Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

The next day, before dawn, a shocking incident occurred in Daohuafang, south of the city: Wu Yongsheng, a wealthy merchant, was captured by a group of black-clad warriors.

Wu Yongsheng was the owner of the Bamianfeng Restaurant, which had more than a dozen branches in Luoyang and Chang'an. He also ran a money exchange, which lent money to merchants and charged interest.

Wu Yongsheng often helped the orphans and widows and had a good reputation in the neighborhood, but no one knew why he was suddenly arrested, which caused a lot of discussion in Daohuafang.

In the morning, Xue Wei first went to the old house to visit Yuan Renjing's family. He was more concerned about whether there was any news about Yuan Renjing.

Unfortunately, there was no news of Yuan Renjing, nor did he attend court at the Imperial Household Department. No clues could be found in the Luo River. It was as if he had suddenly vanished from the face of the earth.

Just as Xue Weigang came out of the old house, Zuo Qingling arrived.

"Young master, the young lady requests your immediate return; she says it's urgent!"

Xue Wei was startled and immediately turned his horse around to head towards Nanshi. As soon as he arrived at Mingyue Tower, Yuan Min's carriage was already waiting for him.

Xue Wei boarded the carriage and saw that Yuan Min, who was usually calm, had an anxious look on her face.

He grasped Yuan Min's hand. "What happened?"

"Shangguan Wan'er came to see me just now, and we met."

Yuan Min said worriedly, "She asked me directly if the 30,000 taels of silver I paid her was related to Wu Chengsi's missing wealth?"

"Did she ask you that directly?"

"Yes! She was very direct; she just asked us if we had found Wu Chengsi's wealth."

"So, how will you answer?"

"I said the silver I gave her was my own money, it has nothing to do with you, and even less to do with Wu Chengsi."

"And then? What did she say?"

"She said she had done everything she could and told us to prepare as soon as possible. Wan Guojun had already investigated her, and the Emperor would soon find out. She would not hide it for us; she would tell the Emperor the truth."

Xue Wei nodded. "It seems that the other party has already captured Luo Rui, traced him directly to his supplier, and then traced him back to Shangguan Wan'er."

"So what do we do?"

Yuan Min said anxiously, "They will seize all my money in the pawn shop. What I'm worried about is that once it's seized, it will be very difficult to get back the hundreds of thousands of strings of cash."

Xue Wei pondered for a moment and said, "They still have a big loophole, which is how to prove that Wu Chengsi embezzled that 300,000 taels of silver. Right now, it's all just rumors."

"They could easily claim they are investigating the missing 300,000 taels of official silver and accuse my business of accepting bribes. According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, they have the right to confiscate bribes. Once the money is seized by them, it will be considered bribes even if it wasn't originally."

"This is indeed a problem. Shangguan Wan'er's intention is for you to move as soon as possible, but this woman probably told Wu Sansi first before informing you. Go to the store now."

The carriage immediately turned around and headed towards Qingyun Store in Nanshi. All the wealth that had previously been stored in the Dugu family store was transferred to Qingyun Store.

Just as the carriage arrived at the store, the head manager, Ma Shaofeng, came running up, stumbling and staggering.

"Master Yuan, Imperial Censor Wan Guojun has arrived with a large number of Jinwu Guard soldiers. They say that there is stolen silver hidden in the Master's treasury, and they want to seize and search it."

Just as Yuan Min was about to get out of the car, Xue Wei grabbed her, "Don't get out, let me do it!"

"I'll go with you."

"You can't go. I have the Emperor's golden token. He won't dare touch me, but they will arrest you. Listen carefully, with me here, nothing will happen."

Yuan Min nodded gently, then suddenly hugged Xue Wei tightly, whispering in his ear, "You must come back safely!"

Xue Wei patted her on the back, got up and jumped off the carriage, ordering four female warriors to protect Yuan Min and hide her.

He then led the trio and the fourth to the warehouse.

Dozens of Imperial Guard soldiers stood in front of the warehouse, and Wan Guojun and several of his men were roaring angrily.

"Open the warehouse door now, or I'll seal up your storeroom and arrest your owner for defying the censor."

A dozen or so Jinwuwei soldiers were pulling at several stewards, who clung tightly to the iron fence and refused to let go.

A deep voice suddenly rang out, "Is Censor Wan trying to rob the people of their property?"

Xue Wei strode forward, blocking Wan Guojun's path, and said coldly, "This is a legal shop, protected by the laws of Wu Zhou. What does Imperial Censor Wan intend to do?"

When Tie San and Tie Si stood next to Xue Wei, their two-meter height made them look like two iron towers. Their powerful aura caused more than a dozen Jinwuwei soldiers who were pulling at the warehouse manager to take a few steps back, and the atmosphere on the scene immediately became tense.

Wan Guojun sneered, took out his Censor's token, and said, "I have conclusive evidence that the 300,000 taels of silver that disappeared six years ago were hidden in the warehouse of this pawnshop. I am going to seize all the money in the pawnshop's warehouses. Does Commander Xue intend to defy my Censor's order?"

The Censorate represents imperial power, and no government office or military is allowed to challenge it.

In the group, Wu Chongxun had a smug smile on his face. He had finally caught Xue Wei red-handed, and they could also arrest Yuan Min on charges of receiving stolen goods. At that time, Yuan Min would be in his hands.

Xue Wei calmly took out a gold medal and coldly said, "Open your dog eyes and see what this is!"

When everyone saw the words on the gold medal, there was an uproar. Wan Guojun was so frightened that he took a few steps back.

"As if I were there in person!"

How did Xue Wei get this gold medal? Wan Guojun didn't know that Xue Wei was a hidden guard, nor did he know that a hidden guard would have a gold medal with the emperor's personal presence.

"It's as if I were here in person!" This is far more powerful than his censor's token.

Wan Guojun's face flushed red and then turned pale, and he didn't know what to do for a moment.

At this moment, Wu Chongxun's eyes lit up. He suddenly realized that this was an opportunity. Xue Wei was actually using the Hidden Guard's Golden Token to resist the law. If the Emperor knew that he was abusing the token, would he confiscate it?

Wu Chongxun squeezed forward and whispered a few words to Wan Guojun. Wan Guojun nodded and said to Xue Wei, "I really can't afford to offend you with this gold medal, but that doesn't mean I'll admit defeat. I will appeal to the Emperor and ask him to arbitrate the truth!"

He waved his hand, "Let's go!"

He led a large group of Jinwu Guard soldiers away triumphantly. Wu Chongxun turned back and sneered at Xue Wei, his eyes full of mockery and provocation.

Several shop managers were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground.

Xue Wei had no time to appease them; he immediately found Yuan Min's carriage, got on, and said, "Go find my mother!"

The carriage immediately headed towards Princess Zhengping's residence.

...........

An hour later, in the Guanfeng Hall of Shangyang Palace, Wu Zetian received two groups of close officials. One group consisted of Wu Sansi, Wu Chongxun, and Wan Guojun, while the other group included Princess Taiping, Xue Wei, and Yuan Min.

Yuan Min, as a party involved, was also summoned, along with Shangguan Wan'er, a witness.

"Your Majesty, I have recovered three thousand taels of silver from the foreign merchants. I discovered that this is the same batch of silver that went missing from the Shaofu Temple six years ago. I have traced it all the way and found that the source of this batch of silver is the Bamianfenggui Shop. The foreign merchants borrowed three thousand taels of silver from here."

Your humble servant continued to investigate the source of this batch of silver and found that it was the silver used by Shangguan Sheren to purchase the shop. Finally, it was traced back to Qingyun Pawnshop, where the original owner of Qingyun Pawnshop paid 30,000 taels of silver when purchasing Shangguan Sheren's shop.

Today, when I went to Qingyun Pawnshop to search for this batch of silver, I was obstructed by Commandant Xue, who even produced the Emperor's golden token. I dared not defy the Emperor's golden token and could only humbly beg Your Majesty to make the decision!

Wan Guojun's gaze was like a knife as he stared fiercely at Xue Wei and Yuan Min opposite him. Xue Wei subtly shifted his body, shielding Yuan Min behind him.

This subtle movement was immediately noticed by Wu Zetian, Li Lingyue, and Shangguan Wan'er, and Wu Zetian and Li Lingyue showed their approval.

This is a real man. No matter when or where, he will protect his woman. Even Shangguan Wan'er felt a pang of envy. What other man in the world would protect her like this?

Wu Zetian nodded, then asked Xue Wei, "Commander Xue, why are you obstructing the censor from enforcing the law?"

Xue Wei bowed slightly and said, "If it is normal law enforcement, I will not obstruct it and will even persuade Lord Yuan to cooperate. But if it is malicious law enforcement, I will of course uphold the dignity of the Wu Zhou law."

"How do you know they are enforcing the law maliciously?" Wu Zetian asked again.

"Your Majesty, Censor Wan did not say he was looking for this batch of silver. He said he was seizing all the money in the money shop. Seizing and looking for are only one word apart, but they are completely different in nature."

Secondly, the transaction between Yuan Dongzhu and Shangguan Sheren was for 30,000 taels of silver, but Imperial Censor Wan only found 3,000 taels. Where did the other 27,000 taels of silver go?

Furthermore, the missing official silver from the Shaofu Temple amounted to 300,000 taels. Censor Wan could only prove that 3,000 taels of silver was part of the missing silver, but he could not prove that the 3,000 taels of silver was part of the transaction involving the 30,000 taels of silver.

Unless Censor Wan can find the remaining 27,000 taels of silver and prove that the 3,000 taels of silver and the 27,000 taels of silver are from the same batch, Censor Wan is fabricating charges and deliberately framing someone.

Third, Censor Wan also brought Wu Chongxun along to investigate the case. Wu Chongxun was neither a general of the Imperial Guard nor a member of the Censorate. Why was he with them? Shouldn't I suspect that they have ulterior motives?

Fourth, His Majesty instructed that the three judicial departments conduct a joint trial. Where are the officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review? Censor Wan wants to search the storeroom. Where is the search warrant signed by the three judicial departments? He has disregarded the joint trial procedure and acted arbitrarily. This is contrary to the court's rules for joint trials by the three judicial departments. I can consider this malicious enforcement of the law and have the right to refuse Censor Wan's disrespectful request.”

Xue Wei's four points were extremely sharp and incisive, leaving Wan Guojun speechless for a moment.