Going to Beijing to save his father, all the powerful officials in the city are vying to be his fath

Tong Zhongqian looked at the night watch in surprise and said, "It's already noon. The emperor must have gone to bed. He still has more than two hours before he goes to court. Why don't we go to the palace then?"

Zhao Liangchen: "Sir, tonight is the best time to catch them. Tonight is Mid-Autumn Festival, and most of the imperial guards are on leave. There are few people in the camp. If we search now, not only will there be less noise, but fewer people will be involved.

We're also worried they might take advantage of the holiday to sneak out of Beijing while everyone's relaxed. If we go now, we can catch them unawares."

Tong Zhongqian was still a little hesitant: "But the Ministry of Justice is short of manpower."

Arresting criminals is the job of the yamen runners. Normally, there are enough manpower to arrest ordinary people. But now we are going to arrest people from the imperial guards. We have to confront the imperial guards and we don’t know if anyone will deliberately stop us. There are definitely not enough manpower.

The Dali Temple and the government office do have manpower, but the runners of the government office are responsible for public security in the city. If their quality is not good, they may not be able to defeat the imperial guards.

At the beginning, the Dali Temple was investigating the case at the same time as the Ministry of Justice, but after the emperor arrested Su Jijing and others, he handed them over to Tong Zhongqian, which meant that the Ministry of Justice was responsible. Zhao Kuo's replacement was also caused by the Ministry of Justice. Tong Zhongqian also gambled his life to solve the case.

If we seek help from the Dali Temple now, it would seem like we are dragging the Dali Temple into trouble and looking for someone to take the blame.

Zhao Liangchen understood Tong Zhongqian's meaning and said seriously, "Sir, I have been with the Imperial Guards for a long time and know that their commander is reliable. If I inform him of this matter and let him take charge of the arrest, it will surely be a safe bet."

Tong Zhongqian stared at Zhao Lianchen. "How do you know the commander of the Imperial Guards is reliable? In other words, how can I trust you? Don't forget, you're a suspect now. Why should I arrest someone at the Imperial Guards camp based on a few words from you?"

Zhao Liangchen didn't know how to explain to him that the commander of the imperial guards, Jin Tong, had always been a staunch supporter of the emperor. In his previous life, it was he who led them to defend the palace to the death, so there was no way that he could have any problems, and it was even less likely that he would have any problems.

He could only explain to Tong Zhongqian: "My Lord, I and Commander Jin are both the emperor's men. If you are worried, you can go to the palace yourself and explain the situation to the emperor. The emperor will make the final decision."

Tong Zhongqian wanted to say that the emperor was not a clear-headed person, otherwise Su Jijing would not have been captured by someone, but he could not say this to Zhao Liangchen.

He thought for a while and finally took Zhao Liangchen into the palace, because Zhao Liangchen was right, tonight was the best time, and it would be difficult to catch people if they missed this opportunity.

The two of them took a carriage to the palace. Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival. In previous years, there was a palace banquet, but this year due to the impact of the disaster victims, the palace banquet was not held, but a small royal family banquet was still held. When they arrived, the palace gate had just been closed for a short time.

Tong Zhongqian had someone knock on the palace gate. Generally, unless there was something important, the palace gate would not be allowed to be opened after it was closed.

Tong Zhongqian said that the whereabouts of the fugitive had been discovered and that they needed to ask the emperor for permission to open the city gates. In addition, the people guarding the city gates today were the imperial guards under Zhao Liangchen, so someone went to inform the emperor.

The emperor was not asleep and attached great importance to this matter, so he met with them quickly.

When they arrived, there was not only the emperor in the hall, but also an elegant middle-aged man. Seeing him, Tong Zhongqian was a little surprised and saluted the two of them: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, and I pay my respects to His Highness Prince Liang."

Zhao Liangchen was not surprised and followed suit, saying, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Your Highness, Prince Liang, I pay my respects to you."

The emperor, who was impatient, raised his hand to encourage them, then asked anxiously, "Have you found the whereabouts of the fugitive?"

Tong Zhongqian nodded and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Xiao Zhao told me that the fugitive might be hiding in the Imperial Guard camp outside the city."

The emperor was shocked and looked at Zhao Liangchen: "You said that? How did you know?"

Zhao Liangchen repeated his words again.

The emperor fell into deep thought after hearing this. After a while, he asked Zhao Liangchen, "How sure are you?"

Zhao Liangchen thought for a moment and said, "Seventy percent."

Originally, he had only a 50% chance of success, but after testing his father, and judging by his father's reaction, his chances of success had increased by another 20%.

The emperor was still undecided and looked at Prince Liang: "Uncle, what do you think about this matter?"

The Prince of Liang is the emperor's uncle. The late emperor had few children, and all his previous sons died young, leaving only the emperor as his son. Therefore, the age difference between the emperor and the late emperor is quite large.

Because Prince Liang was the youngest son and had a big age gap with the late emperor, the emperor had followed Prince Liang like a follower since he was young, and Prince Liang also loved him.

When the late emperor passed away, he ordered Prince Liang and three other ministers to be the chief ministers, with Prince Liang as the chief minister.

Prince Liang had a calm demeanor and a handsome, elegant appearance. He seemed to be a refined and free-spirited man. He smiled and said, "Since Lord Tong and Lord Xiao Zhao both believe that the criminal is hiding in the Imperial Guard, then we should go check. If we find him, that's great. If we don't, there's no loss."

Seeing his support, the emperor nodded and said, "Okay, Li Quan will draft the decree."

Li Quan was the eunuch who held the seal beside the emperor. He immediately picked up his pen and waited to draft the decree.

Tong Zhongqian reminded him at the right moment: "Your Majesty, if we go to arrest them, I'm afraid I don't have enough men. I want to call on the imperial guards from the palace, led by Jin, to accompany me."

The emperor agreed as soon as he thought that the Imperial Guards were Jin Tong's territory. After Li Quan drafted the decree, the troops were divided into two groups. Zhao Liangchen transferred people from the palace, and Tong Zhongqian returned to the Ministry of Justice to transfer people. At the same time, he sent people to Jin Tong's residence to issue the decree.

The emperor was watching Zhao Liangchen as he was inspecting his troops. He noticed that Zhao Liangchen had difficulty walking and asked with concern, "What's wrong with your legs?"

Zhao Liangchen smiled and said, "It's okay, I just got hurt accidentally."

The emperor was no fool, how could he possibly believe it? He asked sullenly, "Did Zhao Jian punish you?"

Zhao Liangchen shook his head: "No, father did not punish me."

The emperor was very clear about Zhao Liangchen's situation at home. He had been punished to kneel in the ancestral hall and limped to work. However, this was the Zhao family's family affair, and even though he was the emperor, he could not interfere at will.

But seeing Zhao Liangchen like this, the emperor felt like one of his own was being bullied, and said angrily, "I think Zhao Jian's suspension and house arrest should be extended for a few more days.

I have no right to interfere in your family affairs, but Zhao Jian is suspected of dereliction of duty. I can't just punish you for a certain period of time."

Zhao Liangchen felt a surge of warmth in his heart, but he still advised, "Your Majesty, no, family affairs and state affairs cannot be mixed up."

The emperor said this out of anger. He knew that he didn't even have the right to arbitrarily deal with a minister. As long as Zhao Jian was innocent and he kept him imprisoned, many people would put pressure on him to be a fair emperor.

He sighed, looked up at the bright moon, and asked, "Have you eaten mooncakes today?"

Zhao Liangchen shook his head very honestly: "No."

The emperor was annoyed again: "I knew it. This heartless Zhao Jian doesn't even care about his own son."

He turned around and said to his personal attendant Liu Jin, "Go and pack some mooncakes for Lord Zhao from my desk."

After thinking for a while, he said, "Forget it, go and pack all the cakes that were not touched in the Shangshi Bureau today."

Zhao Liangchen refused in panic: "Your Majesty, this is too much. I still need to go out of the city to arrest people, so I can't take so much."

The emperor said angrily, "If you can't get it, I'll send someone to deliver it to your home. Then let Zhao Jian watch over it and don't let him eat it."

Zhao Liangchen was amused by the emperor's childish words and jokingly said, "Since the emperor has given me a reward, I will accept it. I am leading so many people to capture people in the middle of the night. I am afraid I won't be able to eat for a while. I don't know how long they will starve. I will give them some to fill their stomachs when they are hungry."

The emperor nodded readily and said, "Why not? There are many dishes prepared for the palace banquet today. My uncle and I don't like to eat, so we'll give them to you."

Zhao Liangchen smiled and said, "Then I would like to thank the emperor on behalf of my brothers."

King Liang stood behind them and looked at them as if they were close friends, and curled the corners of his lips slightly.