Catching Monsters

Chapter 177 Gift from the Emperor
Xu Suwen certainly knew the origin of this plaque. When he heard Jiang Yun's question, his expression changed slightly.

She looked down at the burnt black plaque on the ground and said in a deep voice, "This is a gift from His Majesty, and it was written by His Majesty himself..."

"The person who set fire to the temple will be guilty of a capital crime, which will lead to the confiscation of property and the extermination of the entire family."

If an ordinary person had the clothes that Xiao Yuzheng gave to Jiang Qiaoqiao, they would have to keep them carefully on weekdays and would only wear them on important festivals or when meeting His Majesty.

The symbolic meanings of the plaque and the clothes given casually are very different.

Jiang Yun frowned and slowly squatted down, then asked Uncle Wu to find a clean cloth to carefully wrap the burnt plaque and put it away.

Jiang Yun said in a deep voice: "The plaque given by His Majesty was burned by the traitor. Tomorrow morning, I will go to His Majesty to apologize."

Central South Street is the most prosperous area in the capital. Just after the New Year, the servants of each mansion would accompany the masters and ladies in the mansion to go out for a walk.

The news of a sudden fire at Sanqing Temple spread quickly.

After all, Sanqing Temple has been an extremely hot topic in the capital these days. Just when everything was ready, a fire suddenly broke out. If it was said to be an accident, who would believe it?

Many people couldn't help but discuss this privately, why was this Taoist temple burned down?
I heard that the person who opened the Taoist temple was the general flag bearer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Ordinary petty thieves would not dare to offend such a general flag bearer.

Many guests who were drinking and chatting in restaurants, brothels, etc., also took this matter as a topic of conversation and discussed it.

"If you ask me, this matter is not that complicated. It's not simple for anyone to do it."

"Whoever doesn't want the Sanqing Temple to open should do it."

The person who was speaking was a servant of a powerful family in the inner city. He was in his thirties, dressed in a cloth shirt, and had finally had some free time to come out and have a drink.

Someone asked curiously, "Hey, brother, it seems like you know who did it?"

The servant laughed and said, "Do you know about the Dao Conference a while ago? My son went to watch it. It is said that Jiang Yun, the owner of Sanqing Temple, won against Baiyun Temple and even dismantled the stone statues of the Taoist Master in Baiyun Temple."

"Who else could have done this except Baiyun Temple?"

There are quite a few people who know about this matter, and most of them are aware that this matter is probably deeply related to Baiyun Temple.

Even a servant drinking in the tavern knew about this.

The news spread like wildfire in the capital, but of course, most people just treated it as a joke.

Unless the arsonist is caught on the spot, there is no evidence what can Jiang Yun do to Baiyun Temple?

The next morning, after breakfast, Xiao Yuzheng went to the imperial study to prepare for the day's government affairs.

Inside the room, Feng Yu was sorting out the memorials on the table.

Feng Yu had read most of the memorials in advance and would arrange them according to the importance of the matters for Your Majesty to review one by one.

This is also one of the areas where Feng Yu has great power.

Although it was a small matter of sorting out memorials, he could decide the order in which Xiao Yuzheng saw the memorials, for example, if two provinces requested funding from the court at the same time.

The first memorial Xiao Yuzheng sees, the greater the probability of funding.

After entering the room and sitting down, Feng Yu poured him tea with a heavy face and said, "Your Majesty, General Jiang of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is here and is waiting outside the palace. He wants to see Your Majesty to apologize."

"Excuse me?"

Xiao Yuzheng picked up the tea, and the fragrance of tea filled the air. This was a special fragrant tea from the southern provinces, which could refresh the mind. He took a sip and said with a smile: "What? Did Jiang Yun kill someone or set a fire?"

"If he committed murder or arson, or did something that was against the will of heaven and earth, why not let the Southern Pacification Office arrest him?"

"General Jiang is an honest man, he would never do such a thing." Feng Yu paused, his face serious, and whispered: "Your Majesty, the plaque you wrote with your own hands has been burned."

"General Jiang claimed that he failed to protect the plaque bestowed by His Majesty, and he felt guilty towards His Majesty. He came here to plead guilty and hoped that His Majesty would punish him severely."

The smile on Xiao Yuzheng's face gradually disappeared, and his expression became serious: "Who burned it?"

"It has not been found out yet." Xiao Yuzheng no longer had the mood to drink tea, and put the teacup aside: "Let Jiang Yun roll in to see me."

"Yes."

Soon, Jiang Yun walked in from outside holding a piece of charcoal wrapped in white cloth.

As soon as he entered the room, he knelt down with a plop and said through gritted teeth: "Your Majesty, I am guilty..."

"Well, Jiang Yun, you kid, the things I gave you are destroyed just like that?" Xiao Yuzheng slammed the table and cursed angrily.

Feng Yu gave Jiang Yun a look, signaling him not to panic.

His Majesty has this kind of personality. Cursing is his hobby, and kicking his subjects twice shows that he values them.

If Your Majesty is truly angry, he will be as calm as water.

Jiang Yun saw Feng Yu's eyes and understood what was going on. He just lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty. I hope Your Majesty will punish me."

Xiao Yuzheng stood up from the wooden chair, walked to the white cloth, lifted it and saw that the plaque he had written with his own hands had turned into this.

Xiao Yuzheng calmed down: "Who did it?"

"I... don't know." Jiang Yun lowered his head and said, "This matter still needs to be investigated."

Xiao Yuzheng was obviously angry, but this anger was not directed at Jiang Yun.

But in the capital, someone actually dared to burn the plaque he wrote. What did he want to do?
Want to rebel?
Xiao Yuzheng said in a deep voice: "Then why are you still standing there? Why don't you go check it out?"

Jiang Yun was still kneeling on the ground, and said in a deep voice: "I suspect that this matter may be related to Baiyun Temple."

"There are many experts in Baiyun Temple. If I and my brothers are the only ones to rely on, I'm afraid we will face a lot of resistance."

How could Xiao Yuzheng not understand Jiang Yun's thoughts, but this matter had already touched his bottom line.

Xiao Yuzheng glanced at Feng Yu beside him and said, "Feng Yu, write a letter and ask Yang Liunian to fully support Jiang Yun in solving this case."

"Yes."

Feng Yu nodded heavily with a serious expression.

To put it simply, what was burned was not a plaque, but Xiao Yuzheng's face.

To put it more bluntly, if you burn the plaque bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor, do you want to rebel?
"Also, notify Jing Qi to come over." Xiao Yuzheng had no expression on his face, and his voice was a little cold. He pointed at the plaque on the ground that had been burned into charcoal and said, "Tell him to send this plaque to Baiyun Temple and let Master Baichen take a look."

"Yes." Feng Yu's pupils shrank slightly and he nodded heavily.

After Jiang Yun received the letter written by Feng Yu, he immediately rushed back to the Jinyiwei Yamen to prepare for investigating the case.

Xiao Jingqi, who learned the news, was originally reading the files, preparing to dig out a few corrupt officials in the capital to change his father's impression of him.

Hearing Feng Yu asking him to pick up a piece of burnt wood, he was a little surprised, but he still put down what he was doing and rushed to the imperial study as soon as possible. Seeing the charcoal on the ground outside the imperial study, he looked a little confused.

Then he looked at Feng Yu who was standing next to the charcoal and asked, "Eunuch Feng, what's this?"

Feng Yu replied expressionlessly, "The Sanqing Temple was burned down last night. Does His Highness the Sixth Prince know about this?"

"Yes, I heard about it."

Feng Yu: "This is the plaque. Jiang Yun brought it here just now to meet His Majesty."

"Oh." Xiao Jingqi thought to himself, is Jiang Yun sick? His own Taoist temple was burned down, and he came to his father to complain? Who does he think he is?

But Feng Yu's next words made Xiao Jingqi's legs go slightly weak.

"This plaque was written by His Majesty himself as a gift to Jiang Yun."

(End of this chapter)