...
Kyoto, the residence of Zhang Tuizhi, Minister of Household Affairs.
Zhao Wujiang and Jia Ersan went to the dungeon of the Criminal Department to check and found that Zhang Tuizhi had indeed been silenced.
He went straight to Zhang Tuizhi's mansion without much hesitation.
There are forbidden troops guarding Zhang's mansion inside and outside.
If something happens to the mansion of an official of this level, ordinary soldiers and guards are not qualified to take over.
Zhao Wujiang had the token given by the empress, and entered the Zhang Mansion with the token.
...
Contrary to the expected luxury, after Zhao Wujiang entered Zhang's house, he felt more of a kind of simplicity.
If he hadn't known that Zhang Tuizhi, the Minister of Household Affairs, was corrupt, violated the law, and embezzled money from the treasury, he might have thought that Zhang Tuizhi was an impoverished and honest official.
After walking through the front hall, winding east and west, Zhao Wujiang and Jia Ersan arrived at Zhang Tuizhi's usual study.
Generally speaking, people with status usually store important items in the study room. Of course, there are some who do the opposite, but they are too few.
Zhao Wujiang directly tore open the seal at the study door and pushed the door open.
What catches the eye is the simple furnishings in the study.
A row of bookshelves, a desk, five chairs, and a pot of autumn chrysanthemums.
The bookshelf and the main table were piled with books and looked a bit messy.
Jia Ersan guarded the door of the room while Zhao Wujiang looked at the study.
The simplicity of this study was somewhat beyond Zhao Wujiang's expectation, but he knew that some things should not be taken at face value. For example, there was a secret room in Chen Anbang's mansion.
Maybe there is a secret room in Zhang Tuizhi's study.
He first sat on the main seat in front of the desk and picked up a book.
It is somewhat inaccurate to say that it is a book. To be more precise, it should be an account book.
He quickly flipped through the account book, which showed the details of the account department, large and small matters.
Zhao Wujiang quickly flipped through the books one by one and found nothing unusual. They were all large and small accounts, recorded in detail.
There are also some classical books, which are the teachings of saints and the like.
Zhao Wujiang searched the desk to no avail and started searching the bookshelves again.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the books on the bookshelf carefully, scanning them slowly.
Finally, he discovered something unusual. Many books on the bookshelf were covered with dust, but there were a few books that were clean and dust-free, proving that Zhang Tuizhi often took them out and read them.
Zhao Wujiang took out all these books.
"Kakaka..."
The moment he took it out, Zhao Wujiang heard a strange noise, and the floor under his feet began to crack, revealing a depression two feet long and one foot wide.
Zhao Wujiang knelt down and observed. It turned out that the depression was a hidden compartment built under the floor.
There is a wooden box that is two palms wide and three palms long quietly placed in the secret compartment.
Zhao Wujiang opened the wooden box and found a ledger inside.
What kind of ledger would be stored in secret compartments by Zhang Tuizhi?
He opened the account book and found that it was all recorded in words he couldn't understand. It was densely packed and neat.
Zhao Wujiang didn't recognize the words on the ledger, but that didn't mean others didn't recognize them. He decided to take the ledger back to check.
Since it can be stored like this by Zhang Tuizhi, what he wants to record will not be simple.
Zhao Wujiang stuffed the account book into his arms, closed the wooden box, and then put the few books he pulled out back into the bookshelf in their original positions. The mechanism was activated again, and the secret compartment was sealed.
He inspected the study again and found nothing unusual, so he prepared to leave.
Just when he was about to open the door, his eyes inadvertently glanced at the potted plant on the side.
The potted plant is a cluster of autumn chrysanthemums.
Isn't it some kind of agency? Zhao Wujiang squatted down, held the potted plant in his hands and turned it around, and found that there was no movement in the room.
He turned a few more times, but still there was no movement. Then he started to turn in the opposite direction again, and the room became quiet.
He lifted the potted plant. The bottom of the pot was dry and he found nothing unusual.
I don't believe it... Zhao Wujiang rubbed his hands, and his intuition told him that there was something weird about this potted plant.
After thinking for a few breaths, he stared at the soil where the autumn chrysanthemums were planted and murmured:
"This soil is wrong..."
According to the dense root system of autumn chrysanthemums, this cluster of autumn chrysanthemums should be planted in the center of the mud pot, but the root system is crooked, which proves that there is something underneath that prevents it from absorbing water.
Zhao Wujiang pulled Qiu Ju out, and sure enough, a touch of oily yellow was revealed between the dark brown moist soil.
He dug away the excess soil, and what was revealed in front of him was a letter wrapped tightly in oil paper.
Sure enough, serious people don't write about this stuff, so just write it and hide it... Zhao Wujiang's lips cracked into a smile, Chen Anbang also wrote a letter, and he also wrote a letter when he retreated.
I am afraid that I have done too many things out of spite, and I am afraid that one day I will become a prisoner or be assassinated, so I have left myself a way out and an excuse in advance.
Zhao Wujiang opened the oil-paper umbrella layer by layer. The letter inside was brand new, but it had a sense of staleness. It must have been a few years since this letter was written.
Zhao Wujiang slowly unfolded the letter paper, his eyes glanced at the writing, and his eyes widened for a moment. He did not expect that this letter recorded such secrets. If it were spread, the court would be shaken and it would be difficult to stop.
