I was a princess in ancient times

Hearing Yu Heng explain how he found the ruby ​​mine, Ji Xinxue raised both hands in front of Yu Heng, "I have a hairpin in my sleeve pocket, guess where it is."

Yu Heng hesitated for a moment, then patted Ji Xinxue's left hand, "Here?"

The expression on Ji Xinxue's face gradually became complicated, and she took out a palm-sized silver hairpin from the sleeve pocket under her right hand and held it in front of Yu Heng's eyes.

Yu Heng looked at Ji Xinxue with an innocent face, and said in a slightly dejected tone, "I guessed wrong."

The expression on Ji Xinxue's face became more complicated when he heard the words, he shook his head, then used his right hand to dig out his left sleeve, and took out a gold stepper with jewels inlaid.

Because she didn't sleep much at night recently, Ji Xinxue suddenly felt a little dizzy when she checked the problematic items from the Jiangnan merchant just now, so she took off the Bu Yao and the silver hairpin from her head and put them in her sleeve pocket.

The gold and gemstone-inlaid three-tailed hairpin on his right hand is used as the main hairpin, which can be worth the value of the whole box of twelve small flower-shaped silver hairpins in his left hand.

It was precisely because Yu Heng guessed wrong that Ji Xinxue believed in metaphysics even more.

Only choose the expensive ones, not the right ones.

Worthy of being the 'God of Wealth'.

There is no need for Ji Xinxue to explain, Yu Heng immediately guessed Ji Xinxue's thoughts from the change of Ji Xinxue's expression. Stained black ash.

Unsurprisingly, the slender, light gray fingers drew meandering gray marks on Ji Xinxue's fair face, and the smile on the corners of Yu Heng's eyes and brows suddenly froze completely.

Just as Yu Heng knew Ji Xinxue, Ji Xinxue also knew Yu Heng.

Sensing Yu Heng's suddenly stiff limbs, Ji Xinxue subconsciously followed Yu Heng's unbelievable gaze and turned to look at Yu Heng's hand.

On Xiao Hui's hand, there is only a small clean circle on the belly of the finger. Thinking about it with his fingers, Ji Xinxue can guess where the original dust in the 'clean circle' is.

He raised his hand and patted Xiao Hui's hand, and said with a smile, "Go wash up first, just let the small kitchen prepare the dishes. It's only been two days, and you've lost a lot of weight."

Hearing this, Yu Heng immediately thought of the whole table of delicious dishes he saw at Yuhe Courtyard the day he went out of the city overnight, and he subconsciously refused, "I'm not hungry."

Before the words fell, Yu Heng's stomach suddenly made a protesting sound, using his strength to dismantle the stage for his master.

Ji Xinxue bit the soft flesh on the side of her cheek to hold back her smile, and pushed Yu Heng to turn around and walk towards the door, citing a list of dishes in her mouth, all of which were Yu Heng's favorite dishes on weekdays and had nothing to do with Dabu.

The urgency on Yu Heng's face gradually turned into helplessness, and he walked out of the room with the strength on his back, leaving only the sentence 'I'll be back later. ' Then strode away.

After coaxing Yu Heng away, Ji Xinxue looked down at the long dress that had changed from light yellow to grayish yellow, and went back to the room to wash again.

After lunch, Yu Heng firmly rejected Ji Xinxue's proposal to let him rest, and followed Ji Xinxue step by step.

Seeing that Yu Heng was in good spirits even though he had been away for a few days, Ji Xinxue didn't force him to persuade him.

The two continued what Ji Xinxue hadn't done the whole morning, studying the items that Yan Meng and the officials of the princess's mansion found problematic when they carefully counted the properties of the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River.

With Yu Heng joining, Ji Xinxue immediately felt the joy of getting twice the result with half the effort.

The feudal Princess Anguo's Mansion buys a lot of things that are fashionable in the south of the Yangtze River every month and sends them to Chang'an. Mo Changshi of the Princess Mansion is an out-and-out talker, and every time he sends a letter to Yu Heng, he must use a special large envelope to seal it. Not impossible to seal.

Mo Changshi's letter will introduce in detail the origin of the things he sent to Chang'an for Yu Heng to play with or give away, what special meanings they have, and how much effort he spent to snatch these things from many competitors

As time goes by, Yu Heng not only knows all kinds of luxury toys from Jiangnan like the back of his hand, but also knows a lot about the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan.

Most of these objects that Yan Meng and the officials of the princess's mansion felt problematic were 'smart tools'.

The so-called "smart gadgets" are mostly exquisite decorations, the essence of which is the same as Linglong Box, and most of them have more than one mechanism. The mechanism inside the decoration must be opened in strict accordance with the correct method, so that the things hidden in the mechanism will not be destroyed.

If violent methods are used, the probability of the secrets hidden in the 'smart device' being damaged is as high as three quarters.

Ji Xinxue spent almost the entire morning, only opening two "smart devices", and got two numbers without beginning and ending. After careful investigation, it was found that these two numbers were bribed by the owner of the "smart device" to a certain Shangzhou The exact number of officials.

To sum it up in one sentence: After going through all kinds of hardships, I got two pieces of waste paper.

The worst thing is that Ji Xinxue's process of proving that waste paper is just waste paper is equally difficult.

So much so that Ji Xinxue felt a headache when she saw the several large boxes still piled up in the same place, and tried her best to resist the urge to directly call Jin Wuwei to split the "skillful tools" into two.

Yu Heng sat on the wooden box, and casually picked up the mutton fat jade longevity peach that he liked the most.

There are many jade peaches with different materials but almost the same appearance in the warehouse of Princess Anguo's Mansion in Chang'an. It is the best choice for Yu Heng to give birthday gifts to the elders of the clan.

He picked up the Yangzhi Yushou peach and subconsciously touched the green leaves carved out of jasper under the Yangzhi Yushou peach. He immediately found the familiar groove, and with skill, he easily separated the peach and the leaf.

Yu Heng held up the part of the peach to Ji Xinxue with a smile on his lips, "Hollow peach."

Ji Xinxue couldn't help pinching the outside of her thigh to make sure if she was dreaming.

He clearly remembered that when these things were just moved to the princess mansion yesterday, he had studied the mutton fat jade peaches in Yu Heng's hands, and it took half an hour to carefully separate the white jade peaches from the jasper leaves, but he did not find the white jade at that time. Peach is hollow peach!

Could it be that the mutton fat jade longevity peach he studied yesterday is not the same as the mutton fat jade longevity peach that was disassembled in Yu Heng's hands?

Ji Xinxue leaned towards Yu Heng, ignored the parchment inside the hollow peach, carefully studied the smooth cut of the hollow peach and the small organs connecting with the green leaves, and finally found the difference between yesterday and today.

The white jade peach is not a whole piece of white jade, but consists of a peach bottom and a peach body.

When he left Jasper Yetuo yesterday, the bottom and body of the white jade peach were still connected.Now the white jade peach and jasper leaf support in Yu Heng's hand are separated from the bottom and body of the peach, and a small section of white jade on the jasper leaf support is particularly conspicuous.

With complicated emotions, Ji Xinxue took out the parchment from the hollow peach, and asked casually, "How do you know there is a mechanism here?"

Yu Heng glanced at the official of the princess's mansion who was waiting not far away, and whispered in Ji Xinxue's ear, "The birthday gift I gave to Uncle Qinghe last year has exactly the same mechanism as this mutton jade birthday peach."

Ji Xinxue nodded. The prince of Qinghe County not only controls the clan mansion, but also serves as the Minister of Dali Temple. It is indeed very practical to have a birthday peach ornament that can hide secrets.

It can be regarded as a good auxiliary item when you want to fish with true and false news or test whether the servants around you are loyal.

Ji Xinxue stared nervously at the unfolding parchment in her hands, her heart beating faster and faster.

There must be a secret for something so hidden!

赤眉猴子：500两银子、价值200两银子的红宝石一枚、3000两银子、价值5000两银子的洪州建昌东六巷四进院价值2000两银子的江南果酒大坛。

There are also strange references such as the bald thief eagle, the hungry ghost with a big belly, and the blind giant bear.Ji Xinxue was so angry that she put her head on Yu Heng's shoulder and smiled.

Without asking the officials of the princess's mansion to identify, he can conclude that these strange names refer to officials in Anye or Shangzhou, and this is a bribe.

The county magistrate of Anye once confessed that the governor of Shangzhou called Jiangnan merchants "Lilu ghosts" in private. Unexpectedly, when Jiangnan merchants called these officials who facilitated them in private, the words they used were also full of ridicule and derogation.

Ji Xinxue casually handed the parchment to the officials of the princess's mansion, and secretly sighed that the so-called "smart tool" can really trouble people.

If these things are left alone, he will always have the feeling of missing important clues. Studying these things carefully will take time, effort and emotion, but in the end all he will get is dispensable news.

Really annoying.

Yu Heng closed the white jade hollow peach and jasper leaves and handed them to the palace servants beside him, pointing to the gold-encrusted jade kingfisher in a wooden box not far away, and said, "Bring me to have a look."

The palace man immediately held the gold-encrusted jade kingfisher, which was as tall as a child's arm, and placed it in front of Yu Heng.

Ji Xinxue said lazily, "I studied this kingfisher yesterday, and the few feathers on its back can slide, and it feels like the place to hide things is in its stomach."

Yu Heng shook his head, raised his hand to pinch the feather inlaid with sapphire on the kingfisher's head and yanked it hard.

After a long while, Yu Heng's fingertips had turned white due to too much force, and the kingfisher was still motionless.

Yu Heng raised his head and waved to Yan Meng who was nervously staring at the kingfisher, "Come here."

Yan Meng shook her head, subconsciously took half a step back, she was afraid of damaging such a precious ornament.

Under the insistence of Ji Xinxue and Yu Heng, Yan Mengcai reluctantly stretched out his hand towards the sapphire-embedded feathers on the kingfisher's head, applying force cautiously.

The feather, which was originally indifferent no matter how hard Yu Heng tried, was pulled out of the kingfisher's head by Yan Meng at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Looking at this scene, Ji Xinxue faintly felt that her scalp was hurting, and couldn't bear to look away.

Out of the corner of Yu Heng's eyes, he noticed Ji Xinxue's face-opening movement. In order to reassure Ji Xinxue, he specially explained, "In October last year, among the objects Mo Changshi sent to Chang'an was a peacock that was almost exactly the same as this kingfisher. , there must be nothing wrong."

As the feathers completely left the kingfisher, a crack suddenly appeared in the middle of the kingfisher's skull, and Yu Heng easily opened the crack, revealing the silky silk inside.

Ji Xinxue immediately pulled out the silk and spread it on his hands. The lavender silk was natural in color, like violets in full bloom. He could almost see the palm prints on the palm through the silk. The only handkerchief in the whole square The pattern is the word 'white' embroidered with silver thread in the lower right corner.

"Where did you find this kingfisher?" Ji Xinxue asked.

Holding the pamphlet, the official of the princess's mansion replied immediately, "I got it from a Jiangnan businessman named Song Feng. After the earthquake, the shop assistants under his name went to Beicheng, because the earth dragon turned over in the south of the Yangtze River and caused a large number of people to die. As for the good land in the south of the Yangtze River, there is no human race, so it can only be abandoned as an excuse to encourage the people in the northern city to sell their property and live in the south of the Yangtze River."

"Hmm." Ji Xinxue rubbed the two sides of the silk with her index finger and thumb respectively, trying to find more clues through the touch, and then asked, "What is his relationship with Bai Jinshu, the master of the document hall who made high profits in Anye?"

As one of the culprits who turned a large number of civilians into slaves, Bai Jinshu, the master of the document hall, has always been the key investigation object of the Princess Mansion.

It's a pity that Bai Jinshu didn't return to Shangzhou during the selection of the sugar banquet. Ji Xinxue only caught some small fish and shrimp in the document hall, and learned about Bai Jinshu through interrogating Xiaoyu Xiaoxia and other Jiangnan businessmen.

Bai Jinshu was born in the Bai family in the south of the Yangtze River, and together with the Yu family rooted in the south of the Yangtze River, they are collectively called Dongyu Xibai.

Because of the prosperity of Jiangnan, the status of merchants in Jiangnan far exceeds that of other places.As a result, there are more and more wealthy merchants in Jiangnan, and the status of Jiangnan merchants is getting higher and higher.

In the Yu Dynasty, there was no rule that family members of officials were not allowed to engage in business. Except for officials appointed by Chang'an, all officials in the Jiangnan officialdom were from Jiangnan. Without exception, they had one or several close relatives who were wealthy merchants.

As a wealthy businessman who can be as famous as the Yu family, the Bai family has far more power in the Jiangnan officialdom than the Yu family.

Bai Jinshu is not a direct descendant of the Bai family, he can only be regarded as a side branch of the side branch. The uncle in the family is currently the magistrate of a county in the east of the south of the Yangtze River.

Judging from the investigation results of the Princess Mansion so far, the owner of the kingfisher ornament has almost no intersection with Bai Jinshu, and there is no clue to prove that the "white" on the silk is the white of Bai Jinshu.

Ji Xinxue was not disappointed when she heard the words, and stuffed the silk handkerchief with the word 'white' embroidered with silver thread into her sleeve pocket.When Yu Heng folded the head of the kingfisher ornament and asked Yan Meng to insert the feather inlaid with sapphire back on the kingfisher's head, he personally chose a jade lantern that he had been curious about for a long time from the stacked wooden boxes and gave it to Yu Heng.

If Yu Heng can maintain the speed of deciphering the "smart tool", even if he can't get the clues he wants, this process will not be as boring as before.

Seeing Yu Heng's side face concentrating on studying the lantern, Ji Xinxue couldn't help but ask, "Is this considered fortune?"

Yu Heng nodded affirmatively, "Forget it."

He has already discovered that although Ji Xinxue does not value material desires, he is a money fanatic at heart, and he is paying more attention to the "born to gather wealth" that he has never paid attention to before.

Ji Xinxue was amused by Yu Heng's determined appearance, and the appearance of the new stick figure immediately appeared in his mind.

The three-headed body holding the lantern nodded proudly and said 'yes'.

If you think about it carefully, if it wasn't for Yu Heng's "wealth" enough, Mo Changshi was afraid that Yu Heng would not be able to spend all that money, and the fiefdom and the princess mansion in Chang'an would have to build new warehouses to save money, so he wouldn't be motivated to buy all the most expensive ones. The things were delivered to Yu Heng, so that Yu Heng knew these "smart tools" that only flourished in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is precisely because of Yu Heng's fortune that Yu Heng was able to easily open these "handy tools" found in the residences of Jiangnan merchants.

Before Ji Xinxue's wild thoughts were completely over, Yu Heng had already opened one side of the lantern, revealing the letter paper inside.

The letter was signed by the county magistrate of a certain place in Shannan West Road. So far, only Yao Zheng has recruited this county magistrate, and no one else has mentioned this person.

It wasn't until the warm glow of the setting sun shone on Ji Xinxue's side face along the window that Yu Heng opened the last "handy tool". Nothing tasteless.A small number of clues, such as the silk handkerchief embroidered with the word "white" with silver thread in the gold-encrusted jade kingfisher ornament, are temporarily unclear.

So far, they haven't found any clues that can allow them to dig out new things about the "Shangzhou case" that has become increasingly clear.

Ji Xinxue yawned lazily, and casually looked at the 'Red Koi' that had been split into two, "Let's do this today, after dinner, you should go back to rest earlier."

Yu Heng didn't have any hope for the thing wrapped in muslin in the fish's stomach, so he turned his head to talk to Ji Xinxue, "I'll see you sleep before leaving."

Although after Yu Heng returned to the princess mansion, except when he went back to the Anheyuan to wash up, he was always inseparable from Ji Xinxue, so the palace people around Ji Xinxue hadn't had time to tell him that "Ji Xinxue has stayed up for several days".

But Yu Heng had noticed that Ji Xinxue was yawning more and more frequently, and guessed from this that after he left Anye, Ji Xinxue, who did not listen to persuasion, must not go to bed on time.

Under Yu Heng's gaze, Ji Xinxue coughed lightly to hide her guilty conscience, and took the initiative to get the fine cloth lying in the 'fish maw', and changed the subject in a not very clever way, "Huh? It's a metal token."

The moment the muslin cloth was completely removed, Ji Xinxue's drowsiness dissipated immediately.

This is a brand new brass token, without any writing on it, only a strange flower with oval petals and triangular leaves.

It is an exotic flower that only briefly appeared in the Hunting Mountain Palace!

When Emperor Changping sent the Jinwu guards to investigate the origin of exotic flowers, the clues were broken in Jiangnan. Two years later, he found exotic flowers in the "handicraft" in the Jiangnan businessman's home.

Yu Heng leaned closer to Ji Xinxue, examining the brand new brass plate in Ji Xinxue's hand with scrutiny.

Not to mention the significance of the brass medal, the process of making the brass medal as thin as a leaf and keeping it flat is far better than the value of the brass medal itself, and it can even be called a waste.

There is only one reason for this appearance, and the pattern on the brass plate is very important.

"What kind of flower is this?" Yu Heng asked in a voice that only Ji Xinxue could hear.

Ji Xinxue shook her head, noticing the pain when the bronze medal was placed between her palms, she slowly slowed down her grip on the bronze medal, "I don't know either."

Emperor Changping only told him that it was a flower that only grew in Turkic territory, but did not tell him the name of the flower.

Turkic

Ji Xinxue once again tightened his grip on the copper plate, and his heartbeat gradually accelerated. He raised his head and looked at the officials of the princess's mansion, "How about Yao Zheng and Ping Zhen in prison?"

The official of the princess manor bowed his head respectfully, "On the first day, the sinner Yao Zheng had no communication with the sinner Pingzhen. On the second day, the sinner Yao Zheng took the initiative to talk to the sinner Pingzhen, but the sinner Pingzhen ignored him. The third day On the same day, the two had a quarrel, and the criminal Ping Zhen claimed that Yao Zheng, the guilty minister, had killed Dabao and Xiaobao."

Seeing that Ji Xinxue was still staring at him, the officials of the princess's mansion finished summarizing Yao Zhengping and Pingzhen's reactions in the past few days, and then began to explain the details.

Most of the exchanges between the two took place on the third day of being locked together, which is today.

Yesterday Yao Zheng looked at Ping Zhen and said "Jen Niang" and then he didn't speak out again after he didn't get a response. Today he talked to Ping Zhen again after having breakfast.

This time, Yao Zheng not only called Pingzhen in a vague way, but also accused Pingzhen, saying, "Mother Zhen, have you ever told me the truth?"

Ji Xinxue sneered, "Is he still an infatuated kind?"

This is the biggest joke he has heard this year, bar none.

The officials of the princess's mansion paused, and continued to talk about what happened between Yao Zheng and Ping Zhen when Ji Xinxue did not ask her.

Yao Zheng's words did not get Pingzhen's response, but Pingzhen turned her back to Yao Zheng with difficulty under the circumstances of all kinds of ties.

Pingzhen's reaction made Yao Zheng's face turn red, and he began to call Pingzhen by first and last name, counting how kind he was to Pingzhen and how sorry Pingzhen was to him over the years.

The more Yao Zheng spoke, the angrier he became, and his temper gradually lost control. The target of verbal insults spread from Pingzhen to the twins, asking whether Pingzhen's twins were his flesh and blood.

"You are not worthy to be their father." Ping Zhen drove Yao Zheng completely crazy with just one sentence, and almost broke down the prison where he was held in Ping Zhen as a powerless civil servant.

Ji Xinxue raised her hand to stop the words of the officials of the princess mansion. He was not interested in Yao Zheng's crazy words, "Just say what Ping Zhen said."

The official of the Princess House nodded.

Ping Zhen only said two sentences from the beginning to the end.

"You are not fit to be their father."

"It was you who cut off their way of life."

Ji Xinxue kept Pingzhen's words in mind, and ordered, "Take Pingzhen to the place where Secretary An Ye and others are detained, and prepare a cell for her alone. She is still tied up in various ways, and she is not allowed to speak. Write down all the people who approached. People who have been in Pingzhen's cell, no matter whether they are close to Pingzhen because of work or not, have to investigate carefully. I will hand over this matter to the Jinwu Guard. You just disclose the news that Pingzhen is Yao Zheng's waifu, quietly. Give it to the imperial envoy."

After explaining the arrangement for Pingzhen, Ji Xinxue remembered that he still had an important matter to ask, and pointed to the 'red carp' with copper plates and asked, "Whose mansion is this?"

He watched Yu Heng spend the whole afternoon deciphering various "smart tools". The value of this "red carp" was only average among these "smart tools".

Yan Meng held the booklet turned to the last page and said, "It was found in the document hall. It was originally classified as a normal object, but the jade craftsman insisted that this ornament gave him something wrong."

Because the jade craftsman swore to the sky, they added "red carp" to the booklet with the idea that they would rather believe it. "

Ji Xinxue nodded, "After three months, I will reward the jade craftsman with 50 taels of gold, and allow three generations of his immediate relatives to become craftsmen."

After watching Yan Meng and the officials of the princess's mansion leave, Ji Xinxue's barely maintained calm was instantly shattered. He grabbed Yu Heng's wrist excitedly, and said in a barely audible voice, "This is the exotic flower I told you about. !"

Yu Heng's subconscious interface, "Baiyu safe lock?"

When he first saw the pattern on the copper plate, he felt it looked very familiar. He also thought it was the exotic flower on the Baiyu Ping'an lock, but there was still a big gap between the two, so he couldn't be sure.

Ji Xinxue nodded affirmatively. The pattern on the copper plate is indeed quite different from the embellishment on the white jade lock, but he has not only seen the exotic flowers on the white jade lock, but also the ornaments worn by other people who were assassinated in the Hunting Mountain Palace What does the exotic flower look like.

The exotic flowers on the copper sheet are exactly the same as the embroidered patterns on the shoes worn by a clan and county head who was assassinated and killed in the Lieshan Palace.

Ji Xinxue thought carefully about the people who were present just now, except for him and Yu Heng, the official of the Princess House and Yan Meng, who were personally selected by Emperor Changping for him, were all reliable people.

On the pretext that he wanted to take stock of Yao Zheng's hidden stolen silver immediately, he sent people to Huo Yu and Zhang Siyi, and asked Huo Yu to send someone eight hundred miles to rush the copper plate with the pattern of exotic flowers and the coin with the word "white" embroidered with silver thread. The silk was sent back to Chang'an.

Three days later, Ji Xinxue first received Emperor Changping's response to Yao Zheng's confession.

Emperor Changping, who had always been stingy in praising his children in writing, used a page of letter paper to praise Ji Xinxue when he grew up, so that he could share his father's worries.

When explaining the business, he returned to his usual stingy pen and ink style, and only used three short lines to explain to Ji Xinxue what to do.

Ji Xinxue read Emperor Changping's reply seven or eight times from beginning to end, before she dared to believe that the letter was really written by Emperor Changping himself.

He suspected that Emperor Changping drank alcohol before writing the letter, and sobered up after writing the first half, but he had no evidence.

According to Emperor Changping's instructions, Ji Xinxue concealed the news that Yao Zheng had confessed, and went to 'interrogate' Yao Zheng every now and then. Every time she went there she was full of spirits, and when she left she was full of anger.

In order to make her anger look more real, Ji Xinxue went out of her way to find fault with the imperial envoy after the 'interrogation' of Yao Zheng.

Because the imperial envoy's attitude was too soft, Ji Xinxue always felt that he was bullying the weak, like a bear child who would not hesitate to poke the belly of a stray cat.

Because of the exceptionally uniform good temper of the 'stray cats', the heterogeneity among them is particularly conspicuous.

For example, when helping Zhang Siyi to count the properties of Jiangnan merchants, Wailang, a member of the household department, tried to mess with the "handy tool" that had been sent back to the Jiangnan merchants' residence.

Another example is Uiro, a member of the criminal department who always passes by Pingzhen's cell inadvertently.

No matter what kind of thoughts these people have, they will be interrupted by the people Ji Xinxue arranged in advance, and they can only wait for the next opportunity to complete the goal they were only a short distance away.

It's a pity that Ji Xinxue won't give these people the chance to get close to the target again. As the uncompromising princess in Shangzhou, and Dai Shilang and Song Shilang, two imperial envoys who pursue non-stick pans to the extreme, Ji Xinxue just needs to casually If you find some faults, you can restrain dishonest people without revealing their true intentions.

As more and more people were on the 'death' list, Ji Xinxue waited for Emperor Changping's response based on the copper sheet of exotic flowers.

There are only two short words in this letter about the exotic flower copper piece.

'very good'

Then he told Ji Xinxue that he was quietly integrating the military guards of the Daying Camp on the outskirts of Beijing, and was going to enter Shannan East Road along Shangzhou, and asked Ji Xinxue to hold on to the progress of the Shangzhou case first.

Ji Xinxue looked at the three-line letter thoughtfully, and became even more convinced that Emperor Changping drank fake wine before replying to him last time.

In order to complete Emperor Changping's confession, Ji Xinxue lost his temper in the fief princess mansion under the frenzied impeachment of Chang'an courtiers, and finally agreed to delegate power to the imperial envoy from Chang'an, allowing the imperial envoy from Chang'an to contact some criminals who were imprisoned.

These criminals were all carefully selected by Ji Xinxue and Yu Heng according to the dossiers. They never confessed any useful information honestly from the beginning to the end. With inexplicable confidence, they firmly believed that someone would protect them.

Before, Ji Xinxue was in a hurry to catch big fish and ignored these shrimp soldiers and crab generals, but now he just uses these people to confuse the imperial envoys, so that the people in Chang'an can't figure out the real progress of the Princess Mansion's investigation of the "Shangzhou case".

The efficiency of the imperial envoy was beyond Ji Xinxue's expectations, she pried open the mouths of the shrimp soldiers and crab generals without any effort, and directly asked the culprit who supported these people in Chang'an.

Master Jiang.

If it wasn't for the fact that when Jiang Taishi committed suicide in prison two years ago, Emperor Changping couldn't bear to let the prince and princess set up a monument for Jiang Taishi. Ji Xinxue personally put the spirit beads that are said to be able to suppress evil spirits into Jiang Taishi's coffin. He would have thought that Jiang Taishi cheated on the corpse.

Jiang Taishi committed suicide in the last year of Yanguang, but the number of Jiangnan merchants in Shangzhou began to increase in the first year of Changping, and the increasingly aggressive behavior of Shangzhou officials and Jiangnan merchants also became more and more arrogant since the first year of Changping.

This can all be attributed to Jiang Taishi, and I am not afraid that Jiang Taishi really cheated.

Ji Xinxue barely resisted the idea of ​​smashing the imperial envoy's investigation results on the faces of Dai Shilang and Song Shilang, and pinched her nose to make eight hundred miles rush to send the investigation results back to Chang'an.

When I turned around, I made a bet with Yu Heng on how long Dai Shilang and Song Shilang would be able to retire.

Because the answers of the two were surprisingly consistent, they both believed that Dai Shilang and Song Shilang would be moved to the Qing County Yamen for retirement within two years, or they would be retired directly, so they could only regretfully give up the idea of ​​betting.

But Ji Xinxue didn't know that when he was so angry by the unreliable imperial servants that he lost his appetite, Emperor Changping was beating his head with his hand, smiling at the courtiers who rolled into a ball and quarreled like little sisters.

Chang'an courtiers are far more concerned about who is the culprit in the Shangzhou case than Ji Xinxue. Those who are capable of concealing such a serious case must be in high positions and have countless disciples behind them.

The fall of such a person in such a dishonorable way not only means that countless positions will be vacated in the court, but also means that new powerful officials will appear and change the current structure of the court.

That's why the courtiers were extremely dissatisfied with Ji Xinxue's behavior as an imperial envoy. Almost every day, there were thirty or forty letters to impeach Princess Anwu for dominating the government.

After Ji Xinxue finally agreed to be interrogated by the imperial envoy, a strange phenomenon suddenly appeared.

News from Chang'an is always faster than Shangzhou.

Long before the Shangzhou imperial envoys interrogated the criminals and came to the conclusion that Jiang Taishi was the culprit, there were rumors in Chang'an.

Only Grand Master Jiang can cover up the sky with one hand and conceal such a horrific crime.

When Emperor Changping heard the news, he personally took Ji Jingyu, Ji Jingrou, and Ji Baoshan to worship in front of Jiang Taishi's tomb, and wrote a seven-character poem commemorating Jiang Taishi's achievements on the spot.

In the early morning of the next day, no one mentioned the rumors, and the injured were still the "arrogant and domineering" Princess Anwu and the Xianglin County King who "helped the evildoers".

Two days later, new rumors began to circulate in Chang'an.

In this Shangzhou case, Princess Anwu arrested many Jiangnan businessmen related to the Bai family. This Bai family is Bai Qianli's Bai.

Before the courtiers impeached Bai Qianli, Bai Qianli went up and asked Emperor Changping to catch those who spread rumors and punish them severely.

She is an orphan with no father and no mother. Although during the Yanguang Dynasty, the Bai family in the south of the Yangtze River approached her more than once with their genealogy and wanted to recognize her as an aunt, but she never agreed.

Emperor Changping personally approved the paper, not only asked Mo Yao to deal with the rumors in person, but also repeatedly rewarded Bai Qianli, as if he wanted to support Bai Qianli.

So there are new rumors in Chang'an

Sikong, Situ, and Cui Taibao were hit one after another.

Emperor Changping had received a secret letter from Ji Xinxue when Chang'an began to spread that Jiang Taishi was the chief culprit, and knew that the real culprit was Sikong.

He could directly order the Jinwu Guard to arrest Sikong, but he didn't do that.

For one thing, although Shangzhou has been purged, in Shannan Dongdao except Shangzhou, there are still criminal officials serving as parents, rashly attacking Sikong, may make the local officials who are in fear do crazy things.

Secondly, Emperor Changping wanted to know if Sikong would push a scapegoat, and wanted to find out Sikong's hole card through Sikong's behavior.

When all the rumors slandered Jiang Taishi and Bai Qianli, he immediately expressed his trust in them.

When it was the turn of Sikong, Situ and Cui Taibao, Emperor Changping was skeptical.

Because of Emperor Changping's ambiguous attitude, the courtiers in Chang'an yelled and even fought because of Shipanzi's lack of demeanor.

Emperor Changping only needed to sit on the dragon chair, and based on the results of the quarrels of the courtiers that day, he was inclined to think who was guilty, and the Jinwu Guard, who was secretly watching the movements of Sikong Mansion, could find new clues every day.

In addition, Situ and Cui Taibao also tried their best to get rid of the suspicion, and provided Emperor Changping with many bedtime stories.

The imperial envoy sent back to Chang'an the book that identified the culprit as Jiang Taishi, which did not affect the increasingly fierce battle situation in the court at all.

The courtiers who were originally on the side of the imperial envoy to impeach Ji Xinxue turned against each other, cursing the imperial envoy as useless, and asked Emperor Changping to send a new imperial envoy to Anye to investigate the Shangzhou case.

Emperor Changping calculated in his heart the time when the military guards of the Daying Camp in the suburbs of Beijing who had quietly left Chang'an arrived at Shannan Dongdao, and casually rejected the courtier's proposal.

It is useless to send new imperial envoys. Perhaps the new imperial envoys have not yet arrived in Shannan Dongdao, and the military guards of Daying in the suburbs of Beijing have already arrested all the officials involved in the case.

However, the attitude of the courtiers was more determined than that of Emperor Changping. They collectively begged Emperor Changping to change his mind and send a new imperial envoy to investigate the Shangzhou case.

Emperor Changping had no choice but to agree to the request of the courtiers reluctantly. By the way, when the courtiers were arguing about the new imperial envoy, he found out a few officials who seemed to be neutral officials on weekdays, but in fact they had already taken refuge in Sikong, Situ or Cui Taibao. .

On August [-]th in the second year of Changping, it was sunny.

The military guards of Daying in the suburbs of Beijing occupied all the government offices and county government offices in Shannan Dongdao at the same time except Shangzhou. The governors and county magistrates of all prefectures were detained individually. The officials in the remaining government offices and county government offices were collectively placed under house arrest. No entry or exit allowed.

On the same day, Chang'an.

The game between Sikong, Situ and Cui Taibao is completely over.

Sikong never thought that he could put the blame on others, he just wanted to delay as long as possible, and send the juniors of his family away from Chang'an, hoping to leave blood behind.

After reaching the goal, they were immediately defeated.

Emperor Changping looked down at Sikong who seemed to accept his fate, and sighed, "Your children and grandchildren have been waiting for you in the Jinwuwei prison for many days, and they can finally meet you."

Sikong tensed his body suddenly, trying his best to resist the urge to raise his head.

Impossible, Emperor Changping lied to him.

Emperor Changping saw that Sikong didn't believe it, and patiently proved what he said was true, "Your sixth son claimed to have died shortly after birth, but was actually sent to another place, and did not return to you as a poor student until he grew up. That's why you treat him like your own child."

Half a month ago, Sikong's Liu'er left Chang'an on the grounds of going to Hedong Dao as the governor, but he would reply to him in a special way every day, so Sikong never doubted Liu'er's safety.

"Your young daughter was raised in Zhuangzi in poor health since she was a child. Ten days ago, she disguised herself as a businessman and went northward under the escort of her servants." Emperor Changping paused for a moment when he said this, and commented, "As long as people Seeing your youngest daughter and Liuer's youngest daughter, no one would doubt that they are not related by blood.

"Seven days ago, your eldest grandson, who was serving as the county magistrate of Guannei Road, tried to take his family members out of Guannei Road, and now he is waiting for you in the Jinwuwei Prison."

"and also"

As Emperor Changping's deep voice spread in the hall, not only Sikong's eyes were tearing apart, he desperately tried to break free from Mo Yao's shackles and climb up to the imperial case, the courtiers also felt chilly, and they all lowered their heads not daring to look directly at him. Emperor Changping.The courtiers who were involved with Sikong were even more pale, and they knelt down like dumpling, not even daring to say a word of begging for mercy.