History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 421 Clues, Considerations
At midnight, the bells of Yaoguang Temple in the north and Baode Temple in the south of the city rang out one after the other, announcing the passing of a day. The sound of the bells covered Luoyang City. Wei Yao and her entourage, who had just emerged from the dungeon, all had bloodshot eyes. When the bells fell silent, Lu Gongzhi sighed, "May the Xue family know in the afterlife that their grievances will no longer be buried underground, but will finally be recorded in the case files and brought to light."

Unfortunately, Xue Zhixiao was merely an arrow whose fate was not in his own hands. The mastermind who controlled his destiny and ordered him to assassinate Wei Yao was still tightly wrapped in a cocoon. To find out this mastermind, one had to patiently unravel the mystery from case to case.

Gu Kai was uneasy about setting a trap tomorrow morning to lure Xue Zhixiao's accomplices out. He asked Wei Yao, "I know that taking Xue Laizi to the palace is to show his accomplices that the government has confirmed that Xue Laizi is the bandit who assassinated the Vice Minister. But I don't understand why he is being taken to the palace and not sent to the imperial prison?"

Wei Yao: "If Xue Zhixiao couldn't withstand the severe interrogation, he would have confessed in the Sizhou government dungeon. Why go to the imperial prison to be tortured in a different place? Such serious cases are rarely carried out by one person. Knowing that the prisoner has accomplices, why did the government take the risk of transferring him to the imperial prison? Don't his accomplices suspect that it's a trap?"

Gu Kai: "Understood."

With a multitude of thoughts running through her mind, Wei Yao felt no sleepiness. Instead of returning to the Court of Justice, she borrowed a small room near the dungeon and wrote down whatever came to mind on paper.

The first thing written was "Xue Zhixiao, Canal Transport".

Before his death, Xue Zhixiao held the official position of "Grand Minister of Agriculture," in charge of transporting grain by water.

Wei Yao impersonated the mastermind. She forced Xue Zhixiao to disfigure himself, secretly investigated his family, and forced him to hide as an ordinary fisherman for a year. Was it all just to assassinate an official? No, if it was her, the main purpose of her going to such lengths to control Xue Zhixiao must be related to the benefits of the position of "Grand Minister of Agriculture"!

In short, whoever held the position of "Grand Minister of Agriculture" at that time was doomed!

So, following this clue, she wanted to investigate two things: first, who succeeded Xue Zhixiao as "Grand Minister of Agriculture"; and second, who could quickly learn of Xue Zhixiao's appointment and had the ability to investigate his family situation.

Add three more words to Wei Yao's name: High martial prowess.

The person who planned this was far more powerful than Xue Zhixiao.

She then wrote "Liu Shun, Liu Teng, Liang Xuantong, Zhang Anji".

According to Xue Zhixiao's confession, after being released from the cellar, he lived the life of Xue Laizi, a fisherman. Liu Shun was the eldest son of the eunuch Liu Teng, and Liu Shun bought fish from him every month to provide him with enough food to help him pay taxes. It was Liu Shun who delivered the order to assassinate her to him.

Wei Yao added two more characters between Liu Shun and Liu Teng: Imperial Palace.

Although Wei Yao had many guesses about the "mastermind," one thing was certain: the other party was a powerful and influential person! It was fine for a powerful and influential person to give orders to a nobody like Liu Shun once or twice, but it would be inconvenient to meet him frequently. It was not appropriate for the powerful and influential person to frequently visit the environment where Liu Shun lived, or for Liu Shun to frequently visit the environment where the powerful and influential person lived and played.

If the two insisted on meeting directly, why didn't the "mastermind" go directly to "Xue Laizi"? Therefore, Wei Yao deduced that there was at least one person between Liu Shun and the "mastermind"!

This person is very likely Liu Shun's adoptive father, the eunuch Liu Teng.

When Wei Yao was teaching at the palace school, she had several dealings with this eunuch, but afterwards she rarely heard any rumors about him, which shows that her official career was mediocre.

She wrote "Liang Xuantong" after Liu Teng because Liu Teng's other adopted son, Liu Hun, had been instigated to foolishly follow her. Liu Teng was afraid of her mother, so he went outside the palace to explain the matter to her. In his explanation, he mentioned the female official "Liang Xuantong".

In late winter two years ago, Liang Xuantong was murdered in a corner of Yongxiang Palace. The murderer was never found. Liang Xuantong was a servant of Zhang Anji, a female official in charge of the Imperial Food Bureau. Zhang Anji used the news of Liang Xuantong's violent death to spread rumors in the palace. She was arrested and imprisoned in the Palace Prison, where she died.

The order to arrest Zhang Anji was issued by Wang Xian when he was serving as a royal physician. Wei Yao had no suspicions about Wang Xian, but was there any deliberate scheming involved in Zhang Anji's demotion from her position as "Imperial Food Supervisor"?
Is there really no way to find out the cause of Liang Xuantong's death?

Is this murder case related to Liu Teng?
Wei Yao put down her brush and pondered.

Xue Laizi was a fisherman. Xue Zhixiao said he had never sold fish to the fish market she was investigating south of the pontoon bridge.

Does this prove that the mastermind behind Xue Zhixiao's actions was unrelated to the forces that framed He Erhun and killed Wu Bo'an?
"Is it possible that she deliberately avoided it?" Wei Yao wondered to herself, and as she pondered, she fell asleep at her desk.

In her dream, snowflakes surged from the sky and poured down to the earth. Yuan Mao rode his horse through the thick snow and called out to her, "I'm back. Did you miss me?"

Wei Yao opened her eyes. If it weren't for the water clock showing the time, she would have thought she had only dozed off for a short while.

"Looks like I've been missing you," she smiled and murmured to herself.

Yuan Mao went to another county to supervise the county magistrate's administration; he should be back soon. These days of separation seem endless; I hope the weather warms up soon so he can suffer less.

After a quick breakfast, twenty soldiers escorted the wooden cage cart carrying "Xue Laizi" on Tongtuo Street to the palace.

Riding ahead on horseback are Wei Yao, Yuan Zhi, and Kou Meng.

Kou Meng scanned his surroundings, becoming increasingly alert.

The officers and soldiers shouted as they marched, "Maintaining a serious criminal, make way!"

"Please make way for the serious offender!"

Zhao Cao, the assassin sent to Luoyang by Xiao Liang, was in the Imperial Academy. Hearing the shouts, he immediately followed the prison cart to watch the commotion, just like the other common people.

I saw Wei Yao again! My hands are itching to smash her with something!
What kind of criminal have they arrested? Where are they taking him? Surely not to the palace!
Zhao Cao didn't just focus on the prisoners; he also observed the officers and soldiers, and Kou Meng, who gave him a sense of danger. He then scanned the crowd and noticed someone suspicious among those chasing the prison cart. The person had covered his mouth with a piece of cloth, obscuring half of his face.

Why is this person acting strangely? His movements are too agile! He clearly practices martial arts, and when he collides with someone, he is incredibly strong and doesn't back down at all. He exudes an air of authority that even ordinary clothes can't conceal... officialdom!
Zhao Cao looked back at Wei Yao on horseback and thought: The barbarians are just barbarians. They actually let such a young girl become an official. It's laughable!
Wei Yao, who was not skilled in martial arts, was unaware that she was being watched. She looked at the large trees on both sides of the street and said to Yuan Zhi, "Prefect, do you know how many bird nests there are in the trees along this street?"

Yuan Zhi was taken aback; he had never thought about this question before!

"I'll have someone take inventory today."

Hearing this question and answer, Zhao Cao's smile froze as the wind chilled her teeth. Oh no, their method of sending messages from the bird's nest was no longer working!
Kou Meng glanced in his direction, and Zhao Cao, quick-witted, complained to the person behind him, "What's your hurry? You stepped on my shoes and knocked them off."

Just then, a horse pulling a cart neighed and began charging into the crowd.

The procession of prison carts remained orderly. A soldier drew his bow and shot an arrow, which struck the mad horse in the neck.

In the chaos of the crowd, it was impossible to tell who was shouting, "You die, your people live!"

However, the "Xue the Lai" in the prison cart was not Xue Zhixiao, so how could he have committed suicide?

The officers and soldiers who were secretly observing the thieves' accomplices were the same person Zhao Cao suspected. Surprisingly, both sides suspected the wrong person; the person had quickly gone in another direction when the carriage was running sideways.

With the palace in sight, Yuan Zhi asked Wei Yao, "What should we do?"