If the Tang Empire won, it would say to its opponents: "You damn well behave yourself in the future, or be careful that I wipe out your entire clan. Pay tribute obediently every year!"
<...Li Chongguang stood up, looking resolute.
Lu Wanqing smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, Li Lang, I have taken care of everything."
Li Chongguang was slightly taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"
"The Prince of Liao has already had someone switch the beams and pillars. Li Gang did find Li Dutong, but he is just a person with the same name. If Li Xianzong of the Censorate investigates more carefully, he will find out that it has nothing to do with you, Li Lang."
Li Chongguang had just prepared himself to fight Li Gang head-on, but he didn't expect that all the dangers were just a ruse.
He immediately felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.
"Li Lang, you won't blame me for lying to you, will you?" Lu Wanqing looked aggrieved again.
"Actually, what I want to tell you is that danger is real, so that you can feel it firsthand. You must be careful in your future endeavors, otherwise, if something happens to you, I won't live either."
Li Chongguang was still a little angry, but after hearing what Lu Wanqing said, he immediately calmed down.
He laughed loudly, "This beauty is truly a treasure sent to me by heaven!"
Lu Wanqing's posture became even more alluring.
She did this for two reasons: first, to make Li Chongguang and Li Gang completely break up.
Li Chongguang is a narrow-minded and vindictive man.
If the incorruptible Li Gang discovers that he is engaged in business in secret, he will certainly punish him without hesitation.
Li Gang must have found some evidence as well.
However, not all evidence is irrefutable.
Li Chongguang had 100,000 Iron Forest Army soldiers under his command and was also a disciple of the emperor.
Without sufficient evidence, Li Xianzong dared not act recklessly.
Just as Lu Wanqing had said, the evidence that Li Gang had obtained was sent to Li Xianzong, who sent people to check it all and found many loopholes.
On this day, Li Xianzong arrived at the General's Mansion.
"This humble official pays his respects to Minister Li."
"Inspector Li, what is the progress of the matter concerning Li Chongguang's private business dealings? When will he be brought to justice?"
“Lord Li, I investigated, but I received a different answer.”
What do you mean?
"The owner of the private iron mine was indeed named Li Chongguang, but he was not Commander Li; it was just a coincidence that they shared the same name."
Li Gang said in a deep voice, "A coincidence? Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"
He glanced at Zhang, the Supervising Judge of the Criminal Justice Department, who said, "I have investigated and found that someone did indeed report it. I have carefully verified that it was indeed Commander Li."
Although both the Censorate and the Judicial Commissioner's Office are judicial organs, they belong to completely different departments.
The Control Yuan is specifically responsible for supervising the military.
The Director of Criminal Justice was under the Ministry of Justice and was responsible for investigating civil cases.
Therefore, when Director Zhang submitted the evidence of the investigation into Li Chongguang's case to Li Gang, Li Gang instructed Director Zhang to transfer it all to the Control Yuan.
In a sense, Li Gang also had no right to deal with Li Chongguang. Only when the Control Yuan had sufficient evidence could Li Chongguang be arrested.
Li Gang frowned and said, "This matter should not be publicized. Huizhi (Li Xianzong's courtesy name), you should investigate it carefully again. If it is true, you must not be lenient."
"Yes!" Li Xianzong replied, "Don't worry, Prime Minister Li."
Li Gang felt uneasy.
Li Gang was a man of upright character, but as a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, he had an innate aversion to military men.
Especially unruly martial artists like Li Chongguang.
After investigating for several more days, Director Zhang indeed found no further suitable evidence.
For the time being, Li Gang could only suppress the matter.
Although the matter was suppressed, Li Chongguang knew that Li Gang was investigating him.
Li Chongguang originally had a rift with Li Gang.
This made him hate Li Gang even more.
The situation in Liaodong became distorted under these bizarre circumstances.
At this time, Zhao Huan was leading the Imperial Guards to Chang'an when Sima Junru secretly sent him a letter.
This letter is about Li Chongguang.
"Muzhi (Sima Junru's courtesy name), what is your assessment of the situation in Liaodong?"
Sima Junru said, "Your Majesty, I believe that Lu Wanqing is very likely a spy of Yelü Dashi in our Great Song Dynasty."
What do you mean?
"By order of His Majesty, I began counter-intelligence operations against Liao spies in the twelfth year of the Jingkang era, and have successively discovered three Liao spy outposts in Kaifeng, Yanyun and Liaodong."
"All the clues found in the counter-surveillance operations indicate that the head of the Liao spy network in the Song Dynasty was a woman. This woman was elusive, very mysterious, and had multiple identities."
Zhao Huan frowned and fell into deep thought. A woman? Multiple identities?
This reminded Zhao Huan of the person Wu Dalang had mentioned.
"I conducted a six-month investigation into Lu Wanqing. Her ancestors were from the Lu clan of Fanyang. During the Five Dynasties period, due to war, they moved to Liaodong."
"Your Majesty, I have also discovered that the Lu family had close ties with the Li family of Longxi from back then!"
"Oh?" Zhao Huan's eyes lit up.
He remembered very clearly how Zhao Huan personally went to Shaanxi to quell the rebellion caused by the Li clan of Longxi.
Li Wenzheng was from the Li clan of Longxi.
Could it be that the Lu family of Fanyang has some connection with Li Wenzheng?
This is interesting! It's getting more and more interesting!
It seems there's a small group of lawless elements who are always plotting to overthrow my Great Song Dynasty!
What is the relationship between Lu Wanqing and Li Wenzheng?
Seeing that the emperor remained silent, Sima Junru continued, "Your Majesty, I have also discovered that wealthy merchants in the South, the Central Plains, and Yanyun have dealings with Lu Wanqing."
"It was Lu who informed the King of Liao of the discovery of the Anshan iron mine. Now it seems that Lu deliberately approached the King of Liao, probably with ulterior motives."
What are you after?
Sima Junru paused for a moment, then said, "I suspect that Lu Wanqing intends to get close to the Prince of Liao and instigate Li Chongguang to gather wealthy merchants from all over the country to carry out a rebellion while Your Majesty is on your western expedition. Your Majesty should take precautions as soon as possible!"
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