East City, East City, Jingkangfang, Tiwei Mansion, late afternoon

After Xiao Chongguang finished eating, his spirit and spirit obviously recovered, and after his second exercise and pranayama, the whole person completely returned to his original state.

Although this poisoning almost killed Sogo Jiuquan, his body and true qi have been greatly refined, and his physique is now strengthened several times better than in the past, and the true qi in the dantian, when Sogo was poisoned, was crazy to compete with the invading toxins, which is also one of the reasons why Xiao Chongguang was not poisoned so quickly.

At this time, Xiao Chongguang, Lu Yunsheng, Ji Yun and Guo Ting gathered in the hall to discuss the next move.

Sogo first said: "The recent actions of the assassin organization have always been mainly aimed at the Tiwei Mansion, and they have assassinated me and Yunsheng many times, and even sent a secret pile undercover in our mansion to trace the origin, they are because we took over the assassination of Liu Yuanzhen, and they are afraid that we will continue to investigate, so they have launched a vigorous sabotage and interference operation against us, the more they are afraid, the more we must speed up the pace." ”

Yun Sheng said: "I guess that after last night's setback, they will inevitably temporarily stop their plans such as assassination and recuperate for a while, we can take this opportunity to carry out a strict investigation, and at the same time expand the strength of the mansion and recuperate." ”

Ji Yun shook his head and said: "I don't quite agree with your point of view, after confirming a certain goal, an organization must have made all preparations in advance, and every step and every possibility will happen in the future, and every possibility has been deduced and budgeted, even if it is to kill an ordinary person, this process will not be omitted, not to mention that the target is the minister of the DPRK and China, we can't take it lightly." ”

Guo Ting said: "Yes, but the investigation still has to continue, capture the thief and capture the king, only by finding out the mastermind behind the scenes, all problems will naturally be solved." ”

Xiao Chongguang nodded when he heard this, then raised his head, and one after another intimidating names appeared in his mind: Liang Ziqing, Prince Song Yu, King Song Lin, and Spiegel Si Cheng He Qian.

These four people are the objects of Xiao Chongguang's current suspicions, Liang Xiang and the crown prince needless to say, just because they had a party dispute before, and the assassin was one of the ministers involved.

King Song Lin, according to the information sent by the secret guard, he has many difficult mysteries on him, on the one hand, he is the only prince supported by Liang Xiang who is qualified to compete for the future throne, and on the other hand, he secretly hooks up with He Qian, I don't know what he is plotting.

Although it is possible that He Qian has secretly joined Liang Xiang's party, it is difficult to stand on his feet, with the status of the Spiegel Division, no matter who is replaced as the emperor, it is inseparable from the Spiegel Division, which has real power and a huge amount of information in addition to the forbidden army, and they don't have to worry about their future at all, so there is no need to make such meaningless plans.

Therefore, this He Qian's problem has become bigger, and now Sogo doesn't understand what kind of medicine is being sold in this person's gourd.

Lu Yunsheng stood up and said: "In any case, the information we can grasp now is insufficient, there are many suspects, it is difficult to use the elimination method, and each of them is a high-ranking person, the difficulty of investigation can be imagined, this is the most difficult case I have encountered in the past five years." ”

"Among them, there are also many people in the rivers and lakes involved, such as the Cold-Blooded Hall, the Haijiao Sect, and the Pomegranate Flower Palace." Ji Yun added.

When Xiao Chongguang heard this, his eyes widened slightly, and he only felt that Ji Yun's words were like a bright light, flashing in his chaotic mind.

He spoke: "As Brother Ji said, this case is by no means explained by the struggle between the DPRK and China, but involves the rivers and lakes, so we must find a breakthrough in the rivers and lakes." ”

Yunsheng's eyes rolled, and he suddenly thought of something, and exclaimed, "Brother Xiao, do you want to go out to investigate the case?" ”

"That's right," Xiao Chongguang said in a deep voice, "I have this plan, but we don't have enough clues in our hands, so we don't dare to go out easily, and even if we go out, it's just a waste of time and energy to have no clue." ”

Yun Sheng nodded and said: "This is a good word, there must be a point and line that can connect the case of the court with the rivers and lakes." ”

Just as everyone was discussing, a guard ran to kneel and said, "Yu Xiaotou, Director Zhao of Jingzhao Mansion has come to petition." ”

"Oh?" Xiao Chongguang raised his eyebrows in a little surprise, "Please let him in." ”

Nati answered and hurried down to summon him.

Lu Yunsheng said suspiciously: "Strange, I have already arranged for the people of Jingzhao Mansion to go back, although five people were injured and one was killed, but the pension I also issued, is there anything else?" ”

Xiao Chongguang shook his head and was silent, thinking secretly in his heart, that Zhao Wenxin was in charge, he had seen it at the scene of Zheng Fu's murder case before, although the two only communicated slightly on official business, but it was better than those who did not have any negotiations, maybe from his mouth could find out some clues that Jingzhao Mansion had.

After a while, Tiwei led Zhao Wenxin and a young man who was about seventeen years old to come, Zhao Wenxin smiled and bowed with his hands crossed and said, "Zhao Wenxin, the director of Jingzhao Mansion, has seen Lord Xiao and Lord Lu. The young man bowed with him.

At this time, Zhao Wenxin wore a cotton hat on his head and wore a blue embroidered crane pattern and a civilian dress made of silk, but it could be seen that he added a warm thick velvet jacket inside, and a black cloak on his back. And the young man was only wearing a simple plain dress of light green, and there was only a thin layer of cotton clothes inside, and his expression was restrained, and he bowed his head and said nothing.

Lu Yunsheng crossed his hand to return the salute, and Xiao Chongguang stretched out his hand with a smile and said, "Director Zhao doesn't have to be so polite, please take a seat." ”

"Lord Xie Xiao."

Zhao Wenxin sat down next to Guo Ting with a smile on his face, while the young man was still standing, standing beside Wen Xin.

Seeing this, Xiao Chongguang couldn't help but smile at the young man: "Little brother, we don't have so many rules here, please sit down." ”

The young man did not squeak, but looked at Zhao Wenxin with an inquiring eye, Wen Xin nodded silently, the young man understood, so he bowed to Sogo with both hands, and said thank you, and then slowly sat down on Zhao Wenxin's lower seat.

Zhao Wenxin said with a smile: "Lord Xiao, don't be surprised, this young man next to me is named Jiang Shuo, he was a Taixue supervisor in the Guozi Prison, he unfortunately failed in the written examination selection in the autumn six months ago, so his temperament became so shy, Guo Fuyin was one of the candidates for the written examination, and saw that although he had no deep insights into the article, he had excellent writing and was a good seedling, so he asked the warm sacrificial wine of the Guozi Prison to come here, and entered my Jingzhao Mansion to do paperwork under me. ”

Guozijian is the highest institution of learning in Chu State, which consists of Guozixue, Taixue, four schools, etc., each school has set up doctoral teaching, the highest person in charge of Guozijian is called sacrificial wine, and now the Guozijian of Chu State is the champion Wen Shihe of the eighteenth year of Longxing in the first dynasty.

The students of Guozijian are collectively referred to as prison students, which are selected from all over the country in the early spring of each year, and are required to have both morality and learning, filial piety and loyalty, and must have the recommendation of the local gentry and academies, and after passing the assessment of Dr. Guozijian, they can become inmates, and accept the teaching of Guozijian for three to five years. If there is no progress after five years, he will be directly stripped of his status as a prisoner, sent to his place of origin, and start the imperial examination again.

The Liqiu written examination selection, the Chu State Guozi Supervision Committee holds a large-scale assessment on the day of the beginning of the autumn on June 18 every year, and those who pass the examination can directly become court officials.

With such temptation, what prisoner wouldn't be tempted? Naturally, everyone works hard, but they are afraid of falling behind others.

There were a total of 580 candidates, including students from this dynasty, as well as students from overseas or the Western Regions, of course, these envoys were all from countries that had reconciled with the state of Chu.

Although the Guozi Prison is full of talents, there are only 18 selected places, which is equivalent to thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge, and the 18 selected prisoners will enter the six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, and become the preparatory four-grade officials of the ministry, as long as they perform well and work diligently, they can become official officials in less than two years.

Sogo smiled: "I didn't expect this little brother to be a prisoner from Taixue, but I was disrespectful." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare." Jiang Shuo bowed respectfully to Sogo.

At this time, two guards came out with teacups and handed them to Zhao and Jiang, Xiao Chongguang said: "I don't know, what is the matter with Director Zhao coming to Tiwei Mansion?" ”

Zhao Wenxin put the teacup on the table and said: "It's not a big deal, it's just that although your mansion borrowed someone to return it and paid the pension of the casualties, this matter was not hidden from the ministry after all, so the ministry issued a general order, asking my Jingzhao Mansion to verify what the borrowed person did when he was not in his hometown, and asked for a detailed report." The two adults also knew that most of those little pawns were illiterate in poetry and books, and they couldn't speak clearly at all, so Guo Fu Yin ordered the two of us to come to your mansion to ask the two adults about the specific things that happened after the borrower. ”

Pingshan County, Zhongzhou, next to the official road of Shanghuai County, late afternoon

After Hua Mantian, Fang Yingchun and Li Nianqiu drank tea at the small tea stall, they stopped for a while, then went to the stable to take their respective horses, rode horses and galloped, and walked through a forest.

Hua Mantian and the others were surprised, so they stopped at the horse and waited, and after a while, a woman in a yellow shirt rode a green horse to chase after them.

"Little junior sister!"

Hua Mantian saw the appearance of the woman in the yellow shirt clearly, and immediately showed joy on her face, and the other two maids dismounted to greet her.

When the woman in the yellow shirt saw that she had caught up with the mantian, she stopped her horse and jumped off her horse to meet her.

The woman in the yellow shirt was none other than Han Yu, a lay disciple of the Pomegranate Flower Palace.

Hua Mantian and Han Yu reunited after a long absence, this time it was a rare reunion, as soon as they met, they immediately hugged each other, and after parting, Han Yu asked with some reproach: "Senior Sister Mantian, since you came to the Eastern Capital, why don't you come to find your little sister?" ”

Hua Mantian said with a smile: "Little junior sister, you have a noble status, located in a wealthy family, you know that I don't like to go to those places, and I entered the Eastern Capital because of other things, this came and went, it really delayed the time, and I didn't bring any gifts, so I didn't go to look for you, junior sister, I really didn't expect that you are so well-informed, and it is really difficult for you to travel dozens of miles to find me." ”

When Han Yu heard this, her expression was slightly gloomy, and she said: "Senior sister, you don't have to deliberately cover it up, I know the reason why you came to Dongdu, I just knew about it, so I came to look for you." ”

When Hua Mantian heard this, his cheeks were red, his heart was embarrassed, and he immediately glanced at Yingchun with some annoyance: "If you really don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles." It's me who didn't take care of my subordinates and disgraced the sect. ”

Han Yu knew Hua Mantian's temper, and didn't dare to say that in fact, she felt that Fang Yingchun did it right, otherwise it would be another dispute, she breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Senior Sister Mantian, the sect has its own rules for things, and it is inconvenient for me to say more, but there is another matter, I think Senior Sister did something wrong, and she should apologize to that person." ”

Hua Mantian was stunned at first, and then angry, since she knew what happened, except for Master Hua Feixue and Senior Sister Liang Jing, no one dared to ask her to apologize. She suppressed her anger and asked, "But I don't know, who is the person that the little junior sister is talking about?" ”

Han Yu said word by word: "Xiao Chongguang." ”