King of Han Dynasty of Ming Dynasty

Hear the words.

Everyone's eyes subconsciously focused on Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu did not answer after hearing this. He turned to look at the servants in Yuan's house who were lying on the ground covered in blood and bruises due to torture. He smelled the heavy smell of blood in the courtyard and frowned subconsciously. He asked:

"Lord Ji"

"After interrogating so many people, do you have any information about the Yuan family and others leaving Linchuan City?"

"Or in other words, did you find anything useful during the interrogation?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Gang's expression became solemn, and a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face. He shook his head helplessly, and said with helplessness:

"Go back to your lord."

"I'm sorry I'm incompetent."

"All the direct descendants of the Yuan family have disappeared."

"The people left in the mansion are all slaves and servants."

"I have been presiding over the trial for such a long time."

"No one knows the whereabouts of the Yuan family and others. The only useful information is the secret passage left by the Yuan family."

"However, before we entered the courtyard to arrest them, the entire secret passage was filled with dirt from the courtyard by the servants and maids of the Yuan family at the request of the head of the Yuan family when he left. Many places were even collapsed."

"So far, the Jinyiwei and soldiers are still working hard to clear the way."

"According to the report from the subordinates just now and the description of these servants, the length of the earth they filled will take about two hours to completely clear the passage. However, the prerequisite is that the passage ahead is not deliberately collapsed when the Yuan family evacuated."

"If the passage behind collapses, I cannot guarantee the time it will take to clear it."

Dele.

It's as if he didn't say it.

To sum it up in one sentence, everything depends on God's will.

Following Ji Gang’s report.

Zhu Gaoxu's face became visibly gloomy, his brows were furrowed, and his expression was full of solemnity.

Then, he pondered for a moment, then turned to look at the dozen slaves who had just been escorted in, trembling with fear and looking terrified, and had not yet been interrogated, and shouted in vain:

"Do you understand it clearly?"

"When your master left, did he ask you to prepare some dry food for you? Or did he bring any dry food with him?"

"How many people from the Yuan family disappeared in the mansion?"

The slaves who were named and questioned.

Everyone looked terrified, especially when they saw the colleague who had just been escorted in for interrogation. He had been in a daze and in a state of panic since he came in. He had not recovered from his fear when facing Zhu Gaoxu's questioning. He was completely confused and had no intention or desire to answer his questions. Everyone stared at their former colleague lying in a pool of blood, their expressions looking a little numb.

The Jinyiwei who was in charge of the escort saw the situation in front of them.

He ran towards the servant who was nearby and kicked her fiercely, knocking the dazed servant to the ground, and shouted angrily:
"Bastard thing."

"What are you in a daze for? What are you staring at?"

"What did Prince Han ask you?"

"Are all of them deaf and dumb?"

"Why don't you answer quickly? Do you need us to give you some tough time and torture before you are willing to speak?"

The slave girl fell to the ground in pain and screamed subconsciously.

Then, he heard the threats and warnings, smelled the heavy smell of blood in the courtyard, and saw his former colleagues lying in a pool of blood. He couldn't help but tremble. In an instant, he seemed to have forgotten the pain of being kicked hard just now. He quickly got up from the ground and said hurriedly:
"No, no, please don't do that, sir."

"We say what we say, we say everything."

Say it.

The servant looked terrified, and after a moment's hesitation, she simply sorted out her thoughts and continued:
"Back to your lord."

"There are a total of 18 people in the Yuan family. They disappeared in the mansion."

"When the master and his men left, they did not ask the people below to prepare any dry food or other food."

"An hour before the master and his companions disappeared, the master had instructed us to enter the inner courtyard on time an hour later. If we see any holes or secret passages, we should use materials from the garden without any orders. The length of the holes should not be less than 16 meters."

"I wait."

"All of this is the master's order, not our wish. I beg Your Majesty to understand."

"Please give me a chance to survive!!"

"I"

The words of begging for mercy were not yet finished.

Zhu Gaoxu simply waved his hand at the servant who was begging for mercy, signaling her to shut up, and then frowned and fell into deep thought.

However, in response to Zhu Gaoxu's wave, the servant girl who was responsible for answering seemed not to have seen or understood his meaning, and she was still trying to beg for mercy and speak well of herself and others.

The Jinyiwei who was standing nearby and was responsible for escorting him wanted to scold him when he saw that he was so tactless.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu lost in thought, the scolding that was about to come out of his mouth was held back by him.

Afterwards, he drew out the big knife from his waist with a "swish" and placed it directly on the neck of the slave who was begging for mercy for him. He put his finger between her tightly closed lips, signaling her to shut her mouth that was begging for mercy.

Feeling the sharp, biting chill coming from her neck, the slave girl with the sword at her neck instantly had goose bumps all over her skin.

Then, he had to smile awkwardly, shut his mouth that was about to start explaining, gave an apologetic smile to the Jinyiwei who had the sword on his neck, shut his mouth obediently, and stood aside respectfully and tremblingly, not daring to make a sound.

Seeing that he was so tactful, the Jinyiwei put away their swords and waited quietly by the side, awaiting orders.

That's it.
Almost a cup of tea passed.

Zhu Gaoxu, who was deep in thought with his brows furrowed, slowly came back to his senses from his daze, a meaningful smile appeared on his slightly raised lips, and he snorted coldly:

"Interesting. Interesting. Getting more interesting."

"As expected of a businessman, his understanding of human nature and people's habitual thinking is beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"Hahaha"

Say it.

Zhu Gaoxu laughed loudly, then looked at the servant beside him and asked again:

"Yuan Mansion"

"Does the master you are waiting for often ask you to prepare dry food, or prepare a large amount of food?"

"If so, how much rations are there? Is there a specific amount?"

This statement came out.

The servant was slightly startled, then after a brief pause, she bowed and replied:
"Reply...Reply, Your Majesty."

“Yes…it really exists.”

"Since the Yuan family established the mansion, the head of the Yuan family has required us to prepare half a month's worth of food for the mansion's master on the first day of every month."

"This rule has been in place since the establishment of the Yuan Mansion."

It really is.

After receiving a definite answer, the intriguing smile on Zhu Gaoxu's face became even more intense. He looked at the servant with a half-smile and asked:
"These are the extra rations."

"Where does your master tell you to store it on the first day of every month?"

"Or where to send it to?"

After hearing this, I was startled. I didn't dare to be negligent in the slightest, so I quickly replied:
"Replying to Your Majesty." "The master did not ask us to store these extra rations anywhere specifically."

"Just let us store them normally in the warehouse inside the mansion."

"And these rations, which are the master's minimum rations, seem to be stored in the warehouse and have never been touched. At the beginning of each month when we clean the warehouse and replace them with fresh ones, they are still there, covered with dust, as if they have never been touched."

For such an answer.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in satisfaction, sneered, and murmured in a low voice:
"Not moved?"

"hehe."

"I'm afraid it has already moved silently, but you guys are just unaware and kept in the dark."

"But it seems that this Yuan family is not simple!"

"From the beginning of the establishment of the government, we have been considering the way out and the way out."

"It seems that he had anticipated the possible crisis that might be encountered."

"But I don't know whether the Yuan family is on guard against officials who may conduct a strict investigation on them, or is it on guard against the mastermind who is trying to silence them."

"But it doesn't matter. No matter how smart you are and how flawless you are, as long as you have done something, no matter how well you hide it or how many traps you set up, there will always be traces. You can't escape, and you can't erase all the traces and clues."

There was a brief silence.

Zhu Gaoxu's frown relaxed, and he waved to Ji Gang who was standing beside him, saying:

"Lord Ji"

"Let all the Jinyiwei and soldiers responsible for clearing the secret passage stop."

"Meaningless."

"I'm afraid that no one from the Yuan family left through the secret passage."

"I'm afraid all the people are still living in this mansion."

"As for the so-called secret passage, he ordered his servants to fill it up, and had people deliberately collapse the passage. He was afraid that all the seemingly clear clues were deliberately set up to confuse us, using our inertial thinking to try to lead us by the nose and conceal their real hiding place."

These words were like a thunder that exploded throughout the courtyard.

"what?"

Everyone subconsciously exclaimed, and looked at each other, looking at Zhu Gaoxu in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Among the crowd, Ji Gang was the first to come to his senses. He looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a changed look, his expression was full of surprise, and his words became stammering unconsciously:
"This, this, this..."

"Your Majesty, what do you mean..."

"How is this possible? How...how dare they?"

"How dare you, playing tricks in the dark!"

"Aren't you afraid..."

After hearing this.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ji Gang, a hint of sarcasm flashed across his face, and he said in a deep voice:
"Why is it impossible?"

"Why can't we play in the dark?"

"Master Ji, how long have you been directing people to dig out the blocked secret passage?"

"How long have you been interrogating these slaves?"

"Do you subconsciously think that all the people in the Yuan family have disappeared and left through the secret passage?"

"Even when I arrived just now, I heard that Lord Ji was about to disperse all the Jinyiwei and soldiers in the city to search for the Yuan family like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Doesn't this just happen to represent the success of others?"

"Does it also mean that we are being led by others and have fallen into a trap prepared by others in advance?"

"To put it bluntly, after discovering the secret passage in the Yuan Mansion, did your Jinyiwei and even the soldiers thoroughly explore and search the entire Yuan Mansion?"

"Have you focused all your energy on the secret passages and interrogating slaves and servants?"

"Master Ji..."

"Do you think what the king said is right?"

"Does your analysis make sense?"

This statement.

The question directly stunned Ji Gang, who was speechless and could not find any reason to refute or refute.

There is no other reason.

He was ordered to arrest the Yuan family.

I'm afraid that what happened during this period was exactly as Zhu Gaoxu described and narrated.

After discovering the secret passage, he did not give any special instructions and just asked his men to dig deep underground to find the Yuan family.

They subconsciously believed that the Yuan family left through the secret passage.

Afterwards, he directed people to clear the secret passage in an orderly manner, hoping to open up the secret passage and track down the traces of all the members of the Yuan family.

And he, as the person in charge, thought so and gave such orders.

The attitude of the people below can be imagined.

Naturally, they subconsciously gave up the strict and harsh search of the Yuan family mansion.

Instead, everyone's eyes were focused on the secret passage.

Thus, certain things are overlooked.

After figuring out the twists and turns, Ji Gang's face turned pale, as if all the blood had been lost in an instant. He was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, and the robe on his back was wet with sweat without him noticing.

The look he gave Zhu Gaoxu changed involuntarily, he knelt straight down and apologized:

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for clearing up my confusion."

"I... almost fell into the trap of the bad guys and ruined the prince's plan."

"I beg your lord to punish me."

Seeing Ji Gang kneeling, Zhu Gaoxu shrugged without comment, stretched out his hand to pull him up, then patted Ji Gang's shoulder heavily, chuckled, shook his head and said:
"okay."

"No mention of punishment first."

"This king knows it clearly in his heart."

"As far as this matter is concerned, I am afraid that even if I were to put myself in your shoes, I would not be much better than you and would also fall into misunderstandings."

"In this matter, I was able to see through the Yuan family's plan, but I had the advantage of being an outsider rather than an insider."

"This is not a crime of war, but the enemy is too cunning."

"Catching the thief first is the top priority now."

Say it.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled, nodded and continued:

"Let's go!"

"Master Ji..."

"Come with me to see who is the head of the Yuan family who was able to fool the experienced commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei of the imperial court." (End of this chapter)