Chapter 570: The Princess Raises Private Soldiers
Wei Qing was completely constrained. Those people seemed to form a wall around him, enclosing him and only showing him what they wanted him to see.
Just when Wei Qing was in a stalemate, a letter was delivered to him.
That was a letter written to him by his wife.
He hadn't seen his wife for more than half a month and thought about her every day. He kept the letter from his wife close to him and always took it out to read before going to bed at night.
Now another letter arrived, and he was naturally delighted. He hurried back to his residence, opened the letter, and read it word by word.
After reading it, Wei Qing couldn't help but read it a second time.
After reading it three or four times, Wei Qing stared at the last sentence for a long time.
His wife mentioned his birthday...
September 15th.
His wife said she was looking forward to him coming home to celebrate his birthday.
For several years, he has been celebrating the birthday chosen for him by Wei Lao San, not September 15th. His wife knows this very well and it is impossible for her to remember his birthday wrong.
Wei Qing stared at the date for a long time.
It is impossible for his wife to remember it wrong, and she specially wrote down this date, so she must have a purpose.
September 15th.
Is his wife reminding him of something?
Nine, fifteen...
Wei Qing counted the ninth word in the letter, which was "private", and the fifteenth word, which was "soldier".
The two together make up a 'private army'!
Wei Qing's eyes widened suddenly. His wife was going to tell him that the princess had private soldiers!
How dare she raise private soldiers in her own fiefdom?!
But when I think about it, it makes sense.
The eldest princess is ambitious, so what is there for her to be afraid of?
If we can find evidence that the princess has private soldiers, we can deal with her...
He was originally trapped here because of this case, but fortunately his wife brought him this news, giving him a new direction.
Wei Qing's lips curled up into a smile, which was particularly gentle.
He carefully put the letter away and kept it close to his body. Then he took out a paintbrush and paper, imagined what his wife looked like, and began to draw on the paper.
He really missed her.
Wei Qing held the paintbrush in his hand and sketched out her every frown and smile.
After a while, there was a knock on his door.
"Come in."
The man who came was the doctor from the Ministry of Justice who came with him. He was in his thirties and his surname was Hu. Wei Qing called him Lao Hu.
Lao Hu walked in and saw his cold-faced master painting something with a paintbrush. He couldn't help but feel curious and came over.
He looked at it for a moment and guessed, "Sir, is this a turtle?"
Could it be that this turtle is mocking the local officials who are making things difficult for them?
Wei Qing: “…”
Wei Qing raised his head and glanced at him coldly.
Lao Hu shrank his neck in fear.
Did he guess wrong?
Lao Hu quickly got down to business: "Sir, those local officials are not cooperating at all. This case cannot be investigated."
"Then we won't check it." Wei Qing said.
Lao Hu was surprised.
The adults are even more stubborn than him, why don’t you check it out?
"Sir, I have discovered that there are obvious problems with the taxes in Leshui County these days. I think it's not just Leshui County, but the entire Wangxian County has problems. There are obvious discrepancies between the taxes and the amounts submitted. Where did the money go?" Lao Hu said.
Wei Qing said, "Let's talk about it when we get back."
"Sir..." Lao Hu was an upright man and wanted to get to the bottom of this case.
"Go to bed early tonight and leave early tomorrow morning." Wei Qing said.
Lao Hu sighed. It seemed that even the adults had surrendered. No matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to obey orders.
The next day, when Wei Qing said goodbye to everyone and said he was leaving Leshui County, the local officials of Leshui County were a little surprised.
They originally thought that given the imperial envoy's personality, he would stay in Leshui County for a while, but they didn't expect him to leave so abruptly.
"It makes sense, actually. Wangxian County is the fiefdom of the eldest princess. The case has been 'solved', but he still wants to investigate. Is he trying to offend the eldest princess?"
"He who knows the current affairs is a hero. This imperial envoy is quite aware of the current affairs."
"Let's send this plague god away quickly, so we don't have to worry about what he might find out."
"Yes, now that the plague god has been sent away, I can finally have a good sleep."
"Thanks to everyone for coming up with such a good idea to deal with him."
These people also breathed a sigh of relief.
Wei Qing packed up his things, mounted his horse, and left Leshui County.
The local officials all breathed a sigh of relief.
A group of people left Leshui County on horseback, but did not return by the original route. Instead, they turned to another road.
"Sir, aren't we going back? Where are you going?" Lao Hu asked in confusion.
"Check another matter." Wei Qing said.
Lao Hu was surprised: "What else?"
Lao Hu was his confidant in the Ministry of Justice, so Wei Qing told him directly.
"Investigate the Princess's private army."
"Raising...private...private soldiers?" Lao Hu opened his mouth wide with an expression of disbelief.
"The Leshui County Magistrate's false accusation is more complex than that," Wei Qing said. "He was falsely accused and executed because he felt the taxes in Leshui County were too heavy, and the people were suffering. He wanted to speak up for them, but ended up offending them. Why are taxes so high in Leshui County, and indeed in Wangxian County as a whole? What was the money used for?"
"Raise...raise private soldiers?"
"It's just a guess. We'll know after we check it out." Wei Qing said.
"So, these are all part of the same case?" Lao Hu's throat became dry as he thought about the people who might be involved.
But isn't the purpose of their investigation to bring justice to the victim? No matter how difficult it is, they must investigate!
Wei Qing ignored him and rode his horse to a high place, looking into the distance.
Wangxian County is too big, so it is difficult to find out where the private soldiers are kept.
However, in order to conceal their tracks, the private soldiers must be kept in the deep mountains and forests.
Last night, Wei Qing looked at the map of Wangxian County for a long time and finally analyzed where the private soldiers might be hiding.
Just where he was looking.
Wei Qing didn't stay for too long and took his men to the direction he was looking.
Because they were heading towards the mountains and forests, the further they went, the more remote the place became.
After traveling like this for about four or five days, they came to a small town and rested there.
There is only one inn in this small town. It is very shabby and the rooms are very small.
Wei Qing and his group consisted of six people. Lao Hu was from the Ministry of Justice, and the rest were secret guards protecting him.
Six people asked for three rooms and stayed there.
The room was on the second floor. Wei Qing went upstairs to the room to rest, while Lao Hu chatted with the innkeeper for a long time downstairs. He was a talkative person and could chat with anyone.
After a while, Lao Hu slowly walked upstairs and opened the door.
"Sir, I just discovered something..."
He saw the adult holding a letter and reading it with a very gentle expression, and he immediately understood something.
Tsk tsk, it seems that the master is thinking about the lady again.
When Wei Qing saw him come in, he put away the letter and looked at him expressionlessly.
"Sir, I just chatted with the innkeeper for a while. In this town, a lot of able-bodied men are conscripted every year... There's no sign of building any dams or city walls nearby, and there's no large army stationed there. It's really strange that they're conscripting such men." Lao Hu said in a low voice.
"Just now, I walked along the street and saw very few young people." Wei Qing said.
"Sir, you said no, no..."
Lao Hu and Wei Qing looked at each other and understood the meaning in each other's eyes.
If one keeps a private army, he will definitely recruit soldiers from nearby areas, which means that the private army is stationed in this area.
"Sir, we are so lucky." said Lao Hu.
Wangxian County is so big that he originally thought it would take him half a month or a month to look for a place, but he didn't expect to find the right direction so quickly.
Wei Qing subconsciously touched his heart, where there was a lucky charm. It meant that his wife was lucky, and so was he.
Even though they are hundreds of miles apart, his wife still protects him.
I hope to find evidence quickly so I can return to Beijing and reunite with my wife.
Everyone rested in this small town for one night and set off early the next morning.
They continued to go deeper into the mountains and forests, and after wandering in the forest for three or four days, they found the place where the private soldiers were stationed!
The private soldiers were stationed behind a mountain. Behind the mountain was a large plain with a river flowing through it. The terrain was very good.
There were tents on both sides of the river, so densely packed that Lao Hu was stunned.
"Sir, looking at the number of tents here, there must be tens of thousands of people." Lao Hu was shocked.
Wei Qing nodded. Judging from the number of tents, there were indeed over ten thousand people.
The eldest princess is so brave that she actually keeps so many people under the emperor's nose!
They needed to know more about the private soldiers, such as how many there were, who their generals were, and where they were recruited from...
Only after these are thoroughly investigated can they serve as evidence and be reported to the emperor.
Capital city.
Ever since the emperor sent an imperial envoy to Leshui County, Wangxian Commandery, to investigate, the eldest princess has been feeling uneasy and has been paying close attention to this matter.
After receiving a letter from Leshui County saying that Wu Yu had left Leshui County and returned to Beijing, the princess breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it would take at most five or six days to get from Leshui County to the capital. After six days, Wu Yu still hadn't returned to the capital, and the princess felt something was wrong.
The princess pondered for a moment, with a cold look in her eyes, and called her confidant to check the whereabouts of the imperial envoy.
"If anything goes wrong, kill without mercy!" Her eyes were full of murderous intent.
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