Chapter 267 Night Visit to the Ministry of Personnel

"Brother You Wang?"

Li Anning's face also showed astonishment.

She never thought that this case would have any connection with King You.

Jingzhao Yin was the biggest supporter of the King of Han.

King You was the greatest rival of King Han.

How could a small official from the Ministry of Personnel be related to them at the same time... I thought it was just an ordinary burglary and murder case, but why does it feel more and more complicated the more I investigate?

Li An Ning immediately said: "I will go ask my brother King You!"

This time, Li Nuo did not go with her, and he was not suitable to go with her.

An Ning was not only the chief constable of the Ministry of Justice, but also the sister of Prince You. Li Nuo, a secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was not qualified to investigate the prince.

Besides, he should belong to the line of Prince Chun, so it would be inappropriate to investigate Prince You.

When An Ning went to Prince You's Palace, he returned to the Ministry of Personnel and came to the case library.

Zhao He has been the head of the Ministry of Personnel for more than four years. If this is not an ordinary murder case, then perhaps some clues can be found in his office.

A ninth-rank official naturally cannot have his own yamen like his father-in-law.

A desk in the case library was his office in the Ministry of Personnel.

This yamen was shared by him and another guard.

There was a drawer under the table, which was originally locked, but had been violently smashed open.

The lock was broken by the Ministry of Justice. What Li Nuo could think of, they could think of too. There was nothing in the drawer, only some small change, a few pens, an inkstone, and a pornographic picture album...

Li Nuo flipped through the erotic picture album from beginning to end, but still found nothing.

This person's painting skills are only average. If I were to paint it myself...

After a moment's distraction, he turned his gaze to the table.

Everything on the table was visible: writing brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and several books. Li Nuo flipped through these books. These books were all classics, and they should be the books that Zhao He read on a daily basis. He had annotated many parts of the books.

But these are all useless information.

Li Nuo opened the last book. To be precise, it was not a book but a list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations over the years.

Li Nuo had read this booklet many times. He just flipped through it casually and when he was about to put it down, his hand paused slightly.

On the page he opened, there were several obvious circles drawn with a pen.

Gu Wenhan, Wu Zongguang, Zheng Tianxing.

There were many names on the page, but he only circled these three.

These three names made Li Nuo's pupils shrink slightly.

The three people he circled were exactly the three former Eastern Palace officials who caught Li Nuo's attention.

He carefully flipped through the booklet page by page and found two more officials who were specially circled by him.

One was named Ho Tung and the other named Xu Zhi. Both of them became Jinshi in the 22nd year of the Zhisheng reign, which was the next imperial examination after Gu Wenhan and other two became Jinshi.

Although Li Nuo didn't know these two people.

But he had a little guess in his mind.

Could it be that Ho Tung and Xu Zhi were former officials of the Eastern Palace?

At the same time, he could almost conclude that based on the names circled by Zhao He, his death was definitely not as simple as burglary and murder.

Li Nuo was very curious about what he had said to King You last night.

Could it be that Zhao He discovered some secret of King You and wanted to use it to blackmail King You, but was silenced by King You instead?

After the death of the crown prince, the former officials of the Eastern Palace also died one after another. The official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel who discovered this was also quickly silenced. Li Nuo had reason to suspect that there was another hidden reason for the death of the crown prince, and these officials of the Eastern Palace were also silenced...

Let's make a bold guess.

Is the prince’s death related to King You?

As soon as this thought came to Li Nuo's mind, footsteps were heard outside.

He put the booklet into his sleeve without leaving any trace.

Fang Zhanggu led an official in. Seeing Li Nuo, he was slightly startled and asked, "Master Li, are you still investigating the case?"

Li Nuo nodded and said, "Zhao Zhanggu's death was strange. I'll check the case file library to see if I can find some new clues."

Fang Zhanggu asked, "Did you find anything?"

Li Nuo shook his head and said, "Nothing."

Fang Zhanggu sighed and said, "I didn't expect something like this to happen. It's a pity that Lord Zhao is so young..."

Li Nuo said: "There is nothing to check here. I will leave first."

After saying that, he turned and left.

After Li Nuo left, Fang Zhanggu said to another official, "Master Yang, this is where you will work from now on. Our duties are simple. We are to look after the case library, take out the files from the library and dry them out to prevent them from getting moldy, and also help the adults find the files..."

The new chief nodded, sat in Zhao He's original seat, opened the drawer and looked around, then picked up a few books on the table and flipped through them casually. Fang Zhanggu said, "These are all Mr. Zhao's relics. I'll clean them up later..."

The official stood up and took the initiative to clean up the table, saying, "No, no, I can do it. I've been reading these books recently. I see there are some annotations on them. Can I take them back and read them?"

Fang Zhanggu said: "Master Zhao has left, and these things have become ownerless. If Master Yang likes them, you can take them back..."

…

After leaving the Ministry of Personnel, Li Nuo came to the Ministry of Justice.

An Ning hasn't come back yet, and Gu Yanran is the only one busy in the yamen.

Li Nuo sat in An Ning's seat and asked Gu Yanran, "Xiao Gu, your sentence should be over soon, right?"

Gu Yanran nodded and said, "My lord, it will be over in a month."

Originally, she still had nearly a year left in her sentence, but during this period, she had her sentence commuted by working in lieu of her sentence at the Ministry of Justice. She will be released from prison in another month.

Li Nuo hesitated for a moment and said, "I want to ask you about your father."

"My father?"

Gu Yanran was stunned, then lowered her head silently. The matter about her father was a painful thing that she still didn't want to mention.

The father who had always been tall and mighty in her mind since childhood turned out to be a demon with countless blood on his hands. It took her a long time to gradually accept this fact.

After a moment of silence, she said, "Master, just ask whatever you want to ask. I will tell you anything I know."

Li Nuo asked, "Your father was an official in the Eastern Palace at first, right?"

Gu Yanran nodded.

Although she was just born the year her father passed the imperial examination, she certainly knew about this important experience of her father.

From Gu Yanran, Li Nuo heard a lot about Gu Wenhan.

She was only five years old when Gu Wenhan left the Eastern Palace, and she didn't remember many things.

It was impossible to know the details of that time, but that was what Li Nuo wanted to know the most...

At this time, a figure walked in from outside. Li Nuo looked at An Ning and asked, "How is it?"

Li Anning shrugged and said, "Royal brother You said that Zhao He did look for him that day. He said that he didn't want to be the head of the Ministry of Personnel anymore and wanted to join Royal brother You, but Royal brother You rejected him..."

Li Nuo didn't ask any more questions.

Zhao He’s case is no longer the focus.

More importantly, what did he find out that led to him being silenced, and who silenced him?

Li Nuo has realized that the water is unfathomable, and even if he wants to investigate, he cannot do it openly.

An Ning stayed in the Ministry of Justice for a while, and then went to Jingzhao Prefecture to summon those officials.

Li Nuo stayed in the Ministry of Justice and wrote verdicts about those officials with the idea of ​​giving it a try.

But the code did not move at all.

As expected, Zhao He’s death had nothing to do with the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Li Nuo then tried Jingzhao Yin Lin Fuzhi, King You and even King Han, but the law code still did not give him clear instructions.

But this does not mean that the case really has nothing to do with them.

Because no matter whether it was the Jingzhao Yin or the two princes, the Ministry of Justice had no right to judge them, and the seals of the Vice Minister and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice were theoretically invalid against them.

Not only the Ministry of Justice is not qualified, even the Dali Temple and the Zongzheng Temple are not qualified.

The third-rank officials and the first-rank princes, in the entire Daxia, only His Majesty can judge them.

Compared to who killed Zhao He, Li Nuo was more curious about who He Dong and Xu Zhi were.

As long as we can find out what Zhao He discovered, it will be clear who the real murderer who killed him is, and the two officials he circled out are undoubtedly an important clue.

Li Nuo did not intend to review the files of these two people directly through his father-in-law.

This would make the target too obvious and might alert the enemy.

night.

Li Mansion.

An Ning was slightly stunned, looked at Li Nuo, and asked, "What? Going to the Ministry of Personnel now? It's almost curfew, and the Ministry of Personnel has been closed for a long time."

Li Nuo nodded and said, "We have to go because the court is closed. I already have some clues about Zhao He's case. We have to go to the Ministry of Personnel to verify something."

After another pause, Li Anning showed an eager expression on his face, and said excitedly: "Should we sneak into the Ministry of Personnel?"

Li Nuo said: "We have to sneak into the Ministry of Personnel's archives and cannot be discovered by anyone."

The Ministry of Personnel does not hold any secrets, nor is it the residence of a rich and powerful person, so the guarding force at night is actually not very strong.

But if only Li Nuo and An Ning went, he still felt a little unsure.

So he planned to ask the beautiful woman to come along, so that it would be a double insurance.

The two came to Jiaren's room. Song Jiaren was ready to rest. She was a little surprised to see Li Nuo and An Ning coming in. At this time, An Ning walked over quickly and said, "Sister Jiaren, don't sleep yet. The three of us will be together tonight..."

Song Jiaren was stunned when she heard this, then her face quickly turned red and she said, "No, no, I'm not ready yet!"

An Ning was stunned for a moment, and said, "The three of us are going to the Ministry of Personnel to investigate the case together. What do we need to prepare?"

After a while, the three people, who had changed their clothes, walked out of the yard together.

When they bumped into a figure, Song Yiren looked at them in surprise. They were all dressed in black and asked, "It's so late, what are you doing?"

Li Nuo thought for a moment, looked at Yiren, and asked, "I'm going to do something important. Do you want to come with me?"

(End of this chapter)