Wu Chengsi leaned back in his chair and asked again: "How is Zhang Jianzhi doing over there?"
Di Renjie solemnly said: "After my investigation, he was not involved in the Taishan incident."
Wu Chengsi pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "I understand, please step aside first, Feng Wu, and escort Di Shaoqing out of the house."
As soon as Di Renjie and Feng Wu left, Princess Taiping no longer maintained her princess image and asked hurriedly: "Second cousin, why did you ask Di Renjie to investigate the weapons supervisor?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "Is there anything wrong?"
"Of course it's inappropriate. If there is really a problem with the weapons inspection, wouldn't it be enough to alert the enemy? How can we investigate?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Taiping, let me ask you, are you sure that the theft of the treasury is related to the Battle of Liaodong?"
Princess Taiping hesitated for a moment and said: "I think there is a 70-80% chance."
Wu Chengsi shook his head: "Only seven or eight points may not be enough. If we make a wrong judgment, we will not only miss the point, but also waste a lot of time. Currently, the "Western Attack Camp" is being formed, and we don't have so much time to waste.
"
Princess Taiping blinked and said, "But we can only check them one by one."
Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "Have you ever heard of throwing stones to explore the road?"
"Ah, I understand. You deliberately asked Di Renjie to investigate the weapons supervisor and judge whether they are related to this matter through their reactions, right?"
Wu Chengsi nodded: "If we are the detectives chasing the thieves, the situation now is that we have reached a fork in the road, and there are several forks in front of us. We must calm down before determining the direction of the thieves' escape."
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "I will listen to you anyway, as long as you can calm down!"
After a pause, she raised the Woyang jade plaque in her hand and said, "Second cousin, can you give me this jade plaque?"
Wu Chengsi asked curiously: "There are so many jade items in your house, why did you fall in love with this jade tablet?"
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "The design of this jade medal is very interesting. If you touch it, you can see that the two horns can rotate."
Wu Chengsi was surprised, quickly took the sheep jade, turned it around on the horns, and found that it was indeed moving.
He immediately placed the sheep jade on the table, squatted down, and looked at the sheep jade at eye level, carefully observing the lying sheep.
Princess Taiping noticed something strange in Wu Chengsi's expression, squatted behind him, looked at Wo Yang nervously, and said, "Second cousin, is there anything wrong with this jade token?"
Wu Chengsi did not answer.
He gently turned the horns while observing the changes in the jade tablet.
After studying for a while, he discovered that by turning the sheep's right horn clockwise, the lying sheep's mouth slowly opened wide, revealing a tiny hole.
He turned the hole downwards and poured it down hard, but nothing came out.
Princess Taiping had an idea and said, "Second cousin, could it be related to Zuo Yangjiao?"
Wu Chengsi nodded, turned the left horn clockwise to the end, and then fell down, but nothing came out.
He didn't give up, and turned the left horn back a little more, and then poured it down, but nothing came out.
Turn, fall again, turn, fall again...
Finally, when Wu Chengsi turned around and fell to the ground, something like a toothpick slipped out of the hole.
Princess Taiping was overjoyed and quickly picked up the thing and shouted: "It's a note!"
It was an extremely thin piece of paper. When rolled up, it was as thin as a toothpick. When unfolded, it was only about the size of a fingernail. There were ten small words written on it.
December 11th, Wei Mansion, East Flower Hall.
Princess Taiping was overjoyed: "Second cousin, this must be the place where they arranged to meet. They must be from the Wei family!"
Wu Chengsi was thoughtful and said, "Do you know which mansion the Wei Mansion mentioned in the letter is?"
Princess Taiping rolled her eyes and said, "It must be the residence of Wei Xuanzhen, Duke of Xu Kingdom."
Wu Chengsi's heart moved.
Wei Xuanzhen is the father of the three sisters of the Wei family. Although there are many people with the surname Wei in Chang'an City, the most representative one is the Jingzhao Wei family to which Wei Xuanzhen belongs.
The Jingzhao Wei family is a noble of Guanlong. In terms of strength, it is on the same level as the Seven Surnames and Ten Families. However, it is not as old as them, so it is slightly less famous.
Princess Taiping continued: "Wei Xuanzhen is Duke Xu, and the Wei family is very powerful. Only they dare to be so bold and attack your people!"
Wu Chengsi said: "This alone does not prove that Wei Man is the person behind the scenes."
"Why?"
Wu Chengsi said leisurely:
"If these people are really from the Wei Mansion, there is no need to make an appointment to meet in the Wei Mansion. Even if they make an appointment, there is no need to specify the address. Otherwise, if they fall into the hands of others, wouldn't they reveal their identities?"
Princess Taiping pursed her lips and said: "That's true, but since they left this address, we can send people directly to the Donghua Hall of Wei Mansion to stay there, and we will definitely gain something!"
Wu Chengsi waved his hand and said: "Don't be busy yet, I still have a few doubts that I haven't figured out yet."
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "You tell me and I will help you analyze it."
Wu Chengsi pondered and said: "Wei Mansion is a mansion of a wealthy family, so it must be heavily guarded. Why did they choose to meet in Wei Mansion?"
Princess Taiping bit the tip of her thumb in her mouth, which was a unique movement when she was thinking hard.
Suddenly, she exclaimed, "I know!"
Wu Chengsi asked quickly: "What?"
Princess Taiping looked smug and said, "Second cousin, do you know what day tomorrow is?"
Wu Chengsi shook his head.
"Tomorrow is Wei Xuanzhen's fiftieth birthday! They made an appointment to meet at Duke Xu's mansion. It must be related to this birthday?"
Princess Taiping nodded after speaking, as if she was praising her cleverness.
Wu Chengsi touched his forehead.
When Princess Taiping said this, he immediately remembered that Li Zhiying seemed to have mentioned to him that Duke Xu's mansion had indeed sent a birthday invitation.
It's just that Wu Chengsi has never been interested in such things, so he didn't take it to heart.
"Second cousin, how are you? Does your analysis make sense?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and praised: "It makes sense. I suddenly feel that letting you be my assistant is really the right decision!"
Princess Taiping smiled sweetly and said sweetly: "Of course, my father, the Queen, and my mother have always praised me for being smart since I was a child. Do you know how powerful I am now?"
She couldn't wait to continue: "If you still don't understand anything, just tell me."
Wu Chengsi said: "Everything else is a small problem and does not matter. Tomorrow night, I will dress up as your bodyguard and we will go to Wei Xuanzhen's birthday together."
Princess Taiping blinked and said: "Second cousin, can't we just send someone there directly? Why do we have to go there in person?"
In her opinion, the purpose of arresting the accomplice was just to find out the people behind it, execute them, and let others know the consequences of provoking Wu Chengsi.
Wu Chengsi said: "Taiping, do you really think that the person who killed Zhang Gou was an ordinary organization?"
"The people they dare to kill you in Chang'an City certainly have a complicated background, but no matter how big their background is, they can't be bigger than us." Princess Taiping said with her chin high.
Wu Chengsi said in a deep voice: "I suspect that this organization may have something to do with the state treasury."
Princess Taiping was startled and said: "It can't be such a coincidence, right?"
Wu Chengsi said: "From Miss Wenqing's words, I discovered that that organization has several characteristics."
"What characteristics?"
"First point, it can be seen from their conversation that Cai Yang was also a member of this organization before."
Princess Taiping said: "That's nothing. Cai Yang is just an ordinary businessman."
Wu Chengsi said slowly: "No, Cai Yang is not ordinary, he is an imperial businessman."
Princess Taiping disapproved and said: "There are many imperial merchants in Chang'an City. Although they provide daily necessities to the royal family, they are just merchants."
From her words, we can see her contempt for businessmen.
Wu Chengsi frowned and said: "Don't underestimate businessmen. Although their status is low, they are often very rich. The power of money cannot be easily ignored."
Princess Taiping covered her mouth and said with a smile: "Second cousin, how much money can a mere businessman have?"
Wu Chengsi was silent for a while and said:
"If there is only one Cai Yang, the wealth he possesses is nothing, but have you ever thought that there is only one businessman like Cai Yang among their members?"
Princess Taiping thought for a while and said: "That's true, they probably have many members like Cai Yang."
"If there are more than ten businessmen like Cai Yang, their combined wealth will never be less than yours."
Princess Taiping pouted and said, "It's no use just having money."
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Didn't you just say that if they dare to attack me, they must have a good background?"
Princess Taiping retorted: "Even if they are rich and powerful, they can't be said to have anything to do with the treasury, right?"
"Of course these alone are not enough, but if two more things are taken into consideration, their suspicions will be very high."
"What two things?"
"According to the information I received, Cai Yang bribed the kings of Yue and Han to support the Liaodong war. This must be the intention of the organization behind Cai Yang."
Princess Taiping's eyes were shining and she said: "I understand. You suspect that they deliberately promoted the Liaodong War and then took the opportunity to embezzle the military pay allocated by the imperial court to the army."
Wu Chengsi nodded.
"What's one more thing?"
Wu Chengsi said: "Do you still remember why those two people wanted to kill the people from the Shijin Satin Cloth Shop?"
Princess Taiping was startled and said: "Isn't it to find Cai Yang?"
Wu Chengsi then asked: "Why did they want to find Cai Yang?"
"Isn't it because Cai Yang was targeted by your bad guys?"
"Why are they so nervous when Cai Yang is targeted?"
Princess Taiping's eyes suddenly widened and she said, "You mean..."
Wu Chengsi snorted coldly:
"They don't do bad things and are not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. They react so violently after being targeted by bad people, which shows that there must be ghosts in their hearts!"
"Yes, they are called guilty of thieves. Second cousin, we must bring more people tomorrow. As long as we can catch one of them, we can find them all!"
Wu Chengsi glanced at Princess Taiping and said angrily: "Are you really planning to catch the murderer's accomplice?"
"Of course!"
Wu Chengsi sighed and said: "Taiping, they have killed the murderer. Don't they know that the Woyang Jade Tablet has fallen into our hands?"
Princess Taiping was stunned, clapped her hands and said, "Yes, they will definitely not meet at Donghua Hall again."
Seeing Wu Chengsi looking at her with a strange look, Princess Taiping's cheeks turned red.
"I just haven't turned around yet. I'll go back first and come back to you tomorrow."
After saying that, he seemed to be running away and left the study.
A quarter of an hour later, Wu Chengsi also came out of the study and walked all the way to the back house. Feng Wu, who was waiting outside the study, immediately followed him.
After passing through several courtyards, Wu Chengsi arrived at the medical building.
Go up to the second floor, push the door and enter the house, only to see Xu Wenqing sleeping on a bed, Reed lying on the window, both the master and the servant were sleeping deeply.
Wu Chengsi looked at Xu Wenqing's sleeping face for a while, and sighed slightly. She was really frightened this time, and she frowned tightly in her sleep.
After a long while, Wu Chengsi left the hospital building quietly.
When they came to the side hall, they saw that dinner had been prepared, but Li Zhiying was not there.
Wu Chengsi searched around the back house. When he passed a rockery, he suddenly turned his head and asked Feng Wu, "Do you know where the princess is?"
Feng Wu shook her head.
Wu Chengsi had no choice but to call Qiu Chan over and asked, "Where is Zhang Gou and how is his injury?"
Qiu Chan replied: "Back to Your Highness, Her Royal Highness the Princess has already performed acupuncture on Young Master Zhang. His life has been saved. His Royal Highness the Princess has arranged for him to recuperate in Xikuo Hospital."
Wu Chengsi nodded and said, "Where is the princess?"
Qiu Chan said: "Two-quarters of an hour ago, someone from the Xue Mansion came and said that something happened to County Master Xue. Her Highness the Princess could not be more worried, so she left the mansion."
Wu Chengsi frowned and said, "What happened to Yujin?"
"From what people from the Xue Mansion said, it seems that County Master Xue had a quarrel with the eldest son of the Xue family."
Wu Chengsi sighed, presumably it was because of the second lady of the Wei family. He couldn't get involved in this kind of thing, so he could only wait in the mansion.
Not long after waiting in the mansion, Hong Ming suddenly came back and said that Xue Yujin was in a very low mood and that Li Zhiying planned to stay in Xue's mansion that night so that Wu Chengsi would not have to wait for her.
Wu Chengsi had no choice but to eat by himself, then wash up and go to bed early.
The next morning, Nie Ziyun and Zhugenan came over to report. They found no useful clues, and they couldn't even find out the identity of the deceased.
Wu Chengsi asked the two men to investigate Cai Yang's whereabouts, and then went to the Xidian camp.
The entire camp was set up on the edge of the Feng River. In order to transport supplies, a dock was specially built on the edge of the Feng River.
There are currently only 6,000 Zuowu guards stationed in the camp, led by Russell.
In the future, Wu Chengsi planned to go to each guard station, select the most elite soldiers from each guard, and expand them to the Xidu Camp.
At the same time, we took advantage of the opportunity of inspections to have more contact with officers and soldiers from various armies.
As long as all the soldiers of the Twelve Guards are familiar with him, his influence will be established unconsciously.
After staying in the military camp for a day, Wu Chengsi hurriedly left the military camp and returned to Chang'an before the Youshi hour arrived.
Back at the mansion, Li Zhiying has returned and is taking a bath in the bathroom. Besides practicing medicine, her biggest hobby is bathing.
Wu Chengsi took off his armor and entered the bathroom with brisk steps. He found Li Zhiying getting dressed and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
"Husband, you are back." After taking a bath, Li Zhiying's cheeks were red and charming.
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "I sweated all over when I went to the military camp today, and I also want to take a shower."
"Then I'll go get you some bath water."
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Why waste so much." He reached out and touched the water that Li Zhiying had just bathed in, and said with a smile: "I'll just use the water you used for me."
After being intimate with him for a month, Li Zhiying was no longer as shy as before, and smiled and said: "I will serve you here."
With a pop, Wu Chengsi jumped naked into the barrel.
While feeling the gentle massage on his back, he asked: "Zhiying, is everything okay over there at Yujin?"
Li Zhiying sighed and said: "Xue Dalang is simply obsessed. Yu Jin almost started fighting with him yesterday."
Wu Chengsi asked hurriedly: "What's wrong? What happened again?"
Li Zhiying gently kneaded Wu Chengsi's temples with two fingers and said, "Husband, have you ever heard of "Drunken Dream Tower"?"
Wu Chengsi shook his head and said, "Is it a newly opened restaurant?"
"It's not a restaurant, it's a ship. It's paved with gold and has jade as the case. It's probably the most luxurious ship in Chang'an City."
Wu Chengsi frowned and asked, "What is this ship for?"
Li Zhiying said softly: "It is a gathering place for noble children. Those with titles below the third rank are not allowed to enter, and the family is not rich enough, so it is difficult to enter."
Wu Chengsi raised his eyebrows and said, "The cost must be very high."
"That's not true, everything inside is free, but there is a rule in this "Drunken Dream Tower", everyone who goes in must bring a tree."
"Tree?" Wu Chengsi was stunned.
"It's not an ordinary tree. You must bring a tree called "Purple Qiongzhi Tree". This tree comes from the Western Regions and emits a delicate fragrance."
Wu Chengsi touched his nose and said, "What are they doing with this thing?"
"Recently, it is popular among the aristocratic children of Chang'an to pair wine with the scent of the Purple Qiong Zhi tree. They will hang cups of wine on the branches. After hanging them for an hour, it is said that the wine will taste better."
Wu Chengsi said: "I understand, they brought the tree in just to drink wine." There was a look of disgust on his face.
Li Zhiying said: "The trees they bring in are usually covered with wine. Those noble children will taste each other's wine. They call it meeting friends with wine."
Wu Chengsi lost interest in this topic and said, "Is the quarrel between Yu Jin and her brother related to Zuimenglou?"
Li Zhiying moved her hand downwards, rubbing Wu Chengsi's back and said:
"The second young lady of the Wei family is a frequent visitor to Zuimenglou. The day before yesterday, my cousin Taiping sent someone to tell Yujin that the elder of the Xue family often went to Zuimenglou recently. When Yujin learned about it..."
"Wait a minute, you said Taiping told Yujin?"
"Yes."
Wu Chengsi's face was serious and he said: "How could she know? Could it be that she often goes to that kind of place?"
Li Zhiying said hurriedly: "Cousin Taiping is so busy, she probably won't go to that kind of place."
"Then how did she know where Xue Dalang went?"
"Perhaps her aunt told her that the ship is owned by Her Royal Highness Princess Chengyang."
Wu Chengsi remained silent.
He had heard of this Princess Chengyang for a long time, but unfortunately she had never met her in person. However, judging from the fact that she had such a boat, she must be a person who indulges in enjoyment.
Li Zhiying looked at Wu Chengsi's face and then said:
"After Yu Jin found out, he went to follow his brother yesterday and found that he and the second lady of the Wei family had indeed gone to the "Drunken Dream House"."
"Furthermore, Yu Jin also discovered that a lot of furniture in the mansion had disappeared recently. She suspected that Xue Dalang had sold off the furniture."
Wu Chengsi was surprised and said:
"Xue Rengui has just been promoted to Duke Ping, and he has received so many rewards from His Majesty. His family should be very wealthy. How could he sell his things?"
"I heard from Yu Jin that every time her father received a reward, he would give it all to his soldiers, so their family is not particularly wealthy."
"It's not like this, right? It's just a tree. Is it that expensive?"
Li Zhiying changed her posture, sat on the edge of the barrel, and said softly:
"Since "Purple Qiong Zhi Tree" has become popular with wine, the price of Purple Qiong Zhi Tree has been rising steadily. In order to save face at parties, everyone will buy the most expensive wine. This adds up to a lot of expenses.
Woolen cloth."
After a pause, she continued:
"And usually when men and women go to Zuixian Tower together, the man will prepare two trees alone to prevent the woman from spending money, otherwise she will be laughed at."
Wu Chengsi was a little speechless and said: "In other words, Xue Dalang spends the money alone every time?"
"That's why Yu Jin became so angry that he had a big quarrel with him. Xue Dalang was so angry when Yu Jin scolded him that he even slapped Yu Jin." Li Zhiying said with a bit more anger.
Wu Chengsi sighed. Originally, he was quite optimistic about Xue Ne and wanted to transfer him to the Xitu Camp. Now it seems that he needs to reconsider.