The Jinyi Yunqi, along with the soldiers from the local garrison of Jixiang County, raided the home of County Magistrate Xie in a swift and decisive manner.
First, they raided the house behind the county government office, making sure that they had everyone under control and guarded every exit, including the dog hole, to ensure that no master or servant had been let out due to negligence. Then, Li Shisuo led his men and galloped to the Xie family's villa, Xianmei Garden.
However, the results of the house searches in both places were not ideal.
The items and money obtained were basically not of much value.
After that, the theft case of the Xie family came into Li Shisuo's sight.
Li Shisuo was originally named Li Si. He was a subordinate of Li Gan and was originally left to him by Li Gan's mother.
Later, because of his outstanding strength, the child stood out in the stone lock lifting competition. He became the strongest man among the Jinyi Yunqi, second only to Li Gan, and was nicknamed Shisuo.
Later on, only a few people called him by his real name, Li Si.
Most people called him Li Shisuo, and he gladly accepted it.
This time, Jinyi Yunqi received the package sent by the escort agency and started an investigation.
It turned out that the items in County Magistrate Xie's hands were actually evidence of collusion between the prince and ministers of the previous dynasty. Jinyi Yunqi, who were always loyal to the emperor, naturally could not cover up for County Magistrate Xie.
After the emperor looked at the package and heard the results of Jinyi Yunqi's investigation, he became furious.
However, "the best thing about a bald son is his own good." Even if his son does something wrong, it is because the people around him have bad intentions and instigated him to do bad things!
After receiving the imperial edict, the Jinyi Yunqi set out from Kyoto, galloped on horseback, and quickly arrived at Jixiang County, where they arrested County Magistrate Xie, who was still wondering who was plotting against him.
The entire family of County Magistrate Xie, regardless of gender, age or status, were exiled to Lingnan and would not be pardoned even if pardoned.
Unintentionally involved in the struggle for the throne, County Magistrate Xie was deeply afraid of being punished later, so he secretly made two preparations. However, he never expected that this gift would not only fail to save his life, but instead become a death warrant.
Not only did County Magistrate Xie fail to gain the credit for following the emperor, but he became the chicken that was killed to scare the monkeys. He felt so guilty and remorseful that he vomited blood several times.
But even if he spat out all his blood, the outcome of the matter could not be changed.
After Li Shisuo finished his business here, he took some time to visit Daohuaxiang—the reputation of this shop had spread to Kyoto. Of course, this was thanks to Li Gan's mother's family.
Because Xia Daohua brought the token given by Li Gan when she came to the door, Li Gan's mother's family, although they also coveted this store, regarded it as Li Gan's property.
They believed that Li Gan pushed the Xia family to the front just for some reason as a pretext to attract attention.
When Li Shisuo came to Jixiang County, he naturally had to bring Li Gan's letter and gift to Xia Daohua.
Xia Daohua was the first to learn from Li Shisuo about what happened after Li Gan and the others returned to Kyoto.
After Li Gan returned, he was kicked out by the guards shortly after entering the palace to meet the emperor. He was also punished to kneel at the palace gate because he failed to protect the noble, causing Gu Mingzhen and others to be injured.
This punishment is not only extremely painful and difficult to endure, but also very humiliating.
Because the ministers coming and going, and even the officials and their wives who went to the palace to pay homage to the empress dowager and the queen, could see from afar the scene of Li Gan being punished by kneeling there.
In other words, Li Gan's stepmother could sit in a sedan chair and pass by Li Gan, watching him staggering under the scorching sun, but he still had to kneel upright and firm, as still as a clock.
This is a great humiliation for a young man.
Many people even speculated whether Li Gan, a rising star, had fallen out of favor?
Li Gan had long since fallen out with his family. His biological father had completely sided with his stepmother, sacrificing his reputation to focus on raising his first son, born to his stepmother.
If he lost the emperor's favor again, Li Gan's days of tyranny in Kyoto would probably be a thing of the past forever.
From now on, can we take revenge for our grievances and revenge for our grudges?
However, this is just speculation by most people.
Li Gan once again deeply felt the fickleness of the world.
After the kneeling punishment, Li Gan stayed at home to recuperate.
The only people who came to offer their condolences were Li Gan's maternal family and two or three kittens.
When Li Gan recovered from his injury and was ready to return to the social circle of Kyoto, he planned to hold a banquet at the Jade Tower. However, after he sent out the invitation, there were very few people who were willing to receive it, reply to it, or keep the invitation.
More than half of the playboys who usually went sightseeing, cockfighting and dog walking with him found various excuses to leave him alone.
Some people even stopped attending his appointments.
A considerable number of his subordinates who used to accompany him, surround him, and be respectful to him began to keep their distance from him.
Even those ladies who used to love throwing flowers, fruits, purses and sachets to him every time they saw him had calmed down. They no longer blushed when they saw him. Instead, they would calmly put on their veils and quietly walk away.
Li Gan said nothing and watched all this coldly.
On the other hand, the Crown Prince, whom he had taken out of the palace several times, remained as close and attached to him as ever, and his attitude towards him did not change at all due to the attitudes of others.
In fact, Li Gan was not out of favor. On the contrary, he had received the emperor's secret order before he was "punished to kneel".
The emperor asked him to investigate the power distribution of several influential nobles in the Great Chu court, including Gu Mingzhen, and especially their power in the military.
Speaking of which, the relationship between Gu Mingzhen and the emperor is quite subtle.
On the surface, the emperor trusted Gu Mingzhen very much and praised his abilities highly, but secretly, he was somewhat wary of Gu Mingzhen and several other clansmen who had a good reputation.
Compared with his several adult and underage sons, he felt that people like Gu Mingzhen were the real opponents worthy of his vigilance and precautions.
But he didn't have the time and need to resort to assassination tactics against Gu Mingzhen.
If he really wanted to deal with Gu Mingzhen, he only needed an imperial edict.
If Gu Mingzhen had no intention of rebelling, it would have been easy for him to seize Gu Mingzhen's power. There would have been no need to send out killers or assassins. Moreover, those killers and assassins were too unprofessional.
If Gu Mingzhen really had the intention of rebelling, then Gu Mingzhen would have lost his righteousness. Even if he spent some effort and money, it would only take three to five years to capture Gu Mingzhen.
However, even though the emperor knew clearly that he had an absolute advantage in his relationship with Gu Mingzhen, he still couldn't help but feel wary and cautious towards Gu Mingzhen.
The only concern, perhaps, was Gu Mingzhen's influence. Perhaps, Gu Mingzhen's constant involvement in government affairs was gradually encroaching upon his power, quietly undermining it.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－
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