Since Guo Di presided over most of the reconstruction work, Guo Kang had some understanding of the ins and outs.
"If it was when Eudocia was a child..." He thought about it and said to Li Xuanying: "It should be after my grandfather passed away, when Xianggong Wang was the governor of Dadu. At that time, a group of officials were indeed transferred to the city. , trying to intervene within various communities and mediate disputes. However, this attempt was not very successful, so after that, only the dock area was focused on management, and other places were given up."
"The government does not have the ability to ensure that every civil case verdict is smoothly implemented." Guo Kang said: "Issues like this about the ownership of theater troupes are often a bad debt. And after the verdict is announced, it is completely useless if other people refuse to accept it. After all, the troupe’s most valuable assets are the talent of the writers and the skills of the actors. If these people don’t recognize it, then there is no use in pronouncing the verdict.”
"So here's the question." Guo Kang shrugged and asked, "Her mother is a weak woman, and the government's protection is weak. So how did she force these uncles to compromise?"
"Maybe... other friends?" Li Xuanying seemed to have never thought about it.
"So how do you think she got her friends?" Guo Kang said dumbfounded: "Is this lady just like Tuohuan, drinking and wrestling with people every day, and making friends?"
Li Xuanying opened her mouth, but couldn't answer for a while. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Probably not..."
"Look, we have to seriously consider the issues reflected in these incidents." Guo Kang said with an expected expression: "I'm going to ask a few questions, and you can tell me the truth based on what you know - it's not that I don't believe it. She is a person who sometimes unconsciously describes problems in the direction she wants. Even if she thinks she is telling the truth, it may not be the closest to reality. Therefore, I need many situations seen from other perspectives to compare and analyze. .understand?"
"Okay, okay." Guo Kang said more tactfully, and Li Xuanying did not resist and nodded repeatedly.
Guo Kang then broke the question into more detail and guided him step by step to answer: "Eudosia's uncles once controlled the troupe. Is there no problem with this?"
"Yes." Li Xuanying nodded.
"There are only two possibilities. One is that her uncles have violent means, or are connected with some people with relevant power and money." Guo Kang said: "In the lower classes of the city, these connections are an indispensable part of the order. . If you use this - or perhaps several advantages - to force writers and actors to submit, you can achieve deterrence and force everyone to obey."
"The other kind is that the uncles are already very popular. Everyone really recognizes them, so whether for themselves or in response to everyone's wishes, they finally use this power to try to drive away the wife and daughter of the former theater owner. This It’s also possible.”
"According to what I know, it should be the first case." Li Xuanying said: "The members of the troupe don't like those uncles, because the entire troupe was organized by Eudocia's father, the old leader John. "
"Those people are actually street gangsters who have made a living by extortion and brother Lai's money for a long time. They interfered in the affairs of the troupe because someone tried to use them as tools. At that time, the play that Captain John and Mr. Manicas collaborated on was in Brazil After Er III's triumphal return, they won a prize at the drama festival, and the troupe was booming. So, they tried to control the troupe, hoping to make profits."
"Is the source of this news reliable?" Guo Kang reminded: "Did you summarize it yourself, or was it told to you by others?"
"I learned all this myself." Li Xuanying explained: "I'm not a fool. I still know the difference between true and false information."
"I hope, I hope."
Guo Kang sighed, as if he didn't believe it, which made him quite unhappy. But now he was begging for help, so he had to hold it in.
However, this matter is indeed relatively easy to investigate. Because there are many people involved and it is difficult to conceal it, what Li Xuanying said should be more credible.
"That's the question I'm asking." Guo Kang then said: "Violence, money, and connections are all very useful things at the lower level. Where did this woman get enough power to fight against these?"
"Is it her husband's inheritance?" Li Xuanying speculated.
"If her husband had enough power and supported her, then the mother and daughter would not have been driven away by the uncles from the beginning." Guo Kang shook his head: "Even for her husband's inheritance, she obviously paid a price to be able to Obtained. What I care about now is the price she paid."
"I probably know what you are thinking." Li Xuanying glanced at him thoughtfully and said, "I don't think everything her mother did was moral. In that situation, there is no way to ask for it. she."
"This is not a moral issue." Guo Kang emphasized: "If she did something unethical for the sake of her family, thereby ruining her reputation and harming her own interests, then it really doesn't matter. On the contrary, it is more important to On a large scale, this is even a form of self-sacrifice worthy of sympathy.”
"But is she really the only one she sacrificed?" Guo Kang asked back: "Odosia said that when her mother was negotiating with her uncles, she asked her to join the troupe. I can't figure out why."
"If it's true, then there's something wrong with her mother. With such help, can't she be able to raise a little girl?" Guo Kang shook his head: "We all know what kind of profession an actress is, and she didn't even have a name at the beginning. Neither is an actor. Without the help of the writer, she would definitely not have the fate she has now. Logically speaking, the daughter of the theater owner would not have reached this point. I can't think of why her mother did this. "
This time, Li Xuanying didn't answer either.
"Anyway, this matter is very weird." Guo Kang shook his head and said, "I think we should investigate it and then determine what we should do."
"Then, is there anything I can do to help?" Li Xuanying asked quickly.
"As long as you don't hold back." Guo Kang said speechlessly.
If Li Xuanying hadn't been watching them now, he would have wanted to arrest the mother and daughter first and interrogate them carefully.
Guo Kang has always cooperated with the church, and the church of the Purple Horde Khanate followed the tradition of the Eastern Roman Empire. Although it did not have much power, it also had basic functions such as inquiring about information and identifying heretics. Some monasteries were also used to house political prisoners.
On the other hand, due to the efforts of Patriarch Zhang, the church formed a capable investigative force in the process of destroying mountains and cutting down temples all year round. Until now, it is one of the permanent institutions of the Purple Horde Khanate.
Underground in the capital, there are many water palaces built in the Eastern Roman era, which were used to regulate and store drinking water to maintain the water supply in the city when it was besieged. Over the past thousand years, a large number of water palaces have been built, and their scale is also very large. However, due to the decline of the city, many water palaces have gradually become abandoned. It is said that in the world before him, throughout the Ottoman period, people failed to figure out the specific number and distribution of these water palaces.
After the Purple Horde Khanate took over the city, many abandoned water palaces became hiding places for criminals. Of course, the Khan's court also cleaned up a lot of it and reused it. Some will continue to be used to store water, while others will be used for other purposes.
Every winter, the transport fleet will transport a large amount of ice from the north and send it to a huge underground palace belonging to the church for storage for use after the hot weather. The ice Guo Kang used for his previous experiments was taken out from here with help from the church.
This water palace located in the west of the city not only serves as an icehouse, but also serves as a prison cell. Prisoners caught by the church and the "Night Watch" who were involved in sensitive issues were often sent here to be secretly detained and interrogated.
There is a church above the Water Palace, which operates the church's old business-brewing. One of the main exits of the Water Palace is in the church. And under the exit, there is indeed a small warehouse for wine. Here, prisoners were often transported in or out under the cover of transporting wine.
Therefore, this place is often commonly known as the "West Ice Library Tavern" by those in the know. Of course, the prisoners probably won't be too keen on drinking here.
At present, for Guo Kang, finding an opportunity to secretly arrest these two people and other relevant personnel and send them to Xibingku for first trial may be the best way to ensure safety and solve the mystery.
And thinking that Li Xuanying's parents still didn't know about this, Guo Kang suddenly felt that this was really a feasible option.
He thought about it over and over, and finally began to wonder how he could invite these two people to the Xibingku Hotel without over-stimulating Li Xuanying or disturbing the Li family.
(End of chapter)
