Naturally, there are not a few case files to be handled by the Criminal Department every day, but because of the changes in the Imperial Tomb, before Qi Ning took office, the Criminal Department began the investigation of the rebellion of King Huainan under the leadership of Da Xichong.

Qi Ning checked the file of this case, and the criminal department's investigation of this case was the first to bear the brunt of the prince of Huainan.

For Qi Ning, if he wants to form a force in the DPRK, the most important thing is to recognize friend and foe, and if this kind of power game cannot even distinguish between friend and foe, the result will be a quick exit.

Looking through the case file, Qi Ning had to admit that Da Xichong was anxious to prepare for the investigation of the case of Huainan Wang's rebellion, and he really helped himself a lot.

The officials to be investigated by the Criminal Department are headed by Xiao Shaozong, the son of the King of Huainan, and all the officials under him, such as Dou Kui, are all on the list, and in fact, the core officials of the original power of the King of Huainan have been recorded, Qi Ning knows that these officials are all the objects that Sima wants to eliminate, although the list is in the Criminal Department, the list alone is naturally Sima Lan's side.

Qi Ning did not have long in the DPRK, and the intricate relationship between the DPRK and China could not be figured out in a short period of time, but this list had roughly exposed Sima Lan's hostile forces, and with this list in hand, at least we could roughly distinguish between the enemy and the enemy.

Qi Ning believes that these officials on the list must be in panic for a period of time recently, and the Criminal Department will thoroughly investigate the case of King Huainan's rebellion, which is already known to the Manchu Dynasty, and now he is in charge of the Criminal Department, and the court seems to be motionless, but he knows that the eyes of the Manchu officials are staring at the Criminal Department at the moment, paying attention to their next moves.

His own attitude is directly related to the direction of the court.

Qi Ning had already made a plan since the change in the imperial tomb, so it was naturally impossible to assist the Sima clan in eradicating the remnants of the Huainan Wang, and the emperor's purpose in transferring him to the Criminal Department was to keep those officials.

Of course, the officials of the Criminal Department knew this, and after Qi Ning began to take charge of the case, the atmosphere of Da Xichong's eyes on the Huainan Wang Yudang when he was in charge of the matter changed, and since everyone knew the attitude of the little marquis towards this matter, they naturally followed the will of the little marquis.

Any official involved in the case of Huainan Wang's rebellion, without conclusive evidence, naturally cannot be easily qualified, even if there is evidence, it must be sent to Qi Ning's desk and handed over to Qi Ning for personal review, such an attitude, of course, everyone knows that Xiao Hou Ye intends to keep that group of officials, and there are lessons from the past of Da Xichong and Cao Sen, and everyone is very conscious of throwing the Huainan Wang case aside, and no one really cares to handle the case.

Qi Ning's subordinates showed mercy, and the officials in the list naturally knew that they were grateful to Qi Ning, and Sima knew that this would be the result on Qi Ning's first day in office.

For the Marquis of Jinyi, Qi Ning's business trip in the Criminal Department is not the most important, the most important thing is the upcoming wedding of the Hou Mansion.

Jinyi Houfu and Shenhou Ximen family formed an in-law, this is after the emperor's wedding, one of the most important family affairs in the court, Jinyi Houfu under the auspices of the three old ladies, early began the preparations for the wedding, in early August, only half a month from the set day, Gu Qinghan has let people start to repair the east courtyard of the Hou Mansion, as a marriage, all kinds of objects needed when the marriage, also began to prepare in an orderly manner.

With the three old ladies and Gu Qinghan in charge, Qi Ning is relaxed, and he can focus on the side of the Criminal Department, although the time is not long, but Qi Ning's understanding is amazing, and he already has a general understanding of the operation of the various departments and yamen of the Criminal Department.

What made the officials of the court and China wonder was that the little emperor had not been to the court for a long time.

According to the usual practice, three days after the emperor's wedding, he will start to govern the court, but nearly half a month after the emperor's wedding, the little emperor seems to have disappeared, in the deep palace, there seems to be no sign of going to the court, the ministers wondered, but no one dared to say anything.

Fortunately, before the emperor's wedding, the little emperor did not often go to the court to manage the government, and the affairs of the court and the central government were presided over by Sima Lan, the first and auxiliary ministers, and the yamen of the various departments were also operating normally, and there was no chaos in the court because of the little emperor's neglect.

What kept Qi Ning worried was Zhuo Xian'er's whereabouts.

After Zhuo Xian'er suddenly disappeared that night, Qi Ning sent someone to look for it, but there was no news about Zhuo Xian'er, Qi Ning also thought about whether someone had kidnapped Zhuo Xian'er to threaten him because of himself, but if this was the case, the other party would inevitably find himself and put forward conditions, but no one had heard from beginning to end, which made Qi Ning puzzled and worried.

When Fluttershy was trafficked to the capital in the county town of Huizawa, the dart team crashed, and her whereabouts have been unknown since then, and there is no clue or clue to check, Qi Ning occasionally remembers it, and his heart is heavy.

He had never met Fluttershy, and the images remaining in his mind were only the memories of the host, Xiao Xiao'er, and the images of Xiao Xiao were actually very vague in his mind, but Zhuo Xian'er was different, he had Xian'er's soft voice in his head, and even felt Xian'er's silky skin, and the faint fragrance emanating from her snowy and delicate body seemed to linger on the tip of his nose, and a living girl he had personally felt suddenly disappeared, Qi Ning was naturally concerned in his heart.

On the second day of the first month of August, the sky was high and crisp, Qi Ning came to the yamen of the criminal department early in the morning, and before he got off the horse, he was greeted by a person who came forward, Qi Ning saw that he was dressed in a strong suit, not a person in the criminal department, and he had not yet asked, the person had already saluted Qi Ning: "The villain greets the Hou Ye, the golden knife is invited!" ”

Qi Ning was stunned for a moment, and said strangely: "Golden Dao Wait? ”

The Golden Dao Tai family is one of the four hereditary candidates of the Chu State, and once had a very high status in the court, just like the Jinyi Qi family, the Golden Dao Tai family is also a family of military merits.

The only time Qi Ning saw the Golden Sword Hou Taihuang was at the court meeting, and since then, they have not met, and the two have not even spoken alone.

Over the years, the Golden Knife Tai family is very low-key in the court, many court affairs, are invisible to the figure of the Tai family, it seems to be forgotten, but the Manchu Dynasty civil and military, but no one dares to underestimate the Tai family, since Emperor Taizu has been following the Southern Expedition and the Northern War of the Tai family, the qualifications are only higher than the other three hereditary marquis.

The three great generals of Dachu were the three great generals of the year, the Golden Dao Tai, the Jinyi Qi family, and the Wuxiang Su family, two of which were old marquises, and the Golden Dao Taihuang was the only living old general, and his prestige in the military was unmatched by the Manchu Dynasty.

Qi Ning was really surprised when he suddenly heard that Taihuang invited him to go.

"The old marquis has invited the marquis to have a light meal." The man said respectfully: "Please also ask the Hou Ye to appreciate his face!" ”

Qi Ning knew that if there was no matter, the old marquis of the golden knife would not invite him to dinner for no reason, and now the Jinyi Qi family and the Sima family are-for-tat, and Qi Ning doesn't know whether Tai Huang is looking for himself to negotiate because of the court situation, but the king of Huainan and Sima Lan fought at the beginning, and Tai Huang never stood up to say a word, and in today's situation, it is impossible for Jin Dao Hou to be involved.

He was puzzled in his heart, but the old marquis also sent someone to invite, and Qi Ning naturally couldn't touch the old marquis's face.

The Golden Knife Mansion is very far away from the Yamen of the Criminal Department, and there is a plaque of "Golden Knife Waiting Mansion" hanging above the vermilion lacquer gate in front of the Golden Knife Waiting Mansion, on both sides of the gate, there are also two majestic big lions, and there are two heavily armed soldiers on the left and right to escort them, and someone led Qi Ning into the mansion, but it was empty inside, and there were few people in sight.

Compared with the Jinyi Hou Mansion, the Golden Dao Hou Mansion is less vibrant, but more solemn and heavy, and the buildings in the mansion are mostly black stones, giving people a sense of cold and hard.

At three o'clock in the morning, Qi Ning had breakfast in the Hou Mansion in the morning, and it was far past the breakfast time at this time, but there were still an hour or two before lunch, Qi Ning really didn't know that the old marquis of the golden knife invited him to come over for a light meal, whether it was breakfast or lunch, breakfast was too late, and lunch was too early.

When he arrived at the main hall of the Golden Knife Waiting Mansion, Qi Ning saw a big knife enshrined in the main hall at first glance, the blade was glowing with golden yellow, and Qi Ning didn't know whether it was gold-plated or real gold, if it was really made of pure gold, it was really valuable.

But he also knew in his heart that for the Golden Sword Houfu, the value of this big knife was not in the knife itself, but the glory behind it.

The main hall was solemn and solemn, but no one waited, after Qi Ning sat down, someone brought tea, Qi Ning looked left and right, and then asked softly: "Where is the old marquis?" Do I come to visit? ”

Although they are both hereditary, Qi Ning still has respect for that old minister of the empire, and he also knows that the prestige and qualifications of this golden sword candidate far exceed that of his own brocade waiter.

"The old marquis asks the marquis to wait here, when he will come, the villain doesn't know." The man left only one word, and then bowed respectfully.

Qi Ning frowned slightly, but he was at ease, and he sat in the main hall and waited, thinking in his heart what the old marquis of the golden knife would say to him.

Time passed, but he didn't see the figure of Jin Daohou for a long time, Qi Ning felt a little strange in his heart, secretly thinking that even if this old marquis was old and had difficulty moving, but he was half an hour away from the mansion, no matter how slow he was, he should have appeared.

But his patience was not bad, and after a cup of tea was drunk, the person serving the tea was nowhere to be seen, and he did not come to add tea.

Qi Ning frowned, waited for most of the hour, really didn't know what medicine was sold in the old marquis's gourd, got up and walked to the door, looked around, and couldn't see a single figure.

Although his prestige and qualifications are not as good as those of the Golden Dao Hou, he is also a hereditary Hou Ye, and the Golden Dao Hou Mansion should not snub himself so much.

He couldn't guess what the hell was going on in the Golden Dao Houfu, hesitated, returned to the seat, closed his eyes and recuperated, thinking that the old marquis of the Golden Knife was the founding minister, and he had not arrived for a long time, maybe because of other things delayed, as a junior, he didn't have to be impetuous, just wait patiently.

After waiting for more than half an hour, close to noon, Qi Ning smiled bitterly in his heart, secretly thinking that it seemed that the old marquis was really going to invite himself to lunch, he walked to the door again, the outside was still the same, no one was seen, although he was a little unhappy, but he wanted to wait for a while when it was almost lunch, and give the old marquis face.

Half an hour later, the person who led the way before finally appeared, Qi Ning was calm and relaxed at this time, and he didn't speak, the man stepped forward and saluted: "Master Hou has been waiting for a long time!" ”

Qi Ning thought to himself that I had been waiting for his mother for a long time, but his face did not change, and he smiled: "Can I go to meet the old marquis?" ”

"The old marquis arranged coarse tea and light rice, if the marquis does not dislike it, please go to eat with the villain."

Qi Ning thought that it was lunch time, and it would be really not interesting for the old marquis of the golden knife not to appear again, and then followed the person to the side hall, after entering the hall, there were dishes and chopsticks on a small round table, and the man invited Qi Ning to sit down, Qi Ning glanced at it, and there was a plate of green vegetables on the table, a plate of white radish, and a bowl of tofu soup, plus a bowl of white rice, in addition, even the wine was missing.

Qi Ning was dumbfounded, and glanced at the person on the side, but the person said respectfully: "Coarse tea and light rice, Master Hou, please use it!" ”

Qi Ning scolded in his heart, even if it is an ordinary family's hospitality, it is impossible to serve such a dry dish, the dignified golden knife waiting, entertaining the brocade clothes, it is really unbelievable, Qi Ning was a little annoyed in his heart, but his face was silent, unhappy, but he felt that there was something strange in it.