As soon as the prince's suggestion came out, King Zhu immediately seconded it.

Seeing that this fire could not burn on him, the three of them were of course happy to make this suggestion a reality, and they also echoed it.

The eyes of several people suddenly focused on King Rui's body.

Emperor Yuan Wu asked King Rui if he would like to go to Yanzhou.

Although King Rui knew that going to Yanzhou was not a good errand, when it came to this part, if he also refused, I am afraid that Emperor Yuanwu's previous dissatisfaction with King Zhu and others would be piled up on him.

So King Rui answered the errand.

While King Rui nodded, he also sensitively noticed the expressions of King Zhu and the crown prince who were relaxed at the same time.

King Rui was secretly vigilant in his heart.

Since it was determined that King Rui went to Yanzhou to investigate, Emperor Yuanwu should let the prince and others avoid it first, and he wanted to talk to King Rui about Yanzhou again.

After the crown prince and several princes left, Emperor Yuanwu sat behind the table and sighed lightly.

"King Rui, my trip to Yanzhou, I'm afraid it's a little dangerous." Emperor Yuanwu looked at King Rui and said, "This time, you can't observe it openly, you can only visit secretly." There is no need to rush the matter of gathering evidence. ”

King Rui bowed his waist and said, "The son must try his best to find out the truth and live up to his father's trust." ”

Emperor Yuanwu looked at King Rui for a long time, and then retracted his gaze, and said: "Yanzhou has three major clans of Qi, Lu and Yuwen, since the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty, Yanzhou is almost the implementation of the stocking policy, one is because of the unique location of Yanzhou, the east is bordered by the sea and Goguryeo, and there is Daxing Mountain in the west, which can really be regarded as a closed place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack; Second, because the people of Yanzhou have always feared the three major ethnic groups, they are higher than the imperial court, and the people are not in harmony, so it is difficult to govern. Most of the things that Yanzhou know are inseparable from the three major ethnic groups in Yanzhou. ”

Hearing what Emperor Yuanwu said, King Rui bowed his head and said: "If you can hurt the court officials because of this, you have to hide this matter...... There must be something hidden in it. ”

"So I said that this trip to Yanzhou is a bit dangerous."

Emperor Yuanwu's eyes narrowed slightly, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes became deeper.

He paused for a moment before saying, "This case should have been verified by the Criminal Department, and the prince's mention that you should be responsible for this is indeed a bit surprising to me." What's even more surprising is that King Zhu also seconded it. ”

King Rui quickly glanced at Emperor Yuanwu's expression, and immediately lowered his eyebrows to hide it.

"I know the king's temperament very well. He has no strategy and a slightly tyrannical temperament. It stands to reason that if he was afraid that he would be in danger if he went in person, then he should have asked an official from the Criminal Department to go. After all, if this case is handled beautifully, it is also a political achievement. ”

Emperor Yuanwu's face was slightly cold: "But not only did he not go himself, but he also echoed and said that you should go, which is a little intriguing." ”

Emperor Yuanwu didn't say anything, he was silent for a while before he spoke: "You go to Yanzhou to secretly investigate this matter, and I will send another person to secretly follow you to protect you, just in case." These people will not show up until the critical time. Do your best to find out about it. ”

King Rui bowed and said, "Sons obey the order, thank your father." ”

"Hmm." Emperor Yuanwu nodded and said, "This matter should not be delayed for a long time, you can go out of Beijing to Yanzhou today." Don't bring too many people in case you get a word out. ”

King Rui led the decree out of the palace, returned to the house and had lunch in a hurry, and did not care about accompanying Chang Runzhi back to the Anyuan Marquis Mansion, so he left Beijing.

The official roads of the Great Wei were well built, and a post station would be built every two or three hundred miles. The post station does not accept other idle people, etc., only accepts people with official charms and official bodies and their families, in addition, Dawei's letters are also transmitted through the post station.

When King Rui went to Yanzhou, he naturally took the official road.

Because he walked suddenly, King Rui had never been out of such a long door, so he didn't know how to hide his identity. This matter must be carried out in secret, so after weighing it, King Rui wrote a letter asking Yan Qing to go back to find Liu Tong, and asked Liu Tong to create some fake identity documents for him to bring back to Yan Qing.

Since then, Ruiwang has maintained correspondence with Liu Tong, secretly passing on some Yanzhou information to Liu Tong.

King Rui's secret investigation of Yanzhou's Tongzhi stabbing in Yanzhou did not go very smoothly, and the people of Yanzhou kept silent when they heard that someone was asking about it.

Rui Wang could only press his mind and check slowly.

Half a month has passed since this investigation.

It wasn't until the end of the year that all parts of Yanzhou became lively, and the people began to be less restrained, and gradually, some rumors reached the ears of King Rui.

In the registration of the Ministry of Households, Yanzhou's grain production has always been in a low-yield position. However, according to the people of Yanzhou, Yanzhou does not produce a lot of grain, on the contrary, Yanzhou has a bumper harvest almost every year. Coupled with the dealings with Goguryeo merchants, Yanzhou's economy was very prosperous, and it was a fat land.

This year's autumn harvest, Yanzhou is another bumper harvest. The three major clans united and reported that the yield per mu of the imperial court was as low as in previous years, but they bought these grains at a low price and swallowed them for themselves, and then sold them at a high price.

Although the people of Yanzhou had to pay taxes to the imperial court, they still had some complaints about the three major clans for encroaching on the fruits of their labor and harming their interests.

There are so many families who are dissatisfied with the move of the three major clans and make a fuss.

Under such circumstances at that time, after discussing with the heads of the three major clans, they ordered someone to kill the troublemakers of these families on the spot, and their family members were also sent to prison by the three clans to Yanzhou Zhizhou.

Yanzhou Zhizhou name Zhang Chengwang, less than a year before his term of office expires. He's been putting up with it for more than two years and doesn't want to go wrong at the end.

If he wants to be safe and sound in Yanzhou until his term of office expires, and he can be smoothly transferred or even promoted, Zhang Chengwang can only obediently obey the arrangements of the three major clans.

Zhang Chengwang compromised, but it does not mean that all officials are willing to be manipulated like puppets by the three major clans without dignity.

Yanzhou Tongzhi Pang Liang is one of them.

Pang Liang privately met with the families of several families who had been imprisoned, and secretly asked them to write testimonies, put their fingerprints on them, and planned to take the evidence to the capital.

However, Pang Liang's actions were discovered by the little official next to him, and the little official told Zhang Chengwang about it.

When Pang Liang was about to leave Yanzhou City, he was stopped by Zhang Chengwang and the people of the three major clans.

Pang Liang wanted to escape, but he was outnumbered and unable to escape, and in the chaos, he was stabbed by the people of the three major clans.

After that, the people of the three major clans used Pang Liang's blind mother as a threat and ordered him to shut up.

Whether it was the killing of several families who made trouble on the spot, or the stabbing of Yanzhou Tongzhi, it actually happened in public. In broad daylight, the three major clans conveyed a message to the people of Yanzhou in this way -- they, the soil emperor of Yanzhou, who dared to resist, would have the same consciousness as the troublesome families.

But that's not the most bizarre of all. Later, the key to the problem was the development of this matter. Liu Tong said softly. (To be continued.) )