Dark blood kept pouring out of Ye Xu's mouth. He thought he heard what He Qizhou said and tried hard to speak, but it was difficult to make a sound.
Commander Yan hurriedly opened the first lock of the cell door, but was unable to do anything with the second lock. "Liu Jinan" who had the key had already chased him out.
He Qizhou continued to shout: "Liu Jin'an lied to you! When he gave the order, did he tell you about 60,000 cavalry? Then he changed his story and asked you to say 30,000 cavalry?"
Ye Xu's head moved, and he couldn't tell whether he was nodding or not. A few words finally came out of his throat: "Si-Si-Sixty Thousand-Liu." Then his neck relaxed and his body softened.
He fell to the ground with his head sideways and stopped moving.
"Oh, Master Liu, why are you chasing him out? The key is in his hand! How did you poison him?" Commander Yan was about to cry. If something happened to Ye Xu, he would bear the brunt of the responsibility.
There were still screams in the cell next to him, and two men under strict command had already gone over to check.
Seeing that Ye Xu was dead, He Qizhou said to Commander Yan, "Let's go to the side and see how the poison was administered."
Before the three of them entered the east cell, the screams had stopped, and the two people in the cell also died one after another. The death situation was exactly the same as that of Ye Xu.
"It shouldn't be, why did it take more than half an hour for them to attack, and Ye Xu died as soon as he ate it?" Commander Yan shouted aggrievedly, as if he was defending himself.
He Qizhou walked back to the middle cell, looked at Ye Xu's leftover food, and commanded Yan who followed him: "There is a small amount of antidote in that half of the crucian carp, which delays the onset of toxicity!"
Commander Yan slapped his head and said: "That's right! When Uncle Wu brought the food, I was still surprised. This Ye Xu never eats fish with bones, so why did he send a fish here today? Originally he just thought it was Uncle Wu.
I am delivering food to others, but I don’t know what Ye Xue’s food habits are.”
He Qizhou fell to the ground and said: "I rarely eat fish, so the half-cut fish was eaten completely by the people in Dongze Cell, so the attack was half an hour late!"
Zhang Zhiren, who had always had a tense face, asked: "Does anyone know that Ye Xu doesn't like fish?"
"The kitchen of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, as well as us guards." Commander Yan replied tremblingly.
"Where is Liu Jin'an?" Zhang Zhiren continued to ask.
"He, of course he knows." Yan commanded.
"Liu Jin'an" arrived as soon as he said it, jumped into the middle cell, glanced at Ye Xu who was dead in the cell, shook his head and said: "He is a master, he didn't catch up."
Zhang Zhiren said: "It seems that they have prepared this trick for a long time. They can poison Ye Xu to silence him at any time."
"This subordinate is incompetent. Please ask Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liu to intercede on behalf of this official. By the way, Mr. Liu, please open the cell door." Commander Yan said with a tearful tone.
"This is going to be difficult." Zhang Zhiren shook his head and said.
"Yes, without witnesses, I know it was him, but what can I do?" He Qizhou also lamented.
Each of them said one sentence, which frightened Commander Yan to the point where he knelt down and said, "I have always been loyal to my duties. Please ask Master Zou for mercy."
"Okay, I will explain it to you." Zhang Zhiren said.
Commander Yan was overjoyed. After kowtowing, he turned to "Liu Jinan", hoping that he could also say a few good words for him.
"Oh, I got it. By the way, I forgot my key at home. You can send someone to Liu Mansion to get it now." After "Liu Jinan" said this, he went out on his own and disappeared after a while.
When He Qizhou and Zhang Zhiren walked out of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the area was already full of people from the Imperial Guard. They had not gone far when they saw an old man in his fifties coming towards them with four attendants.
"Master Zhang, stay!" The visitor came quickly and bowed slightly to Zhang Zhiren.
Zhang Zhiren returned the salute and said, "I didn't expect Commander Zou to come in person."
He Qizhou also quickly bowed and saluted. The opponent was obviously Zou Jinlin, the boss of the Jinyiwei! Otherwise Zhang Zhiren would not have been so polite to him. Such an ordinary old man with an ordinary appearance was actually the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei who shocked hundreds of officials.
"The bait is gone. I wonder if you caught anything?" Zou Jinlin's voice didn't have the slightest edge.
"One bite, and the witness was also bitten. But we should know who it is, but unfortunately there is no evidence. I will write something to you later." Zhang Zhiren said.
"Then there is Mr. Lao Zhang, and Mr. He." Zou Jinlin said calmly.
He Qizhou said: "I don't dare to take it, I'll be ripped off."
Zou Jinlin said: "Haha, at least it is still the case now. Since ancient times, heroes have emerged from youth."
He Qizhou particularly disliked the other party's toneless and emotionless tone in everything he said, so he stopped talking to him.
Zhang Zhiren asked again before leaving: "Did the assassin escape?"
"It's definitely a tough idea, and he's very familiar with this place. It's not easy to catch." Zou Jinlin said.
Zhang Zhiren added: "For such a powerful person, he has been staying at Du Cha Yuan on night duty. Commander Zou should ask him carefully."
"That's natural." Zou Jinlin still had the same tone of voice, and no one could hear his emotions.
…
"Boy, do you know what to say?"
"Well. When I went to Liu Mansion, I happened to meet 'Liu Jin'an' on the road and asked him to accompany us to visit the prison. We never found out that he was fake from the beginning to the end," He Qizhou said.
Zhang Zhiren said: "Let's see what Liu Jinan says tomorrow. He will have more and more flaws."
He Qizhou said: "We must find a way to keep an eye on Liu Bozhou and find out who is behind them!"
Zhang Zhiren patted He Qizhou on the shoulder and said with some emotion: "It may not be possible to move it!"
"We won't know until we pull it off!" He Qizhou said.
…
The morning court was still presided over by the prince, because Ye Xu's existence was a secret. Most officials didn't know why the royal guards swarmed out last night, but the atmosphere in the court was obviously tense, and the officials were afraid of being disobeyed.
The emperor wanted to be arrested.
All the officials were secretly asking each other. After checking around, they found that no important officials were absent, and they were relieved a little. They continued to put pressure on the cabinet and the prince with great energy, hoping to severely punish He Qizhou and Xu Qinghan.
Regarding this matter, the prince and the cabinet reluctantly reached an agreement. He Qizhou was demoted and removed from his position as a royal guard, a member of the Privy Council, and the head of the Cleaning Department of the Ministry of Punishment. Xu Qinghan was demoted to a doctor in the Ministry of Industry and fined three months' salary. Although there was dissatisfaction among the people below,
But most people know that the overall situation has been decided, and a few quarrels are just a show of loyalty.
Seeing that the matter was about to be settled, unexpectedly someone appeared again. A censor from the Imperial Procuratorate reported that yesterday someone from Anyang County in southern Hebei Province came to report with his real name, He Qizhou, the head of the Qing Dynasty Department of the Ministry of Punishment, for protecting the official.
He injured the local official, extorted money from the Ministry of Industry to repay the debt, and requested that He Qizhou be imprisoned immediately!
Xu Qinghan, who was already angry, couldn't bear it any longer and cursed the censor, saying that He Qizhou was punishing the deedees and local officials in Shanxi, how could he do such a bad thing?
Seeing this, Liu Jin'an stepped out and said: "Sir Xu, if you report with a real name at the local level, even if He Qizhou is a sixth-grade official, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the right to directly imprison him. What's more, he has now gained a title. If he is really wronged, he will be repaid.
He is innocent."
Of course Xu Qinghan knew what happened last night, and sarcastically said: "Master Liu, are you in a hurry? You didn't sleep last night, so what's the use of relying on such little tricks to cause trouble!"
Zhang Zhiren also said: "Based on just one-sided words, it seems unreasonable to imprison the Military Academy Hanlin without any investigation."
"What's wrong with the emperor breaking the law and committing the same crime as the common people?" Chen Yu, who was already dissatisfied, immediately said.
"The Emperor has clearly stated that he will severely punish the offenders involved in the non-deed contract, and there is no guarantee. What if he escapes? I still suggest that it would be safer to put him in prison first," Liu Jinan continued.
"I'll guarantee it!" Xu Qinghan said angrily.
"Your Highness..." Liu Jinan looked at Jiang Shan.
"Since Mr. Xu has vouched for it, we will not take him to prison for the time being. We will start the trial tomorrow. The Metropolitan Procuratorate will preside over the trial, and the Ministry of Punishment will send personnel to participate. Please tell the Ministry of Punishment to inform He Qizhou," Jiang Shan said.
"As ordered." Hu Mao responded.
…
He Qizhou received the imperial edict for the third time in the Privy Council. Different from the previous two times when he received the reward, the official position and title he had finally fought for were completely taken away this time. He had just climbed to a peak in his life, and in an instant he was
He fell to the ground. He Qizhou didn't have much regret about this, and he even felt a little lucky in his heart: Fortunately, the emperor didn't take the silver reward back.
The eunuch who issued the decree asked He Qizhou if he wanted to change the place to issue the decree. He Liuzhou's reply was that this place was very good.
Of course, it is not an ordinary person who can work in the Privy Council. Everyone already knows the news that He Qizhou will be dismissed. Most people put down what they are doing and go to the door to see him off. For more than ten days, this smiling, diligent boy
It was still very popular. Of course, what really moved them was He Qizhou's honest advice. No matter whether the advice affected his own interests or not, the other party was indeed a man.
Hu Mao had already sent someone to inform He Qizhou that he would go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for trial tomorrow. He Qizhou could only think of it as a trick played by Liu Jinan. He was upright and not afraid of the shadow, so just use any tricks he had!
The official credentials of the Privy Council were handed over on the spot after issuing the decree; the seals and official uniforms of the Criminal Ministry were all in the Arms Hall. If they returned them in the afternoon, they would be in a state of disgrace.
Because He Qizhou was dismissed, Xu Mu also quit his odd job as an errand boy in the Privy Council. He planned to go back to the Military Arms Hall with He Qizhou. He would have to be a witness tomorrow. Unfortunately, Jiang Damin and his two brothers had already returned to Yuzhou, so they were missing a few
An important witness.
On behalf of his colleagues in the Privy Council, Huazhu delivered a farewell speech to He Qizhou: "Official life is like a river and a lake. Ups and downs are natural. Don't be discouraged. Welcome back!"
"Okay! See you later." He Qizhou thanked everyone and walked towards Donghua Gate with Xu Mu. After walking dozens of steps, he looked back and saw that the people at the door of the Privy Council hadn't left yet. There seemed to be a lot of people standing at the door of the cabinet, silently.
As I watched him leave, I couldn't help but feel a little moved. It seemed that there were quite a few officials with conscience.