Stepmother Shaoguang

Chapter 73 Doubt

When Lu Xiaowen stepped out of the Lu residence, the sky outside was still gloomy.

The cold wind was bitter, and everything between heaven and earth was frozen.

On the road into the palace, there is only a vast expanse of white everywhere, and no other colors can be distinguished.

The stall owner who sells Korean food set up an oil pan and sizzled it. The batter made a loud noise when it hit the boiling oil. After turning it twice, a piece of oil cake came out of the pan.

Lu Xiaowen passed by and bought a copy, and took a careful bite while riding on the horse.

Most of these court food are sold to the officials of the court.

Once every three days, on days when there is no court, there will be workers who do hard work to buy them to satisfy their hunger, so there is plenty of meat in the pan and oil in the pan, and the price is not cheap.

The hot pancakes look delicious on this lonely morning, but after a few more bites, they will get a bit boring.

After the cakes were finished, Lu Xiaowen arrived.

Dismounted from the palace gate and walked on foot, his own servant led him to the Xuanzheng Hall.

The charcoal fire was blazing, and the warmth permeated every corner of the Xuanzheng Hall, which was completely different from the bleakness outside.

The saint sits on the throne, dressed in dragon robes, wearing a golden crown, holding jade beads, noble and inviolable.

Lu Xiaowen kowtowed to the saint three times and handed over the tiger amulet symbolizing military power.

"Aiqing has worked hard all this way." The sage smiled and walked down to help Lu Xiaowen himself.

Kang Shouzhong carefully took the tiger amulet and put it in a brocade box for safekeeping.

Lu Xiaowen reported the situation on the battlefield. In addition, he also mentioned the rewards given to the soldiers: "I think that the saints should also promote more meritorious men in the army to boost morale and comfort the army."

It is not by his own strength that he can win a battle, but by the efforts of thousands of troops.

"There are also brothers who died in battle... I want to ask for comfort for their family."

"This is all as it should be. If you don't say it, I will arrange it. No matter how cold it is, the hearts of soldiers will not be chilled."

The sage nods his head, he will not be stingy when it comes to rewarding meritorious deeds.His court also needs more talents to enrich.

"Tell me, Xiaowen, what did you learn during this trip to Yanzhou?" The saint no longer called him by his official title, but seemed to be chatting with a close junior.

"I and the first prince first arrived in Yanzhou, the land was barren, the sky was full of wind and sand, and there were many hungry people on the road...At first, I thought it was caused by the drought."

Lu Xiaowen recalled that scene with a solemn expression.

"and after?"

The saint has heard such descriptions from the officials who report their duties every year, and they all cry to be poor in order to reduce or exempt taxes.

"Despite the weather, when the minister and the eldest prince first entered the Palace of King Yan, it was as if they were in the south of the Yangtze River...His Royal Highness the King of Yan entertained the ministers and others with great grandeur, presumably because he valued the saint very much."

"Hmph! This younger brother of mine has no ambitions, he only cares about pleasure, and doesn't want to seek the well-being of the people under his rule. He shouldn't have been allowed to guard such an important position at the border!"

The saint was slightly angry.

King Yan is absurd and unbearable.

It's just that he can't rest assured that someone else should sit in this position.Although the king of Yan is absurd, if he is really replaced by a capable person, Yanzhou will be a big hidden danger.

"Saint!" Seeing that he was just angry, Lu Xiaowen knelt down as soon as he lifted his robe, "I know that saints love brothers and sisters, but King Yan has to guard against it!"

"When I was in Yanzhou, I realized that [-]% of the frontier army only listened to the orders of the King of Yan, but did not hear the tiger amulet. Coincidentally, in the battle with the Turks, most of the casualties of the frontier army were those who were [-]% loyal to the court."

"The minister also found out that the number of the army is far from the original number of [-]. The minister dare not think deeply, and is very frightened."

Lu Xiaowen fell to the ground, trembling like a sieve, looking terrified.

"Continue." The saint put away his relaxed look and said in a deep voice.

"Yesterday, the minister's wife shared a gossip with the minister about a gossip in Beijing, about the beloved son of Master Xue, Minister of the Household Department, who was hit by an out-of-control carriage on the street a few years ago."

Speaking of this, Lu Xiaowen straightened up, not afraid of being blamed by the saint, and looked directly into his eyes:
"Although what this person confessed in prison was that he did not obey the city rules and rode his horse on the street, causing the horse to be frightened and out of control. But Jing Zhaoyin once sent people to check the traces of the scene and the traces of carriages and horses, and found that the horses were not Signs of fright."

"If it's intentional, why target a teenage child? It's only possible that the child heard something he shouldn't have heard."

The sage pondered: "Where is the horseman now?"

Lu Xiaowen pursed her lips: "Jing Zhaoyin couldn't find anything more, so he was fined for three months in prison, and now he has been released after serving his sentence..."

"Find it and hand it over to Dali Temple for disposal."

This is dissatisfaction with Jing Zhaoyin, Lu Xiaowen got the order, and immediately resigned.

The saint squinted his eyes and asked, "He Shi, how do you know the details here?"

Lu Xiaowen's heart skipped a beat, he had already guessed that the saint would have doubts...

So I immediately sent the prepared answer: "My wife opened a restaurant next to the Imperial College, Mr. Xue is a regular customer in the store, and the young master came to visit after the incident. Mrs. Xue loves her son dearly, and it is also..."

The sage understands: It is understandable for a woman to have a long tongue and not think about the depth of the matter.

Instead, Mrs. Xue took the blame.

In fact, Mrs. Xue never thought of eavesdropping except for wondering if the yamen had accepted bribes from that person.

It was Xue Ran who was afraid, and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't hold back, so he told He Shaoguang, hoping she could tell Lu Xiaowen.

After all, it involves Lu Xiaowen himself, and Xue Ran is Lu Xiaowen's number one "crazy fan".

What he had come across and overheard was a conversation between the informant posing as a coachman and another official.

Xue Ran only heard the voice but didn't see the face, so he didn't recognize who it was.

But he overheard a lot of the conversation between the two, so the informant became murderous and pretended it was an accident.

Fortunately, he was blocked by a stall selling bamboo weaving, otherwise Xue Ran's life might be lost.

He kicked out all the servants of Xue Ran who served Xue Ran in the Xue residence, and he specially invited He Shaoguang to come and see him.

In fact, his foot injury has healed early, but he didn't dare to go out and hid in the house.

He Shaoguang listened to Xue Ran tremblingly finished what he heard that day, his smile gradually disappeared, and his expression became serious:

"Xiao Jiansheng... Shouldn't it be better for you to talk to your parents about this?"

Xue Ran sighed: "If I really tell my father, he will let me leave it alone and protect me! Maybe I won't even be able to go to the Imperial College."

Xue Shangshu is old enough to have a son, Xue Jia Dalang and Xue Ran are 20 years old, and he treats his youngest son like a pearl like a treasure, that is, he pays more attention to his studies.

He Shaoguang was in a dilemma: "This is a big matter, and I will mention it to the general at that time. It's just that we don't have evidence, so we don't know if he believes it or not."

Xue Ran understood this truth, and nodded: "Anyway, I was put on the point of the knife, Mrs. Lu, shopkeeper He, you have to save my brother."

He Shaoguang walked out of Xue's mansion and got into his carriage only to realize that the handkerchief in his palm was wet with sweat, and his hands and feet were cold...

For nothing else, this is a serious crime of treason!

(End of this chapter)