Survival countdown

Station in Kyoto Prefecture.

Zheng Chuzhi wiped off the bright blood on the knife, the soldiers came to remove the two corpses under his feet, and the staff came to report that the city gate was about to open.

"On the road from Yangzhou to Kyoto, there are endless assassinations. It is wise for you to write a letter in advance and send it to Dingzhou to ask the third master to send a group of capable people and strangers to escort you." The staff said: "The closer you are to Kyoto, the more assassins there will be." , the more it shows that Donggong is in a hurry, and this time they will definitely be unable to turn around."

There was no joy on Zheng Chuzhi's face, his brows were deeply furrowed, showing a worried look.

The staff asked: "My lord seems to have doubts?"

Zheng Chuzhi: "I don't understand one thing."

Staff: "What's the matter?"

Zheng Chuzhi: "Why do you think the East Palace wants to rob the disaster relief money?"

"This..." the staff member was questioned, "Maybe it's a habit of being greedy for ink. Huainan officials all know that Anshuai doesn't like sex and doesn't like gambling, but they are only greedy for money. They don't know how much money they spend on river management every year. Zhang Conglu, who is greedy for ink evidence. It is precisely because of An Huaide's greed for money that the Huainan flood disaster occurred this year."

"I think about it and think it's not right." Zheng Chuzhi shook his head: "An Huaide is greedy for money, but even if his greed for Mohe Dao money is not a signal from the East Palace, it is the fifth prince's acquiescence, and these two princes and grandchildren know that they are doing disaster relief no matter how confused they are." Don’t touch the disaster relief money at a critical point. What surprised me the most was Sima Jiao. Why did he go to Jichang Villa to grab the money at the same time as me? I thought he got the news in advance and went to transfer the money, but it didn’t seem to be the case. Another point, He is a soldier transferred from Liangzhe."

"What's the problem?" The staff thought about it, and suddenly realized: "Sima Jiao didn't know the whereabouts of the relief money at that time! He didn't trust An Huaide so he transferred troops from Zhejiang and Zhejiang. East Palace and An Huaide had internal strife?!"

Zheng Chuzhi nodded: "I just figured out the joint. Think about it, if An Huaide is loyal to the East Palace, why did he rob the disaster relief money without notifying the East Palace? Where did he have the guts to do this? He is not afraid of being exposed, Involving the East Palace? I also can’t figure out Sima Jiao’s attitude. An Huaide’s move to grab the relief money is tantamount to betraying the East Palace. When Huaide, he seemed to have some scruples... what is he scruples about?"

"When Jichang Villa was arrested, what Sima Jiao said also made me worry. I will reap the consequences... If I solve this case that reaches heaven, can I still bear evil consequences? The closer I get to the capital, the more uneasy I feel. I always feel that something is wrong. I ignored it."

Staff: "Maybe there is no other reason, but An Huaide acted privately? When we interrogated Sun Chengyi why he robbed the disaster relief money, he tried his best to deny the mastermind and blamed himself. When the "rumor" of An Huaide burning and killing Zhang Conglu was spread, he discovered that Huang's orphan daughter and the former members of the Huang family were hiding in Xuzhou Yujiazhai. So he robbed the relief money, blamed Yujiazhai, and eradicated the troubles left by the year. To solve the case of Zhang Conglu...without An Huaide's signal, how dare a Senate officer, Sun Chengyi, dare to kill and set fire?"

"You mean to say that An Huaide had discovered Huang's orphaned daughter a long time ago, and she was afraid of having long nights and dreams, so she secretly created a big case and murdered her to silence her?"

"Nothing is impossible."

Zheng Chuzhi reluctantly accepted what his staff said, but he always felt something was wrong. He always believed in his intuition, so he took a pen and wrote all the ins and outs and details of the incident in a letter, and sent it to Dingzhou to ask his shrewd and sophisticated father, Zheng Guogong, to take a look.

After dawn, a group of people waited to escort the criminals into the capital and sent them all to the Ministry of Punishment.

***

Prison prison.

The fifth prince wanted to go into the prison to see An Huaide, but was stopped by the jailer.

"Presumptuous! Look who I am! Anything dares to stop me?" The fifth prince was so angry that he drew his sword and was about to slash at the jailer blocking the way.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment immediately ran out of the prison: "Your Highness, calm down, Your Highness, he has never seen the world, so he won't open his eyes to offend Your Highness, and I will punish him later. Don't be angry with this little guy." Body."

The fifth prince threw away the knife: "Hmph! It's just in time for you to come, I want to see An Huaide."

The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment looked embarrassed: "An Huaide is the main criminal in this major case, except for the presiding judge and His Majesty... Generally, outsiders are not allowed to see—"

The fifth prince immediately pointed at his nose and scolded: "You bastard! Don't use chicken feathers as arrows. Let me tell you, I am still the prince, the Eastern Palace has not been abolished, and the crown prince is still Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, your immediate boss! What, Donggong and I are in the Ministry of Punishment!" Are you still speechless?"

The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment bowed and bowed again and again: "No, no, I don't dare, Your Highness, please come in."

The fifth prince gave him a sidelong glance, and angrily went into the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and found An Huaide who was sitting upright in the cell: "Open the door."

The Secretary of the Ministry of Criminal Justice hurriedly opened the door.

Fifth Prince: "Go down."

"Ah?" The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment hesitated for a while, but in the end he didn't dare to object, and took people down with him.

Only the fifth prince and An Huaide were left in the cell. The latter sat quietly with his eyes closed, as if this was not the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice but his handsome envoy's mansion.The fifth prince stared at An Huaide, a small piece of flesh under his eyes couldn't help twitching, revealing his anger at wanting to kill An Huaide at the moment.

"An Huaide, what is it about the East Palace that I'm sorry for you? Ah? Tell me, is it because the crown prince has been promoted all these years that you are lucky enough to be this second-rank official? He should know how to repay his kindness, and we will also I don't ask you to go through fire and water, but how can you repay your kindness and revenge?"

"One servant does not serve two masters." An Huaide opened his eyes, cupped his hands calmly and said, "Huide knows that he has failed the cultivation of the prince, if there is an afterlife, he will order dogs and horses to serve him."

The Fifth Prince: "You don't have to wait for the next life, you have a chance to repay me right now." He approached with cruelty in his eyes, and said in a low voice, "Hand over the account book!"

An Huaide stared fixedly at the fifth prince, and closed his eyes again: "This old man is ashamed of his trust in the prince, so he cannot follow his orders."

"Are you really not afraid of death?" The fifth prince was so angry that he grabbed An Huaide's neck and scolded angrily: "What kindness did Eighth Uncle do to you to make you serve him so wholeheartedly? How did we feel sorry for you? What do you think? To drag the crown prince into the water and keep Prince Jing, we have to see if His Majesty is happy! Do you really think that His Majesty doesn't know who is messing up the situation in Huainan? Let me tell you, when it's really hard to turn around, Eighth Uncle shouldn't even think about it! It's a big deal that we all die together!"

An Huaide: "Huai De is lucky to be accompanied by the prince on Huangquan Road."

"You!" The fifth prince's face was livid, his expression was distorted, he tried his best to contain his anger, and said calmly, "Let's have a discussion, the prince will help you keep Prince Jing, and you return the account book, and you will be responsible for everything in Huainan, how about it?"

"You still have a wife, children and family members in Huainan, do you really want to be implicated by the nine clans? Can you bear them to die with you?"

An Huaide's cheeks twitched, it was obvious that he couldn't bear to burden his family.

Seeing this, the fifth prince felt that there was a turning point, so he grasped this point and continued: "If you take over the major case in Huainan, not only can you keep Eighth Uncle, but also your family members, I promise to let them live without worry. I remember that your eldest son is sixteen years old, and there are several girls in the family, the youngest is only three or five years old. If the incident of setting up soldiers is revealed, it will be a crime of treason, and the nine clans will be imprisoned. The female relatives may be filled into the military camp, or become a lowly citizen, and the men are slaves, and the women are prostitutes, do you have the heart?"

An Huaide clenched his hands into fists, and finally endured it.

"My An's family motto is that there are unpredictable things in the sky, and people have misfortunes and blessings. The family members in the house will enjoy the glory and wealth of the first half of my life with me, and they should also share the joys and sorrows with me in the second half of my life. Don't worry, Your Highness, we accept our fate."

"You really are! No oil or salt!"

The Fifth Prince was furious and flung his sleeves away.

When he got to the cell where Sima Jiao was being held, he slapped Sima Jiao hard on the face, and the fifth prince scolded: "Why didn't you just die on a woman's belly?! You can also do the errand that the second brother asked you to do." What a mess! If it weren't for your surname Sima, I would have killed you long ago."

Sima Jiao cried bitterly: "Your Highness, I know I was wrong! If you want to kill or cut, you will follow Your Majesty. I will bear the responsibility of Huainan alone. I will never betray the prince, but I beg the prince to protect the entire Sima family. With the support of the gentry, I can see that Zheng Guogong is pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, and the prince they really like is probably the sixth prince—”

"Do you still need to remind me? By the time you realize this, we would have died long ago." The Fifth Prince kicked Sima Jiao away fiercely, suppressed his anger and asked, "What crime can you bear alone? How can you bear the crime of stationing troops?"

Sima Jiao: "An Huaide only has the ledger of my embezzlement, so I can argue that I didn't know about the troops."

Fifth Prince: "Have you not exchanged letters in these years?"

Sima Jiao slumped his shoulders when he heard the words. He and An Huaide had indeed exchanged several letters.

The fifth prince couldn't see it, he could only hope that the deal between the second brother and the sixth brother would be successful.Before leaving, the fifth prince said to Sima Jiao: "Remember, everything in Huainan was done by you alone. The prince and I will try our best to protect Sima."

Sima Jiao knelt down and kowtowed, unable to get up for a long time.

***

In the prison, the whip soaked in salt water was whipping Sun Chengyi, and the sound of breaking the air was repeated again and again, quite densely.

Zheng Chuzhi raised his hand, but the yamen servant stopped.

"I want to ask you one last time, who ordered you and An Huaide, whether the murder of the supervisory censor Zhang Conglu has anything to do with you, why did you destroy the Huang family, why did you rob and kill the relief money and the officers and soldiers who escorted the relief money? ! Is it An Huaide's instigation, or is there someone else behind it?"

Sun Chengyi's feeble voice was like a mosquito: "...I was the one who came up with money, and there was no one else."

"Bastard! Do you think I'm a fool? When your majesty, civil and military are all fools? Even the people who work in the mud won't believe your words! Let me tell you, I have a hundred ways to torture you, I will make your life worse than death!"

Sun Yingyi sneered and didn't respond.

"Damn it! Alright! I don't believe that if you can't pry your mouth open, I will spend today. Come on, go cook ginseng soup and let me hang his life, make him sober, and let me continue the interrogation."

Zheng Chuzhi didn't believe in evil, the bones of this group of people could be as hard as one, so he went to interrogate An Huaide, asked someone to break An Huaide's leg, threw it on the ground and dragged it, who would have thought that An Huaide was such a man, that he Not saying a word.

After working all night, there was no progress in the confession, and Zheng Chuzhi was so angry that he dropped many vases when he returned home.

"Go, find the most capable person in the capital who can interrogate criminals. If you can get a confession, you will be promoted to a noble, and you will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver. It's no problem."

"Yes."

***

Once the Huainan errand was over, Zhao Baiyu, Huo Jingtang and others returned to Beijing to report on their duties.Chen Shidao, who was so busy that he didn't touch the ground, specially invited him to visit the mansion, and Zhao Baiyu brought Huo Jingtang to the teacher's mansion as a guest.

Chen Shidao treated them warmly, and specially asked the servants to buy three hard dishes, and opened a bottle of good wine.

"This time the errand is done well, I can hear your reputation as an imperial envoy in the capital." Chen Shidao was quite emotional while drinking, "I knew when I taught you that you are suitable to be an official, and when you A good official who scooped out old carrion from the Jing officialdom! When your scientific examination was delayed, the teacher was powerless, but later he felt that the Yamen of the capital government can train people, so he let you stay there."

"Officer, to be a good official who can't make mistakes in judging cases, you must first learn how to interrogate cases in prisons, yamen, including how to deal with the counties below, as well as the annual tax and the deficit account of the yamen... It's all knowledge, when you go out of Beijing to become an official, you will find that there is more knowledge to learn."

After Chen Shidao finished his glass, Zhao Baiyu quickly filled it up and clinked glasses with him.

"There are a lot of things in the yamen of the capital, but it is really quiet. There is a Buddha like the prince standing on top of his head. Who will not give face to the three divisions and six departments? As soon as you leave the capital, you will get the envoy who patrols the sky on behalf of the sky. Although the officials in Huainan You have a lot of thoughts, but who is not afraid of you, an imperial envoy? Who dares to show you face?"

Chen Shidao knocked on the table, ate peanuts and said, "I don't mean to deny your ability as a teacher, but I want to tell you that one day, when you are released from Beijing, there will be a big Buddha on your head and a little ghost under your feet. Use the rules of the officialdom to suppress you. At that time, you have to learn to hide your clumsiness, show weakness, and learn how to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, before you can enter the officialdom with both feet."

Zhao Baiyu listened carefully and nodded: "Student thanks teacher for teaching."

After clapping his hands, Chen Shidao laughed and said, "No matter how much I say, it's better for you to experience it yourself. You can just listen to it. If you really encounter trouble, you can find me as a teacher. Speaking of which, the old man hasn't toasted the county king yet." "Picking up the glass and filling it with wine, he said sincerely: "I know that my students' trip to Huainan went so smoothly because of the escort of His Royal Highness. As Baiyu's teacher, I am grateful to you."

After speaking, he raised his head and drank the wine, Master Chen said, "I'll do it first."

Huo Jingtang accepted this affection, then poured a toast back to Master Chen and said, "This is a toast to your teachings to Xiao Lang over the years."

Chen Shidao drank a little too much, his head was buzzing, and he seemed to hear His Royal Highness call the student 'Xiao Lang' in a daze?Should be Goro, right?

Maybe I heard wrong.

Then Huo Jingtang poured the second cup: "This cup is a tribute to your love for Xiao Lang as a father and a teacher."

That's right, it's called Xiao Lang.

Chen Shidao looked pensive, his brows furrowed unknowingly, and suddenly relaxed. "Xiao Lang" also means "Xiao Langjun", but it is just a common name, and he is probably used to pretending to be husband and wife in front of outsiders.

Yes, it's a prudent move.

He heard Huo Jingtang pour the third cup: "Three respects to you... I respect you as a junior."

Chen Shidao quickly said: "The old man is terrified, the king of the little county is being polite."

If he didn't drink too much tonight, he would have realized it. Why should he respect him as a junior?How could he bear this glass of wine?

It's a pity that Chen Shidao was so drunk that he didn't realize it. He woke up the next day and forgot the details of tonight.

Chen Shidao was left with only emotion in his heart at the moment, Xiaojun Wang is indeed a good lord worth following, he can rest assured that Zhao Baiyu will embark on the road of officialdom.

When the Chen residence gathered, the guests had a great time, and it was not until late at night when the dew was heavy that Huo Jingtang and Zhao Baiyu left together. However, the cold wind was blowing, the night market was still lit with warm candlelight, and the restaurant was steaming with the heat of antique soup. Shouts of craps drifted to the street, and the wheels of the carriage rolled across the long street, heading home.

***

"Who are you talking about?" Zheng Chuzhi stood up with a 'chuckle', his face full of disbelief.

The errand man wiped his sweat profusely and said, "It's true! The best interrogator in all of Kyoto is in Dali Temple, but they all unanimously recommended Shaoyin Zhao Baiyu from Kyoto Prefecture."

"Why is it him again? Does God really want him to compete with me?" Zheng Chuzhi shook his neck and said, "I'm not looking for him!"

After a pause, Zheng Chuzhi asked, "Why did the veterans of Dali Temple recommend Zhao Baiyu?"

"It was said that there were criminals who couldn't pry their mouths open in the past, so it was easy to pry their mouths open after asking Zhao Baiyu for help."

Zheng Chuzhi changed his mind: "Go to Dali Temple to borrow some veterans, hand over Sun Chengyi and Sima Jiao to them, and say that the interrogation will not yield a result, so don't go back to Dali Temple."

In this way, they must ask Zhao Baiyu for help.It would be a good thing if Zhao Baiyu could pry Sun Chengyi's mouth open, and he couldn't claim the credit, otherwise he would be guilty of usurpation.

All the things were considered carefully, so Zheng Chuzhi let go and waited for the news.

***

The veteran interrogator in Dali Temple Prison had some kind of friendship with Zhao Baiyu. He had handed over files before, and he didn't embarrass Zhao Baiyu, who had just entered the officialdom, and taught him a few housekeeping skills.

They asked for help, Zhao Baiyu naturally reciprocated, and also guessed Zheng Chuzhi's plan, but it didn't matter, he also wanted the case to progress quickly, so he taught the veterans of Dali Temple a few tricks.

"Sima Jiao can't force a confession. He will save the empress, the East Palace and the Sima family with his death, so you can't force it. You have to wait and wait for An Huaide's next reaction. As for Sun Chengyi...how tough is a military officer and can endure hardships? They can also endure pain, so they have to be mentally tortured. I have observed that Sun Yingyi is not very sensitive to pain, so it is useless for you to just make him suffer. You have to make him feel the fear of dying, so he will be afraid. "

"No one is not afraid of death. People who are not afraid of death have never died. Except for righteous men, obviously Sun Yingyi is not."

"I have a kind of bloodless punishment that can make people feel the fear of dying. It's called Tiejiaguan, and it's on the face of the prisoner..."

After listening to Zhao Baiyu's words, the veterans used this trick to interrogate Sun Chengyi. Sun Yingyi, who was beaten to pieces with a whipping stick and gritted his teeth, did not surrender after three quarters of an hour. To solve the hidden danger of Huang's orphan daughter, the mastermind was An Huaide, who also admitted that An Huaide ordered him to kill Huang's family for the purpose of Wannian Xuepo.

Zheng Chuzhi asked the veterans to continue asking: "Why are you robbing the Ten Thousand Years of Blood Amber?"

Sun Chengyi panted heavily, and the feeling of dying made him feel lingering: "The king of Lin'an needs ten thousand years of blood to save his life. The handsome envoy... the handsome envoy doesn't want the king to live. Once the king of Lin'an dies, he can, will be able to serve in the Northwest Army. Rian inserted someone..."

Zheng Chuzhi in the rear stood up with a 'huh': "Northwest Army? An Huaide is for the Northwest Army? Is it ordered by the East Palace—go and find out!"

The old man brought the words to Sun Yingyi, and Sun Yingyi hesitated again and again. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a jailer picking up two yellow papers. The pain of suffocation prompted him to answer honestly: "It's Prince Jing! Prince Jing intends to rebel. King Jing is loyal, and he collected money in Huainan just to raise troops! King Jing has a Northwest soldier in his hand, and the imperial court refuses to pay them, and withholds military funds, and wants to force King Jing to hand over his military power, so the commander-in-chief will focus on the disaster relief money!"

Zheng Chuzhi rushed out and stood in front of Sun Negyi, shocked: "Isn't An Huaide from the East Palace?!"

Sun Chengyi: "The handsome envoy is a dark chess piece that King Jing arranged to insert into the prince's party."

Zheng Chuzhi's brain was running fast, and many details that he had overlooked emerged very clearly at this moment, and many joints that he was puzzled and couldn't figure out were all opened up at this time.

Why did An Huaide mobilize disaster relief money, why did Sima Jiao and An Huaide fight in Huainan, so that's it!

wrong.

Zheng Chuzhi's cheeks twitched with excitement, and he stared at Sun Chengyi: "Since An Huaide is not from the East Palace, why did you send someone to silence you along the way?"

With An Huaide dead, Donggong couldn't get rid of his suspicions.

"Sima Jiao didn't plead guilty for so long, and didn't appeal for grievances. He deliberately waited for An Huaide to express his opinion. Could there be a clue in An Huaide's hands? This trick could lead to his death?"

"The commander-in-chief lied to Sima Jiao to raise soldiers in Huainan, but in fact the soldiers he stationed came from the Northwest Army. The money raised in Huainan and the Northwest Army over the years were all obtained by Sima Jiao's embezzlement of taxes. The commander-in-chief... ...there are accounts of Sima Jiao's embezzlement, and there are also private letters about raising troops."

Zheng Chuzhi opened the corners of his mouth and slowly widened his smile because he was so excited that his smile looked distorted: "It kills two birds with one stone."

Eliminating Prince Jing will leave behind a Northwest Army, and His Majesty will definitely take it into his pocket.In the northwest, only Ji Keshan and Cui's children are left. The latter is powerful and has been stationed in the northwest for decades. It can be said that his power overshadows the sky.It is impossible for His Majesty to appoint Cui's children to take over the soldiers from King Jing's hands, and there is no general in the Northwest right now.

This is the opportunity for the Sixth Prince and their Zheng Guogong's mansion. His father has long coveted the invincible Northwest Army, but as long as His Majesty is not confused, they will never encounter the Northwest Army in their lifetime.

It is different now.

Zheng Guogong's mansion can't touch the Northwest Army, but the sixth prince can.

After all, it is His Majesty's parent and child, and if he can gain some trust, he will have a chance of winning the Northwest Army.

Zheng Chuzhi couldn't help nodding: "Let him draw his signature on the pleadings." Then he ordered to the veterans of the trial: "You interrogate An Huaide overnight, no matter what method you use, you must pry his mouth open!"

An Huaide has the ledger of Sima Jiao's embezzlement of Huainan's tax revenue in his hand, so he must insist on Donggong.Although the person he is really loyal to is Prince Jing, Donggong knows the inside story and can use this to bite back and save the situation, but Sima Jiao has secretly embezzled a province's tax for many years, suspected of participating in the army, which is enough to severely defeat the Sima family and break the prince's arm.

"God help me Zheng's family to shine brightly and live forever!"

Zheng Chuzhi went back to the mansion in full bloom, and as soon as he arrived at the gate, people from Dingzhou rushed over, stopped at the gate, and rushed over with a letter: "Report—a letter from Dingzhou!"

Zheng Chuzhi stopped him: "Bring it here."

The man recognized Zheng Chuzhi and quickly handed him the letter.

Zheng Chuzhi opened the letter and read the five elements together: [Juntai Collection: See the letter mentioning Jichang Villa, which was bestowed on King Jing in the seventh year of Yuanfeng. This case involves Prince Jing, so it is no small matter. 】

Seeing this, Zheng Chuzhi smiled knowingly. Sure enough, it was his father who could guess the mastermind behind the big case just by the name of the villa.

This case is indeed not trivial, and there is much to be done.

He continued to read: [Your Majesty and Prince Jing have had a grudge for more than forty years, and there is no possibility of melting ice in this life. They are brothers but enemies.If there is no accident, His Majesty may be able to use this major case to settle it but regret it for the rest of his life.It's a pity that King Jing has the iron certificate of the alchemy book given by his ancestors, and the regrettable opportunity has become a nail in His Majesty's eyes. 】

[My son can't resolve this situation, so don't take over the Huainan case.If you take the lead, you will bear the brunt.In this case, Zheng Guogong's government must stay out of it.Remember. 】

Zheng Chuzhi thumped suddenly, and used a lot of heavy words in the letter, which showed that his father attached great importance to and feared the case.

Old Zheng Guogong, a veteran of the two dynasties, followed the late emperor and had the merits of being a dragon. He had seen the wise and iron blood of the late emperor in his early years of governing the country, and he had also seen the stupid and cruel attempt of the late emperor to change the crown prince. In those years of bloody storms, I knew that the enmity between the two was unforgettable and there was no day to resolve it.

Zheng Chuzhi has also been in contact with it, and he still remembers that the sky in the capital is gloomy, and the alleys where court officials live sometimes have a row of houses vacant every few months, and sometimes three or four court officials' homes are confiscated in just two or three days .

The stone bricks of the Meridian Gate were soaked into dark red with blood, and the gates of the government houses that ransacked their families and exterminated their clans cried and robbed the land. A long row of female relatives and men under the age of 16 walked past in embarrassment and lowly. Generations of slaves and prostitutes .

That period of time was preserved in Zheng Chuzhi's youthful memory, and it became a nightmare that would come up from time to time.

Zheng Chuzhi thought that digging out King Jing would help His Majesty get rid of the serious troubles in his heart, so he was more happy than ever, but he didn't expect that King Jing would have the iron coupon of the alchemy book given by his ancestors... How could there be side issues?

Anything is good, but it is Dan Shu Iron Coupon!

No wonder Emperor Yuanshou's methods of eradicating Prince Jing's clan were cruel and spared Prince Jing's life. He thought it was because His Majesty cared about brotherhood, but it turned out that Prince Jing had a life-saving talisman in his hand!

No wonder, no wonder Sima Jiao said when he was arrested that he would reap the consequences... He knew it, he knew it a long time ago!

Zheng Chuzhi's expression was ferocious like a ghost: "Sima Jiao... Sima Jiao!"

The servant next to him looked uneasy, and called out cautiously. He saw the master's eyes were red and bloodshot, and the anger of a general who killed people on the battlefield condensed into a terrifying murderous aura. The servant fell to his knees with a plop in fright trembling.

If I knew this earlier, I shouldn't have taken credit for it in Huainan, and I made a wrong step!

He thought he was grabbing a cornucopia, but who knew it was a hot potato. If Zhao Baiyu hadn't been counted on at the beginning, Zhao Baiyu's headache would be caused by this big hot case... and so on.

Zheng Chuzhi was stunned, recalling every detail of Zhao Baiyu's routine at the inn in Jiangyang County, and finally felt a little bit of strange disobedience.

Did Zhao Baiyu really fall for the trick and was tricked by him?

If he is an imperial envoy, and the great work in his hand is taken away, and he just makes things difficult for the messenger and beats his dog, will he let it go?Will you still generously offer advice when veterans in Dali Temple ask how to interrogate Sun Yingyi?

"Unless it's a Bodhisattva! Unless Zhao Baiyu was transformed by a Bodhisattva—"

Zheng Chuzhi's heart throbbed, recalling how complacent he was when he compared himself to the oriole, he showed all kinds of complacency in front of Zhao Baiyu, and took back the hot potato that he couldn't wait to throw out like a treasure, but he didn't know that Zhao Baiyu was happy behind his back No matter what it looked like, he became anxious, his throat was sweet, and he vomited a big mouthful of blood with a puff.

"Zhao Baiyu—you bastard!!"

--------------------

The author has something to say:

Zheng Chuzhi: Zhao Baiyu, you old six!

PS: In the last chapter, He Guangyou claimed to be a character, which is wrong. Claiming to be a character is false, and calling himself a name is modest.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in touch with ancient related knowledge, so I’ve misremembered which of the self-proclaimed names and self-proclaimed characters means modesty

(I have written down the bug-catching points, and I will revise them later)