The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 372 Having trouble sleeping and eating
Li Yifu looked at the young man from an aristocratic family with joy in his eyes and said, "I am the imperial censor of the court. I have been ordered to investigate the case. Let alone seven years, even if it takes seventeen years, I will find out the answer."

He looked at the group of people and asked, "Where is Master Cui Ren?"

"do not know."

"I don't know?" Li Yifu raised his voice, dismounted, ignored the servants who were protecting this young man from aristocratic family, and walked into the crowd alone.

When I got closer, I smelled medicine on the other person, and he looked very sick.

Cui Renshu first looked at the servants around him, then stepped back from Li Yifu and said, "I plead guilty."

"Confess?"

"what are you up to?"

Li Yifu raised his foot and kicked Cui Renshu.

The man was kicked into the mud immediately, and Cui Renshu's coughing became more intense.

Raindrops kept falling on him. Seeing that the servants were about to surround him, Li Yifu suddenly turned around, glared at them, and shouted angrily, "Let's see who dares!"

Just this roar made the servants tremble with fear. They dropped the sticks in their hands and did not dare to step forward to protect their master.

Cui Renshu fell to the ground and suddenly laughed, remembering what happened half a month ago.

Half a month ago, in Pingyin County, Cui Renshu brought a doctor into a courtyard. The doctor examined Cui Renshu's pulse for a long time, then walked out of the courtyard and said, "Mr. Cui, I'm afraid he won't live long."

Cui Renshi whispered: "Can you let him live a little longer?"

The doctor thought for a moment, looked at the many disciples standing behind Master Cui Ren, and said, "That's fine."

Cui Renshi bowed and said, "Thank you for your help."

After a few days of recuperation, Cui Renshu clearly felt that his condition had improved. He said, "Thank you for your help, brother."

When he left Chang'an, Cui Renshi was still in his prime, but now he has a lot of white hair.

Over the years, Cui Renshi traveled around, but the roots of the aristocratic families were rotten. He wanted the aristocratic families to unite again, but things went against his wishes. The gentry in Hebei refused to help the gentry in Fan Yang.

If it weren't for his belief in being a descendant of a nobleman, which kept Cui Renshi persisting, he would probably have given up long ago.

He can still remember the young man's astonished and confused look when he pushed Lu Yuan into the lake. Cui Renshi often dreams of him.

The court was pressing him step by step and he was almost on the verge of collapse.

Yes, the court never said that it would kill all the noble families, but just the Wei Ting case implicated so many people, and so many people were killed by the court.

Cui Renshi has aged very quickly these years. His white hair has increased year by year, and now it almost outnumbers his black hair. He whispered, "When I first learned that Wei Ting was appointed as the transport envoy, and the emperor was on an expedition to the east, Wei Ting and the Jingzhao Wei family wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to annex the land."

"I tried to dissuade them at first, but they didn't listen and even became more aggressive. Yes... the court never said they wanted to kill all the noble families. They were just killing some guilty people. The emperor was away on a military campaign, and they dared to take advantage of the opportunity to annex the land in the rear. Don't they deserve to die..."

After a pause, Cui Renshi continued, "They deserve to die, they really deserve to die!"

"Cough cough cough..."

Hearing his brother cough, Choi In-shi patted his back.

"Sir, people from Jiangnan are here." The disciple's voice was heard outside the door.

"I know."

"Please hurry up and go to Jiangnan. Don't waste any more time."

Cui Renshi ignored the words outside, looked at his brother, and said, "The doctor said you don't have much time left."

Cui Renshu slowly opened his eyes.

"You have been ignorant since you were a child. You have been taking medicine for many years and indulging in alcohol and sex. It is because I have not taken good care of you."

Cui Renshu kept shaking his head.

Cui Renshi looked outside the door, sat on the edge of the couch, and whispered, "You know the case of Lu Yuan's family. They must die, otherwise more people will be implicated. I had people kill Lu Yuan's family, but the people in the court smelled it, and once they bite, they will not let go."

"Shu, I am willing to help my brother."

Cui Renshi whispered, "Thank you for your help."

Cui Renshu smiled and said, "It was my brother who protected me. I have done many wrong things over the years, and it was my brother who helped me cover them up. I should repay my brother."

There was another urging voice outside the door, and Cui Renshi ordered: "As long as you do something eye-catching, people sent by the court will come to find you."

Cui Renshu said: "Shu knows what to do."

Cui Renshi walked out of the house again. He didn't know what he was insisting on. Who could save this family that was rotten to the core?

Before leaving, Cui Renshi looked at a temple and bowed reverently.

When Cui Renshi left Pingyin County with a few people from Jiangnan, he saw the mute again.

The mute laughed, uttered some shouts, and indicated with his hands that he had been looking for him for a long time.

"You should also go to Jiangnan with me."

The mute nodded with a smile on his face, "Uh uh uh..."

A sound came out of his mouth.

When Cui Renshi turned around again, the mute suddenly took out a knife from his waist and stabbed it into Cui Renshi's lower back.

Cui Renshi stood there as if he had been electrocuted.

The mute stabbed her several times and said, "You deserve to die! You killed her whole family!"

The mute actually spoke. Cui Renshi slowly turned around and stared at the mute in surprise.

Cui Renshi's guards rushed forward, took out their knives and slashed at the mute.

"You killed someone, you deserve to die!" The mute was stabbed several times, left these words and fell in a pool of blood.

Cui Renshi also fell in a pool of blood and was lifeless.

The rain continued to fall. After Cui Renshu was captured, the county magistrate of Pingyin County sent news that they had found two bodies, one of which was Cui Renshi.

The magistrate of Pingyin County said: "The perpetrators may be a group of people from Jiangnan."

Li Yifu looked at the two corpses in silence.

Shangguan Yi said: "Take the body away and track down the murderer."

"Yes." The magistrate of Pingyin County bowed and took his leave.

The corpse was taken out, and Li Yifu also walked out of the government office tiredly. He sat down on the steps in front of the government office with a painful look on his face, staring at the wet ground in a daze.

When I first saw this mute, I was even complacent for a while, but I still lost control and became like this.

Du Zhenglun came over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Yifu whispered, "I should have done better."

Du Zhenglun said: "Cui Renshu confessed that it was all done by his brothers, but we don't know who the other person who died was."

Li Yifu stood up and left quickly. He didn't want to tell anyone about the mute. That was the mute's secret. Since it was a secret, there was no need to let the world know.

Someone brought news that Your Majesty is only two days away from Bozhou.

After the weather cleared up again, Li Yifu buried the mute.

Shangguan Yi came over in his official uniform and said, "His household registration has been changed. From now on, he is a native of Bozhou and no longer a household slave."

Li Yifu took the transfer book and said, "Thank you very much."

"The man is dead, and you are still doing this for him."

Li Yifu burned the household register in front of his tombstone and whispered, "He was a family slave all his life." Shangguan Yi whispered, "Cui Renshu took charge of everything. He died of illness in prison last night."

"We didn't do a good enough job. We didn't check fast enough, we didn't check enough, we didn't check enough people, we should be more sensitive and act faster."

Shangguan Yi took out a letter, handed it to him, and said, "I asked someone to send a letter to the prince about what happened here. This is the prince's reply, and he has instructions for you."

Li Yifu took the letter, read the contents, and said, "Investigate all parts of Jiangnan to find the murderer. Establish a supervision team. The personnel will be selected by the Supervisory Censor Li Yifu. The case will be solved without a time limit. We will investigate to the end."

After seeing the contents of the letter, Li Yifu raised his head and said, "Thank you very much."

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "You're welcome."

Li Yifu said, "I am thanking the prince."

Shangguan Yi said unhappily: "You really don't know what's good for you. I've been running around for you..."

"I am just an ignorant person, what do you think?"

"you……"

Li Yifu smiled with relief, patted the tombstone heavily and said, "Old brother, I will be a good censor."

In May of the 20th year of Zhenguan, the emperor arrived in Bozhou.

The emperor came by boat, traveling all the way along the Yellow River. The ship was anchored on the river. The ship was very large, but not gorgeous.

It is far inferior to the luxury of Yang Guang back then.

When Li Chengqian and his father got off the boat, they saw the subjects of Bozhou standing by the Yellow River to greet them.

Li Zhi and Li Shen came running over and said, "Father, brother."

Li Shimin looked at his two sons who had grown taller and said, "I will teach you two a lesson after I have asked you about everything in Bozhou."

The affairs of Bozhou cannot be hidden from my father.

Li Zhi stepped aside and saw his mother getting off the boat. He hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Mother, my sister."

Li Lizhi led Xiao Yutu and Xiao Que'er off the boat and ignored her two younger brothers.

Li Zhi stood beside his mother tactfully.

Empress Changsun looked at the subjects all over the city and whispered, "Did you get into trouble?"

"My son had a fight with someone."

"Your sister said you were stupid, and that's true."

Li Zhi really wanted to explain the reason for this incident, but he didn't know where to start, so he could only lower his head with an attitude of admitting his mistake.

Li Chengqian followed his father's footsteps and walked into Bozhou City.

Along the way, Shangguan Yi talked about many things about Bozhou and its current governance situation.

My father was listening to the report all the way.

Li Shen followed his brother and asked, "When are we going to Mount Tai?"

Li Chengqian walked along the streets of Bozhou City with his hands in his pockets and said, "We'll go to Mount Tai when we're done here. You and Zhinu will go with us."

Li Shen nodded and said, "What happened in Hebei has a great impact on Bozhou."

"After all, this is Shandong, and there are many noble families here, so it is inevitable that there will be some influence."

After my father arrived in Bozhou, he met some old friends.

Li Zhi and Li Shen took Yu Tu and Xiao Que'er out for fun.

The affairs of Bozhou fell on the prince.

In the mansion of the General of the Bozhou Garrison, Li Chengqian was looking at a file in his hand. In front of him stood Li Yifu, Shangguan Yi, and Du Zhenglun.

The three of them bowed and waited for His Highness to ask questions.

Li Chengqian rubbed his brows after reading the file and said, "It's more complicated than expected."

The three of them were silent again. After three years in Bozhou, these were the only achievements they had made. Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince beat and scolded them, they would accept it.

Li Chengqian said: "Since the Han and Wei dynasties, the aristocratic families have almost monopolized state affairs. You can say that this is the emperor's compromise with the local governments, or the emperor is happy to see it happen. After that, ordinary people and the aristocratic families have almost become two different people. How can we govern the world like this?"

In other words, if being an emperor requires considering the opinions of local people, what kind of emperor would that be?
Li Chengqian didn't know how the emperors of previous dynasties came to be, nor did he know how they became emperors.

The society of this world is of great importance and cannot be summed up in a single word.

Of course, from my own point of view, only by changing the environment can we change people. The teaching cause must continue, and there is still a long way to go.

Li Chengqian said: "I knew what was going on here when I came here."

Li Jingheng, the right commander of the Eastern Palace, had already delivered the news to him, even faster than Shangguan Yi.

Li Yifu said: "It is my fault that I did not do it well."

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "This is not your problem. It's that you don't have enough manpower. I heard from Sun Fujia that he relies on arresting thieves for his whole life. That is his ability. He makes catching thieves his profession. In the end, you are not professional enough."

"You need some people who make a living by investigating cases. Such people need strong professional ability. I asked you to establish a supervision team because I hope that such things will get better and better in the future. I don't set a time limit so that every case will be investigated."

Li Yifu said loudly: "I understand. Only in this way will those people be afraid and terrified."

"As for the selection of personnel, you can decide for yourself. After you go to Jiangnan, you can mobilize troops from all over the country if necessary."

Li Yifu said loudly: "I obey your command."

Shangguan Yi said: "Your Highness, in order to cover up their mistakes, they will do more things to hide them, but as long as they do so, there will be traces left."

Shangguan Yi felt a little regretful after saying this. He admired Li Yifu very much. When he said he would go to the south of the Yangtze River, he went there immediately.

Li Chengqian said again: "Everyone, please leave."

"Here."

After both of them stepped back, there was still a person standing in front of them.

Li Chengqian asked, "Minister Du, do you have anything else to do?"

Du Zhenglun looked tangled, his eyebrows almost twisted together, and he said, "I heard that Du He is going to be kicked out of the house?"

"If you are concerned about him, you can help Du He. He is just doing business and he is not guilty of any serious crime. Anyway, I am going to take Shangguan Yi away, so you can follow me."

Du Zhenglun hurriedly said, "Yes."

"And more." Li Chengqian placed the file on the table and ordered, "All officials on the list who are related to Cui Renshi and Cui Renshu should be investigated and dealt with."

Du Zhenglun hurried away with the file.

In the Jingzhao Du family, Du He was in an awkward situation. Only his cousin Du Zhenglun could compete with Du Gou and protect him.

After staying in Bozhou for half a month, Li Chengqian settled many issues in Bozhou, replaced more than 60 local officials, sent them to Luoyang for trial, and then set out for Mount Tai again with his father.

Bozhou is only five or six days' walk from Mount Tai.

Inside the carriage, Empress Changsun rubbed His Majesty's temple and said, "We are about to reach Mount Tai, why is Your Majesty still so worried?"

Li Shimin said: "Now there are rumors in various prefectures that officials in various counties and prefectures have been unable to sleep or eat well recently."

"Why?"

"Why else? Look at how miserable the officials who were taken to Luoyang were crying."

(End of this chapter)