After Xiao Fubao's life was stolen, he became the favorite of everyone in the capital

Chapter 408 You Deliver It Yourself

Gu Mingda placed his hand on the book of military tactics and said, "This book comes from the Xie family. I have heard of this book Ding Yuan Lu before. It is one of the military tactics written by Xie Shenjiang, the ancestor of the Xie family. The Xie family has always been reluctant to lend it to outsiders. The person who can get this book may be helped by the person behind Wu Wulang. Please send someone to General Xie's house to ask who has copied this book for."

The prefect of Jingzhao immediately became alert. He wrote a handwritten order on the spot and asked his confidant to take it to the Xie family.

They just wanted a copy of the list, not the book. If the Xie family knew the seriousness of the problem, they would not shirk their responsibility.

Sure enough, the Xie family quickly sent over a list.

"The Xie family said that they have always valued this book and had shown it to outsiders after rereading it in the past. But ten years ago, the Xie family seemed to have figured it out and no longer hid the book from others as they did in the past. However, everyone who copied the book promised not to spread it around. This is the list of people who have borrowed the book in the past ten years." The confidant came back quickly.

The list was sent to the Jingzhao prefect, who immediately handed it to Gu Mingda and asked, "Master Gu, take a look. Are there any people among them who have a grudge against you?"

After Gu Mingda took the list, he saw that there were not many names on it, and the one in the middle was Li Ziqin's name.

He pointed at Li Ziqin's name.

The Jingzhao prefect was so frightened that he almost took two steps back: "Master Li? Aren't you and him from the same hometown? How come you have a conflict?"

Li Ziqin is now a third-rank official, and he made a great contribution to saving the emperor not long ago. There is also a queen in the palace who has been favored for many years but has only just fallen out of favor this year. The prefect of Jingzhao does not want to offend the Li family.

Gu Mingda pointed to several other names on the list and said, "In the past ten years, a total of five people have copied this book. Three of them are now on the battlefield and have not returned to Beijing for many years. Another one has passed away. Who else can we suspect except Lord Li?"

Jingzhao Prefecture Governor frowned and asked, "Master Gu, when did the feud between you and Master Li start? And what was the reason?"

Gu Mingda said: "Lord Li once wanted to win me over, but I refused."

Gu Mingda was reluctant to talk about Li Zhaoyi. After all, as long as this person was involved with Niu Niu, even if Niu Niu had done nothing wrong, just the rumor that the other party did not like Niu Niu might damage Niu Niu's reputation. He could not let his daughter's reputation be overshadowed.

When Jingzhao prefect heard this, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Master Gu, Master Li doesn't seem to be a petty person. He would hold a grudge just because of such a small matter. Master Gu might as well think about it again. Is there anyone else who has such a motive?"

However, Gu Mingda felt that the case had been thoroughly investigated at this point.

He is not a fool. He has been attacked by the censor in the court during this period. With so many people acting together, it is natural that news will spread. Gu Mingda also has several friends in the court. They have long been reminded and hinted that the person who is pushing the censor's actions behind the scenes is Li Ziqin.

More importantly, he also received a letter from the magistrate of Guang'an County a few days ago.

Someone from the Li family went to Guang'an County to inquire about Gu Mingda's background and even checked the files related to Zhang Guangzong. The magistrate of Guang'an County had no way to refuse the people from the Li family.

After all, the Li family can be said to have absolute power in the entire Guanglin Prefecture. Although the Guang'an County Magistrate cooperated with the Li family and showed them everything they should and shouldn't see, he still remembered his past friendship with Gu Mingda, so he asked someone to send the letter as quickly as possible.

"Sir, you just need to tell His Majesty the result. His Majesty will make his own judgment on the truth." Gu Mingda said.

Jingzhao prefect listened with doubt. He originally thought that he could take some credit, but he didn't expect that the Li family would be involved. From his perspective, Gu Mingda was retaliated against just for rejecting the olive branch from the Li family. He went to the emperor to speak ill of the Li family, and he didn't know whether the Li family would retaliate. "This... is there really no other result? Otherwise, you can investigate it in detail?" Jingzhao prefect wanted to struggle, and kept hinting that Gu Mingda should find another scapegoat.

Gu Mingda shook his head and said, "Lord Li, the capital is under the feet of the emperor. Nothing that happens can be hidden from the emperor. Just tell people that I found out about these things. If there are any consequences, I will bear them all."

No matter how reluctant he was, the prefect of Jingzhao still reported the result to the emperor.

To be honest, after listening to the whole process, the emperor also believed that these things were done by the Li family.

"Although those thieves are dead, the case of child trafficking still needs to be investigated thoroughly. This batch of children have been rescued, but you must do your best to find the many children who were lost before." The emperor did not mention the punishment of the Li family, but asked about another case.

The Jingzhao prefect was also troubled by this matter and said, "Your Majesty, Wu Wulang has an unclear relationship with the Li family. If Your Majesty really wants to investigate the child trafficking, please allow me to interrogate Lord Li."

The prefect of Jingzhao said this deliberately because he knew that the emperor would definitely refuse such an outrageous request.

It had only been a short time since Li Ziqin rescued the emperor. The emperor would not let Li Ziqin fall into such a situation at this time.

The emperor had no children of his own in the past, so he didn't feel much when he heard about this case. But now that his child is about to be born, he immediately felt the same way.

At this time, both the king and his ministers present knew that if they wanted to find out the whereabouts of these children, the fastest way was to capture the Li family and interrogate them.

The emperor frowned and said, "If you feel it is inconvenient to handle this case, let Gu Mingda handle it."

At this time, the emperor had already begun to feel that the Jingzhao prefect's ability to do his job was questionable. Zhang Yunniang's case had clearly been handed over to him, but in the end it was all led by Gu Mingda.

Although the prefect of Jingzhao was unhappy that Yu Gu Mingda showed up in front of the emperor, he also knew that this was a hot potato.

As for Li Zhaoyi in the harem, now Lady Li, her face was as gloomy as water. Ever since she knew that Niu Niu had left the palace and returned to her family, she had been smashing things in her own palace for several days.

"What an impatient thing! She's just a child! But she wants to show off and use some witchcraft!" Lady Li cursed viciously.

Concubine Liu practiced witchcraft because she was jealous of Concubine Shun. It was clearly not Concubine Li who ordered this, and even Concubine Liu did not implicate Concubine Li during the interrogation. However, the Empress Dowager said that everyone in the harem knew that Concubine Liu always followed Concubine Li's orders, and used this as an excuse to demote Zhaoyi Li to Concubine Li.

No matter how ferocious Lady Li appeared, she could not hide the fear in her heart.

"It's back to the way it was... Everything is back to normal... All effort in vain..." Lady Li muttered to herself.

The servants didn't dare to come in at all. Miss Li San looked at her aunt's crazy look and hid in the corner, trembling with fear.

"I don't accept it! I don't accept it! I still have His Majesty! I am the woman he loves the most!" Lady Li suddenly rummaged through her dressing box and took out an old purse.

She turned around and walked quickly to her niece's side, picking her up and saying, "I don't trust anyone else. You have to deliver such an important thing to the emperor in person!"