It only takes half a day to ride back to Chang'an from Lishan Mountain.
On the way, Yang Guozhong told about Li Xi's family background. The descendants of the Bohai royal family of Longxi Li were relatives of the Tang Dynasty. Li Xi's father, Li Puguan, served as the governor of Lu County and succeeded Guangwu Bo.
The reason why Li Xi rebelled was that he was dissatisfied that the title of Guangwu Bo was inherited by his brother.
Therefore, Xue Bai originally thought that Li Xi's house should be a high-class one, but unexpectedly, he entered a small house in Changmingfang, south of Chang'an City.
"Huh? Even worse than when I first arrived in Chang'an."
Yang Guozhong had always been good at ransacking homes, so he couldn't help but be startled when he saw this courtyard, secretly thinking that there would be no luck this time.
Fortunately, he was here to "search for evidence", and the rest was just incidental.
"You see, the noble son is pretending to be honest, but he must have ulterior motives. Come in."
Xue Bai looked up and saw that there were spider webs on the eaves, so he asked, "Li Xi only has this house?"
Yang Guozhong said: "His home is in Lu County, and he usually lives in Zhaoying County Yamen, so this place must be where he contacts monsters and thieves."
Xue Bai could see that Li Xi was busy with official duties. Although he was only half a day away from Chang'an, he rarely returned to the capital to take care of matters.
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Yang Guozhong recruited two clerks and whispered: "Go to the study and do your work carefully."
"Don't worry, Zhongcheng. The skills of the little people are solid." "
The officials then went to create evidence that Li Xi and Liu Hua were in contact here.
Yang Guozhong was very considerate and even explained.
They then went to the study, broke the door and locked it in.
"Abai Mo must be offended. Li Xizhen was behind the scenes, but there was just a little bit of evidence missing when the case was finalized. We did not accuse him unjustly.
Although this house is dilapidated, the study is neatly kept and the shelves are filled with various books. It's possible that the reason why Li Xi still kept this house was that he couldn't bear to part with these books.
Yang Guozhong was busy fabricating evidence, while Xue Bai was observing.
There was a cabinet under the shelf, which must have contained something more important. Xue Bai opened it and took out a box, which was filled with letters.
He opened the thickest letter first, and found that the handwriting looked familiar, and the gestures were full of freedom and ease. Looking at the signature, I saw that it was indeed Li Bai, writing "Ode to Li Gong, Magistrate of Yucheng County".
"A king establishes a country and his people gather and disperse across the world. They are hundreds of miles away from the salty soil, thundering their majesty. Breaking away from their customs and winding them up, fishing for their people and containing them."
If Li Bai is willing to flatter someone, he is really willing to use words, and the flattery sounds extraordinary. "
After the praise at the beginning, it is said that Li Xi's family background is "Na Zhong Wang Ting, named Zhong Ding, and Hou Bo inherited his legacy", which is indeed prominent.
One of the sentences attracted Xue Bai's attention: "The Duke is the Yuanzi of Guangwu Bo. He is nineteen years old and worships Beihai Shouguang Wei."
Li Xi is the eldest son and can wait to inherit the title of Guangwu Bo. There is no need to rebel.
The text talks about his deeds as an official.
When Li Xi first became the county magistrate of Yucheng, there was an old and dilapidated well in the county government office. The water was already bitter. The officials wanted to dig a new well for him, but he tasted the water from the old well and smiled and said, "It is both bitter and clear. "It is enough to fulfill my ambition" and did not allow anyone to dig the well again. He was ordered to build the imperial mausoleum and spent 30,000 guan. When the work was completed, he had 8,000 guan left. He called refugees from five counties to do labor and never whipped anyone. Every time he saw a roadside The corpse was buried with private salary. The people in the county were grateful for his kindness and imitated him one after another...
Li Bai spoke highly of this Yucheng magistrate, "Observing his appointment, he behaved frugally, admiring his respect and giving way to others. He stimulated the integrity of upright men and promoted the purity of honest men."
Xue Bai read other letters and gradually came to a general judgment about Li Xi.
Among them, one letter caught his attention.
It was written by the captain of Yanshi County. It was full of complaints, saying that the victims of the disaster in Henan Province flocked to Luoyang, Hanjiaku refused to release grain, and the flood victims flooded Yanshi County, which made people helpless.
The letter was written at the end of the fifth year of Tianbao's reign, not long after Li Xigang was transferred from Yucheng to Zhaoying County, and the person who wrote the letter was named Wang Yansiam, who was promoted from Yucheng County Lieutenant to Yanshi County Lieutenant.
This incident was probably the reason why the rebels in Henan were able to participate in the construction of Huaqing Palace.
Xue Bai acted calmly, glanced at Yang Guozhong, and hid a few letters in his sleeves when he was not prepared.
Huaqing Palace.
Before nightfall, a fast horse came from the east. After seeing Chen Xuanli, the imperial guards who rode back were quickly summoned by the saint.
"At the end of the day, he arrived in Dongdu and rushed to Yanshi County without stopping, but the county captain Wang Yanxiang had already... committed suicide out of fear of crime."
"Suicide out of fear of crime? Or will you be killed and silenced?"
"General, please send me his last letter."
Gao Lishi then stepped forward to receive the letter. Wang Yanxiang claimed to be incompetent. Seeing the flood of victims but unable to provide relief, he asked Li Xi to take them to trek to Guanzhong to build a palace. Unexpectedly, it caused a catastrophe. He was ashamed of the divine grace and committed suicide to apologize. .
After hearing this, Li Longji immediately turned to look at Chen Xuanli and asked, "Did you send someone to kill him?"
"Back to the saint, this is not it."
If Chen Xuanli hadn't killed him by the way, this matter would have looked a bit like Li Linfu's approach, which was clear to Wei Jian and Huangfu Wei.
The same way everyone else dies. Then there is a big problem in Hanjiacang. The government officials in Henan are corrupt. Even Li Linfu can't explain it.
Soon, Li Longji shook his head and rejected the idea... He was sure that Li Linfu would not do such a stupid thing to hide it.
There were no problems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty that he governed, but these careerists with evil intentions were deceiving people.
Wang Yanxiang, the Yanshi captain who first sheltered those Caoye monster thieves, had already committed suicide out of fear of his crime, but Li Xi was still arrogant even before he died!
The night is getting darker.
Li Longji was still sitting there, no outsiders were around, he no longer pretended, his face was gloomy.
"Saint." Gao Lishi stepped forward and asked cautiously: "Would you like to rest early tonight?"
"Is Yang Guozhong back?"
"I must be on my way, and I won't be able to see you until tomorrow morning."
After Gao Lishi responded, he saw that the saint was not about to take a rest, so he asked: "Sage... you don't really believe what Wang He said?
Li Longji did not answer.
This made Gao Lishi find it increasingly difficult to figure out the saint's thoughts. After this assassination, the saint seemed to have changed, no longer as cheerful and open-minded as before.
"The saint has not visited the Eastern Capital for ten years. If he really cares about the people, why not..."
"No need."
Li Longji finally waved his hand and said: "I trust Wang Ao. When it comes to general affairs and money, he knows far more than Yang Guozhong, Li Xi and others."
Gao Lishi lowered his head and comforted softly: "In that case, why should the saint care about Li Xi's words? This case was just an accident and it is over. The right prime minister has governed the world well."
Li Longji rarely hesitated, and he still had little reason to convince himself.
"I should keep Li Xi and let him see that he is wrong."
"It's over, does the saint want to see the noble concubine tonight?"
Li Longji actually hesitated and asked, "Does General Gao feel that after the assassination, Taizhen's attitude towards me and her sworn brother was different?"
"Why did the saint say this?" Gao Lishi was greatly surprised. "The imperial concubine treats the saint as affectionately as ever, but I wonder who is talking nonsense in front of the saint?"
Li Longji couldn't tell.
He closed his eyes and recalled the time when he was young and purging Wuzhou Yaofeng. However, a small incident destroyed his almost perfect image of an emperor.
It was night, and he actually felt that it would be easier to face a plaything.
"Recruit model girls."
"According to the order."
Early the next morning, Li Longji met with Yang Guozhong again. He had restored the grand demeanor of the king in the past and his demeanor was relaxed.
"Back to the saint, I have found key evidence that proves that it was Li Xi who ordered Liu Hua to assassinate him."
"Then let's close the case."
"I obey the order."
Afterwards, Li Longji summoned Xue Bai and asked, "How was the search?"
Xue Bai has been thinking, why did Li Longji send him to go with the errand that Yang Guozhong could do alone?
He had an answer in mind, but he wasn't sure.
"Back to the saint, I did not find any evidence of Li Xi's rebellion. I only saw that Yang Zhongcheng's envoys made perjury."
"Really?" Li Longji looked at Xue Bai with a scrutinizing look.
Xue Bai continued: "After searching, I thought Li Xi was a loyal minister."
"Did you know that this loyal minister you spoke of protected the regicide monster?"
"Yang Zhongcheng wants to close the case as soon as possible and creates false evidence. I have no right to interfere in this matter, but I must tell the truth to the saint."
"Truth?" Li Longji sneered, vaguely aiming at Xue Bai.
"Yes." Xue Bai said: "Li Xi may have been negligent or may have been deceived by others, but he is definitely not the mastermind behind it. Please provide supporting evidence."
Li Longji didn't want to see the evidence and scolded: "In my opinion, you are the one who was deceived. You can easily believe the traitor."
He was just dissatisfied with Xue Bai.
After the assassination, when he began to doubt whether he was still as wise and courageous as when he was young, and then heard that Xue Bai killed a demon thief and saved Yang Yuhuan, the emotion he felt was actually jealousy, jealous of Xue Bai's youth.
This emotion came out of nowhere. Li Long basically thought that he would be very happy that Yang Yuhuan was safe and sound, and rewarded Xue Bai heavily for this, but all he could think about was that he was more popular than him in front of his woman.
It shouldn't be like this.
Li Longji had no shortage of ministers to do things. The reason why he summoned Xue Bai was to confirm whether he had begun to dislike this young man who was even more romantic than he was when he was young.
This emperor rarely lost his temper.
Xue Bai felt Li Longji's dissatisfaction more and more strongly. Therefore, he knew that he could not imitate Wang and Yang Guozhong and become an obedient minister.
To give an inappropriate example, if you are already disliked by a woman, if you continue to be submissive, you will only be looked down upon.
Once "smoothness" is no longer useful, value must be shown.
He had to give Li Longji a little emotion that others couldn't, without going too far.
"I think that if Li Xi is really the mastermind, he can take advantage of the opportunity of building Huaqing Palace to send the demon thieves into the inner garden." Xue Bai paused and said, "Therefore, this case should be just a rebellion by the demon thieves."
Loyalty is unpleasant to the ears, and the truth is not pleasant to hear either.
Fortunately, Xue Bai was talking about demons and thieves causing trouble, unlike Li Xi who was directly talking about officials forcing the people to rebel.
Li Longji was still unhappy, but his anger towards Xue Bai finally shifted from the original inexplicable jealousy to business matters.
In addition, what Li Xi said that day was still lingering in his mind.
"Okay, Xue Qing might as well tell me, what do you think of this case?"
"I believe that at least the nearly a thousand victims Li Xi recruited from Henan Prefecture are real. Although more than twenty monsters and thieves were mixed in among them, how many people will die along the way from their hometown to Luoyang and then to Lishan? How many people will die in the end? There are nearly a thousand laborers left, which shows that the scale of the disaster is not small."
This is an angle that other ministers have never mentioned. Chen Xuanli, Yang Guozhong, Wang and others don't care about the victims at all.
Does Li Longji care? Xue Bai didn't know.
He thought the saint cared about face.
"Of course, disasters are common. Given the strength of the Tang Dynasty, it is difficult to cope with it. It should be because the local officials did not do a good job."
Xue Bai said: "I found a letter in Li Xi's study from Yanshi County Lieutenant Wang Yansiam, stating that the victims came to Luoyang but failed to receive relief. I asked the saint to read it."
Gao Lishi thought that Xue Bai had said enough, so he asked for permission with his eyes, and then said: "Wang Yansiam committed suicide out of fear of crime, why can't he and Li Xi be the conspirators?"
Xue Bai said: "What General Gao said is true, and it is possible."
After answering, he stood aside respectfully and said no more.
Anyway, he didn't have much involvement in the case. He had shown a loyal and upright attitude.
If the emperor is willing to accept his advice, he is a pure minister; if the emperor hates him, it doesn't matter, he will look away, and from now on he will be an unpopular minister, selling his reputation.
The incense in the incense burner was burned out, and a palace maid came forward to light it again. Xue Bai stood there, accepting Li Longji's inspection.
After a long time, Li Longji opened his mouth, without commenting on Xue Bai's advice, and said calmly: "You have done a good job in protecting the emperor, and I should reward you. If you are appointed as the Zhaoying County Lieutenant, will you have the confidence to govern this country?"
In an instant, Xue Bai almost bowed and agreed.
He worked hard and planned for a long time just to get such a position.
But then, he hesitated for a moment and thought, is it really okay to stay in Lishan now?
After quickly weighing the options, Xue Bai responded: "If you are brave, may your Majesty please appoint me as... Yanshi County Lieutenant."
Yanshi County is a county in the eastern capital, and the qualifications for promotion in the future will be the same. However, Luoyang is further away from the emperor, making promotion more difficult.
Xue Bai decided to go because Yanshi was the only way for water transportation and was very close to Luoyang and Hanjiacang, and he was really willing to see what those victims who could be bribed to rebel with a piece of cake were like.
"Nonsense!" Gao Lishi immediately yelled: "Are you the one to choose your official position in the Tang Dynasty?!"
But at this moment, Gao Lishi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Xue Bai's temporary absence from Chang'an would be good for the saint's mood, the concubine's situation, and his own future.
"I deserve to die."
"Why do you want to be appointed Yanshi Lieutenant?" Li Longji asked.
"In the spring of the sixth year of Tianbao's reign, I once received a letter stating that the water transport was wrong; now I have found a letter from Li Xi, talking about the disaster in Henan. I want to go to Dongdu to see the situation on behalf of the saint."
I have so many servants that I am not short of you as a minor official.
"Yes, I am arrogant." Xue Bai said: "I just think that after I went to see it and came back... I can tell the truth to the saint."
Li Longji looked at him again and said calmly: "Official appointments are subject to evaluation by Zhongshu's disciples and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Don't always ask me for an official position."
"minister…."
"Back off."
"According to the order."
Wait for Xue Bai to leave.
Li Longji closed his eyes and pondered, his expression gradually relaxed.
Today, he solved two problems.
For one thing, he was reluctant to give Xue Bai a generous reward because of his love for the imperial concubine, and even had some murderous intentions because of it. Xue Bai took the initiative to leave Chang'an, which calmed his emotions a lot.
Secondly, although he didn't believe Li Xi's words, he still couldn't get rid of them. Although what Wang Que said was reasonable, it would always make people uneasy if he didn't confirm it. When all the ministers around you are only flattering, send some ministers who can tell the truth to take a look. If there is really nothing wrong in the world, you can feel at ease.
"Pass an order to Yin Weiji of Henan Province to conduct a thorough investigation of the free warehouses in all states and counties in Henan Prefecture."
"According to the order."
"Let's talk to Taizhen again. Her sworn brother offered to serve in the Eastern Capital. It's not that I'm stingy about the reward."
Where is Li Xi's body? "
"The saint showed mercy and allowed his wife and children to send him back to Lu County for burial."
"I want to send him off." Xue Bai said.
Yang Guozhong shook his head subconsciously and said, "You shouldn't cause such a disaster."
Xue Bai went anyway.
He had never seen Li Xi before. When he first met, he saw several orphans and widows holding a thin coffin.
Xue Bai handed Li Bai's article "Ode to Li Gong, Magistrate of Yucheng County" into the hands of Li Xi's son.
"Keep it until the day when justice is vindicated."
Because Xue Bai couldn't persuade Li Longji to admit that the government forced the people to rebel. What he said could only make Li Longji think that he was honest, and then send an honest official to Henan Province to serve as a low-level official to look at the people's livelihood. I thought this was settled.
Not mentioning the land equalization system, not mentioning the mediocrity of renting, not mentioning the free warehouse law...the only thing the emperor solved was the unhappiness in his heart.
