Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Lei Dehou was instantly speechless.

Chen Shao didn't rush him, but just looked at him quietly, waiting for his answer.

After a long time, Lei Dehou finally couldn't bear it anymore and crawled on the ground again. He replied in despair: "Yes, I knew it from the beginning."

Chen Shao pressed, "If you knew, why didn't you tell me at the beginning?"

She clearly remembered that when she took out the jade chess piece, no one except Zhang Boshan agreed. She knew that everyone was hiding something, and now she wanted to force him to admit what he had hidden.

Before today, he had countless opportunities to tell the truth, but he didn't. Why didn't he? It was nothing more than that earlier, he thought she couldn't beat the Wen family, the Ren family, the Zhu family, the Gu family, etc. Later, after she dealt with them, he thought that there were Ding Lisheng and Zhao Lin who were more evil than him standing in the way. Until she dealt with them, he still held the idea that Hu Qinglu was still ahead of him. Now that Hu Qinglu was also taken down by him, he finally had no choice but to come forward and surrender.

In other words, his surrender was not voluntary, but self-protection.

She had seen too many attitudes like his in modern times.

Most people will be extremely nervous after committing a crime, and their psychological defenses will collapse completely if they are questioned. However, a small number of people have strong psychological qualities and will never confess until the last minute.

Undoubtedly, he is that kind of person.

When dealing with this kind of people, you must not be soft-hearted. You must force them into a corner before they will tell the truth.

Lei Dehou had no way to refute it, so he could only say sadly: "I know I was wrong."

It's not that he hadn't thought about telling the truth, but at the beginning, he was not sure about her purpose in coming to Hongyuan County, or he didn't think highly of her. After all, he had followed the Wen family and the Ren family to join the general of the country. Telling the truth was tantamount to gambling with his own life. He has never been a good gambler. Later, the Zhu family, the Gu family, the Fan family, the Qi family, the Wen family, and the Ren family planned to join forces to deal with her, and then created the tragedy of those gardens. Not only was she not afraid, she also dealt with the Wen family with thunder. He was very happy at first, but after hearing the evidence of her dealing with the Wen family, he was afraid again.

It has been delayed again and again until now.

"I know I'm wrong..." Chen Shao snorted coldly. Seeing that his face turned completely pale, he spoke again, "What's the matter with getting the approval of the General of the State?"

"The Ren and Wen families said that the General of the State is doing his best to help Prince Guangling seize the throne. They..." Lei Dehou answered immediately, but paused unconsciously halfway through his answer. After a while, he continued, "According to the Ren and Wen families, they, the Zhu, Gu, Fan, and Qi families have all joined the General of the State. They said that although Prince Guangling does not have as much support as the Crown Prince at this stage, the General of the State has military power in his hands, and it is only a matter of time before he replaces the Crown Prince. While Prince Guangling has not yet accomplished anything, join the General of the State early and support Prince Guangling together. When Prince Guangling gains power in the future, you will be able to gain more benefits. They also said that not everyone can join the General of the State. You must have certain abilities and be recognized by the General of the State."

His words were exactly the same as Ding Lisheng's, and also consistent with the confessions of Zhang Zhongcai and others. In other words, the Wen family, the Ren family, like the Zhu family, the Gu family, the Fan family, and the Qi family, were all using the same rhetoric to deceive people. Chen Shao did not press him to question what he had said earlier about the Ren family and the Wen family suddenly being friendly to him without knowing the reason, but instead asked: "What does it take to get the approval of the General of the State?"

Lei Dehou replied hurriedly: "Those who are recognized by the General of the State will receive calligraphy and paintings from the General of the State as proof."

Chen Shao: "Where are the calligraphy and paintings?"

Lei Dehou: "Store it with the other valuables."

Chen Shao continued: "Hu Qinglu and the rich families and scholars in the county city have not been recognized by the General of the State. Do they know that you have surrendered to the General of the State?"

Last time, when interrogating the rich families and scholars who had confessed to Ding Lisheng and Zhao Lin, most of them knew that the green jade was related to the general. It was precisely because they knew that even if the material of low-grade green jade was not valuable, the rich families and scholars were still keen on pursuing it.

Lei Dehou replied: “I basically know.”

Chen Shao thought for a moment, then asked, "Why does the jade with the dagger-shaped Buddha engraved on it require the approval of the General of the State before it can be owned, but the rest of the jade does not?"

Lei Dehou replied: "The Ren family and the Wen family said it was arranged by the general who assisted the country, but they don't know the specific reason."

Chen Shao had asked the Zhu, Gu, Fan and Qi families about this question, and they all said they didn't know, only that it was arranged by the great-great-grandson of the previous crown prince. He also asked Ding Lisheng, who also said he didn't know, only that it was arranged by the general who assisted the country. Therefore, his answer was within Chen Shao's expectations. Just as he was about to ask Chan Yi to call Quan Shuyu to come and count the stolen goods with him, Lei Dehou suddenly said uncertainly: "I accidentally heard Master Wen and Master Ren say that those who only have lotus-patterned green jade in their hands are mostly pawns after the relationship is torn apart, and the more the better."

pawn?

pawn!

Chen Shao suddenly had an idea in her mind, and she finally understood the problem! Resisting the urge to return to Chengfeng Courtyard immediately and take out the prince's letter to take a look, she quickly ordered Chan Yi, "Go call Shuyu over."

After Quan Shuyu came over, Chen Shao continued to instruct: "You and Chan Yi, follow Lord Lei to count his stolen goods, and when you come back, take back the calligraphy and paintings of the General of the State."

After the two followed Lei Dehou and left, Chen Shao could not wait to return to Chengfeng Courtyard, took out the prince's letter, and read it twice silently and quickly. After putting the letter down, her mind involuntarily recalled her earlier speculations about Qingyu. Perhaps her speculation was not wrong, but... there was something wrong with the people around the prince.

First of all, the proliferation of jadeite with dagger-shaped Buddha and lotus patterns is most likely due to the "wide-ranging" of the princelings of the previous dynasty. In addition to recruiting talents, the most important reason for their wide-ranging net is probably "false accusations."

Think about it, when the princelings of the previous dynasty started a rebellion, they used jade with a dagger-shaped Buddha with a fleshy bun and lotus patterns as their symbol. How would those people in the capital who had this kind of jade but did not join the princelings of the previous dynasty deal with it? Should they join the rebellion or smash the jade to distance themselves from them? If they did not join the rebellion, would the court still trust them if they smashed the jade to distance themselves from them? Once the court no longer trusted them, would they defect to protect themselves?

Another thing is the current situation. Although they knew about Qingyu's problem in advance, how should they solve it? If they don't solve it well, it is very likely that some people will turn against them in advance.

Secondly, the princelings of the previous dynasty had no military power, and there were no restrictions on the sale of low-grade jade, which was the largest in quantity. Most of the buyers and sellers were lower-class people, and the biggest characteristic of this type of people was that they were easily instigated. If the princelings of the previous dynasty really wanted to start a rebellion, they only needed to be provoked by something they cared about, and they would rise up and fight, becoming well-deserved cannon fodder.

Of course, these are all speculations she made based on the information she knew, and whether they are true or not still needs to be verified.

Finally, back to the present.

The people around the prince who have dagger-shaped flesh-bun Buddha jade... Perhaps the jade in the hands of some of them was given by others and they don’t know its meaning, but there must be some people whose jade was not given by others.

Chen Shao reflected on why she didn't think of these things the first time she received the prince's letter. The reason was Chen Zhao. Chen Zhao had said more than once that the current prince was a virtuous and generous person, and that when he ascended the throne in the future, he would definitely be a wise ruler who loved his people like his own children. Perhaps it was because this sentence was too profound that she remembered it firmly in her heart, so that after receiving the prince's letter, she subconsciously thought that it was her own guess that was wrong, not the people around him who had problems.

But if there is something wrong with the people around the prince, then his investigation of Qingyu has already alerted the enemy. If he wants to save the situation, he can only... Chen Shao picked up the letter again. It seems that she has to arrange for someone to secretly return to the capital to investigate what happened to Chen Zhao.

Chen Zhao was poisoned earlier, which could be said to be due to negligence in prevention. While she was detoxifying him in the past two years, she also eliminated the hidden dangers one by one. Now that she has been away from Beijing for only a few months, if he is poisoned again... then whether the prince is really virtuous and generous is worth considering.

I hope the prince is a trustworthy person, otherwise...

"Sir, the rich man and the scholar have been brought back." Yulinwei's words interrupted Chen Shao's thoughts. After asking them to take the people to the second hall to wait, Chen Shao put away the letter and followed them to the second hall.