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

Chapter 31: Fate Collided, Cause of Death Revealed

At the Lu Mansion, Changsun Xiang and Helan Chushi were led into the central hall to rest, while Dai Zhide quietly retreated into the courtyard to check.

A moment later, Dai Zhide came to a side room near the gatehouse and stopped.

In the side room, two Dali Temple officials who were discussing in a low voice caught sight of Dai Zhide from the corner of their eyes.

The two men stood up immediately, looked at Dai Zhide with vigilance, and shouted, "Who are you?"

Dai Zhide's eyes swept over the right hands of the two men, and both hands had silently touched the swords placed beside them.

The knife is ready to pop out at any time.

"Dai Zhide, Lang Jiang of the Crown Prince's Right Guard." Dai Zhide bowed frankly and said, "My late father, Huizhou, served as Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple during the first year of the Zhenguan reign. Today, I've come to the Lu Residence with my superiors to offer my condolences. I heard that colleagues from the Dali Temple were here, so I came to say hello."

"So you're one of our own family." The tall, lanky official in the lead, with a sharp gaze and a faint scar on the side of his neck, raised his eyebrows and immediately bowed, "I'm Zhang Wenguan, Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple... Wait, the first year of the Zhenguan reign. Dai Zhou, Dai Xiang. So you're Dai Xiang's son. Nice to meet you."

Dai Zhou was appointed as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple in the first year of Zhenguan, and was promoted to Shangshu Zuocheng in the same year; in the third year, he was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, and Inspector of the Left Secretary of the Crown Prince, and concurrently in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, and served as Jianyi Dafu; in the fourth year, as Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, he participated in the government affairs and was ranked as prime minister.

Zhang Wenguan couldn't help but be surprised when he suddenly saw Dai Zhou's son, and Dai Zhide was also the Prince's Right Guard Commander.

Of course, if Li Chengqian were here, he would also be surprised to hear Zhang Wenguan's name.

Zhang Wenguan rarely appears in the memory of Li Qian, a later generation. "During the Shangyuan period, Di Renjie served as the Dali Temple Secretary. Zhang Wenguan, who was the Dali Temple Secretary at the time, admired him very much and recommended him to the Shangshu Zuo Pushe Liu Rengui." Later, Di Renjie was transferred to the position of Imperial Censor, and Zhang Wenguan was also promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and became the Prime Minister.

The Shangshu You Pushe at that time was Dai Zhide.

As fate would have it, in the 14th year of Zhenguan, they bumped into each other gently.

……

"Brother Zhang, you're too polite." Dai Zhide bowed and said warmly, "I'm only here today with Changsun Shuegeng and Helan Qianniu to offer my condolences. After all, Prime Minister Lu was also a member of the Eastern Palace before, but I..."

Seeing Dai Zhide's embarrassed expression, Zhang Wenguan subconsciously asked, "Brother Dai, are you in trouble?"

Dai Zhide forced a smile and said, "Because of my father, I'm quite interested in criminal law. Today's incident with Prime Minister Lu is bizarre, and I've suddenly had some ideas. Could I ask for your advice?"

Zhang Wenguan was slightly stunned. Is this...is this an investigation?

The Dali Temple official behind Zhang Wenguan couldn't help but want to say something, but Zhang Wenguan took the lead and stepped forward to block him while also stopping him from speaking.

"I don't know, Brother Dai, do you have any method?" Zhang Wenguan looked at Dai Zhide cautiously.

Dai Zhide smiled and said calmly, "I want to check the list of all the people who appeared in the Lu Mansion last night and today."

"That's all?" Zhang Wenguan was slightly stunned.

"That's all." Dai Zhide nodded affirmatively.

"Okay!" Zhang Wenguan made way and said, "Brother Dai, please. I'll have everything delivered right away."

……

Outside the side room, Dali Temple Chief Justice Qi Chao glanced at Dai Zhide, who was reviewing the records in the room, then looked at Zhang Wenguan and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Brother Zhang, let him check it out, okay?"

Zhang Wenguan, holding his sword, leaned against the pillar, his eyes fixed on Dai Zhide. He said softly, "There are only two possibilities for someone from the Eastern Palace to intervene in the case. One is to destroy certain witnesses and evidence, and the other is to find certain witnesses and evidence. In the former case, the Eastern Palace is the main culprit, and in the latter, the Eastern Palace is the victim."

At this point, Zhang Wenguan shook his head slightly, and then said: "What we have to do is to follow them and find those things. After that, no matter what happens, it will be the temple minister's business... and I also want to see the skills passed down by the Daoguo family."

Dai Zhide inherited the title of Duke of Daoguo after his father's death.

Qi Chao looked at Zhang Wenguan, shrugged and nodded helplessly.

To be honest, since Lu Hu's death, the Dali Temple has investigated almost everything it could, but has not found any useful evidence so far.

Lu Hu's remains, his family letters, lists of people he came and went, etc. were all subject to strict investigation at the Dali Temple.

Qi Chao and Zhang Wenguan have already investigated it. Unless someone in the temple can find something useful in the corners, otherwise... they actually all know that this matter involves the prince. No matter who killed the person, if they continue to investigate it now, it will easily cause a huge storm.

If the Dali Temple takes the initiative, it will easily cause trouble, but if the Eastern Palace takes the initiative, they will follow...

"Brother Zhang." Dai Zhide's voice woke Zhang Wenguan.

Zhang Wenguan looked up and saw Dai Zhide standing beside him, holding a piece of paper.
"Brother Dai, have you found anything?" Zhang Wenguan stood up straight and put the sword in his hand at his waist.

"Could you please, Brother Zhang, point out who these people are?" Dai Zhide handed over the paper.

Zhang Wenguan raised his eyebrows, took the paper and looked at it. There were three names on it. He immediately looked up and said, "Okay!"

……

Standing behind the side pillars, Dai Zhide glanced at Cui Qian from afar, then muttered to himself, "Cui Qian, the County Magistrate of Chang'an... but this doesn't seem right. This is Wannian County?"

"It's not difficult to transfer the constables from Chang'an County and Wannian County." Zhang Wenguan said suddenly from the side.

Dai Zhide immediately came to his senses, reluctantly raised his head and said, "I'm just making random inferences. I have no evidence."

"It's your job to make inferences, and it's our job to find evidence." Zhang Wenguan glanced at Dai Zhide lightly, then he looked at Cui Qian in the distance with a serious expression.

He had just asked about this. Although Cui Qian and Lu Hu were cousins, they had only been in normal contact for the past few years. But two years ago, they suddenly started to visit each other more frequently again. However, at the beginning of this year, they broke off their relationship again.

It is very clear what this means.

Dai Zhide smiled helplessly, then looked around the entire courtyard and whispered, "Although the man was found, he left early last night. At that time, Lu Hu was still alive. How did he kill Lu Hu and then, under the surveillance of the Dali Temple, take him out of the mansion and throw him into the Qingming Canal?"

"There must be a trap in this courtyard." Zhang Wenguan looked up at the courtyard, scanning it with a sharp gaze, but finally said helplessly: "We checked it once this morning and found nothing. We were going to continue the investigation, but the Lu family arrived, especially Lu Zuocheng... The Fanyang Lu family, we can only take a step back."

Logically speaking, when someone dies, the family should cooperate with the investigation, but unfortunately, firstly, Lu Hu's body was found dead in the Qingming Canal, and the body was taken back to the Dali Temple, and now it is just a cenotaph; secondly, the Lu family of Fanyang came forward to prepare for the funeral, and relatives of the Zheng and Cui families also came forward.

In particular, Lu Chengqing, the Shangshu Zuocheng, personally handled the matter.

In the end, the Dali Temple Minister Sun Fujia took a step back.

Everyone in the Dali Temple was angry and dissatisfied, but they could do nothing about it.

Dai Zhide looked at the entire courtyard. It was normal for there to be secret passages in the four courtyards.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Even if there are secret passages leading to various places, they can't be on the street. At most, they are in the courtyards around here...Are there any abandoned houses around here?"

Zhang Wenguan was stunned, then immediately turned around and looked around.

It is winter now, and fires should be burning in every courtyard. However, there is no smoke at all from the house next to the west.

Zhang Wenguan and Dai Zhide looked at each other and left quickly.

Soon, a team of detectives from the Dali Temple kicked open the west gate of the courtyard.

In the backyard, two wooden wheel marks extend from under the courtyard wall directly into the backyard house.

Zhang Wenguan waved his hand with his sword in hand, and the people below rushed into the room, while he himself walked under the courtyard wall.

He didn't know where he pressed, but suddenly, the courtyard wall slid silently to the side, and a passage that two people could pass through appeared in front of Zhang Wenguan.

At the same time, he also saw a group of relatives and friends who were resting in the backyard of the Lu Mansion across the street.

Among them were even Changsun Xiang and Helan Chushi.

The secret door suddenly slid open, and everyone looked at Zhang Wenguan standing in the other courtyard with confusion.

It seemed that at this moment, the mystery of Lu Hu's death had been solved.

(End of this chapter)