After the food and wine were served, the two of them drank together and talked and laughed happily.
After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Zhu Quan took the lead in getting to the point:
"After Mr. Li returns to Beijing, don't forget to say hello to the Emperor on my behalf."
"Definitely." Li Qing put down his wine glass, "I will definitely fulfill the prince's request, but... I hope that the prince will also fulfill the prince's request."
"Oh? What's the request?"
"Smuggling trade."
Zhu Quan's eyes narrowed and then returned to normal, "I can't understand what Marquis Yongqing said."
"Jin Yuanbao confesses, Your Majesty, you are the mastermind behind the smuggling." Li Qing picked up the plump mandarin fish, savored it carefully, and said slowly, "Your Majesty, don't make it difficult for your subordinates."
Zhu Quan's expression suddenly changed, and his tone became cold: "Is Marquis Yongqing determined to make things difficult for me?"
"No, I'm just following orders." Li Qing poured himself a drink and said in a sincere tone, "As long as the prince stops, he will never be punished at all. I can guarantee it."
Zhu Quan said nothing and looked directly at Li Qing.
Li Qing remained calm and continued to eat and drink, not at all tense after the collapse.
After a long time, Zhu Quan was defeated. This was the first time he saw such a shameless person - he ate his food, drank his food, and showed no mercy at all.
"What is your identity, and what is my identity?" Zhu Quan's tone became colder: "I advise you to think more about yourself in everything."
"I don't need to worry about this, Your Majesty." Li Qing picked up the cotton handkerchief and wiped the corners of his mouth, "I have a lot of official duties as a lower official, and there are still Japanese pirates that I haven't dealt with. Please understand, Your Majesty."
"Understand you?" Zhu Quan smiled, "What qualifications do you have to point fingers at me?"
"Is this okay?" Li Qing took out "It's Like I'm Personally Visiting".
Zhu Quan stood up suddenly, his face changed again and again, and he bowed and saluted: "Long live my emperor!"
"Prince Ning, please get up." Li Qing stood up and helped him.
Zhu Quan stood up, his face uncertain, as if he was weighing the pros and cons.
After a while, he said: "I have also heard about smuggling. I will pay attention to it in the future and try my best to prevent such incidents from happening."
His tone was slightly kind: "As the vassal king of Jiangxi, I cannot sit idly by if something like this happens in Jiangxi."
"Haha," Li Qing asked with a chuckle, "Should we try to prevent it, or should we promise not to smuggle it again?"
"How can I guarantee this?" Zhu Quan consciously gave in. Seeing that Li Qing was still unwilling to give up, his face darkened again, "I have said that the smuggling matter has nothing to do with me."
"It's empty talk. My lord, your status is true, but what you say can't be used as evidence, right?" Li Qing was still polite, but his tone was also cold: I gave you a chance, but you are useless!
"How can Marquis Yongqing prove that your evidence can be used as evidence?" Zhu Quan sneered, "Do you really think that a profiteer can bring down this king?"
"Ha," Li Qing stood up and stretched, breathing melodiously: "Here comes someone!"
Rub rub rub rub –!
Nearly a hundred people rushed into the palace and came to the pavilion where the two were drinking.
Zhu Quan was stunned, then became furious: "Li Qing, how dare you?"
"Tied!"
Fanzi hesitated for a moment, then he handed over his hand and stepped forward to detain Zhu Quan.
"Presumptuous!" Zhu Quan was furious: "Who dares to do that?"
After all, he was still a vassal king. He had once commanded troops and guarded the border. Now he was showing his killing and domineering power. Fanzi really didn't dare to touch him.
"Li Qing, you really want to get things done, right?"
"The road is your choice." Li Qing raised his chin towards the hundreds of households in Dongchang, "Bind him, the Ming law clearly states: Those who act under orders will not be punished for their crimes!"
Baihu hesitated for a moment, then clasped his fists and said, "I have offended the prince."
Saying that, he was about to step forward.
"Arrogant!" Zhu Quan shouted: "Come here!"
Russian territory,
Rub rub rub rub –!
Another group of people came in in a hurry, all of them big and round.
Li Qing said in a cold tone: "If I remember correctly, the feudal king's bodyguard has been reduced."
Zhu Quan's tone was equally cold: "The Wang family has a big business, so isn't it reasonable to have some servants to look after the house and the courtyard?"
Li Qing sneered: "That's reasonable, I'll tie him up!"
"Who dares to touch me?"
Hundreds of households in Dongchang were confused and didn't know who to listen to. The same was true for other fans.
Li Qing raised the token in his hand and said, "Prince Ning, have you thought about it?"
"You..." Zhu Quan was angry.
"If I am here in person" is not just a chicken feather, it is definitely a real commanding arrow!
"Tied!"
In the end, Zhu Quan compromised and the price of challenging the imperial power was too high for him to bear.
"I would like to see how you end this." Zhu Quan said harshly, "This matter is not over yet."
Li Qing shrugged, pointed to a room, and said, "Take him in."
Prince Ning was detained and taken away. Without the support of the prince, the servants of the palace naturally did not dare to pretend to be intimidating. After a moment of stalemate, they retreated automatically.
Li Qing sat back on his chair and said, "Liu Baihu, go ask the chief envoy to come over."
"Yes." Liu Baihu was really convinced. He even dared to kidnap the vassal king. This Yongqing Marquis is a ruthless man. "I will inform you immediately."
The Chief Envoy of Jiangxi Province is in Hongdu, so it won't take long to get back and forth.
Most of the dishes on the table were still untouched, so Li Qing couldn't bear to waste them and continued eating and drinking.
After a while, Zhu Panxang, the crown prince of Prince Ning, came over and said in an arrogant manner:
"Li Qinchen, what crime did my father commit?"
"Smuggling!" Li Qing said without raising his head, not forgetting to pick up the food.
"Where's the evidence?"
"The day for the certification of the certification is coming, and the chief envoy has also gone to inform." Li Qing said with a smile, "When the time comes, the prince can attend."
Zhu Panxuan said angrily: "You'd better have evidence."
Li Qing was too lazy to argue with a little kid, even though Zhu Panxuan was not too young.
~
The news that Prince Ning was in custody quickly spread throughout the house. People in the house were panicked, and women could be heard crying, worried about their future and fate.
There were even clever servants who sneaked out of the house unprepared and ran far away for fear of being implicated.
In their opinion, an imperial envoy would never dare to detain a vassal king, and it must be the emperor's will.
Prince Ning's smuggling is not a big secret unless everyone knows about it. It's not that Prince Ning is not cautious enough. It's such a big thing that it's hard not to let some news leak out.
Especially the servants who secretly participated in the smuggling were extremely fast.
When Li Qing heard this, he just smiled lightly and did not let anyone stop him.
…
The next day.
As soon as Li Qing got up, he saw Xiao Lizi who had arrived overnight.
"Is the situation under control?"
"The person got the stolen goods together." Xiao Lizi chuckled, "To capture the thief and capture the king, our family directly tied up the rich gentry and his family, and the warehouse was also sealed."
"Very good." Li Qing became energetic, "Did someone bring it?"
"Brought it." Xiao Lizi nodded, "That Liu Fushen has confessed that he is indeed on an errand for Prince Ning."
Although Li Qing had known this for a long time, the dust settled and it still made him relax a lot.
After understanding the details, Li Qing was completely relieved.
Half an hour later, the chief envoy from Jiangxi arrived, and Zhu Panxuan also came.
With everyone present, Li Qing's trial officially begins.
The lobby of Prince Ning's Mansion was transformed into a "court".
Li Qing presided over the trial, the chief envoy served as jury, Zhu Panxuan listened, and Xiao Lizi acted as the master.
"Let's begin!" Li Qing said.
Xiao Lizi said sharply: "Bring someone to prove it!"
After a while, Jin Yuanbao and Liu Fushen were brought up.
"Take Prince Ning." Xiao Lizi shouted again.
Then, King Ning, dressed in a python robe, walked in with his head held high and said majestically: "Who is suing this king?"
Jin Yuanbao, Liu Fushen trembled and dared not speak.
Zhu Quan smiled contemptuously: "Come, take a seat."
Li Qing frowned and looked at Liu Baihu behind him, "Who untied him?"
"I understand it," Zhu Panxang asked, "has my father been convicted?"
"Well... okay." Li Qing stopped worrying and turned to look at Prince Ning, "Prince Ning, these two people confessed that the smuggling at sea was under your instruction. What do you have to say?"
"It's just a false accusation out of thin air. Do I need an explanation?" Zhu Quan took the chair given by his son and placed it with a majestic golden sword.
Li Qing looked at Jin and Liu, "Prince Ning said that you framed them out of thin air."
The two of them lowered their eyebrows and did not dare to speak.
Li Qing sneered: "In that case, drag down the criminal who framed Prince Ning and behead him."
After a pause, he said, "Smuggling and falsely accusing the vassal king will be punished for both crimes. Family property will be confiscated, and the tribesmen will be exiled to guard the border."
"It's unjust, the common people are unjust!"
Jin Yuanbao was the first to cry out for injustice, followed closely by Liu Fushen.
Li Qing waved his hand, and Fanzi, who had already stepped forward, stepped aside again.
"What's the grievance?"
Jin Yuanbao was cruel and gritted his teeth and said: "The grassroots are indeed under the instructions of King Ning. The porcelain is sold to Jian'an. It is all King Ning's intention. In return, he can get an extra 10% of the profit..."
If you don't die as a fellow Taoist, you will have to die as a poor Taoist. Forced by the situation, Jin Yuanbao didn't care about offending Prince Ning, so he explained all the information he knew in detail.
Liu Fushen on the side also recognized the situation clearly. Either Prince Ning was unlucky, or his whole family was unlucky. He gritted his teeth and began to explain.
Compared with Jin Yuanbao, he was responsible for Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the goods were more numerous and miscellaneous, and he gave more detailed instructions. He even explained who to contact and how to go to sea.
For Li Qing, this was a real surprise. With this information, it would be easier to eliminate the smugglers.
"You're tired of living, aren't you?" Zhu Quan shouted sharply: "Do you know what it is to falsely accuse the vassal king?"
"Your Majesty, please be patient." Li Qing said with a smile, "Sit down first, my envoy will not wrongly accuse a good person."
Then, he looked at the two of them and said, "Do you have any conclusive evidence that you were ordered by Prince Ning?"
At this point, the two of them knew there was no way out and nodded decisively:
"The common people have a letter written by Prince Ning."
The two said in unison.
"Handwriting can be imitated, what does this mean?" Zhu Quan still said stubbornly: As long as I don't admit it, even if there is irrefutable evidence, Li Qing will not dare to punish me.
Li Qing asked, "Does Prince Ning know them?"
"I don't know you!"
"Since we don't know each other, we must not have any contact with each other anymore?"
Zhu Quan tried his best to clarify at this moment and hummed: "Of course."
Li Qing asked again: "How did they know your handwriting, Prince Ning, if we haven't even interacted with you?"
"My king..." Zhu Quan got stuck and simply said, "I don't know."
Then Zhu Quan started to cheat, asking questions and not knowing anything, and refused to admit that he had anything to do with smuggling.
A look like 'as long as I don't admit it, no one can judge me'.
As a result, Jin and Liu became passive. They were now completely on the opposite side of Prince Ning, and they knew very well that if this happened, they would never have a good life in the future.
So there was more dirty stuff, such as: having close contacts with literati, making good friends with officials, worshiping the Longhushan Celestial Master as his disciple...
Although these have nothing to do with the smuggling case, they are much more serious than the smuggling case.
What is the intention of a vassal king who has good relations with literati and local officials and worships the national master as his teacher?
Zhu Quan was a little panicked. He knew who Zhu Laosi was. If these words were spread back to Beijing, the consequences would be...