Li Jingye thought for a while and asked puzzledly: "Why didn't they keep Miss Bilian by their side? Why did they have to kill her? If not, we wouldn't have been able to find the flaw!"
King Pei sneered and said proudly: "After what happened to Mosi, how could Wu Chengsi still dare to keep my people by his side?"
Li Jingye nodded and said: "By the way, when I went to arrest these people, I also encountered Jianghu people sent by Wu Chengsi. They seemed to be chasing these people!"
King Pei was slightly startled and quickly asked about the details.
Li Jingye spoke one by one. After a long while, King Pei sighed: "Wu Chengsi is indeed impeccable in his work. Jingye, you have made a great contribution this time."
Li Jingye said: "Your Highness, I still don't understand why Wu Chengsi wanted to kill his own people."
Zheng Yuanning snorted: "Isn't this simple? He must have known that His Highness King Pei was pursuing the matter, and was worried that the identities of those in the Salt Gang would be exposed, so he killed them to silence them."
King Pei said coldly: "Even if I don't pursue this matter, Wu Chengsi will not let these people go."
"Why?" Li Jingye said in confusion.
King Pei said coldly: "Wu Chengsi ordered his men to kill people in Chang'an. This is his handle. Naturally, he cannot allow these people to live!"
Li Jingye clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "What a cruel method, to treat those who work hard for him like this!"
King Pei took a long breath and said: "This is the true face of the Wu clan. Wu Mei is like this, and Wu Chengsi is like this. Don't look at him usually pretending to be a good person. Those are all disguises. This is
His true nature!”
Li Jingye gritted his teeth and remained silent.
Zheng Yuanning suddenly said: "Your Highness, these people from the Salt Gang have probably been secretly doing some dirty work for Wu Chengsi behind his back."
King Pei immediately understood the meaning of his words, his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face.
Li Jingye didn't understand yet, so he looked at Zheng Yuanning.
Zheng Yuanning continued: "The man captured by General Li is a treasure. If we can pry open his mouth, we might be able to get some clues about Wu Chengsi!"
King Pei smiled and said: "As expected of Mr. Zheng. Yes, this man is very valuable. He is dedicated and dedicated, so I will hand him over to you."
Li Jingye thought for a while and tentatively said: "Your Highness, the person I caught was rude and very courageous. He seems to be a little guy."
Zheng Yuanning laughed and said: "Jingye, you can catch a big fish this time!"
Li Jingye was surprised and said: "Why did Mr. Zheng say this?"
Zheng Yuanning narrowed his eyes into a straight line and said:
"I have also trained many spies. Generally speaking, the more skilled the spies, the more ordinary they look and the more they will disguise themselves as nobodies, so that it is easier to find out information."
"You mean that person is pretending to be like that?" Li Jingye said in surprise.
His deputy seemed to be thinking the same thing. Could it be that he really lacked eyesight?
"That goes without saying, how could Wu Chengsi use a local ruffian as his subordinate, and even send him to carry out such an important task?" Zheng Yuanning snorted coldly.
Li Jingye remained silent.
Zheng Yuanning said: "Your Highness, why not hand this person over to me? I know some special torture methods and I will be able to pry open that person's mouth."
King Pei saw that Li Jingye did not seem to know much about this, so he nodded and said: "Okay, I'll bother Mr. Zheng then, Jingye, do you have any objections?"
"My subordinates dare not."
At this moment, the attendant outside the door came in and announced that Chen Zi'ang wanted to see him.
After a while, Chen Ziang entered the study, his face pale.
"Zi'ang, what's wrong?" King Pei frowned.
"Your Highness, a Taoist priest suddenly appeared in the east city of Chang'an City. The Taoist priest was selling a kind of medicine."
"What medicine?" King Pei had a bad feeling!
Chen Ziang took a deep breath and said: "Baitaixiang!"
"How is this possible!" Li Jingye was shocked, and the faces of King Pei and Zheng Yuanning instantly turned pale.
This Baitaixiang is the most important part of their plan. Their original plan was to arrange for a Hu merchant to sell Baitaixiang in the West Market.
Unexpectedly, before they could take action, a strange Taoist priest suddenly appeared selling Baitaixiang in the East Market. The three of them immediately suspected that the plan had been leaked.
Chen Ziang smiled bitterly and said: "The Taoist priest sets up a stall in the East Market every day at midnight, selling Baitai incense. He closes the stall and goes home at midnight. He currently lives in Xuanduguan."
Li Jingye was moved in his heart and said: "Your Highness, could he be from Wu Chengsi's sect?"
King Pei shook his head and said: "It's impossible. Let's not mention that he doesn't know the existence of Baitaixiang at all. Even if he knew it, he wouldn't be able to send someone to do such a thing."
Chen Ziang frowned and said, "Your Highness, I think Wu Chengsi is extremely suspicious."
"Why?"
"Just imagine, if things develop according to our original plan, the prince will definitely be punished. If someone exposes our plan, you will also be implicated. In the end, the Wu family will benefit!"
King Pei shook his head and said: "Wu Chengsi sent people from the Salt Gang to kill the maidservant just to make me relax my vigilance and continue the plan. Under such circumstances, how could he send Taoist priests to sell Baitaixiang in the city?"
Li Jingye nodded and said: "Yes, if we learn that someone is selling Baitaixiang, we will definitely stop the plan. This is inconsistent with Wu Chengsi's previous behavior."
Chen Ziang was surprised and asked: "Did Wu Chengsi send someone to kill Miss Bilian?"
Li Jingye nodded and told the story about Wu Chengsi sending people from the Salt Gang to kill Chen Bilian.
Chen Ziang frowned and said, "So it certainly can't be Wu Chengsi. Then who sent this Taoist priest?"
Li Jingye suddenly said: "Your Highness, is that Taoist priest a disciple of Qingfeng Li, deliberately going against us in order to avenge Qingfeng Li?"
"No, Li Qingfeng once swore not to tell anyone the contents of the Lingbao Sutra. A cultivator like him would not break his oath easily." King Pei said coldly.
Li Jingye said in astonishment: "Then besides Li Qingfeng, who else knows about Baitaixiang?"
Zheng Yuanning said coldly: "It may be that there is a problem with the King of Yue. Your Highness, we should send someone out of the capital immediately to ask the King of Yue about this matter. Before that, our plan should be temporarily suspended."
Li Jingye asked: "Should we send someone to arrest the Taoist priest and torture him?"
King Pei looked sharply and said: "No! That Taoist priest is probably a bait set by someone, deliberately luring us into the bait. We must not act rashly!"
Li Jingye nodded hurriedly and said: "Yes."
At this moment, the palace steward Wan Jun entered the study, cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, the Yue Palace has sent someone over."
King Pei hurriedly asked: "Is it about Baitaixiang?"
Wan Jun shook his head and said: "There are some twists and turns in the plan in Jiangnan. The Luo family may have to go to Beijing to complain. His Highness the King of Yue hopes that we can help deal with it."
King Pei was greatly disappointed and waved his hands and said, "You can just handle such a small matter yourself. Why bother repaying me?"
Wan Jun bowed his hands and retreated.
A few days later, one afternoon, Wang Bo strode into the Hanlin Academy.
Du Shenyan, who was handling government affairs, saw the smile on his face and said curiously: "Brother Wang, you are back."
Wang Bo smiled and said: "Yes, I just returned with Zhang Yushi."
"How is the situation?" Du Shenyan asked, and Yao Chong also looked up.
"It has been found out clearly that Li Zhaoqi, the governor of Shangzhou, took bribes. On the surface, the public opinion is good, but in fact it is extremely bad. The memorial to impeach him jointly signed by me and me has been handed over to Her Royal Highness the Queen."
A few days ago, Wang Bo received a secret letter from Wu Chengsi, asking him to join the censor from Yushitai to go to Shangzhou to investigate Li Zhaoqi.
After Wang Bo received the letter, he immediately found the censor Wu Yizong. Under the arrangement of Wu Yizong, he and a censor went to Shangzhou incognito.
Initially, the investigation by the two men was extremely unsatisfactory. The people who asked them all said that Li Zhaoqi was a good and honest official.
If it weren't for Wu Chengsi's strange order, Wang Bo would have thought that Li Zhaoqi was a good official.
Later, Wang Bo thought of a way, pretending to fight with someone, and was imprisoned in Shangzhou Prison. In the prison, Wang Bo finally discovered Li Zhaoqi's true face.
There were four people in prison with Wang Bo, three of whom had been wronged.
When Wang Bo entered the prison, he secretly brought some paper and asked the three of them to bite off their fingers and write down their grievances.
Two days later, after Zhang Yushi spent money to get him out, the two immediately returned to Chang'an to impeach Li Zhaoqi.
Yao Chong sneered and said, "Li Zhaoqi has no fame and fortune. He only relied on his family's influence to become an official. With the help of his family's power, he actually became the governor of a state. This is the fault of the imperial court."
Du Shenyan glanced at Yao Chong and said, "Li Zhaoqi is a member of the Li family of Zhao County. Many officials should be aware of his behavior. They just don't want to offend the Li family of Zhao County, so they don't meddle in others' affairs."
Yao Chong said coldly: "What do you mean by this? Do you think the Head Court should not be in charge of it?"
Du Shenyan said hurriedly: "I didn't say that, I was just discussing the matter."
Wang Bo remained silent.
He was also born into a noble family. Although he did not like the behavior of joining the officialdom, seeing the decline of the noble family gradually made him feel a little complicated.