The return of the son-in-law

While Guo Zhanan was interrogating the chief steward of Liu's mansion, the servants he brought along with the jailer were counting Liu's relatives and servants in the prison one by one.Because of Guo Zhan'an's warning in advance, all these yamen servants were tense and dared not make any mistakes. After a while, they found that there were seven prisoners missing from the prison.

Seven people, that's a big number!

The jailers headed by Prison Leader Li were surprised and flustered, because they didn't even know how these seven people disappeared from the prison!

The big prison in the capital city is not just for small gangsters who cause trouble. Whether it is a third-rank official, a rich man, or a gangster who kills without batting an eyelid, as long as he commits a major crime, he will be thrown into this prison.Prisoner Li has been working here for more than 20 years. He started as a little guy who was called around by other jailers, and now he is the leader who commands the wind and rain in this big prison. It is not because of his flattery and flattery.

Only those who are worse than those wicked people can suppress the wicked.And Li Laotou is such a person.

Prisoner Li understood that the seven prisoners disappeared from the prison. No matter how they escaped from the prison, the charge of dereliction of duty by the jailers cannot be avoided.And as the head of this prison, he is even more to blame.If you want to save your life, you must catch the inner ghost among them and put all the charges on the inner ghost. In this way, they are at most a crime of ineffective supervision.Even if you lose this official position, it is better than losing your life.

But it will take some time to catch this ghost.If the news leaked out before then, it would be a big deal of losing one's head.

Thinking of this, Li Baotou couldn't help turning his attention to the government servants brought by Guo Zhan'an.

One of the yamen servants noticed that there was something wrong with Li Laotou's gaze, looked at Li Laotou, and asked, "What's the matter with Li Laotou?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm just thinking about how these seven prisoners disappeared." Prison Li shook his head in denial, which was not only a reply to the yamen servant, but also a denial of his own plan.

More than a dozen yamen servants came to the prison and disappeared together, which is equivalent to telling others that there is a problem in the prison.

If you want to shut up all these yamen servants, you can only go to Guo Zhanan, who is above them.The prisoner escaped from prison, and they, the group of jailers, did not end well, but Guo Zhanan, who was in charge of ransacking the house, also had no good results.

Now that Prison Leader Li had already figured out a solution, he didn't delay any longer. He asked the yamen guards to rest first, and then asked his men to go to the cell where the seven prisoners were staying to find clues, while he hurried to find Guo Zhan'an.

After listening to Li Laotou's words, Guo Zhan'an nodded and said, "What Li Laotou said is very true. If this matter gets out, our lives may not be saved. The most important thing right now is to find out who killed these seven people. The prisoner was sent out of the prison secretly, so that I can explain to His Majesty. Before this, this matter must not be spread outside the public."

Seeing Guo Zhanan standing on the same front as himself so quickly, Li Baotou was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Master Guo, don't worry, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer here!"

Guo Zhanan shook his head lightly: "Li Baotou, I also want you to give me a satisfactory answer, but I can't guarantee whether King Liang will agree or not."

Prison Li was taken aback for a moment, then came to his senses, and quickly said, "Don't worry, my lord, you know this matter, King Liang doesn't know about it."

Guo Zhan'an smiled and rejected Li's proposal: "At the beginning, King Liang ordered a group of servants to go out to sell, but he didn't inform me. That's because he was the chief officer, and I was just a deputy. But on the other hand, I But you can’t hide it from the King of Liang, otherwise if the King of Liang finds out about it in the future, and don’t report it to me, what do you think I should do?”

Li Baotou originally wanted to hide the truth from King Liang, and told Guo Zhan'an about this because he knew that he couldn't hide it, so he simply dragged Guo Zhan'an into the water.As long as he saves his own life, how can he care about Guo Zhan'an's life?

But now he is still looking forward to Guo Zhan'an, so it is not easy to tear his face, so he quickly changed his words: "Master Guo said yes, what he said is true, how can we not let King Liang know about such a big matter. Master Guo, little one I also want to accuse you here. A few days ago, the King of Liang gave us a list, saying that all of them were servants of the Liu family who had nothing to do with this case, and told us to sell them all. The King of Liang said such a trivial matter, I don't need to bother you, so I didn't send anyone to inform me here, and I hope Mr. Guo will forgive you."

Naturally, Guo Zhan'an would not bother with this young man, and said with a smile: "Don't worry about Li, you are just following the rules. The most important thing right now is to find out the criminals. As for Liang Wang and As for Your Majesty, it is better for me to come forward."

Li Baotou was shocked: "This, this should be reported to His Majesty? This, this, this, this is not self-inflicted!"

Guo Zhan'an said it righteously: "A minister must be loyal to the king. The emperor and his majesty attach great importance to this case. Now Liu Taichang in the palace has been demoted to a palace man, and the original fourth prince is now Common man Li Bo, if we conceal the matter and let His Majesty know about it afterward, His Majesty will be ashamed in front of the Emperor, and neither you nor I can escape."

"What Master Guo said is true, what he said is true!" Li Laotou understood now that he wanted to drag Guo Zhan'an into the water himself, and Guo Zhan'an was even more courageous, and directly wanted to drag the emperor into the water too!

He couldn't stop flattering, but there was an idea in his heart——

The prison is heavily guarded, and people have to check the signs when they come in and out on weekdays. It is very difficult for the seven living people to get out of the prison.And there were more than a hundred servants from Liu's mansion that were sold that day, and seven of them mixed in with the group of servants who sold them that day. As long as the jailer who counted the number turned a blind eye, it would be much easier.

Thinking of this, Li Baotou couldn't help but glance at Guo Zhan'an, becoming more and more confused.

This Jing Zhaoyin brought the servants over to count the number of people today, and even interrogated the chief steward of the Liu Mansion. Could it be that he already knew something?

Thinking of this, Li Lao couldn't help but feel cold behind his back, and quickly lowered his head, not daring to look at Guo Zhan'an again.

As the saying goes, a strong dragon can't overwhelm a local snake, and the prison is the territory of Li Laotou, so Guo Zhan'an will naturally not overstep it.And he has given enough hints, if Li Laotou has some brains, he should have already reacted.

Coming out of the prison, Guo Zhanan went into the palace to face the saint without stopping.

This time it happened suddenly, Guo Zhan'an didn't hand in the paperwork in advance, and the guards guarding the palace gate sent someone to take Guo Zhan'an to the palace where Li Shaojun usually worked.

The guards standing in front of the main hall saw Guo Zhanan coming, and one of them stepped forward and asked, "I don't know why Mr. Guo is here?"

Guo Zhan'an only said, "I have something important to do."

The guard nodded and said, "Master Guo, please wait a moment, I will report to His Majesty now."

After a while, Ah Xin came out of the hall and welcomed Guo Zhan'an in person.

Seeing that the eunuchs along the way were not the eunuchs he usually saw when he entered the palace, Guo Zhanan asked Ah Xin, "Why did they all look like strangers?"

Ah Xin said with a faint smile: "Those people with weak mouths have been dismissed, and a new batch of people with tight mouths have been replaced."

Guo Zhanan wanted to ask, but thought that as Ah Xin, he would definitely not tell him, so he stopped thinking.

In the study, Li Shaojun was still blushing, and threw an open booklet on the desk in front of him. When he saw Guo Zhanan coming, he waved his hand and said, "You don't need to perform those empty rituals. You came just in time. In the past two days, I have received three The emperor's uncle's note said that he wanted to enter the palace to visit the emperor."

There are not many emperor uncles of Li Shaojun who are still alive, except for King Liang, all of them were given fiefdoms by Li Chonghao, and when he came to the throne, all of them were sent to fiefdoms.

After Li Chonghao abdicated, the situation in the capital was unstable, so Li Shaojun didn't issue an order to invite his uncles who were in the fiefdom to the capital, but he didn't expect this group of people to come here uninvited.

"How does His Majesty plan to deal with it?"

"Disposal? What else can I do with it? It took more than a month for Wang An to send this paper from his fief to the capital, and he has already set off after writing this paper! He also said that from his fief to the capital, he passed through the middle of Sichuan. , There is a bandit chaos in the middle of Sichuan, just in case, I brought 60 personal guards for self-defense. Thirty thousand, huh, I don’t think it is for self-defense, but for usurping the throne!” Li Shaojun simply threw the booklet on the desk to him. Guo Zhan'an continued, "There's also the princess Huayang from the southwest who rushed to the capital from the southwest, isn't she afraid that her [-]-year-old body will fall apart?"

Guo Zhan'an roughly glanced at the scriptures, and quickly asked, "Why did your Majesty say that? Even though King An brought [-] soldiers, His Majesty is a righteous son of heaven, the crown prince proclaimed by the emperor, how can King An usurp the throne?"

"You haven't entered the palace these days, so you don't know that there are already rumors in the palace." Li Shaojun waved his hand feebly, "Ah Xin, tell Guo Qing."

Ah Xin took a step forward and said: "A few days ago, many people in the palace were spreading rumors that His Majesty was not favored by the Emperor, and that he was able to ascend the throne because the Emperor had no other candidates. They also said that His Majesty had been enthroned for two or three months. It’s a mess, the peaceful and prosperous world is gone. Now that the sixth prince is back, the six princes also came out one after another. Like your majesty, they are the emperor’s sons, and like your majesty, they have the same qualifications to aspire to the great treasure. They also said, they said that the emperor has already risen This thought. Although those palace people who gossip behind their backs have dealt with a group of them, there is still such a saying in the palace.”

Guo Zhan'an comforted Li Shaojun a few words, and then asked: "King An and others came to Beijing, did they hear the news in the palace? I have never heard such rumors outside the palace. The fiefdoms of the three princes are all thousands of miles away. Besides, how did they know about it? And these rumors were started by these geniuses, Wang An and others set off a month ago, how could they be able to foretell? "

Hearing this, Li Shaojun slapped the table heavily: "Wang An and the others have been holding their tails together for more than 20 years, who is so courageous to send them a message in private!"

Guo Zhan'an sighed, and said: "The capital is at least two or three months away from the fiefdoms of the three princes. At that time, His Majesty had just ascended the throne. Even if there were palace people to pass the news, it was impossible to send the news of the two or three months later. The matter was passed on ahead of time. The person who told An Wang and the others must be the person who planned this conspiracy with his own hands."

After hearing this, Li Shaojun gritted his teeth and said, "King Liang!"

Guo Zhan'an said at the right time: "King Liang sent a letter to King An and others, it must be sure that King An and the others will not compete with him. In this way, King An and others came to Beijing to support King Liang. Not only that, the minister When I entered the palace this time, I discovered that behind the 'six princes' in the palace, there was also King Liang standing."

After listening to Guo Zhan'an's narration, Li Shaojun knocked on the corner of the table and said, "So, the 'Sixth Prince' in the palace should be created by my Uncle Nine Emperors."

Guo Zhan'an nodded and said: "According to what the head steward of the Liu Mansion said, King Liang promised him to protect his family, so he made up a story about Liu Yuanheng bringing the sixth prince home, and made it extremely mysterious, except for him Except for Liu Yuanheng and others, no one in the Liu family knows about it. Liu Yuanheng and Liu Wenhua are both dead, so he has the final say on whether it is black or white."

"It's a pity that it's just his one-sided statement. Without evidence, the King of Liang will definitely not admit it. This person was found from the Liu Mansion. He doesn't admit it. We can't press his head to force him to confess." Li Shaojun clenched his fists. , bitterly said, "I know he is the mastermind, but I can only watch him get away with it, what the emperor has done is really aggrieved!"

"Why do you say that, Your Majesty?" Guo Zhan'an said, "Based on the current situation, King Liang's plan has been planned for a long time, and he may have thought of it before His Majesty ascended the throne. Thinking about it carefully, since the northwest Tatar conspired to murder Since Ning Guhan, there is already a figure of King Liang."

"King Liang has been playing the role of a virtuous king in front of the emperor all these years. We have all been deceived." Li Shaojun closed his eyes and sighed, "I still remember that when I was young, he spoke for me many times. , contradicting the emperor for me. It's a pity, people always change."

Although Guo Zhan'an disagreed, he didn't refute. He just said: "Your Majesty, if King Liang is really behind this matter, then King Liang must be taken down before King An and others enter Beijing. The king is quite prestigious among the people, and there are many soldiers in the hands of King An and others, we must not let them join forces, otherwise His Majesty will be in danger!"

Li Shaojun nodded and said: "What Guo Qing said is true. I have ordered Shao Fang to reorganize the [-] troops in the suburbs of Beijing. I will never let King An and the others enter Beijing in such a smooth manner. Those who have been bought, the guards are far from enough."

The capital is now full of dangers, and they have only now discovered that the shadow of King Liang has spread so widely.If the imperial guards were recruited in the capital now, I'm afraid that the recruits would be little ghosts who urged their lives.

"Your Majesty, why don't you order Jiang Yannian to lead the Northwest Army back to the capital to guard the capital?" Seeing that the capital was difficult to use, Guo Zhan'an simply found a new way, "Before the Northwest War, several large tribes of Tatar were seriously injured. If you want to invade the Northwest, you have more than enough heart but not enough strength. A group of Northwest Army will be dispatched, led by Jiang Yannian, even if they can't arrive at the capital before King An, they can cooperate with each other."

Li Shaojun's eyes brightened: "What Guo Qing said is true, the Northwest is now peaceful, and the Northwest Army can send some back to Beijing. Ah Xin, serve the pen and ink!"

"Yes."

After Li Shaojun sent an urgent edict, Guo Zhanan continued: "Your Majesty, since the 'Sixth Prince' was concocted by the King of Liang, the four-clawed dragon jade pendant on him must have been forged by someone ordered by the King of Liang. Bian must be a breakthrough. As long as the 'six princes' are proved to be fake, half of King Liang's plan will be abolished."

Of course Li Shaojun also knew this: "Don't worry Guo Qing, I sent Zuo Xingzhi to investigate over there, and there should be results soon. On your side, I'm afraid I will wrong you."

Guo Zhan'an understood, and said with a smile: "It's all up to His Majesty."

After Guo Zhanan left the palace, Li Shaojun immediately issued an imperial decree. First, he severely reprimanded the people headed by King Liang and Guo Zhanan, and then ordered Bai Xihang, the servant of the Ministry of Punishment, to arrest the seven fugitives and reward Bai Xihang with a dragon whip. No one can stop him Bai Xihang handles the case, otherwise he will be dealt with against the party.

This is the consensus between Guo Zhanan and Li Shaojun.

Since it was King Liang who sent someone to quietly take the family of the housekeeper of the Liu Mansion out of the prison while selling his servants, King Liang must not intervene in this matter, otherwise this clue will be cut off forever.And if it was left to Guo Zhan'an, Liang Wang could use the excuse of committing crimes and making meritorious service to snatch this job in front of the Supreme Emperor Li Chonghao, just like Liang Wang snatched the job of inspecting the Liu family back then.

Rather than letting King Liang and Huang Que stay behind, Li Shaojun simply pre-empted the attack, and directly issued an order to severely reprimand King Liang and Guo Zhanan. He made it clear that he would not give them a chance to make up for their mistakes. Hit the dragon whip with a handle, lest Liang Wang take advantage of the situation to oppress others.

After such a pass, it was already dusk in the capital.Guo Zhan'an has been working in the government office these days, and he just took a nap when he couldn't hold on anymore.

The courtyard of Guo Mansion was filled with memories of him and Huo Yu, and he could even hear Huo Yu's voice calling for him.Before avenging Huo Yu, Guo Zhanan didn't want to go back.

But on this day, Jia Huan came to the government office in a hurry, and asked Guo Zhanan to go back to the house for everything.

"Master, the Second Young Master is back!"