I dare not

Xiang Zenan made a prompt decision and ordered the entire courtyard to be sealed off, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

Twilight soon fell on the mountain where rich people gathered in the capital, and the Li family's other courtyard with the Liu family's plaque hanging on it was brightly lit.

It is not easy to build a house, but it is easy to dismantle it. Under the command of the third prince, the guards quickly demolished half of the row of luxurious wooden houses.

The gold bricks were neatly stacked in the yard, and the precious golden nanmu was casually discarded aside.The more Gu Qiao looked at it, the more frightened she became. The sum of the gold in this yard is probably already comparable to the annual financial income of the entire Hao Kingdom.

A guard came forward and reported: "Your Highness, we found this in the wooden wall!"

It was a dark square box with intricate patterns carved on each side.

"This thing is so strange," Xiang Zenan looked at it over and over in his hand, "There is no place to open it, and it's still made of metal."

Gu Qiao took the box and carefully stroked the pattern on it, "If ordinary decorations can't be hidden in the wooden wall, there should be some kind of mechanism."

The flickering fire illuminated the black box, and he found a concave circular pattern on the top of the box, which looked familiar. He pointed to the pattern and said to Xiang Zenan, "I seem to have seen this pattern somewhere."

Xiang Zenan also leaned over to look, and the two of them leaned their heads together.

"This kind of pattern is very common, and ordinary jade pendants like to use this kind of pattern."

"That's right!" Gu Qiao remembered where he had seen it before, and he said excitedly: "The jade pendant on Li Xiaodong's body is exactly the same as this pattern!"

Xiang Zenan's focus was a bit crooked, he frowned and said, "Do you even know what kind of jade pendant he's wearing?"

Gu Qiao ignored his nonsensical question, threw the box into his hands and went straight to the flower hall.

The Third Highness's attack was a bit too ruthless, Li Xiaodong was still lying on the ground unconscious at this time, Gu Qiao walked over and pulled off the jade pendant he was wearing.

When Gu Qiao saw him for the first time, he found that the jade pendant was of good quality, so he took a second look.When we met today, he changed his clothes, but he still wore this jade pendant, and he accidentally remembered this pattern.

Take it in your hand and compare, the size is the same.

Gu Qiao took the jade pendant back and put it in the circular pattern on the box, the size and shape fit just right.Try to press and turn it lightly with two fingers, the box clicks lightly and loosens.

Inside the box is a piece of paper.

Seven years ago, the imperial court registered the Chenjinshan Gold Mine in Lianzhou to officially open the mine, and this is the map of that registration.

The scope of the gold mine on this map is very different from Gu Zhiwei's manuscript. The location of the mine shown on it is exactly the place where the mine was first mined on Chen Jinshan.

The drawings have been handed over and transferred several times, and the positions of the signatures and seals are densely covered with many famous seals.

The Ministry of Industry was the first to stamp the survey drawings. Whoever made the drawings would be the first to stamp their names, and then hand them over to the higher-level officials for review.After the audit by the Ministry of Industry is completed, the drawings will be handed over to the Ministry of Accounting, and the recipient of the Ministry of Accounting will stamp them and then hand them over to the clerk in charge of archiving.The row of small characters below the name stamp is the time when the seal was stamped. It can be clearly seen here that not long after, the clerk stamped another stamp and took out the drawing and handed it over to the Shaofu Supervisor.

Gu Qiao found the signature of the Ministry of Industry - the red square imprint - not Gu Zhiwei, nor Wu Yong, but Ouyang Chigong.

The stamping time was the day after my father died.

There was an answer on the horizon, but inside he resisted facing the truth.

He originally thought it was the work of the Ministry of Household Affairs or the Shaofu Supervisor—because the survey map was drawn by his father, there was absolutely no mistake.

But now it is clear that there is no father's name on this blueprint.

Ouyang Chigong was the minister of the Ministry of Industry at that time - a lower-level official died accidentally, and the higher-level official signed the seal on his behalf...

Gu Qiao's hands trembled, and the blueprints in his hands made a slight sound.Xiang Zenan took his hand to close the drawing, and pulled the paper out of his hand.

"This matter is very involved. We cleared out the gold here overnight, and I will report it to my father tomorrow morning." Xiang Zenan paused, "...and these are just the tip of the iceberg."

This matter is no longer simply a matter of official corruption.If the falsification of documents starts from the Ministry of Industry, then none of the officials from the Ministry of Households, the Shaofu Supervisor, and the officials who have handled it will be able to escape.

They divided the Lianzhou gold mine into two parts, one part was reported to the imperial court, and the other part was enriched privately.

And Gu Zhiwei, the honest and upright doctor of Yubu Division, was the sacrifice of this big lie.

Gu Qiao stood there in a daze, still holding the blueprint in his hand, as if he heard a deafening cry.The call sign said: "It's your most beloved teacher!"It's the half father who raised you!It was Ouyang Chigong who killed your biological father!

He remembered seven years ago, when his father had just died.He couldn't believe his father's suicide. During that time, he told Ouyang Chigong countless times of his suspicion, and asked Ouyang Chigong countless times to appeal for his father's grievances.

And what did Ouyang Chigong say?

He said that the dead cannot be brought back to life, and the living must always look forward.He said that Gu Zhiwei was a person with a heavy burden in his heart. He could not absolve himself of the responsibility for the tragic death of his apprentice and could not face it.He said, your father and I are best friends, from now on, I will support you for him...

Those words reappeared in his ears. For so many years, whenever Gu Qiao brought up the past again, Ouyang Chigong would definitely comfort him to accept the reality.

Gu Qiao thought to himself, when he was comforting me, what mood was he in?It's funny, the murderer raised the dead man's son, and the dead man's son respected him as his teacher and teacher!

Xiang Zenan knew what Ouyang Chigong meant to Gu Qiao, and he was in a complicated mood at this moment, unable to say anything to comfort him, he just put his hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Go to the back and have a rest."

Gu Qiao shook her head and smiled at him, "I'm fine."

The reluctantly smiling face seemed to be crying, Xiang Zenan felt sad, and grabbed his left hand and put it in the palm of his hand.

The scars on his hands made people feel bitter. This man lost his mother since he was a child, and witnessed his father's death when he was a teenager. Now, his most cherished teacher has become his father-killing enemy.

Xiang Zenan rubbed the bumpy scar on his left hand, remembering when he went crazy and bit him like this, he also smiled and said it was okay.

At this moment, the third prince only had one thought in his mind, and that was to hold him in his arms and protect him so that no one would hurt him again.

The Li family courtyard stayed up all night.Gu Qiao lit the fire, using the hill made of gold bricks as a desk, and wrote a fierce memorial.

At daybreak, Xiang Zenan entered the palace with the drawings and Gu Qiao's memorial.

Gu Qiao went back to her home, took a shower, changed into her official uniform, tied her belt and hat carefully, and made it as grand and formal as if she was participating in a ceremony to sacrifice to heaven.

At the time of Chen, a servant came to the palace, and the emperor hurriedly summoned Gu Shiyi to the palace to face the saint.

At three o'clock in the morning, the emperor's roar came from the imperial study room, followed by the sound of the desk falling to the ground.

At that time, the five prime ministers, the supervisor of the Shaofu, the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, the minister of the Ministry of industry, and the doctor of imperial history entered the palace according to the imperial edict.

This day is the second day of the Great Muxiu, and the general emperor would not arrange political discussions on this day.When Ouyang Chigong arrived at the Qianyang Palace, he keenly noticed that the atmosphere was not right. The servants who usually responded to him with a smiling face only lowered their heads and walked quickly to lead the way.

When he saw the many ministers coming, his first reaction was that something might have happened to the emperor. He asked He Fangzhi with his eyes, and He Fangzhi shook his head at him.

Everyone stood and waited outside the imperial study, and waited until the sun was almost above their heads before the servants came out to invite the ministers in.

The inside had already been tidied up, and the emperor looked calm at this moment, sitting on the dragon chair with no expression on his face.

Ouyang Chigong was even more confused when he saw Gu Qiao and the third prince standing aside.Until the emperor threw a piece of paper on his face and said lightly, "Ouyang Aiqing, look at what this is."

The moment Ouyang Chigong opened the blueprint, his pupils were shocked, but he regained his composure in the blink of an eye, and he calmly replied, "Your Majesty, this is the survey blueprint for the Chen Jinshan Mine in Lianzhou."

His tone was so natural as if he was answering a very simple question. He had no guilt about it, it was a matter of course and he had a clear conscience.

Gu Qiao secretly clenched her fists. It was this kind of tone, this kind of naturalness, that made him believe it without reservation for seven whole years!

The emperor sneered, "It was Gu Zhiwei who surveyed the Chen Jinshan mine back then, why isn't his signature on it?"

Ouyang Chigong raised his eyelids, and his gaze stayed on Gu Qiao for a moment, "Back to Your Majesty, in the 17th year of Qing'an, Gu Langzhong submitted the drawings to the Ministry of Industry for review, and before he had time to sign the seal... Weichen was the Ministry of Industry at that time. Servant, according to the system, perform the duty of signature."

"Really?" The emperor picked up a book from the desk and threw it on Ouyang Chigong, and said angrily, "Then do you know why the drawing does not match the manuscript?"

Ouyang Chigong's body paused for a moment, he bent down to pick up the book on the ground and flipped through a few pages.His fingertips were a little pale, but his voice was still calm and composed, "Weichen has never seen this manuscript before, and I don't know why the survey drawings he submitted did not match the manuscript."

He pushed it lightly, and even vaguely hinted that there was something wrong with the blueprint submitted by Gu Zhiwei!

Gu Qiao was full of anger, in order not to lose his composure in front of the hall, he had to grit his teeth desperately to hold back.

Compared to Ouyang Chigong's calmness and calmness, Li Detang was already shaking like chaff when he saw the blueprint.

It was precisely in order to prevent other people from blaming the Shaofu Supervisor for the accident, that he hid the drawings in the wall of the wooden house in the other courtyard.

Now that the drawings appear here, the secret of the wooden house in the other courtyard may have been revealed to the sky...

Li Detang's old body knelt down tremblingly on the ground, crying, "Your Majesty! I have my duty!"

He Fangzhi and Ouyang Chigong both changed their faces, and their eyes shot at Li Detang like lightning.

Before he could speak, He Fangzhi stepped forward to block him, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, after all, Gu Langzhong's manuscript has been around for a long time. If there is any doubt about the blueprint of the mine, the best way is to send someone to Jin Mine field inspection."

All the gold mines are under their control, and when the time comes, send a trustworthy person to check, and everything will be safe.

The emperor raised his eyebrows, "What He Aiqing said is very true, the best way is to send people to the gold mine to check on the spot."

He Fangzhi and Ouyang Chigong had already come up with this idea, so they didn't worry too much. Hearing what the emperor said at this time, he was even more relieved.

As for Li Detang, just let him shut up within today.

At this time, His Highness the Third Prince stepped forward and said loudly: "Father, my son has sent people to investigate the Lianzhou mine and will return to Beijing soon. At that time, compare the situation in Lianzhou with the blueprints and manuscripts. It will be clear."