After the reward here was confirmed, Ling Buyi and the others were not far from the capital.
They were also divided into three groups when they came back this time. In order to highlight the importance of Ling Buyi, he led a part of the troops to return first.
Part of the remaining people is led by Cui You, who is slowly moving forward with the main force behind them, while the other part, like Cheng Shi, who has something to do, can temporarily leave the team. Anyway, as long as they arrive within the specified time. Just the capital city.
After all, even for the sake of Emperor Wen and Huo Chong, it was hard for those prestigious veterans to take away Ling Buyi's prestige.
As for the people like Cheng Shi who have no say, they have no opinion on this. It is impossible for them to steal the spotlight anyway, so it would be better to keep a low profile.
But even so, Emperor Wen was actually not satisfied, and planned to have the prince personally greet him at the city gate and read out the imperial edict.
It's just that the courtiers later felt it was inappropriate. After all, when Wei Xiao and Gongsun Shu were killed earlier, there were no such specifications for the soldiers and horses returning to the court. Doing so now would be too unfair.
Among them, Zuo Ziqing, the chief censor, performed the most joyful dance, so in the end Emperor Wen just asked Cao Cheng of Dachangqiu to pass on the decree and greet Ling Buyi's triumphant return at the city gate.
In fact, talking about Zuo Yushi, Li Hao thought of Tianjia Restaurant. Li Hao sent people to keep an eye on this place since he entered the capital.
Who told Tian Shuo to be the remnant of the Evil Emperor and the last big boss in the play? Although Li Hao didn't plan to deal with him now, he made arrangements in advance.
When the critical moment comes, it will be effective, and it may be able to help drag a few people into the water. After all, this guy has made many friends in the capital for so many years.
In addition to arranging the reception at the city gate, Emperor Wen also specially held a banquet in the palace to welcome Ling Buyi.
In addition to Emperor Wen, the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, and the Fifth Prince, important ministers such as Xiao Yuehou, Wang Chun, Lai She, Lou Taifu, and Tingwei Ji Zun were also present at the banquet. Li Hao was also brought along because he belonged to the East Palace. I was called, but the location was a bit lower, basically close to the door.
While everyone was waiting for Ling Buyi to arrive at the banquet, Li Hao knew that this wait was destined to be in vain.
Because after receiving the order, Ling Buyi went directly to arrest Cheng Shi's unlucky uncle and track down the stolen weapons.
This is Ling Buyi. If it were anyone else who was so disrespectful to Emperor Wen, I'm afraid that the reward he just received on the front foot would be taken away from the back foot.
However, because of his intervention this time, Cheng Shaoshang is still living happily in the Cheng Mansion. I don't know if Uncle Dong will hide in the village outside the city.
Of course, even if Uncle Dong had gone, Ling Buyi would definitely not have had the chance to meet Cheng Shaoshang. Without the foreshadowing, Ling Buyi would have laid eyes on Cheng Shaoshang at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival.
Sure enough, Cao Cheng did come back alone in the end. When Emperor Wen saw this, he asked: "Where is Zicheng? Why didn't you enter the palace together?"
Cao Cheng reported: "In reply to His Majesty, after General Ling received the order, he said that he should not delay the receipt of the request. He could not enter the palace until it was processed, and then he would personally apologize to Your Majesty."
After everyone heard this, the expressions on many people's faces froze, but basically no one planned to interrupt. Anyway, whether this kind of thing is big or small depends purely on Emperor Wen's own thoughts.
Only Zuo Ziqing jumped out again and said: "General Ling has just returned to the capital, and there is nothing important to do immediately.
I think he is deliberately neglecting Your Majesty and despising the Emperor's favor. I also ask Your Majesty to issue an order to reprimand him immediately. "
As soon as these words came out, Emperor Wen's face turned dark, but Emperor Wen was not targeting Ling Buyi, but Zuo Ziqing.
It's just that Emperor Wen couldn't personally come forward in this matter, so the prince's role came out. The prince said: "What Zuo Yushi said is serious. It is possible that Zicheng got confidential information on his way back to the capital. He didn't know the palace in advance." There was no preparation for the banquet.
Therefore, we can only deal with more urgent matters first. This is also fulfilling our duties and there is nothing wrong with it. "
After answering Zuo Ziqing's words, the prince said to Emperor Wen: "Father, since Zicheng won't be back soon, why not hold a banquet first and don't make the officials wait any longer.
Zicheng will naturally come to the palace after he has finished handling his official duties, and then his father will come to ask about his situation. "
Although Emperor Wen still wanted to wait for Ling Buyi, considering that he didn't know when Ling Buyi would come back and he couldn't keep the ministers waiting, he said: "What the prince said is reasonable, so let's have a banquet first."
With Emperor Wen's order, the food and wine were finally served on the table. It is said that since Li Hao improved his cooking habits, the diet in the palace has changed a lot over the years.
At least there are a lot of stir-fried dishes in front of Li Hao. Although the taste is not as good as that of the cooks Li Hao trained himself, it is much more delicious than the boiled and fried dishes in the past.
In addition, no one around the seat was an acquaintance, and Li Hao had no one to talk to, so he just started to cook seriously.
And while the palace was enjoying the feast, Ling Buyi had already arrested Uncle Dong at Zhuangzi outside the Cheng family city.
At this time, Uncle Dong used Cheng Shi's name to beg Ling Buyi, hoping that he would let him go.
However, Ling Buyi was originally responsible for the isolated city, and he hated the corruption and reselling of arms. Even if there was no such reason, Cheng Shi's reputation and status would not make Ling Buyi have any scruples. So how could Uncle Dong escape? Woolen cloth.
It happened that Ling Buyi had also found out clearly that Cheng Shi would return home today, so he personally escorted Uncle Dong to the Cheng Mansion to see if Cheng Shi knew about this matter in advance.
When Ling Buyi arrived at Cheng's house, the scene where Cheng's mother and Cheng Shaoshang staged a series of fainting dramas to show weakness had just ended.
The main participants are Cheng Mu and Cheng Shaoshang. Ge Shi appears as a supporting actress to act with Cheng Mu. The main spectators are Cheng Shi and his wife, as well as Qu Lengjun, who came to visit Cheng Shaoshang today. .
After all, in order to see the real situation, Cheng Shi wanted to catch Ge and Cheng's mother off guard, so he told his family that they would not arrive in the capital for half a month.
Li Hao only knew that Ling Buyi would arrive today, but he was not sure whether Cheng Shi would arrive on the same day as in the plot.
Because Li Hao intervened, the actual situation had changed, so Li Hao did not mention the matter to Qu Lengjun. So Qu Lengjun had free time today, so he came over as usual and saw this good show. .
Regarding Qu Lengjun's matter, Cheng Shi and his wife had already received the news from Qing Cong, so after settling Cheng Shaoshang who had pretended to be faint, the couple began to express their gratitude to Qu Lengjun.
"It's okay, it's just a small effort, no need to say thank you." After responding to Cheng Shi and his wife, Qu Lengjun was about to say goodbye.
After all, the parents and their daughter had just met, and it was time to exchange feelings. And thinking about the situation just now, a mother-son war might break out here later, and it would be too embarrassing for me to stay here any longer.
But just as Qu Lengjun was about to leave, he bumped into Ling Buyi, who had brought Uncle Dong over to investigate.
They had not seen each other for many years. Ling Buyi had grown from a skinny child to a majestic young man now. Qu Lengjun did not recognize Ling Buyi at first.
On the other hand, Qu Lengjun had not changed much over the years, so Ling Buyi recognized him at a glance. Ling Buyi also knew about Qu Lengjun's marriage to Li Hao.
In addition, Li Hao has been working on the front line in the past few years and has handled a lot of ordnance.
So when I saw Qu Lengjun in Cheng Mansion this time, I couldn't help but wonder whether Li Hao would be implicated in the reselling of arms.
So he spoke up and said, "Sister Leng Jun, why are you in the Cheng Mansion today?"
Qu Lengjun suddenly saw the unfamiliar person in front of him calling out his name, and then he stopped and looked at him for a while and thought about who this person was.
After a while, he recognized it and replied: "It turns out to be you, Zicheng. I haven't seen you for so many years and I didn't recognize you for a moment. You have changed so much.
By the way, shouldn't you be attending His Majesty's reception banquet in the palace? Why did you come to Cheng Mansion suddenly? "
When Ling Buyi saw that Qu Lengjun didn't answer, he continued: "Oh, I received a confidential letter on the way back, concerning a relative of the Cheng family, so I came to inquire about the situation.
But why did you come to Cheng Mansion? Maybe Cheng Xiaowei has an old relationship with the Yuan family. "
After listening to Ling Buyi's words, Qu Lengjun could not guess what he was thinking. Although Qu Lengjun could not guarantee whether Cheng Shi had also committed a crime, she believed 100% in Li Hao.
After all, Li Hao's official and financial fortunes were quite good, so there was no need to do anything that violated the law. He immediately replied: "That's true. It turns out that Cheng Xiaowei once worked for uncle Jun for a period of time, and my husband Jun also It was at that time that I met Captain Cheng.”
After hearing Qu Lengjun's words, Ling Buyi was noncommittal. After all, the suspicion would not dissipate so easily. He still planned to investigate in secret.
At this time, Cheng Shi had already received the news that Ling Buyi had entered the mansion, so he came over with Xiao Yuanyi, and saw Ling Buyi and Qu Lengjun talking.
However, Cheng Shi didn't find this strange at all. After all, Yuan and Qu were from aristocratic families, so it was normal for them to have contact with Ling Buyi.
Seeing that Cheng Shi and his wife had arrived, Qu Lengjun stopped disturbing their discussion and said to Ling Buyi: "Then I won't waste your time today. When you have free time in the future, I will ask my husband to invite you." Let’s talk about it.”
After saying that, he bowed to Cheng Shi, his wife and Ling Busuo, and left on his own.
After Qu Lengjun walked away, Cheng Shi said to Ling Buyi: "I don't know what General Ling is here in person."
Ling Buyi replied: "Today I was ordered to arrest a thief who stole military weapons and was greedy for money. It happens that this person has some connection with Captain Cheng, so I came here to disturb him."
When Cheng Shi heard this, he quickly explained: "While we were marching outside, what we hated most were these giant rats and bugs, which caused many soldiers to die in front of the formation.
How could I be associated with these people? I hope General Ling will find out. "
"That's right." Ling Buyi replied, and then ordered: "Come here, bring Guan Dong Cang up and let Captain Cheng identify him."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi and his wife felt a thump in their hearts. When Uncle Dong was dragged up, their expressions suddenly changed.
Mainly because of Uncle Dong's personality, these two people also knew that he was really out to steal and sell arms.
But when faced with Uncle Dong, he shouted: "Ah Shi, help me."
Cheng Shi still had to bite the bullet and said to Ling Buyi: "General Ling, there may be a misunderstanding here."
Ling Buyi replied: "Dong Cang is responsible for what he does. I think Captain Cheng knows better than me. The evidence is conclusive that he embezzled ordnance. I came here today to tell Captain Cheng that no matter how high the military merit is, if he does anything to harm the country, I will definitely do it." No mercy."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi gave up completely, and for a moment he really didn't know how to answer Ling Buyi.
However, Ling Buyi obviously didn't expect to get any reply. After explaining the situation, he said goodbye to Cheng Shi and left.
This time, since there was no case of Cheng Shaoshang suing Uncle Dong, Lianfang was not asked to come down to inquire, and no news was made.
So although the two of them hid on the second floor and listened to the excitement, they were not discovered by Ling Buyi.
After sending Ling Buyi away, Cheng's mother and Ge's side had already received the news that Uncle Dong had been captured, so they hurriedly came to Cheng Shi again, hoping that he would rescue Uncle Dong.
But what could Cheng Shi do about this matter? Even though Ge Shi used the trick of hiding from each other and Cheng's mother threatened her to death, Cheng Shi never let go. After all, this matter was indeed beyond Cheng Shi's control. range of abilities.
It can be said that Cheng Shi did a good job in self-awareness and would not force himself to do things beyond his capabilities.
On the other hand, after Ling Buyi arrived at the palace, he was greeted by Emperor Wen's scolding: "What urgent matters do you have? I don't even have time to let you enter the palace for the banquet.
Do you know how many officials asked me to punish you at that time? If the prince had not spoken for you, what good end would you have ended up with. "
Ling Buyue didn't feel panic at all after hearing this. After all, he had rich experience in this kind of matter.
Just by looking at Emperor Wen's face at this time, he knew that the matter was not serious, so he said: "Your Majesty, forgive me, but I mainly got clues about a case of embezzlement of ordnance. The warehouse manager who was responsible for guarding the ordnance at that time had already got the news and was about to escape.
I was worried that this person would run away and it would be troublesome to trace him later, so I chased him immediately. "
"Oh, has this person been caught now?" Emperor Wen heard that Ling Busuo had arrested someone, so he asked aloud.
"The man has been caught and is now being held in the prison of Tingwei Mansion. However, this man's identity is somewhat special. He is the uncle of Captain Cheng Shi." Ling Buyi answered Emperor Wen's question and explained the identity of this man.
After Emperor Wen heard this, he immediately asked: "Do you think Cheng Shi was also involved in this matter?"
Ling Bujie replied: "Judging from the existing evidence, there is no clue to prove that Cheng Xiaowei was involved in this matter. After all, according to my investigation, most of the ordnance was transported from the capital, but Cheng Xiaowei has not seen it for many years." Return to the capital.
It's just that I saw Lord Chang'an in the Cheng Mansion today. If the Yuan and Quliang families intervened, it would be uncertain. "
