Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 120 Another trouble occurs
"Master Chu, please stay here tonight. There is a curfew in the inner city tonight, so it is not convenient to go back to the Health Hall. It won't be too late to leave tomorrow morning."

Zhao Qi'an told a little lie.

There are night clerks in the princess's mansion, so it is not difficult to send people to the outer city after curfew.

But after all, he had promised Chu Wuxin to let her stay in this mansion for one night, so naturally he would not go back on his word.

Chu Xuan did not doubt him and nodded, saying, "Then I will respectfully obey your orders. I will follow the boss's arrangements."

Zhao Qi'an ordered the servant to take Chu Xuan to the guest house to rest.

After Chu Xuan expressed his thanks, he followed the servant who was leading the way and was about to leave. After taking two steps, he felt something was wrong. Looking back, he saw his daughter following the boss like a little tail, walking in a completely different direction.

He went up with a dark face and pulled Chu Wuxin back.

After Zhao Qi'an walked away, Chu Xuan asked his daughter, "What were you talking about with the boss just now?"

Chu Wuxin was about to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he remembered the agreement with Zhao Qi'an and shook his head and said, "I can't say it."

"There's something I can't tell Dad..."

"I can't say it, I can't say it."

Chu Wuxin tilted his head and thought for a while, then said seriously: "He said this is a little secret between him and me, and I can't even tell Dad."

Chu Xuan: “???”

He stiffened his neck and looked in the direction where Zhao Qian'an left, not knowing what expression to use for a moment.

That night, Chu Xuan didn't sleep well.

……

The next day, it was still dark.

Zhao Qian'an heard the servant come to report that Master Chu had taken his daughter and left early in the morning.

"Master Chu, are you in such a hurry to leave? Are you afraid of delaying the morning classes of the children in the hall?"

Zhao Qian'an was still unaware of the misunderstanding and thought that Master Chu was just a man of great dedication to his job.

He immediately showed great respect for Master Chu's professionalism.

Zhao Qi'an's eyes fell on a drawing on the table, and he muttered to himself:

"It's a pity. I wanted to let Master Chu take a look at this drawing."

This was drawn by him early this morning. The object he drew had only one purpose, and that was to "attract thunder from the sky."

He originally wanted Master Chu to come over and take a look himself, and also listen to his plan.

As a result, Master Chu left in a hurry, which made Zhao Qian'an's plan fail.

But... the impact is not that big.

Tell someone to make it first.

Zhao Qi'an finished drawing the blueprint, then rolled it up, put it into the scroll, and handed it to the servant who was serving beside him: "Send it to the Treasure Pavilion and give it to Deacon Lin."

"Yes."

The servant took the scroll respectfully, bowed and took the order.

Not long after this servant left, another servant came hurriedly.

"My boss."

The new servant who came to report the news stood at the door of the study and saluted to Zhao Qi'an: "Mr. Gou is back."

……

Gou Xiangxi was not at home these days, but followed Zhao Guanxiang to inspect the royal fields in the eastern suburbs. When he returned home today, he did not even bother to wash up, and came to see Zhao Qi'an in a dusty state.

When he saw Zhao Qi'an, he bowed, raised his head, and said with a wry smile: "Boss, something happened."

Zhao Qi'an looked calm and didn't seem anxious. He pressed his hand towards him and said, "Sit down and tell me, what happened?"

Gou Xiangxi sat on a chair nearby and said in a deep voice, "Someone died, several members of the royal family died. Now many members of the royal family have united to file a complaint with the Zongzheng Temple and also submitted a petition to the Sanfasi, jointly accusing the Xuntianjian of taking human lives lightly, abusing their power for personal gain, and disregarding the dignity of the royal family. If it weren't for the pressure from the old Duke, I'm afraid they would have already gone to the palace gate to beat the drum to report the incident."

Zhao Qi'an raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "Did Guan Xiang kill someone?"

"No." Gou Xiangxi couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Those who died hanged themselves, and they only left behind a blood-written complaint."

What are you accusing?
That is naturally the job of the Astronomical Patrol to monitor these royal relatives.

"Tell me about this in detail."

"Yes."

Gou Xiangxi organized his words and then spoke: "These days, I took some of my accountants with the fourth young master to the outskirts of Beijing. Then we split into two groups. I took my men to sort out the number of acres of land, while the fourth young master took the people from the Astronomical Observatory to visit the homes of the royal relatives one by one, especially those who were allocated pension land."

He paused for a moment and said, "This investigation has indeed revealed something. Most of the families whose family members died in the war and received the compensation land owed a large amount of foreign debt. As soon as the compensation land came, someone came to take it away and used it to pay off the debt."

"Buying and selling imperial land? The Gao family dares to do this openly?"

Zhao Qi'an was a little surprised.

Even though this imperial land was distributed to the royal relatives as relief land, those royal relatives only had the right to cultivate and harvest, but did not have the right to buy and sell.

This is clearly stipulated in the Daqian Law. If the Gao family really engages in business of buying and selling the imperial land, they will be courting death.

But obviously, the Gao family is not that stupid.

Gou Xiangxi shook his head and explained, "It's not the Gao family. Even the Gao family is not involved in this. The moneylenders are all local tyrants in Kyoto. They are not asking for the land deeds, but the right to operate these imperial fields for decades or even hundreds of years. It's written in black and white and they have to give it."

At this point, he looked at Zhao Qi'an and said, "Boss, the death of this family is also strange. The fourth young master had already persuaded them to give out the creditor, so why did the whole family hang themselves that night? They also left a blood letter accusing the Astronomical Observatory of forcing their family into a desperate situation?"

Zhao Qi'an said, "Someone doesn't want you to investigate further."

Gou Xiangxi nodded and said, "I think so too. The fourth young master is very angry at the person behind the scenes for doing such a shady thing. He wants to continue investigating, but I think we have to deal with it first and solve the problem at hand."

The immediate trouble is naturally the angry royal relatives.

If it were someone else, they would probably be helpless, even the Astronomical Observatory.

Although these people do not have much power, they are of noble status. If they really cause trouble, half of them will not be able to suppress it.

But Gou Xiangxi was confident and said to Zhao Qi'an, "I have already made a plan for this matter, please rest assured. I still have to discuss it with the old Duke today, so I'll take my leave first."

He hurried back home just to report something to Zhao Qian'an. Now that the report was finished, he was ready to leave in a swift and decisive manner.

Although you can see fatigue in his eyes, he is more excited.

Zhao Qi'an looked at Gou Xiangxi's leaving back and was silent for a while.

He thought Gou Xiangxi came back to ask him for help to make decisions and think about how to solve the current problems.

As a result, Gou Xiangxi just came to report on his work, and after the report, he went on to solve the problem on his own.

This……

Zhao Qi'an decided that next time he would tell Gou Xiangxi that if something like this happened again, he could just send someone to pass on the message and there was no need to come back in person.

He sneered and shook his head, then picked up a book on the table and started reading it.

It is always a good thing to have capable subordinates.

As the boss, he is also happy to have some free time.

(End of this chapter)