Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

"My lord! My lord, you are clearly aware! My brother was framed!" said the fourth son Li Xuedao

"Framed? Who would frame an officer of the Imperial Army? What evidence do you have to prove that he was framed?"

Li Xuewen knelt and took a few steps forward, "It's Meng Yunchang, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Qiao Enming, deputy envoy of the Privy Council."

When Defang heard this, she drew out her sword and pointed at Li Xuewen, "Bold! How dare you slander important court officials!"

Li Xuewen did not hide, but put his neck in front of Defang's sword, "My lord! The three of my brothers are not afraid of death, and only hope to clear up the grievances of the Li family." Li Xuewen looked at Defang, "My lord! The grassroots have heard of the virtuousness of the lord for a long time, please beg the lord Make the decision for the grass people, the grass people are willing to die under the sword of the prince, but I beg the prince to avenge my Li family!" Li Xuewen cried bitterly.

Li Xuezheng and Li Xuedao also stepped forward, "I beg the prince to avenge the grassroots!"

Defang looked at the three brothers and thought to himself, "These three people are crying out for injustice, and they are not people who are afraid of death. This case is full of doubts, the evidence is full of loopholes, and Zhang Mingfeng wants to kill them. Now Zhang Mingfeng is also a mystery. It seems that we need to find more evidence." De Fang slowly put away his sword, when Jia Jun outside the door opened the door and said, "Your Highness, there is reward."

Defang turned her head to look, and walked out, the officer stepped forward and said in a low voice, "My lord, I waited for a day, but I didn't see the woman coming out, but there was smoke from the furnace in the far room. At night, a man entered Master Zhang with a small square box. Fuya, just returned to the private house."

Defang thought about it, changed five people to continue staring, and returned to the house, Defang gave Jiajun a wink, Jiajun went out to check, there were 4 guards standing at the door, and occasionally a row of guards patrolled by, suddenly felt the roof in front of him A person was moving, very uncoordinated with the carvings on the roof. This person slowly climbed up to the top and stopped moving. Jia Jun didn't say anything, turned around and entered the room, and said a few words to Defang. Defang looked at the three brothers and said to him. They said, "Now I want you to shout loudly, the louder the better"

The three brothers looked at each other, but didn't understand what it meant. Jia Jun stepped forward and squeezed Li Xuewen's shoulder, causing him to yell in pain, then let go of his hand and whispered to them, "That's it, hurry up! I didn't hear what the prince said. !"

The three brothers seemed to understand a little bit, so they started yelling, as if they were really beaten, Jia Jun hit the pillar with the hilt of his sword.Defang sat on the side, frowning, thinking in her heart, "It seems that Zhang Mingfeng really has a ghost in his heart, and even sent someone to monitor this king. This matter cannot be delayed for too long, and the truth must be found out as soon as possible."

The three brothers yelled for almost half an hour, and they were too tired. Defang looked at it, signaled to stop, walked over to Li Xuewen and said, "This king only wants to find out the truth, not because I believe your words. If you dare to deceive this king , I will be the first one to not let you off!"

Li Xuewen looked at Defang, and saw hope in his eyes: "The grassroots speak the truth, thank you, my lord, for your fulfillment!"

Defang sighed, turned around and walked out of the house, and said loudly to the imperial guards at the door, "Look out for the criminals! If there is a mistake, this king will never forgive me lightly!"

"Yes!" Several imperial guards replied and stood at their posts

After Defang returned to her room, the man on the roof retreated, and Nan Gongwen said to Defang, "My lord, it seems that Mr. Zhang is very afraid of what the Li brothers will say."

"Well, it's just that the case back then was re-examined, and it's hard to find witnesses and physical evidence. This king wants to find a place to start." Defang walked to the window

"Let's start with the private house that Zhang Mingfeng enters and exits. Even if he is a golden house, he still has to see a figure. There have been dozens of people in the past few years. How can he disappear out of thin air?"

Nan Gongwen came over, "It's really suspicious. The Li brothers testified to Zhang Mingfeng that Li's family property was not confiscated back then, but most of the Li family's property was reported to have funded the rebels, and many privately held tributes were also lost. The so-called counterfeit official bank, Did not see the real thing."

Defang frowned, "Such a huge amount of property has disappeared." Defang turned around, "Go and check to see if there is any abnormality in the property under the name of Zhang Mingfeng or his family."

"Yes, my lord." Nan Gongwen walked out of the room.

Defang sat at the round table, poured a cup of tea, took out Concubine Di's letter from her bosom, opened it and read it again, smiling happily.