Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 138 The case is fraudulent, from the dog

Huanghuafang Bensi Hutong, Jiaofang Division.

Song Cheng, who was wearing a third-rank official uniform, appeared here. Since he hastily took office, it is now justifiable to investigate this case.

Song Cheng really didn't have a lot of utilitarianism, as if the heavens wanted to punish and promote the good, and it was his duty to uphold justice and fight against evil.

It's just that he overestimated the integrity of the official position in Shuntian Prefecture. Facing a corpse with obvious serious doubts, he waited for the corpse to decompose without performing an autopsy.

Facing such a corrupt Shuntian government office, he also relied on His Majesty's support to immediately request the dismissal of several officials who were serving vegetarian meals.

Song Cheng's heart is still suppressed. The first case he took office was to investigate the death of prostitute Lanxiang, the secretary of Jiaofang, and now he came here to conduct on-site investigation.

"My lord, they ate wine in this private room that night. Lan Xiang accompanied Zhu Qi, the young man, and another girl, Qing Zhu, accompanied Xu Yuangai, Mr. Xu! The two young masters drank a lot of wine here that night, until they got drunk at Haishi He left after getting drunk, and Lan Xiang and Qing Zhu escorted the two sons back to the room in the back house to spend the night." Zheng Jiupin Fengluan Liu Tai, the top manager of the Jiaofang Division, immediately recounted what happened that night.

Song Cheng imagined how the two of them drank here that night, looking at the dining table that had already been cleaned up, he asked, "How much wine did the two of them drink that night, is there a record?"

"The two of them drank a total of eight pots. There is a bill to check for this matter!" Fengluan Liu Tai was stunned for a moment, and then reported the number he had prepared.

Song Cheng looked away from the empty table, and asked seriously, "How much food did the two of them eat that night?"

"Both of you are aristocratic young masters. Every time you come, you will order a large table. There should be as many as eight or nine dishes!" Fengluan Liu Tai immediately gestured seriously as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

Song Cheng saw that there was nothing wrong with this private room, so he nodded noncommittally and said, "You take me to the place where they stayed that night!"

"Prefect of the Song Dynasty, this way please!" Although Fengluan Liu Tai belonged to the Ministry of Household Affairs, he did not dare to neglect the Governor of the Shuntian Prefecture, so he raised his hand respectfully.

Since it is daytime now, and the recent homicide has affected the life here, it is extraordinarily quiet here.

A group of people came out of the private room and soon came to a staircase passing through the back house.

Song Cheng was a very serious person, he stopped suddenly before the stairs and said, "I'm afraid a weak woman can't help them down the stairs, right?"

"There are mistresses here to help, and it was the two mistresses who helped the two sons back to the back that night!" Fengluan Liu Tai was slightly taken aback, explaining in a flattering manner.

Zhao Butou, who was accompanying him, also thought this was weird, but he was relieved after hearing this explanation.

Behind the Jiaofangsi is a cavernous cave. There are not only many houses here, but also several courtyards, and even a lotus pond in the courtyard.

The corridors here seem to extend in all directions. If you are not familiar with this place, you may easily get lost.

Song Cheng didn't say a word along the way, just observed the layout here silently, and found that since there are some special outposts here, there are people on duty here.

It's okay if the people in the same courtyard room, but guests from different courtyards can't escape these sentries if they want to meet.

"My lord, the little father-in-law Zhu Qi stayed in this room that night!" Fengluan Liu Tai led a group of people to a room, and opened the door looking a little uncomfortable.

Song Cheng smelled a strange smell in the air, so he asked lightly, "Since the incident, has the place been cleaned?"

"It wasn't cleaned! After learning that Lan Xiang's case caused a storm, the subordinate officials strictly ordered no one to enter this room again, even the chamber pot was not allowed to be thrown away, just for the convenience of future inspection!" Liu Tai was sure immediately. nodded.

Song Cheng walked around the room, wiped the dust on the table with his hand, looked at the chamber pot again, and then went to the hanging beam to look up at the beam and the rope.

"My lord, the stool from that day must have been overturned at this place!" Liu Tai said when he saw that the bench was upright, he stepped forward and put it down in a certain position.

Zhao Butou deliberately raised the stool again, and then stood up to compete with the rope still hanging on the beam, but the rope was obviously too low.Just considering his burly figure, it doesn't seem to be a big problem.

Song Cheng found that the room was very closed, except for a front window near the door, so he asked seriously, "How many times did Zhu Ji go out that night?"

"Not once!" Liu Tai replied with certainty.

Song Cheng couldn't help being taken aback, but said suspiciously: "You said that Zhu Ji never went out, can you guarantee that?"

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Fu Yin, due to the theft case just happened earlier, the management was strengthened that night! This row of rooms has two people on duty here, and there are personnel on duty at night at every sentry post outside, and there will be records even when you go to the latrine! Besides, unless you want to get a big number, who would run out without a problem, Young Master Zhu Ji was as drunk as a dead pig that night!" Liu Tai nodded seriously, and explained seriously.

Zhao Butou also saw the layout here just now, and found that the management here is indeed very standardized.

Song Cheng frowned slightly, and asked again seriously: "Where's Xu Yuangai?"

"Mr. Xu is the same. He was as drunk as a dead pig. He didn't wake up that night! He was woken up after Lan Xiang committed suicide that morning!" Liu Tai said seriously.

Song Cheng took a deep breath, but stared at Liu Tai's eyes and directly pierced the lie: "You lie!"

In the Qianqing Palace, sandalwood smoke curled up.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing regular clothes, looked at the information that Dongchang had just sent, and saw the case of Lanxiang, the secretary of Jiaofang, and his face slowly became serious.

"According to my servant's investigation these days, this case really has nothing to do with Zhu Qi in the Funing Hou Mansion! It was not Zhu Qi who slept with Lan Xiang that night, but someone else. Zhu Qi was actually a substitute!" Zheng Guozhong took The two assistants who were in charge of investigating the case Mian Sheng reported disappointedly.

They thought they would be able to take the opportunity to punish the Funinghou Mansion by catching the case of Jiaofang's secretary, prostitute Lanxiang, but the investigation found that the case had nothing to do with the Funinghou Mansion.

Faced with such a result, since the Funinghou Mansion could not be severely damaged, the case naturally lost its investigation value.

Seeing the investigation results of the case, Zhu Youtang expressed his disappointment: "Since it has nothing to do with Zhu Qi, then don't waste any more manpower, let's stop this case!"

"Of order! Your Majesty, Shuntian Mansion is also investigating this case. Do you want to share the investigation results with Shuntian Mansion?" Zheng Guozhong immediately expressed his opinion and asked again.

Zhu Youtang looked at the person who provided the information above, and asked bitterly: "The government pays attention to witnesses and physical evidence in handling cases. Do you want to expose the secrets of your East Factory?"

"No...don't!" Zheng Guozhong shook his head when he realized that he hadn't thought carefully.

Zhu Youtang knew that the matter had nothing to do with Zhu Qi, so he made a statement: "You don't need to intervene in this case anymore, the case can be investigated by the Shuntian government office, I believe that Shuntian government can investigate it clearly!"

The reason why he was interested in this case earlier was not all because he wanted to target the Funing Hou Mansion, but mainly because he hated the dereliction of duty of the former Yin Wu Qi of the Shuntian Mansion.

Now that Wu Qi has been dealt with, and it has been proved that Zhu Qi is replacing someone else, there is no need to spend any more effort on this case.

Song Cheng is a good investigator. Even if Zhu Qi, Yang Tinghe and the others played tricks, Song Cheng's eyes must not escape this trick.

As the emperor who takes care of the overall situation, sometimes he needs to make some trade-offs. Instead of doing everything by himself, he must know how to grasp the key points.

"Your Majesty, after our secret investigation, it has now been found that Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, embezzled tens of thousands of taels of military expenses during his tenure!" Zheng Guozhong continued to report.

There was no joyful expression on Zhu Youtang's face, but he looked very calm and said: "Is there any evidence?"

"Report to Your Majesty, this matter has been confirmed, and now there are account books and personnel to prove it!" Zheng Guozhong took out a confession and account book from his sleeve, and presented it solemnly.

Zhu Youtang read the content listed above and the testimony of the witnesses, and ordered lightly: "If this is the case, then arrest people!"

He knew that these martial arts were not investigated at all, and these martial arts were detached by virtue of their status, and they did many things that were corrupt and perverted.Now that he dared to fight against himself, he naturally wanted Dongchang to settle accounts with them.

If they can honestly use the salary they gave to be idle martial arts, I won't care too much about them.It's just that they want to compete with themselves for military power and try to instigate the battalion soldiers to make trouble, then they will all go to hell.

In fact, the best result is to hit the Duke of Cheng with a stick. After all, the Marquis of Xiangcheng was enfeoffed by Uncle Xiangcheng, and his influence is not the same as that of the Duke of Cheng.

It's just that Duke Cheng was working in Nanjing, and although Zhu Fu, the son of Duke Cheng, was ambitious, he didn't leave anything behind.

"Servants lead the order, servants wait to leave!" Zheng Guozhong saw that the matter was over, and Dang even planned to go to arrest people, so he brought his men to salute.

Zhu Youtang put down the criminal evidence about the Marquis of Xiangcheng, but said to the people who were about to leave with him: "Tan Conggui stay here!"

"Your Majesty, do you have any orders?" Tan Conggui was quite surprised and saluted respectfully.

He is an old man of the East Palace, the personal eunuch of the emperor when he was in the East Palace.As a follower of the dragon, he was supposed to rise to prominence, but now he has left Qianqing Palace to work in Dongchang.

"Are you still used to it in Dongchang?" Zhu Youtang looked at the former personal eunuch and asked with concern.

Tan Conggui's eyes suddenly became moist, and he replied: "Thanks to Your Majesty's great blessing, this servant can still get used to it now!"

"You are an old man in the East Palace. You have been by my side since you were a child and have always served me! But now I don't use you again. Have you ever complained to me?" Zhu Youtang looked at this familiar yet unfamiliar smile. The fat, white and clean little eunuch asked with concern.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Tan Conggui suddenly put his fingers together, and then slapped himself fiercely, as if he wanted to beat himself to death.

"Stop, what are you doing?" Zhu Youtang saw that he was abusing himself, so he stopped him.

Tan Conggui didn't hold any resentment towards Zhu Youtang, and he kowtowed and blamed himself: "The servant had a different heart in the East Palace in the past. He was not only the eyeliner of the Empress Dowager Zhou, but also wanted to please the princess! Your Majesty did not dispose of the servant because of this. The servant is already grateful , how can there be any reason to hate His Majesty? This servant only hates himself for not being wholeheartedly loyal to His Majesty back then, for being worthy of His Majesty's grace, for the crime of a servant...deserving death!"

As he said that, tears of remorse could not help but flow down, and he repented endlessly for his actions back then.

"Yes! You were my playmate growing up with me, but you got too close to Qingning Palace and wanted to please Concubine Shu. Although I always remember the old love, I dare not put you by my side anymore Already!" Zhu Youtang saw that Tan Conggui had truly repented, but said bitterly.

One matter is one matter, after all Jia Conggui has a precedent of infidelity, no one can guarantee that he will not fall in love with the Empress Dowager Zhou or Concubine Shu again, but it is impossible to act emotionally.

Even for a woman who has slept with him, once his heart is impure, he will naturally release the Qing Palace instead of leaving a bomb for himself.

Qin Conggui is also a person who misses old love, not to mention that their eunuch's loyal object will always be only the emperor, and he is very worried: "I am ashamed of your Majesty's grace, I am sorry!"

"You do a good job in Dongchang! As long as you do things for me with your heart, I will not be stingy with rewards. Although it is not easy to recall you to my side, I may give you the position of supervisor of Dongchang in the future!" Sincerely.

Tan Conggui saw that His Majesty was still thinking of himself, and immediately expressed his attitude seriously: "Your Majesty must do a good job in Dongchang, and I am willing to die for Your Majesty!"

"I haven't rewarded you since I became a great treasure. At that time, I was really happy that you reported everything about me to the Empress Dowager, but you have been with me for so many years. Let me give you 100 taels of gold!" Zhu Youtang said in his previous life. Those who have been severely beaten by society should be rewarded immediately.

Jia Conggui deeply felt His Majesty's affection, and once again solemnly stated: "Thanks Your Majesty for your kindness, slaves cannot be loyal inside, but they are willing to be your Majesty's dogs!"

"Retire!" Zhu Youtang asked Huang Pan to take Jia Conggui to receive the reward, and raised his hand gently.

He knew that although Tan Wugui had flaws, the young eunuch who could come to his side to focus on training was naturally not a stupid person.Once given a suitable stage, it can also shine.

As soon as Huang Zhonggang led Tan Conggui away, Liu Jin came in holding the memorial.

"Is there any news from Yangzhou?" Zhu Youtang asked lightly when he saw that Liu Jin had brought a memorial from Nanzhili.

If the Aegis Battalion is the starting point of his road to strengthening the army, then rectifying Huaiyan is the starting point of sorting out his finances. Only healthy finances can lead Huaxia on the road to revival.

Just like this, he has always been concerned about the progress of Yangzhou, but he hopes that Wang Yue can make a major breakthrough in Yangzhou, and he can use this as an opportunity to reorganize his finances.

(End of this chapter)