Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 501 Everything is under control

Li Chongde was in a daze, going through the motions instinctively, as if he had lost his soul.

Wan Guojun was dealing with Di Renjie on the side.

As for Li Chongde's condition, Wan Guojun tried to cover it up by saying that he was overly shocked by the sudden news of his brother's death.

Di Renjie did not pursue the matter further, nor did he show any suspicion of Li Chongde. After letting Li Chongde confirm the identity of the deceased, he left.

After returning to the Imperial Censorate, Di Renjie walked into his office and said to Xu Yougong, "Wait a minute before writing to the Prime Minister and thoroughly investigate Li Chongde."

Xu Yougong looked puzzled and asked, "Why is this? With Yuan Gongyu's testimony, the bones have been dug up, and the identity has been confirmed, everything Yuan Gongyu said is true. The evidence we have is certainly not enough to convict a minister, but it is enough to submit a petition to the court and request a thorough investigation."

The power of the Censorate changed according to the needs of the emperor.

If it were the Wu Zhou Dynasty, the dogs in the Censorate would dare to bite anyone, even the prime minister.

Now that the court is stable, Li Zhi does not need to use the Censorate to help him stabilize the political situation, so the power of the Censorate is relatively small.

When facing officials at the vice minister level, the current Censorate does not have the power to enforce the law immediately. It has to submit a petition, and after approval, the emperor or prime minister will arrange for people from the Dali Temple or the Ministry of Justice to supervise the trial. Even more serious is the joint trial by the Censorate, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice.

Now that the case has reached the stage where the suspect has been identified, it is time to submit a petition to the court.

Di Renjie thought for a moment and said, "This is an emergency. The Ministry of Works is manufacturing equipment for the front line. It is not a wise move to accuse Li Chongde. We do not have any solid evidence to convict him yet. If we submit a letter to the court at this moment, I am afraid that Your Majesty will consider the overall situation and we will be put in a passive position."

Xu Yougong also felt that what he said made sense. He also knew a little about Li Zhi's character. He knew that he was not the kind of emperor who took right and wrong very seriously.

After all, Li Chongde’s problem is just a murder case ten years ago, and his own personal moral issues.

Taken individually, it is not a small matter, but compared with the overall situation of the country, it is just a trivial matter and Li Zhi may not care about it.

Di Renjie actually had other considerations in mind.

Di Renjie didn't think much about being suddenly promoted to Beijing, but a magical force pushed him towards Li Chongde.

This made Di Renjie think more...

A genius like him who has a talent for reasoning and solving cases can follow the slightest clues and grasp the key points.

Now Di Renjie had every reason to believe that his position as Imperial Censor was deliberately arranged by someone in order for him to investigate Li Chongde.

As expected, the truth was found out and it was clear that there was indeed something wrong with Li Chongde.

but……

Di Renjie knew that this was just the beginning, and the people who pushed him to investigate Li Chongde did not want the truth. He would not mobilize so many people just for a life and an old case from ten years ago.

If he really wanted to deal with Li Chongde, why would he go through so much trouble?
Besides, is it really worth doing this for an old case from ten years ago?

Di Renjie didn't believe it.

There must be some reason behind this that I haven't found out yet. Li Chongde should be just an introduction.

Before today, Di Renjie had no clue.

After today, Di Renjie had a new idea, Wan Guojun.

It is common knowledge that Wan Guojun is the person Li Chongde trusts the most.

Wan Guojun's current status was all due to Li Chongde's promotion. But judging from his performance today, Wan Guojun clearly intended to take over. Even if Li Chongde was stimulated and unable to take care of himself, Wan Guojun was just a subordinate and interfered too much. He did not want subordinates to assist their superiors at all, but was afraid that his superiors would reveal something out of fear.

Di Renjie suddenly asked: "Yougong, do you know Wan Guojun?"

Xu Yougong shook his head and said, "Never come into contact with it."

Di Renjie said: "Judging from his attitude towards Li Chongde today, he should know something."

Xu Yougong agreed with this judgment and said, "I also think so. Wan Guojun obviously wants to cover up for his boss..."

Di Renjie said, "This doesn't make sense. This case happened ten years ago. Ten years ago, Wan Guojun was not even twenty years old. How did he know about this? It can't be that Li Chongde said it himself... Only a few people knew about this, among whom Li Yifu is dead and Yuan Gongyu was exiled. You can check him..."
-
The alleys and courtyards in Yongpingfang.

Wan Guojun rushed into the house anxiously.

"No, sir!"

"What's the fuss?" a hoarse voice came from the room.

Wan Guojun asked, "Is Li Chongren's affair going to be exposed?"

"what?"

There was a scream from the room, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground.

"gentlemen?"

"Come in and talk!"

Wan Guojun entered cautiously.

This was his first time in the inner room.

The inner room was kept clean and simple, with few pieces of furniture, just a wash basin, a desk, and three large bookshelves filled with books.

A thin figure had his back to him, the desk beside him had shifted from its original position, and books were scattered on the ground.

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Wan Guojun said, "It was Di Renjie. I don't know how he found Li Chongren's body and came here today. I don't know what happened, but I feel that Di Renjie is not here with good intentions. He is very powerful. Now the whole Chang'an is spreading his good name. Some people even compare him to the..."

He didn't dare to say anything for a moment.

"Chen Qingsi! I know that Di Gong is a wise man, and there are only two of them in the south of the Big Dipper. I am just living in seclusion, but I am not indifferent to worldly affairs."

As he spoke, the gentleman suddenly realized something: "No, how did this matter fall to the Censorate? Even if someone accidentally discovered Li Chongren's body and reported it to the authorities, the Ministry of Justice or the Dali Temple would be responsible for it. The Censorate is not responsible for civil cases."

He turned around, revealing a distorted and terrifying face.

The face was uneven, the features were distorted, and it looked completely unlike a human.

This was not the first time Wan Guojun had seen this, but when he saw it again, he still couldn't help but take a step back in fear and shouted:
"Mr. Li!"

This person is naturally Li Yifu.

Wan Guojun was really afraid of this former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, even though he was down and out now.

Wan Guojun was known for his ruthless methods. When he was in the Ministry of Justice, he used all kinds of torture instruments to torture people to the point of intoxication and death.

But he was only cruel to outsiders, he couldn't be cruel to himself. And the hatred this person in front of him had for him was terrifying.

Li Yifu used to have a handsome appearance, but today he has turned himself into neither human nor ghost.

With his appearance, even Li Yifu's first wife and son couldn't recognize him.

Li Yifu said coldly: "My surname is Chen!"

Wan Guojun hurriedly said: "Mr. Chen."

He mustered up his courage and said, "Maybe the Censorate has kept the case records? Di Renjie's fame mostly comes from clearing up old cases. He has been in office for only half a year and he has already investigated more than a dozen new and old cases, big and small. Many people fell into his hands..."

"Old case! Impossible. I burned the files. I burned them myself..."

When Li Yifu said this, he suddenly thought of something, "Damn it... that little boy misled me!"

He thought of Yuan Gongyu and sorted out the situation.

There are only two possibilities for reopening Li Chongren's case. One is that the body was found, but this situation is not the responsibility of the Censorate.

It could be the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, or even the Yongzhou Prefecture, but it couldn't be the Censorate.

Now that the Censorate has taken over the case and found Li Chongren's body, there is only one explanation: Yuan Gongyu did not handle the matter cleanly back then and left some tails.

The other party found Yuan Gongyu, obtained information from him, and thus found Li Chongren's body.

Only this can explain everything.

Li Yifu regained his composure and said, "Yuan Gongyu must be timid and afraid of being exposed, so he rewrote the new file. That's why Di Renjie brought up the case again..."

"Then what should we do?" Wan Guojun said, "Di Renjie is a difficult person. When dealing with the imperial examination cheating case, even Minister Xu couldn't stop him. Now that he has Yuan Gongyu's testimony, the next step is to write a letter requesting a thorough investigation of Li Chongde. Li Chongde is at our mercy because of this matter. If Di Renjie succeeds, then Li Chongde is very likely to tell others about our affairs."

He is the most panicked one now...

Li Chongde is just a puppet, their umbrella.

Li Chongde came from a noble family and had a strong background. If he could show himself and please Li Zhi, his future would be limitless.

As for character, Li Zhi cared least about it. On the contrary, Li Chongde's character was a good thing for his future.

Li Zhi's attitude towards the Guandong gentry was to both win them over and beat them, in order to divide them internally.

A person like Li Chongde can be of great use.

Li Yifu had followed Li Zhi for many years and knew Li Zhi's character best. With Empress Wu as his internal supporter, the two sides were fully capable of and had the opportunity to send Li Chongde to the top.

But Li Chongde was not trustworthy, Li Yifu did not expose himself, and only Wan Guojun was in the front.

Li Chongde only knew that there was a mysterious force, but he didn't know who the mysterious force was. The only thing he knew was that Wan Guojun was a member of the mysterious force...

Li Yifu looked at Wan Guojun in front of him and suddenly laughed. His originally hoarse voice, combined with his laughter, seemed extremely creepy.

"Mr. Chen..."

Li Yifu said, "Maybe the heavens can't stand this thief anymore and want to go crazy. They won't let us follow the plan... What else can we do? If Li Chongde doesn't die, then you will die, and if you die, then I will die. Tell me, what choices do you and I have?"

Wan Guojun knelt on the ground in fear and said, "Mr. Chen, even if I am captured, I will never betray you."

Li Yifu smiled and said, "Okay, let's not talk about this. I didn't think about lingering on when I returned to Chang'an this time." He took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms and said, "Dissolve the medicine inside and feed it to Li Chongde tomorrow..."

Seeing Wan Guojun taking it tremblingly, he said, "This is not poison, but a sleeping pill used by the Miao people to kill wild beasts. People who take it will feel sleepy and fall into a deep sleep. You can arrange someone to send him home when the time comes. I have my own way to deal with him. As for you, after Li Chongde's death, secretly make some trouble in the Ministry of Works to delay the construction period. I know His Majesty, he will not allow such a small case to affect national affairs."

Li Chongde died as expected, the cause of death being suicide out of fear of punishment.

Of course, Li Chongde did not leave any suicide note or anything. He simply died of poisoning, and there were no obvious clues.

As an important official of the country and a minister with great power, his death naturally caused a shock in the court and the country.

The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice jointly launched an investigation.

After hearing the news that Li Chongde had been poisoned, Di Renjie immediately wrote to the court, reporting the old case of the Censorate and the results of his investigation.

When the three are combined, there is a reasonable explanation.

Li Chongde committed suicide by taking poison out of fear of punishment.

"Take poison and commit suicide?"

Chen Qingsi looked at Zhang Jianzhi in front of him and said with a smile, "Can General Meng believe this?"

Zhang Jianzhi shook his head and said, "Student, Huaiying, Yougong, and Wuming have repeatedly investigated the scene and found that this case is not that simple. The scene does look like a suicide out of fear of crime. But from his reaction, it seems more like someone poured poison into his mouth while he was dazed and swallowed it subconsciously."

Huaiying is Di Renjie, the one who has made contributions is Xu Yougong, and the one who is nameless is Su Wuming.

Su Wuming was specially promoted by Chen Qingsi to be Zhang Jianzhi's deputy. Chen Qingsi knew about this person from TV shows in later generations. In the TV shows, he was Di Renjie's apprentice, but it was obvious that he was not in reality. He and Di Renjie were of the same generation and there was no master-apprentice relationship.

The three detectives of the future Wu Zhou Dynasty, Di Renjie, Xu Yougong and Su Wuming, all gathered together. Chen Qingsi thought to himself, let's see where you can hide.

Seeing that his teacher seemed to be thinking about something else, Zhang Jianzhi lowered his head and said, "Sir, now all clues point to the Ministry of Industry. Li Chongde was exhausted in the Ministry of Industry and returned home. We have every reason to believe that someone in the Ministry of Industry is an accomplice. They used some means to make Li Chongde sleepy and create an opportunity for the murderer to poison him."

"But His Majesty did not want to continue investigating and directly convicted Li Chongde, who committed suicide out of fear of punishment."

"Your Majesty has forced us not to interfere with the Ministry of Industry, and the students have no way to stop it."

Chen Qingsi thought to himself: "What a powerful method, he has figured out His Majesty's thoughts exactly."

The Ministry of Industry is currently working overtime to produce strategic materials for the frontline. If we allow the people from the Dali Temple and the Censorate to investigate and interrogate us, it will inevitably cause panic among the people in the Ministry of Industry and affect the construction period...

In the face of the general trend, what does this small case matter?
Moreover, the facts have proved that Li Chongde deserved the punishment for his unfilial behavior and murder of his brother.

"Your Majesty has already made a decision on this matter, and it cannot be changed. An open investigation will definitely not work, after all, the overall situation is more important. But since there is suspicion, then we can conduct a secret investigation and investigate the case without affecting the overall situation. I will tell His Majesty about it."

Li Zhi just didn't want such a small case to affect the overall situation of the country. As long as it did not affect the operation of the Ministry of Works, Li Zhi could distinguish right from wrong.

Putting aside the war situation, poisoning an imperial official was an extremely serious case.

It's just that now that it's involved in the war, it seems insignificant.

Under Chen Qingsi's persuasion, Li Zhi did not insist on closing the case, but only emphasized: "The overall situation is the most important."

Chen Qingsi walked out of the palace, thinking that the three detectives had been assembled, and felt that everything was under control.

(End of this chapter)