Hua Xiao Qian rolled his eyes and asked hesitantly, "Sir, you are?"
The old voice chuckled, "Do you think I will tell you?"
Hua Xiao Qian said, "I am just looking after the house and making a living. Please have mercy on me."
The old voice said, "I have no enmity with you. Why would I kill you? I want to accumulate some good fortune for my children and grandchildren. As long as you listen to me, I will not hurt you. Speak! Where is Yang Mingsheng now? "
"Lang Zhong is asleep!"
"Where?"
"In the main room of the second courtyard."
"Good, take me there!"
Hua Xiao Qian was silent. The person behind him sneered, "If you want to be loyal, that's up to you. Maybe Yang Mingsheng will remember to compensate your family."
Then, the iron fingers on Hua Xiao Qian's throat tightened. Hua Xiao Qian was shocked and quickly said, "I am telling the truth. Lang Zhong … he is still in the study!"
The old voice harrumphed and said, "I knew you were lying. Bring me there and I'll spare your life! Otherwise, I will take your dog life! "
"Very well, I will promise you. Sir … please don't go back on your words!"
"I always keep my promises!"
Hua Xiao Qian wanted to move forward but the fingers on his throat tightened and pulled him back. The cold voice said, "Wait, take care of that black dog first."
Hua Xiao Qian said with a bitter face, "How should I take care of it …"
The voice behind him sneered, "Don't tell me you are not familiar with it! The night watchman and the night watchdog are not familiar with each other. If you move, it will start barking. Wouldn't that be a joke? "
Hua Xiao Qian's last hope was shattered. He had no choice but to call out, "Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai! "
The black dog was called Xiao Bai. Yang Fan, who was standing behind Hua Xiao Qian, was speechless.
The big black dog had just poked its head out to look around, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. It had already crouched down again, but when it heard the call, its ears perked up. Hearing that it was Xiao Qian calling for it, it ran over while shaking its head and wagging its tail.
After all, an animal was an animal, and its intelligence could not be compared to that of a human. Although its six senses were abnormally sensitive, and even a high flying Ranger could not avoid its eyes and ears, at this moment, the intruder was right in front of it, but because it was accompanied by a familiar person, it could not distinguish between friend and foe.
Little White ran to Hua Xiaoqian's side and lowered its head to sniff the tip of his boots. It then raised its head and wagged its tail at him. Perhaps in the black dog's heart, it thought that Hua Xiaoqian was bored and called it over to play.
The old voice behind him spoke again, "Looks like you're really familiar with it. Since you can control it, that's for the best. Take me to the study in the backyard. Since the dog doesn't bark, why kill it!"
When Hua Xiaoqian heard the words of the person behind him, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. If the person behind him was not even willing to kill a dog, let alone a human, it seemed that as long as he was obedient, there was still a high chance of survival.
Hua Xiaoqian even thought, "Maybe this Nightwalker did not intend to harm the doctor, but just wanted to complain. These people in the pugilistic world are very strange, so this reason is not impossible." This thought made Hua Xiaoqian feel a little better. He softened his voice and said to the black dog, "Little White, be a good boy and go back to sleep. Go, go, go."
The black dog seemed to understand his words, and ran back to the house in a flash. It lay on the ground, still looking in their direction.
Yang Fan held onto Hua Xiaoqian and slowly walked forward. They walked past the black dog, around the side of the house, and walked along the dimly lit corridor. The big black dog did not bark, and even wagged its tail at them in a friendly manner.
The two of them walked to the backyard, passed through a moon gate, and followed a small path in the flowerbeds to the left. At the end of the path, there was a small building, and on top of it was a lit window.
Hua Xiaoqian stopped and said, "This is the place."
"Other than Yang Mingsheng, who else is there in the building?"
"This, I do not know, but usually when the doctor deals with official matters, he only brings a page boy with him to serve tea and grind ink."
"Good! If you are not lying, I guarantee that you will see the sun tomorrow morning. "
As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Xiaoqian's ears shook, and his whole body fell to the ground, completely unconscious.
…
Yang Mingsheng was reviewing the case of Seo Kyung-jin, the younger brother of the British Minister Xu Jingye.
Xu Jingye was the grandson of Xu Shi Ji, one of the 24 meritorious officials of the Pavilion of Lingyan.
Xu Shiji defeated the Turks and Goguryeo. Together with Li Jing, he was known as the two famous generals of the Tang dynasty. He had served in the three reigns of Gaozu, Taizong, and Gaozong, and was regarded as a pillar of the imperial court.
Later, Gaozong Li Zhi wanted to make Wu Meiniang empress, but Zhangsun Wuji and a group of "Guanlong faction" officials strongly opposed it. Although Wu Meiniang's family also belonged to the Guanlong faction, Zhangsun Wuji and his group approved of the empress candidate, Empress Wang, the daughter of the Guanlong Wang family. At that time, Xu Shiji, who held military power, expressed his support at the critical moment, and Wu Meiniang was successfully conferred as empress.
Therefore, at that time, Empress Wu and Xu Shiji's family were very close, like family. Unfortunately, the honeymoon would eventually pass. Later, Empress Wu's authority grew, and she wantonly executed members of Li Tang's imperial clan, demoted and killed ministers loyal to Li Tang's imperial clan. Xu Shiji's grandson, Xu Jingye, who had inherited the title of Duke of England, was also demoted to Liu Province's major.
When Xu Jingye passed through Yangzhou, he happened to meet Tang Zhiqi, Luo Binwang, and a group of people who were also demoted. After a discussion, they raised the banner of supporting Li Tang and began to oppose Wu. In the end, they failed not long after. Xu Shiji's direct descendants, except for a few who heard the news and escaped, hid their names and escaped, the rest were all executed.
In her rage, Wu Zetian not only issued an imperial edict to demote Xu Jingye's grandfather and father, two generations of official titles, she also ordered people to dig up Xu Shiji's grave, the coffin was chopped to pieces with axes, and the corpse was whipped with leather. The depth of her anger could be seen from this.
Of course Yang Mingsheng knew that although the Empress Dowager was a woman, she was not a narrow-minded, vile person who would seek revenge for the smallest grievance. The Empress Dowager was a man of great talent and bold strategy, whatever she did, she had her reasons. She would not stretch out her sharp claws for no reason, just to show off her power and prestige, or just to vent the anger in her heart.
All of her actions had an extremely profound meaning. All of the above was to punish the chicken to warn the monkey. In the last few years, Empress Wu's movements were frequent, she already had the intention to overthrow Li Tang's order, to take over the world and replace him. But a woman sitting on the world's throne, this had never happened since the beginning of time, it was very difficult. If she did not use cruel and ruthless methods, how could she make the heroes of the world submit?
Killing Li Tang's imperial family, even killing her own son and grandson, was for this purpose; killing Li Tang's loyal officials was also to cut off the obstacles, using cruel methods to attack the opponents was also for this purpose. And now, Seo Kyung-jin was arrested and brought back to the capital for trial, his confession was all there, the truth was already clear, why did the Empress Dowager still ask the Ministry of Justice to reopen the case?
The Empress Dowager's real motive …
To be so cautious, it was likely that the drunkard had ulterior motives.
It seemed that the Empress Dowager wanted to use the Seo Kyung-jin case to cut off some branches and roots of the big tree that was Li Tang, this swaying tree that was on the verge of collapse!
The Empress Dowager placed people like them in an important position, it was making the best use of their talents. If they could not understand the intentions of their superiors, and use the Seo Kyung-jin case to do something that satisfied the Empress Dowager, how could they receive the Empress Dowager's favor?
Since he understood the Empress Dowager's true intentions, Yang Mingsheng's thoughts became smoother. He narrowed his eyes and thought, "The Empress Dowager gave the case of Seo Kyung-jin to Assistant Minister Zhou, and Assistant Minister Zhou gave this case to me to handle. It seems that Assistant Minister Daren also wants to smuggle goods. This case needs to be used well. If it is done well, we can suppress' Lai Suo '. This chance cannot be missed."
Right now, there were four ruthless officials among the Empress Dowager's subordinates. They were Qiu Shenji, Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen, and Suo Yuanli. On the surface, these four were in cahoots with each other and were the public enemies of the world, but there were factions among them.
Qiu Shenji was the second son of Qiu Xinggong, a meritorious official of the early Tang. He had always been in the army, and was now the Great General of the Left Golden Guards. The Autumn Official Assistant Minister, Zhou Xing, was originally from the capital's Chang 'an, and was also the son of an aristocratic family. When he was young, he began to study law and later became an official. He was the Minister of Shangshu Province, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture, and was placed in an important position by the Empress Dowager. He became the Autumn Official Assistant Minister, and was in charge of the Ministry of Justice.
These two people were both from aristocratic families, so they had a good relationship and formed a faction. And 'Lai Suo' was Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli. These two were just scoundrels from the streets, and had relied on informants to become officials. They did not fit in with Qiu Zhou. On the surface, they were polite, but in private, they fought fiercely for power and favor.
Yang Mingsheng was on Zhou Xing's faction, and naturally would not let go of such a good chance to show off his faction's power. Before Seo Kyung-jin had been escorted to Jing, he had already been considering how to use this matter to cause a calamity of imprisonment. In fact, Seo Kyung-jin's confession was not important, and it was also not important whether he had a confession or not. What was important was to first understand the Empress Dowager's intentions, and then decide who to deal with.
Yang Mingsheng was thinking hard …
Downstairs, the little errand boy, Mu Ninger, was holding a large cattail leaf fan and fanning the charcoal fire to boil tea. He threw two pieces of charcoal into the fire, and the slightly dimmed flame lit up again, reflecting a red light on the small clay stove.
Mu Ninger yawned and muttered sleepily, "Ah Lang is staying up late again, making me unable to sleep!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a palm appeared on his shoulder. The palm was like a knife, and with a slanted slash, the little errand boy fell asleep.
His body shook, and his whole body fell backwards. His body was gently supported by a pair of hands, and slowly placed on the ground. Then, a hand reached out, grabbed a rag from the short table, rolled it twice, and wrapped it around the handle of the pottery pot on top of the stove. Holding the pot of boiling tea in his hand, he slowly walked upstairs.
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