Chapter 311 "Li Party's" Counterattack
Tomorrow's meeting with the DPRK... Zhao Duan secretly felt awe-inspiring, and he could hear the possible storm coming from the empress' few words.
"I understand." Zhao Duan said goodbye, took two steps back, suddenly stopped, hesitated and asked:
"Your Majesty, what crime do you think Gao Lian might be convicted of in the end?"
Xu Zhenguan glanced at him unexpectedly and said calmly:
"According to common sense, this crime is second only to treason and should be executed immediately."
According to common sense...these three words mean that "irregularities" can exist.
In many cases, the game in the court does not mean that there are only two endings of "win" and "defeat". It is more about different forces fighting each other and finally reaching some kind of compromise with each other.
For example, if Gao Lian committed a crime this time, no matter how hard Li Party officials tried, it would be impossible for him to be reinstated. But similarly... as long as he was willing to work hard, it would not be easy to kill him.
Even if he committed adultery, plundered, relied on his power to kill innocent people, and had his hands full of lives.
"I understand." Zhao Duan nodded and walked out of the palace.
Xu Zhenguan looked at his retreating back quietly, wanting to say something, but finally closed her mouth.
He just raised his eyes and looked at the dead leaves flying over the garden.
I thought that by this time, the news of the Taicang Mansion case had probably spread.
…
Du Cha Yuan, in the courtyard of Houya.
The slender-looking Yuan Li finished reviewing the things on his desk and stood up slightly tiredly to move his body.
Da Qingyi walked casually in front of the ancient book shelf in the room, raising his hand to play with a tea pet jade cabbage on the shelf.
The days of autumn are a rare period of leisure for the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
In the agitated court where Buddhism and Taoism were fighting, each family tacitly stopped fighting and put their swords and guns into storage.
Later, due to Zhao Duan's performance in the battle of wits, the imperial power was once again shaken. For a while, there was a feeling that the "imperial party" was rising in the officialdom of the capital, and the Li Party and the Qingliu Party were on the verge of extinction.
"My lord, my lord!" Suddenly, an official came running from outside the courtyard.
Yuan Li shook his hand and was startled by the voice. He quickly put the jade cabbage back on the museum shelf. He turned around displeased and glared at the official who came in: "I'm not even old enough to be deaf. What's going on?" ?”
The official timidly said: "Sir, Chen Hong, Chen Yushi is back."
Low-level officials did not dare to call "Yuan Gong".
"Huh?" Yuan Li was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he said, "Call him over quickly."
A few moments.
Chen Yushi, who was tired of work, entered the door, cupped his hands and smiled: "Mr. Yuan, the official is back."
Yuan Li smiled and asked him to take a seat:
"You came back so suddenly. Did your trip to Taicang go well? Zhao Duan wasn't with you?"
"Master Zhao entered the palace first." The middle-aged censor with silver teeth said.
Tsk... Young people are just impatient... The elegant and handsome Da Qingyi smiled.
Just listen to Chen Hong say: "The Taicang case has been solved, and the county magistrate Wang Chusheng has been arrested. However, things have changed slightly and some people have been implicated."
"Who?" Yuan Lizhi seemed not surprised.
"Gao Lian, the impending chief envoy." Chen Hong spat out the name.
The smile on Yuan Li's face slowly froze, as if he was digesting the news, and his expression became serious:
"Is it really... him? Did you check it wrong?"
Chen Hong said: "The county magistrate personally accused him and had evidence..."
He quickly recounted the process of drafting the manuscript.
After hearing this, Yuan Li couldn't help but stand up, pace back and forth in the room, exhaled lightly, and murmured:
"How could it be him...sigh."
He sighed with a headache. The court, which had been peaceful for a short time, was about to stir up trouble again.
…
Prime Minister's Mansion.
A carriage hurriedly stopped at the door. A "Xiaoge Lao" who looked about forty years old with a high nose jumped out before the carriage stopped.
Ignoring the salutes of the servants in the house, he hurried towards the backyard.
He shouted: "Father! Father!"
But it was all in vain.
"Ying Long? The master is taking a nap, don't shout." A beautiful woman came out, she was Li Yanfu's concubine.
This will wave his hands, trying to dissuade.
"Something happened, I'm going to see my father!" Li Yinglong looked anxious, with a hint of anger lingering on his face. He pushed his beautiful concubine away and headed towards the bedroom.
After a while, he banged on the door with his big hand, and waited until there was a sound coming into the room.
Li Yinglong opened the door and saw the bedroom at noon in autumn.
Li Yanfu, the Prime Minister of Yu, was leaning on the Arhat bed.
The temples are like hedgehog skin, the eyebrows are like purple stone ridges, and the messy and frizzy beard is connected with the temples on both sides.
Wearing a dark red loose outer robe with white jade buttons hanging on it.
At this moment, he slowly sat up, holding the bed with one hand, his eyes as sharp as an eagle.
"Father..." Li Yinglong stared at Old Xiangguo and trembled for no reason.
Li Yanfu had no expression on his face and said in a slightly urgent voice:
"But Zhao Duan is back."
Li Yinglong was startled and couldn't hide his surprise: "Father already knows?"
"I guessed it." Li Yanfu slowly sat up straight, and Li Yinglong quickly and cautiously went over to help him. "Tell me what the result was." Li Yanfu's old voice became slower now.
Li Yinglong said anxiously:
"The people below saw that Zhao Duan entered the city in about an hour and brought two large prison cars. One was the county magistrate Wang Chusheng, and the other... was Gao Lian!"
Li Yanfu pressed his hands on the bed to cover the wrinkles, and his hands with protruding veins suddenly tightened!
"Father! The prison car has been taken to the prison. It is difficult for our people to go and inquire. The specific situation is not clear yet, but we can make a rough guess. I am afraid that this case will involve Gao Lian!
Then Zhao Duan is really our close enemy! You held back your hand at first, but now it has become a momentum. You are going to eat us up! Li Yinglong said.
"Shut up!"
Li Yanfu scolded him, his eyes were eager, and the little pavilion man's hair grew cold when he saw it:
"You still have the nerve to mention it? Forgot who wiped your ass last time!?"
Li Yinglong's momentum suddenly weakened, and he could only say urgently: "Father, now is not the time to talk about this, but Gao Lian is about to die. He and us... share weal and woe. If he talks nonsense in prison..."
"Humph," Li Yanfu shook off the unfaithful son and said in a deep voice: "Gao Lian is not as stupid as you. He won't talk nonsense. If I expected it to be true, he would probably be in trouble all the way from Taicang to the capital." Not a few words were said.”
Old Xiangguo sat cross-legged on the couch, his eyes flickering, as if he was thinking about countermeasures.
Li Yinglong hesitated and said:
"My son believes in the Chief Envoy Gao, but Zhao Duan is so vicious that he may not set any trap... In short, what my son means is that we can't just sit back and wait for death.
If Gao Lian doesn't speak, he is expecting us to save him. Father, if we still stand by and watch this time, it won't matter what Gao Lian says in prison. It will be really fatal if his heart is broken. "
In the past few times, neither Pei Kaizhi, Zhou Cheng, nor Li Yanfu tried their best to take action.
This had already made Li party officials and the wealthy families in Jiangnan very dissatisfied, but due to the prime minister's accumulated prestige, they could only complain.
It's still stable.
But Li Yinglong knew very well that if he retreated again and again, the Jiangnan aristocratic families would not agree, and neither would the officials of the Li Party.
"Father! Cut five cities today and ten cities tomorrow. You said we would be beaten and let His Majesty vent his anger. We all did so, but Your Majesty still won't let go. This time, if we still don't do our best, people's hearts will really be broken. ”
Li Yinglong almost begged.
"Shut up!" Li Yanfu became irritated and got really angry. He was so scared that Mr. Xiao Ge shivered and did not dare to say a word.
The room fell into silence.
After a long time, Li Yanfu closed his eyes, exhaled, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Go gather people and come to the house to talk."
Li Yinglong raised his head suddenly, his eyes suddenly lit up, and said excitedly: "Father, you want to..."
"Go call someone," Li Yanfu waved his hand and opened his eyes with an unusually calm expression, his gray eyes like ancient wells: "It is true that we can't retreat anymore."
When pressed, sheep will bite.
Li Yanfu clenched his hands, raised his head, and looked toward the palace as if through the roof:
Your Majesty, why are you so aggressive...
…
…
The Zhao family residence.
After lunch, Zhao Pan took the boiled hawthorn pills and opened the door to the master bedroom in the east wing.
"Mom, eat some fruit."
The girl stepped across the threshold, and the sunlight behind her skirted her waist in a plain skirt and spread across the smooth wooden floor.
The autumn afternoon sunshine lit up pieces of antique furniture.
Eugene Hua wore a long skirt and sat on a round stool to embroider. She held a round bamboo frame in her left hand and tightened the silk cloth.
The smooth fingers of his right hand held a needle, and there was a mutton-fat jade thimble on his finger.
Now he is leaning his head sideways, biting the silk thread with his silver teeth, and there is a mandarin duck on the silk cloth in his hand.
"Put it down." Eugene Hua said, looking at his daughter curiously:
"You have nothing to do to be courteous, what do you want? Do you want to go shopping, or do you want monthly money?"
Zhao Pan puffed up his cheeks. After feeding, his oval face had gained a little more "autumn fat" and became plumper and cuter:
"Mom, I want to ask if there is any news about big brother and when he will be back. "
Eugene Hua said "Ah" and sighed softly, with worried eyes: "Your eldest brother didn't send back the letter, how would mother know? But when I left Beijing, it would only be a month at most. He should be back soon."
"Oh." Zhao Pan sat down gloomily, not in a high mood.
Eugene Hua glanced at her daughter, intending to ease her mood, and showed her the mandarin duck embroidered in her hand:
"Look, I embroidered it for you."
"Why are you embroidering mandarin ducks?" Zhao Pan frowned.
Eugene smiled and said: "After the New Year, you are one year older, and it is time to find a future husband. Now our family is not as big as before, it is also a wealthy family. With your eldest brother here, look at the handsome man in the capital. Whichever one you choose, it’s up to you..."
"If you don't want to listen, the monk is reciting sutras." Zhao Pan turned around decisively, leaving his mother with a buttock, covering his ears with his hands, as if he was resisting the urge to marry and would not marry until he died:
"You want to marry me, mother?" Why don’t you get married?”
"You kid! What nonsense are you talking about?" Eugene Hua had no choice but to raise his hand angrily and poke her head with his finger.
At this moment, the servant's surprised shout came from outside the room:
"The young master is back!"
The mother and daughter were stunned, looked at each other, got up and ran out of the house at the same time.
In the courtyard, he saw Zhao Duan walking in the door with large and small packages in his hands, smiling, and his eyes lit up:
"Auntie, sister, I'm back."
(End of chapter)