Qing Yao

Chapter 438 Quickly, please invite the Grand Secretary!
Zhao An wasn't just bored and looking for trouble with the Marquis of Jinghai; the Marquis was trying to kill him!
The household registration certificate for three generations of ancestors was issued by the local county government, but according to regulations, it also required the guarantee certificates from the local village head and several neighboring households!
It's not as simple as just showing your household registration booklet and asking the staff to fill in your name; it involves supporting documents from many people.

What is Zhao An's biggest weakness?
It's an impersonation!
The real Zhao Youlu is long dead!

To cover up the truth, Zhao Youlu's hometown was even demolished entirely by Lao Ding under the pretext of water conservancy construction. The villagers were scattered and resettled in various places, and Zhao Youlu's parents were sent to Songjiang by Zhao An to live out their old age.

All this effort was to erase all traces of Zhao Youlu from the world.

Therefore, it is impossible to supplement the materials of the Zhao family's ancestors for three generations.

If we really follow the instructions of Marquis Jinghai, Shi Bingren, Yangzhou will definitely take the relevant materials very seriously. The current magistrate of Ganquan County is not like Old Ding. If the current magistrate really treats this matter as an urgent matter and handles it urgently, things will become troublesome.

After all, Zhao Youlu's neighbors in his hometown were only scattered and resettled, not collectively wiped out.

If the authorities put their minds to it, they will surely find everything. When they ask questions, the truth will be revealed.

No matter how much money you offer to reduce the punishment for the crime of deceiving the emperor, or how much you win the emperor's favor, it's all useless!

Heshen would probably be furious if he knew the truth.

Left with no other choice, Zhao An had to go to great lengths to harm the Marquis of Jinghai in order to save his own life.

It can all be attributed to the good fortune accumulated by his ancestor, Shi Langji.

The sound was so loud that half of the governor's office could hear it clearly.

"Lord Zhao, this was an unintentional mistake. How can you speak such nonsense!"

Even though it was the other party who touched him, they turned around and accused him of looking down on them and doing it on purpose. Shi Bingren felt a surge of anger rising within him.

When has he, the dignified Marquis of Jinghai, ever suffered such injustice!
"An unintentional mistake?"

Zhao An seemed to have been greatly insulted, his face turning as red as a monkey's bottom. He gritted his teeth and said, "My lord, why did you have to drop this ink on my name of all places? My lord, you are clearly saying that I, Zhao Youlu, am not worthy of this honor of being raised to the banner, and that's why you deliberately stained my name!"

The wronged will always know how wronged the wronged person was.

In short, Zhao An insisted that Shi Bingren looked down on him, escalating a minor matter to an extreme degree, as if he could only achieve his goal through such means.

"Zhao Youlu, stop talking nonsense! I act with integrity and uprightness, how dare you slander me like this? It was clearly your own fault that you caused this, what does it have to do with me!"

Seeing Zhao An making an extreme accusation and insisting that he did it on purpose, Shi Bingren panicked. After all, the matter of Zhao An raising the flag was ordered by the emperor himself. If Zhao An continued to slander him like this, he might be accused of disobeying the emperor's orders.

The consequences are something he couldn't bear, not even if the very old Master Shi Lang were alive today!
"."

Inside the hall, both Commander Fan and Officer Wuya were stunned by the sudden scene. No one knew what had happened, because they couldn't see whether it was Lord Zhao who accidentally bumped into Lord Shi, or whether Lord Shi had deliberately spilled a drop. All they knew was that the two officials were blaming each other.

The whole thing is like a Rashomon-like situation.

"I touched the Marquis?"

Zhao An looked grief-stricken and indignant. "The Marquis is of high position and great power, so whatever he says goes. I, Zhao Youlu, am but a lowly person with little influence, and I deserve this humiliation!"

Having said that, he suddenly reached out and snatched the imperial edict stained with ink, laughing angrily, "Fine! Fine! Since the Marquis says it was an unintentional mistake, I will take this edict to the palace and ask the Emperor to make a judgment! Let's see if it was I, Zhao Youlu, who deliberately defiled the imperial edict, or if the Marquis has shown great disrespect to the Emperor!"

Before Shi Bingren could react, he turned around and rushed out, his steps quick and hurried.

not good!

Realizing what was happening, Shi Bingren was both shocked and furious, and quickly shouted, "Stop him!" Who would stop him?

Fan Canling and Wu Siguan were dumbfounded. The two old Baitang'a were not very agile, and there were two young clerks at the door, but how could the two of them dare to stop a second-rank official who was holding an imperial edict?

Besides, he was completely bewildered.

There was nothing else the Marquis could do but chase after him himself. He somehow managed to unleash his strength and speed, and in the blink of an eye, he caught Zhao An, who was angrily heading to the palace to meet the Emperor.

At this moment, he couldn't care less about propriety. The moment he hugged her, his imposing manner clearly weakened, and he whispered, "Lord Zhao, we can talk this over!"

"What are you doing, my lord!"

Zhao An had no intention of discussing anything with Shi Bingren, so he pretended to struggle and tried to break free from Shi Bingren, and the two ended up tugging at each other.

During the struggle, something wrapped in red cloth accidentally fell from Zhao An's arms.

Because the two were standing too close, Lord Shi had no idea that something had fallen from Zhao An's body. Just then, Zhao An pushed him, and Lord Shi's right foot landed on the red cloth.

Almost simultaneously, Zhao An seemed to see something and let out a low cry. He desperately tried to pick up the red cloth on the ground, but his right hand frantically intertwined with Lord Shi's. The two exerted force at the same time, causing Lord Shi's foot, which was stepping on the red cloth, to instantly create a reaction force.

With a yank of his foot, the red cloth was pulled open, and the paper wrapped inside immediately made a soft tearing sound.

"The Emperor's calligraphy! The Emperor's calligraphy! You've destroyed the Emperor's calligraphy!"

Witnessing all this, Zhao An was devastated. He knelt down with a thud, picked up the "Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity" calligraphy that had been torn in two, and stared intently at Shi Bingren, who was still in a daze: "Marquis Jinghai, this calligraphy was bestowed upon me by the Emperor. It represents the fortune of the Qing Dynasty, the prosperity of the officials, and the longevity of the Emperor! Now you have destroyed this fortune, prosperity, and longevity with a single kick. Your Excellency, do you truly hate me to the bone, to the point that you even want to destroy the Emperor's calligraphy?"

"His Majesty's calligraphy?!"

As soon as Lord Shi regained consciousness, all the color drained from his face, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!
"Imperial Brush"

At the entrance of the hall, Commander Fan's voice trembled violently.

The official Wuya's expression also changed drastically, realizing that Marquis Jinghai was in deep trouble.

"Your Majesty, this servant deserves death!"

As if picking up gold, Zhao An carefully held the "Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity" calligraphy, torn in half, above his head and, facing the direction of the palace, cried out in a sobbing voice, "This servant failed in his duty to protect the emperor, causing the emperor's grace to be tarnished. This servant deserves to die ten thousand times to atone for his sins!"

One moment she was crying and shouting, the next she was kowtowing repeatedly towards the palace, her eyes red and tears streaming down her face.

What about Lord Shi's side?

My vision keeps going black, I feel very dizzy, and my body feels so weak that I feel like I could collapse to the ground at any moment.

Regardless of the truth, the fact remains that the emperor's calligraphy was torn up at his feet.

What are the consequences of damaging the emperor's calligraphy?
OK.

In despair, he looked at a captain who had come over after hearing the commotion and said, "Quickly, please ask the Grand Secretary to come here!"

Why was He Zhongtang invited here? There's no other reason than that He Zhongtang was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Bordered Yellow Banner Manchuria.

This great calamity could not be saved by anyone but He Zhongtang, the Marquis of Jinghai.

(End of this chapter)