The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 243 Dark belly
"What rules?" Wang Daqing walked downstairs slowly, came to Qibi Zhong, and said, "General Qibi was still attending the banquet here an hour ago. Does General Qibi want to lift the pot after eating?"

Wang Daqing was secretly asking Qibi Zhong whether he really wanted to turn friendship into war.

Qibi Zhong knew clearly that if he really broke off relations with Wang Daqing, what they had done in the past would most likely no longer be hidden. By then, Wang Daqing would have people in the court to help him, so his life would be safe. However, he would have no one in the court, so he would most likely be in danger.

Therefore, he was a little hesitant.

At this time, Li Heng walked in from outside.

"This is an important military area. Are there any imperial secrets here?" Li Heng walked to the chair next to him and sat down, speaking calmly.

"Wang Daqing hurried over to salute Li Heng and said, "No, I don't have any."

Li Heng said, "It is a strategic location for military affairs. I am now the Hexi Promotion and Demotion Envoy, and I can also approve a search."

"Your Highness is right." Wang Daqing changed his previous arrogant attitude.

After listening to the previous conversation between Qibi Zhong and Wang Daqing, Li Heng knew that there was something going on between them. Based on Wang Daqing's attitude of being humble at first and then respectful, he could probably guess that Wang Daqing had considerable connections in the court.

While Li Heng was thinking, a soldier suddenly came downstairs and said to Qibi Zhong: "Report to the military commander, two men in white clothes jumped out of the window and escaped. We chased them, but they saw that there was no escape, so they committed suicide."

"What?" Qibi Zhong was shocked.

Qibi Zhong initially just wanted to find an imperial edict for Li Heng, but he didn't expect to find out other things.

Qibi Zhong gave Wang Daqing a meaningful look before turning to Li Heng and saying, "Your Highness, how should I handle this matter?"

"This..." Li Ying was about to speak when Shi Shouyi walked in from outside the door, nodded at Li Ying, indicating that the matter had been settled, and then stood behind Li Ying.

Zhang Guangsheng's matter had been dealt with, and Li Heng had no more worries. He said, "Close the wine shop and prohibit anyone from entering or leaving. Check who these two people have come into contact with."

"Yes." Qibi Zhong accepted the order and immediately ordered the soldiers to surround the restaurant.

When Wang Daqing saw this situation, he was immediately panicked.

"Your Highness," Wang Daqing hurried forward and said in a panic, "It was my fault for neglecting to take precautions. Your Highness, please punish me."

Wang Daqing's words were an apology on the surface, but in fact he was saying that he had absolutely nothing to do with the matter.

However, Wang Daqing was not trying to shirk responsibility when he said this. If he asked himself, he knew that he had indeed done countless evil things, but he would never dare to be accused of colluding with foreign enemies.

Because no matter how many evils he did, as long as it did not involve the political interests of the top figures, the people in the court could protect him, but if he colluded with foreign enemies, it would be a capital crime.

Moreover, although conflicts are piling up in the Tang Dynasty, they have not yet erupted. The Tang Dynasty is still the most powerful empire. As a Tang person, Wang Daqing is full of pride, and he himself is not willing to do anything to collude with foreign enemies.

Li Heng looked at Wang Daqing seriously for a while and said, "I act according to the law. How can I make a vain judgment before the matter is fully investigated? Governor Wang, don't worry, let's see what's going on first."

“Yes.” Wang Daqing replied respectfully, secretly calculating in his mind.

Wang Daqing felt that this matter was most likely related to Kang Yi and Mi Qian. These Sogdians have always only cared about profit and would do anything for it. He had to find a way to get rid of these two people first.

But how can we have a chance to get rid of these two people?

Wang Daqing placed his hopes on Zhang Guangsheng.

When Zhang Guangsheng gets into trouble later, he will take the opportunity to add fuel to the fire and attract Li Ying's attention. As long as Li Ying is distracted and given one night, he can make Kang Yi and Mi Qian disappear from the face of the earth.

Li Ying ignored Wang Daqing and just sat on the chair, drinking tea calmly.

After a while, Qibi Zhong's soldiers brought most of the people in the restaurant to the lobby.

After a while, a woman's scream suddenly sounded in the courtyard.

Wang Daqing looked over when he heard the voice, his eyes flashing with joy, and turned to Li Heng and said, "Your Highness, it seems to be the voice of Li Jiuniang, the daughter of Li Yuan, the Herdsman of Hexi. Li Jiuniang had just been married for less than half a year when her husband died in battle. She came here to ask me to be her matchmaker and remarry."

"Huh?" Li Heng was a little surprised.

The Hexi Herdsman was in charge of managing all the horses in Hexi. It might not sound like a high-ranking official, but in the era of cold weapons, cavalry was the strongest fighting force, and horses were equivalent to airplanes and tanks in today's society, so the Hexi Herdsman was in a high position and had great power.

Historically, in order to get high-quality horses from Hexi and Longyou, An Lushan asked Li Longji for the position of Hexi and Longyou Herdsmen. Li Longji favored An Lushan and approved his request. So An Lushan selected tens of thousands of good horses from Hexi and Longyou and transported them to Hebei.

However, Li Yuan, who is now the governor of Hexi, is a relative of Li Linfu.

Li Heng thought to himself, "It turns out that the person behind Wang Daqing is Li Linfu. No wonder he doesn't take Qibi Zhong seriously at all."

"Since she is Envoy Li Mu's daughter, you should not treat her rudely." Li Heng stood up, "I will personally go and invite her over."

After saying this, he walked towards the inner courtyard, followed closely by Qibi Zhong and Wang Daqing.

When the group arrived at Li Jiuniang's room, they saw a pretty woman of about 23 or 24 years old, sitting on the ground crying in dishevel.

Wang Daqing pretended to know nothing and said, "Li Jiuniang, this is His Royal Highness the Prince of Shou. Go and greet His Royal Highness the Prince of Shou. If you have any questions, please ask His Royal Highness the Prince of Shou to make the decision for you."

Li Jiuniang glanced at Wang Daqing and Li Heng, but did not stand up and cried even more sadly.

While Wang Daqing secretly praised Li Jiuniang for her excellent acting, he walked over and prepared to help Li Jiuniang up.

But as soon as Wang Daqing's hand touched Li Jiuniang, Li Jiuniang pushed Wang Daqing away and stared at him viciously.

Wang Daqing was puzzled and a little angry, and said: "Li Jiuniang, His Royal Highness Shou Wang will make the decision for you, no matter how big the matter is, how dare you be so presumptuous?"

"I'm going to act unruly today!" Li Jiuniang yelled, then stood up angrily, picked up the golden knife on the table, and rushed towards the man lying on the bed.

"Xiao Nu" is the name an unmarried woman refers to herself, and Li Jiuniang should not call herself that.

Wang Daqing was closest to Li Jiuniang, so he hugged her and asked, "What are you doing?"

Li Jiuniang said: "I will kill him!"

"How dare you!" Qibi Zhong couldn't stand it anymore, he stepped forward and snatched the knife from Li Jiuniang's hand, "Although you are Li Mushi's daughter, you can't kill anyone you want!"

"He defiled me, why can't I kill him?" Li Jiuniang replied angrily, and then started crying again.

"Really?" Qibi Zhong walked to the bed and turned the man over.

Then everyone present saw the man's face clearly.

This person is Yang Guozhong.

At this time, Yang Guozhong was lying on his back with his clothes open and his pants half taken off, exposing all his private parts.

Wang Daqing was completely stunned when he saw this, and for a moment he felt his head buzzing.

Li Jiuniang was as confused as Wang Daqing.

According to their previous plan, Li Jiuniang was only responsible for lying with Zhang Guangsheng for a while, and then framed Zhang Guangsheng for raping her. Anyway, Zhang Guangsheng was young and brave, and he looked good, so she felt that she would not lose out by just lying with him.

But not long after she entered the room, a man in black suddenly sneaked in and knocked her unconscious. When she was awakened by the soldiers, she saw Yang Guozhong lying on top of her, his head buried in her chest, his naked lower body pressed between her legs.

Yang Guozhong is old, ugly, and has a bad reputation. How could she tolerate him?
Qibi Zhong pulled the quilt over Yang Guozhong's private parts, came to Li Heng, and said, "Your Highness, what should we do?"

Li Heng took two steps forward, approached Li Jiuniang, and asked softly, "Are you sure Yang Zhao raped you?"

"Impossible!" Wang Daqing said, "General Yang lives in the Di room, how could he break into Li Jiuniang's room? Here..."

Wang Daqing originally wanted to say that it should be Zhang Guangsheng here, but Zhang Guangsheng was not in the room. If he said so, it would become a frame-up.

Li Heng ignored Wang Daqing and asked Li Jiuniang, "You have been living in this room all along, right?"

"Yes... yes..." Li Jiuniang sobbed.

Li Ying asked, "What about your maids and servants?"

"I feel a little unwell, so I asked my personal maid to go out and get some medicine. The other servants will live in the room on the left, and the maid will live on the right." Li Jiuniang replied crying.

In order to better frame Zhang Guangsheng, she specially transferred the maids and servants out.

Li Heng nodded and said, "Did you know Yang Zhao came in?"

"I don't know, little girl..." Li Jiuniang wanted to tell the truth, but she didn't understand the situation at the moment and didn't dare to say anything, so she hesitated for a moment.

After a brief thought, Wang Daqing realized that someone was secretly replacing the real person behind the scenes. The best way to save the situation now was for Li Jiuniang to insist that the person she saw before she fell into a coma was Zhang Guangsheng. In this way, he could continue to frame Zhang Guangsheng for wrongdoing and find Yang Zhao to take the blame.

Wang Daqing seized the opportunity and said hastily, "Your Highness, should we wake up General Yang and have him confront Li Jiuniang? We can't just listen to Li Jiuniang's one-sided words."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng looked at Wang Daqing.

What Li Heng wanted to seize was the information gap that Li Jiuniang didn't know how Yang Guozhong got in. He used this information gap, plus Yang Guozhong's indecent posture, to make Li Jiuniang suspect that she was being tricked by Wang Daqing. If Yang Guozhong stood up to confront her, Li Jiuniang would soon understand what was going on.

Therefore, Li Yan asked, "Are you teaching me how to solve the case?"

"I dare not." Wang Daqing replied with his head down.

Li Heng said, "Inspector Wang is very good to General Yang. I heard that Inspector Wang took the initiative to act as a matchmaker for General Yang. I know Inspector Wang's ability to act as a matchmaker. Yang Qixuan is timid and cowardly, so Inspector Wang made a lot of efforts to marry the daughter of the Right Prime Minister."

"Your subordinate... Your subordinate will just help them achieve their goal." Wang Daqing looked embarrassed.

When Li Jiuniang heard what Li Heng and Wang Daqing said, she became even more suspicious of Wang Daqing.

Yes, Wang Daqing is good at matchmaking, so why wouldn’t he use dirty means to help Yang Guozhong fulfill his wish?

But even though Li Jiuniang thought of this, she still remained cautious and prepared to tell Yang Guozhong the words that framed Zhang Guangsheng first.

Li Jiuniang hesitated for a moment and said, "I was feeling unwell and fell asleep. In my dream, I felt someone doing something inappropriate to me. I woke up suddenly and wanted to resist, but the man covered my head with a quilt and knocked me unconscious."

Li Heng said, "That is to say, before you woke up just now, you had no idea who was doing something bad to you?"

"Yes." Li Jiuniang nodded.

"I didn't see anything about his appearance, figure, or clothes?"

"No."

"You must tell the truth and not hide anything."

"I am telling the truth." Li Jiuniang said firmly.

When Wang Daqing heard that Li Jiuniang had bitten herself to death, he secretly thought that this was not good.

"Okay." Li Heng turned around and said to Shi Shouyi, "Since Governor Wang wants General Yang to confront him, wake him up and ask him."

"Yes." Shi Shouyi took the order and went out. After a while, he brought a large basin of water and poured it on Yang Guozhong's head.

Yang Guozhong shuddered and suddenly woke up. He turned his head to see that the room was full of people. He also felt a chill in his lower body. He reached out and immediately understood the situation.

Yang Guozhong quickly got out of bed, pulled up his pants, knelt in front of Li Ying, and said, "Your Highness, Prince Shou, please make the decision for me!"

Li Heng said, "How can I make the decision for you? Li Jiuniang is suing you for raping her."

"I was originally staying in the No. 1 room, and was..." Yang Guozhong paused, "while enjoying myself, someone suddenly knocked me unconscious, and I looked like this when I woke up."

Li Heng asked, "You mean, someone framed you?"

"That's right." Yang Guozhong affirmed.

"Liangzhou is under the jurisdiction of Governor Wang, and this wine shop is also Governor Wang's property. Who dares to frame you here?" Li Heng expressed his doubt, and then continued: "This matter needs to be investigated carefully. The most urgent thing is to appease Li Jiuniang. Let me ask you, Li Jiuniang's reputation is now damaged. If she is willing to marry you, will you marry her?"

Yang Guozhong didn't understand what was going on. He looked up at Li Jiuniang and saw that she was crying like a pear blossom in the rain. Her pretty appearance was very lovable. The lustful Yang Guozhong felt pity for her and said, "I'm willing, if she doesn't mind."

Wang Daqing, who was standing by, became completely dejected upon hearing this.

Just now, Li Heng deliberately led Li Jiuniang to suspect that he and Yang Guozhong were conspiring. Now that Li Jiuniang heard that Yang Guozhong was willing to marry her, her suspicion of them deepened.

Wang Daqing looked at Li Ying's back, and he finally saw Li Ying's dark side.

From beginning to end, Li Heng seemed to be interrogating the case, but in fact, every word of Li Heng was extremely misleading.

Moreover, this inducement is based on the understanding of the characters of Yang Guozhong and Li Jiuniang.

Li Heng knew that Yang Guozhong was timid and lustful, so he predicted that Yang Guozhong would definitely promise to marry Li Jiuniang at this time.

As for Li Jiuniang, although Li Heng was not familiar with her, when they entered the room just now, they saw Li Jiuniang drawing a knife to kill Yang Guozhong in front of them. Based on this, Li Heng could roughly know that Li Jiuniang was impulsive, simple-minded, and easily misled.

Li Jiuniang became even more angry after hearing what Yang Guozhong said. She spat at Yang Guozhong and said, "Are you worthy of marrying me?"

"That can't be helped." Li Heng shook his head. "Since Li Jiuniang doesn't want to, we can't force her. I am also moved by Yang Canjun's righteousness, but we should not act beyond the rules."

Yang Guozhong understood what Li Ying meant and quickly explained, "Your Highness, I was really knocked unconscious. I did nothing. Your Highness, please understand!"

"I believe you, but you are the princess's cousin. If I were to investigate this matter, people would think I am protecting you. How about this, let the judicial officer of Liangzhou handle it, and I will supervise it. You have to stay in jail for a few days." After saying this, Li Heng turned to Qibi Zhong and said, "General Qibi, please send someone to send Officer Yang to jail."

"Yes." Qibi Zhong accepted the order and waved to the soldiers at the door.

Two soldiers entered the room and dragged Yang Guozhong out. Yang Guozhong cried out for injustice all the way.

(End of this chapter)