"Is this the token of alliance between Lord Xiao and Khan Daha?" Xia Zhengqi picked up the box and showed it to Wang Deguang and the deputy commander.
"This..." The deputy commander took a look at the contents of the wooden box and his face turned pale instantly.
Wang Deguang lowered his head uneasily.
Xia Zhengqi slowly took out the things in the wooden box one by one and placed them on the table.
Xia Miaoyuan turned over and sat up, looking hard at the table.
All I saw was a stack of small-denomination silver notes and a few small coins.
[What's in the box?!]
Xia Miaoyuan was surprised.
[Is it worth buying such a high-end lock for such a small amount of money? ]
"Your Majesty, this is actually me..." Xiao Licheng looked up at Xia Zhengqi with an embarrassed look on his face.
Xia Zhengqi raised his eyes and said, "Master Xiao, please speak frankly. When did you become so nagging?"
"This is actually the private money I saved." Xiao Licheng said with his head down.
"What? Private money?! Hahahaha!" Xia Zhengqi couldn't help laughing.
"No way, uncle, when did you develop the habit of hiding your own money?!"
Xia Miaoyuan's mind was spinning rapidly, but she really couldn't figure out what the book said about Xiao Licheng being dominated by his wife and hiding his own money.
"Your Majesty, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you. But there's nothing I can do about it. My wife is very strict in managing our expenses, and she's even more strict with my pocket money."
"I was forced to do this..." Xiao Licheng stammered.
"Sir Wang, what do you say?" Xia Zhengqi restrained his smile and asked Wang Deguang sternly.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your Majesty, please forgive me. I may have made a mistake." Wang Deguang knelt down in front of Xia Zhengqi with a thud, his voice trembling.
"What?! Collaboration with the enemy and treason is a serious crime punishable by extermination of nine generations of your clan. And you think you can get away with it by saying just one thing is wrong?" Xia Zhengqi's tone was filled with the oppressive feeling of an emperor's majesty.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life. Your Majesty, please spare my life!" Wang Deguang kowtowed repeatedly.
Xiao Licheng straightened his back and said in a clear voice: "Your Majesty, Lord Wang has nothing to say now. I, however, have something to report."
Xia Zhengqi extended his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Master Xiao was almost wrongly accused. If you have anything to say, please feel free to speak."
"I want to impeach Wang Deguang, the Minister of the Dali Temple, for corruption and abuse of power. He also has evil intentions and has planted spies in my house and even poisoned my wife." Xiao Licheng stared at Wang Deguang with eyes full of hatred.
[Wow! Uncle finally figured it out! He finally impeached his lousy boss.]
"I didn't do that. I am innocent. These are all fabricated fabrications by Lord Xiao out of revenge." When Wang Deguang heard Xiao Licheng impeaching him, he hurriedly explained to himself.
After Xiao Licheng finished speaking in a sonorous and powerful voice, he took out a memorial from his arms, held it in both hands, and presented it to Xia Zhengqi.
When Xia Zhengqi heard this, his eyes lit up. He took the memorial on the spot and read it twice in a row.
"Someone come here!" Xia Zhengqi shouted.
"Tie up Lord Wang and take him to the Dali Temple jail. Then arrest Zhang Xiaoya and Zhang Dashan from the Xiao Mansion and throw them into the jail for strict interrogation!"
"Your Majesty... don't arrest me! I am really innocent!" Wang Deguang kept shouting. Two tall and strong guards lifted him up, one on the left and one on the right, and dragged him away.
At this time, the deputy commander of the imperial guards who was sitting nearby was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, trembling.
"Your Majesty, I listened to Lord Wang's advice. He said the evidence was in a gilded box. I mistakenly thought it was the evidence." The deputy commander said in tears.
"Your Majesty, please understand!"
[Hahaha! He's the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, but he's so stupid, it's hilarious.]
[You, a idiot deputy commander, rose through the ranks bit by bit by giving gifts to your superiors, and over time, you've even been promoted to the position of deputy commander.]
[Alas, having a deputy commander like you is truly a disservice to the country.]
[I remember in the book, when the Liang army attacked the capital, your command of the battle was absolutely foolish. They easily captured the capital.]
[When you saw the city fall, you were so frightened that you abandoned thousands of your fellow imperial guards and fled. In the end, to save your own life, you voluntarily surrendered.]
[Tsk tsk tsk, this really brings shame to Daxia! ]
What? This Imperial Guards Deputy Commander Liu Baoquan is actually such a wretch!
After listening to his daughter's thoughts, Xia Zhengqi looked at the deputy commander kneeling in front of him and felt so angry that his teeth were itching.
He had originally planned to deduct half a year's salary from him, but this time he couldn't let him off easily.
"Liu Baoquan, deputy commander of the Imperial Guards!" Xia Zhengqi said sternly.
"You colluded with Wang Deguang and helped him give false testimony, which is a crime of deceiving the emperor. You will be imprisoned in the Dali Temple and executed in the autumn!"
[Wow, Daddy is so mighty! Daddy is so domineering! Daddy is so wise! These cowardly villains in the Imperial Guards should be eliminated as soon as possible. This is the only way to improve our Great Xia's military strength.]
Xia Miaoyuan clapped his hands excitedly.
The deputy commander immediately collapsed to the ground, as if he had lost his soul, and a foul-smelling liquid overflowed from under him.
[Oh my god, the deputy commander peed his pants! He's such a jerk.]
Two guards dragged him out.
Xia Zhengqi then turned to Xiao Licheng and said, "My dear, I appoint you as the Minister of the Supreme Court. You will search Wang Deguang's house and take inventory of his property! You will be fully responsible for investigating his case."
"I obey your order!" Xiao Licheng responded loudly.
Half a month passed in a flash.
Because Xiao Licheng had been carefully investigating evidence of Wang Deguang's crimes during the years he had served in the Dali Temple, and because a huge amount of property was confiscated from Wang Deguang's mansion, the charges of Wang Deguang's corruption and abuse of power were quickly confirmed.
The difficulty is finding evidence that he is a spy for the State of Liang.
Wang Deguang was very stubborn and refused to admit that he worked for the State of Liang no matter how he was interrogated.
Later, it was Xiao Licheng who made a breakthrough from Zhang Xiaoya and Zhang Dashan and found out that they were spies.
Following the clues provided by the Zhang brothers and sisters, Xiao Licheng destroyed two contact points of Liang State spies and arrested several minor characters.
As for those important spies stationed in Daxia, the Zhang brothers and sisters were in too low a position to know about them, while Wang Deguang kept silent.
Xia Zhengqi had no choice but to order the extermination of Wang Deguang's nine clans and the execution of the Zhang brothers and sisters.
However, through the exposure of Wang Deguang, the spy, Xia Zhengqi suddenly realized that the remaining forces of the Liang State, which he had always ignored, had developed to such a terrifying level without his knowledge.
It was late autumn, the weather in the capital was getting cooler, and the leaves on the trees were starting to fall.
Outside Taihe Gate, a thin figure got out of the carriage and looked up at the high palace walls helplessly.
His face was dark, thin, and rough, stained with the vicissitudes of time.
"It's been three years! I never thought I could come back!" He murmured to himself in the bleak autumn wind, two lines of tears sliding down his dry cheeks.
"Sir Zhou, don't be sentimental for now. Please come with me. The emperor is still waiting for you." Eunuch Debao held a whisk in his hand and made a gesture to invite him to leave.
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