Chapter 481: 'False accusation' is enough
The memorial from Prince Beijing was like a stone that caused a thousand ripples.
Although there were undercurrents in the court, it still maintained a superficial calm. However, this letter tore the fig leaf to pieces.
Those who reacted the fastest were naturally the censors who made a living by gossiping and pens - within just half a day, impeachment memorials piled up like a mountain on the cabinet's desk.
Just as the old saying goes, 'a broken drum is beaten by everyone, a collapsed wall is pushed by everyone', among these dozens of memorials, not a single person spoke up to speak for the Niu family. All of them echoed Prince Beijing's remarks, impeaching and attacking the Niu family.
For a moment, it seemed as if Prince Beijing, the head of the nobles, was also the leader of the clean stream.
However, in the face of these memorials that came in like snowflakes, Emperor Guangde only said "it's just hearsay, not enough to be trusted", and ordered to extend Prince Beijing's house arrest for one month, and then completely ignored them.
On the contrary, Empress Dowager Niu refused to give up. She issued several imperial decrees, urging Emperor Guangde to thoroughly investigate her mother's family. She also insisted on resigning all official positions except those of lords for her sons and nephews, and threatened that until the suspicion was cleared, no one in the Niu family would ever set foot in the court.
Forced by this, Emperor Guangde finally sent several trusted ministers to "help" the Niu family prove their innocence.
Prove innocence?
Sun Shaozong chewed the mimeographed regular script on the official report over and over again, sneered for a while, threw the newspaper to Yang Li, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and drank half a pot of old lamb wine he brought with him along with the hot and sour bamboo shoots on the plate.
This is a small tavern located northwest of Qingxu Temple. The food and drinks are nothing special, but the sour and spicy dried bamboo shoots are very appetizing and refreshing, and can be said to be a unique dish in South City.
Seeing Sun Shaozong picking up all the dried bamboo shoots in a leisurely manner and fiddling with the chopped dogwood with chopsticks in boredom, Yang Licai couldn't hold back his temper and said with his shoulder tilted while holding the official newspaper in his hand: "Sir, I should go and urge him..."
"No need."
Sun Shaozong shook his head and put his chopsticks on the plate.
The shopkeeper had been looking around the counter for a long time. When he saw Sun Shaozong put down his chopsticks, he hurried over and asked with a smile, "Master, are you satisfied with the dried bamboo shoots in our shop?"
Sun Shaozong smiled and said, "If I was not satisfied, I would not have visited your house three times in just four days."
The shopkeeper's face immediately glowed with joy. He took out a small piece of paper from his sleeve, and presented it to Sun Shaozong with both hands, saying respectfully, "Since the master likes it, you may as well give this recipe to the chef in your house. If your chef has any questions, feel free to call me to ask in detail."
"how?"
Sun Shaozong looked at the prescription and said, "Did you recognize me?"
"When you, my lord, go to court to question the case, I will almost always be there!"
This also met fans .
Sun Shaozong smiled and was about to say something to the shop owner when several men of plain appearance suddenly filed in from outside. The others found an empty table and sat down. The leader quickly walked up to Sun Shaozong and whispered something in his ear.
Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, then stood up and took the prescription from the shopkeeper, saying with a smile, "Since it is a good intention from the shopkeeper , I would be disrespectful to refuse it."
The shop owner hurriedly cranked his hand like a rattle, saying "it's just a small matter, not worth mentioning", and then proudly retreated behind the counter.
Sun Shaozong sat down again, then raised his chin to Yang Licai and said, "Zhou Ying, the verification is correct."
Yang Licai hurriedly took out a brush and cinnabar from his backpack, then took out a booklet and heavily erased the name "Zhou Ying" with cinnabar.
There were eleven more names in the booklet that were also covered in cinnabar, and the remaining ones...
"Sir, how are we going to check on the remaining five?!"
After putting away the booklet, Yang Licai looked at Sun Shaozong expectantly - after four days of investigation, among the seventeen suspects, most of them had been ruled out, and the remaining five were the real tough nuts to crack.
And this is also a good opportunity to witness Lord Sun's true "divine judgment"!
Sun Shaozong folded the menu first and carefully put it into his sleeve pocket. Then he looked up to meet Yang Licai's expectant gaze and said calmly, "Collect the troops and return to the government office to report."
"ah?!"
Yang Licai almost thought he had heard wrongly. Why did they have to withdraw their troops at such a critical moment?!
Besides, we haven’t figured out who the spy is yet. How should the government report to the pacification commissioner this time?
However, before he could question anything, Sun Shaozong took out a piece of silver, placed it on the table, stood up and left.
By the time Yang Licai reacted and chased out the door , Sun Shaozong had already swiftly boarded the carriage. It was not convenient for him to catch up and ask what was going on, so he could only angrily call on his men to mount their horses and guard Sun Shaozong's carriage in front and behind.
No conversation along the way.
It was not until he entered the Northern Pacification Office that Yang Li found an opportunity to approach Sun Shaozong and whispered, "Sir, Pacification Lu is very concerned about the traitor. If you report this way, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain, right?"
"It's hard to explain?"
Sun Shaozong paused for a moment and asked, "So, you are sure you can find out who among the five of them leaked the news in a short time?"
"this……"
Yang Licai was suddenly speechless. If it was really easy to identify the real spy from these five people, why would he expect Sun Shaozong's "divine judgment" ability?
"These are all elite troops brought back by Lu Zhenfu from the south. The spy was able to blend in without being discovered, so he must be a tough one to deal with. How can we identify him if there is no evidence?"
Sun Shaozong said, and then he started walking again, saying as he walked: "So from the beginning, I was prepared to not find the spy."
"But……"
Yang Licai couldn't help but ask, "If you can't find the spy, how are you going to explain to the governor?"
Sun Shaozong suddenly sighed, stopped again, turned around and asked, "I'm not confused, why did you confuse Shuntian Prefecture with the Northern Pacification Office?"
Without waiting for Yang Licai's response, he strode into the front hall.
Not to mention how confused Yang Licai felt as he looked at his back.
Sun Shaozong entered the hall and told Lu Hui the details of his investigation in the past few days. Finally, he took out the cinnabar-painted list and handed it over with both hands: "Please take a look, sir."
Lu Hui took the list and spread it out in his hand. He looked at the five names several times, his expression becoming increasingly gloomy.
One trial thousand households, two hundred households, and two general flags.
The first three were the commanders of this operation, and the last two had sneaked into the inn alone to spy on the enemy - they were all Lu Hui's confidants who were painstakingly cultivated when he was in Jiangnan.
Sun Shaozong continued to report: "I am not familiar with these five people, so it is difficult for me to distinguish them clearly. I am afraid that I can only ask you to come forward and personally..."
"No need."
After saying these three cold words, Lu Hui threw the booklet to the ground. He then said grimly, "Since they cannot clear the suspicion, they should all be locked up in the dungeon. When the suspicion is cleared, it will not be too late for me to apologize to them in person. If they cannot clear the suspicion, I am afraid they can only blame their bad luck."
It is true!
Sun Shaozong sighed inwardly, but pretended to hesitate and said, "I'm afraid this is..."
"Captain Sun."
Lu Hui straightened his body, interrupted Sun Shaozong 's words, and said calmly: "You must know that this is the Northern Pacification Office, not the fussy Shuntian Prefecture. Here, the three words 'false accusation' are enough!"
