Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 112 The Most Direct Revenge (Part )
Candles flickered in the Chongjiao Hall of the Eastern Palace.

Li Chengqian was wearing a black robe with gold threads, and his eyes looked calmly into the darkness outside the hall.

Hou Junji knelt on the ground with a look of shame on his face.

Wei Zheng sat at the upper left, looking at Hou Junji with scrutiny.

"Chang'an City is under curfew, and the Jinwu Guards have stepped up patrols, so no news can get out." Hou Junji raised his head slightly and said, "I have one night to make that thief tell the truth."

"How confident are you that you can get him to speak tonight?" Li Chengqian asked calmly.

"The Qianniu Guards will use all the torture instruments." A hint of cruelty flashed in Hou Junji's eyes.

"In other words, if the killer doesn't confess and doesn't return overnight, the mastermind behind the man in black will be alerted and flee Chang'an tomorrow morning." Wei Zheng looked at Hou Junji, shook his head, and said, "Even worse, he might flee from his current residence in the second half of tonight."

"We still have one night left." Li Chengqian looked at Wei Zheng and nodded slightly.

"If Li Jialing had not informed me in advance today, someone might have come to burn down the Yongzhou official residence, and I might not have been able to move the things inside in advance. If the entire evidence storage room was burned, I might have to resign tomorrow." Hou Junji couldn't help feeling lucky.

Especially when he saw the sudden appearance of Censor Li Yifu, he was extremely surprised.

Li Yifu forced him to act according to what the prince said, to take precautions in advance, and at the same time caught the traitor Si Cao, and then caught him in the act when Si Cao was about to be silenced.

……

"Duke Chen is asking how I guessed someone would attack the Yongzhou government office's evidence storage room, right?"

Li Chengqian turned around, looked at Hou Junji deeply, and said, "It's not difficult to guess. My father is watching Lu Hu's relics, I am watching them, Sun Siqing is watching them, you, Duke Chen, are watching them, and naturally those people behind me are watching them too. Once they find out that I am trying to find those things, they will naturally be unable to sit still..."

"But there's nothing useful in those things!" Hou Junji looked up in confusion.

Hou Junji, Sun Fujia, and even Chang He searched for the relics left by Lu Hu countless times, but in the end they found nothing.

They, as well as their veterans who were skilled in criminal law, all tried to search for it, but still found nothing.

This means that there is really nothing inside. How could it be possible that others could not help but burn down the evidence storage room just because Li Chengqian wanted to check it?

"Whether there is a mystery or not is actually an ambiguous statement. It may or may not be." Li Chengqian smiled, then looked ahead and said, "After all, Lu Hu was once an official of the Eastern Palace. Perhaps he left behind some clues. So it's normal for those who are concerned to be panicked and burn those relics."

"Yes!" Hou Junji lowered his head slightly. He always felt that Li Chengqian was not telling the truth, and there were other unknown things in this.

"If Your Highness has anything else to say, please feel free to speak up." Wei Zheng spoke at this time, looking at Li Chengqian seriously.

"It's nothing, actually." Li Chengqian turned to look at Wei Zheng and said, "Prime Minister Wei, I think you know that I married Crown Prince Liangti a while ago. When I returned home that day, I happened to meet a very interesting person."

"Who is it?" Wei Zheng couldn't help but frown.

"Qi Zhixuan, son of Qi Yu, the governor of Guangzhou." Li Chengqian's eyes shone with a slight sneer, and then he said, "Qi Zhixuan was born in Qi City, Yifeng, and is a distant relative of the Zheng family of Xingyang. But this time, when the Zheng family married their daughter, he gave a huge gift for no reason."

"Perhaps he has something to ask of the Zheng family, or maybe he has something to ask of Your Highness?" Wei Zheng looked at Li Chengqian in confusion.

"My father-in-law thought so too, but unfortunately, he didn't say anything. This made everyone in the Zheng family very confused, so they asked Xuan Guo to bring him to me. However, he has an extraordinary demeanor and speaks in an extraordinary way, but he doesn't seem like someone who would ask me to do anything."

After a brief pause, Li Chengqian looked up at the darkness outside the hall and said softly, "I originally thought he was here for next year's imperial examination, so I didn't say anything until I saw Lu Hu's widow at the Zheng family."

"He...he..." Hou Junji immediately understood.

Qi Zhixuan went after Lu Hu's widow.

If Lu Hu left any clues behind, the person most likely to know would be Lu Hu's widow.

"A few days ago, Concubine Shuang, claiming her cousin was homeless in Chang'an, asked me to keep her by her side as a ninth-rank female historian in the Eastern Palace." Li Chengqian looked at Hou Junji and explained briefly, "I didn't think much of it at first, but when she went back to pack her things, I suddenly had an idea and asked Helan to keep an eye on her to see if there were any unscrupulous people watching from the dark..."

"It was Qi Zhixuan." Hou Junji understood everything and said in a daze, "That man must have felt uneasy knowing this woman had entered the Eastern Palace. Your Highness also arranged for someone to retrieve Lu Hu's belongings, so he inevitably wondered if Lu Hu had really left anything behind. So, to be cautious, he burned all those things."

Now it all comes together.

All of this was planned by Li Chengqian, so he was able to guess many things in advance.

Qi Zhixuan fell into Li Chengqian's trap without checking.

……

"So, that person is actually still under your Highness's surveillance." Wei Zheng said this, and Hou Junji immediately looked up and looked at Li Chengqian in surprise.

"Yes, he's in Tongzhengfang, under the Chunming Sect. He might flee at the slightest sign of trouble." Li Chengqian shook his head and said calmly, "Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this incident has nothing to do with Qi Zhixuan at all, and he doesn't need to flee."

"We'll see tomorrow." Wei Zheng turned to look at Hou Junji and said, "Duke Chen, send someone to stir up some noise in Tongzhengfang tonight. If that person tries to escape from Tongzhengfang overnight, arrest him directly."

"Yes!" Hou Junji gritted his teeth and bowed, then he looked at Li Chengqian: "Your Highness."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "I originally thought so, but I have had contact with him, even if it was only briefly, but I can feel that he is a skilled fighter and quite strong. It will be difficult to catch him. Moreover, if he is really forced into a desperate situation, I suspect he will commit suicide."

"Suicide." Wei Zheng was slightly startled, then raised his head and squinted his eyes and said, "Your Highness, are you saying that person is related to those people?"

"I'm just guessing." Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Even if we catch him, what can we do? He's the son of a provincial governor and holds the title of Confucian scholar. As long as the assassin who burned down the Yongzhou government office doesn't confess, there's nothing we can do to him."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will make him confess the truth." Hou Junji's face turned fierce.

"What if that person dies in Qianniu Prison tonight or tomorrow?" Li Chengqian asked directly.

"Your Highness?" Hou Junji was a little confused.

"What the prince means is that someone will kill to silence the witnesses." Wei Zheng's face turned completely cold.

"Killing people to silence them in Qianniu Prison?" Hou Junji immediately understood what was going on after hearing this question, and his face darkened.

"Prime Minister Wei and Duke Chen also know who's behind Pingkangfang." Li Chengqian looked at Hou Junji and said, "This matter initially made people uneasy because I had Yongzhou Prefecture and the Imperial Household Department block the procedures for the Korean maid to enter Chang'an. This made him start paying attention to this area, and then everything happened naturally."

Qi Zhixuan was in Chang'an, and there were people who responded to him, and it was even possible that these people were from the palace.

"So I want to see what kind of connections he has in Chang'an City?" Li Chengqian lowered his head slightly with a sneer on his face.

"But what if he leaves Chang'an tomorrow?" Wei Zheng asked in return.

"If he's skilled and bold enough to find someone to test him, then we can naturally force out the person behind him. That would be ideal." Li Chengqian looked up, gazing towards Luoyang, and said, "If he leaves Chang'an, then we'll have the Hundred Cavalry Division keep a close eye on him. After all, he's the son of the Guangzhou Governor, so even if he runs away, the temple can't."

"Your Highness, you want to wipe out all their power in the world." Wei Zheng understood everything and said with a slight bow, "This is feasible."

All these people have in Chang'an are just some relationships, but in the world, that is where their real power lies.

"This matter needs to be reported to my father." Li Chengqian looked at Wei Zheng.

"Mobilizing the Hundred Cavalry Division naturally requires your Majesty's permission." Wei Zheng nodded and said, "I will handle this matter."

"In short, I'm afraid this matter won't end so easily in Chang'an." Li Chengqian looked at Hou Junji and said, "Duke Chen, please keep an eye out for who might be coming to Yongzhou Prefecture to inquire about the situation these days. I want to know who's behind them."

"I understand." Hou Junji immediately bowed. He immediately understood that Li Chengqian wanted to catch those people completely in one fell swoop.

……

In Yi Qiu Palace, candlelight flickered.

Li Chengqian opened his arms and let Zheng Shuang'er and Zheng Chu take off his clothes.

Li Chengqian looked at Zheng Chu calmly. He didn't say a word to Zheng Chu about what was happening outside.

Now, basically all the people who can be involved in Lu Hu’s case have been involved, and what remains is to slowly investigate.

If Zheng Chu went to Yongzhou Prefecture now to apply to transport Lu Hu's body back to Fanyang, Hou Junji might really release him.

But Li Chengqian would not let Zheng Chu leave.

She is the widow of Lu Hu, and Lu Hu is the one who caused Li Chengqian to break his leg...

Before I knew it, the night had deepened.

Zheng Chu stood beside the bed, blushing as he watched the red quilt rippling and the oriole chirping.

She glanced at the maid standing opposite her with a blushing face, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

The red candle flickers, and the atmosphere is ambiguous.

Suddenly, a hand stretched out from behind the bed curtains and pulled Zheng Chu directly in.

(End of this chapter)