Chapter 38 Report to the Old Superintendent
Just as Zhao Duan drove to Baima Prison.
In the palace, in the royal study, Xu Zhenguan is listening to the report from the female officer.
"So, the result of the case given by the imperial office is that he escaped privately?"
Dressed in white uniforms, with black hair like a waterfall, a cold and majestic temperament, and a flawless face, the empress sat on a seat with a soft brocade cushion backrest, gazing at the other person with her slender eyes.
There was a hint of anger in his voice.
The "Female Prime Minister" Mo Zhaorong, dressed as a female official, wearing a wingless black veil on her head and plum blossoms on her eyebrows, lowered her head and responded:
"……yes."
"Humph." Xu Zhenguan threw the document submitted by the imperial edict on the case:
"Ma Yan is getting more and more confused. Zhuang Xiaocheng sneaked in before, and a firearms craftsman disappeared later. This huge capital city is like a sieve. No one can stop anyone who wants to leave."
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
Mochou advised:
"Ma Du Gong always does things carefully, but he finally noticed it too late."
Xu Zhenguan frowned, knowing in his heart that what Mochou said was true.
Not long ago, news came in that a firearms craftsman was missing in the Beijing camp, which attracted Xu Zhenguan's attention and ordered Ma Yan to investigate.
After checking, I found out that it happened two months ago.
The reason why the news was delayed was that the missing craftsman was on vacation.
Furthermore, the officials below were afraid of taking responsibility, so they spent a lot of time investigating privately and wanted to solve the problem alone to cover up their dereliction of duty.
As a result, when the case was handed over to Ma Yan, the clues were cut off early, and the final answer was given:
Several craftsmen were ostracized and bullied by bullies. Unable to bear the harassment, they secretly fled the capital with their families and disappeared without a trace.
It seemed reasonable and there was an explanation, but Xu Zhenguan was not satisfied with the result.
"It can be explained that one or two escaped, but the few who escaped happened to be involved in all aspects of firearms manufacturing. How can I believe that there is nothing fishy?" Xu Zhenguan said.
Mo Chou remained silent, unable to answer.
After a long time, Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, pinched his eyebrows a little tiredly, and said bitterly: "That's all, I shouldn't lose my temper with you. After all, I didn't supervise the Beijing camp enough and was negligent."
Mo Chou looked ashamed and said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty has a lot of things to do, especially since the cabinet was abolished. There are so many public affairs that only a few people have to share. Even an iron man can't handle it. It's just a servant who is incompetent..."
Xu Zhenguan shook her head to stop her self-criticism and sighed:
"The influence of the courtiers is intertwined, and the original cabinet has long been corrupted. If it is not suppressed when he ascends the throne, it will be even more difficult in the future."
Mochou said:
"Master Dong's side, the recruitment of bachelors is still in preparation. Once it is settled, Your Majesty can be more relaxed."
The emperor's power would be divided among the cabinet.
However, monopolizing power also has disadvantages. Not only is the empress exhausted, but she is also prone to neglect, failure to take care of her, and mistakes.
Therefore, the empress planned early to form a "new cabinet" that was completely under her command and directly related to her.
"Speaking of it, I haven't visited the Grand Master for quite some time," Xu Zhenguan sighed, and couldn't help but smile: "The last time I went, I caught up with the Grand Master admonishing his grandson, which was quite interesting."
Mochou also laughed.
The Grand Master's grandson is said to be a "nerd". He is not stupid, but his personality is very different from that of the powerful children. He does not like to go out to have fun and is very low-key.
As the empress took the initiative to chat, the dullness and pressure in the imperial study suddenly disappeared.
As the two women chatted, they tacitly agreed not to mention the topic just now.
"By the way, how has Zhao Duan been doing these past few days? Has he caused any trouble again?" Xu Zhenguan asked suddenly.
When Zhao Duan was mentioned, Mochou's expression became cold:
"After hearing that he had received the reward that day, he had a conflict with the nephew of Zhang Langzhong of the Ministry of War when he returned home. He used fists and kicks. His domineering and evil behavior has not changed."
"Oh? Did he win?" Xu Zhenguan's focus was a little strange.
"...I won," Mo Chou said in a depressed tone, reluctantly: "It is said that it was easy to win, and the Zhang family suppressed the matter so that no one knew about it."
The empress smiled and seemed to be quite satisfied with the performance of her new bastard.
After learning the inheritance of the royal family, if you can't defeat even a dandy in the capital, wouldn't it be a loss of face for the royal family?
The person who lost her?
Zhao Duan won the victory neatly, which suited her very well.
"..." Seeing the appearance of the empress, Mochou became more and more dissatisfied with Zhao Duan, feeling that His Majesty had been deceived by the scumbag.
When she was about to say something bad, the empress waved her hand and suppressed her smile: "Okay, no joke, I still have to deal with government affairs. You go and send a message to Ma Yan, saying that I am not satisfied with the result and want him to Continue to investigate, I gave the imperial office such great power to supervise hundreds of officials, and I don’t want them to fool around. "
Mochou's heart trembled and he hurriedly said: "Yes!"
Immediately he exited the imperial study room. When he left, he saw Xu Zhenguan, who had worked hard for a day, continuing to review the memorials at his desk under the shadow of the night lights, and sighed softly in his heart.
She has seen His Majesty's hard work in the past two years, and his diligence far exceeds that of the late Emperor.
But for such an empress, so many people in the world want to oppose her.
…
…
White horse supervisor.
When Zhao Duan stepped into the back office again after a few days and knocked on the door of the old eunuch, the old eunuch named Sun Lianying showed unexpected emotions in his eyes.
"What are you doing here again?"
The tone was still not good, but it was obviously much gentler than last time.
Zhao Duan put on a smile and walked in the door in a familiar manner without saying a word. His eyes drifted to an empty chair in the room.
"..." Sun Lianying was speechless, but finally shook her head and said:
"If you want to sit down, move your own chair."
"Thank you, sir, for the seat!" Zhao Duan cupped his hands and said with a smile.
The old supervisor, who was wearing a single coat, had gray temples and deep eye sockets, said "ha" and sat on his chair without moving.
He slowly picked up the cup and wiped the mist of hot water with the cup lid.
It feels like a veteran cadre from an agency tasting a thermos cup.
"Tell me, what are you going to do here?"
Zhao Duan sat on the chair and then said with a sincere face: "Thanks to your help for what happened last time. I am here to express my gratitude."
The empress never mentioned to him how the old supervisor commented on him.
But Zhao Duan, who had been working as a secretary for many years, was very thoughtful and could guess some stories from his last conversation with the empress.
For example, the empress asked him if there was any guidance from the old supervisor behind the idea of threatening Feng Ju and making a meritorious deed.
This revealed that he had probably communicated with the old supervisor about Zhao Duan.
Moreover, the message the Empress received should not be bad.
Otherwise, Zhao Duan would not be considered to be under his care and guidance.
These are all speculations and may not be true, but they do not prevent him from testing them in the name of thanks.
"Hmph," Sun Lianying took a sip of water before saying slowly and slightly mockingly:
"This is the first time our family has seen someone come to the door empty-handed to say thank you."
Is this an admission? So, he did help me behind the scenes?
At least he didn't trick me and maintained objectivity and fairness... Zhao Duan made his judgment silently.
As for the unfriendly tone of the other party, he automatically ignored it.
Many times, the focus of observing words and emotions is not words but actions.
Not kicking him out directly already made the problem clear.
"How do you know, sir, that I came without a gift?" Zhao Duan asked with a smile.
Nonsense, you are empty-handed... Sun Lianying was about to make a mockery.
Suddenly, in my mind, I remembered the last time the other party came to my door at night. My heart moved and I sat up a little straighter:
"You can't be..."
"That's right," Zhao Duan said with a smile:
"By chance, I got clues about a major case and am going to report it to you."
"A big case?"
Sun Lianying was a little suspicious, with distrust in her eyes:
"Young people, don't boast casually and treat trivial matters as major cases. You may be too careful to dodge your tongue."
Zhao Duan's smile did not change:
"This case may not seem like a big deal, but if it gets involved, I'm afraid it won't be a big deal."
"Involvement? Who are you trying to bite? Or Li Yanfu?" Sun Lianying despised him.
Obviously, he already knew about Zhao Duan's little trick last time.
Zhao Duan shook his head and said calmly: "This time it's not the Prime Minister's Kingdom, it's Jiandao, Prince Jing's Mansion."
"Pfft!" The tea in the old supervisor's mouth spurted out.
(End of chapter)