It was already dusk when Li Ye returned to Changlefang.
When Pei Sanniang saw her son coming back, she hurriedly waved, "Ye'er, come quickly. Mom has something to say to you!"
Li Ye handed the horse to Azhen and walked into the inner courtyard. He saw his mother discussing something with his aunt.
"What are you discussing?" Li Ye walked into the room and asked with a smile.
Pei Sanniang stretched out her hand and said, "Bring it here!"
Li Ye took out the envelope from his arms, handed it to his mother and said with a smile, "Have you been waiting for this?"
"Who said that? I don't care about it!"
She said she didn't care, but Pei Sanniang took it quickly.
She eagerly opened the envelope and took out the counter ticket inside.
Pei Sanniang's eyes lit up, and she saw that it was actually 2,500 guan. Of course she knew that 1,000 guan was the income from each game, but the reward was actually 1,500 guan. Gao Lishi was much more generous than King Si Ning.
She had also heard how Gao Lishi was rich. It was said that when he celebrated his birthday, officials would give him a hundred guan of longevity money if they rang the birthday bell. Hundreds of officials rushed to ring the bell, and some officials kept ringing the bell to please him.
Dozens of times.
And when his wife passed away, gifts from all over the Tang Dynasty piled up on the street in front of his door.
Two thousand five hundred guan is money that many commoners will never earn in a lifetime, but for a powerful man like Gao Lishi, it is a drop in the bucket.
"Mom, I'm hungry!"
"Okay! Auntie will bring you some food."
Just as Mrs. Mu was about to get up, Pei Sanniang held her back and said, "He will not die of hunger. We will go later!"
Pei Sanniang said to her son again: "Hurry up and sit down, mother has something important to say!"
Li Ye sat down, and Pei Sanniang said to Li Ye: "I sold the land in Yonghefang today for 150 guan. I could have sold it for 300 guan, but it was burned twice and could not be sold at a higher price.
Can be sold cheaply."
Aunt Mu sighed and said nothing.
Pei Sanniang took out a few counter tickets and said: "This is the money Ye'er has earned in the past few months, which is more than 10,000 guan. Except for the 3,000 guan lost by Yuwen's family, which made me feel uncomfortable, I feel at ease with the rest. I think it is
You can buy some land, Ye'er, what do you think?"
After all, the money was earned by her son, and Pei Sanniang wanted to seek his opinion.
Li Ye shook his head, "My uncle told me before that he said that the Tang Dynasty is full of crises, many conflicts have intensified, and war is likely to break out. All the major families are quietly making preparations. I think we should also take precautions and be prepared for war."
Aunt Mu said from the side: "I also heard that there is no land for ordinary people outside Chang'an City. It has all been annexed by the powerful. I heard that the entire Jingzhao Mansion is gone."
Pei Sanniang sighed, once the war broke out, the most unlucky people would be ordinary people like them.
"Aye, tell me what preparations we can make?"
Li Ye thought for a while and said: "If there is a war, everyone will definitely flee to a safe place. I think there are two safe places. One is south of the Yangtze River, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the other is Bashu, where it is difficult for the army to
To get in, it’s best to have real estate in these two places, even a small house.”
Pei Sanniang nodded. One was Bashu and the other was Jiangnan. If she had the opportunity, she could go to Chengdu to have a look. She asked again: "Are there any other preparations?"
"The other thing is to find a way to replace copper coins with gold and silver, especially gold. Once the world is in chaos, the prices of gold and silver will inevitably skyrocket."
This is a good idea, and it coincides with Pei Sanniang's idea. Today she is still thinking about converting all the copper coins into gold, packing them in boxes and burying them in her house.
Three days later, before dawn, Li Ye was awakened by a knock on the door.
"Master, get up quickly!" It was the voice of the rough servant Azhen.
Li Ye put on his clothes and opened the door, and it turned out to be Azhen outside.
At this time, Pei Sanniang also opened the door and asked, "Azhen, what's the matter?"
"Someone is looking for you outside, saying that they are from the Prime Minister's Mansion and have urgent matters."
"I gonna go see!"
"Ye'er, bring your sword!" Pei Sanniang reminded.
Li Ye quickly went back to the house, took the dagger and ran towards the door.
Standing at the door was Li Linfu's confidant guard Wang Kuan. He knew Li Ye, showed Li Linfu's gold medal, and said in a low voice: "The prime minister is waiting for the young master in Xinfeng County. Come with me quickly!"
"What happened?"
"I don't know either. It may have something to do with your father. You should go see the Prime Minister as soon as possible!"
Li Ye was shocked. Did something happen to his father?
At this time, Pei Sanniang had already brought the horse over, "Ye'er, go quickly!"
Li Ye got on his horse and followed Wang Kuan out of Chunming Gate. He galloped towards the east and galloped eastward. An hour later, they arrived at Xinfeng County.
They did not enter the county town, but came to the inn next to the county town, where there was a large group of cavalry and several carriages.
It was Li Linfu's carriage, with a flag on it.
Li Ye was led into the room, and he saw Li Linfu pacing back and forth in the room with his hands behind his hands, looking quite anxious.
"Grandson, meet your grandfather!" Li Ye bowed at the door and saluted.
"Ah! Ye'er is here, come in quickly."
Grandpa was in a hurry, so Li Ye didn't stick to etiquette and came in directly to sit down.
The two sat down, and Li Linfu sighed: "Your father was arrested and imprisoned!"
Li Ye was shocked, "When?"
"Just last night at midnight!"
"Grandpa, can you tell me more about it?"
Li Linfu said slowly: "Last night, your father was on duty at the Ministry of Household Affairs. As a result, there was a sudden fire in the household department's clerical warehouse, which burned all the account books of the household department for more than ten years. Some people said that your father appeared near the clerical warehouse before the fire.
If there is a serious suspicion, your father will be arrested as the first suspect."
Li Ye was really surprised and asked again: "Then why is grandfather in Xinfeng County?"
"I was ordered to go to Huazhou and Tongzhou to check the disaster situation. I left the city before dawn. As soon as I arrived in Xinfeng County, I heard the news that your father was arrested!"
"Is this a coincidence?"
Li Linfu shook his head, "How could it be a coincidence? Your father was arrested just after I left. Once your father is convicted, I will also be implicated!"
"My father wouldn't set a fire for no reason! Is there a deeper inside story?"
Li Ye's intuition told him that this matter was not that simple.
Li Linfu nodded, "This matter should be related to Er Yang's fight for the throne. Yang Guozhong and Yang Shenjin competed for the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. A fire broke out in the warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue. Yang Shenjin, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was to blame!"
"Then it was Yang Guozhong who set the fire?"
Li Linfu pondered for a moment and said: "I suspect it has something to do with the emperor. The emperor wanted to bring down Yang Shenjin. Your father happened to frame your father at the right time and got me involved. The other party seized the opportunity very accurately!"
Li Ye closed the door and asked in a low voice: "Does grandfather mean that the emperor wants to take action against grandfather?"
Li Linfu sighed, "We can't guess the emperor's thoughts. He may just be testing me, but if there is a chance, he will definitely follow the trend and remove me. The current situation is weird and I can't tell."
"Then what does grandfather want me to do?"
"I asked you to go find Gao Lishi and send him a letter for me. It's best to get some inside information. I will use the excuse of illness to stay in Xinfeng County for two days, waiting for your news.
"Will something happen to my father? What my grandson means is, will he suddenly die in prison?"
"That's the problem. I'm afraid that someone will persuade him to commit suicide, so as not to implicate me? I'm more worried that someone will make a fuss about him and involve me, so you'd better see your father and tell him that anyone
Don’t believe it, and ask him to resist my interrogation and not make random confessions!”
After speaking, Li Linfu handed a wooden box to Li Ye, "There is a letter and a sign in it. The letter is addressed to Gao Lishi. The sign is your token. You go to Yushi Jiwen. He is my confidant and he will arrange it."
You go see your father!"
Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Grandpa, what if Ji Wen secretly joins the Yang family?"
"Impossible, he was promoted by me and is loyal to me!"
"If he finds out that it is the emperor who wants to deal with his grandfather, then nothing is impossible."
Li Linfu was secretly surprised, lowered his head and thought about it, it was really possible.
"What do you think?" Li Linfu began to rely on his grandson unknowingly.
Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "I still went to find him, but I didn't use my grandfather's brand. I just said I would send clothes and quilts to my father, and then I would act according to the situation. But that didn't work. I bribed the jailers with a lot of money and begged them to take me to see my father.
But my grandson believes that the key figure in this case is Yang Shenjin, the Minister of Household Affairs. If he can be saved, then my father will be fine, and the arson case is also the key to the entire case."
"Then what?"
"My grandson believes that his grandfather does not need to pretend to be ill, but should return to Beijing openly and honestly. There is a fire in the household department. As the prime minister, of course, he has the unshirkable responsibility to investigate the case.
Moreover, my grandfather wanted to tell the emperor openly and openly that my father had just joined the household department for three days and was not familiar with anything. He had no motive to set the fire. How could it be that he set the fire? Someone must have framed his father. He begged the emperor to make the decision and clear his father's grievances.
.
As a minister, I don’t want Chao Gang to be wronged, and as a father, I can’t bear my beloved son being framed. Regardless of Chao Gang, my ethics are always reasonable. My grandson believes that the emperor cannot refuse his grandfather’s appeal!”
Li Linfu looked at his grandson with a flash of wisdom in his eyes and was filled with emotion. What more could he ask for when he has such a grandson?
He patted Li Ye on the shoulder and said, "According to your words, you will be my grandfather's military advisor this time, and we, the grandparents, will work together to clear your father's grievances!"
Li Linfu wrote another letter to Gao Lishi, pointing out various doubts, and changed his previous plea for help into a statement on his behalf.
He also gave Li Ye a counter check of three thousand taels to use for the jailer's needs.
Li Ye was the first to ride back to the capital. Li Linfu waited until noon and turned around to return to the capital. Sun Tzu was right. There was a fire in the Ministry of Household Affairs. As the right minister, it was his duty to rush back.
[The Yang Shenjin case occurred in the sixth year of Tianbao, and this book re-borrows it to imaginary history, so there is no need to dwell on historical facts.]