Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 259 Surfaced
"Then what do you think we should do next?" Luo Yangxing asked, suppressing the urge to sigh.

"Of course we'll get to the bottom of it," Wang Cheng'en said matter-of-factly. "People don't die for no reason, and bodies don't appear for no reason. As long as we dig deeper and investigate, we'll definitely find clues. Besides investigating the person, we can also investigate the plaques. Find and question the craftsmen who made the plaques for the harem. If the plaques are fake, they should be able to tell."

"You're absolutely right. This is indeed the approach to investigating the case. But what then?" Luo Yangxing's brows etched a hint of anxiety. "In other words, is there any point in continuing this investigation?"

"Why not? They're throwing out a body with Shen Caiyu's badge now. Aren't they desperate to cover up the truth and even protect Shen Caiyu? This is a mistake they shouldn't make." Wang Chengen's face was as cold as a pool of stagnant water. "It was difficult to verify originally, but now we can follow this lead and dig out all these dirty secrets in one go."

"It's not necessarily that a cornered dog will jump over the wall." Luo Yangxing licked his chapped lips with his dry tongue. "Maybe he wanted to give an explanation."

"Why should they use other people's lives to explain to Shen Caiyu?" Wang Chengen suddenly became a little excited.

"It's not about giving an explanation to Shen Caiyu, but about explaining the matter itself. A body with an unidentified face and a waist badge are enough to close this case as a fugitive being robbed and unfortunately murdered." Luo Yangxing took a deep breath and said, "This way, everyone can get off the hook."

"Step down?" Wang Chengen frowned.

"Yes! This corpse is a stepping stone." Luo Yangxing met Wang Chengen's gaze and said, "Just find any thief or bandit in the prison of the Military Affairs Commissioner and immediately charge him with robbery and murder. If you think it's inappropriate, you can also push it onto the bandits. Say the prisoner escaped and charge the Military Affairs Commissioner with dereliction of duty and salary deduction. I will also resign from my position as temporary commander of the Eastern Office." Luo Yangxing believed that by now, the connection between the Luo family and Shen Caiyu had been completely cleared. Lingering or continuing the investigation would only lead to unnecessary complications.

Wang Chengen had no idea what Luo Yangxing was thinking. He said coldly, "Are you willing to defraud the emperor to protect them? The Luo family has quite a wide circle of friends."

Luo Yangxing's pupils shrank unconsciously. After a moment's silence, he decided to make his point clearer: "I dare not deceive the emperor, nor do I want to shield anyone. I simply don't want to embarrass the emperor."

Wang Chengen was stunned. After a moment's contemplation, he asked, "Is this also what Commander Luo meant?"

"That was my own idea. Father knows nothing." Luo Yangxing immediately denied it. "You should also know that I haven't been home these past few days. I've been staying at the inn near the government office."

"I don't know. I didn't send anyone to monitor you." Wang Chengen said.

"Never mind, I believe you." Luo Yangxing didn't believe it. He had a distinct feeling that someone was following him these past few days.

The only people who dared to openly spy on the Imperial Guard in Beijing were probably from the East and West Factories. The East Factory's recent focus was on collecting money for the Emperor, and with so many of its personnel deployed abroad, they had neither the motivation nor the energy to handle such a matter. Therefore, Luo Yangxing concluded that the only people spying on him could be the West Factory.

"The case has reached this point and we can no longer pursue it openly. The Ministry of War is protesting, and the Imperial Household is protesting. The pressure on my head is almost breaking my neck. But it doesn't matter! We can't embarrass the emperor by bringing him to the stage." Luo Yangxing said sincerely.

"But...but the emperor said in person that he would investigate this matter thoroughly and would not show any leniency!" Wang Chengen said.

"Yes!" Luo Yangxing was a little tired. He wanted to grab Wang Chengen's collar and ask him if he knew what the factory guards did. But he couldn't do that, so he could only say euphemistically:
"But there are two types of investigations: open investigation and covert investigation. There's no need to bring this matter to light if it can be resolved behind the scenes. If you continue investigating this way, you might just end up with another Donglin Party case. The Jinyiwei are the emperor's personal guards, and the Western Depot is an internal government agency established by the emperor's own decree. We can't make things difficult for the emperor."

Luo Yangxing had originally thought that the people from the Western Depot would be more sensible than himself, which was why he had taken the initiative to leave the Rear Military Governor's Office. He had left everything to Wang Chengen. But now it seemed that this guy was just a brainless idiot. He didn't even understand the most basic unspoken rules of the factory guards.

"Well, let's put this matter aside for now. Leave it to me, and you go back to the palace and ask Wei and the higher-ups what to do. After asking, we'll decide whether to investigate openly or secretly. What do you think?" Luo Yangxing asked.

Wang Chengen's eyes suddenly dimmed. "Okay, I'll go back first."

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Half an hour later, the carriage carrying Wang Chengen passed through Xi'an Gate and returned to the Western Depot. As soon as the carriage stopped at the government gate, a gatekeeper came forward and lifted the curtain for the only passenger inside.

Unlike Wei Zhongxian, Wang Chengen never stepped on other people's backs to get out of the carriage, but instead jumped directly down by holding onto the edge of the carriage. After entering the government office, Wang Chengen did not go to the main hall, but turned and went to the back hall near Taiye Lake.

Beneath, bee, bee.

Wang Chengen knocked on the door of Mi Mengshang, director of the Inspection Bureau and director of the Internal Inspection Division.

"Come in." Mi Mengshang's voice, as clear as a silver bell, came over.

Wang Chengen pushed the door open and entered the room, then took off his cloak and hung it on the guest clothes hanger at the door. He then straightened his collar before coming to Mi Mengshang's desk.

Mi Mengshang was originally in a daze, clearing her mind of all the garbage. When she heard someone knock on the door, she immediately pulled out a document and spread it out in front of her, pretending to read. However, when Mi Mengshang looked at the person's face, she dropped her forced solemnity and said lazily, "Oh, it's you. Find a place to sit."

"Okay." Wang Chengen sat down obediently at the coffee table closest to Mi Mengshang.

After Wang Chengen sat down, Mi Mengshang took the initiative to ask, "Didn't you go on an errand with the Jinyiwei? Why are you back so early? And you look so worried."

"I just went to the morgue of the South City Military Command." Wang Chengen said.

"Mortuary? The mortuary for collecting corpses?" Mi Mengshang's eyes suddenly changed.

"Yes." Wang Chengen nodded.

"Who died?" Mi Mengshang asked again.

"I don't know. The deceased had Shen Caiyu's badge on his waist." Wang Cheng'en said as he pulled out the ivory badge he had asked for from the Jinyiwei before leaving. "This badge is very new. We suspect it might have been newly made. Besides this badge, the deceased had nothing else on him that could be used to prove his identity."

"We can ask Tianjin to send a few slaves or relatives to come over to recognize their faces," said Mi Mengshang.

"I can't recognize him." Wang Chengen thought again of the head with a shattered skull and bloody flesh. "The deceased's face was completely smashed."

"Then bring this man's wives and concubines to Beijing," Mi Mengshang explained. "People who are close to each other can recognize people without relying on their faces."

"I know this, but that's not what I want to say." Wang Chengen let out a long sigh and then said, "Captain Luo of the Jinyiwei feels that this case cannot be investigated any further." "You don't have to listen to him. You are a member of the palace." Mi Mengshang said as a matter of course.

"I think what Captain Luo said makes sense. So I came to ask for your opinion," said Wang Chengen.

"What did you find out?" Mi Mengshang asked with a puzzled expression. "Could it be that you've really found out about the palace?"

"It's not the palace. But it's much more troublesome than that." Since the investigation was not yet completed and Wang Chengen did not have any evidence, he did not report it to his superiors. He just made a memorandum about Luo Sigong's visit to Zhang's house and submitted it.

"Go ahead. I'm listening." Mi Mengshang pulled out a piece of white paper from where she was convenient and prepared to take notes.

"This is what happened." Wang Chengen recounted in detail the results of the current investigation and his recent conversation with Luo Yangxing.

"Captain Luo is right." After hearing this, Mi Mengshang's brows were completely furrowed. "I can't decide on this matter, and you shouldn't even come to me to ask about it."

"Why?" Wang Chengen asked instinctively.

"Because my father and brother are also royal relatives. It's difficult for me to express my opinion on such matters." Mi Mengshang narrowed her eyes, not knowing what she was thinking. "Let's go to the study."

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Wang Chengen was escorted to the Xihua Gate in a sedan chair carried by the Western Factory, and then trotted all the way to the Qianqing Palace. At the palace gate, he took a deep breath and pinched his face to adjust his slightly stiff expression.

Then Wang Chengen came to the entrance of the study and asked the eunuch guarding the palace gate, "Is the Highness in there?"

"Your Majesty and the ancestors are here," the eunuch on duty asked, "Do you wish to see them?"

"Yes. Let's inform him." Wang Chengen nodded.

"Wang Chengen from the Western Factory requests an audience!" the eunuch shouted.

Zhu Changluo's pen hovered in the air for a moment because of the announcement, but then fell back onto the paper. "Come in."

"Your servant kowtows to the emperor, may he live long and long." Wang Chengen walked to the open space in the center of the hall and performed a beautiful and graceful salute in a smooth and flowing manner.

"Are you here to discuss something important?" Zhu Changluo didn't let Wang Chengen get up. "Is there any progress in the Jinyiwei case?"

"Your Majesty is wise and enlightened." The emperor's keenness made Wang Chengen's uneasy heart beat even more erratically. "I came here to report this matter."

"Go ahead." Zhu Changluo didn't look up.

"Yes." The few breaths Wang Chengen took just now couldn't dissipate all the heat in his body. After calming down, the remaining heat immediately poured out of Wang Chengen's body in the form of sweat. The close-fitting clothes absorbed a lot of sweat, but it couldn't remove the sweat on his forehead. "The person who tipped off Shen Caiyu was most likely Wuqing Hou Li Mingcheng."

As soon as these words were spoken, Wei Chao and Liu Ruoyu, who had been paying attention to this side, immediately buried their heads behind the pile of documents. Only Wang An raised his head and looked at Wang Chengen with shocked eyes.

The contemporary Marquis of Wuqing, Li Mingcheng, was the eldest son of the eldest brother of Empress Dowager Xiaoding. In other words, he was the emperor's cousin.

"Li Mingcheng?" The emperor didn't react much. "What's the reason?"

"In reply to the emperor, the story is this. Years ago, Chief Guard Luo went to the rear palace to submit the official documents for taking over Tianjin Guard. Duke Ying received him alone. But after Chief Guard Luo left, Duke Ying had the matter recorded and filed. Because Chief Guard Luo did not tell the Duke that the matter needed to be kept confidential, the order to file the matter was issued directly in the lobby. Therefore, the entire rear palace was exposed to this matter." Wang Chengen recounted what Duke Ying had represented in a few simple sentences.

"Continue." Zhu Changluo picked up a memorial sent from the Wei Dynasty and briefly glanced over it. He felt that there was no problem with the cabinet's draft and the Silijian's opinion. He wrote the words "Zhaozhun" (approved) on the side with a red brush, officially authorizing the memorial. He then picked up a new memorial and opened it.

"Then, through checking the records, we learned that before Zheng Guotai, the noble relative in charge of the various garrisons in Northern Zhili was the previous Wuqing Marquis Li Wenquan. In the tenth year of the Wanli reign, Li Wenquan, a stipendiary deputy commander-in-chief who had not yet inherited the title, entered the imperial court with the title of Left Commander-in-Chief. From then on, Li Wenquan maintained a monopoly on the various garrisons in Northern Zhili until his death in the thirty-sixth year of the Wanli reign, when Zheng Guotai took over. It was during this period when Li Wenquan was in charge of Northern Zhili that Shen Caiyu served as deputy secretary and seal-holder of the Tianjin Garrison."

After Wang Chengen finished speaking, Zhu Changluo waited for a while before asking, "Have you found any evidence?"

"Not yet." Wang Chengen shook his head.

"In other words, this is just your guess?" Zhu Changluo finally looked up.

"It's just a guess." Wang Chengen had been lying on the ground without getting up, but when he heard the sound of someone putting down their pen, he buried his head even lower.

"Heh." Zhu Changluo chuckled, then said indifferently, "You think you can overthrow the royal family with just these unfounded rumors? You can leave now."

"There's another thing." Wang Chengen said with a stiff face.

"The Emperor ordered you to get out!" Wang An shouted.

"Speak." Zhu Changluo glanced at Wang An.

Wang Chengen was about to turn around, but when he heard the emperor's voice, he spoke again: "This morning, the South City Military Command found a body near Chongfu Temple. The face of the body was smashed. But Shen Caiyu's badge was hanging on the body. The badge looked very new, as if it was newly made." As he spoke, he took out the badge from his arms.

Wang An stepped forward, took the badge, and held it before the emperor.

"His face is rotten, but he's wearing Shen Caiyu's badge? It's new, too." Zhu Changluo took a quick look and waved his hand for Wang An to take it away. "Huh. Interesting."

(End of this chapter)