Chapter 821: Cat
Boom boom boom…
A burst of hurried footsteps came from the stairs. Sun Shaozong in the private room of the teahouse smacked his lips, put the memorial in his hand on the table, and stood up slowly.
At the same time he straightened his back, Hu Tai, the chief officer of the Zhongxin Palace, had already pulled the curtain and entered the private room. He didn't care about being polite and just bowed and couldn't help but said anxiously: "Sir Sun, it's been more than two days and there's no movement from the thief. The prince has urged him several times!"
"Master Hu, please be patient."
Sun Shaozong extended his hand and motioned Hu Taixian to sit down opposite him. He then poured him a cup of strong tea and said calmly, "If the news from the palace hasn't leaked out, the thief who stole the Night Pearl will take action sooner or later."
After a pause, seeing that Hu Tai seemed dissatisfied with his perfunctory response, he added, "The Korean deputy envoy has almost completed the tribute protocol in the past two days. Even if I hadn't spread the news, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to stay in the capital for a few more days."
Hu Tai's anxiety subsided a little. He and Sun Shaozong had the same inference about the thieves' purpose of stealing the treasure. They both believed that it must be related to the Korean delegation.
Now that the North Korean delegation is about to leave Beijing, the thieves will definitely take some action.
but……
Hu Tai raised his head and glanced at Sun Shaozong, then pretended to lower his head to drink tea, struggling as if he wanted to say something but stopped.
He thought he was doing it secretly, but how could he escape Sun Shaozong's eyes?
Sun Shaozong guessed something in a flash, so he tapped his fingers on the table and said seriously, "Hu Changshi, now that you and I are dependent on each other, we should not hide anything."
Hu Tai knew that he had given himself away, so he avoided Sun Shaozong's scrutiny awkwardly and said, "The prince was really impatient waiting yesterday, and was afraid that the thing had been taken away by the thieves, so he ordered people to search the outer kitchen overnight."
"The night-shining pearl hidden in the water has now been replaced with a pearl of the same size."
At this point, he hurriedly added: "The pearls were selected by the prince himself. If it weren't at night, it would be difficult to tell the real thing from the fake!"
No wonder his aggression just now seemed mixed with a bit of guilt and shortness of breath, but it turned out that he was just pretending to shut himself up in advance and set the stage for this incident.
Alas~
Sun Shaozong sighed helplessly, but he did understand King Zhongxin's actions. After all, it had been more than two days and the thief still hadn't taken any action. It was normal for him to have other ideas.
Besides, what if he doesn’t understand?
Do we have to go to the palace and question King Zhongxin in person?
"In that case, there is no need to rush."
Sun Shaozong could only spread his hands and said, "I hope the thief is just trying to be safe and not really discover anything."
Hu Tai felt that he had failed to live up to the trust placed in him, and was inevitably embarrassed by Sun Shaozong's revelation just now. So he explained a few more words, then said that he was busy with official business in the palace and hurriedly took his leave.
After he left, Sun Shaozong did not leave in a hurry, but picked up the memorial again and read it over and over again line by line.
This is naturally not because the memorial contains some shocking truth that makes people unable to help but chew it over and over again.
In fact, to Sun Shaozong, no matter how gorgeous the words were, they sounded disgusting to read - because this was the memorial from the censor Sun Yun, impeaching him for occupying a position without doing anything.
If it weren't for the rules that required Sun Shaozong to write a letter to defend himself, no one would be willing to look at this broken thing.
After a long time, Sun Shaozong finally pulled his attention away from the flashy words. He threw the impeachment memorial away and lowered his head to take a few sips of tea.
Sun Yun was worthy of being the deputy chief examiner of the autumn examination. Although most of his words were empty and meaningless, he used ambiguous words at key points, which not only made it difficult for people to refute, but also led to many unfinished meanings.
Fortunately, Sun Shaozong was a Beijing official, and the emperor knew everything he did in his daily life.
If it were a local official serving in a remote area, he would have some preconceived ideas after reading this memorial.
It seems that I have to think carefully about - if it doesn't work, I can only ask my nephew-in-law Yu Qian to be my ghostwriter.
Speaking of Yu Qian, the memorial on "popularizing the rule of law in the countryside" should be almost finished with polishing by now, right?
When the time comes, I will just submit it together with the letter of self-defense, and see who dares to talk about being a figurehead.
Having made up his mind, Sun Shaozong put the copy of the impeachment memorial back into his bag, and then took out another copy.
This is a copy of the letter presented by the Korean delegation, mixed with some information that Sun Shaozong privately asked someone to investigate.
Originally, Sun Shaozong brought him with him because he wanted to share it with Hu Tai and point out that this matter was of great importance so as to prevent the people in the palace from being too impatient.
But Hu Changshi came and went in a hurry, and Prince Zhongxin had already executed the person first and reported to the emperor later, so Sun Shaozong simply ignored the matter.
Spreading the manuscript on the table, Sun Shaozong flipped directly to the end, scratching each line with his fingers, muttering to himself: "Deputy envoy, deputy envoy...did not invite the doctor...guards are strictly guarded..."
As the murmurs continued, his brows furrowed more and more.
Because when , Li Enxian had been planning on Sun Shaozu, and later the theft of the Goryeo treasure pearl happened, so Sun Shaozong naturally paid more attention to the Korean delegation than others.
As a result, this attention really led to trouble.
Ever since he toured the capital with Sun Shaozong that day, the Korean envoy Li Enxian seemed to have suffered an acute illness. Not only did he close the door to visitors, but he also asked the deputy envoy to handle the subsequent tribute regulations.
There's nothing wrong with this.
It is not uncommon for people to have difficulty acclimatizing to the local climate, especially since this person is a foreigner who has come from far away.
But the problem is that the Korean deputy envoy never mentioned the matter of Liaodong from beginning to end.
This is in stark contrast to Li Enxian's original urgency.
It's not possible that such a major military and national issue would be left unresolved just because the envoy is sick, right?
Even if the King of Korea entrusted this matter only to Li Enxian, there should be nothing to keep secret at this point.
unless……
Li Enxian is already sick and unconscious!
But if that's really the case, why don't they hire even half of the famous doctors in the capital?
On the contrary, the security in the posthouse has become much stricter...
Something fishy!
I'm afraid there's something fishy going on here!
Sun Shaozong tapped the memorial with his finger and picked up the teapot to refill his cup, but he couldn't help but look out the window - it was already past the agreed time, so why was Eunuch Li still nowhere to be seen?
In addition to meeting with Hu Tai today, he also made an appointment with Li Shuncheng, the chief purchasing official of the imperial palace. One purpose was to report the abnormalities of the Korean delegation through the eunuchs to avoid delays or leaks.
Secondly, we need to secure a big match!
