C89

In the Six Prefectures and all walks of life in the capital, if the lowest level informants were included, there were more than two thousand people. After a year of examination, the number of people eliminated and replaced was already seven hundred. "Five lines of information that are unrelated to each other!" Huang Que's results were also impressive. He had dug out forty to fifty spies from various forces in Hezhou. Apart from a few that had been secretly eliminated, the majority of them were just monitoring the area closely. The most depressing thing was that seven of the spies sent to Hezhou had been 'accidentally' killed by all sorts of means.

Old Yellow quickly deciphered Zhang Zhou's password, understood what Zhang Zhou meant, and then destroyed the note! After thinking for a moment, he called out to the outside and a woman dressed as a servant walked in.

"Aunt Wang, those yellow courtyards are ready for dessert!"

Aunt Wang understood these words very well. She nodded and left! The weasel chanted in its heart, "Sire, although Old Yellow does not know what you are asking for, he will not let you down!"

Although the Ping Wang didn't think of a way to achieve the best of both worlds! However, if he could not even handle the matter regarding the arrest, then he would lose too much face! However, Zhang Zhou had told him that he would handle this matter in advance. If things went badly, he would deal with it himself! Zhao Qishui's trust in Zhang Zhou could be said to be incomparable, so he naturally obeyed!

Tong Xinchu also felt that it was very troublesome, and could not help but inwardly complain about his nephew's lack of seriousness. This matter involved the face of the Ping Wang, it would be difficult to end if he didn't handle it properly! But he was still his nephew. How could he just stand by and watch without doing anything? Although the princess was not present, he understood her personality and gave him some confidence, so he planned to pay his respects to the king to see if he could resolve this matter peacefully. In the end, the stubborn Ping Wang didn't even see him! He did not blame the Prince for not giving him face, after all, his status was very high. Besides, the Princess was after all a princess, and those princes were not so sure about what kind of fortune they would have in the future, and he did not dare to lightly offend them! It was a good thing that he found another key character: Marquis Zhang Zhou of the Nine Prefectures!

Before meeting Zhang Zhou, he had already done his homework! All the evidence witnesses were being held in the torture camp, and he would not do something as stupid as destroy the evidence. He took the initiative to go to the Six Prefectures Club first and compensate the injured students. Then, he took out three thousand taels of silver and gave it to the families of the deceased to help with the aftermath. These silver taels were already a lot to an ordinary person's life! Then he came to pay his respects to Zhang Zhou!

In terms of grade, Zhang Zhuo was slightly higher. Even though most people believed that civil officials had a broader future than military officers, and that they were more valued as a fifth rank civil official than a fourth rank military general! However, Tong Xinchu did not feel that he had the confidence to be on par with Zhang Zhou. In terms of the future, the two of them were not on the same level.

Zhang Zhou knew the purpose of his visit, and since he wanted to talk to him, he naturally wouldn't refuse.

The two of them were alone in the study room when Tong Xinchu took the lead and said respectfully, "Master Hou, this nephew of mine is really unscrupulous when I'm your uncle. I hope Master Hou can point out a path, and I am grateful for that!"

He was very respectful and respectful, and his way of doing things could be said to be very kind. Zhang Zhou also did not have any thoughts of not sparing anyone.

"Master Tong!" What are you going to do about it? "

Before coming here, Tong Xinchu had seriously analyzed that even though the princess trusted him, he didn't dare to go on the line and cause a fight between the two factions. The best result he could hope for would be to deal with his nephew, weighing the pros and cons!

"Master Hou, you still have to think about this matter! Deep down, we have to protect the face of the Ping Wang and the princess! No one's face could be hurt. Who doesn't know of the friendship between you and the Peace King? Therefore, it's up to you to speak up for the Ping Wang. It's also up to you to arrest the yamen for criminal purposes! Master Hou, don't make things difficult for me! "As for how this matter is handled, Master Hou, you know what to do. I'll be going!"

His words were sincere and open-minded. Zhang Zhou thought for a moment, then said, "I don't want to go on and on like this, but from all aspects, your nephew will not be able to get away with it. The capital cannot continue to stay! As for where to go? How? That's your business, I don't care. What do you think? "

Zhang Zhou had thought over and over again. This matter was best handled in a low-key manner. As for justice, how could there be justice everywhere in the world?! I'm not God!

Tong Xinchu thought about it. Right now, this was the best result! He understood that there were some things that one had to admit if they committed a crime. Not to mention that Zhang Zhou had also given him face and hadn't requested to strip him of his nephew's body. In that case, he would still have a chance to run his business in the future!

If they reached a consensus and discussed the details, they could just end the matter. A few days later, the matter had abated and the outcome of the Ministry of Justice's handling of the matter had come out. Tong Jijin had been convicted of dereliction of duty and had been transferred out of the capital to the criminal yamen.

However, no one would have thought that the stone that they thought had sunk to the bottom would have waves of water again.

On the second day in the imperial court, an official announced: "The criminal arrest of the head of the yamen, Hou Zhang Zhou, takes human life. He killed a student of Hezhou, his uncle, Princess Linlang, taught Tong Xinzhu, and he privately made an agreement with the master of the Six Prefectures' Hall of the Nine Prefectures, disregarding the dignity of the law."

These two people were not of high rank, but the people involved were extremely eye-catching – the Ping Wang and Princess Linlang!

Especially Zhang Zhou, he had only used two years to make use of the Ping Wang's influence to become a fourth rank, low rank military official, and even bestowed the title of the only marquis of the Nine Prefectures in the Tang Dynasty! In private, who knew how much envy, jealousy, and hatred he had gotten!

Zhao Qianyuan glanced at the furious Zhao Qisheng, then called him by name and asked, "Yin Youzheng, is this true?"

Yin You Zheng rushed out and knelt down, "Your Majesty, this subject does not know the details! This subject still needs to do a thorough investigation! "

"Ignorant? "You really did a good job!"

Yin has an experienced mind, many people will choose not to know, because this way, you can avoid the passivity brought about by the incident, although will be blamed, but the life of the family is not worried!

"Zhang Zhou!" "Get the hell out here!"

Zhang Zhou, who was standing in the corner, was not distracted at all today. When he heard the report from the Emperor, his heart skipped a beat! Just as he was thinking of a countermeasure, he heard the emperor call out to him. He quickly stepped out and kowtowed!

"This humble subject is here!"

"Did you hear what Lord History of the Censorate said just now?"

"Your Majesty, this humble subject did not hear it clearly!"

"Hmph, you're still young and you've gone deaf. Imperial Censor Lou, say it again!"

The truth was right in Lou Cheng's heart. How could he turn his body around?! He repeated what he had said before!

"Did you hear it clearly this time?"

"Your Majesty, this humble subject understands!"

"Do you have something to say?"

"Yes, the reason why this humble subject was implicated is because the dead scholar came from Hezhou. As a fellow villager, I should pay some attention to him. The reason for this was a dispute between He Zhou's scholars and the scholar. They then attacked him, causing internal injuries to the deceased, and the capital tortured and arrested the head of the yamen for carelessness and failing to cure him, resulting in his injuries being incurable. At first, it was this subject who misunderstood, and even asked His Highness Ping Wang to help him find out the truth! The Prince of Pingyang was angry that the Nine Jin was not reliable enough, and that he had failed in his duties. He ordered his soldiers to detain the Nine Jin in captivity! Later on, his uncle, the teacher in charge of the documents in Princess Linlang's residence, Tong Xinchu, had taken the initiative to go to the Six Prefectures' branch and compensate the injured and the bereaved! He had already obtained the other party's understanding. Meeting with this humble official was just a matter of words. Do not let this matter get out of hand. After all, choosing materials for a country during the three years of examination was not easy for the country or for the scholars! This humble subject also has an arbitrary responsibility in this matter. I wish to obtain Lord Tong's understanding as well as the opinion that the teacher's words are reasonable! Thus, this humble official went to the yamen to explain the case and resolve it on behalf of the families of the deceased. Although he had released nine kilograms of children, he had failed in his duties. Therefore, he had been transferred out of the capital as a form of punishment! Because this matter was not big and the case was clear, it did not alarm Lord Yin! This is what happened! "

"Oh, Censor Lou, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, Zhang Zhou is just making things up! Deceiving His Majesty! That scholar was clearly the one who had ordered Tong Jibing to kill him. Presumably, the Marquis of the Nine Prefectures had obtained the benefits, or perhaps it was for some other reason, that he was able to defend Tong Jiu Jin! This official has a coroner and testimony from the people present on the day of the arrest! "

Zhang Zhou looked at Lou Cheng, who had never interacted with him before, and said, "Sir, first of all, I don't understand why you want to frame me! Secondly, how do you know that you didn't bribe the coroner or arrest the criminal? Third, how did you know that I met Tong Xinchu? "

"This official has always used the law as my basis and has never framed others! Was the testimony false? It would be revealed after the investigation! As for the meeting between you and Tong Xinchu, hmph, if you want to get rid of someone, then don't do it yourself! "

Zhao Qieshi was about to express his opinion, but he was stopped by Zhao Qianyuan's glare, signalling for him not to speak. Zhao Qieshen could only dejectedly retreat. Seeing this, Zhang Zhou's expression didn't change at all! Instead, he said to the Emperor, "Your Majesty, it is useless to continue this argument! This official asks His Majesty to pass down an order for the public trial, in accordance with what I have said, every word of yours is true! "

Zhao Qianyuan nodded.

"Master Yin, you can do this personally, we'll start the trial in three days!" No one is allowed to interfere with this! "

"This official accepts the decree!"

"Thank you, your majesty!"

Zhang Zhou calmly kowtowed! However, his thoughts were in turmoil in his heart.

The war in the imperial court was brutal. It was not uncommon to see people flitting their fingers at the wind and creating something out of nothing. It was also normal for officials to attack each other, and Zhang Zhou had even thought about what it would be like when he was attacked. However, he would never have thought that the other party would actually grasp such detailed information and attack him so quickly.

If this had not been premeditated, he wouldn't have believed it even if he was beaten to death! Moreover, this was definitely not the case. The other party wanted to uphold the law and order of justice to be as simple as that. If they were to be convicted, he and Tong Xinchu would definitely be punished. Although there wouldn't be any serious consequences, the Ping Wang and Princess Linlang would definitely be implicated. However, at this critical juncture, the first thing that Zhang Zhou thought of was that someone wanted to use this matter to weaken the PingKing and Princess Linlang's influence over the exam.

In a conflict of political interests, there was no such thing as ethics or ethics! For example, he didn't think that since he had no conflict with the Jing King in the past, the Jing King wouldn't make a move against him! If there was a need for profit, King Jing wouldn't think "Zhang Zhou is a good person" and decided to give up. Moreover, if it was really as he had guessed, then the other party's real target would be the Ping Wang and Princess Lin Lang. Besides, if the other party's real target would be the Ping Wang and Princess Lin Lang, then he and Tong Xinchu would be just cannon fodder.

Both Zhang Zhou and Tong Xinchu kept a low profile regarding this matter, and not many people knew the inside story. The coroner and the arrest were only released last night. The other party being able to find them so quickly and obtain their testimony showed that they were prepared! It was not as if he had not warned the people who were being held to not leak the truth of the matter. After all, it was not beneficial for these people if something were to happen. However, they still admitted to it. This meant that they could not afford to offend him. At the very least, he was much stronger than them, Zhang Zhou. But behind him was the Ping Wang, behind Tong Xinchu was Princess Linlang. How could a censor have such courage and strength?

Who was his opponent? It couldn't be determined by guessing!

In this matter, the attitude of the emperor was very clear. If he didn't want the Prince Ping to get involved, then he might as well fight with his own abilities!

Fortunately, during the period of investigation, they were only restricted to their residences. They weren't locked up, and that was enough! The house was a lucky one. No one would be able to stop Fu Xiang from going in and out. With Zhang Zhou in such trouble, it was impossible for Fu Xiang to not appear.

Zhang Zhou first ruled out the possibility of being a traitor because the other party did not know the content of his conversation with Tong Xinchu. However, the other party had completely grasped the whereabouts of the two, and it had to be due to someone monitoring them.

"Uncle, you can return to the palace tonight. I will have Xiao Lang follow you out. When there's no one around, you can put Xiao Lang down!"

Fu Xiang nodded. He was afraid that Zhang Zhou would do something too extreme, so he reminded him, "This crime isn't too big, there is the Empress and the King. Even if something happens, the punishment won't be too severe! "Don't you worry too much!"

"I know, but the one who wants to deal with me this time is definitely not a government official. There must be someone backing me. I can lose, but I can't lose without some reason!" I want to see who it is that's playing behind my back! "

"Yeah, Lou Cheng's character is still rather upright. I really can't tell whose person he belongs to!" You need to know that as long as you become famous in the imperial court, you will make enemies everywhere! This was also a matter of helplessness! Your title of Marquis of the Nine Prefectures is indeed rather eye-catching! "

Zhang Zhou didn't tell Fu Xiang about his own speculations because he didn't want to worry him too much.

"Don't worry, Uncle. It's not like you don't know who I am. I guarantee that I'll be safe, even if there's really something wrong!" I'll go back to Hezhou and give birth to my son! I don't need you to be so long-winded, when will you be able to coax your grandson! "

"Good, it's good that you have this kind of attitude. It's normal for you to have an upheaval in your position in the government. You're so young, there are plenty of opportunities for you to do so!"

Fu Xiang's carriage has a secret compartment under its belly. It can easily hide a person. This is specially made!" Yang Xiaolang was hiding inside, following the car out. When they reached a quiet and secluded place, he jumped out of the secret compartment and disappeared into the darkness like a leopard!

The next night, Fu Xiang finally returned by car!

From the information that Zhang Zhou had brought back from Yang Xiaolang, he had found a lot of information that he wanted! Since the other party was willing to make a move, there was no need to be polite. After confirming the mastermind, Zhang Zhou thought to himself, "Since you're always so annoying, then don't blame me for being too ruthless. I'll kill you first!"