Mo Zechen was just about to let the shadow leave, when he suddenly thought of something, his sword eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he asked in a deep voice.

"By the way, you said that three years ago, there was a disappearance of young adults in Xuancheng, when did it happen?"

"Three years ago in September."

The shadow didn't understand why Mo Zechen asked this question, but he still answered Mo Zechen's question honestly.

"Three years ago in September!"

Mo Zechen repeated, with a little surprise in his eyes.

How could the timing be so coincidental?

Mo Zechen seemed to have thought of something, and commanded with a solemn face, "Shadow, you go and call Lin Qing first, I have something to ask him." ”

Lin Qing is the one who went to the capital before and sued the officials of Xuancheng for corruption, and the officials protected each other.

Before he came, he thought that the investigation of the corruption of Xuancheng officials would go well.

After all, according to Lin Qing, the officials in Xuancheng are corrupt, so no matter how cautious they are, there will definitely be flaws.

But he has been in Xuancheng for almost half a month, and so far he has not found any useful clues, and today he even heard the people of Xuancheng praise the local officials.

Originally, he thought that the officials of Xuancheng were clever in their criminal methods, not only concealing their corruption to the letter, but even deceiving everyone.

There must be a mastermind behind this who controls the overall situation.

But just now, what the shadow said gave him a new guess.

What if the corruption of Xuancheng officials was fake from the beginning?

If it's fake, his people haven't been able to find any useful clues, which also makes sense.

It's just that he doesn't understand a little bit -

If the corruption of Xuancheng officials is fake, then what is Lin Qing for, would rather risk being chased and killed and may die on the way at any time, but also go to Beijing to complain?

Could it be that behind this, there is something more serious than the collusion and corruption of all officials in Xuancheng?

If so, why didn't Lin Qing say it in the first place.

Could it be that you are worried about something?

Mo Zechen turned his wrench, his eyes dark.

Or is it just that he is thinking too much, but in fact things are not as complicated as he thinks?

"The villain Lin Qing has seen the prince."

Shortly after the shadow left, a man dressed in coarse linen, with a slightly pale face, and a somewhat weak appearance, walked in at the door.

Mo Zechen heard the voice, raised his head, and suppressed the thousands of thoughts in his heart.

"Lin Qing, I called you over today because I couldn't figure out some things and wanted to ask you something."

Mo Zechen got straight to the point, "Regarding the corruption of Xuancheng officials, in addition to the account books you took out, do you have any other evidence?" ”

When Lin Qing heard this, he was stunned for a moment before he spoke, "No." ”

Without waiting for Mo Zechen to speak, Lin Qing asked eagerly, "Is it not enough to have an account book as evidence?" ”

Mo Zechen looked at Lin Qing, who was full of eagerness, and explained in a faint voice, "The account book you took out is incomplete. ”

"At the beginning, His Majesty handed over the account book to the people of the household department to see, and the people of the household department said that the account book did not indicate in detail where the income and expenditure were used, but the amount was a little strange, and other than that, they didn't see any problems."

"In other words, if the account book you took out was really stolen from the government, it can only be said that there is something wrong with their accounts, and you are not 100% sure that they have embezzled."

Hearing Mo Zechen's explanation, Lin Qing's shoulders collapsed, and the whole person looked a little decadent.

He worked so hard that he almost took his life, but he was told that the account book he got could not prove that the officials of Xuancheng were corrupt.

Isn't what he did in vain?!

"Are you still hiding something from this king?"

When Lin Qing was decadent, Mo Zechen suddenly spoke, Lin Qing subconsciously wanted to answer, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he immediately came back to his senses and broke out in a cold sweat.

Lin Qing pretended to be calm and asked rhetorically, "Why did the prince say that?" ”

"The king's people have been investigating corruption these days, but after their visits and investigations, the people in the city are not aware of the corruption of local officials."

"There are even many people who say that local officials are rare good officials, what do you want to say about this?"

Mo Zechen naturally noticed the momentary pause after Lin Qing opened his mouth, he pretended not to know, and said what they had investigated.

"Good officer? Those hypocritical, selfish, vicious people, they also deserve it!! ”

Lin Qing seemed to be stimulated by Mo Zechen's words, and his emotions suddenly became excited.

"Why didn't you tell me that three years ago, there were many young adults in the city who disappeared in a short period of time?"

Mo Zechen ignored Lin Qing's excitement and asked another question.

Lin Qing took a deep breath and calmed himself down before answering Mo Zechen's question.

"Because of this incident, it has nothing to do with the corruption of the officials we investigated, and all the villains did not inform it."

"Really?"

Mo Zechen hooked his lips and smiled, and his cold and sharp face instantly became a little more gentle.

"That's weird."

Mo Zechen's right hand was placed on the armrest, and his fingers tapped the armrest again and again.

"The account book you took out happened to be the account book of Xuancheng three years ago."

"Huh?"

When Lin Qing heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and looked up at Mo Zechen a little dumbfounded.

"Don't you know? In order to avoid messing up the account book, and also to facilitate future checking, the person who does the account will mark the account book with the year and month on the account book. ”

"The account book you took out is the account book used by the government for bookkeeping in October three years ago, and the case of the disappearance of the people of Xuancheng happened in September, is it a coincidence?"

If Mo Zechen was only three points sure of his guess at the beginning, then Lin Qing's flash of surprise just now made Mo Zechen seventy percent sure.

"What the hell are you hiding?"

Mo Zechen's voice took on a bit of majesty, and Lin Qing suddenly felt a little more invisible pressure on his body.

"Since you chose to go to the capital to complain, and now that this king is here as you wish, why do you want to hide what you know?"

"Do you not believe this king, or do you say—all the things you tell you are false?"

Mo Zechen said his guess, "Could it be that the officials of Xuancheng are not corrupt, what you really want this king to investigate is the case of the disappearance of the people of Xuancheng three years ago?" ”

"But you're worried that this matter won't attract the attention of the imperial court, so you're lying?"

The more Mo Zechen spoke, the more excited his tone became, and the movement of his fingers tapping the armrest became faster and faster, which invisibly brought a great sense of oppression to Lin Qing.

"Do you know that making false accusations and slandering officials at will are felonies!!"