The weather was perfect at noon that day, and Quan Rui, the manager of Du's house, was sitting in the front yard basking in the sun.
Suddenly someone blocked his sunlight.
He smacked his lips, feeling quite unhappy. When he opened his eyes to look, he was so frightened that he stood up hastily.
"Girl, why are you here again?"
Jiaonu made a cold face and said calmly: "Your right minister summons Xue Bai, where are the others?"
"Xue Langjun, in the backyard."
Just as Jiao Nu was about to leave, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why are you panicking?"
"Don't panic, don't panic, I'm not panicking, you're the welcome girl."
Quan Rui adjusted his mentality and re-accepted the fact that Du Zhai was still under the control of the right prime minister, and his attitude became cautious, no longer as panicked as before.
Jiao Nu entered the hall, and soon brought Xue Bai out, got on his horse, and went to the Prime Minister's Mansion in Pingkangfang.
The Right Prime Minister's Mansion still has a lifeless atmosphere.
In the hall, Ji Wen was also there, standing there with a bow, looking like he had failed to handle something again and was being scolded.
Li Linfu is still behind the screen, giving people a sense of mystery and superiority.
When Xue Bai saw Li Linfu two days later, he felt depressed, but it didn't show on his face. He crossed his arms and called "right minister" in a rather enthusiastic tone.
"I heard that you went to Mrs. Guo Guo's house yesterday to write a poem." Li Linfu asked with a hint of joking: "Do you have any intention of changing the family?"
"The Prime Minister has misunderstood." Xue Bai said, "I am just going to see the world with Yang Canjun."
"After seeing the world, don't forget to act for the truth."
"I will do my best and die."
Li Linfu stopped beating him and said calmly: "Follow Ji Wen."
"Here."
There was a shadow of a person behind the screen for a while, but Li Linfu was no longer there.
Ji Wen turned around, showed a smiling expression, raised his hand and said: "Xue Xiaolangjun, please."
"I wonder what I need to do with Jifacao?"
"The person whom Mr. Xue Xiaolang brought back should be personally interrogated by Mr. Xue Xiaolang."
"What about the Longxi veteran?"
Xue Bai was slightly surprised and didn't understand why Ji Wen couldn't even solve an iron case with solid evidence.
With a fake smile on his face, Ji Wen did not hide the fear of Xue Bai in his eyes, and led him towards the west side of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion.
The journey took a long time, getting more and more eccentric, and finally we saw a small courtyard with a high wall.
The Yimen is heavily guarded. It must be the private prison of Youxiang Mansion, where the Longxi veteran is imprisoned.
Xin Twelve was waiting in the corridor. When he saw Ji Wen arriving, he bent down to greet him.
"Is there any progress?" Ji Wen asked.
Xin Twelve shook his head repeatedly and replied: "No."
"Then it seems that Mr. Xue Xiaolang needs to take action." Ji Wen sneered slightly, "Please."
Xue Bai followed his lead and entered the door. It was indeed a private prison inside.
After walking through the long corridor, it became darker and darker in front of me. When I turned into a torture room, a fishy smell hit my face.
Holding a lantern and shining the light over it, I saw that the Longyou veteran was tied to the torture rack, his head hanging weakly, and almost no skin and flesh on his body was intact.
Opposite the torture rack is a table with an oil lamp lit and many files spread out.
"Can I see it?" Xue Bai pointed at the file.
"please."
Ji Wen was still sneering, making people want to tear his face off.
There are many land deeds and slave deeds included in the file.
Xue Bai looked at it for a while and saw that the address of the land deed was that villa in the western suburbs of Chang'an, and the owner was a man named "Jiang Kuan".
And the slaves and tribes in this other industry also belong to this "Jiang Kuan".
"Who is Jiang Kuan?" Xue Bai asked.
Ji Wen sneered slightly, cupped his hands and didn't answer.
Jiao Nu reminded in a low voice: "It's the old lady of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion."
Xue Bai was stunned for a moment, and then he vaguely realized how difficult this case was.
"Wei Jian's wife Jiang is the cousin of the Prime Minister You." Jiaonu added: "The prince's party took advantage of this to blame the Prime Minister You for everything. These Longyou soldiers all beat up old men. A person’s name…”
Xue Bai listened for a while and finally understood.
Although Li Linfu was a member of the Li Tang clan, he was already a distant relative and could only fill a minor official position. His first reliance in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty was his uncle Jiang Jiao.
Wei Jian married Jiang Jiao's daughter.
Therefore, Li Linfu and Wei Jian once had a close relationship and were extremely good friends. The reason why they turned against each other was firstly because Wei Jian's sister married Prince Li Heng, and secondly because Wei Jian threatened Li Linfu's position.
In short, the fight for power in the court is actually fought by some relatives. The prince's party must have taken advantage of this relationship to place many criminal evidence in Li Linfu's name.
Xue Bai looked at the Longxi veteran's confession again.
This person's name is Jiang Mao, and he is a tribe of Jiang Kuan. There are documents to prove it.
Jiang Mao served in the Longyou army from the 26th year of Kaiyuan to the first year of Tianbao. At that time, Li Linfu was leading the military envoys of Longyou and Hexi.
No matter how you look at it, these are all Li Linfu's people.
"I'll do it." Jiang Mao, who was tied to the rack, murmured, "I'll do it."
Xue Bai stepped forward and asked, "Who ordered you to kill You Xiaowei?"
"Right...right prime minister." Jiang Mao said in a low voice without raising his head: "Right prime minister treats me with kindness and orders me to take custody of important witnesses..."
"I will get your family soon." Xue Bai said: "It would be better to tell the truth earlier."
"I'll do all the moves." Jiang Mao, who was tortured to the point of dying, murmured in a weak voice: "It's all what you ordered me to do..."
Someone in the execution room said "ha".
Xue Bai turned around and saw that it was Ji Wen.
Ji Wen shrugged, rolled his eyes, and said, "This is the person Xue Langjun captured, but it turned out to be a trap."
This sentence offended Jiao Nu, and she couldn't help but sneered: "What can you do?"
Jiwen panicked and quickly apologized: "I don't dare, I don't dare."
Xue Bai confirmed it again and found that Ji Wen had not gained much so far. Except for the testimony of the young eunuch sent by Li Jingzhong to the western suburbs and Du Jin, there was no evidence to directly prove that the prince had raised those Longyou soldiers.
In other words, even if a solid case is solved, the prince may still not be convicted.
Xue Bai turned around and left the execution room, walked to the corridor, looked at the snowy scene in the courtyard, and took a deep breath.
He began to think back on the entire Wei Jian case and the Du Youlin case, and realized that it was no coincidence that Li Heng was spared every time. He had underestimated the weak prince.
"It seems that Mr. Xue Xiaolang has nothing to do?" Ji Wen walked out and sneered.
Xue Bai said: "Obviously Jiang Mao is lying."
Ji Wen said: "The matter is of great importance. We can't expose it in front of the saint without even preparing the evidence!"
Xue Bai realized that although Ji Wen was a cruel official, he did not dare to fool the current saint.
He nodded and asked Jiao Nu: "Do I need to return to the right?"
"The Right Prime Minister is waiting for you in Yanyue Hall."
"Thank you."
Ji Wen looked at Xue Bai's back and murmured: "You said that the Right Prime Minister wants to check his origins in order to appoint him?"
Xin Twelve responded quickly: "It is natural that the right prime minister should check clearly when appointing people, but how can he give an official to such a young boy?"
"To replace me." Ji Wen sighed.
Xin Twelve couldn't help but shuddered, and quickly responded: "The villain has already followed the clues given by Yang Zhao last night, and must find out the details of this kid as soon as possible."
~~
Yanyue Hall.
"The truth is surrounded by trash."
Li Linfu was holding scissors and pruning a small pine tree in a pot. He said lightly: "You took that Longyou veteran. Can you find out?"
Xue Bai responded: "Jiang Mao is a tough guy. Ji Wen has already tried the method of torture to extract a confession. I'm afraid I can't pry his mouth open. I can use other methods."
"oh?"
Xue Bai said: "Registers can be forged, and he can claim to be Youxiang Buqu and live in Youxiangbieye industry. But it is impossible for such a big living person to live in Chang'an and work for Li Heng without leaving any traces from beginning to end. "
"Can you find these traces?"
"It's very simple, check."
"Ji Wen has already checked."
Xue Bai asked: "Ji Wen's investigation is different from my investigation. What if he really checked everyone Jiang Mao knew, including colleagues who joined the army in the same year or returned home together, neighbors who he saw each other every day, and people who spent money on whoring? The prostitute wouldn’t have had any clues until now.”
Li Linfu turned his head and took a deep look at him.
Xue Bai responded seriously: "I am willing to do my best for your right minister."
It seems that with his words, some people have become even harder to work as cruel officials.
Li Linfu continued to prune the potted plants, thinking slightly in his eyes.
Xue Bai continued: "Right Prime Minister, I need to check the Longyou military register after the 26th year of Kaiyuan, and I also need the cooperation of some Youxiao guards."
"Jiaonu, please keep the original belief and let him investigate."
"Here."
After Xue Bai and Jiao Nu exited Yanyue Hall, Li Linfu sighed and murmured: "Wei Jian was originally the person I trusted the most, but in the end he took advantage of I's relative... Runnu."
"My slave is here."
"Send someone to Lingnan and don't let Wei Jian survive this new year."
"Here."
As Li Linfu spoke, he used the scissors in his hand to cut off a branch with a slight click, as if cutting off Wei Jian's head.
~~
You Xiaowei Yamen Office.
Xue Bai came looking for him with the token of Youxiang Mansion, and soon met Yang Zhao.
Although Yang Zhao accepted Ji Wen's favor to help find out Xue Bai's identity, he still had no regrets when they met.
"Haha, brother Xue has sobered up? Later you fell into the favor of Mrs. Guo Guo, but don't forget your brother's hard work. What do you want the right minister to do?"
Xue Bai looked over and saw that although Yang Zhao was smiling, there was a deep look of sadness on his face. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened to Uncle Guo?"
"well."
Xue Bai thought for a while and asked in a low voice: "I heard that the imperial concubine went to Mrs. Guo's house yesterday, but it is related to this."
Yang Zhao nodded, his eyes becoming more and more sad.
He was not someone who could hide things, and said in a low voice: "The imperial concubine had a dispute with the saint and left the palace. I am afraid that the Yang family's wealth will come to an end. If this is true, I will have to rely on you to support me in the future."
"You're upset, why?"
"It is said that the saint was angry with the concubine because she was jealous and arrogant, so he sent her out of the palace." Yang Zhao was quite troubled and whispered: "The three ladies are trying to persuade her to surrender to the saint, but she refuses to listen, which is very sad. .”
Xue Bai looked around and saw that Yang Zhao was indeed worried.
But he knew that Concubine Yang would never fall out of favor like this, so he said, "Don't worry, uncle, the saint is just angry for a moment, and he will definitely take Concubine back to the palace soon."
Seeing Xue Bai's firm tone, Yang Zhao couldn't help but ask, "How do you know?"
"You guessed it, uncle Guo just trusts me."
Yang Zhao lowered his voice slightly and said: "I am really worried about the imperial concubine, but I also want to make some suggestions for the imperial concubine in this matter and make some contributions. My dear brother is always smart, can you teach me some good advice?"
Xue Bai muttered: "Send a poem to your concubine."
"May I?"
"Uncle Guo, listen first."
"good."
Xue Bai thought for a moment and recited a poem casually.
"Dreams cannot come true when the turban is wet with tears, and singing is heard in the front hall late at night."
"The beauty is cut off before she gets old, and she will sit leaning against the smoke cage till dawn."
"This..." Yang Zhao rolled his eyes, nodded and said, "Let the saint hear this poem in the tone of a noble concubine? So that he can teach him to be soft-hearted?"
Xue Bai knew that Concubine Yang was fine and he was just adding icing on the cake, so he nodded calmly.
"It must be possible."
Yang Zhao was so happy that he quickly asked Xue Bai to read it again, jotted down the verses, and prepared to present the poem to Mrs. Guo's house.
"Uncle Guo, go slowly." Xue Bai said, "I still have official duties that I need to ask Uncle Guo for help."
"How can you still care about this?" Yang Zhao said hurriedly: "If you have anything to do, I will arrange someone for you."
Xue Bai had already made a calculation in his mind, and immediately said: "In that case, You Xiaowei has a Tian Shengong, I wonder if you can assign it to me?"
