She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

"What's going on in Yuanzhou and Kezhou recently?"

The new emperor heard some news from somewhere and has been summoning a few ministers to the Chong'an Hall to discuss matters over the past two days, as if he was ordering food from the canteen.

"The two places have never had any intersection. Why did Li Chongxuan send a team of soldiers to Kezhou?"

To put it nicely, it's a discussion, but in the final analysis, it's just finding a few people to listen to him complain.

His biggest problem is that he is too stubborn and can never calculate people's hearts.

It's not that I don't want to, it's that I simply can't.

Moreover, he talked a lot and kept on talking. He would even talk about what he dreamed last night and what unsatisfactory meal he had at noon.

For example, waiting in the study room in the palace now are the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Lü Zhongting, the Imperial Censor of the Courtyard Kong Jiu, and the Imperial Censor of the Palace Court Cao Jun.

The three of them stood behind the imperial desk, all with complicated emotions.

The purpose of calling the Censorate was to clarify whether the matter of Li Chongxuan secretly sending people to Kezhou could be considered a big deal.

If it is possible, the impeachment memorial of Li Chongxuan tomorrow morning will be able to overturn the imperial case. No matter whether he is wrong or not, the new emperor will be unhappy anyway, so it is good to find a reason to deduct one year's salary from him.

Kong Jiu and Cao Jun thought about it again and again. How could they have any say? If the king wants to judge the crime, who dares to say that he is not guilty?

The current Censorate is no longer the upright and incorruptible Censorate. If the new emperor is not happy, he will confiscate the property and exterminate the clan.

Lu Zhongting was even more speechless.

He shouldn't have come to deliver the memorial today. As New Year's Eve approaches, everyone from the six ministries to the various departments is doing their accounting, and it's reasonable that the Minister of the Central Secretariat should deliver the memorial and discuss these matters with the emperor.

In other words, his rank as Secretary of the Central Secretariat was not high enough.

The Minister of the Secretariat happened to be sick at home these two days and took leave, so the job fell on Lu Zhongting and another assistant minister.

In the capital, the power struggles among several families have already muddied the waters. If they get involved in the affairs of Yuanzhou and Kezhou, it would be like a clay Buddha crossing the river and it would be difficult for them to save themselves.

Lv Zhongting was born into an imperial family and had a clean family background. He worked hard for a lifetime and finally got to the position of a fourth-rank minister, which was quite impressive.

He didn't want to get involved in this messy water. Now he felt like a fish on a hot rack.

"You say!" As luck would have it, the new emperor's finger happened to point at Lu Zhongting, "Does Li Chongxuan intend to collude with Zhao Hou?"

Lu Zhongting bowed and took a deep breath. "Your Majesty, I am stupid and not as sharp-eyed as you."

The situation in the court was also very different from that during the reign of Emperor Wu An.

Officials below the sixth rank, except for those whose families were in urgent need of money, had not received their salaries for half a year. People in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel were afraid to even leave their houses, fearing that their colleagues were asking for money.

But the new emperor didn't care at all.

Tired of living in the palace, the new emperor asked the Ministry of Works to draw up a rough plan, and a temporary palace had been built for a long time beside the Juanchi in the western suburbs. The Ministry of Works took full responsibility for the construction of the temporary palace and did not dare to stop the construction without authorization. Whenever there was a shortage of money, it would go to the Ministry of Revenue for payment.

Anyway, it's the emperor's decree, who dares to object to it?

The new emperor gradually lost the support of the people, and it was only through the oppression of imperial power that these officials were forced to submit.

"You are indeed stupid!" The new emperor could no longer bear his temper and pointed at Lu Zhongting's nose and scolded, "You are a minister, and you can't share my worries. What's the use of you!"

The three people in the hall bent their knees and knelt on the ground.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

Just as the new emperor was about to explode, Xue Ping suddenly came in from outside the hall and fearlessly demanded to pass on the message.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Central Secretariat is outside the palace and said he wants to see Your Majesty for something important."

With his hands on his waist, the new emperor simply cursed, "Stupid thing! Can't you see I'm busy!"

Xue Ping was used to this kind of situation. His master had always had a strange temper, and it became even worse after he ascended the throne. It was common for him to beat and scold palace maids.

Xue Ping then quickly knelt down and pretended to be respectful before continuing, "It is my fault that I am blind. But the Minister of the Central Secretariat said that there is a memorial from Yuanzhou to be presented. I saw that Your Majesty has been worried about this matter these days, so I dare not not pay attention to it."

When he heard that it was Yuanzhou, the anger over the new emperor's head was suddenly extinguished.

Yuanzhou, why didn’t you say it earlier?

"Call him in." With a wave of his arm, the new emperor frowned and turned back to sit on the dragon throne.

Lu Zhongting was kneeling. He heard the footsteps approaching outside the hall. Unable to resist his curiosity, he lowered his head and took a peek.

It is indeed the Minister of the Central Secretariat.

Lu Zhongting became even more worried.

After the results of his palace examination were announced, Zhongshu Ling Yan Tongjun praised his elegant writing at the last banquet. After being exiled for ten years, when he was finally recalled to Zhongshu Province, he showed even more care for him.

It can be said that Lu Zhongting saw Yan Tongjun's earnest hope clearly in his trembling fear.

He thought he was not a loyal official, and his lifelong ambition was to have a peaceful family and a good food supply, and he had no interest in being an official. He studied hard to get rid of poverty since he was young, and he took the imperial examinations when everyone else did.

Once you pass the exam, you will be assigned to a position and your promotion will be smooth as you are cautious and avoid making mistakes.

Yan Tongjun was already 60 years old and could not stay in the court for many more days, but he always wanted to pave a safe path for this young man whom he had always regarded as his student.

So today, despite his sick body, he had to save Lu Zhongting's life.

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial sent by express horse from Yuanzhou. Please take a look." After the memorial was handed to the new emperor, he glanced at the kneeling people and said lightly, "Everyone, stand up."

Lu Zhongting hurried forward and supported Yan Tongjun.

Although Li Chongxuan was a military commander and was not very keen on officialdom and the relationship between the emperor and his subjects, he was much more sober than the new emperor. When he decided to send someone to Kezhou, Xu Tingzhou helped him draft this petition and set off with Xu Tingzhou.

One goes to Kezhou and the other goes to the capital, so nothing will be delayed either way.

Xue Ping saw the new emperor glance over most of the article, and asked carefully, "Your Majesty, are you satisfied?"

The article states that one of Li Chongxuan's subordinates was on a mission to Wuling Road in Kezhou, so he stole a few days' leisure in Dangshan. Unexpectedly, he died mysteriously during this period.

Because he was carrying the official seal and the governor's warrant, he couldn't just let it go. Besides, the man was one of his own, so he sent someone to assist in the investigation and bring him back for burial.

The capital is farther away from Yuanzhou, so I am afraid that the letter may not arrive in time. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me.

The words were sincere.

The new emperor's suspicion was half gone after seeing this. Yuanzhou, Kezhou and Shuzhong were the places where Da Chong was being watched the most. If they were secretly connected, there would be no need to send a special petition.

Thinking about this, my anger subsided a little.

"Li Chongxuan, one of your men died. Send someone to investigate. That's it, Xue Ping!"

In response to the new emperor's order, Xue Ping quickly stepped forward and said, "Your servant is here."

"Pass on my oral order, order Li Chongxuan to investigate the case and submit a detailed report on this murder, and I will not pursue the matter further."

This is good, everyone is happy. The Secretariat and the Censorate no longer have to worry about the new emperor's madness.

Lu Zhongting wiped the sweat from his forehead and supported Yan Tongjun as they walked out of the palace.

"Lord Yan, how are you? There have been a lot of things going on in the province these days, and I haven't been to visit you in the hospital yet. Yet you came to save me first. It's really..." Lu Zhongting felt ashamed halfway through his words.

A gust of wind blew by, and Yan Tongjun caught a cold and coughed lightly.

Lu Zhongting was also pretending to be ignorant, and his loyalty and bravery had not been aroused in these years. Although they knew that he was a good horse but had not met a good horseman, they were no longer young.

When I die, I don’t know what will be left of this country.

Yan Tongjun sighed and said, "I'm fine, let's not talk about this." He patted the boy whom he treated as his apprentice, just as a consolation for the whole year.

The snow has not yet fallen in the capital, so who knows what the new year will be like.

But Dangshan Mountain, thousands of miles away, is already covered in a vast expanse of white snow.

"It's too cold today."

Ever since Xu Tingzhou's plan was exposed and he had retracted his magical powers, the atmosphere among the three of them became much more relaxed.

This was discovered by Xu Tingzhou himself. The interrogation that night was generally depressing, even more depressing than the heavy snow.

Or the mutton hot pot in front of me makes people feel more like they are in the human world.

The pot was bubbling on the fire. Amid the hazy steam, Ah-yi held a small bowl and began to sort out her thoughts.

"From the results of the autopsy on You Tong in the past few days, we can now roughly infer some things." Ah'an said, adding a piece of radish to the pot. "First, You Tong had an unknown knife wound on his navel, but no blade was found in the house, so he must have been murdered."

"Secondly, judging by the reaction of the wound, the body has been dead for no less than three days. However, due to the cold weather, there are no obvious changes to the body."

Another piece of radish was put into the pot. Hengzhi saw that she was a little obsessed, so he reached out to block Ah's radish before the soup in the pot overflowed.

"That's right. After the man died, his servant went to Dang County to buy some wine and immediately went to the post station to hire a carrier pigeon to send a letter back to Yuanzhou. But the servant had been down the mountain for two days, so this is where his confession is wrong."

After listening to Heng Zhi's words, Xu Tingzhou carefully recalled the servant's confession, "Yes, he said that he saw You Tong dead at that time, and rushed down the mountain to deliver the letter at night. So he subconsciously thought that You Tong died on the fourteenth. Counting the two days we spent on the autopsy, today is already the seventeenth."

"From the examination of his injuries, it turned out that he was the one who died." Ah Yi continued, "And the most important point is that since you said you suspected You Tong of carrying the palace's secrets, then the servant's behavior is even more suspicious."

Unless You Tong had previously told the people around him where to contact him if he died, otherwise, based on the thinking of ordinary people, how could they not cry and report to the police first?
"Madam, what you said makes sense." Xu Tingzhou pondered for a moment, "So why are we eating hot pot in this courtyard now?"

Ah-yi: “…”

Hengzhi: “…”

Hengzhi glanced at Ah's clenched teeth and kicked Xu Tingzhou's stool calmly, "If you don't want to eat, go and guard the body."

Xu Tingzhou stumbled off the small wooden stool and fell to the ground, resting his hands on his knees helplessly, "You two are really a perfect match."

This is especially true in a place like this where someone is trying to do something shady to him.

Ah-yi picked up the soup spoon, added half a bowl of hot soup and placed it in front of Heng-chi, saying with a sense of gratification, "Yes, it's a perfect match. Lord Xu, can you say a few more auspicious words to me?"

Angry! Angry!
Xu Tingzhou got up from the ground, his emotions had reached their peak.

But at this moment, the sound of a knife being unsheathed outside the yard suddenly reached the ears of the three people.

"Catch assassins!"

assassin?

Where did the assassin come from?

(End of this chapter)