Chapter 285: Deceiving the King (Two Chapters Combined into One)

The Fourth Prince was not gagged, his limbs were just tied, and his mouth was still free. For a person like him, there was absolutely no need to worry that he would bite his tongue to commit suicide, so his chin did not need to be removed and his mouth did not need to be gagged.

The Fourth Prince knew everything the moment Li Qing brought him to the small courtyard.

This old guy Li Qing is really just a dog, and he has a master behind him!

This prince guessed correctly. With only Li Qing as his support, he would not dare to rebel even if he had the courage.

This prince wants to see who Li Qing’s master is.

Then the Fourth Prince saw the followers, who were wearing coarse linen clothes, with their hair tied up in a bun without even a hairpin.

Most importantly, the coarse clothes they wore were obviously those worn by servants.

No, servants in the prince's mansion would not dress like this. They are only fit to serve as night deacons in the prince's mansion.

Li Qing is so unpromising!

That’s right, even though the Fourth Prince was tied up at this moment, he was as arrogant as a crab walking sideways.

He gathered his attention and faced a skinny middle-aged man.

The man was looking at him, his face showing no emotion, but his eyes made the Fourth Prince very uncomfortable.

Those eyes were looking him up and down, with contempt in their eyes.

"Take your eyes away and get out of here!" the Fourth Prince roared angrily.

Instead of looking away obediently, the man glared at him fiercely: "Hooked nose, such an ugly hooked nose!"

The Fourth Prince subconsciously wanted to reach out and touch his nose, but his arms and hands were all tied tightly and he could not move.

How dare this bitch say his nose is ugly?

This is his hooked nose, a nose he has been proud of since he was a child! It is also the part of his face that looks most like his father.

"What do you know, you lowly creature? Only the sons of dragons and phoenixes are worthy of a nose like this prince's."

The middle-aged man, Zhao Xingzhou, was so angry when he heard this that he wanted to punch the hook-nosed man flat.

"Only a son of a noble family deserves a nose like that? Come on, smash his nose!"

This nose must be flattened today. It hurts my eyes.

The other followers looked at each other. When they came out, Xiao Zhen had reminded them that as long as the old man didn't make any outrageous demands, they could satisfy him.

The Fourth Prince cannot be killed, at least he cannot die before returning to the capital.

It's just a flattened nose, it won't kill anyone, it's not an outrageous request, of course it can be met.

Jiang Ping attacked first, and the Fourth Prince was caught off guard and fell straight down after being knocked to the ground by the punch.

Li Qing was startled and quickly bent down to check. The Fourth Prince was not beaten to death, but a part of his nose was tilted to the side, which obviously meant that his nose was broken.

"Please show some mercy, the Fourth Prince still has to return to the capital. If he is seriously injured, even His Majesty won't recognize him. That would be terrible."

Jiang Ping and others just reshaped the Fourth Prince's nose according to Zhao Xingzhou's instructions. This was certainly not a big deal.

There was an imperial physician accompanying him in the house, but he had been ordered to stay indoors and not come out, so Li Qing didn't want to go look for him.

Without an imperial physician, the Fourth Prince’s injuries couldn’t even be bandaged.

He was in excruciating pain, and sat on the ground gritting his teeth, looking at the middle-aged man who had had him beaten.

The man just glanced at him, his eyes full of contempt as if he was looking at a piece of trash.

"Just wait, the Emperor will definitely sentence you severely, send you into exile, and execute your entire family!"

Unfortunately, his nose was injured, which made the Fourth Prince's voice a little hoarse.

But Zhao Xingzhou understood it.

This bastard actually wants to raid my house. Just wait!

"Who among you has the best handwriting?" Zhao Xingzhou looked at his followers, who shook their heads. They were all guards, good at wielding swords and guns, but writing? When was the last time they held a pen?

Seeing these people's useless appearance, Zhao Xingzhou felt disgusted. He looked at Li Qing and asked, "Can you write?"

“Yes, but it’s not well written.”

"Is there anyone in your Jinyiwei who can write well?" Zhao Xingzhou asked.

Li Qing shook his head. He knew what was going to be written. It might be a crime punishable by beheading. His brothers had already taken a serious risk by following him today, so he should not implicate them further.

"The Jinyiwei are all military men. At most they have studied for a few years and can only read and write."

Zhao Xingzhou was helpless. These people only knew how to hack and kill. There were dozens of them, but he couldn't even find one who could write a decent word.

Zhao Xingzhou nodded and said, "Forget it, forget it. Get the Four Treasures of the Study. Li Qing, you review it while I write it!"

Li Qing's heart moved. Written by the emperor himself?

Good, that’s great!

As a Jinyiwei pacification officer, Li Qing had interrogated many people, but this was his first time interrogating a prince.

He immediately went to the court in the small courtyard where he lived to interrogate the Fourth Prince.

People who come from the Jinyiwei are not best at interrogation, but at torture.

But this obviously did not apply to the Fourth Prince, so Li Qing could only begin the interrogation calmly.

"Your Highness, may I ask where your trusted confidant Liu Wang has gone?"

The Fourth Prince was furious. His noble nose was broken and he wanted to see the imperial physician!

"It's not your place as a dog to question the affairs of this prince."

Li Qing said calmly, "Liu Wang brought 20 guards from the palace to the Huiji warehouse to pick up grain. Is this true?"

The Fourth Prince sneered: "Don't you already know everything? What is there to ask?"

Li Qing said, "It doesn't matter if Fourth Prince doesn't say anything. Liu Wang and the twenty guards have been apprehended. We have all the witnesses and evidence. By the way, the merchant's last name is Dai, right?"

The Fourth Prince was horrified that they had even found out the merchant's name.

"Where is Liu Wang? Where is he? Let him come to see this prince!"

Li Qing smiled: "Liu Wang is not in the village, but he is alive and well and is in a safe place now."

Li Qing seemed to suddenly think of something: "The businessman named Dai is here too."

He pointed at a follower squatting in the corner. The follower stepped forward quickly. Unlike the others, he did not wear a human skin mask. From his hair to his facial features, everything was his own.

This person is the businessman named Dai.

"Your Highness, this is the first time I've met you, but I'm sure you know who I am. When Liu Wang was discussing business with me, he was using your name."

Although it is still not certain whether the person standing behind Li Qing is the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince knows in his heart that reselling disaster relief grain is something he cannot admit to.

"Liu Wang? He's just my disciple. He can't represent me. If you really did discuss business with Liu Wang, you must have been deceived by him. I'm not one of them."

The more Zhao Xingzhou wrote, the angrier he became. He had to confront Liu Wang on the spot about this matter.

The Fourth Prince remembered the pain on his nose and roared, "Untie this prince! Quick!"

Li Qing remained calm and said to one of his followers, "Please tell the people at the door to ask Qian Zhizhou to bring someone over."

The Fourth Prince was stunned. What did that mean? Why did he send Prefect Qian over? And who did he bring?

Before he could realize what was happening, the follower had already run away.

A moment later, Qian Zhizhou came over panting. Behind him, two yamen runners were holding a man.

Seeing that person, the Fourth Prince's face changed drastically: "Liu Wang? What's wrong with you?"

Liu Wang smiled bitterly: "Fourth Prince, I'm so sorry. Five hundred thousand taels of silver are all gone!"

Li Qing chuckled: "Fourth Prince, can you confess your guilt now?"

The Fourth Prince's face was as gloomy as water, and he gritted his teeth: "Idiots, all of them are idiots!"

His eyes swept over Li Qing and his followers, and he said in a cold voice, "You guys alone think you can overthrow me? You're dreaming!

I am a prince, a prince, a king. You are not worthy to judge me, let alone convict me! "

"What about me? Am I worthy?"

Zhao Xingzhou, who had been taking notes, suddenly straightened up and looked straight at the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince was startled and burst into laughter, his mouth pulling his nose and causing him to cry in pain.

"Who do you think you are? You're worse than pigs and dogs!"

In his entire life, Zhao Xingzhou had never been called worse than pigs and dogs or a bitch.

He didn't even react, he thought it was a scolding.

Of course, he soon understood and angrily reached out to peel off the human skin mask on his face.

But after one, two, and three tries, the mask seemed to be stuck on his face and couldn't be taken off at all.

Jiang Ping saw it and whispered, "This mask can only be removed with medicine."

Zhao Xingzhou: You didn't tell me it was hard to take off when you put it on me. Isn't that a lie? If I had known this, I wouldn't have wanted this damn mask.

"You are reselling disaster relief grain. Your crime is unforgivable. No one can help you."

The Fourth Prince wanted to imitate the women in the harem and faint on the ground, but his nose was too painful. The pain made his brain extremely clear, and he couldn't faint at all.

"So what if this prince resells disaster relief grain? This is the grain of our royal family. As a son, I resell my father's things and make a little money from it. What can I do to him? What can you do to me?"

There are indeed many such things, but this time it is disaster relief food.

The Fourth Prince looked around at the people in the room proudly, his eyes full of contempt.

His eyes fell on Qian Zhizhou's face, and he said sarcastically, "Qian Zhizhou, have you forgotten what I said to you?"

Qian Zhizhou's heart sank. Could he forget? Of course not!

But those are too far away, he would even have to exchange his life and property for them!

He shook his head vigorously and looked at the Fourth Prince: "Your Highness, I, your humble servant, will not go along with you!"

The Fourth Prince’s head buzzed. Isn’t this Governor Qian a spineless and despicable villain?

Why is it different from the legend?

He stared blankly at the people in front of him, and suddenly thought of a word: the game is over!

He said quietly, "Li Qing, so you've been spying on me the whole time. Are you following Liu Wang?"

Li Qing wanted to say that the person who was really monitoring you was not me, I was also forced to do so.

He suddenly felt confused again. Could it be that Xiao Zhen had guessed from the beginning that the Fourth Prince would be corrupt, so he took time out of his busy schedule to monitor the Fourth Prince and his men?

In addition to Liu Wang, there are also Zhang Hui and Ding Gao. Li Qing already knows that Zhang Hui and Ding Gao are in Xiao Zhen's hands.

Li Qing became more and more confused. Even he himself only became suspicious after Ding Gao and others disappeared.

He looked at the old man who was writing furiously, gritted his teeth, and continued, "Is the Fourth Prince going to confess?"

The Fourth Prince sneered, "Yes, Liu Wang was under my orders, but so what? Wasn't the deal interrupted because of you? The relief grain is still there, and the 500,000 taels of silver didn't make it into my pocket. If this plan didn't succeed, there's no such thing as reselling relief grain. What crime have I committed?"

Li Qing looked at the old man again, and saw that Zhao Xingzhou paused for a moment, then continued writing.

"The Fourth Prince only needs to admit that Liu Wang was ordered by you."

Li Qing looked at Liu Wang again and said, "You were ordered by the Fourth Prince to first go to Huiji Warehouse to transfer grain, and then go to Baofeng Wharf to trade with the Dai family. Is this true?"

Liu Wang was almost scared to death.

He was just a weak scholar and had never seen such a scene before.

There was nothing he could do except admit it.

"Yes, it is true. I am doing errands for the Fourth Prince."

Li Qing looked at Qian Zhizhou again and said, "We need Qian Zhizhou to be a witness in this case."

Qian Zhizhou's legs trembled. What was going on? What was he being asked to testify for? What was there worth testifying for?

"Yes, the Fourth Prince intended to win over this humble official. In reality, he wanted me to go along with him and conceal the fact that sand had seeped into the relief grain."

"In that case, please sign and seal first."

Zhao Xingzhou handed two confessions to them, and they both signed their names and pressed their fingerprints.

Qian Zhizhou's mind was already futile. He wanted to say to the Fourth Prince: "I was forced to do this, forced to do this! I was so eager to get close to you and rise to prominence."

But Xiao Zhen held the evidence against me in his hand, and I couldn't afford to offend him, so I could only obey his orders.

Seeing the two of them signing their names, the Fourth Prince was so angry that he wanted to hit them.

His eyes were grim. These two had signed their names, so let them be.

"As I said before, you are not worthy of interrogating this prince. I can refuse to answer your questions."

Zhao Xingzhou became angry after hearing this and subconsciously touched his beard. This time he used too much force and ended up tearing off a piece of his facial skin.

He actually tore off this fake face.

Zhao Xingzhou continued to pull, revealing more and more parts of his face, and he was very satisfied.

He picked up the written petition and walked up to the Fourth Prince. "You keep saying I'm not worthy. Then let me ask you, am I worthy?"

The Fourth Prince was stunned: "You, you, who are you?"

Zhao Xingzhou was still furious. He placed the petitions in front of him and said, "Sign and seal!"

The Fourth Prince was tied up like a dumpling. Not only did he not want to do it in the first place, but now he couldn't even press his fingerprints even if he wanted to.

Zhao Xingzhou simply took the Fourth Prince's hand and pressed it hard on the papers.

The confession ended perfectly. Zhao Xingzhou walked up to the Fourth Prince and said, "Little Fourth, do you know who I am?"

The old man in front of him looked a little familiar, but the Fourth Prince couldn't remember where he had seen him for a moment.

Who is this person?

He couldn't remember, so he simply said, "It doesn't matter who it is. What matters is that you are deceiving the emperor. This prince will at most be confined to his house, or trapped in the mansion for three to five years like the fifth prince. But you are deceiving the emperor!"