By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Wen Zongji understood the reason why the Xie family was murdered, but he still had two things to do.

First, find evidence to prove that the dam breach was caused by Liu Chengyun using too little mud.

Second, we need to find out why the imperial envoy sent from the capital to investigate the matter failed to discover the problem with the mud. Was it due to negligence or because he was bribed?

In addition, Liu Chengyun's sister was just the younger brother of Huang Yecai's favorite concubine. Why would Huang Yecai go to so much trouble to protect Liu Chengyun?

Are there other issues involved?

Wen Zongji instructed, "Jiacheng, first send someone to Meicun to investigate Wu Laoliu. As for the case file, I need to find an excuse not to alert him."

"Yes, sir."

Yu Jiacheng responded.

The next day, Tongzhou Prefectural Government Office

Wen Zongji never left Tongzhou branch office after he entered it.

Standing beside Huang Yecai, Liu Chengyun said, "Sir, that Lord Wen stayed in Yangzhou for several days, and I heard he went out for leisure every day. Why is he so quiet now that he's come to Tongzhou, and even stayed at the Tongzhou branch office?"

Huang Yecai, heavily pregnant, sat in a rocking chair: "Why think so much? He came to Tongzhou to inspect the Tongzhou branch office. He'll just be checking the accounts. It has nothing to do with us. We should just send him away peacefully."

"Does Your Excellency wish to see him?"

"I won't see him! Lin Chaozhe set a good example for us. He didn't want to see him either."

In terms of official rank, Huang Yecai was several ranks higher than Wen Zongji.

Wen Zongji was a high-ranking official in the capital, the son of the Marquis of Zhongyong, and the husband of the Princess of Anhe County. Any one of these titles could easily overshadow Huang Yecai.

Huang Yecai had no intention of currying favor with Wen Zongji, nor did he want to grovel before a young man old enough to be his son.

Liu Chengyun said in a low voice, "Then what about our matter..."

Huang Yecai glared at him sharply: "Wen Zongji is not allowed to do anything during his time in Jiangnan! Otherwise, I'll skin you alive."

Liu Chengyun's heart skipped a beat: "This humble official dares not."

Huang Yecai waved his hand: "Get out."

Liu Chengyun lowered his eyes, concealing the emotions within them: "This humble official takes his leave."

Huang Yecai watched his retreating figure with a deep, melancholy gaze.

Liu Chengyun is a good dog, and he has been using him very well over the years. It's just a pity that his appetite has grown bigger and bigger, to the point that even Huang Yecai can't tolerate it anymore.

Rather, Liu Chengyun has too many problems, and there's no guarantee that he won't explode one day.

Thinking of this, he thought of the Wu family who dared to threaten him, and Huang Yecai's gaze grew even colder.

"Once Wen Zongji leaves Jiangnan, we will deal with Liu Chengyun."

The butler beside him responded, "Yes."

After Liu Chengyun left the government office, the attendant waiting outside asked, "Master, are you going back to the manor?"

Liu Chengyun shook his head irritably: "Go back to the manor to see that haggard old woman? Let's go to the Misty Rain Pavilion."

Yanyu Tower was the most famous brothel in Tongzhou.

"Yes."

As Liu Chengyun left, several people around the government office followed him discreetly.

Tongzhou City, which seemed to be as it always was, was gradually becoming a place where undercurrents were surging.

……

Wen Zongji played with the token in his hand. It was a token from the Crown Prince given to Wen Zongji before he left the capital. In addition, there was also a letter.

With these two items in hand, Wen Zongji could not only mobilize the troops of Tongzhou Guard, but in fact, all the guards and garrisons in Jiangnan had to give Wen Zongji some face.

But there was one thing Wen Zongji had to confirm—whether Tongzhou Guard and Tongzhou Prefecture government were colluding.

Although the commander of Tongzhou Guard only took office last year, it is still necessary to be wary of people. After all, if this person is not clean, even if he only came last year, he may still be corrupted by Huang Yecai.

However, since he was trusted by the Crown Prince, he must have some credibility. Wen Zongji's caution was simply to be on the safe side.

dong dong dong-

A knock sounded at the door, and Yu Jiacheng's voice rang out: "My lord, I have something to report."

"Come in."

Wen Zongji put away the token.

Yu Jiacheng walked in and said, "Sir, the people we sent to Meicun have returned. Wu Laoliu did not return to Meicun after the dam breached; only his son and daughter-in-law remained at home. However, the people who went to investigate discovered that Wu Laoliu's son goes to Ningbo County every month, and each time he returns to the village from Ning'an City, he brings back a lot of things. When people ask him if he has become rich, he just smiles and doesn't say anything."

"Old Wu was a bricklayer. When he was alive, his family was relatively well-off, but his son did not learn his skills and could barely make ends meet by farming."

So it became very suspicious that Wu Laoliu's son would bring back a lot of things from the city every month.

Wen Zongji looked at him: "What are you doubting?"

"Sir, do you think Wu Laoliu might not be dead? He might just be afraid to go back to the village, or rather, he might be afraid to let people know that he is still alive?"

Yu Jiacheng was somewhat excited: "If that's the case, Wu Laoliu might have evidence that proves Liu Chengyun is guilty."

Otherwise, Wu Laoliu wouldn't have been afraid to return to the village. People at the bottom of society are sometimes more sensitive, and he probably sensed danger, which is why he didn't dare to go back.

Wen Zongji said, "There's no point in making wild guesses. Find someone to draw a portrait of Wu Laoliu and go to Ning'an County to investigate. Wu Laoliu is a bricklayer. If he really is in Ning'an County, he can only be a bricklayer."

"Very well, I will have someone investigate immediately."

Seeing his excited expression, Wen Zongji asked, puzzled, "What's making you so excited?"

"Investigating cases is so interesting. Before you came, sir, all I did was keep an eye on the printing press to make sure the layout of the Beijing Daily wasn't messed up. There wasn't much to do."

"Haven't you heard enough interesting stories about Tongzhou City?"

"It's still not as interesting as solving cases."

Wen Zongji waved his hand: "Go investigate. You'll be busy later."

Once everything stabilizes, the local branches will be qualified to publish their local official gazettes, at which point Yu Jiacheng won't be able to relax.

If they could find a breakthrough with Wu Laoliu, Wen Zongji wouldn't need to try to access the case files.

After all, if they wanted to access the case files, they could only do so in the name of the Beijing Gazette Office, which meant they had to bring forward the matter of publishing the local official gazette.

This disrupted Wen Zongji's plans, as Tongzhou was not a good pilot area.

If possible, Wen Zongji still wanted to proceed step by step and find a prefectural branch office that was closer to the capital as a pilot site, so that if any problems arose, it would be easier for Wen Zongji to take control.

Moreover, Tongzhou City is Huang Yecai's stronghold. If they are not careful and alert him, they may provoke Huang Yecai to take desperate measures.

Wen Zongji still cared a lot about his life and avoided taking risks whenever possible.

Now we'll see if Wu Laoliu is really still alive.