gnovel Chapter 43 Li Sixing is arrested
Chapter 43 Li Sixing is arrested
Late at night, at the Cizhou government office.
An official dressed in a light scarlet robe quickly entered the mansion under the cover of night.
Inside the hall, more than ten oil lamps were lit, and at a glance, a group of officials were busy copying.
An official in purple robes propped his head up and sat diagonally under the plaque.
Suddenly hearing footsteps outside the corridor, Governor Hu, who was half asleep, abruptly opened his eyes, forced himself to stay awake, and put on a confident and composed demeanor.
"Governor Hu, there's news!" Sima shouted from afar.
Hu Kuo frowned and said sternly, "What's the panic?"
Sima ignored everything else and excitedly said, "We've made progress today on the person you asked us to find."
"Speak," Governor Hu said in a low voice, though his excitement was barely concealed.
Sima raised his head slightly, squinting as he said, "I previously instructed my subordinates to keep an eye on the inns and villages along the roadside, as well as the carriage shops in the city. We dispatched constables and members of the 'Bad Guys' to keep an eye on them. The village head, shopkeepers, and managers all know our requirements. And in just a few days..."
"Get to the point," Governor Hu said, slamming his hand on the table after listening for so long without hearing anything important. "Why don't you start from when your mother gave birth to you?"
Sima shrank his neck and gave an embarrassed smile: "In Zuojia Village, which is three miles away from Zuoyuan Post Station, a man in his forties who speaks Mandarin came. He was dressed in rags and had an injury on his arm. The village headman saw him and asked him for his travel documents. The man couldn't produce them, so the village headman called the able-bodied men in the village, and that's how they tied him up."
"I was resting at the post station when the village headman told me about the situation. He looked like a military officer, so I brought him back to the yamen gate."
Governor Hu, seeing Sima's beaming face, was also infected by his emotions and laughed, "Well done. If you had caught the right one, your name would definitely be on the official documents for commendation in the future."
Upon hearing this, Sima grinned from ear to ear and shouted to the clerk beside him, "What are you standing there for? Bring the man in so the governor can have a good look at him."
Governor Hu descended from the high platform and looked down at the man bound like a dumpling. Although the clothes on his chest and arms were torn to shreds, it was not hard to tell from the cuts that they should have originally been a fine brocade robe.
Governor Hu gently rubbed the torn strips in his hand and said calmly, "Tell me yourself, are you a man of the Crown Prince or the King of Ci? What's your name?"
The man below struggled to his feet, shrugging his shoulders as if trying to tighten the ropes binding him. He put away his feigned fear and looked coldly at Governor Hu.
"There is no King of Ci, only King of Qi."
Seeing that the man was being stubborn, the bailiff next to him grabbed a short stick and smashed it on the bend of his calf, cursing, "Answer whatever the governor asks you."
The man who had been beaten stood up again, and with just a glance, he terrified the minor official who had struck him, making his legs go weak. His posture was completely different this time, and he said in a deep voice:
"I am Li Sixing, a military officer under the command of the King of Qi."
The Protector of the Army of the King of Qi was a fourth-rank official, the same rank as Yuchi Jingde and the Governor of Xiazhou.
Li Sixing stood ramrod straight. For the past month, he had hidden manure carts and intercepted horse-drawn carriages. He dared not travel on official roads and had to keep crossing mountains and wading through rivers. The dozen or so personal guards who had originally fled with him were all gone, lying dead on the road.
Now that he's been caught, there's no need to hide anymore; only then can he live up to the expectations of the dozen or so brothers who risked their lives to protect him along the way.
The governor, whose waist was even thicker than Li Hujun's, chuckled strangely from time to time, looking at Li Siqi below him like a beauty emerging from a bath, circling him again and again, completely ignoring the stench emanating from him.
"A fourth-rank official, huh?"
It wasn't until he saw the tiger-like scratches on her left arm that he came to his senses and hurriedly called for a doctor. A living Li Siqi was much more valuable than a dead one.
Then, with his hands behind his back, he instructed the crowd, "Take him away and interrogate him again tomorrow. Make sure he is thoroughly cleaned, and don't let the wounds become red and swollen. I also want to escort him back to the capital to claim credit and rewards."
"Anyone who dares to be negligent in this matter, don't blame me for turning my back on them later."
All the yamen runners agreed.
Zhao Biejia, who had sat silently to the side all night, spread out the documents on his desk, checked their contents again, and then stood up and walked towards the prefect, whispering, "Prefect Hu, the court issued a document ten days ago, clearly ordering all prefectures and counties to prohibit the arrest and false accusations against relatives of the former crown prince and former members of the Qi Prince's household."
"If this man is truly the guard of the Prince of Ci, he should be released immediately. Would sending him to the capital violate the laws of the court?"
"Hmph," Hu Kuo flicked his sleeve, his face immediately darkening, and said in a low voice, "Prefect Zhao, do you even know the laws of the court?"
Zhao Biejia turned around, picked up the document on the table, and handed it to Governor Hu. He raised his chin and said, "Although I have a rudimentary understanding of literature, I can still recognize official documents from the court. Governor, please take a look and see if I have misunderstood the court's intentions."
Governor Hu was furious. He snatched the document, threw it on the ground, and roared, "I ordered you to send out the prefectural officials to arrest the Crown Prince and the remnants of the Prince of Ci's faction, but you refused to do so under various pretexts. Now that I have arrested them, what are you doing here arguing about the laws of the court?"
"If it really is Li Sixing, we will send him to the capital. The Crown Prince will bestow a favor upon him, and I deserve to be promoted. You can just obediently go and be your Prefect."
After saying that, he turned and left.
He turned back after a short while and looked at Zhao Biejia, saying, "It's time for you to leave."
Upon hearing this, Prefect Zhao remained silent, bowed, and turned to leave, giving Sima a meaningful look before departing.
Sima paid no attention to this and continued to report to the smug Governor Hu.
"Prefect Hu, I heard from the Chief Clerk of Xiangzhou a couple of days ago that they captured the Crown Prince's bodyguard. Although he is a seventh-rank official, he is also one of the Crown Prince's confidants."
Why not make a deal with the governor next door, buy this man, and escort him to Chang'an together? Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Governor Hu's eyes lit up. He paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back, seemingly weighing the bargaining chips. After a short while, he stopped and said in a low voice, "Go to Xiangzhou and negotiate with the Chief Clerk. It should not exceed this amount."
The chief clerk looked down at the three fingers the governor held up, a knowing look on his face, and cupped his hands, saying, "Governor, if you rise to high office in the future, don't forget your humble servant."
Governor Hu laughed heartily: "I've been promoted, and you'll definitely get a share."
Zhao Biejia returned home in a rage. He took a box from the curio cabinet in the corner of his study, pondered for a while, and then opened it to read the secret letter inside.
In the letter, Wei Zheng asserted that the Crown Prince genuinely pardoned Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji's officials, and that it was not a mere empty promise to deceive the world. After pondering for a while, he took a piece of paper and wrote down all the news of the day.
He summoned the steward and instructed him to hand the man over to the Ping An Inn, then sneered, "It's still uncertain who will be promoted."