Two hundred and seventy-eight people was no small number, and the pile of documents on the table was like a small mountain.
Any secret, no matter how perfectly concealed, would leave behind some clues. To Wang Chong, as long as there was anything suspicious, he would find the 'footprints' left behind.
In a little more than four hours, the pile of documents on the table had been reduced by at least half. Wang Chong had gone through them once and eliminated more than one hundred people as suspects, leaving behind only around one hundred and twenty people. Wang Chong quickly handed these documents over to his uncle, Li Lin.
"Have the City Guard move out and interrogate these one-hundred-and-twenty people again. In addition, these thirty-some people are the most suspicious ones that I've identified. Uncle-in-law, I'll have to trouble you to send the experts of the City Guard and Imperial Army to talk to them in the name of arresting suspects and protecting the capital. See if they're telling the truth. "
Wang Chong paused for a moment before continuing.
"When talking to them, pay attention to their wrists and see if there's any ink mark on them."
As Wang Chong spoke, he took out a brush from the brush rack beside him. With just a few strokes, he immediately drew a strange ink-colored mark on a piece of white paper. This was the same mark that Wang Chong had seen on the wrists of those three Confucian experts who had replaced him in Khorasan.
The two were identical.
"Remember, don't let them notice!"
Wang Chong added.
"Relax. Leave this matter to me. I'll personally handle it!"
Li Lin took the paper and the list of names that Wang Chong had recorded and quickly left.
Time passed slowly. The entire City Guard Division moved again upon hearing the news and quickly got into action.
… …
In the southwest of the capital, a wooden door towered over a quiet and secluded area. Nearby, a clear river gurgled by.
"Confucius said, 'To govern by virtue, one should be like the northern star, occupying its place while all the stars move together.'
"Confucius said, 'The gentleman is considerate but does not compare; the villain compares but does not consider.'
Ji Kangzi asked, "To make the people respect, to be loyal and to persuade them, how?" Confucius said, "To be dignified and dignified is to be respectful; to be merciful and compassionate is to be loyal; to be virtuous and unable to teach, then to persuade."
…
Early in the morning, the sound of someone reading came from behind the wooden door. A white-robed scholar, holding a feather fan and a silk scarf, was reading the contents of Confucius's Analects of Confucius.
The scholar's sleeves fluttered in the wind, and he emanated a fresh, elegant, and otherworldly aura.
Rumble! Suddenly, the sound of a carriage broke the silence of the morning. The young white-clothed scholar frowned slightly. Raising his head, he saw more than ten soldiers of the City Guard riding their horses over and stopping in front of the wooden door.
"Li Junshan?"
A soldier of the City Guard asked.
"Yes, I am. May I know what business you have barged in at this time?"
The white-robed scholar said. He seemed to be very cultured.
"The city defense needs it. I hope you can cooperate with us to do some investigations."
As the leading officer spoke, he took out a book and began to ask questions while recording them down.
The white-robed scholar had maintained an extremely cultured demeanor. Although he was a little displeased, he still did his utmost to cooperate with the investigation. Age, place of birth, purpose in coming to the capital — as long as he could answer, he would answer everything he knew. The investigation lasted for an entire hour. The white-robed scholar stood there, not showing the slightest hint of impatience.
With the investigation concluded, the group quickly left.
"Milord, I've seen him. There's no black mark on his wrist. He shouldn't be the person we're looking for!"
Once the carriage was several hundred meters away from the wooden door, the leading officer of the City Guard quickly stepped forward and rode alongside the carriage.
"I understand. You can go!"
A voice came from within the carriage. As soon as the voice faded, the City Guard Division officer bowed in acknowledgment and quickly left.
Once the City Guard officer had left, Li Lin turned to Wang Chong.
"Chong-er, this is the last one. None of them have the mark you spoke of. What do we do now?"
Li Lin looked at Wang Chong, deep concern in his eyes.
Wang Chong had been standing next to the City Guard the entire time, but of the thirty people Wang Chong had chosen as the most suspicious, including Li Junshan, none of them fulfilled the conditions that Wang Chong had spoken of.
Wang Chong sat motionless on the side, his eyes closed as if in thought. None of the investigations had yielded the desired results. From this, it could be said that Wang Chong's deductions had been a complete failure. However, his expression didn't seem to be affected too much.
"If my guess is right, the other party should have made preparations!"
After a long while, Wang Chong opened his eyes and suddenly said.
"Ah!"
Li Lin's body trembled, and he was instantly rendered speechless.
"If that's the case, won't we never be able to find him?"
In this period of time, Li Lin had learned a few things from Wang Chong. Given the abilities that the other party had displayed, if they had already noticed Wang Chong's movements and were wary, it would be very difficult to truly uncover them.
"Uncle-in-law, be at ease. This operation was not completely fruitless. Very soon, I will make him reveal his true whereabouts!"
Wang Chong indifferently said. As he opened his eyes, they began to exude a dazzling light. While Wang Chong was investigating the true identity of the mastermind, an incident that shook the Tang Dynasty's Imperial Court took place the next day.
"Your Majesty! Subject Ye Haicheng has a memorial. Andong Protector-General Zhang Shougui has deceived the sovereign and concealed military intelligence. He suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Xi and the Khitans along the Huang River, suffering heavy losses and countless casualties, but he concealed this fact. Not only that, Zhang Shougui even colluded with the Celestial Ambassador and secretly bribed the Celestial Ambassador, hoping that the Celestial Ambassador would deceive the heavens and help him turn a major defeat into a major victory. Zhang Shougui's greed for grandeur and recklessness has committed a crime of deceiving the sovereign. This crime of deceiving the sovereign cannot be lightly forgiven! "
"This lowly subject has a letter from his subordinates. There is no doubt about this matter. Your Majesty, please investigate and punish him severely!"
Imperial Censor Ye Haicheng gripped his ceremonial tablet as he walked out of the ranks, his entire face ashen.
Bang!
Ye Haicheng's words stirred up a thousand ripples. Hearing Ye Haicheng's words, the entire Imperial Court was shaken. All the officials, be they civil officials or military officials, revealed expressions of extreme shock.
Even the motionless The King of Song, who had been watching from the sidelines this entire time, suddenly narrowed his eyes in shock.
The Tang Dynasty's Holy Emperor had reigned for thirty-seven years. His political and martial accomplishments were peerless, and he was hailed as the Emperor of All Ages. It was extremely rare for an emperor to be publicly acknowledged as the Emperor of All Ages while he was still on the throne. But the Tang Dynasty's prosperity and military prowess were something that everyone had witnessed with their own eyes. Even the barbarians were awed by it.
Several decades ago, the Holy Emperor had unified the Tang army and fought north and south, defeating all his opponents and forcing all the surrounding countries to submit to him. The Tang Dynasty was publicly acknowledged as the strongest empire of the east. And in the hands of the Holy Emperor, the territory of the Central Plains had expanded to unprecedented proportions.
Not even the publicly acknowledged First Emperor of the Great Qin or Great Emperor Wu of Han had been able to accomplish this. Moreover, the Holy Emperor's martial arts were extremely formidable. He was the only existence in the last one thousand years who had infinitely approached the God Martial realm.
And the God Martial realm was a true god!
In the Central Plains, before the Holy Emperor truly assailed the God Martial realm, even the supreme experts were nothing more than legends, illusory and unverifiable existences.
In the Tang dynasty, everyone was filled with reverence for the Holy Emperor. No one had expected that someone would dare to deceive the sovereign, and it was Andong Protector-General Zhang Shougui!
"It's starting so soon?!"
Wang Chong stood at the very end of the line, his eyes narrowing as he listened to the uproar in the court. Almost instinctively, Wang Chong sensed the scent of a scheme.
Starting from Khorasan, the Confucian school had been doing its utmost to have the Tang Dynasty cease military warfare and focus on culture, but the greatest opposition and resistance came from the Great Generals and Protector-Generals of the various borders of the Tang Dynasty. The proposal to disband the prefectural armies had already been thwarted by Wang Chong, but the Confucian school was clearly not about to let the matter rest.
Zhang Shougui was the second most authoritative figure in the militarist school. He had managed Youzhou into an impregnable fortress, treating it like his own territory. If not for this, Zhang Shougui would not have been so bold as to call a defeat a victory and lie to the Imperial Court. If they could topple Zhang Shougui, they could make an example of him. This was clearly the best warning the Confucian school could give to all the Great Generals and Protector-Generals on the border.
As Wang Chong was thinking this, he heard a loud roar.
"Absurd! Your Confucian school is willing to do anything to suppress the Bureau of Military Personnel. Zhang Shougui was the empire's Great General and Protector-General, one of the empire's most experienced commanders. He had led the army in battle for decades and had never lost a battle. Even the Ouzan Empire had suffered defeat after defeat at his hands, losing countless soldiers. He had guarded Youzhou for so many years that the northeast was peaceful, and the Goguryeo Empire didn't even dare to take a step forward. How could he lose to the puny Xi and Khitans? This is slander! Your Majesty, please investigate! "
An old official from the Bureau of Military Personnel could no longer restrain himself and stepped forward.
Zhang Shougui was the second most famous individual in the Bureau of Military Personnel, his status almost equal to that of the Tang Dynasty's War God Wang Zhongsi. There was practically no one in the older generation of generals who did not know of such a person.
"How could matters of state and military be faked? The Andong Protectorate army is strewn with corpses on the banks of the Huang River, their blood flowing like rivers, and countless soldiers still lying on the ground. How could this be faked? How could a Confucian scholar impersonate this? Moreover, Zhang Shougui has always been arrogant and conceited. The Imperial Court sending a Confucian scholar to supervise the army was the decision of the entire Imperial Court, and Zhang Shougui actually dared to oppose it. He even placed them under house arrest. This is simply impudence! ~ Has the entire Underworld Continent become his personal territory? ~ Does he still have any regard for the laws of the country, for the laws, for the Holy Emperor? He has always been arrogant and conceited, so isn't it normal for this sort of thing to happen to him? "
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