Beautiful step by step

Chapter 119

"In that case, Madam Yan will stay and listen."

The setting sun went down very quickly, and when I first came out, the sky was still full of sunset clouds, and it was almost dark when I said these two sentences.The yamen servant came in and carefully lit the candles. Wei Wei noticed that the yamen servant who had been going to the yurt to call him over was slightly relaxed when he passed by Yuan Cishi.Looking at the word "You" embroidered on the back of his official uniform, it is obvious that it came from the Youzhou government office.

When she came in just now, He Guogong and Chu Inspector were obviously surprised.From this point of view, Governor Yuan secretly sent someone to inform her about this matter.Or to put it another way, all three of them knew that Yan Heng should send someone to notify her family of something wrong, but the person sent by Governor Yuan happened to tell her the truth.

No matter what the truth is, Governor Yuan showed kindness to them throughout the whole incident.

So what is the reason for this?
Suspicious, Wei Wei looked at Governor Yuan. There was a candlestick on the table next to him. The candlelight was at the same level as his head, which added a bit of mystery to his Maitreya-like smile.Looking at each other, the smile on Yuan Cishi's face became wider, and he waved to the first seat while allowing her to stay.

They exchanged glances with Yan Heng, and after he sat down under the governor of Chu, Wei Wei also sat down under the governor of Yuan.

Holding the key in her hand, she turned to Chu Inspector in the opposite corner with a puzzled face: "I have always been in charge of the key, and I have a record of whoever uses it. Please rest assured, the two Inspectors."

After hearing what she said, Chu Cishi snorted heavily.

A cold snort made Wei Wei's heart, which was slightly relaxed because of Governor Yuan's kindness, completely tense up, more so than ever before.There is no other reason. The governor of Chu had expressed goodwill to them before, but after Yan Heng exposed the corruption, he once again stood on the opposite side of the two.Officialdom is such a place, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.A close brother who pushed a cup for a cup one second may stab a knife in the other's heart without hesitation the next second.

The unpredictability of Governor Chu made it difficult for her to easily believe in Governor Yuan's kindness.

Even if he has good intentions, it will not be pure.Apart from that little bit of kindness, what is his real purpose behind it?
Forcibly suppressing these doubts, Wei Wei looked at the opposite side and forced a smile: "I don't know what the assassin's cold snort means? Do you think I am guarding myself?"

"It's not impossible."

It really didn't give her any face at all. Seeing that the governor of Chu was like this, Wei Wei no longer smiled with her good temper.

With a cold face, she retorted: "The emperor has been strictly investigating the finances of Youliang Liangzhou these days. As far as I know, the accounts of Youzhou government are relatively clean. And our Liangzhou government, the entire account is from It's rotten at the root. If it is said that the guards are self-stealing, who is most likely to be present, and everyone is clear about it. Governor Chu, don't you think so?"

A gloomy look flashed across Chu Inspector's face, he stood up, and raised his fists above his head: "Your Majesty is holy, not only Commander Wu has been imprisoned, but also the manpower brought by me has been controlled. One thing, the theft of disaster relief banks is another."

After speaking, he looked at Governor Yuan, who nodded.

"That's true."

Wei Wei was astonished, she almost forgot that there was such a thing.The two governors have been rooted in the Northwest for many years, and there are so many people under them, it is obvious that the Imperial Forest Army cannot completely control everyone.But the emperor's order to guard them gave the two the best evidence to remove their suspicions.After all, if it really turns out that Chu Governor's subordinates were guarding and stealing themselves, then the emperor's face would still be slapped.

The dignified Son of Heaven's furious and strict supervision still couldn't deter the ghostly thoughts of these people.If it is found out at that time, Emperor Qinglong will lose face at all.Thinking of this, Wei Wei forcibly swallowed back the words of rebuttal.

Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, and finally there was only a hint of sarcasm on her face.

"So now the Inspector of Chu is using the best method of elimination? Because this matter cannot be done by you and Inspector Yuan, so it can only be done by Yan Heng?"

The governor of Chu nodded: "Could it be that Mrs. Yan has other explanations?"

"It's ridiculous."

Sniffing out these four words, Wei Wei faced the overbearing governor of Chu directly: "The governor of Youzhou seemed to have said the same thing about the fire in Youzhou on the day when Shengjia came. The fire started from the courtyard. There were no outsiders in the courtyard at that time. It must be me who set the fire. But now? After the fire in the courtyard under the old pagoda tree was extinguished, the emperor sent officials from Dali Temple to personally investigate the cause of the fire. Facts have proved that the fire did indeed start from the ground.”

Yan Heng's fire was not in vain, and Dali Temple officials came in handy after the fire was put out.In addition to these professionals who have been handling cases for many years and are very easy to find clues, the one who helped the investigation of the fire the most was Uncle Wei.Wei Wei never expected that Wei Xiang would be so versatile.A hundred years ahead of him, he had already discovered that will-o'-the-wisps are a combustible substance, and recorded in his essays on surveying the topography of Youzhou that people would suffocate when entering the sealed area where the will-o'-the-wisps burned out.

This is the most basic redox reaction - combustion.The combustion of methane and carbon monoxide consumes oxygen, produces heat, and produces carbon dioxide.

Uncle Wei read the information left by Wei Xiang and informed the officials of Dali Temple about it.Dali Temple officials tied oiled cotton to the tip of a long iron probe, lit it and stretched it down.The probe rod reached the ground without any hindrance, and the oily cotton was extinguished when it was pulled out again.

A simple experiment confirmed everything, and completely got rid of Wei Wei's suspicion of arson.After further verification that the source of the fire was under the west wing of Wei Wei's residence, even the conjecture that the fire was intended to burn her elders was basically confirmed.After the truth was found out, all officials in Youzhou were in danger. Although they were still isolated, there were fewer people who came to trouble Yan Heng and Wei Wei.

And today, this matter was used by Wei Wei to refute the governor of Chu.

"Lord Inspector, the basis for the justice of the exclusionary law is that you have thought of all possible situations without any omissions, and then use strong evidence to eliminate the impossible situations one by one. You also made a vow on the day of the fire in Youzhou, but never The mummified corpse of Mrs. Zhou carried out from the underground secret passage of the courtyard under the locust tree can’t make you sober? We are human, and there are always times when people don’t think carefully. Isn’t it too hasty to convict you just because of your personal speculation?”

A soft "en" sound came, and under the candlelight, Governor Yuan nodded.As if aware of her gaze, he also turned his head, and his face was full of admiration when his eyes met.

There was a sound of laughter, and the governor of Chu on the opposite side clapped his hands: "Mr. He Ge is right, Mrs. Yan is really eloquent."

With a smile on Wei Wei's serious face, he cupped his hands in thanks: "Thank you, Governor Yuan, for your praise."

"Since Governor Yuan also agrees with this, I ask you three to move."

After finishing speaking, Chu Inspector stood up first, and smiled at her friendlyly when passing by her, then he held his head high and opened the tent door.

A gust of cold wind came out, Wei Wei shivered and looked out of the tent.Just now the tent door was closed and she couldn't see what was going on outside, but it was only after she opened it that she saw that the open grass outside the tent was full of Northwest Army troops.They formed a circle holding torches, and inside the circle was a carriage used by the imperial court to transport good salaries.

Walking out behind Yan Heng, Wei Wei recognized the man in the dark blue official robe beside the carriage, who was the official of Dali Temple following the investigation of the fire in Youzhou.

"Hard work, colleagues in Dali Temple."

Inspector Chu clapped his hands together to be polite, then turned his head and looked at the three of them.

"The officials of Dali Temple are very aware of the details. Not only can they find out the real cause of the fire in Youzhou through the details, but they can also use a little clue to track down the whereabouts of the official bank that disappeared out of thin air. The three please come forward with me."

As Governor Chu walked towards the carriage, Wei Wei suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

The design of the horse-drawn carriage for escorting good wages is different from that of ordinary people-carrying carriages.The daily carriage shed is small and high, and the roof is covered with a special thick linen cloth, and the whole is closed.However, the carriage for escorting good wages is made of pure wood, with a layer of iron covering the key parts, and the whole carriage is shallow and flat.Generally, the grain is stacked on the roof of the car, fixed with ropes and then set off.

When he came to the carriage, Chu Inspector quickly turned over the low carriage.Then he picked up the hammer next to him, and tapped on the body of the car with his whole body.Not long after, a car floor was removed.

Clapping his hands, Chu Cishi showed confidence: "You guys come up and see."

The ominous premonition in his heart became more and more serious, and Wei Wei stepped forward, moving his almost weighty feet.Under the light of the torch, the interlayer inside the car body was completely exposed, and inside the interlayer was white snowflake silver.

"Does Mrs. Yan know this carriage?"

Inspector Chu scooped up his arm and wiped it towards the corner of the car bucket. After sipping it twice, he raised his index finger: "Li Mi, no, it should be called Yan Ji Xiaomi. Heh, what a Yan Ji Xiaomi, Mr. Yan is really upright and has a breeze in his sleeves." .”

Snowflake Silver, who was almost blinding people's eyes, was right in front of him, and the sound of gasping all around came like a mountain and a sea.Wei Wei hated her laziness very much at the moment.The terrain in the northwest is rugged, the products are scarce, and the commerce and trade are not well developed. Generally, caravans transport leather and jewelry, and a few horses can be wrapped in cloth bags. There are very few flatbed car convoys in the plains.

That day, she wanted to do millet business, but she was struggling with the transportation, so she was smart enough to use the empty car on the return journey after being escorted by the court with good payment.Originally, she thought that these carriages would be empty even if they were empty, and if they were rented out to her, they could earn some extra money for the court, and also earn some wine money for the officers and soldiers escorting them. Why not do such a win-win situation.Even she was already very careful, she just gave the officers and soldiers money for nothing, and the entire escort was arranged by Yan Hengxian's own family to do it.

I didn't expect to be so cautious, and now I'm still being exploited.

"As far as I know, I'm not the only one who transports goods privately in escort vehicles."

Forcibly defending, Wei Wei still lacked confidence.

Inspector of Chu pressed on step by step: "Mrs. Yan said just now that the exclusion method is inevitably ill-thought-out. Now that the Dali Temple officials have found solid evidence, it is true that you are not the only one who used it, but in this situation, only your family can use it."

Wei Wei looked at Yan Heng with a face full of guilt, Li Quci was poor.The crisis was approaching step by step, and just when she was about to despair, a majestic voice sounded from the crowd.

"Well, you are not the only one. I finally understand how the Northwest good salary is transported to the capital."

(End of this chapter)