Chapter 521: Fanwai: Candlestick

Min Sheng took the candlestick on the table and quenched the silver needles on the fire, twisting the tails of the needles slightly and inserting the silver needles through the gap in the wooden box.
I didn't dare to push too my hand, I just twitched it, and soon I heard a click, and the box opened.
Si Yan hurriedly looked at the box, and saw the neat stack of sheets of paper inside. After taking it out, the locations and numbers corresponding to various times are written clearly.
The two knew, this was the smuggling of documents.
After seeing it, she found that according to the time recorded in the documents, there had been two small records of smugglers' salt before that. She estimated that the farmer Ling Yu saw at the city gate yesterday was One of the subordinates responsible for the escort.
And the time record of the next shipment shown in the distance document is only one day. I have mastered the specific connection time, and in order to avoid grass and snakes, Si Yan and Min Sheng put the box back to the wooden house's landscape painting intact. Ready to stand by tomorrow.
In the afternoon of the next day, the two came to the wooden house early, looked around and no one flashed into the house. Hiding behind the humble curtain in the corner waiting for darkness.
After waiting for about three hours, there was still no one to come. Si Yan was so sleepy that he kept yawning.
At this moment the wooden door gave a slight "squeak", both of them looked nervous at the same time, staring at the door with breathless breath. I saw four or five men in black rushing through the door, and came to the other side of the Buddha standing side by side in an orderly manner.
At this time, the outermost man in black was only one punch away from Si Ye's hiding place. Si Ye held his breath, and the atmosphere did not dare to make a sound, for fear that his hiding place would be found.
The head of the man in black gently turned the finger of the Buddha statue, and the dull mechanical turning sound was particularly loud in the extremely quiet room. After a moment, four or five men in black entered the mouth from under the eyelids of the siblings. The secret passage disappeared in the thick ink color.
Si Yan and Min Sheng did not act lightly, and waited for a tea, until after the man in black returned to the house again and walked out, he came out from behind the curtain.
She breathed a sigh of relief. The dresses of the black men were the same as when the two were attacked that day, and Si Ye had already roughly understood the reasons for the killings the other day.
That day was the time when the documents were shipped. He and Wen Qihua happened to hit the black man who came to pick up the goods. In order to prevent the secrets from being leaked, they wanted to kill them.
Having said that, the secrecy of this seam is indeed enough to hide people's eyes, and they haven't seen a strange distance just a foot away. So where is the secret passage just now?
Thinking of this, she stepped forward and looked carefully at the right palm of the Buddha statue, and it turned out to be tricky. The second finger of the Buddha statue had traces of movement at first, and it would not be found without careful observation.
She slowly turned the machine like a man in black. Brow a frown and it's done. With a dull sound, a floor next to the foot slowly cracked a floor seam to allow a person to pass sideways.
Min Sheng leaned down and looked down, vaguely seeing a spiraling stone ladder. The two looked at each other, and Si Yan was about to take the lead, and Min Sheng grabbed her.
In order to prevent accidents, a fire flame was thrown off the hole. The ignition light fell along the stone ladder to the lowest level, and at the end of the stone ladder was a locked door.
After waiting for a moment, the two entered the secret passage one after the other.
The air around was not as humid and dry as expected. The meeting did not come to the door.
Min Sheng found the silver needle out of his sleeve. Compared with a wooden box with a tight fit, this door lock was much easier. When the door opened, there was a huge warehouse with bright lights at the four corners, and various tools and discarded wood in the corners.
But the most eye-catching are the sacks packed in the middle of the warehouse. The pendulum is neat and neat, reflecting the faint oil lamp, and the tight sack mouth glows with white light.
Si Xu turned his head and exchanged a glance with Min Sheng. The two tacitly approached the sack pile, and untied each bag to check them one by one.
Sure enough, a whole room was full of official salt smuggled from coastal areas. This warehouse hidden under the Buddha statue is the strongest evidence of Jiangnan's governor selling and smuggling.
After discovering the secret, the two quickly returned to their residence to create a fake document based on the original document in the wooden box, and silently dropped the bag.
Let's go back to Wen Qihua's side. Even if Ling Yu and An Wei discovered the secret of Jiangnan's governor's transport of official salt, they could not be convicted without a real hammer. The investigation seemed to be at an impasse.
Now that the investigation deadline is approaching, if there is still no progress, it will be impossible to return to Beijing. Wen Qihua's previous oath with Emperor Wu will not be honored.
As he sat in the room, his fingers rubbed against the well-crafted tea cup, his eyes stayed on the rippling tea, his thoughts were getting farther and farther.
How can we get a solid evidence of smuggling without prejudice? This Jiangnan governor has a strong background and a strong family background. Since he took office, officials under his command have all taken the lead in the search, and the people ’s reputation has been miserable.
Even though Jiangnan residing in several powerful families, he did not openly oppose this governor.
Yes, family. Wen Qihua set the tea cup on the table, and then Mose opened it.
In the past few days, I have paid attention to the clues from the outside to investigate the smuggling case, and forgot about the biggest chip of the Wen family. The Wen family has been an official from generation to generation, and has been an official to the court when Wen Qihua's fathers began. The Manchu civil and military all treated each other with courtesy, avoiding three points.
The Wen family in the Jiangnan area can be regarded as the first of several great families. Although he was not involved in the official salt smuggling case, it was difficult for the governor of Jiangnan to win the Wen family for the sake of humanity.
Thinking of this, Wen Qihua's frown frowned slightly. "Ling Yu." The confidant who heard the sound stood in front of him respectfully, and whispered, "What do you have to say?"
Zai carefully explained his plan to Ling Yu. After listening, Ling Yu took a deep look at the master, and had to admire his careful thoughts and a little more admiration in his heart.
After Ling Yu was ordered to step down, the tea in Wen Qihua's hands was also cool. He splashed on the ground, picked up the teapot and refilled.
No matter what, this time, I can firmly grasp the handle of Jiangnan Governor. He looked at the night outside the window, his eyes filled with pride.
These officials, earning money of conscience, are about to end.
...
Wen's House. It is located in the bustling downtown area of ​​the Jiangnan area. It is a large mansion with seven entrances and seven exits. The courtyard is guarded by soldiers. The gated courtyard is solemn and solemn. It is an extraordinary existence for ordinary people.
There are hundreds of servants in Wen's house alone, and the daily harvest of fruits and vegetables is enough to feed several farmers.
In the Jiangnan area, the Wen family was an official in the Joseon Dynasty. Their status should not be underestimated, and their spheres of influence affected the entire country. Moreover, the Wen family's network was complicated, not to mention that the two prime ministers of the DPRK came from them. As a result, Mo said Jiangnan, the Wen family is still in the limelight.
There is an old saying that there is no rat generation. The Wen family is also full of talents. In addition to Wen Qihua and his father, there are also many people who are officials in the DPRK. Among them are also a few who hold important positions. Because of this, no one dared to offend Wen's family inside or outside the court.
The favorable chip that Wen Qihua remembered that night was Wenting, a distant cousin of the family who worked as a salt transport ambassador in Muchuan, a subordinate area of ​​Jiangnan.
The Jiangnan area is located inland. If the smugglers are to be able to buy salt, they need to buy salt transporters in the surrounding coastal areas and draw them into the gang to make them for their own use.
Smuggling is risky, but most of the officials involved are courageous and courageous, and are salivating about the attractive rewards at their fingertips.
Since the governor of Jiangnan has such a large amount of official salt in his possession, the salt transportation around him must have been attracted.
Wen Qihua now bet on his own guess. After reporting through the eyeliners around Wen's family, it was determined that the distant cousin who served as the ambassador of Yan Yun did not accept bribes, and had nothing to do with this smuggling case.
Then he instructed his confidant Ling Yu to secretly bring him a word, inviting him to a meeting in the house, and at the same time there were important things to discuss. A few days later, Ling Yu covered everyone's eyes and took them back to Wen Qihua's residence.
Not long after Wen Qihua joined Beijing, he had a better impression of this cousin when he was in Jiangnan. Because of his integrity and insincerity, he dared to tell the truth at a critical time.
I also offended many people because of my integrity. But Wen Qihua admired him so much.
After two greetings, they learned that the Jiangnan governor did send someone to him a few months ago, and tried to win over the crowd with a 30% bonus.
He didn't know that this man was upright and incorruptible, even if the other party was his own boss, he didn't sell this face at all, and he refused.
Although helpless, for the sake of blocking his own way of making money, Jiangnan's governor secretly made him a lot of stumblings and passed through many small shoes.
Things really developed in the direction of their own judgment. It's a good sign. While listening to Wen Ting's angry grievances, Wen Qihua also had some thoughts inside.
He personally took the teapot to add a cup of tea for Wen Ting's dry mouth, lowered his eyes, his eyes were deep and he couldn't see the deep inside thoughts. Pretending to ask,
auzw.com "What correspondence or physical evidence can you have when the governor of Jiangnan draws you?"
Wen Ting lowered his head for a moment, and seemed to be talking to himself, whispering, "I rejected the visitor sent by the governor at that time, but I never remembered whether he had left a letter or the like." He was sure to shake himself after speaking Shook his head.
Wen Qihua could not help but mention him, "Since there is no correspondence, then you should think about what good he has promised you, if you go back and use it as a token."
Yan Yun bowed his head and thought for a while. Suddenly, I realized that I patted my head. "Yes, I remember this. It seemed that I had left a jade before that day. I was asked to keep it safe. If I have other ideas in the future, I can go to the governor's mansion to find someone."
Wen Qihua heard his mouth raised, "Have you ever brought this piece of jade with you?"
Wen Ting took off his carry-on bag with his backhand, rummaged for a moment, his eyebrows were stretched, and a small and exquisite jade was added in his hand. That day, I put it in a body bag, and it came in handy when I didn't expect it.
Wen Qihua took Yu Pei to play with. Wonderful, so many days of inspections and observations came to fruition. With this physical evidence, coupled with the documents found by Si Ye and Min Sheng, it was enough to take off the officials who participated in the case.
Arranged Ling Yu to send Wen Ting away, and Wen Qihua asked Si Ye and Min Sheng to discuss the next plans.
Now that the evidence has been collected, I can return to Beijing and return to life in a few days. But there was a towing oil bottle beside him. When talking about the nine princesses, Si Yan had a headache.
In the short days after traveling south, I try to avoid meeting Nine Princesses as much as possible. However, things always go against her wishes. Princess Nine wants to stay beside Wen Qihua for various reasons, which annoys Wen Qihua. Become colder to her.
Princess Nine seemed to blame everything on the head of the adult in front of her, and frowned at her. Trouble her whenever she gets a chance.
Si Yan was afraid that she would find out her true identity, and never argue with Princess Nine, she just wanted to rest. I can't wait to detour when they meet in the house.
Seeing her timid appearance, Princess Nine was even more proud of her, and instead obstructed her even more.
Now when I return to Beijing, it can be considered to be able to get rid of this towing oil bottle temporarily. After informing Princess Nine, the group rushed to the capital overnight with the collected evidence.
Min Sheng also accompanied Si Si all the way, causing Wen Qihua's heart to be unhappy, but he did not show it.
The mood of returning to Beijing was different from when I came. I put aside my previous worries and anxieties. I thought of seeing Tengge immediately, and I thought of reopening the fortune-telling restaurant. I hummed along the way and sang songs. I just felt everywhere. It is scenery.
After returning to Beijing, the party did not delay, and immediately went to the palace to report the results of the trip to Wu Di.
Emperor Wu looked sullenly at the smuggling documents handed over by Si Ji, and the anger in his eyes gushed out. This group of lawless things was so mad at the feet of the emperor, but he never put his emperor in his eyes!
Emperor Wu held the tissue paper in his hand and tightened his fingers with whitening. With a big hand, he swept a pint of blood swallows presented by Liu Huifei to the ground, and the crisp crackling sound accompanied by Emperor Wu's outcry: "It is ridiculous!" Shi Ying, a spirit standing before the case. Although it wasn't her fault, there was an aura that was so strong that she could not breathe, making her head down and down.
And the palace prince who originally held the blood Yanzhan was frightened by the sudden anger, and stood on the ground. "The emperor ... the emperor is angry."
Emperor Wu's eyes fell on the fragmented carved glaze on the ground and did not say anything. Just as Si Ji couldn't help but want to observe his expression secretly, a high-sounding voice of Father-in-Law came from his ear, "Come, drag it down."
...
"The emperor spares his life, the emperor spares his life!" Shouted in astonishment, and looked at the maidservant who had scared a muddy mud, was dragged out of the hall by two guards, Si Ye and Min Sheng had already been on their foreheads. There was a layer of cold sweat.
A companion is like a companion. This is true.
Emperor Wu ignored the screaming voice and ordered Li Gonggong to summon Shang Shu to enter the palace, and ordered him to immediately the guard to Jiangnan and check the governor's warehouse where Guanyan was stored.
In addition, the jade pendant in Wen Qihua's hands was used as physical evidence to confirm the crime of smuggling and selling official salt by other officials of the Jiangnan Governor.
Under his own eyes, such a collusion between government officials and personal gains appeared, and Wudi's killing intention gradually became stronger. The Ministry of Justice was ordered to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Zhang Shangshu, the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, acted fiercely and skillfully. Although his character was uncertain, he was a powerful assistant to the Emperor Wu, and he also had to exercise power. Since he took office, he has settled many major cases and was greatly valued by Emperor Wu.
After receiving Emperor Wu's right to pay, he scrutinized local officials in a drastic manner. Starting from the subordinates of Jiangnan Governor, he found a lot of documents for smuggling official salt. Behind the scenes of smuggling cases across the Jiangnan region have gradually surfaced.
After the Jiangnan governor was arrested and imprisoned, he wanted to set out the whereabouts of other documents from his mouth. Who knows that this governor is also a hard bone, and there are many dead pigs who are not afraid of boiling water.
Zhang Shangshu, a veteran of officialdom for many years, naturally knows how to deal with him.
"Master, Ling Lang should also read private education." Zhang Shangshu's tone seemed full of concern. Only the opposite Jiangnan governor listened, as if stung by a bee, and immediately bounced from the corner of thatched pile, and pulled Zhang Shangshu's collar across the door, staring at his eyes fiercely. In a word,
"If you dare touch him in the slightest, I won't spare you."
Zhang Shangshu wasn't moved, but said with a light smile, "Sir, Mrs. Su and Linglang are resting in our house, and they are all looking forward to your return."
After hearing these words, Lord Su's defense, Governor Jiangnan, suddenly collapsed. Just let it go.
After a few days of digging through the vines and adding a confession like Jiangnan governor's bamboo tube pouring beans, Zhang Shangshu successfully detected the underground interest network, making a large number of officials who wanted to take a share of the smuggling case into the water.
After hearing about Zhang Shangshu's report, Emperor Wu's face was somber and hesitant. Although this case has been put on hold for a long time, no one took over. But never thought of involving such a complicated network of interests. When he was an emperor, was it a display?
At the court the next day, Li Gong read a decree in the presence of civil and military officials. Several officials, headed by the governor of Jiangnan, were fired in the hall, beheaded by the Soviet Union, and all the money found by the family members was charged into the state treasury.
A local vote related to the case was downgraded for one year. To effect.
At one point the matter was dealt with and it was almost time for lunch.
The Emperor Wu ordered to retreat, leaving Wen Qihua, Si Ye, and Min Sheng with them, which alleviated the expression of eloquence, Wen Ran said,
"Wang Xiang and Master Si worked hard for the smuggling of Jiangnan, and Master Min Gu gave all his help regardless of his own body. He was cracked down and comforted. For the sake of appreciation, I have ordered the royal dining room to prepare a banquet. The suffering of wind and dust. "
Several people heard the words, respectfully saluting "Thank the Emperor."
So a few people followed the palace maiden to the Temple of Lishui. This temple was built in front of Huanyun River behind the Royal Garden. The scenery is quiet and beautiful, and the surrounding trees and trees are swaying by the breeze, which makes the temple cool and fragrant.
This was originally the place where the emperor received foreign envoys. Arranging the banquet here at this moment was enough to see the emperor's reward.
The palace has long been arranged properly. A mahogany carved dragon bench is placed high on the chair, and the chair is covered with bright yellow Shujin cushions. In front of a long rosewood case, both ends are carved into a cloud pattern rising high. This is undoubtedly the position of Emperor Wu.
There are two rows of dark brown wooden perforated flowers on each side of this dragon chair, and a stool of the same color is set on each side, with a cushion of azure embroidered unicorn.
The three of them went down to their case under the guidance of the palace maid, and waited for the emperor to signal their seat before they sat down. The Si Ye sat next to Wen Qihua, and Min Sheng sat down opposite Si Ye.
For a moment, a row of palace ladies brought rosewood trays one after another and placed the dishes on the cases in front of the three of them. For a moment, the skirt moved lightly, and the wind swayed slightly, but it was advancing and retreating, without a slight cough.
Si Ye looked down one by one, the emperor's special banquet was really extraordinary, and just looking at this exquisite and elegant plate is definitely the best in the world.
Anchovies fins, bergamot gold rolls, shiitake mushroom paw, tempeh and so on are all filled in round fillet dishes with blue and white roots, and the fragrance is strong. Fresh vegetable dishes, sweet and sour lotus root, hibiscus amaranth, lotus root tofu and other vegetarian dishes will be filled with jade-colored eight-edged dishes and placed on the four corners of amaranth.
There are four hi dried fruits and four sweet candied fruit in a smaller circle of engraved silver plate, and fine points such as yolk bean curd, almond bergamot, sweet-scented osmanthus sugar cake, and canary bird, also serve as one bird per person. Mixing cow's milk and tears of peach blossom, etc., set aside in a white porcelain cup, the heat is wrapped with milk flavor and a touch of peach blossom aroma.
A few cases were quickly filled with all kinds of delicate dishes, and the bright color was mixed with the rich aroma, which made people's index fingers move. The emperor was about to drink wine, but saw a palace woman outside the palace came to obituary, "The emperor, the princess is here."
As soon as the words fell, the princess came in with a smile and groaned. As soon as the warm-colored gauze skirt slumped, she leaned over and saluted her hair, making a slight noise.
"Greeting to the father," said the princess, saluting, and looked over Wen Qihua and others. She smiled and was blessed, and said, "I heard that the father was entertaining several meritorious officials today. It ’s the daughter ’s heart to make wine for you to taste and help the emperor.

The emperor was very relieved, and laughed aloud, "Of all the children, the eldest princess knows the most about you. It is a coincidence that you are coming. You are going to kill someone to get wine. Come, come and sit for the princess. Come, you Let's accompany the emperor to eat with everyone. "
The princess ordered the maid who followed the palace to bring wine, and put a pot on each case. He walked to the emperor's case, picked up the jug, and poured a glass for the emperor himself. Then he came to the empty seat beside Min Sheng and took his seat.
"This wine name calls pear blossoms. I made them from the last pear blossoms in spring. The wine tastes mellow, the mouth is soft, and the aroma of pear blossoms is faint." The princess said, "Father Emperor, how about the taste. Master Wen Si My lord, and this ... "The princess looked at Min Sheng sideways and froze for a moment, wondering what to call it.