Chapter 408 You Deliver It in Person

Gu Mingda put his hand on the military strategy and said, "This book comes from the Xie family. I have heard about this "Dingyuanlu" before. It is one of the military strategies written by Xie Shenjiang, the ancestor of the Xie family. The Xie family has never been willing to lend it to outsiders easily. The person who can get this book may be the one behind Wu Wulang. Please send someone to General Xie's house to ask who this book has been copied to."

The prefect of Jingzhao immediately became alert. He wrote a handwritten order on the spot and asked his confidant to take it to the Xie family.

It was just a copy list, not a request for the book. If the Xie family knew the seriousness of the problem, they would not shirk responsibility.

Sure enough, the Xie family quickly sent a list.

"The Xie family said that they always valued this book and showed it to outsiders after rereading it in the past. However, ten years ago, the Xie family seemed to have figured it out and no longer hid it as they did in the past. However, everyone who copied the book promised not to spread it casually. This is the list of people who have borrowed the book in the past ten years." The confidant came back quickly.

The list was sent to the Jingzhao prefectural governor, who immediately handed it to Gu Mingda and asked, "Master Gu, take a look. Are there any people who have a grudge against you?"

After Gu Mingda took the list, he saw that there were not many names on it. The one in the middle was Li Ziqin's name.

He pointed at Li Ziqin's name.

Jingzhao prefect was so scared that he almost took two steps back: "Master Li? Aren't you from the same hometown as him? Why do you have a feud?"

Li Ziqin is now a third-rank official, and he recently made a contribution to saving the emperor. There is also a queen in the palace who has been favored for many years but has just fallen out of favor this year. Jingzhao prefect does not want to offend the Li family.

Gu Mingda pointed to several other names and said, "In the past ten years, a total of five people have copied this book. Three of them are now on the battlefield and have not returned to Beijing for many years. One has passed away. Who else can we suspect except Lord Li?"

The prefect of Jingzhao frowned and asked, "Lord Gu, when did you and Lord Li have a feud? And why?"

Gu Mingda said, "Lord Li once wanted to win me over, but I refused."

Gu Mingda couldn't say anything about Li Zhaoyi. After all, as long as this person was involved with Niu Niu, even if Niu Niu did nothing wrong, just the rumor that the other party didn't like Niu Niu might damage Niu Niu's reputation. He couldn't let his daughter's reputation be overshadowed.

Hearing this, the prefect of Jingzhao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Master Gu, Master Li doesn't seem to be a petty person. He just holds a grudge because of such a small matter. Master Gu might as well think about it again. Is there anyone else who has such a motive?"

Gu Mingda felt that the case had been investigated to this point.

He was not a fool. He had been attacked by the censor in the court during this period. With so many people acting together, there would naturally be rumors. Gu Mingda also had several friends in the court. They had been reminded and hinted that the person who pushed the censor's actions behind the scenes was Li Ziqin.

More importantly, he also received a letter sent by the magistrate of Guang'an County a few days ago.

Someone from the Li family went to Guang'an County to inquire about Gu Mingda's background and even checked the files related to Zhang Guangzong. The magistrate of Guang'an County had no way to refuse the people from the Li family.

After all, the Li family can be said to have a hand over the whole Guanglin Prefecture. Although the Guang'an County Magistrate cooperated with the Li family to show them everything they should and shouldn't see, he still remembered the friendship with Gu Mingda in the past, so he sent the letter as soon as possible.

"Sir, just tell His Majesty the result. His Majesty will make his own judgment on the truth." Gu Mingda said.

The Jingzhao prefect listened with half-belief and half-doubt. He originally thought that he could get some credit, but he didn't expect to involve the Li family. From his perspective, Gu Mingda was retaliated against just for rejecting the olive branch of the Li family. He ran to the emperor to say bad things about the Li family, and he didn't know whether the Li family would retaliate.

"This... Is there really no other result? Otherwise, you can investigate it carefully?" The Jingzhao prefect wanted to struggle and kept hinting to Gu Mingda to find another scapegoat.

Gu Mingda shook his head and said, "Lord Li, the capital is under the emperor's feet. Everything that happened will not be hidden from the emperor. Just tell people that I found out these things. If there are any consequences, I will bear them all."

The prefect of Jingzhao reported the result to the emperor no matter how reluctant he was.

To be honest, after listening to the whole process, the emperor also believed that these things were done by the Li family.

"Although those thieves are dead, the matter of child trafficking must be investigated to the end. This batch of children has been rescued, but you must try your best to find so many children who were lost before." The emperor did not talk about the punishment of the Li family, but asked about another case.

The prefect of Jingzhao was also troubled by this matter and said, "Your Majesty, Wu Wulang has an unclear relationship with the Li family. If Your Majesty really wants to investigate the matter of child trafficking, please agree to let me interrogate Lord Li."

The prefect of Jingzhao said this deliberately because he knew that the emperor would definitely refuse such an outrageous request.

It had only been a short time since Li Ziqin rescued the emperor. The emperor would not let Li Ziqin fall into such a situation at such a time.

The emperor did not have his own children in the past, so he did not feel much when he heard about this case. Now that his child is about to be born, he immediately empathizes with the situation.

At this time, both the emperor and his ministers knew that if they wanted to find out the whereabouts of these children, the fastest way was to arrest the Li family and interrogate them.

The emperor frowned and said, "If you feel it is inconvenient to handle this case, let Gu Mingda handle it."

The emperor had already begun to feel that the Jingzhao prefectural governor had problems with his ability to handle affairs. Zhang Yunniang's case had been handed over to him, but in the end it was all led by Gu Mingda.

Although the Jingzhao prefectural governor was not happy that Gu Mingda showed up in front of the emperor, he also knew that this was a hot potato.

And Li Zhaoyi in the harem, now Li Meiren, had a gloomy face at this time. Since she knew that Niuniu had left the palace and returned to her family, she had been smashing and destroying things in her palace for several days.

"What an impatient thing! It's just a child! But she wanted to show off her ability and do some witchcraft!" Li Meiren cursed viciously.

Concubine Liu was jealous of Concubine Shun and practiced witchcraft. It was obviously not Concubine Li who ordered this. Even Concubine Liu did not implicate Concubine Li during the interrogation. However, the Queen Mother said that everyone in the harem knew that Concubine Liu always followed Concubine Li's lead. She used this as an excuse to demote Concubine Li to Concubine Li.

Even if Concubine Li acted fiercely, she could not hide her inner fear.

"It's back to the way it was... Everything has changed again... It's a waste of effort..." Concubine Li muttered in her heart.

The servants did not dare to come in at all. Miss Li San looked at her aunt's crazy appearance and hid in the corner, trembling with fear.

"I don't accept it! I don't accept it! I still have His Majesty! I am his favorite woman!" Concubine Li suddenly rummaged in the dressing box and found an old purse from it.

She turned around and walked quickly to her niece and picked her up: "I don't trust others. You personally deliver such an important thing to the emperor!"