Just in time for rain [恰逢雨连天] - Chapter 200

[200. Chapter Nineteen]

He didn’t want to enter the study room, and Qi Boyuan didn’t have the time to get the solitary book he asked for.

However, it doesn’t matter whether there is a loneliness or not.

Before Liu Chaoming left Liu Mansion, he instructed An Ran: “Go check it now, no one knows that Su Shiyu came to Liu Mansion today.”

An Ran knew that this was going to be silenced.

For three days in a row, Su Jin did not appear at the court meeting. She has always explained everything, and as soon as there was no news, everything exploded.

The dignified cabinet’s first-rank assistant ministers and the ministers of the Ministry of Punishment were nowhere to be seen, up to the three judicial divisions, down to the Yingtian government yamen, and the five city soldiers and horse divisions, all sent people to look for them. In just a few days, the entire capital was almost tossed to the bottom, but no trace of it was found.

The last clue stayed on the second day of the September lunar month, when Su Jin saw Marquis Wenyuan and ordered people to prepare horses to return to the house.

“The people at the Ministry of Punishment and Household said that you want to see people in life, and you want to see corpses in death. In the past few days, guards have been sent to Yunji River, Jinshui River, and Huai River to support poles to find people. However, this is also done for people. What you saw, Lord, they actually knew it in their hearts. On that day, Marquis Wenyuan said goodbye to Lord Su, and went to look for you. The two of you went back to the palace separately. You didn’t return to the palace until the evening, to talk about the disappearance of Lord Su. It has nothing to do with you, they don’t believe it in private, but they don’t have any real evidence, so they dare not take people to Liu’s residence, and when no one is caught in the river, they will probably go to the ministers’ residences to find them.”

Yan Xiu went . After Yan Dingtang and Liubu discussed the matter, he came back and said so. Liu Chaoming didn’t answer, and Qian Yueqian, who was also in the courtroom, asked, “How many yamen are there in the Ministry of Rites and Military Department

?”

Mr. Zeng of the Ministry of Personnel and Mr. Su used to be at odds with each other, and no one even bothered to look for them. It was the Ministry of War. Now Mr. Su was gone, and Mr. Shen and Mr. Zhai went to Wuchang Mansion again. As soon as the discussion is over, I will go to the Ministry of Punishment to find Wu Jizhi, and there will be action about today.”

Qian Yuehan frowned: “The people under Su Shiyu have such agile hands and feet.”

It’s been less than ten days, and he’s already planning to go to Lord Shoufu’s house to find someone.

“They are also sending out news. In the past few days, a lot of people have been sent to leave the capital, from north to south. Fortunately, Lord Zhou of the Department of Communications and Political Affairs had already made arrangements. As soon as they left the city, they stopped them and sent dozens of letters to them. The urgent letter from Lord Shen and His Majesty has been sent back to the Supreme Court, and the lower officials have read it and asked them to return to Beijing in a hurry.”

Yan Xiu said here, but also a little worried: “But the news can be stopped for a while, but not forever. , especially the military emergency letters from the Ministry of War and the various divisions. Even if the Secretary of General Affairs was aware of it, he could not control it. Only Chen Shilang of the Ministry of War could stop him, but there is still a Shilang He in the Ministry of War. If they find that there is no response to the news they handed out, it will be bad if they make trouble with Gong Shangshu. Gong Shangshu has been named a first-class prince. If he is determined to find someone, he will send a letter to His Majesty and Lord Shen. He, there is no silver 300 taels here.”

Who knew that Liu Chaoming heard this, but said: “He Fu and Wu Jizhi have discovered that the news of the capital has been banned.”

Yan Xiu was stunned, not understanding what he said. the meaning of.

Qian Yueqian explained: “There is a method in the barracks that is not public. For example, if I want to send news from Yingtian to Jinan, then on the line from Yingtian to Jinan, there are Jiacheng, which is fifty miles away from Yingtian. City B, which is a hundred miles away, and City C, which is two hundred miles away, I will first assign three people to send messages to these three places. It is said that there will be an echo in City A in one or two days, City B in three or four days, and City C in ten days. Therefore, If no news comes back, it means that the person I sent out has been intercepted.

“Naturally, once the news is intercepted, it will not be public, but continue to send people out to see who intercepted the news, and then go up one layer at a time. Find, find out the ambassador. This is the way of doing things within the Ministry of War and the Department of Defense. The personnel inside also have a special set of deployment rules, which are usually used in wartime. Not everyone knows how to operate. . “(Note)

Yan Xiu said stunned: “So what Master Liu and Master Qian mean is that when Master He went to the Penal Department today, he was not just looking for Master Su for ideas, but he found that the news could not be delivered, and they already found out that this matter is related to Chen Shilang and even Liu. Are you planning to take action against us?”

Qian Yueqian said with an “um”, “Don’t forget, His Majesty’s secret edict is still in their hands.”

Liu Chaoming suddenly asked, “In the case of Annan’s business, the ‘evidence’ can be found. How is it?”

Yan Xiu said, “Master Hui, the ‘evidence’ is almost complete. Before Master Su’s disappearance, it has been found that thousands of taels of silver flowed into Dadan, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Punishment. We are also investigating this matter, and it just matches the ‘evidence’ we have at hand. However, after all, we are going to sue Mr. Su with this case. It is not enough to have evidence alone. We need to find witnesses, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public. Two years ago When the Seventh Highness investigated the life of Master Su, he invited Master Su’s younger sister and Miss Su Wan to the capital. Miss Su stayed in the capital for a few days before being sent away. There is too much power in the capital, so I think it will take some time.”

Liu Chaoming thought for a while and said, “Stop suing Su Shiyu in advance.”

He stood up: “Qian Yueqian, you go to the Ministry of Punishment to find Fang Shilang, In the past two days, people were assigned to stare at Wu Jizhi. Zhai Di was not in the capital. The person Su Shiyu trusted most was him. Only he knew where the secret imperial edict was. ”

Yan Xiu, bring the guards and the history of the city tour, and go with the official to the Marquis of Wenyuan.”

After Qi Boyuan entered the palace on the second day of September, he could not leave the capital the next day. Su Jin didn’t come to the court to discuss, and found out that she hastily returned to the house because of Qi Boyuan, so he sent someone to intercept Wenyuan Marquis who was going to Zhengyangmen.

Yan Xiu boarded the carriage with Liu Chaoming, but he was still suspicious.

However, when the group waited outside the mansion, he fully understood.

In front of the mansion gate, there are two lines of officers and soldiers, divided into members of the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of War. The gate of the mansion is open, and there seems to be a noisy noise inside. If you listen carefully, it seems that the servant in the mansion is arguing with someone.

The official guarding outside was a head of the Criminal Department. When he saw Liu Chaoming and Yan Xiu coming, his face turned pale, and he hurriedly brought someone up to meet him.

With a sullen look on Liu Chaoming’s face, he ignored the officials who were kneeling and walked into the mansion.

In the Hou Mansion, two officers from the Ministry of Punishment were putting the collar on Qi Boyuan. Besides Liu Langzhong of the Ministry of Punishment, the other was He Yi, the servant of the Ministry of War.

The young servant who had just been arguing with others was escorted to the ground. When he saw Liu Chaoming here, he jumped on the ground and knelt up and said, “Master Shoufu, my master is a second-rank marquis, and no one dares to disrespect in the entire capital. , but now he is waiting to bring my master back to the palace for questioning on the charge of ‘unnecessary’, dare to ask where is the law of heaven?”

Liu Langzhong of the Ministry of Punishment said: “Everyone knows the civil and military affairs of the whole dynasty, Master Su suddenly met Wenyuan Marquis after meeting Wenyuan. If you don’t see it when you go back to the mansion, I’m just going to invite the Marquis back to the palace to ask a few questions. Why is there an ‘unwarranted’ crime?”

“A few questions can’t be asked in the Marquis mansion? People?” The little servant said angrily.

He looked at Liu Chaoming again: “I don’t know, Master Hou knows that Master Su disappeared after meeting him. He has been blaming himself for several days, and is always thinking of ways to help find someone.”

He knelt down a few steps. The desk took off a piece of paper and presented it to Liu Chaoming: “Sir, please look at this, this is the testimony written by my Lord Hou. It records every word he said to Lord Su on the second day of the September lunar month. Lord Hou has already planned to enter the palace with him. They are looking for someone , so they will use this method to ‘invite’ Lord Hou!”

Liu Chaoming took a look at the paper, and the words “Liu Yun” caught his eye.

His jade, his old affair with her.

It turned out that she said this to Marquis Wenyuan privately that day.

He handed the paper to Yan Xiu, glanced at the shackles on Qi Boyuan’s neck, and said concisely, “Open it.”

“Master Liu.” He Yi said, showing a writ jointly signed by the Sixth Department and Dali Temple officials of the fourth rank or above, “Yesterday, it was decided that Xiaguan presided over the search for Lord Su, and Xiaguan was just a request for a letter. Marquis Yuan returned to the palace to ask a few words, Master Liu won’t stop him, right?”

He glanced at the little official who was holding a copper key, wondering if he should open the shackles, and said, “Furthermore, Master Su is missing, Wen Yuan Hou Ben is suspected, so it is not an exaggeration to bring the shackles into the palace. Your lord, rest assured, as long as the lower official asks, within three days, Marquis Wenyuan will be sent back to the palace safely.”

Liu Chaoming’s face was expressionless, how could he not know The thoughts of He Yi and others.

It is suspected that Marquis Wenyuan is false, and that the chief assistant of his cabinet is the real censor of Zuodu.

Inviting Marquis Wenyuan away is just a pretense, the purpose is to use Marquis Wenyuan to confess his name Liu Yun, as long as he gets an adverbial with the handprint of the second-rank Marquis—regardless of whether the adverb is true or false—the punishment department will have it. Enough reason to impeach the cabinet chief.

As long as the case of Su Jin’s disappearance is pushed to Liu Yun, their party members will still have a chance to breathe, and they will still have the strength to fight.

However, Liu Yun was decisive in killing people, so how could he leave such an opportunity to his opponent?

“It’s okay to take Marquis Wenyuan away.” Liu Chaoming said lightly, “But not today.” The

voice fell, and his expression became cold: “Yan Xiu, order someone to take down He Fu, the Minister of War.”

“Yes!”

After a while In the meantime, I saw several guards in armor filed in, and the main hall of the Hou’s mansion was surrounded by water. The leader was actually Wei Jiang, the deputy commander of Jinyiwei.

The two guards came forward to escort He Fu to the ground, and Liu Langzhong of the Punishment Department raised his hand to stop him: “Dare to ask Mr. Liu, why do you want to arrest the third-grade waiter of the Tangtang Department

of War?” Liu Chaoming expressionlessly Looking at him, after a long while, he spit out five words: “Annan’s business case.”

He Fu’s complexion changed: “You spit, Annan’s business case is clearly a good thing you and His Highness did!”

“Master He is not going to slander Master Liu!” Yan Xiu shouted, and immediately took out a writ, several secret letters, and a letter sent from the Ministry of War at the beginning of the month to Qiongzhou to investigate the urgent letters that flowed into Dadan Yinliang.” The evidence and pleadings are all here. My Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office has found that the 10,000 taels of silver that flowed into Dasui from Annan was transferred to Dadan by a tea merchant from Qiongzhou. The letter, I found out that it was written by Mr. He himself, which proves that Mr. He is related to the 10,000 taels of silver.”

He Yi said: “The letter was written by the Ministry of Justice with a military letter to investigate the case. Sir, if you have the ability to intercept the letter, you don’t have time to read it carefully?”

Liu Langzhong said: “Exactly, and this case was originally under investigation by the Ministry of Justice, even if Master Su is not in the palace, as long as she does not hand over the case to the capital for a day. The Procuratorate, the Metropolitan Procuratorate should not interfere too much, even if it is necessary to investigate, it is only to investigate the guidelines. The two adults’ guidelines are so upright, why not spread their beliefs to everyone, so that everyone can see if this letter is true? Evidence of Lord He’s crime.”

When Yan Xiu was about to speak, Liu Chaoming raised his hand to stop him, and said calmly: “This military letter does not prove that He Shilang is the perpetrator, so this officer just asks him to come back first. The Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office is asking questions.” He

glanced to the side, and ordered again: “Take someone.”

This time, Wei Jiang of Jinyiwei personally stepped forward to capture He Fu.

Liu Langzhong dodged and stepped in front of He Fu: “Master Liu, Master Yan, Master Wei, Master He is a high-ranking official and a third-rank servant of the court. If you want to take someone, it should be negotiated by the cabinet and the seven ministers. The cabinet has three Auxiliary ministers, Su Daren and Shen Daren did not speak, let alone Qiqing? Besides, Master Wei, a commander of the military and guards, who was hired by the Metropolitan Court, why would he be involved?!

” Again, block the way again and again.

Do you think you really can’t do anything about them?

Liu Chaoming’s eyes and voice suddenly became cold: “The emperor breaks the law and commits the same crime as the common people, not to mention the mere third-rank servant.” With

a flick of his sleeve, his words were like falling into an ice cellar: “What is the crime of obstructing the handling of the case by the three judicial divisions?”

Yan Xiu replied: “Return to your lord, whipping is mild, and capital punishment is severe.”

“Killed.” The

two words hit the ground like hard ice, making a bone-biting sound. The next moment, Wei Jiang put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, a flash of blade light flashed, and Liu Langzhong’s head instantly rolled to the ground.

Hot blood splattered He Ai all over.

He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the head that fell beside his feet. When he realized a fact, he couldn’t help shaking all over – Liu Yun didn’t come to tell them about Richard’s case at all, he just came to kill them of.

For Liu Yun, at this point, their party members only have the distinction of whether they should die, how to die, and what role death plays. There is no longer how to fight and how to fight.

Because each other is dead.

He Fu’s body softened, and he slumped on the ground. The officials, big and small, who came with him, all knelt down on the ground, like sinners waiting to be dealt with.

Liu Chaoming didn’t give any further orders. The guards had already put the whole group on their necks, invited them out one by one, and scrubbed the blood-stained floor of the main hall of the Hou Mansion.

Liu Chaoming took the copper key from a small official, unlocked the lock for Qi Boyuan in person, screened everyone back, and gave a respectful bow: “The student originally came to thank the teacher at the beginning of this month, and it has been delayed until today. It’s a last resort.”

Qi Boyuan was almost in his old age, and he had tossed a little, which made him look decadent, took a seat beside him, and after a while, he said: “I didn’t want to get involved in this situation, but, after all, I didn’t want to. I would like to see you lose and end up with the white-haired man sending the black-haired man.”

Liu Chaoming was silent for a while, and asked, “Dare to ask my teacher, did you hear about the student’s plan from the Fourth Highness?”

Qi Boyuan didn’t answer. But Liu Yun already had the answer in his heart.

He asked again, “Since the Fourth Highness has asked his mentor to take action, he must have promised his mentor. What did he promise his mentor?”

However, when he asked this question, there was still no reply.

Liu Chaoming didn’t ask any further questions, but said, “The capital is too difficult and dangerous, and the teacher got into the game because of this, and it will inevitably be affected. The students will personally order someone to send the teacher to Hangzhou tomorrow.

” go.

There is no sunset in the sky, and there is a chilling wind everywhere, and the stratus clouds on the horizon are rolling, thick and black.

Qi Boyuan looked up and saw that Liu Yun was alone, walking in the wind, under the haze.

And the capital is about to change.

[End of This Chapter]