Do you know: I am Xu Jiazi

Chapter 490: Inquiry and Just Remembered [Thank you! Goodbye! I owe you 45k]

imperial city,

Shelf library,
in the room,
The wooden shelves storing documents and files were crowded.
There is only enough space between the two rows of wooden frames for two people to pass through.

In the corridor outside the room, a group of four people walked towards this side hurriedly.

Come to the door,

"Crack~"

The copper lock was opened.

"Squeak~"

The heavy wooden door was opened from the outside.

"Please wait for a moment, my two eunuchs. I will go in and get the documents."

"Your Majesty is in a hurry, please hurry up, both adults!"

"Yes!"

Then two officials walked in.

The two of them walked along the forest-like wooden frames, muttering to themselves, and soon stopped at one place.

After a while

Two officials walked to the door carrying several rolls of paper.

"So fast?"

"Reporting to the eunuch, Curry has been using the Thousand-article Shelf Method created by Lord Zhou Zhan for some years. All kinds of documents are in order, so they can be found quickly."

"it is good!"

"Please follow me to the door to register for the seal."

"please."

"Squeak~" The door was closed and locked again.

Emperor's Office
The documents taken from the storage room have been unpacked and placed on the table.

The sound of flipping papers could be heard from time to time.
That was Zhao Zilong and Zhao Meifeng unfolding documents that were uniquely numbered with the Thousand Character Classic.

"Your Majesty, He Guan has arrived."

"Ah."

Soon, He Guan, wearing armor, walked in.

"Your Majesty, I, He Guan, greet you!"

The emperor nodded and waved to Zhao Zilong who raised his head.

Zhao Zilong stepped forward and held out his hand as a gesture of invitation: "Master He, please come this way. I have a few questions to ask."

Half an hour later,

Zhao Zilong whispered a few words to the emperor, then came to He Guan:
"Master He Guan, His Majesty orders you to wait outside the palace."

"Yes!"

After saying this, He Guan walked outside the hall and stood still.

The inner official passed on the message,

Xu Zaijing stood outside the hall and nodded to He Guan standing beside him.

"Wulang, His Majesty orders you to come in."

"Yes."

When Xu Zaijing stepped into the hall,
All the documents that the eunuchs had brought in earlier have been packed up.
Only a few pieces of paper were placed on the emperor's desk.

"I have met His Majesty!"

Looking at Xu Zaijing who bowed and saluted, the emperor waved to Zhao Zilong who was about to step forward.

"Well, stand up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"When you were escorting the surrendered Baigao soldiers back to the capital last year, were there any Baigao craftsmen who left the team along the way?"

Xu Zaijing hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, yes!"

Hearing this, Zhao Zilong and his disciple looked at each other.

Emperor: "Go on."

Xu Zaijing: "One evening during dinner time, an official from the Ministry of Works entered the camp with a seal and took away a family of Baigao craftsmen! I remember that the commander in the camp called the official from the Ministry of Works 'Master Zhen'."

After Xu Zaijing finished speaking, he looked at the expressions of everyone in the hall and was confused for a moment.

The emperor picked up the paper on the imperial desk and handed it to the eunuch beside him. He raised his chin towards Xu Zaijing and said:
"Look and see if this is the seal letter."

"Your Majesty, the seal that day was only seen by the commander-in-chief of the camp at that time. I didn't take over the seal, so I can't tell if it is this one!"

"You are a law-abiding boy!"

As the emperor spoke, he took back the paper held by the eunuch and said, "Do you still remember what 'Master Zhen' looks like?"

"Your Majesty, it was dark that day and we only saw it with torches! If Lord Zhen stood in front of me, I would definitely recognize him!"

"Well! Go talk to Meifeng and ask the Imperial City Department to draw a portrait! Also, tell He Guan at the door to do what he should do."

The emperor ordered.

Xu Zaijing was stunned for a moment, and without having time to think, he quickly bowed in response.

Subsequently,

Xu Zaijing followed Zhao Meifeng out of the hall.

On the way,

"mega"

Xu Zaijing had just said one word when he saw Zhao Meifeng shaking his head slightly at him and glanced at the young eunuch in front of him.

Xu Zaijing understood and remained silent all the way.

It was not until they entered the courtyard of the Imperial City Department in the palace that Xu Zaijing saw that there was no one around, so he spoke: "Brother Zhao, what happened?"

Zhao Meifeng nodded solemnly, "Brother Jing, the spy sent a secret letter to report that Bai Gao's ironwork appeared in the Jingwang fiefdom!"

Xu Zaijing's eyes widened and he asked in surprise: "Ah?!"

Zhao Meifeng nodded affirmatively.

"So, Your Majesty checked the archives of our return to the capital?"

"Not bad!"

"And the letter with the seal that His Majesty wanted you to see just now, His Majesty ordered someone to check the Ministry of Works, and there is no record of the seal being used."

Seeing Xu Zaijing's puzzled expression, Zhao Meifeng continued, "The seals of various ministries are of great importance. When the seals are used, more than two people must be present and the records must be kept."

Xu Zaijing frowned and nodded, "In other words, the whole thing is fake? The King of Jing sent someone to impersonate an official in the court and took away a craftsman?"

Zhao Meifeng shook his head: "No, the authenticity of the seal needs to be carefully identified by a special person using a crystal mirror! We also need to carefully investigate whether it was sent by King Jing."

After Xu Zaijing nodded, he suddenly looked at Zhao Meifeng and said anxiously, "Brother Zhao! His Majesty has the seal. If anyone knew that His Majesty had checked the archives, wouldn't they be alarmed?"

As he spoke, Xu Zaijing looked at Zhao Meifeng's expression and said hesitantly, "Is this to lure the snake out of its hole?"

Zhao Meifeng nodded approvingly.

"Brother Zhao, why doesn't His Majesty just revoke the King of Jing's fiefdom?"

Listening to Xu Zaijing's innocent question, Zhao Meifeng shook his head and said, "Prince Jing is a member of the royal family and has a noble background. Without ironclad evidence like Prince Yan, Your Majesty cannot directly deprive him of his fiefdom."

"If we seize it, it will be a fratricide, which will easily make the royal family members in the court feel uneasy."

Xu Zaijing said: "Isn't it enough that this Baigao Iron Art appears?"

"Not enough! The King of Jing said that it was framed by others, or it was framed by Your Majesty. What should we do?" Zhao Meifeng took a deep breath and looked at Xu Zaijing and said:
"More importantly, in the days since the recovery of Baigao, there have been nobles in the court who have been advising Your Majesty to take advantage of the situation to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun! Your Majesty is also quite interested! And the southeast where the King of Jing and the King of Tan are is close to Su Lake."

Xu Zaijing nodded and said: "That is the grain-producing area of ​​our Great Zhou, one of the granaries."

Zhao Meifeng said, "That's right! At least 4 million dan of grain should be delivered every year. If there is any problem, Bianjing will be strangled."

"Unfortunately, although Northern Liao and Jin have fought each other recently, the scale is too small, and it is not a good opportunity for our dynasty to send troops! And we don't know which battle will turn into a fatal fight between the two countries."

Seeing the look in Xu Zaijing's eyes, Zhao Meifeng nodded: "Brother Jing, you are right. This is the news sent by my senior brother."

After listening to Zhao Meifeng, Xu Zaijing sighed, "Your Majesty, are you worried that if you divert your attention to the liquidation of King Jing, you may miss the opportunity to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and it may also cause a reduction in production in the Suhu area, which will affect the capital and arouse public anger?"

"Correct."

As he spoke, Zhao Meifeng glanced at Xu Zaijing and said, "Now that His Majesty has a prince and has recovered Baigao, he is even more eager to leave a great empire for His Highness."

Looking at Xu Zaijing who nodded, Zhao Meifeng continued: "Brother Jing, do you have anything else to tell me?"

Xu Zaijing frowned and asked in confusion, "Brother Zhao, what else? I drank some wine with Brother Zhang that day, and I remember the man's appearance. The other thing is what I just said."

Zhao Meifeng seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

At this time, the voice of the clerk came from outside the door: "Master, the painter of the portrait in the office is here."

"come in!"

Listening to Xu Zaijing's story, the painter spent a lot of time to draw a portrait that Xu Zaijing would nod to.

afterwards,

As the sun sets in the west,
Before Xu Zaijing left the Imperial City Courtyard, he said, "Brother Zhao, what shall I say when I leave?"

Zhao Meifeng: "Just say that His Highness summoned you."

outside the palace,

evening,

Chai Family Courtyard,

Chai Zhengzheng sat next to Madam Chai, and together with the master of the Chai family who was drinking a digestive drink, he watched the maid who was clearing the table.

Madam Chai smiled and said, "Zheng Zheng, why don't you go back to your own courtyard?"

Chai Zhengzheng shook his head: "My daughter doesn't want to go back yet."

As he said this, Chai Zhengzheng glanced at his father.

The Chai family master, who was drinking, was stunned for a moment, then put down the porcelain bowl of drink and said, "Okay, let's go out for a walk."

The family of three left the house.
Madam Chai waved to the personal maid behind her, and the maid understood and stopped the maids who followed her behind.

Walking into the garden,
When there was no one around, Chai Zhengzheng asked, "Father, why do you look so unhappy when you come home after entering the palace?"

The Chai family master smiled and looked at Madam Chai in confusion, with a look in his eyes that said, "Is it so obvious?"

Madam Chai looked at her husband and said, "The child will naturally be able to detect it when he grows up! Not only Zheng Zheng wants to know, I want to know too!"

The smile on the face of the master of the Chai family gradually disappeared, and he said in a deep voice: "Okay! His Majesty summoned me to the palace today to ask about the matter of the Bai Gao craftsman."

Glancing at his wife and daughter, the Chai family master continued solemnly, "Someone pretended to be an official from the Ministry of Works and used our family's name to take away a Baigao blacksmith while the Baigao surrendered people were on their way to Beijing."

"what?"

Mrs. Chai opened her eyes wide and couldn't help but screamed, and she grabbed her husband's clothes tightly to avoid losing her composure.

"This..." Chai Zhengzheng hesitated to speak.

The head of the Chai family just nodded heavily.

"Then, sir, what did you tell His Majesty? Who did it? With such vicious intentions!" Madam Chai tugged at the clothes of the master of the Chai family and asked hurriedly.

The head of the Chai family had a sarcastic smile on his face, as if he was mocking the person who did this.

After taking a deep breath, he said, "Fortunately, neither the Yongyi Marquis' Mansion nor the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion told anyone about the Dingzhou Black Gold Carbon!"

"The person in charge only knows that craftsmen are important, but he doesn't know that Dingzhou's black gold charcoal is more important!"

"As for the black gold carbon in Dingzhou, the monthly production is jointly inspected by the Yongyi Marquis' Mansion, the Tuoxi Marquis' Mansion and our family."

"As long as there is no black gold carbon, the appearance of Baigao Iron Art will be nothing more than a flash in the pan!"

Madam Chai frowned: "A flash in the pan? Sir, Bai Gao Tieyi appeared? Where?"

Glancing at Chai Zhengzheng, the Chai family master said softly, "King Jing's fiefdom!"

After the Chai family master finished speaking, Chai Zhengzheng frowned and asked, "Father, without the black gold carbon from Dingzhou, how could the Jing King's fiefdom be..."

The head of the Chai family said, "The Dingzhou black gold charcoal that was transported to the capital earlier was very useful to His Majesty, so he gave a lot of it to the clan members."

"hehe."

Not knowing what he was thinking of, the head of the Chai family chuckled and shook his head.

Chai Zhengzheng looked at the head of the Chai family with concern: "Father, what's wrong? What are you laughing at?"

The Chai family master looked at the worried eyes of his wife and daughter, smiled and waved his hands, saying: "It's okay, I just remembered an interesting thing that His Majesty said today."

Before Madam Chai and Chai Zhengzheng could ask any questions, the Chai family master put away his smile with relief and said, "The matter that Your Majesty asked about is also known to Xu family's Fifth Prince Jing'er!"

Hearing this, Chai Zhengzheng's eyes suddenly widened.

Mrs. Chai glanced at her daughter and asked in confusion, "Sir, what's so interesting about this? Jing'er was in the team when we returned to Beijing!"

The head of the Chai family smiled and said, "This matter is known to the personal soldier of the young master Zhang Fangyan of the Zhang family. This personal soldier is also in Bianjing because he got married. It was this personal soldier who repeated the matter of borrowing our family's name."

Mrs. Chai: “So?”

"When His Majesty asked about Xu Jia Wulang, he did not mention that the official had borrowed our family's name, but only mentioned the matter of the fake official."

Madam Chai felt her daughter on the other side, and suddenly clenched her arm, and hurriedly said: "This, this Jing'er is not deceiving the emperor? This, what should he do in the future?"

Chai Zhengzheng on the side nodded repeatedly.

The head of the Chai family looked at his concerned wife and daughter, smiled and said, "According to your majesty, the personal soldiers of the Zhang family said that the fifth son of the Xu family and the young master of the Zhang family drank a lot of wine that night, and perhaps they forgot because they drank too much."

Mrs. Chai and Chai Zhengzheng breathed a sigh of relief.

The Chai family master continued, "But in the afternoon, when Xu Jiawulang and the imperial city clerk restored the fake official's appearance, they said it in great detail."

"Oh! This, silly child! Why do we need him to avoid suspicion for our family like this!"

Mrs. Chai said anxiously.

The head of the Chai family nodded in agreement and glanced at his daughter.

"Why, sir, do you think Jing'er is only because of our Zhengzheng?"

Listening to Mrs. Chai's words,

The Chai family master did not admit it, but just smiled and said: "Your Majesty has this intention."

Seeing her daughter looking a little disappointed, Madam Chai said, "Sir, why are you laughing? This concerns the future of other people's children!"

"Your Majesty can tell me this, which means that he has no grudges in his heart. You two don't have to worry."

"I look unhappy because I am trying to think of a way to buy more food for Your Majesty in the southeast."

Seeing his wife and daughter's faces showing no signs of relaxation, the Chai family's master continued, "Maybe Xu's Fifth Brother knows that words cannot be spoken carelessly."

Madam Chai nodded, looked at the master of the Chai family and said, "Sir, this is what His Majesty meant. Do you think that what Xu Jia Wulang said was due to our family's Zheng Zheng?"

The head of the Chai family thought for a moment, then looked at his daughter: "I haven't seen this child express anything! And it's related to his future! But whether he meant it or not, our family owes the Xu family a favor for the Dingzhou black gold charcoal matter."

Yong Yi Hou Mansion,

After dinner, Xu Zaijing, who had a few drinks with Zaizhang, walked through the corridor and into the courtyard.
The light dimmed, and only the lantern held by the maid was lit, flickering in and out. The insects in the garden kept chirping.

The atmosphere around me was vaguely similar to the day I returned to Beijing.

The tipsy Xu Zaijing suddenly remembered what Zhao Meifeng had asked him in the afternoon.

Xu Zaijing thought about it carefully again, then stopped with his eyes wide open. He sobered up instantly and whispered, "It's broken!"

(End of this chapter)