Today, the emperor's inspection of the factory has been rumored in Xianyang City.

As for the fire that broke out on the construction site, some of the inside information also spread quickly, and the fact that the son of Hou Shang Tu, the son of the craftsman Shaofu Zuozhong Hou Shangtu, secretly instructed people to set fire to the construction site also quickly became a household name among all officials, and the result was that some people were frightened and trembled, some people watched coldly, some people gritted their teeth, and some people gloated.

Everyone can almost see a result, that is, Zuo Zhong Hou Shang Tu is going to be finished, and he will pull out the radish and bring out the mud after he is finished, and there will definitely be a large group of officials who will be unlucky.

Because at this time, the big boss of the Tingwei Mansion Yin Wu has issued countless orders in the palace, and as these orders are transmitted out, a group of soldiers from the Tingwei Mansion have begun to search for the whole city with swords in hand, whether it is the prince or the rich businessman or the common people, as long as all the people involved in it are arrested, according to the news from well-informed people, there are already six or seven officials who have been arrested and taken to the Tingwei prison, and with the interrogation and confession of the arrested personnel, more people may be involved. For a time, the entire Xianyang people were panicked.

When Chen Xu returned to the Qinghe Hou Mansion, the steward Huang Fuque, who had been waiting at the gate of the Hou Mansion, and the financial steward Sun Shujiong hurriedly greeted him together.

"It's good that Master Hou returns safely, I heard that there was a fire in the factory, and I have been anxious for a long time!" The two saluted with surprise on their faces.

"I'm going in the same car with Your Majesty, I'm scared! Hurry up and go in and bake the fire, Nima is going to freeze to death! After Chen Xu got out of the car, he stomped on his frozen numb feet a few times, then rubbed his hands and hurriedly walked to the living room.

"Hurry up, prepare hot water to wash up!" The housekeeper watched Chen Xu return, and hurriedly arranged for a few maids to pour hot water and take linen.

After Chen Xu entered the door, he washed his face and washed his hands and sat on the kang, two little maids brought a basin of hot water, helped him take off his shoes and put his frozen cold feet into the basin to soak, two pairs of gentle little hands grabbed one foot and washed it gently, and there were several little maids, some brought hot tea, some brought snacks, and some knelt on the kang to help him knock on his soft shoulders.

Chen Xu drank fragrant hot tea, ate the snacks sent to his mouth by the little maid, felt the beating of his little hands and the gentle kneading of his feet, and couldn't help but close his eyes and exhale, "Comfortable~~"

Yu Wuya, who was sitting next to him drinking tea, glanced at Chen Xu lightly, and couldn't help but pout, "Engong, you have fallen!" ”

"It is my flesh, not my heart, that has fallen! When you sing about wine, life is geometric, such as morning dew, there is a lot of bitterness in the past day, you are born in sorrow, and you die in peace! Chen Xu closed his eyes and said a few nonsense.

"Singing about wine, what is life? Good poetry! Yu Wuya's eyes lit up a little when he looked back, but his face looked at Chen Xu quite strangely and said, "This poem was not written by Mencius, how could it be involved?" ”

"These two sentences were written by a person named Cao Cao, by the way, why hasn't Ma Teng moved in the past two days, and arranged for someone to secretly find him!" Chen Xu suddenly remembered that tomorrow the dynasty would solve Ao Ping and Shang Tu, and Ma Teng was still the most important tainted witness.

"Hou Ye, Hou Ye~ The beggar who came here two times ago is here again!"

Just as Chen Xu was speaking, the steward Huangfu hurriedly ran in.

"Say Cao Cao Cao is here, bring him in! Go down, all of you. Chen Xu opened his eyes, and a group of little maids who were waiting for him all bowed and withdrew, and after a while, Huang Fuque came in with Ma Teng, who was still wearing beggar's clothes.

"Ma Gongzi, please take a seat!" Chen Xu casually pointed to the chair.

"Master Hou is not good, the soldiers of the Imperial Court Mansion's Mansion broke into my house and wanted to arrest me!" Ma Teng said anxiously after sitting down.

"It's okay, you will stay in my house today, and go to court with me tomorrow, and then tell you everything you know according to my last arrangement, but remember not to talk nonsense!" Chen Xu waved his hand.

"Hou Ye, don't worry!" Looking at Chen Xu's relaxed demeanor, Ma Teng's flustered heart slowly calmed down.

Next, after Chen Xu inquired in detail about the news Ma Teng heard in the past few days, he asked the housekeeper in the house to take Ma Teng to wash up and change into clean clothes.

Early the next morning, Chen Xu had breakfast and took Ma Teng to the court.

The sky was overcast, and the cold wind blew on the face like ice blades, and it looked as if another heavy snow was about to fall at any moment.

"Nima, why is Xianyang full of this kind of ghost weather!"

Chen Xu was speechless and shrunk into a ball and sat on the carriage, even though the carriage was covered with a thick curtain, he still felt the biting cold wind.

"Master Hou, Xianyang is quite good, I originally wanted to ask someone to go to Yanmen County to inquire about my uncle's situation, but I heard that the road has long been closed by heavy snow and impassable, and even Shangjia has cut off contact!" Ma Teng sat next to him and said cautiously.

"Well, don't be nervous for a while, tell everything you heard from Shang Qi's mouth later, and follow me in the future, I promise that Zhao Gao will not dare to touch you again!" Chen Xu couldn't help but tell again.

"Thank you, Master Hou!" Ma Teng's eyes were red with excitement.

Coming to the square outside the court hall, the civil and military officials of the previous dynasty had already arrived one after another.

However, today's atmosphere is a little heavy, everyone seems to have their own thoughts, after seeing Chen Xu, many people greeted each other with a smile and greeted them warmly, and many people avoided Chen Xu and did not dare to raise their heads, and placed Ma Teng outside the court to wait, Chen Xu and a group of ministers walked into the hall and waited quietly.

When the hour came, with the chanting of the confessor, Qin Shi Huang, as always, walked out of the apse wearing a robe surrounded by a group of guards and palace people, sat on the dragon chair with big sleeves, and sat down after the civil and military officials saluted and greeted, and then said with a serious face: "Where is the court captain?" ”

"Where's the minister?" Tingwei Yinwu stood up with the wat board in his hand.

"How's the review of yesterday's events?"

"Back to Your Majesty, according to Shang Qi's confession, yesterday the ministers arrested a total of 23 people, including eight eunuchs, seven knights, and three officials, all of whom are the children of the minister, and the reason for the overnight interrogation has been clarified, and it is Shang Qi who secretly changed the drawings of the iron-making furnace of the Academy of Sciences, and there are six people involved, and the arson instigator yesterday is also Shang Qi, but Shang Qi bluntly said that he accepted a bribe of tens of thousands of dollars from a man named Ma Teng, and secretly sabotaged the arrangement of the Marquis of Qinghe!" Yin Wu replied.

"Marten? Who? Qin Shi Huang had a puzzled look on his face.

"Your Majesty, Ma Teng is the young man who had a conflict with Qinghe Hou in Liuxiangyuan a few days ago, the eldest grandson of the former servant Ma Qi, and the nephew of the former Nanyang County Shou Ma Boyuan!" Jiang Heng, who was standing next to him, whispered.

"Quickly detain Ma Teng to the palace, I will interrogate him personally!"

"Your Majesty, yesterday the minister arranged for the forbidden army to search in Mafu, but Ma Teng was not found, and the minister guessed that he had escaped in hiding and might not be in Xianyang City!" Yin Wu hurriedly said.

"How can this be reasonable, quickly arrange for the forbidden army to arrest ......" Qin Shi Huang stood up angrily.

"Your Majesty is angry, Ma Teng I have already brought it!" Chen Xu stood up and arched his hand and said.

"Huh!?" A burst of surprise instantly sounded above the quiet hall, and even the angry Qin Shi Huang turned his head to look at Chen Xu, and his angry face slowly turned into a puzzle.

"Your Majesty, Ma Teng was originally a chess piece specially arranged by the minister, and secretly interacted with Shang Qi and others to find out about the collapse of the iron-making furnace, Ma Teng went to my house late last night, and told the minister the details of the inquiry, about Shang Qi several times to instruct people to destroy the factory is not so simple, but there are conspirators and instigators behind the scenes, as for who it is, right now above the court, high and powerful, Your Majesty will now call him in and ask!" Chen Xu bowed and said.

"What?" There was an instant exclamation and uproar in the main hall, some people's faces turned pale with horror, some people looked serious and silent, and many ministers whispered, and then almost everyone's eyes slowly fell on Zuo Zhong Hou Shang Tu's body.

"Your Majesty, don't listen to people's false accusations, my son Shang Qi ......" Shang Tu came out with a pale face and shouted.

"Shut up!" Qin Shi Huang's face was cold, and he stared at Shang Tu word by word and said: "I am not a mediocre person, whether I have framed you or not, you are so frightened, it is you who is behind the scenes!" ”

"Poof~" Shang Tu trembled and knelt directly on the ground, although the weather was cold, the cold sweat on his forehead had already rolled down.

"Take the horse into the temple!" Qin Shi Huang sat down again with a wave of his sleeves.

"Take Ma Teng into the hall~" With Jiang Heng's long shout, soon under the leadership of the two confessors, Ma Teng, whose face was still a little bruised, followed him tremblingly, but he still bowed calmly according to Chen Xu's instructions, "Grass people Ma Teng greets Your Majesty!" ”

"Ma Teng, Shang Qi said that you bribed him with money to let people steal the blueprints of the iron-making furnace and set fire to disrupt the factory, but is there such a thing?" Qin Shi Huang asked sharply.

"Your Majesty, the grass people did not bribe Shang Qi, but just spent money to invite him to eat, drink and play in order to find out about Shang Qi's exchange of the blueprints of the iron-making furnace in the factory, Shang Qi got drunk and said that as long as I help destroy the affairs of the Academy of Sciences, they can find a way to help me avenge the beating of the Marquis of Qinghe in Liuxiangyuan, he also said...... He also said......"

"What else is he saying?" Qin Shi Huang's face turned pale.

"He also said that as long as this matter is successful, Master Ao will arrange an official position for me in the future, and transfer me to the craftsman as a young mansion as a government official!"

"...... Uproar"

There was a sudden uproar in the court, and everyone's eyes shrouded Ao Ping, the craftsman Shaofu.

Ao Ping suddenly felt like a man's back, and he didn't have time to think about it and stood up and said: "Your Majesty, don't listen to Ma Teng's nonsense, Ma Teng and the Marquis of Qinghe have old grudges, and they were humiliated and beaten by the Marquis of Qinghe in public in the Liuxiang Garden that day, hundreds of people saw it with their own eyes, Shang Qi and Ma Teng have known each other since childhood, so it is reasonable to be bewitched by Ma Teng to intend to take revenge, and the minister heard that in recent days, Ma Teng has spent tens of thousands of dollars to invite the children of the minister to eat, drink and have fun, and insulted the Marquis of Qinghe everywhere with the intention of revenge......"

"Wow~"

Ao Ping didn't stand up to explain, but this explanation suddenly became so silverless as three hundred taels, and suddenly exposed himself to the public.

Ao Ping came to his senses halfway through, but it was too late.

Sure enough, Qin Shi Huang's indifferent gaze slowly looked at Ao Ping: "Ao Ping, you are in the position of Jiuqing, why do you know the whereabouts of a junior with no name so clearly?" ”

"I ...... I'm ......" The sweat on Ao Ping's forehead rolled down, but he still forced himself to calm down and said: "The minister only paid attention to the collapse of the iron-making furnace in the factory, after all, the craftsmen who built the iron-making furnace were all appointed by my craftsman's Shaofu. ”

Chen Xu walked to the center of the hall with a calm face, looked at Ao Ping and said indifferently: "I have strictly ordered the news of the collapse of the iron-making furnace at the construction site, and even His Majesty does not know about this matter, I want to ask Lord Ao, how did you know?" ”

"Yes, I don't know about the collapse of the iron-making furnace!"

"Yes, dozens of people were killed and wounded, and even His Majesty didn't know about it, I don't know how Ao Fuling knew about it?"

"That's it!"

Countless ministers in the court began to whisper earnestly, and even Li Si and Feng Quji looked at each other with solemn faces, this matter Chen Xu was quite tightly blocked, and as the prime minister of Great Qin, he did not hear the slightest rumor, which shows that Ao Ping's forcible explanation is even more suspicious.

Ao Ping's face was distorted and pale, and his intestines were blue at this time, and he couldn't help but jump out to defend himself, and there was no room for further explanation.