Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 392 Being Participated

In the front yard, the young man Li Sheng was actually very tired, but how could cattle and horses have the right to be tired?

When he heard Cui Bianxu was looking for him, he immediately jumped out of bed with an expressionless face, quickly put on his clothes and reported to the study: "Jiulang."

"You've become darker and thinner. Thank you for your hard work along the way."

Cui Bianxu looked at his guard carefully and pointed at a stool beside him: "Sit down."

"This is my responsibility. Jiulang has given me the order, and I will do my best!"

Li Sheng expressed his loyalty seriously and then sat down with one-third of his buttocks waiting for the leader to ask questions.

"Tell me about your journey." Cui Bianxu was like an old cadre, holding a cup of hot tea and waiting to listen to his report.

Li Sheng was not a storyteller, and there was nothing worth telling on the way there except for the hardships of the journey. After briefly mentioning this, he went straight to starting his story from when he arrived in Guazhou.

"After entering Guazhou, we will split up and act separately..."

They were traveling west disguised as traveling merchants. Huirong planned to tell the Zhao family that she was going back to visit relatives, so she only brought two guards from the Cui family.

Before entering Guazhou, Li Sheng separated from them. Huirong went to Zhao's house, while he took people to Guazhou's teahouses and taverns to listen to gossip for a day. At this time, they didn't know about Liu Manqiang's situation in Zhao's house, so they naturally focused on their serious work.

After all, the mission to the Zhao family was just a side mission.

Teahouses are often places where information flows most conveniently. You can just order a cup of tea and sit there all day without asking any questions and hear a basket of gossip.

However, the journey was long, and by the time they arrived, the caravan being robbed and killed was already old news, and no one mentioned it.

Fortunately, Cui Bianxu had given Li Sheng ample travel expenses for his business trips, and Li Sheng used the money to pave the way for information, and he actually found out some: "Guazhou has been investigating for over a month with no results. The Guazhou Governor Dugu Da should report this to the Dali Temple after the New Year."

This is just as Cui Bianxu expected. Dugu Da believed in Buddhism. When he heard that Master Xuanzang was traveling west in the second year of Zhenguan, Dugu Da, as a devout Buddhist, also provided some convenience.

According to Tang law, civilians were not allowed to leave the territory of the Tang Dynasty at will. After Master Xuanzang sneaked all the way to Guazhou, he was immediately discovered by Dugu Da.

The wanted order for Xuanzang issued by the Governor of Liangzhou was still posted everywhere. It was impossible for Dugu Da to violate discipline and let him go openly. He just found an excuse that he was very busy and had to deal with official duties.

Because of Dugu Da's help, a Buddhist named Li Chang seized the opportunity to help Xuanzang smuggle out of the country.

Putting aside his ability, just based on this point, he should not make up a false case and will definitely move the case up the chain of command.

"Tell me about the Zhao family in detail."

The robbery and murder of the caravan was no longer important at this point. The main culprits were imprisoned in the Dali Temple, and the accomplices were basically all dead. It was just that the censor had reported him these past two days.

That’s right, Xiao Cui was reported by the Censor.

My career has come full circle in a way.

Although the dead were all bandits, the carts full of bloody corpses still caused heated discussions and amazement among the people when they were pulled back to the city, and the imperial censors took action as soon as they heard the news.

It's the end of the year and the KPIs need to be settled, so they have to work hard.

The Dali Temple did not give any explanation to the outside world, only saying that a thief was committing a crime outside the city and was killed by Cui Yi, the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple.

But the censors were impeaching Cui Yi, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, for his ruthless and brutal methods, killing dozens of civilians in broad daylight, causing everyone in Chang'an to feel insecure...

Of course, Li Shimin also knew about this. As soon as the corpses entered the city, the news was delivered to his desk, but he just took a look at it and threw it aside.

It is natural for the ministers themselves to argue about who is right and who is wrong in this matter.

Cui Bianxu submitted a memorial of defense during the day. In the memorial, he first told about the robbery and murder of his female relatives. There was no need to hide this from the emperor, and he then gave a vivid description of the large-scale fight between the two sides, and finally apologized.

He said that there were many bandits at that time, and they won by a narrow margin by using a small number of troops to defeat the large ones. If it were not for the help of the Jinwu Guards, Cui Yi would have been beheaded. He already knew that he was wrong. Next time if he encountered such a thing, he would definitely ask his colleagues from the Censorate to explain the laws of the Tang Dynasty and the principles of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame to those bandits.

Finally, he asked Li Shimin to keep the kidnapping of his female relatives a secret, and acted pitifully.

Overall, Xiao Cui was very satisfied with this memorial. He wrote down the names of the censors who had reported him. When he took his marriage leave and returned to Qinghe, he would arrange for someone to put the sacks on the bodies.

It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, and Cui Yi is just such a gentleman!

"For three consecutive days, the people I sent to the Zhao family didn't get a chance to see the old lady. I felt there must be a reason..."

This is similar to what Liu Manqiang said, but Li Sheng mentioned one point: "I once heard the Zhao family's servants talk about the third branch."

"Speak." Cui Bianxu suddenly became alert. Isn't Zhao Dieyi from the third house?

"They are saying that the old lady from the third house has been going out frequently recently and likes to go to a bookstore. Every time she goes there, she stays for a long time and then buys a book to take back." Li Sheng said it in a somewhat euphemistic way.

What the gossiping servants said was rather unpleasant. They probably said that the Third Old Lady was originally from a young military general's family, and no one had ever heard that she loved reading before. But in the past six months, for some reason, she suddenly liked buying books when she was getting old. She never read the books she bought, and she was just pretending to be serious at her age.

According to his observation, those servants should be from the eldest wife's family, and there is not much unity within the Zhao family.

"Can you check the bookstore?" Cui Bianxu's eyes were full of anticipation. The journey was too far. If he hadn't checked it, it would be too much effort to send someone to investigate such an insignificant matter.

"checked."

Li Sheng was a careful observer. He felt something was amiss and went to investigate. "That bookshop hadn't been open long. It was run by an outsider. I didn't see anything special about it, but there was a pigeon loft in the backyard."

"Dovecote?"

Needless to say, there is definitely something wrong with this bookstore.

It is difficult to train pigeons well, and generally some of them will be lost after each use. Pigeons that complete their mission safely will also have many insects on their bodies because they have been in the wild for a long time.

Most people would not raise such animals unless they had the need. There was only one possible reason why a bookstore would raise pigeons - to communicate with people.

"Do you know where the pigeon is flying?"

A trace of speechlessness flashed in Li Sheng's eyes. How far is Guazhou from Chang'an? Can he really guess it by just saying the direction?

How does one track pigeons? Should he listen to what he is saying?

The master is becoming more and more frustrating to the cattle and horses!