April 17, the twenty-fifth year of Tai'an, in Yuanyang City.
This is Wang Baokun's fifth day back in the city, and it is also his rare vacation.
For a month and a half, he led the army to deliver food outside the city, and could only stay for one night each time he returned to the city.
After more than a month of hard work, the Privy Council finally relented and issued a military order to allow the most tired group of people to rest in rotation for seven days.
Logically speaking, taking a vacation makes people happy, but Wang Baokun couldn't be happy at all.
He was normal in the past two days, but when he learned about the case that the palace was currently investigating, he couldn't be happy at all.
Therefore, Wang Baokun spent the next two days in panic, and even his family discovered that he was abnormal.
In the past two days, the court has sent people to ask questions, and the chief eunuch of the palace has also sent people.
The royal palace has various agencies under its jurisdiction, and the military is a very special entity, and no interrogation is allowed without conclusive evidence.
Therefore, when asked twice in the past two days, Wang Baokun excused himself by saying that he did not know. He really did not have the courage to tell the truth.
Lying sideways on the bed, Wang Baokun was worried, but he heard a voice coming from behind: "His father, what happened?"
"If you have any difficulties, you have to tell them. How can you keep it in your heart alone? If you tell me, the whole family will think of something for you!"
Hearing his wife's words behind him, Wang Baokun felt even more uncomfortable and even faced his wife speechlessly.
So he simply said nothing and pretended to be asleep.
At this moment, a man's voice was heard outside the door: "Is Mr. Wang Qi at home?"
Upon hearing this voice, Wang Baokun immediately jumped up from the bed and quickly walked out of the door, shocking his wife.
All the way out of the door, Wang Baokun saw his subordinate, Xiao Banner Officer Li Lin, who walked into the courtyard.
"What's the news?"
These days, all the small flag officers under Wang Baokun have been visited for questioning.
The other two people didn't know, only Wang Baokun and Li Lin knew the truth, because they were the ones who transported the food for the Jiayou team.
"My lord, the situation is not good. If the lords of the Privy Council had not argued with reason, I am afraid that all our brothers would have been jailed!"
Glancing outside the courtyard door, Wang Baokun immediately said: "Let's go in and talk!"
Now that the case is under investigation, it is very likely that someone has been sent to monitor the surrounding area of the yard, so naturally it would be safer to enter the house to speak.
When the two entered the room, Li Lin couldn't help but say: "Sir, if I had known... Zan should have found an opportunity to kill the man named Su!"
"Anyway, he signed it. If there is no evidence to prove it, the crime will fall on Su!"
Wang Baokun said angrily: "What's the use of talking about this now? Can you still sneak into the prison and kill the person named Su?"
"Are you still looking for someone to question today?"
"I've been looking for someone to question for the past two days. Even adults from hundreds of households have been visited by those eunuchs!"
Wang Baokun's face became more and more ugly. He felt like a light was on his back, but he didn't know how to solve the current predicament.
"Sir, as long as we let the person named Su identify us, we will be recognized, and by then it will be too late!"
Fifteen shi of food disappeared, and the blame was placed on the army. This is the most unreasonable result.
Therefore, both the trial office and Lin Quan are more suspicious of someone making false accounts. After all, the bookkeeping office and the treasury management office have criminal records.
Even Su Liangcai's lie was more reasonable than the army swallowing the grain.
Therefore, until now, the trial office and Lin Quan have not really put pressure on the army, otherwise Su Liangcai would have come forward to identify him.
"What can you do?" Wang Baokun asked in a deep voice.
"Sir, we have no choice but to escape..."
"Escape? How to escape? Where to escape?" Wang Baokun said with a bitter smile.
"Of course I'm going to flee outside the city, to a place where the palace can't be found!"
As someone who often wanders outside the city, Wang Baokun knows better than anyone how terrifying the zombies outside the city are.
Without the royal palace's equipment and material support, they would be seeking death if they left the city.
But Wang Baokun did not rush to deny it, but continued to ask: "If we escape from the city, where should we go?"
"My lord, run north to the rebels!"
Hearing this, Wang Baokun was stunned. He was going to seek refuge with Zhu Jinzhang.
Wang Baokun and even the palace's army were so powerful that they were about to muster all their strength to deal with Zhu Jinzhang, which was basically not difficult.
Taking refuge with Zhu Jinzhang is just a matter of surviving for a few more days, but it seems that he doesn't care about that much at the moment.
Seeing that Wang Baokun was a little moved, Li Lin continued to persuade: "Sir, I have already inquired. Mr. Zheng Qi's wife is ill and does not want to leave the city. You can go out to transport food for him... and we can take the opportunity to escape!"
This is indeed a good idea, and Wang Baokun has a better idea.
"We don't have to run away. If we run away, the crime will be pinned on us, and our family will definitely be affected!"
"Sir, is there anything you can do?"
"How about transporting food out of the city, we brothers are attacked again, and then we all die in the line of duty and feign death?"
Li Lin's eyes lit up. Not only could they live this way, but their family members would also receive pensions.
"My lord, this is your clever idea, let's do it!" Li Lin said with a smile.
"When did Lao Zheng leave?" Wang Baokun asked.
"My lord, if you want to take over this job tomorrow, you can go to the Zheng family today!"
Wang Baokun nodded, and then ordered Li Lin to go back and prepare, mainly to notify the brothers who knew about it and to take them away together.
The reason why more people are required to walk together is because it is safer. One or two people cannot escape far if they leave the city.
"Just tell them to leave the city to transport food, not to escape!"
"I understand the humble position!"
Seeing Li Lin leave, Wang Baokun breathed a long sigh of relief, and then slowly walked out of the door.
He would say goodbye to his family tomorrow, maybe forever, so in this last moment together, he wanted to say a few more words to his family.
…………
In the early morning of April 18th, the court was in jail.
Lin Quan stepped into the prison, and there was still no abnormality after checking the accounts, so today he came to give Su Liangcai an ultimatum.
The trial of Su Liangcai was jointly conducted by the court and Lin Quan, so he was eligible to enter the prison.
Soon, Lin Quan arrived at Su Liangcai's cell and ordered the officer to open the door.
Standing at the door, Lin Quan said in a deep voice: "Let me ask you one last time, how many kilos of grain did you receive at that time?"
In the corner of the cell, Su Liang raised his head. He had answered this question countless times.
"Fifteen stones!"
"Why did you sign for thirty stones?"
"At that time, the sign for a humble job was only fifteen dan, and it was done by the people who transported the grain!"
"The handwriting was done by a few rough guys?"
Seeing that Su Liangcai was speechless, Lin Quan sneered and said, "Do you think you can escape punishment by shirking responsibility?"
In anger, Su Liangcai asked: "Father, if I swallow fifteen stones of grain, where can I hide it in full view of everyone?"
"Then do you still remember the appearance of the military officials who transported food that day?"
"Remember!"
That's right, when there was no progress in checking the accounts, Lin Quan decided to do something extraordinary and launch an investigation into the army.
He has the golden order in hand, so he can naturally check the army.
But if the check is wrong, the consequences will be very serious, so Lin Quan must be cautious.
I heard Lin Quan say in a cold voice: "If you dare to lie to our family, our family will definitely make life worse than death for you and your family!"
Su Liangcai said happily without fear: "Everything I say below is true!"
For himself and his family, Su Liangcai must restore his innocence.
"Okay, we will take you out later and identify on the spot who transported the grain!"
Just as Lin Quan finished saying this, someone hurriedly came outside the cell and reported: Father-in-law, the prince is back!"