"Who is it?" The cell leader lit a torch and walked into the corridor of the row of cells, his expression suddenly changed.
"Come and arrest them!"
The jailer outside heard this shout and hurriedly came in with a knife and a gun. He saw the jailer subduing a strong man with a black cloth on his face to the ground with his hands. An unsheathed dagger fell next to him, and the blade was full of new thorns. The blood came out.
"Just don't let him run away! This man doesn't dare to kill the officers and soldiers, otherwise I would have died just now." He called to the soldiers behind him.
The jailers stepped forward and put their swords and guns on the man's neck, and the prison leader just stood up. He first picked up the dagger, borrowed a cloth to wipe the blood on it, and then ran to each cell to see what was going on. Only Secretary Chen was leaning against the wall, motionless. The cell leader immediately went in and saw that Secretary Chen had a wound on his heart. A bloody hole was made, as wide as the blade; when he touched the breath, he was indeed dead.
The cell leader came out of the cell and inspected the dagger as he walked. There were a few small words printed on the handle, 'Dagger of Chenzhou Governor Yuan Lun'.
"Let him go." Yuan Lun pushed away the guns and motioned to pull the assassin up.
The assassin stood up and the cell leader said to him: "Go back and tell Yuan Lun that he is so bold that he dared to commit suicide privately. Let's see how he explains it to people from the province!"
"Yes." The assassin couldn't say anything else, so he had to agree.
"I'll keep the knife." The prison head put the dagger into its sheath, "You can go back."
The assassin did not have Yuan Lun's instructions and did not dare to offend the officers and soldiers, so he left honestly.
Lu Deguang found out, but he was surprised and happy. He was surprised that Yuan Lun was so bold, and he was happy that he had exposed his flaw. In the end, he expected that Yuan Weizong would definitely die.
"Where did the dagger go?"
"I don't know." When the assassin said this, cold sweat broke out on his back. "Maybe... it fell off halfway."
"Are you in the room?!" It seemed like he might get angry every moment, which made the seven-foot strong man tremble. He could only answer hesitantly: "Well... I... maybe not."
Yuan Lun wanted to scold angrily, but he tolerated it a little and just said in a stern tone: "You are acting recklessly and you have failed me. Go back first."
Yuan Lun originally thought that Lu Deguang's offensive might be slower, but it backfired. He did not know that a letter involving him had been quietly sent to Kaifeng to meet with the governor.
The governor of Henan Province who is reading the letter is named Fang. Although this person is not very important in this book, it is necessary to say who Governor Fang is. Governor Fang was originally the Deputy Privy Envoy of the Central Privy Council of the DPRK. Later, when Liu Zhennian entered the DPRK and participated in politics, he needed to have strong military control over the capital, so he excluded Governor Fang, who was not a party member, because Governor Fang was from a prominent family and had great political achievements. He was so outstanding that even though he was expelled from the imperial court, he could still serve as a local official.
Governor Fang originally favored "loyal" people like Lu Deguang, especially since he resisted the Liu Party from beginning to end, which gave Governor Fang a lot of good impressions. He immediately ordered the inspector to take the army and rush to Chenzhou by carriage to investigate the case.
In less than three days, the news of the immigration of the inspectors has filled the streets and alleys of Huaining. When the people looked at the sky, they were really aware of the sudden change of the situation.
Lu Deguang is stepping up his efforts to prepare evidence in order to overthrow Yuan Lun in one fell swoop. There are only three kinds of evidence: the first is the dagger, proving that Yuan Lun appointed the murderer; the second is the submission submitted by the widow, proving that Wang Boyi was strangled for Chen Shuli; the third is the letter written by Chen Shuli to the province. He wrote a letter to prove Yuan Lun's secret lawsuit. Knowing that the letter was detrimental to him, he was assassinated by an assassin.
After sorting it out, the prefect followed Li Yong's statement and included the document that transferred Chen Shuli to the office, intending to prove that Yuan Lun had interfered with the prefect's authority and increase his guilt.
In order to prevent the evidence from being lost, Lu Deguang naturally wanted to find a reliable official to protect him, and that could only be Ye Yongjia. Lu Deguang ordered Li Yong to send the evidence to the Tongzhifu Yamen. In order to keep it secret, Ye Yongjia ordered Lieutenant Commander Kou to stuff the evidence documents into the bottom layer of the study cabinet and cover them with books.
Lu Deguang then sent people to the place where the inspection envoy was located and surrounded it with heavy troops to prevent any unexpected events.
On the day when the inspector arrived, Lu Deguang lined up for several miles and personally led the officials, big and small, to greet the inspector. They were all crowded together, but only one person did not arrive.
The inspector hasn't found it yet. He walked gently to Lu Deguang. The first sentence is to ask:
"Where is Yuan Lun now?"
Lu Deguang lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, Yuan Lun is currently under house arrest in the Governor's Hall. He will be called out as soon as the Inspector ascends to the hall."
"That's good." The inspector slowly looked to the left and right, "Where is Tongzhi? Why didn't I come with you to greet him?"
"He is sorting out the evidence at Tongzhi Yamen. I will call him out immediately after he is promoted to court." Lu Deguang replied.
"That's good. You and I will go to the city for a walk first."
"yes."
Standing outside the yamen of Tongzhi was a burly military officer with a knife on his waist. He spoke to the yamen servant in a friendly manner: "May I ask what your opinion is, Lord Tongzhi, and would you let me in?"
"I know you are an officer in the Governor's Office, so how can I refuse to agree?"
After hearing this, the officer smiled and said goodbye to the Yamen servant. He turned around and walked straight to the back of the lobby. He entered the second hall from the courtyard and saw Kou Zhong face to face. "Slave, where is your master?"
Kou Zhong pointed to the study and said, "Just open the door."
Without saying a word, the officer gently opened the door and saw Ye Yongjia sitting at the table. When he saw him coming, he hurriedly saluted him.
The officer was no longer polite at this time and did not return the salute. He pulled out the crescent-shaped blade with one hand, shining with silver light, and stopped it directly in front of Ye Yongjia's eyes, with a murderous look. Kou Zhong heard the sound of a knife outside and stretched his neck to take a look. He was really frightened. His face was as green as a piece of iron. He stood up straight and did not dare to move.
But Ye Yongjia had been on guard for a long time and asked him without changing his expression: "What do you want from the Governor's Office?"
"Captain Yuan said, hand over the evidence and burn it immediately!"
"otherwise?"
He waved his sword and said, "Otherwise your life will be lost!"
Ye Yongjia expected that the officer would not dare to kill a high-ranking official like himself at such a juncture, so he calmly went away.
"Kou Zhong," Ye Yongjia glanced at him, "Look for evidence."
"But..." Kou Zhong stared at the bookcase behind Ye Yongjia in panic, but Ye Yongjia quickly glanced into the second hall: "It's in the cabinet next to you."
When Kou Zhong heard this, he knew that his master was deliberately delaying the time. Although he was worried about him, he still obeyed the instructions and rummaged through the drawers leisurely.
"Hurry up!" the officer shouted.
"Don't be anxious yet. Put down the knife and let's drink a few bowls of tea." Ye Yongjia smiled lightly at him and spoke in a relaxed tone.
The officer was still hesitant, so Ye Yongjia persuaded him: "I am a scholar who doesn't know how to use swords and guns, so why should I be so careful?"
The officer then put away the knife doubtfully. Ye Yongjia lifted the teapot on the table and poured hot tea for the officer.
The two of them drank by themselves and watched Kou Zhong rummaging for evidence.
