Shao glanced at the caravans of Changshun and Yongshun and continued to ask, "Which generals of the Shan State have these families done business with?"

"Changshun and Yongshun are almost the ones Zhang Zhongcai confessed," Li Tianliu replied slowly, "Fenglong Trading Company has fewer, and only has business dealings with the General Zhendong, the General Zhengxi, and the General Anbei."

"Which generals have the most frequent exchanges with the caravans?" Chen Shao asked again.

Li Tianliu took a look at several caravans. "The ones who have the most frequent exchanges in Changshun are General Weiwu and General Huqi, the ones who have the most frequent exchanges in Yongshun are General Weiwu and General Zhendong, and the one who has the most frequent exchanges in Fenglong is General Anbei."

Only one General Zhengxi was left alone. After Chen Shao took note, he asked casually, "Have you asked them why they don't have close contact with the General Zhengxi?"

Li Tianliu replied: "There are few mines and little power."

Chen Shao looked up at him, then at the caravans, put down his pen and asked loudly, "Do you know why we are here?"

People from each caravan replied sporadically, "Yes."

Chen Shao continued: "How many people know the reason why your former employer was raided?"

Everyone looked at each other for a while before someone spoke. Most of the things they talked about were the charges that Ding Lisheng had read out when the families were being executed.

Chen Shaojing waited for them to finish talking, then said solemnly, "That's right and that's not right. If they only committed the crimes you mentioned, they wouldn't have been confiscated. The fundamental reason why their homes were confiscated is that they were plotting a rebellion."

Amid the noise of the crowd, Chen Shao said coldly: "I believe you are more or less aware of the current situation in Datong. The court is struggling to deal with foreign enemies due to insufficient food and grass, so it is naturally unable to govern the country. In recent years, many counties and prefectures have taken advantage of the weakening of the country's strength and the emperor's lack of time to take care of other things, and have imposed heavy taxes and extortions, doing almost all kinds of evil. The Zhu family and the Gu family are even more despicable. Because Jiannan Road is far away from Kyoto and adjacent to Shan State, they have the ambition to enclose land and become kings! Although you have been kept in the dark and do not know it, the fact that you are the channel for the Zhu family and the Gu family to communicate with Shan State cannot be refuted!"

"According to the Datong Law, there is no distinction between the leader and the follower in treason. In other words, according to the law, you will all be executed."

The affairs of the former prince's party and the former prince's great-grandson cannot be made public, so as not to force them to start a rebellion now. It will undoubtedly be much easier to act by plotting a rebellion like the Zhu family and the Gu family.

After letting everyone chatter in panic for a while, Chen Shao picked up the gavel and knocked it twice. When everyone quieted down, he spoke again, "I have been in Hongyuan County for several months. I believe you are already aware of my style of doing things. Whether you know it or not, since the crime has been committed, you should be punished according to the crime. But if you are willing to atone for your sins, I am not against letting you off the hook."

After a pause, Chen Shao said calmly amid the crowd's shouts of "yes", "There is no such thing as a free lunch. Shan is just a tiny country. In the early years, it had to rely on paying tribute to Datong to seek shelter. Now it is colluding with the Zhu family and the Gu family, intending to separate Jiannan Road from Datong. The Zhu family and the Gu family are blinded by ambition and cannot see the wolfish ambition of Shan. You often interact with Shan, and you should know better than anyone that Shan is poor and has bad waters, and warlords are separatist. Once their army crosses the border and enters Jiannan Road, what will be the consequences? It is nothing more than using Jiannan Road as a battlefield, each grabbing territory, and then fighting each other. Where will you and your family be by then? Either you will be slaves or killed by ghosts and horses. Are you willing?"

"No!" everyone shouted.

In any era, if you want people to advance and retreat with you, the only way is to tie their own interests together.

Undoubtedly, judging from their indignant shouts, Chen Shao succeeded.

Li Tianliu looked at her as if he met her for the first time.

Chen Shao didn't care. Seeing that the effect was achieved, he immediately changed the subject, "I have said everything I should say. Next, let me tell you the purpose of bringing you here. You are the best selected by General Li Xiao from the caravan. Although I want you to redeem yourself, I don't want you to die. Instead, I want you to lead General Li Xiao's people on a journey again based on the past business dealings with the Shan Kingdom. This journey includes your route to the border, the places where you do business with the generals of the Shan Kingdom, the people and methods of contact, and how to avoid the inspections of other counties and cities after getting the goods and return to Hongyuan County safely, etc. Everything you know, can you do it?"

Amidst the cries of "Yes", Ren Zhongxing arrived with his second brother Ren Hanmin.

Ren Hanmin is taller, darker, and stronger than Ren Zhongxing.

The two men entered the second hall and saw the enthusiastic members of the caravan. They paused subconsciously before stepping forward to greet them.

After asking Li Tianliu to take everyone in the caravan outside to wait, Chen Shao looked at Ren Hanmin and said, "I'm sure you already know why I asked you to come here, so I won't waste any more time. The Ren family has performed very well in recent months, and I hope they can continue to perform like this. Do you understand?"

Ren Hanmin quickly replied, "I understand."

"Okay, I believe you are a smart person. You should know what to do and what not to do." Chen Shao said calmly, "I and thousands of people from the Ren family are waiting for your return in Hongyuan County. Go ahead."

Ren Hanmin's body suddenly froze, and after a moment, he answered respectfully, "Yes," and walked out without even raising his head. Looking at his back, Chen Shao said to Li Tianliu, "The Yulin Guards are too conspicuous. Even if they change into casual clothes, they can be recognized at a glance."

Looking at the Yulin Guards who stood out among the caravans, Chen Shao thought for a moment and said, "How about this, we only need to arrange one or two Yulin Guards for each caravan, and for the rest, you go find Zhao Liangzhu and ask him to bring his men along!"

Zhao Liangzhu was not in the county town.

The Yulin Guards came to the village to find him. After Chen Shao gave him detailed instructions, he took ten trusted people and mixed in with the caravan to the border at nightfall.

The night breeze was blowing gently. Chen Shao stood under the eaves, looking at the starry sky, and asked the Yulin Guard beside him: "Isn't the lobby over yet?"

There were quite a lot of people coming to sue several families, so earlier, Quan Shuyu and Li Tianliu also rushed to help with the registration.

The Imperial Guards looked towards the lobby and said, "It will take at least six or seven days to finish this."

Chen Shao frowned: "Why are there so many people?"

"It's true that there are a lot of people," Yulinwei explained, "but the main thing is that the people who come to file a complaint don't just register their names and leave. We always have to ask them the reason for the complaint. Some reasons can be explained in three or five sentences, while others require a cup of tea or two. If we delay them one by one, it will naturally be slow."

No wonder.

It was her lack of thinking.

Chen Shao went down the stairs and walked out of Chengfeng Courtyard. Just as he was about to go to the lobby, he looked up and saw the woman in white again.

This time, the woman in white did not run away when she saw her, but walked straight towards her.

When he got closer, Chen Shao quickly recognized in the moonlight that the woman in white was Zhang Chunhua, whom he had met once before.