Li Linfu disdainfully evaluated Yu Chaoen. At his age, he could be considered to have read countless people, and his judgment of people was still very sharp. He understood Yu Chaoen, and he also understood that Yu Chaoen did not have much talent. He was very competent in managing the small Solar Stove Workshop, but it was absolutely impossible for him to manage the complex railway operation system. A little eunuch did not have that much ability.
"Alang, but the facts are already in front of us. Yu Chaoen did manage the railway operation in an orderly manner. His Majesty was very pleased because of this and praised Yu Chaoen greatly."
Li Zhonglin said in confusion.
"For Yu Chaoen to be able to go so smoothly, he must have the help of an expert behind him. If it were him alone, he would have already been badly beaten. You are also underestimating those great clans that are covetously eyeing the railway."
Li Linfu said with a smile.
"The expert Alang spoke of must be Assistant Minister Li!"
Li Linfu nodded and softly said, "That's right. Ang Lee is young, but he has a lot of ability. Not only is he good at fighting, he can also fiddle around with so many useful things. It's really incredible. I can't see through him more and more."
"Alang, Ang Lee seems to like fiddling around, which is really quite surprising. But he seems to have no interest in government affairs, nor does he value power. Although he has been made the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, he doesn't ask about any specific matters, and he certainly doesn't compete with other officials for power."
Li Zhonglin whispered.
"Yes, this is the most special thing about Ang Lee. He seems to like being free and unfettered. This way, he can live a long life! You must know that government affairs are very tiring. Even His Majesty has given part of government affairs to me, but there is power in government affairs. He probably hasn't tasted the wonderful taste of power yet! "
"Alang, the ministers don't want the railway operation to fall under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they all strongly oppose it in front of His Majesty. What do you think? You don't seem to have raised any objections in front of His Majesty? "
Li Zhonglin asked.
"Objection? Why should I object? His Majesty gave the operation of the railway to the Minister of Internal Affairs. To put it bluntly, he doesn't trust those ministers with aristocratic backgrounds and wants to firmly control them. If I object to the Minister of Internal Affairs taking charge of the railway operation, I will be going against His Majesty. His Majesty will be very angry."
Li Linfu sneered. How could he not see through Li Longji's thoughts? This old man wanted to rule the country easily, and at the same time, he wanted to hold everything firmly in his hands.
"Alang, do you think the aristocratic families will give up if the railway continues smoothly?"
"Smooth sailing? How is that possible? Who knows what else will happen next?"
Li Linfu smiled.
"What? Yu Chaoen's methods are so ruthless. He punished all the troublemakers severely and even killed a few of them. Would there still be people who would go and try their luck?"
"Of course, there will always be some people who aren't afraid of death. However, His Majesty has already made up his mind. No matter how many people object, it's useless. Let's not worry about it and do our own thing!"
Li Linfu was prepared to not ask about this matter to avoid implicating himself.
It had to be said that Li Linfu's prophecy was very accurate. Not long after he said this, a major incident occurred in the railway operation system.
Someone had used a hammer to destroy the core components of the steam locomotive, causing it to be completely unable to move. This had a great impact on the operation and attracted great attention from the Imperial Court.
However, the culprit had been successfully arrested. This made everyone's hearts rise to their throats, and they didn't know how the Imperial Court would deal with it.
Of course, this was also thanks to Ang Lee's arrangements. He had asked Yu Chaoen to pay attention to the safety of the train at night and focus on protecting the locomotive to prevent anyone from destroying it. As a result, Yu Chaoen had been careful and had sent people to hide. As a result, the hidden people had discovered the culprit and immediately rushed over to arrest him.
The person who had been arrested clearly hadn't expected that he would be arrested. Without any preparation, he had been arrested before he could even put up a fight.
Yu Chaoen attached great importance to this matter. He brought the culprit back to the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night and sent a large number of people to guard him. There were as many as three personal guards. Even if the culprit wanted to commit suicide, he wouldn't have the chance.
The reason why he attached so much importance to this matter was because the core component of the train had been destroyed. Moreover, it was impossible to repair it. It would take at least half a month to build a new one. As a result, the operation of the train would be delayed. To the Railway Bureau, this was a great loss that couldn't be compensated for.
Yu Chaoen briefly interrogated the culprit. The culprit was full of nonsense. He lied that his family was poor and wanted to steal some iron to sell to supplement his family's income.
Of course, this was impossible. Yu Chaoen ordered his subordinates to keep an eye on the culprit and immediately report this matter to Emperor Li Longji. At the same time, he also sent his subordinates out of the city to report this matter to Ang Lee as soon as possible.
When Li Longji heard that a train had been destroyed, he was immediately enraged. He decided that the three departments would interrogate the culprit and thoroughly investigate the matter. However, Yu Chaoen hurriedly stopped him and told the Emperor that once the culprit was handed over to the three departments, there was a high chance that an accident would happen. It would be better for the Emperor to interrogate the culprit himself. Li Longji also felt that the matter behind this matter wasn't simple. Thus, he decided to interrogate the culprit himself.
"What? A train has been destroyed? Who did it? Have they caught him?"
When he heard that the train had been destroyed, Ang Lee was furious and immediately asked.
"Assistant Minister Li, Yu Tieling has already detained the culprit in the Imperial Palace's prison. He immediately sent Xiaonu to inform Assistant Minister Li."
"Okay, I'll go to the Imperial Palace immediately."
Ang Lee didn't have time to think and immediately urged his horse to gallop in the direction of Daming Palace.
When Ang Lee arrived at Daming Palace, the Emperor was preparing to interrogate the culprit himself. However, he was stopped by Ang Lee.
"Your Majesty, before the culprit's identity is clear, we can't interrogate him rashly."
Li Longji looked at Ang Lee: "Assistant Minister Li, what brilliant plan do you have?"
"Your Majesty, first investigate the culprit's identity and find his family. Then, use some methods to make him talk. Also, for this, we would like to see the culprit."
Ang Lee suggested.
"Mm, very good. Assistant Minister Li, go!"
Li Longji let Ang Lee go to see the culprit. He also followed and hid in a place where the culprit couldn't see, secretly observing the culprit.
"You are the culprit who destroyed the train?"
Li An walked into the prison and asked straightforwardly.
"I'm from a poor family. I heard that there was iron on the train, so I wanted to steal some to exchange for money. I didn't expect to be caught the first time I stole something. I'm guilty, I'm guilty."
Ang Lee sighed and nodded: "You're really pitiful. It's not a big crime for a poor person to steal something to survive. However, you stole something from the train and seriously damaged the train. This is a big crime. You can't avoid eight to ten years in prison. Where is your family? If they are really poor, I can take care of them for you. "
"Who are you, Master?"
"I'm Ang Lee. I have a lot of official titles, so I won't talk about them."
"So it's Assistant Minister Li. Assistant Minister Li, please understand. I was confused for a moment. Assistant Minister Li, please be lenient."
The culprit put on a pitiful expression.
Seeing that the other party still had some business, the corner of Li An's lips curled into a smile. He nodded and said, "If the train breaks down, I can fix it in half a day. If you are really forced by poverty, I can plead on your behalf. However, how can you prove that your family is poor? Does your family not have enough to eat? Where are they? "
The culprit was indeed from a poor family. He was bought to work for a high price. Seeing that Ang Lee was willing to plead for him, he immediately told the situation of his family. It turned out that he was from the countryside near the capital.
After asking these questions, Ang Lee smiled and let the culprit have a good rest. He would send someone to verify it to appease the culprit.
"Your Majesty, this person still wants to live. We can make him talk."
Ang Lee walked out of the prison and saw Li Longji standing beside him. He quickly reported.
"Assistant Minister Li, what good idea do you have? Why don't you tell me? "
Li Longji really wanted to know.
Ang Lee said seriously: "Your Majesty, you can immediately send elite troops to the culprit's house and arrest all his family members. Immediately bring back his family's clothes and jewelry. Your humble servant has great use for them. We can make the culprit talk."
"Good, I believe in Assistant Minister Li. Go quickly."
Li Longji nodded and turned to return to his bedroom. He left the matter to Ang Lee and Yu Chaoen.
The elite troops sent out, according to Ang Lee's request, were all dressed casually and did not wear heavy armor. Moreover, each person was given two horses to ride in rotation. Therefore, after only an hour, the clothes and jewelry from the culprit's house were brought back.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are the clothes and jewelry of the culprit's daughter. The culprit must recognize them."
"Assistant Minister Li, what do you plan to do with these clothes and jewelry?"
Yu Chaoen asked curiously.
Ang Lee sneered and ordered: "Find a reliable person to assassinate the culprit while delivering food. Remember, stab the culprit's thigh. Don't really kill the culprit. Also, sprinkle dog's blood on these clothes. It will be useful later."
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
Yu Chaoen received the order and immediately asked a trusted eunuch to act as an assassin. In addition, he asked someone to find dog's blood and sprinkle it on the clothes.
There were four people in the prison. The culprit was curled up in a corner, and the other three guards were standing in the other three corners. They turned back and forth as if they were very dissatisfied with their work. After all, the prison was very smelly. No normal person would be willing to come to such a place.
"Who is it?"
A guard shouted loudly.
"Food delivery."
"Come in!"
Yu Chaoen's trusted eunuch slowly walked into the prison and placed plates of food in front of the culprit.
The culprit picked up his chopsticks and was about to eat. Unexpectedly, the food delivery man in front of him immediately took out a dagger from the bottom of the lunch box and stabbed the culprit's heart.
"Ah …"
The culprit's reaction was very fast. He subconsciously dodged backward and avoided the fatal blow. However, the dagger still pierced his thigh, and pain instantly spread throughout his body.
"There's an assassin."
The three guards were shocked. They quickly took out their weapons and subdued the food delivery man.
However, the food delivery man gritted his teeth and spat out black blood. He lay straight on the ground and stopped moving.
"Someone wants to kill me."
The culprit opened his eyes wide and looked at the food delivery man who spat out blood and died.
An assassin in the palace prison was a big deal. Ang Lee naturally received the news very quickly and strode into the prison.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Ang Lee rushed in furiously and glared at the crowd.
"I didn't guard you well enough and allowed the assassin to take advantage of you. I'm guilty, I'm guilty."
The prison guard trembled in fear and knelt down to beg for forgiveness.
"Who is the assassin? How did he die? "
"Assistant Minister Li, the assassin committed suicide by biting poison. However, I will do my best to investigate and find out the assassin's identity."
Ang Lee waved his hand. "Take him away. Do a thorough autopsy and find out his identity."
Looking at the culprit with a dagger in his thigh and sweat on his forehead, Ang Lee pretended to be suspicious and said seriously, "Why would someone want to kill you? Moreover, they actually sneaked into the palace prison to commit murder. The person you offended is very capable."
"Someone wants to kill me? Someone wants to kill me?"
The culprit seemed to be a little flustered and his expression was very painful. It was unknown whether it was the pain in his thigh or the pain in his heart.
"Reporting, Assistant Minister Li, the culprit's family was exterminated. Only a little girl was seriously injured and is under treatment. The culprit has escaped. This is the clothes and jewelry of the culprit's daughter that I retrieved."
A Yulin guard put the clothes stained with dog blood on a plate and handed it to Ang Lee.
Li An threw the clothes and jewelry on the ground and glared at the criminal. "You've been lying to me all this time. You were assassinated, and even your family was killed. This means that someone wanted to kill you and eliminate you completely. You must know their secret. It's about destroying the train, right?"
"Daughter, daughter …"
The culprit's emotions were very agitated. Ang Lee's acting was very good and he didn't see any flaws. Moreover, his thigh had just been stabbed by the assassin and the pain was unbearable. Therefore, it was naturally difficult to see through Ang Lee's act.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything."
The culprit told the ins and outs of the matter in full detail. However, he didn't know much. Ang Lee could only do as he said and put those who instigated him into prison and use various methods to make them talk.
Then, naturally, more people were caught and interrogated, and another group of people was pulled out.
In just two days, many aristocratic families and officials in the capital were involved. The number of people arrested had reached thousands. The prison of the imperial court could not hold them all. The entire city of Chang 'an was already in a state of panic.
Moreover, at the same time of arresting people, Ang Lee also obtained various kinds of evidence. It could be said that the evidence was conclusive and it was impossible to retract the confession.
If the investigation continued, it might involve more people. Ang Lee decided to stop, so he presented all the evidence to Li Longji.
Knowing that so many people were involved, Li Longji was also shocked. However, if so, he couldn't forgive these people.
In the face of conclusive evidence, the ministers in the imperial court couldn't defend these arrested people, but they begged the emperor to be lenient.
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