The return of the son-in-law

On this day, Guo Zhanan was supposed to be Xiu Mu, but someone in the palace sent a letter saying that the trial of the Liu clan headed by Liu Wenhua had come to an end, and asked him to come to the palace.

Guo Zhan'an understood that this was probably the result of his original proposal, so he didn't dare to shirk it, so he changed into an official uniform and followed the messenger angel into the palace to face the saint.

In the study room where the matter was being discussed, the Supreme Emperor Li Chonghao was not there, Li Shaojun was sitting on the dragon chair, and in front of him stood Dali Siqing, Xiao Yiqing, Minister of the Ministry of Justice Zuo Xingzhi, and Yushi Zhongcheng Anran.

The three of them should have known that Guo Zhan'an was coming, so they didn't have any special reaction when they saw Guo Zhan'an.

Guo Zhan'an came forward and said: "The minister Guo Zhan'an pays homage to His Majesty."

"Guo Qing doesn't need to be too polite." Li Shaojun was in a good mood today. After calling Guo Zhan'an, he said to the other three people, "Guo Qing has already come. Have the three of you thought of a good candidate?"

After hearing this, Guo Zhan'an inevitably had some doubts in his heart—the angel sent by Li Shaojun only talked about Liu's affairs, so Li Shaojun summoned him into the palace, and there must be some clues about the confiscation of the house.Now when asked about those three candidates, is it possible that they want to send someone to copy Liu's family with him?

As expected, after discussions between Xiao Yiqing and the other three, they each named a candidate.However, there has always been one chief officer and one deputy in the house copying. Guo Zhan'an definitely occupied one spot, and the other one had to be selected from the three proposed by Xiao Yiqing and the others.

Although Li Shaojun came to the throne not long ago, he knew all the officials, large and small, in the capital. After hearing these three names, he pondered for a while and then made a decision: "In this case, we will send Bai Xihang, a doctor of the Ministry of Punishment, as an adjutant to assist Guo Qing searched all the residences of the Liu family together."

Guo Zhan'an bowed together with the other three: "Your Majesty is wise."

Afterwards, Li Shaojun only left Guo Zhanan behind, and continued to discuss the important matters of the investigation of the Liu family.

Li Shaojun asked all the inner eunuchs who were accompanying him to retreat, leaving only Ah Xin, and then said: "Guo Qing, I will leave the matter of raiding the Liu Mansion to you, so I can rest assured. But you must take care of me. Come on, don't let people move your hands and feet."

Guo Zhan'an naturally expressed his opinion: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, with me here, I will definitely not let that person take advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Those people in the capital who have suffered at home are still waiting for this money to be resettled."

Li Shaojun nodded, and said: "I have two pictures here, you can use these as a reference, and go to Liu's mansion to find them for me."

Ah Xin on the side handed the two pictures on the side of the table to Guo Zhan'an. The latter looked at them and found that they were a white jade Guanyin and a jade ruyi.

Guo Zhan'an was still wondering why these two things made Li Shaojun so solemn, and he heard Li Shaojun say: "These two things originally belonged to my mother. After she passed away, her personal maid sorted out her belongings and copied them into a book. , some of them were buried in the mausoleum with my mother, and some were sent to me, but these two things disappeared. Later, a court lady of my mother told me quietly that these two things were taken away by Concubine Hua at that time."

Guo Zhanan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Since Concubine Hua took it away, why did it appear in the Liu Mansion?"

"A few days ago, the Empress Dowager was not feeling very well. After asking the divination by Qin Tianjian, I found out that someone in the palace cursed the Empress Dowager. I asked Taifei Yu to clean up the harem for the Empress Dowager to see who was so bold. It's a pity. Concubine Yu didn't find these two things in Tailiuchang." When Li Shaojun said this, his brows showed a little anger, "Of these two things, the white jade Guanyin is enshrined by my mother every day, and the jade Ruyi is my The queen mother often plays with it, how can she defile it? Tailiu Changzai is a person who always loves money and is stingy. How could she put these three things in the palace other than herself? It is funny to say, she At the beginning, she actually took three of them, and the other was a bronze mirror with gold and silver interlaced lotus patterns, but she thought that the bronze mirror was worthless, so she kept it all the time, so I took it back. Later, I let someone It took some tricks to find out that Baiyu Guanyin and Yu Ruyi were quietly sent to the Liu residence by her."

After listening to it, Guo Zhanan knew that these two things were the most important things in the house raid this time, so he hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely fulfill my mission."

After talking about the ransacking of the house, Li Shaojun talked about the fate of everyone in the Liu Mansion: "Liu Yuanheng has died a long time ago. He has been the prime minister for more than ten years. The emperor is not willing to treat him badly, let alone say that he is wrong, for fear of affecting the situation. His 'wiseness', so the emperor made the decision, Liu Yuanheng was given the posthumous title of Wenzhong, and a large tomb was built for him."

After hearing this, Guo Zhan'an sighed: "The emperor insists on going his own way, I'm afraid there will be many obstacles in the future."

Li Shaojun buckled the table with his index finger, and said: "He is unwilling to abdicate and become the Supreme Emperor, so he will definitely suppress me everywhere. The confiscation of the house this time has already caused his displeasure. Guo Qing, please don't let me down. Don't let the emperor down."

Guo Zhan'an cupped his hands and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, as a minister, he will naturally share the king's worries."

Li Shaojun nodded in satisfaction, and continued: "Liu Yuanheng was honored after his death, but it's a pity that he couldn't shelter his descendants. Liu Wenhua has been pampered for more than 15 years, and couldn't stand the suffering in prison. He bit his tongue and committed suicide in prison three days ago. He was also the jailer on duty that day." Unlucky, they were all fined three months' salary, and received another [-] boards. As for the rest of the Liu Manor, the imperial army had been dispatched in advance to arrest men, women and children. Women under the age of [-] were used as official prostitutes, and men were given In the southwestern border, all the others were executed, and they were buried with Liu Yuanheng."

Guo Zhan'an thought for a while and asked, "These are the emperor's intentions?"

Li Shaojun said: "That's right, he hated the fourth mother and son so much, and found out that it was Liu Yuanheng who was the one who made the arrangements, allowing the fourth's power to infiltrate into the imperial army little by little. If it wasn't for his own face, how could Liu Yuanheng be like this?" The posthumous glory? But, " Speaking of this, Li Shaojun laughed mockingly, "The emperor is not a person who can swallow his anger, he has already sent someone to flog the corpse."

After hearing this, Guo Zhan'an didn't know whether he should feel sorry for Liu Yuanheng—in all fairness, although Liu Yuanheng was not a genius for governing the world, he was capable enough to be a prime minister, but unfortunately he was blinded by profit, and devoted his life to his daughter and grandson Pave the way, and this is the way to go.

The positions of the two sides are different. Guo Zhan'an and him have been enemies from the beginning, but now, Guo Zhan'an feels worthless for him-a king like Li Chonghao is not a wise master.

Li Shaojun glanced at Guo Zhan'an, thought of the wife of Guo's mansion, and said, "Under the rules of this dynasty, married women don't have to bear the fault of their natal family. Guo Qing, I have to wrong you for a while longer."

Guo Zhan'an didn't care: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, Guo Liu's family has been ordered by my father to stay at home these days and think about it."

But Li Shaojun insisted: "In a few days, there will be a big gift for you."

Guo Zhan'an was puzzled, but Li Shaojun played tricks at this time and asked Ah Xin to send Guo Zhan'an out.

But Guo Zhan'an hadn't waited for the big gift yet, another news came from the palace—Liang Wang will be the chief officer of this search, Guo Zhan'an will be the adjutant. As for Bai Xihang, the original servant of the Ministry of Punishment, he will have nothing to do this time.

"On the second day after Mr. Guo entered the palace, King Liang came to see the emperor. He didn't know what they talked about. After a while, the emperor sent someone to tell His Majesty that he would let King Liang be the chief official this time. "The angel said with a bitter face, "Your Majesty has explained, let me explain to Mr. Guo, and let Mr. Guo remember that you must never directly confront King Liang. Your Majesty said that King Liang is deceitful!"

Guo Zhanan couldn't help being shocked when he heard the last sentence, and quickly asked, "What else did your majesty say?"

"Your Majesty also said, Four Emperors, ah, no, it's the common man Li Bo, who may have taken the blame for someone else, please be careful, Mr. Guo."

The Li Bo mentioned by the angel is the original fourth prince Li Shaojin.Li Chonghao was in a hurry that day, and he almost wanted to personally behead the rebellious son who caused him to have a stroke, but was finally persuaded by King Liang, who deposed Li Shaojin as a common man, and changed his name to Li Bo, to show that he was completely punished. Deprived of the identity of the prince.

Guo Zhanan asked again: "Did Your Majesty say anything else?"

The angel shook his head and said, "That's all Your Majesty said."

Guo Zhan'an asked Jia Huan to personally send the angel out of the mansion, while he went back to the study to analyze the relationship in detail.

Perhaps Li Shaojun was afraid of leaking the news, and the words he gave to the angel were unclear, but one thing was certain—the King Liang had a problem.

As for Li Bo who was said in the angel's letter to have borne the crime for others, it is most likely that Li Bo had borne the crime for King Liang.

Guo Zhanan recalled the conversation between Li Shaojun and him in the carriage on the way he was escorted from Xuzhou to Beijing, and he had a guess in his mind—could it be that the person who spread the treaty signed between Li Shaojun and Ning Guhan was Was it sent by King Liang?

On that day, both he and Li Shaojun concluded that according to Li Shaojin's temperament and courage, such a thing would never be done, but at that time all the evidence pointed to Li Shaojin, and Li Shaojun had not been cleared of the suspicion, so in desperation, he had no choice but to give up investigating the matter thoroughly. way.

Now that I think about it, there are a lot of doubts in this matter-many people jumped out to provide all the "evidence", including guarding the small yellow door of the library where the treaty was stored, but why didn't these people say it before, wait for Li Shaojun After Northwest re-signed the treaty with Chada, did they come out to testify against Li Bo?

What Guo Zhanan thought of, Li Shaojun also thought of.It's just that the top priority now is to stabilize the throne, and this matter can only be discussed slowly.

The next day, Guo Zhan'an went to meet Liang Wang.

King Liang is the only one whose palace is in the capital among all the living brothers of the Supreme Emperor, which proves that his status in the mind of the Supreme Emperor is far higher than that of other brothers.

The King of Liang was happy to do good deeds, and he also liked to travel in the mountains and rivers. He was not in the capital for several months in a year, but went out for travel.Li Chonghao was also happy that his brother was far away from the center of power. In order to encourage him to travel more, Li Chonghao once gave King Liang an imperial gold medal, allowing him to represent the emperor to advocate justice for the wronged people everywhere.

Guo Zhan'an had some friendship with King Liang. He and Huo Yu were ambushed that day in Cangshan Mountain. Huo Yu used his body to protect himself from the knife. If he hadn't happened to meet King Liang, his and Huo Yu's lives might have been lost. up.

and many more!

Guo Zhanan tried his best to recall the scene when he was in Cangshan Mountain that day. He still remembered that King Liang once asked him why he appeared in Cangshan Mountain.What happened after that?

Later, King Liang seemed to remind him to search the body, but he didn't come close. Instead, King Liang's guards found a letter signed by Liu Wenhua from the deceased.

Once a person has doubts, it is like a little spark falling on the grassland.As the saying goes, a single spark can start a prairie fire. Now that Guo Zhan'an has suspected King Liang, every move of King Liang seems to have ulterior motives and evil intentions.What he thought was a normal move back then, now it seems that he may have to carefully consider it.

"Guo Qing, what are you thinking?"

Liang Wang's words reminded Guo Zhan'an that now is not the time to be distracted.Guo Zhan'an said with a smile: "When I was thinking about leaving the mansion today, did the door of the study room ever get locked?"

Liang Wang asked again: "Why, Guo Qing went to study in the study after getting up?"

Guo Zhan'an continued to smile and said, "A magpie landed outside the window early this morning and chirped. I'm afraid something good is coming."

"So that's how it is." Liang Wang changed the subject, "Guo Qing has changed from chief officer to deputy, has he ever been unhappy?"

"There is no displeasure, but there is some surprise," Guo Zhan'an said half-truthfully, "But as the royal family, King Liang has a noble status, so I should be an adjutant and assist the prince."

Liang Wang laughed: "Guo Qing said that. Actually, I don't want to take over this job. After all, it's not a good job. If it goes wrong, it will harm the children and grandchildren. But the emperor trusts me and entrusts me with this big task. I, I will not disappoint the Emperor at all. Guo Qing, don’t you think so?”

Guo Zhan'an smiled and said: "What King Liang said is true. However, the Liu family committed such a rebellious thing, but the emperor and His Majesty were kind enough to spare the life of the common man Li Bo, and buried Duke Wen Zhong generously. There are more than 400 households in the capital who have lost their homes because of the turmoil in the capital, should the treasury be asked to provide money to resettle these hundreds of people?"

Liang Wang put away his smile: "What Guo Qing said seems to mean something?"

Guo Zhan'an cupped his hands and said, "My lord was joking, I just said what I thought in my heart."

King Liang ignored him: "In that case, let's go to the Liu Mansion."

This ransacking of the house lasted for twelve days before it ended.Guo Zhan'an lived up to Li Shaojun's great trust, and found the white jade Guanyin and Yu Ruyi from Liu's mansion. After matching these two treasures with the successive dowry books, they sent them directly back to the palace and delivered them to Li Shaojun.

But before Li Shaojun was happy, Guo Zhanan brought back a piece of news with a gloomy face.

"Your Majesty, a person was found from the Liu Mansion today. The person was wearing a four-clawed dragon jade pendant, and his age matched the sixth prince's. King Liang has ordered someone to send this person into the palace. At this moment, I'm afraid It has been sent to the emperor."

"What did you say?" Li Shaojun was shocked when he heard the words, "Yu'er is my younger brother, where did this person come from?"

Guo Zhan'an shook his head heavily: "The man was found in a corner yard of the Liu Mansion. According to what he said, he has lived there for more than ten years. I specifically asked a few elders of the Liu Mansion Servant, they all said that there was no such person, but later the chief steward of the Liu Mansion stood up and said that Liu Yuanheng personally handed him over to him more than ten years ago, and ordered him to send someone to raise him secretly. No one else knew this man existed."

"A piece of four-clawed dragon jade pendant, a big butler, all the witnesses and evidence." Li Shaojun muttered a few words, then suddenly sneered, "It's useless to stand here, you continue to take care of the house raid. As for this I will go meet the sixth younger brother who has lived in the Liu Mansion for more than ten years."